Pope Francis, who made the Catholic Church less hostile toward LGBTQ people, died Monday, April 21, in Rome. He was 88.
For most of his life, he was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and at the time he was elected the church’s 266th pontiff, he was the cardinal archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, which made him the first pope from the Americas, and the first from outside Europe since the eighth century.
In his 12 years on the throne of St. Peter, Francis invoked the ire of some conservatives in the church who saw in him a move back to the liberalizing tendencies of the mid-20th century that had been halted by his predecessors, popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Francis published a papal encyclical on climate change, spoke on behalf of migrants, and butted heads with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, the latter of whom is Catholic, and whom he met for the first time April 20, which was Easter Sunday.
But perhaps nowhere was this dissatisfaction more evident than on the issue of LGBTQ people’s place in the church, which with over 1.4 billion members is the world’s largest Christian denomination. Long-standing Catholic teaching is that while homosexuality isn’t sinful per se, it is a sin to have sex with someone of the same sex.
Shortly after he became pope in 2013, Francis became The Advocate’s person of the year after he said to a reporter, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”
At the time, the prominent LGBTQ publication stated this was “a stark change in rhetoric from his two predecessors.”
It was notably the first time a pope was heard to say the word “gay” instead of “homosexual.” Francis’ predecessor Benedict had added to the Catholic catechism that homosexuality is “intrinsically disordered.”
The issue came up again in 2023 when – with some countries enacting harsh anti-gay laws – the pope encouraged the decriminalization of homosexuality worldwide in an Associated Press interview, saying, “It’s not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin. Fine, but first let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”
Later that year, he approved blessings for samesex couples – provided it was clearly distinguished from a marriage rite.
“The grace of God works in the lives of those who do not claim to be righteous but who acknowledge themselves humbly as sinners, like everyone else,” stated Argentine Cardinal Víctor
See page 4 >>
WEaster Sunday assault is latest violent Castro incident
by John Ferrannini
ARide ’em, cowboy!
estley Walker, an LGBTQ nightlife promoter, arrived at the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s Easter Sunday Hunky Jesus contest on a fiberglass bison and rode away with the title. Walker, aka Wild West, paid tribute to Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter”
country album with his Cowboy Carter Jesus look. The Sisters celebrated their 46th anniversary at Mission Dolores Park with other contests and entertainment for all ages. For more photos, check out the Bay Area Reporter’s Facebook page at facebook.com/BayAreaReporter.
by Cynthia Laird
Rman is facing felony assault charges after being arrested at a major Castro intersection just as the neighborhood thronged with people on a busy Easter Sunday. The incident is the latest in a string of recent altercations in the LGBTQ neighborhood.
SF LGBT center’s executive director Rolfe to step down
2017 Media Kit 0 a
ebecca Rolfe, the longtime executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, will step down at the end of the year. Rolfe made the announcement April 19 at the center’s annual Soirée fundraising party at City View at Metreon.
The leadership change comes at a pivotal time for the center. Rolfe has already been alerted to city budget cuts, gay San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter.
Her decision was also announced just days prior to Lesbian Visibility Week, which the center observed with the raising of the lesbian Pride flag on Tuesday.
On Friday it will host the opening for a photography exhibit in conjunction with The Curve Foundation.
Rolfe, one of the few lesbian leaders of an LGBTQ nonprofit in the Bay Area, has worked at the center for 22 years, first as deputy director. She assumed the executive director position in August 2007.
In a Zoom video call April 18, ahead of her formal announcement, Rolfe told the B.A.R. that she’s been thinking about her retirement for a while. For the last few years, she’s looked at whether she is the right person at the right time to lead the center and if her skills are aligned with the job.
“I’m proud of what I’ve contributed,” she said.
“When I started at the center there was a lot of vision, but it was so early in the development. I’m proud of
The Los Angeles Blade covers Los Angeles and California news, politics, opinion, arts and entertainment and features national and international coverage from the Blade’s award-winning reporting team. Be part of this exciting publication serving LGBT Los Angeles from the team behind the Washington Blade, the nation’s first LGBT newspaper. From the freeway to the Beltway we’ve got you covered.
what we built.”
Rolfe, 63, will stay on through December. The center is expected to name Rolfe’s successor later this year. She said that the board has begun discussing what the center needs in terms of its next leader.
MK Johnson and Travis Mitchell, the center’s board co-chairs, praised Rolfe’s tenure.
Andrew Davais, 34, is in San Francisco County Jail. Davais, who has 18 prior criminal cases, according to gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, is facing a charge of assault with force likely to commit great bodily injury after allegedly punching a man in the face at Castro and Market streets just before 6 p.m. Sunday.
See page 8 >>
“Rebecca’s leadership has shaped every part of the center, from laying the groundwork in its early years to growing the programs and services the community depends on today,” Johnson and Mitchell stated in a news release. “She has united LGBTQ+ people and allies while mentoring and empowering the next generation of leaders. Because of her grounded leadership and steady presence, the center is well-positioned to tackle what’s ahead.”
Under her decades of leadership, the center expanded its programs to meet the evolving needs of LGBTQ+ communities, the release stated. Rolfe spearheaded the development of new offerings, including employment and financial services, housing resources, arts and culture programming, and specialized support for youth and trans communities – several of which were the first of their kind in the nation.
Rolfe said that one of her accomplishments is showing the center is an asset for the community. “I think we’ve built deep roots in the community,” she said. “As I look back, I recall sort of a tapestry or web ... we built to sustain the center into the future.”
In 2016, Rolfe led a major state-of-the-art building remodel that cemented the center’s 1800 Market Street building as a prominent city landmark (one half of the center is housed in the old Fallon Building, which is a city landmark) and expanded its role as a multi-service hub for innovative, community-rooted
See page 8 >>
Isaac Julien at deYoung
Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church who espoused more accepting views of LGBTQ people, has died.
Bill Wilson
San Francisco police talked to a man they arrested in connection with a physical assault on a man in the Castro April 20.
Patrick McCabe
Rebecca Rolfe, executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, gestured to the audience during her remarks at the 2024 Soirée benefit.
Courtesy SF LGBT Community Center
Lee says she has LGBTQ community’s back << Election 2025
by Cynthia Laird
Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee on Monday made her first official remarks since declaring victory and vowed to have the LGBTQ community’s back in the face of assaults from the Trump administration. Lee also reviewed her 10-point plan for her first 100 days in office and acknowledged the city’s budget problems.
Speaking in a small crowded room at the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s office near City Hall, Lee wrapped up her comments and press questions by saying that Oakland needs to “stand strong and resist some of these policies” put forward by President Donald Trump and his administration, such as immigration.
But she added that the LGBTQ community is also a priority.
“I know Project 2025 and know the administration is trying to dismantle the Department of Education, including inclusion and equity as it relates to our LGBTQ community and our trans community,” Lee said, referring to the blueprint drawn up by conservative leaders to radically reshape the federal government.
“We won’t allow it.”
Lee, who represented Oakland in Congress for 30 years, didn’t rule out working with the Trump administration in areas where the city and federal government agree. She also reminded people that she served in Congress during the four years of the first Trump administration, and worked with other Republican presidents, such as George W. Bush. It was under his administration that she led the bipartisan effort to establish the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a global program credited with saving mil-
lions of lives. Trump is now working to gut the program’s funding with his pause on foreign aid money.
Sean Sullivan, a gay small business owner in Oakland and a community leader, was among those standing behind Lee as she delivered her remarks. He told the Bay Area Reporter it’s an exciting time.
“It’s a joyful day in Oakland,” Sullivan said. “I’m glad she spoke out on behalf of the LGBTQ community here and standing up to the Trump administration.”
Sullivan’s partner, Richard Fuentes, was also at the gathering of community leaders and media outlets. The two co-own Fluid 510, an LGBTQ bar in the city.
“Her 10-point plan is founded on addressing Oaklanders’ needs so we can turn things around so that when they go out, they feel safe and enjoy our city,” Fuentes said.
Lee, who did not indicate exactly when she will be sworn in – the Alameda County Registrar of Voters must complete ballot counting and certify the election and has 30 days to do so – vowed to take on the city’s challenges. Those include a budget deficit estimated at $129 million, public safety, and code enforcement to curb illegal dumping. She said
she wants to work with Alameda County officials to ensure the city gets its share of resources to address unhoused residents.
“Oakland deserves transparency, accountability, service, and results,” she said.
The special mayoral election was held April 15 because voters recalled former mayor Sheng Thao last November. Lee will serve the remainder of Thao’s term through 2026. While the ballot included 10 candidates, the race quickly became a two-person affair between Lee and former city councilmember Loren Taylor. Taylor had a lead on election night, but once additional results were released April 18, it was clear Lee had won the race. He called Lee and conceded the next day.
“While the outcome was not what we worked for and hoped for, I am incredibly proud of the race we ran,” Taylor stated. “Our campaign started as the underdog –most didn’t expect us to come this far or make it this close.”
Lee was at 50.06% on the first round count last Friday evening, while Taylor’s share of the first-round vote stood at 44.99%. After nine rounds of ranked choice voting, Lee’s share of the vote increased to 52.69% for a total of 48,855. Taylor landed in second with 47.31% and 43,860 total votes. Political observers have noted how the race showed a divided city, with residents in the hills voting for Taylor, and Lee winning in the flatlands.
Lee addressed that gulf on Monday. “I’ve spent the last 30 years of my service representing all of Oakland,” she said. “I have a record of that, regardless of whether they voted for me or not.”
“Everyone believes in a better Oakland,” she added. “I’m going to do the hard work and make the tough decisions.”
Lee will have some additional revenue to work with, as voters approved a sales
tax increase that was on the ballot last week. Measure A will increase the sales tax from 10.25% to 10.75% to raise about $30 million for the cash-strapped city. It passed overwhelmingly with 64.95% based on the preliminary returns.
And there will be a new member of the City Council. Charlene Wang, a lesbian, easily won the District 2 seat that became vacant when former councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas won election to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors last November. Wang won with 59.43% of the vote, according to the latest returns issued April 18.
Despite the news media having called the race for her on election night and other candidates calling to congratulate her on winning the seat that includes various neighborhoods centered around Lake Merritt, it wasn’t until Monday afternoon that Wang declared victory.
“I feel great. I am feeling really good,” Wang told the B.A.R. “I am just ready to take, like, a week off because now is the time to do some hard work.”
Wang said she may book a quick vacation depending on if she finds a good deal on airfare. She doesn’t yet know when she will take her oath of office, as first the country registrar needs to certify the election results.
“I have been told it could be any day to mid-May or even June,” said Wang.
She thanked the LGBTQ community for its support of her candidacy. As Oakland’s Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural District along Lakeshore Avenue is represented by the District 2 councilmember, Wang noted she will be working to ensure its success.
“It is exciting to be providing the LGBTQ community representation on the council and especially as the council member covering the LGBTQ cultural
district. I am excited to provide representation and hopefully to also revitalize that cultural district,” said Wang.
Asked about serving alongside Mayorelect Lee, Wang told the B.A.R. she feels “really good” about it.
“I just reviewed her 100-day action plan and I see a lot of shared goals and am excited to work with the congresswoman, or now Mayor-elect Lee,” said Wang.
At Lee’s Monday press conference, interim Oakland Mayor Kevin Jenkins briefly spoke. He must deliver his proposed budget to the City Council by May 1. He praised Lee’s plans.
Lee said that she would be briefed on Jenkins’ budget plan and would offer suggestions if warranted. She also wants a forensic audit of the city’s finances, something she mentioned often on the campaign trail.
Lee also introduced her two transition co-chairs. They are Barbara Leslie, who is president and CEO of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and Keith Brown, executive secretarytreasurer of the Alameda Labor Council.
Leslie, who also serves on the Oakland Port Commission, said she looks forward to collaborating with labor to see the city unified. (Lee had the endorsements of the labor council and the chamber’s political action committee, OakPAC.)
Brown said the labor council will work with Lee so that the city is rooted in unity, equity, and progress.
Before she made her remarks, Lee called for a moment of silence in memory of Pope Francis, who died in Rome earlier Monday. t
Matthew S. Bajko contributed reporting.
Recount of San Jose council race to start Thursday
by Matthew S. Bajko
The automatic recount in the race for a San Jose City Council seat is set to begin Thursday and likely to take two days. Election officials in Santa Clara County plan to certify the results in the contest for the District 3 seat next Monday, April 28, the deadline to do so.
At the moment, gay San Jose Planning Commission chair Anthony Tordillos is in second place with 2,006 votes and poised to advance to a summer runoff race against Gabriela “Gabby” Chavez-Lopez, a single mom who is executive director of South Bay nonprofit the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley.
After the latest vote count update Monday afternoon, Chavez-Lopez is now in first place with 2,711 votes. And in third place with 2,000 votes is Matthew Quevedo, deputy chief of staff to San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who had sole endorsed him in the race.
There were 17 ballots left to be processed as of Monday morning. Another vote update will come by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Because the vote difference between Tordillos and Quevedo is less than .25% it requires there to be a hand recount of the results. According to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters it will begin at 8 a.m. Thursday, April 24, and go through 4:30 p.m. that day and repeat
daily at those times until completed.
