Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) order to investigate the parents of transgender youth for child abuse caused behind-the-scenes tumult at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services caused by, according to internal emails.
In February, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton (R) issued a non-binding opinion stating that gender affirming health care for transgender youth is a form of child abuse. A week later, the governor directed DFPS to investigate parents who support their transgender children and allow them access to gender affirming medical care prescribed by their doctors in a letter sent to the agency.
“I will resign,” one staffer wrote in February in response to DFPS associate commissioner for statewide intake Stephen Black’s emailed guidance on Abbott’s directive. The same employee wrote in a separate email to a colleague, “I have told my boss I will resign before I (report) on a family whose child is transitioning.”
Another employee wrote in an email to her supervisor that the directive was “Effing bull poop.”
Last week, the Houston Chronicle published a report in which several former DFPS employees said they had left the agency because of Abbott’s order regarding the families of transgender children. In April, The Texas Tribunereported that more than a dozen child abuse investigators said they had either resigned or were actively looking for new jobs for the same reason.
According to WFAA, 11 DFPS investigations have been opened related to Abbott’s directive, eight of which have been closed.
“None of the investigations have resulted in a removal of a child,” said DFPS media relations director Marissa Gonzales.
In June, a Texas judge issued a temporary injunction halting the investigations into the three remaining families.
EuroPride has defiantly vowed to host the event in Belgrade even after Serbia’s president claimed it has been cancelled.
For Serbia’s LGBTQ+ community, hosting EuroPride in the capital city in September was intended as a way to celebrate diversity and push for more rights in the deeply conservative country.
But Serbia’s strongman president, Aleksandar Vučić, claimed EuroPride won’t be happening amid growing tension with Kosovo, he said at a press conference in Belgrade on Saturday (27 August).
The leader of the nationalist Serbian Progressive Party told reporters: “The Pride parade that was scheduled for the month of September will be postponed or cancelled, or whatever that miracle is called, it doesn’t matter.
“We can’t at this moment when we have both the open Balkans and the crisis in Kosovo and Metohija that will not end at least until 31 October, we have no progress, we have nowhere to move. We have to deal with energy, and drought, we have many crises.”
He said prime minister Ana Brnabić on behalf of the government “will explain everything in accordance with the law”, according to television network Nova S.
But EuroPride won’t be shut down anytime soon, European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA) president Kristine Garina said.
“President Vučić cannot cancel someone else’s event. EuroPride is not cancelled, and will not be cancelled,” the Latvian activist said.
“EuroPride in Belgrade will not be cancelled and will bring together thousands of LGBTI+ people from across Europe with LGBTI+ people from Serbia and the wider western Balkans.”
Garina pointed to a letter to the EPOA in 2019 from Brnabić in which she backed Belgrade Pride’s bid to host EuroPride.
Serbian president Aleksandar Aleksandar Vučić said EuroPride was ‘cancelled’. (Milos Miskov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“The government I lead is committed to ensuring the full respect of human rights and of all citizens and we hereby promise to help the Belgrade Pride organising team in ensuring a safe and successful organisation of EuropPride in Belgrade in 2022,” she wrote at the time.
To ban a Pride event, Garina said, would violate Serbia’s commitment to the European Convention of Human Rights.
“Aside from the illegality of such a ban, it must be noted that those opposing EuroPride in Belgrade are using tired old tropes, inaccuracies and downright lies to discredit what is, in fact, a celebration of human rights and equality,” she continued.
“They say that we are against family values when all of us comes from a family and many of us have families of our own. They say that we are child abusers when we all stand firm against all child abuse.”
EuroPride, a nearly month-long festival, has been held almost every year since 1992 when London, England, first hosted the event.
Belgrade Pride won the right to host EuroPride in a landslide vote by the EPOA, the European counterpart of the InterPride association, in 2019.
British-Serbian activist Nik Jovčić-Sas sees tensions are higher than ever before as Vučić drags the country further and further right.
“Vučić is simply pandering to the far-right, who are violently opposed to EuroPride. It’s hard to know if this is serious or just political manoeuvring – the president cannot ban a public gathering, only the police have that power and they have yet to do so,” Jovčić-Sas told PinkNews.
Since Vučić won the presidency in 2017, the quality of Serbian democracy has fallen from “free” to only “partly free”, according to Freedom House, an independent rights research group.
If the president does find a way to make LGBTQ+ Serb’s dreams of hosting the event come crashing down, Jovčić-Sas expects the backlash to be swift.
“We will not allow compromise on our fundamental human rights,” he said.
The far-right Christian group One Million Moms has launched a new campaign and the target is a little surprising, even for them. This time they aren’t upset with jewelry commercials or Sesame Street, the source of their ire is… other Christians.
