A group of around 30 LGBT activists and supporters carried picket signs with pictures of hate crimes victims and bearing placards that called for an end to hate speech by public officials outside of the March 13 prayer breakfast hosted by Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle. The protest was organized by the activist groups Fight OUT Loud and Gay American Heroes.
The keynote speaker at the prayer breakfast was Jim Daly, president of the ultra right-wing religious organization Focus on the Family. FOTF is among the most aggressive opponents of the gay rights movement and one of the primary backers of an expansive anti-gay marriage amendment that goes before voters this November in Florida.
Activists from Fight Out Loud and Gay American Heroes, as well as supporters from several Fort Lauderdale churches, said Daly's appearance at the breakfast is an example of how Naugle is using his office to inflame hatred and violence towards the gay community. All of this comes only weeks after a string of anti-gay violent crimes in Fort Lauderdale.
Naugle has yet to speak out against these acts of violence in South Florida, including the murder of 19 year old gay youth Simmie Williams and the brutal gay-bashing of a couple at a popular tourist hot spot. The mayor has remained silent on these acts and continued to inflame anti-gay hatred.
Instead of trying to diffuse the dangerous atmosphere that many see as building in Fort Lauderdale, Naugle has time and time again tried to paint the local gay community as predators, disease carriers, and a danger to children. His most recent push was when he used the city newsletter to spread his message of hate. The group Fight OUT Loud responded immediately and his mayor's message was permanently stripped from the newsletter. Now he has invited Focus on the Family to come and spread their hate in the city as well.
Our community must continue to stand up against bigots like Naugle and Sally Kern. We cannot allow their virulent anti-gay rhetoric to go unchallenged and further create an atmosphere of hate and violence in our communities. It was an honor to stand in the picket line and fight back against this kind of mindless hate.
I hope you all join me on the front lines in this fight.
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8 Comments
The front lines? You're back a row! I can see you there! *giggles*
Thanks for helping to lead this fight on our behalf, Waymon. I appreciate it.
Bil Browning | March 15, 2008 2:31 PM
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Waymon;
I am so proud of what you all are doing in Ft.L.
You have our best wishes and prayers.
I am pleased thay you are keeping the hate of these people tied to the ongoing murders of LGBT's
Time for them to be held accoutable, and you are doing that and doing it well!
MauraHennessey | March 15, 2008 2:35 PM
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What about our families? The families of the victims who have lost a loved one, or the families who have to live in fear for the safty of their loved ones.
I guess some families do not count for people like Daly and Naugle.
Isn't it time for a recall election or something? This idiot is not going to change his tune, and he is not going to stop using his office as a bully pulpit to spread his vitriol.
He needs therapy, really.
Keep after him, and let him know that his kind are not welcome anymore.
diddlygrl | March 15, 2008 4:58 PM
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Naugle is term limited out in March 09, so there was not time to get a recall done. That is why we are taking away every platform we can from him (Fight OUT Loud and our allies got him kicked off the Tourism Development Council and have now taken away his message in the city newsletter).
We are also putting forward a record number of LGBT candidates at the local and county level so this never happens again.
We are also going to continue to stay in his face and point out the serious consequences of his hate-filled tirades.
We know he hates gay people so now we will be everywhere he is, picketing and reminding everyone what a bigot he is.
We are working at all levels to combat him, from political to activism. Our community will not sit silently by any longer...
Waymon Hudson | March 15, 2008 5:16 PM
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What about our families? The families of the victims who have lost a loved one, or the families who have to live in fear for the safty of their loved ones.
I guess some families do not count for people like Daly and Naugle.
Isn't it time for a recall election or something? This idiot is not going to change his tune, and he is not going to stop using his office as a bully pulpit to spread his vitriol.
He needs therapy, really.
Keep after him, and let him know that his kind are not welcome anymore.
diddlygrl | March 15, 2008 7:20 PM
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Bravo, Waymon! Thanks for helping lead this and sharing the story. Chip had already forwarded me the pictures. The blowups of hate crime victim photos was a brilliant idea! It's so great that in a state with such a long history of exceptional levels of LGBT oppression there are still people, and more every day, refusing to be intimidated, to remain silent.
Some may be aware that this is another manifestation of the Quaker concept of "speaking Truth to Power." We SOOOOO need more of this. And that is one of the reasons the Gay American Heroes Foundation, of which Waymon is a part, is something so important to me.
After decades of effort of all kinds for black civil rights only resulted in a handful of advances it was finally white Americans SEEING the costs, the extremes of racist bigotry on TV and in their newspapers and magazines that resulted in the 1964 and 65 Civil Rights Act and subsequent progress.
By contrast, too much of the LGBT movement is still little more than preaching to other LGBT choir members.
Out of the blogs and into the streets!
Michael Bedwell | March 15, 2008 9:36 PM
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Not to bitch and all, but what's with the adoption of murdered trans youth as "gay" in a few posts here this week?
Rebecca | March 16, 2008 6:50 PM
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How to refer to someone who is deseased is always a challenge, Rebecca, since it is hard to know how they self-identified. Simmie's mother has said he was openly gay (she is actually extremely supportive of her late son), but not that he was trans, so I went that route. Simmie could have been trans, but I don't know for sure, so I went with the facts I could confirm. I should have added gener-variant to acknowledge that, so my apologies. I made sure to do that in my other posts, but did not in this one. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and I will try and do better.
It is a sad fact that the vast majority of hate crimes victims this year have been trans/gender-variant and african-american.
Waymon Hudson | March 16, 2008 9:29 PM
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