EQCA Omits Gay Teens
Testifying at Education Hearing

How far will Equality California go to not promote a hearing today in Sacramento before the Senate Judiciary Committee on SB 48, Mark Leno's gay education bill? Recall that EQCA said nothing about the March 23 meeting of the committee on education, and has made no discernible effort to inform and mobilize the gays regarding the hearings.

A joint release yesterday from the Gay Straight Alliance Network and EQCA shows the lengths the former will go to not mention today's hearing. Notice the third paragraph about gay teens speaking before the committee in the GSAN version, click to enlarge:

The EQCA version above, click to enlarge, erases the one-sentence about today's hearing. What reasons could EQCA possibly have for deleting a reference about gay youths presenting testimony and personal history to the judiciary committee today in Sacramento? I would think EQCA leaders would welcome the involvement at the state-level of the youths in our government.

Speaking of gay youths, both versions of the release include gushing quotes from Leno and EQCA's temporary director Jim Carroll about the youths.

Leno said: "I am inspired by the passion and resolve that these students have brought to Sacramento with their unified goal to make California a safer place for all young people." From Carroll: "We are proud of the fearless and committed youth who are sharing their stories today."

Too bad that inspiration and pride wasn't enough to make Leno and Carroll include a single quote from any gay youth. If SB 48 and the recent gay youth lobbying trip are all about the teens, I want press releases from Gay Inc to include quotes from the youths themselves, and not just adult Democratic gay executive directors and politicians.

In other SB 48 news, the Traditional Values Coalition today issued its second alert in less than a week to try and stop the bill:

There is no comparable alert at the EQCA site. This latest example of EQCA's inability and unwillingness to inform, engage and mobilize California's large and fabulous LGBT community illustrates how the No on Prop 8 debacle led by EQCA has in no way altered the group's approach to organizing.

SF Gay & Socialist Bookstores Closing

The Castro district is about to lose another gay business.

This time it's bookstore A Different Light that is closing. About two months ago, I walked past the once-bustling store and signs were in the windows hawking cheap-ass, bleach-based poppers for sale. Maybe 4 people, practically a crowd for the store, were milling about the place. When this bookstore started selling the amyl, you could just smell that its demise was approaching.

Over the weekend, Scott James at the Bay Citizen delivered the bad news about this shop and the socialist-leaning (that's a compliment) bookstore on Valencia Street shuttering:

The Castro’s A Different Light Bookstore, one of the few remaining LGBT bookstores in the United States, is apparently closing. This comes on the heels of the closure of the Mission's Modern Times, another independent progressive bookstore.

A Different Light has been the gathering place for the Bay Area’s gay literati for decades – the company was first established in 1979. Local authors like Armistead Maupin would often pack the store full of eager readers when launching their latest titles.
But in recent years the store has struggled financially. Some publishers have complained about the bookstore not paying its bills on time.

Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12d1t)

“Everything must go” signs were spotted in the store today. Dismantled shelving sat in a pile in the back of the store. Neighborhood chatter is that doors will close for good this spring.

A Different Light has been the gathering place for the Bay Area’s gay literati for decades – the company was first established in 1979. Local authors like Armistead Maupin would often pack the store full of eager readers when launching their latest titles.

But in recent years the store has struggled financially. Some publishers have complained about the bookstore not paying its bills on time. ...

Add the soon-to-be-gone gay bookstore to the ever-expanding list of troubled or closed gay institutions over the course of the past year.

New Leaf Mental Health is gone, after decades of helping thousands with depression and addiction. Lyon Martin Clinic almost went under two months ago, is still struggling and needs a bailout from the city.

The SF gay community center last year petitioned the Board of Supervisors for a cash infusion, which it received, to keep the doors open, as they move from a non-profit to a for-profit operation.

Under One Roof, the Castro housewares and knick-knack shop that shares its profits with dozens of local charities, has seriously downsized its payments to the groups.

The SF Pride committee had major fiscal screw ups from the 2010 parade and festival at Civic Center, forcing the inept executive director resign. At the fundraising group Academy of Friends, they've been unable to make full payments to gay and HIV charities that they partner with for their annual Oscars' gala.

