Partner seeks answers in death of cyclist David Sexton

by Cynthia Laird

It’s been more than a month since gay San Francisco cyclist David Sexton was killed in a hit-and-run crash in the East Bay city of Richmond, and his partner told the Bay Area Reporter that he’s frustrated with the slowness of the investigation.

Mr. Sexton, 60, was killed July 1 at about 10 a.m. on the Richmond Parkway. He was en route to Napa to meet his cycling partner, Gordon Dinsdale.

“Cycling had been essential for David for decades, even cycling vacations in Europe,” his longtime partner, Bob Burnside, wrote in an email.

Burnside, a handyman known by many in San Francisco’s LGBTQ Castro neighborhood, and Mr. Sexton had lived together in an apartment at Castro and Market streets for over 30 years.

According to Burnside, a car struck Mr. Sexton and he died seconds later. The driver fled the scene, though Richmond police found the abandoned vehicle. The police have not released further information, Burnside said.

The East Bay Times reported July 6 that Richmond police had obtained an arrest warrant for felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter. Police did not give information about the suspect or identify the person, the paper reported.

Richmond Police Captain Eric Smith told the B.A.R. August 15 that officers are working to apprehend the suspect and confirmed police have secured an arrest warrant.

“The case is still under investigation,” Smith said. “We do have an active arrest warrant for the person involved and haven’t been successful so far, not that we haven’t tried.”

Gay Richmond City Councilmember Cesar Zepeda offered his condolences to Mr. Sexton’s loved ones.

“Maybe all the great memories bring them comfort in this difficult time,” Zepeda wrote in a message. “I will be working to make this bike path and crossing safer for all.”

Mr. Sexton worked as a chemother-

From page 10

There is Spanish-language translation, a volunteer hub, an in the news panel, and a historical timeline.

The release stated that the task force worked closely with the Rad Campaign, a website designer.

“From book bans to drag bans to bans on gender-affirming care and the relentless attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community, Rad Campaign had one big audacious goal –to create an accessible website that serves as a safe and inclusive space where every LGBTQIA+ person or ally feels welcome and seen and is given the resources and power to get involved in some of the most important issues of our lifetime,” stated Allyson Kapin, Rad Campaign cofounder.

Task force officials were happy with the finished product.

“We’re pleased to offer a new web format that is accessible to more members of the community and our allies,” stated Cathy Renna, communications director. “The task force is grateful for our active volunteer base, and the newly updated site

<< Yeager

From page 1 apy nurse at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco. He completed a physician assistant course at Stanford University, Burnside said.

Free of the burdens of the closet, Yeager became a leading voice for LGBTQ rights in the South Bay. He co-founded the Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee, known by its acronym BAYMEC, on August 13, 1984, and set about working with other LGBTQ individuals on electing straight allies to public office, and eventually, LGBTQ people.

Burnside said that Mr. Sexton worked in the San Francisco jail for a couple of years. He then worked at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center in the emergency room for a couple of years before joining Kaiser as a chemo nurse. While working at the jail Mr. Sexton wrote about his experiences, but the essays were never published, Burnside said.

“He loved his patients so he stayed a nurse though qualified for a higher position,” Burnside wrote of Mr. Sexton’s career at Kaiser.

Helen Krochik is a nurse at Kaiser who worked with Mr. Sexton. She told the B.A.R. in a phone interview that she still misses her colleague.

“David was an exceptional person, and it’s not an exaggeration,” she said. “He was very kind and very curious about everything.”

Krochik, a straight ally, said that Mr. Sexton was also loved by his patients.

The two worked in the oncology department, where things could be difficult at times.

Mr. Sexton would help Krochik, whose first language is not English, if she offers new ways to stay in touch and get involved as advocates, participating in virtual and in person events and trainings, volunteering at the Creating Change conference, and supporting our centerpiece fundraising events like the gala and Winter Party Festival.”

This year’s Creating Change was held in San Francisco and generated some controversy, as the B.A.R. reported.

To view the new website, go to thetaskforce.org.

SF Civic Center Carnival coming up

The Civic Center Carnival, which aims to infuse the heart of San Francisco with summer fun and family entertainment, is coming up next week.

