Opera singer hits his notes
ARTS
07
13
21
Edvard Munch
Post-Pride prism
The
www.ebar.com
Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community
Vol. 47 • No. 26 • June 29-July 5, 2017
Pride parade shows love, resistance A city panel has recommended that Terminal 1 (shown here as an artist rendering) at San Francisco International Airport be named after slain gay supervisor Harvey Milk.
Panel says name SFO Terminal 1, access road for Harvey Milk
Community grand marshal Alex U. Inn leads the Resistance contingent in Sunday’s San Francisco Pride parade.
by Matthew S. Bajko
by Alex Madison
T
he advisory panel tasked with naming a terminal at San Francisco International Airport after gay icon Harvey Milk is recommending it be the under renovation Terminal 1. It is also advising city leaders to name the airport’s access road after Milk. It is now up to the Board of Supervisors and Mayor Ed Lee to decide to accept the See page 10 >>
T
his year’s San Francisco Pride parade was big on love and resistance, as hundreds of thousands of people lined Market Street to take in colorful contingents and those that vowed to keep fighting the policies of President Donald Trump. As the 10:30 a.m. start time neared
Sunday, June 25, people of all ages, races, and backgrounds, many decked out headto-toe in the colors of the rainbow, lined the street waiting for the 47th annual San Francisco Pride parade. The parade was a chance to celebrate individuality, freedom, and, as this year’s theme stated, “A Celebration of Diversity.” With this, however, came a strong message
Attorney General Xavier Becerra speaks at the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club’s Pride Breakfast June 25.
CA adds 4 states to travel ban list
by Matthew S. Bajko
S
tate employees in the Golden State are now banned from using taxpayer money for nonessential travel to eight states with the recent addition of Texas, Alabama, Kentucky, and South Dakota to California’s prohibited travel list. Professors, students, and athletic teams at state universities and colleges must also abide by the restriction. Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the expansion of the states covered by the travel prohibition policy at a news conference in San Francisco last Thursday, June 22. The move came just days prior to the city’s annual Pride parade and less than a week after the Bay Area See page 10 >>
See page 9 >>
Struggle with tents for SF’s homeless continues by Seth Hemmelgarn
Rick Gerharter
of resistance against the Trump administration and its derailment of rights and its policies that affect the LGBTQ community such as his travel ban, his promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and the spread of hate-filled rhetoric against marginalized communities.
S
an Francisco officials are continuing to struggle with addressing the issue of homeless people whose only shelter are the tents lining many city sidewalks. Specific data on the size of the problem and how much change there’s been is hard to find, but progress appears to be slow. Last year, then-Supervisor Scott Wiener wrote to city agencies asking them to provide data on how many tents there were, and how many people were occupying them, among other queries. In their April 2016 response, Human Services Agency Director Trent Rhorer and other officials said, “While we do not have a specific count for tents on our streets, we know there are approximately 3,500 people living unsheltered and there are estimated to be 100 encampments,” which the city defined as “groups of more than two staying together.” Sam Dodge, deputy director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said in an email to the Bay Area Reporter this week that according to the city’s Homeless Outreach Team “and recent survey efforts, we found nearly 600 tents in San Francisco. This is a very dynamic number with some tents being used as storage and others with two or more people. We’ve found an average of one person per tent.”
Seth Hemmelgarn
Keith Devill sits in his tent on Division Street.
Asked in an interview whether he thinks there are more tents or fewer than last year, Dodge said, “It’s hard for me to have an objective view on it, to be honest. I spend a lot of time in encampments. ... There’s definitely been a huge rise in the use of tents over the last five years, that I can say unequivocally, and not just in our community, but also in communities up and down the West Coast.”
Jane Philomen Cleland
Dodge added, “I think that the goal of the city is to have no one living unsheltered,” but “it could take a while” to get there. “To the extent that someone may use a tent in the middle of the night is relatively less controversial than the idea that people are going to set up permanent camp sites or semi-permanent campsites that make accessibility difficult” for people in wheelchairs or parents pushing strollers, along with other issues, he said. “To have people step into the street to walk around encampments ... that’s a problem,” said Dodge. In their April 2016 letter to Wiener, who’s now a state senator, city officials said there were “1,203 beds in the adult shelter system. In March 2016, there was an average vacancy of 59 beds or 5 percent per night.” According to data Dodge provided this week, the average vacancy rate is still 5 percent, indicating that anyone who wanted to get one of the city’s shelter beds may have a hard time. The number of adult shelter beds hasn’t changed, but the city has opened two new Navigation Centers, which offer homeless people a place to bring their belongings and pets and stay with their partners. The city now has 231 navigation or temporary shelter beds, See page 10 >>
{ FIRST OF THREE SECTIONS }
HAVE A LONG-TERM LOVE AFFAIR
Zephyr is known for our enduring relationships. 30% of our agents have been with us for 10+ years. Its like a marriage, but simpler. Agents know it. Clients feel it. | ZephyrRE.com