Regular users of the gay beach in the Presidio underneath the Golden Gate Bridge had feared that a federal project that made access to the shoreline easier would result in increased patrols by park police and a rise in complaints about nude sunbathers.

But an examination by the Bay Area Reporter of national park service records dating back to 2005 found that citations for sex offenses and drug use actually declined over the four-year period in the area of beach most popular with gay men.

"We are getting no public complaints or change of activity down there," said national park police Lieutenant Jeff Wasserman. "If we were receiving calls from the community about inappropriate behavior down there we would increase our response. We just haven't gotten them."

Ranger Kim Coast, a supervisor for the beach area and trails the last 25 years, also said her department had not seen any up-tick in complaints from the general public following completion of the beach and trail projects.

"We have not seen a change really at all in activity," said Coast. "Since that project has been completed, pretty much we only go down there if there is a necessity for a medical situation, search and rescue, or we get a legitimate complaint from the public. We are obligated to investigate it."

A member of the Bayside Bare Boys, a group of gay men from the Bay Area who enjoy male nudity, contacted by e-mail said he had not heard of any complaints about the gay beach since the new trails had been installed.

Nicknamed "Bad Boy's Beach," the strip of sand at the bottom of the bluffs overlooking the iconic suspension bridge is officially known as North Baker Beach or Marshall's Beach. For decades, gay men had used trails built into the cliffside to access the beaches below.

Or those in the know would climb over the rock outcroppings at the northern end of Baker Beach to gain access to the gayer sections. Largely overlooked by casual visitors to the park, as well as park police and rangers, the gay beach afforded a secluded zone where nude sunbathers could bask in the sand, and oftentimes, smoke marijuana and engage in sex.

"We didn't go down there much," said Wasserman, who has worked at the Presidio off and on for 14 years.

"Typically, we get called there because the visiting public doesn't know it is a gay beach," added Coast.

Most of the complaints are generated from out-of-towners unaware that nude sunbathing is allowed to take place along the beach.

"We get international visitors and people all over from the United States to visit the parks. When it is really warm out and weather is conducive to be out sunbathing, they don't expect to see nude sunbathers," said Coast. "If you were to go to Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, you most likely won't see that. They come here and forget they are in an urban environment. Especially if they have little kids is when we would get the concerns and phone calls."

Wasserman estimated that the clothing optional community in fact generates half of the calls park police receive.

"They don't want people threatening them or messing with the park policy allowing nude sunbathing to occur. Way more than half of the time it is members of the clothing optional community letting us know of problems down there," he said. "On rare occasions it is a member of the public who stumbles across nude sunbathers."

While nude sunbathing is allowed along certain sections of the beach, drug use or engaging in public sex is illegal and can result in citations costing $150 to upwards of $300 or more. Park police and rangers mainly respond to calls of complaints about such behavior, and insist they do not patrol the gay beach on the lookout for violations.

"We don't discriminate against gay men. It doesn't matter who you are or what background you come from. The rangers doing patrol are not going to engage with folks unless they have a reason to," said Coast. "If I saw one guy attached to another guy's crotch, I would take issue with that. We would not allow a heterosexual couple to do that."

Restoration work

Beginning in 2006 the Presidio Trust, which oversees the land for the park service, began removing U.S. Army-era landfill on the Baker Beach Bluffs and restoring the hillside as a natural area. Up through January of this year, portions of the beach were roped off to protect visitors from falling debris. In conjunction with the project, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy's Trails Forever Program rerouted the trails down to the beach to make access safer and easier.

Some gay male beachgoers had expressed concerns that by doing so, the park service was more interested in doing away with the gay beach. After two men were cited for having sex on the beach by park rangers in late 2005, and word of the upcoming trail changes began to circulate, one eyewitness complained to the B.A.R. at the time that, "They are trying to take away the gay beach in San Francisco."

But incident reports related to sex and drug offenses in the Baker Beach area obtained by the B.A.R. show the only increase in citations over the last four years occurred in 2006, when construction workers were on site and the beach was closed off to the public. The work crews were instructed to contact police any time they encountered people within the restricted areas.

In 2005, park police and rangers handed out five citations for sex offenses near Baker Beach, with one located in the gay section of the beach, while in 2006, the number jumped to 19 overall and four in the gay beach area.

In 2007, sex offenses fell to 10 incidents, with just two in the gay beach section. And as of November 24 of this year, four sex offenses had occurred, with just one located in the gay area of beach.

"If you want to be out in the sun and enjoying it, that is all you should enjoy – the sun," said Coast. "If you want to enjoy someone else, do it somewhere not in the eyes of the public. I always say get a room."

As for drug offenses, most have occurred within the parking lots located at Baker Beach as opposed to the actual beach areas. Although San Francisco allows people to use medical marijuana, such use is against federal law and will result in a citation if anyone is found smoking marijuana in the park.

"We have to seize it even if they have a medical marijuana card. Typically, we don't arrest unless an enormous amount is taken from them," said Coast.

In 2005, 15 of the 25 drug citations handed out by park police and rangers were due to incidents in the parking lots. None were given out in the gay beach area.

One person in the gay beach area received a citation in 2006. That year 18 citations were handed out, with 10 occurring in the parking lots. The following year saw a jump to 32 drug offenses, with 10 happening in the parking lots. Four incidents occurred within the gay beach area.

So far in 2008, there have been 31 drug offenses, with 14 stemming from incidents in the parking lots at Baker Beach. Only two incidents happened in the gay beach area.

Coast said it is rare for her rangers to arrest anyone along the beach. Arrests usually occur because a person ran from police or did not produce a valid ID. Anyone given a citation is advised to merely pay the penalty, rather than take it to court.

"Most will just pay the fine and be done with it," she said.

Park service officials said there have never been any efforts aimed at clamping down on inappropriate behaviors in the gay beach areas or discriminating against gay beachgoers. The gay community is in fact viewed as vital to the operations of the park, said spokesman Rich Weideman.

"The gay community is a huge user of the whole park and a huge donation base for park projects. The gay community is vital to the parks and looked at as such by the management team," said Weideman, who himself is gay. "A large portion of the staff here is gay. We don't want to offend any group. We want everyone to have equal access to the park and equal sense of stewardship to the park."