Are gay bars on ice?
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The moral conflicts of football
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Rust and Bone
The
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Milk airport idea faces turbulence by Matthew S. Bajko
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enaming SFO as Harvey Milk San Francisco International Airport would be historic, but the idea has a rocky flight path to becoming reality. First, six supervisors would need to vote to place the proposal on the November ballot. The legislation, so far, has five co-sponsors. Then a majority of San Francisco voters would need to back the idea. Neither is a foregone conclusion. Rick Gerharter Naming anything in San Francisco to Supervisor honor a civic leader, David Campos whether they are LGBT or straight, isn’t easy. And something as high profile as the city’s airport is sure to have competing interests vying to bestow such recognition on See page 13 >>
SFPD backtracks on condoms by Seth Hemmelgarn
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an Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr is keeping a ban on documenting condoms as evidence of prostitution temporary for now, based on an agreement between the offices of the district attorney and public defender. The news comes a week after a Bay Area Rick Gerharter Reporter article cited law enforcement of- Police Chief Greg Suhr ficials saying that the ban would be permanent. But instead, the SFPD bulletin extended a temporary period for another 90 days. Suhr’s position comes despite District Attorney George Gascón saying his office didn’t ask the police department to take such a stance, and Public Defender Jeff Adachi saying he hadn’t known about the latest extension until after the Bay Area Reporter contacted his office. “I’m hopeful that this ends up being a perSee page 5 >>
Vol. 43 • No. 03 • January 17-23, 2013
Researchers focus on LGBT seniors by Matthew S. Bajko
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n terms of academic research, LGBT seniors largely remain in the closet. Only a few studies have attempted to shed light on the needs of aging LGBT adults. Experts in the field of gerontology point to several factors behind the lack of scientific data on this age group. LGBT people were not considered part of the senior population, they said, so questions about sexual orientation or gender identity weren’t asked. The onslaught of AIDS in the 1980s not only devastated a generation of gay and bisexual men, it also diverted the LGBT community’s attention and scarce research funding toward combating the deadly disease. “The money for it simply dried up in the 1990s and didn’t come back until the end of that decade,” said Marcy Adelman, Ph.D., who has focused on LGBT aging since the 1970s. “The community wasn’t in a position to focus on aging when struggling so hard to keep everybody alive. I don’t think Washington was particularly friendly to LGBT aging research.” Now, due to treatment advances, people with HIV are living well past their 50s. They are aging alongside other LGBT baby boomers, many of whom have been out of the closet for decades and are demanding services as they enter retirement age. The result is an increased attention on
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Marcy Adelman, Ph.D.
studying LGBT seniors and addressing their concerns. Entities from the National Institutes of Health to AARP have funneled resources toward LGBT adults. “We are finally starting to talk about these issues from a research position,” said Brian de Vries, a gay man who is a professor of gerontology at San Francisco State University. “AIDS happened and researchers were just siphoned away and turned their attention to the experiences of people living with, and at that time dying from, HIV. I think it has only been in
the last 10 years or so that we have found our way back to an appreciation of aging within the LGBT community.” He recalled attending a lecture in the mid 1980s about gay men and aging where an audience member asked if “those terms are mutually incompatible ‘gay’ and ‘aging.’ It really struck me that somebody would make a comment like that. “So many of us were dying during that time, so the idea of aging seemed luxurious,” he added. “Given what the circumstances were, people thought it was almost not possible. I think that is part of the issue for why we were late to the game.” Early last decade de Vries, 56, helped establish and co-chaired Rainbow Research, an LGBT interest group within the Gerontological Society of America. He also took part in 2006 and 2010 in a Met Life study focused on LGBT seniors. Called “Still Out, Still Aging,” “it was one of the only national representative studies of LGBT boomers,” said de Vries. It first looked at the needs of 1,000 LGBT baby boomers. A follow-up study then compared 1,200 LGBT boomers against 1,200 from the general population. “It was one of the very few studies that allowed us to compare LGBT people with heterosexuals,” de Vries said. One of the lead authors of the Met Life study, and a co-founder of the Rainbow Research group, was Karen I. Fredriksen-Goldsen, Ph.D., a professor at the University of See page 5 >>
Older gay APIs bond over dinner by Matthew S. Bajko
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he entryway of the Twin Peaks apartment is cluttered with various pairs of shoes. In the kitchen is a potluck collection of Asian-inspired dishes. Chairs are set up in the living room. Nametags are distributed. Conversations fill the home. On this Sunday night in early January roughly 20 gay Asian and Pacific Islander men have gathered to bond over dinner, be entertained, and discuss how to care for parents, loved ones, or themselves as they age. The meeting is the first gathering in 2013 of the GAPA 35-Plus group. Sponsored by the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance, the program has been providing a safe space for older gay, bisexual, or transgender API men to connect and engage in frank discussions since 2000. “I knew there was a need for it,” recalled Vincent Baduel, 62, a former GAPA co-chair who revived the men’s only group. “I know there is still a need for it because first-timers are coming in and coming back. I think that is an indication they like it.”
Steven Underhill
Benjamin Aquino and his partner, Dion Wong, talked at a recent GAPA 35-Plus group gathering.
Having attended GAPA Rap sessions, where any API man regardless of age can participate, Baduel realized that the issues older
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API men face do not always overlap with the concerns of their younger counterparts. Topics the older group focuses on include financial planning, career changes, health and fitness tips, and affordable places for recreation in the Bay Area. “Our interest is different than those of younger guys. Those under 35 talk about partying, going to bars, and going down to the Castro,” said Dion Wong, 69, who was the group’s coordinator for 10 years until 2011. “Most of us have too many other obligations to do that. We have business careers, own property, are taking care of older relatives.” Wong, a former public school teacher who consults on education issues, and his partner of 18 years, Benjamin Aquino, are still regular attendees of the group. Aquino, 60, a registered nurse, enjoys the open dialogue the gatherings foster. “It is very healthy to me,” he said. For those API men who grew up overseas and are culturally inclined to remain closeted to their families, the monthly meet-ups can be a lifeline and a nice entry point into the See page 13 >>