Free Republic

The wacky and wonderful world of San Francisco politics once again went viral, this time after the City Insider and other local publications reported on Supervisor John Avalos’ remarks that he summoned the ghost of former Supervisor Harvey Milk to find out how the slain gay civil rights leaders would feel about having a U.S. Navy vessel named after him. During the City Hall debate Tuesday, supervisors said they conferred with Milk’s nephew, friends, former colleagues and compatriots, gay rights activists, the anti-war contingent and others on the issue; the affable Avalos, known around City Hall for his humor, said...

The Lusty Lady has been serving the nude dancer and peep show needs of North Beach for nearly 30 years. But now that it is facing financial problems, San Franciscans should remember the club's place in the city's colorful history.A case can be made that the Lady is the most pro-feminist strip club in the city - and maybe in history. In 1996, the dancers at the Lusty Lady created a national sensation when they became the first nude club to create an "exotic dancers union." Seven years later, they had another landmark moment when the dancers banded together to...

San Francisco -- Supervisor Scott Wiener's proposed legislation about the nude guys in the Castro is already a success. That is, assuming his intention was to make kooky San Francisco a national joke while doing nothing about the core problem. Wiener has come up with a plan to compel the nudies to put something under their bottoms when they sit in public chairs and cover up in restaurants. "What I am proposing is noncontroversial," he said. "Rather than try to hit one out of the park and take on the broader issue of public nudity, I am proposing a modest...

The fun and fireworks have been almost completely drained from the newly moderate, sensible (read: boring) Board of Supervisors - but never fear. The only-in-San Francisco legislation those at Fox News love to rip us for lives on, thanks to the city's lesser known but always creative commissions. The latest example is the Commission on the Status of Women's resolution demanding that NBC cancel its new TV show "The Playboy Club" and replace it with a show that "depicts women's substantive achievements." Set in 1960s Chicago, the show follows the mobsters and bunnies who, um, intermingled at Hugh Hefner's famed...

Top physician tells colleagues, patients at Kaiser that he is finally becoming a woman. Dr. Judson Lively, a surgeon and one of Kaiser Permanente's leading Bay Area administrators, stood nervously before 100 colleagues in a Walnut Creek conference room Tuesday and told them it was no accident there were butterflies on his black tie. Lively told them a fable that was in essence the story of his life, of being trapped inside the body of another, yearning for a transformation to be set free. "I stand here before you today to inform you of something that I have kept...

He would plant firefighters in their rigs on street corners: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom suggested Monday that the city park fire trucks and their crews on streets in violence-prone neighborhoods to deter crime. A thug, he suggested, would be less likely to shoot someone in front of a firefighter. "I'm throwing this out there," Newsom said at a City Hall meeting attended by the police and fire chiefs and top aides in his administration. "I just think it may be a good thing." His idea is to pull the firefighters out of their firehouses, where they're stationed when not...

Two former employees of the Gorilla Foundation, home to Koko the "talking" ape, have filed a lawsuit contending that they were ordered to bond with the 33-year-old female simian by displaying their breasts. Nancy Alperin and Kendra Keller, both of San Francisco, are taking on the Woodside nonprofit and its president, Francine "Penny" Patterson. Their lawsuit, filed Tuesday in San Mateo County Superior Court, alleges sexual discrimination, wrongful termination in retaliation for reporting health and safety violations, and failure to pay overtime or provide rest breaks. It seeks more than $1 million total in damages for the two women. The...

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom may be busy tackling his city's homeless problem and budget deficit these days, but his decision to open City Hall to same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses is still resonating beyond the Golden Gate. Time Magazine named the 37-year-old Democrat to its list of "People Who Matter," a roster that included John Kerry, Ariel Sharon, Nancy and Ron Reagan, Kobe Bryant, Martha Stewart, Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and the television show "Desperate Housewives." The designation followed Newsom's selection as "Person of the Year" by the editors of Planet...

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez, who has thumbed his nose at the establishment before, let a graffiti artist spray paint his City Hall office walls with the bright orange message: "SMASH THE STATE." There is irony. There is art appreciation. There are raised eyebrows. Gonzalez, who has hosted monthly art installations in his office by unknown and known artists for the last four years, offered up this graffiti for one of his last exhibits before he exits City Hall on Jan. 8. Gonzalez did not seek re-election. The timing and placement of the artwork are interesting, seeing...