August 18, 2011 edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

Gay men sue Great America

Puppet power

Home & Garden section

The

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Gay group may fight new maps

Vol. 41 • No. 33 • August 18-24, 2011

Behan to leave SF Pride

by Matthew S. Bajko

he state’s largest LGBT advocacy group, Equality California, is pondering what action to take, if any, in response to the new political boundaries for California’s legislative and congressional districts. The state’s Citizens Redistricting Commission signed off on the redrawn lines Monday, August 15. Shortly after the panel’s Jane Philomen Cleland vote numerous organizations voiced Assembly candiconcerns about the date Luis Lopez panel’s decisions and suggested they would take steps to challenge the new boundaries. One group, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, issued a statement that afternoon saying it was closely reviewing the maps to determine if they dilute the Latino vote and if “litigation is warranted.” EQCA has also voiced concerns about the new maps in terms of how they impact LGBT voters in several cities around the state. Several organizations have started informal talks with EQCA about joining any legal action against the new maps. “A lot of minority groups are looking at the maps and weighing in on whether to file legal action. We have been approached and are having those conversations,” said Mario Guerrero, EQCA’s government affairs director. “We are looking at the maps and looking at what impact they are having on our community and what next steps to take.” But Guerrero noted that drawing the lines is a balancing act that calls for some give and take between competing interests. “I think no one is going to be 100 percent happy here,” he said. “I think the lines generally were beneficial to the communities of interest we identified. However, there are shortcomings.” Republicans are also looking at how to contest the maps, particularly for the state Senate, as they are expected to see their clout be further reduced in the Statehouse. The GOP, in addition to threatening its own legal action, has openly discussed going back to the ballot in order to redraw the lines. Openly gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), who will run for re-election next year for the new, lone San Francisco Senate seat, said the GOP critiques are a case of “sour grapes.” See page 10 >>

What a difference a year makes. The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee handed out checks totaling nearly $169,000 to its community partners Tuesday, one year after many of those groups received only a fraction of their payments. Bill Wilson

by Seth Hemmelgarn

fter working for months to solidify the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee’s finances, interim director Brendan Behan plans to

leave the organization at the end of the year. The news comes as the Pride Committee distributed nearly $169,000 to its community partners Tuesday, August 16, a remarkable turnaround from a year ago, when beverage partners initially received

only a fraction of what they were owed. As Behan’s title indicates, it’s been known since he was hired in April that the job would end in months. He said then that he would be with the organization through the end of the year. See page 12 >>

DA candidate Bock touts experience by Seth Hemmelgarn

he’s the only woman running to be San Francisco’s next district attorney, but Sharmin Bock likes to tout something else in her bid for the office. Until recently, she had also been the only candidate who’s actually worked as a prosecutor. That changed when former prosecutor and defense attorney Bill Fazio entered the race last week, just before the Friday, August 12 filing deadline. “I can advise, guide, and lead trial lawyers,” Bock said. In a Saturday, August 6 interview, Bock, who has 22 years of courtroom experience, said she has “a long history of fighting for underserved communities.” A San Francisco resident, she serves as an assistant district attorney for Alameda County in charge of special operations and policy development. Bock, 49, created the Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit and has been recognized for her efforts in fighting the prostitution of children. She was also selected to create and supervise the Alameda County District Attorney’s office’s Cold Case/DNA Cold Hit Unit. There, she adopted a multi-disciplinary approach that brings prosecutors, police, crime lab scientists, and the coroner’s office to solve “forgotten” murder and sexual assault cases. Another cold case-related operation Bock’s been involved in is the DNA Cold Case/Cold Hit

Jane Philomen Cleland

San Francisco district attorney candidate Sharmin Bock, right, talks with Jenny Ton, left, and Janice Mynie, an organizer of the Lower Haight Art Walk Festival, during the event.

Task Force, the formation of which she led. The task force is comprised of police agencies and scientists who meet regularly to discuss legal and forensic developments and review cases.

Views on LGBT safety Bock mentioned the prosecution of the men accused in the murder of Gwen Araujo, the

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transgender teen who was beaten and strangled to death at a Newark house party in 2002 at the age of 17. She said although she didn’t prosecute that case directly, she was “immensely moved by that tragic crime.” She said transgender people are the targets of many hate crimes, and See page 12 >>

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Community News

August 18-24, 2011

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SF blogger plans Target boycott by Tony K. LeTigre

ne Target store is already under construction in San Francisco and another is on its way, but gay activists and marriage equality supporters like Roy Steele will not be part of the welcoming committee. Steele, a gay Christian man who lives in the Lower Haight, has initiated a nationwide boycott of Target and a legion of other retailers who subscribe to the Christian Values Network. “When I saw Target on the list of companies on the CVN website I was unhappy. I thought they had learned,” Steele told the Bay Area Reporter. He was referring to last year when Target gave $150,000 to Minnesota Forward, an independent expenditure committee backing a conservative Republican candidate for governor. The faux pas prompted Lady Gaga to pull her music from Target stores. (But Gaga’s CD Born This Way is currently available for purchase at www.target.com.) “After all that went down, Target made a statement that it would take a neutral stance on gay rights issues,” Steele said. “But by being part of this network, they aren’t neutral.” CVN is a virtual shopping portal (www.cvn.org) with almost 500 participating stores – although it has lost a few big names recently. The network donates a portion of each online sale to nonprofit religious groups, including several known to be virulently anti-gay: Promise Keepers, Focus on the Family, and the Family Research Council, which was recently classified a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In July a student in Bellingham, Washington named Ben Crowther organized a petition asking Apple to remove its iTunes store from CVN after he learned of the network’s anti-gay associations. Apple promptly did so; in the interim Microsoft, Macy’s, Wells Fargo, Delta Airlines, and BBC America have followed suit. Early in August Steele received a message from Target spokeswoman Jessica Carlson in response to his complaints, assuring him the company was looking “very seriously” into the matter. Shortly thereafter, according to Steele, Target was removed from the CVN list – only to reappear a few days later. Steele also received several threatening messages, including an anonymous one telling him to “Die, faggot.” Frustrated by the company’s

Target, which is planning to open a second store in San Francisco, has come under fire from gay bloggers over its connection to the Christian Values Network portal.

non-responsiveness, and inspired by Crowther’s example, Steele launched a boycott of Target and other CVN-participating stores. The boycott will include Labor Day picket lines, messages and calls to stores, and protests at stores that refuse the call. Follow the action at www.jiveinthe415.com. Reached by phone, Carlson told the B.A.R. she could offer no comment regarding Target’s stance on gay rights issues or its connection with CVN, then emailed a statement that read in part: “Target believes in equality and does not discriminate. Through our Target.com affiliate program, Target partners with a variety of organizations that support a wide range of groups – including veterans, senior citizens, college students and religious organizations – through discounts and donations.” Inquiries to CVN were answered by an email from Laurie Higgins, consisting of a link to a press release on www.prnewswire.com titled “Charity Support Group to Retailers: Don’t be Bullied by Activists.” The release, dated August 16 – the same day the B.A.R.’s inquiry was made – alleges that CVN changed its name in March to CGBG (Charity GiveBack Group) and “is not a religious organization and does not have any religious content on its site.” The first Target store in San Francisco began construction at the Metreon in May, with Mayor Ed Lee on hand to mark the groundbreaking. At the end of June the Planning Commission greenlit a second Target to take over the long-vacant Mervyn’s site at Geary and Masonic, with a projected opening date of spring 2013. After the groundbreaking at the Metreon, Lee told the B.A.R. in late May that he has requested a meeting with company officials to

ask them about the political giving controversy. At the meeting, Lee said, Target executives apologized for the donations in question and explained that they had completely overhauled their protocols for giving to avoid any similar incident in the future. “I have spoken with Target to repeat and reinforce our concerns,” Lee told the B.A.R. Tuesday. “We will be meeting again in the next few weeks to understand Target’s commitment to San Francisco in general and specifically to the LGBT community.” The city’s two gay supervisors, Scott Wiener and David Campos, met with Target officials several times earlier this year. Former Supervisor Bevan Dufty also met with store officials before he left office in January. “The message we sent is that if Target is coming to San Francisco, we want to know what Target is going to do for the LGBT community,” Campos told the B.A.R. “We haven’t heard anything since then, which is a little disappointing. You want to reserve judgment and give people time to make amends, but you would think they would be a little more pro-active.” Wiener said the issue has been “perplexing.” “Target clearly has a history or pattern of making these kinds of contributions, and it is troubling,” said Wiener. “It has also been really perplexing to a lot of us, because Target, in the past, had a great track record. It was one of those companies we could always get behind, because they treated their LGBT employees so well.” Both Wiener and Campos said they will keep an open mind and look forward to hearing more from the store, as well as the community. “The burden is on Target to explain,” Wiener said.▼

N2Men site to reach GBT men in South Bay by Seth Hemmelgarn

San Jose-based nonprofit is set to launch a website offering a single stop for information on HIV and sexually transmitted diseases to young gay, bi, and transgender men. The Health Trust, which provides non-medical HIV services, as well as grants and advocacy, will launch N2Men.org on Saturday, August 20. Among other topics, the site will feature information on the best ways to protect against STDs, where to get an HIV test in San Jose, and places to meet other men who are “into men” in Silicon Valley. The agency wants to offer “frank answers to intimate questions that gay men may not feel comfortable asking their doctors or friends,” a statement said. A blog by Dr. Frank Spinelli, a

Health Trust CEO Frederick Ferrer

gay New York internist and author of The Advocate Guide to Gay Men’s Health and Wellness, is also expected to be among the offerings. Health Trust CEO Frederick

Ferrer said in an interview, “Even though we’re in Silicon Valley, there is not a good online presence” to get information similar to what the site will offer. The agency is promoting prevention. “Having an STD raises the likelihood of HIV infection,” added Patty Fisher, director of policy and communications at the Health Trust. Although “HIV is not necessarily rising, STDs are rising at an alarming rate,” Fisher added. According to Santa Clara County data that Fisher provided, there were nearly 6,000 new chlamydia and gonorrhea infections in Santa Clara County reported in 2010. Officials suspect the actual number of infected people is likely much higher. See page 11 >>

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Community News>>

August 18-24, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

Two armed robberies reported near Castro by Seth Hemmelgarn

an Francisco police have reported two robberies involving a gun near the city’s largely gay Castro neighborhood last weekend. Police suspect the robberies were related. No injuries were reported in either case. According to police, the first incident occurred at about 3:25 a.m., Sunday, August 14. Officer Albie Esparza, a police spokesman, said two men were walking near the 700 block of Castro Street when they heard two people running up behind them. Esparza said the first victim turned around and saw both suspects, one with a “short, semiautomatic pistol” in his hand. The suspect approached the man and

ordered him to hand over all his property. The second suspect “took a swing” at the other victim, but didn’t hit him, Esparza said. The first suspect then pointed a gun at the man’s head, he said. The victims complied with the other men’s demands for their property, which included cell phones and money, Esparza said. The victims ran north then took a cab to Castro and Jersey streets, where they called police, he said. Esparza said the first suspect was described as a Hispanic male, 19 to 22 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 170 pounds. He was wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, and dark jeans. He said the second suspect was also described as a Hispanic male,

unknown age, 5 feet 7 inches tall, with short, buzzed hair. He was also wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans. Following standard police procedure, Esparza wouldn’t disclose the victims’ names but a police summary said they were both 22 and white. He said one victim is from San Carlos, but he didn’t know where the other one lives. The second robbery occurred at 4 a.m. in the 1100 block of Sanchez Street, a few blocks south of the first incident. Esparza said in this case, the victim was standing in front of his porch when two suspects approached him. One pointed a semi-automatic handgun at the victim and told him to hand over his property. He also attempted to

Gay Men’s Chorus to hold auditions compiled by Cynthia Laird

he San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus invites men with a love of music and community to attend open rehearsals August 22 and 29 before the formal auditions take place August 30. “Are you looking for a place to sing other than in the shower, in the car, or on karaoke night?” asked artistic director Tim Seelig. “Have we got a stage for you – and it’s not just about singing. The chorus is a family and the most amazing opportunity for you to serve our community with your volunteer efforts.” Seelig begins his first full season with the chorus next month with a series of concerts. “The season is jam-packed with music you will love, from Broadway, the movies, and yes, Glee.” The popular television show about a high school chorus has suddenly made singing groups more popular than ever and the Gay Men’s Chorus is hoping that excitement will translate into a robust group of men for auditions. The Monday open rehearsals take place at Mission High School, 3750 18th Street at 7 p.m. The Tuesday audition takes place at 7 p.m. at the Kanbar Center, 44 Page Street. Executive Director Teddy Witherington pointed out that this will be the only opportunity to audition for the season as the chorus will not be auditioning in January as it has in previous years. The upcoming season ends in

Gay Men’s Chorus artistic director Tim Seelig

July 2012 with a tour to Colorado and Wyoming where the chorus will participate in the quadrennial GALA Choruses Festival in Denver. It is expected that there will be 6,000 other singers from around the world. That will be followed by concerts in Denver and Laramie benefiting the Matthew Shepard Foundation and LGBT organizations in Wyoming. For more information, visit www. sfgmc.org and click on the “Audition” tab.

East Bay Pride Picnic Several East Bay LGBT and allied organizations will host the annual Pride Picnic Saturday, August 20 at Cull Canyon Regional Park in Castro

Rick Gerharter

Neighbors help out Milk school

ill Yates, a third grader at the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, and his mother, Liz, demonstrated the puppet theater, one of the items for sale at the neighborhood yard sale on Hartford Street that took place August

13. Organized by Mark McHale and Matt Gomez, real estate agents at Herth Real Estate, the sale involved several families on Hartford, who agreed to donate 10 percent of their take to the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy’s student supply

fund. Cliff’s Variety and ClubCard Printing also contributed items to run the event. McHale said it’s his hope to offer four events a year, with funds going to different local charities and good causes. The sale made $643 for the school fund.

Valley. The festivities begin at 11 a.m. and continue into the afternoon. The event is a potluck so people are asked to bring a dish to share. The park has free parking and there is a nominal fee to enter the beach access area where the picnic will take place. For adults it is $3.50; for seniors and the disabled it is $2.50. The day will include swimming and games, along with great food. Organizations helping sponsor the picnic include Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, Gays and Lesbians Organized for Betterment and Equality, the Lighthouse Community Center, Marriage Equality USA, Women over 50 and Friends, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.▼

punch the victim, Esparza said. The second suspect grabbed the victim’s phone from his hand, he said. Descriptions for the suspects in the second incident were similar to those of the first, Esparza said, but among other differences, the victim described them as white. Esparza explained that at 4 a.m., it could be possible to mistake the suspects for white. After the incident, the suspects ran up Sanchez toward 25th Street, Esparza said.

He didn’t release the victim’s name in the second incident. A police summary said the man is 42 years old and white. Esparza said there is a possibility of the cases being related because of the time frame and area in which they occurred, and the descriptions of the suspects. He said Tuesday, August 16 that there were no witnesses to either incident, and there haven’t been any leads or arrests.▼

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

August 18-24, 2011

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

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Home & Garden >>

August 18-24, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Home is where the heart is by Heather Cassell

hen Iris Harrell first felt the sensation of an electric drill in her hands while hanging some pots and pans in her wife’s Dallas home, she was hooked on building. Thirty years later, Harrell Remodeling Inc., the Mountain View-based design and build firm, is an award-winning company. In May, the firm won a spot on the top 50 list of the best places to work in America by Inc. magazine and Winning Workplaces’ annual “Top Small Company Workplaces.” “We have some really outstanding team members here that just know how to dance together [and] we have some wonderful clients,” said Harrell about weathering the economic downturn and the company’s good fortune. “We just feel very blessed.” Today, the firm generally does a variety of residential jobs from whole house remodels – both interior and exterior – to simple doggie door installations, according to Harrell. She anticipates the firm’s volume this year will be around $10 million. The company is gearing up after the economic free-fall left it nearly 10 employees down from its high of 46 due to layoffs and a dent in its “war chest” in 2009, Harrell said. Nearly two years later, the company, which is more than 25 percent employee-owned, is adding new divisions and programs as well as hiring, especially in production and construction on the design side of the company. Within the past six months, it has nearly regained the staff it lost, she said. Harrell converted the company from private ownership to an employee-owned plan in 2001. While Harrell isn’t anywhere near ready to retire she’s aiming for 100 percent employee ownership one of these days. The plan is a “great way to spread capitalism in a responsible way,” Harrell said. Social responsibility is at the

Joyce Goldschimd Photography

Iris Harrell, founder and CEO of Harrell Remodeling

foundation of Harrell Remodeling. In 1985 in Texas, Harrell opened the business with a focus on sustainability and universal design.

Humble beginnings A former American history teacher, Harrell entered construction in Texas when she met her wife, Ann Benson, while restoring her 1920s home in 1981. The women, both 64, have been together for more than 30 years and married in September 2008. They built the company from the ground up. Benson is now retired, but still sits on the board of the company, Harrell said. Harrell found she had a knack for remodeling when she was 34, after an eclectic career that included a fiveyear tour as a musician for a religious band that played secular music, the Baha-I, and a brief career in the nonprofit sector, Harrell said. The business grew as she moved on to remodeling her mother-in-law’s home and rental properties along with widowed women’s and lesbian couple’s homes with a retired male contractor. He taught her the trades after traditionally male-dominated construction companies wouldn’t hire her due to her gender and age,

she said. “The two of us worked for either lesbian couples or sweet little old ladies who didn’t want strange men in their house, so we had a very interesting clientele,” she said. “That’s how I got started and I was just fascinated with it.” The company’s philosophy and creation of a corporate community of mutual respect and responsibility is what sets Harrell Remodeling apart from other building and design companies, according to its customers and employees. Leonie “Le” Walker and her partner, Dr. Kate O’Hanlan, have gone to Harrell Remodeling for nearly two decades for remodeling projects on their Portola Valley home, Walker said. They selected Harrell Remodeling not only because they were friends and neighbors of Benson and Harrell 20 years ago, but they liked the idea of supporting a lesbian-owned company that took care of its employees, said Walker. “It’s the kind of company that you would want to work for if you were working for someone else,” said Walker. Jamison Simpson, a designer at the company, and Kristen Kleiboer, a project manager, who both came on board five years ago, couldn’t agree more. Working for an LGBT-owned and socially responsible company has been liberating, said the openly gay and lesbian employees. “I do have a level of comfort that I haven’t had at any other previous employer that I’ve had in my life,” said Simpson. Kleiboer, 38, agreed with Simpson. The experience of her interview where all three interviewers were not only women, but lesbian, was “big.” “To have all three women in a construction company interviewing me, but all four of us being gay ... it was really empowering,” said Kleiboer. But Harrell Remodeling’s See page 13 >>

This pro painter is ‘The Queen’ by David Duran

n these days of mass media and over marketing, try and imagine surviving as a small business owner when not spending a dime on advertising. Try and wrap your mind around that idea. When meeting with the very successful Gary “The Queen” Rahlf, he didn’t even have a business card. “We don’t ever have cards on us,” he said. In all fairness, he did say that business cards for C&G Painting do exist, but that he and his business partner just don’t carry them frequently. Rahlf and his business partner CL (who did not want his last name used), make up the nonadvertising dynamic duo. “We have never advertised, not opposed to it, just never needed to,” said Rahlf. When your work is that good and your clients are happy, apparently, word spreads, and it spreads quickly. Rahlf obtains all of his new clients via word of mouth. “We have very loyal clients who keep us in mind for other projects they may have, and they tell all their friends and family about us,” he explained. C&G Painting focuses on residential projects doing both interior and exterior painting. So many people attempt to paint on their own before discovering that they need to call for reinforcements. Rahlf has seen that happen. “We normally have to come in after they have attempted to paint

David Duran

Gary Rahlf stands in a room of a home he painted.

and start completely from scratch, correcting mistakes,” he said. Mistakes like using the wrong type of paint. When painting a bathroom, for example, it’s best to use a gloss paint verses a flat paint because of the moisture. The prep work before the paint goes on is definitely the number one priority, Rahlf added. “Make sure the walls are extremely clean. The woodwork has to be spotless. Using white vinegar as a cleaner is my best tip for prep work,” he said. Rahlf ’s business has been going strong for 34 years, beginning out in Texas in the early years, but eventually relocating to the Bay Area. Both men are incredibly skilled and really know their stuff. They don’t need to use the popular blue painters’ tape.

“We are just that good. CL is a master at straight lines,” Rahlf said. But if you are not a professional and don’t have the experience, it’s probably a good idea to use the tape that is marketed to do-it-yourselfers. When researching C&G Painting, people referred to Rahlf as “The Queen.” He explained the nickname. “When I first moved to the area, I began going to Moby Dick’s frequently. One night, I had a disagreement with a friend and while arguing, out of nowhere, he called me a queen. Shortly after, on a return visit, when I walked in the bar, everyone just started calling me, ‘The Queen’ and it stuck,” said Rahlf. He was adamant about reiterating the fact that he wasn’t just a queen, but instead, “The Queen.” Most of the time, when working with painters, the client pretty much knows what they want done. With C&G, you will get helpful advice and suggestions if you so desire. One of their most memorable projects was a home in the Castro area where Rahlf and CL decided on every color inside and out without the client having any input whatsoever. “She never knew any of the colors and when she came home and saw her home, she was so happy,” said Rahlf. Giving a painter total control takes guts but this reporter went to the residence to see the outcome and it was just beyond impressive. The exterior detailing was exquisite and tasteful but still gave the home a certain pop and charm.▼

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6 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Open Forum

August 18-24, 2011

Volume 41, Number 33 August 18-24, 2011 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Thomas E. Horn Bob Ross (Founder, 1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador • Erin Blackwell Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Chuck Colbert Richard Dodds • Raymond Flournoy David Guarino • Liz Highleyman Brandon Judell • John F. Karr • Lisa Keen Matthew Kennedy • David Lamble Michael McDonagh • Paul Parish Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota Bob Roehr • Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

ART DIRECTION Kurt Thomas PRODUCTION MANAGER T. Scott King PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland Marc Geller Rick Gerharter Lydia Gonzales Rudy K. Lawidjaja Steven Underhill Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge Christine Smith

GENERAL MANAGER Michael M. Yamashita

EQCA’s uphill climb E

quality California and the coalition of organizations have their work cut out for them if we are to stop a referendum of Senate Bill 48, the FAIR Act, from reaching the ballot. Previous research on marriage equality shows that a significant number of straight mothers, while supportive of LGBT rights, will not support us when the issue turns to parental controls and what their children are taught in school. It is astounding that in the three years since voters passed Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban, so many straight allies remain conflicted when it comes to their children learning about LGBTs in the classroom. Yet as the Stop SB 48 proponents continue with their signature gathering campaign, we can’t help but feel that the LGBT community is being lulled into complacency, because the issue doesn’t generate headlines like marriage equality. And while supporters of the Fair, Accurate, Respectful, and Inclusive Education Act work to tie the issue of inclusive learning to preventing bullying on school campuses, the far-right is using its bully pulpit (and the pulpits of an untold number of churches) to quash that argument. State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), the author of SB 48, is eloquent when he speaks of the benefits all students will gain from a curriculum that includes lessons about famous LGBTs, like slain Supervisor Harvey Milk. Children, he says, know when someone is different from them and instead of working from a place of fear, as is usually the case with bullies, the FAIR Act would teach respect for all people, gay and straight, disabled and ablebodied, just as current social science lessons teach about African American, Asian American, and Latino leaders. Unfortunately, Leno is just one man when, in reality, we need a small army of people to spread that message. EQCA and its coalition partners must step in and fill the void. The coalition must move beyond the group-think of its members and take the case directly to LGBT and allied supporters. Public meetings are one important way to do that, yet we see no effort to hold such forums. Focus groups and messaging tests are

important, but we need folks on the ground to begin educating themselves so that they can talk to their friends, neighbors, and co-workers. After the Prop 8 campaign, groups like the Courage Campaign held mini boot camps up and down the state, teaching people to tell their “stories of self,” and why supporting marriage equality is important to them. Now, we need all those people to tell personal stories about why it’s critical that kids today learn of the contributions of LGBT Americans, that history should not be censored, and no, kids won’t “turn gay” just because they hear a history lesson about Milk or pioneering lesbian couple Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin. The other important truth is that students are already learning about LGBT leaders. They are regularly covered in mainstream media, on TV, and in the movies. In California, we have

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had two observances of Harvey Milk Day, on which public school teachers are encouraged to teach about Milk’s contributions to society. Far more than a gay activist, Milk worked to build coalitions between gays and organized labor and communities of color. That, in turn, helped defeat the Briggs initiative back in 1978, which would have barred gays from working as public school teachers. EQCA, the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, and other coalition partners are off to a slow start against the referendum when there is no time to spare. The coalition must reach out to the community that it will need to help fight this one. The people who will be the most influential to voters are neighbors and colleagues. In the absence of millions of dollars, which the coalition at this point does not have, it’s time to take this fight to the grassroots and broaden the base.▼

The media’s outing of Queen Latifah by Irene Monroe

DISPLAY ADVERTISING Colleen Small Scott Wazlowski

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f you are champing at the bit for down-toearth Jersey girl Dana Owens, a.k.a. hip-hop’s reigning Queen Latifah, to come out of her open closet, don’t hold your breath. If, however, you’ve derived pleasure from Latifah’s unintended “gotcha!” moments of being outed – and there are many – so, too, has the media. But the media’s cat and mouse game of chase with Latifah leads us to another gotcha moment that’s not. In the upcoming September issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine, which features Latifah on the cover, she, in an in-depth interview with publisher Jamie Foster Brown, discussed everything from her days touring with fellow rap artists and her brother’s untimely death to the beef between hip-hop and R&B recording artists Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim. In the interview Latifah also revealed to S2S the type of woman she likes. Queen Latifah: ... I just like ladies who have class. Period. And if it’s “T and A” you’re sellin’, that’s fine, as long as that’s what you’re selling. But you don’t have to show everything, you know? You can hold some back and just be yourself and let your personality shine and let your individuality show. To me, that’s sexier. A confident woman is a sexy woman, in my opinion. And I think guys find that to be the same way. Jamie Foster Brown: Right. Queen Latifah: You don’t have to show everything; you don’t have to put it all out there to attract a guy. Because what kind of guy are you gonna attract? What is he really looking for? If you wanna be a booty call, I guess you can throw it all out there. (laughs) But if you’re looking for a relationship with someone who respects you and respects things other than your body – your mind, your spirit, your personality, your smile – then you have to kind of exude that more so than just yo’ booty and yo’ titties. The blogosphere ran with plucked quotes

