Sodom and Gomorrah on Folsom Street

In a worldwide priesthood leadership training meeting, President Hinckley, noting the immoral conditions in the world, stated, “I do not know that things were worse in the times of Sodom and Gomorrah.” He went on to say, “They and their wicked inhabitants were annihilated. We see similar conditions today. They prevail all across the world. I think our Father must weep as He looks down upon His wayward sons and daughters” (“Standing Strong and Immovable,” Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 10, 2004, 20).

I wasn’t going to write about this event because it is just so disgusting but it has come to my attention too many times in the last few weeks. Today it became the most popular story on Yahoo News, which described the event promotional poster that mocks the Last Supper of Jesus, one of the most precious religious occasions for Christians.

The Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco touts itself as the “crowning finale” of the city’s Leather Pride Week festivities. It’s not something you’d bring the children to, although in San Francisco those standards don’t necessarily apply. Media accounts showed that in some cases whole families attended — with the toddlers dressed in dog collars.

It is the kind of raunchy event that gives that city its reputation for decadence. But what really offended was the promotional poster for the fair. Seated at and standing behind a long table, Last Supper-style, are a set of men and women in various stages of leather dress/undress, including a man wearing a black dog mask.

Sex toys are strewn across the table. As a spokesman for Concerned Women explained, “The bread and wine representing Christ’s broken body and life-giving blood are replaced with sadomasochistic sex toys in this twisted version of Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper.'” I would consider this to be mocking of my sacred beliefs in the extreme and find it very offensive. What about the rest of the 225 million Christians in America today?

Supposedly 400,000 people attended this event and yet no major media outlet covered it. Can you imagine another event, of any kind, which draws 400,000 people not getting a single minute or a single mention from Big Media? To quote Kelly Boggs of the Baptist Press:

“If the truth of what took place in the streets of San Francisco on Sept. 30 were broadcast from sea to shining sea, the “homosexual rights” movement would suffer a significant setback. If grassroots Americans saw homosexuals blatantly flaunting their sexuality in public, they would be appalled. Make no mistake about it: America’s major news organizations are complicit in promoting homosexuality. Hence, they chose to act as if the Folsom Street Fair did not even happen.”

Yes, it’s disgusting to contemplate that something like this is taking place in America and that the media ignore it. Perhaps they don’t want to offend those participants by bringing them too much undue attention. But of course, it doesn’t escape God’s notice. He does love his sons and daughters but as President Hinckley said, how saddened He must be to see them behaving in such a degrading manner.

Are they last days upon us? Of course they are. How much longer will it be before such activities are allowed on your street corner? I hope and pray that it is not in my lifetime.