A news release from Mayor London Breed’s office stated the event runs Thursday, August 24, through Sunday, August 27, on Fulton Street between the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library and the Asian Art Museum. It will be open from 2:30 to 9:30 p.m. the first day; 12:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Admission requires a minimum $10 purchase toward games, rides,

“I think people forget how bad things were for the queer community down here,” said Yeager about the lack of rights and political representation LGBTQs in the South Bay once had. “When 70% of the population doesn’t think gay people should have any rights at all, you know you are in enemy territory. That is the reality happening in many Southern states as Republicans have taken over the statehouses and are passing anti-LGBTQ laws left and right.” was looking for a word to use when writing something. “His use of language was outstanding,” she added.

People at Kaiser continue to talk about Mr. Sexton and mourn his loss, said Krochik.

“I have his picture over my desk,” she said, adding that other co-workers do too.

“He trained a lot of our new nurses,” Krochik added, noting that there was turnover during the early years of COVID. “I would say that 70% of the new people that work with us were trained by him.”

Avid cyclist or food for each person over 12, the release stated. The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department will distribute a limited number of complimentary passes to nonprofits serving youth in its equity zones, including the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, according to the release.

Mr. Sexton was born July 31, 1962 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Burnside said that Mr. Sexton moved to San Francisco in 1990 after a traveling nurse assignment brought him to the city and he fell in love with it. Burnside and Mr. Sexton met at a house on 14th Street when both were showing friends from out of town “our gay world,” Burnside wrote.

“He biked with his bike partner, Gordon Dinsdale all over the world –Hawaii, Vienna to Venice, Crater Lake, Yellowstone, Croatia-Albania-Bosnia. He even did Vietnam,” Burnside wrote.

Mr. Sexton also completed AIDS/ LifeCycle rides and belonged to Different Spokes, an LGBTQ cycling club in San Francisco.

In fact, it was through Different Spokes that Dinsdale met Mr. Sexton, he recalled in a phone interview.

“We met in about 2011,” said Dinsdale, a gay man who retired last year as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. Dinsdale said he and Mr. Sexton took many cycling trips over the years. They particularly enjoyed Maui, Hawaii – and went there a lot – where they cycled to the top of the Haleakala Summit. It is the longest continuously paved ride in the world, which runs 69.4 miles out and back. The trail begins at the small seaside town of Paia and then climbs 10,000 feet.

“People would drive cars on the trail and look at us like we were from the moon,” Dinsdale recalled.

The pair also enjoyed cycling around Elba Island in Italy, he said.

The release noted that the carnival comes on the heels of Rec and Park’s announcement of a pilot program to transform neighboring United Nations Plaza. The agency will install a street skating area, exercise equipment, and tables for chess, pingpong, and teqball. That project is scheduled to break ground in September and open roughly six weeks later.

Not everyone is happy about the plan. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that vendors at the U.N. Plaza farmers market feel squeezed out by the changes and worry they will lose customers. The Heart of the City Farmers Market has operated in the plaza area since 1981 and will move on September 6 to Fulton Plaza, which is on Fulton Street between the Asian Art Museum and Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, the paper reported. t

Making history

Yeager’s winning in 1992 a seat on the board that oversaw the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District marked the first time an out LGBTQ person had been elected in Santa Clara County. Yeager again made LGBTQ political history in 2000 by becoming the first known LGBTQ person elected to the San Jose City Council, and six years later he be-

See page 12 >>

A post on Different Spokes’ blog noted that Mr. Sexton “was a careful cyclist.”

“Death makes everything insignificant and at the same time also immensely valuable and cherished,” the post reads. “When a friend dies and we grieve the loss, everything else falls to the wayside and we are left to wonder what could have been. ... And then we pedal on anxiously glancing over our left shoulder.”

Burnside stated that he and Mr. Sexton enjoyed Scrabble and traveling to the East Coast to see family and friends. The couple established a community garden on States Street in the Corona Heights neighborhood after two years of meetings, Burnside added.

In addition to Burnside, Mr. Sexton is survived by two sisters, Beth Sexton and Mary Blake; and his many friends and patients.

Two memorial services for Mr. Sexton were previously held, Burnside said.t

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“I think José’s induction, historic induction into the hall of fame is coming at the perfect time when there is a national focus and bills trying to make drag illegal in so many states,” said gay San Diego resident and civic leader Nicole Murray Ramirez, who has led the campaign in support of Sarria’s being inducted. “José is a role model that drag queens are not just about drag. Us drag queens, we put our dresses in our closets after our work. We are not just about what we wear when we entertain.”

Murray Ramirez was elected an empress of the Imperial Court in 1973 and currently holds the title of Queen Mother 1 of the Americas, Canada, United States, and Mexico. He thanked the Bay Area Reporter for its coverage over the years about the effort to see Sarria join the other Californians in the hall.

