Photos courtesy of Martin Rawlings-Fein and the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club
By Martin Rawlings-Fein—
Here is a confession: you do not have to be a political nerd to care about politics.
You do not need to know the difference between the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Education. You do not need to understand every proposition on your ballot before the voter guide arrives. You definitely do not need to know what every political acronym in San Francisco means.
Honestly, some of us who spend way too much time doing this still have to look them up.
Politics shows up in everyday life. It is your rent, your bus, your kid’s school, your healthcare, your neighborhood, and whether the communities you care about can still thrive in San Francisco.
Congratulations. You care about politics.
That is what I want this column to be about.
I am one of the Co-Chairs of the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club. Alice has been around since 1971 and describes part of its work as educating our community, developing people interested in public service, and building LGBTQ political power.
You may know Alice because, every election season, one of our slate cards either appears at your doorstep or at a Castro Street Fair booth.
But an endorsement card tells you what a political club decided. It does not always tell you why any of this matters to you.
That is where I hope this column comes in.
Each month, I want to take one person, one office, one issue, or one question that is floating around San Francisco politics and break it down without assuming you have been attending political club meetings since the Clinton administration.
Who is this person? What does that office actually do? Why are people suddenly talking about this issue? How could a decision at City Hall affect your life? And, perhaps most importantly, how do you get involved if something makes you say, “Wait, they’re doing what?!”
Sometimes we will talk about candidates. Sometimes we will talk about ballot measures. Sometimes we will talk about an LGBTQ leader you should know, or a piece of queer San Francisco political history that explains why something works the way it does today.
And, yes, sometimes we will talk about Alice. Because Alice is much more interesting than our endorsements.
Our calendar this year alone has included endorsement votes, candidate canvasses, conversations about public safety and the LGBTQ community, and a program on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. Those are very different subjects, but they all come back to the same idea: Politics is ultimately about people deciding what kind of community they want to live in.
There is an election coming in November, so we are going to have plenty to talk about. You will hear names. Lots of names.
You will see mailers; so many mailers. Your mailbox may eventually beg for mercy. But, before you decide that local politics is too complicated and put the whole pile directly into recycling, I want to help make some of it understandable. That is not because everyone needs to become a political activist, but because somebody is making these decisions whether you are paying attention or not.
Alice has been sitting at San Francisco’s political table for more than fifty years. The club was founded at a time when LGBTQ people were still fighting simply to have meaningful political representation. Today, the questions may look different, but having lesbian, gay, queer, bi+, and trans people engaged in civic life still matters.
And there should always be another chair at the table. Maybe that chair is yours. So, consider this your invitation. You do not need to know everything. You just need to be curious.
I’ll help with the acronyms.
Alice Club FAQs
The Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club is a San Francisco political organization founded in 1971 and named for writer Alice B. Toklas, the longtime partner of Gertrude Stein.
Alice brings LGBTQ people and allies together to participate in Democratic politics, advocate for equality, endorse candidates and ballot measures, and help elect leaders who serve our communities. Its work includes membership meetings, public programs, voter outreach, fundraising, and its annual Pride Breakfast.
Membership meetings offer opportunities to connect with fellow members, hear from candidates and community leaders, discuss important issues, and participate in the club’s endorsement process. Alice’s remaining 2026 membership meetings are Monday, October 19, and Monday, November 16, at 6 pm at The Academy SF.
The annual Pride Breakfast will take place on June 27, 2027, just before the San Francisco Pride Parade, bringing together community members, elected officials, and LGBTQ leaders to celebrate Pride.
I and Jane Natoli serve as co-chairs, and I have been serving as the Senior Co-Chair in 2026.
Learn more and get involved at https://alicebtoklas.org/
Martin Rawlings-Fein is a bisexual and transgender man, Senior Co-Chair of the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club, and a longtime San Francisco LGBTQ community organizer. He is also a rabbi, educator, and advocate who works at the intersections of queer community, Jewish life, and civic engagement.
What Would Alice Say?
Published on October 8, 2026
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