Christianity is a “serious threat,” they warn, when practiced as described in the Bible and modeled by the religion’s namesake.
“Parents need to be warned and informed about a continuous threat, and now we have a powerful resource available to help parents with this serious problem,” they warned followers in an email blast.
The group is an astroturf project of the anti-LGBTQ hate group American Family Association. Despite the name, the group has a single employee, Monica Cole, that is employed by the larger organization.
Cole goes on to warn followers about the dangers of “gay Christianity.”
“Let’s see if you’ve heard any of these statements before,” Cole says in the blast. “‘God made people gay, and therefore being gay should be celebrated and affirmed.’ ‘Jesus never mentioned homosexuality even once.’”
“‘The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about inhospitality and greed, not homosexuality.’ ‘If the Bible were written today, it would be gay affirming.’ ‘The Bible doesn’t say anything about sexual orientation. Christians hate gay people and need to change their theology to be more loving.’”
“If you’ve heard one or more of these statements before – whether on social media, in conversation with a family member, or even promoted by a supposedly Christian pastor – you have just encountered one of the many influences of ‘gay Christianity’,” she warns.
And while it might seem odd for the group to launch the email with all the reasons why their hardline exclusionary brand of Christianity is wrong, the email is actually an advertisement for a book written by one of their employees. It comes with a convenient two-and-a-half-minute video commercial that spends two-thirds of the time reinforcing pro-LGBTQ theology by literally allowing queer people to repeat their positions.
While the group’s nonstop bleating about innocuous things like Oreo cookies, Taco Bell, or children’s magazines has frequently made them a caricature of the hand-wringing judgemental Christian Taliban, this time they accidentally ended up condemning themselves and their anti-LGBTQ hysterics.
The Italian Cultural Institute, Cinema Italia San FranciscoIn collaboration withArtistic Soul Associationunder the auspices ofthe Consul General of Italy in San Francisco PresentPASOLINI 100:Homage to Pier Paolo PasoliniOn the 100 year anniversary of his birthSaturday, September 10, at the Castro Theatre429 Castro StreetSan Francisco, CA
This Special Homage to Pasolini, who pushed the boundaries of politics, art and sexuality, follows the complete retrospective that Cinecittà premiered at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of Pasolini’s birth.
San Francisco will pay homage to the great Maestro with a selection of his works on September 10 at the Castro Theatre. This is Cinema Italia San Francisco’s 11th program of classic Italian cinema.
10:30am Pasolini
Director: Abel Ferrara, 2014, 84 min., DCP, Color, Italy, Belgium France. DCP by Kino Lorber.
Cast: Willem Dafoe, Ninetto Davoli, Valerio Mastandrea, Riccardo Scamarcio
Willem Dafoe stars in Abel Ferrara’s dramatic English-language film Pasolini, about the mysterious final days of the renowned Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini. This haunting biopic draws on Pasolini’s last interview and scenes from his unfinished novel Petrolio, which imagine Pasolini’s muse Ninetto Davoli returning to “finish” the unfinished work, in a final act of love. Dafoe’s charisma shines as he embodies the intellect and passion of the murdered director. The film, written by Maurizio Braucci, was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival and screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
12:30pmMamma Roma
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1962, 107 min., 35mm, B&W, Italy. Distr. Janus Film. Print from Cinecittà.
Cast: Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofolo, Franco Citti, Silvana Corsini
Mamma Roma is Pasolini’s second feature and is among Pasolini’s most audaciously shaped and satisfying movies. The immortal Anna Magnani is equally vulnerable and volcanic as the titular character in Pasolini’s gritty tale of a mother determined to rise above poverty. The writer-director returns to the desolate outskirts of Rome for this tale of doomed maternal love set against a stark backdrop of ancient ruins and prefab apartment blocks. Former prostitute Mamma Roma is trying to start a fresh life in a new flat with her teenage son. But the criminal underworld she thought she had escaped slowly pulls her back into its vortex.
3:00pm Accattone
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1961, 117 min., 4K DCP restoration, B&W, Italy. Distr. Janus Restored by Cinecittà with Cineteca di Bologna and The Film Foundation in collaboration with Compass Film. Restoration funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
Cast: Franco Citti, Franca Pasut, Silvana Corsini, Paola Guidi
After writing a pair of novels, Ragazzi di Vita and Una Vita Violenta, set in the urban periphery of Rome, Pasolini decided to turn to cinema to continue exploring this world and its characters. Accattone is the nickname of Vittorio—played by non professional Franco Citti, a soon to be Pasolini regular—a young loafer roaming the hardscrabble Roman slum of Pigneto who fancies himself a pimp. The desperation of Vittorio’s sun-baked world is intensified by Tonino Delli Colli’s crisp cinematography and the strains of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. One of cinema’s great debuts, Accattone reimagines Neorealism by eschewing any sentimentality for the poetry of the everyday.
