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About this event
In Summer 2025, it’s time to Turn up the Heat. Trump and his billionaire buds continue to push the limits of the presidency, and people are pissed and terrified. Whether it’s about slashing Medicaid for 9 million people or kidnapping our immigrant neighbors, it’s clear that the far right is escalating their racist, billionaire agenda.
Have you ever gone to a protest or an action because you were pissed off, scared or wanting a way to get things off your chest? It can feel empowering and connecting to show up and take action, especially for the first time. But what comes after that? Join SURJ for a community meeting to get grounded together, get clear on our analysis of how we got here – and then get organized for the work ahead.
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is the largest organization in the US that explicitly organizes white communities for racial and economic justice– because white people have a responsibility to step up and make sure our communities take a stand.
Accessibility
Mainly flat ground
Wheelchair ramp
Wide doorways and walkways
Dedicated seating
Have accessibility questions? Reply to your registration email to confirm your requirements or request more information.
This hilarious foul-mouthed lesbian road trip movie co-stars Oscar winning actors Olympia Dukakis (Stella) and Brenda Fricker (Dotty). Stella and Dotty are a lesbian couple in their seventies from Maine. First, Stella has to break Dotty out of a nursing home that Dotty’s granddaughter had moved Dotty unwillingly into. Then they embark on a Thelma and Louise-style road trip to Nova Scotia to get married. Along the way they pick up Prentice, a hitchhiker traveling home to Nova Scotia to visit his dying mother, and the three bond as they travel together.
Please join us for an important immigrant rights seminar. This meeting is for all members and allies of the Asian and Pacific Islander community and everyone else who cares about and desires to learn about immigrant rights.
You will hear from local activists and immigrant rights attorney. The information that will be shared is IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE, not just those who are undocumented or know someone that is. Only when all of our community members are informed and know their rights, can our at-risk community be protected.
To make it convenient for all to attend, this seminar will be available both IN-PERSON and ON ZOOM.
Organized by the Asian American Pacific Islander Coalition of North Bay (AAPIC), the Sonoma County Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS).
Supported by the Sonoma County Rohnert Park-Cotati Regional Library.
Program
Know Your Rights: Understanding Your Constitutional Protections
Immigrant Legal Status and Rights
North Bay Rapid Response Network
Q&A
More Information
Free admission – Pre-registration is recommended.
Presentation will be in English.
Program starts promptly at 10:30 am. (Doors open at 10:00 am for check-in).
Rodel E. Rodis has been a practicing California attorney since 1980, with a special emphasis on immigration law. He had also been an instructor of Philippine History and Filipino American history in the School of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and at Laney College (1972-1978). He is the first Filipino American elected to public office in San Francisco serving four terms as a member of the San Francisco Community College Board (1991-2009).
Prior to his election, Rodel was appointed to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission where he served as its president from 1987-1991. After his election to the College Board, he was appointed to the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury (2011). He also wrote a weekly column at the Philippine News (1987-2002, at Asian Week and at the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Inquirer.net). He is also the author of “Telltale Signs of Filipinos in America” (INA Press, 1992). He was also the co-founder of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA.com) and its legal counsel since its founding in 1997.
Priyanka Pokharel
Priyanka is a Staff Attorney at VIDAS (Vital Immigrant Defense Advocacy) in Sonoma County, specializing in immigration law. She holds an LL.M. from the University of Michigan and has worked with government bodies, international organizations, and nonprofits to advance the rights of marginalized communities, particularly women and displaced individuals. Before VIDAS, Priyanka practiced as a Human Rights Attorney in Nepal, focusing on legal reform, policy advocacy, and direct representation for individuals facing systemic discrimination. She also contributed to research on gender dynamics and human rights during Nepal’s Maoist-led Civil War.
At VIDAS, Priyanka focuses on removal defense as well as family-based petitions, U visas, VAWA, adjustment of status, work permits, and non-immigrant visas. Passionate about gender equity and immigrant rights, she actively engages in policy discussions and systemic legal reforms. Priyanka speaks Nepali, English, and Hindi.
Vicki Smith
Vicki Smith has been a North Bay Rapid Response Network steering committee member since its start in 2017. In June 2017 she trained as a Legal Observer for ICE raids and has been actively involved in North Bay Rapid Response Network Accompaniment. Vicki is a founding member of QAA, Queer Asylum Accompaniment, helping LGBTQI asylum seekers get resettled in Sonoma County.
