July 6, 2023 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

Newsom appoints gay American Indian man to UC regents

by Cynthia Laird

Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed a gay American Indian man to a seat on the powerful University of California Board of Regents.

Gregory Sarris, of Sonoma, told the Bay Area Reporter in a phone interview June 30 that he was “stunned” by the news, which came via a news release from Newsom’s office at 7:22 p.m. June 29.

The appointment requires Senate confirmation, according to the release, and there is no compensation for the position.

Sarris is chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a position he’s held since 1996, and he serves as president of the tribe’s economic development board. He also is president of the Graton Resort and Casino in Rohnert Park.

Sarris, 71, said he was interviewed for the regent position over a year ago. “It was quite an extensive interview,” he said.

But he heard nothing further until Thursday night, when he said Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis informed him.

“I’m deeply honored and humbled,” Sarris said. “I feel a responsibility to do well and work well with the others.”

The 26-member board of regents has authority over university policies, financial affairs, tuition, and fees. The board appoints the university president. The UC system has 10 campuses, stretching from UC Davis in Northern California to UC San Diego.

Sarris received his undergraduate degree from UCLA and taught English at the university for 10 years. Last fall he served as a regent lecturer there, he said.

“I’m very familiar with the many issues of UC faculty and students,” he explained.

Sarris earned a Ph.D. degree in modern thought and literature and a Master of Arts degree in creative writing from Stanford University, Newsom’s release stated.

Sarris, a Democrat, will join one other gay man on the board – John A. Pérez (D), a former state Assembly speaker who was appointed by former governor Jerry Brown in 2014. Pérez’s term ends in March.

See page 10 >>

SF leather district deals with alley vandalism

by John Ferrannini

An impromptu street party in the South of Market neighborhood over Pride weekend left thousands of dollars in damage in its wake – including to an LGBTQ historic site.

But even before Pride, leaders of the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District have been dealing with vandalism to monuments along Ringold Alley.

In the Pride weekend party, the plaque commemorating Ringold Alley was covered in graffiti and trash until it was cleaned by the West SOMA Community Benefit District.

“We contacted the CBD first thing this morning and it appears they’ve been out there … all the trash has been cleaned up and some of the graffiti has been cleaned,” Robert Goldfarb, a gay man who is executive director of the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District, told the Bay Area Reporter on June 29. “There was no physical damage per se. There’s a granite plaque on the top of the monument – there was graffiti on that. The monument itself is physically intact.”

The West SOMA CBD confirmed to the B.A.R. that it cleaned the site, but declined to comment further.

A reader sent the B.A.R. a photo of vandalism from late May of the monument on the alley.

As the B.A.R. previously reported, Ringold Alley was a beacon of sexual freedom for gay men in the 1960s, who’d cruise the dark, industrial alleyway looking to get lucky. In 2017, a monument

was installed by the developers of the LSeven apartment complex adjacent to the roadway commemorating the historic nature of the site.

See page 9 >>

Opinions differ on impact of Supreme Court 1st Amendment case

analysis by Lisa Keen

Some believe the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision June 30 in 303 Creative v. Elenis may be one of the most consequential in LGBTQ legal history – a kind of “separate but equal” pronouncement on how the courts should treat LGBTQ people under the law. Others see a narrow injury to the right of LGBTQ people to equal protection of the law and one that will come into play very rarely.

The actual consequences will likely take many years to realize. That was the case with the notorious and widely harmful 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick. The 5-4 decision in Bowers said states could prohibit same-sex sexual relationships, and it was wielded against LGBTQ people both legally and socially. It took 17 years to overturn.

During that time, seven of the nine justices who were on the high court and voted in Hardwick left the bench, including three of the five who had voted to allow bans on same-sex relationships. One of the five, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, changed her mind. So, when the vote on so-called sodomy laws came up again, in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, the vote was 6-3 to strike down such bans.

Twenty years have passed since Lawrence, and only one justice who was on the bench in 2003 is still there now: Clarence Thomas. He and five of his conservative Republican appointees voted last

week to approve the first-ever exemption to state laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in the public marketplace. Thomas is 75; the other five range in age from 51 (Amy Coney Barrett) to 73 (Samuel Alito). If each current justice retires at 80 (the approximate average age that a justice retires these days), and if a pro-LGBTQ president is in office when each retires, and if nobody dies, the soonest 303 Creative might be overturned is 2030.

Background

First, of course, Republican then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) denied a confirmation vote for then-President Barack Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland, who is now the attorney general. As a result of that, former President Donald Trump nominated conservative Neil Gorsuch. A retirement (Anthony Kennedy) and a death (Ruth Bader Ginsburg) gave Trump two more nominations, which McConnell fast-tracked, creating a super-majority of six Republican nominees on the court.

See page 9 >>

Gregory Sarris has been appointed to the UC Board of Regents.

Courtesy Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria

An image of May vandalism to the leather monument on Ringold Alley was sent to the Bay Area Reporter.

Brian Bringardner

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a website designer has a First Amendment right to discriminate against same-sex couples for her wedding website business.

Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

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STI plunge may be due to mpox aftermath, experts say

by John Ferrannini

The three most common sexually transmitted bacterial infections are down, according to public health data – and not just in San Francisco, but nationwide, too.

It’s unclear why, but behavioral changes after the mpox outbreak affected gay and bi men last summer could be part of the answer for the decline in gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis, according to public health experts.

Over 50,000 doses of the mpox vaccine were distributed last year in San Francisco, the Department of Public Health stated, covering 42% of all people living with HIV in the city and 65% of people who had received PrEP at San Francisco City Clinic prior to June 2022.

PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a drug to prevent HIV infection. Mpox, though not an STI per se, is spread by close bodily contact, and most reported cases since last year were among sexually active men who have sex with men and their sexual partners. Since last year, 846 San Franciscans have had mpox, according to health department data.

The latest San Francisco Monthly STI report for April shows there’d been 1,584 cases of gonorrhea reported in the city in 2023 as of the end of that month, compared to 1,882 as of that time last year. Of

gonorrhea cases so far in 2023, 545 were male rectal gonorrhea, compared to 749 last year during the same period.

There were 2,024 cases of chlamydia –the most common STI – reported in San Francisco as of the end of April compared to 2,183 at that time last year. Of chlamydia cases in 2023, 655 were male rectal chlamydia, compared to 680 last year.

There were 483 cases of syphilis reported in San Francisco as of April 30, compared to 612 last year during the same period, the report stated.

The city introduced the use of doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis for chlamydia and gonorrhea last year, referred to as doxy-PEP, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported. Still, according to Jorge Roman, a gay man who is the senior director of clinical operations at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, it’s too early to know how much of an effect that’s had.

“Doxy-PEP wasn’t really started until October,” he said. “City Clinic was the first in the beginning of November. We

got involved in the third week, but we were seeing declines before that. We are really optimistic we will be seeing effects with a larger uptake of doxy-PEP.”

Indeed if the city’s monthly STI reports are any indication, unprotected sex cooled down last summer among gay and bisexual men. For example, there were 170 male rectal gonorrhea cases in July, 144 in August, 135 in September, and 124 in October.

In April, there were 110 cases, according to the report.

Nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cases as of June 17 of the three big three bacterial STIs were all down from 2022 levels: 78,451 fewer gonorrhea cases, 102,461 fewer chlamydia cases, and 9,218 fewer syphilis cases were reported in the United States, compared to 2022 numbers.

Dr. Stephanie Cohen, a straight ally who is the section director for HIV/ STI prevention with the San Francisco health department, agrees with Roman.

“I think it’s too early to really start attributing the trends to doxy-PEP,” Cohen said. “We do know the uptake has been high among men who have sex with men and trans people in San Francisco, but I think we need more time to monitor among different populations before attributing what we’re seeing to doxy-PEP itself.”

Roman said that he expects doxyPEP to lead to further reductions in STI rates. He said anecdotally the AIDS foundation’s Magnet clinic at SFAF’s Strut health center in the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood is seeing declines in STI rates.

“I couldn’t give hard data yet – we’re just delving into our doxy-PEP information right now, and we’re hoping to put that out in the coming weeks,” he said. “But anecdotally, yes, we are seeing changes for the better.”

Still, people should be informed, Cohen said. The city has seen four mpox cases this year, with the most recent being in May. That said, Los Angeles public health officials reported six new cases in a week after Pride festivities in L.A. and the gay enclave of West Hollywood in the first two weeks of June.

“We really strongly encourage people at risk for mpox to get the full series of vaccine,” Cohen said. “It’s an important example of biomedical prevention.”

Two doses of the Jynneos vaccine, given about a month apart, provide the best protection against mpox, health officials said.

For information on the mpox vaccine, go to sf.gov/information/mpoxvaccine. t

Report: Most people with hep C have not been cured

by Liz Highleyman

Most Americans diagnosed with hepatitis C have not been treated and cured despite the availability of well-tolerated antiviral therapy for a decade, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nationwide, only a third of people who could benefit from treatment have been cured, and the numbers are even worse for young people and those without health insurance. Cumbersome testing, the high cost of medications, and restrictions on who can access care continue to be barriers. San Francisco has made a concerted effort to treat hepatitis C, but current cure estimates are unavailable.

“Tens of thousands of Americans with hepatitis C are getting liver cancer, suffering liver failure, or dying because they can’t access lifesaving medicine,” Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, said in a media statement. “In our na-

tion, no one should have to live knowing a cure for their potentially deadly disease is available but out of reach.”

Hepatitis C is caused by a bloodborne virus (HCV) that is commonly

transmitted via needles and other drug injection equipment. It can also be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy and can spread during sex, especially sex between men.

About 25% of people with HCV clear the virus naturally, while the rest develop chronic infection that can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and the need for a liver transplant.

Modern direct-acting antivirals, first approved in late 2013, can cure more than 95% of people in two or three months. But their high prices have hampered access and led to restrictive policies. Gilead Sciences’ sofosbuvir (Sovaldi), for example, initially cost $84,000 for a course of treatment. New drugs have since entered the market and prices have come down, but treatment remains out of reach for many.

National and local estimates

The Viral Hepatitis National Strategic Plan for the United States calls for at least 80% of people with hepatitis C to be cured by 2030. To assess progress, CDC researchers analyzed data from Quest Diagnostics, a large national commercial laboratory chain, collected between 2013 and 2022.

Just over 1.7 million people were

OKELL’S FIREPLACE

identified as ever having been infected with HCV, as indicated by a positive antibody test. Most (88%) received follow-up HCV RNA testing and 69% were found to have initial active infection with a detectable viral load. Within this group, 34% were considered cured, having either naturally cleared the virus or been successfully treated. Of these, 7% subsequently experienced viral rebound and were considered to have persistent HCV infection or reinfection.

People ages 20 to 29 were least likely to be cured (24%), while those age 60 or older were most likely (42%). People with Medicare coverage had the highest cure rate (45%), followed by those with commercial insurance (40%), those on Medicaid (31%), and those who relied on other payers or were uninsured (23%).

These cure rates are “jarringly low,” lead study author Dr. Carolyn Wester said during a June 29 media briefing. “Everyone with hepatitis C deserves the chance to be cured.”

See page 5 >>

Valor LX2 3-sided gas fireplace shown here with Murano glass, and reflective glass liner

San Francisco health officials are cautiously optimistic about lower rates of sexually transmitted infections, and continue to encourage people at risk of mpox to get vaccinated.

Gooch

Dr. Jonathan Mermin

Courtesy CDC

Padilla talks mental health at SF LGBT center

by John Ferrannini

U .S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-California) showed up at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center June 28 for a private discussion with community members on the mental health of queer youth as Pride Month came to a close.

Padilla, a straight ally, joined the center’s lesbian executive director, Rebecca Rolfe, and gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes both the center and the nearby LGBTQ Castro neighborhood, to answer questions for reporters afterward.

The senator, who was elected in his own right last year after having been appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to replace Kamala Harris after she became vice president, told reporters he is planning on introducing a mental health caucus to the U.S. Senate. (Padilla previously served as California’s secretary of state.)

“We are going to form, soon, a mental health caucus in the U.S. Senate,” he said. “Among all the needs the young members of the LGBT community need is mental health support, given the trauma they experience in life and the trauma and challenges they experience every given day.”

The results of a recent survey, released by the Trevor Project in May, found that discrimination, physical harm, and conversion therapy all corresponded to a higher rate of mental health challenges for LGBTQ youth, including suicidality, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported.

Half of LGBTQ people ages 13-17 – 46% – considered suicide in the last year and 17% attempted suicide, according to the report. Among those ages 18-24, 34% considered suicide and 9% attempted suicide, the report stated. Eighteen percent of those who “felt discriminated against due to their sexual orientation or gender

The number of people with chronic hepatitis C in San Francisco is unclear.

According to its latest Viral Hepatitis C Surveillance Report, the San Francisco Department of Public Health received reports of 4,035 people with probable or confirmed chronic hepatitis C in 2018 and 3,750 such reports in 2019. DPH is currently finalizing the 2022 annual report, a spokesperson told the Bay Area Reporter.

