Antigay banner
waver announces candidacy for Miami Beach mayor

A Miami Beach, Fla., man who offended the city's LGBT residents last week by hanging a banner criticizing homosexuality in front of his home has announced his candidacy for mayor, The Miami Herald reported Friday.

William Charles Smatt, 76, told the paper that he wishes to combat corruption in Miami Beach. "I am going to clean up the garbage. I'm going to bring in the state attorney to investigate what is going on down there at City Hall," he said.

He refused to tell the Herald what issues he wants authorities to address.

Smatt offended his neighbors last week with a banner that read, "God created Adam + Eve, NOT Adam + Steve," in front of his house. According to the Herald, city workers issued Smatt citations for five code violations on June 29, including one for displaying an election banner at a residence.

Smatt says he is not homophobic but wishes that LGBT people would keep their affection out of the public eye, the Herald reported.

Brian Winfield, communications director for the gay rights group Equality Florida, is not convinced. "We call on every elected official of the city of Miami Beach and local community leaders to loudly denounce this type of divisive bigotry. Only by speaking out will Miami Beach leaders effectively combat such antigay hostility," he told the paper.

Smatt was the center of a similar controversy in 1998 when he hung an antigay banner on his front fence in Belle Meade, Fla. According to the Herald, it read, "Belle Meade, City of Sodom and Gomorrah. Vengeance Is Mine Sayeth the Lord."

Two out candidates will be running for a city office in November: incumbent city commissioner Michael Gongora, and Frank Kruszewski, who wants to replace commissioner Matti Bower.

Smatt expressed his desire to abolish property and school taxes for property-owning Miami Beach residents who are registered to vote, the Herald reported. He also wants to increase salaries for police officers and firefighters, despite state-imposed budget cuts.

According to the Herald, Smatt's critics have labeled him as a religious zealot and lunatic. They point to his having called himself a "messenger of God" and the comparisons he has made between his actions and those of the prophet Moses.

Smatt told the Herald that religion is central to his campaign. Despite his general intolerance, he signed Miami Beach's mandatory ethics declaration on Friday, which reads, "I shall not make my opponents' race, religion, national origin, gender, physical disability, or sexual orientation an issue in my campaign." (The Advocate)