July 17, 2025 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

SFPD official critical of Fielder over ICE policies

by John Ferrannini

The San Francisco Police Department is responding to criticism from a city supervisor following remarks made by a top police official at a town hall in the Castro about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. The comments were about protecting ICE agents “in a peacekeeping way” if needed.

District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, a queer woman who represents the Mission district on the Board of Supervisors, sent a letter of inquiry to interim Police Chief Paul Yep, other law enforcement officials, and Mayor Daniel Lurie on July 14, calling the remarks “alarming” and pointing to the Los Angeles Police Department’s newly adopted guidelines that direct officers to attempt to verify the identity of federal agents at the scenes of suspected federal immigration enforcement actions.

“It’s baffling that SFPD leadership would equate unarmed protesters with Trump’s armed ICE agents,” Fielder stated. “They can protect themselves with their pepper spray, their guns, their vehicles. … This is not a law enforcement agency upholding public safety, it is a fascist operation that is violating court orders and the rule of law to stoke fear and sow chaos.”

On the heels of news that a drag queen who’d legally been seeking asylum in the U.S. was detained by ICE in San Francisco just before Pride, as the Bay Area Reporter reported, ICE agents pointed rifles and used pepper spray on about 20 protesters trying to block their entry to San Francisco Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery Street on July 8.

Fielder’s comments were made in response to a high-ranking SFPD official’s answer to an audience question read by gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman at a standing room only public safety forum July 10 at The Academy, 2166 Market Street, asking if people should call the police if there are “folks driving around in vans with masks on and they’re identifying themselves as federal officials, but that’s not who they are, it seems.”

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HIV cuts backfilled in SF budget

by John Ferrannini

Drastic cuts in HIV/AIDS services in San Francisco were averted in the city’s new balanced budget, though some fiscal reductions have affected Project Open Hand’s meal deliveries. The Board of Supervisors gave initial approval to the $15.9 billion spending plan July 15.

Under the proposal adopted by the board, the two-year spending plan added back just $41 million for programs that had initially been cut from Mayor Daniel Lurie’s balanced budget proposal announced in late May. The $15.9 billion budgets for 2025-26 and 2026-27 must be voted on by the supervisors again July 22, with the new fiscal year budget taking effect August 1.

The budget includes some cuts to agencies and programs of interest to queer San Franciscans, but Matt Foreman, a gay man who is executive director of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel, was pleased that Lurie fulfilled a campaign pledge to backfill cuts in federal HIV funds with city dollars. He told the Bay Area Reporter last week that gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman and Budget and Finance Committee Chair Supervisor Connie Chan worked behind the scenes to help make that happen. Foreman said that means ALRP’s Ryan White CARE Act grants, totaling $421,500, will remain funded.

“Starting in January, our partner organizations in HIV/AIDS prevention started organizing meetings with each member of the board of supervisors and

the mayor’s budget office,” Foreman said in a phone interview. “It was an all-hands-on-deck effort.”

Foreman continued that San Francisco’s is a “model other cities and people look to to see how we can help people with HIV and AIDS,” and he’s grateful that funding continued in spite of the “city’s dire fiscal straits.”

Foreman also said that groups that are getting Ryan White funding received the same cost of doing business increase, about 1%, as other city funded programs.

by John Ferrannini

TReached for comment, Lurie stated to the B.A.R. “For decades, San Francisco has been a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community, and as mayor, I am committed to upholding that legacy. Even facing historic budget challenges, my administration is funding organizations that support the health of our LGBTQ+ neighbors. And when Washington, D.C. turns it back on funding for HIV/AIDS services, our city is continuing to step up.”

2017 Media Kit 0 a

Future of Harvey’s space in limbo as Pink Swallow project felled

he former space of Harvey’s and the Elephant Walk bars at 500 Castro Street will continue to sit vacant, at least for the time being. The ownership group has scrapped a planned bar and restaurant concept called Pink Swallow for the site.

Gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro as District 8’s representative on the board, told the Bay Area Reporter that, “I have heard of nothing proposed for the space.”

“It is my impression that the Castro is suffering from too many commercial property owners with incredibly inflated notions of the value of their properties,” Mandelman continued July 10. “That’s certainly not all landlords, but this property has been vacant for too long, and it’s very bad for the neighborhood.”

The site has been vacant since Harvey’s closed in early 2023, though it sits at the vital Castro and 18th Street intersection of the LGBTQ neighborhood’s commercial corridor. It’s owned by the Paul Langley Co., which did not return multiple requests for comment.

The Pink Swallow ownership group had also agreed to expand into the adjacent storefront that has been vacant since 2020.

See page 2 >>

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In 2023, a group of Beaux employees announced they’d signed a lease with the Langley company and had plans to open BRUT Bar, Bites, and Nightclub. The name was changed to Pink Swallow after the B.A.R. reported it shared the name of a popular circuit party, BRÜT (with an umlaut), to which representatives of the recurring house music dance event objected.

Though Pink Swallow received approval from the city’s planning commission for a conditional use authorization in early 2024 to establish a nighttime entertainment zone on the first and second floors of the space and the adjoining storefront, Joshua J. Cook, a gay man who is part of, and speaks for, the group that leased the space, said last year that work had been held up due to an outdated kitchen.

“It’s still moving forward,” Cook stated last year. “There was a small pause as the owners of the building investigated, or discovered, what needed to happen to bring the kitchen to current city codes. I don’t think it’d been brought to code for decades to be honest, so it took exploration to figure out what to do.”

A summer 2024 opening date was scrapped, with Cook telling the B.A.R. last September that he had “no specific updates” on when that space would open, but that they’re “getting ready to go into the permit application process.”

A liquor license sale was pending as of October 2024, as the B.A.R. most recently reported. Hoodline, which first reported the Pink Swallow developments July 9, stated the liquor license transfer at the site is in the process of being ended.

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Audrey Johnson of La Luz

San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder

A plan to open the Pink Swallow bar and restaurant in the old Harvey’s space at 18th and Castro streets has been shelved by the ownership group.

Scott Wazlowski

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the city’s two-year budget July 15.

Screengrab via SFGovTV

Bondi sues CA over trans athletes

by John Ferrannini

The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta is responding to the Trump administration’s lawsuit filed Wednesday accusing the Golden State of violating federal civil rights laws by allowing trans women and girls to participate in female sports. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Based upon today’s reporting, we are aware of the Trump administration’s lawsuit challenging California law,” an AG spokesperson stated in a July 9 email. “Our office remains committed to defending and upholding California laws and the rights of all students, including transgender students, to be free from discrimination and harassment.”

The lawsuit against the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation, which oversees high school sports competitions, came two days after the state education department and CIF stated they would not comply with the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights’ order to change their trans inclusion policies within 10 days. The federal directive also ordered California to

apologize to athletes who lost to trans female competitors.

The federal government earlier this year sent a letter to three states – Maine, California, and Minnesota – demanding a change after President Donald Trump sparred with Maine Governor Janet T. Mills (D) on the issue February 20 while he was meeting with governors. The president told her she needed to comply with his executive order on trans athletes or he’d withhold education funding to the Pine Tree State.

Mills said she would comply with state and federal law.

“We are the federal law,” Trump shot back. “You’d better do it. You’d better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.”

“See you in court,” Mills responded.

She later stated, “If the president attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of federal funding, my administration and the attorney general will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides. The State of Maine will not be intimidated by the president’s threats.”

Maine was the first state to be sued, as the B.A.R. reported.

Conservative advocacy group Female Athletes United sued Minnesota, but the federal government has not.

The California lawsuit lists five trans female athletes who competed in various high school sports events dating back to 2021. No names are listed and all are accused of “displacement of girl athletes” in the suit. One of the students is likely AB Hernandez, who shared first place in two track events under a new CIF policy that was unveiled shortly before the late May championships in Clovis, California. The lawsuit refers to the Jurupa Unified School District for “Student 1” and Hernandez attends Jurupa High School, as media outlets have reported. All of the students are misgendered in the federal lawsuit. https://www.justice.gov/crt/ media/1407321/dl?inline

Newsom remarks noted in CA suit

The beginning of the federal suit against California quotes Governor Gavin Newsom (D), who earlier this year on his podcast concurred with remarks by conservative influencer Charlie Kirk about trans inclusion in school sports amid some Democratic officials’ desire to distance themselves from trans causes in the aftermath of the 2024 election. A 2025 NBC News Decision DeskSurvey Monkey poll showed 75% of Americans oppose transgender women participating in female sports.

“These discriminatory policies and practices ignore undeniable biological differences between boys and girls, in favor of an amorphous ‘gender identity.’

The results of these illegal policies are stark: girls are displaced from podiums,

Mandelman stated to the B.A.R. that, “I’m glad and grateful to my colleagues that we were able to include a modest CODB [cost of doing business] increase for the organizations providing services under the Ryan White CARE Act. I wish we had been able to do a more significant CODB increase for all our nonprofits, but this was not the year.”

