Sister Dana sez, “Congressional RepubliCAN’Ts are nattering nabobs of negativity. I long for the good ol’ days when partisan politics ended at the foreign shores.”
By Sister Dana Van Iquity
THE HARVEY MILK LGBT DEMOCRATIC CLUB held its annual DINNER AND GAYLA at City College of San Francisco’s Mission Campus, which they chose as a small gesture of solidarity with City College of San Francisco and the 90,000 students who depend on it. Many are low-income, queer, people of color, immigrants, seniors, English language learners, disabled, ex-offenders, or military veterans. City College has served our community faithfully for seventy-nine years. I cannot imagine a San Francisco without it and am proud to continue to stand by our college. Dinner was catered by CCSF Culinary Program graduates.
The Milk Club proudly honored our City College champions: Congresswoman Jackie Speier, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, City College Trustee (and Bay Times columnist) Rafael Mandelman, Student Trustee Shanell Williams, and Former President AFT 2121 Alisa Messer. The Keynote Speaker and Bayard Rustin Civil Rights Award Recipient was CeCe McDonald, who spoke emotionally of her experience as a political prisoner incarcerated for defending hersaelf against a racist, transphobic assault, but who was supported nationwide, leading to a reduction in her sentence. She was freed in January. Milk Club Co-Presidents Tom Temprano & Laura Thomas introduced outstanding Harvey Milk Club Honorees as follows: Hank Wilson Activist Award to Housing Rights Committee & Anti-Eviction Mapping Project; Bill Kraus HIV/AIDS Activism Award to Tita Aida; Sylvester Pride In The Arts Award to Juanita More!; Harry Britt Lifetime Achievement Award to Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (who hugged me and said to me, “We’re still alive, and that’s wonderful”); Community Ally Award to Supervisor Jane Kim; and the Howard Wallace Labor Leadership Award to Gabriel Haaland.
COMFORT & JOY, celebrating boldly creative queer culture, expression, spirituality and self-actualization with a Burning Man flair, presented their semi-regular TOUCH party, where “Queer Space is about creating a room for the spectacle of difference, as opposed to assimilating sameness” at their new venue on Connecticut Street with the theme of throwback to the old Club Uranus of the 90’s—featuring fabulously bizarre entertainment by DQ Clubkids ULTRA, Empress Jupiter Knows, Mama Dora, Dakota Pendant, and Vivvi the Force. Deicious dance beats were by DJs Pete Avila (Club Uranus + Your Mamas House), Steve Fabus & Sergio Fedasz (Go BANG!), Bus Station John (The Tubesteak Connection); and Tisdale Fry (What Wednesdays). Sitting in the front row, I got the old Uranus treatment with flying liquids and mashed vegetables! playajoy.org
GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY, San Francisco’s “queer Smithsonian” at 4127 18th Street, held a reception for the months-long exhibit, 1964: THE YEAR SAN FRANCISCO CAME OUT. Fifty years ago, an infamous LIFE magazine article catapulted EssEff into national consciousness as the “gay capital” of America. Titled “Homosexuality In
Recent Comments