Vicki earned her TESOL certificate in 2008 from SSU and taught ESL from the mid-90s to 2019 primarily to our Sonoma County Mexican and Central American immigrants at the Graton Day Labor Center and in an adult ESL evening program at Sheppard School in Santa Rosa.
Vicki worked extensively with Salvadoran refugee organizations in the 1980s. She journeyed to Rome in 2018 with the Salvadoran refugee community for Monsignor Oscar Romero’s canonization. In 1999 she and her partner adopted two teenage Honduran sisters whose father had been deported from Santa Rosa. She supported their father while he was in detention and after his deportation. Vicki’s daughters, now almost 40, are through the documentation/immigration process and are naturalized citizens.
Working with LGBTQ+ activists, poets, dancers, rappers, and in connection with community, queer, Black visual artist Rashaad Newsome’s new immersive work serves as both salve and lifeline to those daring to exist outside the margins. Through personal stories and tributes, odes to ballroom culture, live music, and Afro-futurist AI, Newsome transforms an NYC armory into a performance, art, and resistance sanctuary for the queer community.
Using fractals in nature, which are naturally occurring and cannot be broken down, as a metaphor for the Black queer experience, Newsome — alongside co-director Johnny Symons (Out Run, Frameline40) — traces his own strength and resistance to his upbringing in rural Louisiana, the influence of his recently-passed father, and his ancestors in Ghana.
This screening will be directly followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Rashaad Newsome and Johnny Symons, moderated by MoAD’s Cultural Critic-in-Residence, Dr. Artel Great. Then join us at our annual Pride Kickoff Party at Oasis to usher in Pride Weekend in San Francisco, featuring drag performances by Reparations, an all-Black drag group curated by local star Nicki Jizz.
Rainbow Cattle Company, 16220 Main St, Guerneville, CA 95446, USA
www.queersteer.com Giveback Tuesdays. Each week a local charity will be choosen. 10% of the sales for that Tuesday will be donated to the charity directly by us. The more the community supports the Rainbow on a given Tuesday, the more the charity will get. If you want to nominate a local charity for consideration for a Giveback Tuesday, email us. This has turned out to be such a wonderful event, and a number of very deserving charities have received money. Since it’s start in late November of 2005, over $115,000 has been given to the local charities from the Rainbow directly. This does not include all of the money raised by the actual charities during events on each and every Tuesday. It’s impossible for us to say exactly how much money was raised in total, but it’s safe to say it’s in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. We are very pleased with how the community has pulled together to make this an amazing weekly event, and so much good has come from all of the donations and money raised.
Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, today announced the endorsement of three candidates running for local office in special elections this April and opposition to a potential recall of an LGBTQ+ member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors:
“As we continue to fight back against Donald Trump’s efforts to roll back rights for LGBTQ+ people, we are proud to endorse these LGBTQ+ candidates running for local office,” said Executive Director Tony Hoang. “Now more than ever, we must increase our efforts to elect qualified LGBTQ+ candidates at all levels of government, and we are confident these candidates will work for the betterment of all Californians.
Additionally, we strongly oppose the ongoing recall efforts against Joel Engardio—the first and only openly LGBTQ+ representative of San Francisco’s western neighborhoods on the Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Engardio has been fulfilling his official duties with integrity and should be allowed to continue his service.”
The full list of new endorsements can be found below:
Local Offices:
Paloma Aguirre: San Diego Board of Supervisors, District 1 [special election 4/8/25]
Anthony Tordillos: San Jose City Council, District 3 [special election 4/8/25]
Charlene Wang: Oakland City Council, District 2 [special election 4/15/25]
Local Recall Efforts:
Recall of Supervisor Joel Engardio, San Francisco Board of Supervisors, District 4: NO
Bold indicates an openly LGBTQ+ candidate.
For a complete list of Equality California’s endorsements, please visit eqca.org/elections.
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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization. We 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 equal for all LGBTQ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve. www.eqca.org
The new House subcommittee designed to complement the work of Elon Musk has named its first target: the nonprofit news media. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s “Delivering on Government Efficiency” Subcommittee — or DOGE, mimicking its Musk-run analogue, the Department of Government Efficiency — is asking the leaders of PBS and NPR to testify next month.
DOGE Subcommittee Chair Marjorie Taylor Greene put out the request to the executives in a letter Monday morning, specifying a preference for the weeks of March 3 or March 24. In her letter to PBS CEO Paula Kerger, Greene pointed to PBS reporting last month saying Musk “gave what appeared to be a fascist salute” at Trump’s inauguration celebration — a characterization that Greene alleges “was clearly false.”
