August 3, 2007
A GAY OLD TIME
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Hastings and Rajner in Ft. Lauderdale
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Last Saturday U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) showed strong leadership on AIDS by convening "Reclaiming our Community: Combating HIV/AIDS in our Backyard," a gathering of government officials, advocates and people with HIV aimed at fighting the epidemic in Ft. Lauderdale. Advocates made the most of the confab, taking the opportunity to wrangle assurances from both federal and local pols on a range of issues including comprehensive sex ed and job training for people with HIV/AIDS.
Hastings organized the event, which was attended by a host of Broward County luminaries, including infamously homophobic Ft. Lauderdale mayor James Naugle, Oakland Park's HIV-Positive mayor Larry Gierer, Broward County Sheriff Ken Jeene and health department Bureau of HIV/AIDS honcho Thomas Liberti. Florida ranks third in the nation for total HIV/AIDS cases, with some of the highest numbers coming from Broward county, where Ft. Lauderdale is located. African-American women are disproportionately affected.
"I saw this forum as a start," said Ft. Lauderdale resident and Campaign to End AIDS secretary Michael Rajner. "Hastings is a firm believer that elected officials need to lead when it comes to HIV. He has taken the time to listen to people and not judge them. He's trying to address HIV/AIDS as a health issue, not ideology."
A good example of Hastings' leadership was his interaction with Quintara Lane and Danielle Bowman, who recently participated in the Campaign to End AIDS' Youth Action Institute. The two young women spoke to attendees about their struggles against abstinence-only sex education—Bowman teaches her peers about comprehensive sex ed in Palm Beach county, where all funding goes to ab-only education. "I explained that I have middle schoolers coming up to me, saying they don't use condoms because abstinence-only people told them condoms don't work," Bowman said. Bowman's testimony shocked summit participants. One woman told her, "The schools are killing our children."
Hastings promised Bowman he would hold a town hall forum in Palm Beach county and invite the school superintendents to hear what Bowman had to say. "I'm really happy that Hastings' is taking this seriously," Bowman said.Potty talk
Another productive exchange occurred between Rajner and the controversial Naugle. Rajner asked Naugle to increase funding for job training programs for people with HIV/AIDS. Currently, there is a federally funded program in Ft. Lauderdale, but it receives no local funding. Naugle agreed to look into providing additional money. "I was pleased the mayor agrees that underserved populations are in dire need of more funding for vocational training programs," Rajner said. " I encourage the Mayor to provide the leadership and funding to make these critical programs a reality for those less fortunate. Elected leaders must exercise the political will in order to effect change and help individuals function with a higher level of independence."
In a follow-up interview with the Update, Naugle spoke about the importance of expanding services to people with HIV—but defended an HIV prevention proposal that made headlines last week—a single-occupancy $250,000 toilet on the beach that Naugle said would reduce gay sex in public restrooms. Naugle said he first learned about men having sex with men in toilets and bathhouses when he checked out the site Cruisingforsex.com. "I was appalled by what I saw," Naugle said. "These are bathrooms where children go."
While Naugle, who says he "doesn't believe in political correctness," claims men having sex in public places is a pervasive problem, others aren't so sure."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 told the Miami Herald.
Naugle may face an uphill battle in the gay mecca of Ft. Lauderdale, where he is known for refusing to use the word gay because "many homosexuals I know are unhappy. Just look at the suicide rate. When I watched the Flintstones as a kid, 'have a gay old time' wasn't talking about two men in bed together."
Rajner plans to work with the long-time mayor on some issues, but admits he is disgusted by Naugle's anti-gay rants. "What's fueling the epidemic isn't sex in bathhouses, it's possible to have safe sex in these places. What's fueling the epidemic is stigma," Rajner said.