Out
The by Matthew S. Bajko T hree gay and two bisexual candidates are seeking council seats throughout Silicon Valley this November. The outcomes of the various races could see the first out person elected to San Jose’s city council in decades and double the number of LGBTQ council members on the Penin sula and in the South Bay. All have built up strong political and community ties within their cities over the years and are attracting support from lo cal Democratic and LGBTQ leaders. In San Jose, gay District 3 city council candidate Omar Torres was made this month a “spot light candidate” by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which works to elect out candidates for public office across the country. As the Bay Area Reporter noted in June when Torres took first place in his primary race, he would be the first out person of col or on his city’s council and the first LGBTQ person to serve on it in 16 years if he wins. Also supporting him in the race are the statewide LGBTQ advocacy group Equal ity California, the LGBTQ Latino focused political action committee Honor PAC, and BAYMEC, the Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee that works to elect LGBTQ can didates and straight allies throughout Sili con Valley and the Central Coast. “As our rights are under attack, it is im portant now – more than ever – to have LGBTQ+ representation in all levels of our government,” noted Torres, 40, an elected community college board member, in a re cent email to supporters noting his broad support from LGBTQ groups and leaders. Also running this fall is gay Redwood City planning commissioner Chris Sturken, who is mounting his first bid for a council seat, and J.R. Fruen, a gay man mounting his second council bid in Cupertino, hav ing lost his race two years ago. First time council candidates Sarah Fields, running in San Mateo, and Richard Mehlinger, seek ing election in Sunnyvale, both identify as queer and bisexual. “One of the things I really want to do is raise the visibility of the queer community in the South Bay and on the Peninsula,” Mehlinger told the B.A.R. during a recent phone interview about his decision to seek elected office. Two years ago saw the elections of Mi chael Smith, a gay Black business entrepre neur, and Lissette Espinoza-Garnica, who is a queer, nonbinary Chicanx, to council seats in Redwood City. Alysa Cisneros, who is queer, won election to the Sunnyvale City Council that year, as did James Coleman, who is bisexual, to the South San Francisco City Council. >> by Eric Burkett While monkeypox cases continue to rise, state and federal officials say they are encouraged by an overall slowdown in numbers both in Cali fornia and worldwide. Still, according to U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-California), the state needs 800,000 vaccinations to stop the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, gay state Senator Scott Wie ner (D-San Francisco) tweeted on Monday that California legislative leaders and Gov ernor Gavin Newsom have reached a deal whereby the state would authorize a $41 million emergency budget allocation to ad dress the MPX outbreak. The Legislature must still vote on the matter, which is al most certain to be approved. Wiener had called for the emergency fi nancial boost in July. The funds would go toward the public health response to the outbreak, Wiener noted in a news release. During his visit, Padilla addressed re porters at a news conference at Zucker berg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center August 25, along with state epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan. Speaking at the entry of the hospital where over the past several weeks thou sands of mostly gay, bisexual, and trans men have been lining up in the early morn ing hours to get the MPX vaccine, Padilla and the others were cautiously optimis tic about an overall slowing down in the spread of the virus. Since August 1, when reported infections hit their statewide peak of more than 125 per day, numbers have decreased dramatically since then, falling to only a few reported cases per day since August 20, officials said. However, there was a great deal of criticism at the sluggish federal response to the outbreak, which started back in May. Padilla in SF to push resourcesmonkeypoxfor
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San Jose City Council candidate Omar Torres Courtesy Omar Torres
REACH CALIFORNIA’S LARGEST LGBTQ AUDIENCE.
'PrEP Play' at NCTC ARTS 14 SF Filmfest faves Courtesy AssemblySeveral LGBTQ-related bills beingheard in Sacramento. Transissues legislativetopCALGBTQpushSisters’ Easter party a hitT Sisters PerpetualIndulgencebroughttheir partyback MissionDoloresSunday, 17,for firsttimetheoutbreak theCOVIDpandemic thecrowdthrilled. year’sHunkyJesuswasWoman God”(BrittanyHenry) theFoxyfarleft, “TransgenderMariadeGuadalupe” (ShaneZaldivar).The before, two-dozenSistersgathered Alert betweenand streets, commemorativerenaming thealley Vish-KnewWay,afterBunch.co-founderSisterVish-Knew,akamoreseestory,6. Gooch ARTSSci-fi writing program CALL 415-829-8937 LGBTQ bills
Eric
CA-LGBTQ-STRIP.indd 1 6/14/22 10:38 AM 06 08 Merchants' letter gets response
Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971www.ebar.com Vol. 52 • No. 35 • September 1-7, 2022 No. 673 May 27, outwordmagazine.com2021 page 34 page 2 page 25 page 26 page 4 page 15 page 35 Todrick Hall: Returning to Oz in Sonoma County SPECIAL ISSUE - CALIFORNIA PRIDE! Expressions on SocialIn-PersonJusticeLAPrideAnnouncesEvents“PRIDE,Pronouns & Progress” Celebrate Pride With Netflix Queer Music for DocumentaryTransgenderPrideDouble-Header Serving the lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer communities since 1971 www.ebar.com Vol. 52 No.16 April 21-27, 2022 3 8 Cannabis co. forming 13 The See page 7 by Matthew S.BajkoDistrict SupervisorMattHaneyderunoffclaredvictoryTuesdayinthespecialforFrancisco’svacant 17th Assembly District seat basedon the initial vote count.Trailing in secondwasDavidCampos, gayman is vicechairof CaliforniaDemocraticParty.Haney first place with 64% of thevote-by-mail ballots that the elections de-partment received and processed beforeElection Day, Campos received numberstheers,allpoints.resultsneighborhoodssemblythankedbe22,567stoodTuesdayesWith3,306votesreceivedfrompollingplac-wherepeoplecasttheirballotsinpersonaddedin,Haney’stotalvotecountat38,916votesandCampos’wasatvotes.BecauseballotswereexpectedtomailedinaheadofElectionDay,Haneyvoterselectinghimtotheseatrepresentingthecity’seasternassoonastheelectionwereposted.“Firstresultsareout:We’reupover27Wewon,”tweetedHaney.“ThanksomuchSanFranciscovoters,tostaff,volunteers,donors,endors-everyonewhoworkedsohardlastmonths.”Campostoldhissupportersthefirstinthatdoesn’taregoing Robledo AssemblywinsHaneybiginrace Assemblymember-elect Matt Haney by Matthew S.Bajko affirmingtheirareseveraltotransgenderCalifornialegislatorsareonceagainpush-ingforwardonnumberofaimedatimprovingthelivesofthestate’sandnonbinaryresidents.Andduethelegislativeattacksontranschildreninstates,lawmakersSacramentoalsofocusedonassistingthoseyouthparentswhoaretryingtoaccessgender-healthcare.
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2 Pride events planned for Oakland in a week by Eric Burkett With two Pride events taking place in Oakland in September, it may be worth asking whether one can have too much of a good thing. Oakland Pride and Pridefest Oakland, September 4 and 11, respectively, will be giving people plenty to keep busy with. Both events will also offer monkeypox vaccinations, thanks to efforts by the Biden administration to of fer shots at events drawing large numbers of gay, bisexual, and trans men, and other men who have sex with men. If it seems a little odd that Oakland is hold ing two Pride events this year, organizers seem a little surprised, too. Following last year’s im plosion of Oakland Pride, leading many to believe the organization was finished given the financial difficulties it had encountered, Pridefest Oakland took up the slack to ensure there was an in-person Oakland Pride event last year. It had held a street festival with en tertainment outside the Port Bar and other locations along Broadway. As people began looking toward 2022, Pridefest organizers began making plans to do it again, and an nounced this year’s festival in February. Recently, however, Oakland Pride’s web site was updated and announced its parade and festival are taking place this Sunday. (Pridefest will not hold a parade.) Outgoing Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is not expected to attend either event, according to a spokesperson. The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment. In previous years, Schaaf rode her “snail” car in the parade. Big Freedia will headline Pridefest Oakland Sunday, September 11. Courtesy Instagram See page 16 >> Senator Alex Padilla speaks about efforts to combat the monkeypox outbreak August 25 at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. Burkett candidates seek Valley council seats
19 ARTS PREVIEWARTSFALL
POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF BIKTARVY BIKTARVY may cause serious side e ects, including: Those in the “Most Important Information About BIKTARVY” section. Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections that may have been hidden in your body. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking BIKTARVY. Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. If you develop new or worse kidney problems, they may tell you to stop taking BIKTARVY. Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat. Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain.
BIKTARVY is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults and children who weigh at least 55 pounds. It can either be used in people who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before, or people who are replacing their current HIV-1 medicines and whose healthcare provider determines they meet certain requirements.
The most common side e ects of BIKTARVY in clinical studies were diarrhea (6%), nausea (6%), and headache (5%). These are not all the possible side e ects of BIKTARVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking BIKTARVY. You are encouraged to report negative side e ects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with HOWBIKTARVY.TOTAKE BIKTARVY Take BIKTARVY 1 time each day with or without food.
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BIKTARVY may cause serious side e ects, including: Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. Your healthcare provider will test you for HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking BIKTARVY. Do not stop taking BIKTARVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months, and may give you HBV medicine.
BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. HIV-1 is the virus that causes AIDS. Do NOT take BIKTARVY if you also take a medicine that contains: dofetilide rifampin any other medicines to treat HIV-1 BEFORE TAKING BIKTARVY
Tell your healthcare provider if you: Have or have had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis infection. Have any other health problems. Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if BIKTARVY can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking BIKTARVY. Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk. Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, antacids, laxatives, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. BIKTARVY and other medicines may a ect each other. Ask your healthcare provider and pharmacist about medicines that interact with BIKTARVY, and ask if it is safe to take BIKTARVY with all your other medicines.
BIKTARVY, the BIKTARVY Logo, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, GSI, and KEEP ASPIRING are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. Version date: February 2021 © 2022 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. US-BVYC-0087 02/22
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ABOUT BIKTARVY
GET MORE INFORMATION This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more. Go to BIKTARVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 If you need help paying for your medicine, visit BIKTARVY.com for program information.
#1 HIVPRESCRIBEDTREATMENT* *Source: IQVIA NPA Weekly, 04/19/2019 through 05/28/2021. Please see Important Facts about BIKTARVY, including important warnings, on the previous page and visit BIKTARVY.com. ONE SMALL PILL, ONCE A DAY Pill shown not actual size (15 mm x 8 mm) | Featured patient compensated by Gilead. BIKTARVY® is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in certain adults. BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. Ask your healthcare provider if BIKTARVY is right for you. Because HIV doesn’t change who you are. DIMITRI LIVING WITH HIV SINCE 2018 REAL BIKTARVY PATIENT KEEP ASPIRING. Scan to see Dimitri’s story. 6/14/22 10:44 AM
Proposition 27: Allows Online and Mo bile Sports Wagering Outside Tribal Lands. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute. NO. This is the other gaming initiative on the ballot, and it’s bankrolled by out-of-state gambling corporations. It would allow online gaming in partnership with tribes. The airwaves have been blanketed with ads for and against Prop 27, and while proponents argue the in creased revenue is a “solution” to homelessness, that’s a big stretch, particularly since the reve nue sidesteps the state’s general fund, according to the No on 27 campaign. It would be the larg est expansion of gambling in state history and turn cellphones, laptops, tablets, computers, and video game consoles into gambling devices. This is especially troubling for youth and those prone to excessive gambling. It will also hurt the Indian tribes that have casinos on tribal lands. The way Prop 27 is crafted, providers must be licensed in at least 10 other states and pay a $100 million initial license fee, a Bloomberg article noted. gamblingmately,anSomesorts,willsure)364-million-on-sports-betting-ballot-meaarticles/2022-08-23/california-spends-record-(https://www.bloomberg.com/news/Thatmeansonlythebiggamingconcernslikelyqualify,likeBally’sCorp.,WynnReandBetMGM,whichsupportProp27.smallertribessupportitbecausetheyseeopportunitytogetmoremoney,butultimuchofthemoneywillgotothelargecorporations.VoteNOonProp27.
4 • Bay area reporter • September 1-7, 2022 t
B.A.R. CA prop recommendations
Proposition 1: Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom. Legislative Consti tutional Amendment. YES. Even before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, California leaders planned to place a state constitutional amendment on the November ballot prohibiting the state from interfering with or denying an individual’s right to reproductive freedom. Led by lesbian state Senate pro Tempore Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Ren don (D-Los Angeles), the Legislature in late June passed the amendment, which now has to go before voters. Abortion is already legal in California up to fetal viability and after viabil ity if the procedure is necessary to protect the health or life of the pregnant person. But after the Dobbs decision, leg islative leaders were concerned that future federal action might undermine state law and that a state constitutional amendment was necessary. Reproductive free dom is an essential right that the U.S. Supreme Court was wrong to take away with its Dobbs deci sion. Prop 1 is needed to ensure that such bodily autonomy deci sions remain under the purview of pregnant people, their fami lies, and their doctors, and not conservative politicians and judges. Vote YES on Prop 1.
State ballot measures on the November 8 ballot run the gamut from codifying the right to abortion to sports betting on tribal lands to deciding whether to uphold a state law ban ning the retail sale of flavored tobacco. Below are the Bay Area Reporter’s recommendations.
Proposition 28: Provides Additional Funding for Arts and Music Education in Public Schools. Initiative Statute. YES. This measure is spearheaded by Austin Beutner, the former Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent. It would establish minimum funding for arts and music education in all PK-12 public schools by annually allocating from the state general fund an amount equal ing 1% of required state and local funding for public schools. Schools with 500 or more students would be required to use 80% of the funding for employing teachers and 20% for training and materials. Arts funding has de clined in the state’s public schools due to bud get cuts and an emphasis on reading and math. This measure would put arts and music educa tion on better financial footing for the benefit of students. Vote YES on Prop 28. by Martha Knutzen LGBTQ+ seniors, the San Francisco Department of Disability and Aging Services is here to serve you. Check us out. In 2003, while I was a member of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, it held a hearing on the unique issues facing the LGBTQ senior community. It was clear we needed a more thorough investiga tion of the issues we faced as we aged in San Francisco. In the report from the hearing, the Human Rights Com mission called for the formation of a task force to investigate and recom mend policies to improve the lives of LGBTQ+ people as they aged in the city. In 2012, gay then-District 8 supervisor Scott Wiener (now a state senator representing San Francisco) led the Board of Supervisors in creating the San Francisco LGBT Aging Policy Task Force. Many key experts on senior LGBTQ+ issues lent their expertise and many volunteer hours to this his toric task force. The task force report, issued in 2014, included 13 recommendations. The rec ommendations called for improved data collec tion focused on our unique experiences and the services our community needs. The report also made recommendations related to housing, care navigation, culturally competent mental health, Alzheimer’s and dementia services, as well as legal services to protect us from financial fraud, evictions, and help with estate planning. In 2019, members of the task force reviewed the implementation of the 2014 task force and found that we had made significant progress in implementing these recommendations. To mon itor the progress of the programs created pursu ant to the task force, gay current District 8 Super visor Rafael Mandelman has conducted hearings on sexual orientation and gender identity, or SOGI, data collection in the five mandated city agencies where data is collected. The agency re ports create a road map for us to meet our needs in San Francisco now and into the future. It has been my unique privilege to serve on the Disability and Aging Services Commission since my appointment by Mayor London Breed in 2018. As commissioners, we review contracts for services to the many community-based organiza tions that serve older adults in San Francisco. In San Francisco, approxi mately 23% of our population is aged 60+ and about 5% are disabled. We also serve the veterans community. In the past five years as a commis sioner, I have not only learned about the many innovative and far-reaching services available to all residents aged 60+ in this compassionate city, but that programs have been specifically created for LGBTQ+ residents over 60 because we are considered an underserved community. I am con tinually impressed by the quality of the staff at DAS and their compassion and commitment to serving the diverse communities of older adults throughout San Francisco, including ours. What this means for an LGBTQ+ person aged 60+ or a younger adult with a disability living in San Francisco, is there are a lot of services avail able to you. DAS helps older adults by funding: Community centers that provide fitness classes, service connections, and translation services. They also provide technology hardware and assistance to bridge the digital divide experienced by older adults. Specifically, Open house and the Curry Senior Center provide special programs for LG BTQ+ populations, but they are welcome to participate in pro grams throughout the city. Nutrition services, meals served both at community centers and at home, including culturally appropriate menus.Care navigation services to help you get the services you qualify for, including in-home sup portiveAccessservices.and empowerment services, includ ing legal help to help you get the benefits you de serve, as well as transportation assistance, estate planning and money management programs. Self-care, safety programs, adult day care, mental health, dementia, and Alzheimer’s assis tance Housingprograms.assistance, from housing subsidies to myriad programs that help you stay in your home.Many of our programs are not based on in come, though some are, so everyone who lives in San Francisco and is 60 or older should check them out. Call our DAS Benefits and Resources Hub at (415) 355-6700, visit us in person at our drop-in center at 2 Gough Street, or go to our website.TheBay Area Reporter recently reported on Tom Nolan, who retired this year as the special projects manager for LGBTQ+ services at DAS. Before he left, Nolan led a review of the 2014 LGBT Aging Policy Task Force’s recommenda tions. That process resulted in recommendations to improve our services for the LGBTQ+ senior community. At DAS, we are taking the recom mendations of the LGBT Aging Policy Task Force report seriously. First, we will continue to im prove our outreach to the LGBTQ+ community. Notably, the recent 2022 Dignity Fund Commu nity Needs Assessment estimated that 12% of all seniors in San Francisco are from the LGBTQ+ community but only 5% of clients served by the Dignity Fund identify as LGBTQ+. We are committed to enhancing our outreach to our community through a new online resources database expected to be live in 2023. Second, we look forward to having a staff person at DAS to replace Nolan, who was responsible for outreach to our community and for the collection of SOGI data that is so critical to providing the programs we need, as well as evaluating their effective ness. And third, DAS will also continue to pro vide additional support to LGBTQ+ seniors and people with disabilities, helping them remain in theirSo,communities.ifyouarean LGBTQ+ person over 60 liv ing in San Francisco, check out DAS. t
Martha Knutzen, a lesbian, is president of the San Francisco Disability and Aging Services Commission.
SF aging agency helps LGBTQ seniors Volume 52, Number 35 September 1-7, www.ebar.com2022 PUBLISHER Michael M. Yamashita Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013) Publisher (2003 – 2013) Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS & NIGHTLIFE EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • Eric Burkett CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Tavo Amador • Christopher J. Beale Brian Bromberger • Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell • Heather Cassell • Adam Echelman • John Ferrannini • Michael Flanagan • Jim Gladstone • Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell • Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy • Philip Mayard • Laura Moreno • David-Elijah Nahmod Paul Parish • Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro • Gwendolyn Smith • Charlie Wagner • Ed Walsh Cornelius Washington • Sura Wood ART DIRECTION Max Leger PRODUCTION/DESIGN Ernesto Sopprani PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland • FBFE Rick Gerharter • Gareth Gooch Jose Guzman-Colon • Rudy K. Lawidjaja Georg Lester • Rich Stadtmiller • Christopher Robledo • Fred Rowe Steven Underhill • Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Christine Smith VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING Scott Wazlowski – 415.829.8937 NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863 LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad, Esq. Bay area reporter 44 Gough Street, Suite 302 San Francisco, CA 94103 415.861.5019 • www.ebar.com A division of BAR Media, Inc. © 2022 President: Michael M. Yamashita Director: Scott Wazlowski News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Out & About listings • jim@ebar.com Advertising • scott@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual Advertisingorientation.ratesavailable upon request. Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertis ers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. Martha CommissionAgingDisabilitySanpresidentKnutzen,oftheFranciscoandServices Courtesy Martha Knutzen State Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins spoke at a reproductive freedom rally. Courtesy Twitter See page 17 >>
Prop 26: Allows In-Person Roulette, Dice Games, Sports Wagering on Tribal Lands. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute. YES. This is one of two Indian gam ing initiatives on the ballot. Prop 26 will em power Native American tribes in California to build upon their legacy of legal gaming and honors the state’s long commitment to In dian tribes by creating new sources of revenue, jobs, and opportunity for tribal communities. Accord ing to the campaign’s website, it will also help non-gaming tribes by increasing funds distributed through a revenue sharing trust fund. The in-person gaming chang es, much like the games already allowed at tribal casinos, will be highly regulated and for adults only. In short, we understand the desire of Native American tribes to want to increase gaming op tions at the casinos, and Prop 26 is the best way to do it. Vote YES on Prop 26.
