I thought I would pass along an incident that occurred at the Fort Lauderdale Airport Tuesday morning. It is simply amazing considering how gay-friendly this city is and how many gays and lesbians live here.
At approximately 12:45 am, my partner and I were in the baggage claim area in terminal 3. We had just arrived from Chicago and were waiting for our bags when an announcement came over the intercom. It was a recorded message and basically said that "a man who lies with another man as he would a woman is subject to death." We couldn't believe what we heard, and then it came over the intercom again a few minutes later. We were shaken by the announcement because it specifically said "subject to death".
We called the airport and after five call transfers (including the sheriff's department), we got an airport manager. He seemed disinterested and more interested in the exact bible verse than taking care of the problem. He simply said "sorry for the inconvenience." I sent an email to United/Ted (our airline) because I could not get anyone on the phone. I was told by some person at the airport (during my "phone shuffle" yesterday afternoon) that only airline employees have access to the intercom.
As of today, I have not heard back from the airport or United.
CLARIFICATION When it happened, we searched for a security officer, a TSA agent and the police. We could not find anyone. Because it was almost 1 am and our flight was delayed, nobody was probably paying much attention. We also searched for a courtesy phone and could not find one. We quickly went to our car and made phone calls the next morning. I have already contacted the city, the county, the media, and many gay groups about this.
I live in Fort Lauderdale, and this is not indicative of what this city is like. It is extremely gay-friendly, which made this experience even more weird for us.