On July 27, 2008, I went to the notorious “Up Your Alley” Fair in San Francisco as an investigative follow-up to last year’s report about the scandal over the Miller Beer sponsorship of the Folsom Street Fair. Since Up Your Alley is run by the same organization, I stopped by to see if anything had changed. You can see the results posted at zombietime here, if you dare:
The picture shown above was about the only non-explicit image I could find to post here at zomblog.
(Note: This is not a photo of me, but rather
1LT Nixon on Aug 2, 2008 at 3:40 pm:
I wonder if the police got hazardous duty pay for this event. This was more disturbing than a John Waters movie. Shudder.
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2Stone K on Aug 2, 2008 at 6:26 pm:
Sigh…
I think it is funny how San fran sells it’s self as a family place but ok’s that.
I have a number of gay friends and every time the topic turns to why the gay community gets a bad rap all I have to do is point to things like this.
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3yarrrrr on Aug 2, 2008 at 8:45 pm:
I threw up in my mouth when that guy drank that urine.
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4Passionate Conservative on Aug 2, 2008 at 11:07 pm:
Wow. I am just disgusted. So, maybe I’m just a little thickheaded, or maybe it’s because I’ve never visited San Francisco, but how is it that people get away with doing that in public? Forget gay or straight for a second, why is this going on in public?
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5ghHorse on Aug 3, 2008 at 8:31 am:
Do you know if San Fran Nan was there?
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6Marc on Aug 3, 2008 at 7:43 pm:
The MAJORITY of gays think this is disgusting behavior. This is a senseless self-indulgent minority within a minority. Shut it down.
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7DoesNotMatter on Aug 4, 2008 at 3:04 am:
Next time go to a lesbian public orgy ? Pretty please ?
I’m thankful for the internet, nothing disturbs me anymore, but that came close.
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8Sentinel on Aug 4, 2008 at 7:00 am:
Zombie,
Man, you are one brave soul. I don’t think I could have walked through that trash and not gagged. Thank you for all of your photo essays. They have been well done and very instructive. They have also been very valuable in arguments and debates that I’ve had with liberals, anarchists, and extremists. Keep up the good work and let us little people know how we can help.
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9Evil Otto on Aug 4, 2008 at 2:23 pm:
Once again, life imitates The Onion.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28491
Only, in this case, real life takes a chainsaw to The Onion.
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10Christina on Aug 4, 2008 at 5:16 pm:
Now I have to go get my computer tested for STD’s. Thanx.
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11Christina on Aug 4, 2008 at 5:30 pm:
BTW, I think you are gonna have to update the Hall of Shame.
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12Christina on Aug 4, 2008 at 7:47 pm:
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0241418020080804?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true
Gosh, I wonder why.
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13Jenna on Aug 5, 2008 at 8:56 am:
Interesting.. That’s all I can really say right now!
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14Pervy Grin on Aug 5, 2008 at 1:43 pm:
“Forget gay or straight for a second, why is this going on in public?”
It’s allowed because it’s gay. Don’t want to be homophobic, after all. If it was straight sex, it would be stopped.
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15Typical White Person on Aug 5, 2008 at 4:11 pm:
I hope these aren’t the same gays who say what they do in private is nobody else’s business, because they’re not doing it in private or anything close to that. I saw the blurred version of the zombietime report and was appalled that the police were letting such disgusting and obviously illegal behavior go on right in front of them with impunity. I don’t know how Zombie was able to stand being in the middle of this freak show for almost an hour.
I’d be interested to know how many of them had STDs before and after the event.
I’d also like to echo comment #11. This filth definitely belongs in the hall of shame.
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16John on Aug 6, 2008 at 8:53 am:
It’s not homophobic - shut it down. Frankly, I’d consider doing so to be a public service. If they want to rent a private hall and carry on like animals, fine whatever - but NOT on the streets. I don’t care if these events are “closed” or not. Thank God I don’t live in SanFran…
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17Fenris on Aug 6, 2008 at 12:17 pm:
Am I the only person here who doesn’t think this is gross? Guess I’m spending too much time on 4chan.
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18Passionate Conservative on Aug 7, 2008 at 5:45 pm:
Those of us not in the freak show, errr San Francisco have gay acquaintances, friends, relatives and coworkers. I would be horrified if something like this took place in my neighborhood. I’d be out there with buckets of ice water.
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19Alastair on Aug 7, 2008 at 7:43 pm:
If homosexuals want to be seen as legitimate, this kind of stuff needs to be openly condemned with the utmost priority. Otherwise the whole movement for equality is getting screwed in the ass.
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20average_guy on Aug 7, 2008 at 10:09 pm:
#19 Alastair….
