Pride Board Expected to Decide on Manning Matter

San Francisco Pride officials are expected to decide this week whether to take any action in response to their decision to rescind grand marshal honors for gay Army soldier Bradley Manning.

Following a sometimes-tense community meeting, the board of directors of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee is set to consider several options mentioned by speakers at a May 31 town hall held at Metropolitan Community Church-San Francisco.

Those options include reinstating Manning as a grand marshal, letting the Bradley Manning contingent lead the Pride parade, or finding an alternative symbolic honor for Manning.

Manning, 25, is the gay Army private accused of leaking 700,000 classified government documents to WikiLeaks. His military court-martial began this week, where he faces several charges that could result in a life sentence for him.

Manning was initially named a community grand marshal by the Pride Committee in late April. But the Pride board rescinded the honor two days later, claiming it was a "mistake." Since then, critics - locally, nationally and internationally - have denounced the Pride board.

During the meeting, SF Pride CEO Earl Plante, board President Lisa Williams, and other board members listened quietly, respectfully, and took notes as 50 predominantly angry community members largely used their two minutes to call them liars and demand they reinstate Manning as a grand marshal.

Another estimated 50 people watched from their seats and often shouted remarks at Plante and Williams. They also expressed their loud support for speakers with whom they agreed.

Most speakers read anti-war and anti-corporate statements. One man compared Manning's persecution to that of Jesus.

Other Manning supporters became emotional as they read their statements. After making their comments, some speakers rejoined the long queue to comment more. Williams and Plante were confronted many times with their poorly chosen words from past news releases on the Manning matter. They appeared uncomfortable but did not try to defend any of their past statements.

Manning supporter Patricia Jackson of Gray Panthers quoted the imprisoned soldier. "I want to make a difference in the world." She asked the Pride board to make a difference and reinstate Manning.

Longtime LGBT activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca passionately recalled Pride marches from the 1970s. He brought a shouting crowd to its feet when he called on the board to "do the right fucking thing and re-instate Bradley Manning."

Military veteran Stephen Funk, who said he had been jailed by the military, told the board, "You do not represent us. Do your job or quit."

Manning supporter Charlie Hinton told the board, "We are more than dicks and pussies. We are people."

Several speakers said SF Pride was too conservative.

Becka Shertzer demanded the board do more than listen. "We want a dialogue," she said.

The crowd roared its approval. Other speakers also demanded that board members answer questions rather than just listen.

Only three people spoke in support of the board's decision to rescind Manning's grand marshal honor. One of them, Chris Bowman, called Williams "courageous." When Bowman, a local gay Republican and political consultant, said the Log Cabin Republicans supported the board's decision not to honor Manning, he was greeted with loud hissing from the crowd.

Katherine Kline, who blogs at GOP Tranny, also supported the board's decision.

"Bradley Manning is no hero," she said, as the crowd hissed her away from the microphone.

An emotional Paul Cummings, a veteran, said Manning hurt gay people and reinforced the stereotype that "gays are security risks." The crowd hissed at him.

Gay radio journalist Scott Shafer, host of KQED's "California Report," moderated the meeting and tried to keep speakers civil and within their time allotment, but he was largely ignored and disrespected. This went on for two hours and 15 minutes before chaos erupted.

Daniel Kim took the microphone and angrily called Williams a murderer to her face.

Plante then jumped from his seat, screaming, "Don't call her a murderer. This meeting is over." He started to walk out, but Williams and other board members restrained him.

In an email after the event, Plante explained, "I reacted because I was disgusted and wanting to defend Lisa after all the hateful crap she has had to take the past month."

San Francisco Patrol Special Police Officer Ken Craig and other community members led Kim away from the microphone.

Williams and others calmed Plante and he tried to resume the meeting, but it was out of control and no one knew what to do.

It was at that point that gay San Francisco Supervisor David Campos, who had put pressure on the Pride board to hold the public forum, calmed the crowd. To a quieted audience, Campos called Manning "courageous."

"The LGBT community is not afraid to speak truth to power," Campos said. He suggested Manning "saw a wrong and tried to right it."

To the Pride board, Campos said, "you can't be disconnected from the community." This brought loud applause, as the board sat silent. He told the board he spoke with love and suggested they have "meaningful" dialogue with the crowd.

"You can't just listen," Campos said, "you must respond."

He asked the board to rescind its decision or consider the options suggested by Manning supporters. He urged them to find a way to a decision that honored everyone.

Campos asked the Pride board "to move us forward collectively" and "reconsider" its decision. The capacity crowd shouted and gave Campos a standing ovation.

A noticeably frustrated Plante and the board tried to answer questions from speakers, but there was little order and nothing he or board members said were popular with the crowd. He denied corporate or military pressures caused the board to reverse its decision on Manning.

When Plante tried to explain how the Manning "mistake" occurred, angry supporters repeatedly shouted him down. He said the decision "was about policy not politics." Loud audience laughter was the response. After saying Manning was not "vetted properly" Plante took no more questions.

The board has maintained that Manning is not eligible for community grand marshal because he is not local.

A board member who did not identify himself but who the Bay Area Reporter later identified from Pride's website as Mark Linn-Degrassi, also invoked the audience's ire.

"You want us all to resign," Degrassi said, "but if we did there would be no Pride."

Woody Miller grabbed the microphone and shouted, "Yes, hell there would be a Pride without you people because we would take the fucking streets just like we did in the 1970s."

There was thunderous shouting, stomping of feet, applause, and cheers.

"Testify," shouted a man, who wore an elaborate headdress.

Board treasurer David Currie said Pride would cost $1.8 million and the LGBT community's financial support, which he estimated at $100,000, could not fund the event. He said it was "100 percent necessary to have sponsors."

"If you don't like us, replace us," Currie told the audience. It was the only thing any board member said on which the crowd agreed. Currie also said he had "learned a lot tonight," but did not elaborate.

"Mistakes were made," Currie finally said to laughter from the crowd.

Dr. Dianne Budd, who identifies as bisexual, told board members that she was glad they admitted to a mistake, but something more was needed.

"Given the number of mistakes and the depth of the mistakes, the only honorable thing for you to do is resign," she said.

The board held a brief session before the audience in which members agreed to a meeting to decide "the next step" on Manning in seven days. Attorney David Waggoner and others demanded an immediate decision before the meeting ended.

HRC Complaint

Waggoner, along with other activists, filed a discrimination complaint last month with the San Francisco Human Rights Commission against SF Pride for its reversal on Manning. He reminded the board how quickly they acted to reverse the Manning decision when they were under pressure from military and corporate groups.

"You can act quickly under pressure," he told them.

There were conflicting reports on the status of that complaint.

Plante sent out an email last weekend saying the complaint was "dismissed." He included with it a note from Pride's attorney Brooke Oliver who wrote that HRC "has declined to investigate the discrimination claims filed against SF Pride."

But HRC manager Mullane Ahern told the B.A.R. Monday, June 3 that while HRC proceedings are confidential, the complaint against Pride "has not been deemed closed."

Waggoner sent out an email Monday confirming that HRC would not investigate the matter but that the agency has offered to mediate the complaint if both parties consent.

In other Manning news, those supporting efforts to reinstate him as a grand marshal plan a teach-in and discussion Saturday, June 8 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the former Tower Records site, 2278 Market Street (at Noe).