Queen Latifah

from Latifah’s interview, and news of her “coming out” proliferated personal blogs and respected news outlets like ABC.com (http:// tinyurl.com/4yk8hy2), all heralding that Latifah is out. “This is significant because (A) Queen Latifah is amazing, and ladies should have some info on what reels her in and (B) because she’s never discussed her sexuality before. After years of dodging questions, especially since the speculation about the split between her and longtime girlfriend Jeanette Jenkins, props to Queen Latifah for opening up about her love for ladies. It’s not that I think a celebrities’ sexuality is any of our business. It’s just that the choice to be open about it – as a human being – is a powerful one. Queen Latifah is a role model for many women. I believe her decision to come out will only continue to inspire them,” wrote Ami Angelowicz at TheFrisky.com, which was posted on ABC’s site. While there is a willingness of both the media and the public to believe that Latifah came out to the magazine, these quotes are taken wildly out

of context. And, these quotes, understandably, can be taken out of context, because there is solid evidence of Latifah secretly being out or outed. For example, long before this latest hubbub Bossip.com, the African American celebrity gossip, news, popular culture, and entertainment blog, outed Latifah in September 2010 with photos of Latifah and gal pal and “personal trainer” Jenkins in a tender embrace that was not intended for public viewing. The century-long reliable “chitlin’ circuit” told us our closeted Latifah was “in the life.” But when the photos from R&B soul diva Alicia Keys’s nuptials showed Queen Latifah and Jenkins intimately embraced aboard a private yacht in France went viral the public’s long awaited gotcha moment was revealed. For years it has been rumored that Latifah has held private same-sex parties with all in attendance understanding they had to be on the down low about it. That intimate embrace Latifah shared with her longtime friend, trainer – lover? – aboard the yacht in France at Keys’s wedding was supposed to be on the down low, too. Part of what fuels the ongoing flurry of queries concerning Latifah’s sexual orientation was her spot-on portrayal of a butch lesbian in the 1996 movie Set it Off. Earlier this summer Latifah’s character on the show Single Ladies – which she executive produces – was accidentally outed, and worked out in a positive way for the character. Viewers and the blogosphere began to speculate that Latifah was channeling her personal life through her small-screen character. But Latifah has yet to publicly out herself. In a November 2007 interview with People magazine, refuting rumors that she’s a lesbian, Latifah said, “My private life is my private life. Whomever I might be with, I don’t feel the need to share it. I don’t think I ever will.” Reading Latifah’s quotes about what makes a confident and sexy woman – “I just like ladies who have class ... just be yourself and let your personality shine and let your individuality See page 13 >>

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Politics >>

August 18-24, 2011 •

SF fall ballot has few out candidates by Matthew S. Bajko

s it now stands, the only San Francisco political contest this fall to have openly gay candidates will be the mayor’s race. Gay former Supervisor Bevan Dufty is seen as a top contender among the 16 people on the ballot seeking Room 200 at City Hall, while lesbian Green Party candidate Terry Baum is fighting an uphill battle for voter and press attention. Should either win, they would be the city’s first openly gay or out lesbian mayor. The match-ups for sheriff and district attorney failed to draw any LGBT people into the races, according to the unofficial qualified candidate list posted online late Friday, August 12 by the Department of Elections. “I think it is fair to say we would like to see a very diverse group of candidates on the ballot. Certainly, there is some really exciting diversity as it relates to the Asian American community. I think that is excellent and exciting,” said Gabriel Haaland, a longtime political organizer and transgender activist in the city. “But I wish there was the same diversity as it relates to the LGBT community and there is really not.” Earlier in the year both of the law enforcement posts had drawn interest from gay men. But the two former prosecutors eyeing the D.A. race, former Police Commissioner Jim Hammer and mayoral aide and TV pundit Paul Henderson, decided against mounting campaigns. In the sheriff ’s race, both gay police Officer Michael Evans and gay former sheriff ’s deputy Jon Gray failed to gain traction this summer as they tried to secure endorsements in the race. Evans suspended his bid in late June, and last week, Gray also opted not to run. He told the Bay Area Reporter that he could not overcome questions about his various legal disputes with the city’s sheriff and fire departments. And his idea of merging the police and sheriff ’s departments to save money was dead on arrival with city leaders he courted for endorsements. “The merger issue nobody wanted to even touch that,” he said. “It was really hard to get support. If I couldn’t get support from my own community what was the point?” Instead of being upset, Gray expressed a sense of relief with bowing out of the fall campaign. As of now, he said he has no plans to endorse in the sheriff ’s race. “I am a little relieved. I don’t have to go to any more of these debates and neighborhood forums,” said Gray, who is trying to become a patrol special police officer. “It is like playing a poker game and knowing when you are losing. It was time to fold.” At press time it did not appear any mystery gay candidates would be late entrants into the sheriff ’s race. The filing deadline was extended until 5 p.m. Wednesday, August 17 – after the B.A.R.’s print deadline – because the current officeholder, Michael Hennessey, did not file to seek re-election last Friday. After three decades as sheriff, Hennessey is retiring this year. The leading candidates to succeed Hennessey are District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, former police union head Chris

Bill Wilson

Mayor Ed Lee and mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty are both vying for the top job in November, but were all smiles before the start of last week’s mayoral debate.

Cunnie, and Sheriff ’s Captain Paul Miyamoto. Former sheriff ’s deputy union head, David Wong, who is fighting his dismissal from the department due to an altercation he had with a female prisoner, reversed course from dropping out of the race and instead filed the necessary paperwork. H. Brown, a political gadfly, also entered the race. Late entrant to the D.A. contest, attorney and former prosecutor Bill Fazio, is making his fourth bid for the office. He joins a race where most of the attention has been focused on current D.A. George Gascón; David Onek, a senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice; and Alameda County prosecutor Sharmin Bock. Criminal defense attorney and former Orange County deputy public defender Vu Vuong Trinh, who moved to the city with his family this spring, has also entered the race. The surprise last-minute entrance Friday of San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi into the mayor’s race brings the number of Asian American candidates to six. Already running were interim Mayor Ed Lee; Board of Supervisors President David Chiu; AssessorRecorder Phil Ting; state Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and Wilma Pang, a Republican who is a trained Chinese opera singer. Should any of the sextet win, they would become the city’s first elected Asian American mayor. Two other women, venture capitalist Joanna Rees and former District 2 Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, are seeking to become only the second woman to be mayor. Three Latino men are on the ballot; City Attorney Dennis Herrera; District 11 Supervisor John Avalos, and perennial candidate Cesar Ascarrunz, a former club owner and musician. Rounding out the list of mayoral candidates are former Supervisor Tony Hall, grassroots organizer Paul Currier, and Emil Lawrence, a local cab driver. The elections department expected to release an official candidates list shortly after the close of business Wednesday. The updated list can be downloaded online at www.sfgov2. org/index.aspx?page=2351.

Endorsement roundup While Lee has yet to list any endorsements (or for that matter much of anything except a solicitation for donations) on his newly launched website www.mayoredlee. com, other mayoral candidates continue to pick up supporters. Herrera recently received openly

gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano’s (D-San Francisco) second choice endorsement under the city’s ranked-choice voting system. The state lawmaker had come out in support of Avalos as his number one pick in the spring. Through a spokesman, Ammiano said he chose Herrera as his second pick because of his large role in the fight for same-sex marriage rights, his support for reforming federal immigration laws, and his track record of standing up to PG&E. With Yee in the race and Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) supporting Dufty as her number one choice, openly gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) remains the lone mayoral endorsement holdout among the city’s four-member state legislative delegation. Both Herrera and Dufty hope to secure Leno’s backing in the race. But Leno, who planned to meet with Dufty this week, told the B.A.R. he is leaning toward remaining neutral this year. “I have many friends in the race and I am not endorsing at this time,” said Leno, adding when pressed on when he would endorse that, “I don’t mean to be coy but I don’t know if I will be endorsing.” Two gay politicians who have made national headlines have endorsed Dufty, Rhode Island Representative David Cicilline (D-Providence), currently the fourth out member of Congress, and Portland, Oregon Mayor Sam Adams. Adams found himself caught in the national spotlight in 2009 shortly after being elected mayor when news broke that he had lied about his relationship with a former state legislative intern. Although both men insisted they did not engage in sex until after the young man turned 18, the revelations brought months of headlines, calls for Adams’s resignation and several failed recall attempts. Asked by the B.A.R. why he would want to associate his own mayoral campaign with Adams, who announced last month that he would not seek a second term, Dufty rejected the notion of an association. He said he had asked Adams for his endorsement when he spoke to him earlier this year as he was trying to secure the endorsement of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. “He was a Victory Fund candidate for mayor and I asked him for advice,” said Dufty, who gained the national gay group’s backing in March after he dropped selfimposed restrictions on who could contribute, and for how much, to his campaign. Dufty also picked up this week the third-place choice of SEIU Local See page 12 >>

BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< National News

August 18-24, 2011

Texas Governor Rick Perry entered the Republican presidential race last weekend.

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Representative Michele Bachmann finished first in the Ames Straw Poll.

Shake-up in GOP race as Perry enters and Pawlenty departs by Lisa Keen

ebar.com

he Republican presidential campaign field took another big lurch to the right over the weekend, welcoming its newest and most dogmatic competitor, weeding out an early entry, and giving a boost to its most anti-gay voices. Texas Governor Rick Perry announced his campaign for the Republican nomination for president August 13, telling a gathering in South Carolina that the nation needs “civil justice reform.” Perry did not explain what he meant by the phrase and it was probably a reference to the kind of legislation he supported as governor, aimed at cutting down on the number of lawsuits. But Perry’s record on LGBT issues suggests he could just as easily have been echoing a Republican staple, an opposition to judges who rule that equal protection guarantees should apply to same-sex couples. Meanwhile, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the Republican field on Sunday, August 14, after placing a distant third in the Iowa Republican Party’s straw poll Saturday. According to the Iowa Republican Party, 29 percent of the almost 17,000 votes cast Saturday in Ames were for Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota; 28 percent for Representative Ron Paul of Texas; 14 percent for Pawlenty; 10 percent for former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum; and nine percent for businessman Herman Cain. The remaining 10 percent of votes went to candidates who did not participate officially in the straw poll. Perry received 4 percent of the votes via write-ins and former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts received 3 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won about 2 percent of the vote. And the field’s most progressive candidate, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, earned less than half of 1 percent, as did Representative Thad McCotter of Michigan. The party did not indicate who received the remaining 1 percent of votes, and a spokesperson for openly gay candidate Fred Karger, who also chose not to participate in the straw poll, said they had not been able to determine how many write-ins Karger may have garnered. The straw poll is not binding on Republicans who eventually attend Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses next year and is, to a large extent, a measure of each candidates organizational strength and willingness to pay $30 each for supporters to participate in the straw poll event. Candidates

are also required to contribute $15,000 to the Iowa party in order to set up a tent for their supporters and, in order to attract and retain supporters during the voting, they typically provide food and entertainment. Bachmann’s tent, for instance, provided entertainment by country singer Randy Travis. Bachmann appeared on numerous political talk shows Sunday, including ABC’s This Week. Guest host Jake Tapper asked Bachmann about her now wellpublicized speech as state senator in 2004 in which she said that homosexuality leads to “Personal bondage, personal despair, and personal enslavement.” “Do you believe that?” asked Tapper. Bachmann did not answer the question but said, instead, “Well, I’m running to be the president of the United States. I am not running to be any person’s judge. And I ascribe dignity and honor to all people no matter who they are, and that’s how I view people.” “So, you would appoint an openly gay or lesbian person to your administration?” asked Tapper. “I would look first of all: would they uphold the Constitution of the United States. And number two: are they competent to do what they need to do and are they the best at who they are. That’s my criteria. Nothing more.” Bachmann’s positions and comments against LGBT people have marked her, along with Santorum, as two of the most antigay candidates in the Republican field. Both have also signed two political pledges to oppose equal rights for same-sex couples in marriage licensing. Perry is in roughly the same boat. He’s spoken out against same-sex marriage and, in 2005, signed into law a ban on same-sex marriage in Texas. In the weeks leading up to announcing his bid for the White House, Perry engaged in high profile collaborations with such anti-gay organizations as the American Family Association and held a prayer rally in Houston. Equally disturbing to many was Perry’s behavior onstage – drifting seamlessly from political speech to prayer and back again. The Houston Gay Political Caucus posted a message on its website recently, calling Perry’s partnership with AFA “an assault on the GLBT community.” The Human Rights Campaign, which has already endorsed President Barack Obama, said Perry’s prayer day collaboration included “the most virulent antigay leaders and organizations in the country.”▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

August 18-24, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< The Sports Page

August 18-24, 2011

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Gay sports, they are a-changin’ by Roger Brigham

hree decades ago, the Gay Games were launched in San Francisco, forever changing the landscape of LGBT sports and triggering the organization of hundreds of LGBT sports groups and eventually empowering hundreds of thousands of LGBT athletes. No athletes benefited more than the participants in smaller, individual sports such as powerlifting, bodybuilding, martial arts, and wrestling. The Gay Games provided the critical mass of participants for those sports to organize nationally and globally. We now appear to be on the brink of a new age in LGBT sports, and those smaller sports are likely to be left out as athletic diversity gives way to number-crunching economics and appeasement politics. The 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland may well mark the last major LGBT sports-intensive global event with significant sports diversity as the smaller individual sports seek to survive through smaller, more sports-oriented events. A power struggle for the soul of the Gay Games has been going on behind the scenes for years, with diehard sports supporters struggling to retain control of the quadrennial event’s mission as tourism industry interests attempt to change the model into more of a Pride party and conference event. The division erupted in the quadrennial cycle leading up to Gay Games VII in Chicago with the creation of the rival World Outgames, and continues even now as joint discussions are held by Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association and the Federation of Gay Games to establish a single event in 2018. FGG Co-President Emy Ritt informed the FGG membership August 8 that the Joint Working

Group was proposing to call the 2018 festival “Together 2018 Gay Games X 4th Outgames.” Rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it? No details have been announced, although the FGG membership is supposed to look at proposals next month and will vote on proposals at its annual meeting in Toronto in October. My best guess is the proposal will call for both GLISA and the FGG to be involved in selecting the host organization and giving GLISA what the World Outgames have never had: competitive, multiple bidders; access to Gay Games constituents; and steady income. And expect the athletes to foot the bill for a human rights conference to be held as a key component of the Outgames model. Perhaps, as was done at the recently concluded continental Outgames in Vancouver, there will be a live demonstration of how to cleanse an uncircumcised dick. Not sure exactly how that is related to sports. With an estimated 1.2 million visitors in Vancouver for Pride Week, the Vancouver Outgames last month managed to pull in an estimated 800 combined conference and sports registrants after initially projecting a larger sports slate and 4,000 participants. A dozen sports events were held, and of 40 conference sessions, 29 did not deal with sports issues. Smaller, individual sports either have not been included in past world and continental Outgames or have not drawn enough numbers to be successful. It is difficult to envision many or any of them surviving beyond one unified quadrennial cycle. But help may be on the way through nascent, smaller grassroots multi-sport events. One of these is the Sin City Shootout, to be held over Marin

Firefighter Paul Ryan is the tournament director of the Sin City Shootout.

Luther King weekend in Las Vegas next January. Begun in 2007 as a winter softball tournament hosted by the Greater Los Angeles Sports Association, and the brainchild of firefighter Eric Ryan, the fifth edition will also include tennis, bodybuilding, and wrestling. No massive opening and closing ceremonies with endless political speeches. No human rights jaw sessions. Just parties and sports run by and for athletes. Vancouver Outgames announced a large slate of planned sports events and then cut bowling, water polo, figure skating, ice hockey, swimming, mountain biking, mountain marathon, and dragon boat racing when it turned out that the calendar in those sports was already saturated. In contrast, Ryan, the tournament director of Sin City, contacted a bevy of sports to assess their interest and only announced the sports that expressed interest. If they come, they will build it. “My ultimate goal would be to add a couple more sports a year,” Ryan told the Bay Area Reporter. “Keep it where each sport handles its own competition, collects its own registrations and fees, and just builds in a small fee to cover things

such as the bracelets every athlete will get for access to events.” Ryan said he expects about 2,000 softball players, by far the largest of any of the Sin City sports. He said the Body Building Guild said it was expecting 50 athletes; host Las Vegas Tennis Club was expecting about 100 athletes; and Southern California Wrestling Club, which is co-hosting the event with Wrestlers WithOut Borders, expects about 50 wrestlers. Basketball participated this year but is not back next year because of schedule conflicts. But tournament conflicts didn’t stop wrestling: New York’s Metro Wrestling quickly agreed to move the date of its winter tournament in order to help the start of the new wrestling tournament, dubbed the Runyon Wrestling Classic, in honor of SCWC founder Pete Runyon. The tournament is expected to offer one day of freestyle wrestling and one day of WWB’s first-ever grappling tournament. “I think it’s a positive experience,” Ryan, 41, said. “It’s not the Gay Games or the Outgames walkinginto-the-stadium experience, but it’s an economical alternative to stay active and socialize, and not have so much of the politics involved in those bigger events.” Sin City information is available at www.sincityshootout.com. Softball registration opens September 1 and other sports will open their registrations on separate dates. There weren’t a lot of sports options available for LGBT athletes when the Gay Games started three decades ago, but now because of the success of the games, there is an ever growing number of options, from single sport international championships to club tournaments and mini-sports festivals. They cannot match the empowering experience of the Gay Games as we have known them, but as the new one quadrennial event gets ready to shed some of its sports participation commitment to competition and

diversity, it is good to know the sports should be able to survive. And perhaps pick up the pieces when the insanity ends in another decade. As Bob Dylan would say, “the first one now will later be last, for the times, they are a-changin.’”

Here and there Pride meet: The weather was perfect last Saturday for the fourth Pride Track and Field meet, hosted by San Francisco Track and Field Club and held in non-Gay Games years. Results are expected to be posted this week on the event’s Web site,www.pridemeet.org... Tony Bruno update: The sports talk radio host was suspended for one week by DirectTV for his incorrect and racist “illegal alien” reference to San Francisco relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez Friday, August 5 on his evening talk show. Still no apology or suspension for his calling baseball players “pansies.” ... Redneck Olympics: The reporting on Maine’s Redneck Olympics last week was as sloppy as the mud pit in the event’s Belly Flop competition. Numerous news agencies repeated each other’s errors, saying the International Olympic Committee was objecting to organizers using the word “Olympics” and that the Gay Games had dropped the word in 1982 because of the “threat” of a lawsuit. It is the United States Olympic Committee that called Redneck organizer Harold Brooks and said that using the word “Olympics” was a no-no; and it was the USOC that got an injunction and fought a four-year lawsuit all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court blocking the Gay Games from use of the word. It also had a lien on founder Dr. Tom Waddell’s house that it did not release until after his death. Brooks told the Lewiston Sun Journal (Maine) that he believed his event was protected from the law because it was a parody of the Olympics. “It’s a comedy act,” he said. “They can’t touch me.”▼

Men sue Great America over ‘fags’ photo << by Seth Hemmelgarn

wo gay men are suing Great America three years after an employee of the Santa Clara amusement park reportedly attached the phrase “Were (sic) fags!” to a photo of them. According to their attorneys, Craig Person and Edmund Yang filed the lawsuit because they were discriminated against and harassed while at the park, among other claims. In their complaint filed Monday, August 8 in Santa Clara County Superior Court, Person and Yang, who were partners at the time, visited the park with friends in August 2008. After they rode the Psycho Mouse rollercoaster, they saw an array of photos from the ride displayed for purchase. One of the images showed Person and Yang in the rear of the rollercoaster holding hands. They declined to buy a copy. Later in the day, a friend of the couple’s saw the same photo displayed, except the words “Were (sic) Fags!” had been added, according to the complaint. Park employees told the couple’s friends they didn’t know who had altered the photo, which a friend confiscated. A friend showed the photo to Person, who became distressed and decided not to show the picture to Yang until after they left the park.

The photo in question, with the plaintiff’s faces hidden, was provided by the attorneys representing Craig Person and Edmund Yang.

The complaint says Person took the photo to a guest services representative, who admitted park employees created it. When Person showed Yang the photo that evening, Yang also became distressed, the complaint says. In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Person said, “This has been hurtful. This has personally affected my sense of equal access and fair treatment,” where he least expected that security to be at risk – an amusement park. Yang told the B.A.R. that the incident “hurt me because I was in

the process of coming out. It was a scary experience, a humiliating experience.” Asked why they waited three years to file the complaint, Yang said the situation has been “a learning process” for him. “When it first happened, I wasn’t sure exactly what to do,” he said. “I was scared and uninformed.” He said he’s now “more confident” in himself. Among the reasons for waiting that Person cited, he said he’s African American and Yang is Asian, and he indicated the two had been worried

about their families’ reactions to the incident. He also said that he and Yang had tried to work with Great America officials but over time park representatives stopped returning calls. Wendy Musell, one of the attorneys representing Person and Yang, added that the case had “gnawed” at the men, and they “didn’t want Great America to be able to so easily dismiss this issue.” Person declined to give his age. Yang would only say he’s in his 20s. The two are no longer partners. Both live in San Jose. Jim Stellmack, a Great America spokesman, told the B.A.R. that the park had taken “immediate and appropriate action, which included terminating the employee involved” and officials were “as outraged as anyone” over what happened. He said he couldn’t comment on specifics of the complaint but said park representatives had met with Person and Yang after the incident. Stellmack also said park staff work to ensure “we treat people with respect and dignity,” regardless of characteristics such as sexual orientation. Among other things, Person and Yang are seeking damages and other relief. Other parties named as defendants are Cedar Fair Entertainment Company; Cedar Fair, LP; and Cedar Fair Management, Inc.▼

New maps From page 1

“It is somewhat ironic that the party so eager for an independent citizens commission is now crying they don’t like the outcome. The vote on the commission was a resounding 13 to 1,” said Leno. “It is a bit of sour grapes.” Expecting that the new maps for the state’s 53 congressional, 40 state Senate, 80 state Assembly, and four state Board of Equalization districts will be challenged, the state Supreme Court issued an advisory this week noting that any citizen wishing to legally challenge the boundaries can do so by first submitting a petition online. A hard copy must also be filed with the court by Thursday, September 29. In a statement Frederick Ohlrich, the court’s clerk-administrator, said the justices wanted to address any claims “in an expeditious manner” so that “future statewide elections, including the June 5, 2012 statewide primary election, can proceed as scheduled.” The redistricting process this year marked the first time that California’s lawmakers did not have a hand in drawing new political boundaries based on the decennial census count. It also was the first time that LGBT people were considered to be a community of interest that should be given special attention when determining how to carve up the Golden State into the new state Assembly and Senate districts as well as congressional seats. See page 12 >>

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International News >>

August 18-24, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

Prague celebrates first LGBT pride event by Heather Cassell

rague attracted an estimated 5,000 Pride celebrants last Saturday, August 13 amidst some protests from far-right groups. The inaugural event received criticism from Petr Hajek, a senior aide to President Vaclav Klaus, who branded the celebration a “political demonstration ... of a world in which sexual or any other deviation becomes a virtue,” reported the PinkPaper.com. The Pride celebration and parade was publicly supported by Prague Mayor Bohuslay Svoboda. Hajek called for Svoboda’s resignation. Klaus reportedly said he did not “feel any pride in the event,” and refused to distance himself from Hajek, which sparked controversy prior to the event, according to the paper. Before the pride celebration, event organizers hoped that it wouldn’t ignite trouble similar to Brno’s Queer Pride celebration last year. In 2010, 150 anti-gay protesters turned out to protest the 600 Pride marchers. In 2008, protesters became violent and extremists broke through the barriers and attacked marchers, reported the

Prague Post. “For me, one of the main things is that this should be a place, a festival for everyone to come, have a good time and enjoy themselves. It’s a celebration,” Bastiaan Huijgen, a member of the Prague Pride organizing committee told the Prague Post. “How can people protest a bunch of people having a good time in the street? Sure, it also helps to bring visibility to the LGBT community, and Czechs tend to be a bit introverted on these matters,” he added. The anti-gay protesters shouted abusive slogans at the marchers from behind barricades along the parade route, the BBC reported. The “colorful parade” with its enthusiastic supporters marched through the drizzled-dampened streets as it wound its way to an island on the Vltava River where the five-day event wrapped up with concerts, according to media reports.

Cameroon crackdown on homosexuality continues Human rights organizations on Monday called for the immediate release of two young men, known only as Jonas S., 19, who went by “Dolores,” and Franky D., 20, who

Pride participants held their first march in Prague last weekend.

went by “Naomie,” who are to stand trial for homosexual acts on August18. The young men have been charged under Section 347a of the Cameroonian Penal Code, which criminalizes same-sex sexual acts and has been enforced since 1972. If convicted the young men could face up to five years in prison, according to Amnesty International. The men were arrested under Section 347a, a development in recent years where the law has been “stringently enforced,” after it hit a peak in 2005-2006, according to Erwin Van Der Borght, Amnesty International’s Africa program director. In addition, individuals

standing up for LGBT rights in Cameroon face threats of arrest. “But over the past few months, such arrests appear to be on the rise again. We urge the Cameroonian authorities to rethink this discriminatory legislation and comply with their obligations under international human rights law,” said Van Der Borght. The young men, who were held at Yaounde’s Kondengui Central Prison, were arrested late in the night around July 26 or 27, according to local media reports. The two men, and one other man, Hilaire N., 36, who was arrested with them, were allegedly in a car outside of Madison nightclub in the Montee Mimboman

district of Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. The car caught police officers’ attention because it was allegedly “zigzagging on the road,” according to local media reports. When the police stopped the car they claim they found Jonas touching Hilaire, who was driving, in a sexual way. The young men also were allegedly dressed in women’s clothing. Amnesty International is demanding the end of “charges of homosexuality” and repeal of Section 347a. “Cameroon should repeal this draconian law. By arresting people purely because of their alleged sexual orientation, the Cameroonian government is flagrantly violating international human rights treaties which it has signed or ratified,” said Van Der Borght. At the beginning of this year Alice Nkom, Cameroon’s first female attorney and founder of the Association to Defend Homosexuals in Cameroon, was threatened in the media with arrest for obtaining a grant from the European Union to battle homophobia in the centralwestern African republic. It doesn’t appear that Nkom, 69, was arrested. Instead the activist and lawyer has been speaking at events around the world, according to reports on the Internet. This See page 13 >>

Panetta asked to change policy in wake of DADT repeal by Chuck Colbert

he Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has asked Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to adopt a policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation and to do more to bring about changes in benefits for gay men and lesbians serving in armed forces. The request came in an August 11 letter to the defense secretary. While thanking Panetta for his role in certifying military readiness for implementation of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, SLDN’s executive director and Army veteran Aubrey Sarvis wrote, “There is more that you can do to bring about a military that is both open and equitable.” Specifically, SLDN wants “sexual orientation” added to the Department of Defense Human Goals Charter, which would bring DOD in line with civilian employment that enumerates its equal opportunity policy to include race, color, sex, religion, national

origin, or sexual orientation. “It should be a simple matter to add the words ‘sexual orientation,’” Sarvis wrote. SLDN is seeking explicit mention of sexual orientation so that service members have access to the Military Equal Opportunity program. When repeal of DADT takes effect on September 20, gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members will not have recourse to an independent investigatory channel – available to women and minorities through MEO – in seeking redress for any alleged incidents of harassment or discrimination. As previously reported, SLDN has called on President Barack Obama to issue an executive order to ban discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation. Besides presidential action, said Sarvis, “Secretary Panetta could issue a directive that MEO is the appropriate place for gay and lesbian service members who feel they are being discriminated or harassed because of sexual orientation.”

