Feature Archives

2/4/04 The Supreme Court in Massachusetts ruled today that according only civil unions, rather than full marriage rights to same-sex couples, would amount to discrimination. Although same-sex couples should be able to marry as of next May, a battle is still being waged over the marriage issue. The combined Legislature faces a vote on an anti- gay marriage bill on Feb. 11; however, voters would not get to decide on the issue until at least 2006. On February 7th, Ohio's governor signed a bill that condemns same sex marriage in that state and also bans domestic partners of state employees from sharing benefits. On the national level, a proposed Federal Marriage Amendment would define marriage as only being between a man and a woman. President Bush supports that position.

National organizations called for actions during National Freedom to Marry Week, February 9-15, 2004. The organizations included The Equality Campaign, DontAmend.com and Metropolitan Community Churches, the world's largest predominantly gay and lesbian church group, long with a network of civil rights groups including Marriage Equality and Freedom to Marry. Events in California during January and February.
2/14: over one thousand people rallied for marriage equality at the state capitol. Reports: 1 | Photos: 1 | 2 | Video

Urban Outfitters wants to build a huge store at 1728 Haight Street. This store will endanger independent neighborhood businesses and will lead the way for more chain stores in the neighborhood. In addition, Urban Outfitters is owned by Dick Hayne, a financial supporter of Sen. Rick Santorum, whose recent comments about homosexuals equated gay sex with incest and bestiality. On Thursday, 1/15, there will be a picket outside City Hall. Read More...

On January 8th 2004, Gavin Newsom was sworn in as the new mayor of San Francisco. As thousands of conservative Democrats and Republicans rallied in the streets, activists mourned Newsom's rise while celebrating the end of 8 years of Willie Brown's corruption. Police took a hostile attitude towards the protesters, trying to isolate them to an area where they would not be seen by the press (while allowing other signs and banners that did not attack Newsom to be brought into the main crowd). A protest by radical queers walked with a mock coffin into the crowd at one point but a homophobic Newsom supporter quickly confronted them, claimed to have gotten fake blood on his jacket and had a protester detained.
Photos: 1   2   3

1/8/03 Kate Raphael has been released from the Israeli prison where she was being held. Kate is a long-time queer activist in the Bay Area, and a member of the International Women's Peace Service. She is one of four internationals who were arrested on December 30th in a demonstration protesting the construction of the Israeli apartheid wall. The wall is planned to completely surround the Palestinian community in Budrus. Kate is a member of LAGAI-Queer Insurrection and QUIT! (Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism). Kate has fought for queer visibility in many progressive movements, from the Central America Solidarity Movement to the current anti-war movement. She believes that queer liberation is inextricably linked to all liberation struggles. Read more! Check here for Updates
1/6/2004:About 100 people gathered at the Israeli consulate in San Francisco Tuesday to protest the detention and intended deportation of Kate Raphael.
Photos: 1   2   |   Video: 1  2  

8/17/2002: About 25 queer settlers descended on a downtown Berkeley Starbucks on Saturday, August 17, claiming Berkeley as “a city without people for people without a city.” The group, organized by Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!), posted a banner proclaiming the reclaimed café “Queerkeley – A Prophecy Fulfilled.”

The group selected Starbucks for the location of their first settlement in Berkeley because Starbucks founder and CEO, Howard Shultz, is a major supporter of the Israeli state and the corporation has become the prime target of an international boycott of corporations with ties to Israel. “Since Mr. Shultz clearly believes it is okay for one group of people to grab land belonging to another and say they have a right to it, we figure he won’t mind if we take some of his,” a QUIT leaflet explains.

Workers in the café were surprisingly unruffled as the Queer Defense Forces entered the café and announced over a loudspeaker that the land had been confiscated by the Queer National Fund and curfew for straights would begin in five minutes.

On December 18th, Bush said, “If necessary, I will support a constitutional amendment which would honor marriage between a man and a woman, codify that, and will - the position of this administration is that whatever legal arrangements people want to make, they're allowed to make, so long as it's embraced...at the state level. Let me tell you, the (Massachusetts) court I thought overreached its bounds as a court...” Bush is under pressure nationwide from the religious right and same-sex marriage advocates, so that his position will be clear during the 2004 election campaign. Canadians began to celebrate gay marriage in 2003.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has called for civil disobedience in response to the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment.