Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - August 3, 2007
Steve Rothaus, srothaus@miamiherald.com
"We are writing to support UNITE Fort Lauderdale's request that you promptly pass a resolution condemning Mayor Naugle's insulting, hurtful and untrue comments and reaffirming Fort Lauderdale's welcome of and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people," wrote the activists, including the heads of GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), Human Rights Campaign and Log Cabin Republicans. The ACLU joined in the call as well. Mayor Naugle did not return a phone message left at City Hall.
Broward County Mayor Josephus Eggelletion Jr. said he would not support a resolution condemning Naugle. "That comment may not be the most appropriate thing to say, but he has the right to say it," Eggelletion said.
Last month, Naugle proposed that Fort Lauderdale spend $250,000 on a single-occupancy toilet for the beach to cut down on men having sex with each other in public bathrooms. Naugle says the problem is rampant; the city reports that since 2005, there have been only two arrests for sexual activity in a public restroom.
Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and one of the 16 letter-signers, sent a follow-up e-mail Wednesday night to The Miami Herald:
"One issue that hasn't received much play -- and is, frankly, more egregious than everything else -- is [Naugle's] misrepresentation that Broward had the highest number of new [male-to-male] HIV cases last year in the nation -- which led him questioning the convention and visitors bureau marketing to gay tourists," Foreman wrote. "This is -- to me -- even more egregious than the toilet idiocy."
Foreman backed up his claims by including a report from the Broward County Health Department, which shows the number of new male-to male HIV cases in the county declined 19 percent from 567 in 2005 to 459 in 2006; while the number of heterosexual HIV cases increased 16 percent from 130 in 2005 to 151 in 2006.
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Miami Herald staff writer Breanne Gilpatrick contributed to this report.
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