March 31, 2022 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter, America's LGBTQ newspaper

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Castro Theatre changes

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Historic Assembly candidate

ARTS

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13

Spring Book Special

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

Vol. 52 • No. 13 • March 31-April 6, 2022

Massive AIDS quilt display set for June by Cynthia Laird

A Courtesy Governor Newsom’s office

Sacramento County Superior Court judicial appointee Andi Mudryk

CA to see 2nd trans judge on state bench by Matthew S. Bajko

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ith the appointment March 25 of Andi Mudryk to the Sacramento County Superior Court, California will now have two transgender judges serving on the state bench. Mudryk is the first trans person to be appointed to a judicial vacancy in the Golden State. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Victoria Kolakowski in 2010 became the country’s first elected transgender trial court judge. The wife of Bay Area Reporter news editor Cynthia Laird, Kolakowski will automatically be elected to another six-year term this year as no one filed to challenge her on the June primary ballot for her seat #16 on the East Bay bench. Governor Gavin Newsom appointed fellow Democrat Mudryk, 58, of Sacramento, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Benjamin G. Davidian. Since 2020, Mudryk has served as chief deputy director at the California Department of Rehabilitation. Kolakowski told the Bay Area Reporter that she’s “ecstatic” the governor appointed Mudryk. “We finally have a state court judge that was appointed by a governor, which is long overdue, as I was elected over a decade ago,” Kolakowski stated. “I am glad that I’m finally getting a transgender colleague on the bench here in California.” Equality California, the statewide LGBTQ rights organization, also praised the appointment. “We are thrilled to be celebrating another historic milestone today for California’s LGBTQ+ community in Governor Newsom’s historic appointment of Andi Mudryk to the Sacramento County Superior Court,” stated Executive Director Tony Hoang. “A seasoned civil rights advocate, Mudryk brings almost 20 years of experience in disability rights and rehabilitation to the court. As governors and state legislatures across the country attack the trans community, we applaud Governor Newsom’s continued commitment to increasing trans representation across appointments and on the bench. California continues to remind the rest of the country that LGBTQ+ voices are essential to achieve full equality.” Between 2018 and 2020 Mudryk had served as the state agency’s chief counsel. Before being hired by the state, she was director of litigation and policy advocacy at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County from 2017 to 2018 and executive director at Disability Rights Advocates in 2017. She is a person with a disability, brittle bone disease, stated the governor’s office in announcing Mudryk’s appointment. Between 2006 and 2017 Mudryk served in several positions at the disability advocacy organization, including as its deputy director, director of litigation, and managing attorney. Kolakowski also noted Mudryk’s advocacy for the disability community. “She is a longtime champion of disability rights, a highly regarded attorney, and I know from our conversations over the past year that she is proudly out as a transwoman,” Kolakowski stated. “This is a great day for the people of See page 10 >>

massive display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will take place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park during Pride Month, officials of the National AIDS Memorial Grove, which oversees the tapestry, told the Bay Area Reporter. The news was formally announced March 29 at the San Leandro warehouse that houses the quilt. Meanwhile, the grove has received a grant from Mayor London Breed’s office that will help cover some expenses for its new office space in the Castro, which it moved into earlier this month. The AIDS quilt display will be the largest ever in San Francisco and the biggest display anywhere in the U.S. in a decade – the last such showing was in Washington, D.C. 10 years ago – Kevin Herglotz, a gay man who is chief operating officer for the grove, told the B.A.R. in a phone interview. The San Francisco installation will include 350 blocks of the quilt, which contain almost 3,000 panels, he said. (A block of the quilt has eight panels.) By contrast, last San Francisco showing was of 1,920 panels in 1987, Herglotz said. The display is set for Saturday and Sunday, June 11-12, in Robin Williams Meadow with some quilt pieces being displayed at the AIDS grove, which is also in Golden Gate Park, Herglotz said. “The panels will tell the story of then and now,” Herglotz said, explaining that there will

Kevin Herglotz, National AIDS Memorial Grove

Jada Harris, second from left, National AIDS Memorial Grove Call My Name Quilt Program Manager, shares stories about two newly created panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt that will be displayed at an historic display in San Francisco June 11-12. Joining Harris at the March 29 announcement were, from left, Alex Kalomparis, senior vice president, Gilead Sciences; Cleve Jones, quilt co-founder; Duane Cramer, quilt community engagement director, National AIDS Memorial Grove; Marvin White, minister of celebration, Glide Memorial Church; John Cunningham, CEO, National AIDS Memorial Grove; and Gert McMullin, quilt conservator, National AIDS Memorial Grove.

be some older, iconic panels along with newer ones – all remembering people who have died of HIV/AIDS. “There are a whole lot of new panels, particularly from the Black community and the South. “Now, they will tell the story of the last 35 years,” he added, referring to the quilt’s formal establishment in 1987 under the auspices of the Names Project.

