YOU’RE INVITED!! Queens, Studs, Femmes, Trannies, Twinks, Soft Butches, And all fighters for social justice and fabulousness! COME TO THE ‘Left OUT Party: A Genderful Gayla!’

At Union Square directly across from the Westin St. Francis (where HRC’s gala is happening simultaneously) San Francisco’s LGBT communities will celebrate inclusiveness and the multitude of gender expression and variation in our LGBT communities!

At the Left OUT Party, we will honor the legal team that won the CA Supreme Court marriage decision, hear from politicians and community leaders, and feature a spectrum of genderfabulous performers and Mistress of Ceremonies, Annie Danger.

Great news! Public Defender Jeff Adachi just came in as another endorser of the Left Out Party/HRC Boycott.

State Board of Equalization Member Betty Yee has signed on to the boycott of HRC. She joins a long list of politicians, including State Senator Carole Migden, Assembly Member Mark Leno, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, SF Supervisors Bevan Dufty and Tom Ammiano, Board President Aaron Peskin, Supervisor Chris Daly, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi,Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, President of the School Board Mark Sanchez and School Board Members Jane Kim and Eric Mar. One of my personal favorites endorsers is Stuart Milk, a gay nephew of Harvey Milk. Some of the organizations include the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, And Castro for All, The Trans March, The Lou Sullivan Society, FTM International, FTM San Buenaventura Chapter, and the SF Labor Council. The SF Pride at Work chapter and And Castro for All are doing the lead organizing. You can still sign the petition by clicking here.

Join us at the… GRAND OPENING OF AVALOS ‘08 HEADQUARTERS

Where: 4802 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94112
When: Saturday, July 19, 10:30AM
Phone: 415-584-8584
John is running for District 11 Supervisor to fight for working families. John is a longtime Excelsior district resident and has been a union organizer and an advocate for children and youth. As Supervisor, John will fight to bring our voices to City Hall and make D11 the best place to raise our families!

JOIN US in celebrating the opening of Avalos ‘08 Campaign Headquarters! Have a coffee and pastry with us then head out to collect signatures to get John on the November ballot!
10:30am - Coffee, Pastries and some words by John

When the rubber hit the road for people, he screeched out of there

By Robert Haaland
Published in the SF Bay Guardian

OPINION This isn’t the first time it’s happened. Most politicians break promises. That’s the nature of politics. But when someone signs a pledge — twice — saying he won’t privatize city services, when he holds himself out as a champion of anti-privatization and then goes directly against that stand —well, it kind of makes you wonder.

Great news! City Attorney Dennis Herrera just contacted Pride at Work to say that he will not be attending the HRC Dinner. This is particularly good news since HRC promised to award him for his work on Marriage Equality. Dennis deserves great praise for getting it.
Namaste Dennis.

Budget Rally
Thursday, June 26th
4-6pm, City Hall Steps

Save the Date, Save City Services.

June 12, 2008 –

An open letter to the LGBT community & our allies, from the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club

After much consideration by our board and members, it is with regret that we write this letter announcing our decision to forgo this year’s Human Rights Campaign (HRC) dinner in San Francisco, scheduled for July 16, 2008. We also encourage others in the LGBT community and our allies to forgo HRC’s gala event this year, due to HRC’s ongoing refusal to advocate for federal legislation that protects all Americans from discrimination based on gender identity and expression – as well as sexual orientation.

This week the San Francisco Labor Council joined the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, Pride at Work, And Castro For All, the Lou Sullian Society (FTM SF), and the Trans March in boycotting the Human Rights Campaign Dinner next month. They also endorsed the counter-party that Pride at Work is organizing outside the dinner. Last year, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) decided to drop gender identity protections from a federal law (ENDA) that would have prohibited discrimination in the workplace. Over 350 state and local LGBT and civil rights organizations came out against this decision by HRC. The AFL-CIO also came out for version of ENDA that is gender identity inclusive.

We’ve been big fans of the campaign for paid sick days from back when it was a gleam in the (metaphorical) eye of Young Workers United.

We’re not the only ones. The Drum Major Institute recently featured YWU cofounder Sara Flocks.

Part 2