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Table of Contents
January
Co-Chairs' Report
January Membership Meeting: Please come to the Alice membership meeting on January 10th to elect a new 2005 Co-Chair and board members and vote on amendments to the Alice Bylaws. The primary proposed amendment is one to create an Alice Emeritus Board. The purpose of the Emeritus Board is to keep former Co-Chairs and longtime Alice board members involved in Alice. We don't want to lose their support, experience, and wisdom. The Nominating Committee is continuing its' work to nominate a diverse and talented slate of board members for 2005. Marriage Equality Summit: Alice is working with Equality California, the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, SF Pride, LGADDA, GAPA, and others to plan a summit on marriage to be held January 23rd, 9:30A - 3:30P, at the State Office Building. The summit will provide an opportunity for you to learn about the political, legislative, and judicial developments that are impacting marriage equality. This summit should also provide an opportunity for you to share your thoughts and for the community to develop some consensus on how we move forward in dealing with government at all levels to end discrimination by the government itself. We hope that there will be an opportunity for open and frank discussions of an overall strategy, including how our community frames the issues to build broader public support for equality. UC Berkeley Professor George Lakoff is the leading academic on framing issues in politics. Arianna Huffington recently quoted Professor Lakoff as saying: "Democrats moving to the middle is a double disaster that alienates the party's progressive base while simultaneously sending a message to swing voters that the other side is where the good ideas are." Lakoff, the author of "Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate," recently told the San Francisco Chronicle: "The Democrats need to be clear about their messages and to find a common vision, express it well and stick to it." We agree. Speaking of efforts to frame the debate, congratulations to Assemblyman Mark Leno on the introduction of his marriage equality legislation titled "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act." We thought Leno had framed the marriage equality issue well last year when he titled his bill as the "Marriage License Non-Discrimination Act." But Mark has improved on a good thing and made it better. Matier and Ross attempted to label the new bill title as "Orwellian" but we prefer to think of it as smart and "Lakoffian." Laura Spanjian & Rich Kowalewski Thanks
for the Memories I moved from Kansas City to San Francisco in August of 1999 and attended my first Alice B. Toklas meeting at Carta Restaurant in October of 1999. I learned later, that since I was unknown and I arrived in the middle of hotly contested mayoral election, some people thought I was a plant for Clint Reilly. But I didn't even know who Clint Reilly was. I attended the Alice Awards at Wilkes Bashford a few weeks later, where I heard Reese Isbell exclaim "Rich Kowalewski from Kansas City!" when he heard my name at the check-in table. Reese and I had been active in queer politics (I said "gay" back then) together in Kansas City in the early 1990s and lost contact after he moved to the East Coast for graduate school. I kept attending Alice meetings and developed a friendship with another Kansan, then Alice CO-Chair Dean Goodwin. I told Dean that I would help Alice in any way I could. Soon he and Esther Lee asked me to become Newsletter Editor and join the Alice Board. I had no experience writing and editing a newsletter, but I loved the job. I added political cartoons and wrote my views on certain issues from an editor's perspective. Some senior Alice board members will remember that I caused a stir a couple of times when I criticized Mayor Willie Brown in my editorials. I thought I knew a lot about politics after eight years in Washington, D.C. and several years of urban politics in Kansas City, but what I learned elsewhere was child's play compared to the political street fights of San Francisco. Dean Goodwin has been a friend and mentor to me during my five years on the Alice board. His advice and counsel have been especially important to me during my two years as CO-Chair Other mentors for me have included Carole Cullum, Fran Kipnis, and Martha Knutzen. And as I said at the Alice Awards event in October, I am one lucky guy to have been able to serve as CO-Chair with Theresa Sparks and Laura Spanjian. Theresa and Laura are impressive women who a providing great leadership in our community. And there have been the other Alice friends who were there when I needed strong support - Jeff Anderson, Anna Damiani, Jay Shaffer, and Scott Wiener, among others. Thank you all for being there when Alice and I needed you. Together we have accomplished great things at Alice during the past few years. In 2001, we supported Dennis Herrera from the beginning of his campaign for City Attorney when few thought he could win, but we