A spokesperson for Tordillos had no direct comment about the recount Monday, pointing the Bay Area Reporter to a previous statement regarding the election results that called for making “sure every vote is counted.”
Registrar spokesperson Michael Borja told the San Jose Spotlight news site the recount should wrap by the end of day Friday, allowing the April 8 primary results to be certified a week from today.
The special election to serve out a council term that expires at the end of 2026 will be decided by whomever wins the June 24 runoff. District 3 covers much of downtown San Jose and its Qmunity LGBTQ district. It has been represented since earlier this year by engineering firm owner Carl Salas.
He was selected as a caretaker of the seat by the council following the resignation last fall of gay former councilmember Omar Torres due to his arrest for allegedly molesting a cousin years prior.
As the final day of voting was underway to decide who will serve out the remainder of his term, Torres that Tuesday was in a Santa Clara County courtroom pleading no contest to child sex crimes and is now awaiting his sentencing.
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 governing body had gone 16 years without a member from the LGBTQ community until Torres took his oath of office two years ago.
A candidate needed to capture more than 50% of the vote to win the seat outright this month. The summer runoff coincides with this year’s Pride week celebrations in cities around the Bay Area and across the country.
Last year, a recount of the results in the March 5 primary race for the state’s 16th Congressional District saw Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian (D) fail to advance to the November
ballot. Initially, it looked like Simitian would do so after tying for second place with gay then-assemblymember Evan Low (D-Cupertino), with both taking on the first-place finisher, former San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo.
But a former aide to Liccardo sought a recount, claiming he was doing so on behalf of Low. While Low had cried foul, accusing Liccardo of working behind the scenes to bump him out of the race, he emerged victorious over Simitian by five votes. In the fall, Low lost to Liccardo and was just hired as president and CEO of the national LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.
As the Spotlight noted, the council race is the fourth San Jose race to trigger a recount in eight years.
“Having to conduct another automatic recount, experiencing tie votes – it really shows how important it is to vote and how one vote can really count,” Borja told the news outlet. t
Talamante,
photo Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee Cynthia Laird
Rick Gerharter
San Jose City Council candidate Anthony Tordillos
Courtesy the candidate
SF Mayor Lurie touts 100 days in office Community News>>
by John Ferrannini
In advance of his 100th day in office, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie insisted April 17 that he was delivering a “progress report,” not taking a “victory lap.” The actual milestone was April 18, which was also the anniversary of the 1906 earthquake and fire, which the mayor said showed the city can rise from the ashes.
The mayor’s effort to issue highlights of his accomplishments so far is perhaps because despite progress on what Lurie campaigned on last year, the city government will have to address an $800 million budget deficit that last week the mayor said could more than double to $2 billion, depending on how much federal funds the Trump administration withholds from the city.
Lurie has touted efforts on Sixth Street and in the Civic Center Plaza to address vagrancy and open-air drug use. Already, the city has the lowest number of tent and other encampments since 2019, when tracking began – including a 67% reduction South of Market and a 65% reduction in the Tenderloin, according to statistics from Lurie’s office.
The Sixth Street Mobile Triage Center alone has placed 275 people into shelter or housing and directed 1,119 to medical or behavioral-health treatment, according to the mayor.
The nonprofit Urban Alchemy has been integral to efforts to keep open-air drug scenes from popping back up again. Lurie had told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent visit to the Castro that, “We should do the same thing here we have done on Sixth Street, which is make sure we get people off the street and into mental health treatment beds, which is going to take us time.”
During questions at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music following his remarks, the B.A.R. asked Lurie what impact the budget deficit will have on the city’s efforts with moving people off the street. Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors added $4 million to the $16 million Urban Alchemy already got annually to avoid layoffs at the nonprofit.
“This is a city that’s capable of doing a lot more, and we’ve been doing it in the past and we’ve proven that over the first few months with these crime stats continuing to go down,” Lurie said. “We have to do more with less, we will, and we’re learning along the way from places like the Sixth Street Mobile Triage, like what we’ve done on 16th and Mission. We should apply those learnings to every place in this city.”
During his speech to city leaders before he took questions from the press, Lurie touted those stats – violent crime down 15% from this time last year and
Charles Lutvak/Mayor’s office
Mayor Daniel Lurie gave a progress report on his administration’s first 100 days in office April 17 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
reported car break-ins down 41% (the lowest level in 22 years).
“We are trending in the right direction,” he said.
With local nonprofits funded by the city concerned about losing that money due to the looming deficit, particularly LGBTQ-focused service providers already dealing with federal cuts imposed by the Trump administration, Lurie also told the B.A.R. that, “No decisions have been made on organizations.” (That is to say, which organizations may experience cuts. Lurie did ask departments to make across-the-board 15% cuts themselves.)
“I’m going back to the office now to have many, in an hour or so, more budget conversations,” he said. “We’re having night and day conversations with department heads, with our budget team. We have a lot of work to do.”
Another reporter asked if Lurie would be willing to acquiesce and comply with some of President Donald Trump’s executive orders to turn on the faucet of federal funds, such as Trump’s ban on federal funds for diversity, equity and inclusion or the city’s sanctuary city policy.
“There are billions of dollars at risk,” Lurie said. “Just Medicaid cuts, [Housing and Urban Development] cuts, forget anything we’re going to see with our policies, you can see much bigger cuts. I’m approaching these conversations with our department heads, with strength and telling them it’s not just a billion dollars that’s possibly on the table, it’s more, and so we have to tighten our belts now. We have to prepare ourselves for what is to come. We don’t know. I can’t tell you what’s happening an hour from now, so I’m certainly not going to predict what’s going on years or months from now as we go through the summer. … This city will be on better financial footing because of what we’re going through right now.”
San Francisco’s sanctuary city policies prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. But the feds have already been involved in prosecuting drug dealing cases typically dealt with on the local level for years, Lurie reiterated, when asked about how the sanctuary city policy intersects with felony drug dealing. As the B.A.R. previously reported, https://www.ebar.com/ story/337810/redirect the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and the Justice Department have been working on prosecuting these cases with the San Francisco District Attorney’s office as part of the All Hands on Deck initiative.
“Under the Biden administration, the U.S. attorney was deporting those who were convicted and arrested for drug dealing. That has been happening for years,” Lurie said. “I want my law enforcement arresting and enforcing local laws.”
Despite the extended honeymoon the mayor has had since taking his oath of office, some Lurie decisions have been criticized by progressives. For example, District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton called the Levi Strauss heir an “oligarch” after his administration placed a site for tiny homes in the Bayview neighborhood.
“Ask yourself would this oligarch do this in Pac Heights, Lake Merced (where there are dozens of folks living in vehicles), Golden Gate Park Area (where there are dozens of folks who are unhoused),” Walton stated via Instagram. “I guess it is true that Black people, communities of color and their voices are second class for this administration. … Mayor Lurie is an oligarch who most certainly does not care about collaboration or cooperation. His statements claiming he wants to collaborate are disingenuous and he plans to lead through tyranny and unilateral decision making.”
Queer District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder introduced an ordinance to amend the administrative code to have city-funded shelters keep families with children for up to 12 months, unless providers are able to find those families viable housing. Several families are currently facing eviction, as Local News Matters reported. https:// localnewsmatters.org/2025/03/11/sanfrancisco-shelters-evicting-families-after90-days-despite-mayor-luries-promise/ Currently, the policy is 90 days for families to stay at shelters, with extensions for up to six months.
“No child should ever worry about where they will sleep at night. City officials and shelter providers should be working to end family homelessness, not punishing families for our own failures to provide viable exits to affordable housing,” stated Fielder in announcing her ordinance Tuesday.
Asked about the shelter matter and other criticism from supervisors, Lurie said, “We’re going to disagree and that’s OK. I didn’t get elected so that everybody would like me all the time.”
“What I want to make sure that we have in City Hall is respectful conversations where we can walk down to each other’s offices and say, ‘Hi,’ [and] work things out,” Lurie continued. “People can stay in our shelter system for up to six months. We have to get flow through our system and shelters should not be the final destination for families. We want to get them into housing, and we’ll continue to work on that.”
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is also going to be a problem, with a $300-$320 million projected shortfall starting next year. The agency’s board this week approved cuts in service to several bus lines and increased parking meter rates that will take effect this summer to plug a $50 million deficit in its budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
“As we continue to reclaim ridership on Muni, we will focus on clean, safe, reliable transportation. Our public transportation system is facing an enormous fiscal cliff, but let me be clear – there is no downtown recovery without Muni and BART,” the mayor said.
SF will be ‘proud’ again, Lurie says
In his progress report speech, Lurie spoke to several areas where he has touted improvements or where he wants to make them going forward. An additional item he said would help street homelessness and improve public safety is the 24/7 police drop-off center he promised on the campaign trail, which will be opening April 28, “ahead of schedule,” he noted. His speech began with a nod to an anniversary April 18 – that of the 1906 earthquake and fire that leveled the city.
“The earthquake is a reminder for all San Franciscans that even in the most dire of circumstances, when we work together, we can rise from the ashes,” the mayor said. “Over the past few years, our foundation has been shaken, we lost our way. … Together, we are generating hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity for our city. But what’s happening right now is about so much more than money alone. For the first time in five years, people feel San Francisco is headed in the right direction.”
Lurie spoke to businesses investing in San Francisco after years of headlines reporting closures and corporate relocations. As the B.A.R. previously reported, Databricks agreed to a $1 billion investment in the city over the next three years and to hold its user conference here until 2030.
Further, “We have 80 more AI office leases projected for this year alone. Nintendo is coming to Union Square,” he said. “And in a powerful turnaround, Zara, who announced they were closing their store one year ago, is bringing a fourstory flagship to the corner of Post and Powell. People are betting on San Francisco again.”
Local businesses, too, can expect relief when Lurie introduces permitting requirement reform in May, he said. That package will also address housing permitting, he said.
Lurie has also proposed upzoning along east-west commercial thoroughfares, where on the westside current rules cap height. The legislation would allow 65 foot buildings on California, Clement, and Balboa streets, and 85 foot buildings on Geary, Taraval, Judah, and parts of Noriega streets.
Lurie is calling it “Family Zoning.”
“Our Family Zoning plan focuses on neighborhoods that haven’t added new units of housing since the 1960s,” Lurie said. “We will protect rent-controlled housing and preserve our city’s historic charm while ensuring the next generation of San Franciscans can afford to raise their kids here.”
Lurie said streamlining local government is one of his top priorities. Already, he has four policy chiefs reporting to him, replacing the old system in which one chief worked with 58 different departments.
“The people who have committed their lives to this city, the families who are enrolling in our public schools, the businesses fueling our neighborhoods, the elders who want to feel safe again on our streets – they are tired of a City Hall that does things to them instead of with them,” Lurie said. “San Franciscans want to live in a city they feel proud to call home. And we are going to deliver.”
Andrea Aiello, a lesbian who is executive director of the Castro Community Benefit District, was at the address, which she called “impressive.”
“I do believe he can bring San Francisco back,” Aiello stated to the B.A.R. “Lurie is making great progress downtown, bringing conventions back, tent counts down, and creating solutions to address the drug and mental health crisis on our streets. I loved hearing about his work on permit relief for small businesses and breaking down the silos in SF government. I am hopeful his successes downtown will spread into the neighborhoods, and his efforts to reform City Hall will be felt by all.”
Masood Samereie, a straight ally who is a past president of the Castro Merchants Association, was also in attendance. He stated simply that the speech was “powerful, optimistic, to the point.”t
Gay harm reduction advocate Michael Siever dies
by Cynthia Laird
Michael Siever, Ph.D., a gay man and psychologist who once led the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s behavioral health program, died April 10 at an assisted living facility in Seattle. He was 74.
Scott Pando, a gay man and longtime friend who used to be a caregiver, said that Dr. Siever had suffered various health issues in recent years.
“He was such a mensch,” Pando said in a phone interview. “He was an absolute love and a dear, dear friend of mine.”
As director of behavioral health at the AIDS foundation, Dr. Siever cofounded the Stonewall Project, a drug and alcohol drug treatment harm reduction program for gay and bi men in San Francisco that continues today. He also ran the foundation’s Speed Project and co-founded, with Steve Gibson, Magnet, a sexual health clinic that is now run out of the foundation’s Strut health center in the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood.
“We at San Francisco AIDS Foundation are saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Siever,” stated Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., CEO of SFAF, to the Bay Area Reporter. “Michael was an incredible champion for the queer community –dedicating his life and career to building programs and services for gay, bi, and trans men who have sex with men and others at risk for HIV.
“His deep expertise, and care, in crafting these services lives on today through two programs at SFAF he co-founded more than 20 years ago: The Stonewall Project, which provides substance use treatment and counseling, and Magnet, our sexual health clinic at Strut. Michael’s legacy lives on, and we are so grateful for his contributions to our community,” TerMeer added.
Dr. Siever retired from SFAF in 2014, according to the foundation’s records.
