AGoFundMe has been set up for the victim of a beating in front of the Castro Theatre on March 9. The fiscal appeal is close to surpassing $20,000, while San Francisco police continue to look for the suspect in the incident.
The attack took place at approximately 7:41 p.m, San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Kwanjai Laokwansathitaya stated in an email to the Bay Area Reporter on March 14.
“Officers arrived on scene and located an adult male seated on the ground and suffering from injuries,” Laokwansathitaya stated. “Officers rendered aid and paramedics arrived on scene to render aid as well. The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”
The attack was unprovoked, according to police.
“During a preliminary investigation, officers learned that the suspect physically attacked the victim without provocation. After assaulting the victim, the suspect fled on foot southbound on Castro Street towards 18th Street,” Laokwansathitaya stated.
No arrests have been made and the situation remains an open and active investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD. Tippers may remain anonymous.
KGO-TV aired a video March 12 of the incident that was taken by a bystander and shared with the local ABC affiliate. An unnamed eyewitness said, “I saw someone being brutally assaulted, kicked, punched; it was like the tail end of the assault, blood everywhere.”
The local television station’s report also does not name the victim, or his partner. The latter told KGO’s J.R. Stone that the man who was attacked worked at The Mix gay bar on 18th Street and will need to see an eye and ear specialist going forward after suffering multiple skull fractures.
The victim had bounced three people out of the bar earlier that day, one of whom lost teeth after biting the bar employee’s finger, the partner said.
See page 8 >>
Some sponsors have departed, but SF Pride will persevere, ED says
by Cynthia Laird
Several corporate sponsors have dropped out of this year’s San Francisco Pride parade and celebration, but the leader of the nonprofit vows the free event will go on as usual. SF Pride’s executive director also acknowledged that she hasn’t yet talked to several tech companies that so far haven’t signed up to be sponsors.
Comcast; Anheuser-Busch; Diageo, an alcoholic beverage company that makes popular brands such as Johnny Walker; and wine company La Crema have all dropped their sponsorships, SF Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford confirmed to the Bay Area Reporter in a March 17 phone call. That represents about $300,000 in lost revenue for SF Pride, said Ford, who is a transgender woman. (KTVU-TV had reported on the departure of the companies March 15.)
But Ford said SF Pride, which needs to raise about $1.2 million, will remain free of admission.
“We’re not going to fail,” Ford told the B.A.R. “Too many queer people depend on SF Pride.”
In addition to the hundreds of thousands of spectators and parade participants that take part every year, Ford said SF Pride also has “hundreds of queer performers, artists” and others who work the event.
“We’re free, probably the largest free Pride in the world,” she added.
This year’s SF Pride theme is “Queer Joy is Resistance.”
Ford has attributed the sponsors’ backtracking to the new anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion climate that is sweeping across corporate America since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. Almost immediately, he and his administration have gone after what they term as “woke” DEI policies and programs at businesses, universities, and in the federal government.
neapolis, where Target is based and which ditched the retailer in January, according to the Advocate. Target, which drastically scaled back its Pridethemed merchandise last year, had been a major corporate sponsor of Twin Cities Pride and the company had pledged $50,000, but the Pride organization quickly raised over $89,000 after the split, the LGBTQ publication reported.
Ford was asked about Twin Cities Pride in Min-
Federal trial underway in trans sex worker homicide case
by John Ferrannini
The federal jury trial of a transgender woman on charges of second-degree murder for allegedly killing a man at San Francisco’s Crissy Field in November 2023 began March 17 with opening statements, in which her defense attorney argued she’d acted in self defense.
“It was either him or me,” Leniyah Butler, who has pleaded not guilty, was quoted as saying by her defense attorney Shaffy Moeel.
Her attorney said that Butler wants to be referred to as Leniyah, which is listed on the court documents along with Leion Butler, which is not her deadname. Those documents were changed March 17. Previous court records included Butler’s deadname, which the Bay Area Reporter isn’t publishing.
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Moeel conceded that it was true that Butler, 21, shot Hamza Walupupu, 32, just before dawn November 12, 2023 after he had picked her up in a Hyundai Accent in the Tenderloin district with the intent of paying her for sex.
However, Moeel painted a picture of Butler raised as a victim of child sex trafficking who – due to the fact Walupupu drove her to a dark Presidio parking lot – had a reasonable belief Walupupu would harm or rape her once she revealed she is transgender and he demanded a refund.
“She [Butler] believed she had to [kill Walupupu]
See page 8 >>
and by the end of this case, you’re going to see her belief was completely reasonable,” Moeel said.
The intersection of Post and Polk streets where all agree Walupupu had picked up Butler is called the
blade, Moeel said. There’s another blade in the Mission district, but the Tenderloin intersection is known as a place where transgender and gendernonconforming sex workers can be found.
See page 8 >>
College chancellor hopefuls
Remembering Felice Picano
A screenshot of a video shared with KGO-TV shows a victim of a beating March 9 in front of the Castro Theatre.
Screenshot via KGO-TV news segment
Assistant U.S. Attorney George Hageman addresses the jury on March 17, the first day of the homicide trial for Leniyah Butler, who’s shown sitting at the defense table wearing a mask.
Vicki Behringer
Comcast has long been a sponsor of the SF Pride parade but dropped out this year.
From ComcastNBCUniversal
Chancellor finalists discuss future of City College
by John Ferrannini
Former San Diego Community College District chancellor Carlos Cortez, Ph.D., who is nonbinary and queer, would find ways to bring people together in furtherance of the City College of San Francisco’s mission should he be named its next chancellor. Yosemite Community College District Chancellor Henry Yong, Ed.D., Ed.S., pledged to reach out to the wider community should he be given the job.
Mitchell Bailey, the interim chancellor and the first gay male chancellor in the history of the San Francisco Community College District, would stand up for communities targeted by the Trump administration. The trio is among the five finalists under consideration for chancellor who have been visiting the community college all week.
Each has been discussing the direction they’d take the beleaguered yet critical institution during community forums held to cap off their daylong visits and discussions with various constituencies at the city’s 90-year-old community college. The finalists will be voted on by the San Francisco Community College District Board of Trustees in mid-April, with the expectation the person selected will start July 1.
On behalf of the board, trustee Alan Wong stated to the Bay Area Reporter March 7 that the “trustees agreed not to have any comment at this time.”
As the B.A.R. previously reported the college is at a crossroads. One of the five finalists for the chancellor position is the current interim chancellor, Bailey, the de facto head of the college, since it is the only one in the district. Bailey had told the B.A.R. initially he was not intending to run for the full-time job.
Rounding out the five finalists are Rudy Besikof, Ed.D., president of Laney College in Oakland, and Kimberlee Messina, Ed.D., president of Spokane Falls Community College in Washington state. Their forums were March 10-11.
Bailey took over for David Martin. The San Francisco Chronicle reported last year that layoffs and budget cuts in an attempt to achieve fiscal stability made former chancellor Martin unpopular with parts of the faculty union.
The district has a budget of $300 million. While the board was able to approve a balanced budget and set aside a 5% reserve, it faced harsh criticism from students and faculty over the cuts it made to do so. And it is already bracing for more fiscal challenges as it works on its next budget and those in coming years.
In adopting its budget last year, the college district warned it could be facing a $171,494 deficit in the fiscal year that begins July 1. And it projected the deficit could balloon to nearly $8.5 million in fiscal year 2027-2028.
Accreditation issues linger
Further complicating matters is the school’s relationship with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, which accredits community colleges nationwide.
In 2013, the ACCJC decided to revoke City College’s accreditation –which allows credits to be recognized
by employers and transferred to other institutions, and which also allows the college to be eligible for federal funds –subject to a one-year review and appeals period.
The ACCJC cited the college’s governance, finances, and insufficient self evaluation in its decision. Former city attorney Dennis Herrera filed legal challenges to stop the revocation, but before the legal challenges could be resolved, the ACCJC changed tact and renewed the college’s accreditation in 2015 for two years, despite continuing to hold the college was out of compliance. In 2017, accreditation was renewed for seven years.
In 2024, the ACCJC declined to renew accreditation immediately and charged the board of trustees with putting together a corrective plan, to be implemented by 2027.
The plan was submitted in January to the ACCJC and details how the board is addressing finances, complying with its bylaws, and observing separation of powers between the chancellor and the board. This week, City College announced it’s refinancing a portion of its remaining 2015 bonds without extending them, taking advantage of the decrease in interest rates. The interest rate reduction from 4.8 to 2.8% reduces San Franciscans’ tax bills by $6.3 million over the next six years.
Bailey stated in a news release, “This refunding opportunity aligns with the college’s commitment to efficiency, accountability and transparency in our financial responsibilities. We are dedicated to accomplishing our mission while providing smart fiscal oversight, and we are proud to have the opportunity to refund these savings to the taxpayers of San Francisco.”
Ahead of their campus visits, the B.A.R. had asked the college district’s human resources department if it could speak to all five chancellor finalists but did not receive a response. The B.A.R. was able to catch up with Cortez last week.
As a reporter was unable to view all five of the community forums due to other commitments, the B.A.R. asked the HR department if the videos of the forums would be publicly available afterward on the college’s website. At first, a college representative had said they wouldn’t be but then reversed course; the videos are now posted to the college’s website at https://www.ccsf.edu/ccsfchancellor-search.
The B.A.R. was able to watch Cortez’s community forum March 12 and Yong’s on March 13 evening, as well the forum with Bailey held March 14. They were questioned by Brian Smith, a community member who is on the screening committee assisting with finding the college’s new leader.
Cortez would “build bridges” as chancellor
Cortez said he felt the ACCJC had been unfair in the past, saying the college was “severely mistreated.” But he also said that the college needs a strong leader who can make all sides feel heard in a conflict.
“When you have faculty marching into a chancellor’s office and demand-
ing his resignation, there are discussions that could have been had between those constituent parties before,” Cortez said, saying the chancellor chosen needs to “understand that if there’s conflict on campus, it’s their job” to address it.
“The role of the chancellor is to ensure stakeholders are in agreement about the direction they’re moving in, and that they’re happy,” he said. “When students, community members and the board are all happy with how the college is doing, I go home early and I sleep well at night.”
Cortez reiterated a point he made to the B.A.R. that he wanted to boost the college’s non-credit (also known as continuing education) courses. He’d said San Francisco had been the leader in that field till he beefed up the San Diego program, and said non-credit is the frontline of diversity, equity, and inclusion because it brings underrepresented communities into higher education.
“We’re doing the work of the creator,” he said. “DEI work is about being a good person.”
Yong pledges wider community engagement
In a similar vein, Yong said the college has to do a better job of bringing students into the decision-making process, and bringing the wider community into the City College community.
“We cannot adopt the attitude, ‘They know we are here on Ocean Avenue,’” Yong said, referring to the main campus. He said musical performances and arts exhibitions could help bring a wider cross-section of San Franciscans to City College. A regional science bowl accomplished that goal at Modesto Junior College, he said, one of the two colleges in his district.
Yong’s district includes Modesto Junior College and Columbia College in Sonora. He was previously the president of Evergreen Valley College in San Jose for six years and the vice president of instruction at Taft College in Kern County.
“My goal would be to invite the students in, make sure they have the opportunity to participate in the decisionmaking process, plenty of opportunity to provide input and to prove to them I value their input, and their input is important to the future of the college,” Yong said.
Yong and Cortez adopted slightly different issues on remote learning, which skyrocketed during the COVID pandemic. Cortez argued “a program should not be moved online unless it is as good, if not better, than what we do in person,” even though “a lot of faculty members said I like to work from home online.”
That being said, “the metaverse and AI are here,” Cortez noted.
“I was in a second grade classroom in February,” he recalled. “Students in class in St. Louis, Missouri are wearing a pair of goggles. … That student is going to expect to be enrolling in college in 10 years wearing a pair of goggles.”
