BAR, NBC 11, SF Ex:
MUMC Bungles NY Flag Raising

(Steve Adams. Credit: SF Bay Guardian.)

Multiple instances of bad karma are coming back to strike at the irresponsible president of  MUMC, Steve Adams of Sterling Bank, and his group over his latest round of putting control queenism above cooperating with activists regarding the public flag pole at the city-owned Harvey Milk Plaza.

There are three stories today about MUMC bungling the opportunity to work with activists, mark the start of gay marriage in New York, oh, and potentially bring more folks to the Castro area merchants and spend money at local businesses.

Here's what NBC 11 had to say about Adams not doing his homework:

In fact Merchants of Upper Market/Castro unanimously approved a request to fly a flag sent by openly gay state Senator Tom Duane.

The problem is no one checked to see if the flag would fit properly on the flagpole in the Castro, which it doesn't. The group checked the flagpole on Tuesday and reportedly discovered that it doesn't have enough grommets to fly the flag. ...

And to think Adams originally wanted to wait until an hour before the scheduled flag raising on Saturday to see if the rope would hold a second flag! We would have had activists, bloggers, photographers and reporters show up for the ceremony, only to discover it wasn't possible. 

Over at the SF Examiner, Katie Worth had this report to share:

The Merchants of Upper Market & Castro apparently determined it would be impossible to fly both flags, as originally planned, because of a lack of the appropriate grommets on the flag. But the original proposer of the plan doesn’t buy it. Blogger and activist Michael Petrelis has posted a scathing admonition of the Merchant’s president -- aka the “unelected Mayor of Castro Street,” Steve Adams -- saying he bungled the planning process. ...

And Matthew Bajko at the Bay Area Reporter also noted the problems before us:

The Castro merchant group that oversees the flagpole at Harvey Milk Plaza agreed to fly the New York State flag below the over-sized Rainbow Flag. But it then reversed course, saying it was technically not possible.

As of press time Wednesday it seemed unlikely that the East Coast flag would be unfurled at all. Petrelis said plans to raise the flag from Milk's home state had been scrapped due to the inability for community organizers and the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro to resolve the issue.

Reasonable people who aren't control queens would likely say the seven-month controversy, with no end in sight, over the public flag pole at Harvey Milk Plaza should be resolved among all Castro district stakeholders to allow for more community engagement over the flag and pole.

Unfortunately, Adams is very content with the current situation and shows no sign of willingness to hold even a single public community forum about the plaza control problems. If Adams and MUMC think their alienating and petty ways are good business practices, I'd hate to learn what they believe constitutes irresponsible promotion of the Castro.

Someone needs to inform the other leaders of MUMC that their president and his obstreperous methods are doing much harm toward bringing more people to the Castro, people who would spend money at MUMC businesses. Change, and good karma, needs to come to the Castro.

Transparency Reigns at 
SF LGBT Center Board Meeting

(The board members look over their packets of info. Credit: Petrelis Files.)

Every gay community organization could learn some valuable lessons from the San Francisco LGBT Community Center board, in how to deliver transparency and democratically engage gay people.

This past Monday, the board met at the center and it was open to the public, a fact the center is doing more to promote. I went to the meeting expecting to stay only ten or fifteen minutes, and speak during the first public comment time on the agenda. From the moment I walked in, there was a genuine friendly and welcoming vibe from lots of folks.

Part of the reason for that welcome was because some members thought I was a potential board member, come to check them out. I assured them I was present for sunshine purposes!

The cochairs had a thick packet of papers to give everyone, that included the evening's agenda, last board meeting's minutes, resolutions to consider regarding government grants, details about the center's economic, programmatic and facilities plans and budgets containing figures, and statements of financial activities and the over all budget.

After members introduced themselves, the floor was turned over to me, the lone member of the public, for three-minutes of comment. I thanked the board for being a shining example of healthy and beautiful gay sunshine, said their transparency was in stark contrast to the closed-door board approach at the NYC and Los Angeles centers, GLAAD, HRC and Equality California.

