About this Woody character. He is one of those street goons who rants
and gestures violently in public, making the Castro a miserable
experience for tourists and residents alike.
I tried being friends with Woody many times, but he always winds up
harassing me while pretending he doesn't know what he's doing. Playing
the "mentally disturbed" card to trick soft-spined liberals into
believing he can't help himself. (I'm a HARD-spined liberal, FYI.) He
also feigns homelessness, which he is not,
in order to garner dollars from sympathetic (though clueless)
passersby. I frequent a coffeehouse on Church near Market...and so does
Woody (who bears a hilarious resemblance to Buzz Lightyear of Toy Story
fame). He will interrupt and "act out" whenever I'm sitting outdoors,
trying to meet guys. Jumping around like an ape and hollering weird
phrases, so that my possible friend is scared away from both that
coffeehouse and myself. Woody does this INTENTIONALLY. It is a
homophobic reaction at my harmless attempts to cruise the cute ones.
In general, associating with Woody condemns me to social
loneliness...which is "his plan" all along. I once designed a button
just for him,
in hopes of winning him over towards respecting me. Didn't work.
But that's not the worst of it:
Six years ago I was bashed by a gay crack-head
named Matthew. Not seriously mind you, as I had a strong friend nearby
who stopped it; but my attacker got away. Matthew did terrorize me
however. While I was still in his grip (after he smashed my head
against the wall several times, sudden-like), said: "Next time I see
you, I'm gonna eat the skin off your face." (A Hannibal Lector
wanna-be, no doubt.)
At that time, my apartment building was covered in thick, black gauze
for stucco removal and replacement, with scaffold surrounding the
entire structure, from the first floor to the fourth.
This meant ANYONE and his homeless cousin could easily clamber onto the
makeshift boards and rap on a resident's window, begging for a
cigarette (which DID happen at least once). Or break in and steal...or
bash, or rape, or murder. Worse yet, the illegal Mexican laborers hired by our slumlord were typically homophobic,
making all sorts of gay-hateful comments while standing on the
scaffolds, beside our apartment windows and peering in. I know because
I heard them, and "Yo entiendo espanol". (There was a lawsuit
over this BTW, by 13 outraged residents including myself; a year later
we won. I got $8,000...though it should've been $40,000. More on that
later.)
So naturally I was frightened that Matthew could be lurking somewhere
nearby, and at any moment climb the scaffolding and break into my room.
(He did know where I lived; for in the past he was very mellow, and I
enjoyed his visits.) I slept with heavy furniture blocking my two
windows, that I may have a fighting chance to fend a surprise attack.
It was a NIGHTMARE manifest in real life...very Freddy Kreuger.
During this time, someone would buzz my room every few days, via the
front gate intercom, and speak in a gravelly tone: "I'm gonna get you,
I'm the DEVIL." Of course, I feared it was Matthew. This would go on
EVERY DAY for almost three months. It wasn't until several weeks after
it stopped, I learned that WOODY was the culprit. He disguised his
voice well.
So after all these years trying to temper Woody's scary behavior, I
finally gave up and told him to NEVER speak or go near me again. Of
course he didn't take me seriously...so now after almost five months
ignoring him, he is bothered by my aloofness, and threatens to be, once
again, an unpleasant and dangerous stalker in my social meanderings.
But I have a STRONG will, and will deal with it accordingly. I
understand he is out of jail on his own recognisance (don't know for
what), and the slightest slip-up could land him back behind bars.
Unfortunately, street denizens like Dane and Woody are NOT the
exception, but the RULE of what's come down in the Castro regarding the
street scene, what with all the homophobic homeless who claim turf rights here in the Castro. They in fact DRIVE OUT, HARASS and BASH whatever gay
homeless may attempt to find sanctuary in this, the supposedly-GAYEST
neighborhood on the planet. The hetero homeless BICKER and FIGHT in
broad daylight, as if even their hetero clashes were far more righteous
than any gay couple holding hands. And the POLICE do nothing to thwart--let alone discourage--these hillbilly antics.