Yong, on the other hand, said, “I recognize different people do best with different modalities.”
“Some want to see because they are visual learners,” he said. “We have visual conferences instantly via Zoom, and
national policy,” and gave a shout out to Muslim students, transgender and other LGBTQ students, “femme-identified” students and women, whom he said are all “welcomed and supported at this college.”
On the remote learning question, Bailey said that, “We have to figure out that sweet spot and that has to change over time.” City College continues to offer online classes.
“Being able to offer a schedule that meets the student need is at the core of what we’re working toward,” he said. “When students use online courses – it’s a smaller percent who do it 100% of the time – they’re going to be voting with their feet and take some classes in person.”
Having that kind of consideration is important for student success, Bailey said.
some may be a hybrid combination of modalities, so we can address multiple learning needs.”
Yong continued that, “I have half a dozen students come to me at my colleges and said, ‘I absolutely hate online,’ but they would accept Zoom video conferencing. And then some would say, ‘Online is great. I don’t have to drive all the way to campus and I’m saving money on gas and parking.’ Bottom line: different people subscribe to different learning modalities. We need to offer a combination of different modalities so that we serve a wider spectrum of clientele.”
Bailey explains reversal on the job
Bailey said that he decided he wanted to stay on to finish the job he started.
“At the beginning of this process, I was here in an interim capacity only to help bring big things forward through that period,” Bailey said of the vacancy in the chancellor position, specifically referring to the accreditation and budget issues.
“I’ve been able to gain perspective. What I knew about City College is what’s generally known to the public. Some people don’t think City College was founded until 2012, when the first accreditation issue hit. But I’ve had the opportunity to work with faculty, staff and students at this college, and I see the work happening, and help it move along.”
For Bailey, he said, “It went back to the core thing. Did I think I could help move the needle to be able to help move this college forward to be able to meet its mission?”
In that role, Bailey has been trying to build “a community college this community can be proud of,” he said.
“I’m the chief advocate for our college,” he added. “I’m our cheerleader. I’m making the case. … I’m also responsible for making sure we have a strategy in place to help us with enrollment, secure our financial sustainability for the longterm and allow us to meet the needs of our community.”
City College is facing “challenging times,” he acknowledged.
“Politics is a sport in San Francisco and some people play it differently than others. What I try to do is base the work in … putting students first,” Bailey said.
The college will continue to exemplify San Francisco values, he said, in spite of provocations from President Donald Trump. The Trump administration has launched investigations into four-year universities looking at how they are addressing antisemitism, threatened their federal funding, and demanded all schools receiving federal funds end their diversity programs.
“Creating that space that is inviting, welcoming and supportive is part of what we do,” Bailey said. “We see a lot of things happening in Washington, D.C. about policy matters and rhetoric about what colleges and universities should be doing and shouldn’t be doing. I’ll focus specifically on our work with diversity, equity and inclusion. It’s not work. It’s values. It’s the core of what we do. It’s the fabric of this college and it’s the fabric of this community.”
Bailey continued that “the values of this college will not be changed from
“I don’t remember a lot of what our professors told me,” he said. “But I will guarantee you to the person that our students will always remember how we made them feel. If we give the impression they’re a burden, they’re not welcome, they’re not supported, they’re not going to come here, and I wouldn’t, if I were them.”
Besikof, Messina make their cases
Besikof said March 10 that he sees three priorities for the role if he’s chosen.
“The first priority I see is really just strengthening our college by getting word out about CCSF to the community, to really share how we can meet their education and future career or present career needs, and become or continue as City College of San Francisco students and by boosting enrollments that will make this college a stronger place over all,” Besikof said. “The second priority that I have is, because of my experience, I believe I can help in a leadership role as CCSF is continuing through its process to get its accreditation reaffirmed.”
To that effect, Besikof said he’s served in all phases of accreditation at his current and past collegiate roles, and has chaired teams on behalf of the accreditation committee to two different college districts.
“Finally, just when I read the job description, I jumped out of my chair when I saw this – someone who can really be that presence in the City of San Francisco,” he said. “I’ve got a lot to learn about those communities, but I look forward to it, and I come to you saying that in my current role as the president of Laney College, I’m someone who has put my college and myself on the map.”
Messina said that climate action and sustainability have to be addressed concurrently with other demands the college needs to face. The CCSF board of trustees adopted a climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 100% by 2035, which requires new buildings to be certified zero-carbon.
“We may or may not have the resources to address the specifics that come up,” she said. “We need to be as proactive as we can in being sustainable and ... we have to look at what resources we have and how we can change what we can change in order to do that.”
Messina said that in her home district, the state government gave climate mandates that schools had to meet.
“You’ve got new construction, which is going to be much more environmentally sound than existing construction, and I will share that in Washington state, there was legislation, so it wasn’t the local board, but there’s legislation called the climate commitment act that requires all public buildings to meet certain benchmarks,” said Messina, “and if you don’t meet them there are penalties for that. … We don’t get funded to replace boilers with environmentally sustainable HVAC systems. What happens if we’re not meeting those targets is our utility company has to buy climate credits and charge us.”
This led to some $40,000 in additional energy costs for Spokane Falls Community College, she said. t
Carlos Cortez, left, Kimberlee Messina, and Henry Yong are up for the chancellorship of City College of San Francisco.
Courtesy San Diego Community College District; Messina, Yosemite Community College District
City College of San Francisco interim Chancellor Mitchell Bailey
Courtesy Mitchell Bailey City College of San Francisco chancellor candidate Rudy Besikof
Courtesy the subject
Orphan Andy’s for sale; Hot Cookie expanding Community News>>
by John Ferrannini
As one Castro neighborhood restaurant mainstay is up for grabs, a nearby food business is expanding its reach to another of the state’s LGBTQ hamlets.
Orphan Andy’s, a diner where many late-night revelers ended up in the wee hours of the morning to the smell of coffee and pancakes at 3991 17th Street, has yet to find a new owner. Meanwhile, around the corner at 407 Castro Street, the proprietors of Hot Cookie have plans to open their first location outside of San Francisco.
They are bringing their famous cookies to Southern California this fall with a location in Palm Springs. It will be located at 155 South Palm Canyon Drive, which is near the LGBTQ vacation and retirement mecca’s queer bars on East Arenas Boulevard.
“With the Palm Springs heat in mind, Hot Cookie’s signature cookies are about to get even sweeter – by offering options for pairing them with ice cream for a match made in dessert heaven,” a news release from the gay-owned business stated.
Hot Cookie co-owner Ryan Jones told the Bay Area Reporter that his business has acquired Jus Chillin’ in Palm Springs. They’ll be running the frozen dessert shop till a soft opening in the fall followed by a grand opening tied to Palm Springs Pride weekend, which is October 31-November 2 this year.
“Palm Springs has long been a second home for San Franciscans, especially within the LGBTQ+ community. With so many making the move full-time in recent years, it felt like the perfect place to bring Hot Cookie beyond the Bay Area,” Jones stated. “We’re thrilled to be expanding while staying true to the
flavors, fun, and community spirit that define us.”
Hot Cookie has been open since 1997 and is known locally for warm treats like the Basic Bitch and the Fudge Packer. There is another San Francisco location at 1817 Polk Street, near LGBTQ bar
The Cinch.
As for Orphan Andy’s, co-owner Bill Pung told the B.A.R. in a March 12 phone interview that he and his husband, Dennis Ziebell, have yet to finalize a sale of the eatery. They had put the business on the market earlier this month with a asking price of $250,000.
“We’re at a fork in the road,” Pung, 69, said. “Getting older – nobody wants to work till they’re not able to anymore.”
Pung told the B.A.R. that while there’s no buyer yet, there is tremendous interest. Patrick Totah of the Restaurant Realty Company is handling the sale, and per the listing, the business brings in annual revenue of nearly $2 million and has a monthly rent of $8,500.
“While the diner is deeply rooted in tradition, a few minor updates and modern enhancements could boost profitability even further, ensuring its
continued success for decades to come.
Owning this diner is more than just a business opportunity – it’s a chance to steward a beloved cultural institution,” according to the listing.
Ziebell, 75, took over the diner in 1977 and three decades later added Pung as a co-owner. At age 22, Ziebell began working at Andy’s Donuts, which was at 460 Castro Street. He ended up owning the donut shop, and when it closed, Ziebell wanted to keep the name, and thus Orphan Andy’s was born.
“We’ve seen a lot,” said Pung, who lives with Ziebell in an apartment above the diner. “I have nothing bad to say about anything. We’re thankful and grateful. We survived the AIDS epidemic, a terrible time in our history.”
Orphan Andy’s also weathered COVID, though that’s when the restaurant began to close weekday nights. It closes at 9:45 p.m. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights to open at 8 a.m. the following mornings but stays open all Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. If there’s a holiday Monday, then the diner is open all Sunday night. t
FDA may be cracking down on poppers
by Liz Highleyman
The federal Food and Drug Administration raided a major seller of poppers last week, and other brands have shut down their websites and social media. Some suspect newly-appointed health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has suggested that poppers cause AIDS, may have spearheaded the move. Austin-based Double Scorpio, which makes several varieties of poppers, “stopped all operations following a search and seizure at our offices by FDA,” the company said in a March
13 statement. (https://doublescorpio. com/) “We don’t have a lot of information to share but we believe the FDA has performed similar actions towards other companies recently.” On Monday, the company launched a new site to sell some of its remaining merchandise but not poppers.
Pac-West Distributing, founded in San Francisco in 1974, makes the popular Rush brand of poppers. The company has replaced its website with just a logo and shut down its phone line.
AFAB Industrial, another Rush producer, has also gone silent, accord-
ing to Fast Company, which broke the news about the apparent crackdown on March 14. The Bay Area Reporter was unable to reach any of the three companies for comment.
Poppers and AIDS Poppers, or nitrite inhalants, are vasodilators that expand blood vessels, relax muscles, and can cause euphoria. Many gay and bisexual men use them to make anal sex easier and more pleasurable. Poppers were a common feature of the gay disco and bathhouse scenes of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and they had
a resurgence of popularity beyond the LGBTQ community during the rave era.
The FDA has long discouraged the use of poppers. “Make no mistake, ingesting or inhaling poppers seriously jeopardizes your health,” Judy McMeekin, PharmD, the FDA’s former associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, warned in a 2021 advisory. “Do not ingest or inhale under any circumstances.”
Nonetheless, poppers have long existed in a legal gray area. Amyl nitrite is a prescription drug, and butyl nitrite is banned in the United States, but
manufacturers have made a multitude of chemically similar products in an effort to stay ahead of the law. Poppers are easily purchased online and at sex shops, smoke shops, and convenience stores, often sold as room deodorizer, leather cleaner, or nail polish remover. But the recent developments could signal that the FDA, one of several federal health agencies under Kennedy’s purview as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, intends to crack down. So far, the agency has offered no details. “As a matter of policy,
At 1440 By The Bay, we are thrilled to announce our new name, which reflects our unwavering commitment to providing exceptional assisted living services in Emeryville. While our name may be changing, our core values and dedication to upholding high standards of care remain firmly intact. Our new name reflects our ongoing pursuit of excellence and our commitment to creating a haven where residents can thrive. Join us as we embark on this exciting new chapter, where tradition and excellence come together to create a truly exceptional care-based living experience.
A sale of the decades-old Orphan Andy’s diner in the Castro has yet to be reached.
John Ferrannini
Short-term rental company bullish on SF
by Matthew S. Bajko
As of mid-March, Furnished Quarters had eight apartments listed as being available to rent in San Francisco. The majority of the one- and two-bedroom units can be leased either in April or May.
The octet is in either of two residential buildings South of Market, 340 Fremont, or The Paramount, according to the search results on the company’s website at furnishedquarters.com. Due to local rental laws, stays in any of the fully furnished units must be at 30 days in length.
