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Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community
Vol. 47 • No. 9 • March 2-8, 2017
Legal issues main focus of CA LGBT bills package by Matthew S. Bajko
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Rick Gerharter
Heriberto “Beto” Martinez Nolasco, left, and his partner, Eric Bernacki, spoke at a February 22 panel about resisting mass deportation.
Panel discusses deportation
by David-Elijah Nahmod
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ocal officials joined actor Danny Glover last week for a discussion about resisting mass deportation and San Francisco remaining a sanctuary city in the age of President Donald Trump. Public Defender Jeff Adachi moderated the discussion. Adachi reiterated his support and pride in San Francisco’s status as a sanctuary city. “With that status comes a responsibility to ensure that our most vulnerable citizens are protected,” Adachi said during the February 22 event at the Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Public Library. “We have to make sure that individuals are protected.” Adachi cited the Immigration Act of 1924, which was signed into law by then-President Calvin Coolidge. The 1924 law severely limited the number of Asians, Italians, and Jews who would be allowed to immigrate to the United States. According to statistics that were provided, San Francisco has 1,500 detained immigrants, of whom 67 percent have no legal representation. Only 22 percent of the detainees had criminal records. California currently has 44,000 undocumented immigrants, of which 91 percent were employed. Immigration Judge Dana Leigh Marks, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, and James Brosnahan, senior counsel at Morrison Foerster, underscored the importance of legal representation, noting that when immigrants have an attorney by their side, they are five times more likely to win their case. Heriberto “Beto” Martinez Nolasco and Eric Bernacki, a gay couple who’ve been together for more than a decade, shared their story. They recalled immigration agents knocking at their door at 7 a.m., while the couple were still sleeping. Martinez Nolasco was taken away in handcuffs; Bernacki was not told where Martinez Nolasco would be. “He screamed my name. An ICE officer blocked the entrance to our home. I was told that getting a lawyer would be worthless. I was See page 5 >>
SF shows trans support Rick Gerharter
S
an Francisco City Hall was bathed in the colors of the transgender flag Friday, February 24 as a symbolic show of support for the community. Last week the Trump administration rescinded Obama-era guidance on protections for trans students in public schools. It
was President Donald Trump’s first direct hit on the LGBT community after promising his support during the campaign. For more reaction, see the online Gays Across America column, and the Political Notebook, Transmissions, and Resist columns in this week’s paper.
opping the LGBT legislative agenda for lawmakers and advocates in California this year will be a variety of legal issues. The concerns run the gamut from how people can update their gender and name on government issued IDs and documents and how law enforcement agencies combat hate crimes to eliminating criminal laws that target people living with HIV. The most controversial bill will likely be a proposed change to how the state tracks sex offenders that, if passed, could result in men targeted by police during stings at gay sex cruising sites no longer needing to register as sex offenders. Other bills address various health concerns within the LGBT community, LGBT data collection by state agencies, and reporting requirements for religious institutions of higher education that discriminate against LGBT students. (See story, page 11.) See page 14 >>
Prosecutors urge hate crime reporting by Seth Hemmelgarn
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ith President Donald Trump’s election victory in November, concerns about hate crimes have been heightened across the country. Trump’s bigoted rhetoric has been reflected in his Cabinet choices and drawn support from white supremacists and other hate groups. In San Francisco, District Attorney George Gascón has continued to pursue prosecutions of hate crimes, and he wants people to let authorities know about such incidents. “The only way we can understand the scope of the problem is by people reporting” incidents, Gascón said. The DA’s office is currently prosecuting 15 hate crime cases. At least two of those are LGBT-related. Ben Mains joined the San Francisco DA’s office in January 2016 and took over the hate crime unit last May. Maggie Buitrago, who’s been with the DA’s office since 2013, joined the unit in December. The two attorneys, who are both straight allies, also handle numerous other cases. Handling such prosecutions can be tricky, including trying to determine whether an act was motivated by hate. Just because a slur like “faggot” is used during an attack doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a hate crime. “The line is so gray between what is a hate crime and what’s not,” Mains said. There’s a “huge range” of factors that may be used to show that someone “was targeted
Rick Gerharter
Assistant District Attorneys Maggie Buitrago, left, and Ben Mains work in the hate crimes unit, which Mains leads.
substantially because of their identity,” including the type of slur and when during the incident it was made, he said. Regardless, Mains said, “You’ve got to report it, and we will work it out.” Even if factors such as slurs don’t result in a specific hate crime allegation, they’re “definitely a factor in aggravation, and we’ll take that into
consideration,” Buitrago said. Aggravating circumstances can mean tougher sentences. There can be “increased penalties” even if there’s not a separate allegation, Mains said. Buitrago recalled a case in which a transgender woman had been robbed. After she chased down the suspects, she heard at least one of them making anti-transgender slurs. That was used to show that it wasn’t a typical robbery, which resulted in a stiffer sentence. Two bills pending in the state Legislature would address how hate crimes are handled by law enforcement agencies. One would establish a toll-free hotline, while the other would require local agencies to update their policies. An incident may be a hate crime even if the victim isn’t a member of the targeted group, such as when someone attacks a straight man mistakenly thinking the victim’s gay. “It doesn’t matter if the defendant is wrong” in choosing their target, Mains said. He also urged people to report problems regardless of their immigration status. “We do not care what your immigration status is,” he said.
Challenges
There are other challenges, though. Buitrago said a “big hurdle” involves “the intersection between mental health and crime. ... Proving specific intent when someone has mental health issues is extremely difficult.” See page 14 >>
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