June_26_2025

Trans, Dyke marches kick off Pride weekend

by John Ferrannini

The official San Francisco Dyke March is returning after a five year absence this Pink Saturday while the annual Trans March the night before will highlight a community defiantly expressing itself. The Trans March takes on new urgency after last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding genderaffirming care bans for minors in Tennessee and other states.

An official iteration of the Dyke March hasn’t happened since 2019, according to M Rocket, a dyke who is the interim project director for the revitalized event, which will kick off with onstage programming at Mission Dolores Park at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 28, before participants begin the march at 5 p.m.

In a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Rocket said that the last members of the march’s former board had stepped down two weeks before Pride 2024. In the time since, community members spent countless hours fundraising and working together for the triumphant return of the event this year.

“I think we’ve come an enormous distance in a really short time,” Rocket said, adding that committees were formed in February before

PRIDE 2025!

San Francisco’s Pride focuses on the joy in resisting

by John Ferrannini

San Francisco Pride has been buffeted by declining sponsorships amid corporate retreats from diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. But the organization is leaning into its theme, “Queer Joy is Resistance,” as it prepares for the annual parade and celebration. The Pride parade kicks off at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, June 29, from Market and Beale streets, commemorating the 56th anniversary of the Stonewall riots that began the modern movement for LGBTQ civil rights in the United States.

The parade’s theme comes on the heels of nationwide protests against President Donald Trump and the backsliding of democracy that’s already leading to attacks on the civil rights of queer people, particularly the trans community.

The parade – one of the largest in the world and San Francisco’s biggest annual march – also caps over a week of activities put on by the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration Committee.

“This year’s theme, ‘Queer Joy Is Resistance,’ is more than a slogan. It’s a call to action.” Suzanne Ford, a trans woman who is SF Pride’s executive director, told the Bay Area Reporter.

“At a time when our community is under attack from powerful political forces, simply showing up to Pride is an act of defiance,” Ford stated.

“It’s about joy in the face of fear, unity in the face of division, and love in the face of hate. I’ve never seen this community more determined to stand together – and that’s exactly what we’re doing this year. We’re not backing down.”

Joshua Smith, SF Pride’s board president, mentioned the backlash against LGBTQ rights and DEI efforts. These have led to some major corporate sponsors of Pride in prior years opting not to participate this go-around, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported.

“Pride has always been about visibility, but this year it’s also about perseverance,” Smith stated. “As we celebrate SF Pride’s 55th anniversary, we’re honoring the power of community to come to-

gether, even in the face of political and social backlash. Our message is clear: we are still here, still proud, and we are not going anywhere.”

Every year there are a number of grand marshals. Community grand marshal Kenan Arun, a board choice, is the co-executive director of the Center for Immigrant Protection. He also is a volunteer with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and a board member at The Turkish American Gezi Platform.

“San Francisco means home, not just in geography but in spirit – a place where I could fully embrace every part of who I am,” Arun stated. “It was never just about moving to the United States; it was about choosing San Francisco. As both an immigrant and a queer person, this city represents the possibility of safety, expression, and community. … After more than 15 years of LGBTQ+ advocacy from Turkey to the U.S., I know the work is far from over. Representing Pride is how we ensure no one gets left behind – especially our trans siblings – whether in our birthlands or our chosen homes.”

Community grand marshal Jessy Ruiz, another board choice, is from Michoacan, Mexico,

and immigrated to the United States in 1996. Ruiz plans to open a new nonprofit organization, Voces Trans Latinx, (Voices Trans Latinx) and currently works at the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center.

“When people see someone like me, a Latina transgender woman, in a leadership position, we give them a reference, proof that it is possible to live authentically, with dignity and without fear,” Ruiz stated. “Representation is a tool for empowerment because it helps us break down barriers, challenge prejudice and create a world in which we can all live freely.”

Community grand marshal Jahnel Butler is a public choice. Known as Jahnell Chanel in the Ballroom scene, she is associate director of trans services at the San Francisco Community Health Center.

“Representation at Pride matters because it tells our community, ‘You belong. You’re not alone. Love is transformative,” Butler stated. “It’s important to show up – because when we’re visible, we’re powerful. And that power creates positive change.”

Gooch

A contingent carried flags in the 2024 San Francisco Pride parade.

Rick Gerharter

People took part in the 2022 Dyke March.

Jane Philomen Cleland

People marched in the 2023 San Francisco Pride parade.

San Francisco high school allows LGBTQ students to excel

by Matthew S. Bajko

Overwhelmed by the rigidity of at-

tending a traditional high school, where students take classes based by topic and taught by different teachers, as well as feeling a lot of social stress, Amaranta Korngold transferred into Independence High School last fall for their senior year.

The small, alternative high school in the San Francisco Unified School District had fewer than 270 students from across the city during the 2024-2025 academic year. For Korngold, the nontraditional educational environment allowed them to thrive and easily connect with their classmates. Rather than feeling paralyzed in the morning and dreading heading off to high school, they felt excited to get to their classes at Independence.

“This year, I made friends as fast as I did in elementary school. I wasn’t stressed to go to school anymore,” said Korngold, 18, who is queer, nonbinary, bisexual, and genderqueer.

Also a Hawk, as that is the high school’s mascot, until graduating earlier this month was Jake Cookston, 17, who transferred to Independence as a sophomore. Post the online learning of the COVID years during middle school, he felt very anxious being in his classes at his former high school and its far larger student body.

Cookston, who came out as transgender at 13 in the eighth grade, also wasn’t meeting many other queer and trans students. He felt unsupported by his teachers when they didn’t discipline other students who ranted in class about using people’s preferred pronouns.

At home, his parents and siblings were supportive, but he was stressed by the decline of a grandfather in Texas who was in hospice care and passed away a few years ago. He began to skip his classes and, one day, decided to search online for a “not so traditionally structured high school,” recalled Cookston. “Independence came up.”

He applied and was accepted. Immediately, Cookston took note that students at Independence said what their pronouns were when introducing themselves and that its restrooms are all gender. The focus on project-based learning and limited classroom time suited his mindset, plus it afforded him time to focus on making art in the afternoons.

“You can make your own schedule. They work with you on a personal basis,” said Cookston.

Long attracted LGBTQ students

Founded 45 years ago and, for the past 12 years, located in the city’s Inner Sunset neighborhood, Independence has long attracted LGBTQ students, school staff and students told the Bay Area Reporter. Korngold said they certainly found it to be true, noting both of their teachers were also queer, which was a first for them at school and nice for them to see as a queer, young person.

“It is a more alternative place, so a lot of queer people go here,” Korngold told the B.A.R. in the spring, pointing out they had just had a history presentation at school about the hanky code used by gay men and others decades ago to signal their sexual proclivities based on the colored handkerchief stuffed into the back pocket of their jeans. “Our school is open to our identities. I feel kind of normal, which is kind of a relief.”

Dre Collaco, a licensed social worker who has been the high school’s wellness coordinator for 12 years, said, “Historically, this school was always a safe haven for queer and trans students.”

At the school’s Wellness Center LGBTQ students can find support and resources. It collaborates with LYRIC, the LGBTQ-youth focused nonprofit based in the city’s LGBTQ Castro district, to offer health education workshops and facilitate an LGBTQ affinity space

known as Q Group, along with the nonprofits Huckleberry Youth and Health Initiatives for Youth.

“When you walk in here, you feel it is a safe space,” said Collaco, 54, a queer San Francisco native. “When you see the Pride flags, staff members or other queer kids, you are like, ‘OK, this is a space where I can be me.’ There are less kids and less bullying. When it does happen, we can nip it in the bud and provide support for both students.”

A frequent Q Group attendee was Cookston. During their time at Independence, he spent many hours at the Wellness Center.

“It was nice having that small group and safe space to talk about stuff,” said Cookston.

The school doesn’t have full stats on its LGBTQ student makeup. It does know that 30 students, or 11% of the student body, this academic year were either transgender or nonbinary. According to school officials, 22 students also identified as gender-nonconforming.

“A lot of kids come to us with negative experiences at their prior schools, and scholastically, I think we are really thoughtful about how we show up for them,” said Anna Klafter, Independence’s principal for nine years, as she gave the B.A.R. a tour of the school site this spring. “When they first come here, we ask what are their pronouns. We have a form for an informal name change if they are using a different name than their government issued one.”

Many students who transfer to Independence do so, noted Klafter, because they didn’t find a peer group they related to at their previous schools, or they didn’t fit into a more rigid academic structure.

“All of our kids are here for a reason,” noted Klafter. “Most were not able to get what they needed at their last school. It is not to say the other schools weren’t doing their job, it is just that the needs of kids have grown more complicated over the last 10 years, I would say.”

The school’s classrooms eschew the traditional setup of desks with chairs in rows and more resemble lounge spaces. The lighting in many rooms is kept dim and there are no bells ringing between classes to take into consideration the sensory needs of students.

“This school is very student centric. We do focus groups with them; they are stakeholders and make decisions around our programming,” said Collaco.

Of the 26 fulltime staff at Independence this academic year, 11 were teachers, three social workers, and two counselors. The school isn’t meant to have a large student body.

“Our model is smaller and more laid back. It is an accommodation our kids need that they didn’t know they needed,” said Klafter, a San Francisco native who worked as a DJ and music journalist for a decade before entering the teaching profession.

Independence offers an “independent study” model of school learning. Some students meet individually with a teacher for an hour a week and are given

assignments to complete before their next meeting.

Others opt for the Cohort Program, where they are grouped together with a small subsection of their classmates, no more than a dozen, to take classes together and work on projects for assignments that encapsulate lessons from myriad academic disciplines. It is what both Korngold and Cookston opted for as Independence students.

“It is like a choose your own adventure book,” explained Korngold, whose senior year project focused on their interest in anthropology.

Their older brother had briefly attended Independence, and it was common for students at their previous high school to transfer to it. Korngold credited not only its unique academic structure but also the stability in the staff there as helping them to succeed.

“I’ve been in public schools since I was 5 and I didn’t have consistent principals. I had a different administration almost every year, which is not great for a school site,” said Korngold. “At Independence, the principal was the longest-serving I have ever had since first grade.”

Overcoming challenges

Korngold overcame a series of challenges on their way to becoming a high school graduate. They missed their sophomore year due to mental health issues.

Earlier in their teens, Korngold’s obsessive-compulsive disorder was so severe that they were unable to verbalize for four months. Not only had their brain instructed them to not speak, but Korngold’s OCD prevented them from being in the same room with their mother.

“OCD usually attaches itself to things we love the most. I loved at the time being near my mom, and my OCD told me she was dirty and gross,” recalled Korngold, who ended up in several residential programs, one in New England and the other the Midwest, to seek help.

At age 13, Korngold was also coming out to themselves as queer and struggling with their gender identity. It was a therapist they saw to address an eating disorder that first suggested Korngold could be nonbinary.

“I think I am OK. I have done a lot of work to be OK,” said Korngold, crediting the support they received from their parents in helping them meet their struggles head on. “I am proud of myself for where I have gotten to and that is just being alive.”

They credit their teachers and staff at Independence for helping them not only to thrive in their senior year but also for their being accepted at several of the top campuses in the state’s university system. Korngold doubts they would have otherwise gotten in.

“I needed something different and that wasn’t so overwhelming and exhausting. It worked out really well for me, and I am having a good time, too,” Korngold told the B.A.R. in the spring.

At the time, they were at work on their end-of-year school project, which entailed making a beaded amulet. In-

spired by reading a book that referenced people believing in an evil eye and needing protection against it, Korngold noted beadwork has long been a common practice across cultures, and an example of skills and knowledge being passed down from one generation to the next.

“You can learn all this info in such a small package,” marveled Korngold. “Beads are tied to identity and a place but have traveled all over the world.”

Tying beads back to anthropology, Korngold noted the central role the decorative objects have played in commerce and contact between early civilizations, factored into colonialism, and today are part of fashion trends. They have been “adopted and readopted,” they added, throughout time by cultures around the globe.

Their project also symbolized their parachuting into a new school where most of their classmates had gotten to know each other for at least three years. It reflected their initial concerns about fitting into their new school’s culture and environment.

“The whole theme of the year was how do I belong as a part of the whole,” explained Korngold. “A bead is part of a larger piece and, when not, a tiny thing on its own. You use it to create beautiful things.”

Ocean-inspired mural

Aquatic themes played a large role during Cookston’s final months of high school. His big project was painting an ocean-inspired mural featuring whales on the wall of one of the stairwells at school.

A highlight of his school year the past three years was the special daytrip he took to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach along the San Mateo County coast. There, he and his classmates helped count the sea creatures in the tide pools.

“We get to go into areas the public isn’t allowed to go and poke at things,” said Cookston.

This spring, Cookston was accepted into a special art exhibit for local students presented each year at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; it debuted in May inside the Steps Coffee on the second-floor check-in area and is to remain through the end of the summer. Two of Cookston’s three ceramic pieces were fish-inspired, with one be-

ing a large fish head. Their titles – one is labeled “Coming out- Molting” and the other “Appearances can be deceiving” – harken to Cookston’s personal experiences of coming out.

“I have a weird fascination about salmon,” Cookston acknowledged. “They totally change and become different in molting season. It is a metaphor for transition.”

In early June, on a typically overcast, cold day, Independence held its 2025 graduation ceremony at the Bandshell in Golden Gate Park. Phil Kim, a gay man who is president of the school board, attended and officially accepted the graduating class.

Teacher Peter Hippard, who joked he was also part of the class of 2025 due to his retirement from the school district, addressed the seniors and reminded them they “get to say with pride” that they earned their high school diploma from Independence. He also alluded to the topsy-turvy school year that saw the appointment of a new superintendent in the fall, abandonment of plans to shutter school sites, and a rough budget battle due to declining enrollment and shrinking funding from the state.

Hippard compared the 2024-2025 academic year to an amusement park ride “that feels like the theme park forgot to make the necessary safety checks.”

For many LGBTQ students, the past six months also brought anxiety from the Trump administration’s attacks on pro-equality school policies, especially those supportive of trans and nonbinary students.

Korngold and Cookston both told the B.A.R. they largely ignored what was happening at the federal level and focused more on completing their senior year. Nonetheless, they couldn’t completely tune out the federal rollback on LGBTQ rights.

Due to having an X marker on their passport, Korngold had worried what that could mean for them when they traveled, due to a White House directive that the federal government only recognizes male or female on government IDs, but this month was able to fly to Mexico for a trip post their graduation ceremony.

Independence High School Principal Anna Klafter looked at students’ ceramic works in the school’s art showcase “Big and Vast and Full of Wonders” mounted at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Rick Gerharter

Amaranta Korngold, who just graduated from Independence High School, held one of their beaded creations, which was a class project.

Rick Gerharter

Jake Cookston, who graduated from Independence High School this month, stood next to his ceramic figures in the school’s art showcase “Big and Vast and Full of Wonders” exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Rick Gerharter

City streetscapes inspire artist Fromm

by Matthew S. Bajko

An amusement park and saltwater swimming pool complex that once drew San Franciscans to Ocean Beach can be seen again along the city’s Pacific Ocean shoreline. Artist Emily Fromm drew inspiration from Playland-at-the-Beach and Sutro Baths for their mural titled “A History of Play.”

The civic booster group for the city’s newest park, Sunset Dunes, had reached out to Fromm last November about painting the mural on the backside wall of a building along the Great Highway with public restrooms that face the N-Judah subway line’s terminus at Judah and La Playa streets. Fromm incorporated images of the Sutro bathhouse’s entrance and Playland’s Big Dipper rollercoaster into the work, along with children skateboarding, surfers headed to the beach, and a person flying a kite.

“Other artists did ocean themes, I went the history route,” Fromm, 33, told the Bay Area Reporter this spring.

The mural by Fromm, who is nonbinary, is one of a number of art installations visitors to the park will find. Sunset Dunes officially opened to the public in April following voters’ approval last November of Proposition K, the ballot measure that closed the Great Highway that spans Ocean Beach and turned its traffic lanes into a recreational promenade.

Its passage was controversial, with an overwhelming majority of nearby residents voting against Prop K. It also spawned the recall effort against gay District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio, with Sunset District voters set to decide his political fate on September 16.

The animosity churned up by the closure of the roadway, for decades a convenient route for commuters in the city’s westernmost neighborhoods, has manifested into vandalism of several of the art installations at the park.

This month, a piano was smashed and a phone booth that allowed people to “call” their deceased loved ones was damaged.

Back in March, as Fromm worked on their mural, they were subjected to angry outbursts of passersby. People opposed to the park would yell at Fromm and get into arguments with other people walking by about the merits of the street closure, which occurred on March 12.

“The day it closed, the vibe was off,” recalled Fromm. “People came up saying not nice things and that they don’t want the mural.”

Overnight, someone tagged Fromm’s mural with white paint in a zigzag pattern. Since it wasn’t finished, Fromm had yet to put a protective seal on it that would have made repairing it easier. Instead, they needed to completely redo it.

“I cried,” said Fromm, at the thought of taking another month to restore it.

After composing themself, Fromm decided to put out a call for help. More than 100 people turned up over three days to assist in repainting the mural, which was sealed on March 21 so it can be pressure washed if ever tagged again.

“I essentially finished it right on time,” said Fromm.

The vandalism and subsequent public support brought a wealth of media attention to Fromm and the mural. It is now one of their best-known works, and the publicity has generated interest from companies and individuals seeking to have Fromm create murals at their worksites or private homes.

“I am grateful to have the chance to bring my art to the world,” said Fromm over lunch at Java Beach Cafe, which is across La Playa from the site of their beach mural and also has artwork by Fromm on its walls. (Its location on Sloat Boulevard by the San Francisco Zoo features a mural of a cityscape on its facade done by Fromm in 2022.)

Having lived near Ocean Beach for 13 years, Fromm told the B.A.R. they would have voted for Prop K were they still a San Francisco resident. On Halloween 2022, Fromm and their husband, Jimmy Rogers, received the keys to the home they bought in the oceanside town of Montara in San Mateo County where they live with their grey tabby Moze, now 8. Fromm set up an art studio in the garage, which has a small kiln for the ceramics they make, and can gaze out on the green slopes of Montara Mountain.

The couple first met while riding the L-Taraval subway line 12 years ago; they struck up a conversation and soon were living together in the city’s Sunset district. Today, at the line’s West Portal Station stop, passengers are greeted by welcoming and wayfinding murals on either side designed by San Francisco Public Works and painted by Fromm. (In 2021, Fromm had painted a mural on a temporary boarding platform erected near the station on Uloa Street

that depicted the area’s commercial corridor. Pictures of it can be seen on Fromm’s website at https://tinyurl.com/ yjrv5c6h.)

Inspiration from pop art

Fromm draws inspiration from pop art, comic books, and the Mission School of artists that came up in San Francisco in the 1990s and 2000s, whose works will be featured in the show called “Bay Area Then” opening at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts August 1. Moth Belly Gallery co-owner KT Seibert describes Fromm’s style as “clean graphics but with a sort of… just a playfulness and whimsical nature to it. It is very approachable and beautiful.”

Seibert, 37, who is queer, nonbinary, and transgender, got to know Fromm well in 2020 when they rented a studio space in the basement of the Larkin Street gallery in San Francisco’s Polk Gulch neighborhood. Now best friends, Seibert is featured sitting on a bench with a racoon perched atop it in a mural Fromm did in 2022 for Google Inc.’s Bay View Campus at the Nasa Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. It faces the mural that Seibert was also commissioned by the tech company to do.

Assemblymember

Assemblymember

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“Emily is one of my favorite people,” said Seibert, adding that Fromm is “just so warm and kind, and just has been such a great addition to the art community.”

Raised in Santa Clarita in Southern California, Fromm moved to San Francisco to attend San Francisco State University, graduating in 2013 with a BFA in paintings and ceramics. (They enrolled as a language major but then convinced the dean overseeing the arts school to allow them to switch majors.)

“Painting has been my first language since I was a little kid, more than drawing or writing, I would say,” said Fromm, whose “happy place” as a child was their apartment balcony where their Fisher Price easel would be set up for them to paint. “I was communicating in pictures.”

Milk terminal project

A decade ago, Fromm had been accepted into the artists pool overseen by the San Francisco Arts Commission, allowing them to apply for civic art projects. They were a finalist for several but weren’t selected until tapped in 2017 for one of the public art projects available in the redesigned Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at San Francisco International Airport.

“I was thrilled. It was a huge project to be brought to my attention as my first public gig,” said Fromm, who happened to be riding a Muni subway car in the Sunset when they fielded the call. “I had no idea what I was going to do.”

The material they chose to work with had to be permanent, so paint was off the table. They opted to do a tile mosaic mural and submitted six sketches inspired by different neighborhoods around San Francisco. The one of the city’s LGBTQ Castro district, which the terminal’s gay namesake had called home and represented as its supervisor, depicted the 400 block of Castro Street

with the facades of gay bar Twin Peaks, baked goods shop Hot Cookie, and the Castro Theatre.

Called “Four Corners,” the 40 feet by 10 feet mural features four panels, with Chinatown, the Mission, and the Embarcadero neighborhoods also depicted. Installed near a boarding gate seating area, it debuted to the public on May 25, 2021.

“My hope is people who have never been to San Francisco get to see this snapshot of the city, and for people who call it home and know it well, that these images will resonate with them,” said Fromm, who has had friends and others tell them seeing the mural when returning from a trip “feels like it welcomes them home.”

Using hundreds of photos they had taken, 50 alone of the Castro, Fromm drew scenes of urban life with pen and ink then made digital renderings of them in Photoshop. They hired an architect to help them create a mock up to present to the arts commissioners for approval.

“I never stepped foot into the terminal,” recalled Fromm, who at the time was working part-time for a company that shipped items people won at nonprofit gala auctions.

The commission ended up totaling $400,000 and provided $40,000 in take home pay for Fromm. The murals are made from a material called byzantine mosaic smalti and were fabricated by Mosaika Art & Design located in Montreal, Canada, which Fromm visited multiple times to meet with the team of 20 people working on their mural.

“It broke me. I was not expecting this to happen, but I was so excited and so amazed, I felt recognized and validated but also I was really unprepared,” recalled Fromm, who back then also worked at bars and coffeeshops. “I felt a lot of impostor syndrome. Who am I to have this big job? At the same time, I wanted to do it right.”

Unbeknownst to Fromm at the time, who suffered panic attacks designing the airport installation, they have bipolar disorder. Looking back at the time of their life now, it feels like a dream, said Fromm.

“It broke my mind open in a good way. All these possibilities were there,” they said.

Physically demanding

Since 2018, Fromm has worked as a full-time artist but continues to teach Pilates and barre classes at SF State and the YMCA. The exercise is good for their back, Fromm noted, as they spend upward of six hours standing on a ladder when installing their murals.

