Dancing (Partially Clothed) in the Streets

I am something of a minority in that, unlike several of my "Leather Brothers," I really don't give a fuck about San Francisco's recent ban on public nudity.

As was recently reported, San Francisco Gay Pride will not be free from the legislation, as was promised them, and revelers will have to party with considerably more clothing than in previous years.

I know it's hard to believe, but I don't feel like waggling your dick, tits, and ass around in a public place is any sort of "right."  It can be a form of protest; perhaps a form of art - it is not, however, an inherent right.

It has nothing to do, for me, with exposure of naughty bits to children (we all know I could give a shit about kids), or with offending uptight assholes with your nudity - it has to do with the fact that I honestly just don't want to see most people naked.

When I think about the men and the occasional women I've seen naked when in San Francisco, I rarely think to myself, "Boy, I'm so glad I just saw that person naked!"  More often, my first reaction is, "Even with the towel on the seat beneath them, I don't want to sit anywhere near where that person has been seated."

I, and most anyone who's ever met me, consider myself to be an extremely open person - I wear a pair of camouflage shorts with a zipper in the back to work, every day - and I have certainly been known to get completely naked at parties, bars, and events, all the time.  What I do not do, however, is go out into public, strip down to full tit-n-minge, and expect people to sit next to me while they eat their lunch, sip their coffee, and chat with their friends.

What most of the people who vehemently oppose the legislation argue is that public nudity is a part of the "culture" of San Francisco, and that this legislation represents an encroaching effort on the part of yuppies to move in and make San Francisco the New York City of the West Coast - family-friendly, safe for kids, and with all the unseemly elements that the rich assholes don't want to see conveniently swept under the rug.

What these people also largely leave out of their arguments is the concept of "context."

San Francisco is remembered by many in the gay community as the last bastion of acceptance for gay men and women escaping their small towns and small-minded families in search of a place where they could be with others like themselves.  It was the city of free love, of hippies, of homosexuals, and of a time when you could just be who you were, and it was all okay.

Well, those times ended in the 90s, and frankly, if you fail to evolve with it, you will die.

Until those people finally die, however, we'll have to deal with their carping about not being able to flash their shit in public.  Well, you get what you vote for...