Spent a few moments on GLAAD's meltdown over the AT&T merger and how it was a group that desperately needed to disclose of its contracts with sponsors, and the man who is on the center and the GLAAD boards avoided eye contact with me. Rebecca Rolfe, the executive director, was singled out for always answering my questions and in a timely manner.

I wrapped up asking them to take extra steps with transparency and post their agendas and minutes on their site.

They spent the next forty-minutes hearing presentations from staffers, asking good questions about their goals and which segments of the community would be served, and I listened to the discussion. It was a good way to learn more about the center, the people who run it and their work.

Yesterday, Rebecca sent me a follow up note, part of which said:

Thanks for your comments last night – FYI, the board is going to take up the issue of posting agendas and minutes on our website, so I will let you know the outcome. 

Let's laud the center's board for already having an open board meeting policy in place and looking at how to expand it.

I hope gay sunshine advocates everywhere ask their local groups and all national non-profits about public participation at the board level, and use the SF center's board's fabulous example as something to emulate.

SF Won't Fly NY Flag
This Weekend Honoring Gay Marriages

(The flag that will not fly on Saturday and Sunday in Harvey Milk Plaza.)

On Monday, Matthew Bajko of the Bay Area Reporter wrote a blog post about the unanimous approval by the Merchants of Upper Market/Castro to fly a New York flag donated by Sen. Tom Duane, the day before that state begins gay marriages.

The New York flag was to blow in the wind on the rainbow flagpole at Harvey Milk Plaza, which is public property but ruled over by MUMC, but the merchants didn't do a test run or check all the equipment needs before giving their approval.

After pushing MUMC to cooperate with activists on a test hoist, MUMC on Tuesday finally got around to looking at the pole's rope, without activists present, and discovered there supposedly were not enough grommets to fly the New York flag. Why they waited so long to do basic preparation is just one more instance of irresponsibility on MUMC's part.

I can no longer organize the action for Saturday because the unelected Mayor of Castro Street, Steve Adams, the president of MUMC, has used a political litmus test, communication restrictions, intransigence against cooperating on a test run, hindering and hampering activists at every step of the process.

If New York's extremely dysfunctional state government can legalize gay marriage, it should be a piece of cake for gays in the Castro to simply fly an Empire State flag at the public plaza named for the man from Woodmere, New York - Harvey Milk.

In heaven, Harvey weeps that his adopted hometown, thanks to the petty, vindictive, uncooperative control queens of the private MUMC group, won't be flying the New York flag this weekend in the heart of Gay Mecca.

Regrettably, I am abandoning plans for a noon action at Milk Plaza on Saturday because of myriad unnecessary barriers erected by Adams and MUMC. If they change their minds and attitude, and want to work together to honor New York starting gay marriages this weekend, I remain open to that slim possibility.

Let's hope the city of San Francisco one day soon retakes full possession of the flag pole and puts the control of it with people more responsible and flexible than the MUMC leaders.

NY's Sen. Duane Donates State Flag
to Fly at SF's Harvey Milk Plaza

(Gay marriage advocates display the "official" Empire State flag at Harvey Milk Plaza yesterday afternoon. Credit: Petrelis Files.)

After New York state legalized gay marriages, I reached out to my friend openly gay state Senator Tom Duane and his terrific chief of staff Laura Morrison. I asked if they could request the state flag that flew over their capitol when the legislation was enacted. That process would have taken too long and Tom offered to purchase an "official" state flag and ship it to me, and the flag arrived on Friday.

My intention was to request that the Merchants of Upper Market/Castro fly the donated flag from New York at Harvey Milk Plaza starting at noon on Saturday, July 23, after a short speak out and flag raising ceremony. Hoping to generate some good footage to accompany the gay marriages in New York when they start the following day.

As part of my campaign to make the flag pole at Milk Plaza, which is public property, a tool for more of the community, I enlisted longtime gay marriage advocate to speak with MUMC about all of this. What was the outcome and where do things stand today?

Matthew Bajko at the Bay Area Reporter provides the answers in a blog post:

A Castro merchants group has approved a request to fly the New York State flag this weekend in honor of the Empire State’s move to allow same-sex couples to wed.

The Merchants of Upper Market and Castro’s board last week unanimously voted to support adding an official New York State flag below the over-sized Rainbow Flag that currently flies over the heart of San Francisco’s gayborhood.