“I love making murals and want to do them as long as I can. But it is physically demanding, and when I am 65, it is not going to get any easier,” said Fromm.

While the global health crisis five years ago put a crimp on the public and corporate commissions Fromm could apply for, it brought them an increase of requests from private homeowners looking to beautify their home inte-

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The “Castro” mural Emily Fromm painted for Corona Heights resident Gary Jaffe was challenging because of the curved ceiling.

Matthew S. Bajko

Artist Emily Fromm stood near the mural they created at Sunset Dunes, San Francisco’s newest park at Ocean Beach.

Matthew S. Bajko

SF, Oakland LGBTQ centers reckon with budget cuts

by John Ferrannini

W

hen queer people first come out or have fallen on hard times, LGBTQ community centers large and small may be some of the first places they look to for support and community.

T. McCarthy, who is queer, struggled to find work in the city and felt stereotyped as a neurodivergent person in the workplace. Starting in 2007, she went to the San Francisco LGBT Community Center for help and utilized its employment services.

Approximately 50,000 people visit the center’s building on Market Street annually, some seeking services, others to get information or attend events there.

“Affirming places like the San Francisco LGBT Center are essential for community members like me who need a safety net,” McCarthy stated. “For months, I struggled to find work in the city. Realizing I needed a safe community space with resources, I connected with the center’s employment services team, and the pieces began to fall into place.

“Through the years, the center’s ability-informed employment spe-

compassionate, guiding me as I navigated systemic workplace issues. The center consistently showed up for me through the years, which gave me the courage to show up for myself,” Mc-

Olivia Vail, a trans woman, started receiving services last year. She’d been struggling with homelessness, discrimination, addiction and violence.

in the mid-Market neighborhood, for an average of 100-150 events per month, including both events put on by the center itself and by others.

from the city would be reduced.

“We are always in a constant state of change and adaptation,” Rolfe said.

“A turbulent transition landed me in a hard place and I needed a leg up, so I reached out to the SF LGBT center to lay out some goals,” Vail stated. “I felt super supported by the guidance of my counselor and I was able to start a career in public health.”

As nonprofit organizations, many centers rely on private donations, or government contracts provided in exchange for social services, to keep the doors open. Both of these have been threatened in recent months with an emboldened second Trump administration slashing federal programs, attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and private donors tightening their belts amid fears about the economy.

“Definitely, things are changing,” Rebecca Rolfe, a lesbian who is the outgoing executive director of the San Francisco LGBT center at 1800 Market Street. “We’re seeing a couple of things – we’ve seen a couple institutional donors take a pause or step back, and it’s not clear what’s going to happen with those. We’ve seen other institutional donors say, ‘Nope, we’re

Finances Rolfe said that the center’s finances are “a complex situation with a lot of nuance.” Fortunately for the center, “the only federal money we get is passed through local funders through the city and county [of San Francisco] – nothing has been cut off, but it’s something we’ve been preparing for,” she added. That includes about $100,000 that goes toward the center’s small business development program and its first-time home buyer program, Rolfe said.

On the other hand, the center did lose some money from the city. Last year, along with Larkin Street Youth Services and the LYRIC Center for LGBTQQ Youth, the center was slated for cuts, but after $11 million from the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families was restored by the office of then-mayor London Breed before the budget was signed, only LYRIC sustained cuts.

At the end of May, when Mayor Daniel Lurie’s proposed balanced budget was announced, a mayoral spokesperson wasn’t able to identify cuts to LYRIC and Larkin Street, but did state, “The SF LGBT Center does have impacts. There is a reduction to their workforce development work and there was an elimination of the strategy of community building at [Mayor’s Office of Housing and

“What I know is the center, and every organization we partner with, is really here for the community and really putting the needs of the community front and center.”

But especially now, noted Rolfe, that assurance comes with the need for the community to get involved in whatever ways they can.

“This is really a tough time – I know a lot of people are really feeling it, really feeling anxious and a lot of stress and retraumatization,” Rolfe said. “I think this is a really important time for the community to step up – we can’t look to a few individuals, whether those are donors or leaders, to ensure the success of organizations important to us as a community. So, I really encourage people to get involved in some kind of way: make a donation, even if it’s not a large donation, or volunteer.”

For more information, visit www.sfcenter.org

Oakland in ‘dire’ situation  Across the Bay, at a June 5 hearing of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors addressing the impact of President Donald Trump’s executive orders, budget proposal (the One Big, Beautiful Bill), and the Department of Government Efficiency on local efforts to fight HIV, Joe Hawkins, cofounder and CEO of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, gave an impassioned presentation at the podium.

“The Trump administration recently cut a grant we had – we were already awarded for $622,000. Other cuts have followed, corporations have pulled back [donations],” Hawkins said. “One-third of our budget is gone. Our budget is only $3 million, and each attack from the Trump administration, whether it’s HIV – we were expecting at least $1.5 billion to be cut from HIV services at the federal level – who does that impact the

Hawkins spoke with the B.A.R. in an interview last month in which he said that the grant money was going toward the Glenn Burke East Clinic & Trans Wellness Center at the City of Refuge building at 8400 Enterprise Way. It’s a satellite program of the center in East Oakland that opened June 7. A capital campaign had raised $1 million, which helped the center open the clinic, Hawkins said. (The center is named after Burke, the first professional baseball player to come out as gay after he retired in 1982 and who died in 1995 of AIDS-related

The $622,000 was from a federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and it went through the

Sierra

Paid for by Matt Dorsey for DCCC 2024.

Joe Hawkins is co-founder and CEO of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center.

John Ferrannini

Alyssa Avalos, left, and San Francisco LGBT Community Center

Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe staffed a table at the center’s recent Pride Month block party.

Courtesy SF LGBT center

Palm Springs remains a haven for LGBTQ visitors

by Ed Walsh

F or the uninitiated, Palm Springs, California is the gayest city in the country, and maybe even the world. At least a third of the city’s population of 45,000 identifies as gay or lesbian. The desert city is about a two-hour drive from Los Angeles in good traffic and a little over an hour’s flight from San Francisco.

The city has long been a getaway for Hollywood elites as well as the LGBTQ community. For vacationers, Palm Springs boasts the most gay resorts of any place on the planet, with 11 in the city limits and one in the adjacent city to the south, Cathedral City.

By the way, most of the gay nightlife used to be in Cathedral City, but starting in the 1990s, bars and nightclubs started springing up in Palm Springs. The first was Streetbar on E. Arenas Road in downtown Palm Springs, just east of Indian Canyon Drive. That block is now where the biggest concentration of gay businesses and nightclubs is situated.

This year’s Palm Springs Pride is set for November 6-9. It includes a parade, festival, and other events, such as a block party.

Resorts

The fabulously gay Santiago Resort is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The twostory, hacienda-style property has one of the largest pools and offers one of the most picturesque mountain views of any of the gay resorts. Like its sister properties, Twin Palms and Descanso resorts, Santiago offers a free breakfast, lunch, coffee, soft drinks, and snacks 24 hours a day. Santiago has a loyal following

that keeps it busy even in the slower summer months.

The biggest cluster of gay resorts is in the Warm Sands neighborhood, just under a mile from the Arenas Road gay strip. That is where you will find El Mirasol Villas, Casa Oliver, Hacienda Palm Springs, Desert Paradise Resort, https://www.desertparadise.com/ and InnDulge. https://inndulge.com/ El Mirasol Villas is the most affordable, and Hacienda is the most luxurious.  But all the resorts are first-rate.

Casa Oliver is the newest gay hotel, opening in December 2024 in the space where All Worlds Annex used to be. The husbandand-wife owners are already putting a number of upgrades into the property, with newly remodeled rooms and plans for a restaurant on the property.  It is one of three of Greater Palm Springs resorts that is open for day passes, starting at $25.

Another gay resort offering day passes is Canyon Club Hotel on

Palm Canyon Drive, on the north end of downtown. Canyon Club passes are just $15. Canyon Club is the most affordable of all the resorts, with rates that start at $119 with no resort fee. Cathedral City Boys Club (CCBC), that city’s only gay resort , offers day passes for $35, with a Wednesday special of $22.

The fabulous Triangle Inn in Palm Springs https://www.triangle-inn. com/ is owned by Michael Green and Stephen Boyd. The couple is well known for their work in the community and for their help to other LGBTQ businesses. Green is the president of the Palm Springs Cultural Association. The property is an architectural gem. It gets its name from the triangle-shaped front of the hotel as well as the LGBTQ pink triangle symbol. The front of the hotel is framed by a gorgeous garden.

The aforementioned CCBC is the largest of the gay resorts, spread out on 3.5 acres. It includes the Runway Bar and Restaurant that is open to guests and non-guests alike. The resort hosts a number of special events that draw locals and tourists.

Sadly, there are no longer any lesbian resorts since Casitas Laquita and Desert Hearts Inn closed years ago. All of the dozen gay resorts are male, clothing optional, and most serve a free continental breakfast. Some charge a resort fee but others don’t, so if you are budget conscious – and who isn’t – take that fee into consideration when comparing prices. Rates in general are cheapest over the summer and most expensive from mid-February through early May.

Nightlife

On the E. Arenas gay strip, you will find Hunters.

The spacious club includes a main bar area, dance space, and patio. Streetbar, which always seems to be packed, draws a loyal local crowd. Other bars on the block include Dick’s on Arenas (formerly Eagle 501 and before that Score), the video bar Quadz, Blackbook, famous for its upscale bar food, and Chill.

The Evening Citizen bar is purposely a little hard to find and is behind Streetbar.  That is because it is an old-fashioned speakeasy bar.

There are no longer any lesbian bars since Delilah’s went out of business years ago, but Hunters, and, on the north end of Palm Springs, Toucan’s Tiki Lounge, are very women-friendly. The Dinah, which promotes itself as the world’s largest lesbian and queer women’s event and music festival, runs this year from September 24-29.

The Tool Shed is on the edge of the Warm Sands neighborhood and is famous for its Thursday underwear night. And since Barracks in Cathedral City was shut down last year, it also is taking up the mantle with a Wednesday underwear night like Barracks used to have.

Besides CCBC’s Runway Bar, Cathedral City is home to One Eleven Bar and the Roost Lounge. https:// www.theroostcc.com/ Both bars are known for karaoke and live entertainment , and draw a higher percentage of locals than the Palm Springs bars.

Sights

One of the newest attractions in Palm Springs began last November and is already among the hottest tickets in town. Drag and Fly Tours are as entertaining as they are informative. The 90-minute tour is conducted in a bus with 13-seat stadium seating, so everyone has the same good view. The tour is hosted by a drag queen and includes archival videos of some of the attractions that you will see along the way. It makes a quick pit stop on E. Arenas Road, where you will hear more about the city’s gayest block.

A must-see attraction is the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.

It takes visitors through four seasons in 10 minutes. If you are visiting in the summer, it could be 120 degrees in Palm Springs but a comfortable 80 degrees at the summit. At the top, you can have a meal, hike, and watch a very informative video on construction of this engineering marvel. If you are visiting in the winter, you can bring, or rent, a sled or cross-country skis.

Palm Springs closes its main drag, Palm Canyon Drive, in the heart of downtown, every Thursday night for the street fair known as Village Fest. It runs from 7 to 10 p.m. JuneSeptember and from 6 to 10 p.m. the rest of the year. By the way, Palm Springs has two sunsets. The first sunset is when the sun goes behind the mountains to the west, putting the city in shade. Then about an hour later is when the sun officially sets. So, the Village Fest is shaded for at least an hour before sunset.

The Palm Springs Art Museum is free on Thursday nights from 5 to 8 p.m., so you can easily coordinate a trip to the museum with Village Fest. The museum’s focus is contemporary art and design. It currently has an exhibit on the first floor showcasing works by LGBTQ artists from the museum’s photography, painting, and design collections.

While lesbians may not have a dedicated bar, there’s a thriving community of queer women in Palm Springs hosting events, lesbian nights, and activities in the city. For more information, go to lesbianpalmsprings.com t

The Palm Springs Art Museum currently has an exhibition of LGBTQ+ works from its collection.

Ed Walsh

The pool at the Santiago Resort in Palm Springs offers relaxation and fun for gay men.

Courtesy Santiago Resort

Drag and Fly Tours has become a popular attraction since launching last November.

Ed Walsh

No hate crime charge for alleged pink triangle vandal << Pride 2025

by John Ferrannini

A19-year-old San Franciscan has been charged by District Attorney Brooke Jenkins with a number of offenses after allegedly vandalizing the pink triangle installation atop Twin Peaks. However, the defendant was not charged with a hate crime, according to the DA’s office.

Lester Bamacajeronimo was charged last week with vandalism in the amount of over $400, and two other counts of possession of graffiti tools and resisting arrest. He was released on his own recognizance and his next hearing is July 24 in Department 22 of the San Francisco Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant Street.

Jenkins told the B.A.R. that Bamacajeronimo wasn’t charged with a hate crime because her office did not believe it could prove one beyond a reasonable doubt.

“There is evidence to the contrary, from this young man’s statements to the police, that he was unaware of what the pink triangle represented and he was trying to be artistic in modifying it,” Jenkins said in a phone interview. “When someone can’t articulate or says they can’t articulate or says they don’t understand what a symbol represents, that’s an issue.”

Deputy Public Defender Sarah Hashemi, who is defending Bamacajeronimo, told the B.A.R. June 24 that her client was trying to make the pink triangle into the symbol for the popular “Superman” franchise, and that hopefully it will be resolved in a way that furthers peace and understanding.

“My client is still a teenager who had no idea what pink triangle meant and was embarrassed when officers had to explain it to him,” Hashemi stated. “He told officers that he was trying to turn it into a

‘Superman’ symbol, which shows how naive his mindset is. This is a teachable moment, and I hope we can resolve this case with restorative justice and community service.”

As the B.A.R. reported June 17, Bamacajeronimo was arrested by San Francisco police who pursued him on foot after being seen vandalizing the annual symbol of LGBTQ Pride installed each June, according to police. Pink triangle co-founder Patrick Carney, a gay man, said that the damage is extensive; 26 of the panels will need to be replaced , as they are covered in black paint.

Since the attack, Carney wrote in a Facebook post that the damaged tarps will not be replaced ahead of its being taken down this weekend. From a distance, such as the annual Pride parade route downtown, it is near impossible to see the defacement that occurred.

“We will not repair the damage to the Pink Triangle; we will wear this scar as a badge of resilience, courage, and our continuing struggle for equality for the rest of Pride Month,” Carney wrote June 19. “The damage will remain as is, because that sends a powerful message in and of itself. It is important to let people see where hatred can lead.

“For the last three decades, the Pink Triangle display has served as a giant WARNING and REMINDER of what can happen if hatred is allowed to go unchecked,” he added. “The graffitied and defaced panels illustrate the point of the Pink Triangle display, which is to remind us of the ongoing discrimination and hatred experienced by many in the community. If this can happen here in LGBTQ+ friendly San Francisco, think what might happen in other less accepting places in the US and

around the world. Their hatred will not dissuade us from being our true selves. We will speak up, and keep living our lives as joyfully as possible. There is no going back in the closet as some would like us to do.”

The 30th edition of the pink triangle was installed during a ceremony June 7. Carney started the annual display in 1996 to add some color to the Pride parade and to remember a dark chapter in world history.

The symbol was used at German concentration camps during World War II to brand suspected homosexuals. Similar symbols, such as a Star of David for Jewish prisoners, marked others who were imprisoned, millions of whom died at the camps during the Holocaust. Much later, the pink triangle was reclaimed by the LGBTQ community as a symbol of empowerment.

“It is actually quite gratifying and rewarding that so many people are still interested in helping to

construct this giant warning and reminder of what extreme hatred can lead to,” Carney said at the ceremony. “There have probably been 10,000-plus volunteers over the decades. This is a massive community building project and a giant in-yourface educational tool to teach people of what can happen if we don’t remain vigilant.”

The incident is not the first time the pink triangle has been vandalized. In 2009, a fire broke out on Twin Peaks just hours before the Pride parade, leading to an arson investigation. Carney added that his spouse, Hossein Carney, Ph.D., was attacked while they were taking it down in 2001 or 2002.

Mayor Daniel Lurie, who was at the installation June 7, stated last week that, “This hateful act of vandalism does not reflect San Francisco’s values and will not be tolerated. Thank you to SFPD for responding quickly and apprehending the suspect.” t

Pink triangle co-founder Patrick Carney posted this image of the installation from 8,000 feet, courtesy of his cousin, Lucy Brooks Cordero.

Lucy Brooks Cordero Panels of the pink triangle were defaced during a June 17 incident, after which a suspect was arrested.

Patrick Carney

Faith group keeps young queers engaged

by John Ferrannini

Beloved Arise, a Seattle-based nonprofit that seeks to empower religious LGBTQ youth from various faiths, continues to inspire its members. An essay contest leading up to Queer Youth of Faith Day on June 30 showed that for the young people, spirituality comes with questions and acceptance.

Readers may recall that the Bay Area Reporter spoke with other Beloved Arise members last year during Pride Month.

Those young adults, who also took part in an essay contest, said not only could they be unapologetically Christian, Jewish, and Muslim and also be proudly transgender, pansexual, bisexual, and nonbinary, and that coming out deepened their faith. (The article also won an award from the California News Publishers Association.)

This year, the organization held another essay contest, which had five winners. Two agreed to speak with the Bay Area Reporter as Queer Youth of Faith Day enters its second year.

Naor Aaron: Questioning everything at the core of being Jewish, queer

Naor Aaron, a 21-year-old Jewish trans man, wrote about how Judaism was ever-present while he was growing up.

“My parents are both rabbis, so Judaism was everywhere, woven into everything we did. Where there was joy, there was Judaism,” Aaron wrote. “Where there was pain, there was Judaism. It wasn’t just a set of beliefs; it shaped how we saw the world and how we carried ourselves. It is what guided and continues to guide my family to be stronger, more level-headed individuals.”

Aaron wrote that even when he didn’t yet understand he was a trans man, “I would wear Jewish garb traditionally meant for men.” He told the B.A.R. in a Zoom call that he had a “positive queer and Jewish experience” growing up.

“Being queer wasn’t negatively spoken about,” Aaron said, adding his parents are part of the reformed branch of Judaism, and he grew up in a mix of conservative and reform movements.

Aaron said that when he eventually came out, his parents “were very Jewish about it. They said, ‘We don’t care who you marry, as long as they’re Jewish,’” which he clarified was a joke.

One way Aaron found Jewish and queer identities intersecting is that both groups put an emphasis on the importance of questioning things.

“Go in life and question everything,”

Aaron said. “If you don’t question, you’re not learning, and I think being queer you learn so much about yourself

and about others. There is obviously a book of laws [in the Hebrew Bible], but there are so many books that give you prompts, and it’s on you to decide based on your life what they mean.”

As Aaron wrote in his essay, “What’s beautiful about Judaism is that it encourages you to make it your own.

The phrase ‘Ask three Jews, get seven answers’ is real, and fascinating. Every person has a unique perspective and lived experience that shapes how religion takes root in their life. To be queer is to know yourself. Most people aren’t born with the immediate knowledge that they are queer. Instead, they embark on a journey, wanted or not, to uncover parts of themselves that society told them couldn’t exist. To be queer is to ask questions. And to me, so is being religious.”

The accoutrements of the faith are another way to express his identity, Aaron said.

“It is gender-affirming, a way to show up in the world as myself, and a reminder that my faith and my identity aren’t in conflict,” he wrote. “When I put on my kippah or tzitzit, I feel aligned, not just in my gender, but in my Judaism. It prepares me for prayer, grounding me in something bigger than myself. I would not be who I am without my kippah (yarmulke) or my tzitzit (the strings that are worn on the four corners of the body). This connection carries over into my prayer. The line between an everyday moment and prayer is thin for me.”

Aaron is currently in Illinois and will be attending college in the fall in Colorado. He has sometimes lived in Israel and was an intern with Rabbis for Human Rights, which advocates for a two-state solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, during the olive harvest.

“Their whole idea is occupation is not Jewish,” Aaron said.

Aaron asked the B.A.R. specifically to print these remarks: “I don’t know what this paper or its takes are on everything but one thing I’ll say

whether or not you put it in is queer people have a duty to stand up and say something, and stand up and act, when there’s atrocities happening in the world, especially because we know what it’s like for it to happen to us, and we know what it’s like to be othered and we know what it’s like to not be listened to.

“I think it is our duty, especially, I’m not going to word this exactly right … especially as Jews in this world, to the Jews who are reading this, it is our core value Tikkun olam, to repair the world, that we must actually repair it, and there is a saying in the Torah that talks about the Second Temple and it says it is not your duty to finish the job, but neither is it to desist from it,” Aaron continued. “It’s apparent to everything we do in life but, at this moment, it’s very apparent and very topical to Palestine and it’s very topical to the destruction and genocide in Gaza and everything going on there, and it may be buzzer words to some people, but it’s real.”

Queer Youth of Faith Day

Gretta Miller is a project strategist for Beloved Arise. Miller, who is bisexual, told the B.A.R. this is the fourth annual essay contest the organization has held.

“We provide a prompt and essay contest specific for queer youth of faith – people who hold identities within the LGBTQ spectrum,” Miller said, adding this year’s prompt was “As a queer person of faith, what tradition, ritual, or practice makes you feel joy, peace, or sense of belief?”

There were 50 submissions in total this year.

While stereotypes pit religious people and LGBTQs at odds, Miller cited a 2022 Trevor Project study that found 21% of queer youth value their religious identities.

A February article in The Econo-

mist found America’s Generation Z is experiencing a slight uptick in religious identity compared to the millennial generation at the same age. Asked if this is just vibes or media hype, Miller said, “We are seeing that reflected in some of the work we do.”

Miller hopes that Beloved Arise can help young people navigate their identities in a positive way, saying the goal is “more accessibility to affirming theology” rather than trying to refute anything other than the belief people have to choose between two parts of who they are.

“I think there’s more and more examples, when it comes down to visibility, when people see other people or hear other people’s stories with a similar background, I think they feel less alone,” Miller said. “I think as it comes to faith practice we’re not saying, ‘Ignore that part of yourself so you can be who you are.’ We’re saying, ‘Because of your faith practices, you can be who you are.’”

Asked about Queer Youth of Faith Day, Miller said, “People are getting loud on social media and sharing who they are,” but Beloved Arise is stepping back so people can spearhead their own events in their local communities.

This year’s theme is “Every young person deserves to be loved unconditionally,” and people are being asked to share accounts with the hashtag #IamBeloved.

Isabella Bravo: Grateful for accepting religious environment

Isabella Bravo, 17, lives in Sacramento, where she practices traditional Native American spirituality. She’s planning on going to UC Berkeley in the fall.

Practitioners of Native American spirituality have services at a roundhouse, a circular building used for community gatherings, ceremonies, and social events.

