Thank YOU For Support + Friendship During Legal Hassle



I'd like to thank all my friends, family members and supporters here at home in San Francisco and around the world who stood by me in my hour of need. Over the eight months of the legal hassle with an elected official, too many fabulous and beautiful people to name helped me in so many ways keep my sense of humor, my stress level manageable and reminded me of my decades of activism and accomplishments.

There is one man I need to single out for love and praise, and that is my incredible husbear and lifemate extraordinaire - Mike! The Goddess has truly blessed me with Mike's love and companionship for almost two decades now, and he still makes me laugh and smile every day.

Speaking of Goddesses, as I rode my bike down to court yesterday under a golden San Francisco sun I performed "Howdy Neighbor", that great number sung by Judy Garland in the classic M-G-M musical "Summer Stock". Yes, while peddling down Market Street and then Folsom Street, I sang the song and waved to friends and strangers alike on the sidewalks or riding their bikes.

What better way to prepare for the conclusion of the legal hassle, than to bask in the talent of Judy _and_ carrying your love and support in my heart and head. Thank you.

Judge Accepts Plea Agreement, Legal Hassle Concluded

(Derek St. Pierre, center, and yours truly, right, at a December 2012 hearing in Superior Court. Credit: Rick Gerharter, BAR.)

It gives me great pleasure to announce that my legal hassle with an elected official, after he abused the power of his office as a member of the Board of Supervisors to put me through the law enforcement wringer over eight months and waste $26,000 in City dollars, has concluded.

Today, Judge Sam K. Feng accepted the plea agreement crafted by the District Attorney's office and my defense attorney Derek St Pierre, to whom I owe a big debt for his legal advocacy on my behalf.

Wearing my pink triangle Silent = Death button, I pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge 647(j) of the California penal code, accepted the terms of the three-year stay away order that allows to return to City Hall to directly petition my government with clear restrictions spelled out that bar me from using public rest rooms on the second floor of City Hall.

Soon, I will be attending police commission, ethics commission, human rights commission and the sunshine ordinance task force hearings on the fourth floor of City Hall, and blogging about the meetings.

As District 8 voters, Mike and I will be casting ballots for a worthy opponent to the elected official when his name next appears on the ballot. Here is the statement I read in court for the public record:

On October 26, 2012, I organized a photo-op at the Harvey Milk Bust at City Hall for a visiting gay Honduran leader facing government harassment at home. I needed to use the public men's room at City Hall and during the 26-seconds I was in there, I made a mistake and snapped a photo of an elected official at the sink. That mistake will never happen again.

The photo was posted to my blog and that began the misuse of power by the elected official that led to the events bringing us here today.

After that date and before I was charged, I had five public encounters with the elected official at gay community events, with dozens of witnesses and of course no threats or even hints of bad behavior were made on my part. 

 Yet, I found myself facing senior investigators from the Sheriff's Department that soon led the District Attorney charging and arresting me, with bail set at $25,000. Thus began eight months of clogging up the court, and the City spending an estimated $26,000 to investigate and prosecute me. 

Instead of misusing and putting me through a legal hassle, while costing taxpayers $26,000, this member of the Board of Supervisors could have taken me to task via online social media. He also could have taken advantage of the far less costly mediation services of our San Francisco Human Rights Commission, to settle this matter. 

Had I taken a photo of an ordinary gay citizen in a public men's room, and he complained to the legal authorities about it, I seriously doubt the complaint would have resulted in the investigation and prosecution I have faced. 

As I put this matter behind me, I look forward to again blogging about a full range of City Hall issues and voting for the elected official's opponent when he is up for reelection. I thank Judge Feng for settling this matter today.

Legal Hassle to be Settled Today

After eight months and an estimated cost to City taxpayers of $26,000, all indications point toward a settled in the legal hassle brought against me by an elected official and the District Attorney.

My defense attorney Derek St Pierre and I will be appearing before Superior Court Judge Sam Feng in Department 17 at 1:45 pm today, down at the Hall of Justice.

Let us pray this matter no longer clogs up the court and is resolved.

$26K City Dollars Later: Court on June 13 to . . . ?

Law enforcement observers estimate the eight months of legal hassle against me by an elected official has cost the City $26,000 to investigate and prosecute me.

My attorney Derek St Pierre will appear tomorrow, Thursday, June 13 at 1:45 pm before Superior Court Judge Sam Feng in Department 17 at the Hall of Justice.

