FREMONT After the Fremont school board voted early Thursday morning to eliminate sex education for the district’s fourth through sixth graders, the controversial decision, which has roiled the city since March, is now attracting Rep. Ro Khanna on the side… Read More ›
lgbt
2017 Year in East Bay Politics: The wild and wacky: Let’s Taco About It and Bill Quirk ‘Jumps Around’
2017 YEAR IN EAST BAY POLITICS>>>>The state legislature decides in January that a new portrait of Assemblymember Bill Quirk would be a good idea for his 20th District website. The resulting creation, though, inparts vampire-like features to Quirk’s face. Funny thing, according… Read More ›
Alameda mayor takes heat from LGBTQ community; group gives back pride month proclamation
Some members of Alameda’s LGBTQ community protesting a photo-op with Mayor Trish Spencer in the background to celebrating Pride Month. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILEight years after Mayor Trish Herrera Spencer voted against allowing same-sex curriculum in Alameda schools, members of the… Read More ›
Hayward Task Force strongly recommends Council declare sanctuary city status
Some members of the Hayward Community Task Force discuss sanctuary cities at its meeting on Wednesday night. HAYWARD CITY COUNCILA Hayward community task force on Wednesday voiced near unanimity for recommending to the Hayward City Council that it formally declare… Read More ›
‘Shame! Shame! Shame!’: Swalwell misses vote allowing LGBT amendment to fail
Rep. Eric Swalwell CONGRESS | 15TH DISTRICT |As cries of “Shame! Shame! Shame!” from Democratic lawmakers rained down on the House floor Thursday over a failed amendment to bar contractors from federal contracts if they discriminate against the LGBT community,… Read More ›
Oakland City Council will offer resolution opposing Indiana’s religious freedom law
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has already banned city government travel to Indiana over passage of its controversial new religious freedom law, which critics say will foster discrimination against members of the LGBT community and other minority… Read More ›
Rep. Swalwell did not renew $400 membership in LGBT Caucus
Many Democrats, like Rep. Eric Swalwell, have left the LGBT Caucus, apparently over the new $400 annual fee. CONGRESS | 15TH DISTRICT | Rep. Eric Swalwell was a member of the LGBT Equality Caucus during his first term in Congress…. Read More ›
Council Candidate Tells LGBT Group He’ll Bring Chick-Fil-A to East Oakland
OAKLAND | CITY COUNCIL | DISTRICT 6 | Michael Johnson’s campaign conceit in Oakland’s City Council District 6 race is the 12-year incumbent Desley Brooks has not brought economic vitality to East Oakland. Johnson’s jabs at Brooks on the issue… Read More ›
Swalwell’s Bad Bet on a House Republican who Dislikes Gays
CONGRESS | DISTRICT 15 | Always choose your friends wisely. Especially, if you’re an East Bay congressman who publicly consorts with a North Carolina Republican who believes employers have the right to fire people because of their sexual orientation. Earlier… Read More ›
20th Assembly Candidates Support Gay Marriage, but Spar over Gender I.D. Law
Bill Quirk, Luis Reynoso, Jaime Patino ASSEMBLY | 20TH DISTRICT | When it comes to gay marriage, candidates for the 20th Assembly District made a mad dash to the left of each other, but not before two of them swung… Read More ›
Petition Asks Oakland City Council To Send Message To Russia Without Love
Nakhodka, Russia looks a bit like the Port of Oakland. OAKLAND//CIVIL RIGHTS | An online petition is urging the City of Oakland to end a sister city relationship with its Russian counterpart in protest of the country’s anti-gay laws. The petition… Read More ›
EAST BAY OFFICIALS REACT TO SUPREME COURT RULING ON PROPOSITION 8/DOMA
CIVIL RIGHTS | Following Wednesday’s historic U.S. Supreme Court decisions repealing parts of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the high court’s decision on Proposition 8 effectively allowing county clerks to soon issue marriage licenses to all, elected officials… Read More ›
Swalwell Leads Way To Protect LGBT Communities In…Ukraine(?)
CONGRESS 15 | Rep. Eric Swalwell’s first chance to grandstand did not take place in the East Bay, but in faraway Ukraine. Swalwell, along with Reps. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), David Cicilline and over three dozen Democrats sent a letter to… Read More ›
MARGINALIZED BY THEIR OWN PARTY AND LIBERAL GAY GROUPS, LOG CABIN REPUBLICANS TRUDGE ON
CAGOP CONVENTION | For gay conservatives, the Republican Party is something like, No Party For Gay Old Men. At the party’s state convention this weekend, the Log Cabin Republicans met in a small room tucked far away from the party’s… Read More ›
Unknown To Many, Judicial Candidate Tara Flanagan Was Once Joel Young’s Attorney
ELECTION ’12//SUPERIOR COURT JUDGEMay 30, 2012 | In September 2011, I called 18th Assembly candidate Joel Young to talk about, at the time, a little-known domestic violence allegation filed by an ex-girlfriend in March of that year. Young said he couldn’t… Read More ›
Guillen Describes Previously Unknown Bisexuality As ‘Two Spirit’
ELECTION ’12//ASSEMBLY 18May 8, 2012 | Assembly candidate Abel Guillen said he dates both men and women and described his bisexuality as being “two spirit” after receiving advice in the 1990s from Native American tribal elders, according to the Bay… Read More ›
Tauscher Steps Down From State Department Post; Hayashi’s LGBT License Plate Bill
FIFTY+ONE blogJan. 25, 2012 | For those of you wondering if there is any connection between this and the group Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi is rumored to have posed as a lesbian to gain campaign fundraising support, it is not. LGBT… Read More ›