Queer-bashing at LGBT Center

QUEERS GATHER TO PEACEFULLY PROTEST

On the evening of Thursday February 6th, a group of queer protesters gathered outside the LGBT Center to protest the appearance of District Supervisor Gavin Newsom at a fundraiser sponsored by him and his wife. The protesters gathered there to call attention to his racist and classist policies, and to ask The Center why they would accept this influence from someone who is obviously merely trying to exploit the powerful gay vote. Protesters had been peacefully flyering people walking into the LGBT Center as Gavin and Kimberley were escorted into The Center by a squad of SFPD officers. They were barely noticed by the protesters until they had entered the building.

Well after they had entered, a group of queer activists calmly attempted to enter what was supposedly their center in order to bring these issues up with Gavin as well as Center officials. At this time, the police presence became more and more violent. One demonstrator, standing with his back to The Center, and the line of police officers, was shoved harder and harder by police wielding batons. He was eventually shoved face first onto the ground.

COPS BASH QUEERS IN FRONT OF GAY CENTER

As the protesters tried to prevent more violence from occurring, the police incited a melee which spilled onto the street at Market and Octavia, and began beating and arresting people at random as Center officials complacently stood by and watched.

After the police were done, many had been injured. One person even had to seek medical attention because her face was bloodied and her tooth was knocked out by a particularly aggressive officer, star number 1698. Ironically, Newsom and his spokespeople are trying to spin the events as a physical attack on him and his wife, despite the fact that the SFPD was solely responsible for the escalation of the situation.

FALSE CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST ACTIVISTS

Four people were arrested and charged, and two people are still being held for felonies. We are outraged at this excessive response to a peaceful situation. These charges are excessive and ridiculous for any protest. They are an obvious attempt to distract attention from the absurd reality that queers were bashed by the SFPD in front of the LGBT Center. We want to call special attention to Gavin Newsom's direct involvement in this police violence, and The Center's complicity regarding it.

We demand that these political prisoners be released and their charges be dropped.

What can you do?

Call District Attorney Terrence Hallinan immediately and demand that all charges against all four activists be dropped.

Call 415-553-1741 and reference the case that occurred at 1900 Market Street at 7pm on 2-6-03

You are further invited to attend a press conference regarding these events this Monday February 10 at 12pm at 850 Bryant, The Hall of Justice.

Gay Shame is calling on folks to stop by 425 7th St, the Sheriff's, and support Queer prisoners arrested last night at the LGBTQ center in San Francisco.

When Gavin Newsom reaches out to the gay community, he does it with the fist of the law.

Police attacked a crowd of peaceful protestors outside the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Community Center last night just as mayoral fruntrunner Gavin Newsom arrived to host a fundraiser for the center.

Whose Community? Whose Center?

Members of the community organization Gay Shame had gathered outside the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Community Center to say “shame!” on Gavin Newsom for his notorious anti-homeless policies, as well as on the Center for its cynical attempt to cozy up to the conservative mayoral frontrunner. By holding an event with Gavin Newsom, the Center revealed who its real community was — and who got left out. At $125, tickets for this fundraiser cost more than twice the monthly income of San Francisco’s neediest under Newsom’s new “Care Not Cash” plan. Shouldn’t a community center serve those who don’t have space elsewhere? Shouldn’t it serve those who are most in need?

The gay community needs homes and health care, not just another place to dance and drink.
Police Violence at Gay Pride
San Francisco- Sunday, June 30, Gay Shame participants arrived at the SF Pride Parade to create an alternative to the consumerism, blind patriotism, and assimilationist agenda of the Parade. Participants were greeted with violence at the hands of both the Pride safety monitors and the police. Safety monitors began pushing Gay Shame participants at Market and Eighth Streets, and police officers followed by clubbing the crowd. Two people were arrested, property was confiscated, and several people suffered injuries at the hands of Pride safety monitors and the police.

In the commotion ensuing after police (and pride 'monitors') aggression, one participant, Lavern, accidentally spilled coffee on a police officer. She was then targeted by the police, grabbed and restrained. After the crowd rallied to her side, she was handcuffed, dragged half a block, and thrown into a Burger King that police commandeered as an impromptu headquarters. Inside she was held face-down on the floor as protesters demanded her release. She was then forced into a police vehicle and taken to the Southern Police Precinct at 850 Bryant. In the course of her arrest, another protester, Dennis, was dragged into a waiting police van. The police planned to hold Denis for the maximum allowable duration for public drunkenness, until his lawyer demanded a breathilizer, which showed he was sober. Both Lavern and Dennis were held for several hours and then released. Dennis's charges were dropped, but Lavern still faces a misdemeanor charge of assault on a police officer.

Gay Pride's roots lie in the famous and everyday acts of queer resistance to police brutality (Stonewall Riots. Compton Cafeteria Riots, etc). Gay Shame continues this legacy by calling attention to the increasingly conservative concerns of the gay mainstream, which sees assimilation into the dominant culture (at any cost) as the primary goal of queer struggle. "It is ironic that volunteer pride monitors demanded the arrest of protesters for continuing the radical tradition that began gay liberation," says Reginald Lamar, Gay Shame participant.