SF: proposal for sex tents at Folsom Street Fairs

San Francisco police planned a crack down on the public sex the Folsom Street Fair and the Up Your Alley Street Fair due to complaints filed by citizens and the excellent photo journalism of Zombie, according to an article in the Bay Area Reporter this last April. But after the events, some in the gay community complained about the loss of a venue for public sex and proposed sex tents be provided at future events for those who wish to engage or watch out of the public eye.

In the words of gay activist Michael Petrelis:

I want to reclaim the right to engage in public fellatio, or watch it unimpeded by sex monitors.

I said a tent, that would be clearly marked for oral sex and alcohol-free, should be considered, as a safe space for consenting adults to engage in fellatio on a public street. Of course, some poor suckers, er, lucky volunteers would have to head up a committee to maintain security at the tent, or other structure, if this idea is to become reality, and I'd be the first to kneel down and pray that this happens. Demetri and Bevan will consider the tent idea and it will be revisited at future meetings.

Bevan refers to Bevan Dufty, the city council member for the district that includes the Castro and who intends to run for mayor. The SF Chronicle's Matier and Ross carried an item about this last week, concluding:

Dufty said he wasn't sure if the issue was big enough at this point to recommend any action.

"There are definitely people interested in seeing more public sex," Dufty said, but "right now, I'd just take it under advisement and wait and see what develops."

Spoken like a true candidate.

The good news is that today the San Francisco Chronicle published an editorial against it:

Idea of public sex tents is way out of line

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Public sex tents? Now there's an idea that should have been shot down the second it was announced from the mouth of a member of the "leather community" in response to complaints about public sex at Folsom Street Fair and its smaller sibling fair, Up Your Alley.


Instead, it appears that at least one of our local leaders (Supervisor Bevan Dufty) has agreed to take the matter "under advisement." Since our local leaders are having trouble speaking the obvious, we will: Public sex is not appropriate at Folsom Street Fair or anywhere else. Even in San Francisco.

Public sex isn't just lewd, it's illegal under state law. San Francisco officials and police have historically given the fairs broad leeway to self-police bawdy behavior, but that should have been revoked the moment that citizens complained. Instead, people are giving serious thought to ways to make the streets safe for public sex and unsafe for public decency.

Enough. This is a quality-of-life issue that should have been tackled years ago. Local leaders need to stop clowning around and insist that everyone obey the law.