“The space of my faith, the Roundhouse, is warm, welcoming, and inviting to all those who need thoughts and prayers and those who want to express their gratitude, which I often do,” Bravo wrote in her essay. “When I dance, when I offer prayer, I’m not thought of as different, I don’t feel expectations or stereotypes shoved onto me, I feel appreciative of my life and what got me to where I am, a significant part of that is my identity.

“In many organized religions, queer people have a history of being persecuted, but what’s so special about mine is that queer and nonconforming people were embraced completely, they were the wise medicine people who could heal their

community when they needed it the most,” she added. “Everything about my faith allows me to be comfortable in my own skin.”

Asked about what it’s like hearing about or meeting people who are from religious traditions that are anti-LGBTQ, Bravo told the B.A.R. that, “People at my school had a lot of prejudice and that was scary as I came to terms with myself.”

“I think where I grew up, there were not a lot of Native people, so I had to find places myself,” Bravo said. “I grew up going to my traditional ceremonies. In my family, we pray to our Creator, traditional ceremonies and prayers. Stuff like that.”

One of these is the bear dance, she said, which is “kind of a celebration when bears come out of hibernation, in the springtime, and my family used to go up to Yosemite where there’s a traditional Roundhouse, and there’d be cultural performances and a fire that will carry our prayers up to our ancestors and creator.”

Bravo explained, “Never when surrounded by my faith have I felt like an outcast when that seems to be the case everywhere else as an atypical teenager in a heteronormative world.” Bravo came out as bisexual initially, during the COVID pandemic lockdown.

“When I was first discovering myself as a queer-identifying person, it was a time of worldwide unease, sickness, loneliness, and hate,” Bravo wrote in her essay. “Coming out as bisexual to my family was an extremely isolating feeling, knowing that queer people across the world are afraid to express themselves and by doing so it could put me in danger. Quarantine only accelerated those feelings. But slowly, as we began to practice our faith again with a community, I didn’t feel alone, I didn’t feel pressure to define myself when I was constantly unsure if I was bisexual or gay, I just felt like me for the first time in a while. I was truly decolonizing myself in simply embracing myself and doing what made me happy. By celebrating and experiencing joy and gratitude I have decolonized my identity.”

Both Bravo and Aaron found out about Beloved Arise while applying for colleges. Bravo said, “I don’t really meet a lot of people like me so I really wanted to tell it through their essay contest.”

The news she was among the winners was “very shocking,” Bravo said. “I didn’t think the essay was good enough, but I’m glad I was able to tell my story the way I did.”

For more information about Beloved Arise, go to belovedarise.org. t

Naor Aaron, left, and Isabella Bravo were two winners of Beloved Arise’s essay contest for queer youth.

Courtesy Beloved Arise

Openhouse + On Lok Community Day Services: A place LGBTQ+ seniors can call their own.

Rooted in the voices and experiences of the LGBTQ+ seniors it serves, Openhouse + On Lok Community Day Services in San Francisco is the nation’s first adult day program created for and with the LGBTQ+ community. Its participants call it “Club 75” because it is their center: tailored to their unique needs and informed by their history, resilience, and pride.

The program builds on Openhouse’s expertise in services for LGBTQ+ older adults and On Lok’s 50+ years of experience supporting seniors’ health and independence. At Club 75, individuals aged 55+ can find assistance with personal care, nutritious meals, transportation to the program and back, activities, outings, and celebrations of their fabulous diversity.

“My life changed after coming to Club 75,” said Participant Trae Turpin. “The staff is wonderful, they are my advocates and take good care of me. It’s a fantastic place to be. I give it five stars!”

Co-located with Openhouse on Laguna Street, Club 75 features a spacious activity room, an outdoor courtyard, a warming kitchen, a library, and gender-neutral bathrooms with showers where participants can receive firsthand assistance while feeling safe and respected. The program is offered on a sliding scale, with scholarships available, including one for long-term HIV survivors.

“For many participants, Club 75 is the first place they felt they could be unapologetically and fearlessly themselves,” said Community Outreach & Enrollment Nurse Morgann Chabra.

“I have seen folks who were barely able to get out of bed show up every day with an excitement and joy that had been long missing from their lives. From a physical health perspective, our impact is just as evident. From activities like tai chi and dance classes modified for varying mobility levels, to games like balloon volleyball and mahjong, we aren’t just having fun,

we are strengthening mobility and stability, monitoring changes in health, and engaging both brains and bodies.”

The program’s commitment to LGBTQ+-sensitive care is reinforced through ongoing specialized training in geriatric care and LGBTQ+ cultural competency through partnerships with UCSF’s Geriatrics Department of Medicine, Openhouse’s cultural humility programs, and On Lok’s internal training resources.

“When I think about how Club 75 has evolved, I’m most proud of the authentic sense of belonging we’ve created,” said Program Manager Su Waqa. “Many of our members spent decades hiding their true selves or facing rejection in mainstream senior spaces—so seeing them laugh, hold hands, share stories, and finally feel safe is everything. The little moments—a transgender elder unapologetically affirming her name in our group, a gay senior celebrating his 91st birthday with us, or a lonely senior finding a chosen family here—are what make this program revolutionary.”

As the nation’s first community-based day program designed for and with the LGBTQ+ community, Openhouse + On Lok Community Day Services offers a life-affirming environment where LGBTQ+ older adults can receive care to support their health and well-being. That’s why participants affectionately call it Club 75

For additional information, contact Openhouse + On Lok Community Day Services at 415-292-8302 or email communitydayservices@onlok.org

Openhouse + On Lok Community Day Services is partially funded by the City of San Francisco Department of Disability and Aging Services.

“Club 75 has brought me out of my shell. I can come here as I am. The people here have shown me how to live as myself. I would probably be in a dark place if not for them. They have me for life— they are never getting rid of me.”

– Miss Patti Ann, Club 75 Participant

Participant Trae Turpin at Club 75.

Gay presiding judge brings experience to post

by Cynthia Laird

S

ix months into his two-year term as the leader of the Contra Costa County Superior Court, Judge Christopher Bowen is navigating inhouse changes and factors that are somewhat beyond his control, like state funding. A gay man, Bowen is the second out presiding judge of the East Bay court and is praised by his colleagues for the smooth transition since he took the helm in January.

In a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter in his modest chambers at the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse in downtown Martinez, Bowen talked about his job and the fulfillment he has experienced as a Contra Costa County judge. Bowen, a Democrat, was appointed to the bench in October 2010 by Republican former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The actor-turnedpolitician was known for diversity in appointing judges; he named Contra Costa County’s first out judge, lesbian Rebecca Hardie, also a Democrat, to the bench eight months prior to Bowen’s selection.

“I’ve been on the bench for 15 years, and we have a lot of really good judges with different practice backgrounds,” Bowen said.

In fact, Bowen, 57, and Hardie were joined by a third out judge last year when Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Stephanie Clarke.

“He told me I’m the third member of the LGBTQ community on the Contra Costa bench,” Clarke, a lesbian, said of Bowen in a phone interview with the B.A.R. “It’s wonderful to have him as presiding judge.”

In the 2025 report on the number of out judges in California, there were seven bisexual judges, 48 gay jurists, and 32 lesbian members of the bench, based on those judges who answered the state’s sexual orienta-

tion and gender identity questions.

There are two transgender judges.

There were 1,326 heterosexual judges. Those who did not answer the SOGI  questions numbered 249. The report is an undercount of out judges, based on a count kept by the B.A.R., but did accurately count the trio of Contra Costa jurists from the LGBTQ community.

Clarke, 64, who started on the East Bay bench in July 2024, is currently assigned to the Richmond courthouse, where she hears misdemeanor criminal cases. She said that Newsom has also made diversity a priority in appointing state judges, while noting she’s at the upper end of the age range.

“There’s diversity across the entire spectrum,” she said.

Hardie served as presiding judge –the first out judge in the county to do so – amid the COVID pandemic in 2021 and 2022.

“Lucky me,” she quipped about having to oversee remote court proceedings and other challenges brought on by the pandemic.

Hardie, 63, is now the supervis-

ing judge of juvenile court, which handles juvenile justice and juvenile dependency cases, she said. The courthouse in Walnut Creek handles all juvenile cases except traffic, she explained.

She noted Schwarzenegger’s diverse picks for the bench.

“Although he was a Republican, he appointed across the aisle,” she said.

Over the years, Bowen, too, has handled a variety of assignments, including family and criminal courts. In fact, when he first started as presiding judge, he was in the middle of a criminal jury trial.

“The trial lasted until mid-February,” he said. “I finished the trial.”

“On one occasion I helped out in family court,” he added. “Part of a presiding judge’s job is helping out when I can.”

Bowen served as assistant presiding judge prior to being selected presiding judge by his colleagues. He doesn’t have a regular court calendar these days, as he oversees the other bench officers. A court executive officer, or CEO, oversees most day-

to-day administrative operations.

Nevertheless, Bowen said he was surprised at the volume of administrative work he handles as presiding judge.

“There are a lot of meetings,” he said.

He does have a special assignment one day a week in family court where he’s taking care of cases dating back to the early 1990s that may not have been brought to judgment, he explained. “The rule is they’re supposed to be brought to a judge within five years,” he said. “Many days, no one comes, but sometimes people come and they’re directed to the self-help center. Sometimes, they ask to dismiss” a case or people have passed away.

Bowen said that he works to clear and close those types of cases.

Probably one the most important things Bowen does is make assignments, deciding what each of the 32 trial court judges will oversee:

criminal cases, civil matters, or family court. (The court usually has 38 judges but there are currently two vacancies, Bowen explained.) As assistant presiding judge, Bowen made those decisions late last year for this year. He was asked about his general philosophy around assignments.

“My guiding principle is the needs of the court,” he said. “Certainly, I take into consideration a judge’s particular interest, desire, or location. Where is the judge in career trajectory or if they’ve been here a long time and been through all the assignments. Some courts have a regular rotation. We don’t.”

Typically, he sends out a letter beforehand asking each judge for their top three choices and tries to accommodate that. For this year, at least, the process worked well.

“If there was negative feedback I didn’t hear it,” he said.

One of the first things he did as presiding judge was to swear in members of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors in January.

“It was wonderful to connect with the community that day,” he recalled. “We had a lunch with community leaders, and our CEO and I attended. We were very well received.

“One thing I’m happy to do as presiding judge is organize a day for elected officials to come and visit court,” he said, adding that was something pioneered in Los Angeles. “I’d really like to have a day when local elected officials and state [officials] come and see what we’re doing.”

Another thing Bowen has continued is having high school students visit the court.

“I had the pleasure of greeting those groups, and we received a letter from one of the schools that was absolutely moving,” he said.

Contra Costa County Presiding Judge Christopher Bowen sits on the bench in his courtroom in Martinez.

Cynthia Laird

Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Hardie was the first out person appointed in the county and the first to serve as presiding judge.

Parents of trans kids find support via SF PFLAG chapter

by Matthew S. Bajko

ABay Area native and registered nurse, Tali Pinkham had grown up knowing many LGBTQ community members and made close gay friends at college. When the eldest of her three children came out as transgender and nonbinary in their 20s, Pinkham didn’t reject them or question them about doing so.

To her mind, she thought she was being supportive of them. Then, a few years ago, Pinkham learned after the fact that their eldest had gotten top surgery and was taken aback.

“I had my head in the sand. I thought they could be nonbinary and do nothing other than just sort of be,” recalled Pinkham, who is in her 60s and lives in Piedmont. “Then they started really transitioning and now were on hormones. I realized that I wasn’t doing a very good job in terms of supporting them.”

Her younger two children counseled Pinkham to better educate herself about gender dysphoria and what transitioning entails. Her middle daughter gave her a book about being transgender and suggested Pinkham connect with the PFLAG chapter in San Francisco, to which she replied, “What is PFLAG?”

Begun more than 50 years ago by the late Jeanne Manford, whose son Morty was a prominent New York City gay rights activist, the organization aimed to support families and friends of LGBTQ people. Within a few years PFLAG chapters had sprung up across the U.S., and today it also counts LGBTQ individuals

among its members.

The San Francisco chapter, for instance, since January has had a gay man as its president, Robert Costic. A lawyer and former Washington, D.C. police officer, he joined the local chapter after moving to the city in June 2021.

Apple had hired his husband, Nate Mueller, prompting the couple’s relocation that Pride Month. Mueller is also on the board of the local chapter, which has a mix of both LGBTQ people and straight allies on it.

“Ironically, my personal preference is for PFLAG to be run more by parents of LGBTQ children. PFLAG is designed for that; it is our bread and butter,” said Costic.

Having first met Mueller and Costic when she lived in D.C., Sandhya Ramakrishnan, 34, joined the chapter in early 2024. The straight ally had moved to San Francisco three years ago for a job in the data analytics sector, and keen to volunteer her time, she joined the board last June.

“I wanted to give back because I felt there was a lot of bias towards the LGBTQ community and trans people,” said Ramakrishnan. “Giving time to a cause is near and dear to my heart.”

Having left Michigan at age 12 to live in Brazil, Ramakrishnan was bullied for being different and later in life felt othered when living in Europe. In college in Virginia, a number of her LGBTQ friends weren’t accepted by their families after coming out.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but there is a lot of bias in this world,” said Ramakrishnan.

Did You Overspend During the Holidays?

A good outlet

For those wanting to lessen homophobia and transphobia in their community and better educate themselves about the issues, becoming involved with PFLAG is one outlet to do so, she said.

“For those asking themselves, as an ally, what can I do in this climate? how can I be a better ally in this scary environment? the advice I give is give voice to the people who maybe are scared to speak up,” said Ramakrishnan, explaining that, “I am not saying speak for people but, for example, to give voice in areas where trans people may not have as loud as a voice.”

Three years ago, Pinkham first took advantage of the San Francisco chapter’s support groups run by a trained facilitator in LGBTQ issues. She marched with it in the city’s annual Pride parade, and this past January, joined its board.

“What has made me be more active is probably fear. Literally fear of the erosion of human rights,” Pinkham told the Bay Area Reporter, pointing to the various actions the Trump administration has taken to roll back the rights of LGBTQ individuals, particularly for trans youth and adults.

A main focus for Pinkham has been talking to other parents whose children have come out as trans, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming. At the same time as their child is transitioning, parents are also on a “very difficult journey” of their own, said Pinkham, that requires saying goodbye to their child’s former self and embracing their new identity, name, and gender.

“It is not just about your relationship with your kid. It is not just about your child’s challenging transition. It is also about your transition,” she said. “You have to come to terms with it. You have to work through the process of grief because your expectations for that child have changed. Your child’s identity is changing before your eyes, you have to work through all of that and through your fears about how life may be more challenging for your child.”

Other than seeing a therapist, Pinkham didn’t find many options to seek such support outside of PFLAG. Through it, she learned about the transitioning process, the right vocabulary to use, and practiced addressing someone with they/them pronouns.

“I gained so much knowledge from them, and also I needed it for support. Because I didn’t have friends or family who are going through the same thing,” said Pinkham, who has since met co-workers

with trans family members. “It does help to connect with other parents experiencing some of the same things. I definitely needed that.”

The PFLAG San Francisco chapter has roughly two dozen dues-paying members (it costs $8 a month) and hosts social events anyone looking for connection and community can attend. It also welcomes anyone to take part in its monthly virtual support groups. They take place every second Tuesday and fourth Thursday of the month from 7 to 9 p.m.

“Recently, we have been hearing from more parents of trans children, especially at the beginning of the year after [President Donald] Trump was elected,” said Costic, adding that they also hear from people with questions about how to change their name or gender. “We take it for granted that San Francisco is a progressive city but, on certain issues, there is still a lot of work to be done.”

The chapter purposefully hired a trans, nonbinary social worker as one of the facilitators for its support groups, said Costic, due to the regularity of parents with trans kids coming to it with questions on everything from how to be supportive to the safety of gender-affirming care.

“We help them work through that,” said Costic, emphasizing that “none of this comes from a place of bigotry” in those parents it hears from.

Dealing with bullying

Another area of concern parents will bring up, said Costic, is their LGBTQ child being bullied at school and feeling school officials are not properly addressing the matter. In those instances, the chapter will offer to contact the school counselor or members of the school board on the family’s behalf.

Being in a city with a plethora of LGBTQ nonprofits, Costic noted it is one role the chapter can take on.

“We are a bridge organization between the LGBTQ community and straight allies who want to support the community,” said Costic. “We are an excellent organization to do that.”

The chapter, with an annual budget of $10,000, is all volunteer run and required to pay a yearly fee to the national PFLAG office. Costic told the B.A.R. a goal of his as president is to grow the local chapter’s membership.

His aunt, Beverly Shulman, 68, has been a member since 2021. The San Francisco resident had worked at Macy’s downtown, where she befriended a num-

ber of her gay colleagues, and in the 1970s met the late gay supervisor Harvey Milk, then lived through his assassination and only a few years later the lethality of the AIDS epidemic throughout the 1980s. With today’s anti-equality political climate at the federal level, Shulman told the B.A.R. she is again feeling depressed and anxious about where the country is headed.

“It is so depressing what is going on. I can’t believe what is going on in our country,” said Shulman, whose husband is deceased. “This anger and confusion about trans people is just going to spread to other groups.”

The PFLAG chapter’s events provide a counterpoint, said Shulman, offering attendees fellowship with like-minded people. She is looking forward to once again riding on the trolley that is part of its yearly Pride parade contingent.

“It is a way to realize you are not alone and that other people feel the same way,” Shulman told the B.A.R. while attending a sign-making party for the parade that Costic and Mueller hosted in their residential building a few blocks away from the Civic Center where the Pride festival takes place. “It opens up your world.”

Pinkham also plans to march again with the PFLAG contingent. Their oldest child is now in their 30s, earning a Ph.D. this month and moving to Kansas after being hired as a professor at a university in the state. While they have some misgivings about them moving to a red state, Pinkham is comforted by the fact they will be in a liberal college town.

With the trans community coming under particular attack by the federal government, Pinkham told the B.A.R. they need support from the larger community more than ever. Rather than having to wage their own fight for their rights, she said, PFLAG and its members can stand alongside them.

“I just want to make sure my child, whom I love, is growing up free of discrimination … so I feel we, as parents, need to step in and be allies to our kids and be a voice,” she said.

To learn more about joining PFLAG and the San Francisco chapter’s programs, visit its website at https://pflagsf.org/. It also welcomes anyone to march with its contingent in both the Trans March on June 27 and the Pride parade June 29; visit https://pflagsf.org/events/ to sign up to do so. t

Sandhya Ramakrishnan, a member of the San Francisco chapter of PFLAG, marched with the group in last year’s Pride parade.

Nate Mueller Beverly Shulman rode in a trolley with the San Francisco PFLAG chapter during last year’s Pride parade. Nate Mueller

At 1440 By The Bay, diversity isn’t just welcomed – it’s celebrated. Our vibrant community is home to residents from all walks of life, creating a warm and inclusive environment where everyone belongs. With cultural events, interfaith discussions and cooking classes featuring flavors from around the world, residents celebrate different traditions, perspectives and backgrounds. Every story matters, every voice is heard and true connections are formed.

More than just a senior living community, 1440 By The Bay is a place to call home – where individuality is embraced, friendships flourish and support is always within reach.

Skrmetti decision harms trans youth

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

Ihope you will indulge me as I take a moment to delve into a brief autobiography. I assure you, I have a point.

In 1970, Apollo 13 – the actual spacecraft, not the movie – splashed down after a near-tragic accident aboard the service module. Police opened fire on a protest at Kent State University in Ohio. Elvis Presley met with President Richard Nixon in the White House. The Beatles officially broke up.

Also, I had my first inkling, at 3 years old, that I might be transgender.

I didn’t have the words for it at that time, of course. That wouldn’t be for another five years or so, best guess. I had found out that I, somehow, was not a girl around then. Yes, that early in my life.

As I grew older, I had actually started to hear about trans people through rare moments of media coverage. Renée Richards’ brief career in tennis, and the fight to make that possible; Wendy Carlos’ interview in Playboy in 1979; and a handful of less common stories gave me some hope that something could be done to help me.

I remember my first attempt to purge those feelings from me around 1978 or so. I also recall ending every nighttime prayer by asking God to miraculously let me awake the next day as a woman.

I scoured the card catalogs at the local library, trying to find any information, to almost no avail, with my only source of guidance being the odd tabloid story or confessional hidden within the pages of my father’s magazines.

It would not be until I was in my 20s that I found useful information, and began to consider what might truly be possible. It would still be another five years of soul searching before I was able to transition.

Why tell you all this?

It is 2025, and singer Kid Rock visits President Donald Trump. Protesters are being assaulted by our government.

SpaceX is destroying many of its rockets, or, as the company puts it, they undergo rapid unscheduled disassembly, including the most recent while still on the launch pad. Oh, and the Beatles won their first Grammy in decades.

Also, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its June 18 U.S. v. Skrmetti decision, set back rights for transgender youth by an incalculable number of years.

This case was brought in Tennessee after the state passed a law banning gender-affirming care for minors. Three transgender youth, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal Education and Defense

Fund, sued the state. They were joined by a doctor, and, later, the Biden administration. The lawsuit argued that Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth was unconstitutional. The lawsuit was successful at the district court level, but the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, setting the stage for the Supreme Court.

The 6-3 high court loss last week wasn’t a surprise; after oral arguments last December it was evident a majority of justices were not in support of revers ing Tennessee’s ban. This, after all, is the court that overturned Roe v. Wade, another case rooted in body autonomy. Likewise, this is a court largely in lockstep with the Trump administration, which has shown itself more than willing to hurt transgender people. (After President Donald Trump took office in January, his solicitor general’s office wrote to the court and withdrew from the Skrmetti case, stating that the new administration would not have intervened in the legal challenge.)

cial when it comes to the cruel, often violent, actions of this administration.

The court’s decision is, in my view, convoluted, having to weasel around to a ruling against transgender people. It isn’t so much targeting transgender people but gender dysphoria. You know, the thing a vast majority of transgender people face. (Gender dysphoria is defined by the medical profession as clinically significant discomfort that one’s sexual identity is different than one’s documented gender at birth.)

Meanwhile, this won’t affect nontransgender youth who end up seeking the exact same care as their trans counterparts.

Yes, I know that we’re hardly spe -

The case may, of course, have larger ramifications for transgender people. Aside from the decision upholding such bans in more than half the states that have already passed similar laws – 25 bans remain in place, a few are still being challenged in court, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation – this can lead to a further unraveling of transgender rights of all sorts – and even potentially cut into the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

What the Skrmetti decision does, however, is bad enough. There are kids who, like I was, well aware of who they are right now. Many of them have already, with the aid of their parents and medical professionals, begun to undergo treatment. Now, they will lose that if they reside in a state with such a ban.

