And Mussolini had the trains running on time…

My friend Christopher, whose blog is one of my regulars and whose link I need to correct, has been writing recently about Peter Lababera’s recent criticism of the Folsom Street Fair and Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to condemn the event that Peter L. finds so offensive.

It’s been interesting to read Christopher’s insights. I should begin with saying that I definitely respect his right to feel this way and appreciate that he’s given serious thought to an issue affecting our community. Furthermore, I recognize that he’s bravely taking a principled position that might create scorn in others. Kudos to him. I also would like to begin with saying that I think he’s wrong.

He’s wrong because the Folsom Street Fair isn’t a gay sex perversion, it’s a festival that celebrates a small, unique community that is as diverse as the city in which it’s hosted. Folsom is for gay men, straight people, lesbians, transgender individuals, and anyone anywhere else in the spectrum of identities or choices that exist out there.

Folsom is also not an event on a public street. It’s a festival, in a controlled environment, in which admission is controlled. As a non-profit, Folsom doesn’t demand an entry fee, but there is no way that the casual passer-by stumbles on to Folsom. If you are at Folsom, you wanted to be at Folsom. This is unique from even a gay pride parade. While the ages may be unrestricted, everyone there is a consensual participant seeing what they want – and many pay – to see.

And while it may exist, the “blatant anti-Christian bigotry in the form of the ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’” is no more an affront to the good Catholic Church than the church itself. In fact, in their nearly 3 decades in existence there are probably hundreds if not thousands of people that are alive today because of the charity and AIDS prevention work the Sisters have done. They were the organization that coined the term, “safe sex,” using it for the first time in the first plain-language, sex-positive health brochure at the very dawn of the HIV pandemic. Many of the Sisters are Catholics and former Catholics themselves who are trying to make a positive change from their very negative experience in such a dangerous Church. Furthermore, most, if not all, are artists who use the politically charged imagery to make a profound statement. When Peter L. and his friends stop displaying so much anti-gay bigotry, than maybe of the people of San Francisco might be more willing to appreciate what he views as anti-Christian. Lastly, I would argue that what he perceives as anti-Christian, is really anti-Church. I’ve met few atheists, Jews, agnostics, Muslims, and people of other faiths and no-faiths that really find objection to “Christianity” but rather to their special expression of Christianity by the Church and its followers.

I think we can counter Peter L. with a much storied definition of obscenity credited to the Supreme Court. To declare something obscene, “it must be: 1) prurient in nature (which we can probably agree and concede Folsom is), 2) completely devoid of scientific, political, educational, or social value (which Peter L. should concede Folsom is not – especially since it’s ripe with political activism, artistry and health and safety education), and 3) it must violate the local community standards. If it meets all three of these things, it is obscenity.” On the last point is where Peter L.’s criticism lacks all validity and shows itself as nothing more than political grandstanding. Folsom is an old, popular (visited by more than 400,000 people) and some would argue cherished community event. What is right on Folsom Street may not work on Main Street, but the people of Main Street don’t have much say.

I would never engage in a sexual act in public. I would never take my children to a place where sex play is celebrated. But how many children are victimized by predators because parents aren’t comfortable speaking plainly and openly about human sexuality? How many girls will end up pregnant this year? How many children will kill themselves? These things are all just as profane. By celebrating Peter L., we say that his concern should be an area of national focus when we are plagued with so much worse. After all, despite all of his disgusting, murder filled conquests, even Mussolini got the trains to run on time.

In my life experience, including my work at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, I met a lot of interesting people that came from very different experiences and had very different interests than me, many of them prurient! And none of these people I would consider bad people. In fact, I think many – especially those I have been closest with – are astonishing, proud, and strong symbols of our community. When our gay brothers were dying from a devastating disease, it was these – the most vocal, most outrageous, most radical – members of our community that raised the national consciousness. They sewed the quilt, they lobbied the lawmakers, they raised the money, and they changed the face of AIDS. A gay man like me just 5 years older probably lost scores of friends to AIDS. A gay man my age, I’ve never lost a single friend. It wasn’t the Roy Cohn’s or the gay families safely hidden behind their picket fences that made this change happen. It was the Sisters and drag queens and leather daddies and artists and radicals – all worth a lot no matter how different their interests. And Folsom was and is a home for them.

The video may be shocking but so is reality and there’s no point in ignoring it, trying to silence it, or working to squash it. It might not be our reality, but it belongs to someone.