March 21, 2013 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

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Actions ahead of Prop 8 case

Castro St. survey results

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ARTS

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Nellie McKay

The

www.ebar.com

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

SF Pride courts sports teams by Matthew S. Bajko

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omophobia in sports, both on the field and off, has been a hot topic of late, garnering widespread media coverage. It has also caught the attention of officials with the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, who are courting the area’s professional sports teams. Jane Philomen Cleland They are seeking greater partnerships Rick Welts with the San Francisco 49ers football team, the World Series champion San Francisco Giants baseball team, and the Golden State Warriors basketball team, whose owners want to build a brand new arena along the city’s waterfront on a dilapidated pier. None have yet participated in the annual parade, which takes place the last Sunday of June. But Pride officials hope that is about to change. San Francisco Pride CEO Earl Plante said the 49ers and Giants would be asked to participate this year, as sports teams are part of Pride’s “overall strategy of engaging nontraditional partners.” Asked whether Pride will be requesting money from the teams, Plante said, “Certainly we’re open to money, but we’re open to partnerships at all levels.” One team that has pledged to participate in Pride is the Golden State Warriors, whose president, Rick Welts, is openly gay. Welts attended the March meeting of the Castro merchants’ association to discuss the team’s planned arena at Piers 30-32. Asked by the Bay Area Reporter if the team would participate in Pride, Welts replied that the Warriors would have a presence at the event “going forward” and disclosed that Mayor Ed Lee had invited him to walk with his parade contingent last year. Welts said he had to decline the offer because of a previous commitment but noted that Lee’s “whole staff was in Warrior’s shirts” as they marched in the parade. Plante said he had reached out to Welts’s office to set up a meeting with him, and last week, the two met during a Warriors game in Welts’s box inside the Oracle Arena. Matt Chisholm, media relations manager for the Giants, was unaware if the team See page 5 >>

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se Showcbausiness! your

Vol. 43 • No. 12 • March 21-27, 2013

Pride grand marshal noms named

Mario Benton

Solange Darwish

Veronika Fimbres

Rick Gerharter

Rick Gerharter

Jane Philomen Cleland

Amos Lim

Bobbi Lopez

by Seth Hemmelgarn

T

he San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee has announced its 2013 nominees for the public

Marlena

Jason Galisatus

Michelle Kim

Nikolas Lemos

Paul Olsen

Randall Schiller

William Walker

choice for community grand marshals. Online voting began this week at http:// www.sfpride.org/vote. Several polling places will also be available. The deadline is April 15.

Nominees’ lives and work seem to be reflective of this year’s theme, “Embrace, Encourage and Empower.” “We are excited to release to the public See page 12 >>

Supe proposes end to Walesa street

by Heather Cassell

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San Francisco supervisor is fed up with anti-gay sentiment from former Polish President Lech Walesa and wants to rename a city street that was named for him decades ago. District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim this week proposed that Lech Walesa Street, a small alley located near Civic Center in her district, be renamed for the late gay rights advocate Dr. Tom Waddell. The alley was renamed from Ivy to Lech Walesa in 1986 to honor the Nobel Prize-winner, who founded the Solidarity union and led the battle for democracy against the former Soviet Union. Kim’s proposal was in response to Walesa’s recent televised homophobic and transphobic rant. During a March 1 appearance on TVN 24 responding to questions about current proposed legislation for civil partnerships for LGBT individuals, Walesa stated that LGBT politicians should “sit at the back of the parliament” or even “behind a wall.” “They have to know that they are a minority and must adjust to smaller things and not rise to the greatest heights, the greatest hours, the greatest provocations, spoiling things for the others and taking [what they want] from the majority,” he told the newscaster. “I don’t agree to this and I will never agree to it.” Kim’s proposal to change Lech Walesa Street to Tom Waddell Place was supported by gay Supervisors Scott Wiener (D8) and David Campos

Rick Gerharter

An unidentified activist from Queer Planet tried to remove the San Francisco street sign for Lech Walesa alley on August 3, 1990.

(D9), along with Supervisor John Avalos (D11).

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Waddell was an Olympic athlete and founder of the Gay Games. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1987. A health clinic named for him is located at 50 Lech Walesa. Kim’s staff said that members of the LGBT community and others have contacted the supervisor’s office requesting the change. “His recent comments [are] not representative of the city that I am a part of and its value of inclusiveness,” Kim said as she introduced the proposal Tuesday, March 19. “This city is also a place that is a refuge for many members of our LGBT community. We didn’t feel it was appropriate to continue to have his name on one of our streets.” Kim also acknowledged the importance of the Tom Waddell Health Center, which serves many in the LGBT community, particularly transgender patients. “Tom Waddell is a commendable choice for the street, both because of his contributions to the LGBT community, and because the health center there bears his name,” said Jeff Cretan, a legislative aide to Wiener. The resolution will now undergo a 30-day review and a public approval process before the Board of Supervisors vote on it. If approved it would be sent to Mayor Ed Lee for his signature. Lee was out of the country this week on a sister city visit to Cork, Ireland and Paris. If approved, Walesa’s name won’t fully be gone from the street, which would bear Waddell and Walesa’s names for five years during a transition See page 12 >>


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