Police have launched an investigation after a vandal attacked a local LGBT+ community centre on Pride weekend, leaving staff and volunteers stunned.
At around 10.05am on Saturday (June 27), bystanders watched in horror as a man with a golf club smashed the windows of Oakland LGBTQ Community Centre in California.
Described as “a young skinny white male”, he is said to have yelled expletives while striking the building before fleeing the scene on a bike when confronted by nearby vendors.
The all-inclusive centre was founded by two gay African American men, who have described the attack as a hate crime.
“Our organisation is Black lead and queer,” they wrote on Facebook. “We have a large banner on our window that says Black LGBTQ Lives Matter Too!
“We are clear that this was a hate crime that could have caused us to be targeted because we are Black and because we are LGBTQ.”
They said the attack has “rattled” the team, but added: “We will get through this.”
One eyewitness, Cosmos Ozansi, told ABC7 News that he was setting up his jewellery stand on the street outside the centre when he saw the angry-looking man striking the windows.
“[I yelled] ‘Stop, stop!’ as loud as I could, then he saw me.” He says the man turned and rode away on his bike.
Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf was outraged by the act of vandalism. “I am furious that anyone would commit this kind of act at this sanctuary of love, pride and family,” she said.
Oakland Police say they are actively investigating the incident.
Oakland LGBTQ Community Centre has thanked those who arrived to help them clean up the mess, as well as “everyone offering support to us through this difficult and emotional time. We appreciate you so much.”
The group has requested donations via their website, and urged people to contact the local police department and ask them to make hate crimes against Black and LGBT+ people a priority in Oakland.
There are calls to rename John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, over his white supremacist and homophobic beliefs.
The Democratic Party of Orange County passed a resolution on Friday that called for Wayne’s name and likeness to be removed from the Orange County airport, one of several airports that serves the greater Los Angeles area, over his “racist and bigoted statements”.
Wayne was famous for his film roles in early Westerns – but the local party notes he also had “white supremacist, anti-LGBT+, and anti-Indigenous views”.
John Wayne was a proud white supremacist who decried ‘perverted fags’.
The movie star’s racist beliefs were documented in a 1971 interview with Playboy magazine, in which he insisted: “We can’t all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the Blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the Blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.”
He also said: “I don’t feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago these people were slaves.”
Of gay people, he vented: “Movies were once made for the whole family. Now, with the kind of junk the studios are cranking out… I’m quite sure that within two or three years, Americans will be completely fed up with these perverted films.”
Wayne elaborated: “Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy – that kind of thing. Wouldn’t you say that the wonderful love of those two men in Midnight Cowboy, a story about two fags, qualifies?”
Democrats are calling for the name of the airport to be changed and the statue to be removed due to the deceased actor’s ‘racist and bigoted statements’. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Rounding on indigenous Americans, Wayne also asserted: “I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them”, adding: “I don’t see why we owe them anything. I don’t know why the government should give them something that it wouldn’t give me.”
Calls to rename airport after local heroes.
Orange County Democrats chair Ada Briceño has made clear that calls for Wayne’s name to be removed have been a long-standing local issue.
She told CNN: “While some outside Orange County may not know of John Wayne’s beliefs in white supremacy, many Orange County residents have been calling for his removal for years. We’re seeing renewed calls for this right now, and it’s time for change.”
In a column for The Orange County Register, state senator Tom Umberg wrote that Wayne’s beliefs were “disturbing.” He added: “Those we honour reflect our values. When the millions of travellers arrive in Orange County, they should know what we honour, what values we hold, who we think is a role model. We should be proud to tell our children who our airport is named after, and why.”
He cited “thousands of heroes who have called Orange County home there are several examples of sacrifice worthy of having their names immortalised on an airport,” listing several war heroes from the area who the airport could be named after.
Effective July 1, California will restrict state-funded travel to Idaho as a result of two anti-trans bills signed into law despite “significant concerns” from that state’s attorney general, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office said in a press release.
Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bills 500 and 509 into law on March 30, 2020.
“U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced in a statement Friday the Trump administration would intercede in the lawsuit against the Idaho law, known as House Bill 500 and the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, to protect the statute on the basis that “allowing biological males to compete in all-female sports is fundamentally unfair to female athletes.”
“Under the Constitution, the Equal Protection Clause allows Idaho to recognize the physiological differences between the biological sexes in athletics,” Barr said. “Because of these differences, the Fairness Act’s limiting of certain athletic teams to biological females provides equal protection. This limitation is based on the same exact interest that allows the creation of sex-specific athletic teams in the first place — namely, the goal of ensuring that biological females have equal athletic opportunities.”
“The Justice Department takes this position even though the Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County determined anti-transgender discrimination is a form of discrimination, thus prohibited in employment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The logic of the decision applies to all laws against sex discrimination, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in schools and requires schools to offer equal opportunities boys and girls in athletics.”
Restrictions on California state-funded travel resulting from another state’s anti-LGBTQ laws has been in place since 2016.
House Bill 500 repeals protections that enabled transgender students to compete on athletic teams consistent with their gender identity and House Bill 509 prohibits the amendment of birth certificates to be consistent with gender identity, says the release.
“Where states legislate discrimination, California unambiguously speaks out,” said Becerra.“The State of Idaho has taken drastic steps to undermine the rights of the transgender community, preventing people from playing sports in school or having documentation that reflects their identity. Let’s not beat around the bush: these laws are plain and simple discrimination. That’s why Idaho joins the list of AB 1887 discriminating states.”
The press release notes:
“Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden had raised concerns about the bills’ compliance with equal protection and privacy laws. House Bill 500, among other things, runs contrary to existing guidance by the National Collegiate Athletic Association that encourages equal opportunity for transgender students to participate in athletics. Dubiously named the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” House Bill 500 overrules existing local school policies in Idaho and directly works to ban transgender girls and women from school sports. Similarly, House Bill 509 not only authorizes but actually requires discrimination by prohibiting the amendment of birth certificates consistent with gender identity, a right previously recognized by an Idaho federal court on equal protection grounds. The laws are currently set to go into effect in Idaho on July 1, 2020.
AB 1887, which took effect beginning in 2017, restricts state-funded travel to states with laws that authorize or require discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. AB 1887’s restriction on using state funds for travel applies to California state agencies, departments, boards, authorities, and commissions, including an agency, department, board, authority, or commission of the University of California, the Board of Regents of the University of California, and the California State University. Each applicable agency is responsible for consulting the AB 1887 list created by the California Department of Justice to comply with the travel and funding restrictions imposed by the law.
For additional information on AB 1887, including the list of states subject to its provisions, visit: www.oag.ca.gov/ab1887.’
An estimated 30,000 people converged in West Hollywood on Sunday to protest systemic racism and police brutality and to shine light on the specific needs of Black LGBTQ people. The event — which took place just ahead of the 50th anniversary of L.A.’s first pride event, originally called the Christopher Street West Parade — started out as a Black Lives Matter solidarity march, but it ultimately showed the divisions between two overlapping civil rights movements.
The event’s initial organizers found themselves the recipients of backlash when they announced their plans in early June: Christopher Street West, or CSW, the historic, mostly white-led organization that typically produces the annual LA Pride Festival and Parade, never reached out to coordinate with Black Lives Matter activists about the march. In addition, it hired an event organizer who applied for a police permit for the parade — a move seen as offensive by many Black activists in the midst of anti-brutality protests.
For many people at the march Sunday, the backlash highlighted how the growing Black Lives Matter movement had the power to force ostensibly progressive LGBTQ organizations to grapple with blind spots and long-unaddressed histories of exclusion.
CSW canceled its solidarity march shortly after the backlash, and Gerald Garth, one of the few Black board members at CSW, formed a new council with a group of Black LGBTQ leaders. Together, they announced a new march, dubbed the “All Black Lives Matter” protest, without CSW’s involvement. The result was Sunday’s all-day event, featuring a march starting on Hollywood Boulevard and ending in West Hollywood, as well as lively performances, art and nonstop dancing.
