Mayor George Christopher: A man misunderstood

by Evelyn Rose

Christopher Park in Diamond Heights is named for San Francisco’s last Republican mayor, George Christopher. Earlier this year, Ken Maley, a District 3 (North Beach/Telegraph Hill) representative of the San Francisco Park, Recreation, Open Space Advisory Committee (PROSAC) accused Christopher of being “a rabid homophobe” (see the Bay Area Reporter, February 1, 2023). He added, “I think it is a shame to have ... any park in the city and particularly in District 8, that is named after George Christopher.” He then announced he would submit to PROSAC a proposal for a name change.

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PROSAC members are liaisons between the Recreation and Park Commission and the communities they represent. In February, the two District 8 seats on PROSAC were vacant (one is now filled). Despite the vacancies, the District 3 representative neglected to reach out to anyone in District 8, particularly the Diamond Heights Community Association, the nonprofit Friends of Christopher Park, and gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. F or some, the threat to rename Christopher Park felt like an attack on their community.

As a community historian, I was equally surprised. When researching a forgotten tavern in Glen Park that once featured female impersonators, Christopher’s name had not bubbled up. With additional digging, however,

I reached the opposite conclusion: George Christopher was never “a rabid homophobe” (see my rebuttal in the July Noe Valley Voice, page 5).

Based on this outcome, representatives of the Diamond Heights community and Mandelman agree that a name change for Christopher Park is unfounded and unnecessary.

There are two absolute essentials when proposing a name change for a public space: community outreach and comprehensive review.

Community outreach

Diamond Heights, the city’s second redevelopment project, is a self-contained community in the middle of a big city. Described as “a new kind of suburbia,” the community includes “homes for the rich, the poor, all races, all religions.”

Designed with community input, Christopher

Park became the treasured centerpiece of the Diamond Heights neighborhood center. During a recent renovation, the community and city collaborated again to save historic midcentury play structures to maintain the architectural integrity of the new playground with the neighborhood. Many of the original homeowners continue to reside in Diamond Heights, so the high level of investment in their public space is not surprising.

The San Francisco Monuments and Memorials Advisory Committee (MMAC; only covers civic art) has observed that building relationships with diverse communities “is essential to engagement. It takes time to build trust, and ... should not be rushed.” Because San Franciscans are fiercely loyal to their parks, the path to consensus for a proposed name change requires community outreach and collaboration before any formal submission is made. Communities collaborating with PROSAC can pursue the necessary research to confirm whether the evidence supports a name change or if a name change is even necessary.

Comprehensive review

Maley based his conclusion about Christopher on one source, Nan Alamilla Boyd’s “Wide Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965.” While very credible, it only offers a singular perspective.

In February, Mandelman “stressed the need for a well researched, community process around the name of the park.” Because history is rife with complexities, a quick internet search of content that is neither fact-checked nor peer-reviewed will not reveal all sides of the story or be entirely accurate (for example, Wikipedia warns users they make “no guarantee of validity” of the content they provide). To make a fully informed conclusion, more intensive research from multiple resources is required.

My research goal was to either confirm or deny the accusation (my approach is described in a separate post).

After reviewing contemporary media reports about Christopher, my initial takeaway was that hostile police actions against homosexuals and others had been in full swing long before he became mayor. Christopher was instead working to revamp the San Francisco Police Department and quash its militant approach. This was confirmed by the work of a historian focused on the SFPD and the gay community.