End Hep C SF, the city’s initiative to eliminate hepatitis C, estimated that 11,582 people had untreated active HCV infection in 2019, representing about half of those who were ever infected, according to a 2022 medical journal report. People who inject drugs accounted for 73% of people with HCV antibodies and 90% of those with untreated chronic infection. Gay and bisexual men made up about 12% of people with HCV antibodies but only 1% of those with untreated active infection.

“Hepatitis C is an infection that can be overlooked – people who have it may not realize it, even though it can cause serious health issues and over time can be deadly,” Jorge Roman, RN, MSN, senior director of clinical services at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, told the B.A.R. “That’s why we offer routine free HCV testing at Magnet as part of our PrEP program and for all of our clients seeking sexually transmitted infection and HIV testing.” (Magnet is part of SFAF’s Strut health center in the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood.)

Increasing diagnosis and treatment

Barriers to hepatitis C treatment include a cumbersome two-step testing process, the high cost of medications, and restrictive treatment coverage policies. Many state Medicaid

identity in the past year” attempted suicide compared to 7% of those who did not, according to the report.

Padilla said this was one reason he recently re-introduced the Equality Act, which would codify anti-discrimination protections against LGBTQ people into federal law; however, due to GOP control of the House of Representatives, the act is generally considered dead-on-arrival there even if it made it through the Senate.

The B.A.R. asked Padilla what, if anything, he thinks he can accomplish with his Republican colleagues.

“The effort to create a mental health caucus will be, has to be, a bipartisan effort,” Padilla said. “For over 30 years, Congress waifed on guns. That began to change last year with the Safer Communities Act. For the first time in decades, Congress came

programs and private insurers have imposed limitations on who can get treatment, for example, treating only people with advanced liver damage or requiring a period of abstinence from drugs and alcohol. However, California’s Medi-Cal program lifted such restrictions in 2018.

Lack of awareness about modern treatment may also be a barrier. “The cure that’s been around for 10 years is very simple,” former National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins, who now heads the White House National Hepatitis C Elimination Program, said during the briefing.

“A lot of people remember the bad old days when the treatment for hepatitis C [interferon-based therapy] was very toxic and didn’t always work.”

The White House has requested $11 billion to increase hepatitis C testing and treatment. The administration aims to lower the cost by purchasing a large quantity of the medications at a negotiated price. Making this investment now could save not only tens of thousands of lives but also billions of dollars over the next two decades, as timely antiviral therapy reduces the need to treat liver cancer and liver failure, according to Collins.

In San Francisco, better data are needed to understand the gaps in hepatitis C care and to target services in an evidence-based way, Dr. Annie Luetkemeyer of UCSF and End Hep C SF told the B.A.R.

“Having highly effective medications is necessary, but not sufficient to end our HCV epidemic,” Luetkemeyer said. “It is critical that we step up efforts on several fronts, including treating people we know are living with HCV but haven’t yet accessed treatment, identifying those who haven’t yet tested, and reducing barriers and delays to accessing HCV treatment.

Like we do with HIV, people diagnosed with HCV should be immediately linked to care and treatment.” t

together on a bipartisan basis – and one of the elements of that was an investment in mental health services.”

The act, signed by President Joe Biden (D) last year, was the first federal gun control legislation since 1994. Initially introduced by Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida), it provided mental health funds to state governments, required the federal government to instruct states on providing telehealth services as part of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, required the federal government to provide instruction on providing mental health care in schools, and gave $50 million in grants.

The National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, signed by former President Donald Trump (R), designated 988 as a national suicide prevention

and mental health assistance hotline. It went into effect last July.

‘Alarming increase in threats’

Padilla said the June 27 state hate crimes report from California Attorney General Rob Bonta – which showed a 29% increase in hate crimes based on sexual orientation over 2021 numbers, and a 55% increase in hate crimes against trans people in the same timeframe – shows how much work there is to do.

“It’s alarming and absolutely unacceptable – the increase in hate crimes generally and those targeting LGBTQ youth, queer youth, trans youth,” Padilla said. “So I appreciate the attorney general stepping forward and making this a priority.”

Mandelman agreed, saying even his district isn’t immune.

“We’ve seen in San Francisco an alarming increase in threats to queerserving nonprofits, queer people, our state senator has had bomb threats at his home,” Mandelman said.

Mandelman was referring to bomb threats made against gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), a Castro resident and former District 8 supervisor himself, and likely to threats made against LYRIC (short for the Lavender Youth Recreation & Information Center), a queer youth organization based in the Castro.

When asked about the Castro by a reporter, Mandelman said, “I hear anecdotally people are getting harassed, catcalled and attacked on the streets in the Castro.”

Indeed July 5 was the scheduled trial date of Muhammed Abdullah, whom the San Francisco District Attorney’s office charged with hate crimes and other counts after he allegedly hit a gay, trans man with a bottle in the Castro. Abdullah, who has pleaded not guilty, said in court that “what the LGBT community is doing to kids is disrespectful to everyone who stands for God.”

Rolfe thanked Padilla for coming to the center so he could get what he called “on the ground” experience. Ninety-two percent of LGBTQ San Franciscans have experienced violence, she said.

“Over the years, we’ve experienced a lot of violence and vandalism,” Rolfe said, adding that the conflagration of hate speech, anti-LGBTQ legislation around the country, and hate crimes is hurting youth.

“We really see that impact [on] our young people showing up here for services,” she said. t

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, center, spoke about LGBTQ mental health issues June 28 at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, where he was joined by District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, left, and the center’s executive director, Rebecca Rolfe.

John Ferrannini

“We now live in a community that offers a unique place where we feel welcome, can be ourselves, live among friends and experience new adventures, with the peace of mind for our future.”

- Brian H., resident

Volume 53, Number 27 July 6-12, 2023

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A ‘fake’ case leads to bad opinion

By now it’s clear that the six conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices were pranked by one of the most anti-LGBTQ legal organizations in the country. The justices’ ruling June 30 in 303 Creative v. Elenis should not have happened because they were duped by the Alliance Defending Freedom and its client, web designer Lorie Smith. In its 6-3 decision, the conservative super-majority of the court sided with Smith and determined she has a First Amendment right to turn away same-sex couples because of her speech associated with creating their wedding sites. It’s too soon to say how broadly the case will, in reality, affect same-sex couples, but suffice it to say, it’s a concerning development that could open the door to even more anti-LGBTQ decisions in the future.

A significant fact arising out of the case has cast doubt on whether Smith was ever asked to create a wedding site for a same-sex couple in the first place, thus showing she suffered some real conflict, or what is known in legal parlance as standing. On June 29, the day before the opinion was released, New Republic reported that buried in the court papers for the case, Smith had, under oath, said she was contacted by a man named “Stewart” who asked her to create a same-sex wedding site. The problem was that Stewart, whose phone number was in the documents, denied this when contacted by reporters. (Since the New Republic article appeared numerous other outlets have also contacted Stewart, who has declined to share his last name.) You see, Stewart said he is not gay, had never contacted Smith, and has been married to a woman for years. He’s also a web designer himself, which begs the question of why he wouldn’t just create his own wedding site if he so chose. As we’ve long suspected with this case, there was never any actual injury to Smith because she was never asked to create a wedding website that would conflict with her religious beliefs.

The Alliance Defending Freedom has had this case on its back burner for years. ADF lost at the lower courts. Only last year did the now thoroughly emboldened conservative justices decide to take it, but on the narrow reading of the First Amendment question. After oral arguments last December, it

Web designer Lorie Smith included the name of a man she said asked for a same-sex wedding website, but the man has told multiple media outlets that he’s straight, married to a woman, and never contacted her.

looked likely that they would rule just how they did, perhaps opening the door to discrimination of same-sex couples, and possibly LGBTQs in general. The justices have long considered themselves above reproach but, as we’ve seen in recent months, that is now faltering, especially among the conservative ones. Pro Publica has led the way in exposing this hypocrisy, reporting of numerous instances in which Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have accepted lavish gifts from conservative friends without disclosing them – and in Alito’s case, from a billionaire who had business before the court. Chief Justice John Roberts has said the court can do more regarding ethical conduct, but has offered no specifics – and no consequences for Thomas and Alito’s egregious actions. Alito, an angry man if there ever was one, sought to diminish Pro Publica’s reporting about his case by preemptively writing an opinion piece for a competing publication, the Wall Street Journal, the night before Pro Publica’s story was published. It’s been reported that Thomas asked for a delay in filing his more recent financial disclosure forms, as did Alito.

This is the environment in which the court is now operating. It’s shameful.

So what about the 303 Creative case? Well, it seems that states like California, which has a strong

anti-discrimination law, can apply a relatively easy fix. Writing in the New York Times over the weekend, Aaron Tang, a law professor at UC Davis and a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, offered a workaround for states that have such laws on their books. They can amend those laws to permit a business owner, like Smith, to choose between completing the website design or delegating the job out to an independent contractor who will do it. Tang even offers a case whereby that was done. Remember anti-same-sex marriage county clerk Kim Davis in Kentucky? She refused to personally issue same-sex marriage licenses after the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalized such marriages nationwide. She spent time in jail for her refusal to follow the law. But, as Tang wrote, the state eventually came up with a solution: removing the names of county clerks from marriage licenses. That meant that if someone with a moral objection to same-sex marriage didn’t want to issue the license, another clerk could do it.

“By amending their anti-discrimination laws, states can strike a similar compromise for religious business owners and the gay and lesbian customers they serve,” Tang writes.

California lawmakers should take this approach in order to prevent anti-LGBTQ discrimination in public accommodations. (We’re already seeing plenty of memes on social media indicating some businesses won’t serve MAGA Republicans, for example. While humorous, that misses the point.) Surely, there is a bill in the Legislature this session that can go through the gut and amend process (meaning its subject matter is changed) to incorporate this solution. Much like LGBTQ and many allied lawmakers are gearing up for a 2024 ballot campaign to remove the Proposition 8 language from the California Constitution, because, while Prop 8 was found to be unconstitutional, its anti-same-sex marriage language remains part of the state’s governing document. So it looks like the state will need to update its anti-discrimination law. It’s clear that the makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court is not going to change anytime soon. With that in mind, it will be up to the states to forge new paths to correct the justices’ mistakes, even those that were based on a hoax.t

Trans rights are human rights: Advocating for equality and understanding

by Kollyn Conrad

Over the last few years, LGBTQIA+ community members have been hit with an onslaught of legislation aimed at silencing their voices, hiding their identities, and stripping them of their rights. The transgender community may be the most maligned, with over 500 anti-transgender bills introduced across the nation, according to Translegislation.com. This recent deluge of anti-trans sentiment is mobilizing the affected community and its allies. So much so, in fact, that the U.S. may be on the cusp of the greatest human rights movement for LGBTQIA+ people since Stonewall.

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It is extremely difficult – if not impossible – to keep up with all of the proposed bills that have emerged in the last few years. The trans community has become “Public Enemy No. 1” in a renewed culture war spurred on by far-right politicians fueled by the unfounded “Save the Children” sentiment reminiscent of Anita Bryant’s anti-gay agenda from the 1970s. This time, however, the majority of anti-trans legislation is primarily concerned with ending gender-affirming medical care. At the same time, other bills – such as Florida House Bill 1521 – legislate the movement of transgender people and their ability to use the bathroom or changing room that aligns with their gender identity or to play sports. Republican Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis signed HB 1521, a bathroom bill, in May.

None of this anti-LGBTQIA+ hate is new, but there is a heightened, palpable vitriol for the trans community this time around. Far-right talking heads such as Michael Knowles have even called for transgender “eradication.”

These are indeed frightening times for the trans community, and getting the message across to those in Congress that trans rights are human rights has been a frustrating hill to climb for advocates and allies alike.

The trans community may have a bleak future if something is not done to ward off the oncoming storms. With access to gender-affirming medical care being contested in so many red states, it is possible that transgender people

could lose the ability to have life-saving medical attention that is backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association.

I write “life-saving” because studies have shown that upward of 40% of trans adults have attempted suicide in their lifetimes.

Further studies have indicated that those who receive gender-affirming care, especially trans youth, have fewer instances of depression and suicidal ideation.

Outside of medical care access, GOP lawmakers are also attacking the trans community’s right to live in the world as themselves. Bathroom bills and bills claiming to “save women’s sports,” target the same thing: human rights. So do anti-drag bills in several states, though in Tennessee a federal judge ruled it was unconstitutional. Many of these bills restrict where transgender people can go, what sports they can play, or how they can dress. The basic humanity enjoyed by everyone in the United States is being stripped from the transgender community in real-time.

The truth is that the general U.S. population overwhelmingly supports the LGBTQIA+ community. According to polls, about 8 in 10 Americans support legislative protections for LGBTQIA+ people. However, it is the transgender community that needs boosted support in the here and now. It has become neces-

sary to pull supporters and allies from the sidelines and urge them to use their power and their voices to protect the “T” in the LGBTQIA+ group they claim to support.

