Imagine Harvey Milk, when he was San Francisco’s first out gay supervisor, introducing legislation at the Board of Supervisors to restrict use of public space in the Castro for those in the LGBT community who need a place to rest the most: the homeless, especially homeless youth who have fled here from all over, only to find that rents are too high and jobs pay too little to afford a roof over their heads. 

It just wouldn’t happen. Milk would never have targeted an unpopular group of people just to gain favor with merchants and others in the neighborhood who hate them.

His successor is doing just that. 

Scott Wiener, who now occupies the seat that Harvey once held, is pushing regulations for Milk and Jane Warner Plazas in the heart of the world’s most famous gay neighborhood, regulations that are nothing more than a veiled attempt to push the homeless out of sight where merchants and neighbors who hate them can’t see them.

The regulations prohibit sleeping or camping out in the plazas, having shopping carts or sitting on removable chairs (like the ones in Warner Plaza) after 9pm. It also bans smoking and making any alterations to the landscaping of the plazas, but, rest assured, the real intent is to send a message to the homeless that they’re not welcome.

Certain folks in the Castro have been trying for years to make the neighborhood off limits to the homeless. During the late 90s when the dot-com boom left many queer youth and others homeless and begging for change outside the shops along Castro Street, activists in the community (including myself) organized a shelter, a food program and a spot to take a shower despite the opposition of merchants and neighbors.  

Times are even worse now than they were then. Unemployment is higher, as are rents and healthcare. Those on the streets need affordable housing and jobs, not vindictive laws that punish them for falling asleep on a bench or for having their meager belongings in a shopping cart. Public space is for everyone. That’s what democracy means.

Harvey Milk Plaza has long been a symbol of the freedom that queers fought hard for in the past 40 years. Rallies, performances, celebrations, cruising, leafletting, tabling, etc. has been a hallmark of the space. When the community needs to gather, Harvey Milk Plaza is always the logical place to be. It's always been there for everyone, but not if Wiener has his way.

Let’s face it, Wiener’s regs will help no one. They won’t provide housing. They won’t help anyone get off the streets. But they could help create permanent homelessness. 

If a person cited for a violation of this law (fines are $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second and $500 for the third) doesn’t pay, he ends up with a bench warrant and even a possible arrest. If he applies for housing with that bench warrant on his record, a provider can refuse him a place. 

Bad social policy? That’s putting it mildly.