Pet gifts are big business
ARTS
10
21
37
House of Usher
Toy story
The
www.ebar.com
Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Vol. 45 • No. 51 • December 17-23, 2015
Packer ditches SFAF job
Trans man endures fraught process for surgery
by Seth Hemmelgarn
L
ongtime San Francisco public health official Tracey Packer, who had recently accepted a high-level job at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, has told the nonprofit that Jane Philomen Cleland she’s rescinding the offer, the Bay Area Tracey Packer Reporter has learned. Packer’s providing only vague explanations publicly. SFAF announced in November that Packer, 56, who’s led HIV prevention initiatives at the San Francisco Department of Public Health for more than a decade, would start as the nonprofit’s senior director of programs and services January 4, overseeing the foundation’s programs at its Market Street headquarters. But Packer emailed Neil Giuliano, SFAF’s outgoing CEO, December 9 to let him know officially that she had changed her mind. Contacted by the B.A.R., Packer referred a reporter to DPH spokeswoman Rachael Kagan. In a December 10 email, Kagan shared comments from Packer. “I ultimately decided to stay with the health department as the director of Community Health Equity and Prevention because I believe I can make the most substantial contribution from here to HIV prevention in San Francisco and to reaching vital public health goals,” Packer said in the email. She called SFAF “an amazing organization,” and said she was “honored” by the job offer. “I am very impressed with all their staff and programs,” Packer said. “SFAF is key in getting to zero new HIV infections in San Francisco. It is clear to me that the strong and dedicated team at SFAF will continue San Francisco’s success in HIV prevention and care.” After the B.A.R. sent Packer and Kagan an email asking whether the health department had offered Packer any changes in her salary, job, or anything else, and what any changes would be, Kagan responded, “We are not going to provide answers to those questions. Except to say that this was Tracey’s decision, and not influenced by either DPH or SFAF.” SFAF, which has a budget of $32 million, provides a wide range of free services to thousands of people a year, including HIV testing and prevention services, syringe exchange, and housing assistance. Packer told the B.A.R. in November that she was “really looking forward to supporting the great work that SFAF does, particularly with the clients and community reached through 1035 Market.” See page 17 >>
by Jason Hanasik
S Braving rain for Santa run
T
he seventh annual Santa Skivvies Run took place Sunday, December 13 despite inclement weather. The approximate 1.5mile run through the Castro raised more than
$74,000 for programs and services of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and included hundreds of participants, including the two pictured above. For more photos, see BARtab.
weat is pooling beneath Eliot Daughtry’s freshly-pressed white shirt, cerulean tie and khaki vest as he walks up and down Franklin Street in Oakland. It’s 86 degrees and his jeans are beginning to stick. As the shutter from a camera releases, his furrowed brow softens and he grins. Click. Daughtry, an Oakland resident, was in the middle of a photo shoot with Kaiser Permanente last summer. He volunteered for the gig helping the health plan’s Regional Health Education Department create materials for transgender patients and their families who need information about hormones, surgery, and more. “It’s something positive I can do that is community-focused. I want people to see and understand the diversity of the transgender community,” he said. “Since I’m not closeted, I have a little more flexibility.” See page 14 >>
Gaming confab aims to reach more than gay men Steven Underhill
by Blake Montgomery
ers are renting bigger spaces. GX3 sprawled out over the whole second reta Gustava Martela floor of the San Jose Convention knew her name 15 years Center. Shivaun Robinson, who before she transitioned. has attended all three of the event’s It was the namesake of one of iterations, said 2015’s version had her characters in Icewind Dale, taken on “the format of a much a Dungeons and Dragons-based larger gaming convention.” Trixie role-playing game. Mattel of RuPaul’s Drag Race fame “This is true for a lot of trans made an appearance. women: that character allowed GX3 also amped up its antime to explore my preferred genharassment efforts and officially der in a no-risk way. ... Seeing changed its name from GaymerX myself allows me to immerse myto GX3: Everyone Games in a bid to self in the game,” she said. widen its audience beyond gay men. Martela was just one of many Robbyn Blumenschein, who who attended GX3: Everyone won best in show at the convenJason Hanasik Games, the queer gaming contion’s concluding cosplay pageant, vention started in 2013, which Robbyn Blumenschein and Jax, Blumenschein’s service dog, accept identifies as a white straight fetook place at the San Jose Con- the best in show award during the cosplay competition at the 2016 male veteran with a disability. She vention Center last weekend. GX3 conference. dressed as Carl Fredricksen from Organizers said that 2,250 people Up with her service dog, Jax, playMartela was at GX3 to promote Trans Liferegistered for the third version of ing the talking dog, Dug. Being hetline, a crisis hotline for trans women staffed by erosexual, Blumenschein thinks she’s not GX3’s the convention, which was the biggest yet. trans women. She said the gaming community “Gaymer” is a deeply-held identity: people expected demographic, but she still felt welcome. has a high representation of trans people beromantically represent themselves as gaymers “I’m HIV-positive. That’s why this commuon their OkCupid and Grindr profiles. Shy cause players can customize their characters nity is so important to me,” she said. “I came and choose who they are, a boon for trying out to last year’s con, and I got my service dog in Den, a cosplayer dressed as Mettaton from the game Undertale, introduced herself at the con- an identity the player may one day inhabit. between then and now. I’ve been planning my Since its debut in 2013, the convention has exvention’s drag show as such: “My gaming idencostume since I got him.” panded in a number of ways. For one, the organiztity is stronger than any other identity I have.” See page 17 >>
G
{ FIRST OF THREE SECTIONS }
G E T I N T H E D RI VE RS S EAT. FI NANCI NG WI T H US LEAVES M O RE M O NEY I N YO UR P OC KETS . SanFranciscoFCU.com | 415.775.5377
Federally Insured by NCUA.