At the March 2013 general membership meeting the Milk Club unanimously voted to sign on to the San Francisco Youth Commission's motion requesting the Board of Supervisors to hold a timely hearing on the implementation of "12N."

Download a PDF version of the hearing request here. 

Download a PDF version of the letter. 

March 20, 2013  

Dear President Hur and Members of the Commission:

We are writing to bring to your attention our continued disappointment with the Ethics Commissions work to protect the public trust. We had hoped that the 2011 Civil Grand Jury report and this year’s Board Budget Analyst review would bring a renewed vigor and commitment to the mission of the Ethics Commission. 

We write from the perspective of many different organizations and communities active in our city’s public life. Some of our organizations are active in city elections and some are active as advocates for steps we believe will improve the quality of life and government for all of us regardless of our political differences.

Many of us have had no outreach from the Ethics Commission, including regarding the upcoming Interested Persons meeting, although the Commission directed staff to create a robust outreach for community views on the June 5, 2012 Rose Report comparing San Francisco to Los Angeles ethics policy and practices.

Vicki Marlane represented the San Francisco trans community in a vibrant and visible way. That is how we want her to be remembered. We support a visible testament to Vicki Marlane and to the contributions of the trans community to San Francisco. 

The Milk Club has set up a petition through Change.org calling on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to rename the 100 block of Turk St., between Taylor and Jones, as Vicki Mar Lane. Please sign and share the petition in support of the history and current struggles of the San Francisco transgender community and to commemorate the life of Vicki Marlane, transgender performer and artist.

Petition to Rename the 100 Block of Turk St, Vicki MarLane

This weekend is the critical election for delegates to the California Democratic Party State Convention and turnout is expected to be low. Every vote counts!!! It is vital that everyone in the club show up to vote.

On Saturday, January 12 and Sunday, January 13, let's turn out the vote for California Assembly Districts 17 and 19 Democratic Party State Convention Delegate Candidates. Here is all the information you need to know on where, when, and how to vote: 

Assembly District 17: Saturday, January 12
Location: African American Art & Cultural Center
Address: 762 Fulton St. Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94115
Onsite Phone: (415) 922-0623

Registration to vote is 10:00AM - 12:00PM, the doors close at 12PM. Any person who is a registered Democrat in Assembly District 17 can vote. Milk Club members will convene outside the polling place at 11 AM to discuss candidate choices.

Here are some links to endorsement slates by other Dems:

• Tom Ammiano's District 17 Endorsement Slate
• San Francisco Young Democrats District 17 Endorsement Slate

Assembly District 19: Sunday, January 13
Location: Westlake Park - Merced
Address: 111 Lake Merced Blvd. Daly City, CA 94015
Onsite Phone: (415)793-5344

Registration to vote is 11:00AM - 1:00PM, the doors close at 1PM. Any person who is a registered Democrat in Assembly District 19 can vote. 

• Click here for the Forward California AD 19 endorsement slate.

Download a PDF version here. 

Political Action Committee

Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

7:00 - 9:00pm

LGBT Community Center

1800 Market Street, 3rd Floor

1. PAC Meeting was called to order by PAC Chair Laura Thomas at 7:10pm.
2. Updates & Announcements
   1. 40th Anniversary of Roe v Wade  
      1. Saturday, January 26th at 10am at Justin Herman Plaza
      2. Celebration of Women, Life, & Liberty
   2. Beer Blast at El Rio
      1. Fundraiser for the 2nd Annual Howard Grayson Conference 
      2. Sunday, January 27th, 3-5pm 
      3. $10 cover at the door 
      Read more

As is tradition, the Milk Club hosted the Harvey Milk altar and vigil at Jane Warner Plaza again this year on the anniversary of Harvey Milk and George Moscone's assassinations. This year the public gathered at City Hall (hosted by the Harvey Milk Foundation) and marched up Market Street by candlelight to the vigil. Speakers at the vigil included Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, Supervisors David Campos and Christina Olague, activist Cyd Nova, and Milk Club President Anna Conda. A procession led by the Brass Liberation Orchestra led the vigil to Harvey Milk's old camera shop. Thanks to everyone who came out for a for this beautiful and very important memorial. Here are some photos and articles from the evening. 

