The Debate on ENDA continues.

Guest Editorial: The Least Worst Choice
by Marc Salomon‚ Aug. 01‚ 2008

It’s always difficult to lose a political contest. Sometimes it takes a while to mourn that loss and move on, adapt and face the new political reality. Such is the case with the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and the fiction crafted by United ENDA to justify their politically untenable position.

First off, nobody is saying that transgenders were not active in the 1960s. What is empirically true is that transgenders did not do the political work to build a majority in Congress to pass an inclusive ENDA, otherwise the votes would have been there.
more here.

There’s a memorial that appears every Sunday on the beach in Santa Monica to acknowledge some portion of the human cost of the Iraq Occupation.

photo by flickr user Brooklyn Hillary

On Sunday, there was a District 9 Supervisoral Candidate forum at the Secret Garden, sponsored by the Coalition on Homelessness.

The event, attended by a couple dozen people, featured three of the leading candidates for District 9, and I managed to take an unflattering picture of each of them.

Eric Quezada

David Campos

Mark Sanchez

Jennifer Friedenbach wrapped up the speaking portion of the event with a description of the Coalition’s activities.

I got an unflattering picture of her, too.

I started to write a quick post about a good op-ed in today’s New York Times about a good op-ed in the New York Times today about gender and the Olympics. Apparently, the Chinese Olympic Host Committee is planning on instituting gender testing for female athletes.

The Olympic hosts seem to want to impose a binary order upon the messy continuum of gender. They are searching for concreteness and certainty in a world that contains neither.

Today’s Chron suggests that the recent alliance between McGoldrick and the Mayor is on the rocks. At least for now.

Boston – QueerToday.com activists and allies will protest the annual Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Dinner at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston on October 25 at 5pm.

The group is working to build a coalition of trans and queer activists, anti-war activists, and women’s rights activists to protest HRC’s lack of grassroots coalition building, support for pro-war and anti-choice candidates, and support of a non-inclusive version of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA).

“It’s time to show HRC what real solidarity looks like,” said Trevor Wright of QueerToday.com, “transgender and labor activists united in San Francisco to build the largest protest ever of HRC, and we plan to show the country Boston can too!”

As of last night, rumors were circulating that the Mayor’s third Chief of Staff, Trent Rhorer, was resigning because he needs to spend more time with his family. (I will resist making a snarky comment about so many have resigned for precisely this reason.)

Steve’s appointment is great news for the city AND perhaps bad news for Eric Jaye, the political consultant for the Mayor. . . When Steve resigned before, it was said that there was a turf war between them.

Local hero
Queer Youth Organizing Project

photos by Terrrie Frye at the Left Out Party

The queer-labor alliance Pride at Work, a constituent group of the AFL-CIO, added a youth brigade last year, and it’s been doing some of the most inspired organizing and advocacy in San Francisco. The Queer Youth Organizing Project can marshal dozens of teen and twentysomething activists with a strong sense of both style and social justice for its events and causes.

PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD

SOCIAL JUSTICE, ANTI-WAR AND PRO-QUEER RIGHTS MOVEMENTS IT IS TIME TO STAND WITH SF AND BAY AREA IMMIGRANTS!

After staging a powerful pro-immigrant rights rally in city hall today where more than 400 turned out with 2 days notice, the Minutemen want to counter and pressure our city to end Sanctuary City protections for local families. WE NEED OUR ANTI-RACISTS – SOCIAL JUSTICE ALLIES TO STAND WITH US TOMORROW and have a strong turn out to stand against the Minutemen. WE CAN NOT ALLOW OUR CITY TO BE BULLIED BY THE MINUTEMEN’S AGGRESSIVE TACTICS.