During the meeting, Chan said that though the cuts aren’t something to be proud of, the way the city came together to continue to provide social services despite federal cuts is. She specifically called out the LGBTQ community as one of those whose needs were acknowledged as the budget was put together by lawmakers.

“The federal government’s attacks and impending cuts put us in an impossible decision,” Chan said. “Given this reality we had to remain focused on the core elements of city government. … We preserved funding toward vital programs and services.”

District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder pulled five items and District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood pulled one item from the budget package to be voted on. The rest of the budget was approved unanimously.

Mahmood had asked an item funding the immigration defense unit to the tune of $3.4 million be voted on

denied awards, and miss out on critical visibility for college scholarships and recognition,” the federal complaint states. “In the words of the Governor of California, it is ‘deeply unfair’ for girls to compete against boys. This discrimination is not only illegal and unfair but also demeaning, signaling to girls that their opportunities and achievements are secondary to accommodating boys.”

In his discussion with Kirk, Newsom blamed California’s policy requiring trans female student athletes to be allowed to play on women’s sports teams to a bill signed by his predecessor, former governor Jerry Brown. He also said he was “completely aligned” with Kirk on the matter.

CIF Director Ronald Nocetti’s letter to California state Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond is cited in the complaint, in which Nocetti said Newsom’s remarks “increased the level of confusion” whether trans female athletes should play on women’s and girls’ teams.

A Newsom spokesperson reiterated on background that the governor is not named in the suit, and referred comment to the state education department.

The gubernatorial spokesperson reiterated that the state is following the law signed by Brown.

The spokesperson continued that Newsom’s personal opinion is that he will follow the laws of the state of California protecting trans inclusion in women and girls’ sports, which Newsom does not believe are in conflict with federal civil rights laws. The spokesperson also stated that Trump ignores laws, and that his administration is defunding education for 3 million California public school girls.

The education department declined to comment for this report because the matter is pending litigation.

Bondi also referenced Newsom’s remarks in a news release announcing the lawsuit.

“The Governor of California has previously admitted that it is ‘deeply unfair’ to force women and girls to compete with men and boys in competitive sports,” Bondi stated. “But not only is it ‘deeply unfair,’ it is also illegal under federal law. This Department of Justice will continue its fight to protect equal opportunities for women and girls in sports.”

‘Not about fairness in sports,’ EQCA says Equality California, the statewide LGBTQ rights organization, was critical of the lawsuit.

separately, so that the board could signal unanimous support.

Fielder had asked items be severed that related to funding for law enforcement. She excoriated Lurie for not considering cuts there, and voted no on those items, making the vote 10-1.

Lance Toma, a gay man who is cochair of the HIV/AIDS Providers Network and the CEO of the San Francisco Community Health Center, was pleased so many services remained funded or were added back.

“On behalf of the HIV/AIDS Providers Network, we are grateful to the mayor and Board of Supervisors for their commitment to protecting the HIV safety net in San Francisco in an incredibly challenging budget year,” Toma stated to the B.A.R. “This included backfilling of various federal HIV funding reductions.

Board President Mandelman continued to be our champion at every step of the budget process. With so many attacks coming at us from every direction, our community remains steadfast in our efforts and forward momentum to address and end the HIV epidemic.”

Toma’s agency is one of several that have sued the Trump administration over several of President Donald Trump’s executive orders, including one that targets equity-based grants. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the executive orders last month.

EQCA Executive Director Tony Hoang, a gay man, called the suit a “cruel and baseless political stunt.”

“Transgender youth are not a threat, but they continue to be targeted by the Trump administration in a coordinated campaign of hate and misinformation,” Hoang continued. “This is not about fairness in sports – it is about erasing trans people from public life. But California won’t back down. We’re proud to live in a state that upholds the dignity, safety, and rights of all students.”

The federal complaint is based on Title IX, the 1972 civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in federally-funded education programs. The Biden administration was in the process of applying Title IX to protect transgender student athletes’ participation in sports aligning with their gender identities, but quietly withdrew this after the 2024 election.

The federal suit also comes on the heels of the University of Pennsylvania agreeing to Trump administration demands to vacate the records of swimmer Lia Thomas, first transgender woman to win a NCAA Division I national championship, who became a flashpoint on the matter during the Biden years.

Republican former assemblymember Bill Essayli, now the interim U.S. attorney for the Central District of California (Los Angeles), and Harmeet K. Dhillon, a former San Francisco Republican Party chair turned assistant U.S. attorney general, are listed among the government’s lawyers.

“Title IX was enacted over half a century ago to protect women and girls from discrimination. The Justice Department will not stand for policies that deprive girls of their hard-earned athletic trophies and ignore their safety on the field and in private spaces,” stated Dhillon in a news release. “Young women should not have to sacrifice their rights to compete for scholarships, opportunities, and awards on the altar of woke gender ideology.”

Essayli, who attempted to pass antitrans laws while in the Legislature, said the state must comply with Title IX.

“California is on the wrong side of the law and the wrong side of history,” Essayli stated. “Women deserve dignity, respect, and an equal opportunity to compete on their own sports teams. The time for talk is over. California must comply with Title IX and end its civil rights violations against women. No person, no state, is above the law.”t

Other programs

The budget also maintains funding for the Tenant Right to Counsel Program, through which nine organizations, including ALRP, provide free legal assistance to residents facing eviction lawsuits, ALRP stated in a news release. The agency will receive $1 million for its eviction defense work.

The board restored $4.2 million of $8.4 million that had been initially cut in Lurie’s budget proposal for general civil legal services – $3 million in 202526 and $1.2 million for 2026-27. ALRP credited Chan and gay District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio for the funds that were added back.

“It’s important that San Francisco invests up front to support vulnerable populations,” Engardio stated to the B.A.R. “That’s why I championed restoring funding for civil legal services. Investing in civil legal services, before issues escalate, helps save taxpayer dollars in the long run – and this is backed by objective facts. When we invest in civil legal services, we save domestic violence survivors from moving onto the streets and into homelessness and we save seniors who have trouble paying their electricity bills from eviction. Our city saves much more money than the up-front expense because we don’t have to pay the exorbitant costs of the cascading ill-effects after someone becomes homeless.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi AP

Lego reality series provides platform for out entrepreneurs

by Matthew S. Bajko

For Justin Brady-Joyner and John Walls, their friendship was built via a shared love of Lego. The two met four years ago via social media when Walls began searching out other LGBTQ people who also have a passion for creating builds with the colorful plastic bricks.

“It is my creative outlet,” said Walls, who remembers getting his first Lego set in elementary school, a pirate ship brought by Santa Claus one Christmas. “I returned back to my love of Lego in college when I needed a stress relief.”

As an adult, building with Lego provides him an escape from his professional responsibilities. Walls, 43, who is gay and queer, will put a Marvel movie on his television in the background and work on creating his own Lego build using his imagination.

“My brain turns off, and I go to a different place,” said Walls, who lives in Dallas now but growing up spent time in Los Angeles County, living in the city of Westlake Village during his early high school years.

Brady-Joyner, 42, who is queer and nonbinary, grew up in Colorado and has lived in Austin since 2009. After earning a master’s in education from the University of South Carolina, they relocated to Texas for work and, not knowing anyone at the time, decided to take up Lego again after happening to find the company’s store it had opened in their new hometown.

boyfriend he dated there, Walls befriended a guy who years later would marry Brady-Joyner and also is a Lego builder.

“We realized we have all of this history together,” recalled Walls, speaking recently to the Bay Area Reporter during a joint video interview with Brady-Joyner. “We kept in contact and followed each other’s builds.”

They quickly formed a friendship “pretty substantially” in real life, noted Walls, who ended up being hired as a brand manager for a hotel chain and went on to earn a master’s in corporate communications and public relations from Georgetown University in 2017.

“It was a fun side hobby,” explained Brady-Joyner, who that day bought a Lego winter village set to use as holiday decor for their house.

Brady-Joyner later started posting about their Lego builds on Instagram, which Walls had discovered and decided to reach out via a private message. They soon began chatting not just about brick-building as GAYFOLs – a play on the acronym AFOL for Adult Fan of Lego – but also about their personal lives and realized they had another connection in common.

After graduating in 2005 from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth with a public relations and advertising degree, Walls worked for a variety of small and large public relations agencies before being hired by Match.com in 2007.

Two years later, amid the recession, Walls was laid off then ended up in Austin at a PR firm. Through a

It led to his being hired as a senior director for corporate communications and content strategy with Neiman Marcus based out of Dallas, returning him to the Lone Star State. He survived five years of upheavals at the luxury retailer until once again finding himself laid off a little over three years ago. At that point Walls decided to open his own firm named JW PR

“I work with small and medium size businesses on branding and communications challenges,” said Walls. “Some of them are just starting out on their comms journey and some are reimaging how their company is operating and need someone to come in to do some brand architectural work and reframing.”