There are many out there arguing right now that this decision was the result of transgender people asking for too many rights.

Setting aside the fact that rights in this country are inalienable, and that any reasonable person would believe that a child receiving appropriate treatment under the care of a medical professional and with the assent of their parents is surely a right we should be enjoying in this country, I once again note that it is the conservative right – from pundits who have made it a calling to “ask questions” about trans care to the highest office in the land – who have made transgender issues into the cause célèbre it is.

This is the work of a right-wing that wants a soft target and found traction with transgender people. They haven’t stopped in a decade, and they will continue to push against transgender people for as long as they see a value in it.

Nevertheless, now that it is what it is, I contend that it is on all of us to stand up for transgender youth – and by extension, all transgender people – in the wake of this decision. It’s what we should be doing not as transgender and nonbinary people, or allies, but as human beings who expect to be part of society. This is actually about protecting children and families in need.

Out there, right now, is a 3-yearold in Tennessee – or even right here – who may be discovering that they don’t fit in. For them, however, the message they receive will be very different from mine. All I had was a lack of resources, and while the libraries will be just as bare, the news, and our very society, will be telling them that they don’t deserve care.

For the child I was, and for the children yet to come, this is the time to let your voice ring in pride – and protection. t

Gwen Smith is always ready to stand. You can find her at www. gwensmith.com

Christine Smith

Volume 55, Number 26

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Pride season erupts in protest

The Republican Party, now that it’s firmly controlled by President Donald Trump, is no place for LGBTQ people. Our very being is threatened, as Trump and his administration have curtailed rights for transgender people and ended diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, among other horrendous actions. The anti-DEI executive orders Trump has issued have, in turn, led many corporations and universities to examine their own DEI policies and likewise end them.

Even San Francisco is not immune. The San Francisco Standard reported this week that Denis Mulligan, CEO of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District, has suggested rescinding the district’s 2020 resolution that condemns racism and committed it to a workplace safe and free from discrimination. “The memo also recommends rescinding a January 2023 resolution that updated the agency’s procurement manual to include ‘social equity’ in its considerations,” the Standard reported.

Mulligan wants the district to excise the words “implicit bias” from its strategic plan. This is, of course, an effort to “obey in advance,” to prevent the Trump administration from withholding millions of dollars in federal funds. Trust us, the Bay Area Reporter’s founding publisher, the late Bob Ross, a gay man who served for years on the bridge board, including as its president, would be aghast at these developments. The bridge district’s board is set to discuss the matter at its meeting Friday, June 27. Gay District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio, who sits on the board, should reject this effort to curry favor with Trump. The administration likely will make the cuts anyway. After all, it’s San Francisco, and the Golden Gate Bridge is the city’s most famous icon.

(Thank you to Justice Sonia Sotomayor for a resounding dissent.)

This is all part and parcel of what the GOP stands for now – intimidation and fear, whether for ordinary people, immigrants, or, yes, public officials who rely on federal dollars. It’s disgusting.

But the Democrats aren’t much better, at least when it comes to standing up for us. One just has to look at the muted response from party members after the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a stunning, but not unexpected, blow June 18 to transgender rights in its 6-3 decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, which upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors. Most observers realized the conservative justices were inclined to uphold the Tennessee law after oral arguments were heard last December.

Still, it was surprising that leading Democratic officials were silent after the decision was announced. These included potential 2028 presidential candidates like gay former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and others. Newsom, of course, has been in the doghouse with the trans community since he said he agrees that trans women and girls should not play on female sports teams. However, Newsom did sign a law a few years ago designating California as a refuge for trans kids and their families.

Former vice president Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in last year’s presidential race, also kept mum. She remained silent during the campaign last year when Trump barraged the airwaves with the infamous “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you” ads, to which she should have forcefully hit back.

Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) bucked the cone of silence, issuing a scathing statement after the Supreme Court ruling.

“The Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to ban gender-affirming health care for transgender youth is horrifying and another step toward erasing trans people entirely,” Wiener stated. “It will hurt so many young people who are just trying to live their

best lives and be who they are. The court is giving bigots like [President Donald] Trump a permission slip to make it impossible to be trans.”

Wiener also noted that this year he has authored a bill that would strengthen his trans state-of refuge law that Newsom previously signed, which helps protect trans people and their parents and doctors from prosecution in other states and protects the privacy of their health care information. He noted his new Senate Bill 497 was recently passed by a key legislative committee.

The Congressional Equality Caucus also slammed the decision.

“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court is devastating for young transgender Americans and their families who live in states that decide to put divisive and dehumanizing politics over people,” stated gay Congressmember Mark Takano (D-Riverside), chair of the caucus for LGBTQ congressmembers and their straight allies in a June 18 release. “The court’s ruling upholding Tennessee’s cruel and politically-motivated ban on medically-necessary care for young trans people undermines the ability of transgender patients, their families, and doctors to make medical decisions about accessing evidence-based care without politicians’ interference. The law the court upheld is an attack on some of the most vulnerable in our community – but we still have other tools to challenge anti-trans laws in courts across the country. As chair of the Equality Caucus, I am committed to continuing to lead elected officials from across the country in the fight for full equality for transgender people under the law here in Congress.”

So, as we prepare to celebrate Pride with San Francisco’s famous parade and all the other events around it, LGBTQ people need to remind our straight friends that marching with us is itself a form of action, however, that action must continue after the parade is over. We need allies in all communities and at every level of government to push back against the nonsense coming from the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress. The GOP wants to decimate access to health care, not just for us, but for millions of Americans. We all must stand together to prevent the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill now before Congress, demand that HIV prevention funding be restored, and yes, fight for access to health care for trans adults and youth.

Pride started out as a protest a year after the 1969 Stonewall riots. We need to keep that spirit of protest alive, especially this year. t

Don’t forget about Andry this Pride

by Cleve Jones

I’m writing this on Friday, June 20, the Summer Solstice, in a friend’s apartment a block from Castro and 18th streets. It is a beautiful morning, and the sunlight shines brilliantly on the rainbow flags that festoon the neighborhood. Shop windows and utility poles are crowded with colorful notices of the parties, fundraisers, drag shows, and film screenings of Pride Month. Castro is alive with the sounds of happy residents and visitors, music, and the smell of coffee and food. The big parade is just a week away, and Gilbert Baker’s giant rainbow flag snaps in the wind overhead. It’s a glorious morning.

Three thousand, five hundred miles southeast of San Francisco the sun is also shining between bursts of rain in Tecoluca, El Salvador. June is hot and muggy there and even hotter and more humid inside the massive prison known as CECOT – the Terrorist Confinement Center that houses some 40,000 hardened criminals and violent gang members. The prison is a hellscape, one of the most brutal on earth. This is the facility to which Andry José Hernández Romero was extrajudicially removed by the U.S. government. Hernández Romero, a gay hair stylist who fled persecution for his political beliefs and sexual orientation in Venezuela, entered the U.S. legally to apply for asylum. He was absurdly accused of being a member of Tren de Aragua, a notorious – and virulently homophobic – Venezuelan gang and flown to El Salvador.

No one has had contact with Hernández Romero since his arrival at CECOT. His attorneys can’t reach him. His family can’t reach him.

Gay Congressmember Robert Garcia (DLong Beach) traveled to the prison and was not permitted to see him. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, under questioning from Garcia, could not confirm if Hernández Romero was still alive and refused to inquire about his welfare, despite the Trump administration’s payments of millions of dollars to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to hold Hernández Romero and hundreds of other deportees from the U.S.

On April 7, I posted on Facebook: “Here’s a suggestion for all organizers of US LGBTQ Pride events: make Andry José Hernández Romero an honorary Grand Marshal of your Pride celebrations and announce it immediately. We may be his only hope to survive.”

Nicole Murray Ramirez, an LGBTQ activist in San Diego with many decades of experience, reached out and agreed to push this call to shine a light on Hernández Romero’s case. We weren’t the first to call for action on his behalf and wouldn’t be the last. Visibility in the big Pride parades seemed like an obvious choice – effective, easy to do, and no cost to the organizers. To our surprise and dismay, San Francisco Pride immediately rejected the suggestion. Publicizing these cases can produce positive results. Kilmar Ábrego Garcia, a member of the Sheetmetal Workers union in Maryland, was also deported illegally to CECOT. His union took his case to the AFL-CIO and the entire labor movement rallied around him, dramatically raised his public profile, and demanded his return. Ábrego Garcia was released from

CECOT and returned to the U.S., though he is now facing charges.

Others have stepped up to try to save Hernández Romero. Important reporting has come from BBC, CNN, and NBC. The Bay Area Reporter’s John Ferrannini, Los Angeles Blade’s Karen Ocamb, and Gay USA’s Andy Humm follow Hernández Romero’s case closely. A few Pride parades named him honorary grand marshal. The hospitality workers union, UNITE HERE, distributed hundreds of “Free Andry” posters for their members to carry in over 30 Pride parades. The anti-Trump conservatives of The Bulwark held a fundraiser. Michael Petrelis and Gays Without Borders organized rallies at the El Salvadoran Consulate in San Francisco. The Human Rights Campaign launched an online petition. There’s more but not nearly enough.

San Francisco Pride, New York Pride, and Los Angeles Pride are among the largest of the celebrations to decline to honor Hernández Romero. Their websites also all fail to mention the threat to our communities posed by the Trump administration, or the damage already inflicted. SF Pride’s theme, “Queer Joy is Resistance,” rings hollow when there’s not the slightest reference to who or what we are resisting. Every victory we’ve ever won is about to be undone, but you wouldn’t know it from reading SF Pride’s website.

The photos of Hernández Romero show a slightly built young man with delicate features and a shy smile, often pictured with balloons, rainbows, drag queens, and stuffed animals. He loved make-up and hair styling and Christmas pageants. He is adored and missed deeply by his friends and family in Venezuela who beg us to do everything we can to press for his return. We may never learn his fate, but whatever the outcome, we clearly could have done more. Ábrego Garcia’s community did everything they could and won his release. Hernández Romero’s community, thus far, has not.

That should be a source of shame, not pride, this last week of June in 2025. t

Longtime gay activist Cleve Jones is a co-founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Andry José Hernández Romero

Courtesy Immigrant Defenders Law Center

Union supporters carried banners supporting the trans community at the 2023 San Francisco Pride parade. Gooch

t Politics >>

by Matthew S. Bajko

The ranks of America’s LGBTQ elected leaders have grown significantly more diverse over the past eight years, with the number of people of color and transgender individuals increasing by triple digits. Nonetheless, the country is nowhere near seeing equitable representation in public office for the LGBTQ community.

Achieving that goal requires electing 46,996 out officials at all levels of government, based on a Gallup Poll finding that LGBTQs account for 9.3% of the country’s population. Yet, as of May 5, the 2025 Out for America report from the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute counted 1,334 LGBTQ politicians across the U.S. They account for .26% of the total number of elected officials nationwide.

“So, there is still a long way to go,” noted Elliot Imse, a gay man who is executive director of the institute, which is the educational arm of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund that helps to elect out candidates to public office.

The institute has been tracking the number of LGBTQ electeds in the U.S. since 2017. Over that time span, there has been a 198% increase in their ranks, ballooning from 448 to at least 1,334. Since last year’s election alone, LGBTQ representation has grown by 2.4%, according to the institute’s report released June 24.

At the state level, there are now 243 out statehouse members, an increase of 4% since last year, with the 2025 report finding Wyoming to be the only state with no LGBTQ+ elected leadership. Meanwhile, trans, nonbinary, and gendernonconforming representation has increased 1,800%, and the ranks of LGBTQ+ elected officials of color grew by nearly 421% to now number 479 in the institute’s 2025 report.

last year’s election, such as the 6% increase from 2024 in out mayors, who now number 66, and a 5% bump in local leaders, who now stand at 859 per the report.

Gender-nonconforming electeds grew by 1.4% to total 19, and those who are nonbinary are now at 14, an increase of 1% since 2024. Transgender women in elected office now number 39, an increase of 2.9%, and transgender male electeds increased 0.7% to total nine, according to the report.

“There is still work to do, but we are becoming increasingly more diverse amongst our LGBTQ elected officials,” said Imse during a June 12 media briefing ahead of the report’s release.

Asian, Native American, and Pacific Islander out electeds increased 32.6% since last year, while those who identify as multiracial grew by 28.6%. While the number of white out electeds fell by 2.3%, Black LGBTQ+ elected officials grew by 4.1%.

Among them is Tyller Williamson, elected in 2020 as the first gay and first Black mayor of Monterey, California. His election in 2018 to a City Council seat had made him the first known LGBTQ person to help lead the global tourist destination along California’s Central Coast, as well as its first Black council member.

He plans to seek reelection next November to another two-year term, and under new term limits approved by voters last year, Williamson is able to serve another 12 years as mayor. Since first winning elected office seven years ago, Williamson has seen other LGBTQ candidates, including those of color, win their own elections in his region of the Golden State. Like himself, a number of them were the first out members of their governing bodies or in their elected positions, such as gay Monterey County Sheriff-Coroner Tina M. Nieto, elected in 2022 as the first woman, first person of color, and first out person in the post.

“I think oftentimes, as the saying goes, sometimes it just takes one,” said Williamson. “I think when you start to see some folks run who look like you, or represent a group you belong to, it makes it easier for you to step out and run. The interest was always there, but I think we have created an environment that allows people to feel like it is their city too, their community as well, and their voice matters just as much as anybody else’s.”

In its latest report, the Victory Institute notes LGBTQ+ people’s underrepresentation at all government levels is widening as the country’s population grows. But it pointed out there were gains made from

The number of bisexual electeds, now at 158, rose by 8% in the 2025 report, although lesbians decreased by 7% to now number 268 electeds. Their drop off may be due to the increase in electeds identifying as pansexual (17%) or queer (19%) since 2024, respectively now numbering 42 and 158.

There was a 33% increase in 2025 in the number of out members in the House of Representatives, who now total 12. While Congress overall saw an 8% increase in LGBTQ representation, the U.S. Senate saw a 67% decrease due to it going from three members in 2024 to one this year in lesbian Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin).

State legislatures saw a 4% increase in LGBTQ representation, with the report having their numbers now at 243. Those stats were bolstered by the California Legislature seeing a record 15 out members following last November’s election.

As the Bay Area Reporter noted at the time, the LGBTQ caucus in the Statehouse is not only the largest in its history but also the most diverse in terms of sexual orientation, ethnicity, and regional representation. For the first time an out gay Republican was elected in 2024, though Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (San Diego) is not a member of the affinity group for out legislators. (Of the out U.S. electeds in the 2025 report, just 2.7% were Republicans, while 89% were Democrats.)

Sacramento has yet to welcome its first transgender legislator, and it remains to be seen if that will change following the 2026 November election. To date, one of the 18 out legislative candidates the B.A.R. is aware of is trans: drag queen Maebe A. Girl, who uses her given name of Maebe Pudlo on the ballot.

Maebe also identifies as nonbinary and had sought the U.S. House seat formerly held by U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D) in the last three elections. This month, she announced her bid for the open state Senate District 26 seat next year; also running to succeed termed out Senator María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) is Democratic former Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo.

Additional out legislative candidates could emerge, as the filing deadline isn’t until next spring to enter the June primary contests for state Assembly and Senate seats. It is already clear that the LGBTQ caucus could welcome additional members in late 2026 depending on the outcome of the races.

“We are actively working with folks to support and recruit folks interested in running for legislative seats in 2026, and not just folks at the state Legislature level,” Tony Hoang of Equality California, told the B.A.R.

The statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization is just beginning to look at its endorsement process for this fall’s local races throughout the state, so it doesn’t have a full list of out candidates who are running just yet, noted Hoang. In Los Angeles in March, EQCA held its first-ever candidate training focused on gender-expansive women, transgender individuals, and people who are gendernonconforming interested in running for elected office.

EQCA will be holding additional trainings in Fresno and Sacramento in the coming months for any LGBTQ person interested in becoming a candidate.

“We are wanting to ensure we reflect the full diversity of the LGBTQ community in California,” Hoang said when it comes to those serving in elected office. “We are excited to work with the Victory Fund on that.”

While it does not have numbers yet for LGBTQ candidates across the U.S. already running in 2026, the Victory Fund is aware of roughly 200 out candidates running this year. To date, it has endorsed 164, including two running in special elections in California: gay San Jose resi dent Anthony Tordillos who is seeking a City Council seat in Tuesday’s runoff race, and bisexual Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre who’s vying in the July 1 runoff for San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ open District 1 seat.

“We are targeting 300 endorse ments, which in an off-year election would be pretty substantial,” Givens, Victory’s vice president of communications, said of its 2025 slate of LGBTQ candidates.

Report doesn’t count all out electeds

As for the institute’s 2025 report, it does not count all currently known out elect eds in the U.S., as some who were elected but didn’t seek endorsement by the Victory Fund aren’t reflected in it. And, in the last month, the Victory Institute has increased its tally of out electeds to being at least 1,338 on the site of its Out for America map at outforamerica.org.

“We regularly make updates to the map data as it is compiled from a sync with our database, but it may differ from some data in the report as the report is a snapshot in time,” explained Givens in an email to the B.A.R.

A useful tool in looking up LGBTQ electeds by state, the map can be wonky at times and outdated in certain instances. For example, a B.A.R. reporter using Chrome to access the map earlier this month due to covering the 2025 Out in America had found it still listed disgraced gay former San Jose city councilmember Omar Torres, who resigned last fall after being arrested on child sex crimes charges. (He pleaded no contest in April and his sentencing is scheduled for August 29.)

Tyller Williamson, left, a gay man, is mayor of Monterey, California while lesbian U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) is the only out member of Congress’ upper chamber.

Courtesy the subjects

FDA approves twice-yearly lenacapavir PrEP

by Liz Highleyman

T

he federal Food and Drug Administration on June 18 approved twice-yearly lenacapavir PrEP, the longest-acting HIV prevention method. While advocates lauded the eagerly anticipated approval, they expressed concern that the $28,000 annual price tag could limit availability as HIV prevention funding is being slashed in the U.S. and worldwide.

“This long-acting injectable PrEP option could be a game-changer in HIV prevention,” Dr. Hyman Scott, medical director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, told the Bay Area Reporter. However, if the cost is too high, “it won’t be accessible and affordable for all who want it. At a time when HIV prevention is deprioritized by the federal government, nocost coverage for preventive medications is at risk, and HIV research is in jeopardy, we need these new preventive tools more than ever.”

Lenacapavir, the first HIV capsid inhibitor, is an antiretroviral drug that blocks viral replication. It was approved in 2022 under the brand name Sunlenca for the treatment of multidrug-resistant HIV. Lenacapavir for PrEP got a new brand name, Yeztugo, and a price reduction from $42,000 per year. Lenacapavir is not a vaccine that trains the immune system to fight the virus, but after all traditional HIV vaccine candidates have failed, long-acting PrEP is the next best thing. Yeztugo is made by Gilead Sciences Inc.

The approval comes 13 years after the FDA approved the first PrEP option, Gilead’s once-daily Truvada pill (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine). Before Wednesday, ViiV Healthcare’s Apretude (injectable cabotegravir), which is administered every other month, was the longest-

Twice-yearly lenacapavir, sold under the brand name Yeztugo, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as PrEP for HIV prevention.

acting PrEP option.

Yet biomedical HIV prevention has still not reached its full potential. Only around a third of the 1.2 million people who could benefit from PrEP are using it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Clinicians and advocates are hopeful that a twice-yearly option could help close the gap.

“Yeztugo could be the transformative PrEP option we’ve been waiting for – offering the potential to boost PrEP uptake and persistence and adding a powerful new tool in our mission to end the HIV epidemic,”

Dr. Carlos del Rio of Emory University School of Medicine, stated in a Gilead news release. “A twice-yearly injection could greatly address key barriers like adherence and stigma, which individuals on more frequent PrEP dosing regimens, especially daily oral PrEP, can face.”

The approval is supported by two

large studies showing that lenacapavir PrEP dramatically reduced HIV acquisition in groups at high risk.

As the B.A.R. previously reported, results from the PURPOSE 1 trial first presented at the 2024 International AIDS Conference, showed that lenacapavir injections every six months were 100% effective for young cisgender women in Africa. The injections significantly reduced HIV incidence compared with the background rate and were superior to daily Truvada, Likewise, the PURPOSE 2 study presented at the HIV Research for Prevention Conference last October, showed that twice-yearly lenacapavir injections reduced the risk of HIV acquisition by 96% relative to the background rate and by 89% compared to Truvada for gay and bisexual men and gender-diverse people in the United States and six other countries. In both trials, lenacapavir was safe and generally well-tolerated.

“The FDA approval of lenacapavir is a fitting culmination of a long journey of drug discovery and development,” said PURPOSE-2 investigator Onyema Ogbuagu, an infectious disease physician at the Yale School of Medicine. “The excellent results we observed with twice-yearly lenacapavir provide renewed optimism about how far we could go with our new biomedical tools to achieve greater uptake of HIV prevention to help us move closer to ending the HIV epidemic.”

Access is key

To have a real impact, however, advocates and health officials stress that long-acting PrEP must be widely available and affordable to those who need it most in the U.S. and worldwide.

In a statement to the B.A.R., Gilead said its access strategy for lenaca

pavir PrEP in the U.S. “is designed to enable broad uptake and availability for individuals with and without insurance coverage.” Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to cover recommended prevention services at no charge, but the U.S. Supreme Court is now considering a legal challenge lodged by conservative businesses that object to PrEP coverage on religious grounds. A decision in the Braidwood case is expected later this month.

The Trump administration’s proposed budget decimates funding for HIV prevention services – particularly those targeting higher-risk groups such as Black and Latino gay men and transgender women –which would hamper HIV testing and PrEP provision. Deep cuts to Medicaid in the proposed House and Senate budgets are also a concern, as some 40% of people with HIV rely on the public insurance program.

“The FDA’s approval of lenacapavir for HIV prevention has the potential to be a pivotal moment for the broader fight to end HIV,” Maxx Boykin, manager of the Save HIV Funding campaign, said in a statement. “It’s a reminder that prevention must be a national priority, backed by serious investment and political will. Ending the epidemic requires equal focus on prevention and treatment, delivered through equitable, community-driven systems. This moment calls for bold public funding, strong private sector leadership, and a shared commitment to making HIV prevention accessible, affordable, and a cornerstone of our national response.”

At the global level, lenacapavir access is threatened by cuts to PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which for years has been the largest funder of PrEP

<< SF, Oakland centers

From page 6

But that doesn’t mean the center’s future is without uncertainty.

worldwide. Although Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that HIV treatment funding would continue, the status of prevention services is unclear

“The approval of lenacapavir is a much-needed boost for HIV prevention, given the strength of the science and the simultaneous disruption in HIV programs globally,” Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, said in a statement “Scientific progress only matters if innovation actually reaches people. Lenacapavir for PrEP is poised to re-shape the HIV response, but only if today’s approval is accompanied by bold, strategic, effective and equitable rollout that reaches the populations that need access.”

