Left in SF

Will Virginia Tech 'College Columbine' Massacre Lead to Anti-Asian, Anti-Immigrant Sentiments?

2007-04-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

The 10,000 School Board Members meeting here in San Francisco for our National School Boards Association or NSBA conference are observing moments of silence and reflection on the horrifying Virginia Tech massacre yesterday morning. But many Asian Americans around the country are already bracing for a potential anti-immigrant or anti-Asian backlash.
The Associated Press reported this morning:
"A Virginia Tech senior from South Korea killed at least 30 people locked inside a school building in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, the university and police told a news conference Tuesday...
Officers identified the classroom shooter as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior from South Korea who was in the English department at Virginia Tech and lived in a different dorm on campus. Cho committed suicide after the attacks, and there was no indication Tuesday of any motive.
“He was a loner, and we’re having difficulty finding information about him,” school spokesman Larry Hincker said."

The 'beware of young Asian male" hysteria is already spreading - see Radical Hapa's recent post - VTU Shooting: Targetting the Asian. Jenn's Excellent Reappropriate Blog gives more of the anti-Asian backlash and info on the killer - a 23-year-old South Korean born permanent resident of the United States since 1992 when he immigrated as an eight-year-old.
Numerous websites and blogs are calling the shooter everything from "foreign looking" to "nerdy Asian guy" to even more racist desciptions.

Although many Asian Americans share the horror of the killings and many of us will be working to help the families of those who were injured or killed, we also have to be supportive of Korean and Korean-American communities. In addition, we should also be supportive of the immigrant communities around the Virginia Tech campus and the region to ensure that our communities and all immigrant communities, in particular, are not blamed for the actions of one person.

Keith Kamisugi of the Equal Justice Society says that we have to monitor the mainstream media closely -

The Asian American Journalists Association yesterday issued a press release urging media covering the tragedy to “avoid using racial identifiers unless there is a compelling or germane reason.”“There is no evidence at this early point that the race or ethnicity of the suspected gunman has anything to do with the incident, and to include such mention serves only to unfairly portray an entire people. The effect of mentioning race can be powerfully harmful. It can subject people to unfair treatment based simply on skin color and heritage,” said the release....AAJA reminded members of the media that the standards of news reporting should be universal and applied equally no matter the platform or medium, including blogs.

It seems to me that the recent killings at Virginia Tech and the upcoming 8th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre on April 20th both serve as a wake up call to end our culture of violence or what Michael Moore and other media watchers call our 'American Gun Culture' and the growing alienation of many young people in our schools and colleges. Hopefully, after the families have been conforted and supported and we have taken a step back from the media hysteria, we can get back to our work supporting our public schools and reinvesting in our communities so that we can prevent any future Columbine or VTech Massacres.

Opposing surveilance cameras

2006-12-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

The city of San Francisco has lately been installing surveilance cameras. However, studies, including this British study (pdf) show that by and large, such cameras are ineffective at reducing crime.

The police commission has already aproved a number of cameras. A proposed camera at 16th and Mission is to be discussed on Wednesday's Police Commission meeting. It seems likely that a camera at that location would simply push activity into the surrounding neighborhood. There will be a meeting in advance of the Police Commission meeting on Monday, December 4 at 6 p.m.
at Marshall Elementary School cafeteria (1575 15th Street , 15th and Capp). There is further information on reasons to oppose video surveilance at the website of the ACLU of Northern California.

We're Off to See the Wizard - Michael Franti/Spearhead - 911 Power to the Peaceful - SF Golden Gate Park

2006-09-09T10:55:00.000-07:00

My 6 year old and I are off to the annual Power to the Peaceful Concert organized by grassroots activists and peace and justice loving folks from our neighborhoods. Props to Michael Franti, all the bands and organizers here for making it family friendly and doing their thing for peace and justice in our City and throughout the world.

SF Power to the Peaceful Sat Sept 9

Speedway Meadow - GG Park - SF

Last month I posted this on my myspace blog area -

I just heard spearhead's new song - I know I'm not alone - title cut from the new film/cd bundle - i hope they may have a hit on their
hands, lots of hooks, kind of U2-sounding with typical spearhead soulful/reggae backdrop.
the free power to the peaceful fest in golden gate park is coming up fast on Sept. 9th - PPTTP i think is really is the closest gathering we have to the 'be-ins' and summeroflove-ish free festivals we have had over the years here in Golden Gate Park.

New RSS Location

2005-07-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

Dear faithful Left in SF subscribers,

We have upgraded (or switched, really) our blogging software. As a result of this, our new RSS location is http://leftinsf.com/blog/wp-rss2.php, and our new main blog page is http://leftinsf.com/blog/index.php.

Thank you.

the Left in SF team.

Senate Approves CAFTA

2005-07-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

OK, so we're done with the preliminaries. The Full Senate has approved CAFTA. Now the real fight begins. In the House.

Global Exchange has a "Get Involved" page.

I noticed that one of the Democrats who ~~caved in to big business~~ crossed the aisle was California's own Dianne Feinstein. I wrote her a letter:

Dear Senator Feinstein,

I would like to know your justifications for voting in favor of the Central American Free Trade Act (CAFTA).

As a Californian, I am proud of our state's legacy of environmental and labor protections. CAFTA, like NAFTA before it, at best gives lip service to those concerns. In addition, the investor rules of CAFTA represent a serious barrier to our ability to continue to protect our environment and our people.

Although I have supported you in the past, and have distributed literature advocating your election, I will be hard-pressed to do so in your upcoming re-election campaign.

Please help me understand your position.

If I had had more coffee before I wrote this I would have mentioned the report critical of CAFTA's labor protections that the Bush Administration tried to suppress.

An open statement from African American LGBT Leaders

2005-06-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

June 27, 2005 – In an unprecedented showing of unity, African American LGBT leaders from several Bay Area organizations dressed in black and marched together during yesterday’s LGBT Pride Parade to make visible their frustration with the treatment African Americans have received in the City of San Francisco, the broader Bay Area, and the nation. During their unannounced Pride Parade appearance, the group, which received uproarious cheers from parade goers, periodically brought the parade to a stand-still and distributed to parade goers a statement outlining nine demands for greater “justice and righteousness” for African Americans.

Later that same evening, a subset of the group of leaders also held an unannounced picket outside of SF Badlands bar, the San Francisco bar found by the City of San Francisco to have violated the civil rights of African Americans for many years.

