For the second time in six weeks, Castro gay bar Toad Hall was the site of hostile pushback against a peaceful
#BlackLivesMatter and #TransLivesMatter protest. On Saturday, February 28, a rally against violence began at Jane Warner Plaza at 2 p.m. and morphed into a march that culminated outside the 18th Street bar. Organized by the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, it drew well-known speakers, including as Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi. (I was present for the first hour, but left before the march began.)
Regrettably, even anti-violence marches can turn violent, and as the crowds thinned, a Toad Hall staff member physically and verbally assaulted transgender Latina activist Danielle Castro on the sidewalk.
Castro sits on the SF Human Rights Commission’s LGBT Action Committee and is also the founder of
TAJA’s Coalition, an organization dedicated to trans issues such as affordable housing. (The name refers to Taja DeJesus, a transwoman who was murdered on February 1, but is also an acronym for “Trans* Activists for Justice and Accountability Coalition.”) As I did not witness the incident after the march, I spoke with her by phone. An email to Toad Hall asking for comment went unreturned.
