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Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Mayor Jim Naugle faced growing pressure this week for his homophobic and other inflammatory remarks, with some gay activists calling Tuesday for his resignation.
About 40 people wearing yellow "Flush Naugle" T-shirts rallied at the city commissioners' meeting, a foretaste of a larger rally planned next week, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported.
Above City Hall, an airplane flew a banner demanding "Surrender Naugle" in the name of Web site www.flushnaugle.org.
Former City Commissioner Dean Trantalis, citing recent beefs between Naugle and the city's black and other communities, said Naugle's performance has slipped in the past year or so and that he should step down.
"Your beliefs are felt by no one in this city, your attitude scares people from even wanting to visit here, and your conduct has become a liability to a city that needs to move forward," Trantalis said.
Others, including the president of Fort Lauderdale's tourism authority, said they had repeatedly had to distance themselves from Naugle statements including that gays are "unhappy" and use city toilets for "illegal sex," the latter claim disputed by police.
Naugle is in trouble for other statements, including that affordable housing wouldn't be needed if "schlocks" among his constituents would deign to work more than 40 hours a week instead of sitting around drinking beer.
The commissioners Tuesday killed a proposal to build a $250,000-plus robotic toilet at a city beach, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Naugle had lobbied hard for the robojohn, telling reporters it was needed to prevent gays having illegal sex.
"Attacking groups of Fort Lauderdale residents to justify city expenditures is never appropriate behavior," Mitchell Ceasar, chairman of the Broward County Democratic Party, wrote in a letter to Naugle, a fellow Democrat.
"As I know, an apology is not in your lexicon. Therefore, I can only hope that you would refrain from such behavior in the future," Ceasar wrote.
"Apologize for what?" the Sun-Sentinel quoted Naugle as saying.
About 40 people wearing yellow "Flush Naugle" T-shirts rallied at the city commissioners' meeting, a foretaste of a larger rally planned next week, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported.
Above City Hall, an airplane flew a banner demanding "Surrender Naugle" in the name of Web site www.flushnaugle.org.
Former City Commissioner Dean Trantalis, citing recent beefs between Naugle and the city's black and other communities, said Naugle's performance has slipped in the past year or so and that he should step down.
"Your beliefs are felt by no one in this city, your attitude scares people from even wanting to visit here, and your conduct has become a liability to a city that needs to move forward," Trantalis said.
Others, including the president of Fort Lauderdale's tourism authority, said they had repeatedly had to distance themselves from Naugle statements including that gays are "unhappy" and use city toilets for "illegal sex," the latter claim disputed by police.
Naugle is in trouble for other statements, including that affordable housing wouldn't be needed if "schlocks" among his constituents would deign to work more than 40 hours a week instead of sitting around drinking beer.
The commissioners Tuesday killed a proposal to build a $250,000-plus robotic toilet at a city beach, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Naugle had lobbied hard for the robojohn, telling reporters it was needed to prevent gays having illegal sex.
"Attacking groups of Fort Lauderdale residents to justify city expenditures is never appropriate behavior," Mitchell Ceasar, chairman of the Broward County Democratic Party, wrote in a letter to Naugle, a fellow Democrat.
"As I know, an apology is not in your lexicon. Therefore, I can only hope that you would refrain from such behavior in the future," Ceasar wrote.
"Apologize for what?" the Sun-Sentinel quoted Naugle as saying.
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