Alice Reports
Monthly Newsletter of the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Club
December 2005


Table of Contents


Dates With Alice

ALICE ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY

You’re Invited
Monday, December 12
6:30-8:30 PM
611 Diamond St. at 23rd

RSVP at 707-2010

Luscious Food Provided By
Southern Slant

top


December Co-Chairs' Report
We Did It!

Laura SpanjianScott Wiener Something wonderful happened this fall. Faced with an odious special election - one in which the Governor and the right wing made a power play to take over the state, to eliminate funding for the Democratic Party, and to attack working people and reproductive choice - we banded together in an unprecedented coalition to beat back this assault. The LGBT community joined together with the choice community, labor, nurses, teachers, firefighters, police officers, and so forth to speak with one voice and to say "NO MORE." And, we won.

The LGBT community played a key role in this effort. After the Governor vetoed Assemblyman Mark Leno's marriage equality bill, our community quickly learned that we needed to send a message to the Governor and his right-wing supporters: you cannot just make us go away. We are here, and we will fight. We will hold you accountable. And, we did.

Statewide, LGBT people volunteered, organized, and most importantly, voted. Equality California sent out a great mailer statewide reminding people that it was "payback time." Mark Leno, as always, showed tremendous statewide leadership in building coalition.

Here in San Francisco, the LGBT community united as never before. Alice B. Toklas worked with the Harvey Milk Club, And Castro 4 All, LGADDA, Equality California, and other groups to make sure that our community came out strong against the special election. The result was that the most LGBT-heavy neighborhoods - Castro/Upper Market, Diamond Heights, Noe Valley, and Bernal Heights - had the highest turnout in the City! Alice played a huge role in this effort - a role of which we should all be very proud. We mailed 25,000 slate cards with a strong anti-special election message. We walked our slate card to 30 precincts and distributed thousands more in the Castro. All in all, we distributed almost 55,000 slate cards, in addition to running three full-page ads in the Bay Area Reporter and Bay Times. We also had several dozen Alice volunteers on the streets on election day working with the Alliance for a Better California. Alice's effort was tremendous, and we are so grateful to the volunteers who donated their weekends and election day to make the effort a success. You're all the best. Please make sure to join us on Monday December 12 from 6:30-8:30 at 611 Diamond Street for our holiday party. We can toast to our great work and even greater results.

Scott Wiener and Laura Spanjian
Alice B. Toklas co-chairs

top


Co-Chairs and Community Op-Ed
Election Was 'Special'
by Laura Spanjian, Scott Wiener, Greg Shaw, Saskia Traill, Robert Haaland, Howard Wallace, and Nora Dye

Guest Editorial in the Bay Area Reporter

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger did one thing right this year. He named last Tuesday's election for what it was ... "special."

Tuesday was very special for the LGBT community because something happened in this election - something unique and historic and amazing and full of vigor and spirit. The LGBT community in San Francisco did what it has not accomplished in anyone's recent memory. We worked together.

We can't say that enough. We really worked together. Not only did the Alice B. Toklas and Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic clubs work together (in fact, our clubs endorsed the same candidates and all statewide initiatives, and only differed on three local initiatives), but we walked precincts and worked street corners and transit stops with volunteers from state Senator Carole Migden's office, Assemblyman Mark Leno's office, Equality California, Pride at Work, And Castro for All, and other LGBT groups who joined together and worked as one. We even came up with a name for ourselves, the SF LGBT Alliance.

For three months, we focused on defeating Arnold's divisive initiatives. We held joint press conferences to invigorate the LGBT community; we organized volunteers to phone bank and identify and educate voters and recruit volunteers; we coordinated visibility at transit stops in LGBT neighborhoods; we tabled on weekends in LGBT neighborhoods and at LGBT events, including the Castro and Folsom Street fairs and the Halloween celebration in the Castro; we organized literature drops and precinct work in the top 60 LGBT-identified precincts in the weeks leading up to the special election; and, what we are most proud of, we organized more than 200 volunteers out of the LGBT Community Center to get out the vote in 60 precincts in Districts 8 and 9 on Election Day. And the numbers do not lie. The precincts with the highest voter turnout are all in LGBT neighborhoods: Castro/Upper Market/Eureka Valley, Diamond Heights, Duboce Triangle, Noe Valley, and Bernal Heights were the top performing neighborhoods, all areas that had been walked by the SF LGBT Alliance.

