Pink triangle co-founder readies for 30th installation
LGBTQs discuss wishes for new police chief
by John Ferrannini
With San Francisco Police Chief William Scott announcing his resignation last week, LGBTQ stakeholders have some ideas of what they’d like to see in a new leader for the department. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie made the announcement May 7 at a hastily called news conference.
The mayor said that he’ll be replaced on an interim basis by Paul Yep, a former police commander who is currently the city’s public safety czar.
Community stakeholders are already discussing what they want in a new permanent chief, with an emphasis on staffing and a continued commitment to the city’s diverse population.
In the selection of a new chief, gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey – who before then-mayor London Breed appointed him to the Board of Supervisors in 2022 was the SFPD’s head of communications and worked under Scott – told the Bay Area Reporter that, “The top priority for our new police chief must be to fully fund SFPD.”
Dorsey pointed out that the department has had a staffing shortage in recent years. While Proposition E recommends 2,074 officers, the total number of all city sworn officers is 1,728, of whom 1,466 are full-duty officers, according to statistics cited by Dorsey.
“We can’t afford to postpone fully staffing our public safety agencies any longer,” Dorsey stated, saying he wants a fully-funded force in “the next three years – four tops.”
“We simply can’t sustain this level of short-staffing,” he continued. “The overtime alone is killing us.” Lurie announced his Rebuilding the Ranks plan May 13, saying he wants to do just that. The plan “outlines short-term actions to ease the burden on the current officer ranks and long-term strategies to build a sustainable pipeline of qualified officers,” according to a news release.
The plan includes streamlining the hiring process in coordination with the Department of Human Resources to minimize administrative steps and eliminate bottlenecks, partnering with the private sector for outreach to potential new recruits, further collaboration between the police and sheriff’s departments, and finding ways to encourage lateral hiring from other law enforcement agencies.
See page 8 >>
by Cynthia Laird
In June 1996 under the cover of darkness, Patrick Carney and some friends staged a guerrilla art installation atop Twin Peaks. There, pink tarps were laid out in a triangle shape visible to the throngs of people descending on San Francisco for the annual Pride parade.
Some people didn’t know what it was, or why it was there. But Carney had a vision and is now preparing for the 30th installation of the pink triangle this Pride Month. Part art, part educational tool, the gigantic triangle is a tribute to a dark period of history even as it celebrates progress made by the LGBTQ community. Today, of course, that celebratory nature is tempered by the chaos unleashed
by Republican President Donald Trump and his administration, which is all the more reason to see the pink triangle on the hillside, Carney said. “Initially, it was to add a little color to the parade,” Carney, a gay man who sits on the San Francisco Arts Commission, said in a recent phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “I was surprised at how many people didn’t know what it was.”
Zoning appeal allowed for historic SF transgender site
by Matthew S. Bajko
ASee page 8 >>
2017 Media Kit 0 a
n oversight body is allowing LGBTQ advocates and historians to question the ability of a residential reentry facility for recently released prisoners to operate in a transgender historic site in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.
The Los Angeles Blade covers Los Angeles and California news, politics, opinion, arts and entertainment and features national and international coverage from the Blade’s award-winning reporting team. Be part of this exciting publication serving LGBT Los Angeles from the team behind the Washington Blade, the nation’s first LGBT newspaper. From the freeway to the Beltway we’ve got you covered.
It is where one night in August 1966 an angry drag queen patronizing Gene Compton’s Cafeteria housed in a ground floor commercial space reportedly threw a cup of hot coffee in the face of a police officer as he tried to arrest her without a warrant. The exact date of the altercation has been lost to time. But the incident sparked a riot between trans and queer patrons of the 24-hour diner and cops, as detailed in the 2005 documentary “Screaming Queens” by transgender scholar and historian Susan Stryker, Ph.D.
The building at 111 Taylor earlier this year became the first property granted federal landmark status specifically for its connection to the transgender movement in the U.S. It is also now on the California Register of Historical Resources.
In 2022, San Francisco officials had landmarked the intersection of Turk and Taylor in front of the building in recognition of the uprising by the LGBTQ Compton’s patrons. The
city’s 307th landmark also included portions of the structure’s exterior walls containing the commercial space that had housed the Compton’s eatery on both the Turk and Taylor street facades.
For decades the building has been owned by WBP Leasing Inc, a subsidiary of GEO Group Inc., and operated as a halfway house for formerly incarcerated people as they attempt to See page 8 >>
Jake Wesley Rogers
Mayor Daniel Lurie announced that San Francisco Police chief William Scott, fourth from left, was resigning and will be replaced on an interim basis by Paul Yep, right.
John Ferrannini
LGBTQ advocates want to evict a prisoner reentry facility from 111 Taylor Street, a historic transgender site in San Francisco.
Matthew S. Bajko
Hossein Carney, Ph.D.
Pink triangle co-founder Patrick Carney, front row, second from left, and volunteers took a break before the ceremony in 2024.
LGBTQs react to election of new pope
by John Ferrannini
The Roman Catholic Church got its 267th pope May 8, as the College of Cardinals chose an American for the first time. Pope Leo XIV, the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, addressed the throngs of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square with his first words, “Peace be with you.”
Whether Leo will continue the late Pope Francis’ tonal shift in including LGBTQ people in the world’s largest Christian denomination with 1.4 billion members remains to be seen, as past comments surfaced that were critical of LGBTQ families. He has also been critical of the Trump administration in recent months, particularly around immigration issues, according to X posts and retweets.
Francis died April 21, Easter Monday, at the age of 88. Following his funeral April 26, cardinals had over a week of meetings and prayer. There were 133 cardinals who served as electors and selected the new pope in a conclave that started May 7. A two-thirds vote was required.
Leo – born in Chicago and most recently prefect of the dicastery for bishops at the Vatican – was elected on the second day of the conclave. Before he was tapped by his predecessor to the office responsible for choosing who will be elevated to be a Catholic bishop, he was bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, from 2015-2023, and was general of the Augustinian order from 2001-2013.
Leo, 69, who holds dual U.S.-Peruvian citizenship, spoke about his time in the
style” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.”
Reaction of LGBTQ Catholics to the new pope has initially been positive, despite Leo’s statements 13 years ago. Leo has not said much on the matter since Francis became pope in 2013. Francis did not change long-standing Catholic teaching that sex between people of the same sex is gravely sinful, but he did alter the church’s approach to LGBTQ people, famously saying, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”
Michael O’Loughlin, a gay man who is executive director of the Catholic LGBTQ website Outreach, stated, “There are many questions about the new pope, the first elected from the United States, particularly around how he might interact with the LGBTQ Catholic community.”
Latin American country in Spanish from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City shortly after his election.
“To my dearest beloved diocese in Peru, where a faithful people accompanied their bishop to share their faith with him, and who have done so much to be a faithful church,” he said.
It is unclear where the new pontiff currently stands on LGBTQ issues. The New York Times reported that in 2012, Leo lamented that Western news media and popular culture led to “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel,” citing the “homosexual life-
Law Office of Shelley S. Feinberg
“The short answer is, we just don’t know,” he continued. “Little is known right now about the new pope’s views on a range of issues, including the place of LGBTQ people in the church. But in his blessing tonight, the new pope prayed for peace, thanked Pope Francis and called for the church to continue along the synodal path. Those are all signs that Leo may well be a pope in the mold of Francis.”
The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, an LGBTQ Catholic affinity group, issued a statement May 8 acknowledging Leo’s past statements but expressing optimism.
“Opinions and ideas can change, and he supported Pope Francis’ change in pastoral practice to allow divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion, and he showed mild, but present, support for Fiducia Supplicans,” stated the network’s co-chairs Christopher Vella, coordinator of the Drachma LGBTI Group in Malta, and Marianne Duddy-Burke, a lesbian who is co-chair of the network and also executive director of DignityUSA, another LGBTQ Catholic affinity group.
Duddy-Burke continued, “We hope our new pope will continue to learn from the stories of LGBTIQ people, celebrate our gifts, and recognize that certain teachings and practices have caused harm to members of the Body of Christ and must be re-examined. We join many around the world in praying for his ministry in this new role.”
In its own statement, Dignity USA also acknowledged Leo’s past comments.
“We note that this statement was made during the papacy of Benedict XVI, when doctrinal adherence appeared to be expected,” the organization stated. “In addition, the voices of LGBTQ people were rarely heard at that level of church leadership. We pray that Pope Leo XIV will demonstrate a willingness to listen and grow as he begins his new role as the leader of the global Church.
“We also hope that Pope Leo XIV will have the moral clarity that will enable our church to continue to confront the many critical issues facing the entire global community, as well as to address the injustices and inequities that continue to plague our church itself,” Dignity USA added.
Emmanuel Romero, co-chair of Dignity San Francisco, stated to the B.A.R., “It is interesting that the conclave elected a U.S.-born cardinal who worked internationally with the poor, openly criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies, and likely will carry on the late Pope Francis’ encouragement of active ministry to people on the periphery.”
“Personally, I’m curious about whether this is a deliberate jab at America’s political landscape, which reeks of xenophobia, oligarchy, and disdain of people who struggle economically,” Romero continued. “Is that too much to hope for? Possibly, but it’s certainly not too much to pray for. Additionally, we pray that Pope Leo XIV continues to evolve in his views on LGBTQ people and women’s ordination. Our communities look forward to having conversations with him.”
Romero also acknowledged the pope’s prior statements, stating, “As LGBTQ Catholics, we must not overlook previous reports of the new pope’s seemingly conflicting views on LGBTQ people.”
“In addition to being a traditionalist who upholds outdated views on the gender binary and gender roles – as evidenced by his opposition to ordaining women to the deaconate – the former Cardinal Prevost previously expressed discontent over Western media’s increasingly sympathetic portrayals of LGBTQ people and family households led by same-gender parents,” Romero stated.
“And yet, there are other reports that, like his immediate predecessor, the former Cardinal Prevost promoted a compassionate attitude of welcome toward marginalized groups into the church, including LGBTQ individuals. We must also note that Prevost once led the Augustinians, a religious order with historic ties to the formation of DignityUSA.”
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of Catholic LGBTQ affinity group New Ways Ministry, also acknowledged Leo’s past statements.
“We pray that in the 13 years that have passed, 12 of which were under the papacy of Pope Francis, that his heart and mind have developed more progressively on LGBTQ+ issues, and we will take a wait-and-see attitude to see if that has happened,” DeBernardo stated. “Pope Francis opened the door to a new approach to LGBTQ+ people; Pope Leo must now guide the church through that door.
“Many Catholics, including bishops and other leaders, remain ignorant about the reality of LGBTQ+ lives, including the marginalization, discrimination, and violence that many still face, even in Catholic institutions,” he added. “We hope that he will further educate himself by meeting with and listening to LGBTQ+ Catholics and their supporters. Catholics need to be freed from the deadening homophobia and transphobia which strangles their personal and spiritual growth.”
DeBernardo said he was thankful that Leo spoke of synodality – in which lay people and other bishops are consulted in the church’s governance – in his opening remarks. (Catholicism puts the pope, who succeeds St. Peter as the bishop of Rome, as the supreme legislator.)
“We are grateful that in his opening statement he said, ‘We want to be a synodal church,’” DeBernardo stated. “Inviting LGBTQ+ people to be part of that process will be a positive sign that Pope Leo wants a church of inclusion. For more than five decades LGBTQ+ Catholics have been pleading for the church to listen. With Pope Francis, their request was fulfilled. To revert to old ways of turning deaf ears to people who long to be full members of the Church is not the way of Jesus.”
Gay San Francisco District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a practicing Catholic, told the B.A.R. he is “cautiously optimistic.”
“It could’ve been worse,” he said, referring to the possibility of a new pope that would roll back changes made under Francis. “Based on what I’ve read, the new pope had less-than-welcoming things to say back in 2012 about LGBTQ+ inclusion within the church. In fairness, [then-President] Barack Obama still opposed marriage equality in 2012, so I’d like to think people’s views can evolve and enlighten over time. My hope is the Catholic Church continues to evolve in favor of LGBTQ+ inclusion, too, under the leadership of Pope Leo XIV.”
‘Kind person’
The Reverend James Martin, S.J., an American priest who is a consultant on the Roman Dicastery for Communication, which advises the pope, has been a voice in favor of further inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics. He told ABC-TV he knows Leo personally and was “just sort of speechless” he was chosen.
“Just a very kind person, very straightforward, very modest, very reserved,” Martin said. “I was emailing him just a few weeks ago about something, and I said, ‘Would you like my opinion on something?’ and he responded, ‘Sure, I’ll take your two cents.’”
Martin said by choosing the name Leo, he may have been aligning himself with Catholic social teaching, which was
first formulated in its modern form by Pope Leo XIII, which in 1891 gave the papal imprimatur to unionization and discussed the plight of the working class.
Francis’ famous “Who am I to judge?” comment in 2013 was the first time a pope had said the word “gay.” Later, Francis called on homosexuality to be decriminalized worldwide, and allowed priests to bless same-sex couples in the document “Fiducia Supplicans.”
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, a conservative appointed by Francis’ predecessor Benedict XVI, told priests they didn’t necessarily have to join in those blessings, as the B.A.R. first reported. In a memo, he wrote that the Vatican document had been misunderstood “by some reports and analyses,” but did not indicate how, stating “please do not rely on secular media stories, which are easily fueled by ignorance, animosity, and judgmentalism.”
Thus, Cordileone had instructed, “Any priest has the right to deny such blessings if, in his judgment, doing so would be a source of scandal in any way.”
Cordileone stated to the B.A.R. he extends his “heartfelt congratulations.”
“May his papacy inspire unity and peace to a world in need of Christ’s love,” the archbishop stated. “May the Holy Spirit guide him, and may he be a beacon of wisdom and hope as he takes on this sacred responsibility. Please join me in praying for His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV as he begins his sacred ministry.”
President Donald Trump, who is not Catholic, posted an AI-generated image of himself as the vicar of Christ on social media last week that elicited some criticism. On Thursday, Trump said, on the election of the first U.S. citizen to be pope, “That’s a great honor, that’s a great honor.”
Speaking to the press outside the Oval Office, Trump continued, “I was watching it and they said, he’s from America. I said, that’s great.”
The new pope’s X account reposted a number of critical things about Trump’s second administration, however. On April 14, he reposted an X post by Philadelphia-based Catholic commentator Rocco Palmo linking to an Associated Press article about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was extrajudicially sent to an El Salvador megaprison by the Trump administration.
The post stated, “As Trump & [El Salvador President Nayib] Bukele use Oval to [laugh emoji] Feds’ illicit deportation of a US resident, once an undoc-ed Salvadorean himself, now-DC Aux +Evelio asks, ‘Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?’”
The poster is referring to Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, an auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C., who is from El Salvador. As the B.A.R. previously reported, Trump and Salvadorian leader Bukele both said in the Oval Office that they could not return Abrego Garcia, despite a U.S. Supreme Court order to facilitate his return. He was sent to the megaprison along with others, including gay makeup artist Andry José Hernández Romero, without due process.
The account also reposted an article headlined “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” and another, “Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration.” Leo’s predecessor, Francis, rebuked Vance, who is Catholic, in a letter to the U.S. bishops earlier this year. Vance had claimed the Catholic principle of “ordo amoris” justified Trump administration mass deportations. Vance was the last major world leader to meet Francis before his death April 21.
The New York Post reported Leo was also critical in his retweets during Trump’s first term in office. One such retweet, also from Palmo, stated, “Calling refugee bans ‘a dark hour of US history,’ [Chicago Archbishop] Blase [Cupich] says ‘the world is watching as we abandon our commitment to American values.’” t
Gay makeup artist joins federal lawsuit
by John Ferrannini
Agay makeup artist who was extrajudicially removed from the U.S. has now joined a federal lawsuit seeking his return, his attorneys told the Bay Area Reporter May 9. A ruling is expected as early as this week for Andry Jose Hernández Romero, who was sent from a San Diego detention facility to a notorious Salvadoran prison by the Trump administration.
According to his attorneys, Hernández Romero is now one of the plaintiffs in J.G.G., et al. v. Trump, which is currently before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Hernández Romero is one of 12 plaintiffs who’ve filed a habeas corpus claim.
His attorneys also acknowledged the support Hernández Romero has received from the LGBTQ community, stating they found solace in it.
As the B.A.R. has been reporting, Hernández Romero, 31, was featured on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on April 6. He was one of 238 Venezuelan migrants flown to the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, in El Salvador several weeks ago after the White House made an agreement with Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele to house them there.
Human Rights Watch reports that the prison is the site of human rights abuses. Hernández Romero had been detained in a San Diego immigration jail since last year, when he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to attend a pre-arranged asylum hearing in the Southern California city, the Daily Mail reported.
Federal Judge James E. Boasberg is considering whether Hernández Romero and others are in the actual or constructive (that is, true in the eyes of the court) custody of the U.S., which would mean Article I’s right to habeas corpus – a long-standing legal principle to compel a court appearance and, thus, prevent unlawful detention – applies.
He ruled that, “The court believes that some discovery could aid its analysis.”
“Given that habeas jurisdiction can lie when the detainees are in constructive U.S. custody, the question becomes whether such jurisdiction does lie here,” Boasberg stated in a court order allowing the petitioners to seek discovery.
“As indicated, petitioners allege that ‘[i] ndividuals detained at CECOT are detained at the behest of the respondents, and respondents are paying El Salvador millions of dollars to detain them.’”
Boasberg ruled that news reports, and statements from El Salvador’s ministry of foreign affairs, Bukele, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, are enough to lend credence to the allegation, but “some questions nevertheless remain about the precise nature of the confinement,” and the petitioners’ attorneys, therefore, should be able to seek discovery to determine whether their clients are “being detained in the foreign state to deny [them] an oppor-
tunity to assert their rights in a United States tribunal.”
Hernández Romero’s attorneys are hoping to have the court rule that he and the other plaintiffs be returned so they can exercise their constitutional rights to due process in U.S. courts. His attorneys, or anyone from the outside world, have not had contact with him since he got to CECOT.