“With all that has gone on in California the board feels this is something we should do. We want to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in New York,” said banker Steve Adams, MUMC’s president.

Under the proposal, the East Coast state’s flag would be raised at noon Saturday, July 23 and be taken down the evening of Monday, July 25. Same-sex marriage becomes legal in New York State this Sunday, July 24. ...

Local San Francisco blogger and activist Michael Petrelis is friends with openly gay New York State Senator Tom Duane. He requested a flag from the Democratic Manhattan lawmaker’s office in hopes it could be flown in his hometown.

Due to his fighting with MUMC over its policies on when to lower the Rainbow Flag to honor LGBT people who have died, Petrelis reached out to longtime marriage equality activist Molly McKay to be a go between with MUMC.

It is still unclear if the New York flag can be safely flown underneath the Rainbow Flag. Adams told the Bay Area Reporter Monday (July 18) afternoon that the man who handles the flag pole is still trying to figure that out and wouldn’t have a final answer until Tuesday. ...

I have not heard from MUMC and don't know if they will collaborate with me and use the "official" New York flag that Tom Duane has donated to San Francisco, or if they will allow for a speak out and ceremony before the flag is hoisted up next Saturday.

If MUMC officials are keen to work with activists and make really good use the New York flag from Tom Duane, I'd be happy to work with them.

SF Gay Center Board Meets Tonite;
Chair Lives Part-time in Palm Springs

A reader tipped me off to the fact that one of the cochairs of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center lives part-time down in Palm Springs. James Williamson, the partner to Geoff Kors who recently stepped down as head of Equality California, is cochair for the center and splits his time between SF and their Palm Springs estate. Click here to read about their estate.

Concerned about a part-time SF resident setting the agenda for SF center, just as I was worried about a Floridian sitting on the board of EQCA, I asked the center's executive director Rebecca Rolfe for clarification regarding a residency requirement for her board members. She said:

The Center’s mission is to connect our diverse community to opportunities, resources and each other to achieve our vision of a stronger, healthier, and more equitable world for LGBT people and our allies. The Center’s strategies inspire and strengthen our community [in a number of ways]. ...

Approximately 65% of visitors to the Center live in San Francisco and 35% are from the broader Bay Area (with a sizable number of out of town visitors, particularly during the summer tourist season).

Given that our programs and services are not limited to San Francisco residents, we do not have San Francisco residency requirements for board members. Board members are selected based on their ability to work collectively to meet a broad range of organizational priorities and needs ...

Call me a San Francisco chauvinist because I think all local gay and AIDS nonprofits should require their top executives and all board members to reside full-time in the city. This should especially apply to the community center, since the prime person who pushed the center idea in the 1990s, Dana Van Gorder, lives and votes in Emeryville.

I believe a big reason why the locale center has had major trouble attracting a lot more San Franciscans to use the facilities is because non-residents were telling the rest of us what we needed in a community center.

All that being said, I wish to laud the SF center for its transparency with its board meetings. We need all Gay Inc groups to open their board sessions to public scrutiny and community participation. The serious lack of democratic engagement from our organizations is very unhealthy for the groups themselves and community members.

The center's board meeting is tonight, at the center of course, and Rebecca shared with me the agenda, which I've excerpted. I will there to speak during public comment and also observe the board in action:

7:00 – 7:15     Open Formal Board Meeting              Chaw / Williamson

(i)                  Call to order

(ii)               Approve Agenda

(iii)             Introductions, including welcome & intro of board prospects

(iv)             Public Comment

7:15 – 7:20      Consent Agenda

(i)                 Approve minutes from May 16, 2011 board meeting

(ii)               Election of board nominees:  Rafael Mandelman

(iii)             Approval of Resolution to Approve Acceptance of 2011-12 CDBG Funding and to Acknowledge Awareness of Responsibilities and Limitations for OEWD Workforce Development Grant

(iv)             Approval of Resolution to Approve Acceptance of 2011-12 CDBG Funding and to Acknowledge Awareness of Responsibilities and Limitations for OEWD Economic Development Grant

(v)               Approval of Resolution to Approve Acceptance of 2011-12 CDBG Funding and to Acknowledge Awareness of Responsibilities and Limitations for Mayor’s Office of Housing Grant

CA Lesbians Marry the Moon,
the Ocean & Appalachian Mountains

If you're of a certain age, you remember how humorous it seemed when gays and lesbians in the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s went to marriage bureaus on Valentine's Day to demand marriage licenses and were turned away. Very few took the activists seriously, and look at where we are today with gay marriage.

