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WALK OF SHAME, 2003

Posted on April 12, 2018October 20, 2025 by Mary

a view from the front of the procession led by the red "queer mutiny not consumer unity" banner

GAY SHAME AWARDS - WALK OF SHAME - 2003 — AWARD CATEGORIES AND NOMINEES - COMMODIFICATION OF THE MALE GAYS: *Pride Parade* for supporting local businesses by bringing all these queers to town, equating identity with corporate loyalty and robbing us of creativity and individuality in the process. *Diesel*, for opening its new Harvey Milk Plaza branch so that we could all celebrate the Texas sodomy ruling in the most fashionable jeans. *Pottery Barn*, for teaching us all how to be a white: crisp, classic and refreshing. PROPAGATION OF LESBIAN BED DEATH: *Queer as Folk*, for introducing millions of television viewers to a world where lesbians never have sex. *Craig’s List’s cruising boards*, where men fuck and women talk about softball. *Osento*, the women-only bathhouse where touching is not allowed. GENDER FUNDAMENTALISM AWARD: *Hedwig and the Angry Inch*, for presenting a heterosexual myth about the origin of love as a parable for queers, and giving us a trans movie with a “happy” ending — in which Hedwig decides she’s not trans in the first place! *Power Exchange*, for protecting gay male masculinity by showing all the femmes, women and trannies into the basement — because tweakers need safe space, too. *Nomenus*, the radical fairy non-profit organization which allows only men to be members, for sticking to a policy of exclusivity that is wrong now, and was wrong in 1991, when it was established. Safe space at gathering shouldn’t mean women can’t be on the board. *The Center* for its gender/sex-segregated restrooms — cant’ we lay the “M” and “F” to rest already? LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: *Dr John Money*, for forty years of pain and suffering. Money is a prominent psychologist who believes that physicians should choose their intersex patients’ genders with a knife. You can’t force peple into “M” and “F” who never fit in the first place. *The Center* In only it’s first year of existence, the Center has already managed to bungle community politics and incite violence against queers on its very own doorstep. Truly a child prodigy. HOPE AWARD, BECAUSE “YOU GOTTA GIVE ‘ME HOPE”: *Alex Fagan Jr.*, son of acting police chief Alex Fagan, for using excessive violent force in 16 separate incidents, sparking Fajitagate, then getting fired. Here’s hoping he doesn’t get his job back. *Bechtel Corporation*, the Gold Rush-era construction company that built BART, for giving us hope for the people of Iraq. After all, wouldn’t we all be better off if Bechtel owned the drining water? *The Center*, for hoping that room rentals and major donors could finance an inclusive community center — better start writing those social service grants, Thom. WARGASM AWARD: *San Francisco Police Department*, for arresting two thousand anti-war demonstrators. *Madonna*, for making an anti-war video and then chickening out of releasing it in the U.S. Madonna may be rich, but she’s not a Christian and she’s not a Jew — my, oh my, what an extreme point of view! *Tony Hall*, for demanding that anti-war protestors pay for the costs fo their own imprisonment and brutalization. *Oakland Police Department*, for the blood shed and scars left by it’s “less lethal” weapons after the Oakland Docks demonstrating a few months ago. OUR FAVORITE LOFTS: *The Valencia*, new and grotesque “luxury” housing in the Mission: location, location, location. *Avalon Towers*, down by the Bay Bridge in SOMA, for separating people into high-priced boxes and selling a false sense of security to people who really need community. *Hotel Tropicana*, a “luxury” SRO in the Mission. The landlord burnt it down, kicked the tenants out, and turned it into a place where all the new Mission residents (i.e., white yuppies) can have Ikea furniture and large-screen televisions. EXPLOITING OUR YOUTH AWARD: *Dennis Cooper*, novelist, for turning his personal fetish into a lifestyle choice. Yikes, how daring — so many stirring stories about young boys who just want to get coked up and murdered on film! *Exodus*, the post-gay ministries, for torturing and abusing young queers with the misfortune to have been exposed to Christian homophobia. BEST FRONT-ROW SEAT TO WATCH POLICE BRUTALITY: *Bagdad Cafe*, where SFPD officer Michael Celis shot and killed Jihad Alim Akbar on October 8, 2002. *The Center*, where former