Gay San Jose council candidate Tordillos awaits vote update
by Matthew S. Bajko
Agay candidate is trailing in third for the San Jose City Council District 3 seat covering much of the city’s downtown area and Qmunity LGBTQ district. The winner will be decided in the special June 24 runoff election and serve through 2026.
Planning Commission Chair Anthony Tordillos was at 20% as of Wednesday morning, with the next vote update expected at 5 p.m. that evening. According to the unofficial returns for the April 8 special election, he had 1,433 votes from the 7,025 ballots counted so far.
Leading the vote count is Gabriela “Gabby” Chavez-Lopez, the executive director of South Bay nonprofit the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley. She is in first place with 29.71% of the vote for a current total of 2,087 votes.
With the second most votes as of election night is Matthew Quevedo, deputy chief of staff to San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan who sole endorsed him in the council contest. He is at 22.66% with 1,592 votes.
Currently in fourth place is pro tem judge Irene Smith, who unsuccessfully sought the seat three years ago. She is at 16.88% with 1,186 votes.
With no candidate expected to surpass 50% of the vote in order to clinch the council seat, the top two finishers will advance to the runoff this summer. It is coinciding with this year’s Pride week celebrations in cities around the Bay Area and across the country.
Hanging over the race has been the legal troubles of gay disgraced councilmember Omar Torres, who vacated the council seat last fall amid revelations he had been extorted for money by a Chicago man he had sexted with and his arrest for allegedly molesting a cousin years prior. As voting was underway Tuesday to decide who will serve out the remainder of his term, Torres pleaded no contest to child sex crimes related to his cousin and is now awaiting his sentencing.
(See story, page 5.)
See page 4 >>
SF supervisors OK Castro Entertainment Zone
by John Ferrannini
The Castro LGBTQ neighborhood is about to be able to bolster outdoor nighttime events by making it easier to drink alcohol on the street. The Castro Upper Market Entertainment Zone is one step closer to becoming a reality, as the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved legislation April 8 establishing permissions for alcohol to be consumed outdoors during special events.
The ordinance will need a second and final vote April 15, according to Anh Ha, a legislative aide to gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, who introduced the legislation February 4, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported.
Mandelman, who represents the Castro as the District 8 supervisor, stated that he is “grateful to my colleagues for their unanimous support of the Castro Upper Market Entertainment Zone. The EZ should be a significant benefit for neighborhood bars and restaurants, especially during night market events and this fall at the Castro Street Fair. Now more than ever we need to support our local businesses and show the world that our gayborhood remains the best in the world.”
The San Francisco ordinance is possible because of state legislation for entertainment zones – Senate Bill 76 in 2023 and SB 969 in 2024 – allow local jurisdictions to designate outdoor areas where people
can consume open containers of alcohol during special events, such as when streets are closed to traffic for street fairs or night markets. They were introduced by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), a Castro resident.
Assembly Bill 342 introduced by Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) would allow cities that create hospitality zones to extend the last call for alcohol from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. on
Fridays, Saturdays, and state holidays. The legislation is different from entertainment zones and would also apply to music festivals such as Coachella.
SF LGBTQ historic sites could be landmarked
by John Ferrannini
Sites historic to LGBTQ history are among the 18 buildings in San Francisco’s District 8 that have been proposed for landmarking. They include the former home of the late Bay Area Reporter founder Bob Ross.
Others under consideration are the inaugural site of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation at 51420 Castro Street and Most Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church at 100-117 Diamond Street; Ross’ former residence is at 4200 20th Street.
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Gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, who represents District 8, and Planning Department staff held a meeting at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center on April 2 to discuss the proposals.
Mandelman, who represents the Castro and Noe Valley neighborhoods, told the Bay Area Reporter, “This is sort of the initial results” of work by planning staff.
“I don’t think there are only 18 properties in District 8” that should be landmarked, he added. “I think this is a small part of them, but it’s a start.”
Mandelman said that he wants to recognize what should be preserved as more development comes to town now that restrictions on new housing are being eased on both the state and local levels.
“The capital will come in, the lenders will make their loans, and projects will start happening,” he
“You definitely don’t have to be a person who goes out until 3 a.m. to understand that it can be something that can help our cities and our state,” Haney, a straight ally, stated.
See page 8 >>
said. “It’s really important to identify those properties that are really special. … I’ve been advocating for this for a long time.”
Rounding out the LGBTQ-related landmarking proposals are the former site (1966-1989) of Maud’s lesbian bar at 929-41 Cole Street; the former site (1971-1977) of the Castro Rock Steam Baths at
See page 8 >>
Anthony Tordillos was in third place for
a San Jose City Council seat but more votes need to be counted.
582 Castro Street; the former site (1974-1977) of the Full Moon Coffeehouse at 4416 18th Street; the historic former site of LGBTQ synagogue Sha’ar Zahav (1983-1998) at 220 Danvers Street; and the former site of Missouri Mule (1963-1973) at 2348 Market Street.
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman spoke at a meeting to discuss proposed city landmarks in District 8, including several that are LGBTQ-related.
John Ferrannini
People enjoyed the Castro Night Market held March 21 in the LGBTQ neighborhood.
Steven Underhill
Lurie pledges focus on public safety goals
by John Ferrannini
Members of the Castro Merchants Association got front-row seats Thursday to expositions from the two most powerful people in San Francisco government – Mayor Daniel Lurie and gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman. The men discussed how they’re implementing their policy priorities even as they see a rough budget process on the horizon.
The appearances come as Castro residents and business owners are on edge following several recent incidents, including the beating of a bar bouncer last month.
“I’m going to be relentless” in efforts to see improvements, Lurie, a straight ally, told attendees at the April 3 merchants meeting.
“Our departments are starting to work together,” he said. “They’re collaborating. They’re addressing the crisis on the streets in real time.”
Lurie said that while “there was truth” to dystopian narratives around the city during his predecessor’s term, news of its recovery will hopefully bring people attracted to the values that always made the City By The Bay special.
“Come here. Be who you want to be.
Love who you want to love,” Lurie said. “Hopefully, what’s going on everywhere else, we draw even more people.”
Lurie named three priorities – pub-
lic safety, “the behavioral health crisis on our streets,” and “streamlining our permitting process.”
Amid a Castro on edge after high-profile incidents – including a vicious beating of a neighborhood bar employee in front of the eponymous theater, for which an arrest was made March 27 – the mayor said he’s focusing on bringing more police to San Francisco one way or another.
“We did have a full academy class – 55 – in January, and the numbers are looking good for our classes as we go through the year,” Lurie said. “We need more lateral hires, we need more reserve officers as well.”
The man arrested in that incident, Victor Barrios, 34, was charged with felony assault without a firearm. He had a hearing before a judge at the Hall of Justice
concurrent with the merchants’ meeting.
David Ayerdi, a gay Castro resident who is also a Realtor at Sotheby’s International Realty, showed up to the meeting with signs asking for “town halls asap” and “footbeat cops ASAP.”
There are foot beat police walking in the Castro, but it is during daytime hours.
Outside the meeting, Ayerdi, who said he is his “own person,” said he had not heard back from Mandelman about the possibility of a town hall in the wake of the violence. He spoke with Lurie inside.
“Lurie saw my signs and he right away came up to me and said, ‘What’s going on?’ and he said, ‘I’m going to talk to Rafi [Mandelman] so we can put together a town hall.’ That’s what’s nice to hear,” Ayerdi said.
Reached for comment on the town hall matter after the April 3 meeting, Mandelman avowed that he had been in touch with Ayerdi and added that his office will “probably do a Castro-focused town hall sometime this year.”
Mandelman routinely holds office hours on weekends at which his constituents can RSVP a time slot to talk to him about any issue. He will hold a virtual one via Zoom this Saturday, April 5, from 10 a.m. to noon and an in-person one at Duboce Park Cafe, 2 Sanchez Street, on Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to noon. Those interested should email mandelmanstaff@sfgov. org to book a slot.
Behavioral health issues
With regard to the behavioral health crisis, Lurie discussed his recent change to city policy regarding drug paraphernalia, which city-funded nonprofits can no longer distribute to drug users unless it is tied to treatment or counseling.
“We have two people dying a day of overdoses on our streets,” he said. “It’s unacceptable. … We’re going to be guided by the evidence. What we’re doing, the evidence tells me, is not working right now.”
The San Francisco Chronicle reported it’s unclear if the city and its nonprofit partners have the resources needed to meet the mayor’s mandate.
Ray Connolly, co-owner of Eureka Sky, asked Lurie if he is planning to bring more big conferences and conventions back to San Francisco. Several have pulled out in recent years amid the city’s crises.
“You’re the guy who can pick up the phone and call,” said Connolly.
“I am, and I am doing that,” Lurie responded.
Lurie said he helped Databricks, a data and AI company, to commit to major investments in the city. The company had planned a move to Las Vegas when, “I got on the phone with them and said, ‘What can we do to keep you?’” he said.
Now, the company will keep its annual conference in the city through at least 2030, which Databricks claims will generate $980 million in additional business value for the city till that time,
the company stated. The number of attendees at the June confab is expected to mushroom from 20,000 this year to 50,000 in 2030.
The company also plans to invest $1 billion into its San Francisco operations in the coming years
“Databricks has deep roots in the San Francisco Bay Area, with our founding team having first met as researchers at U.C. Berkeley,” stated Patrick Wendell, co-founder and vice president of engineering at Databricks, in a news release. “San Francisco is quickly becoming the AI capital of the world and we are thrilled to be investing heavily in the city. These investments reaffirm our commitment to the Bay Area and will help us rapidly expand our workforce, with a particular focus on engineering and AI talent.”
Lurie told the Castro Nail Salon owner Riyad Khoury that he’d be working with Mandelman’s office to help support the new legacy business, which may have to move as its lease with the Nasser family at 431 Castro Street comes to an end in June. The Castro Coffee Company also may have to close or move, as the B.A.R. previously reported. Both businesses are located in the building that includes the theater, which is undergoing renovations by Another Planet Entertainment. Negotiations are ongoing.
Castro merchants group elects new president
by John Ferrannini
The Castro Merchants Association
elected new leadership April 3, selecting Nate Bourg, a gay man who is co-founder of The Academy SF, a private social club, as president. He succeeds Terry Asten Bennett, a straight ally who has served as the organization’s leader for the last two years, and did a similar stint years ago.
“I’m really excited,” Bourg, who coowns the social event space at 2166 Market Street where merchants’ meetings are usually held, said after his ascension to the position. “Thank you everybody for believing in me. I’m excited to represent you. I really believe in this association.”
Bourg had served two years as the organization’s treasurer.
At the same time, the association also rounded out its board with some new members and some continuing.
cate and owns Art House SF gallery at 2324 Market Street; David F. Khalil, a licensed marriage and family therapist and founder of Rouse Relational Wellness at 4124 18th Street. Asten Bennett, who co-owns Cliff’s Variety at 479 Castro Street, will also serve on the board.
Everyone who ran for a position on the board won and there were no challengers.
Gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, who as District 8 supervisor has worked with Asten Bennett closely through the years, praised her stewardship.
“Providing leadership to this community can be rewarding. It can also be a major pain in the ass,” Mandelman said.
we can do things.”
Cliff’s was started by Asten Bennett’s great-great-grandfather.
“I volunteered to support my community,” she told the B.A.R. of her involvement with the merchants group.
