It was standing room only this week at the San Francisco Democratic Socialists of America July General Meeting, the first such meeting organized by our newly elected Steering Committee. All told 119 comrades both new and known gathered to participate in radical democracy, and a number of important things were decided.

First, the chapter voted unanimously to approve an open letter condemning Bernie Sanders and DSA National for endorsing an anti-choice candidate for office. The letter lays out our vision of reproductive justice, and affirms that it is an essential part of our socialism, something upon which we refuse to compromise. Our delegates intend to take the letter to the DSA National Convention in August. You can read the letter, which was drafted by members of our Socialist Feminist Committee, here.

The general body also unanimously approved a new Code of Conduct for our chapter, which will govern behavior during DSA SF business and at our events. This is a really important step for the chapter. We’re committed to fighting all forms of bigotry and oppression, and that starts at home with the organization we seek to build. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all other forms of bigotry are not okay. We will not tolerate them in our spaces.  Read our new Code of Conduct here.

We also voted to provisionally ratify the Justice Committee as an official body of DSA SF (with a few particulars to be ironed out next time). Originally founded under the name Legal Justice and Decriminalization, the Justice Committee works to protect people from police violence and the deprivations of the racist criminal justice system.

Finally, we had report backs from representatives that attended the Socialism Conference in Chicago, and the Fearless Cities conference in Barcelona, and a talk about the landscape for housing policy in San Francisco from Dean Preston, the founder of Tenant’s Together, California’s statewide tenant advocacy group. Due to the crunch on time (that’s a hell of a lot to fit in one meeting), some proposed amendments to the charter were tabled until the August meeting.