In these times of overwhelming hate, many leaders in the trans community – as well as their allies – have already started taking action. Additionally, a significant number of trans individuals – from trans youth to well-known trans advocates such as actor Laverne Cox and Zooey Zephyr (D), a member of the Montana House of Representatives – have given testimony about their experiences. Putting a face to the word “trans” helps everyday people humanize those who are often targeted and treated so inhumanely.

In addition to testimony, a majority of these antitrans bills are currently being challenged in court. Legal challenges in Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee have effectively slowed the adverse effects of some of these anti-trans bills – at least for now.

There is no time to rest with the legal pushback, and there are many more bills that need to be targeted with legal force.

Supportive groups such as the Human Rights Campaign have gathered lists of gender-affirming medical providers. GLAAD has even compiled a list of trans-centered resources for trans people in crisis, those who are looking to move from an oppressive state, or those needing legal services. Publicly Private, a nonprofit that I founded, is also catering to the community with discrete access to online resources.

This is a time for allies to come off of social media posting and make their advocacy real and heard with boots on the ground. There’s a well-known quote that says, “If you want to be someone’s ally, but haven’t been hit by the stones being thrown at them, you are not standing close enough.”

Now is the time for allies to stand closer than ever before – to be a shield for the trans community. t

Kollyn Conrad, a gay man, is the founder and executive director of Publicly Private, (https://www.publiclyprivate.org/) a nonprofit organization offering supplies, support, and empowerment to the LGBTQIA+ community.

Kollyn Conrad

Courtesy Kollyn Conrad

Virginia trans leader Roem campaigns in SF

by Matthew S. Bajko

As she faces a tough election battle this year to become a senator in her home state, transgender Virginia Delegate Danica Roem will be in San Francisco this weekend to meet with local LGBTQ leaders and raise money for her campaign. It is her latest swing through the Bay Area in recent months as she prepares for the fall election.

Roem, 38, became the first out transgender state legislator in 2017 with her historic victory of a seat in the Virginia Legislature’s lower chamber. Reelected two years later to represent part of northern Virginia, Roem defeated her Republican opponent in 2021 by less than 2 points, a much smaller margin than in 2019, as the Bay Area Reporter noted at the time.

Now she is seeking her state’s open Senate District 30 seat in November against Republican Bill Woolf, 43, a straight married father of six children. The former police officer has the support of Virginia’s GOP Governor Glenn Youngkin Their race has drawn national attention due to Democrats fighting to maintain their majority in the Virginia Senate and aiming to flip the House of Delegates from red to blue this year. Due to the party’s control of the Senate, Democrats have been able to block Youngkin’s efforts to rollback LGBTQ protections and block access to abortion.

The progressive group Sister District, which mobilizes Democrats and other left-leaning activists across the country to help support candidates in various races, has made Roem’s Senate campaign one of its top priorities this year. In particular, its Bay Area chapters on the Peninsula and in San Francisco have been working on behalf of Roem since the start of the year.

“There’s too much at stake to sit on the sidelines. We have the unique opportunity to flip the Virginia House of Delegates, expand our Democratic majority in the state senate and prevent a potential GOP trifecta in its tracks,” the group’s fundraising arm, the Sister District Project, noted in one email to its members in early June.

Speaking to the B.A.R. ahead of her flying out in mid-June for a fundraising event that the Sister District CA Peninsula chapter hosted, Roem said it has “been phenomenal” to receive support from the California groups. It is similar to how a Sister District chapter in New York provided assistance for her winning 2019 reelection campaign.

“They have really stepped up,” said Roem, noting that, “what happens in one state legislature has consequences across the country, as we are seeing with abortion bans across the country.”

In another example, Roem pointed out how Virginia lawmakers had adopted the tougher car emissions standards set by California, which has a special carve out within federal law to do so. Republicans in her state, noted Roem, attacked the decision to do so by disingenuously saying Virginia should be setting its own such standards.

“Virginia doesn’t get to set its own laws under the federal rule on this. We get to adopt either the California or federal standards,” explained Roem, who is pushing for additional remedies to address the impacts of climate change already occurring in her state. “Look, those of us who understand climate change is already here and already causing problems, we have to look at what is contributing to it. One thing is car emissions.”

The aim is to help bring down the costs of electric vehicles so they are an affordable option for Virginians wanting to make the switch from gas-powered cars, said Roem.

“It is not going to prohibit used cars. I drive a 2004 Nissan Sentra, I get it,” she said. “The goal here is to have enough

competition in the EV market and enough supply in the EV market so car makers are able to bring the cost down.”

Yet, if Republicans take control of both legislative chambers, they are likely to work with Youngkin to repeal the emissions standards that Democrats adopted, warned Roem. Other progressive policies could also be overturned, she added.

“Democrats have to hold the Senate to protect our gains on the environment,” said Roem, “and to protect LGBTQ constituents, so they don’t feel like they need to move to California to be protected in school, the workplace, or any other segment of society. Frankly, we have to win back our Democratic majority in the House of Delegates.”

Trans youth

A key issue Roem has been fighting for several years now is policies around trans youth in the state’s schools. She sits on an oversight panel that last year called out the transphobic rules the state’s education department had issued under Youngkin, with Roem noting they went against state and federal laws.

“This governor has shown no willingness to be kind toward his LGBTQ constituents. He tried unsuccessfully to have the department of education rewrite its standards for how we humanely treat trans kids in schools,” said Roem. “It has been six months at this point since they appeared before the commission and still have not come up with new standards. They know their legal arguments absolutely collapsed; I undermined every single one of their arguments.”

Because the state has a divided government, Democratic lawmakers like Roem have been able to block anti-LGBTQ bills from passing. Should Republicans control both chambers of the Legislature after the November election then Youngkin and GOP legislators will be able to adopt their antiLGBTQ platform, warned Roem.

“Virginia should continue being a welcoming state so you can have success here because of who you are, not despite it,” she said. “I am going to fight like hell for it.”

To provide Roem an assist from the West Coast in doing so, Sister District Project SF has teamed up with the city’s two main LGBTQ political groups, the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club and the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, to co-host Roem’s visit this week to the city. They have also partnered with the Bay Area Coalition, Swing Left San Francisco, and the national LGBTQ+ Victory Fund to cosponsor a kickoff party for Roem from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 7, at the gayowned Manny’s cafe and event space at 3092 16th Street in the Mission district.

Roem is also scheduled to join Sister District Project co-founder, Gaby

Goldstein, for a bar-side chat fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 8, at LGBTQ nightclub Oasis at 298 11th Street in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood.

“I know I can win this seat,” Roem told the B.A.R. “I need the support of Democrats in the 30th District, from across the commonwealth and country to get over the finish line. I know with that support, we will do what we need to do to win this race.”

Roem is just the latest out-of-town transgender lawmaker to be feted by local LGBTQ Democratic groups. Montana Representative Zooey Zephyr the first trans state legislator in her state, was the keynote speaker at the Milk club’s 47th annual Gayla last month, while Palm Springs City Councilmember Lisa Middleton, the first trans person to win a non-judicial elected office in California, was a featured speaker at Alice’s annual Pride breakfast.

Middleton is now one of two trans candidates aiming to be the first elected to the Golden State’s Legislature. She is running for an open state Senate seat spanning Riverside and San Bernardino counties, while Justine Gonzalez is seeking an open Assembly seat in Los Angeles County. Roem told the B.A.R. that she has a policy of not endorsing Democratic candidates until after the primary for their race is held. Nonetheless, she said it is important to see more trans people elected to their state legislatures.

“Absolutely it is important, at a time when the Republican Party is filing anti-trans bills after anti-trans bills, that a trans legislator be present in the room and fight back against these bills,” said Roem, who previously worked as a journalist before entering elected office.

As for Roem, she has no ambitions to seek higher office apart from serving in her state Senate. When she spoke to the B.A.R. last month, Roem did mention she hoped that trans Delaware state Senator Sarah McBride would run for her state’s open at-large congressional seat since the incumbent is running for an open U.S. Senate seat next year. (McBride launched her campaign to become the first trans person to serve in Congress June 26, the Monday after Pride Sunday last month.)

“I don’t have congressional aspirations or statewide aspirations. The joke I make is I don’t have the prerequisite self-loathing to put myself through it,” said Roem. “Sarah McBride is on her way to being the first trans member of Congress. I hope she does run; she would be phenomenal.” t

To learn more about Roem and her platform, visit her campaign website at https://www.danicaforstatesenate.com/

Planning Ahead is Simple

Planning Ahead is Simple

The benefits are immense.

Planning Ahead is Simple

The benefits are immense.

design every detail of your own unique memorial and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead protects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial burden, allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you.

The benefits are immense.

When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead protects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial burden, allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you.

When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead protects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial burden, allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you. Contact

Virginia state Delegate Danica Roem is running for state Senate and will be in the Bay Area this weekend fundraising for her campaign.

Courtesy the candidate

3 young queer filmmakers awarded grants at Frameline

compiled by Cynthia Laird

Three young queer filmmakers were each awarded $15,000 grants by the Colin Higgins Foundation and Frameline at the end of the international LGBTQ film festival in San Francisco.

The Colin Higgins Youth Filmmaker Grants totaled $45,000 and will support the awardees’ future film projects, a news release stated.

Daisy Friedman, Karina Dandashi, and Emilio Subia were presented with an award and a check at the ceremony at the Castro Theatre on June 25, the closing day of the Frameline festival. The winners’ short films were also showcased during the festival, the release stated.

“We are deeply honored and could not be more proud to be partnered with Frameline in handing out these youth filmmaker grants,” stated James Cass Rogers, president of the Colin Higgins Foundation.

Friedman, 19, directed “As You Are.”

A chronically ill writer originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Friedman is a queer writer and director now based out of New York City, the release stated. She currently attends Barnard College of Colombia University where she is a film studies major. “As You Are” is her directorial debut. She is interested in exploring the complex relationship between embodiment, disfigurement, and desirability of underrepresented communities through film.

Dandashi, 24, directed “Cousins.” She is a queer Arab American, born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The release noted that her films explore nuances in identity through the intersection of family, religion, and culture in Southwest Asian and North African and Muslim communities in America. “Cousins” was recently acquired by The New Yorker, the release

Letters >>

Midnight in the garden of good and evil

This last Pride weekend started with a pizza box, as big as they come, left on the sidewalk across the street where I found it Friday afternoon. Next, on Friday evening, there were two guys sitting on the curb in front of the house, one waiting for his friend as he vomited and vomited.

Early Sunday morning, at about 12:30 a.m., two women decided that our driveway would make a good restroom, one standing guard as the other did her business. Luckily, I scared them off in time. As I did so one told me, “F*ck you,” as if I was the lowlife, not her.

Sunday was the highlight with three guys rolling around in the bottom of the same driveway trying to do whatever with each other before I scared them off. One left behind his iridescent cowboy hat.

An hour or two after that there were four guys having a heated argument as they made their way down the block. One of them picked up a champagne bottle and threw it onto the sidewalk hard enough for it to shatter into countless pieces.

So much for gay “Pride,” huh?

Anthony Rhody San Francisco

stated. She was featured in Marie Claire’s inaugural “Creators” issue as one of the “Top 21 Creators to Watch” in 2022.

Subia, 24, is from Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and is based in Brooklyn, New York. A gay man, he directed his short film debut, “Ñaños” (2022). The release noted his work offers challenging and disruptive perspectives about family, identity, immigration, and class, focusing on the Latin American experience.

“Ñaños” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and has screened at other national and international film festivals where it won awards, according to the release. Higgins, after whom the grant and foundation are named, was a gay man and acclaimed screenwriter and director responsible for such classic films as “Harold and Maude” (1971), “9 to 5” (1980), and “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (1982). After being diagnosed with HIV in 1985, he founded the eponymous foundation as a means of supporting LGBTQ+ youth to help them achieve their dreams, the release noted. Higgins died

SF mayor’s trip to Israel

Regarding “Breed meets with LGBTQ leaders in Israel” [June 15]: anyone reading this would never guess that Israel is now described as an apartheid state by mainstream human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, or that many people in the LGBTQ community are appalled that our mayor would take a trip there at all. Based on the article, it sounds like she willingly took a propaganda tour that engaged in what many would call pinkwashing. It makes no mention of her meeting with any Palestinian citizens of either Israel or the occupied territories. If she had, she might have drawn a comparison between the Jim Crow-like circumstances of their lives and her experience growing up Black in the Western Addition.

Jeff Pekrul San Francisco

Another moving pink triangle display

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 28th annual pink triangle. San Francisco remains the only city in

Catholic liturgy Sundays at 5pm, 1329 7th Avenue (Immediately off the N Judah line)

of AIDS-related complications in 1988 at the age of 47.

“Colin was a consummate filmmaker who wanted to help gay youth succeed,” Rogers stated. “These grants are a perfect fit for his foundation. His memory will live on through these extraordinary filmmakers.”