Gay Congressmember Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) had flown to El Salvador with other members and attempted to see another detained immigrant, but they were not allowed to. He was, however, able to get a commitment from William Duncan, the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, that the embassy would look into Hernández Romero’s case. And they sent a letter to Rubio and Duncan demanding access to Hernández Romero.
Hernández Romero’s attorney stated that he should be released.
“When the government unlawfully denied Andry due process, we knew his story had to make its way out of immigration court. Andry recently became a named plaintiff in J.G.G. v Trump, a case led by the ACLU that aims to release him and hundreds of Venezuelan men from detention in El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison,” Lindsay Toczylowski, president and CEO of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, which is representing Hernández Romero, stated to the B.A.R. “As we await news from the court on whether the 238 Venezuelan men must be returned to the United States, we have found solace in the community’s support, both locally and internationally, especially the outpouring of support from the LGBTQ community.”
In the related case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was also extrajudicially removed from the U.S. by the Trump administration, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the government had to facilitate his return from El Salvador. It has not done so.
In his last social media post on X before he became the first-ever American selected to lead the Roman Catholic Church Thursday, the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, condemned Bukele and Trump’s laughter about the case in the Oval Office.
The Trump administration alleged that the migrants sent to CECOT are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. (CBS News could not find U.S. criminal records in 75% of the cases, when it broadcast the “60 Minutes” story.)
In Hernández Romero’s case, the government argued in court that crown tattoos he had were evidence of gang affiliation. Hernández Romero has a crown tattoo on each wrist, with the words “Mom” and “Dad.” His hometown Capacho, Venezuela is known for its celebration of Epiphany, the Catholic holy day when three wise men visited Jesus Christ.
Time magazine photographer Philip Holsinger told CBS News that he was at the prison site when the migrants arrived, and that he heard a young man say, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a stylist.” He was crying for his mother while he was slapped and had his head shaved, Holsinger said.
Hernández Romero left Venezuela in May 2024, citing his political views and homosexuality as reasons to seek asylum. Venezuela is run by a dictator, Nicolás Maduro, whom the U.S. contends illegally claimed the presidency of the country after losing an election.
Cleve Jones, a longtime gay activist who co-founded the National AIDS Memorial Quilt, and Nicole Murray Ramirez, a San Diego-based gay activist who, as the Queen Mother I of the Americas and Nicole the Great, is the titular head of the Imperial Court system, had suggested that U.S. Pride organizations make Hernández Romero an honorary grand marshal this year, to bring attention to his case.
Pride by the Beach, which will be held June 7 in Oceanside (San Diego County), will be doing so, as the B.A.R. has reported.
San Francisco Pride declined, though it will be discussing the matter at its annual human rights summit June 26.
Jones has also been in touch with Hernández Romero’s attorneys.
“To me, the important thing for people to understand is that the case of Andry Romero is right at the intersection of the struggle for immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights, and the effort to preserve due process under law,” he told the B.A.R. May 9. “That’s what this case is about, and we in the LGBTQ community have a special responsibility to step up and fight for his life.”
Toczylowski gave thanks for the Pride organizations that got involved.
“We are humbled by the Pride event organizers who are honoring him in their Pride celebrations,” Toczylowski stated. “We hope that someday soon, Andry will get to see how many people are demanding his immediate return.”
Asked by NBC News earlier this week if everyone in the U.S. is entitled to due process, which is stated in the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Trump said, “I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.”
White House adviser Stephen Miller said May 9 the administration is looking at suspending habeas corpus.
“A lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not,” he said.
The legal right, established in English common law in the 12th century, can only be lawfully suspended in times of invasion or rebellion. It was suspended only four times in U.S. history: during the Civil War, to fight the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction, during a 1905 rebellion in the Philippines, and in Hawaii shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. t
Andry Jose Hernández Romero has been added to a federal lawsuit demanding that he and other migrants be released from a prison in El Salvador.
Courtesy Immigrant Defenders Law Center
SF sees slight uptick in HIV cases Health News>>
by Liz Highleyman
New HIV diagnoses saw a slight uptick in San Francisco in 2024 and rose by about 1,000 cases nationwide in 2023, according to the latest surveillance reports from the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
These data, however, do not yet reflect the effects of the Trump administration’s recent cuts to federal health funding and staffing or proposed reductions in President Donald Trump’s so-called skinny budget released May 2. Advocates fear these cuts will soon lead to rising numbers for all sexually transmitted diseases.
“The drastic cuts to HIV public health and research programs proposed in the president’s budget would leave America’s HIV response in peril if enacted by Congress,” HIVMA chair Dr. Colleen Kelley said in a statement. “From small towns to big cities, every state across the country may lose lifesaving HIV prevention, testing, and research programs. The result will be more HIV infections nationwide, taking a devastating toll on health and the health care system.”
San Francisco HIV trends
According to DPH’s 2024 Preliminary HIV Annual Surveillance Report, 145 new HIV diagnoses were reported through December 31, 2024. Despite a slight uptick from 139 cases in 2023, the numbers reflect a declining trend over the past two decades. These data are provisional, and a full analysis will be published in the final HIV Epidemiology Annual Report this fall.
Latinos accounted for the largest share of new cases in 2024 (32%), followed by Black people (28%) and white people (26%). These proportions have varied somewhat in recent years, but it is difficult to draw conclusions about racial/ ethnic trends from small numbers. Perhaps more worrisome is a near doubling of diagnoses among cisgender women, from 13 to 25 cases. Still, cisgender men accounted for more than 75% of new diagnoses, compared with 17% for cisgender women and 6% for trans women.
“While new diagnoses have declined by 53% over the past 10 years, the pace of progress has slowed over the last several years, and challenges persist,” DPH said in a statement. “The rise in new diagnoses in cis women, the majority of whom are Black/African American, is a concerning trend.”
According to the preliminary report, 95% of people newly diagnosed with HIV in the first half of 2024 were linked to care within one month, and 81% achieved viral suppression on antiretroviral treatment within six months.
However, 82 people were diagnosed with AIDS in 2024 – including some who already had advanced disease when they first tested positive for HIV – showing that some are still not getting tested and starting treatment soon enough. People who inject drugs accounted for about 14% of all new HIV diagnoses but 28% of new AIDS diagnoses, according to the preliminary report.
The report notes that 15,395 people in the city were living with HIV and 226 people with diagnosed HIV died in 2024. Thanks to effective treatment, people with HIV are living longer, and around three-quarters of HIV-positive people in San Francisco are aged 50 or older, making them increasingly prone to death from other causes. Nonetheless, the number of deaths was the lowest recorded since the early years of the epidemic.
News Briefs
From page 4
“HIV/AIDS: Honoring the Past, Taking Action Now” will include two panel discussions. The first will feature youth scholars of the National AIDS Memorial Grove discussing their plans to confront the needs of the HIV/AIDS movement today. It will be moderated by Mike Shriver and feature panelists Bo James
Courtesy American Gene Technologies
HIV cases in San Francisco saw a slight uptick in 2024, according to the Department of Public Health’s 2024 Preliminary HIV Annual Surveillance Report.
National numbers
Given recent disruptions at the CDC – including staff layoffs and communications blocks – the fate of this year’s national HIV surveillance update was uncertain, but the agency did release key findings on April 29.
According to the new data, 39,201 people were diagnosed with HIV in 2023, up from 37,981 in 2022. (CDC has a longer lag time than SF DPH, so 2023 data is the most recent available.)
Men accounted for more than 80% of new HIV cases, over half of newly diagnosed people lived in the South, 38% were Black, and more than a third were Latino. Two-thirds of the cases were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact and 6% to injection drug use. Women accounted for 19% of all new diagnoses. There is no mention of transgender people anywhere in the key findings, apparently in keeping with the federal government’s new mandate to root out “gender ideology.”
According to the report, nearly 1,133,000 adolescents and adults were living with diagnosed HIV in 2023, of whom 77% were men. Some 4,500 people died of HIV-related causes in 2023. (This is not comparable to the DPH mortality data, which includes deaths of HIV-positive people due to any cause.)
The CDC noted that publication of its full Surveillance Supplemental Report on estimated HIV incidence and prevalence has been delayed, and this year’s companion monitoring report on prevention and care objectives does not include PrEP coverage.
In 2024, the CDC paused PrEP reporting for a year to account for newly available data and to determine how best to present PrEP coverage, but the agency now says it is unable to resume PrEP coverage reporting at this time due to a reduction in force affecting the Division of HIV Prevention.
“As part of this staffing reduction, the DPH branches that produced HIV incidence estimates and provided the statistical expertise needed to assess PrEP coverage were eliminated,” according to a note accompanying the data summary. “CDC is currently evaluating plans and capacity to resume this work.”
Budget cuts feared
Advocates fear that the CDC’s inability to estimate HIV incidence and monitor PrEP coverage is just the tip of the iceberg, as Trump’s skinny budget proposal includes deep cuts to HIV and related programs.
