Monthly Newsletter of the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Club
April 2006

Table of Contents

• Dates With Alice
• Co-Chairs' Report-- with Alice PAC Recommendations!
• Reese's World: Perspectives from the Editor: "Strong Enough to Bend"
• Afterwords from the Office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
• Afterwords from openhouse
• World Pride 2006, by Thom Lynch
• Alice Membership Form
  

Dates With Alice

April Co-Chairs' Report
...with Alice PAC Recommendations

While March Madness is in full swing, we at Alice have our eyes solely towards the June Primary.

Alice's Political Action Committee met March 25th. Kudos to the Endorsement Committee Members Susan Christian, Rafael Mandelman, John Lazar and Lisa Williams for putting together a jam packed eight hour marathon meeting. Statewide candidates from Lieutenant Governor to our own Assemblyman Mark Leno stopped by. After a colorful and thoughtful debate, the Alice PAC recommendations follow:

Congress, 8th District	Nancy Pelosi
Governor	Phil Angelides
Lt. Governor	Jackie Speier
Secretary of State	Debra Bowen
Controller	No Recommendation
Treasurer	Bill Lockyer
Attorney General	No Recommendation
Insurance Commissioner	Cruz Bustamante
Superintendent of Public Instruction	Jack O'Connell
Board of Equalization	Betty Yee
State Senate, District 8	Mike Nevin
Assembly, District 12	Fiona Ma
Assembly, District 13	Mark Leno

In addition, the PAC decided to recommend Lillian Sing to return to the bench to succeed Perker Meeks. That's Superior Court, Seat 8.

Superior Court, Seat 8

Lillian Sing

The deadline for filing for candidacy for the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) has passed. The Alice PAC met with candidates who timely turned in questionnaires. Here's the scoop: basically, there's just not many people running this year. In the 13th Assembly District, 56 people ran for 12 DCCC seats in 2004. This year, only 23 candidates filed to run. Quite a difference from years past.

Four Alice Board Members are up for election in the 13th: Alice Co-Chair Scott Wiener, our Immediate Past-Co-Chair and recently DCCC-appointed Laura Spanjian, Rafael Mandelman, and Robert Haaland. They've worked hard for us, and now it's our turn to work to ensure incumbent DCCC members Scott, Laura, and Robert are re-elected, and Rafael wins in his own right. Having four Alice Board members elected to our DCCC would be a great asset to Alice in the future.

Additionally, we decided to recommend the following DCCC candidates:

DCCC (Central Committee), AD12	Dan Dunnigan Susan Hall Boe Hayward Tom Hsieh Mary Jung Meagan Levitan Jane Morrison Melanie Nutter Connie O'Connor Matt Tuchow
DCCC (Central Committee), AD13	* Alice Co-Chair Scott Wiener * Alice Past Co-Chair Laura Spanjian * Alice Board Member Rafael Mandelman * Alice Board Member Robert Haaland Bill Barnes Sue Bierman David Campos Gerry Crowley Michael Goldstein Joe Julian Leslie Katz

We recommended both State Propositions 81 and 82. With respect to the San Francisco Ballot Measures: Prop A: Yes, Prop B: No Recommendation, Prop C: No, Prop D: No

State Proposition 81	Yes
State Proposition 82	Yes
SF Proposition A	Yes
SF Proposition B	No Recommendation
SF Proposition C	No
SF Proposition D	No

Onto the endorsement meeting April 10. See you then!

Scott Wiener and Rebecca Prozan
Alice B. Toklas co-chairs

From the Editor: For a full listing of the Alice PAC Recommendations, please see the Alice website. Remember, these are the recommendations of the PAC to the Alice membership. The formal endorsements of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club are decided by the vote of the membership at the meeting on April 10!

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Reese's World: Perspectives from the Editor
Strong Enough to Bend
by Reese Aaron Isbell, M.P.P.

Primaries can be a difficult time for partisans like you and me. We have to choose among our friends and colleagues in the Democratic Party who should lead us into the general election. And we all know that the general election is the one we really want to win.

There are so many issues to consider. Do we choose electability in the general election over core values? Do we have to choose between the two? Which Democratic candidate will appeal to the masses? Which Democratic candidate will help us move forward as a party and as a public? Is it worth falling on our swords over a fight between Democratic primary candidates when we know the real contest isn’t for another 6 months?

Everyone seems to have the answers to these questions each time there’s an election. And every time there’s an election everyone seems to have another set of answers that works with their current mood, historical analysis, hopes, dreams, and political persuasion. Our party is constantly in a swirl over these issues, especially after considerable consternation over losses in recent years in general elections.

We keep looking for electability in all of our races. We also still push candidates who will win over the mass public with our core values so that we can have our core principles be electable too. This neverending quandary is before us each primary election.