That type of LGBT teamwork is historic in itself.

But we didn't stop there. The real story about Tuesday's victory is not just that the LGBT community worked together, it's that the LGBT community worked together with hotel workers, young women, nurses, teachers, firefighters, and others on issues that are important to ALL of us. We transcended identity politics and worked to make sure none of our rights are taken away. We put aside our differences and unified around the issues we have in common. We fought for democratic ideals: our right to have an abortion, our right to organize, our right to free speech, and our right to support candidates and issues that are important to us.

There were no LGBT-specific issues on the ballot this time. What was on the ballot was the right wing's attempts to diminish and destroy all of our civil rights. There might not have been the words "lesbian" or "marriage" written on any of the ballot initiatives, but Arnold Schwarzenegger and Karl Rove are just getting started in California.

And so are we. Last Tuesday, we stopped the right wing before it had a running start. We made people question the motives of the special election and its so-called reforms. We sent a message on Tuesday: when you try to take away our civil rights, we will stand up, join together, and say no! Loud and clear. We will walk with 21-year-old volunteers from Planned Parenthood and NARAL. We will stand on street corners with SEIU hotel workers. We will march with teachers from Noe Valley elementary schools. We will protest with nurses from CPMC.

And we will stop the right wing from taking away our rights. No matter how much money they pour into advertising and bus tours, we will stop them. Californians will not be lied to and they will not sit at home on Election Day when people's hard-fought rights are being threatened.

This time the right wing attacked women and workers. Next up: us. The next battle is insidious in its depth. The right wing wants to make sure we continue not to have the right to marry, but it does not stop there. The right wing also wants to take away the rights that we have now: domestic partner benefits that we fought for decades to see realized.

And when our rights are on the ballot next year, those same young women and teachers and hotel workers will march with us, protest with us, stand with us early in the morning at transit stops, walk precincts with us, and make sure that people vote no on any initiative that takes away our rights.

"Working together" is no longer an empty phrase. It really means something. It is powerful, and we are powerful because we have put into motion exactly what we have been talking about for so long - when it really mattered.

Laura Spanjian and Scott Wiener are co-chairs of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club; Greg Shaw and Saskia Traill are president and vice president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club; Robert Haaland is the San Francisco campaign director of Alliance for a Better California; Howard Wallace is with Pride at Work; and Nora Dye is the coordinator of San Francisco for Teen Safety.

top


Reese's World: Perspectives from the Editor
Losing One's Voice While Fighting for It
and
It's Just So Much More Fun When Everyone Joins In

by Reese Aaron Isbell, M.P.P.

Reese Aaron Isbell

I'm not really a yeller. But I lost my voice during this year's campaign.

I lost my voice because I was yelling. A lot.

Standing out in front of Café Flore in the Castro and handing out the Alice slate card, it was pretty easy for me to end up yelling. I was mad. And I don't usually get mad that much. But after Arnold's veto of Assemblyman Leno's marriage equality bill, I just got mad. And then this whole right-wing power grab that he launched through his 'Special Election' just got me more mad. And then his blatant attempts to rile up the right-wing voters of California through his veto of us and his support of Prop. 73, well, that just got me mad as hell.

And like I said, I don't get mad. And I don't yell.

But I did this campaign.

And, honestly, it was kinda fun to be mad and yell during this year's campaign. Because everyone else in the state was mad and yelling too. Every time I yelled in the Castro about vetoing Arnold, people yelled with me. I didn't even have to explain what or how to vote, everyone was already there with their own big 'NO' vote. This made it real easy to hand out our endorsements.

And what a 'special' campaign this turned out to be.

