Following on a strongly worded letter from Supervisor David Campos, the SF Pride organizing committee has relented at decided to hold a public forum at which to discuss the decision not to allow Bradley Manning to be named an Honorary Grand Marshal at this year's parade. The circus meeting will take place on Friday, May 31 at 6:30 p.m. at the MCC Community Church at 150 Eureka Street in the Castro. And it likely to get loud, and go late.
As Castro Biscuit noted, the committee quietly posted the notice about the meeting on their Facebook page on Friday before the holiday weekend. It's a bit of comeuppance for them since they already tried to declare the Manning subject closed, via Facebook, in a post two weeks ago when they postponed their May 14th meeting, which led to another uproar from Manning supporters.
The most recent post promises, "We continue to be open to peaceful and constructive conversation with set ground rules but will not condone violence in any form moving forward." BUT: "To ensure that community members have the opportunity to speak along with securing the safety of all attendees, we will have security on the premises."
Just to recap, SF Pride has already announced that local drag queen Bebe Sweetbriar would serve as Grand Marshall instead of Manning, and while Supervisor Campos "applauds" this choice, he chastised SF Pride for their apparent lack of transparency about the whole matter, and their handling of their recent public meetings. It was chastisement enough, apparently, that they did an about-face and will face their zealous critics once more.
All previous coverage of the SF Pride/Bradley Manning debacle.
