Petrelis Files

BAR Interviews SF Pride Officials Over Manning Mess

The Bay Area Reporter sent freelancer James Patterson to cover my court hearing today at the Hall of Justice. While there was no resolution to the legal matter brought against me by an elected official and my attorney and I go back to court on June 7, I chatted with Patterson about the SF Pride debacle over the rescission of the Grand Marshal honor to WikiLeaks hero Bradley Manning.

Patterson told me that editor Cynthia Laird had an interview with Lisa William, Pride's board chair, and Earl Plante, the group's executive director, at the Pride offices yesterday. Yes, I was shocked to hear that after weeks of, um, stonewalling the press and the LGBT social justice activist community, Pride officials finally agreed to someone about the mess they have created.

Actually, I have to stop labeling it all a mess because the stupidity of the Pride leaders has been and still is a golden opportunity delivered on a silver platter to question the obsessive focus on gay marriage, and the militarization and corporatization of most of the queer movement by Equality Inc.

Like many activists and bloggers, I'm quite curious how Pride officials were dig themselves into a deep hole with whatever they said to Laird and that will appear on the BAR's web site at about 8 pm tonight. Congrats to the paper for scoring the interview.

Would it not be great to not only read the interview, but to also have a videotape of it so we can see and hear the Pride officials and read their body language? Can't have everything, but knowing that the officials felt a need to speak with the BAR tells me they must know they won't be able to ride out this controversy by cancelling meetings and ignoring demands for communication and engagement.