The Guardian reports that CHP officers worked with Derik Punneo, a member of the neo-Nazi-aligned Traditional Workers Party, and showed him photos of anti-racist activists to see if he could identify them.
“We’re pretty much going after them,” officers told Punneo. “We’re looking at you as the victim.”
The officers wanted the anti-racist activists identified as part of an investigation into violence that broke out during a neo-Nazi rally in Sacramento last June, which resulted in multiple people getting stabbed.
The Guardian notes that Punneo himself was accused of stabbing anti-racist activists at the rally, and a Facebook photo of the event shows that he was armed with a knife at the time the alleged stabbing occurred.
Despite this, CHP investigator Donovan Ayres said there was not clear evidence to charge Punneo with a crime.
However, Ayres showed no such reluctance to recommend charges against an anti-racist activist who was stabbed at the rally with 11 different offenses, including disturbing the peace, conspiracy, assault, unlawful assembly and wearing a mask to evade police.
“As evidence, Ayres provided Facebook photos of the man holding up his fist,” writes the Guardian. “The officer wrote that the man’s ‘Black Power salute’ and his ‘support for anti-racist activism’ demonstrated his ‘intent and motivation to violate the civil rights’ of the neo-Nazi group.”
In the end, however, the activist was not charged, despite Ayres’ recommendation.
Steve Grippi, chief deputy district attorney prosecuting the case, denied that his investigation is biased against the anti-racist activists, and he noted that one neo-Nazi organizer has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon and participation in a riot.
On Monday Kern County Superior Court Judge David Lampe ruled that owner Cathy Miller can continue to refuse to make wedding cakes for same sex couples.
“The State cannot succeed on the facts presented as a matter of law. The right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment outweighs the State’s interest in ensuring a freely accessible marketplace,” Lampe wrote in his ruling. “The right of freedom of thought guaranteed by the First Amendment includes the right to speak, and the right to refrain from speaking. Sometimes the most profound protest is silence.”
The case, which has received national attention, began in August when Miller – a conservative Christian – refused to make a wedding cake for Mireya and Eileen Rodriguez-Del Rio.
Miller said it went against her Christian beliefs to make a cake for a same sex couple.
The Rodriguez-Del Rioses made a complaint to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing that Miller had violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
The Act prohibits public businesses from denying service to anyone on the basis of a number of characteristics including race, gender, religion or sexual orientation.
Lawyers for DFEH filed suit against Tastries and Miller, who was defended pro-bono by the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund.
Miller, at a prayer rally before the court hearing on Friday, said God gave her the ability to make beautiful cakes and she is committed to using it in the way she believes God wants her to.
“If we’re not able to follow our conscience we’re no longer able to be who God created us to be,” Miller said. “I am incapable of doing something that would hurt my Lord and Savior.”
In court her attorney, Charles LiMandri, made the argument that Miller’s free speech rights and her right to free expression of religion trump the state’s arguments that she violated a law against discrimination.
“It’s a work of art as far as my client is concerned,” LiMandri said. “In my client’s mind this is a free exercise case.”
Lampe, in essence, ruled that Miller’s First Amendment rights trumped the state law she violated.
His argument, however was closely tied to Miller’s role as an artist in producing cakes which – he found – are protected artistic expression.
“A wedding cake is not just a cake in a Free Speech analysis. It is an artistic expression by the person making it that is to be used traditionally as a centerpiece in the celebration of a marriage,” Lampe wrote. “There could not be a greater form of expressive conduct. Here, Rodriguez—Del Rios plan to engage in speech. They
plan a celebration to declare the validity of their marital union and their enduring love for one another. The State asks this court to compel Miller against her will and religion to allow her artistic expression in celebration of marriage to be co-opted to promote the message desired by same-sex marital partners, and with which Miller disagrees.”
But Lampe wrote that his ruling was tied closely to the fact that Miller was being asked to create a cake for an event.
And he cautioned that religion does not give businesses a right to refuse service to groups protected by the Unruh Act in other circumstances.
“A retail tire shop may not refuse to sell a tire because the owner does not want to sell tires to same sex couples. There is nothing sacred or expressive about a tire. No artist, having placed their work for public sale, may refuse to sell for an unlawful discriminatory purpose. No baker may place their wares in a public display case, open their shop, and then refuse to sell because of race, religion, gender, or gender identification,” Lampe wrote.