At the start of this month, the company told the Bay Area Reporter it didn’t have an unoccupied unit in the city for a reporter to visit. It surmised some of its roughly 50 apartments in the city had been leased by people who had to flee the fires that destroyed several Los Angeles neighborhoods in January.
Others had been booked by people coming to town for extended business stays or other reasons. The lack of available units is why the gay co-owned company is feeling confident about a revival in travel to San Francisco this year, a turnaround from five years ago when it struggled to rent out units due to the COVID pandemic.
“We certainly saw it was difficult for us to do business during the pandemic in San Francisco. We were affected by a lot of tech companies moving out of the region and moving elsewhere,” recalled Steven Brown, who launched the company with his brother, Gary during Pride Month in June 1998. “Our business in California struggled for a bit. Now, it is back to a new normal.”
Steven Brown, 68, who is gay, is the company’s chief executive officer. He splits his time with his husband, Steve Saide, who is Furnished Quarters’ executive vice president of interior design, between their homes on Long Island in New York and Miami.
Serving as president is Gary Brown, 66, a straight ally who joked in a joint interview with the B.A.R. that he is “the much younger brother.” He spends part of the year in Laguna Beach in Southern California with his wife when the couple isn’t at their Chelsea residence in Manhattan.
“We are seeing a comeback in San Francisco. A lot of companies are requiring back to work, that really does push up our business,” noted Gary Brown, who previously had lived in Granite Bay outside of Sacramento. “As that happens, business downtown will start to come back.”
Furnished Quarters guest services manager for the California market is Andrew Laing, 50, who is gay and lives in San Francisco with his husband. The couple, together 25 years, are both foreign born, with Laing of British ancestry and his partner South African. They moved to the Bay Area in 2017, and Laing started working for the Browns seven years ago as a field inspector.
Today, he oversees a team of 10 people split between various cities where the company operates. A resident of SOMA, Laing told the B.A.R. that he and his husband have seen positive improvements in the city of late as they walk the streets around their home or are en route to the LGBTQ Castro district.
“We have seen the change first hand. We feel so much safer on the streets ourselves,” said Laing. “I think there is a big shift happening now.”
Since January, in San Francisco, the company has seen 100% occupancy, said Laing.
“I am pretty positive this is the start of a new era for the city,” he said. “We get to be a part of it.”
With careers in New York’s real estate industry, the Brown siblings began their company as solely Manhattan based. But as they found success in the shortterm rental market, and saw opportunities to expand to other cities, they took on apartments in New Jersey, the suburb of White Plains northeast of New York City, and Massachusetts.
Nearly two decades ago they added Northern California to their portfolio of rental properties. In addition to San Francisco, the company rents out roughly 100 places in Silicon Valley, with apartments currently available for a minimum 10-day stay in San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Mountain View.
“We saw opportunities in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, so we headed out there,” said Steven Brown, whose family lived in Fairfield, Connecticut, when the brothers were growing up. It does not rent properties in the city’s residential neighborhoods outside of downtown San Francisco. Most of the people utilizing Furnished Quarters prefer to stay near their offices either in SOMA or the Financial District.
“The clientele we cater to, they don’t want to live there. They want to be able to walk to work,” said Steven Brown.
Likely due to the fact they are not used by tourists coming to town for short stays, and are renting out properties mainly in luxury residential towers
on Rincon Hill and near the city’s convention center in SOMA, the Browns told the B.A.R. they haven’t encountered any backlash since coming into San Francisco. Years ago, with online sites like Airbnb renting out apartments throughout the city, such businesses faced vocal criticism for depleting rental stock for residents and regulations implemented by city leaders aimed at curtailing their impact.
“We don’t find resistance now that we might have. That may have something to do with people moving out of the city and then the pandemic and people relocating,” said Steven Brown, who stressed the company is “not a hotel. We are a very different kind of business.”
Showing pride year round
It is an LGBTQ-certified company and takes pride in working with LGBTQ travelers or business professionals from around the globe.
“Before we founded Furnished Quarters, I worked at Macy’s and had to be closeted. Even in some real estate things, I had to be closeted,” recalled Steven Brown. “I was just not going to live that way anymore. It was very important that as a company, we are welcoming to everybody.”
Last year during Pride in New York City, the company hosted queer social media LGBTQ travel influencer Owin Pierson, currently living in San Diego, in one of the apartments it rents out in Brooklyn. Pierson posted about his weeklong stay via his Instagram account.
“I love that they represent pride all year round and are an LGBTQ-owned business,” said Pierson, who is bicoastal between California and New York.
more in mind when he travels, particularly if where he is renting a place is going to be safe following a homophobic incident he endured years ago while visiting Seattle.
“Especially in Pride Month, when I am dressed in rainbow attire or more out there attire, it is nice to feel like you don’t have to change out of your outfit once you get to your home space,” he said.
Laing told the B.A.R. that Furnished Quarters doesn’t track if its clients are LGBTQ. It does tout on its website that it is a “family-owned, certified LGBTQ+ business” that “prioritizes inclusion, diversity, and equity.”
“We don’t put labels on anyone who arrives. Everyone is treated exactly the same,” said Laing.
Business philosophy centered on family
The brothers’ business philosophy, said Steven Brown, is to treat their clients the way they themselves would want to be treated. They view them as part of their community, he explained, and see their employees as being a family.
“Gay, straight, bisexual, Black, Brown, woman, whoever it is, we treat everybody the same,” said Steven Brown.
It also is reflected in how they treat their employees, said Lori Thomas who joined Furnished Quarters 18 months ago as its vice president of marketing. While originally from Long Island, she now lives in Florida and works remotely.
The one-bedroom he stayed in was “pretty big” with amenities like a gym and rooftop patio. He was able to invite friends over a couple of times to enjoy the great views.
“They gave me a cute welcome kit too,” said Pierson, who hopes to work with Furnished Quarters again this June and stay a bit longer in one of the company’s apartments.
Being half Japanese as well as a member of the LGBTQ community, Pierson told the B.A.R. it is important to him when traveling to be able to trust that any company he utilizes will be accepting of him. It is even more important now, he said, with the current political climate and companies ending their diversity programs under pressure from conservative lawmakers.
“A lot is happening in America right now against our community,” noted Pierson. “These are scary times and fearful times so, for me personally, it is important to promote on my platform businesses that support us all year round and are not afraid to hide their reasons or initiatives to support us. I think a lot of companies are quiet right now and are removing support for us.”
He has heard from his followers concerns on if various travel companies are accepting of people like them, whether LGBTQ, people of color or both. Now 33, Pierson said he has his own safety
“You can see their posture and their kindness. It trickles out of the company out to our guests,” said Thomas. “We really do feel like that, we are their guests not employees.”
Steven Brown credited Thomas with implementing initiatives neither he nor his brother would have thought to do. They want their employees to lead and not merely follow, he said.
“You have to be entrepreneurial to work for us; you really do,” he said. “If you allow them to make their own mark and grow, they can grow themselves and the company.”
It was his brother’s gay connections, noted Gary Brown, that they relied on when they started the company and were looking for properties they could rent out. Today, they employ 150 people, half of whom are women, across the country, with two based overseas.
It wasn’t clear if Furnished Quarters would survive the global shutdown brought about by COVID, leading to a big drop off in travel and changes to how people conduct their business. Workfrom-home policies have gone from being a necessity to a beloved option by many workers, though more companies of late are requiring employees to return to their offices.
“I didn’t sleep for a year and half,” recalled Steven Brown.
Added Gary Brown, “It was all handson deck working with landlords. We were like a startup again, working 24/7 365 days. Steven and our team never worked harder.”
One step it took at the start of CO-
VID was to donate some of its stored furnishings to local nonprofits. In San Francisco, Furnished Quarters “provided a generous quantity of small appliances, flat screen TVs, and essential domestic items to PRC Baker Places residential facilities,” the agency noted in a 2021 report.
“A big part of what we did in this city was being present in this city during the pandemic,” said Laing, who noted they gave PRC enough housewares for 40 apartments.
Three years ago, the company saw a marked shift as its business picked back up. It was the company’s best year “by far,” said Gary Brown, in its 27 years.
“We are thriving,” he said. “We are cautiously optimistic with what is going on in the world.”
So far, 2025 is ahead of where the company was last year during the first quarter of 2024, noted Gary Brown. But they are worried about seeing a dip in international travelers due to the aggressive stance the Trump administration is taking on a host of matters, from tariffs to global conflicts, that has some calling for a boycott of travel to the U.S.
“We are worried about international travel coming to the U.S., for sure,” he acknowledged. “Can you get a visa? How long can you get a visa?”
Their company works with people traveling for all kinds of reasons and on varied budgets, from nonprofit employees and corporate business executives to people relocating for work or employed on a film shoot for a limited amount of time. Others are coming for medical treatments for their spouse or children that require extended hospital stays.
“It is your home away from home,” said Laing, who is responsible for ensuring the units are properly staged with furnishings and amenities like towels and toiletries, and fielding calls from clients at all hours of the day to ensure their stay is going well.
Furnished Quarters is looking at expanding to additional markets, and due to its years-long relationships with its corporate clients, the company is now handling their leasing needs for shortterm stays even in cities where it does not directly lease out apartments. It will locate apartments anywhere globally and arrange the leases for them for its clients.
“It is a major change and area of growth for us,” said Steven Brown. “Our corporate clients have faith in us to handle all their relocations for their employees.”
Added Gary Brown, “They want a one-stop shop.”
Despite being in their retirement years, neither brother is looking to retire from their business anytime soon.
“It is challenging. It is fun,” said Steven Brown. “The two of us still get challenged and have been able to hire some really good people. We continue to learn from the people who work for us and continue to empower them. Gary and I don’t have to manage the day-to-day as much anymore.” t
Got a tip on LGBTQ business news? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email m.bajko@ ebar.com.
Furnished Quarters rents out San Francisco apartments for 30 day stays or more, many with sweeping views of the bay.
Courtesy Furnished Quarters
Brothers Steven, left, and Gary Brown launched Furnished Quarters 27 years ago.
Courtesy Furnished Quarters
An open letter to Governor Gavin Newsom
by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
S
ay, Gavin,
As I dug through my photo library on my phone the other day, I came across a photo from September 2004. A friend of mine, Cecilia Chung, was being sworn in at San Francisco City Hall.
The photo itself is unremarkable. Frankly, we both look a little sweaty, and the flash isn’t doing us a lot of favors.
At the time, you were the mayor of San Francisco. Just a few months before this, you made some of your first big, national headlines by directing the county clerk to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. I remember fondly putting up a couple who flew out from Texas to get married during that time.
I should note that they are still married today, even if they had to get a new marriage license later on. (The ones issued in 2004 were declared void by the courts.) They, like my partner and I, are in a lesbian marriage. Also, like my own marriage, one of the people in the relationship is a trans woman.
Oh, and a couple months after that photo, you signed a proclamation for the Transgender Day of Remembrance. That, of course, is far less important than all those marriage licenses, but has, nevertheless, been framed and on my wall for many years. (Transgender Day of Remembrance was started by this columnist.)
Of course, since that time, you have come up in the world, going from San Francisco’s mayor, then to lieutenant governor of California, and finally to the 40th governor of the Golden State. There’s even been talk, over the years, of you making it all the way to the presidency.
Based on our previous times together and the work you were doing back in the day, I’ve voted for you, even voting against an attempted recall of you in 2021. Today, however, I find myself wondering if my trust was misplaced.
You recently started a podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.” In doing so, you described it as featuring discussions with “people I disagree with, as well as those I look up to.” I’m concerned who we will see you disagreeing with, given the caliber of people you have opted to look up to: Steve Bannon, Michael Savage, and Charlie Kirk.
