Dear Ms. Adams,

The youth that are served by Larkin Street Youth Services are among our most vulnerable residents and the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club has long stood alongside you in your dedication to assisting them and fighting for their rights. You may remember that last year we partnered with the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club in successfully lobbying the Mayor to restore $500,000 worth of funding that had been cut from your budget that was intended to serve young people with HIV.

We are however troubled by recent actions by your organization to infringe upon the rights of your own dedicated employees who have expressed interest in forming a union with Service Employees International Union Local 1021.

The employees at Larkin Street Youth Services are dedicated to creating a better quality of life for their clients and deserve the ability to advocate for their own quality of life as well. The Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club has always stood with unions and we feel particularly strongly that those workers who are dedicating their lives to social justice, as yours are, deserve the opportunity to have a voice and to feel secure in their workplace. Teachers, nurses, and social workers in San Francisco have organized to improve the size of classes, nurse-to-patient ratios, and caseloads in the interest of those that they serve as well as their own working conditions. This is true in the case of your workers at LSYS as well.

Given the critical needs of the clients that you serve, it is troubling to us that you would spend your agency’s precious funds on your current anti-union campaign. Your workers, your clients and the San Francisco tax payers who help to fund your work deserve better.

The Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club asks that you immediately cease your anti-union campaign, stop using agency funds for anti-union efforts and accept the results of the mail ballots currently being circulated.

Our club respects the crucial service that your organization provides to our city’s youth and hope that you show the workers who provide these vital services the opportunity to organize that they rightfully deserve.

Sincerely,

Tom Temprano

President, Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club

-------

Sign the Change.org petition asking Larkin Street Youth Services to remain neutral.

Read the SF Bay Guardian article by Steve Jones about the use of LSYS funds in anti-union efforts.

Please join us at the Lookout, where the Harvey Milk Club will be celebrating the birthday of our namesake. There will be appetizers, a birthday cake, disco Djs, a raffle and more! 

Wednesday, May 22, 2013
9pm - midnight
The Lookout (3600 16th Street at Market)
No cover, all are welcome.

RSVP on Facebook here. 

This is the official afterparty for An Archive of Hope: Harvey Milk's Speeches and Writings being held at Books, Inc. from 7:30-9pm with editors Jason Edward Black and Charles E. Morris III, photographer & former employee at Harvey Milk's camera shop Daniel Nicoletta, and Harvey's speechwriter, Frank Robinson.

Like many other LGBT San Franciscans, the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club Board is outraged by SF Pride Committee’s decision to dump Bradley Manning as Parade Grand Marshal. Here is the Milk Club Board’s official statement on this shameful action:

"The Executive Board of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club is disappointed and angered by the recent announcements made by the SF Pride Board, which initially named Bradley Manning as a Grand Marshal of this year's parade and then recanted Manning's nomination in response to some predictable opposition. The Milk Club EBoard fervently supports Bradley Manning's act of conscience and ongoing struggle for basic fundamental rights. Manning's struggle is symbolic of the struggle of countless individuals to enjoy fair and just treatment under the law. SF Pride has never before shied away from such controversy and we question why this was handled in such an abrupt and unusual way. We would like to remind the Board of SF Pride that all of our LGBT rights have come through actions such as Manning's, such as Stonewall, such as the Compton's riot, in opposition to those institutions and laws that would prefer we did not exist. 

This is a statement issued by the Board members of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club. Please direct all inquiries about this statement to [email protected]. 

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.