The LGBTQ newspaper of record based in San Francisco was the first to report on the campaign in 2015 and has continued to do so with each announcement of the new class of inductees. After Newsom last year, again, didn’t include Sarria in the 15th class, the B.A.R. called on him to “stop snubbing Sarria” in an editorial.

“I want to sincerely acknowledge the B.A.R., who were staunch supporters. Their editorial and coverage on this led to other media across the country getting behind this campaign,” said Murray Ramirez, who will be in San Francisco August 19 for an Imperial Court fundraiser marking the 10th anniversary of Sarria’s passing. “My heart is really full.”

Other California luminaries being inducted this year include singer Etta James, who was born in Los Angeles and died in 2012 at the age of 73; actress

<< Art project

From page 3 sinated at City Hall on November 27 of that year.

Another picture Betancourt discovered through research at the historical society’s archives, housed in downtown San Francisco, is of the late disco icon Sylvester James Jr., known professionally by his first name. Sylvester recorded the 1978 disco classic “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real);” he died of AIDS-related complications a decade later at the age of 41 on December 16, 1988.

“I found undiscovered new images,” Betancourt said. “I was going through a folder marked ‘unidentified Black males’ and I pulled out the images and it was Sylvester. … I was just blown away and thought ‘This is incredible,’ so it easily became one of the ones for the first installation.”

San Francisco Democratic Party Chair Honey Mahogany, a Black, queer trans person, chose to pose with the Sylvester photo.

“We were really humbled when Honey Mahogany posted a portrait of herself

Editorial

From page 8

Added City Councilmember Lauren Meister, “West Hollywood has been one of the centers of drag culture for decades. Drag performers are often a thrilling attraction at many of our restaurants and bars, and West Hollywood’s drag performers take center stage in a wide range of our city’s arts and culture events.”

Yeager

From page 11 came the first out supervisor elected in the county.

Along the way there were setbacks, as he recounts in the book, from fights in the 1970s over honoring Pride events in San Jose and the repeal of the city’s LGBTQ ordinances to California voters outlawing same-sex marriage in 2008. But there were also successes, writes Yeager, such as his pushing for the creation of one of the first county- and screenwriter Carrie Fisher, most famous for her role as Princess Leia in the “Stars Wars” movies, who was born in Burbank and died in 2016 at the age of 60; and actress Shirley Temple Black, who was living in the San Mateo County town of Woodside when she died at the age of 85 in 2014.

Another inductee is pilot and physicist Maggie Gee, a Bay Area native who died at the age of 89 in 2013. The Berkeley-born Gee was one of only two Chinese Americans among the Women Airforce Service Pilots who served in World War II.

Also part of the 16th Hall class are two sports legends. Oakland native Archie Franklin Williams won gold in the 400 meter run at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. He died at age 78 in 1993. Celebrated Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster for 67 years Vin Scully died last year at the age of 94.

Sarria reportedly was 90 at the time of his death though, as the B.A.R. noted in a with our installation and, as we expand to more sites, we hope to bring in more of the community and for this to be a collaboration that helps us revitalize and engage the community while helping to inform, inspire and educate the world,” said Betancourt.

Mahogany, who is the district director for Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), told the B.A.R. that “San Francisco’s queer history is foundational to the culture of our city and has had a global impact that deserves to be recognized.

“While I would first and foremost love to see these storefronts filled, I do love the idea of honoring the history of the Castro and many of the figures who helped make it so legendary,” Mahogany continued.

Shaffer spoke positively of the project.

“Castro Street Seen beautifully connects past and present by providing a first-hand look into the neighborhood’s history,” Shaffer told the B.A.R. “Our incredible archival holdings are used by artists, historians, and researchers from around the world who bring our vast queer past to life. The GLBT Historical

Honoring José Julio Sarria

Finally, at long last, Governor Gavin Newsom and first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom this week announced that drag icon José Julio Sarria will be posthumously inducted into the California Hall of Fame, as we reported.

The Latino World War II veteran became the first known gay person to seek public office with his ultimately unsuccessful 1961 bid for a San Francisco Board of Supervisors seat. Four years later Sarria had founded the Im- wide offices focused on LGBTQ issues when he was a supervisor.

By reexamining those victories in his book, Yeager said he hopes it may “give people a little bit of hope that if you can get other people to join you and create your own organizations, you can fight the religious right organizations over time and you can be successful. That is really the story of the book; once you are successful, then what are you going to do with that?”