Gilead announced last year that it will work with pharmaceutical manufacturers to offer generic versions of lenacapavir in more than 100 resourcelimited countries and will provide the drug before generic manufacturers are up and running in 18 countries with high HIV rates. A study found that the price of lenacapavir could be brought down to around $40 per year with voluntary licensing and competition between generic suppliers. But advocates contend that middle-income countries such as Brazil – one of the countries where PURPOSE-2 was conducted – also need access to lenacapavir PrEP at a lower cost.

“Lenacapavir could be the tool we need to bring new infections under control – but only if it is priced affordably and made available to everyone who could benefit,” UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said in a statement. “If this game-changing medicine remains unaffordable, it will change nothing. I urge Gilead to do the right thing. Drop the price, expand production, and ensure the world has a shot at ending AIDS.” t

Hawkins had thoughts on the changes brought on by the Trump administration but said they’re nothing new.

“We began laying people off in February, so we’ve laid off about 26% of our staffing since then, and we do expect to lay off others,” Hawkins said. “We don’t have the level of commitment to funding not just the East Oakland expansion, but the organization itself.”

The center had 32 staff members before the layoffs, Hawkins said.

The eliminated positions included those of clinic receptionist, chief operating officer, youth services coordinator, executive assistant, case manager, community outreach worker, and two recovery services specialists, Hawkins told the B.A.R.

Oakland’s center, which is at 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, has been open for eight years, Hawkins said.

It operates five sites: the administrative offices, the youth club, the Glenn Burke Clinic at Lakeshore, the social services department, and the new Glenn Burke site in East Oakland.

“We are spreading our staff very thin to provide coverage,” Hawkins said. “We provide comprehensive [social services] from youth to elders, gender diversity to immigrants. Oakland is clearly one of the most diverse cities, if not the most diverse city, in the Bay Area.”

Those services include sexual wellness, gender-affirming care, a food pantry, and social events for seniors and youth.

“Oakland was the only major city without an LGBTQ center,” he said of the Bay Area. “People believed we didn’t need one, that San Francisco or Berkeley was the place for us to go, or people didn’t feel Oakland was ready for a center.”

“Someone said this is unprecedented to me, and I said, ‘These things aren’t unprecedented. This is not unprecedented.’ We are used to our government attacking LGBTQ people, attacking people of color, underresourcing our organizations. That has been the norm. It is abnormal to see us receive funding that would be adequate enough to service the needs of our community. So, this is just the more recent, the more blatant and direct attack on LGBTQ and people of color that we’ve seen in a long time.”

Hawkins told the supervisors, “The organizations you fund, they’re not familiar with how to serve LGBTQ people. What I’m asking for is equity in proportion to the disparities. We were constantly met with homophobia and transphobia from our families. I remember during the [COVID] pandemic, a couple of mothers brought their children to our doorstep and said, ‘You take ‘em’ – people willing to give up their children because they’re LGBTQ.” Alameda County Supervisor

Nikki Fortunato Bas, a straight ally who previously served on the Oakland City Council, called that June 5 hearing. She’s been a supporter of the center and of its push to establish the Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural District that is anchored by the center.

“I appreciate the work you and everyone at the center does. They are a trusted provider in the community,” she said at the meeting.

Some money that comes through Alameda County is “on hold,” Hawkins said, that was from federal dollars distributed as block grants.

See page 29 >>

Gilead Sciences Inc.

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22776 Moscow Road, Duncan Mills, CA 95430 Offered at $3,995,000

22776 Moscow Road, Duncan Mills, CA 95430 Offered at $3,995,000

parcel of River Frontage with a Magnific ent Lodge, stunning views and handicap accessibility features. A Gorgeous A Frame chapel is High capacity internet is set up for most of the property. Twenty 2 cabins, “U-Rest” building with 10 single person rooms and 2 double rooms. A handicap ramp serves the bedrooms & womens bath & shower standing unisex shower and restroom buildings are present as well. large commercial kitchen and associated dining room are included in metal recreation building, care takers home as well as shop, storage greenhouse are located at the northern end of the property. Several small serve for use by the Director, Chaplain, Cook and kitchen help.

7+ acre compound on the Russian River | 2 Commercial Kitchens A frame conference room/chapel | Caretaker Residence | Shop & Recreation building | 30 Bedrooms | Wifi Service | Public Water Supply

Seven Acre parcel of River Frontage with a Magnific ent Lodge, stunning views up the river, and handicap accessibility features. A Gorgeous A Frame chapel is included. High capacity internet is set up for most of the property. Twenty 2 person cabins, “U-Rest”

Seven Acre parcel of River Frontage with a Magnific ent Lodge, stunning views up the river, and handicap accessibility features. A Gorgeous A Frame chapel is included. High capacity internet is set up for most of the property. Twenty 2 person cabins, “U-Rest” building with 10 single person rooms and 2 double person rooms. A handicap ramp serves the bedrooms &

and greenhouse are located at the northern end of the

Seven Acre parcel of River Frontage with a Magnificent Lodge, stunning views up the river, and handicap accessibility features. A Gorgeous A Frame chapel is included. High capacity internet is set up for most of the property. Twenty 2 person cabins, “U-Rest” building with 10 single person rooms and 2 double person rooms. A handicap ramp serves the bedrooms & womens bath & shower room. Free standing unisex shower and restroom buildings are present as well. A separate large commercial kitchen and associated dining room are included in the sale. A metal recreation building, care takers home as well as shop, storage and greenhouse are located at the northern end of the property. Several small cabins serve for use by the Director, Chaplain, Cook and kitchen help.

small cabins serve for use by the Director, Chaplain, Cook and kitchen help. 22776 Moscow Road, Duncan Mills, CA 95430 Offered at $3,995,000

and greenhouse are located at the northern end of the property. Several small cabins serve for use by the Director, Chaplain, Cook and kitchen help.

metal recreation building, care takers home as well as shop, storage and greenhouse are located at the northern end of the property. Several small cabins serve for use by the Director, Chaplain, Cook and kitchen help.

by JL Odom

San Francisco’s Pride weekend is fast approaching, with marches, live music and drag performances, and other social gatherings set to take place.

Most of the events have “p.m.” listed in their scheduled start times, but there’s one that brings hundreds of people together on Saturday morning in Golden Gate Park: San Francisco FrontRunners’ Pride Run

This year’s race, happening Saturday, June 28, at 9 a.m., marks 45 years of bringing the community together for fun, Pride-filled miles and a good cause, organizers said.

“I feel like it’s something that San Francisco FrontRunners hold onto with pride. They really are proud of the event that we pull off, and the money that we donate to charities is meaningful to every single member,” said David Adams, SFFR vice president and race director, in a video interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

SF FrontRunners, which formed in 1974, is the founding chapter of a global network of LGBTQ+ running and walking clubs. Its members get together for weekly runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and for monthly social events. They also participate in a team race circuit throughout the year, competing in local races such as Bay to Breakers, the San Francisco Track & Field Pride Meet, and the San Francisco Marathon.

The Pride Run offers two race distances – a 5K and a 10K – on a USA Track & Field-certified course, and it’s a big draw for the club’s nearly 300 current members.

“It’s really our main event of the year,” said Adams, a gay man. “We get a team together to train for the marathon, and we’ll get other teams together that will go to the different races in the circuit. But this is really something that pulls us all together with some meaning.”

The Pride Run brings in local running groups, such as the Non-Binary Run Club and the Impala Racing Team, and individuals and families looking for an early-in-the-day opportunity to celebrate Pride.

Adams estimates that the race will also have about 50 volunteers.

“To have that many people that are willing to get out of bed in the morning and hand out water to people and cheer on people is amazing to me. As a runner, I know how meaningful it is to have volunteers there and helping out,” he said.

Pride Run volunteers consist of SFFR members, plus those from the wider community who are more than willing to lend a hand each year.

“We have two women that just love doing the bananas and oranges [postrace] handout,” Adams said. “In fact, they reached out to me even before registration opened, saying, ‘Can we please do the refreshments volunteering?’”

Adams, who teaches math in Westmoor High School in Daly City, said he noticed several of his former students on the volunteer list for the upcoming race.

“They’re now coming back as college students. … All these years later, they’re choosing to volunteer at the Pride Run because it’s such a fun event for them. I feel so grateful for that,” he said.

A key component of every Pride Run is the SFFR members’ nomination and selection of a local charity beneficiary.

“It’s our one opportunity that we have where we donate money to an LGBTQ+ charity, so we really want to give it our all,” Adams said.

This year’s selected beneficiary is 3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic, a nonprofit located in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood that offers services such as health care, housing assistance, workforce development, and counseling for young people, ages 12 to 27.  3rd Street Youth did not respond to a request for a comment.

Adams was elected SFFR vice president – with the major duty of overseeing the Pride Run – in December 2024. He assembled a Pride Run committee, consisting of SFFR members, in January, and has since referred to them as “the dream team.”

“We had our first meeting on February 3 and started talking about, ‘What did we want this to look like? What did we want the shirt to look like? What type of sponsorship did we want to have? What feeling did we want the overall event to have?’ All of that is exactly what seems to be what’s playing out right now. I’m seeing the end result being a culmination of every single person’s ideas on

the committee, and I feel like it’s made for a better overall event,” he said.

Committee member Alby Joseph has been co-leading the marketing for the Pride Run. This year marks his first time participating in the race.

“My heart often feels heavy lately –we are living through hard times for the queer community. The Pride Run, among many events taking place during Pride weekend, will be an opportunity to connect and allow ourselves to take joy in the activities and people we love, time that we very much need and deserve,” he wrote in an email to the B.A.R. Joseph, a gay man, added that the slogan for this year’s event is “Run Loud, Run Proud!”

“Working on marketing for the Pride Run has been a great opportunity to reflect on what the event means, and how it can continue to evolve after 45 years. Especially with trans athletes under attack nationally right now, it’s more important than ever that the Pride Run provides a space where everyone feels included and encouraged to compete as their authentic selves,” wrote Ricky Gonzales, Pride Run committee member, in an email to the B.A.R.

Gonzales, a gay man, served on the marketing subcommittee alongside Joseph.

“At the end of the day, the Pride Run is both a fun event as well as a celebration of the incredible running talent that exists within our LGBTQ+ community,” he added, noting the significance of the “Run Loud, Run Proud!’ slogan. Adams, Joseph, Gonzales, and fellow committee members have spent months preparing for all that a running race entails, including fundraising, coordinating volunteers, managing race registration, getting the necessary permits and supplies, and race day logistics, such as parking.  They’ve also secured sponsors such as the fitness apparel company Lululemon, which donated $5,000; the San Francisco 49ers; REI Co-Op; the San

Francisco Parks & Recreation Department; local businesses such as Bi-Rite, A Runner’s Mind, and JAMBAR; and Castro spots like Barry’s, Hi Tops, QBar, and Badlands.

“We were a little worried about sponsorship with everything happening with the anti-DEI initiative that’s been going on, but San Francisco companies have stepped up unbelievably,” Adams said, referring to the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion policies that are seeing companies also pare back their DEI programs.

When designing the 2025 Pride Run T-shirt that will be given to every registrant, the committee arranged the many sponsors’ logos on the shirt’s backside –and its significance did not go unnoticed.

“When everyone saw the back of it, their main response was, ‘That’s our community.’  And because I have invested a lot of time into this, I almost teared up. I was so happy about hearing the committee say that with such pride,” Adams said.

For those planning on going all out on race day, the FrontRunners also have medals for the top-three fastest male, female, and nonbinary 5K and 10K runners, as well as top-three age group medals for the same categories.

Regardless of one’s pace or time when they cross the finish line on Saturday morning, organizers noted that every mile will contribute to a bigger, community-centering picture.

Registration is $55 for the 5K or 10K through June 27, when online registration closes. Race day in-person registration (if available, it depends on number of entrants and the course limit) opens at 7:30 a.m. and is $60 for the 5K or 10K.

To register for the 2025 SF FrontRunners Pride Run, go to: https://tinyurl. com/5d8tbja3.

To volunteer at the 2025 SF FrontRunners Pride Run, go to https://tinyurl. com/y97c895v t

SFPOA & SFPD PRIDE ALLIANCE

Gay San Jose council candidate Tordillos leads in runoff

by Matthew S. Bajko

Gay San Jose City Council candidate Anthony Tordillos ended Tuesday night in a strong position in his runoff race for the governing body’s District 3 seat. But with more votes left to be counted, his campaign is not declaring victory just yet.

After the polls closed June 24, Tordillos was in first place with 64% of the ballots counted, for a total of 4,449. In second was Gabriela “Gabby” ChavezLopez with 2,413 votes.

According to the Santa Clara County registrar, the vote tally will be updated by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Turnout in the special election is so far at 14.62%.

One group, the Housing Action Coalition, declared Tordillos the winner Wednesday. In a social media post it noted it has “worked with Anthony for years, he’s the pro-housing champion we need on council!”

A spokesperson for Tordillos’s campaign did not respond to the Bay Area Reporter’s request for comment on when it expected to declare victory. As of Wednesday morning, it had not issued any official statements or posted to its social media accounts about the early results.

to child sex crimes. He is awaiting his sentencing and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Elected in 2022, Torres was the first gay Latino and out person of color to serve on the San Jose City Council, and only its second out councilmember. The governing body had gone 16 years without a member from the LGBTQ community until Torres took his oath of office two years ago.

Many LGBTQ leaders and groups had supported Tordillos in the contest. Chair of the San Jose Planning Commission, Tordillos, 33, is an engineering manager at YouTube. He lives with his husband, Giovanni Forcina, a cancer biologist, near the San Jose State University campus.

backing of him was expected to give Tordillos a leg up in the runoff race since his and Quevedo’s combined support in the primary dwarfed that of Chavez-Lopez, 37, a single mom. Lopez is the executive director of South Bay nonprofit the Latina Coalition of Silicon. Seen as more to the left politically of Tordillos, and a potential check on the more moderate agenda of Mahan, Chavez-Lopez had received support in recent weeks from a number of prominent progressive South Bay leaders, such as bisexual Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San Jose).

The District 3 seat covers much of downtown San Jose and its Qmunity LGBTQ district. The special election is to serve out a council term that expires at the end of 2026.

Talking to reporters at his election night party, a smiling Tordillos said he was “feeling very good. We were not expecting the early results to be this positive.”

It has been represented since earlier this year by engineering firm owner Carl Salas. He was selected as a caretaker of the seat by the council following the resignation last fall of gay former councilmember Omar Torres due to his arrest for allegedly molesting a cousin years prior.

Torres has since pleaded no contest

He beat out Matthew Quevedo, deputy chief of staff to San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, in the special April 8 primary for second place in order to advance to the runoff that happened to coincide with Pride Week. Because Quevedo fell short by six votes behind Tordillos to land in third place, it triggered an automatic recount of the results that confirmed the outcome.

Quevedo threw his support behind Tordillos in the runoff, as did Mahan, who walked precincts with Tordillos in the final days of the campaign leading up to Tuesday’s election. Their

Last month, she was hit by a report in the San Jose Spotlight that a friend of hers who works for electric utility company PG&E had closely coordinated her campaign activities earlier this year, which Chavez-Lopez denied. She alluded to the story in an Election Day post on Instagram, writing that, “Yes, the attacks came. They were relentless. But I never lost my faith. Never lost my fire. Because leaders don’t retreat, we rise. We keep walking for the people who can’t afford for us to stop.” t

High school From page 2

“It shouldn’t be a concern to a country with all these individuals in it what a teenager identifies as, especially since I am law-abiding,” contended Korngold, who has dual citizenship in both the U.S. and Mexico, where they were born in San Luis Potosi.

(Their mother is from Mexico, while their father was born in California. With their parents now divorced, Korngold splits their time between their mom’s home in the Bayview neighborhood and their dad’s apartment in Bernal Heights.)

Life after high school

One reason Cookston, who lives in the Outer Sunset, applied to colleges in-state was concern over being denied the gender-affirming health care he has been receiving. He also wanted to make sure the campus he attended would be “socially safe” for him as a trans student.

“I know I am in a safe place and that is why I am staying,” said Cookston, who wrote about both being trans and losing a grandparent in several of his college application essays when prompted to discuss how he overcame his biggest struggle.

Both Cookston and Korngold were accepted to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt and seriously considered enrolling at the Northern California campus. But they encountered issues in securing housing should they do so, which factored into their final decisions on where to go to college.

Cookston, who is looking at becoming a marine biologist, opted to attend the private, Jesuit-run University of San Francisco. A big factor in his decision was wanting “to stay local,” explained Cookston, whose sister attends USF and their mom works on its administrative staff.

“I am excited,” Cookston told the B.A.R., adding that it was a relief “not to have to think about it anymore.”

Initially on the waitlist, Korngold is headed to UC Santa Cruz, where they will study anthropology. It was their top choice and a “full circle” moment for their family, as an aunt had received a full ride at the university but wasn’t able to attend.

Having experienced their various personal and academic hurdles throughout high school, Korngold said it was “such a relief” to earn their diploma and graduate.

“I was very proud of myself and a little stressed out. It was also a little uncomfortable wearing so much polyester,” noted Korngold about the robe they wore for the ceremony. “I felt good once it was over.”

One thing they will carry forward with them that their two teachers at Independence instilled in them, said Korngold, is “doing things you are passionate about is important.” t

Anthony Tordillos is leading in the runoff for the District 3 San Jose City Council seat.

Courtesy the candidate

<<

NY-based group launches trans laureate program

compiled by Cynthia Laird

ANew York-based organization has announced that applications are now being accepted for its inaugural trans laureate program. Any trans person across the world can apply, according to organizers.

The Kingdom of Navassa is the Rochester, New York organization that developed the program. The one-year term of the trans laureate is set to begin in January and includes a $5,000 budget to cover the laureate’s honorarium, community programming, and operational support.

Marie-Adélina de la Ferrière is a trans woman and queen of the kingdom. She told the Bay Area Reporter in an email that the Kingdom of Navassa was proclaimed in 2017 as a “micronation,” an art-meets-activism project that was formally incorporated in 2025. A micronation is a self-declared “country” that performs all the trappings of statehood – flags, stamps, honors – without United Nations recognition, she explained. It’s similar in some respects to the Imperial Council, a philanthropic drag organization that started in San Francisco decades ago and has its reigning monarchs, as well as chapters across North America.

“Like the Imperial Court System, we borrow royal imagery to raise money. The key differences are continuity: Navassa is an ongoing story-driven micronation with a hereditary sovereign, rather than annual elected monarchs,” de la Ferrière wrote.

The kingdom is also made up of a small number of volunteers, including a “privy council,” and include de la Ferrière’s extended family, friends, and members of the wider Navassian community, she stated.

“While this started as a hobby (and escapism, in part moved by the first Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies), it has evolved into a project that desires to create, advocate, and sup-

port projects that uplift and empower,” de la Ferrière’s added.

Indeed, the trans laureate program seeks to do just that. It is officially known as the Bernadine Casseus Trans Laureate Program, named after de la Ferrière’s late aunt who was a Black trans woman, community activist, and ballroom advocate, a news release stated.

“The trans laureate embodies our belief that art can heal, unite, and catalyze change,” stated de la Ferrière. “Securing an inaugural Pride grant from Trillium Health shows that our region stands behind trans creatives – but lasting impact will take collective effort. Through this program, Navassa is doubling down on culture as community care.”

The Trillium grant was for $2,500. De la Ferrière has started a crowdfunding campaign to raise additional funds for the trans laureate, though it had raised only $170 as of June 23.

Applicants must be aged 21 or older; identify as transgender, nonbinary, or gender-expansive; and demonstrate a track record in community engagement, arts, humanities, or storytelling.

Prospective applicants should send a personal statement (800-1,000 words), resume, up to five work samples, and two letters of support via the online portal. The deadline to apply is Saturday, September 6.

For more information, go to kingdomofnavassa.org/laureate

To donate, go to https://tinyurl. com/57sbx39a

For more information on the Kingdom of Navassa, go to kingdomofnavassa.org.

Gay American Indians celebrate 50 years

San Francisco’s American Indian Cultural District is celebrating Gay American Indians as the oldest Native queer club in the U.S. marks 50 years. There will be a celebration Friday, June 27, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Veterans War Memorial Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue.

The event will include food, drag performances, live music, and poetry, organizers said.

According to a news release, GAI was founded in 1975 by Randy Burns

(Northern Paiute), a gay man, and the late Barbara May Cameron (Hunkpapa Lakota), a lesbian. Burns continues working to preserve Native American history in San Francisco, the release noted.

Originally, GAI was a place for LGBTQIA Two-Spirit Natives to meet in the Bay Area, as they felt a general lack of support from the gay bars in the Castro district because of their race. Cameron, a former co-chair of San Francisco Pride, founded the Institute on Native American Health and Wellness.

to march with the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirit in Sunday’s Pride parade. They should be the third contingent, he said.

Over the years, GAI worked on a number of initiatives and social political activism. A 1984 project to collect oral records and the history of same-sex relationships and gender differences in Native tribes culminated in the 1988 book “Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology” (St. Martin’s Press).

For more information, go to americanindianculturaldistrict.org and click on “Events.”

Noe Valley church appoints queer vicar

Holy Innocents Episcopal Church in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood has appointed the Reverend Hannah Elyse Cornthwaite, who identifies as queer and nonbinary, as the new vicar. Cornthwaite comes to Holy Innocents from St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church in the city’s Western Addition neighborhood, where she was vicar for six years. There, she led the historically African American parish in a pilgrimage throughout the Bay Area, worshipping in other Episcopal and ecumenical churches, as well as in their neighborhood parks, restaurants, and bars, a news release stated.

In a phone interview, Burns said that GAI had accomplished much in its five decades of work.

“It’s been a long journey. There were a lot of friendships and a lot of pain,” he said, referring to the years of the AIDS epidemic that started in the mid-1980s.

Burns said that Mayor Daniel Lurie is expected to attend the celebration, which is free and open to the public.

He added that GAI members plan

“Over the last seven years, I have loved doing ministry in the queer community in San Francisco with the Companions of Dorothy the Worker, a dispersed ecumenical religious community,” Cornthwaite stated. “It’s a core part of who I am. I am really excited to be joining Holy Innocents, who shares these values and commitment to living out our baptismal vows to respect the dignity of every person.”

The Reverend Hannah Elyse Cornthwaite

Courtesy St. Innocents Episcopal Church

The Kingdom of Navassa includes drag queen Vivian Darling, left; Queen Marie-Adélina de la Ferrière; and Monique Saldonato, a cisgender woman and ally.

Courtesy Kingdom of Navassa

fundraising began in March. “We rallied the community and have been working really hard.”

