On Sunday November 22nd, a vigil in honor of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado will be held at the intersection of MacArthur Blvd., Lakeshore, and Grand Ave. in Oakland. Mercado, a very well known person in the gay community, was found dead on November 14th, in Cayey, Puerto Rico. Mercado was partially burned, decapitated, and dismembered. The police investigator handling the case said in a public televised statement that "people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen."

On November 16th, a suspect was arrested who confessed to the killing, saying that he murdered Marcedo who he thought to be a woman, after discovering that he was a man. According to the Porto Rico police, the suspect will likely use a “homosexual panic” defense, arguing for a plea of temporary insanity.

Pedro Julio Serrano, from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and a founder of Puerto Rico Para Todas said in a statement: “This is a terrible, terrible crime. While we are pleased that law enforcement has acted promptly in making an arrest, it is vital that the hate crimes angle be investigated. This horrendous killing of a young gay man shows no compassion or respect for the dignity of a human life. As someone who grew up in Puerto Rico and has been very active in its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, this is a heart-wrenching moment. Our hearts and sympathies go out to all of Jorge Steven López’s loved ones at this difficult time. Justice must prevail.”

Read More | Gay Puerto Rican Teen Decapitated, Dismembered, and Burned

q@ writes: "On September 24th some of the most militant politicized street protests the States have seen in nearly a decade countered the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Anarchist Queers and Trannies were on the frontlines of this struggle; bringing the numbers, the flare, and the wrecking crews. A days worth of tear gas, rubber bullet attacks, and fending off straight-idiot-liberals, set the tone for what would be a night of ravenous Queer revenge. A single march of 200+ Queers, Trannies, Womyn, POC, and some allies bashed the fuck back; causing the most property destruction contained to a single neighborhood in Pittsburgh during the protests. So other Anarchists, why the fuck are you ignoring us? What Happened in Oakland [Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania] on Thursday Night?

"A week prior to the G20 protests Bash Back! Pittsburgh, a radical Trans and Queer Liberation group, called for a Queer Cabaret to be followed by a march through Oakland. Oakland has long been a neighborhood unfriendly to anyone not fitting into the straight-white-male category. By 10pm on the 24th nearly 200 people gathered outside of the Queer Cabaret. The mood was set. There were no illusions. Everyone knew what was about to happen. It seemed that people were unified in their goal to terrorize straighty. Windows were smashed, dumpsters flipped and ignited, a frat boy homophobe and his friends were dealt with properly, and the vast majority of participants left feeling empowered and energized.

"However, despite the fact that this march was called for by a local radical queer/trans group, took place immediately following a Queer Cabaret, was executed largely by radical Trans/Queer people and was lead by a banner reading, “Bash Back!” ; most of the reportbacks describing the march include NONE of these important details."

Read More | Bash Back!

While news headlines declared the the US House of Representatives' healthcare legislation "historic" and a cause for great joy, many in the San Francisco bay area are asking: Who is celebrating whose healthcare coverage?

Women reacted to a national plan that will not provide insurance for undocumented immigrants or extend federal funds for abortions, saying that it echoes the right-wing’s racist and sexist agenda. They expressed disappointment that the House Bill also repeals the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by 2013. Many children now covered by CHIP would be moved into programs largely driven by insurance companies.

The morning following the passage of the bill, women in San Francisco led the rallying cry for "healthcare not warfare" in demonstrations on the steps of City Hall and in front of Speaker Pelosi's and Senator Feinstein's respective homes.

On November 12th, the San Francisco branch of Radical Women will hold a roundtable discussion to address the question: "What will it take to achieve affordable quality healthcare for all?" Featured speakers will be Barbara Commins, a nurse from Single Payer Now, Tiffany Ng, a youth organizer with Chinese Progressive Association and Andrea Weever, a disabled rights activist.

Event Announcement | Photos: 1 | 2 | San Francisco Radical Women

On Sunday, October 25th, Zoya, a member of the radical underground organization Rawa, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, will speak at the SF Friends Meeting House, 65 9th Street. Zoya talk is part of national tour in the U.S. against the ongoing U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and the threat of fundamentalism posed by the Taliban. In a message to Obama and Congress she says: “liberation can only come from within – end the US occupation.”

Zoya was a child during the Soviet invasion of her country. As a teenager, the mujahideen or warlords killed her activist parents. She fled with her grandmother to a refugee camp in neighboring Pakistan but later returned to her country to document life under the Taliban rule. She has been an outspoken critic of the US and NATO invasion of Afghanistan.