And so every primary for every partisan race in local, state, and national races we argue over what’s the best strategy, what’s the best plan for the future, what’s the best for the party, what’s the best for the people, what’s the best for you and me, and what’s the best hope for winning. And every primary we struggle with arguing these ideas while trying to remember that we’re all in this together to win in the general election.

And that’s the toughest part. Because it’s so easy to fight over these principles and ideas constantly when we all know that we’re right and that we have the best plan for winning in the long run. And we all may just be right. And we each may be wrong. And the biggest difficulty of all may just be moving past our own individual preferences, swallowing our pride, and going forward together once we’ve made a decision as a party to win the general election against the real enemies.

Primaries are always a love/hate relationship for me. I love that we get a chance to push our party’s candidates forward on issues we care about and frame the debate within our party on core values we believe in. I hate that we often fight between ourselves over electability and who’s the most core-believer and so on.

Agreeing to disagree is easier said than done. And it takes real strength and grace to recognize small disagreements are less of an obstacle when considered under the auspices of the larger agreements and love for each other. The country singer Tanya Tucker once had a song way back that talked about being ‘strong enough to bend.’ And bending just ain’t that easy, let me tell you.

But when we remember that our cause is greater than our individual inter-party fights, these disagreements can be seen as a testament to the strength of our party as a whole. Our primaries can prepare us for the real fight for the future of our public. And they can help us remember who we are as individual players and as a team. It’s never easy to fight amongst friends, but we can agree to disagree for the time being, bend towards each other’s perspective a little bit more, and move forward together for the larger goal of winning the general come November.

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Afterwords from the Office of
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi

From the Editor: During March's Alice Membership Meeting, Dan Bernal-- Alice Board Member and District Director for the Office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi-- spoke to Alice about the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. The following is further information from Congresswoman Pelosi on the issue.

Last month at the Dorothy Day Community Center, I met with some of the San Franciscans struggling with the confusing Republican Medicare prescription drug program. All across the country, America's seniors are paying the cost of the Republican culture of corruption with a bill written by and for the pharmaceutical industry.

Democrats across the country are holding workshops, town hall meetings, and press events across the country in order to listen to our constituents and exchange ideas about if and how this program can be salvaged or replaced. We call this prescription drug plan, "Medicare Part D, for Disaster."

Democrats have fundamental principles when it comes to what a prescription drug benefit should contain. It should be a guaranteed and defined benefit, should not have huge coverage gaps, and should reduce the price that seniors pay for prescription drugs. But none of that is contained in this Medicare bill, and that is why most Democrats voted against it.

Since the Medicare prescription drug program started at the beginning of the year, tens of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries across the country have been unable to get their needed prescriptions, have faced outrageous delays, and have been over-charged. Many of the 6.2 million Americans who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid are now worse off.

Twenty-six states, more than half the states in our country, have intervened to ensure that low-income beneficiaries can obtain the drugs they need, with many states declaring public health emergencies. Democrats are fighting for emergency measures that would guarantee that all beneficiaries get their prescriptions by allowing pharmacies to bill Medicare directly during this transition period. We have also offered legislation to extend the enrollment period at least six months. As seniors wade through numerous and confusing drug plans, they should not be forced to rush into a decision just to meet an arbitrary deadline.

But if you liked the Medicare prescription drug bill, you will love what the President is doing now. In his budget, President Bush called for an increase in Medicare premiums and $35.9 billion in cuts to Medicare over the next five years, while including a misguided plan for Association Health Plans (AHPs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). AHPs would increase the cost of health care for small businesses, strip consumers of their rights, and do nothing to reduce the number of Americans without health insurance. HSAs are part of a continuing effort by the Bush Administration to leave more Americans to fend for themselves. Used in connection with high-deductible health insurance plans, they entice employers to restrict or drop health coverage for their employees.

Democrats are working to amend the Republican prescription drug plan to give Medicare the authority to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices. That is what the Department of Veterans Affairs does, and it works. We are also fighting to allow Medicare beneficiaries and other Americans to obtain prescriptions from Canada as long as safety standards are met.

But make no mistake: that does not take our eye off the ball of replacing this terrible bill with a program that works for Medicare beneficiaries.

The Medicare prescription drug bill is bad policy and bad medicine. Democrats are committed to a real Medicare prescription drug benefit plan that is clear, fair, and puts seniors first, not the pharmaceutical companies.

