Posted by mikezillion at July 12th, 2007
I am not kidding you. This was actually handed to me on the corner of 17th and Castro St. in the heart of San Francisco’s gay district this afternoon, by a group of folks soliciting contributions to support the impeachment of Dick Cheney. (Note: The telephone numbers are for Nancy Pelosi. The intent was to encourage folks to call her office and support the impeachment.)
When I objected that giving people condoms with staple holes through the middle was irresponsible, they said nobody would be foolish enough to use one. I pointed out that it was foolish to provide them in the first place, and they asked me whether I was generally uncomfortable with sexual humor. I told them I run a porn studio, and that this was a public health issue. They replied that they were here about political issues, not public health, and asked again for a donation–or at least for a few hundred replacement condoms if I was really that serious about getting them to stop what they were doing. It went on like that for a few minutes. They continued to hand these out while we talked.
I finally left, and went two blocks down Market Street to the offices of the Stop AIDS Project. They immediately dispatched a volunteer with a box of 800 condoms to explain the situation to these irresponsible solicitors. I ran into the volunteer an hour later, and he told me that he had succeeded where I had failed. I guess 800 condoms are a good bargaining edge.
How can folks think this is ok? Sheesh!