6:00pm Medea
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1969, 110 min., 35mm, Color, Italy/France/West Germany. Distr. Unzero Print from Cinecittà. Restored by Cinecittà and S.N.C. in 2012 in its original 35mm format with the support of Gucci.
Cast: Maria Callas, Massimo Girotti, Laurent Terzieff, Giuseppe Gentile
InMedea, Greek American soprano Maria Callas stars in a rare non-opera role as the title character in Pasolini’s haunting adaptation of the tragedy by Euripides, about a woman scorned by her husband (Jason of the Argonauts) who avenges herself with fierce abandon. The film is also ravishing in its visual imagery—Medea was shot on location in ancient sites of Italy, Turkey, and Syria, including the Citadel of Aleppo. British film critic Tony Rayns called this stunning portrait of a woman pushed to the brink, “a love song to Maria Callas.”
8:00pm-10:00pm La Roma di Pasolini
Mezzanine Reception
Rudy of C’era una Volta restaurant will re-create the Roman atmosphere for selected guests in the Castro Mezzanine.
10:00PMSalò or the 120 days of Sodom 116 min
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1976, 116 min., 35mm., Color, Italy/France. Distr. Park Circus Print from Cinecittá.
Cast: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi. Umberto P.Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti
Pasolini’s infamous final film transposes the Marquis de Sade’s 18th century treatise on torture to Mussolini’s Italy circa 1944. A group of representatives of the wealthy upper classes—a Duke, a Bishop, a Magistrate, and naturally, the President—have holed themselves up in a palatial estate in the titular city of Salò, where they have imprisoned a horde of young men and women to torment for their pleasure. Salò, a town in Northern Italy, was briefly made the capital under Benito Mussolini’s Fascist government in 1943-1945. The story, rife with political implications, is in four segments, inspired by Dante‘s Divine Comedy. Pasolini’s controversial masterpiece makes disturbingly literal the way the rich exploit the poor. Salòdescends into the abyss until not a fleck of light remains.
(Viewer discretion is strongly advised)
Ticket Prices & Info:
Single screenings: $15 per admission
Seniors, Students and IIC members: $12 Reception: $35 per admission Festival Pass (all films + reception): $80 per pass
Vaccination proof & ID are required
Advance tickets can be purchased via www.cinemaitaliasf.com on June 10, 2022, or by calling Box Cubed at 415-552-5580.
About Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was a filmmaker, poet, novelist, journalist, Marxist, and gay man. His work reflects post WWII Italian society in upheaval and questions power structures, political and sexual mores. Pasolini passionately fought again government corruption, materialism, and social repression. The son of a Fascist army officer, Pasolini films unrelenting examine the Fascist experiment in Italy, the fervor of nationalism, and the disdain of the rich for the poor. His films also celebrate (without fetishizing) the lives of Italy’s working poor, including everyday citizens as well as hustlers and prostitutes.
Pasolini’s early literary work attempted to resolve his Christian and Marxist ideologies. His first novel, Ragazzi di Vita (1955), on which his film Accattone is loosely based, featured a protagonist who is a young street hustler. The book caused obscenity charges to be filed against Pasolini, the first of many instances in which his art led him to interact with the legal system.
A prominent player in the post WWII cultural scene in Rome, Pasolini was part of a coterie of talented artists, including writer Alberto Moravia, writer Elsa Morante and was friends with opera star Maria Callas, who he cast in her only film appearance in Medea. His decision, long before the modern LGBTQ rights movement, to make his own homosexuality the subject of his poetry and novels was, at the time, scandalous.
CinemaItaliaSF is proud to present a range of his work, from the sublime to the difficult, in the spirit of the freedom of expression that Pasolini passionately espoused. We are thrilled that this Homage, on the 100 anniversary of Pasolini’s birth, serendipitously coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Castro Theatre, an architectural jewel in the heart of San Francisco’s LGBTQ neighborhood.
“Though he was a filmmaker for just over a decade, Pasolini’s impact on cinema is profound. An openly gay man and outspoken critic of capitalism and Europe’s bourgeois establishment, Pasolini remained in the crosshairs of the elite for his entire career, which ended tragically when he was murdered weeks before the premiere of his most incendiary condemnation of the upper classes: Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. He was 53 years old.
Presented almost in preserved 35mm prints, realized by Cinecittà and Cineteca di Bologna, this small selection of movies traverses Pasolini’s main periods: his reinvention of Italian Neorealism as a potently lyrical vehicle for devastating portraits of modern life (Accattone, Mamma Roma); his searing portraits of the depravity of European society and his shocking one-two punch of the celebratory Trilogy of Life, a celebration of the primal pleasures of sex set in antiquity, and its antithesis, the devastatingly bleak World War II horror show Salò.”
