Livermore Pride's Official Response to the incident between CFMA & Dan Good Cookies
This is a continually developing situation. We are updating here as needed in chronological order so anyone seeing this for the first time can get the entire story as it happened.
The latest developments are dated and timestamped.
Livermore Pride is sharing our serious concern regarding an incident that occurred last Sunday, June 7th, at the Livermore Farmers Market, the management of which California Farmers Market Association (CFMA) recently assumed.
Livermore Pride Executive Director Amy Pannu was handing out Pride flags with local business owner, Dan Floyd, owner of Dan Good Cookies (something that has occurred at past markets in 2019 without issue). During the course of the day’s market, both Dan and Amy were approached abruptly and verbally accosted by Gail Hayden, Director of CFMA, as she demanded that distribution of the flags was not allowed and a violation of the vendor agreement. Video of the latter part of this conversation is included and demonstrates both Ms. Hayden’s hostile demeanor as well as the public manner in which she berated Dan, a Market vendor, without justification.
Before breaking down some of the language and hostility you are viewing, we believe it is important to note several facts related to this encounter:
The Livermore Farmers Market, under the purview of Livermore Downtown, Inc., has recently changed Farmers Market management contractors to CFMA. The previous management contractor had not expressed any issues with Dan’s distribution of Pride-related materials and, in fact, even had initial discussions with Livermore Pride organizers about being a sponsor of last year’s event.
Prior to this moment, Dan had not actually received the 30+ page set of guidelines for Farmers Market participation that Ms. Hayden mentions.
CFMA’s Rules and Regulations, Section XVI, General Rules (f) only states “Petitions and flyer distributions are prohibited inside the market.” Pride flags, as an item, are neither a petition nor a flyer.
Despite Farmers Market, County and State guidelines, restrictions and protections against the spread of COVID-19, Ms. Hayden removed her mask to confront Dan and Amy (in defiance of signage on display at the Market strictly requiring use of masks).
Dan requested a direct clarification of CFMA’s Rules and Regulations on the same day as this encounter but to date has received no response from Ms. Hayden nor CFMA to defend their assertion that presence of flags in Dan’s booth or their distribution to his customers represent a violation. What Dan did ultimately receive was notice that he would be given a citation for allowing a non-employee to be in his booth, something that was not the focus of Ms. Hayden’s tirade last Sunday.
Based upon the video and statements by Dan and Amy, Livermore Pride contends that the level of verbal escalation exhibited by Ms. Hayden was inordinate given the purported “offense” she claimed was being made. The hostility toward both Dan and Amy over something as simple as a small free flag being handed out optionally to Market consumers suggests that they were targeted because they were representing the LGBTQ+ community. Nothing else explains the outright vitriol and weighted language used in this recording. The Market management could have simply taken their newly contracted partner vendor aside discreetly and advised him of the potential conflict with the policies and encouraged the vendor to review them. At no point during the full encounter, on or off camera, was this request made so simply and without escalation.
This incident is not about the existence (of any) of rules and regulations, but rather about a targeted verbal attack against LGBTQ+ community members justified by invoking purported rules and regulations. This is not about being “politically correct,” but rather engaging LGBTQ+ community members with common decency, courtesy, and respect.
Because of the hostility of this encounter, the Livermore Farmers Market may not be a safe space for LGBTQ+ vendors, and Dan Good Cookies will no longer be participating in the Thursday or Sunday markets. This situation won’t be now remedied simply by requesting an apology, nor is there reason to believe it won’t happen again to other vendors if this Market management contractor believes they’re validated in using subjective opinions and biases in their operations.
Anybody who has been on the receiving end of verbal assault may recognize the anger displayed in this video. Livermore Pride understands that not everyone may have a full understanding as to why this constitutes verbal assault, so we have chosen several key phases that not only represent archaic understanding of the LGBTQ+ community, but straw man arguments leveled against the LGBTQ+ communities since the Culture Wars of the 1990s, and dog-whistle language used to fuel extremist and hateful perspectives of LGBTQ+ communities.
“This is Disneyland!” - That LGBTQ+ people do not represent the implied “family values” in this statement has been a false dichotomy used to characterize LGBTQ+ people as outsiders of society for decades. We are brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, children, partners and many other representations of family.