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Afterwords from openhouse
by Moli Steinert, Executive Director of openhouse

From the Editor: During March's Alice Membership Meeting, Moli Steinert spoke to Alice about LGBT senior housing. The following is further information from her office on the issue:

A bold new initiative in senior housing to address the specific needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) seniors is close to finding its first home in San Francisco's Hayes Valley. Moli Steinert, Executive Director of the nonprofit organization openhouse, which is spearheading the project, announced that openhouse is in exclusive negotiations for two parcels of land to develop mixed-income senior housing that is welcoming to LGBT seniors.

In order to design the housing with precision to meet the needs of this underserved population, openhouse is undertaking a unique, in-depth and wide-ranging study of the changing needs and expectations of LGBT adults 55 and older in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Those interested who qualify whether or not they have ever considered such a living option are encouraged to fill out the online survey by going to www.vitalresearchsurveys.com/openhouse by April 6.

The survey responses are completely anonymous and offer an excellent opportunity for our community to be heard. openhouse feels that it is vitally important that its planning be based on input from those who might use its services and facilities in the future. Rather than attempting to make the judgment alone, openhouse will base its planning on what it hears from the survey responses.

openhouse is committed to keeping San Francisco a diverse city - for people of all ages, races, ethnicity and income. It is building and operating senior housing that is welcoming to the LGBT community and that will protect and care for our elders both now and for generations to come. They recognize that people are aging differently today than previous generations and what they want in their residences, community areas, services, and amenities is changing. As LGBT people age, they urgently need housing services to maintain health, safety, independence, and mobility.

To find out more about openhouse, visit their website at www.openhouse-sf.org or call for more information at 415-296-8995. Volunteers are needed to help with community outreach and fundraising.

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World Pride 2006
by Thom Lynch
Executive Director of the
San Francisco LGBT Community Center

Dear Alice Friends,

In June of 2004, I went to Israel with a large group of community leaders from San Francisco. Many of those who went with me are people you are all familiar with (Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, Ambassador Jim Hormel, and Supervisor Fiona Ma among them). It was truly a life-changing experience. It was also one of the most intense and exhausting schedules I've ever had. At the time, a small number of people expressed concern to me about why I was going to Israel and why I was not boycotting that country. So I wanted to tell you why I am going once again, this time to participate in World Pride 2006 in Jerusalem from August sixth through the twelfth.

To be clear, The Center does not have an official stance on World Pride or on Middle East politics. This is and has been a decision that I've made for myself with the support of the Board of Directors. I did consider the arguments of Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT). In the end it was my belief that I could be better informed by going myself and learning as much as I could on the ground. I do believe that engagement and discussion is nearly always a preferable action. It is why I have traveled to many countries meeting with LGBT leaders in the last four years, including Cuba, Morocco, and Egypt.

I am returning to Israel once again because of the experiences I had while there. I found a breadth of debate and discussion far exceeding anything in the United States regarding Israeli policies and the Palestinian territories. I was able to meet with members of the Palestinian Authority and ask them questions face to face. I traveled to the Lebanon border and saw the call to prayers and the Hezbollah flags. I also met with members of many of the Knesset members from nearly each party. We attended Supreme Court hearings and met with a group of intellectual Jews and Palestinians who were working on a third-way policy.

Mostly I learned of the day to day lives of many Israelis, Jewish and Arab, who are lesbian or gay. And I met the leadership of the LGBT organizations in that country, Agudah and Jerusalem Open House. I was so impressed with the work that they each did. And their dedication to supporting the LGBT communities in their part of the world was uplifting. Hafai El-Ad is the executive director of our sister organization in Jerusalem. He is a brilliant young man that has become a friend and someone whom I respect deeply. His organization is inspirational, often without the support of the local government.

The Jerusalem Open House (JOH) is a grassroots, activist organization of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered people, and allies. Since 1997, they have worked to make Jerusalem a place where all people are free to seek self-fulfillment. Their greatest challenge is a tradition of conformist heterosexism that continues to be enforced by almost all social institutions in Israel, including the family, the school, the state, and the religious establishment. This challenge is especially formidable in Jerusalem, a city of traditional values and deeply rooted religious commitments.

When the JOH was founded in 1997, few even knew there were LGBTQ people in Jerusalem; almost no one believed they could create and sustain a vibrant communal institution. Eight years later, as the rainbow flag dances over their downtown headquarters on the Ben Yehudah pedestrian mall, and they are building on a remarkable record of achievement. Through all their trials, they continue to raise their voices together, so that their message echoes across the ancient hills: tolerance has a home in Jerusalem.

So mostly I return this time to support amazing work by people I admire. I go to stand for liberty for the LGBT community in places where it is not often available. And I go because I believe being there can make a difference. I hope you will do what you can do to support that amazing hope.

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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 April:
Monday, April 10, 2006
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

LGBT Community Center
1800 Market Street @ Octavia

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 ______________________________________________________________

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Phone: Day __________________________Eve: _____________________________

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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

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