During his tenure, Dr. Siever was not afraid to take on San Francisco policies and officials. In 2014, he wrote a Guest Opinion piece for the B.A.R. that called out the city’s commitment to harm reduction. His words could be relevant today as Mayor Daniel Lurie has rolled back nonprofits’ abilities to distribute things like clean foil, pipes, and plastic straws.
“The [Treatment on Demand] Planning Council advocated a harm reduction approach to helping folks who do drugs (including alcohol) even if they were not ready or willing to endorse ab-
Manuel Fernández, prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. “This grace can orient everything according to the mysterious and unpredictable designs of God. Therefore, with its untiring wisdom and motherly care, the church welcomes all who approach God with humble hearts, accompanying them with those spiritual aids that enable everyone to understand and realize God’s will fully in their existence.”
As the Bay Area Reporter was first to report in January 2024, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone
Courtesy Scott Pando
Michael Siever, Ph.D., co-founded the Stonewall Project, a harm reduction program at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation that helps gay and bi men with substance use issues.
stinence as their goal,” Dr. Siever wrote. “A harm reduction approach views any step toward improved health as a positive step.
“In 2000, the Health Commission endorsed harm reduction and made it the policy of the Department of Public Health and a guiding principle for all DPH contractors,” he continued. “Fast forward to 2014 and we find Mayor Ed Lee and Health Director Barbara Garcia balking at a recommendation by the HIV Prevention Planning Council that DPH consider the evidence supporting the distribution of crack pipes, a harm reduction approach with aims similar to those of needle exchange.”
In May 1999, Dr. Siever was critical of then-mayor Willie Brown for interfering with community planning.
“Dr. Michael Siever, who co-chairs the city’s Treatment on Demand Planning Council, encouraged people to contact Brown to express their support for the community planning process,” the B.A.R. reported at the time. “‘The mayor and DPH are highly ambivalent about community planning,’ Siever said. ‘We need to continue to put pressure on the mayor, supervisors, and DPH that we need community planning.’”
And in 2004, Dr. Siever disagreed with Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, then a top DPH official, over Klausner’s position that Viagra, then a new drug to help men with erectile dysfunction, should be a controlled substance and would lead to an increase in sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men.
put restrictions on these blessings. In a memo, he wrote that the Vatican document had been misunderstood “by some reports and analyses,” but did not indicate how, stating “please do not rely on secular media stories, which are easily fueled by ignorance, animosity, and judgmentalism.”
Thus, Cordileone had instructed, “Any priest has the right to deny such blessings if, in his judgment, doing so would be a source of scandal in any way.”
Cordileone stated to the B.A.R. that, “Upon learning the news of Pope Francis’ passing, let us join together in prayer that the Lord may grant him safe passage to the heavenly Kingdom and
As the B.A.R. reported, “I think once again Jeff is barking up the wrong tree,” said Michael Siever, Ph.D., director of the Stonewall Project and a national expert on crystal use among gay men. “Clearly, Viagra is involved in sex, obviously that is what it is for. People are using it in a context of sexual behavior that puts them at risk and that is something to talk about. But it certainly is not the main culprit and seems misplaced energy to go after making Viagra a controlled substance and I don’t think it is going to stop people from getting Viagra anyway.”
Laura Thomas, director of harm reduction policy at SFAF, paid tribute to Dr. Siever.
“Michael was a fierce advocate for harm reduction and for people who use drugs,” Thomas wrote in an email. “He was the first board chair for the San Francisco Drug Users Union and a leader in the movement for supervised consumption services. He was a nationally-known expert on gay men and methamphetamine.
“He had a big heart and a wicked sense of humor and brought a sense of joy to everything he did,” Thomas added. “I think he would be so outraged at how San Francisco is backing away from all of the evidence-based HIV prevention and harm reduction work that he helped to build, including Stonewall and the Drug Users Union.”
Gibson, a gay man who co-founded Magnet with Dr. Siever, recalled those early days. At the time, Gibson was at the Stop AIDS Program, which was later merged with the foundation.
“Michael was a visionary,” Gibson said in a phone interview. “The way he saw gay men relative to methamphetamine, and enabling gay men’s health beyond the paradigm of HIV-positive or HIVnegative. Michael and I had a vision to change that.”
Gibson said that Dr. Siever was always trying to get to “yes.” “To figure out a way to do this,” Gibson said.
Matthew Denckla, a gay man who used to work with Dr. Siever and helped start Magnet, said that he will be missed “by many overlapping communities.”
“He was a real pillar in the prevention world of HIV and STIs and had a huge understanding of harm reduction,” Denckla said in a phone interview.
Denckla said that Dr. Siever was able to inspire others.
“What was unique about Dr. Siever was that he would gently encourage
give him the reward of God’s good and faithful servants.”
“The outpouring of prayers, good will and love for our Holy Father not only from Catholics but from people of different faiths all over the world is edifying and personally fills me with gratitude,” the archbishop continued. “Pope Francis called on us all to give more, sacrifice more, and care more about the poorest and most vulnerable, from the tiny infant in the womb, to the elderly and infirmed, to the migrant and the refugee. Let us take inspiration from his words and example and put that inspiration into action. That is the greatest tribute we could give to him.” Francis’ funeral will be in Rome Saturday, April 26.
Reaction
LGBTQ leaders and organizations reacted to the pope’s passing.
“I’m saddened by Pope Francis’s loss, but also grateful for what his leadership meant to make our church more inclusive and more faithful to its social justice traditions,” stated gay San Francisco District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who is Catholic. “Progress comes slowly to the Catholic Church, but there’s denying Pope Francis was a force for progress – for the LGBTQ+ community, for immigrants, for environmental stewardship, and more. So, I’ll be praying for my church this week, and hoping to see continued progressive leadership for a world that really needs that right now.”
Francis DeBernardo, the executive
people to do things that were way beyond their capabilities,” he said. “Many people shined because he said, ‘I think you can do this.’”
Michael Discepola, now senior director for Glide’s Health Empowerment Access Team, succeeded Dr. Siever as director of the Stonewall Project in August 2008, he wrote in an email. Before that, he served as associate director. He became director of the foundation’s behavioral health services in 2015, following Dr. Siever’s retirement. He noted that Dr. Siever was a “savior” to many.
“Michael was a generous, caring, and brilliant individual whose impact on the lives of countless people cannot be overstated,” Discepola wrote. “He was a trailblazer in his field, dedicated to helping thousands improve their health, well-being, and happiness. On a personal level, Michael was my mentor, my friend, and a cherished member of my chosen family.”
And Discepola echoed Denckla in how Dr. Siever worked to help those around him realize their potential.
“I had the profound honor of building upon his incredible legacy at the Stonewall Project, carrying forward the vision that Michael and I passionately shared. Michael had an extraordinary gift for believing in people, especially when everyone else had given up or simply couldn’t,” he wrote.
Longtime AIDS survivor Matt Sharp, a gay man, said that Dr. Siever “was a harm reduction icon.”
“Not only did he start and support Tweaker.org and the Stonewall Project, but he also led gay men who were shamed for their substance use a sense of hope and health in a system that stigmatized them and left them for naught,” Sharp wrote. “Michael was a beloved friend and offered me a place to stay when I was homeless. His loss is huge.”
Family life
Dr. Siever helped raise Ethan Treber, and adopted him when Treber was 40. Growing up, Treber said in a phone interview, Dr. Siever served as an adult male role model starting when he was about 7 years old.
“He was always an academic,” Treber said, recalling a time when he asked his mom and Siever and Siever’s late partner how long he had to go to school.
“My mom said 12 years, and Michael chimed in 16,” Treber said.
director of New Ways Ministries, an LGBTQ Catholic affinity group, stated April 21 that, “Francis was not only the first pope to use the word ‘gay’ when speaking about LGBTQ+ people, he was the first pope to speak lovingly and tenderly to them.”
“His kind words of welcome to this community, traditionally marginalized in the church, rang loudly around the globe,” DeBernardo stated. “His recommendation to pastoral ministers and church leaders to accompany, listen, and dialogue with LGBTQ+ people has opened doors that had been sealed shut by the homophobia and transphobia of previous pontiffs.”
“Even with his many groundbreaking milestones, Pope Francis did have areas where his welcome was not as wide as it could have been,” DeBernardo continued. “In the area of gender identity and transgender issues, the pontiff adhered closely to the male-female gender binary, referring to any newer understandings of gender identity as ‘gender ideology’ or ‘ideological colonization.’ His misunderstanding and mischaracterization of gender identity did not, however, prevent Pope Francis from reaching out with compassion to transgender people, continually calling for people to respect the inherent human dignity of these minorities.”
Stan JR Zerkowski, a gay man who is the executive director of the LGBTQ Catholic-affinity group Fortunate Families and director of Catholic LGBT ministry for the Diocese of Lexington, stated
He said that Dr. Siever and his partner started a college fund for him.
The two were close, attending Burning Man together several years in a row, said Treber, who identifies as “mostly straight” and is currently single. While Dr. Siever advocated for, and was an expert in, harm reduction, Treber said his dad “liked dark coffee, dark chocolate, and liked his celebratory options as well. Everything in moderation.”
Treber, 54, lives in Seattle and helped care for Dr. Siever for the last couple of years. When test results came back earlier this year, they confirmed bone marrow cancer, he said. He had taken Dr. Siever in for transfusions weekly but, last month, Dr. Siever made the decision that he was “done with transfusions,” his son said.
Dr. Siever was born April 29, 1950. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Washington in Seattle. He is the former director of Operation Recovery, the substance abuse treatment program of the old Operation Concern, a community-based organization that provided mental health, substance abuse, and HIV services to the LGBTQ community in San Francisco.
Dr. Siever is the author of articles in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology and Focus: A Guide to AIDS Research and Counseling and a chapter in “Gay and Lesbian Mental Health: A Sourcebook for Practitioners.” He also has presented at several American Psychological Association conventions, the first National Harm Reduction Conference, several National AIDS Update Conferences, and the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Conference on Stimulant Abuse.
Dr. Siever received many accolades over the years. These included recognition by gay former state Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) in 2004; a Community Excellence Award from SFAF in 2018; and recognition by the San Francisco Department of Public Health for his service on the Treatment on Demand Council and for being a Public Health Hero.
Treber said it had been hoped that Dr. Siever would be in good enough health to travel to Costa Rica at the end of this month to celebrate his 75th birthday. Now, Treber said he is planning to take the trip and, hopefully, bring some of his father’s ashes with him.
A celebration of Dr. Siever’s life will likely be held in San Francisco at a later date, his son said. t
to the B.A.R. that Francis will be remembered for fighting “the globalization of indifference.”
“He did this by treating each person as a valued and precious child of God,” Zerkowski stated. “Pastoral application with generous mercy was his quest for the leaders of the Church.
“In recognizing the dignity of LGBTQ persons, he recognized the hurt that many lived. He called us to listen to one another, to communicate, to respect diversity of opinion, and to do so with humor, and with utmost mercy and compassion,” he continued. “Today, the rubber meets the road as far as living what we celebrated yesterday [Easter Sunday]; while we mourn this good man’s passing, we rejoice because he has fulfilled his purpose on this plane and gone to that place where we hope to follow. We must celebrate his new life and look to his example to be people who continue to build the culture of encounter with joy and a smile.”
LGBTQ Catholic group DignityUSA also shared thoughts. Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke, a lesbian, met the late pope in 2023.
“I had the chance to thank him for his statement that the criminalization of our identities and relationships had to stop and to urge him to press for its implementation globally,” she stated. “I shared stories of LGBTQ+ people who had been harmed by church teachings or when pastoral care was refused.
See page 8
SJ LGBTQ speakers bureau sees increased demand Community News>>
by Matthew S. Bajko
As LGBTQ rights, particularly for transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, have come under attack in recent years, the San Jose-based LGBTQ Youth Space’s Speakers Bureau has seen a rise in requests for panelists. To meet the demand, it is seeking more volunteers from the South Bay’s LGBTQ community willing to share their stories.
The asks for panels have kept up in recent months amid the Trump administration’s assault on LGBTQ rights and denouncement of various diversity initiatives in both the public and private sectors. Requests for speakers are being made by a wide gamut of entities, from high schools and colleges to social service agencies and groups for parents or caregivers.
“What’s been really great with the current climate we are in is we are getting more requests than ever,” said Justin Ortiz, coordinator for the speakers bureau since last year.
The speakers bureau currently has more than two-dozen volunteers it can reach out to when requests for panels come in. Ortiz welcomes new volunteers on a rolling basis and will provide an hourlong training for them before sending them out for their first appearance.
“I don’t think we can have too much representation, especially within the panels we do,” said Ortiz, who strives to have a diverse array of speakers on each panel to represent the breadth of identities within the LGBTQ community. “We are not ambassadors for the community, we are just providing snapshots for different pockets.”
Ortiz, 28, a gay and queer San Jose resident, moderates the panels and aims to have four speakers on each one. Panels usually are 90 minutes with each participant receiving $50 if in-person, and $25 if virtual and for the trainings.
“As far as I know, we are maybe one of, if not the only, LGBTQ speakers bureau in the South Bay,” said Ortiz, who has worked for the agency for two years
and also coordinates its workshops on healthy relationships and violence prevention. “Even though we might be a small group, we are getting requests every day and new volunteers every day. It tells us there is a need for these conversations we are having.”
