The Dream and the Promise of Greater Fort Lauderdale 

By ERDAL ERKUS 

When my friends told me that they have moved to a town called Fort Lauderdale, Florida I had a laugh. I thought they would be back soon, knowing that the heat and the population would not make their job easy, being both gay and Muslim.

They have told me many times that the city is a gay heaven, and so easy to live there. They [said] that they do not have any major issues living there, [but that] did not mean much to me.

So what could “gay heaven” mean to me? [It] was a bizarre word after experiencing London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and Rome.

As a tourist from Europe, [when you think of South Florida] you think of the storms (although we don’t have hurricanes, so “hurricane” does not mean much to me, apart from what we see on CNN news), the Kennedy Space Center, Disney World—and the crocodiles in people’s pools.

Yes [despite this], Fort Lauderdale—of all the places in the world—has become my “dream city” for being gay: A place of freedom, comfort, weather, [limitless] possibilities, and [free exercise of] religion.

I can’t talk about all experiences I had [while I visited Fort Lauderdale], so I will only try to explain how I felt. I come from Turkey, a so-called ‘liberal’ Muslim country where people are supposed to be sort of free, but when [a] gay [person is] murdered, there is not much of a punishment for the murderer.

In that sense I guess you guys would never be able to understand how lucky you are to have a city called Fort Lauderdale.

Have a wonderful 2013 and all the best wishes.

Erdal Erkus lives in Istanbul, Turkey, the world’s second largest city by population.