[GN] San Francisco
Richard
year. Live in the Inner Richmond at the border of Laurel Heights. I work
at home or in the office on Geary, My husband works in the Castro.
What an amazing city. I think it is not only the Gay Mecca of the USA but
the laid-back-liberal-hetero-diverse Mecca of the USA.
The difference between San Francisco and Seattle to gays and lesbians was
recently pointed out to me by my boss. He is a major player in Seattle's
progressive movement for workers and other issues. He is educated,
politcally savvy, and exercises a great deal of power in his own right. He
asked me how the rest ofthe country looked at the Seattle gay community. I
said that I did not know...I seldom think of it. He said that he seldom
thought of the Seattle gay community at all, yet the Pride Celebration saw
50,000 on the streets.
In San Francsico, any power broker, organizer, politico like my boss HAS to
consider the gays and lesbians of the city. It is not just a matter of
numbers, it is a decade long committment to building political strength
thru registering and educating gay and lesbian voters. It is the ability
to organize respite and support care for AIDS patients. and it is the
knowledge that the gays and lesbians of San Francisco will no longer take
any bullshit without response, sometimes violent response.
Steve and I see gay tourists almost daily....holding hands with a star
struck look in theri eyes like they have landed in Oz ... and this is in
the Castro, Union Square, the waterfront....wherever tourists go. they
freedom to be themselves without fear is the result of the organization of
political and social power by gays and lesbians in this remarkable city.
Our current Silicon-Implants driving out the middle class is changing this
city rapidly. It will be a very different place in a decade. But as long
as young activists have their ironing boards set up at the intersection of
18th and Castro making certain everyone is registered to vote, gays and
lesbians will continue to be able to come here and be free, if only for
their two weeks of vacation.
Richard Seward
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Zeke Krahlin
said:
>Thanks Naomi for a splendid post on San Francisco.
I think you both see this tattered city through rose-tinted glasses. San
Francisco is living off a great reputation, which has long since
shrivelled up and died.
>What an amazing city. I think it is not only the Gay Mecca of the USA
>but the laid-back-liberal-hetero-diverse Mecca of the USA.
Laid back? Liberal? Heter diverse? C'mon, don't you ever read or watch the
news? Unprecedented numbers of evictions, homeless and pedestrain deaths,
elimination of the affordability for any gay to move here for refuge.
Since the passage of DOMA, S.F. has become one of the most homophobic
cities in the country. Gay men and women can NOT walk hand-in-hand in
safety, in almost any area of this city. Our transit system is responsible
for many homophobic attacks, including by some of their own drivers...yet
it keeps getting swept under the carpet.
Don't you know that in 1998 our S.F. Examiner printed a full page ad
saying that gays can be cured, and are a main reason for many of our
social ills? I have placed that article on the web. Check it out, at:
http://www.2xtreme.net/jwd/k6/sf-ad.htm
And our Bishop Levada has denounced gay people as "Nazis" and a threat to
Western Civilization.
>In San Francsico, any power broker, organizer, politico like my boss
>HAS to consider the gays and lesbians of the city.
You are glorifying what doesn't exist. Like so many, you believe in San
Francisco's outdated reputation as if it were still live and vibrant. Yes,
many gays suffering from AIDS came here, for the "better" treatment. Even
so, this treatment for the most part remains terribly pathetic. And if
you're poor and homeless, just forget it. I have lost several friends this
way, and another is on the streets, on his last legs...and there's nothing
I can personally do about it, because of my own very limited resources.
>It is not just a matter of numbers, it is a decade long committment
>to building political strength thru registering and educating gay
>and lesbian voters.
The gay movement here has largely swung to the right, with rare
exceptioin. We can't even get overnight facilities in the Castro, for our
own gay homeless! The old NIMBY attitude is apparantly alive and well,
even for our own people who happen to be in an unfortunate dilemma.
>It is the ability to organize respite and support care for AIDS
>patients.
Not without good insurance, or family funds to cover expenses. If you are
homeless and/or very poor, being gay alone will not win some kindness and
healing. There *are some exceptions of course, but they're a mere drop in
the bucket.