The Bay Times, our smaller gay weekly, didn't publish a print edition for three weeks and the editor remained silent about her troubles, showing unwise disrespect to readers and advertisers.

Our beloved Castro theater is closed every Monday and Tuesday night during April, a total of eight nights and the owner told the Examiner that the movie palace is supposedly in good shape financially.

Many financial factors and evolving community dynamics have contributed to the fraying or closing of these entities, including the bad economy and more gay-life needs being met through the web. Where is this change is leading, no one really knows, and yes, I wish to harp on my constant demand for town hall meetings as one way of assessing the changes.

Getting together at open meetings are one solution that could help us see why there is so much trouble among the agencies and businesses, the impact on our social fabric, and what this all means for our future. Sorry to say, I can't recall the last time any gay elected official or business group held a town hall in the Castro to discuss this situation.

Communication could go a long way to help the floundering entities, and the community.

50 at Public Vigil for Slain
Gay/HIV+ Mongolians: Pix & Report

It is an honor and a privilege to share a written report and pix of Sunday night's courageous public vigil for two gay/HIV+ related murders in Mongolia, that were provided to me by Rob Garner, the executive director of the LGBT Centre in Ulaanbaatar. Freedom to assemble as open gays and HIV positive persons carries many risks to individuals over there.

If you have a blog, how about sharing the pix with readers? Please credit the centre when using their text or images, and link to our friends' site. It's one significant way to show solidarity.

Through email, I've offered p.r. assistance with a promise to widely promote their activities and concerns on my blog, and write letters to the Mongolian honorary consul in San Francisco and the embassy in DC about the killings. BTW, the consul for California is billionaire Richard Blum, the husband of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.

We have other solidarity work we're collaborating on, and I'm learning a lot about Mongolia and the LGBT and HIV community there. Since I've become acquainted with several responsible gay Russians and because they're much closer to Mongolia than me, I'm playing match-maker between the Russians and the Mongolians. Turns out at least two of the activists in Ulaanbaatar are fluent in Russian, making communication easy.

Background on the two unsolved murders that led to the Sunday evening vigil is here. Let's get to the news:

We rallied at the Buddha statue at Zaisan, and had from 40-50 people there (I counted 45 at one point, but that wasn't static). A bigger turnout than we expected, which was great. And lots of straight support as well - we have some fantastic and courageous straight allies.

It was surprising - but lovely - to see a few members of the public come up, look at what was happening and then take up candles - including one old man who stood shoulder to shoulder with everyone with his candle blazing, and a woman and her young child. Very touching indeed.

As expected, our ultra-nationalist "friends" from Dayar Mongol came along as well and stood around looking menacing, probably thinking they were intimidating. But there were too many people in attendance for them to do anything other than watch. Although one did ask Anaraa if everyone who was there was LGBT, to which she replied that most of them were not. He was probably happy to hear that - after all, I doubt they'd have the number of cars necessary to abduct everyone who was there.  

A circle of hope and solidarity with each other was formed near the end of our vigil. So we are very happy with how it went. 

SF Ex Cribs My Castro Theater Post;
Let's Spank Corporate Media

My post early last week about the historical Castro Theater's new print calendar showing it will be dark every Monday and Tuesday in the month of April was so good, a corporate media outlet, the SF Examiner in a Friday story, decided to crib from it and not give this blogger credit. Ex staff writer Dan Schreiber opened his story with a neat summation of my post:

The Castro Theatre doesn’t plan to run shows on Mondays and Tuesdays for at least the next month, but managers and owners say although it’s a cost-cutting measure, the shorter weeks aren’t indicative of serious financial struggles.

Questions arose about the 89-year-old landmark after blog posts and a television news report suggested it might be suffering a plight similar to the Haight-Ashbury’s Red Vic Movie House, a financially troubled single-screen theater that is asking for donations on its website. ...

It's not my habit to read the Ex in print or online, so I'm grateful community photographer and my friend Bill Wilson tipped me off, with this note and a link to the Ex piece: "Follow up to your blog or just blatant copy?" I wasn't sure, and asked people at local online news site if they thought I had a case of the Ex cribbing from me.

