Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle's Homophobic Comments Raise Tourism Questions

Gay activists in South Florida and across the country continue to condemn Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle for comments he made to the Sun-Sentinel earlier this month in reference to a proposed automatic toilet on the beach which he argues would deter 'homosexual activity.' The newspaper further reported Naugle claimed Broward County leads the country in new AIDS cases involving men having sex with men. The mayor further speculated whether local tourism officials should court gay tourists who frequent Fort Lauderdale and surrounding areas in droves.

Naugle's comments are certainly insensitive and arguably border on the outrageous. Activists are certainly justified in their outrage as their mayor represents one of the most popular destinations for gays and lesbians in the country. National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman pointed out the $1 billion these visitors contribute to the local economy during a "Flush Naugle Rally" outside Fort Lauderdale City Hall on Tuesday.

"Sadly, Mayor Naugle's comments do more than embarrass any thinking person," he said. "They are a stain on each one of you. They are a stain on every person in Broward County."

Foreman's categorization is correct but many Fort Lauderdale businesses that benefit from pink tourism dollars have begun to question the potential impact Naugle's comments will have on their bottom lines. Activists in Fort Lauderdale and arguably around the country will determine how to apply additional pressure on the mayor. They could call upon him to resign or call upon city officials to launch an investigation into his conduct. Activists could also call upon gay and lesbian tourists to boycott the city until Naugle steps down.

Groups on the Jersey Shore and other pink vacation areas have faced similarly difficult choices in recent years as to how they chose to respond to homophobic elected officials and discrimination in their backyards. Those in Fort Lauderdale are now at a similar crossroads as they formulate a response to these outrageous comments which have tarnished the reputation of the South Florida gay Mecca.

Vitter's Discretions Continue to Come to Light

This blogger wrote yesterday about U.S. Sen. David Vitter [R-La.] and his acknowledgement of a propensity to use the services of alleged D.C. madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey. The New Orleans Times-Picayune added more fuel to this potentially explosive fire earlier this week with a report the social conservative -- and so-called defender of family values -- frequented a Big Easy brothel before voters first elected him to Congress in 1999.

"Canal Street Madam" Jeanette Maier told the newspaper Vitter spent time with several women at her New Orleans brothel. This revelation -- and other local and statewide media reports -- prompted the National Lesbian & Gay Task Force to issue a press release yesterday which blasted Vitter as a hypocrite for his sponsorship of the Federal Marriage Amendment and other anti-LGBT legislation.

“It is the pinnacle of hypocrisy for Senator Vitter to be thundering about ‘family values’ and the ‘sanctity of marriage’ and doing everything possible to deny the freedom to marry to same-sex couples while apparently paying for sex behind his wife’s back," NGLTF Executive Director Matt Foreman said. "If his wife and family want to forgive him, fine, but this far surpasses a personal transgression. He owes all Americans, particularly those of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, an apology.”

Vitter, as this blogger noted yesterday, is certainly not the first social conservative to taint himself with scandal. His now public discretions remain, however, the pinnacle of hypocrisy in light of his Congressional career arguably built upon an anti-LGBT agenda. Vitter made an attempt to come clean sort-of-speak with his public apology earlier this week but his 'family values' and pro-sanctity of marriage credentials remain significantly -- and perhaps irrevocably tainted -- by this scandal. He has a huge hill to climb if he seeks to reclaim any of the platform he once enjoyed.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell Dies

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, a long-time nemesis of LGBT activists and progressive organizations and political factions, died yesterday after he was found unconscious in his office at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. President George W. Bush, U.S. Sen. John McCain [R-Ariz.] and other GOP Presidential hopefuls, the Rev. Al Sharpton and other religious figures have added their condolences to the already long list of public tributes. But Falwell's vitriolic anti-LGBT rhetoric simply cannot be ignored.

Falwell publicly secured his anti-LGBT credentials with his support of Anita Bryant's efforts to repeal a South Florida gay rights ordinance in the late 1970s. The outspoken minister's categorization of AIDS as God's condemnation of homosexuality further enraged activists while his denunciation of the Teletubbies because he believed Tinky Winky was gay bordered on the absurd. Falwell further vilified himself among progressives after he said gay rights supporters and others caused the Sept. 11 attacks in the days after the tragedy.

The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, CNN and the BBC are among the media outlets to report Falwell's anti-gay legacy. The National Lesbian & Gay Task Force and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation also drew attention to these sentiments in their public responses to Falwell's death.

Falwell certainly became a national [and perhaps mythical] figure who did not fail to influence politics and the movement he helped to create and elevate out of the pews. His many supporters will continue to praise the good work they feel he has done and they will seek to romanticize his life in the coming days and weeks. But he leaves behind a divisive legacy of homophobia and intolerance from which even those within his own constituency have begun to distance themselves. This legacy remains an essential part of the Falwell story that must be told.