“Terry had done this once before, and two years ago this organization needed some leadership, and Terry stepped up with a lot of others on the board, and I wanted to extend my personal gratitude,” he said, referring to her previous tenure.
Asten Bennett had been president April 2012-2014.
Jenn Meyer, a straight ally who is proprietor of Local Take, 4122 18th Street, will continue as vice president and Desmond Morgan, a gay man who is co-owner of Eureka Sky, 3989 17th Street, will continue as secretary. Robyn Lounsbury of Bean Counter, 2358 Market Street, Floor No. 2, will be treasurer.
Asten Bennett had been president since 2023 after Terrance Alan was ousted amid the controversy over the Castro Theatre renovation project before it was approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and went forward. https:// www.ebar.com/story/325079/redirect/ News/ She was reelected last year, running unopposed.
Filling out the board are Leon Shannon, owner of Skin on Market at 2299 Market Street; Steve Martel, owner of PO Plus at 584 Castro Street; Max Khusid, who identifies as an LGBTQ advo-
Mayor Daniel Lurie, who attended part of the merchants’ meeting, honored the longtime steward of the organization with a proclamation that April 3 is Terry Asten Bennett Day in San Francisco –but only if she decided to relent and stay on, he quipped.
Mandelman joked about Bourg running unopposed.
“In the spirit of the new American democracy, there is only one candidate for president,” he said.
Asten Bennett was grateful for the honors.
“Thank you for trusting me,” she said.
“I love this community, and I know we’re all part of this community and together
“I didn’t do it for recognition. But it feels incredible when other people can see how hard you have worked. I am moved and honored by the recognition. And even though my time as Castro Merchants president has come to an end, I will continue to support my community through volunteering and advocacy.”
The April 3 meeting of the association was one of two the group is annually required to make open to the public and hear their comments on each item. There were no comments on the leadership vote. t
Full disclosure: The Bay Area Reporter is a member of the merchants’ group but does not vote on any items, including the leadership votes.
Nate Bourg, co-founder of The Academy, is the new Castro Merchants Association president.
John Ferrannini
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie spoke to members of the Castro Merchants Association at its April 3 meeting.
John Ferrannini
Gay Oakland mayoral staffer placed on leave
by Cynthia Laird
Brandon Harami, a gay man who’s Oakland interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins’ community resilience director, was one of several staffers placed on paid administrative leave Monday in a City Hall shake-up.
Meanwhile, the special election for a new mayor is just over a week away and some LGBTQ voters are questioning ties by candidate Loren Taylor to a man known for making homophobic statements.
City Hall shake-up
Harami told the Bay Area Reporter in a Facebook message Monday that he was placed on administrative leave that day and that his last day is Friday, April 11.
Jenkins said in a statement that it’s always been his intention to allow the next mayor to choose their own staff. “In the meantime, my team and I are laserfocused on preparing the Mayor’s draft budget for on-time release on May 1,” he stated.
Harami disagreed.
“This is clearly retaliatory action in response to an inaccurate and misleading release from the leadership of the Oakland NAACP, who has reason to dislike me after I landed a settlement with one of their officers for harassment,” Harami stated. “I am pursuing next steps with both my union and other avenues.”
Harami was referring to his settling in February a restraining order filed by the city against Seneca Scott. Scott used to be on the executive board of the Oakland NAACP board; his name no longer appears to be listed among the branch’s leadership on its website.
As the B.A.R. previously reported, the settlement followed a cease and desist and a temporary restraining order that Scott made false and extremely homophobic accusations against Harami and his family “as well as posting my address and phone number while encouraging
lic business.”
his supporters to harass me,” Harami wrote in a previous statement about the settlement.
Harami had also worked for former mayor Sheng Thao, who was recalled by voters last November.
With Harami’s impending departure from City Hall, however, the settlement will end, he noted.
“I was in the middle of prepping to protect myself with a civil case against Seneca in anticipation of leaving, but this sudden firing means my settlement ends with him on Friday, which means he can go back to harassing me,” he wrote.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, over the weekend Jenkins had fired his chief of staff Leigh Hanson, over a note she wrote last year that appeared to refer to Black people as “tokens.” Hanson, who had also served as Thao’s chief of staff, had written the note during an anti-recall meeting, the paper reported.
The news of the memo came after the city released about 1,000 pages of documents last week related to the FBI inves-
tigation of Thao. The former mayor has been charged with corruption by federal authorities and has pleaded not guilty. The Chronicle reported that the handwritten note by Hanson stated, “CM Fife can reach out to NAACP – use BP as tokens.” That was a reference to District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife, a Thao ally, the Chronicle reported. Hanson confirmed to the paper that BP was an abbreviation for Black people.
Hanson told the paper that the note was taken out of context and that the meeting discussed Thao’s perceptions of the recall effort’s plans to recruit Black people to its cause.
On Monday, the Oakland NAACP sent out a news release calling for Hanson and Harami’s terminations.
“Worse, Harami, a former top aide to Thao who regularly trolled and insulted Black Oaklanders and leaders online, was caught including Thao’s now-indicted boyfriend Andre Jones on official city email threads, referring to him as ‘part of the team,’” the NAACP release stated. “This raises grave ethical questions about misuse of city resources and the involvement of unelected and now criminally-indicted individuals in pub-
Jones, who has also been charged in relation to the Oakland corruption probe, has pleaded not guilty.
“It’s time for accountability at Oakland City Hall,” stated Cynthia Adams, president of the Oakland NAACP. “We’re not asking for apologies. We’re demanding justice. Our community has been vilified, disrespected, and used. Anyone who participated in a scheme to tokenize Black people or mock Black leadership has no place working for the people of Oakland.”
In a separate Facebook message, Harami accused the Oakland NAACP of “retaliation.”
“This never ends,” he wrote. “I didn’t even attend the meeting where that [Hanson’s note] was written so should I be fired for being a scheduler? This is clearly retaliation.”
Mayoral vote soon
The latest City Hall shake-up comes with under a week until Oaklanders elect a new mayor. The two main candidates in the April 15 special election are former congressmember Barbara Lee and Taylor, a
former city councilmember who ran against Thao in 2022.
Scott has a history of anti-LGBTQ statements, as the B.A.R. has noted. The Alameda County Democratic Party and the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club in 2023 condemned Scott’s homophobic social media posts, some of which were directed at Harami, who was then Thao’s director of community resilience and her de facto LGBTQ liaison. In his posts, Scott used an old trope that equates gay men with pedophiles.
In the upcoming mayoral election, Scott has posted on social media supporting Taylor, Oaklandside reported.
For his part, Taylor promoted on social media and appeared at a rally that Scott organized in East Oakland, wearing a Pride-themed shirt, according to a video shared on social media.
That has led some Oakland LGBTQ leaders to question Taylor’s commitment to the community. At an LGBTQ mayoral forum held March 1, Taylor was asked by a member of the public about his connection to Scott and if he would directly condemn his anti-LGBTQ comments.
“I completely condemn any homophobic or transphobic comments from Mr. Scott or anyone else,” Taylor said, according to a video of the forum. “Absolutely, I stand with the LGBTQ community.”
In a recent phone interview with the B.A.R., Lee, long an ally to the LGBTQ community, decried hate speech leveled by Scott.
“Hate does not belong in any community,” Lee said. “You’re known by the company you keep. I’ve pushed back on hate anytime. It’s an indica
tion of how my opponent will gov
ern.”
Oakland mayoral staffer Brandon Harami was placed on paid administrative leave April 7 by interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins.
From Facebook Oakland mayoral candidate Loren Taylor, left, and Barbara Lee
Taylor, Cynthia Laird; Lee, Jane Philomen Cleland
Gay Vanguard publisher Keith St Clare dies
by Cynthia Laird
Keith St Clare, a gay man who edited and published Vanguard, an early LGBTQ magazine that was based in San Francisco, died March 25 at an assisted living facility in Richmond, Texas. He was 79.
Mr. St Clare had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for the last few years, his sister, son, and friends told the Bay Area Reporter.
It was in mid-1960s San Francisco that Mr. St Clare made his mark when he took over Vanguard magazine. Initially published by the Vanguard organization in 1965, the magazine became a separate entity that Mr. St Clare began running in 1966 for the next 12 years, his friend Adrian Ravarour, Ph.D., said in a phone interview.
“He kept the legacy alive,” said Ravarour, a gay man who was also involved with the Vanguard organization, which helped youth – LGBTQ and straight – in the Tenderloin. The group held dances for youth.
“I taught civil rights principles and gay history,” he added.
Ravarour said that Mr. St Clare “was all about furthering people’s rights. He felt a lot of people were oppressed and that people had a right to be themselves.”
August Bernadicou, a gay man who’s executive director of the LGBTQ History Project, was friends and colleagues with Mr. St Clare.
“He was gay liberation pre-gay liberation,” Bernadicou said in a phone interview. “In 1967, Vanguard magazine was one of the most radical magazines.”
He said the publication covered the
transgender community, drug dealers, and others.
“It had an interview with a Tenderloin drag queen and all these people who were marginalized,” Bernadicou recalled.
Bernadicou interviewed Mr. St Clare for his history site. https://www.lgbtqhp. org/post/keith-st-clare-interview
One thing both Bernadicou and Ravarour said was that Mr. St Clare often spoke in poetry.
The Vanguard organization was affiliated with Glide Memorial Church. The Reverend Larry Mamiya was the church’s official adviser to Vanguard and he wrote about the organization in his “Memoir of my Intern Year,” which is part of the CRH Mamiya Exhibit available at lgbtqreligiousarchives.org. https://lgbtqreligiousarchives.org/ Vanguard, 1965-1967, as he noted, was about social justice trying to end discrimination and gain acceptance of LGBT people. Mamiya was very supportive, having created the Vanguard weekend dances that added societal dimensions to Vanguard (that were later carried into the 1967 Gay and Lesbian Center). After Glide began to sponsor Vanguard in June 1966, the late Reverend Cecil Williams, Glide’s ministers, and Vanguard members JP Marat, Keith St Clare, Dixie Russo, Joel Roberts, and many others were staunch activists who gave their gifts hoping to change attitudes, gain equality and empower LGBT people. Unfortunately, the Vanguard organization ceased operation in 1967. But Mr. St Clare continued to publish Vanguard magazine as an activist and moral crusade for LGBT rights.
In July 2023, Mr. St Clare wrote an open letter about his involvement with both the organization and magazine to correct what Ravarour said was an erroneous article in the British queer publication Attitude mistakenly stating that Mr. St Clare and Ravarour were among the poor street youth members of Vanguard. In his letter, Mr. St Clare stated when he arrived in San Francisco in 1966 he spent three or four months in North Beach, where he became a friend of gay activist performer José Julio Sarria, a Latino veteran and drag queen who founded the Imperial Council, a philanthropic organization.
Mr. St Clare joined the Vanguard organization in October 1966, he wrote, and within a week became what he called the “high scribbler” of the third issue of the magazine. He met the late gay Reverend Ray Broshears, who joined Vanguard in 1967, “and we connected to his street ministry for a few months,” Mr. St Clare wrote. But the Vanguard organization dissolved in mid-1967 and funds intended for it were redirected to a different service agency. In order to save the magazine, Mr. St Clare wrote that he privatized it “as a media outlet for social change.”
