So I open up this CNN story, right now the 4th most popular story on the news agency’s website, to read about why people are protesting the mayor of Fort Lauderdale. The opening line:
With white sandy beaches and a laid-back atmosphere, Fort Lauderdale has long billed itself as a gay-friendly tourist destination.
That’s right folks, writers Susan Candiotti and Patrick Oppmann have set the record straight (just in case there was any confusion)– homosexuals flock to laid-back areas with white sandy beaches.
Seriously though, the brouhaha appears to be over the mayor taking a stand against homosexual sex in the public bathrooms. And he’s not shy about it either:
“We don’t have men and women having sex together in bathrooms, at least we don’t have reports of that. It’s men having sex with men, and I feel it’s necessary for an elected official to tell it like it is. I don’t subscribe to political correctness,” Naugle said.
People are upset, even the former vice-mayor, saying he is stereotyping. But here’s my question… how should a mayor deal with a problem like that? If it IS happening, then I would definitely perceive it as a problem. Apparently the gay community would rather he ignore it? He didn’t request separate bathrooms for gays, he asked for a reasonable solution to an actual problem that is only being caused by gay men. I don’t see why it’s a problem to discuss the reality of the situation.
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The problem is that the police have repeatedly said that this is not a problem. He was just looking for a way to get the public to agree to buy a 250,000 dollar toilet, and he relied on stereotypes to argue for it. He has made other anti-gay comments during this whole controversy as well.
No gay individual in Ft. Lauderdale is supporting sex in the bathroom. The mayor has just manufactured a problem for his own political gain.