For more information on the Colin Higgins Foundation, go to colinhiggins.org.

It’s ‘cats and dogs’ at SF Disney museum

The Walt Disney Family Museum, located at 104 Montgomery Street in the Presidio in San Francisco, has opened its latest major special exhibition, “Disney Cats & Dogs.”

According to a news release, this traveling exhibition originates from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library, the Disney Archives, and Disney Japan. It is in conjunction with this year’s celebration of The Walt Disney Company’s 100th anniversary.

The exhibition explores the innovation of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ animal-inspired animation and storytelling through the decades, and the massive

the world with a giant pink triangle hovering over its Pride celebration, and it takes a village to make that happen. It is a highly visible, yet mute, reminder and warning of inhumanity that occurred in the past and could occur again if we aren’t vigilant. The pink triangle was up for two full weeks and was the perfect symbol to have atop Twin Peaks when some the discriminatory rulings were released by the U.S. Supreme Court during the last few days of June. Thank you to those who took part in the June 17 ceremony: To San Francisco Mayor London Breed for speaking and declaring it “Pink Triangle Day in San Francisco,” and to the world’s first and only drag laureate, D’Arcy Drollinger, who told the history of the pink triangle. Each year it is important after the history portion to review current examples of hatred and persecution that exist today and this year that was done by Michelle Kraus, Ph.D., and Joseph Rodriguez of the Campaign – Americans for Afghans, who spoke of the plight of LGBTQ Afghans trapped in the Taliban-controlled country. Gay community leader Gary Virginia discussed the new anti-homosexuality law in Uganda and read a letter from a refugee in Uganda while two others held up the country’s flag. San Francisco Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford, a trans woman, spoke about proposed anti-trans legislation and told a bit of her story. Drag queen Donna Sachet discussed anti-drag legislation and then told some of her personal story.

undertaking involved bringing the iconic cats and dogs to life on screen.

Tickets, which include the main museum and the “Dogs & Cats” exhibit, are $30 for adults, $25 for people over 65 and students with a valid ID, and $20 for youth ages 6-17 (kids under 12 must be accompanied by an adult).

The exhibition runs through January 14.

For more information, visit waltdisney.org.

Bong-o-bingo at SF cannabis club

Mission Cannabis Club in San Francisco will hold bong-o-bingo Saturday, July 8, from 6 to 9 p.m. at 2442 Mission Street.

A news release stated that “it will be a magical night of bingo, drag, and cannabis prizes” with hosts Brandelicious, Thee Pristine Condition, and DJ Dank, aka Dan Karkoska.

The event is sponsored by Grizzly Peak, Punch Extracts, and Heavy Hitters.

Admission is $15 plus a $10 purchase from the dispensary, which gets people a bingo card and raffle tickets. Extra boards and tickets are $5 each, the release noted.

hogany, a trans person, and Dr. Nasser Mohamed, a gay man, who both spoke and inspired the attendees. Thank you to Mike Wong and the SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band (the official band of San Francisco) for performing several times, along with the spectacular musical theater star Leanne Borghesi, who sang so beautifully.

Volunteers: It was heartwarming and gratifying that 740 people signed up for at least one of the various volunteer opportunities. Thank you to over 425 people who volunteered to install the brand new mesh tarps and borders, and set up the ceremony staging and décor on June 17; the 95 who volunteered to install the new pink sailcloth outline the day before; the eight who loaded up the rental truck; the 70 who did a deep clean of the hillside the week before the installation, and the 125 who came to take it all down on July 1. Thank you Gay for Good for helping with the take-down. Thank you to the 10 who helped unload the entire display back into the warehouse on July 2. It was all lovingly folded and packed away for another year.

Admission will be at the door – cash or Venmo accepted.

“Bong-o-bingo is a great time to relax, get high with your friends, win weed, and help create the budding cannabis nightlife community,” Karkoska stated.

For more information about Mission Cannabis Club, go to missioncannabisclub.com.

CA State Library awards ethnic media grants

The California State Library has awarded $8.1 million in grants to ethnic media outlets and media collaboratives serving communities impacted by hate incidents and hate crimes.

The Bay Area Reporter is one of the recipients, and will receive $100,000, according to a news release.

A joint venture with the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs, the grants aim to raise awareness of the Stop the Hate program (https://capiaa.ca.gov/stop-thehate/) administered by the California Department of Social Services. The Stop the Hate program helps survivors of hate incidents and hate crimes – and works to prevent those incidents from happening in the first place, the release stated.

“It’s important that multilingual communities know we, as a state, are taking steps to address hate,” stated Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), chair of the Assembly Budget Committee. “Partnerships with trusted ethnic media outlets help us get the word out about the new or expanded resources available.”

As the B.A.R. reported last week, state Attorney General Rob Bonta released his department’s annual hate crime report that showed a 20% increase in reported hate incidents from 2021 to 2022. Specifically, there were 2,120 reported hate crime events in total in California – up 20.2% from the reported 1,763 events in 2021, Bonta said.

See page 9 >>

the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; Hodgkins Jewelers; gay former state Senator Mark Leno, Brian Gerritsen, Eye Gotcha Optometric’s Gregg Higushi, and Starbucks on upper Portola for the coffee for hundreds of volunteers. Thank you to Katie Hickox for establishing the pink triangle website (thepinktriangle.com) in 1999 and keeping it up, even after moving to England.

Thank you to SF Pride’s board and staff. Thank you to Martha Cohen in the mayor’s office for lighting City Hall in pink June 17.

Thank you to Mandelman’s office and the Department of Real Estate for their ongoing support, SF Public Works for clearing the hillside, Recreation and Park Department rangers, and San Francisco police officers of Park Station for controlling traffic and watching over the display.

Come for the service and stay for the fellowship. dignitysf@gmail.com for more details Instagram @dignitysanfrancisco † Facebook @DignitySF

Thank you to elected officials who spoke such as San Francisco Democrats gay state Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblymembers Phil Ting and Assemblymember Matt Haney; gay San Francisco Supervisors Rafael Mandelman (D8) and Joel Engardio (D4); city Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres; and lesbian SF Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson. Thank you to gay SF Pride President Nguyen Pham for introducing grand marshals in attendance Honey Ma-

Thank you to my husband, Hossein Carney, doctor of business administration, and my sisters Colleen Hodgkins and Shannon Gorden and family friend Deborah Taylor; I couldn’t still be producing this project for the 28th time without those four. A big thank you to longtime volunteers Joseph Mak and Chrissy Cronin for joining every volunteer opportunity, including all the trips to the warehouse.

Fiscal sponsors: Thank you to Kaiser Permanente, the Bob Ross Foundation (via Thomas Horn for the massive Tshirt order for all the volunteers), SF Pride, the Robert Holgate Foundation,

The pink triangle of Twin Peaks is there to remind us of what can happen when hatred and bigotry are allowed to become law. The more than 500 proposed anti-LGBTQ+ bills and laws in various states certainly remind us we aren’t out of the woods yet, and we have many battles yet to fight (and then re-fight it turns out). The display is on Twin Peaks each year as a giant in-your-face educational tool to teach where discrimination can lead and commemorates one of the darkest chapters in human history, the Holocaust. Thank you to all of those who helped in any way to make the 2023 pink triangle a successful event! See you next year on Twin Peaks at the 29th annual pink triangle.

Patrick Carney San Francisco

Emilio Subia, left, joined Daisy Friedman and Karina Dandashi in accepting awards and checks from the Colin Higgins Foundation and Frameline June 25 during the closing night of the San Francisco LGBTQ international film festival.

Courtesy Colin Higgins Foundation

Lesbian CA appellate Justice Slough to retire

by Cynthia Laird

Less than a week after a gay man was confirmed to a seat on California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, the lesbian justice who has been serving there since 2016 announced she would retire in August.

Justice Marsha Slough announced her retirement June 28. She has served as a judge for two decades, a news release from the California Courts stated.

As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, on June 23 San Diego County Superior Court Judge David Rubin was confirmed and sworn in to a seat on the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division One. Slough serves on Division Two of the appellate court that is based in San Diego. She was the first out LGBTQ person on that appellate court.

“Justice Slough has created an extraordinary legacy through her distinguished career as an appellate justice and her invaluable service on the Judicial Council,” stated California Supreme Court Chief

<< Supreme Court

From page 1

With the six conservatives on the court, the Alliance Defending Freedom, a national conservative litigation group seeking to undermine equal rights for LGBTQ people – and which was consistently losing at the lower court levels – accelerated its efforts to get appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.

One case it had in the pipeline was 303 Creative v. Elenis. It involved a website designer, Lorie Smith of Colorado, who was willing to say that she was opposed to same-sex marriage for religious reasons and that she had “worries” that a same-sex couple might come to her and ask her to design a wedding website for them. If a same-sex couple did, she said her Christian beliefs would require her to say no, thus putting her in violation of Colorado’s law against discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations.

There was no evidence that any same-sex couple had ever asked her, and this is a particularly interesting point. Typically, courts won’t take a case unless there is a real – not imagined – conflict. Presumably, the alliance could not find a website designer who ever faced a real conflict, so it proceeded with Smith and her alleged worries. The litigation lost in the district court (which noted that Smith had not been faced with a

<< Leather district

From page 1

There are two images on the plaque –one is of the Leather David statue, which is at the GLBT Historical Society Museum in the Castro. A decidedly kink take on the Michelangelo original, it was created for Fe-Be’s, the first leather bar on the bygone “Miracle Mile” of leather bars along Folsom Street, along with S&M clubs and bathhouses in the area.

The other image is a picture of the wall art of the Tool Box, an early South of Market gay haunt, that was featured in a 1964 Life magazine article “Homosexuality in America” that proclaimed the City-by-the-Bay the “gay capital” of the United States, drawing even more LGBTQ people to San Francisco.

KGO-TV reported (https://abc-

<< News Briefs

From page 8

Reported hate events increased in the gay male, lesbian, and trans communities, the paper reported.

B.A.R. publisher Michael Yamashita, a gay man, said the grant is timely.

“The recently released state hate crimes report confirms what we already perceive and are experiencing: there is a sharp increase in violent speech, behavior, and legislation targeting women and

Justice Patricia Guerrero. “As a member of the council, she was instrumental in shaping policies and practices that further access to justice, improve court operations,

same-sex couple’s request) and lost in the federal appeals court (which said Smith’s religious beliefs did not exempt her from obeying the law that applies to all businesses).

But then it was reported, on the day before the decision, that Alliance Defending Freedom filed documents with the court that included a significant piece of what appears to be false information. Specifically, the documents indicate that Smith said, under oath, that a same-sex couple had contacted her through her website to ask about creating a wedding website for them. This is important because courts do not typically take cases unless an “injury in fact” to the plaintiff’s rights is either actual or “imminent.”

According to the New Republic magazine (https://newrepublic.com/article/173987/mysterious-case-fake-gaymarriage-website-real-straight-mansupreme-court) and numerous other outlets, Smith identified under oath that a man named “Stewart” inquired about retaining her services to design something for his wedding to another man and left a phone number. Media calling the phone number got a Stewart, but the man, who would not share his last name, told the outlets he is not gay, has never contacted Smith to ask about a gay wedding website, has been married to a woman for 15 years, and is himself a web designer. The alliance’s case, said the New Republic, was “built on nothing much more than imagi-

7news.com/san-francisco-vandalization-pride-party-soma-sf-street-damage-smashed-cars/13431490/) that on June 24, four cars were vandalized and half a dozen buildings were sprayed with graffiti during the impromptu party. No arrests were made. The monument was tagged as well.

When asked if graffiti is a regular occurrence at the monument, Goldfarb said, “In SOMA it’s not uncommon for graffiti to crop up almost anywhere at any place. Because we’re aware of the monument and keep an eye on it, perhaps we are more cognizant, but it does get graffiti from time to time.”

Goldfarb said he became aware of the graffiti after someone reported it to San Francisco’s 311 non-emergency line.

The person reported that the graffiti was “hateful” in nature, but Goldfarb said he had “not seen it and cannot verify that.”

Asian, Black, Latino, Pacific Islander, Native American, Arab, Slavic, and LGBTQ people,” Yamashita stated. “It’s important that California supports local community media to raise awareness of communities affected by hate crimes and hate incidents, as well as information about resources and services, and communitybased organizations as part of the effort to combat hate crimes and incidents by reporting cases.”

The latest funding is the second round in the grant program, the release stated. In

and enhance public trust in our judiciary. Her legacy of excellence, fairness, and commitment to justice has made a lasting impact on the lives of Californians and will continue to inspire us all.”

During her time on the council, Slough has chaired its Executive and Planning Committee and played a key role in drafting emergency court rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, the release stated. Those emergency rules helped curb the spread of COVID-19 in California jails, reduced evictions, and foreclosures, and encouraged the use of remote technology to maintain access to the courts.

During her tenure on Fourth District court, Justice Slough authored 454 opinions, including 55 published opinions.