Helping with the fundraising effort is Pamela Meskin, a lesbian who will be helping carry the banner at the head of the march.

“I’m so excited,” Meskin, now 48, said. “Quite frankly, in my late 20s coming out, I would have never ever imagined. It’s an honor and a privilege.”

After an afternoon of entertainment, music, and speakers, Meskin will be helping to lead the anticipated 20,00030,000 marchers from the park on 18th Street to Valencia Street, then up to 16th Street, onto Market Street and finally to Castro Street.

The Valencia Street location is significant – the corridor was a cultural center for lesbians and other queer women for decades until gentrification forced many women out.

“This march is about dyke visibility and dyke resistance to the administration,” Rocket said, referring to Republican President Donald Trump. “There used to be more dykes on Valencia and in the Mission [neighborhood] and in San Francisco who have been displaced, the reason why many queers have had to leave the city. The march is taking space and bringing visibility, certainly down Valencia Street.”

Meskin said the march is still fundraising, in particular on Thursday, June 26, from 6 to 10 p.m. with a presence at the regularly-scheduled Moby Dyke night at the Moby Dick bar in the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood, at 4049 18th Street.

“San Francisco Community Health Center is committed to providing comprehensive, culturally responsive, and gender affirming health care,” according to a statement from the nonprofit, which

730 Stanyan Street San Francisco, CA 94117

730 Stanyan Street San Francisco, CA 94117

“I thought that would be a great way to continue helping,” Meskin said.

People can donate online, where $63,869 has been raised of a $100,000 goal as of June 18.

All dykes welcome

As with previous iterations of the Dyke March, the website states that all dykes are welcome and uses an expansive definition for the word.

“We understand dyke identity to include those of us who are questioning and challenging gender constructs and the social definitions of women: transdyke, MTF, transfeminine, transmasculine, genderqueer, and gender fluid dykes,” according to the website. “We also welcome all women who want to support dykes to march with us. Celebrate dyke diversity!”

The B.A.R. reported in the spring that queer Jews expressed frustration with dyke marches in other cities, such as New York City, for taking a stance against the existence of the State of Israel amid the ongoing war with Hamas and the ethnic cleansing of internationallyrecognized Palestinian territory. At the time, Crystal Mason, the interim president of the organizing committee of the San Francisco Dyke March, told the B.A.R. that, “We are against genocide anywhere and everywhere, and we understand the genocide in Palestine is not the only one going on at the moment.”

“I don’t want to say too much because we are in the process of trying to figure out our values – but it is an issue, continues to be an issue, as it should be, and we are not trying to shut down any discussion,” Mason added.

The B.A.R. asked Rocket if there’d been an update. Rocket said that the march agreed on a values statement,

is this year’s organizational grand marshal. “In the time of rising attacks on our communities, SFCHC continues to be committed to centering those most impacted, particularly the transgender and gender non-conforming community whose bold existence forces us to rethink and reimagine what’s possible for us all.

which states, in part, “We Dykes are against war, imperialism, and all forms of genocide, including the ongoing U.S.-backed genocide in Palestine. We oppose the use of political, institutional, and military power to oppress marginalized groups of people, including native peoples, Black people and other people of color, immigrants, asylum seekers, people with disabilities, and transgender individuals.”

Rocket continued that, “Everyone is welcome – the stance is we’re against genocide, and you can read the specific language in the values statement.”

Trans March

Niko Storment, a queer, trans man who is the production manager of the Trans March, told the B.A.R. that that event will be taking place Friday, June 27, in the afternoon and evening.

`The march will proceed from Dolores Park to the intersection of Turk and Taylor streets in the city’s Tenderloin district where, in 1966, on a date lost to histo-

SFCHC works tirelessly to lift up the voices of our communities and shows the world that we are powerful.”

Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., a member choice for grand marshal, is CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. TerMeer is queer, Black, and HIV-positive, and discussed these identities in his statement.

ry, the Compton’s Cafeteria riot set off the first recorded act of militant queer resistance in U.S. history. The riot, three years before the more publicized Stonewall uprising in Manhattan, was led by trans and gender-nonconforming people.

The site at 111 Taylor Street is now used as a halfway house for formerly incarcerated people as they attempt to restart their civilian lives. As the B.A.R. previously reported, it has attracted the ire of LGBTQ advocates, who want to “liberate it” and repurpose it in a community-focused way that centers the trans experience. The property is owned by a subsidy of GEO Group Inc.

The city’s Board of Appeals is expected to hear a request over the property’s zoning July 16. Advocates of evicting the company with the ComptonsxCoalition are planning a mass mobilization at the Trans March, according to a news release.

“We refuse to let San Francisco be a staging ground for incarceration disguised as ‘reentry’ or ‘alternatives,’” stated coalition member Gemma Girón, a Latina trans-

“It’s humbling to be named grand marshal at a time when our very existence is being legislated. I carry this honor not just for myself, but for every Black, queer, and HIV-positive person who’s ever been told they don’t belong,” TerMeer stated. “This honor isn’t just about me – it’s about the movement, the memory, and the mandate to keep showing up, louder and more unapologetically than ever.”

The lifetime achievement award went to longtime social activist Tita Aida, aka Nicky Calma, who also works at the San Francisco Community Health Center.

gender woman, migrant, and activist.

Additionally, attendees are expected to protest the June 18 Supreme Court decision in U.S. v Skrmetti, in which the court ruled 6-3 that Tennessee can ban gender-affirming care for trans youth. The decision has implications for the numerous other states that have enacted similar bans.

Storment said the stage will feature “some speakers that are really going to be exciting,” and a performance from trans Tanzanian Afropop musician Frankie Maston.

“My soul longs to be in community with my siblings, now more than ever before–in a space where we can channel healing, embody joy, and let music and dance move us together in one rhythm,” Maston stated. “I am excited for Trans March.”

At the same time there will also be a resource fair in the park “so if people want to find ways to get gender-affirming care, to get therapy, that’s a good time to do that,” Storment said.

Storment said the focus of the march is showcasing and affirming the beauty and resilience of the trans community.

“I think as the Trans March, our goal has always been not to get bogged down in negativity and the traumatic things happening in the media and politics,” Storment said. “We want to set an example of how to lead with love, and set people up with resources to help people weather this storm, and show what it looks like to be a transgender community supporting each other.”

Bustin’ Out, the official Trans March afterparty, will be held at the El Rio bar, at 3158 Mission Street, from 6 p.m. June 27 to 2 a.m. June 28. Tickets are available online at and proceeds benefit the TGI Justice Project. t

The Embarcadero, and will be hosted by Michelle Meow. Marsha Levine, the former longtime San Francisco Pride parade manager and the founder of InterPride, will moderate. Speakers include San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, a straight ally, and Evan Low, a gay former state Assemblymember who’s now president and CEO of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.

Affordable Studios, 1 Bedroom, 2 Bedroom, and 3 Bedroom Units for Individuals and Families / Equal Housing Opportunity.

Affordable Studios, 1 Bedroom, 2 Bedroom, and 3 Bedroom Units for Individuals and Families / Equal Housing Opportunity.

Affordable Studios, 1 Bedroom, 2 Bedroom, and 3 Bedroom Units for Individuals and Families / Equal Housing Opportunity.

19

Households must have a minimum monthly income of two times the rent. Households must earn no more than the gross monthly income listed below:

“To receive the lifetime achievement grand marshal is a great honor I will cherish and will linger during my lifetime and beyond. Very proud to be part of our growing LGBTQIA history,” Aida stated.

“SF Pride is like family to me. The work SF Pride gives me that octane of humility, unconditional kindness and to grow to do what I do, to serve my community.”

As the B.A.R. previously reported, after SF Pride opted not to make Andry Jose Hernández Romero, the Venezuelan asylum seeker who was sent by the Trump administration to an El Salvador megaprison without due process, an honorary grand marshal, Ford had stated, “We will also dedicate a significant portion of the Human Rights Summit on Thursday of Pride Week to highlight this important issue and center the voices of impacted communities.”

Households must have a minimum monthly income of two times the rent. Households must earn no more than the gross monthly income listed below:

Households must have a minimum monthly income of two times the rent. Households must earn no more than the gross monthly income listed below: Maximum Income per Persons in Household:

Maximum Income per Persons in Household:

Other events

SF Pride’s celebration, or festival, takes place Saturday, June 28, and Sunday, June 29, in Civic Center Plaza from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The June 28 headliner is trans actress Michaela Jaé of “Pose” fame, and the June 29 headliner is gay rapper Saucy Santana.

For those interested in something a little different, there’ll also be a Pride Rollerdisco at SVN West, 10 South Van Ness Avenue, from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. June 29. It’s billed as “the ultimate rooftop roller skating party under the San Francisco sky,” according to SF Pride’s webpage, which has tickets available to this and the subsequently mentioned events at sfpride.org/events

There is a portion on the summit’s schedule, at 3 p.m., titled “At the Intersection of Immigrants, Trans, and People with Disabilities. Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), MIJENTE, SF PRIDE, Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE),” but this is the only portion mentioning immigrationrelated matters.

Meow confirmed June 19 that the 3 p.m. item would address asylum and migration matters.

Meow stated to the B.A.R. that this is the “most important year” for the summit as “anti-LGBTQIA+ policies have continued to strip human decency away from our communities, including our most vulnerable and precious populations.”

Building amenities include a large community room, an on-site laundry room, secure indoor bicycle parking, two landscaped courtyards, free in-home internet access, and an outdoor terrace. The property also features a mail/parcel room, as well as management and service offices in the ground-floor lobby.

Building amenities include a large community room, an on-site laundry room, secure indoor bicycle parking, two landscaped courtyards, free in-home internet access, and an outdoor terrace. The property also features a mail/parcel room, as well as management and service offices in the ground-floor lobby.

Building amenities include a large community room, an on-site laundry room, secure indoor bicycle parking, two landscaped courtyards, free in-home internet access, and an outdoor terrace. The property also features a mail/parcel room, as well as management and service offices in the ground-floor lobby.

Application and preference information found on the San Francisco Housing Portal - DAHLIA at housing.sfgov.org. Applications due by July 3, 2025.

“This all-inclusive, disco-drenched celebration is taking over SVN West Rooftop for an afternoon of glitz, glam, and groove – all in honor of San Francisco Pride and Folsom Street,” the website states.

“Queer joy is what we deserve,” Meow stated. “Resistance is our power to fight for our existence and humanity collectively.”

Application and preference information found on the San Francisco Housing Portal - DAHLIA at housing.sfgov.org. Applications due by July 3, 2025.

A virtual lottery will be held on July 17, 2025 Results will be posted on housing.sfgov.org

Application and preference information found on the San Francisco Housing PortalDAHLIA at housing.sfgov.org. Applications due by July 03,2025.

A virtual lottery will be held on July 17, 2025 Results will be posted on housing.sfgov.org

Also concurrently is the Pride party inside San Francisco City Hall from 1 to 5 p.m. featuring an art show and a hosted bar.

A virtual lottery will be held on July 17, 2025. Results will be posted on housing.sfgov.org.

Please visit https://www.730stanyan.org/ to learn more, or contact: 415-967-6760

Please visit https://www.730stanyan.org/ to learn more, or contact: 415-967-6760

Units available through the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and are subject to monitoring and other restrictions.

Please visit https://www.730stanyan.org/ to learn more, or contact: 415-967-6760.

Units available through the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and are subject to monitoring and other restrictions.

Units available through the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and are subject to monitoring and other restrictions. Visit sf.gov for program information.

Thursday, June 26, will see a Pride block party at 5 p.m. outside 10 Annie Street in the Yerba Buena neighborhood, south of Market Street. Admission is free.

Earlier that day will be SF Pride’s third annual Human Rights Summit.

The summit will be from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club at 110

Finally, San Francisco Opera will hold a Pride concert Friday, June 27, at 7:30 p.m. at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Avenue. San Francisco Opera has been a proud participant in San Francisco Pride since the 1980s, SF Pride’s website stated. It will celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community with a very special evening of music, immersive projections, and post-show dance party. Sapphira Crystál is a superstar drag queen and trained opera singer who will host this celebratory evening. Tickets start at $30. t

Trans March participants decried the anti-trans bills in many states in 2023.

Rick Gerharter

Bowen brought out one card in which students thanked him; some wrote that they got ideas for possible careers.

He passed around a copy of a second letter to those judges who were named in it for taking the time to meet with the students. “They made a difference in kids’ lives,” said Bowen. “It’s a small thing, but the kind of thing I attend to.”

County changes

Contra Costa County used to be reliably conservative. That has changed over the years. Bowen lived in Richmond for many years and was assigned to the courthouse there. Martinez is the county seat, and other cities in the county include Antoich, Walnut Creek, Concord, and Pleasant Hill.

“It’s a wonderful county,” Bowen said. “There has been a lot of change. I would no longer describe it as very conservative.

“In the late 1990s and early 2000s it was not an easy place for LGBT folks. That was one reason I connected early on with BALIF,” he said, referring to Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, an LGBTQ bar association. “I had to travel all the way to San Francisco, but it was a way to make connections.”

Prior to becoming a judge, Bowen worked as an attorney in the Contra Costa County Public Defender’s office.

He earned his law degree at the University of Virginia after receiving his

undergraduate degree from Santa Clara University. A Bay Area native who grew up in Berkeley, where he now resides, he was asked what led him to go to law school across the country.

“I got into a really good law school,” Bowen said. “I was ready for some East Coast exposure. I had a dream of [Washington] D.C. but that dream was never realized and I moved back home.

“I came out in law school,” Bowen continued, adding that at the time, there weren’t a lot of programs for queer law students. “Now they have really robust programs for LGBT students.”

“One of the things I do is I try to make myself a mentor for law students and summer interns,” he added.

Bowen is also involved with the International Association of LGBTQ Judges. “That group is really important to me and there is a large contingent of California judges now,” he said.

Praise from colleagues

Hardie and Clarke both praised Bowen’s tenure as presiding judge.

“I’ve known Judge Bowen a long while, and he’s done a great job so far,” said Hardie, who sits on the court’s executive committee. “He’s bright, collaborative, and decisive. He listens to different perspectives. I find him to be very strategic.”

Hardie was a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office when she was recruited by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to be its director of tort litigation. She said she had applied for a judgeship and waited at least a year until she heard

riors that were now doubling as office spaces. Fromm also sells their paintings via their website at https://tinyurl. com/4ukwdmvu.

“It was slow, for sure. 2020 was a rough year,” recalled Fromm.

Three years ago, Gary Jaffe, who is straight, engaged Fromm to paint a mural on the living room ceiling of his Corona Heights home he has lived in since 1987. Fromm drew inspiration from snapshots of nearby residences, incorporating their facades and that of Jaffe’s house into a circular composite with the neon “Castro” sign for the Castro Theatre in the middle.

“It is fantastic,” said Jaffe, 82, a retired management consultant and avid art collector. “I had a big party celebrating the finishing of the mural. People loved it; I thought it was fantastic because not a lot of people have a mural in their home.”

He also has several prints of Fromm’s drawings hung up in other rooms of his home. In 2020, at the start of the COVID pandemic, Fromm happened to be the instructor of an online Pilates class that Jaffe took. He then saw her murals inside the Milk terminal and inquired if Fromm would be able to install one in his home.

“It was a challenge because it is curved,” he noted of the ceiling, which took Fromm nearly three weeks standing on a step ladder to paint.

<< SF, Oakland centers

From page 22

“Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS: that funding comes from the feds to serve low-income people living with HIV,” Hawkins said. “We have no idea what’s happening with those funds at this time. Prevention funding hangs in the balance right now. So typically, there’s a cycle of applying for these funds, but we are not sure what’s going to happen. We just don’t know. … We won’t really have a clearer picture till July 1.

“From a planning perspective, this is one of the first times in a long time we don’t really know what to do,” Hawkins added. “It’s so uncertain. We do know we can’t continue to provide services without funding and, usually, the first thing that gets

from the governor’s office. Clarke said that the court continues to run smoothly with Bowen at the helm.

“From my perspective things haven’t changed,” she said. “He’s very open and welcoming to everyone. He’s very supportive of all of his co-workers and staff … staff work so hard; they go nonstop all day long.”

Clarke formerly worked as a deputy state public defender before becoming a staff attorney at the First District Appellate Project, a nonprofit law office created through a partnership with the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District; the Bar Association of San Francisco; and the Administrative Office of the Courts. Its staff and panel attorneys provide representation to those who cannot afford counsel, according to its website.

Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Glenn Kim acknowledged in a phone interview that he’d “be very glowing” when discussing Bowen. Kim, 43, is a straight ally who was appointed to the bench by Newsom about three and a half years ago. He works in Martinez and handles the felony arraignment calendar, hears felony motions and preliminary hearings, and presides over probation, parole, and other formal supervision violation hearings.

Kim said that Bowen was his supervising judge his first two years on the bench.

“He was my mentor from the get-go,” Kim said. “He treated me as a peer, and I always appreciated that.”

Before becoming a judge, Kim

Showing it off to a reporter, Jaffe said he is drawn to Fromm’s use of color in their works; they used a palette of red, orange, yellow, gray, purple, blue, and green paints for his mural. He likened Fromm’s aesthetic to that of old-style cartoons but photo realistic, adding that their “ability to take a photo and translate it into a beautiful work of art really appealed to me.”

Seibert said Fromm’s technique creates an “ideal dreamlike quality” to the cityscapes and urban settings they depict in their work. Viewers can tell Fromm loves San Francisco from how they portray it, noted Seibert, adding that Fromm’s simplified color palettes draw people to their artwork.

“I think they have a way of capturing a very simple beauty of city life, especially a city that has a reputation for being a little gritty at times,” said Seibert, praising Fromm for having a “really good eye for composition” that results in “a magical realism. Emily includes a lot of elements into one scene but it still looks cohesive.”

Freedom in the world

Much of their artwork is rooted in experiencing freedom in the world, said Fromm. Moving to San Francisco provided that in their own life.

“It is a beacon, a sanctuary city, a global symbol of acceptance for this community and has been for so long. Right now, there is an artist revival in places like the Tenderloin where artists can get a toehold and be able to stay. It is awesome,” Fromm told the B.A.R.

hit is payroll and that’s what’s happening right now.”

As the B.A.R. reported after the interview with Hawkins, Trump’s budget proposal cuts $1.5 billion in HIV/AIDS funding, including the entirety of Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS.

Hawkins didn’t return a request for comment June 18 asking if there was any update. Earlier in the month, while discussing the private funding the center is receiving, he noted it has been seeing mainly smaller donations of late.

“The very large donations stopped as well as mid-level. We still continue to get some smaller donations, maybe $100 or so, but yeah, our major donors who helped us in the beginning, when we first started, those have completely gone away,” Hawkins said, “and our development team is actively recruiting ma-

worked as a prosecutor for the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office for three years; prior to that he held a similar position with the Alameda County DA’s office.

“He really takes everything to heart,” Kim said. “My kids call him Uncle Christopher.”

Bowen said he brings several strengths to the job of presiding judge.

“I’m a really good listener,” he said. “I’ve already had people thank me for just hearing them out. Sometimes, I can’t do anything, or it’s not in my lane, but I can listen.”

Another strong point, he said, is that he’s not quick to rush to judgment.

“The presiding judge has an absolute duty to investigate every complaint,” he explained, “and I think it’s important to be transparent in what you’re thinking.”

Challenges ahead

Bowen said that his first priority is hiring a new CEO. He and the other judges learned in March that longtime former CEO Kate Bieker would be leaving. She is now the CEO for Ventura County Superior Court.

“It’s a huge loss,” Bowen said, adding that it will give him and the other judges on the executive committee an opportunity to find a new top administrator. The court CEO deals with finances, facilities, and other matters.

Hardie, too, said the search for a permanent CEO would be one of Bowen’s top tasks.

Bieker did not return a request for comment.

In 2023, Fromm first told their husband they were nonbinary and began toggling between using she and they pronouns. Most people who know them well weren’t surprised by the news.

“Having some fluidity to how I look at myself feels more honest,” said Fromm.

Growing up, they were more apt to be playing in the dirt than with dolls but appeared as a “girly girl” who wore makeup and loved the color purple. Their parents never questioned it, recalled Fromm, who joined the Gay Straight Alliance at school but didn’t know how to describe their gender identity at the time. Fromm likened hearing nonbinary for the first time to discovering the name for a new color.

“It took a while to have the right word. Nonbinary was not used then,” said Fromm. “I still liked men but was feeling differently than female.”

Last July 14, which is observed each year as International Non-Binary People’s Day, Fromm came out publicly as nonbinary in a post on their Instagram page.

“This is not about correcting people or policing language, as I hope to be hard to offend and quick to forgive. So whatever you like to call me: dude, duder, el duderino, bro, sis, big dog, lil mama, beard papa, E money Fre$h, or, of course, Emily, please do what feels right,” wrote Fromm. “I’m here for all of it and love you guys. I just wanted you to know. PS sorry for never going to pride. I fear parades. But I hope you all

jor donors to support us because we are in a dire situation. We don’t have reserves. Our line of credit is no longer there.”

As dire as the situation is, Hawkins has seen the community rally before.

“This really is a communityfirst effort,” Hawkins said. “If we don’t help each other we will not be around to provide these services. It just won’t happen. I do feel confident, though, because when we started the center people said, ‘How are you going to fund it?’ and we said, ‘Community,’ and they really helped us.”

Hawkins stated the center serves 4,000 people annually. Its most recent IRS-990 form shows an annual budget of $3.7 million.

For more information, visit oaklandlgbtqcenter.org. t

Hardie also said that a challenge for the court is access to data for the public.

“A real change, I think, is the public’s desire, and right, quite frankly, is access to data and resources,” said Hardie. “The courts need to pivot and provide those. Courts, I think, are behind the tech curve, and I think they need to be forward-looking. There are budget constraints and friction there.”

She pointed to the court’s need to hire and retain highly skilled employees to run the IT department.

Bowen said that he also wants to work at raising the court’s profile.

“It’s really important to me to make sure we’re always remembering the goal of access to justice, that our services are accessible to everyone – people with lawyers and self-represented,” he said.

Fiscal issues are also key. “A lot of voices throughout the judicial branch” talk about stable funding, Bowen said, “They’re not even talking about increases because we have to be able to plan and support our programs.”

Another of Bowen’s duties is welcoming new judges. Since the court is down two positions, it’s expected that Newsom will, at some point, fill those seats.

“Welcoming new judges on the bench and helping them transition to the bench” is important, Bowen said.