Published by Atmosphere Press, story last year, there is some discrepancy on his actual birthdate. He used the date December 12, 1922 and that is what is inscribed on his headstone at his burial plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Colma.

But some records indicate Sarria was born on December 13, 1922, while several birth certificates that the José Sarria Foundation has in its collection have him being born a year later. The Online Archive of California says Sarria was born December 12, 1923 at St. Francis Hospital in San Francisco.

What is without dispute is that Sarria became famous in the 1950s performing in drag at the gay hangout the Black Cat Cafe in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. He would beseech the audience members to come out of the closet, telling them that “united we stand, divided they catch us one by one.”

His pioneering life story has been featured in several movies and documentaries in recent years. Sarria was inducted into the Palm Springs Walk of Stars last December; he had lived in the nearby LGBTQ-friendly enclave of Cathedral City from 2000 to 2010.

An effort to see Sarria and two other late drag performers, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, be featured on U.S. postal stamps was launched in 2020 by Murray Ramirez after he read a B.A.R. article about several stamps honoring Bugs Bunny’s 80th birthday depicting the cartoon rabbit in drag, which marked the first time American postage had featured drag imagery.

With Sarria’s induction into the hall of fame, Murray Ramirez told the B.A.R. he hopes it provides momentum for also seeing the postage stamps come to fruition. It would be another fitting honor for someone many consider to be an influential LGBTQ pioneer, he said.

Society is proud to be able to enable the creation of innumerable pieces of queer art and culture.”

Future installations will focus on the rise of Milk and the AIDS epidemic, Betancourt said. He’s been in touch with others who’ve expressed interest in installations in their storefronts, but Betancourt isn’t willing to disclose who has.

“I don’t wish to disclose specifically which ones they are at this time because it’s a lot of relationship management and trust, but really what we’re trying to do is raise awareness and fundraise,” Betancourt said. “We’re still paying off some of the costs from the original installation, which is something we did out of our own pocket. We did not get any grant money, we did receive some donations.”

Betancourt and Jonathan Deason, another San Francisco gay man who is the co-founder of Castro Street Seen, as well as its executive producer, didn’t answer a question August 15 about how much the project has cost, but Deason did state people can donate on the website castrostreetseen.com.

“As you might suspect, printing and production at this scale is quite expen- perial Court System in San Francisco and proclaimed himself Empress I of San Francisco. The philanthropic drag organization has since crowned scores of empresses, emperors, and other drag royalty while raising funds for charitable causes and now has 70 chapters in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Last year, Sarria, who died in 2013, was honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars, but there’s been an effort underway to have Sarria inducted into the California Hall of Fame for eight years. It’s been largely led by Nicole and dedicated to his partner, Michael Haberecht, this is Yeager’s third book he has penned. The paperback version came out on July 19, while the hardcover version will be released August 22. Its release is timed to the annual Silicon Valley Pride celebration that is taking place Saturday, August 26, and Sunday, August 27, this year.

“I will be at Pride selling the book,” said Yeager, who is again teaching a local government class for the fall semester at San Jose State.

Yeager now is executive direc-

“What people need to remember is José was an activist and advocate in the 1950s and 1960s when, in California, homosexuality wasn’t made legal until 1967. We were being sent by the stroke of a hand of a judge’s signature or your parents to mental hospitals,” recalled Murray Ramirez. “I knew many who were subjected to lobotomies and electric shock treatments. Yet José and others back then were out as advocates. We stand on their shoulders.”

Murray Ramirez expressed his gratitude to several current and former out state legislators who backed the campaign to see Sarria join the hall of fame, including gay state Senator Scott Wiener and his gay predecessor Mark Leno of San Francisco, as well as lesbian Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), who was one of the first people to pen a letter of support in 2015.

He also thanked Stuart Milk, the gay nephew of the late gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, for his support. His uncle, the first LGBTQ elected official in California, was posthumously inducted into the hall in 2009 as part of its fourth class by Republican former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2006, Schwarzenegger and his former wife, Maria Shriver, partnered with the California Museum to launch it.

Reacting to the news about Sarria’s induction into the hall, Wiener stated Monday that it was “long overdue.” He had chaired the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus in 2019 and 2020 when it had urged Newsom to recognize Sarria with such an honor.

“As the founder of the Imperial Court System, Her Royal Majesty, Empress of San Francisco, José I, The Widow Norton worked endlessly to support and uplift LGBTQ people and to make San sive. So far, we have mostly self-funded the project, because we love the Castro and want to see it come back to life,” Deason stated. “We are very grateful to have received several donations from members of our community, but not nearly enough to support the costs expended to date. We have not received any support from grants, and we are asking for the community’s help to keep this project going and continue to expand. We have some exciting plans in the works to roll out more installations, but we do need community support!”