“The past 20 years has afforded me the unique privilege of observing firsthand the importance of the rule of law and the true value in a commitment to justice for all,” Slough stated. “I am grateful and fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in the work of the Judicial

nary Christian grievance.”

Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, in a Twitter post June 30 wrote, “If this were a normal court, with real judges in the majority, it would take seriously the news that this was a fraudulent case and would vacate its opinion and direct the imposition of sanctions on the lawyers who hacked the legal system and perpetrated this hoax.”

The purported request from Stewart wasn’t the basis for the federal lawsuit filed preemptively seven years ago by Smith, before she started making wedding websites, the Associated Press reported. But as the case advanced, it was referenced by her attorneys when lawyers for the state of Colorado pressed Smith on whether she had sufficient grounds to sue.

A key turning point was when the Colorado attorney general’s office conceded that Smith’s plans to start designing wedding websites would constitute an “expressive” activity – or speech – protected by the First Amendment. Many, if not most, wedding websites simply take information and photos that a couple provides and plug those into existing website templates. Smith claimed that she would pour herself into the creation of each website, so much so that the couple’s wedding website is really her speech, not theirs. So, if Colorado forced Smith to create wedding websites for same-sex couples’ weddings, it would be abridging her First Amendment right

An image of the May graffiti states ‘ONEREV,’ followed by an incomprehensible series of interconnected letters.

The damage to the monument was mild compared to what some residents of the neighborhood experienced –one man had been planning to drive to Canada but his car was totaled, KGO reported.

“Things are much improved,” Goldfarb said. “There’s still graffiti in the street and on the sidewalk and we hope to get that addressed.”

Goldfarb said he does not know who held the party; he added there’s no camera footage of the Ringold Alley incident. The San Francisco Police Department did not return a request for comment.

Cal Callahan, the leather district manager, declined to comment for this report, deferring to Goldfarb. t

May 2022, the state library awarded nearly $6 million in grants to 50 ethnic media outlets and collaboratives. The B.A.R. was part of that funding cycle as well.

Individual outlets received $100,000 in funding for 12-month projects. Ethnic media collaboratives received up to $825,000 in funding for 18-month projects.

Other LGBTQ publications that received funding were the Los Angeles Blade, $99,806, and Outword magazine (Sacramento), $99,990, the release stated. t

Council and to have worked closely with Chief Justice [Tani] Cantil-Sakauye and, for only a short time, Chief Justice Guerrero. They represent the true definition of strong, decisive, focused leaders – who lead always from the desire to make the judicial branch better for all. I am also grateful to Governors [Jerry] Brown and [Gavin] Newsom for their commitment to bringing diversity to the bench throughout this state – it has made us better.”

Slough first joined the bench in 2003 when former governor Gray Davis appointed her to the San Bernardino County Superior Court. She served as presiding judge of the juvenile court, then assistant presiding judge of the court before twice being appointed as presiding judge. Brown elevated Justice Slough to the appellate court in 2015, and she was confirmed to that position on February 22, 2016.

Cantil-Sakauye, who stepped down as California’s chief justice in early January, praised Slough’s service.

to free speech.

And then, oddly, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the alliance’s appeal for Smith’s case and, in doing so, stipulated that the only question it wanted to hear arguments about was “Whether applying a public-accommodation law to compel an artist to speak or stay silent violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment.”

On its face, the answer seemed obvious: Of course, it does. The court’s question presumed Colorado applied the state law to “compel” Smith to “speak or stay silent.”

As American Civil Liberties Union legal director David Cole said in a New York Times guest column last December, “The right question is whether someone who chooses to open a business to the public should have the right to turn away gay customers simply because the service she would provide them is ‘expressive’ or ‘artistic.’”

Assessing the loss

LGBTQ legal groups released statements, saying the Supreme Court’s 303 Creative decision was disappointing but that it would have very little impact. After all, what LGBTQ person or couple would knowingly go to an anti-LGBTQ business to seek a pro-LGBTQ-specific

“From presiding judge to justice, Justice Slough combined astute policies with compassionate leadership,” CantilSakauye stated. “She was instrumental in leading and building the most critical, sensitive, and impactful policies of the Judicial Council. In all her responsibilities, and they were myriad, she brought her analytical brilliance and collaborative nature. Justice Slough has worked tirelessly to improve justice in California, and she has overwhelmingly succeeded in that endeavor.”

Millicent Tidwell, acting administrative director of the Judicial Council, noted that Slough is held in high regard by council staff.

“Her tremendous ability to marshal justice stakeholders and build consensus has been integral to advancing major initiatives to improve courts statewide and making significant impacts in so many areas, from technology to pretrial reform,” Tidwell stated.

Slough stated that her last day will be August 31. t

product or service?

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Pizer said 303 Creative would have “limited practical impact in the marketplace.”

“Given the uniquely creative service at issue here, the impact is likely to be minimal,” Pizer stated. “But the door has been opened for potential future cases to expand this limited carveout. We will be vigilant against that possibility.”

A statement released by GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders said the “unusual nature” of the 303 Creative complaint “suggests the ruling has virtually no application to the overwhelming majority of businesses providing goods and services to the public.”

Some pro-LGBTQ organizations were less optimistic. The executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Imani Rupert-Gordon, issued a statement saying that, “While the court’s holding is narrow and will apply only to a very small number of businesses, the dissenting justices rightly stress that the decision creates an unprecedented exception to non-discrimination laws.” t

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California appellate court Justice Marsha Slough has announced she will retire in August.

Courtesy CA Courts Newsroom

6 months after World Cup, LGBTQ Qataris critical of West

by Heather Cassell

Six months after the FIFA World Cup ended in Qatar, LGBTQ Qataris say the realities of their lives have not changed, and in some cases have gotten worse.

Now that the noise has died down about Qatar’s human rights abuses, especially against LGBTQ people, queer Qataris’ assessment of the World Cup games and the media attention and global pressure it brought by highlighting the country’s homophobia is that it has only made life worse for them.

But for some, it also left a sliver of hope.

The Bay Area Reporter spoke with Dr. Nasser Mohamed, Swad (a pseudonym to protect his identity), Rasha Younes, and Peter Tatchell about the realities of LGBTQ Qatari’s lives and life after the World Cup.

Mohamed, 36, now lives in San Francisco and is believed to be the first Qatari to publicly come out as gay when he spoke to the BBC last year. He was a community grand marshal in this year’s San Francisco Pride parade, as the B.A.R. previously reported. .

Swad, 30, is a gay Qatari activist. Younes, a lesbian who is from the Middle East, is Human Rights Watch LGBT Rights Program’s senior researcher. She is an expert in investigating abuses against LGBTQ people in the Middle East and North Africa region. She authored “Qatar: Security Forces Arrest, Abuse LGBT People: Discrimination, Ill-Treatment in Detention, Privacy Violations, Conversion Practices,” about the arbitrary arrests of some LGBTQ Qataris and abuses of LGBTQ rights in Qatar leading up to the World Cup.  Tatchell, who lives in London, is a global LGBTQ activist who has worked with Qatari human rights activists for more than a decade.

Harsh realities

According to HRW, Qatar’s Penal Code Article 285 punishes extramarital sex, including same-sex relations. LGBTQ Qataris face up to seven years in prison if convicted, however, prison sentences could be longer if Qatari authorities find other laws have been broken.

“Nobody knew what they do to us at home,” Mohamed said about the abuses – including conversion therapy – against LGBTQ Qataris in the conservative Gulf country.

Conversion therapy is the widely discredited practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity to fit into a heteronormative society. The practice can range from verbal and physical abuse to torture. It has been debunked by the World Health Organization, the United Nations, medical organizations, and many countries, states and provinces, and cities around the world.

It’s unclear how widespread conver-

<< UC regents

From page 1

Sarris said he believes he is the first American Indian to serve on the board of regents.

“I’m very proud to be out there both as an American Indian and as a gay person,” he said. “It’s so important to show young people. Young people need to see success.”

He recalled that when he attended UCLA he “dug ditches” and tended bar while a student.

“There weren’t any role models,” he said. Sarris pointed out that the suicide rate among American Indian LGBTQ young people is the highest among queer youth groups. A research brief from the West Hollywood-based

sion therapy is in Qatar and the percentage of the centers or religious facilities that are government-sponsored as they are not explicitly advertised, Younes said. However, everyone who was detained by Qatar’s Preventive Security Department between 2019 and 2022 who spoke to Younes said that they were required to participate in conversion therapy at a “governmentsponsored” Behavioral Healthcare Center to be released. The main goal of the psychologist or medical professional was to “correct their sexual orientation” with the purpose “to revert them to being straight and practicing a heteronormative lifestyle.” It wasn’t clear if the intimidation of queer Qataris came from their families or security forces.

Transgender Qataris said in the report they were mandated to attend conversion therapy sessions at a governmentsponsored “behavioral healthcare” center by security forces. Younes told the B.A.R. that bisexual women especially mentioned the pressure by security forces or by their families. Some reported they were encouraged to continue treatment to “cease any immoral activity, especially in public,” she said.

Australian-British gay rights activist Tatchell, 71, founder and director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, reported one of the alleged government-sponsored conversion therapy centers is the Wifaq Family Consulting Centre. The center is located a five-minute drive from one of the stadiums where World Cup matches were hosted.

Mohamed believes the Daam center is Qatar’s “most thriving” of its governmentsponsored conversion therapy centers. He has also spoken with several private therapists who told him, “They’re stuck.”

“They have families bring in their kids and they’re like, ‘Here’s the payment.

Trevor Project in 2020 captured the experiences of Indigenous American and Alaskan Native youth, who are often not included in large enough sample sizes during broader surveys of American young people, reported the website Them. (https://www.them.us/ story/native-american-lgbtq-youthhigher-suicide-risk-trevor-project)

“Native American LGBTQ+ youth were 2.5 times more likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year compared to their LGBTQ+ peers overall, according to the survey’s findings,” the website reported.

Newsom’s announcement came the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court ended race-based affirmative action in college admissions in a pair of decisions that affects private and public universities. (The cases were

Make them straight.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, I don’t know what to do, because this doesn’t work,’” he said.

Why they stay Mohamed, Swad, and Younes said despite living deep in the closet and the abuse many LGBTQ Qataris experience, they don’t leave Qatar for various reasons. Some for patriotic reasons, others for family, the privileges of being Qatari, not being able to afford to leave, or the inability to decide for themselves to leave. For example, under guardianship laws women aren’t allowed to do anything without a male guardian’s permission.

“A lot of people don’t want to leave,” said Younes. “There is a huge sense of allegiance to the nation.”

She said that she didn’t know how much of Qataris’ loyalty to their country was caused by government messaging, maintaining the status quo, or “genuine patriotism.” Those who do want to leave might not have access to the means, such as organizations (not even underground). They may not know others like themselves to share and document the abuses they’ve experienced that would enable them to claim asylum in safer countries.

“It’s very difficult for people to even prove that they have been discriminated against or violated,” due to a “complete lack of civil society,” said Younes, which “is only reflective of the country’s restriction on everyone’s rights, including the rights to free assembly and association, and a status quo.”

Swad said that for safety reasons, LGBTQ Qataris do not document what they do and experience.

It is “a struggle for us because even if we want to make a document for an asylum project … we do not have actual formal reports of what’s happened to us,” he said.

Mohamed said Qatar’s conservative Muslim government, ruled by the Al Thani family since the mid-1800s, according to the CIA World Factbook ,

brought against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.) Sarris noted that California has been affected by state Proposition 209 since voters approved in in 1996. It prohibits public universities from using race, ethnicity, or sex as criteria for admissions. The state’s law also affects public employment and public contracting. In 2020, Prop 16 sought to repeal Prop 209 but voters rejected it.

“UC has been affected by Prop 209 for a long time and continues to find ways to work around it,” Sarris said.

He added that California American Indian students from federally recognized tribes can attend UC schools tuition-free. Many tribes, however, are not federally recognized, he said. In response to that,

hind bars for years or decades to come.”

“That’s why we need people like you to voice our concerns,” Tatchell recalled the Qatari human rights activists he has worked with for more than a decade telling him.

Mohamed said speaking to the B.A.R. is “considered a cybercrime” in Qatar.

According to Amnesty International , Qatar’s government restricted journalists and media outlets, strengthening the law in 2020 to severely punish any media entity or representative who publishes or broadcasts anything against the country domestically or abroad. Those who violate the law by “biased” broadcasting or publishing can be punished by up to five years in prison and a fine of 100,000 riyals (over $25,000 USD).

Younes said that when she sought people to interview for her report, Qataris “don’t want to even badmouth their country and government because they are afraid that they will be labeled as ‘traitors’ to their country.”

“They feel like they are betraying their country by even speaking about their own abusive experiences,” she said.

owns everything, maintains strict rule, and doesn’t appreciate dissent.

The alternative for many people is to continue their lives in Qatar and “practice self-censorship [of their sexual orientation and gender identity] to maintain and survive their daily lives. That is how they can get by,” Younes said. That’s how they “avoid any interference or abuses by the authorities or by private individuals.”

