Chocolatier plans drag brunch
17
Broadway Bares
ARTS
Dorsey critiques SFAF message
ARTS
12
04
17
Frameline
The
www.ebar.com
Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971
Rick Gerharter
Scott Wazlowski
People took to Market Street protesting the passage of Proposition 8 on November 7, 2008, a few days after the election.
A man has pleaded not guilty to hate crimes and other charges stemming from a June 5 incident in the Castro.
Castro hate crimes defendant pleads not guilty
Rick Gerharter
by John Ferrannini
A
man who pleaded not guilty to Castroarea hate crimes made a statement during his arraignment at San Francisco Superior Court June 7, explaining that “what the LGBT community is doing to kids is disrespectful to everyone who stands for God.” It took awhile for Muhammed Abdullah, 20, to get to Department 10 at the Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant Street – a San Francisco sheriff’s deputy was overheard by a reporter saying he was “in the tank screaming” for some time before he was called before Judge Victor M. Hwang. The San Francisco Police Department announced his arrest earlier Wednesday afternoon. Abdullah was detained Monday afternoon at 18th and Church streets, near Mission Dolores Park, and booked into the county jail on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of committing a hate crime, and resisting arrest. Abdullah also pleaded not guilty to charges of misdemeanor battery, violation of a person’s civil rights, and petty theft, the DA’s office stated June 8. The deadly weapon in this case was a “glass object” that Abdullah allegedly threw at a 40-year-old male victim in the vicinity of 18th and Hartford streets just before noon June 5, according to police. He’d been following the man and a 58-year-old victim “aggressively shouting anti-LGBTQ language,” police stated in the news release. “These kinds of attacks are unacceptable,” Police Chief William Scott, a straight ally, stated. “It’s especially troubling that this incident took place as we celebrate Pride Month in San Francisco. Anyone who threatens or harms someone based on being a member of the LGBTQ community will be held accountable.” The office of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins did not initially return a request for comment. However, the following day she released a statement via news release. “San Francisco is a safe haven for LGBTQ people,” Jenkins stated. “Our city is proud of our diversity and for being an open and welcoming beacon to all people, especially those who have been marginalized elsewhere. Hate crimes that seek to demean and otherize people because See page 14 >>
Vol. 53 • No. 24 • June 15-21, 2023
C
Castro remembers Pulse tragedy
hristopher Vasquez, joined by others, placed a flower at the Pulse Nightclub memorial at 18th and Castro streets Monday, June 12, the seventh anniversary of the mass shooting at the LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Florida that left 49 people dead and 53 injured. It had been Latin Night at Pulse that evening when gunman Omar Mateen entered the building, and most of the victims were Latino. It was the deadliest incident against LGBTQ people in U.S. history. The San Francisco tribute also included a short remembrance at Jane Warner
Plaza that featured speakers and dances by the Bay Area Mexico Dance Group. In a statement, Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) noted that “49 beautiful souls were lost and more than 50 were injured.” Since then, of course, many more mass shootings have occurred, and President Joe Biden signed a new gun safety law last year. But Pelosi said more action is needed and called on congressional Republicans to join Democrats to reinstate the assault weapons ban and enact universal background checks.
Effort to excise CA same-sex marriage ban heats up by Matthew S. Bajko
W
ith the start of Pride Month has come a concerted effort to see that the homophobic legacy of the 2008 same-sex marriage ban Proposition 8 be fully erased from the California Constitution. From state lawmakers to local elected officials, there has been a groundswell of support in recent days behind repealing Prop 8’s “zombie language” from state statutes. See page 14 >>
Anti-LGBTQ backlash comes to CA by John Ferrannini
T
he nationwide backlash against LGBTQ equality has reached the Golden State, with queer heroes being demonized, Pride flags being banned, and even physical fights breaking out up and down California. In Temecula – between Los Angeles and San Diego – a book about slain gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk has been banned from use in schools; in Sacramento, some Republican lawmakers walked out of the Legislature when Sister Roma of the drag nun Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, among others, were being honored; in Glendale, three have been arrested after violence outside a school board meeting; and in Orange County, the Pride flag has been banned from county buildings. Open vitriol and scorn against the queer community in the United States is reaching a fever pitch just as Pride celebrations get underway across the country. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who just launched his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, signed bill after bill making the Sunshine State perhaps the most restrictive for LGBTQ people in the country, amid a wave of similar laws throughout America, including the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law. Things have gotten so fraught that for the first time in four decades, the Human Rights Campaign has declared LGBTQ people are in a national state of emergency. And the rhetoric that LGBTQ people are a threat
From Haney’s Twitter
Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, center, was honored by state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), left, and Assemblymember Matt Haney June 5 where some Republican lawmakers walked out during the ceremony.
to children has been heard even in San Francisco; on June 7, Muhammed Abdullah, 20, said during his arraignment in San Francisco Superior Court on hate crime and other charges stemming from a June 5 incident in the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood that “the LGBT community is going against families,” adding that it’s “so fucked up” and “you know the truth.”
Temecula
Temecula Valley School Board President Joseph Komrosky called Milk, who was the first out person elected to public office in California back in 1977, a “pedophile,” just as the board decided to exclude a social studies book, “TCI Social Studies Alive,” that mentions Milk in supplemental materials. The board voted 3-2 against the book. See page 2 >>