|
|
  |
| Story I | Story II | Story III | Story IV | Story V |
Gay Shame Protesters Still Face Erroneous Charges Resulting from Police Violence at Gavin Newsom’s LGBT Center Fundraiser
September 18 2003, San Francisco—Topic: Gay Shame demands that all charges against peaceful Gay Shame protestors arrested on February 6, 2003, be immediately dismissed. Four peaceful protestors still face charges resulting from Supervisor Gavin Newsom’s February 6th fundraiser at the LGBT Center. On that evening, Gay Shame protestors in festive attire were handing out flyers, and were ironically denied entrance to their own Center by the SFPD. A squad of SFPD officers escorted Gavin and Kimberly Newsom, straight conservatives, into the building and then immediately began attacking queer protestors. Violent SFPD officers threw one person face-first into oncoming traffic, put another into a choke-hold until he passed out, and bludgeoned one woman so hard in the face that blood poured out of her mouth and one of her teeth was shattered. The spectacle of queer protesters being bashed outside of the San Francisco LGBT Center, as Center staff, the Newsoms, Supervisor Bevan Dufty and gay politicos looked on (and did not intervene), was not lost on local and national media. Four protestors were arrested in the February police riot outside the LGBT Center, and faced ludicrous felony charges (after serving jail time of up to 60 hours). Most of the original charges have been dropped under intense public pressure, but four protestors still face misdemeanor counts of Resisting Arrest. How, one might ask, can peaceful demonstrators be charged with Resisting Arrest if they are not charged with any other crime? The answer is that clearly these charges are politically motivated as Gavin Newsom attempts to sweep to power with strong-arm tactics. Supervisor Newsom’s response to peaceful queer protestors has been evident in several recent protests: instigate police violence, arrest non-violent protestors after they’ve been brutalized, and then call for trumped-up felony charges. Newsom responds to peaceful queer protestors in front of their own community center with unnecessary and excessive force. We can only expect that, if he is elected mayor, his term in office will be a reign of terror against anyone who doesn’t bow to his dream of a San Francisco that is safe for tourists and developers, and brutally represses everyone else. Gay Shame demands that all charges against peaceful Gay Shame protestors arrested on February 6 be immediately dismissed. We call on Supervisor Newsom, Supervisor Dufty, Center Director Thom Lynch, and all concerned citizens and officials to immediately demand that District Attorney Hallinan drop all charges. Hallinan can be reached at (415)553-1741.
| Top | |
Witnesses, photos and video urgently needed.
Please contact us by email or telephone if you were a witness to the police attacks on protesters outside the GLBT Center on February 6th or elsewhere.
gayshame@gay.com
www.sfbg.com/37/20/news_ed_cops.html
Press Conference:
Friday February 07, 2003 at 10:55 PM
| Top | |
SFPD Beats Queers at Gavin Newsom's Gay Gala
What: A Press conference
At The Hall of Justice at noon on Monday, February 10th, Gay Shame-- the radical queer group who organized thursday's demonstration-- will hold a press conference to address the unwarranted beating and arrest of peaceful protestors who were handing out informational flyers. The police attack left one at the hospital with stitches and a shattered tooth, two thrown face down in the street, and four more arrested-- two facing hyped up felony charges.
We will be there to answer media questions and to demand that District Attorney Terrence Hallinan drop the charges immediately.
We will be joined by members of numerous community organizations.
For more information, please call: (415) 794-4393
| Top | |
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.
| Top | |
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.
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.
| Top | |