Ravarour said that at a time when LGBTQ people had few rights, Mr. St Clare published his address in Vanguard magazine.
Mr. St Clare was also involved with the South of Market Community Center and the Black Box Theater, he noted in his letter.
Foster parent
In addition to Vanguard magazine, Mr. St Clare later went on to operate a foster home for youth in San Francisco. His younger sister, Laurelee Roark, 73, said he was the first gay man to operate such a facility, which he ran starting in the 1980s for many years. Mr. St Clare wrote that he raised 300 foster kids over the years.
“He took kids who were throwaways, runaways, and made that into his career,” she said.
Mr. St Clare also took in LGBTQ youth who were having other issues. One of those, Phyllis Fisher, recalled that she was having problems at home when she went to live at Mr. St Clare’s house.
“I was the only female,” Fisher, a lesbian, said in a phone interview from Raleigh, North Carolina, where she lives with her wife, Vandylin. “He took me in when nobody else would.”
Fisher, 59, recalled Mr. St Clare as a serious man who wanted the foster youth in his care to be accountable.
“I didn’t have a drug problem. I never missed school. I had a job,” Fisher said.
Fisher, a veteran, went on to serve in three U.S. wars during her military career. After her discharge, she drove to see Mr. St Clare, who told her about his biological son.
“He put his heart into the community,” she said of his years as a foster parent. “I just had problems at home. It didn’t stop me from moving forward with my life.”
Michael Miller is Mr. St Clare’s son. Miller, who was adopted at birth, discovered their connection in 2017 after New Jersey, where he lived at the time, opened up adoption records and he got his original birth certificate. The two first met in 2019 when Mr. St Clare attended Miller’s wedding to his wife, Crystal, Miller said in a phone interview.
“Keith kind of believed in his own reality and was against convention,” Miller said, adding that of his time as a foster parent, “there were a lot of doubters that a gay man could do that. He certainly didn’t believe in convention.”
Miller, 56, and his wife live in South Carolina with their 6-year-old daughter, Isabella. Mr. St Clare was able to meet
his granddaughter twice when she was younger and they lived in New Jersey, Miller said.
Also in the 1980s, Mr. St Clare worked for the American Red Cross in Berkeley, Roark said, adding that she believes he made a film of all the people he helped during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Roark said Mr. St Clare produced a television show, “Young Ideas,” that was worked on by students. There are hundreds of tapes at Mr. St Clare’s home, she said, which she plans to donate to the UCLA film department archive.
Early life
Mr. St Clare was born Keith Oliver Roark to O. Burt Roark and Edith Oliver Roark on June 24, 1945 in San Antonio, Texas. Roark told the B.A.R. that her brother endured a lot during his childhood.
“He changed his name in California,” said Roark, a straight ally. “His father and mother didn’t ‘get him’ at all. He grew up a young gay man in San Antonio and was bullied for ‘being different.’ He was thin, neat, dramatic.”
Mr. St Clare went into the U.S. Air Force underage at 17, Miller said, adding Mr. St Clare’s parents signed off on it. He was honorably discharged.
Miller said that after Mr. St Clare began having health issues, he would fly to Texas to help care for him. Roark said she didn’t realize how much Mr. St Clare had deteriorated in his final years. In the end, his family was with him in Texas.
“The Saturday and Sunday before he was very upbeat and chatty,” Miller said. “Monday, he was a little aggravated.” By Tuesday, March 25, facility staff had called the family to tell him “it was time,” Miller said.
“I really expected Keith to live to 85, but that’s not the way it turned out,” he added.
In addition to Roark and Miller and his family, Mr. St Clare is survived by a sister, Melanie Sills, as well as many friends. Roark said that her brother lived an eventful and productive life.
That Mr. St Clare was a citizen “like everybody else – that was his whole thing,” Roark said. “It was so beautiful that he had that.” t
Quevedo,
Since earlier this year engineering firm owner Carl Salas has been serving as the interim appointed District 3 councilmember. He will do so until the winner of the special election is sworn into office. Elected in 2022, Torres was the first gay Latino and out person of color to serve on the San Jose City Council, and only its second out councilmember. The San Jose City Council
Keith St Clare in 2023
Will Shellhorn
Gay ex-SJ councilmember Torres pleads no contest Community News>>
by John Ferrannini
Disgraced gay former San Jose city councilmember Omar Torres pleaded no contest April 8 to sex charges. The plea came on the same day that voters in his former district are choosing his replacement.
As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported Torres, 43, had pleaded not guilty in a court appearance last month that had set a preliminary hearing for April 28; but attorneys were attempting to reach a settlement.
Torres had represented District 3, encompassing downtown San Jose, from 2023 until his resignation at the time of his arrest November 5, 2024. What began as an investigation into
separate lewd text messages and potential sex crimes led a cousin of Torres to come forward with allegations he’d been abused from 1990-1999.
According to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office, the criminal charges against Torres involved alleged acts from November 25, 1999 – about a month after Torres turned 18 years old.
Prosecutors contend the molestation began when the victim was 4 years old and Torres was a teenager.
“It is heartbreaking that someone elected to represent and serve thousands of San Jose residents had previously molested a small child,” stated Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen in a news release. “Children are vulnerable and precious, and my office will do everything in our legal power to fight for their safety and fully prosecute those who hurt them.”
Specifically, Torres pleaded no contest to sodomy and oral copulation by force, violence, duress, menace or fear, and lewd and lascivious acts on a minor under the age of 14.
Torres’ sentencing will be at “a later date,” the release stated. (His next court hearing is still listed as April 28 in the online Santa Clara County Sheriff inmate lookup tool.) He faces prison time and lifelong registration as a sex offender.
Elected in 2022, Torres was the first gay person of color to serve on the San Jose City Council, and only its second out councilmember. A longtime political aide in the South Bay and Democratic Party leader, Torres previously served as an elected member of the
board of the San Jose Evergreen Community College District. The council’s District 3 seat includes the Qmunity LGBTQ district and much of downtown San Jose.
A special election is being held Tuesday (April 8) to fill Torres’ term in the District 3 seat. Among the leading candidates is Anthony Tordillos, a gay man who is chair of the San Jose Planning Commission. The Qmunity District and the office of San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan didn’t immediately return requests for comment for this report. Silicon Valley Pride declined to comment April 8. Torres’ attorney also didn’t return a request for comment. t
Gay ex-Santa Clara councilmember Becker sentenced
by Cynthia Laird
G ay former Santa Clara city councilmember Anthony Becker was sentenced to 40 days in jail Friday following his conviction on perjury. He was found guilty last December of lying under oath to the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury, a felony, and for disclosing a confidential draft civil grand jury report to the San Francisco 49ers and a local media entity, a misdemeanor.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Javier Alcala sentenced Becker to 40 days in jail, with two years on probation. The sentence makes him eligible for a work program in lieu of jail time, San Jose Inside reported.
According to a news release from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office, in December 2024, a jury convicted Becker of lying to the civil grand jury when he falsely denied that he leaked its draft report that was critical of Becker, and sev -
eral of his City Council colleagues, for their unethical relationship with the 49ers and for putting the team’s interests above those of the city. Becker, 39, leaked the then-secret Civil Grand Jury report – entitled “Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Santa Clara City Council” – to Rahul Chandhok, who was the team’s thenchief communications and public affairs officer and lobbyist. The leak of the confidential document came
several days before it was scheduled to be published, the release stated.
Evidence showed that Becker also leaked the report to a small, local media outlet. The jury also convicted Becker of a misdemeanor for violating his duty not to disclose the draft report.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said his office is “satisfied” with the outcome of the case.
“Public officials are entrusted by voters to honestly advocate for the people they serve,” Rosen stated. “Mr. Becker breached that trust. He undermined the justice system by lying under oath to benefit himself and his political benefactor without a care for the impact his selfish actions would have on the people he was elected to serve. We are satisfied that he has been held accountable.”
Becker lost his reelection bid last November. He resigned from the City Council December 6, a day after he was convicted.
In his letter, Becker noted his serv-
ing as a councilmember and a city planning commissioner for six years
“was the greatest honor, joy and privilege” and would miss serving “the people of this wonderful city.”
“It was always a dream of mine to be a part of the government process, creating our city’s policies, enhancing development, and shaping the City’s direction. I’m deeply grateful for the experience, knowledge gained, and relationships built with the exceptional city staff and residents over the past ten years,” wrote Becker.
In the letter, Becker took no responsibility for the leaked report or mentioned it, the court trial, or his guilty verdict.
On October 5, 2022, the City of Santa Clara was provided with a confidential draft copy of the civil grand jury’s report, as required by law. The report was scheduled for formal release on October 10, 2022.
On October 7, news reports revealed details of the grand jury’s report with at least one outlet, San Jose
Spotlight, publishing a complete copy of the draft report. Silicon Valley Voice also wrote about the report before it was released.
The same civil grand jury that issued the report then investigated the source of the leak, the release stated. Becker denied to the members of the civil grand jury that he leaked the report. Chandhok later testified under oath before the criminal grand jury and at trial that Becker sent him the report prior to October 10. Becker also admitted to a fellow council member that he leaked the report to a local media outlet.
The release stated that the 49ers bankrolled Becker’s political career. In total, the 49ers provided over $3 million through independent expenditure committees to benefit Becker’s successful 2020 City Council campaign and his failed 2022 mayoral bid.
His conviction prevents him from ever again holding elected office in California. t
Former San Jose city councilmember Omar Torres
City of San Jose
Former Santa Clara city councilmember Anthony Becker
Courtesy the subject
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The resistance is stirring
Finally, after nearly three months of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, people are getting fed up with his policies that seem to help no one but himself and his cronies. Americans have been shell-shocked by the barrage of executive orders – 112 as of April 9, according to the Federal Register – targeting federal workers; queer and transgender people; public education and teachers; immigration and refugees; economy-busting tariffs; decimation of global and U.S. public health systems; the environment; and so much more.
Last Saturday saw the largest protests of those resisting Trump. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in cities across the country, including San Francisco and other Bay Area locales, and in other nations to protest the Trump administration. Dubbed “Hands Off,” the rallies and marches drew ordinary Americans, Democratic politicians, and others in a show of resistance that has, so far, largely been missing in action.
There will be another chance this Saturday, April 12, at a special People’s March for Democracy in San Francisco.
What has been building in this country is more than just one day of protest. In other ways, people have taken action, cast a ballot, or fought the administration.
Ballot victory, Senate speech
ernment contracts of law firms that had hired attorneys he didn’t like or took up cases and clients that he believed disagreed with his agenda unless they complied with his demands, as the New Republic reported.
In March, Paul, Weiss struck a deal and offered $40 million in free legal services on cases “that represent the full spectrum of political viewpoints of our society,” as the publication reported. But we know what that means – services for Trumpendorsed policies.
The New Republic noted that the firm also rescinded its own DEI policies. Since then, other law firms have made similar deals, the publication reported. Milbank LPP agreed to perform $100 million worth of pro bono legal services on “initiatives supported by the president and Milbank,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Most interestingly, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the law firm where Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, is a partner, was another one that acquiesced. It agreed to provide $100 million in pro bono services for causes the administration supports, New Republic reported.