won. How could anyone in our community not be proud of the leadership that Dennis has provided in challenging the constitutionality of California's discriminatory marriage laws? In early 2002, we fought hard for Mark Leno in a very tough primary campaign for the State Assembly and we prevailed. Mark has been a great Chair of the LGBT Caucus in the Legislature, the author of trailblazing transgender rights and marriage equality legislation, and he will soon become Chair of the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee. Mark Leno has been a faithful friend to Alice during my tenure on the Board and before. Mark often says that Alice is the best friend a guy could have, but certainly Alice feels the same way about Mark. Alice was one of the first two clubs to endorse Mabel Teng in March 2002 primary for Assessor-Recorder and in November of that year she won the runoff. Mabel and her staff were probably the most enthusiastic supporters of same-sex marriages at City Hall. Alice supported Bevan Dufty early in his campaign for Supervisor when other LGBT elected officials had endorsed two other queer candidates. Bevan ran a positive campaign and in December Alice was celebrating victory with Supervisor-elect Bevan Dufty. In 2003, Alice endorsed Kamala Harris for District Attorney against the incumbent and many pundits thought she would come in third. But Kamala won voters over one at a time and today we are all impressed with the class, grace, and integrity that DA Harris has brought to her office. We also proudly endorsed Alice's favorite daughter, Susan Leal, for Mayor in 2003. When Susan did not make the run-off, Alice endorsed Gavin Newsom in the mayoral run-off. Today, Mayor Newsom is serving with distinction as the most pro-gay Mayor in America and as a hands-on executive working daily to make our City a better place to live and work. And Mayor Newsom has appointed Susan Leal as General Manager of the San Francisco PUC, arguably the second most challenging executive position in city government. Alice really is one big family. Through these years, Alice has developed a good working relationship with the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic. This cooperation has been possible because of ongoing dialogue between the leaders of the two clubs. I know I speak for Paul Hogan, Theresa Sparks, and Laura Spanjian when I say "thank you" Jerry Threat, Debra Walker, Robert Haaland, and Michael Goldstein for your leadership in the bridge building. We have learned to focus on the 90% on which we agree rather than the 10% on which we disagree. We have reminded ourselves and the community that we can love and respect each other as queer brothers and sisters even when we disagree. Serving as CO-Chair of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club
during the past two years has been one of the great privileges of
my life. I have tried to treat everyone with respect during my tenure
as CO-Chair I have failed sometimes, especially in the heat of campaigns,
and for that I ask your forgiveness. I know that I have felt love
and support from you. I will serve on the Alice Board one more year
as Immediate Past CO-Chair (Theresa assures me is the best job at
Alice) and return to the "back bench" as a faithful Alice
member. Alice will continue to be my political home and will always
be an important part of my life. Thanks for the memories! Reese's
World: Perspectives from the Editor
And yet we self-reflect, and we question, and we hurt ourselves. And it's not without external factors. I mean, we have been named the scapegoats. And we have been told that we're getting too big for our britches, and we're moving too fast. And so, it's reasonable that anyone would internalize that fear and pain. And we do. But, gosh, we've been through so much worse in our lives. It's time to remember that. And start fighting those internal demons so we can battle the real ones. And we have to give those around us the ability to stand up with us. If we don't ask and we don't show our own strength, we know that they have no reason to do so on our behalf. And people can surprise. When I first left for Missouri in mid-October to help out with the Kerry/Democratic campaigns, I took off my Kerry button from my backpack. My rainbow-striped Kerry button. And I put on one of the basic blue Kerry buttons. I did this because I was thinking about my audience. In San Francisco, it meant a great deal to me to showcase my Pride in Kerry and my Pride in my community and how the two connected. Heading for Missouri, I decided that my message was about promoting Kerry in general and I didn't want to 'confuse the issue' as I was wont to say to myself. I told myself that I wanted to join in a larger movement as a Kerry volunteer, and not be just a Gay Kerry supporter. I wanted to showcase my Missouri roots to bolster Kerry. I wanted to not get into a discussion about Gay-rights when my focus was on Kerry, and I didn't want to lose a potential Kerry supporter because I was Gay. It's not that I wasn't Out. It's not that I wasn't myself while in Missouri. I mean, I've