Andrea Aiello, a lesbian who is the executive director of the Castro Community Benefit District, has been a leading advocate for the beautification of the neighborhood, as well as filling vacant storefronts The art installation has generated “nothing but positive comments from merchants and residents,” she told the B.A.R.

“I am really impressed with the high quality of the work, and his intention to put location-specific images up is genius,” Aiello stated to the B.A.R. “I appreciate Pete’s effort to include images of women and people of color in the

Murray Ramirez, who was elected an empress of the Imperial Court in 1973 and currently holds the title of Queen Mother 1 of the Americas, Canada, United States, and Mexico.

Over the past several years, as new hall of fame inductees were announced, we puzzled over why Sarria was omitted, at one point exhorting Newsom to “stop snubbing Sarria” in an editorial. We would have liked to have seen Sarria inducted earlier, but the wait turned out to be worth it because the issue of drag is now more front and center than ever tor of the BAYMEC Community Foundation, BAYMEC’s nonprofit arm, and is the director of its Queer Silicon Valley archival project. Due to state funding secured by his former colleague on the county board and now a state legislator, Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), Yeager is trying to lease a brick-and-mortar space in downtown San Jose to open an LGBTQ museum. (See story, page 13.)

It is an example of how a former political opponent can evolve into

Francisco a better and more inclusive city,” stated Wiener. “As the first gay man in United States history to run for public office, he created space for people like me to run and hold office. During the worst periods of LGBTQ persecution, Jose fought back against discriminatory treatment and advocated for the equal protection of LGBTQ people.”

Today, added Wiener, Sarria’s “courage is a reminder of the critical role that drag performers have played in the movement for LGBTQ rights, and of the power of living unapologetically as one’s authentic self. What better represents California’s values than that?”

Most years the induction ceremony is held live at the museum in Sacramento in late fall. But it is being held virtually this year because of the honorees all being inducted posthumously, similar to the 2021 ceremony held online for the posthumous honorees in the hall’s 14th class.

The induction ceremony for the 16th class will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, August 22, and be livestreamed via the governor’s office account on X, formerly known as Twitter.

It will also be streamed live via the California Museum’s YouTube page.

Other LGBTQ luminaries inducted to the hall have included gay artist David Hockney, lesbian tennis star Billie Jean King, gay TV star George Takei, gay San Francisco Symphony music director laureate Michael Tilson Thomas, the late lesbian astronaut Sally Ride, and the late pioneering lesbian couple Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin. Last year saw the inclusion of lesbian USA women’s soccer champion Megan Rapinoe.

To learn more about the hall and its inductees, visit its webpage at https:// californiamuseum.org/california-hallof-fame/. t images he displays. I understand finding these images can be a lot of work; I know he is committed to this, and I look forward to seeing more diversity in the images displayed.”

Deason works by the Harvey’s location, at Vanguard Properties.

“Pete and I have known each other for more than a decade as Castro-area residents,” Deason told the B.A.R. “My background in college was in art history and I have sold real estate for the last 15 years in San Francisco,” adding that he’s “very arts oriented, and my office is across the street from Harvey’s, so it was a very natural partnership.”

Betancourt said hopefully remembering the neighborhood’s past will help reinvigorate its future as it deals with storefront vacancies and other issues.

“I was so inspired by the community of the 1970s and 1980s – how people came together, and how activists such as Harvey Milk were able to transform the world,” he said. “We’re hoping this project is a rebirth of the Castro by bringing in the community today by elevating and showcasing our history.” t before – as is the critical importance of seeing drag stars recognized.

Sarria will be inducted Tuesday, August 22, along with several other deceased notables in an all-posthumous class this year. We’re glad Newsom and Siebel Newsom at long last decided to honor him this year.

Other cities may see drag laureates in their futures, such as New York City and San Diego. Thankfully, California is bullish on our drag artists, both living and deceased, in a way that other areas would be smart to emulate. t a political ally. As Yeager explains in his book, when he and Cortese were competing in the 1996 Democratic primary for a state Assembly seat, Cortese’s campaign sent voters a homophobic mailer attacking Yeager. Subsequent press coverage of it likely sank both men’s bids, writes Yeager, as he placed second and Cortese third back when only the top finisher in the intraparty primary advanced to the general election.