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Published: May 13, 2009

“Nudity laws still apply”

Police warn of coming crackdown on lewd behavior at San Francisco street fair

(EDITOR’S CAUTION: This story contains explicit details of activities now under police scrutiny that some of our readers may find deeply offensive. California Catholic Daily is providing the information only in the interest of complete reporting about public events occurring on the streets of San Francisco. Readers who may be offended by explicit descriptions of such activities are advised not to read this article.)

The San Francisco Police Department says it will no longer tolerate lewd behavior – including public sex acts and nudity – at a July street fair sponsored by Folsom Street Events, the same group that puts on the annual Folsom Street Fair, a public celebration of sado-masochism.

The event in question, the Up Your Alley Fair, is scheduled for Sunday, July 26, in San Francisco's South of Market District on Dore Alley between Folsom and Howard streets. Last year’s event resulted in multiple complaints to the Office of Citizen Complaints against patrol officers assigned to cover the event. Citizens complained that the officers ignored blatant public indecency during the fair.

An anonymous photographer provided police with “photos of men performing oral sex, urinating in public, and masturbating from second floor windows overlooking the fair,” reported the Bay Area Reporter, a San Francisco-based weekly that serves “the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities.” The photos were also posted on a web site, www.zombietime.com. (Because of the explicit nature of the images depicted on the web site, California Catholic Daily will not post a link to the site. Readers who are considering checking out the web site for themselves are advised that the images are obscene and disturbing.)

"The fair promoters are the ones who have to take charge; this is their event,” San Francisco Police Lt. Nicole M. Greely told the Reporter. “If they don't run it properly, they will not be having it again. If this event doesn't go well, we can't continue to approve their permit unless it is safe for everyone involved."

Just because a street fair occurs in an enclosed area does not mean that the law does not apply, Lt. Greely told the newspaper. “There is no public sex allowed, that is illegal,” she said. “Nudity laws still apply and laws against urinating in public still apply. Sometimes things gradually get out of hand and that is what happened here. Last year it got out of control."

Greely warned that, if event organizers are unable to control attendees, police officials will seek to have permits for future events rejected by the city, according to the Reporter. "We always require security for these events,” she told the newspaper. “This time we are asking them to address these problems. Hopefully they will be able to control it if they want to have the event next year."

The Reporter said news of the police crackdown caught Folsom Street Events executive director Demetri Moshoyannis “off guard,” and that he complained the first he heard of the complaints occurred during a meeting with city officials in late April. Lt. Greely, who was at the meeting, said the "public sex last year was very blatant" and that the photos received by police “were very demented," according to the newspaper.

“The hearing grew testy when Moshoyannis said he had not been apprised of the problems and Greely jokingly asked how he could not know of the sex occurring, eliciting laughter from those present,” said the Reporter’s story. Moshoyannis, said the newspaper, was “visibly annoyed” by Lt. Greely’s observation.

“The Up Your Alley Fair is the more local, smaller cousin to the Folsom Street Fair held in September,” said the Reporter. The Folsom Street Fair, an annual public celebration of sado-masochism, has also long been a source of controversy. Last year’s Folsom Street Fair drew protests from pro-family groups across the country, who called it “a public street orgy which includes sado-masochism, full nudity and homosexuality.” According to critics, children were seen in attendance at the 2007 Folsom Street Fair, “where they could witness, for example, bare-bottomed men being whipped.”

Another controversy arising from the 2007 Folsom Street Fair was a poster used to advertise the event. The poster featured a re-creation of Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper, where “Christ” and his “disciples” were shown at a table strewn with sex toys. Photos of the event published on the Internet showed public nudity and sex acts.

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