Jim Naugle just got a few new friends. A coalition of primarily black ministers have lent the Fort Lauderdale mayor their support to his homophobic cause. Peter Bailey of Miami Herald reports:

The predominantly black coalition of about 10 says its ultimate vision is to" transform Fort Lauderdale and Broward County into the Bible Belt of South Florida."

In hopes of reclaiming the "city's Biblical heritage," the group's leaders say they plan to undertake measures "to ensure immoral behavior is not tolerated in the city or throughout the county."

"We as a body of Christ support the mayor because he is addressing a moral crisis," said Mathis Guice, director of the men's ministry at Koinonia Worship Center. "People have to understand we're in a spiritual war with Satan."

That would be us.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force wants to take Jim Naugle to task. They've asked the Fort Lauderdale City Commission to formally censure the mayor for his repeated verbal attacks on the gays.

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One day after Broward County Tourism Commission booted Jim Naugle from their roster, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has come out against the homophobic Fort Lauderdale mayor. Via South Florida's CBS affiliate:

Add the NAACP to the list of groups who have come out against Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle for his anti-gay remarks.

Local leaders with the civil rights organization said Wednesday the mayor�s comments against the city�s gay community are a form of hate and discrimination.

Awesome, NAACP! We have one question: what took so long?

Peter LaBarbera fucked himself. The Americans For "Truth" president booked a banquet room at a Chicago-area Holiday Inn for an upcoming gathering of his anti-queer comrades.

As is his habit, LaBarbera opened his trap and told hotel management the conference may draw gay protesters. The organization does, after all, support homophobic politicos like Jim Naugle.

Preferring to keep attention on their guests, rather than politics, the hotel canceled LaBarbera's reservation. Now LaBarbera's citing discrimination and used the cancellation to perpetuate his "victimhood".

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Have fun with Lewd Larry and "No Gay" Naugle!

Q: Guess what Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle found by trying to stop gay sex in the the public bathrooms at the beach?

A: A Senator from Idaho.

Oh, zinger!

Another Craig crack-up, after the jump.

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Jim Naugle will no longer represent sunny Fort Lauderdale for the Broward County Tourism Commission. The commissioners voted unanimously to boot the mayor for his recent - and very public - anti-gay crusades.

Of the decision, Commissioner Stacy Ritter remarked

I had hoped that this would die on its own, but Mayor Naugle continues to push his own agenda and that is having an increasing impact on our community. He has continued to escalate his rhetoric, and we cannot be silent.

No surprise Naugle also had a statement. And, shocker, he's as filled with imbecilic as the day he called for robo-toilets:

Sometimes the easiest thing to do when you don't want to hear something is to shoot the messenger, but that doesn't mean that there is not a problem out there that needs to be addressed.

Oh, they addressed the problem, Naugle. Now, if only you'd take a hint a head for the hills.

Read what Fight OUT Loud President Waymon Hudson had to say to the commission, after the jump…

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• AIDS ignorance confounds us, because AIDS has officially been ravaging the globe for over 25-years. People should know it exists. And, more importantly, they should know how to prevent it. The staggering dearth of readily available, government-provided information, of course, leads to bizarre cultural coping, as in Papua New Guinea:

Some people with HIV/Aids in Papua New Guinea are being buried alive by their relatives, a health worker says.

Margaret Marabe said families were taking the extreme action because they could no longer look after sufferers or feared catching the disease themselves.

Ms Marabe said she saw the "live burials" with her own eyes during a five-month trip to PNG's remote Southern Highlands.

We know it can be hard getting out to the rural areas, but the government may want to invest in a helicopter or something. Or, rather, they should have already done that. They known about the worrisome HIV rate for quite a while.

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The shit storm surrounding Jim Naugle just got a fresh gust. Fight OUT Loud just sent a long a press release informing us that Broward County's Tourism Commission will vote tomorrow on whether they should boot Naugle from the board - a move the non-profit whole-heartedly supports:

Fight OUT Loud is pleased to support Commissioner Stacey Ritter’s plan to remove Naugle from the Broward County Tourism Development Council. This motion will be on the agenda for vote on Tuesday, August 28th. The move comes in response to Naugle’s continued attacks on the gay community. Commissioner Stacy Ritter said Naugle's comments have been counter to the board's mission and are cause to remove him before his term ends next spring.
…
Fight OUT Loud applauds Ritter and the County Commission for taking steps to remove Naugle from the Tourism Board, thereby giving him one less platform from which to spew dangerous misinformation and hate. Naugle is on a personal mission to demonize a large segment of the community he represents. By continuing his spread of lies and bigotry for his own personal satisfaction and agenda, Naugle has put the entire region at risk economically as well threatened the safety of LGBT citizens and visitors. He is putting the public at great risk by spreading misinformation about HIV/AIDS and other health issues. The mayor is also endangering the entire community by painting everyday citizens as depraved criminals and “abominations”, in the process encouraging hate and violence against them.

