June 16, 2011 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

ebar.com

9 A first for Castro Lions

ONLINE: Prop 8 judge vindicated

17

Frameline 35 opens

The

www.ebar.com

Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971

Bankruptcy courts reject DOMA

Two new hep C meds approved

by Matthew S. Bajko

S

by Liz Highleyman

T

he U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first two directacting antiviral drugs to treat chronic hepatitis C, boceprevir (Victrelis) from Merck and telaprevir (Incivek) from Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

“This is really g ro u n d b re a k i n g ,” said Dr. Bradley Hare, medical director of the Positive Health Rick Gerharter Program at San Francisco General Hospital Dr. Bradley Hare and a member of the San Francisco Hepatitis C Task Force. “We anticipate that in the next few years many more hepatitis See page 12 >>

Vol. 41 • No. 24 • June 16-22, 2011

Rick Gerharter

In memory of fallen officer A

group of friends, colleagues, and members of the Pride Alliance of the San Francisco Police Department gathered at 17th and Dolores streets Sunday, June 12, nine years to the day after fellow Officer Jon Cook was killed in a car accident while

responding to a police call. The group observed a moment of silence, exchanged memories, and then walked the wreath to the Mission District Station where Cook was stationed. Cook was the first openly gay cop killed in the line of duty.

ame-sex married couples are finding a surprising ally in their fight to be treated the same as their heterosexual counterparts: federal bankruptcy judges.

In recent months judges from three separate bankruptcy court districts, one in New York and two in California, have issued rulings that in effect overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Patricia Cain Act. The law restricts the federal government from recognizing legally married same-sex couples, and although the Justice Department has found the law to be unconstitutional, it has ordered agencies to continue to abide by it while a number of legal challenges make their way See page 8 >>

LGBT Jewish leaders cry foul GOPers on anti-circumcision campaign largely toe party L line on gay issues

by Heather Cassell

by Lisa Keen

T

he seven Republican p re s i d e n t i a l candidates showed some differences on gay-related issues in their first high-profile debate Monday night, along with some surprises.

Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who has actively opposed said she would not, as

Rep. Michele Bachmann

same-sex marriage, president, attempt to See page 13 >>

GBT Jewish leaders are joining a coalition of Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, civil rights, and other human rights organizations that has rapidly banned together against San Francisco’s circumcision ban that will be on the November ballot.

They are also speaking out against what they and others consider to be anti-Semitic propaganda by the ban’s proponents.

Opponents of the bill claim it violates multiple civil liberties, including freedom of religion, as well as parental rights and public health.

Male circumcision is a preventative measure for HIV and cervical cancer, among other health benefits, said opponents, who cited studies published by the World Health Organization.

But the health benefits of male circumcision – the removal of the foreskin the covers the tip of the penis – only touch part of opponents’ complaints around the proposed ban that will be before San Francisco voters November 8.

Penal inspiration and pride Lloyd Schofield always felt that it was wrong to “see a child’s genitals cut off,” he said. But it wasn’t until he saw the Bay Area

From Matthew Hess’s “Foreskin Man” online comic

The “Foreskin Man” and the “Monster Mohel” characters are criticized as being antiSemitic by opponents of a ballot initiative that would ban circumcision in San Francisco.

Intactivists contingent in San Francisco’s Pride Parade about two years ago that he became an “intactivist” himself.

Schofield declined to say if he was circumcised; nor would he disclose his sexual

{ FIRST OF TWO SECTIONS }

orientation, but he will march in this year’s Pride Parade and be at the Bay Area Intactivists booth in the Civic Center.

“I don’t identify my sexual orientation See page 12 >>

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Community News

June 16-22, 2011

▼

Frameline: There’s an app for that

by Ian Barrera

F

www.ebar.com

or the third consecutive year, Frameline audience members can go green by downloading the LGBT film festival’s free smartphone app.

The LGBT film festival opens in San Francisco tonight (Thursday, June 16) and concludes June 26.

The Filmfest Frameline 35: A Festival App in Your Pocket app can be used on iPhones and iPads. It allows filmgoers to find movies by genre, country, director, venue, and category, and to view trailers. It has a simple and easy to use calendarview schedule and it is interactive, allowing users to organize and bookmark their schedule. That schedule can then be shared with friends via email or Facebook.

Dan Zeitman, a local software developer and longtime Frameline supporter, created the app.

“With over 220 films in the Frameline catalog to choose from, I came up with the idea of creating

Courtesy Dan Zeitman

Dan Zeitman created the FilmFest app.

the event-based app to solve my personal problem of which films to see, and how to organize my schedule,” Zeitman said. “I had no idea it would be the first app of its kind in Apple’s iTunes App store, nor how popular the app would become.”

He has also created apps for other film festivals.

K.C. Price, Frameline’s executive

Correction The June 9 article, “Lee open to reducing Pride’s debt” incorrectly implied that the Pride committee had made a partial payment for use of the Civic Center Plaza for this year’s event. Pride paid the full amount to the city’s Recreation and Park Department. The online version has been corrected.

director has said FilmFest is “an incredibly friendly tool for our audience – they simply love it.”

The social media sharing is tightly integrated, allowing film viewers to share comments and post status updates about each program to Facebook and Twitter. The app also has a unique postcard feature, which allows audience members to publish a postcard image to their photostream on Facebook, inviting friends to a screening.

It also supports Frameline’s mission of promoting and fostering LGBT cinema internationally; the app is available in over 90 countries.

Local filmmakers benefit from the additional exposure provided by the app.

A dozen-plus festivals and a hundred thousand downloads later, FilmFest has become a full-time focus of Zeitman’s business. He also created the app out of a desire to use the latest mobile technology to connect people to real-world events. But he’s not going to use it during a film.

“I’m a firm believer of using the guides to get me there, and then shutting the phone off once I’m there,” Zeitman joked.

He is also the creator of SF Arts guide, San Francisco’s official, comprehensive guide to over 1,400 monthly arts events in the city.▼ For more Frameline coverage, see the Arts and Culture section.

On the web Online content this week includes the Wockner’s World column. www.ebar.com.

ebar.com

▼

Community News>>

Jane Philomen Cleland

Gay activist Cleve Jones addressed the 2010 Pride festival; he has been involved with Unite Here’s hotel boycott in the city.

Union presses hotel boycott as Pride nears

by Tony K. LeTigre

T

hough Pride is viewed as a celebration of freedom and self-expression by many, it is also a reminder that the struggle is not yet over – as illustrated by the ongoing Hyatt Hotel boycott in San Francisco.

The boycott, organized by Unite Here Local 2, represents an alliance between hospitality workers in San Francisco and the LGBT community, including longtime gay activist Cleve Jones.

The union and five hotels are in the midst of contract negotiations.

“We want people in the LGBT community to know that the Hyatt likes to position itself as a friend – spending large amounts of money on marketing campaigns aimed directly at our community – but when you look closer, those claims are exposed as complete hypocrisy,” Jones said.

Jones has been involved with the website www.sleepwiththerightpeople.org, which is connected to the Unite Here website at www.hotelworkersrising.org. The two sites together document alleged anti-worker and anti-gay behavior from Hyatt, and keep a list of boycotted hotels.

The boycott list currently includes five in San Francisco: the three Hyatt properties (the Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf, and the Hyatt Regency) as well as Le Meridien and the smaller Hotel Frank.

“Hyatt has distinguished itself as one of the most aggressive companies when it comes to workers’ rights, and is particularly hostile to housekeepers,” said Ian Lewis, a research analyst for Unite Here.

“The growth of corporate power and attacks on working people go hand in hand with attacks on GLBT people.”

Lori Alexander, director of field public relations for North America for Hyatt Hotels, denied that Hyatt is anti-union and said the company is one of the best employers for gay and lesbian workers in the country.

“Unite Here is stalling negotiations and spreading false rumors about our work environment as part of its national agenda to pressure Hyatt into accepting card check – an organizing tactic designed to increase union membership and dues,” Alexander said. “Card check eliminates employees’ right to vote by secret ballot on union representation.”

As for anti-gay accusations, Alexander described Hyatt as a company that “embraces and achieves diversity,” noting the 100 percent rating that Hyatt received on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2011 Corporate Equality Index.

She also referred to Hyatt being named one of the “Top 10 GayFriendly Employers in America” by the Advocate and DiversityInc.com in the past, as well as Hyatt’s sponsorship of the GLAAD Media Awards and the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association.

Don Olson is a gay man – “about as out as you can get” – who has worked at the Grand Hyatt in San

Francisco since 1980.

“I can honestly say I’ve never felt discriminated against by the company for being gay or for being part of a union,” Olson said. “But I take issue with how they treat us as workers.”

Olson, who has been arrested twice while taking part in the union’s battle with his employer – including a 2009 strike at the Grand Hyatt and a sit-in last year – said that history repeats itself every few years when the union’s contract comes up for renewal.

“This time they’re using the economy as an excuse to cut pensions, cut benefits, and freeze wages,” Olson said. “Occupancies are back up, rates are back up, and Hyatt is a publicly traded company, so their profits are posted. We know how much they’re making.”

Hyatt reported that as of June 30, 2010 it had over $1.6 billion in cash and short-term investments available.

Part of the union’s effort to draw attention to the boycott is to urge visitors, including those associated with conferences and those coming to the city for Pride festivities, to book elsewhere.

“I’m one of the people who calls people and groups who are planning to stay at the Hyatt and asks them to stay elsewhere,” Olson said. “We’ve had people move entire conferences, costing the hotel millions of dollars.”

Sasha Wright is a staffer with Pride at Work San Francisco, a national organization that is the LGBT affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Wright participated in a 2010 flashmob that combined fun with political action, performing a parody of a Lady Gaga hit called “Don’t Get Caught in a Bad Hotel.”

A video of that performance, carried out at the Westin St. Francis as well as the Grand Hyatt, went viral on YouTube, with over 330,000 hits to date. It can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=-79pX1IOqPU. “There are 33,000 hotel rooms in San Francisco, so visitors for Pride are not without options,” Lewis said. “But more than that, people should be willing to find alternative accommodation, rather than choosing to put money in the pocket of a corporation that is trying to split our communities apart.”

Hyatt’s Alexander offered a different take on the issue.

“Boycotts of our properties only hurt the associates who work there,” she said. “Lost business will mean a reduction in shifts and tips for the very people Unite Here claims to represent.”

For his part, Jones is committed to helping the union.

“The membership and influence of unions in San Francisco has diminished, and that’s part of why supporting Unite Here Local 2 is so important,” Jones said. “Unite Here is an example of a fighting union that is actually growing in the private sector, one that is very engaged in fighting for the rights of its members, but also engaged in the communities around it.”▼

June 16-22, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Open Forum

June 16-22, 2011

Volume 41, Number 24 June 16-22, 2011 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Thomas E. Horn Bob Ross (Founder, 1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador • Matt Baume Erin Blackwell • Roger Brigham Scott Brogan • Victoria A. Brownworth Philip Campbell • Heather Cassell Chuck Colbert • Richard Dodds Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell John F. Karr • Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy David Lamble Michael McDonagh Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

ART DIRECTION Kurt Thomas PRODUCTION MANAGER T. Scott King PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland Marc Geller Rick Gerharter Lydia Gonzales Rudy K. Lawidjaja Steven Underhill Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge Christine Smith

GENERAL MANAGER Michael M. Yamashita DISPLAY ADVERTISING Colleen Small Scott Wazlowski CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING David McBrayer

NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad

Best Bay Area Community Newspaper 2006 San Francisco Bay Area Publicity Club

BAY AREA REPORTER 395 Ninth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 415.861.5019 www.ebar.com

News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Advertising • advertising@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com A division of Benro Enterprises, Inc. © 2011 Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation.

Advertising rates available upon request.

Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

▼

They weren’t gay girls after all W

arning: Everything you read online ain’t necessarily so.

The world was reminded of that cautionary caveat in startling fashion in recent days, as two well-known lesbian bloggers turned out to be straight married men.

First, Amina Arraf, who gained a wide following as “A Gay Girl in Damascus,” was revealed to be Tom McMaster, a married American man living in Scotland. Readers of Arraf ’s blog grew frantic when they heard she was “missing,” and several started investigating.

Ultimately, McMaster’s story unraveled when it became clear that no one had ever actually met Arraf.

Then, this week, it turns out that Paula Brooks, the deaf lesbian editor of the popular blog Lez Get Real, is really Bill Graber, a straight, married, retired military man living in Ohio. Coincidentally, Brooks was initially critical of McMaster for creating the identity of Arraf, noted Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse, who broke the story. The men’s alter egos even flirted with each other as each did not know the other was a fake identity.

The online world has been abuzz over the hoaxes. The more troubling problem is that these two cases pierce the very credibility of every blogger out there. As for Arraf, the Gay Girl in Damascus blog could have brought real harm to actual gays living in Syria by making targets of anyone who was in contact with her.

But it’s doubtful that McMaster, apparently living out some lesbian fetish fantasy of his own, ever thought about that. McMaster said that everyone should focus on the real harms taking place in Syria, and for his bit he thinks it’s a good idea for us to read his blog posts of a fake person. Please.

As for Graber, he gave two lengthy interviews

to the Post about why he started Lez Get Real and actually claims that, as a former military man, he can take some credit for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He started the blog, he said, after seeing a lesbian couple he knows “abused and misused that you cannot believe.”

We’re certain that Graber could have found a more productive and authentic way to help the LGBT community he professes to respect and admire other than to establish a fake online identity for three years. These men are both liars who used deceit in a vain effort

to bolster their egos. LGBT people can speak for themselves about their own authentic experiences.

Meanwhile, real lesbian bloggers (and other GBT bloggers) now have to assure skeptical readers who may have doubts about their veracity. On the other hand, maybe this episode will encourage bloggers to be more transparent about who they are and what they do. That would be in everyone’s interest. The anonymity of the Internet can be a powerful distraction that allows anyone to take advantage of tootrusting readers.▼

Campaign perspectives and responsibilities

by Reese Aaron Isbell

P

roponents of banning circumcision put forward a controversial ballot measure for San Francisco’s November election. As the debate began taking shape there were obvious jokes, as well as the beginnings of some semblance of political discourse. Then antiSemitic comic imagery including a blond-haired superhero named “Foreskin Man” doing battle with rabbis and an evil “Monster Mohel” were put forward, hearkening closely to imagery from Nazi Germany.

As a longtime political strategist, let me begin by giving the proponents of the ban some possible benefit of the doubt in their arguments and deconstruct their tactics from a plain campaign strategy perspective.

Going into this election, the proponents of the ballot measure had a small window of opportunity to begin their debate on supposed rational, sensible footing. Obviously this issue was not on the forefront of voters’ minds and did not rank with issues such as transportation, education, or taxes. It also quickly and easily became a target of jokes. Therefore, from a simply strategic perspective, there was a high bar to overcome in the months before November to bring people to their cause and to frame it.

In this window of opportunity they could have promoted their cause on proposed practical matters or medical concepts.

They could have started an intellectual dialogue from their perspective. They even could have attempted to tug at the hearts and minds of the public in ways to bring voters to their frame of mind.

They missed their chance.

Having looked strategically, now let’s look at this from a supposed educational perspective.

Oftentimes organizations place issues on the ballot to simply promote a cause. They mean not necessarily to win – at least not to win the first go-round. While these campaigns may lose on Election Day they can still attempt to educate the public, frame a social dialogue, or to change people’s habits in their own personal lives. Eventually, over time, should they continue properly educating a growing public to their perspective, they may win electorally one day. In order to be successful at this though, they must find ways to reach the largest audience, keep themselves from being labeled a niche concept, and frame themselves as aboveboard, honorable, and as caring as possible.

Joshua James Abeyta

Reese Aaron Isbell

The folks working on the circumcision ban missed that chance, too.

Finally, let’s look at their tactics from a moral perspective.

This is where many campaigns fail. This is not to say that they necessarily fail at the ballot box because we all know that negative campaigning can win strategically. As we saw with the anti-marriage-equality Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, inflaming a debate with bigotry and negative images can win an election. However, that does not mean that the tactics were ever justified or true. And we all know that we cannot trust the right-wing to run a campaign without showcasing fear and hatred of our community. However, campaigns often fail here because any type of public dialogue includes a moral responsibility not to incite violence and discrimination. Therefore, as the general public relates circumcision procedures to religious rites and practices, the proponents of this circumcision ban had an especially high moral responsibility to make sure the debate never devolved into religious intolerance, hatred, or anti-Semitism. The campaign’s moral responsibility, and frankly from a strategic perspective as well, should have been to strongly and unequivocally distance itself from anything of a discriminatory nature and even find ways to show that the campaign was for religious freedom.

You better believe they missed that chance.

Making matters worse for themselves, not

only did campaign proponents make all these striking mistakes above, they also wrongly attempted to justify their inflammatory campaign tactics. We’ve seen this before (again, see Yes on Prop 8 campaign as a textbook example). In the guise of supporting a ballot measure, there were ill-advised attempts to justify hate speech and discriminatory images and to cover themselves by equating their cartoons to supposed loftier goals of campaign promotions. They even fought anti-Semitic calls as people reading too much into the graphic images.

They were wrong.

Look, I know that politics can be a dirty business. But I also believe strongly that politics can bring out the best in our humanity.

We are at our best as a body public when we come together to promote a great social cause, advocate for support for our neighbors, work together to solve a health crisis, educate our children, fight for love.

While the personal is political, it’s also true that the political can get very personal. We as San Franciscans cannot stand idly by for the next five months while proponents of this measure utilize racist concepts in order to win their campaign. Such anti-Semitic campaign literature cannot be allowed credence nor bandied about and accepted as part of a political discussion. We must not be silent as these racist campaign tactics inflame the public debate in our city.

Our LGBT community knows what it is like to have negative campaigning thrust against us in order to win an election, and as such we must shoulder our own responsibility in speaking out against these tactics. And we must, despite any partisan differences on any campaign, state unequivocally that racism, anti-Semitism, religious intolerance, sexism, ageism, or other discriminatory isms will not be tolerated and will not be given justification or given credence in the public debate as a campaign tactic.▼ Reese Aaron Isbell is the co-chair of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and a political consultant for state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). The above are Isbell’s views and his affiliations are listed for identification purposes only. Currently celebrating 40 years of service, the Alice Club will once again be analyzing all campaigns and candidates before the elections this November in order to make ballot recommendations for the community. More information on the club can be found at www.alicebtoklas.org.

▼

Letters >>

June 16-22, 2011 •

HIV and hepatitis C Thank you for the excellent issue on HIV [“AIDS marches on,” June 2]. I am concerned though, that no mention was made of the one in three people living with HIV who also have hepatitis C. The addition of hepatitis C in their lives means that their ability to take HIV medications is reduced and over time they may have a complete inability to take the HIV medications. I think this is a very serious cause for concern.

In addition most people carrying hep C are unaware that they have it even though they are showing such symptoms as new autoimmune disorders. Because they are unaware of the disease, and because there is the misconception that hep C cannot be transmitted through sex, they are continuing to transmit hep C to their sexual partners. There is also the misconception that hep C has decreased in the population where it actually has reached a stable 28,000 new infections per year across the United States.

This is roughly half the level of new HIV infections each year in the U.S. And while hep C takes a while to damage the liver, currently it is the main reason for liver transplants and for every two deaths due to HIV there are

1.1 deaths due to hep C. We need to make people aware of the problems of hep C itself and hep C in combination with HIV. Jeff Fried San Carlos, California

Castro Theatre should be a better neighbor I hope if the Castro Theatre has another event like last Wednesday night’s free viewing of the film Super 8, they aim the line in the other direction down Castro Street, instead of onto 17th and around to Hartford. Paramount might have rented the Castro Theatre, but it sure as hell didn’t rent my apartment building.

As a neighbor, I was really appalled at the way the security people from Paramount Studios were shouting at patrons late at night with no consideration for residents trying to sleep. We regularly have long lines going down Hartford Street for Castro Theatre events but the management of the lines seems to be something the theater personnel don’t see as their responsibility.

Steven Kyle Weller San Francisco

Pride party at LGBT center Sat. compiled by Cynthia Laird

T

he San Francisco LGBT Community Center will turn into four floors of pride this weekend for its sixth annual Pride party.

The party, including the wildly popular margaritas on the rooftop, takes place Saturday, June 18 from 1 to 4 p.m. The center is located at 1800 Market Street.

Those attending will enjoy catered food by Medjool and beverages.

There will be Storycorps listening stations, information about community resources, and a silent auction featuring art from the National Queer Arts Festival. Entertainment will include the Ethel Merman Experience, Alotta Boutte, David Hawkins, Dottie Lux, Sister Phyliss With a Lighta-Day, and Scotty the Blue Bunny. Special guest will be Jamaesori, a traditional Korean drumming troupe.

The event is for those 21 and over, however, activities on the first floor are free and open to all ages. There will be child care and activities for kids.

Tickets are $25-$50, sliding scale.

Center officials said that 100 percent of the proceeds benefit the center’s direct services. For more information, visit www.sfcenter.org.

Castro rec center hosts youth Pride event The recently re-launched program for LGBT youth at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center is hosting a free Pride celebration for youth 24 years old and younger Friday, June 17.

The clean and sober event will feature drag and Justin Bieber looka-like contests, as well as a live DJ. It will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. inside the facility’s auditorium at 100 Collingwood Street.

As the Bay Area Reporter has been reporting, LGBT youth and adult allies had pressed the Recreation and Park Department to reopen the dedicated youth space at the Castro facility since its closure last summer.

An agency reorganization had led to a shuttering of the space.

