The police raid at the Black Cat in Los Angeles, a pre-Stonewall gay landmark, is often cited as the catalyst that led Dick Michaels (real name Richard Mitch), Bill Rand (Bill Rau), and Sam Winston (John Sam Allen) to found The Advocate, but it was not the first raid where Michaels was present. He was also at the equally important Yukon Bar at a raid that occurred almost a year earlier and at which Michaels was arrested on charges for which he later faced trial. Protests followed.
The Yukon, at 3977 Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles, was a mere 1.8 miles from the Black Cat. Before becoming the Yukon Bar, the building had been a malt shop, a cleaning supplies store, a candy, tobacco, and food delivery store, a fixture store, and a Safeco Insurance office. When Joel Levey bought the property, he was so young he didn’t have enough credit to do so himself, so his father, Rudolph Levey, cosigned with him. After obtaining a liquor license in December 1964, Joel hired a bartender and manager (Tommy) to run the day-to-day. The bar opened with little fanfare in March 1965.
Though it wasn’t specifically a gay bar, the Yukon was known to be gay-friendly or at least gay-tolerant, so it became a frequent stop for the people who would form PRIDE and The Advocate. Tommy was running the bar on Friday, March 25, 1966, when the police arrived.
Told in a two-part story in the July and August 1968 issues of The Advocate, the article “Anatomy of a Raid” was an oral history from Michaels to David S.; the first part recounted the Yukon raid and arrest, while the second told of the trial and aftermath. Sharing this tale not only illustrated how common these events were but also served to instruct other gay men on how to avoid these situations or, if they were entrapped, provided instruction on how to navigate the process of arrest and trial. By 1968, Michaels had lived through raids at the Yukon, the Black Cat, and the Red Raven (just three miles west of the Yukon). Prior to that, he had been blissfully unaware that such things really happened to innocent people. His account in The Advocate was a warning to others who were similarly naïve. It was also an opportunity to remind readers that simply existing as a gay man didn’t equate with committing a crime.
The Leveys struggled to keep the Yukon going after the raid but sold it in 1967. New owners opened a bar called One Eye Jack at the site in March 1968, and it remained in business until the beginning of 2020. Now the Los Angeles planning department has approved the construction of a five-story, 67-unit apartment complex where the Yukon once stood. It wasn’t merely a building; it’s a location where a series of abuses took place that led the community to fight for their civil rights. When the newly formed PRIDE organized the Black Cat protests, it wasn’t just the raid on the Black Cat participants were protesting. It was that event and all the raids that came before it and every reminder that anyone who was queer could be arrested or harassed, like they had been that night at the Yukon in 1966.
Long Beach voters ushered in two historical election firsts for the region during this year’s election.
Robert Garcia, the current mayor of Long Beach, is set to become the first openly gay immigrant in the U.S. house of Representatives, after a decisive showing from voters in the 42nd Congressional District, which includes Long Beach and southeastern Los Angeles County, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Garcia has declared victory in the heavily Democratic district. He tweeted that he received an “incredibly gracious call from President Joe Biden. … He’s in great spirits and feeling good. I told him I’m ready to get to work.”
Having to leave his seat as mayor, Long Beach voters made history and elected its first Black mayor, Rex Richardson. During his 53% lead in the election, he stated that he was confident in his path to the seat.
This year’s midterm elections have made history in California. Voters elected the first Latino to represent California in the U.S. Senate, Alex Padilla, and the first Asian American to become mayor in San Bernardino, Helen Tran.
The LGBTQ Victory Fund called Garcia’s win important for representation and the future.
“With anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice legislation currently moving through Congress, the stakes of this election could not have been higher — and California voters delivered,” said Annise Parker, the president and chief executive of LGBTQ Victory Fund and former mayor of Houston. “His win tonight will inspire countless other LGBTQ and first-generation Americans to pursue careers in public service.”