<< Open Forum
It is just one of the issues as mayor Williamson would want to take a re gional leadership role on, he told the B.A.R.“How do we work with other lead ers within our community to not only take care of the issues important to the residents of Monterey but do look at it with a regional perspective while being mindful of how our taxpayer dollars are being used?” he asked. He is eschewing corporate dona tions for his mayoral campaign and is capped at receiving $525 from do nors, a limit he pushed for as a council member. Williamson is almost half way toward raising his goal of $40,000 for his campaign coffers, he told the B.A.R.Even if someone can only donate $20 toward his campaign, William son hopes they will support his bid to break through several political glass ceilings in his “Representationcity. matters,” noted Williamson, adding that in particular for “queer kids in our community to see someone in a position of power leading the city from a mayoral seat has a huge impact.”
Williamson, who will find out in October if readers of the Mon terey County Weekly chose him as the newspaper’s “Best Local Politi cian in Monterey County 2022,” told the B.A.R. he is undaunted running against someone whose family has such long ties to the local community. (The school district named its foot ball field and stadium after the elder Albert, its longtime football coach.)
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Letters >> Monterey City Councilmember Tyller Williamson, center, is surrounded by supporters for his mayoral campaign. Courtesy Facebook
To learn more about Williamson’s mayoral campaign, visit https://tyl lerformonterey.org/
“I feel I have a really good chance of being successful with this experience and moving Monterey forward,” said Williamson, who owns a home with his domestic partner, high school his tory teacher Ivan Quiroz Bautista, in the city’s Old Town section that they share with their long-haired dachs hundRaisedSasha.by a mom serving in the Navy, Williamson lived in different cities across the globe as a child. He first moved to the Monterey area in 2010 for a job with the Naval Post graduate School and graduated from Cal State Monterey Bay in 2013. He went on to earn a master’s of business administration from the naval school. As he told the B.A.R. four years ago during his City Council campaign, Williamson found inspiration to run for elected office as a campaign staffer on Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. During Obama’s 2012 re election bid, Williamson won a cam paign fellowship and helped organize outreach efforts in Monterey. It led to his being hired as the deputy regional field director for the Obama campaign in the Bay Area. Williamson relocated to Oakland then San Francisco for several months for the job, which resulted in his working daily in the Castro and com ing out of the closet.
“One of the things I was able to achieve during my council term was we did a rezoning that allowed ad ditional housing development in the city of Monterey. Broadly speaking, that was something I don’t think would have happened if I wasn’t on the council and bringing that for ward,” said Williamson, who has pushed the city to work with devel opers to build affordable housing on city-owned land. He is also an advocate for a “hous ing first” approach when trying to move unhoused people off the streets. Providing them with permanent housing can also be coupled with access to various services, he argued, that can assist them in remaining housed and leading productive lives.
A native San Franciscan with 40 years of professional experience assisting families in need. A longtime resident of the Eureka Valley, Castro and Mission Districts; a member of the Castro Merchants Association and a 25 year member of the Freewheelers Car Club. At Duggan’s Funeral Service, which sits in the heart of the Mission, we offer custom services that fit your personal wishes in honoring and celebrating a life. We are committed to the ever-changing needs of the community and the diverse families we serve. Please call for information 415-431-4900 FRANCISCO, CA
When Monterey City Council man Tyller Williamson took his oath of office December 4, 2018, he became the first known LGBTQ person to help lead the global tourist destination along California’s Cen tral Coast. He was also the first Black council member in the city’s history, and at 31 years of age, the youngest. Now, Williamson is aiming to be come the first Black and first gay may or of Monterey and its nearly 29,000 residents. Elected citywide to a twoyear term, the mayor works closely with the city manager and the other four members of the City Council. The seat is open this year as Mayor Clyde Roberson, who was born in Oakland, decided not to seek a fifth consecutive term. Williamson offi cially launched his mayoral campaign in front of City Hall last Saturday, Au gust 27, and was also named last week an “Essential Voices for Equality” fall candidate endorsed by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which works to elect LGBTQ people to public office across theHecountry.isone of two out councilmem bers running this year to be mayor of their city in the South Bay and Central Coast regions. Gay Santa Clara City Councilmember Anthony Becker is also vying to be elected in November to lead his city in the heart of Silicon Valley. Speaking to the Bay Area Reporter by phone August 26, Williamson said he felt compelled to run for mayor at such an important moment for his city and region on the Monterey Pen insula. Like the Bay Area, the Mon terey metro area is also dealing with a lack of affordable housing, strains on its local workforce, an increasing un housed population, and the repercus sions of climate change.
“I just felt like this was an oppor tunity for me to either step up or step back. I ran for City Council in 2018 to make a difference in the community and to help Monterey move forward. I feel I have been able to do that and achieved a lot of the things I ran on in 2018,” said Williamson, 34, who works in human resources at the Naval Post graduate School. “I feel if the council remains with the same makeup then I am not sure how much more I will be able to get done. This really presented an opportunity to change things up.” This year, the city is transition ing to electing its council members by district, with two of the four seats on the November 8 ballot. William son is hoping to see Kim Barber, a Black straight ally, succeed him on the council in the District 1 seat. An administrator at California State University, Monterey Bay, where she is director of the pre-college and early outreach support programs, Barber would be the only woman serving on the council if elected. She would also double representation by people of color on the council if Wil liamson becomes mayor, as he is cur rently the only non-Caucasian coun cil “Imember.thinkshe is going to do a great job providing a different perspective, and a much-needed perspective, on the council,” said Williamson.
Opposes Newsom’s veto As a resident of the Tenderloin I see addicts shooting up all the time. Do we really want to add to public health problems and costs by not making sure that they take their drugs safely? Shared needles spread HIV and hep atitis. I note the vetoed bill was authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who is a moderate. Governor Gavin New som obviously vetoed this bill because he is planning to run for president [“New som vetoes safe consumption pilot bill,” online, August 22]. When he was mayor, Newsom showed courage when he authorized issu ance of same-sex marriage licenses, despite California law prohibiting such marriages. Now that he is governor, he has lost all po litical courage. I don’t want this hypocrite to be president and would even support a principled Republican such as Liz Cheney over Newsom.
Politics >>
Gay Monterey Councilman Williamson aims to be mayor
Thomas V. Halloran General Manager
by Matthew S. Bajko
When he returned home to the coast, Williamson helped launch the Monterey Peninsula Pride event. It held its 2022 celebration in late July and is planning to host the 2023 event on July 15. He plans to employ his local or ganizing skills onto his mayoral bid with a “very strong” field campaign at the center of his electoral efforts. He is targeting the 66% of residents who rent in Monterey as well as younger residents of the city.
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Councilmember Ed Smith is run ning unopposed for the new District 2 seat, while Councilmember Dan Al bert Jr. is competing against William son to be elected mayor. His father had served as mayor in the 1980s and 1990s alongside Roberson, who was a City Council member for 16 years and is now supporting the younger Albert to succeed him as mayor. (Albert could remain in his council seat should he lose his mayoral bid, as his seat and the fourth council seat won’t be up until 2024.)
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“I plan to go out and talk to voters and have conversations about why moving Monterey forward is what I have heard is wanted in the commu nity and why I think I am the better candidate to represent the city in try ing to bring us into the 21st century here,” said HousingWilliamson.isamajor issue of his campaign, as it impacts many of the people who work in the local tourist industry and struggle to afford to live near their jobs. Monterey has seen its new housing requirement go from 650 units to nearly 3,700 units, a tar get that Williamson is committed to meeting as mayor.
Arlo Hale Smith San Francisco
“We need more than talk and plans,” Allen said. “We need action andCedricresults.”Ng, a gay man and, along with his husband, a homeowner in the Castro for the past two years, was another one of those individu als who reached out to Karraker. Citing his own frustrations, Ng told the B.A.R. he felt great sympathy not only for the small business own ers but for those unhoused, as well. “We need a coordinated effort,” said Ng. “Help us and help the homeless. We can’t just let them rot on the sidewalk.” Ng said he’d like to see Mayor London Breed and city officials lay out a timeline for their efforts to deal with the problem, with regu lar updates much as Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, did during the height of the COVID pandemic. “Is someone doing something?,” he asked. “And can you show us?”
by Eric Burkett T hat angry letter sent by the Castro Merchants Association to numerous city leaders in August has resulted in a response from two city officials. Detailing a laundry list of issues Castro residents and merchants have long been strug gling with, including the presence of homeless encampments and large numbers of individuals with apparent mental health issues ha rassing residents, businesses, and visitors to the LGBTQ neighbor hood, the letter implored officials “to take What’saction.”generated the most buzz surrounding the merchants’ Au gust 8 letter is the threat of civil disobedience by businesses with holding the fees they pay to the city. The one official response the merchants group has received has been a lengthy letter from Dr. Hill ary Kunins, director of Behavioral Health Services and Mental Health SF with the Department of Public Health, and Noelle Simmons, chief deputy director at the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. That letter outlines the numerous actions the city and DPH have taken or are undertak ing to address the issues discussed in CMA’s Reactionletter.hasalso been coming in from residents of the LGBTQ neigh borhood. More than two weeks after the letter was sent out, and one week after the Bay Area Reporter broke the story, the merchants association has heard from a lot of other indi viduals and neighborhood groups voicing the same frustrations, said Dave Karraker, co-president of the CMA and owner of MX3 Fitness on Market Street. He said he had received 30 emails from various in dividuals as well as professional or ganizations and businesses. The response has been strong enough that he’s now talking about forming a coalition of stakeholders to get the city to take more action. Other neighborhood groups such as Corbett Heights Neighbors, Eu reka Valley Neighborhood Associa tion, and Duboce Triangle Neigh borhood Association have also reached out, Karraker said. The B.A.R. reached out to those organi zations for comment but they did not respond by press time. Paul Allen, a retired 30-year resi dent who resides in Corona Heights, said he supports the CMA’s efforts. Although he’s the secretary for the Corbett Heights Neighbors, that or ganization won’t be able to take up the matter until its next meeting in September, he said. “Personally, I completely sup port what the merchants are doing and the issues they’re raising,” Al lenThesaid.former corporate attorney said he had heard District Attorney Brooke Jenkins speak about the is sue recently, and he was pleased to hear her call for more coordination among city departments in han dling the issue.
BTQ Holocaust victims; exposed themselves to her guests and a school group; another guy urinated on himself and others camped out on the sidewalk in front of Wal greens; and a “pantless” man ex posed himself on the street. The ongoing instances of “open drug use, encampments, lawless ness, crime, and absence of [San Francisco Police Department] up holding a dozen public health and safety code violations, useless city services, and extremely negative behavior in the Castro is unaccept able and detrimental to our busi nesses, daily lives, and the mental health of an entire community,” Amendola wrote. These incidents add to the anxi ety of an already traumatized com munity, she said. Members of the LGBTQ com munity “already suffer 2.5 times more from stress, anxiety, and de pression due to social oppression. This is absolute discrimination on behalf of the city and has created a mental health crisis in the Castro,” she said.
6 • Bay area reporter • September 1-7, 2022 t 415-626-1110 130 Russ Street, SF okellsfireplace.com info@okellsfireplace.com OKELL’S FIREPLACE
Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who has been deeply involved in efforts to deal with that issue, said he understands CMA’s – and others’ – frustrations. More beds are needed, he said, not only in San Francisco but throughout the Bay Area.
Rick Gerharter
“It requires a heightened police response and a heightened health response,” he said, acknowledging that they’re already doing so but it needs to be done more effectively. “I think, as a state, we’re not where we need to be and the effects are felt very much in a place like San Francisco,” he told the B.A.R. t
“For individuals who consistently decline assistance, city agencies are collaborating to use every tool we possess to support the individual’s wellbeing and welfare and to protect community safety, including invol untary care when individuals are eligible,” Kunins’ letter stated.
“It’s clear to me based on reaction, too many people have just had it,” Karraker said in a phone interview.
In a letter to the B.A.R., Amen dola recounted an episode that oc curred one morning in July. “Within the first 45 [minutes] of my walking tour, the group was ap proached 5 times between the flag, Beaux and Market at Noe,” Amen dola stated, referring to the rain bow banner at Market and Castro streets and a nearby business. “Five individuals – crazy, druginfused junkies – walked up and stood with my tour group while bel ligerent, barefoot, smelly; one guy was taking a hit off his meth pipe and another was screaming bloody murder and pulling his pants down and mooning traffic,” she contin ued. “I had my finger on my pepper spray each incident. Over the past few years, it’s been very dangerous for me to operate walking tours, no matter what time of day it is.”
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One statistic that Karraker rou tinely points to is that some 50% of unhoused people refuse shelter, and efforts to assist those who are clearly incapable of making sound decisions for themselves run up against state laws. Further efforts to make conservatorship laws more responsive have met strong resis tance from civil rights advocates, as well as disability activists. In her response, Kunins notes that one of the key issues she ad dresses is the problem officials have with folks who refuse the services offered to them.
Businesses have been feeling the effects for quite some time and, for Cruisin’ the Castro Walk ing Tours owner Kathy Amendola, whose work entails guiding visitors through the streets of the neighbor hood, the issues are front and center.
On another day, in the space of two and a half hours, she said, she encountered five different episodes with some of the Castro’s street denizens who yelled directly at her guests; blocked the entry to Pink Triangle Park while using drugs, forcing her group to find another way to see the monument to LG
“However, California state law sets a very high threshold for these holds, and often that threshold is not met, even when it looks to the public like an individual ‘needs help,’” she continued. “To address the rising concerns in the Castro, we have established a weekly case conference specifically focused on individuals identified as needing assistance by the Castro commu nity. Through regular case con ferences across departments, we problem solve individual cases and collaborate to engage and connect individuals with care.”
Widespread publicity Since the B.A.R. story appeared, several local news organizations, including KTVU 2, ABC 7, SFist, and the San Francisco Chronicle, have reported on CMA’s letter as well.Although the letter never stated the group’s intentions if their pleas weren’t met with action, Karraker told the B.A.R. and other media that CMA members would resort to civil disobedience if they had to. Castro merchants could begin withholding the fees they pay to the city until they see action, he said.
SF responds to Castro merchants’ letter
Valor LX2 3-sided gas fireplace shown here with Murano glass, and reflective glass liner
Castro merchants seem to have gotten the city’s attention with a recent letter about quality of life issues in the LGBTQ neighborhood.
Courtesy
by Heather Cassell T he Netherlands Deputy Gen eral Consul Vincent Stori mans in San Francisco has been busy getting ready for a royal visit to the Kingcity.Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will be in town next week, touring the Castro Tuesday, September 6, between 9:20 and 10 a.m. They will also speak with LGBTQ and HIV/ AIDS community leaders. The royals’ tour will begin at the GLBT Historical Society Mu seum and will proceed to the Cas tro Theatre and Twin Peaks Tav ern. At the tavern, they will meet briefly with San Francisco LGBTQ community leaders District 8 Su pervisor Rafael Mandelman; San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D.; San Fran cisco LGBT Community Center Executive Director Rebecca Rolf; and National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon.“It’sexciting that they have chosen the Bay Area to visit and that they are reaching out to lo cal LGBTQ community leaders to not only give them a tour of some of our most historic places here in the Castro but to sit down and have a conversation about what’s happening here in our commu nity,” said TerMeer,TerMeer.a39-year-old gay man who is of Dutch ancestry, looks forward to speaking with the roy als about HIV/AIDS issues here in the U.S. and learning more about the Netherlands’ response to the epidemic and other public health threats to the LGBTQ community, heWelcomingsaid. the king and queen is not an everyday affair for Sto rimans, 42, who is proud that the Netherlands and the Dutch people serve as an example and champion LGBTQ rights around the world. The royal couple’s visit to the Castro makes a statement and “has a certain relevance,” Storimans, a gay man, explained about them associating “themselves with this neighborhood, with its history, with its background, [and] with its “That’scommunity.”something we’re proud of as a kingdom,” he told the Bay Area Reporter in an exclusive in terview at the Netherlands Con sulate General of San Francisco on August 25. The B.A.R. spoke with the Dutch diplomat about LGBTQ rights in the Netherlands and the U.S., working in one of the most significant cities for LGBTQ peo ple, and the upcoming royal visit. The royals will also visit Stan ford University and Los Angeles during their California trip, Stori mansThesaid.Netherlands’ consulate in San Francisco serves an estimated 40,000 Dutch citizens living in the U.S. and Dutch Americans in Cali fornia, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Wash ington, and Wyoming. The fact that Storimans comes from a liberal country that has been at the forefront of LGBTQ rights for decades, among other progressive policies, and that he is working in San Francisco, which has been at the forefront of many LGBTQ issues in the U.S., is not lost on him. Storimans loves San Francisco so much that he has ex tended his diplomatic tour beyond the usual four-year term to seven. He expects to stay in his role in the city for another year, he said. “San Francisco, given its history and its outlook, it’s a natural draw for LGBT diplomats,” Storimans said.
https://oag.ca.gov/hatecrimesDepartmentState628-652-4311Hotline:ofCaliforniaofJustice
the Castro September 6. Courtesy
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San Francisco District Attorney: Hate Crime
September 1-7, 2022 • Bay area reporter • 7t STOP THE HATE! If you have been the victim of a hate crime, please report it.
lands. He said that he enjoys his job as a networker and connector building business relationships between the two countries, which he sees as his primary job. That doesn’t mean that the con sulate does not host LGBTQ events from time to time. One event he was working on that was canceled because of COVID-19 was screen ing the Dutch documentary “At las2018 – I will speak, I will speak!” about people living with HIV/ AIDS in different regions of the world to see “how it is for people living with HIV/AIDS,” he said.
The Stop The Hate campaign is made possible with funding from the California State Library (CSL) in partnership with the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs (CAPIAA). The views expressed in this newspaper and other materials produced by the Bay Area Reporter do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the CSL, CAPIAA or the California government. Learn more capiaa.ca.gov/stop-the-hate. Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands will be touring the Netherlands Consulate General of San Francisco Vincent Storimans is the Netherlands Deputy General Consul of San Francisco. the Netherlands Consulate General of San Francisco
Stop-The-Hate-4x10.indd 1 8/24/22 12:53 PM Dutch royalty to visit the Castro International News>> King
LGBTQ first nation The Netherlands emerged from the 20th century as one of the most progressive countries in the world. It was a U-turn from the 1950s where Dutch government banned dis crimination against LGBTQ peo ple in 1981. Two decades later, in 2001, the Benelux country became the first in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Last year, the Dutch celebrated 20 years of mar riage equality. (The Benelux coun tries are Belgium, Luxemburg, and theTheNetherlands.)Netherlands didn’t stop there. In 2019, King Willem-Al exander addressed the United Na tions General Assembly and wel comed LGBTQ progress around the“Theworld.kingdom of the Nether lands welcomes the fact that the rights of lesbian, gay, and trans gender people, and of other mi nority communities, are being laid down in law in more and more places around
Trees for the Tenderloin Volunteers from the Transgender District and the Friends of the Urban Forest plant one of 44 trees in the Tenderloin August 27. The effort was initiated by the trans district to bring more greenery to the neighborhood. Over 80 volunteers helped during the Saturday morning project.
“Trans people often have to edu cate their healthcare providers about gender in order to receive the care they need,” stated Wiener. “That re sponsibility should never fall on a patient. SB 964 is first-in-the-nation legislation which will ensure Cali fornia stays at the forefront of transinclusive health care.”
Three bills await final votes
The state’s pharmacists and phar macy technicians would have to un dergo at least one hour of culturally competent training about the con cerns of LGBTQ+ patients before receiving a license under AB 2194 authored by gay Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego). Bills focus on LGBTQ students AB 2315 by Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno) would require the governing board of each community college district in California to implement a process by which students, staff, and faculty can declare an affirmed name, gender, or both name and gender identifica tion to be used in records where legal names are not required by law. The community colleges would need to be in compliance with AB 2315 com mencing with the 2023–24 academic year.Itbuilds on a bill adopted last year that prohibits the state’s community colleges and public universities from deadnaming trans and nonbinary students – that is using their former names they were given based on the sex they were assigned at birth – on their diplomas and academic re cords.Protections for LGBTQ foster families would be bolstered under AB 2466 authored by lesbian As semblymember Sabrina Cervantes (D-Corona). It explicitly prohibits an agency that places foster children from declining to place a child with a resource family because a resource family parent identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. It would also scrap the usage of the phrase “hard-to-place children” in state“Wecodes.must strive to instill this ba sic principle in foster care system: No child is too difficult to love or care for regardless of their race, re ligion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expres sion,” tweeted Cervantes after her bill passed August 25. Under AB 2663 by Assemblymem ber James C. Ramos (D-Highland), the state Department of Social Ser vices would establish a five-year pilot project called the Youth Acceptance Project in counties that volunteer to sign up for it. The state agency would contract with the nonprofit Fam ily Builders by Adoption to provide therapeutic-style support and inter vention services to LGBTQ+ youth who receive, or are at risk of receiv ing, child welfare services.
Newsom << Community News Nine LGBTQ-related bills have
Rick Gerharter
Under Assembly Bill 2521 by As semblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), the fund would be renamed the TGI Wellness and Eq uity Fund. A main champion for its creation, Santiago also wants to see the health equity office establish a community advisory committee of TGI individuals that would recom mend which organizations and enti ties should receive funding and how much each grant should be.
Known as the TGI Inclusive Care Act, it builds on the state’s Transgen der Wellness and Equity Fund creat ed in 2020 and allocated $13 million last year. The Office of Health Equity within the State Department of Pub lic Health administers the fund and awards grants to organizations pro viding trans-inclusive health care.
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9 bills sent to CA Gov. been sent to Governor Gavin New som for him to sign or veto.
“By expanding this model state wide, we can change the heartbreak ing outcomes youth experience from rejection to acceptance,” wrote Jill Jacobs, a lesbian who is executive di rector of the Oakland-based agency in an August 25 guest opinion for the Bay Area LGBTQ+Reporter.youth who are experi encing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness, and their families who are struggling with accepting the youth’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, would also be eligible to receive services through the project. A clinician or social worker would be in charge of the services, which the bill specifically requires to be designed to increase acceptance among a LGBTQ+ youth’s parents, caregivers, foster parents, adoptive parents, extended family members, social workers, and additional staff involved in a youth’s care The state agency would have to submit a report to the Legislature with an evaluation of the pilot proj ect, which would end on January 1, 2030. Other bills for LGBTQ families, businesses Via AB 2436 by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) and co-authored with Cervantes, death certificates would need to list a decedents’ parents without referring to the parents’ gender. The change would benefit LGBTQ+ parents as they navigate estate proceedings and other matters following the death of a child. It builds on the law pushed by Bauer-Kahan last year that added nonbinary as a gender option on the forms.“So proud that my bill to increase gender inclusive language on death certificates has passed the Senate! #AB2436 will ensure all families are correctly identified,” Bauer-Kahan tweeted August 24. AB 2873, authored by Assem blymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), would require ap plicants of the state’s low-income housing tax credit programs, as well as any of their subsidiaries and af filiates, to annually submit a report to the California Tax Credit Alloca tion Committee on how they plan to increase procurement from LG BTQ business enterprises and those owned by women, minorities and disabled veterans. The bill would also require the state committee to include in its annual reports beginning in 2023 a summary of the commitments made by affordable housing companies to increase their working with the vari ous business enterprises and their progress toward meeting those goals.
Courtesy Governor’s office
As the deadline fast approaches for California legislators to adopt legislation this year, nine LGBTQ-related bills have now been sent to Governor Gavin Newsom to either veto or sign into law. Another three bills are awaiting final votes ahead of lawmakers’ final legislative session on August 31. A number of the bills sent this week for Newsom’s signature will improve health care access and other services for transgender and gendernonconforming Californians. One authored by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), Senate Bill 923, would require medical pro fessionals who interact with trans gender, gender-nonconforming, and intersex patients to receive cultural competency training, and health providers would need to create searchable online directories of their gender-affirming services.
Among the trio of bills that have yet to be sent to Newsom is Wiener’s SB 107 that would make California a refuge for trans kids and their fami lies persecuted by their own govern ments in states such as Texas and Idaho. It would establish protections for parents who bring their trans kids to California to access genderaffirming health care banned in their homeAnotherstate.is AB 2417, the Youth Bill of Rights by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), that would require incarcerated youth, many of whom are LGBTQ+, to be informed of their existing rights under state and federal law and have easier access to that information. Also waiting to be passed is the STI Prevention & Treatment Fair ness Act, SB 1234 authored by Sena tor Dr. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), that aims to expand access to services related to the prevention and treat ment of sexually transmitted infec tions to income-eligible patients who have confidentiality concerns, in cluding LGBTQ+ patients, through the state’s Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment program. Such patients would be reimbursed for the cost of their care, subject to an ap propriation by the Legislature and any potential draw down of federal matching funds.
AB 1041 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) would expand family leave provisions for workers to include their chosen family members in addition to their biological relatives, spouses and chil dren. It aims to take into account how many LGBTQ people are es tranged from their biological fami lies and have households comprised of close friends they may need to care for during times of illness.
LGBTQ
Two bills already signed Newsom has already signed two LGBTQ bills this year. One, AB 1741 introduced by gay Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Campbell), requires the governor to annually proclaim November 20 as Transgender Day of Remembrance. The event, started in 1998 by B.A.R. Transmissions col umnist Gwen Smith, commemorates those transgender people lost to vio lence in a given year. He also signed Wiener’s SB 357 that repeals California’s “walking while trans” loitering law. Sex worker advocates and LGBTQ leaders have denounced such criminal codes due to police using them to arrest trans gender women who engage in prosti tution in order to make a living. The Legislature had passed the bill last year, but Wiener held off on sending it to the governor until this year as Newsom reviewed it. Califor nia now joins the state of New York in repealing its loitering laws, as the Empire State did so in 2021. t
by Matthew S. Bajko
The East Bay Times reported that when an officer arrived “less than a minute after an alert about the attack,” he found Kellogg standing near the victim, who has not been publicly identified, holding a shovel. Kellogg allegedly fled the scene, running across the street to a building where the of ficer detained and arrested her, he told the “Therepaper.aretwo suspects who are still at large,” the UCPD spokes person told the B.A.R. Kellogg had also been standing near two shovels when the police arrived, the Times reported. One was apparently stained with blood on its handle. The victim, inter viewed by police while she was in hospital, identified Kellogg as one of three people who had at tacked her. There was no indica tion whether the victim knew her attackers.Surveillance footage seen by the officer showed that Kellogg “hit the victim approximately 11 times with the metal end of a shovel over the course of five minutes, accord ing to the court declaration,” the Times reported. “‘Each shovel strike appeared to be aimed at the victim’s head and upper body’ before stomping the victim in the head,” the paper added, quoting theKellogg,declaration.who works at a Mc Donald’s according to her Face book profile and who moved to Contra Costa Country from Las Vegas in 2020, is being held with out bail and will have a pretrial hearing September 13. She faces several charges including first de gree attempted murder, use of a deadly weapon, and subjecting her alleged victim to “great bodily injury,” according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s office. “The investigation into other potential suspects and crimes is still ongoing,” stated Reich. It was not immediately clear if Kellogg has an attorney. A spokes person at the Alameda County Public Defender’s office said the office was checking to see if it was representing her. UCPD is asking the public to call (510) 642-6760 if they have any information about this inci dent.
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Arrest made in Berkeley beating case
by Liz Highleyman St. James Infirmary – the na tion’s first occupational health and safety clinic run by and for sex workers – has new digs and held a grand opening party to celebrate its fifth home in its two-decade his tory.Several Sisters of Perpetual In dulgence were on hand August 24 at St. James’ new location at 1089 Mission Street for the festivities and to bless the space. “The work St. James Infirmary has done over the years is the bless ing in itself,” said Sister Roma. “The important services this organiza tion provides to an underserved and often unseen community is invaluable, and we are so happy for you to have this beautiful new space.”The clinic, named after the late pioneering sex worker activist Mar go St. James, offers a wide range of services for sex workers of all gen ders and orientations, including medical care, counseling, genderaffirming hormone therapy, and harm reduction services. St. James died in January 2021 at the age of 83. “Our new home at Mission and Seventh streets is our fifth since 1999 and our first really ‘grownup’ space,” SJI co-founder, clinical director, and nurse practitioner Chuck Cloniger, Ph.D., told the Bay Area Reporter. “It’s a beautiful, modern, safe home for our partici pants and staff.”
“During the course of the in vestigation, it was determined that the … assault was an anti-trans gender hate crime based on infor mation provided during the inves tigation,” according to a statement from UCPD Officer Sabrina Reich to the Bay Area Reporter. The suspect, a 20-year-old woman named Destiny Kellogg, was arrested after UC Berkeley police responded to a call about a tent being set ablaze and a woman subjected to a violent attack.
The new Mission Street space in cludes medical facilities, counseling rooms, a harm reduction lounge, and an inviting community space, along with staff offices. Since the departure of its last full-time execu tive director, Toni Newman, in early 2020, the clinic has been run by 12 co-directors.“Wesaid,‘We don’t want to hire another executive director. We’re already running our programs,’” said co-director Anita “Durt” O’Shea. “We make decisions as a team. We have an incredible staff of amazing people. So many of us have been prostitutes, putas, hook ers, drug users, homeless. We’ve experienced a lot of things that our clients, or participants, have expe rienced.”Inaddition to primary care, the clinic offers HIV testing and pre vention services (including PrEP), sexually transmitted disease screen ing and treatment, hormones and other care for trans people, and mental health care. Medical servic es have been available by appoint ment during COVID-19, but SJI plans to restart its drop-in clinic, according to O’Shea. SJI’s new space also offers case management, support groups, housing assistance, clothing, and harm reduction services including clean syringes and naloxone for overdose prevention. In addition, its “Naughty Nurse Mobile” pro vides street outreach in areas where people in the sex trade work and gather. SJI also operates the Taimon Booton Navigation Center and the Bobbi Jean Baker House for trans and gender-nonconforming people experiencing homelessness. All ser vices are free and confidential. The latest move comes amid challenges including an increas ingly steep cost of living in the city, displacement, a deadly overdose crisis, the continuing risk of CO VID and now monkeypox, and an increasingly hostile national politi cal and legal climate. “As renewed threats to our bodily and human personhoods explode across the U.S., St. James Infirmary continues to stand as a bulwark against sex-worker stigma and violence and the closely relat ed and complex effects of racism, transphobia, and homophobia, especially among the poor and un housed,” Cloniger said. He welcomed current and for mer sex workers and their partners to visit the new space for services and “bring your voices and ex pertise to help us grow St James Infirmary into an increasingly im pactful and justice-focused organi zation.”Formore information about St. James Infirmary, visit https://www. stjamesinfirmary.org/ t by Eric Burkett
A n Antioch woman is being held in San Rita Jail in Dublin after allegedly attempting to kill a transgender woman in Berkeley’s People’s Park August 21. Police from the University of California Police Department re sponded to the scene.
A two-decade history SJI initially operated out of City Clinic on Seventh Street before opening its own facility at 1372 Mission Street, just blocks from the new location, in 2004. When the landlord sold that building, the San Francisco Department of Public Health helped the clinic se cure a space on Eddy Street in the Tenderloin in 2016. Two years later, SJI moved to the Polk Street build ing that houses the San Francisco Community Health Center, Project Open Hand, and the Shanti Project. Wherever it was based, SJI has provided judgment-free care for people of all genders involved in the sex trade and their partners and children who live and work in the Bay Area, as well as visiting sex workers.SJIhas more than 90 paid staff across all its programs who do around 10,000 participant or client encounters annually. SJI receives funding from DPH, the City and County of San Francisco, the fed eral Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and nonprofits including the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Levi Strauss Foundation. It also relies on pri vate donations. According to its IRS Form 990 for 2020, it operates on a budget of about $3.5 million. “St. James Infirmary was created by sex workers for sex workers,” Cloniger previously told the B.A.R. “When we talked with sex workers about their health needs, they often said that they never told their medi cal providers about their work. St. James Infirmary came into being to meet the unique health needs of sex workers and provide a safe place for them to be able to talk about their work and their lives.”
September 1-7, 2022 • Bay area reporter • 9t Each of our communities offer a unique place where you can be yourself, live among friends and experience new adventures, all while securing your future. Explore your next steps for joining today! Communit ykeeps youSpringconnected.LakeVillage Santa Rosa, CA 707.579.6964 #490107656 COA#352 St. Paul’s Towers Oakland, CA 510.891.8542 #011400627 COA#351 San Francisco Towers San Francisco, CA 415.447.5527 #380540292 COA#350 fpretirement.net St. James sex worker clinic moves to Mission Street Community News>> St. James Infirmary staff were joined by several Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence who blessed the clinic’s new space at 1089 Mission Street August 24. Liz Highleyman
Peninsula candidates
City councilmember Giselle Hale, currently serving as mayor. “Redwood City’s downtown is the pride of the Peninsula. I trust no one more to keep it a safe and vibrant place than Chris,” stated Hale, who recently ended her bid for state Assembly and announced she wouldn’t seek reelection to the council due to the personal attacks and harassment she had received this year as a legislative candidate. “He will listen to our neighbors to ensure that Redwood City small businesses and residents thrive.”
Housing animates campaigns
A key issue running through all their campaigns is a need to build more housing for people of vari ous income levels in their cities.
“I have seen far too many friends and family move away because they can’t afford to live here,” said Sturken, who works for the nonprofit HIP Housing. “I want to make Redwood City a more safe, livable, and affordable place to live. How I want to do that is by focusing on affordable housing, on making our down town safe and vibrant, and ending homelessness.”Aswithhis first council cam paign, housing is once again a main focus for Fruen as he runs this fall. He noted that his city’s leaders have been in an ongoing fight with state leaders over their refusal to approve local housing developments.“Alltheissues that existed in 2020 have gotten significantly worse. The housing issue has got ten worse and more palpable for more people,” noted Fruen, who helped launch the advocacy group Cupertino for All in order to orga nize around such issues in his city. He worries about seeing his city be stripped of its ability to weigh in on housing developments if there isn’t a change in leadership on the “Thecouncil.reason people should sup port me is we have to build hous ing, so we should at least extract more benefits from it and ensure it is better for the community writlarge and not the developers. You can only do that with a council ca pable and willing to negotiate with the developers who are going to build,” said Fruen. “Because they are going to build anyway and the state is going to make us build this housing, let’s negotiate for better projects. I am a vehicle for nego tiating better projects.” Fields said she would like to see more transit-oriented housing de velopments be built near her city’s three CalTrain stations, two of which are within the council dis trict she is seeking to represent. “It is really important we use land in proximity to those transit stations to develop. It is where we can get the most impact and build most efficiently,” said Fields.
Anthony Becker, who is gay, was elected to the Santa Clara City Council, while gay Morgan Hill City Councilmember Rene Spring secured reelection. Becker is now running to be his city’s mayor this November, while lesbian San Car los City Councilmember Laura Parmer-Lohan is vying for a San Mateo County supervisor seat.
South Bay races Mehlinger, 35, is one of two candidates seeking the District 5 seat on the Sunnyvale City Coun cil. It includes the Cannery Park neighborhood where he bought a townhouse three months ago. The Long Beach native gradu ated from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California with degrees in computer science and history then earned a master’s degree in history from UC River side. His landing a job as an en gineer at a networking company based in Moffett Park brought him to Sunnyvale in 2011. “The job market for the hu manities is really bad,” noted Mehlinger, who now works as a software engineer with Dropbox. Following the 2016 presi dential race, he joined his city’s grassroots group Livable Sunny vale and several city oversight bodies, chairing the Sunnyvale Bicycle and Pedestrian Advi sory Commission. He also be came a board member of the Democratic Club of Sunnyvale and volunteered on several lo cal campaigns, serving as the assistant campaign manager for Cisneros’ council bid. She is among a slew of elected leaders who have endorsed Mehlinger, as have EQCA, the Victory Fund, and the Silicon Valley Stonewall Democrats.“Itookstock of things and de cided I wanted to get involved. I wanted to fight to help make this country a better place,” recalled Mehlinger, who saw city engage ment as the most impactful way to make a difference. “I realized pretty quickly there is little you can do as one person at the fed eral and state level. But at the local level, all you have to do is show up, and show up consis tently, to have an impact.”
The growing contingent of out elected leaders on the Peninsula comes as its LGBTQ community has worked to become more vis ible throughout the region and more organized in seeking support at both the local and county level. Playing a large role in that work has been the San Mateo County LGBTQ Commission, which Stur ken currently co-chairs. In a recent interview with the B.A.R., Sturken noted that he is the first person to run for elected office while serving on the LG BTQ advisory body. (His former boyfriend, Jason Galisatus, had left the commission by the time he unsuccessfully ran in 2018 for a Redwood City council seat.)
Mullin and Berman have also endorsed Fields’ candidacy for the District 3 seat on her city council, as has departing councilmember Joe Goethals. Running against two male opponents, Fields would be the first out LGBTQ councilmem ber in San Mateo if she wins the race.“I felt I needed to step up and run, as I have experience working in state and local government. I am also active in the community,” said Fields, 36, who has worked for a number of Jewish organizations and now is the director of com munity engagement and public affairs for LifeMoves, which pro vides interim housing and services to unhoused individuals and fam ilies. “I can really bring the right perspective and knowledge and experience to council in this time of really significant transition.” Fields was referring to the fact that her city is set to see four new council members this year along with new congressional and state Assembly members. Mullin is fa vored to succeed outgoing Con gressmember Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) and Diane Papan, San Mateo’s current vice mayor, is set to replace him in the state Legislature now that Hale dropped out of the race. San Mateo is moving to districtbased council races this year, with none of the current councilmem bers running for the three seats on the November 8 ballot. The winners of those races will help to appoint someone to Papan’s seat once she resigns later this year. “It is a really dynamic year for elective office,” noted Fields, the northern vice chair of the San Ma teo County Democratic Party the last two Originallyyears. from San Diego, Fields attended college and gradu ate school in New York, where she also worked in various capacities, and also spent time living in Israel. In 2014, she returned to Southern California and joined the staff of former state senator Marty Block (D-San Diego). (Her boss at the time was Chris Ward, a gay man who is now a state assemblymem ber from San Diego.) When Block left office in 2016, Fields relocated to San Mateo and became involved with the Penin sula Young Democrats, which she led as president. Last year, Fields was appointed to San Mateo’s parks and rec commission. She had worked for the pub lic affairs firm Singer Associates Inc. in 2020 trying to pass a ballot measure that would increase San Mateo’s height and density limits for new developments. It lost by 42“Itvotes.was very upsetting,” recalled Fields, who had already been thinking about seeking public of fice in order to address such issues as an elected leader. As her city works on updat ing its general plan and meeting its new housing requirements as mandated by the state, Fields wants to help impact the outcomes of those efforts as a councilmem ber. She worries about seeing the city’s local control be restricted if it doesn’t allow for new housing to be “Webuilt.need to meet those obliga tions and be making investments in the infrastructure and ameni ties that make San Mateo a nice place to live,” said Fields, adding that the city also needs “to accom modate the numbers we need to accommodate while minimizing the impacts for residents, both new ones and the people who al ready live here.”
A main motivation for Meh linger to run for his City Council is to be able to address a lack of af fordable homes in his city. The is sue was behind his first addressing the council five years ago during public comment; it prompted sev eral council members to approach him about running for a council seat one day. “That is what I started doing around 2017, I got involved in or ganizations advocating for afford able housing,” recalled Mehlinger. Unlike surrounding cities, Sunnyvale has increased its hous ing supply in recent years, he noted. It has 58,000 homes now and is looking to add 12,000 over the next eight years. With a popu lation of nearly 160,000, it is the largest city between San Francisco and San Jose.
