Register on Zoom here!

On Thursday at 6pm, please join the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, former CA State Senator Mark Leno, Jackie Fielder, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, former Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, SF DCCC Chair David Campos, CCSF Board of Trustees President Shanell Williams, and CCSF Trustee Tom Temprano for a fundraiser to support Supervisor Dean Preston's re-election campaign.

Please register in advance on Zoom here. Also, please consider signing up for a Dean Preston phonebank here.

A queer time will be had by all, especially when Dean Preston wins again this November.

Denise D'Anne's entry photo for Miss Tall Club from the 1970's. Photo: Geoffrey (Lucky) Scott.

As you may already know, Denise D'Anne, a former Co-President of the Milk Club, passed away on September 2nd. She was an early transgender activist and lifelong environmentalist and brought these value sets when she led this Club in 2010 with David Waggoner.

Denise D'Anne will be missed. So please plan to virtually attend our September General Membership Meeting this Tuesday, from 7-9pm, where we will discuss her life. Here is our full agenda:

1) Introduction & endorsement ballot description.
2) PAC Chair report.
3) Events & Fundraising report.
4) Presentations and Q&A with E-Board nominees Kurtis Wu for E-Board Outreach, Jasper Wilde for At-Large #1, and Joe Adkins for At-Large #2.
5) Reflections on the life on Denise D'Anne.
6) A discussion on Club civility.
7) New Business.

At our meeting, we will also virtually vote to endorse for Oakland City Council's At-Large Seat and for the SF Pride Board. (The PAC has given recommendations to Rebecca Kaplan for the Oakland City Council At-Large Seat and Laurence Berland and Tyler Breisacher for the SF Pride Board of Directors, so take that into consideration.)

We will also vote on electing the aforementioned Executive Board nominees.

If you knew Denise D'Anne and would like to talk about her life at our meeting, feel free to email us at [email protected] so that we can formally add you to our agenda.

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

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

Joel Engardio is actually running on being anti-police-reform. In this day and age?

In the age of Defund the Police and Black Lives Matter, Joel Engardio had the bizarre audacity to send out this mailer. In it, he attacked our Club's endorsed candidates Vilaska Nguyen (#1) and Myrna Melgar (#2) for District 7 Supervisor, in an apparent attempt to win over reactionary voters and Police Officer Association money.

All during the Republican National Convention, no less!

As a gay person, Joel Engardio should know better. Law enforcement has played a long and grotesque history of brutalizing Black, Brown, and Queer people in San Francisco and across the nation. This is why, despite being gay, the Harvey Milk Club Political Action Committee and it’s Membership decided not to endorse him for Supervisor.

For more context, check out Mr. Engardio's responses to his SF DCCC questionnaire and judge for yourself. He chose not to participate in our Club's endorsement process, so we have no questionnaire for this candidate, unfortunately.

Please note that in the DCCC questionnaire, Joel Engardio did not support the mayor's plan to divert police funding and reinvest in Black Community. He left that yes/no answer blank.

No wonder Joel is the candidate of the SF Police Officers Association, SF Republicans, Scott Wiener, and apparently Senator Dianne Feinstein's third-choice. Read the very fine print in Mr. Engarido’s most recent piece of artwork below.

Begs the question: Who are Senator Feinstein's #1 and #2 candidates for District 7?

All of this only underscores why the Milk Club endorsed Vilaska Nguyen and Myrna Melgar as our #1 and #2 candidates for District 7 Supervisor. They are both committed to life-saving, common sense police reform. Both oppose qualified immunity for officers, which is the civil rights action of our time. Both oppose tasers and have strong positions on many other issues including tenants rights, immigrant rights, and environmental justice.

And both candidates support District Attorney Chesa Boudin, as if that is something to be ashamed of. By the way, do you remember when the Milk Club called out Kimberly Guilfoyle earlier this year for her anti-Chesa rant?

We tried to warn you back in January, America!

With several other moderate candidates in the running in this fairly moderate district, it is imperative that we in the Milk Club support both of our candidates for Supervisor, Vilaska and Myrna! So visit their websites and sign up to volunteer.

At the Milk Club, we leave no district behind.

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

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

Here are our Milk Club's endorsements for the November 2020 ballot:

United States President & Vice President: Joe Biden & Kamala Harris

U.S. Congress, District 12: Nancy Pelosi

U.S. Congress, District 14: Jackie Speier

CA State Senate, District 11: Jackie Fielder

Here is our list of completed questionnaires turned in so far:

US House, CA-12: Shahid Buttar

District 1 Supervisor: Connie Chan

District 1 Supervisor: David Lee

District 1 Supervisor: Marjan Philhour

District 1 Supervisor: Marjan Philhour (Candidate Statement)

District 1 Supervisor: Veronica Shinzato

District 3 Supervisor: Aaron Peskin

District 3 Supervisor: Danny Sauter

District 5 Supervisor: Daniel Landry

District 5 Supervisor: Nomvula O'Meara

District 5 Supervisor: Dean Preston

District 7 Supervisor: Stephen Martin-Pinto

District 7 Supervisor: Myrna Melgar

District 7 Supervisor: Emily Murase

District 7 Supervisor: Vilaska Nguyen

District 9 Supervisor: Hillary Ronen

District 11 Supervisor: John Avalos

District 11 Supervisor: Ahsha Safai

School Board: Matt Alexander

School Board: Kevine Boggess

School Board: Alida Fisher

School Board: Jenny Lam

School Board: Tim Murphy

School Board: Michelle Parker

School Board: Mark Sanchez

School Board: Njon Sanders

Community College Board: Aliya Chisti

Community College Board: Anita Martinez

Community College Board: Jeanette Quick

Community College Board: Geramye Teeter

Community College Board: Tom Temprano

Community College Board: Shanell Williams

Community College Board: Han Zhou

District 9 BART Board: Bevan Dufty

AC Transit, Ward 1: Jovanka Beckles

Ballot Measure (Local): Real Estate Transfer Tax Rate Increase

Ballot Measure (Local): Article 34 Authorization for Social Housing

The late Harry Britt with former Milk Club President Gwenn Craig, Jane Fonda, and Tom Hayden at our                                                                                          annual Dinner on May 22nd, 1980. Thank you Gwenn for sharing this photo by Dan Nicoletta.

Harry Britt would not have wanted to be memorialized as a “legend” or a “hero.” But for all of us, he will always stand as a queer icon.

Harry was the chosen political successor of our Club’s namesake, Harvey Milk, and helped define progressive & queer values throughout San Francisco. Harry believed that tepid liberalism kept the powerful satisfied with the status quo and that none of us should rest until there is a fundamental transfer of that power to Queer and Trans folks, Women, People of Color, and those most damaged by the ills of our society. His fight lives on in all of us.

Harry would want us to turn our pain and sorrow into tangible action. The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, devastated by this loss, will continue to fight to do just that. Let the pain of this loss ignite a flame inside of all of us to do better for those of us with less. Let that flame grow bigger and brighter in our shared fight for radical racial justice.

No apologies. Black Lives Matter.

Rest in Power Harry.

Please read more about Harry Britt's life, accomplishments, and reactions to his passing here in 48 Hills, The Bay Area Reporter, The San Francisco Examiner, and The San Francisco Chronicle.

Harry Britt's passing on Wednesday will not make us queers timid in the least. In fact, it will make us resist oppression that much harder. Harry wouldn't have it any other way.

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

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

As an LGBTQ political organization, our history is a riot, from Compton’s to Stonewall to the White Night Riot, and every power and right and privilege we have was taken by us, for us, and built with thrown bricks.

We stand in solidarity with those acting and organizing for justice, in Minneapolis and Louisville and everywhere, yesterday and today and tomorrow.

George Floyd and Breonna Taylor deserve justice — as do Oscar Grant, Mario Woods, and so many more — and the systems that murdered them deserve to be dismantled.

Quote by Harry Britt, after the White Night Riots that followed from Harvey Milk’s killer getting away with murder. We didn’t apologize then and shouldn’t start now.

When: Tuesday, May 26th (6pm-8pm)

Where: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqce-opzMuHta0yzIjGtj2Y5-la1nkRv-z

Facebook Invite is here.

Join the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club to make calls for Jackie Fielder for State Senate 傑基. 菲爾德!

Jackie's a queer, Native American, and Mexicana educator and organizer running for State Senate to fight for California homes for all, a Green New Deal for California, and economic and social justice.

She's taken on Wall Street lobbyists and the fossil fuel industry, and has a track record of fighting for people and winning, even against the odds. She also has the Milk Club's endorsement, and needs our help to get her message out!

Training will be provided; registration is required.

Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqce-opzMuHta0yzIjGtj2Y5-la1nkRv-z

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

When: Friday, May 22nd (5:30pm-9pm)

Where: https://www.twitch.tv/sfqueernightlifefund/
http://zoom.queernightlifefund.org/

Facebook Invite is here.

May 22nd is Harvey Milk Day in the State of California—a day of celebration and reflection on the strength of our community all the more resonant as we face COVID-19 together.