Garcia, married to Matthew Mendez Garcia, a professor of political science at Cal State Long Beach, came to the U.S. from Peru with his mother, and gained citizenship later as an adult. He is a two-times elected mayor of Long Beach at the age of 44.
Garcia lost his mother and stepfather to COVID-19, but went on to lead an aggressive vaccination campaign headed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to the LA Times.
Csillagi, who is nonbinary, lives in Oakland with their fiancée, stepson, and two cats. Originally from Texas, they explained transphobia and homophobia in their home state and others motivated them to start the project. “I was upset about the legislative attacks that were happening to trans people, queer people in the South … and I was racking my brain to figure out how to help my community — the queer community, and trans community, and the people hit the hardest, trans people of color.”
Once Csillagi decided to fundraise for trans organizations through tattoos, they had to create an appropriate image. After all, as they point out, “Not everyone wants to have a flag tattoo.”https://www.instagram.com/p/Cks_f1Trdf4/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=14&wp=1080&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lgbtqnation.com&rp=%2F2022%2F11%2Foakland-tattoo-artist-funding-trans-initiatives-south-thousand-pansies%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A1649%2C%22ls%22%3A1426%2C%22le%22%3A1620%7D
Because Csillagi specializes in realistic botanical tattoos, a flower was a natural choice (no pun intended). They say the pansy stood out in particular because the project could reclaim the word “pansy” from its historical use as a slur for effeminate and gay men while also honoring the drag balls of the U.S. “Pansy Craze” of the 1930s.
A Thousand Pansies also echoes the name of a campaign in the UK called The Pansy Project, created by Paul Harfleet. Harfleet plants pansies to mark sites of homophobic incidents. “It felt that it was also a continuation of, or a nod to the work he’s already done, which is so beautiful,” says Csillagi, who notes that Harfleet was “thrilled” when they told him about A Thousand Pansies.
Once Csillagi had landed on a fitting symbol, they designated the first group to benefit: The Knights & Orchids Society (TKO) in Alabama. TKO, which Csillagi calls “amazing,” is one of the country’s only Black, trans-led healthcare organizations. “More money is always needed [in the Bay Area], and there are some orgs that still need help,” says Csillagi. “But choosing to work with an organization from the South was purposeful in that there is not enough money being funneled that way.”
TKO serves 75 to 100 people yearly from its locations in Montgomery and Selma, says Director of Community Engagement TC Caldwell. However, it helps trans folks throughout the South, prioritizing the Black trans community.https://www.instagram.com/p/CkH2N_ILLr8/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=14&wp=1080&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lgbtqnation.com&rp=%2F2022%2F11%2Foakland-tattoo-artist-funding-trans-initiatives-south-thousand-pansies%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A1%2C%22os%22%3A1651%2C%22ls%22%3A1426%2C%22le%22%3A1620%7D
“We help our people move from surviving to thriving by providing holistic care,” Caldwell says. “Housing is holistic care. High-quality primary care and endocrinology is holistic care. Having access to food is holistic care. By removing barriers, we help our people to live full healthy lives.”
Caldwell says that A Thousand Pansies will help TKO continue its lifesaving work. “A Thousand Pansies is showing allies how to show up and help grassroots organizations like TKO. We don’t always have access to funders who could support our work due to being Black, trans, queer, and in the South.”
To get a pansy tattoo, participants must donate a minimum of $500 to TKO. (Outside of A Thousand Pansies, Csillagi’s first available appointments are in 2024.) In addition to the contributions required for tattoos, donations of any amount are accepted. Eventually, Csillagi plans to use this additional money for those who can’t afford to give $500 but would like their own pansy.
So far, Csillagi has tattooed 11 pansies (including one on themself), raising more than $5,000 for TKO. The pansy-bearers range from parents of trans kids to notable folks in the LGBTQ community, such as chef and activist Preeti Mistry and author and activist Mia Birdsong. When Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black, received hers, Bay Area station KQED was on site for an interview.
