Petrelis Files

Pride Saturday Town Hall
in SF with Rep Speier

(Jackie Speier gets goofy in the hall of Congress with Stephen Colbert.)

As the calls grow for open forums of all sorts with more Gay Inc and elected leaders getting themselves before the gay public in San Francisco, Matthew Bajko over at the Bay Area Reporter that an area Member of Congress, herself and not just a top staffer, will hold a public forum over Pride weekend. My sunshine hearts beams because we now have two public forums with a Congresswoman, and one was solely focused on gay issues, to use as examples of public discourse.

If a national politician can organize two town halls and meet directly with the voters, why can't Dan Bernal, the district manager for Nancy Pelosi, host a town or two or twenty? I'd love for A-gays to give Dan the push he needs to get himself out before a few forums in the community and start some explaining on another ENDA betrayal.

We all know Dan's boss has broken this year's ENDA promise of a vote and potential passage, and that is exactly why we need Pelosi's top San Francisco representative to explain the next steps, to be taken over July and August, on our issues. What is on Pelosi's gay agenda for the summer? How will her office engage our community? Only when Dan gives up some of his weekly gym classes, will we find out.

From the BAR:

Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo) will be meeting with her San Francisco-based constituents during the city’s upcoming Pride weekend.

Speier has invited residents of her 12th Congressional District, which covers the southern portion of San Francisco, and the press to discuss financial reform, the Gulf Coast oil spill, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, jobs, the economy and health care.

The public event will take place from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, June 26 at Temple United Methodist Church, 65 Beverly Street in San Francisco’s Merced Heights neighborhood near San Francisco State University. [...]

Many thanks to Bajko for reminding readers of our Rep's abysmal record on openness with us:

Speier’s public meeting comes as the city’s other House member, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has faced calls from some local LGBT activists to hold her own meetings with the city’s LGBT community. Gay blogger Michael Petrelis and Patrick Connors, a gay columnist for the SF Weekly, have both criticized Pelosi for her lack of engagement with her LGBT constituents.

It is unclear when, if ever, Pelosi has held an open public forum with LGBT residents in San Francisco. [...]

In addition to holding brief conference calls with Gay Inc leaders who beat each other up for the chance to tongue-wash her rear, photo-ops with Prop 8 loser Geoff Kors, what has she done that might qualify as engagement with queers on important issues?:

Last fall, [Pelosi aide Drew] Hammill said that Pelosi held a candidate fundraiser at Tangerine, a popular Castro brunch spot on 16th Street.

You sure as hell don't need a clairvoyant to determine who arranged that bit of nothingness. And what the hell are we gonna do about Geoff Kors running the 2012 gay prop show?