Apart from a few fee-based classes, the room, built with its own separate entrance, went mostly unused during the last nine months. After an outcry about the loss of the program during an April town hall with Mayor Ed Lee and subsequent press coverage, rec and park officials announced several employees had been assigned to staff the youth space and provide

free programming on a drop-in basis during set hours throughout the week.

The teen rec space is open most weekdays from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m., with later hours Wednesdays and Thursdays (9 p.m.). It is also open for supervised recreation Saturdays from 12:30 to 2 p.m. It is closed Sundays.

There are also several classes that require a fee, including a movie night Thursdays (6 to 9 p.m.) and a Saturday queer zine program (2 to 4 p.m.), being offered this summer.

Next month rec and park staff are hosting a scholarship information and application day for LGBT youth who wish to take part in the department’s various programs but need help defraying the costs. To qualify, eligible youth must present documentation such as their food stamp card, MediCal, or a verification form from a local youth provider.

That event will take place from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 7 at the EVRC Youth Space.

For more information about either event call (415) 831-6810.

LGBT comedy week in Berkeley Out Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington presented a proclamation last week stating that June 11-18 is LGBT Comedy Week in the East Bay city. The performances are being curated by out comedian Marga Gomez and take place at the Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way (near Shattuck and the downtown Berkeley BART station).

Tickets are $15-$35 sliding scale and are available at www.themarsh. org. The festival concludes Saturday, June 18 with a show at 8:30 p.m. featuring Janine Brito, David Hawkins, and Ronn Vigh, a writer for BARtab.

Gay wine weekend in Sonoma Out in the Vineyard, the first Wine Country event and travel company dedicated to the LGBT community, presents the inaugural Gay Wine Weekend June 17-19.

The festivities begin Friday with a VIP reception from 5 to 7 p.m., followed by an evening of gay comedy at 9:30 at the Sonoma Community Center. Saturday features a Twilight T-Dance (7 to 10 p.m.) at Atwood Ranch in nearby Glen Ellen, which is a benefit for Face to Face/Sonoma County AIDS Network. A reception precedes the dance from 5 to 7 p.m.

On Sunday it’s the Big Gay Brunch and Wine Auction beginning at 11

a.m. at EDK Restaurant in Sonoma.

Organizers said that all monies raised at the auction will benefit Face to Face.

There are also other events, including wine and food pairings An all-access weekend pass is $295. Other ticket prices are: $150 for the Twilight dance, VIP; $75, general; and $35 for gay comedy night. For more information, visit www.outinthevineyard.com.

Trans program bids coordinator farewell EL/LA Para TransLatinas, a program that mainly serves Latina transgender women, will bid farewell to coordinator Alexandra Byerly at a party and fundraiser Saturday, June 18.

The party, themed Discotheque, takes place from 5 to 9 p.m. at Som bar, 2925 16th Street (at Capp). The suggested donation is $15, although no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

The festivities include fabulous disco and Latin music, a photo booth, food, raffle prizes, performances, and more. Special guest appearances by La Monistat and Felicia Flames.

For more information, see the group’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ELLAParaTransLatinas.

Mr., Miss Safe Latino contest coming up The Mr. and Miss Safe Latino competition will take place Thursday, June 23 at 7 p.m. at Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.

This event, sponsored by Instituto Familiar de la Raza, is the longest-standing bilingual HIV/ AIDS prevention and education event in the Bay Area. By fusing entertainment with HIV prevention and training, it has become an important part of prevention efforts for the LGBT Latino community.

Tickets are only $10 and available online at sonicliving.com/ event/3009194.

Radical Women to meet Radical Women will hold its regular meeting Thursday, June 23 at 7 p.m. at New Valencia Hall, 625 Larkin Street in San Francisco. This month’s theme is “It Gets Better When We Make it Better,” and is a round-up of how LGBT organizers are working to improve their communities. There will be a summer supper served at 6:15 p.m. for a $7.50 donation. For more information or directions, contact (415) 864-1278 or baradicalwomen@ earthlink.net.▼ Matthew S. Bajko contributed to this report.

BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Politics

June 16-22, 2011

▼

Gay GOPers hear from San Francisco candidates

by Matthew S. Bajko

I

n what it hopes will be the first in a series of candidate forums, the Log Cabin chapter in San Francisco for LGBT Republicans hosted five candidates running to be the city’s next sheriff along with Tony Hall, the most conservative of the top mayoral contenders, at its June meeting.

Dan Brown, president of the local Log Cabin chapter, said the group is hoping to hear from all of the leading candidates running for mayor as well as district attorney. With all three of the local positions nonpartisan posts, the group is able to endorse any of the candidates regardless of party affiliation.

The Log Cabin chapter expects to hold its endorsement vote in August after the filing deadline has closed. A candidate needs to receive 60 percent from the group’s membership, which currently stands at 20 people, to be endorsed.

The mayoral contenders, due to ranked-choice voting, would be foolish to ignore any group of voters, said Brown.

“We would love to hear from as many candidates as possible. Since there are no Republicans in the race, our votes are up in the air,” said Brown. “Since it is nonpartisan, there is nothing to stop us from endorsing.”

The only candidate to be interrupted by applause from the dozen people at the June 8 meeting was Hall, a former city administrator and supervisor, when he said he would repeal San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy should he be elected mayor.

It prevents city officials from asking about a person’s immigration status and is aimed at having illegal immigrants report crimes and access city services without fear of being deported.

“I would repeal the sanctuary law; that is a joke,” said Hall, who also is an advocate of doing away with district elections for supervisors.

None of the sheriff candidates suggested they shared Hall’s view regarding the sanctuary policy. District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, seen as the leading contender for sheriff, in fact praised Sheriff Mike Hennessey’s position on the issue.

Hennessey, who has endorsed Mirkarimi, recently announced a new policy where illegal immigrants arrested for low-level crimes won’t be held in the jail, even if federal immigration agents request they be detained. He had already decided not to fully comply with the federal Secure Communities program, which requires that fingerprints of undocumented immigrants booked into local jails be shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs

Jane Philomen Cleland

Mayoral candidate Tony Hall addresses the Log Cabin Club.

Enforcement officials.

“His stance on the ICE program has been courageous,” said Mirkarimi.

As sheriff Mirkarimi said he would have inmates assist with the maintenance backlogs at the public works and recreation and park departments. And he would move to see sheriff personnel take on more duties from the police department as it loses officers to retirement.

“I know some motivated men and women in the sheriff department who are ready to go,” he said.

Openly gay San Francisco police officer Mike Evans also wants to boost the duties of sheriff’s deputies.

He suggested they could assist the police department by riding Muni and patrolling city parks.

To save money, he suggested nonviolent offenders could be housed and monitored at home and continue to work rather than being sent to jail and having “taxpayers foot the bill.”

A former U.S. Coast Guard member, Evans revealed that his mother was a prostitute and his father has been in prison on various charges, including manslaughter.

Raised in the foster case system, Evans grew up in Alabama.

He picked up the backing of lesbian icon Phyllis Lyon this week, who told the Bay Area Reporter she agrees with him that the sheriffs department can do more to assist the police. She also said Evans was the first candidate to seek her endorsement.

“First of all, I didn’t know who else was running,” she said. “Secondly, when he came over and we talked, he made a lot of sense.”

Having both inmates and sheriff deputies do more is a recurring theme among the candidates.

“We have over 900 sworn staff members waiting for an opportunity to go out and serve the public’s safety in ways [that have] not been served in the past,” said candidate Paul Miyamoto, a sheriff’s captain. “We have the infrastructure in place to do that.”

He suggested one way to boost revenues is to charge inmates for medical care.

Former deputy sheriff David Wong, who ran against Hennessey four years ago, told the gay GOPers one way to reduce San Francisco’s recidivism rate is to create more jobs for inmates.

“When people sit in jail they do nothing. They can go out and work,” said Wong, who is fighting his being terminated this spring a month after filing to run.

The 20-year veteran of the force and union president was accused of hitting a female inmate. He counters he was protecting a civilian employee the inmate had attacked. Rather than be reprimanded, Wong claims he was fired as political payback and is fighting to be reinstated.

Jon Gray, a gay former sheriff’s deputy, has the most radical campaign platform. He wants to merge the sheriff and police departments to save money and better organize the city’s public safety workforce. He also wants the leader of the combined department to be elected by voters, doing away with allowing the mayor and Police Commission to pick the police chief.

He also would hire correctional officers, who are paid less, rather than sheriff deputies for some jobs to save resources.

“If it would save $100 million we should do it,” said Gray, pointing to a civil grand jury report that raised the idea of a merger. “It will take more time but we should do it to put more cops on the streets.”

Gray was also terminated following a lengthy legal battle in which he sued the city and department after fellow deputies posted homophobic comments about him on an unofficial website. He said he is the only deputy in the department’s history to be “fired for insubordination.”

Fundraiser for Jane Warner Plaza plaque A fundraiser will take place at 3 p.m. this Sunday, June 19 at the Cafe nightclub, 2368 Market Street, adjacent to Jane Warner Plaza to raise money for a plaque informing the public of the parklet’s name and the lesbian it is named after.

As the B.A.R. reported in April, efforts to raise the necessary funds to pay for the installation of the ceremonial marker had lagged since last November when the city officially dedicated the Castro plaza in honor of Warner, a Patrol Special police officer whose beat included the city’s gayborhood.

Warner died in May 2010 after a prolonged battle with ovarian cancer.

Gray, who has applied to become a Patrol Special police officer, is helping to host the informal fundraiser.

Roughly $800 is still needed, he said, to cover the signage costs.▼ Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ twitter.com/politicalnotes.

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 16-22, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Community News

June 16-22, 2011

▼

Woman wins Mr. Gay San Francisco contest

by Seth Hemmelgarn

A

woman was named Mr. Gay San Francisco last weekend, marking the first time someone born biologically female has ever won the competition.

Karin Jaffie, 45, competed using

her drag king name Kit Tapata.

“I’m really hoping to have a lot of fun, to do a lot of good for the community and maybe – just maybe – get my boys and girls to play together just a little bit more,” Jaffie said.

The pageant, organized by the

Imperial Council of San Francisco, was held Saturday, June 12 at the Hotel Kabuki.

Jaffie, an out lesbian, lives in the city and works as an entertainer, graphic designer, and set builder.

Besides being the first woman to win the title, she was also the first woman to run.

Wes Lind, 29, whose drag name is Patty McGroin, was named Miss Gay San Francisco.

“I was surprised and honored,” said Lind, who was the only person that competed for the Miss title.

Imperial Council board Chair John Carrillo wasn’t one of the pageant’s five judges, but he said Jaffie’s entertainment was “great.”

He added, “We’re excited there’s a new chapter in history, for us and the females in our organization.”

<<

Bankruptcy From page 1

through the courts.

The latest legal decision striking down DOMA was issued June 13 by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in a case involving a gay male couple from Los Angeles.

The ruling states that the case “is about equality, regardless of gender

Rich Stadtmiller

Karin Jaffie as Kit Tapata and Wes Lind as Patty McGroin took the Mr. and Miss Gay San Francisco titles, respectively, at last weekend’s contest.

or sexual orientation, for two people” who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The United States Trustee had argued that the couple could not file a joint petition despite the fact California recognizes their 2008 marriage as legal because they are not considered to be spouses for federal purposes due to DOMA. The bankruptcy court rejected that argument, instead finding that “no legally married couple should be

The pageant is over 20 years old.

Alan Toomey was the only other person competing for Mr. Gay San Francisco, said Carrillo. Toomey didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Carrillo said there haven’t been any complaints about Jaffie winning. He said she’s been “very involved in our organization.”

As part of the pageant, contestants had to appear in sportswear, as well as in formal attire. There was also a talent portion, where, accompanied by five backup dancers wearing monkey masks and sunglasses, Jaffie lip-synched to Bruno Mars’s “The Lazy Song.”

As a titleholder, Jaffie plans to do benefits for Lyon-Martin Health Services and Pets Are Wonderful Support. ▼

entitled to fewer bankruptcy rights than any other legally married couple.”

The Central District handles the largest caseload of any bankruptcy court in the country. The ruling caught many legal experts by surprise because 20 of the court’s 24 judges, including the chief judge, signed on to the decision.

“That is unusual,” said Patricia Cain, the Inez Mabie Distinguished Professor of Law at Santa Clara University’s School of Law and an expert in federal tax law and sexuality and the law.

Cain speculated the reason so many of the judges added their name to the decision in the case, known as In re: Balas-Morales, is because they also have cases before them involving other southern California same-sex couples who married in 2008 prior to the passage of Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on such nuptials.

“My guess, since it is California, is there are more same-sex married couples before that court than probably in other given jurisdictions.

When this issue comes up again, they can cite this opinion,” said Cain.

Rob Pfister, a partner in the Los Angeles law firm Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff and Stern who was cocounsel in the case with Peter Lively, said he also was “shocked” by seeing so many justices sign on to the opinion.

“When you read it, you get the sense the judges care a lot about this and really care about the fundamental principle that married couples should be treated equally,” said Pfister, who married his husband in 2008. “What that does on a practical level is, it tells practitioners that they can file here and their clients will be treated equally.”

The case was brought by Gene Balas, 42, and Carlos Morales, 46, who married August 30, 2008. In a phone interview this week, Balas said he is “overjoyed” by the ruling in the case, which he hopes will help other samesex couples trying to get out of debt.

“The judges’ decision left us overjoyed that we are seen as a married couple and afforded all the rights given to other married couples who are straight,” said Balas. “The case is not about me but about married same-sex couples nationwide who might find themselves in a similar situation.”

Balas, who is HIV-positive, was let go from his financial services job in 2009. Then Morales went on medical leave from his job in 2010 following the death of his mother. The couple found themselves mired in credit card debts and medical expenses as they struggled to make ends meet. They eventually opted to seek bankruptcy protection.

“We tried everything to avoid it.

After a year of looking for a job, our savings were depleted. Bankruptcy became the only option. There was See page 13 >>

▼

Community News>>

June 16-22, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

Castro Lions welcome first black president

by Matthew S. Bajko

W

hen Troy Brunet assumes his duties July 1 as president of the Castro Lions, it will mark the first time the philanthropic club has had a black president.

Dennis Hale, who is stepping down next month and will become the club’s immediate past president, said Brunet is believed to be the first person of color to lead the Castro Lions since its founding 27 years ago.

“As far as our club is concerned, we are colorblind,” said Hale, adding that in addition to having members of various ethnic backgrounds, the group also welcomes straight members despite it being the first LGBT-identified Lions club.

Brunet joined the group, which raises money to fight blindness and for local nonprofits, in 2007. A Castro resident, he has been serving as the club’s first vice president.

In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Brunet downplayed the importance of his becoming president. But he said he hopes it does show people there are welcoming groups in the LGBT community.

“It shows it is possible to be a part of an organization that wants the same thing you do. People of different backgrounds can pull together and make things happen,” said Brunet.

While he would like to see more people of color join the Castro Lions, he said his main goal is simply to recruit anyone interested in helping to raise money for worthy causes. The club currently has 35 members, and Brunet hopes to bring that number up to 50.

“It doesn’t matter to me, honestly.

I want to see people who want to serve. That is hard to find in any color scheme or race,” said Brunet, 46, who retired from a career in the health care field. “We are not getting as many members as we used to. I hope to change that this year and get a few more members and raise more money.”

He has already made a mark on the group, said Hale, adding that Brunet has the exuberance needed to be a successful leader.

“What I do know about Troy, he is a doer and he gets things done,” said Hale. “He is great with other people.”

Born and raised in New Orleans, Brunet attended Tulane University and worked at a variety of jobs throughout the South. Looking for a change, he had first relocated to Chicago where he had family.

But the city wasn’t the right fit. One day in 1998 while Brunet was watching TV, a Rice-a-Roni commercial, with its “the San Francisco treat” jingle, caught his attention.

“I saw that TV spot and two days

Jane Philomen Cleland

Castro Lions’ incoming president, Troy Brunet, back, with immediate past president Dennis Hale at last week’s installation dinner.

later I was on a train here,” recalled Brunet, who lives with his partner of seven years, John Kiltinen, an artist and pool player. “It was a good decision. Luckily, I was watching TV.”

Brunet, who is HIV-positive, has dedicated himself to fundraising and promoting events. For the last five years he has served on the board of Tenderloin Health, and he also sat on the boards of the Golden Gate Business Association, Community Housing Partnership and the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco.

He is a member of Mama’s Family in Leather and is also a star walker in the annual AIDS Walk, having raised $1,000 or more each year he has participated.

He threw himself into charity work after nearly dying 11 years ago.

Diagnosed at the time with fullblown AIDS, Brunet landed in the hospital fighting off pneumocystis pneumonia and was in a coma for two months.

“I came out of that coma and hospital and was finally able to walk freely. I said I am going to do the AIDS Walk and I have been ever since,” said Brunet, who has had five hip replacement surgeries as well as a shoulder and knee replaced.

See page 12 >>

www.ebar.com

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< The Sports Section

June 16-22, 2011

▼

Who you going to call?

by Roger Brigham

A

s Jock Talk has been reporting lo these many months, an unprecedented number of initiatives to support young LGBT athletes have been launched within the last year.

Just about the only thing that has been missing has been a hotline.

Until now.

Athlete Buddy System is a volunteer initiative launched by Denver-based nonprofit GForce Sports, the same folks who have fielded a national gay hockey team for several years and announced the start of a national gay lacrosse team a month ago. Mike Smith, director of ABS, said the organization is recruiting and interviewing potential mentors to handle calls from LGBT athletes and coaches who need someone to listen.

“We’re just getting it started over the last six months or so,” Smith told the Bay Area Reporter. “We’re actively interviewing athletes who are interested in being mentors for us. We’re trying to diversify. We don’t want just a bunch of male hockey players. We want to get some lesbians and some other sports. All told we’ll probably have about 10 or 12 people.”

Smith, 45, who is gay, is not an athlete but became involved with GForce when he was researching a play he was writing about a gay hockey player. A hotline for troubled LGBT athletes seemed like a natural progression for the rest of GForce’s work, which includes Invisible Athlete forums, in which gay athletes speak before groups at high schools or colleges.

“It seems with all of the suicides happening there must be a way we can reach out to athletes,” he said.

“The hotline is open to any age group,” Smith said. “We have heard from athletes in their 40s, so we’re not targeting any specific age

Athlete Buddy System director Mike Smith

demographic. People come out at all ages, and play sports at all ages, so we’re available to all of them. We expect to hear mostly from high school and college kids. Interestingly enough, young people today have been more exposed to gay people so it’s not as much of an issue for them.

One closeted high school hockey player called us and wasn’t at all troubled or scared – he was ticked off at the locker room discourse and wanted to know what to do to change it.”

Many times, Smith said, the key is to get athletes to calm their fears.

“Most of the calls are, ‘What if I do come out and something terrible happens to me, or my parents throw me ou,t or my team rejects me?’

Inevitably you make the problem bigger in your head than it is. The biggest thing is getting them over the fear of what may happen: take it slow, find some allies and lean on them, and work your way through it.”

As a non-athlete, Smith said he See page 13 >>

▼

Obituaries>>

June 16-22, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

Man from Bay Area, killed in Mexico, mourned

by Seth Hemmelgarn

F

amily and friends of a gay former Bay Area resident who was recently killed in Mexico will be remembering him this Father’s Day. Anthony Joseph “Tonee” Mello, born March 5, 1947, in Oakland, was found dead April 14 in a well on his property in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Mello’s friend Ron Schmidt of San Francisco and his son Jon Mello of Scotts Valley believe two people burglarized his home and murdered him days before the discovery.

A gathering celebrating Mr. Mello, who was 64, will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 19, at Cafe Flore, 2298 Market Street in San Francisco.

In an interview, Schmidt called Mr. Mello, whom he’d known for 30 years, “one of my very dearest friends” and “a mentor.”

Acknowledging that he was still talking about Mr. Mello in the present tense, Schmidt said, “He’s 10 years and one month younger than I am, but he’s always been 10 years and one month ahead of me in activism.”

In an email, Schmidt said that Mr. Mello had served in Vietnam and that experience “forever set him against war and violence of any kind.”

After his discharge, Mr. Mello and his then-partner, Alan Paul, raised Jon, Mr. Mello’s biological son; Michael and Scoot, two adopted children; and three foster boys.

Mr. Mello often hosted potlucks for a gay fathers group in San Jose and, along with his family, spoke at local high schools and colleges. In 1986, Mr. Mello’s household was among six other families featured in a documentary on gay life, according

Anthony Joseph “Tonee” Mello

to Jon Mello.

Mr. Mello eventually moved to Oaxaca and owned a small home

with a large garden. Throughout the years, he rescued and cared for many animals. His menagerie recently included two dogs, three cats, a burro named Lucky, and four koi fish.

Jon Mello, who said his father had been shot in the head and beaten, said a Mexican judge threw out the case against the people who had allegedly killed his father.

The American Embassy consular agent in Oaxaca did not respond to an emailed request to verify information that Jon Mello provided. Mello said in an email that he’s contacted the office of Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) about the case. In response to an email from the Bay Area Reporter, an Eshoo staffer declined to comment.

Discussing his father, Jon Mello said, “I could tell him anything and feel safe and comfortable with that,

so I’m going to miss that a lot. I don’t have anybody else like that in my life.”

Mr. Mello is survived by his son Jon and daughter-in-law Laurie and granddaughters Ashlyn, Rachel and Jena of Scotts Valley; sister Jean Rodriguez of Utah; nieces Tina and Denise; grandnieces Natalee and Anneleise; grandnephews Alex, Zach and Topher; and many close friends.