Reality TV show

Throughout Wall’s relocations around the country for work and school, he maintained his friendship with Brady-Joyner. The two were avid fans of the Fox competition show

“Lego Masters” hosted by actor Will Arnett, the voice of Batman in the “Lego” movies.

Its debut season in 2020 featured Oakland couple Richard Board and Flynn DeMarco, who spoke with the B.A.R. at the time. Walls and BradyJoyner, now friends with Board and DeMarco, had talked about applying to be on the show themselves over the years.

Lego, in fact, had reached out to Brady-Joyner about being a contestant but they didn’t feel ready to do so until a few seasons into the show. With their husband unable to apply with them as a team for the fifth season, BradyJoyner asked Walls to do so. They got selected and taped their episodes in the fall of 2023 though it didn’t debut until May of this year.

The second episode featured a marriage theme where the contestants had to make a wedding cake out of the toy bricks based on a theme they randomly selected. The episode aired a month ahead of the 10th anniversary of same-sex couples gaining the right to marry via the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision.

It allowed Brady-Joyner and Walls a national platform to talk about being married, though Walls is no longer with his spouse. At the same time, due to the anti-LGBTQ political environment being stoked by Republican President Donald Trump, having that episode debut on the eve of Pride Month and able to compete in the episodes that aired during June made their season feel “more impactful and important,” Walls said, noting how marriage equality “is still under attack” and there are questions about it being repealed.

“For Justin and myself, we had talked so many times about making sure

we want to be who we are and not anything different,” said Walls.

While they ended up being the fifth team eliminated, Walls said being given the opportunity to represent the LGBTQ community as out and proud contestants on a nationally televised show “is a gift. I am so thankful and grateful, and I know Justin is as well.”

Unsure at the time of taping the wedding cake episode how it would be edited later for air, Brady-Joyner told the B.A.R. they were “thrilled” with how it came together. Their narratives felt woven together in a matter-of-fact way rather than coming off as trying to make a political point, noted Brady-Joyner. They spoke with the B.A.R. on their 10th wedding anniversary to their husband, Philip, as the couple rushed to marry shortly after the court ruling was issued on June 26, 2015.

“I loved how normalized and natural the show made it in terms of the editing. One of my goals is to talk about queer representation and how important that is,” said Brady-Joyner, who honeymooned in San Francisco and the Russian River region north of the city. “It is a goal of mine and a passion in my life.”

The couple is currently vying to win $20,000 and appear in Variety magazine as America’s Favorite Couple, with the contest doubling as a fundraiser for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and international ocean conservation advocacy organization Oceana. Voting ends at 7 p.m. Pacific Thursday, and people can cast votes for the Brady-Joyners online at https://tinyurl.com/2d72s2cw

A decade ago, they had incorporated Legos into their own wedding ceremony they held with family and friends. Mini-figurines resembling the couple served as the topper on their wedding cake; the Sig Figs, short for signature figures, then joined them on their honeymoon.

“We were taking photos of our Sig Figs, and friends thought it was neat,” recalled Brady-Joyner, which is how they ended up creating an Instagram account to share the pictures at the suggestion of the couple’s friends.

In addition to Walls, BradyJoyner’s Lego creations caught the eye of the company, which signed them up to work with it on commissions and do activations. Brady-Joyner, one of more than 100 official LEGO Fan Media Ambassadors and content creators for the brand around the globe, is also sent new Lego sets to try out, provide feedback on, and publicly review.

“I am working on a secretive project now,” said Brady-Joyner, who expects to be able to talk about it in the fall. “It has been really cool to be able to be a part of this community.”

They have used their public platform to push both the Lego company and fellow builders to be more inclusive with their creations. Five years ago, they launched the hashtag #diversifylegoholidays and ever since have made it an annual challenge, posting videos such as this one from last December with examples of how to do so.

Brady-Joyner rejected charges of Lego being anti-LGBTQ, most famously suggested by a recent exhibition at the Science Museum in the UK. They noted the company’s social media team swiftly responds to any online hate they receive, often in fun and snarky ways, “which I love,” they said, and it celebrated Pride Month in various public ways in June unlike other companies that pulled back amid the debate over diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in workplaces.

“Lego has gotten hate, sometimes deserved, sometimes not. I love they stay committed to expanding efforts on DEI,” said Brady-Joyner.

As for their compensation from working with Lego, it is mainly through bricks, Brady-Joyner noted. They are working on monetizing their Lego-focused social media accounts.

Their professional pursuits are “all connected to Lego in fun, different ways,” said Brady-Joyner. “It lets me do the things I love the most and which I flourish with.”

Being on the show provided BradyJoyner the confidence they needed to make a pivot in their professional life. Upon returning home, they left their corporate tech job working on DEI initiatives and went out on their own. They launched their own firm as an organizational consultant and facilitator with the belief that they could do so and make it work.

“I think that came out of the show experience,” said Brady-Joyner.

Despite the attacks on DEI programs by Republican officials and conservative pundits, they haven’t had trouble finding work. It helps being in Austin, one of the most progressive cities in Texas, Brady-Joyner acknowledged.

“I’ve actually found companies wanting to work with me because our values are aligned. I’m not seeing that dry up,” said Brady-Joyner.

John Walls, left, throws up his hands during competition with his friend, Justin Brady-Joyner on an episode of “Lego Masters.”

Courtesy Fox

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City needs to step in on APE mess

Another Planet Entertainment’s renovation of the Castro Theatre is moving along, but there’s a hiccup over the fate of two small businesses in the same building that flank the theater. Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office needs to stay directly involved, with the goal of keeping the business sites activated during the daytime.

Reportedly, Lurie has asked for 60 days for good faith negotiations in the matter. The Castro Coffee Co. and Castro Nail Salon, owned by the Khoury brothers, have been in a lease dispute for several months, ever since it was revealed that APE wants to utilize those storefronts for the theater – though the company insists the matter is between the Khourys and the Nasser family, which owns the building containing the siblings’ stores and the theater. During all of the hearings and meetings two years ago over the fate of the theater, particularly the orchestra seating, APE didn’t mention that it ultimately wanted to take over the sites housing the coffee shop and nail salon. Even when we started reporting on the lease dispute earlier this year, APE denied that.

Back in March APE spokesperson David Perry, a gay man, disavowed what he phrased as a “rumor” that APE wanted to acquire the spaces. “We’re not going to comment on a hypothetical,” he stated. “At the moment we’re focused on getting the theater open for the community.”

To the surprise of no one, that wasn’t true. In May, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that APE said that it needed those two spaces for its expanded box office. Given the June 30 date of the lease terminations at the coffee shop and nail salon, APE waited until the last minute to fess up. (The two businesses continue to remain open, though for how long is uncertain.)

The Castro Nail Salon, right, is in danger of being forced to move after Another Planet Entertainment indicated it needed the space, and the coffee shop on the other side of the theater, for an expanded box office.

being a good neighbor. It balked at negotiating with the Castro Conservancy, a group that favored keeping the orchestra seating, and no agreement was reached. Ultimately, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors rejected an amendment to keep the fixed orchestra seating, and APE was allowed to remove those in order to have flexible seating for live music events and movies. (The fixed balcony seating was deemed historic and remains.)

APE’s behavior is in keeping with its whole attitude toward the Castro neighborhood since the company took over management of the theater in early 2022. It’s APE’s way, or the highway. We wrote in this space back in April 2023 that APE was not

Now, APE is further exhibiting that it doesn’t really care about the Castro community with this latest standoff over the spaces occupied by the coffee shop and nail salon. One thing we can’t figure out is why the theater even needs an expanded box office. As someone commented via the Pilsner Inn’s social media last week, virtually all event tickets are sold online these days.

The Castro Nail Salon, at 431 Castro Street, is a

legacy business, meaning city planning commission approval would be required before APE could change the space. The coffee shop is not in this category; however, it has been at the 427 Castro Street location for many years, under different names. One of the reasons that Lurie’s administration must remain involved is because of the consequences of the small businesses leaving Castro Street. Lurie has been strident in his desire to see commercial corridors flourish as the city works to recover from the COVID pandemic’s economic flatlining. Losing the coffee shop and nail salon on the prominent 400 block of Castro Street would be devastating. “These are beloved businesses and active street-facing uses that help activate that block every day,” gay San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman told us in March.

This is doubly true now that the Pink Swallow bar and restaurant that had been planned for the old Harvey’s bar space down the street was shelved, as we reported online. Located at the iconic intersection of 18th and Castro streets, Harvey’s suddenly closed in January 2023, creating a massive dead space in the heart of the LGBTQ neighborhood. We think APE should figure out some other way to have its box office – if that’s the real reason they want the spaces. We’re doubtful of anything APE says these days. The company should be working harder to be a good neighbor, not finding new ways to antagonize residents and merchants. It would be terrific if APE could readjust its plans and allow the coffee shop and nail salon to remain in business at their current locations. We’re hopeful that Lurie’s administration understands that.