Read the full article. On Friday, Trump’s FCC chairman Brendan Carr ordered investigations into NPR and PBS. That move came just two days after Carr revived complaints against the flagship broadcast stations of ABC, CBS, and NBC. The cult is pouring into the viral tweet below with celebrations.
Emisil.com conducted research to find out the best LGBTQ+ party destinations for 2024. The study analyzed data such as safety scores, LGBTQ+ friendliness, average drink price, average closing time, and the number of gay clubs and bars in each city. Data was sourced from Numbeo, Equaldex.com, TripAdvisor, and Yelp. These metrics were then integrated into a composite score to highlight the best cities where the LGBTQ+ community can enjoy the night out.
Findings summed up:
City
Country
Safety Index
Safety Level
World Equality Index (LGBTQ+ friendliness)
Average drink price
Number of Gay Bars and Clubs Listed on Yelp
Average Closing Time
Composite Score
Madrid
Spain
72.87
High
81
$3.80
73
6:00 AM
91.3
Copenhagen
Denmark
74.15
High
85
$8.72
29
5:00 AM
84.4
New York
United States
49.24
Moderate
73
$8.00
440
4:00 AM
83.3
Amsterdam
Netherlands
71.68
High
80
$7.05
52
5:00 AM
81.2
Berlin
Germany
55.45
Moderate
80
$4.88
105
5:00 AM
78.5
Vienna
Austria
69.80
High
77
$4.88
31
4:00 AM
74.7
Lisbon
Portugal
70.19
High
75
$3.25
21
4:00 AM
71.9
Taipei
Taiwan
84.55
Very High
66
$2.48
22
4:00 AM
70.1
Helsinki
Finland
75.43
High
78
$8.68
9
4:00 AM
69.0
Toronto
Canada
56.75
Moderate
81
$5.86
71
3:00 AM
68.2
First up on the list of LGBTQ+ party destinations is Madrid, Spain, with a composite score of 91. The city is highly gay-friendly, with a World Equality Index score of 81. It has 73 gay bars and clubs, where the parties go on until 6 AM in the morning. The average drink price is one of the lowest at just $3.80.
Second on the list is Copenhagen, Denmark, scoring 84 out of 100. The city has a World Equality index of 85, which is the highest on the list. Copenhagen offers more than 20 gay party spots open until 5 AM, with an average drink price of $8.72.
The third LGBTQ+ party destination is New York, United States, with a composite score of 83. When it comes to LGBTQ+ nightlife, New York is unmatched, with over 400 bars and clubs staying open until 4:00 AM.
Amsterdam, Netherlands, is the fourth destination for LGBTQ+ partygoers,scoring 81. The city is highly LGBTQ+ friendly, with a score of 80 on the World Equality Index and a safety index of 71.68. Parties go on until 4 AM, with the average drink costing $8.
With a composite score of 79, Berlin, Germany, is the next destination for queer nights. The city offers more than 100 gay bars and clubs, with an average drink price of $4.88, which is among the lowest compared with most European cities on the list.
Vienna, Austria, is the sixth destination for LGBTQ+ nightlife, with a composite score of 75. The city has a high safety index of 69.8. In terms of the average drink price, it mirrors Germany.
Lisbon, Portugal, ranks seventh on the list of LGBTQ+ party destinations, scoring 72. The city has a high LGBTQ+ friendliness score of 75. Like Vienna, parties last until 4 AM, but Lisbon has a slightly lower number of gay bars and clubs, with 21 venues overall.
Taipei, Taiwan, is the ninth-best city for gay parties, with a composite score of 70. Regarding the safety of walking home at night, the city has the highest score on the entire list, at 84.55. There are more than 20 gay bars and clubs, where the average drink price is the most affordable, costing only $2.48.
Ninth-ranked Helsinki, Finland, has a composite score of 69. In its 9 gay-friendly clubs and bars, the party goes on until 4 AM, with drinks costing on average higher at $8.68. Compared to Taipei, Helsinki has a higher World Equality Index score of 78.
Toronto, Canada, closes the list of LGBTQ+ party destinations with a composite score of 68.2. The city has the same World Equality Index as Spain, but it has slightly fewer gay bars and clubs overall, with 71 venues partying till 4 AM.