CNN reported that at a recent charity gala in Los Angeles, Emhoff publicly criticized his law firm’s decision. According to the outlet, Emhoff told the firm that he wanted to fight the threat of an executive order he found unconstitutional but had been overruled, the sources said.
orders targeting law firms. The Associated Press reported that the brief was filed on behalf of Perkins Coie, which is among the firms that have challenged the orders in court. The firm won an initial order temporarily blocking enforcement of security clearance revocations and other issues, but the case is ongoing.
“Whatever short-term advantage an administration may gain from exercising power in this way, the rule of law cannot long endure in the climate of fear that such actions create,” the brief stated. “Our adversarial system depends upon zealous advocates litigating each side of a case with equal vigor; that is how impartial judges arrive at just, informed decisions that vindicate the rule of law.”
That’s the key: upholding the rule of law. Of course, Trump believes fervently that he and his administration are above the law, but they are not. We reported in February that the American Bar Association restated its commitment to the rule of law. It’s imperative that law firms subscribe to this belief too, and it’s a shame that several have concluded that it’s better to cozy up to an authoritarian leader than stand their ground. But hats off to those firms whose attorneys realize the importance of an independent judiciary and that everyone deserves legal representation.
Democrats got some good news at the ballot box last week when a liberal judge won a state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin. This was despite the best efforts of Elon Musk, head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and the billionaire owner of Tesla, X, and Space X, to buy votes by giving away money to Badger State residents. He and his affiliated groups also spent $21 million to back the conservative candidate through advertisements and other activities. In the end, the race wasn’t even close. Judge Susan Crawford won by 10 percentage points over Judge Brad Schimel. The result means that the state’s high court will retain a 4-3 liberal majority. Crucially, it could affect issues like voting rights and redistricting.
U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) offered his own type of resistance when he spoke on the Senate floor for 25 hours and five minutes.
Starting Monday, March 31, at 7 p.m., he broke the previous record set by the late segregationist senator Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina), who used his time to rail against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Booker criticized Trump.
“In just 71 days, the president has inflicted harm after harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the foundations of our democracy and any sense of common decency,” Booker said. “These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.”
And people were listening and watching. According to Booker’s office, his speech garnered 350 million-plus likes on his TikTok livestream – that’s where a lot of people get their news these days –and more than 28,000 voicemails of encouragement on his office line.
At a time when Democratic politicians have been asked repeatedly by constituents to “do something!” it was refreshing to see Booker give a voice to the anger and frustration so many people feel.
Subverting the rule of law
What’s been most troubling is the capitulation by some big law firms and universities. In the legal world, the firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison became the first to cave. The president threatened to revoke security clearances and gov-
More than $200 million – and counting – certainly will provide a lot of top-notch legal services for pro-Trump causes, at the expense, we might add, of the many other organizations that may struggle to find good pro bono representation for issues that are equally important, such as environmental or gun control litigation. And yes, LGBTQ issues too, because a lot of times these big name law firms will assist an LGBTQ legal organization like Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund or the National Center for Lesbian Rights when they bring cases against the government.
In the academic realm, Columbia University in New York City agreed to some of the Trump administration’s demands after it threatened to withhold $400 million in federal funding. These include the university administration taking control of the school’s Middle East program from faculty, banning face masks on campus, and empowering security to arrest protesters, as the Guardian reported.
Some good news
Not all marquee law firms are bending the knee. Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco has doubled down on its resistance to Trump. “Lawyers and big firms: For God’s sake, stand up for the legal profession, and for the Constitution,” the senior partners wrote in an opinion piece, published March 30 in the New York Times.
“Defend the oath you took when you became officers of the court. If we stand together and fight, we will win.”
In a separate statement late last month that was approved by partners Jon Keker, Robert Van Nest, and Elliot Peters, the trio noted that Trump’s order to his Justice Department to penalize his legal opponents shows “how far removed this President, Attorney General and Administration are from our nation’s Constitution and bedrock values. Our liberties depend on lawyers’ willingness to represent unpopular people and causes, including in matters adverse to the Federal Government,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
More recently, about 500 law firms signed on to a court filing against Trump’s executive
Keep protesting Fresh off the Hands Off protests, some people may think they did enough. That would be the wrong message to take away from those events. And on Saturday, April 12, people opposed to Trump’s policies will have an opportunity to again express themselves. Drag artists Juanita MORE! and Alex U. Inn are bringing their People’s March to the greater Bay Area community. (The pair started the march in 2020 during Pride Month, and an LGBTQfocused event will take place June 22.) This edition of the march is for democracy, MORE! and Inn told us last week. As Inn pointed out, Trump and Musk’s DOGE have affected far more than just the LGBTQ community.
“It’s the people’s fight,” said Inn. “Our moniker is perfect for this and the fact that legal and political chaos is disrupting all of our lives.”
In an interview with 48 Hills to promote the event, MORE! pointed out that the resistance is growing.
“Everyone is resisting,” she said. “Many local organizations are doing fantastic work to keep us safe and healthy. In San Francisco, we lead with the heart. Our history hasn’t always been perfect, but we have given hope to countless people worldwide. Our work to resist continues. Let’s take notes from our queer elders that stood up during the AIDS crisis and listen to the voices of our queer youth – they will lead us into the future.”
Inn spoke about what success would look like.
“Success is a tidal wave of resistance, a resounding ‘NO!’ to fascism,” Inn said. “It’s the spark that ignites a national movement, a declaration that we will not be silenced. Success is showing the world that we will protect our democracy. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced. We will not back down. We are here, and we are here to stay.”
A rally starts at noon at Embarcadero Plaza (Market and Steuart streets), and then people will march up Market Street to City Hall. If you’re tired of the direction the country has been going in since January 20, this is an opportunity to deliver that resounding NO. t
The first People’s March in San Francisco in 2020 brought out a crowd.
Gooch
Bi councilmember Beckman seeks North Bay Assembly seat
by Matthew S. Bajko
Bisexual Corte Madera
Town Councilmember
Eli Beckman is aiming to be elected the first out state legislator from the North Bay. He is seeking the open Assembly District 12 seat straddling Marin and Sonoma counties in 2026.
Beckman, 32, jumped into the race April 4, one day after the incumbent, Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael), announced he would seek the open Senate District 2 seat on next year’s ballot. Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire (D-North Coast) is termed out next year, with the contests for the open legislative seats both expected to draw large fields of contenders on the June 2, 2026 primary ballot.
The same issues Beckman has tackled on his town council, from climate change and disaster preparedness to housing and water policy, are also regional and statewide issues that he wants to address in Sacramento, he told the Bay Area Reporter during a phone interview in midMarch as he was preparing to officially launch his Assembly campaign.
“I am proud of my track record and what we have accomplished here in Corte Madera. But there is more work to do, and it is important for folks to step up and really lead on these issues,” said Beckman, who owns his own architecture firm called HAUS+ that specializes in additional dwelling units. “I think about what type of people need to be stepping up and leading on these issues, and they are local elected officials.”
Alvarez, Leno also early endorsed Beckman April 4.
“As a former state senator who represented the North Bay in Sacramento, I’m proud to support Eli Beckman for State Assembly. He deeply understands our communities and our needs, and will always fight for us,” stated Leno.
It is time for that to change, argued Beckman, especially in light of the current political climate where LGBTQ rights are under attack at all levels of government, from conservative politicians here in the Golden State to Washington, D.C.
“One thing I am reminding folks in our community is we are under attack, the likes of which we have not seen in decades,” said Beckman. “It is more critical than ever that we expand our representation in Sacramento and our resistance to what is coming out of Washington, D.C.”
Beckman is the first LGBTQ nonincumbent in the Bay Area to formally launch a 2026 legislative campaign. As the Political Notebook reported in February, the list of out contenders across the state is likely to grow as it gets closer to the March 6 deadline next year for candidates to file ahead of the primary election.
As a local leader, he would bring to Sacramento first-hand experience of how decisions made by the Legislature impact cities across the state. In particular, Beckman said too many bills enacted by state lawmakers create unfunded mandates for local governments.
“We are the ones on the frontlines in the trenches scrambling with staff to figure out how to fund all these unfunded bills coming from Sacramento,” said Beckman, arguing that effective legislators “must know” how their decisions are affecting people in their day-to-day lives. “We have not seen enough of that in Sacramento.”
The first LGBTQ person to serve on his hometown’s council, as well as its ceremonial mayor for two terms, Beckman first won election in 2018 and secured a second four-year term in 2022, both times garnering record vote counts for his town. If he is elected to the Assembly then Beckman would be the first out resident of either Marin or Sonoma counties to serve in the Legislature.
There have been out lawmakers whose districts included a portion of the North Bay but didn’t live there. Such is the case with current gay state Senator Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento), whose 3rd Senate District includes Yolo County where he resides plus portions of Solano, Sonoma, Napa, Contra Costa, and Sacramento counties.
Gay former Senator Mark Leno and his predecessor, lesbian Senator Carole Migden, both San Francisco Democrats, represented Senate districts that included all of Marin County and part of southern Sonoma County in addition to all of the city and county of San Francisco. Due to redistricting, the Senate seat held by McGuire ends at the northern approach to the Golden Gate Bridge across from San Francisco.
“In the Assembly, we have not had anybody openly out representing us,” said Beckman, who is recently single and has a twin brother.
In addition to San Rafael Mayor Kate Colin and Santa Rosa Vice Mayor Eddie
come out to his Jewish family, who have been supportive of him ever since. Both his parents are psychologists who live in Corte Madera while his sibling, who is straight, now lives in New York. His mother’s brother is gay and has served as a role model for Beckman.
“When I came out to my family, it went well. I have a loving and supportive fam ily,” said Beckman, adding that his parents gave him the tools needed “to navigate life and understand myself and what I am feeling and why. They are tools a lot of people don’t have. It helps me connect with people and helps ground me.”
In 2021, during his mayoralty, Beckman worked to raise the Pride flag for the first time at his City Hall. Reaction to the town council doing so made Beckman aware how even something seemingly unsurprising for a liberal city to do can have an outsize impact.
During public comment on the matter at the council’s meeting, recalled Beckman, “a young person who lived in Corte Madera said they had never felt fully safe or at home in Corte Madera and didn’t know if they would be welcome because of their sexual orientation. Flying the Pride flag felt like an affirmation to them.”
It was a reminder, noted Beckman, that what may feel symbolic to some can have “substantive impacts” for others.
Under the state’s open primary system, the top two candidates regardless of party affiliation will advance out of next spring’s contests to the fall ballot. At least 15 out candidates have already pulled papers to seek either an Assembly or Senate seat next year.
On April 2, the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus early endorsed four of the declared candidates, all Democrats. It is once again backing Riverside City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, who is queer and bisexual, in her rematch against Assemblymember Leticia Castillo (R-Corona). Cervantes, the younger sister of lesbian state Senator Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside), narrowly lost to Castillo last year in their contest for her sibling’s former 58th Assembly District seat.
The caucus also is backing bisexual San Diego City Councilmember Marnie von Wilpert’s bid for the open Senate District 40 seat and gay West Basin Municipal Water District board member Scott Houston’s candidacy for the open Assembly District 66 seat. In the Central Valley, it’s supporting gay Fresno City Councilmember Annalisa Perea’s bid for the open Assembly District 31 seat.
There are now 15 out of California’s 120 state legislators hailing from the LGBTQ community, with all but one a member of the LGBTQ caucus. Gay Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (D-San Diego) isn’t part of the affinity group.