Hwang, Dante “Gray” Gautereaux, Peter Pham, and Jesus Aguilar Martinez. Following a reception, the second panel will look at “Addressing the Impacts of the Administration’s Actions,” focusing on President Donald Trump and his administration. Recent proposed federal cuts have been of great concern to HIV/AIDS advocates, as the B.A.R. has reported. It will be moderated by Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., a gay Black man living
As summarized by the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Project, domestic HIV care and treatment programs appear to be largely preserved, but HIV prevention is left out. Most treatment-related components of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program would remain intact, but it could lose ancillary services such as dental care. AIDS housing programs are slated to take a hit. The fate of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, launched during Trump’s first term, remains unclear. The budget proposal does not include CDC funding for HIV prevention, and it is not yet known whether this will be eliminated or moved to another part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The budget also proposes to cut CDC funding for viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis and shift responsibility to the states.
“We have already seen a dismantling of many domestic HIV programs with staff cuts, grant terminations, and offices shut down, and [the May 2] budget confirms the dangerous direction we are headed in,” HIV+Hepatitis Policy Project executive director Carl Schmid, a gay man, stated.
“We look forward to explaining to the Congress the critical federal role in addressing infectious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis, and the serious implications and consequences to the health of our country if these programs are not adequately supported.”
In California, health officials in Los Angeles County last week terminated all 27 of its HIV and STD prevention contracts as of May 31 amid the federal funding cuts. They also have declared a community-wide outbreak of hepatitis A as there have been 165 cases since 2024, three times the number of cases reported in 2023.
As for the funding cuts to HIV service providers, it is estimated it will result in an average increase of 1,800 new HIV diagnoses per year over the next five years, more than doubling the diagnosis rate, noted APLA Health in an emailed policy update seeking support to save its funding. The HIV service provider noted that the county’s Division of HIV & STD Programs currently reports 1,400 new HIV diagnoses each year, down from 1,700 in 2020.
“If California’s prevention programs are shuttered, efforts to end the HIV epidemic in California will be stymied and the infrastructure that supports HIV prevention will be decimated. Any increase in new HIV infections will only cost the State of California more in the long run,” stressed APLA Health Chief Executive Officer Craig E. Thompson.
The service provider is part of a statewide coalition of more than 120 community-based organizations, including the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, calling on Governor Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature to allocate $60 million in state funding to cover HIV prevention cuts at the federal level.
“We are in an unprecedented situation with the drastic cuts to HIV, STI, and LGBTQ+ funding coming from the Trump administration,” said Jonathan Frochtzwajg, SFAF’s director of health justice policy. “We have made incredible progress in working towards ending the HIV epidemic in California, and we risk losing the fragile progress we have made over more than 40 years by dismantling and defunding our systems of prevention and care.” t
with HIV who is CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Announced panelists include Cecilia Chung, a trans woman living with HIV who used to be on the San Francisco Health Commission, and Carl Schmid, a gay man who is executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. In-person tickets are $20, while online tickets are $5. For tickets and more information, go to https://tinyurl. com/45wnvpb6 t
Michael Shawn McGinty
Michael Shawn McGinty, a beloved San Francisco resident since 1998 and proprietor of Barberology, tragically passed away in his Diamond Heights home on April 8, 2025, at the age of 60. The cause of death is still unknown.
Michael was born on September 12, 1964 in Mansfield, Ohio to Thomas and Thyra McGinty. He was later raised by his stepmother, Jane, when his biological mother passed. He is survived by his parents, his sisters Candy, Karla, Heidi, and Cassie, and his brother Chad, and his beloved nieces and nephews. He cherished his family and spoke of them with deep affection.
After graduating from Madison High School in 1983, Mike headed to the Great Lakes Naval Reserve Center for basic training. He was assigned to the USS New Jersey (“The BB62”), and served on the battleship throughout the world, returning to the U.S. a military veteran. In November 1989 he was discharged with full honors and the rank of Operations Specialist II.
After his service, Mike moved to Los Angeles and Orange Counties, eventually settling in Laguna Beach and later in Dana Point. He became a licensed cosmetologist, specializing in men’s and women’s hair styling and color, and he even won a Schwarzkopf award in 1993. Known for his handsome looks, he occasionally modeled professionally.
Mike found the fertile soil in Southern California that nurtured his creative spirit. He dabbled in the visual arts and enjoyed crafting mosaics, painting, and drawing. He applied his keen sense of style to fashion, tailoring, and sewing clothes for himself and friends. At Halloween, he created matching costumes for friends. His impeccable design led to gig work in Hollywood, where he decorated sets for various TV shows and movies.
In 1998, Mike moved to San Francisco, leaving behind supportive friends who loved him dearly but who were also frequent visitors to The City. He continued his career in cosmetology at Schierling Salon and Spa in South Beach. In January 2000, he opened Studio 1120, but it closed after a year due to fire.
Michael continued to work at various salons, including Hair of the Gods, Shear Bliss, Christopher Enzi, and Joe’s Barbershop. As Mike put it, “I’ve worked at eight different barber shops and hair salons. Having worked in both worlds, there was always pressure to choose one or the other--either men’s hair or women’s hair.”
But he also pursued other business interests, including a co-partnership in a furniture import/export business, freelance set decoration for various Los Angeles-based studios, and the occasional freelance engagement in clothes, furniture, and visual design. “I love creating something from nothing,” he would explain, “especially the process of getting there. Part of the journey for me always includes making mistakes, finding work-arounds, and using my imagination. And it’s through this process where I find some of my greatest ideas are born. Fortunately, I get to do this every day. And that’s why I love what I do.”
Michael established Barberology, a salon and barbershop, and a certified Aveda provider, in 2017. He cherished his staff, including those who left before his passing, and those who had been with him since the shop’s inception. As Michael put it, “In trying to define Barberology, I realized it’s just a mashup of cosmetology and barbering. Barberology is where these two worlds can co-exist and creativity has no boundaries. So that’s MY story. OUR story includes you--friends, customers, and support from the neighborhood, and so many people who have guided and mentored me along the way. This journey is just beginning: come by and help us continue the story.”
Michael was a well-known and much-loved member of multiple communities throughout San Francisco. He was active with the Sunday flaggers in Golden Gate Park, a group that describes him as “sunshine and rainbows in human form…a beacon of joy, laughter, and light.” He was an Associate Member of the Men of Discipline SF, Inc. He was “the quintessence of honor and dignity in a leatherman,” and was a well-known—and well-loved—player and advocate within the San Francisco leather and BDSM scene. In the year before his passing, Michael devoted much of his free time to the care and cultivation of the three sidewalk garden plots in front of Barberology and Launderland at 380-390 Sanchez Street. To the delight of neighbors, clients, tenants and passers-by, Michael successfully transformed these once vacant and dreary little plots into lush and beautiful gardens that feature local succulents, flowering plants, lighting, decorative elements, garden trim, and more. He even built a garden box for another neighbor on the block.
The McGinty family in Ohio honored Michael with a military burial and full honors. He is also survived by his chosen family in San Francisco, who likewise suffer the profound loss of his presence every day in their hearts. He touched the lives of so many hundreds of people throughout California and the world, and his legions of friends, lovers, acquaintances, admirers, colleagues, clients, and others mourn his passing.
A memorial service is planned at Barberology within the next five to six weeks. Details will be announced. Interested readers can learn more at www.BarberologySF.com or at the shop (380 Sanchez @17th Street).
Volume 55, Number 20
May 15-21, 2025 www.ebar.com
PUBLISHER
Michael M. Yamashita
Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013)
Publisher (2003 – 2013)
Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003)
NEWS EDITOR
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Jim Provenzano
ASSISTANT EDITORS
Matthew S. Bajko • John Ferrannini
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Christopher J. Beale • Robert Brokl
Brian Bromberger • Victoria A. Brownworth
Philip Campbell • Heather Cassell
Michael Flanagan •Jim Gladstone
Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell • Lisa Keen
Philip Mayard • Laura Moreno
David-Elijah Nahmod • Mark William Norby
J.L. Odom • Paul Parish Tim Pfaff
Jim Piechota • Adam Sandel
Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro
Gwendolyn Smith • Charlie Wagner
Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington • Sura Wood
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National Dems need a reboot
Nowonder national Democrats remain deep in the wilderness. After a party election in February that saw two young men – David Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta, a gay Black Pennsylvania state lawmaker – elected to vice chair posts, the Democratic National Committee has taken steps to void those elections. In Hogg’s case, it’s because he has unveiled a $20 million effort through the independent Leaders We Deserve group he co-founded to invest in a new generation of Democratic leaders in next year’s midterm elections. That includes funding challenges to some entrenched Democratic incumbents. The old guard of the party doesn’t like that, and it has caused friction. Hogg plans to focus on safe Democratic House seats, he has previously said, in an effort to inject new life into the House of Representatives. Congressmember and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) is not a target, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported. And Hogg is not eyeing potential challengers based solely on the age of current lawmakers.
Kenyatta, who received more votes than Hogg, is frustrated, according to reports, that he is also being targeted for ouster. A DNC subcommittee this week recommended that the organization invalidate one of its February vice chair votes over claims that it unfairly disadvantaged female candidates. News reports have indicated that if the entire DNC votes to redo the vice chair election, Kenyatta’s seat will also be open. Hogg and Kenyatta are the only two DNC officers under the age of 35, which should tell you something.