executive director Brian Cheu and Castro Supervisor Bevan Dufty stood by and watched while police attacked a group of peaceful queer demonstrators. *The Metreon*, where police mishandling and overreaction claimed the life of Idriss Stelley, guilty of wielding a keychain while black, and cost the city half a million dollars. MODEL MINORITY AWARD: *Susan Leal*, for running as an “outsider” to split the gay vote when she’s realy an insider in the Brown regime. *Deep Dick Collective*, for being radical enough to stay trendy but not enough to question their own masculinity or resist marketing themselves to a white audience. *Eminem*, because white rappers really are the most oppressed minority, aren’t they? BDOY FASCISM AWARD: *Gold’s Gym* for making sure we meat the cut. By emphasizing body sculpting, weightlifting and protein shakes over aerobic exercise and individual needs, Gold’s treats us all like a piece of meat. *Diesel* for forcing so many of us into clothes that don’t fit and telling us we’ll get better tips if we drop hundreds on a wardrobe. *Department of Homeland Security*, for the forced registration and detainment of hundreds of Muslim, Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian men and for its fascist approach to immigrant bodies —— lock ‘me up, ship ‘em out and ignore the cries of pain. IN AWARD (FOR CELEBRITIES WHO SHOULD NEVER HAVE COME OUT): *Richard Chamberlain*, for waiting to come out of the closet until he was sure he had nothing to lose — and until everyone else had stopped caring. *B.D. WONG*, for coming out with his novel *Finding Foo*, about Wong’s “normal” gay family. Who cares about liberation? All we really want is the chance to adopt a child ——- what a great role model! *Jane Warner*, Castro police officer who gets tough on those who don’t belong. GAY FOR PAY AWARD: *Gilbert Baker*, for ripping off a Native American symbol to create the rainbow flag. *Supervisor Bevan Dufty*, for his efforts at urban renewal in the Castro and for choosing *cash* and Newsom’s blessing over real *care* for his community. *gay.com*, for running chat rooms that promote shopping, tweaking and barebacking over community building, and doing it with ad money from sexual health organizations. Nice catch? RACIAL PROFILING AWARD: *Badlands*, for keeping black people out in the cold unless they dress white. *City Entertainment* for keeping black people out of the sex shops. *San Francisco Police Department*, for its long tradition of disproportionate violence against people of color: Jihad Alim Akbar, Idriss Stelley, Sheila Detoy, Dolores Huerta and more. AUNTIE TOM AWARD (FOR GAY ALLIES OF REACTIONARY STRAIGHTS): *Paul Langley*, owner of Harvey’s and the Power House, for honoring the memory of Harvey Milk with Newsom for Mayor signs. *Dan Savage*, for selling his gay lifestyle as vapid entertainment for straight people. LEGENDS AWARD (FOR STRAIGHT ALLIES FOR REACTIONARY GAYS): *Gavin Newsom*, for pretending to serve the homeless while serving only himself, thereby preventing a real solution to San Francisco’s housing and social services crisis. Gavin cares so much about the homeless we know he’ll want to spend a day in their shoes —— or a night in a cardboard box. HONORABLE MENTION: *Golden Gate Restaurant Association*, for its backing of a false and defamatory ad campaigns against the homeless and of the Newsom mayoral bid. The Golden Gate Restaurant Association is a reactionary, “business above all” force in city politics. Gay Shame is proud to recognize those members of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association along the Walk of Shame route: *Chow*, 215 Church Street; *It’s Tops*, 1801 Market Street; *La Mediterranean*, 288 Noe Street; *Pasta Pomodoro*, 2304 Market Street; *Taqueria Zapata*, 4150 18th Street — Spend your money elsewhere! ABOUT GAY SHAME: GAY SHAME IS THE VIRUS IN THE SYSTEM. We are a radcial alternative to the gay mainstream and the increasingly complacent left. We seek nothing less than a new queer politics that addresses issues of race, class, gender and sexuality to counter the self-serving apathy of the gay mainstream. We support real care and real community building over cash and cynical power politics. We are dedicated to fighting the commercialization of gay and lesbian identifies with a devastating mobilization of queer brilliance. Gay Shame is a celebration of resistance: all are welcome. For more information or to help contribute to future events, email gayshamesf@yahoo.com or check out our website: gayshamesf.org

