Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club

PAC Meeting, Nina Turner, Imperial Court & More!

Join the Political Action Committee of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club on Tuesday, April 13th, starting at 7pm. RSVP on Zoom here.

For our PAC's fourth meeting of 2021, we will host a conversation on Asian Pacific Islander solidarity and begin the re-launch of the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus, led by Milk Club Vice President of Events & Fundraising Jeffrey Kwong. We will also receive an update on the efforts to form a public bank in the City from San Francisco Public Bank Co-Founder Kurtis Wu.

Members interested in joining the API Caucus are encouraged to fill out a brief pre-meeting survey found here.

See you Tuesday evening!

Nina Turner is a former Cleveland City Council Member, Ohio State Senator, and Bernie Sanders' Surrogate. She is a fierce advocate for the $15 minimum wage, Green New Deal, and Medicare-For-All. And now, Nina is running in a special election to fill Ohio's 11th Congressional District seat vacated by Marcia Fudge. And she needs our help!

Nina Turner is a people-powered campaign for Congress that does not take any corporate money. So it is up to us to send Nina to DC!

Please join us for a special fundraiser for the campaign on Thursday, April 15th at 5:30pm Pacific Time. RSVP by clicking here.

We have many special guests including: US Congressman Ro Khanna, CA Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, CA Assemblymember Ash Kalra, Actor Danny Glover, Berkeley Mayor Gus Newport, Oakland Councilmember Carroll Fife, Jane Kim, and of course, Nina Turner herself!

Our event is also hosted by Jane Kim and the San Francisco Berniecrats and is co-sponsored by Our Revolution - East Bay.

See you on Thursday!

On a different note, below is our Executive Board's response to Mayor London Breed's appointment of Christina Dikas to the Historic Preservation Committee and its current lack of progressive LGBTQ representation.

You can also read more about this important issue in the BAR.

Let's elect a new Emperor and Empress for the Imperial Court! (Photo by Daniel Nicoletta.)

The International Imperial Court System is one of the oldest and largest LGBTQ organizations in the world. And San Francisco's Imperial Court (founded in 1965 by Mama Hose Sarria) is its first and oldest chapter. By the time it reached its 30th anniversary, Sarria had established more than 60 Imperial Courts throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico --- all dedicated to the diversity of queer identity, marvelous displays of pageantry, and fundraising for critical LGBTQ causes.

And elections for Emperor and Empress are once again upon us.

The Milk Club will be out and about all day next Saturday, April 17th at three separate voting locations in SOMA (Powerhouse, 1-5pm), Polk Gulch (the Cinch, 11am-4pm), and the Castro (Harvey Milk Plaza, 12pm-6pm).

If you would like to read more about the Court and why one of our most favorite people is running - in sensible heels - for Empress, read here.

And join us for our Tuesday PAC Meeting where we will discuss the Court's significance and volunteer opportunities for the weekend ahead.

Please sign this petition called "Castro Advocates Call for Safe Recovery, Not Surveillance."

For months now, the Milk Club has partnered with the Castro Queer Cultural District and other ally organizations to push back on the installation of a complex centralized network of 125 security cameras in the Castro District - an affront to Castro's fabled history of diversity and freedom of expression.

A decision is poised to be made in the near future as to whether the Castro Community Benefit District (an affiliation of mostly out-of-town property owners) will accept nearly $700,000 in dark money to install that network - without any oversight or community input.

The Milk Club was successful in delaying that decision once, but now is the time to keep the pressure on!

The Castro Community Benefit District needs to hear that there are better uses of that money - community ambassadors! new street trees! a graffiti removal task force! - to help the community recover from the pandemic without imperiling the privacy and freedoms of queers who live and visit this iconic neighborhood.

Please read and sign the petition here.

It is not too late to renew your Harvey Milk Club Membership by clicking here. Please stay with us in the fight this new year.

Feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] if you have any questions regarding your Membership.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Milk Club April PAC Meeting:
API Forum/Caucus Re-launch & Public Bank Update
Tuesday, April 13th | 7-9pm
Facebook Event Details Here
Zoom Details Here

Nina Turner for Congress Online Fundraiser
Thursday, April 15th | 5:30-8:30pm
Facebook Event Details Here
Event Details Here

Milk Club April General Membership Meeting
Tuesday, April 20th, 7-9pm
(More details are coming soon.)

The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club
http://www.milkclub.org

Join or renew your Membership today!
http://www.milkclub.org/join

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Spring Fling Fundrasier for Nina Turner!

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Register for this event & donate to Nina here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/sntapril15.

Our very own Nina Turner is running for Congress in Ohio District 11. This is a people-powered campaign that doesn't take any corporate money, so it's up to US to send Nina to DC! Please join us for a special fundraiser for the campaign on Thursday, April 15th at 5:30pm PT.

We have many special guests including: US Congressman Ro Khanna, CA Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, CA Assemblymember Ash Kalra, Actor Danny Glover, Berkeley Mayor Gus Newport, Oakland Councilmember Carroll Fife, Jane Kim, and of course, Nina Turner herself!

Our event is hosted by Jane Kim, San Francisco Berniecrats, and The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club and is co-sponsored by Our Revolution - East Bay.

Imperial Court Elections Next Saturday, April 17! Let's Elect a New Emperor and Empress!

The International Imperial Court System is one of the oldest and largest LGBTQ organizations in the world, and San Francisco's Imperial Court - founded by Mama Hose Sarria in 1965 - is it's first and oldest chapter. By the time it reached its 30th anniversary, Sarria had established more than 60 Imperial Courts throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, all dedicated to celebrating the diversity of queer identity, marvelous displays of pageantry, and raising funds for LGBTQ causes.

Yearly elections for Emperor and Empress are once again upon us! The Milk Club will be out and about all day next Saturday, April 17 at three separate voting locations in SOMA (Powerhouse, 1-5pm), Polk Gulch (the Cinch, 11am-4pm), and the Castro (Harvey Milk Plaza, 12pm-6pm). If you'd like to read more about the Court and why one of our most favorite people is running - in sensible heals - for Empress, read here: https://juanitamore.medium.com/running-in-sensible-heels-for-empress-of-san-francisco-e7c659af458

And join us for next Tuesday's PAC Meeting where we'll be creating a bit more space for discussion of the Court's significance and volunteer opportunities for the weekend ahead!

PLEASE SIGN the Petition - Castro Advocates Call for Safe Recovery, Not Surveillance!

For months now, the Milk Club has partnered with the Castro Queer Cultural District and other ally organizations to push back on the installation of a complex centralized network of 125 security cameras in the Castro District - an affront to Castro's fabled history of diversity and freedom of expression. A decision is poised to be made in the near future as to whether the Castro Community Benefit District (an affiliation of mostly out-of-town property owners) will accept nearly $700,000 in dark money to install that network - without any oversight or community input. We have been successful in delaying that decision once. (Read more about it here: https://hoodline.com/2020/10/castro-district-group-delays-vote-on-security-cameras-after-significant-community-pushback/)

Now is the time to keep the pressure on!

The Castro Community Benefit District needs to hear that there are better uses of that money - community ambassadors! new street trees! a graffiti removal task force! - to help the community recover from the pandemic without imperiling the privacy and freedoms of queers who live and visit this iconic neighborhood. Please read and sign the petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/castro-advocates-call-for-safe-recovery-not-surveillance.

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Statement on comments by Commissioner Alison Collins

Our hearts are broken by the increasing attacks against the Asian community. Our resolve is not.

Harvey Milk spoke often about uniting the “Us’s”, and building coalitions across the communities marginalized by deeply entrenched systems of power — across race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, and all the complex forms of identity sidelined and treated as an “other.” Harvey’s animating force as a politician was rooted in solidarity, and the animating force of this club is building on that legacy, and building solidarity — including and especially between the LGBTQ and Asian American communities, and between queer and trans members of the Black and Asian communities. Your struggle is our struggle, your pain is our pain, and your cause is our cause.