Everyone was so riled up and angry that turning out the vote, and turning out the 'NO' vote, just turned out to be so simple. I'm not saying it wasn't a ton of work, but the work itself was made that much easier when everyone was with you already.

So, as I said, I lost my voice a few weeks before the campaign. But you and I didn't lose our political voice this election. Let's keep it up and get rid of Arnold and the anti-gay initiatives next year. We can do it! Even if we have to lose our (talking) voices once in a while so that our political voice will never be silenced.


P.S. A very special 'thanks!' to IRV (instant-runoff voting) or RCV (ranked-choice voting) or whatever you want to call it. On Thanksgiving Day, as I sat to dinner with our Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting, I toasted to his victory, and to the greatness and wonderfulness of our new voting system. Otherwise, even though he had a solid lead among the three candidates, if we were still in a December Runoff scenario, you and I and the rest of Alice would not be able to rest right now-- we would still be out campaigning for him in a Runoff election that would find that race the only one on the ballot. And we can all be thankful we don't have to worry about that this year! So here's to Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting winning in November, and deservedly so!

Reese Aaron Isbell, M.P.P.
Editor

top


Afterwords with Senator Carole Migden

Senator Carole Migden

It was a great pleasure to speak to you at the November Alice meeting about our recent victory at the polls. Naturally, this was only a political victory, because, as a state, we didn't move forward; we only succeeded at thwarting the Governor's attempts to move us back.

Unfortunately for California, the Governor needed this wake up call to fix our budget, our schools, our crumbling roads and our infrastructure-and stop the constant stream of useless special elections that do nothing more than advance his party's wish list over the needs of our state.

We worked hard this year to shine light on the truth, and thanks to your unrelenting efforts, voters knocked the Governor's plans cold.

Despite our success, however, we still have a Governor in office who has made a habit of leaving his desk empty while he's gone campaigning in San Bernardino shopping malls. I believe it's about time we have someone there who's ready to buckle down and solve the tough problems that face our state, day in, day out.

That's why I will be supporting Controller Steve Westly for Governor, because he has a long and consistent track record of supporting LGBT rights, and because I believe he has the best chance of beating the Governor in the general election.

I don't want to spend seven more years in Sacramento with a Governor who thinks his job is just an act. I want someone who will work with the Legislature to move our state forward. That's why I'm so proud of Alice and all the other members of the Alliance for a Better California-because you have begun to move us into the future; now we must build on that success to finish the job.

top


After the Election Victory with Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting

Dear Alice,

Thank you for all your incredible support and help. From standing with me in the early mornings and late evenings at the Castro MUNI stop to walking and mailing an incredible slate card, your contributions to stopping the Governor, electing Treasurer Jose Cisneros and myself as Assessor-Recorder were immeasurable. Your members on the Democratic Party Central Committee helped deliver my first victory and helped set an incredible tone for the rest of the campaign.

This past election was a testament to coalition building and how much stronger we are together. Not only have you set an example of how to reach out within your own community, but you have begun to set a model of how to reach out to other diverse communities in San Francisco. By working more closely with the Milk Club, you have forged a stronger and more united community. By reaching out to labor and the Alliance for a Better California, you have made our state a more just and equitable place to live. By including a strong stance with the No on Proposition 73 campaign, you helped safeguard a woman's right to a safe and legal abortion. Locally, my success in District 8 was due in large part to your leadership and unwavering support.

I thank you for your friendship and partnership. I look forward to working with you to make sure we are treating every taxpayer fairly and equally. I welcome the opportunity to stand with you as we focus on the fight for all our civil rights this coming June and beyond.

Sincerely,

Phil Ting
Assessor-Recorder

top


After the Election Victory with Treasurer Jose Cisneros

Dear Alice,

I want to thank you for all of your support and help during the election. Your contributions assured the LGBT community a strong victory on Election Day. I also can't thank you enough for your support for my candidacy for Treasurer. Your early endorsement in the beginning of the campaign, your contributions throughout the campaign, and your help passing out literature and talking to voters were crucial to my success. As a first time candidate, I sincerely appreciate all of the support, help and advice and I could not have done it without you.