GAY SHAME AWARDS - WALK OF SHAME - 2003 — AWARD CATEGORIES AND NOMINEES - COMMODIFICATION OF THE MALE GAYS: *Pride Parade* for supporting local businesses by bringing all these queers to town, equating identity with corporate loyalty and robbing us of creativity and individuality in the process. *Diesel*, for opening its new Harvey Milk Plaza branch so that we could all celebrate the Texas sodomy ruling in the most fashionable jeans. *Pottery Barn*, for teaching us all how to be a white: crisp, classic and refreshing. PROPAGATION OF LESBIAN BED DEATH: *Queer as Folk*, for introducing millions of television viewers to a world where lesbians never have sex. *Craig’s List’s cruising boards*, where men fuck and women talk about softball. *Osento*, the women-only bathhouse where touching is not allowed. GENDER FUNDAMENTALISM AWARD: *Hedwig and the Angry Inch*, for presenting a heterosexual myth about the origin of love as a parable for queers, and giving us a trans movie with a “happy” ending — in which Hedwig decides she’s not trans in the first place! *Power Exchange*, for protecting gay male masculinity by showing all the femmes, women and trannies into the basement — because tweakers need safe space, too. *Nomenus*, the radical fairy non-profit organization which allows only men to be members, for sticking to a policy of exclusivity that is wrong now, and was wrong in 1991, when it was established. Safe space at gathering shouldn’t mean women can’t be on the board. *The Center* for its gender/sex-segregated restrooms — cant’ we lay the “M” and “F” to rest already? LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: *Dr John Money*, for forty years of pain and suffering. Money is a prominent psychologist who believes that physicians should choose their intersex patients’ genders with a knife. You can’t force peple into “M” and “F” who never fit in the first place. *The Center* In only it’s first year of existence, the Center has already managed to bungle community politics and incite violence against queers on its very own doorstep. Truly a child prodigy. HOPE AWARD, BECAUSE “YOU GOTTA GIVE ‘ME HOPE”: *Alex Fagan Jr.*, son of acting police chief Alex Fagan, for using excessive violent force in 16 separate incidents, sparking Fajitagate, then getting fired. Here’s hoping he doesn’t get his job back. *Bechtel Corporation*, the Gold Rush-era construction company that built BART, for giving us hope for the people of Iraq. After all, wouldn’t we all be better off if Bechtel owned the drining water? *The Center*, for hoping that room rentals and major donors could finance an inclusive community center — better start writing those social service grants, Thom. WARGASM AWARD: *San Francisco Police Department*, for arresting two thousand anti-war demonstrators. *Madonna*, for making an anti-war video and then chickening out of releasing it in the U.S. Madonna may be rich, but she’s not a Christian and she’s not a Jew — my, oh my, what an extreme point of view! *Tony Hall*, for demanding that anti-war protestors pay for the costs fo their own imprisonment and brutalization. *Oakland Police Department*, for the blood shed and scars left by it’s “less lethal” weapons after the Oakland Docks demonstrating a few months ago. OUR FAVORITE LOFTS: *The Valencia*, new and grotesque “luxury” housing in the Mission: location, location, location. *Avalon Towers*, down by the Bay Bridge in SOMA, for separating people into high-priced boxes and selling a false sense of security to people who really need community. *Hotel Tropicana*, a “luxury” SRO in the Mission. The landlord burnt it down, kicked the tenants out, and turned it into a place where all the new Mission residents (i.e., white yuppies) can have Ikea furniture and large-screen televisions. EXPLOITING OUR YOUTH AWARD: *Dennis Cooper*, novelist, for turning his personal fetish into a lifestyle choice. Yikes, how daring — so many stirring stories about young boys who just want to get coked up and murdered on film! *Exodus*, the post-gay ministries, for torturing and abusing young queers with the misfortune to have been exposed to Christian homophobia. BEST FRONT-ROW SEAT TO WATCH POLICE BRUTALITY: *Bagdad Cafe*, where SFPD officer Michael Celis shot and killed Jihad Alim Akbar on October 8, 2002. *The Center*, where former executive director Brian Cheu and Castro Supervisor Bevan Dufty stood by and watched while police attacked a