“One of the things I very much appreciate about this city is we build housing and we have consis tently built housing here over the past 40 years,” said Mehlinger, not ing the city is at work on adding thousands of new housing units. “In terms of sheer quantity we are doing well. We need to be building more affordable housing, which as you know is challenging because it is essentially an unfunded man date.” t
Next door in Cupertino Fruen is one of eight candidates run ning citywide for three council seats up this year. If elected, the attorney would be the first LG BTQ person to serve on the city council.Withonly one incumbent run ning this year, Fruen told the B.A.R. he is feeling “very strong” about his chances of being elect ed. For one thing, he has better name recognition now with vot ers having run previously. Fruen also believes his running as an out candidate could be ad vantageous. He often wears a hat with a rainbow pin on it when he knocks on voters’ doors and has yet to see it draw concern from the people he engages with. “I don’t think it is a major is sue at all. If anything, it is a slight positive for me I suspect,” he told the B.A.R. “It is not something I think is a major concern on vot ers’Heminds.”isathird generation resi dent of Cupertino whose ma ternal grandparents voted on incorporating as a city in 1955. His parents ended up moving to Santa Clara but he often stayed with his grandparents in Cuper tino.After earning a B.A. in Euro pean studies and German with a minor in Italian from UCLA in 2002, he moved back to the Bay Area and graduated from Santa Clara University’s law school in 2014. He now owns his own practice, Marks Matter, focusing on trademark law. He and his husband, Clifton Der Bing, a licensed psychologist, are homeowners in Cupertino. Two weekends ago the couple was finally able to hold the large wed ding ceremony in a local church they had to postpone in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. (They held a small, private wedding that summer and, last year, had a county clerk legally wed them in Hollister.)With$32,000 already raised for his campaign, Fruen told the B.A.R. he is confident of rais ing at least $55,000 in the com ing weeks. He has pledged not to take donations from developers or “Cupertinocorporations.residents deserve competent, homegrown leader ship - someone who looks for ward to better our lives while building strong partnerships with leaders across the South Bay,” noted Fruen in a recent fun draising appeal to his supporters.
Sturken, 28, would be the youngest man on his city council in recent memory. He is one of three candidates seeking the coun cil’s District 1 seat, which includes the downtown area. A renter, Stur ken has served on his city’s trans portation advisory committee since last year and was appointed to his city’s planning body in July. “I have the experience and the deep connection to the commu nity,” said Sturken, who grew up in nearby Belmont, as for why he feels qualified to be a council member.Aco-founder of LGBTQ po litical club the San Mateo County Stonewall Democrats in 2020, he has attracted significant support for his council candidacy. Assem blymembers Kevin Mullin (DSouth San Francisco) and Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto) and San Mateo Supervisors Don Horsley and Warren Slocum have endorsed him, as has departing Redwood
10 • Bay area reporter • September 1-7, 2022 t WALL BEDS space furnituresavingAND Platform Storage Beds • Closet Systems • Armoires • Home Office • Dressers 415.822.0184 www.roomax.com Call us for apppointment!an Visit our Showroom 2481-D San Leandro Blvd, San Leandro, CA << Election 2022 << Out candidates From page 1 Redwood City council candidate Chris Sturken Christina Sturken Cupertino City Council candidate J.R. Fruen Courtesy the campaign San Mateo City Council candidate Sarah Fields Courtesy the campaign Sunnyvale City Council candidate Richard Mehlinger Courtesy the campaign
For most of his 30 years working for the YMCA, Jamie BruningMiles remained in the closet. Various executives with the national nonprofit counseled him that coming out as gay would negatively impact his career. He knew several lesbians who served as CEO of their local YMCAs, none who were out publicly at the time. For much of his time with the agency, Bruning-Miles knew of no other gay men working for it. So, when the YMCA of San Fran cisco promoted him in July 2020 as its president and CEO, Bruning-Miles became the first out gay man serve in such a role with the nonprofit. Within months of Bruning-Miles becoming CEO, the YMCA of Honolulu hired Greg Waibel, a gay man, as its presi dent and CEO. The two had first met several years earlier.
by Matthew S. Bajko
September 1-7, 2022 • Bay area reporter • 11t Community News>> Gay SF YMCA CEO Bruning-Miles breaks barriers HIGH HOLY DAYS Register CSZ.ORG/HHDat Rosh Hashanah 9/25 - 9/27 IN TOGETHER.ONLINE.PERSON. Yom Kippur 10/4 - 10/5
To learn more about the YMCA of San Francisco, visit its website at https://www.ymcasf.org/ Jamie Bruning-Miles, CEO of the YMCA of San Francisco, stands in the fitness center at the agency’s Embarcadero facility.
Connections His pitch for why people should become YMCA members is that the agency fosters connections between, and is welcoming of, “every commu nity” in the city, he said. “How many spaces and places can you be your best self? The Y is one of the few spaces in the city that is in tergenerational and where you get to meet with the community and be part of San Francisco,” said Bruning-Miles.
Christopher Robledo
With the YMCA’s Chinatown loca tion closed due to the COVID epi demic, longtime member Tom Horn started going to the Embarcadero facility. (Due to a $1 million dona tion from his father, the Albuquer que YMCA that opened in 1992 is named the HB & Lucille Horn Family YMCA.)Horn, the former publisher of the B.A.R., happened to be there to swim the morning that Bruning-Miles spoke to the paper and gave a tour of the“Thisbuilding.place is great,” said Horn, who had not previously met BruningMiles. “I live a half block from the Chinatown Y and went there for a long time, as it has a salt water pool, but this Y opened early. I love it. It has a sauna, steam room, and the pool is great. For an old guy like me, I feel very safe swimming here. I couldn’t recommend it higher.”
One step Bruning-Miles took to cut down on costs was moving the YMCA’s corporate offices from 50 California Street, where it was paying a lease, into its Steuart Street building by reworking the fourth floor for of fices and installing a conference area in its rooftop deck accessed from the fifth floor. His office with its bay views is on the ground level next to what had been the original lobby area for the YMCA accessed via the Embar cadero.“Iam a big believer in people over spaces,” said Bruning-Miles, who continues to allow the nonprofit’s ex ecutive staff to have hybrid schedules working partly from home and at the office.He is also hiring again, with life guards and people to oversee the YMCA’s youth programs in particular need. The Y recently relaunched its private swim lessons and is aiming to begin offering group swim lessons again in 2023. “We are coming back slowly,” he said. Membership costs vary depending on which YMCA location a person chooses, their income, and if they are a single adult or join up as a fam ily. For the Embarcadero location, the single adult monthly fee is $85, while the family rate for a couple with chil dren is “One$170.infour don’t pay the full fee,” said Bruning-Miles.
“We are making sure we are transfriendly,” said Bruning-Miles. He is a fount of historical informa tion and interesting factoids about the Y, which was originally founded in Britain in 1844 and was launched in the U.S. in Boston on December 28, 1851. It early on focused on offering gymnastics to its young male members and later figured out how to filtrate water for pools, leading it to provide group swimming lessons, he noted. “We invented basketball and vol leyball,” boasted Bruning-Miles, who also noted it launched Father’s Day on June 6, 1910, at the YMCA in Spo kane, Washington. “It is a very unique organization.”Theorganization’s long history of innovation provided inspiration for Bruning-Miles and his staff when they were forced to close down their facili ties at the start of the COVID pan demic in 2020. They were the first to begin offering online exercise classes. “People in other cities were logging on. It was all free,” said Bruning-Miles. It led to the new Y360 virtual plat form offered to Y members across the country. It is free for them to use and provides access to online Y programs wherever they have internet access. The YMCA of San Francisco pro vides services not only in the city but also throughout San Mateo and Marin counties. It has 120 locations and offers everything from workout facilities and afterschool resource cen ters to food pantries. Its main building in San Francisco is the Embarcadero YMCA at 169 Steuart Street. Roughly 55,000 square feet, it includes a fitness center, pools, rooftop deck, and the Youth Chance High School, a charter school with more than two-dozen students that the YMCA runs in partnership with the city’s public school district. “There is no other high school in the Financial District,” said BruningMiles, noting that during the COVID pandemic the YMCA relocated the high school from its basement loca tion to a renovated space directly off the building’s lobby. Attached to its building is the Har bor Court hotel, which has a 30-year lease with the YMCA to operate and showcases the history of the nonprofit via photos in its lobby. Guests can pay a small fee to use the YMCA’s fitness center, accessed via a doorway near the hotel’s entrance on Steuart Street. Despite the downturn in travel brought on by the COVID pandemic, the hotel never stopped making its lease payments to the YMCA. It was a financial lifeline for the agency as it was dealing with the economic im pacts of the health crisis, which led to it furloughing its 1,400 staff in 2020. “The hotel committed to paying its base rent, otherwise we would have had to lay off people,” said BruningMiles.Another lifeline for the local YMCA came six weeks into BruningMiles’ tenure as CEO when Mack enzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced an $18 million donation to the organization to be shared between 43 Ys across the country. The YMCAs in San Fran cisco and Los Angeles were the only ones in California to benefit from the bequest.“The funding runs out in 2023, so we will have to find a way to recover next year or we are going to have to make some rough decisions,” said Bruning-Miles.TheYMCA’s annual fiscal year budget, which runs from July 1 to June 30, is roughly $100 million. It has yet to release its financial disclosures for its 2020-2021 fiscal year, when Bruning-Miles took over as CEO. In his previous position as the YMCA’s chief operating officer, his salary was $345,273. Bruning-Miles replaced longtime CEO Charles Col lins, whose salary had been $455,295.
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The continuation of work-fromhome policies at numerous compa nies with offices downtown means the YMCA has yet to see a full return of its members pre-pandemic. It now has 2,000 paying members, which is 30% fewer than what it had been three years ago when memberships numbered 5,000. It is an issue Ys across the country are grappling with, said BruningMiles, as many are located in down town areas in order to be close to their city’s business districts and office workers.“Allthe Y’s in the country are strug gling to come back because of people working remotely,” he said. “We are committed to it. We are going to fig ure it out.”
“My dream is whoever you are, whatever community you come from, you are accepted the day you walk in the door,” Bruning-Miles told the Bay Area Reporter during an interview this summer at the local YMCA’s Em barcaderoBruning-Miles,location.54, grew up in a strict Southern Baptist family in Eustis, Flori da. As soon as he graduated from high school, he entered the Navy and was sent to the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in Ridgecrest, California. Both his brothers also served in the Navy. Tragically, his older brother drowned at the age of 19 during a res cueAfteroperation.leaving the Navy in 1989 Bruning-Miles returned home to Florida to attend college and took a job at the front desk of a newly opened YMCA. After graduating from the University of Central Flori da, he moved to Savannah, Georgia to work as a teacher. But his old boss at the Y hired him back as its wellness and aquatics di rector. He briefly quit working for the agency when his husband of 17 years, Ronald, suggested they move to Mil waukee, where they bought a home in order to care for Bruning-Miles’ mother after the passing of his father. Initially, Bruning-Miles hadn’t planned to work for the local YMCA. But he missed working for the“Iorganization.wasmiserable without the Y,” he recalled.Hewas hired to oversee the con struction of a hospital/YMCA facility in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. It led to a job with the YMCA of Greater Phila delphia and later the couple moving to Sausalito in 2014 when the YMCA of San Francisco hired Bruning-Miles as its chief operating officer. “I was the first openly gay man hired as an COO with the Y,” noted Bruning-Miles.Afterbecoming CEO, he and his husband moved to San Francisco. “I need to be part of the city for this job,” he explained. His hiring is just the latest example of how the YMCA has worked to be come more LGBTQ friendly over the years. One change he pushed for was opening up the Y’s family member ships to same-sex couples. “The last struggle of the organiza tion is to be inclusive of the LGBTQ community across the board, no ques tions asked,” said Bruning-Miles. “We are doing much better. Same-sex fami lies 30 years ago didn’t exist in the Y.” Welcoming to all In recent years the YMCA has taken steps to ensure its facilities are welcom ing to members who are transgender or gender-nonconforming. It installed all-gender locker rooms, in addition to its men’s and women’s locker rooms, and is now moving toward having universal locker rooms. There will be two universal locker rooms in its new location it is building in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood.
by Cynthia Laird Rick Peterson, a gay man and a former co-president of the Fed eration of Gay Games, died August 15 after he was pulled from the water while swimming in Lake Washington in Seattle. He was 71. Thomas DeVera, Mr. Peterson’s life partner, wrote in an email that Mr. Pe terson was on his 85th mile swim this summer, with his orange swim buoy strapped to his waist. He most likely experienced a heart arrhythmia, caus ing him to lose consciousness and later asphyxiate, according to a medi cal exam, DeVera wrote. Mr. Peterson, a longtime Seattle resident, served as an inaugural copresident of FGG after its transition from San Francisco Arts and Athlet ics, beginning in 1989, until 1994. He was also an Honorary Life Member of the federation for his contributions andDuringservice.an August 29 Zoom call, DeVera said that he met Mr. Peterson 21 years ago and they became part ners in December 2001. “He already lived a rich life,” DeVera said. “He inspired so many people and it goes beyond his work with the Fed eration of Gay Games and swimming at large. Rick gave time to the AIDS community. Rick ran an advertising agency that he started after 9/11.” Mr. Peterson, along with business partner, Tom Scherer, founded Hy drogen, a Seattle-based ad agency, in September 2001. Both founders be lieved that simplicity was key to cre ating powerful advertising and mar keting solutions, hence, they named the agency after the simplest element in the universe, according to Mr. Pe terson’s biography. As Hydrogen’s president, Mr. Peterson’s steady hand helped guide the agency through eco nomic ebbs and flows during its 21year history. Although Mr. Peterson retired from Hydrogen in 2017, he continued his support to help assure its success moving forward. Julie Averill, a lesbian, was a long time friend of Mr. Peterson’s and joined DeVera on the Zoom call with the Bay Area Reporter. She said that she met Mr. Peterson when they worked together at a small company, Fine.com (now Aris Corporation) many years ago in Seattle. Mr. Peterson served as creative director, she said. “We formed a very close friendship that lasted 25 years,” said Averill. Dr. Bob Wood was also on the Zoom call. A former director of the HIV/AIDS program for King County in Washington, which includes Seat tle, Wood said his friendship with Mr. Peterson went back to the late 1970s. When the AIDS epidemic started, the county health department recruited him, explained Wood, a gay man, who mostly had seen gay patients at his privateWoodpractice.saidthat he and Mr. Peterson were involved with the Dorian Group, an early gay rights organization in the Pacific Northwest, and they served on its membership committee together. “He was very reluctant to talk about himself,” Wood said. Long before the Gay Games, Mr. Peterson did reside in San Francisco after he finished college, in about 1973, Wood said. By 1977, he was back in Seattle. Gay Games It was Mr. Peterson’s involvement with Gay Games that is remembered by many San Francisco LGBTQ ath letes and others involved with the quadrennial sports competition. Most recently, Mr. Peterson was involved with Gay Games 11 Hong Kong. It was supposed to have been held this year but was postponed to 2023 due to the COVID pandemic. (Guadalajara, Mexico will co-host Gay Games 11 next year.)
Ms. Lloyd was born on May 30, 1953 in Kimberley, British Colum bia, Canada and moved to Ontario, California when she was 4 years old. She graduated from Chaffey High School and went to barber college in Long Beach. She worked in New port Beach and San Luis Obispo before moving to San Francisco in 1987, beginning a 30-year career cutting hair. Ms. Lloyd was predeceased by her parents, Lillian and Stanley, as well as her two Chihuahuas, Evita and Is abella, who often accompanied her to work. She is survived by her sister, Linda Lloyd Cadd and brother-inlaw Eric; brother Terry; numerous nieces and nephews; and many San Franciscans who were customers andTherefriends.are no plans for a public memorial, according to her family. Contributions in Ms. Lloyd’s mem ory can be sent to one of her favorite causes, Muttville, a senior dog res cue, at https://muttville.org/.t
Castro barber Mary Jane Lloyd dies
Bevan Dufty, a gay man and for mer District 8 supervisor who’s now an elected member of the BART board, fondly recalled Ms. Lloyd. “There are so many great memo ries of the Viking in its heyday, espe cially with Robbie, Jane, and Wes,” Dufty wrote in a text message. “It was a perfect Norman Lear com edy, especially when Jane would lay down the law about whatever po litical issue or Republican was bub blingDuftyover.”added that the Q Founda tion helped Ms. Lloyd maintain her housing in the neighborhood. Vye Powers opened Viking in the early 1960s, when the shop was lo cated on Market Street. The Sanchez location is now another barbershop, Barberology.Longtime friend James Nantais, a gay man now living in Palm Springs, wrote in an email, “It was such an honor to know Jane. I’ll miss her laugh, her love of dogs, [and] her love of martinis and oysters. She was a character. Anyone who knew her loved her and she would love tenfold back. Rest in peace dear Janie. You are probably surrounded by your sweet pup, your dear mom and dad, a tasty martini, and fresh oysters.”Ms.Lloyd was known for her boisterous political rants, often fo cused on local Democrats who were never far enough to the left for her taste. But she was also quick to sup port many Democratic candidates, including House Speaker Nancy Pe losi (D-San Francisco), former U.S. senator Barbara Boxer (D-Califor nia), and former presidential candi dates Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sena tor Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), volunteering with their campaigns and donating to their campaigns.
Mary Jane Lloyd used to own Viking Barber Shop in the Castro. James Nantais Rick Peterson stood by the 700 Year Stadium Pool in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Rick Peterson
Dennis Philipse, founder and former leader of the Gay Games 11 Hong Kong team, wrote in an email that Mr. Peterson joined its partnership development team in 2018 and worked “passion ately” to get sponsors. “After the first couple of calls with him, I immediately felt his amazing passion, energy, and experience for LGBTQ+ sports and the community,” Philipse wrote. “He helped us to get Marriott, Google, and Lululemon as anchor sponsors despite the Hong Kong COVID and political situation. “I enjoyed working with Rick, as it was always fun, lots of energy, and he always felt like a mentor to me,” Philipse added. “I’m grateful for his friendship, and all he has done, seen, and, more importantly, unseen for ourChristofcommunity.”Wittig, a gay man liv ing in San Francisco, is also involved with the Gay Games and praised Mr. Peterson’s success in helping secure sponsors.“Rick was instrumental in driv ing the efforts to increase commer cial sponsorship funding for the Gay Games 11 in Hong Kong, given the lack of financial support from the government there,” Wittig, director of fundraising for the event, wrote in an email. “This resulted in getting prolif ic sponsors such as Marriott Bonvoy, Google YouTube, Lululemon, Stan dard Chartered, and Gilead behind the idea that the world of LGBTQ+ people can continue to be changed for the better, also in new regions like Asia, through the sports and arts pro grams of the Gay Games since its first edition in San Francisco in 1982.”