The following is an expanded version of the statement issued by the group of African American LGBT leaders, which included Lesbians and Gays of African Decent for Democratic Action (LGADDA), LGBT Black Rap, the NIA Collective, and Our Love, among others:

Justice and Righteousness NOW for African Americans

Once upon a time, the Bay Area was a haven for African Americans. During the first half of the 20th century, African Americans flocked here from the South seeking justice and opportunity, establishing vibrant communities, like the Fillmore district. LGBT people, too, flocked to the Bay Area seeking justice and opportunity, likewise establishing vibrant communities. And among both of these groups were many African American LGBT and same-gender loving people. By the 1960s, San Francisco had become world-renowned for its commitment to equality for all people, and to civil rights.

Today – in 2005, however – it is clear that the City of San Francisco and other Bay Area cities have failed to deliver on its reputation and its promise.

While ’s mainstream LGBT community grows in strength, wealth, and prominence, African Americans in the Bay Area – including LGBT African Americans – have among the highest murder rates, poverty rates, incarceration rates, HIV prevalence rates, high school dropout rates, and more. Here in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area, African Americans, and African American LGBT people, continue to ride at the back of the bus.

After decades of neglect of, hostility towards, and discrimination against African Americans in this City, throughout the Bay Area, and across the nation, it is time for justice to “run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream”. As African Americans, and as African American LGBT people, we demand the following:

1. That San Francisco leaders and policymakers develop a pro-active plan to stop the expulsion of African Americans from San Francisco and, instead, invite and welcome African Americans to our City.

2. That, in order to address the disproportionate impact of social ills like crime, incarceration, HIV prevalence, and under-education, on African Americans, local, state, federal government, and other entities devote a greater share of financial and non-financial resources to African American mainstream and LGBT organizations and programs.

3. That, in order to ensure more sensible and accountable public policy towards African Americans, political clubs endorse, and city leaders recommend and appoint, a greater number of African American leaders, and LGBT African American leaders, to city and state commissions and other leadership positions.

4. That LGBT and mainstream non-profit organizations recommend and appoint a greater number of African Americans to their boards of directors and to other leadership roles.

5. That the City of San Francisco begin to take seriously the civil rights of the African American citizens of this community. The City itself found that Castro bar owner Les Natali violated the civil rights of African Americans. Based on that Finding, Mr. Natali should no longer be allowed to do business in this City.

6. That the City of San Francisco devote significant resources to support the development and sustainability of African American and LGBT African American-owned enterprises in the Castro and throughout the City.

7. That organizations like the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the Golden Gate Business Association, and the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro likewise begin to take seriously the civil rights of African Americans and other people of color by condemning discrimination, pro-actively hiring African Americans into prominent positions in public establishments (e.g., salespersons, bartenders, managers), pro-actively reaching out to African American patrons, supporting African American business development, hosting and supporting African American cultural activities, and more.

8. That, along with local funders, the City of San Francisco and other Bay Area cities launch and support ongoing programs and institutions that promote dialogue about and address individual and institutionalized racism and other forms of discrimination within the Bay Area

9. That – after years of disregard – policymakers, business leaders, non-profit leaders, and communities across the entire United States heed this urgent call for equality, opportunity, and justice for ALL African Americans

“Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail – April 16, 1963

The budget is done!

2005-07-01T00:31:00.000-07:00

I spent the last two weeks, and almost all of the last three days in City Hall in the budget hearings and the budget is finally done.

I look forward to seeing how the reporters view what happened tomorrow since I can't be totally objective at this point. Plus I'm too tired to even try to form sentences. There were a ton of victories for the community, privatization efforts were staved off, and public health nurses got restored. Sup Ammiano pledged to find money to stop the closure of the worker's comp clinic and then the budget was put to rest.

Tempers were definitely flaring in the last few hours of the budget battle and I am really pleased it is all over, but one really great thing happened. Public Defender Jeff Adachi was there waiting to hear about the fate of several new positions for his office and I talked him into giving me one of his t-shirts from the Pride Parade which read, "SF Public Defender--Getting You Off Since 1921."

Angela Calvillo staffed Sup Ammiano for the budget committee and did a great job, as did Tom. Also, props to Betty Chan, aide to Sup McGoldrick for her excellent, persistent advocacy for the public health nurses and to Boris, aide to Mirkarimi, who got up to speed very quickly on key issues. Mirkarimi was solid on all the progressive items on the budget and also fought to stave off privatization efforts. And McGoldrick? Well, I love the guy. And man did he do some heavy lifting over the last 24 hours.

And on a final note, John Avalos, aide to Sup Daly, did a fantastic job of herding all the progressive/labor/non-profit cats into a good coalition--Coleman Advocates, Senior Action Network, HSN, ACORN, and SEIU Local 790 all worked very well together to bring about a balanced budget.

CAFTA creeps forward. Other folks weigh in.

2005-06-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

As the House Ways and Means Committee passes CAFTA, s couple of Democratic Congresspeople weigh in:

Democratic rising star Senator Barack Obama:

Globalization is not someone's political agenda. It is a technological revolution that is fundamentally changing the world's economy, producing winners and losers along the way. The question is not whether we can stop it, but how we respond to it. It's not whether we should protect our workers from competition, but what we can do to fully enable them to compete against workers all over the world.

So far, America has not effectively answered these questions and American workers are suffering as a result. I meet these workers all across Illinois, workers whose jobs moved to Mexico or China and are now competing with their own children for jobs that pay 7 bucks an hour. In town meetings and union halls, I've tried to tell these workers the truth--that these jobs aren't coming back, that globalization is here to stay and that they will have to train more and learn more to get the new jobs of tomorrow.

But when they wonder how they will get this training and this education, when they ask what they will do about their health-care bills and their lower wages and the general sense of financial insecurity that seems to grow with each passing day, I cannot look them in the eyes and tell them that their government is doing a single thing about these problems.

That is why I won't vote for CAFTA.

In the Black Enterprise, Congresswoman Maxine Waters:

According to one CBC member, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), CAFTA is a bad deal for both American workers and entrepreneurs. “These trade agreements simply are allowing the exportation of jobs to third-world countries and cheap markets. For all of the jobs that leave these industries, African Americans get fewer jobs. They are not able to be employed because we're losing our manufacturing base in particular.” Waters says that the North American Free Trade Agreement, passed in 1994, has had a devastating impact on American workers, exporting almost one million manufacturing jobs to Mexico and turning a $2 billion trade surplus with that country into a $45 billion trade deficit.

one busy fascist

2005-06-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

I saw this sticker on a car in the Crissy Field parking lot today.

It was on this car:

It's somewhat believeable to me that these kinds of stickers are somewhat common in certain parts of the country, but to see this sticker on Pride weekend in San Francisco is pretty scary.

