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Matthew S. Bajko

@politicalnotes.bsky.social

120 followers 84 following 370 posts

Assistant news editor and political columnist for San Francisco LGBTQ newspaper the Bay Area Reporter www.ebar.com dog owner, nature enthusiast, Disney geek

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Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 12h

Transgender, nonbinary and queer Californians will see improved health care privacy and access due to a number of bills Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law. Yet, Newsom also vetoed a bill aimed at improving health care access for intersex individuals and others...
www.ebar.com/story/159153...

Newsom signs, vetoes transgender bills

Transgender, nonbinary and queer Californians will see improved health care privacy and access due to a number of bills Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 12h

While he signed into law several HIV-related bills, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation its author had hoped would give Californians easier access to HIV prevention medications as of January 1....
www.ebar.com/story/159152...

Political Notebook: Newsom vetoes PrEP access bill

Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill its author had hoped would give Californians easier access to HIV prevention medications as of January 1.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 13h

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a Black transgender woman and longtime activist who once lived in the Bay Area, died October 13. She was 78....
www.ebar.com/story/159150...

Trans leader Miss Major Griffin-Gracy dies

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a Black transgender woman and longtime activist who once lived in the Bay Area, died October 13.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 19h

San Francisco’s only queer adult homeless shelter has tripled in size....
www.ebar.com/story/159038...

SF’s Jazzie’s Place LGBTQ shelter triples in size

San Francisco’s only queer adult homeless shelter has tripled in size.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 19h

Buzzed about Netflix show "Boots" creator and co-showrunner Andy Parker knew from the beginning the series about a closeted gay teen who enlists in the US Marines had to sidestep the bleak tone of most military stories.....
www.ebar.com/story/159057...

‘Boots’ marches in with comedy and combat boots

Netflix’s new eight-episode series, based on Greg Cope White’s memoir “A Pink Marine,” blends sharp humor and heartfelt storytelling to explore queerness and survival in the 1990s Marine Corps.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 19h

The month of October is filling up with various political events and a special fundraiser for a San Francisco-based queer surfing group being held at a city park that has made political waves of late...
www.ebar.com/story/159056...

Political Notes: October calendar chock-a-block with political events and queer surf fundraiser

The month of October is filling up with various political events, including a Yes on Prop 50 virtual town hall, and a special fundraiser for a San Francisco-based queer surfing group being held at a c...

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 3d

Fulfilling a promise he had made in the spring, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law legislation aimed at combatting the high rates of suicide and depression in LGBTQ youth...
www.ebar.com/story/159034...

Newsom enacts LGBTQ youth bills into law

Fulfilling a promise he had made in the spring, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law legislation aimed at combatting the high rates of suicide and depression in LGBTQ youth.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 4d

n a powerful guest opinion piece, gay Chicano Bay Area resident Brendan Sullivan-Sariñana explains why he stopped donating to his alma mater, Binghamton University in upstate New York, after it deplatformed a scholarship he had funded for LGBTQ students....
www.ebar.com/story/158962...

Guest Opinion: Universities are treading a dangerous path

Several months ago, I felt compelled to write the author of the Bay Area Reporter’s article on the rescission of naming the LGBTQ+ center at Victory Valley College after José Julio Sarria because it ...

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 4d

California Supreme Court Associate Justice Martin J. Jenkins, the first openly gay person named to the state’s highest court, will retire at the end of October....
www.ebar.com/story/159002...

Gay CA Supreme Court Justice Jenkins to retire

California Supreme Court Associate Justice Martin J. Jenkins, the first openly gay person named to the state’s highest court, will retire at the end of October.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 5d

New book coming out later this LGBTQ History Month documents how from the start of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals in 1933, the atrocities Adolph Hitler and his regime waged against LGBTQ Germans and others has impacted the LGBTQ community in America...
www.ebar.com/story/158979...

Political Notebook: Book examines intersection of the Holocaust and US LGBTQ movement

From the start of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals in 1933, the atrocities Adolph Hitler and his regime waged against LGBTQ Germans and others has impacted the LGBTQ community in America.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 5d

This week’s episode of “Dateline” will tell the story of the infamous “gay grifters” murder of gay retiree Clifford Lambert in Palm Springs in 2008. The 2-hour show is scheduled to air Friday, October 10, from 9 to 11 p.m. and will be seen locally on KNTV/NBC Bay Area.
www.ebar.com/story/158978...

NBC’s ‘Dateline’ to air ‘gay grifters’ episode Friday

NBC announced Wednesday that this week’s episode of “Dateline” will tell the story of the infamous “gay grifters” murder of gay retiree Clifford Lambert in Palm Springs in 2008.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 5d

For more than a decade Gary McCoy has been a fixture in San Francisco’s political scene, working for various political leaders and on different campaigns. As he now seeks elected office himself, McCoy tells the B.A.R. he came to such a career path accidentally...
www.ebar.com/story/158970...