—B. Rondeau, senior director, film programs, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Presenting Organizations:
Cinecittà Established in May 2010, following the merger of Cinecittà Holding and Istituto Luce (founded in 1924), Cinecittà is the public service branch of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism with the aim of promoting classic and contemporary Italian cinema worldwide, through traveling programs in major international institutions. Such programs include: film retrospectives of Italy’s most prominent directors and actors, art and photographic exhibitions, books presentations, support in the selection of Italian films at film festivals, and the participation of Italian talents attending international events. It is also home of Cinecittà Studios. www.Cinecitta.com
The Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco The Italian Cultural Institute promotes Italian language, culture, and the best of Italy by offering information about Italy, scholarships, and cultural events, such as: art exhibits, film screenings, concerts, and lectures. The Institute’s goal is to foster mutual understanding and cultural cooperation between Italy and the United States. www.iicsanfrancisco.esteri.it
Cinema Italia San Francisco Founded in 2013, Cinema Italia SF is an organization that operates in San Francisco bringing to major screens the best of Italian Cinema. This will be the 11th program organized by CISF in the Bay Area: Pasolini (2013), Bertolucci (2014), De Sica (2015), Magnani (2016), Dino Risi and Lina Wertmüller (2017), Michelangelo Antonioni, Marcello Mastroianni (2018) Ugo Tognazzi ( 2019) and Fellini 100 ( 2020). Cinema Italia San Francisco is a member of Intersection for the Arts, which provides fiscal sponsorship, incubation and consulting to artists. www.CinemaItaliaSF.com
Artistic Soul Association
The Artistic Soul Association was founded in 1995 by Loredana Commonara, a professional in the film and audiovisual sector. Artistic Soul Association’s activities include the production and organization of short films and international festivals in Italy (Ventotene Film Festival) and the promotion of contemporary Italian cinema and audiovisual in New York (Italy on Screen Today-New York Film & Tv Series Fest). The initiatives produced by the association are realized thanks to the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Italian Cultural Institutes, in collaboration with the Parliament, the European Commission, and many prestigious Italian and international Universities. www.ventotenefilmfestival.com – italyonscreentoday.it
A “Straight Pride” event organised by an anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion group ended in violence when the few dozen participants clashed with LGBTQ+ counter-protesters.
Police wearing tactical riot gear arrested three people and detained four before using pepper ball guns to clear out the area.
Modesto Police Department said around 250 people rowed outside a Planned Parenthood as part of a “Straight Pride” event organised by the National Straight Pride Coalition on Saturday (27 August), according to The Guardian. No one arrested lived in Stanislaus County.
The network touted the protest, now in its fourth year, as a celebration of “heterosexuality, masculinity, femininity, babies – born and unborn and Western straight civilization, our wonderful country and Christianity”, according to its website.
Just 30 National Straight Pride Coalition members joined the Proud Boys, a far-right group of “Western chauvinists” behind the Capitol riots, at the clinic on McHenry Avenue.
But hundreds of LGBTQ+ people had already assembled at the meeting point, leading to intense skirmishes between the two, police said. The force noted that the number of pro-LGBTQ+ counter-protesters far outnumbered Straight Pride-goers.
Counter-protesters came carrying signs reading “Fascists not welcome” and “Straight Pride is Hate Pride”.
Within 20 minutes, Modesto police declared an “unlawful assembly” and called on both groups to disperse after a firecracker ignited a bush and objects were thrown.
Officers aggresively pushed the LGBTQ+ activists back to Planned Parenthood’s car park as a large black SWAT-style truck pulled up behind them.
The Straight Pride attendees, meanwhile, had been moved to a Wendy’s parking lot behind the police line.
“We have two armies to go up against when we stand for our rights: we have to deal with the cops attacking us, and we’re about to get a second wave of right-wing extremists. We’re fearful of them attacking us as well,” one LGBTQ+ counter-protester told the Modesto Bee.
By 12:15pm, officers withdrew as the counter-protesters were moved over to Roosevelt Neighrbourd Park.
The Central California LGBTQ Coalition denounced the “Straight Pride” event in a Facebook statement, writing: “This is a flagrant disregard and bastardisation of the LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations everywhere.”
“This Straight Pride has been purposefully orchestrated to harm the LGBTQ+ community in Modesto and throughout the broader Central Californian area that we serve,” it added.
“Straight Pride” in 2021 ended almost exactly the same. The Central California LGBTQ Coalition organised a counter-protest to “fight ignorance with love and diversity”, the group wrote on Facebook at the time.
A federal court has blocked efforts by the Biden administration to ensure trans people are never discriminated against by religious doctors when seeking heathcare.