People can RSVP for the memorial by contacting Schmidt at (415) 587-6275 or ronstreehouse@ earthlink.net.

Donations in Mr. Mello’s name are suggested to the Trevor Project, www.thetrevorproject.org, the It Gets Better campaign at www.itgetsbetter.org, Gay-Straight Alliance Network at www.gsanetwork.org, or La Raza Centro Legal at techforpeople.net/~lrcl/.▼

Obituaries >>

Diagnose this!

Thomas Carrol Moore February 16, 1959 – June 2, 2011

Thomas Carrol Moore passed away in San Francisco on June 2 of natural causes. He was born on February 16, 1959 in Poquoson, Virginia and is survived by his mother, Frances Green of Poquoson. Tom was a longtime resident of the Castro and worked for the Federal Express company for many years driving

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

O

ne thing that many transgender people have struggled with is the assumption that they are crazy.

We internalize the fear that our crossgender feelings may be a sign of some psychosis, all the while society tells us there must be something wrong with us for associating with the opposite gender – let alone wanting to inhabit some form of “third-gender” space.

When I was a young trans thing, I scoured the books at the local library, and what little I could find was all very clinical, discussing transgender identity in the language of psychosis, and explaining my very being as a disorder. Even with all of my eccentricities – and coming from a family that is no stranger to same – it left me feeling that there must be something very wrong with me.

As I began to seek care, I found myself firmly placed on the couch of my nearest gender therapist.

After some time with her, with a second therapist, and even going through the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory test, it was determined I was sane – sort of.

You see, tucked in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is a diagnosis for people like me. Its section number is 302.85, and in language you or I might comprehend, that’s gender identity disorder in adolescents or adults.

It is perhaps a great irony that transgender people can be determined to be perfectly sane, yet at the same time certified with a disorder under the DSM. For those seeking gender reassignment surgery, in fact, it’s a requirement: you have to be determined to fall under 302.85 for care.

DSM-IV is what is in use now. It was new when I was starting out, and considered an improvement over the DSM-III. Nevertheless, there were many who were already then fighting to see that 302.85 ended up on the scrap heap, alongside the homosexuality diagnosis that was removed with DSM-II. If not removed, many wanted the section at least revised into something that still allows for transsexuals to get treatment, without otherwise stigmatizing transgender people.

Now DSM IV is in the process of revision to DSM V and things seem a little haywire.

In steps Kenneth Zucker, Ph.D.

Christine Smith

and Ray Blanchard, Ph.D. Both come out of the Clarke Institute in Toronto, Canada, a place notorious to Canadian transgender people for hostile treatment.

Zucker is known for his work done to “cure” gender variant youth, through methods that make the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality endorse him. Meanwhile Blanchard pushed the use of a plethysmograph (a device that registers the turgidity of the penis when the subject is exposed to sexual material) in his evaluation of possible surgical candidates.

Zucker is chairing the workgroup on sexual and gender identity disorders, while Blanchard chairs the Paraphilias Subcommittee. I doubt you even need to guess how this will turn out.

First, good old section 302.85 gets a new name, becoming Gender Dysphoria. A lot of the language remains the same, though some additional language has been added.

There has been intense lobbying around 302.85, so one might think that even with folks like Blanchard and Zucker in the mix, perhaps things won’t be that bad.

But there’s more than section 302.85 to worry about. In DSM-IV there is also section 302.3, otherwise known as Transvestic Fetishism.

Here is where the ride gets rocky.

Blanchard has proposed that 302.3 be renamed to Transvestic Disorder for DSM V. While he intends to keep the current criteria – sexual urges toward cross-dressing that impair other functions – he wants to go a step or two further, adding in his pet term, autogynephilia. In a nutshell,

autogynephilia can be phrased to mean that any transsexual woman who is not sexually attracted to males is nothing more than a sexual fetishist.

Lest FTMs feel excluded, Blanchard and colleagues have also recently cooked up the term autoandrophilia, and have sought to expand the diagnosis to otherwise ensnare those of all gender nonconformance. To add insult to injury, a new section, 302.3 2, would have a specifier that states that 302.3 is not cured, but only goes into remission.

So while 302.85 remains around – albeit narrowed – 302.3 is widened, presumably to capture even more people and keep them viewed as mentally disordered. People whose only presumed reason for being pathologized is that they do not fit rigid definitions of “male” and “female” behavior are not only pathologized, but pushed toward reparative therapies that have long since fallen out of fashion with all but the most twisted treatment providers.

From where I sit, I see no good reason for such a move. There is no need for a diagnosis, particularly an open ended one, on people who are not hampered by their gender identity. All I see are a pair of sexologists who are attempting to push disputed theories into practice, no matter who they hurt in the process.

This is just plain wrong.

So what can be done about it? To be honest, I’m not sure much can.

Zucker and Blanchard are likely to force through as much of this as they can, and I really don’t think the voice of the people will be heard very loudly or very well. Nevertheless, consider a visit to www.dsm5.org and speak out.

It’s not transgender people who are crazy, it’s the proposed definitions.▼ Gwen Smith is not too crazy about being crazy. You can find her online at www.gwensmith.com.

big trucks. He could often be seen wearing his uniform proudly in the neighborhood.

In his spiritual life, Tom felt a connection to a higher power. His desire to attend to the spiritual needs of others was reflected in his time as a missionary in Kenya and in seminary studying to enter the ministry. One of his great interests was restoring classic muscle cars, which were his preferred mode of transportation. He will be missed by all who knew him. A local memorial service will be held at a date to be determined. Please inquire at tmoore_castro@yahoo.com for more information.

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<<

Hep C From page 1

C drugs will become available, so it’s a big change, but really just the beginning of a change.”

Boceprevir and telaprevir were approved in May for adults with hard-to-treat genotype 1 hepatitis C, to be used in combination with current standard therapy consisting of pegylated interferon (Pegasys or PegIntron) plus ribavirin.

An estimated 3.9 million people in the U.S. have chronic hepatitis C, including approximately 12,000 in San Francisco, according to the task force.

In clinical trials boceprevir or telaprevir added to standard therapy increased the likelihood of achieving a sustained virological response, or cure, and many people were successfully treated with a shorter duration of therapy.

Cure rates for previously untreated genotype 1 patients approached 70 percent for boceprevir and 80 percent for telaprevir, compared with about 40 percent for standard therapy. Although their cure rates

<<

<< Community News

June 16-22, 2011

Anti-circumcision From page 1

at all,” Schofield told the Bay Area Reporter. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that he lives with his partner near Buena Vista Park.

“I’m just a proponent for the bill.”

The initiative, which qualified for the ballot last month, seeks to criminalize anyone practicing circumcision on boys under the age of 18 within San Francisco.

Violations would result in a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000 or imprisonment in county jail for up to one year, or both.

The initiative allows for a welldefined medical exclusion, but not a religious exception.

‘Monster Mohel’ San Francisco’s Jewish community, including its queer members, is leading the mobilization against the ballot measure, especially after the release of “Foreskin Man,” an online comic book series created and written by Matthew Hess, founder of www.sfmgmbill.org, who authored the initiative.

In the comic, the Mohel, who performs the Brit milah, or the “covenant of circumcision” and a naming ceremony for Jewish boys, is named “Monster Mohel.” The Mohel enters the family’s home in dark Orthodox robes like a mobster, with his goons, machine guns loaded, to perform the ritual.

The father, who is depicted as dark, yells at the mother angrily that he isn’t going to “deprive his son of his Jewish heritage” and that she will “just have to live with it.”

The scantily clad mother, who is against the circumcision, attempts to rescue her son, but is held down and eventually knocked out.

Arriving on the scene is the blond haired, blue-eyed “Foreskin Man” action hero who saves the day, leaving the child in the care of

were somewhat lower, prior nonresponders and relapsers saw the biggest improvement over current treatment.

The most notable side effect of boceprevir is anemia, while the main concern with telaprevir is skin rash – both added on top of the side effects of interferon and ribavirin.

“You’re not necessarily going to feel better during treatment, but treatment might be shorter and it might work better,” Hare told the Bay Area Reporter.

More in the pipeline Boceprevir and telaprevir are the frontrunners in a large field of drug candidates that directly interfere with various steps of the hepatitis C virus lifecycle. Interferon works instead by stimulating the immune system to fight the virus.

Though the new drugs must be used with injected interferon for now, all-oral regimens are being studied that could finally allow people to achieve a cure without the notoriously difficult side effects of interferon, which include flu-like symptoms and depression.

Amazon and biker intactivists.

“I don’t personally know the people who are sponsoring this, but when I look at their campaign propaganda literature and some of the cartoons that they’ve distributed the anti-Semitism in them seems vary blatant,” said Arthur Slepian, a respected leader in the Jewish LGBT community who is among the opponents infuriated over the Nazilike campaign propaganda. “On that basis and that basis alone I would hope that the entire city would stand up and vote this proposition down.”

Slepian believes that San Francisco LGBT and Jewish individuals should be wary of the circumcision ban.

“I think that all LGBT people, but especially gay Jews, should be wary when people attempt to use police power to criminalize behavior that in our communities are viewed as normal and natural and have been part of our tradition for thousands of years,” said Slepian.

Hess and Schofield deny any claims of the comic’s comparison to Nazi Germany.

“That’s a smear tactic,” Hess said, pointing to the first comic book where a doctor attempting to perform a circumcision turns into a monster. “We are trying to protect Jewish boys just as we are trying to protect all boys.”

Schofield blames opponents of the bill for putting the message out in the media. “That’s what our opposition put out there. Certainly nothing referencing Nazi Germany,” he said.

“The Jewish parents were depicted as the normal loving Jewish parents,” said Schofield, who isn’t Jewish.

Yet, Schofield told ABC 7 News on June 7 that he “believes the comic book goes too far.”

“It’s inflammatory and 180 degrees different from the direction

Hare said that people debating whether to start one of the new drugs now or wait for an interferon-free regimen should consult their doctor and consider the health of their liver.

“All-oral regimens won’t be available for prescription for probably three to five years,” he said.

“Some may want to wait, but some may decide to give [the new drugs in combination with interferon] a try.”

Boceprevir and telaprevir are not yet approved for people with HIV/ HCV coinfection, but studies are under way and early results suggest that the new drugs will also improve response rates for the estimated onethird of HIV positive people who also have hepatitis C. At the retrovirus conference in March researchers presented the first data from a small trial of telaprevir plus pegyalted interferon/ribavirin in coinfected patients taking an antiretroviral regimen of Atripla and atazanavir (Reyataz).

After 12 weeks of treatment, 68 percent of telaprevir recipients had undetectable HCV, compared with just 14 percent using pegyalted interferon/ribavirin alone. Ongoing

analysis will show whether this response is sustained after the end of treatment. Telaprevir was generally well tolerated and did not significantly affect HIV drug levels.

Speaking at a press conference, Joseph Eron from the University of North Carolina said he would only feel comfortable giving telaprevir to coinfected people in combination with these specific HIV medications until more drug interaction studies are completed.

that we wanted to go in and I could understand completely why people would be offended. That’s why we never used them on our website,” Schofield told Carolyn Tyler, ABC 7 News reporter, but he wouldn’t disavow Hess or his comic book.

and believes that he’s within his legal rights, quoting the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Prince v. Massachusetts, which set the precedent over government authority over treatment of children over parental authority in the

Cost and access The benefits of the new hepatitis C drugs come with a steep cost.

Merck set the price for boceprevir at approximately $1,000 per week, while Vertex priced its slightly more effective telaprevir about four times higher.

Boceprevir and telaprevir are both taken three times daily, with treatment duration determined by early viral load reductions. People take boceprevir plus pegylated interferon/ribavirin for 24 to 32 weeks, in some cases continuing pegylated interferon/ribavirin alone through 48 weeks. Telaprevir

“One person’s religious freedom ends where another person’s body begins.”

–Matthew Hess, ‘Foreskin Man’ creator Martin Rawlings-Fein, a bisexual trans man and Jewish community lay leader, agreed with Slepian that the city’s voters should be skeptical of the initiative’s true intentions.

“It’s deeply alarming that Matthew Hess has been validated by people who do not see the inherent antiSemitism in his campaign literature in his comic book, ‘Foreskin Man,’” said Rawlings-Fein, who is studying to become a rabbi.

Rawlings-Fein recently conducted a Brit milah ceremony for his son after a six-month process with his wife, Shelli Rawlings-Fein, to make the decision to conduct the Brit milah rather than a Brit shalom, the non-circumcision version of the ceremony, he said.

“We wanted to make sure that we made a conscious decision and that’s the case with a lot of people, especially in our synagogue,” said Rawlings-Fein. “That parental decision is a big part of it. I think that you have to acknowledge that parents are taking care of their children in the way that they see fit religiously and medically.”

Hess, a 42-year-old heterosexual man in private industry, disagrees

interest of a child’s welfare.

“One person’s religious freedom ends where another person’s body begins,” said Hess, claiming that the courts have always upheld the ruling. “We feel very comfortable that we are well within constitutional law.”

Schofield agreed with Hess.

In a city where an individual’s rights to their body prevails, Schofield believes that boys “deserve the same protection to their body” as girls. “It’s their body, their right, their choice. They can make it when they are older.”

The final cut Several of San Francisco’s gay political leaders have expressed concern over the initiative.

“This proposal is rallying the Jewish community, including very progressive LGBT Jewish people who are really offended by this false message that circumcision is somehow barbaric or similar to female genital mutilation,” said openly gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, who is Jewish.

State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) agreed with Wiener

<<

Castro Lions From page 9

“It makes me feel good I can do something for somebody else.”

Only recently have the Castro Lions sought to raise their profile within the larger LGBT community and city as a whole.

“For a number of years our club was sort of ... Lionism itself preached not to toot your own horn. To do things just for the sake of doing them,” said Hale. “In recent years the Lions has changed that aspect of itself.”

As president Brunet said he plans to continue working on increasing

▼

triple therapy is taken for 12 weeks, with pegylated interferon/ribavirin continued through 24 or 48 weeks.

The longest courses of boceprevir and telaprevir both cost around $48,000, more than doubling the $30,000 tab for current standard therapy. Plus, many people require additional medications to manage anemia and other side effects.

“Both price points are outrageous,” said Lynda Dee of the Fair Pricing Coalition, a group formed to advocate for affordable HIV treatment. “What is worse, you can bet that no future HCV drugs will be priced less than Victrelis and Incivek.”

To enable more people to access the new drugs, both Merck and Vertex recently announced patient assistance programs that partially cover co-pays for people with private insurance and offer free medication for low-income people ineligible for other benefits programs.

Advocates remain concerned, however, that these prices will put further pressure on government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare at a time when they can least afford it.▼

and has been outspoken in his opposition.

“My read of it, and that of every legal scholar that has assessed it, quickly determined that it is a First Amendment right,” said Leno. “As a Jewish man this is a great concern and as a strong defender of a women’s reproductive choices I’m well aware that any legislation that ... interferes with the decision-making process between a physician and a family should be discouraged.”

Slepian went further, saying the ballot measure dampens the image of San Francisco as a welcoming city.

“I always view San Francisco as a good place to be a Jew,” said Slepian.

“The question is, is San Francisco going to be a welcoming place for Jews to live? That’s a question on the ballot here.”

Mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty also spoke out against the ban.

“From a standpoint of parental choice and public health, banning circumcision is the wrong thing for San Francisco,” said Dufty, an openly gay former San Francisco supervisor.

Dufty, who is Jewish, pointed out that a majority of the city’s Board of Supervisors oppose the initiative.

“I’m hopeful that the voters reject this [measure],” he said.

Hess and Schofield are just as adamant that San Francisco voters will see the issue as they do, in spite of a similar bill losing in Massachusetts last year, according to Hess. A woman in Santa Monica, California who was considering a similar ban dropped her proposal after the debate over anti-Semitism erupted, the New York Times reported last week.

“If someone could look at this rationally and logically we would win this initiative very, very easily,” said Schofield, who said that he would like a “respectful conversation” about the issue.▼

awareness of the Castro Lions and its contributions. Last year the group donated more than $22,000 to charitable causes.

“We have a lot of fun,” said Brunet.

Castro Lions members are invited to join the group by a current member. Anyone interested in becoming a member is welcome to attend a meeting, held the first and third Wednesdays of the month, at the Sausage Factory, 517 Castro Street. The next meeting will start at 6 p.m. on July 6.▼ For more information, call (415) 905-4667 or visit www.castrolionsclubsf.org/.

Jock Talk

From page 10

was intrigued to see how much sports function as family and sanctuary for athletes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think sports are tremendously important to them,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I get the sense that very often athletes pin their self-worth on their athletic prowess. Facing the possibility of their rejection from the entire sport that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re really good at athletically for these kids is really huge. And Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard that some gay people go into athletics because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a good way to hide who they are. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great: I can focus on being an athlete and I can focus on getting bigger and stronger and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to focus on being gay.â&#x20AC;?

Right now Smith said ABS is focused on getting out word on its hotline and interviewing mentors. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are looking for men and women who have played a sport, either individual or team, on a competitive level, not just the recreational level,â&#x20AC;?

Smith said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Experience at the high school, college or pro level is expected; athletes who have experience in a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;tour schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; system, like tennis or golf, or within a farm or development system

<<

Bankruptcy From page 8

no way to avoid it,â&#x20AC;? Balas said.

Because their finances are so entwined, they sought to file as a married couple. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Carlos and I demonstrated quite a significant amount of commitment to each other in the five and half years we have been together. We are a married couple,â&#x20AC;? Balas said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our medical decisions, social life, financial issues, you name it â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we are a married couple.â&#x20AC;?

The couple is hopeful their plan

<<

GOPers From page 1

overturn laws in states that allow same-sex couples to marry. But former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania took a hard line, saying he would attempt arguing that there needs to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;one law in the country with respect of marriage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we need consistency.â&#x20AC;?

Asked whether, as president, they would try to re-establish the ban on openly gay people in the military, businessman Herman Cain of Georgia said he would not. But former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d takes his cues from combat commanders on the issue.

The gay-related questions took only about five minutes of the twohour debate, which was staged on the campus of a small college in New Hampshire. It was the first debate in which major contenders for the Republican nomination took part.

The first question, from a reporter with the Union Leader newspaper, asked the candidates if they would, as president, seek to overturn a state law that allows same-sex couples to marry.

New Hampshire is one of five states that have such laws. The reporter directed the question to Bachmann.

Bachmann said she believes marriage is between a man and a woman but that she supports the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. The 10th Amendment says powers not specifically delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states.

She noted that she was raised by a single mother but believes the â&#x20AC;&#x153;best possible way to raise a child is to have a mother and a father.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;But would you campaign for repeal of the law in New Hampshire?â&#x20AC;? asked the reporter. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is not the role of the president to interfere with their state law,â&#x20AC;? said Bachmann. The large audience in the studio audience applauded that response.

like junior hockey, may also apply.

Coaches who fit these categories are also welcome to apply. Our goal is to develop mentors who have lived the experiences of competitive sports as closeted athletes, and who have grown through those experiences to become successful out men and women. Their experiences can be either positive or negative â&#x20AC;&#x201C; weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re talking to one guy who had a horrific coming out situation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but they need to have grown from them and be able to use those experiences to help others.â&#x20AC;?

Information for potential mentors may be found at www.athletebuddysystem.org. The hotline number is 1-855-646-1227.

June 16-22, 2011 â&#x20AC;˘

CllassiďŹ eds i Legal Services>>

Tech Support>>

The Law Offices of

Movie on Glenn Burke to air during Pride

CNN reporter John King, who served as moderator of the debate, then re-couched the question and posed it to the entire field. He asked them if they consider themselves â&#x20AC;&#x201C; on this issue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to be a â&#x20AC;&#x153;George W. Bush Republicanâ&#x20AC;? who believes in banning same-sex marriage or a â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dick Cheney Republicanâ&#x20AC;? who â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at one time â&#x20AC;&#x201C; said it should be left to the states.

Cain said he believes the issue should be left to the states. But the remaining candidates dodged the question and, instead, expressed their support for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage (though none specified that they would support a federal constitutional amendment, a state one, or both). One exception was Representative Ron Paul of Texas who said he would not support a constitutional amendment. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia added that he helped author the federal Defense of Marriage Act. And Bachmann added that, while she â&#x20AC;&#x153;would not be going into states to overturn their legislation,â&#x20AC;? she does support a constitutional amendment and worked for one while in the Minnesota Legislature.

King then brought up the recent passage of a measure in Congress to repeal the ban on openly gay service members. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you were president,â&#x20AC;? asked King, â&#x20AC;&#x153;would you leave the [repeal] policy or try to go backâ&#x20AC;? to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Ask, Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Tellâ&#x20AC;? ban?

Cain said he â&#x20AC;&#x153;wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t create a distraction by trying to overturnâ&#x20AC;? the law repealing DADT. But most of the other candidates said they would consider pushing to re-establish the ban. Gingrich and Bachman said they, like Pawlenty, would seek to re-establish the ban if military commanders told them they felt allowing gays was disrupting the military. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said only that the ban should â&#x20AC;&#x153;have been kept.â&#x20AC;?â&#x2013;ź

PATRICK MCMAHON BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY We ďŹ le Chapter 7 & Chapter 13 for individuals & small businesses who face:

Comcast SportsNet Bay Area will rebroadcast Out: The Glenn Burke Story three times this month: Monday, June 20 at 8 p.m.; Sunday, June 26 at 9 p.m.; and Thursday, June 30, at 2:30 p.m.

Glenn Burke, a former Oakland Athletic from Berkeley, was the first Major League Baseball player to come out. He died in 1995. See November 4, 2010 Jock Talk.â&#x2013;ź

to resolve their debts will now be finalized by the bankruptcy court. The court will take up their reorganization plan June 23.

It is unclear if the U.S. Trustee will appeal the ruling in the case. The agency will have 14 days to do so following the hearing next week. A spokeswoman for the agency did not respond to a request for comment.

Pfister said he expects the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will be asked to review the bankruptcy courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We think it is likely but unfortunate,â&#x20AC;? he said.â&#x2013;ź

BAY AREA REPORTER â&#x20AC;˘ 13

Â&#x2039; >(., .(950:/4,5; Â&#x2039; *9,+0;69 /(9(::4,5; Â&#x2039; -69,*36:<9, Â&#x2039; ;(?,: Â&#x2039; 9,76::,::065 Â&#x2039; :;<+,5; 36(5:

Â&#x2039; .6=,954,5; +,);:

Bankruptcy may be the answer...

-9,, 050;0(3 *65:<3;(;065

703 Market Street, Suite 1109 â&#x20AC;˘ San Francisco, CA 94103 www.bklawclinic.com â&#x20AC;˘ patrick@bklawclinic.com

www.stevenunderhill.com

â&#x2013;ź <<

Community News >>

Upside down?

Legal Notices>>

Get your computer p back up! p

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES T bl h ti I t ll ti T t i Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll fix your computer â&#x20AC;&#x201C; PC or Mac â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at your home or office throughout the Bay Area.

To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : GODDARD TRUBNICK LLC, PATRICK JOSEPH MOUNSEY. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 620 Post St., San Francisco, CA 94109-8222. Type of license applied for:

415-552-7909 www.remaincom.net

42- ON-SALE BEER AND WINE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; PUBLIC PREMISES JUN 2, 9,16, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033568300

Real Estate>>

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BEEFY & CO.,39 Lobos St.,San Francisco, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Menh Voong.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 05/17/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/17/11.

MAY 26,JUN 2, 9,16, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033544200

WWW.GAYREALESTATE.COM Instant Free Database of San Franciscoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Top Gay Realtors E34

Rentals>>

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SAN FRANCISCO SOLAR POWER,5530 Mission St., Apt.#8, San Francisco, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Carlos A. Aguirre.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/05/11.

MAY 19,26,JUN 2, 9, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033554700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as WEST COAST PEDICAB, 1455 Market St., San Diego, CA 92101. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Eric Wesselink.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 05/11/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/11/11.

TEVOQIVGIH GSQ

'EPP 4EVOQIVGIH ,SQI

Pet Adoptions>> Shadow is looking for a good home. She is a Black Lab/Mix. She is 9 years old , 70lbs,wellbehaved,no known medical conditions, and all vaccinations are current. Shadowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Owner got Alzheimers, and went to assisted living. Please leave a message at 415-861-7216 for Jeanine if you want to adopt Shadow.

EIB

MAY 19,26,JUN 2, 9, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033499300 The following person(s) is/are doing businessas 1.AVERY REAL ESTATE GROUP,2.ATELIER 360, 3053 Fillmore St., #265, San Francisco, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Golriz Natasha Shahabi.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 04/19/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/19/11.

MAY 19,26,JUN 2, 9, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033584400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DACHSTAR, 3927 26th St.,San Francisco, CA 94131-2001. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Clinton Alexander Werner.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 05/24/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/24/11.

MAY 26,JUN 2, 9,16, 2011

SECOND AMENDED SUMMONS:BREANNA M. MOORE V. BARBIZON MODELING SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO ET AL. CASE #1318600 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA, 312 C-EAST COOK STREET, SANTA MARIA, CALIFORNIA 93454, COOK DIVISION. NOTICE TO DEFENDANT: BARBIZON MODELING SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO, INTERNATIONAL MODELING & TALENT ASSOCIATION, INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS ASSOCIATION, 1-10 DOES. YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PLANTIFF BREANNA M. MOORE NOTICE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; You have been sued. The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below.

You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to ďŹ le a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can ďŹ nd these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www. courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the ďŹ ling fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not ďŹ le your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court.

There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonproďŹ t legal services program. You can locate these nonproďŹ t groups at the California Legal Services web site (www. lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/ selfhelp),or by contacting your local court or county bar association. Note: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case. The courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case.

The name and address of the court is :

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA, 312 C-EAST COOK STREET, SANTA MARIA, CALIFORNIA 93454 The name, address, and telephone number of the plantiffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attorney, or plantiff without an attorney, is.

BREANNA M. MOORE, 2775 SUMMER RANCH ROAD, PASO ROBLES, CA 93446.

805-237-1355 MAY 26,JUN 2, 9,16, 2011

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

14 • Bay Area Reporter • June 16-22, 2011

t

Legal Notices>> City and County of San Francisco For Papers June 16, 2011 SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT San Francisco International Airport is accepting proposals for four retail opportunities: Terminal 3 News and Specialty Store Lease; Terminal 3 and International Terminal News and Bookstore/Café Lease; Terminal 3, Boarding Area F Newsstand Lease; and Terminal 3, Boarding Area F Apparel and Accessories Store Lease. All requisite information has been posted online at http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/about/b2b/conces/ All proposals must be received no later than 2:00 p.m. on 6/29/2011.

URBAN FORESTRY COUNCIL Regular meetings are held on the fourth Friday of January, March, May, September and the second Friday in December at 8:30 a.m. at City Hall, Room 400 and on the 4th Tuesday in February, June, August, and October at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, Room 416. No regular meetings shall be scheduled for April, July and November. This information shall be posted on the Department of Environment’s website.

AlertSF NOTIFICATION SYSTEM 24/7 Emergency Information to your wireless device Alert SF is a free system that allows users to sign up to receive text and/or email alerts from the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) during an emergency in San Francisco.

Topics include: major traffic disruptions, watches and warnings for tsunamis and flooding, post-disaster information, and other alerts.To sign up, go to: https://www.alertsf.org/ 2011 PUBLIC NOTICES ONLINE For the Public Notices Directory for all City agencies, please see the following link at: http:// www.sfgov.org/notices SUMMER 2011 BOARD of SUPERVISORS Regularly Scheduled Board Meetings OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – Come see your San Francisco government in action.

Tuesdays, 2:00pm, City Hall Chamber, Room 250. June 21, June 28, July 12, 19, 26, August 7 INFORMATION ABOUT BOARD of SUPERVISORS COMMITTEES All meetings are held at City Hall in the Chamber (Room 250) or Room 263.

Please check the website for further details, including agendas and minutes: http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=193 **Meeting days and times are subject to change; please consult the website to confirm weekly scheduled meetings. http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=2314 Budget & Finance Supervisors Chu, Mirkarimi, Kim, Chiu, Wiener - Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. weekly Budget & Finance Subcommittee Supervisors Chu, Mirkarimi, Kim - Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. weekly City Operations & Neighborhood Services Supervisors Avalos, Mar, Elsbernd - 2nd and 4th Monday at 10:00 a.m.

Government Audit & Oversight Supervisors Campos, Farrell, Chiu - 2nd and 4th Thursday at 10:00 a.m.

Land Use & Economic Development Supervisors Mar, Cohen, Wiener - Monday at 1:00 p.m. weekly Public Safety Supervisors Mirkarimi, Cohen, Campos - 1st and 3rd Thursday, 10:30 AM Rules Supervisors Kim, Elsbernd, Farrell - 1st and 3rd Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

Joint City and School District Select Supervisors Cohen, Avalos, Chu - 2nd and 4th Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions.

statement file A-033584500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as H.K. FIRE PROTECTION INC, 3447 Mission St.,San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Shun Kit Ha.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business zunder the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/06/11.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/24/11.

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 statement file A-033581900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MARYLIN FASHION DESIGN, 654 Jackson St., Apt 1,San Francisco, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Lin Huang.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/23/11.

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 statement file A-033582700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE PRODUCER’S LOFT, 2773 Folsom St., Suite 101,San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Vic Ferrer.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/23/11.

statement file A-033531400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as FIVE STAR WINERY TRADING COMPANY, 181 Taraval St., San Francisco, CA 94116, This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Derrick Luu.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/02/11.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/02/11.

may 12,19,26,jun 2, 2011 statement file A-033571300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as MYSTIC INVESTMENTS, 228 Arlington St., San Francisco, CA 94131. This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Benedict Cerney The registrant(s) Commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/11.

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 statement file A-033576200

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 statement file A-033584800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as 1.S.F. MAD LAB,2.SAN FRANCISCO MAD LAB, 2050 Bryant St.,Loft #8,San Francisco, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by an individual, signed Robert W. Caughlan IV. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/19/11.

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 statement file A-033568500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS, 152 Jules Ave.,San Francisco, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, signed John Sommerfield. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/06. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/27/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CUTE TANK, 300 Buchanan St., #207,San Francisco, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Eden Slezin.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/24/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/24/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as EVA LINDA’S CLEANING SERVICE,194 Flournoy St., San Francisco, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Michael Mellegers.The registrant(s)commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/17/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/17/11.

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 statement file A-033572300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DIEP CONTRACTOR,462 Otsego Ave., San Francisco, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Tai Phu Diep.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/11.

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 statement file A-033573600 The following person(s) is/are doing business WENJIAN TRADING,759 Cayuga Ave.,San Francisco, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Wennaun Chen.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/11.

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 statement file A-033519400

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 statement file A-033582800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as NOB HILL FLORIST, 1396 California St., San Francisco, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Terence L. Calhoun.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/11/83. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/23/11.

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# cnc-11-547820 In the matter of the application of JILL MARIE CONNER KAUFMAN for change of name. The application of JILL MARIE CONNER KAUFMAN for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that JILL MARIE CONNER KAUFMAN filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to JILL CONNER KAUFMAN Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 16th of AUGUST, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011

Statement of abandonment of use of ficticious business name: #A-0331938-02 The following persons have abandoned the use of the ficticious business name known as ALL-PHASE TILE,33 Dorman Ave., Suite 100, San Francisco, CA 94124.This business was conducted by an individual, signed Peter Mar. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/05/10.

may 12,19,26,jun 2, 2011 statement file A-033519900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CHURCHILL, 198 Church St., San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Anthony HealyLondon.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/27/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/27/11.

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 statement file A-033582400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as YORKIES BRAND BRIEFS, 860 Corbett St., #202, San Francisco, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Patrick H. York.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/12/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/23/11.

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 statement file A-033548300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as GREENWICH STREET DESIGN, 287 28TH Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121. This business is conducted by co-partners, signed Ann B. Morris.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/09/11.

may 26,jun 2, 9,16, 2011 state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# cnc-11-547777 In the matter of the application of DANIEL CANDELARIO SANTIAGO for change of name. The application of DANIEL CANDELARIO SANTIAGO for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that DANIEL CANDELARIO SANTIAGO filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to DANIEL SANTIAGO CANDELARIO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 28th of JULY, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033534000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TAKES OF YOU, 4249 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Floyd Walls.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/03/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033533900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TAKES OF YOU, 538 Castro St., San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Floyd T. Walls.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/03/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033589400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LATITUDE 19, 3118 22nd St., San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, signed James B. Lappin Jr.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/26/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/26/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033591800

statement file A-033593800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PASEO PROPERTIES,355 Vista Linda, Mill Valley, CA 94941. This business is conducted by a limited liability company,signed Porter Farthing.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033590700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as VITORIA ROOTER AND PLUMBING, 1438 34th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Hai Yuan Huang.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/26/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/26/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033590100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as JAZZ CELLARS, 1406 ST.Kitts Lane, Foster City, CA 94404. This business is conducted by an limited liability company,signed Joseph J. Lazzara.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/26/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/26/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033594000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as EB AUTO SPORT,1939 Oakdale Ave., San Francisco, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a general partnership,signed Meelan Bravo.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/23/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033587900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ORPHAN ANDY’S, 3991 A 17th St., San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Dennis Ziebell.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/18/77. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/25/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033598500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as EMC BUILDING MAINTENANCE, 1185 Shawnee Ave., San Francisco, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Enrique Nacias.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 nOTICE OF APPLICATIoN to sell AlCOHOLIC BEVERAGEs To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : ALIMENTO LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 507 Columbus Ave., San Francisco, CA 94133-2801. Type of license applied for:

20- Off-sale beer and wine jun 16,23,30,2011 nOTICE OF APPLICATIoN to sell AlCOHOLIC BEVERAGEs To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : MEERIYAGERD INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 530-532 Valencia St., San Francisco, CA 94110-1115. Type of license applied for:

41- On-sale beer and wine – Eating place jun 16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033553300

statement file A-033599300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as READINGS BY NINA, 2157 Lombard St.,San Francisco, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Stephanie Wain.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/05/06. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033598400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as NO SMALL CHANGE,911 Rockdale Drive, San Francisco, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Manuel Gregory Quiroga.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033595200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as JAMAJAZ FAMILY DAY CARE, 180 San Pablo Ave., San Francisco, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Venetia H. Gatus.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/23/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/31/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033594800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TRISTAR HOME LOANS, 88 Kearny St.,3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Brett McGovern.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/20/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/31/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033605000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LAW OFFICE OF CHRISTOPHER PEIL, 555 Fulton St., #108, San Francisco, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Christopher Peil.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/07. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/03/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011 state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# cnc-11-547814 In the matter of the application of LE VAN NGUYEN for change of name. The application of LE VAN NGUYEN for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that LE VAN NGUYEN filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to TONY VAN NGUYEN LEE Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 11th of AUGUST, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011 statement file A-033612300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PLUMFILE LLC, 566 S.Van Ness Ave.,#25, San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Jennifer Wolf.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/07/11.

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011 statement file A-033616900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as COMMUNICATION RESOURCES, 20 Quickstep Lane,#3,San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Whitney Wong.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/09/91. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/08/11.

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011 statement file A-033624300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as IMPROV CONSULTANTS, 5808 California St., San Francisco, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Lisa Safron.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/27/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TAREK SAIDI CHEF SERVICE, 2290 Stockton St., #309, San Francisco, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Tarek Saidi.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/09/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/10/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033589000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as KARNEY MUSIC AND SOUNDS, 743 Wisconsin St.,Apt. Y,San Francisco, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Anna K. Karney.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/13/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/13/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033603800

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011 statement file A-033619000

The following person(s) is/are doing businessas CHRIS’ SPA NAIL 3821 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Cuc Thi Tran.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/25/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/25/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HEALTHY PRODUCE,645 Clement St., San Francisco, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Karen Wong. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/0211.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033540600

jun 9,16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033613000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HEAVENLY ART STORE, 4350 Kirkham St.,Suite 202,San Francisco, CA 94122-2952. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Sukilena Quin.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/04/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/09/11.

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011 statement file A-033579900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SAN FRANCISCO BROKERS CLUB, 564 Market St.,Suite 721, San Francisco, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Stephen Larwence.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/04/11.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/04/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BAY BLASTING, 4130 Cesar Chavez St., San Francisco, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, signed James Hickey.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/07/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/07/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BANCARELLA, 350 Powell St.,San Francisco, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Gary Rulli.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/20/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011

t

Read more online at www.ebar.com

Movers>>

June 16-22, 2011 • Bay Area Reporter • 15

Counseling>>

Upkeep>>

Hauling>> Gaylesta2x2_0610CN

Hauling 24/7 441-1054 Lg. Truck

e25w

Household Services>>

BernardHodes_2x4_2411 ColombaCanas_1x2_1811 Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) General Manager B U I L D I N G S O LU T I O N S GC Lic. # 442621

prune your tree

Arborist with Amazing Aesthetic & Pruning Skill. Will transform your Tree. 334-3334

E24W

House Cleaning

Architectural Grade work

Inside & Outside. Wash, Carpet Deep Cleaning.

Enrique 415-710-6979

CALL US FOR FREE ESTIMATE

E23W

Quality Housecleaner Polish, wash, iron.

Call Jose 415-235-9747

KITCHEN / BATHROOM UPGRADES ADDITIONS Leak and Dry rot repairs Decks / Stairs Repairs and New Doors / Windows / Closets Tile / Concrete work

415-725-1073

CLEAN METH SUB?

Non-Judgemental Support Group for help with Fantasies.Avoiding Crystal and Harmful Scenes.

For Gay, Bi, or Queer Men/Male Identified With At Least 4 Months Clean of Meth. Downtown SF Location. Contact mgenibiz@ yahoo.com

E25W

Cleaning Professional 25 Years Exp (415) 664-0513 * Roger Miller

E25W

Housecleaning since 1979.

Many original clients. All supplies.

HEPA Vac. Richard 415-255-0389

e23W

Practical support to get over it, to it or through it:

E25W

To plac nline o and o to Interested candidates d ad, g should have a minimum of 10 years of executive e Classifi experience in a complex operating environment. Strong leadership

consideration will be given to experience in public transit. For additional information or to submit a resume, please contact Gregg Moser at Krauthamer & Associates via email: gmoser@krauthamerinc.com by July 1, 2011. BART is an equal opportunity employer.

Jobs Offered>>

GUIDEDMINDTOUR.COM

CLOUD 9 CANINE

Dog walking, pet sitting, play groups. Insured, CPR Certified, Dog Tech Certified.

Excellent References.

Sky 415-531-5905 sky@cloud9canine.com

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is searching for a highly energetic, strong, visionary and strategic General Manager. BART operates one of the nation’s leading rail systems (the largest in the San Francisco Bay Area) and provides over 101 million passenger trips per year on 104 miles of track. Candidates will have a successfully demonstrated track record of managing significant and complex operations, budgets, and capital projects; supervising large diverse workplaces and staff; and communicating a vision at the local, state ad national level. The GM will work with the Board of Directors and employees to deliver the highest level of daily service to BART’s customers, while partnering with the local community and the agency’s stakeholders to obtain the necessary funding to maintain BART’s existing operations and complete its capital programs on time and on budget. Candidates should possess excellent leadership, interpersonal and negotiating skills and be a collaborator and consensus builder who can manage rint and interests at the same time. many activities e your p

e22w

Don’t Miss Out!

EIB

Upkeep>>

Call 415-861-5019 right now, to place your ad in our Pride Issue!!!

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) General Manager The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is searching for a highly energetic, strong, visionary and strategic General Manager. BART operates one of the nation’s leading rail systems (the largest in the San Francisco Bay Area) and provides over 101 million passenger trips per year on 104 miles of track. Candidates will have a successfully demonstrated track record of managing significant and complex operations, budgets, and capital projects; supervising large diverse workplaces and staff; and communicating a vision at the local, state ad national level. The GM will work with the Board of Directors and employees to deliver the highest level of daily service to BART’s customers, while partnering with the local community and the agency’s stakeholders to obtain the necessary funding to maintain BART’s existing operations and complete its capital programs on time and on budget. Candidates should possess excellent leadership, interpersonal and negotiating skills and be a collaborator and consensus builder who can manage many activities and interests at the same time.

BAYAREAREPORTER

It’s our BIGGEST, most-read issue of the year.

Brookline Electric 415-239-5393 Small Jobs Now

e21w

E & R Painting Interior and Exterior Free Estimates Call 650-755-4343

Ninth S.F. CA Call now, or 395 you’ll regret it. Street Interested candidates should have a minimum of 10 years of executive Fax from: The

e26w

Fax to:

PHONE 415.861.5019

FAX 861-8144 leadership experience in a complex operating environment. Strong consideration will be given to experience in public transit. For additional information or to submit a resume, please contact Gregg Moser at Krauthamer & Associates via email: gmoser@krauthamerinc.com by July 1, 2011. BART is an equal opportunity employer.

22

22

Fight night

Wishing well

24

23

Fine arts round-up

The

www.ebar.com/arts

Vol. 41 • No. 24 • June 16-22, 2011

Harmony Santana and Esai Morales in Gun Hill Road.

Frameline turns 35 ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶

by David Lamble

✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Courtesy Frameline

T

his 35th edition of the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival (June 16-26 at the Castro, Roxie and Victoria Theatres in the city, with selected programs playing at the Rialto Cinemas Elmwood in Berkeley) has an ambitious array of over 200 films from 30 countries. This year, the festival is putting special emphasis on a collection of narrative features, docs and short films dealing with transgender issues and communities, kicking off with opening-night curtain-raiser Gun Hill Road.

This year’s Frameline Award will be presented to comedian Margaret Cho prior to the screening of her latest comedy concert Cho Dependent, Sunday, June 19, 6:30 p.m. at the Castro. There

will be special programs devoted to Transgender Images in Cinema (Victoria, 6/19); and Frameline: the Early Years (Main Library, 6/23), as well as a conversation with the makers of the Sundance-acclaimed Pariah, about the life of a black lesbian teen in Brooklyn (Victoria, 6/18), discussing the film’s commercial debut this summer.

Gun Hill Road There’s an eruption of convict-on-convict violence in the opening minutes of this extraordinary queer youth melodrama that stays with you all through the tale of a femaleidentified transgender teen whose life is thrown into turmoil upon the release from prison of his fiercely macho daddy. We see

an inmate stabbing another prisoner before he’s hauled away by the guards and tossed into solitary. The next time we see Enrique Michael Rodriguez (a ferocious turn from Esai Morales), he’s headed for his family’s apartment in the heart of a sprawling Puerto Rican ghetto, three stops from the end of #5 line in the Bronx. Enrique expects to step right back into his patriarchal role as husband and Papi to a brood that includes a beautiful teenage boy, Michael (Harmony Santana), and a hardworking wife.

