Activism

Black LGBTQ+ Leaders and Allies Applaud 3 California Bills

Some of the proposed laws aim to address challenges that impact various segments of the African American LGBTQ+ community — either directly or circumstantially.

Published

4 years ago

June 25, 2021

Christy Price

Nate Isaac/Unsplash

June is Pride Month and lawmakers in California are advancing a number of bills to make life safer and less difficult for people who are LGBTQ+.

Some of the proposed laws aim to address challenges that impact various segments of the African American LGBTQ+ community — either directly or circumstantially.

The first is Senate Bill (SB) 357. If the Legislature approves it, the law will repeal California Penal Code Section 653.22, which penalizes loitering with the intent to engage in sex work. This particular bill, if approved, supporters say will significantly reduce the risks and dangers many LGBTQ+ people at the lowest ends of the socioeconomic ladder face.

Many of them are young people who turn to sex work because of a number of reasons, including being unsupported by their families or the social structure because of their sexuality; trauma brought about by sexual or physical abuse; drug addiction; unemployment, among other factors.

Based on English Elizabethan “poor laws,” loitering laws in America were developed as a part of the Black Codes in the late 1800s as a means to arrest Black people in order to sell their labor in a practice called convict leasing.

“These laws were created to eradicate us,” said Dr. Jon Paul Higgins, a California-based social justice advocate and writer who is African American.

“So, when you talk about the importance of repealing these laws, it’s not even just about the law, it’s about getting to the root of what’s creating these laws,” Higgins explained.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, “many persons who exchange sex may have a history of homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, mental health issues, violence, emotional/physical/sexual abuse, and drug use.”

In California – and across the United States — a disproportionate number of African Americans are impacted by those challenges — all of them considered social determinants of good health by Public Health professionals.

Because of the vagueness of these loitering laws, many critics have noted that they gave police a wide range of arresting powers to target “undesirables” like Black people and people in the LGBTQ+ community, Higgins explained.

California State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), author of this bill, says it would help make the streets safer for sex workers who are a part of a marginalized community.

“Sex workers are workers, and they deserve respect and safety,” Wiener said. “We must work toward a future where people — especially the most marginalized — aren’t criminalized because of who they are and what they look like. Anti-sex workers loitering laws are deeply pernicious, and they need to be repealed.”

SB 357 also allows those convicted of California Penal Code Section 653.22 to seal their records.

SB 357 was passed by the Senate Public Safety Committee 4-1 and has now been referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Another bill concerned with safety is Assembly Bill (AB) 1094, which would require the State Department of Public Health to establish a three-year pilot program in up to six participating counties to collect gender identity and sexual orientation data in violent death cases to get more accurate counts about hate crimes.

According to the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations 2019 Hate Crime Report, Black people accounted for 9% of the county’s population but 47% of the total racial hate crimes.

The report also stated that 2019 saw a 64% increase in hate crimes targeting trans people, many of whom were Black or Brown, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

“Yet another year with alarming levels of bias-motivated crimes underscores just how urgent it is to address this hate crimes epidemic,” said Alphonso David, Human Rights Campaign president. David is the first African American to lead the organization, the largest advocacy body for LGBTQ+ people and issues in the United States.

“This year, we saw a tragic new record of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people in this country, particularly against Black and Brown transgender women,” he said.

Following the Stonewall riots in New York, Black trans women like Marsha P. Johnson and Miss Major Griffin-Gracy became influential figures in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights at the time when discrimination and hate crimes against people like them were much more commonplace.

Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno), author of AB 1094, explained why he feels the bill is crucial.

“I deeply appreciate the overwhelming support that my Assembly colleagues gave today to AB 1094,” Arambula said in a statement. “This legislation may be centered on data, but its purpose encompasses compassion and empathy to better understand what is happening in our LGTBQ+ community — particularly among the youth — when it comes to violent deaths, including homicide and suicide. AB 1094 is an important and humane step in ultimately preventing these deaths.”

AB 1094 has passed in the Assembly and is now on its way to the State Senate for consideration.

Senate Bill (SB) 379, which has now been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee, would ensure the University of California Health System [UC Health] only contracts with healthcare facilities that provide LGBTQ-inclusive healthcare services, such as gender-affirming and reproductive care.