That the DNC is expending time and energy on this issue is ridiculous. We were thrilled when Hogg, 25, and Kenyatta, 34, were elected as DNC vice chairs. They represent a new generation, to be sure, and, in Kenyatta’s case, a welcome LGBTQ voice near the top of the national party leadership. Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting in Florida, was trolled by Congressmember Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) before she was elected. She followed him around in Washington, D.C. making false and baseless claims related to gun rights, as CNN reported when the videos surfaced in 2021.
he knew it would generate the inevitable backlash. As Leaders We Deserve wrote in a recent email to supporters, the goal of the $20 million investment is “defeating vulnerable Republicans and flipping their competitive districts blue; challenging ineffective Democrats in safe-seats with young, bold candidates; and running progressive champions for open seats and building a bigger bench.”
Christopher Ahuja is one of those young candidates, who, while not yet backed by Hogg’s group, nevertheless is inspired by him and is running to unseat longtime Congressmember Brad Sherman (D) in Southern California. As our Political Notebook reported this week, Ahuja, a straight ally, ran for the seat two years ago. A common response he heard from the people whose doors he knocked on was that no other candidates had bothered to show up and seek their votes, recalled Ahuja.
him, they might have a more robust response to all the policy disasters that President Donald Trump is initiating in his efforts to establish an oligarchy.) A broader bench is exactly what’s needed for the Democrats. Serving in Congress, or any elected office, is not a lifetime appointment (not counting federal and U.S. Supreme Court justices). With the exception of U.S. Senator Cory Booker’s (D-New Jersey) recordbreaking floor speech earlier this year, we’d argue that the Democratic response to Trump has been largely cringe-worthy. Letters being sent, placards raised at the address Trump gave, and just the general malaise that many congressional Democrats have is frustrating. We realize the party controls no branch of the federal government, but there are things Democrats can, and should, do. More town halls in red districts, for one thing. Contrary to Trump’s misinformation, farmers in this country are paying dearly due to his on-again, off-again, on-again tariffs. Companies that employ millions of people are set to suffer from the trade war that Trump himself started. Union workers could be in jeopardy if tariffs on China remain in place, resulting in reduced shipping to U.S. ports. These are areas where Democrats need to reach out and promote the party’s proud history of supporting labor and the working class.
Wazlowski
Hogg has a point in his election strategy, even as
One only has to look at the huge crowds that came out to see another young Democrat, Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on their recent Fighting Oligarchy tour, to realize that the national Democratic Party is in dire need of a reboot. (We know, Sanders is 83, but he is definitely not ineffective, and, if more Democrats listened to
Unfortunately, Republicans have been effective at portraying Democrats as “woke.” And, the GOP is attempting, some might say succeeding, at diverting voters’ attention to things like LGBTQ rights. The spineless Democrats don’t know how to respond. Here’s what they should be saying: Yes, equal rights are important. They help everyone. Yes, LGBTQ people deserve the same rights as everyone else. But instead, they get caught in the trap laid by Republicans, who try to keep the focus on one or two trans athletes and then gleefully watch as Democrats slink off into a corner. That’s what happened to Kamala Harris during her presidential run last year, when she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, respond to the barrage of anti-trans ads run by Republicans.
The Democratic Party can stand for diversity and the working class. It’s not an either-or proposition. The party doesn’t have to scapegoat one to have the other. But that is how many in the party are reacting. And that is a lose-lose formula that will haunt the party going into next year’s midterm elections.t
Honor, truth, and discipline
by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
In2017 – during the first year of Republican
President Donald Trump’s first term in office –he moved to ban transgender people from service in the military. This was done to retaliate against Trump’s predecessor, former President Barack Obama, who moved to allow trans service members late in his second term.
The order was initially announced via Twitter, claiming that the “tremendous medical costs and disruption” of allowing transgender people to serve openly was the reason for this change. Trans people already serving were allowed to continue, while no new trans recruits were allowed.
This policy was, of course, challenged, and largely fell apart within the chaos of that first Trump administration. President Joe Biden repealed the ban shortly after taking office in January 2021. Transgender people have served honorably since then.
Until now.
Days after starting his second term in January, Trump signed a flurry of executive orders. Among those was one titled, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness.” This rescinded Biden’s rescinding of Trump’s previous order.
Unlike the earlier claims of “cost and disruption,” this new order was dripping with animus. I will quote the most important paragraph of an otherwise abhorrent order.
“Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service. Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life. A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member. “
I should note that the language in this is very specific to trans women, while it claims that transgender people are inherently dishonorable and undisciplined. I want you to understand something very clearly about this language. While this is an order specific to members of the military, this is claiming that all transgender people are equally dishonest. This is important.
Of course, Trump’s order this year has been challenged in federal court, just like the one in 2017. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – known largely for his history of heavy drinking, his suspicious tattoos, and his involvement in the Signalgate controversy whereby he discussed military operations on an unsecure Signal group chat – moved to apply Trump’s order, only to see it blocked by federal judges. For this, the Justice Department pressed the U.S. Supreme Court to step in.
In an unsigned order May 6, the justices paused the national injunction that had been in place, letting the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rule on the administration’s appeal, and before the high court decides if it wishes to hear the case. In the meantime, Trump’s ban can go into effect.
While the three most liberal Supreme Court justices indicated they were in dissent, we do not know how the other six voted. We can pretty safely presume, however, that the conservative justices decided in Trump’s favor.
What this means is that the Depart ment of Defense is now free to remove all transgender people from the mili tary, and it is not wasting time. As many as 1,000 service members are being moved out as you read this, with thousands of others being given 30 days to self-identify and presumably, be removed as well.
gone. Each one of them served with honor, with honesty, and with discipline.
I’d argue that they possess far more of each than any single person in the current administration.
I would also suspect that they have served with more honor than any soldier who took part in the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, or the torture and abuse committed in the Abu Ghraib Prison during the Iraq War.
This is about much more than just the military, of course: if one can determine that transgender people are being dishonest by merely serving their country in the military, one can decide that transgender people are being dishonest in all other elements of their life.
We’ve all seen plenty of arguments over the last few years that have hinged on arguments that transgender people are deceitful. Recall every time you have heard about male-bodied people supposedly deciding one day they were women in order to somehow dominate women’s sports. Or, of course the old canard about men disguising themselves as women to get into the women’s restroom.
If you can declare that transgender people – by simply existing – are dishonest, then you can instantly bar them from anything that is separated by gender.
It goes far, far deeper than this. If we are inherently so deceitful, to the point where our service is inconsistent “with the humility and selflessness required of a service member,” then perhaps one could argue that we also should not have the right to be employed while also being trans. Extrapolating further, it could be argued that we should not have the right to exist publicly at all.
Ultimately, this means that it won’t matter much what the 9th Circuit determines, let alone what the Supreme Court may or may not say after that. The damage will already be done, and it will be very hard to undo. I’d argue that was the point of this order by the Supreme Court.
A lot of well-trained military troops will be
You see, the military ban was never a final step, but a first one. If we – again, simply by existing as trans people –cannot serve our country, it’s not a far cry from claiming that our existence is not compatible with being an American at all. That statement, alone, can open a Pandora’s box of atrocities. It’s an attack on us all, and one that should never stand. t
Gwen Smith does not sleep well at night, why do you ask? You can find her on the web at
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Reuters file
Leaders We Deserve co-founder David Hogg
Courtesy Leaders We Deserve
Annual Milk Day observance collides with federal LGBTQ rollbacks
by Matthew S. Bajko
This year’s Harvey Milk Day observance is taking place during a time of unprecedented attacks on the LGBTQ community by the levers of the U.S. government. Republican President Donald Trump and his appointees to lead federal agencies are systematically rolling back the hard-won rights of LGBTQ Americans, particularly those of transgender youth and adults.
The GOP-controlled Congress is idly standing by as the Trump administration cuts funding for everything from HIV prevention to queer arts groups and removes mention of LGBTQ history from the websites for national park sites. Meanwhile, the conservative packed U.S. Supreme Court is allowing military officials to drum out trans servicemembers and is poised to upend the teaching of LGBTQ curriculum in school classrooms.
LGBTQ community wait its turn to be granted the full rights and privileges they deserved under the U.S. Constitution. Rather than be assimilationist, LGBTQ people needed to be fighters, contended Milk.
“Rights are not won on paper. They are won only by those who make their voices heard,” Milk told a reporter from the San Francisco Examiner in 1978. “They are won by activists and militants. Silence never won rights. They are not handed down from above. Rather, they are forced by pressures from below.”
It is reminiscent of the political fights Milk encountered during his rise as a civil rights leader and elected official in the 1970s. Back then conservatives were using the ballot box to strike down local LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws with the help of the late singer Anita Bryant.
During his year as a San Francisco supervisor, Milk helped lead the successful statewide campaign to defeat a ballot measure that would have banned LGBTQ people and their allies from being public school teachers in California. That fight echoes today in the heated debates over treating trans students with dignity and respect by using their preferred names and pronouns, and allowing them access to school facilities and athletics teams that align with their gender identity.
One of the reasons why Milk ran four times for elective office – once for a state legislative seat and three times for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors – is he knew the powerful platform that came with being a politician. Not just the public but the news media and other influential institutions and players became interested in what he had to say on any given matter.
