Gay Activists to boycott gay-rights group dinner

by Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle

As gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people prepare to celebrate gay pride in San Francisco this weekend, many of them also are organizing a boycott and protest of the country's largest gay rights organization.

Activists plan to be on the streets during the festivities to inform people of the boycott and protest of the Human Rights Campaign's annual fundraising dinner in San Francisco next month, a major event that raises tens of thousands of dollars for the organization.

Similar actions took place at fundraising dinners in Philadelphia and New York City earlier this year.

The controversy stems from the Human Rights Campaign's decision last fall to support a bill in Congress that would bar employers from firing a person because of his or her sexual orientation. The bill, which passed the House but has stalled in the Senate, did not include the same protections for transgender people. More than 370 gay rights organizations opposed the bill for that reason.

Theresa Sparks, who is president of the San Francisco Police Commission and is transgender, said she returned an award she received from the Human Rights Campaign.

Sparks, who attended the news conference with Dufty and Ammiano, noted the contributions of transgender people to the LGBT movement. The 1969 Stonewall riots in New York that sparked the modern LGBT rights movement were promulgated by transgender people, she said.

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