The Statehouse is now at 12% out representation but continues to lack a transgender state lawmaker. Of the 15 out legislators, 10 will be up for reelection in 2026, including the current lone bisexual man in the LGBTQ caucus, Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San Jose).
Beckman is hopeful of earning endorsements of his candidacy from various LGBTQ political groups and leaders in addition to others. He already has been lining up support from North Bay leaders and expects to quickly have a campaign war chest of six-figures.
“My strategy is to announce with a strong show of early viability. Once I do that, I hope some of the LGBTQ organizations will come around and say they understand I am the only LGBTQ person running for the seat and will get involved a little earlier,” said Beckman.
He recently ended a four and half year relationship with a man and, due to campaigning for the legislative seat, told the B.A.R. he doubts he will have time to date at the moment. At age 22, Beckman had
“I can’t tell you how moving that was for me,” said Beckman, who told the B.A.R., “it reminded me these things matter to people in how it makes them feel safe and welcome.”
He hopes his serving as a state legislator can send a similar message, especially as on out bisexual individual who at times has felt the need to be closeted in certain situations.
“At the worst, I feel not straight enough for straight spaces or not gay enough for gay spaces,” said Beckman. “When I would meet someone new, I made it a practice of dropping mention of my partner and referring to him as him because it was important to see how people reacted. You get a sense of where their values are. We, as LGBTQ people, know we have to know who you are dealing with in order to be safe.”
At the same time, Beckman said he wants to be modeling to other people what it looks like for LGBTQ people to be comfortable “in their own skin,” especially for young people who are queer.
“They deserve to feel welcome and comfortable anywhere they choose to show up,” Beckman said.
He doesn’t expect his sexual orienta tion to be much of an issue in the race. Beckman does expect to be the only LG BTQ person running in it.
“Knowing my own politics, I am guessing people who have a problem with my sexuality wouldn’t have voted for me anyways,” said Beckman. “With that said, I do always have one eye open. I want to understand where people are at and how they understand these issues.”
A Substack posted in early March that appears to have since been deleted had accused Beckman of trashing Aminzadeh, who lost to Connolly in 2022, in his private talks with potential donors and endorsers for his Assembly bid. The dispatch under the name of North Bay Insiders said that Aminzadeh, now an elected school board member in Kentfield, had decided not to run again for the legislative seat.
and In Memoriam
Beckman told the B.A.R. the “nasty hit piece” against him was “totally misleading and totally baseless. I am hoping that will be the exception, not the rule for this race.”
With his opponents likely to be people he considers friends and colleagues whom he “respects deeply,” Beckman said he intends to run a positive campaign.
“I have never seen anything like this before in my career so far in public service,” he told the B.A.R. “We do things differently in Corte Madera. We don’t subscribe to nasty attacks, so it was shocking and disappointing for me to see this.” t
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Corte Madera Town Councilmember Eli Beckman has announced his campaign for a North Bay Assembly seat. Courtesy the candidate
From page 1
Andrea Aiello, a lesbian who is executive director of the Castro Community Benefit District, lent her support to the Castro legislation in a letter to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors dated March 1.
Aiello noted that special street closure events that might benefit from the legislation could include the annual Castro Street Fair, a long-standing event in October; and the semi-regular Castro Night Market, which was started by the Civic Joy Fund last year. The Civic Joy Fund puts on a number of outdoor nightlife events in San Francisco, including the popular Downtown First Thursdays, as the B.A.R. recently reported. These events have become a hallmark of the city’s post-COVID attempts to boost economic activity.
“The CBD board believes the entertainment zone will help Castro’s existing bars and restaurants by allowing them to sell drinks for people to take outside into the event,” Aiello stated in the letter.
“Currently, alcohol sales during a street fair go to an outside, hired vendor. The entertainment zone designation allows
bars and restaurants in the zone to benefit from the special event. Instead of an outside vendor, street fair participants will be able to walk into any bar in the footprint, purchase a drink and walk outside with it, still being part of the outdoor party.”
Manny Yekutiel, a gay man who is executive director of the Civic Joy Fund, stated to the B.A.R. April 8, “We’re thrilled to see the Board of Supervisors take this exciting step toward establishing the Castro as an official entertainment zone.”
“The Castro is already a hub of creativity, community, and celebration, and this new designation will make it even easier to bring people together in joyful, inclusive ways,” he stated. “Organizing the monthly Castro Night Market, we’ve seen firsthand how these kinds of public events energize the neighborhood –supporting small businesses, sparking new connections, and creating space for queer joy in the city.”
The next Castro night market is Friday, April 18, from 5 to 10 p.m.
Representatives of the Castro Street Fair and the Castro Merchants Association didn’t return requests for comment by press time April 8.
Jimmy Owens
September 7, 1943 – January 24, 2025
Born James Miller Owens in Dallas, Texas to James Floyd Owens and Mary Ruth (Hummel) Owens.
Jimmy “escaped” Dallas at 18 years of age on a westbound Greyhound Bus with twenty dollars in his pocket and a cardboard suitcase. He had never been west of Fort Worth, but found his way to San Francisco where he found nirvana and flourished. After many white-collar jobs he found his way to bartending with his natural social skills becoming a partner in Sutter’s Mill, an upscale Financial District watering hole for professional gays in the mid-1970s.
Jimmy had come into his own with his charming and outgoing personality, making a multitude of friends and acquaintances many lifelong. Jimmy survived the AIDS pandemic, but lost countless loved ones to the plague. He never forgot them as his world narrowed.
In 1979, he met the love of his life Stephen Yokoi, while living above the Castro District in the City. They eventually settled in Brisbane, CA as first-time homeowners. Nine years of DIY, both inside and out, a house was transformed into a home while hosting many dinners and parties. Jimmy and Stephen eventually moved to the Berkeley Hills in 1993 after Jimmy was promoted with Pacific Bell to San Ramon and Stephen’s job site with Caltrans moved to Oakland. They married in 2008, just in time before Proposition 8 passed.
Berkeley ended up being their forever home. As garden enthusiasts, they transported numerous full-sized trees and plants from Brisbane. Over the next 32 years, the garden became the envy of the neighborhood. Jimmy’s other interests included books, music, photography, and politics. He loved sharing his individualized picture cards each with personalized accompanying prose.
Genealogy was a lifelong obsession. Jimmy and Stephen traveled throughout the US and UK tracing Jimmy’s roots connecting with distant relatives whom he found doing original research. They also visited Japan to meet Stephen’s relatives and paternal ancestral village. They were immediately embraced by family.
Jimmy fought and survived multiple cancer diagnoses, the first of which was in 1981. By all accounts, he was a miracle patient and invincible for decades. He did everything he could to stay with us this last time.
Jimmy lived for his “loved ones.” He established friendships wherever he went his entire life, including his last caregivers he befriended just days before passing. You could not have had a better friend than Jimmy. Jimmy’s extraordinary life was filled with unconditional love.
Jimmy was predeceased by his sister, Eva Louise Farmer and his parents. He is survived by his beloved husband and partner of 45 years Stephen Yokoi, sister Jeanene Owens of Mesquite, TX, many nieces, nephews, and cousins. A private gathering of his loved ones to celebrate Jimmy’s life will be held in May in Jimmy’s Garden. In honor of Jimmy, please reach out to a loved one. Tell them how much they mean to you. << Entertainment zone
Leather district may be next
On April 7, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced new legislation establishing five more entertainment zones in the city, which was introduced during the April 8 meeting and is cosponsored by District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter, a straight ally; gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey; and queer District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder. If passed, the new zones will be located on Valencia Street, between 16th and 21st streets; at Pier 39; on Ellis Street, between Stockton and Powell streets; on Folsom Street, between Seventh and Eighth streets; and on Yerba Buena Lane between Market and Mission streets, and at Jessie Square. It will next be heard by the Rules Committee.
The Folsom Street entertainment zone would be in the heart of the city’s Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District.
“The zone was created to help support the SOMA nights events, which were created to help mitigate the effects of the construction on Folsom Street,” Robert Goldfarb, a gay man who is executive director of the leather district, told the B.A.R. in a phone call. “We are fully supportive of the SOMA nights events and having an entertainment zone there to support those.”
The next SOMA nights event is April 10. It also receives financial support from the Civic Joy Fund.
There are currently three entertainment zones in San Francisco – on Front Street in the Financial District, Thrive
<< Historic sites
From page 1
There are currently nine city landmarks in the Castro, including the rainbow flag installation at Harvey Milk Plaza, which was landmarked last fall.
SFAF opened at the site now occupied by AIDS Healthcare Foundation back in 1982. It currently has its Strut health clinic at 470 Castro Street; its headquarters is now located in the South of Market neighborhood at 940 Howard Street.
Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., a gay Black man who’s living with HIV and is CEO of the foundation, stated the B.A.R. that he is pleased to see the designation proposed.
“San Francisco AIDS Foundation is glad to see the former Kaposi Sarcoma Foundation’s first office space in the Castro nominated for landmark status,” TerMeer stated. “It is important to preserve and remember the history of the AIDS epidemic, and in doing so honor the incredible people, advocacy, and efforts that have been made to end the suffering to our communities from HIV and AIDS.
“From the KS Foundation’s efforts in 1982 to raise awareness about a strange new disease, to SFAF’s continued efforts to end the HIV epidemic and support people living with and at risk for HIV, we are proud to continue the fight more than 40 years later,” TerMeer continued.
Ross, who died in 2003, founded the B.A.R. in 1971, at which time he had been working as a chef. The period of significance for his house is given as 1971-1979, though he lived there until the 1990s, when he moved to Clinton Park, according to gay B.A.R. publisher Michael Yamashita.
<< Lurie From page 2
After the mayor spoke, Mandelman had nothing but positive things to say about Lurie, whom he said personally interrupted an open-air drug scene at Market and Octavia streets.
“There’s just sort of a doggedness to him,” Mandelman said. Lurie “runs over with his detail to break up a little drug convention that was happening, and apparently, this happens every day. He’s clearly very focused on it.”
Mandelman conceded, “I don’t think you can solve it with just the mayor and his detail breaking up these things.” Therefore, the SFPD
City by the Chase Center, and Cole Valley in District 8.
The mayor said the zones are a great idea.
“Our city’s recovery depends on neighborhoods, people, and bringing joy and life back to our streets – block by block. That’s what entertainment zones do, and that’s why we are excited to be creating five new ones,” Lurie stated in a news release. “From Cole Valley to Front Street, we’ve seen what happens when we open up our streets: Foot traffic goes up, local businesses get a boost, and neighbors come out to connect.”
Yekutiel’s eponymously-named cafe and event space Manny’s at Valencia and 16th streets would front the planned entertainment zone for the Valencia corridor. He told the B.A.R. in an April 8 phone call, “We have found that these night markets are the one tool we have actually found makes a real difference in the bottom line of the small business struggling in the city. We are proud the Civic Joy Fund is funding night markets in every corner of the city now.”
He said that the SOMA nights event began because the owner of Rocco’s Cafe on Folsom Street “expressed a lot of concerns about the Folsom Street [construction] project and how it’s been a real pain point for small businesses. He asked for support for a night market as a way to bring back much needed customers. We met a couple times and this is the result.”
