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Vol. 53 • No. 28 • July 13-19, 2023
Mass arrest of teens follows chaos near Dolores Park California Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, left, administers the oath of office to Third District Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Laurie Earl.
Panel confirms out CA appellate justices Earl, Martinez by Matthew S. Bajko
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judicial review panel has confirmed another gay man to serve on the state’s appellate courts and elevated a lesbian appeal court justice to preside over her bench. Its decisions Monday morning mean, for the moment, there are now seven known LGBTQ appellate justices in California, with three serving in presiding justices positions. The Commission on Judicial Appointments voted 3-0 to confirm Laurie M. Earl, who sits on the state’s Third District Court of Appeal, as its presiding justice. She is the first lesbian and member of the LGBTQ community to serve in the position and only the second woman to do so. “I enjoy court administration and look forward to getting back into that, both locally and on a statewide level,” said Earl at her July 10 confirmation hearing. She also noted that she cares “very much about access to justice, and I care very much about our court and our colleagues.” Shortly after voting to confirm Earl in the supreme court’s San Francisco courtroom, the review panel also voted 3-0 to confirm Gonzalo Martinez, a gay man, as an associate justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Seven. He had been serving as Governor Gavin Newsom’s deputy judicial appointments secretary and becomes the second gay appellate justice in the Second District, as he is serving alongside Associate Justice Luis A. Lavin. “It is an honor to stand here before you. This is the same courtroom where I argued my first appeal seven years ago,” noted Martinez during his confirmation hearing, which coincided with the birthday of his father who was in attendance. Newsom had nominated Martinez and Earl for their judicial posts earlier this year. A commission that evaluates judicial nominees found Earl to be exceptionally well qualified to be presiding justice of her court and found Martinez to be well qualified to become a justice. Their confirmations follow that of gay Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division One Associate Justice David Rubin in June. The former San Diego Superior Court judge will briefly serve alongside lesbian Associate Justice Marsha G. Slough, who will be retiring from the Fourth District in August. See page 10 >>
by John Ferrannini
O
ver 100 people were arrested near Mission Dolores Park on Saturday after what San Francisco police characterized as a “riot” following chaos at the annual “hill bomb” skateboard event down Dolores Street. Gunshots, smoke bombs, a stabbing, vandalism, the takeover of Muni streetcars, and fireworks led to the mass arrest around 8:30 p.m. after dispersal orders from the San Francisco Police Department, authorities said. In all, 81 juveniles and 34 adults were arrested, according to police. Community reaction to the police’s actions has been mixed. The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club stated it was “outraged” in a Facebook post Sunday, citing video footage that appeared on Mission Local’s website showing police pointing rifles at teenagers. “This display highlights a clear lack of understanding and practice of de-escalation techniques within the police force,” the club stated. “We demand an immediate and comprehensive independent investigation into the arrests, as well as an explanation for the targeted deployment of riot police at the Dolores Hill Bomb event, an annual gathering.”
Courtesy Underscore SF
Police in riot gear attempted to disperse people from the annual Dolores Hill Bomb event on July 8.
A hill bomb is a skateboard maneuver in which a rider goes down a big hill. Debra Walker, a lesbian who serves on the Police Commission, said the commissioners are working to gather the facts. “It is our job to be part of the conversation but I’m not going to jump ahead,” Walker said. “I
don’t want to evade the issue, but I’m not going to respond to the news reports until I see what’s presented. Our commission oversees these issues so it will be presented. The good news is we do have a department that looks at these, learns from them in any case, not like a lot of police departments. See page 2 >>
Appointment of former SF supervisor Leal made history 30 years ago by Cynthia Laird
in 1982 and 1983, at a time when the state was forced to reduce its health expenditures by more than 25%. Leal joined lesbian supervisor Carole Migden on the board. Migden and Achtenberg had been the first out lesbians to serve on the city’s legislative body, and Leal was the first LGBTQ person of color. Lesbian former supervisor Leslie Katz, who served with Leal and gay former supervisor Tom Ammiano in the 1990s and is the last lesbian to have served on the board, said that was important, particularly when it came to passing the equal benefits ordinance. (Appointed supervisor Christine Olague, who served in 2012, is a bisexual woman.) “It was immensely important to the community to have the first open LGBTQ person of color on the board,” she said in a phone interview. Leal, too, noted the significance and said that Jordan, a more conservative mayor, was on board when they met ahead of his selection of her. Not only was “the whole lesbian Latina thing” seen as advantageous, recalled Leal, “they liked the fact that I was more moderate.” David Monetta, an attorney who had attended UC Berkeley with Leal and Bevan Dufty, a gay man who would become an aide to Leal before being elected supervisor himself in 2002, had suggested Leal’s name to an associate of Jordan’s. He said in a phone interview that while Leal and Jordan might not agree about everything, “she was someone he’d be able to work with.” See page 11 >>
T
he historic appointment of San Francisco’s first – and so far only – Latina lesbian supervisor was put in motion after then-President Bill Clinton nominated another lesbian supervisor, Roberta Achtenberg, to a top post in the Department of Housing and Urban Development in February 1993. Though Achtenberg wouldn’t be confirmed for several months – and after deeply homophobic comments by some U.S. senators – the impending vacancy had then-mayor Frank Jordan searching for her successor. The Senate confirmed Achtenberg on June 2, 1993, leading to her resignation from the Board of Supervisors. Two days later, Jordan appointed Susan Leal, a Latina lesbian attorney and health care executive, to the post. “It was a very difficult choice. I interviewed many, many well-qualified people,” Jordan said in announcing the appointment, as the Bay Area Reporter noted at the time. “Susan Leal has tremendous credentials, she’s a hardworking, bright and dedicated individual, [and] a professional businesswoman in her own right.” Now, 30 years after that groundbreaking pick, Leal reflected on her tenure and significant legislation she helped pass in a recent phone interview with the B.A.R. Her achievements included renaming Army Street in honor of United Farm Workers union co-
Bill Ambrunn
Bevan Dufty, left, and then-supervisor Susan Leal talked in her City Hall office in 1995.
founder Cesar Chavez; standing up for immigrants after California voters passed Proposition 187, which curtailed services for those not in the country legally; and, most significantly, passing the equal benefits ordinance, which mandated companies doing business with the city provide the same benefits to domestic partners, including same-sex couples, that they provided to heterosexual couples. Leal, now 73, is a San Francisco native. At the time of her appointment she was the vice president for Health Care COMPARE Corp., a national health care cost-management firm, and a one-time consultant to the state Assembly Ways and Means Committee, where she drafted California’s health budget
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