Transgender Cupertino resident
Naomi Castejon-Wong has been sharing her story as a panelist since last April.
A model and the Miss Cupertino USA 2025 titleholder, she is set to compete this summer for the Miss California USA title and the chance to represent the Golden State at the Miss USA competition, the winner of which competes for the Miss Universe title.
“I have time to give back to the community and see the impact it is having,” Castejon-Wong, 30, said about being a panelist. “It is always inspirational to me and helps me center myself.”
Married five years to her husband, Christopher Wong, the couple has been together a dozen years. Fluent in French, as her family hails from France, Castejon-Wong was born in the United Kingdom then immigrated to Silicon
Valley at age 4.
She struggled with her gender identity in school before coming out as transgender and went on to become a registered nurse in 2020. But CastejonWong then pivoted to pursue a modeling career and compete in beauty pageants, placing in the top 14 at the Miss International Queen USA 2025 competition last December.
“We are human beings. We are here. We do exist. It is important to see people have support in their lives,” said Castejon-Wong, adding, “it can propel you to another level. If you are constantly being told this isn’t right or something about you is wrong, you build up so much internalized shame. Seeing people like you who are accomplished is important for students to see.”
Depending on the audience she is sharing her personal story with, be it medical professionals or youth, Castejon-Wong will tailor how detailed she is regarding her transitioning process so it is age appropriate. But when it comes to being asked questions, she said she is largely an open book.
“For a demo that is younger, I wouldn’t want to divulge as much intimate detail. But when I do my bio, I don’t set any ground rules,” she said. “I haven’t experienced any question yet I have had to turn down. If the time comes and it is not a question within my comfort level or I am not willing to answer that, I will try to reword it or rephrase it in a way that is more approachable or more receivable.”
The Bay Area Reporter recently spoke by video with Castejon-Wong and Ortiz about the speakers bureau. Ortiz grew up in San Francisco then moved to San Jose when in middle school. After earning degrees in health education and sexuality studies from San Francisco State University in 2020, he moved back to the South Bay.
In 2023, he was hired on at the LGBTQ Youth Space. In recent weeks, Ortiz moderated panels of speakers before Cupertino high schoolers and San Jose city employees, and was scheduling one at Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara.
“A lot of recent requests are for how to model safe spaces for youth and advo-
cating for that piece,” noted Ortiz, who on average is fielding five panel asks each month.
Looking for guidance
In addition to the spike in speaking engagement requests, Castejon-Wong said she has noticed a shift of late in the types of questions people are asking the panelists. They are often coming from a state of fear, she said, especially queer and trans youth who are looking for guidance “in these tough times,” she said.
“I am telling people, especially the queer people we speak with, to read up on your history. We have been through these tough times before,” said CastejonWong. “This is not the first time we have been persecuted. We really should educate ourselves on the past to see hope for the future.”
Having community and corporate backing for the speakers bureau, and the LGBTQ community at-large, is more important than ever, argued CastejonWong, due to the rollback of rights for queer and trans people. In addition to showing support for LGBTQ people and their rights, it hopefully inspires other groups and businesses to step up as allies, she said.
“Allyship is a key factor in our success as a community,” said Castejon-Wong. “We make up such a small group of individuals and a portion of the community. We can’t always be the only ones in the fight.”
The LGBTQ Youth Space is a program of Caminar that provides drop-in services and counseling for LGBTQ young people, and to those who are questioning and allies, ages 13 to 25 who live in Santa Clara County. It received a $75,000 grant from the El Camino Healthcare District in its fiscal year that began last July toward the speakers bureau’s staff time and stipends for the panelists.
LGBTQ Youth Space’s speakers bureau participants Justin Ortiz, left, Benjamin Cardenas-Gonzalez, and Naomi Castejon-Wong stood outside Cupertino High School where they gave a presentation for students.
Christopher Wong
Volume 55, Number 17
April 24-30, 2025 www.ebar.com
PUBLISHER
Michael M. Yamashita
Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013)
Publisher (2003 – 2013)
Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003)
NEWS EDITOR
Cynthia Laird
ARTS & NIGHTLIFE EDITOR
Jim Provenzano
ASSISTANT EDITORS
Matthew S. Bajko • John Ferrannini
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Christopher J. Beale • Robert Brokl
Brian Bromberger • Victoria A. Brownworth
Philip Campbell • Heather Cassell
Michael Flanagan •Jim Gladstone
Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell • Lisa Keen
Philip Mayard • Laura Moreno
David-Elijah Nahmod • Mark William Norby
J.L. Odom • Paul Parish Tim Pfaff
Jim Piechota • Adam Sandel
Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro
Gwendolyn Smith • Charlie Wagner
Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington • Sura Wood
ART DIRECTION
Max Leger
PRODUCTION/DESIGN
Ernesto Sopprani
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Jane Philomen Cleland
Rick Gerharter • Gooch
Jose A. Guzman-Colon • Rudy K. Lawidjaja
Georg Lester • Rich Stadtmiller
Christopher Robledo • Fred Rowe
Shot in the City • Steven Underhill • Bill Wilson
ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS
Christine Smith
VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING
Scott Wazlowski – 415.829.8937
NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863
LEGAL COUNSEL
Paul H. Melbostad, Esq.
Bay area reporter
44 Gough Street, Suite 302 San Francisco, CA 94103
Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation.
Advertising rates available upon request.
Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.
Francis wasn’t perfect, but he led with empathy
Pope Francis, who died Monday, April 21, was a contradiction when it came to LGBTQ people. But by far he was the best leader of the Roman Catholic Church that LGBTQ parishioners have had to date, as Emmanuel Romero, co-chair of the LGBTQ Catholic group Dignity San Francisco told us. “In a political climate where vitriol and cruelty to others are increasingly considered alluring or even fun, the late pope led with compassion and humility,” Romero stated. “I don’t think people understand how precious that is.”
Francis made worldwide headlines four months after he became pope, when, in response to a reporter’s question in July 2013 about gay priests, he said, “If someone is gay, who searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?”
It was the first time a pope had uttered the word “gay.”
That single comment defined much of his papacy in relation to the LGBTQ community. In December 2023, he made headlines again when he approved blessings for same-sex couples, though the Vatican was clear that those did not equate to same-sex marriage. LGBTQ couples nonetheless hailed the new policy, even as some Catholic leaders, like San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, put restrictions on the blessings and tried to say the pope’s directive was fake news. Cordileone also worked hard to make it so that the blessings, at least in churches overseen by the diocese, were difficult to get. He should take a page out of Francis’ playbook.
Francis greeted the faithful at a general audience on April 17, 2013, just about a month after he was
There was a major development in 2020 when he called for the passage of civil unions. That comment was made in “Francisco,” a documentary about his life.
In 2016, the late pontiff urged an end to “unjust discrimination” against gays, though he reaffirmed the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage. In fact, in 2018, Francis said men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” should not be admitted to Catholic clergy. That would be a pattern repeated over the years, and one that was frustrating as other denominations worked to elevate LGBTQ clergy members and opened their doors to marriage equality.
That’s not to say that Francis’ papacy was not without stumbles. He is alleged to have used a slur for gay men in 2024, and one other time, prompting an apology from the Vatican. And, like his actions and comments about gays, his record on transgender people was mixed. The Vatican declared gender-affirming surgery, as well as surrogacy, to be grave violations of human dignity. And he condemned in 2017 technologies that made gender transition easier. But three years later he met with transgender women affiliated with the Blessed Immaculate Virgin church in Rome, and later told a young trans person that “God loves us as we are.”
Overall, Francis’ comments on LGBTQ issues marked a major shift. In countless little ways throughout the world, Francis gave people the permission structure to be themselves, to reconcile with family, and to perhaps think twice before hurling a punch or uttering a slur, although there are plenty of Catholic leaders who did not agree with Francis.
And not just on LGBTQs, but on many other issues, from the destruction of the planet’s environment to the refugee and migrant crises to what he called the “globalization of indifference” to mass suffering. Francis led mostly with compassion. He was the first Jesuit pope, and that training became a gift to members of the Catholic faith and the broader world. Many are remembering him as the first climate pope, with his ability to grasp the risks posed by climate change, as the Washington Post noted.
He led with empathy on immigration, which caused tensions with President Donald Trump.
The world’s largest Christian denomination has tremendous power over people – though maybe not as much as in the past, when it could topple kings or inspire the Sistine Chapel. Francis intuited that for the church to fill its pews, it has to address the real pain and suffering in people’s hearts – first and foremost the pain and suffering it has caused.
Granted, Francis was not perfect. He didn’t fully apply those lessons and insights to transgender issues, calling so-called gender ideology “machismo with a skirt.” And though church sexual abuse victims say they saw improvement under Francis, Reuters reported, the heinous crime still vexes the church.
It remains to be seen whom the upcoming secret conclave will select as the church’s next leader. Cardinals, many of whom were appointed by Francis, have their own insights and agendas. Reuters reported that as of April 21 there were a total of 252 cardinals, 135 of them cardinal electors under 80, according to data published by the Vatican. (Only cardinals under 80 can vote for a pontiff.) Francis appointed 108 of the electors, 22 were named by his predecessor, Benedict, and five were chosen by John Paul II.
The next pope could be very different from Francis, or perhaps, continue his legacy. Whatever the outcome, many LGBTQ Catholics were inspired by Francis’ leadership in spite of the discrimination that continues to exist. t
A woman is a person who identifies as one
by Katya Incle
What is a woman? That was the question heard around the world by right-wing grifter Matt Walsh in his 2022 documentary, “What is a Woman?” During his film, we find Walsh putting explanations given by gender experts at 4 times the speed while highlighting any hints of uncertainty or hesitation. Later, it was discovered that the three scholars interviewed were brought in under false pretenses.
To answer the completely non-serious question Walsh poses, it should be clear that a woman is a person who wants to call themselves one. No more or less needs to be said.
The inspiration for this piece derives from my desire to rally around, and be an ally to, transgender folks, especially as trans women are being attacked almost daily by the Trump administration and by the unfortunate existence of Executive Order 14187.
The “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” EO was issued by President Donald Trump on January 28. This appalling EO seems to suggest that “woke” physicians and parents are conspiring to disfigure children out of spite of conservative ideologies.
Although alignment with identities that differ from their sex is mentioned, EO 14187 does not clarify the methods of establishing sex or gender. This lack of specificity leaves many transgender and gender variant lives up to chance.
The arbitrary deduction of gender
Walsh’s final interpretation defines womanhood as “an adult human female.” The definitions in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary do not explicitly say that a person assigned female at birth is a female. The factors mentioned include bearing young, gender identity, small and delicate size and sound, and having a place to put a male part. Notably, not all women can produce eggs and/ or are small or delicate. Additionally, gender identity is a socially constructed choice, and many transgender women have a corresponding “hollow” for a male part. Also, there are a plethora of lesbians and asexuals who could argue that the “groove” in question is anything but a slot for insertion. So, what will be the determining factor of a person’s gender decision?
sions” on which gender to surgically force onto those born with differences in sex traits or reproductive anatomy.
Although this inhumane practice still persists, the EO makes no mention of this potential transing of intersex people at birth. Knowing this administration, intersex people won’t be able to transition if the surgeon makes the incorrect, haphazard choice. Therefore, what is clear to me is that health care providers will have the final say in who is male and who is female based on indiscriminate judgments.
The consideration of hormones
We cannot forget to discuss the ever-important intersex outlier. According to Muschialli et al. (2024), physicians still make “informed deci-
An interesting contradiction that the 2024 Paris Olympics brought about was the issue surrounding hormone levels. In the case of boxing Olympian Imane Khelif, having too much testosterone (and boxing success) created a false narrative that she is a man or should be listed as a transgender woman. (She is not transgender.) This facilitates an opening for arguments about how hormones can dictate gender. Therefore, when a trans woman begins estrogen treatments and over time has more estrogen than testosterone, are they now a woman? The answer, unfortunately, depends on whom you ask. A Trump supporter will climb Mount Kilimanjaro to explain away the prevalent situations brought about by women with increases in testosterone. As usual, concerning Khelif, MAGAs have been relatively silent or doubling down on denying her womanhood with no evidence.
For some individuals, medical intervention is necessary to uphold or affirm their gender identity. This is where Gender Affirming Care comes
into play. Each GAC recipient has to hope that their hormone levels are perfectly balanced, or they risk getting treated like a transgender or gender-diverse person from the U.S. – and we all know what that unjust treatment is like. Add the layers of being a person of color, visibly queer, or disabled, and we’ll begin to see if there’s a pattern in which health care providers will make nuanced decisions on who gets GAC or not.
Since February, hospitals and insurance providers have started excluding GAC procedures for minors. Regardless of their personal beliefs, providers face pressure to conform due to the potential risks to their licenses and livelihoods if they oppose Trump’s order.
What a woman can do now
Although these updates can be disheartening and seem alarming, there is hope. Health care providers and constituents who vote against GAC can be held legally accountable. We don’t have to live in misery as we ride out this presidency; we need to get to work to avoid the same mistakes we saw in 2016 and 2024.
