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Political predictions 2013
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'Anything Goes'
The
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Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Vol. 43 • No. 01 • January 3-9, 2013
New laws ring in 2013
Lesbian named to bench
by Seth Hemmelgarn
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by Matthew S. Bajko
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acationing in Tulum, Mexico with her family for the holidays, Berkeley resident Kimberly E. Colwell received an unexpected surprise. Governor Jerry Brown’s office called her Christmas Day to inform her she had been selected to fill a judicial vacancy. Colwell, 54, is believed to be the first Courtesy Governor’s office out lesbian to be appointed to the Alam- Kimberly E. eda County Superior Colwell Court and is only the third out judicial appointment Brown is known to have announced since returning to the governor’s office in 2011. “It was a very nice Christmas present,” Colwell told the Bay Area Reporter by phone Thursday, December 27 as she was standing in the warm waters of the Caribbean. A shareholder and head of the litigation group at Meyers Nave Riback Silver and Wilson since 2002, Colwell applied for a judicial appointment in late 2011. She is filling a vacancy created by the conversion of a court commissioner position on June 27, 2012. “I am really excited to be an out member of the judiciary. I think the community needs to see itself and I don’t know if there are enough gay people who are judges,” said Colwell, who earned a Juris Doctorate degree from UC Hastings College of the Law. “I think it is important for people who go into a courtroom that they see themselves up there.” After growing up in the North Hollywood district of the San Fernando Valley, Colwell received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Linfield College. For nearly 13 years she has been with her wife, filmmaker Deborah Alice Craig, who is working on a project about lesbian health. The couple first married in San Francisco in 2004 and again in 2008 prior to the passage of California’s same-sex marriage ban. According to her bio on her law firm’s website, Colwell has conducted more than 75 trials and represented a wide array of clients, from police officers and cities to school districts and private security companies. She also handled cases for the Judicial Council of California, representing judges, appellate court justices, and court employees all over northern California. She was part of her firm’s team that conducted a confidential internal affairs investigation for the Bay Area Rapid Transit District See page 2 >>
These babies are Royal
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he Grand Ducal Court of San Francisco rang in the new year Tuesday, January 1 by crowning three Royal Babies for 2013 at Club OMG. The three, Jill FeltaFish, Cory Nichols, and Krystal Methatic, sold
Rick Gerharter
the most raffle tickets over three weeks. An impressive $2,290 was raised with the raffle and performers’ tips during the show. The beneficiary is the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center
everal LGBT-related bills took effect Tuesday, January 1, but the implementation of one piece of legislation signed into law in 2012 is being delayed. Meanwhile, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) indicated he’s interested in addressing condoms being used as evidence of prostitution, among other legislative possibilities in the new year. Senate Bill 1172, California’s groundbreaking law banning the use of reparative therapy on people younger than 18, was Jane Philomen Cleland set to go into effect Assemblyman this week. However, as Tom Ammiano reported last week, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel issued an emergency order December 21 delaying enactment pending the appeals court’s review of a lawsuit. The underlying lawsuit is Pickup v. Brown, See page 7 >>
LGBT fundraisers look for ‘crowd’ assist by Matthew S. Bajko
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aising money is an ever present, timeconsuming task for any nonprofit. The calendar year is full with fundraising events both large and small, and agency leaders are trained in the art of asking for donations from just about anyone they meet. In today’s social media plugged-in and online connected world, nonprofits are beginning to use new tools to make their “ask” in hightech ways. These digital donation platforms even come with their own branding, known as “crowdfunding.” Donations can now be made as easily as sending a text message, while a crop of new websites aim to make fundraising as simple as setting up a webpage. Like their mainstream counterparts, LGBT agencies are also looking to the “crowd” for a financial assist. In late November the National AIDS Memorial Grove teamed up with AT&T for its holiday-timed gift giving ask. But in what is believed to be a first for a San Francisco-based LGBT nonprofit, the grove asked donors to send it $10 donations via text message. The effort was dubbed the “A Time for Hope; A Place to Heal” Text to Donate campaign. Supporters were asked to text the word “HEAL” to a designated number before December 27 to make their tax-deductible donation. AT&T agreed to pay for any texting charges or fees regardless of the carrier people use for their mo-
Rick Gerharter
The National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, seen here in 2002, last month tried a texting campaign to raise funds.
bile devices. The grove, a wooded memorial to those lost to AIDS that is located in Golden Gate Park, hoped to raise between $3,000 to $5,000 generated from 300 to 500 text messages. John Cunningham, the grove’s executive director, said his and other nonprofits are taking
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the plunge into crowdfunding in order to connect with donors, especially younger contributors, in the spaces where they now operate. “Before we had Facebook, Foursquare and all the rest, it was special activism on the street. The platforms for that information has See page 9 >>