“The mission of the market is not your political point of view!” - LGBTQ+ identities transcend politics, which American society has increasingly been aware of for the better part of the 20th Century and into the present. A political point of view is chosen, rather than intrinsically related to humanity. LGBTQ+ identities are intrinsic to who we are, and not a choice. There was no “call to action,” no advocacy toward a specific regulatory or legislative proposal, nor endorsement of a candidate.
“I’ve been in places for 40 years where they bring out fetuses and put them on ironing boards!” - This is creating a straw man argument comparing LGBTQ+ identity to radical political action, and a false association with being an extremist social element. Those who fought the marriage equality movement in the 1990s will recall that the most extreme examples were presented as fallacious outcomes: “Well, I love my dog, but I can’t marry him,” and “What’s next? Marrying children and adults?”
“You can do your political point of view anytime you want to!” - Except here. The fact that LGBTQ+ identity is explicitly neither a political association nor choice is a dog-whistle to everyone who rallies around the false notion that being LGBTQ+ is somehow a choice to be exercised only under certain circumstances, when condoned by others, and out of the public eye.
Enough is enough. Livermore is better than this as a city and as a community that comes together in common cause. Here’s what you can do:
Ask Downtown Livermore, Inc. to terminate its contract with CFMA for Livermore Farmers’ Market management and to identify a management contractor with a demonstrable record of inclusiveness and commitment to diversity.
Ask the Livermore City Council to address incidents such as this, and to restate unequivocally its continued commitment to an equitable, accessible, and inclusive Livermore in all parts of our business and civic society.
Support local businesses that promote and model equality and diversity. Also, continue to support the independent Farmers Market vendors while we pursue change with the management contractor. Livermore Pride supports and stands behind local businesses. We don’t want the individual vendors to be negatively impacted, so we encourage you to shop the Market while wearing your Pride colors proudly and letting vendors know about your concerns. It’s important that they know LGBTQ+ consumer dollars are part of the Farmers Market economy.
When we founded Livermore Pride, it was with the sincere belief that this city, which we all love, was big enough to not only hold space for an active and engaged LGBTQ+ community, but had the potential to expand this space in creative and joyful ways. These beliefs, in what is one of the most critical and tumultuous years America has faced in a generation, remain unwavering. Livermore Pride is grateful to be here, and we are grateful to the outpouring of support we’ve received since our first event in October of last year.
In Pride and solidarity with all justice and equity movements.
Livermore Pride
Update 6/16/2020
CFMA resigned effective immediately. On June 16th, we were forwarded this letter from a a reporter at the Bay Area Reporter. CFMA has still yet to reach out Livermore Pride directly.
16 June 2020 - 10:45pm
Livermore Pride Response to the CFMA letter
We are heartened by the love and support that Livermore and the region have shown small business owner Dan Floyd, Dan Good Cookies, and Livermore Pride Executive Director Amy Pannu after learning about the disrespectful and discriminatory attitude they received by California Farmers Markets’ Director Gail Hayden at the Livermore Farmers Market. Our community has firmly said, “This is not OK, enough is enough.”
We had hoped that CFMA would have reached out in the last week to offer their apology and commit to reconsidering their practices, but they did not. They instead twice ignored Dan’s correspondence asking for clarity on the rules and policies, and cited Dan for purported violations that were not among the infractions he was aggressively accused of that day.
CFMA ignored all of the comments the community shared yesterday on the Livermore Farmers Market and CFMA social media pages. In fact, CFMA waited until media inquiries late yesterday to spin a new defense for indefensible behavior. Today, CFMA resigned without notice and left Farmers Market vendors without recourse just weeks into the delayed season and two days before the launch of their lucrative Thursday Night markets.
In last night’s media coverage Gail Hayden and her daughter (also a CFMA officer) tried to shift the narrative to one about their zoning policy for political activities and spuriously focused on child safety.
The Hayden’s position that there is a “free speech zone” where items can be handed out is a red herring since distribution of a Pride Flag isn’t “speech,” nor is it political. Further, Doug Hayden’s letter in the BAR notes that “any vendor is welcome to decorate their booth with lifestyle items,” but the email Dan received with his citation says “Please note when wondering how to decorate your stall at the discretion of the market manager, a good guideline is ‘food related.’ It is all about cookies. That's the goal is to sell food.”
