Petrelis Files

MUMC Vote on Thurs:
Return Flag to City Control & Ban Nudity?

One thing you can count on from the merchants of the Castro when it comes to the rainbow flag. They don't have a clue about what to do.

Since January 2011 they've buried their heads in the sand to ignore community calls for public discussion. MUMC said I was the only person pushing for change. (Hello, trans community to prove MUMC way wrong!) The SF Chronicle was used by MUMC and Wiener to engage in character assassination against me. MUMC played endless games with requests from anyone. To no avail.

The headache that bedevils the merchants is now on their meeting agenda this Thursday at 9 AM at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center, a city-owned building. I will be there, and hope my colleague Bill Wilson has returned from New England by then to join me.

If you give a damn about the gayborhood, who decides public policies for our public spaces, and the political leadership that listens only to a small segment of the electorate, be at MUMC's meeting.

From MUMC president Terry Bennett:

Just earlier this month MUMC’s Board has decided that the community would be best served by revisiting our current Rainbow Flag policy as soon as possible - at the November 1 Members Meeting instead of waiting until January, as indicated earlier.

We have been counseled that there are only two acceptable, nondiscriminatory polices from which we can choose for MUMC’s continued stewardship of the Flag: 

Option 1 – Only the Rainbow Flag flies at full mast every day, no substitutions, no adornments at any time 

Option 2 – Any group that can provide a flag made to the specifications of the flag pole may fly their flag at full mast. 

[...]The Board does not feel that MUMC has sufficient infrastructure to manage the flag, nor is it in our best interest to try, if the Membership chooses the second option. 

Therefore, the choice you will be asked to make on November 1 is between: 

Choice 1 – Only the Rainbow Flag flies at full mast every day, no substitutions, no adornments. MUMC maintains stewardship of the flag. 

Choice 2 – Any group that can provide a flag made to the specifications of the flag pole may fly their flag at full mast. 

In this case, MUMC returns stewardship of the Flag and pole to the City. Either choice will become effective as of January 1, 2013. 

I think Bennett is saying the second choice returns the flagpole back to the city government, which is an idea I want to hear more about. There's also this item in Bennett's announcement for Thursday's meeting:

Supervisor Scott Wiener is asking for a vote of support for his public nudity legislation.

This meeting is an opportune time for the nudists and their supporters to stand up for their right to be naked in the public square, and object to MUMC and Wiener making public policies in private meetings. I hope to see a few nudist pals on Thursday at the Rec Center on Collingwood.