Michael has turned 16 and, unbeknownst to Enrique, is calling himself Vanessa, using the girl’s bathroom at school, starting See page 28 >>

Sex appeal as fine art

by John F. Karr

Y

ou have only to check out my bookshelf to find that erections have hardly been absent from “serious” gay photography collections.

Even overt, explicit and insertive sex has had its moments. Yet I can’t recall books with such specific, focused intent on – well, call it what you will, sex art or art sex, as the new collections from Tom Bianchi and Mark Henderson. You’ll no doubt remember how much I enjoy the work of these men. Yet even to a fan such as I, their new books surpass their previous efforts, making me wholeheartedly embrace both.

Bianchi declares that the depiction of gay sex can be fine art right in his title, Fine Art Sex (Bruno Gmunder, 120 pages, $43.99). He believes in the

transformative power of sex, and the blessings of viewing it, in art and as art. He doesn’t draw lines between his life and his art. “My mental and physical passions merge in a spiritual synthesis,” he claims in the book. “I revel in connecting the dots between a gorgeous melody, a beautiful wine, a wonderfully engineered sports car, a moving film, and the powerful, elegant arc of an erect penis.”

One of those powerful, elegant arcs belongs to Bianchi, who is singular among photographers for appearing, bonered and beautiful, alongside and engaged with his models. So cut him some slack for being a bit defensive in his introductory essay “Art History,” which reads in spots like one of those prefaces that gay pulps had in the 1950s, making claims for See page 27 >>

{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }

.

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Out There

June 16-22, 2011

▼

Pictures at an exhibition: the books

by Roberto Friedman

W

e read a lot of books and write about many for review, but we realized there was a whole category of books we spend many hours perusing that we never think about reviewing. Those would be the catalogues for art shows that open here in the Bay Area, which we acquire mostly as reference for art reviews we may have assigned or edited. But we learned long ago from an artlover who devours exhibition catalogues while ensconced in his Eero Saarinen chair for hours on end: they can be fascinating reads whether you’ve been to the exhibit or not.

Catalogues add depth and nuance to your experience of the artworks or culture examined. Case in point, Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance, now on view at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (through Sept. 11).

We attended the press preview for the show, heard Associate Curator

of Southeast Asian Art Natasha Reichle describe the importance of ritual in Balinese culture, and looked at artifacts, art and firsthand reportage in the exhibit. But later, at leisure on our decrepit sofa, we had time to peruse the catalogue and really consider the pieces for what they showed about the human imagination. And we learned from a glossary that the large, festive decorative poles, which we thought were palm fronds, arranged in the museum’s courtyard were examples of penjor, described as “arching bamboo poles decorated with palm leaf ornaments.” We also learned more about lamak, “a rectangular hanging, a base for offerings” used for rituals in temples and shrines. Revisiting this show between book covers greatly enhanced our experience.

Similarly, reading The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde, the catalogue for the blockbuster exhibition

now showing at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (through Sept. 6), gave us further insight into this remarkable family and their art collections. Just one example: a striking 1933 portrait of Gertrude Stein by the artist Francis Picabia becomes all the more compelling when you know the personal history involved. “Picabia wrote to G to let her know he’d finished the portrait, and he delivered it to her just days after having been awarded the Legion of Honor. The Picabias [Francis and his wife Olga] remained friends with Gertrude and Alice B. Toklas through the 1930s, visiting them at [their house in] Bilignin, playing with their Chihuahuas Byron and his successor, Pépé – both of whom the Picabias had given as gifts.”

Parenthetically, Le Corbusier’s Villa Stein-de Monzie, les Terrasses, was built for Michael and Sarah Stein in Vauccresson, west of Paris – not in Palo Alto, where the Steins relocated, as was incorrectly reported in these pages (thanks, M.S.!).

Every time we see pictures of Alice in either Gertrude-related exhibition now on show (the other one is at the Contemporary Jewish Museum SF), we wonder what she would have thought about the alley named for her here in San Francisco. Alice B. Toklas Alley goes downhill fast from Van Ness Ave. to Polk St., with one side overshadowed by the behemoth that is a multiplex cinema. Well, we suppose anything is better than nuthin’ for SF’s famous lesbian daughter, but we know if Gertrude were still around, she’d throw her (considerable) weight around and get Alice a better alley, perhaps one in charming Hayes Valley. Surely back when Toklas lived on the erstwhile Myrtle Alley, it was part of a better neighborhood.

Our catalogue gluttony makes us somewhat ungrateful for the arrival of the one accompanying Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris, now at the de Young Museum (through Oct. 9). All of the artwork on view is here, and there are a few short afterwords, but scholarly essays are largely absent. As one art expert we chatted with at the press preview confided ruefully, “It’s a picture book.” Our Arts & Culture coverage comes next week.

Self serving Walking to Hollywood: Memories of Before the Fall (Grove Press) is

the new book by British satirist Will Self, author of Cock & Bull, My Idea of Fun and Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys. It’s really three related memoirs, the central one chronicling Self ’s journey thus: “I’ll walk from my house to Heathrow – probably via Pinewood Studios where they’re shooting the new James Bond film – then I’ll fly to LAX, and walk from there on to Hollywood.” Walking in LA? It’s meant as an undercover approach, a stealth attack on the dream factory.

But the book’s three parts are also meant to replicate states of mind, as Self notes in an afterword.

“The mental pathologies that underlie the three memoirs [are] obsessive-compulsive disorder for ‘Very Little,’ psychosis for ‘Walking to Hollywood’ and Alzheimer’s for ‘Spurn Head.’” Conceptually interesting, in practice this makes reading them, especially “Spurn,” somewhat daunting. Even Self ’s early foray into mental disease, The Quantity Theory of Insanity, was grounded in a sort of rational discourse. We enjoy Self ’s complex wordplay and gelid eye for the foibles of contemporary culture and celebrity, and we’ve been reading him for decades, but even for an admitted Self fan, Walking to Hollywood was something of a tough slog.

Gay White Way Last, some juicy notes on the

gay Manhattan theatre scene from our Arts & Culture traveling correspondent.

“Handsome Claybourne Elder is superb as Ollie in Moises Kaufman’s remarkable staging of Tennessee Williams’ memorable short story ‘One Arm.’ This account of a one-armed hustler is about loneliness, lust, compassion, the inability to truly communicate, and it has a stunning, bleak ending. It would be perfect for San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre or Theatre Rhino.

“Brian Bedford is brilliant as Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s comic masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest. The most moving moment in Nora and Delia Ephron’s often hilarious Love, Loss – And What I Wore is the lesbian wedding segment. The revival of Larry Kramer’s groundbreaking The Normal Heart has dazzled critics and audiences. Good word of mouth is keeping the musical adaptation of Priscilla Queen of the Desert running. My Big Gay Italian Wedding shows that heterosexual couples don’t have a monopoly on nuptial stress. Cole Porter’s Anything Goes is again a hit. In July, O Coward, a revue with songs by and anecdotes about Sir Noel Coward, opens. He was frequently ‘Mad About the Boy,’ and one of his many lovers may have been Prince George, Duke of Kent, uncle to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.”▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 16-22, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Film

June 16-22, 2011

▼

Documentaries in action

by David Lamble

T

he 35th San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival’s marathon of quality documentaries plays like our community’s own live-action History Channel. Highlights from Frameline’s first week: Wish Me Away Like many queer folks, I’ve long nurtured a soft spot for country music divas like the legendary Patsy Cline or Tammy Wynette. I worked my through college as a weekend country-radio DJ; did I ever expect to see a major country star pop out of the closet?

Hell, no! As depicted in Bobbie Birleffi & Beverly Kopf ’s heartfelt doc, the Kansas-born, Nashvillenurtured modern country star Chely Wright would seem to have every reason to stay in. Raised in a Christian home by a loving dad and a hard-ass mom, Wright spent two decades working her way up the country music charts: “Shut Up and Drive,” “Single White Female.” Most of us have never been closer to country’s God-fearing citadel than in Robert Altman’s Nashville. Wish Me Away affords a peek at what Wright might lose: a devoted fan base, and the popfantasy dream of having her name linked romantically with pale male vocalists like Brad Paisley. Wright’s decision to break off with niceguy Paisley provides one of many poignant interludes. Haunted by a close brush with suicide, Wright ultimately decides to remake her 20-year career by throwing herself a coming out party complete with book-tour stops at the Today show and Oprah. This emotional journey, with its focus on Wright’s informal female and gay male support group, makes for an unforgettable Festival Centerpiece. (Castro, 6/22) The Grove Director Andy

Abrahams Wilson explores the eye of the storm of controversy that unexpectedly envelops a beloved if little-known Bay Area memorial.

Originally created by a hardy band of volunteers as a serene way to remember friends and lovers lost to AIDS, the Grove had its profile significantly raised in 1996 when Rep. Nancy Pelosi obtained for it the status of a national memorial (one of 44). This perk became rather pesky when a band of AIDS activists raised questions as to why visitors to Golden Gate Park discover the leafy, sequestered memorial largely by accident. An internal battle to raise the profile of the Grove by erecting a Vietnam Veterans-style memorial there provoked a public squabble, with volunteers threatening to sit down in front of the bulldozers if necessary.

To his credit, Wilson gives both sides of the flap a fair hearing, while making it clear which side he favors. A crucial moment has backers of a design competition for a radical Grove attention-grabber parading their handiwork before Pelosi, who, as one participant notes, has a pained expressed on her face, as if she had just been stabbed in the neck. This is an awesome exploration of an overlooked local landmark. (Castro, 6/21) Miwa: A Japanese Icon He’s all of five-foot three, although a bit taller in heels, but even well into his 70s, Akihiro Maruyama (known to his legion of fans as Miwa) is a national treasure: Japan’s David Bowie or Boy George, but even more rare, an openly queer activist/entertainer in a nation where the obstacles to LGBT freedom are more pervasive than in Bible Belt America. PascalAlex Vincent, writer/director of the delicious twin-boy road movie Give Me Your Hand, begins his story with Miwa’s early success as an

androgynous skinny-boy pop singer who, in the late 60s, suddenly turns into a cross-dressing seductress in the breakout pop movie Black Lizard.

With healthy slices of archival performance pieces to illuminate esoteric moments of Japanese theatre/pop/film, the now-elderly Miwa – dressed somewhat like an elderly geisha, a role he explicitly declines – tells his story in a frank, disarming style. Among other things, he has a wryly funny story about his first meeting with literary icon Yukio Mishima. They would eventually be friends and lovers, but not without a bit of resistance on Miwa’s part. (Castro, 6/20) This Is What Love in Action Looks Like Morgan Jon Fox provides an emotionally riveting account of how a small group of Southern teens banded together to rescue a friend from the clutches of a Christian “ex-gay” group dedicated to abducting and brainwashing vulnerable queer adolescents. Friends of Zach Stark learned from his blog that he had been involuntarily committed to a Love in Action (LIA) compound by his fundamentalist parents.

The kids boldly decided to set up an information picket outside the LIA facility that quickly attracted the media spotlight. Laced with revealing insider stories from former LIA “inmates,” the story takes an unexpected turn when the protests provoke an apparent change of heart from the LIA’s ex-gay leader. An exhilarating illustration that it does indeed gets better and sometimes much more quickly than we expect, this doc provides an inspiring peek at a feisty new generation of young queer activists and their straight-kid allies. (Victoria, 6/18) Tales of the Waria Kathy Huang’s intimate doc explores a

Courtesy Frameline

Country music star Chely Wright in Wish Me Away.

vibrant Muslim society’s surprising tolerance for biological men who conduct their daily lives as women, including having de facto marriages with straight men, while expressing no desire to have surgery. Suharni, an HIV+ former sex worker, has a solid relationship, but feels a need to leave the nest to make extra cash in the tourist haunts of Bali. The aging Mami Ria gets a nip-and-tuck in a desperate attempt to hold onto her status as #2 wife of a cop. The youthful Agus, who abandoned cross-dressing for a traditional marriage, has lately felt more of a need to hang with his old waria friends. Beauty-pageant trainer Tiara considers her female ways to be part of God’s plan. It’s clear that while these “lady men” have avoided the perils of a queer identity in Muslim society, the aging process produces new challenges, for which there are few comfortable answers.

(Roxie, 6/18)

Making the Boys During the festival the Roxie Theater offers this reprise from Frameline 2009.

Crayton Robey assembles friends and foes of Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band, and spices up the catfight with vintage footage: playwright Edward Albee tartly recalls his misgivings with Crowley’s script and his own refusal to invest in the original Off-Broadway production, while Hedwig creator John Cameron Mitchell praises Crowley’s talent for capturing queer men’s unique capacity for survival. Crowley, who has never had another comparable hit despite a prosperous run as chief writer for TV’s Hart to Hart, candidly recalls the rollercoaster ride that climaxed in the play’s five-year New York run and finally brought Boys to the screen with every member of its original cast. He also relates the AIDS-related fates of many in the ensemble. (Little Roxie, 6/17-23)▼

Courtesy Frameline

T’Ain’t Nobody’s Business: Queer Blues Divas of the 1920s.

Short but pithy

by David Lamble

F

rom the neurotic, navel-gazing, horny-frustrated romantic denizens of the eagerly anticipated program for young dudes Blokes, to the Down Under zaniness of Zombies, Aussies, Musicals, Oh My!, this year’s Frameline batch of 151 queer shorts, from over two dozen countries, comprising 21 programs, is truly a festival within the festival.

What follows is a quick gulp from six programs in Frameline’s first week.

We Once Were Tide This deliciously claustrophobic, moody novella from Britain’s Isle of Wight distills the last 24 hours in a relationship between two lads who appear to have everyone’s wet dream: a get-away-from-it-all oceanfront paradise almost all to themselves. Anthony is increasingly frazzled from the emotional toll of looking after his invalid mom, while his humpy boyfriend is suspiciously preoccupied with his Polaroid camera. Director Jason Bradbury squeezes a proper English buttonedup weepy from all the fog and ennui.

Family Affair The truly nutty hard-on Brazilians have for their soccer is the backdrop for a queer boy’s backroom first kiss in Caru

Alves de Souza’s family short. For the angelic Rossi, all the taunts and petty-thug acting out are worth enduring for a quick lesson on how to inhale a cigarette from one of his brutish older bro’s cute-as-abutton buddies. (both in the Blokes program, Castro, 6/17) Franswa Sharl In Australian director Hannah Hilliard’s hilarious retro short, a Justin Bieber-worthy adorable blonde teen nearly gives his manly, supercompetitive dad a stroke at the climax of the 1980 Miss Fiji contest. This one is for those longing for a queer-styling Aussie episode of The Brady Bunch.

(Fun in Boy Shorts program, Castro, 6/18, 26) Poker Face The perils of an allgirls poker night are nimbly essayed in Becky Lane’s tricky short about the never-ending process of coming out. (Fun in Girl Shorts program, Castro, 6/18, 26) Slut – The Musical Australian director Tonnette Stanford proves that Priscilla Queen of the Desert was no fluke in this high-energy boys’ high school glitter-dance extravaganza. (Zombies, Aussies, Musicals, Oh My! program, Victoria, 6/20) See page 28 >>

▼

Theatre >>

June 16-22, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

Incoming: quirky & queer

by Richard Dodds

A

bout this time each year, as the big theaters prepare for summer vacation, productions that may be one or more of the following – original, quirky, imaginative, shoestring, and what-were-theythinking? – begin popping up like toadstools on a wet summer morn.

News of the first blooms has begun arriving, though this is unlikely the final flurry.

One of the incoming shows has played such venues as the Bonita Springs Elks Lodge, Silver Lake Cricket Restaurant, and Fred’s Food, Fun, and Spirits. These establishments are in Florida, an apparent demographic match for Assisted Living: The Musical!, and now creators Rick Compton and Betsy Bennett have sent their show on the road. Its SF venue will be the Imperial Palace restaurant, where weekend matinee performances run June 18-July 31. Geriatric jokes, sketches and popular songs with parody lyrics (“Nobody Loves You When You’re Down with Gout”) are served up with dim sum. Tickets at (888) 88-LAUGH or www.assistedlivingthemusical.com.

The target audience is probably younger for the world-premiere musical OMFG! The subject is online dating, and bogus stories and fantasy scenarios pile up while a web-wired couple procrastinate over an in-the-flesh meeting. While the protagonists are a man and a woman (Jackson Davis and Cindy Goldfield), composer Christopher Winslow and librettist-lyricist Gavin Geoffrey Dillard are both gay, with the latter’s name perhaps recognizable for his career in adult-sex services, his chronicles about it, and his homoerotic poetry. OMFG! will run July 8-17 at the ODC Theater. More info at www.odctheater. org.

Local gay playwright Stuart Bousel is doing double duty this summer, with two new plays running within a few blocks of each other. At the Exit, The Edenites is having its premiere run through June 25 under the aegis of No Nude Men Productions. Gay, straight, bi, and otherwise-oriented characters mash it up in a play described as part soap opera, part Chekhov, part fluff, and part autobiography.

Tickets through www.sffringe.org.

Nearby at StageWerx, Wily West Productions is presenting Bousel’s Juno en Victoria through July 2. In the funny-sad play, Bousel uses the conventions of Victorian

David Allen

Playwright Stuart Bousel has two new plays running within a few blocks of each other: The Edenites at the Exit, and Juno en Victoria at StageWerx.

D’Arcy Drollinger

Jackson Davis and Cindy Goldfield play online daters resistant to an actual meeting in the musical OMFG!, having its work premiere at the ODC Theater.

parlor drama to reinterpret Greek mythology. Tickets at www. wilywestproductions.com.

John Orlock’s Indulgences in a Louisville Harem had the distinction of being one of the first two plays presented in the now internationally famous Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville. The year was 1977, and its companion piece, The Gin Game, went on to win the Pulitzer, the Tony and subsequent multiple productions. Orlock’s Indulgences is receiving one of its rare revivals June 17-July 30 at the Phoenix Theatre. The tale of two spinsters in 1902 who read a guide to eligible bachelors, resulting in the arrival of two somewhat unusual versions of that species, is being produced by Off Broadway West. Call 407-3214 or go to www.offbroadwaywest. org.

The Book of Liz really isn’t a summer pop-up, but for the brother-sister team of Amy and David Sedaris, we’ll bend the rules. This theatrical collaboration between two social observers nonpareil is the final production in Custom Made Theatre’s season, running June 24-July 31, at the Gough Street Playhouse. The plot is hard to describe, except that it involves a member of an Amish-like cult escaping into the real world, where “real” is open to interpretation. By the way, and seriously, cheese balls play a pivotal role. More info at www.custommade.org.

Make room for Marga You can get a double dose of Marga Gomez in the coming days before she heads East for a Big Apple gig. First up there is Marga & the Tomboys, June 24 at the LGBT Center as part of the 14th annual National Queer Arts Festival.

This is her fifth year as a festival headliner and procurer of rising comedy talent, and she shares the bill with Janine Brito. You can get the full festival schedule at www. queerculturalcenter.org.

Gomez will then move over to the Marsh for a final workshop run (July 7-24) of Not Getting Any Younger before the solo comedy show heads to the 20th annual edition of Hot! The NYC Celebration of Queer Culture. As its title indicates, Not Getting Any Younger is a “coming of middle age” tale in which “ma’am” becomes a slur when uttered by salesclerks. Call 826-5750 or go to www.themarsh.org. ▼ BARstage@comcast.net.

ebar.com

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Theatre

June 16-22, 2011

▼

Military male bonding

by Richard Dodds

D

o more choices mean more freedom? Yes, frequently, but there can be a price paid as our internal GPS devices can’t keep up with life’s expanding roadmaps.

By coincidence that nevertheless reflects a contemporary zeitgeist, New Conservatory Theatre Center and Theatre Rhinoceros are concurrently presenting plays that intertwine the opportunities for gay characters in current and past time.

The distribution of potential joys and miseries may get rearranged, but the human brain is like a whacka-mole game popping up a new complication as soon as a previous one has been shoved down.

While London-based Alexi Kaye Campbell’s The Pride at NCTC alternates scenes involving gay life among parallel characters in 1958 and 2008, John Fisher divides more loosely parallel scenarios by more than a century in Fighting Mac! The newest play by Theatre Rhino’s artistic director is a work of startling revelations, campy contemporary humor, horrific battle scenes, and the kind of dramatic license of historical events that culminates in an utterly unpredictable conclusion.

The play’s title comes from the affectionate nickname given to Sir Hector MacDonald, a lowly-born Scotsman who became a war hero through a series of Victorian-era battles around the globe, notably celebrated in Scotland for rising

to the level of major-general in a system that usually reserved such prestigious posts for the English gentry. That a ranker born into such ignoble circumstances could climb so high also made him resented by those could undermine his career – which indeed began when rumors of his homosexual behavior began to spread.

We are introduced to MacDonald in the first scene, but we soon realize we are in the 21st century as a high school senior with a MacDonald obsession is in a vintage military costume preparing for a performance he is preparing on his hero. The tipoff is the house fan lugged on stage by another teen in street clothes to create a music video-type wind effect that will stylishly flutter the faux Mac’s silk scarf. These two school chums living in Marin are obviously gay, but in different stages of denial.

Despite DADT, Jesse has wrangled an appointment to West Point, while his Mormon buddy Daniel will be heading off to BYU for college and eventually marriage, children, and self-hatred.