Let us pray this is the final court hearing in this matter.

Pride Meeting: SFPD Chief Suhr on Security, Bradley Who?

(From the left, Greg Suhr, your humble activist and blogger, and in dark sunglasses, Liz Highleyman. Pretty cool how Greg and I each wear a badge. His is a golden six points, and mine is the pink triangle over "Silence = Death". Activism, like life, is strange. Credit: David Currie, SF Pride's treasurer who snapped the pic using my camera.)

In the midst of trying to settle the legal hassle brought against me by an elected official, I spent part my evening tonight with San Francisco Police Department's Chief of Police Greg Suhr. We've been on a first-name basis for years, and I always remember he's a cop and I'm an activist and we each have an important role to play in civic life.

The SF Pride board of directors held its monthly membership meeting tonight, and it was barely fifty-minutes long. I'm becoming quite a fan of Pride's existing open meetings policy and how they're expanding their online transparency, and praised them for it.

The chief was up first for a Q&A on general police issues and Pride festivities. I asked how the cops could allow people on the sidewalks watching the June 30 Parade to join a contingent as it passes by and not have the police freak out. Suhr dodged the question and said folks had to decide if they were watchers or marchers, and they wanted to march they should be at the start of the parade with a contingent.

There's something wrong with this City's Pride Parade in that the cops have decided how we can't and don't have a participatory march up Market Street, because the cops have laid down their requirement to line the route with steel barricades.

They've forced a crowd control measure on us for years, and grassroots queers need to reclaim the Parade as OURS and that means when we march by chanting, "Off the sidewalks! Into the streets!", our brothers and sisters can do without impediment from the police.

Definitely an item that should be on City Hall hearing agenda after Pride about Pride and the many ways the City's departments handling the official festivities. Hello, David Campos, let's hear from you about a hearing in July at the Board of Supervisors.

But I digress. Suhr took questions about foot patrols in the neighborhoods, security at Pride events and the department upgrading its communication equipment and networks for the force, that is supposedly giving the public more info about SFPD activities.

Pride board members gave short updates on preparations for the rest of Pride Month, public comment was consistently solicited and copies of the latest fiscal report were available on paper for all.

Longtime freelance journalist Liz Highleyman shared this tweet:  

10+ #bradleymanning supporters at #sfpride members mtg, only 2 gave public comment, on unrelated issues.

I was surprised other members of the ad hoc Bradley Manning coalition holding Pride accountable over rescinding grand marshal honors to him didn't speak up during public comment about that controversy.

My public comments took up the most time and included demanding Campos hold a City Hall hearing, requesting Pride move its account out of Wells Fargo and into a credit union, posting their minutes and monthly financials that they make available on paper at meetings on their site, thanking them for posting their three most current IRS 990s on their site and requesting that the latest version due for filing on August 15 be posted within days of the filing on their site.

Earl Plante, the executive director of Pride, took notes about my ideas and after I read my list, handed it to board secretary Lou Fisher who was taking notes to assist her in preparing the best minutes possible.

No more Pride meetings till after June 30. Happy Gay Liberation to You!

Cause of Castro Gay Man's Death Not Known

Last week I blogged about the death of a Castro gay male resident named Jim Cunningham, and my headline said he died after suffering a senseless beating. That was based on info from a Facebook page message from one of Cunningham's friends.

The photo shows Cunningham with his dog Jett and the image was shared by his friend Gregg Gleasner.

Now, over the Bay Area Reporter, Seth Hemmelgarn writes that the cause of Cunningham's death is still to be determined:

Hospital staff first told the family that Cunningham had been assaulted, but later said he could have been injured from a fall, Maureen Cunningham said. She said he developed an infection in the hospital that eventually killed him.

The family is expecting to hear from the medical examiner's office this week about the agency's conclusion on Cunningham's injuries and the cause of his death.

In a follow up piece, Hemmelgarn reports that Cunningham will be buried tomorrow in Harward, California, after a Mass is said for him at St. Clement Church in that city. The BAR will have more information in Thursday's paper.

Harvey Would Hold Hearing on Pride's City Grants, Campos Will . . . ?

(Credit: Liz Highleyman, Castro Biscuit.)