His distinction, he said, is between the act of selling a product to a same-sex couple and creating a product for the same couple.
“The difference here is that the cake in question is not yet baked,” Lampe wrote. “The State is not petitioning the court to order defendants to sell a cake. The State asks this court to compel Miller to use her talents to design and create a cake she has not yet conceived with the knowledge that her work will be displayed in
celebration of a marital union her religion forbids. For this court to force such compliance would do violence to the essentials of Free Speech guaranteed under the First Amendment.”
LiMandri expressed his satisfaction with the outcome in a statement Monday evening.
“This is a significant victory for faith and freedom because the judge indicated in his ruling that the State cannot succeed in this case as a matter of law. No doubt the California officials will continue their persecution of Cathy, but it is clear that she has the Constitution on her side,” he wrote.
Miller said Tuesday she was surprised and overjoyed by the ruling.
“We were so joyful. We weren’t expecting it to be so soon. We started screaming and praising God because we felt we had been heard,” she said.
She said she respected the distinction Lampe made between the sales of a cake and the creation of one.
“I am very happy to serve everything from my cases to anybody,” she said. “But I cannot be a part of a celebration that goes against my lord and savior.”
Miller thanked her lawyers who she called, “amazing men of god.”
Patricia Ziegler-Lopez, the attorney for the Rodriquez-Del Rioses and the couple themselves were not immediately available for comment Tuesday morning.
Coachella co-owner Philip Anschutz has once again come under scrutiny for bankrolling right-wing, anti-LGBTQ organizations at odds with the progressively minded music festival.
A new tax filing shows The Anschutz Foundation donated at least $325,000 between Dec. 2015 and Nov. 2016 to organizations with an explicit anti-LGBTQ mission, which was first reported by Pitchfork.
Anschutz, 78, owns Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and AEG Live, which is the second most-successful live-events promoter in the world. The company is responsible for a wide array of touring acts via AEG Presents including Elton John, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, Billy Joel, Lorde and more.
AEG also owns Coachella organizer Goldenvoice, which also puts on Panorama, Firefly, FYF, Stagecoach and other music festivals.
Anschutz’s history of contributing to anti-LGBTQ organizations prompted criticism in January 2017, when tax filings confirmed an earlier report that Anschutz’s foundation gave $190,000 to anti-LGBTQ groups between 2010 and 2013.
News of Anschutz’s donations prompted activists to launch a #BoycottCoachella campaign last year on social media.
The billionaire businessman denied claims he was anti-LGBTQ as “fake news” and “garbage.”
“I unequivocally support the rights of all people without regard to sexual orientation,” Anschutz said in a statement at the time.
He also immediately ceased contributions to certain groups upon learning of their anti-LGBTQ mission.
But The Anschutz Foundation’s latest annual filing reveals financial support for anti-LGBTQ organizations continued through at least Nov. 2016.
Lady Gaga, who has been very vocal about her support for LGBTQ rights, headlined Coachella in 2017.
(Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Coachella)
The Anschutz Foundation donated $40,000 on Nov. 15, 2016 to The Navigators, which listed being LGBTQ alongside incest and sexual abuse as behavior leading to “sexual brokenness” on its website in 2013.
The CEO of Dare 2 Share Ministries, which received $50,000 from the foundation on Aug. 23, 2016, wrote in a 2008 blog post that “homosexuality is a Satanic perversion of God’s gift of sex.”
Star Parker, the founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, said on “Fox & Friends” last year the rainbow pride flag and the Confederate flag “represent the exact same thing.”
The Anschutz Foundation donated $25,000 to Parker’s organization on Aug. 23, 2016.
The filing confirms the foundation ceased funding in 2016 for three organizations were the focus of the original controversy: Alliance Defending Freedom, Family Research Council and National Christian Foundation.
Beyond support for anti-LGBTQ causes, The Anschutz Foundation contributed to conservative and libertarian organizations the Koch-backed Americans Prosperity and The Federalist Society.
The foundation also supported Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes cannabis legalization.
Coachella has banned marijuana from its grounds despite the fact the recreational use is now legal in California.
Neither Anschutz nor a representative for the Anschutz Foundation responded to the Daily News’ requests for comment.
Reached for comment, Anschutz’s lawyer told Pitchfork, “One year ago we stated publicly that we unequivocally support the rights of all people without regard to sexual orientation. We stand by those words and reaffirm the commitment we made at that time that The Anschutz Foundation would not knowingly fund any organization that would support anti-LGBTQ initiatives.”