Brock Keeling, editor at SFist.com, wrote back: "They TOTALLY did. I meant to email you earlier today when I saw that."

The SFAppeal.com's Eve Batey gave her thoughts: "I read everything out there, and I did not see this mentioned on any blog but yours. I included it in the Appeal newsletter yesterday, and any time I see a story multiple outlets covered, I include links to all of them. So I suspect that you provided the "inspiration" for this story. Which, as we all know, is frequently the blogger's lot -- to break a story, then to have bigger outlets behave like they discovered it on their own. It sucks, but the upside is that we're not trapped in the increasingly desperate newsroom of some money losing news org. So, in the end, we're winning (damn you Charlie Sheen)."

All three - Bill, Brock and Eve - know the sting of having their images or reporting uncredited or cribbed by the mainstream media, and the rudeness of Schreiber and the Ex is easier to process with the empathy of valued colleagues. Better that we collectively spank the corporate media, rather than separately.

The lack of credit from the Ex aside, permit to now say I like that their story gathered more facts from Castro associates, quotes from them too, and gave an overview of the movie palace's storied history. And I laud any coverage of the plight facing our cherished single-screen and art houses, because it may lead to more butts in seats watching films on the big screen.

Following my own advice to catch more flicks at the Clay, I'll be one of the evening showings of the new French film "Potiche", starring Catherine Deneuve, always a treat to watch, and directed by openly gay auteur Francois Ozon.

Save our local theaters and go to one!

LAT: Anti-Gay-Ed Letters 'Flood' Pols;
Equality California Omitted

Check out a terrific piece in today's Los AngelesTimes by Patrick McGreevy about SB 48, the Mark Leno-sponsored gay education bill pending before the California legislature. SB 48 is the bill Equality California is not engaging the community over, and the group has no plans to make a proud visible presence at the next hearing for the legislation on April 5.

The LA Times lays out the intricacies of the proposed law, who supports or opposes it in, and which side in the cultural wars is winning the "flood the politicians with letters" race, bolding mine:

But lawmakers have been flooded with letters of opposition from groups including the California Catholic Conference, the First Southern Baptist Church and the Thousand Oaks Christian Fellowship. ...

Good luck trying to locate in the LA Times any gay community mobilization referenced other than Leno flapping his jaw. The now-retired director of EQCA, Geoff Kors, is not quoted and the organization is totally absent from the story. EQCA's engagement is so lame McGreevy has nothing to report on it. In short, the No on Prop 8 game plan still dictates EQCA's strategy.

A letter from an adversary gets space:

"This is all absurd," said a letter from several religious leaders, including Arland Steen, a pastor for the Thousand Oaks group. "At a time when our state lacks dollars to pay for the current needs in education, this Legislature is actually considering adding more financial burden on schools to pay for new textbooks that will teach so-called gay history."

There is no comparable pro-gay letter excerpted by the LA Times. So, we have opponents outnumbering us in a previous hearing on SB, the legislative analysis tells us they have sent in more letters than us, a fact now reported in the mainstream press, and as I have been reporting, no plan from Leno and EQCA to mobilize us. Gayja vu all over again.

I have no idea if the bill will pass the legislative process, but if it does, it will have come without the emotional and political buy-in from a wide cross-section of our community, and that is not healthy. Sure, make the school books inclusive of our lives and struggles, but also involve us every step of the damn way.

Over at Karen Ocamb's EQCA-co-opted LGBT POV blog, she ignores the evidence piling up about political organizing malpractice underway at the organization.

It's not enough that she's run the most glowing, gushing pieces on EQCA's history, and essays from lots of lawyers and Gay Inc folks asking nothing more of the group than singing Kumbaya around the next EQCA awards ceremony. Karen today has to run dozens of pix of Kors' time as director. Watchdogging, not lapdogging is needed.

I'll end on an up note, and say thanks to the LA Times and McGreevy for telling the gays some cold, hard truth. Their coverage today is well appreciated by me.