Update: Some people were contemptuous of someone who would have two of the same bumperstickers on his (presumably) car. Actually, they are different, as this picture shows. So continue to be contemptuous, but because he's a fascist, not because he's got duplicate stickers.

the payback continues

2005-06-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

As polls continue to show that Arnold Schwarzenegger is marginally less popular than the average meter maid, it's amusing (to me, anyway) to see that disappointment with him is dragging down the political futures of even A-movie actors

The growing disappointment with Schwarzenegger may be pulling down the numbers of the two actors rumored as Democratic candidates, Rob Reiner and Warren Beatty. Potential Democratic primary voters put the pair behind Angelides and Westly, although neither Hollywood figure is an announced candidate.

"The public is a bit turned off, or at least a little less interested in bringing an actor or an outsider into office," DiCamillo said. "That initial burst of enthusiasm for someone outside the system, someone different, has waned."

What is less amusing is the appointment of an industry lobbyist to the California Air Research Board (CARB).

"As a lobbyist for major oil companies and the power plant industry, who has opposed every major air quality law passed by the Legislature in recent years, Ms. Tuck is not the right person to help the board carry out its mission of protecting the air our families breathe," [State Sen. Don] Perata said in a brief statement.

CARB has been an impressive force against air pollution in California for years. But more importantly, it is part of the system that makes California the leader in environmental regulation. In many ways, we set the standard that the rest of the country follows. Appointing an industry stooge to CARB is not the way to carry on this legacy, especially as environmental protections are under attack.

Tuck, a Sacramento lobbyist for nearly 20 years, has for the last eight years worked with a coalition of business and labor interests that focuses on environmental issues.

The group, called the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, opposed several bills important to clean-air advocates, including a first-in-the-nation effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions from cars and one to override an effort by the Bush administration to undo a requirement for environmental upgrades on some power plants.

What worries me is that if people think Arnie's a short-timer, they'll start demanding payback now, even as they pour money into his initiatives.

There will be plenty of important positions left to fill. Wonder what the going price is?

Willie Brown to "mediate" between Badlands and ...And Castro for All

2005-06-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

According to the Examiner today, Gavin Newsom has called in Willie Brown to "mediate" (which likely means "make go away") between Badlands and ...And Castro for All.

I'm not sure what's likely to happen with this, but I guarantee that we'll hear more accusations that all the folks taking issue with Badlands are part of some evil plot in behalf of Greg Bronstein, another bar owner. That seems to be the strategy of Les Natali and crew: Attack their critics rather than actually focus on the issue (hey, it works for Karl Rove).

I will say, though, that the insistence by the ...And Castro For All folks that Natali "apologize" for calling them (essentially) tools of the other bar owner is perplexing to me. I mean, the guy's a racist sleazeball, who the hell cares what he says?

The Daily Dirt: Sandoval and Dufty

2005-06-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

How low can they go?
Over the last few days, I have been astounded at the sleazy tactics people have been employing. Last week I commented on how repulsive I found it that some political consultants are going after Supervisor Sandoval's home. After a bruising battle where he faced some pretty egregious mailers that tried to depict him as anti-Semitic by utilizing a swastika, Supervisor Sandoval, in the heat of the election battle, filed a lawsuit against the political consultants who were creating the mailers that were funded by an anonymous source. Sandoval lost the lawsuit and now the consultants who sent out this disgusting, vile so-called political mail are suing him for their legal fees.

Yesterday there was a rally of his supporters and even people who were not his supporters to demand that the consultants back off stealing his home.

Today the SF Bay Guardian wrote:

In the end, what's going on here is a billionaire power broker and a greedy consultant trying to destroy a politician who defied them. After the election, Sandoval was ready to let the matter lie; he even waived the right to ask for any damages from his suit. But Sutton, Fisher, and Baughman whose obnoxious, giddy remarks to the Chronicle demonstrate how pleased he is to be squeezing Sandoval won't let go.

This is now a political issue, not a legal one. Mayor Gavin Newsom, who hired Sutton to advise his campaign and who is friendly with Fisher, needs to let these attack dogs know that their conduct is not acceptable and that, if they continue to poison the atmosphere of local politics, they will have no future in this town.

Right on! Leftinsf agrees. Moreover, we hear through the grapevine that there will be a resolution passed at the SF Labor Council saying that any candidate using Baughman or Sutton for their campaign will not be elible for endorsement by the SF Labor Council. It has been done before and was successful in reigning in consultants.

And then Dufty

On another sleazy note, The SF Weekly picked up a repulsive story that Les Natali and his PR people have been spreading to try minimize the impact of a resolution by the SF Board of Supervisors.

Last month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a unanimous resolution condemning discrimination at the Badlands bar in the Castro, per the SF Human Rights Commission's April Finding, and urging City and State agencies to impose penalties on discriminatory bar owner Les Natali to the fullest extent of the law.

Right afterwards, Natali's PR person tried to suggest that the Supervisors voted for it because they were afraid of being called racists. Now they are suggesting that it is all a plot by a competing bar owner that is a friend of Sup Dufty.

These tactics smack of desperation and leave me wondering, how low can they go? This is truly the underbelly of politics. Distasteful is an understatement. Repulsive is more like it.

Politics is not a spriint-it's a marathon. Louise...

2005-06-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

Politics is not a spriint-it's a marathon. Louise Renne to the Youth Commission

Well gang, the battle in the War for the Kids for SFUSD is over. Battle was not won by the kids. Cuts were made to Child Development, school sites,, 111 teachers were laid off and over 50 paraprofessionals were laid off. The youth of YMAC were shut down when they tried to get funding for their project of funding toilet seats for all students at the District's 18 high schools. And classified personnel (janitors, secretaries, gardeners and others-mainly represented by Local 790) will have to take three unpaid furlough days during the next fiscal year.

But there were some upsides:

Kudos to Commissioner Sarah Lipson for trying to cut money from the Central Office in the Superintendent's, Chief Academic Office's, Chief Development Office's and Legal Offices and put it back in the classroom.

Kudos to President Eric Mar who repeatedly stated the goal "To make cuts as far as away from the classroom as possible" with several possible cuts to the Central Office and for fighting for the Local 790 people who will now have three unpaid furlough days. (He suggested that the managers at the Central Office take the three unpaid furlough days.)

Kudos to Commissioner Mark Sanchez who pointed out that the officers under the JROTC is being paid more than teachers at the top step.

Kudos to Jeremiah Jeffries for bringing attention that the California Education Code requires that the budget must include expenditures from the previous year.