No pun intended, yes?……
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21Kimmer on Aug 17, 2008 at 8:32 pm:
I for one am a proud gay supporter of total public nudity of the gay male as well as open public sex and fetishes - piss drinking, etc. I am in no way ashamed of my public activities and am proud of taking a stand for what I believe. The vast majority of US citizens are way to conservative regarding nudity, public sex, etc. It is very healthy to be nude in public I feel and it is only natural and a major turn on to enjoy public sex.
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22Throbert McGee on Aug 19, 2008 at 1:24 pm:
Speaking as a gay man who totally understands Kimmer’s point (in #21) about the erotic thrill of exhibitionism and voyeurism, I otherwise flatly disagree with him and believe that the proper place for “public” sex is within the walls of a PRIVATE, adults-only sex club, or under the bright sun on the PRIVATE real estate of a swingers’ resort — both of which are entirely legal in California.
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23OmegaPaladin on Aug 24, 2008 at 11:25 am:
This kind of behavior is the reason that gays are not as widely accepted as other sexual deviances. Open sex acts make you look like a freak to normal people. If that is what you want, then you are set to go. However,that will keep people thinking of you as creepy and disturbing. If you want to be recognized as normal, you have to act normal, at least on the surface. The whole counterculture thing is overrated.
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24Anon on Sep 7, 2008 at 6:44 pm:
1) This is not a public event. The streets are closed off and everyone involved was informed of the adult nature of the events inside. As a private event (though admission is open to the public free of charge), the police were not legally allowed to interfere except under special conditions. If, for example, the man in the window had ejaculated on or at anyone without their consent, there would be a problem but such is not the case. It isn’t like these events were happening in front of a school or in a residential district, you know.
2) Most people, including most homosexuals, find this sort of behavior appalling. Don’t make sweeping generalizations based on the behavior of a few dozen individuals who lack self control. There are many, many more private events just like this one where heterosexuals perform the exact same acts and worse “in public”. This one just happened to be devoted to homosexuality and leather, etc.
3) Get the fuck over homosexuality, already, it’s as old as sex itself. The whole stigma concerning homosexuality stems entirely from a politically-motivated Middle Ages interpretation of the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The moral of the story was to be hospitable, not to hate homosexuals. Stop parading around your cherry-picked, blatantly selective interpretation of a fairy tale written by Bronze Age goat herders (and ruthlessly abused as a political power chip over the ignorant masses) as an excuse to spread your own intolerance, ignorance, hate, and violence.
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25Xpltivdletd on Sep 13, 2008 at 1:11 am:
The Net, as a global “back-fence” over which to trade opinions & cross swords, exposes who stands with whom and who stands alone. It’s the cure for the fabled “Vast, silent majority” unless one volunteers to stay in it.
Your photography of the Up Your Alley Fair was unsettling; the images persistent in the mind. As most Truth Tellers (and you ARE one), you have opinions and they show, and that’s OK. Your photography told a story that had to be told that way, or some who needed to know it would never believe it. Never doubt that, please. I know people who will still look you in the eye and tell you, seriously, that Ronald Reagan STOLE his 1984 re-election. Refuting that, to those, might be beyond anything you can do with your camera. But, you have told THIS story, such that no one will easily proclaim it away. It had to be done, despite how few would touch it. Kindly accept my sincere encouragement & compliments.
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26iain on Oct 7, 2008 at 7:04 pm:
Oh, come on, you censorious ones. Your responses are dripping PRURIENCE. How many of you conservative types are getting all hot’ n horny looking at those pics then posting your sanctimonious condemnations? And how grateful are you for all those glorious close-ups taken in the name of -what?- “research”? “reportage”? A dose of “judge not that ye be not judged” might help y’all calm down. And by the way, gay folk don’t need or want “acceptance” and “tolerance” from heterosocisety. YOU are the ones who should be grateful WE accept you - without us - that is, without gay men and Lesbians - delivering your babies, teaching in your schools, cleaning your trash, policiing your neighborhood, flying your aircraft, serving you at the store checkout and yes, certainly, christening your kids in your churches, in other words without the contribution of gay people, and our ubiquitous presence (there’s far more of us than str8 people realize) your world would fall apart. So shut up (you know who you are), stop your prurient performances of self-congratulating disgust, and go pray to your sky-god, or whatever it is you do in your spare time.
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27brunswick 572 on Nov 28, 2009 at 9:58 am:
hey loco i did the up your allie and did not drink la lite budweiser, you did! 2007
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28Vladislav35 on Mar 16, 2010 at 7:31 am:
Занятно! Спасибо за материал.
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29Vladislav75 on Mar 27, 2010 at 8:40 pm:
Спасибо огромное!
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