Boies Discusses Prop 8 Options

The excitement of the presidential election is passed; it is time for Washington, D.C. to get back to work. At the top of the schedule is a conference of the Supreme Court justices on November 30, where they will discuss whether to take cases involving the Defense of Marriage Act and the federal challenge to Proposition 8.

The justices had indicated they would consider the marriage cases next week, but on Tuesday said that they would be on the conference schedule at the end of the month.

Representing two same-sex couples challenging Prop 8, along with Theodore Olson, is attorney David Boies, who was awarded the Public Interest Excellence Award by the University of San Francisco’s School of Law on November 9.

I covered San Francisco news and politics for the Bay Area Reporter from the end of 2011 to 2013. Read the full article here.

New HRC Prez Visits the Castro

Starting his new job a day early and outside of Washington, D.C., Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin made a quick stop in San Francisco last weekend, where he met with friends of the late Supervisor Harvey Milk and toured Milk’s former camera store, now the site of HRC’s store and action center.

While in the Castro Sunday, June 10, Griffin offered a glimpse of his agenda as he starts his tenure at the country’s largest LGBT rights organization and has made it clear that LGBT youth will be near the top of the list.

I covered San Francisco news and politics for the Bay Area Reporter from the end of 2011 to 2013. Read the full article here.

D5 Candidates Square Off At Debate

The first of what is likely to be many forums among the candidates for District 5 supervisor was held Wednesday, August 8, at the public library’s Park Branch. If nothing else came from the evening, which was more about candidates introducing themselves to voters and jockeying for the District 5 Democratic Club endorsement than heated discussion on the issues, a few of them inadvertently came up with some great campaign slogans.

They could go something like this, and be posted on fliers and posters from the far corner of Lincoln Way to the end of Geary and in the Haight: John Rizzo, he’s been caught on Muni in the tunnel for half an hour. Julian Davis keeps it real. And finally, Christina Olague is thrilled and excited to be serving the community as District 5 supervisor.

Though running to maintain her seat in City Hall, Olague is just like the other candidates in that she has never been elected to the Board of Supervisors.

I covered San Francisco news and politics for the Bay Area Reporter from the end of 2011 to 2013. Read the full article here.

NAACP Prez Urges Repeal of Death Penalty in CA

With an opportunity for California voters to repeal the state’s death penalty law, Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP, spoke to congregations at three Bay Area churches, urging people to vote for Proposition 34 on the November ballot.

The measure, known as the California Death Penalty Act, would change death penalty sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Jealous told the Bay Area Reporter that California is part of “a nine state plan we have to get a solid majority of states that oppose the death penalty.”

I covered San Francisco news and politics for the Bay Area Reporter from the end of 2011 to 2013. Read the full article here.

City College Feels the Heat After Stinging Report

It was not a hot night. But before speakers began to address the crowd packed into the Rainbow Room at the LGBT Community Center Monday for an emergency town hall meeting on the fate of City College of San Francisco, one man in the front row stood up, sweat soaking the back of his gray polo shirt.

No question, for CCSF, the heat is on.

Its future as an accredited community college, the largest of all accredited colleges in California with about 90,000 students, many of them part of the LGBT community, has been in question since early June, after the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges issued a blistering report saying CCSF would need to “show cause why its accreditation should not be terminated” by October 15, according to a report sent to interim Chancellor Pamila Fisher on July 2, or lose its accreditation.

I covered San Francisco news and politics for the Bay Area Reporter from the end of 2011 to 2013. Read the full article here.

Castro Zen Center Gets New Abbot

Outside the air was warm and still and shadows of tree branches rested gently on the concrete. All was quiet outside the Hartford Street Zen Center, other than some fluttering shouts from Moby Dick bar down the street.

Inside, the small Zen center last month, which has been a space for Buddhism in the Castro since its creation in 1980 as the Gay Buddhist Club, was full of silent celebration. A firm backed man stood on a wooden coffee table, as if standing on a mountain. In one hand was a staff that stretched above his bald head. It was the new abbot of the Zen center, Myo Denis Lahey.

He made a statement for world peace. “If just for the children’s sake, shall we not have world peace?” he asked.

I covered San Francisco news and politics for the Bay Area Reporter from the end of 2011 to 2013. Read the full article here.

CA Justices Hear Medical Pot Dispensary Case

Following oral arguments Tuesday, it appears that the California Supreme Court was not persuaded that medical marijuana dispensaries could operate in cities that have banned them.

The main questions in front of the justices, which held a special session on the University of San Francisco campus, were: do municipalities have the power to ban medical marijuana dispensaries within their city or county limits or can state law strip them of their power to regulate land use within their borders?

The case, City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center, was one of three the justices heard February 5th on the college campus.

I covered San Francisco news and politics for the Bay Area Reporter from the end of 2011 to 2013. Read the full article here.

Undoing DOMA a Priority, Takano Says

The Starbucks was closing. The staff was busily stacking chairs and mopping the floor, listening to the music of local rocker Ty Segall. Meanwhile, Mark Takano sat at a corner table with a small coffee, reflecting on his recent election to the House of Representatives, which made him the first openly gay non-white member of Congress as well as the first out congressman from California.

“I do think this is a new day in American politics, and I can’t help but point out, as the first openly gay member of Congress from California, the interesting thing is I’m coming from Riverside County,” Takano, a Democrat, said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter Sunday, February 17.

“If Riverside can be on the right side of history, there is hope our nation can be, too,” he added, referring to the southern California region he represents that has historically been very conservative.

He paused. “That’s a great line,” he said with a laugh.

I covered San Francisco news and politics for the Bay Area Reporter from the end of 2011 to 2013. Read the full article here.

Bar Owners Urged to Organize Around Nightlife Issues

Gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener may call himself an “old fuddy-duddy who doesn’t stay out as late as he used to,” but that doesn’t mean he wants the rest of San Francisco to turn in early.

Speaking Monday afternoon at the fourth annual Nightlife Summit, held at the public library’s main branch, Wiener urged those who work in or alongside the city’s “other 9 to 5 industry” to support state Senator Mark Leno’s (D-San Francisco) “last call legislation,” which would allow restaurants, bars, and nightclubs in San Francisco with after hours permits, and within areas zoned for late night operation, to serve alcohol until 4 a.m.

I covered San Francisco news and politics for the Bay Area Reporter from the end of 2011 to 2013. Read the full article here.

Vapor Room Dispensary Prepares for Closure

Martin Olive, the executive director of the Vapor Room, which is set to close July 31, can remember about eight years ago when he met a man who stood six feet two inches tall, but due to cancer weighed no more than 110 pounds. Over time, Olive said, he watched as the man grew stronger and started to grow physically because of regular treatment with medical cannabis.

Olive said the man began to eat again and smile more. Not only did the cannabis relieve the pain of cancer and suppress his nausea, but it allowed him to socialize with the small community at the Vapor Room. Medical cannabis helped him beat cancer then. When it came back again and again, in different parts of his body, the cannabis helped him beat it those times as well, Olive said.

That’s one reason why Olive wholeheartedly believes in the value of medical cannabis.

“If I prefer to take a couple tokes off a joint for my illness,” Olive said of people with cancer, HIV, or other illnesses, “then I should have that option.”

I covered San Francisco news and politics for the Bay Area Reporter from the end of 2011 to 2013. Read the full article here.