The AIDS quilt currently has 6,007 blocks, Herglotz said. “There are over 50,000 panels of the quilt now,” he noted. The Names Project Foundation used to be located in San Francisco. The quilt’s history dates back to 1985 when gay activist Cleve Jones had participants in that year’s annual candlelight See page 10 >>

LGBTQ archival groups seek new leaders by Matthew S. Bajko

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he search to find a permanent leader for the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco is formally underway. It comes as the LGBTQ institution is working with city officials to find it a site to build a new, larger museum and archival research center. After Terry Beswick resigned in September as executive director, the nonprofit named staffers Kelsi Evans and Andrew Shaffer as its interim co-executive directors. Evans had been hired as director of the Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives & Special Collections with the society, while Shaffer was directing the society’s outreach, media, and fundraising programs. The society has engaged the firm Brakeley Search to help it conduct its search for a new executive director. It posted a six-page position specification March 20 online as it ramps up its hiring process. “We started accepting applications this month in late March,” Shaffer, a gay man, told the Bay Area Reporter in a recent phone interview. “We are hoping to find someone fairly quickly if they can come in and check all of our boxes. We know we are looking for a unique person, so it might take a little bit longer.” In addition to helming the efforts to construct a new museum and archival center, the next executive director needs to be adept at fundraising. The COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the closure of its current museum in a Castro district storefront and downtown archive space, impacted the historical society’s revenue streams the last two years. It canceled moving to a larger vacant retail space in the city’s LGBTQ neighborhood at the start of the health crisis in 2020. A capital campaign for its planned new museum was also put on hold due to the pandemic. “We want someone who understands and cares about the work we do and also has really strong leadership skills and fundraising skills. The intention behind this position is to help us grow significantly over the next few years,” said Shaffer, who doesn’t plan to apply for the position.

Courtesy GLBT Historical Society

Andrew Shaffer, left, and Kelsi Evans are serving as interim co-executive directors at the GLBT Historical Society.

Evans, a straight ally, also isn’t planning to apply for the position, as she told the B.A.R. she is “happy” overseeing the archives.

Museum plans

With its museum housed in a leased storefront of limited size, the historical society for some years has sought to find a larger, more permanent location, preferably in the Castro. Mayor London Breed budgeted $12 million in the city’s fiscal year 2021-2022 budget toward the purchase of a site where the society can build what is billed as the first large-scale, freestanding LGBTQ history museum in the country. “It is a significant part, working not only with the city but private funders, corporate funders, all sorts of different people to find and program a site. Those two things overlap but both take a lot of energy,” said Shaffer in terms of two of the main tasks the new executive director will oversee. The institution has also worked the last two years to expand its reach online with both its museum and archives needing to be shuttered for prolonged stretches due to COVID restrictions local and state officials imposed. Those virtual efforts will continue under the new executive director, noted Shaffer.

“The last couple of years we realized we have a large audience outside of the Bay Area and outside the U.S.,” he noted. “Especially in times like now, where people are being told they can’t say gay in Florida and Texas has called in parents of transgender children for child abuse, just for acknowledging your child’s existence, we have a lot more people interested in learning about LGBTQ history broadly.” As it happens a Florida LGBTQ historical organization is also looking to hire a new person to lead it. In February, the Stonewall National Museum & Archives in Fort Lauderdale announced the launch of its search for a new executive director. It engaged executive search firm Aspen Leadership Group to assist it in filling the position. The LGBTQ historical institution’s current executive director, Hunter O’Hanian, had announced in November his intention to resign. He will remain in the position until his replacement is found. “I’ve found my time working with the Stonewall collections to be exhilarating,” stated O’Hanian. “So much gay history in one place. I look forward to learning how the collections continue to diversify and grow under the next leadership!” See page 10 >>


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