Feature Archives

Queer Youth Assemble, a national organization that serves LGBTQ people under age 25, organized a national day of action on March 31. Planned to coincide with the annual Trans Day of Visibility, the event was in response to the wave of anti-trans state legislation introduced by Republican lawmakers recently, which seeks to restrict minors' access to transition-related healthcare and prohibit the instruction of LGBTQ-related topics in schools.

The year 2023 could have been a moment to celebrate the half century of reproductive choice afforded by Roe v Wade. Instead, post-Roe, women are resisting further attacks. On January 21, San Francisco turned out to counter-protest the annual so-called "Walk for Life," when thousands are bussed in to demand a total end to reproductive freedom. On January 22, dozens of Women's Marches were held in cities throughout the country.

On September 10, more than 400 people gathered in front of the Santa Clara County Government Building in San Jose to stand with members of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. They called on the County to deny permits for a proposed mining project that threatens the tribe’s most sacred site. The proposed sand and gravel mine in the county would significantly damage the sacred Native American site and historic artifacts.

Outrage swelled after two of the latest mass casualty shootings, one at a grocery store in Buffalo, NY, and another at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Ten were killed in Buffalo, mostly African American elders, and twenty-one in Uvalde, nineteen small children and two teachers. Both shooters were only 18 years old when they bought the assault-style weapons used in the attacks. On June 11, Bay Area cities will protest on a national day of action against gun violence.

In a rare breach of US Supreme Court secrecy, a draft majority opinion written by justice Samuel Alito has been leaked. The would-be ruling makes a case for completely overturning Roe v. Wade, allowing states to outlaw all abortions without exceptions for rape and incest. Women in half of the states will lose access to safe and legal reproductive services. Protests immediately broke out across the country and are ongoing. Read more for updates.

On February 24, Russia began a military invasion of Ukraine, claiming its goals were to "demilitarize" and "de-nazify" the country. Bay Area Ukrainians protested in San Francisco on February 26 and 27, many agreeing with calls for maximal NATO involvement. On March 6, Code Pink and other anti-war organizations called for a Global Day of Action to protest the invasion, while also pointing to NATO expansion as having contributed to the crisis.

As the US Supreme Court stood poised on December 1 to uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, demonstrators across the US took to the streets. A new organization on the reproductive justice movement scene, Strike for Choice, said the date, which coincided with World AIDS Day, "is fitting because we owe so much to the Act Up movement that moved the needle on the government’s attitude towards powerless AIDS patients."