D8 supe candidate McCoy came to politics accidently

For more than a decade Gary McCoy has been a fixture in San Francisco’s political scene.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 5d

San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center founder and artistic director Ed Decker, a gay man, will step down in January, and Ben Villegas Randle, a queer Latine man, will take the helm as artistic director as the organization enters its 45th year...
www.ebar.com/story/158953...

NCTC announces leadership change as Decker steps down

San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center has announced that founder and artistic director Ed Decker, a gay man, will step down in January.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 6d

Mawuli Tugbenyoh, a gay man who’s the newly-permanent executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, wants to move forward after the agency was rocked by scandal...
www.ebar.com/story/158942...

Tugbenyoh wants troubled SF agency to be city’s ‘conscience’

Mawuli Tugbenyoh, a gay man who’s the newly-permanent executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, wants to move forward after the agency was rocked by scandal.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 7d

Garry McLain, a gay man who reigned as the San Francisco Imperial Court’s Empress XXV Marlena more than three decades ago, died October 5. He was 85....
www.ebar.com/story/158906...

Garry McLain, SF Empress Marlena, dies

Bay Area Reporter

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 10d

LGBTQ leaders have been speaking out against both the federal government shutdown and the GOP-drafted short-term budget proposal that led to it. Democratic lawmakers have rejected it for not addressing the spike in health care costs millions of Americans are facing ....
www.ebar.com/story/158804...

Political Notes: LGBTQ leaders react to US government shutdown

With congressional leaders at an impasse, and Republican President Donald Trump seemingly uninterested in reaching a compromise, the federal government remains shut down and is likely to remain so for...

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 10d

The process to landmark a number of historic sites in the city’s LGBTQ Castro district and nearby neighborhoods is set to begin this month, kicking off a deadline for city planning staff to bring the designations to the Board of Supervisors for final approval...
www.ebar.com/story/158811...

Process to landmark SF historic sites set to begin

The process to landmark a number of historic sites in the city’s LGBTQ Castro district and nearby neighborhoods is set to begin this month, kicking off a deadline for city planning staff to bring the ...

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 11d

Bans on the use of so-called conversion therapy on LGBTQ minors will take center stage when the U.S. Supreme Court opens its session next Monday, with other LGBTQ legal matters set to be heard in the coming months....
www.ebar.com/story/158769...

LGBTQ issues at center of US Supreme Court’s new term

There is more drama than usual around the start of the new U.S. Supreme Court session, which begins Monday, October 6.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 12d

Well the new co-leaders at the SF Zoo get points for at least one thing - after years of it being outdated, the zoo map was finally updated!!!!!

www.sfzoo.org/.../2025/07/...

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 12d

A San Francisco judge ruled that charges will go forward against a 19-year-old man accused of vandalizing the pink triangle installation atop Twin Peaks during Pride Month in June...
www.ebar.com/story/158726...

Charges advance in pink triangle vandalism case

A San Francisco judge ruled that charges will go forward against a 19-year-old man accused of vandalizing the pink triangle installation atop Twin Peaks during Pride Month in June.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 12d

Come 2028, San Francisco’s public health clinic that treats sexually transmitted infections is scheduled to move out of its current dilapidated site. Its new home will be a short distance from where it has operated since 1982...
www.ebar.com/story/158725...

City finds new location for SF STI clinic

Come 2028, the city’s public health clinic that treats sexually transmitted infections is scheduled to move out of its current dilapidated site. Its new home will be at 1660 Mission Street.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 12d

As it's October 1 - Happy LGBTQ History Month! In SF, a handbell choir with LGBTQ ties is looking to increase its membership as it prepares to mark its 30th anniversary in 2026....
www.ebar.com/story/158692...

LGBTQ History Month: Handbell choir with LGBTQ ties seeks new ringers

As she was putting together her plans for the Dance-Along Nutcracker annual holiday concert presented by San Francisco’s LGBTQ marching band, then-director Jadine Louie fielded a request to have a han...

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 13d

Gary McCoy, a gay man & longtime aide to Congressmember Nancy Pelosi, is jumping into the race for the District 8 seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He had widely been expected to do so for several years and the 2nd local LGBTQ leader do so...
www.ebar.com/story/158691...

Breaking: Longtime Pelosi aide McCoy enters SF D8 supervisor race

Gary McCoy, a gay man and longtime aide to Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), is jumping into the race for the District 8 seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 13d

“Radical Happiness" indeed! Neighborhood stakeholders are pleased that the forthcoming 51st Castro Street Fair will be the first to incorporate the new Castro entertainment zone...
www.ebar.com/story/158682...

Castro fair welcomes entertainment zone

Neighborhood stakeholders are pleased that the forthcoming 51st Castro Street Fair will be the first to incorporate the new Castro entertainment zone.

Matthew S. Bajko @politicalnotes.bsky.social · 13d

Registration opens soon for the new bike fundraising rides launching next year by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center ...
www.ebar.com/story/158688...

News Briefs: SFAF unveils name for new bike ride

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which ended its AIDS/LifeCycle endurance bicycle ride with the Los Angeles LGBT Center this year, announced that its new stand-alone three-day fundraising ride plann...