Smitten Kitten was awarded “Business of the Year” by Twin Cities Quorum Community.

I just watched the film Milk for the second time this month.  There are so many memorable scenes in that film, but do you remember when Harvey and his boyfriend were standing in the street admiring his brand new Castro Camera storefront and the liquor store owner came across the street to “welcome” them to the neighborhood.   Harvey wanted to join the Eureka Valley Merchants Association.  Do you remember what happened next?  They were threatened- told that the police would pull their license because the San Francisco police were happy to enforce God’s law. 

The next morning after making love Harvey was cooking breakfast for his lover and over the sizzle of the skillet he said, “We’ll form our own business association.  We’ll start with the gay businesses.  We’ll get the addresses of every customer who comes in the store for a roll of film and we’ll ask them what they want.. what they need changed..we’ll get some money rolling in here..revitalize the neighborhood.” 

To which his young lover says, “Harvey, what’s with all this political activist crap.  Man I thought you were a goddamn republican.”

“I’m a business man, Scott and businesses should be good to their customers even if their customers are gay.”

Whether you want to call it “all that goddamn political crap” or “just business,” Harvey Milk helped change not only the political landscape of San Francisco but helped inspire a movement for queer economic and political empowerment by showing how good business can be a tool for political empowerment and social justice.  That’s exactly what happened.  Harvey successfully organized businesses and in so doing made allies in unusual places- not only did he make a reluctant ally out of the liquor store owner across the street, but with the Teamsters Union too.  Simple economics.  Dollars and cents is a bottom line- a common denominator. 

It honestly hadn’t occurred to me that the work we (and I mean “we” as in all of us here in this room) do in business was part of a queer economic movement until Sam, Executive Director of Quorum, mentioned the movement in passing at an event a couple years ago.  I stopped her and asked her to explain what she meant by the “movement” in that context and she gave a wonderfully eloquent and impromptu explanation.  That was my light bulb moment.  It wasn’t the only one I’ve had in my life, but it was a major one.

 I obviously run a politicized business.  The Smitten Kitten is a woman-owned, dyke owned business in a hyper-heterocentric and often misogynist adult industry.   I come from a radical feminist tradition where we all know that “the personal is political” and orgasms are about as personal as it gets- or as public as it gets depending who you are.  The Smitten Kitten is a community centered business whose mission is and was from the start to make enough money and garner enough resources to give back to the community.  When my friends and I opened our business we aimed to create a space where we could belong, where we could build a sex positive community, and celebrate sex, sexuality and gender expression.

We didn’t understand what we were doing in the greater context of queer economic empowerment.  We certainly didn’t understand the nuts and bolts business of it either.  A long way from economically empowered, we were struggling.  We were doing what I know now were really ridiculous things just because we didn’t know any better.  But one by one, customers came in anyway and bought butt plugs, picked up floggers, tried on harnesses and bought dildos to take home to their sweethearts.   We sold a ton of lube, lots of condoms and so many groundbreaking, radical books and videos!         

Twin Cities Quorum and the wonderful relationships I’ve built through this organization have helped me not only learn business, but reconcile the business of my business with the radical politic of my business.  Really, they’re one in the same, but it was a process for me to figure that out.  Now I am proud to say that The Smitten Kitten which began with a grand total capital investment of $30,000 sold just over 1.1 million dollars worth of sex toys last year. 

Will all of The Smitten Kitten staff please stand up.  These people are the heart and soul of our organization and I am so proud of them.  Please help me congratulate them on jobs so well done!

I want you all to congratulate yourselves too.  You should feel good about supporting our local GLBT and allied chamber of commerce.  You are part of a movement and your money is important- now more than ever.  Support member businesses.  Invite people who aren’t yet members to join.  Think right now about who you know who could benefit from membership.  You’re neighborhood bakery, your tailor, your favorite restaurant… think about it, your favorite sex shop might not necessarily have been your first thought for who should be a part of this chamber, but look what happened, look at the difference it made. 

So to all of you who are political activists, goddamn Republicans or just business people, Thank you.