After they’ve received their pansy, each participant records a brief video with Csillagi. (You can see the videos on Instagram at @a1000pansies.) “Every person has a different story,” says Csillagi.
In Mistry’s post-tattoo video, Csillagi asks, “What does trans joy mean to you?” and Mistry responds, “Trans joy to me means being able to be yourself — not just be yourself but be able to be celebrated. I think that we live in a world where the idea of being tolerated is somehow enough, that some people in society only should be OK with just being tolerated, and … that is not where I want to be.”
A Thousand Pansies has just started, but Csillagi says that the goal is to spread 1,000 pansies by expanding the project beyond themself and the Bay Area. “Tattooers, makers, and artists joining in will be committing to doing this work with me, raising money for TKO and putting their skills to use on a community level, working to build a social justice movement that should have already been started,” they say.
Despite the project’s origin as a response to anti-LGBTQ legislation, Csillagi says they want A Thousand Pansies to focus on the positive. “I really want this project to be about joy and happiness, and not persecution and the awful things happening in the world.”
A gay couple’s lawsuit against a reproductive center in Pasadena has been trimmed by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, dismissing some parts of the claim, but keeping others.
Albert and Anthony Saniger allege their wish to have a son were denied when Huntington Reprodive Center wrongly implanted a female embryo in their gestational carrier, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Judge Teresa Beaudet dismissed the negligence claim against the medical group and Dr. Bradford Kolb, but they will still have shore up their breach of contract cause of action for it to remain part of the lawsuit but added that they had provided enough details for now for their claims for fraudulent concealment and violations of the unfair competition law and Consumer Legal Remedies Act to remain in the complaint, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Medical malpractice was not challenged in the defense motion. Defense attorneys say that the Sanigers have not provided details that would allege conduct on the part of the defendants that would demonstrate anything more than median negligence.
The lawsuit was filed in July and stated that the Sanigers met more than 10 years ago, married in 2013 and dreamed of having two children, both sons. While working with HRC and Kolb, the suit stated that the couple wanted only male embryos transferred to the gestational carrier. The embryos selected had an identified gender to be used in each transfer, according to the suit.
According to the suit, HRC and Kolb “negligently, recklessly and/or intentionally transferred a female embryo to the Sanigers’ gestational carrier.”
The annual holiday street pole banners went up this week throughout the city of West Hollywood. The City’s WeHo Arsts unveiled the new holiday artwork by artist Sophie Morro along Santa Monica Boulevard, San Vicente Boulevard, and Melrose Avenue.
A total of 29 of the new banners were produced this year and will become part of the annual collection of holiday street pole banners on display in WeHo to celebrate the holidays. Banners include past holiday artwork by Shag (Josh Agle) and Mosa Tanksley.
The city has also installed annual holiday lights on street poles and around trees lining Santa Monica Boulevard to make the city festive around the holiday and New Year’s celebrations.
Sophie Morro is an artist based in Los Angeles. Her oil paintings are largely informed by an autobiographical narrative with nods to spirituality, dreams and the otherworldly. Visit sophiemorro.com to learn more about the artist.
In April, 2022, the City of West Hollywood Arts Division made a call seeking a visual artist to provide artwork for the city’s annual winter / holiday card and street pole banner display. The deadline to submit their work to WeHo’s Performing Arts and Cultural Affairs Subcommittee was May, 2022.
Photo courtesy of the City of West Hollywood – Photo by Jon Viscott
The new artwork will also be used on the City’s annual end of year Winter / Holiday card, social media promotions along with the printed street pole banners. Artists were invited to submit existing work samples to demonstrate their style and technique.
The Request for Qualifications was open to artists who live in California. Artists who live in West Hollywood and artists of color, women, artists with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ artists were highly encouraged to apply. The artists who applied will remain eligible to be selected as semi-finalists for 3 calendar years without needing to reapply.
Photo courtesy of the City of West Hollywood – Photo by Jon Viscott
The City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division and Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission believe that all people in the City of West Hollywood have the right to celebrate and engage in meaningful and relevant arts and cultural experiences.
