On Monday, San Diego City Council candidate John Hartley plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of lewd conduct (Penal Code Sec. 647(a)). A judge sentenced him to three years of unsupervised probation and gave him a $500 fine.

City Attorney Mike Aguirre let Hartley dodge a more serious bullet: a charge for “indecent exposure” (Penal Code sec. 314), under which Hartley had been arrested. That section of the Penal Code defines indecent exposure as exhibiting one’s private parts in public for the purpose of sexual gratification, which is a misdemeanor under California law and requires mandatory registration as a sex offender.

That means, upon conviction of violating sec. 314, Hartley would have had to register as a sex offender. He could not have been around children, he could not have worked as a volunteer at Pride, and, given the onerous conditions imposed on such sex offenders by state and local law, he would have had to move out of his home in District 3.

The facts of Hartley’s case are simple: Hartley admitted he was urinating into a cup in his truck while he was walking and talking to voters in Kensington. Police officers did not witness the misdemeanor themselves; they assisted in a citizen’s arrest. The arrest was based solely on the eyewitness accounts of two female witnesses, who told police they believed Hartley exposed his penis to public view, and, further, that he was masturbating.

It was their word against his.

There are those in our community who say “good riddance” to Hartley for abandoning the GLBT community by running against Toni Atkins in two elections, for his anti-gay positions and for hiring Larry Remer as a political consultant (Remer’s clients are often Democrats who run against other Democrats and have used their opponents’ GLBT support against them. I’m referring to Juan Vargas’ countless primary assaults against Bob Filner).

But there are others who, nevertheless, appreciate him.

They’re thankful to Hartley for district elections and for his stewardship of Christine Kehoe. And they remember the miracles he worked for us in his four years on City Council, when he could not have been more receptive to our complaints of harassment of GLBT people by vice officers, working with then Police Chief Bob Burgreen, to bring the practice to an end.

And, if this incident is, as Hartley claimed, all “a misunderstanding,” then we can empathize with his plight.

After all, it’s not as if the GLBT community isn’t familiar with similar types of charges; it wasn’t too long ago that we were getting busted at Black’s Beach for nude sunbathing. In the ’90s, when then City Attorney Casey Gwinn was in charge, he assigned such cases to a prosecutor, who would not plea bargain and would take them to trial. Some may also remember the prosecution of a dozen people who attended a private sex party; for which, Gwinn charged them with “public sex.”

Of course, the fact that we can commiserate with Hartley doesn’t mean we’ll vote for him. Most of us will vote (as I will) for Todd Gloria or Stephen Whitburn.

But perhaps we can sympathize.