In addition, I also want to commend Alice for their partnerships with the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, the Alliance for a Better California, and the No on Proposition 73 Campaign. Together we demonstrated that the LGBT community cannot be underestimated. Your efforts helped to elect me as your Treasurer, Phil Ting as our Assessor, and defeat the maligned propositions on this fall's ballot, Propositions 73 – 78.

Personally, I want to thank Alice and Alice's Partner, the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, for supporting queer candidates. There are not enough queer politicians and we need to make every effort to elect more of us to positions across the country. As an openly gay man, thank you for your support.

I am going to continue to do an excellent job as your Treasurer. We have another exciting year coming up in the Treasurer's Office. My Bank on San Francisco Program is just getting started and I intend to make San Francisco the most banked city in America. Stay tuned…

I look forward to working with you for years to come.

Sincerely,

Jose Cisneros
Treasurer

top


After the Election Victory with City Attorney Dennis Herrera

A heartfelt thank you to all my friends at Alice for your support and early endorsement of my re-election campaign for City Attorney. With your continued support and encouragement, I look forward to a second term that continues the fight for marriage equality in California and for defending a woman's right to choose; that protects our neighborhoods from slumlords, polluters and those who flout our health and safety laws; and that protects the integrity of our public institutions from those who would defraud them. Though unopposed for re-election this year, I worked hard in this campaign to renew my pledge to be an independent advocate for the public interest, and I am both proud and grateful to have had the backing of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club in that endeavor.

Thank you again to everyone at Alice! And congratulations on a remarkably successful year for California Democrats -- thanks in no small measure to your good work.

Best regards,

Dennis Herrera
City Attorney

top


After the Election Victory with the Alliance for a Better California
Delivering the Knockout Blow
Alice Board Member Robert Haaland

Robert HaalandAs the San Francisco Campaign Director for the Alliance for a Better California, I had the amazing opportunity to work with some of the finest people and most inspiring groups I have ever worked with. On Tuesday, we had over 1300 people on the streets, half from the community and half from Labor. Tuesday’s victory was not just a victory of Labor, it was a victory for all. And that is the way it should be. Fortunately for us, it was. As one writer put it, it’s about time that the League of Pissed Off Voters and the SF Labor Council work together towards a common goal. People who don’t usually talk to each other, let alone work together, were part of our coalition.

Who was part of this coalition? SF for Democracy, ACORN, A. Philip Randolph Institute, Democracy Action, Asian Pacific Americans for an Informed California, Richmond Democratic Club, Democratic Party Committee members and activists, Teachers, Nurses, Firefighters, Green Party Committee members and activists, SF People’s Organization, Equality California, LACLA, Harvey Milk and Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Clubs , APALA, League of Pissed Off Voters, POWER PAC, Young Workers United, Pride at Work, the SF Labor Council, SF State Youth Activists, SEIU, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, volunteers from organizations like Coleman Advocates, Chinese Progressive Association, Asian Law Caucus, And Castro For All, Chinatown Community Development Center, Our City, UNITE/HERE Local 2, Senior Action Network, Code Pink, Working Assets, SF Tenants Union, Artists, Bay Area Organizing Committee and the countless individuals who I just want to say thank you to. Everybody worked so incredibly hard. So many people gave up so much of their time to ensure Arnold’s defeat.

I don’t know what to say except that we had some incredible people on the campaign. You guys are all rock stars…