When you interviewed Kirk, you praised him some 125 times. You even waxed on about how your son wished he could be there to meet Kirk.
What grabbed me, obviously, was the discussion about trans rights. You spoke against your predecessor, Jerry Brown, who signed a bill into law giving trans students equal access to sports in the state. You called it deeply unfair that a trans girl could share in sport with non-trans girls.
You also pushed back about the issue of trans prisoners, seeming to indicate that you feel that trans women should not be housed with other women in prisons. Perhaps you would prefer something more in line with Florida nowadays, where trans women are getting their heads shaved and being denied their medications? I would hope not, but honestly now I’m not so sure.
Likewise, your discussion with Savage also veered into anti-trans territory, claiming that it was transgender issues – which the left did not name, and did not push back in support of in 2024 – that lost it the election. I disagree, because I feel that the fact that the left did not stand firm, it appeared weak-willed in the election.
On this, however, you did not push back at all.
All this said, let’s face it. You and I both know that a podcast is just a podcast. It’s an easy venue in which
you can opine, that potentially raises your stature, but it is just words. Surely, given your past record on
LGBTQ issues, we need not take your agreements with a couple leading anti-trans voices to heart, now, should we?
So, let’s take a moment to look at deeds, not words. In the wake of your podcast, a report in Politico noted that in January of this year you – through your chief of staff, Nathan Barankin, and Legislative Affairs Secretary Christine Aurre – discouraged Democrats from filing any pro-LG BTQ legislation.
A lot has happened since that photo back in 2004. For one, we didn’t have a lock of gray hair. I know neither of us can say that today. It sounds like the changes run a lot deeper now. Would you go to the swearing in of a trans woman, champion marriage rights, or willingly promote a trans event like you did 20 years ago?
It sounds to me like you would not.
You shouldn’t need me to tell you, Gavin, that transgender people are under an unprecedented attack right now. We are facing the wholesale loss of all of our rights, not just being
able to play sports. We are unable to secure passports that reflect who we are, are being forced out of the armed services, and all other rights we have secured are on the table. We are being made into a convenient scapegoat by the right, and I deeply fear just how far it may go. Now is also a time when we find our list of allies thin, as blaming transgender people has become popular on the left as well. It would seem to me, at best, that you have joined this crowd. I fear, however, that you have decided to go further, joining with your new podcast friends in using the wholesale vilification of transgender people as a stepping stone to your life once you leave the governor’s office in early 2027.
I know you don’t remember meeting me in 2004, but I remember you. And today, I feel betrayed. t
Gwen Smith will not be voting for Gavin Newsom in the future. You’ll find her at www.gwensmith.com
At San Francisco Towers, we believe home is more than just a place—it’s a feeling. Our beautifully appointed apartments offer both the comfort of personal space and the richness of connection. This is where refined living meets authentic community, where each day brings opportunities for meaningful experiences and true belonging.
The decision is yours, and the possibilities are endless.
California Governor Gavin Newsom
Christine Smith
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Newsom will never be president
California Governor Gavin Newsom can spout anti-trans rhetoric all he wants, but that won’t endear him to conservative Republicans, some Democrats, and the many independent voters he would need to win the presidency, should he decide to seek the Democratic nomination in 2028. (And all signs point to him doing just that.) In fact, we’ll go out on a limb and say that Newsom will never be president.
He can cozy up to transphobes like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon, but the truth is that MAGA adherents – and many others – will never vote for someone like Newsom, who is viewed in conservative circles as simply too progressive and out of touch with their backward views. Those MAGA principles emphasize “traditional values” at the expense of LGBTQ rights, civil rights, and equality for all.
Yes, Newsom did an amazing thing back in 2004 when, as San Francisco mayor, he ordered city officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The late U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein said Newsom was rushing ahead on an issue (“too much, too fast, too soon” were her famous words) that was, at the time, deeply polarizing. In the end, of course, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states. That was 10 years ago.
Now, with President Donald Trump back in the White House, surrounded by sycophants and in total control of the Republican Party, the fight against same-sex marriage is almost quaint compared to the war being waged on transgender Americans, starting with Trump himself, who last month signed a horrendous executive order, “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports,” that is being used to prohibit trans girls and women from playing on female sports teams. Newsom used to be a politician who could be counted on to confront transphobia and have the LGBTQ community’s back. As governor, he has signed laws protecting trans youth and families.
Those days appear to be over.
A couple of weeks ago, Newsom debuted his new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” with none other than Turning Point USA founder and noted transphobe Charlie Kirk as his first guest. In promoting the podcast, Newsom had said he would be talking with people he doesn’t necessarily agree with (read: Republicans), but it seemed to us that he agreed with Kirk a lot on the program, even mentioning that one of his sons is a huge fan of Kirk’s.
Kirk challenged Newsom to come out against men in women’s sports.
“Would you say no men in female sports?” Kirk asked.
“Well, it’s an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that,” Newsom said. “I totally agree with you.
By the way, as someone with four kids ... two daughters and a wife that went, God forbid, to Stanford, played on a junior national soccer team ... . So the issue of fairness is completely legit.”
Except, as the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club’s board wrote in a letter to Newsom,
that’s the wrong framing to use.
“We rebuke this notion and your comment,” the club’s board wrote. “It is untrue and based on a deep level of misogyny and transphobia.
“Let’s be clear: data, science, and facts show that trans athletes DO NOT have an unfair advantage,” the letter noted. “This myth has been used by the alt right to fight against LGBTQ equality and you are buying in.”
The club quoted Dr. Joshua D. Safer, who said, “A person’s genetic make-up and internal and external reproductive anatomy are not useful indicators of athletic performance.”
Thus, the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club told Newsom in its letter, “You are promoting the myth that the participation of trans athletes hurts cis women. Excluding women who are trans hurts all women. As the ACLU writes, this ‘invites gender policing that could subject any woman to invasive tests or accusations of being ‘too masculine’ or ‘too good’ at their sport to be a ‘real’ woman.’”
We’ve lost the plot on trans kids in sports
by Sydney Simpson
I ’ve been thinking about my “glory days” – I was a spectacularly mediocre NCAA athlete. Nonetheless, I credit my livelihood today as a registered nurse to my short time in sports. So can we just start by acknowledging that the value of sports does not start or end with winning? Yet, every time trans athletes – specifically trans women – are discussed in the media, the conversation is reduced to one thing: competition. Who gets to win? Who has an advantage? Who is “biologically” superior? This framework misses the entire point of sports.
If a young athlete learns discipline, resilience, teamwork, and a love for movement but never wins, should they have never played?
Paul H. Melbostad, Esq. Bay area reporter 44 Gough Street, Suite 302
Imagine your kid is in gymnastics, and a new kid joins the team. What is important to us as parents – as a society – in that moment? I would say, “Be kind. Include them. Help them feel welcome. Offer support. Make a new friend.” But we’ve lost the plot somewhere between that moment and the moment a trans athlete wins. Suddenly, it’s not about kindness, support, or community anymore. It becomes about blame. About resentment. About deciding that some people don’t belong.
Losing is tough. I’ve lost plenty. And I get it – competition matters. Winning feels good. But one of the most powerful lessons in sport isn’t how to win. It’s how to lose – with grace, humility, and respect. The moment we teach kids to blame and scapegoat an opponent instead of learning from the experience, we lose sight of what sports are really all about.
If the debate insists we acknowledge differences among athletes – why are only trans women singled out? Every body has unique physical traits that provide advantages and disadvantages. Since when has sport been about eliminating our differences? The magic of sports has always been about celebrating human potential. So, let’s just say the quiet part out loud: People who don’t want trans girls in sports do not think trans girls are girls. Also known as President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
Therefore, in the case of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has recently outed
himself on his new podcast as a right-wing sympathizer – his “allyship” was uninformed and therefore has always been performative. Supporting trans people starts with a foundational truth: Trans women are women, trans men are men. It is absolutely essential that our allies fully understand this truth, as it underpins any effective defense of us. While the anti-trans narrative is dominating the media right now, it seems there is very little interest in research, science, or facts – a sad hallmark of the Trump administration. But for anyone interested in such things – research supports the inclusion of trans athletes in sports and there is no credible evidence that trans women have an inherent, unbeatable advantage over cis women in elite sports. The idea that trans women are “logically” superior athletes is rooted in patriarchy, misogyny, sexism, and transphobia. I cannot think of a less feminist exercise than teaching my daughter she could not possibly compete with a trans girl. The reality? Trans people are severely underrepresented in sports. Trans women have been allowed to compete in the women’s Olympic category for over 20 years, and yet, only one ever has. There are 510,000 NCAA athletes. Statistically, thousands of them should be trans. Yet in 2024, only 10 openly
trans athletes competed. When I think about those athletes and what they had to endure to get to where they are – it is both infinitely inspiring and infinitely sad. Their participation embodies what sports are all about – resilience, dedication, perseverance, and hard work. The barriers they have overcome read like a microcosm of America’s problems – fear, hate, misinformation, bias, isolation, retaliation, exclusion – all in the name of “fairness?”
Excluding trans women from sports isn’t about fairness, it’s about reinforcing harmful patriarchal standards of who gets to be seen as real, worthy, and equal. If the only time you speak up about fairness is when a trans kid wants to play, you aren’t fighting for fairness, you’re fighting for exclusion. If fairness were the goal, we would be talking about how Black and Brown kids have fewer opportunities, exclusionary pay-to-play structures, funding disparities between girls and boys sports, the lack of ADA accessible options, or how economic barriers keep so many kids from ever stepping onto a court or field at all. Where was this energy when I lost teammates because they couldn’t afford the uniforms or couldn’t get rides to practice? Instead, lawmakers and media personalities have opted to die on this transphobic distraction of a hill.
Trans kids deserve opportunities to realize their potential and to find community in the sports they love. They deserve equal access to the tools to become capable, confident adults. Trans people belong in sports because trans people belong everywhere. The purpose of sports is not to gatekeep womanhood or to police bodies or even to stack trophies. It is to build stronger, healthier people and communities. If we deny these kids the opportunity to play, we are not protecting sports – we are undermining the very reasons we play them in the first place. t
Sydney Simpson (they/them) is a trans/nonbinary registered nurse with the California Nurses Association. They serve on the executive board of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club where they co-founded the Trans Caucus. They live in San Francisco with their wife and their 2-year-old.
Sydney Simpson courtesy of the subject
California Governor Gavin Newsom
Bill Wilson
Gay SF D6 Supervisor Dorsey up for spanking honor
by Matthew S. Bajko
Politicians often get a verbal spanking from public speakers upset with their actions. They don’t often receive an award for being paddled.
Gay District 6 San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey could be the rare politico who does should he be voted as the “Best Impact Player-Bottom” in this year’s Golden Dildeaux Awards. He is one of eight people up for what has been dubbed The Pound Cake Award.
“I think the best impact-player bottom is typically someone who likes things such as spanking. In Supervisor Dorsey’s case, I can’t say whether or not he likes it but I can say he is nominated,” said Bob Goldfarb, a gay man who is executive director of the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District, which three years ago took over the awards first given out 54 years ago.
Over the last two decades only one sitting city supervisor has received a Golden Dildeaux statue, referred to as a Woody, that is given to all of the winners. In 2015, the top vote-getter in the category “Has Not Had Sex in Recent Memory...(The ‘Winter Sleep’ Award)” was Scott Wiener, a gay man then serving as the District 8 supervisor. He would be elected to the state Senate the following year and was just reelected to another four-year term last November.
Dildeaux contestants are nominated anonymously, Goldfarb explained, who could confirm to the B.A.R. that someone had put Dorsey’s name forward for the spanking award.
