From the too-much-time-on-his-hands-to-do-the-people’s-business department…
Even though the Fort Lauderdale Police Department has said that public restroom sex at the beaches of the city has not been an issue, the bible beating, aggressively anti-gay mayor, Jim Naugle, has decided that the phantom anonymous gay sex requires $250K taxpayer dollars to be spent on a portable “robojohn.” (365gay):
Mayor Jim Naugle has spent the better part of a decade fighting what he has claimed to be an attempt by gays to take over Fort Lauderdale. He has consistently fought all LGBT rights ordinances that have come before city commissioners.These automated toilet stalls are used in other cities — Seattle, New York, and Atlanta — but not as a deterrent to public sex. Because the doors only stay closed for a set amount of time, and the seat is cleaned between uses, it’s obviously a more sanitary system, deters vagrants and crime, and requires no attendant. Naugle’s focus is that there isn’t enough private time in the robojohn for anyone to have sex.Now he’s turning his attention on the beach - long a favorite of gay tourists who bring millions of dollars into the city each year.
…”We’re trying to provide a family environment where people can take their children who need to use the bathroom,” he told the paper “without having to worry about a couple of men in there engaged in a sex act.”
The police department, however, tells the paper that sex in bathrooms isn’t a major problem. Sgt. Frank Sousa. tells the Sun-Sentinel that while there may once have been a problem it isn’t today. “There’s no evidence, no reports or arrests made for any men having sex in any restrooms,” Sousa told the paper.
Nevertheless, Naugle wants the city to buy a portable bathroom called a “robo-john” and have it placed on the beach at Sebastian Street an area popular with gay sunbathers.
And he knows this…how? Having seen public sex on a freaking moving subway train in NYC (bleh — and both times it was het couples), I can attest that just about anything is possible in a very short period of time.
Since you are so worried about sex between men in the john, Mr. Mayor, perhaps you should install a camera as well so you can personally monitor the success of the installed public crapper.
47 Responses to “Images of beach restroom sex vex Ft. Lauderdale mayor, calls for robojohns”
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Between this, the 2000 election, old people driving the wrong way on a street (I’ve seen that happen twice), and drivers in Miami being ruder than drivers in NYC, it’s proof positive why I hate living in South Florida. Given the chance, I’m moving to the other side of the country ASAP.
There are bathrooms like that on the streets of Berlin. You have to pay to use them, but they are very convenient and sanitary - in general a good idea. But this guy sounds like a big crazy.
Florida is easily the nuttiest state in the country. Whenever I hear a really bizarre news story, I think, “Must be in Florida.” And I’m correct pretty often.
Look, honey, a BATHROOM- be a shame to waste this opportunity…nudge, nudge!
Oh PLEASE.
Mayor Naugle is living proof that stupid people should not be allowed to run for office. He’s also proof that fundaloons think about gay sex far more often than any actual homosexuals do.
i’m confused about the particulars– maybe someone who has used a “robojohn” could help with this. How do these things determine how much time someone needs to use the bathroom? What about folks who are, say, sick, and really need to spend some quality time on that toilet?
But even more than this issue, and the crazy-man-obsessed-with-gay-sex issue, it is actually quite scary the way private space in public places is being destroyed, monitered, and robotified in the name of security, or in this case, beating back the gay menace.
(blink)
Who on Earth has sex in a public restroom when you can do it in a hotel room? Public restrooms smell.
Irene
Meanwhile, in the little town that I just moved to, the local park has single-toilet, handicap-accessible (plenty of room to get down in), lockable, insanely clean and air-conditioned bathrooms. And they’re also right across the street from the high school.
Gawdam, I thought. This little conservative town has a seedy, squallid underbelly. I’m surprised the kids aren’t lined up every night and study hour.
Oh, lovely.
Not only would myself and I’m sure everyone I know rather have sex in the hotel room they’d quite obviously be renting (or are they worried about teh gays sleeping in the bathrooms also?), but now imagine being constipated and halfway through pooping when the door pops open. WONDERFUL IDEA, MORON!
We wrote about this yesterday–not surprising since we’re all based here in south Florida–and I have to say that Naugle, while sharing an odd kinship with Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, is not representative of south Floridians in general. Fort Lauderdale, in particular, is very gay friendly. Naugle was elected (again) in a low turnout, February election that got very little coverage, and was elected because he was a tool of the developers. It’s his last term, and he has very limited power. We will be glad to see him go.
Naugle’s focus is that there isn’t enough private time in the robojohn for anyone to have sex.
And these are the same people who resist having a minimum wage!