There is no evidence The Anschutz Foundation continues to contribute to anti-LGBTQ groups, as the latest filing only covers contributions made up until Nov. 2016.
Anschutz’s lawyer said the foundation contributes to 800 charities annually, which makes it difficult to determine which groups espouse homophobic views.
For this latest tax filing, the foundation dispersed a total of $63.7 million in grants.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival will take place in Indio, Calif., April 13-15 and April 20-22, and will feature headliners Beyoncé, Eminem and The Weeknd.
Regarded as the first organization of its kind, Gay American Indians (GAI) was established in San Francisco in 1975 at the height of gay liberation. Founded by Barbara Cameron (1954-2002) and Randy Burns, GAI initially was a social club for queer American Indians who often felt unwelcome in the LGBTQ community due to prejudice and in American Indian organizations due to homophobia. The group went on to reclaim tribal traditions honoring two-spirit people who embraced mixed gender identities and roles.
The archives of the GLBT Historical Society hold a small number of collections of organizational records and personal papers documenting GAI and other two-spirit groups and individuals. Among the most significant:
The Randy Burns Papers, with a sampling of materials from 1968 through 2002 reflecting Burns’ activism as well the work of GAI and other LGBTQ American Indian organizations across North America. Topics include initiatives to uncover two-spirit history and to respond to the AIDS crisis in American Indian communities.
The Gay American Indian Records, consisting primarily of materials related to academic conferences in the 1990s where two-spirit activists asserted their own histories and identities in opposition to perspectives anthropologists had imposed on them.
In addition, our Periodicals Collection includes a handful of scarce newsletters and zines reflecting American Indian experience, culture and organizing: B.A.A.I.T-S: Newsletter of the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (2000); Buffalo Hide (1993); Seasons: The Native American AIDS Prevention Center Quarterly (1989-1991); and Two-Spirit News (1996).
To learn more about the GLBT Historical Society’s collections on American Indians, search our online archives catalog. We’re committed to further documenting the history and culture of two-spirit people in Northern California; if you have materials you might wish to donate, email our managing archivist, Joanna Black.
Gerard Koskovich is communications director at the GLBT Historical Society.
Looking for something new and exciting to try in 2018? The next frontier for adventurous travelers is vacationing in the buff. Yes, we’re talking full monty! At least that’s what’s happening in Palm Springs where a growing string of clothing optional resorts are popping up, hoping to lure in the uninhibited among us.
Inndulge Resort is one of the original clothing optional resorts in Palm Springs and with its epic mountain views and legendary kidney-shaped swimming pool, it still ranks among the area’s most popular. It first opened 21-years ago and caters to a gay clientele.
Jon Jackson and his husband Sandy purchased Inndulge Resort in 2010 and were among the first to ride the wave of this latest dare-to-bare trend. They describe the nudist experience as one that once you try, you’ll want to do over and over again.
What do you account for the sudden popularity in clothing optional resorts?
Jon Jackson: It hasn’t been so sudden. We’ve seen the popularity of nude resorts grow steadily and gradually among gay men through the years, beginning as far back as the 1930s when Playa del Hombre Muerto, a nude beach just south of Sitges, Spain, opened to gay travelers. The gay clothing optional resorts began appearing in Palm Springs in the 1970s.
Traditionally, it’s been the over-50 crowd that has dared to bare.
Jon Jackson: That’s true but these days, we’re seeing all ages of gay men. Interestingly, however, only about half of our guests go fully nude. Many simply come because they like having the option. They come seeking a safe refuge where they can feel free to let it all hang out, should they wish to.
What is attracting younger vacationers?
Jon Jackson: We find they’re as eager to free themselves from the influences and restrictions of everyday life as the older men who come here are. They come for the freedom of hanging by the pool naked. They also come for the social aspect of spending their holiday exclusively with like-minded gay men. There’s a tribal aspect of gay nudist traveling.
Do you do anything to foster the social aspect?
Jon Jackson: Every day, we host a morning breakfast by the pool. We also host a nightly BYOB social hour and plenty of weekend events.
Do you see a lot of couples at Inndulge?
Jon Jackson: Oh yes, lots of couples! Its also become very common that one in the couple is a nudist while the other keeps his swim trunks on. All are welcome, and as a result, everyone feels comfortable.
