400,000 People, and No Media?
By Kelly Boggs

Baptist Press Editor’s Note: The following column addresses issues of homosexuality and is written to inform adults. It contains graphic descriptions of the Folsom Street Fair, an annual sexually charged, perverse event in San Francisco with mostly homosexual participants. The column shows what is at stake in the cultural battle and what the future holds for the society and our children if activists succeed in defining homosexuality as a protected status.

An estimated 400,000 people congregated in San Francisco on Sept. 30. Crowds flooded the neighborhood known as "South of Market" to take part in the 24th annual Folsom Street Fair. People from all over the nation -- even the world -– flocked to the Golden Gate city to celebrate and call attention to an aspect of their lives of which they are very proud.

Conspicuously absent from the huge gathering in northern California were reporters from any major news outlet. The Associated Press, United Press International and Reuters News Service apparently were all no shows. Even though the event took place in the Golden State, there were no reporters from the Los Angeles Times.

It would seem the mere fact that 400,000 people gathered in one place would be news, regardless of the reason they came together. The big three television networks didn't seem to think so since they also were missing in action.

If it were not for a few niche and alternative news publications, no one outside of San Francisco would have an inkling of what took place at the Folsom Street Fair. So what is the event and what exactly takes place? Be forewarned, the following descriptions are not for the faint of heart, even though they have been edited to mute the content.

The Folsom Street Fair is one of San Francisco's premier celebrations of alternate lifestyle -- specifically "leather pride." The "leather community" is a euphemism for those that indulge in sadomasochism, also known as S&M. These are individuals that enjoy bondage, whipping, spanking and other unmentionable perversions.

While the Folsom Street Fair does draw a few heterosexual sadomasochists to the event, it is clear from reports that the overwhelming number celebrating were homosexuals –- mostly male.

The most detailed report of the event came from Pink News, an organization that describes itself as "Europe's largest gay news service."

"American police adopted a distinctly relaxed approach to this year's Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco," Pink News observed, "taking little notice of the hundreds of men baring their genitals on every street corner."

According to Pink News, there were orgies in the street, drawing "laughs and photographs from curious onlookers but no police action." Homosexual men and women walked down the street, completely naked, performing sex acts, the website reported. (Keep in mind the website provided far more detailed descriptions.)

Sounds like a wonderful event, doesn't it? So why did the news media ignore a gathering of 400,000 people? What would cause them to collectively look the other way? Because the Folsom Street Fair is as much a celebration of unbridled homosexual behavior as it is a fetish festival.

If the truth of what took place in the streets of San Francisco on Sept. 30 were broadcast from sea to shining sea, the ‘homosexual rights’ movement would suffer a significant setback. If grassroots Americans saw homosexuals blatantly flaunting their sexuality in public, they would be appalled. Make no mistake about it: America's major news organizations are complicit in promoting homosexuality. Hence, they chose to act as if the Folsom Street Fair did not even happen.

Even a bit of controversy did not cause the major news groups -- apart from a few conservative talk show hosts -- to give the event any attention. This year's Folsom Street Fair official promotional poster featured a parody of Da Vinci's Last Supper with Jesus and his disciples replaced by costumed sadomasochists with sex toys on the table.

Two conservative organizations -- Concerned Women for America and the Catholic League -- both called attention to the poster. That led to an additional controversy over Miller Brewing Company, one of the fair's major sponsors. While Miller did not pull its money from the event, it did instruct the fair's organizers to remove its logo from the poster.

Even with two major public policy groups calling attention to the event and its promotion, no major news organization, with the exception of Fox News, made any reference to the controversy.

According to Texas Media Watch, a non-partisan and independent media monitoring project, the most prevalent evidence of news bias can be found in the stories a news organization chooses to cover and the ones it chooses to ignore.

Let the infamous and unbiblical Fred Phelps and six of his followers show up to protest anywhere, and it will make the news. But 400,000 people show up at the Folsom Street Fair and the media completely ignores it because they understand it will impact negatively on the homosexual movement.

Still think there's no media bias?



Kelly Boggs, whose column appears each week in Baptist Press, is editor of the Baptist Message, the newspaper of the Louisiana Baptist Convention.