Congratulations to Rick Reynolds, parent of an Aptos scholar, showing that the budget didn't show how the cuts from the weighted student averages were going to be applied-or if they were going to be applied equally.

Thanks for everyone who attended!!

Sigh-we may have lost this budget battle. But we can't let this stop us-we have a lot of work to do to help the students of SFUSD.

And thanks to Mar, Lipson and Sanchez (and Yee), the cuts to the Child Development Program was not as deep as was orginally proposed. And the word is getting out that we have a tough battle on our hands-in getting money to the kids and the classroom.

And with these cuts, we are becoming allied with one thought-we need to work together in order to make sure that we have an education system that includes successful students-and employees who are treated with respect and honored for their work with the students (and that includes everyone in the School District).

We can't forget why we are here-to help 55,000 students at every school have a quality education. We don't want to focus on the noise around the Superintendent. We don't want to react to SFSOS-unless it is about that our message is about the students.

We want to focus on how we can improve SFUSD for the students.So what do we want to do in the next six months? What do we want to work on?
We want to hear from you.

Should we work on: Child Development School Sites Professional Development Rolling Back the Furloughs YMAC's issue on toilet seats Something Else

Email me at kimberleyknox@hotmail.com by Sunday-and we email your ideas in a post!

Step by step, we will create a better school district for San Francisco's future leaders.

More lies

2005-06-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

As the Senate Finance Committee approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the AP reported that the Bush Administration has suppressed a study they paid for that concluded "countries proposed for free-trade status have poor working environments and fail to protect workers' rights."

This is no suprise to those of us who have been following the "Free Trade" movement over the last few years. What is a surprise is that they Labor Department would even commission a study. They did, though, and didn't like what they heard.

Behind the scenes, the Labor Department began as early as spring 2004 to block public release of the country-by-country reports.

The department instructed its contractor to remove the reports from its Web site, ordered it to retrieve paper copies before they became public, banned release of new information from the reports, and even told the contractor it could not discuss the studies with outsiders.

The department has now worked out a deal with the contractor to make the reports public, provided there is no mention of the federal agency or government funding.

At the same time, the administration began a pre-emptive campaign to undercut the study's conclusions.

Used as talking points by trade-pact supporters, a Labor Department document accuses the contractor of writing a report filled with "unsubstantiated" statements and "biased attacks, not the facts."

I mentioned last month that CAFTA looks to be as bad for working folks--in the US and abroad--as its ancestor NAFTA was.

The so-called "side agreements" to NAFTA, which covered those areas, have been an unmitigated disaster for the decade plus since the treaty's signing. They are even more pathetic under CAFTA.

CAFTA limits penalties for failure to enforce labor laws to $15 million – while sanctions for breaches of commercial provisions are unlimited. Fines will be given back to the country that fails to enforce its own labor laws.

Ironically, I also said then, "It's interesting, though, to see that even the biggest boosters of CAFTA don't mention any safeguarding of labor or environmental rights." Now, I think we know why.

We'll return to the CAFTA question soon, as it comes before the full Senate, but in the meantime, I'd like to give a shoutout to Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-No Clue):

"Step by step, we're making good progress and building momentum for its successful passage," said U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman, who has led the effort to sway undecided lawmakers.

He picked up a key vote Wednesday when Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., a Finance Committee member, announced his support after receiving a pledge from Portman of increased spending to protect Central American workers and farmers.

Portman, in a letter to Bingaman, said the administration was committed to spending $160 million over four years to promote labor and environmental laws, as well as $150 million over five years to help subsistence farmers in three Central American countries who might be displaced by an increase in U.S. agriculture imports.

'Cause it's always smart to believe the Bush Administration, Jeff, you win the Treaties of Mass Destruction award. Which of your contributors has a stake in this?

Strike!

2005-06-28T23:52:00.000-07:00

I have been told to clear my calendar at work after July 5th. I work for SEIU Local 790 and we represent BART workers who are set to strike next Wednesday.

"Our strike captains are ready, our picket signs are ready and our members are ready to walk off the job," said Josie Mooney, executive director of Service Employees International Union 790, which represents about 1,450 of BART's 2,700 union represented workers.

Saskia, my partner, takes BART to work every day and she keeps asking me if BART is going to strike. I think we will.

Union negotiators insisted that BART was being inflexible and unreasonable in asking for no wage increases over four years, a 13 percent increase in benefits costs to employees and the stripping of union power to influence rules governing employee work assignments. BART officials declined Tuesday to discuss the specifics of what they were proposing.

"We think they are trying to push us as hard as they can to force us into a situation where we have to strike," said Larry Hendel, chief negotiator for the two largest unions, in an interview.

I'll keep you posted on what I know, but if you take BART, get ready to car pool. I know one person in my household who may be looking for car pool partners...

No sweat

2005-06-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

This is good news:

"Now is the time to put our principles where our spending is," Newsom said in a rally at San Francisco's City Hall, pledging that the measure would get results. "Often we're good at passing resolutions asking someone else to do something about a problem. This is an ordinance with real teeth and real enforcement."

The measure calls for the city to refuse to buy goods that were made by domestic or foreign contractors that use child labor or slave labor or that violate local or international labor laws. For the first year, the measure is limited to city uniforms and other clothing, which account for $6 million of the city's annual $600 million in purchasing. The ordinance creates an advisory committee, made up largely of local anti-sweatshop activists, that would be able to widen the scope to other products.

This is the kind of thing that really pisses off the center-right, "pro-business" CNBC types. They tend to go on about how we should leave it to The Market to convince companies to do the right thing, not taking into account that since SF is a customer of these clothing companies, this is, essentially, the market working.

The article closes with what is (to me) an incomprehensible defense of something. Possibly sweatshops, possibly the garment industry, possibly the right to be drunk on the job:

"Promoting legislation that paints an industry with a tar brush may make noise in the media and further political agendas," said Randy Harris, executive director of San Francisco Fashion Industries, an industry lobbying group that includes firms such as Levi Strauss & Co., Byer California and Gymboree Corp. "But the mayor and Supervisor Ammiano should have done their homework before slapping our industry across the face. Rather than promote legislation of this type, if they truly cared, they should be meeting with industry leaders and learning about our industry, its history and challenges and the good work that we have done for decades."

Because nothing encourages good behavior from an industry like learning about its challenges.

Queer Notes: Trans March

2005-06-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

Reporter and Publisher Pat Murphy from the SF Sentinel gave a great report on the Trans March early this morning.