Michael Rotella, a gay man who acquired Rocco’s a year and a half ago, said he
Most Holy Redeemer’s period of significance is the entire 20th century. Its importance spans its time as a home for the European immigrant communities who made the Eureka Valley their home to its importance for LGBTQ Roman Catholics who found a safe haven there from homophobia in other parts of the church. It was also recognized for its early and continued use as an AIDS hospice. MHR and the Archdiocese of San Francisco didn’t return requests for comment.
It’s not the only church on the list – the others being St. Paul’s Church at 1660 Church Street (Roman Catholic), which was the exterior used for the film “Sister Act;” St. Matthew’s Church (Lutheran) at 3281 16th Street; and St. Nicholas Cathedral (Russian Orthodox) at 2005 15th Street.
Landmarking will put some limitations on alterations to these spaces.
Richard Sucré, the deputy director of the planning department, told the B.A.R. all the property owners have been notified and are being given opportunities to weigh in. The property owners will also be notified in advance of the first hearing in front of the Historic Preservation Commission.
Ralph Hibbs, a gay man on the board of the Castro Community Benefit District, questioned Sucré about the site of Missouri Mule, now the Beaux nightclub. “What does that mean for that property?” he asked.
Answered Sucré, “Basically, the building has been so severely altered over time it doesn’t have the character defining features … but we also recognize it is a really important part of our history.”
The Missouri Mule was the first LGBTQ-identified bar in the Castro neighborhood, opening in 1963.
will be making its presence known in the Castro in the coming weeks, sending in plainclothes and undercover officers, SFPD Sergeant Stephen Tacchini said.
As the B.A.R. previously reported, Lurie and the SFPD’s focus on downtown has coincided with an increase in unhoused people in the Castro as well as visible public use of narcotics. Tacchini said, “We will be saturating the area not only with SFPD but with undercover officers, California Highway Patrol, probation, parole. They’re all going to be going out in the community and grabbing everyone that’s wanted. They see any minor violations, they’re going to snatch them up.”
built support with his fellow merchants on Folsom Street. As the B.A.R. has previously reported, the streetscape project aims to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety on Folsom and Howard streets in SOMA, with the Folsom Street portion of the project anticipated to finish in 2026, and Howard in 2029 per its website.
“In October, when the construction hit, my revenue dropped 60%. I kept putting pressure on the city and got dead ends,” he said. “I wasn’t alone. Every business on the block is down … and we’re all in a pretty difficult situation with the construction being a year and a half left.”
Rotella said the event has helped the beleaguered Folsom Street businesses.
Yekutiel said at present the event is every second and fourth Thursday of the month, but it may become monthly soon. It has been held twice.
“There’s outdoor entertainment, there’s a lot of the local brick-and-mortars selling their wares and also people are encouraged to go to the local small businesses –there’s almost a passport that can take you to different places,” he said.
Dorsey, who represents SOMA, stated that the zones are important.
“These new Entertainment Zones are about bringing joy, energy, and economic vitality back to our neighborhoods,” he stated. “From the heart of downtown on Yerba Buena Lane to the nightlife corridor of Folsom Street in SOMA, we’re creating welcoming spaces that support small businesses, celebrate our culture, and bring people together.” t
Senior Planner Moses Corrette compared it to the landmarking of the Compton’s Cafeteria site in the Tenderloin district, where trans people and others rioted against police in August 1966. The original cafeteria is no longer there.
“They could restore the original storefront if they wanted to,” he said.
As the B.A.R. was first to report, the building at 101 Taylor Street that once housed the diner popular with queer and trans patrons in January was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, making it the first known property to receive such federal recognition due to its importance to the trans community. In 2022, San Francisco officials landmarked the intersection of Turk and Taylor in front of the building in recognition of the uprising by the LGBTQ Compton’s patrons.
The city’s 307th landmark also included portions of the structure’s exterior walls containing the commercial space that had housed the Compton’s eatery, specifically the lower 11 feet of the facade extending north 52 feet from the corner of Turk Street and 40 feet west from the corner of Taylor Street. While the federal recognition doesn’t protect the site from being demolished, its local landmark status does require greater oversight on any alteration plans for the structure.
Sucré said he isn’t 100% sure there won’t be limitations on what the current owners could do to that space. The GEO Group is the current owner of the property, where it operates a residential reentry facility for people recently released from prison.
About three dozen people attended the meeting regarding the potential Castro area landmarks, which lasted about 40 minutes. t
There will also be blitz operations to combat organized retail theft.
“It does kind of put, instill, a little bit of fear into folks who are committing these crimes,” he said. Tacchini said that it will take some time before those new academy officers can walk a beat, as there’s a seven-month program and four months of field training before they are assigned to a district station.
Asked if there’s been an increase in homophobic or transphobicinspired violence in the city, he said he can’t speak to the whole city but Mission Station has not seen any indication of that. t
by Myron Caringal
Before the Stonewall riots in New York and before Pride parades became a summer staple, there was a cup of coffee hurled in the Tenderloin.
In the summer of 1966, a trans woman at Compton’s Cafeteria threw scalding coffee in the face of a police officer attempting an unwarranted arrest, setting off what would become the first recorded act of militant queer resistance in U.S. history.
Trans women and their allies fought back,
by Michael Flanagan
Pansy Division has been charming us with songs like “Fem in a Black Leather Jacket”, “James Bondage” and “That’s So Gay” since 1991. The former San Francisco band was last in the Bay Area last July playing the Mosswood Meltdown. The band has planned a homecoming for their thousandth concert for a while now and they’re happy to be coming home to where it all started in San Francisco. I spoke with Jon Ginoli about the upcoming April 19 concert.
Michael Flanagan: This will be your thousandth show. What are your thoughts about achieving this milestone?
Jon Ginoli: When we began it was hard to
using high heels and diner furniture to defend themselves against police harassment. The riot and its legacy remain central to San Francisco’s LGBTQ history, yet for decades, the event was nearly forgotten.
The immersive theatrical experience simply titled “The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot” first
in 2018, bringing this nearly lost
tory to life. After years of hurdles, the production has now found a possible permanent home with the Tenderloin
‘boycow’ at CounterPulse
by David-Elijah Nahmod
According to Greek mythology, the Minotaur is a mythical creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man who dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, an elaborate maze. As the legend goes, every nine years King Minos of Crete ordered the city of Athens to choose seven men and seven women to be offered as sacrificial victims to the Minotaur as revenge for the death of King Minos’ son.
That legend will be performed in San Francisco by performance artists Cornelius, aka VivvyAnne ForeverMORE! and Gabriele Christian, aka Eartha Kunt, in a new show called “boycow, or The Minotaur, or 10 Acts (1-5) or Bullshit.” The performance, which will be seen at CounterPulse, comes courtesy of Ox and will interpret the Minotaur legend through drag, monologue and dance.
According to Cornelius, one need not be familiar with the Minotaur legend in order to see and enjoy the show.
“I actually think it would be more fun and interesting to know the least,” Cornelius said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “To anyone reading this interview, show up ignorant, and we will take care of you.”
Cornelius insisted that the work isn’t drag.
“Both Gabriele and I work in drag, but we aren’t doing drag,” they said.
“We borrow a lot of methods from drag, and examine the modality of drag for useful tools and logic to help us compose the piece. I’m so stoked to be queer. I’ve been saying it a lot recently out loud. Like so glad that I get to be queer.
“But there’s this constant classification of art made by queers as queer art. And it makes me itchy. Why don’t we call art made by straight people straight art? By self-identifying our art as queer, we are kinda saying art is
to July 26, the show transforms the venue at 835 Larkin St. into a fully realized replica of Compton’s Cafeteria, where a 12-person cast reenacts the buildup to that pivotal moment of resistance. The audience doesn’t just watch. They step into the world of Compton’s, interacting with characters, feeling the tension and witnessing history unfold around them. All attendees will be served breakfast food for dinner during the production, with vegan and gluten-free options available.
one thing, you know, capital A. Art is one specific thing that doesn’t include queer art, which is like out of step with the history of art. So many famous artists were queer. They may not have been out, but they were queer.”
Star signs
Cornelius describes themself as a white, queer, middle-aged, mentally ill-ish, child and grandchild of immigrants.
“A little about me, Capricorn sun, Capricorn rising, Libra Moon with Venus in Aquarius,” they said. “My bio says Cornelius is a conceptual artist working in poetics, performance, and object making. I know that makes me sound ignorant because conceptual art refers to a few people working a specific time in art history, and I am
Ezra Reaves, the production’s new director, brings a fresh vision while staying true to its roots. Every detail, from the set design to the props, has been carefully curated to transport audiences.
“I knew that I was the person to do this,” they said. “The intersection of immersive theater and queer history –that’s my whole life.”
But mounting a production like this isn’t easy, especially in the current political state, Reaves said, citing the defunding of transgender art.
“It’s been extremely challenging in this political and economic climate to put on a show,” they said. “We’re
not from that time. It’s the easiest way to get at how and why I work on art.”
They described their drag persona VivvyAnne Forever MORE! as the daughter of Glamamore and the sister to Juanita MORE! Vivvy came to be because they grew up devoted to both artmaking and nightlife. They started collecting clothes for drag at 17, and finally started doing drag at 27, which is when they met Glamamore.
“I had dabbled before, but it never stuck,” they said. “And once I started, I was on a roll. I was always dressing up, though, that started when I was 16 and sneaking into clubs in Manhattan, living my Lower East Side fantasy.”
Altar and alter ego
Cornelius’ co-star, Gabriele Christian, also explained who they and
watching trans lives be scrutinized and under criticism by everyone, even though this is a tiny population of people that are under attack.”
However, that weight –the fight for survival and recognition– is built into the show’s DNA. Reaves points to trans historian and filmmaker Susan Stryker as the reason the world even knows about the Compton’s Cafeteria riot.
“If it wasn’t for Dr. Susan Stryker, we would never know about Compton’s Cafeteria,” Reaves said.
Reviving the play
Bringing this production back after its initial 2018 run required overcoming significant obstacles. Finding a permanent home at the Tenderloin Museum was a breakthrough, providing stability to a show that had struggled with funding and venue limitations.
“It’s not easy to get immersive theater off the ground, especially a piece rooted in history that institutions weren’t always willing to support,” Reaves said.
Shane Zaldivar, a transgender drag queen, highlights the fact that the play is being presented by the Tenderloin Museum.
“How often is entertainment so intertwined with the institution of a museum?” she asked. “Not only is this history valid and it happened, [and] here’s a way to learn it that is supported by one of the holders of this history. That makes this project feel special.”
Zaldivar, who plays Rusty, a character inspired by Tenderloin legend and co-playwright Donna Persona, sees parallels between the struggles of the 1960s and today.
“A lot of what was happening in the ’60s replicates the mindsets that the authorities or the people in power have towards other human beings,” Zaldivar said. “At the end of the day, these are all people in a diner
their drag alter ego are.
“I’m a performance artist working in the Bay Area for the past decade, all over the map, really,” they said.
“Co-founder of artist collectives OYSTERKNIFE, Blaqyard, Rupture, and lately co-artistic director of performance and accessibility non-profit Jess Curtis/Gravity. I spend an inordinate amount of time producing and curating work hyperattentive to the peripheries. Eartha Kunt is a seasonal drag possession, truly once in a blue moon, that fills in the gaps of Gabriele’s patchwork schedule, most recently at CounterPulse, for the ROT Festival’s performance marathon.”