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta

Sarvis has also asked Panetta to do all in his authority to address inequalities in family support, pay, and benefits that will exist for gay service members post DADT. “With the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ there will be two classes of service members in the military

– those who receive the full range of benefits and support and those who don’t,” wrote Sarvis to Panetta. Sarvis continued, “At SLDN, we fully understand that the Defense of Marriage Act prevents the Department from extending the same support and benefits to all service members. However, you have the ability, within the confines of the law, to make same-sex married couples and their families eligible to take part in some of the programs that are available to their straight married counterparts.” That would include making same-sex couples eligible for joint duty assignments, family center programs, and military housing, and access to commissaries and exchanges, among others. DOMA restricts, for example, payment of housing benefits for same-sex couples, SLDN acknowledged. But determining who is eligible to live in military family housing – governed by DOD regulations – could include same-sex couples without violating

DOMA, according to SLDN. Already, military officials have said gay service members with children can live on base with their same-sex partner, if he or she is the designated caregiver. The reason is because military regulations allow that caregiver to be someone other than a spouse, for example, a sibling or grandparent, according to reporting by Stars and Stripes, a DOD-authorized daily newspaper. In other news, SLDN has just released a post-DADT repeal publication, “Freedom to Serve: The Definitive Guide to LGBT Service.” Written for current service members, veterans, and future recruits and their families, the publication is a comprehensive legal guide to laws and policies related to open military service. It is available at www.sldn. org. Once repeal takes effect, service members “are free to come out without fear of being fired,” said Sarvis. “That’s what is important. Whether they elect to come out is their call.”▼

Obituaries >> N2Men site From page 2

Primary and secondary syphilis cases increased 38 percent in the county between 2009 and 2010, according to the data, which also show that almost 90 percent of new syphilis cases are among men who have sex with men. The highest proportion – 41 percent – is among people who are 20 to 29 years old.

Outreach For the launch of www.N2Men. org, 20 gay men will have been given some training on HIV and other STD prevention and will be at San Jose’s LGBT Pride festival. The Pride celebration begins the same day the website launches. Ferrer, who’s openly gay and HIV-negative, said other outreach targets would include gay bars and San Jose’s WaterGarden bathhouse. Craig Gawlick, a 29-year-old gay man who lives in Mountain View, is

one the people who’s been trained as a peer counselor. He’ll be at Pride this weekend to help publicize the site. He said he grew up in Santa Clara County and there wasn’t a centralized place to find information on things like testing “or anything to do with being gay.” Gawlick said he gets tested regularly, and he’s STD free and HIVnegative. He spoke of the need for a site like N2Men.org He said doing a Google search for STD and HIV information “has spotty results right now for Santa Clara County. A lot of websites for different organizations aren’t up-todate or they’re no longer working.” Ferrer addressed the site’s social aspects. He said they want to encourage people to have “social, healthy” interactions and provide them with alternatives to bars. He said in his agency’s view, “If you really are going to do HIV or STD prevention, you really have to think about what are the reasons why people

don’t use protection even after they’ve received education. ... If education alone solved the problem, we wouldn’t have infection rates going up.”

Funding Ferrer, who said his agency would be doing most of the website work on its own, estimated the first phase of the site would cost about $10,000. He said the second phase, which would feature more content, would be unveiled by the end of the year. That phase would probably cost another $5,000, he said. The Elton John AIDS Foundation gave the Health Trust a $75,000 grant to do HIV prevention and education work in the South Bay, Ferrer said. He said the website is just one project for which they’re using the funds. An Elton John foundation staffer didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday.▼ For more information, visit www.healthtrust.org.

Bernice Becker A memorial for Bernice Becker will be held Sunday, August 21, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the CPMC Enright Room in San Francisco. Those attending should enter on Clay and Buchanan, past the information desk. It is on the left across from the elevators. Please bring dessert for four or a drink. Help us celebrate a great lady.

Daniel P. Evanoff August 14, 1953 – August 9, 2011

Daniel Evanoff was born to George C. Evanoff Sr. and Lorraine Evanoff on August 14, 1953 in Hammond, Indiana. Daniel attended St. Casimir’s Elementary School, Hammond Technical Vocational High School, and Indiana University/Purdue University Calumet Campus. He

has resided in Chicago, New York, and finally, San Francisco, where he made a permanent home. Daniel is survived his mother Lorraine Evanoff; sister Patricia Amenta and husband Paul; brother George Evanoff; and brother David and wife Chris. He will be missed by his many nieces and nephews, all family members, and his wide circle of friends.

• Obituary policy • Obituaries should be e-mailed toobituaries@ebar. com. They must be no longer than 200 words. Please follow normal rules of capitalization – and no poetry. We reserve the right to edit for style, clarity, grammar, and taste. Please provide the name and contact information for the funeral home, crematory, or organ donation agency that handled final disposition of the body. This is for verification. Please submit a photo of the deceased. E-mail a recent color jpg. Deadline for obituaries is Monday at 9 a.m., with the exception of special display ad obituaries, which must be submitted by Friday at 3 p.m. For information on paid obituaries, call (415) 861-5019. Obituaries can be mailed to Bay Area Reporter, 395 9th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Write the deceased’s name on the back of the photo. If you include a SASE for the photo’s return, write the person’s name on the inside of the envelope flap. All obituaries must include a contact name and daytime phone number. They must be submitted within a year of the death. For archived obituaries, go to www.glbthistory.org/ obituaries.

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

Political Notebook From page 7

1021, the union that represents more than half of San Francisco’s city workers. It is a far cry from 2002, when the local union was one of Dufty’s biggest adversaries during his first race for supervisor. But Dufty proved to be a friendly

SF Pride From page 1

But rather than leave open the possibility of filling the director’s job permanently, it now seems Behan really will be leaving. “No. Right now, the plan is no,” Behan said Tuesday, when asked whether he would stay past December. Behan’s return to Pride followed months of turmoil at the organization. He filled the top post that had been vacant since former Executive Director Amy Andre left in November 2010, just over a year after she started the job. Soon after last year’s celebration, several community partners complained that Pride had shortchanged them. In December, the city controller’s office revealed that the nonprofit was $225,000 in debt. Things have improved since then. Behan said that this year’s scores of community partners would receive full payments totaling almost $169,000. Those checks were handed out at a party Tuesday. Final payments to nonprofits that worked with Pride to put on last year’s event were made just before this year’s celebration. In addition, Behan said that the organization has almost completely paid off its 2010 debt. With all the progress that’s been made, his imminent departure could raise some concern. But Behan said, “This was always

DA candidate From page 1

“discrimination against them really leaves them more vulnerable to crime.” “Being transgender is not a provocative act,” Bock said. She said there needs to be more programs to prevent hate crimes, and as district attorney she’d increase training among people involved in law enforcement, including juries and judges. However, “Prosecution is simply one part of the equation,” Bock said. “Training and outreach in collaboration with community groups are an equally vital component” of an effective criminal justice response, she said. Agencies ranging from the BART transit system to health care providers also need to be included in awareness efforts, she said.

Death penalty One issue that’s loomed large in the months leading up to the November

<< Community News

August 18-24, 2011

New maps From page 10

Nonetheless, some LGBT neighborhoods did not fair as well as others, including in San Jose and Los Angeles County. Already one gay Assembly candidate in West Hollywood, City Councilman Jeff Prang, bowed out due to the redrawn maps, while speculation is building that two gay politicians with eyes on a Silicon Valley Assembly seat, Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager and Campbell City Councilman Evan Low, will also suspend their campaigns so as not to take on incumbent Assemblyman Paul Fong, who is Low’s boss. One gay Assembly candidate who is hoping to see changes in how the Los Angeles basin was carved up is Luis Lopez. The Latino political activist is running for the new 51st

▼

vote on the board, and in 2006 when he ran for re-election, he won SEIU’s backing in the race. “The members really like him,” said Haaland, the union’s political coordinator. Dufty said he is “ecstatic” to have the union’s support. “It has been a great road I have been on with SEIU,” said Dufty.

The union ended up splitting its endorsement between Avalos and Yee, meaning it is up to the employees to decide which of the two will be their first and second choice. Haaland said the vote was evenly split between the two candidates. “It was the best solution, given the context, to do a dual endorsement. It

is one of the benefits of IRV, you get three choices,” said Haaland, using the acronym for instant-runoff voting. “Given the importance of this race, and given how many candidates are in the race, it is important to do a full slate.” In the D.A.’s race, the union went with Onek as its first choice, Fazio as its second, and Bock as its third.

Mirkarimi picked up SEIU’s sole endorsement for sheriff. ▼

envisioned as an interim ED position, and as such, it has a termination point.” Asked if he wanted to stay, he couldn’t simply answer yes or no. “It’s hard when I’ve been through so many events and been with Pride and care so much about it to want to break away,” said Behan, who once served as Pride’s deputy director but left before the turmoil of the last year. “It’s the reason I came back after leaving. I always want to stay involved in supporting the organization” in some way, he said. However, he said, he has “a myriad of personal and professional factors to take into consideration, so it’s not such a simple question to decide.” Behan, whose salary is $65,000, said that nobody asked him to leave, but no one’s asked him to stay, either. However, he said, the weeks since this year’s celebration ended have been “very busy” with tasks such as wrapping up the budget for this year, which was $1.7 million. He said the board would need to decide the start of the search for his replacement. As far as people being concerned about him leaving, and whether he was confident the board would find someone capable of leading the organization, Behan noted the board’s almost entirely different from the one that selected Andre, who appeared to have trouble managing the organization.

Several people have joined the board since 2010, but two members who’ve been on the board for several years remain: current Chair Lisa Williams and Joshua Smith. Behan said Williams “has really shown that she’s battle tested, and that she can help lead the board, and I have 100 percent confidence that however the board decides to approach whatever transition they foresee, that they’re amply prepared to take into consideration all the lessons of the past.” Despite multiple attempts to interview Williams, she did not provide comment for this article. The Bay Area Reporter emailed a request for comment for this story to Smith. He responded with a message that said, “I have forwarded your query to [Williams], who is our spokesperson.”

projecting a “modest net profit for the 2011 fiscal year.” Behan told the B.A.R. he couldn’t yet say what the precise figure would be, since budget reconciliation is continuing through the end of September. Some financial figures from this year’s Pride weren’t as good. Behan said in his report that income for beverage sales had been recorded at about $527,000, a drop of approximately $26,000 from 2010. One reason for the decrease could be increased charges for drinks at the festival. Behan said prices for certain types of beer, water, and soda went up $1. He told the B.A.R. that Pride officials were still looking into the decrease. He said sales “vary from year to year,” and there could be a “multitude of factors.” For example, he pointed to competition from stores that surround the event site. Beverage manager Andy Copperhall said Tuesday that he’d warned against the price increases, which he said were the board’s decision. “It was brought up at least three or four times over the year,” Copperhall said. “... And I said, ‘Don’t do it. It’s stupid.’” He said it’s “very clear” the price increases hurt sales. Pride fared better in terms of donations at the gate. Behan said in his report that that income category

was recorded at over $134,000, surpassing the budgeted amount of $113,000.

election is the death penalty. Opponent David Onek, a criminal justice expert and former San Francisco police commissioner, has said he wouldn’t seek the death penalty under any circumstances. Current DA George Gascón, who’s trying to hold on to the job, has said he’s “not a believer” in the death penalty, but he’s also said, “It’s important to recognize it is state law.” His ideas include calling for a statewide referendum to repeal the death penalty. Bock has said she would continue with former DA Kamala Harris’s special circumstance committee to review cases individually and make recommendations on capital punishment. However, in her interview with the Bay Area Reporter, she said, “I’m 100 percent against the death penalty.” In June, Bock joined more than 60 law enforcement officials across California calling for an end to the state’s death penalty law. She said she doesn’t think it’s a deterrent, and it’s “applied unfairly

along racial lines,” among other reasons for her opposition. She disagrees with an “eye for an eye” approach, she said, and recalled the case of George Willoughby, whom she prosecuted, as the one that crystallized her view. According to Bock, Willoughby raped and sodomized a woman; hung her by her neck and her left ankle from a tree; and set her on fire from her vagina. The woman died hopping on her right leg, Bock said. She said that at Willoughby’s sentencing, the woman’s daughter forgave him. All Willoughby could do was stare at the daughter’s newly pedicured feet and gold sandals, Bock said. “That case, and the closure that she got, and the sentence that he received – life without the possibility of parole – that is justice, not the death penalty,” Bock said. Asked about continuing Harris’s committee despite her opposition to the death penalty, Bock repeated her opposition to capital punishment, but noted that the death penalty

“is the law of the state” and “as a prosecutor, you have to uphold the law.” She added that in “the final analysis, the decision is mine, and I’m 100 percent against the death penalty.”

Assembly District even though his Silver Lake home ended up in the new 43rd Assembly District seat. “I am very close to the border. We are talking less than a block away,” said Lopez. Unless the boundaries are changed, Lopez will have to move into the adjacent district in order to continue his campaign for that seat, opt to run for the other district he now resides in, or bow out entirely. He told the Bay Area Reporter this week he plans to continue campaigning as he waits to see what happens. “This is still in play. I am keeping my options open,” Lopez said. Prior to the redistricting commission’s final meeting this week, EQCA Executive Director Roland Palencia sent the panel a letter thanking it for recognizing the LGBT community “as a unique community of interest.” But he also wrote “some

concerns remain.” In the August 4 letter Palencia singled out Assembly Districts in the Oakland Hills and northwest San Jose where LGBT neighborhoods “are split.” In terms of the Senate, Palencia said EQCA had concerns with how LGBT areas in San Jose and Long Beach’s Belmont Shores area ended up in different districts. And in Pasadena and San Diego, EQCA expressed concerns with how the redistricting panel carved up those cities’ gayborhoods into multiple congressional districts. “We urge you to take a look at Assembly, Senate, and congressional districts where LGBT COI have not been kept whole and that you adjust them in order to keep these communities intact,” wrote Palencia, using the acronym for communities of interest. Before it makes a decision on how

to proceed, EQCA’s Guerrero said the group will first take into account such things as what is the likelihood a legal challenge can win and how much such a fight would cost it. It already is bracing for an expensive campaign to protect a newly enacted state law that requires public schools to teach about LGBT history. “There is a number of things to be considered, but we are not there yet,” said Guerrero. Asked if he agreed with the concerns EQCA has raised, Leno declined to discuss specific political boundaries he finds questionable. But he did express general agreement with the views expressed by Palencia in his letter. “Without getting into any detail, I am more pleased with some decisions the commission made than others. But it is a total package,” said Leno. Overall, there is a good chance of

Finances Financially, the Pride Committee has come a long way in recent months. Behan said that he just signed one of the final checks related to Pride’s 2010 debt, and the second would be paid before the end of the month. One payment is to a vendor and the other is for the city’s Recreation and Park Department. He estimated the amounts totaled about $40,000. In his report for the board dated August 2, a copy of which Behan provided, he said the committee is

Realignment As part of efforts to close the state budget gap, Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law Assembly Bill 109, which aims to send some California prisoners to county jails. As Gascón and Onek have done, Bock talked about trying to help people stay out of trouble. She said efforts need to be made to “stop youths from entering the system in the first place by focusing on health and education and giving kids an opportunity to thrive, rather than having a system which funnels them into criminalization.” She also said, “We need programs in custody,” and work needs to be done so that people coming out of custody aren’t “criminalized again when they come back to the community.” Bock said she supports helping

On the web Online content this week includes an article on the kerfuffle surrounding this weekend’s Butch Voices conference in Oakland. www.ebar.com.

Pride’s future Just before Behan’s return to Pride was announced this year, some, including out gay Supervisor Scott Wiener, had talked to the B.A.R. about the idea of the nonprofit merging with another organization. Asked Tuesday about Behan leaving Pride, Wiener said, “I think Brendan did a terrific job, and it would be great for him to stay on, and I hope that he will. It’s really important for Pride to have consistent, strong leadership.” As far as Pride merging with anyone, Wiener said, “I think we need to have a frank discussion about the future of Pride.” Whether that means the nonprofit remains a separate entity or combines with another group, “We need to make the decision about what’s going to be best for Pride and best for the community,” he said. Asked whether Pride has any intention of disbanding or merging with another agency, Behan said, “No. I think it’s pretty clear we had an anomalous year last year,” and officials worked hard to come out of it. He noted that Pride is going into its 42nd year and said, “There’s a reason San Francisco Pride has been around for so long. In good times and in bad, we never forgot that ultimately it’s the community that we serve.”▼ people get jobs and the training and counseling they need, and she mentioned public-private partnerships. Concerns have been raised about adequate funding being part of the realignment process. But as far as a lack of money to help people, Bock said, “Not having money is never an excuse.” “People’s lives are at stake here,” Bock said. “You can’t say, ‘I can’t afford it.’” She said that applies to defendants as well as crime victims.

Endorsements Among the people Bock lists as endorsers are Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo), Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), Carole Migden, an out lesbian and former San Francisco supervisor and state senator, and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. Besides Fazio, Gascón, and Onek, Bock is also competing against Vu Vuong Trinh, a former deputy public defender.▼ seeing the LGBT Legislative Caucus in the statehouse grow next year, predicted Leno. It currently stands at seven members, with all but one up for re-election next year. “There is a good chance that the caucus may grow and, naturally over time, it will continue to grow,” he said. With lesbians running for Assembly seats in Stockton and Santa Monica, they could bump up the caucus to eight members by December 2012 should they and the incumbents win their races. That number could climb depending on how many additional out candidates end up on the ballot next year. As of now, it appears the state Senate will have one out member following the 2012 election. Lesbian state Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) is termed out of her seat next year, and Leno, so far, is the only declared LGBT Senate candidate.▼

â&#x2013;ź <<

Community News >>

Out in the World

From page 11

past weekend, on August 14, she was honored as grand marshal of Montreal Pride. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme of the Canadian pride event was â&#x20AC;&#x153;Share the Pride,â&#x20AC;? focusing on LGBT human rights violations around the world. Another man, Jean-Claude Roger Mbede, was arrested on â&#x20AC;&#x153;suspicion of homosexualityâ&#x20AC;? in March for sending text messages to a male friend, according to Global Equality Today. Mbede was allegedly held for seven days before being charged with â&#x20AC;&#x153;homosexuality and attempted homosexualityâ&#x20AC;? on March 9, according to media reports. He was sentenced in June and is currently serving 36 months in Kondengui Central Prison, according

Guest Opinion From page 6

show. To me, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sexier. A confident woman is a sexy woman, in my opinionâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help but think sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that sister; sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talking about herself. In 1989, at age 19, Latifah changed the way many of us viewed hip-hop with her hit single â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ladies Firstâ&#x20AC;? from her first album All Hail the Queen, rebuking misogynistic lyrics, and bringing to young women an uplifting message of selfrespect and empowerment. Latifahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sexual orientation is constantly queried, like so many African American sisters â&#x20AC;&#x201C; straight or gay â&#x20AC;&#x201C; because she is also gender non-conforming to the white feminine aesthetic. The cultural indicators of how far afield Latifah, and sisters like me, are from the white feminine aesthetic paradigm is measured by our language, size, and hair length, to name a few. Latifahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s size makes her less feminine to the white feminine

Home From page 5

reputation goes beyond simply being a rainbow bubble in the building industry; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a desirable workplace, said Kleiboer and Simpson. The real test is the â&#x20AC;&#x153;mother test,â&#x20AC;? said Simpson. Every applicant needs to pass the questions, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Is this person someone Irisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own mother would want in her house? Is the individual a caring, generous, warm, and overall a good person?â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That goes to the heart of the company,â&#x20AC;? said Simpson, 41, an artist who like Harrell found his calling during his mid-30s when he remodeled the San Francisco home he shared with his ex-partner. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We really take pride in what we do. Everything we do reflects on not only who we are but how the company is perceived.â&#x20AC;? Employees constantly reach out to customers through the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s community service and education programs, including book drives, fundraising for childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s causes, or teaching simple home repair workshops. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have a lot of altruistic people in our company,â&#x20AC;? said Harrell talking about one employeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s volunteer trips to build housing in Mexico. Walker and Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Hanlan appreciate the added attention and care Harrell Remodeling provides its clients, but the couple doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t use the firm for all of their home repair needs. They save their large home remodeling projects for Harrellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special attention and care, Walker said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take them for granted,â&#x20AC;? said Walker, who likes the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Honey Doâ&#x20AC;? list Harrell Remodeling staff give to clients for small fix-it projects. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like buying organic or getting in on solar early, you pay a premium for it.â&#x20AC;?

Making it last Two of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focuses are

to Amnesty International. Mbede reportedly isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t doing well in the prison, which is known for overcrowding, poor sanitation, and inadequate food supplies. Amnesty International noted that Mbede is currently appealing against his conviction and sentence. The organization has urged authorities to ensure Mbedeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s safety during his confinement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Given the high level of officially sanctioned homophobia in Cameroon, those arrested under this law are at risk of attack or other forms of ill-treatment by fellow prisoners, or by prison authorities, because of their alleged sexual orientation,â&#x20AC;? said Van Der Borght.â&#x2013;ź Send tips on world news to heather@whimsymedia.com.

aesthetic paradigm, but she has, nonetheless, starred in blockbuster romantic comedies like Last Holiday and Just Wright. Depending on who Latifahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talking to her vernacular will range from standard English to hip-hop. Sister 2 Sister magazine caters to an urban hip-hop readership and her language in the interview was colorful and fitting. A failure to contextualize the different social and cultural spheres Latifah orbits will always render a misread like the media has done. And, as for the media pondering how long will it be before the Queen comes out? This is what she said in the Sister 2 Sister interview: â&#x20AC;&#x153;It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter to me what somebodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s writing. I know whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s true about me and whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not true.â&#x20AC;?â&#x2013;ź The Reverend Irene Monroe is a Huffington Post blogger and public theologian who gives workshops and talks across the country on LGBTQ issues.

the trends toward renewing the old and green building. Harrell began her move into the sustainability movement seven years ago and sees it as a natural fit to the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s philosophy and way of doing business, she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Conservation is something that I think is going to become more understood in these next couple of years,â&#x20AC;? said Harrell. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Conservation is back and people need to look at ways to conserve and widely use the resources that they have.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Green is low-maintenance and longevity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really important to do things that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to be redone again,â&#x20AC;? she added. Harrell doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe in racing into the green and sustainable building market at her clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; expense. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I would like to say that we want to be on the leading edge of green technology, but not the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;bleeding edge,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; meaning, we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want our clients to be the beta testers for new technologies, whether they are green or not,â&#x20AC;? said Harrell, who lives by example. Harrell designed her own twostory home to meet the needs of family members of all ages by installing adjustable counters, a wheelchair-friendly walkway, elevator, and curbless showers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; just some of the features she mentioned. â&#x20AC;&#x153;These are the things that force people to move,â&#x20AC;? said Harrell, justifying the upfront additional cost, which ends up being big savings in the long run. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you think about it ahead of time ... you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to move and buy something else.â&#x20AC;?â&#x2013;ź For more information, visit www.harrell-remodeling.com. For more stories touching on the home and garden theme, see the B.A.R.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special section.

August 18-24, 2011 â&#x20AC;˘

BAY AREA REPORTER â&#x20AC;˘ 13

ClassiďŹ eds The

Legal Notices>> SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT NOTICE TO PROPOSERS GENERAL INFORMATION The SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, California, is advertising for Requests for Statements RI 4XDOLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQV RQ RU DERXW $XJXVW IRU 6XVWDLQLQJ 6\VWHPV (QJLQHHULQJ 6HUYLFHV IRU %$57 SURMHFWV ZLWK 624V GXH E\ 3 0 ORFDO WLPH 7XHVGD\ 6HSWHPEHU DESCRIPTION OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED 7KH 5HTXHVW IRU 6WDWHPHQWV RI 4XDOLĂ&#x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Ă&#x20AC;UP RIIHU WR WKH 'LVWULFW IRU 2QH +XQGUHG DQG (LJKW\ FDOHQGDU GD\V IURP GDWH RI SURSRVDO VXEPLVVLRQ WHERE TO OBTAIN OR SEE RFP DOCUMENTS $YDLODEOH RQ RU DIWHU $XJXVW

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NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : ROYS CALIONE L-PSHIP. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 575 Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94105-2933.Type of license applied for:

47- ON-SALE GENERAL - EATING PLACE AUG 18,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033700800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DAKINI AYURVEDA, 43-B Vicksburg St., San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Courtney LaCava.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 07/10/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/19/11.

JUL 28,AUG.4,11,18,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033703400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as FORK CAFE,469 Castro St., San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Bassem Sirhed. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/20/11.

JUL 28,AUG.4,11,18,2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : MAJIN ENTERPRISES INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 1552 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94115-3516. Type of license applied for:

41- ON-SALE BEER AND WINEEATING PLACE AUG 18,2011

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : EL NIXTAMAL LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 1224 9TH Ave., San Francisco, CA 94122-2307. Type of license applied for:

41- ON-SALE BEER AND WINEEATING PLACE AUG 18,2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : RTJ RISING SUN INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 4067 18TH St., San Francisco, CA 94114-2535. Type of license applied for:

48- ON-SALE GENERAL PUBIC PREMISES AUG 18,2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : LEANIMALE LIMITED LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 1310 Grant Ave., San Francisco, CA 94133-3904. Type of license applied for:

41- ON-SALE BEER AND WINEEATING PLACE AUG 4,11,18,2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : HYO JOO LEE. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 6314 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94121-1824. Type of license applied for:

41- ON-SALE BEER AND WINEEATING PLACE AUG 4,11,18,2011 STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-11-547904 In the matter of the application of JENNIFER LYNN WINER FAHRION for change of name. The application of JENNIFER LYNN WINER FAHRION for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that JENNIFER LYNN WINER FAHRION filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to NIFER KILAKILA Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 22th of September, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JUL 28,AUG.4,11,18,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033700000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TACO SAN BUENA, 2598 Harrison St., San Francisco, CA 94080. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Esquival Santana.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 07/19/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/19/11.

JUL 28,AUG.4,11,18,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033659700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as INTERSTICE ARCHITECTS INC,587 Shotwell St., San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Zoee Astrachan.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 06/08/98. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/30/11.

JUL 28,AUG.4,11,18,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033714500

PETITION TO COMPEL DISCOVERY CASE NUMBER: FDI-10-773641 SUPERIOR COURT OF SAN FRANCISCO 400 MCALLISTER ST. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118 PETITIONER: OXANA SHELL RESPONDENT/DEFENDANT: CHRISTOPHER SHELL NOTICE OF MOTION: TO COMPEL DISCOVERY ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS TO RESPONDANT â&#x20AC;&#x201C; CHRISTOPHER SHELL A HEARING ON THIS MOTION FOR THE RELIEF REQUESTED IN THE ATTACHED APPLICATION WILL BE HELD AS FOLLOWS DATE:10/04/11 AT 9:00AM RM 404, 400 MCALLISTER STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118 JUL 28,AUG.4,11,18,2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : DESTINATION BARS LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 691 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94105-4212. Type of license applied for:

48- ON-SALE GENERAL PUBLIC PREMISES AUG 4,11,25 2011 STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-11-547943 In the matter of the application of NA LI TRAN for change of name. The application of NA LI TRAN for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that NA LI TRAN filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to LINA TRAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 6th of October, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

AUG.4,11,18,25,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-03366490 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PLANETSKILL PRODUCTIONS,2938 Moraga St., San Francisco, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Luke Esquivel. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 07/01/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/01/11.

AUG.4,11,18,25,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033693600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as REMAINCOM,290 Division St., Suite 306,San Francisco, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Stewart McKenzie.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 01/01/00. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/15/11.

AUG.4,11,18,25,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033697000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as JANG SOO B.B.Q.,6314 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Hyojoo Lee.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/18/11.

AUG.4,11,18,25,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033719800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ESSENCE CO.. 15 Delta St., San Francisco, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a husband and wife, signed Biu Wing.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 07/28/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/28/11.

AUG.4,11,18,25,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033710100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as STRAND BEACH ESCAPE,248 Hester Ave., San Francisco, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Freddie Little Jr.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 01/01/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/26/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LAIZA.,4 MayďŹ eld Ave., Daly City, CA 94015. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Daniel Singnan.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 07/22/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/22/11.

JUL 28,AUG.4,11,18,2011

AUG.4,11,18,25,2011

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

14 • Bay Area Reporter • August 18-24, 2011

Legal Notices>>

Legal Services>> PatrickMcMahon_2x2_2311 statement file A-033737600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as IZAKAYA SOZAI, 1500 Irving St., San Francisco, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Suemee Osuka.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/22/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/26/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MARC OLIVIER DE BLANC MOBAFOTO,1270 La Playa St., #202,San Francisco, CA 94122.This business is conducted by an individual, signed Marc Abonnat.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/04/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/04/11.

AUG.4,11,18,25,2011 statement file A-033726800

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011 statement file A-033744100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PARAGON PHILANTHROPY, 701 Broderick St., San Francisco, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Andrzej Kozlowski.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/01/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as DR. SIMMS & CATS,380 10th St., Loft 18,San Francisco, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a husband and wife, signed Adrian Simms. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/08/11.

AUG.4,11,18,25,2011 nOTICE OF APPLICATIoN to sell AlCOHOLIC BEVERAGEs

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011 statement file A-033727200

To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : IBRAHIM ELIAS ALHAJ. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 2060 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94115-2709. Type of license applied for:

41- On-sale Beer and wineEating place AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,2011 nOTICE OF APPLICATIoN to sell AlCOHOLIC BEVERAGEs To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : PHU HOANG NGUY. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 411 Ellis St., San Francisco, CA 94102-1927. Type of license applied for:

41- On-sale Beer and wineEating place AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,2011 state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# cnc-11-547960 In the matter of the application of ALEX MENGBING WU for change of name. The application of ALEX MENGBING WU for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that ALEX MENGBING WU filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to BING WU. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 11th of October, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011 statement file A-033726500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as NIGHT SKY ACUPUNCTURE, 344 Carl St.,#5, San Francisco, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Erin P. Reilly. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/08/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/01/11.

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011 statement file A-033737700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LIZBOEDER,800 35TH Ave.,San Francisco, CA 94121.This business is conducted by an individual, signed Elizabeth A. Boeder.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/04/11.

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011 statement file A-033739200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as POT GARDENS, 4040 Balboa St.,#4,San Francisco, CA 94121.This business is conducted by an individual, signed Eshai Delacruz.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/04/11.

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011 statement file A-033744500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as H2Y,2715 Cabrillo St., #103,San Francisco, CA 94121.This business is conducted by an individual, signed Hiroshi Ito.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/08/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/08/11.

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011 statement file A-033744700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as I SO LOVE SF,310 Geary Blvd.,San Francisco, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Kyeong Park.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/01/11.

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name: #A-0313229-00 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as CONNIE HAIR SALON, 2436 Bayshore Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94134.This business was conducted by an individual, signed Connie Young. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/23/08.

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011 statement file A-033727600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as YAN YANG BEAUTY SALON,864 Jackson St., San Francisco, CA 94133.This business is conducted by an individual, signed Yan Miao Chen.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/01/11.

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011 statement file A-033747100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as STEINS,731 Clement St.,San Francisco, CA 94118.This business is conducted by an individual, signed Michele Steiner, The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/09/11.

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011 statement file A-03374500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as GRC ROOFING INC.,1390 Wallace Ave.,San Francisco, CA 94124.This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Suilin Lee.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/08/11.

AUG.11,18,25,SEPt,1, 2011 statement file A-033717000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as EBANISTA SAN FRANCISCO,101 Henry Adams St.,#425,SF, CA 94103.This business is conducted by a limited partnership, signed Fari Pakzad.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/27/11.

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011 statement file A-033753500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DYNAMAIR SOLUTIONS, 58 West Portal Ave.,#245,SF, CA 94127.This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed James Sana bria.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/11/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/11/11.

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011 statement file A-033748900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as NOPA CATERING,1518 FULTON ST.,SF, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Tony Vo.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/10/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/10/11.

statement file A-033738100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as FLOORDESIGN,25 Rhode Island St.,SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed J.Patrick Aaron.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/04/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/04/11.

The Law Offices of

We file Chapter 7 & Chapter 13 for individuals & small businesses who face: • WAGE GARNISHMENT • CREDITOR HARASSMENT • FORECLOSURE • TAXES • REPOSSESSION • STUDENT LOANS • GOVERNMENT DEBTS

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011 statement file A-033756200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as 1.CALIFORNIA PROPERTY MARKET, 2.GOLDEN GATE PROPERTIES, 339 Richland Ave.,SF, CA 94110.This business is conducted by an individual, signed Ferdinand Piano.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/12/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/12/11.

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011 statement file A-033753700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BUENA VISTA STUDIO, 60 Rausch St.,Apt. 312,SF, CA 94103.This business is conducted by an individual, signed Steven Gary Sullivan.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/10/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/11/11.

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011 statement file A-033750200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as U&I AUTO SAFETY CENTER, 758 Bryant St.,SF, CA 94107.This business is conducted by an individual, signed Sang Yuo.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/88. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/10/11.

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011 statement file A-033760600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as K&K AUTO SERVICE, 1729 15TH St.,SF, CA 94103.This business is conducted by an individual, signed Ma Chung Kwong.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/16/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/16 /11.

PATRICK MCMAHON

BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY

Bankruptcy may be the answer... FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION (415) 543-9338

TimothyODonnell_1x2_3011 703 Market Street, Suite 1109 • San Francisco, CA 94103 www.bklawclinic.com • patrick@bklawclinic.com

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Law Offices of

Timothy J. O’Donnell The Law Offices of PATRICK

& small businesses who face:

• WAGE GARNISHMENT • CREDITOR HARASSMENT • FORECLOSURE • TAXES • REPOSSESSION • STUDENT LOANS • GOVERNMENT DEBTS

415.951.1983 Bankruptcy may be the answer...

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Enjoy the wine country of Mendocino County in a new log cabin style home PATRICK MCMAHON Overlooking vineyards This pristine home includes redwood covered BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY deck, fenced yard,orchard, We file Chapter 7 & Chapter individuals bamboo flooring134for miles from 101 & small businesses who face: overlooking Ukiah valley $1200 • WAGE GARNISHMENT • CREDITOR HARASSMENT monthly. 707 462-1835 • FORECLOSURE • TAXES • REPOSSESSION • STUDENT LOANS • GOVERNMENT DEBTS

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011 statement file A-0337078100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as QUIZNOS #3860,901 Polk St.,SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Seung J. Hyun.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/19/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/21/11.

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name: #A-0327065-03 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as 1.PEOPLES CHOICE LENDING,2.FIXED RATE FUNDING,3.MICHAEL DELIA FINANCIAL,4.SHERIDAN FINANCIAL,88 Kearny St.,3rd floor,SF,CA 94108. This business was conducted by a limited liability company, signed Brett McGovern. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/13/10.

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Bankruptcy may be the answer... FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION (415) 543-9338 703 Market Street, Suite 1109 • San Francisco, CA 94103 www.bklawclinic.com • patrick@bklawclinic.com

Check out our special Home & Garden Section in this issue!

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name: #A-0329891-01 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as LOCKDESK,88 Kearny St.,3rd floor,SF,CA 94108. This business was conducted by a limited liability company, signed Brett McGovern. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/24/10.

MCMAHON

Bankruptcy, BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY Debt Collection, We file Chapter 7 & Chapter 13 for individuals Estate Planning.

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395 Ninth Street S.F. CA 415.861.5019 FAX 861-8144 RealPHONE Estate >>

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AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011 state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# cnc-11-548004 In the matter of the application of KELLY LYNNE FOSTER for change of name. The application of KELLY LYNNE FOSTER for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that KELLY LYNNE FOSTER filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to JAMES THOMAS FOSTER. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 27th of October, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

Fax to: 395 Ninth Street S.F. CA PHONE 415.861.5019 FAX 861-8144

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statement file A-033715100

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011 statement file A-033751800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SMALL FOODS, 522 2nd St.,San Francisco, CA 94107.This business is conducted by a limited partnership, signed Bruce Slesinger.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/08/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE DANCING PIG SF,544 Castro St.,SF, CA 94114.This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Larry Metzger.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/02/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/11/11.

AUG.11,18,25,SEPT.1, 2011

AUG.18,25,SEPT.1,8,2011

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GARDEN The

Vol. 41 • No. 33 • August 18-24, 2011

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idden Edens

City residents turn backyards into lush gardens ~ by Matthew S. Bajko ~

aised planter beds home to flowering cilantro, sugar snap peas, and early girl tomato plants sporting yellow flowers and green fruit attract various flying insects. A banana tree provides ample shade on all-too-rare sunny San Francisco days. In the backyard of their Castro area home, partners Christopher Lalli and John Lake can watch as bees succumb to their fragrant lavender plants. “Somewhere there is a beehive where lavender honey is being made,” surmised Lake as he welcomes a guest to the yard. The couple has transformed what was once a weedy jungle into a lush landscaped retreat from the hustle and bustle of city life mere steps from their front door. “It is so peaceful here,” said Lake, the main caretaker of the garden at their Sanchez Street home. “It’s become an extension of our house as well as a source of greens, herbs, and veggies for the kitchen.” Nestled out of sight from sidewalk passersby lie similar hidden Edens throughout San Francisco’s neighborhoods. Many city residents have turned once forlorn and forgotten patches of earth into literal living rooms. Walking out of the kitchen in his Miraloma Park home, Sonny Vukic surveys the patio, small patch of grass, and brick-terraced succulent garden he tends with his 7-yearold daughter Ava. Tall trees along the back perimeter provide seclusion from adjacent properties. “It is definitely my own little slice of paradise,” said Vukic, who bought the home 10 years ago with his husband, Frank Silletti. When the couple first moved in, ivy had so overtaken the yard that it wasn’t until the creeping plants had been yanked out that the brick terraces revealed themselves. “Basically, there was nothing here except a dead lawn,” said Vukic, a manager of medical centers. “The space had a ton of potential.”

Jane Philomen Cleland

Gardener John Lake is joined by his dog Rocky as he tends to his backyard vegetables.

Jane Philomen Cleland

Ava steps carefully around bird statues as she plays in the garden as her popa, Sonny Vukic, watches.

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

See page 26 >>

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Home & Garden

August 18-24, 2011

▼

Designing on a dime Thrift shops offer cheap goods, chance to help others by Seth Hemmelgarn

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n today’s tough economy, some local secondhand stores offer shoppers a chance to pick up inexpensive furniture while helping others. Local stores are reporting steady sales, with a mix of customers experiencing tight finances or just looking for retro merchandise. The Community Thrift Store (www.communitythriftsf.org), at 623 Valencia Street, is an example. The nonprofit works with other charities, many of them LGBT, to distribute thousands of dollars to the groups each year. In April, Corey Ruda, Community Thrift’s marketing director, said, “We’re actually doing as well as or a little better” than last year, which he said was the shop’s “all time high.” Ruda, who is gay, attributed the success in part to people’s recessionary shopping habits. “It’s popular to buy used, and now it’s necessary for a lot of people to buy used,” he said. In an interview earlier this month, he said that’s still the case. The shop’s furniture sales are up about $7,000 to almost $133,000, through July, from last year, he said. He estimated that furniture accounts for about a quarter of the store’s sales. Customers include people who are moving into their first apartment, and others who are trying to give their homes a certain look. Many shoppers are “people that just moved into the neighborhood” who will buy a couch, a dining room table, and other items, he said. The store is “a one-stop shop,” and they know “they’ll be spending a lot less here,” Ruda said. He said couches can be as low as $80, and the average price is around

Jane Philomen Cleland

Corey Ruda, marketing director of the Community Thrift Store, points out a dining room set that is among the furniture for sale.

$250. One antique couch sold for about $2,000. Dining tables and dressers are other common items. Some popular items can be surprising. “It’s weird, if we get a barber chair donated, a lot of people claw for those,” he said. Ruda said the store checks furniture for problems like bedbugs. “We’ll go through and check the cushions and look for evidence,” he said. “If we think there’s anything like that, we won’t accept the furniture.” He said customers haven’t reported bug problems. Seniors, “hip Mission kids,” gay people, and families are all among Community Thrift’s customers, he said. He also said the store has “a lot of regulars.” Some come in for furniture, others are looking for books, and some refurbish items and resell them.

Out of the Closet Out of the Closet (www.outofthecloset.org), a chain of thrift stores with three San Francisco locations, is another place to look for furniture bargains. The shops are owned and operated by the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and generate income that helps fund the medical services the foundation provides. Debra Bratcher, district manager for Out of the Closet’s San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley shops, said business is “a little slow, obviously, with the economy, but we’re doing okay.” There’s “definitely a decrease in the amount of people coming into the store” compared to last year, she said. Items like couches and dressers are actually selling well, though, Bratcher said. “People are always in need of a couch, a futon, or a dresser,” she explained. In San Francisco, Out of the Closet does most of its furniture sales at the 1295 Folsom Street location. There, a couch that fits four people can sell for $100 to $175. “Everything depends on the make and the quality of the item,” Bratcher said. An antique set that included a bed and two dressers sold for $800. “If I’d had the space for it, I would have bought it,” Bratcher, who identifies as lesbian, said. “It was so beautiful.” Bratcher said if there’s a stigma associated with shopping at secondhand stores, “I haven’t noticed it.” She said some customers have money to buy brand new items but like thrift stores. “It’s not just a money issue,” she

said. “I think the service is a lot better, I think the atmosphere is a lot better. ... You get your space to where you can take your time and shop.” Typical customers range in age from people in their late teens to seniors, she said. Besides fewer shoppers, the down economy has also presented another problem for Out of the Closet. “People are keeping their items to themselves because they don’t really have the money to go out and afford anything brand new,” Bratcher said.

Goodwill Goodwill Industries International Inc. (www.goodwill.org) is another place for those needing furniture on the cheap. There are several stores throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area. Mark Backes, director of retail sales for Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties, said they don’t really break down sales categories to “finite details,” but items like dressers and couches are up this year over last year, just like the rest of their inventory. “I think there are a lot of factors” to which the success can be attributed, Backes said. The stores get “great donations,” and they also see “a lot of repurposing” of items, where people buy things like tables and use them as computer desks. The economy “has a lot to do with it,” Backes said of the healthy sales, and he added another reason is “people are really looking for value right now.” Some of the most popular items are tables and wooden chairs. “Upholstered items are a little more tricky,” he said, since those depend more on people’s tastes. Sebastian Kunz, a gay 36-yearold who lives in Santa Clara but works in San Francisco, has been a secondhand shopper for years. “I won’t say it’s a necessity, per se,” Kunz said, “but every little bit helps,” especially in the tough economic times of the past few years. Kunz said there’s no particular shop he prefers, and garage sales suit him, too. “I get a kick out of exploring,” he said. Most of his secondhand shopping seems to be related to clothes. He said he hasn’t bought much furniture recently, but “I’m always looking for stuff.” One secondhand purchase has been particularly practical – the futon he sleeps on every night. “It was from a moving sale,” he said. He paid about $15.▼

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August 18-24, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

<< Home & Garden

▼ LGBT senior housing coming to a town near you 20 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

August 18-24, 2011

by Lois Pearlman

an Francisco native Pam Quiton says she would like nothing better than to move from her Mission District apartment to the proposed new LGBT affordable senior apartments known as the 55 Laguna Project. “That would be a miracle,” she said in a telephone interview. At 55, Quiton suffers from debilitating arthritis and finds it difficult to get around on her own. She shares her tiny apartment with her two cats and the bathroom down the hall with four other people. The neighborhood is noisy day and night, and dangerous, especially for a disabled woman living alone. “It’d be nice to get a good night’s sleep without hearing people tell each other how much they hate each other,” she said. That’s what brought her to a San Francisco Planning Commission meeting earlier this month, where she spoke in support of the 55 Laguna Project, which would include 330 multifamily market rate units, at least 32 affordable family units and – most important to Quiton – 109 apartments geared toward low-income gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, 55 and older. At the meeting, planning commissioners approved a $6.3 million funding deal between Wood Partners, which is developing the 362 multifamily units, and Openhouse and Mercy Housing, the agencies responsible for the LGBT portion of the project. The project is slated to be built on the site of a now-abandoned UC Berkeley extension campus in the quiet Hayes Valley neighborhood. Wood Partners will pay the $6.3 million in lieu of fees to the city – and build the 32 affordable family

units – in exchange for the right to build the market rate housing. The city will give the $6.3 million to Openhouse and Mercy will cover the cost of leasing the portion of the property that will accommodate the senior apartments. Now that the city has approved the financial deal Openhouse Executive Director Seth Kilbourn said it will take another three to five years to raise additional money for construction and to navigate through the red tape of renovating a historic landmark. Quiton said that she is willing to wait, and then throw her name into the lottery required for tenancy in a government subsidized apartment. “By then I will probably need a more secure place,” she said. Unfortunately for Quiton, there will likely be a lot of competition for moving into the 55 Laguna senior complex because it is the only affordable LGBT retirement facility on the drawing boards in the greater Bay Area. “The reality is that there aren’t a lot of options for gay and lesbian elders,” Kilbourn said. The only other option that is likely to appear in the foreseeable future straddles the golden hills of Santa Rosa, about 60 miles north of San Francisco and light years away in affordability. Earlier this summer, Oakmont Senior Living in Sonoma County completed the model apartment for its upscale LGBT retirement community, Fountaingrove Lodge. Plans call for a full-spectrum, continuing care compound with six private bungalows, 64 independent living apartments, a 22-unit medical care/assisted living center and 12 affordable apartments for staff. To snag one of these charmingly appointed housing units, residents will pay a $99,000 to $295,000

Rick Gerharter

Vacant buildings dot the property at 55 Laguna, the former UC Berkeley Extension campus. A plan to incorporate housing for LGBT seniors is moving ahead, albeit slowly because of the down economy.

refundable deposit and then about $3,000 per month. (See story below.) And that’s all there is in northern California. The only other gay retirement communities in the western U.S. are Triangle Square, a 104-unit apartment complex in Hollywood for low-income LGBT seniors, similar to the facility planned for 55 Laguna Street, and RainbowVision in Santa Fe, New Mexico. RainbowVision is closer to the Fountaingrove Lodge model – condominiums and an assisted living center with all the amenities and social activities of a country club. Barbary Lane, a senior housing complex in Oakland that was to be welcoming to LGBT seniors, dissolved in early 2009, just months after a splashy opening that featured Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin. The facility remains senior housing known as the Residences at the Lake Merritt Hotel but is not LGBT-specific. The main reason why there aren’t

more gay retirement communities on the horizon is the miserable economy and the lack of investors. According to Kilbourn it took years to find a development company that was willing to partner with Openhouse after the previous developer went bankrupt two years ago. “Everyone’s falling victim to the depressed housing market. Our project stalled because the economy tanked,” he said. And, with an estimated 3 million LGBT people over 60 currently living in the U.S., a number which is expected to double by 2030 according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the available gay-friendly housing is seriously inadequate. In San Francisco, alone, according to Kilbourn, there are approximately 25,000 LGBT seniors over 60. “This is one of the major challenges facing LGBT elders now,” said Judy Evans, marketing director for the New York City-based Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders. Referring to LGBT people in their 70s, 80s and

older, she said, “These people came of age when being gay was considered a psychological disorder. They are likely to be in the closet, or to go back in the closet when they look for senior housing.” Kilbourn agrees with her. “We haven’t done very much for our LGBT seniors who led the way and made the world we live in today,” Kilbourn said. Most LGBT seniors who need help with their daily living end up as a misunderstood – and often closeted – minority in regular assisted living homes. Gary Shepherd, who does elder outreach for Spectrum Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Center in San Anselmo, said he has seen some unhappy situations. In San Mateo County, an elderly man sat crying in his wheelchair day after day because he was a transsexual and none of the therapists in the home felt comfortable helping him with his depression. In Sonoma County a younger lesbian couple visited the elderly aunt of one of the women regularly, but were forced to stop after the aunt’s roommate made disparaging remarks about lesbians. “At that time of your life you should not have to be afraid. Even if it isn’t dangerous, they [LGBT elders] are afraid that it might be,” Shepherd said. In the meantime, until the economy improves and developers are able and willing to create more LGBT-friendly senior housing, Evans suggests that elders and their loved ones will have to take the initiative to find the best situations on their own. “Ask your friends. Look at the facility’s non-discrimination policies. Has the staff been trained in GLBT issues? You will probably have to do your own research,” she said. “And remember, policy and practice are two different things.”▼

First full-spectrum LGBT retirement community opens in Santa Rosa by Lois Pearlman

n the hills overlooking Santa Rosa, some 100 invited guests enjoyed local wine and cheese earlier this summer at the grand opening of the country’s first continuing care LGBT retirement community – Fountaingrove Lodge. Partygoers, including 40 who paid the initial $1,000 deposit for a unit in the new community, toured the recently completed apartment model and the project’s 9.8 acres of oak-studded hills.

“This is a special day,” said Bill Gallaher, who has waded through five years of bureaucratic red tape to put the upscale development on the map with his wife and business partner, Cindy. “I have to admit that I was going to give up about two years ago but Cindy convinced me to go on.” Residents in a neighboring development fought the application from the beginning, saying it posed environmental problems. But proponents of Fountaingrove Lodge, including some Santa Rosa

city officials, said attempts to stop it were really thinly disguised homophobia. Crying as she spoke before the ribbon cutting, Cindy Gallaher said, “The worse it got, the more I felt we had to dig in our heels. These are real people we are working for, whose lives are impacted by this, not just numbers on a ledger.” Linda Steinberg and Carole Carlisle, one a retired teacher and the other about to retire, are planning to move to Fountaingrove Lodge as soon as it is completed. “We’ve known for years that this was the kind of facility where we want to spend our retirement,” said Steinberg. “We want to be in the main building where the action is,” added Carlisle. The project will include six bungalows, 64 independent living apartments, a 22-unit medical center that will provide Alzheimer’s and dementia care, and 12 units of affordable housing for staff. Joseph Ficurelli, a retired attorney who lives in Rohnert Park, agreed with Carlisle about the reasons for moving to a retirement community geared toward LGBT people. “The whole purpose is to have the social activities,” he said. “A house

Lois Pearlman

Cindy and Bill Gallaher cut the ribbon at the opening of Fountaingrove Lodge in June, while several people who have put money down on their spaces in the new LGBT retirement community look on.

is just a house, but here you have company.” In addition to the housing, Fountaingrove Lodge will also feature a library, a business center, gift shop, pet park, bocce court, dining room and cafe, wine cave, movie theater, and art studio. Residents pay a refundable deposit of $99,000 to $295,000,

depending upon the size of the unit they want to rent. Monthly fees are in the $3,000 range. Medical care and other services are extra. Fountaingrove Lodge is owned by Oakmont Senior Living, headquartered in Santa Rosa. Oakmont is part of Aegis Living, which has 32 facilities in California, Washington and Nevada.▼

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▼

Home & Garden >>

August 18-24, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

LGBTs look beyond the Castro to Bayview by Tony LeTigre

ayview and the rest of District 10 – Hunters Point, Potrero Hill and Visitacion Valley – is in the process of transforming into a safer, more accessible and stylish community, according to a number of local activists, residents, and real estate agents. And part of that transformation includes the LGBT community. Last month the San Francisco Human Rights Commission’s LGBT Advisory Committee held a town hall meeting entitled, “Building LGBT Community in District 10.” “We see this conversation as a first step to transforming our community to provide more culturally sensitive services for the many challenges faced by LGBT people,” said Commissioner Cecilia Chung, who moderated the meeting. “When I was growing up and coming out, everyone told me to go to the Castro, ‘That’s where the gay people are welcome,’” said committee member and lifelong Hunters Point resident Jose Romero, 22. “But the Castro is not the most diverse place, and I always thought, ‘Where are the services for LGBTs in my community?’” Visitacion Valley resident and community organizer Neo Veavea told the audience, “I never thought I’d see you all here – what took you so long?” and got a laugh when he identified himself as “An OG, Old Gay.” Veavea co-founded the gay Pacific Islanders group United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliances (www. utopiasf.org). Others talked about how the issue of sexual orientation isn’t always discussed. “When a friend of mine told me recently ‘I’m the first openly gay

Jane Philomen Cleland

Jose Romero, is a member of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission’s LGBT Advisory Committee

person in my family,’ I had to really think about that,” said guest panelist Tracy Taper of the Bayview-based nonprofit Brothers Against Guns. “Because in my family we always had people we knew were gay, but it was never discussed.” Romero told the Bay Area Reporter he saw last month’s meeting as “the beginning of my future,” and that he envisions a queer community space in Bayview Hunters Point that will offer nonprofit services for LGBTs of all flavors – youth, elders in need of care, and re-entry (rehabilitated convicts). “That’s what I want to help create,” Romero said. “People are coming out, more and more of them. I’m seeing it everywhere now.”

Out of the closet and into the condos Eddy Skees, sales manager of the hot new Bayview condominium property 5800 3rd Street, sees the area as a real estate bonanza,

Bayview Realtor Linda Harrison

and LGBTs as part of the “urban adventurer” class that could turn it into the next South of Market or even the Castro. “A third of our buyers so far have been gay, which makes sense, since the LGBT community has that pioneering spirit,” Skees told the B.A.R. Linda Harrison, a Realtor with Sotheby’s and director of sales and marketing for a new Bayview development at 4800 3rd Street, agreed. “GLBTs are always the early adopters, the urban warriors, who go into communities as they’re transforming,” Harrison said. Skees described the urban adventurer as having no specific age, demographic, or profession. “Our homeowners are everything from a 30-year-old biotech pro who works in South San Francisco to a 77-year-old Japanese woman who owns an Aikido studio in Daly City,” he explained. “The common thread is that they like the urban vibe, and they don’t mind living in a place that’s in transition, maybe a little gritty.”

Buyers are receptive to the neighborhood. “I combed the city and this is absolutely the best thing going right now,” said John D. White, a gay man and manager for a major airline in the Bay Area who purchased a condo at 5800 3rd in June. “I laugh when I hear people talk about being ‘out in Bayview,’ because I’ve lived in a lot of cities that are very spread out, and San Francisco is so compact. To me the Castro is just up the street.” “I’ve seen a lot of gay people moving here recently, but there were a lot back when I moved here, too,” said Jeffrey Betcher, who has lived in the Bayview for 13 years. Harrison, who thinks of Bayview as “the new Brooklyn,” said it was improvements to the 3rd Street Corridor, and the light rail that opened in January 2007, that paved the way for the area’s rejuvenation. Skees pointed to the flourishing of art galleries and “destination restaurants” as signs of the promising trend. This includes the three retail entities opening at 5800 3rd this summer: Limon Rotisserie, Brown Sugar Kitchen (“a celebrity chef with a new take on soul food”), and the Fresh and Easy grocery.

Crime and prejudice With change comes controversy, and the dreaded G word: gentrification. “These terms like urban adventurer, homesteader, pioneer – they bother me,” Betcher told the B.A.R. “We need to think about the language we’re using and the history that it signifies. In the midst of inevitable changes, we must respect the multicultural character of the place and make sure the right people are represented in leadership roles.” Ten years ago Betcher co-founded the Quesada Gardens Initiative

to clean up drug trafficking and promote community events, artwork, and gathering spaces in the neighborhood. He is also an administrator for the Facebook group “Friends of Gayview/Homos Point.” Betcher said Bayview, unlike SOMA, is primarily residential, with one of the highest home-ownership rates in the city. Data from 2007, provided by the Mayor’s Office of Housing, show Bayview with a homeownership rate of 57 percent, compared to a city average of 39 percent. A book-length report published last year by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency asserted that “Bayview Hunters Point is one of San Francisco’s oldest and most historic communities” as well as its “most ethnically varied.” “When people say ‘gentrification’ they’re usually talking about people being pushed out of an area,” Skees said. “But this is about creating new homes for a range of incomes.” He said that of the 137 units at 5800 3rd, 17 are below market rate, also known as affordable housing. “I sell luxury condominiums, but I advocate affordable living,” said Harrison, a lesbian and African American woman. “We’ve done a lot of outreach to the community, particularly to low-income residents, helping them apply for funds, and providing additional assistance with their down payments.” Harrison said she has sold houses for everywhere from $300,000 to $16 million and has personally participated in financial planning workshops for first-time home buyers in the Bayview as well as places like the LGBT Community Center on Market Street. If some fear the consequences of See page 25 >>

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Home & Garden

August 18-24, 2011

▼

Home improvement program can save money by Tony LeTigre

an Francisco homeowners have a fabulous opportunity to upgrade their homes and save money at the same time, thanks to a new incentive program called San Francisco Home Improvement and Performance. SF HIP, introduced in April, is a project of the San Francisco Department of the Environment in conjunction with San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting. “We included a flier about the program in our letter of notification to all property owners this year, but a lot of people don’t know what’s available yet,” Ting told the Bay Area Reporter. “It is particularly beneficial to those who own older homes, who have been living in them for 20 or 30 years, and may have a water heater that’s 50 years old. They’re losing heat and air left and right.” Ting, who is also a mayoral candidate this year, sees the program as a win all the way around. Homeowners will save money on energy costs by doing things they would have to do anyway. The value of their property will increase: a green home sells for an average $20,000 premium over a non-green one, according to the assessor’s office. And the rebate is instant, meaning the amount is deducted upfront from the cost of improvements, rather than paid out of pocket and later refunded. “One family we know recently had work done for energy efficiency that

Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting

came to $8,700,” Ting said. “They got $5,000 off the top with the instant rebate, so all those upgrades only cost them $3,700.” Interested homeowners can schedule an energy audit by one of the program’s specially trained contractors, a list of which is available at www. sfenvironment.org/sfhip. The audit includes a home safety check that can detect life-threatening dangers such as oven or furnace problems and carbon monoxide buildup. (A law that went into effect July 1 requires California homeowners to install carbon monoxide detectors.) SF HIP complements an earlier incentive program called GoSolarSF that Ting spearheaded in 2007, which has so far converted almost 2,331

homes in San Francisco to rooftop solar energy, raising the value of each home by an average $18,000 in the process. GoSolarSF, Ting said, more than pays for itself by the additional property tax revenue resulting from increased home prices. SF HIP is funded by the Energy Upgrade California program combined with federal stimulus funds from the Department of Energy. There are a few caveats. SF HIP is available only to single-family homeowners who are PG&E customers. At this point rebate funds are only available until 2012. The maximum rebate amount is $7,000, which will drop to $6,000 after August 31. To qualify, homeowners must achieve at least 15 percent of the energy efficiency improvements revealed in the energy audit, which costs about $100 to $200. For that money, homeowners get a comprehensive diagnostic report detailing all aspects of energy savings that can be achieved, as well as the performance of major household appliances. After the on-site assessment, the contractor will create a computer model and projections which the homeowner gets to keep even if they don’t go through with the overhaul, according to the assessor’s office. Documentation of improvements will also be added to the permanent property records maintained by Ting’s office.▼

Three common pitfalls for LGBT home buyers to avoid by Jeffrey Hammerberg

that builds and sells homes across the United States. Addressing the shareholders of that company Buffett explained that when he is qualifying a home buyer he looks at two fundamental financial requirements. He wants “a meaningful down payment” and he expects that the monthly payments constitute “a sensible percentage of income.” That’s a simple and sound approach that LGBT buyers should follow when shopping for a home. These days most banks require a rather conservative debt to income

uying a home is a huge step, and often represents the culmination of a lifelong dream. But while under the thrilling spell of the home buying experience many LGBT buyers fall victim to three of the biggest mistakes. Became familiar with these pitfalls to successfully avoid them.

Overreaching

www.ebar.com

One of the many companies directly owned by Warren Buffett, the most successful investor in American history, is a business

Jeffrey Hammerberg

See page 25 >>

Home & Garden >>

▼ Lending circles offer chance to boost credit scores August 18-24, 2011 •

by Seth Hemmelgarn

program that gives people a chance to pool their money, take out loans, and boost their credit scores is expanding in San Francisco and other communities. The groups, known as lending circles, could help some LGBTs get the housing they want by improving their financial situations. In a lending circle, everyone contributes money to a loan, and everyone gets an opportunity at taking the loan out. Participants also receive financial management training. Jose Quinonez is the executive director of Mission Asset Fund, the project leader, which is a nonprofit working to expand access to financial services, savings, and investment opportunities for lowincome and immigrant communities. “We’re helping them improve their credit while at the same time providing them with a financial education,” Quinonez said. Through a pass-through grant, Mission Asset Fund will be providing money to the San Francisco LGBT Community Center and other organizations so their staff can carry out the programs. The center and other organizations will each receive $20,000. Their work will include finding and organizing participants, while Mission Asset Fund will provide training, technical assistance, and other help. Loan activity is reported to credit bureaus. David Diaz, who’s 30 and works at Mission Neighborhood Health Center, said he and six others established a lending circle in May. “I’ve been taking my credit score more seriously,” Diaz said. “... I thought, ‘What do I have to lose?’” He plans to take out a loan for $1,600 on August 22. He said he would use the money to pay down credit card debt and catch up with bills.

Jane Philomen Cleland

San Francisco resident David Diaz is one of several people participating in a lending circle in an effort to boost his credit score.

Diaz, who identifies as queer, is talking to his partner about moving in with him this fall to cut down costs and save for another apartment. He said he would be hoping “to have a credit score that’s high enough that we can both move into an apartment together.” “I think the higher the credit score, the more attractive I would be as a potential renter,” Diaz said. He plans to have his loan paid back by the end of December, when their first lending circle is completed. Like most others in the group, he’s contributing $200 a month. Tony Moraga, manager of small business services for the LGBT center, said they’re working on gathering 60 people, and they plan to have multiple groups happening simultaneously. Their first group, in which they expect to have six to eight people, will launch in September, he said. “We plan on utilizing lending circles

for different segments of people that we service,” including entrepreneurs, people who are looking to repair their credit, and potential job seekers, he said. He said they are going to try to have each group represent a different segment, “but we expect them to be intertwined as well.” Aside from participants brought together by the LGBT center, people in Chinatown and other communities will also be taking part. Quinonez said there’s no interest or fees on the loans. People in San Francisco who want to participate have to make less than around $60,000 a year, but they have to have an income. They’re also required to have a bank account. The lending circles can have four to 12 people, Quinonez explained. “We want it to be meaningful,” he said of the minimum number. As far as the maximum number, he added, “People need to have quick access

to their money. People can’t wait more than 10 to 12 months to have a chance” at getting their loan. After each group runs through a cycle, they can decide to continue, disband, or reformulate with new members. Mission Asset Fund raised over $400,000 to expand the program. Of that, $200,000 over two years will be used for implementation. The asset fund will hold on to around $200,000 or $210,000 to pay for costs including their staff time associated with the project. Initiative sponsors include Levi Strauss Foundation and the Center for Financial Services Innovation, among others. “The fund’s lending circles replication program is a groundbreaking model for helping low-income people and families enter

BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

the financial mainstream,” Merle Lawrence, a senior manager at Levi Strauss, said in a statement. Sarah Gordon, director of advisory services and nonprofit investments at the Center for Financial Services Innovation, stated, “Through the lending circles program, Mission Asset Fund is promoting the financial capability of lower-income, immigrant, and traditionally underserved consumers.” San Francisco Treasurer Jose Cisneros also expressed support for the program. “Low income families throughout San Francisco will benefit greatly from MAF’s innovative work that started in the Mission District,” he stated. For more information on Mission Asset Fund, go to www.missionassetfund.org.▼

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

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August 18-24, 2011

▼

Economy upends architectural views by Raymond Flournoy

ust the mention of San Francisco brings to mind many iconic structures from the city’s rich history – from colorful Victorians to the Art Deco swoop of the Golden Gate Bridge, to the South of Market live-work lofts that popped up during the first Internet bubble. What do architects think of the current state of San Francisco architecture, and what is coming next? The Bay Area Reporter spoke with three local gay architects to get their views on the state of their art. For Patrick Carney, director at Heller Manus Architects, the future of architecture lies overseas. After years of working on major San Francisco buildings such as City Hall and the Neptune Society Columbarium (1 Loraine Court), Carney is currently spending the summer and fall in China working on a series of luxury villas. “There is little work [in the U.S.],” according to Carney, who is well known in the LGBT community for organizing the annual pink triangle display on Twin Peaks over Pride weekend. “Much of our work is in China since things are more than booming there, and things in this country have ground to a halt due to our messed up economy.” “With our country [being] such a difficult place to get things financed and built, architects are now the newest of ‘migrant workers.’ In addition to projects under way all over China, we have had leads for projects in India, Egypt, and even Iran. We used to occasionally work in other states, now working out of the country is very common,” Carney added. Mark Brand, principal architect at Mark Brand Architecture, also expressed frustration at the obstacles local projects face, noting

Courtesy Mark Brand

Courtesy Chad DeWitt

Architect Mark Brand believes San Francisco is conservative when it comes to architecture.

Chad DeWitt sees high-end projects beginning to make a return.

the complications that planning and permitting present. “San Francisco is liberal in many ways, but the city is very conservative when it comes to architecture,” he said. “The planners don’t want us to become L.A. – no one does – but it makes it difficult to do new things.” Brand described his work as “95 percent to 99 percent residential” and for his market sector the last few years have been, in his words, “horrific.” “The economic downturn has been particularly hard for architects who work on homes, with many firms going out of business. We’ve had to lower our fees to compete, and we also try to be flexible in what we do,” noted Brand. Architect Chad DeWitt, principal at DeWitt Design Studio, headquartered in Oakland, also has had to change how he works

Jane Philomen Cleland

in the face of the current economic conditions. “The last few years were a huge shake-out for the industry. When my workload slowed down, I quickly realized to stay afloat that I couldn’t just cater to one specific economic demographic. I pulled out all the tricks I could come up with in terms of getting the most bang for the buck, and I focused on giving clients a very high end look for a very economical price,” said DeWitt, who works on a mix of residential and commercial projects, including health care offices and restaurants. DeWitt has also begun working overseas, currently developing a project outside of London. But he is also optimistic about the future of the local economy, and puts a positive spin on the new demand for thriftiness in construction. “I’m starting to see the market

One of architect Patrick Carney’s recent projects was the expansion at the Neptune Society Columbarium, seen here in a replica.

come back, with high-end projects returning. However, these highstyle, low cost projects are very satisfying for the challenge presented,” said DeWitt.

Style guides Economic issues aside, what are the style trends for architecture? Brand believes that “Modernism is huge these days.” “When I started my company 25 years ago, people didn’t want modern architecture,” said Brand, “meaning lots of natural materials, generally boxy, rectilinear forms, and an emphasis on functional over decorative elements.” Now the Modernist style has returned but with a twist. Brand labels his own style “warm modern,” using compositions of various contrasting materials to create decorative effects. DeWitt takes a contrary view, noting, “I’m seeing a profound shift away from basic modernism, and we’re seeing the ornate come back, but with a contemporary twist. Think over-scaled patterns and wallpaper, but not the way our mothers did it. In my own personal work, we’re seeing lots of clients wanting more eclectic spaces, using basic, simple materials like white subway tiles or oak floors, but in really unique, creative ways.” For Carney, one of the most important trends is “being more environmentally responsible, designing more energy efficient structures, [and] using recycled materials.” His work on City Hall made extensive use of salvaged elements. “Since the courts were being removed from the top two floors of City Hall to a new building across the street, we were able to recycle all sorts of material ... to add authentic original building material to all of

the [remodeled] supervisors’ offices,” said Carney. Carney also has observed a shift in the overall design of both residential and commercial spaces. “Apartment plans tend to be less formal, without separate kitchens and dining rooms. The trend is more toward a large ‘great room’ concept which is living, dining, and cooking combined into one interesting space.” For commercial and public structures, “building shapes are much more varied than in the past because sophisticated computer programs and new construction techniques allow complicated shapes to be constructed more easily,” stated Carney, with the caveat that “[these techniques] are still very expensive.”

Architect archetypes The economy cycles up and down and trends evolve, but how has the architectural world changed for an out, gay man? Carney remembers when he first started work at a different San Francisco firm in 1981, his supervisor referred to the gay Pride festivities as “abhorrent.” “Things are certainly better today, but these incidents took place in San Francisco not that long ago. Think how difficult it might still be elsewhere to be out,” he noted. Brand thinks that his sexuality can even be a plus in certain situations. “A lot of people really like to have a gay architect. In general, the wives can exert a lot of influence on a job, and sometimes they will prefer working with a gay architect,” he added, laughing. Brand also noted that some people immediately assume that all architects are gay, a situation that his straight brother, who is also an See page 27 >>

▼ <<

Home & Garden >>

Pitfalls

From page 22

ratio of about 30 or 35 percent. That means that if a homeowner’s monthly income is $5,000 then their combined housing expenses – including such things as the mortgage, homeowner’s insurance, and property taxes – should not exceed about $1,650. LGBT loan applicants may find lenders who will still qualify them at higher ratios of debt, but it is not wise to accept burdensome loans with steep mortgage payments. In fact, most financial planners and mortgage experts recommend that LGBT buyers err on the side of greater caution and stick to housing expenses that don’t exceed 25 percent of their income. That gives them a manageable loan and a comfortably protective buffer against any unexpected calamity that might happen in today’s challenging economy.

Buying a house to get a slab of granite No matter what kind of property they are looking at, residential buyers have a tendency to purchase cosmetic curb appeal because it resonates with them on an emotional level. A buyer will fall in love with the apple tree in the back yard, the urban chic brickwork in a downtown loft, or the granite counter tops in a condo unit. Those are great assets and amenities, and if a home has them they can add to its allure. But LGBT home buyers should not confuse cosmetics or isolated features with underlying and sustainable overall value. Minor features can always be upgraded, and amenities can also be added to a home – but home buying decisions should consider everything being bought, not just one or two exciting perks. Superficial reasons to buy may be compelling, but the smart buyer will look beyond giddy emotions to make more realistic, level-headed decisions. There is nothing wrong with buying the cute front door, in other words, as long as it opens into a home that meets the rest of a buyer’s carefully articulated criteria. The bottom line valuation of any property should also be based on fresh market data, a keen buyer-ordered inspection, and an objective professional appraisal.

Bayview From page 21

a vast influx of home buyers, others may be held back by perceptions it’s a crime plagued neighborhood. A 2001 report from the Environmental Finance Center in Alameda noted the “schism of distrust and wariness” that has long existed between this neighborhood and the rest of San Francisco, and asserted that “for many outside the community, the Bayview is considered one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city.” In terms of homicide, it does consistently rate the highest, according to statistics kept by the San Francisco Police Department. Of the 29 homicides recorded in the one-year period that ended July 30, seven were in Bayview, compared with four in Ingleside,

The goal is to ensure that the home is both cosmetically attractive and structurally and mechanically sound and free of defects.

Picking the wrong Realtor Perhaps the biggest pitfall is shopping for homes without first shopping for the best possible real estate agent. The majority of buyers wind up making the biggest financial decision of their lives – the purchase of a home – without giving much thought to how they shop for the Realtor who will guide them through the process. Most people enlist the services of an agent by calling the phone number posted on the “for sale” sale in front of a home that they find interesting. Whoever answers the call instantly becomes their Realtor. But most LGBT consumers would never hire a financial consultant, building contractor, attorney, or even a house sitter or professional home cleaning service by just responding to the first ad and phone number they see. They would instead first perform some basic due diligence, conduct a few interviews, and then try to make an informed selection. For LGBT buyers the best course of action is to hire a LGBT or gayfriendly Realtor, because there are many significant issues that are of special, specific concern to LGBT home buyers. There are same-sex marriage legalities to consider, tax implications, rights of survivorship, and rules regarding how credit is evaluated for non-married partners applying for a mortgage. All LGBT buyers also share a common interest in understanding how supportive a particular community or neighborhood is, especially if they are relocating to a new area. Only another member of the LGBT community can adequately address those issues with a depth of personal experience, so generally speaking all LGBT buyers are better served by taking advantage of the help of a qualified LGBT or gay-friendly real estate agent and mortgage broker. To find real estate professionals dedicated to active support of the LGBT community, visitwww.gayrealestate.com/, or call toll free 1-888420-MOVE (6683).▼ Jeff Hammerberg is the founding CEO of www.GayRealEstate.com www.gayrealestate.com/.

three in the Southern district (Ferry Building, SOMA, Embarcadero, China Basin), three in the Northern district (Western Addition, Pacific Heights, Japantown, Russian Hill, Marina), and two in the Mission district (which includes the Castro). However, in total violent crimes during the same period, Bayview ranked third, and the Southern, Mission, and Northern districts all left it far behind in robberies, rapes, and property crimes – despite the fact that Bayview is geographically the largest of the four. “Most of the shootings in Bayview Hunters Point are gang-related,” said SFPD spokesman Lieutenant Troy Dangerfield. “And most of the violent crime happens in the public housing area. The majority of Bayview is not living in violence. So it would be a false statement to say it’s the most dangerous area in the city.”▼

bartabsf.com

August 18-24, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

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August 18-24, 2011

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Hidden Edens From page 17

Being able to get his hands dirty in his own yard was a priority, Vukic said, when they were house hunting. Born in Croatia, Vukic spent much time on his grandparents’ farm of olives and vineyards along the Dalmatian Coast. After moving to New York at the age of 10, Vukic continued to garden. It has remained a lifelong passion, he said, providing both exercise and a creative outlet. “It feels like a vacation when I am doing it. It just is a lot of fun,” said Vukic. “For me, anyway, it’s sort of my art.”

A work in progress Sunset resident Lawrence Helman was also looking for a home with a yard when he purchased his house not far from Ocean Beach seven years ago. The gay public relations professional finds working in his garden to be not just a hobby but peaceful exercise. “It’s very relaxing. If I get into a mindset, I tell myself I will just go out in the yard for an hour and then three hours go by,” he said. Two large pine trees that towered over the backyard he had removed in order to allow more sunlight into the garden. It took four workers three days to carry out the downed conifers. “It was so dark it looked like a cemetery,” recalled Helman. “It didn’t belong in a home yard.” He then had four planters constructed and began experimenting to see which plants would take to the space. Succulents, it turned out, found his backyard a little too accommodating, to the point where he is routinely pruning them back. To his delight, though, dahlias also have a fondness for his patch of earth. Each year he adds more of the ornamental garden plants to his growing collection, producing a colorful bouquet of San Francisco’s official flower. “There are so many geometric patterns, so many colors and variety. I think they are so beautiful. They make me really happy,” said Helman. Then there are the strawberry plants, which Helman didn’t plant and refers to as “volunteers.” He readily admits he is by no means a perfectionist when it comes to tending to his garden, which is forever changing. “It’s a work in progress,” he said. Through trial and tribulation Vukic has determined what plants

Rick Gerharter

Terry Baum admires her first artichoke in 10 years.

Fuchsia blossoms dangle in Terry Baum’s garden.

not only thrive in his neighborhood’s foggy climate near the city’s Mt. Davidson peak but also the varieties most suitable to the contours of his yard. “The cool thing about gardening is connecting with what the space requires. You are conforming to the space instead of it conforming to you,” said Vukic. One of Vukic’s favorite plants is an organic Meyer lemon tree. It not only thrives in his yard but also allows Vukic a chance at sculpting nature. “I have been shaping it,” he said. The garden is themed around the couple’s daughter Ava, whose name means bird in Latin. Hidden amidst the plantings are birdbaths and houses as well as avian-inspired sculptures. “This is Ava’s Garden. She is named after the actress Ava Gardner. She spends a lot of time out here playing with her Hula Hoop and jump ropes,” said Vukic. “I’ve been into gardening since I was a kid, so also having a kid, I wanted her to have outdoor space.” Along with hummingbirds, bees, and the occasional peregrine falcon, the city’s wild parrots will also visit

for a backyard barbeque. But when it does, Lake joked they have a guest list on standby ready to come over at a moment’s notice. “We have not been able to entertain here often because it is too cold,” he said. “On those rare San Francisco evenings when you can be outside and comfortable, we are able to have people over for dinner.”

Jane Philomen Cleland

A birdhouse in Sonny Vukic’s garden awaits a visitor.

their yard, said Vukic. A next-door neighbor’s apple tree attracts the exotic birds each fall once the fruit ripens. Since the yard is often shrouded in fog, the family doesn’t host many garden parties. Nor is there a vegetable garden, which doesn’t bother Vukic since he prefers to grow non-edible plants. “Even if I was into vegetables, I can’t grow them up here. Because of the fog, we don’t get enough sun,” he said. “The fog I don’t mind it. As long as you pick the right plants, they don’t seem to mind it either.”

Trial and error Lalli and Lake’s Castro backyard is outside of the fog bank and receives enough sunlight during the day that their four vegetable planters provide an assortment of edibles for the day’s meal. The gravel patio they had put in when they bought their home two and a half years ago also helps to generate heat for the plants. Among the dinner options are lettuce, zucchini, broccolini, and lemon cucumbers. “I also love to cook, so I tried to plant a cook’s garden,” said Lake, director of the Human Rights Campaign’s sponsorship program. At first the yard was “a little daunting to look at,” said Lake, so the couple hired Dirty Hoe Landscaping to help construct the patio and planting beds. The actual planting was left for Lake to do himself, with help from his partner in picking out the plants. “Planting, for me, that is the fun part,” said Lake. “I love it. I can spend an entire Saturday putting around here planting and weeding.” Experimentation over the last several years has helped Lake determine where certain plants thrive best in the yard. “It has been trial and error to see what works. Each yard in this city is its own microclimate, so you need to see where the sun goes to figure out what grows,” he said. “Now that this is our third year, it feels more cyclical. The garden is becoming very beautiful without a lot of effort.” His favorite time of day to enjoy his horticultural handiwork is at dusk, said Lake, when the outdoor lighting turns on and the fog remains at bay. “The best time of day is at sunset if the fog hasn’t rolled in. It is magic,” he said. It is rare for the couple to entertain outdoors at night, however, as it isn’t often that the weather cooperates

Tea in the garden The weather isn’t a deterrent for lesbian playwright Terry Baum, who often invites people to join her in her home garden on Douglass Street between the Castro and Noe Valley neighborhoods. “I have people over for tea and we sit in my garden,” said Baum, who is running as the Green Party candidate for mayor this fall. “The thing is, in San Francisco, you never know if you have a garden party if it will be warm enough.” After buying her building, which at one time had been the location of an Italian bakery, in 1978 Baum set about cutting down a solid wall of

anise plants, many towering seven feet tall. Having cleared out the backyard, she decided to repurpose the bricks from what had been a pizza oven into a patio and walkway. “I didn’t want grass. I don’t like grass,” said Baum. “If you don’t have kids using it, who needs it?” Her garden is a hodge-podge of flowering plants, succulents, trees, and numerous artworks that she has collected over time. In one spot a metal blue heron sculpture stands guard; in another a Thai spirit house a friend found on the street adds a mystical touch. Various acquaintances have helped the garden to evolve over the years by contributing cuttings from their own plants. It was a stop on the 2008 Noe Valley Garden Tour whose theme that year was “A Garden Among Friends.” “A lot of friends made contributions to the garden over the years,” said Baum. For the last seven years, Hector Sabates, a friend and gardener, has See page 27 >>

Rick Gerharter

The dahlias in Lawrence Helman’s backyard garden are simply amazing.

▼

Home & Garden >>

August 18-24, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

These interior designers aim to please by David Duran

nterior design, whether it is for a home or a business, is something everyone confronts at some point. Some people may have lots of ideas of what they want and execute them, while others need the help of a professional. Sometimes, there is a collaboration of ideas. In all scenarios, deciding how to decorate your space will usually prove to be difficult. There are all types of budgets and other constraints. Sometimes just adding accessories and paint will do, while at other times, a complete transformation is needed. The Bay Area Reporter had an opportunity to meet with two very prominent, highly recommended gay designers who both have amazing aesthetic but are very different. Peter Baty of Windemere Design Group focuses more on residential properties, usually taking on the task of designing custom furniture and looks for an entire home. His clients are everywhere and he can boast of having completed some of the biggest homes in the Bay Area. Johnny Moallempour of MJM Interior Design does both residential and commercial properties. His firm has an extensive list of contractors it has worked with and will actually help the client select contractors, such as architects, for their projects. While the contracts are signed directly between the clients and the contractors, MJM will oversee the project and ensure the design is being implemented correctly. A lot of people think they are a designer. They have ideas and visions, but there is a reason design schools exist. “I was in the restaurant business and one of my best customers was in the design business and told me I was in the wrong industry. I sold the restaurant and went to design school,” said Baty when asked about

Architecture From page 24

architect, comes up against. DeWitt feels the weight of the gay stereotype on his profession. “I’m always living down that ‘gay decorator’ stereotype. ... I can pick out the tassels for the corners of your throw pillow, or I can draw the waterproofing details and structural system for your foundation. It’s always fun to watch the expressions change on contractors’ faces when they realize I

Rick Gerharter

Interior designer Peter Baty stands in a 5,800-bottle wine cellar, part of his five-year design project on an 18,000 square foot home in Hillsborough.

his background. “I’ve been in the business now for 17 years and have had my company for 13.” It’s very important to establish a relationship with your designer, he said. “Interior design is a personal relationship, unlike going to the dentist once a year. It must be clear that the client and designer enjoy spending time together and that the designer is able to interpret what they are trying to say when describing their needs,” Baty explained. There are so many home improvement shows on TV now that focus on design and make it all look so easy. In fact, most of the time, the furniture or labor was donated for free publicity. This in turn leaves the viewer assuming the project was inexpensive. Sometimes all you need is to be inspired from watching those shows. If you are looking to transform a room in your home on your own, try just changing the paint. “You can completely change the look and feel of a room with $40 in supplies and a weekend. Don’t

know what I’m talking about.” But it is this diversity that DeWitt enjoys the most about his profession. “One moment you’re asked to speak authoritatively on LED versus CFL lighting, then asked to mediate a marital disagreement over the location a chair, write a legal contract, and make sure that the paint color for the ceiling isn’t too white,” he said. “The best part of my job, besides the construction workers, is when a client tells you that it’s better than they could have possibly imagined.”▼

Hidden Edens From page 26

assisted Baum in tending to her backyard. They continue to revise the layout and look of the garden. “He just added a stone path four months ago,” said Baum. At this point many of the plants have established themselves and require little care. “Things just take care of themselves,” said Baum. “I am really into self-seeding annuals. They bloom, disappear and then come back.” Not everyone is so lucky to have such ample outdoor space within the city to tend to a garden. Yet even multi-story apartment dwellers have found a way to bring the outdoors in. This spring Terrrie Frye turned a kitchen windowsill in her Tenderloin studio apartment into a mini herb and vegetable garden. She was able to do so because her cat, Sweeti Pi, gave up her perch on the windowsill after it underwent repairs last year. Since May she has used the southfacing space to cultivate radishes, green onions, and what a friend labeled “cocktail beets” due to their

Jane Philomen Cleland

Tomatoes in John Lake’s garden aren’t quite ready to harvest.

miniature size. After a second planting failed to deliver another harvest, Frye now plans to try more herbs, such as rosemary, basil and oregano. “I am a Taurus. I am an earth sign,” said Frye, an LGBT housing activist who grew up in a gardening family back in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Every once in awhile I have to get my fingers in the dirt.”▼

be afraid of color. Paint large color samples on the walls, never go off a chip,” said Baty. When asked about current trends in the industry, Baty mentioned environmental concerns. “People are really interested in going ‘green,’ but oftentimes, things that are environmentally friendly are not necessarily beautiful,” he said.

Modern is not enough Moallempour established his business in 1999 in the Los Angeles area before moving it up north. His background is in fashion. He was a well-known fashion designer and had his own retail store. After the recession of the 1990s hit, Moallempour returned to school and graduated from the UCLA design program. “I have traveled most of the world and I get my inspiration from nature and architecture from places such as Europe, Africa, and South America,” he said. When asked about current trends, Moallempour said that it usually takes a mix of styles.

Rick Gerharter

Johnny Moallempour shows fabric samples in the Lee Jofa showroom in the San Francisco Design Center.

“People are realizing that modern is just not enough. Mixing it either with traditional or a contemporary style is what is really working for most at the moment,” he said. A lot of people think they want all modern but once they see it doesn’t necessarily work in their space as well as they had imagined, they tend to reconsider. Here in San Francisco, there is a large antique furniture movement and as Moallempour pointed out, “clients are wanting to incorporate the antiques with the modern, and it looks great!” MJM also customizes a lot of furniture pieces. It’s usually a good idea to spend money on the larger furniture pieces that will make a statement and last a long time. As for accessories, he noted, it’s often best to pick out what catches your eye and something you enjoy. The nice thing about accessories is that you can change them out when you need something different. Both of these men know the business well. “Oftentimes, people are

intimidated by working with a designer,” said Baty. “At the end of the day, I have the skill set and training. I can guarantee that a home ends up being something more than what the client had hoped it could be. Many designers have one look. I have chosen a different path. I feel it’s best to do what’s best for the architecture of the home as well as what’s best for my client.” Designers are generally good at knowing how to take an idea and transform it into something that will work in your space and element. “People who hire me have really done their research and have seen my designs,” said Moallempour. “If a client is very firm on an idea, it is my job to perfect it in a certain way that will make it work in the overall design.”▼ For more information on Windemere Design Group and MJM Interior Design please visit their websites, www.windemeredesign.com and www.mjminteriors.com.

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O&A Out&About

Photo works

Katya calling

Piercing truths

The

Vol. 41 • No. 33 • August 18-24, 2011

www.ebar.com/arts

Puppets meet their puppet-master Patrick Bristow hosts ‘Stuffed and Unstrung’ at the Curran • by Richard Dodds

There are two shows in one in Stuffed and Unstrung as audiences watch both puppets and the puppeteers who are improvising from audience suggestions. Brian Henson (center), son of the late Jim Henson, will be one of the puppeteers during the SF run. Carol Rosegg

f you need an emissary between a stage full of puppets and a theater full of humans, it’s hard to imagine a better-suited performer than Patrick Bristow. “My odd kind of fey manchild nature seems to work as a bridge between the audience and the puppets,” Bristow said. “People say to me, ‘You’re kind of like a hybrid.’” You may not recognize his name, but Bristow, the host and onstage director of Jim Henson Company’s adult-oriented Stuffed and Unstrung, is a face and personality that are no doubt lodged in your brain from his run as the flighty Peter on Ellen (his character was out even before DeGeneres’) or dozens of other television and film roles that always read gay.

“Whether the role is written that way or when I’m cast in it, my own Suzy comes out,” Bristow said. “I never wanted to squelch that part of my character.” Bristow, 48, also happens to be a recognized master in the world of improv comedy, and it was to him that Brian Henson, Jim Henson’s son and chairman of the Jim Henson Company, turned when he decided his puppeteers needed some improv training to brush up their comedic skills. That was almost five years ago, and from those initial series of classes emerged, essentially by accident, a major production that begins its first tour on Aug. 18 at the Curran Theatre, in association with SF Sketchfest.

The accident that led to the novel concept behind Stuffed and Unstrung – officially presented by Henson Alternative – came about when Bristow suggested that puppeteers try out their improv skills with a casual lunchtime audience on the Henson lot. “Well, Brian took it a step further and decked out a sound stage with bleachers and full tech support.” Henson figured they’d use a puppet wall, to hide the puppeteers from the audience, which had been accomplished mostly with camera framing on The Muppet Show and other Henson TV and film projects, but Bristow brought a fresh eye. “I was able to say it’s endlessly fascinating to see how the puppeteers manipulate a puppet to make

Reviving ‘Saints’ Ensemble Parallele stages ‘Four Saints in Three Acts’

it seem like it’s ice skating, or to see the puppeteers’ faces when they’re either shocked by what their partner said or they’re trying not to laugh themselves. Sometimes a puppet will be going crazy, while the puppeteer is almost Zen-like, or the puppeteer will be as animated as the puppet.” In the monitor-style puppeteering that the late Jim Henson pioneered for television, the puppeteers are under camera range, and that means instead of looking up at the puppet, they’re looking down at a monitor to see what the camera sees. It’s a technique that has been adapted for the live stage show. “There are monitors in a ring around the See page 34 >>

Eugene Brancoveanu and Maya Srinivasan in Ensemble Parallele & SFMOMA’s production of Four Saints in Three Acts.

by Michael McDonagh

oing somewhere new is a bit like a blind date because you don’t know what you’ll get. So I breathe easier when Ensemble Parallele’s general manager Jacques Desjardins remembers me from its rehearsals for Philip Glass’ opera Orphee for a B.A.R. advance I did, and gets us into the side door of SFMOMA’s Wattis Theater, where a rehearsal is underway. New York-based African performance artist Kalup Linzy, center stage, mike in hand, is intoning a section of Italian composer Luciano Chessa’s A Heavenly Act, which he’s culled from the Gertrude Stein text cut out of the 50-minute version of her 90-minute opera with Virgil Thomson, Four Saints in Three Acts. The opera was a succes de

scandale when it bowed as the hot ticket at Chick Austin’s Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, Connecticut, in February 1934. Everybody who was anybody was there, including the Alexander Calders, who arrived in an open car with mountainous layers of clothing to protect them from the subzero temperature. That legendary production, with its cellophane sets and costumes by Florine Stettheimer, and an all-black (pre-Porgy) cast, is a hard act to follow. But Chessa’s 40-minute, SFMOMA-commissioned “installation” with video piece is intended to introduce, play off, and in a way “complete” the missing parts of the Thomson opera. Chessa, who looks a bit like a monkish bear, assiduously follows

his four-movement score while Kalup and the 12-person chorus get into the gospel-like groove. Conductor Nicole Paiment keeps everyone together with her ever-firm beat, while director Brian Staufenbiel, who seems to be everywhere at once, comments, “We have some moves in the shadows here,” and offers encouragement: “Stopping together like a wall of singers: Very cool.” How does Chessa see his work, as related to the Thomson? “It’s a separate one-act opera looking at or in dialogue with Four Saints, looking at Thomson’s opera and Stein’s text. Parts of the Thomson are clocklike, and there’s also lyrical, mostly sweeter writing.” Pointing See page 40 >>

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

Steve DiBart

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Music

August 18-24, 2011

▼

Avant-garde & post-colonial America by Tim Pfaff

here’s a lot more to this “historical performance” thing than getting Bach and Handel right, as two fascinating new releases from Harmonia Mundi, both for multiple voices but otherwise as different as could be, prove. Stories, brilliantly performed by Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices, lurches us back to the once-avant-garde circle created and inhabited by the likes of John Cage and Luciano Berio, while The Rose of Sharon surveys post-colonial American music from the time of the Boston Tea Party (the one in 1773, not its 2007 travesty) to the Civil War and post-bellum period. It’s hard to imagine what drives this compulsion to recreate the sounds and sense of another era – beyond, that is, the bankruptcy and redundancy of the numbedout, iPod-shuffle present. But the compelling thing about these new releases is that the artists behind them are musicians more strongly identified with other kinds of music. Here they don’t just make music outside their customary purviews

come alive, they plainly come alive as musicians in doing so. Granted, Hillier’s passions run from Josquin to Arvo Paert, and he’s as likely to turn up at a Kronos concert as at an early-music festival, but the post-war avant-garde was the last place I expected to run into him in a towel. But he and his five singing colleagues are such naturals in this music, which ranges from John Cage c. 1940 to Sheldon Frank four decades later, that, listening, you sometimes wonder how the engineers got the snap, crackle and pop out of the LPs. That said, stylistically spot-on as these performances are, they mostly show what an artistic backwater this repertory has turned out to be. Engaging the mind as it does, it doesn’t find many contemporary ribs to stick to, and didn’t leave me wanting more. Hillier is right on the button in noting, “Mostly, these pieces seem to tell a story – or stories – but avoid getting to the point.” Modern-day attention spans being what they are, this is a problem. Mostly, these pieces made me want to throw things. But two emblematic pieces do stand out.

After the lobotomizing half-hour of Berio’s “A-Ronne” (1974), John Cage’s “Story” jerks you willingly back to life. It doesn’t hurt that he’s setting a Gertrude Stein text, but here the magic is Cage’s, and for five minutes you lament all over the loss of Cage and his lifelong partner, Merce Cunningham, who did for urban music what Stravinsky did for music of the theater and concert hall. “Stripsody,” by Cathy Berberian, the singer who was muse to a couple generations of modernist composers (and Berio’s wife), is similarly engaging, and funny as well as brilliant. I’m told you don’t have to live in Bangkok to wonder what’s become of the America you were born in. Anyone hungering for an America purer and more innocent than surely it ever was could hardly do better than spinning The Rose of Sharon. Its presiding genius is Joel Frederiksen, an American-born and -trained

lutenist and bass (singer) who has created his own performing group, Ensemble Phoenix Munich, in his adopted home city. This CD might be the best thing homesickness has produced since Dvorak crossed the Atlantic both ways. Frederiksen’s four singers with American-sounding names and four instrumentalists with Europeansounding names inhabit a dizzying array of styles in this compendium of American musics, and there’s nothing close to a dull moment in it. In it you hear “The President’s March,” for the inauguration of George Washington, but only after you’ve been laid low by the opening track, “Lay me low,” spell-bindingly performed solo and a cappella by Frederiksen himself. It’s a Shaker spiritual “received” (think channeled) by Addah Z. Potter on April 15, 1838. You come out the other side of that minute and a half a different person. “The Shakers wanted to create

a direct link to God through their music,” Frederiksen writes in his invaluable note, and most gripping are the Shaker spirituals (including the “Tis the gift to be simple” Aaron Copland borrowed for Appalachian Spring, changing, we now discover, some of the intervals) and the later spirituals and revival-meeting songs that bring the disc to a close. The instrumental playing, including a foot-tapping “Dixie Land” and some really wicked fiddling, is as bewitching as the singing, but it’s the unfamiliar music that most fascinates. There are hymns aplenty, and ballads, including the ironically entitled “The Gentleman Soldier,” which gives an earlier perspective on matters marital and military: “Two wives are allowed in the army, but one’s too many for me.” But all of this music sticks to your ribs and in your memory, and for an hour at least, you’ll be amazed to be an American.▼

Soul to spare by Jason Victor Serinus Terri Lyne Carrington, The Mosaic Project (Concord Jazz)

ow could you not love a CD that begins with the lines “Change your mind, change your skin, cash a check, change your sex?” Cocomposer Nona Hendryx intones those opening verses of her extremely

catchy song “Transformation,” with accompaniment from such gifted artists as Anat Cohen, Geri Allen, Sheila E., Linda Taylor, Patrice Rushen, Tineke Postma, Hailey Niswanger, Chia-Yin Carol Ma, and Ingrid Jensen. By the time percussionist, vocalist, and producer Terri Lynes Carrington’s The Mosaic Project has played through its 14 jazzy, soul-filled tracks, we’ve also heard the voices of Esperanza Spalding, Cassandra Wilson, Shea Rose, Dianne Reeves, Gretchen Parlato, and Dee Dee Bridgewater. If this compendium of vibrant female jazz artists were not enough, Sweet Honey in the Rock pillar Eleanor Johnson Reagon’s “Echo” even includes spoken commentary from veteran activist/educator Angela

Davis. Men as diverse as Irving Berlin (“I Got Lost in His Arms”) and McCartney/Lennon (“Michelle”) leave their mark. But basically, in Carrington’s words, this is an album of women “coming together to support and celebrate each other from a musical and social perspective.” With so many greats on the roster, it’s no wonder that Carrington’s liner notes consist of only four grammatically challenged paragraphs. (She or her editors confuse “its” with “it’s,” and the punctuation is scary.) Describing The Mosaic Project as “cross generational, cross cultural and though jazz in nature, somewhat cross genre, which is pertinent because jazz has increasingly pollinated,” she gives us a delicious sampling of gifted artists on an inspirational roll.▼

<< Out There will return next week.

▼

Fine Art >>

August 18-24, 2011 •

Human truths in the viewfinder by Sura Wood

ny enterprise with the temerity to call itself Face of Our Time, the name of an intriguing photography exhibition now up at SFMOMA, has its work cut out for it; a snapshot, a microcosm, maybe – but the definitive reflection of the times we live in? That’s a tall order, though the show, which devotes a gallery to each of five very different photographers who mine disparate regions of the globe for human truths, large and small, is thought-provoking and without pretension. Well worth seeing, the exhibition takes its title from a 1929 book by August Sander, an eminent German photographer who attempted to gauge the German character before it deconstructed and was engulfed in the moral oblivion of WWII. Needless to say, that report from the front was made during a radically different era in terms of history and the medium itself. Though not practicing conventional photojournalism per se, the artists here bear witness to daily life and struggle unfolding in locales ravaged by war, economic deprivation, natural disaster or the passage of time. Swiss photographer Daniel Schwartz, an avid student of history with an interest in globalization, created a regional photo album from a decade of following the Silk Route across Central Asia, Western China, Afghanistan, Iran and Kashmir. In his series Traveling through the Eye of History, 1995-2007, he contrasts tentative signs of “progress” like fiberoptics, oil pipelines, surveillance and, yes, a telephone operator, with remnants of ancient civilizations whose monuments, often maimed by conflict and worse for wear, offer silent testimonials to endurance. Danish photographer Jacob Aue Sobol stays closer to home in the exhibition’s least engaging section, with a visual diary of his relationship with his Greenlandic girlfriend Sabine and her family, an enclave of local fisherman and hunters eking out a living in the harsh environs of an Inuit village. As is the hazard with many a group show, comparisons between artists and their respective bodies of work are inevitable. Sobol and Schwartz, along with the other participating photographers – Jim Goldberg, Zanele Muholi and Richard Misrach – are technically accomplished, but visitors’ responses will depend on whether or not they find a particular artist’s area of exploration intrinsically compelling. The most affecting work comes from artists who view the personal through the prism of the political and make a direct connection between the two, shooting in areas where the populace has either been abandoned or victimized by their governments, persecuted, or caught in the crossfire of a brutal regime and the rebellion against it, as is the case with the horrific psychodrama playing out in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While investigating illegal immigration to Europe from Africa, Goldberg, a San Franciscobased documentary photographer, took stirring large-scale pictures of people in troubled, povertyaddled countries many are trying to escape, like Senegal, Liberia and the aforementioned Congo, where he shot a group of traumatized survivors huddled together in a makeshift tent. In “Boss,” a self-styled tin-pot dictator in a suit radiates disapproval and threat, and a Liberian man in “Keloids” reveals a naked back riddled with scars. A display case contains Polaroids of refugees accompanied by their poignant pleas for help and descriptions of their shattering experiences, which should offer perspective to Americans worried about their shrinking stock portfolios. “We left our home because

of war,” explains Dusabi Sabado in a plaintive, handwritten note. “I was working in the fields, and the soldiers came and raped me. They killed two of my children, and two more are still missing. Either God will help me, or I would rather die. It is crucial you listen to me.” Goldberg recalls that one man tore up a photo he took of him. It’s a reminder of what can be a thin line between exploitation – grief and terror make for dramatic pictures – and the important task of documenting the existence of those who would otherwise be forgotten. One turns from the heartbreaking to the literal with Richard Misrach’s repetitive catalogue of graffiti messages – humorous, angry, or just plain obscene – scrawled across the siding of damaged buildings and storefronts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. There are 69 such small-scale, color images that Misrach grabbed with a point-andshoot camera, but after viewing 10 or 12, there’s isn’t much more to learn about rage and despair. “I am here. I have a gun,” “We love what you’ve done to the place,” and, “I died waiting for the Adjuster” are amusing, but the simple, economical “Fuck you” says it all. Pain, wariness, quiet strength and, most of all, defiance characterize

Jim Goldberg

Jim Goldberg, “Clutch, Senegal” (2008), chromogenic print; Collection SFMOMA, purchase through a gift of Nicola Miner and Robert Mailer Anderson.

BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

“Faces and Phases,” a moving series of poetic, black-and-white portraits of lesbians and transgender men and women shot by South African photographer and lesbian activist Zanele Muholi, as part of an exploration of queer black African identity and gender. Some depicted here are no longer alive, and a number suffered “correctional rape,” as if the sadistic thugs responsible needed a pretext or justification for savage cruelty. (Rape as punishment or “cure” is on the rise in South Africa, where there are no laws against hate crimes; 24 out of 25 perpetrators go free.) Several portraits are strikingly beautiful, like the ones of the regal, terribly slender Nhlanhla Esther Mofokeng and Nomonde Mbusi, who communicate an aching vulnerability; others gaze back at us in tacit rebuke. Like combat veterans for whom the war never ends, wounding events replay before their eyes. It’s a tribute to Muholi’s skill and the trust she established with her subjects that, without uttering a word, they speak eloquently about survival in a corrosive environment, where maintaining one’s integrity or asserting one’s identity can have lethal consequences, and remaining invisible is the safest path. Long after departing, Muholi’s images echo in the memory.▼ Through Oct. 16. www.sfmoma.org.

32 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Film

August 18-24, 2011

▼

Tensions of a transitioning teen by David Lamble

riter/director Rashaad Ernesto Green describes the torn-from-life origins of his passionate debut feature Gun Hill Road, where a Puerto Rican teen’s pursuit of his identity as a young woman pushes his Bronx family to the brink. “I had a family member who went through something very similar. I watched this family deteriorate because of its inability to understand this child’s transition. I saw a father who really needed his child’s love, and a child who needed her father’s love, and they just couldn’t come together. I wanted to make a piece of art that didn’t have all the answers, but showed that if you put love and family first,

Harmony Santana, Esai Morales and Judy Reyes in Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Gun Hill Road.

everything else would be figured out.” There’s an eruption of convicton-convict violence in the opening minutes of this queer youth melodrama that stays with you throughout. A female-identified transgendered teen’s life is thrown into turmoil upon the release from prison of his macho daddy. Enrique Michael Rodriguez (a ferocious turn from Esai Morales) is headed for his family’s apartment in the heart of a sprawling Puerto Rican ghetto in the Bronx. Enrique expects to step right back into his patriarchal role as husband to a hardworking wife (Scrubs’ Judy Reyes) and “Papi” to a beautiful teenage boy, Michael (newcomer Harmony Santana). Michael has turned 16 and, unbeknownst to Enrique, is calling himself Vanessa, using the girl’s bathroom at school, starting female hormones and performing a daring series of poetry raps. Enrique is a human volcano who may not brook his namesake turning into daddy’s little girl. Michael/Vanessa nominally acknowledges Enrique’s return, spurning his offer of Yankee tickets and keeping his pop from seeing how he dresses at school and on his frisky dates with an aspiring artist. Two moments stand out: the scene where Enrique cuts Vanessa’s beautiful hair, and a sequence where Vanessa tries in vain to negotiate a sexual relationship of respect and equality with a lover who treats her as trade. Gun Hill Road (opening Friday) will leave you emotionally wrung out, worrying about the fate of a beautiful teen forever awaiting a tsunami of macho violence. Summoning his cast members to the Castro stage for an emotional post-film Q&A after the film’s June 16 Frameline premiere, Rashaad Ernesto Green described his search for his leading lady. “I didn’t think an actor would be able to pull off that role. So I hit the streets of New York for a good two months. I met Harmony at a Queens Pride AIDS prevention booth. I went up to what I thought was a young Latino male and said, ‘I’m looking for this character, know anyone?’ She took her sunglasses off and said, ‘I want to audition.’ She had the most beautiful, angelic face. She was just at the beginning of her transition; she was half-Puerto Rican and half-Dominican, which

fitted with Judy Reyes and Esai Morales as her screen parents. “She told me she was changing her name to Harmony, that she would like to be referred to as she; by the time we ended production, she was showing up in her own skin, in her own clothes, confident and beautiful. So the transition we are seeing on film is what was going on in life.” David Lamble: I loved the photography, especially what you do with low-angle shots. Rashaad Ernesto Green: My DP Daniel Patterson and I like handheld stuff because it feels not like you’re watching a movie, but that you’re watching real life. You’re honest about the sexual relationship she attempts with the artist. There are some brutal bargains struck. I got to speak with a lot of transgendered females about how they’re viewed in their relationships with men. They say there are straight men who are interested in them because of their appearance, but once they’re discovered to be transsexual they become a sexual object, and are not seen for their full humanity. The slang is “chicks with dicks.” Yes. I wanted to show the rest of the world what it is that they go through, to show that it’s hard seeking love or seeking respect in that kind of relationship. I liked that you get to see the boy as well the girl, like when Papi takes him to the prostitute. A lot of times fathers will do this for their child, but a transgendered female is not enjoying the sexual experience. She feels like it’s a violation. The haircutting scene is also a violation, but there’s more going on there, isn’t there? At the same time that he’s cutting her hair, he’s also telling her that he loves her. So it’s tough and gritty, but the father believes he’s doing the right thing for his child, that he’s protecting her in some way. There’s a tremendous tension in this movie, from the very beginning in the prison scene all the way to the end. I want to keep you on the edge of your seat. I didn’t want it to feel like “an independent film.”▼

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Books >>

August 18-24, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 33

On pins and needles by Jim Piechota Running the Gauntlet: An Intimate History of the Modern Body Piercing Movement by Jim Ward; Gauntlet Enterprises, $49.95

n the 2003 MTV documentary The Social History of Piercing, Jim Ward was called “the granddaddy of the modern piercing movement.” Today he still upholds that title, and defends it brilliantly in his new book Running the Gauntlet, a defining tome that could be considered both a vivid autobiography and a comprehensive and illuminating history of the body piercing revolution. With a revealing blend of prose and pictures, Ward chronologically details his personal history being raised in the early 1940s in western Oklahoma by strict Presbyterian parents. His sexuality developed quickly, fortified by bodybuilder ads in magazines and a handsome church reverend with wandering hands. Never abandoning his dreams of becoming a popular music composer, Ward, a “prissy teenager” in high school, cultivated a love of the harp, but eventually settled on a career in interior design in the 1960s. Ward openly shares his experiences dabbling in erotic sadomasochism, leather gear, motorcycles, and a particular fascination with piercing, which may have temporarily relieved the emotional and psychological scarring that took place when he recalls undergoing circumcision as a toddler – without anesthetic – and the “botched” surgery then needing to be repaired at a hospital. The 1975 grand opening of The Gauntlet, the world’s first body piercing studio, at 8720 Santa Monica Blvd. in West

Hollywood, became Ward’s defining moment as the piercing movement’s popularity took off for heights the author neither foresaw nor imagined. Together with partner Doug Malloy and a host of other creatively gifted artists, Gauntlet Enterprises became responsible for piercing techniques and the use of custom-designed jewelry such as the Fixed Bead Ring, the septum retainer, barbells, nostril screws, and various nipple-enhancing ornaments (see Janet Jackson’s 2004 wardrobe malfunction), which today have become industry standards. A magazine, Piercing Fans International Quarterly (PFIQ), flourished from 1977 to its final, 50th issue in 1997, as did Ward’s business for its 20-year run with satellite locations in New York City, Seattle, and San Francisco, with some famous clientele including Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, Cher, and Farrah Fawcett. Despite the crushing surprise of an HIV+ diagnosis in 1986, Ward’s love life also blossomed when he met his current partner Drew in 1988, and became enslaved by him soon after at a spirited “bonding ritual,” an event that was memorialized by Mister Marcus Hernandez in this newspaper’s leather column. Ward’s beautifully produced book will be a must-have item for the hardcore aficionado as the author includes explicit, provocative (not for the squeamish)

Kevin Keller gets his own book by David-Elijah Nahmod

yebrows were raised last fall when the seemingly conservative, staunchly heterosexual Archie Comics introduced readers to Kevin Keller. Kevin, a typical all-American teenager, is the first openly gay character to attend Riverdale High and hang out with Archie and the gang. The ground-breaking addition of Kevin to the popular, longrunning series wasn’t quite as earth-shattering as it may have seemed, reports Archie Comics writer and artist Dan Parent, who created the new character. “Kevin came about when I was discussing Veronica story ideas at an editorial meeting,” Parent wrote in an e-mail to the B.A.R. “I had an idea for a story where Veronica goes after the most unattainable guy possible, a gay guy of course! At the same time we were discussing adding more diversity to Riverdale, so a gay character seemed like a natural progression.” Kevin Keller made his debut in Veronica #202 in the fall of 2010. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive, thanks to our compassionate readership,” says Parent. “There has been some backlash, but it’s been minor in comparison to the praise. Gay readers are very appreciative about being represented in Riverdale.

We forget that it can sometimes be isolating for young readers who have nobody to identify with in our books.” Kevin quickly became one of the more popular characters in the Archie universe. Less than a year

after coming out to his new friends at Riverdale High, he now emerges as the star of Kevin Comics. The first issue is already available, with Issue #2 about to be published. “We don’t plan on handling any hard-hitting social issues, but if something interesting comes up, we’ll do it,” Parent told us. See page 41 >>

photography on both male and female genital piercings, scarification, and even the extremist ritual of eyeball tattooing. And while these generous photographs (many are wonderfully vintage) definitely deliver the wow-factor, it’s the author’s text that really clinches the deal. Ward’s writing style is relaxed yet thorough; his stories of the 1970s and the rise of the piercing and tattooing movements are compelling and obviously cathartic for him as a body manipulation pioneer and a gay man having navigated the treacherous waters of the 70s and 80s to the challenging contemporary times of today. With piercing having already become as commonplace as tattooed body art, Jim Ward’s outstanding book is sure to satisfy an audience eager to discover the movement’s genesis, its intricate nuances, and the amazing individual who started it all.▼

ebar.com

34 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Theatre

August 18-24, 2011

▼

Carol Rosegg

Patrick Bristow, a gay comic actor and improv expert, is the host and onstage director of the adults-only Stuffed and Unstrung.

Stuffed & Unstrung From page 29

playing areas, so the puppeteers are never looking at each other or at their puppets or at the audience,” Bristow said. “They’re looking at those monitors while they’re improvising both the movement and the dialogue for the puppets.” The puppet part of the show is also projected on two large screens above the action. The puppeteers (including Brian Henson during the SF run) are positioned in director’s chairs on one side of the stage while Bristow is positioned across the stage in front of a rack of Henson Creature Shop creations (but no Muppets, who now belong to Disney) that the puppeteers can draw from when Bristow calls them out to do a scene. While there are several set pieces, including two Jim Henson and Frank Oz classics from the 1950s, about 60% of the show is made up of improvisations based on suggestions from the audience. “I will ask the audience for a specific kind of suggestions, like a title or a location or an activity or a relationship,” Bristow said. “Many times it will just be a wall of sound, and I have to pick the first thing I can understand. But if the first one I can understand is really kind of reprehensible, I’ll get a second one and put it up for a vote. We try to go where that particular audience wants to go.” The show is recommended for 18 and up, though some shows end

up suitable for all ages. “We do not endeavor to go blue,” Bristow said, “but when you get a big group of adults giving suggestions, they typically will default to stuff that’s a little bit forbidden or naughty. We have to have the freedom to do what the audience wants.” And sometimes that goes gay. “We’ve had gay puppet characters kissing, getting married, you name it.” Bristow, who easily calls himself “nelly,” can crank up or down the volume of his personality according to the audience vibe. “I sort of out myself at the beginning of the show, but I don’t really have to because I’m so damn gay,” he said. “I’ve learned that sometimes my sarcasm doesn’t land with a certain audience, and sometimes that’s exactly what they want.” Bristow was one of the first out actors working regularly on network television. Attitudes, of course, continue to evolve on what being out can do to a career, and how gay characters are portrayed. “Something that sort of saddens me is that maybe we’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” Bristow said. “Like, if you can’t have a fun gay character because we all have to pull the politically correct line. But there are centuries of this kind of fey humor, sometimes acerbic, sometimes flamboyant, and I feel we as a community should own that and celebrate it.”▼ Stuffed and Unstrung will run Aug. 18-27 at the Curran Theatre. Tickets are $30-$65. Call (800) SHN 1799 or go to www.shnsf.com.

Michael Ansell/Touchstone

Patrick Bristow played the gay character Peter on Ellen, who was out before Ellen DeGeneres’ character came out.

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Film >>

August 18-24, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 35

Summer’s end at the Castro by David Lamble

he recent sad demise of the Red Vic Movie House should teach us not to take our fabulous Castro movie palace for granted. This late August bonanza is highlighted by an absolute knockout Midnight for Maniacs Friday from Jesse Hawthorne Ficks. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Halfway into this poptart-cute Michael Cera vehicle, our intrepid slacker Romeo waltzes into the campy pad he shares with his gay roommate, Wallace Wells, only to discover Wells going down on a boy tart. “Oh, you may just have seen a guy’s junk. And he’s very sorry.” The scene-stealing Kieran Culkin has been waiting a long time to grab his proper share of the spotlight. There is a sweet irony to a ruby-lipped Culkin boy playing queer in order to win kudos, but he nails every scene as Pilgrim’s boy-hungry best friend. What kind of straight-boy hero needs a gay best friend to advise him how to fight his new love’s evil ex-boyfriends? An attention-deficitafflicted, pee-shy, guitar-playing Canadian who frets about everything, from the success of his talentchallenged punk band Sex Bob-omb to the delicate process of dumping his 17-year-old girlfriend, “Knives” Chau. It’s on a Midnight for Maniacs triple bill with Edgar Wright in person doing a Q&A before his zombie classics Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. (8/26) Badlands Loosely based on a real-life crime spree (Charles Starkweather), Malick’s auspicious 1973 debut feels very much of a piece with its bratty film-school contemporaries. Nestled somewhere between the genre-revising, bloodspattered visual poetics of Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde and the hyper-Disney pop slickness of Steven Spielberg’s Sugarland Express, Badlands gives us a cocky Martin Sheen as a James Dean-styling serial killer who seduces his slightly dim girlfriend (Sissy Spacek) on a murderous jaunt across the Great

Scene from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Plains, after shooting her Pop and burning down the family homestead. (Plays with Days of Heaven, 8/25.) The Tree of Life Don’t miss this very special taste of Malick in its Castro premiere. Its 1950s Waco, Texas clan is modeled on an American Spartan prototype of the family as a basic fighting unit, with the authoritarian dad (a lean and mean Brad Pitt), nurturing mom (newcomer Jessica Chastain) and a feisty trio of boys – heartfelt performances delivered by pre-teens Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler and Tye Sheridan – as the restless grunts, seen both cowering under dad’s drill-sergeant dinner-table rants and out-of-doors, getting into trouble. Malick shows these boys’ lives teetering between a Lord of the Flies descent into chaos and a Norman Rockwell version of a crewcut nirvana. With an editing style that fractures any obvious coherent narrative, Malick evokes the brutal freedom of an Eisenhower-era boyhood: bad frozen food, adults facing a possible domestic breakup, and an exhilarating taste of freedom’s possibilities. (8/28) But first, the Viva Pedro miniextravaganza continues, with two terrific double bills. All About My Mother A beautiful teenager celebrates his 17th birthday with a note begging his mother to

allow him to meet his absent father. “I don’t care who he is, or how he treated my mother. No one can take that right away from me.” That night Esteban is hit by a car, prompting his mother to take a painful journey through her own unsettling adolescence to See page 41 >>

www.ebar.com

36 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Out&About

August 18-24, 2011

Butch Voices @ Marriott City Center, Oakland Conference for lesbians, queers and trans people with several panels, performances and events about community building, social and economic justice, physical and mental health. Thru Aug. 21. www.butchvoices.com

The Complete History of America @ Forest Meadows Ampitheatre The comic three-man romp about US history. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 4pm. Thru Sept 25. $20-$75 (season tix). 1475 Acacia Ave., Dominican Universaty, San Rafael. www.marinshakespeare.org

Dog & Cat Adoption @ Shine Meet some of A Leg Up Rescue’s adorable dogs and cats who need to be adopted. 5pm-9pm. 1337 Mission st. at 9th. www.aleguprescue.org

Four Saints in Three Acts @ Novellus Theater YBCA and SF MOMA present a new production of Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thompson’ 1934 opera. $10-$85. Aug. 19 & 20, 8pm. Aug 21 2pm. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Howard St. at 3rd. 978-2787. www.ybca.org

Waiting for Giovanni Lois Tema

Pre-sold by Jim Provenzano

Henson Alternative @ Curran Theatre Stuffed and Unstrung, Brian Henson’s funny irreverent show with 80 puppets, 6 comedians and a lot of naughty words. $30-$65. Thu 8pm. Fri & Sat 7pm & 10:30pm. Thru Aug. 27. 445 Geary St. (888) SHN-1799. www.stuffedandunstrung.com www.shnsf.com

Lines Ballet Summer Program @ Palace of Fine Arts

ometimes, a press release arrives and I’m pre-sold, by Student showcase of dancing in works by which I mean, the event’s reputation precedes it, and is guarguest choreographers Yannis Adoniou, anteed to be worth attending. Tammy Cheney, LeeWei Chao, Maurya Kerr, Robert Moses, Amy Raymond & Carmen Waiting for Giovanni opens August 19 at New ConRozestraten. $15. 8pm. 3301 Lyon St. servatory Theatre Center. The world premiere of Jewelle www.linesballet.org Gomez and Harry Waters, Jr.’s much-anticipated play is inspired by the life of gay author James Mixtape for Ophelia Baldwin. $22-$40. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. @ CounterPulse Thru Sept. 18. 25 Van Ness ave., lower level. Collage Theater presents 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org Matisee Michalski’s hybrid work that combines Shakespeare, Enjoy some foot-stomping entertaincontemporary music, dance, ment at the Bay Area Rhythm Exchange true stories and a queer twist to at the Herbst Theatre. Stepology presents a explore adolescence and suicide. star-studded night of dancing, with Melinda Sullivan (So $15-$20. 8pm. Also Aug. 20. You Think You Can Dance) Channing Cook Holmes (photo, 1310 Mission St. 626-2060. right), John Kloss (Tap Heat) Mark Mendonca, Jason Rodgers, www.counterpulse.org Sam Weber, The Barbary Coast Cloggers, $17-425. 8pm. AuOphelia @ YBCA gust 19 & 20. 401 Van Ness Ave. 392-4400. www.sfwmpac.org Staged concert reading of a Esai Morales stars in… Wait. I was already sold at the Channing female-driven musical version Cook Holmes mention of his name of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. (swoon). See what I 7:30pm. 701 Mission St. mean? But here are the www.opheliamusical.com details. Gun Hill Road Rocky Horror Picture screens at the Sundance Kabuki Show @ Smith Center Cinema. Esai Morales stars as the Ampitheatre, Fremont paroled father of a trans teen in The sweet transvestite from transexual this intense family drama. Morales Gun Hill Road Transylvania returns in a screening with live will attend post-screening Q&As sidebar performances by The Bawdy Caste. Aug 19 (7:30 & 9:30pm shows) and $12. Ohlone College, 43600 Mission Blvd., Aug. 20 after the 7:30 show. $10. Various times. 1881 Post St. 346-3243. Fremont. (510) 659-6031. www.sundancecinemas.com www.smithcenter.com Mrs. Partridge, people! Shirley Jones is just one of the many amazing Sex, Death, Laughter, talents at Help Is on the Way XVII, Sunday, August 21 at the Herbst Disease @ Center for Theatre. Themed Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance!, the Richmond-Ermet AIDS Sex & Culture Foundation’s latest gala benefit show also includes Lea Salonga, Prince Readings by members of Lorelei Lee’s Poppycock, Carole Cook, James Darren, Brian Boitano, Jai Rodriguez, summer writing class, whose themes focus Patrick Cassidy, Susan Anton, Levi Kreis, Post Ballet and many more. on the body. $5-$20. 7pm. 1349 Mission St. Silent auction and VIP reception 5pm; main reception 6pm (Green www.sexandculture.org Room); show 7:30pm; post-show dessert party. $50-$125. 401 Van Ness Ave. 392-4400. www.reaf.org Simian Mobile Disco

@ Public Works Popular DJs spin a set, along with Solar, Eli Glad, Chris Orr, and Conor. $18. 9pm4am. 161 Erie St. at Mission. 923-0955. www.publicsf.com

Sat 20 >> Shirley Jones

Fri 19 >> Abigail the Rock Opera @ Light Rail Studios The Salem witch trial rock opera, workshopped last year, returns. $15-$20. Doors 8pm/show 9pm. Thu-Sat thru Aug. 27. 672 Toland Place. At Kirkwood. 285-0259. www.abigailtherockopera.com www.lightrailstudios.com

American Buffalo @ Actors Theatre of SF David Mamet’s intense drama about three petty crooks. $26-$38. Wed-Sat 8pm. Thru Sept. 3. 855 Bush St. at Taylor. 345-1287. www.ActorsTheatreSF.org

Prince Poppycock

Billy Elliot @ Orpheum Theatre Elton John and Lee Hall’s hit Broadway musical adaptation of the wonderful film about a boy who takes up dance lessons; starring Tony Award winner Faith Prince. $35- Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. also Sun 7:30pm. Thru Aug. 21. 1192 Market St. at 8th. (888) SHN 1799. www.shnsf.com

Bobby Caldwell @ The Rrazz Room Entertaining R&B singer performs live. $45-$47.50. 8pm. Also Aug 19, 7pm & 9:30pm, Aug 20 & 21 at 7pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. 394-1189. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Art & Soul Festival @ Downtown Oakland 11th annual two-day music (Tower of Power, Five for Fighting, Goapele, Mingus Amungus, Marc Broussard, Vicci Martinez (from NBC’s The Voice), and Shawn Mullins are mong the headliners), food, dance and art festival. 12pm-6pm. Also Aug 21. $5-$15. www.ArtandSoulOakland.com

Bay Area Now 6 @ YBCA Group exhibit of local visual artists in varied media. Exhibit thru Sept. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 978-2700. www.ybca.org

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs.

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$25-$130. Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm. Sat 6:30, 9:30pm. Sun 2pm, 5pm. (Beer/wine served; cash only). 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

David Berkeley @ Café Du Nord Acoustic-rock-folk singer performs his original music; Joel street headlines, Lauren O’Connell opens. . $10-$12. 21+. 8pm. 2170 Market St. www.davidberkeley.com www.cafedunord.com

Dutch and Flemish Masterworks @ Legion of Honor Famous artists such as Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Hendrick Avercamp are featured in this exhibit of works from the collection of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo. Also, Picasso’s Ceramics (thru Oct. 9), Marvelous Menagerie: A Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel (thru July 24) and a fascinating permanent collection. $7-$11. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Thru Oct. 2. 100 34th Ave. at Clement, Lincoln Park. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

Evenings by the Bay @ Monterey Bay Aquarium Enjoy beer and wine, live music and festivities at the aquatic museum during evening summer hours, til 8pm thru Labor Day Weekend. (weekdays 9:30am-6pm). $19.95-$29.95. Cannery Row at David Ave. (866) 963-9645. www.montereybayaquarium.org

Exit, Pursued By a Bear @ Boxcar Playhouse Lauren Gunderson’s hilarious revenge comedy about domestic abuse. Opening night tonight (previews Aug 18-19). $15-$35. Wed-Sat 8pm. Thru Aug 27, then Sept 7-17. 505 Natoma St. 255-7846. www.crowdedfire.org

Fifi & Fanny @ Capp St. Music Center Comedy-music duo perform their new act, Fifi & Fanny: The Beginning. $5-$15. 8pm. Also Aug 21, 27, 28. And Aug 21 & 28 at 3pm. ($25 VIP reception Aug 20 & 28) 544 Capp St. near 21st. www.FifiandFanny.com

Gilligan’s Island @ The Garage Moore Theatre and Safehouse’s campy stage parody of the classic TV show. $10$20. Sat & Sun at 8pm. Thru Aug. 28. 975 Howard St. www.MooreTheatreSF.com www.975howard.com

Labyrinth @ Castro Theatre 25th anniversary screening of the Muppetfilled David Bowie fantasy film, with inperson appearances by Brian Henson, Dave Coelz, Karen Prell and a costume party! $15. 5pm. 429 Castro St. (866) 468-3399. www.castrotheatre.com

Night of the Shorts II @ Castro Theatre Andy Richter, plus MST3K’s Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, and several other comics, do live voiceover joke commentary at a night of wonderfully awful short films. $25. 8:30pm. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Passage: Capturing Movement @ 60SIX Gallery Opening reception for a group exhibit of unusual photos taken in diverse situations and media by Stephen Mallon, David Magnusson, Steve Bird, Anne Terpstra, David King and Michael Jang. 6pm-8:30pm. Thru Sept 16. Saturdays 9:30am-1pm. 66 Elgin Park. www.gallery60six.com

Push Play 6 @ YBCA Forum, Lobby Literary Death Match with Chinaka Hodge, Jonathan Keats, Caitlin Myer, Susan Steinberg, plus High Tea II with Tony Labat, Heavy Metal Quilting with Ben Venom, David Harrington (Kronos Quartet founder) BANimation, art performances and more. Free. 12pm-8pm. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 978-2700. www.ybca.org

The Road to Hades @ John Hinkel Park, Berkeley Shotgun Players presents Jeff Raz’s circus stunt-filled pratfall parody of war between the ancient gods. $10. Sat & Sun 3pm. Thru Sept. 11. Southhampton Ave. at The Arlington. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org

San Jose Pride Celebration @ Discovery Meadow Martha Wash, Lady Bunny, Sherry Vine, Xavier Toscano and many others perform at the two-day 35th annual LGBT Pride events. Free Sat. Aug. 21, $10-$15. 10am6pm, with special evening events at local nightclubs. www.sanjosepride.com

Mon 22 Nanette Harris @ SF Public Library Blue People by a Green Painter, an exhibit of works by by the artist who paints people of color in different tones, and uses recycled paint. Part of the Afro Solo Arts Fest. Thru Oct. 20. 100 Larkin St. www.afrosolo.org www.sfpl.org

Stone Temple Pilots, Cheap Trick @ Great Meadow, Fort Mason Bonehead BBQ sponsors a concert by the two rock bands (others TBA). Partial proceeds benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, with BBQ food, beer, beverages and more (not included in ticket price). $60. 12pm-7pm. Bay St. at Laguna. www.snagtickets.com

Teatro Zinzanni @ Pier 29 Joan Baez returns to Teatro in Maestro’s Enchantment, the new show at the theatretent-dinner extravaganza, with Ukranian illusionist Yevgeniy Voronin, clown Peter Pitofsky, aerialist Bianca Sapetto, trapeze artists The Collins Brothers, singer Kristin Clayton, contortionist Svetlana, plus a fivecourse dinner, and a lot of fun. $117-$145. Saturday 11:30am “Breve” show $63-$78. Wed-Sat 6pm (Sun 5pm). Thru Oct. 9. Pier 29 at Embarcadero Ave. 438-2668. www.teatrozinzanni.com

Tigers Be Still @ SF Playhouse Quirky endearing comedy about an art therapist whose family and work life is complicated; oh, and a tiger’s escaped from a local zoo. $40-$50. 8pm. Tue & Wed 7pm. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm. Thru Sept. 10. 533 Sutter St. near Powell. 677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org

Twelfth Night @ Theatre in the Woods, Woodside Shakespeare’s bittersweet comedy about crossdressing lovers, heartache and romance, is re-set in colonial New England at the beautiful outdoor ampitheatre. $15-$25. Sat & Sun 1pm thru Sept. 4. 2170 Bear Gulch Road (West), Woodside. www.theatreinthewoods.com

Sun 21 >> Classic Films @ Castro Theatre 2001: A Space Odyssey (2pm, 7pm) and 2010: The Year We Make Contact (4:35, 9:35). Aug. 24, Double Indemnity (2:40, 7pm) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (4:40, 9pm). Aug 25, Terrence Malick double feature: Days of Heaven (3:10, 7pm) and Badlands (6pm, 8:55). $10. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Happy Hour @ Energy Talk Radio Interview show with gay writer Adam Sandel as host. 8pm. www.EnergyTalk-Radio.com

San Francisco Opera @ Stern Grove Popular opera arias are performed at this outdoor concert. Free. 2pm. Bring blankets or chairs. Golden Gate Park, 19th Ave at Sloat Blvd. www.sfopera.com

Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories @ Contemporary Jewish Museum Exhibit of personal artwork, collected work and archival materials showing how the lesbian poet’s life, mostly in Paris, changed over the decades before and after WWII. Free-$10. Thru Sept. 6. 11am-5pm daily (closed Wed), Thu 1pm-8pm. 736 Mission St. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org

The Steins Collect @ SF MOMA Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian AvanteGarde, a fascinating exhibit of pivotal artworks originally collected by lesbian poet Gertrude Stein and her family. 4th floor galleries. Free (members)-$25. Thru Sept. 6. 11am-5:45pm daily; extended Sat hours 10am-8:45pm. Closed Wed.; open til 8:45pm Thu. 151 Third St. 357-4000. www.sfmoma.org

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Out&About >>

August 18-24, 2011 •

Sunday School @ The EndUp

A Thin Line @ Visual Aid

New T-dance and beer bust at the famed disco. Enjoy the sunny patio and grooves by DJ Hawthorne and the Ghetto Disco crew. 3pm-8pm. www.endupsf.com

Works by Daniel Goldstein, David King, David Wojnarowicz and Philip Zimmerman. Thru Aug 31. 57 Post St. 777-8242. www.visualaid.org

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room

Soulful Stitching @ MOAD Patchwork Quilts by African (Siddis) in India, a new exhibit of 32 colorful handcrafted works. Thru Sept. 18. Wed-Sat 11am-6pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission St. at 3rd. 358-7200. www.moadsf.org

Donna Sachet and Harry Denton host the fabulous weekly brunch and drag show. $45. 11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square. 395-8595. www.harrydenton.com

Same-Sex Dancing @ Queer Ballroom Ongoing partner dance lessons and open dancing in a variety of styles; different each night. $5-$25 open dancing to $55 for private lessons. 151 Potrero Ave. at 15th. www.QueerBallroom.com

Sutro San Francisco @ Rayko Photo

Dan Ross presents 30 large-format color views shot in contrast to the 1910 black and white enlarged originals of the famous Sutro Baths. Also, Fraction Magazine’s group g exhibit of prints by a variety of o photographers. Thru Sept 15/18. Tue-Thu Tu 10am-8pm; Fri-Sun Ambrosia 10am-8pm. 1 428 Third St. 496Saland 3773. 3 www.raykophoto.com

TFDI @ Café DuNord Rock-folk dudes Tony Lucca, Jay Nash and Matt Duke return with their “musical bromance” band Totally F*ckin Doin’ It. Riley Etheridge, Jr. opens. $10-$12. 8pm. 21+. 2170 Market St. 8615016. www.cafedunord.com

Thu 25 >>

Various Exhibits @ Oakland Museum of California

Bali: Art, Ritual, B Performance P @ A Asian Art Museum

A Walk in the Wild, Continuing John Muir’s Journey, Bay Area figurative art, Dorothea Lange archive, Early landscape paintings, Gold Rush Era works, and California ceramics. $6-$12. 1000 Oak St. Oakland. (510) 318-8400. www.museumca.org

Mon 22 >>

BAY AREA REPORTER • 37

E Expansive exhibit of more than 1100 historic art works in exhibits tthat showcase the practicality of tthe performing and visual arts iin this beautiful culture. Special Shadow S Puppet Theatre shows 12pm-4pm thru Aug. 28 (also Aug A 25, 6pm; $10-$27). $7-$17. Tue-Sun T 10am-5pm. Thu til 9pm. Thru T Sept. 11. 200 Larkin St. www.asianart.org w

Ian Schreier

Cityscapes @ John Pence Gallery Group exhibit of paintings of urban San Francisco. 6pm-8pm. Thru Sept 2. Mon-Fri 10am-6pm Sat til 5pm. 750 Post St. 441-1138. www.johnpence.com

Katya Smirnoff-Skyy @ The Rrazz Room Our favorite drag Russian exiled empress performs music by The Beatles with her whimsical slightly tipsy flair. $30. 8pm. Also Aug. 23. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. 394-1189. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Marga’s Funny Mondays @ The Marsh, Berkeley

Old meets New E

njoy classic San Francisco nightlife with a new twist. Go “Runnin’ Up That Hill” with the “Army of Me” at the first-ever Trannyshack Kate Bush vs. Bjork Tribute Night. Host Heklina presents a horde of talented dragsters, including Fauxnique, Precious Moments, Peggy L’Eggs, Ambrosia Saland and more. DNA Lounge, Friday, August 19. $12-$15. 9:30pm-3am. Show at 11pm. 375 11th St. www.trannyshack.com www.dnalounge.com Saturday, August 20, Sundance Saloon brings two-stepping and country-western dancing to the new dance club with SoMa Country at Beatbox. Beginners welcome. $8. Lessons 6pm. Dancing 7pm-10pm. 314 11th st. www.sundancesaloon.org www.beatboxsf.com

Marga Gomez brings her comic talents and special guests to a weekly cabaret show. $10. 8pm. 2120 Allston Way. (800) 838-3006. www.margagomez.com www.themarsh.org

Sundance at Beatbox

Mark Kleim Photos @ The Cove

Grammy Award-winning innovative women’s string quartet performs unique versions of pop songs by Green Day, Radiohead, Oasis and more. $12-$20. Dinner and full bar available. 8pm. 1330 Fillmore St. www.quartetrouge.com www.yoshis.com

The second annual gala event features the 2012 calendar men in formal and sportswear fashion shows, and a lively auction for dinner dates (on Aug. 28, at a post-gala ‘Starlight Magic’ show at Harry Denton’s Starlight Room with Donna Sachet; champagne and dessert reception). $25-$120. 6:30-9:30pm. Empire Ballroom, 450 Powell St. www.BareChest.org/AuctionGala.com

Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey’s Ronn Vigh hosts the weekly LGBT and gay-friendly comedy night; special guest Liz Grant. One drink or menu item minimum. 9pm. 500 Castro St. at 18th. 431-HARV. www.harveyssf.com

Love and Anarchy @ Ictus Gallery Group exhibit of works by Cece Carpio, Kira Curtis, Fernando Marti, and Jermaine Rogers. Tue-Sat 12pm-5pm hru Sept. 1. 1769 15th St. at Albion. www.ictusgallery.com

Leon Mostovoy @ LGBT Center Death of my Daughter, a diptych photo series of female-to-male transgendered t people with symbolic poses p and imagery. Thru Sept 29. 1800 Market M St. www.leonmostovoy.wordpress.com p www.sfcenter.org

Not a Genuine Black Man N @ The Marsh, Berkeley Brian Copeland’s longrunning autobioB ggraphical solo show about racism in San Le Leandro. $20-$50. 7:30pm. Thru Sept 24 24. (800) 838-3006. www.themarsh.org

Ten Percent @ Comcast 104

Bare Chest Auction Gala @ Sir Francis Drake Hotel

Free outdoor screening of the Roger Corman scifi flick about a giant Venusian vegetable with tentacle arms who attacks the Bay Area; in glorious black and white! Bring a blanket, picnic and enjoy on the lawn. 8:30pm. 2575 Bancroft Way. (510) 642-1412.

B Benefi t for All Stars Helping Kids, Tippping Point and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, with Kenny Loggins performH iing; hosted by Trent Lott. $500 and up. 66:30pm. 859 O’Farrell St. (650) 36311395. www.allstarshelpingkids.org w www.gamh.com

Quartet Rouge @ Yoshi’s

Tue 23 >>

It Conquered the World @ Pacific Film Archive

M Music Art & Heart @ Great American Music Hall M

Lavender Lounge host’s video slideshow of sexy amusing candids from Up Your Alley street fairs 2003-2009. Daily. 434 Castro St. www.LavenderLounge.com

David Perry’s talk show about LGBT local issues. Mon-Fri 11:30am & 10:30pm, Sat & Sun 10:30pm. www.davidperry.com

Gray @ The Garage G Oakland-based performer blends psychiatrists, meds, coffee, cartwheels, Zen, death, sex, Vietnam and enlightenment as thematic topics. $10. 8pm.518-1517. 975 Howard St. www.grayperforms. com www.975howard.org

Wed 24 >> Home Before Dark @ Galeria de la Raza Recent Works by Emerging Latino Artists, a multimedia group exhibit. Tue 1pm-7pm, Wed-Sat 12pm-6pm. (Closed Aug 21-Sept 5) Exhibit thru Sept 17. 2857 24th St. 8268009. www.galeriadelaraza.org

Jerry Butler @ The Rrazz Room “The Iceman” performs classic R&B songs. $40-$45. 8pm. 2-drink min. Also Aug 25, 26 at 8pm; 27, 7 & 9:30pm; 28 at 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. 394-1189. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Our Vast Queer Past @ GLBT History Museum See the new mini-exhibit about the Alice B. Toklas San Francisco LGBT Democratic political organization as it celebrates its 40th anniversary; part of Our Vast Queer Past, the popular exhibit from the GLBT Historical Society, with a wide array of rare historic items on display. Free for members-$5. Wed-Sat 11am-7pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Picasso @ P de Young Museum Masterpieces from the Museé National Picasso, Paris, a new exhibit of classic early modern works by the Spanish master painter. Free (members)-$25. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Wed 9:30am-8:45pm (the Aug). Thru Oct. 9. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

The Hootenanny @ SF Arts Commission Group exhibit of art work by 13 city and council employees of San Francisco. 6pm8pm. Thru Aug. 27. 401 Van Ness Ave. www.sfartscommission.org/gallery

Smut Capital of America @ YBCA Ongoing series of artistic and historic adult films made in SF. Tonight, stag films and wild card peep booth shorts. Thru August. $6-$8. 7:30pm. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 978-2700. www.ybca.org

To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com. Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

For bar and nightlife events, go to www.bartabsf.com

38 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Society

August 18-24, 2011

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Gays in the galleries by Donna Sachet

id you read of the recent incident at the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) which involved a public display of affection between two lesbians, and which revealed astonishing intolerance and bigotry on the part of a security employee – in San Francisco? The CJM joined with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for An Evening in Gay Paris, specifically inviting members of the LGBT community to view the delightful Seeing Gertrude Stein exhibition and The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. Guests were free to wander from museum to museum, sip wine and cocktails, enjoy some live entertainment, and presumably feel free to hold hands, hug, and even occasionally share un bisou. What a civilized response to uncivilized behavior! Don’t miss these extraordinary exhibits! Speaking of un bisou, dine as soon as possible at the restaurant by that name on Market Street. They offer an imaginative menu of French dishes, select wines, and a full bar in a cozy but vibrant ambiance in the heart of the Castro. The friendly staff will make you feel like you are gathered on a charming side street of Paris. Our friend Jeff Bedillion premiered his play Country Club Catastrophe at the small Exit Theatre, and we proudly attended last Friday night with Gary Virginia. The action was manic and non-stop as snooty aristocrats collided with domestic servants, and values and relationships were dissected and often dismissed. The dialogue was well-written, and the juxtaposition of emotional moments of differing levels worked very well. Stand-outs among the cast were Jennifer Lucas, Salvadore Mattos, Katharine Otis, and John Weber, familiar to many of you

Henri Matisse painting comes to life at An Evening in Gay Paris, earlier this month at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Steven Underhill

as a San Francisco Emperor and community activist. Who knew he was such a convincing actor? We joined a small group of friends, including Will Whitaker, Rick Holland, Kirby Knight, Susan Magley, Roman Scanlon, Eric Forbes, Tim Sinclair & David Funk, at Yoshi’s San Francisco for Paula West’s Saturday night show. This larger and very different venue in the Fillmore District gave her and the George Mesterhazy Trio a fresh chance to display new depth and variety, much to the packed house’s delight. With new material and beloved favorites, humorous lyrics and gorgeous sustained notes, relaxed delivery and audience engagement, West again proved why she draws loyal followers at settings all over the nation. And

yes, her loyal dog Satchmo made an on-stage appearance. One of the best displays of elaborate costuming, spirited competition, and sheer talent is GAPA’s annual Runway, presented much like a New York fashion show mixed with a classic drag pageant. This year’s Runway added again to its stellar reputation. Herbst Theatre was packed with supporters as Tita Aida skillfully emceed the proceedings. Jezebel Patel’s incredible Dying Swan performance brought the house down, while Jamaye Nguyen smiled his way to both the Mr. Congeniality and Boy Next Door awards. When the dust, sequins, and feathers finally settled, the winners were Michael Nguyen and Lychee Minnelli, favorites of the crowd as well as the judges. This is a spectacular night not to be missed! See page 39 >>

Coming up in leather and kink Thu., Aug. 18: Locker Room Thursdays at Kok Bar SF (1225 Folsom). 9 p.m.-close. Free clothes check. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

morial Bldg. (22737 Main St., Hayward). Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 if purchased at: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/178555.