Are the couples swingers?
Jon Jackson: They may be but Inndulge doesn’t allow public sex. Like the Marriots and Kimptons of the world, sex at our resort takes place in the privacy of our guest rooms. There are certainly bath-house style hotels for the sexually adventurous in Palm Springs.
How do you ensure that unwanted sexual advances are shut down quickly and easily at Inndulge?
Jon Jackson: There is a self-enforcing culture here. It’s an unwritten code of conduct that newcomers catch on quickly to.
Do most newcomers become repeat visitors?
Jon Jackson: Nearly 80% of our visitors return to Inndulge. That’s something I don’t think the Marriots and Kimptons of the world can claim.
To learn more about baring all in Palm Springs, visit inndulge.com.
Monday, Immigration Equality filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department for refusing to recognize the valid marriage of Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks, a same-sex couples living with their twin sons in Los Angeles, and for disenfranchising their son Ethan by denying recognition of his rightful U.S. citizenship at birth, while granting his twin brother’s citizenship.
Andrew is a U.S. citizen who grew up in Santa Monica. He moved to Israel to work and study, and it was there that he met Elad, his future husband. Andrew and Elad knew they wanted to marry and have a family, but because of the Defense of Marriage Act, Andrew could not sponsor Elad for a visa to be with him in the U.S., where all of Andrew’s family lives. Andrew is a dual U.S. and Canadian citizen, so he and Elad chose to move to Canada, where they were able to legally marry and have their marriage recognized so Andrew could sponsor Elad. There, they had twin sons, Ethan and Aiden, through surrogacy.
When they sought recognition of the twins’ U.S. citizenship, Andrew and Elad were forced to submit DNA tests and other documentation of their biological relationships to their boys, even though no such requirement exists for the children of a married U.S. citizen. Because one son was conceived with the sperm of one father and the other son with the sperm of the other father, one of these fraternal twins is being treated by the U.S. government as a U.S. citizen while the other was forced to enter the U.S. on a tourist visa, which has now expired. The family is fighting the discriminatory policy that is forcing the family to live in limbo.
Drug pricing advocates from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) have rolled out a new TV and radio ad campaign in the San Diego market blasting Congressman Scott Peters (D-CA 52nd District) for sponsoring a bill that would severely curtail nonprofit hospitals’ participation in the 340B program, a federally-administered drug discount pricing program created to extend the lifeline of care and services that safety net hospitals and providers are able to deliver. Peters, a San Diego Democrat, co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN).
Days before the December Congressional Recess and with little to no public input or scrutiny, he and Bucshon introduced H.R. 4710, a misguided bill pushed by pharmaceutical industry lobbyists that will gut the federally-administered drug discount program—a program that costs the government and taxpayers nothing. Advocates assert the bill, should it pass into law, will significantly reduce healthcare access for people—including many of those in Peters’ own San Diego district.
The radio and cable television campaign in San Diego includes 264 radio spots running on KXSN (98.1 FM), KYXY (96.5 FM) and KMYI (Star 94.1 FM) as well as a ‘Let340B!’ television ad running on San Diego area Cox Cable channels. The TV ad urges Peters’ constituents to contact him to demand that he not harm the drug pricing program by continuing to back this bill. The TV ad will run for a two-week flight (Jan 15-28) and will run as more than 700 spots across different Cox channels in the San Diego market.
“H.R. 4710 is really a brazen attack on the poor being falsely characterized as ‘reform.’ It is a full-on assault being led by the pharmaceutical industry and their lobbyists and friends in Congress, like Congressman Peters,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “In reality, this is a very worthwhile and lifesaving drug pricing program that costs the government and taxpayers nothing. 340B is continually in the crosshairs of Big Pharma and their legislative friends. However, we’ve seen that the public is wise enough to know that if pharma is involved in any drug pricing issue, they—the public or the patient—is on the losing side. We will continue to fight back against attacks on 340B and urge Congressman Peters to reconsider his sponsorship of this dangerous bill.”
Peters, who has served in Congress since 2013 and is the sixth wealthiest member of Congress, has taken in more that $100,000 in contributions from the drug and biotech industries while in Congress.
Samuel Lincoln Woodward, a 20-year-old former high school classmate of Bernstein, was charged Wednesday with his murder, as well as a sentence enhancement for using a knife, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced at a news conference.
