Petrelis Files

125 Try to Attend SF Pride Meeting Over Manning Debacle

[Use of all photos is allowed, as long as you credit Petrelis Files.]

When I arrived at 6:30 pm at the SF Pride office entrance on Pearl Street, there were nearly 100 activists milling about. The Bradley Manning Support Network volunteers distributed pastel pink circular stickers with the gay whistle-blowers face on them, large cloths banners were displayed on collapsible poles and the vibe was light and full of solidarity. Every so often, as the crowd grew to a solid 125 persons occupying the sidewalk and street, we chanted: "They say court martial! We say grand marshal!"

Much deep gratitude to everyone who turned out tonight.

No effort was made by the Pride folks to communicate with the throng on their doorstep. Nothing about how they were going to handle letting activists in and accommodate all who wanted entry. Not one representative was on the street to dialogue with us.

At about 7:04 pm Pride treasurer David Currie asked me to move aside, I was right in front of the door, so he could use his key to open the door and get into the building. I complied with his request then positioned myself half-way into the lobby, as Currie's grasp on the inside door handle slipped. Pleading to use the bathroom, he said yes to my request to be let in, and two inches behind me was Jerry the Faerie, a longtime radical queer. It was Jerry who made way for others to follow into the lobby.

After walking down a long and narrow path past Pride's one hired security guard and Pride's staff, I was let in to the board meeting and the door shut behind me. It was 7:11 pm. I immediately launched into complaints about the corporatization of Pride and making marriage and military the only political issues for a decade, while pushing out social justice activists who want Pride to also be about housing, healthcare and job protection.

A member interrupted me and asked that the meeting officially start, which it did with only me in the room. Look at the empty chairs. I shut up and listened to the board for seven-minutes conducted business, while out in hallway activists and a reporter demanded to be let in, and soon the guard allowed two handfuls of others in.

Upset that the meeting had already started, movement veterans Starchild, on the left, and Gary Virgninia, himself a former grand marshal, respectfully questioned how the meeting started without more members of the public and the press to observe and participate in it.

Just over twenty people were eventually allowed to sit down or stand inside the meeting room. Jerry the Faerie, right, reads the agenda for the evening.

This board member, who didn't ID herself, waved the statement Pride released earlier today regarding a number of issues including the Manning mess they created, a rosy history of Pride, the selection process of grand marshals and the complaint filed today with the Human Rights Commission alleging Pride violated local  laws.

No single board member seem to be in charge of facilitating the meeting. One moment it was Lisa Williams, board president, or this woman, or one of the gentleman sitting near the door. The time was 7:23 pm.

Without introducing himself, the relatively newly hired New York City transplant Earl Plante came into the room and issued a warning to Starchild, who spent five minutes questioning how the meeting was being conducted and objecting to each member of the public getting only 1-minute to make a comment. The board had their general counsel piped in on speaker phone, and she said the board was within their rights to limit comments to that short amount of time.

Upon hearing "Free Bradley Manning" chants coming up from Market Street, Starchild opened a window and shouted to the crowd directly below and some activists across the street on a transit platform. "They're limiting free speech! They won't let the press in!"

There were two San Francisco police cruisers  parked out Market Street near Guerrero, along with a squad car a short distance away.

Plante had the security guard come in, then pointed to Starchild as the trouble-maker to be ejected and at that point Starchild stopped shouting out the window and sat in his seat.

Activists were reminded by a board member that each speaker would get a single-minute to make a statement and then public comment began, at 7:39 pm.

I was the first to speak and here's a recap of what I said: "After a decade of corporatizing Pride and forcing social justice issues off the agenda, making room just for marriage and military issues, your queer chickens have come home to roost. It's not just Pride that's the problem but the Human Rights Campaign and all of Gay Inc that must change. We need to reclaim Pride. Act up! Fight back!"

Following after me was Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg. He asked the board to reinstate Manning as a Grand Marshal because it's the right thing to do, to honor their own electoral process and that Manning should be lauded as the hero that he is. On his left are board members, and behind him are members of the public.

On my way out, I snapped a photo of Plante being interviewed by reporter Heather Holmes and a camerawoman from KTVU News in the Pride office. The KTVU crew was not at any time allowed into the board meeting.

As I was escorted out of the building by a Pride person who wouldn't give me his name and the security guard, I said this was no way to run a Pride committee. The fact that Pride leaders couldn't be bothered to lift a finger and rent a room half-a-block away at the gay community center to accommodate the crowd, is one more example of how inept these leaders are.

We proud queers deserve, and will eventually get, better Pride leaders.