Armed Forces

AR-15: Even Our Guns are Now Fleeing to Oakland

The happy news that an AR-15 rifle pilfered from San Francisco cops over the weekend has been recovered across the bay is tempered by a darker demographic reality: Even our guns are now fleeing to Oakland. San Francisco will always be San Francisco, but it's time to face facts. Oakland is "cooler." ... More >>

Living History

"The Invisible War": Military Sexual Predators Revealed

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Worry

Supervisor John Avalos Claims He Talked to Harvey Milk's Ghost

Have you ever wondered exactly how our government leaders make some of the decisions they do? Like many of you, we also assume enough city decisions are made through back room deals and a lot of back stabbing. And then there's Supervisor John Avalos' refreshing governing style. We were shocked, ente ... More >>

Deconstructing a Family Tragedy

Gary Stein, Marine Who Called Obama an "Enemy" on Facebook, Discharged

Gary Stein, the 27-year-old Marine who spewed anti-Obama rhetoric on his "Armed Forces Tea Party" Facebook page, was discharged yesterday, for popping off his political views. Pentagon policy, military prosecutors noted, limits military members' political speech while in uniform. But beyond handboo ... More >>

Minimalism to the Max

"Act Of Valor": Recruits Adrenaline Junkies Everywhere

Minimalism to the Max

Occupy Oakland: "It's Not Finished"

dignidadrebelde via Flickr​For such a loosely organized group, Occupy Oakland has managed to quickly coordinate a renewed movement after police conducted an early morning raid today on the protesters' camp outside City Hall, which resulted in heavy smoke, dozens of arrests, and lots of chaos. With ... More >>

The Strange History of Don't Ask, Don't Tell: A Talk with the Directors

​Documentary filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato are lucky -- and they know who to thank. First, they acknowledge the sheer power of Sheila Nevins, HBO's documentary czar, who nudged them to look at the controversial Don't Ask, Don't Tell law. More importantly, they acknowledge the luck th ... More >>

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" HBO Documentary: Free Premiere Tonight

​Next Tuesday is a big day for gay and lesbian members of the armed forces. But HBO documentary filmmakers Randy Barbato and Fenton Baily want to celebrate a little early -- with the world premiere of their documentary, The Strange History of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, tonight at the Castro Theatre a ... More >>

Veteran Con Man Back to Swindling Elderly Veterans

Brian Wilson Boosts the Air Force with Scholarship

So good on and off the field ​While you were out cooking hot dogs and pounding cheap beers to celebrate the three-day weekend, Brian Wilson, the Giants relief pitcher, observed Memorial Day by establishing the largest Air Force scholarship in history. Wilson set up The Michael Wilson Scholarship i ... More >>

Sandow Birk: "American Qur'an," and Al Farrow: "Reliquaries"

Pelosi's Waning Power Felt with Republican $15 Million Cut for The Presidio

Thanks, Republicans.​House Republicans delivered a gut-punch to their nemesis Nancy Pelosi Thursday with a proposed $15 million cut in funding for the Presidio, a national park that's long been Pelosi's pet project.In order to wean itself off federal funding, the former U.S. Army base has become a ... More >>

Grenades Found in Potrero Hill

This looks fake ​Police closed down streets in Potrero Hill after grenades were found in the garage of a 92-year-old man who had recently died. According to media reports, police have not yet determined whether the possible explosives were real or fake.

Week in Gay: Ted Haggard is Bisexual and Anderson Cooper has a 'Companion'

Coming after cousin Geri​This edition of The Week in Gay is a potpourri (either a miscellaneous collection of stories or a mixture of dried flowers and spices) of four categories - plus an extra special bonus!Included are updates on the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, the latest stories from San F ... More >>

DADT Is Dead! Long Live DADT!

​On Saturday, following months of gyrations, the U.S. Senate repealed the military ban on open service by gays and lesbians known as Don't Ask Don't Tell.Sort of.This policy has been under heavy scrutiny since the end of President George W. Bush's second term, and promises to repeal DADT were made ... More >>

Human Rights Campaign To Move Into Harvey Milk's Camera Store

Harvey Milk has been enlisted by the HRC​In what some grassroots gay activists are calling an "insult," the Human Rights Campaign is about to move into the location of Harvey Milk's old camera store at 575 Castro Street. It will be the new San Francisco "action center" providing information on the ... More >>

DADT Repeal: With All Deliberate Speed -- Or None At All?

