Nov 15 Folsom Kink Forum:
Reinventing the Community

My friend Demetri Moshoyannis, pictured as he goofed off at Folsom Fair in September, is the executive director of the group that puts on the two annual kink street festivals, and he asked me to share this alert. Happy to help him get the word out, and to offer my opinion about some of the concerns he raises.

First of all, it's so cool his group is hosting this town hall. We need more such grassroots engagement at convenient hours and open to all.

A few thoughts about the meeting. Let's hope any politicians who show up are treated like everyone else and have to wait their turn to speak. I'm tired of stopping meetings and granting special privileges to queer electeds to speak and often without time limits, when they walk in. Electeds have plenty of opportunities to speak up at Board of Supervisor meetings or the DCCC or at MUMC meetings.

Regarding what I'd like to see in a reinvented kink and sexually liberating community, let's start with ending the prohibition on bathhouses and expand the amount space for consensual oral sex at commercial venues and in public spaces during the fairs. We should address the music styles and sound volume at Blow Buddies and the fairs, and any new sex venues that open in the future.

Politically speaking, I'd like to see Demetri and Folsom Street Events not go along with Scott Wiener's divide and conquer method that he used so skillfully recently over his proposed anti nudity ban. Wiener first met with nudists, then waited a while to meet separately with Demetri and other leather folks, never having all interested in the same room at the same time.

Wiener needs to hear a consistent message from D8 voters such as myself, and kink and nudists leaders: hold forums open to all before you tinker with city laws and queer public spaces.

From Demetri:

With the San Francisco Eagle preparing to fly once again, Folsom Street Events would like to invite you to an open meeting for the leather and kink communities. The SOMA community is on the cusp of reinvention, and we would like to hear your voices. 

We believe that we are stronger when we come together and pursue the community'’s strongest ideas for improvement. In advance of the meeting, we encourage you to submit your questions, your ideas, and your feelings about how our community should grow and change. Think about how you can contribute as part of the solution, part of the effort to revitalize the bars and businesses in our beloved community. 

Email comments or questions that you would like to hear addressed to demetri@folsomstreetevents.org by Monday, November 12th. 

MEETING DETAILS: 
Thursday, November 15
7:00pm -– 9:00pm 
BeatBox 
314 Eleventh Street (at Folsom)

Complaint Filed Against
Gay Cop in the Castro: MUMC Bias?



At the Nov. 1 meeting of the Merchants of Upper Market Castro, openly gay Sgt. Chuck Limbert of the Mission Station was present as he usually is but instead of wearing his San Francisco Police Department uniform, he was in plainclothes.

When I walked into the meeting at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center, Limbert told me he was not on duty and was helping MUMC out as a private citizen. Huh?

Every other time I've seen him at MUMC meetings, he's been in uniform and on duty. But all of sudden for the Nov. 1 meeting I'm supposed to believe he's off-duty and will be able to maintain his (minimal) creditability as a cop without bias towards the merchants?

Limbert and his direct boss, Capt. Bob Moser, mistakenly think they can regularly attend MUMC meetings, and as we saw at the Nov. 1 meeting have 6-7 uniformed beat officers waiting outside on the sidewalk, and not have their impartiality challenged.

When MUMC leaders decided it was time to toss out members of the general public, who had been instructed by Limbert about where to sit, Limbert enforced their ejection rule. As MUMC debated motions to endorse Scott Wiener's legislative nudity ban and to retain private control of the public rainbow flag at Harvey Milk Plaza, I watched Limbert from the recreation center's lobby guard the meeting room doors from inside the meeting.

Was all this kosher? To find out, I filed a written complaint with the Office of Citizen Complaints earlier this week and I attended last night's Police Commission hearing at City Hall, which was aired on SF GovTV and is now archived here.

During public comment, starting at the 01:25 mark in the video above, I used my three minutes to bring these concerns to Chief Greg Suhr, who was present, and the commissioners.

I'll provide updates, as they become available, from the SFPD and the OCC.

Rights Chief's Report:
Milk Plaza Flag and Discrimination

For 18-months or so, while gay men and AIDS activists were being denied equal access to the rainbow flag at Harvey Milk Plaza, and even when I contacted to complain about the situation, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and its executive director Theresa Sparks, a transgender woman and politician, took no interest in our plight.

