Feature Archives

From the Newswire:

"Gay Shame calls on you to resist the sham of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Creating Change Conference™ in Oakland, CA November 9-13 using direct action, infiltration, sabotage, redecoration, performance, disruption, transformation and anything else your delicious imagination concocts.

"Nonprofits mimic the power-hungry mentality of the corporate world by developing hierarchical organizations with Executive Directors and donors instead of CEOs and shareholders. Does NGLTF make sure their office's own janitorial staff has access to basic services like housing, healthcare, food, rest, transportation and free time? Are unpaid interns at NGLTF more empowered than temp workers at Halliburton?"

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Last week, Les Natali closed the Pendulum Bar and laid off its staff. This bar is one of very few bars in San Francisco that have felt like home to many African-American gay men. The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) had just announced that it would place conditions on Natali's license to operate this bar, which he had recently purchased. However, the ABC said it is not going to file further accusations against Natali. On Thursday, July 21st, And Castro for All held a press conference in front of Pendulum, followed by a picket in front of SF Badlands, to protest the closure and demand government follow-up on the charges levied against Natali for his mistreatment of women and people of color at Badlands. Read more

Pickets at Badlands Continue: There will be a rally and picket at Badlands on Saturday, July 23rd, beginning at 9pm. SF Democratic Party Chair Leslie Katz and School Board member Mark Sanchez will be speaking at the rally. More info about the picket

More details about this struggle can be found on the And Castro for All website

San Francisco Pride was the weekend of June 24th-26th.

There were a whole week of events for Transgender Pride this year from June 20th-26th. A Trans March Kickoff Party ( Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | Audio | Video ) was held on Friday from 3-7pm in Dolores Park on June 24th, and then thousands of people poured into the streets as the Trans March wound its way from the park to Civic Center. For the first time ever there will be a Transgender Pavillion and Pride Stage at the Pride Celebration.

The Dyke March took place on Saturday, June 25th. A rally and performances began at 3pm in Dolores Park, and then tens of thousands of women marched through the Mission District to join Pink Saturday in the Castro. (Photos: 1 | Audio )

The annual SF Pride Celebration took place on Saturday and Sunday at Civic Center, and with the Pride Parade to Civic Center on Sunday. Photos: 1 | 2 | Video | Contingents: LGBT Families | Labor | Polyamory | More Contingents More info about the parade on the SF Pride Website
Info about"Accessibility Seating" tickets for the Grandstand Seating area along the Parade Route

LGBT Pride celebrations are taking place all over California during the month of June. Humboldt Pride takes place June 10th-12th. The Sacramento Pride Parade & Fair took place on Saturday, June 11th, 2005, beginning at 10:00am, with the theme Equal Rights - No More - No Less!, and the first pride parade in 22 years. Sac Pride website

The 10th annual Yolo County Gay Pride Day Picnic was held on Sunday, June 12th, from noon until 4 in Central Park in Davis. More details

On Saturday and Sunday June 11th and 12th, San Jose Pride was held, with a march on Sunday.

On Thursday, June 16th, Nevada County Equality California hosted the first of two June movie nights with a screening of "Not in Our Town Northern California" in Grass Valley. Read more

San Francisco Pride is the weekend of June 24th-26th. There will be a whole week of events for Transgender Pride this year from June 20th-26th. Some highlights include a Trans March on Friday night June 24th and the first-ever Transgender Pavillion and Pride State at the Pride Celebration. The Dyke March takes place on Saturday, June 25th. The rally and performances begin at Dolores Park at 3:00 pm, and the march leaves at 7:00 pm. The annual SF Pride Celebration will take place on Saturday and Sunday at Civic Center, and there will be a Pride Parade on Sunday.

Later in the summer: Sistahs Steppin in Pride, an East Bay Dyke March, is being planned for August 27th. There will be a Rainbow Festival in Sacramento from August 30th-September 4th. East Bay Voice reports that there will be an Out in Oakland meeting on June 18th to plan for an October 9th Coming Out Day event.

