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Church likely can't save bricks
Fort Lauderdale is a bargain
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Theatre 2017
Nightlife events
The
www.ebar.com
Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community
Vol. 47 • No. 52 • December 28, 2017-January 3, 2018
After Trump, LGBT groups forced to pivot by Charlie Wagner
A
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State Senator Scott Wiener sits in his San Francisco district office.
by Matthew S. Bajko
H
aving built a reputation as a policy wonk during his time on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) entered his first year in the Legislature determined to pass significant bills on a host of hot button issues, from housing and
Wiener reflects on 1st year in Senate entertainment to criminal justice reform and LGBT rights. He pushed through legislation that expanded protections for LGBT residents of assisted living facilities, reduced the penalties HIV-positive individuals face for transmitting the virus, and tackled the state’s antiquated sex offender registry provisions. While all three legislative successes were
hailed by LGBT advocates, anti-gay groups targeted Wiener with months of scathing critiques and false accusations about the bills. “Scott has been amazing. He is one of the most gifted and effective legislators we work with,” said Rick Zbur, executive director
See page 2 >> Rick Gerharter
Jones’ win a rare spark in bleak year by Lisa Keen
progressive Democrat. Right-wing evangelicals, staunch Republican partisans, and Trump backed Moore; progressives, women, African-Americans, and LGBT organizations, such as the Human Rights Campaign, backed Jones. Jones won in an upset, and that vote in Alabama seemed to many people to signal a change in voters throughout the country. It gave hope to many LGBT leaders that control of Congress might also change in 2018. Here is a closer look at 10 stories that made 2017 such a tumultuous year for LGBT people.
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017 was the year the 1960s tried to make a comeback. There was the resurgence in white nationalist activity, exposure of widespread sexual harassment, and renewed concern about the use of nuclear weapons. The new president, Donald Trump, fanned perilous fires. He also tried to make friends with Russian President Vladimir Putin while an unfolding investigation was showing the Trump campaign had met with Russian officials Courtesy ABC News as Russian operatives hacked into and leaked damaging in- Alabama U.S. Senator-elect Doug Jones Alabama Senate election formation from the campaign The special election in Alabama the pro-LGBT groups sought new ways to use of Trump’s 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton. in December became a bellwether. In a surexisting laws to provide protection from such There was fierce resistance to the white naprise development, the heavily and historically discrimination. tionalist uprising. Crowds of counterprotesters Republican state chose Jones, a progressive By year’s end, the culture war, which in the met them on the streets of Charlottesville, VirDemocrat, over Moore, an ultra-conservative United States has frequently included a promiginia, and other towns around the country, inRepublican, to fill the Senate seat vacated by nent conflict over equal rights for LGBT people, cluding San Francisco and Berkeley. And large Sessions’ departure to the attorney general’s had intensified and seemed to reach a standoff. numbers of women (and some men) came seat. This was not a simply partisan or ideoMany political observers looked to a U.S. Senforward to point a finger at men in powerful logical race. Moore’s claim to being a staunch ate race in Alabama – one to fill the seat vacated places who had sexually assaulted or harassed Christian with reliably conservative, familywhen Senator Jeff Sessions became attorney them. Pro-LGBT legal groups doubled down to oriented values was shredded by persistent general – to break the tie. The two Senate candifight efforts by right-wing groups to find loopwidespread allegations that, in his 30s, he had dates were Roy Moore, a virulently anti-LGBT holes in the law that could open the floodgates sexual contact with two females under the age Republican who was accused of sexual conto discrimination against LGBT people. And tact with teen girls, and Doug Jones, a quietly See page 14 >>
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PHOTO: Alan Purcell
mere two years after the June 2015 Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, LGBTQ organizations throughout the United States have been forced to make a profound shift in their priorities, according to think tank Movement Advancement Project, based Courtesy MAP in Boulder, Colorado. Instead of pursuing Molly Tafoya broad pro-LGBTQ legislation, these organizations were forced by the November 2016 election to pivot and fight back as equality fell under relentless attack. The MAP-authored 2017 National Movement Report, released December 19, documents and analyzes trends in revenue, expenses, financial health, fundraising, staff, and boards for 39 LGBTQ social justice organizations. MAP also produces a biennial report that surveys community centers and other policy papers. Founded in 2006 to provide “rigorous research, insight, and analysis [to] help speed equality for LGBT people,” MAP works primarily in three areas: policy/issue analysis, increasing LGBTQ movement capacity, and developing effective messaging. MAP selected the report’s participating organizations based on size, importance to the overall LGBTQ movement, and coverage of issues and constituencies, according to Molly Tafoya, director of community engagement. Several local LGBTQ organizations were among those surveyed: Genders and Sexualities Alliance Network, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, and the Transgender Law Center. One organization preferred not to be listed, according to the MAP website. Those 39 organizations combined had a 2016 revenue of $230.1 million. Nationwide, MAP estimates that more than 500 LGBTQ organizations spend about $530 million each year. “We cannot afford to lose ground,” asserted Ineke Mushovic, MAP executive director. “As the administration rolls back important nondiscrimination protections for transgender Americans, as states advance efforts to expand religious exemption laws, as the Supreme Count considers the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, LGBT organizations must battle on multiple fronts to protect hard-earned gains.” The Masterpiece case, which the justices heard oral arguments for earlier this month, looks at whether a person’s First Amendment right – to speech, religion, expression, or association – trumps laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations.