NCSF Rocks

The annual Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco is pretty much the granddaddy of the BDSM Leather Fetish celebrations. The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom just published the following letter from a very satisfied constituent, i.e. Demetri Moshoyannis, the Folsom Street Fair Executive Director. Helping out with incidents like this is what NCSF does best.

I spent a year as a member of the NCSF Board of Directors, and it was my pleasure to get to know and learn a thing or two from Leigha Flemming (Incident Response Coordinator who wears many other hats as well), founder and media maven Susan Wright, past board chair and loyal, long-time ultra-committed supporter Vivienne Kramer. Since that time the Institute for 21st Century Relationships, which I co-founded with my partner, Jim Fleckenstein, became NCSF's foundation, and now Jim and the NCSF folks are working together to make the US and world safer for people who engage in alternative forms of sexual and relationship expression.

So here's Mr. Moshoyannis's letter of thanks for NCSF's work in helping Folsom Street Fair field an onslaught of attacks from religious extremists who tried over and over to shut down the festival.

Kudos to NCSF!

Moshoyannis writes:

For over a year now, Folsom Street Events has been under attack by anti-gay and religious right groups from across the country. The attacks have been relentless. They have threatened our major sponsorships, picketed our events, called upon public officials to denounce us, and rallied their troops against our community. As a small organization with only two staff members, we do not have the capacity to stand up and respond to these continuing assaults.

We contacted the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom to access the Incident response program. Within hours, we spoke with a highly trained and knowledgeable media and PR consultant for support. In addition to her moral support, we received a meticulous training for our Board of Directors and staff, preparing us to better manage these attacks. Also, the program consultant was able to field all media inquiries - and serve as a positive voice for our community - during our events, so that we could focus on our production duties. We can't thank NCSF enough for their good work and for being there when we needed them.

Demetri Moshoyannis
Executive Director
Folsom Street Fair