Gay rights activist Larry Brinkin arrested on child pornography charges

On Friday June 22^nd, gay activist Larry Brinkin was arrested at his San Francisco home for possession of child pornography, only to be released on bail the next day, according to reports by the New York Daily News.

Today, June 26^th, police obtained a search warrant that allowed for them to seize computers, videos, VHS tapes and a floppy disk from Brinkin’s home that he shares with his husband. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that police arrested Brinkin on his early charges because of emails he had exchanged with others containing pornographic photographs of children as young as 1-year-old.

Brinkin was an employee of the Human Rights Commission before his retirement in 2010, and a highly regarded figure in San Francisco’s gay community, with the Board of Supervisors of the HRC once declaring the week of February 1, 2010 “Larry Brinkin Week.”

Theresa Sparks of the Human Rights Commission commented on the allegations, stating that “It’s almost incredulous, there’s no way I could believe such a thing,” Sparks told SF Weekly. “He’s always been one of my heroes, and he’s the epitome of a human rights activist — this is [the] man who coined phrases we use in our daily language. I support Larry 100 percent, hopefully it will all come out in the investigation.”