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Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Vol. 44 • No. 46 • November 13-19, 2014
Number of SF out electeds shrinks
SF gay man’s body found by Seth Hemmelgarn
H
ope turned to tragedy Wednesday when the family of gay missing San Francisco man Dan Ha said that a body found in the bay is believed to be his. In a statement, Ha’s family said that Dan Ha it does not suspect suicide, and one of Ha’s family members said no note was found. According to KCBS, the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office said Wednesday that it is awaiting dental records to identify the body that was found in the bay Tuesday, November 11. Family members said that Ha’s personal belongings were found with the body. Ha, 26, was last seen at 8 p.m. on Halloween, October 31, leaving his apartment at Fourth and Brannan streets in the South of Market neighborhood, according to friends. Those who know him have blanketed the area with fliers bearing his picture and have conducted several search parties. Alexa Lee, who’s known Ha for years, said he’d always been in close contact with his family and was “not the kind of person who would just go somewhere and not tell people where he was.” He was “plugged in” and “disciplined,” Lee said. Mark Ha, 22, one of Ha’s brothers, said before the body was found that Ha had never gone missing before. “We’re holding up,” Mark Ha, who lives in New York, said Monday. “We’re hanging in there.” Mark Ha last spoke with his brother a couple days before he went missing. “I emailed him on the 29th, and we just checked in” with each other, he said. “He seemed perfectly normal to me,” Mark Ha said. “I didn’t realize anything was wrong at all. It was a very typical exchange between us. ... It wasn’t a very long conversation.” Steve Liu, 30, one of Ha’s roommates, said “from what we’ve gathered, [Ha] had his wallet and phone with him” when he left, but “he didn’t pack anything.” Ha’s backpack and gym bag were still at the apartment, Liu said. He didn’t think Ha has a car. Mark Ha said one of his brother’s roommates told him he’d left his laundry in the machine. Liu said he’d last talked to Ha sometime around October 29. “It was a brief interaction, so it wasn’t anything beyond normal,” Liu, who described Ha as “really nice” and “really caring,” said. “According to the other roommates, he’s been a little bit more quiet the last couple days, but nothing too out of the ordinary.” See page 14 >>
by Matthew S. Bajko
D Covered CA makes SF stop Rick Gerharter
K
ate Burch, network director of the California LGBT Health and Human Services Network, points to a sign she’s holding during a visit to San Francisco Monday, November 10 as Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange,
made a stop in the city to promote open enrollment. Burch encouraged uninsured LGBT people to take advantage of the open enrollment period for health insurance, November 15 to February 15. For more information, visit www.coveredca.com.
ue to the poor showing of out candidates in San Francisco this election cycle, the number of LGBT electeds in the city will dwindle in size. There are currently eight officeholders, all Rick Gerharter gay men, in the city and county of San Francis- Supervisor co. The number will fall David Campos to six by the end of the year due to the departures of longtime officeholders Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) and College Board Trustee Lawrence Wong. Ammiano, first elected to a school board seat in 1990 and then to the Board of Supervisors See page 13 >>
SF Night Ministry marks 50 years by Seth Hemmelgarn
A
n organization that provides prayer, conversation, and other help to struggling LGBTs and other people late at night is marking its 50th anniversary this year. San Francisco Night Ministry, founded in 1964, continues to provide a variety of services. The Reverend Lyle Beckman, a gay man who serves as the night minister and the nonprofit’s director, said the organization is there “to talk to people who really want to receive a kind word, some encouragement, a blessing, a prayer, spiritual support,” or information to help them get through a crisis “even without a religious conversation.” The group, which has recently been dealing with its own problems related to filing nonprofit tax documents, also provides referrals for housing, health care, job search, legal assistance, and other help. Through its night ministers – ordained clergy who “walk the streets” – and its volunteer-staffed crisis line, Night Ministry serves about 10,000 different people a year, Beckman, who’s 62 and lives in South San Francisco, said. “We’ll talk with anybody about anything, really,” he said. That includes people who are homeless and those “just hanging out because they don’t have much to do.” The Night Ministry gets an average of 15 to 20 calls a night on the crisis line, which operates from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. About half of the calls
well off ” but “lonely,” and those dealing with grief or suicidal thoughts. About 40 percent of the people his group works with are LGBT, Beckman estimated based in part on the people ministers reach out to and the places they go, including the Castro and gay bars in the Tenderloin. “Historically that was an important reason why our ministry was founded,” he said of the organization’s work with the gay community. Five decades ago, many LGBTs came to the city and faced “a lot of discrimination, and really on every level,” Beckman said. That included violence and the danger “of being charged with lewd and lascivious behavior,” he said. When it was founded, the group committed “to walk with the LGBT community,” and others, he said. Rick Gerharter Although the crisis line operates until 4 a.m., Beckman said, “sometimes we don’t get The Reverend Lyle Beckman, right, director of the Night Ministry, offered assistance to a client during off the phone until 6 or 7 in the morning” when they’re helping someone who’s in crisis. his nightly rounds on Polk Street in May 2007. Recently, Beckman spoke with a gay man who’s been “living on the streets off and on come from people in the city, while most of the for 20 years,” and was considering suicide other inquiries are from other Bay Area cities. The as he struggled with issues related to his famorganization works with every age group, income ily, a recent relationship, addiction, and other level, and circumstance imaginable, Beckman, problems. who’s been with the nonprofit since 2004, said. Beckman helped the man develop a plan to Homeless people aren’t the only ones seekmake his life “a little safer” and gave him seving help from the Night Ministry. Beckman eral referrals, he said, and the man eventually said the group gets calls from single-room got into a drug treatment program. occupancy hotel residents, college students, See page 14 >> nursing home residents, people who are “fairly
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