As we flashback to Sir Hector’s exploits, there are moments when it seems we are watching scenes from Jesse’s theatrical project, but that device fades away as their two stories become increasingly complicated in both military and personal dramas.

By the time Jesse has been shipped off to Afghanistan in 2012, DODA has been repealed but homophobia remains a barrier for advancement,

Jean genie

by Richard Dodds

T

ry to imagine if it was Martha Raye rather than Barbara Eden who popped out of the bottle in I

Dream of Jeannie. Wisecracks and mugging from a slapstick jester might not have been quite so alluring to Larry Hagman’s character as the come-hither flirtations from

especially for Jesse’s fellow cadet/ boyfriend, whose post-West Point ambitions are about acquiring power in Washington. Their reunion becomes emotionally wrought as their discordant views on coming out as gay men rip the relationship apart.

Sir Hector, while still in his glory days, has his own complications, including a secret and mostly sexless marriage to an open-minded Scottish woman, and a carnal relationship with his commanding officer Field Marshal Herbert Kitchener, who believes wives sap soldiers’ energies while all-male environs facilitate fraternal bonds.

Fisher’s characters are fairly exploding with ideas and arguments about sexuality, friendship, gay selfloathing, ambition, labels, and even the notion that Mormon wives might use strap-ons to help assuage tottering husbands’ gay urges. The breadth of ideas that Fisher wants to share likely goes beyond even the already broad scope of the play, but his staging of his own material is sharp, forceful, and emotional, not to mention at times believably treacherous on Jon Wai-keung Lowe’s cliffside set at Thick House.

Many of the actors have current or recent student connections to UC Berkeley, where Fisher first established his theatrical profile in the early 1990s. Despite their youth, which in several cases is of course appropriate, they create a strong ensemble, with Joshua Lomeli as modern-day Jesse, William J. Brown

Kent Taylor

Elijah Guo and Joshua Lomeli play West Point cadets with a special bond in Fighting Mac!, a new play by John Fisher for Theatre Rhino.

III as Sir Hector, Ann Lawler as Hector’s wife, Elijah Guo as Jesse’s West Point boyfriend, Erik Johnson as Jesse’s Mormon friend, and Fisher himself as Kitchener all making strong impressions.

Fighting Mac! continues Fisher’s interest in combining sexual questions and military matters, earlier manifested in Amnesia,

Special Forces, and Combat! There is a passion in the men fighting/men loving conundrum, and his latest play is an almost giddy expansion on this enduringly hot topic.

Fighting Mac! will run through June 19 at Thick House. Tickets are $15-$30. Call (800) 838-3006 or go to www.therhino.org.

an alluring blonde. In Michael Phillis’ delightful comedy Wish We Were Here, this jokester genie may still call her conjurer “master,” but that’s only because the genie rulebook commands it. She’s clearly running the show, twisting each of her master’s wishes into scenarios

Meg Messina and David Wilson

A genie (Sara Moore) and her master (Michael Phillis) wind up in a role-reversal situation in Wish We Were Here at New Conservatory Theatre Center.

that fail only to amuse the wisher himself.

A day at the beach? He gets Normandy in 1943. A life of good health? She gives him every known disease so he can build up his antibodies. Fame as an actor? She moves his junky apartment into the smallest theater at New Conservatory Theatre Center. That particular bit of wish fulfillment really does pull the audience into the show, as their bickering now has a jury that they can plead to.

Phillis, who has proven his skills as both a writer and performer of comedy with a serious edge in his one-man shows D*Face and Dolls, is in agile form in both categories in Wish We Were Here. But in this twocharacter show, he becomes more of the straight man (though the character is gay) to the unflagging comic energies that Sara Moore brings to her genie. Moore is an expert clowner, memorably seen in her one-woman Show Ho at Theatre Rhino in 2002, but absent too long from, at least, the stages I have been visiting since then.

Phillis and Moore play off each other with masterful timing and physical interactions, aided

by Andrew Nance’s agile and imaginative direction that requires what must be frantic backstage activity that plays out smoothly to the audience.

For reasons explained in the play but not needed here, the master and the genie have been stuck with each other for months in their role-reversal situation. There are elements of A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life to the story as the genie inflicts flashbacks of missed opportunities and painful regrets on her master.

But there is a generous goal in her mean-genie moves, revealed in a finale of joyous, erotic abandon. This is a play about wishes, but I feel safe in providing a warranty that you will leave happier for the 75 minutes you invest in Wish We Were Here.▼ Wish We Were Here will run at New Conservatory Theatre Center through June 25. Tickets are $20-$32. Call 861-8972 or go to www.nctcsf.org.

ebar.com

▼

Fine Art >>

June 16-22, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

What’s up in the fine arts this June?

by Sura Wood

T

he summer blockbuster exhibitions have rolled into town, but let us not forget the lowerprofile venues with interesting shows up their sleeves, the ones that have a difficult time competing with the full-court press of their larger brethren. They’re worthy of attention, and offer a respite from fighting the crowds. Here are some that merit consideration.

The Art of Howl When Howl, Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein’s imaginative cinematic take on Allen Ginsberg’s explosive stream-ofconsciousness poem, was released last year, critical opinion was sharply divided over the filmmakers’ deployment of animated sequences.

Whether or not they fit seamlessly into the structure of a daring experimental movie – combining live action and animation is always a tricky proposition – the bold, nightmarish visuals matched the poem’s anarchic spirit, and conveyed its surreal detachment from reality.

The animated imagery, designed

by Eric Drooker and directed by John Hays, took off from Ginsberg’s chaotic dream logic, and had the architecture of a psyche unleashed.

A selection of drawings, storyboards and concept art from the film, along with photographs of Ginsberg and fellow beats Kerouac and Cassady, among others, and insight into the challenging process of translating poetry into animation, are on view in a modest but potent exhibition at the Cartoon Art Museum. The show’s enlarged, dramatic stills of the fiery orange creature Moloch, and a huge, tealgreen skyscraper, which loom over

a soulless city that symbolizes the annihilation of the individual, call up memories of Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s stylized, German expressionist cautionary tale of dehumanization in the industrial age.

“My father took me to Metropolis when I was 12, and it left a strong mark on my aesthetic,” recalls Drooker, a graphic novelist, painter and friend of Ginsberg who, like the poet, lived among the tenements, artists, prostitutes, bebop musicians, junkies, anarchists and other outcasts of Manhattan’s bohemian Lower East Side. Drooker also points to German expressionist painters such as Otto Dix and Georg Grosz as sources of inspiration. “Ginsberg himself was influenced by Metropolis, with its unforgettable vision of ‘Moloch, whose heart is a cannibal dynamo.’

Growing up, I always felt like I was in the belly of Moloch, and much of my art has been about industrial civilization and its effect upon the human soul.” Through Sept. 11. www.cartoonart.org The Art of the Book E-books reign, but that rapacious technology, which threatens to replace books as we know them, has only transformed the traditional tactile variety into an evolving modern art-form provoked by a craving for the handmade. In short: What’s old is new again. If you need proof, take a look at The Art of the Book at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford, which features 50 idiosyncratic books-as-art-objects by five contemporary California-based presses. California, less constrained by tradition than its East Coast counterparts, has been a magnet for inventors of all stripes, so it makes cultural sense that our fair state is the center of the renaissance of the

Courtesy Cartoon Art Museum

Animated imagery by Eric Drooker from Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein’s Howl, based on Allen Ginsberg’s poem.

book. The presses showcased here are run by an iconoclastic lot who make their own specialty papers, hides, and hand-tooled bindings, decorated with everything from shell beads to .38 caliber cartridge casings. Their ingenious creations, presented in unexpected formats, add video or shadow puppetry, for instance, to literature, poetry and fine art. Scroll-like books reveal their stories as they unfurl; an open trunk tempts with mysteries, performance texts, an altar and a soundtrack.

Ninja Press, run by photographer and former soap opera star Carolee Campbell, brings an eclectic flavor to the myths of Persephone and The Book of Silences, poetry pondering the nature of Zen Buddhism; Santa Cruz-based Moving Parts enlists the

contributions of performing artists; Turkey Press of Isla Vista focuses on the book as a container of thought, space and aesthetics; Berkeley’s Peter Koch Printers specializes in ancient Greek philosophers and the Western landscape; and Foolscap re-imagines old forms in whimsical packages.

“An artist book, composed of its complex elements, is an object like the world is, full of movement and sight and sound,” writes Harry Reese of Turkey Press. “But this small world can be returned to again and again in its unchanging state, can be held in the hand. Artist books do not need a purpose. They are made out of the human desire for beauty.” Through Aug. 28. www. museum.stanford.edu “To see a world in a grain of

sand, and heaven in a wildflower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour.” This received wisdom, courtesy of poet William Blake, is borne out in Small, the latest exhibition at Creativity Explored, a center for adult artists with disabilities. It features 100 works (miniature ceramics, ink drawings, woodblock prints, pocketsized mixed-media objects) none of which measures more than seven inches square. Employing visual shorthand to suggest larger scenarios are works such as Rose Gordon’s nearly microscopic traveler who’s a speck on a sea of blue. “Bilbao” by James Miles riffs on Frank Gehry’s architectural opus, and poignant images of togetherness, also by Miles, denote simple pleasures of daily interaction like the two friends/ lovers standing toe-to-toe in front of their parked cars. June 30-Aug. 10. www.creativityexplored.org Artists from Creativity Explored are also featured in Faces, a portraiture show at Jack Fischer Gallery that includes artworks from Creative Growth and the National Institute of Art and Disabilities. Thomas Pringle is represented by two eye-catching works: “Big Eyes,” a beguiling charcoal, sketched on a map, depicts a woman with an elongated face a la Modigliani, and a nameless skull wearing shades. In Aurie Ramirez’s watercolor “Untitled,” the faces of three costumed women resemble harlequin masks, and Gerone Spruill dedicates an extended family portrait with an inscription to relatives and “all of the other people who loved me ever since day 1.” Through June 25. www. jackfischergallery.com ▼

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

June 16-22, 2011

▼

The Stops @ New Conservatory Theatre Eric Lane Barnes’ satirical musical revue about fundamentalist drag queens, er, ladies, who try to save their outed gay organist. $15-$40. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm.

Thru June 25. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level.

861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Fri 17

Out& About

by Jim Provenzano

Shawn Northcutt

O&A

Tales of the City @ A.C.T.

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus @ Morgan Auditorium Hootenanny! , a country-western concert, features the Barbary Coast Cloggers, The Whoa Nellies, Kim Wisdom, and the Chorus under the direction of new Artistic Director Timothy Seelig. It’s sure to be a hoot! $15-$40. 8pm. Also June 18, 2pm & 8pm. (2pm matinee benefits local LGBT country-themed nonprofits). Academy of Art University, 491 Post St. www.sfgmc.org

Fri 17 >> Assassins @ Eureka Theatre Ray of Light Theatre presents the controversial Stephen Sondheim musical about assassins. $20-$36. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm.

Thru June 25. 215 Jackson St. at Battery. www.roltheatre.com

Dyke March Benefit @ Duboce Park Café Book swap and literary salon with a performance by Judea Eden, lesbian authors Karin Kallmaker, Carla Trujillo, Leslie Larson, Tyler Stanley, Mikaya Heart and others. 5:30pm book swap, raffle and mingle. 7pm readings, 8pm music. No cover. 2 Sanchez St. at Duboce. www.doloresparkcafe.com/duboce

The Edenites @ Exit Stage Stuart Bousel’s new comedy about gay, bi and straight relationships in San Francisco’s dot com boom era. $12-$25. Thu-Sat 8pm. thru June 25. 156 Eddy St. www.horrorunspeakable.com

Fighting Mac! @ Thick House New play about 19th-century gay general Hector McDonald, and contemporary Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policies; written and directed

by John Fisher. $15-$30. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru June 19. 1695 18th St. (800) 8383006. www.therhino.org

Little Shop of Horrors @ Boxcar Theatre

Michael Phillis’ one-man -and one-genieshow (with Sara Moore) about a man who finds a genie in his hookah; hilarity ensues. $20-$32. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru June 25. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. 8618972. www.nctcsf.org

Local production of the hit Off-Broadway musical by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman based on the ‘60s B-movie about a carnivorous talking alien plant. $20-$50.

Tue-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru July 8. 505 Natoma St. at 6th. www.boxcartheatre.org

The Pride @ New Conservatory Theatre West Coast premiere of Alexia Kaye Campbell’s innovative play about two men and a woman caught in a complex love triangle. $24-$40. Wed-Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm thru July 3. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Pride Party @ LGBT Center The 6th annual celebration of Pride, with four floors of entertainment, food, drinks, art exhibits and a silent auction; honored guests Armistead Maupin and his partner Christopher Turner, Top Chef ’s Yigit Pura, KRON 4’s Jan Wahl, KQED’s Scott Shafer and KALW’s Eric Jansen. $25-$50. 21+ event, but alcohol-free and kid-friendly events on the first floor. 1pm-4pm. 1800 Market St. at Octavia. www.prideparty.sfcenter.org

American Conservatory Theatre’s world premiere of Craig Slaight and Creighton Irons’ commissioned musical about World War II teens fleeing Germany and attempting to find a new home. $20.50. Wed-Sat 7:30pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru June 25.

Yerba Buena Gardens, Fourth & Howard sts. www.act-sf.org

Joe Goode Performance Group @ Novellus Theater Innovative local dance-theatre creator’s new work, The Rambler, about the the restless spirit of the iconic American wanderer, with puppeteer Basil Twist and intricate lighting design. $19-$49. 8pm (June 12, 7pm). Thru June 18. Yerba Buena Center for

New choreography by Sara Yassky and Tim Rubel. $10-$20. 8pm. Also June 19. 975 Howard St. 518-1517. www.975howard.com

Anna Deavere Smith @ Berkeley Rep Acclaimed solo performer brings her new show Let Me Down Easy, about healthcare and many other issues, to the stage. $17$73. Tue-Sat 8pm (Wed 7pm) Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru June 26. LGBT Night Out July 10.

2015 Addison St. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Berkeley Gay Comedy @ The Marsh, Berkeley

Fri 17 Dewey Arsee @ Ruby’s Gallery Your cup will runneth over at the opening reception for Beyond Tasteless, an exhibit and sale of the gay ceramic artist’s (actually quite tastefully erotic) hand-crafted cups, plates and other works. 6pm-9pm. Thru June 28. 552A Noe St. at 18th. www.deweyarsee.com

Risk is This @ Exit Theatre Cutting Ball theatre company’s experimental plays festival, with comic, serious, odd and unusual themes; most plays run two nights. Free. $20 reserved. $50 five-play donation. Thru June 25. 277 Taylor St. (800) 838-3006. www.cuttingball.com

SF Bicycle Coalition @ The Lookout Meet and mingle with LGBT members of the cycling advocacy group. 6pm-8pm. 3600 16th St. at Noe. www.sfbc.org www.lookoutsf.com

Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm (Wed 7pm from June 1). Thru June 26. 1901 Ashby Ave. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org

Hot Flash @ 111 Minna Gallery DJ Rockaway plays rock music at a prePride women’s dance event. $11-$15.

6pm-10pm. 111 Minna St. 974-1719. www.111minnagallery.com

Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter @ Marion E. Greene Theater, Oakland Julie Marie Myatt’s play about a female African American solider who loses a leg in Iraq, and how she adjusts to returning home. $15. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru June 19. 531 19th St. at Telegraph. www.theatrefirst.com

Sun 19 >> All-Stars II @ The Garage Kevin Seaman, Harvey Rabbit and Dante Baylor perform mixed-genre danceperformance works with themes about dreams, sexuality, queer identity and more. $15. 8pm. AQlso June 13. 975 Howard St. 518-1517. www.975howard.com

Antiques & Collectibles Faire @ Candlestick Park

All-Stars III @ The Garage

Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an everchanging lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. $25-$130. Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm. Sat 6:30, 9:30pm. Sun 2pm, 5pm. 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 4214222. www.beachblanket babylon.com

Unusual theatre, dance and hybrid performance works presented at Z Space, Theatre of Yugen and Fools Fury Theater. Various ticket prices.

Thru June 26. www.foolsfury.org

Enjoy a wild queer pride night at the spacious venue with performances by the J Boogie Band, Fiona Simone and Purple Rhinestone Eagle (photo). DJed music (Durt, Black, Andre, Motive, Olga T, Rusty Laze), plus food and live art. $7. 21+. 9pm-3am.

420 14th St. at Broadway. www.shipsinthanight.blogspot.com

Sat 18 >>

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi

Fury Factory Festival @ Various Theatres

Ships in the Night @ Event Center, Oakland

Thrillpeddlers’ production of the last Cockettes musical, the saucy 1972 revue of songs and sordid silliness, a very loose Fellini-esque parody of Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. $30-$35. Fri & Sat 8pm Sun 7pm. 575 10th st. at Bryant/Division. Thru July 31. www.thrillpeddlers.com

Rick Compton and Betsy Bennett’s witty musical about senior lives and the joys and woes of again; delicious Dim Sum banquet with each show. $79.59-$99.50. Sat 12pm. Sun 12 & 5pm. Thru July 31. 818 Washington St. (888) 885-2844. www.assistedliving themusical.com

10th anniversary showcase of vibrant diverse LGBT talents, including Vogue Evolution, Sean Dorsey Dance, Shawna Virago, GAPA Men’s Chorus, Storm Miguel Florez, Natasha Muse, Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu, same-sex ballroom dancers, poets, trapeze artists and more. $15-$20. 8pm. Thru June 19 (7pm). 450 Florida St. www.freshmeatproductions.org

Thu 23

Vice Palace @ Hypnodrome

Assisted Living, the Musical @ Imperial Palace

Fresh Meat Festival @ Z Space

Homefront @ Zeum Theatre

Adventures Close to Home, short films about historic SF culture. $10. 8:30pm. June 18, very odd film shorts about lipstick, sex fetishes and PeeWee Herman. 8pm. 275 Capp St. 558-8117. www.oddballfilm.com

Wish We Were Here @ New Conservatory Theatre

Dazzling aarray of new LGBT films at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St. Also at Roxie Theater, 3117 16th st, Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St., and Rialto Cinema Elmwood, 2966 College Ave. $10-$50. Admissions vary.

Thru June 26. www.frameline.org

Three days of wine-tasting, parties and shows by comic Judy Tenuda and more. Stay overnight or drive up for the day. $245 full package. Twilight T-dance $75. Thru June 19. (800) 4959961. www.beautiful-places.com www.outinthevineyard.com

Unusual Short Films @ Oddball Film

the Arts, 701 Mission St. at 3rd. 561-6565. www.joegoode.org www.ybca.org

Frameline 35 @ Various Theatres

Gay Wine Weekend @ Sonoma Wineries

American Conservatory Theatre’s funny and sweet world premiere musical adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s first novel in his popular series, with book by Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q ) and music/lyrics by Jake Shears and John Garden ( Scissor Sisters). $48-$123.

Extended thru July 24. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm. 415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

Janine Brito, David Hawkins and Ronn Vigh will make you laugh, gaily. $15-$50. 8:30pm. 2061 Allston Way at Shattuck. www.themarsh.org

Big Gay Tea Party @ The Breathing Room Enjoy tea and snacks, music by DJ PussPuss, and forage through lots of donated fabulous drag at this benefit for the building fund for Radical Faerie elder Sister Soami. Donations. 3pm-6pm. 1592 Market St. at Franklin. www.queerartscircle.com

Boobies Rock! @ Mezzanine Enjoy live music and DJed ‘80s tunes at a benefit with 100% of proceeds going to Shanti’s Breast Cancer Program. 1980s dress encouraged. $20-$100. 9pm-2am.

444 Jessie St. at Mint. www.boobiesrock. eventbrite.com

Care of Trees @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Players’ production of E. Hunter Spreen’s drama about two people whose lives become connected via an ancient oak tree, and how the environment and a mysterious ailment alter their lives. $17-$26.

Wed 22 So Not the Cleavers @ Cobbs Comedy Club Gay comics Kevin Meaney (photo) and Vickie Shaw join up with straight comics Maryellen Hooper and Dan St. Paul in a comedy show and fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights to repeal Prop 8. Also thru June 26 in Santa Rosa, Mill Valley, Santa Cruz and Redwood City. $20. 8pm.

915 Columbus Ave. 928-4320. www.sonotthecleavers.com

Marin Art Festival @ Marin Civic Center View a wide variety of art on exhibit and for sale from 200+ artists at the 15th annual art fair; live bands, taiko drumming; food, drinks available. $10 (14 & under free).

10am-6pm. Ample parking. Marin Center Fairgrounds, San Rafael. www.marinartfestival.com

Metamorphosis @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Aurora Theatre Company’s production of Mark Jackson’s absurd and horror-tinged play based on Franz Kafka’s classic book about a salesman’s transformation into a giant insect. $10-$55. Tue 7pm; Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru July 17. 2081 Addison St. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Picasso @ de Young Museum

Browse and shop from hundreds of vendors’ collections of vintage furtiture, jewelry, toys, furniture and tchotchkes. $5-$10. 6am-3pm. (650) 242-1294. www.antiquesbythebay.net

Seeing Gertrude Stein @ Cont. Jewish Museum Exhibit of personal artwork, collected work and archival materials showing how the lesbian poet’s life, mostly in Paris, changed over the decades before and after WWII. Free-$10. Thru Sept. 6. 11am-5pm daily (closed Wed), Thu 1pm-8pm. 736 Mission St. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org

Shake Your Pancakes @ Queer Arts Circle DJ Bus Station John plays classic retro tunes at this daytime disco event. Pancakes 10am, dancing 11am-3pm. 1592 Market St. at Franklin. www.queerartscircle.com

The Steins Collect @ SF MOMA Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian AvanteGarde, an exhibit of pivotal artworks originally collected by lesbian poet Gertrude Stein and her family. 4th floor galleries. Free (members)-$25. Thru Sept. 6. 11am-5:45pm daily. Closed Wed.; open til 8:45pm Thu. 357-4000. www.sfmoma.org

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room Donna Sachet and Harry Denton host the fabulous weekly brunch and drag show. $45. 11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square.

