Street festival condemned for public sex acts

The 2008 Folsom Street Fair sex festival has completed another run in U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's district in San Francisco, and the local Chronicle newspaper described it this way: "There were naked people selling bondage gear and naked people seeking support for measures on the Nov. 4 ballot. There were naked people with cameras, taking pictures of other naked people. One man wore only an 11-foot Burmese python, which curled around his waist."

A number of Christian organizations, however, were led by Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth in condemning the scene on the city's public streets as depraved.

These two fans of the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco yesterday we wearing no more below their waist that they were above their waist in this photograph by Americans for Truth, which was cropped for use on WND

"It is no coincidence that the man who took it upon himself four years ago to illegally and radically redefine marriage – Mayor Gavin Newsom – now enthusiastically welcomes the Folsom Street with its public depravities – an event that makes San Francisco a subject of ridicule and opprobrium the world over," LaBarbera said.

The festival, which celebrates deviant sex, including homosexual activities, has turned in recent years into a daylong showing of nudity and public sex acts with promotions of the unnatural and pornographic – all on the public streets of San Francisco with formal approval from Newsom.

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"Entry signs to the fair said, 'Nudity is illegal,' but thousands of people took advantage of the fact that nudity and decency laws were not enforced by the police," LaBarbera's report on yesterday's event said.

He published several edited photographs documenting the exhibitionism and nudity that ran rampant.

Linda Harvey of Mission America described the event as a "massive pagan pansexual street party, complete with instances of full nudity, homosexuality, and crowds gathered around people being whipped for sado-masochistic pleasure."

"How Mayor Newsom and Nancy Pelosi can allow this in the city they represent is beyond all understanding," she said. "It truly seemed like the beginning of the end of civilization."

While the homosexual crowd was expected, "many partially or fully nude," Harvey said she found it surreal that couples, young women and young adults also were present.

"It's outrageous that this is happening in the streets of a major city," she said. "Police stood by and did nothing to stop the nudity and of course, did nothing to prevent these whippings."

Liberty Counsel issued a statement calling for enforcement of the state's decency laws.

"During this event, fully nude men walk the public streets engaging [in] some of the vilest acts in broad daylight. Some parents even bring their children!" the group said.

"History has shown that California is a very influential state. If this illegal activity is not stopped, this debauchery may soon come to a town near you," Liberty Counsel said.

Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania also condemned the displays of public sex and torture.

"As Californians will be voting on Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, they might want to take note of events such as Folsom Street Fair. By and large those who support same-sex marriage also support events like the Folsom Street Fair and Leather Pride Week which precede it," she said.

She suggested Newsom may want to re-evaluate his unqualified support for the events, stated in his welcoming letter, which said, "My office is committed to supporting and recognizing the exceptional contributions of all of our diverse communities."

"Mayor Gavin Newsom's letter mentions 'pride in diverse communities and neighborhoods.' One must ask whether he has ever attended the Folsom Street Fair. How far can so-called diversity go and still be acceptable to the mayor?" questioned Gramley.

LaBarbera said he personally has witnessed the nudity, sex acts in public street orgies, whippings, anti-Christian bigotry exhibited by transvestite mock "nuns" and religious-themed sex toys.

WND reported a similar festival, called "Up Your Alley," where police took no action to enforce decency laws. The behavior was documented in photographs of the event, which was sponsored by the same group that organizes the Folsom Street Fair.

Americans for Truth previously worked to raise the nation's awareness of the Folsom Street Fair, which last fall broke into the headlines with its promotional image mocking the Last Supper scene of Jesus Christ and his disciples, replacing the biblical leaders with leather-adorned men and the bread and wine with sex toys.

Other websites, to which WND is unable to link because of their graphic, XXX-rated content, published explicit photographs of various public acts of sex and nudity. The sites documented the festival's inclusion of oral and anal sex between men and men urinating on each other for pleasure.

The images captured in the photos were described by one WND reader as "vomit-inducing."

"This is what the gay agenda is all about," the reader said.

Even the San Francisco Chronicle noted the nature of the event, with its headline, "S.F. kinky naked romp a spanking success."

The article reported one participant who was selling a $645 sex sling said, "It brings kink out of the closet."

"One booth offered 'Free spankings for the religious right,'" the newspaper said.