Those times came up for discussion across the breakfast table on Saturday morning as the boyfriend and I read and talked about this article in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Elizabeth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle are a legally married same-sex couple, having tied the knot in Canada in 2007. But they don't consider lesbianism their primary sexual identity.

First and foremost, they're ecosexuals.

Taking tree-hugging to a whole new level, Stephens and Sprinkle have married the moon, the sky, the ocean, the Appalachian Mountains and the snow in a series of color-coordinated, nudist-friendly weddings that have attracted hundreds of people. And they've done it all in the name of ecosexuality. ...

Interesting that the Chronicle didn't clearly spell out that these lesbian have not legally married those entities, and I can easily see conservatives reading the article and thinking California lesbians can wed elements of nature.

And where might all this lead within the gay community? The article explains:

"We kind of felt like we had to be on our good behavior [when attending ecology rallies]," says Sprinkle, who hopes to see an "E" added to the LGBTQ alphabet jumble. "We're trying to find a place where queers, drag queens, differently gendered people and weird artists can be welcome." ...

Oh, dear Goddess, do we really need more letters and confusion mixed in with that alphabet jumble? No, in my humble opinion, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if we eventually saw the unwieldy acronym for the gay community expand to LGBTIQQAE - lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning, allies, ecosexuals.

(Photo: Elizabeth Stephens, left, with her wife Annie Sprinkle enjoying each other's company in the great outdoors. Credit: Maddie McGarvey, SF Chronicle.)

SF Bike Coalition:
No Push for Rider Rules, Public Meetings?

My biggest problems and fears when riding my bike on the streets of San Francisco, are the other bikers, especially the ones who obey as few safety rules as possible. I've experienced too many near-mishaps when a biker violates the unwritten pass on the left rule of the road for all vehicles and passes me on the right, of course, without any "on your right" warning.

Then there are the occasions when I'm passing a major intersection, with the right of way, and a biker comes whizzing down the cross street and totally ignores the red light, almost running into me. Fear of getting knocked over by a car on the road or a driver exiting his or her parked car, rank low on my list of biking safety concerns.

This introduction is necessary before mentioning this story from the Bay City News yesterday, penned by Sara Gaiser:

A bicyclist struck a pedestrian at Embarcadero and Mission Street in San Francisco this morning, causing life-threatening injuries, police said. Police were called to the scene of an accident at 8:33 a.m., police Officer Albie Esparza said.

Officers found a bicyclist had struck a woman in her 40s (3:40 PM: Police are now saying the woman is in her late 60s) who was crossing in the crosswalk, causing a life-threatening head injury. Preliminary information suggests the woman was crossing legally with the light, Esparza said.

The bicyclist remained at the scene and was being interviewed by investigators. ...

I checked the influential San Francisco Bike Coalition's web page, to see if they said anything about the situation, safe biking guidelines for their members and all cyclists, or open meetings with the group's leaders. Found nothing relevant to those issues, so I called Neal Patel, SFBC's community planner, for some answers.

The gist was that they hold workshops for new bikers addressing many tips including ones on safety, do not have safety rules they promote nor do they hold public meetings, and Patel said the main body responsible for everyone's safety on the streets was the SF Municipal Transportation Agency, and that Mike Sallaberry was the person there to contact with my concerns. Left him a voice mail message.

Patel said the closest they come to safety rules info on their site is the Riding Predictably page and video. While the video does promote safe riding and address some of the responsibilities of bikers, in the broader context of road security for everyone - bikers, walkers, cars, etc - it's not nearly enough promotion of rules bikers should be following. Good luck finding info regarding the wisdom of always wearing a helmet on the SFBC site.