group of peaceful queer demonstrators. *The Metreon*, where police mishandling and overreaction claimed the life of Idriss Stelley, guilty of wielding a keychain while black, and cost the city half a million dollars. MODEL MINORITY AWARD: *Susan Leal*, for running as an “outsider” to split the gay vote when she’s realy an insider in the Brown regime. *Deep Dick Collective*, for being radical enough to stay trendy but not enough to question their own masculinity or resist marketing themselves to a white audience. *Eminem*, because white rappers really are the most oppressed minority, aren’t they? BDOY FASCISM AWARD: *Gold’s Gym* for making sure we meat the cut. By emphasizing body sculpting, weightlifting and protein shakes over aerobic exercise and individual needs, Gold’s treats us all like a piece of meat. *Diesel* for forcing so many of us into clothes that don’t fit and telling us we’ll get better tips if we drop hundreds on a wardrobe. *Department of Homeland Security*, for the forced registration and detainment of hundreds of Muslim, Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian men and for its fascist approach to immigrant bodies —— lock ‘me up, ship ‘em out and ignore the cries of pain. IN AWARD (FOR CELEBRITIES WHO SHOULD NEVER HAVE COME OUT): *Richard Chamberlain*, for waiting to come out of the closet until he was sure he had nothing to lose — and until everyone else had stopped caring. *B.D. WONG*, for coming out with his novel *Finding Foo*, about Wong’s “normal” gay family. Who cares about liberation? All we really want is the chance to adopt a child ——- what a great role model! *Jane Warner*, Castro police officer who gets tough on those who don’t belong. GAY FOR PAY AWARD: *Gilbert Baker*, for ripping off a Native American symbol to create the rainbow flag. *Supervisor Bevan Dufty*, for his efforts at urban renewal in the Castro and for choosing *cash* and Newsom’s blessing over real *care* for his community. *gay.com*, for running chat rooms that promote shopping, tweaking and barebacking over community building, and doing it with ad money from sexual health organizations. Nice catch? RACIAL PROFILING AWARD: *Badlands*, for keeping black people out in the cold unless they dress white. *City Entertainment* for keeping black people out of the sex shops. *San Francisco Police Department*, for its long tradition of disproportionate violence against people of color: Jihad Alim Akbar, Idriss Stelley, Sheila Detoy, Dolores Huerta and more. AUNTIE TOM AWARD (FOR GAY ALLIES OF REACTIONARY STRAIGHTS): *Paul Langley*, owner of Harvey’s and the Power House, for honoring the memory of Harvey Milk with Newsom for Mayor signs. *Dan Savage*, for selling his gay lifestyle as vapid entertainment for straight people. LEGENDS AWARD (FOR STRAIGHT ALLIES FOR REACTIONARY GAYS): *Gavin Newsom*, for pretending to serve the homeless while serving only himself, thereby preventing a real solution to San Francisco’s housing and social services crisis. Gavin cares so much about the homeless we know he’ll want to spend a day in their shoes —— or a night in a cardboard box. HONORABLE MENTION: *Golden Gate Restaurant Association*, for its backing of a false and defamatory ad campaigns against the homeless and of the Newsom mayoral bid. The Golden Gate Restaurant Association is a reactionary, “business above all” force in city politics. Gay Shame is proud to recognize those members of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association along the Walk of Shame route: *Chow*, 215 Church Street; *It’s Tops*, 1801 Market Street; *La Mediterranean*, 288 Noe Street; *Pasta Pomodoro*, 2304 Market Street; *Taqueria Zapata*, 4150 18th Street — Spend your money elsewhere! ABOUT GAY SHAME: GAY SHAME IS THE VIRUS IN THE SYSTEM. We are a radcial alternative to the gay mainstream and the increasingly complacent left. We seek nothing less than a new queer politics that addresses issues of race, class, gender and sexuality to counter the self-serving apathy of the gay mainstream. We support real care and real community building over cash and cynical power politics. We are dedicated to fighting the commercialization of gay and lesbian identifies with a devastating mobilization of queer brilliance. Gay Shame is a celebration of resistance: all are welcome. For more information or to help contribute to future events, email gayshamesf@yahoo.com or check out our website: gayshamesf.org