395-8595. www.harrydenton.com

Masterpieces from the Museé National Picasso, Paris, a new exhibit of classic early modern works by the Spanish master painter. Free (members)-$25. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Wed 9:30am-8:45pm (the Aug). Thru Oct. 9. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

Rockin’ Out @ Rebel Bar Valeria Orth, Judea Eden, Camp Out perform, and Bevan Dufty will be at this benefit for the Out and Around showcase of LGBT leaders in developing nations. Donations.

4pm-9pm. 1760 Market St. www.outandaround.com

SF Ethnic Dance Festival @ YBCA Forum The second section of the annual festival of dance includes “California Indian Big Time Gathering,” performances and ceremonies and craft presentations hosted by the Rumsen Ohlone Tribe. 12pm-11pm. Also 5pm-11pm in the Gardens. Participatory event with dance and readings June 19, 1pm in the Forum, with dance and poetry.

401 Mission St. Other shows at different venues thru July 3. www.sfethnicdancefestival.org

Thu 23 Felice Picano @ Books Inc The prolific gay author reads from True Stories: Portraits From My Past, his latest collection of short stories. 7:30pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net

▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 16-22, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

The Laybelline Show @ The Dark Room Queens are Not Made: They are Born!, a drag show with Laybelline, U-Phoria, Ivy Drip, Olivia Hart, Velveeta Whore Mel, Lexi Lush and Serenity Hart. Proceeds benefit the Castro Country Club sober space. $15$20. 8pm. 2263 Mission St. at 18th. www.writingmanproductions.com

Manic D. Press Reading @ Modern Times Bookstore

Fri 17 Making The Boys @ Roxie Cinema See the fascinating documentary about the making of the 1970 film adaptation of Mart Crowley’s pioneering and controversial drama The Boys in the Band, about a group of Manhattan gay men. $7-$10. 7:30pm & 9:30pm. Sat & Sun also 3:30pm & 5:30pm. Thru June 23. 3117 16th St. 863-1087. www.roxie.com

Mon 20 >> B.A.R. Retrospective @ Union Bank Rick Gerharter curated this new exhibit of images, video and ephemera from the four decades of the Bay Area Reporter ’s history. Free. Mon-Fri- 9am-5pm.

Thru June. 400 California St., 1st floor. www.unionbank.com

Rock-It Girls @ The Stud DJs Mz. Samantha, Hellkat and Miss k. Oz play rock and roll for girls who like girls who rock. $5. 21+. Door 7:30pm-2am. Happy Hour til 9pm. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Marga’s Funny Mondays @ The Marsh, Berkeley Marga Gomez brings her comic talents, and special guests to a weekly cabaret show. $10. 8pm. 2120 Allston Way. (800) 838-3006. www.margagomez.com www.themarsh.org

Marty Epstein @ Castro Country Club Eye See, an exhhibit of photos of San Francisco’s LGBT community. Partial proceeds benefit to CCC. 4058 18th St. www.castrocountryclub.org

Matthew Martin @ The Rrazz Room Local drag chanteuse returns by popular demand, with “All Singing, All Dancing, All Dead!”, a show full of Judy Garland, Ann Miller, Peggy Lee and more. $30.

8pm. 2-drink min. 21+. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Campbell, Cassandra Gorgeous, Nate Blanchard, Marty Grimes, Pippi Lovestocking and Yuri Kagan in a night of bawdy queer laughs. $10. 21+. 8pm. 388 9th St. at Harrison. www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/176856 www.studsf.com

Kim Nalley @ The Rrazz Room Acclaimed local singer performs her musical tribute to Nina Simone. $35-$37.50.

Wed, Thu, Sat 8pm; Fri & Sun 7pm. Thru July 17. 2-drink min. 21+. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Same-Sex Dancing @ Queer Ballroom Ongoing partner dance lessons and open dancing in a variety of styles; different each night. $15 open dancing to $55 for private lessons. 151 Potrero Ave. at 15th. www.QueerBallroom.com

Thu 23 >> Frameline: the Early Years @ SF Public Library Panel discussion with local film experts who discuss the formative years of the world’s largest LGBT film festival, now in its 35th year. Free. 5pm-6:30pm. Koret Auditorium, lower level, 100 Larkin St. Also, an exhibit of Frameline Festival posters thru Sept 17 at the Hormel Center, 3rd floor. www.sfpl.

Daphne Gottleib (15 Ways to Stay Alive), Larry-bob Roberts (The International Homosexual Conspiracy), Lynn Breedlove ( Godspeed ) and Alvin Orloff ( Gutter Boys) read from their new and/or recent queer writings. Free. 7pm. 2919 24th St. at Harrison (note: new location). 282-9246. www.mtbs.com

Our Vast Queer Past @ GLBT History Museum New exhibit from the GLBT Historical Society, with a wide array of rare historic items on display. Free for members-$5. Wed-Sat 11am-7pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Pride Party @ Bentley Reserve Singer-comic and sapphic savant Sandra Bernhard performs at a benefit for the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute, with an open bar by Ketel One, hors d’oeuvres by Top Chef Jen Biesty. Cocktail attire. $25.

6pm-9:30pm. 301 Battery St. www.glli.org/prideparty

Radical Women @ New Valencia Hall It Gets Better When We Make It Better, a meeting focusing on LGBT aspects of Socialist activism. Supper at 6:15, $7.50. Meeting 7pm. 625 Larkin St. www.radicalwomen.org

Teatro Zinzanni @ Pier 29 Joan Baez returns to Teatro in Maestros Enchantment, the new show at the theatretent-dinner extravaganza, with Ukranian illusionist Yevgeniy Voronin, amazing aerial acts, and a lot of fun. $117-$145. Saturday 11:30am “Breve” show $63-$78. Wed-Sat 6pm (Sun 5pm). Pier 29 at Embarcadero Ave. 438-2668. www.teatrozinzanni.com

To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com.

Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

For more bar and nightlife events, go to www.bartabsf.com

Scandals, Follies & A Bowl of Cherries @ Alcazar Theatre 42nd Street Moon theatre company’s fun fundraiser includes a silent auction, Broadway Kissing Booth, donations from award-winning performers Liz Callaway, Judy Kaye, Marni Nixon, Faith Prince and others; and a 7pm musical revue. $100.

5:30pm reception. 7pm show. 650 Geary St. 255-8207. www.42ndstmoon.org

Ten Percent @ Comcast 104 David Perry’s talk show about LGBT local issues. Mon-Fri 11:30am & 10:30pm, Sat & Sun 10:30pm. www.davidperry.com

Tue 21 >> Bearmusement @ Magnet Exhibit of artist Noel’s bear-centric graphic art. Thru June. 4122 18th St. www.bearmusement.com www.magnetsf.org

Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey’s

Shepley Metcalf @ The Rrazz Room Singer performs music by Fran Landesman. $20. 8pm. 2-drink min. 21+. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Wed 22 >> Average Dyke Band @ Ashkenaz, Berkeley Women’s rock R&B band performs. $15.

7pm. 1317 San Pablo Ave. (510) 525-5054. www.AverageDykeBand.com

Dirty Gay Sex Comedy Show @ The Stud David Hawkins and Kelly Anneken welcome Ali Mafi, Natasha Muse, Ronn Vigh, Simone

Liz Payne

Ronn Vigh hosts the weekly LGBT and gayfriendly comedy night. One drink or menu item minimum. 9pm. 500 Castro St. at 18th.

431-HARV. www.harveyssf.com

Drag Diligence Heklina is simply everywhere this week, celebrating a birthday Friday org June 17 at Trannyshack with special guest Justin Bond and classic drag acts by Elijah Minnelli, Kiddie, Holy McGrail, Ambrosia Salad and others (Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” and Bjork’s “Human Behavior” are must-sees!). $12-$15. 9:30pm-3am. 375 11th St. www.trannyshack.com www.dnalounge.com Saturday, June 18, Heklina hosts Bring Your Own Dog @ Mint Plaza, a family and pet-friendly event with entertainment, a dog-owner look-alike contest, games and prizes. Free.

12pm-3pm. Fifth St. at Mission. www.mintplazasf.org

Thursday, June 23 is Nightlife @ California Academy of Sciences. The fascinating new museum’s monthly party goes totally gay, with DJed music by Juanita More! and Honey Soundsystem, Frameline showing special short films, Mrs. Vera being fabulous, and Heklina hosting a “tranimal” costume contest, plus food and cocktails. $10-$12. 6pm-10pm. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. www.calacademy.org/nightlife Later the night of June 23, Heklina hosts Gay Pride @ The Cat Club, where she guest-spins ‘80s tunes and videos. $6. 9pm-3am. 1190 Folsom St. 703-8965. www.sfcatclub.com Maybe we should rename these festive pre-Pride days as Heklina Week.

www.ebar.com

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<< Leather+

June 16-22, 2011

▼

Busy times for the wicked

by Scott Brogan

W

ith Pride Weekend, Up Your Alley Weekend and new, exciting events on the horizon, June and July are shaping up to be the busiest months of the summer.

This week’s column highlights some of the major events so you can plan ahead, get your registrations in early, and save a few bucks. Be sure to check out the calendar listings for more events each week.

CA Leather SIR/boy/ Community Bootblack & Puppy Contests (June 17-19) Produced by the California Society of Benevolence (CLSB), the weekend’s events are held at The Queen Bee’s Art & Cultural Center (3925 Ohio St., San Diego). The Leather SIR/boy/Bootblack weekends are always fun, what with the contests and satellite events. The weekend determines who will represent California at the International Contests during Up Your Alley Weekend (July 28-31). Go to: www. caleathersir.com. You won’t be disappointed. San Diego is one of the friendliest cities in the country, with the best weather!

Mr. S Leather’s “LockerRoom” now open. Mr. S Leather has created their own line of leather and rubber sports gear products, brought in several lines of gear, and expanded their stock of Nasty Pig goodies, in the brand-new LockerRoom showroom featuring martial arts flooring and heavy punching bags available for your enjoyment. There’s only one dressing room (aka The Shower Room), so you’re all going to have to change together! The Grand Opening Party is Sat., June 25, 2-6 p.m., and includes surprises and libations to loosen you up, but the showroom is open now! Check it out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/event. php?eid=215829428451573.

1st Annual “Mr. Kok Kontest” (June 25) After you’ve geared up at the LockerRoom, stroll around the corner to Kok Bar SF (1225 Folsom) and enjoy this new, non-traditional contest. No speeches or pageantry, just one requirement: Who’s got the biggest Kok? Think you have what it takes to win? Come in and sign up.

Scott Brogan

SF welcomes Mr. Hayes Valley Leather JB Kern & Mr. SF Leather Darren Bondy back from doing us proud at Int’l Mr. Leather 2011 over Memorial Day Weekend in Chicago.

At presstime I don’t have the event time, but go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

SF Men’s Spanking Party Pride Edition (June 25) This is one of the most attended of the monthly spanking parties, with guys from around the globe. From 1-6 p.m. so it’s early enough you won’t miss out on the evening’s Pride events. $20 admission at the Power Exchange (220 Jones St.). Note: You don’t have to spank or be spanked to attend, you can simply watch and enjoy the fun. Go to: www.voy.com/201188/.

SF Dyke March (June 25) Enjoy our diverse dyke culture with a radical political edge. Open to all

genders. Rally at Dolores Park from 3-7 p.m., followed by the march to the Castro. It’s free, with a $5-10 suggested donation. This is another “must-attend” event, won’t disappoint. Our women know how to celebrate!

1st Annual Gearup Weekend (July 22-24) Here is a brand-new, men’s-only fetish event complementing the Leather Levi Weekend in August. Get away to a private wooded valley in the mountains (Saratoga Springs Resort) for a weekend with other kinky guys. New to the scene? Uncertain of your place in it? Do you have See page 27 >>

Coming up in leather and kink

ebar.com

Thu., Jun. 16: Locker Room Thursdays at Kok Bar SF (1225 Folsom). 9 p.m.-close. Free clothes check.

Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Thu., Jun. 16: Underwear Night at The Powerhouse (1347 Folsom). 10 p.m. Wet undie contest and drink specials. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Thu., Jun. 16: SF Pride Contingent Monitor Training at the LGBT Community Center (1800 Market St). 7-9 p.m. The Leather Contingent needs monitors! More dates: Jun. 19 at Koret Auditorium (100 Larkin) 2-4 p.m., Jun. 20 & 22 at the LGBT Center 7-9 p.m. Go to: www.sfleather.org.

Fri., Jun. 17 thru Sun. Jun 19: CA LeatherSIR/ boy, Community Bootblack & Puppy Contest Weekend at Queen Bee’s Art & Cultural Ctr. (3925 Ohio St., San Diego). Go to: www.caleathersir.com.

Fri., Jun. 17: Truck Wash at Truck (1900 Folsom).

10 p.m.-close. Live shower boys and drink specials.

Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Fri., Jun. 17: Gear Bust hosted by SF Leather Daddy’s boy Adam Schwenk at The Edge (18th & Collingwood). 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Prizes, demos, & more.

Wear your gear! Go to: www.facebook.com/event. php?eid=181745771873856.

Fri., Jun. 17: Spring Fling/Sadie Hawkins Themed Open Play Party hosted by Miss Bee at the SF Citadel (1277 Mission). 8 p.m.-1 a.m. $25 plus 1-year membership ($10). Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Sat., Jun. 18-Sun., Jun. 19: Cleo Dubois Erotic Dominance Weekend Intensive for Dominant Women and Women Who Switch at the SF Citadel. Go to: www.sm-arts.com.

Sat., Jun. 18: All Beef Saturday Nights at The Lone Star (1354 Harrison). 100% SoMa Beef & Co. 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Go to: www.facebook.com/lonestarsf .

Sat., Jun. 18: Kok Block, New Happy Hour at Kok

Bar. 4-9 p.m. Strip down, drink more! $50 pool tournament at 6:30 on the 2nd Sat. of each month. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sat., Jun 18: AIDS Emergency Fund event at Kok Bar SF. Starts at 9 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sun., Jun. 19: Castrobear presents Sunday Furry Sunday at 440 Castro. 4-10 p.m. Go to: www.castrobear.com.

Sun., Jun. 19: PoHo Sundays at The Powerhouse.

DJ Keith, Dollar Drafts all day. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Mon., Jun. 20: Trivia Night with host Casey Ley at Truck. 8-10 p.m. Featuring prizes and ridiculous questions! Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Mon., Jun. 20: SF Dominant/subs Discussion Group at the SF Citadel. 7:30 p.m. $5-15 donation.

Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Mon., Jun. 20: Dirty Dicks at The Powerhouse.

Starts at 4 p.m. $3 well drinks. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Tue., Jun. 21: Busted at Truck. 9 p.m.-close. $5 beer bust from 9-11 p.m. Great music, and the notorious Truck boys. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Wed., Jun. 22: Leather Buddies at Blow Buddies.

This is a male-only club. Doors open 8 p.m.-12 a.m.

Play till late. Go to: www.blowbuddies.com.

Wed., Jun. 22: Leathermen’s Discussion Group at Blow Buddies (933 Harrison St.) 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Open to all genders. This edition: Peter Fiske - The Art of the Whip. Go to: www.sfldg.org.

Wed., Jun. 22: Bear Bust Wednesdays at Kok Bar SF. $6 all you can drink Bud Light or Rolling Rock drafts. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Wed., Jun. 22: Nipple Play at The Powerhouse. 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Specials for shirtless guys. Go to: www. powerhouse-sf.com.

▼ <<

Karrnal >>

June 16-22, 2011 •

Sex as art

From page 17

the book’s Social Relevance. Bianchi is not so much justifying as stating his credo and inspiration. What his career has brought him, he writes, “are wonderful men who share my desire to celebrate our sexual energies as freely as you see here.”

“These pictures,” he writes, “are love letters – passionate, boner-provoking love letters.” He’s arranged his letters in themes.

The section named “Time One” documents the first intimate physical experience he had with his lover, while “My Passion” revels in the sexual power his lover projects.

Sections named “Eros Avatar,” “Primal Rite” and “Hard/Now” record wild spirit and flashes of erotic energy.

In “Underwater,” Bianchi plays with the variables of light, angle and proximity that underwater photography offers; he revels in weightlessness, as well as the distortions and refractions of light and water. He enjoys having to surrender a greater degree of control to underwater conditions, because he finds the results are always surprising. I’m only a little surprised to find these underwater shots the most beautiful I’ve seen of that strange genre, and which include submerged jacking off, cocksucking, fucking, and even foot-fucking.

In other sections, you’ll see light bondage and sling play, cum shots galore, and a most playful threeway. You’ll see Bianchi snapping a mirrored reflection of himself sticking a finger up his lover’s butt as they play. In the blacktiled shower he calls “a combustion chamber for sexual heat,” he gives a model beautiful light and a mirror to display what he has created of himself. Then he gathers a group of bodybuilders on the day after their competition and gets them naked in his hotel room, saying it was “more shaved muscle than I’ve ever had in bed at one time.” Just reading those words, “more shaved muscle than

<<

Bruno Gmunder

Chris Rockway in Mark Henderson’s Poolside: Hot Guys in Cool Water.

I’ve ever had,” gets me hard.

Mark Henderson’s follow-up to Suburban Pleasures and Household Idols is Poolside: Hot Guys in Cool Water (Bruno Gmunder, 112 oversize pages, $78.99). It retains the extensive digital enhancements of his previous books, along with their enclosed settings, this time a lush garden surrounding a colorfully tiled pool.

And while the book doesn’t budge from his fascination with incredibly handsome men possessed of heated sexual charisma, it sure ups the ante on erections. Indeed, his subtitle would be more correct if it changed “Hot Guys in Cool Water” to “Hard Guys… .”

His models may be hard, but unlike Bianchi, Henderson doesn’t offer explicit sex. There’s neither

insertion nor cum shot. But in almost every photo, he speaks Boner as his primary language. He’s also unlike Bianchi in that his agenda is much simpler. Come, he says, pour yourself a cocktail, and lounge around my pool in the company of my boned-up friends.

Most of the loungers are porn stars, including Marcus Mojo, Reese Rideout, Chris Rockway, Tyler Torro, Jeremy Walker, and Brady Jensen. As one on-line reviewer at Amazon wrote, they offer “maximum overload of all the senses.”

Some people say that I’m obsessed with erections, as if there’s something wrong in that. But even if you won’t say it, you know in your heart that there’s nothing as beautiful as a boner. And when they’re seen in such artfully created photographs, well, what blessing those sights convey.▼

Leather + From page 26

fantasies to explore, but never had the opportunity? Take a course in Dominance 101 or submission 101. Relax by the pool. Expose yourself (clothing optional) to new people, old friends, and join in fun activities. Workshops and demos in S/M, fisting, bondage, erotic massage, and more will be open to all, regardless of skill level! This is going to be a fantastic weekend and hopefully a new summer tradition.

Register early and get details at: www.gearupweekend.com.

Leathermen’s Discussion Group Special Session Is Leather Dead? Does It Need to Die? (July 27) Don’t miss out on this historical discussion at the LGBT Center (1800 Market) featuring panelists Guy Baldwin, Race Bannon, Michael Thorn & Gayle Rubin. The group’s name is “Leathermen’s,” but note that all sessions are open to all gender identifications. 7:30-9:30 p.m. Go to: www.sfldg.org.

Up Your Alley Fair (July 31) Open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the worldfamous fair closes out this twomonth period with a big bang. Go to: www.folsomstreetevents.org/alley/.

Last but not least, congratulations to all who competed at International Mr. Leather (IML) 2011 in Chicago over Memorial Day Weekend. Although there can only be one winner, just being there representing your community is an honor that only a few can

Courtesy Mr. S Leather

Enjoying the gear at Mr. S Leather’s new “LockerRoom” showroom on 385 8th St. in SoMa.

achieve. IML 2011 is Eric Guttierez (Mr. Europe), First Runner-Up is Douglas “D” Pamplin (Mr. MidAtlantic Leather), Second Runner-

Up is Anthony Rollar (Mr. San Diego Leather). International Mr. Bootblack 2011 is New York’s Jim Deuder.▼

BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER •

<<

<< Film

June 16-22, 2011

Frameline 35 From page 17

female hormones and performing a daring series of poetry raps. It is a tribute to director Rashaad Ernesto Green that the tension never lets up: we realize Enrique is a human volcano who will not brook his namesake turning into Daddy’s little girl. Michael/Vanessa only nominally acknowledges Enrique’s return, spurning his offer of Yankee tickets and keeping his pop from seeing how he dresses at school and on his frisky dates with an aspiring artist.