“We don’t know who nominated Supervisor Dorsey. We did receive an online nomination for him,” said Goldfarb, himself a past Golden Dildeaux awardee. “We are delighted to have him on board.”
for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series nominee won just once, in 1999 on her 19th nomination, for her role as Erica Kane on the ABC soap “All My Children,” according to her Wikipedia page.)
Dorsey demurred when asked if he likes to be spanked by his boyfriend, Gerson Costa, who has found his being nominated “very funny,” he said.
“We will see if I get any offers in my DMs,” joked Dorsey, who is a new coparent of a Labrador and Carolina Dog mixed breed 4-month-old puppy, Brando Costa-Dorsey, the couple adopted from an agency in Concord.
Dorsey told the B.A.R. he doesn’t know the origin of his nomination, only that he had attended last year’s awards ceremony and had joked about being a nominee in 2025. When he learned about his nomination this month, he spoke to Goldfarb about it and suggested he be removed from the list of contenders so as not to take the award from someone who deserves it.
“I had to ask Bob what an impactbottom player was,” quipped Dorsey, who told the B.A.R. he is bending over backwards, so to speak, to see he is not the winner. “I, hopefully, will be the Susan Lucci of the impact-player bottoms and it will be a running joke for us!”
(The 21-time Daytime Emmy Award
We saw those claims play out at last year’s Paris Olympics, when female boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria won a gold medal and was immediately accused by haters on social media of being a transgender woman because of her strength and appearance. Thanks to the pressure exerted by Trump’s executive order, we can expect to see things like gender testing being implemented for females in elite sports in this country, and it is already raising questions about how it will impact the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles when the Olympics return to the U.S. There’s a March 7 piece in Politico, anonymously sourced, that reported Newsom’s senior staff back in January, before the podcast with Kirk aired, discouraged state lawmakers from introducing trans rights legislation this year. Members of the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus ignored them, the outlet reported, and introduced bills dealing with the topic anyway, as we previously reported. But this development begs the question of whether Newsom will sign pro-trans legislation this year. He should.
The awards, launched by the late gay B.A.R. leather columnist Marcus Hernandez known as “Mr. Marcus,” are a fundraiser for the cultural district, which is located in the western South of Market neighborhood long home to LGBTQ bars and the leather community. Last year, it raised roughly $15,000 from them and hopes to exceed that amount this year.
“In our current times, there is a lot of uncertainty, so we are not putting a target number specifically on it,” said Goldfarb, whose district helps promote LGBTQ-owned businesses in SOMA and leather entrepreneurs around the Bay Area as well as preserves the history of the local leather and LGBTQ scenes in that area of San Francisco.
Anyone 18 years of age and older can vote multiple times via the awards website at https://gda.sflcd.org/public/ info. Each vote costs $1, with voting unlimited.
“You can vote for as many people as you like,” noted Goldfarb.
Politico writer Charlie Mathesian wrote a different March 6 piece following the Kirk appearance on Newsom’s podcast that was insightful.
Mathesian talked with Politico California bureau chief Christopher Cadelago and framed the podcast episode as one of Newsom “declaring his independence” from the Democratic Party. There may be something to that, though we read Cadelago’s comments and realized something else.
“Some of the impulse for speaking out on trans youth athletes in girls sports comes from the fact that he’s a dad of four school-age kids – including two daughters – who hears directly from other parents of schoolage kids in gyms, on the soccer field, and on baseball diamonds,” Cadelago told Mathesian. “‘Every one of my friends is freaked out about this,’ Newsom told me today.”
If Newsom’s friends are so “freaked out,” the governor should be using his considerable political skills to educate them. He could, with a single phone call or text, instantly reach a trans person from whom he could get accurate information. (We would argue that he already has plenty of ma-
There are 24 categories to vote in this year. They run the gamut from “The TOP of Them All” and “QUEEREST OF THE QUEER” to “FIERCEST FEMME” and “Best CUDDLE BEAR.”
Anyone nominated can request to have their name be removed. Dorsey opted to keep his name on the ballot, thinking it would bring a bit more at tention to the fundraiser for the cultural district, which he represents at City Hall as part of his SOMA-centric superviso rial seat.
In a post on X promoting the awards and how people can vote, Dorsey wrote, “After having my work in this category overlooked for SO many years ... it’s an incredible honor just to be nominated!”
Among those also nominated for this year’s Pound Cake Award is Calder Storm, a transgender man and city resident who helped organize the recent protest outside Imperial Spa due to a transphobic policy that it rescinded just prior to the March 10 demonstration. Storm currently has the most votes in the category, with the standings updated weekly until voting ends at 5 p.m. on April 10.
In second place, as of now, is Eli Cather, who hosts the Divine Masc: Boys Town party at the Powerhouse for trans masculine patrons. Up again this year is Kayla Jennings, who came in second in 2024. The other nominees are Brian Entler, Judas Kane Castillo, and Ricardo Carrillo
This year’s Golden Dildeaux win ners will be announced at the Woodys Awards Show being held from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, April 12, at the LGBTQ SOMA bar the SF Eagle, located at 398 12th Street. It is free for anyone 21 years of age and older to attend.
“All are welcome,” noted Goldfarb.
terial at his fingertips, having signed trans-friendly bills over the years, but more information is always beneficial.) His backing among the LGBTQ community is so deep – or was, prior to the disastrous Kirk interview –that he could enlist any number of state trans leaders to talk with these parents and other state residents about the real challenges trans people face, not only across the country, but here in California as well. We have no evidence that Newsom did any such thing, and that’s the problem.
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The Politico exchange with Cadelago misses the point about Newsom and his ambitions for the White House compared to when he was San Francisco mayor. Back then he was all about telling Americans – and Democrats – they were wrong not to back same-sex marriage at a time when polling was not on our side.
Yet now, while dreaming of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Newsom is following the polls rather than leading and trying to change hearts and minds.
That is the real betrayal and balloon-popping of Newsom’s “profile in courage” reputation. t
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District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, left, and his boyfriend, Gerson Costa, right, have adopted Brando Costa-Dorsey, a 4-month old pup.
Courtesy Matt Dorsey
Ford acknowledged that a similar level of support from the community in San Francisco hasn’t materialized as it did in Minneapolis.
“There hasn’t been a groundswell of support” among the LGBTQ community here to crowdfund money to make up for lost sponsorships, Ford said.
Nevertheless, people can donate to SF Pride, she added, mentioning Priderelated events that do come with an admission price, like the popular party at San Francisco City Hall. There is also grandstand seating for the parade and there will be a fashion show at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Ford said.
“People can donate at sfpride.org,” she added.
Comcast’s decision not to be a sponsor is particularly noteworthy. The giant media company, which owns NBCUniversal, has long been known for its support of the LGBTQ community. Just last year, its Comcast California website touted the many ways the company embraces the community. “All year long, Comcast is dedicated to celebrating the stories, pride, and contributions of the LGBTQ+ community,” the company noted in a June 30, 2024 post on its website. “Our theme this year, ‘Universal Truths Don’t Change. Love Unites,’ fo-
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From page 3
the FDA does not comment on possible criminal investigations,” an agency spokesperson said.
Kennedy has a history of AIDS skepticism, although his current position is hard to fathom because his statements have been contradictory. While he has acknowledged that HIV can cause AIDS, he has suggested that the virus is not the sole factor.
cuses on the universal truths prevalent in our daily lives, such as ‘actions speak louder than words,’ and ‘we all deserve to be loved,’ and the programming that brings these mantras to life. For Pride Month, we celebrated how these universal truths unite us and keep us connected to our communities.”
Comcast and Target did not return messages seeking comment.
Tech companies
Ford told the B.A.R. that she has not yet talked to the tech companies or Target. She previously said that Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, will not be returning as an SF Pride sponsor this year.
As the B.A.R. noted last week, Chris Robert, deputy executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, stated at a virtual board meeting that Amazon, Apple, Google, and Target have not yet come aboard as sponsors for the June 28-29 event.
All have abandoned anti-DEI efforts in recent months.
The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club published a letter to its Instagram page last month urging SF Pride to cut ties with companies that have jettisoned DEI policies and programs.
Ford told the B.A.R. that she could not comment further on the Milk club’s statement.
At the March 12 membership meet-
tack. The goal is to raise $60,000 to pay for emergency room and ambulance costs, eye and ear specialist appointments, and lost wages and recovery support.
The GoFundMe states Tony lacks medical insurance, which places “an
In a June 2023 article in New York magazine, Kennedy told an interviewer, “There are much better candidates than HIV for what causes AIDS.” In his 2021 book, “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health,” he favorably cited UC Berkeley molecular biologist Peter Duesberg, Ph.D., who attributes AIDS to environmental and
<< Federal trial
From page 1
“The vast majority of sex between people and people who hire them happens within blocks of the blade, so as they are driving farther and farther away, Leniyah is getting more nervous,” Moeel said. “Her red flags are going off. … It’s five in the morning. There’s nobody out. There are no lights, unlike the blade. … This would be terrifying for almost everybody.”
After Butler performed oral sex on Walupupu, he wanted to have penetrative sex with Butler, Moeel claimed. It was at this point Butler revealed she was trans, which she said made Walupupu fly into a rage.
“She was afraid he was going to hurt her,” Moeel said. “She was afraid he was going to rape her. … We as a defense don’t have to prove self-defense, but we’re going to.”
The trial is being held in the courtroom of Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, at the federal courthouse at 450 Golden Gate Avenue, near San Francisco City Hall.
While homicide cases typically are adjudicated in county courts, the fact that the killing took place on federal land gives the United States govern-
ing, SF Pride board President Joshua Smith didn’t directly address the sponsorship matter during his remarks at the beginning of the meeting. He did say, “We are centered in a culture of belonging, of bridging, not a culture of breaking or othering people. Our door at SF Pride is always open to a conversation throughout our stakeholder communities.”
Ford didn’t speak to the issue of corporate sponsorships either, but did say that the committee’s decisions “can’t encapsulate everybody’s opinion” about whether Pride is living up to its core values.
“My job is to ... make sure this platform is going to be here,” Ford said at the meeting. “I think it’s an enormous responsibility to make sure it’s here for its 60th [anniversary], it’s here for the 75th, no matter who’s the president, no matter what’s going on in this country. This has to exist.”
Ford said that the platform of pride has to exist even for people who use it to say they aren’t going to come.
“They can use the SF Pride platform to say they’re not coming, and when they do that, we take our hats off to them and say, ‘You’re family, you’re free to do that,’” Ford said.
Ford also clarified that “not all contingents [in the parade] are sponsors,” giving Visa as an example of a group that marches in the parade but isn’t a corporate sponsor. There is a fee, though, that most parade contingents have to pay,
enormous financial burden on him as he focuses on healing.” It also touts the KGO-TV coverage and another story that aired on KNTV-TV.
“This unprovoked act of violence left him with severe injuries, including sev-
lifestyle factors, including poppers and other recreational drugs.
But the idea that poppers cause AIDS didn’t start out as a homophobic conspiracy theory.
Gay activists and clinicians who cared for gay and bi men were among the first to suggest a link in the early 1980s when they noticed that men coming down with unusual pneumonia and cancers frequently used poppers. The first mention of AIDS in the B.A.R. was in a July 2, 1981, Health Shorts column about “gay men’s pneumonia,” potentially linked to poppers. At the time, the community was grasping for risk factors and looking for anything they could do or avoid to keep themselves safe.
Renowned gay San Francisco advocate Hank Wilson, who helped start several Bay Area AIDS activist and service
ment original jurisdiction on this matter.
Prosecution makes case
Among those representing the government is Assistant U.S. Attorney George Hageman, whose statement contained quotes from Butler’s interview with law enforcement that he characterized as Butler’s confession.
“I know it was a murder bitch,” Hageman quoted Butler as saying. “I know. I know. I know. Like you know? It’s a murder.”
That conversation happened after Butler’s arrest, while she was in custody during a jailhouse phone call.
