not i exercise those freedoms i think is completely besides the point because the fact that those freedoms are there i find accelerating and liberating, so what i am asking. >> >> is don't do this to san francisco and i urge the members to meet with the full board that the proposed antinudity legislation not be passed. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> hello. my name is gimse towel and the hostess of the naked tv series that airs on channel 29. first of all nudity doesn't harm children. have you ever seen a person cry when they see a naked person. they

laugh. it doesn't traumatize them. nudity is natural and harmless and our bodies are god's gifts and don't look like mistakes and sacred and this is attack on freedom, love, creative self expression. according to the deck clairation of the independence we have this right. body freedom is our right and given to us by our creator and no human being has the right to take it away. >> excuse me. rules -- >> unconstitutional and unamerican. >> i ask the chair please remove the speaker. she is violating the rules. >> and body shame -- no to scott wiener. yes to the declaration of independence. [inaudible]

[applause] >> all right. next speaker please. >> supervisor wiener i cannot thank you enough for this legislation. my only complaint it's a little over due but i can't thank you enough. i am a fourth generation san franciscan. i lived in the area for 35 years and seen it through good times and bad. this is amazing situation i think. these men have turned the castro into a peep show, and we're not just an adult community. we

have families in the castro, and i do not have a family. i am not from the valley. i'm not part of a clique. i'm one of the everyday citizens you mentioned in your remarks and i am appalled by this behavior and if the merchants don't realize this is affecting their business -- i have boys and we eat and shop in the cast ro. they will not bring the young people in our family to the castro and we shop and go out to dinner on 24th street because of what is happening in the castro so it's affecting the merchants. no question. also a little footnote. i took off work today because i felt this was so important. i want to live in a community, not a gay ghetto and a community means you care about other people. you respect

other people. it's not just about freedom for me and this is the kind of narcissistic self centered behavior i see in my neighborhood. i want to get the community back and that means diversity and families and groups of individuals and whether gay, straight, transgender. we are losing our diversity. families are moving out. we lost two familyos hancock street and i don't blame them. if i had children i wouldn't want to raise them in the castro either. thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good morning. my name is ms.dori and have lived here for 34 years and a lesbian and work with different associations. i drive you 32 the castro several times. >> >> a week. during those drives

the children have seen naked men in the car. it's up setting and confusing to them. they have difficulty emotionally and psychologically processing it. each time i have to try to explain to them. i am at a loss what to tell them. as a mother it's my job to teach them there are boundaries. if my child took off her clothes at school she would be sent home and a conference would happen. if my child sees this -- what i really believe those exposing themselves in public are performing non sex yell behavior and a violation. one years ago i took seven girls to volunteer

at a pet adoption booth and i naked man walked up to the girls and returned several times so the girls would see him. the adult his to form a human barricade. the castro is home to my community and i want it safe for my daughter and friends and family. i do not want to experience nudity everyday in our city and i support this legislation and ask the board of supervisors to adopt it. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good morning supervisors. i rob cox and on the board of the castro valley neighborhood association and long time resident of the castro. the castro valley association had a

long conversation about this issue and the board frankly was split for a long time whether or not to support supervisor wiener's legislation and we talked a lot about it and the discussion went on for several board meetings over the course of several months. what ended up happening is the issue kind of forced itself again on us as i think it did to you supervisor wiener and the board fully supports this legislation and i think it came down to the abuse of a small group of people imposing their nakedness essentially on the neighborhood without any kind of responsibility about what their actions were going to incur, and i think again it happened once and a while, at a straight fair and nobody had a. >> >> street fair and nobody had a

problem with it and against it forced itself into the conversation of the neighborhood and as a neighborhood organization we fully support the legislation, so i will try not to be too hiker bollic but equate this with nazi germany and scott wiener is a little bit over board. thank you. >> next speaker. >> good morning. good morning ladies and gentlemen. my name is mitch hightower and live in the community and i am -- part of the naked nude and two words that make everyone's ears perk up even here in san francisco. the supervisor has seriously exaggerated the nudity in jane warner plaza and now a city wide problem and involving every

elected official in local government. this has given the supervisor media attention and has name is known around the planet and throwing away san francisco live and let live and i ask you where is the evidence? i will tell you what evidence i have. i have a petition with 1500 signatures and comments and asking you ladies and gentlemen, the board of supervisors, not -- i politely repeat not to implement a city wide nudity ban. the supervisor from district eight refers to some of his own constituents as disgusting and a blight on the neighborhood. this has rendered intolerable in san francisco california. sadly many people in the community now refer to the castro district as district hate. ladies and gentlemen of the committee please stop this

