Taking a stand against prejudice
Kudos to Phil Nickerson for standing up against prejudice ["End exclusionary trans policy," Open Forum, September 21] ! I am glad to see someone in our community trying to make it a better place for everyone.
After over 20 years in this city, I am surprised and disappointed to know our own leather community would defend and tolerate such a silly and exclusionary rule in a leather contest. Given the current political fascism existing in our country, we as San Franciscans should be on the forefront and leading the LGBT community nationwide on the fight for equality for all.
Thank you Phil, for your firm stand on this issue. You have done more for this community by trying to correct this wrong than I have seen from any other titleholder over any other issue.
I seriously hope San Francisco will not allow this type of discrimination to continue and ban this organization as we have banned other organizations over similar discrimination.
Tom Braddock
Northern California LeatherSIR 2004
Interesting year for leathermen
It's been an interesting year to be a leatherman in San Francisco. In response to the latest discrimination charge against the ILSb organization I'd like to share, as a white gay leatherman, my personal struggle with this controversy.
When the issue was first raised earlier this year, my knee jerk liberal response was: of course this was wrong and I'd have no part of it. I had been asked by Jay Hemphill and Michael Holeman, dear friends and the producers of the NorCal Leather Sir/boy contest, to be tallymaster. I was going to call and resign. Then I started thinking and I realized it wasn't that simple.
First, contests are discriminatory by nature. Contests are held in celebration and to honor all kinds of cultures, subcultures, and beliefs. The intent is to recognize someone as the "best" representation of whatever that contest is about, and contestants enter mostly out of a desire to represent their community the best they can. Also, that 15 minutes of fame thing is fun, too! For example, the new Mr. Latin Leather Este Noche recognizes the contribution of Latino men to the greater leather/fetish community. In Chicago, the Mr. Ebony Leather contest is held celebrating the contributions of African Americans to the leather/fetish community. At the annual Transgender Cotillion a Miss/Ms. TGSF is crowned. I could go on, but my point is this, I would not be welcome to enter any of these. Why? I'm not Latino, African American, or transgender.
The primary problem is that ILSb requires that all contestants be biological males. Is this fair? Since my year as Mr. Daddy's Leather in 2002 I have had the privilege of either judging or being tallymaster at several contests. I have learned that for the most part running for a title is a part of a person's journey through life. For leathermen it has mostly been about coming out twice, first as a gay man, then as a leatherman. Is it fair to have in the same contest a transgender man whose journey has included gender reassignment, coming out as gay (in my experience, usually the case of TG men involved in leather) and coming into leather? It's almost like comparing apples to oranges, and a very tough call.
Do transgender men really care? After the first grenade was lobbed at Jay and Michael earlier this year they tried to open a dialogue with the transgender community to try to work this out somehow. They scheduled a meeting, reserved a room, through a contact they sent a notice of the place and time (including alternate places and times) and no one responded. It's hard to have a discussion if the only advocates are a former leather Daddy and a former NorCal Leatherboy, both biological males.
Should we debate this in the press? The first Jay and Michael heard of any problems in the community with the ILSb contest was when they were asked by the B.A.R. for a comment for a front page story in response to a letter sent by Peter Fiske earlier this year. And now we have Phil Nickerson calling anyone who doesn't tow his line hateful hypocrites. Is this really a problem or are a few people satisfying their need for attention?
I was tallymaster at the NorCal Leather Sir/boy contest this year, and I'll do it again if they ask. I have a great deal of admiration and respect for the entire transgender community. I still haven't figured it out yet, but right now I'm leaning on the side of the producer to include whomever they want. If we don't, then all contests should end, and that would be cutting off our nose to spite our face.
Dan Alexander
San Francisco
Bio male policies are not necessary
I want to thank Phil Nickerson for speaking out about International Leather Sir & boy, and share some of my thoughts on reading his column.
Policies like International Leather Sir and boy that violate the privacy rights of their contestants by requiring them to be biologically male are unacceptable but more important they are unnecessary.
Contest like International Mr. Leather have been open for many years with no ill effects, in fact, quite the reverse has happened. The presence of trans contestants has enriched the IML experience. Clubs like Delta Intl. and the 15 Association report positive results when they are open and welcoming to trans men. Men's (and women's) spaces are valuable to our community but excluding trans men (or women) is not the answer to preserving these spaces.
There are alternatives to exclusion such as asking for male (or female ) ID or asking that contestants be living the gender they compete in, this seems fair, and is used by several contests (Mr. and Ms. World Leather and IMSL). International Leather Sir & boy is the only contest that has a discriminatory policy. Dialogue must continue until such policies are changed.
As gay men and women who have faced so much discrimination in our lives, we need to understand and speak out until these policies are replaced. Change will come. Until it does, we must continue to speak out – truthfully, honestly, and softly.
International Leather Sir and boy has done some very fine work and I look forward to someday again being an enthusiastic supporter.
Peter Fiske
San Francisco
No sympathy for tenants
Can anyone read "Tenants lose bias case against TIC owners" [September 21] and have any sympathy for those extortionist tenants from hell? Why anyone would want to be a landlord in this city is beyond my comprehension; I guess that's why so many are opting out. The only thing that surprised me in the story was that some other landlord was stupid enough to rent to them.
Oliver Pine
San Francisco
PWAs and housing
The most pressing unmet need for many people with AIDS in San Francisco is decent, stable, and affordable housing, according the Ryan White CARE Council, several AIDS advocacy groups, and lots of PWAs themselves.
Over the summer the Board of Supervisors asked the Department of Public Health to establish a working group to investigate new, creative ways of helping PWAs either find or keep their housing, and to also look at ways of increasing the number of rental subsidies for the hundreds and hundreds of PWAs on the subsidies waiting list.
This AIDS working group meets monthly to address the complex housing needs of PWAs and the next meeting for the group is on Tuesday, October 3, from 2 to 4 p.m., in room 278 at City Hall.
I urge all PWAs, particularly those on the subsidies waiting list, to attend this meeting and offer constructive advice on how we can persuade politicians and AIDS executives to allocate more funds for rental subsidies to help homeless PWAs secure housing or assist those who have apartments, to not become homeless.
One idea I will suggest at the meeting is that executives at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation take pay cuts and reduce their bureaucratic overhead, and redirect the money into rental subsidies.
One section of the most recent IRS 990 tax filing for the foundation, available here, www.sfaf.org/documents/990_2005_schedule_a.pdf, shows at least five of the top people at the foundation made more than $100,000 last year.
What's more important? Paying AIDS executives six-figure salaries or increasing rental subsidies for PWAs?
If you want to see the agenda for the October 3 meeting, visit www.sfdph.org/Meetings/HIVAIDSHousingGrp/HIVAIDSHousingGrpA10032006.pdf.
I hope to see many PWAs at the meeting.
Michael Petrelis
San Francisco
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