Walupupu had, Hageman said, driven far from the Tenderloin around 5:32 a.m. when he took $100 out of a Chase ATM on Van Ness Avenue at Lombard Street to pay Butler, which they’d agreed upon in advance.
“She didn’t want to get out of the car. It was ‘cold as fuck,’ in her words,” Hageman said. “She didn’t want to walk home.”
Hageman told the jury that Butler didn’t call police after the killing and allegedly drove the Hyundai to Hunters Point and attempted to conceal evidence by cleaning the blood inside the car.
The first witness was Judith Shultz, who found Walupupu’s body.
“I realized he was not moving at all,” she said, testifying that she ran into Walupupu’s body during a routine
with this year’s cost for businesses that have gross revenue under $10 million set at $1,121 and those over $10 million needing to pay $11,855.
“Only a few sponsors are in the top third in the parade,” Ford said. “We have weighted it so corporations are mostly in second third or back third.”
Google’s parent company Alphabet edited out references to DEI in its report to the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year and ended diversity hiring targets, MSNBC reported. Google CEO Sundar Pichai also attended the Trump inaugural, which had limited attendance, as it was held inside the Capitol.
Amazon also removed references to “inclusion and diversity” from its SEC report, CNBC reported. The online retailer’s former CEO, Jeff Bezos, is the owner of the Washington Post. Last year he spiked the paper’s editorial board’s planned endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, breaking with an almost half-century old tradition of presidential endorsements. Bezos was also a guest at the Trump inaugural. He recently changed the paper’s op-ed policies to only adhere to two topics, personal liberties and free markets.
But Amazon remains committed to diversity and inclusion, according to a statement on its website.
“We are committed to creating a
eral skull fractures, requiring immediate hospitalization, emergency medical care, and ongoing treatment from specialists,” the GoFundMe states. “Tony is a kind and caring person who did not deserve this horrific attack. As he navigates this pain-
groups, was particularly vocal about the potential role of poppers. He started the Committee to Monitor Poppers in 1981, opposed their sale and advertising, and co-authored the 1986 book “Death Rush: Poppers and AIDS” with John Lauritsen. Wilson died of lung cancer in 2008.
Some studies have found that inhaled nitrites have a detrimental effect on immune function, and they have been associated with certain cancers in mice and in humans. But in 1983 and 1984, researchers in France and the United States independently identified HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, as the cause of AIDS. Within a few years, scientists had shown that antiretroviral drugs that disable the virus can halt disease progression and allow the immune system to recover.
Sunday morning visit to Crissy Field at 6:30 a.m. November 12. “There was a lot of blood, particularly under his head and near his legs.”
David Wallingford, a detective with the U.S. Park Police San Francisco, testified that he requested photos from the license plate reading cameras in the Presidio. At 6:12 a.m. that morning, a photo taken by the south-facing camera at Presidio Boulevard at Pacific Avenue shows the Hyundai driving away from the area.
“I’m aware it was located,” he said, “in the 100 block of Kiska Road in the
diverse and inclusive company that helps us build the best range of products and services for our broad customer base,” the company states on its Our Positions page.
“Amazon customers represent a wide array of geographies, cultures, genders, races, ethnicities, abilities, ages, religions, sexual orientations, military status, backgrounds, and political views. To build the best products and services for our diverse customers, it’s important for our workforce to be diverse, and this drives our commitment to equitable and inclusive employment and business opportunities – from prioritizing equal pay, to creating career pathways, to partnering with small and diverse businesses that help us serve our customers.
“We also believe that inequitable treatment of anyone – including Black people, LGBTQ+ people, Asians, women, and others – is unacceptable, and we advocate for policies designed to remove barriers to equity and create an inclusive environment for all employees,” the statement reads.
An Amazon spokesperson told the B.A.R. they are looking into the Pride sponsorship matter.
Google and Apple did not return a request for comment. t
John Ferrannini contributed reporting.
ful and uncertain time, we want to rally around him and ensure that he doesn’t have to bear this financial hardship alone.”
The B.A.R. reached out to the GoFundMe organizers seeking comment but has yet to receive a response. t
The link between poppers and AIDS turned out to be a case of “correlation does not imply causation.” Sexually active gay men often use poppers, and this was the main group that succumbed to AIDS in the early years, but that does not mean that poppers themselves cause the disease. A global overview of the epidemic shows that millions of men and women who never used poppers have died of AIDS or are living with HIV.
“Hey, RFK, I never did poppers!” Rebecca Denison, a longtime advocate who was diagnosed with HIV in 1990, declared during her opening talk at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections last week in San Francisco. t
on the vehicle, which showed the registered owner’s name and address,” he said. When that person couldn’t be contacted and the vehicle was towed, Van Zandt saw blood in the car, he said, at which point he called the homicide detail.
The ownership of the Jeep was in the process of being transferred to a name associated with Butler’s family, SFPD Sergeant Matthew Hackard testified.
FBI interview video played
Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco.”
While Wallingford was on the stand, the government played a surveillance video from Kiska Road that showed the driver exiting the car and inspecting various things. There was also a Jeep in the video that showed light discoloration, he said.
The car was found November 15, 2023, he testified. On that date, SFPD Officer Peter Van Zandt responded to the area regarding an abandoned vehicle, he testified.
“We conducted a computer query
The Jeep was near where Butler was arrested November 20, 2023, according to court testimony March 18. A 1-hour-and-45-minute video of an FBI interview with Butler from that day was played, in which she said to FBI Special Agents Joseph Atneosen and Casey Smith, “There’s something deep down inside he’s trying to do with me,” referring to Walupupu.
“He wanted to fuck me,” she said on the video. “He tried to make it seem he didn’t know [Butler is trans] so he started threatening me. He was loud.
“He already nutted,” she said, when he demanded his money be returned.
Butler expressed dismay that Walupupu had driven her far from the blade, where he’d picked her up.
“I don’t know where I’m at,” she said. “Hella scared. It’s dark. … I was trying to go home.”
<< Poppers
Rush is a popular brand of poppers, or nitrite inhalants.
From USA Poppers
Testimony continued this week in San Francisco federal court in the case of Leniyah Butler, who’s charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Hamza Walupupu.
John Ferrannini
by Brian Bromberger
Prolific author, publisher and editor Felice Picano died at his home in Los Angeles on March 12 of lymphoma. He was 81. Since then, numerous authors and people in the publishing industry have praised him and remarked on his generosity as well as his multiple accomplishments in bringing gay literature to the forefront of culture.
One could also point to his being an activist, a mentor to younger writers, and a “passionate advocate for storytelling in all its forms,” as his New York Times obituary noted. Whenever we met (and other writers have said the same), among his first words were, “What are you working on now?”
Writing was Felice’s lifeblood. In spite of a very active social calendar, writing was always his first priority. His versatility was staggering, especially in his genre writing. He wrote novels, memoirs, crime thrillers, Sci Fi, dystopian, fantasy, poems, mysteries, other world romances, plays, historical fiction, and screenplays.
He was proud to call himself a popular writer, meaning his books actually sold and were read by gay men, but they were honest about gay men’s struggles, their unexpurgated sexuality, and common everyday lives.
He was fiercely dedicated to gay literature. Felice defined gay literature as promoting gay fiction by gay men. He was one of the founding members of the Violet Quill, a group of seven gay male writers who would read their work to each other and critique them. They met in New York City in 1980 and 1981. The group included Edmund White, Andrew Holleran, and Robert Ferro, among others. Four of them died of AIDS.
Only White and Holleran remain now. Felice in his inimitable way told me, “We were all friends, lovers, or boyfriends of each other. I had started dating (playwright, novelist, poet) George Whitmore. We were really just looking for other gay writers to discuss what gay literature could or would be and how we would go about doing it. Other writers (i.e. James Merrill, Richard Howard) were questioning what gay writing was, thinking it was just pornography. No
one took it and us seriously. The group felt we had to produce a literature to reflect the kind of lives we were living and the people around us who saw themselves reflected in our writing.”
Early years
Felice was born in 1944 in Queens as part of a middle-class Italian American family. He grew up on Long Island, and graduated from Queens College in 1964. He was employed in many different
jobs, everything from social work to astrology, experiences that became fodder for his novels. He created 17 novels and eight volumes of memoirs. He was so prolific, he kept a drawer of ideas for future works.
His two best novels were “The Lure” and “Like People in History.” “The Lure” was a fictional account based on a series of Greenwich Village gay male murders in the 1970s. The police, unable to find the killer, and savaged by the “Village Voice” newspaper, recruit an academic widower, Noel Cummings, presumably straight, to act as a decoy for the killer.
The experience exposes his secret desires. Picano, cleverly knowing a gay protagonist would be a provocation for straight readers in the late 1970s, gradually seduces his readers to empathize with Cummings.
This psychological thriller novel has never gone out of print. It became the first gay-themed book to be selected by the Book of the Month club. It was also a best seller. Picano recalled, “The publisher did me a wonderful favor, writing ‘Warning: sex and violence’ on the cover.”
“Like People in History” is the tale of two gay cousins who become best friends in the mid1950s and details their lives from the beachboy surfer days of the 1960s to Greenwich Village AIDS activism in the 1990s.
Felice considered it his gay American epic, with Edmund White calling it “the gay ‘Gone With the Wind.’” When asked how much of the book actually happened, he replied, “100% of it is true and 80% is biographical.” He was determined to show how gay men and lesbians were part of American history. The book also remains popular today.
Risky revelations
Two of Felice’s memoirs stand out. “Ambidextrous: The Secret Lives of Children,” described graphically his sexual encounters with both boys and girls, beginning at age 11. He introduced a taboo subject about precocious childhood sexuality and his coming to terms with being gay at an early age. The book was banned and “destroyed by immolation” upon its arrival in England. Even when the book was republished 30 years later, critics reacted by saying that children don’t have sex. He was often accused of writing about the dirty laundry of gay life, especially what happened late at night, but he was determined
by John Ferrannini
Drag shows that have been a regular feature of late at Ginger’s – the Financial District’s only LGBTQ bar – will be replaced by DJ performances, and the bar will close earlier, after the bar’s manager departed following issues with management.
As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported in September 2024, Dana Marinelli, a lesbian who had been general manager at Oasis, resurrected Ginger’s over the summer. It is owned by Future Bars, and it was closed amid the COVID pandemic.
Ginger’s was popular for weekday happy hours, as the bar drew office workers from the surrounding downtown concentration of corporate headquarters and financial institutions. But the Financial District is also a neighborhood whose decline has been catapulted to the center of the city’s politics as it seeks to revitalize the beleaguered district.
In recent decades, the city’s Pacific Stock Exchange, the so-called Wall Street of the West, closed in 2002, and tech firms preferred to set up shop in the newly developed South of Market. But things really took a downturn in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. The streets, bereft of office workers then working from home, highlighted open-air drug use and sales in the eyes of the public and the media. Combined with issues concerning car break-ins, and organized retail theft, businesses began an exodus.
Miss Shugana performing at Ginger’s in 2024
‘Big Brother’-ly love
by Jim Gladstone
Imagine seeing yourself distorted in a reflection and becoming genuinely confused about whether you’re looking at a funhouse mirror or you’ve somehow actually warped.
That’s the weird, wiggly feeling summoned up by “Nobody Loves You,” an inspired musical spoof of reality TV and contemporary courtship now on stage at American Conservatory Theatre’s Toni Rembe Theatre.
You’ll feel it along with Jeff (A.J. Holmes), a contestant, and Jenny (Kuhoo Verma), a producer, on the musical’s eponymous television dating game, a derivative mix of “The Bachelor” and “Big Brother.”
Playwright Itamar Moses and composer Gaby Alter (They collaborated on the lyrics) have built a compelling complexity into their show that departs from some music theater conventions.