After all of the work that has gone into making the Castro vibrant – approval of an entertainment zone for certain outdoor events, a regular night market, and openings of some new businesses like Rikki’s women’s sports bar on Market Street, the reopening next year of the Castro Theatre was supposed to be the crowning achievement. It won’t be if it comes at the expense of two active storefronts. t

Embracing my gender identity at work helps me lead with empathy

by Leo Chapman

On January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating that the federal government of the United States would only recognize two sexes, male and female, and that a person’s sex was unchangeable. This order effectively began the attempted erasure of trans and gender-nonconforming people at a federal level, and the attack on freedom of gender identity has continued to escalate. I have been grappling with the possible implications of these orders on me as a transgender person, and the understanding that this order has the support of many people across the country.

However, I quickly learned to be cautious about expressing my identity in more overt ways. I could sense the discomfort of my supervisors and peers during my tenure at an organization where my queer identity was tolerated, not celebrated. I could tell that being authentically myself was threatening to the people around me, and I made myself as small as possible to avoid offending anyone. I assumed that tolerance was the best I could hope for.

During this time, I feel incredibly privileged not only to be living and working in San Francisco, but also to have been born and raised in this city. My experiences in coming out as queer during college, and later coming out as transgender, have been heavily impacted and shaped by my environment and the general sentiment of the people around me. Despite the relative support that LGBTQ+ people experience in cities like mine, I still remember realizing what it meant to be visibly myself when I came out as queer.

After cutting my hair short for the first time at 19, I began to notice the change in how people perceived me, and how that impacted our interactions. Learning which spaces are safe or unsafe has been an iterative process with lots of trial and error, as even driving across my own state could land me in an uncomfortable situation at a gas station or restaurant bathroom. Being easily identifi able as gay was never an issue for me, although I’ve always known that, if needed, I could take steps to hide my identity. I remember scrolling through job listings across the country and clearly noting which roles I might be more likely to land if my interviews took place purely over Zoom, or if dressed in more “feminine” clothing, or even if I grew my hair longer again. While the privilege of being able to pass as heterosexual might have allowed me to enter those spaces, I feel grateful that I was able to navigate my career without facing that decision.

During this time, I remember seeing a Pride Month campaign from the California Academy of Sciences, a museum and aquarium in Golden Gate Park, and 500 Queer Scientists featuring a different LGBTQ+ scientist every day of the month. At a time when I felt unwelcome at my own organization (even in a liberal city!), seeing this visible celebration of queer people helped me to realize that I deserved more than tolerance, and that I deserved a workplace where I could be valued for all of the parts of my identity.

As I started to move through the professional world of environmental conservation, I felt lucky to be able to be openly queer in my workplace. I didn’t worry about being openly gay or whether being open would lead to discrimination against me.

Months later, I got a role at the California Academy of Sciences. In the midst of a truly welcoming environment I was finally able to start understanding how much of the “tolerance” I had internalized. My self-worth had eroded when exposed to a community that did not see my value or understand what my unique perspective could add to our work. From the mention of the Academy Pride employee resource group during orientation to the encouragement to add pronouns to my name tag and email signature, and not least of all the presence of so many other out and proud queer people, I saw immediately that this was an institution working to create safe and welcoming spaces for all members of the community. No where was that more apparent than our annual public Pride NightLife event, where the museum is transformed into a space dedicated to celebrating queer joy with staff, visitors, and the community.

Over time, I began to see that the parts of my personality and identity that had been silenced in deference to the comfort of others were, in fact, some of my greatest strengths. I had muted my voice, stopped standing up for the things that mattered most to me, and allowed others to shape the way that I viewed myself. Feeling truly safe in bringing my whole identity into my work has allowed me to be the bravest version of myself. I work hard to model the empathy-centered leadership that is needed to create spaces where my staff can be fully

themselves, because I know firsthand how important it has been for me. I also see every day that the work that we accomplish together is so much richer and more meaningful because of our commitment to being authentic with one another.

Coming to the understanding that I am trans was something that happened slowly, even in this new, supportive work environment. I spent years thinking about what this could mean for me before finally realizing that I wasn’t deciding if I was trans, I was deciding if I would accept who I am and allow myself to grow into that identity. The opportunity to meet and work alongside so many other queer and gender-nonconforming people has been essential in my evolving understanding of myself. Being at the Academy during this time and seeing the ways in which our community and institution support LGBTQ+ people makes me incredibly proud to work where I do, and helped lay a critical foundation for me to feel comfortable coming out as transgender in a professional setting.

Transitioning has been both a relief and a roller coaster. There is so much joy in getting to know yourself better and looking more like yourself every day. But, there remains an undercurrent of fear and isolation which has only been escalated by the attacks of the current administration on our community. Now, more than ever, we need to stand up to say that we will not allow transgender people to be erased. Visibility is resistance, and spotlighting both individuals and organizations who are willing to fight for this community will make a difference for people who need to know that they are not alone.  Even when we feel the most powerless, we have the ability to look out for one another, and to take time to celebrate the things that make us invaluable in the work that needs to be done to create the kind of world that we want to live in. t

Leo Chapman (they/them) is the senior manager, volunteer programs, at the California Academy of Sciences. Chapman was born and raised in San Francisco, and their love of animals sparked a career in science and conservation. They are passionate about creating accessible and equitable programming, opening up pathways to careers in STEM, and see volunteer programming as an important opportunity for furthering that work. In their free time, Chapman enjoys spending time with family, being outdoors, and exploring with their dog.

Scott Wazlowski

Leo Chapman

CA Academy of Sciences

CA LGBTQ groups laud state funding restorations

by Matthew S. Bajko

W

ith federal funding for queer and transgender health care services targeted by the Trump administration, leaders of LGBTQ service providers in California are hailing the restoration of funding for such programs in the state’s 20252026 fiscal year budget. In particular, more than $145 million was allocated for specific services benefitting LGBTQ youth and adults, as well as people living with HIV.

As the Bay Area Reporter first reported in late June, state legislators restored nearly $41 million in funding for LGBTQ health programs that Governor Gavin Newsom initially had cut in his revised budget proposal released in May to address a projected $7.5 billion budget shortfall for the fiscal year that began July 1. After an intense lobbying effort waged by LGBTQ advocates, lawmakers added back the funds in the Budget Act of 2025 that they approved and Newsom signed on June 27.

“This budget decision reflects a clear understanding that the wellbeing of LGBTQ+ people is integral to the health and future of California as a whole,” California LGBTQ+ Health and Human Services Network Director Dannie Ceseña who is Two-Spirit and Native, stated upon the budget’s passage last month. “In a time when economic pressures threaten crucial programs and services, the restoration of these funds affirms that equity requires real, sustained investment.”

More than 68 community-based organizations had banded together under the banner of the Health Equity Coalition to mount a fierce lobbying campaign to see state legislators restore the funding. Among their asks was reappropriating $9.844 million to a fund for LBTQ women’s health initiatives that had yet to be allocated from the initial $17.5 million given to it in a previous budget cycle.

The restoration of the funding for queer and trans women’s health care services was a particular relief for Horizons Foundation. The San Francisco-based LGBTQ philanthropic organization last year had been awarded $1.9 million from the state health department on behalf of six grantee partner organizations.

more funding. It was unfortunate all the drama had to be gone through,” he said. “Organizations and their clients pay a price.”

While he wasn’t sure if the funds included in this year’s budget would lead state health officials to issue another request for proposals from service providers, Doughty said his agency would have conversations with leaders of the other nonprofits about applying for it should they do so. The budget bill said the money should be “available for encumbrance or expenditure until June 30, 2027.”

“This has been a challenging program to execute, working with the state Department of Public Health. There are a lot of very good people there and it does not move quickly or easily,” he noted. “If there is more opportunity to apply for funds, we would certainly want to do that.”

The final state budget also included the return of $4.05 million previously budgeted to support LGBTQ+ foster youth. LGBTQ health advocates also secured $15.8 million added back for the California Reducing Disparities Project and $11.17 million in previously allocated funds returned to the state health agency’s Reproductive Justice Fund.

As it noted in a post on its website last September, a portion of the funding went to San Francisco agencies El/La Para TransLatinas, LyonMartin Community Health Services, the Young Women’s Freedom Center and the San Francisco Community Health Cetner. Berkeley’s Pacific Center for Human Growth and the Gender Health Center of Sacramento also shared in the funding.

Horizons Foundation President Roger Doughty told the B.A.R. this week that the contracts for the six agencies will now be funded through the end of the 2025 calendar year.

“We are very glad that we are going to have funding at least to finish out the present work. We thought it was just going to be taken away, which was shocking,” said Doughty, a gay man. “All the drama that happened over the past two months about the funding and possible premature end to it, unfortunately led to some disruptions.”

Staff had to plan accordingly, Doughty noted, should the funding be lost and had to warn clients they could end up losing their services. It resulted in a “waste of organizational time and resources,” he added, and uncertainty for clients.

