Human Rights

Go Round and Round: Muni's Weird Relationship with Ads, Guns, and Middle Eastern Politics

Muni Plans to Keep "Israeli Apartheid" Ad Money After Surrendering "Jihad" Ad Funds

To date, Muni has opted to surrender $15,780 from four different runs of inflammatory ads demonizing Muslims. Now Supervisor Scott Wiener, working with the Jewish Community Relations Council has asked the transit agency to do the same with $5,030 it pocketed after accepting bus ads labeling Israel a ... More >>

Muni "Savages" "Jihad" Etc. Battling Mideast Bus Ads Fund Pending Study

After eight years of covering contentious Mideast issues through a San Francisco lens, your humble narrator can offer you a certainty: The path to peace will be forged via the least nuanced, most belligerent, and most disingenuous members of each community taking out shrill, competing ads on Muni. T ... More >>

S.F. Pride's Bradley Manning Imbroglio Could End Up in Court

If Bay Area peaceniks had their druthers, the whole SF Pride Manning-gate imbroglio would end tonight. Pride board members are scheduled to have a meeting at 7 p.m., at which point they'll probably discuss the issue and make a final decision on whether to reinstate Bradley Manning as a grand marshal ... More >>

Muni "Jihad" Ads on High-Visibility Bus Lines

Repeat business is usually a good sign, but Muni doesn't seem to be enjoying its second go-round as rolling billboards for the American Freedom Defense Initiative. Readers may have noticed the Osama bin Bus motoring around the city this week and stridently pro-Israel ads on buses last year. Muni cla ... More >>

Arthouse Movie Listings March 6-12, 2013

Larry Brinkin, S.F. Gay Rights Activist, Charged With E-Mailing Child Porn Images

Larry Brinkin, San Francisco's well-known gay rights activist, appeared in court this afternoon where he pleaded not guilty to six felony charges of sending and receiving images of child pornography.The charges came three months after Brinkin, 66, was first arrested by San Francisco police, who clai ... More >>

The Rights Stuff

Human Rights Commission Praises Muni's Response to Furor over "Defeat Jihad" Ad

If San Francisco has learned anything from this pro-Israel Muni ad debacle it's that money talks. First, the American Freedom Defense Initiative gave Muni $3,800 to plaster the city's buses with an ad that refers to enemies of Israel as subhumans. And while even Muni Board President Tom Nolan says h ... More >>

Larry Brinkin, S.F. Gay Rights Icon, Arrested on Child Porn Charges

(Update 3:30 p.m.): SF Weekly has obtained the search warrant, which details the items police seized from Brinkin and his husband's home. Those items include computers, videos, VHS tapes, and a floppy disc. Read details of the search warrant after the jumpOriginal story: Police say they ar ... More >>

Christian Photographers Sued for Refusing to Take Pictures of Gay Wedding

New Mexico took the South out of Southwest when it told Christian photographers that they could not discriminate against gay couples when shooting photos of weddings and commitment ceremonies.A New Mexico court against Elane Photography, saying the God-loving photographers there had indeed violated ... More >>

Days of Rage: Immigrants and Allies Must Fight Back

The Gay Selma: Schools Ignore Gay Bullying at Their Own Peril

Happy Birthday, Cesar

Arthouse Movie Listings March 28-April 3, 2012

SFPD's Ugly History with Pepper Spray

​When San Francisco Police came calling in June of 1995, 37-year-old Aaron Williams probably didn't think it would be his last day on Earth. But as the pet-store-burglary suspect emerged from his house, a dozen officers piled on him. Police pepper-sprayed him, restrained him, and placed him face-d ... More >>

Gross Profit: Money Given to Clipboard Kids Rarely Makes It to Nonprofits

A Jewish Perspective on Circumcision: SF Weekly Talks to Cut Director Eli Ungar-Sargon

Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon​Eli Ungar-Sargon was raised in an Orthodox household, with rabbis in the family and a Talmudic scholar father. But Ungar-Sargon, who dropped out of medical school to pursue a film career, struggled to reconcile Jewish traditions and ethical questions, especially regarding ritu ... More >>

Sex Abuse Victims Seek International Criminal Court Charges Against Former SF Archbishop

Cardinal William Levada​Victims of clergy sex abuse have named a top Vatican official with roots in San Francisco as part of a small group of Catholic Church officials who should be investigated for crimes against humanity in a formal complaint lodged this week with the International Criminal Cour ... More >>

Inefficient by Design: San Francisco's Commissions Are Uncountable — and Unaccountable