Rock Stars Nora Dye and Nicole Yelich, SF Prop 73 coordinators

Picture by Bill Wilson

In terms of the field operations, Levin Sy, the GOTV coordinator, had seven offices up and running on election day that managed over 1300 volunteers and our campaign was in over 360 precincts. A. Philip Randolph had been phoning and walking over 30 precincts in the Bayview and they did GOTV out of the Iron Workers Hall. ACORN had a volunteer operation that had taken on all of District 11 and a paid field operation that contacted over 20,000 voters in San Francisco. In the Sunset, Democratic Party Committee Member Mary Jung ran precincts out of State Board of Equalization Betty Yee’s campaign office. In the Richmond, Melanie Nutter, Executive Director for the SF Democratic Party, ran precincts out of her garage. The League of Pissed Off Voters ran precincts in the Haight, APA for an Informed California ran precincts in Chinatown and the Richmond. LACLA, under the direction of Frank Martin Del Campo, ran precincts in the Mission out of their office, and a coalition of the No on Prop 73 campaign, Equality California, and Alice B. Toklas and Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Clubs ran 60 of the most queer precincts out of the Castro Community Center at 18th and Castro and Kelly Dugan from Local 2 was the site coordinator.

The mobilization that was mostly composed of Labor was out of the Plumber’s Hall and was directed by Kim Tavaglione, SF Alliance Field Director and Pilar Shiavo, the Political Director of the SF Labor Council. The phone banks were run out UESF and UHW. Amy Laitinen, Brandy Hunt and Alexis Gonzalez ably ran the operations at UHW. Nicole Derse, the Coalition Director, helped coordinate the sites and Levin Sy was the overall GOTV coordinator.

The mind boggles at how many possibilities there are at what we could do locally and statewide if we continue to try and work together. But in order to do that, we need to do our best to let issues inform our politics, not personalities. None of us are perfect in this regard, but we need to stop making our decisions based on who we hate or like. Letting political grudges dominate our decision-making hurts us in the long run. We needed everyone to be on board helping us to defeat these initiatives.

Next year when the far right wants to ban marriage equality and domestic partner benefits, the LGBT community needs many of these coalition partners to help defeat this regressive measure. Some are rightfully concerned that much of organized labor was silent on Prop 73, although I am proud to say that the SF Labor Council endorsed the No on 73 position and incredibly proud to have worked side by side with their campaign. We even had our victory party together, because not only is an injury to one and injury to all, but a victory for one is a victory for all.

Tim Paulson, Executive Director, SF Labor Council and District Attorney Kamala Harris watching results
Picture by Bill Wilson

Ting's and Cisneros' elections are victories for Progressives

Support by the LGBT community for Ting was a critical component of his success and while Cisneros' election wasn't as close, united support was equally important for him. Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club sent out 25,000 slate cards by mail and walked 12,000 slate cards to LGBT voters. Alice placed full page ads in LGBT newspapers. Over the last week, 20,000 door hangers of Harvey Milk Club endorsements were distributed. Support by Alice and Assemblymember Mark Leno was critical as well. A united LGBT community makes a huge difference for a candidate.

Assemblymember Mark Leno

Also a huge factor was that LGBT activists were coordinating GOTV efforts in the 60 most queer precincts for the Special Election. In the weeks leading up to and over the last weekend, they distributed their literature through mail and by walking door hangers. Harvey Milk and Alice even coordinated handing out slate cards at MUNI stops in the last few days. Clearly the end goal was to defeat Schwarzenegger and we spent election day working alongside the Proposition 73 folks turning out voters who were identified as voting no on Schwarzenegger’s initiatives, but moving all that literature definitely had an impact. The highest turnout neighborhoods were all queer neighborhoods. In large part, they were highly motivated to send a message to Arnold and they did.

Did Progressives Win Tuesday night?

If you worked on the Prop 73 or the Alliance campaign, which most progressives and labor activists did, then you were in 7th heaven at our party at Club Eight Tuesday night. If you were one of the 1300 people who volunteered, thank you. Thanks for all your work on behalf of teenage women and the working women and men of California. We can believe in and find the best in ourselves and each other. We saw it on our campaign and on Tuesday night. Tuesday night gave me a lot of hope about the future of coalition politics, of issue-driven, not personality-driven, politics. Thanks Arnold for all that you did to unify this large coalition. Let’s do it again.