According to Blue Cross Blue Shield, Black mothers’ maternal mortality rate is 63% higher than white mothers while Black men are 70% more likely to die from a stroke as compared to non-Hispanic White men.

People in the LGBTQ+ community are less likely to have access to competent healthcare, largely due to issues with discrimination, according to Cigna.

Higgins spoke from personal experience about the intersectional nature of being both Black and in the LGBTQ+ community.

“For me, being a Black nonbinary person and meeting a provider who has all of these bias ideologies or stereotypes about Black people… there are all of these preconceived notions about who I am as a Black person and then you add on the nonbinary-slash-trans part of it, there’s just a lot of underlying stereotypes and bias,” Higgins said.

Jasmyne Cannick, founder and CEO of Empowerment Justice Strategies, praised this bill for moving with the tides of progress.

“In 2021, it makes absolute sense for UC Health to contract with healthcare facilities that provide LGBTQ-inclusive healthcare services given the population that it serves,” Cannick said.

“We are moving towards a more inclusive society, and these are the types of bills that will ensure that members of the LGBTQ+ community can receive healthcare they need,” she continued.

Higgins, Cannick and other advocates say it means a great deal that California lawmakers are making an effort to ensure that these “warriors” can continue to do so safely, and that those who just wish to live their lives without fear for being who they are may do so more boldly.

Christy Price

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Activism

San Francisco Is Investing Millions to Address Food Insecurity. Is Oakland Doing the Same?

There are over 350 grocery programs across San Francisco. Less than a handful in District 10, a neighborhood classified as a food desert, and includes Hunters Point, one of the lowest income areas in the city.

Published

4 days ago

March 17, 2025

Oakland Post

The San Francisco District 10 Community Market is a fully government funded free grocery store for families in need of food assistance. The market is located in Hunters Point, one of the lowest income areas in the city. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

By Magaly Muñoz

On a Thursday evening in February, Marquez Boyd walked along the aisles of San Francisco’s District 10 Community Market looking for eggs and fresh produce to take home to his children. He has been trying new recipes with ingredients he previously couldn’t afford or access.

“I learned how to cook greens since they got a lot of fresh greens here,” Boyd said. “All that stuff is better and more healthy for my kids because they’re still young.”

Meals filled with fresh produce are now possible for Boyd since the District 10 market in Hunters Point opened in 2024 when Bayview Senior Services, a non-profit running the program, received a $5 million investment from the city of San Francisco.

The market is a twist on a traditional food bank, where people can often wait in long lines for pre-bagged groceries they may not need. Here, the goal is to offer people in need a more traditional grocery store setting, with a bigger range of healthy options and less shame for needing assistance.

It’s a twist that Boyd appreciated. “This set up is way better as opposed to maybe like a food bank line,” he said. “It’s easier and faster.”

Similar models exist in Santa Barbara and Tennessee.

Census Bureau data show that the median income for households in the 94124 zip code, where Hunters Point is located, is just under $83,000 annually. Black households earn about $46,000, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders earn almost $41,000, and Hispanic households make just above the median income- an average of $86,000.

Located at 5030 3rd Street, the aisles are lined with fresh produce, canned goods, bread and snacks. While refrigerators and freezers in the back of the market are filled with dairy products and meat.

The best part- everything inside is free for eligible customers.

The San Francisco District 10 Community Market is stocked with fresh produce, dairy, meat and chicken, bread, and cultural food staples. Directors of the market say they pride themselves on providing healthy options for community members. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

“The interesting thing about this market is that it’s a city-funded effort to create something besides the average food line to give more dignity and choice than is normally given to low-income people,” said Cathy Davis, executive director of Bayview Senior Services.

Davis said people feel more comfortable coming into the market because they can choose the food they want and at a time that’s convenient for them.

Boyd, a single father of two kids, recently lost his job and relied on his sister’s generosity before discovering the market. He comes to market when he gets off of work in the evening.

“It’s a lot of people in these communities that don’t get a chance to eat healthy,” Boyd said. “They don’t have the money to go to grocery stores to buy expensive stuff.”

Another shopper, Rhonda Hudson, said the market helped her meet her grandson’s diet-related health problems. She used to travel outside the neighborhood for affordable groceries, but now she no longer has to.

According to the city’s Human Services Agency, there are no plans to expand the markets in San Francisco due to budget constraints.

But Davis isn’t worried about losing the market funding.