The Alliance for Justice, which works with progressive organizations, provides guidance for those who have the privilege to help. It recommends that we engage in litigation by joining or initiating lawsuits and advocating for judicial nominations through local senatorial votes – all while standing firm in our beliefs. Remember that EOs cannot override the Constitution, and lawsuits are already underway to counteract these harmful orders.
I urge everyone to uplift the voices of your trans and intersex siblings and join them on the frontlines of upcoming movements. A little volunteering here, a call to your senator there, and you never know what kinds of positive change you can help create.t
Katya Incle is a master’s student at Arizona State University’s School of Social Transformation, researching queer resources on campus, the impact the conservative dollar has on public universities, methods of correcting misinformation online, and communication strategies for the online left. She is a research assistant and student grader at the School of Social Transformation and an executive member of the United Campus Workers Union, Students for Justice in Palestine, Local to Global Justice, and Graduate Students for Social Transformation with over a decade of experience in social media research and university policy.
Katya Incle
Courtesy the subject
Pope
named leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
Bill Wilson
Gay politico Rakov aims to oust one-time boss Congressmember Sherman
by Matthew S. Bajko
Joining the list of younger Democrats running against older congressional members of their party in 2026 is gay politico Jake Rakov of Studio City in Los Angeles County. The 37-year-old is aiming to oust from office Congressmember Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), whom he briefly worked for eight years ago as his deputy communications director.
Sherman, 70, has served in the House since first being elected in 1996. His 32nd Congressional District includes much of the San Fernando Valley, including Pacific Palisades that was devastated by a wildfire earlier this year, and westside communities of Los Angeles such as Bel-Air, Brentwood, Encino, Malibu, and Topanga.
After spending years working for Democratic politicians and candidates, such as Tom Steyer’s 2020 presidential campaign, Rakov is now seeking elected office himself for the first time. A main message of his candidacy is that the district needs a different kind of representative in Congress and that House members should be limited to serving five two-year terms.
“This isn’t partisan or generational, it is operational,” Rakov told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent phone interview, though he was quick to point out that he “was 8 years old when (Sherman) got elected the first time.”
It remains to be seen what support Rakov is able to attract to his candidacy from Democratic elected leaders and party activists. Or if he will be one of the up-and-comers supported by the new group Leaders We Deserve run by Parkland high school shooting survivor David Hogg, who is aiming to raise $20 million to support the “next generation” of Democratic leaders.
He said voters are craving “new ideas and new energy to get Congress to actually work again.”
Sherman’s campaign did not respond to the B.A.R.’s request for comment. In early April after Rakov announced his candidacy, Sherman told Politico he is “fit as a fiddle” and didn’t have much direct interaction with Rakov when he worked for him.
He hasn’t faced a serious opponent since 2012, when he defeated fellow Democrat Howard Berman by roughly 20% that November. Ever since, Sherman has faced a series of Republican challengers he has easily trounced.
It is exceedingly rare for an incumbent congressional member to be ousted by another candidate from the same party. Even with California’s open primary system, where the top two vote-getters regardless of party advance to the general election, no LGBTQ candidate to date has toppled an incumbent from either the Republican or Democratic parties.
It appears that Rakov is the first LGBTQ House candidate in California to officially launch a 2026 campaign, though incumbent gay Congressmembers Mark Takano (D-Riverside) and Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) are expected to seek reelection next year. After twice falling short to conservative Congressmember Ken Calvert (R-Corona) in the last two elections, gay Palm Springs attorney Will Rollins (D) recently confirmed he won’t run a third time in 2026.
So far, two other Democrats have also pulled papers to run against Sherman, including Tarzana resident Christopher Ahuja who landed in fourth place in the 2024 primary for the Southern California House seat.
Rakov believes he has a strong shot of making it through next June’s primary to take on Sherman in the fall race, though he knows he faces a tough road to victory running against a candidate already sitting on nearly $4 million in his campaign account.
“I am fully aware of the uphill struggle we are going to face,” said Rakov. “I have worked in this industry a long time; I know the odds of it and how strongly the party protects incumbents.”
Francisco for a year. He rented a room in Pacific Heights, though he spent much of the time traveling across the country with the candidate.
“I loved SF. I had a great time for that year,” recalled Rakov, who plans to speak with Steyer about his House bid. “It was the honor of my life to work for him. I would gladly take his endorsement.”
(Ahuja also has ties to San Fran cisco, having married his wife, Maggie Nguyen, in 2010 at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in the city’s Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood. Now a talent agent, Nguyen grew up in the city, graduated from UC Berkeley in 2004, and worked part-time for the San Francisco Film Society while in college.)
Post the Steyer campaign Rakov worked for several other candidates in Texas and New England, until moving back to the Golden State in 2023 with his husband, who also had worked for various congressional members and is now executive director at End Citizens United/Let America Vote. The couple have a nearly 5-year-old Pointer and Great Pyrenees mix named Kip that Rakov rescued as a 3-month-old pup.
In fundraising pitches for the group’s political action committee, Hogg, who was elected by party members to be vice chair of the Democratic National Committee earlier this year, makes similar arguments as Rakov has in explaining his own campaign.
“This isn’t personal – it’s a strategic disagreement,” wrote Hogg in one recent email. “We believe that every Democrat should be standing up and fighting Trump and the MAGA agenda with everything they’ve got, but too many of them are simply failing to meet the moment right now. This isn’t ‘out with the old and in with the new.’ It’s about replacing the ineffective politicians with leaders who will fight like hell for our democracy against Trumpism.”
In one of his emails seeking donations, Rakov wrote, “I’m running for Congress because we need a new generation of Democrats to step up if we want to get anything done in Washington. We can’t keep sending the same people back and expecting a different result.”
It is also a message that Ahuja has been making for months, writing in one Instagram post, “Here’s the truth: The real radicals are [Donald] Trump, [Elon] Musk, and JD Vance – And the Democrats like Brad who are too weak, too timid, too impotent to fight them. 30 years in Congress and he still doesn’t understand the stakes.”
San Francisco ties
Rakov, who took his husband Abe’s last name when they married in 2023, grew up in San Antonio, Texas as Jake Lewis. The younger of two sons, Rakov graduated from the University of Texas, Austin in 2011 with degrees in government and theater.
He then headed to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. While tending bar in West Hollywood and working as a cater waiter, the closest Rakov came to booking a part was in a play. But he lost out on the role for being “too tall” at 6 feet, he said.
His contacts he made led him to pivot to politics in 2013, landing a job on Wendy Gruel’s campaign for Los Angeles mayor. By the end of the year Rakov had moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked various jobs until starting with Los Angeles-based consultancy J&Z Strategies in 2018 as a political campaign strategist and production director.
In July 2019 he joined Steyer’s presidential campaign as its national press secretary, leading him to move to San
A former steering committee member of the Los Angeles Stonewall Democratic Club, an LGBTQ-focused political group that is one of the state’s largest Dem clubs, Rakov at the moment is unemployed and focused full-time on running for Congress.
“A unique thing of my challenge is it is literally me and my husband doing this mom-and-pop style,” said Rakov, though he is planning to hire on campaign staff.
Asked where he falls politically within the Democratic Party, Rakov said he is progressive on social issues but more moderate when it comes to government regulations. Up until last November, he told the B.A.R. he hadn’t considered running for the House seat.
But things changed with the election of Republican Trump to a second term. He began to consider seeking elected office and became more committed to doing so as he grew increasingly disappointed with how Democrats were responding to Trump and his administration as it attacked LGBTQ rights, dismantled federal agencies, and launched a trade war that has rocked the stock market.
“I wasn’t planning on running a year ago. It really was the last couple of months and really since November when Trump won a second time,” said Rakov. “I saw a lot of people, Democrats, go to lick their wounds, contemplate what happened, and drink too much vodka over the holidays to drown it out. I saw our party not engaging and not having the conversations we needed to have to move it forward.”
Now, in his House district, Rakov is giving voters a choice for who they want to be leading that fight on their behalf on Capitol Hill, he told the B.A.R.
dignity | san francisco
“We will do everything we can to get out there and knock on doors in the old fashioned way of politicking, and show people we do have a choice,” he said. “We do not need to have the same person in elected office for three decades.” t
The Bay Area Reporter can help members of the LGBTQ community in the San Francisco Bay Area reach more than 120,000 local residents each week with their display of Obituary* and In Memoriam messages.
The Bay Area Reporter can help members of the community reach more than 120,000 LGBT area residents each with their display of Obituary* & In Memoriam
Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http:// www.ebar.com Monday mornings for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column reported on a lesbian education official opting not to seek a third term in 2026.
Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Threads @ https://www.threads.net/@ matthewbajko and on Bluesky @ https://bsky.app/profile/politicalnotes.bsky.social.
RATES: $21.20 per column inch (black & white) $27.75 per column inch (full color)
DEADLINES: Friday 12 noon for space reservations Monday 12 noon for copy & images TO PLACE: Call 415 829 8937 or email us at advertising@ebar.com
$21.20 per column inch (black $29.15 per column inch (full color)
*Non-display Obituaries of 200-words or less are FREE to place. Please email obituary@ebar.com for more information.
Jake Rakov is running for a Southern California congressional seat.
Courtesy the candidate
I told him how being part of a worldwide community of LGBTQ+ Catholics gave me a better sense of how faith is lived out in many cultures. He said our work was important and that we must keep moving forward.”
Duddy-Burke acknowledged, “Even with the recognition of so many positive words and actions, church teachings and even some recent Vatican documents remain problematic.”
“Many LGBTQ+ people and families welcomed the pronouncement that same-sex couples can be blessed by priests and allowing transgender people to be baptized and to serve as godparents,” she continued. “However, Dignitas Infinita’s equating transgender peoples’ need to embrace their gender with evils like poverty and sexual abuse and failing to change catechetical
The Castro was busy April 20 as crowds had just left Mission Dolores Park following the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s Easter celebration. Celebrations for 4/20 (cannabis) and the Cherry Blossom Festival were also taking place in the city.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s office stated that Davais was arraigned April 23, and its intention to move to keep him in custody. A DA spokesperson stated that, “Mr. Davais allegedly walked up to the victim, who was standing with his wife at Castro Street and Market Street, wound his arm back and then punched the victim’s face without provocation. The victim fell backwards to the ground, striking his head and sustaining multiple injuries. Allegedly, Mr. Davais walked away while holding a skateboard and trash bags.”
San Francisco Police Department Public Information Officer Paulina Henderson stated to the Bay Area Reporter that after receiving a call about the assault, “Officers arrived on scene and located a victim being treated by paramedics. The victim appeared to have injuries associated with a possible assault. The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”
Patrick McCabe, a gay man who lives in the Castro, had called 911. He was in a
programming, the release stated. Today, the center serves thousands of LGBTQ+ people each year, providing connection, support, and access to essential resources, according to the release.
That remodel was due in part to major financial challenges the center has faced over the years. It opened March 3, 2002 amid great fanfare. But about a year later, then-executive director Brian Cheu, a gay man, was out and the center’s finances were in peril. The board brought on Rolfe as a consultant as Cheu was exiting, she said. Formally named the Charles M. Holmes Campus of the Center, after the late philanthropist and gay video pioneer, the center has weathered the issues. Thom Lynch, a gay man, was then brought on as executive director. When Lynch departed, Rolfe, his deputy director, took over the center’s leadership.
During the $6.5 million renovation, which started in 2016, the center changed some of its spaces so that they could be rented to other nonprofits, as the B.A.R. reported at the time. A staircase named after the late gay disco star Sylvester was demolished, among other changes. All four of the center’s floors were significantly reconfigured, and the amount of office space increased from 5,000 to 15,000 square feet.
Today, the San Francisco Community Health Center has a clinic at the center. Other tenants include Bay Area Legal Aid and the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives.
AGUILAS, a Latino HIV/AIDS or-
teachings that say being gay is inconsistent with God’s plan for humanity continue to lead to discrimination and even violence.”
Emmanuel Romero, co-chair of Dignity San Francisco, stated to the B.A.R. that LGBTQ Catholics are saddened by Francis’ death.
“In a political climate where vitriol and cruelty to others are increasingly considered alluring or even fun, the late pope led with compassion and humility,” Romero stated. “I don’t think people understand how precious that is.”
Conceding some faults, Romero said nonetheless for queer Catholics Francis was “the best leader we had to date.”
“Francis made it a point to listen to the stories of LGBTQ Catholics,” Romero continued. “He honored the stories of our lived experiences, and we pray his successor continues this conversation of welcome in a positive way.”
car with his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s father following an Easter lunch. The two were about to be dropped off at home.
“We stopped at the light there, at Castro and Market [streets], and we all just see there’s a couple standing there, a man and a woman, and we see a guy approach the man and punch him in the face and he instantly collapses,” McCabe told the B.A.R. “She hunches over him and starts screaming some. A couple seconds after, he [the boyfriend] pulled out his phone and started videotaping. … We pretty much instantly decided we were going to follow him until the police came.”
The dispatch told McCabe they should stop following, but McCabe felt that if the suspect “were to speed walk somewhere, there were so many people out that day it could have been anyone.”