For more than thirty years RAWA has organized inside Afghanistan and in the refugee camps of Pakistan for a nation free of war and fundamentalism, that respects women’s rights and human rights. As President Obama prepares to widen the war and commit more troops, it is important to hear from those most affected.

Read More | UPDATE: Audio from 10/25

Voices from Afghanistan: Afghan Women's Activist Zoya Speaks Out on Eight Years of Occupation | RAWA.org: Afghan Activist Calls for End to US Occupation Interview with Zoya, member of RAWA

On Wednesday, September 30th, feminists, activists, and community members protested against budget cuts in front of the California State Building at Civic Center. The rally and speak-out featured demands to "chop from the top" and tax the rich and corporations as a strategy for solving the budget crisis. There were speakers and representatives from many groups as well as students, workers, tenants rights and queer rights activists.

The rally was initiated by Radical Women, a socialist feminist, grassroots activist organization that provides a radical voice within the feminist movement and the Left, and trains women to be leaders in the movements for social and economic justice. It has branches in a number of cities. Read more

AIDS Organizations Meet in SF to Protest Governor Schwarzenegger's Budget Cuts | People with Disabilities Arrested While Protesting State Budget Cuts in SF | SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Hides From Tenants Seeking Renter's Relief Measures

On October 11th, Palestinian and Jewish LGBT/queer activists held a protest against promoting LGBT tourism to Israel in front of the Tel Aviv gay center. The protesters intercepted a group of travel agents and other guests attending a conference that took place inside the gay center. The conference was organized by various Israeli institutes and International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA).

While entering, the guests went by the protesters, who were wearing T-shirts that read "Queers Visit Palestine, Not The Occupiers & Oppressors". Some of the protesters faces were covered with dirt, contrasting the concept of a "tourist attraction," putting themselves on display, not as shining examples of gay Israeli privilege but as wounded dirty queers, embodying the ugly side of the occupation being masked by the gay tourism initiative.

Haneen, one of the protesters said: "These conferences are trying to create an aesthetic facade that everything is rosy, when minutes from here there is poverty, exploitation, discrimination and occupation. We are against an event that bluntly deny and hide the dirt of our realities. It is our duty as queers not to overlook the oppression of others and to engage in their struggles".

"At a time when Israel still holds Gaza under siege, controls, segregates and divides the West Bank - there is no place for a 'business as usual' attitude", added Ayala Shani.

Read more

Queer Activists Disrupt StandWithUs I-Pride, Refuse to be a Propaganda Tool for Israel | Gavin Newsom and Zionist Contingents Confronted During 2009 SF Pride Parade

On August 23rd, Cynthia McKinney, former US Congresswoman and member of the Free Gaza movement, gave a talk at the San Francisco Lunacy Theater. The event was part of a Bay Area benefit tour for the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper, an independent monthly that covers a variety of local and international stories. She also spoke in Oakland at the Grand Lake Theater and the Black Dot Cafe, Sonoma, and El Cerrito. Her speaking tour follows her recent expedition on a boat delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza under siege.

“Gaza lives,” McKinney said. “The people are vibrant and alive despite F-16 bombings, deformed children, depleted uranium. I didn’t think about what could happen to me before going. I’ve been involved in life-threatening political activity for some time, so when I got the call I didn’t think about my safety. Operation Cast Lead sickened me. I just went, and I’m so happy I did, even when my boat was rammed and I was kidnapped by the Israelis. They took us to Israel and then charged us with illegal entry! I spent seven days in prison with Ethiopian immigrants facing similar charges. Meanwhile, the Congress and White House said nothing. We had a boatload of $500,000 worth of trucks, cars, medical supplies for Gaza, but Egypt denied entry. They’re still sitting in the port right now.”

She spoke of the “two Americas” --one inhabited by the wealthy elite and the other the impoverished majority, and urged Americans to cultivate a stronger resistance movement in order to respond to political corruption and election fraud. She cited the Haitian uprising against the kidnapping of democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide as well as the social unrest in Mexico City following 2006 election as model examples of mobilization for the United States. Read more

Interview with former presidential candidate and former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney | FREE GAZA 21 UPDATE - Cynthia McKinney, prisoner 88794, speaks from Israeli jail | Cynthia McKinney, the Israeli Navy, and $4 billion worth of natural gas off Gaza

After being pulled over for a "routine traffic stop" in Albany, Michael and Stephanie Williams report that they were brutalized by the Albany police department on June 5th in front of their children. Michael was tasered multiple times and Stephanie was searched under her clothing by a male officer. Both parents were arrested, while their crying children were picked up by their grandmother. The family spoke about their ordeal at the Uhuru House in East Oakland on June 14th.

