Feature Archives

1/18/2004: The mayor of Jerusalem has reportedly been trying to undermine World Pride, but he has no authority to stop it. Read more
World Pride will take place August 18-28th, 2005 in Jerusalem. Gay Pride celebrations are a relatively new phenomenon in that city. As the World Pride website states, "Love without Borders - Jerusalem Pride has already succeeded not only in attracting thousands of participants, but also in getting the world’s attention. It is 'a protest against hatred' providing 'a spark of love and hope'.... Love without Borders: Jerusalem WorldPride 2005 will bring a new focus to an ancient city through a massive demonstration of LGBT dignity, pride, and boundary-crossing celebration. In these times of intolerance and suspicion, from the home of three of the world’s great religions, we will proclaim that love knows no borders." Jerusalem's impending hosting of World Pride would appear to indicate that Israel is some sort of "Gay Mecca," however, it is not a terribly safe or happy place for Palestinians. Border Wall between "Israeli" and "Palestinian" territory | Read more on Indybay's Palestine News Page

Blue Star PR is a new public relations firm that works to better the image of Israel in the media, perhaps at the expense of stthe Palestinians. The company's website says, "we produce visual media that strengthens existing efforts to gain popular support and interest for Israel and Judaism...Our goal is to shape public opinion through knowledge and understanding." Earlier this year, Blue Star PR had obnoxious advertising in BART stations in cities such as San Francisco- perhaps this was this result of a Sponsor a City donor. Blue Star PR also has an Adopt-A-Campus program to combat "anti-Israel activities" on campuses in the United States. Activities such as protests that advocate struggles of Palestinians for sovereignty? Commentary in response to this feature

InterPride, the International Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Coordinators | Black Laundry | In These Times Story About Black Laundry | Black Laundry Reports on Indybay: 1 | 2

11/29/2004: The Florida-based Liberty Counsel told the Supreme Court today that the US Constitution should "protect the citizens of Massachusetts from their own state supreme court's usurpation of power." The court was asked to overturn last year's decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court that legalized gay marriage. Without stating their reasons, the Justices declined to hear the case. The decision was a victory for states' rights to regulate marriage, rather than involving the federal government. If the federal government were to rule that same-sex marriage is or should be legal, it is likely that they would be legalized in all states.

Lambda Legal says, "The bottom line is that nobody is being harmed by the Massachusetts state law (that legalized same-sex marriage)... For more than six months, same-sex couples in Massachusetts have been getting married, and nobody else's marriage has been affected." The Human Rights Campaign said, "Massachusetts can continue to treat all of its citizens equally." (Anyone who has seen how segregated Greater Boston is might disagree that all "citizens" are treated equally) Out-of-state couples still cannot marry in Massachusetts. It is expected that same-sex marriage will likely come before voters in a referendum of sorts in a 2006 election.
Past Indybay coverage of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

November 20th: The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, the event has grown to encompass memorials in dozens of cities across the world. On Wednesday, November 17th, City College of San Francisco held its Transgender Awareness Day and Resource Fair. On November 20th in San Francisco, people gathered at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro at 6:30 p.m. for a solemn march down Market Street to the LGBT Community Center. At 7:30 p.m. in the Rainbow Room of the LGBT Center, the official Day of Remembrance memorial featured members of Gwen Araujo's and Toni “Delicious” Green’s families, and a performance by the Transcendence Gospel Choir. In San Jose, the event at the Billy De Frank LGBT Center featured be Gwen Araujo’s mother, Sylvia Guerrero. UC Davis Trans Action Week. More TDoR locations locally and nationwide. Other events in the Bay Area this week. 9/1 Event to Honor Slain Sexworkers

This year's official Halloween in the Castro promised "Good Music, Good Times, Good Behavior," with "NO Booze, NO Drugs, and NO Bashing." Halloween in the Castro 2004 was held on Sunday, October 31st, from 7pm to midnight. Halloween in the Castro used to be the place for hundreds of thousands to party in the streets in costume, dancing, drinking (or not), and having a great time independent of regulation by the City, but one year, something was all wrong...

The Castro's raucous Halloween 2002 street party resulted in dozens of arrests for public drunkenness, and five people were stabbed. In 2003 police banned alcohol from the street celebration and set up checkpoints around the party's perimeter to prevent alcohol consumption. The event was relatively, um, uneventful.

Prior to this year's event, the Halloween in the Castro website said, the "team has been working hard to ensure that this year, our neighborhood celebration will be a safe and fun event for everyone. As you arrive at the event, you will pass through gates where you'll be checked for alcohol and/or weapons and volunteers from one of our community partners will be collecting donations." Attendees were asked to "bring $3 to help support this event and community organizations." Report

The event was organized by such local corporate sponsors as Wild 94.9, KMEL, Kron 4, ClearChannel Outdoor, San Francisco Pride, Walgreens, and others.
Indybay Story about Halloween 2003
Additional Halloween 2004 events in SF.

Mary Cheney, Vice President Dick Cheney's out lesbian daughter, is head of her father's re-election campaign team. One of her past jobs was gay community liaison for Coors Brewing Company, where she helped to end the LGBT community's 20-year boycott of that company. She and her partner have been markedly silent about the same-sex marriage issue and Bush/Cheney's other anti-gay efforts, to the point that pro-same-sex marriage groups started a "Dear Mary" campaign to "try to get Mary to stand up to Dick."
Mary's sexuality became a campaign issue during the Vice-Presidential Debate, when John Edwards praised Cheney for publicly embracing his lesbian daughter, Mary. Cheney, said that he was grateful for the "kind words he said about my family and our daughter," and in a frank admission, said he would have preferred that the president not endorse a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and instead leave the issue to the states, but he added, "He sets policy for this administration, and I support the president."