LGBTQ Qataris told her they want the government “to afford them basic rights, to be able to practice who they are without fear and intimidation.”

Dangerous speaking out

Global criticism of Qatar’s human rights violations regarding labor, LGBTQs, women, and human rights organizations took center field last year and made headlines for months leading up to the World Cup.

It was a harsh blow to a country that doesn’t take kindly to criticism, but it left some Qatari LGBTQ people and women feeling hopeful, reported Chatham House, a global policy institute.

Public demonstrations are not allowed. It’s “extremely dangerous,” said Mohamed.

Last year, two Qatari protesters, brothers and lawyers Hazza and Rashed Ali Hazza Salem Abu Shurayda, were given life in prison, while one unidentified demonstrator was sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to Amnesty International.

Tatchell was also arrested and deported when he showed up outside the National Museum of Qatar in Doha, the capital, wearing a white T-shirt with “#QatarAntiGay” written on it protesting the country’s government and FIFA in October 2022.

Speaking with the B.A.R., Tatchell said Qataris would love to speak out, but “It was too risky for the Qatari activists to do for themselves. They would be be-

over a year ago the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria began a program whereby $2.3 million is provided per year in perpetuity so that all California American Indians can go to a UC school tuition-free.

Graton also gave $1.5 million to UCLA Law to support a cohort of students going to law school, and provided $4 million to endow two professorships, or chairs.

“It is, indeed, the greatest institution of higher learning in the world,” Sarris said of the UC system. “More than ever, we need teachers and we need to teach critical thought. I taught for 35 years in universities. I want to make sure the opportunity is there for so many students for a diverse population.”

Sarris said the world is in “a danger-

The only narrative allowed in Qatar is “the homophobic narrative,” said Mohamed.

FIFA’s top officials demonstrated that with their anti-LGBTQ comments in the media last year, the B.A.R. previously reported.

Tatchell told the B.A.R. that his demonstration generated headlines in more than 5,000 media outlets worldwide and reached nearly 1 billion people. The action generated “internal discussion” especially “among the younger Qataris,” where people didn’t speak about it before.

“That is definitely a positive and I’m told those conversations are ongoing within quite strict parameters because of the very repressive regime,” he said, defending the action and the backlash that occurred afterward.

Mohamed, Swad, and Younes were critical of Tatchell’s action and blatant disregard for LGBTQ Qatari’s requests not to protest in Qatar. They said Tatchell’s protest did not improve anything. Mohamed said it possibly might have made the situation “a little worse.”

“We all felt so betrayed,” when Tatchell showed up in Doha for a “theatrical” stunt protesting human rights abuses against LGBTQ Qataris, he continued. “It really didn’t serve us at all. It just really shifted that attention to him.”

Swad said, “It just gave people more power to become homophobic,” explaining that “people just became more aggressive and hating.”

Mohamed was particularly irked that Tatchell’s action took away from the release of the HRW report he worked on with Younes, which echoed similar concerns about Qatar’s abuses of LGBTQ citizens raised by the U.K.’s House of Commons report, “LGBT+ rights and issues in the Middle East,” published in February 2022.

See page 11 >>

ous place now” regarding the polarization of politics. Now, he said, there are “three or four” sets of facts. Even during the years of Ronald Reagan, a former California governor and U.S. president, “at least we understood what facts were,” Sarris said.

Universities “need to teach how to think,” he added. “It’s so necessary now and one of the reasons why I’m honored with this position.”

As for Graton Resort and Casino, Sarris said business has picked back up after the COVID years. During Sonoma County’s Pride weekend events in early June, the resort hosted an LGBTQ pool party attended by about 1,000 people and its 630 Park Steakhouse hosted the “Wigs and Waffles” drag brunch.

“It was a lot of fun,” Sarris said. t

Soccer fans expressed concern about LGBTQ rights in Qatar ahead of the World Cup in 2022.

Courtesy Nick Potts/PA Wire/dpa

by Gregg Shapiro

The best part about reading a book by Lammy Award-winning queer humor essayist Samantha Irby, including her new one, “Quietly Hostile” (Vintage, 2023), is the way she makes you laugh out loud. The next best part is when people who hear you laughing ask what you’re reading and get to spread the hilarious gospel of Irby.

Renowned for her use of body humor (IBS and vomit in the essay, “Oh, so you actually don’t wanna make a show…”) and over-sharing (practically every essay, including “Body Horror”), Irby makes you laugh, even when you didn’t think it was possible. While humor is the driving force in her work, the essay, “O Brother, Where Art Though?” takes a more serious turn, showing another side of the writer.

Gregg Shapiro: Samantha, in prepping for this interview, I was thinking about the popularity of queer humor essayists – from Fran Lebowitz to David Sedaris to you – and how you have all struck a chord with readers from all walks of life. Can you say something about the use of humor as a device by the LGBTQ community?

Samantha Irby: I’m going to throw Black people in here, too [laughs]. Not that every queer person or Black person has a rough life. But I think people who grow up kind of on the margins, whatever margins in which we exist, we all have this through line of tentativeness and fear of rejection. Not know-

ing how people feel until you get to know them can be stressful [laughs].

For me, my approach with everything is if I don’t turn it into a joke, I will die. I feel like all of my queer friends are that way. They’re about to dismantle gay marriage. There are hate crimes. They’re about to do this and that. I don’t have an activist bone in my body, but what I can do is mine it for a joke. I think that for a lot of us who have had trouble getting through life, humor, at least finding the one little point, the one little part of it that’s funny, can help you not to lose your mind.

Samantha Irby

‘Quietly Hostile’ author on jokes, pandemic dogs and Dave Matthews

What’s involved in your process for selecting essays for a collection such as your new one “Quietly Hostile”?

At this point in my career, I’m with the same publisher, so I don’t have to tell them what I’m doing. My agent pitches them a book: “Sam’s gonna do the same shit she always does. Is that cool?” [Laughs] They’re like, “Oh, yeah, funny.”

I never know when it’s pitched what’s gonna be in it. Then I ignore it for months. I’m like, “Oh, I have plenty of time to write this book. I’m not going to think about it and stress myself out.” I should think about it and stress myself out because I always turn my books in late. The galleys that went out are missing an essay about QVC, about how I feel like the hosts are my friends [laughs] because I

spend so much time with them.

My process is generally like I can see the deadlines on the horizon. I’m like, “Oh, here she comes. It’s getting close enough to see it. Then I sit down and think about what’s interesting to me. What I have a lot of things to say about and any big things that have happened to me.

For this one, I was like, “Oh, I went into anaphylactic shock [laughs]. I’m going to write about that. I don’t really have bladder control anymore; I’m gonna write about that.” The piece about the nun; I have to put a sex thing in there. My current sex is very boring –old lesbian sex– but I can write about this porn I watch all the time.

See page 14 >>

Well, I had to do something in the pandemic [laughs]! And honestly, it’s been on my mind for several years. I knew it would be a daunting task. Not the actual writing – I believe I can write. But the deep dive into my past, I knew, would be a challenge. Plus, I’m getting to that age (Lucinda and I talked about crossing the line over into our 70s just this week) where there really is no time to waste. Though I am healthy and vibrant and feel that I have much more to do in this life, the clock keeps ticking. It was time.

How much of your 2016 one-person show “Somewhere Between: Not An Ordinary Life” is incorporated into “TransElectric”?

My show, which I wrote over the course of a year and a half in 2014-15, provided a map for my memoir. The arc of the story is the same – 1973 through 2016 (which was the “present” when I debuted the show) – with flashbacks to my childhood interspersed throughout. And there are a few moments from the script I lifted and inserted into the book where I didn’t feel I could express a particular life moment any better than I did in the show.

Early in the book you write about what you perceived as both your bisexuality as well as your questions about your gender.  Have you heard from readers and fans who have had similar life experiences?

by Gregg Shapiro

You may or may not immediately recognize the name Cidny Bullens, but you’ve certainly heard them sing. They were nominated for a Grammy Award in 1980 and pro-

vided lead vocals for a few songs on the “Grease” soundtrack.

But Cidny’s story is truly one of a kind, beginning with being a backing vocalist for Sir Elton John and continuing through their 2012 transition at the age of 61. With a foreword by Elton, as well as advance praise from Billie Jean King, Mary

Gauthier,

Bullens’ memoir “TransElectric: My Life as a Cosmic Rock Star” (Chicago Review Press, 2023) is one of the most captivating life stories of the year.

Gregg Shapiro: Cid, why was now the time to write your memoir?

The book was just released, so I am only just beginning to get responses from folks who have read it. But as I have from the 2019 award-winning documentary short about my life, “The Gender Line,” and a recording of a song by the same

See page 15 >>

Michael Musto, and Bonnie Raitt,

Unfinished yet fascinating

by Jim Gladstone

“Mydream would be if everything in the world could take place in a steam room,” jokes tall, dark and handsome Ari’el Stachel in “Out of Character,” his one-man theatrical memoir, directed by Tony Taccone in its debut production at the Berkeley Rep through July 30

Whoa, nellies! Before you start making wishful assumptions, you should know that Stachel’s fantasy springs from the fact that he has a chronic anxiety disorder which causes him to perspire torrentially in stressful situations.

To judge from the droplets of sweat that fall from his face throughout this very funny but ultimately unsettling 80-minute self-examination, performing itself is one of those situations.

At one point Stachel says in passing that being on stage is the one place he feels comfortable. But, at much greater length, he reenacts having a panic attack onstage on Broadway, then selfmedicating with alcohol in his dressing room to avoid reoccurrences.

“Out of Character” is drenched in its creator’s confusion.

Acting and angst

In the show’s opening scene, Stachel, a Berkeley native, revisits the 2018 Tony Awards, where he won Best Featured Actor for his Broadway debut in “The Band’s Visit,” which is set in Egypt. On that occasion, he spoke movingly of the discomfort he felt

From page 13

Once I have kind of an idea, if it’s enough stuff, I feel good. If not, my editor will say, “So, it’s been a minute since you’ve talked about step-parenting or whatever.” She will fill in the gaps and I’ll think of a way to approach it that’s not your standard, “Hey, I married a lady, and she had some kids.” It’s kind of a mishmash of what I can come up with is desperation, big things have happened that people might be interested in. I worked on the “Sex and the City” reboot (“And Just Like That”), and I wrote about it, but not in the way that people would think I was gonna write about it.

In the “My Firstborn Dog” essay, you write about getting what you called “a pandemic dog,”

‘Out of Character’ at Berkeley Rep

of shame over his behavior. That persistent inner voice, apparently impervious to treatment, switches its threats from cataclysmic lava to terrorist attacks.

In several tour de force comic scenes that make the most of his elastic face and expressive voice, Stachel presents the alternate personae he took on as he transferred between schools and social scenes. He tries on the guise of a white Orinda skater boy, then slips into a hoop-shooting Black crowd.

Eventually he lands at the Oakland School for the Arts, where acting gives him both much-needed focus and what, in retrospect, feels like a rationale to avoid addressing a painfully unstable sense of self.

That instability is complex and multi-layered. It didn’t start with the Stachel’s secondary school codeswitching, but with the emotional and biochemical challenges he faced as a small child. And, as “Out of Character” goes on to make clear, it isn’t healed through his successes in drama school and a still-young acting career.

about his Middle Eastern heritage beginning in the wake of 9/11, when he was 10 years old.

But the show flashes back to crises even earlier in Stachel’s life. At age 5, in the wake of his parents’ divorce, he begins hearing an inner voice that insists he enact a series of repetitive behaviors to prevent the world from being smothered in molten lava.

which was a common occurrence when people were stuck at home during the COVID lockdown. How are things with Abe now?

He’s the worst dog I’ve ever met in my life. We got this fancy trainer who came to the house. We spent $500 on this woman, and he immediately latched onto her jeans. She’s used to it and she was cool with it. He learned nothing. He’s so dumb and bad. I take him three times a week to this place called Camp Fido where he runs around all day and gets very tired. They love him.

He’s good with other dogs; he loves playing, he loves wrestling. But the minute you walk into the house, he becomes a land shark. If I could do it over again, I would have just gotten another cat. But I do love him. He’s oddly compelling. He pulls on the heartstrings. He’s on the couch in the

The first of several therapists that Stachel mimics over the course of the evening diagnoses him with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and puts him on medication.

Years later, following the attack on the Twin Towers, schoolyard bullies tease Stachel for his dark skin, also his “girl’s name,” taunting him as “Ari’el, the little mermaid.”

other room right now. He has taken a $100 blanket, that we were given as a gift, and made it into a dog nest.

Well, at least he’s got good taste. He’s living the dream.

Do you know if Dave Matthews knows about the “David Matthews’ Greatest Romantic Hits” essay?