Gay Killings Shock Mongolia;
Burnt Dead HIV+ Man's Hand Cut-Off

(A photo from the "Beyond the Blue Sky" series of portraits featuring the LGBT community of Mongolia. To protect the safety of the people in the pix, their faces are covered with a traditional blue shawl called a khadag. Among its various uses, the khadag often covers the faces of the deceased. Credit: Markeike Gunsche and Brandt Miller.)

On the Euro-Queer listserv today, a disturbing report was posted by Robyn Garner who serves as the executive director of the LGBT Centre in Mongolia's capital, about two recent murders of a gay dentist and a bisexual HIV positive man.

It can get quite depressing and frustrating reading about such deadly senseless and barbaric assaults, wondering what the hell can I do to help the gay folks in the country where the horrific violent acts occurred. Sometimes it's enough just to read the reports; other times I'm compelled to share the info here, as with the Mongolian murders.

One thing that stands out here is the mention of the cops interviewing only gays as potential perpetrators of the crimes, because it echoes the complaints that come from Jamaican and Ugandan activists about their local police forces dealing with the terrible killings in the same way.

Assume another gay has committed the crime, suggest it's a case of a gay romance gone sour, or a number of other excuses to essentially let the slayings go un-investigated and the guilty to escape prosecution and punishment, is a rotten attitude of too many police departments around the globe.

I'll make the gay Mongolians aware that I'm blogging about the murders they're dealing with, and hope that my small act of calling some attention to the deaths provides a bit of solidarity to them from the other side of our planet.

Here is the full report:

2011/04/02 ULAANBAATAR: Two killings in as many months have shocked Mongolian LGBT community.

A gay male of forty to fifty years of age who went by a nickname S. in the community, a dentist by profession who had a practice in Zuunkharaa town, Selenge province, was found brutally murdered sometime in January 2011. Although the murder took place over two and a half months ago, no definitive headway has been made in the case, and no reports of investigation have been made public.

Another member of the community, an HIV positive bisexual male E. of forty to forty five years of age, one of the founders of a community-based non-governmental organisation working for HIV positive people, went missing at the end of February 2011.

According to the reports from the community, his mutilated body was found on 24 or 25 March 2011: his right hand was cut off and his body was burnt.

Although it is obvious that these are hate crimes, police questioned only gay and bisexual males in the city in relation to the latest murder as the gay and bisexual males are immediately considered automatic suspects in such cases.

The OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] definition of hate crime is clear: they are "criminal offences carried out against people or their property because of their real or perceived connection, attachment, affiliation, support or membership of a group. A group may be based upon characteristics such as real or perceived race, national or ethnic origin, religion, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or other similar factor".

Hate crimes are devastating in their effects since they instill terror and fear in the targeted community. Mongolia has no legal definition of hate crimes, nor are there anti-hate crime legislations.

EQCA Endorses Straight Democrat
Over Gay GOPer in CA Rep Race

The secretive ways of Equality California march on. After not informing the community about two important hearings on the gay education SB 48 legislation, EQCA is now withholding the news that it has endorsed in the May 17 special election to replace Rep. Jane Harmon.

If you want to know who EQCA backed, you won't find the news at their PAC or general sites. You'll have to check the campaign site of California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, a Democrat, to learn the news:

Grassroots Support for Debra Continues to Grow

Torrance – ... The PAC, which is a sponsored committee of Equality California, cited Bowen’s commitment to full equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community as reason for their backing.

“Equality California PAC only endorses candidates who support full equality for the entire lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and Debra Bowen has a long track record of standing with our community when we’ve needed her most,” said Jim Carroll, Equality California Interim Executive Director. ...

Bowen also recently received the backing of California LGBT leaders, former State Senator Sheila Kuehl and State Senator Mark Leno. ...

Where is this alleged grassroots support? EQCA is a Democratic Party-affiliated Astroturf group, while Leno and Kuehl are Democratic pols, and Bowen misspeaks volumes labeling any of them grassroots.

