Supervisor Mandelman would be drawn out of his own district, while the Leather/LGBTQ and Transgender Cultural Districts would be split into different supervisor districts, under the latest revised supervisor district map that’s still creating controversy.
The San Francisco supervisory district maps are being redrawn this year, as they are every ten years. And just like every other time this process has ever taken place, no one seems happy with the proposals on the table. As we told you a couple of weeks back, the LGBTQ community is especially displeased with the proposed map — at least as it stood two weeks ago. “This particular map basically slices the Castro and the queer community in half,” District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman told the Chronicle, upon learning his home would be redrawn out of his current district boundaries. “I almost feel like this had to have been a joke or not a serious effort.”
Well, the SF Redistricting Task Force went back to the drawing board, and released a revised version of the map on Monday. But it’s still drawing flak, and KRON4 reports that LGBTQ activists rallied against the current map at a press event Wednesday attended by multiple community and political groups.
The San Francisco LGBTQ community is united against efforts to divide us.
— Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club (@harveymilkclub) March 30, 2022
We call on @RedistrictSF to keep the Tenderloin and western SOMA whole, together, and in District 6. @eqca @transdistrictsf @SFLeatherDist @AliceLGBTQDems @GAPASF pic.twitter.com/Rq4auBvyt9
On major point of contention is that the Transgender District (a cultural district, not a supervisor district) could be removed fro District 6, which includes the Tenderloin and SoMa, and placed into the District 5 that traditionally contains the Western Addition and Japantown. That’s seen as a dilution of power and influence, separating that district from the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District in SoMa.
“We stand united with the Tenderloin and SoMa LGBTQ communities in ensuring our voice and power is not diluted between two separate districts,” says Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club senior co-chair Gary McCoy, speaking to KRON4. “Our struggles in the LGBTQ community are far from over.”
He also objected to Mandelman being drawn out of his own district, noting that “our representation on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is at a historic low.”
Certainly the SF Redistricting Task Force cannot draw new districts with the sole purpose of keeping individual supervisors’ homes within district boundaries. But activists do have a point that not only is the city’s only gay supervisor getting drawn out (though he would able to fulfill the remainder of his term for that district), but also that two significant LGBTQ cultural districts are being separated into separate supervisor districts.
But again, this is not the final map, it is merely the latest proposal. The SF Redistricting Task Force meets again Saturday, April 2 at 10 a.m., and you can make your voice heard in person at City Hall, Room 400, or by watching and dialing in to the SFGovTV broadcast.
A League of Women Voters of San Francisco representative tells SFist that the Task Force is expected to finish revising the map by April 9, and may vote on the final map on April 13.
This post has been updated with more detailed timeline information from the League of Women Voters of San Francisco.
Image: SF.gov