Each member of the community should have access to the arts which reflect and nurture individual identities, affirm personal value, and foster belonging in the community. The right to participate freely in the cultural life of the community is recognized as a basic human right.
The Division and Commission’s definition of diversity includes all ways in which people differ, including but not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, education, age, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, ability, geography, citizenship status, religion, language, physical appearance, and the
Nightlife patrons at the Abbey Food and Bar in West Hollywood had a gun scare after West Hollywood Sheriffs stormed the popular bar in search of an alleged armed man inside.
Deputies from the West Hollywood Station launched an investigation after a security guard called alleging a man had a gun. Deputies evacuated The Abbey and swarmed the club but did not find him. Authorities said surveillance video captured images of the suspect in the bar with the weapon.
“We do have our EPT team, which is our entertainment policing team — they’re always doing patrol checks at all the businesses on Sunset and Santa Monica, so that’s why we got here within seconds,” LASD spokesperson Sgt. Joana Warren told KABC 7 Eyewitness News.
Media footage of the incident shows multiple units and a swarm of deputies in protective gear surround the bar and they cleared the location on Robertson Boulevard.
A number of other businesses in the area were informed about the incident when it happened and they were given a description of the man.
The scare is very close to the deadly mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub, Club Q, in Colorado Springs, Colorado in which at least five people have been killed and dozens more were injured in the incident which occurred on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a terror threat bulletin November 30, warning that domestic extremists have posted online praise for the fatal shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado earlier this month. and have called for copycat attacks.
In its bulletin, DHS officials noted that several recent attacks, plots, and threats of violence demonstrate the continued dynamic and complex nature of the threat environment in the United States:
“Some domestic violent extremists who have conducted attacks have cited previous attacks and attackers as inspiration. Following the late November shooting at an LGBTQI+ bar in Colorado Springs, Colorado—which remains under investigation—we have observed actors on forums known to post racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist content praising the alleged attacker. Similarly, some domestic violent extremists in the United States praised an October 2022 shooting at a LGBTQI+ bar in Slovakia and encouraged additional violence. The attacker in Slovakia posted a manifesto online espousing white supremacist beliefs and his admiration for prior attackers, including some within the United States,” DHS warned.
The City of West Hollywood is working with the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Block by Block Security Ambassadors program to expand patrols in the City’s Rainbow District.
If you see something, say something. Anonymous tips can be called into Crimestoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477), or by texting 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) with a cell phone. If you see something, say something. Anyone with information can also drop a tip at https://www.lacrimestoppers.org.
Your identity is always encrypted and anonymous. No personal information, phone number, e-mail, IP address or location is ever requested, saved, traced, tracked or monitored. Period.
Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) released the following statement after receiving a bomb threat targeting his home and office:
“Early this morning, I was informed by the San Francisco Standard and the police that someone had issued a bomb threat against me, listing my specific home address and also threatening to shoot up my Capitol office. The email said ‘we will fucking kill you’ and called me a pedophile and groomer.
“This latest wave of death threats against me relates to my work to end discrimination against LGBTQ people in the criminal justice system and my work to ensure the safety of transgender children and their families. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and MAGA activist Charlie Kirk recently tweeted homophobic lies about me, falsely accusing me of supporting pedophiles and child ‘mutilation.’
“The extreme homophobic and transphobic rhetoric that has escalated on social media and right wing media outlets has real world impacts. It leads to harassment, stalking, threats, and violence against our community. People are dying as a result. Responsible political leaders on the right must call it out and stop tolerating it.
“I will always fight for the LGBTQ community — and for the community as a whole — and will never let these threats stop that work.”
A death threat was made against State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, on Tuesday morning. The Standard received the threat via email and reported it to the police and Wiener. San Francisco police responded to Wiener’s home at roughly 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
Sent by a person using the name Zamina Tataro, the email said that they placed bombs at Wiener’s San Francisco home and threatened to shoot up his Sacramento office “in 20 minutes, I am willing to die.”
