The Harvey Milk Club discussed the Mary Packer eviction case in our previous eblast. And now, we have an apology from Supervisor Vallie Brown's lawyer after proof emerged, proof positive, that Ms. Packer indeed paid her rent in 1992. As if that would have been enough to save her home.

Haven't black women been poverty-shamed enough?

Let's stop just imagining Dean Preston as our new District 5 Supervisor. Truthfully speaking, we only have a few more days to turn our dream into reality, a new reality based on the humanity of tenants rather than the clutches of the California Association of Realtors.

Sign up to volunteer for Dean Preston on Election Day here, now. Commit your time to this cause!

The status quo must be running scared because the San Francisco Police Officers Association is spending over $200,000 to defeat Chesa Boudin for SF District Attorney, according to an SF Examiner article written by Supervisors Sandra Lee Fewer and Matt Haney. If you are lucky enough to avoid their dumb hit pieces, more power to you!

Our Club's work can and will overpower their reactionary junk mail, not to mention the Mayor's last-minute appointment maneuver. So study our Calendar of Events and commit to at least three volunteer events for both Chesa Boudin and Dean Preston. How else are they going to get elected on Tuesday, November 5th? The cops and the landlords say no, so the Milk Club must be doing something right.

Security in our homes and justice on the streets!

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Sticker Lit and Movie Night with Dean Preston
Friday, November 1st | 5:30-9pm
Dean Preston for Supervisor HQ | 631 Haight Street, SF, CA 94117
Facebook Event Details Here

Yes on A & Yes on E GOTV Mobilization
Saturday, November 2nd | 10am-1pm
Crocker Amazon Playground | 1485 Geneva Avenue, SF, CA 94112
Facebook Event Details Here

Mega Rally with Mark Leno and Jane Kim for Chesa Boudin
Saturday, November 2nd | 11am-3:30pm
Noe Valley Courts | 4320 24th Street, SF, CA 94114
Facebook Event Details Here

Tenderloin Lit Drop Mobilization: Get Out the Vote for Chesa Boudin
Saturday, November 2nd | 12-3pm
246 Eddy Street, SF, CA 94102
Facebook Event Details Here

Medicare For All Rally and March
Saturday, November 2nd | 2-4pm
UN Plaza | 355 McAllister Street, SF, CA 94102
Facebook Event Details Here

Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story
Saturday, November 2nd | 6:30-9pm
The Castro Theatre | 429 Castro Street, SF, CA 94114
Ticket Details Here

Harvey Milk Club Slate Card Tabling
Sunday, November 3rd | 10am-3pm
Corner of 18th & Castro Streets

Major Solidarity Rally and Lit Drop!
Sunday, November 3rd | 11am-2pm
Alamo Square | Scott Street at Hayes Street
Facebook Event Details Here

Huge "Hella Mission" GOTV Rally for Chesa Boudin
Sunday, November 3rd | 11:30am-3:30pm
Chesa Boudin for DA HQ | 1769 15th Street, SF, CA 94103
Facebook Event Details Here

Vote for Dean Preston!
Tuesday, November 5th | 5am-8pm
Dean Preston for Supervisor HQ | 631 Haight Street, SF, CA 94117
Facebook Event Details Here

Dean Preston Election Night Party at Noir Lounge
Tuesday, November 5th | 8:30pm-12am
Noir Lounge | 581 Hayes Street, SF, CA 94102
Facebook Event Details Here

Election Night with The League of Pissed Off Voters & Milk Club
Tuesday, November 5th | 8:30pm-12:15am
El Rio | 3158 Mission Street, SF, CA 94110
Facebook Event Details Here

Milk Club November Executive Board Meeting
Wednesday, November 6th | 7-9pm
The SF LGBT Center | 1800 Market Street (Room #201), SF, CA 94102

When: Saturday, October 19th (10am-1pm)

Where: The Dean Preston Campaign Headquarters at 631 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117-3304

Facebook Invite is here.

Join us at 10am on Saturday, October 19th at the Dean Preston HQ at 631 Haight and Steiner! Our city can and should provide for neighbors! Public good is our aim, and Dean's campaign is our game. Come join us -- throughout history our local work in San Francisco has inspired state and federal change too. It's time that we, workers, families, students, renters, the people, rethink what's possible in our communities.

The future of renters, neighborhoods and San Francisco is up to us! Come help us build our neighbor movement for change in District 5. Come run a proud and ethical field campaign with us. Neighbor to neighbor! We can do better for San Francisco, and we must! But only if we do it together! We neighbors deserve more than crumbs! We deserve lives with dignity and beauty! We can't do it without you, nor would we want to!

Let's elect Dean Preston District 5 Supervisor!

Machine politics are alive and well in San Francisco: Boudin vs. The Machine

By The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club Executive Board.

Published in the San Francisco Examiner here.

In his campaigns for Supervisor, Harvey Milk’s unofficial slogan was Milk vs. the Machine. It reflected not only his values but the realities of challenging a political system that entrenches power for the few at the expense of the many — and at the expense of queer folks, trans folk, the working class, and people of color.

With Mayor London Breed’s appointment of candidate Suzy Loftus days before voting begins, it is clear that machine politics are alive and well in San Francisco, and it comes at the expense of our democratic processes and our progressive values. The race for District Attorney would and should have been the first open race without an incumbent in over a century. The fact that it took us over a hundred years to have this opportunity for the people to decide who should represent us at the Hall of Justice speaks volumes about entrenched power and the means the powerful use to keep it.

It also speaks volumes that Mayor Breed took this opportunity away from us, refused to let the people decide for ourselves who should be our next District Attorney, and instead put her thumb on the scales by appointing her chosen candidate days before voting begins. This is machine politics at its worst. Regardless of whom you support in this race, we should all condemn this shady action that once again deprives us of a truly open race and a free and fair election.