But when transgender leader Veronika Fimbres (with expert nudging!) made a request to MUMC to use the flag and pole on city grounds and the ensuing controversy garnered global queer attention, Sparks inserted herself into the controversy. She's gamed and limited her involvement to an investigation by the HRC, which allows her to hold private meetings with MUMC and Scott Wiener, and keep prying public eyes away due to confidentiality concerns.

Sparks has yet to explain in writing why all the other times when MUMC rejected requests, the commission looked the other way.

At the Nov. 1 MUMC meeting, Sparks gave a skimpy overview of her investigation which she disclosed also involved her having private discussions with the City Attorney's office about a new (I never saw the old) set of rules for the flagpole at Milk Plaza.

Closed door meetings and one-on-one phone calls with MUMC, Wiener and the City Attorney, all conducted by Sparks without minimal transparency.

Tomorrow, November 8, starting at 5:30 PM in Room 416 at City Hall, Sparks will be presenting a report (the agenda omits whether its verbal or written) to the full Human Rights Commission.

Public comment will follow her report and I will be there with Bill Wilson to address the commissioners. I hope you'll join us.

Unfortunately, even though the HRC meeting will take place in a City Hall room camera-ready to air it on SF GovTV, the meeting will not run on Channel 26 nor will it be streamed. Sparks should forthwith find the funds to make her meetings transparent. If it ain't on the web, it ain't transparent.

Vexillological News:
Baker Played No Role in Rainbow Flag Design 

 
Until last week, I had no inkling that there was a dispute about who created the original gay rainbow flag.

A vexillologist is someone who collects or studies flags, and one vexillologist in the Bay Area tipped me off to an article in the May/June 1997 newsletter of the North American Vexillological Association challenging the story (myth?) that Gilbert Baker was the sole creator of the rainbow flag.

Luckily, the association's web site contains their archives so I was able to cut-and-paste excerpts from the article written by Steve Tyson, pictured. I'm sure Baker disagrees with what Tyson wrote and I believe it's important to put the info below out to the San Francisco community, as the control issues over the rainbow flag at Harvey Milk Plaza are far from settled.

Since the Merchants of Upper Market Castro put so much stock in what Baker wants regarding the flag and pole on public property, they might also benefit from reading Tyson's article:

Jim Ferrigan, Master Flagman, came to work at Paramount Flag in late 1978. Jim became the manager of Paramount Flag Company's retail flag outlet "The Flag Store" in 1979 and one Saturday morning he was at the factory picking up some stock for the store. I was cleaning up some drawers in an old green cabinet and I found a few flags of the "Rainbow Girls."  

These flags have seven stripes with two different colors of blue. The Rainbow Girls are an organization of young women associated with the Masons Fraternal Order. Their flag dates from the nineteenth century, and is very similar to the flag of the Cooperative Movement of 1900. The difference being in the shade of the lighter blue stripe. The Rainbow Girls flag used a UN. blue stripe while the Cooperative Movement's flag used
a royal blue stripe . . .

Jim called the Rainbow Flag, the "First Flag of Fun." 

Time went on and the flags were selling well enough to proceed to a production model, so one afternoon at five p.m. I took the samples of the flags into the office and spread them out. In attendance were myself, Ferrigan, Jeff Sutter, Production Manager, and Ken Hughes, Partner and General Manager.

The flag made of six rectangles did not sell well. The vertical stripes did not do well either, but the horizontal stripes were a hit . . .

A few weeks later, Gilbert Baker, flamboyant artist, came up to me in front of Paramount Flag. He told me that he was the decorations monitor for the "Sexual Freedom Day" parade. Gilbert asked me if it was okay with me if he used the rainbow flags for decorating the event. I told him that I did not own the rainbow and to go ahead. Gilbert designed an eight stripe flag . . .

Gilbert Baker had designed large eight stripe flags for the big poles on United Nations Plaza, but played no part in the design of the six stripe flag that has become the standard of the homosexual community.

Gilbert did come up with a nice variant when, after ten years of rainbow flags, he said he was tired of looking at it so he flipped the stripes for the 1988 parade . . .

Jill Stein for President;
Yes on 34 - End CA's Death Penalty

In 1980, I was eligible for the first time to cast a ballot in a presidential election and my vote went to independent progressive ecologist and anti-nuke activist Barry Commoner. Thus began my long commitment to third party politics and candidates, and an unwillingness to accept the Democratic and Republican parties as my only choice in elections.