In a debate between George Bush and John Kerry, Kerry responded to a question about whether or not homosexuality is a choice by saying, "'We're all God's children.... And I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she was being who she was, she's being who she was born as.'" Despite the fact that Mary's (sexuality) was mentioned in the vice presidential debate with no angry response from Republicans, both Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne responded angrily against Kerry's remark in following days. Lynne Cheney has said, "Of course, I am speaking as a mom, and a pretty indignant mom...What a cheap and tawdry political trick." It is unclear what trick she was referring to. LGBT activists have since stated that Kerry could have made his point without including Mary Cheney. Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of VP Candidate John Edwards, has stated "I believe the president has tried to use the constitutional amendment as a wedge issue, instead of addressing things like health care or real reform and attention to our veterans' issues." She has also said, "I think that [Mrs. Cheney's complaint] indicates a certain degree of shame with respect to her daughter's sexual preferences." Kerry's campaign later issued a statement saying the candidate was only trying to be supportive of Mary Cheney, and apologized if his words were taken the wrong way. The UK Guardian pointed out that "Gay men and lesbians are furious with Kerry, not for using Mary as a political pawn but for exposing his own double standards. In the same breath, Kerry spoke passionately for gay freedom and for marriage as an institution that should be enjoyed only by a man and a woman."

Past Indybay Coverage of Kerry and the LGBT Community | Indybay Story about Coors and the LGBT Community | Log Cabin Republicans' Statement

When President George W. Bush announced his support of the gay marriage ban on February 24, 2004, something snapped in Dale Duncan and Joe Henderson, a gay couple that has been together for ten years living in Atlanta, Georgia. Both men decided it was time to do something. Henderson jokingly suggested that gays stop doing wedding-related services for a day: no hair styling, no wedding planning, no cake decorating, no bridal gowns. From that suggestion came the idea for an economic boycott. But of what? The suggestion was made that gays, lesbians, questioning, transgendered and all their allies drop out of the economy for one entire day. No purchases of any kind," says Duncan. "No cell phone use. Take a personal or vacation day off from work. If you're a gay or lesbian business-owner, close up shop for the day." That is how the idea of a national Boycott for Equality on October 8th came to be.

"This is a call for a nation-wide boycott in the traditions of Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King. We are asking all GLBT Americans and their Straight Allies to "drop out" of the United States economy for one day to demonstrate that we are vital and important members of our communities with significant economic presence. There are four elements to the boycott: withdraw from work, withdraw from your ATM, withdraw from commerce and withdraw from cell phone communication." The organizers suggest that GLBT identified people and supporters withdraw $80 from their bank accounts on Friday and hold the cash in their pockets to symbolize the symbolic average daily contribution of gay people to the economy. On Saturday, October 9, they suggested, either redeposit the money into your account, OR spend it at a local GLBT friendly business. The Boycott website says that there are an estimated 17 million GLBT citizens with a daily spending power of $1.4 billion, equivalent to $500 billion annually.

A variety of ways to participate: "If a large number of people don't use their cell phones for the day, cell phone companies will report a significant drop in usage the following day," Duncan says. "If a significant number of employees of a major company take the day off, it will be evident in that company's productivity. For people who cannot participate on the day of the boycott, there are other ways to show support. "We suggest having fundraising parties," says Duncan. "People can have cookouts and parties and take donations," to benefit organizing for the Boycott. The website includes a petition where people who are planning to participate in the boycott can sign up, which will help Duncan to know how many people plan to participate, and what the impact of their participation will be.
Criticism of the boycott came from a variety of positions: store owners said that they would have to close shop and lose profits; some saw the idea of a one-day boycott as impractical. Still others pointed out that the boycott did not address or criticize queer people's participation in unsustainable consumerist lifestyles. More about consumption
Gay and Lesbian Consumer Census | Gay Shame | Report from last year's Latino Strike in California | Publish your observations and experiences from the GLBT Boycott to Indybay

October 1, 2004: A march and rally were called for Friday evening in response to a recent increase of reported acts of racist and sexist discrimination at commercial establishments in the Castro neighborhood, which is seen as a hub for Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans communities in San Francisco. Over 200 people of many races, genders, ages, and abilities gathered at SF's LGBT Center to listen to speakers and march to Market and Castro, chanting for equality and inclusion and against discrimination in the queer community. At Harvey Milk Plaza the march met up with others who had already gathered. The SF Gay Men's Chorus and the transgender Transcendence Choir sang several songs together, and Supervisor Bevan Dufty spoke of the hard work of people of all colors who are striving to change the racially discriminatory practices that have become all too common in the Castro District.

The march continued on Castro St., and turned up 18th St. to confront the SF Badlands, one of two bars owned by Les Natali (the other is the Detour) that are accused of race- and gender- based discrimination. The crowd laid candles and flowers in front of the Pendulum bar across the street, where the weekend before a 54-year-old white man had died after an altercation with some African American men (the details of that tragedy are still unclear and under investigation). Speakers told of how the divide of racism wounds us all and creates divisions and violence that cannot continue. After creating the memorial and having a moment of silence, the march ended with a celebration of inclusion at 18th and Collingwood, blocking traffic and dancing to music spun by DJ Jamez.
Report | Photos: 1 | 2 | Video