New rabbi for Sha’ar Zahav
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www.ebar.com
Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community
Vol. 47 • No. 32 • August 10-16, 2017
Prop Q tents measure rarely used by Seth Hemmelgarn
resolution team gets the job done, and for the other 10 percent that Q fter being one of the is and will be an effective tool to let most contentious tent encampment residents know issues on San Franthey are serious about resolving an cisco’s ballot last Novemencampment without issuing tickber, Proposition Q, which ets or getting [police] involved,” allows the city to remove said Montejano. homeless peoples’ tents “Prop Q is one tool that we have, after issuing 24-hour notice but not the only tool,” he said. “To and offering shelter, hasn’t date, we haven’t used it formally, as yet been used much. people have taken their tents down Voters narrowly passed and moved on when warned that the measure, which is now Prop Q is an available option. … known as Police Code Prop Q is not always an option as Section 169, by about 52 it depends on the availability of percent. shelter.” Seth Hemmelgarn Jeff Kositsky, director of In response to emailed questhe city’s Department of Toni Machado stands outside her tent with Peanut Butter, her rat terrier. tions about what Kositsky meant Homelessness and Supby getting “the job done,” DHSH portive Housing, which has spokesman Randy Quezada said system to use citywide, but has focused on Q been tasked with overseeing that as far as he could tell, Kositsky enforcement in the Mission,” said MontejaProp Q’s implementation, wasn’t made availwas talking about working with people to no. “There has been no involuntary removal able for an interview, but Jess Montejano, get them into “safe places,” which is often a of tents to date” by police or the Department legislative aide to Supervisor Mark Farrell, Navigation Center, but is occasionally a traof Public Works. who authored Prop Q, provided information ditional shelter, treatment, or the Homeward About 80 percent of the people noticed acfrom Kositsky. Bound program. That program provides cepted shelter, but officials couldn’t say what According to Kositsky, Montejano said, 30 one-way bus tickets to homeless people so had happened to the other 20 percent. Prop Q notices have been issued in the city’s they can be reunited with family or friends “Jeff said 90 percent of the time relationMission district. ship building through his tent encampment See page 15 >> “DHSH is putting in a more systematic
A Dr. Mitchell Lunn
Team seeks LGBTs for national health study by Matthew S. Bajko
A
team of health researchers based in San Francisco has been selected by the National Institutes of Health to encourage participation in a groundbreaking federal health study by sexual and gender minorities from across the country. Known as the All of Us Research Program, the study aims to enroll 1 million Americans who will be tracked by researchers for at least a decade. Participants will be asked myriad questions about where they live, their health, family, and work. The All of Us study is currently in beta testing mode and is expected to fully launch by 2018. As of now, only people 18 years of age or older are eligible to participate. A key demographic that researchers are targeting for the study is the LGBT community. To facilitate outreach to LGBT individuals throughout the country, NIH recently awarded the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation a $1.6 million grant over three years. In addition to encouraging sexual and gender minorities to join the study, the foundation team is also tasked with providing input on enrollment materials and research plans, developing customized educational programs and studying best practices in the dissemination of research results to support retention. “This is an ambitious and large project that is different in thinking about diseases,” said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations and the university’s vice dean for population health and health equity. “We are really pleased that a commitment to understanding the health of LGBT communities is going to be an important part of this unique study.” Through the wealth of information collected from the All of Us study, health officials hope to discern patterns that contribute to people’s well-being and chances of becoming sick due to a variety of factors, whether it is their personal habits or where they live. The study is part of NIH’s Precision Medicine Initiative, begun under President Barack Obama, that considers a person’s genes, environment and lifestyle in developing individualized disease prevention and treatment plans. “It turns research on its head,” said BibbinsDomingo, who is straight and one of the All of Us project principal investigators. “We want participants engaged in the study itself, not just get their blood drawn but help define what the research questions are. We want not just the numbers but engagement.” Her center is based at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where she also works as a general internist. She has teamed with Dr. Mitchell Lunn, the co-director of the Pride Study, a longitudinal study of LGBT people and an assistant professor of medicine in the division of nephrology (kidney disease) at UCSF, on the LGBT outreach for the All of Us study. Lunn, a gay cisgender male, is also involved See page 15 >>
LGBTQ center to open in Oakland by Michael Nugent
T
here are an estimated 25 LGBTQ community centers in California, but Oakland has been the only major city in the state without one – until now. Oakland’s first-ever LGBTQ Community Center is scheduled to open September 7, just days before the annual Oakland Pride parade and festival. The center is located in the offices of Startup Admin Co-Munity, which is above a mobile phone store at 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, in a large, sunlit space overlooking the bustling commercial intersection of Lakeshore and Lake Park avenues. Founders Michael Nugent Jeff Myers and Joe Hawkins, both gay men, sat in the fu- Joe Hawkins, left, and Jeff Myers talked about the Oakland LGBT Community Center, which will open ture multi-purpose room of ahead of the city’s Pride festivities next month. the new center and talked about their plans. of Oakland Pride. He has also led projects on a Pride was running a deficit. “Considering the high cost of rents, we were range of issues, including housing and homeHawkins said that he and Myers incorpovery fortunate to have stumbled upon this place lessness, youth workforce development and rated the LGBT center in June, and held their to get us started and to work with such a weltraining, HIV/AIDS, and social justice issues first volunteer information session in late July. coming operator,” said Hawkins. “We are also affecting marginalized communities. “About 70 people attended,” Hawkins said in excited about the Lake Merritt area location. Myers is a former union vice president who an email. “We have four more sessions left to In 1989, this was the black gay neighborhood. met Hawkins while he was serving as the volun- accommodate the over 200 volunteer requests.” Now it’s more diverse than ever.” teer coordinator at Oakland Pride. The center is located in District 2, which is Financial support The 2016 presidential election motivated represented by Oakland City Councilman Abel Rent is $5,000 per month, Hawkins said. In Hawkins and Myers to take action. Guillen, who identifies as two spirit. July, Myers set up a GoFundMe page with a “So many of us were anxious about what is Co-Munity offers startups services, with the next and where do we go from here,” Hawkins goal of raising $50,000. As of last week, it had goal of building a successful organization and said. “Talk of opening a center had been on the yet to receive any donations and now redirects expanding, according to a news release from table since we included it in the mission state- to a donation page for the center, which accepts Hawkins and Myers. credit cards and PayPal. ment of Oakland Pride over eight years ago, but The number of LGBT centers in California “We have raised about $1,500 so far via Paydiscussions between Jeff and I accelerated after has held steady at 26 in recent years, according Pal,” Hawkins said last week. the elections. It was just the kick in the butt that to CenterLink, an association of LGBT cenHawkins said the organization is all-volwe needed to get the ball rolling.” ters. But the LGBT center in Fresno closed last In fact, one of Oakland Pride’s goals for unteer run; neither he nor Myers are taking a month (see story, page 10), dropping the nummany years was to raise enough money from salary. ber to 25, not counting Oakland, which has yet the annual event to open a community center. “We are funding the effort ourselves from to be listed. But that hasn’t happened. Revenue from the See page 14 >> Before starting the Oakland LGBT Commu- Pride events has remained flat, with no funds nity Center, Hawkins was a founding member set aside for a center. Up until 2015 Oakland