Derek Liecty, a longtime Gay Games participant who lives in the East Bay – the 90-year-old said that he’s taken part in every event in bicy cling but has had to step back due to suffering an injury – fondly recalled Mr. Peterson’s involvement. “I knew him very, very well,” Li ecty said in a phone interview. “Rick Peterson was the calming force of the federation through all its travails. He was intelligent, resourceful, and noncontroversial in the main.” Liecty said he believed Mr. Peter son’s lasting contribution will be “the fact that although not fulfilled, he was on the verge of arranging major corporate sponsorships for the Gay Games at the time of his death.” He noted Mr. Peterson’s involvement in securing sponsorships for the Hong Kong Gay Games, but said that the federation as a whole has not secured long-term major financial support. “I’m hoping someone will be able to pick up where he left off,” Liecty added. “I just wish we had more like him in the federation. On the other hand, I think it’s a miracle this non profit has carried on for 40 years.” In an essay Mr. Peterson wrote for FGG for its 40th anniversary this year, he stated that he learned of Gay Games – the first was in San Francisco in 1982 – from his friend Dana Cox, who had returned to Seattle from the event, where he’d won two gold med als in “Actually,swimming.atthat time in 1982, I had no perception of any opportunity to participate in Seattle’s emerging gay community as a swimmer or athlete (other than bowling and softball at the time, plus a little volleyball), let alone anything as fantastic-sounding as what Dana described – entering Kezar Stadium along with about 1,500 other LGBTQ+ athletes and artists at the Opening Ceremonies of Gay Games and being serenaded by Tina Turner!” Mr. Peterson wrote. “I think Dana was the only swimmer from Seattle. I was fascinated.”Mr.Peterson, an avid and accom plished swimmer from the age of 10 until he finished college, in 1984 decided to form a gay swim team in Seattle with Cox and another friend, John Horman. “We called ourselves the Emerald Orca Swim Club (Se attle is nicknamed the Emerald City for being surrounded by evergreen forests and mountains). I became co-captain and shortly thereafter Allison Beezer joined me as co-cap tain – a wonderful woman involved with guiding clients on sociallyresponsible investing and financial planning,” Mr. Peterson wrote. “One of our biggest first goals was to or ganize swimmers and divers from Seattle to participate in Gay Games II in San Francisco in 1986. Dana would no longer be the only Gay Games swimmer from Seattle! “To get ready, we needed to not only practice swimming, we needed coaching, we needed pool access, we needed to practice actually swim ming in competitions, diving off the starter blocks, having legal turns at the end of each pool length, not getting disqualified for touching the pool end with one hand versus two hands simultaneously as required by U.S. Masters Swimming rules for breaststroke, etc.,” he added. He explained the long process of getting the Orca Swim Club to hold what he believed was the first USMS-sanctioned LGBTQ+ swim meet in the country in 1987 after Gay Games II. “That began a dramatic new chapter in my Gay Games adven tures. Including, during the five years I served as FGG co-president, the thrill of seeing Gay Games grow from 3,500 participants at Gay Games II in San Francisco in 1986, to 7,500 participants at Gay Games III in Vancouver in 1990, to 11,500 participants in 1994 at Gay Games IV in New York City,” Mr. Peterson wrote. “And along the way, breaking barriers and celebrating the devel opment of sport and culture groups – creating exciting opportunities for hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ+ athletes and artists worldwide to participate, be included, and reach for personal bests.” Other charitable work Wood said that Mr. Peterson served on the board of the North west AIDS Foundation (now part of Lifelong) and was president for two years.Wood said that part of the reason he got involved in Gay Games was to help people become more physi callyMr.active.Peterson was born August 6, 1951. He was a native Northwestern er – having grown up in Bellingham, Washington – and is both a Cougar and a Husky (with a Bachelor of Arts in communications from the Univer sity of Washington and a Bachelor of Science in zoology from Washington State University). He was also fast. In 1999, Mr. Peterson set three U.S. Masters Swimming National Top 10 times in the 50 & 100m freestyle and the 100m breaststroke. In addition to his partner De Vera, Mr. Peterson is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Greg and Leslie Peterson; his nephew Mat thew Maher Peterson and his niece Ashley Walker; and Mr. Peterson’s large community of friends, includ ing the international swimming community. by Sari Staver Longtime Castro barber Mary Jane Lloyd, who often gave cus tomers an earful of political gossip while she cut their hair, died sud denly at home on August 22, follow ing several years of declining health. She was 69. Ms. Lloyd, who went by Jane and was a lesbian, worked at and then owned the former Viking Barber Shop at 380 Sanchez Street, which had been one of the oldest continu ally operating LGBTQ businesses in the Castro. In addition to her bar bering skills, Ms. Lloyd was known for her wry, sarcastic sense of hu mor, with barbs directed at two of her favorite targets, politicians and the swarm of techies whom she felt pushed working-class people out of theMs.neighborhood.Lloydsupported numerous causes, including left-wing politics, LGBTQ issues, dog rescue, repro ductive rights, and the environ ment. She seemed to be unable to walk by a needy person on the street without digging into her pocket for a few bills, friends recalled. Ms. Lloyd was an avid reader and could often be seen between customers, relaxing in one of Viking’s green vinyl barber chairs, tackling the Los Angeles Times. She was beloved by customers, co-workers, and friends for her warmth, sense of humor, and gen erosity. Ms. Lloyd connected her customers to Humboldt County farmers, anxious to share her love of herbs. Ms. Lloyd was a lot of fun and could never pass up an invite to a party, friends said. Robert Drahos, a gay man who worked for Ms. Lloyd at Viking for 15 years, wrote in an email, “I’ll always remember Jane’s generos ity and kind heart. Her customers adored her. There were always hu morous and intellectual conversa tions at the shop. We shared many great years together.”
t 12 • Bay area reporter • September 1-7, 2022 t US LGBTQ sports leader Rick Peterson dies << Obituaries
No. 673 • May 27, outwordmagazine.com2021 SPECIAL ISSUE - CALIFORNIA PRIDE! Celebrate Pride Serving the lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer communities since 1971 www.ebar.com Vol. 52 • No.16 • April 21-27, 2022 3 8 Cannabis co. forming 13 The See page 10 >> by Matthew S.Bajko District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney declaredvictoryTuesdayinthespecialrunoffelectionforSanFrancisco’s vacant 17th Assembly District seat based on the initial vote count. Trailing in second was David Campos,a gay man who is a vice chair of the California Democratic Party. Haney took first place with 64% of the vote-by-mail ballots that the elections department received and processed before Election Day, while Campos received 36%.
Californialegislatorsareonceagainpush-ingforwardonanumberofbillsaimedatimprovingthelivesofthestate’stransgenderandnonbinaryresidents.Andduetothelegislativeattacksontranschildreninseveralotherstates,lawmakersinSacramentoarealsofocusedonassistingthoseyouthand
With3,306votesreceivedfrompollingplac-eswherepeoplecasttheirballotsinpersonTuesdayaddedin,Haney’stotalvotecountstoodat38,916votesandCampos’wasat22,567votes.BecausemostballotswereexpectedtobemailedinaheadofElectionDay,HaneythankedvotersforelectinghimtotheAs-semblyseatrepresentingthecity’seasternneighborhoodsassoonasthefirstelectionresultswereposted.“Firstresultsareout:We’reupbyover27points.Wewon,”tweetedHaney.“ThankyousomuchtoSanFranciscovoters,&toallofourstaff,volunteers,donors,endors-ers,&everyonewhoworkedsohardoverthelast6months.”Campostoldhissupportersasthefirstnumberscameinthat“itdoesn’tseemlikewearegoingtobeabletowinthisrace.”Accordingtotheelectionsdepartmentitstillhasapproximately16,400ballotstocountandexpectedtoreceiveapproximate-ly2,700vote-by-mailballotsonWednesday.Itwillnextupdatethevotecountintheraceat4p.m.Thursday,April21.TheprogressivepoliticianswerethetoptwofinisherswhoadvancedoutoftheFeb-ruary15electiontofilltheseatvacatedbyDavidChiu,whoinNovemberbecameSanFrancisco’sfirstAsianAmericancityattor-ney.InthatcontestHaneyhadalsoplacedfirst,thoughbyanarrowermarginofabout700votes.TheyhavealsobothqualifiedfortheJune7primaryraceforafulltwo-yeartermin Matt Haney
by Matthew S.Bajko
by Cynthia Laird MayorLondonBreedhasmadeitofficialandappointedPauCregoastheper-manentexecutivedirectoroftheSanFranciscoOfficeofTransgenderInitiatives.Crego,atransandnonbinarySpanishimmi-grant,hadbeenservingasactingexecutivedirec-torsinceClairFarley,atranswomanwhoheadedthedepartmentsince2017,steppeddownlastSeptemberafterleadingtheofficeforfouryears.BreedandCityAdministratorCarmenChumadetheannouncementApril21.TheofficewasestablishedbythelatemayorEdLeeinJune2016withTheresaSparksasitsinauguraldirector.Itmarkedthefirsttimeamayorinthenationhadaseniordirectoroftransinitiatives,Lee’sof-ficestatedatthetime.(SantaClaraCounty’sOfficeofLGBTQAffairswasstartedin2015,andtherearesimilarofficesinPhiladelphiaandWashington,D.C.)InaphoneinterviewApril19,Crego,whostartedatthetransofficein2017androsetodeputydirectorbeforetakingoveronaninterimbasis,saidhewashonoredbytheappointment.“I’mthrilled,”hesaid.“I’vebeenwiththeOf-ficeofTransgenderInitiativesalmostsincethebeginning.It’sanexcitingopportunityformeandthetranscommunitylocally.”
Christopher Robledo HaneywinsbiginAssemblyrace Assemblymember-elect
CregotappedaspermanentEDofSanFrancisco’stransoffice 'PrEP Play' at NCTC ARTS 14 SF Filmfest faves ebar.com/subscribe BREAKING NEWS • EXCLUSIVE CONTENT • SPECIAL OFFERS & DISCOUNTS Courtesy CA Assembly Several LGBTQ-related bills are being heard in Sacramento. TransissuestopCALGBTQlegislativepush Sisters’ Easter party a hit TheSistersof PerpetualIndulgencebrought theirEasterpartybacktoMissionDoloresParkSunday,April17,forthefirsttimesincetheoutbreakof theCOVIDpandemicandthecrowd wasthrilled.Thisyear’sHunkyJesuswas“BlackWomanisGod”(BrittanyHenry)andtheFoxyMary,atfarleft,was“TransgenderMariadeGuadalupe” (ShaneZaldivar).Thedaybefore,nearlytwo-dozen Gooch ARTS Sci-fi writing program CALL 415-829-8937 OR EMAIL ADVERTISING@EBAR.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION San Francisco Sacramento Los Angeles DiegoSan Reach Califoria’s largest audience of LGBTQ consumers
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Previous HAPN Hero awardees include House Speaker Nancy Pe losi (D-San Francisco) and former city health director Barbara Garcia. Citi announces new policy for trans customers Citi has announced that eligible debit customers now have the abil ity to use their preferred name on their debit cards without requir ing a legal name change. The shift came about in part due to findings of the National Center for Trans gender Equality’s 2022 U.S. Trans Survey, which stated that nearly 70% of transgender respondents reported that none of their IDs had their chosen name. According to a news release, customers who choose to update their debit cards can do so by call ing the number on the back of their Citi debit card or visiting their local Citi branch. This is the latest expansion to Citi’s chosen name, a feature in support of Mastercard’s True Name Initiative, after it launched in October 2020, allowing cus tomers to update their U.S. brand ed credit cards to reflect their selfidentified chosen first name, the release stated. Since launching, more than 31,000 U.S. cardmem bers have updated their chosen first“Wename.are thrilled to launch the expansion of our popular cho sen name feature to debit cards,” stated Craig Vallorano, head of U.S. retail banking at Citi. “This is one more way for us to help our customers to be their most au thentic selves when banking with Citi. We’re excited to take another big step forward with our commit ment to keeping our bank and our branches a safe and inclusive en vironment for our colleagues and customersCustomersalike.”can learn more by visiting do?ID=update-my-namecom/US/JRS/portal/template.https://online.citi. call at 415-861-5019
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Dean Goodwin, left, accepted the accompanied by his husband, Mike Hall. Area Reporter publisher Michael Yamashita Cynthia Laird
HAPN Hero Award
us
“I was moved by the award and the tributes provided that day and they continue to inspire me,” he added.
Courtesy SF HAPN Bay
The B.A.R., the country’s oldest continuously published LGBTQ newspaper, celebrated its 50th an niversary in 2021. “The outlets, publications, or news organizations that are rec ognized by the award have exem plified NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists’ mission to promote and foster fair and accu rate LGBTQ news coverage,” the organization stated in an email an nouncement.
DPH’s receivesGoodwinHeroAward
B.A.R. to
compiled by Cynthia Laird T he Bay Area Reporter will be the recipient of this year’s Legacy Award from NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists when it meets in Chicago later this month for its convention. According to the journalists’ group, the award was created to recognize an outlet, publication, or news organization that has exhibited innovative, high-qual ity, and sustained news cover age of the LGBTQ community over an extended period of time.
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. Contact us today about the beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy at the San Francisco Columbarium.
HAPN is a coalition of com munity-based nonprofit agencies that serve people living with HIV/ AIDS in San Francisco. It works to prioritize severe needs and spe cial population clients and works to improve coordination among agencies.Theaward was presented Au gust 5 at Project Open Hand. Goodwin said he was proud of the“Thisrecognition.awardfrom HAPN truly meant so much to me,” Goodwin wrote in a Facebook message. “Af ter spending over 20 years work ing in DPH HIV Health Services alongside the providers, staff, and persons living with HIV who are involved at every level of the San Francisco HIV system of care, they have all been heroes of mine and of our community. They have de veloped a model built-of innova tion, compassion and inclusion.
t September 1-7, 2022 • Bay area reporter • 15t Never miss an issue! Receive the Bay Area Reporter delivered by first class mail, every week, to your home or office. Our convenient mail subscriptions are available for 3, 6, or 12 month periods and ensure you’ll always keep up with the latest and most comprehensive coverage of national, state and local LGBTQ issues, arts & culture, and nightlife. 13 weeks $40 26 weeks $75 52 weeks $140 To begin your mail subscription,
The B.A.R. is independent and has been owned since 2017 by Michael Yamashita, who became publisher in 2013. He is the first gay Asian American publisher and owner of an LGBTQ newspa per. Yamashita has long ties to the B.A.R. as he was hired as its gen eral manager in 1989. “I’m grateful for NLGJA’s rec ognition of the B.A.R.’s advocacy journalism covering five decades,” Yamashita stated in an email. “It means even more that fellow jour nalists bestowed this distinction. LGBTQ media is as important as ever for our community, now that we must contend with misinfor mation and an emboldened back lash on LGBTQ rights and people.” NLGJA will hold its convention September 8-11 at the Drake Ho tel in Chicago and will also offer a virtual program for those not at tending the in-person event. Several journalists will be rec ognized at the conference. Chuck Culpepper will receive the Lisa Ben Award for Achieve ment in Features Coverage. Cul pepper is a reporter at the Wash ington Post covering national college sports, golf, international sports, and tennis. The award is named for the pseudonym Edythe Eyde used for her pioneering pub lication, Vice Versa. New York Times journalist Jane Coaston is the recipient of the 2022 Jeanne Córdova Award. Coaston is host of the Times’ pod cast “The Argument.” Córdova was a journalist and the editor and publisher of Lesbian Tide, which chronicled the 1970s lesbian femi nistErrinmovement.Haines, editor at large and co-founding member of the 19th, a nonprofit independent news site focused on the intersec tion of gender, politics, and policy, will receive NLGJA’s Leadership Award.Award-winning journalist Tam ron Hall will receive the Randy Shilts Award for LGBTQ Cov erage. Hall hosts the nationally syndicated “Tamron Hall” show. The Shilts award honors journal ists who consistently bring sto ries about LGBTQ issues to life in mainstream media outlets. For more information about NLGJA, visit https://www.nlgja. org/.
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.
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The San Francisco HIV/AIDS Provider Network recently pre sented Dean Goodwin, manager of community-based organization contracting at the Department of Public Health, with its Hero Award.Goodwin, a gay man, is also the former acting assistant di rector of HIV health services at DPH’s AIDS Office. He received the award due to his tenure and commitment to the AIDS Office, a news release stated. “It is rare to have a public ser vant in such a key role, for as long as Dean has been with DPH’s AIDS Office,” stated Bill Hirsh, a gay man who’s executive director of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel and co-chair of HAPN. “Dean has always been committed to serving the community and his service has truly been extraordinary. We’re so appreciative of Dean. He is a hero and deserving of this award.”
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“The Legacy Award is the association’s only award that is presented to an outlet, publica tion, or news organization to rec ognize the work of its entire staff, rather than an individual.”
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There has been some confu sion expressed on Oakland Pride’s Facebook page, with people asking why there are two events and what the difference is between them. Oakland Pride has responded that there are still a few board mem bers left and they wanted to con tinue the tradition of the parade and festival. Oakland Pride had in recent years taken place the second Sunday in September, but this year reverted back to the Sunday of La bor Day weekend, which is when it was originally held. Organizers for both events in sist they reached out to each other and that each side either didn’t re spond or declined to participate in holding one event. “Pridefest never came to us about anything,” said Oakland Pride organizer Frank Ciglar, add ing that attempts to reach out to Pridefest resulted in nothing. Pridefest organizer Sean Sul livan told the Bay Area Reporter his group had reached out to Ciglar but, again, hadn’t gotten a response.Therehad been an attempt by lesbian Oakland Vice Mayor Re becca Kaplan to bring the two or ganizations together, as well, said Sullivan, but “it didn’t seem like [Ciglar] wanted to share.”
Parenthood
DJ and radio host Christie
Even with the slow response, there has been encouraging news, according to state epidemiologist Pan.“While the overall case count does continue to rise, we are en couraged by the recent slowing of these trends in California, across the country, and the globe,” she said. “Thanks to our collective efforts, we have mobilized our state responses over the last three months, leverag ing tools, resources, and partner ships, and lessons learned during the [COVID] pandemic.” As of August 26, California has reported 3,369 probable or con firmed cases of MPX, according to the California Department of Pub lic Health. In the nine-county Bay Area, there have been 1,114 con firmed cases, with the vast majority in San Francisco, which had 711 as of August 29, according to DPH. Alameda County has had 155 cases, while Santa Clara County comes in third at 134 cases. Solano County has seen the smallest number with only three so far.
Despite a wealth of emerging data from other countries that had begun to see the outbreak a few weeks before it arrived in the Unit ed States, as well as public health knowledge and expertise, the U.S. was slow to respond, TerMeer said. “What we did not have was the swift action and the bold leader ship of our federal public health leadership,” he continued. “This unacceptable moment in our his tory was preventable. It took 78 days between the first reported case of MPX in our country, and a decision to declare a public health emergency.”Mandelman, who held a hear ing at the Board of Supervisors July 21 about the slow government response to the outbreak, praised Padilla’s presence. “The federal government’s re sponse to this public health emer gency has been inadequate and gen erally disappointing,” Mandelman stated in a release issued by Padilla’s office. “That is why we are so grate ful to have an advocate like Senator Padilla in Washington demanding a more robust response. We urge the federal government to expand ac cess to the Mpox vaccine so every Californian who wants a vaccine can get one, and those of us who have gotten our first dose can get a second.”
Planned was one of many contingents that marched in the 2019 Oakland Pride parade. Jane Philomen Cleland James is one of the organizers.
t << Oakland From page 1
Other events Two other events will take place September 11. The East Bay Stone wall Democratic Club will hold its Pride Breakfast for the first time since 2019. It will take place at 9 a.m. at the Oakstop California Ball room, 1736 Franklin Street. Tickets are $20 for members and $40 for non-members. The event will help mark the club’s 40th anniversary. For more information, go to balif.org/event-4946517information,todoorsLakesidelet11forAsianassociation,Freedom,org/www.eastbaystonewalldemocrats.https://BayAreaLawyersforIndividualthelocalLGBTQbarwillpartnerwiththeAmericanBarAssociationitssecondPrideBrunchfroma.m.to1p.m.atLakeChaSeafoodBarandGrill,1520Drive.TheeventisoutandpeoplewillheadoverPridefestafterward.Formoregotohttps://www.
A call to Kaplan’s office asking for comment was not immediately returned.Ciglar, a gay man, didn’t take too well to a reporter asking what had made Oakland Pride organiz ers decide to move ahead with the annual event after most people had expected the organization was done. As the B.A.R. reported last year, emails showed Oak land Pride had financial issues to the point that Ciglar was pay ing $5,000 per month of his own money to help pay off Oakland Pride’s credit card bill. Ciglar’s re sponse to financial questions was that Oakland Pride has sponsors thisTheyear.emails also revealed that Ciglar had tried to get the Oak land LGBTQ Community Center to take over Pride in 2021, but he did not reach out with enough time for that to happen, according to Joe Hawkins, a gay man who’s co-founder of the center. Now, the Oakland LGBTQ center is serving as fiscal sponsor for Pridefest, Sul livan“Oaklandsaid. Pride is the same as it’s been for the last 12 years,” said Ciglar.Bethat as it may, information about the event is hard to come by. Oakland Pride’s website doesn’t list any entertainment and gives little information about anything else taking place, as of August 30. The parade, however, is slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. at its usual starting point, 14th Street and Broadway, and end at 21st Street andVisitorsBroadway.canalso plan on getting a monkeypox vaccine when they arrive, according to Ciglar.