For the last week, this cause has been undermined by resurfaced social media comments made by Commissioner Alison Collins that have caused deep pain for Asian students, parents, and community members. They come at a particularly difficult time given the recent violent and deadly attacks against Asian Americans happening locally and nationally. These comments were offensive and wrong, and we strongly condemn them.

Since Commissioner Collins’ tweets came to light last Friday, our Executive Board has been in ongoing discussion — discussions that have been difficult, painful, and necessary. The time we have taken before making a statement is a reflection of the real struggle we have had with this incredibly challenging issue. We are a diverse organization, with a diversity of lived experiences and deeply felt perspectives. While we’ve taken considerable time to make a statement, that time should not be mistaken for silence nor should it be mistaken for complicity. We refuse to be complicit in broad-stroke characterizations of Asian Americans that are hurtful and unbecoming for an elected official. We also refuse to be complicit in efforts to weaponize the pain these comments have caused to the Asian American community to uphold anti-Black racism, or undermine the solidarity between communities of color that is our only path towards mutual liberation. Pitting communities of color against one another is what upholds and reinforces white supremacy.

Many things can be true at once. It’s true that commissioner Collins’ comments caused considerable harm and lost the faith of many she was elected to represent. It’s true that she has failed to adequately account for and acknowledge this harm. It’s true that not everyone outraged by this is acting in good faith, or shares our motivations for an anti-racist and just world. There is an expectation that when scandals arise, we call for something -- for resignation or atonement, for context, reframing the narrative, for defending the accused. In this difficult and divisive moment, we are leaning into what we are called towards: the hard work of building solidarity and imagining justice.

We recently announced the relaunch of the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club. We are thrilled and deeply committed to building and holding this space for queer and trans API community members to organize together, and we will continue to work for accountability and justice for API people in our schools, our City, and everywhere.

We’ll hold space at upcoming meetings for dedicated discussions on building solidarity between Asian, Black, and queer and trans communities. Frankly, it’s a conversation that has been taking place at the Club for many years now and which we are committed to continuing. Our focus is on this work.

We do not have consensus as a Board on what accountability and justice means for Commissioner Collins. Without consensus, we cannot in good conscience take a position on behalf of our members. We hold serious reservations about her leadership — about her judgment not only in tweets made as a private citizen five years ago, but her judgment today as an elected official that has failed to fully acknowledge the harm and take the responsibility that is required for restorative justice. We have reservations also about the reduction of complex and too-often-silenced issues to simple narratives, or the willingness to use frameworks created by and for white people to judge a Black woman speaking about anti-Black racism — even painfully, harmfully, and in ways we condemn. We also recognize the incredible and thoughtful work that Commissioner Collins has done on the board of education. And we recognize the limits of a restorative justice that seeks to restore conditions that are themselves unequal, inequitable, or unjust. Undoing the harm caused by Collin’s words would not undue the realities of anti-Black racism, or the ways in which Asian American and Black communities are both abused and oppressed by white supremacy. We seek instead transformational justice, the harder work of transforming these conditions at the root. We invite you to join us in this work, and we encourage Commissioner Collins to take time to build a foundation of trust and solidarity with communities that have been directly impacted by her actions.

Our hearts are broken. Our resolve is not.

Sincerely,

The Executive Board of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club

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Fighting for Asian Lives

The past year, we have seen an unbelievable spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans. The gun violence in Atlanta, Georgia has left eight dead, including six Asian American women. But we have also seen additional acts of violence against Asian American seniors here in San Francisco, including assaults against 83-year-old Ngoc Pham and 75-year-old Xiao Zhen Xie.

We must fight back to stop these hate crimes! This is one of our Club's top priorities.

Thank you to everyone who attended last night's General Membership Meeting. (If you missed it, you can watch it here.)