“It’s not always easy, and I want to be a resource to new judges,” he added. “I hope my style of leadership – I’m trying to cultivate the next generation of court leaders – I see that as kind of a responsibility.” t

San Francisco.

had so much fun.” They plan to attend their first Pride celebration this Friday, as Fromm is set to join Seibert at the Trans March in

“I am really excited for that,” Fromm said. t

Reuben Arthur Brown, aka Mark Brown August 18th, 1934 – April 27th, 2025

Mark was born in Manville, Illinois and grew up in Streator, Illinois. He died on April 27th 2025 in San Francisco, CA at the age of 90 having lived in San Francisco for over 50 years.

Mark was a graduate of Bradley University in Illinois and was a distinguished member of Pi Kappa Psi fraternity. He was an Army veteran having served as a paratrooper. He worked as dance instructor at Arthur Murray Dance Studios in Ohio. He was a shoe salesman and Import-Export businessman in San Francisco.

Brown was the founding force behind some of the most enduring organizations in LGBTQIA+ athletics.

A former writer for the Bay Area Reporter, Brown was best known as one of the founders of the iPride Softball, formerly NAGAAA, helping to launch what would become one of the largest LGBTQIA+ Softball organizations in the world. His vision and leadership in the 1970s brought together athletes from across North America, creating a space where LGBTQIA+ athletes of all levels could compete openly and proudly.

Brown was the last living member of the first class inducted into the NAGAAA Hall of Fame along with his cofounders of the San Francisco Gay Softball League, SFGSL, and the Big Apple softball league, BASL.

Brown was also instrumental in the founding of the gay games further cementing his legacy as a national advocate for inclusion and representation in athletics. Through both his writing and his organizing, he championed the power of sports to build community, promote equality and change LGBTQIA+ lives.

He published a book, “Gay Games I: The True Story, The Forgotten Man”, under the name Mark Brown. On occasion, Brown would be spotted as Bubbles; a lovely lady entertaining the crowds at the Powerhouse located in San Francisco.

Services were held in Streator, IL on May 17th, 2025 for the family only in attendance provided by Winterrowd-Hagi Funeral Home 305 S Park St, Streator, IL 61364.

6/12/25

Mark-Brown-Obituary_061925.indd 1

NEVER AGAIN IS NOW

Holidays are here.

Show you care by always wearing a mask.

The Pink Triangle was once a badge of shame forced on queer people by a fascist regime. Today, it stands atop Twin Peaks as a powerful symbol of remembrance — and warning.

Across America, anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation are rising. Books are banned. Trans rights are under attack. History is being rewritten.

Thirteen years after the death of Bob Ross, the Bay Area Reporter's publisher and founder, the foundation that bears his name, established in 1995, continues to support a diverse range of local arts, HIV-related, LGBT, and other nonprofit organizations. During this time, these organizations need our support, and yours, more than ever.

The Bob Ross Foundation is proud to support the lighting of the Pink Triangle and the work of San Francisco Pride — and dozens of other LGBTQ+ organizations defending our truth, our culture, and our lives.

If you are able, please consider supporting these vital institutions.

Chanticleer

GLBT Historical Society

Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS)

San Francisco Ballet

We’ve been here before. We won’t go back.

Horizons Foundation

KDFC Classical Music

Larkin Street Youth

Meals on Wheels

New Conservatory Theatre Center

Openhouse

San Francisco Dance Film Festival

San Francisco Giants Community Fund

San Francisco Pride (Pink Triangle)

Shanti

Tenderloin Tessie Holiday Dinner Theatre

Rhinoceros

Image:

Tby Jim Van Buskirk

he first wide-ranging exhibition and catalogue to center the contributions of queer artists within the history of photography, “Queer Lens: A History of Photography” takes a sweeping and synthetic approach to illuminate a vital story of creativity, resistance, and resilience.

The pioneering exhibition, at the Getty Center in Los Angeles through September 28, is thoroughly documented and enriched in this magnificently-produced 330-page catalogue edited by Paul Martineau, curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Center, and Ryan Linkof, curator at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (slated to open next year).

Beginning with its end-paper reproductions of Tee A. Corinne’s solarized female nudes, the volume includes nearly 400 reproductions (figures and plates), as well as six pages of bibliographic references, an index, and illustration credits.

The color and black-and-white exquisitely reproduced images, presented in roughly chronological order, include formal portraits, snapshots, journalistic and artistic representations, nudes, and other depictions of queer experience by famous photographers, more obscure names, and unknown or anonymous photographers.

The curators have unearthed a wealth of seldom-seen images, including Daguerreotypes, cartes de visite, small-scale and large-format, by photographers who identify as lesbian or gay, and many who do not fit comfortably into a narrow binary. Similarly, their subjects are all over the place.

The well-known names include Edmund Teske, Andy Warhol, Diana Davies, F. Holland Day, Peter Hujar, Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, David Wojnarowicz, Brassaï, Bruce of Los Angeles, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Herb Ritts, Cynthia

MacAdams, among others.

The scholarly yet accessible essays add immeasurably to the volume’s value. Ken GonzalesDay’s “Photography and the Queer Imaginary” states, “Photographic practice in the first half of the twentieth century reflected new technologies and techniques, revealed a changing understanding of human sexuality and provided for new forms of self-expression.”

Seeing and seen In “Seeing the Overlooked: Blackness and the Queer Self-Portrait,” Derek Conrad Murray highlights the important oeuvre of Darrell Ellis, an impressively productive American Black queer artist, as well as Afro-

by Brian Bromberger

At the standing-room-only June 18 opening night film of Frameline49, Frameline Executive Director Allegra Madison in her remarks heralded a call of defiance in the face of current obstacles.

“We don’t have time to despair,” she said of current events. “We have a history of reshaping language itself to accommodate who we are. Look at ballroom culture, drag culture, dyke culture in the ’90s here in the Mission. Look at how gender is being redefined right before our eyes right now.”

Here is the third of our festival reviews. Look for more in the two previous issues.

British Rotimi Fani-Kayode, who explored intersecting themes of religion, spirituality, ethnic identity, diaspora and homoeroticism, both of whom died of AIDS.

Other hitherto neglected artists championed here are German photographer Guglielmo von Plüschow, whose studies of young Italian men inspired his cousin Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden, and Taizo Kato, renowned for his portraits of Japanese Americans.

Alexis Bard Johnson’s “Queer Visibility: Photography in American Print Culture” investigates use of photographic imagery in such post-war publications as physique magazines, ONE Magazine, Drummer,

The corrosive impact of closets forms the heart of the South Korean drama, “Lucky, Apartment.” Hee-suh, a pharmaceutical sales employee and Sun-woo, who lost her temp job and has broken her leg, have been a same-sex couple for nine years, yet are closeted to their families and neighbors. They present themselves with that much-abused appellation, roommate.

They have purchased an apartment, though Hee-suh has provided all the money for the mortgage and interest, which she resents. The couple argue continually. Sun-woo, staying at home, smells a foul odor emanating from downstairs. She is shocked to discover the older female tenant has died. Even when the body is removed, the odor remains because the apartment hasn’t been cleaned for a long time and nothing can be

Sunshine,

and others.

Kay Tobin Lahusen, with her life partner Barbara Gittings, championed “real life” pictures of lesbians on the cover of the Daughters of Bilitis’s monthly publication, The Ladder, and elsewhere. In his essay, “Nothing But a Freak Convention: Queer Photography’s Hybrid origins,” Jordan Bear states that “excavating the genealogy of queer photography has long presented a special challenge for historians, for its objects can be furtive ones.” He also acknowledges “things hiding in plain sight.” San Francisco’s presence is, as expected, woven throughout, including Minor White’s “Nude Foot, San Francisco, CA” (1947). John Gruber’s historic snapshot “Mattachine Society Christmas Party in Los Angeles, CA” (1952-53) was lent by the San Francisco Public Library’s James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center.

done until the dead neighbor’s family is found and notified.

While it’s hard to sympathize with a couple who exhibit little intimacy or kindness to each other, the emotional payback at the finale is worth the bumpy ride.

Sometimes the ideal couple may not be everything we think they are in the Argentinian dramedy, “300 Letters.” Jero (Cristian Mariani) and Tom (Gaston Frias) seem to be having the perfect romance (or at least social media would have you believe), despite Jero’s previous interest only in hook-ups. Tom is a poet of sorts and a bit arrogant.

On their first-year anniversary, Tom leaves Jero, giving him a box of 300 letters, written every day they were together, covering the full gamut

from first sex to the first declaration of love to sharing a flat together. Tom tells Jero that after reading all of them, he will have a good idea why he’s ending their relationship.

This premise sounds gimmicky, but it’s saved by the biting commentary on current-day romances and how self-centered people can be. What filmmaker Lucas Santa Ana wants to convey is how a couple can feel the opposite of what the other partner is experiencing.

Inspired by the real-life story of a gay army major, “We Are Faheem & Karun” is a groundbreaking film in that it’s the first queer Kashmiri love story, set in Kashmir itself, in the Kashmiri language with local actors. Because the

Gay

Lesbian Tide, Sinister Wisdom,

‘Two Young Men Kissing in Photo Booth, about 1953’ by Joseph John Bertrund Belanger,

‘Priscilla and Regina in Brooklyn, NY’ June 1979, by Joan E. Biren

Kimmortal

by Finbar LaBelle

Kim Villagante, known better by their stage name Kimmortal, is no stranger to the vibrant pulse of the Bay Area. However, as Pride Month unfurls, they are poised to hit the scene fully formed, with performances that promise to be unforgettable. Kim mortal performs on the mainstage of San Francisco Pride on June 29, and at Soulovely in Oakland on the same day.

Kimmortal’s artistry defies easy cat egorization, weaving together the raw energy of hip hop, the soulfulness of R&B, and the narratives of visual art to forge a truly unique sound. Their expression is beautifully showcased on their latest album, “Sunniest of Days,” which will have much to do with their upcoming tour.

In a recent interview with The Bay Area Reporter, Kimmortal promised to bring more than just a performance to their upcoming events, offering a glimpse into their artistic process.

“I like to make art that crosses mediums,” Kimmortal said. “I am always looking for a way for my creativity to overflow into other forms of expression.”

The sheer scale of their newfound audience in California alone is striking. “Being from Canada, there are almost more people in California alone than in my entire country,” they noted, expressing a feeling of arrival, particularly when it came to talking of the Bay Area, where they’ve found “just so much love,” on stage, especially from the Phillpinx community.

the peculiar nature of living through todays’ global turmoil, Kimmortal explores personal and collective sorrow through rhythms and heartfelt harmonies.

This vulnerability gives a taste of something novel in their work, especially in latest works like their collaboration with celebrated rapper Shad K., which further offers a guide for navigating life’s twists and turns.

The widespread acclaim, from notable mention by US Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez for “Sad Femme Club” to features on “The L Word: Gen Q,” such acclaim fortifies their commitment to cultivating spaces where queer and diasporic individuals find acceptance and a voice.

As they embark on an extensive summer tour, Kimmortal is most eager to witness how their work connects with new audiences, hoping audiences take away with a message of genuine self-acceptance.

They are outspoken and their connection to spoken word as a vessel for social change can be seen from project to project. A notable example being their track “Stop Business as Usual” dedicated to the movement for a Free Palestine. Time and time again Kimmortal proves that their tracks can be more than just music.

All of Kimmortal’s work is informed by their ancestral narratives as a non-binary Phillipinx artist and emergence as a queer visionary. Those attending their events are invited to a genuine participation and resonance.

“Sunniest of Days” holds up a fully formed world, a peek into their mind. Emerged from introspections on

<< Queer Lens From page 33

Also local are Peter Berlin’s “Double Self-Portrait with Blue Jeans and Whip II” (ca. 1970), four images from Frank Melleno’s 1978 Fairoaks Baths series, Robert Giard’s portrait of Del Martin & Phylis Lyon, and Danny Nicoletta’s iconic image of Harvey Milk.

Diesel & Dorothy David LaChapelle’s “Diesel Jeans, Victory Day, 1945,” (1994) (re)staged at Pier 45 on the S.S. Pampanito, shows Alcatraz hovering in the background. Other glimpses of San Francisco appear in work by Marc Geller, Arthur Tress, Del LaGrace Volcano, Hal Fischer, and Anthony Friedkin.

While the preponderance of the images are from the J. Paul Getty’s own extensive collection, more than forty other public and private lenders are represented, including SFMOMA. Of course, in a work of this scope, one could easily identify gaps, e.g. important images by local photogra-

The Bay Area holds a special significance for Kimmortal. They credit this vibrant region with “teaching me how to be an activist.” This Pride Month, seize the opportunity to experience this emerging artist whose provoking music serves as a powerful anthem for queer resistance. Helping yourself to a new soundtrack for your Pride, with a musician who is “making a place for all the POC queer weirdos out there.”t

Kimmortal performs at the San Francisco Pride Festival, June 29 at 2:40pm on the main stage. www.sfpride.org

They also perform at Soulovely Pride in Oakland, June 29, sometime between 3:30pm to 8:30pm at 7th West, 1255 7th St. www.wearesoulovely.com www.kimmortalportal.com

phers such as J. John Priola, Rick Gerharter, Cathy Cade, Lynda Koolish, Ann P. Meredith, Loren Cameron and Chloe Atkins. Catherine Opie’s concluding essay “To Be Seen” highlights the catalogue’s “queer experience, photography, culture,” a timeline from 1732 through 2021, before referencing her personal connection to the Bay Area: “... I thank San Francisco for coming out.”

“Friends of Dorothy,” a gallery of portraits, includes 24 various personalities from 1900 to 1923, and the text notes that in addition to the coded phrase’s usual refence to Judy Garland’s “Wizard of Oz” character Dorothy Gale, it might also “have been used by men acquainted with Dorothy Parker to gain entrance to the bar at the Garden of Allah Hotel in Hollywood.”

This unique gatefold section speaks to the power of the image and the oppositional needs for display and discretion.

Surprisingly, there is very little duplication with Jonathan Katz’s

massive catalogue, “The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939,” which includes a wide variety of artistic media, including photography (reviewed in last week’s issue).

Other similar books include Zorian Clayton’s “Calling the Shots: A Queer History of Photography,” (Thames and Hudson USA, 2025) highlighting the Victoria & Albert Museum’s collection, and “Photography: A Queer History” (Ilex Press, 2024) by Flora Dunster and Theo Gordon. Though nearly impossible to adequately or accurately describe, the quality of production, the depth and breadth of research, and the impressive display of many powerfully aesthetic images contribute to making this an outstanding addition to the growing body of scholarship around queer imagery.t

‘Queer Lens: A History of Photog-

Kimmortal

raphy,’ Edited by Paul Martineau and Ryan Linkof, $65, Getty Publications www.shop.getty.edu

Left: ‘Neptune (Karim Boualam),’ 1988, Pierre et Gilles Hand-painted photograph on canvas, Getty Museum, © Pierre et Gilles Right: ‘Untitled,’ 1927, James Van Der Zee, James Van Der Zee Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Image courtesy Henry Art Gallery

Doug Spearman

by Gregg Shapiro

There’s no question that when

Patrik-Ian Polk’s series “Noah’s Arc” premiered on Logo 20 years ago, it was a groundbreaking creation. The story of a group of Black gay men and their wonderful friendship. The titular arc was that of the cute main character, Noah (Darryl Stephens), and his closeknit circle of friends, including Chance played by gay actor Doug Spearman.

This compelling and loving fraternity may, in fact, be what brought viewers back repeatedly, including a 2008 movie, “Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom,” as well as the 2020 “Noah’s Arc” short, and now, a new full-length feature “Noah’s Arc: The Movie,” debuting on Paramount+/Showtime on June 20.

In the movie, filled with equal measures of laughs and tears, Chance, who has faced a devastating loss, finds his dependable friends there, ready to support and comfort him at a moment’s notice. I had the pleasure of speaking with Doug Spearman, who is also a writer and director on other film and TV projects, the morning of the streaming premiere of “Noah’s Arc: The Movie.”

Gregg Shapiro: Doug, since the early 2000s, when the “Noah’s Arc” series premiered on Logo, you have been playing the character of Chance, including in the latest installment, “Noah’s Arc: The Movie.” What was it about Chance that appealed to you as an actor?

Doug Spearman: When Patrik (-Ian Polk) called me to ask me to play him (Chance), I was at JFK airport in the baggage claim, waiting for a suitcase. He explained what the part was. The thing that stuck out to me was the fact that Chance was in a long-term relationship with another Black man. And, they had a child; they had a fouryear-old daughter named Kenya. I had never seen two Black gay men raise a child on TV before. I thought it was the most revolutionary thing I’d ever seen. I immediately thought I’ve got to do this because that was something nobody had seen. I thought it was incredibly important to take the part.

“Noah’s Arc: The Movie” was, once again, written and directed by Patrik-Ian Polk, who you just mentioned, is the creator of the entire franchise. What’s the secret to your long-standing working relationship?

[Laughs] the whole team, all of us, are like a band of brothers. We fight like brothers, we come together like brothers, we hash things out, we talk, because we’re all very different from our characters. I think the challenge of playing these guys and then uplifting these men, playing a part, especially something written by Patrik, is like solving a math equation. There’s always a challenge that’s enjoyable for me as an actor: to try to find out what it is that Patrik wants, and then how do I do it.

In the years between “Jumping the Broom” and the new full-

length movie, many changes have occurred, and the story addresses some of them, including gay widowhood, as well as mental health issues. How do you approach those subjects in the new movie?

I had a lot of loss in my life, right before we started shooting. Two months before we started shooting the first series, my mother died. I was going through the grief process through that whole first season. Since then, I’ve lost a lot of people in my life. In fact, when we started shooting the second season, the second week we were shooting, my ex died of a heart attack. I was having to fold that into what I was doing with my life on the set and off the set. You’ve got to show up and you’ve got to do your work. The first two seasons of “Noah’s Arc” are always tinged with the memory of grief. So, when I had to deal with the death that Chance faces (in the new movie), which is a significant death in his life, it wasn’t that hard to reach back, especially the scene in the graveyard. It was something that I unfortunately could pull from personal experience.

Shifting gears, the movie features delightful cast surprises, including Jasmine Guy and TS Madison. Did you have a chance to interact with either or both when they were on set?

No, I didn’t have any scenes with Jasmine, and I missed her. I wish I had gotten to see her, because I actually got to direct Jasmine for a CBS promo shoot for “Queen,” back in the early ’90s. I had a huge crush on her when she was on “A Different World.” So, I really would have liked to reconnect. But TS and I got to see each other every day because I was in all her scenes. It was extraordinary being around somebody like that. That is one outspoken woman!

As an out gay actor, how important do you think it is for queer characters to be portrayed by queer actors, and vice versa?

Being queer is a multifaceted identity. There’s no one kind of queer person. I think finding the best actor that’s your first circle of casting.  I think one of the joys about being an actor is that you get to play different parts. I play straight guys all the time; dads and

husbands and things like that. I think a lot of people are told not to do it. In fact, I wouldn’t be Chance if the actor who was originally cast as Chance hadn’t been pulled out of the series by his agents because they didn’t want him to play a gay character.

Without giving away too much, the ending of the movie is a little ambiguous, even ending with a question mark. If there was a “Noah’s Arc: The Movie” sequel,

would you come back for that?

Yeah! A lot of it would depend on what Chance’s journey is going to be like. Patrik and I have conversations like that all the time. He’s very interested and supportive of input. I hope I would be, as we all would be, part of the creative growth with these characters. They live in Patrik’s head, and he writes them, but we’re the ones who have to flesh them out. It’s always a conversation.

Are there any upcoming film or

TV projects you’d like to mention?

I’m still a writer, and I’m still a director, and I’ve still got scripts that I would like to make. I have a little something that’s a cross between “Treme” and “Bridgerton” that I want to do. I’m always trying to figure out what the next thing is.t

www.paramountplus.com/ shows/noahs-arc www.instagram.com/ dougspearman

Left: Doug Spearman Right: Noah (Darryl Stephens), Chance (Doug Spearman), Ricky (Christian Vincent) and Alex (Rodney Chester) return in ‘Noah’s Arc: The Movie.’

Doug Spearman kisses Christian JD Vincent in a scene from ‘Noah’s Arc: The Movie’

Beyond the Castro

by David-Elijah Nahmod

For many LGBT San Franciscans, Pride exists primarily in the Castro, and the gayborhood indeed boasts a rich and robust history. But long ago, when the Castro was still a blue-collar neighborhood filled with straight families, there were vibrant queer communities in North Beach, the Tenderloin, and Polk Street. Those who equate Pride only with the Castro might need to take a closer look at these other neighborhoods, where dozens of gay bars and other kinds of queer businesses flourished long before Harvey Milk opened his camera store on Castro Street.

Shawn Sprockett, a gay San Francisco man, has just published two maps with which people can take a walk through these neighborhoods and see where these long-shuttered businesses existed. Sprockett, who also leads monthly tours of the neighborhoods, came to San Francisco by way of New York City. Previously he had lived in Florida, which he left in order to escape the state’s increasingly hostile anti-LGBT politics.

“In the last few years, as Florida continued to pass ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills, I realized that young people there are actually having a much worse time than I did when I came out in the state,” Sprockett said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “I feel incredibly privileged to live in a city and state that not only supports my rights, but provides me with countless resources to research queer history and empowers efforts like ‘Unspeakable Vice,’ my queer history walking tour project, which helps make this history more accessible to others.”

Cool cat

The first tour Sprockett led was his North Beach tour. The tour is about ninety minutes long and includes stops at the former location of the Black Cat Cafe, where during the 1950s the late and legendary Jose Sarria did drag shows and mentored many young gay men, often being the first person to tell them that it was okay to be gay. Also visited is a former lesbian supper club which was known as Miss Smith’s Tea Room back in the day and is now an Irish sports bar. The second tour covers the Tenderloin and Polk Street, where there were around 158 queer spaces. Two of those businesses remain today, Aunt Charlie’s Lounge and The Cinch.

of these neighborhoods,” he said. “For the North Beach One I created fictitious logos for the bars to make them come to life. I’m a graphic designer by trade so I was able to create periodmatching designs. Most did not have logos like we’d expect today. They just had the printers in whatever publication stylize their name so it changed a lot. I include stories about each of the bars as a primer for the walking tour, the route of which is drawn in yellow.”

Map quest

The Tenderloin/Polk Street tour and map has been dubbed “Valley of the Queens.”

“For the ‘Valley of the Queens’ map, the challenge was quantity,” Sprockett said. “I worked from several old maps made in the 1970s as well as informal history efforts being done by groups. One Google map had a lot of contributors so I’m not sure who to thank, but they gave me enough clues to go on and confirm their existence. My version might be the most complete version ever as it amalgamates several others together. With more than 158 queer spaces documented, bars, bathhouses, bookstores, etc., it might be a view of the densest concentration of queer spaces in the world.”

Sprockett spoke of why he created the maps.

“I actually did it because I often need artifacts to share online or in a presentation or as part of my promotional booth I created to explain the project at fairs and festivals,” he said. “The maps say a lot at a glance. While most of us would expect to see gay bars in the Castro, seeing a bunch of sites marked on unexpected streets tells the crux of the story, there’s more to San Francisco’s queer history than you know.”