Between 250,000 and 350,000 Californians can be considered high risk, said Padilla, and – just as with COVID – MPX “continues to have a disproportionate effect on communities of color across the country, including right here in California in the Latino commu nity, in the African American com munity, among others.” African Americans comprise more than 12% of MPX cases in California, yet make up only 6.5% of the state’s population. In San Francisco, however, Black people comprise 6% of the population but only 5.4% of MPX cases, accord ing to figures from SFDPH. Latinos make up 28.7% percent of MPX cases in San Francisco, far surpass ing their makeup of the city’s popu lation, at 15.1%, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported. In the state as a whole, the fig ures for Latinos is a more equitable 40% as Latinos comprise just over 40% of California’s population. Several gay leaders were also on hand at the news conference: San Francisco Department of Public Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax; District 8 Supervisor Rafael Man delman; and Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Service Employees In ternational Union Local SEIU 1021 representative Kristin Hardy also attended.Despite the high numbers of people who still need to be vacci nated, San Francisco has managed to inoculate a substantial number, said“Today,Colfax. I’m really pleased to share that over 21,500 doses of the MPX vaccine have been adminis tered in San Francisco,” Colfax said. “And, yet, there is still much more work to be done.”
San Francisco has received thou sands of doses through the state from the federal stockpile, he continued, but the city still hasn’t received all of the initial 35,000 doses it requested at the very beginning of the outbreak. “If we don’t do enough, we face the possibility that this disease could become endemic and contin ue to harm people for the foresee able future,” Colfax said. Other speakers decried the slow federal response to the outbreak, including TerMeer, who said that even very early on, officials knew there was an “imminent window of opportunity to prevent the spread of MPX and that window had al ready begun closing.”
t 16 • Bay area reporter • September 1-7, 2022 t<< From the Cover << Padilla From page 1
Folks making their way to Pride fest the following Sunday will find a lot to keep them entertained. With three stages, including big name entertainers such as headliner Big Freedia and Crystal Waters, Pride fest organizers are excited about the lineup.¨It’s like the summer of Big Free dia,” said Sullivan, one of the orga nizers of Pridefest and the co-owner with his partner, Richard Fuentes, of Oakland’s Port Bar. With Big Free dia’s appearance on Beyoncé’s sum mer hit, “Break My Soul,” from her “Renaissance” album, Sullivan is particularly proud of the “Queen of Bounce’s” appearance at Pridefest. “Oakland has never had anyone as big,” Sullivan said, noting that ap pearances like Big Freedia’s typically happen in New York or Los Angeles. Big Freedia performed on San Francisco Pride’s main stage in 2015 and headlined its virtual 50th cel ebration in 2020. “I find the fact that people com ing out of the closet today will know performers on our stage as in-demand headliners that repre sent them, that makes themselves feel seen as authentic queer people,” Sullivan said. And there are plenty of names –to say nothing of at least 12 DJs slat ed to keep tunes flowing through out the day. Look for performances by Madame Gandhi, David Har ness, a Selena tribute by the Amor Prohibido Band featuring Nira, the Oakland Gay Men’s Chorus, Bal let 22, numerous additional singers and performers, and an appearance by trans “Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider.
Christie James, one of the Pride fest organizers and a DJ on 103.7 FM who can be heard weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. hosting “Morning Drive with Christie Live,” previously told the B.A.R. that she’s looking forward to the event.
“One of the exciting things we have is a vaccination site for mon keypox,” said Ciglar. Vaccinations will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, to come from a batch of 2,400 vaccines made available by the Biden adminis tration for both Oakland Pride events.The Oakland Pride festival will run from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., at 20th Street and Broadway. Admis sion is $10. For more information, visit https://www.oaklandpride. org/ Pridefest
Pridefest Oakland
CADPH stated there have been 81 hospitalizations in the state, and no reported deaths. Padilla was full of praise for Cali fornia’s efforts, noting that San Fran cisco was the first city in the country to declare a health state of emergency for MPX. But that is not enough, he said. (New York state also declared an MPX emergency the same day as San Francisco, July 28.) “We simply do not have the sup ply of vaccine to meet the needs of the number of people requesting the vaccines, seeking appointments to protect against a disease that is continuing to spread throughout California,” the senator said. “So, while we’ve seen the great work of folks here in San Francisco, I want to be clear that the federal govern ment needs to do more, must do more, and must do more quickly.”
toakland.com/information,20thtovaccine,”thatandhavepeopleorganizersoptionsadmissionvisitorsmoregroundscinationsexualandsis,tionwillsidemanenteyear’spositivePrideoverseentoualBusiness&id=318194)ebar.com/story.php?ch=News&sc=(https://www.James,whoidentifiesaspansexandbisexual,saidshe’sexcitedhelpcreatethefestival.ShehadthemainstageatOaklandforfiveyears.“Iwantedtohelpbringagood,vibetowhatcanbekindofcrazysometimes,”shesaid.Becausevaccinationsarethishottestaccessory,KaiserPerwilloperateapavilionoutthePridefestgrounds.VisitorsbeabletogetaMPXvaccinaonafirst-come,first-servedbaaswellasaCOVIDvaccination,plentyofinformationabouthealth.Theideabehindsettingupthevacboothoutsidethefestivalwastomakethevaccinationsaccessible,saidSullivan.WhiletoPridefestwillpaya$10fee(non-cashpaymentwillbeavailable),Pridefestfeltitwasimportantthatnotfeelliketheyhadtopaytoaccesstovaccinations.“Therewillbe1,000walk-ins,itwillbeoutsidetheeventsoyoudon’thavetopaytogetthesaidSullivan.Pridefestwillrunfrom11a.m.6p.m.,Sunday,September11,atStreetandBroadway.Formorevisithttps://pridefes
KSJ Photography
Note: although the new Muni T-Line extension will not be open in time for this program, public transportation between performance sites will be provided. www.epiphanydance.org
worldThe’s a stage GalliezAlexandre >> by Jim Gladstone
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$25-55, September 16-18, ODC Theater, 3153 17th St. www.axisdance.org
Flyaway ApparatusProductions:ofRepair “Apparatus of Repair” is the final chapter of “The Decarceration Trilogy,” a series of sitespecific aerial performances exploring the dev astating effects of mass incarceration, transform ing the intimate healing process of restorative justice into a public performance, danced in the air and on the vertical surfaces of buildings. After this world premiere, the work will be performed at Bethany Arts Center near Sing Sing Prison in New York and The Broad Stage in Los Angeles. Free, no reservations required, September 15-25, UC Hastings College of Law, 333 Golden Gate Ave. www.flyawayproductions.com
A modern family begets a modern generation gap in “Aunt Jack,” the comedic drama that opens New Conservatory Theatre Center’s intriguing seven-show season. At the center of Nora Bridgid Monahan’s play is twentysomething Norman, who was raised by two gay men –a starchy activist and a drag performer– and his lesbian biological mother. When he breaks up with his long-term boyfriend and introduces his parents to a new partner, feathers are ruffled. Though the older characters fancy themselves proudly progressive, they are utterly flummoxed by millennial perspectives on gender and sexuality. Expect a fair amount of campy cage aux folderol along with some winning insights. $20-$37. Sept. 16-Oct. 16. 25 Van Ness Ave. www.nctcsf.org
AXIS Dance Company: Adelante AXIS’s new Artistic Director Nadia Adame presents a triple-bill of world premiere pieces for her first home season. Named after the Spanish word for both “forward” and “go ahead,” the three works in “Adelante” all find common ground in the triumph of the hu man spirit. Founded in 1987, AXIS is one of the nation’s most acclaimed ensembles of dis abled and non-disabled performers.
Curtain up for Fall Arts theater
With You Festival @ Brava Theatre
See page 31 >> Fall Arts Preview
by Philip Mayard T his time last year, many of us masked up, checked our vaccination cards, and somewhat nervously gathered for live dance performances the first time in almost two years. Most Bay Area dance com panies planned for a robust fall 2021 season, and some of those performances actually happened. And oh my, were they glorious! But as the Delta variant reared its ugly head in November, many performances across the arts spectrum once again had to be resched uled or cancelled. But things feel different as we approach the fall 2022 season. Even as the Omicron variant forces us to navigate a mathematical health risk equation when planning a night out, there’s no doubt that live performances are back, and our resilient Bay Area dance community has emerged with a dazzling lineup of plans for the fall. Like their theatrical and visual art counterparts, this season many dance companies are responding to issues of diversity, equity and inclusion head-on, presenting a sizeable number of programs created by and for artists of color, as well as trans, non-binary, the incarcerated, and other marginalized communities. Here are just a few of the highlights.
Kinky Boots @ Victoria Theatre Ray of Light Theatre’s first post-pandemic production may have a bit less edge than gleefully transgressive past fare like “The Rocky Horror Show,” “American Psycho” and “Carrie,” but it’s hard to argue with the genderqueer mass appeal of “Kinky Boots,” with its Cyndi Lauper score and book by Harvey Fierstein. Stepping into the towering heels of drag queen Lola for his big break is Marshall Forte, a Gay Men’s Chorus member who works at United Airlines. $25-$70. Sept. 9-Oct. 1. 2961 16th St. www.rayoflighttheatre.com
‘Passengers’ by The 7 Fingers at A.C.T.’s Geary Theatre
For the first time in three years, the Bay Area is welcoming a full-fledged fall theater season, with a parade of opening nights that starts next week and marches all the way into December at a head-spinning pace. Here, to whet your appetite and encourage you to spend freely at your friendly neighborhood non-profit box offices, is just a sampling of quirky, queer and curious productions that are waiting in the wings.
This month-long series of three solo shows by queer writer/performers is curated by Brava Theater artist-in-residence Kat Evasco and includes her own “Mommy Queerest.” Cowritten with John Caldon, the autobiographical show finds the Filipina actress and stand-up comedian recounting her teenage realization that not only was she a lesbian, but that her mother wasIntoo.“Not My First Pandemic,” storyteller César Cadabes explores connections gay mens’ experience and resilience over the course of two contagions, pondering over the fact that a COVID vaccine was developed in record time, while there is no AIDS vaccine four decades after the first reported cases. Finally, in “Prieto,” Yosimar Reyes takes audience members on a rollicking trip through his childhood years growing up gay in East San Jose. Presenting the world through the eyes of an effeminate eight-year-old, Reyes shows how imagination, education and a love of music helped him transcend poverty and discrimination.$25-$40.Sept 8-Oct. 1. 2781 24th St. www.brava.org
San Francisco Trolley Dances Now in its 19th year, San Francisco Trolley Dances (SFTD) matches Bay Area-based artists and ensembles with specific sites, inviting them to create short works in response to the physi cal environment, architecture, and history of the area. This year’s SFTD honors the opening of Muni’s new T-Line extension from SoMa to Chinatown, and features works by Ballet22 (our city’s two-year-old company that has drawn national attention for its ensemble of cis-male, trans and non-binary dancers performing en pointe), as well as Charya Burt, Epiphany Dance Theater, Flying Angels Chinese Dance Compa ny, Grrrl Brigade, and Megan Lowe Dance. Free, October 22-23, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Woh Hei Yuen Park, other locations.
Aunt Jack @ New Conservatory Theatre Center
Lenora Lee Dance: In the Movement Through dance, sound, and narrative, the world premiere of “In the Movement” high lights the stories and experiences of individuals subjected to incarceration, ICE detention, and deportation. A heartfelt and explosive multime dia dance piece, the work features excerpts from nine hours of interviews in the sound score, which includes recorded music and live vocals, as well as video filmed on Alcatraz Island. $2050, September 1-11, ODC Theater, 3153 17th St. www.odc.dance Studio Dimitri Chamblas: Slow Show Internationally renowned choreographer Dimitri Chamblas brings his traveling “Slow Show” to San Francisco as part of the formal dedication of “La Rose des Vents,” a monumen tal new sculpture at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The dedication event will include Chamblas’ site-specific performance fea turing an ensemble of 50 local performers and music by artist and deejay Eddie Ruscha. Free, September 15, Conservatory of Flowers, Golden Gate Park. www.dimitrichamblas.com
Garrett + Moulton: 20th Anniversary Season Bay Area performing arts lumi naries Janice Garrett and Charles Moulton return to ODC for their company’s 20th anniversary season. Featuring 18 dancers, 7 musicians, and special guest vocalist Karen Clark, the program includes a world premiere by Garrett, a whimsical and poignant new animated film by Moulton, and a reprise of Garrett’s joyous 2021 group work, “Roll Out.” Bay Area dance fans, this program is a must-see. $20-100, October 6-9, ODC Theater, 3153 17th St. www.garrettmoulton.org Ni’Ja Whitson/The NWA Proj ect: A Meditation on Tongues Dubbed “majestic” by The New York Times, Ni’Ja Whitson (they/ them) is a multidisciplinary artist and two-time Bessie Award winner who explores the sacred and conceptual in Black, queer trans embodiedness. For ODC, Whitson will perform “A Meditation on Tongues,” a live inter disciplinary adaptation of Marlon T. Riggs’ iconic documentary “Tongues Untied” (1989) Part abstract, part performance ritual, part live and his torical document, this multi-layered interdisciplinary project struts, snaps, and reimagines Black and queer masculinities. $20-100, October 28-30, ODC Theater, 3153 17th St. www.odc.dance L.A. Contemporary Dance Company: Dancing in Snow Choreographed by Roderick George, “Dancing in Snow” is a so phisticated and thoughtful work for nine dancers, exploring Black and queer experiences and how cultural appropriation and tokenism separate Black dancing and culture from Black bodies. The L.A. Dance Chronicles said, “[George’s] dance vocabulary runs the gamut from modern to jazz, ballet to street, with a deft touch of musical theater tossed in… I was instantly drawn in.” $15-60, Decem ber 1-4, ODC Theater, 3153 17th St. www.odc.dance Cal Performances: Camille A. Brown & Dancers: ink Camille A. Brown made headlines this year as the first Black director in the history of the Metropolitan Op era (Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up In My Bones”) and as the first Black woman to be nominated for a Tony as both director and choreographer for a play (“for colored girls…”) on Broadway. Now, Brown returns to the Bay Area with “ink,” performed by herself and her company of dancers, combining elements of African-American social dance, African, tap, jazz, modern, and hip-hop, accompanied by percussiondriven original music performed live by a quartet. $68 and up, December 1416, Zellerbach Playhouse, UC-Berkeley campus. www.calperformances.org t
Smuin Contemporary Ballet: Dance Series 1 Smuin opens its 2022-23 season with a triple-bill including a world premiere by Cuban choreogra pher Osnel Delgado, whose work draws from Cuba’s rich and varied dance traditions, from Afro-Cuban rhythms and Cuban ballet culture, to its vibrant modern dance scene. Also on the program is Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s romantic “Requiem for a Rose” and the return of the exuberant “Take Five,” set to the mu sic of jazz legend Dave Brubeck and choreographed by former Company member Rex Wheeler (Lady Cam den), who recently gained fame as the first runner-up on the 2022 sea son of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” $34-84, September 16- October 8; Mountain View Center for the Arts, Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek; Cowell Theater/Fort Mason, San Francisco. www.smuinballet.org
Ballet & Basketball: Alonzo King in Conversation with Steve Kerr Have you ever watched a basketball player leap for a shot? Or the way a team or dance company work togeth er as an ensemble? There is beauty, mindfulness, and artistry behind it all. Bay Area icons Alonzo King and Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr come together for a conver sation that touches on ballet and bas ketball, social justice, human rights, mindfulness, and the power of com munity. The event will also include a short performance by Alonzo King LINES Ballet. $50-100, September 16, Miner Auditorium, 201 Franklin St. www.linesballet.org
Cal Performances: Miami City Ballet: Balanchine’s ‘Jewels’ One of America’s preeminent bal let companies returns to the Bay Area for the first time since 2007. A favorite in the Balanchine canon, and a work Miami City Ballet is rec ognized for performing its own sig nature take on, George Balanchine’s “Jewels” is an iconic triptych of dances evoking French (“Emeralds”), American (“Rubies”), and Russian (“Diamonds”) ballet traditions, in spired by the choreographer’s visit to the jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels. $42–$148, September 23-25, Zeller bach Hall (UC-Berkeley campus). www.calperformances.org
20 • Bay area reporter • September 1-7, 2022 t<< Fall Arts: Dance << Dance From page 19 NEW CONSERVATORY THEATRE CENTER IN ASSOCIATION WITH “A VERY FUNNY PLAY” -The Front Row Center “SURPRISINGLY TOUCHING” -South Florida Sun Sentinel WEST COAST PREMIERE TICKETS AT NCTCSF.ORG BOX OFFICE: 415.861.8972 25 VAN NESS AT MARKET ST. APR 1-MAY 8, 2022 SEPT 16OCT 16, 2022 BY NORA BRIGID MONAHAN DIRECTED BY JEFFREY HOFFMAN SEASON PRODUCERS Michael Golden & Michael Levy, Robert Holgate, Lowell Kimble, Ted Tucker EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Gary Demyen & Les Partridge, David Meders PRODUCERS Dirk Nettles & Mario Champagne, Ken Prag & Steve Collins philharmonia.org (left) Johnny Huy Nguyen of Lenora Lee Dance; (center) Jhia Jackson in Flyaway Production’s ‘Apparatus of Repair.’; (right) Ni’ja Whitson in ‘A Meditation on Tongues’ Amani Photography; Robbie Sweeny;RJ Muna and Scott Shaw (respectively) Ballet22’s Roberto Vega Ortiz, left, and Evan Ambrose for SF Trolley Dances Erica Felsch (center) as “The Rose” with the Company in Smuin Contemporary Ballet’s 2017 performance of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s “Requiem for a Rose” Keith Sutter The Miami City Ballet in George Balanchine’s ‘Diamonds’ Iziliaev
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22 • Bay area reporter • September 1-7, 2022 t<< Fall Arts: Music SUMMER SAVINGS C10-0000738-LIC C10-0000706-LIC C10-0000523-LIC C10-0000522-LIC C10-0000515-LIC Terms & Conditions: O er valid 9/12/2022 - 9/22/2022. Exclusions apply. Some discounts and promos do not combine. GET $20 OFF ANY ORDER OF $99 OR MORE Use code to learn more. Or apothecarium.comvisit: notedDuly Fall Arts classical music concerts
The world premiere of John Adams’ “Antony and Cleopatra” opens SF Opera’s centennial season, a passage in time that certainly warrants celebration. So, it seems curious that the company would commission a work on the very story that nearly sank Cleopatra’s barge when the Met opened its new house in 1966 with Samuel Barber’s version, which has never gotten traction. The Berkeley-based Adams is as close as you get to a house composer these days, with four of his operas having been performed here, the last two of them world premieres. Amer ica’s premier music critic called Ad ams’ “Doctor Atomic” (2005) a mas terpiece before the curtain went up. Hm. Then again, “Girls of the Golden West,” from 2017, is curiously missing from the new CD box set of Adams’ Collected Works. The stakes are high for the Girl of the Golden Nile. The cast of Adams regulars, headed by the always superb Gerald Finley, will be conducted not by Adams, who often does the honors, but by Music Director Eun Sun Kim. It augurs to be fall’s hot There’sticket.nothing new in the rest of the fall repertory, so attention is on promising debuts: Sep. 25: Baritone Gordon Bintner will sing Onegin in “Eugene Onegin,” and already we’d like to see more of him.Oct. 15: European sensation, mez zo-soprano Michaela Schuster sings Mme de Croissy in “Dialogues of the Carmelites.” Director Oliver Py makes his belated but eagerly awaited debut.