Sponsored by the GGBA - Golden Gate Business Association

To commemorate this day, we present a virtual “block party”, hosted on Twitch and Zoom:
https://www.twitch.tv/sfqueernightlifefund/
http://zoom.queernightlifefund.org/

This collaborative effort is organized by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman's office, the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, the Castro Community Benefit District, “Windows For Harvey” presented by the Castro Merchants Association, the Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza, Open House, the GLBT Historical Society, the Tenderloin Museum, the Golden Gate Business Association, and the SF Bay Area Queer Nightlife Fund. This joint effort is not just to wish the happiest birthday to Harvey on what would have been his 90th birthday, but also an opportunity to broadcast our solidarity in hope, because as he so often reminded us, “You gotta give ‘em hope.” This event will be something to remember in these difficult and extraordinary times, just as we will one day look back and remember how we came together even when we couldn’t.

Juanita MORE! will hosting with performances by Mercedes Munro and Bionka Simon and the evening’s tracks provided by DJ’s Parks, Kidd, Jim Hopkins and Paul Goodyear.

This is a companion event to Live Drag for our LGBTQ Elders, happening from 4:30-5:30pm, just before the block party.

The event graphics and its theme, Heroes, was originally created for this year’s Windows For Harvey initiative, presented by Castro Merchants. Using Dan Nicoletta’s iconic photo, Harvey is now in medical uniform, a salute to the essential workers who are keeping our city functioning, and the medical personnel who are keeping us safe and healthy. The facemask around Harvey’s neck becomes a Rainbow Flag, to represent our community's strength and resiliency that protect us. The untied strings of Harvey's mask blow in the wind as Harvey’s tie does in Nicoletta’s original photo, which he has shared with us that he sees as a reference to the winds of change swirling around Harvey then, just as they are swirling around us now.

Top Photo: Bunk beds for mostly Asian travelers at an Angel Island Immigration Station, arranged as a museum display in 2010. (Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle.)
Bottom Photo: The Moscone Center, where homeless people at risk for COVID-19 may be forced to live in 2020. (Photo: Street Sheet.)

Despite what The Atlantic may say, you cannot claim to be a leader in San Francisco if your indifference to people experiencing homelessness verges on blatant and reckless disregard for their well-being. And in this COVID-19 era, such flippancy can, has, and will bump up the death curve.

Take for example the mayor and Human Services Agency Director Trent Rhorer's plan to create a new shelter system at the Moscone Center with no discernible physical distancing whatsoever.
 

From Street Sheet:

“People are given a wristband with their bed number on it and shown to a tiny mat on the floor with a folding chair,” the source said. “There aren’t many people staying here yet, but there are going to be hundreds of people, all breathing each other’s coughs.”

Thanks to the loud public outcry, and outrage from our Club's allies on the Board of Supervisors, this dangerous plan will likely be drawn down significantly. And at least some of this money will instead be invested in housing the unhoused in hotel rooms. Hopefully.

(Did you know that 30,000 hotel rooms are sitting empty right now?)

We will not let this horrible plan tarnish the late Mayor George Moscone's name, nor let the current mayor or anyone else create a brand new viral hot spot in the center of town. The Milk Club will do everything in its power to make sure EVERYONE is properly sheltered-in-place during this deadly pandemic, not just those with the privilege of a roof over their heads.

Death by dilly-dallying. MSC South’s Men’s Floor. (Photo By Chris Herring from Street Sheet.)

And if that wasn't bad enough, what the hell happened here, and why did it have to happen at all?

On Friday, 70 people tested positive for COVID-19 at MSC South, representing the largest viral outbreak in any shelter in all of California. According to The New York Times, this is the largest reported shelter outbreak in the entire country!

So when the mayor's allies claim that she alone is responsible for flattening the curve, when the credit should go to Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Sara Cody and the robust collaboration of officials across nine Bay Area counties, ask them who deserves "credit" for the largest outbreak in a shelter in the entire country. Or ask them about the growing number of COVID-19 cases in SRO hotels.

According to 48 Hills, "This could have been prevented – but the Mayor’s Office refused for a month to move homeless people into vacant hotel rooms."

We at the Harvey Milk Club are both thankful and grateful for all of the members of the Board of Supervisors currently pushing emergency legislation to fund over 8,000 rooms for homeless folks like those at MSC South. As well as hotel rooms for critical service workers who are also at risk of this deadly virus.

This will be voted on this Tuesday, so please contact your Supervisor right now so that we can ensure a veto-proof super-majority. Face it: You don't have anything better to do right now anyway!

The Milk Club knows what it means to protect the marginalized from deadly viruses. We fought like hell during the height of the AIDS pandemic, and we will do so again. This means flattening curves that some politicians would prefer didn't exist to begin with and ensuring they can't erase their failures from the public record.

Some things never change. And as the photo at the top of this email of bunk beds at the Angel Island Immigration Station reminds us, history too often repeats itself.

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