I work the FSF every year, in my best little girl clothes of course, its the only place I can do that "schoolgirls in disgrace" look and get away with it. I set the stages and sound-systems, and I work in the tents selling beer and water for groups I support. All the money raised is given to charity.
First, whatever they say about the FSF is true. Its way over the top, the most amazing thing I've ever seen in public. Its one of a number of such events including the HowWeird Fest, and the Love Parade that don't just push the limits of common decency, they pretty much ignore them wholecloth. Where HowWeird and Love Parade are about dance culture, and you do have plenty of kids at those events (not children, but teenagers) FSF is about the Leather Community and all that encompasses. While I sure prefer to be with the KlubKids, and girls barely dressed with glitter all over more than big hairy guys in ass-less chaps, to each their own.
Having said that....
The blocks of the street that are used are blocked off - and you are expected to pay $5 to get it, with the money going to community projects. (2007 FSF gave a whopping $350,066 to such groups - is PFOX going to cut a check to replace that money? Didn't think so.) Folsom Street is in the middle of the in the warehouse district and the location of lots of gay leather bars, its not like this is in a residential neighborhood. There are no schools there, and I have never seen children there ever. And, for the record, San Francisco has the lowest amount of children per capita of any U.S. city.
This is San Francisco, if you don't like it, don't go to it, don't even come here in the first place. And for sure, you have my blessing when it comes to not having one in your town.
But.... are there groups of people from San Francisco coming to your town and telling you what and how to do things? Let me know and I will make them stop. But, assuming there are not hordes for us going to your town and telling you what to do, where does anyone get off coming to our town, where they do not live, work, pay taxes, vote etc. and tell us what to do and how to do it?
What ever happened to the "land of the free"? No one to my understanding has ever been forced to go the the FSF. And, as for renting a space, there is simply not one big enough (it runs about five/six blocks), besides, part of the FSF is that is is outdoors, in the sun, right there in front of god and everyone.
Look, if we wanted some bland middle-class existence we all would have stayed in Omaha or Des Moines. But since its founding, SF has been a very wild place. Back in the 1880s-90s the Barbary Coast was known as 'the wickedest place on earth." Since the 1940s its been a huge gay and lesbian town, one of the first to have an openly gay district. It was home to the Beats, the hippies, home of the Love-In, and later, setting to some of the first raves in the USA. It has its own art movement, and the San Francisco Sound, and later a huge punk movement. Also, its the financial and banking HQ for the Pacific Rim, home to piles of major corporations, the investment center for Silicone Valley, ground zero for the first explosion of dot.coms, a major retail center and one of the world's top tourist destination. That its pretty much Disneyland for TGs is also part of who we are.
People live in SF because they want to.
Moreover, this is just a bunch of election year grandstanding and a cheep attempt to raise more money. Someone ought to tell PFOX (odd, how they use that FOX deal that is also the network of the conservative movement) that Miss Nancy is a Congressperson, not the mayor, and as such, has little to no control over the events in SF - not to mention that the people of SF would much rather have her do her job in Congress and not run SF.
And, for the record, I'm so sick of the "oh the children" deal. If your worried about your kids, try parenting them. Its not my responsibility to make everything in the world safe and sanitized so that people who want kids as some sort of status symbol but are somehow loathe to spend the time in being a parent have a safe place to raise them. As a matter of fact, I moved from SF to Iowa to raise my kids, for just that reason. Once raised, I moved back.
I'm sure - matter of fact I know it as a fact - that the day after FSF most of those people are back at their desks in the law firms or banks, after all, a pony girl outfit, or a full leather catsuit are not cheap.
You can google Folsom Street Fair, or go to FolsomStreetEvents and find plenty of pictures. Its might not be for everyone, but if you look close a the pictures you will not find any children (the red herring charge).