The streets of San Francisco have become frighteningly dangerous as a
result of The City's own failure to be truly gay friendly (except in
lip service). I suspect that our local government's "gay friendliness"
draws the line between the affluent and the low income and poor.
Dumping the homeless (who are MOSTLY hetero, ergo homophobic) in gay
neighborhoods is an effective social engineering
strategy to keep queers in their place, and discourage them from
rebelling and taking civil disobedience to the streets. I've met numerous homeless gays who are terrorized, bashed, and driven out of the Castro by the majority homeless who are HETERO in proclamation.
Violent ex-convicts are released by California's prison system, into
the big cities (Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Francisco) stranded on
the streets where they must fend for themselves. This turns
neighborhoods into dangerous breeding grounds for violent crimes (and
break-ins) that often go unchecked by our local police force. Gay
neighborhoods are especially vulnerable.
Intelligent ex-cons manipulate the dumber homeless to terrorize
neighborhoods so they can have the streets to themselves at night, and
more easily run drugs, burglarize, mug and in general cause whatever
mayhem suits their mood. They even share maps in prison of the gay
neighborhoods, bars, and amicable connections. (You
can learn a LOT as a gay street activist, if you're not afraid to get
your hands dirty...along with certain OTHER body parts!) So when
they're on the outside again and need a place to hole up (or hide out),
just where do you think they go? To a GAY BAR to hook up with some
desperate middle-aged fag too stupid to know better. Remember the
brutal murder of a longterm patron out of the (now-defunct) black gay
bar, the Pendulum (due to reopen after being closed for three years, god help us)?
That was commited by a street tough, Jim McKinnon, who was couch hopping one gay residence after another.
He even stayed for a couple weeks at the apartment of weekday bartender
"Joey" (that short Portugese guy w/Russel terrier "Jackie O"; I can't
remember his real name), before moving in with patron Gary Lee. In
fact, he impressed everyone there (including myself) with his good
nature. Even paid me a back-handed compliment among the afternoon
patrons: "You know," he said pointing directly at me from the far end
of the bar, "if I didn't know Zeke so well, I'd be afraid of him." That
gave me a warm glow, and I later thought: "Hmmm, Jim's not such a bad guy after all, and kinda good lookin'. Maybe I WILL have him over."
Little did anyone know at that time, he had already committed the
murder...the corpse of the gay man who housed him was still rotting in
the bathtub, covered with a mountain of baking soda! Fortunately, that
was the last time "good ol' palsy-walsy Jim" made his appearance at the
Pendulum, and the last time I saw him. A week later the news broke; he
was arrested, awaiting trial. Scary to say, but he's up for parole in
another year. And just where do you think he'll seek company and comfort? Three guesses!
Reflecting on this gnarly case, I'd like to bring up something just as
sinister, if not more so, regarding the Pendulum regulars. I first got
wind of this crime when I heard them talking in a huddle. Asked them
what's up, and they told me that a regular had just been murdered, by
this guy Jim. I shuddered to think it was the same "Jim" I had
befriended there, and was visiting me every four days or so, to smoke
some pot and hang out. So I asked them to descirbe this Jim. They
hemmed and hawed, would only divulge that he was white and "average"
looking, with an "average" build, and "average" height. They refused to
give me any further description, acting like they really couldn't: he
was just that average.
So of course I stopped seeing my Jim for a while...'cause he's
an average looking guy, too! Imagine how I felt, these regulars hoping
to set me up to become McKinnon's next victim! I asked and asked around
the Pendulum, and those who knew him, refused to say more, but that he
was "average". They certainly didn't have my best interests at heart!
This is a prime example of what a wicked streak runs through so MANY of
my gay brothers...whether black or white, rich or poor, handsome
or...er..."average". And such wickedness nurtures cults into existence, like feeding human flesh to that alien plant, Audrey Jr., in Little Shop of Horrors.
Jim will not be the first murderer of a gay victim to be released, and
found once more socializing in The Castro. Years ago, my friend John H.
