I’ll start this blog by asking one simple question. How do you think many of the Jewish people would feel if a Jewish rights organization (whom most of them don’t belong too) purchased Anne Frank’s home and turned it into a souvenir shop? Most would be disgusted, many would be angry. I think it’s a fair albeit hypothetical analogy of what is occurring in the Castro right now. I doubt it would ever happen in the Jewish community.
The Human Rights Campaign’s decision to rent Harvey Milk’s former camera store and assimilate it into their vast fundraising network as an “action center” certainly has Harvey turning over in his grave. The only action performed in an HRC Action Center is that of taking out your wallet and parting with some of your hard earned money. The Human Rights Campaign has taken Harvey Milk’s legacy hostage and will milk every dollar from that legacy that they possibly can.
The Human Rights Campaign has the unprecedented opportunity to take a piece of homosexual history, at the epicenter of our rights movement and turn it into a powerful tool in this war – one akin to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. A memorial and museum to Harvey Milk’s legacy and vision that everyone could enjoy would be much more effective and powerful. Instead, they have chosen to install a corporate cash register. What type of people are more resolved to make a difference in this world? Those who tour the Anne Frank house or the people who walk into a store and buy an equality sticker?
Some will argue that the presence of the HRC in this space is better than any other alternative corporate retailer. It is irrelevant to me whether the sweaters sold at this historical site have no logo or the equality logo – it is a complete misuse of the power of this location and disrespectful to Harvey Milk’s legacy.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Again, I find myself questioning the logic of the leadership of the Human Rights Campaign. They clearly arrived at this decision without any thoughtful debate or input from the community. This theme has been reverberating throughout our community for years but has again fallen on deaf ears.
I have recently been lumped in with many others who have been calling for change at the HRC for decades. This is simply false. I’ve been a staunch supporter of the Human Rights Campaign since I graduated from high school in 1993. It pains me to criticize an organization I have followed so faithfully for over a decade. However, I can no longer support an organization that lacks the vision and leadership to take this movement to the next level. I’ll now work with others to effect change in this organization until it has occurred.
I’ll be joining many others in my first ever protest against the Human Rights Campaign this Saturday. I encourage everyone to join us outside Harvey Milk’s former camera store at 575 Castro Street, on Saturday, December 18, from 12 noon-2pm.
As you know, myself and many others have been calling for the President of the Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solmonese to resign. Please take action now on this important issue by clicking here and signing the petition. Michael Petrelis and I have recently combined our lists of those calling for his resignation. Take a moment to visit his website and view the list of over 50 people now calling for this action. A groundswell has begun that will be difficult for the Human Rights Campaign to ignore.
I’ll see you Saturday!
This post originally appeared on This Gay Life and is republished here with permission.
Jon B
Anne Frank’s house is a popular tourist destination. They sell tickets for like €10, and they have a gift shop. They also constantly send me emails about new things going on there, and ask for donations. I think depending on the way HRC uses the space, it may be a great thing. I’m not a huge fan of HRC, and I have stopped donating to them this year, but they are a gay rights organization. If they keep the history intact and don’t white wash over it, I think it is significantly better than many alternatives.
ewe
What? This is stupid. You are talking ONLY about the leadership of HRC not HRC itself. Has anyone ever thought that replacing Joe Solomnese is better than bashing HRC for occupying a gay rights icons previous storefront. How about bitching about the(probably straight) person that OWNS the building on Castro which is the case with most of that street? Same scenario in Milks day. Shall we start ragging on Harvey Milks memory for doing that? Dumb. This is petty.
ewe
Why not remind everyone of the GREAT INSTITUTIONS that occupied this storefront between then and now? Please.
Cam
Actually, it would be a nice idea to have a sort of gay historical tourist destination. I have a feeling the other businesses in the area wouldn’t mind being put on the tourist map.
Jeff
Actually…..
Considering that the HRC is made up of the A List gays that Harvey hated and doesn’t operate or do do the things that Harvey was known for its kinda a horrible thing and a spit in the face to HM.
Look. HRC does need new leaderhip and it does need to be revamped. And ousting Joe Solomese will not do that. BUT ITS A START. Also it really shows HRC how pissed off people are at them.
Community leaders in San Fransisco have talked to the HRC about perhaps sub-leasi8ng the space to The Tevor Project for a call and drop-in center for trobled and at risk LGBT youth which would be perfect for the memory of Harvey and much more respectful and HRC has said NO.
http://www.back2stonewall.com/2010/12/human-rights-campaign-turns-its-back-on.html
Mike
This is probably one of the best articles/blog’s I’ve read on this whole issue… in fact his whole blog is pretty amazing. I couldn’t agree more!!