“City leaders were on board with creating it and finding the money to put it together so I would say we didn’t have to advocate because it came through the government. Now it’s our job to keep it going to prove that it’s a pilot worth maintaining,” Davis said.

District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, who co-sponsored the ordinance, said that projects like the market are “essential to our neighborhoods,” where access to affordable food has been a challenge.

“Investing in local community markets helps ensure that families have reliable, healthy food options close to home, addressing food insecurity and supporting the well-being of our community regardless of income,” Walton said.

Rhonda Hudson is a shopper of the District 10 Community Market in San Francisco. The fresh produce she gets at the free grocery store program helps her grandson, who has a diet-related illness, stay healthy. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

Why Not Oakland?

Only slightly larger than San Francisco, Oakland has over 400 food distribution sites. Oakland provides grants to nonprofit-run organizations who run grocery programs. But in recent months, the city has begun to reduce those, forcing some organizations to regroup, and making it challenging to implement a community market similar to San Francisco’s.

The Oakland Post repeatedly reached out to city and county officials for comment on the story but did not receive a response.

At several food banks across West and East Oakland, residents shared their frustrations about long lines, wilting produce, and limited food choices.

At one food bank, located at Christian Tabernacle Church, a young mother, who requested anonymity for privacy reasons, waited in the rain for over three hours for a single bag of groceries.

“I like to get here early because I get better [quality] fruits and vegetables,” she said. She added that it’s not a lot of food that she receives for her family, but it helps close the gap when her budget is tight.

Behind her, several other women waited their turn. Neither the timing of the distribution nor the location of the food bank fit their schedules, the women said, but their choices feel limited.

Only a handful of Oakland food bank sites operate throughout the day, like the San Francisco market. Most food distribution programs are sustained by Alameda County Food Bank, not by city funding. Private grants and donations also help fund the programs.

Securing city funding is increasingly challenging. Oakland faces a $130 million budget shortfall, with a projected $280 million deficit in the next biennial cycle. Citing budget concerns, the city has reduced numerous department budgets and grants. One of those cuts included slashing the longstanding SOS Meals on Wheels grant, which helped provide food to 3,000 seniors.

Charlie Deterline, executive director of Meals on Wheels, said the termination of their $150,000 annual grant could mean that Oakland residents might see a change in the amount of meals they receive. The organization has gone 19 months without funding from that grant, Deterline said, but “continued working on good faith from the city” because they were assured they would be paid out. Now, Deterline is having doubts.

The program also received a grant of more than $125,000 from the Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax. Yet, on June 12, the city informed grant recipients that the funding could be rescinded in order to balance the budget. That ultimately happened, said Deterline.

“Oakland is by far the most expensive city for us to operate in. It is also where the greatest need is – for us to meet that need, it will take the entire community coming together,” Deterline said.

From the sugar tax, money from that measure is also not being allocated correctly as the majority of the funding has been used to fund government services, said members of the SSB tax advisory board.

The tax generates around $7 million annually. 25% to 40% of the funding goes towards grants for community based organizations instead of the 60% allocation that the SSBT advisory board recommended the city to use for health programs. The rest of the funding goes to the city, according to Oakland’s mid-cycle budget.

Advisory board member Dwayne Aikens said he’s not sure Oakland will ever renew the grants that have been cut from this tax. “I’m looking at the conditions of the city and I’m not optimistic,” Aikens said. “If they don’t have the money now, I don’t think they’ll have the money in the future.”

Aikens said the tax was “kind of a waste.” He’s heard displeasure from the community about the lack of funding into Black and Brown neighborhoods, groups who typically live in areas of Oakland that see health and income disparities.

Meanwhile, the Community Market, which reflects the diversity of the Bayview Hunters Point community, is investing in over 800 of the city’s most vulnerable households. In-store staff and directors speak the languages common to the area and the program provides a culture-of-the week selection of foods for those interested in trying something new.

Davis said it’s up to local municipalities to ensure that residents don’t go to bed hungry, and investments need to be made in order to combat the pockets of neighborhoods who are on the brink of food insecurity.

“That’s just such a core responsibility and a core goal of everyone, to make sure that people are fed and healthy. It’s not a luxury item,” Davis said. “It’s something that needs to happen, whether we’re in a budget crisis or not.”

Reporter Magaly Muñoz produced this story as part of a series as a 2024 USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism Data Fellow and Engagement Grantee.