(who then lived at 2306 Market as I still do) pointed out to me, a
sleazeball standing on the sidewalk by Andy's Donut Shop. "He strangled
[so-and-so], and served eight years in the poky. Can you believe he's
back?"
The shit piles up! I wonder how many other murderers mingle DAILY in our gay bars and sex clubs? Does that give you a boner, or what?
Another ex-convict, "Monty" terrorized our neighborhood for two years before being locked up again.
He'd stand on the corner of Castro and Market, big, black and
paranoid...to intimidate anyone and everyone within his immediate
locale. His favorite pastime was intimidating peaceful white homeless
dudes, especially the gay
ones. "What are YOU looking at?" was his particular phrase of choice. I
saw danger written all over him: but he saw something in me that would
make him run the other direction whenever I approached. (Wasn't body
odor or bad breath, I guarantee! And it certainly wasn't my size; I'm only five-foot-seven.)
One evening while watching the news, Monty's face appeared on the TV
screen. He was wanted for the brutal beating of his current girlfriend,
gouging out her eyeball before he fled. (I'd say the lady made a poor
choice in a partner, wouldn't you, girlfriend?) Now just where do you think he ran to when the heat was on? To The Castro of course,
where he entered the Pendulum in hopes of finding urgent refuge. But a
police officer had to die in a car chase turned bad (first gay cop to
perish in the line of duty BTW),
and his partner suffer brain damage, before Monty was finally apprehended. A youth scholarhsip award was established in 2006, to honor Jon Cook's heroic life.
(See my article "Murders in the Rue Castro
for additional comment on this, and other heinous crimes which haunt
our community, as a direct consequence of society's willful homophobia,
and The City's failure to respect its own gay citizens by any
significant measure, right here in so-called "Gay Mecca".)
Bagdad Cafe on the corner of Market & 16th WELCOMES this filthy, smelly hobo to occupy a sidewalk table...every single friggin' day!
Why would anyone even want to EAT there, let alone sit BESIDE this
bacteria-laden freakazoid? Are they INSANE? Am I missing something? Is THIS the best The Castro can offer its gay tourists? WHY would any business in Gay Mecca willfully CHOOSE to insult and undermine a queer community's hard-won reputation?
This is NOT compassion, this is community sabotage. Is that how heteros
perceive gay neighborhoods: as a DUMP for their refuse, including human
detritus that project HATRED and homophobia as their contribution to
the cause of Gay Sanctity? BITING the hands that feed them, just
because we're QUEER? Fee fi fo fum, I smell a CULT around this bum! Boycott the place, and tell 'em WHY. Bring 'em to their knees and make them cry!
As if this weren't bizarre enough, Bagdad Cafe seems to GENERATE homophobic filth of its own accord. Click here to read of an incident in October 2002, when some crazed bozo RAN INTO the Bagdad Cafe, grabbed two butcher knives
from the cook's station, and THREATENED people with it (screaming
"faggots" at the top of his lungs), until a cop shot him dead! Worse
yet, the family threatened to SUE the SFPD, and blamed the gay community's own drug problems for this idiot's violent outburst. Read MY take on the matter (click here), where I CHASTISE the lunatic's family, and PRAISE the police. Still
MORE bizarre is the fact that the cop who killed "Akbar" was the
partner of the first gay policeman (Jon Cook, see above) to die in the
line of duty while attempting to apprehend ANOTHER crazed street
denizen! Only four months PREVIOUS to the Bagdad fiasco.
My conjecture is this was a SETUP, not simply an unhappy incident due
to society's homophobia. And the employer and perhaps some employees
are BEHIND this obvious
design to devastate our gay community, and bring FURTHER violence upon
us. The Zodiac cult has their filthy hand in the Bagdad Cafe, and
goddess only knows how many OTHER businesses here in The Castro.
