Last night, Mayor Mouth got some time on The Factor with Bill O'Reilly, who is one of Jim Naugle's idols. Not surprisingly, it wasn't exactly a hardball interview, nor was it fawning, though the title was spinned in favor of the Mouth: "Mayor working against gay behavior."
In the middle of Naugle's explanation about the Stonewall Library controversy, the mayor got in what he surely considered a jibe at the Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald:
"I might want to add on that that this collection is partially funded by the local newspapers, the Sun Sentinel and the Miami Herald, and even supported by a part of the United Way," he told O'Reilly. "So it's a really strange battle here in Broward County.
In the interest of historians, here's the full transcript of the interview:
August 22, 2007 Wednesday SHOW: THE O'REILLY FACTOR 8:29 PM EST Mayor Working Against Inappropriate Gay Behavior BYLINE: Bill O'Reilly GUESTS: Jim Naugle SECTION: NEWS; Domestic LENGTH: 933 wordsO'REILLY: "Impact" segment tonight, there is a nasty controversy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida between the mayor of that city and the gay community. Mayor Jim Nobel [sic] wants to remove some gay publications from the library and have police patrol public restrooms. The mayor joins us now from Broward County.
All right, let's take the library thing first. A little confusing to me. And I, you know, lived in Dade County for a while. I know Broward pretty well. Tell me what the library thing is all about.
JIM NAUGLE, FORT LAUDERDALE, FL MAYOR: Well, the county wanted to locate a library collection in one of the libraries that used to be a city library, but it's in a city building. And when we -- the morning of the vote, my city manager came to me and showed me some of the material that will be included in this library.
And we looked at it. I called the city attorney. And he felt that there's a strong possibility that it contained hard-core pornography.
O'REILLY: All right now what kind of a library is it?
NAUGLE: Now...
O'REILLY: Not a city library. It's a private library. You got to pay to get in there or what kind of deal is this?
NAUGLE: Well, it's a public library that has children's books, but over on the side they're going to have this private collection.
O'REILLY: So it is a public library, but it's not a Fort Lauderdale thing? Who pays for the library? Who's behind it?
NAUGLE: The Broward -- the Broward County government pays for the library.
O'REILLY: So it is a taxpayer-funded facility, and you believe that there was hard core
pornography included in this gay collection?
NAUGLE: Yes, yes. Not all of the collection.
O'REILLY: No.
NAUGLE: But some of it.
O'REILLY: And when you said, "Look, when I should take this stuff out there," they replied what?
NAUGLE: Well, we had a 3-2 vote on the city commission. And three of the city commissioners said the pornography was OK. And the library is also located in our main children's park. It's in the central park in the downtown part of the city.
O'REILLY: The gay pornography is in there no?
NAUGLE: Yes. Well, they're moving -- they're in the process of moving it in now.
O'REILLY: All right, so you lost that one.
NAUGLE: And it's all...
O'REILLY: What about...
NAUGLE: I want to add -- I might want to add on that that this collection is partially funded by the local newspapers, the Sun Sentinel and the Miami Herald, and even supported by a part of the United Way. So it's a really strange battle here in Broward County.
O'REILLY: All right, when it gets in there, let us know. And we'll see what -- put it out to independent analysis or something.
All right. The restroom controversy, now what's that all about?
NAUGLE: Well, there's a committee over on the beach that said that we've got a need for some public restrooms over on the beach and a proposed some self cleaning toilets. They have them in New York. They have them in Atlanta, and they have them in San Francisco.
And I mentioned that that type of facility, it's a single occupant toilet -- would cut down on the homosexual activity that we're experiencing over in our restaurants, particularly on the beach and other areas of the city. And -- and the homosexual community went crazy over that.
O'REILLY: Now, is that a documented fact that you have a problem with the public restrooms and behavior of that type inside those restrooms? Is it is documented fact?
NAUGLE: Yes. There's a web site that I discovered, cruising for sex. And this web site identifies different bathroom facilities throughout the city, both public and private. It also identifies two of my parks, including the main children's park, as a place where men can meet to have sex with men.
O'REILLY: But how about the arrests. Have Fort Lauderdale P.D. made arrests in there? Have you got under covers in there?
NAUGLE: We -- at one of the parks last year, we made five arrests. And we just made two more arrests on Monday night.
O'REILLY: All right. Now there is a large gay community in Fort Lauderdale and a large gay tourism industry there, as well. And the community -- not all of them, but some of them have said that you're just anti-gay, that you're homophobic, that you don't like them, you want them out. And your reply?
NAUGLE: Well, you know, the other problem that we have in our city is that we're -- we lead the nation with HIV who are in the classification of men having sex with men. And that's something that I want to address, I want to stop, this activity that we have in public places.
And I also want the county to adjust the bath houses, also. The visitors bureau is actually directing...
O'REILLY: The gay community deny that, you know, the gay community, since we don't believe in that. But you're convinced that that is true?
NAUGLE: Well, I have a copy of the rainbow vacation planner. It directs people to the bath houses.
O'REILLY: No, no, no. About leading the league in HIV?
NAUGLE: Well, yes, yes. No, it is true. It's on the Broward County Health Department web site. Seventy-four percent of new AIDS cases are the result of men having sex with men.
We -- in total AIDS cases, Miami is first, Fort Lauderdale is second, in New York is third. But in the MSN category, Miami is first. All right. We have a wonderful, beautiful city. There's lots of things to do in Fort Lauderdale. Come and visit, but -- but attracting people here for the bath houses is something that I remain against.
O'REILLY: OK, mayor. Thanks for coming on. We appreciate it.