On the sidewalk in front of the SF Pride office on Market Street there is some creative political graffiti, pictured, opining about one of the actions Harvey Milk would take in response to the organization rescinding a grand marshal honor to Bradley Manning.

The Pride board on Friday announced they were not rescinding their rescission and the ad hoc coalition that had been pushing for Manning to be reinstated as grand marshal held a press conference at the Pride office to demand changes at the nonprofit organization.

(From the left: Campos, aides Stephany Ashley and Nate Albee, both of whom are former leaders of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club. Credit: Patrick Connors, UppityFag Twitter feed.)

As we saw on May 31 at Pride's town hall at the Metropolitan Community Church in the Castro district, Supervisor David Campos showed at Friday's presser and was given mike time. Nothing wrong with that, have a pol come speak before activists who agree with him, but it's woefully inadequate in terms of having that pol use his power as an elected official to hold a hearing.

Yes, Harvey Milk would march on June 30 for Manning and I believe he would also use the levers of power at City Hall as a Supervisor and schedule a hearing about the hundreds of thousands of dollars Pride receives from taxpayers. Pride received a total of $169,000 from 2011 through this year's Parade from the City's Grants for the Arts program. Nice chunk of municipal change.

Unfortunately, except for myself there is no pressure being made on Campos to hold such a hearing. Many ad hoc coalition folks are satisfied to have Campos speak at their events and are not pushing him to schedule a City Hall hearing, get answers from Pride board members about use of public dollars and air it on SFGov TV.

To metaphorically kick Campos' political butt is difficult with former and current Milk Club members and others pressing their lips on his tush.

In addition to pressers at Pride's office and attending their meetings, activists upset with Pride's Manning mess and the larger complaints against Pride because the board is still ignoring grassroots social and economic justice advocates, it would be wise to also lobby Campos for the hearing at City Hall.

NYT's Lies About SF Renters & Housing Construction

(Scott James standing in front of a construction site. It's not known if the building will be residences or offices and retail space. Credit: Kemble Scott, James writing alias.)

On Friday, June 7, the New York Times ran a hit-piece opinion column penned by local gay journalist and novelist Scott James, that demonized renters and attacked San Francisco's protections for tenants. Let's unpack some of his big lies in his "King of My Castle? Yeah, Right" column:

[W]e rented to a man who began as a good neighbor, but who soon became a nuisance — and who eventually became destructive and dangerous. It started one night when the tenant forgot his keys and rang our doorbell at 2 a.m. until we let him in. Then it happened again and again and again. One afternoon when he locked himself out, we weren’t home. But rather than contact a locksmith, he borrowed a ladder and a sledgehammer from a construction site next door, hopped the backyard fence and tried to smash his way into our building. 

A few questions need to be asked. Since the basis to so much of James' argument is this tenant, why was his name omitted? Did it occur to James or the tenant to keep a set of keys under the welcome mat or some other location since he was frequently leaving his keys at home? Putting aside the almost screenplay-ready scenario of construction taking place next door, why did the contractors loan the tenant a ladder and sledgehammer? Weren't they suspicious the guy could have been lying to gain entry and rob the James home, or why he needed a sledgehammer to get into his apartment? Surely the contractors would know that a sledgehammer is not the best tool to slide open a window or locked door.

After he was discovered, midswing, he said that under San Francisco’s tenants’ rights laws, he was allowed to destroy our property, as long as he fixed it later. That might sound crazy, but it is a widely held belief among renters here that laws are so tilted in favor of tenants (and against landlords) that renters can get away with any outrageous behavior. 

My partner and I are renters and practically all of our dozens of friends and acquaintances also rent, and we've never heard any of them express this alleged "widely held belief" that we can supposedly destroy property with impunity.

Where is the factual evidence backing up James' outrageous claim? Certainly sounds like he's out to demonize all San Francisco renters because of his horrible episode with one anonymous renter. The New York Times has a burden to produce the proof backing up James' claim that is a smear against renters.

(Top photo shows residential construction underway at Market and Duboce, next is from Market and Guerrero, followed by Market and Laguna, then Market and 10th Street, and the last photo looking toward Mission and 8th Street shows from the left a residence opened two years ago, and two newer residents nearing completion, and on the lower left foreground is a trailer for the managers of the construction crew that started building a new high-rise condo building at Market Street. All images captured on June 9, 2013.)

And constructing new residences is difficult because we’re nearly surrounded by water and few locals wish to alter the city’s low-rise charm by building skyward.

