Airport Intercom Hates Gay People, Loves Bible. God Would Not Approve...

[Ian David]

Anthony Niedwiecki and Waymon Hudson got an earful after arriving to Fort Lauderdale last week. While waiting for their luggage, the couple of six of years heard what sounded like a Biblical condemnation of homosexuality. Shocked and a bit confused, they boys thought they had imagined it. Until the message played again. South Florida's NBC6 reports:

A gay couple is asking for an investigation after they claim they heard threatening comments announced over the intercom system at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
...
"My partner said, 'Did you hear that?' And I said, 'I kind of think I did,'" said Anthony Niedwiecki. "Then about two minutes later we heard it again. 'A man who lies with a man as if he were lying with a woman shall be subject to death.'"

"It was almost so threatening that I was frightened," said Waymon Hudson, Niedwiecki's partner.

Certainly not the kind of talk one would expect from a public airport.

<snip>

..As of today, I have not heard back from the airport or United. NBC6 news, our local channel, aired a story about this yesterday and today. The airport spokesperson said that anyone could have made the comments, which should give us all pause in a time of terrorism (anyone can use the PA system of an airport?).

Indeed. The fact that airport security can't regulate who's roaming about the airport's back corridors is far scarier than some nutter spouting Biblical verse.

More:
http://www.queerty.com/queer/news/airport-intercom-hates-gay-people-loves-bible-20070503.php?rss

[peacebird]

1. why is it the wingnuts can only remember THAT part of the bible?

What about the words of Jesus?

:eyes:

If their rapture ever comes and God is truly just - there will be a lot of suprised wingnuts on the DOWN escalator

[AndyA]

2. The Right Wingers are all hypocrites.

They kill. They judge others. They condemn. The cheat on their spouses. They get divorces. They steal. They lie.

And all of that is OK.

But they remember the stuff about being gay, and THAT ALONE is the one thing they adhere to in The Bible.

I guess their version of The Bible doesn't have those passages about "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone..." and
"Thou shalt not kill, lie, steal, etc."

Hypocrites. All of them.

[Divine Discontent]

4. hmmmm

even after all these years, I just thought of something (or I'd forgotten it!), they probably focus on gay people so much, esp. men, because they feel in their minds that being gay is so obviously wrong and worse than stealing, cheating on their wife or girlfriend, or hiring a prostitute, that it makes them feel better to focus on men loving other men to ignore their true divisiveness in their own life that keeps them truly apart from God.
Oh, that or they're closet bisexual/homosexuals like 10% of the men I know, honestly.

www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<-- check it out, top '08 stuff

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[uppityperson]

16. Are all RightWingers Christians? NO. Are all Christians Fundamentalists?NO

Combine RW with fundamentalism of any sort and that is a problem.

[yewberry]

17. I can't imagine why you'd take issue with AndyA's comments.

He refers to right-wingers' hypocrisy.

Not the Church, not people of faith, but people who ignore all the teachings of the Bible except (of course) for Leviticus and use those passages to condemn others. The people who do that aren't believers and they certainly aren't Christians--they're just opportunistic slime who wield the words of someone else's faith like an axe.

No need for diplomacy there, and his language was pretty clear to me. Seems you may have misunderstood.

[uppityperson]

19. read further on this topic.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=870616&mesg_id=870616

[yewberry]

20. Unsurprising.

Someone whose handle is Italian for "provoke" is now persona non grata..whatta shock.

[BOSSHOG]

3. You shall picketh and you shall chooseth

what best suiteth you and yours and you shall hate mightily those that do not fornicatith as thou dost and you shall tithe mightily to the rightious who teach you what to picketh and what to chooseth and you shall striveth to overcome the evil constitution and replaceth it with the bible, meanwhile enjoyeth YOUR consitutional liberties until the deed is doneth.

[Ian David]

5. UPDATE: Mayor Apologizes For Anti-Gay Message At Airport

Mayor Apologizes For Anti-Gay Message At Airport

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Broward County Mayor Josephus Eggelletion Jr. apologized Friday for the seemingly anti-gay statement someone made over the public announcement system at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport earlier this week, catching the attention of two gay men.

Anthony Niedwiecki and Waymon Hudson said they heard the message about 1 a.m. Tuesday while waiting for their bags after returning from Chicago on an American Airlines flight. Eggelletion said he wasn't sure who was responsible for delivering the message but added the individual would have had access to the PA system code. He also offered an apology of his own.

"The statement was inappropriate and I'm here today as the mayor of Broward County to personally apologize to Mr. Anthony Niedwiecki and Mr. Waymon Hudson," Eggelletion said. The Broward Sheriff's Office is investigating.

More:
http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2007/05/mayor-apologizes-for-anti-gay-message.html

[romantico]

6. If I were these two I WOULD NOT REST

until they found the asshole who said it! The airport I bet is hoping that an appologuy from the Mayor will "Be Enough" for them. I would be relentless and call EVERYDAY and even go down there and ask what they are doing. Oh come on! They can easily tell you who was working at the time they arrived at the airport and who was on duty who had access to the intercom. They need to stay on this and humilate the person who did this. Get their names in every paper, on the tv and have it made public who these people are and what they did! I'm telling you. I don;t want these two guys to report it if they don;t have the guts to follow up on ti and DO SOMETHING about it!

[RedXIII]

18. hypocrites..