“Now, it is really good there is

“We’re grateful to our state leaders for restoring this critical funding for programs that support LGBTQ+ and vulnerable patients,” stated Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California CEO and President Jodi Hicks. “As federal protections erode, California must remain a beacon for reproductive justice and health equity.”

The budget also included $441,000 for the Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Intersex (TGI) Wellness and Equity Fund.

The state’s School Health and Safety Office is to receive $150,000 and one staff position to support LGBTQ+ initiatives and best practices.

The Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges is to use $10 million to support LGBTQ+ students enrolled at community college districts across the state. Meanwhile, the State Department of Education received $77,000 to pay for a half-time existing staff position responsible for updating existing, and developing new, resources and strategies, and in-service teacher training to support LGBTQ and questioning students.

California lawmakers also allocated $75 million from the AIDS Drug Assistance Program Rebate Fund to cover looming cuts in federal HIV funding, continue the vital work of disease investigation specialists, and fund new hepatitis C testing equipment, as the San Francisco AIDS Foundation noted in hailing the passage of the 2025 budget. The ADAP

fund has generated more than $1 billion in drug rebates that California could use for this purpose, SFAF officials stressed, and use of rebate funds doesn’t impact programming or care provided by ADAP.

It was met with praise from End the Epidemics, a coalition of more than 120 organizations across the Golden State working to end the cojoined epidemics of HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), viral hepatitis, and drug overdoses. It also applauded the inclusion of $885,000 to support and provide technical assistance for the Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Initiative and related activities by the State Department of Public Health.

“We are extremely fortunate to be able to use ADAP rebate funds to help fill in the gaps left by waning federal support. Yet we recognize that this solution is temporary – and we will need our representatives to make contingency plans in order to continue this funding for HIV prevention in future years,” stated Laura Thomas, a queer woman who is senior director of HIV and harm reduction policy at SFAF.

At the federal level, funding cuts continue to loom over HIV service providers in the months ahead. They face the threat of seeing Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration eliminate domestic HIV prevention funding.

As it is, President Donald Trump has sought to scrap funding for international AIDS agencies via the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), with the House voting to approve doing so. But Senate leaders this week said they wouldn’t support a $400 million cut to the program that was included in Trump’s rescissions request to Congress, which has a deadline of Friday, July 18, to act on it.

Come Thursday, the Trump administration is expected to wind down a specific support line LGBTQ youth could access via the federal national suicide help line. California lawmakers, at the request of Newsom, included $17.5 million in the state’s 2025 budget to support the 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund so calls are directed to trained, culturally competent counselors.

Are you looking for a spiritual experience as unique as you?

Come and see Dignity/SF, which affirms and supports LGBTQ+ folks. Catholic liturgy Sundays at 5pm, 1329 7th Avenue (Immediately off the N Judah line)

|

Come for the service and stay for the fellowship.

OBITUARIES & IN MEMORIAMS

The Bay Area Reporter can help members of the LGBTQ community in the San Francisco Bay Area reach more than 120,000 local residents each week with their display of Obituary* and In Memoriam messages.

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“Cutting off a proven lifeline for people in need is outrageous and inexcusable,” Newsom had stated in announcing the state funding in mid-June. “While this federal administration slashes services and tries to erase LGBTQ people, California will do the opposite. Every childstraight, gay, transgender - belongs.”

Correction

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Last week’s column misspelled the first name of new queer Oakland Board of Port Commissioner Alvina Wong. The online version has been corrected. t

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Governor Gavin Newsom signed the state budget June 27.

Bill Wilson

Deputy SFPD Chief Derrick Lew spoke to a social media video, in which the poster stated SFPD officers were facilitating an ICE operation. (The B.A.R. viewed the video – taken outside the ICE field office at 630 Sansome Street –via Instagram the previous day, but was unable to relocate it last week.)

“We have to draw the line so people don’t get hurt,” Lew explained. “In this particular case … they will respond in whatever way they feel. It’s just there may be times the police department needs to act in a peacekeeping way and divide the line. It’s not going to look great for us, but we’re in this really difficult situation.”

Lew also said, “I think we’re in this really difficult situation of, we don’t want the community to get hurt. On the other side of the coin … we can’t just sit by and watch our fellow law enforcement agent or officer get hurt. … Just like if [the California Highway Patrol] were to get into some sort of a situation out on our streets off of some other traffic stop, for example, we would help them out of that situation.”

Asked in a phone interview July 14 about Fielder’s criticism of Lew’s remarks, Evan Sernoffsky, the director of strategic communications for the SFPD, responded, “Does she think if a person comes under attack SFPD should stand idly by?” (Sernoffsky clarified to the B.A.R. that his questions were to ascertain Fielder’s meaning, and not rhetorical dismissals of her concerns or the B.A.R.’s questions.)

Sernoffsky categorically denied accusations Fielder made wherein she cited reporting in the San Francisco Standard, that the department funneled data to federal agencies in violation of sanctuary laws.

Asked if the SFPD would consider adopting a policy similar to the LAPD’s, Sernoffsky asked, “In what context?”

“We don’t intervene or assist with federal immigration enforcement,” he said.

The LAPD policy is also not to assist in federal immigration enforcement. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell announced June 27 that officers responding to suspected federal immigration enforcement should request a supervisor if one is not present, verify the credentials of the lead agent or supervisor if agents are not clearly identified, and capture the verification process on body-worn cameras to ensure transparency.

When this was explained, Sernoffsky answered, “How would we go about that process? … ICE is a separate federal agency that has jurisdictional authority in San Francisco.” He later said he would “look into” what discussions were happening, and would get back to the B.A.R.

On July15, Sernoffsky provided an additional statement.

“SFPD does not cooperate in federal immigration enforcement,” he stated.

“State and city law and our policy prohibits it. We are committed to building trust with our communities and we will always protect public safety.”

Fielder’s staff said they would let the B.A.R. know if she had additional comments.

Fears both of ICE agents, and reports in multiple media outlets that civilians are impersonating them in order to commit crimes, including sexual offenses, have skyrocketed since White House

Bechelli, director of the coordinated streets program. Only a handful of audience questions were read after having been submitted on paper.

Nate Bourg, a gay man who is proprietor of The Academy and is also the current Castro Merchants Association president, was proud the forum turned out so many people.

“There’s a lot of people in the room, and looking at the guest list, if we could bottle up some of the collective energy and experience of the people in this room and use it, that would be pretty amazing,” he said. “I’m really, really humbled to see the response of so many people to be here.”

Local property crime declines, officials say

more precise in addressing issues.

RESTORE

program

Earlier this year, the city expanded its Rapid Engagement Shelter and Treatment for Opioid Recovery, or RESTORE, program, which operated 35 short-term beds at the Adante Hotel, 610 Geary Boulevard. Modi said that 70% of people who enter the RESTORE program are in treatment within two weeks – and 35% are on a pathway to stability. Modi did not indicate the number of people who have entered the program.

“So, to put it in context, [about] a quarter of people you meet in the worst fentanyl addiction, getting to something [are] more stable? We need to lean into those solutions,” he said.

Exact cause of project’s demise unclear

The B.A.R. contacted Cook twice in the spring upon reports that Pink Swallow was not going to happen, to no response. In May, Mandelman told the B.A.R. that the paper’s press inquiry was the first he’d heard that news.

“We were unable to discuss anything as the project was closing,” Cook stated to the B.A.R. late July 9 via text.

Hoodline reported on deep background that ballooning construc-

Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller set a quota of 3,000 arrests per day for the agency.

Members of the San Francisco Police Commission didn’t return requests for comment July 15 as to whether they are considering adopting a policy similar to that in Los Angeles.

On July 11, a federal judge ordered ICE to stop indiscriminate immigration sweeps in several Southern California counties, including Los Angeles, ruling that agents are arresting people without reasonable suspicion that they are in the U.S. illegally. The administration is attempting to stay the judge’s order.

ICE agents have been wearing masks, ostensibly to protect their identities from doxxing.

Law enforcement agencies such as SFPD are required to identify themselves.

At the town hall, Manny Bonilla, the acting captain of the San Francisco Police Department’s Mission Station, responding to the same question as Lew, had answered, “It’s a super sticky situation.”

“I would say if there’s some sort of individual, and you think something is amiss, call 911. We will check it out,” he said. “What I would warn against is if you think it is some kind of ICE agent, kind of jumping into the fray.”

Bonilla explained that due to San Francisco’s sanctuary city laws, the police can’t help facilitate federal immigration law enforcement; however, state and local municipalities also can’t obstruct such actions.

“I would say if you’re concerned with someone maybe pretending to be someone in order to perpetrate a crime, call us,” Bonilla concluded. “I don’t suggest someone takes matters into their own hands, but be a good witness, call 911, and we can try to deal with these sorts of things.”

Legislation seeks to unmask ICE

State and federal officeholders have introduced legislation in an attempt to prohibit agents from concealing their identities.

At the state level, gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has introduced Senate Bill 627, termed the No Secret Police Act. Its aim is to unmask the federal officers.

