Last month, Naugle proposed that Fort Lauderdale city government 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 public-sex problem is rampant.Conservative members of the religious and medical communities Tuesday joined Fort Lauderdale Mayor James Naugle in his crusade against public and promiscuous sex.
''The mayor is standing against the city of Fort Lauderdale becoming the AIDS capital of the world,'' Janet Folger, president and founder of Faith2Action, an online faith network, told The Miami Herald.
At first, the city reported that since 2005 there have been only two arrests for sexual activity in a public restroom.
The mayor now says the actual number is eight, including five men caught in a sting two years ago in Mills Pond Park and one man arrested two weeks ago in Holiday Park.
Fort Lauderdale gay activist Waymon Hudson, president of the group Fight OUT Loud, issued a news release after the news conference: 'Naugle continued his bigoted tirade against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community today, flanked by several controversial and divisive `religious' leaders.''
When Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle linked the purchase of new toilets for beach parks to gay sex in public places, he uncorked a torrent of protest. But just how prevalent is public sex? No one keeps detailed statistics on sex in public restrooms and parks. South Florida law enforcement agencies say they receive occasional complaints and make a few arrests, but they don't spend much time cracking down on it. Since 2005, Fort Lauderdale has reported two arrests for sexual activity in a public restroom.''I don't know whether it's the perception or the reality, but it doesn't seem like it's that much of a problem,'' Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman Jim Leljedal said. Miami-Dade Police cracked down on public sex at Tropical Park, 7900 SW 40th St., in August 2001 and made 17 arrests. Police spokesman Juan Villalba said he knows of no current sting operations.
NOT ALL ARE GAY
American University anthropology Professor William Leap has spent more than a decade researching male sex in public places. In 1999, he edited an academic compilation called Public Sex/Gay Space. His conclusion is that up to half of the men who seek this kind of sex are not gay.
Gay activists have reacted with outrage to Naugle's call to ''responsible members of the homosexual community'' to stop the public sex. While they don't deny that some men, both gay and straight, use public parks and restrooms to meet, they object to Naugle linking an entire community to something that they say only a small percentage engages in.
''It does happen. It's headlines in the news. But we're going to pigeonhole one group that they're responsible for this? That's not the case,'' said Jeff Black, a businessman who in the aftermath of the Naugle comments helped organize a protest group, UNITE Fort Lauderdale.
Black says that ``no one in our group promotes public illicit sex in any manner.''
Anthony Verdugo, executive director of the Christian Family Coalition in South Florida, said the problem is real, and Naugle ``should be applauded, not condemned.''
''The majority of homosexuals and heterosexuals don't engage in public sex, and if you poll them they would say it's wrong,'' Verdugo said. ``But the issue is a valid issue that the mayor brought up in terms of public sex and listings on the website.''
Some gay-rights activists have been hesitant to talk about the mayor's comments, not wanting to draw attention to the small number of men who do engage in public sex.
''They don't want the gay community to appear on Page 1. People would think that is nasty,'' said Francis Gonzalez, a gay man in Fort Lauderdale who says he has been solicited in men's rooms.
Ft.Lauderdale Mayor needs to resigns NOW!