Gay Russian wins asylum
8
Readying for 'Emerald' gala
ARTS
7
13
Chita Rivera, live
The
www.ebar.com
Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Ridgely brings event experience to SF Pride
Vol. 44 • No. 8 • February 20-26, 2014
City’s image crux of crack pipe opposition
by Cynthia Laird
T
he new executive director of the organization that oversees San Francisco’s Pride parade and festival has been on the job just over a month, and is concentrating on sponsorships and retaining the group’s longtime Rick Gerharter contractors to ensure a George Ridgely safe and fun event at the end of June. In a wide-ranging interview with the Bay Area Reporter last week, George Ridgely said that his background in helping run large outdoor events in the city means that he already knows the major players in terms of working with city officials, law enforcement, and community groups. Ridgely previously served as operations manager for the Bay to Breakers foot race and was executive director of the Castro Street Fair. Those two events, combined with running his own gala production company, Pink Collar, means that he has eight or nine years of experience. Ridgely, who said he applied for the executive director position for the third time following last year’s resignation of CEO Earl Plante, said that he had long sought the challenge of running one of the largest Pride parades in the world. “I applied before, third time’s a charm,” Ridgely said. “I’ve always been interested in it. As an LGBT person, I had my eye on Pride. I love what I do and there are only so many large scale events to do.” Ridgely, 50, identifies as gay but likes the word “queer,” he said. He said that it doesn’t bother him that he was twice passed over for the top job. In the past, it was different boards of directors that made the final hiring decisions. “In all of those situations the board did a very thorough job. I met with operations people and staff and I feel they made their decisions based on the information they had,” he said. After the last few years of upheaval with the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, Ridgely is looking to focus on the parade and festival before branching out into other endeavors. Fundraising and soliciting sponsorships, he explained, would remain a year-round activity. Previous executive directors had sought to incorporate speaker series and other events throughout the year, but financial and management issues have prevented those from taking place in recent years. See page 9 >>
Rick Gerharter
Mayor Ed Lee, left, and Health Director Barbara Garcia are opposed to distributing crack pipes as a way to prevent HIV transmission; emails indicate the mayor’s staff seems worried about the city’s image.
by Seth Hemmelgarn
S
an Francisco Health Director Barbara Garcia is bowing to Mayor Ed Lee’s office as she opposes trying to cut transmission of HIV and other diseases by distributing crack pipes to drug users, city officials’ emails to each other and interviews with the Bay Area Reporter suggest. Garcia, who quickly became defensive last
week when asked to explain her stance, and Lee’s staff have repeatedly refused to explain their opposition. But emails from Lee spokeswoman Christine Falvey to Garcia and other Department of Public Health staff warn them to be careful of the city’s image. Falvey, who was concerned about a January 24 TV news story about the crack pipe idea, wrote that day in an email to Garcia and her
staffer Colleen Chawla, “Can you clear up with KPIX – don’t want any Fox News SF headlines on this.” Chawla is the health department’s deputy director of health and the director of policy and planning for the agency. Falvey’s email was one of many obtained through B.A.R. public records act requests. See page 12 >>
At long last, baseball fan comes out by Roger Brigham
A
ctivists often urge athletes and other celebrities to come out of the closet, believing their openness and acceptance will inspire others to do likewise. When Missouri football star Michael Sam came out as a gay man earlier this month in advance of the NFL draft, potentially hurting his draft position and economic prospects, it proved to be the inspiration for one local resident and baseball aficionado to discard the secret that has shrouded his life for several decades. “I’ve never felt comfortable with coming out,” Half Moon Bay resident Norm Coleman told the Bay Area Reporter. “I don’t discuss the subject. But I have to say when I first read the story without knowing anything about [Sam] ... I saw how he was very courageous and strong. My goodness: we know how it is in professional sports. That’s a ‘man’s man’ thing. They don’t tolerate gay guys, although that is certainly changing.” So Coleman, who recently turned 78, decided to be part of the change. He has been in and around baseball all of his life – a Brooklynborn Dodgers fan who grew up watching Jackie Robinson and supplemented his income through the years doing scouting related tasks for numerous ball clubs. Homosexuality was the unspoken taboo, just as earlier there was an unspoken taboo keeping African American players
out of the major leagues before Robinson broke the color barrier. Coleman decided it was time to speak up, come what may. “It’s possible I may lose some jobs,” Coleman said. “I deal with a lot of baseball minor league general managers around the country. That could happen, but I don’t think about it. I’m not concerned about them reading about me in the B.A.R., but yes, I’m concerned. Baseball is even more difficult than football. I can’t imagine a player Courtesy Norm Coleman coming out in baseball.” Coleman has a prize-winning Norm Coleman, right, author of a one-man show about photography shop in Half Moon baseball great Ty Cobb, stands next to a photo of the Bay but is better known among storied player. residents as the author and performer of a one-man play about Robinson in the public library that Coleman baseball great Ty Cobb. stumbled across a book on Cobb, Like most Coleman said his love affair with basecurrent baseball fans, he only knew of Cobb by ball started “when Jackie Robinson came to myth and rumor: great hitter, tough, even dirty, Brooklyn. Growing up in Brooklyn, I didn’t player; a symbol of baseball’s segregation. But know baseball was segregated. All I knew was as he researched Cobb, he came to know what a big fuss was being made when he came up. I he terms his “other side,” a side that truly loved became a big Brooklyn Dodgers fan at the time, and thought segregation should end. not realizing what was involved with him per“I became fascinated by the man who was sonally. I’ve been a big baseball fan ever since.” clearly complicated and misunderstood,” he See page 10 >> It was while searching for a book on
{ FIRST OF TWO SECTIONS }
Families
Network. Share stories.
Confidence + Connection
SAN FRANCISCO, 15 MARCH 2014
THROUGH SURROGACY
WEST COAST CONFERENCE:
www.familiesthrusurrogacy.com
SAN FRAN_strip_indd.indd 1
17/02/14 4:16 PM