But the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously ruled Friday (26 August) that the Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS) mandate is “in violation of its sincerely held religious beliefs” by not letting medical providers withhold care “on the basis of sex”
The three-judge panel upheld a lower court’s ruling that Franciscan Alliance, a Catholic healthcare network covering Indiana and Illinois, was right to seek out a permanent injunction against the policy.
Franciscan Alliance said the network’s nearly 20,000 doctors and medical providers should not have to provide gender-affirming healthcare or abortion treatments.
The group’s lawyers from the religious liberty group Becket said stopping health professionals from discriminating and denying care to trans people was an unlawful overreach, the Washington Times reported.
To do so, they claimed, would also go against the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (RFRA).
And the judges, two of whom were appointed by Donald Trump, agreed.
“We have recognised that the loss of freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment, RLUIPA, and RFRA all constitute per se irreparable harm,” wrote Trump appointee judge Don Willett in the ruling.
Fellow Trump-appointee judge Kurt Englehardt and George Bush appointee judge Jennifer Walker Elrod joined him in the ruling.
The appeal ended a years-long battle between religious freedom and healthcare access.
Franciscan Alliance lodged a lawsuit against the policy in December 2016 with the district court for the Northern District of Texas, setting the stage for a legal back-and-forth between the network, federal officials and LGBTQ+ activists.
Though Trump scrapped the rule, president Joe Biden brought it back. The district court sided with Franciscan Alliance in 2019, prompting the federal government and the ACLU to appeal the court’s decision.
“This ruling is a major victory for conscience rights and compassionate medical care in America,” said Joseph Davis, counsel at Becket, in a statement.
“Doctors cannot do their jobs and comply with the Hippocratic Oath if the government requires them to perform harmful, irreversible procedures against their conscience and medical expertise.”
The Hippocratic Oath, an ancient oath of ethics, requires physicians, among other things, to “do no harm” and do everything they can to care for their patients.
Study after study has shown that trans people who receive gender-affirming healthcare are significantly less likely than those who have not to experience depression and anxiety, and consider suicide/
After a few years of virtual offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic, Oakland Pride is back for in-person events in 2022, marking the 12th anniversary of the organization in the East Bay city that has one of California’s and the nation’s largest LGBTQ populations. Oakland Pride 2022, on Sunday, September 4, will begin with the Parade starting at 10:30 am at Broadway & 14th Street. The Festival will also start at 10:30 am. It will last until 6 pm.
There has been some confusion about Oakland Pride this year, not only because of the return to in-person events but also because Pride in Oakland has expanded. In addition to the Parade + Festival there will also be Pridefest Oakland on Sunday, September 11. (See page 3 of this issue for more about Pridefest.)
Explaining the two major efforts, Oakland Pride recently posted via social media: “Oakland Pride has been a community-led organization that has been doing Oakland’s Pride since 2010. For years our organization has changed in many ways from our board to our vendors and volunteers! There are still a few board members still with us who have been there since day one. The last few years, the board decided to do a virtual pride due to COVID-19. Last year, we had a Pride event ready to go but due to the number of COVID cases rising, we had to go virtual once again. This year we are going live while still remaining cautious of COVID. Other members of the community have decided to start a different organization and a different event, both for the love of the community. Throughout the month September starting with Oakland Pride, and other events, we hope to bring joy and pride to Oakland and to the whole LGBTQ+ community. Hope to see you at Oakland Pride, Labor Day weekend!”
Oakland: World’s Away?
Of Oakland, pioneering lesbian author Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) once wrote, “There is no there there.” She was referring in her 1937 autobiography to the loss of her childhood home along Foothill and MacArthur Boulevards in the city (it was torn down), but others have used the quote to suggest that there is not much to see in Oakland.
Some diehard residents of San Francisco, Marin County, and Silicon Valley seem to think that is the case. The distance from San Francisco to Oakland is only just over 12 miles, but there often appears to be an aversion to all things East Bay. We get it, at least to some extent. Whoever designed the entrance to Oakland from the Bay Bridge was all about function over fashionable appearance. Instead of the welcoming Coit Tower enshrouded in romantic fog perched atop Telegraph Hill overlooking the bay—the sight that many see on the right coming into San Francisco from the East Bay—travelers venturing from the other direction see the massive Oakland Port cranes, the Wastewater Treatment Plant in West Oakland with its associated unpleasant odors (the operators seem to be doing a better job these days in reducing those), a few hospital towers near the 580 freeway, and other sights that don’t immediately spark joy for many.