Shane Bauer, Bay Area Hiker and Iran Detainee, to be Honored with Benefit

A long hike home ​It's been almost two years since three Bay Area hikers traveling through the Kurdistan region of Iraq were detained by Iranian officials for allegedly straying across an unmarked border.Shane Bauer, his fiancee Sarah Shourd, and Joshua Fattal, all graduates of UC Berkeley, were i ... More >>

LGBT Equality: Bay Area Hospitals Are Leading the Country

Human Rights Commissioner Cecilia Chung stars in the video on LGBT healthcare equality. ​Here is some good news coming on the heels of Gay Pride: Hospitals in the Bay Area -- San Francisco in particular -- are way ahead of the curve when it comes to how they treat LGBT patients, according to a Hum ... More >>

Circumcision Ban Challenged: Religious Leaders File Lawsuit Today

Taylor FriedmanNo, this isn't a bris ceremony ​Update 1:25 p.m.: Jewish and Muslim plaintiffs file lawsuit challenging San Francisco's circumcision ban. Read more after the jump.We knew this was coming -- it was just a matter of time. The Jewish community has united with other religious groups to ... More >>

SF Politicians Criticize NY Post Story on Alleged Strauss-Kahn Rape Victim's HIV Status

Dominique Strauss-Kahn​Every once in a while, San Francisco politicians surprise you. The city's Board of Supervisors is justly acknowledged for its symbolic gestures at the local level -- banning plastic bags, expressing support for cop killers, and the like. But the span of officialdom's tut-tut ... More >>

Metal Detectors, ID Scans at S.F. Nightclubs up for Debate

Can't we have fun without killing each other?San Francisco is considering draconian safety measures at night clubs, including metal detectors and ID scans -- not even Oakland does that!Although Jocelyn Kane, executive director of the Entertainment Commission, tells SF Weekly that it's unlikely such ... More >>

Bisexuals Are Neglected in San Francisco -- 'Biphobia' Is Real

It was a phase​When in it comes to being sexually liberated, San Francisco likes to believe it's been there, done that. So for a city that was a pioneer in offering sex changes as a benefit, it's hard to understand how and why we are failing our bisexual population so badly. But its true.The city' ... More >>

Ross Mirkarimi Wants To Stop FBI's Monitoring of Muslims

Look! Now they're going out to the movies! It's all part of a nefarious plot, I tell you! ​Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi introduced a resolution this week asking his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors to endorse a Human Rights Commission report that shows law enforcement is consistently racial pro ... More >>

Judge Says TSA Doesn't Have to Turn Over Body Scan Images to Civil Liberties Group

TSA Doesn't Want to Reveal What It's Revealing​As it turns out, when Big Brother is watching he doesn't have to reveal what he sees.In the latest chapter of TSA v. The rest of America, a federal judge ruled that the Transportation Security Administration doesn't have to turn over the 2,000 images ... More >>

The Feds Bury Border Patrol Abuses of Immigrants, But What's Been Unearthed Reveals a Culture of Cruelty

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 >>

San Francisco Circumcision Ban Unconstitutional, Professor Says

Perform a brit milah, go to jail? ​San Francisco can have its proposed circumcision ban, or it can have the First Amendment. But it can't have both. That's the opinion of Peter Keane, dean emeritus at Golden Gate University School of Law and a constitutional law professor. The potential ballot mea ... More >>

The Writing on the Stage

Asylum Denied

Only a fraction of Mexicans get U.S. asylum.

A Report from Juarez, the Bleeding Front Line of the War on Drugs

An Opportunity to Stand Up

Amongst Us

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's reign of terror becomes Arizona policy, thanks to state Senator Russell Pearce and Governor Jan Brewer

A Report From Juarez, the Front Line of the War on Drugs

A Report From Juarez, the Front Line of the War on Drugs

Dispute over who gets to run city parking garages leads to allegations of a shakedown

Arthouse movie listings for March 24-30, 2010

Arthouse movie listings for March 10-16, 2010

Google's Iron Curtain: Are Chinese Government Hackers Responsible?

In a monumental statement earlier today, Mountain View based Google announced that they were no longer censoring their search results in China -- and that if the Chinese government did not agree to these non-censored search results this would lead to a Google pull-out."We have evidence to suggest th ... More >>

Be Like Mike

Harry Belafonte, Patriot

Living Like a Refugee

The Asylum Trap

Unscrupulous attorneys prey on immigrants seeking green cards with an expensive and fruitless legal scheme. Now 29 Mexicans have joined the disbarment case against one such lawyer.