“Putting Protest Back in Pride” originally aired on the Weekend Report on Quibi. Watch the full video here.
Gerald Garth, right, one of the few Black board members at Christopher Street West, formed a new council with a group of Black LGBTQ leaders.Quibi
“A big part of the conversations that I had to have often was that even though things were well-intended, that didn’t make it any less wrong or impactful,” Garth told NBC News. “And plus, too, through the lens of CSW being this legendary white agency proposing this Black effort, [the] community really received it as CSW, you know, aiming to co-opt or, you know, capitalize.”
Luckie Fuller, an artist and trans activist, said a formal police presence “would’ve kept people from coming out here.”
“It would’ve hindered a lot of our voices, and it would’ve dampened our voices,” Fuller said.
Obtaining a police permit for its annual event, however, is part of the 50-year history of L.A.’s annual pride celebration. While New York held the very first pride march on June 28, 1970, later that same day, L.A. held the “world’s first permitted parade advocating for gay rights,” a fact Christopher Street West still highlights on its website to this day.
Miss Shalae, a Beyoncé impersonator who performed at the march, said that when she first moved to Los Angeles, she couldn’t persuade white-owned LGBTQ bars and clubs to book her for performances. She didn’t have faith that CSW would learn from mistakes without a change in leadership.
“They’re not giving us a seat at the table, which I feel like is super important. How can you know what we want without asking us what we want?” Miss Shalae said. “And it is definitely a time for that to change, absolutely.”
Christopher Street West Executive Director Madonna Cacciatore, left, said the group is committed to making sure an oversight like this year’s doesn’t happen again.Quibi
CSW’s executive director, Madonna Cacciatore, said it is committed to making sure that doesn’t happen again. “And we’re having the hard conversations now, to be honest with you,” she said. “Because there’s been a history, not only with our organization, but, you know, everybody’s being asked to re-examine themselves and to look at ourselves through a different lens. We have been, you know, we always try to do the right thing. We sometimes don’t do it well.”
For some, the new march and the organization’s apology were too little too late.
Ashlee Marie Preston, a Black trans writer and former CSW board member, decided she wouldn’t attend. “What made me so frustrated about all of this is that I have direct relationships with people on the board,” Preston said. “It’s this idea that saviorism is solidarity. … When we say Black Lives Matter, we need to also emphasize that Black leadership matters and that we have to trust that leadership.”
Still, many in the crowd hoped that CSW and other similar organizations would learn from this year’s mistakes. Brandon Anthony, an event producer, called CSW the “guinea pig” for the transformations Black LGBTQ activists want to see more broadly.
“Our target is not just CSW and LA Pride,” he said. “We’re going to challenge all nonprofits and corporations. … Change your infrastructure and re-examine how Black lives are being treated.”
San Francisco Pride’s 2020 Online Celebration Saturday, June 27, 1-9 p.m. Sunday, June 28, 2-7 p.m. Available online at sfpride.org
SF Pride is pleased to announce that this weekend-long tribute to LGBTQ+ luminaries and queer solidarity will be hosted by some of San Francisco’s most iconic drag queens and activists, including Honey Mahogany, Persia, Sister Roma, and Yves Saint Croissant.
Headlining Saturday’s celebration is New Orleans-born Queen of Bounce, Big Freedia, with additional entertainment provided throughout the weekend by Australian singer-songwriter Betty Who, singer and American Idol finalist David Hernandez, rising pop star Dorian Electra, teenage hip-hop sensation Kidd Kenn, and Uberlândia-born Brazilian transgender artist Urias.
Legendary drag icons Heklina, Honey Mahogany,Landa Lakes, Madd Dogg 20/20, Peaches Christ, and Sister Roma will come together for Decades of Drag, a conversation where they reflect on decades of activism, struggles, and victories. Joining the previously announced artists, the tribute to LGBTQ+ luminaries and queer solidarity includes performances by Madame Gandhi, VINCINT, Elena Rose, Krystle Warren, La Doña, and LadyRyan, presented by SF Queer Nightlife.