I told Patel there was a lot of room for improvement at his web site and through other methods for the SFBC to frankly address safety rules for bikers, starting renaming the vid's title, posting written road rules on the Safety and Security page, and not push sole responsibility for proper biking that doesn't endanger other bikers or pedestrians on to the SF MTA.

After bringing up yesterday's serious accident, I talked to Patel about a 90-year-old woman friend from my church who earlier this year suffered a broken hip that forced her to be hospitalized for months with serious and myriad complications, after a biker ran a red light and knocked her so hard she fell to the pavement. Despite bystanders yelling and chasing after the man on the bike, he didn't bother to stop and escaped responsibilities.

My friend has recovered and now walks with a cane, which she didn't need before the accident, and she is just one of too many elderly pedestrians harmed by unsafe bikers.

Responding to my question about public meetings with SFBC leaders, as just one way for them and the larger coalition to hear my idea that they begin campaigns to address the jeopardy I and others feel when bikers don't adhere to acceptable standards of safe urban riding, Patel said they don't hold such meetings.

Oh. That, and other things, need to change at the SFBC, that is, if they are truly interested in being a responsible partner and stakeholder in making San Francisco streets safe for all.

I'm happy to end this post mentioning a blog post at the SF Weekly site written by Erin Sherbert about Friday's biker-caused accident at the waterfront. She also contacted the SFBC yesterday, seeking their comments on many of these same issues and is waiting for them to call her.

Nice to know Sherbert also reached out to the SFBC. They really owe us more communication, safety campaigning and democratic engagement.

Moscone's Gay Son's Hit Dramedy
Delves into Grief After City Hall Murders

(Playwright Tony Taccone, director Jonathan Moscone and actor Christopher Liam Moore. Credit: Catherine Bigelow, SF Chronicle.)

For quite some time, the name Jonathan Moscone meant only one thing to me: theater director. Whenever I saw his name in ads for plays, I wondered if he was related to slain San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. Reading his bio in a show bill, we learned he is the son of the late mayor.

Jonathan in recent years has opened up publicly about the tragic loss of his father and Harvey Milk, and being gay, but his personal history and role as a leading theatrical luminary never seemed to join together - until now.

He's collaborated with other dramatic artists to create play that delves into the grieving he went through after his father's senseless murder, and the SF Chronicle's society editor Catherine Bigelow was at the play's premiere and filed this report:

As a sold-out Oregon Shakespeare Festival crowd broke into a standing ovation after the "Ghost Light" premiere July 2, cheers rose again when the authors were spotted in their midst.

Realizing that his cover was blown, a haunted look descended upon CalShakes Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone, who bolted for the lobby as if chased by a ghost. ...

Written by Berkeley Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone and directed by Moscone, "Ghost Light" is a co-production between Berkeley Rep and Oregon Shakespeare Festival ...

Taccone's first play is a heart-rending yet comedic meditation on Moscone's years of stifled grief after the 1978 City Hall assassination of his father, former Mayor George Moscone.

The play's kernel finally popped in 2008 when Moscone served as a consultant on "Milk," the Gus Van Sant film that Moscone felt reduced his father's life and civic contributions to mere asterisks.

"If Sean Penn and [Gus] Van Sant could make a story about somebody they didn't even know, I could make a story about somebody I knew really well," he said. "It wouldn't be the equivalent, it wouldn't be in the same medium, and it wouldn't be the same kind of story. But I had the capacity to do it just as much, if not more so, than somebody else.

"And I no longer need to remain private about my father's death," he continued. "Which is what I've done for the last 33 years." ...

The full Chronicle piece is worth a read. "Ghost Light" comes to the Berkeley Repertory in January, and we'll be sure to catch it. With this creative team behind it, "Ghost Light" is sure to be an excellent drama mounted with a beautiful production and terrific acting. I can't wait to enjoy its pleasures.

GLAAD's Opaque ED Search;
No Questions or Demands from Bloggers?

Yes, I was disappointed on Wednesday to see many gay bloggers and reporters allowed the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to use their sites to get their propaganda out to the community. The easiest way to sum up how the bloggers and reporters handled the release from GLAAD about retracting their support for AT&T's merger with T-Mobile is thus: "GLAAD said. Period. End of story."