shot of the gavin newsom effigy going up in flames in front of a cheering crowd blocking the street at castro and 18th

small group of people gathering at buchanan near hermann while a person wearing a red skull fetish mask with horns aims a camcorder

close up of a speaker with a microphone providing detail of their elaborate clothes, make-up, wig with flowers and jewelry. the pride flag looms in the background

people turning towards a massive crowd of cyclists during a critical mass procession

presentation of the "contributing to lesbian bed death" award in front of the main entrance doors of the lgbt center featuring a person in drag dressed to wretched excess holding the detachable bullhorn microphone for a person dressed as a bathhouse patron wearing a towel covered by a giant cardboard chastity belt labeled "no entry"

people presenting an award in front of the main entrance of the lgbt center

a medium shot of a person wearing awards ribbons, the red "queer mutiny not consumer unity" banner is behind them standing in front of the lgbt center

two people walking the walk of shame down market street toward the castro, one wears a t-shirt that says "(peace sign) is sexy"

someone presenting an award with some of the people in the crowd in the background

another shot of the elaborately dressed speaker with the u.s. mint in the background

another shot of the same elaborately dressed speaker with flowers in their purple wig, with the u.s. mint in the background

a procession of about two hundred people have taken the street and are proceeding down market to the castro

procession of people heading up market street for the castro, one holding a "bud light makes me sick" sign in the foreground alongside a classic italian street car looming in the background

medium shot of people in a crowd confronting a police office with an apparently confused expression

the procession pauses at 16th and market where another award is being presented. (long-time castro residents will recognize that the background is where the hole in the ground had been located for years that is currently a luxury condo complex)

the procession led by the red "queer mutiny not consumer unity" banner continues as the sun goes down

close-up of a gavin newsom effigy with a b/w photocopied image of his face plastered on a balloon in a pinstriped suit stuffed with money

another close up of the elaborately dressed speakers with flowers in their hair in front of harvey's perhaps moments before the gavin newsom effigy is lit

a crowd of cheering people in the street at castro and 18th with red banner that reads "queer mutiny not consumer unity" in the background surrounding the gavin newsom effigy as it catches aflame with smoke starting to rise. a person wears a fluorescent green "queers bash back" queer nation sticker in the foreground

people gather around watching the gavin newsom effigy now fully ablaze as they hold the intersection of 18th and castro directly in front of a giant "newsom for mayor" sign above harvey's restaurant.

the flame rises dramatically up the gavin newsom effigy positioned in a shopping cart at the intersection of 18th and castro as people look on with wonder and joy as they stand in the street with the "gavin newsom for mayor" sign above harvey's also seeming to silently witness

flame eats away at the last of the effigy propped up in a shopping cart as a large crowd fills the street at 18th and castro in front of harvey's restaurant with the red "queer mutiny..." banner in the background

the crowd cheers as the last of the effigy's smoke rises, the red "queer mutiny not consumer unity" banner punctuated the intersection blocked with people as a but sits blocked further up castro street

a person in underwear sits on a skateboard riding down castro street howling with delight

a dance party ensues at the end of the procession on castro street

people continue to dance and mill around as a line of police cars draws threateningly near the blocked intersection at castro and 18th

Posted in ActionsTagged actions 2003

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PROTESTING NEWSOM’S APPOINTMENT, 2004

GAY SHAME AWARDS, 2002

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