In turning the tables on the protagonists who audience members initially identify with, “Nobody Loves You” leaves us with nobody we particularly love. And props to that.
Jeff’s a cynical doctoral student of philosophy, only participating on the show because he wants to win back an ex-girlfriend he mistakenly believes will be competing. Jenny’s an aspiring documentarian who tells herself she’s saving up her salary to go indie.
Both are savvy to the TV show’s manipulations, understanding that contestants consciously craft their screen personalities and that character traits can be reshaped or sharpened in the editing room. In a sanctimonious duet, “So Much to Hate,” Jeff and Jenny bond over their disdain for the game.
Alter’s music is engaging but most effective as a vehicle for lyrics; overall,
Help needed
Marinelli stated she left the bar after Future Bars cut her salary, and the bar’s entertainment budget, and security.
She told the B.A.R. that she was also concerned about allegations of ADA compliance issues and fires in the building the bar is housed in.
Brian Sheehy, a straight man who is the founder and CEO of Future Bars, told the B.A.R. that “We’ve been having live shows Wednesday, Thursday,
the show nets out as more comedy than musical.
Reality bites back
While filming the first episode of the show’s new season, Jeff refuses to play by the rules. He wants to heroically expose the show’s artifice and assumes he’ll be promptly booted from future installments.
Instead, wily executive producer Nina (Ashley D. Kelley, who plays four different roles with puckish cartoon energy), reframes him as an antihero. Jeff connects with the TV audience, whose online validation seduces him into sticking around to persevere at his quixotic, now-compromised quest.
Friday going on six months. The shows have been spectacular, wonderful. But not enough people are coming to the shows consistently for it to be a viable business,” he said, adding that the concept going forward will be a “single DJ” with the bar “closing around 9 o’clock.”
“We want to keep Ginger’s open,” he said. “The business is not profitable, but we know it’s important.”
Marinelli told the B.A.R., on the other hand, that she didn’t get the resources she needed for the bar succeed.
“They didn’t do a thing to help me,”
Meanwhile, the other contestants aren’t all as naïve to the tricks of mediated romance as Jeff and Jenny imagine them.
For better or worse, needy pseudosexpot Megan (Molly Hager, who aces the physical comedy in a standout hot tub scene), and transparently duplicitous Samantha (Ana Yi Puig) have comfortably acclimated to the performative demands of a world in which reality TV, dating apps, and social media have become default modes of daily life.
Jeff and Jenny aren’t ahead of the game. They’ve been left behind in their unaccommodating snobbery. A pat Jeff-hearts-Jenny rom-com
she said, and shared with the B.A.R. receipts showing she paid personally for advertising while the bar’s budget for entertainment was cut three times, she said.
A 40% salary reduction – with a proviso that not responding yes would be taken as a resignation – was the straw that broke the camel’s back, just as Future Bars took away security just before a shift, she said.
“I can’t see the front door from the bar because it’s upstairs,” Marinelli said, explaining also that Ginger’s being an LGBTQ bar heightened the
drama of reality TV. They also allow “Nobody Loves You” to occupy an appealing middleground between book, musical and revue. The dating game narrative provides just enough structure for thematic coherence and the modicum of stakes needed to hold an audience’s attention throughout.
Meanwhile, chop-chop rhythms and broad character types allow for sketch-like comic bits and humorous musical interludes not particularly tied to plotting.
Two contestant characters, thickskulled Dominic and squeaky-clean Christian, serve mainly to fill out the game’s requisite romantic couplings but are played with such brilliant single-dimension specificity by JohnMichael Lyles and Seth Hanson, that you can’t wait for their next appearances. They’re as funny and distinctive as your favorite “Saturday Night Live” characters.
Lyles, a remarkable talent who was in the Broadway cast of “A Strange Loop,” nearly steals the show in his second role, Evan, a flibbertigibbet internet influencer.
is a far less interesting proposition than the loose stack of musical “New Yorker” cartoons this show turns out to be. Its refreshingly more acerbic than empathetic.
Appealingly sketchy
Pam Mackinnon’s fleet, fizzy direction and with marvelously fluid scene changes (Scenic design by Jason Ardizzone-West; lighting by Russell H. Champa) zip audiences through a series of parodic hot takes and satirical sallies on today’s relationships, mores, and media.
The abrupt scene shifts and brief, hooky snippets of song echo the quick-cut editing and drummed up
need for security. Ginger’s has a large stairwell between the street level and the bar.
“The security of my patrons, performers and staff is extremely important to me,” she continued. “This was an unacceptable cut in my mind.”
Sheehy conceded that “we had to redeploy the guard.”
Wakeup call
Marinelli said a fire in the singleroom occupancy hotel Ginger’s shares a building with was another wakeup call. The February 1 fire led to the circuit breakers for Ginger’s – in the basement of the SRO – being covered in water, Marinelli said.
When asked about the incident, Sheehy said, “The fire department were on the scene, had five or six trucks, and they took care of it.”
San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson Lt. Mariano Elias stated to the B.A.R. March 13 that the fire was at 9:37 p.m. February 1. It was on the fifth floor.
“Two residents were displaced and no cause was given,” Elias stated. “At 23:54 [11:54 p.m.] the building was turned over to the maintenance crew.”
As for the Americans with Disabilities Act issue, Marinelli said that she was told that if someone needed elevator access from the street-level entry to Ginger’s, staff was told they’d have to walk them to the SRO building, the entrance of which is around a corner, and ask front-door staff to use the elevator. During a Grand Ducal Council Of San Francisco event held at Ginger’s, Patrick Noonan, who has a prosthetic leg, was denied access by the front-door staff.
“They denied him ACA access at the hotel because nobody had informed them of the situation,” Marinelli explained. “You’re standing there with a person with a prosthetic leg –let them use the elevator.”
Noonan stated to the B.A.R. that it was “basically a power trip of one staff person [at the SRO hotel] not being
Jason Veasey, Lyle’s one-time “A Strange Loop” castmate, is also on board here, the production’s stealth MVP.
Nailing the role of Byron, the vainglorious game show host, Veasey incongruously pairs rich, soulful singing with deliciously dimwitted characterization.
Regularly on stage from start to finish, he’s a sonic and comic throughline, essential to pulling the whole show together.t
‘Nobody Loves You,’ through March 30. $25-$110. A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater, 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org
kind” and wanted to stress “this is not Ginger’s fault.”
Sheehy conceded that the incident happened. He said the San Francisco Fire Department and department of building inspection approved the arrangement.
“If anyone needs to take an elevator, we escort them into the Stanford Hotel,” he said, referring to the SRO hotel. “There was a situation recently where the staff in the hotel weren’t aware of the arrangement, but the very next day that was cleared up.”
Marinelli said several bartenders left with her; Sheehy mentioned at least one who is staying.
“I did as much as I could for as long as I could,” Marinelli concluded.t
(foreground) Jason Veasey (background L-R): Ana Yi Puig, Seth Hanson, Molly Hager, A.J. Holmes, and John-Michael Lyles in ‘Nobody Loves You’
Kevin Berne
Above: Dana Marinelli at Ginger’s in 2024
Below: Brian Sheehy, founder and CEO of Future Bars
New Deal Hospitality
SF Gay Men’s Chorus celebrates show tunes
by David-Elijah Nahmod
Broadway musicals have always resonated with gay men. These shows have often served as an escape from the horrors of the real world. So it comes as no surprise that the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus would put together a concert that celebrates songs that were made famous on the Great White Way.
In “Broadway, Our Way,” which will perform twice on Saturday, March 29, the chorus will dazzle audiences as nearly 300 singers and more than 20 dancers take to the stage to perform songs by some of Broadway’s best-known composers, like Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cole Porter, John Kander and Harold Arlen. The chorus will also honor Stephen Schwartz by performing a song from each of his best-known hits, “Godspell,” “Pippin,” and “Wicked.”
This concert marks a step up for the chorus. For the first time they will be performing at the historic Curran Theater, where many classic Broadway shows have been staged, and where scenes from the classic 1950 film “All About Eve” were filmed. The chorus joins a long list of celebrated Broadway performers who have graced the stage of this beautiful theater.
In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, SFGMC conductor and artistic director Jacob Stensberg spoke about the chorus’ move to the Curran, the importance of being out performers in the current political climate, and, of course, the concert itself.
David-Elijah Nahmod: What your inspiration is for doing a Broadway tribute show?
Jacob Stensberg: In planning this season, I knew this Spring concert would need to accomplish three things. Bring our community together, provide a moment of lightness and escapism, but also address the current moment we’re in. The emotional depth of Broadway’s best, combined
with a flair for the dramatic only the LGBTQ+ community can achieve, made it the perfect option. The concert has both camp and care, parody and power. I’m really proud of the singers’ willingness to deliver such an emotionally wide-spanning performance.
Making your debut at the Curran is an exciting development! How did that come about and how do you feel about it?
We are so thrilled! Since moving to San Francisco almost three years ago, I have loved attending arts events all over the city and seeing the gorgeous theaters all throughout San Francisco. We are truly blessed unlike any other major US city I have ever visited. I knew of the Curran Theater as the birthplace of “Wicked,” “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” and the longest domestic run of “Phantom of the Opera” outside of New York City. I love showtunes, and, in envisioning
this concert, it just felt like the obvious place to perform. It’s a historic stage, and we are honored to join our legacies on March 29.
Will the full chorus be performing?
Yes, we’ll have upwards of 250 singers onstage, plus another 50 volunteers backstage and throughout the lobby and hall to make this performance come to life.
What are some of the planned musical numbers?
This show has some amazing choreography. We have a whole number of songs from the musical “Chicago” with some classic choreography from the show. We are also featuring a team of tap dancers from the chorus in a performance of “Anything Goes.” We start the second act of the show with the most over-the-top performance of “Masquerade” from “Phantom of the Opera.” You don’t want to miss it!
I’m told there will also be a few solo numbers.
There are some stunning solos in this concert. “I Know Where I’ve Been” is towards the end of the performance, and is sung by SFGMC member Nick Slater. It’s a show-stopping performance, and I’m so proud of him for bringing that song to life in such a powerful way for our audiences.
Another more serious song that I love in this concert is “Sunday,” from Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George.” Brandon Jenkins performs this with such heart, I never grow tired of hearing it. We’ve also got some silliness in store. We’ve got a full parody of the opening number from “Beauty and the Beast” led by soloist Tom Paulino that is truly a delight.
Will there be any political statements made during this concert?
We are the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. Our first performance was on the steps of City Hall
Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus
by Finbar LaBelle
Founded in 1983, the Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus (SVGMC) is only weeks away from opening its forty-second season with “Reflections: Voices of Resilience.”
Presented at Santa Clara University’s Music Recital Hall with three performances March 28-30, “Reflections” stands apart from regular programming at SVGMC, as the set list has been entirely curated by its singers.
With 70 members spanning creed, gender orientation, race, and age, the setlist is eclectic. Numbers include
月亮代表我的心,” or “The Moon Represents My Heart,” performed in Taiwanese, and a classic medley popularized by Mariah Carey.
As part of the Gay and Lesbian Association (GALA, pronounced “Gay-la”) chorus circuit, SVGMC is part of a legacy that is not only a national sensation but joins arms with queer choruses worldwide. As many good gay things start, the first GALA chorus was founded in San Francisco in 1979 by Jon Reed Sims.
In the Bay Area Reporter’s interview with SVGMC’s Marketing Director Wilson Alexander Aguilar, now a member of the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, the performance was described as nothing short of necessary.
“More than ever, given the current political climate and the fact that queer people’s rights are getting dismantled and taken away, this concert is the perfect response to that.”
For many Queer Americans living under the Trump administration, with its inseparability from the encroach-
ment on our liberties, there are certain eerie parallels brought to the forefront of our minds. Times are entirely more dire for those of us not fortunate to live in liberal hubs or with access to supportive communities.