CFMA says that they stopped distribution of the flags as a safety concern because children may use them for play fighting. This wasn’t their rationale on June 7th when Ms. Hayden affiliated the flag with Dan’s “political views.” It was also stated by CFMA in the media that Dan could have handed out Pride stickers or other items. Neither stickers nor flags are referenced in the rules, and Ms. Hayden’s suggestion of stickers are a contradiction to her own assertions that distribution of Pride items is relegated to the “free speech zone.” We’ve now seen three members of the Hayden family (all directly connected to CFMA) state divergent comments about the supposed prohibition of Pride flags, and their continued fine-tuning of their rationalization muddles CFMA’s biased actions and reflects a common gaslighting response to accusations of LGBTQ+ discrimination.
Had CFMA been open to discussing this circumstance and engaging genuinely, yesterday’s community and media interest would have been mitigated. By shutting down their social media venues, avoiding community discussion and giving inconsistent talking points to explain away the incident, CFMA created their own crisis. Walking entirely away, as they did today, is also not conducive to resolution, especially after stating in the media that they wanted to both resolve the circumstances and welcome Dan Good Cookies back to the Livermore Farmers Market. Sadly, their subcontracted vendors will suffer economically while another management contractor is identified that can commit to a diverse and welcoming Livermore Farmers Market.
Ms. Hayden represents CFMA, and her family who works for CFMA defends her approach and continues to obfuscate this issue, as well as engage in public historical revisionism regarding its nature. We have sadly heard, however, that Ms. Hayden has been targeted with potentially violent threats, and want to remind everyone that no matter the nature of our disagreements, that there is no room for violence in a civil society.
Livermore Pride is pleased to be actively engaging with stakeholders and decision-makers to help ensure a timely and efficient transition that brings a positive new beginning to the Livermore Farmers Market and continues efforts toward an inclusive and welcoming community in Livermore and the greater Tri-Valley.
Livermore Pride met with representatives from the Livermore Downtown Inc board and Livermore City Council on 6/16/2020. They worked on a join statement about their collective response released at 10 AM on 6/18/2020.
A Joint Statement from Livermore Downtown Inc., Livermore Pride, and the City of Livermore regarding the Livermore Farmers Market
On Tuesday, June 16, leaders of our organizations met to collaborate and develop a shared response to the regrettable incident at the Livermore Farmers Market that occurred on Sunday, June 7, and the subsequent resignation of the California Farmers’ Market Association (CFMA) from their management role.
Our immediate collective response is as follows:
1. CFMA’s recent actions were unacceptable and do not represent the values and principles that are appropriate for the Farmers Market, and all other programs or services in the City of Livermore.
2. Residents and visitors who connect with our businesses deserve respect and professionalism and should feel confident that they are in a safe and inclusive environment where diversity and equity are valued.
3. Farmers, agricultural producers and small businesses also deserve to be treated consistent with our values and they are critical to our economic sustainability and growth.
4. CFMA’s resignation leaves Livermore Downtown Inc. without a management contractor. We are working together to bring forward a viable solution to relaunch the Market as quickly as possible with a management partner that shares our community values.
5. Thorough vetting and contracting procedures will be followed as expeditiously as possible as Livermore Downtown Inc. selects a new management partner.
6. We know the importance of effective and coordinated communication, transparency and stakeholder engagement. We will be keeping these principles at the heart of our work.
The Farmers Market is a community institution that many have anxiously awaited both for a return to social connection and, importantly, economic recovery for the many independent growers, food crafters, artisans and others whose passion brings them to the Market each week. We encourage Farmers Market shoppers and our community residents to find ways to support these vendors during this interim period. With more retail shopping now permitted with the Shelter in Place guidelines, we also know that all of our area businesses are looking forward to serving you and need your patronage.
We are committed to working swiftly and judiciously as we define next steps and explore options to bring the Livermore Farmers Market back to downtown. You can expect updates as they become available.
In cooperation,
Brook Witherspoon, Livermore Downtown Inc. President
Amy Pannu, Livermore Pride Executive Director
Bob Woerner, City of Livermore Vice Mayor, City Council Liaison to Livermore Downtown Inc.