​The Week in GayThe repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell is fucking mess, but I think there might be a way to fix things. If we act quickly. This is a real longshot -- and it's not guaranteed to work -- but we need get our hands on some mercury. Lots of it. A flock of Ibises in Florida has been rendered ... More >>

Deconstructing a Family Tragedy

A Kinder, Gentler - and Still Unconstitutional - DADT

​The developments in the ongoing saga that is Don't Ask Don't Tell - the ban on gays in the military - occurred faster than the depletion of Meg Whitman's bank balance this week.On Monday, Judge Virginia Philips heard from both sides on her decision from a week ago that DADT was unconstitutional ... More >>

Obama to DADT: Please Don't Go!

​The Week in GayThe week started with a federal judge in California pulling the plug on "Don't Ask Don't Tell" -- the military policy that bans open service by gay. It ended with the Obama administration asking for a stay on the decision.Let me repeat that summary: President Barack Obama -- who sa ... More >>

You Mean It’s True? Damn.

Thanks, John McCain -- Military Now 100 Percent Straight

What's Sen. McCain thinking? Don't ask. ​The Senate was unable to stop Sen. John McCain's filibuster of the military authorization bill on Tuesday, which means that -- among other things -- the greatest democracy in the world is unwilling to stop the military from discharging LGBT personnel. Not t ... More >>

Pinalcchio: Renowned Forensics Experts Say a Pinal County Deputy's High-Profile Tale About Getting Shot After Encountering Drug Smugglers Doesn't Add Up

Lady Gaga Destroys DADT -- While Wearing Meat

Can Lady Gaga do away with DADT before this dress goes bad? ​In the last episode of the Week in Gay, a federal judge ruled that the military ban on gays serving in the military (Don't Ask Don't Tell) was unconstitutional. Since then, Lady Gaga won 101 Video Music Awards on MTV and then kicked some ... More >>

Appeal the Prop. 8 Decision!

It'd be a shame if the reversal of Prop. 8 didn't have national implications...​There was talk on Monday that a "group of conservative leaders" were chasing around Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado, begging him to file an appeal on the Proposition 8 decision, since he was acting as governor while ... More >>

Don't Ask Don't Tell Told Off

​The Week In GayLate yesterday, another radical hippie judge in California ruled that queers are protected by the U.S. Constitution. A lawsuit against the military ban on gay service members, Don't Ask Don't Tell, was ruled to be a violation of the First Amendment rights of gay people. The suit wa ... More >>

"Don't Ask" takes a long, leering look at gays in the military

The Week in Gay: Argentina! Clay Aiken! Toilet Water!

In Argentina, homosexuals can now tango and marry​This week Argentina's senate voted 33 to 27 in support of marriage equality and now it's legal down there. Frankly, I don't know a lot about Argentina. Apparently, it's winter there now. Isn't that fascinating?

California Sued For Shortchanging Business Owners With IOUs

​A National Guard veteran who sold $28,000 worth of uniforms to the state of California for a youth camp has filed a lawsuit against state officials, asserting the state violated state law by paying her with  IOUs in lieu of cash during last year's budget crisis.Nancy Baird, a resident of San ... More >>

Filipino WWII Vets, in S.F., File Suit Seeking Recognition, Compensation

Taylor FriedmanRomeo de Fernandez, 91, survived the Bataan death march. But now, he says, his own government is shortchanging him.​Philippines-born Romeo R. de Fernandez, 91, served in the United States military and defended Manila during World War II. In 1942, the Japanese Imperial Army took him ... More >>

JROTC under fire in S.F. schools

Hot! Horny! Wasted! Teens!

New research about young military recruits who smoke, drink, and screw too much.

U.S. Marine Corps an Orgy Palace of Stoned, Drunk, Horny Teens, New UCSF Study Suggests

By Matt SmithWhile doomsayers bemoan America's ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center may have turned up a brilliant silver lining.Thanks to desperate recruiting methods required to staff those wars, the U.S. Marines may be t ... More >>

British Check "Become Invisible" Off To-Do List

Letters to the Editor

Special Forces

The Iraq war is the setting for ... high camp?

An Army of Uno

Struggling to find homegrown recruits, the military is persuading immigrants to enlist by dangling promises of U.S. citizenship

The Pentagon's 'Gay Bomb'

Pacifists for War

How the fractured counterrecruitment movement includes those hoping to bring the draft back

Hot Story

Navy admits burning 600,000 gallons of radioactive fuel at S.F. shipyard

Best Kite Store

Chinatown Kite Shop

Nervous in the Service

As war looms in Iraq, some U.S. reservists are trying to get out of their military obligations

Fallout

How nuclear researchers handled -- and grossly mishandled -- the Cold War's most dangerous radioactive substances at a top-secret lab inside the Hunters Point Shipyard. The same shipyard the city wants to remake as San Francisco's newest neighborhood.

Tapped Out

There're not enough buglers and honor guards to keep pace with dying vets

Between a Rock and a ... Rock

Environmental testing in the Presidio may be a Sisyphean task