The Membership voted unanimously for the following motions:

1) A motion to cosponsor the Harvey Milk Annual Celebration Day of Service — a pandemic relief/ recovery center with DPH and UCSF led by Stephen Torres of the Harvey Milk Day Planning Coalition — and to support the closure petition for Castro Street between 18th and 17th/ Market) from 9am - 5pm, both on May 22nd.

2) A motion to support the efforts and goals of CART SF, a community-based alternative to a police-driven response to homelessness in the City.

3) A motion to support the elimination of the filibuster in the US Senate, to collaborate with Fix Our Senate to advocate for the elimination of the filibuster, and to send a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein asking her to advocate for ending the filibuster.

4) A motion to support AB 1400, "Guaranteed Health Care for All."

5) A motion to support AB 20, "Corporate-Free Elections Act."

6) A motion to support Assemblymember Alex Lee's (D-San Jose) proposal to impose a 1% annual tax on net household wealth of more than $50 million and an additional 0.5% on household wealth of more than $1 billion. (Read more about it in 48 Hills.)

7) A motion to support SB 331, "The Silence No More Act," which would protect workers against nondisclosure agreements and empower them to speak out about alleged acts of discrimination.

8) A motion to support the federal Protecting the Right to Organize Act," or PRO Act.

Also, the Membership elected Jupiter Peraza and Zahra Hajee to our Club's final two At-Large Executive Board Seats.

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Twitter Trolls & Social Justice Goals

As many of you know, Brandon Harami, former chair of the San Francisco Berniecrats, was the victim of a homophobic trope on Twitter. Read more about it in the BAR here and judge for yourself.

The troll in this case is The Marina Times editor emeritus Susan Dyer Reynolds, who regularly levels attacks on progressive elected officials and activists in her columns and on social media.

Lately, her main target has been SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin. But Reynolds has also attacked SB 145, legislation passed by CA State Senator Scott Wiener. Which was the subject of her latest social media abuse.

The Milk Club responded to these attacks with a letter to Brian Calle, CEO and publisher of Street Media, co-signed by several other Democratic and Progressive Clubs. (Feel free to read our letter below.)

We hope and expect that The Marina Times will remove Reynolds from her position, and that this Twitter troll (with too much time on her hands, apparently) has learned her lesson about not playing into thoughtless homophobic and transphobic tropes. Especially in this day and age.

Dear Mr. Calle,

The executive boards of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, Alice B Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club, San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club, Latinx Young Democrats of San Francisco, San Francisco Berniecrats, Richmond District Democratic Club, and San Francisco Young Democrats hereby request that you revoke Susan Dyer Reynolds’ status as Editor Emeritus of the Marina Times, as well as her access to the Marina Times Twitter account.

On March 10, Ms. Reynolds publicly accused a gay man of being “fine with adult men dating underage boys.” In doing so, without any evidence to support the claim, she perpetuated one of the oldest tropes against gay men that has been invoked for centuries to smear, incarcerate, and kill members of the LGBTQ community.

When the Milk Club responded to Ms. Reynolds Tweet, asking her to retract the statement and publicly apologize, she doubled down, claiming that Senator Scott Wiener’s SB-145 legalized pedophilia, an assertion that has been declared categorically false by Reuters and other respected news outlets.

In light of the blatant homophobia Ms. Reynolds displayed, in conjunction with her unwillingness to apologize, we feel it is inappropriate for her to continue to retain the title of Editor Emeritus and control over the Twitter account of a local news outlet in our City.

When you purchased the Marina Times, you said that San Francisco is “special” to you. We also feel this is a special City, in no small part because it has been the center of LGBTQ activism in the US for decades, and a place where many queer people feel safe. When someone like Ms. Reynolds displays such blatant bigotry on behalf of a respected local institution, it detracts from what makes San Francisco unique, and hurts our community.

Therefore, we respectfully request a response to this letter detailing the actions you have taken to eliminate any association between Ms. Reynolds and the Marina Times.

Signed,

Alice B Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club

Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club

San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club

San Francisco Latinx Young Democrats

San Francisco Young Democrats

San Francisco Berniecrats

Richmond District Democratic Club