He doesn’t right now, but…this is like the biggest news of my life. You’re hearing it first. He will hear about it tomorrow. My friend Alex writes celebrity profiles. He hit me up and said he’s profiling Dave Matthews. I about fell over. He said he wanted to interview me. I said, “Okay, in my upcoming book if have a whole essay about him!” My publisher sent Alex the book. He read it and interviewed me. We sent an extra copy for him to take to Dave, which he said he’ll do.

How important is place to you and your writing?

Because I write about myself, it’s always going to have a personal focus. Me in Los Angeles, me in New York. I don’t know if this sounds corny, but I am such a product of Evanston, Illinois. It is in me. I feel like a suburban Chicagoan all the time. My town heavily imprinted on me. I lived there for so long.

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You know what’s the most important thing regarding place? As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized I’m deeply Midwestern, and how that affects moving through the world. I hate going to

When classmates and their parents encounter Stachel’s father, a thickbearded Yemenite, they distance themselves and whisper “Bin Laden.” It’s confounding that young Stachel never tells his tormentors that his father is Jewish—a major gap in his script.

Soon enough, Stachel starts to avoid being seen with his father in public, while simultaneously filling a reservoir

Stachel’s self-analysis is clearly a work in progress. Consequentially, so is “Out of Character.” For Stachel’s terrific performance and frank, funny writing, this is a show I recommend seeing in its current run. But I hope it’s not polished and remounted. The rest of the work should be done off stage.t

‘Out of Character,’ through July 30. $25-$119. Berkeley Repertory Theatre. 2025 Addison St. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

New York because everybody’s mean. I hate going to L.A. because nobody eats real food. I just want to be where it’s flat and people are eating casseroles or know pot roast or whatever.

Do you think that your own sense of humor derives from being a queer woman of color, or that one aspect of your identity takes prominence over the others?

I will tell you what it is. It comes from being fat and homely [laughs]. I don’t think my humor comes from a racial place. I didn’t grow up in abject racism. Racism is all around us, but it’s not like I grew up somewhere that someone was

going to call me the N-word.

Certainly not in Evanston. No! When I was a chunky kid with buckteeth and was poor and dressing in Salvation Army clothes, if you don’t have a Teflon response to being mocked and ridiculed, how can you make it? Early on, l learned that if I start laughing first, it takes the teeth out of whatever teasing or mocking I might be experiencing. My humor comes from that place. I’ve got to be the first to make the joke, so it doesn’t hurt.t

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Ari’el Stachel in ‘Out of Character’ at Berkeley Rep Kevin Berne

by Laura Moreno

Jinwoo Chong’s new futuristic debut novel is like no other book you’ve ever read. (Ling Ma’s “Severance” may be, however, the closest thing.) Written in the tech thriller genre, it is a masterful example of what just may be the literature of the future.

In many ways the intricately constructed world of “Flux” unfolds more like a film than literature. Even though the novel grapples with dark issues, the sci-fi page-turner is delivered in the stylish packaging of pop culture. Call it “dystopian lite.”

Given the labyrinthine plot structure, readers need to be prepared to remain alert to small clues in Chong’s vividly descriptive prose that prove crucial to understanding this breathtakingly complex story. It’s all there on the page, but there is a risk that inattentive readers may become confused.

Or at least this was the reason given for why the novel was rejected by publishers before it found a home with its prestigious publisher Melville House. Unbelievably, Jinwoo Chong said in an interview that he almost gave up on publishing “Flux,” imagining the editors must be right.

The story intertwines the lives of the three main characters: Brandon, a gay young half-Korean man who at 28 has just lost his job; Blue, a 48-year-old key witness in a criminal case against a tech startup; and Bo, an eight-year-old boy who has just lost his mother in a tragic accident.

Cidny Bullens

From page 13

name (which is being re-released later this year as part of my new album “Little Pieces” on Kill Rock Stars RecordsNashville), I suspect I will get many.

As we know, the subjects of gender and sexuality are at the forefront of the news right now. But with all the vitriol coming at us – I believe it is also opening up more awareness in ourselves about who we are and where we are on either or both spectrums. Bring it on. I look forward to hearing stories from folks across the spectrum.

“TransElectric” is also a memoir of recovery, and you write openly about using and sobriety. What were the most difficult and easiest parts of writing about that subject?

Other than in recovery meetings, I’m not sure I ever disclosed as much about my addiction as I did in “TransElectric,” certainly not in as much detail. Again, my journals were illuminating, highlighting to me, as I was reading the earlier volumes decades after the fact, how drugs and alcohol (mostly drugs and for much longer) affected my choices in my life.

It was not easy to revisit those times as they were in the present tense. Of course, in recovery (I have now over 46 ½ years clean and sober), part of the way we serve is to share our experience with others who may be seeking a new way forward. But to share publicly some of who I was before sobriety; some of my thinking and my actions and the consequences of those actions, so truthfully, without glossing over anything, was indeed difficult.

That said, why am I writing about any of it if I am not to be completely honest? I’m not sure there was an “easy” part. But obviously, the upshot is: I’m still sober, one day at a time, thanks to the Twelve Steps and my comrades in recovery, for all these years.

“TransElectric” is coming out at a time when the trans community is under constant threat.  Have you thought about sending copies to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis so that they may have a better understanding of

Right before Christmas, Brandon is laid off from his marketing job. Before he can even leave the building, Brandon literally steps right into a new job working for a shady company led by a mysterious character named Lev. Everyday Brandon gets up, has breakfast, goes to work, and then can’t re-

member a single thing about his entire day. Nonetheless, his instincts remain sharp. He soon begins to suspect his new employer is using time travel to cover up a slew of violent crimes.

This is a world in which “structural inadequacy” has been normalized. Mind-blowing secret technologies en-

they must be very insecure about apparently. And we all know Abbott and DeSantis, Trump and all his minions, are catering to a base of people who base their beliefs and actions on fear –fear of “the other” and of what is being or could be “taken away” from them.

able constant sleights of hand under the radar. Everyone is being played and facts are regularly manipulated. The lucky few have good jobs in dying industries and are rewarded for figuring out how to fleece their customers. Everyone else is homeless, having been replaced by technology. It’s a po-

tentially civilization-ending future in which everything is in flux.

Grief, anguish, cruelty are everywhere, as are the absolutely ridiculous people that such a civilization gives rise to. Why, for example, does the workplace lobby have TV screens announcing the latest tragedy, “18 trains derailed during the blackout” as if it were useful or beneficial information to the workers? In fact, marketing fear to the public in this way only underscores the incompetence (or creative destruction? mere cruelty?) of the authorities.

“Flux” also contains glimpses into the medical tyranny currently taking shape, along with its extreme commercialization. Notably, implanted medical devices dissolve in three months, forcing patients to constantly pay through the nose for medical care.

Strikingly, Chong is unafraid to take risks, like including an imaginary main character. Brandon’s imaginary constant companion is the ultra cool Asian star of a 1980s TV show called “Raider.” Brandon’s resourceful withdrawal into fantasy proves to be a highly effective coping strategy, as well as entertaining.

Unquestionably, “Flux” is a fun ride that will have you asking yourself, “What the hell just happened?” as it gives readers plenty to ponder.t

Jinwoo Chong’s ‘Flux,’ $21.50 Melville House Books www.mhpbooks.com www.jinwoochong.com

something about which they are both completely clueless?

[Laughs] Well, of course, neither one would read it! And more than likely, “TransElectric” will be banned in both those states and others. The irony is that if I happened to be anywhere near either one of them anywhere, even in a restroom, they would not ever know or guess that I was a transperson.

That is the stupidity of all of it. They are threatened by their own thoughts and perceptions of what being transgender is. Drag queens are an easy target because they are “seen.” Men dressed as women somehow threaten these people’s masculinity – which

But, no joke, it is a scary time. I fluctuate between anger (rage, really), actually wanting to confront this ignorance head-on (I’d love to be face to face with any one of the above), and retreating to my little house on an island twelve miles off the coast of Maine, never to feel threatened again. Right now, my wife and I are staying put in Nashville in one of the most egregious anti-trans states, Tennessee, where I currently live, to join in the fight here with my colleagues and community. We shall see what the future brings.

I am proud of my book and to represent my community (and just plain being human) in any way I can. I truly hope that my story, my memoir, will open some hearts and minds, beyond our own community, to what is: we are real, we are here, and we are indeed all human beings just trying to be, well, ourselves: human.t

www.cidnybullens.com

Read the full interview, with music videos, on www.ebar.com.

Jinwoo Chong’s ‘Flux’

Cidny Bullens

TJ Parsell

Jinwoo Chong

‘Joy Ride’ is a trip

by Gregg Shapiro

The friends trip gone wrong – from “Deliverance” to “The Hangover” to “Girls Trip” – is a tried-and-true formula of which audiences can’t seem to get enough. This also means that copycats abound, which can be both good and bad.

That’s the best way to describe “Joy Ride” (Lionsgate). It’s a good and bad copycat that gets off to a great start, lags a bit, and then surprises us with scenes that are alternately outrageous and heartbreaking.

The opening scene alone, when young Lolo (Chloe Pun) and Audrey (Isla Rose Hall) are introduced on a Seattle playground, gets the movie off to a great start. Best friends throughout childhood, even though they couldn’t possibly be more different. Audrey is a straight-A (and Type A) student, while Lolo is more of the class clown.

Still BFFs as adults, Audrey (Ashley Park), now a successful lawyer up for partner, and Lolo (out actor Sherry Cola), a struggling visual artist with a proclivity for the sexually graphic, rents Audrey’s garage as her home. Lolo’s traditional parents own a restaurant where they reject the idea of displaying her artwork.

When an opportunity for a workrelated trip to Beijing arises, Audrey asks Lolo, who is fluent in Mandarin, to accompany her on her journey. Also joining them (against Audrey’s wishes) is Lolo’s socially awkward cousin Vanessa, better known as Dead

Eye (non-binary actor Sabrina Wu), who is a massive K-Pop fan. While in Beijing, Audrey also plans to reunite with former college roommate Kat (out, Oscar-nominated actor Stephanie Hsu), now a huge star in Chinese cinema and TV. Kat, who

Terrified and angry

Multiple complications surface over the course of the trip. Chao (Ronny Chieng), the businessman with whom Audrey must close a deal, puts her through her paces, making her decide to find her birth mother (she was adopted as an infant by a Caucasian American couple). An interaction with an American drug dealer on a train is borderline catastrophic and hysterical. A sexually charged episode with the members of a Chinese basketball team is completely over-thetop. But the biggest twist occurs when the truth about Audrey’s birth mother is revealed, leading to an additional trip, this time to Seoul.

by David-Elijah Nahmod

It was a terrifying time in New York City. As the AIDS crisis was raging, a serial killer began targeting gay men in the city in the most horrifying way imaginable. The victims were all being dismembered. Their body parts were stuffed into plastic bags and left in trash cans in New Jersey, their personal belongings found on the ground not far from where their bodies were dumped. It was the early 1990s and the community was terrified, and angry.

This sobering true-life tale is the subject of “Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York,” a new four-part documentary. The first episode premieres on HBO on Sunday, July 9 at 9pm. Subsequent episodes will premiere on each Sunday for three weeks thereafter. The series will also stream on HBO/Max.

As the story begins, Thomas Mulcahy, a well-dressed middle aged businessman from Massachusetts, is in New York City. He stops in at The

Townhouse, an upscale gay bar on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Mulcahy, who is remembered by his daughter as a loving father who enjoyed old Hollywood glamour and splashy Broadway musicals like “La Cage Aux Folles,” leaves The Townhouse with another man. A few days later, Mulcahy’s body is found cut up into bits. Soon after, a middle-aged man named Peter Anderson meets the same fate. Like Mulcahy, Anderson met a man at The Townhouse. The LGBT community is terrified, and angry. The Gay and Lesbian AntiViolence Project, a New York based non-profit which combats antiLGBT hate crimes, gets involved. Matt Foreman, Bea Hanson and David Wertheimer, all formerly of the AntiViolence Project, participated in the documentary and recall a New York City police department not giving a high priority on these killings. One NYPD cop, now an out gay man, was interviewed for the series and speaks of a department where coming out wasn’t safe. He remembers a fellow

officer who refers to “fuckin’ faggots” and threatens violence against any cop who turns out to be gay.

Then there was a third killing, only this time the victim wasn’t on the Upper East Side. Anthony Marrero, a gay sex worker who frequented the Port Authority bus terminal, was killed in the same manner as Mulcahy and Anderson. Marrero was a person of color who is recalled by his brother as a man who kept secrets. More killings follow.

Foreman and Hanson speak of their efforts to keep the community safe. They found that while the NYPD doesn’t seem all that interested in solving the case, the police in New Jersey are much more cooperative. Even today, one former police detective who spoke on camera put his anti-gay bias on full display. “Why are you focusing on the gay?” he asked the filmmakers.

is engaged to her hot, Christian-fanatic co-star Clarence (Desmond Chiam) hopes to keep her wild past (including a tattoo on her vagina) a secret. Initially, there is uneasiness and competitiveness between Kat and Lolo leading to some funny exchanges.