SteveC
The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam is an entirely commercial venture and is privately owned. What HRC are doing does not differ from what the Anne Frank Foundation does.
SteveC
Ooooh and another thing – the souvenir shop attached to the Anne Frank House is bigger than the house itself.
Ashton C
Just like the Stone Wall Bar in NYC, unless we shut the fuck up and start respecting these landmarks the way they would be had they be the straight’s points of interest, none of us have any right bitching about the HRC’s ignorant decision. Fuck the HRC and Joe Salamitaease. But until we decide as a collective to take ownership of our landmarks none of us has any right to fucking bitch. Hey Bruce Cohen, put your money where your mouth is and use the cash you made out of Harvey to some good use. God knows you dont spend it on your god awful hairline. I may love your aunt but you sir are behaving like a douchebag. And your desperate ps 22 stunt sucked too. How about flying your aunt and us to the Oscars instead asshole?
Mike
While they have a gift shop at Anne Frank’s house, they preserved the actual house and made it a museum… I think that’s the point. They didn’t turn the whole house into a gift shop.
the crustybastard
The good news is that HRC is very good at accomplishing its principal purpose.
The bad news is that HRC’s principal purpose is getting HRC employees beltway careers.
Cam
@SteveC: said…
”
The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam is an entirely commercial venture and is privately owned. What HRC are doing does not differ from what the Anne Frank Foundation does.”
_______________________
Wow, actually you are completely wrong. The Anne Frank house DOES offer items for sale there, however they have preserved or rebuilt the house as a type of educational museum, you can walk through and learn about the history.
NRC has done nothing of the kind with Milks camera shop and it’s ridiculous for you to claim that there is no difference.
Americans=Rightwingers (John From England)
Oh please, this is just a bitchy attack because the right wing gays hate HRC for working so close with Obama.
Ross
If some individuals or group had a noble plan for this space, they have certainly had enough time to develop it.
As I read between the lines of this and posts at other blogs, I perceive that a segment of the gay population, for some reason, has a vendetta against HRC. They are certainly entitled to that.
However, I believe that it’s better to have agay-friendly, gay-related organization like the HRC in this space than it is to have a vaccum cleaner shop, or worse, a venture that is conservative and anti-gay.
If you don’t like the HRC, fine. Don’t donate money to them, and don’t buy any of their merchandise.
Lord knows that a number of Harvey Milk’s “friends” have certainly capitalized on their relationship with Harvey to boost their own well-being.
Mr. C
I find it very interesting that the petition calling for Joe Solmonese’s resignation uses HRC’s failure to get DADT passed as it’s main point of argument, considering that Harvey Milk was probably not a particularly large fan of the military industrial complex. Why not use HRC’s failure to support trans rights or it’s failure to fight for comprehensive HIV/AIDS care and prevention for poor queer folk? The repealing of DADT is very much in line with the rich gay white male agenda. Let’s call HRC out on what it’s really ignoring.
That would make Harvey proud.
That said, good luck with the protest.
Jerry Pritikin
Your analogy is way off base! As a Jew, I am insulted by the comparison. The facts are… mostly rich gays belong to the HRC… and they tend to think differently then other classes of gays… and like all kinds of politics, religions and thinkers… they subscribe to either the left wing or the right wing. I have been involved in the gay rights movement for 40 years, and you know what… there are alot of heterophobes within and throughOUT gay causes.
B
QUEERTY’s headline is simply wrong. HRC is not “squatting” but (as far as I know) paying rent just like the former tenant, who sold a variety of trinkets and upscale house-hold items with nobody raising a peep about the location.
Jeff
WOW HRC must have sent in thier cybergoons
mentor guy
Really?? With all the REAL problems and issues in this crazy world! REALLY? Let it go people!
[email protected]
@Mr. C:
Excuse me while I correct some of your insufferable, bumper sticker activist IGNORANCE.
1. If you’re incapable of understanding the difference between serving in the military and the Military Industrial Complex, then perhaps you should leave the discussion to those who can.
2. Then, your More Liberated Than Thou arrogance really flames up with your assertion: “The repealing of DADT is very much in line with the rich gay white male agenda.” Why? Because VERY few “rich gay white males” enter the military. Those gays who do enter the military are primarily a mix of sons AND daughters of military families and those who enlist to learn a skill they can use in civilian life or earn GI Bill college education funding for the same reason—a longterm civilian livelihood. And MANY of those are PEOPLE OF COLOR such as DADT victims Anthony Woods and Dan Choi.
