Ft Lauderdale's Mayor
Practicing Politics of Division

by Archbishop Bruce J. Simpson, OSJB
Sept 5, 2007

Sadly, the mayor of Ft. Lauderdale and certain right-wing religious groups, including Rev. Dozier, have chosen to practice the politics and religion of division, hatred, and discrimination, in an attempt to divide the good people of this beautiful city for their own personal agendas, even citing arrest figures for crimes that are false, as confirmed by the mayor's own police department.

In rationalizing the agenda of the religious right, Rev. Dozier has said that he doesn't "want to see God destroy America the way he destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah." But what is the sin that destroyed Sodom? Let's listen to the words of Lot, as he begged the sinners of Sodom to turn from their depravity: "I beg you, my brothers," he pleads in Genesis 19, "don't do anything to these men, for you know they have come under the shelter of my roof."

Isn't that a strange reason to give - "because they have come under the shelter of my roof"? If the "sin of Sodom" is homosexuality, as Rev. Dozier would like us to believe, then what difference does it make whose house they're in? But as so many scripture scholars would hasten to point out, it is not homosexuality that brought down God's wrath. And indeed Lot's reasoning may give us the key to what sin did.

"They have come under the shelter of my roof" is his reason, because he knows that the justice of God cannot overlook the hypocrisy of men. And only a hypocrite could look for mercy while doling out harshness to others who are powerless and in need. "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt," God declares in Exodus 22. How could you - you who know what it is like to be a foreigner, you who know what it is like to have no rights before the law - how could you take advantage of those who have no one to protect them? How could you do this abominable thing?

And indeed, the wrath of God did flare up against the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah - not because they desired sex with men, but because they dared to take advantage of the powerless; much like those in political and religious power are trying to take advantage of the members of the gay and HIV communities in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Members of the gay community are men and women powerless before the law to claim access to health care from their partners' benefit plans; to declare their love openly in a way that is recognized by the state; to demand freedom from discrimination in the workplace and in fact the law will not even guarantee them protection from violence, abuse, and death. How much more powerless can anyone be before the law? How much crime against this disenfranchised group of people must take place before they cry out for the justice of God when - like the abused foreigners in Sodom - they are taken advantage of by those who would dare to call themselves, "God's people, and the leaders of church and state?"

Yes - standing here with you tonight, I share with Rev. Dozier this fear: that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is taking place in this community. Like all those centuries ago, people of power, self-proclaimed people of faith, have turned against the powerless and even now use them for their own selfish ends ... this time as scapegoats to advance their own political and religious agendas. Make no mistake about it: there is a sin here that cries out for God's justice. And as in Sodom, its perpetrators are the many and powerful who take advantage of the few, the disenfranchised, and the powerless.

How have the powerful chosen to use the power given to them as a sacred trust by less then seven per cent of the electorate of this community? The mayor of Ft. Lauderdale has chosen to join forces with the leaders of the religious far-right to make the members of the gay community the means to their own political and religious ends - ends which, I assure you, have nothing to do with Jesus or His church, but everything to do with spiritual terrorism. For there are two Christian churches: one is the fundamentalist literalists who believe that every word in the Bible was dictated by Jesus, and passed down through the ages till this very day, and then there is the enlightened Christian church that knows that the gospels were Divinely inspired, began in the oral tradition, and then from 70 to 90 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, written, interpreted, and translated through many languages by man. This Christian church knows through modern academic, theological study, that down through the ages, some of the textual messages of the Bible have changed, both by accident and on purpose from that which was originally written.

You see, the right - both the political and the religious right - needs a boogey man to replace the communists of old who used to serve as the fuel to stoke the fear that gives the right its power and money. They have found the gay community to be a very useful and profitable target - so much so that Jerry Falwell himself once confessed, "if the gay community didn't exist, the religious right would have to invent one!"

If this perversion of Jesus' gospel of love were not enough, the mayor has taken it yet a step further. He wasn't satisfied with just abusing the gay community alone; he has also brought the HIV community into the fray. Again, the mayor chooses from the most vulnerable of those he was elected to serve in order to fuel the fear that keeps his power going. Just last night, i personally heard the mayor tell the religious right group that met on government property here at city hall, that he was "surprised and shocked" to learn that Ft. Lauderdale was so heavily marketed to the gay community. In fact he apologized to the assembled ministers for not knowing! This is an outright lie. Naugle knows that while he was a member of the tourism board, he knew more about the gay marketing campaign then any other member of the board. To say otherwise, is simply another gross distortion of the truth.

This mayor has blamed the gay community for the number of HIV cases in Ft. Lauderdale, even though an official of the Broward County Department of Public Health refutes the mayor's lies. This official states:

"Broward does have an HIV/AIDS crisis and it has been ongoing for years. But it's not isolated to gay men. Heterosexual women make up a significant number of new HIV cases. Women make up a third of the county's roughly 6,900 HIV cases diagnosed over the past 10 years."

HIV/AIDS is not a gay problem - it is a human problem, which began in the heterosexual community. The road to a cure for HIV is littered with ignorant, arrogant people in positions of power who divert attention and money from where they need to be going.

And what do they do with that attention and money instead? Hard as it is to imagine, in Ft. Lauderdale, they consider literally dumping it into toilets - robo-toilets! I urge the people of Ft. Lauderdale to shun the religious right, reject their message, and pull the plug on mayor Naugle's abuse of power, and to flush his political career down the toilet that will forever be his embarrassing legacy. I urge people from across the nation, both gay and straight, to visit Ft. Lauderdale on their next vacation and flood this city with tolerance and love. This is what Ft. Lauderdale is already known for, and no temporary mayor's folly can destroy that reputation.



Email: Archbishop Bruce J. Simpson, OSJB
Website: The Benedictine Order of St. John the Beloved

Note from Mary: Archbishop Bruce of the Old Catholic Church is a long-time supporter and part of our ChristianGays.com family. He is the author of several articles which appear on this website. Please view his published biography "The Gay Face of God" which can be purchased directly from Bruce.