By this point, the limits of friendship have been tested, stretched, and bent out of shape. Rest assured; a hard-won happy ending is in the works. For all its comedic highs (and they are plentiful), “Joy Ride” also features a genuinely tear-jerking moment when Audrey watches a video from her birth mother. This directorial debut of co-screenplay writer Adele Lim (who also co-wrote the “Crazy Rich Asians” screenplay), also features an au courant scene involving Dead Eye near the finale. Rating: Bt www.joyride.movie

Director Anthony Caronna has done a superb job of telling this terrifying tale. The attempts by police to track down the killer are documented. He is eventually found to be a nurse living on Staten Island. The next step is to decipher his past, a quest that leads back almost thirty years to a murder in Maine.

The story, as told by Caronna, underscores a sad and infuriating reality that many people in New York were all too familiar with, that the deaths of gay men weren’t considered important. Homophobia is rampant, yet the community is urged not to stop living their lives but to take precautions, such as introducing the person you’re leaving a bar with to your friends.

A number of people who knew the victims speak on camera, not just family members but friends and former

lovers. Viewers learn a great deal about who each victim was. Viewers will also get an idea of just how stressful it was for the community to deal with these murders while also facing the AIDS crisis. Gay activists take to the streets demanding justice. They stand toe-totoe with anti-gay activists, who spew their hate with glee while further inflaming anti-gay bias.

This is not an easy series to watch. Yet it stands as an important historical document of a time that should not be forgotten. The series is a reminder of how much work still needs to be done, especially today when homophobia is once again on the rise.t

‘Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York’ on HBO; also streaming on HBO Max. www.hbo.com www.max.com

‘Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York’

“I’m too vain, one of my biggest sins, but it saved me. I can see what excess does.”

—Grace Jones

Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu, Ashley Park, and Sherry Cola in ‘Joy Ride’

Ed Araquel/Lionsgate

Scenes from ‘Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York’

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The soldiers’ tale

by Tim Pfaff

With her debut novel, “In Memoriam” (Knopf), screenwriter Alice Winn joins the ranks of the finest war writers this side of Homer and Heller. That’s not to pigeon-hole her book, which also trades competitively in the boys-at-boarding-school-andbeyond genre that gave us some of the signal gay fiction of the last century, notably “Maurice” and “Brideshead Revisited.”

War writing is a category of its own. Some of the least writerly examples of it, by the planners and executants of actual wars, are irresistible, like walking down a hospital hallway without looking into the open rooms. (If that got your interest, run, don’t walk, to Luke Turner’s very recently published “Men at War.”) Some of the more consciously literary books crack on the high notes. It’s not all Tolstoy and Stephen Crane out there.

Unflinching about the grizzly, banal horrors of the trenches while remaining equally courageous in depicting the horrors of a crumbling peace, “In Memoriam” makes unerring verbal strikes that coalesce into

a driving narrative that never lets up or backs off. It holds its own in a crowded field of gay-men-in-WorldWar I sagas and towers above most of the others. Winn emerges a writer we’ve been waiting for.

Boy soldiers

In “Brideshead,” Charles Ryder doesn’t go off to the military until the promise of World War II. While his time in uniform is arguably the darkest part of Waugh’s novel, the everpresent pull of the fairy-tale escape of the English aristocracy, a milieu with its own quiet horrors. Nothing else so devastates than the man who leads him out, Sebastian Flyte, who then finishes off their initially picturesque relationship with a spiral into alcoholic self-destruction.

In “In Memoriam,” the protagonists, never far from center stage, are Sidney Ellwood and Henry Gaunt, frolicking, at first skittishly, at the rather chillingly-named Preshute academy and boarding school, the comparatively short “pre-shoot” prelude to the war story. Following the drums of war and the rapidly deteriorating situation in cross-channel Belgium, the two enlist in reverse order.

The conflicted, gangly Gaunt is part German, and his family presses him to do his duty defending England. The more committed, if naive, Ellwood sets off “to save Gaunt.”

Preshute, of course, is a cauldron of adolescent sexuality, where the boys with same-sex inclinations find each other even in an environment that demands secrecy; they mate like re-

combinant DNA molecules, switching partners and foretelling several of the boys’ crossed paths throughout the novel. Otherwise “what boys did together was only acceptable if obscure.”

Only Elwood and Gaunt look anything like a couple, and their sexual attraction is reported discreetly. “In Munich, Gaunt had once pressed

himself against Ellwood’s leg and discovered that Ellwood was hard.” Winn keeps her powder dry for her devastating descriptions of bodies torn by war.

It mildly strains credulity that these not-yet-men boys hurry to enlist, but for Winn there’s no lingering in heaven when a more consuming hell awaits them. But there’s a fearful economy in Winn’s novel, despite its 400 pages, and Winn weaves the threads of her plot expertly. Preshute resurfaces in the form of the growing lists of wounded and dead alumni, the relevant pages of “The Preshutian” reproduced in the novel as they would have looked if real.

Letters home and abroad

Large expanses of the novel are given to letters, mostly by Ellwood and Gaunt to each other on and off the front, which gives Winn a shrewd stage for presenting each of them in his own voice. It allows Winn to change points of view in a way that’s not confusing. Even her minor, walkon characters are depicted with a specificity of detail that makes them not just individual but indelibly so. A sign of the best fiction, you think about them when you’re away from the book.

The depredations of the return from war get relatively short shrift, but, as with the quick opening section, it balances the before and after over the unrelieved account of what the soldiers encounter on the battlefield daily. Much of that is really hard stuff to read, but, as in the novels of the late Cormac McCarthy and Richard Flanagan’s “The Narrow Road to the Deep North,” you never look away from the gore or want it to stop.

Winn first breaks the reader into the wanton violence of war in a letter from Gaunt to Ellwood about that war’s infamous use of gasses as weapons:

“And then more Algerians came flooding by. Some were only choking, but others were coughing up scrambled bits of lung, their lungs were melting inside then and drowning them.”

What keeps the writing this side of rank sensationalism is the clean cut of the language, devoid of cliché.

While there’s plenty of literal blood and thunder, rendered in language or arresting originality, the core story of Ellwood and Gaunt’s love is the substance and thrust of this remarkable novel. There’s even a reflection of the difficulties that attend seeing a formerly handsome loved one’s face half blown off, the challenge of living with ruined beauty.

Another binding force in the novel is poetry, which Elliott practices. The boys take a swat at Rupert Brooke, the legendary war poet of their time. (And who would not want to paddle the man W.B. Yeats called “the most handsome man in England”?) Winn reminds us that Tennyson’s “In Memoriam,” one of the most resonant poems of the time, was also written by a man who loved a man. “The Charge of the Light Brigade” is printed in full in the dead center of the book. The most absorbing poetry, however, is by the boys of Winn’s book.

The novel is unflaggingly moving. It’s peopled by people. Perhaps it was a shudder in the collective unconscious that brought, this year, two extraordinary historical novels about gay couples in times of conflict. The first of them, Tom Crewe’s “The New Life,” was another brilliant debut novel, by an openly gay writer. Both books augur to become classics.t

Alice Winn, ‘In Memoriam,’ Knopf, 377 pp., $28.

Alice Winn’s ‘In Memoriam’

Alice Winn

Going Out

Fluid510, Oakland

New nightclub from the founders of Port Bar blends LGBTQ, straight and fluid patronage; Jush Sundays drag cabaret, 9pm. Fri-Sun at 4pm-12am. 1544 Broadway. www.facebook.com/ Fluid510/

Lookout

Castro bar with a panoramic view. Bounce (Sat. nights), Lips & Lashes Drag Brunch with host Carnie Asada (Sat. afternoons), Jock (Sunday nights), and frequent themed fundraisers. 3600 16th St. lookoutsf.com

Lone Star Saloon

DJed events at the historic bear bar, special events, plus regular nights of rock music and patio hangouts. July 7: Bear Trap with DJ Chakaquan. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

Mother Bar

For full listings, visit www.ebar.com/events

Arts

A Chorus Line

@ SF Playhouse

New local production of the classic musical about dancers auditioning for a Broadway musical. $15-$100; thru Sept 9. 450 Post St. sfplayhouse.org

Atomic Comic @ Z Space

Sara Toby Moore’s autobiographical ‘human cartoon fantasia’ show, featuring a host of comic actors, and video guest star Sharon Gless. $20-$55. June 30-July 8. 450 Florida St. http://www.zspace.org

The Kinsey Sicks @ New Conservatory Theatre Center

The wacky dragapella quartet returns with their new show, ‘Drag Queen Storytime Gone Wild!’ $35-$45, thru July 16. 25 Van Ness Ave. www.nctcsf.org

Stern Grove Festival

Free summer concert series returns thru Aug. 20. Rhoda Goldman Concert Meadow, 19th Ave. at Sloat Blvd. www.sterngrove.org

Asian Art Museum

‘Beyond Bollywood: 2000 Years of Dance in Art,’ a multimedia showcase of dance, bringing a

wide array of sculpture, painting, textiles, jewelry, photographs, and more, thru July 10. Fri-Mon 10am-5pm. Thu. 1pm-8pm. 200 Larkin St. www.asianart.org

Bob Mizer Foundation

‘So It Begins... Bob Mizer Early Work, 1945-1955,’ The first exhibit to open in The Bob Mizer Foundation’s new downtown headquarters, with many of his unusual and pre-physique-era works; thru July 15. 920 Larkin St. www.bobmizer.org

California Academy of Sciences

The fascinating science museum includes live creatures (aquarium, terrarium) and educational exhibits; ‘The World’s Largest Dinosaurs,’ an exhibit about sauropods Mamenchisaurus and Argentinosaurus. Mon-Sat 9:30am-5pm. Sun 11am-5pm. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. www.calacademy.org

de Young Museum

‘Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence,’ an exhibit of stunning paintings and sculptures; thru Oct. 15. Also, ‘Ansel Adams in Out Time,’ ‘Lhola Amira: Facing the Future,’ collections of American, African, Oceanic, costume arts, sculpture and more. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. www.deyoung.famsf.org

GLBT History Museum

‘Doris Fish: Ego as Artform,’ an exhibit of archival material documenting the illustrious Australian/San Franciscan drag artist; curated by Bob Davis, and other exhibits. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Mill Valley Public Library

‘Chains of Fires: LGBTQ+ History in Mill Valley,’ an exhibit of photos and ephemera documenting the overlooked local Marin County history; also, oral history recoding project ongoing thru July. 375 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. www.millvalleylibrary.libcal.com

SF Arts Commission Gallery

‘Invincible Black Soul: The Art of Bearing Witness,’ a threeperson exhibition featuring the works of artists Mark Harris, Raymond L. Haywood, and Bryan Keith Thomas. The exhibition explores the work and legacy of influential novelist, playwright, activist, and public intellectual, James Baldwin; thru July 8. War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Ave. www. sfartscommission.org

Nightlife

Beaux

Popular Market Street club, with drag entertainers, gogo studs, drinks and food. Shangri-La second Saturdays. Latin Divas

Live 4th Saturdays, You/nique 3rd Saturdays. Big Top Sundays and Friday Manimal with studly gogos. Drag brunch Sat & Sun, 2pm & 4pm. Pan Dulce Wednesdays, and weekly ‘Drag Race’ viewings. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Decant SF

New lesbian-owned wine bar and shop with tasting and culinary events, local delivery and shipping. 1168 Folsom St. www.decantsf.com

The new women’s bar at the former Esta Noche. 3079 16th St. www.instagram.com/ motherbarsf

Oasis

The multiple award-winning nightclub’s shows include Oasis Tea Dance with D’Arcy Drollinger, Yves St. Croissant and Per Sia, 4pm-8pm Sundays. Also, Princess, the weekly Saturday night drag show, 10pm-2am. Reparations, the Fridays all-Black drag show, 10pm-2am; Legacy, a trans women artistry night, Thursdays, 10pm-2am. Karaoke & Cocktails with Emma Peel,

Tuesdays, 7pm-11pm. 398 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Powerhouse Bar

Popular cruisy SoMa bar; Underwear Thursdays; Juanita MORE’s Powerblouse (fun drag makeovers) 1st Saturdays, Glamamore’s Pillows drag show on Mondays; and Beat Pig, 3rd Saturdays; Lance Holman’s Lick It (4th Saturdays). 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Town Bar & Lounge, Oakland New intimate Art Deco LGBTQ bar serves up signature cocktails. 2001 Broadway. www.goingtotownoakland.com

White Horse Bar

Enjoy indoor and outdoor drinks at the famous Oakland bar, now in its 90th year, under new ownership hosts music nights, new dance parties and more. 6551 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. whitehorsebar.com

The Kinsey Sicks @ NCTC

From drinks to dinosaurs, we’ve got nightlife, performing arts and science exhibits to quench your thirst for knowledge, or just a beer, each week on www.ebar.com.

Bartender Jake @ the Lookout

Pals @ Mother Bar

‘The World’s Largest Dinosaurs’ @ the California Academy of Sciences

Gooch