McCabe and the others stayed on the line with the police dispatch while the man they saw throw the punch made his way to Moby Dick, an LGBTQ bar on 18th Street, where they saw him speak to the doorman.
That doorman, Alan Alvarez, told the B.A.R. that around that time someone “came up and started threatening me.”
“I was standing out the door and blowing bubbles and he comes up to me and says, ‘You shouldn’t be saying what you said because I’ll knock you the fuck out,’” Alvarez said. “I said, ‘You need to keep walking. You need to leave, or else.’
ganization, left its space at the center last fall, Rolfe said. The B.A.R. had reported last summer about its financial struggles and decision to end direct services.
Speculation she might step down arose in 2017 when she was selected by O2 Initiatives for one of its paid threemonth sabbaticals for nonprofit leaders. It allows them time to reflect on their careers and future goals, though Rolfe had said she planned to remain at the center and would use her time off to both recharge and strategize how the center could respond to the needs of the LGBTQ community during the first Trump administration.
Mandelman, who once served as cochair of the center’s board, credited Rolfe with helping turn things around. He said he joined the board around 2011 or 2012.
“At that time, things were rough,” he said in a phone interview April 18, explaining the center had been saddled with a loan.
Rolfe led the process to restructure the loan so that the center had more favorable terms. The center financed the renovation project with New Market Tax Credits as well as a $10 million loan from Capital One, as the B.A.R. reported. The center paid interest on the loan “at an extremely generous rate,” said Rolfe, for seven years, and then bought it back for $1,000.
Rolfe said that did happen and the center’s now carrying debt of $3.6 million in the form of a 10-year loan, mostly related to the original construction costs.
“She restructured the finances to create a more rentable space,” Mandelman said. “She put the center on a much more sustainable footing. It’s a great accomplishment.”
Also issuing a statement early Monday, was former President Joe Biden, who is Catholic.
“It is with great sadness that Jill and I learned of the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis. He was unlike any who came before him,” Biden stated. “Pope Francis will be remembered as one of the most consequential leaders of our time and I am better for having known him. For decades, he served the most vulnerable across Argentina and his mission of serving the poor never ceased.”
Biden awarded Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction earlier this year, before he left office.
“As pope, he was a loving pastor and challenging teacher who reached out to different faiths,” Biden continued. “He commanded us to fight for peace and protect our planet from a climate crisis. He advocated for the voiceless and powerless. He made all feel welcome and seen by the church. He promoted eq-
“Mind you, his eyes were red, he just seemed a little off, and I just kept telling him to go,” Alvarez continued. “You’re not going to come here and threaten me or talk to our staff like that.”
The man later told Alvarez, “You keep talking that shit, I’m going to knock your ass out. You should ask the other guy,” the doorman recalled.
Later, after more words were exchanged, the man did leave.
Henderson stated that, “Officers canvassing the area located a suspect matching the description provided and detained the male near [the] area of Noe and 18th streets without further incident. Through the course of the investigation, officers were advised that the victim was assaulted by the suspect unprovoked.”
Dave Burke, a straight ally who’s the SFPD public safety liaison to District 8 (which includes the Castro), expressed his gratitude toward McCabe and his boyfriend.
“They’re very in the community and really care,” Burke said. “They were instrumental in figuring out where he was and we’re in their debt. It’s great to have community people who give a damn.”
Mandelman is District 8’s representative on the board. He called the attack “alarming and infuriating” in a statement.
“The news that the suspect had 18 prior criminal cases confirms people’s worst suspicion that San Francisco and
The center’s budget this year is $6.5 million, Rolfe said, and it has 46 staff members. It has an additional two staff who oversee the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District, of which the center is the fiscal sponsor. Rolfe’s salary is about $189,000, she said.
Budget news
Mandelman, as he has told other organizations, such as the Castro Merchants Association, said that this year’s city budget “is concerning.” Mayor Daniel Lurie has said that city government will have to address an $818 million budget deficit. Lurie recently indicated that figure could more than double to $2 billion, depending on how much federal funds the Trump administration withholds from the city.
“This week, the mayor issued a directive for more cuts” from city departments, Mandelman said. “It’s not a good moment for the city budget or nonprofits that contract with the city.”
Mandelman said that Rolfe is aware the center will lose a “few hundred thousand” dollars that could affect some programs.
Rolfe said the impact of city budget cuts isn’t completely known.
“But yes, there will be significant cuts,” she said. “We’ve heard from less than half of our city contracts.”
As for which programs may be affected, that has not been determined, said Rolfe.
“We fully commit to ensuring core services continue,” she said.
She defined the center’s core services as its youth program, economic development program, information referral services, and community building and arts and culture.
uity and an end to poverty and suffering across the globe. And above all, he was a pope for everyone. He was the People’s Pope – a light of faith, hope, and love.”
Vance stated via X, sharing link to a March 2020 sermon of the late pope’s, that “I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him.”
“I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill,” Vance continued. “But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite beautiful. May God rest his soul.”
Trump – whom Francis once controversially said was “not Christian” due to his stance on immigration – stated, “Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!”
Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (DSan Francisco), a former House speaker, also shared condolences in a state-
California are failing to do what we need to do to keep our neighborhoods safe and dangerous people off our streets,” Mandelman stated April 21. “I have supported and continue to support Mayor [Daniel] Lurie’s efforts to restore order in some of our more troubled neighborhoods. However, it seems plain to me that these efforts have led to the displacement of people with severe mental health and substance abuse challenges to the Castro. This cannot continue.”
As the B.A.R. previously reported, the Lurie administration has concentrated efforts thus far at Sixth Street, South of Market, and Civic Center Plaza. Lurie told the B.A.R. last month that he wants to do the same in the Castro; however, the city’s forthcoming budget crunch may complicate matters.
Lurie told the B.A.R. last week that no final decisions have been made, but if that happens, “This is a city that’s capable of doing a lot more, and we’ve been doing it in the past and we’ve proven that over the first few months with these crime stats continuing to go down. We have to do more with less, we will, and we’re learning along the way from places like the Sixth Street Mobile Triage, like what we’ve done on 16th and Mission. We should apply those learnings to every place in this city.”
Mandelman didn’t return a request for comment as to whether there will be a town hall on safety in the Castro relatively soon.
“They’re so critical when the community is under attack,” Rolfe said of cultural programming. “We certainly need to celebrate the things that make us strong.”
Rolfe said the center’s goal at the Soirée benefit is to raise upward of $380,000.
Challenges
Rolfe was candid about the center’s challenges over the years.
“Obviously, the center really struggled early on,” she said. “Financially, it was like a start-up without the start-up funding.”
But she said that the LGBTQ community has been “amazing” and that the center worked with the diverse community, focusing on listening to people.
“We continue to listen and expand the pool of people here,” she said.
Rolfe had some thoughts on the city budget process as well.
“There are hard choices to make,” she observed, urging city leaders to “pay attention to folks who are most impacted and struggling.”
She said she appreciated the leadership of Mandelman, and the intentions of Lurie and the Board of Supervisors.
“Beyond the budget, this is a really important moment for the community, and we need to meet the moment with vision, heart, and strategy,” Rolfe said. “We cannot rely on a few leaders to move it forward.”
Despite the financial strains over the years, Rolfe said running the center has been fulfilling.
“Leading the center has been the honor of my life. I’m proud of how far we’ve come, and I believe the center is prepared for what’s ahead,” Rolfe stated.
“But I know the work doesn’t end with me. This is a moment that calls for cour-
ment on behalf of her and her husband.
“It is with immense sadness that Paul and I join our fellow Catholics and people of faith around the world in mourning the loss of Pope Francis: a beacon of charity, hope and love for all people of faith,” she stated. “His Holiness rekindled the faith of Catholics worldwide, with a triumphant message of peace that has inspired a generation.”
“Francis personified our sacred responsibility in the Gospel of Matthew to honor the spark of divinity in the least of our brethren – championing the poor, the worker, the refugee and the immigrant. He reminded us of our inescapable duty to those struggling to escape poverty and persecution in our communities and around the world,” Pelosi continued. “Many of us who met His Holiness know that he would always say, “Pray for me.” Now, we will pray to him and pledge to carry on his towering legacy. May he rest in peace.” t
Mandelman told the B.A.R. earlier this month that his office will “probably do a Castro-focused town hall sometime this year.”
Latest incident
This is the latest violent incident in recent weeks on or near the 400 block of Castro Street. Last month, a bouncer at The Mix bar was brutally assaulted adjacent to the neighborhood’s iconic eponymous theater.
Later in March, https://www.ebar. com/story/153618 a Walgreens employee and an alleged shoplifter were both arrested after a violent confrontation with each other.
McCabe told the B.A.R. that Easter morning he also witnessed an incident at Mollie Stone’s on 18th Street.
“This was the second time I called the police that day,” he said. “There was an altercation between the staff” and someone who was allegedly stealing, McCabe recalled.
The SFPD didn’t immediately return a request for comment regarding that incident.
Henderson stated that, “Although an arrest has been made, this remains an open and active investigation.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD. t
age, solidarity, and collective action. I ask the community to keep showing up for each other, and for the generations of LGBTQ+ people who will continue to walk through our doors seeking connection and belonging.”
Mandelman said that the center helps people at different stages of their lives. It has youth programs, employment programs, and is a place where new arrivals to the city can get information.
“A lot of that has been due to her,” Mandelman added.
“I’m proud of her. She deserves to be able to step away now.” The release pointed out that as LGBTQ rights face growing attacks nationwide, the center “is poised to meet this moment with urgency and compassion.”
“Building on Rebecca’s incredible legacy, the center will continue to prioritize support for LGBTQ+ people most impacted by injustice, while deepening its commitment to equity, connection, and service,” the release stated. “Rooted in San Francisco, a city that has long shaped LGBTQ+ culture and activism, the center carries forward a legacy of community leadership at a critical moment. Looking ahead, it is uniquely positioned to drive change and unite a broad coalition of stakeholders to protect the future of LGBTQ+ people.”
As for Rolfe, she said that next year, she and her partner, Susan Mooney, plan to spend the greater part of 2026 traveling across the country, with their two dogs, in a camper van that Moonie completed as a project during the COVID pandemic.
“I don’t feel done,” Rolfe said. “But I feel a break will be nice.” t
San Francisco International Arts Festival celebrates LGBTQ performers
by David-Elijah Nahmod
From April 30-May 11, the San Francisco International Arts Festival will include a diverse lineup of U.S. premieres and bold performances, several with LGBTQ themes and performers.
The shows will encompass theater, music, dance, performance art, and even circus. The
performances will take place at a variety of venues around the Mission District and will include video as well as live artists. The theme for this year’s festival is “In Diaspora: I.D. For the New Majority.”
“I.D. is a standing theme, it is not just for this year,” festival director Andrew Wood told the Bay Area Reporter. “We believe that the demographic shift in the United States to being a majority of people of color has the potential
to be both pivotal and transcendent. I.D. asks artists to contemplate these changing demographics and apply the ideas of social justice to reflect on the conditions of minority, migrant disenfranchised and/or displaced peoples in this and other countries and continents.
“We want to present ideas that offer a progressive statement for the identity of the future,” Wood continued. “We are looking for projects that conduct explorations at the confluence of
Fby Brian Bromberger
or older LGBTQ folk, the name Isaac Julien will stir up memories of his 1989 film, “Looking for Langston,” a lyrical exploration of the private world of novelist, poet, and social activist Langston Hughes celebrating Black gay identity and desire during the artistic and cultural Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, of which he was an integral player.
The film discussed in intimate details Hughes’s queer sexuality and the role it played in his writings. It was one of the very first examples of what lesbian critic B. Ruby Rich termed New Queer Cinema of the 1990s.
Sir Isaac Julien, who’s gay and British, is now the subject of the first comprehensive retrospective survey in a U.S. museum setting, the largest exhibition focusing on his film, video, and photographic work, “Isaac Julien: I Dream a World,” at the de Young Museum, screening through July 13.
Thomas Campbell, Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museum, describes Julien as “one of the most influential voices in visual culture, Black cultural studies, and queer independent working
today. In groundbreaking works such as Lessons of the Hour (2019), which we were privileged to acquire in 2023, Julien engages with the urgent social issues of our time and invites viewers to rethink the dominant historical narratives of the global north.”
Julien has done pioneer work in developing multichannel film installations, a unique blend of visual poetry, deep research, and social critique. The exhibit encompasses ten immersive video installations with moving image choreography, multilayer visual techniques, music, and tableaux created between 1999 and 2024, five newly restored for this exhibit.
Also included are select early works, including Looking for Langston, Lost Boundaries (about Black artists and actors), and This is Not an AIDS Advertisement (“a radical rejection of fear during the HIV epidemic, focusing on love, desire, and romance”). The exhibit’s title derives from the same-titled poem by Hughes.
Nonlinear narrative
Claudia Schmuckli, the organizing curator, characterizes Julien’s work, which journeys across historical boundaries and interdisciplinary lines, as “favoring nonlinear narrative techniques such
as reiteration, reflection, and transposition in his orchestration of images and sounds across multiple screens. Julien folds the past onto the present and the present onto the past. In each work, Julien weaves different temporalities, ideas, and imaginations in which history and memory merge into intimate reformulations of a multi-dimensional selfhood that is not merely in, but of this world.”