Here is his report:
* * * *

SECOND ANNUAL TRANS MARCH TRIPLES IN SIZE OVER LAST YEAR
Elected officials commit to health, housing, employment equality
Photos to follow

Saturday, June 25, 2005
San Francisco yesterday led the world in securing visibility, and pledged justice, for the transgendered community.

Gathered in Dolores Park from 3:00 p.m., crowd appeared to triple over last year's first march, estimated then at 800 to 1,000 persons.

Assemblyman Mark Leno and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris kicked off the 7:00 p.m. march, citing solidarity with the long neglected, and abused, community.

"We are holding Gwen in our hearts tonight," Leno proclaimed, referring to slain transgender Gwen Araujo.

As his first legislative action when elected to the California Assembly, Leno advanced successful state legislation prohibiting discrimination against transgenders in employment, health care, and housing.

More needs to be done, echoed Harris.

"We have fallen far short in terms of what we need to do for this community," Harris stated.

"I assure you it is a priority of the District Attorney's Office for the trans community to receive the dignity and respect it deserves," added Harris.

At march conclusion in Civic Center, City Treasurer Jose Cisneros, and San Francisco Supervisors Bevan Dufty, Ross Mirkarimi and Chris Daly promised city support.

Pat is right to note that a bunch of politicians came. Last year I believe it was only Assemblymember Leno and Sup Dufty. Some might even think that we have arrived since so many politicians came out to support us. Probably not though. We have a very, very long journey on the road to justice and equality.

Many, many friends and allies came out too. I know I am corny, but it gets you in the gut when your non-transgender friends and allies show up like that. I really, really am a lucky guy.

Kamala was simply great. Her remarks were right on. And as someone who was arrested during a political protest several years ago and sat in jail for two days, I'm glad to know that future arrested trannies will have a more humane and just District Attorney at the helm.

Kamala's pride t-shirt says, "She is a woman with convictions." Very clever. Very true.

Assemblymember Leno was great too. He recounted some of our legislative victories over the last five years, talked about building a movement, and how we need to support our coalition partners in labor, like supporting the UFW boycott of Gallo and the Local 2 boycott of the hotels. He really connected the dots between multiple issues and saw the greater picture.

Main Stage at Dolores Park

Trans Pride Organizer Sam Davis on the right with baseball cap

District Attorney Kamala Harris and Assemblyman Mark Leno

Trans March on Market Street

Treasurer Jose Cisneros, Supervisors Dufty and Ma

Trans March arriving at Civic Center Plaza

My transgender sisters and heroes, Cecilia Chung, and Theresa Sparks

Gays can give as good as they get and confronting racism in the Castro

2005-06-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

Picket outside of Badlands, a bar found guilty of discrimination in the Castro

Recently a white gay activist told me that if I wanted to work on "real" racism, I should go the Bayview. Needless to say, I have never seen him in the Bayview, but even if I had, what crap. Yes. We do need to root out racism everywhere. In the Castro, in the Bayview, and in the left. And yes, Virginia, this includes pretty much every organization on the left that I have seen. Including our more self-righteous leftie groups. And yes, Virginia, this is real racism.

A national discussion has begun about racism in the LGBT community. A conversation that is long overdue.

People outside the LGBT community are frequently surprised to discover that a community that faces discrimination would discriminate. Most in the LGBT community are not, including us white folks. Over the weekend, several white gay men approached me individually to talk to me about their experiences working at Badlands as white gay men and how horrible it was to watch the discrimination. They know how bad it was and how important this work is.

Someone I know said it is generational and that what is acceptable behavior and language is changing. I sometimes wonder though if it just doesn't become more subtle and more insidious. Harder to address and to prove, and yet still there.

As a transgender person, I would sometimes prefer to deal with someone whose bigotry is on their sleeve rather than those who "think" they are pro-transgender when it is really tokenistic expressions of support that ultimately undermines trans people and our issues.

We'll see what happens but at least the conversation has begun, the door has been opened, and maybe someday, it will be a Castro for All.

Transgender Pride

2005-06-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

My transgender sisters and heroes, Cecilia Chung, and Theresa Sparks

Transgender Pride
Being out is a relatively new phenomenon in the Transgender community. For so long, our doctors told us to take hormones, get surgery, do our best to "pass" and assimilate. Being out is not the goal-still true for most. As a transgender person, it is so much easier to be invisible...to not come out...to pass. You really do set yourself up as a target in so many ways.

I was talking to a reporter about the significance of Pride for the trans community but I could only speak for myself. Each persons experience of being trans is so different. And Cecilia Chung, as an immigrant women of color, clearly has much more difficult challenges in the world because of racism and sexism...

But for me, I came out in 1995 as a transgender man. Coming out as trans was one of the most difficult decisions that I have ever made in my life. I had come out as a lesbian in 1982 which ironically was a much easier decision for me. There were definite struggles attached to coming out as a lesbian but I wanted to date women and this was the social construct through which I could do it. Kind of.

But as it turned out, it was a gay transgender man named Shadow who made me realize I was trans. At first it made my head hurt (and more) when I realized he was transgender. Shadow was a former lesbian who transitioned to becoming a man and who now sleeps with men and identifies as gay. There is no accounting for the homo-erotic impulse really but ultimately it isn't about who you sleep with... it is about who you are.

Before I knew that Shadow was transgender, I thought, "What is up with this guy? He is always advocating for transgender people. What a sweet gay man to care about the interests of transgender people." Yeah. I was that dumb. Slowly I got it. And slowly I got it even more. It scared the hell out of me to realize I was transgender and to come out as trans.

Do I feel an affinity of interests and closeness to lesbians? You bet. How could I not? I have spent years living the life of a lesbian, too many hours in too many meetings, too many nights in too many bars and even too many nights in, well, never mind. But I knew and have always known that I was different. And that I needed to come out. So I did.

But we were all out at the Trans March this week. Proud, stylish, scrappy and full of love. And someday, all transgender folks will all be out.

We will all stand together some day and cheer when we are all out, everyone of us, standing proud and spreading love. Watch out world. Here we come.

Trans March arriving at Civic Center Plaza

Proud of unity

2005-06-26T21:37:00.000-07:00

What a day! The current executive board of Harvey Milk (Greg Shaw, me, Larry Roberts, John Emery, and Paul Hogarth) and the four past presidents (Michael Goldstein, Robert Haaland, Debra Walker, and Jerry Threet) sponsored a Harvey Milk table at the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club breakfast. We were warmly welcomed, and enjoyed the sense of what Mark Leno has coined a new "Golden Age" in LGBT unity in San Francisco. A great time was had by all. It can be hard to let go of traditions, such as giving up the Milk Club's own Pride Day breakfast tradition, but new traditions are a treat as well. Instead of having a Milk breakfast, we had a post-parade party in collaboration with Pride at Work and SEIU Local 790's Lavender Caucus (more about that later).