A rally was held at the Albany City Council meeting on August 5th in support of the Williams family. Supporters demanded that charges filed against Michael Williams be dropped and that the Albany police department fire officers Michael H. Gibson, Thomas E. Dolter, and Donald J. Maiden.

Michael Williams has a preliminary hearing in Alameda County on Monday, August 10th, for charges related to the Albany police claim that he threatened them. Activists are asking supporters to pack the court room to demand charges be dropped.

Read more with audio | Rally announcement | Uhuru News video

DS writes: "On Monday night, about one hundred people assembled honoring the youth were killed and injured in the Tel Aviv LGBT Center last week.To be honest, I was dreading this event. I needed to mourn – for the youth who were killed, and also for the sense of safety that I lost, years ago, when I first realized that my own LGBTQ youth center was an unsafe space for me. I worried, though, that I wouldn’t be able to mourn, but would instead be distracted by anger and alienation at the Zionist rhetoric that almost always accompanies any public Jewish event. I was pleasantly surprised in so many ways."

"Monday’s vigil focused entirely on the tragedy of the youths’ lost lives. Speakers from the Jewish community and the broader community emphasized the need to stand up for queer youth in our own communities and worldwide. One speaker talked about creating safety for “all residents” of Tel Aviv – not “all citizens,” as pro-Israel speakers usually say."

"Only two Israeli flags were present, one of them the rainbow version created for this June’s Jews March For Pride contingent– which, despite my dislike for all national flags and especially this one, I can see the relevance of for this particular vigil. Nobody used this event as an excuse to repeat the nonsensical rhetoric of many official Israeli sources, that this level of violence is “unheard of” in Israel. In fact, people hardly mentioned Israel. And that is as it should be – these youth were targeted because they were queer, not because they were Jewish, not because they were Israeli. The organizers of this vigil did an amazing job of keeping Zionist politics out of it, to an extent I have never seen at any Jewish event." Read more |

Jewish LGBT Community Commemorates the Death of Two at a Gay Center in Tel Aviv | Painful Irony in Tel Aviv LGBT Teen Center Shooting

Berlin solidarity with LGBT Tel Aviv - Demo against homophobia | Queers Respond to Tel-Aviv Homophobic Violence, Call for BDS against Israel

No Pride in Apartheid or Gavin Newsom's Budget Cuts | StandWithUs I-Pride Protested by Queer Activists for Exploiting Gay Issues

Susan Jordan, a civil litigator and criminal justice lawyer from Mendocino County, died on Friday, May 29th in a plane crash in Utah. She was 67 years old and left a legacy of civil litigation and criminal justice work behind. Jordan represented several prominent political activists throughout her career as a criminal defense lawyer, including Earth First!'s Judi Bari after she was car bombed with Daryl Cherney in 1990 and members of the SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) in the kidnapping of Patty Hearst.

Susan Jordan was one of the first attorneys to offer legal defense for Earth First! activists planning non violent civil disobedience during the Redwood Summer campaign in 1990. Then, Earth First! organizers Judi Bari and Daryl Cherney were car bombed and subsequently arrested as the main suspects. Cherney says Jordan came to their defense.

In the legal field, Jordan most notably made the first successful argument of self defense for a battered woman who killed her rapist, in the late 1970s. Jordan said it was the first ruling of its kind. Jordan was dubbed a feminist lawyer for her work defending women in criminal court. Read more

Dr. George Tiller began providing abortion care in 1973, as soon as it was legal in Kansas, and continued to do so until his death. He endured constant picketing of his clinic and home, vandalism, baseless lawsuits. In 1993, he survived being shot by an anti-abortion would-be assassin. He gave compassionate care to thousands of women, and mentored colleagues and medical students, and was a source of last resort for women with fetal/maternal complications in his Wichita, Kansas clinic.