Much of Julien’s opuses are based on sexual identity, race (especially Black history and culture), migration, and particularly empathy, all now under attack by the current administration,
democracy, identity, and social, economic and environmental justice.”
Global outreach
The festival came to be when, back in the late 1990s, Wood realized how little of the work presented to the world made it to the United States. And of those productions that were making it to
so this exhibit is both timely and urgent. Julien juxtaposes historical fact, speculative fiction, social commentary, and immersive aesthetics, often reflecting on political and cultural events that have shaped the lives of individuals globally.
Shot across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean, Julien’s compositions firmly establishes him as a global artist “concerned with contemporary and historical forces impacting the formation of communities and societies around the world.”
Julien refers to his multi-screen video installations as parallel montage, experimental filmmaking that embraces the aesthetics strategy mostly associated with the Russian director/theorist Sergei Eisenstein. Using unexpected sequencing of frames, his videos produce meaning and feeling from the juxtaposition of singular unrelated shots.
Reformulation
Julien’s editing, according to Schmuckli, is not just “a technical stitching together of different takes, but a profound tool of reformulating the art of visual iteration and embracing montage as his core technique as a means to express reflection and desire. The virtual folds onto the actual. His subjects are never locked in time or space.”
Julian says he’s configuring a new paradigm of visual poetics, a means to reimagine the world, constructing a repertoire of images that are selfsustaining, not confined to reaction, but nurture resistance and revisioning the present. He utilizes what he terms transnatural reflexivity, examining his own assumptions, values, and perspectives in relation to other world cultures.
Installation view of Isaac Julien, Baltimore (2003) in ‘Isaac Julien: I Dream a World’ at the de Young Museum
de Young Museum’s Black queer visionary exhibition
Installation view of Isaac Julien, Baltimore (2003) in ‘Isaac Julien: I Dream a World’ at the de Young Museum
Henrik Kam
Wandering Ensemble’s ‘Lost & Found’ in
Hans Holtan
Artists from around the world expected
t << Theater & Cabaret
‘The Last of the Love Letters’
by Jim Gladstone
“What’s the point of making art if no one’s going to see it?”
“We may not be in the midst of a pandemic, but the arts are still under siege. It feels like we’re approaching a fascist regime, if we’re not already in it. The theater industry is feeling leaner and more held back.”
Sociopolitical constriction, Anyanwu suggests, can make artists feel as cut off as a quarantine. And in the current moment, that can especially true for queer artists like director Naila Harper-Malveaux and the genderexpansive cast of the Crowded Fire production.
Defining a relationship
On its surface, “The Last of the Love Letters” can easily be interpreted as an interpersonal romance in a dystopian world; its two primary characters seen as ex-lovers torn and still circling each other in a combination of rage, regret, and horny rapaciousness.
art as being like a couple,” she said. “Sometimes the relationship is toxic. Sometimes you just want to stop doing it, but it has a hold on you, and you can’t. Sometimes you feel like it’s left you. I always go into writing a play with a question I’d like to answer. I don’t necessarily come out having answered it. But maybe in the process of producing, or performing, or seeing the play, someone else will.”t
‘Last of the Love Letters: A Meditation on Loneliness,’ April 24-May 3. $25 or pay-what-you-can. Z Below, 450 Florida St. www.crowdedfire.org
That’s the question that playwright Ngozi Anyanwu was asking herself in the early days of the pandemic, when she began work on “The Last of the Love Letters: A Meditation on Loneliness.” Her poetic yowl of an answer was the first post-lockdown production at New York’s Atlantic Theater Company.
tion ever, by Crowded Fire Theater at Z Space from April 24-May 3.
Four years later, Anyanwu’s gripping experimental piece is being mounted again, in its second produc-
Isaac Mizrahi
by Christopher J. Beale
“The Isaac Mizrahi style has never changed since day one,” boasted the fashion icon in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, “I love the body, I love flesh, darling! I’m a mad person about textiles!”
Mizrahi chatted in between shows with his jazz sextet before they barrel toward two final shows in San Francisco. Mizrahi is, at 63 years old, just as ambitious, confident and hilarious as ever. But his rise to fashion super-stardom almost didn’t happen. You might say that fashion was Isaac Mizrahi’s Plan B, his first love was the stage.
“ I was supposed to be a performer and actor starting when I was born,” said Mizrahi, “but I was too afraid.”
From fear to fashion
“At the age of nine I started doing female impersonations,” recalled Miz-
“It’s interesting for me to see another group of artists pick up this play and find resonance in it now,” said the Nigerian-born New York-based Anyanwu in a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter.
Dapper designer’s singing with style
rahi, “I did Liza and I did Streisand and all these different people. I lived in a really parochial, scary, very religious Jewish family and that was not a source of pride for the Mizrahi family in 1975.”
Though Mizrahi pursued performing arts through high school, those feelings of judgement from his parents sowed the first seeds of doubt in a young Isaac, “that was something I fought my whole life.”
When Mizrahi reached college, he said he felt like he was at a turning point. He could either follow his heart or make a practical, more safe decision about his future.
“I never considered myself terribly goodlooking, especially against the 20 other people in my class at Performing Arts High School who were gorgeous!
I just didn’t think I had a chance,” Mizrahi remembered with a sadness in his tone, “and that’s ultimately what kept
me out of show business.”
“So, I went from the performing arts to a kinder, gentler industry… fashion,” Mizrahi quipped. He went to Parsons School of Design instead of Julliard and began to garner attention within New York’s competitive fashion industry, “I was very good…I like to think I still am.”
At one point –just as things were beginning to take off for Mizrahi– he was offered a theatre role that he had always wanted to play. But he turned it down to focus on the launch of his fashion label, and it was a safe and practical decision he has always regretted.
Said Mizrahi frankly, “My inner child died at that moment.”
Making the most of it
Mizrahi’s outer adult was destined for greatness, however, and he soon rose to international acclaim
The blast-force 75-minute performance sets their monologues in opposition, then tangles them. It hits with the blended wallop of Kafka, Orwell, and Ntozake Shange.
But with Anyanwu’s lyrical dialogue and dystopian setting, she challenges audiences to think of this couple less literally. Not as he/she or they/they, but as artist/art.
“I’ve always thought of the relationship between an artist and their
designing for brands like Louis Vuitton, QVC and Claiborne in stores ranging from Nordstrom to Target. Though he struggled with sales at times due to his ever-changing style profile, his personality began to rise to the surface, even superseding his design work.
“In 1998 when I closed my company, I made the decision to focus most of my energy on show business,” said Mizrahi. This’s when he began to pop up on and off Broadway, on television on “Project Runway All Stars,” on his own talk show, in podcasts, on social media. Anywhere and everywhere he could perform, Mizrahi did. He recalls this era, in the early 2000s being his happiest.
Back to Plan A
In what could be called phase three of Mizrahi’s career, along with becoming a producer for the new gay sitcom “Mid-Century Modern,” he began to focus on bringing that inner child back to life by singing with a jazz sextet on tour. After workshopping versions of the show for a decade, Mizrahi has taken his act on the road.
Half of being a good cabaret act is charisma, and Mizrahi has that in spades. Part song, and part sass, Mizrahi’s live show is packed with tea.
“But honey, I am not Kristen Chenoweth doing something like 18 songs,” Mizrahi made a point to mention. “I do ten, maybe eleven tunes, and a lot of patter. Mostly adoration, but some shady stories about the people I have met,” said Mizrahi who admits he loves the intimacy that cabaret provides.
“I used to do costumes for Liza, and when she would walk on stage, it was like she was walking into your living room.” Mizrahi learned from the best. His once-silenced inner child has risen from the dead, and he sings. I’m gay, I’m married, I’m a dog owner. I don’t have kids,” joked Mizrahi about his show’s themes. “It’s a very specific kind of gay, you know? And if you find that sort of thing amusing, you’ll like this.”t
Isaac Mizrahi, ‘Life is a Cabaret’ April 24, $30-$90, at Weill Hall, 1801 East Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park April 25 & 26, $35-$85, Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St. www.helloisaac.com
For more with Isaac Mizrahi, subscribe to Christopher J. Beale’s podcast, ‘Stereotypes: Straight Talk from Queer Voices.’ www.stereotypespodcast.org
Gabriele Christian and Farrah Hamzeh in ‘Last of the Love Letters: A Meditation on Loneliness’
Cheshire Isaacs
Playwright Ngozi Anyanwu
Isaac Mizrahi at a recent concert at The Carlyle Room in New York City
the U.S., few appeared in San Francisco. Wood and his colleagues wanted to develop a platform where local and international artists could present their work and share a space. An emphasis was placed on artists who did not usually or had never previously presented their work in the USA.
Wood feels that it’s very important to include LGBTQ artists given the current political climate.
“The conservative backlash against any perceived rights for the LGBTQ+ community might have claimed has been building up in this country and around the world for the last few years,” he said. “Similar to the types of bullying that is being meted out to other minorities, the attacks have gone from being pernicious dog whistles to a loud and ugly drum beat that is impossible to ignore. We wanted to include a cross section of high quality international and Bay Area work by or featuring LGBTQ+ artists that speaks to how these geopolitical trends are manifest in specific parts of the world.”
Aussie eye
The B.A.R. also spoke to Ben Noble, a queer, disabled, Australian-based
actor who will be performing his show “Member” as part of the arts festival. “Member,” which Noble also wrote, is inspired by the gay hate crimes which took place in Sydney from the 1970s into the 1990s. According to Noble, many of these crimes were never properly investigated or were mistakenly closed by the police.
“Gangs, driven by homophobia, targeted gay men in and around coastal areas,” Noble said. “They’d stalk, harass, and in some cases brutally assault or even push victims off cliffs. For decades, these deaths were dismissed as accidents or suicides. It’s only more recently that the truth has come to light, and the fight for justice is still ongoing. 88 deaths and 30 unsolved cases may have been caused by gay hate crimes.”
Noble shared the story of Scott Johnson, a 27-year-old American who was found dead at the base of a cliff in Manly, Sydney. Authorities quickly ruled his death a suicide, however his brother, Steve Johnson, refused to accept this conclusion.
Believing Scott to be a victim of a hate crime, Steve spent the better part of three decades funding independent investigations, lobbying for multiple inquiries, and offering significant rewards to anyone who might be able to uncover the truth. His perseverance resulted in a new inquest in 2017, which concluded that Scott Johnson had died as the result of a gay hate attack.
There was a new police investigation, and in 2020 Scott White was arrested for the murder. White pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
“The question of how the hate manifested and what was done about it is what we hope to raise in this show and is not one we can simply answer with a quick reply,” Noble said.
Noble admits that performing a one-man show can be a bit scary.
“To be the only one on stage without another actor to play with, just horrible,” he said. “But instead of running away from that fear, I wanted to
where audiences will stop and talk to me about their experience and memories of it and that is something special.”
Here are all of the LGBT acts that will perform at the San Francisco International Arts Festival this year. April 30 and May 8, 8pm, El Rio, 3158 Mission St. The Wandering Ensemble (US) Lost & Found (World Premiere)
An immersive performance ceremony exploring loss and emerging futures through dance, music, theater and ritual. Pay what you can, $20 suggested.
May 1, 7pm, May 3, 6:30pm, Theater of Yugen NOH Space, 2840 Mariposa St. Wachowicz/Fret Studio (Poland)
“Granica/The Border” (US premiere)
rise up to the challenge as an actor. The play follows Corey’s story, a former gang member, who talks about everyone that surrounds him. It’s told from his perspective so it just felt right that the one person would provide the voice for everyone around him. However, I’m not the only person on stage. As it’s intended this is a conversation and I get to have a call and response to a musician who underscores the piece throughout the whole performance and we as a duo get to create another conversation with the audience.”
Noble hopes that the audience will talk about the show among their own social circles and in the wider community.
“Our play is for theater lovers who thrive on storytelling and new writing,” he said. “The play has about thirteen characters told by one actor. And although some of the material can be tough to hear at times, the play is actually about love to those we lost. Also, good theater stays with you. It creates a visceral experience. This piece is one
Witness the raw and poignant true story of Transgender Ukrainian performance artist Antonina Romanova, drafted into the war, in this solo performance with video. Free/donation.
May 2, 7pm, Community Music Center, 544 Capp St. Dee Spencer Trio with Michelle Jacques and Students: Women in Jazz and World Music Graduation Concert.
Celebrate the culmination of SFIAF’s free vocal training course for young adults. Free/donation.
May 8 and 9, 7pm, May 10, 6:30 pm, May 11, 2:30pm. The Marsh Studio, 1062 Valencia St. Fairly Lucid Productions (Australia) “Member” (US premiere)
A gripping, award winning tale exploring Sydney’s gay hate crimes (1970s-1990s). Written and performed by Ben Noble, with cello accompaniment. $20-$28.
May 8, 8:30pm, May 10, 8pm, Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24 St.
