Clinic to open in Linea building
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Theatre 2015
End times
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Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Vol. 45 • No. 52 • December 24-30, 2015
CA antitrans ballot measure fails by Matthew S. Bajko
F
or the second year in a row an effort to place a transphobic ballot measure before California voters has failed. Late Monday afternoon the group that had been circulating Rick Gerharter a proposed initiative EQCA’s Rick Zbur that would require people to use facilities in government buildings and public schools based on the gender they were assigned at birth announced it had failed to gather the signatures needed in order to place it on the November 2016 ballot. Calling itself Privacy For All, the group had until December 21 to submit 365,880 valid signatures to qualify its Personal Privacy Protection Act for next year’s general election. But in a message posted on Facebook at approximately 4:30 p.m. Monday, the group announced it had fallen short. “While we are extremely disappointed, we know that we gave this effort our best and ‘left it all on the field,’” stated the message. There had been growing concern that antigay groups would transport the successful messaging they used last month in Houston to repeal that city’s equal rights ordinance to California. That campaign played off fears that the local law would allow male sexual predators into women’s restrooms. LGBT advocates therefore were elated to see the transphobic bathroom measure fail in the Golden State. “It is a good day and we are just ecstatic at the fact we have more time to make the advances we need to for the transgender community,” Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur told the Bay Area Reporter in a brief phone interview late Monday. Last year a similar coalition of anti-gay groups failed to gather enough signatures to repeal Assembly Bill 1266, a groundbreaking law that grants transgender students access to school activities like sports teams and the use of school facilities like bathrooms based on their gender identity. The back-to-back defeats make it increasingly unlikely going forward that anti-gay groups will be able to utilize California’s initiative process to strip away LGBT rights. Nonetheless, EQCA plans to move forward with a public education campaign it is developing to bring greater awareness to the issues transgender people confront. It should debut sometime in February. “In any case as long as the public doesn’t know and appreciate the gifts and talents transgender people contribute to our community that community is at risk of being used as a wedge issue by right-wing extremists,” said Zbur.t
Courtesy SF Rec and Park
An artist rendering shows a man using a discreetly placed pissoir, center, that’s located at the edge of Dolores Park, near the Muni train tracks.
Dolores Park renovation wraps up by Matthew S. Bajko
SF holiday magic! T R Rick Gerharter
eino Niemela stands by the holiday light display he co-created at a house on Caselli Street, at Clover. The display features Olaf from Frozen, Snoopy, gingerbread characters, and a replica Golden Gate Bridge. It dazzles at night and will be up through the holidays.
he yearslong renovation of Mission Dolores Park is nearing an end. The multi-million dollar project, begun in March 2014 with a complete overhaul of the open space’s northern section, is slated to be complete in 2016 shortly after the new year. See page 13 >>
2015 was a very gay year by Lisa Keen
T Rudy K. Lawidjaja
Lead plaintiff James Obergefell talks to reporters June 26 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.
Rick Gerharter
Bob Blough, left, and Simon Dinglasan celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states at a June 26 community celebration on Castro Street.
o be the “best year” ever in LGBT history, 2015 had to do better than 2013. That was the year the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and allowed a decision to stand that enabled same-sex couples in California to marry; the Senate passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act for the first time (but the House didn’t vote) and got its first out member; five state legislatures passed marriage equality laws, and President Barak Obama’s inaugural speech prominently endorsed the LGBT struggle for equality. Did 2015 do better? These 10 top stories make a strong case for yes. 1. U.S. Supreme Court strikes state bans on same-sex marriage: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 26 that state bans on marriage for same-sex couples are unconstitutional and that states must recognize marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples from other states. The 5-4 decision, in Obergefell v. Hodges, ended bans enforced by 13 states and secured lower court decisions that struck down bans in nine other states. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, stated that “the right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the liberty of the person, and under the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment couples of the same-sex may not be deprived of that right and that liberty. ... The court now
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Courtesy Getty Images
People celebrated Ireland’s vote for marriage equality.
holds that same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry. No longer may this liberty be denied to them.” 2. Ireland approves same-sex marriage, and more. In the world’s first-ever national referendum on giving legal recognition to marriages of same-sex couples, Irish voters in May weighed in 2 to 1 for legalization. More than 60 percent of the country’s voters turned out to have their say. In July, lawmakers approved a transgender rights bill. And by December 2, the legislature had approved a bill that prohibits Catholic-run schools from discriminating against teachers based on their sexual orientation. The legislaSee page 13 >>