Once thought to be totally brainless, Naugle recently proved his political chops when he enlisted some holy roller friends to support his unholy mission.

Jim Naugle's protracted homophobic campaign against public sex got whipped by Fort Lauderdale's tourism board.

Nicki Grossman of the visitor's bureau urged the maniacal Naugle,

The damage has been done to the destination. We need to get back to work fixing it. The rhetoric needs to stop and the anger, the mischaracterizations and the hurtful mean-spirited rhetoric has to stop.

Naugle replied, "I will not stop until I have convinced at least one million people that gay people are disease carrying monsters who should be burned at the stake." He's well on his way.

Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle's homophobic crusade earned him plenty of enemies over the past few weeks - and Larry Gierer's one of them.

The 'mo mayor of neighboring Oakland Park, Gierer took some time last night to knock Naugle - who thinks gays can't be happy - and his preposterous anti-gay mission…

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Standing before his Fort Lauderdale constituency yesterday, famed homophobe Jim Naugle again "encouraged" residents to join him in stemming the so-called scourge of gay public sex:

I am very encouraged at this organized show of public support for myself, but, more importantly, for the cause of protecting Broward public health. I would encourage residents… to join this coalition and call for measures that will make our community a much more livable and healthy place.

The coalition to which the robo-mayor refers goes by the name Healthy Public Places and consists of some of America's most conservative, Christian-leaning parties.

While the press conference may have seemed like another show of Naugle's smuggness, there's more the story. Already an offensive politician, Naugle proved himself to be smarter - and far more dangerous - than we imagined.

As much as we joke that Naugle's a brainless, backward Neanderthal, the politico proved yesterday that he's more than just a conservative ideologue. He's a sinister motherfucker.

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• For reasons unknown even to them, Gawker decided to post this video of the world's first "bear synth band", BearForce1. Your life will never, ever be the same…

• JC Chasez came out of hiding long enough to have his "heterosexuality" photography.

• Anti-gay activist Patricia McKeever "honored" to be nominated as Britain's Bigot of the Year.

• Britain's Minister of Sport saves Iranian lesbian from deportation. For now, at least…

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If one ever needed proof that Jim Naugle lives in another dimension, consider this snippet from last night's conversation between the homophobic Fort Lauderdale mayor and CNN's Rick Sanchez:

SANCHEZ: Mr. Mayor, let me just stop you right there because you used the world "homosexuals" and you've been quoted as saying this, which I think is interesting. You said, "I don't use the word 'gay' because most of them aren't gay, they are unhappy." Did you really say that or is that a misquote?

NAUGLE: Well, again, that was the Sun Sentinel who — they don't subscribe to the Rupert Murdoch method of reporting the news and letting the people decide. They always have an agenda.

Um, how does one even respond to something like that? Seriously, we've never heard anyone say such a thing about Murdoch without bursting into the giggles and/or bursting into flame.

But, wait, there's more.

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Treviso, Italy mayor Giancarlo Gentilini garnered some anti-gay protest this weekend after threatening to "ethnically clean" "faggots". In remarks on a radio show last week, Gentilini recalled Hitler's final solution when he said,

I will immediately give orders to my forces so that they can carry out an ethnic cleansing of faggots. The faggots must go to other [places] where they are welcome. Here in Treviso there is no chance for faggots or the like.

Damn, that shit makes Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle's robo-toilet suggestion sound like an invitation to tea.

About 1,000 people turned up in Trevio's town square to shake a fist at Gentilini, calling for a criminal investigation and suggesting a resignation.

And, more than that, they swear to keep up the fight until Gentilini's punished for his sin.

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Jim Naugle got the textual smack down after the Broward County commissioners sent him a letter blasting his anti-gay ways. The Fort Lauderdale mayor first caught our eye - and ire - after suggesting the city curb allegedly rampant public gay sex by installing $250,000 robo-toilets.

Gay activists went wild with anger and started the aptly named "Flush Naugle" campaign. As gay media and activists called for Naugle's head, most of his political peers remained largely silent. Until now.

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