Agathe and Adrian (Canada): N. Ormes (West Coast Premiere) This circus duo pushes the boundaries of physicality and gender norms in a provocative and tender exploration of equity. $20-$28
May 9, 8:30pm, May 10, 4pm, Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St. Suichu-megane (Japan): “my body, my choice” and “anchor” (US premieres)
Ayane Nakagawa’s company explores freedom through a fusion of Nihon Buyo and contemporary dance, confronting societal norms and celebrating autonomy. $20-$28.
May 10, 2:30pm, May 11, 6pm, The Marsh Studio, 1062 Valencia St. Anneli Kanninen: “HOMEing” (Estonia/Finland) (work-in-progress)
A personal exploration of building a home in a new place through contemporary dance and language. Shared bill with Algiin. $20-$28.t www.sfiaf.org
People>>
SEX SHOW
The 2 Stevens: Daddy & Boy at your hotel, apt or mansion. Enjoy the show as you watch. $400/hr; $600/2 hr special; $2000 overnight; $4000 weekend. Get your thrills. Steven (415) 818-3126.
<< SF Int’l Arts Fest From page 11
Anneli Kanninen’s ‘HOMEing’ in the SF International Arts Festival
Simelius Simelius
Above: Ben Noble’s ‘Member’ and Right: Suichu-megane’s ‘My Body, My Choice’ in the SF International Arts Festival
Cameron Speirs
SF International Arts Festival Director Andrew Wood
‘Memoir of a Reluctant Giant’
by Michael Flanagan
David Strachan is perhaps best known as a member of the Board of Directors of the Intersex Society of North America or as a founding member of the San Francisco Transgender Civil Rights Implementation Force. He is married to Pete Tannen, who was a city transit planner and the first manager of San Francisco’s Bicycle Program.
Strachan’s personal story has much that makes it of interest in the current moment. His family immigrated to the East Bay in the 1940s from Canada. In 1951, he and his two brothers were hospitalized with polio (prior to the vaccine). He was always extraordinarily tall (the genesis of the book’s title). After puberty his parents noticed he was developing differently from other boys. A doctor reassured his mother (without blood or semen tests) that he would eventually grow up to be “normal” and give them grandchildren.
Around the same time, Strachan discovered he was mostly sexually attracted to boys. As this was well before Stonewall, the way Strachan discovered homosexuality existed was by reading about the Boise homosexuality scandal of 1955.
He hesitantly came out to his parents. His conservative Presbyterian mother made clear that he would need to be straightened out, whether by prayer or psychiatry. After a failed suicide attempt, he managed to convince her that it was just a phase.
Strachan’s youth featured travel to a variety of exotic locations. As part of his church’s missionary program, he traveled to Alaska in 1964. In 1966 he moved to Tripoli, Libya when his father took a job there. There, he had a sexual relationship with a 25-yearold Libyan that solidified his sexual identity.
Bay return
In 1973 Strachan returned to the Bay Area, moving to San Jose to attend
San Jose State University for a teaching credential in art. While there he began experimenting with drag, attended gay pride, and joined the Gay Student Union. In 1974 he came out to his parents again as bisexual.
In 1976, asked by a girlfriend if they would ever have children, Strachan went to the Kaiser Infertility Clinic for testing (he knew by then he was sterile). At age 29 that he discovered he had Klinefelter’s syndrome with XXY chromosomes, though it took the doctor three months to tell him. This was just the start of problems with the medical establishment, with Strachan’s doctor adding, “If you want more information, go down to the medical library and read about it yourself.” He began testosterone replacement therapy, though as Strachan says not with informed consent, as he was not told of the side effects of the therapy.
The other major change in Strachan’s life in the ’70s came about through the San Francisco Bisexual
Center. Wanting a bisexual community in the South Bay, he and his roommate Sue held a bisexual potluck on March 19, 1978. It was there that
he met Tannen, and they have been together ever since.
The late ’70s and ’80s held a plethora of changes for the couple. The Briggs
Words and pictures Queer illustrated
by Gregg Shapiro
It’s getting to the point where we might need a spreadsheet to keep track of all the iterations of “Wicked.”
First there was the 1995 novel by gay writer Gregory Maguire (and its subsequent sequels). Then Stephen Schwartz’s Tony-winning 2003 Broadway musical, its popular cast recording, and multiple touring companies.
In 2024, the first installment of the two-part film version hit theaters and earned a couple of technical Oscars (out of its 10 nominations). The second part, “Wicked: For Good,” will be in cinemas in November 2025. In the interim, we have “Wicked: The Graphic Novel, Part 1” (William Morrow), a graphic novel based on Maguire’s work, “adapted and illustrated by Scott Hampton.”
Initiative scared Strachan away from teaching. In 1979 they moved to San Francisco. Strachan applied his artistic talents restoring Victorians, becoming a woodworker and millwright with San Francisco Victoriana. Strachan’s friend Mark Feldman was among the first AIDS deaths, dying in 1983. Through the AIDS Cohort Study at San Francisco General Strachan found out in 1986 he was HIV-positive.
Intersex community
In 1994 Strachan became involved with the Intersex Society of North America in an effort to further explore gender issues related to Klinefelter’s. Via Cheryl Chase, who founded the organization, he learned intersex children were affected by surgical interventions at the hands of parents and doctors, that can have lifelong psychological and physical implications.
It’s clear from the memoir that being involved with other intersex people gave Strachan purpose and direction. He served on the San Francisco Human Rights Commission’s LGBT Advisory Committee from 2003 to 2006 and while there founded their Intersex Task Force. In 2004 the Advisory Committee made history by becoming the first government organization to hold a hearing on the concerns of the intersex community.
What is most valuable from a historical viewpoint was the growth of his identity and activism as a Bay Area resident, his grounding in both his identity as an intersex person and a long-term survivor of HIV, and his long-term relationship with his husband. His story is one that is seldom told, is enlightening and a celebration of community and personal growth. t
‘Memoir of a Reluctant Giant’ by David Cameron Strachan as told to Davi Barker Norton Press $35 paperback, $10 Kindle. www.instagram.com/nortonpress
books
Hampton, known for illustrating “iconic properties” including “Sandman,” “Black Widow,” and “Batman,” to name a few, vividly brings these characters to life on the page with his artistic touch. www.harpercollins.com
In March of 2025, queer and masked country artist Orville Peck teamed up with Australian children’s music group The Wiggles on the song “Friends of Dorothy.” The infectious tune is a reference to Dorothy the Dinosaur, a secondary character in The Wiggles’ universe.
But you don’t need to be a member of Mensa to know that with the presence of Peck, “friend of Dorothy” takes on an expanded meaning.
There must be something in the atmosphere, because in April, the children’s book “Are You a Friend of Dorothy?” (Simon & Schuster), written by Kyle Lukoff and illustrated by Levi Hastings, is hitting bookstore shelves.
Subtitled “The True Story of an Imaginary Woman and the Real People She Helped,” the book traces the history of the phrase, linking it to two Dorothys – Gale from “The Wizard of Oz” and Parker from the Algonquin Round Table – and its use in queer social settings of the past. www.simonandschuster.com
Gay writer and illustrator Brian Selznick, whose 2007 breakthrough
children’s novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” was adapted into the Oscar-winning 2011 Martin Scorsese film “Hugo,” returns with his first Young Adult novel, “Run Away With Me” (Scholastic).
Featuring more than 100 pages of Selznick’s trademark black and white illustrations, the novel is set in Rome, from June through August of 1986. It’s the story of 16-year-old Danny, who has accompanied his book preservationist mother to Italy and falls in love for the first time. The object of his affection is the mysterious Angelo, an expert on everything that Rome has to offer visitors, and who makes sure that Danny has the most memorable time of his life while he is in “The City of Love.” www.shop.scholastic.comt
David Cameron Strachan and his husband Pete Tannen at a 1978 San Francisco Pride event
OutWords Archive
Author David Cameron Strachan
‘Queens of Drama’
by David-Elijah Nahmod
As Alexis Langlois’ debut feature “Queens of Drama” begins, it’s the year 2055. The audience meets a YouTuber who goes by the name SteevyShady (Bilal Hassani), an arrogant queen who thinks their word is the last word on everything. SteevyShady is obsessed with Mimi Madamour (Louiza Aura) who, fifty years earlier, had a major pop hit while still a teenager. SteevyShady proceeds to tell Mimi’s story.
Flashback to 2005. Mimi, who dreams of pop stardom, is trying out for an “American Idol”- styled TV show. While waiting for her turn to be called, she meets fellow competitor Billie Kohler (Gio Ventura), a punk rock lesbian who is often asked whether she’s male or female. Mimi is accepted into the competition, Billie is not. The two begin a tempestuous love affair which consumes them both.
When Mimi wins the competition and ends up with a hit record, things go sour. Mimi, fearing that she’ll lose her new career if she comes out, pushes Billie away, refusing to acknowledge their love when Billie shows up at a music video shoot. Their breakup is intense and heartbreaking. Billie goes on to find minor success as the lead singer of a punk band.
Mimi’s success turns out to be short-lived when she’s outed as Billie’s ex by the two hosts of a TV talk show. It’s a painful experience for Mimi. She screams and cries on camera as her mother calls into the show and asks, “How can you do this to me?”
Langlois has a lot to say. They (according to Wikipedia, Langlois prefers they/them pronouns) makes insight-
A fresh take on pop stardom and fan obsession
ful observations about the cruelties of singing competitions and of the pop world. The scene in which Mimi is outed is disturbing, with the two hosts taunting and baiting her, obviously enjoying what they’re doing to her.
Likewise, Billie is horribly treated by the judges of the competition show. She’s laughed at and physically thrown out of the TV studio. It’s an ugly world that these young women have chosen.
The film also makes some astute observations about how gay men tend to obsess about female divas. Steevyshady is absolutely obsessed with Mimi, whose career indeed ends after she’s outed. Fifty years on, he’s Mimi’s one remaining fan. Hassani plays the character with all of the flamboyance that Steevyshady deserves, displaying quite an acidic tongue.
“I destroyed careers with a bat of my fake eyelashes,” Steevy says.
Aura and Ventura play their difficult roles with aplomb. Their charac-
ters are passionate and intense, prone to hysterics when the going gets rough. The two actors prove themselves to be up to the challenge.
Langlois shot the film with color, flash and panache. The musical numbers are well-staged and parts of the film resemble a music video. The auteur asks a lot of the cast and crew, and everyone proves themselves to be up to the challenge. The film is dazzling, if at times painful, to watch.
“Queens of Drama” is ultimately an exciting, if heartbreaking, film by a fresh new talent. It’s one of the queerest films to come along in the past year. It’ll be interesting to see what this filmmaker, and what this cast, does next.t
‘Queens of Drama,’ Altered Innocence Films, in French with subtitles, 115 minutes, opens April 25-May 1 at Alamo Drafthouse New Mission Theater, 2550 Mission St. https://www.alteredinnocence.net/
Explorations
The installations on view include Baltimore (2003), A Marvelous Entanglement (2019), Western Union: Small Boats (2007), The Long Road to Mazatlan (1999), Paradise Omeros (2002), True North (2004), Fantome Afrique (2005), concluding with Julien’s most recent work Once Again…(Statues Never Die) (2022). Helpfully, video run times are posted at the entry of each exhibition hall.
For those unsure if you’d enjoy this sometimes esoteric exhibit, as a teaser, one of the installations, Ten Thousand Waves (2010), commemorating the Morecambe Bay tragedy of 2004, in which more than 20 Chinese cockle pickers drowned on a flooded sandbank off the coast in northwest England, will be on display for free in the Wilsey Court, accessible to all. Julien interweaves contemporary Chinese culture alongside its ancient myths.
The installations are an assault of images that has an almost hypnotic effect on the viewer, even if you aren’t sure exactly what you are seeing or are unfamiliar with the subject matter. True North is inspired by the story of Matthew Henson, a Black explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on a 1909 expedition led by two Indigenous guides to find the North Pole. Henson had been written out of history, but Julien reexamines polar exploration in terms of race and gender.
The 10-screen film installation
Lessons of the Hour presents a poetic portrait of the orator, philosopher, and self-liberated freedom fighter Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) born into slavery and who campaigned against it. A Marvelous Entanglement is a meditation on the work and legacy of the visionary Brazilin architect and designer Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992). I was transfixed by these three frequently thrilling and beautiful video programs.
People who suffer from vertigo or
epilepsy might need to exercise caution, as there is much movement and strobe lighting throughout the exhibition. These large-scale video programs are often complex and intellectual. It can be hard to absorb all the sounds, images, and words, which at times can be overwhelming.
Also, the acoustic insulation varies, so sometimes you can hear the noise from other installations which can be distracting. You also will need to move around the screening space and decide where to stand to get differing vantage points.
The total running time of all the videos is 4.5 hours, so either prepare to visit more than once or select a few that intrigue you.
The exhibit will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue featuring newly commissioned essays and archival materials, many previously unpublished, that relate to his oeuvre and give insight into the artist’s working process.t
www.famsf.org
<< Isaac Julien
From page 11
North Star (Lessons of the Hour), 2019 Framed photograph on gloss inkjet paper mounted on aluminum, 63 x 84 in. (160 x 213.3 cm)
Isaac Julien Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Jessica Silverman
