City officials call for penalties against gay nightclub

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 6/14/5 | JUSTIN M. NORTON

[SmithL]

San Francisco -- The city's Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution urging city and state agencies to penalize a gay nightclub that a city commission said discriminated against blacks.

The decision comes a little more than a month after San Francisco's Human Rights Commission found that Les Natali, the owner of a popular gay nightclub called "Badlands," violated local civil rights codes.

"The city has taken a strong stand against discrimination," said John Newsome with And Castro For All, the organization that pursued the case.

In the resolution, the board urged the city attorney, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the San Francisco Entertainment Commission "to impose penalties to the fullest extent of the law to ensure accountability for discrimination."

The Board of Supervisors can take no punitive action against the club.

[SmithL]

They don't understand. The club expects EVERYONE to use the back door.

[Torie]

My vague impression is that racism is quite rampant in the gay community. I think it has something to do with narcissism, maybe, but granted that is just a psychobabble guess.

[skimbell]

Jeez, this is terrible! Where's the Reverend Mr. Jackson on this one?

[so_real]

Black gays and white gays can't play nice, huh? The hard core liberals' propensity to turn on their own never ceases to amaze me.

[Turbopilot]

Any public group that goes by the name of "And Castro For All" should be investigated the way Sen. McCarthy investigated anti-American activities in his day.

Oops; just realized this was San Francisco. Well, maybe they'll go into "civil rights" meltdown when one minority stands off against another minority, and in the confusion someone at least quasi-intelligent can take over the city long enough to impose rational thought.

Just kidding. I'm not crazy.

[Lockbar]

When being both Black and Gay isn't good enough. So sad. sniff, sniff

[Torie]

Castro Street is the main drag in the neighborhood.

[upchuck]

A queer is accused of discrimination?

Bwhahahahahahahahahahaha!

[Turbopilot]

I'll admit to not knowing much about San Fran - I was there once, and even as a child remember a horrible homeless problem and what I later realized was a huge gay presence - but was Castro Street named prior to and coincidentally of the dictator, or was it named for the dictator?

Either way, I don't think the name of either the group or the street is acceptable (would "Hitler Street" or a group called "And Hitler For All" be acceptable? Communism murdered far more than fascism ever did) but I'm still curious as to the real source of the name.

[Torie]

I would be dollars to donuts it was named prior to the tyrant assuming prominance, and was named for someone else.

[Torie]

It was named after Jose Castro, a prefect of the district as it says, probably prior to the time California became a state, or around then.

[Turbopilot]

Not that I don't trust a fellow Freeper, but just for historical accuracy, here's what I got from Google:

José Castro
Leader in Resistance to U. S. Forces

A descendant of a soldier in Anza’s company. He was comandante of the Mexican forces aiding Governor Alvarado in his revolution against two Mexican governors. Later he was the most active leader in resistance to U.S. rule after Monterey and San Francisco were taken by American forces. Other members of this family held many political offices and owned large land grants.

Indeed, not a Communist. But still perhaps not a role model for Americans?

[Turbopilot]

Thanks; I already found that he was an anti-American "freedom fighter". Though he's apparently not related to Cuba's totalitarian dictator, they apparently had much in common.

[Torie]

Alvarado is a major street in Los Angeles. :) I went to Portola Junior High School, named after a Mexican military explorer. I am not sure who Sepulveda is named after (another major street), but it sounds, well, Mexican. But then we have Dana Point, in Orange County, named after the Two Years Before the Mast author, Richard Henry Dana, who noticed the air inversion layer in the Los Angeles basin from Indian campfires (which traps the smog, as a layer of hot air from the desert traps the cooler air from the ocean below), and so it goes.

[MilspecRob]

Great post. I still need to look up "Victory Blvd." history here in the valley.

I used to live on Pershing Blvd. in St. Louis, It was Berlin Blvd. before 1917.