The subject line read “Scott Wiener will die today,” and the author called him a pedophile and accused him of grooming children. SFPD searched Wiener’s home but did not locate any explosive devices.
According to the linked outlet, a person using the same name has made other LGBTQ-related bomb threats.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 13this a Three-in-One Day! A collaboration between the Social Committee &The Spahr Center LGBTQ+ Senior Program
Pride Flag Raising11:30 to noonat Novato Community Hospital Holiday Potluck12:30 to 1 pm&Bill Jones Book Reading1 to 2:30 pmat Margaret Todd Community Center see flyer here:
Pride Flag Raising Novato Community Hospital invites our community to participate as our flag is raised over the hospital, proclaiming their support for us. Scheduled11:30 to noon, it will be attended by hospital officials and the press. It is at 180 Rowland Way (beyond Staples.)
Holiday Potluck In place of our usual brown bag lunch at the monthly Second Tuesday in-person event at the Mgt. Todd Senior Center in Novato, the Social Committee and Spahr Senior Progam are inviting the community to bring food or a beverage to share for a potluck celebration of the holiday season. Please arrive on time if you want to participate in the potluck so we can then focus on Bill Jones & his book!
Bachelor Father: Bill JonesA Book Reading Join the Spahr Center Senior Program and the Social Committee as we host Bill Jonesreading from his memoir, Bachelor Father: The first single man to legally adopt a child in America. Bill was an early member of Gay Men of Marin (GMOM, 23 years!), a teacher in Novato, owner of Sutro Baths in SF and he has hosted gay folks, families and kids in his home for many years to view the San Rafael Lighted Boat Parade at Christmastime. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion. Watch for more details.
The potluck and book readingtake place at our regular monthly Second Tuesday in-person event at the Margaret Todd Senior CenterDecember 13,12:30 to 1 pm socializing and 1 to 2:30, book reading.
Again this year, Bill has invited the community to his home on the San Rafael Canal on December 17 at 6 pm for the annual Lighted Boat Parade.Watch for more details.
Check out the Community Notices section below for new entries about prescriptionless hearing aids and the new bivalent covid booster.
UPCOMING EVENTSall events are free December 1World AIDS Day **A Gathering of Love & LossThe Spahr Center5 to 6:30 pm December 2Men’s Brown Bag Lunch **at Spahr Center’s Conference Room100 Nellen Ave. #100, Corte Maderasemi- (ramp and elevator but no automatic door)noon to 1:30 December 13Pride Flag Raising11:30 to noon Novato Memorial Hospital Holiday Potluck12:30 to 1 pm Bill Jones Book Reading1 to 2:30 pmMgt Todd Senior Center, Novato see details above
*Social Committee event, RSVP required;to RSVP or get on their email list, write to them atsocialcommittee@comcast.net;find a link to their calendar and flyers below ** See flyer below
To join the Spahr Senior Groupon ZoomMondays, 7 to 8 pm, &Thursdays, 12:30 to 2 pm,click the purple button below the Butterfly Heart or here:
New participants are warmly welcomed!If you’re zoom-challenged, let me know and I’ll work with you!
Topical Thursdays12:30 to 2 pm December 1World AIDS DAYHow did the AIDS epidemic impact your life? This day, December 1, is World AIDS Day, marking the impact of the epidemic on the lives of virtually every member of our community and countless others around the world of every nation and identity. Even those of us who were not yet out or may never have known someone who died from AIDS has had their lives inexorably altered from it’s effects. The worst of it was a time of profound loss and grief and terror yet also a time of courage and love and community. Our lesbian sisters rallied to support the gay men’s community. We marched in the streets, lobbied in DC and state capitols, and demanded collaboration with our medical providers, forever changing politics and the healthcare system. And the epidemic is not over yet. Let’s honor this day by considering the many ways HIV/AIDS impacted us and the work we have yet to do.
