California gay marriage fight goes to Chinatown
The path to gay marriage in California may start in Chinatown.
After a double defeat at the voting booth and in court, gay advocates are reassessing their plans to push for legal same-sex marriage in the most populous U.S. state.
The new drive, focused on getting the issue on the ballot again as soon as November 2010, is more personal and reaches farther beyond the liberal confines of San Francisco’s Castro or Los Angeles’ gay heartland West Hollywood.
Lost in the 2009 election wreckage for gays was the marriage campaign’s relative success in Asian communities, which have swung toward support of same-sex marriage at a faster rate than the rest of California and have become a model for other groups.
Asian Americans have been building grass-roots support in Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Filipinotown for four years. Gays, lesbians and straight allies have talked about the often-taboo topic of homosexuality, set up booths at festivals, harangued non-English language media to change coverage and lobbied elected officials for support.
“What we felt we had to do is talk to people who aren’t on our side. So that’s why we do these crazy things like walk through the streets of Chinatown as part of the New Year’s Parade. That’s why we go out to festivals from Little India to Little Tokyo and talk to complete strangers,” said Marshall Wong, co-chair of Asia Pacific Islander group API Equality.
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California gay marriage fight goes to Chinatown
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Castro-ville: a 21st century, gay-friendly city
Mayor Julián Castro knew roughly what to expect when he agreed this week to serve as the Grand Marshal of San Antonio’s July 4 Gay Pride parade — the first San Antonio mayor to do so — and in less than 24 hours, conservative talk-radio host Adam McManus had marshalled his self-styled “Adam’s Army,” urging them via web and airwaves to bombard the new mayor with pleas to withdraw. McManus applied the same pressure to SA Police Chief William (no relation) McManus when he served in the role in 2007.
[Adam McManus is also urging his listeners to protest the public library’s Pride month programming, which includes a screening of Milk. His website, somewhat hysterically, insists on adding “homosexual” in front of any GLBT-related items, as in “San Antonio Homosexual Pride Parade,” and “Stonewall Homosexual Democrats” – in honor of which we’re changing this week’s cover tag, “San Antonio’s Gayest Newspaper,” to “San Antonio’s Homosexual Newspaper.”]“I knew that it would be controversial,” Castro told the Current via phone this morning. He estimates that he has received 80-90 emails opposing his participation, many of them echoing the radio host’s recommended talking points. “But to [Adam McManus’s] credit … they have been very polite, very respectful.”
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San Antonio Current
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California parole board appointee rejected over homophobic comments
An appointee selected by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve on the state’s parole board has been rejected over homophobic comments he had made in 1993, despite apologising for his words.
Douglas Drummond had voiced his support for Fidel Castro’s isolation of the AIDS population in Cuba.
He also said of gay rights issues: “How do we deal with it short of killing them?”
At a private conservative group meeting, he said: “Do you know why I don’t worry about gay activity? I’m going to give you a clue. So far in San Francisco, over 10,000 have died. In Long Beach, over 1,000 have died. I’m serious.” See California parole board appointee rejected over homophobic comments
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Prayer Service on the EVE of Decision Day – Monday, May 25 Grace Cathedral (1100 California Street San Francisco), 7:00 – 8:30 pm
PROP 8 DECISION DAY IS ON MAY 26, TUESDAY!
Decision Day is on Tuesday, May 26!!!
From the CA Supreme Court website: “The California Supreme Court has announced that it will issue an opinion in three cases challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8 at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 26, 2009. (Strauss v. Horton, S168047; Tyler v. State of California, S168066; City and County of San Francisco v. Horton, S168078.) Tuesday at 10 a.m., the opinion will be available on the California Courts Web site at this link: http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/.”
You are invited to the following events:
1. Prayer Service on the EVE of Decision Day – Monday, May 25
Grace Cathedral (1100 California Street San Francisco), 7:00 – 8:30 pm
The night before the announcement of the CA Supreme Court’s decision, we invite the Bay Area community to come for an evening of songs and meditation that will center our hearts on peace, healing and understanding.
2. Service/Blessing on Decision Day – Tuesday, May 26
St. Francis Lutheran Church (152 Church St. San Francisco, across from Castro Safeway), 8:30 – 9:15 am
The morning of the decision, we invite the Bay Area community to come for encouraging music and words from community leaders, testimonies from married couples and blessings for those who will be doing civil disobedience. We will march in a procession from the church to Civic Center Plaza. Some people will join the march from the LGBT Center on Market and Octavia.