[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs285.snc4/40573_1250997574708_1822575019_496880_4517636_n.jpg[/img]
3. Your last point of stinking ignorance is one that, to be fair, is shared by many primarily because those who had input on the film “Milk” were indifferent or even hostile to HIS military service, and so no one seeing the film learns that not only did he serve four years in the Navy but that, however stereotypically “liberal” he’d become by that time, he was STILL so proud of serving that he was wearing his Navy belt [seen below] when he was murdered.
[img]http://leonardmatlovich.com/images/378_Harvey_Milk_Belt_1b.jpg[/img]
As for him and HRC, the point is less their occupying his old space than their plans to grave rob his legacy with HRC-branded Harvey tchotckes when HE would HATE what HRC has become. [As would its founder, the late Steve Endean, whom I knew personally.]
Jerry Pritikin
@ewe:
The same person who rented Harvey Milk his camera store at 575 Castro, and then raised his rent nearly a thousand bucks, causing Harvey to relocate at Market and Castro to start 1978… that guy happened to be Gay Real Estate man,Paul Langley.So #2 comment maker EWE, your way off base in your assumption it had to be someone straight! Langley had a history of raising rents of those gay business owners, who helped make the Castro America’s gay Mecca. In the 1980s, Langley raised the rent of the famed Elephant Walk Bar at 18th and Castro, from $6,000 to 12,000 bucks a month, and forced them outbusiness. Then Langley took over the Elephant Walk, and had the chutzpah to rename it Harvey’s, as in Harvey Milk! Harvey’s old gay landlord. That bar is still going today… and yet no one cried foul then or now. In my 40 years as a one man army, I have found that the gay community has anti straight bigots and I call them Hetero-phobes…
hephaestion
Dear Queerty, Quit tearing down the HRC. Political organizations are never perfect, but the HRC has done great things for us. We need to make it BETTER, not tear it down.
And why has Queerty been ignoring the plight of imprisoned gay soldier Bradley Manning, who is unjustly imprisoned in solitary confinement for leaking info to Wikileaks? This is a gay man at the heart of the biggest issue of our era and you wouldn’t know he exists looking at Queerty today.
jacknasty
well what else would be in that space if not HRC? I mean at least it is a gay organization and not, say Starbucks or Jimmy Johns
ewe
@Jerry Pritikin: I agree. I hardly think anne frank who was murdered by the Nazis can be compared to harvey milk who was murdered by a raging fucked up irish fireman. It’s like comparing rain to waterfalls.
ewe
@Jerry Pritikin: Please. I lived there for 20 years and your one example of a gay owner is not comparable to most of the merchant properties owned by straight people. My point was about percentages. Most gay businesses “were” renting on Castro. Don’t be so smug.
ewe
@Jerry Pritikin: I guess what i am saying is that i feel it is better if gay people are making money off gay people. Why do you feel your example of a greedy gay proprietor has anything to do with what i said?
Danny
Well, since no one is compelled to purchase anything at the store, if HRC can at least inspire visitors to contact their elected representatives about equality and to speak with their neighbors back home about equality for family members regardless of sexual orientation then that seems better than having a non-related business occupying the space and not taking advantage of the locales connection to human rights and equality for all family members regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
SteveC
“Wow, actually you are completely wrong. The Anne Frank house DOES offer items for sale there, however they have preserved or rebuilt the house as a type of educational museum, you can walk through and learn about the history.”
Fair enough.
But it is privately owned, the gift shop is bigger than the house and it is an entirely commercial venue. And for some reason (oh yeah – money) The Anne Frank House opted out of the Amsterdam Museum Card scheme (where for a fee of 40 euro per year you can visit any museums in the city free of charge).
The Anne Frank House is tastefully preserved for sure, but don’t kid yourself into thinking it is not a completely commercial enterprise).
I’m sure the HRC shop will feature a tasteful, commercial tribute to Harvey Milk as well.
Jerry Pritikin
@ewe… Your reasoning is wrong in the 21st Century. Do you vote for someone who is gay, over a better qualified non-gay?
I support businesses with connections to gay neighborhoods, yet they don’t have to be gay owned. I remember when Harry Britt,who was appointed to Harvey Milk’s place on S.F. Board of Supervisors, put OUT a brochure that read “WHO NEEDS A GAY SUPERVISOR” AND WHEN YOU OPENED IT… IT READ “WE DO!” Can you imagine if a straight politician put out a campaign brochure asking the same question, except it be aimed at straights? I can assure you, it would of cause an instant protest march in the gay community, and calling that politician a bigot. I believe in gay Pride… when there are reasons for it. I do not, and will not support groups who misuse the “gay card”, at the expense of honesty.