Exodus 35:2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death

Why don't the conservative xians follow that verse?

It's in the bible,no i'm not putting all Catholics down,because there is some group called Dignity USA which i'm a part of.

I mean the most vocal of the Christians.

[mitchtv]

7. Ah Christians ,so loving

and full of God's grace too!
Yes, unless the perpetrators are found and fired it reflects on their so called faith

[fightthegoodfightnow]

8. Speech

Notice to Big Brother enforcer of the Patriot Act....the fact that I mention airport and security in a same post just means I am expressing my lawful First Amendment Rights....and now the substance of what I have to say:

Talk about National Security and the lack thereof:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=221&topic_id=51847&mesg_id=51847

Bible nuts can say anything they want so long as it's not paid for by me. That mike should have been in a secure place.

[mitchtv]

9. There is no free speech in the airport

Nor can you make terrorist threats to captive audiences. If one is threatened, we all are.

[romantico]

10. Updated!!!

Doesn't sound like he will be charged This will be spun as the gay men not having a sense of humor!(It was ONLY a joke! A Prank!) Its the fault of the gay guys for making such a big deal over it! I swear to God, if this guy named Jethro is NOT Fired and charged this there will be hell to pay! I'd look the fucker up and harass him 24/7!!!Argh!


Broward officials blame 'prankster' for Bible verse that offended gays

By Juan C. Ortega
Sun-Sentinel.com
Posted May 7 2007, 2:55 PM EDT


FORT LAUDERDALE – A self-described prankster admitted playing a Bible verse over the public address system at the international airport last week that offended a gay couple, county officials said on Monday.

Broward Mayor Josephus Eggelletion Jr. and Bob Bielek, interim director of the county aviation department, identified the prankster as Jethro Monestime, 23, a skycap who has worked for Superior Aircraft Services at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport for about a year.



LocalLinks

The officials said investigators talked with Monestime Sunday night and said he admitted playing the verse over the P.A. system twice. Monestime said it was a prank and that he had downloaded the verse onto his cell phone, then played it over the intercom. He said he was not aware a gay couple was in the airport terminal and said that was just a concidence and had no ill intent.

County officials said BSO will turn over the results of its investigation to the Broward State Attorney's Office to determine if any charges should be filed.

In addition, county officials said they would urge Superior Aircraft to terminate Monestime's employment.

Dan Pine, co-owner of Superior Aircraft, said Monestime will be fired if the allegations against him are true. Pine said he did not know Monestime personally, but said the skycap's co-workers said he was a good employee. Pine also said co-workers described Monestime as a devout Christian.

The unauthorized announcement quoted from Leviticus 20:13, which, depending on the translation of the Bible, states that: "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death."

Eggelletion apologized for the incident Friday after a gay couple complained they heard the Biblical passge while in the baggage area of Terminal 3 around 12:45 a.m. last Tuesday.

Anthony Niedwiecki, a 40-year-old Nova Southeastern University law professor, and his six-year partner, Waymon Hudson, were in a baggage claim area with a few other people and were frightened by the announcement.

Niedwiecki said the verse was shortened and instead said, "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, they must be put to death."

"It wasn't a prank to us. It was a death threat," Niedwiecki said.

Still, Niedwiecki said the two were glad officials are sure they found the culprit and now want Monestime to at least be fired


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-57bibleverse,0,171836.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines


Also here:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-57bibleverse,0,171836.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

[Divine Discontent]

11. at least he lost his job

http://www.nbc6.net/news/13269882/detail.html?dl=headlineclick

he deserves worse for hate crime through attacking words over a private system, and 2nd, doing it at an airport, using the PA system for frivolous behavior deserves jail time...

[romantico]

12. Now these guys are getting death threats from religious wackos.

Heres what the couple had to say:

We expected negative feedback, but it has been escalating. We have hit a nerve with conservatives and extreme fundamentalists and are starting to get hate mail at our work email addresses. Also, I actually just came back from the grocery store, where a woman stopped me in the aisle and said "did I see you on the news?" I said yes and she looked me in the eye and said "You faggots deserve exactly what he said" and walked off. It seems a lot of conservative and religious websites have now picked this up, so we are public enemy #1. It's a good thing we have each other and are pretty tough cookies.

Never underestimate how much America hates homos.Good lord! I love that they were the ones who were wronged and yet they are the villains. GOD, I hate people.

[dsc]

13. He got exactly what he deserved

Firing is proportional. I don't see jail being warrented but I definately see firing being warrented.

[Ian David]

21. It WOULD have to be someone named Jethro, wouldn't it?

<snip>

Broward Mayor Josephus Eggelletion Jr. and Bob Bielek, interim director of the county aviation department, identified the prankster as Jethro Monestime, 23, a skycap who has worked for Superior Aircraft Services at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport for about a year.

<snip>

He said he was not aware a gay couple was in the airport terminal and said that was just a coincidence and had no ill intent.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-57bibleverse,0,171836.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Geesh!

Didn't Jethro realize that about 10% of the people in the airport, at any given time, are going to be gay?


Gee, Paw... I didn't realize there would be homasexyalls in tha see-ment landing strip.

[and-justice-for-all]

14. Is the Airport 'Public or Private' Property?

That does make a difference. But I suggest that they call the ACLU about this and look into a possible lawsuit as well.