The weekend program also features a spotlight on Openhouse and the living legacy of Black queer and transgender activism; National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon discussing Black Lives Justice; and a deep dive into the history of the LGBTQ+ community in music with Kim Petras.Additional special appearances include Bay Area American Indian TwoSpirits, body positive warrior Harnaam Kaur, Alphabet Rockers, Cheer SF (celebrating forty years!), a conversation on the intersection of Black and gay issues between Dear White People creator Justin Simien and cast member Griffin Matthews, and best-of performances from San Francisco’s oldest queer bar The Stud.
San Francisco Pride will host a concurrent stream at sfpride.org, featuring some of the Community-programmed stages that celebrate the diversity of LGBTQ+ culture in San Francisco and beyond. The Soul of Pride stage will feature, among other stellar acts, D’Wayne Patrice Wiggins, founding member of 1990s soul/R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné!, and Yo-Yo, the outspoken hip-hop artist, actress, and entrepreneur.
The Women’s Stage is showcasing a selection of the Bay Area’s best, such as dance-club DJ, radio mixtress, and club promoter Page Hodel, as well as Christie James, Olga T, Alex D, and Rockaway. Rounding out the Community Stages is the Don Julio Latin Stage, presented by Club Papi, Gay Club TV, and Media Concepts PR — with featured performances by the legendary Ana Barbara, Amara La Negra, Los Horoscopos De Durango, and more.
Stay tuned for the final programming announcement on Tuesday, June 23!
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A “farmers’ market Karen” jeered and berated a gay vendor was jeered and berated just for handing out LGBT+ Pride flags which she called “political” in Livermore.
The startling footage, uploaded to Twitter Monday (June 15) showed Gail Hayden, head of the California Farmers’ Market Association, frostily harangue Dan Floyd for hanging out flags to “satisfy his political agenda”.
‘Farmers’ market Karen’ belittles gay cookie vendor for handing out Pride flags.
Hayden began to spar with Floyd, who owns a stall in the Livermore Farmers’ Market called Dan Good Cookies. Pedalling his baked goods, Floyd was joined Sunday afternoon (June 14) by Livermore Prides executive director Amy Pannu, handing out rainbow flags for Pride Month.
“She became very confrontational,” Floyd toldNBC Bay Area of the “farmers’ market Karen”. “Very condescending about the entire thing.”
The footage showed Hayden icily tearing into Lloyd for handing out the flags. “This person may have an issue about ‘xyz’,” she said, waving hazily at other stall-fronts and stressing that her issue had nothing to do with “what the flags are for”.
“I’ve been in places for 40 years where they bring out foetuses and put them on ironing boards. My job is to run the market, not to satisfy your political point of view.”
Hayden then attempted to stymie Lloyd by saying that the passing out of flags in the venue is stonewalled by the market’s rulebook. Yet, across its 30-pages, nowhere does it prohibit flags – only “petitions and flyers”.
“I definitely felt scared, and I definitely felt scared for my business,” Lloyd told the outlet.”It definitely felt like the flags and what they represent were the target of her tirade.”
Hayden’s daughter, the association’s senior market manager, alleged that children were using the flags are playthings, prompting her mother to intervene. However, nowhere in the recorded exchange is this alluded to.
“We apologise that he feels singled out,” Kayla Hayden said of the situation in which Lloyd was singled out. “We don’t want to single anybody out.”
As much as the scuffle stirred outrage against the California Farmers’ Market Association — with Hayden later resigning from her role — it led to a spike of orders to Dan Good Cookies, according to photographs from customers.
LA Pride has stepped away from its “All Black Lives Matter” protest, after organisers were revealed to have been working “collaboratively” with police.