(Begging the question even more: he’s studied this?!?!)
sounds like a boycott to me……
If there’s one thing the civil rights movement did right, it was effectively using the boycott as an instrument of social change. From buses in Alabama to conventions and trade shows in South Carolina, the threat of blacks withholding their……
By the way, I think the robojohns are a good idea myself, even though my co-blogger has visions of them morphing into killer Transformers:Crapbot 3000! and laying waste to the city. That doesn’t mean Naugle isn’t still an idiot.
The robojohns look like a good idea, only they’re being used in Seattle for drug sales.
As someone who enjoys the occasional restroom encounter(it has to be spontaneous though) I feel the need to pick up the gauntlet dropped by Naugle and prove that you can get it on in those toilets.
Well, it may be for the wrong reason, but as long as the robojohns don’t turn out to be a waste of tax money, they might be a good thing for Ft. Lauderdale which at least has Sgt. Sousa, whose professionalism is displayed by having his priorities straight. Then again, sounds like a lot of tax money. My question: How the hell does Naugle come by his information? Is there friggin graffiti that says “For a good time, be here at X:00?”
Shhh, no one tell him about the Mile High Club….
I’m not a doc, so I lack the lingo for the this particular sick obsession with other people’s sexuality. Are there chemical or therapeutic cures for people obsessed with other people’s sexuality? Does Naugle have family members who can muster an intervention:
“Jim, we’ve gathered here today because we care deeply about you.”
“That’s right, Jim, and we’re worried that all you do is fret about homo-sex.”
“Daddy, you can stop. I know you can.”
“That’s right, son, we all believe in you.”
And it can be filmed and played on that Intervention tv show and we can all celebrate that a fundy came out of their perverse focus on other’s sex lives.
Wasn’t Fort Lauderdale the same city where the “homo-nausic” guy they interviewed on The Daily Show lived?
My modertely-sized mid-Western town once had a public park known for gay sexual encounters. They closed the park to the public and spent several million dollars redirecting the river so that the places where gays were having sex are now underwater, in order to put a stop to that . . .
Straight people are sooo weird . . .
He sure sounds like a tool, all right.You don’t suppose he’s another Jim West, do you?
Mr. Mayor, your obsession is unhealthy. This is usually a gigantic sign that you’re a closet case.
“Do you like trains, Joel?”
;)
My moderately-sized mid-Western town once had a public park known for gay sexual encounters.
My large West Coast town has the park where George Michael was busted for having sex in a public bathroom.
It was at Will Rogers Memorial Park, if you need to know where you can find a cute cop.
To put a face with the freep, our dashing Jim:
pic
Never could understand the appeal of sex either by yourself or with other people in a bathroom. Especially a public restroom with unflushed toilets hell even the cleanest bathroom kills any sexual desire for me.
Seriously like the police was telling the doofus of a mayor gay sex in the bathrooms practically doesn’t exist. Hetero or self sexual incidents those have been reported on a lot.
i’m confused about the particulars– maybe someone who has used a “robojohn� could help with this. How do these things determine how much time someone needs to use the bathroom? What about folks who are, say, sick, and really need to spend some quality time on that toilet?
We have these in San Francisco. They’re cool. It’s a structure about 6 feet long, 4 feet wide, 7 feet high. Ours happen to be in an oval shape that matches the style and color of our bus stops, but they could be shaped like anything.
You put in a quarter and the door opens. You go inside and push a button to close the door. You then have 20 minutes to do your business. There’s a sink, a toilet, toilet paper, a mirror, and a hand dryer inside the module. Everything’s metal.
When you’re done, you push a button on the inside to open the door again. The door closes once you’re outside, and it locks. Then the sanitizing process begins. I believe it’s lightly sprayed down and steam-cleaned. After 30-60 seconds, another person can go inside.
FYI, here’s link to a picture of the San Francisco street toilets.
http://www.sfgov.org/site/sfdpw_page.asp?id=32434
They’ve always been clean when I’ve needed to use them. I appreciate not having to beg a retailer for permission to use their private toilet. It’s a bit of a shame that they’re funded by advertisements on the outside.
And of course, they’re no deterrent to hanky-panky. 20 minutes? Come on, that’s plenty of time for a little hey-hey. And there’s a mirror, so you can watch yourselves, and clean up in the sink afterward!
Oh, and 20 minutes was determined to be a fair amount of time for people who use wheelchairs or have mobility restrictions. Or are extremely constipated.
How many toilets, sinks, urinals, etc, are there in a robojohn? $250k seems like it’s enough for a fairly decent house that might have several bathrooms, in addition to a kitchen, bedrooms, living room, office, etc.
“…so I lack the lingo for the this particular sick obsession with other people’s sexuality…”
Holly Capote, the word is ‘fundie’!