Stand-out moments: when Enrique cuts Vanessa’s beautiful hair, and sequences where Vanessa tries in vain to negotiate a sexual relationship of respect and equality with a lover who treats her as trade. Gun Hill Road will have you tense right to end, worrying about the fate of a beautiful

teen forever awaiting a tsunami of macho violence. (Castro, opening night, 6/16) Romeos German director Sabine Bernardi’s frisky comedy concerns the travails of a FTM named Lukas (spunky Rick Okon) who has the bad luck of landing in the female dorm of a government-run community service program. Desperate to live among the boys, especially macho hottie Fabio (Maximilian Befort), Lukas makes a terrific nuisance of himself in his campaign to get a male dorm room. There are a series of slapstick moments where Lukas manages to keep his cover even when pushed into the swimming pool by a group of rowdy lads. There’s poignancy in Lukas’ late-night Internet chats in English with FTM comrades in transition, and there’s a growing doubt that Lukas will finally earn his new body without losing his

▼

Courtesy Frameline

Scene from director Andrew Haigh’s Weekend: two British lads of opposite temperaments.

mind and all his old friends. (Castro, 6/21) Weekend Fans of P.J. Castellaneta’s classic claustrophobic chamber piece Together Alone will appreciate Andrew Haigh’s imaginative update. Two British lads of opposite temperaments and politics find themselves going steady over a couple of bumpy nights. The emotionally closeted Russell and the pranky Glen (“I don’t do boyfriends”) hit it off at a dance club, and through a series of quirky breaks, find themselves getting naked in more than just a one-off physical way. Their time together has an automatic expiration date since Glen is soon to leave for a two-year stretch in the States. At first we watch amused as the two slug it out on queer hot-button topics between bouts of sex, drugs and rock n roll. Gradually we start rooting for this queer Before Sunrise couple to find a lasting bond.

(Showcase, Castro, 6/17) August In Eldar Rapaport’s ennui-laced tale, an LA couple’s union is threatened by the sudden reappearance of an old flame. It’s not for all tastes, but if you’re patient with its slow rhythms, it has a lot to say on the subject of letting go. (Castro, 6/18) The Green This melodrama finds a gay couple finding anything but paradise in a snooty New England village. Michael (sexy, taciturn Jason Butler Harner) is the target of irrational paranoia when a teen at the private school where he teaches goes missing after charges that Michael was improperly involved with the boy. The legal flap not only threatens Michael’s freedom, but puts severe strain on his 15-year relationship with Daniel (Cheyenne Jackson).

Director Steven Williford’s setup is more believable than its resolution, but there is a great supporting cast, especially Michael’s canny lesbian lawyer (Julia Ormond). (Castro, 6/17) Private Romeo Fans of Alan Brown’s small but terrific body of work – the Matthew Shepardinspired O Beautiful and the Greg Smith vehicle Book of Love – should be thrilled to learn that Brown’s latest piece, an all-boy update on Romeo and Juliet, is his best yet. Set

<<

Frameline shorts From page 20

James Dean Lucy Asten Elliott’s sassy UK backseat talkfest is a highlight from the festival’s 44 transgender-themed films.

Change An African American teen is faced with an agonizing choice of identities on the evening that sees the election of President Obama and passage of California’s Prop 8. Director Melissa Osborne makes effective use of TV election coverage to underline the emotional tsunami in one family as equality and bigotry triumph simultaneously. The history-noting words of ABC anchor Charlie Gibson are still ringing in

Courtesy Frameline

Scene from director Eldar Rapaport’s August: an old flame reappears

in a military academy, the play starts as a classroom exercise, but soon the boys are living out the star-crossed lover roles, complete with luscious physical moments. The production is enhanced by a terrific cast of Shakespeare-trained young actors.

(Castro, 6/20) Absent Even a careful viewing of Argentine director Marco Berger’s creepy, suspenseful stalker tale left me puzzled about just what actually transpires between a clever 16-yearold swimmer and his high school coach. (Castro, 6/19) Kawa New Zealand director Katie Wolfe makes full use of her country’s gorgeous setting to grab our attention concerning a Maori family man’s struggle to keep his world from imploding once his family discovers he’s gay. Wolfe draws on the Maoris’ complex tribal history to create empathy for a man who risks everything. (Castro, 6/21) The Night Watch UK director Richard Laxton provides a lively history of the collateral damage from the WWII Nazi bombing of London, with an emphasis on its impact on the capital’s burgeoning queer minority. Among the casualties are a lesbian ambulance worker who remains emotionally stuck in a time of peril but great promise, and a British teen who’s imprisoned for allegedly assisting in the suicide of his next-door neighbor boyfriend. (Castro, 6/17)

Bumblefuck, USA Aaron Douglas Johnston turns to the mumblecore film school to hook us into a love story between a lesbian filmmaker and a visiting Dutch docmaker investigating the suicide of a young gay friend. The film takes its sweet time suggesting links between the queer oral histories Alex (cowriter Cat Smits) is collecting for her film, her friend’s death, and the brutish mores of the local menfolk.

This one succeeds on the oppositesattract chemistry between Smits and Heidi M. Sallows’ sadder but wiser country gal. (Victoria, 6/17) Judas Kiss J.T. Tepnapa combines the central conceit from Back to the Future, the cosmetics from squeakyclean gay porn, the earnest acting style of Dawson’s Creek, and a Frank Capra-corny message to deliver a queer time-travel comedy. Whenever inspiration fails, Tepnapa has his comely cast interrupt their speeches with long kisses.

Zack Wells is a failed prodigy filmmaker who survives through the graces of a successful boyfriend.

Given a chance to go back in time and correct his misspent youth, Wells proceeds to sleep with his younger self, and to keep himself from stumbling down the same stupid path. In one of the festival’s guilty pleasures, I found myself smiling through some wildly implausible plot points. (Victoria, 6/19)▼

our ears as our hero makes a brave stand with a queer white friend.

Coming Out Swedish director Jerry Carlsson turns a young teen’s conflicted inner monologue into a hair-raising four minutes of screen time. Some rites of passage never grow stale when properly showcased. (all Coming Out program, Roxie, 6/19) T’Ain’t Nobody’s Business: Queer Blues Divas of the 1920s Growing up a jazz/blues-obsessed teen in NYC’s golden age of DJ radio, I thought I had the lowdown on the ladies of the blues from WQXR’s John S. Wilson. But Robert Philipson’s Jewelle Gomez-narrated doc connects the dots on why our musical heritage owes so much to

ferocious women who kept their own company. This thoroughly researched slice of history illustrates the range of styles and strategies for passing, from the bisexual Ma Rainey to the audacious but largely forgotten “bulldagger” Gladys Bentley.

Jay Dreams Catherine Pancake invents her own format to showcase issues of butch and fem among a bold array of African American women. Riffing on material normally reserved for fiction, Pancake listens in as women candidly discuss why they sometimes fanaticize outside their type. This down-home, witty essay is a lovely reminder of just how far we’ve come. (both T’Ain’t Nobody’s Business program, Victoria, 6/21)▼

Info: www.frameline.org

▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 16-22, 2011 •

BAY AREA REPORTER • 29

Books >>

Forever young

by Jim Piechota I Am J by Cris Beam; Little, Brown & Co., $16.99 No Passengers Beyond This Point by Gennifer Choldenko; Dial Books, $16.99 Boyfriends with Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez; Simon & Schuster; $16.99 Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens by Kathy Belge and Marke Bieschke; Zest Book, $14.99

A

handful of new books targeting LGBT youth springs forth every year just in time for Gay Pride, and many are worth a look, and reasonably priced for younger readers on a budget. The four standouts featured here encompass a variety of genres.

New York City author Cris Beam, author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning guide Transparent: Love, Family and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers, shifts to fiction in her new effort I Am J, the beautifully written, ruminative story of “J,” a teenager who was born Jennifer but begins to come to terms with the realization that he is really a boy in a female body. J is born to a Puerto Rican mother and a Jewish father in Manhattan, who focus not on J’s internalized conflicts but on his future and what career path and family choices he will embark upon.

This causes anger and confusion for everyone involved. His adventures

in love with a straight female artist are expectedly messy, as are explanations as to why he dresses in multiple layers of oversized T-shirts.

But once he becomes emancipated after turning 18, J researches and begins testosterone therapy, well on his way to becoming physically and psychologically the boy he knows lives inside of him. Beam knows her subject matter thoroughly, and through her main character’s vivid dialogue and experiences, she passionately translates the isolation, panic, and eventual liberation of the transgender experience, along with the love and understanding necessary for all parts of a family to remain a functioning unit.

Hands-down, this is one of the best transgender fictions to emerge in recent years.

Alternate realities made Coraline an enticing young-adult reading experience and an even more engaging movie, so San Francisco author Gennifer Choldenko’s fantasy fiction No Passengers Beyond This Point should appeal to young readers who enjoy quirky characters and a sense of place that is constantly morphing beyond the limits of the imagination. It follows three children, India, Finn, and Mouse, whose mother has just lost the family home to a bank foreclosure (how contemporary can you get?). All three are booked on a flight bound for their uncle’s home in Colorado.

The plane lands not in Colorado, but in a place called Falling Bird, a world where cell-phones don’t work, clocks spin backwards, and

each child is given a “dream house” filled with their heart’s desires. There’s the obligatory “catch” to all this grandeur, but there’s great fun in following each character’s distinct narration as they each take turns trying to figure out the mystery and wonder of Falling Bird and its host of crazy characters and puzzling secrets. This is another success story for Choldenko, who excels at writing the dialogue of today’s kids and creating worlds where their imaginations can run wild.

Alex Sanchez is no stranger to gay and lesbian young-adult fiction, and has made quite a name for himself in this genre. His latest, Boyfriends with Girlfriends, is lighter than the author’s usual fare, and concerns a friendly, increasingly complicated foursome made up of Lance, Allie, Sergio, and Kimiko. Lance has a date with Sergio, but when Allie tags along, she wonders if her boyfriend would mind if she experimented with Sergio’s friend Kimiko, whom she might have the hots for. Through the haze of inner contemplations and heavy breathing, there’s trouble brewing, involving Lance’s hating behavior and some dissention among the ranks. Throw in a few homophobic parents, and you’ve got a rollicking

melodrama. Eventually, all the teenspeak (“hella” this and “like” that) and formulaic romantic-comedy foibles approach overkill, but Sanchez, an astute social observer, has a point to make. He delivers it with panache and a grasp on lightning-fast, alternating narrative perspectives. His devoted readership will get a kick out of this one.

The just-released gay handbook Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens effectively combines the talents of a Portland, OR queer youth advocate, a well-known San Francisco culture writer, a local freelance artist, and five teen advisors, and is overstuffed with everything you’ve ever wanted to know about coming out as a queer teenager. Using up-to-theminute information and sage advice, Portland’s Kathy Belge and local scribe Marke Bieschke

deliver the goods on everything from accepting yourself as gay or lesbian, why we are what we are, embracing homosexuality, “finding your people,” homophobia in its many incarnations, dating, sex, STDs, and pages of useful resources, all related in the most accessible, friendly way possible. The best parts of the book provide examples from both Belge and Bieschke’s own firstperson experiences; they share their personal histories on subjects like coming out, school life, finding a like-minded “posse,” first dates, risky sex, and much more. The authors’ positive approach combined with sensible information and a healthy dose of humor make this anecdotal guidebook a limitless resource for teens (and others) at that critical crossroads where choices are difficult and guidance is freely embraced. ▼

Music >>

Gay guys in the groove

by Gregg Shapiro

I

n response to the “age of tracks,” Garrin Benfield’s bare-bones song cycle The Wave Organ Song (garrin. com) consists of a baker’s dozen guitar and vocal songs. This is an intimate and confident affair on which there is nothing to distract the listener from the music. Aside from the 13th song being a cover of Alex

Chilton’s “Thirteen,” the remaining compositions are Benfield originals (including two collaborations).

Singer/songwriter Brady Earnhart, a poet, begins his third album So Few Things (City Salvage) on an unexpectedly jazzy note with “Wild Nights,” an Emily Dickinson poem set to music. An admirable effort, the song would have been a better way to close the disc because it might be off-putting to some listeners, especially his longtime fans who know Earnhart for his flawless folk tunes. The good news is that redemption occurs quickly on the marvelous second track “Daniel.”

This is precisely the kind of folkpop, with brass (!), that we’ve come

to expect and value from Earnhart.

He doesn’t disappoint with the stripped down “Elkton,” as you can’t go wrong with an acoustic guitar and whistling, and the lovely love songs “This Time” and “Lullaby,” the sexy “Train” and the sly humor of “Getting Up Guy.” “It’s All Over,” the opening track from gay singer/songwriter Tom Goss’ new album Turn It Around ( (tomgossmusic.com), gets th disc off to a righteously the r rock start. It’s far from over a after that. “Shady Dell” h an irresistible beat to has a accompany its illuminating ly lyrics, while the buoyant t cut is as radio-friendly title a the disc gets. as Ariel Aparicio, a p perennial favorite on L Logo’s Click List known for h dazzling reinventions his of popular 80s tunes such as “Pretty in Pink” and “People Who Died,” returns with the ninetrack Aerials (Rock Ridge Music), a disc of all original material. You can hear an updated 80s influence on “Love Left Bleeding,” with its fierce bass line and rocking beat. The same holds true for “Tattered Heart,” which sounds like it would also be a hit for the dance crowd. When he slows it down, as he does on “Caroline,” Aparicio demonstrates his versatility.

Chris Riffle has been busy. In 2010, he released his ironically titled second disc Introducing Chris Riffle (chrisriffle.com), and he followed it up in 2011 with the five-song EP I Am Not from Here (chrisriffle. com). An NYC transplant, Riffle has a warm and inviting vocal style that effortlessly communicates the emotional energy of his songs.

Working with a stellar cast of supporting musicians, including Ollabelle’s Jimi Zhivago, the Mars Volta’s Blake Fleming and Antony & the Johnsons’ Julia Kent, Riffle’s compositions are distinctively brought to life.

Last but not least, Japanese Satellites (dannykatzmusic.com) by Danny Katz doesn’t hesitate to use humor to get the message across on songs such as “I’ll Pretend,” “Passover,” and “Magnificently Lonely.” Katz also has a serious side, which comes through on “Sacramento,” “Bushwick,” “Modesto,” “Taipei” and “Boston.”

Does anyone else see a pattern here?▼

www.ebar.com

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

30 • Bay Area Reporter • June 16-22, 2011

t

Personals The

Massage>>

Model/Escorts>>

BlaiseMartin_1x2

Goodlooking,dominate fun master Bondage 2 Buttplay. Toys/FF/S&M Sling/Hose. Anthony 415-763-8677.

e29w

Attractive Friendly White guy 6’1” 185lbs 30’s 415-320-1040 Pictures at http://skot2trot.co9

e20w

Seek Hot Yng Musc Bondage models 4 videos BONDAGEZINE.com masterjk2@earthlink.net

e25w

INTEGRAL EROS for Men. 617-642-2933, ttbaum@integral-eros.com www.integral-eros.com

e22w

SEXY ASIAN $60 Jim 269-5707

THE AMPUTEE (right foot, below knee) skilled hand massage, exquisite foot massage $60.00-in/$100.00-out 415-641-4585 Ron (Mission District)

e25w

Fremont, Jim CMT * Great Hands * Mature $40/HR (510) 651-2217

e26w

Wanna Melt? Castro $50 Jim 415-621-4517

HAIRY MASSEUR

Erotic Relaxing Full Body Massage by hairy Irish/Portugese guy.

All Bay Area.

(510) 912-8812 late nights ok.

e24w

Genital &/or Prostatic Certified Sexological Bodyworker Health and Pleasure. Goal Focused 415-796-3215,Post and Hyde.

E24w

e26w

Amazing Massage by wellendowed. Mid 40’s Hot & Hard Man. Strong Gentle 415-320-0302

e24w

1st time special $55

Pelvis – Hips – Thighs - Low Back Jeff Gibson 415-626-7095 SF coremassage4men.com

Fullbody Massage 7 Days a Week!

Outcalls Too. 415-350-0968

“Dr. BLISS” is IN! I love touching men and it shows! Massage is my artform. 415.706.6549 http://bodymagicsf.blogspot.com

e24w

Asian CMT massage 510-779-8234

Deep Swedish CMT Ed 415-647-4388

MASSAGE FOR SENIORS ONLY DAVID 415 806-3150 WILL TRAVEL

E25w

e29w

Slim Smooth Bi-Guy with great hands $55 I’m 50.Andy 415-497-3696

E28w

e23w

e23w

Young masseur Erotic Relaxing Full Body San Jose Massage by CMT in my own home with oil. John (408) 768-7169 Only $40/Hr. Outcalls to hotels.

Model/Escorts>>

$80 415-504-0742 John.

Host or Travel.

e25w

Ladyboysinsation Hot hung black lady boy. Come see why they call me Kellylicous out in SF, Oakland 347-320-3277

E24W

Attractive 22yo Mexican 130# 5.6”, Open Mind, Friendly Company Good kisser, Good lover.

Miguel 415-987-1390

E24w

Middle Eastern Versatile 29yo Versatile /169cm/ 64kg/ 8” Cut, (650)743-0036. hunk_25@live.com

Edgy Escort For Xtreme Clients

HOT*COOL*24HRS. Out* 860-5468*$150 Hr.*

Str8 In The Haight I Kick back and watch Str8 porn.

You feed. That’s all I do. I don’t top. I don’t play with your nipples.

I kick back for service.

E24w

e24w

e25w

Military Marine Beefy Hairy 218lbs Muscle 6ft 37 White (646) 807 9356 built handsome sensual wild dom sub AdamSuperBeef Rentboy.com S/M WS

HIV+ TOP/VERS.6’3” 198# 8” Blond Hot. Friendly 415-706-9740 Nude,Swedish, Erotic, Prostate e24w 60 -120 min. sessions: $85 & up.

Youthful Caucasian, Blonde, Blue.

6’3”, 198#, Blond, CMT SF 395 Ninth Street S.F. CA 4916-284-2248 415-706-9740

(right foot, below knee) skilled hand massage, exquisite foot massage $60.00-in/$100.00 out 415-641-4585 Ron (Mission District)

E24w

23w

Body Electric CMT offers sensual healing touch.Swedish Deep tissue.Erotic.$90/hr. willbeing.com Will -821-6477

Massage In Marin

Asian CMT In Sunnyvale. In -$50, Out-$70 Michael 408-400-9088 or 408-893-1966

e25w

e27w

e24w

Top Cmt

e23w

Intuitive massage, affordable rates, flexible hours and all kinds of styles of massage. heathcliffmasseur.blogspot.com/ 415 218 0378

#1 Scourt SF! Handsome, sexy Topstud.

Thickest Dick 9X7.5 All Scenes, Confident Top Nick 415-615-0933

*EXCELLENT MASSAGE*

e26w PHONE 415.861.5019 FAX 861-8144

e25w

Fax to:

THE AMPUTEE

Fax from:

e23w

e25w

t

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 16-22, 2011 • Bay Area Reporter • 31

“Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends. ” -Francis Bacon, Love is the Devil

JeffAllen_2x5

People>>

DON’T MISS OUT! This is your

last chance

Men MEET Men...

VISA/MC/AMEX - as low as $1.00 per day!

MrN

To advertise in our annual pride issue on June 23rd!

Connnect Now on the Bay Area’s hottest chatline!

FREE 415-707-2400 Try it for

Deadline is June 17 at 5:00pm for display ads and June 20 at 12 noon for line ads.

Call 415-861-5019 for more details!

Right Now

408-539-2400 510-281-2400 650-870-2500

707-582-2400 831-789-2400 925-955-2000

a r

ai r q ebar.com

Men MEET Men...

Adult Jobs>> nd ta , n i ad pr ur nals o e y rso lac e Pe o to p g To nlin o

M M M

Hot guys 4 porn Looking 4 Hot Guys For Adult Films. RU 18-40, In Good Shape? apply @ factoryvideos.com/casting

Right Now

Client_size_issue

M M M

E22w

VISA/MC - as low as $1.00 per day!

The

Classified Order Form

MrN

Deadline: NOON on MONDAY. Payment must accompany ad. No ads taken over the telephone.

If you have a question, call 415.861.5019. Display advertising rates available upon request.

Connnect Now on the Bay hottest chatline!

XBOLD and BOLD stop Area’s here

Indicate Type Style Here

FREE 415-707-2400 Try it for

408-539-2400 510-281-2400 650-870-2500 707-582-2400

SF Manscaping

Look Good, Feel Great! www.sfmanscaping.com 831-261-8472 / Gil

ai rq

GAY MALE EROTICA DVD/ VHS COLLECTION FOR SALE! e52w

MEN Cruising MEN Match & Reply FREE! 415-430-1199 SF 510-343-1122 East Bay Use FREE Code 5818, 18+

60 DVDS &18 VHS MOVIES WIDE SELECTION $100 FOR TOTAL COLLECTION OR $3 FOR EACH TITLE. INQUIRIES 510-898-8464

E24W

eI B

M4M Local Sex Date: 800-260-4865. 18+

831-789-2400 925-955-2000

E24w

Body Trim and Shaving In The Castro 415-626-1168 for appt

E24w

M4M FEET

RATES for Newspaper and website: First line, Regular 8.00 All subsequent lines 5.00 Web or e-mail hyperlink 5.00 CAPS double price BOLD double price X-BOLD triple price PAYMENT:

SF Foot Party. Fri 6-24 8pm-2am.

For Details Call 706-569-4283 www.footpartysf.com

E24w

Cash

Personal Check

Contact Information Name Address Number of Issues

Mail with payment to: Bay Area Reporter 395 Ninth Street SF, CA 94103 OR FAX TO: 415.861.8144 OR E-MAIL: baradv@aol.com

Credit Card Payment Name Card Number Expiration Date Signature Money Order

City Classification

Visa

MasterCard

AmEx

Telephone State Amt. Enclosed

Zip

a r