Date: Mon, 25 May 1998 18:45:13 -0700 From: "Trumbo, Bill" Subject: GAY PRIVACY The privacy of gays and lesbians in San Francisco is being compromised by the local Rent Control Board, a straight commission perhaps better referred to as the Sex Control Board! Take the example of an older gay man who invited another gay man into his apartment, not as a lover, but as a roommate with a separate bedroom. In time this new roommate's lifestyle proved incompatible, so he was asked to move. However, not wanting to move out, the roommate contested the eviction, claiming that the eviction notice was given in retaliation for his resisting unwanted sexual advances. The Rent Board accepted this unverifiable claim, declared the eviction notice invalid, and the roommate was able to stay in the older man's home for almost a year rent-free. The claim was, and still is, recorded in the Rent Board's public files for anyone to read -- the older man's employer was notified! I hope I'm not the only gay man that finds this outrageous! Whether true or false, making a pass at another gay man isn't a crime, nor is asking someone to move out of an apartment. If the tenant had made a pass at the landlord, who then asked him to move, would this equally be a retaliatory eviction? Why is the SF rent board getting involved in such personal matters? What goes down in a gay household should be private! If sexual tension arises within an apartment, then obviously someone has to move. It shouldn't be the homeowner or the master tenant either! With predators like this around, all SF gay men should be extra careful when asking a roommate in. If you do, as of May 25th, the rent law requires that you have a written agreement, outlining all house rules, rates, rights, and responsibilities (i.e. sexual?) I don't think we need either "roommate control laws" or written agreements, so on June 2nd, I'm voting YES on Proposition E. I want to continue sharing my home peacefully and privately. Bill Trumbo