Oakland’s numerous treasures require going deeper into the city, making it a magical place of discovery for those willing to give it a chance. Just to name a few: Redwood Regional Park that has the largest remaining natural stand of coast redwoods found in the East Bay; Joaquin Miller Park with its rustic woodland trails and meadows; the restaurants, coffee shops, and other public gathering spots at Park Boulevard, Montclair Village, Rockridge, and other Oakland neighborhoods (you will probably see more lesbians in an Oakland restaurant or coffee shop in one hour than you will in an entire day in many parts of San Francisco); Lake Merritt and surrounding offerings; and much more.
The White Horse, the oldest continuously operating LGBTQ bar in the U.S., is a destination all on its own at 6551 Telegraph Avenue. With a pool table, fireplace, and multiple screens for sports games, movies, or music videos, it feels like a home away from home—except a lot more fun.
Some members of our San Francisco Bay Times team live in Oakland. Just visiting Piedmont Avenue in Oakland on a recent Saturday evening, one stumbled on a phenomenal live outdoor Brazilian band performance, many blissful diners in the alleyway next to farm-to-table restaurant Pomet (an owner is from K&J Orchards), kids holding giant ice cream cones in front of the Disney Up movie spot at Fenton’s, filmgoers exiting Landmark’s Piedmont Theatre (the friendly manager and staff at the door yelled hello, and asked how a family member was doing), and even saw another Bay Times team member exiting from the Suds Machine car wash. With its retro car sprayers and colorful giant buffers, Suds Machine is reminiscent of the classic Lily Tomlin scene where, in character as a pitchperson for the hairspray “Stay Put,” she drives on a flatbed trailer trough a mechanical car wash, getting drenched in the process without any of her lacquered locks going out of place.
Oakland Pride Brings Visitors Downtown, and Uptown
Oakland is like many towns in one, given its size. The city is 78.03 square miles whereas San Francisco is just 46.87. The site of Oakland Pride—in the heart of Downtown and Uptown—therefore even can seem world’s away from Piedmont Avenue and Telegraph Avenue that both branch off of Broadway at their southernmost tips.
In Downtown there again are many treasures, such as The Port Bar: a festive LGBTQ-centric watering hole known for its potent cocktails and creative drag shows. The Port Bar at 2023 Broadway is right next door to the historic art deco Paramount Theatre and is less than a block away from the 19th Street BART station. On a recent visit, the place was spilling over with an incredibly diverse crowd and probably as many bears on that particular Sunday as you could find at Lazy Bear Week in Guerneville. Cocktails like the Sassy Sailor and ImpeachMint are very refreshing and Instagrammable and have been profiled in other publications.
The Port Bar is always packed, but is sure to be even more so this September Pride Month in Oakland. Here are some Q&A’s about this year’s Oakland Pride:
Where is Oakland Pride 2022?
The Oakland Pride Parade will start at Broadway & 14th Street (Oakland City Hall) and will end at Broadway & 20th Street (Oakland Pride Festival Main Entrance). The Oakland Pride Festival main entrance will be located at Broadway & 20th Streets. A secondary entrance will be located at Webster and 21st Street.
Do you need a ticket to get into Oakland Pride?
There is no fee to watch the Oakland Pride Parade, except in the VIP/Grandstand seating along the Parade route. This seating will be available as part of Oakland Pride’s VIP Pride Pass program, or on a first-come, first-served basis for a fee of $5 in advance and $10 at the gate. There will be free ADA access! For more information about the VIP Pride Pass or Grandstand Tickets, please e-mail info@oaklandpride.org
General admission to the Oakland Pride Festival will be $10, and just $5 for children under 12. There will be a Family & Children’s Garden, so it is a great outing for kids of all ages.
Part of the proceeds will go to fund the Oakland Pride Community Partners Program. Since 2010, Oakland Pride has given back nearly $50,000 to LGBTQ-friendly organizations and charities in the community.
Is there an age limit for entry into Oakland Pride?
No! One of our team members even brought a baby to the event back in the day. For her, it was a mix of napping and happy socializing. In fact, Oakland Pride has been reported as being the most diverse and family-friendly Pride celebration in the nation. Do, however, keep in mind that all children must be accompanied by adults at all times.
Are pets allowed at Oakland Pride?
Yes, pets are allowed at the event, including service animals. However, it is strongly recommended that you leave your pet(s) at home since the event, as you can expect, will be crowded, noisy, and more—meaning not conducive to smaller animals walking on the ground.
If you do decide to bring pets to the event, please make sure your pets are well trained, socialized, and comfortable with loud noises and large crowds. Please also make sure your pets are on leash and under your control at all times. Provide water and shade for them, and clean up after them, too.
How do you get to Oakland Pride?
