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In downtown Santa Cruz on April 20, LGBQT community members from the Diversity Center's Youth Program and their family members and allies held a "Breaking the Silence" rally in front of the Del Mar Theatre before a showing of the film "Bully". People held signs and shared stories. There was a group shout out, and many involved with the youth program wore tape x'd over their mouths to both symbolize the silencing effect of bullying on the LGBQT youth community, as well as to be an expression of solidarity with those who could not attend the rally in person for many different reasons of privacy.
Michelle, who is 15, attended the rally to, "support and to advocate just how horrible bullying can be," which she described as an act of, "condemning other people for something that they should not be condemned for, if we are to be called a free society." Michelle notes how bullying often happens between people who do not know each other, and is something that is a regular occurrence in her life and the lives of her friends. "It has happened most often to me and my friends in schools where groups of students they, I guess, who knows why they do what they do, but they look at us and they roll their eyes, or they they have this attitude that they are entitled to make fun of us for whatever we may doing, whatever we are. They look at us and they laugh," she said.
The next big event in Santa Cruz for LGBQT youth is the 15th Annual Queer Youth Leadership Awards on May 12, which is put on by the Queer Youth Task Force. The QYLA recognize queer youth around the county, as well as allies to queer youth; both individual adult allies and organizational allies.
   Read More, with Photos, Video and Audio
Previous Coverage: 12th Annual Queer Youth Leadership Awards for Santa Cruz County
The legendary poet, essayist and feminist Adrienne Rich died on March 27, 2012, at the age of 82 in her Santa Cruz, California home. Rich was one of the most celebrated poets of the last half-century and a lifelong advocate for women, gay and lesbian rights, peace and racial justice. She was a key figure in the women’s movement and an uncompromising critic of the powerful.
California's Proposition 8 ban on same sex marriage was ruled unconstitutional by a three member panel of judges from the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Judge Smith dissented. The panel majority stated that California voters violated the 14th Amendment of the Federal Constitution when voting for Prop 8.
D. Boyer wrote, "I was live on scene in front of the Federal Court when the decision was out. San Francisco is ground zero for same sex marriage, so folks are happy. Additionally the panel majority stated that California's Proposition 8 'served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California", and it officially would have reclassified their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite sex couples.'"
The panel of judges also denied the motion by Prop 8 proponents to vacate the judgement by then Chief Judge Walker because he was also gay.
San Francisco's City Attorney held a press conference inside San Francisco's City Hall to talk about the decision and what it means for Gay and Lesbian Californians. They stated that they are getting ready and changing marriage forms, but that until the stay is lifted same sex couples in California still cannot marry. They said it may take months before same sex marriage is allowed to resume in California.
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A Bradley Manning Pride Contingent joined the San Francisco Pride parade on Sunday, June 26th.
Dedicated to equal human rights, Army Private Bradley Manning stood openly
against Don't Ask Don't Tell, and now is imprisoned as the alleged
WikiLeaks whistle-blower. Bradley faces life in prison, and even the death
penalty, for sharing the "Collateral Murder" video and files pertaining to the
Iraq War, Afghanistan War, and Guantánamo.
Peter Tatchell, a British activist well-known for his work with LGBT social movements, has heralded Bradley Manning as a " gay hero."
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See Also:
San Francisco Pride Parade Vegetarian Outreach |
4th Annual Watsonville Pride March, August 28th 2011
Previous Related Indybay Feature: Rally to Oppose FBI and Grand Jury Political Attacks
On June 17th, about 75 LGBT activists protested outside the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, which accepted Israeli government sponsorship and financing for the second year in a row. The Brass Liberation Orchestra was on hand to provide a spirited soundtrack. QUIT! launched the campaign to get Frameline to divorce the Israeli Consulate in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, the festival did not accept Israeli sponsorship, after having done so for years. But last year, under pressure from the consulate, the new festival director and executive director renewed their partnership with the Israeli government.
Activists chanted "Frameline Frameline Shame Shame Shame, No Apartheid In Our Name" and "I'm an angry queer, and I'm here to shout, Israeli Consulate, get the f*** out!" Leafleters offered filmgoers stickers to wear inside to show their support for severing ties with the Israeli apartheid government, as well as a $3 bill to give to an usher asking Frameline to return the blood money.
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While many people were out buying Valentine's Day gifts or flowers, same-sex couples in San Francisco were asking for the right to marry on February 14th. It was on this day in 2004 that former Mayor Gavin Newsom directed the San Francisco city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. However in August 2004, the Supreme Court of California annulled the marriages that Newsom had authorized because they conflicted with state law at the time.
So every year since 2005 same-sex couples go to the City and County Clerks' office in San Francisco's City Hall on Valentine's Day and request to get married. And each year they are denied, so they hold a sit-in until they are arrested. The sit-ins usually do not disrupt other couples, but activists see the action as politically valuable because the non-same-sex couples seeking to marry on that day get a glimpse of the struggles that same-sex couples face in California.
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New Leaf, a 35-year-old San Francisco center that offered mental health and substance abuse services for low income, queer, and trans folks, has closed.
The center's board of directors announced that it was financially impossible to continue to operate, but critics say that Executive Director Thom Lynch's six-figure salary for part-time employment and the non-profit's unsustainable top down model were behind the center's troubles.
In response to the closure, Gay Shame organized a protest in front of the Department of Public Health with large banners including one that read "DPH is Disordered". Protesters dramatized their frustration with the department's lack of support for New Leaf with street theater, saying, "The closure of New Leaf LGBTQ counseling center is just one symptom in the Social Identity Crisis Kontamination (SICK)".
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On September 9th, a protest took place in San Francisco demanding the US government pass Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Several protesters were arrested for blocking traffic at the corner of Market and Castro Streets.
If passed, ENDA would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination in the workplace for civilian, non-religious companies with over 15 employees, as well as federal, state and local governments, unions and employment agencies.
Currently, it's legal in 29 states to fire someone solely because they are lesbian, gay or bisexual. And in 38 states, it's legal to fire someone solely for being transgender. Even in San Francisco, transgender workers face profound employment challenges and discrimination. A 2006 study by the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the Transgender Law Center found that 60 percent of transgender people in San Francisco earn less than $15,300 per year, only 25 percent have a full-time job, and nearly nine percent have no source of income.
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Previous Coverage:
LGBT Activists Push on Pelosi to Pass ENDA
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LGBT Groups Rally for ENDA
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Pass ENDA Protest
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Protest Targets HRC's Stand on Gender Identity in ENDA
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Activists Mobilizing To Keep Transgendered Protections in ENDA
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