More California Pride Celebrations

AB 19 was not passed in a close June 2nd vote by the California Assembly. Geoffrey Kors of Equality California said that a handful of Democrats and all Republican members "voted for discrimination." Read more

AB 19 is the Equality California-sponsored "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act," legislation that would protect religious freedom while ensuring equal treatment under the law for same-sex couples by allowing them to marry in California. This bill would remove discriminatory barriers to equal protection under the law by returning the relevant California Family Code statutes to gender-neutral terms, as they were from 1850-1977. In 1948, the California Supreme Court became the first state court in the country to strike down a law prohibiting interracial marriage before the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated all such laws in 1967. The California Supreme Court held that "marriage is . . . something more than a civil contract subject to regulation by the state; it is a fundamental right of free men...legislation infringing such rights must be based upon more than prejudice and must be free from oppressive discrimination to comply with the constitutional requirements of due process and equal protection of the laws." As the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found, "The history of our nation has demonstrated that separate is seldom, if ever, equal."

The right-wing's sole attention is focused on AB 19. Right-wingers have been targeting certain LGBT-supportive legislators in an attempt to intimidate and coerce them to stop supporting AB 19, by giving their members "permission to be angry." Marriage Equality advocates say that people need to work together and continue to move forward with the gains that have been made, by contacting the legislators to keep the bullying tactics from working. Read EQCA's list of pro-equality assembly members.

Religious Tolerance AB 19 Page | Equality California

On Tuesday, May 24th the California State Supreme Court heard three cases involving the rights of children born to lesbian parents. All three cases pose the question of whether both partners in a same-sex couple who use reproductive technology to have children together are legal parents, as they would be if the partners were married. In her argument before the Court, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) Senior Staff Attorney, Courtney Joslin, argued that, "all children, not only those born to married or heterosexual parents, must have a legal right to support and care from both people who brought them into the world."

Joslin argued one of three cases currently pending before the Court. NCLR's client, Emily B., is seeking child support from her former partner for the twin children that they conceived and raised together prior to their separation. NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter argued on behalf of amici in the Kristine H. case, also before the Court. According to Joslin, much is at stake with the court's ruling: "The California Supreme Court's decision will decide whether these children will be protected, or whether we'll turn the clock back to the day when children born outside of marriage were punished for being 'illegitimate.'" Read more

Most California courts that have considered the issue thus far have ruled that only a birth parent or an adoptive parent has a legal relationship to the child. The state domestic partner law that took effect this year granted equal parental status to registered domestic partners, the majority of whom are same-sex couples. The law, however, does not apply to partners who had already broken up or to couples who have not registered with the state. Those two groups certainly outnumber the 27,000 couples who are now on the registry.

NCLR Website

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors recently voted to support the World Pride celebration that is planned for this summer in Jerusalem, Israel. This decision has sparked criticism from LGBT groups that oppose Israel's policies and actions in the Palestinian territories. A number of organizations have announced a boycott of the celebration, which is slated to take place in the contested city of Jerusalem on August 18-20, saying that Israel's policies toward the Palestinians make a mockery of the theme of the event, "love without borders". "No city in the world could have more borders than Jerusalem," said Kate Raphael-Bender of QUIT!.

Rafael-Bender says that Israeli borders continue to encroach further and further into Palestinian territory, and are enforced by military checkpoints and cement walls. QUIT! is urging people to observe ongoing international boycotts of travel to Israel and Israeli products as a way that the international community can exert pressure on Israel to withdraw its forces from Palestine. "For internationals to stay away from this event will send a very clear message to the Israeli government," Raphael-Bender says, while noting that the situation is different for people in Israel. Local LGBT groups Black Laundry and the Palestinian lesbian group Aswat plan to participate in the event and use it to draw attention to the injustices that Palestinians are subject to under the Israeli occupation. Read more

QUIT! has produced a 15-minute video to counter the one produced last summer by Blue Star PR to promote World Pride. QUIT!'s "Love Without Borders?" piece presents the true image of Jerusalem, a city divided by a 25-foot concrete wall, which has caused death and destruction in Palestinian communities for the last two years. World Pride Trailer (Windows Media Player version) | Full video

Indybay's past coverage of World Pride 2005 | Boycott World Pride | QUIT! Palestine