“The recent federal operations in California have created an environment of profound terror. If we want the public to trust law enforcement, we cannot allow them to behave like secret police in an authoritarian state,” Wiener stated in a June

tion costs were said to be partly to blame, but when the B.A.R. asked, Cook wouldn’t state if that was the case or if he knew what might be going into the space in the future.

Cook did state that he, Beaux bar manager Alexis Lucero, and Beaux assistant manager Matthew Mellow were now managing partners at Beaux, the popular LGBTQ nightclub at 2344 Market Street.

“When one door closes, another one opens,” he stated. “We are thrilled and excited to put our energy and experience into Beaux. We have been managing Beaux since it opened over 12 years ago. Now Matthew, Alexis, and I are equal shareholders and managing partners. We

16 release announcing the bill. “Law enforcement officers do critically important work to keep our communities safe, and they should be proud to show their faces and provide identifying information when doing so. It boosts trust in law enforcement, which makes it easier for law enforcement to do their jobs and makes California safer for all of us.”

Corresponding federal legislation is being pushed by Senator Alex Padilla (D-California) and is termed the VISIBLE Act. Padilla was briefly detained last month by federal officials while attempting to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a Los Angeles news conference.

“When federal immigration agents show up and pull someone off the street in plainclothes with their face obscured and no visible identification, it only escalates tensions and spreads fear while shielding federal agents from basic accountability,” Padilla stated. “Immigration agents should be required to display their agency and name or badge number – just like police and other local law enforcement agencies. The VISIBLE Act’s commonsense requirements will restore transparency and ensure impersonators can’t exploit the panic and confusion caused by unidentifiable federal immigration enforcement agents.”

Despite rhetoric from Trump administration officials that the agency is only targeting criminals, fewer than 30% of those in ICE detention as of June 23 have been convicted of crimes, and 47% don’t have any criminal record, according to internal government documents obtained by CBS News.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins was also at the Castro forum. She, too, said her hands are tied.

“We are obviously horrified with what’s going on,” Jenkins said. “It is in San Francisco, and it’s happening already, and in our disgust, everyone’s trying to figure out, ‘What do we do?’

“As far as obstructing federal agents, there is nothing I can do as the prosecutor for the city to help,” Jenkins continued. “We do have folks in the city trying to stand up for our brothers and sisters right now who are being literally kidnapped, but once you put your hand on an ICE agent, once you do anything they consider to be illegal, it is a federal prosecution.”

President Donald Trump’s budget act, which he signed July 4, triples ICE’s budget, and earmarks $140 billion for immigration enforcement.

Rounding out the forum attendees was Kunal Modi, Lurie’s health and human services czar; and Adrienne

own Beaux along with original owners Tim Eicher and Jeff Eubanks.”

After a renovation last year, Beaux has been mixing up its daily nightlife offerings, launching karaoke and underwear nights in recent months.

Asked how much of a share of Beaux the trio had acquired, Cook wouldn’t answer, stating he appreciates the interest but reiterating the earlier statement was a final one.

Gi Paoletti, whose design firm had been working on Pink Swallow and also worked on the Beaux renovations stated, “We are very excited for Joshua, Matthew, and Alexis for becoming co-owners at Beaux (we designed the remodel of Beaux last year) and would have loved if the

The forum was initially called for after a series of violent incidents in the Castro during the spring, which led Lurie and then-Police Chief William Scott to add more of a police presence in the area, as the B.A.R. first reported.

As the department looks for a new chief, Lurie’s former public safety czar Paul Yep is serving in the position in an interim capacity. Bonilla, too, is new to the Castro; as the B.A.R. reported last week, Mission Station is looking for a new captain after the departure of Liza Johansen.

As that article stated, Johansen made burglaries a priority during her time at the station, which covers much of the Castro neighborhood.

“That proved to be a success,” Bonilla said.

Bonilla said that officers stopped at houses where occupants had left their garage doors open to tell them to close them, which he said contributed to a decline in burglaries.

Jenkins and Lew said blitz operations at retailers have also brought down property crime rates – aided by new laws such as Proposition 36, which increased penalties and felony charges for crimes that had been misdemeanors. The proposition increased the penalty prosecutors could seek for repeat shoplifters with two or more prior convictions of $950 in value or less to a felony punishable by up to three years in prison.

This helped prosecutors because “it would take someone stealing half of Walgreens to get to $1,000,” as Jenkins put it.

Though Prop 36 didn’t go into effect till near the end of 2024, Jenkins said that last year there was a 30% drop in reported retail theft citywide.

Many of the issues the panelists spoke to were citywide ones – such as how to address open air drug scenes, organized retail theft, and the relation between the two.

Lew said that “the constant theft from our retail outlets is to finance a lot of the user population’s ability to buy drugs, so it kind of goes full circle that way.”

Modi said that for many years, citywide discourse has conflated open air drug scenes and mental health issues with homelessness, but that each individual’s case is different.

For example, he offered that 26% of the city’s overdose deaths happen in permanent supportive housing, and only 51% of people experiencing homelessness have a mental health crisis they are dealing with.

Modi said, “We need to show up with a Swiss Army knife” of options to be

Pink Swallow nightclub we designed for them came to be realized. We are currently working with the building owners at 500 and 504 Castro St to upgrade the kitchen and the base building so they can offer a tenantimprovement-ready space that we are eager to design for a new tenant.”

Storied history

The 500 Castro Street space was initially the home of the Elephant Walk, a gay bar that first opened in 1974. The late disco diva Sylvester James, known simply as Sylvester, performed there.

It was a site of reprisal early on May 22, 1979, when San Francisco police officers came in and attacked

Another way Lurie’s administration is trying to adopt that precision approach is by reorganizing the nine previously siloed organizations across seven departments – police, fire, sheriff, public works, public health, Homelessness and Supportive Housing, and emergency management – so that neighborhoods will have a unified street outreach team.

“What we’ve tried to do is bring the nine different street outreach teams into one big model, so our current street crisis response teams are part of a more interdependent model,” Modi said.

Modi said that the city’s system of care has 25,000 beds, spread across different departments and partners.

“What we have a gap in is [beds for] the first 48 hours of crisis stabilization,” he said. “This needs to look more like how Kaiser or any other professional health system looks at their system of care.”

Bechelli said that every morning, those teams are assessing street conditions.

“For example, this morning in the Castro, tents, zero, individuals, six, and then what we do every single day is we get on an 8:30 [a.m.] meeting with all of our partners,” Bechelli said. However, oftentimes when the city arrives, “they are no longer there,” she added.

“What we’ve seen in the Castro, in particular, is the population we are seeing really is transient,” she continued, meaning that they’re just passing through.

Bonilla agreed with Mandelman that some of these individuals, alleged to be responsible for some of the violent outbursts of the spring, including a brazen assault on Easter Sunday, were displaced after efforts to reduce the transient population in the Civic Center, on Sixth Street and in the Mission. He emphasized that the Castro is one of the few neighborhoods that has police walking the beat every day.

“If I had my way, I’m super grateful for the beats, but we’d have a sector car going around at night,” Mandelman said. “How many cars are there at night and where are they going?”

Bonilla said that there’s always one car, staffed daily, for the Castro, but that the ongoing SFPD officer shortage is the main reason there is not even more of a police presence.

In response to an audience question, Bonilla wanted to make sure the public was aware that there is an online tool to upload photos and video to the SFPD’s website at without waiting for an officer to arrive, as well as the option to file a police report at the top of the site. t

patrons following the White Night riots downtown. The riots were a response to the late gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk’s killer, Dan White, receiving only a seven-year sentence for his 1978 crimes of assassinating Milk and then-mayor George Moscone in City Hall. (White ended up serving five years for his crimes and later died by suicide.)

After a fire almost destroyed it in the late 1980s, the Elephant Walk required extensive remodeling. Harvey’s was opened in the space in 1996 by Paul Langley, the property owner, who had refused to renew the Elephant Walk’s lease. t

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, right, spoke at the July 10 Castro public safety town hall at The Academy. He was joined by San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, second from right; Kunal Modi, Mayor Daniel Lurie’s health and human services czar; Deputy San Francisco Police Department Chief Derrick Lew; and acting Mission Station captain Manny Bonilla.

John Ferrannini

by Gregg Shapiro

When the members of Seattle-based all-female band La Luz declares themselves to be a surf rock band, you better believe them. Between the Beach Boysesque harmonies, the Shana Cleveland’s Dick Dale-inspired guitar work, and Audrey Johnson’s

beach blanket beats on the drums, you’ll want to hang ten on the next perfect wave.

Johnson, who identifies as a member of the LGBTQ community, joined the band in time for the recording of 2024’s “News of the Universe” (Sub Pop). On July 20, La Luz, with Johnson on drums, will perform at the Mosswood Meltdown in Oakland’s Mosswood Park. Audrey was kind enough to make time for

by Gregg Shapiro

David Corenswet’s fragile superhero’s in an over-the-top reboot

an interview in advance of the show.