The Milk Club marched with Tom Ammiano, a great tradition we did not give up this year. The Pride Committee wanted Tom to be a commentator for the live KRON 4 coverage. The folks at KRON 4 apparently think they have more say over Pride than the Committee does, since they refused to include him. Some marchers made signs telling KRON what they thought, all in language appropriate for TV. Apparently KRON thinks they control the free speech and freedom of expression of the folks marching in the Pride Parade, because as Tom drove up to the cameras, surrounded by supporters holding signs ("Milk supports Tom on KRON" and the like), KRON henchmen came running up to the car and told the folks to take down the signs. The marchers refused. KRON apparently thinks that the live-TV-eight-second-Janet-Jackson-boob-delay is a license to edit live TV, since they cut to a commercial. Yes, live coverage of the parade, cut to commercial. After the commercial, the announcers said something along the lines of "oh, and we just missed Tom Ammiano and the Harvey Milk Democratic Club.....but look--the Altoids float!" I hope more will happen on this issue with the Pride Committee and KRON--censorship, particularly on Pride, is unacceptable.

Milk Club members awaiting our signal to march. Note the Boycott Badlands T-shirts Club members are sporting.

Milk Club member Marilyn Wann making a "Tom on KRON" sign.

Milk Club Treasurer John Emery wearing a March on Washington shirt. Note the guy doing pushups in the back getting pumped up for his ride on the Altoids float.

After being excluded from KRON, Supervisor Ammiano was interviewed by other media.

What I hope will be the first annual Pride at Work, Harvey Milk Democratic Club, SEIU Local 790 Lavender Caucus post-parade party was a success. Everyone got a chance to put their feet up, celebrate with friends, enjoy the amazing view, and discuss the amazing float they'll work on for next year... Assemblymember Mark Leno, Public Defender Jeff Adachi, Treasurer Jose Cisneros, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, Supervisor Tom Ammiano, Josie Mooney, ED of SEIU Local 790, Tim Paulson, ED of the SF Labor Council, Co-Chairs of LAGADDA Lisa Williams and George Smith, Laura Spanjian, Co-Chair of the Alice B. Toklas Club, Democratic County Central Committee members Scott Wiener (also Alice co-chair), Robert Haaland, David Campos, Michael Goldstein, Jane Morrison, and former Supervisor Sue Bierman, Police Commissioner Theresa Sparks, Commissioner Janet Reilly, Ethics Commissioner Joe Lynn, Miguel Bustos, Dan Bernal, Julius Turman, Green County Central Committee member Kim Knox,and many long time Milk Club members like Tab Buckner, Rick Hauptman, and Denise D'Anne, and a bunch of others I'm forgetting were there.

If you look for a minute you can see the amazing decorating by the fabulous caterer from Rico's, who donated this cake, which reads "Happy Gay Pride" in pink triangle and rainbow cookies. Yum.

Pride at Work co-chair Sally Buchmann and Pride at Work founder Howard Wallace:

Faye Roe, President of NIA and SEIU Local 790 field representative

Greg Shaw, Mark Leno, Rick Galbraith, and Robert Haaland obeying the photographer's orders.

Greg with new Milk Club members Mirian and Julian from D.C., Dan Bernal, and long-time Milk Club members Jon Daniel and Chuck Bierwith.

Harold Darling and Jane Morrison saying hello.

Alice Co-Chair Scott Wiener and President of the Noe Valley Dem Club Rafael Mandelman

Again, some new traditions that I hope will continue. As many said today, this day was a day to celebrate, but there is still so much to do.

From the Wall

2005-06-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm posting something that I read on SF Wall this afternoon about Joe Lynn and a charter amendment that Alioto-Pier is putting forward. I have known Joe Lynn, an Ethics Commissioner, for many years and have an incredibly high opionion of him. When he worked for the Ethics Commission, he was a Local 790 member. He was being jacked up for the whole PG&E debacle and I went over to the Commission testify and to let them know that he had the support of his union.

I find the following story from Joe to be incredibly compelling. I lived in SF during this time and watched thousands of my gay brothers die. It is easy to forget the sense of crisis we all felt. The anger and confusion. Those that were left behind were so, so guilty and confused.

So when I read Joe's story, my heart went out to him. And I hope it does for you too. I hope you take the time to read it and maybe even contact Sup Alioto-Pier to explain to her that targeting a gay man who survived the AIDs crisis and trying to shame Joe is not the answer. If you don't believe that someone can pull themselves out of the life of drugs and turn their life around, fine, but do you have to go out of your way to draft a charter amendment to kick him off a commission?

An anonymous poster called Milkclubber posted a statement from Joe Lynn. The poster wrote:

I appreciate folks for having the patience to read through this lengthy posting. I believe that good people can make a difference in creating a better, more civil politics, and that Joe is one of the most valued people in that process.

I am posting this in the hopes that others may feel the same as I do, and want to oppose language targeted at Joe -- and only Joe -- from being written into the charter as an absolute bar to service on the Ethics Commission.

I couldn't agree more Milkclubber.

Here is the statement from Joe Lynn:
I thought I would write out my drug and professional history for you as a
means of my reviewing the past 25 years, a sweep of time since 1978. I didn't come out as a gay man late, in 1978 when I was almost 33 years old.

I separated from my wife that year. I was practicing law with Bartko, Welsh, & Tarrant, an Order of the Coif and Thurston Society graduate of Hastings, at the top of my 1974 class. Among the attorneys with whom I practiced was John Hetland, considered by some (Chief Justice Trainor) to have been the most influential legal mind in California real property finance law. I was successfully involved in complicated business litigation.

In 1979, I found out about "partying." My drug use became so severe that I was asked to leave my law firm in 1982. The next year my lover, Dana, the biggest romance of my life, left me because of my habit. It was about then that I met our friend, Ron Pearson, who died last year.

1982 was when San Francisco began feeling the AIDS epidemic. By 1986, I had seen many die, two of whom were very close to me, one my best friend, Wayne. He passed away seconds after I gave his hand over to his roommate, Patti. Suddenly, he bolted up in his bed, spat out blood on Patti, and that was it.

I stopped counting the number of people I knew who died from AIDS sometime around 1990 when it reached 200. I remember becoming weak in my knees when I first saw the AIDS quilt. I was overcome as quilt after quilt gave me news about someone else's death, someone whom I knew.