“A lot of people throw bricks and vent their frustrations. They throw pies in the face of authority and kick the stone walls, and I guess all of that is needed. But if you really want to put long-term energies into changing things, do it through the system. Beat the system, as I did against tremendous odds,” Milk told a reporter for the underground weekly newspaper the Berkeley Barb 47 years ago.
As the first gay person elected to public office in the city and state with his successful 1977 supervisorial campaign, Milk understood the role he could play in not only shaping public opinion but also providing the courage for other LGBTQ people to come out of the closet and demand to be treated equitably and with respect.
So much of what Milk communicated back then rings true to this day. For one, he didn’t believe in having the
His interview for the paper’s special series about “Gays in the City” ended up being published two days after he was assassinated the morning of November 27, 1978 along with then-mayor George Moscone. Although Milk’s life and political career were tragically cut short, his legacy has lived on to inspire new generations across the globe.
Milk Day events
California legislators in 2009 declared his birthday each May 22 a day of special significance to annually be observed.
This year would have been the civil rights leader’s 95th birthday.
Various events are taking place across San Francisco to mark the occasion. In the Castro neighborhood Milk called home and operated his Castro Camera shop at 573 Castro Street, today a city landmark, civic leaders and community members will gather at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday evening at Jane Warner Plaza on 17th Street at the intersection of Castro and Market streets for the LGBTQ district’s annual event celebrating Milk.
Nodding to today’s political climate, this year’s theme is “Harvey Milk Day: A Protest of Joy.” Attendees are welcome to come early at 4:30 p.m. to make their own protest signs.
In addition to the usual speeches and performance by the San Francisco Pride Band, the city’s official marching band, this year’s celebration will feature special musical performances by the Sacred & Profane Chamber Chorus, which will premiere a new choral work based on Milk’s famous Freedom Day Speech, and by the cast of Opera Parallèle’s “Harvey Milk Reimagined.”
As the Bay Area Reporter noted last week, the National Endowment for the Arts rescinded a $25,000 grant it had awarded the nonprofit performing arts group for its restaging of the opera about Milk by composer Stewart Wallace and librettist Michael Korie. It is still set to begin May 31 and run through June 7 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ Blue Shield of California Theater, with tickets available for purchase via the opera company’s website at operaparallele.org
According to organizers of the Harvey Milk Day event, following the Castro celebration will be a community march to the Roxie Theater, which is hosting
a special 40th anniversary screening that evening of the Academy Awardwinning documentary “The Times of Harvey Milk.” The film’s gay director, Rob Epstein, is expected to attend the 7 p.m. showing, tickets for which can be bought online at film/the-times-of-harvey-milk/
At the same time next Thursday, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club is hosting its annual Gayla fundraiser at the Bayview Opera House. For tickets to it and the “No Apologies: Uranus After party honoring Harry Britt,” the late gay supervisor appointed to serve out Milk’s term, visit https://www.zeffy.com/enUS/ticketing/49th-milk-club-gayla
From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 24, the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Library, in the Castro at 1 Jose Sarria Court, is combining for the first time its annual Open House with a celebration of Milk’s birthday.
“We will have choral performance from the New Voices Bay Area TIGQ chorus; free LGBTQ+ book giveaways; hilarity and clowning from circus arts duo Coventry & Kaluza; and more,” noted the library staff. “Everyone is welcome!”
For those attending the San Francisco-based Opera Parallèle’s first staging of the Milk opera in the city since it debuted in 1996, there will be a special exhibit about the late gay leader’s life in the theater lobby. The GLBT Histori cal Society helped organize the display that showcases Milk’s personal artifacts, campaign materials, and photos from throughout his life and career.
“The most meaningful way to stand with us, and to honor the legacy of Har vey Milk, is to attend one of the upcom ing performances at YBCA,” stated the opera company in light of the loss of its federal funding.
The most lasting message repeatedly reiterated by Milk was for anyone feel ing oppressed or beaten down, be it by societal or governmental forces, to never give up and hold on to hope for better days. It was a mantra Milk repeated in countless media interviews and immor talized in the speech he delivered on the steps of San Francisco City Hall during a mass rally to celebrate California Gay Freedom Day on June 25, 1978.
It became known as “The Hope Speech,” as detailed in this archival copy posted online by the University of Maryland at https://tinyurl.com/4ypaj74u
Lesbian California 2026 gubernatorial candidate and former state Senate president pro tempore Toni Atkins, a Democrat from San Diego, referenced it in her speech upon receiving the Harvey Milk Leadership Award May 8 at the 13th annual Harvey Milk Coachella Valley Diversity Breakfast.
“There was a time, not that long ago, when I thought maybe we had moved beyond needing to reference the ‘Hope Speech.’ But today, now, we need hope more than ever,” said Atkins. “My message to you is this: Find your hope. Hold onto it. Share it. Hope is a superpower. It is not a weakness. It’s a remarkable strength.” t
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Harvey Milk ran toward supporters who were gathered in front of his Castro Camera shop on the night of his victorious election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as an openly gay candidate on November 8, 1977.
Daniel Nicoletta
by Jim Gladstone
“You taste just like honey on cornbread,” croons 28-year-old queer singersongwriter Jake Wesley Rogers in the opening verse of “God Bless,” one of 11 songs on “In the Key of Love,” his debut full-length album, released last Friday.
That juxtaposition of sweet sheen and rough grain, of the ambrosial and the earthy, is typical of Rogers’ lyrics. It also aptly describes his vocal versatility and, on this new release, the brazen gush of production topping his warm, well-turned melodies.
The Missouri-raised, Nashville-trained artist’s four previous EPs (“Evergreen,” “Spiritual,” “Pluto,” and “Love”), which brought him attention and praise from elder icons Elton John and Brandi Carlile, leaned into country-, folk-, and gospel-tinged pop.
Those influences are all present and accounted for on “In the Key of Love,” but the album also finds Rogers stomping onto glam- and art-rock terrain, collaborating with producer Mike Sabath to incorporate synthesizer flourishes, vocal distortions, and anthemic marching beats. The influence of Queen is unmissable.
In a recent video interview with the Bay Area Reporter from Los Angeles, where he moved in 2022, Rogers said that in many of his earlier coming-of-age compositions, “I wanted to paint a picture of young queer love in the Midwest and in the South.”
Now he’s building on the bildungsromanesque with an eclectically expanded sonic palette and describing his new work as incorporating “a very explicit celebration of queerness in all forms, not only just LGBTQ+ but in the classical definition of queer as ‘strangeness.’”
“Living in LA,” Rogers added, “you just need to walk down the street for 15 minutes and you’re liable to see some of the strangest things you’ve ever seen in your life.”
A song held onto Rogers composed ten of the songs on “In the Key of Love” after moving to Los Angeles, but there was one tune he’d been keeping in his back pocket for three years.
“I wrote ‘Mother, Mary, and Me’ after graduating from Belmont College in Nashville, and I just knew it was for my first album. I’ve put out a lot
‘In
Jake Wesley Rogers
of music between then and now, but this song I never released or even recorded.
“I had dated a guy in college and after graduation he was about to move across the world. I sort of knew our relationship was over, and that’s when I wrote it. It felt like an almost supernatural experience. I felt very led in the process, like I was supposed to sit down at that time and write that particular song. There’s no other song I’ve ever felt compelled to write to that degree so immediately.
“But since then, the song has come to mean a lot more to me than just getting over that rela-
tionship. Now, it’s about letting go of all that we cling to, letting go of all the things in our life that, even if they might make us feel comfortable and secure, just aren’t serving us anymore.
“We think, ‘I need this person,’ ‘I need this substance,’ ‘I need to buy this,’ ‘I need to identify as this.’ But we really need very few things.
“I held on to that song and it sort of ended up being the theme for this whole album: Letting go of everything except for the true unconditional forces of love.”
by David-Elijah Nahmod
Mark your calendars. The weekend of May 16 will see the return of Oaklash, Oakland’s annual festival of queer and trans performance. The festivities will include parties at some of the city’s hottest nightspots, including the White Horse Bar, which has operated as a gay bar since 1933. It is said to be the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the United States.
The weekend will also include an all-day block party in historic Old Oakland which promises to offer all manner of fun and exciting drag performances. While the bar events are open only to people over the age of 21, the block party will welcome people of all ages.
According to Oakland based drag artist Mama Celeste, Oakland is the perfect locale for a festival like Oaklash because the city is where Bay Area culture is made. Celeste pointed out that so many performers who are known in San Francisco actually live in Oakland. Oaklash seeks to give these queer and trans artists a chance to work in their own backyard.
In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Mama Celeste spoke about what Oaklash will entail and whether or not the current anti-DEI backlash will have any effect on the weekend.