The only time I voted for a major party candidate was in 1988, during the height of the AIDS epidemic in America, when I gave my vote to Michael Dukakis because of how terrified I was of George H.W. Bush succeeding Ronald Reagan.

(I might have been wiser to cast my ballot for Dukakis' actress cousin Olympia, given what a lousy candidate the Massachusetts governor was in that election. She at least won the Oscar that year for her performance in "Moonstruck".)

Today I'm voting for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein because she has a platform I can fully support, and to help build this alternative party into more of a challenge to the two major parties.

When I go into my polling station up the block at the Saint Francisco Senior Home, I'll also be voting in favor of California Proposition 34 which would end the death penalty. If Prop 34 passes, the more than 700 people now on death row would remain in prison for life without a chance of parole.

Be sure to vote today!

Criminal Lawyer: 
No New SF Law Needed to Ban Nudity

The land use committee of the Board of Supervisors meets on Monday at 10 AM to consider the second legislative effort by Scott Wiener to solve the nudity controversies in District 8, and I imagine it will be like their January hearing on banning sleeping at Harvey Milk and Jane Warner Plazas.

Wiener, who is not a member of the committee, will be granted courtesy privileges to run the show. Even though there is no law requiring this, he will mandate that everyone fill out speaker cards then he alone will choose the speaking order. That means his donors and supporters, who will want to say their piece and quickly split, will be bunched upfront and he'll keep his adversaries spread out toward the end of the list.

First come, first to speak. Line 'em up along the wall of the hearing room, just as at a full BOS meeting. Catch the hearing live (and archived later) at SFGovTV.

Since I cannot and will not participate in this charade of democracy, when it's really another campaign event for Wiener's mayoral aspirations, and I expect the bill to be voted out of committee, I'm skipping Monday's hearing. I'll be attending Wiener's town hall at the LGBT community center on Wednesday starting at 6 PM, though.

Over the weekend, nudist activist Mitch Hightower made me aware of a very informative and legally detailed, but easy enough for laypersons to understand, essay rebutting a few of Wiener's concerns written by Christina DiEdoardo, pictured, a local defense attorney. She clearly has a different opinion about the constitutionality of the legislation than Wiener's friends and (nominally and faint) colleagues at his former employer, the City Attorney's office.

Sure do hope DiEdoardo uses her two minutes of public comment tomorrow and broaches one or two of these points. Regardless of her attendance, this lawyer's voice of counter-argument should be an integral to the BOS debate. From DiEdoardo's web site, emphases in the original:

While other cities fret about underfunded pension liabilities, here in San Francisco the latest keruffle is over the supposed “problem” of nudists in public spaces . . .

With regard to the first question, the general trend by courts in California seems to be not to grant First Amendment protection to public or private nudity unless the nudity is accompanied by or part of ” ‘some mode of expression which itself is entitled to first amendment protection.’ ”  . . .

It may, however, explain why Supervisor Weiner says wants to exempt events like the Folsom Street Fair and presumably, though he didn’t say so explicitly, the Dyke March and the Trans March from the proposed ordinance. Simply put, he’s not doing it out of kindness–those events, particularly the Dyke and Trans marches, are clearly political speech subject to First Amendment protections.

With regard to the second question, Penal Code Section 314(1) provides “Every person who willfully and lewdly…1. Exposes his person, or the private parts thereof, in any public place, or in any place where there are present other persons to be offended or annoyed thereby…is guilty of a misdemeanor” (Emphasis added).

Of course, this begs the question “What does ‘willfully and lewdly’ mean for the purpose of the statute? Fortunately, the California Supreme Court settled this question over 40 years ago when it decided In re Smith . . .

In Smith the Court found a man who was arrested for indecent exposure under PC 314(1) was entitled to habeas corpus relief because “The necessary proof of sexual motivation was not and could not have been made in the case at bar. It is settled that mere nudity does not constitute a form of sexual ‘activity.’” (J. Mosk). Instead, the People would have to establish something more, such as “additional conduct intentionally directing attention to [the defendant's] genitals for sexual purposes” if it wanted to convict Mr. Smith of violating PC 314(1) . . .

Going back to the cockring “problem”, since the purpose of a cockring is to draw attention to the wearer’s genitals, wearing one in public while nude would appear to make one subject to arrest for violating PC 314(1) based on the plain language of the Smith case. Thus, existing state law is more than sufficient to deter the supposed problem to be remedied and the ordinance is unecessary.

