Dear J Rhett Aultman,
(this is a 2 part letter , 1st part directly to J Rhett Aultman, 2nd to the Pride Committee and the Bay Area Radical Faeries)

1) I want to first apologize for J Rhett Aultman's experience at Faerie Freedom Village. I do not excuse the actions of those (some of which are not Faeries) that took energy instead of giving it back by Jacking off for the cameras. We had various situations to deal with that day, including rowdy drunk people, belligerent homeless, and rude gawkers. These people were not on the Faerie Village team, did not rent the space, set up the space or help clean up. As the Manager of Faerie village, I should have taken more time to recruit monitors to help manage the onslaught of people who often just walk in without any connection to the faerie community. I am not Putting Blame on anyone but myself for not asking for more crowd control help. I want to apologize for the resulting staff shortages, which impacted our ability to manage the crowds that visited our space.
This was my first year as the manager of Faerie Freedom Village and unfortunately learned some very hard lessons. One is that some Faeries can be very Flaky, I had multiple people that had said they would help with preparations(such as making signs etc) and with tear down. Unfortunately many of those folks did not show up until it was time to have fun, Managing Faeries is like herding Cats. Although I want to personally accept responsibility, I had great intentions that did not all become a reality.
I do want you to know that I was actively trying to stop the exhibitionist guys and encourage them to move away from the view of people. They have been disrupting Faerie Village for several years now. Last Year I was working as Security inside Faerie Village and had several confrontations with more than one individual. When I realized that one of the main guys is straight, not of our community and an exhibitionist, that made me even more uncomfortable. His responses were confrontational and unreasonable.
Besides the fact that I was multitasking (Manager, Decorator, Security, Putting out emotional Fires Etc) this is the First year that Faerie Village (I specifically) called the Cops in on those guys. The main guy refused to respect my warnings and so I called the Cops in, after all by doing what they were doing they were representing Faerie Village and I have had enough of it personally.
The guy hid when the cops were there, and when the cops left I found him and had an uncomfortable situation where he argued with me grabbed me and I had to tell him to let me go. This is a person who has never been to a Faerie Gathering or Circle he shows up every year and takes his clothes off and starts jacking off for the cameras. Well I warned him that I was calling the cops back over and he tried to get away by jumping over the fence, little did he know (I might be a fag but I am still scrappy) I jumped over the fence and followed him while on the radio telling safety I was on his tail and needed cops to meet me so he could be arrested. Fortunately for me he went in the direction of two cops and since I had my security shirt, badge, and radio I just shouted to the cobs to stop him and arrest him, they took our names, and lets just say that that particular guy will never be at the Village again if he does try to enter next year he will be Arrested on the spot.
That does not excuse the lack of village monitors; I personally want to apologize for that and hope that this experience won't sour your thoughts on the San Francisco Faeries. It is a shame that the actions of a few people can have such a negative impact on a group that is trying to have some Spiritual Change and not just Sexual liberation. I have some great Ideas for how to not have this happen again and look forward to that Change.
Again I just want to reach out to show you these things are being addressed and not just ignored, and I hope you will contact me if you would like to chat further about the Village. Below is the second part of the letter that I invite you to read.
Blessed Be
Keer



2) This next part of the letter I want to Address The Radical Faerie Community & the SF Pride Committee, by presenting some possibilities future Change in order to make Faerie Village a more safe and comfortable space. Like I said, I learned some hard lessons this year and realize why most of the managers over the years have only done it one year or two before they pass on the torch. I think its because it's a lot for one person or even a few. We did have many people do fabulous things to support community space at Faerie Freedom Village, including the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who gave us a grant, Spirneena, who stayed with me through all of take down to the bitter end, and many others that created Magic in the space. I have to say that it takes a Community to really create safe space. I am choosing to not give up but learn from the mistakes and Create something better for our future.
I think we can do this by recruiting more Faerie leaders to help manage the village, and by changing our gate procedure. We need to pull together as community and start having Circles/Meetings about FFV. I am asking for at least 10 committed people for next year, and circles Will be Required. Also, we can not continue to hold safe space at Pride without changing our Gate policy. We can do this without making it "Private or Faeries only", which in the past has been a concern by both the Pride committee and
Faeries. I personally had to deal with several ugly and uncomfortable intruders into Faerie Village (beyond rude straight exhibitionists, drunk people, Thieves, people with negative energy and the endless gawkers that treat FFV like a petting Zoo).

After living for 13 years of my life in queer intentional community where we had Faerie gatherings, I have learned that creating safe space can be a lot of work. I will not just bow out because of negative experiences; I would rather work toward recruiting others to collaborate together. I am not talking about people putting their two cents in and only showing up that day to the party. If we want to make choices about how FFV is run, we should be ready to commit to a monthly Circle (and potluck of course). I have already got 2 people as of today, So I don't think its going to be that difficult to recruit more people interested in creating positive Change at Faerie Village.
I think I have also figured out a way to cut down on the endless traffic and have a clearer Faerie Intention, while addressing the Pride Committees concerns that FFV not become a Private or Faeries only space. First off I just want to say, there is the VIP Pride party and not just any Homeless person or Drunk can just wander into the Party. I think it is also perfectly reasonable for the Faeries to want to control the flow of people into the space we are Creating. This is a security issue. J Rhett Aultman's letter should prompt us to spend more energy on creating greater intention around shared community space. With the current setup anyone can just walk in, even if they have allot of negative, disruptive attitude.

