December 30, 2021 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

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Bar zoning advances

Pandemic op-art

ARTS

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Sharon Gless

Since 1971

The

www.ebar.com

Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971

New LGBTQ CA laws take effect

Vol. 51 • No. 52 • December 30, 2021-January 5, 2022

Castro & SOMA bars temporarily close The Eagle bar in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood is temporarily closed until December 31 due to concerns of the Omicron COVID variant.

Courtesy AP

Governor Gavin Newsom signed numerous LGBTQ-related bills, many of which will go into effect January 1.

by Jim Provenzano

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ew Year’s Eve celebrations in the Castro and South of Market districts will have fewer indoor options as nearly half a dozen bars and restaurants have temporarily closed out of

by Matthew S. Bajko

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slew of new LGBTQ laws in California will go into effect in 2022, from ending gender-based toy aisles and protecting transgender students and LGBTQ households to enhancing services for older adults living with HIV. Most will kick in as of January 1, while one protecting health care patients’ privacy will become operative in the summer. Under Assembly Bill 1084, authored by gay Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Campbell), retailers with 500 or more employees must remove signs that say “boys” and “girls” in toy and child care sections or provide a genderneutral retail section for the items. Low and co-author Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) dropped the inclusion of children’s clothing sections in order to get their bill passed. Retailers have until January 1, 2024, to comply with the law. After that date any retail department store not in compliance with AB 1084’s provisions will be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $250 for a first violation or $500 for a subsequent violation. “My hope is this bill encourages more businesses across California and the U.S. to avoid reinforcing harmful and outdated stereotypes,” Low stated after Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law. The California Retailers Association directed questions about implementation of the law to the Toy Association. The trade association, which represents 950-plus businesses in the annual $32.6 billion U.S. domestic toy market, did not respond to a request for comment by the Bay Area Reporter’s December 29 print deadline. Under AB 746, authored by lesbian Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes (D-Corona), same-sex couples should find it easier to complete stepparent adoptions as the law streamlines the process across the state. It ensures couples seeking to have one partner become a stepparent are not required to be married or in a legal union for a minimum amount of time, or to have a specific income or education level, in order for the adoption to be granted. Some county superior courts have been imposing more stringent requirements than what the state requires of stepparents wanting to adopt. In some counties couples have been required to be in legally recognized unions for at least a year before their adoption is granted. Yet state law does not require that couples must be married, or in a civil union or domestic partnership, for a minimum amount of time before seeking a stepparent adoption. “These requirements, which county court systems currently have discretion to impose, See page 3 >>

pandemic health concerns. Blackbird, The (new) Detour, The Edge, and Moby Dick have closed and posted notices on their locked doors. This is in response to the reported surge in omicron variant cases of COVID-19. The San Francisco Health Department re-

ported 964 new cases of infection on December 23. That was a near quadrupling of the 212 new cases reported on December 19. “Omicron is rapidly spreading, and all evidence points to the fact that we need See page 7 >>

Gooch

Bay Area national parks group marks 40 years of transformations by Matthew S. Bajko

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ince the summer the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy has been celebrating its 40th anniversary as the philanthropic partner to the Bay Area’s sprawling urban national park. As it heads into 2022, the nonprofit will be helping the Golden Gate National Recreation Area mark its 50th year in existence and celebrating the creation of a new park site on the northern edge of San Francisco. Leading the parks conservancy as it does will be its president and CEO, Christine Lehnertz, a lesbian who has a particular familiarity with the nearly 83,000 protected acres across San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. Between May 2015 and August 2016 she served as the GGNRA’s first female superintendent. “I was a convert to what the value of a national urban park is,” Lehnertz recalled in a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “I had connections with big wild parks. As superintendent here, I learned the significance of a national park in an urban place is just extraordinary.” The parks conservancy was formed on August 11, 1981 and has raised more than $624 million during its four decades of financially supporting numerous restoration projects and building renovations throughout the GGNRA. “The 40th anniversary is such an opportunity to celebrate four decades of park transformation and what is the possibility for the future,” said Lehnertz, 60, while speaking with the B.A.R. in the community garden at Fort Mason behind the building that houses the parks conservancy offices. “It is part celebration of the past and a vision for the future. It is not just a birthday party.” Lehnertz and her wife, Shari Dagg, now reside in one of the residential buildings in the Presidio, a former army base turned national park that is partly managed by the GGNRA and supported by the parks conservancy. The majority of it, however, falls under the jurisdiction of the Presidio Trust. The parks conservancy partners with the

Christopher Robledo

Christine Lehnertz, president and CEO of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, stood at Black Point Historic Gardens in Fort Mason December 10.

trust to improve the visitor experience to the Presidio and upgrade its natural landscapes. Last December saw the opening of Quartermaster Reach Marsh, the nearly seven-acre site situated next to Crissy Field Marsh; the parks conservancy supported the $118 million project. A short walk from the parks conservancy offices is the newly restored Black Point Historic Gardens, with sweeping views of the bay, Alcatraz Island, and the city skyline. The parks conservancy worked with the parks service and scores of volunteers over the last four years to excavate the roughly one acre terraced hillside and revegetate it with native plants. “We are the plus-up, the add-on,” Lehnertz said of the parks conservancy’s work.

Tunnel Tops

The parks conservancy also was involved with the creation of the William Penn Mott Jr.

Presidio Visitor Center, which cost $5 million and opened in 2017 at 210 Lincoln Boulevard. The former guardhouse in the park’s Main Post area will soon be at the entrance into the new Presidio Tunnel Tops site LINK: www. presidiotunneltops.gov opening this spring. The 14 acres of parkland sit atop highway tunnels that replaced the former Doyle Drive leading from the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco’s Marina district. “Tunnel Tops is a big deal,” said Lehnertz. “It is about to change the face of San Francisco.” The parks conservancy helped raise $98 million for the project. LINK: https://www.parksconservancy.org/parks/presidio-tunnel-tops Its opening will be a stark contrast to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 when the parks conservancy put most of its work on hold. See page 7 >>


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