been Out since 19 and I was Out for years living in Missouri before I left for the coasts. I'm Out. But then, here I was, back in Missouri, coalescing with every other Democrat and I didn't want to complicate things. And I was afraid I would look like I was just another 'faggot from San Francisco' who was supporting Kerry. I was afraid of how I would look. But then something happened. I was at the Democratic headquarters in my hometown one day, wearing my basic blue Kerry button, and I heard a remark. Just a subtle remark, from one guy to another, within the headquarters, Democrat to Democrat, that rattled me. Just one of those little remarks that is used to reinforce the heterosexist society we live in-nothing major and yet oh-so-subliminal. And I snapped out of my internalized homophobia. I responded in kind-subtly. I took my rainbow-striped Kerry button and put it on my chest. For all to see. Nothing was ever said after that. And yet much changed. The environment of the headquarters changed. Suddenly, many of my fellow volunteers started coming Out too. Subtly. And mostly to me directly. But they were there. And it hit me, reminding me of my old life in Missouri all over again. We're all so hidden until we start to stand up. And the non-Gay people in the room started to take notice of the changed atmosphere too. The comments changed. There was a new openness. A blue collar, over-alls-wearing, World War II Vet made a quick, public 'clarification' regarding an anti-Gay reference that went too far. And this retreat wasn't directed to me or anyone specifically Gay, but to the whole room, because he knew that it wasn't right to make a comment like that anymore, in this room and in our society. One night the majority of the people in the headquarters were Openly Gay men, and everyone knew it because by then we had all started wearing our Pride. And it wasn't as if there was a sudden fear of all the Democrats working together to support Kerry. It wasn't suddenly a desire by these fellow Democrats to cut and run. I learned that my own fears of our differences separating us kept them and me for coming together as much as society did. I learned that my own homophobia kept us apart, and didn't allow for them to go the distance they needed to go too. I came Out when I was 19. I spent the lifetime before that in fear and hatred of myself. And I feared and worried how my family would be if they found out. At 19, I couldn't play the closet game any longer. Thus family began their process of acceptance, while I began my own process of becoming Out and opening myself up. It's been a long road, but it's been made all the better by my family's warm support and love even as they discovered more about me and themselves and society. While in Missouri, I had to get out the November edition of the Alice newsletter. My Mother took me to Kinko's to make the copies. She stood there and helped me fold. We then went to lunch at my Grandparents and she and I finished the folding and the labeling and stamping of the newsletter on my Grandma's dining room table while my Grandpa and my Grandma read the newsletter hot off the press. They kept a copy. I know we have great things to fear in life and there are real reasons to fear because we know all-too-well that violence and hatred are real. I know we have worries that maybe we should be less vigilant sometimes, particularly in "middle-America", in order for us to win the larger battles politically. I know we worry sometimes that fighting for marriage equality is too much, too soon. I know we want our fellow Democrats, our fellow Americans, our families and our friends and our non-Gay acquaintances to like us and accept us. And I know how easy it is to play along to get along to be quiet and timid and hold on and just wait and fear hope. But if we don't stand up, who will? If we don't fight our own internal fears, how can others and society in general fight their fears? To put it simply, if I had never come out years ago and broken
through my own fears, and then given my family the possibility of
coming to terms with theirs, would I have ever been witness to my
mother and my Grandparents and I, all together, doing the Alice
newsletter on the dining room table? Reese Aaron Isbell, M.P.P. National News on the GLBT movement During the month of December there were many news articles and press statements about the future of the GLBT movement, particularly on the issue of marriage. The articles that started much of the discussion are linked here: New York Times, December 9, "Groups
Debate Slower Strategy on Gay Rights" Washington Post, December 10, "Gay
Rights Activists Refuse to Bargain Away Rights".
Human
Rights Campaign Statement The Human Rights Campaign made the following statement regarding the Dec. 9 New York Times article on strategy for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights:
HRC Will
Continue To Provide Strong Leadership For The LGBT Community
Unfortunately, several erroneous perceptions have developed about where HRC is heading as an organization. We wish to address those misperceptions.