>and it is the knowledge that the gays and lesbians of San Francisco
>will no longer take any bullshit without response, sometimes
>violent response.
Give me a break! Gays here are like sheep, very complacent, as well as
prejudiced against other gays who are not elitist home-owners and
Republican pissants. Violence? Ha! The last thing gays here would do is
bash back, even if their own lover was bludgeoned to death.
>Steve and I see gay tourists almost daily....holding hands with a
>star struck look in theri eyes like they have landed in Oz
Shows you that they are living in a pipe dream...not at all what S.F. is
today. The Castro is a gutted-out shambles of the fine community it once
was. But this ended in the late seventies, for Chrissake! The Castro, once
a lovely, friendly village unto itself, is now nothing more than a
commercial strip owned and run by hetero families. Besides which, who can
afford to move here now? What kind of "gay mecca" is this, when it becomes
impossible for most gays and lesbians to move here, for sanctuary and
activism?
>The freedom to be themselves without fear is the result of
>the organization of political and social power by gays and
>lesbians in this remarkable city.
Gays are *not free to move about S.F. w/o fear of violent attack. It goes
on all the time!
>Our current Silicon-Implants driving out the middle class is changing
this
>city rapidly. It will be a very different place in a decade.
That's right: no more queers dirtying up the pristine silicon landscape.
>But as long as young activists have their ironing boards set up at
>the intersection of 18th and Castro making certain everyone is
>registered to vote, gays and lesbians will continue to be able to
>come here and be free, if only for their two weeks of vacation.
Young activists? Most of them have been booted out of town, due to
sky-rocketing rents. What you see now are mere remnants of what once was.
Don't forget that S.F. is still part of California, where gay marriage is
outlawed, where we have become leaders in anti-immigration and other
right-wing ideas.
That's why I'm glad to still be here: to be a thorn in the side of all the
trolls and demons that have usurped what was once a fine city. I will not
go down without a fight, that's for sure!
But Devil Doll is right: San Francisco has become a very cold, jaded city,
including the queers who live and play here. Berkeley (across the Bay) is
so much nicer, and a lot less homophobic...yet it, too, had greatly
diminished from its former progressive/magical self. For me, choosing
Berkeley over S.F. to hang out, is choosing the lesser of two evils.
I have no resources to move to Holland, which is what I'd do if I could.
By the same token, I believe in making the best out of what you have. I
believe I carry the torch, keeping it ignited through these Dark Ages, for
the time when, once more, San Francisco becomes a beacon of Gay Equality.
But first, we need to flush out all the vermin that have overrun this
pathetic little backwater Bagdad by the Bay. You wouldn't believe the
hostility and outright violent attacks I have suffered under the hands of
my own gay brothers (and sisters). This is not a gay mecca by any measure
of that term. It might have been once, but it hasn't been for many, many
years. But Amsterdam? That's a different story. Amsterdam shines! They are
doing the right thing by us.
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Naomi Himmelhoch
Many of your complaints about SF are true. Remember, I did mention the
homeless dying of AIDS in the streets. I lived in a building on the UN
Plaza, and knew many of the street people. I was there when Jordan first
passed that law criminalizing not having a place to live.
Try living in Pittsburgh.
And DD, I have been attacked with a lead pipe in Los Angeles by a skin head
(a complex story, actually, but I was attacked for being part of a couple).
My lesbian little sister has been punched in the face at a bus stop in New
Haven, shoved to the ground in Greenwich village, and stabbed (not
seriously, thank god) in Austin for being with her girlfriend. A friend of
mine was lynched, that's right, beaten to death and hanged from a tree, in
the Napa Valley. I have had two of my youth commit suicide, and two others
make serious attempts, revived and hospitalized. One of the attempts
occurred after the girl, who was 15 years old, walked out of the Pittsburgh
GLCC, and was held-up at knife point, threatened with rape to help teach her
a lesson for being a dyke, and saved by a timely beat cop. How many dead
bodies do we need to satisfy you?
I also worked (briefly, thank god) with a man who, with a friend, went to a
gay cruising spot in a Pittsburgh city park, and beat a gay man to death.
No doubt, you'll think it is justified because the man was in a gay cruising
spot.