When “boycow” is staged, Cornelius and Gabriele will perform in two separate rooms simultaneously. Both will be performing the same solo show
trying to live their lives, trying to go for the same pursuit of happiness, love, equality and access that anyone wants.”
The immersive nature of the show allows the audience to feel what Compton’s meant to its patrons.
“This diner existed, and this diner was a space for people to be themselves, find community,” Zaldivar said.
“While the conditions were bad for the community overall, Compton’s was a place they could buy a cup of coffee, sit for hours, and talk and check on each other through the night. It was almost a sanctuary.”
Today’s relevance
The show not only depicts history, but also asks audiences to engage with its ongoing impact. As Zaldivar pointed out, the struggles faced by trans people today mirror those of the past.
“It’s frustrating to see the same narratives repeated, the same fights being fought,” they said. “We should have moved past this by now.”
For Reaves, theater is activism.
They pointed out a recent Pew Research Center study that reported
at the same time, and the audience will be able to choose which room they want to be in, free to move between the two rooms as they wish.
“I hope the audience gets some giggles,” said Cornelius, “and questions. I hope they have fun. I love being in an audience. It’s like this chance to be with folks and also to passively make meaning out of whatever I’m seeing. I hope we’ve given folks the space to make meaning, while also entertaining them. Come to the show. It’s fun. No one’s gonna make you kiss a cow.”t ‘boycow, or the minotaur, or 10 Acts (1-5), or Bullshit,’ April 17 and 18, 8pm, April 19, 3pm, CounterPulse, 80 Turk Street, $25-$50, sliding scale. www.counterpulse.org
more than half of adults in the U.S. say they’ve never met a trans person.
“Not only is that not true, but this show will make it undeniable,” Reaves said. “You will interact with trans people. You’re not going to walk out of the show without having an understanding of their humanity.”
And that’s the point.
“When you leave this diner theater experience, you walk into the same streets that these people had to walk,” Zaldivar said.
Beyond the individual audience experience, the team behind “The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot” hopes to cement the show as a must-see part of San Francisco’s cultural landscape. With a permanent home, a dedicated cast and a renewed sense of purpose, the production stands as both a tribute to past resistance and a call to action for the present.
“This is San Francisco history, and it’s still unfolding,” Zaldivar said.t
‘The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot,’ $75, Fridays and Saturdays, April 11–July 26, 835 Larkin St. www.comptonscafeteriariot.com
Left: Gabriele Christian and Above: Cornelius in ‘boycow, or the minotaur, or 10 Acts (1-5), or Bullshit,’ at CounterPulse
Both photos: Thomas Lenden
Director Ezra Reaves Actor Shane Zaldivar
‘The Boiling’ bubbles over
by Jim Gladstone
Aterrifying virus is spreading across America in “The Boiling,” a dark phantasmagoria now swamping audiences’ senses in its world premiere production at the Magic Theatre. The play’s title evokes the primary symptom among those infected by the virus; escalating fever, accompanied by an urge toward violence. On stage, though, “The Boiling” also brings to mind a stew pot.
Playwright Sunhui Chang, director Ellen Sebastian Chang, and the show’s formidable creative and technical teams have thrown a such a liberal assortment of ingredients into the mixa groaning larder of themes, genres, performance styles, and storytelling techniques– that even the most toothsome bits end up bobbing in a rich but muddy gravy.
There are intense David Lynchian film images; historic vignettes played in shadowed silhouette; passages read aloud as third-person narration; live video transmissions of the actors on stage; projected clips of swallow murmurations, staticky newscasts, and a Heckyll and Jeckyll cartoon. There is racial reckoning, serial killing, operatic singing, and pimento cheese.
Ambition run amok
A work of cornucopian imagination, “The Boiling” has two primary storylines.
In one, a pair of federal tracking agents –Vee, a hard-worn middle-aged Black woman, and Brian, a generation younger and Korean American– are on the trail of Carrier X, an infection victim who’s escaped quarantine and is on a demonic, cross-country spree, brutally murdering innocent people while quietly spreading contagion.
Edris Cooper-Anofiwoshe plays
Magic Theatre’s world premiere cooks up an excess of ideas
Vee with a grizzled world-weary resignation, while John Brougher’s Brian is an earnest, apple-cheeked midwestern type. They’re amiably contrasting buddy cops.
As the agents’ quarry and the show’s only white character, Lawrence Radeker turns in a powerful performance of his own. He’s alone in most of his scenes, performing at a very differ-
ent valence than the other characters.
Contorting his voice and moving with a stylized monster’s gait, he rages, seethes, and at one point snaps a victim’s spine. He’s scary enough to make you uncomfortable in your seat.
The second major narrative is far less dynamic, but often a sweet relief from the harrowing noir of its counterpart. It follows Vee’s semi-estranged
son, Cee (Jesse Vaughn), an aspiring neurobiologist in his early twenties who sets out on a mysteriously motivated quest that even he can’t explain. Starting in Washington state, where he tosses his smartphone into a garbage can, B finds himself inexplicably drawn toward a town called Edgeville, South Carolina. Though there’s a moment in the
play when another character says Edgeville doesn’t exist, B gets himself there and starts to settle in, bonding with an avuncular local birder (Donald E. Lacy), who cracks wise and dispenses nuggets of oblique old-man wisdom. Cee also befriends the gentle town librarian, Miss Lolli (Jeannine Anderson), who starts singing a couple of times, beautifully and befuddlingly.
Guided by Lolli to a cache of old newspapers on microfiche, Cee discovers Edgeville’s dark history of racial violence, episodes of which he rattles off in gruesome detail. He also learns that generations of his mother’s family had lived here, from Antebellum through Jim Crow, then realizes family carries trauma like a pernicious virus.
In the end, Carrier X, the agents, and another character, Cee’s sister, D (Markaila Dyson), whose presence throughout the play feels extraneous, all convene in Edgeville for a lastminute pile-on of hasty revelation and deep meanings.
“The Boiling” means to serve up a feast. It ends up impossible to digest.t
‘The Boiling,’ through April 20. $35-$75. Magic Theatre, Landmark Bldg. D, Fort Mason. www.magictheatre.org
Jeannine Anderson, left, and Jesse Vaughn in ‘The Boiling’
Jay Yamada/Magic Theatre
Spring Books round-up, part 2
by Jim Piechota
H
ere comes the second part of our Spring books round-up series, where we present a wide range of titles; a historical reinvigoration from a well-known eighth season “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner, as well as a super-charged, highly dramatic Regency-era fantasy. Also included is a graphic semi-memoir effort from Alison Bechtel, two fascinating memoirs from dynamic trans authors, and, yes, even a gay Italian cookbook. Dig in!
FICTION
“Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert” by Bob the Drag Queen, $27.99 (Gallery)
Bob the Drag Queen debuts in fine fashion with this kaleidoscopically imaginative, hyper-creative recreation of Harriet Tubman (and many others) coming to life to recraft their image and their history. Tubman seeks to update her Underground Railroad abolitionist legacy by way of a soul-baring album with backing chords and rhythms by a band called the Freemans, of course, and uplifted by the fabulous producer, Darnell, who also happens to narrate the story.
Appearances by Cleopatra, now a fashion maven, John D. Rockefeller, and others pump up a story that, despite passionate lyrics, sags in places where the historic heft of these figures could have been better, and certainly more brightly, illuminated. Bob does his best at bringing these luminaries to literary life and readers will applaud his effort.
www.simonandschuster.com
“The Gentleman and his Vowsmith” by Rebecca Ide
$19.99 (Saga)
Any fantasy fiction fan will recognize the name Devin Madson, a prolific, award-winning Australian author. This queer Regency-era romantic fantasy comes courtesy of her, but through her pen name, Rebecca Ide.
The setting is England, 1816, where the common society has become segregated into communities of citizens who wield magical powers (“Brilliants”) and those who do not. Among those who do are Lord Nicholas Monterris and Lady Leaf Serral, who are set to be married but must be locked in a castle together in order to finalize their binding contract and make it a legal union.
What to do when neither one wants this to happen since Lord Nicholas is gay and his Lady would like nothing more than to see him engage romantically (again, they had a brief dalliance prior) with her sexy male vowsmith, who is a kind of official deal broker. All of this is classically whipped up to a fantasy-fiction frenzy with lots of interpersonal problems, innocent deaths, and sordid magical elements tossed in with remarkably melodramatic results. This is queer fantasy utopia. www.simonandschuster.com
“Open, Heaven” by Sean Hewitt $28 (Knopf)
In his dynamic debut, Irish poet and author Hewitt crafts a magnificent queer coming-of-age tale chronicling the young life of James Legh, who, at 16, fell obsessively in love with Luke, a cocky, overconfident green-eyed boy staying at a farm that happened to be on James’ daily milk run.
He allows this unrequited crush on Luke to dominate his every thought and move, and, in 2022, where the prologue is set, James, still so sensitive, lonely, and awkward, decides to return to Thornmere, England to somehow rediscover what he’d lost.
As moving as Hewitt’s 2022 memoir, “All Down Darkness Wide,” this novel’s lush language and emotional intensity is the clear selling point. Even from the first few pages, it’s obvious the author is a talented poet. Readers who appreciate gorgeous prose and resonant descriptive flair will adore James’ yearning for reciprocal adoration and human connection as his obsession with his friend plays out across Thornmere’s bucolic landscape.
This is a gorgeous rendering of a boyhood entranced by simmering queer desire and an earnest, if disturbing, intention, as a man, to recapture his boyhood and the “electric” feeling that secretly sustained him. This is heavenly reading. www.penguinrandomhouse.com
MEMOIR
“How To Fuck Like a Girl:
Essays” by Vera Blossom
$17.95 (Dopamine)
Vera Blossom’s debut sex diary is a striking example of a raw, unfettered, honest confessional. Tucked into these paperback pages are stories that rage, inform, revolt, and justify the author’s life thus far, and it’s truly something special.
A trans femme Filipina, Blossom shares sexy stories about random erotic encounters in bathrooms and online while contributing insight on her affinity with witchcraft and social justice. Stylistically original, Blossom writes in a stream-of-consciousness method which might seem rambling if read hurriedly, but her thought patterns and deep meanings bleed through eventually
and the book reveals an astounding amount of personally revelatory material.
Digressions on her youth in Las Vegas couple nicely with a new life in Chicago as she moves through musings on desire, money, emotion, living as a trans woman, and, of course, sex. Observational, conversational, and always beautifully real, these writings are the real deal from an outspoken trans author with, hopefully, even more to say in future volumes.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
“Love in Exile” by Shon Faye
$18 (FSG Originals)
Faye’s poignant memoir begins at a place we’ve all been to at some point: struggling to make it through the deeply devastating emotional pain of heartbreak. Offering her unique perspective as a transwoman, Faye holds herself accountable for this pain stemming from a year and a half love affair with a cis man, and probes why it keeps happening in her life as she searches for love and connection in a world that doesn’t always generously offer either.
She openly and honestly discusses her own sobriety, her father’s addiction issues, and the shame and invisibility that often surrounds trans individuals with intimacy and grace. Reflective and compassionate, Faye’s gorgeously written assessment on searching for love and the precarious nature of relationships is a beautiful salve for the broken heart.
www.us.macmillan.com
“Spent” by Alison Bechdel $32 (Mariner Books)
After the successes of “Are You My Mother” and “Fun Home,” Bechdel switches gears and emerges with this comic novel with a memoir flavor about a self-named character and her partner working on a Vermont goat farm. Alison, here in characterized form, is a middle-aged writer with increasing influence working on her next book but becomes derailed by life on the farm with life partner Holly, who is becoming a social media sensation herself.