head line grabbing and i implore you to kill this legislation today, right now, today before this hearing adjourns. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good morning supervisors. my name is due and have been a resident of district eight for 31 years. in that time one of the things i enjoyed the most was walking down the hill to go shopping, the theater, my dentist is at 18th and castro. ever since i came around the corner and almost bumped into a makeid man who called me a derogatory name and shock his penis at me and now i'm go to another area and looking for a dentist. it's a appalling

behavior that is keeping us residents from the area and should be enjoyed by all and not a selfish minority. thank you supervisor wiener for your legislation. i hope it passes so we can go back to enjoying the castro again. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> good morning. my name is jeff john ston and a business owner and my business is a few yards away from jane warner plaza and coldwell banker. my clients see this and they're uncomfortable coming to my office. my clientele is mixed half and half of straight and gay and i don't want to be embarrassed that i chose of being in the castro for my business and where i live. i live three blocks away and have to go by the plaza everyday and

anywhere i go. i don't want to see these things and i think the biggest testimony to what you can see about this issue is that lady drug those children in front of you and it was okay with people. i'm a parent and a grand parent and i just was infuriated that someone could drag their seven year old child and repeat something they don't even understand what they said. that's telling about this legislation. please support the legislation and thank you scott wiener for your support of the community and the businesses in the castro. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> my name is gabrielle scutz and lived in the castro for 40 years. i was screamed at about my darkness and shame. is that what this is about? is that

what i am seen as? it's about we are not harin hot springs. we are a neighborhood. this is about a sense of entitlement and i seen cock rings and i seen a guy get in his car and put on his clothes and drive away. what is that? what is that? i feel that our lovely diverse neighborhood in so many aspects has become a laughing stock and it's saddening me. it annoys me and it's the sense of entitlement. the body is beautiful. we all think that. we are not harshon. we are a

neighborhood and i very much support the ordinance. thank you. >> thank you very much. before i call the next speaker let me awl call a few more names. (calling speaker names). next speaker please. >> hi, i am one of your visitors from concord california. i didn't intend to speak today. i definitely am against this ban. while i was coming up to the office i happened to stand by the bus in the lobby there and i was struck by the irony. let me read to you what is written out there. "san francisco is an extraordinary city because the people have learned to live

together and respect each other for the bedroomment -- i can't read my handwriting -- for the future of their community. i have not heard anything about working together. i heard about banning. i heard about name calling. i heard about shaming people because of the body that god has given them. i'm a nudist. at one time i thought i was welcome. i heard about the welcoming of different activities and i came there. i spent money in restaurants. the twin peaks i was in several times and in fact when the giants won the world series on two years ago. i go up to the area and i had people come up to me and one man "what about the women and the children" and what about it? there is no

evil effect on children. children that live with nudity have less problems with body acceptance and i ask you to get away with some of the money changers who are trying to move around the city of san francisco's true feelings about this. thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker. >> thank you. my name is stephanie rap. i'm a resident of district eight and lived in the neighborhood for 15 years, my husband for 30. we are raising our daughter in this neighborhood in part because it's such a welcoming place. gay and lesbian friends are part of the fabric of my daughter's life and it is very distressing to me if i am opposed to public nudity i am painted as a prude or a homo phobe. we belong to

a lgbt synagogue and we welcome members into the jewish community and increasingly the weekend errants are intolerable in the castro. as a parent i can say it's my decision what makes my daughter comfortable. she's a pre-teen and seeing naked men is distressing to her. and i can tell you that teachers that have 35 kids and elementary and middle school kids are uncomfortable the only way they can do a field trip is to walk past naked man. public nudity -- we're not fighting for a civil right. i don't want gay people to be nude in public. i don't want straight people to be nude in public, not in my neighborhood and i resent very much this is an issue whether you're a prude or a homo phobe.

thanks. >> thank you. next speaker. >> my name is leonard and a resident of the castro and i am happy to have an opportunity to talk to you about the what is called nudity in the cast ro. i am a supporter of nudity. i was an art student and drawing live models since i was a teenager. i go to nude beaches both gay and straight. when i have been to nude beaches with families i find it sweet and endearing. however in the castro i don't believe it's nudity. i believe it's exhibitionism and the issue is for it to function for the exhibitionists they need to cohop without the consent of other people and to me this is not unlike -- even though i believe in the live and let live

and it extends too far and when you co-op other people because they specifically do not consent to be exposed to and it's unfair. and like i support people to listen to whatever music and whatever volume in their home and not so loud as to disturb others. if people want to smoke i think they have the right to smoke however they want. however blowing it in the face of other people crosses the line and the same with this. i don't believe in the sexualization of nudity. in general however i believe a lot of what is going on is a sexualized version of nudity and sexualizes the bystander without consent and that i find to be inappropriate and not good neighborly business. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> hello. my name is raymond