Living Room Mondays7 to 8 pm We share with each other about how we’re doing and have unstructured conversations focused on listening from our hearts and deepening community.
As noted above, the Brown Bag Lunch is postponed to December 2 because the Spahr Center was closed for the holiday weekend.
The Northbay LGBT+ Senior Social Committee has been consistently offering fun events to offset the boredom of the pandemic. Everyone born in any month will be celebrated in that month’s email – including your birthday if you’ll let them know when it rolls around! To sign up for their emails or register for events, clickhere.
Coronavirus Updates A new Bivalent Covid Vaccine is availableand it is recommended that most seniors get that shot. Contact your health provider for more information. The Spahr Center has coronavirus rapid home test kits& masks and they are available for free in the office – 150 Nellen Avenue, Suite 100, Corte Madera 94925; 415/457-2487. The office is open 10 am – 3 pm weekdays. Only vaccinated people may come to the office and masks must be worn inside the building. Any staff person can direct you to the kits. This is a great resource we are pleased to offer, please don’t hesitate to get these kits! In order to keep track of new infections, the County asks that we report self-test resultshere. To see Marin County’s latest pandemic information, click here. The mask recommendations of the Mask Nerd – an aerosol scientist who studies mask effectiveness – are featured in this article and highly informative video. May we all be safe and well!
Community Notices
A recent “bivalent” covid booster is available and is especially advised for older people and those with immune-compromised conditions, etc. Contact your health provider for more information. Hearing Aids will now be available without prescription at places like Costco, Walmart and Walgreens at a saving of upwards of $3000. You can learn more by clicking here.
The Spahr Center’s Food Pantryis open to seniors who need support in meeting their nutritional needs. We want to help! Items such as fresh vegies, fruit & meats, eggs and dairy, prepared meals, pasta, sauces, and canned goods are delivered weekly to people who sign up. Glen & Robert, our Pantry Managers, do a terrific job in trying to meet the individual needs and preferences of the people we serve.
Vivalon Resources for Seniors Whistlestop, now renamed Vivalon, offers many resources for us seniors, now listed in this easy-to-print one-page guide. Access to rides, food, classes, activities, resources, referrals, and more. Membership not required for most classes and services during the pandemic. Some in-person events are being planned. To get Vivalon’s listings, click here. They also provide access to resources including rides for older adults. Please note: there is a 3-week registration process for the ride program so register now if you think you may need rides in the future. Click here for their website. The Jackson Cafe has great specials, a roomy dining room, small tables and big round tables for groups. Open 11:30 to 1:45; $8 for members, $10 for guests, with takeout readily available. You can find their daily changing menu and more information here.
Building Community in the Midst of Sheltering-in-PlaceSee old friends and make new ones! Join us!The Spahr Center’s LGBT Senior Discussion Groupscontinue everyMonday, 7 to 8 pm& Thursday, 12:30 to 2 pm on zoom
To Join Group by Video using Computer, Smart Phone or TabletJust click this button at the start time, 6:55 pm Mondays / 12:25 pm Thursdays:Join GroupAlways the same link! Try it, it’s easy!
To Join Group by Phone CallIf you don’t have internet connections or prefer joining by phone,call the following number at the start time,6:55 pm Mondays / 12:25 pm Thursdays:1-669-900-6833The Meeting id is 820 7368 6606#(no participant id required)The password, if requested, is 135296#If you want to be called into the group by phone, notify Bill Blackburn at 415/450-5339
California Department of Aging ResourcesThe CDA has a website that is packed with information and resources relevant to the lives of seniors in our state. From Covid-19 updates to more general care for age-related health issues, access to legal assistance to getting home-delivered meals to help with housing, you may well find answers to your questions by clicking: here.