Sprockett added that the response he’s been getting from people about the tours and about the maps has been largely positive.

“Younger people are especially receptive to the stories outside of the Castro because they’re inherently more ethnically diverse and highlight the contributions of trans and lesbian figures more distinctly,” he said. “The only times I encounter some resistance is from older gay white men who can have a very fixed view of the Castro that’s shaped by their own story and connection to the neighborhood. I don’t presume to correct such a personal relationship to the Castro. But I also don’t think it diminishes anyone’s love for the neighborhood to say it’s only part of a bigger story.t www.unspeakablevice.tours www.instagram.com/ unspeakable_vice

“I’m fortunate to stand on the shoulders of giants in many ways,” Sprockett said. “Nan Alamilla Boyd’s book ‘Wide Open Town’ was the first text that introduced me to a world of queer spaces outside the Castro. She was thoughtful enough twenty years ago to leave all her book’s original notes in the GLBT Historical Society’s archive, whose archivists helped me find even more evidence and stories.”

And now Sprockett has created the maps as a supplement to his walking tours.

“Both maps highlight the lost bars

Shawn Sprockett leads a tour in the Polk/Tenderloin district.

‘Twirl’

by Adam Sandel

Award-winning journalist and former color guard world champion Jase Peeples has debuted his first young adult novel, “Twirl.” A highenergy story of gay romance, rivalry, and self-discovery, the story is “Heartstopper” meets “Bring It On,” spinning a new spotlight on the world of competitive color guard.

The author and journalist’s work has appeared in The Advocate, Out, Healthline, and WGI Focus Magazine, and he’s previously penned the gay-friendly children’s book, “Square

Zair Pair.” A lifelong performer, designer, and educator in the marching arts, he’s a three-time Winter Guard International World Champion with the Blue Devils World Class Winter Guard.

While you may know of color guard as the flag-spinning troupes that accompany marching bands at football games, winter guard (performed indoors during the off-season) is a competitive sport all its own. Teams of 20 or more perform routines of intricate athletic choreography, including the Twirling and throwing of flags, wooden rifles, and sabers.

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StevenUnderhill

A life-changing discovery

Growing up in California’s Central Valley with strict Pentecostal Christian parents, Peeples recalls that boys played sports, watched wrestling, and dreamed of driving monster trucks. The performing arts were an alien activity. In a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Peeples revealed how discovering color guard changed his life, and inspired him to write “Twirl.”

Adam Sandel: When did you first discover winter guard, and what drew you to it?

Jase Peeples: I first saw a winter guard performance during an eighth grade school assembly, and it completely blew my mind. It felt like art and sport and theater all rolled into one. As a gay kid growing up in a conservative small town, I hadn’t seen many spaces where someone like me could be creative and expressive without apology. I knew instantly that this was for me.

What years did you perform, and what were your highest accomplishments?

I performed throughout high school and then went on to spin with the Blue Devils, an Independent World Class winter guard. We won three consecutive International World Championship titles during those years. The experience of competing at the highest level, and being part of something so big and beautiful, shaped who I am in a major way.

What was the attitude towards LGBTQ high schoolers in winter guard vs. other sports?

Winter guard was a safe space for me when I really needed one. In other sports or school settings, being openly gay in the 1990s often meant being a target. But in guard, I was surrounded by people who accepted me, some-

times even before I fully accepted myself. I think that’s one of the reasons winter guard attracts so many LGBTQ teens. It’s one of the few places where they can fully be themselves.

What drew you to coaching after high school, and how long did you do it?

Honestly, I just wanted to give back. Guard changed my life, and coaching became a way to help other kids find the same kind of joy, confidence, and connection I did. I coached for around 20 years, and some of my former students still feel like family to me. Watching them grow and succeed, on the floor and in life, was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.

What was your inspiration for writing “Twirl”?

I wanted to write the kind of book I wish I had as a teenager: a story where queer teens are front and center. Where they get to be competitive and ambitious and flawed and romantic. I also wanted to capture what winter guard feels like when you’re in it, with that mix of beauty, intensity, drama, and found family. I hadn’t seen any stories set there. So I wrote the book I always wanted to read.

Did you ever have a winter guard romance as in your book?

Nothing like what happens in the book. The romance in “Twirl” is more of what I wish I’d experienced. But I will say that those intense feelings of connection, uncertainty, and first love? Very real to me. I poured a lot of those memories into the characters.

What was the most challenging part of writing the book?

One of the hardest parts was figuring out how to portray the world of winter guard in a way that felt completely authentic to those who have done it, while still making it understandable and engaging for readers who have never seen a show. Striking that balance between detail and clarity, between insider knowledge and accessibility, took a lot of time and revision. But I think I got there.

What do you hope young readers will take away from the book?

I hope they feel seen, especially if they’re figuring out who they are or trying to find where they belong. I want them to know there is strength in being yourself, even when the world makes that hard. I also hope readers come away with a real sense

of how incredible winter guard can be. Not just as a sport, but as a community and creative outlet. That spirit is what I hope comes through most of all.

What do you hope older readers, who don’t normally read young adult fiction, will take away from the book?

I hope it helps them remember what it was like to be a teenager: to feel everything so deeply, to want so badly to be understood. I also hope it gives them insight into what LGBTQ teens still face today, and how important it is to support spaces where young people can be their full selves. Young Adult fiction isn’t just for teens. It’s for anyone who wants to understand the world a little better.t

‘Twirl’ by Jase Peeples, $5-$14, Evernight Teen www.evernightteen.com

Jase Peeples will be at a book event at Oasis, 398 11th St., August 16, 5pm. www.sfoasis.com

Author Jase Peeples

John Gawrych

Jase Peeples as a high school junior in 1992

Jase Peeples

Pride books round-up 2025, part 4

by Jim Piechota

Happy Pride from all of us at the Bay Area Reporter! Here are a few rainbow-hued selections for your reading pleasure. Enjoy all the beauty, color, and individuality of contemporary queer life with these fantastic new books from well-known celebrities to lesser known but immensely talented artists, illustrators, and fierce queens.

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“It Rhymes with Takei” by George Takei

$29.99 (Top Shelf)

George Takei, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu on the original “Star Trek” series, has become an extremely visible, vocal, and influential social justice and queer rights activist since publicly coming out at age 68 in 2005.

Dedicated to his longtime husband Brad, this beautifully designed, rainbowhued graphic memoir movingly depicts Takei’s Japanese American origin story as a child growing up imprisoned in post-Pearl Harbor internment camps in Arkansas and California and how he followed his heart to become an actor.

His burgeoning queerness was a constant source of loneliness, but spirituality as a Buddhist helped him through those yearning years. An architecture major at UC Berkeley proved enterprising but unfulfilling; a career in acting and theater became his heart’s desire.

Takei’s memoir is stunning both visually and in content as the actor lays bare the essence of his youth, his decades living a closeted double life,

and his fiery emergence as an advocate for queer causes, political initiatives, and local southern California social progress. Don’t miss this immensely satisfying journey of queer life and leadership.

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

“Make Your Own Rainbow: A Drag Queen’s Guide to Color” by Lil Miss Hot Mess

$18.99 (Running Press)

Awash in all the glorious hues of the rainbow comes drag personality Lil Miss Hot Mess’s picture book teaching their queer (and more!) readership about the vibrancy and potential of saturated color and the pleasures and dynamism of diversity and uniqueness.

A sequined array of divas escort readers through explorations of every color in the rainbow: purple doesn’t need to be “plain old purple” when shades of Byzantium, lavender, and aubergine are amongst the variations; the same applies for yellow, red, white, blue, green, orange.

Yes, black and brown are included, of course, as depicted by a host of drag kings who tout the spectrum variations of licorice, onyx, charcoal, as well as taupe, chocolate, and terra-cotta hues. A prismatic wonder, this book is a kaleidoscopic delight to share with friends, family, and the young ones in your life.

www.hachettebookgroup.com

“Gaysians” by Michael Curato

$32 (Algonquin Books)

Curato’s 2020 novel “Flamer,” about an effeminate biracial Boy Scout, was a smash hit for YA readers, and won the Lambda Literary Award and the Massachusetts Book Award. His new adult graphic novel debut should fare equally as popular.

This coming-of-age tale, a “gift to his younger self,” chronicles the first time young, Asian, Seattle newcomer AJ enters a gay bar in the early aughts. Flush with pinks and blues, the book’s vibrant illustrations tell AJ’s story with dynamic verve as he struggles to find community in a new city after a fallout with his family.

AJ befriends K, a well-connected drag queen, and the story unfurls with a unique cast of characters, each with their own troubles and coping mechanisms. Reflective of Curato’s own struggles as a young urban dweller desperate to make friends and find his way and connect within the queer community, this is a journey not only about a queer Asian American eager to fit in, but at its core a story about humanity, found-family, and the universal necessity for love, kindness, and compassion.

www.hachettebookgroup.com

“Shampoo Unicorn” by Sawyer Lovett

$18.99 (Hyperion)

Lovett debuts with this effective

contemporary tale about young podcasters spearheading an initiative to combat homophobia in their small southern town. Queer youth Brian feels increasingly isolated in Canon, West Virginia, a place where football takes center stage and there’s scarce room for diversity of any kind.

The title depicts the name of the podcast he hosts with his friend Riley, a straight biracial girl, as the broadcast seems like his only saving grace from a world of loneliness. A locker room homophobic bullying incident

spurs Brian and company into action to apprehend the culprits, and spread the word about unity, diversity, and Canon’s first-ever Pride festival.

Though a subplot involving Leslie, a trans girl who lives in rural Pennsylvania, adds texture but does little for the book’s plot momentum, the book remains a great, fun, and easy read for teens who need a queer communityforward mood-booster.

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

“Let Them Stare” by Jonathan Van Ness and Julie Murphy

$22.99 (Storytide/HarperCollins)

What do you get when you pair a bestselling author with a hairstylist and “Queer Eye” grooming expert to co-write a queer young adult novel? It produces an impressive, energetically told story for young readers about acceptance and emotional growth.

Meet nonbinary teenager Sully, a sassy, restless high school graduate trying to be fabulous in tiny Hearst, Pennsylvania, yet counting the days until they depart for the freedom and fierceness of Manhattan to intern for a major social media influencer.

When all those plans fizzle out in fine flaky fashion, Sully must majorly overhaul their future endeavors and regroup. First things first, however, there’s shopping to soothe their broken dreams, and that trip finds Sully purchasing a vintage leather bag with the ghost of a mid-1900’s drag queen named Rufus tucked deep inside begging to escape and uncover their memory and recapture a lost legacy.

This fusion of youthful energy, pizzazz, snappy dialogue, defiance, and the joy of discovering inner worthiness is exhilarating, fun, and well worth checking out.

www.harpercollins.com

“Checked Out” by Katie Fricas

$29.95 (Drawn and Quarterly)

Independent cartoonist Katie Fricas debuts with this fantastic, scribbly, angularly drawn depiction of Louise, a young queer artist with a full schedule of family, job, publishing, and personal responsibilities. Louise relinquishes her job at a shoe store (and the clandestine romps with married co-worker, Wanda) for new employment as a library page, which is a dream come true for her as books and publishing are her true passion. Though her life becomes interrupted by family secrets divulged from her mother and romantic interludes with a trans cook, this book has every awkward queer individual’s heart and soul at its core and champions that demographic with every smile, success, and disappointment along the way. This tale of Louise and her kooky queer life is a wonderful way to spend a Pride Week afternoon.

www.drawnandquarterly.comt

Indian army doesn’t accept the queer community, despite India decriminalizing homosexuality in 2018, the Ministry of Defense refused to give filmmaker Onir the necessary permission, branding him a renegade.

A young army man, Karun from south of India, Kerala, is posted in Gurez, a remote village in Kashmir, north of India, close to the Pakistani border. A young beautiful Kashmiri boy, Faheem, with a disarming smile appears at the check post, when by giving an apple to Karun, starts a romance.

Because of the toxic military male milieu, Karun can’t be open about his sexuality, with his family arranging a marriage for him. Faheem must struggle with being gay in Islam which considers it a sin. The film deals with both sexuality and religious barriers. Will the two men be able to stay together despite the forces arrayed against them?

The desolate, spectacular scenery plays a role in the film as does the love songs soundtrack with warm, honest performances from the two lead actors.

If Brian De Palma was going to update one of his 1980s erotic thrillers into a gay story today, the Brazilian suspense film “Night Stage,” might be the result. In Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, actors Matias and flatmate Fabio are competing with each other to deliver the climatic monologue as part of a dance/actor troupe musical, as well as each one seeking the lead in a TV series.

Matias meets Rafael on a hookup app and even though it’s just supposed to be a one-time rendezvous, they

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find they share a common fetish, having sex in public places. But Rafael is a candidate for mayor and must hide his sexuality. As their careers take off, their encounters become riskier. If Fabio lands his plum TV role, he will have to hide his queer identity.

Complicating matters is Rafael’s security officer, Camilo, watching them both, trying to protect Rafael. Will they choose ambition or passion? What’s clever is that being gay isn’t the issue here, since the dangerous factor is their outrageous public behavior.

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How high a price is a queer person willing to pay for their success? The film is very inventive, seductive and thrillingly entertaining.

A Western-style road movie characterizes the Canadian film “The Drive Back Home.” It’s Winter 1970 in a rural town in Eastern Canada and Weldon Hinson (Charlie CreedMiles), a poor plumber, is attending his father’s funeral. He gets a phone call from a Toronto police station informing him his older brother Perley (Alan Cummings) has been arrested for having sex in a public park. If someone doesn’t retrieve him, Perley will spend years in jail with prisoners who would likely kill him.

Their mother Adelaide demands Weldon make the 1000-mile trip to bring his brother home. He picks up Perley from the station, seeing firsthand the bigotry, violence, and cruelty of the police towards his brother. He remembers when they were children, their father tried to kill Perley, but Adelaide and 11-year-old Weldon stopped him.

During the trip, old resentments flare up, with Perley seeing Weldon as an ignorant hick and Weldon viewing Perley as a perverted deviant. Will they come to an understanding or kill each other? Based on a true story relating to writer/director Michael Clowater’s uncle, the film recalls a time when men were imprisoned just for being gay. Nothing great, but the catchy premise keeps you watching.

A famous joking TV Guide blurb once described this movie as “transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again,” referring to the 1939 classic, “The Wizard of Oz.”

Oz fan Jeffrey McHale has made a documentary, “It’s Dorothy,” as a biography of the fictional character of Dorothy Gale, in what she has meant to America as a cultural icon for 125 years since the L.Frank Baum books were first published.

A complicated, heavy-handed love story between a cis man and a transgender man haunts the Danish drama “Sauna.” Small-town early-20s Johann escapes to Copenhagen and lands a job as an attendant at Adonis, the city’s only gay sauna, where he not only works but shares experiences and socializes with the other guests. His life is filled with bars, parties, and Grindr hook-ups, but these endless meaningless encounters take a toll on him, as he starts to crave intimacy.

Only when he meets transgender literature student William does he really fall in love despite an awkward initial encounter. His world is upended and he projects his longing, confusions, and vulnerabilities onto William. William helps him develop deeper connections with friends, particularly his older roommate who’s coowner of the sauna.

There are some educative moments with a strap-on dildo and Johann lovingly applying Testogel onto William’s thighs. William hasn’t had top surgery and is having bureaucratic difficulties obtaining the hormones he needs. He also experiences transphobia when he’s chased out of the sauna by one of its owners. The latter leads to Johann engaging in destructive behavior that endangers the relationship. “Sauna” is one of those movies whose good intentions are thwarted by a sometimesclumsy execution, but it’s still appealing on an often-controversial topic.

Miss Peppermint is an American actress, singer, TV personality, drag queen and activist from New York City, whose roller coaster career is profiled in the engaging documentary, “A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint.” She became the first out transgender woman of color to compete on the popular reality TV series, “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” winning the first runner-up prize in 2017.

The film centers on the perspectives of women, people of color, and LGBTQ voices, all celebrating Dorothy as an enduring symbol of hope and a beacon for marginalized people. We hear from five former Dorothys who portrayed her on film, TV, and stage: Ashanti, Fairuza Balk, Danielle Hope, Nichelle Lewis, and Shanice Shantay, on how the character impacted their own lives, but alas not Diana Ross who played an adult Dorothy in the excoriated movie version of “The Wiz,” that’s still beloved by African Americans.

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Oz enthusiasts like Gregory Maguire (“Wicked”), John Waters, and Rufus Wainwright, who shares a brilliant observation; “We really are being pursued again by this dark force that wants us dead, to eliminate us and steal our ruby slippers.”

This doc is everything you ever wanted to know about Dorothy and can sometimes be overwhelming in just 95 minutes. The Judy Garland portions could be assembled into its own mini-documentary, but returning to that key scene where the film transitions from black and white to color, McHale reiterates why queers love Dorothy so much. Oz fanatics will feel as if they’ve died and gone to their version of heaven.

For years, she did small gigs and odd jobs just making ends meet, a career quickly vanishing, because the winners of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” were much more popular. She auditioned several times before finally being chosen as a contestant. Meanwhile she found refuge with supportive trans friends including actresses Laverne Cox and MJ Rodriguez, seeking acceptance in a world that marginalizes them.

The title comes from one of her songs in which she sings, “I have a deeper love inside and I call it Pride.” She’s always been an activist, proclaiming, “We have to keep fighting for who we are, creating light for young trans people.” The largerthan-life Miss Peppermint is made for the screen. Her story is an inspirational struggle, not just to survive but thrive. Viewers will find her enchanting, rooting for her as she overcomes one setback after another.

Similar to last year’s “Mad About the Boy,” on the rediscovery of playwright, composer and actor Noel Coward, the documentary “Jean Cocteau” (1889-1963) makes the solid case for reclaiming this playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist, critic, and by his own self-definition, poet, who was one of the 20th century’s foremost avant-garde artists,

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Left: ‘Night Stage’ Middle Left: ‘The Drive Back Home’ Middle Right: ‘It’s Dorothy’ Right: ‘Sauna’

documentary, which is almost its own artistic work, blurs the line between performance and activism.

influenced by and influencing the surrealist and Dadaist movements.

In 1962, toward the end of his life, he sat down with an interviewer at his home in the south of France addressing his remarks to students in the year 2000. Those comments and quotes from his poems and other works, as well as his 1000 letters he wrote to his mother for over 40 years, are read by actor Josh O’Connor.

The film covers his love affairs with actor Jean Marais (who starred in five of Cocteau’s films and eight of his plays), Raymond Radiguet, and Edouard Dermit, all co-creators. After World War II, he was arraigned on charges of collaborating with the Nazis, pertaining to his acquaintance with the Nazi sculptor Arno Breker (claiming friendship was more important than politics) as well as a few offhand comments about Hitler, but was cleared of any wrongdoing.

He was seen as cool and a hipster in the early 1960s. Director Lisa Immordino Vreeland has made a conventional documentary (though it’s not chronological) of a very unconventional, almost undefinable celebrity, who remains an enigma. Let’s hope there will be a renaissance of this artist, unfairly forgotten, a polymath genius decades ahead of his time.

Manila at nights teems with danger and possibilities in the tense, gritty Filippino drama, “Some Nights I Feel Like Walking.” Sex worker Uno meets distressed runaway teenager Zion in a bus terminal and they bond in their brief encounter. Uno lives with three other hustlers in a boarding house, supposedly working as masseurs but they look for clients in the streets, bathrooms, and porn theaters.

Two years later, Uno and Zion meet again as hustlers booked by the same client. That same night Uno’s friend Ge is found overdosed by his client. Zion reveals to Uno and his other friends that before he died, Ge’s dying wish was to take him home. Together they lug Ge’s body in a bag around the city to a remote village where a festival is happening, via buses and highways.

It becomes clear that Zion is from a wealthy family but is estranged from them. He wants to belong to the group but recognizes this might not be possible, in spite of being attracted to Uno. Uno summarizes his own dilemma, when he says, “This work brainwashes us into thinking that we don’t own anything including our bodies.”

This small gem takes us into a world we would never enter and makes us care about the fate of these outcasts.

The transformative power of creativity to confront systemic injustice that brings a community together to find strength, solidarity, and liberation is at the root of the must-see documentary “Assembly.”

Internationally acclaimed Rashaad Newsome is creating a multimedia exhibition called “Assembly” at New York’s historic Park Avenue (military) Armory celebrating Black queer culture through music, dance, collages, video projections, holograms, and African fractal pat-terns. The hybrid

It encompasses Rashaad’s own biography growing up in rural Louisiana reckoning with his past and identity, life stories of the dancers, singers, musicians, and poets in the collaboration who felt unsafe, had to hide their sexuality/gender or saw themselves as invisible, Rashaad’s creative process, and excerpts from the show itself, which ran for two months in 2022.

He uses global fem vogue performers, who mix vogue with aspects of their nation’s traditional dances (i.e. Brazilian capoeira, Ukrainian hopak), their movement expressing a queer utopia. The film breaks

ground by featuring an interactive, nonbinary AI character, Being, who serves as a narrator teaching the critical importance of decolonization and proclaiming a post-race, post-gender futurity, based on lesbian philosopher bell hooks’ critique of the imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy that dominates and distorts our society.

An artistic triumph, it’s the most innovative documentary of Frameline49, offering us a future vision of unlimited possibilities when we allow love to empower us to live fully and freely in joyful resilient communities.

Four close gay friends, Lovro, a filmmaker; Nenad, a writer; Stevan, an

artist; and Ivan, an actor, journey together for 20 years through incredible highs and lows, in Ivona Juka’s Croatian odyssey, “Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day,” the country’s official Oscar submission last year.

After seeing occupying Nazi forces removing Jews and Serbs, they all join the partisans in World War II. They become highly decorated war heroes, which gives them cover for their homosexuality, as they become renowned filmmakers in communist Yugoslavia.

Lovro and Nenad are long-time lovers and in a touching scene are filmed skinny-dipping on the coast, evidence later used by the government to convict them of deviant be-

havior. They are sent to a notorious prison on Barren Island, which has no cells because there is no escape. They are brutalized, raped, and tortured for their sexuality.

The film features frontal nudity, graphic gay sex as well as violent scenes depicting cruelty and persecution that are incredibly difficult to watch. While the ending is transcendent, the chief flaw is that Juka concentrates more on the narrative rather than the inner lives of the characters, so we’re often not sure what their motivations are. Despite some drawbacks, this film is the piece de resistance of Frameline49. t

www.frameline.org

Left: ‘A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint’ Middle Left: ‘Jean Cocteau’ Middle: ‘Some Nights I Feel Like Walking’ Middle Right: ‘Assembly’ Right: ‘Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day’