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www.ebar.com
Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community
Vol. 48 • No. 51 • December 20-26, 2018
Ex-CHP officer sues over anti-gay harassment
Milk plaza canopy raises concerns by Matthew S. Bajko
I
by Alex Madison
D
uring his 20-plus years with the California Highway Patrol Jay Brome, a gay man, was asked by his superior to take off his skirt and start acting like a man, The Advocate called a faggot, and even had a gun held Ex-CHP officer to his head by some- Jay Brome one who threatened to kill him if he admitted to being gay. After decades of discrimination in three different CHP offices in the Bay Area, Brome is suing. “I think of these instances every day of my life,” Brome, 54, told the Bay Area Reporter. “I’ve pretty much kept all this inside, I was terrified.” The psychological stress from years of abuse finally took its toll January 2015 when Brome took a medical leave of absence from the force, he said. He then filed his suit in September 2016, but the case was dismissed last March on the grounds that it was filed beyond the oneyear statute of limitations. Brome’s lawyer, Gay Grunfeld, managing partner of Rosen, Bien, Galvan and Grunfeld, who did not initially represent Brome, took up the case and filed an appeal in late November in the state’s First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco. The brief argues that the case was thrown out in error, and that Brome was subjected to continued acts of discrimination and that his evidence could not be presented. The CHP has until March 1 to file its reasoning brief. Brome’s career with the largest state law enforcement agency in the country started at the CHP academy in West Sacramento, as did the discrimination against him. “I would hear things derogatory about women, minorities, and gay people and other incidents when I was called a fag,” he said. One of the most frightening situations happened at the academy when he had not fully come out of the closet. “Another cadet put a gun to my head and said ‘I know you’re gay, tell me you’re gay or I’ll pull the trigger.”’ That same person is now a sergeant, Brome said. It was at the academy, too, that an instructor, in front of 30 or 40 cadets, told him to take off his skirt and start acting like a man. “After that I was like open game for all the cadets,” he said. “It started to get even worse at that point.” See page 12 >>
Christmas in the Castro Rick Gerharter
C
astro resident Larry Bush said he upgraded his holiday light display this year and it shows. The front windows of his home at 245 Diamond Street are adorned with scenes from San Francisco, including a rainbow flag, that was created by landscaper Heidi Becker,
who worked with Bush on the project. The little free library outside the home was created by Marshall Baxter and Bush said that this year, for the first time, it was turned into a gingerbread house by Devin Swisher. “It’s an all-LGBT team,” Bush told the Bay Area Reporter.
t is meant to be the visual focal point for a redesigned Harvey Milk Plaza above the Castro Muni Station. A sweeping canopy that can be lighted at night to evoke the candlelight march that left from the site the evening its namesake was killed 40 years ago last month. It could potentially be built in such a way that it includes glass prisms that refract rainbows of light on the surrounding area during the day. It also could potentially host other artwork honoring Milk, whose election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 marked the first time an out gay man won public office in the city and the state of California. “For us it is very important. We think of this new design as a piece of functional art,” explained architect Erich Burkhart, the managing principal of Perkins Eastman’s San Francisco office. “It is a very moving and appropriate tribute to Harvey.” He added that their hope is the artwork will become an internationally recognized symbol for not only Milk’s legacy but also the city itself. See page 7 >>
LGBT groups ramp up giving appeals by Matthew S. Bajko
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ith just 11 days left in 2018, LGBT nonprofits are ramping up their end-of-year giving campaigns. Letters and emails have been hitting the mailboxes and inboxes of the agencies’ supporters since the start of December. Many are centered on appeals highlighting that anonymous benefactors of the agencies will match the donations. The inducement is a proven tactic in convincing people to write a check. Both the San Francisco LGBT Community Center and National Center for Lesbian Rights, for instance, have lined up “generous” donors who agreed to match every gift up to $100,000 sent in by December 31. The GLBT Historical Society, which operates an LGBT museum in the heart of San Francisco’s gay Castro district, has a donor willing to match up to $50,000 donated by the end of the month. “Matching donations are very effective. Donors love the idea of their dollars being leveraged,” said Roger Doughty, president of Horizons Foundation, an LGBT philanthropic organization focused on the Bay Area. “And as a donor myself, I understand that. I love knowing my dollar will be doubled or tripled because a donor wants to have impact. And that means double or triple the impact.” Giving some nonprofit executives and their development directors pause this year is an
Jane Philomen Cleland
Horizons Foundation President Roger Doughty
increase to the standard deduction people are able to claim on their 2018 tax returns. The amounts have nearly doubled from 2017, such that a single person can claim $12,000 this year compared to the $6,350 standard deduction they could claim in 2017. Married couples filing jointly can take a $24,000 standard deduction (it was $12,700 last year) or a $12,000 standard deduction if filing separately. Heads of households can opt for an $18,000 standard deduction this year.
The increases could result in fewer people choosing to itemize their deductions on their 2018 tax returns. Doing so means charitable donations that are tax deductible won’t reduce their tax bill this year. So far, Doughty said he has not heard that nonprofits are seeing “anything unusual” in their donors’ giving patterns this year due to the increases in the standard deductions. They are a result of the tax overhaul Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law in 2017. “I think there is a lot of speculation about the impact of the tax law. And we are intensely interested to see what those results are,” said Doughty. “The main piece that is a cause of concern to a lot of charitable organizations is the standard deduction was doubled, I believe, or close to it. The result of that was, for many taxpayers, it became better to use the standard tax deduction instead of itemizing their tax deductions.” Yet for many high-income households, which account for the bulk of charitable giving in the country, the changes to the tax law have had little impact to date on their donations to nonprofits. “What we have seen consistently, and it is actually true of many of the last studies we have done, people have consistently said the impact of the tax law change around charitable See page 13 >>
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