Here's a different approach. At most parties or clubs you have to have a stamp or a wristband. I suggest a wristband for the Faeries Friends and Others that might be entering the village. This wristband could freely be given as part of a welcoming ritual where interested people are saged or smudged as they are greeted with intention. Disruptive people are not going to want to wait in line for this, but those who feel a sincere call to be part of our community will be patient as we welcome them individually.
If all the Faeries and Friends we know get the wristbands beforehand, those who already connect to the community will easily enter. Otherwise you will be greeted, and asked open-ended questions, like "What are your intentions for FFV, What are you letting go of before you enter FFV, What are you Bringing to FFV" or something like this. A dash of glitter & you're on your way. This will definitely limit the flow of Gawkers, Drunks, etc. seeing that it might take a while for people to enter and I bet many people will choose to go other places rather than wait in a line.
I am open to discussing all the many ways we could work together to create a better space for the community in Faerie Freedom Village 2010. If we have a crew of folks to help then we can do all kinds of wonderful things. Please feel free to contact me; I am very interested in what others have to say, and look forward to creating a healing loving supportive Circle to support the future.

Sincerely,
Keer
Keerton@gmail.com

--- On Mon, 6/29/09, Aaron <sfaaron26@yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Aaron <sfaaron26@yahoo.com>
Subject: Fw: Complaint regarding Faerie Village at 2009 Pride
To: keerton@yahoo.com
Date: Monday, June 29, 2009, 8:39 PM

Don't forget to CC the other people on the email when you respond to Joe.



----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Joe Wagenhofer <event_manager@sfpride.org>
To: keerton@yahoo.com; sfaaron26@yahoo.com
Cc: Lindsey Jones <lindseyj@sfpride.org>
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 3:40:38 PM
Subject: FW: Complaint regarding Faerie Village at 2009 Pride

Hi Keer and Aaron,
Thanks for the hard work you both put in on the FFV, the space looked great.
Below is an email we received today. Could you please craft a response and
send it to me so that Lindsey can respond to their email.

Thanks,
Joe


-----Original Message-----
From: J. Rhett Aultman

Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 2:37 PM
To: info@sfpride.org
Subject: Complaint regarding Faerie Village at 2009 Pride

Dear SF Pride,

I'm writing to you today to invite your comments on some events I
witnessed at the SF Pride 2009 event. I sincerely hope that this letter
will be received in the spirit of honest and productive criticism in which
it is being written.

First, I would like to state that SF Pride 2009 truly impressed me. As a
recent transplant from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, itself a place with an
entrenched and active LGBT community, I was greatly anticipating SF Pride
2009. I could never have imagined its sheer enormity, though, and for the
most part, it was an event that nearly defied my ability to contextualize
it. This is in no small part due to the diligent efforts of a steering
committee that works tirelessly for its community.

I was, however, both surprised and disappointed by events I witnessed in
the Faerie Village pavilion. My partner and I had stopped by Faerie
Village because we have a background in Paganism and appreciate the spirit
of art and play so frequently embodied by those who practice Faerie
traditions. What we found when we were there, however, was a significant
number of men openly masturbating or engaged in other sexual activity,
some of them for audiences who were taking a large number of pictures. My
partner and I are both members of the sex-positive community in Seattle,
and so while we are not troubled by overt sexuality, we were still quite
shocked.

We were shocked because the description of Faerie Village contained no
explicit warning that people entering the space would be exposed to public
sexual activity. We were further shocked that there was nobody at the
entrance to the area to check IDs, confirm only adults were in the space,
and to warn people of what they might encounter. This, of course, creates
the issue of minors being exposed to public sexual activity. It also is
not in the spirit of sex-positive culture, as there was no way for us, as
guests, to have provided informed consent. We also saw no indications
that the cleanliness of the area was of concern, which itself can lead to
concerns about health and safety where open sex is being practiced.

Furthermore, we found ourselves seriously concerned over the possibility
that any of the people with cameras could have been a member of a group
seeking to undermine GLBT equality. As you are no doubt aware, a critical
argument for groups which oppose our equality is that GLBT people are
psychologically perverse, and capturing photographic evidence of men
masturbating in public at SF Pride 2009 would be an excellent way to
perpetuate such a myth. It certainly doe pose a challenge to argue for
the normalcy of all GLBT people when a flagship GLBT event includes sexual
activity on the lawn of the UN building.

We are new to the Bay Area and thus thought we should seek the opinion of
SF Pride. Is this a regular and endorsed practice as part of SF Pride
celebrations, or is this an oversight in what was an otherwise amazing
celebration of the LGBT community? Does SF Pride leadership agree with
our view that the activities in the Faerie Village were problematic and,
if so, what steps will you be taking to curtail these issues further?

Thank you very much for your time and consideration, and thank you so much
for taking on the unbelievably difficult task of arranging an event of
this scope. I look forward to your correspondence and would like to
continue my participation in Bay Area GLBT activities in the future.

Sincerely,

J. Rhett Aultman