For SVGMC, Aguilar stressed this time is no different from when the chorus was under duress in the past.
“We have been around for a long time now and have always risen as a community to address current situations,” he said. “We were there for the AIDS crisis. We’ve been there for the fight for marriage equality, and we were there during COVID.”
He continued, “It’s such a personal
concert, especially with our singers selecting the music. Whether the song was chosen out of anguish, out of feelings of fear, it is all a reflection on lost love.”
Vocal styles
The concert honors these feelings with ballads, show tunes, and, most importantly, joy. The show displays a vast spectrum of technique and vocal style, not skipping out on featuring songs from queer icons like Kylie Minogue that have touched the lives of those who will be singing.
GALA choruses around the country are known for their showman-
in 1978 for the candlelight vigil of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Whatever we do and wherever we go, our existence is resistance and our music is our protest. And furthermore, when you purchase a ticket to see us perform in a concert, you participate in that protest with us.
Can you say something about the importance of continued visibility in this era of anti-LGBT attacks from the president and Republicans?
As it always has been, our existence is resistance. Our music is a protest. We have been the target of anti-LGBT attacks regardless of what party occupies the White House. We are not yet, and I don’t expect us to be anytime soon, tired of singing. The final piece in our upcoming Broadway concert comes from the new musical “Suffs” and is titled “Keep Marching,” that’s exactly what we plan to do.t
‘Broadway, Our Way’ with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, March 29, 1pm and 7:30pm, Curran Theater, 445 Geary Street, $37-$224. www.sfgmc.org
created a bridge. Music is our unifier.” In correspondence with SVGMC’s Artistic Director Corey Liggans Miller, the power and prevalence of the performance was only echoed.
ship and quality performances, but it is always the community that matters the most. The camaraderie these choruses extend is more than just a weekly rehearsal. It’s a lifeline.
Aguilar shared a moving experience about his time as a member of the SVGMC.
“We had a chorus member who sought asylum in the United States, leaving the country where he was born,” he said. “A country where he was being persecuted for being gay. When joining he didn’t speak English. In this major transition, he found community with other queer people. There was something about music that
“‘Reflections’ is going to be truly beautiful, because each song holds a special place in the heart of our members. It is truly a reflection of who and what we stand for as a chorus.”
Miller added, “The chorus has really become a family for me. I joined the group in 2017 to have a performance outlet, since then I’ve only become more and more involved. I have seen people find their chosen family. I’ve seen what having a space to just be yourself can mean to somebody.”t
Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus, ‘Reflections: Voices of Resilience’ $25-$35, March 28-30, Santa Clara University Music Recital Hall, 114 Franklin St. www.svgmc.org
‘Reflections: Voices of Resilience’
San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus
Stefan Cohen
Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus
Artistic Director and Conductor Jacob Stensberg at a recent SFGMC concert
Stefan Cohen
SVGMC’s Artistic Director Corey Liggans Miller
Wilson Alexander Aguilar
‘Family’ viewing
by Victoria A. Brownworth
Given the state of the State, it’s unsurprising how many series based on real-life stories and podcasts are becoming series TV.
The latest in this genre is Hulu’s original drama “Good American Family,” which starts March 19. The series has everything. It’s a thriller, it’s a mystery, it’s full of shocking twists and incredible turns. It also represents a new break out role for ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo, who is the second-longest running series star on TV after “Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay. Hargitay is now in season 26, Pompeo is in season 21.
“Good American Family” is quite the turn from “Grey’s” Meredith Grey, a surgeon, mother, researcher, sister and friend who has been through every conceivable trauma and loss over 21 seasons of the hit medical drama.
Pompeo plays Kristine Barnett, who with her husband Michael (Mark Duplass), adopt a seven-year-old child, Natalia Grace (Imogen Faith Reid) with a rare form of dwarfism.
But as the story begins to evolve, questions arise. And the conflicts over the adoption, which was supposed to draw the Barnetts closer, start to create a chasm between Kristine and Michael which Natalia uses –or does she?– to her own advantage.
was blown away by the first episode.”
Co-creator and showrunner Katie
Robbins told The Hollywood Reporter that she had wanted to utilize different perspectives in the drama which begins by being told from Kristine’s and then Michael’s points of view, but then everything shifts. “All of a sudden all the things we thought were fact we begin to question,” Robbins said. “We start to grapple with our own biases in these unexpected ways.”
Pompeo told The Hollywood Reporter that she had been looking to try something different after being on “Grey’s” for decades. She said she had not seen the documentary, “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace” that had captivated so many viewers, but “then I got the script and read it and
British actress Reid said she wanted to bring her own take to Natalia’s story and, “I just wanted to give her that empowerment and just that light was seen and that fight for justice.”
Grey scale
Speaking of “Grey’s Anatomy,” one of our fave out lesbian actors (and directors and producers) Lena Waithe has joined “Grey’s” for a gay story arc.
Waithe plays Dr. Evynn Moore who has come to Grey Sloan Memorial as a former student of Dr. Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) seeking help for her wife, who has a unique medical problem.
Of course, Waithe tears up the screen. She is so good in everything. We last saw Waithe keeping company with Oscar-nominee Cynthia Erivo at the Oscars as Erivo’s plus-one and we were definitely intrigued. Erivo came out as bisexual on the pages of British Vogue in 2022 and has talked about “coming to terms with being queer,” including on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
“I stand here in front of you as a Black, bald-headed, pierced and queer woman. I know a thing or two about being Other,” Erivo said at a gala last year for the Los Angeles LGBTQ Center where Erivo was given the Schrader Award by Jada PinkettSmith.
Doctor, doctor
Throughout our relentless hospital stay, where we have been since January 22 because cancer is a slog, we delight in our afternoon guilty pleasure, ABC’s “General Hospital.”
We have watched this soap opera off and on since we were kids, so there is a feeling of familiarity that is why people still gravitate to soaps and telenovelas: five days a week with these characters pulls one in and “GH” has great storylines, a lot of solid acting and compelling cliffhangers.
For the past few months Brad Cooper (Parry Shen) has been working out in the gym and working his blackmailing of chief of staff Dr. Portia Robinson to find ways to lure
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Dr. Lucas Jones (Van Hansis), his exhusband, back to him.
Brad got Portia to agree to send him to the same medical conference that GH is sending Lucas to, even though it’s for doctors and Brad is a lab tech.
But he finds an entree at the conference and Portia agrees to send him.
In the interim Brad keeps trying to reignite the spark between him and Lucas, turning up in the locker room with his favorite donuts or being commiserative over crises Lucas is having at work.
But Lucas is trying to move on from Brad, and from his time away from Port Charles. He goes on a blind date with a model arranged by a friend, but there is zero chemistry and the model tells Lucas he doesn’t seem to be over his ex.
That same night Lucas ends up at
the bar with Brad, who is drowning his sorrows and they have a drink together. It has the feeling of old times, which is what Brad wants, but Lucas is resisting.
The Friday cliffhanger episode, March 13 finds the couple in Brad’s hotel room, kissing passionate (no fake kisses here) and tearing each other’s clothes off. But just as the shirtless and panting couple are about to have sex, Brad stops them.
Brad decides, in the way of all soaps, to tell Lucas the truth about how he got to be in Miami. If Brad thought Lucas would view this honesty as a turning point in their relationship, he hasn’t been watching soaps. More gay drama ensues.
So, for the hyper-real and the quixotically intriguing, you know you must stay tuned t
Going out
Ellen Pompeo and Imogen Faith Reid in ‘Good American Family’ Hulu
Lena Waithe in ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ ABC
Van Hansis and Parry Shen in ‘General Hospital’ ABC
dicated Fiction Award.
to show all sides of gay living, feeling this was his calling as a modern queer author.
“Nights at Rizzoli” concerns his being a clerk and manager at the famous high-class Italian-inspired Manhattan bookstore in the early 1970s. He met famous clients such as Jackie Onassis, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Jerome Robbins, and Salvador Dali. He would leave work then write all night. He observed during this period, he “consumed recreational drugs, including LSD, the way most people pop in breath mints…My personal mantra became: If it feels good let’s do it. If it feels good and it’s illegal and it makes old people wince, let’s do it twice – and in public if possible.”
Sexual joy
He was also the author with Charles Silverstein of “The New Joy of Gay Sex” (1992). The original version had been written with Edmund White in 1977.
“Edmund didn’t want to work on the new one,” Picano said. “Charles wanted me to do it. I suggested several
other people like John Preston and talk with them first, but he answered he felt really shaky about his own writing and wanted an accomplished pair of eyes to edit it. I checked with Edmund who said he hadn’t kept up with the material and wouldn’t know frottage from a hole in the wall, so he gave me the go ahead. I went and reread the book deciding it was very ’60s, with rubbing oils and lighted candles. I didn’t know anybody that did that, even in the ’60s.”
Felice continued, “We added history to the psychology, so that 92% of the book was rewritten including a chapter on safe sex. Edmund’s sections had all been written in the passive voice, but since I’m a top, it was redone in active prose. It’s published in 17 languages and we revised and expanded it for the Computer/Internet Age in 2003. When I was in Europe and would pick up a guy, he would pull out every sex toy he owned, thinking I was the expert!”
Hollywood swingin’
Felice tried his hand at screenwriting. He even worked with actor Cary Grant to adapt his heterosexual thriller, “Eyes,” for almost a year. But eventually he had to go back to Manhattan to finish his gay novel. When he showed Grant a suggestive photo of he and actor Randolph Scott hanging out on a pool diving board, Grant replied, “I used to be gay.”
Because Felice was one of the very few openly gay people in Hollywood at that time (1979), people who had lived in Hollywood during the 1930s and ’40s would tell him stories and information about gay life in that era.
Years later, Felice would travel with a presentation called ‘Gay Hollywood in the Golden Age,’ based on the gossip. He remembered meeting Marlene Dietrich, who he claimed was mostly lesbian.
“I said to her, ‘I know you slept with one man who was your husband since you had a daughter together, but were there any others?’ She replied that she did love the French actor Jean Gabin. He was in the French Resistance and I was very patriotic.”
A born raconteur, he would tell amusing stories of sleeping with closeted celebrities based on his Tinsel Town exploits. His fondest wish was that Hollywood studios would turn some of his books into movies and TV series, which regrettably has not yet happened.
Publishing pioneer
He founded his own Seahorse Press in 1977 to publish the work of other gay writers. He named it after seahorses because they are one of the few animals in nature where the male gives birth. He saw it as a metaphor for the creativity of gay men. He discovered such talented authors as Brad Gooch, Doric Wilson, and Dennis Cooper.
In 1981 he combined several other small gay presses to form the Gay Presses of New York. Its first title and biggest success was playwright/actor Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song Trilogy.”
Picano’s honors include five nominations for Lambda Literary Awards and the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement/Pioneer Award. He also received the PEN/Syn-
Since 1995, Felice lived in West Hollywood. In Steven Reigns’s obituary of Felice in the WeHo Times, he wrote, “His home (overflowing with books) was a place where friends and fellow writers gathered, often drawn in by his encyclopedic knowledge of literature, and unfiltered storytelling. The anecdotes he shared were a mix of humor and insight into the past secretive world of Hollywood and literary circles.”
Picano also taught gay literature at
LA’s Antioch University, and was bestowed the City of West Hollywood’s Rainbow Key Award in 2013. With his perseverance, talent, and groundbreaking ability to transcend boundaries, it’s highly unlikely Felice Picano and his books will be forgotten any time soon.t
Read the full article on www.ebar.com.
www.felicepicano.net
Felice Picano
Left: Felice Picano at a Books Inc. SF reading with the late Ron Williams Middle: Felice Picano in the 1970s Right: Authors Alan Lessik, Felice Picano and Mark Abramson at Fabulosa Books in 2022
