Former Director of the ACLU LGBT Project Matt Coles

To Win a Political Battle You Must Lead With Heart

Matt Coles teaches law at UC Law San Francisco. He was deputy national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 2010 to 2016 and ran the ACLU’s National LGBT Project before that. He served as legal advisor to Supervisor Harvey Milk and drafted what became San Francisco’s sexual orientation nondiscrimination law. Before sitting on a panel for the Zócalo event “When Does Protest Make a Difference?,” he joined us in the green room to discuss growing up as a political kid, winning gay marriage, and “Don’t Ask, …

August 30, 2024

Who Will Defend Us From the Body Snatchers?

The Pod People Are Back. This Time, Our Overworked Local Officials Are Even Less Prepared to Protect Us

by Joe Mathews | August 27, 2024

Maybe I’ve been watching too many old movies.

Or maybe the body snatchers are back.

We’ve seen them twice before in my home state of California. Both invasions—of pod aliens, who secretly …

California Has Got This, America

Kamala Harris Survived San Francisco and the Golden State. She’s Ready for Three Months Against Trump

by Joe Mathews | July 23, 2024

Don’t worry, America.

We got this.

By “we,” I mean California.

By “this,” I mean this presidential election.

And by “got,” I mean that we are sending you the best possible candidate to weather …

Willie Mays smiles at the camera. He wears a black cap with the letters "SF" and a white baseball uniform with the large letters "Giants."

How Television Made Willie Mays a Star

His Astonishing Play Coincided With the Early Years of the Medium—And Made This White, Rural Georgia Boy a Lifelong Fan

by James C. Cobb | July 18, 2024

Except for a fortunate few who got to see Willie Mays play in person, most Americans of my generation fell under his almost mesmerizing spell while watching him on TV.

Mays’ …

Can the Real San Francisco Airport Please Stand Up?

SFO and OAK Both Want to Claim the Bay Area City, but Neither Is Actually Located There

by Joe Mathews | May 7, 2024

I’ve never much cared for San Francisco International Airport—until SFO decided to take a courageous stand for truth and accuracy in airport names.

Last month, SFO’s leaders filed a lawsuit to …

How San Francisco Became a Labor Enforcement Laboratory

Community Partners Are Helping Local Government Protect and Empower Low-Wage Workers

by Seema N. Patel | March 27, 2024

In the U.S., there is a chasm between what the labor laws say and what workers experience as their everyday realities. That’s because employment here is based on private contractual …

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