And while it is certainly interesting to find out what your "type" is, your
description of the average gay San Franciscan male is strangely fetishistic,
to use a word that I'm not sure actually exists. Also, did you know that
lesbians also live in San Francisco? I know this list is heavily male, but
come on, women exist.
Naomi Himmelhoch
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Devil Doll
>.... How many dead bodies do we need to satisfy you?
g0tte melodrama?
Our legislative and activist resources are limited. I think they should be focused on goals that advance our collective dignity, rather than on goals that perpetuate a mentality and a way of life we should be getting away from. I'm talking about more than the Castro life here, I'm talking about the entire view of us as a class, about homosexuality as a distinction. The more we see ourselves as separate and distinct, the more the RRR wins. They see us that way too.
>I also worked (briefly, thank god) with a man who, with a friend, went to a
>gay cruising spot in a Pittsburgh city park, and beat a gay man to death.
>No doubt, you'll think it is justified because the man was in a gay cruising
>spot.
That is a totally abhorrent and ugly thing to say.
==
Devil Doll
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"All I like to think of now is the cool spring rains washing the fever from the bones of the dead, that they might find their hollows in the earth"
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Zeke Krahlin
>Zeke et al.,
>Many of your complaints about SF are true. Remember, I did mention
>the homeless dying of AIDS in the streets.
Thanks Naomi, for acknowledging my point: that San Francisco is no more
liberated than any other Amerikan city. I often find myself having to
fight upstream to explain this to other gays living here, and
"gay-friendly" straights, who *love to insist how nice gays have it here.
These folks must have their heads in the sand. It is a naive (and cruel)
fantasy, that S.F. is any *safer or *friendlier for gays, than any other
major U.S. city.
(I also meant to mention, but forgot: so what about opera, theater, etc.?
It's ridiculously expensive, as to no longer be availalbe to your average
denizen. And our artists are presently being driven out in droves, thans
to the dot-com invasion. We've alread lost over 40% of our artistic
community in just the last eight months.)
Straights still rule, and they always have. We are inundated 24/7 with
heterocentric images, mostly women's boobs and ass, and hetero music
dominates all the gay bars and clubs. We have experienced a *huge influx
of immigrants from the Bible Belt, in the last decade...only some of whom
were gay men and women desiring to *escape that dogmatic culture; only to
have it flood our own "liberal" burg.
>And DD, I have been attacked with a lead pipe in Los Angeles by a
>skin head (a complex story, actually, but I was attacked for being
>part of a couple).
I am *really sorry you have suffered such an attack. Please accept my
sincerest regrets, as a gay person in solidarity with my sisters. Devil
Dog is very arrogant in expressing his "success" in being openly gay w/o
being attacked (so far). While I admire his courage (and I'd do same, had
I my lover by my side)...he is blatantly ignoring all the reports from
everywhere in the U.S., regarding the sharp rise of violence against gays
since the passage of DOMA. This has led to S.F. being, for a few years,
first and second place among large cities, as "most homophobic". Now, I
believe S.F. ranks a steady, nasty fourth place.
A couple years ago, junior and high school students of the Greater Bay
Area were polled for their attitudes about gays. Over 68% of those who
said it's wrong to be racist or anti-female, still think it's okay to call
a gay person "faggot", and violently attack him. So if it's that bad here,
I can only dread what it's like in the rest of Amerika, these days.
But, claiming to be the visionary urban shaman that I am, I also foresee a
rapid turn-around for our city, and our country. Where we have fallen way
behind most other Western Democracies regarding gay rights, and civil
rights at large...as to be deserving of label "uncivilized"...we will soon
move so quickly as to be way ahead of the rest of the world, and inspire
others to catch up. In fact, I see it happening NOW, as each day passes,
we citizens of the San Francisco Bay Area becoming more and more a
connected family, and will soon rise from our ashes into the brilliant
phoenix that is our destiny.
P.S.: Devil Dog, for your own safety (and that of your lover), DO carry
pepper spray while in public. It only takes one bashing to destroy your
happiness forever. Why not prevent it with a simple and legal weapon of
self defense?