The anti-abortion movement, from its origins in the 1970's, through the clinic-bombing 1980's, and the murderous attacks of the 1990's, has successfully shrunk the ranks of doctors and hospitals who are willing to provide abortions. Tiller will not be easily replaceable as a physician and highly skilled teacher. Read more

On Tuesday June 2nd, a speak-out against the assassination of long-time Kansas abortion provider, Doctor George Tiller, was held at City Hall in San Francisco's Civic Center at 5pm. Photos: 1 | 2

On Wednesday June 3rd, a memorial for slain abortionist Dr. Tiller took place at CSU East Bay campus, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd, Hayward, CA. University Bookstore lawn.

Dr. George Tiller (1941 - 2009): Murdered Abortion Provider Remembered for Lifelong Dedication to Women's Reproductive Health | Dr. Tiller was not the first to be murdered | Dr. George Tiller, Abortion Provider, Assassinated 5/31/09 | Murder Preparation: Fox Campaign Against George Tiller |

On Saturday, April 25, hundreds marched through the streets of San Francisco to raise awareness of rape and sexual assault. The march, called “Walk Against Rape”, started at Embarcadero and ended at Dolores Park. Organized by San Francisco Women Against Rape, the marchers chanted “Stop date rape” and “Who’s body? my body!” The March concluded Sexual Assault Awareness Month where events were held to call an end to sexual assault.

According to statistics, someone is sexually assaulted every two minutes in the U.S. Women in college are four times more likely to be assaulted, and two third of all rapes are committed by someone known to the victim. Only 40% of all assaults are reported, as the chances of convicting someone for rape are slim and often don’t merit the trauma that the victims need to go through in the courts and by the police. Only 6% of those prosecuted for rape end up at prisons; 94% walk free.

San Francisco Women Against Rape is the city’s only rape crisis center, providing resources and counseling to survivors of sexual assault. It also provides support, advocacy and education to strengthen the work of all individuals and communities in San Francisco that are responding to, healing from, and struggling to end sexual violence.

Read More | Video

National Anarchists at Walk Against Rape

The Women’s Choice Clinic (WCC) of Oakland, a venerated feminist health clinic that has provided non-judgmental, culturally sensitive abortion and reproductive health care services to Bay Area women for 36 years, is closing its doors (press conference, Wed. April 8, Oakland City Hall, 1pm). The WCC is the oldest feminist health center providing abortions in the nation. However, it is not anti-abortion protests that are forcing the clinic to close, nor is it a decline in demand for services. California’s chronic low and slow reimbursements for MediCal services, and the current freeze on reimbursements is the culprit.

The Women’s Choice Clinic began in 1972 as an independent feminist women’s health clinic with a mission to provide quality affordable reproductive health care. In its 36 years the WCC served over 64,000 clients and until its close was seeing approximately 2,000 clients a year. The closing of the WCC is being mourned by community members, health and women’s groups alike.

“This is a wake up call for feminists old and young and anyone who cares about women’s empowerment, abortion services and health care,” said Rachel Jackson, community activist. "It doesn’t really matter if we have a pro-choice president when real women in need can’t access abortion services. We can’t sit idly by. The years of anti-abortion propaganda and the insufficient reimbursements from the state are strangling our community health centers and it has to stop.” Read more

Women’s Choice Clinic

Anti-Choice Conference Accuses Oakland Clinic of Participating in Black Genocide

International Women's Day was celebrated on Sunday, March 8th with a number of events around the Bay Area. The Stop Violence Against Women: 1 in 3 Art Exhibit included performances on Saturday and Sunday in the Women's Building. On Sunday, March 8th, Code Pink observed IWD with a march across the Golden Gate Bridge at 12pm, followed by a potluck and program in Berkeley. The film "A Single Woman: The Story of Jeannette Rankin" was screened on Sunday in Palo Alto. It is the story of the first woman elected to the United States Congress. Outside of the Bay Area, the RCP and Revolution Books planned to Celebrate Resistance and Internationalism! with a rally and march in Los Angeles in support of women in struggle all over the world, starting at 1pm on Saturday. The march was followed by an RCP-USA Women Hold Up Half the Sky presentation in LA on Sunday.

Women's Month continued on Monday, March 9th with a Consent & Intimate Violence Workshop at 5pm at UC Santa Cruz. UC Santa Cruz will host an International Women's Day Celebration on Saturday, March 14th at 12pm. On Saturday, March 21st, Vocolot will be amongst the performers at a Women's Earth Alliance Benefit Concert at 8pm in Alameda. On Sunday, March 22nd, the Women's Building will host a 3pm reading and discussion of Diana Block's memoir Arm the Spirit - A Woman's Journey Underground and Back.

Video

Indybay's Past Coverage of International Women's Day