Hazards of truth-telling in Broward County

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | July 19th, 2007 | Andrew Longman

[FarRockaway]

The straight talk express may have blown a gasket around the beltway, but it is running redline up and down I-95 in South Florida. Mayor Jim Naugle of Fort Lauderdale is being demeaned by the hedonist press of the region because he made a few claims that, while they are easily supported by data, run counter to the Broward state religion.

Here is a list of his sins, as recorded in the Sun-Sentinel's encyclicals.

First, Naugle said he does not use the term "gay" because homosexuals are "unhappy."

Second, he claims his city has a problem with men using public restrooms for sex.

To combat the second issue, he tried to have the city purchase toilets that clean themselves and open the door after a few minutes, to stop the illegal behavior.

For these ideas, he is being shot at by the pagan-left more furiously than an electric Gatling gun.

But before we proceed immediately to the knee-jerk emotional reaction, can't we first pause and ask whether objectivity would generally confirm or refute the mayor's statements?

(Column continues below)

On unhappiness, there are many public instances of famous homosexuals being clinically depressed: Greg Louganis, the famous diver, Mel White, former evangelical author. In the experience of many people, the depressed homosexual is almost an iconic stereotype. But where anecdotal evidence orients a reference frame for identifying in the human sense, it hardly proves a case. And when we are observing a broad negative about a group of people, people for whom God cares, we shouldn't conclude based just on anecdote or uninformed personal suspicion.

A few more objective points of fact, then, quoted from Exodus International:

* In "Understanding Your Teenager's Depression" by Kathleen McCoy, doctors Gary Remafedi, James Farrow and Robert Deisher "found that ...

[FarRockaway]

If facts indicate homosexuals are, as a group, clinically depressed (high incidence) and cause law enforcement a problem with public sex, why can't the Mayor of Ft. Lauderdale say that? Any other group doing illegal things and being group-depressed could be identified as such. (LA gang members, inner-city gangster youth, etc)

You can listen to the Mayor on the radio at this link. http://f2a.org/radio/2007-07-18.ram

[ExpatGator]

Addressing a groups mental state is a weak tactic that could easily be used against decent people by the left/statists. Just think of how they would use something like this against gun owners, etc. There are plenty of depressed folks down at the local church, synagogue and heterosexual watering-hole.

Behaviors, actions and consequences are the only issues that need be addressed.

[dynachrome]

Clickable link. Wasn’t this guy in trouble earlier for being politically incorrect?

http://f2a.org/radio/2007-07-18.ram

[JoeFromSidney]

I have no idea whether homosexuals are more or less happy than other people. However, I strongly object to their hijacking the word "gay," a good English word for which there is no satisfactory substitute.

When Stephen Foster wrote, "'Tis summer, the darkies are gay," did he mean that in summertime they were straight?

At Christmas, when we sing "Don we now our gay apparel," does that mean we're going in drag?

It's probably too late to rescue the word "gay," but I don't have to participate in its hijacking.

[FarRockaway]

I think that’s silly. When 37% of your population is exhibiting clinicle depression, what’s that say about your group?

As for behaviours, actions, and consequences, the overwhelming disease incidence, physically, which the group incurrs is also wildly above average. If you were member of a group whos membership had rampant incidence of disease, it stands to reason you might also find depression. And it is well established that the beahviours bring the diseases. And if the diseases bring depression, its entirely reasonable, even by your own standard (behaviour/consequences) to note that the depression is probably self-caused.

[FarRockaway]

The Mayor of FTL seems to be very electable and very politically incorrect, yes.

[FarRockaway]

Hear, Hear.

[Vision]

First, Naugle said he does not use the term "gay" because homosexuals are "unhappy."

AMEN. Homosexuals have hijacked the word gay. It's a disgrace. There is nothing "gay" about homosexuals. They have also perverted the word homophobia which means "fear of the same."

[Vision]

We don’t have guys like this in Maryland. You’re lucky.

Florida ping?

[Fawn]

I think this is about the $100,000 public toilet.

[Vision]

I’m talking about the mayor.

[Clemenza]

When I was living in South Florida (1991-1994, 1999-2002), the two main political pressure groups of consequence in the People’s Republic of Broward were the (largely Jewish) elderly folks (aka the Condo Commandos) and the homosexuals (who took over Wilton Manors and Las Olas Boulevard in a short amount of time). You couldn’t survive politically down there without making nice with said communities.

[FarRockaway]

What you say seems plausible, but then how does one explain the FTL mayor being elected 8 times? It looks like the forces of conservative morality are stronger than we sometimes give them credit for?

[Clemenza]

That's only because Fort Lauderdale was historically a bastion of WASP-dom, even as the surrounding towns all went Democrat in the 1970s-1980s. It elected Clay Shaw as its Mayor in the 1970s, and later to congress as well.

This, btw, has led to one of the more interesting trends of Broward politics in the 1970s-1990s: the largest city (Lauderdale) often provided large numbers of Republican votes, even as more suburban areas like Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, etc. went overwhelmingly Democratic thanks to the condo commandos.