You can drive and try to find street parking (good luck!) or park in any number of paid lots in the area. You can also take a bus or use a rideshare. But the best and easiest way to get to Oakland Pride is via BART. To watch the Parade, just exit at the 12th Street/Oakland City Centeror 19th Street BART stations. The main entrance for the Festival will be located at Broadway & 20th Street, right outside of the BART station exit.
Who will be performing at Oakland Pride 2022?
As of this writing, the performers have not yet been announced. We can say, though, that over the years Oakland Pride headlining performers have been top notch and have included Chaka Khan, Martha Wash, Jennifer Holliday, Yo-Yo, Rah Digga, LaToya London, CeCe Peniston, JC Jones, and En Vogue.
How can you volunteer for Oakland Pride?
Oakland Pride would not be possible without the help of volunteers who lend their time before and during the event. There are volunteer opportunities for people of almost all skills, backgrounds, and abilities.
Will the San Francisco Bay Times have a booth at Oakland Pride?
Yes! The San Francisco Bay Times has been a media sponsor of Oakland Pride since its inception. Please be sure to stop by the Bay Times booth.
For more information, including updates on performers and how to sign up to volunteer, go to: https://www.oaklandpride.org/
Six out, Democratic LGBTQ candidates running for the Florida state legislature all won their primaries this Tuesday. All of them oppose the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
At least 20 states have introduced “Don’t Say Gay” laws this year. The candidates worry that, if left unopposed, Republicans will spread similar laws to harm queer youth and families nationwide with their newfound brand of queerphobia.
Adam Gentle and state Reps. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Michele Rayner are all running for the State House. Eunic Ortiz and Janelle Perez are running for the State Senate. State Sen. Shevrin Jones won his re-election campaign this week. Because he has no Republican competitor, he will retain his Senate seat.
Jones became the first openly LGBTQ Black person elected to the Florida legislature when he was elected in 2020.
On the campaign trail, he shared how publicly coming out as gay at age 30 caused members to leave the south Florida church where his father preaches. Friends stopped talking to Jones, families began making jokes about him behind his back, and even his own father expressed disappointment in his sexuality, he said.
So when he spoke out against the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law — which forbids discussing LGBTQ issues in kindergarten through third-grade classes — Jones noted that it takes courage for young people to be themselves. He also said that LGBTQ issues aren’t being taught in the aforementioned grades, and that state Republicans only passed the law to rally their voting base.
“It’s discriminatory on the surface,” Jones said in an interview. “The problem is coming when young people are being treated in a manner that they now have to question who they are, knowing that they already come from households who do not support them… I think that’s the dangerous part, because LGBTQ+ youth are four times more likely to commit suicide.”
“I think that this is the time for the LGBTQ+ community to see we’re under attack,” he added. “I don’t care what it is. I don’t care if it’s Black people, I don’t care if it’s Indigenous people, I don’t care if it’s the LGBTQ+ community, because we live amongst each other and I feel that when you come for one, you come for all.”
When Michele Rayner first won her election to the state House in 2020, she became the first openly Black queer woman ever elected in Florida at any level.
“I didn’t run for office just to make history,” she said in a video. “I ran because I wanted to make a difference for people.”
“The way that I show up — I’m a Black, gay woman so I think that inspires a lot of folks,” she added in a May 2022 interview.
While she acknowledges that supporters of “Don’t Say Gay” claim it protects children from age-inappropriate discussions of sex, she said, “I don’t want my child not to be able to say that my moms and I went to Disney World or my moms and I went to the beach.”
Meanwhile, Eunic Ortiz, who is running for a state Senate seat, said the ramifications of “Don’t Say Gay” are detrimental to LGBTQ youth.
“We need to be creating solutions for the issues that everyday folks are actually facing,” she said. “Not playing political theater to try to appease a few wealthy donors in the Republican movement that, frankly, are homophobic and hate the LGBTQ community.”
Her district houses St. Petersburg, a city that has received a perfect score for eight years on Human Rights Campaign’s annual Municipal Equality Index for LGBTQ inclusive.
“We have people in the LGBTQ community living in every single county in the state. They are our neighbors and they are our community leaders…. LGBTQ people are the workers that are making our counties and communities run,” she said. “[Floridians] are tired of seeing them take on this cultural war, instead of addressing real issues,” like the environment or rising rents.
Adam Gentle spoke against the law at a political event in early March. At the event, he began his two-minute speech by announcing, “I’m gay.” He then said that schools are often the only safe spaces where LGBTQ youths feel they can safely discuss their queer identities with others.
“Their ability to talk with trusted teachers and administrators is being ripped away from them,” he said.
Rep. Carlos Smith has used his political office to oppose the law. When he debated against the bill in February, he wore a face mask with the word “gay” printed on it in large letters.
In his remarks, he said the bill was “deeply personal” to him as a queer Latino, especially since the law would prevent teachers from discussing important events, like the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting which mostly harmed other queer Latinos.
