New name for AIDS Housing Alliance
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Vol. 46 • No. 18 • May 5-11, 2016 Adult and youth leaders of the recent Time is Now conference talked about building community, and included, from left, Dania March, Eric Flood, Aldo Gallardo, Isabel Hallock, and Lisa Evans.
Rick Gerharter
The AHF space on Castro Street.
AIDS nonprofit Youth-led confab draws 100 to Oakland again sues SF, Wiener Q by Heather Cassell
by Seth Hemmelgarn
A
n AIDS nonprofit that’s been trying to move a pharmacy in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood is again suing the city and gay Supervisor Scott Wiener, claiming discrimination. The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed its latest complaint April 28 in San Francisco Superior Court. In court documents, the nonprofit accuses Wiener of opposing its plans because AHF has been an outspoken critic of PrEP, which Wiener takes and which is supported by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. AHF also says Wiener has opposed its Castro plans because he favored Strut, the AIDS foundation’s gay and bi men’s health clinic at 470 Castro Street that opened in January. Wiener’s District 8 includes the Castro. “For at least the last two years, AHF has continuously, very loudly, and very forcefully argued against the adoption of PrEP as a widely used method of attempting to prevent HIV infection,” the nonprofit, which expresses safety concerns about the prevention method, says in its complaint. The nonprofit claims Wiener and others enacted controls against its plans “in retaliation against AHF for engaging in its aforementioned protected First Amendment activities.” In a phone interview Monday, Wiener said AHF’s claim about the AIDS foundation is “completely untrue. My action had nothing to do with favoring or disfavoring anyone, and everything to do with closing a loophole so AHF and others could not game the formula retail rules.” He was referring to how, at least at one point, the nonprofit had planned to call the space Castro Pharmacy instead of AHF PharSee page 13 >>
ueer youth of color from Sacramento, the East Bay, and other areas gathered in Oakland for the third annual Time Is Now: LGBTQI Youth Summit, where they took part in workshops and dabbled in art and fashion. The youth-led conference, themed “Thriv-
ing Not Surviving” and held at Oakstop, was filled with sessions focused on health and wellness, career advice in counseling and health care provided by the UC Berkeley and UCSF, activism, art, and fashion. “I’m taking home a lot of fliers [from] organizations, some that I’ve never heard of and some that I’ve already heard about, but now I’m just super ready to join,” said Sky Lowe, a
Jane Philomen Cleland
16-year-old gay activist. The conference was planned by a core team of three youth leaders and three adult leaders, along with input from representatives from about 15 organizations, the leaders told the Bay Area Reporter Saturday, April 30. For the low-income queer youth of color and their adult advisers the conference has See page 13 >>
SF judge candidates highlight their experience by Matthew S. Bajko
B
arred from taking stances on controversial issues as they vie for a judgeship, the three lawyers seeking a seat on the San Francisco Superior Court are instead highlighting their legal experiences. The judicial contest is for the local court’s Seat 7, which had been held by Judge Ernest H. Goldsmith until his retirement last month. If none of the three candidates secures 50 percent plus one of the vote in the June 7 primary, then the top two vote-getters will advance to the general election in November. Picking up momentum in recent days has been Victor M. Hwang, a former San Francisco assistant district attorney who prosecuted hate crimes and is now in private practice. In late April the Judiciary Committee of the Bar Association of San Francisco announced that it had deemed Hwang, 48, as “exceptionally wellqualified” to be a judge. In an email touting the rating, Hwang noted it was the first time in 20 years that the local legal group had given its highest rating to a judicial candidate. Both Paul Henderson, a gay man who is Mayor Ed Lee’s deputy chief of staff and director of public safety, and Sigrid Irias, a trial attorney who also worked for several years as
Jane Philomen Cleland
San Francisco Superior Court candidates Paul Henderson, left, Victor Hwang, and Sigrid Irias discussed their experience during a recent voters forum.
a Catholic schoolteacher, received “well-qualified” ratings from the local bar. All three had applied through Governor Jerry Brown’s office to be appointed to a judicial vacancy but heard no word on their applications. This week the San Francisco Chronicle endorsed Hwang. Noting that its decision was “a close call” among the three candidates, the newspaper determined that Hwang “has the edge thanks to his experience and qualifications.” It is an argument Hwang has been making since entering the race earlier this year. “I never worked in a policy position or at a large law firm. I was in the courtroom every
week,” Hwang said during a candidate forum last month sponsored by the local bar association. The University of Southern California School of Law graduate began his career as a deputy public defender in East Los Angeles. He then joined the Asian Law Caucus in 1996, working on a number of high profile cases, including a federal lawsuit accusing the Rohnert Park police of killing a Chinese American based on a martial arts stereotype and the defense of Dr. Wen Ho Lee, the Taiwanese American scientist accused of espionage. Hwang then went to work with Asian Pacific See page 13 >>
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