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Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971
Vol. 52 • No. 02 • January 13-19, 2022
SF supervisor wants street named for drag nun by Matthew S. Bajko
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Justice Laurie Earl was confirmed and sworn in January 6 to a seat on the state’s 3rd District Court of Appeal.
Lesbian Justice Earl confirmed to CA appellate court by Matthew S. Bajko
W
ith her confirmation to the state’s 3rd District Court of Appeal, Justice Laurie M. Earl is now the fifth LGBTQ person serving on one of California’s six appellate courts and the first on the 3rd District court bench. She was unanimously confirmed to the appellate bench and took her oath of office during a virtual hearing January 6. Noting the historic nature of both her becoming an appellate judge, just the 10th woman to serve on the 3rd District, and its taking place on the one-year anniversary of the siege of the U.S. Capitol by backers of former President Donald Trump, a teary-eyed Earl said she was proud to reclaim the date for a more honorable historic moment. As one of her two sons wrote in a text message to family and friends, “January 6, 2021 rioters broke through the glass doors to gain access to our nation’s capital. January 6, 2022 Laurie M. Earl broke through the glass ceiling to gain access to the California Court of Appeal,” recounted Earl. “I accept my role in history as being first and am honored to claim January 6 not as that day but as my day.” California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and the 3rd District appellate court’s Senior Presiding Justice Vance W. Raye voted to confirm Earl during her confirmation hearing Thursday. The State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation last February had evaluated Earl and found her to be “exceptionally well qualified” to serve on the appellate bench. Earl had sought appointment to the appellate bench under former governor Jerry Brown but was not selected. She reapplied with Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration in December 2019. In November, Newsom nominated Earl, 60, a fellow Democrat, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of appellate jurist M. Kathleen Butz. Since 2005 Earl has served on the Sacramento County Superior Court, where she has also served as presiding judge. Prior to her judicial appointment by then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), Earl served roughly a year as a senior assistant inspector general at the Sacramento County Office of Inspector General. Between 1995 and 2004 she was a deputy district attorney at the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office. See page 8 >>
“Before nonbinary became a thing,” noted Bunch, who as a 25-year-old gay man first came to San Francisco on vacation in January 1977 and decided to relocate to the Cityby-the-Bay permanently from the gay-owned farm he had been living on outside Iowa City. “You know that mythical idea of someone who went on vacation and stayed? Well that happened to me. I came here on vacation in 1977 and stayed; well, I went back for my clothes,” recalled Bunch, 69. “That’s when I grabbed the nuns’ habits just in case I got bored, and we got bored.” Bunch and several friends had gotten together at the Dolores Street residence the day prior to Easter in 1979 and ended up donning the religious garb and heading out into the city. It was the first public unveiling of the Sisters, which today has orders in 60 different cities and 14 countries. “We call it Holy Saturday,” said Bunch, who for nearly 36 years has lived nearby Alert Alley on Dolores Street. His friend and fellow drag nun Sister Roma, who just was elected the local order’s Mistress of Novices to assist new aspirants, first broached the idea of naming a street in honor See page 7 >>
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n apartment at 272 Dolores Street was the birthplace on Easter weekend in 1979 of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Now a nearby alley could be renamed in honor of one of the founders. Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Mission Dolores neighborhood, is proposing a ceremonial name change for Alert Alley, which runs between Dolores and Landers streets, so it is also known as “Sister Vish-Knew Way.” It is derived from one of the names that founding Sister Kenneth Bunch has gone by over the years. Ordained the group’s Grand Mother Vicious Power Hungry Bitch, Bunch shortened it to Sister Vish-Knew so his name wasn’t so long or sounded as harsh. The second half came about from repeatedly being asked if he knew the Sisters would have such longevity when he helped found them so many decades ago. “I wanted to soften my image up,” Bunch explained in a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “People always ask me, ‘Did you think the sisterhood would last this long and spread this far?’ So I changed my name to Vish-Knew.”
John Williams
Sister Vish-Knew, aka Sister Vicious Power Hungry Bitch, stands in full habit.
It is also an homage to the Hindu god Vishnu. Early on Bunch was called Sister Ady in reference to Ardhanarishvara, which is a form of the Hindu deity Shiva combined with his consort Parvati. They are usually depicted as half-male and half-female.
Supervisors OK Castro bar zoning liberalization
by John Ferrannini
T
he San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed legislation January 11 that will allow additional bars in the Castro neighborhood. The legislation will change bars’ zoning status from not being permitted at all to being permitted conditionally in the Castro Street neighborhood commercial district, or NCD. Thus, any new such business would need to seek a conditional use permit from the city’s planning commission in order to open its doors, prompting a review process where the public could weigh in on the matter. The supervisors approved the legislation – introduced by gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman on October 19 – by unanimous voice vote. It faces a procedural vote at the next regular supervisors’ meeting January 25 and, if approved again, the zoning changes will go into effect March 6, according to Jacob Bintliff, a gay aide to Mandelman. Mandelman stated he hopes that the legislation will lead to a business revival. “I’m glad my colleagues passed this legislation and hope it opens the door to new operators and concepts in the Castro,” Mandelman stated. “The neighborhood has too many vacancies, and we should be making it easier to fill them.” Masood Samereie, a straight ally who is presi-
Matthew S. Bajko
Under a zoning change for bars that the Board of Supervisors approved January 11, more than just wine shops would be allowed to open in the Castro.
dent of the Castro Merchants Association, stated he hopes the legislation will help the Castro emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are pleased and grateful for Supervisor Mandelman and his staff for their support in this effort proposed by Castro Merchants to provide opportunity for entrepreneurs and alike to start a new business in the Castro especially now in our attempt to recover from the pandemic,” he stated. As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported,
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Mandelman introduced the legislation after a prospective wine bar owner, Suzie Jennings, was told she could not open up in the NCD. Jennings, a lesbian, had wanted the wine bar in the old Unionmade location at 493 Sanchez Street at the corner of 18th Street. However, new bar locations have been barred in the NCD since its inception in 1987, and so Jennings was turned down. See page 8 >>
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Rick Gerhar