Trevor Project’s Call Center is Officially Open; Ribbon Cut SF CA (photo collage)

Harvey Milk watching from up stairs window, proud. (painting)

Today goes down in the history books and most appropriately on Harvey Milk’s 81st Birthday, the Trevor Project’s call center is officially open. About 1 hour ago phone lines officially opened in Harvey Milk’s Camera Shop and Former Campaign Headquarters. It is a glorious day. The ribbon was cut at the door step of the new call center by Mark Leno, Cleve Jones, Anne Kronenberg, Danny Nicoletta, Frank Robinson, Dustin Lance Black, Armistead Maupin, Christopher Turner and Stuart Milk and many more note worthy came out for the cause. The hot-line provides crisis and suicide prevention counseling to LGBT and questioning youth 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, and this marks a historic moment because now those calls can be answered in the same place where Harvey took these kinds of calls.

After the ribbon was cut and history was made, politicians, reporters, volunteers and supporters all sang Happy Birthday to Harvey, which echoed down Castro Street. Harvey would have loved it!

Trevor Project will use the space rent-free since HRC paid for the build out and has agreed to donate $10,000 annually to the nonprofit during the duration of its five-year lease.
http://www.thetrevorproject.org

PHONES ARE NOW OPEN!

Call center staff

www.thetrevorproject.org

Hair Ball of the Day Harvey Milk: Happy 81st B-day!

It has been brought to my attention that Harvey Milk’s 81st Birthday is today.

Grand Opening of the Harvey Milk Call Center in San Francisco 5/22 Sunday

The Trevor Project is excited to open our Harvey Milk Call Center in San Francisco this weekend! Please join us for a ribbon untying and guided tour of the new call center facility at the historic site of Harvey Milk’s Castro Camera Store (575 Castro Street, between 18th and 19th Streets).

The event will take place at 11am on Sunday May 22, Harvey Milk Day, and will feature special guests Cleve Jones, Anne Kronenberg, Danny Nicoletta, Frank Robinson, Dustin Lance Black, Armistead Maupin, Christopher Turner and Stuart Milk of The Harvey Milk Foundation.

We hope you can help us celebrate this wonderful addition to the Castro community!

-The San Francisco Ambassadors of The Trevor Project

Celebrate Harvey Milk’s Birthday with a Postage Stamp

Via news.change.org

This weekend there will be celebrations throughout California and the United States for Harvey Milk’s birthday on May 22.

Harvey Milk was a pioneer for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights. He was the first non-incombant openly gay man elected to office in the United States.

Milk was relentless with his passionate call for equality. While he was a Supervisor for San Francisco, he helped pass the first city wide civil rights ordinance for gay people in San Francisco.

He was always concerned about LGBT youth. His now famous saying, “You’ve got to give them hope,” is still as relevant today as when he said it nearly 30 years ago. Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” campaign is a living example of Harvey Milk’s philosophy. Closeted and and oppressed LGBT people need to know that life can be better.

Sadly, Harvey Milk was assassinated by Dan White before he could complete his important work. Nevertheless he remains an inspiration to all of us who care about social justice.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force started a petition on Change.org to encourage the United States Postmaster to create a Harvey Milk stamp. More than 7,000 people have signed the petition so far.

You too can celebrate the life and legacy of Harvey Milk by signing the petition and sharing it with your friends. If successful, this will be the first United States postage stamp featuring an LGBT civil rights hero. Harvey Milk would sure be proud.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

SF is Preparing for its Next King or Queen (Mayor)

Running for the mayoral seat in San Francisco is one spicy meatball! We are no ordinary city and have extraordinary population to please. The rest of the world watches SF under a microscope to see what boundaries we are pushing and history we are re-writing. Good luck to you all in the race. On your mark, get set, GOOOOOOOOOOOO…  Bevan I got your back~AB

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LGBT themes emerge at first mayoral forum

via B.A.R

The theme of the first candidate forum in this year’s San Francisco mayoral race was public service, but that didn’t deter the nine leading candidates who took part from peppering their responses with references to LGBT concerns.

Taking the stage together for the first time, the seven men and two women running to be San Francisco’s next mayor spent 90 minutes Thursday, May 5 pitching themselves to a packed house of college students and residents gathered inside the McLaren Conference Center at the University of San Francisco, whose Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good teamed up with the group buildOn to host the forum.

While none of the questions spoke directly about LGBT issues, several candidates’ remarks included not so subtle pitches to the city’s LGBT voters for their support.

One of the most blatant references came from District 11 Supervisor John Avalos, who in his closing statement stole a famous line that the late gay Supervisor Harvey Milk used on the campaign trail back in the 1970s.

“I am John Avalos. I am a community builder and a community organizer. I want to recruit you to help rebuild San Francisco to make it a city that works better for all of us,” said Avalos, incorporating Milk’s “I am here to recruit you” riff on the anti-gay belief that homosexuals recruit youth to replenish their ranks. READ MORE

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• John Avalos, The Great Prog Hope, To Run For Mayor (sfist.com)
• Mayoral Forum Recap: Even The Nun Was Bored (sfgate.com)

Brintney’s SF Visit, Minus Speculation

Finally the real story, with facts, minus all the layers of speculation. If Ms Spears brings an once of good and support to the gay community, we’ll take. As far as her live performances, we’ll tap our red slippers together and chant, ” Please don’t suck, Please don’t suck” , but that’s all we can do on this side of praying for a miracle.

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Pop star Britney Spears visited the GLBT Historical Society Museum in the Castro last Sunday after her mini-concert at Bill Graham Auditorium where she was given a brief tour by curator Gerard Koskovich, who pointed out Harvey Milk's bullhorn in one of the display cases. For more on Spears's visit, see the Out on the Town column. Photo: Dan Nicoletta

 

Spears visit was a team effort by LGBT leaders

by Matt Baume

It took a gay village to bring Britney Spears to San Francisco, starting with mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty and extending to bar owners, drag queens, and cheerleaders.

The saga started with Mark Robertson, a producer at ABC’s Good Morning America and a longtime friend of Dufty’s. In late 2010, Dufty said, Robertson called him to propose shooting a Britney Spears promotional video in the Castro.

That set off months of discussions and negotiations. From the beginning, Dufty felt strongly that the show should feature local celebrity drag queens.

“While people may jet around Brentwood trying to spot Cameron Diaz, our drag personalities are our celebrities,” Dufty said. “They raise money constantly for different charities. They add a lot to the vitality of the Castro. I was straightforward with Mark that I felt it was really important that they be onstage and be part of the program.”

READ MORE

 

 

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• Bevan Dufty Takes Us Behind the Scenes with Britney Spears (sfgate.com)