Our community is the leather community, the fetish community, the kink community. We are people of all ages, races, genders, sexual orientations, and backgrounds, defined by our endless fascination and exploration of power exchanges in our sexualities and relationships. We are a caring and loving community that is extremely welcoming and giving. We wear our hearts and sex lives on our proverbial sleeves (or as hanky codes in our back pockets), and we are very proud of who we are.
While the leather community has much overlap with the gay community, we are also distinct. Our two communities have much in common, and leather people have always been an integral part of LGBT communities. Sadly, there have also been many times over the years when our LGBT brothers and sisters have denounced and disparaged us out of a fear, misunderstanding and/or a concern that we are a political liability. In the past two weeks, our community has been called everything from "demented" to "disgusting." The leatherphobia is starting to run rampant.
Up Your Alley and Folsom Street Fair welcome open-minded non-leather people of all sexual orientations. However, the fairs are not for everyone. People who are uncomfortable with sex-positive self-expression probably shouldn't attend the fairs. We reinforce these messages on our Web site, at our gates, and via our trained volunteers. San Francisco has a long history of accepting and appreciating alternative lifestyles and "free love." As members of one big San Francisco community, we must learn to live together in tolerance – not judge, complain, or name-call.
Though Up Your Alley and Folsom Street Fair are produced by and for the leather community, Folsom Street Events gives back to the wider community in countless ways. Both fairs are volunteer-driven, world-class events and together they raise over $300,000 for charity each year. The majority of these dollars support local LGBT charities. Visitors to the fairs contribute roughly $35.4 million for the travel and tourism sector annually (The Mariposa Group, 2004). Again, much of this money goes back into the LGBT community. According to Steve Adams, president of Merchants of Upper Market and Castro, "San Francisco Leather Week is the biggest week for Castro merchants. We fly the leather pride flag in the Castro because of the increase in foot traffic and sales for the week leading up to Folsom Street Fair."
Up Your Alley and Folsom Street Fair are considered model fairs by many of the city agencies that work with us. From a cutting-edge recycling program to top-name entertainment, our fairs attract wide recognition and praise from around the world. As such, the San Francisco Police Department's recent concerns came as a complete surprise to us, particularly since we were praised for our efforts by SFPD immediately following each fair, and no complaints were shared with us at the time. Now that we are aware of a problem, we can do our best to fix it.
Our fairs are meant to be safe spaces where we can come together to celebrate, bond, and express ourselves. This can include a sweaty flogging session, a rope bondage scene, a hot spanking and more – all within the law. What it cannot include is an overt display of public sex. It has always been the position of Folsom Street Events that attendees must follow the law, and every year we train our security volunteers to interrupt public sex. Enforcing this policy at fairs with attendance of 15,000 and 400,000 respectively, however, is a challenge, and we know that there is always room for improvement. In response to the concerns of SFPD, we will implement a more aggressive self-policing effort this year.
We have developed the following proposed three-step policy for anyone who participates in public sex on the fairgrounds. Step 1 : A verbal warning informs the fairgoer that the behavior is not allowed; Step 2: Reminder of the first warning and ejection from the fairgrounds; and, Step 3 : Reminder of first two steps with a direct call to SFPD to cite the person(s) who has/have committed the offense. Anyone who showcases public sex from second or third floor windows is subject to immediate SFPD referral.
To members of my community, I ask for your cooperation. If you're an exhibitionist by nature, then you will have to seek out alternative venues like Blow Buddies or Mack Folsom Prison to get your kicks. For the sake of the fair's longevity, your assistance is both needed and appreciated. To members of the wider community who are not a part of the leather community, please enjoy other events like San Francisco Pride and/or LoveFest, and enjoy Up Your Alley and/or Folsom Street Fair only if your heart is in the right place. Your assistance is both needed and appreciated, too.
Demetri Moshoyannis is the executive director of Folsom Street Events.