Petrelis Files

Brewery Lowers Flag for CT Deaths;
Castro Merchants Snub Prez

(Top photo shows the tower and flagpole from Mariposa Street, and the bottom photo was taken on the DeHaro Street side. Click to enlarge.)

The Anchor Brewing Company is located on the same block as the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, where I went today for much needed acupuncture healing.

San Francisco's hometown beermaker, as with millions of other private companies and decent individual Americans, has lowered the U.S. flag atop their iconic tower in the Potrero Hill district in sympathy with the grieving families who lost loved ones at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

After snapping a few photos of the flagpole, I went into the brewery and told the young woman at the reception desk that seeing their flag at half-staff helped me to grieve over the senseless loss of so many young lives on Friday.

Nice to know Anchor heeded President Obama's proclamation to lower flags, even though he ordered only flags on U.S. government property to fly at half-staff, I told the receptionist. She appreciated the positive feedback and told me how upset she's been over the tragedy.

Unfortunately, Terry Bennett, pictured, the president of the Merchants of Upper Market Castro and whose family owns Cliff's Variety Store, and her MUMC colleagues have not lowered the LGBT rainbow flag at Harvey Milk Plaza.

Citing cockamamie and absurd reasons for never lowering the rainbow flag on public grounds in the Castro, MUMC, after refusing to fly the flag at half-staff as requested by Obama after the Colorado movie theater and Wisconsin Sikh temple gun-related massacred, has new rules banning lowerings.

While the gays of the Castro, a community that all too well knows the sorrows of death from guns, have not been allowed to use our rainbow flag on city grounds to show condolences and solidarity with the families in Connecticut, the folks at Anchor Brewing Company have simply done the right and honorable thing and respectfully lowered their flag.

May MUMC one day either learn from the decent people at the brewery about properly responding to a national time of mourning, or relinquish control of the Harvey Milk Plaza rainbow flag so it can be used at appropriate times to show LGBT Americans care about massacres from gun violence.

Thank you, Anchor Brewing Company!