Her opponent, openly gay Redondo Beach mayor Mike Gin, is said to be a great guy and an effective politician. His campaign site, of course, talks up his gayness and the fact that he's married to his partner of 16 years, Christopher Kreidel. I would think EQCA couldn't do enough to elect a gay married politician to the House.

Why didn't Gin receive the EQCA endorsement? He's a Republican and EQCA is simply not an organization at all interested in working with GOP candidates, even when they're gay or lesbian.

Add all this up: no info on hearings in Sacramento for a gay educational bill and no info about the endorsement in the race to replace Harmon at EQCA sites, no public meetings, no town halls with the board or search firm hired to find a new leader, and no plans to change their secretive ways. No way to be a statewide group.

There's also the problem of the Bay Area Reporter laying off criticizing EQCA or in any way challenging how they (don't) engage the community. Heck, when the BAR editor's wife receives money and muscle for her campaign to win a judgeship as an open transgender woman, and the wife is also a grand honoree at EQCA's annual awards, you can count on objective reporting to quickly fly out the window.

Things aren't much better in Southern California where Karen Ocamb's blog LGBT POV publishes only the most glowing and positive essays on EQCA and its leadership. If there's been an iota or smidgen of even mild constructive criticism toward the group at that blog since it was founded about a year ago, I've missed it. Where is the proof LGBT POV is not co-opted by EQCA?

The only news outlet asking tough questions of EQCA's board and donors is the LA Weekly, thanks to its out reporter Patrick Range McDonald. To me, he puts the BAR and LGBT POV to shame covering this group with a serious degree of much-needed skepticism.

More than two years after EQCA lost gay marriage and $45 million, in part because of their way-less-than-transparent operation that disrespects a wide portion of the community, not a damn fundamental thing has changed with the group.

ACLU Lauds IDAHO's Anti-Death Penalty
Declaration Linked to Gays

The Paris-based leaders of the International Day Against Homophobia in March issued a strong declaration against the death penalty, both because it has been used to execute gay people and it is a barbaric practice that all human rights advocates must oppose. IDAHO every May 17 organizes visibility actions and last year coordinated kiss-ins around the world.

Here in San Francisco, Natasha Minsker, who is the death penalty policy director for the ACLU of California, read my post on IDAHO's declaration and offered to not only make an official statement praising IDAHO firmly opposing the death penalty, she also wanted to ask other anti-DP groups to issue similar praise. I, of course, welcomed her initiatives and the results are below. Natasha is an out bisexual, by the way.

First of all, Natasha's comments were posted on the ACLU/Northern California's web site, stressing the interconnections of being pro-gay and anti-DP:

"The ACLU of California applauds the IDAHO Committee for issuing a strong, unequivocal statement against the death penalty in all cases. The death penalty has been used as a tool of government’s around the world to oppress the powerless and the unpopular, including LGBT people. Today, seven countries continue to have laws that call for a death sentence for individuals of the same sex engaging in consensual behavior, and Uganda recently considered a law that would have provided the death penalty for simply being gay. Strong, united opposition from the LGBT and anti-death penalty community, including statements like that issued by IDAHO, helped defeat the Uganda bill.

"To ensure that the human rights of all people are respected, we must work together to eliminate the death penalty and to ensure that LGBT people are afforded dignity and equality, worldwide. May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, is a perfect opportunity for people to take action in support of human rights by reading the IDAHO statement against the death penalty at community events. We look forward to working with the IDAHO Committee in our joint efforts to protect the human rights of all people."

Second, the national ACLU's blog also wrote about the IDAHO declaration, calling attention to it and Natasha's comments. Next, the Equal Justice USA organization that fights for a humane and fair criminal justice system embraced the declaration:

"Equal Justice USA welcomes the broad diversity of communities and organizations that have come to believe that the death penalty is broken. We build bridges between constituencies and stakeholders from across the political spectrum who are coming together around the common call for repeal of the death penalty. We appreciate IDAHO's statement in joining that list."

We also heard from Stefanie Faucher, the Associate Director of Death Penalty Focus, a San Francisco-based organization that has stood with gays at protests against Iran's hanging of two gay teenagers in 2005, who stated:

"The death penalty should never be used against individuals because of their sexual orientation. Death Penalty Focus applauds IDAHO for unequivocally supporting the basic human rights of all persons and for opposing the death penalty in all circumstances."

