Only in San Fran: Gay-rights activist caught sending toddler-porn, will get 6-month sentence--and keep city pension !

Normally I wouldn't bother writing a post about a sex crimes--normally no surprising or world-class issues there. But I'll make an exception for this one:

Rights advocate pleads guilty in child porn case

SFGate, January 21, 2014

Veteran gay rights advocate and former San Francisco Human Rights Commission staffer Larry Brinkin pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing child pornography.

Brinkin, 67, made a deal with that will result in a sentencing recommendation of six months in county jail, six months of home detention, five years of probation and lifetime registration as a sex offender.

Authorities said e-mail attachments were found on his America Online subscriber's account that contained images of toddlers engaged in sex acts with men. 

Prosecutors originally charged him with six felony counts of possessing and distributing child pornography, but dropped all but one felony count of possession as part of the plea bargain.

During his 22 years with the rights commission, Brinkin helped craft the city's Equal Benefits Ordinance, which became a national model for workplace equality for gays and lesbians. When he retired, the Board of Supervisors declared the week of Feb. 1, 2010, as Larry Brinkin Week.

Brinkin's attorney said he did not believe Brinkin's city pension would be affected by the plea because his conviction doesn't fall under "moral turpitude."  Under a Proposition approved in 2008 a city employee can only lose retirement benefits if convicted of a crime involving "moral turpitude" -- usually theft, fraud or a breach of the public trust.

One hardly knows where to begin on this one.
 
The SFGate is totally pro-homosexual, so the news article isn't anti-gay.  Rather, it got my attention for several other reasons:  First was the ridiculously light sentence, compared with other child-porn cases.  The average sentence is far higher--up to 40 years in a couple of cases.

Why did this guy get off so easily?  Remember, they caught this bastard with images of toddlers engaging in sex acts with men.  If he were in any city other than San Fran he would have been hammered hard.  But notice how the author of the article goes to great lengths to polish the guy's image, saying he's a "veteran gay-rights activist."  That's a big plus in San Fran.  Hell, even the headline of the article starts "Rights advocate pleads..."

Then the author tells us Brinkin spent 22 years on the Human Rights Commission.  Again that's a huge plus in San Fran:  the guy's a huge supporter of human rights--particularly the rights of people to have whatever kind of sex they want with anyone they want.  Which makes him one of Good Guys out there.

Hmm.  Wonder how he felt about the rights of the "toddlers" being abused?

The next thing that got my attention was that even after being caught with toddler-porn, the guy's attorney didn't think his client would lose his taxpayer-funded city pension.  Dude, if you don't lose your pension for toddler porn, no one ever could.  Well, maybe unless you made a disparaging remark about gays or something.

Finally the topper:  Voters apparently approved an ordinance specifying that city employees could only lose their pension if convicted of a crime involving "moral turpitude."  But apparently neither the author of the piece nor San Fran voters considers sending toddler porn as "moral turpitude."

What in the hell is going on?

Oh, wait:  It's San Francisco.  Beautiful city but weapons-grade crazy government.