Adult and Aging Service’s Information and Assistance Line, providing information and referrals to the full range of services available to older adults, adults with disabilities and their family caregivers, has a new phone number and email address: 415/473-INFO (4636) 8:30 am to 4:30 pm weekdays473INFO@marincounty.org
Questions? Assistance? Suggestions? We have resources and volunteers for:grocery deliveryfood assistanceproviding weekly comfort calls to check in on youplus more!
A 35-year-old bookstore was set on fire in North Hollywood in November and is believed to be a target of an alleged arson attack.
LA Fire responded to the call, seeing the front of the rear entrance of Iliad Bookshop, located at 5400 Calhuega, fully engulfed in flames after an unknown person or persons stacked up books and items left out by the store, according to the Los Angeles Blade.
Bookstore owner Daniel Weinstein told multiple news outlets that a flyer was left at the scene of the blaze, considered “terrorist.”
The extent of damage to the store’s inventory is unknown, according to the Blade.
“We were very lucky: neighbors saw the flames and flagged down a passing fire truck; had the firefighters arrived mere moments later, the entire store would probably have gone up. As it is, we suffered heavy damage to the main entry. The doors (which are metal) are still functional, but will need to be either replaced or fixed. We lost lighting fixtures, signage, and wood framing; we also suffered damage to the mural on the right side of the doors. Smoke filled the interior of the store, but we were able to rescue our two cats Zeus and Apollo and we’re hopeful that the damage to the books and fixtures is minimal,” said Weinstein.
“We have high insurance deductibles, so we need to cover the cost of replacing the exterior lights, sign, and trim, and touching up the mural. We expect the funds we’re looking for to be divided between repair costs and a mural artist,” he continued in the GoFundMe description.
Iliad is known for its cozy mix of “librarial reverence and old lore magic,” according to magazine writer Augustus Britton.
“Weinstein’s 10 employees are awesome. There are no better poetic words to describe them. One could say they all look like fictional characters. Grateful Dead fans, Philip K. Dick spies or Stendhal savants eating Chinese food at the counter while the shop’s spunky cats Zeus and Apollo — more nods to Greek mythology — climb over their shoulders,” Brittan said about the bookstore.
LAFD’s arson investigators are currently looking into what caused the fire, according to the Blade.
While LGBTQ candidates and their supporters celebrated several milestone victories around the nation in this year’s midterm elections, California quietly reached its own: At least 10% of its state lawmakers identify publicly as LGBTQ, believed to be a first for any U.S. legislature.
The California legislators, all Democrats, are proud of their success but say it underscores the hard work that remains in their own state and elsewhere, such as handling the fallout from measures such as Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans some lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity, or laws in other states limiting transgender students’ participation in sports or blocking gender-affirming medical care for youths.
The milestone was further shrouded by the Saturday night shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado, which killed five people and wounded many others. The suspect was charged with murder and hate crimes. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who just won a second term, was the first openly gay man elected as a state’s governor when he won in 2018.
“When it comes to LGBTQ people, we’re on two tracks: One track is that societally we’re winning. People by and large are totally fine with LGBTQ people, they support us, they are accepting and willing to vote for LGBTQ candidates,” California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a member of the LGBTQ Caucus, said Monday.
Yet, he said, “despite the fact that we are winning the battle in society at large, you have a very vocal, dangerous minority of extremists who are consistently attacking and demonizing our community.”
At least 519 out LGBTQ candidates won elected office this year, in positions ranging from school board up to Congress and governor, said LGBTQ Victory Fund press secretary Albert Fujii. That’s a record, well up from 2020, when 336 LGBTQ candidates won, according to the group, which along with Equality California calculated that California is the first state to pass the 10% threshold.
Of the 12 current or soon-to-be members of the California Legislature, eight were already part of its LGBTQ Caucus, including the leader of the Senate and three other senators whose terms run until 2024. Four current Assembly members won reelection Nov. 8, with two new Assembly members and two new senators joining them, increasing the caucus’s ranks by 50%. The AP has not yet called one remaining race that could add an additional LGBTQ lawmaker.