Cheryl Jacques’ departure had nothing to do with marriage or the election. Cheryl Jacques resigned from HRC because of purely internal management disagreements. It just didn’t work out. Cheryl’s departure had nothing to do with the election or with anyone’s views on marriage. The board and Cheryl, in fact, agreed about the need for marriage equality. Certain individuals have spread the false rumor that Cheryl left because of differences with the board over marriage. This rumor is baseless.
HRC has supported and will continue to support full marriage equality. HRC’s position on marriage has not changed. We will continue to fight for marriage equality. In places like California and Massachusetts, where marriage is an achievable short-term objective, we will join with organizations like Equality California to push for marriage. In states where marriage is a longer-term achievable goal, but not realistic short-term, it may make sense to push for civil unions now and then achieve marriage later. In places where neither marriage nor civil unions are achievable at the moment, it may make sense to pursue short-term goals like hospital visitation rights. None of this changes the strategic goal: marriage everywhere for everyone. We simply need to be smart and context-specific about our short-term tactics.
HRC does not support privatization of social security. For some time, HRC has focused on the significant inequities facing LGBT seniors who receive social security. Whereas straight couples have social-security survivorship rights, LGBT couples do not have those rights. This unfair distinction can be devastating to low-income LGBT seniors, and HRC is committed to eliminating it. If Congress undertakes an overhaul of social security, HRC will represent our community to ensure that our needs are considered. That does not mean that HRC supports privatization. We simply want our community to have a seat at the table when the conversation about social security occurs.
HRC works closely with and supports state and local organizations. HRC spends more than 20% of its budget on state-level activities. HRC’s political action committee distributes millions of dollars to candidates around the country. HRC sends lobbyists and organizers to support state organizations’ efforts. HRC gives out hundreds of thousands of dollars in “equality grants” to state and local LGBT organizations, including our own Equality California. HRC contributed more than $1 million to the campaigns against anti-LGBT state ballot measures this year. In Massachusetts, which faced a battle to preserve marriage without a statewide organization to lead the fight, HRC was instrumental in creating Massachusetts Equality, the umbrella organization that spearheaded the successful effort to preserve marriage. HRC poured $600,000 into building Mass Equality’s infrastructure, loaned staff, purchased media for the organization, and took other steps to ensure that a state-level organization existed to defend marriage. HRC will continue to play this type of collaborative role.
Our community must continue to have a strong national LGBT organization. In light of the right-wing environment in our nation’s capital, some have suggested that we may not need a large national LGBT organization. This suggestion could not be more wrong. The worst and most defeatist thing that our community could do now would be to pull back from having a strong presence on the national level. Our enemies have national organizations with a combined annual budget of $250 million. National LGBT organizations, by contrast, have a combined annual budget of $50 million. We must strengthen, not weaken, our national organizations. Yes, it is important for our community to have strong state and local organizations. But, if we lack strength in Washington, many of those state and local efforts will be for naught. HRC’s role is more important now than ever before.
It is tempting to become discouraged when our community has an unsuccessful year in national politics. Yet, we need to be firm in our resolve. We will win this war, and HRC will proudly continue to take a lead in that worthy effort.