LA Pride was cancelled almost two months ago due to the coronavirus pandemic, but organisers announced last week that they intended to replace it with a Black Lives Matter march.
However the event was slammed by the LGBT+ community after an LA Pride organiser wrote a letter to police seeking permission and approval for the march.
In the letter, organisers requested a special event permit in order to hold its Black Lives Matter march, and said they looked forward to organising the event “collaboratively” with the LAPD.
Over the weekend, the organisation apologised for involving the police, writing on Instagram: “We realized that we did not first collaborate with enough key leaders and activists in the Black community that have been fighting on the frontlines.
“For that we offer our sincerest apologies.
“Furthermore, as we quickly mobilized this protest… in that haste, we overlooked the direct police involvement that permitting involves. We understand that clearly goes against the demands for systemic police reform.”
It added that “solidarity march scheduled for June 14 is currently being reevaluated” through discussions with with Black leaders and organisations.
On Monday, June 8, it announced that the “All Black Lives Matter” march would still go ahead, but LA Pride would “no longer be involved”.
The organisation wrote on Instagram: “We recognize systemic racism, implicit bias and privilege permeates this country, and this includes the history of our organization.
“We hope to see progress and start with change from within. With that, CSW/LA Pride will no longer be involved in organizing what will now be known as the All Black Lives Matter march… but we are in full support.
“We will be there and hope the LGBTQ+ community will as well.”
It clarified that there would now “be no police or city law officials involved in any capacity”, and that “this is a solidarity protest march and there will be no corporate participation”.
It is unclear whether the decision to step away from the march was made by LA Pride or by Black Lives Matter organisers.
We have been rocked by the recent violence against Black people across the country. Unfortunately, we know that these events are the result of centuries of deeply rooted, anti-Black racism. And while racist violence in our country began long before Donald Trump, the president continues to stoke racist sentiment and embolden white supremacists.
At our core, Equality California is an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. We strive for a world that is healthy, just and fully equal for LGBTQ+ people AND the diverse communities to which we belong. What we have witnessed with the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and too many others is simple: a heinous attack on the lives and civil rights of Black Americans.
Equality California believes that being an anti-racist and an ally is a lifelong, active responsibility, and this email should be the first of many conversations to come. Many of us are wondering what we can do to support our Black friends, neighbors and loved ones as well as those hurting in Minneapolis, Louisville and across the country. Below are a few resources our team has compiled. This is by no means an exhaustive list.
Equality California joined over 110 LGBTQ+ organizations in affirming our commitment to anti-racism and ending white supremacy. Both MUST be front-and-center if we want to achieve full, lived equality for LGBTQ+ people. Read our full letter here >>
— Rick Chavez Zbur, Executive Director Equality California
Nearly two months after it was cancelled due to coronavirus, LA Pride will be revived as a Black Lives Matter march to honour the legacy of the Stonewall Riots.
The parade was due to take place on June 14 to commemorate LA Pride’s 50th anniversary. Now this date will instead see a solidarity protest march in response to racial injustice, systemic racism, and all forms of oppression.
In a statement on Wednesday the parade organisers Christopher Street West said the march will hark back to Pride’s roots as a protest for social justice.
“Fifty years ago Christopher Street West took to the streets of Hollywood Blvd in order to peacefully protest against police brutality and oppression,” said Estevan Montemayor, the organisation’s president.
“It is our moral imperative to honour the legacy of Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who bravely led the Stonewall uprising, by standing in solidarity with the Black community against systemic racism and joining the fight for meaningful and long-lasting reform.”
In accordance with advice from the California Department of Public Health, participants will be expected to wear masks or other face coverings and take other appropriate social distancing measures.
“We have been told that it is safer at home – and that is absolutely true; it is safer at home during this health pandemic – and that unless it is absolutely necessary you should not leave your home,” Montemayor told the
“But as we reflect on what is occurring, I think it is very fair to say that it is absolutely necessary that we leave our homes and speak loudly and clearly about this injustice and peacefully protest.”