Asked if Karen Carpenter was an inspiration, Johnson said, “Yes! That was always my secret, especially when I got into punk. My guilty pleasure was that I loved the Carpenters. I loved Karen Carpenter. I grew up with my family listening to Sheila E; I really love her! And Cindy Blackman, she used to play for Lenny Kravitz and plays with Santana. Those were big influences of mine.

How did she come to be in La Luz?

“I was playing a show with Fatty Cakes and the Puff Pastries in Visalia, California, and the band Shannon and The Clams was the headliner,” said Johnson. “We were opening for them. That was the first time that I met Shannon and The Clams. Will, their keyboardist, came up to me after the show, and he said, “My partner Shana (Cleveland)’s band is looking for a drummer. Would you be interested in auditioning?” Then I found out the band was La Luz, and I was like, “Well, hell yeah I would [laughs]!” It pretty much went from there.”

Asked about being out (and married) in the music scene, Johnson said, “Being a queer musician and being a woman musician is always wonderful to me, but people will say weird things sometimes; trying to give compliments, but it comes out in strange ways. It’s all good and fun.

“But honestly, even growing up in Fresno, which is kind of a conservative place for California, I feel very lucky to have been surrounded by other queers and other people that are freaks also, like my wife (Janell Bowen, with whom Audrey celebrated her 16th anniversary), and being a weirdo also. I’ve grown up loving places like Oakland and the Bay Area. As a child, my parents would take my siblings and me on day trips to San Francisco. I knew, as a little kid, “Okay, this is cool! There are some weirdos here, and I feel like I would fit in perfectly.”t

Read the full interview, with music videos, at www.ebar.com.

www.laluzband.com www.mosswoodmeltdown.com

‘Jurassic

When I tell you that Krypto, the CGI version of dog-actor Jolene, the foster-dog of Superman (breathtakingly handsome David Corenswet), is the best part of James Gunn’s insanely over-the-top reboot of “Superman” (DC Studios), in IMAX no less, I’m not just throwing you a bone. In a movie packed as tightly as Corenswet in his suit and cape, this version of Superman is unexpectedly fragile (physically and emotionally), and surprisingly open about his identities.

When we first see Superman, he’s been beaten to a pulp by the Hammer of Boravia, an indestructible killing machine created by Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult, who some may remember from Tom Ford’s “A Single Man”). Lying in the frozen Antarctica terrain, near his palatial, glacial fortress, he manages a weak, but distinctive whistle to summon Krypto, and the faithful and playful pup drags the wounded superhero to safety.

Repaired by his robot assistants, Superman listens to the surviving part of the holographic message left by his Kryptonian parents (voices

provided by Bradley Cooper and Angela Sarafyan) while he recovers.

In his drag as mild-mannered Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent (Corenswet), he’s involved in a tempestuous romance with fellow reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan, playing the part like Mrs. Maisel with a journalism degree). Unlike previous such relationships, Lane is fully aware of Kent’s alter-ego. Of course, Superman’s problems are bigger than juggling multiple identities. His interference in the international conflict between Boravia and a neighboring country gets him in trouble with the US government. He’s also dealing with competing superheroes Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (queer actor Isabela Merced), and Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), who provide much of the necessary humor in the movie. But nothing can compare to the devious and determined Luthor.t

Read the full review on www.ebar.com.

www.superman.com

by Gregg Shapiro

Calling

“Jurassic World Rebirth” (Universal) an unnecessary installment in a franchise that should, pardon the expression, go the way of the dinosaurs, might be a bit extreme. Because where else can you see a quick close-up of Jonathan Bailey’s khaki-covered impressive lower region in a mountain-climbing harness? Pretty sure we all know which scene will be paused the most when the movie arrives on streaming.

The “Jurassic” juggernaut, launched more than 30 years ago, has seen better days. There’s a whole crew of fresh faces in “Jurassic Word Rebirth” beginning with Big Pharma whore Krebs (Rupert Friend) who is looking to recruit people on a mission to a forbidden island where mutant dinos (designer-saurs, if you will), who slaughtered the humans that created them, may hold the key to human cardio health, and by extension a pharma fortune.

Krebs recruits mercenary Zora (Scarlett Johansson), who can be had for a substantial price.

Krebs and Zora then make their way to Altoidsmunching, museum-based paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Bailey), who’s in a funk. Turns out, dinosaurs have lost their luster with the public (read: kids), and his exhibit is being dismantled and put into storage. He has the knowledge and equipment to get the necessary blood samples from the three different dinosaurs. He agrees to join them. Finally, Zora enlists fellow daredevil Duncan (Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali of “Moonlight” fame) and three of his crew members.

In a familiar Jurassic scenario, the bad guys get it good, a few innocents are sacrificed, and those who’ve earned the right to survive do so. And it is nice to finally see an openly gay actor (Bailey) leading a big franchise film.t

Read the full review on www.ebar.com.

www.jurassicworld.com

Frank Grillo (left), David Corenswet (center) and María Gabriela de Faría (right) in ‘Superman’

Jonathan Bailey and Scarlett Johansson in ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’

Jonathan Bailey saves the day in the latest dino diversion

World Rebirth’

Pictures

Audrey Johnson with La Luz

Drummer shares her musical inspirations

Audrey Johnson of La Luz

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, part 1

by Brian Bromberger

The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, running from July 17 to August 3 in San Francisco and Oakland, is celebrating its 45th anniversary. Last month, SFJFF’s sponsoring organization, the Jewish Film Institute was notified that the federal government had rescinded two NEA grants, with a combined total of $55,000.

This was disappointing news at a time of rising antisemitism and cultural division, since the festival’s work has never felt more essential. Still, SFJFF promises that it will present a “robust slate designed to challenge perspectives, expand notions of Jewish identity, and provide a space for nuanced conversation.

SFJFF45 will present 70 films from 10 countries, screening at eight theaters. The program also includes seven JFI-supported titles, which are projects that received support from the organization’s growing Grants and Residency programs.

This year includes many feature films that address LGBTQ themes and histories, including “31 Candles” a tepid comic entry into what is becoming a bona fide subgenre, the adult bar or bat mitzvah, based on writer/director/actor Jonah Feingold’s own life experience.

The biopic “Midas Man” is a competent but uneven telling of the

tragic Beatles gay manager, Brian Epstein, dubbed the Fifth Beatle, a story that’s long overdue. The film is primarily Epstein’s story and the Beatles are reduced to cheeky remarks.

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Epstein is fascinating enough that he would have been better served with a less conventional narrative approach, that might inspire other filmmakers to see greater potential to capture this

visionary, tortured essential element of Beatlemania.

Meredith Monk is a composer, singer, director, choreographer, filmmaker, creator of new operas and

theater works, video installation, and a MacArthur ‘genius’ Fellowship. She’s a pioneer of “extended vocal technique” and interdisciplinary performance showcasing her wildly original vocabulary of sound across her three-range octave, often channeling primal, futuristic, even animal-like vocalizations. Her profound cultural influence is finally getting her due recognition in the extraordinary documentary, “Monk in Pieces.”

Writer, political activist, professor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel’s (1928-2016) astounding life is profiled in the superb searing documentary “Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire,” with access to personal archives, original interviews, and hand-painted animation. Wiesel was a lifelong straight advocate for LGBTQ rights. In 1989, he was honored by the Human Rights Campaign and said in his speech, “Those who hate you, hate me. Bigots don’t stop at classes, races, or at lesbians and gays. Those who hate, hate everybody,” words which seem even more relevant today. t

Read the full reviews of these films on www.ebar.com.

www.jfi.org/sfjff-2025

C.O. Moed’s memoir hits home

by Laura Moreno

Adeeply personal memoir centered around the mother-daughter bond, Claire Olivia Moed’s “It Was Her New York: True Stories & Snapshots” is powerful book is full of grace, humor and an unmistakable New York edge.

A distinctive feature of the book is that Moed blends poetic prose with a series of photographs taken by the author herself as she cares for her aging mother. The accompanying visual narrative adds a layer of interest to this groundbreaking memoir.

But far from simply illustrating the narrative, the photographs create a richer more complex understanding of the sometimes emotionally charged subject matter. The narrative points to parallels between her mother’s deteriorating mental capacity and the gradual slipping away of the old familiar Lower East Side neighborhood as new storefronts appear along with a sea of unfamiliar faces, a casualty of gentrification.

“I wanted to take a picture,” she writes, “to capture one last portrait of my childhood before it disappeared into thin air.”

And yet the essence of the New York we love is still intact. Moed observes that the way people relate to each other has not changed. Whether in a foreign or local accent, she notes the candor with which a taxi driver has told her about his life, “as if he were talking with a neighbor because he is a neighbor. New Yorkers talk to one another like that,” Moed said in an interview with Barney Smith on Story Comic Presents. From a total of 1400 stories, the author crafted 184 pages to create this “snappy novel.”