A uthor, historian and gay history scholar Jim Van Buskirk has always been drawn to Jewish culture and holds a particular affinity for its people and community. On a recent visit with his late mother, who was dying, she decided to reveal to him that his family on the maternal side was Jewish. He never knew why she waited so long to tell him, but as he put it, “My body understood something my consciousness didn’t. Sudden ly, all the pieces began to fit together in dif ferent ways. It was the greatest gift she could have given me, even if she didn’t know it.” Before he left, his mother asked if he wanted to see his grandmother’s suitcase, which had been stored in the attic. Jim’s grandmother, Georgette Simon Burns, had been a well-known soprano and recording artist, who had performed opera and oper etta throughout France and in London in the 1920s and ’30s. In her suitcase, she had left behind a trea sure trove of family history; photos and documents about her career and the fam ily’s Jewish heritage. Like all good writers, Jim took this material and turned it into something original, in this case a presenta tion called “Unpacking My Grandmother’s Suitcase,” which he has recently presented at various venues. Van Buskirk next presents his story at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on Thursday, September 8, 1pm. 3200 Cali fornia St. (415) 292-1200. www.jccsf.org Read the full article on www.ebar.com.
pianist Yuja Wang Kirk Edwards pianist Bertrand Chamayou Marco Borggreve JakubcountertenorJozefOrlinski cellist Gautier Capuconclarinetist Andreas Ottensamer
San Onegin’Opera’sFrancisco‘Eugene
Jim Van Buskirk to reveal family past
The out, San Francisco pianist, an artist of international stature, has never neglected the home crowd. This time he joins the hot, newish Polish string quartet for a probing program including Bach’s “Art of the Fugue” and the Shostakovich Quintet. $50-$75, Oct. 7. 401 Van Ness Ave. www.sfperformances.org Maxim Vengerov, Polina Osetinskaya @ Hertz Hall, Berkeley When Maxim Vengerof hit the acne in the early 1980s, he was im mediately greeted as the world’s greatest living violinist. Like the few other musicians in that category, he performs less these days, making his appearances special occasions. Here, Bach, Beethoven, Shstakovich, and Tchaikovsky, with pianist Osetins kaya. $36 and up. Oct. 14. 101 CrossSproul Path, UC Berkeley campus. www.calperformances.org Colin Currie Group / Synergy Vocals @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley Minimalist composer Steve Reich, as beloved as a composer gets, has a long history with Bay Area audiences. This year a “Steve Reich Celebration” marks his 86th birthday, which should be quite a party. Repertoire includes the West Coast premiere of “Traveler’s Prayer.” $53-$88, Nov. 2. 101 Zeller bach Hall, UC Berkeley campus. www.calperformances.org Ying Fan, soprano, Ken Noda, piano @ Hertz Hall, Berkeley When Ying Fan stepped out of the lineup to sing the soprano arias in a semi-staged Bach St. John Pas sion recently, she blew people out of their chairs. Her beautiful, bright, ag ile voice is also forward, and blessed with a capacity to bear feeling, and she’s tearing up the stages of Europe. There augurs to be nothing stan dard or safe in her recital of songs by Schubert, Schumann, Mahler, and Strauss. Nov. 6, $53-$88. 101 CrossSproul Path, UC Berkeley campus. www.calperformances.org RecordingsLesTalens Lyriques
The nonpareil French period-in strument ensemble, under its found ing director, Christophe Rousset, celebrates its 30th anniversary with a triple bill of not-to-be-missed re cordings: “A Tribute to Pauline Vi ardot,” with Marina Viotti (out Sep. 16); Lully’s “Acis et Galatee” (Oct. 14); “The Sphere of Intimacy,” completing Rousset’s journey through the music of Francois Couperin. Aparte www.apartemusic.com “Tristan,” Igor Levit Pursuing the concept of night and its effects on us, the German pianist, known equally for his technique and his intellect, performs Hans Werner Henze’s “Tristan” with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchestra, under Franz Welser-Möst. Rounding out the pro gram are solo works by Liszt (includ ing the Sonata), Wagner’s “Tristan” Prelude in the Zoltan Kocsis tran scription, and Ronald Stevenson’s of the Adagio of Mahler’s Tenth Sym phony, a characteristically uncom promising program. Levit will be per forming with the SF Symphony and in recital in 2023. Sony www.sonyclassical.comClassics Yuja Wang, Gautier Capucon, Andreas Ottensamer These top-flight soloists, two of whom appear here in that capacity, are dedicated, vital chamber musi cians. Their new CD, drawn from live performances on a celebrated tour, features sonatas by Rachmaninoff and Brahms and Brahms’ sublime Clarinet www.deutschegrammophon.comDeutscheTrio.Grammophon t
San Francisco Opera @ War Memorial Opera House
CooperCompany/MichaelOperaCanadian
There’s a celebratory quality to the classical music offerings this fall, in no small part out of gratitude that live performances can go on at all. The home team has seldom looked so good, and many of the visitors, too, are as easy on the ear as on the eye.
by Tim Pfaff
Unlocked legacy by Patrick Hoctel
Nov. 11: Soprano Pretty Yende, who has the reputation as the hottest coloratura around and takes the trou ble to break hearts with her portrayals, sings Violetta in “La Traviata.” Nov. 15: Star countertenor/break dancer Jakub Jozef Orlinski would have made his debut in Handel’s “Partenope” in 2020 had it not been for the virus. A commanding physi cal presence that augments his voice should make something special out of Orpheus in “Orpheus and Eurydice.” $32-$393, “Antony and Cleopatra” Sep. 10-Oct. 5, Centennial Season through Dec. 3, War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave. sfopera.com San Francisco Symphony @ Davies Symphony Hall Sep. 23: The Symphony has turned its opening night into a gala, so the season begins with something truly consequential: a complete Mendelssohn “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” under Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, with all hands on deck. Beat that with a baton. Oct. 13-15: If other musicians made as strong a first impression with her couture and hair (and smile) as Yuja Wang, classical music ev erywhere might look different. Not that long ago she gave the premiere of Adam’s fiendish piano concerto, “Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes.” This time she plays the world premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s new concerto. Nuff said. Oct. 20, 22 (Oct. 21 at Zeller bach Hall, Berkeley): French pianist Bertrand Chamayou, himself a look er with a fetching stage demeanor, re cently knocked it out of the park with a new recording of “Vingt Regards sur L’Enfant Jesus.” Here he performs Liszt’s “Totentanz,” a specialty, with Salonen, in a program that also ends with a lip-licking Berlioz “Symphonie fantastique.” Great program, but it may be worth it for the yet-to-beannounced encore alone. Nov. 11-13: Cellist Gautier Capucon, by a distance the most handsome musician performing to day (and by all accounts modest and fun-loving), played the last concert in Davies Hall before Covid closed it. Game, he then played the first concert after it reopened. He plays the US pre miere of Danny Elfman’s Cello Con certo, with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting.Nov.13:Daniil Trifonov joins the company of the four best pianists of their day, all of them appearing in some way in the Bay Area this fall. It’s been a while since he wore tails, too, but he rightfully has a real following. He gives a recital with an uncommon ly rich program, capped by Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit.” $36-$165, San Francisco Sympho ny, Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave. www.sfsymphony.org
Garrick Ohlsson, Apollon Musagette Quartet @ Herbst Theatre
THIS IS YOUR THEATER, SAN FRANCISCO TICKETS O N SALE NOW Select and save! | Buy two or more shows and save 15% OfficialPartner:Hotel FROM THE 7 FINGERS Original Idea, Direction, and Choreography by Shana Carroll SEP 15–OCT 9 | GEARY THEATER Conceived and Performed by Bill Irwin An Irish Repertory Theatre Production Produced by Octopus Theatricals OCT 19–23 | GEARY THEATER By Charles Dickens Adapted by Carey Perloff and Paul Walsh Music by Paul Lundeberg Choreography by Val Caniparoli Directed by Peter J. Kuo Based on the original direction by Carey Perloff NOV 30–DEC 24 | GEARY THEATER PrintSponsor:Media act-sf.org
@ Contemporary Jewish Museum A Hitler puppet, a 20-inch tall, hand-carved one in uniform, no less? Who would’ve thought it? Credit the satirical puppet to Isidore (Mike) Oznowicz, a rebel lious, Dutch-Jewish puppeteer, who also happens to be the late father of Frank Oz, the mischievous ge nius behind Miss Piggy, the Cookie Monster and the voice of Yoda. The Hitler marionette is part of a show featuring a small collection of puppet heads crafted by Oz’s par ents, who were amateur puppeteers in pre-WW2 Antwerp. A video interview with Mike, conducted by Oz a half century ago, recounts their astonishing story; their skinof-their-teeth escape from Nazioccupied Belgium in 1940 and per ilous journey to safety. Mike buried the incriminating puppet in the backyard before they fled and dug it up after the war, res cuing it from oblivion. Miraculous ly, it survived for 80 years. Through Nov. 27. Free for under 18-$16. 736 Mission St. www.thecjm.org
24 • Bay area reporter • September 1-7, 2022 t<< Fall Arts: Fine Arts 3991-A 17th Street, Market & Castro 415-864-9795 Proudly serving the community since 1977 Open Daily! New Adjusted Hours Monday 8am (last seating 9:45pm) Tuesday 8am (last seating 9:45pm) Wednesday 8am (last seating 9:45pm) Thursday 8am Open 24 Hours Friday Open 24 Hours Saturday Open 24 Hours Sunday 7am (last seating 9:45pm) AUTO EROTICA PURVEYOR OF VINTAGE PORN MAGAZINES BOOKS PHOTOGRAPHS 4077A 18th St. OPEN EVERY DAY 415•861•5787{ { AUTO EROTICA PURVEYOR OF VINTAGE PORN MAGAZINES • BOOKS • PHOTOGRAPHS 4077A 18th St. OPEN EVERY DAY 415•861•5787{ { AUTO EROTICA PURVEYOR OF VINTAGE PORN MAGAZINES • BOOKS • PHOTOGRAPHS 4077A 18th St. OPEN EVERY DAY 415•861•5787{ { WE BUY & SELL GAY STUFF! MONDAY-SATURDAY scan scan or 2375 Market St. | San Franciscohttp://chadwickssf.com@chadwickssf scan code or visit website for menu and more information 80% of LGBTQ+ adults report that “companies that support LGBTQ+ equality will get more of my business this year.” 73% of LGBTQ+ adults report they have made a conscious decision to make a purchase in the last 12 months at least in part due to a company’s visible support of the LGBTQ+ community. REACH THE BAY AREA’S LARGEST LGBTQ AUDIENCE. The most educated and affluent LGBTQ consumers in the San Francisco Bay Area read America’s longest-published LGBTQ newspaper. To reach them,, call (415) 829 8937 or email advertising@ebar.com Get an eyeful Fall Arts museums & galleries, part 1 ‘Hella Feminist’ at Oakland Museum of California See page 25 >> ‘Ramses the Great and the Gold of The Pharaohs’ at the de Young MuseumExhibitionsHeritageWorld
by Sura Wood T his year, women and artists of color take center stage, photography reigns supreme –only fitting, given our city’s pivotal role in the medium–and at least one extravaganza confirms it’s good to be king.
Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs & Faith Ringgold: American People @ De Young Museum
The thrilling “Ramses” exhibition is destined to be the event of the year. That would come as no surprise if you lived in Egypt, where one can barely walk a hundred feet without stumbling upon a monument memorializing Ramses the Great. He was regarded as a living god on Earth, the incarnation of the sky god, Horus, and, not coincidentally, the mightiest pharaoh of the New Kingdom, ancient Egypt’s Golden Age; and, he got around. When he wasn’t erecting cities or colossal statues and temples to himself, he sired over 100 chil dren, ruled for 67 years and died at 92, unheard of in a society where life expectancy topped out at 35. No wonder he was a legend in his own time and achieved a measure of the immortality he sought. The finest craftsmen and artists in the realm produced the gleaming gold treasures, awe-inspiring sculp ture, elaborate carved and gilded sarcophagi –gold was thought to be flesh of the gods– and the lustworthy jewelry of lapis and gold on view here. A highly theatrical installation and Biblical-epic-style videos augment the experience as does a mind blowing, albeit short, virtual reality “trip,” courtesy of drones soaring above immense statuary and winding through corridors of torch-lit tombs. As a determined figurative artist in the tumultuous 1960s, Harlem native Faith Ringgold faced two obstacles to attaining mainstream success: she was Black and female. Initially dismissed by her more famous Black male counterparts, she swam against the tide of popu lar trends like abstract expression ism, pursuing her interest in power structures, racial conflict and the civil rights struggle, even throwing shade on offensive Aunt Jemima stereotypes. Undeterred, politically engaged and ahead of the curve, Ringgold has met her moment as evidenced by a retrospective where she combines paint, textiles and craft-based techniques in fierce, politically charged “story quilts,” mural-sized paintings and haunt ing, hollow-eyed masks. “Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs,” through February 12. Free/Members-$40; VR show is a separate ticket. Free one-time for Members-$18; “Faith Ringold: American Peo ple,” through Nov. 27. Free/ Members & youth under 18-$15. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. www.deyoung.famsf.org Oz is for Oznowicz: A Puppet Family’s History
Gary Sexton, courtesy Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
September 1-7, 2022 • Bay area reporter • 25t Fall Arts: Fine Arts>>
Looking Forward: Ten Years of Pier 24 Photography @ Pier 24 Despite all the positive ink this exhilarating venue for photogra phy has deservedly accrued since it opened a decade ago, it remains something of a hidden gem. Their latest exhibition is organized into 16 spacious galleries, each devot ed to a single artist offering their take on the state of 21st century humanity.Tabitha Soren’s vibrantly col ored, atmospheric reworkings of news photos of protests, includ ing chanting, torch-bearing NeoNazis in Charlottesville; Erica Deeman’s series of brown faces; and, Zanele Muholi’s self-por traits addressing gross inequities in representations of Black, queer and trans subjects in their na tive South Africa, are among the showcased images. When you enter, be sure to check out large-format, box cam era wiz, John Chiara’s spectacu lar tribute to Pier 24’s location under the Bay Bridge. Another room features his stunning dip tychs of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges in diffused light, plus a dazzling suite of SF cityscapes in the flaming reds and orange of an erupting volcano. Through May 31, 2023. Free/appointments re quired. The Embarcadero. www. pier24.orgLookfor more fine arts in Part 2 next week. t
Opening night of the new musical “Goddess” on August 24 drew numerous local and national celebrities to see the ac claimed production at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Conceived by Saheem Ali, with music and lyrics by Michael Thurber and book by Jocelyn Bioh, the musical tells of a magical goddess who ap pears to mortals at an Afro-jazz nightclub in Kenya. “Goddess” runs through Sept. 24, at the Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. www.berkeleyrep.orgEnjoymorenightlife photos at facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife. And see more of Steven’s work at www.stevenunderhill.com. Photos by Steven Underhill Goddess@BerkeleyRep
Faith Ringgold quilts at the de Young Museum
Zanele Muholi’s self-portraits in ‘Looking Forward: Ten Years of Pier 24 Photography’ at Pier 24 Zanele Muholi
From page 24 Isidore (Mike) and Frances Oznowicz, Nightclub marionettes, c. 1940, at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. courtesy Frank Oznowicz, Jenny Oznowicz, Ronald Oznowicz. Jason Madella
<< Fine Arts
Hella Feminist @ Oakland Museum of California There’s a lot to be said for good timing. OMCA’s major exhibition lands when women’s bodily au tonomy, access to medical care and very status in society are threat ened. Covering the last 100 years, the show’s overview of the complex history of feminism in the Bay Area and greater California, provides socio-political context, while chal lenging boiler plate notions of femi nism through thought-provoking art, newly commissioned works and individual accounts. Through Jan. 8. Free/Members & children 12 and under-$16. 1000 Oak St., Oakland. www.museumca.org
26 • Bay area reporter • September 1-7, 2022 t<< Fine Arts: Film THE BAY THEATREMOSTAREA’SAWARDEDCOMPANY INDECENT BY PAULA VOGEL AS YOU LIKE IT ADAPTED BY SHAINA TAUB AND LAURIE WOOLERY MUSIC AND LYRICS BY SHAINA TAUB CASHED OUT BY CLAUDE JACKSON, JR. CLUE BY SANDY RUSTIN CHINGLISH BY DAVID HENRY HWANG A CHORUS LINE MUSIC BY MARVIN HAMLISCH LYRICS BY EDWARD KLEBAN BOOK BY JAMES KIRKWOOD JR. AND NICHOLAS DANTE *BAY AREA THEATRE CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS, 2012 - 2022 Pictured: John Paul Gonzalez as The Emcee in Cabaret (2019). SEP 22 - NOV 5 NOV 17 - JAN 14 JAN 26 - FEB 25 MAR 9 - APR MAY224 - JUNE 10 JUNE 22 - SEP 9 GET TICKETS: SFPLAYHOUSE.ORG415-677-9596450POSTSTREETATPOWELLONUNIONSQUARE OUR 20TH SEASON Fall filmsArtstoseeScreen gems Harry Styles (right) in ‘My Policeman’ ‘Salo’, part of ‘Pasolini 100: Homage to Pier Paolo Pasolini’ Jeremy Pope in ‘Inspection’ Billy Eichner and Luke MacFarlane in ‘Bros’
by Brian Bromberger
At least judging by summer box office standards, people are returning back to theaters, espe cially for blockbusters involving sequels and superhero movies, the top grossing ones being “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Jurassic World: Domin ion,” and “Dr. Strange in the Mul tiverse of Madness.” Less extrava ganzas like “Downton Abbey: A New Era” did well, making $92 mil lion worldwide ($44 million in the U.S.), having cost just $40 million to make, though expectations were higher. It did bring out 55 and older patrons in its opening weekend, the largest number since pre-pandemic, but that declined appreciably the second weekend when “Top Gun: Maverick” premiered. What will happen when more serious fare appears this fall? Will audiences go to cineplexes or wait till these films appear on streaming platforms? The other major ques tion: will streaming platforms artis tically and financially dominate ma jor releases over Hollywood studio movies like they did last year, when “CODA” became the first streaming distributed film (Apple +) to win the Best Picture Oscar. From this early perspective, the fall offerings look promising for the studios, in cluding a handful for LGBTQ audi ences.Probably the most anticipated LGBTQ movie of the fall is “ Bros ,” billed as the first gay romantic comedy “about two men maybe, possibly, probably stumbling to ward love,” from a major studio (Universal) featuring an almost entirely LGBTQ principal cast (i.e. Luke MacFarlane, “Broth ers & Sisters”) with the exception of allies Kristin Chenoweth and Debra Messing. It was written by gay comic actor Billy Eichner (“Difficult People,” “Impeach ment: American Crime Story”), directed by Nicholas Stoller (the Neighbor films, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), and produced by Judd Apatow (“The 40-Year-Old-Vir gin,” “Knocked Up”). Its tag line says, “how hard it is to find another tolerable human being to get through life,” and the poster proclaims “a boy meets bro love story,” with two guys from the back touching each other’s asses. The trailer suggests some patchy spots as it features laughs about in-fighting between gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals. But we will keep our fingers crossed anyway.There is much riding on the film because 2019’s “Rocketman,” the bi opic about Elton John, did poorly at the box office. Consequently “Bros” will mark the first major studio release to show gay male sex on screens in more than three years; in theaters, September 30. There are high hopes for “My Policeman,” an English romantic drama set in 1950’s Brighton, with a gay policeman named Tom (Har ry Styles) who marries Marion, a schoolteacher (Emma Corrin, Prin cess Diana in “The Crown”), while being in a relationship with Patrick, a museum curator (David Dawson). “The secret they share threatens to ruin them all,” based on the Bethan Roberts novel. Linus Roache, Gina McKee, and gay actor Rupert Ev erett will play the characters forty yearsStyleslater.has already generated con troversy in his Rolling Stone inter view when he says, “It’s not like ‘This is a gay story about these guys being gay. It’s about love and wasted time to me,” the latter a safer theme for the singer, who continues to deny rumors he’s gay and has also been accused of queerbaiting, appropri ating queer symbols (i.e. rainbow flags) at his concerts without explic itly claiming to be queer. Regardless, the movie’s already being talked up as an awards contender; in theaters, October 21, then streaming on Am azon Prime Video, November 4. On September 10, The Italian Cultural Institute Cinema Italia San Francisco in collaboration with the Artistic Soul Association under the screening of the Abel Ferrara biopic “Pasolini,” starring Wil lem Dafoe, about the director’s mysterious final days before his murder, possible assassination in 1975. Four of Pasolini’s films will be shown: “Mamma Rosa” with the incomparable Anna Magnani as a mother determined to rise above poverty; “Accattone,” about a young loafer who fancies him self a pimp roaming the Roman slum of Pigneto. In “Medea,” opera singer Maria Callas in her only film, playa the woman scorned by her husband who murders her children in an ad
September 1-7, 2022 • Bay area reporter • 27t Fall Arts: Film>> WWW.ANGELAGREENMAN.COM AVAILABLE
Naomi Ackie will play Whitney Houston in ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge in ‘Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies’Ana de Armas in ‘Blonde’
Berkeley Art Museum’s Pacific Film Archive is also having a Paso lini retrospective honoring his cen tennial from October 22 through November 27, featuring some other films from his wide-ranging oeu vre: “The Gospel According to St. Matthew,” which some critics rank as the greatest film on the life of Jesus ever made; “Teorama,” star ring Terrence Stamp, concerning an upper-class Milanese family vis ited by some kind of anthropomor phized divine force; then Pasolini’s Trilogy of Life: “The Decameron,” based on Boccaccio’s 14th-century allegory; “Canterbury Tales,” a take on Chaucer’s medieval narrative poem; and “Arabian Nights,” an ad aptation of the ancient Arabic an thology, but no Scheherazade. All three films are light-hearted attacks on capitalism, corruption of the wealthy, and contemporary sexual mores with lots of nudity and slapstick humor.