Not all the homeless are bad; indeed I AM a homeless advocate...and once had many, decent
houseless friends until things turned wicked over 15 years ago. But I
most certainly am NOT a bullshit advocate. The Castro has been FLOODED
with homeless redneck types who terrorize neighborhoods, particularly
gay people and women. They especially don't like yours truly,
for my brazen gay presence and attempts to make the neighborhood safer
by blowing the whistle on this rampant homophobia that has become the
Law Of The Asphalt. Keep in mind that MOST of these thugs are bisexual
themselves. But they're only "gay" for money, drugs, food or shelter (I
call this "street capitalism"). The rest of the time, they swagger
around doing their "macho thang"...which includes threatening and
bashing homosexuals. Can't tell you how many times I hear late at
night, these hillbilly goons hollering "faggot" from the top of their
toxic lungs.
They make it a source of PRIDE to argue in public with their
"wimmen"...as a display of hetero rightness to teach us queers a lesson
about Mother Nature's Proper Decorum. They think nothing of
aggressively panhandling you, even scaring you into "buying protection"
when you're on the streets...and if you decline, call you "faggot"
behind your back, in front of your back, and to the side of your back.
Even many GAY houseless play the homophobe card, in order to reduce the
danger of being fag-bashed themselves. My life is often put in harm's
way due to my notoriety, whenever I walk the streets of Gay Mecca's
Heart. For this reason I composed my wicked little farce, "Welcome to Hoboville" in 2003...a kick in the groin to This Enemy Occupation. I also carry pepper spray and wear steel-toe boots.
But most shocking of all, is how many gay people themselves gain
sadistic pleasure in my troubles! Rather then offer a hand in
friendship (or call 911), they ENCOURAGE these 'phobes to harass me. In
fact, I've been left out in the cold by my own community. No matter
which pro-queer group I join, I wind up being vilified, isolated, and
driven out. (No matter how GOOD my intentions, and EFFECTIVE my
strategies.) My conclusion is that there is a powerful cult embedded
(and in bed with) our LGBT family, manipulating who can and cannot be
part of their world. The internalized homophobia of my gay brothers
plays to their advantage...along with substance abuse, misogyny, racism
and class snobbery. They grabbed the reigns of power during the Harvey Milk
Era, and have grown overwhelmingly strong and far-reaching SINCE
then...running ALL the gay bars and clubs here in San Francisco, AND
our organizations. And, worst of all, they have festered into a nationwide carbuncle of toxic pus.
Speaking of San Francisco's dangerous streets: I was surprised and delighted
to read Caille Millner's take on the shifty bums that have turned this
Walker's Paradise into a dark and scary pedestrian nightmare: "Back to the Streets of San Francisco" (S.F. Chronicle, 11/2/07). A bluntly honest and condemning piece of journalism; she's a brilliant (and lovely) young woman! Do promise you'll take a gander...please, please, please. (SUPER pretty please with agave nectar on top!)
Caille and others ARE waking up to how dangerous our streets have
become, and how this ties in directly with homophobia. But she, like
others, only perceives the tip of the iceberg...and would regard my
strident claims as nothing more than a nut job's conspiracy theory. And
that is precisely how this cult operates: surreptitious and diabolical. Using wicked gossip
to make Truth-Speakers like me come off as blatheringly insane. Which
in turn, makes potential friends my enemies...and true friends
nonexistant. At best, I've managed to have friendly acquaintances over
these difficult years. Some who read this now, consider themselves a
good friend. But don't friends hang out with each other on a regular
basis...go out for coffee and shmooze? Not meaning to guilt-trip anyone
here, but I DO want to point out: That is not happening! (And you can't blame a hectic lifestyle on this, as you DO find the time to spend with others you regard as amigos.) Please realize you are unwittingly being manipulated by cult members using subtle persuasion and crowding your social time to keep me at bay. But I'm not knocking what I DO have:
I need all the friendly acquaintances I can get!
[ Table Of Contents ]
Tomorrow's installment: SOMA: SOUTH OF MARKET ANUSES
Allies: New chapter! Time to download the updated Larkin.zip.
(Delete the previous one.) Thanks!
