Gay Men’s Chorus Holiday Concert. Page 9
2011 in Pictures. Pages 6 & 7
The hottest New Year’s Eve events in Hot Tickets. Page 11
The LGBTQ Newspaper and Events Calendar for the San Francisco Bay Area | July 28 2011 www.sfbaytimes.com
December 29, 2011 - January 11, 2012 | www.sfbaytimes.com
Activists Gather Signatures to Put Gay Marriage on November Ballot
Taking a Step Towards Protecting LGBTQs from Deportation
Chai Jindasurat is the programs coordinator with the NYC National Coalition of AntiViolence.
By Dennis McMillan
LA-based Love Honor Cherish needs to gather more than 800,000 signatures to put gay marriage back on the ballot in November 2012.
By Dennis McMillan The L os A ngeles-based act iv ist group, Love Honor Cherish, is gathering signatures for a measure that would undo Proposition 8, which removed legal marriage for gays. LHC and their coalitions have until May 14, 2012 to collect the 807,615 voter signatures required to qualify their
initiative for the November 2012 ballot. Love Honor Cherish ( LHC) was formed in May 2008 and is dedicated solely to the repeal of Prop 8 at the next general election. They raised $500,000 for the “No on 8” campaign and also mounted their own outreach and media efforts, with a strong focus
on speaking the truth about marriage and developing a new generation of leadership on this issue. Eric Harrison, interim executive director of LHC, has spent two decades of nonprofit experience. He moved to San Francisco and eventually joined Equality California as its development director in 2009. Recently,
Harrison left Equality California to take the reigns as interim executive director of LHC. He says it will be an uphill battle, but he is ready, and he thinks California is ready. “I’m inspired by people who are able to see light through adversity,” Harrison says. “I believe in equality, and I think that marriage equality is a giant stepping stone in that pursuit.” (continued on page 8)
Rainbow World Fund is Changing LGBTQ Lives Around the World
By Dennis McMillan Rainbow World Fund programs strengthen our community by increasing LGBTQ visibility; serving as a platform for our community’s compassion and concern; and changing how the world sees LGBTQ people by building bridges with the world community. Rainbow World Fund (RWF) has three primary goals – to provide humanitarian aid to communities in need around the world; to create awareness within the LGBTQ community of the need for these relief efforts; and to change perceptions
of the LGBTQ community by putting their highest beliefs and values into action by demonstrating their compassion and caring for the world. RWF’s projects affect social change at home and abroad through education, networking, developing solidarity, fostering understanding, and building community. Founded in 2000, RWF has evolved into a national organization, and is unique as the world’s first and only LGBTQ based humanitarian aid organization. Since then, they have distributed over $3.2 million in humani-
tarian aid. Thanks to contributors’ generosity, RWF has accomplished the following projects in 2011: In response to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, RWF joined forces with a coalition of organizations from the West Coast Japanese American community to provide water, food, blankets, and shelter supplies to the Tohoku region. Two years of drought created famine conditions in the Horn of Africa leaving millions at risk for starvation. RWF set up the LGBT Africa Famine
Fund to provide emergency aid including safe water, food, basic medical care, sanitation and security for refugees. Beginning in April, the United States has been hit by a series of natural disasters resulting in over 425 deaths and $260 billion in property damage. RWF set up a disaster fund to help the survivors in Joplin, Missouri recover. For the seventh year, in March, RWF volunteers from across the U.S. traveled to Washington, DC to meet with members of Congress and other U.S. (continued on page 18)
Dozens of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer organizations across the country have been adding their voices to the growing national movement to end Immigrations & Customs Enforcement’s controversial f inger print-sharing “Secure Communities” (S-Comm) program. By forcing local law enforcement to share fingerprint data for every person arrested - no matter how valid or minor the charge - with federal immigration authorities, S-Comm has contributed to skyrocketing numbers of detentions and deportations. Founded in 1979, San Franciscobased Community United Against Violence (CUAV) is the country’s oldest LGBTQ anti-violence organization in the world, working to build the power of LGBTQ communities to transform violence and oppression. The San Francisco Immigrant Rights Defense Committee of CUAV has announced an exciting victory for immigrants in The City: the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution 8-3 to encourage the Sheriff’s Department and Juvenile Probation to not honor requests for detention from Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE). This resolution comes as yet another blow to the controversial “Secure Communities” f ingerprint-sharing ICE program, which has led to the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants since its implementation in 2008. Many of whom are queer. “S-Comm uses the language of safety and security to target immigrants and tear families apart,” explained Carolina Morales, intervention director at CUAV. “San Francisco’s resolution is a powerful statement that our city must remain a Sanctuary City, and (continued on page 4)