Thu., Aug. 18: Underwear Night at The Powerhouse (1347 Folsom). 10 p.m. Wet undie contest and drink specials. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Sat., Aug. 20: Boot Lickin’ at The Powerhouse. 10 p.m. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Thu., Aug. 18: Creative Mindfuckery presented by Danarama at the SF Citadel (1277 Mission). 8-10 p.m. $20. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Fri., Aug. 19: Naked Kombat Live! at the SF Armory (1800 Mission). Watch Tyler Saint & Blake Daniels vs. Emanuel & Sebastian Keys beat the hell out of each other, then fuck. E-mail briankennard@ kink.com to get on the guest list. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., match begins promptly at 7 p.m. Watch the match live at www.nakedkombat.com. Fri., Aug. 19: Truck Wash at Truck (1900 Folsom). 10 p.m.-close. Live shower boys and drink specials. Go to: www.trucksf.com. Fri., Aug. 19: Ink & Metal followed by Nasty at The Powerhouse. 9 p.m. Go to: www.powerhousesf.com. Fri., Aug. 19: Michael Brandon presents Edging at The Edge (4149 18th St). 9 p.m.-12 a.m. Sexiest Happy Trail contest, spanking demo, go-go dancers, specials, and more! Go to: www.edgesf.com. Fri., Aug. 19: Pec Night at The Powerhouse. 10 p.m.-close. Drink specials for the shirtless! Go to: www.powershouse-sf.com. Fri., Aug. 19: Taboo - Not Your Mother’s BSDM Party at The SF Citadel. 8-10 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Fri., Aug. 19: Meet n Greet for Mr. & Ms. Alameda County Leather (ALC) 2011 Contestants at The World Famous Turf Club (22519 Main St., Hayward). $10-$15 charity steak dinner. Go to: www.aclcweb.org. Sat., Aug. 20: Bound and Gagged: 20th Annual Mr. & Ms. ALC 2011 Contest at the Veterans Me-

Sat., Aug. 20: Carnal-Val at The Bolt (2560 Boxwood, Sacramento). 2-10 p.m. Erotic carnival, games, prizes and more. Go to: www.sacbolt.com. Sat., Aug. 20: All Beef Saturday Nights at The Lone Star (1354 Harrison). 100% SoMa Beef & Co. 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Go to: www.facebook.com/lonestarsf. Sat., Aug. 20: Wild Nights, Kok Bar SF. 9 p.m.-2 a.m. $4 cover includes special music giveaway, specials and the Steamworks “towel guys.” Featuring the music of Frank Wild. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Sat., Aug. 20: Open Play Party at the SF Citadel. 8 p.m.-1 a.m. $25 plus membership. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Sun., Aug. 21: Castrobear presents “Sunday Furry Sunday” at 440 Castro. 4-10 p.m. Go to: www.castrobear.com. Mon., Aug. 22: Flogger-Works guided by Daddy Darin and Jerry at the SF Citadel. 8-9:30 p.m. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. $10. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Mon., Aug. 22: Dirty Dicks at The Powerhouse. Starts at 4 p.m. $3 well drinks. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com. Tue., Aug. 23: Busted at Truck. 9 p.m.-close. $5 beer bust from 9-11 p.m. Great music, and the notorious Truck boys. Go to: www.trucksf.com. Wed., Aug 24: Leather Buddies at Blow Buddies (933 Harrison). This is a male-only club. Doors open 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Play till late. Go to: www.blowbuddies.com. Wed., Aug 24: Leathermen’s Discussion Group presents Taboo Play & Working Through Extremes with Mollena Williams, upstairs at Blow Buddies. Open to all genders. 7:30-9:30 p.m. Go to: www.sfldg.org.

▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

August 18-24, 2011 •

Shovel ready by John F. Karr

vidence that the alarmist cry, “The DVD is dead!” just isn’t true comes from some key membership websites, which have been releasing once-proprietary material on DVD. I’m thinking CockyBoys, RandyBlue, Cocksure Men, Suite 703, and Dominic Ford. Or does the move signify that these membership sites aren’t making money, and their owners are looking for other forms of revenue? Either way, it’s a benefit to viewers; I prefer a DVD to online viewing any day. On hand are a pair of anthologies of scenes created for the CockyBoys. com website by its sexy proprietor, Benny Morecock (check out his blog, with swell logo and free pics, at www.BennyMorecock.com). Despite a promising title, Kink Ink let me down. And if I found the title Ride My Disco Stick curiously passé – am I just out of the loop on this, or is there any currency to the Disco Stick phrase? – its scenes had more immediacy. There’s nothing splendid or urgent in either of these collections, but they’re not without interesting sights and trickles of passion. They’re both rather low-key, and while I like Morecock’s decision not to falsely ramp up the action, a good deal of the time this seems to have led to noncommittal performances. As if the pairings were more than a little random, the action can be impersonal – the performers never call each other by name, unless, that is, several of them are named Bitch. And you can forget production values – an easy chair in an empty room, a bedroom that resembles motel accommodations, or at best, a living room. The absence of music is good, though, and the camerawork is strong – on the level, calm, and delivering the sights we want to see, although disappointingly not lingering on the tattoos, which are supposed to be the major turn-on in Kink Ink. That’s Rick Nolan on the cover of Kink Ink. He’s a str8 dude (all is revealed in a brief interview) who revels in surly, rough fucking. When he asks, “Does it hurt?” while he’s fucking, the answer better be “Yes.” Other than harsh, though, he shows no special technique. While several performers in the collection sport typically conformist gayboy tats, Rick’s are the plentiful and random designs of lower-class, gang-oriented het dudes. Which goes hand in hand with his throwing the Bitch moniker

On the Town From page 38

We grieve with the entire city at the death of Ruth Brinker, Founder of Project Open Hand, an indispensable service organization formed in the height of the AIDS pandemic, and a national model for passionate grassroots care. What could be more beautifully generous than “meals with love” delivered to the seriously ill and elderly, as this gentle lady was so fond of saying? She was very much the topic of loving conversation at Sunday’s 11th Annual Dessert First at the Intercontinental Hotel, benefiting Project Open Hand. After the VIP hour featuring a whimsical bartenders’ competition, we proceeded to the main part of the event offering an extensive selection of bite-sized desserts from some of the Bay Area’s finest dessert chefs, including Tim Nugent of Scala’s Bistro and recent competitor on Bravo’s Top Chef, Dessert, Elizabeth Faulkner of Citizen Cake and

CockyBoys

Rick Nolan, a str8 dude, is the highpoint of Kink Ink.

at his partner (the very game Brandon Jones) as if it’s the magic word to make himself hard. Speaking of gayboy tats, Celtic swoops seem to have been replaced (at least for a younger generation) by surfeits of text, whole paragraphs, frequently in Hebrew, Arabic or Chinese, that run down one side of the torso, or more commonly, along the inside of the upper arm. This may be a new conformity, but it does suggest to me that the owner has sometime, somewhere, read something; literacy being as much of a turn-on to me as Rick Nolan’s working-class, street-cred illiteracy. Nolan’s the highpoint of Kink Ink. Sebastian Young’s scene falters on a stupid, badly executed “We’re str8 boys” massage scenario. It’s tired and insulting. I wonder, is this just the crabbed shorthand by which sexographers of sadly limited skill signal sexiness? A very young Jesse Santana is not too well-featured in another scene; several more tolerably fill up the 1’ 40” running time, though I didn’t

mind a solo from Mr. Nolan. He’s got a curious personality and a thick cock, neither of which I think we’ll be seeing much more of in gay porn. Ride My Disco Stick is better, though that’s not an urgent recommendation. Other than the first scene, with Mason Star and Jimmy Clay, the contents are not recent. I never mind seeing Tory Mason; his scene is only okay, as Tory scenes go. A vintage, un-bulked Spencer Reed does a nice job on attractive, young, shaved-crotch Andrew, and Ridge Michaels tangles nicely with Tyler. I’m a fan of ultra-lean, ultrablond MJ Taylor, a CockyBoys nearExclusive with a gritty style, who does attractive, uncut twink Nathan well. What of Mason Star and Jimmy Clay? Despite Mason’s box-cover billing, I think Jimmy’s the bigger star. As Jimmy Coxxx, he’s better-known, and better-represented, at other sites. Mason’s certainly a handsome, skilled fucker with a looong, lean cock and loose, low-hanging balls. Mason kindly lets Jimmy adjust to the insertion that begins his fuck, and then, bam!, gives it to him. In fact, that’s just what Jimmy begs. “Give it to me!”▼

Judge for the evening and fitness celebrity Peter Le, better-known as Peter Fever, with GAPA Runway winners Michael Nguyen and Lychee Minnelli.

Steven Underhill

Orson, Sara Spearin of Dynamo Donuts and Coffee, and Daniel Corey of the Intercontinental. Bidding on three live-auction packages, as well as silent-auction items, while tasting desserts, sipping wines, cocktails and port, and sampling delicious hors d’oeuvres, were Board President Laura Smith,

Executive Director Tom Nolan, who will soon be relinquishing his post, Richard Sablatura, Mark Rhoades, Frank Woo, Betty Sullivan, AIDS Emergency Fund’s Mike Smith, and many others. Keeping the room hopping was not a DJ, but the talented cover band Livewire, new to us, but certainly worth following.▼

BAY AREA REPORTER • 39

40 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Music

August 18-24, 2011

▼

Class with the Countess by Adam Sandel

he fiery-haired Russian Countess Katya Smirnoff-Skyy has enthralled Bay Area audiences with her unique blend of opera, pop and booze. Once Eastern Europe’s greatest mezzo-sopranos (understudy), the Countess now spends her days beautifying the masses at Macy’s Department store as everyone’s favorite Chanel counter lady. She spends her evenings crooning and drinking her way through the finer theaters, bars and bathhouses of America. She brings her latest cabaret spectacular, Katya – Back in the USSR: A Voyage into the Beatles Songbook, to the Rrazz Room for two nights only on Mon. & Tues.,

Aug. 22 & 23, at 8 p.m. Katya is the creation of Bay Area native J. Conrad Frank, who was kind enough to share some details of his background and inspirations when we recently chatted on the phone. Born and raised in San Mateo, Frank has been singing since the age of eight, in the Peninsula Boys Choir, then as a boy soprano with the San Francisco Opera. A graduate of San Francisco’s Lick-Wilmerding High School, he entered the University of Oregon to study architecture, but soon changed his major to singing. “I was a classically trained opera singer, but I wanted to sing things that were more fun,” he says. After playing the drag role of Mary Sunshine in a college

production of Chicago, and a few cross-dressing Halloween outings, Frank discovered that he cuts a fine figure in a dress. He appeared in Whoop-de-doo at the New Conservatory Theatre Center with Trauma Flintstone (Joe Wicht), and Wicht convinced him to appear at his new drag night at Martuni’s. “I created the character of Katya in the car on the way over,” says Frank. “I’ve always been a Russophile, so I combined a bit of my grandmother with old movie grande dames. I thought, how would an opera singer who lives in her own mind do pop music?” Several gigs at Martuni’s and New Conservatory later, Katya had taken on a life of her own. This will be her third Rrazz Room appearance. Before Frank has a chance to elaborate, Katya snatches the phone from him to speak with me directly. “People asking me, why are you singing Beatles?” she says. “I have great honor to know Beatles. I was neighbor to John Lennon, and I had romance with Ringo Starr in Paris for several nights, well one night, really, I was only 16 years old. My mind, it is cloudy. “My late husband the Count passed away long time ago, and I am happy to be alone. William Shatner and I were lovers, but I’m not looking for love. You never know. If you want to know more, you must come to show.” What does Katya want San Francisco audiences to know? “I like them to come, that would be ideal, because I have bills to pay. I keep on doing this show, is very

Jose Guzman Colon

Song stylist Katya Smirnoff-Skyy.

popular. There are many stories and unexpected surprises. They might learn a little something.” Katya is the first to admit that not all of her reminiscences are as clear as they could be. “I remember about a third of my life, which is more than a lot of people.” To learn more about what the Countess may have

forgotten, go to: www.russianoperadiva.com. ▼ Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, Back in the USSR: A Voyage into the Beatles Songbook, Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St., SF. Aug. 22 & 23 at 8 p.m. Tickets: $30 at www.therrazzroom.com or call (800) 380-3095

Four Saints From page 29

to an extraordinary section in the score’s Prologue (cut here) where St. Teresa sings a long sequence, “We had intended if it were a pleasant day to go to the country,” around one pitch while the orchestra holds a pedal drone, Chessa says that he’ll exploit this kind of sound, as the Four Saints chorus is singing their hearts out a few rows away. The Thomson score itself is a vigorous amalgam of disparate

“The mimed story of St. Teresa is about euthanasia.”

Brent Edwards

Italian composer Luciano Chessa, in performance in Australia.

– ‘Four Saints in Three Acts’ director Brian Staufenbiel elements, including chant, Southern Baptist hymn tunes, scalar passages, fanfares, tangos – it is about saints in Spain – even dirge-like sequences, though never pastiche, so strong is its composer’s musical personality. But how will it be staged, given Stein’s penchant for describing without telling, though Thomson’s longtime partner painter Maurice Grosser constructed a scenario to facilitate its first production? “The mimed story of St. Teresa is about euthanasia,” Staufenbiel says, suddenly appearing before me. One of the supers later tells me that the high-backed silver chair with red slats will be used for St. Ignatius’ “electrocution.” The Spanish Queen Isabella la Catolica did indeed invent the Inquisition, but this does seem a bit extreme. Other staging ideas

Courtesy the artist

New York-based African performance artist Kalup Linzy.

are more conventional, as when the cast dances holding hands in a close-knit circle around St. Teresa, who’s standing on a box that suggests a pedestal, words and music in cheerfully disjunctive continuity. Later, at the end of another staging rehearsal, the cast – all in snow white, one a la Pierrot, another in a long, broad coat with a huge golden bow

– assembles onstage, pleased with their now-theatrical appearance. Ready to take on heaven. “Prepare for saints.”▼ Four Saints in Three Acts, Aug. 18-21 at the Novellus Theater, YBCA, 700 Howard St., SF. Info: www.ybca.org, www.sfmoma.org, (415) 978-2787

▼

TV >>

August 18-24, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 41

GLAAD tidings by Victoria A. Brownworth

o matter what, we love TV. That’s a given. Another given is that we know where we fall on the Kinsey scale, so we’d really like to see way more queer representation on the tube. This summer has been grim, with our favorite lesbian couple, Grey’s Anatomy docs Callie (GLAAD media award winner, Tony winner and winner of our personal Sexiest Lesbian on the Tube award which we’d love to give her, Sara Ramirez) and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw), on hiatus until September, and queer characters being cut left and right as shows were cancelled at the end of last season. If it hadn’t been for a handful of very out queer reality show contestants (we especially thank Ben on Master Chef and Lawon on Big Brother, who have been consistently, excessively, gloriously gay), Bianca on All My Children, some returning hosts (Tim Gunn, Alan Cumming) and the erstwhile Ellen, we would have been seeing a big blank where our queer characterizations should be. As it is, this is pretty slim pickings. So of course we were eager to see what GLAAD had to say in their newest report on the not-soqueer state of the tube on Aug. 11. GLAAD’s Fifth Annual Network Responsibility Index is, according to the organization, “an evaluation of the quantity, quality and diversity of images of LGBT people on television. It is intended to serve as a road map toward increasing fair, accurate and inclusive LGBT media representations.” GLAAD assigns a rating of excellent, good, adequate or failing to each network it covers. Sounds great. But GLAAD does have a somewhat limited purview, which we don’t quite understand – we think it should be more expansive. We know there’s no possibility to cover the majority of the hundreds of channels out there, and that most of them aren’t worth watching. Nevertheless, the group checks the five broadcast networks ABC, CBS, the CW, Fox and NBC, but not PBS, which we don’t understand (can you say Alan Cumming every week on Masterpiece Mystery?). And GLAAD checks only 10 cable networks: A&E, ABC Family, AMC, FX, HBO, Showtime, SyFy, TBS, TNT and USA. Some of the notable MIA

Castro Theatre From page 35

inform a transsexual, Lola, that the son she never knew reserved his last written words for her. A tender yet unsentimental meditation about family born and chosen, All About My Mother prompted film historian David Thompson to gush, “A sweeping tribute to women, and one of those films to make you wonder if God didn’t mean movies to be gay.” Talk to Her Almodovar reinvents the buddy flick around the premise of two guys caring for two comatose women, one gored in a bullring. It rekindles the best of his early dark comedies of runaway passions and reaches sublime new layers of feeling. The silent film-within-a-film neatly balances sincerity with parody. (both 8/18) The Flower of My Secret A romance novelist tries to kick her bad habits both literary and carnal with surprisingly good results, after the usual run of Almodovar pratfalls including a very tight pair of boots. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown This

networks, particularly as each would get either a good or even excellent review, are Bravo, Sundance, Animal Planet, BBC America, MTV, ION, Lifetime (excuse us, but Tim Gunn and Project Runway), Oxygen, TLC, WeTV and of course, OWN. (Oprah’s network has tons of queer programming and started out with it under Oprah’s direction, so in our not-so-humble opinion deserves a GLAAD media award. Oprah has not only committed to queer programming, but has also given queers shows of their own, notably Carson Kressley, Rosie O’Donnell and Suze Orman, and showcased people like Chaz Bono and Nate Berkus.) Do we need to note that Logo is off the map entirely? GLAAD really does need to mention the existence of a queer TV network, even if the programming is uneven. Just mention it, note that good LGBT programs are possible, and move on. One of the problems with GLAAD’s NRI is it’s too inclusive. Now before you start sending us unpleasant e-mails, let us explain. GLAAD consistently refers to LGBT “impressions.” This means that if someone queer does a walk-on, that counts as queer programming. No it doesn’t. (Insert snap here.) Thus GLAAD’s statement that 33% of prime time programming on the CW is LGBT-inclusive is misleading, as it implies that a third of the programming is queer. What it actually means is that straight characters might be talking about something queer, or those walkons might be happening, or there might be one queer character who is taking up the majority of a given storyline that week. Clarity is essential, as you’d be hard-pressed to find a queer show on the CW. Name one. Right, there isn’t one. But the implication of that 33% says otherwise. Also, for those of us over 18 and/or not really interested in teen TV, the CW and ABC Family, GLAAD’s two “excellents,” are somewhat irrelevant for adults. We acknowledge that it’s great that Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, The Hills and Vampire Diaries have queer characters. These are fun shows, and we definitely want our kids to see themselves on the tube (even if they only see themselves in white, upper-middle-class and totally spoiled representations on those networks), but we would also

commercial breakthrough screwball comedy features a woman who is so angry at a disappearing boyfriend that she practically erupts into flames – indeed, her bed does ignite. Inspired by a Jean Cocteau play, Women features some memorable comic misadventures, including interference with a police investigation when two cops are served drug-laced gazpacho. (both 8/19) 2001: A Space Odyssey This Stanley Kubrick mind-fucker has always puzzled me. I love Hal, the world’s meanest computer assassin, but the trippy light show always put me to the sleep. I’m going to give this one another chance. (Plays with 2010, 8/21.) Double Indemnity This wicked noir, an early sign of Billy Wilder’s brutal edge, is a great male/female double/double-cross, and also a great platonic male love story. If you ever desire a story of cinema masochism, dial up Wilder’s account of the sublime torture involved in dragging a filmable screenplay out of his onetime-only collaborator Raymond Chandler. (Plays with The Postman Always Rings Twice, 8/24.)▼

GLAAD does make, we feel that their representation of us gets a middling grade. They need to do better for us. We want GLAAD to stop being so conciliatory to those network execs, MSM TV outlets, and producers who are keeping us hidden from view on the tube.

Puppet love

Courtesy ABC-TV

Sara Ramirez and Jessica Capshaw on Grey’s Anatomy.

like adult characterizations of LGBT characters to get equivalent weight. ABC, for example, does not get an excellent rating, yet it has some of the only shows with major queer adult characters, it’s the only network with a queer character on daytime, both Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives) and Greg Berlanti (Brothers & Sisters, which was just cancelled) are openly gay creator/producers of top-rated shows, and Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice), who is rumored to be a lesbian, has made queer characters and storylines fundamental to her shows. Let’s also count the importance of queer and queer-friendly producers and directors to the TV landscape. We’d also like GLAAD to recognize the relevance of reality TV to queer personae on the tube. When a show has a limited number of contestants and some are out queers, that’s a radical shift for our audience, regardless of age. Certain shows, including ones on consistently failing-grade networks like CBS, have strong queer representation on their reality shows, notably on CBS’ Big Brother, Survivor and The Amazing Race. Talk shows deserve GLAAD’s attention. Obviously we have our Ellen, but NBC also has Nate Berkus’ show prior to Ellen. That’s two full hours every weekday of queer. CBS’ The Talk has Sara Gilbert as a cohost and Sharon Osbourne, who has two bisexual children and is immensely pro-queer, as a co-host. On late night, CBS’ Craig Ferguson, inarguably the most queer-friendly late-night host ever, has a queer sidekick in Geoff, the gay skeleton co-host. Admittedly Geoff is an animated skeleton, but he is also gay. Ferguson himself, while heterosexual, does lots of queer bits on his show. That’s another five hours a week. And given how little CBS has done to improve its failing

Kevin Comics From page 33

In the very first issue, army brat Kevin expresses his desire to follow his father into the military. There may even be wedding bells in the young man’s future. States Parent, “Kevin will be getting married in our Life with Archie book, which shows the characters five years in the future. So if we can make an interesting story out of it, then it’s probably worth doing.” The first four issues of Kevin Comics are a single, self-contained storyline, but Parent assures us that Kevin will be around for many more issues to come. When asked about his long-term goals for the character, Parent offered this: “That he has a happy, productive run at Archie Comics, and gets to experience all the same things as the rest of the Riverdale Gang.” Kevin Comics are now available at select comic-book retailers and online at Amazon.com. And keep an eye out for Archie Comics’ upcoming hardcover collection of Kevin’s stories from his first year, to be published in Winter 2012.▼

grade in queer programming, let’s embrace the gay skeleton co-host, shall we? What we want most from our single media watchdog organization, however, is to pay closer attention to TV and to who is saying what on it about queers. GLAAD needs to check the news on a regular basis. Last month’s flap over reparative therapy should have gotten an immediate response from GLAAD, not a delayed response. While we understand the gray areas of politics better than most, when the President or a presidential hopeful makes anti-queer comments on TV, GLAAD should shoot off a press release. These are our leaders talking about us, and GLAAD is our media watchdog. “Against defamation” is in their name. That also means GLAAD should be following the News You’re Not Seeing, which we have made a personal crusade in this column, and for which this paper deserves its own GLAAD award for never having censored it, despite its highly controversial nature. But when mainstream TV news outlets, which is where 85% of Americans get their news, ignore stories important to the queer community – like the Obama Administration’s decision last week to deport Anthony Makk, the Australian husband of a San Francisco man, Bradford Wells – that’s news we aren’t seeing because the MSM doesn’t deem it worthy. Sure the Republicans were slapping each other around in Iowa and the Dow was going wild, but a man who was legally married for seven years (the couple married in Massachusetts) is being deported because the President is still “evolving” on marriage equality and thus DOMA is still law. Obama declined to intervene in the case. So while we appreciate the efforts

Did PBS really need to come out (so to speak) on Aug. 12 and state that Sesame Street Muppets Bert and Ernie are not gay? According to the statement posted on Sesame Street’s Facebook page, “Bert and Ernie are not gay. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.” We would direct Sesame Street execs to their own show. Miss Piggy has had a sexual orientation for decades. She is in love with Kermit the Frog, and makes sexual and romantic suggestions to him all the time. In fact, it is a huge part of her character. The Count has had numerous girlfriends over the years as well, just to name two of the most well-known characters. So the gay Muppets don’t have a sexual orientation, but the straight Muppets do? Sesame Street has managed to put an HIV+ character on their show in South Africa, and Israeli and Palestinian Muppets on in the Middle East. Bert and Ernie live together and share a bedroom, but apparently are forced to remain on the down-low over at PBS, where don’t ask, don’t tell remains in full effect for Muppets. So much for teaching tolerance to kids. Finally, Jersey Shore premiered season four in Italy to the highest ratings ever on MTV. This prompted Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, who turned 30 on Independence Day but who doesn’t look a day over Guido, to do the tabloid tour. The ever-delightful Brooke Anderson at The Insider shared a myriad of Italian foods with The Situation (the worst-looking Italian food we’ve ever seen), and he told her that the only endorsement deal he ever turned down was an ad for condoms. According to The Situation, he just had to continue to be a role model for his audience. As we have said many times before, sometimes the jokes just write themselves. Which is why you really must stay tuned.▼

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

42 • Bay Area Reporter • August 18-24, 2011

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