JusticeontheRocks
@hephaestion – What exactly has HRC done for “us”? They have a lost of failures as long as John Holmes’ dick and a history of taking the credit for what other people accomplished.
Jeff
@hephaestion:
Yes we need to quit tearing down the HRC because they are going a GREAT job themselves!
Blowing the best chance we have had in 20 years for any LGBT Rights advancement over the past 2 years by bending over and being the Dems butt boy and letting us be screwed without lube. Really do we need another reason to tear them down? Isn’t that enough.
The HRC is a gay A list sham that does very little to advance OUR rights and more to advance the A List Gays who are part of it.
It is a slap in the face to the Harvey’s memory and the LGBT Community that they are going to use that space to make more money fro tyhemselves off Harvey’s names who if he were hwar today would have nothing to do with them.
HRC is a sham and actually has HURT us over the past 2 years. And other than the HRC trolls who have been posting I hope that the rest of you see that.
HRC was given a really good way out by being asked to sublet the space to The Trevor Project. they said NO. There is no better group than TP to use that space. HRC wants it just to make tourist bucks nothing more. Nothing less.
Fuck em. And fuck all you queens who support them.
Fitz
I hate HRC, I hate the way it has diverted gay activist energy and money and turned it into cocktail parties and executive salaries. That being said, the Castro is no longer any kind of gay holy land. There is a Pottery Barn, a Starbucks, and a Diesel shop where the AIDS Health Project was. (and B of A before that). It’s just another place to get a mediocre expensive sushi lunch, with a few more gay people than the rest of the area.
ewe
@Jerry Pritikin: I was not talking about public service and who is out there to better represent me Jerry. I differ with you. I truly believe that if the “GAYborhoods” were gay owned, we would have more clout. This topic was about HRC. I would hope a large gay organization would seek out a gay proprietor to rent from. That is not too much to ask for in my opinion especially since, as you report, there are gay owners in the Castro. We are talkng about the Castro district after all. It’s just a preference issue. There would be an uproar if a straight candidate used their sexual orientation as a platform because being straight is not a minority issue anymore than being white in America is. That does not mean that gay people or (B)latinos for example should stop honoring themselves since we are still typically classified as a subgroup. I didn’t make up the rules but it will only change the day we stop labeling everyone BUT straight white people. Have you ever noticed that everyone is jettisoned into a category except straight white men? Do you introduce or slowly get into the sexual orientation of straight people when casually conversing with strangers? I don’t but i have had acquaintances that attach the word “gay” to me when i am the topic of conversation. It has many times been the very first thing they bring up. The same goes for black, latinos and women but not for straight white men. That would not occur in front in your presence. So i think your comparison is a leap.
ewe
@Jerry Pritikin: I do wish what you said rang true though. It would be great if it did.
Barry
Curious blog. What exactly does Harvey’s camera store mean to gay people? Anne Frank’s house gives reality to a horrible history, documented in her renowned diaries, and shows a way of life horribly effected by living in the terror of the Nazis. In that house was depicted lives in hiding from persecution/destitution/death, and captured within it some universal themes of human interaction/humanity/imperfection, protection by neighbors, while capturing the sociology of every day life so changed. The heroine who perishes was TAKEN from that house, and in that moment, the safety and meaning of the house is unmistakable.
Harvey’s camera store doesn’t have the same meaning. Although it did have a level of refuge it was more of a headquarters for gay political progress. [Admittedly, I did not live there in the day, so my knowledge of its use & meaning is limited.]
That being said, the camera store would do well to keep on the legacy of helping, welcoming and fighting for the neediest gays, and the gay population as a whole.
Michael
Unless you really despise the HRC, I just do not see any reason to get worked up about this.
Jerry Pritikin
@ewe #36…
Even if gay neighborhoods were owned by gays… they tend to be gays who belong to the Log Cabin Republicans then liberal thinking Democrats and Independents (not Teabaggers). I have seen both in Chicago and San Francisco… when gay neighborhoods begin to over price rental store and apartment rents. In Chicago, there are more gays living and renting in Andersonville , then in Boytown/Halsted…and the reason being is that the latter is a mixed neighborhood. When it comes to rights, even minorities… their should be equal rights, that mean exactly what it says… no more, no less then other citizens.