“A majority of Floridians oppose this proposal that seeks to censor conversations about LGBTQ people in our schools,” he said.
“This bill goes way beyond the text on the page,” he noted. “It sends a terrible message to our youth, that there is something so wrong, so inappropriate, so dangerous about this topic that we have to censor it from classroom discussion…. To all LGBTQ youth — we see you, you’re loved and your lives are worth fighting for!”
When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) press secretary Christina Pushaw defended the law by calling its opponents pedophilic “groomers,” Smith responded, “Bigoted attacks like this against LGBTQ people are the worst of the worst…. Literally, it’s the oldest trick in the book against LGBTQ people.”
Smith said that DeSantis only signed the law to advance his political ambitions. He worries about DeSantis’ likelihood of running for president in 2024. “My concern is that he is much smarter and much more calculating than Donald Trump ever was,” he said.
Janelle Perez agrees with Smith. She’s a mother of two, married to a woman, and, if elected, she would be the first LGBTQ parent and the first queer Latina or queer woman ever elected to the Senate.
She worries that the law will subject her own daughter to bullying and prevent her from discussing her own family in school. But even worse, she worries what will happen to when DeSantis runs for president.
“When people in Hollywood, and New York, and in California are looking at the things that Ron DeSantis is doing in Florida, what they need to understand is that Florida is Ron DeSantis’s guinea pig,” she said.
“He is going to run for president in 2024,” she continued. “So if you don’t like what’s happening in Florida, and you don’t want this rhetoric to become the national conversation in 2024, then you need to help us stop it, now. Because it’s going to come after you, and the rest of the country.”
Although DeSantis and other supporters of the law say that it protects parents’ rights to control what their kids are exposed to in schools, Perez said it basically erases queer parents from schools and tells their children to feel ashamed of their families.
“LGBTQ families aren’t going anywhere,” Perez told The Washington Post. “We want to just receive the same rights as every other parent.”
“Republicans in Tallahassee have failed our state and I cannot sit idly by as they make us less safe, restrict our rights and hurt our children,” she added.
Administrators at a Nebraska school shuttered the school’s award-winning student newspaper just days after its last edition that included articles and editorials on LGBTQ issues, leading press freedom advocates to call the move an act of censorship.
The staff of Northwest Public Schools’ 54-year-old Saga newspaper was informed on May 19 of the paper’s elimination, the Grand Island Independent reported. Three days earlier, the newspaper had printed its June edition, which included an article titled, “Pride and prejudice: LGBTQIA+” on the origins of Pride Month and the history of homophobia. It also included an editorial opposing a Florida law that bans some lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity and dubbed by critics as “Don’t Say Gay.”
Officials overseeing the district, which is based in Grand Island, have not said when or why the decision was made to eliminate the student paper. But an email from a school employee to the Independent cancelling the student paper’s printing services on May 22 said it was “because the school board and superintendent are unhappy with the last issue’s editorial content.”
The paper’s demise also came a month after its staff was reprimanded for publishing students’ preferred pronouns and names. District officials told students they could only use names assigned at birth going forward.
Emma Smith, Saga’s assistant editor in 2022, said the student paper was informed that the ban on preferred names was made by the school board. That decision directly affected Saga staff writer Marcus Pennell, a transgender student, who saw his byline changed against his wishes to his birth name of “Meghan” Pennell in the June issue.
Northwest High School’s newspaper, “Viking Saga,” was shut down after 54 years of publication.McKenna Lamoree / The Independent via AP
“It was the first time that the school had officially been, like, ‘We don’t really want you here,’” Pennell said. “You know, that was a big deal for me.”
Northwest Principal P.J. Smith referred the Independent’s questions to district superintendent Jeff Edwards, who declined to answer the questions of when and why the student paper was eliminated, saying only that it was “an administrative decision.”
Some school board members have made no secret of their objection to the Saga’s LGBTQ content, including board president Dan Leiser, who said “most people were upset” with it.
Board vice president Zach Mader directly cited the pro-LGBTQ editorials, adding that if district taxpayer had read the last issue of the Saga, “they would have been like, ‘Holy cow. What is going on at our school?’”
“It sounds like a ham-fisted attempt to censor students and discriminate based on disagreement with perspectives and articles that were featured in the student newspaper,” said Sara Rips, an attorney for the Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Nebraska Press Association attorney Max Kautsch, who specializes in media law in Nebraska and Kansas, noted that press freedom is protected in the U.S. Constitution.
“The decision by the administration to eliminate the student newspaper violates students’ right to free speech, unless the school can show a legitimate educational reason for removing the option to participate in a class … that publishes award-winning material,” Kautsch said. “It is hard to imagine what that legitimate reason could be.”