Scott Wiener and Amy Errett live in San Francisco and are members of the Human Rights Campaign’s national board of directors. Where
We Stand December 9, 2004 Dear Member of Congress (or Senator) : First, know that we appreciate and value the thoughtful and visionary leadership so many of you have provided. As a community, we are proud to have allies in both parties. There has been much speculation over the last month about the meaning of the results of the last election and its impact on the future of American politics. Some have even suggested that same-sex marriage was a major factor in the outcome. Upon reflection, thoughtful analysts have come to dismiss that notion and realize that terrorism and the War in Iraq were uppermost on people's minds. The powerful and revealing fact is that that over 60% of voters in November 2 exit polls said they supported either marriage or civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. What remarkable progress we have made over these last years. The New York Times today reported that some in the LGBT community are ready to pull back on our struggle for freedom to make everyone more comfortable politically, or willing to bargain away the rights of others to make a deal for themselves. Specifically, the notion was advanced that we could make gains at the expense of senior citizens by privatizing Social Security. For our part, we want to be absolutely clear and on the record: We specifically reject any attempts to trade equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, a group that includes many elders, for the rights of senior citizens under Social Security or, for that matter, the rights of any other group of Americans. Finally, although the struggle for freedom can be difficult and painful for those without full equality, it would be an historic mistake to grow tired of the battle or surrender basic rights and equality in order to make the road easier. We have made it through some extremely harsh and challenging times, including losing thousands and thousands of our friends and family to HIV/AIDS. This is a community that has heroically walked its own path of tribulations and travail, determined to be free and proud American citizens. We will not sacrifice our rights - or the rights of others like senior citizens on the altar of political expediency. Most of us, if confronted with that choice, would not even know where to begin. Which right would we give up? The right to adopt children? The right to serve our country proudly and with honor? The right to be at our partner's bedside in death? And how much would we be willing to hurt others like seniors as part of a cynical deal to 'help' ourselves? We are not for sale to those who would undermine Social Security and we are not prepared to walk away from political leaders who have stood with us. Nothing short of full equality and protection granted to all other American citizens is acceptable. We know that these are times that require wise and brave people who believe and love justice and freedom. Given recent events, we wanted to restate our determination to do what's right for our community, for senior citizens, and for America. With the greatest respect, Sincerely, click
here for full list of co-signers
Reese's
World: Extra "In 2008... Democrats will be trying to erase the Republicans'
2004 popular vote winning I know we're doing a lot of handwringing these days about how we
didn't 'win,' but we didn't lose either. We worked hard and nearly
took down an incumbent-- something incredibly hard to do regardless.
We have much to proud of, even if it seems lost in our depression
and sadness over the election results. We rocked! Editor
Alice B Toklas LGBT Democratic Club General Membership Meeting 2nd Monday of each month You can now join online www.alicebtoklas.org/abt/joinonline.asp, or fill out the application below Membership Application Yes, I want to join the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club! __$35 Regular __I am renewing my membership __I will be a new member __I am a registered Democrat Name ______________________________________________________________ Address _____________________________________________________________ City ____________________________________State: ______Zip: _____________ Phone: Day __________________________Eve: _____________________________ Email: _________________________________________ Please send checks payable to “Alice B. Toklas
LGBT Democratic Club” and mail to: |
We
hope that everyone had a delightful holiday season and that 2005
will be a great year for each of you and for Alice. 2005 should
be a quieter year politically than the presidential election of
2004 or the mayoral election of 2003. Even though Alice has not
made any endorsements for 2005, we do know that two of Alice's best
friends will be candidates in 2005. City Attorney Dennis Herrera
will be running for reelection and recently-appointed City Treasurer
Jose Cisneros, an Alice board member until his appointment, will
be seeking election to a full-term as Treasurer. Of course, there
will be the many ballot issues for which San Francisco is famous.
Homophobia's
a quirky thing. Especially when we ourselves internalize it. And
we've been a doing that a lot lately-with our own fears of political
backlash in this last election. We didn't cause the Democrats and
Kerry to lose, any more than all the other number of reasons they
lost. We didn't cause the marriage battles in those 11 states to
lose either. We worked our asses off for all of these things. We
did what we could do. We are not to blame for the lack of compassion
and vibrancy and hope in the election results. In fact, we are the
ones who made the hope possible. 
The
November 2 election and its aftermath have been challenging for
our community. Between the reelection of George Bush, the passage
of anti-LGBT ballot measures, and the blame directed at us for Kerry’s
loss, we find ourselves playing defense. We at the Human Rights
Campaign intend to change that dynamic. At the national, state,
and local levels, HRC will play a proactive and collaborative role
to move the nation toward full equality for LGBT people. HRC will
continue to be the key LGBT player on Capitol Hill, will push for
full relationship equality, will fight the Federal Marriage Amendment,
will spend millions to elect fair-minded officials, and will build
a premier field operation for future elections. HRC will also focus,
like never before, on taking back religion from the radical right.