A Julliard-trained pianist, Florence, the author’s spirited mother, maintained a 60-year relationship with a woman and came out as a lesbian late in life. Interestingly, she met and married a man because that woman urged her to do so. The marriage did not last, but for her it appears to have been the right decision.

“It Was Her New York” contains echoes of the gay memoir “City Boy: My Life in New York During

the 1960s and ’70s” (2009) by Edmund White. Both books unflinchingly tell it like it is, and skillfully capture the spirit of New York City.

In addition, Moed overlays the attimes poignant story with that unique self-deprecating Yiddish sense of humor. One of the most shocking examples of their mother-daughter humor that some would call self-debasing is Florence referring to her own late mother who was cremated as “Momin-a-Can.”

These are some of the heartfelt vignettes in this book that skillfully capture the complex emotional truth of caregiving. Anyone who’s walked this path supporting aging loved ones will find this memoir to be of great interest. It’s a tough journey, no doubt, but what an incredible gift to be able to be there for those we love.t

Read the full review on www.ebar.com.

“It Was Her New York:

‘Midas Man’ at the SF Jewish Film Festival

Author C.O. Moed

‘Beyond the Gates’

by David-Elijah Nahmod

Since its inception in February 2025

the new daytime drama “Beyond the Gates” has been breaking ground. The first soap opera to premiere in 25 years, “Beyond the Gates” follows the somewhat messy adventures of the Duprees, a wealthy Black family who live in a posh gated community just outside of Washington DC. Not since NBC’s “Generations,” which had a short run 36 years ago, has a soap opera made a Black family its main focus.

The show is breaking ground in other ways. Martin (Brandon Claybon) is a congressman and a gay Black man married to Smitty (Mike Manning), a white political journalist. Together they are raising two adopted teenagers who accept their parents’ sexualities with a refreshing casualness. In fact, Martin’s entire family, who just happen to be the Duprees, fully respect his orientation and his marriage to Smitty. Martin has aspirations to be the first openly gay Black president in United States history.

Bring on the drama

Their love story is not without drama. Smitty had given up work to be a stay-at-home dad so that Martin can present a stable home and family life to his constituents. When the kids become teens, Smitty decides he wants to go back to work, but Martin was against the idea, going so far as to turn down a job on Smitty’s behalf without telling his husband.

“Beyond the Gates” is not Manning’s first time appearing as gay on television, though the first time he did so it was as himself. In 2009, at the age of 22, Manning was cast in MTV’s reality series “The Real World: DC.” In his most memorable episode, Manning came out to his housemates as bisexual. He has since become quite involved in LGBT activism.

In a telephone interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Manning spoke of how the “Beyond the Gates” audience has reacted to the sight of a biracial gay couple raising two children.

“The audience has been reacting very positively to our characters,” he said. “Some of them are calling us their favorite couple. And I think that is truly groundbreaking. Daytime television has been in the zeitgeist for fifty to sixty years. It’s been welcomed into American living rooms for decades.

For a long time, the daytime landscape has reflected this sort of ideal apple pie way of living. For CBS to be so supportive in having this show reflect more of the world that we live in today in 2025, I think it’s incredible and I’m really grateful to be a part of it.”

One thing that is noticeable and likable about Smitty and Martin is that they actually come across as a couple, unlike a gay male couple that was seen on the soap “All My Children” during the 1990s. Those two guys never kissed; they didn’t even touch each other. They seemed more like buddies, unlike Smitty and Martin, who hold hands, kiss, and verbally express love for each other.

“That’s what we wanted,” Manning said. “We definitely talked about that. It’s because we have the chance to represent a lot of people that have felt underrepresented for years and years on television.”

‘Real’ vs soap

Manning recalled his time on “The Real World: DC,” a show he had never seen before.

“I didn’t really know what I was getting into,” he said. “I ended up coming out on the show, and learning about politics in the same season and that experience truly changed my life. It made me more comfortable with myself, it made me more aware of the world around me, and it also gave me

a voice to start having an impact on causes that I care about.”

Some of those causes include LGBTQ equality and the homeless population, in particular the plight of homeless children. Anti-bullying is another cause that means a lot to Manning, and in fact, bullying has worked its way into the storyline of his onscreen family.

“And that’s one of the reasons I love playing Smitty on the show,” he said. “Because the relationship between Smitty and Martin is realistic, and also the relationship between them and their children is realistic. The kids are facing issues about self-esteem and bullying, and trying to have their own identity in this family, and I think that’s something real that American audiences can relate to.”

Broadcast history

The B.A.R. also spoke with Claybon, who felt that he had to be on this show as soon as he heard about it.

“I called my manager right away and said, ‘This sounds historical. This sounds likes it’s going to be a groundbreaking show, and I need to be a part of it,’” Claybon said. “For this to come around during this time is unheard of. Because for so many years people were saying that soap operas were dying, so for this to pop up; wow, someone must really believe in this.”

Matteo Lane’s ‘Al Dente Special’

by David-Elijah Nahmod

The latest share of standup from out gay comic Matteo Lane, “The Al Dente Special” comes to Hulu in an hour-long show that offers a lot of laughs and some sharp observations about his cultural heritage and his life as a gay man, along with some hilarious anecdotes about his life.

Lane hails from the Chicago area,

where he grew up with an ItalianMexican mother and an Irish father.

His star has been rising for quite some time, having made appearances on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” and the mockumentary sitcom “Abbott Elementary.” He also spent some time on “Girl Code,” a comedy series on MTV, among many other appearances. Lane has been honing

his craft for more than a decade, and his hard work has paid off. He has endeared himself to millions.

His new special begins backstage, where Lane is seen playing a video game with a group of friends. He excuses himself, and walks out onto the stage to thunderous applause. He’s quite easy on the eyes, and is dressed in a long-sleeved sweater, shorts and sneakers.

He gets right to the point.

“We all know the sound of a drunken white woman,” Lane says. “It’s piercing.” He recalls seeing three white girls eating gelatos in Rome, and does a dead-on impersonation of their “valley girl” speech.

He talks about Italy for a while, being of partially Italian heritage.

“Have you ever done anything gay in Italy?” he asks. “The Vatican is there. You know, men in dresses, no girls allowed. It’s so gay.”

He also recalls seeing Oprah at a restaurant in Rome. “Born and raised in Chicago, 25 years, and I never ran into the bitch once,” he quips.

Lane’s delivery is fast paced, sharp and energetic. He commands the stage and has the audience eating out of his hand as he takes that audience on a trip around the world. He talks about tourist traps in Amsterdam, and does a hilarious impression of a Dutch man telling him how much he enjoyed the show.

He talks about how Americans simply do not understand Australians. One of his funniest anecdotes recalls the time he needed a massage. Much to his surprise, he unwittingly hired an escort who stuck a finger up his butt!

Claybon added that there has been some friendly flak from fans who want to see more kissing between Martin and Smitty.

“I had to tell them to just be patient, there’s going to be more kissing going on, you will be fulfilled,” he said.

He acknowledged how groundbreaking his character is, given that there’s been so little representation of Black LGBT people on network television.

“I just found out that with Martin and Smitty, this is the first interracial gay couple on daytime television,” he said. “I didn’t know that. Especially with us having adopted kids and everything that this was groundbreaking. But I didn’t know that we were in the history books as well. I was able to visit a friend in the DC area a few weeks back. It was during DC Pride, and I had so many members of the LGBTQIA+ community come up to me and talk, and wanted to hug, and wanted pictures. Some said, ‘I see myself on screen, this is remarkable.’ So I was truly touched.”

The actor refers to himself as “fluid as they come.”

“I love my private life, but at the same time I believe that love is love,” Claybon said. “And I think that we should love who we want, and who we’re attracted to. That could be physically, that could be spiritually, and I feel that people shouldn’t have any qualms with that.”

“Beyond the Gates,” which shoots in Atlanta, has just been renewed for a second season, and Claybon is elated.

“We are so blessed, and so fortunate,” he said. “Especially during this time, coming from Los Angeles, where work is scarce, and for all of my artists out there in the acting community, we’re right there with you. We are rooting you on to keep doing what you love. Hopefully things will change soon for the industry.”t

‘Beyond the Gates’ airs weekdays in the Bay Area at 1pm on KPIX TV. It also streams on Paramount+. www.cbs.com www.paramountplus.com

Gay comic brings lots of laughs, and sharp observations, to Hulu

Lane keeps the audience laughing throughout. His jokes have a fiery edge to them, yet he remains good natured from start to finish.

“The Al Dente Special” ultimately becomes another feather in Lane’s cap. With this funny and insightful show,

it’s easy to see why he plays to packed houses wherever he goes.t

‘Matteo Lane: The Al Dente Special’ is now streaming on Hulu. www.hulu.com www.matteolanecomedy.com

Matteo Lane

Disney/Christopher Willard

Mike Manning and Brandon Claybon in ‘Beyond the Gates’

Quantrell Colbert/CBS

Brandon Claybon and Mike Manning in ‘Beyond the Gates’

Quantrell Colbert/CBS