Nurses protesting Arnold
Calvin Gipson, of Glide Memorial and former President of the Pride Committee, speaking at the African American Activists against Props 73-78 Press Conference, standing next to James Bryant, President, A. Philip Randolph Institute and District Attorney Kamala Harris
Representatives from Young Workers United, APALA, SEIU, and Nicole Derse, from the Alliance
Amy Laitinen of the Alliance signing in volunteers
Michael Goldstein signing in at the first mobilization in September
A.Philip Randolph Institute volunteers phonebanking along with Alice and Milk

top


Afterwords from David Binder Research

At Alice's November 14th General Membership Meeting, David Binder Research's Shanan Alper offered post-election analysis of the electoral data, both within the City and throughout the state. He has graciously offered Alice members who missed the meeting to see most of his presentation -- right-click here and choose "Save Target As" to download this 1MB PowerPoint file.

top


Reese's World Extra:
Notes from the Creating Change Conference

  • The Marriage Movement: Developing a Long-Term Campaign Plan
  • Family Feud: How LGBT Families are Being Attacked and What We're Doing to Win
  • Gay Men and Crystal: Probing the Root Causes
  • This is Not a Love Story: How U.S. Abstinence-until-Marriage Policies Harm LGBT Persons in the U.S. and around the World
  • Racial Justice I-Tools for Confronting Racsim and Class: The "Class" Closet… Being "Out" about Race and Class
  • Without Condoms: Harm Reduction and Barebacking
  • That's Obscene! Pornography, the Government and You!
  • Biblical Sex: Gender/Sex Diversity in Biblical Times
  • Out of the Bars, Into the Streets: Fighting Race- and Gender-Based Discrimination in San Francisco


What do all of these titles have in common? Well, these and others are titles of workshops I attended at the 18th Annual Creating Change Conference in Oakland from November 10-13th. And just from these listed you can see the diversity of selections of the over 200 workshops, caucuses, plenaries, and other gatherings.

This year's conference was officially entitled "Building Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Political Power" but as always with these national conferences put on by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, or simply "The Task Force" as they are moving to be called these days, there were quite a variety of topics and discussions throughout-from the political to the social to the socio-political and more.

These conferences are always great opportunities to have a national dialogue among fellow activists regarding our local and state perspectives, as well as to hear directly from the leaders of our movement. For instance, the day-long institute on "The Marriage Movement: Developing a Long-Term Campaign Plan" was put together by Evan Wolfson and his Freedom to Marry organization-Evan Wolfson being one of the leaders in the fight for marriage equality having served as the original co-counsel in the Hawaii marriage case back in the mid-90's. This was a terrific opportunity to hear him speak on his thoughts on the marriage movement, and for him to get questions and feedback from participants.

Or the "Biblical Sex: Gender/Sex Diversity in Biblical Times" workshop was an introduction for me to the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley and their amazing work on proper interpretations of the Bible relating to sexuality, LGBTQ issues and religion.

The "This is Not a Love Story: How U.S. Abstinence-until-Marriage Policies Harm LGBT Persons in the U.S. and around the World" workshop gave me a terrifyingly real perspective on how the Bush Administration is creating an environment nationally, and internationally, where condoms are believed to be completely ineffective. They gave a case study of how the abstinence-only funds in Texas are being used on television and radio commercials that directly state that condoms don't work, and laypeople are believing it.

I encourage my fellow Alice members to get acquainted with these annual conferences if you're not already. These are always the place to be, to learn, and to grow as an activist and as someone who cares about our LGBT Movement. Next year's conference will be in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri!

top


Alice Membership Form

Alice B Toklas LGBT Democratic Club
1800 Market Street PMB#18
San Francisco, CA 94102
Tel: 415-707-2010
www.alicebtoklas.org
Alice Reports Editor: Reese Aaron Isbell, M.P.P.

General Membership Meeting 2nd Monday of each month

Month of December: Annual Holiday Party
Monday, December 12, 2005
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
611 Diamond St. at 23rd
RSVP at 707-2010

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
__$100 Supporter
__$250 Sponsor
__$500 Champion
__$20 Special Needs
__Other

__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:

Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club
1800 Market Street, PMB#18
San Francisco, CA 94102

top