What about the final question–whether or not the State has preempted this area of regulation? Unfortunately, here things get murky. While a 1975 case out of the Second District upheld a Los Angeles ordinance banning public nudity in parks (on the somewhat tortured ground that the ordinance did not purport to ban all nudity across the City’s public spaces, but only regulate it as a time/place/manner restriction) and held that the L.A. ordinance was not preempted by PC 314(1), it is unclear how modern courts would treat a similar issue today . . .

The bottom line is that–as with so many other public policy issues–what’s needed is not additional laws, but enforcement of existing laws. That would solve the “problem” of the nudists with cockrings, to the extent it’s not anecdoctal and actually exists.

With regard to the wider issue of those who object to nude people in public, there’s an easy remedy which costs no public money, requires no court time and consumes no scarce jail space: look away.

Weekend Woof #15:
Veterans of ACT UP & a Boy

The weather in San Francisco for the past two weekends has been fantastic, with tons of sunshine and temperatures in the 70s making more guys guys wear less clothing and we like that. Here's my latest batch of photos of attractive men and one boy. Many thanks to all of 'em for posing for my camera.

Say hello to Dean, who I know from the late 1980s when we were both in ACT UP/New York together. I ran into him at the Crepevine on Church Street, soon after he had received a box of apples from his mom back New Hampshire. Like Steve in the Garden of Eden, he tempted my taste buds offering me an apple and I happily accepted his gift. A very pliable model, and seems appropriate mentioning fruit, that I grabbed a shot of his pits.

Lemme introduce you to Matt, who I met in 1995 at the ACT UP/Golden Gate office that used to be on Castro near 18th Street. Matt kept tabs on Genentech and their anti-HIV drugs in development back then, and organized actions against the company. Here he is at last week's rally for gay Honduran leader Erick Martinez at Milk Plaza.

This sweet boy with the trucker's tan is Erik who works at my local (and favorite) bike shop, Box Dog Bikes on 14th Street near Guerrero. I don't know him from any ACT UP chapter! Erik is thirty-something (practically chicken, in my book) and has a girlfriend. I captured him goofing off at the counter, taking a break from repairing flats and tightening cables.

Previous batches of woofy dudes are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Divas' Donations:
Who Gave to Obama & How Much?

(The Divine Miss M. Top diva donor.)

Curious about which divas are giving to the Barack Obama reelection campaign, I conducted an informal survey of Federal Election Commission records for this election cycle at the Political MoneyLine site. They don't disclose how current the data is and I don't believe October contributions are included. Here are the names and amounts from this morning's search:

Annette Bening
$0

Halle Berry
$0

Cher
$0

Madonna Ciccone
$0

Glenn Close
$0

Ellen Degeneres
$40,800

Sally Field
$0

Jane Fonda
$0

Jodie (Alicia) Foster
$0

Lady Gaga (nee Stefani Germanotta)
$0

Whoopi Goldberg (nee Caryn Johnson)
$0

Kathy Griffin
$0

Goldie Hawn
$0

Diane Keaton
$5,000

Jessica Lange
$0

Eva Longoria
$40,800

Jane Lynch
$15,000

Bette Midler
$65,000

Liza Minnelli
$0

Julianne Moore
$10,000

Rosie O'Donnell
$0

Bernadette Peters
$750

Susan Sarandon
$2,000

Meryl Streep
$45,000

Barbara Streisand
$0

Debra Winger
$0

Castro Gay Health Center's
Broken Window Replaced

A crew of glass installers were busy at the Magnet gay men's health center on 18th Street in the Castro this morning. After leaving the MUMC meeting, I saw the crew putting the final touches on the new window, replacing the glass window that was shattered on Sunday night after the SF Giants won the World Series.

My photos show the damage window after removal on the left side of pictures, leaning against the van, and the spanking new window being secured at the Magnet storefront.

Since Magnet is a program of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, I checked the foundation's latest IRS 990 and read that their revenue for 2011 was $20.6 million.

That kind of dough may explain why Magnet's has a new window and no fundraising campaign was necessary.

On the other hand, the vandalized two windows across the street at the GLBT Historical Society's storefront museum this morning were waiting to be replaced. The society's current IRS 990 shows their revenue at $480,300. That low figure, compared to the SFAF's millions, may explain why the society made this appeal to the community:

The total cost of the damage is not yet known, but will be minimally a few thousand dollars, [executive director Paul] Boneberg said. Donations to assist with the repairs and to support the museum can be made online at www.glbthistory.org/donate. The museum will report on the repairs via its Facebook page at facebook.com/GLBTHistory.