The lawmakers will be sworn in for their new terms Dec. 5; between both chambers there are 120 total legislators.
The U.S. census has found that 9.1% of Californians identified as LGBT — compared with 7.9% for the nation overall — so the Legislature will have roughly reached parity in sexual orientation and gender identity. Meanwhile, the Legislature has not yet reached parity in gender or in race and ethnicity, according to statistics from the California State Library.
New Hampshire and Vermont have each had more LGBTQ legislators, according to the institute, but their legislatures are bigger than California’s and so have not reached the 10% threshold.
The 2022 elections are a landscape of firsts for LGBTQ people, including Corey Jackson, the California Legislature’s first gay Black man, who noted that African Americans — particularly Black trans people — are especially marginalized.
“I think this is an opportunity just to say that number one, we are here, we do have something to contribute and we can lead and represent with the best of them,” said Jackson, a school board member from Riverside County.
Alaska and South Dakota elected their first out LGBTQ legislators, and Montana and Minnesota elected their first transgender legislators, according to the Human Rights Campaign. In New Hampshire, Democrat James Roesener, 26, became the first trans man elected to any U.S. state legislature.
He said he was motivated to run after a state bill that would have required schools to notify parents of developments in their children’s gender identity and expression failed only narrowly. Opponents of such requirements say they invade children’s privacy and can put them at risk of abuse at home.
Leigh Finke, who was elected in Minnesota, also was driven by growing anti-transgender rhetoric.
Finke hopes to ban so-called conversion therapy in Minnesota and, like California, make the state a sanctuary for children, and their parents, who can’t access gender-affirming health care elsewhere.
“I just thought, ‘This can’t stand.’ We have to have trans people in these rooms. If we are going to lose our rights, at least they have to look us in the eye when they do it,” she said.
Charlotte Perri, a 23-year-old voting organizer in Portland, Oregon, said she got emotional hearing Gov.-elect Tina Kotek talk at a campaign event about young people thanking her for running.
“It’s hard to feel optimistic as a young queer person with everything that’s going on,” Perri said.
Though the newly elected LGBTQ officials are overwhelmingly Democrats, at least one gay Republican — George Santos, a supporter of former President Donald Trump — won a U.S. House seat in New York by defeating another gay man, a Democrat.
The increase in LGBTQ lawmakers contrasts with efforts in some states led by members of Santos’ party to limit the influence, visibility and rights of LGBTQ people.
In Tennessee, leaders of the state’s Republican legislative supermajority said the first bill of the 2023 session will seek to ban gender-affirming care for minors. Tennessee has one LGTBQ lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Torrey Harris.
The state already has banned transgender athletes from participating in girls middle and high school sports and restricted which bathrooms transgender students and employees can use.
The Human Rights Campaign tracked what it identified as anti-LGTBQ bills introduced in 23 states this year and said they became law in 13: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Louisiana.
By contrast, “as California’s Legislative LGBTQ Caucus has grown, the state has led the nation in passing groundbreaking legislation protecting LGBTQ+ civil rights,” said Equality California spokesperson Samuel Garrett-Pate.
Wiener carried California’s sanctuary bill for transgender youths, which has been copied by Democratic lawmakers in other states. He and a fellow Assembly member teamed up in 2019 to expand access to HIV prevention medication. Other laws pushed by LGBTQ legislators over the years gave foster children rights to gender-affirming care and allowed nonbinary gender markers on state identification.
It’s too soon to have a solid plan for new legislation, California caucus members said, but Wiener noted realms to consider include employment resources for transgender people; homelessness and crime among at-risk LGTBQ youth; and sexual health services.
Jackson said he found hope in the election returns not only in California, but also nationwide.
“We have U.S. senators now, we have governors now, we actually have trans legislators now in this country,” Jackson said. “So in the midst of stories of hatred and stories of demonization, you still see rainbows of hope throughout our nation.”
(ramp and elevator but no automatic door)noon to 1:30