Maybe I think the way I do, is because I am nearly 74, and gays had to be closeted, or even get married to climb the corporate ladder back then. I have seen the progress made in the last 50 years, and mind you it was slow. I quit high school because I had “those”tendencies and there were no support groups for me or anyone else.. Today, here in Chicago… there are schools with Gay /Straight Alliances… and P.Flag for those who don’t have G/S A. as well as other fine organizations to help. Chicago now has an elected qualified Alderman, and a gay Community Center that has support programs for youth, and Seniors and those in between, as well as all kind of activities day and night. Next year, Chicago will host the Gay World Series, and a few years back the Gay Games. Even the Chicago Cubs have annual OUT day at the ballpark, and the Chicago History Museum has an ongoing OUT series, that showcases contributions gays have made in Chicago, and elsewhere. I see our biggest problem as “in” fighting between gays with different political and social agendas. I am sick of the name calling, and one-sided issue candidates. I have tried to be a middle of the road thinker, and I am old enough to remember President Eisenhower say TAKING A POLITICAL STANCE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, OPENS YOU UP TO THE EXTREMES OF BOTH SIDES OF A POLITICAL ISSUE. And gays are no different… we have extremes that want rights only for those who think like they do. I always found, that I was better off being a one man army, then join groups that are exclusive. I never wanted no more or less when it comes to rights, and I doubt that it will happen in my lifetime… however it’s been worthwhile fighting for… and I enjoy the benefits made in recent years.
ewe
@Jerry Pritikin: thank you for your thoughts. I am however, speaking about real estate prices in gay neighborhoods and am simply stating that it would be more empowering if the original people who made a certain area so attractive were the ones collecting the rents.
Jerry Pritikin
@ewe, In the real world, it should not matter if owners and renters
are from different ethnic groups or have the same sexual preference to get along. The same holds true for all classes of people. We all like to be treated fair, and it should not matter
whatever the differences are. Yet, to believe that people that are from your same group will automatically treat you better, because you have something in common is being naive. One always must be on guard. I guess the old adage of “Do on to others” works as long as it’s a 2 way street. I had a great mother, who was not judgmental. She gave me good reasons to believe her, and I knew her to have many friends from all walks of life. She treated everyone the same… with respect. Most times that works, but when one person mistreats you, try not to put that person into a “class” of people, just because of their religion or race, etc. In my lifetime, I have always tried to co-mingle, and frankly it’s easier then holding grudges. One more adage, you get out of life what you put into it… and the returns pay off.
David Swartz
Anne Frank’s attic is now a tourist attraction and I’m pretty sure they sell souvenirs there too somewhere. I have never commented on a story here on Queerty and this is one of the blogs I go for “Gay News” but yes, like many blogs, you don’t check your facts correctly and it feels like you simply regurgitate (or blantantly copy, verbatim) press releases that you receive, I’ll still come to you guys for news and read the articles, but you will never be any sort of definitive source on news related to the LGBT community.
David Swartz
Did you guys just copy this story from LGBTQ Nation or did you both just copy some press release or what? Or are you owned by the same company?
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2010/12/got-milk-should-the-hrc-turn-castro-camera-location-into-a-souvenir-shop/
Oh, and btw, here are links to buy tickets to take a tour of Anne Frank’s House…
http://www.amsterdamsightseeing.net/?event=offer.detail&offerId=434
http://www.annefrank.org/en/Museum/Practical-information/Online-ticket-sales/
Allen Drake
HRC can pretty much fuck itself. Maybe if they had reasonable salaries, etc. But I haven’t supported them in years. I hope they go under at some point (and even then, I’m sure Joe and friends will get some lovely golden parachutes).
ewe
@Jerry Pritikin: I am not even talking about myself. I left San Francisco a while back. I am not paying anyone there for anything anymore so it has nothing to do with me benefitting from someone that shares in common my sexual orientation. I am talking about neighborhoods populated by gay people who ultimately have no power if they are not property owners. It is the same as discussing a wage slavery force working for an hourly rate. I am sure you would tell anyone in that situation that education will lift them out of poverty. The same concept goes for inspiring gay people to own the neighborhoods they live in instead of being subjected to rental fluctuations at the will of others, especially those that are not like them at all.
Chitown Kev
If all of what is described about the Anne Frank house is true (that it has elements of both a gift shop and a museum) than that seems to be a reasonable compromise to me. An excellent model
BenR
“Is HRC’s Squatting In Harvey Milk’s Shop A Cheap Exploitation Of His Legacy?”
Yes.
Any more stupid questions?