1990 was the year when Patti's lover, David, another best friend, died a grisly death. He was terrified of dying. Despite all his agony, he still valued the living. His fear was evident in his eyes when he realized why my lover, Bruce, and I had come to visit him that last week.

Bruce was my second gay lover. He was an architect with great talent. During his last year at Heery architecture, he received the second highest raise they gave out to their thousand or so employees. He had severe dementia and a brain tumor his last months. He died in 1991 just a couple of weeks after the Oakland fire. He hallucinated that Oakland friends of his affected by the fire were sleeping with us in our bedroom. He wanted to take care of them so badly, that was the dream he constructed, his way of helping.

My first lover, Dana, and I had remained close to each other after we broke up. We had agreed that when Bruce entered his final days, Dana would come from his home in the Sierra foothills and help me out. I called him when Bruce had less than a week to live. I learned then that Dana had just been hospitalized with AIDS, his first diagnosis.

Bruce's deathwatch was chronicled by his best friend, Harriet, in an article named by the Associated Press as the best article in the nation for that month. She tied his death to the announcement that week that Magic Johnson had AIDS and a description of my keeping watch over Bruce.

After his death, I stopped doing drugs (mostly speed) and in the summer of 1992 won a major jury trial. The judge then took the verdict away from me, ruling that an attorney who rapes his client is acting within the standards of the profession!

My response to that ruling: "Speed, here I come." Four-day binges without sleep, months and then years on end. Escape.

I was collapsing. My boyfriend of the time had gone to the hospital in January 1993 with his first diagnosis of AIDS. I thought I was starting the deathwatch again - way too soon. I had a client who needed attention. I seroconverted with a nasty fever.

I was practicing from my home where my clients would call. One needed my attention. I abandoned him, not able to return his calls. I lost everything, my property, my law license. I was crushed.

I was evicted from the Castro home which Bruce and I had shared. I moved South of Market and lived with urban nomads in a warehouse there.

Fortunately for me, I never shot up with drugs and never was involved in criminal behavior - other than using illegal drugs.

In 1996, I got clean, started HIV treatment at a City clinic, and volunteered at Project Open Hand and the Main Library. In 1997, I got a clerical job at the Ethics Commission through Positive Resource. It's a non-profit that rehabilitates people with AIDS for the job market.

1997 was also the year Dana died - took his life in a spiritually whole suicide when he could no longer raise his bottom off his hospice bed to use the bedpan.

I had told Mark Misrok at Positive Resource that I wanted to get a job where I could do good. I had a lot to return to the community for how much I had wasted. The Ethics Commission turned out to be an ideal opportunity for me to demonstrate my commitment to public service and my recovery from drugs.

I hope my subsequent record there is just the beginning of my giving back to the community. I'm not proud of my past, but I am very proud of how far I've been able to come back.

Best regards,

Here is a post from MilkClubber after Joe's statement:

That, folks, is the personal story that Alioto-Pier's measure would use to declare Joe unfit for service on the Ethics Commission.

But here is the performance story of what Joe has accomplished there as a staff member and then as an Ethics Commissioner:

He helped to inaugurate an electronic campaign reports filing program that was ranked best in U.S. by the Center for Governmental Studies. He managed a program for disclosure of financial conflicts that was ranked best in California by the Montclarion newspaper.

In 2002, Joe uncovered reporting problems by PG&E that eventually led their attorneys to be fined $240,000. Management reprimanded him for this! The Society of Professional Journalist for Northern California awarded him the prestigious James Madison Freedom of Information Award in honor of his courageous whistleblowing.

He received Certificates of Commendation and of Honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, one sponsored by Supervisor Newsom and another by Board President Matt Gonzalez. Mayor Brown gave him Certificates for Mentorship Work . Joe had started a mentorship program at the Ethics Commission which took in people with special disabilities as well as top graduates of prestigious schools. Joe's ability to help the public earned him Government Employee of the Year from the local San Francisco Weekly.

Joe resigned from the Commission when he saw incompetent management there refusing to recognize its budget crisis. Joe has successfully reversed the Commission budget policies under Mike Garcia. The Civil Grand Jury has vindicated his views on the budget crisis at Ethics earlier this year. The Mayor and the Board are responding to Joe’s cries for public support.

The Commission is turning around after years of mismanagement. Serious reform of enforcement practices and campaign finance laws is underway.

I appreciate folks for having the patience to read through this lengthy posting. I believe that good people can make a difference in creating a better, more civil politics, and that Joe is one of the most valued people in that process.

I am posting this in the hopes that others may feel the same as I do, and want to oppose language targeted at Joe -- and only Joe -- from being written into the charter as an absolute bar to service on the Ethics Commission.

Open Letter to Mandate Media

2005-06-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Mandate Media is a political consultancy in Oregon whose slogan is "Internet Strategy for People Changing the World". They have done work for the Oregon AFL-CIO, NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon, Western Democrats, and oregon Working Families. Unfortunately, they are also the people doing the work for Fix City Hall.

I was curious how they justified this, so today I sent them this open letter:

Why is Mandate Media supporting union bashing?

Hi,

I was disappointed to see that Mandate Media, which seems to be a responsible and progressive company, is doing web work for FixCityHall.com, which is an attempt to attack the civil service protections that keep San Francisco's government relatively free of political influence and cronyism.

It seems ironic that as you work to create a web site for the Oregon AFL-CIO , you are creating a site for what appears to be the same big businesses in San Francisco who fought against raising the minimum wage, against union protections and who sued the city of San Francisco, resulting in public health clinics closing, reduced public transit, and less affordable housing.

Your website states "We help progressives integrate their strategy with technology." How does creating web sites for union-bashing big-business groups "help progressives?"

Please help us understand,

Sasha Magee,
San Franciscan

For background: http://www.leftinsf.com/blog/2005/06/fix-at-city-hall.html

We'll see what they have to say for themselves.

Update: Why am I going after the web-design people of all things? Two reasons: First of all, they are a business who claims to work for progressive causes. Organizations presumably hire them at least in part for their shared values. They are betraying those supposed values here.

Secondly, the Fix City Hall site is intentionally opaque. There is no indication of who's paying for it, or any way to contact the people behind it without supporting their petition. I am pretty confident it's a Committee on Jobs operation, but if Robert hadn't tipped me off to this campaign a few months ago, I would have no idea. The only organization identifiably associated with this anonymous operation is Mandate Media. So they can either let us know who is actually behind this, or they'll take the flack (such as it is). And after all, aren't openness and honesty progressive values?