Over in Paris, two key IDAHO leaders were made aware of the statements, Joel Bedos and Louis-George Tin, who reacted to the expressions of solidarity from the American organizations with this communique:

"We at IDAHO receive with honor the supportive reaction of the U.S. civil rights and anti-death penalty groups regarding our declaration against capital punishment. Establishing and strengthening bridges between human rights advocates is vital to our international organizing. On behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and gender variant people who annually participate in our May 17 IDAHO actions, we say thank you to the organizations who issued their support for our statement calling for an end to all executions."

Many thanks to all the above-mentioned organizations and individuals who came together in recent weeks, standing on common ground to say yes to LGBT liberation and oppose capital punishment. Needless to say, I'm pleased to have played a bridge role in all this development.

TVC Mobilizes: April 5 Gay Ed Hearing;
EQCA & Leno Silent

(TVC advocates proudly showing themselves at a Sacramento hearing last week. EQCA leaders have failed to distribute a comparable photo. Credit: TVC.)

Last week I blogged about a fundraising pitch from Equality California related to SB 48, a bill that would combat anti-gay bullying in schools introduced by out state Senator Mark Leno, and hearing before the education committee. I cited EQCA's claim that 40 anti-gay folks were present, outnumbering pro-gay activists.

Today, and this is no April Fools' Day joke, Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition has posted a lengthy and informative call to action before SB 48 is debated on April 5 at the Senate Judiciary Committee:

The next hearing and committee vote for SB 48 is coming fast! The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a vote on SB 48 this coming Tuesday, April 5th!!

This means we need you to call members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and jam their lines!! In addition to phone calls, emails and faxes are just as crucial!! ...

ACTION NEEDED TO STOP SB 48!!
Remember, Committee Vote Set for April 5, 2011!
Vote Can Happen Anytime After 1:00 pm!! ...

The TVC sure is fond of exclamation marks!! They are also pushing about a dozen or so lies about the bill, existing laws, the lives and needs of gay people and LGBT youths in California. I hope I have made it clear that anti-gay activists are using the web and their social networks to mobilize against us and SB 48.

Just like our opponents organized better to pass Prop 8 in 2008, they are doing a better job than us at organizing a visible presence for hearings about SB 48 and sending more letters opposing the senate bill than supporters favoring its passage. This info is from the legislative analysis report presented last week to the education committee:
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees
California Teachers Association
City of West Hollywood
Equality California
Fresno County Democratic Central Committee
Gay-Straight Alliance Network
Los Angeles Unified School District
Public Advocates
San Joaquin Valley Democratic Club
The Trevor Project
An individual

Only 11 groups and an anonymous person expressed written support of SB 48. Have a look now at the 25 organizations or chapters, and several individuals, who wrote to the education committee in opposition:

Advanced Marketing Concepts, Inc.
Bible Baptist Church
California Right to Life Committee, Inc.
Calvary Chapel of South Lake Tahoe
Calvary Christian Church
Capitol Resource Institute
Concerned Parents United
Concerned Women for America of California
Concerned Women for America of Central California
Diversity Reform USA
Eagle Forum of Sacramento
Faith Assembly of God
First Southern Baptist Church
GateWay Bible Church
Hamilton Square Baptist Church
Heritage Christian Fellowship
New Harvest Christian Fellowship
Novato Parents & Family Coalition
Praise Center Church
Protect Kids Foundation
Riverpark Bible Church
The Conservative Party (California)
Thousand Oaks Christian Fellowship
Traditional Values Coalition
Vallejo Involved Parents & Students
Numerous individuals

Sad to say, but the TVC is doing a much better job at publicizing the meeting on April 5, informing their supporters about, giving them online and easy tools to work against SB 48 than either EQCA or Leno.

We should not be allowing the TVC or any opponents to outnumber gays at Sacramento hearings or writing letters to a legislative committee. Our community needs to be engaged every step of they way regarding any gay bill before the legislature. Who in their right minds in our movement wants to concede attendance at hearings and letter-writing organizing to the TVC and their ilk? Bragging rights are important.