Feeling
Un-
Natuarlly
Drawn (to another)
Individual’s
Eroticism! (make a great bumper sticker…)
Thlayli, you cracked me up… back before Cruise hopped on sofas!!
God DAMN stupid fingers… you get the point, even if the typing sucks. natuarlly= naturally
One of the weirdest experiences of my college life involved the bathroom at the local bar. Two of my close friends, a married-but-both-bi-and-poly male and female, have no sense of, uh, anti-exhibitionism whatsoever.
So I walk into the girl’s bathroom to find a line of people using one of the two stalls, emitting scandalized exclaimations about the people locked in the handicapped stall going at it. With a sinking sensation in my chest piercing the alcoholic haze, I take a quick peek through the crack and, yep, that’s the same bright color shirt the wife was wearing earlier. Joy.
I really had to pee, too. So I wound up going to the bathroom about a foot away from a buddy of mine getting a blowjob from his wife. That is…. slightly awkward.
So, yeah, it’s not like man/woman partnerships (hell, husbands and wives, even if the arrangement they have and the hot gay guy the husband has on the side would give this bastard apoplexy!) don’t have sex in bathrooms, too. And if this happens in Central Pennsyltucky, it probably happens MORE in most of Florida. Just a hunch.
So, from the picture and the description, robojohns actually sound like a much nicer place to get it on than any beach bathroom I have ever been in. Thanks Naugle! And 20 minutes? ample time, if someone is so inclined. When I read the post originally I was thinking several stalls whose doors would open at roughly 3-5 minute intervals. Think how awkward THAT would have been for The Stranger.
Julian Elson:
No shit. My 1210 sqft 3/2 in the northwest suburbs of Austin cost me less than $250k. That had better be one pretty fucking amazing bathroom.
On the beach in Fort Lauderdale, even with the current market quickly tanking, $250K might get you a closet in a run down building. I live about 2 miles from the beach and there are condos going for (or not going for, more accurately) $750K. North of me, near Boca on the beach, a building is beginning construction which will have condos starting at 5 million each. Starting.
20 minutes is way more than enough, if you’re already having public-restroom sex anyway. Not like you intend to lay out rose petals and candles in there, give a sensual massage, put on Barry White….
Plus, if there’s not even a problem with people having sex in there (gay or straight! as others have said, there’s probably more straight public sex)…..what the heck is the point?
I guess the robojohn would keep people from walking in on it. Not going to keep people from having sex in there if they’re bound and determined.
Sounds to me like Nagle is miffed that no one wants to be alone with him in a public bathroom…
I think Naugle himself might be under the impression that the robodoors open every sixty seconds or something. Twenty minutes is more than enough time for most people to have a quickie.
Anyway, as someone who visited the Fort Lauderdale public bathrooms recently with my potty-training kid, I think the $250k would be better spent cleaning the ones they have more than once a decade. Seriously, anyone having sex in there needs a full-body condom.
“Not like you intend to lay out rose petals and candles in there, give a sensual massage, put on Barry White…”
Caroline, two thoughts come to mind:
1) You have truly captured the essence of public-restroom sex, both homo and hetero. Not that I’ve tried it myself, but I can see the appeal after having had a BJ in a parked car.
2) Wouldn’t it be waaaaay cool to sprinkle rose petals around a public restroom, light a couple candles, leave a half-glass of champagne beside the sink…? Perhaps a restroom in F. Lauderdale City Hall….
@ Caroline:Man,I’ve got to remember not to consume any beverages while reading the comments on this site.But I’ve cleaned up now.Barry White….*giggles*
cycles: We have these in San Francisco. They’re cool. It’s a structure about 6 feet long, 4 feet wide, 7 feet high…
Oh, that’s cool then. I was scared; I thought it was some kind of Transformer-looking thing that got up and walked around.
I’ve been to two robojohns - both in Netherlands train stations. I paid 50 euro cents each time for the pleasure of using these facilities, neither of which contained toilet paper or hand towel paper and were abominably dirty and the toilet rims were drenched with the “sanitizing treatment”. Beware. Robjohns can be the start of newer abysmal standard.
Men, on the other hand, have opportunities galore for free pissing with outdoor urinals aplenty.
My work here is done. Muahahaha.
This all recalls a poignant fact, that the late Tupac Shakur’s conception happened in the holding area for prisoners someplace, where his parents had a few idyllic moments to themselves while awaiting a court hearing.
A quick follow up story to this post:
[…] It looks like Florida might need those automated restroom stalls after all. Makes one wonder if maybe Jim Naugle bumped into Allen in a public john somewhere and that’s what got him started on his evangelizing. […]