Police discovered Bernstein’s body, which had been stabbed over 20 times, buried in a shallow grave Jan. 9 in a park in Lake Forest, California, roughly 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The discovery came nearly a week after his parents reported him missing on Jan. 3, while he was home in Lake Forest during his college winter break.
Woodward had picked up Bernstein in his car after interacting with him on Snapchat the night he went missing, the suspect told police, according to a search affidavit obtained by The Orange County Register. He reportedly claimed they had driven to Borrego Park that night, when Bernstein exited the vehicle and walked away.
After waiting an hour for Bernstein to return, Woodward said, he left the park to meet a girlfriend, whose last name and address Woodward told police he could not remember. He said he returned hours later to look for Bernstein.
Detectives found “abrasions, scratches and dirt” on Woodward’s hands when they interviewed him last week, according to the affidavit. When asked about the lacerations, Woodward reportedly said he had been participating in a “fight club” and had fallen into a “dirt puddle” while sparring.
According to the affidavit, Woodward’s fists were clenched as he claimed Bernstein had kissed him on the lips during their time together that night. He told investigators that he pushed Bernstein away and wanted to call him a “faggot.”
Text messages reviewed by investigators suggested Woodward knew Bernstein may have been trying to sexually pursue him, according to the Register. The affidavit indicated Bernstein had suspected Woodward was closeted.
Woodward was going to “hit on me,” Bernstein reportedly told a friend in a text conversation in June. “He made me promise not to tell anyone … but I have texted every one, uh oh.”
If it is determined that this was a hate crime, we will cry not only for our son, but for LGBTQ people everywhere that live in fear.Blaze Bernstein’s parents in a letter to the Los Angeles Times
Bernstein’s parents, Gideon Bernstein and Jeanne Pepper Bernstein, wrote a letter to the Los Angeles Times that suggested their son’s killing might have been a hate crime.
“Our son was a beautiful gentle soul who we loved more than anything,” they wrote. “We were proud of everything he did and who he was. He had nothing to hide. We are in solidarity with our son and the LGBTQ community.”
The letter continued: “If it is determined that this was a hate crime, we will cry not only for our son, but for LGBTQ people everywhere that live in fear or who have been victims of [a] hate crime.”
According to the court document, Woodward was known at his high school for espousing conservative political and cultural beliefs. His social media posts indicated he was a proponent of guns, the Bible and a torture technique known as waterboarding, reported the Register.
Rackauckas declined to discuss a motive during Wednesday’s news conference, noting that the investigation was ongoing.
“Our priority on this brutal murder of a 19-year-old Ivy League student is to make sure that Woodward is brought to justice and held accountable,” Rackauckas said Wednesday. “As a community, we hope this case might serve as an opportunity for tolerance and understanding.”
Woodward could face 26 years to life in prison if convicted. He is being held at Orange County Jail. Prosecutors said they plan to request his bail be set at $2 million, according to the Times.
Equality California’s Legislative Scorecard for 2017, rates lawmakers in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C. on how they voted on Equality California’s highest priority legislation.
“For the first time ever, our scorecard shows the strength of our advocacy not only in the California Legislature, but also in Congress,” said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California. “We aren’t allowing the threats of the Trump Administration to go unanswered and will use these scores to educate our community about legislators’ stances on LGBTQ issues and hold them accountable for their votes in the upcoming 2018 elections. Despite the barriers we face, particularly in the nation’s Capitol, the voices of LGBTQ Californians were heard loud and clear in 2017, as this report captures.”
California ratings were based on how legislators voted on 6 sponsored bills, two sponsored resolutions and two supported bills specific to LGBTQ people. This year, Senate Democrats bounced back from a 98 percent average Equality Score in 2016, due to holding legislators accountable for their votes on priority bills, to a perfect 100 percent Equality Score. The average score among Assembly Democrats held steady compared to last year at 98 percent. Overall, in the State Senate, the average score decreased very slightly from 79 percent in 2016 to 77 percent in 2017, which is attributable to a slightly larger decrease in pro-equality votes among Senate Republicans from 38 percent in 2016 to 31 percent this year.
In the Assembly, the average score decreased by less than a full point, from 78 percent in 2016 to 77 percent in 2017. The average score for Assembly Republicans decreased from 39 percent in 2016 to 32 percent in 2017, despite bipartisan support on many of our legislative priorities. Although Republican scores in both houses decreased this year and remain at failing levels on average, some Republicans still stood strong and demonstrated their support for pro-equality legislation. Assemblymember Brian Maienschein in particular earned a 100 percent Equality Score, the only Republican to do so in 2017.