David-Elijah Nahmod: First, please tell me the meaning of the name Oaklash. Mama Celeste: The name Oaklash is a reference to other city’s drag festivals like Bushwig and WigWood. We wanted a celebration like that here in the Bay Area so we copied them without
the Key of Love,’ a queer and spirited debut album
A festive moment at Oaklash’s 2024 block party
Oakland’s festival of queer and trans performance returns Oaklash
Fred Rowe
Michael Korie LIBRETTIST Stewart Wallace COMPOSER
Étoile
by Brian Bromberger
If you are a fan of ballet, the new Amazon MGM Studios eight-episode series “Étoile” (which means ‘star’ in French), may or may not enchant you. There’s no doubt the series creators, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino (“Gilmore Girls,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) adore this art form, though the former insists “Etoile” is not a dance show, but a show about dancers.
While the show is not “Black Swan”like dark or hyper-realistic, it displays an ambivalence about how the artistry emerges as well as its tension with profit, because all the characters are obsessed with ballet, caring and thinking only of their work, with all its accompanying pain and passion.
Rarely has a series been stacked with so many grating, insufferable characters. Consequently, the viewer might not be sure whether it’s ballet
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that distorts the dancers or vice versa. But the program reminds us that ballet is as much a sport as it is entertainment and a physically demanding one that takes a crushing toll on the body. Yet the artistry retains its transcendent dynamism, as does this flawed series in fits and starts.
First position
The premise is simple. Two dance companies, Le Ballet National in Paris, headed by jarring interim director Genevieve Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Metropolitan Ballet in New York, steered by nervous wreck Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby, Emmy winner as comic Lenny Bruce in “Maisel”), both struggle after the pandemic with sluggish ticket sales and dwindling audiences. They agree to swap their top dancers and choreographers in a huge publicity blitz to induce excitement in both corps. Also, Jack and Genevieve are on-again, off-again former lovers.
As part of the deal, prima (“étoile”) ballerina star Cheyenne Toussaint (Lou de Laâge), an eco-warrior in her leisure time, is sent to Paris to dance, while a promising young French dancer Mishi Duplessis (Tais Vinolo) based in New York and whose mother is Minister of Culture, returns home.
Hot, but socially inept, neurotic, and coded-as-autistic choreographer Tobias Bell (Gideon Glick) is included in the package, shipped out against his will, without his beloved Crest toothpaste (I’m not making this up) even as he vexes his new Parisian colleagues, all except ambitious young corps de ballet dancer Gabin (Ivan du Pontavice).
And who is financing this transAtlantic project, but villain billionaire arms and chemicals manufacturer –
and probable war criminal – Crispin Shamblee (gay actor/director Simon Callow) but this ruthless monster (whom Jack calls the Devil) also has studied and worships ballet. He delivered the eulogy at Rush Limbaugh’s funeral.
Wordy, whimsy
There are too many subordinate characters for whom the show fails to do justice, with intermittent cameo guests, such as Jonathan Groff and David Byrne. At times the characters seem at cross-purposes, probably because like the series, they are experiencing an identity crisis (it’s neither a comedy or a drama), which might also explain why they struggle to communicate with each other.
“Étoile” wants to be whimsical, but you can’t really root for most of these obnoxious characters, who constantly seem to be yelling at each other. Also, the New York chapters are more captivating than the Parisian ones. Fortunately, the two gay characters, Tobias and Gabin, are probably the most likable, but their union doesn’t emerge until the final two episodes.
Yet for all its shortcomings, the series isn’t a mess, primarily due to the dancing, of which there’s not enough. But when they do materialize, it’s glorious and the show’s ace card.
Sherman-Palladino’s stroke of
Generational art ache
“Mother, Mary, and Me,” like many of Rogers’ songs, incorporates lyrical references to Christian tropes. But while he did attend church during his childhood, Rogers now describes himself as deeply spiritual and philosophical, but unaffiliated with any organized religion.
Ironically, among the texts that Rogers turned to for spiritual fortification during the same post-college period he wrote “Mother, Mary, and Me,” were the “Harry Potter” books, a touchstone of his queer generation.
“The first movie came out when I was four years old,” he recalled. “So, these are stories that had been with me for my whole life. I was really sad, and I hadn’t read the books since I was 12, so I went back to them because they were comforting to me.”
Rogers, whose own mother and father were unequivocally accepting when he came out to them in sixth grade, said he felt the Potter series “spoke to so many young queer children. I kind of feel like queerness is this mystical superpower that society doesn’t understand, and that people feel they need to hide. There are so many parallels to queerness in those books.
“Then, right around the time I reread them in 2019, the news [about J.K. Rowling’s public anti-trans positions] began to come out.”
Rogers, who writes lyrics like, “God bless the straight man in a dress… God bless the trans-kid from Texas”
viewer’s nerves. She lacks any comedic touch, which might soften the character’s cantankerous disposition.
There are two standout performances. Glick stunningly conveys the challenges of being neurodivergent and provides much of the series’ comic strands. His push-and-pull chemistry with du Pontavice alternating between closeness and aloofness is spot on the mark, so when they mesh romantically, it’s the emotional climax of the series.
De Laâge’s Cheyenne is tour-deforce acting. She’s abrasive and petulant, driving away everyone in her furious path, but you can’t take your eyes off her, as she steals every scene, no matter how outrageous, including one bit where she literally gives a lecture to Jack’s groin.
genius was to cast real professional dancers in some of the supporting roles, giving them authenticity amidst some of the absurd plots. In fact, the talented dancing often reveals more about the characters than the wordy scripts.
Choreographer Marguerite Derricks deserves congratulations both for her own innovative ballet creations and snippets from classics like “Swan Lake” and “Romeo and Juliet.” All these performances remind us how thrillingly primal dance can be.
Rapid-fire banter
The other bright spot is ShermanPallodino’s signature snappy dialogue, with witty rapid-fire banter between the characters reminiscent of a Preston Sturges movie, with fun, wellplaced pop culture references. She excels at developing brash, at times funny (but not enough) women, especially the weird complicated asymmetry between mothers and daughters.
The acting is generally commendable. Kirby carries most of the weight with his sardonic, harried charm. Unfortunately, Gainsborough is either miscast or her character is poorly developed, so irritable, the only feeling or emotion conveyed is being frazzled or pissed at the world. There’s no vulnerability displayed, only an unbending toughness that grates on the
and whose gauzy, glittery stage wardrobe celebrates gender fluidity, says, “It felt like being stabbed in the heart. Where do I stand now? Let me put it this way: I have very fond memories of the stories.”
Later, when you realize how emotionally damaged she is, you ache for her. One of the characters flatters Cheyenne, “To watch you dance is like dying and finding out there actually is a heaven,” and de Laâge makes you believe every word of that assessment is true.
And then there’s that other scene stealer, the great Simon Callow, playing a control freak who even manages to draw laughs from almost unspeakable crimes. Yet his saving grace is his compulsion to save ballet. Some of his scenes are cringe-worthy, but you wind up forgiving him anyway. Callow recognizes the campy elements here and runs with them.
We are left with an intense, exhausting show due to its almost too-fastpace. Still, there’s an undeniable boldness and creative energy that keeps you rooting for its success. ShermanPalladino has a two-year contract with Amazon/MGM, so there’ll be a second season.
With some rewriting and editing, especially refining some of the disagreeable elements and perhaps a willingness to take some more original narrative risks, a hit show is lurking underneath the surface. Let’s hope Sherman-Palladino can find it, and rescue not only ballet but the series itself.t
https://www.amazon.com/EtoileSeason-1/dp/B0DYL5TRQT
Hitting the road
The release of “In the Key of Love” was significantly delayed when Rogers, who has Crohn’s disease, was hospitalized for more than a month last summer, ultimately undergoing surgery for an intestinal rupture.
Now fully recovered from the procedure and with his Crohn’s in remission, Rogers is celebrating his new album, but perhaps even more excited about returning to the road. He made his Bay Area debut with a stunning, Bowie-esque show at Bimbo’s in 2023 and returned later that year opening for Kesha at the Fox.
“Recording music is actually not a natural thing for me,” he said. “I don’t love technology. At home, I don’t have any special equipment or studio monitors. I have a piano, I have a guitar, and I have the voice memo app on my phone. That’s how I write.
“I’m so proud of what we’ve done with the album, but I’ve always been more of a live creature than a studio person,” he said. “I love the experience of performing my songs for an audience. That’s how music has been listened to for at least 40,000 years. We’ve only been recording it for 150.” Rogers will return to Northern California as a special guest on the final leg of Cyndi Lauper’s farewell tour this summer (Toyota Amphitheater, Wheatland, Aug. 23; Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, Aug. 24). A solo tour will follow later in the year.t
www.jakewesleyrogers.com
<< Jake Wesley Rogers From page 11
Jake Wesley Rogers in concert at Bimbo’s in 2023
Jim Gladstone
Gideon Glick, Luke Kirby and dancers in ‘Etoile’ Amazon/MGM
Jake Wesley Rogers’ new album
‘Punk Pride’ at the Chan Center
by Jim Provenzano
Punk Pride, the outrageous creation of drag star Peaches Christ and conductor Edwin Outwater, has enlisted a bevy of performers for their Thursday, May 22 party at the Chan Queer Arts Center.
Glamamore, Kachina Rude, Miss Rahni, Leigh Crow, filmmaker H.P.
Mendoza, Lindsay Slowhands, Mary Vice, Trixxie Carr and Queera Nightly are set to rev up the new arts space with some mosh pit-worthy performances. Andy Meyerson leads the house band in live music performances.