<< Film From page 26
“I Wanna Dance With Some body” takes a look at the life and ca reer of probably the greatest female R & B singer, Whitney Houston, focusing on her troublesome mar riage to R & B singer Bobby Brown. Her drug addiction, which in 2012 eventually killed her in a bathtub, will also receive attention. How ever, there’s no word on whether her lesbian relationship with best friend Robyn Crawford (verified by her and Brown in their respective memoirs) will be covered or how the pressures of hiding her sexuality may have contributed to her death. Anthony McCarten, who wrote the “Bohemian Rhapsody” script about gay rock icon Freddie Mercury of Queen, penned the screenplay here; in theaters December 21. “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies” follows the final 11 months of photographer Kit Cowan’s (Ben Aldridge, “Fleabag”) life after his diagnosis of terminal cancer, through the eyes of his lover Mi chael Ausiello (Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”), based on his memoir. Sally Field will play Cow an’s mother. The screenplay is by David Marshall Grant (who played the landmark gay character in TV’s “thirtysomething”) and Dan Sav age (the sex columnist). Everyone mentioned here is gay (except Field), so could this film be the queer “Love Story”? - in theaters, December 2. The Inspection” tells the intense story of a young gay Black man, Ellis French (Jeremy Pope, “Ryan Mur phy’s Hollywood”), who, rejected by his mother, enlists in the Marines, doing whatever it takes to succeed, including surviving a near lethal hazing from his training instructor and fellow recruit. Pope identifies as sexually fluid, choosing not to label himself as bisexual; in theaters, No vember 18. Blonde” is a fictionalized bio graphical psychological drama on the life of actress Marilyn Monroe, based on the 2000 novel by Joyce Carol Oates and just in time for the 60th anniversary of her death. Cu ban actress Ana de Armas will play Marilyn, though she has received some backlash because her ethnic background doesn’t match Mon roe’s. Also, Armas retains her native Cuban“Blonde”accent.has also garnered a NC-17 rating worrying some it will be sexually exploitative of Mon roe. It’s not a traditional biopic, feminist and non-linear in scope. Armas will have fierce competition in that Michelle Williams gave her stunning Oscar-nominated rendi tion of Monroe in 2011’s “My Week with Marilyn,” on the rocky 1957 filming of her movie “The Prince and the Showgirl” with Laurence Olivier; Netflix, September 28. Read about more upcoming fall films in next week’s issue. t NOW AT
It’s been more than a dozen years since the kohl-eyed glamor puss rose to fame on “American Idol”, came out with a sequined shrug, made out with a dude on the Grammies, then dodged the very real possibility of becoming his generation’s Liberace by pay ing highly credible homage to a prior generation’s Killer Queen. While a series of global treks subbing for Freddie Mercury have been enormously success ful, Lambo has done relatively little touring on behalf of his own four albums. His last Bay Area solo show was at the Warfield in 2010. A generous, charming and effortlessly charismatic performer, Lambert never takes himself too seriously. You shouldn’t either. Go have fun. $42.50-$195.00. Oct. 19. 2025 Broadway, www.paramountoakland.orgOakland.
Ben Platt @ Frost Amphitheater Broadway’s original Evan Han sen is touring behind his second self-penned solo album, “Rev erie”, which adds an exoskeleton of chiming synthesizers to the more organic sound of his earlier “Sing to Me Instead.” He’s got a sweet, sensitive emo vibe and a talent for earnest songwriting in an early Billy Joel mode. In an era when celebrity musicians of ten burnish their bonafides on Broadway, Platt is the first theater singer to successfully spin-off into mainstream pop. $49.50-$129.50. Sept. 11. 351 Lasuen St., Stanford. www.live.stanford.edu
@ Chase Center If you’ve yet to discover this 25-year-old queer pop phe nom from Springfield, Missouri, you’re in for a treat (opening for Panic at the Disco!). While his lyrics are emotionally vulner able, his melodies are thoroughly mope-resistant with Velcro hooks and irresistible sing-along cho ruses. His country-grained voice swings from Daddy-o depths to a twinkling twinkie falsetto and his fashion sense is unapolo getically Bowiesque. $60.50 and up. Oct. 25. 1 Warriors Way. www.ticketmaster.com @B-52sThe Masonic That wacky little band from Athens, Georgia is taking one last “Roam” around America to wrap up an unexpectedly lengthy career that dates back to the Bicenten nial. After appearing on Saturday Night Live in 1980, the sortasurf-punk quintet became the patron saints of artsy queer kids everywhere. Five years later, tacky iconoclasm took on a poignant undercurrent after guitarist Ricky Wilson, older brother of vocalist Cindy, succumbed to AIDS five years later. Vocalist Kate Pierson once did a little moonlighting gig as the secret sauce back-up vo calist on R.E.M.’s “Shiny Happy People” and the whole band ap peared as the BC-52s in the liveaction “Flintstones” movie (also featuring Elizabeth Taylor, in her final film role, as Wilma’s mother, Pearl Slaghoople). Rock on, you crazy queerdoes! $54.95 and up. Oct. 28, 30. 1111 California St. www.livenation.com Live Concerts @ Orinda Theatre
28 • Bay area reporter • September 1-7, 2022 t<< Fall Arts: Concerts Fall Arts concerts Talk about … pop music
Elton John Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys Adam Lambert B-52s Lil Nas
Grace
by Jim Gladstone From legacy acts to newcomers, there’s an unusually queer sea son of pop ahead at major Bay Area concert venues. Brace yourselves for a glitter tsunami.
Lil Nas X @ Bill Graham Auditorium
Elton John @ Levi’s Stadium In which Reginald Dwight and Cherilyn Sarkisian meld into a sin gle amalgam of feathers, sequins and moxie. Farewell yet again, Rocket Man. $48 and up. Oct. 8 & 9. 4900 DeBartolo Way, Santa Clara. www.ticketmaster.com
Jake Wesley Rogers
Jones
Over the Bay Bridge or through the BART, the 20222023 Concert Season at the Orinda Theatre features a lineup of Broadway veterans and current stars, including Eden Espinosa on Oct. 16 (“Wicked,” “Rent”); Jimmie Herrod on Nov. 6 (NBC’s “America’s Got Tal ent” finalist and Pink Martini vocalist); Bobby Conte on Dec. 4 (“Company”), with more show in 2023. All shows at 5pm. www.orindamovies.com t
Grace Jones @ The Fox Theatre From the disco era through the late 1980s, attending a live perfor mance by the Jamaican-born diva and one-time Bond villain was a risky bet. On some nights Jones would show up hours late, on others she’d bail after just two or three songs, cavalierly sneering at the audience, occasionally flashing her genitalia. But in her two most recent Bay Area appearances, at the Fox and the Greek, the now 74-year-old (!) has delivered spec tacularly.Jones’ starkly lit, stunningly costumed modern rituals, driven by Afrobeats, modern electron ics, and 100-proof attitude have been indelibly brilliant. Effectively canonized through her cameos on Beyoncé’s “Renaissance”, Jones now graces us with a victory lap. This ain’t your grandmother’s grandmother. $85-$125. Sept. 23. 1807 Telegraph Ave, Oakland. www.thefoxoakland.com
Adam Lambert @ Paramount Theatre
When the “Long Live Mon tero Tour” at long last hits the (old town) road next Tuesday in Detroit, the high profile 22-yearold gay hip-hop artist and inter net provocateur will finally play live for his fans. There will be ri diculously hunky dancers, flashy rompers, smoke pots, flames, the works. The excursion makes its final U.S. stop at a near-instantly sold-out San Francisco show at which point Lil Nas’ career will be have reached its high point, be ef fectively over, or both. Exorbitant and beyond (resale only). Oct. 23. 99 Grove www.billgrahamcivic.comSt.
Pet Shop Boys, New Order @ Chase Center Coy, dry and smart as a whip, Neil Tennant, the Pet Shop Boys’ singer and lyricist as a pop music critic before “West End Girls”, his first single with keyboardist and co-conspirator Chris Lowe (the Andrew Ridgely of electropop) hit the charts in 1986. His cool, slight ly cerebral approach has served the duo well over the course of 14 im peccably produced studio albums and a series elegantly staged tours that feel as much like theater as popTheshows.effete, twig-like Tennant is now 68 years old and looking ev ery bit his age, the unlikeliest of arena performers. But like some robot cousin of Leonard Cohen, he serves gnomic magnetism, holding audiences rapt amidst the digital light show and pro cessed vocals. Both the Boys and New Order will be playing fulllength sets, with DJ Paul Oaken fold also appearing, which is why this show kicks off at the nearmatinee hour of 6:30 p.m. $69.50 and up. Oct. 12. 1 Warriors Way. www.ticketmaster.com
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How do artifacts from the past inform our understanding of the future? Get an up-close look at rare specimens from our collections and learn how scientists are unlocking their secrets to help conserve and regenerate our world. Now open | Get tickets at calacademy.org Every visit supports our mission to regenerate the natural world. Unlock the future new exhibit ! 31706-CAS-Hidden Wonders-BayAreaReporter-9.75x16-07.25.22-FA.indd 1 7/25/22 2:46 PM
by Jim Piechota
AFICTIONMinorChorus, by Billy-Ray Belcourt, $20.95 (Hamish Hamilton) Queer Indigenous Canadian prize-winning poet and creative writer Belcourt’s latest novel chron icles a doctoral student who aban dons his studies in favor of penning a heartfelt novel. Reflecting back on his childhood on a Cree reserva tion and the people in his history who have struggled and continue to wrestle with their identities, the protagonist searches for truth and a way to make peace with his past. This brisk, curious book is highly referential and unconventionally written, often straddling the nu ances of meta-fiction while staying true to the same lush emotive prose seen in his previous books.
TheNON-FICTIONLGBTQ+Comics Stud ies Reader: Critical Openings, Future Directions, Edited by Alison Halsall and Jonathan Warren; $30 (Univ. of Missis sippi Press) Two distinguished York University professors work together in present ing this series of illuminative essays on the resurgence and continued rising popularity of queer comics in marginalized communities. As the book notes, lesbian comics pub lished in the 1980s were demarcated as part of a larger radical movement for queer female equality. These books included those written by and for the Black lesbian population as a complementary publication to the monthly journal BLK Magazine. The sheer amount of diversified voices and perspectives included in this volume is impressive and duly repre sents the impact comics and graphic novels had (and continues to have) on queer history. Look for more books in part 2 next week. t
30 • Bay area reporter • September 1-7, 2022 Word for word t<<Fall Arts: Books PRESENTSFROM“HIGHEST RATING!” — San Francisco Chronicle Step into North Beach’s historic jewel box theatre, where high-flying acrobats create a thrilling love letter to the City by the Bay. TICKETS START AT $ 35 ShowsDrinksWednesdays-Sundays / Snacks Available ClubFugaziSF.com | 415-273-0600 CLUB FUGAZI | 678 Green Street | San Francisco “BEST NIGHT OUT!” — San Francisco Magazine Fall Arts books part 1
My Manservant & Me, by Herve Guibert, translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman, $13.95 (Nightboat) Novelist and AIDS activist Guibert (1955-1991) posthumous publishes this erotically titillating character study between an aging playwright and his younger per sonal attendant. The caregiver is just 20, so the allure of tending to a rich elderly man may be lost on some readers, but for those who can let their imaginations leap out side the box of the ordinary, there is a kinky colorful story embedded here. Dominant roles are switched and rules are broken as the hier archal structures of the two men’s relationship is tested, stretched, and snapped into new and enticing po sitions. The French translation is splendidly finessed in a story that is captivating and fascinating. Kiss the Scars on the Back of my Neck: Stories, by Joe Okonkwo, $16.95 (Amble Press) Queens author Okonkwo’s new collection of nine resonant stories spotlights the queer Black experi ence through many different facets and characterizations. A web de signer for a gay male internet site rejects all the physical perfection he sees splashed across the screen in fa vor of going out for in-person cruis ing at the Manhattan bars. But even he succumbs to doling out rejec tion when faced with imperfection. Could a stray cat be the salve a lone ly gay man desperate craves? Can an unhappy wife give her bisexual husband’s fantasies of a three-way credence? Can the opera experience bridge the gap between two seri ously mismatched Black men? The answers to these queries and much more can be found in the pages of Okonkwo’s masterful collection, which even includes a playlist for the title story.
Queer Little Nightmares, edited by David Ly and Daniel Zomparelli, $18.95 (Arsenal Pulp Press) Queer horror fans of every stripe will want to grab this luminous anthology of spooky fiction and poetry. Monsters are included in many of the entries, but they are not seen as such. Instead, they are merely misunderstood historically demonized entities crawling across dark forgotten landscapes in search of something or someone to relate to. Country lesbians transmogrify into werewolves to strike fear in the hearts of farmers; a minotaur attends a cosplay event in the only costume they’d ever known; even a creature from a black lagoon has needs and gets sick of watching swimmers frolic without them. This is a literary Halloween surprise to enjoy.
I am Onir and I am Gay, by Onir Onir, $19.95 (India Viking) Penned together with his sister Irene, notable Indian filmmaker Onir chronicles his colorful contem porary life behind the camera (in cluding discussing his 2005 directo rial debut, My Brother Nikhil) as well as featured snapshot moments from his childhood in Bhutan. As one of just a few openly gay directors in Bol lywood, Onir opens his heart onto the pages of this earnest and candid self-portrait about the emotional pain and shame of life in the closet while at the same time illuminating the freedoms one is afforded upon coming out.
Hugs and Cuddles, by Joao Gilberto Noll, $14.95 (Two Lines) Brazilian writer Noll (1946-2017) posthumously publishes this pro vocative novel about a Brazilian man’s urgent desire for queer con nection throughout his life. The narrator, also named Joao, is mar ried with a child, however he has never forgotten a sexually charged dalliance with a wrestling buddy back in grade school. It is this epi sode that propels him to enjoy ex tramarital anonymous affairs with male strangers, described with sen sual, feverish carnality throughout the novel. Lust and sexual fanta sies (not always human-human) abounds everywhere in this steamy tale of hidden passion, written with all the urgency and meticulous de tail of the most memorable erotica.
Heretic,MEMOIRby Jeanna Kadlec, $26.99 (Harper) This resonant memoir by a for mer evangelical Christian is searing and beautiful from cover to cover. Kadlec’s midwestern upbringing was steeped in the staunch religious piety of her parents from attending services and following a volatile code of behavioral standards to eventually marrying a local pastor’s son. The marriage became abusive but the au thor writes of toughing it out based on her childhood. But the trauma eventually overrode the way her life was being led and she divorced her husband to start anew. Kadlec writes candidly about realizing her true self by abandoning the church alto gether, finding love with a woman, and living her life by her own rules. While this story may be nothing new, Kadlec’s interpretation is particu larly refreshing and vividly intensive and will resonate most with readers searching for new beginnings.
As the seasons change, new books rush in and readers become enthralled at who’s writing, what’s new, and which trending (or nontrending) subject matter authors are focusing on. For the Fall and Winter months about to envelope us, we present a series of tantalizing up coming reading material from writ ers under the queer literary umbrella. A celebrated Black writer offers a terrific story character-driven collec tion; a former evangelist writes about how she turned her life around and away from religious leanings; and a Bollywood filmmaker writes about coming out. Read on.
Lois Tema Kat Evasco’s “Mommy Queer est” (above) and César Cad abes’s “Not My First Pandemic” (below)both presented as part of Brava’s With You Festival
@ American Conservatory Theater
The Red Shades: A Trans Superhero Rock Opera @ Z Space
Passengers
As a follow up to its smashing revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” (continuing through September 10), the San Francisco Playhouse turns to another complex, thought-provoking play about a play: Paula Vogel’s Tonywinning “Indecent.” The show is a fictionalized history of “The God of Vengeance,” a play written in Yiddish in 1906 about the love affair between a prostitute and her brothel owner’sWhendaughter.itwaseventually produced on Broadway in 1923, the entire cast was arrested for obscenity. Later, it was briefly revived in Nazi-occupied Poland. Homophobia, antisemitism and artistic compromise are among the interwoven themes in this decades-spanning epic that remarkably also incorporates generous amounts of humor and music.$30-$100. Sept. 22-Nov. 5. 450 Post St. www.sfplayhouse.org Lear @ DunsinaneCalShakes@Marin Theater Co. The Bard inspires endless invention and this September brings two particularly intriguing new twists on the Shakespeare canon: First, Cal Shakes returns to its bucolic outdoor amphitheater with “Lear,” a modern verse adaptation by Marcus Gardley, whose “black odyssey” here was a spectacularly entertaining success. The cast includes Bay Area MVPs Sam Jackson and Jomar Tagatac, the script is set in the Fillmore and the action will be underscored by live jazz.$30-$70. Sept. 7-Oct. 2. Bruns Amphitheater, Orinda. www. calshakes.orgAttheMarin Theatre Company, “Macbeth” gets a sequel in “Dunsinane.” In David Greig’s imaginative political history play, a widowed but ever-conniving Lady M (here called Gruach) is positioning her teenage son by a former marriage as rightful heir to the$43.50-$65.50.throne. Sept. 22-Oct.16. www.marintheatre.org t
The venerable A.C.T., which last year ventured into hip-hop with “Freestyle Love Supreme,” again loosens its buttons to present “Passengers” a narrative nouveau cirque production by the Montreal-based troupe, 7 Fingers, which also produces “Dear San Francisco,” the acrobatic cabaret which continues its open-ended run Club Fugazi in North Beach. Set on a moving train, “Passengers” introduces eight characters who discover curious connections among their lives as they hurtle forward through the dark. Their musings and reveries are expressed through elegantly choreographed feats of strength and agility that coalesce into something closer to poetry than bragadocious derring-do. $25-$110. Sept. 15-Oct. 9. 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org @IndecentSanFrancisco Playhouse
September 1-7, 2022 • Bay area reporter • 31t Fall Arts: Theater >> << Theater From page 19
After four years in development, this San Francisco-based musical will have its world premiere production at Z Space. The show brings a rowdy original score and a comic book storytelling twist to the 1966 Compton Cafeteria riot in the Tenderloin and the beginning of the modern transgender rights movement. The book is by Adrienne Price, who co-wrote the songs with Matt Fukul Grandy and Jeanine Adkisson. Free-$50 (sliding scale). Oct. 13-Nov. 5. 450 Florida St. www.zspace.org
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 @ Shotgun Players What a thrill that 2017’s 12time Tony nominee will make its West Coast debut at Berkeley’s small but mighty Shotgun Players. Recently, Bay Area theatergoers got a taste of writer/composer Dave Malloy’s singular adventurousness in last year’s Berkeley Rep production of “Octet,” his a cappella-scored rendering of an Internet addicts’ support group. But Malloy’s relationship with Shotgun is long and strong. The company mounted the first-ever productions of his “Beowulf” and “Beardo” (A Rasputin musical!) in 2008 and 2011 respectively. Like those prior shows, NP&TGC puts a creative spin on literature and history. In this case, Malloy has adapted a section of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” into a cheeky pop opera that The New York Times called “The best new musical to open on Broadway since Hamilton.” Shotgun productions consistently feature some of the region’s most ingenious set designs, so it’s all the more exciting to learn that their small performance space will be radically reconfigured for this production.$8-$62.Nov. 5-Dec. 30. Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. www.shotgunplayers.org
Jack (Joey Alvarado) and Norman (Nick Trengove) in ‘Aunt Jack’ at New Conservatory Theatre Center
the spirits are calling this fall at the winchester mystery house