Yes, James is right about those few locals but they are not any impediment to the booming construction happening all over town, including in the Castro where he and his partner own a home. As the photos show, San Francisco is witnessing a surge of luxury condos seriously altering our (almost lost) low-rise charm.

 (Map of evictions from the April 30, 2013, edition of the Bay Guardian that accompanied a detailed story about low and moderate income renters losing their housing because of the eviction epidemic.)

In addition, a complex legal structure has been created to make evictions for just cause extraordinarily difficult.

James is not providing the full story about evictions, and he conveniently omits mention of the eviction epidemic going on that has been well-documented by the San Francisco Bay Guardian and tenants' rights groups.

One day, after the sledgehammer incident, the tenant flooded his apartment and submerged a plugged-in appliance into an overflowing sink, shorting out the electrical system. We were lucky a fire didn’t start and burn down the block. 

James' nightmare is beginning to sound like the modern day horror movie "Pacific Heights". He sure knows how to strike alarm at every turn, and here instead of saying luck was on their side and their house was not lost to flames, he's go to an extreme and conjures fear about an entire city block succumbing to a fire.

After countless sleepless nights, and worried for our safety, we hired a lawyer who specialized in tenant law. With more than a dozen serious incidents documented, we began eviction proceedings. Three days later, the tenant left on his own. (Destroying property, it turns out, is not actually a tenant’s right — even here.) 

Why did they wait for so many serious incidents to occur before attempting legal relief? How convenient the tenant simply moved out - and gave no reason why, or, if he did, James omits that detail.

It took James tons of tenant trouble and securing the services of an attorney to debunk the myth of a tenant's alleged right to damage rental property? He could have simply Googled San Francisco's rental laws and put the myth in the dustbin.

A few days later, I happened to receive a call from the city about our property-tax appraisal. Among the questions: was anyone renting our downstairs? Not right now, I said. Well, the clerk explained, because of the city’s troublesome rental laws, a tenant-free property is much more valuable. 

Another anonymous source and one who makes a phone call, instead of sending email or snail, out of the blue. Is it standard procedure for city employees to phone home owners about appraisals and offer such information about properties and tenants? Why would they ask if they were rental out their downstairs unit? This doesn't pass the smell test.

Renters in San Francisco have plenty worry about with all the gentrification going on and the last thing we need is for the New York Times running such a column, one that raises many questions the paper should address.

ACT UP/NYC Reunion Gathering on June 22

(Graphic By Vincent Gagliostro)

From New York City my old friend Bill Dobbs informs me with this email about an important event in a few weeks that should be of interest to AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power veterans everywhere:

I wanted to make sure you have a heads-up about what promises to be a momentous occasion on Saturday, June 22 – a (re)gathering of the ACT UP/NY tribe! Check out the website with all the details.  Lots of people are coming, here’s the list so far. Will you join us? Please RSVP online.

Dozens of folks have signed up to attend and I feel good just seeing all those names on the RSVP list. Wish I could be there in person, but will simply be sending good vibes to my friends and colleagues. I can't wait to see pix and maybe videos from the gathering.

Over at Gay City News editor and ACT UP vet Paul Schindler has a story up about the reunion and shares thoughts from fellow vet Alan Klein, who's on the organizing committee. Well worth reading to learn about the factors that brought about the reunion.

ACT UP! Fight Back! Fight AIDS!

Weekend Woof #41: Greg Scott & Miscellaneous Men

After a one-week hiatus, this photographic series resumes with new pix of attractive men pleasing to my queer eye. Thanks guys, for striking smiles or otherwise being captured by my camera's lens.

My dear old friend from our ACT UP/DC and Queer Nation/DC days in the early 1990s, Greg Scott, had my husbear Mike and I over to his place in Hayes Valley on Friday for an incredibly great evening. Greg knocked himself preparing a fantastic multi-course meal, we met his adorable, smart and charming partner and friend AJ, all shared lots of laughs, fine herb and robust conversations. 

Top pic is Greg, second pic is AJ, next is AJ and Mike, fourth pic shows my three amigos and final pic is Greg and I.

Four dudes seen around town or at public meetings in the past week. If I had to pick two faves from this batch of pix, they would be the Asian guy with all that high hair standing up on his head and the black man with the red sneakers.

That's all for this weekend!