NOTE: We request clergy to come in their religious garb as appropriate for their tradition. Please come at 8:00am to prepare.
CONTACT: Rev. Roland Stringfellow at rstringfellow@clgs.org
3. Circle of Care – Tuesday, May 26, Civic Center Plaza
If Proposition 8 is upheld, we will surround those who are willing to be arrested in civic disobedience as we sing, and move aside as they are arrested.
Marriage is not just a nice idea for some. To deny it is a form of bashing. On Decision Day, a group of people will participate in civil disobedience if the Supreme Court upholds Prop 8. In partnership with an interfaith group of clergy, we’ll do a peaceful street blockade with the message SEPARATE IS NOT EQUAL!
We’re looking for people to participate in this action with us, and for friends who will support us as peacekeepers and legal observers. For more information, please email action@onestruggleonefight.com.
SPONSORED BY:
Bay Area Coalition of Welcoming Congregations
California Faith for Equality
Congregation Sha’ar Zahav
Fellowship of the Rainbow
Progressive Jewish Alliance
Jewish Mosaic - The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity
California Council of Churches
Colage
The Fellowship
Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco
Freedom in Christ Church of San Francisco
Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies of Pacific School of Religion
Equality California
Marriage Equality USA
Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry California
Glide Memorial United Methodist Church
Grace Cathedral
St. Francis Lutheran Church
One Struggle, One Fight
Nueva Vida Ministries
The Society of Franciscan Workers
API Equality
PANA Institute of Pacific School of Religion
Network on Religion and Justice for API LGBTQ
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Cuba has first gay rights rally
Castro’s daughter hosts the country’s first gay rights rally, hopes to “deepen” the revolution.
Tags: Castro, Cuba Gay, gay rights, RallyRally On Eve Of Prop. 8 Hearing
Rally On Eve Of Prop. 8 Hearing
Supporters of same-sex marriage marched from San Francisco’s Castro district to the state Supreme Court. Some planned to camp out in Civic Center Plaza to be there for Thursday’s hearing to decide the fate of Prop. 8. Photos
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Leno kicks off another try at Harvey Milk Day
With Academy Award-winner Sean Penn on hand to provide Hollywood star power, state Sen. Mark Leno launched a new effort Tuesday to recognize May 22 in California as Harvey Milk Day in honor of the slain San Francisco supervisor and gay rights leader.
In September, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill, which would have made Milk’s birthday a “a day of special significance” in the state’s public schools. The governor argued that Milk’s contributions should be “recognized at the local level.”
But Milk’s cause took a huge leap in visibility when Penn received an Oscar last month for his portrayal of Milk, one of the nation’s first openly gay elected officials, in the movie of the same name.
With the Castro district camera shop owner’s name back in the headlines 30 years after his death, Leno, a San Francisco Democrat, is trying again with a new bill, SB572.
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Novel SF program tries to cut new HIV cases
This month, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation is launching an innovative program designed to catch new HIV infections shortly after they occur - when the risk of transmission is the highest.
The goal of the two-year pilot project, the first of its kind in the nation, is to reduce by half the number of new HIV cases by 2015.
During the two- or three-month period after infection, the viral load is highest and the danger of transmission is also at its peak. As many as half of all new infections are estimated to occur during the acute phase.
“The virus gets in your body and starts to replicate at a very high rate before the natural immune responses of your body start to mobilize,” said Mark Cloutier, chief executive of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
The expanded testing, along with counseling, will take place at Magnet, a community health center for gay men in the Castro.
Clients who report engaging in recent, high-risk behavior will be invited to take viral RNA (ribonucleic acid) testing, which will identify those who are acutely infected. They will also be encouraged to alert their partners.
It takes two weeks to get results. During that time, said Steve Gibson, director of Magnet, clients are counseled to behave prudently, as if they were HIV-positive.
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San Francisco Chronicle, USA
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Black gay men seek community space in SF
Isolated not only from the larger LGBT community, but also from each other, the city’s black gay male population is seeking a place to call home.
Unlike other ethnic groups, the approximately 4,500 gay black men who reside in San Francisco do not have a central gathering place to meet, socialize and create a sense of community. The Castro is seen as a neighborhood for white gay men, and with the shuttering of the Pendulum bar several years ago, black gay men lost the last remaining gay space that catered to them.
“There is no place to socialize. It is very limited for us,” said Norman Tanner, an outreach worker with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Black Brothers Esteem program who has lived in the Tenderloin since the mid-1970s. “The nightlife is not what it used to be.”
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Bay Area Reporter, CA
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