John Brooks: Occupy Inspires Neophyte to Run for Congress (tags)
John Brooks was a retired agent for the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife until he saw the Occupy San Diego protests on TV and was inspired to run for Congress as an alternative Democrat. Though he ran afoul of the San Diego Democrats for Equality's endorsement process, he's recently been endorsed by Progressive Democrats of America and his real views on Queer rights and women's choice are far more progressive than the Democrats for Equality's questionnaire made them sound.
Queer Democrats Warned About Threats to Reproductive Choice (tags)
The predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club heard two presentations at its June 23 meeting: a report on the likely strike by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) against southern California?s three largest grocery chains ? Ralph?s, Albertson?s and Vons ? and a warning about the potentially devastating effects of Republican and radical-Right policies against women?s rights to reproductive choice. Though the struggles of women to maintain safe and legal access to contraception and abortion may seem to have little in common with those of workers for decent pay, access to health care and other benefits, speakers on both issues noted how the radical Right has effectively linked them in the service of a paternalistic agenda that regards workers as mere cogs in a capitalist economy, and women as mere vessels for giving birth to the next generation.
Queer Democrats Hear from Labor on Employee Free Choice Act (tags)
The predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club heard from Carlos Marquez, chair of the local chapter of Pride @ Work, at its regular meeting April 23. He presented a campaign called http://www.SharedAgenda.org, aimed at building grassroots support for two proposed pieces of federal legislation: the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which will make it easier for workers to form unions; and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which will ban discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
San Diego ACLU Addresses Repressive Ballot Initiatives (tags)
The San Diego chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) held its annual membership meeting February 13 and gave over the program to Delores Jacobs of the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center and Vince Hall of Planned Parenthood to discuss the long-term implications of Propositions 4 and 8 on last year's ballot. The measures attacked women's reproductive choice and Queer rights, respectively, and Jacobs and Hall noted that the radical Right uses proposals like these not only to gain membership and contributions but to drain the coffers of progressive organizations so they have less money to provide services to women and Queers.