“Equality California is a critical partner in our work to advance civil rights for the LGBT community,” said Assemblymember Evan Low, Chair of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus. “This past year, as states across the country introduced bills to scale back LGBTQ protections, California passed landmark legislation to respect people’s gender identity reduce LGBT disparities in education, housing and employment, and fight back against Trump’s agenda of hate. The fight for equality is far from over. The California Legislative LGBT Caucus is grateful to have such a tenacious advocate on our side.”
Republican control of both houses in Congress and the White House meant that no pro-equality legislation came to the floor for a vote in 2017. EQCA’s Congressional scorecard, therefore, only tallied two actual votes: the attempted repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and the venomously anti-transgender Hartzler Amendment, which would have banned the coverage of transition-related healthcare for active-duty transgender service members. Our 2017 Congressional scoring also accorded equal value to cosponsorship on legislative proposals that are core to LGBTQ civil rights and wellbeing—the Equality Act and the Dream Act.
“Federal legislative proposals that were not scored in 2017 are nearly as meaningful as the ones we did score,” said Valerie Ploumpis, National Policy Director. “This is because they represent our now ‘aspirational’ bills that we are working to advance as soon as Democrats, who have been supportive of LGBTQ equality, win back one or both houses of Congress. For that reason, six non-scored bills will be scored in 2018, and we hope that Members of the California Congressional delegation will co-sponsor and support them. Equality California is committed to serving as a resource when considering new legislative ideas.”
Each piece of legislation that Equality California sponsored and supported in 2017 advances the organization’s mission to bring the voices of LGBTQ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equality for all LGBTQ people.
A copy of the 2017 Legislative Scorecard is available here.
Angela Davis (center, no glasses) enters Royce Hall at UCLA for her first philosophy lecture in October 1969. Kendra Alexander (right, with glasses)
A new exhibition at the GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, drawing on rare posters and ephemera from a private collection will highlight the journey of black lesbian activist Angela Davis: from radical scholar, to political prisoner, to revolutionary icon, to public intellectual.
Curated by collector Lisbet Tellefsen and historian Amy Sueyoshi, “Angela Davis: OUTspoken” considers some of the roles Davis has played in the American political imaginary and explores the complexity and impact of her life across nearly half a century. The show opens February 9 at the GLBT History Museum in San Francisco.
“As a black lesbian growing up in the Bay Area, I never really viewed Angela Davis through a specifically queer lens,” says Tellefsen, whose collection of rare Davis materials forms the basis of the exhibition. “However, for as long as I can remember, Angela was always fiercely claimed by the lesbian-of-color community as one of our own. While we could debate when or what exactly constituted her coming-out statement, what was always crystal clear was her unwavering and vocal support for LGBTQ rights.
“Angela Davis has always been about intersectionality — before the term was even coined,” Tellefsen adds. “She has always explored the connections between race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability and citizenship. She is an African American woman, she is lesbian, she is an ally for oppressed populations throughout the globe and a vocal champion for LGBTQ rights. This is who she is. She is a human rights activist of the highest order.”
Davis first came to public attention in the late 1960s with her dismissal from the faculty of the University of California due to her membership in the Communist Party and with her involvement in the Black Panther Party and her trial on charges of conspiracy, kidnapping and murder for which she was acquitted.Her outspoken activism and organizing efforts attracted both harsh criticism and strong support, resulting in her becoming a globally recognized symbol of radical resistance. Today, Davis continues her political work, including challenging mainstream LGBTQ movements to see service in the armed forces and participation in marriage with a critical eye.
“It’s especially important now to be reminded of the radical roots of queer activism, particularly through African American women such as Angela Davis,” says Sueyoshi. “My hope is that history will honor the queer women of color and other activists who came up during times of extreme repression. The graphics displayed in ‘OUTspoken’ not only serve as a visual reminder of the power of speaking out; they also can inspire us to continue working for a world without exploitation.”“Angela Davis: OUTspoken” opens Friday, February 9, at the GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, with a public reception set for 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The curators will offer introductory remarks, and light refreshments will be served. Admission is $5.00; free for members of the GLBT Historical Society. The exhibition runs through May 20. For more information, visit www.glbthistory.org.