I looked at the EQCA and Leno sites and couldn't locate any info about April 5, forget about details to involve gays in the hearing.

If EQCA and Leno ever find a cure for their allergies to town hall meetings, regular information sharing with grassroots gays, and conduct organizing beyond asking for donations, we might see our fabulous and beautifully diverse community fully engaged in Sacramento and across the state.

BAR: Harvey Milk Plaza 
Renamed MUMC Plaza

Over at the Bay Area Reporter's blog, editor Cynthia Laird today posted this remarkable story that deserves widespread attention:

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill from District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener changing the name of Harvey Milk Plaza to MUMC Plaza, to better reflect the reality of who actually rules the plaza - the Merchants of Upper Market/Castro.

The bill also requires an enormous dollar sign flag to always fly under the rainbow flag at MUMC Plaza's flag pole, which is now called the Official Steve Adams Flag Pole, in honor of the president of the merchants group.

When introducing his bill, Wiener said that as "someone who served on the board of the Human Rights Campaign for a decade, I am happy to push the agenda of the gay merchants because they donated big bucks to my campaign and HRC. I've no interest in working with streets activists who want to keep the plaza's name as is and free to all for demonstrations."

After the Supervisors' all voted in favor of the renaming, Gloria Chan of the Department of Public Works issued the following statement: "The 'p' in our name is really stands for private and we are pleased MUMC, a private group we have long ceded control of the plaza to, will now make all decisions about who gets to use MUMC Plaza."

Speaking on behalf of MUMC, president Steve Adams was reached inside the vault at the Sterling Bank branch in the Castro where he is the manager. "For years we've had pesky, persistent political activists using our plaza for rallies that don't charge participants user fees," said Adams. "With the control queens of MUMC formally in charge of the plaza, we will now require four-figure fees of any activist who wants to use MUMC Plaza. The political messages of all rallies must also first be approved by me."

The publisher of the Bay Area Reporter, Thomas E. Horn, who additionally serves as the president of the Bob A. Ross Foundation, announced after the Supervisors' vote that the foundation will pay for new signage at the subway entrance of MUMC Plaza and plaques at street level. All signs and plaques will prominently note the generosity of the BAR Foundation.

Out gay state Senator Mark Leno was pleased with the name change. "The businesses that comprise MUMC have funded my past campaigns and since I want their dollars and votes when I run for Congress after Rep. Nancy Pelosi retires, I embrace this renaming," Leno stated. "I've issued a proclamation heralding this transformation that benefits my donors."

Former Castro district Supervisor and current candidate for Mayor Bevan Dufty echoed Leno's words, and added, "Sounds like a back room deal was struck between Scott Wiener and MUMC, and everyone knows I love back rooms arrangements, sexually and politically speaking."

Before he stepped down as executive director of Equality California to retire to his luxurious estate in Palm Spring, Geoff Kors weighed in on MUMC Plaza. "We're pleased no public hearings were held giving the full spectrum of the community a chance to have a say about this terrific change. Open meetings are dangerous and threatening to the Gay Inc status quo, plus, MUMC members are big donors to EQCA," said Kors.

The name change is so popular even Cleve Jones, who is the gatekeeper on anything to do with Harvey Milk, has endorsed the plaza's renaming. Jones told the BAR, "I've profited handsomely off of Harvey's name for decades and have a nice savings account, so I can afford to share some of the Milk profiteering with MUMC. Besides, I received a consulting fee from them securing my approval."

The BAR tried to find someone opposed to turning Milk Plaza into MUMC Plaza, eventually locating Tommi Avicolli Mecca, an affordable housing gadfly of the Castro who never takes out full-page ads in the BAR and can't afford to attend HRC or EQCA award show galas. Because of space limitations, we can include only a short quote from him. "It stinks," he said.

Milk Plaza will officially become MUMC Plaza on May 22, Harvey Milk Day, at a red-carpet, velvet rope ceremony where the tickets will cost $250 per person.