Mission Local: http://missionlocal.org/2012/11/celebrating-the-life-of-harvey-milk-on-34th-anniversary-of-his-death-2/

Castro Biscuit: http://castrobiscuit.com/tag/harvey-milk-democratic-club/#

Procession from City Hall to the Castro:

 Cleve Jones and friend:

Brass Liberation Orchestra:

Photo by Daniel Michael Filipkowski:

Other coverage included:

CBS5 — SF Vigil Marks 34 Years Since Milk, Moscone Assassinations

KTVU — Assassinated SF mayor, supervisor remembered at vigil, candlelit walk 

KGO-ABC7 — Vigil held to mark Moscone, Milk assassinations

By Glendon “Anna Conda” Hyde

The election is over and we have piles of mail as a reminder of the cost. After all, we did just witness insane spending by people who “care” deeply about us. Every year my inner environmentalist goes out of her mind. No wonder we beat F into the ground and blame it for the deaths of baby seals. I love radical environmental ideas, but with the American public still sucking up plastics and gas, we are just a tad selfish to hear the message. Prop 35, which criminalizes associates of sex workers more than actually doing anything to protect legitimate workers and catch bad guys, was passed into legislation. This just shows that propositions are often a really bad way to have these conversations. People do not take the time to educate themselves and rhetoric can be very deceiving. 

As President of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, a chartered Democratic organization, I am exposed to all the players and playing of politics on a local level. Endorsements are a place where true colors are shown and players truly exert influence and manipulation. For the past two years, I have seen endorsement processes willfully manipulated by straight men to control an outcome in their favor. Even with the implementation of a new system of voting called score voting, which ranks each candidate and prevents stacking the club with voters to get the endorsement, we still had behind the scenes Tom foolery. Most candidates are people with integrity and we are lucky that many of them won.

Nationally I knew what would happen all along. I mean come on. I was so certain when I went to bed early Romney was ahead and I was still sure he would not win. I am amazed that all the states did not go for Obama, but that fear slinging does have an effect. It is great to have new lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin. First ever. We re-elected local heroes Ammiano, Leno, Spier and Kaplan, as well as electing Phil Ting to Assembly. My focus this year as President of the Milk Club and as a not-so-secret socialist (I voted Green for President), was local elections, and there was plenty to concentrate on. 

EMERGENCY MEETING ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, LGBT CENTER, Ceremonial Room, 7-9pm.

• The Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club will hold an Emergency General Membership Meeting Monday, October 22 to discuss and vote on the reconsideration of the Milk Club’s endorsement of Julian Davis for District 5 Supervisor. This was proposal was moved and seconded at the October 17 General Membership Meeting and carried by more than a 2/3 vote.

• A second motion was made to suspend the bylaws tonight in order to vote on the process for Monday night. This motion suspended Article 8, letter B: single seat multi-choice races. The motion was carried by more than a 2/3 vote.

•  A final motion was then made to do an unranked endorsement of Christine Olague, John Rizzo and Thea Selby as a slate endorsement to be voted on Monday, Oct. 22. Carried by more than a 2/3 vote. 

Decisions will take place by ballot vote. The ballot will contain the following questions:

• Shall the club rescind its endorsement of Julian Davis for District 5 Supervisor?

YES/NO

• If the club rescinds this endorsement, should the club approve an unrnanked triple endorsemnt of Christina Olague/John Rizzo/Thea Shelby?

YES/NO

Please come to this vital meeting to receive an update on the current situation and to participate in carrying the will of the Milk Club forward. Remember that you MUST be a member in good standing to vote! Please read the section on Membership, Dues and Voting in Article III of our by-laws for this information:

CLICK HERE FOR BY-LAWS