=====
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Devil Doll
>On Fri, 15 Sep 2000 17:05:50 EDT, Naomi Himmelhoch said:
>
>Thanks Naomi, for acknowledging my point: that San Francisco is no more
>liberated than any other Amerikan city. >
>It's ridiculously expensive, as to no longer be availalbe to your average
SF has always been a pricey town, but it's still nothing like San Diego. It's recent influx of Internet money has made it more expensive. I don't see how you can hold this against a city; that is nonsensical. And I have a hard time imagining what would make someone homeless in this economy, the most prosperous in memory. There is no shortage of work.
Your often-stated resentment of successful people, your brainless equation of personal prosperity with conservatism, is really infantile, Zeke. Don't think you're fooling anyone. Nobody owes it to anyone to be poor, and having been both rich and poor, I can tell you that being rich is a lot better. Maybe instead of bitching about "yuppie Republican Queers" you might think about spending some time sharpening up your skills and take part in the pie instead of complaining about people who have the gall to make something of their lives.
And BTW, we stopped doing that "America-with-a-K" stuff around 1970. Really. That's so childish.
==
Devil Doll
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http://home.earthlink.net/~chrisfox/
"All I like to think of now is the cool spring rains washing the fever from the bones of the dead, that they might find their hollows in the earth"
-- Bela Bartók, speaking of the Holocaust victims
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Naomi Himmelhoch
>"Naomi Himmelhoch" <nhimm...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >.... How many dead bodies do we need to satisfy you?
>
>g0tte melodrama?
This seems to be your typical response when someone calls your bluff.
Sweetheart, YOU asked where the dead bodies were. I came up with four right
off the bat, from my personal experience alone, and can list more if you
would like. You really can't stand it when people are able to respond to
your challenges, can you?
>Our legislative and activist resources are limited.
Yes, and you are part of the reason for that. I recall you said you wouldn't
give money to glbt charities.
> >I also worked (briefly, thank god) with a man who, with a friend, went to
>a
> >gay cruising spot in a Pittsburgh city park, and beat a gay man to death.
> >No doubt, you'll think it is justified because the man was in a gay
>cruising
> >spot.
>
>That is a totally abhorrent and ugly thing to say.
Why, you don't think that sounds like you? I was merely anticipating your
response. Perhaps you are upset that I stole your thunder by saying it
myself.
Sincerely,
Naomi Himmelhoch
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Zeke Krahlin
>SF has always been a pricey town,
Really? I find that to be quite untrue. It was quite affordable when I
moved here in 1973, and until the leaps in rent starting in the late
1980's. This affordability is what nurtured a vibrant, artistic and
activist community...since people who so desired, could work just part
time, in order to devote their energies to fighting for civil rights and
other ideals.
>but it's still nothing like San Diego. It's recent influx of
>Internet money has made it more expensive.
You don't need to tell me why things have gotten so outrageously costly.
I'm well versed in local politics, including the issue of rent gouging.
>I don't see how you can hold this against a city;
I don't. I hold it against arrogant wealthy people who are hateful, and
ignorant...not to mention totally insensitive to the real meaning of
"community". These rent gougers and dot-com yuppies threaten to wipe out a
whole way of life, a beautiful way of life where hoarding material wealth
is a low priority when compared with achieving worthwhile causes. Once the
well dries up, they'll leave this city a shambles, totally gutted out as a
result of their destructive greed. Entire communities ruined.
>And I have a hard time imagining what would make someone homeless in
>this economy, the most prosperous in memory. There is no shortage
>of work.
That is because you choose to ignore the real situation in this country.
The majority of these jobs pay well below a living wage...and are dead-end
jobs, not careers. There is no lack of activist sites on the web, to
enlighten you about the dark side of our economy, and how its brutal
philosophy crushes lives and spirits of decent people. Sure, there may be
no shortage of work...but there certainly is a drastic shortage of fair
wages and compensatory health care and housing. When this present bubble
of affluence burts, we will experience a depression that will exceed the
Great one. We already have more homelessnes than ever before, except for
that Depression. You cannot blame citizen's unwillingness or laziness on
that situation. It is due to harsh social inequities against the poor, the
disadvantaged, and others who are marginalize...inequities that have yet
to be confronted and resolved.