and i'm a resident of the sunset district but go off to the castro and all of that stuff, and i have been a nudist for 40 odd years plus. member of the nudist association, nature society, and i have been nude all over the world. i think san francisco has a very unique opportunity to show tolerance rather than everybody saying that the nudity would be bad for kids. no, that is not so. i of going to nudist places for a long time as i said and i have seen lots and lots of children and it doesn't harm them at all. it is a cultural thing, yes, but i fully opposed to mr. wiener's

bill. strongly suggest that it would be nixed in committee over here and pardon my stutter and i will be a nudist as long as possible and as far as the exhibitionism is concerned i don't think it's that. i want to go to jane warner plaza and sit on the chairs there and read my book and talk to people, have some water and all that stuff. i don't go up and approach people and all that stuff, and yet i have been harassed at times. once a guy -- i was looking for shade and a guy came out of his shop and really harassed me very, very verbally.

okay. thank you very much. >> thank you very much sir. next speaker. >> good morning. i am ralph and i live with my wife in woodside. i am here to ask you to vote no on this ban on nudity and i don't go to jane warner plaza myself but i support those that do. there is no property damage. there is no logical argument for the proposed ban and it comes down to one phrase "it's disgusting". i will remind you that beauty and disgust is in the eye of the beholder and what comes next. many consider obesity disgusting and ban that and our constitution is built on individual's rights and pursuit to happiness. many laws have been passed by the majority over

years and ultimately based on bigotry and disgust and gay marriage and sodomy and many more. every time one of the laws is tested in court it has been eventually over turned. the same thing would happen here. it hurts no one. let's not pass it just because a few people find it disgusting. san francisco is about individual's rights and people come to the city to be who they are without concerns of bigging on tree and scorn. nudity is one more freedom that san francisco has championed. we took a step back with the towel law. let's not take another step backwards. i leave you with this quote from an rand. those that deny individual rights cannot be

defenders for the majority. this legislation is using a sledge hammer to kill a flea. i urge you to vote no. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good morning. i am bruce dodea. as a child my father had a very racist sort of perspective on things. he felt that black people were bad people. i don't think that has a child i would have developed an exposure to thinking that black people were bad if not for my father. as an adult i have developed a broader opinion of things in which i think that i'm more open minded, so when i hear people discuss how disturbing this might be to a child i see it more of a perspective that the parent brings to that

household opposed to some impression that a child would have about nudity. what i like about the fact that the nudists have come to the castro speaks to me of the straight people that have come. i know straight women and straight men have been naked there who feel it's safe to come to the area because of the openness and liberalness and a progressive area. instead now it's coming off as less so. i do respect supervisor wiener's opinion. i have nothing against mr. wiener. simply we have different opinions. so i would like to state that i am against the ban of nudity, and thank you for listening. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> hello good afternoon everybody. i am pam and i am a

resident of the castro district. i lived in san francisco for 17 years and in the castro for 13. i am a woman obviously. i am not a nudist but i completely oppose the ban on public nudity. i live across the street from jane warner plaza and for about a year and i could see the nudists from my patio and on saturdays i drink tea and watch the nudists. recently i went to jew res lum and with friends and they were afraid to hold hands. and they would open the door if they thought it was okay and in chelsea new york you can't be seen kissing if you're two guys

and am exciting to be back in san francisco. people say that nudists maybe them uncomfortable. i don't see what that is. i support them because they promote a healthy body image and in the castro and men's magazines and people working out. i think we should support all types of bodies. the biggest complaint these are not the people i want to see naked and these are the people that we should see and i am scared if this pass what is is next and i love san francisco and the diversity and the castro. >> thank you very much. >> hello. i amanda conda and president of the harvey milk democratic club and we oppose the ban and we feel it's adding a draconian measure to something that is isolated problem in an

isolated area. we feel as supervisor wiener said that the law on lewd behavior is not encompassing enough to be able to take actions and instead of creating a ban and censoring people's behaviors and beliefs and we should look at that law, and see if we can make it more effective law. i don't think and the club doesn't think it's appropriate to act lewdly in public. however, we do see this as an opportunity for a better conversation and it has started a conversation in the gay community about the body face sm that we already experience and we don't think a ban is the right end to this discussion.

thank you. >> thank you very much. mr. alexander. >> hello i am josh alexander. i live in the castro and i'm not a nudist but i oppose this ban. people say we need it because they're offended. well, i am offended. i am offended by this proposed legislation that i have to come to this hearing to speak up for freedom and diversity and san francisco values shouldn't be under attack by someone purporting to represent all districts, district eight. i am offended and legislation that ask people to mind their own business. one doesn't need to be a health professional and other people should dress according to your preferences and upset if they don't. they can't point to anything