Many posts mentioned previous controversies with GLAAD, and for that I laud the inclusion of the prior messes that led to resignations and a meltdown at the group.

The gist of the release was that the organization withdrew its support of the merger and affirmed support for net neutrality.

Among the bloggers and reporters who ran most or all of GLAAD's alert and letter to the FCC, without demanding GLAAD develop democratic engagement and start holding public meetings with the community or disclose the agreements with corporate sponsors, were the following folks and sites:

The Advocate, Bil Browning, Edge Network (which disclosed their post was written by a former GLAAD staffer), Marc Felion, Good As You, Jerry Curl, Just Out, Politico, Queer Me Up, Queerty, Steve Rothaus, Pam Spaulding, Andy Towle, Village Voice, Wall Street Journal, Washington Blade, and The Wrap.

All that aside, what caught my eye was the one-sentence about the group starting the process to find a new leader to replace the disgraced Jarrett Barrios:

[Interim executive director Mike] Thompson and GLAAD's Board of Directors pledged commitment to GLAAD's mission as they form an Executive Search Committee to identify a new President.

I've seen this sort of opaque executive search process before from the Human Rights Campaign. In 2005, after Cheryl Jacques was pushed out as HRC executive director, they announced a search committee and keep the committee members' names secret. Click here to read Bob Roehr's piece about that mess that ran in the Bay Area Reporter.

To their credit, HRC, after I pressured them, revealed who was on the search committee. Ok, let's also note that the committee eventually picked Joe Solmonese and there were no public meetings with the community about what it wanted in a new national leader, but at least the members of the committee were made public.

I believe at this point, after so much corruption at GLAAD getting the exposure it needed in recent months, it is incumbent upon the organization to not only disclose who is on their executive search committee, but to also hold a few town halls around the country to get community feedback on the direction of the group and what activists want in a new ED.

Might also be healthy for gay body politic if other bloggers questioned GLAAD's search process and demanded both transparency and open meetings. Keep in mind, the last time GLAAD had such a search it produced Barrios as the leader of the group, and it went downhill from there.

NY Times:
Betty Ford and the Homosexuals

Soon after Richard Nixon resigned and Gerald Ford became president, and moving his family into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Time magazine profiled Ford's kids and included a picture of Steven playing basketball. It caught my young teenage eye, and recently flashed in my mind, along with the lust I had for Steven Ford, hearing the news that his mother Betty had passed away.

I couldn't recall her speaking out about gays, either as First Lady or after she left the White House, but given her frank and early support for discussing sex publicly, legalized abortion and full equality for women, it's safe to say she supported gays and would love her gay relatives and friends. Many gays, myself included, felt an emotional bond with her.

So it pleased me to read Rick Perlstein's warm and fond remembrance of Betty Ford in Monday's New York Times opinion pages, and learn about her public discussion of gays:

Experts considered her a political liability. A syndicated humor columnist imagined aides seeking her resignation — before it was too late: “The networks and women’s magazines ... are making incredible offers to get the First Lady to sit down and openly discuss adultery, drinking, homosexuality and a proposed postal rate hike.” ...

When Americans sent gifts to the Fords, they usually sent them to Betty.

The authors, most of them obscure, had written recovery memoirs and cancer memoirs and feminist manifestos, autobiographies bearing witness to struggles of every description. They had never met Betty Ford. But they wrote to her with an intimacy that was almost embarrassing for an outsider to read, as if they were writing to a loved one. Which, in a certain sense, they were. She had taught them how not to feel ashamed.

I’ll never forget something else. A surprising number were gay men. Take that, Mr. Satirical Columnist Whose Name No One Remembers: Betty Ford openly discussed homosexuality. I didn’t know she had made the insanity of shaming same-sex desire any sort of special cause. Only one obituary I found noted, in passing, any interest in gay rights. I didn’t find any references in an online search of historical newspapers. ...

Betty Ford's honesty and casting off of her own shame and guilt, sure resonated with me in the 1970s, as I came to terms and acceptance of my same-sex attractions. Thank you, Betty, for helping a lot of folks who never had the chance to meet you to live full, sexually happy and healthy lives, and to speak up for the right thing.