She added that Marsha Johnson’s struggle, strength and courage were part of what led the Christopher Street West board to the unanimous decision to hold this protest.
“As a trans person, as a Black woman, as a member of this community, she had to deal with oppression on many fronts,” she said. “I think it is our imperative to continue to fight the injustice and the oppression that we are currently witnessing.”
It all started with an impromptu march and a picnic. On June 27, 1970 a small band of hippies and “hair fairies” marched down Polk Street, then San Francisco’s most prominent LGBTQ area, to celebrate an event they called “Christopher Street Liberation Day.” The following afternoon, celebrants congregated for a “Gay-In” picnic in Speedway Meadows at Golden Gate Park. These two modest gatherings inaugurated the annual celebration we now know as San Francisco Pride.
As difficult as it is to believe that every single Pride participant in 1970 could fit into a small area of the park, it’s also remarkable that just ten years later, Pride was drawing some 250,000 participants and spectators. The foundational first decade of Pride is the subject of a new online exhibition, “Labor of Love: The Birth of San Francisco Pride 1970–1980,” opening June 15 on the GLBT Historical Society’s website. It’s the second of two exhibitions the society is organizing to commemorate Pride’s golden jubilee.
“Labor of Love” is curated by three LGBTQ historians who have worked with the society for many years: Gerard Koskovich, Don Romesburg and Amy Sueyoshi. To introduce the exhibition, each selected one item that will be on display and wrote a brief reflection about its significance:
Gerard Koskovich: The flyer for the 1970 Christopher Street Liberation Day Gay-In (top left) is one of many items of ephemera that stand out for me. It’s our first fragile historical document recalling an event that appeared to have little impact at the time. At the end of tumultuous 1960s, when enormous protests, sprawling counterculture festivals and massive full-on riots regularly dominated the news, a ragtag band of hippies and queens staging an informal march followed by a couple hundred queerfolk holding a picnic the next day didn’t strike much of anybody as meriting a headline.
The fact that this flyer survived likely tells us something important: Some of the people involved in the event thought of themselves as actors in history. In this case, the copy came to the archives with the papers of Charles Thorpe, an activist involved in the first glimmers of gay liberation in San Francisco. He carefully gathered this flyer and other materials documenting those efforts. For Thorpe, the flyer evidently wasn’t just designed to announce an event, then be tossed in the trash. It was a reminder of a manifestation of courage and celebration that should be handed along to the future.
Amy Sueyoshi: The logo for gay pride on the 1972 program (top right) features a raised fist with purple butterfly wings. It’s an odd image when you stare at it too long, but it reminds me of the explicit ties that the Gay Power movement had with other cultural nationalist movements such as Black Power. We know from Asian Americans activists that the alliances were far from perfect. Queers of color felt racism in dominantly white gay and lesbian spaces, and homophobia disabled full inclusion in the fight for Third World liberation. Still, the logo to me signals an aim for a liberation movement that explicitly articulates allyhood and intersectional identities, in its nod towards mariposa consciousness and a raised fist against white supremacy.
Don Romesburg: From its earliest years, people used Gay Freedom Day to express sameness and difference simultaneously. Unlike bars, organizations and neighborhoods, which served particular identitarian, political, cultural and erotic constituencies, the parade and festival were the only places where all of the community would experience its full collectivity. Yet many also used the gathering to assert the worth and pleasure of their particular facet of sexual and gender diversity. Gay Freedom Day became the annual reunion of one big queer dysfunctional family. Early Pride events showcased that we could all be an LGBTQ community, despite and through our differences.
That’s why I love this Marie Ueda photo of the Third World Gay Caucus (center), a coalitional organization for the liberation of queer people of color, marching in the 1977 parade. Black, Latinx and Asian American people assembled themselves under one banner, an exuberant solidarity in difference. And they gestured, through signs such as “Gay Rights Are Human Rights,” toward a universal call for all “gay” (what we’d now call LGBTQ) people to claim their full humanity in the face of racism, cis and hetero marginalization and erasure.