Alison’s needy sister, a group of friends who are expanding their idea of a “polyamorous relationship,” and
Drag history, revealing memoirs, & horror film studies
the writer’s own deadline procrastination attempts all contribute to a lively plot. Ultimately, what readers will enjoy most is Bechdel displaying her immense wit and sense of humor across pages filled with wonderful full-color drawings which drive home her message of fun, social activism, and the facets of modern queer families.
www.harpercollins.com
NON-FICTION
“Queer Slashers” by Peter Marra, $28 (Indiana University Press) Marra, a gender, sexuality, and women’s studies professor at Wayne State University, amusingly explores why the slasher genre of horror films has a definitive queer lineage and what that means.
Films like “Serial Mom,” “Psycho,” The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2,” and San Francisco’s very own Peaches Christ’s “All About Evil” are examined in Marra’s intent to “explain from the vantage point of a queer person how these queer-authored forms of the slasher engage with my feelings about the slasher” written from the perspective of a self-described “autistic and ADHD person who has a particularly difficult time staying on topic.”
With its intensive critical analysis and intelligent, pensive prose (and admittedly cute cover art), Marra thrillingly digs in deep into the queer meanings and queer expressions behind some of our favorite classic horror films of the last few centuries. The book insightfully imagines the idea of the queer slasher and hopes “that it takes a historically queerphobic cinematic form and instead seeks to envision a slasher that serves queer audiences by naming the right killer.” Horror fans will eagerly slice into this one.
www.iupress.org
“You’re Probably Gayish: The Truth (and Lies) Behind 17 Gay Stereotypes” by Mike Johnson & Kyle Getz $19.95 (Jessica Kingsley Publishers) Dual podcasters and authors Johnson and Getz offer up a bevy of classic queer stereotypes in an effort to educate straight society on how to broaden their perspective and
open minds, in general. The authors combine historical and factual data to support their claims that while certain types of gays like sluts, or musicals-loving queers, or Golden Girls-watching fags, and many others don’t always dictate the man residing inside the stereotype.
This immensely enjoyable probe into the ways and means of queer life also comes with a Gayish Quiz that everyone who cracks the book’s pinkrainbow-hued covers will want to indulge in and discuss at great length.
Mike Johnson and Kyle Getz will read from and sign copies of their new book on April 6, at 2pm, at Oasis Nightclub, 398 11th St. Event tickets are $21. www.eventbrite.com www.us.jkp.com
“Your Pasta Sucks: A Cookbook” by Matteo Lane $29.95 (Chronicle Books)
Vibrantly colorful and full of opinionated side bits, popular queer stand-up comedian, actor, and singer Matteo Lane serves up his personal history on a public platter as an Italian-Irish-Mexican-bred homosexual and entertainer.
Alongside pages of tempting dishes of pasta from his homeland (and beyond) since “pasta never ghosts you or lies about its size,” there is a generous tourist guide’s worth of information and advice on Rome to behold, as well.
Close family dominates the first chapters where an encyclopedia of pantry staples, pasta types, and cooking tips leads into recipes for traditional Italian Meat Sauce, Baked Mostaccioli, Cotoletta, Eggplant Parmigiana, Tiramisu, and Cacio e Pepe (“the hottest bitch on the market”) as well as how to behave appropriately at an Italian dinner, and introspective discussions about the fabulousness of Rome and how to order coffee there like a native.
Appropriately dedicated to his mom, Lane’s cookbook is packed with mouth-watering photographs (of food and the author, naturally), tempting recipes, effortlessly amusing, witty commentary, and a vicarious tour of Italy that will have you giggling and making spontaneous travel plans all at once.
www.chroniclebooks.comt
‘The Wedding Banquet’ A queer classic gets updated
by David-Elijah Nahmod
Whenfilmmaker Ang Lee made
“The Wedding Banquet” in 1993, the world was a very different place. Same-sex couples could not marry. A lot has changed since then. Those changes are clear and present in director Andrew Ahn’s new reimagining of the film.
Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone head a likable cast in this heartwarming dramedy. In this “Wedding Banquet” Chris (Yang) and Min (Han Gi-Chan) are a gay Asian couple in Seattle with a problem. Min is a Korean national who needs a green card. He can’t marry Chris because if he came out to his wealthy Korean family he would lose his sizable inheritance, and besides, Chris is afraid of commitment.
Meanwhile, across the yard, lesbian couple Lee (Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) have a problem of their own. Lee wants to have a baby, but her IVF treatments have failed twice. She doesn’t want to try again because a third failure would be too painful, and besides, they can’t afford to pay for a third treatment.
The “perfect” solution is found. Min will marry Angela, thereby satisfying
his homophobic grandfather, which will secure his inheritance and get him a green card. He’ll also pay for more IVF treatments for the women. Of course, the marriage will be a sham. Min and Chris will still be a couple, as will Lee and Angela.
Complications arise when Chris and Angela go out drinking together and get falling-down drunk. They wake up in bed together with no memory of what transpired the night before. They realize what they did when Angela becomes pregnant.
There are two more characters who round out the story, Angela’s mom May (Joan Chen) and Min’s grandma (Youn Yuh-jung). May is the perfect PFLAG mom, attending meetings, running up to the stage and dancing at a drag show, and overall being a good mom who fully accepts her daughter for who she is, accepting Lee as well. But she wasn’t always such a good mom, as Angela tells her. There was a time when she was unable to accept her daughter, but she has since come around.
Grandma is a bit of a sad character who realizes that Min is gay, yet she supports the marriage to Angela so Min can get his inheritance. Yuh-jung, one of Korea’s best-known actresses,
Division From page 11
believe that something like this would be possible. We had modest goals when we began. In 1991 I had lived in San Francisco less than two years and I had this idea to have a gay rock band, San Francisco seemed the place where I could fulfill that idea. I figured that it would be popular in San Francisco, but I had no idea that it would have such longevity. It’s pretty exciting!
Are there surprises in store for the show?
A few, yeah. We are going to be unearthing some songs that we have not played in years, since the ’90s. And we’ll play a longer show than we normally do, so that we can play the songs that we’ve been playing along with a bunch that we have not played in a long time.
Why Bottom of the Hill for the 1000th show? Can you talk a little bit about the resonance that the club has for you?
I think we first played there in 1993, before our first album came out. It seemed like the obvious place to go and it’s still run by the same people, so that’s a nice continuity. What’s interesting about Bottom of the Hill is that
won an Oscar a few years back for her work in the independent film “Minari.” Here she once again proves herself to be a formidable screen presence. This may sound like it’s quite a se-
our guitar player, since 2004; but we’re playing songs that we stopped doing before either of them joined the band. In some cases it will be learning these songs with this lineup of the group for the first time.
Have you gone so far as to think where show 1001 is going to be?
(laughs) No, we’re just focused on 1000 right now. The thousandth show has been a goal we’ve been working towards for about a decade, when we realized we were over 900 shows. Our modus operandi has been in recent years instead of going on tour for six weeks or two months (like we used to), we go on tour and have a four-day weekend, where we play three shows.
Some of us have to fly to the gigs; depending on where they are, sometimes we all have to. We want to do tours, but we all have jobs. So how can we do it? We have these long weekends. That’s how we’ve gotten up to the point we’re at in terms of having a thousand shows.
rious film, and there are indeed some serious moments. But “The Wedding Banquet” is first and foremost a romcom, and there are many lighthearted moments, along with some roman-
been political with a small “p”, not a capital “P.” We didn’t really speak about politics directly in our songs because those are the things that make your songs age poorly.
But our songs have a context and the fact that we’re speaking openly about gay lives, proudly, is something that stands the test of time and still makes us relevant. We’re singing about gay joy, we’re singing about queer joy. At the time we started the band I was very angry about a lot of things, because it was the AIDS crisis.
But I wanted to give something that people enjoyed and that uplifted them without it being shallow. I wanted it to
tic ones. The cast couldn’t be more likable. Yang and Gi-Chan, along with Gladstone and Tran, make for two very attractive couples. The four of them play off each other beautifully, playing the film’s serious side, its comedic side and its romantic side with equal aplomb.
Ahn wrote his delightful screenplay with James Schamus, who served the same duties on the original film. They did a great job in updating the story for these more liberated times, shifting the story’s focus to the two women. Production values are high, on par with what would be expected from a major studio and not the smaller film that this is.
The new “Wedding Banquet” is not a remake. It is a reimagining. It takes the original story and updates it for the 21st century. With an even mix of good humor and good drama, it underscores how far we’ve come, but also reminds us that we still have a way to go. t
‘The Wedding Banquet’ in English and Korean, with subtitles, opens April 18, AMC Kabuki Theater, 1881 Post St. www.amctheatres.com www.bleeckerstreetmedia.com
have content that people appreciated, but I also wanted to do something that in the end was joyful and to that extent I think the music we make is still relevant now.t
Read the full interview, with music videos, at www.ebar.com.
Pansy Division plays its 1000th show April 19, 8pm at Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St. Bev Rage & The Drinks opens. $25-$30. www.pansydivision.com www.bottomofthehill.com
when it first opened, before there was any kind of development there was just acres of parking. It’s a little different now, but there’s still parking.
That was part of its appeal. If you had a car and you were going to be out later in the evening you could be assured that you would have a place to park. It’s also on the 22 Fillmore and I took that bus to the club many times just to watch shows by other bands. It’s nicely out of the way compared to where a lot of the other venues are in the city.
Since band members live in different cities now, does it change what kind of planning goes into a show?
It requires that we plan more because we’re all going to come to San Francisco and rehearse before the show. We have to plan well in advance when we’re going to have shows, and what we’re going to do at those shows. All of us are rehearsing individually and then we’ll get together and rehearse together before the show.
We’ve known for months which songs we’re going to rehearse, which ones we’ve decided to pull from our backlog of songs and kind of relearn, since it had been so long since we’ve played them. Chris and I formed the band in 1991, but Luis (our drummer) has been in the band since ’96 and Joel,
We’ve done more than what we set out to do at the beginning. In the beginning there was nobody out in rock and roll. Even people who seemed obvious weren’t out. We thought, “It’s not going to be a commercial proposition being a gay band,” which is why no one had come out at that point.
We had unlimited opportunities for putting gay content into a song. That’s what we started out doing, and it was really needed. A lot of that came from my experience being part of ACT-UP between 1989 and 1991. I remember seeing how ACT-UP would take these positions and they would be too far out for any politician to propose, even friendly ones. But if ACT-UP or another activist group took a position that pushed the envelope that gave space for politicians to not look as extreme and to take bolder stands.
I thought, “I want to use our lyrics to push the envelope of what you can sing about in a song and have it come from a gay perspective.” That turned out to be a really good approach in San Francisco and then we were able to take it outside of San Francisco. When we first began, I figured we would be popular in about six cities with big gay populations, but it’s really distributed evenly across the country. We never became a hugely popular band, but we’ve had a cult following and that is what has sustained us for more than three decades.
How do you think that musicians can speak to the current political moment?
I think our music has always
Han Gi-Chan and Bowen Yang in ‘The Wedding Banquet’ Luka Cyprian, Bleecker Street Media