Fighting back on broadband

2005-06-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

I wrote a while back about Pete Sessions'(R-SBC) bill to forbid local governments from providing internet access.

This week two senators (Lautenberg and McCain) introduced a much more consumer-friendly bill (PDF), the "Community Broadband Bill of 2005". This bill would prevent states from outlawing local governments' efforts to provide internet access to their citizens.

It is not at all clear to me that this bill has more chance of passing than the Sessions bill, but it's at least a step in the right direction.

(via Muniwireless)

The fix at city hall

2005-06-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that Fix City Hall advertisements have begun popping up on local blogs like the Sentinel and Chris Nolan's site.

These guys (you can check out their web site here) are presumably the shock troops for the Committee on Jobs' campaign to do away with civil service protections for city workers. As Robert said in March:

Their ultimate goal is to take away Civil Service protections. From a management perspective, these Civil Service protections may be cumbersome. From a labor perspective, we have fought hard to ensure that workers are not fired arbitrarily and that workers are promoted based on fairness, not cronyism.

The web site seems to be their attempt at demonizing front-line city workers, in preparation for a ballot initiative.

Yes, there are problems with city government. Anyone who's had significant dealings with it knows that the bureaucracy can be maddening, and not every city staffer is always helpful. The solution, however, is not to expose city workers to favoritism, cronyism, and political pressures. There is, I think, no easy solution, but any proposal needs to come with significant participation from city workers themselves, not as the result of some management consultant's report.

It is interesting, however, that these guys have decided to target local blogs. I'm not sure if it's a budgetary thing or whether they are intentionally targetting readers of the Sentinel and Nolan's site. I'd certainly be intersted to know whether there's a big difference between the number of people who sign their petition after clicking through from the Sentinel vs. Nolan's site.

Good progressive queer. Bad centrist queer. And we lefties need to laugh a lot more

2005-06-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco Bay Guardian did a feature story this week and believe it or not, it wasn't on public power. Don't worry. Bruce and Tim are still at it and we love them for it. They did do an editorial on community aggregation.

The cover story is on whether SF is still a gay Mecca. The writer, Lynn Rapoport asked me whether I thought SF was a gay Mecca and I still stand by my original statement:

For instance, when I ask Haaland for examples of San Francisco's ultimate Mecca status, he mulls it over for a second, then offers, "I generally feel like I can walk down the street and not get killed."

When I said that, Lynn laughed nervously. I actually kind of laughed for real even though I really meant it. Mecca really does mean so many things. I think about moving back to my home state Minnesota and well, while it really is a beautiful state, my first worry isn't whether I'll fit in on Saturday night with the Rainbow Cloggers...

It was a great article and Lynn is really an excellent writer. Lynn is the Managing Editor for the Bay Guardian who covers cultural trends, bars and clubs, sexuality, travel, and dogs.

You look at the topics she covers and you think, “She has to be queer.” Travel and dogs definitely gives her away. When I spoke to her, I just went ahead and asked. Yep. I was right.

No disrespect is intended to my friends at the Bay Guardian who I admire and like very much, but she did a great job of covering queer culture and queer politics. Maybe it is because she has a queer sensibility, maybe it is because I don't think you can really "get" queer politics unless you get queer culture or have a queer sensibility. Or maybe it is because the best part of queer politics flows from our queer cultural life.

Maybe our friends at the Guardian will let her write about the intersection of culture and politics more often because they are one in the same for some of us… And she is really funny and we lefties need to laugh a lot more.

And maybe they will let Steve Jones write about Burning Man some more since Burning Man is much more political, more interesting, more relevant than half of what goes on in City Hall.

I spend a lot of time-sometimes too much- thinking about queer history, queer theory, queer culture, gender and sexuality. I get really frustrated with the reductionist paradigms that queer politics is seen through and that we often get caught up in ridiculous conversations like the current conversation about the relationship between Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club and the Harvey Milk Club. There is a dehumanizing element to politics that often reveals itself through false polarizations. Good progressive queer…Bad centrist queer… never the twain should meet. Or talk. Or work together. Especially when the rest of the country is out to get them. But what if they both hang out at the same bar or think the same girl/boy is cute or think each other is cute…or just want to hang out and have a beer or smoke a cigarette in front of Fox Plaza or shoot the shit about the latest scandal in City Hall.

If these things happen, well, it probably will undermine Western Civilization, don’t you think? Sometimes a friend of mine at Alice and I laugh at how profoundly threatening people outside the LGBT community find it that we are friendly, that we aren’t constantly attacking each other. Some in the LGBT political community have even suggested that there are those out there who seem to enjoy exploiting our differences and love it when we are pitted against each other/tearing into one another. Something that is common in marginalized/minority communities.

I have learned a couple of things by being part of the Labor movement. More than a couple, but I am on the slow side so it has taken me more time than it might others.

Well, we really are stronger together. And that you do your best to work together even when you disagree. Sometimes you go your separate ways (read Andy Stern, SEIU and the AFL-CIO) but your heart is with the movement and the issues and attacking each other in a knee jerk, mindless way never moves the issues forward.

My heart is with the movement. And with the community. Cuz they/you are my brothers and sisters. In Labor, in the LGBT Community, in the tenant community, and in the progressive community. And if you want, I’ll even walk a precinct.

But in my head and in my heart I hear Emma Goldman say, “If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution,". Or some say she said, "If I can't dance to it, it's not my revolution," Well, if I can’t be queer, I don’t want to be part of the revolution; if we can’t have sex, we don’t want to be part of the revolution, and if we can’t look sexy, who would want to be part of the revolution?

Ultimately, this stuff doesn’t really matter. All the talking about who is really progressive and who isn’t. All that really matters to me is going to a Trans March on Friday night and standing with my brothers and sisters of all genders and sexualities. People like my own personal transgender heroes Cecilia Chung and Theresa Sparks. And damn, I would have felt a whole lot better if all the progressives thought it was progressive to vote for her for commissioner last year. I thought it was progressive. Dion Manley, his wife Hope, and their baby. Standing with my gay brothers and lesbian sisters who are genuine, long-term allies. Listening to Shawna Virago rock out. Catching sight of my ex-girlfriend who is now my ex-boyfriend and doesn’t that just make my head hurt sometimes. And don't we love the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Perpetually? Then watching Sam Davis pull the whole thing all together and we should all bow down and thank him for everything he did to make it all happen. And then, after all is said and done, I’ll light a candle for Gwen Araujo because Newark wasn’t a Gay Mecca. Because Gwen couldn’t walk down the street and not get killed.

Stand Proud. Spread Love.