>Your often-stated resentment of successful people,
*You might regard those who hoarde wealth as "successful"; I do not. To
me, a truly successful person is one who lives up to his ideals as best he
or she can...without regard to the status quo. By that gauge, I am
extremely successful, considering how much I have accomplished with so
little money, and so many odds stacked against me...not the least of which
is harrassment for being poor (and still *happy).
>your brainless equation of personal prosperity with conservatism,
>is really infantile, Zeke.
That was not an opinion; that was an observation. A general truth that
explains why the Republican Party has far more wealth than Democrats.
>Don't think you're fooling anyone.
I don't; least of all, you.
>Nobody owes it to anyone to be poor,
I never said that. Society owes it to all its citizens, a reasonable level
of affluence as a birthright, an inalienable right. And so, this is how
most Western Democracies have evolved, except the United States. But we
will soon, finally, catch up.
However, some of us, like myself, choose a vow of poverty for the insight
it teaches us. So much beauty of the world cannot be revealed to those
preoccupied with satisfying the status quo...especially those who use
their material "success" to put down others with less possessions. The
material arrogance preached by our present Amerikan values are gross and
vicious. Thanks but no thanks, you can have it; I'll continue living in
blissful, simple poverty...where I have time to write, paint, think, sip
coffee, exercise, smell the roses, and participate in groups like GayNet.
>and having been both rich and poor, I can tell you that being rich
>is a lot better.
Well, see. I've been rich and poor, too. I come from a reasonably affluent
family, yet this did not prevent me from a very difficult, unhappy
childhood due to parental neglect and periodic verbal abuse. I also held
down various jobs over the years, where I received a decent salary with
full benefits. Yet despite experience all this affluence, I have never
been happier than (1) when I was homeless in Berkeley/S.F. from 1973-1976,
and (2) now, when I remain on a disability stipend of just $849/mo. before
rent, and have acquired new and wonderful friends, most of whom are
homeless (but also very creative and kind)...and I am enjoying an
incredible, new creative cycle with my art. I have learned how to be happy
by my own wits, not by impressing others with accumulating material weath
and possessions. I have found God, I have found myself, and I have found
wonderful liberation...liberation that I am freely disseminating to anyone
who is receptive.
>Maybe instead of bitching about "yuppie Republican Queers"
These are not bitch sessions: these are sharing my observations after
years of experience, hardship, and rewards. Going yuppie, going
Republican, is clearly the *wrong way for anyone to go, including for
queers.
>you might think about spending some time sharpening up your skills
>and take part in the pie
I am constantly sharpening my skills...but I never intend to make some
fat, hetero boss rich off of my hard-won talents, which are devoted to
great ideals far richer and rewarding than hoarding material goods. In
fact, I'm fuckin' PROUD of myself, for I now realize I have achieved my
dreams, as they are incredibly unfolding before my very eyes...and most
amazing, before the eyes of those around me.
>instead of complaining about people who have the gall to make
>something of their lives.
Oh, and I haven't made something of my life? You see, that's a value
judgment of yours, based on twisted priorities. Why, my contributions
alone via volunteer work far surpass most people's working contributions
to society. They live bleak, unfulfilled and unhappy lives...and die never
knowing life's true joys. On the other hand, *everything wonderful is now
coming my way. I consider myself richer beyond all dreams...and know that,
because I have dedicated my spirit to ideals (which are invisible) rather
than material goods (which are visible)...what money I need will flow my
way like a magnet...for Our Creator knows I will spend it wisely, to
empower and enrich those good souls who continue to suffer the slings and
arrows of affluent bastards that spit in their faces. Such as yourself.
>And BTW, we stopped doing that "America-with-a-K" stuff around
>1970. Really. That's so childish.
Not to me it isn't. Since I learned only a year ago, that I've been
hanging out since 1973, at the same coffeehouse that Alan Ginsberg did,
during his composing "Howl", I feel greatly honored, as I now know the
torch has been handed to me. To honor Alan, I spell Amerika this way,
since he started that trend in his poems.
You are welcome to bash me further, as that will spare others from your
malicious vitriole. I know how to deal with your kind, quite well.
=====
LAVENDER-VELVET REVOLUTION!
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