The winner of this race should be decided by we the people, based on the merits of each candidate, not picked for us based on who’s coziest with the power brokers. The Machine doesn’t care about democracy, but we do. And the next District Attorney should care too because democratic values are at the heart of San Francisco’s safety and justice issues.

This makes the choice before us clearer than ever. We deserve leaders, not gatekeepers. We need movements, not machines. We deserve better than the status quo. We deserve Chesa Boudin as our next District Attorney.

Chesa is a different kind of candidate, running a different kind of campaign. He knows firsthand the injustices of mass incarceration and a criminal justice system that doesn’t keep us safe but does keep LGBTQ people in cages at alarming rates. The same institutions that tried to keep Harvey out of office are doing their damnedest to deny Chesa a fair shot because they are scared. They are scared because Chesa is outrunning and outraising his opponents while simultaneously challenging San Francisco to do and be better. And they should be scared because when Chesa wins, it is going to be a victory for Us— for all of the Us’s—over the powers that be.

This November, it is Chesa Boudin vs. The Machine. And we know who we stand with because Chesa Boudin stands with us.

6th Annual Harvey Milk Pie Toss

The Milk Club and the Castro Street Fair share a long bond. At the fair's inauguration and years after, Harvey hosted a dunk tank in front of Castro Camera where he invited his political colleagues, friends, and rivals to join him in the hot seat as folks pitched balls and saw their local leaders take a dip in the sunshine.

The Club carries on this good-natured tradition with our annual Castro Street Fair Pie Toss. Due in part to water conservation concerns, we have traded in the dunking with fully-loaded cream pies ready for the unsuspecting.

Harvey regarded politics as a circus replete with its own pratfalls, so we cordially invite you and our esteemed colleagues under the "big top" to join us this Sunday and toss a pie tin on the chin with Club leadership, civic leaders, community organizers, lawmakers, drag queens, and the rest of the three rings.

Here is our schedule so far:

12pm: Supervisor Hillary Ronen

12:30pm: Dean Preston

1pm: Chesa Boudin

1:15pm: Seamus McGeever

1:30pm: Jeffrey Kwong

2pm: Shaun Haines

2:15pm: Catch Meredeath (Andrew Sheets)

2:30pm: Janice Li

2:45pm: Tom Temprano

3pm: Supervisor Rafael Mandelman

3:15pm: Kevin Ortiz

3:30pm: Cochina Rude (for St. James)

3:45pm: Leif Dautch

4pm: Peter Gallotta

4:30pm: Tab Buckner

4:45pm: Jon Jacobo

5pm: Nancy Tung

And if you would like to volunteer to get pied or to help out at the booth, drop us a line at [email protected].

Here is our Club's list of endorsements for the November 2019 ballot:

Mayor: no position
District 5 Supervisor: Dean Preston (sole-endorsement)
City Attorney: Dennis Herrera
District Attorney: Chesa Boudin (sole-endorsement)
Public Defender: Manohar Raju
Sheriff: no position
Treasurer: Jose Cisneros
Board of Education: Jenny Lam
Community College Board: Ivy Lee

Yes on Measure A: Affordable Homes for San Franciscans Now
Yes on Measure B: A New Department of Disability and Aging Services​
No on Measure C: SF Kids vs. Big Tobacco
Yes on Measure D: Safer Streets, Less Traffic, Better MUNI
Yes on Measure E: Affordable Homes for Teachers and Families
Yes on Measure F: Sunlight on Dark Money

Here is our Club's list of endorsements for the November 2019 ballot:

Mayor: no position
District 5 Supervisor: Dean Preston (sole-endorsement)
City Attorney: Dennis Herrera
District Attorney: Chesa Boudin (sole-endorsement)
Public Defender: Manohar Raju
Sheriff: no position
Treasurer: Jose Cisneros
Board of Education: Jenny Lam
Community College Board: Ivy Lee

Yes on Measure A: Affordable Homes for San Franciscans Now
Yes on Measure B: A New Department of Disability and Aging Services​
No on Measure C: SF Kids vs. Big Tobacco
Yes on Measure D: Safer Streets, Less Traffic, Better MUNI
Yes on Measure E: Affordable Homes for Teachers and Families
Yes on Measure F: Sunlight on Dark Money

When: Saturday, June 1st from 10pm to 12am.

Where: Tabletop Tap House @ 175 4th Street, SF, CA 94103

Facebook invite is here.

For everyone attending this week's CDP Convention, mark your calendars for an event we are co-sponsoring honoring LGBT veterans! Drinks and appetizers will be served.

See you there.

What: Milk Club May General Membership Meeting: Early Endorsement Vote

When: Tuesday, May 28th at 7-9pm

Where: The Women's Building at 3543 18th Street (Auditorium Room, Ground Level)

Facebook Event Page is here.

Please note that May's General Membership Meeting will be taking place on the 4th Tuesday of May rather than the 3rd Tuesday. And we will be meeting in the Auditorium Room on the ground floor rather than the Audre Lorde Room.

At our May meeting, we will be giving an up or down endorsement vote on paper ballots for Chesa Boudin for District Attorney, Dean Preston for District 5 Supervisor, and the upcoming Sunshine on Dark Money and Free City College Fund ballot measures.

All candidates for District Attorney and District 5 Supervisor (as well as pro and con sides for the ballot measures) will be given 3 minutes to speak to the Membership, and the Membership will have a few minutes to ask the candidates and speaker questions. This portion of the meeting will begin at 7pm.

Confirmed, so far:

Our meeting will also include:

1) A presentation from David Chiu's office on towing reform, public bank legislation, and ant-rent-gouging legislation.
2) A presentation on Clean Power SF Enrollment.
3) New business.

Stay tuned for more updates!