The acts of vandalism on both nonprofits were reprehensible and I hope the museum's damage is soon gone and new windows quickly installed.

MUMC Member:
Nazi Flag = Trans Flag at Milk Plaza

(Who was present today? In the top photo, l-to-r, Scott Wiener, police caption for the Castro Bob Moser, Castro Benefit District leader Andrea Aiello, and police officer Chuck Limbert. Bottom photo, nudist and gay activists Rusty Mills, Woody Miller, Mitch Hightower and Ken Hodnett. Thanks colleagues, for showing up.)

Patrick Batt is a current member and former president of the Merchants of Upper Market Castro, who owns Auto Erotica on 18th Street.. At this morning's MUMC meeting, in his usual combative style when addressing control issues surrounding the rainbow flag at Harvey Milk Plaza, Batt presented his skewed historical view on how the flag was erected and MUMC came to control it.

After trashing transparency activists for pushing for an open process about equal access to the flagpole, Batt addressed what might happen if the Department of Public Works took domain of the flag.

Batt said that if DPW was given stewardship of the pole every group with a flag, from the Nazis to the trans community, would want to fly their flag in the middle of Milk Plaza. He inelegantly equated the Nazi and trans flags, setting off boos and hissed from many in the audience.

He has a point about a flag is a flag, but I am not aware of the Nazi Party making a request to MUMC. And if the Nazis came around with a request, and we had a responsible and transparent entity in charge of the flagpole, that entity could vote to reject the Nazi request.

MUMC today voted to retain control of the flagpole and henceforth and forthwith reject every single future request for any modification of the display at Milk Plaza.

That means the leather pride flag will no longer be raised at the start of Folsom Street Week at the end of every September and fly for seven-days as has been a long tradition. Oh, no more occasional flag lowerings for friends of MUMC leaders when they pass away also.

I asked the executive director of Folsom Fair Events, the group that puts on the Dore Alley and Folson kink fairs, Demetri Moshiyannis, for his reaction to MUMC new draconian policy:

This is a failure of community leadership and a real breakdown in communication. The leather pride flag has flown for years without any controversy. I feel like a good faith compromise could have been reached; but, MUMC chose an "all or nothing" approach. I think this is sad.

Since the raising of the leather pride flag in September has long been associated with a walk-a-thon component that raises much money for the AIDS Emergency Fund, one of the most respected HIV services organizations in town (including always receiving due praise from even me!), I wanted to hear from the fund.

Mike Smith, the executive director for AEF sent me this comment:

Leatherwalk was started 20 years ago as a way to bring the leather community together for a fun afternoon to raise funds for AIDS Emergency Fund. That was long before there was a rainbow flag at Market and Castro, and long before a Leather flag was raised there in each September. I expect that Leatherwalk will continue as a community tradition regardless of whether there is a flag raising ceremony.

I'm in agreement with Demetri's disappointment with MUMC's latest act of failed leadership, and it's good to know Mike and his agency will march ahead for more Leatherwalks when it's Folsom time!

As we enter the next phase of MUMC's flag control bullying and continued elitist operations, I wish to point to a better way of doing things and that mean citing the example of San Diego's LGBT community rainbow flag on property.

The Hillcrest Business Association, which holds regular open meetings, has a great page explaining how they build and now maintain their rainbow flagpole. HBA also shares links to several news stories about how they brought the LGBT community, city government and local businesses, and with a transparent process developed their stewardship agreement:

• Gay San Diego: “Community Discusses Permanent Pride Flag for Hillcrest” — October 2011
• SDLGN: “Planning Commission reviews LGBT Projects” — April 2012
• SDGLN: “Rainbow Flag will fly high in Hillcrest” — May 2012
• UT San Diego: “Rainbow Flag Raising kicks off Pride Weekend” — July 2012
• San Diego 10 News: “Pride Weekend Begins Tonight in Hillcrest” — July 2012
• Thats So Gay Live: “Raising the Rainbow Flag over Hillcrest” — July 2012
• San Diego Architectural Foundation: “Hillcrest Pride Flag” — August 2012

Read those stories and you'll see there is a better way for San Francisco to maintain our public flagpole in the Castro. We could learn a lot from our LGBT family in San Diego.