High court to hear marrigage cases
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Billy Porter
Adore Delano
The
www.ebar.com
Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Vol. 45 • No. 4 • January 22-28, 2015
Imperial Council turns 50 Rick Gerharter
Jose Julio Sarria as the Widow Norton in 2011.
Jane Philomen Cleland
CA Hall of Fame honor sought for gay icon
AEF Executive Director Mike Smith, left, presented Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi with an award on behalf of the HIV/AIDS Provider Network in 2009.
Smith to depart AEF/BCEF
by Matthew S. Bajko
by Cynthia Laird
M
ike Smith, the longtime executive director of the AIDS Emergency Fund and Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, has announced that he is stepping down. Smith told the Bay Area Reporter that he has no immediate plans, but that after 12 and a half years it was time to move on. He said that he looks forward to “the next opportunity” after taking some time off. The news was formally announced Wednesday, January 21. Smith said he will stay on the job while the AEF and BCEF boards conduct a search for his successor and he will remain briefly after that to introduce the new leader to key donors, funders, community partners, and other stakeholders. He anticipates leaving the organizations by early summer. Smith, 54, who was AEF’s first permanent executive director when he took the helm in 2002, is one of the most respected AIDS service organization leaders in the Bay Area. Additionally, Smith is currently president of the San Francisco HIV/AIDS Provider’s Network; he will remain in that role until he leaves. AEF, the older of the two agencies, has its roots in San Francisco’s leather community. It started in 1982 at the height of the AIDS epidemic. The goal was to provide emergency financial assistance to people living with AIDS – to help pay rent, utilities, or other bills – and for years the agency did just that with an unpaid board of directors and volunteers. Over the years, through savvy and popular community fundraising, and public support via Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment federal AIDS programs, AEF grew, but not without its challenges. AEF now has a budget of between $2.1 and $2.2 million. The client base “hovers” around 2,000 San Francisco residents, Smith said. Today, about half of AEF’s budget comes from federal funds, the rest is through funSee page 14 >>
Rick Gerharter
T
he Imperial Council of San Francisco, which operates the Imperial Court, will mark its golden anniversary this year. John Weber, president of the board of directors of the Imperial Council, joined Empress XXX Donna Sachet and reigning Emperor John
Paul Soto Saturday, January 17 for the unveiling of a poster for the court’s 50th anniversary gala celebration, coming up on February 15. For more on the court’s history, see Sachet’s column in the BARtab section; see next week’s Bay Area Reporter for more coverage.
F
riends and admirers of Jose Julio Sarria, a gay man and drag queen who left a lasting impact on politics and the LGBT community, are seeking to have him inducted into the California Hall of Fame. Created in 2006 by the California Museum, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his See page 17 >>
City panel to review homeless deaths by Seth Hemmelgarn
S
an Francisco officials are working to establish a homeless death review committee. The project comes as a transgender person died recently in front of a Castro neighborhood coffee shop. Bevan Dufty, who serves as director of Housing Opportunity, Partnerships and Engagement for Mayor Ed Lee, said, “for the past several months, I’ve been on a mission” to restart the committee, which had existed several years ago in the city. One of the aims of the panel would be to examine the deaths of people like Anastasia, who was found dead December 31 in front of Peet’s Coffee, 2257 Market Street, to see what contacts they’d had with service providers, and what may have been done to prevent the loss. “I believe her tragic death can be a rallying point to make sure we don’t leave people behind,” Dufty said. Anastasia, who was well known in the neighborhood, had refused numerous offers of shelter and other services, according to people who knew her, even though many people said she’d appeared to be in declining health before she died. The city was experiencing a severe cold snap at the time Anastasia was found. The medical examiner’s office isn’t likely to publicly release the cause and manner of her death for several months. Officials have not indicated there were any signs of foul play.
Rick Gerharter
A man sleeps on Noe Street while a sidewalk art sale goes on in the background.
Sam Dodge, who in November joined the HOPE office as deputy director, said his goal is to make the committee “relevant for successfully preventing death and moving people into more stable places, out of homelessness and into care” or housing. Dodge said either he or Dufty would represent the HOPE office on the committee, which would also likely include the medical examiner’s office and other city agencies. One aim would be for medical examiner’s
staff to provide information to homeless outreach workers so they can “immediately” respond to the location where the person died and see if people who knew the subject need help, he said. In cases where the person died of a drug overdose, for example, if the people around them were also using drugs, “maybe they’re ready to reconsider their use,” Dodge said. “... See page 17 >>
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Besties 2015 The LGBT Best of the Bay
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