BLACK LIVES MATTER

The San Francisco Gay Basketball Association (SFGBA) prides itself on being inclusive to all. Our players include men and women; every race and creed; gay, straight, bisexual and transgender participants. We provide a safe space for all to play the sport they love.  Diversity and inclusion have been our program’s hallmarks. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, gender, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation or age. Our goal has remained to provide a means of fellowship for LGBTQ basketball players, to nurture athleticism among our members and to support the San Francisco Bay Area community.

All of us at SFGBA are therefore outraged at the continued assault and murder of people of color, specifically Black people, by police officers, the continued systemic racism present in our society, and the unchecked and unwarranted violence perpetrated on the public by police officers.  This continues every day as police officers violently respond to peaceful protestors and continue to treat Black people with violence and discrimination. We as an organization will fight to protect the victims of murder, violence, repression and marginalization. George Floyd’s violent death was a breaking point. For Black people in this country, this is all too familiar. Rather than protecting, law enforcement officers intimidate, marginalize, threaten and take lives from the Black community, stealing fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters from their families.

We must also reflect as Gay Pride month begins and acknowledge the history of our fight and the importance of Black lives in our movement.  The Civil Rights movement and the Gay Rights movement are connected. Without the voices of Black transgender women and people of color, today's victories in the LGBTQ struggle would not have been possible.  Yet racism continues to exist at alarming rates in our community. We stand in solidarity with the Black community in mourning the the many Black lives cut short by police violence and the alarming rate at which Black transgender women are murdered.  We celebrate the resistance and vision of queer Black organizers and stand against anti-Black violence.  

We support those who take to the streets and protest every day as they demand justice for our fellow citizens. The Bay Area, a Democratic hotbed, is no better. We have seen the murder of Oscar Grant, Jessica Williams, Mario Woods, and countless others.

The theft of life of our fellow citizens solely based on the color of their skin is the result of systemic racism founded in this country’s roots of white supremacy.  We are done accepting that "a few bad apples" cause these tragedies. These actions are a product of an institution that was founded from slavery.   

We fully support the Black Lives Matter movement and with them demand that action be taken to ensure the safety of Black lives.  

We demand acknowledgment and accountability for the devaluation and dehumanization of Black life at the hands of the police.

We call for radical, sustainable solutions that affirm the prosperity of Black lives.

People in all 50 states are protesting, cities are on fire and our families are hurting. The importance in fighting for Black lives is evident when witnessing the hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets across the country and around the world during a global pandemic that is disproportionately affecting, infecting, and killing Black people.

We at SFGBA stand behind you. We join your fight and we are here to support in any way needed. Black Lives Matter and they matter to us.

We join Black Lives Matter in calling for an end to the systemic racism that allows this culture of corruption to go unchecked and Black lives to be taken.

We commit to donating 10% of all dollars raised by SFGBA, through participation fees, fundraisers, donations or otherwise, to local organizations that support Black people.

We challenge mainstream LGBT groups to make real their commitment to racial justice. We call for our fellow San Francisco Bay Area queer sports leagues and organizations to join us in this cause. 

We call for a national defunding of the police and demand that those funds be invested in communities of color.

SFGBA is committed to continuing this fight as long as it takes to ensure that Black people in America not only survive, but thrive.

Black Lives Matter

Sincerely,

SFGBA