From the Sex Pistols to the Ramones to Green Day, the event celebrates the queer subcultures that created the world of punk rock as we
know it today. All the while, the standing-room-only crowd will be immersed in moody lighting, loud amps, and beer. Dress in your counterculture best (or worst?) for an unforgettable night of anti-establishment 18+ fun.
But wait. What’s punk about drag?
“I’ve honestly been surprised by how confused some people online have been about us presenting a show that features drag performers doing punk music,” wrote cohost Peaches Christ (aka Joshua Grannell) in a social media post. “To me, punk and drag have always been inherently connected. Both are about subversion, reinvention, defiance; they challenge norms, push boundaries, and revel in the art of disruption. Performing in drag itself was punk when I started.
“Sometimes I wonder if drag has gotten a bit too polished or mainstream, too square, even, Peaches added. “I hope people take the time to dig deeper and discover the pioneers who truly embodied the radical spirit of drag and punk. Artists like Jayne County, the New York Dolls, Leigh Bowery, and David Hoyle didn’t just blur the lines between gender, art, and rebellion. They helped define what punk could be.”
The show is 90 minutes with no advance seating. Request a chair in advance if you need one. $50 admission includes two drink tickets. VIP $100 tickets include an afterparty with pizza and drinks.t
Punk Pride, May 22, 8pm. 170 Valencia St. www.sfgmc.org
For more nightlife and arts events, check out Going Out, our weekly listings, only on www.ebar.com.
Peaches Christ hosts a night of rock ‘n’ roll drag and hilarity
Punk Pride host Peaches Christ
Performers include: Upper Left: Kochina Rude Upper Right: Trixxie Carr Middle Left: H.P. Mendoza Middle Right: Miss Rahni Lower Left: Leigh Crow Lower Right: Queera Nightly.
Hillary Carlip’s kitchy pop-up book
by Gregg Shapiro
When you hear the name of the queer writer Hillary Carlip, you probably think of her best-selling, 2006 Lambda Literary Award finalist memoir, “Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan.”
When you hear the name of the songwriter Allee Willis, you likely think of the massive hit songs she co-wrote including “September” and “Boogie Wonderland” (Earth, Wind and Fire), “Neutron Dance” (Pointer Sisters), or “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” (Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield), among others.
But what happens when you put the names Hillary Carlip and Allee Willis together? You get the mindblowing pop-up book “Willis Wonderland: The Legendary House of Pop-Up Kitsch” (Willis Wonderland Foundation). Co-written by Trudi Roth, with illustrations by Neal McCullough, and pop-up design and paper engineering by Mike Malkovas, the book is a well-deserved tribute to Willis, a music and pop culture legend who passed away in 2019. Hillary generously made time to talk about the book at the time of its release.
Gregg Shapiro: Beginning with Alexis Spraic’s 2024 documentary, “The World According to Allee Willis,” and continuing with your book “Willis Wonderland,” would it be fair to say that we are in the midst of an Allee Willis renaissance?
Hillary Carlip: [Laughs] I think renaissance is an interesting word, because she was in a constant renaissance herself. Always reinventing herself and always up to really unusual, amazing creations. We’re just paying tribute by carrying that on in all the ways we can.
How did you meet Allee?
I met her so long ago. It was the early ’80s, I think. We knew people in
common. We had mutual friends. The funny thing is, for so long she’s had her hair in an asymmetrical cut, with one side longer. My marker is I’ve known her as long as when her hair was even [laughs]. That’s how far back we go.
How did the “Willis Wonderland” book come to be?
After Allie passed in 2019, her partner Prudence [Fenton] started the Willis Wonderland Foundation. The whole purpose is to carry on Allee’s legacy and also to empower the next generation of artists. That was started in about 2020-2021. We started on the book about a year ago.
As I said, I’ve known Allee a long time. I also helped Prudence, in the beginning, get the foundation on its feet. She came to me and said, “I want to memorialize the house somehow. And the collection in the house. What do you think about doing a pop-up book?”
I’m an author. I’ve written five other books. I’m also an artist and designer, so I was like, “Sure!” I had no idea what it would take to do a pop-up book! I started researching and found, “Oh, you need a paper engineer!” Who even knew that was a thing?
I found a bunch of them, put the project out (to them), and narrowed it down. Then I found like an incredible paper engineer in Paris who was
that’s nothing new. Trans and queer people have been the victims of extremist violence and hate crimes for as long as we’ve been throwing on our mother’s pearls and discount frocks. A festival like this is basically like running a small temporary city, and we’ve learned so much
wild about the topic and Allee and had also been working with an illustrator in Ireland since the early days of the Foundation. We did the logo and the branding. The three of us collaborated and created what people have been calling “a pop-up book on steroids.”
That’s a fitting description. Was it always envisioned as a pop-up book, or were there other iterations?
Always that. I think the thought came to Prudence. A pop-up book would be a tactile, interactive way to show the house and the collection, and Allee.
about how to create safe and accessible spaces for our community that the rest of the country should learn from us.
Does the end of DEI practices affect your corporate sponsorship or do you still have a lot of sponsors?
What do you think Allee would think of the book?
I think she’d be very happy. I think she’d be kvelling, as she’d say. Because I think when you see it, everyone has said they feel like they’re in the house; been to the house, seen the house, and experienced it. That would make her very happy.
How long did it take from start to finish?
I’m going to say about a year, but the three of us were busy on other projects, too. It wasn’t just the book.
Do you have a favorite room in the book?
What a great question! I love her art studio, I think, because it has a lot of interactivity. In the book, everything is illustrated except pictures of Allee in each room. Those are actual photographs of her in different eras. In the art studio, I used one from the ’80s where her dog is on her lap. I made it so you could pull a tab, and the dog would lick her face. The tongue goes up and down. There are a lot of different pull tabs. Also, she had a skylight, and we put in a spinner to go from day to night. I think there’s a lot going on in there. You see her awards that she’s won, like from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Grammys. It’s a special room to me.
I love that there is an image in the Rec Room of Allee’s out-ofprint 1974 “Childstar” album, of which I am proud to say I own a copy on vinyl. I have chills! That is fantastic! I love hearing that.
Do you know if, through the foundation or whatever, there is a new vinyl reissue or long-awaited CD edition of “Childstar” in the works?
They’ve got it on Spotify, which is a big thing. To promote the [documentary] film, they put together a vinyl
with some selections from it and some demos. I’m going to see if there is still a copy lying around and, if so, I’m going to get you one.
That would be amazing! What do you hope readers will get from their “Willis Wonderland” book experience?
Everything Allee did was so highlevel creative and so full of joy. Right now, with everything going on in the country and the world, we need joy. We need it. And the art and creativity, and inspiration. I’m hoping it brings that to everyone who sees it.
When I interviewed Lauren Wood in 2020, we talked about Allee, and Lauren revealed that she and Allee had been a couple. Yes, that is actually how I met Allee. I said mutual friends (earlier), but it was through Lauren.
In terms of being out publicly, would you agree that maybe Allee wasn’t comfortable with that part of her identity until she was with Prudence?
I don’t think she was ever fully comfortable with it. She grew up in a time when people were closeted and had to be for their careers. Her family, and no one was accepting. She always put it somewhere in the closet. To her, it was so much more important to express her creativity and individuality. She didn’t want to be labeled by anything.
Have you started working on or thinking about your next creative project?
Thank you for asking! I am so obsessed with these pop-up books now. I just want to do them for anyone who wants one. I feel like it’s such a lost art. I would love to keep doing them.t
‘Willis Wonderland: The Legendary House of Pop-Up Kitsch’ $59.99 www.hillarycarlip.com www.alleewillis.com williswonderlandpopupbook.com
We’ve never relied heavily on corporate sponsors to produce our event. San Francisco Pride lost more money this year than we’ve ever needed to produce our block party. A lot of us have been asking for Pride celebrations across the country to decenter their corporate overlords for a long time and go back to their community roots, but that ship has sailed. It’s why something like Oaklash needs to exist. It’s the benefit of working in community and not being a huge institution like Pride is. We know we can rely on the people who show up to our events year after year to keep our organization afloat. Every dollar really truly does count.
Please tell me about your kickoff party at the White Horse Inn. Why is it called ApocaLipstick?
It’s time for a cultural reset. We’re living through the end of the world, and it’s time to start partying like it. We’re starting the festival off by ushering in a new era. ApocaLipstick is hosted by Piss E. Sissy, who is known for bringing fetish and drag together as one, and will feature a work in progress of our upcoming residency program The Last 7 Days of Obsidienne Obsurd, who is a drag artist and an experimental violist. Leave the kids at home for this one, it’s gonna get weird.
Please tell me about the Oaklash Block Party. Performers come around from
Colorful tribute to songwriter Allee Willis
around the country for our an-
Block Party, which is truly the most fun anyone could have in a day.
Oakland has so much food and culture that we don’t have to bring much to the neighborhood to show its vibrancy, but sixty trans and queer performers, forty local art vendors, five food and drink vendors, including our bar partners at the White
Author Hillary Carlip
The late Allee Willis
Oaklash
From page 11
Above: Mama Celeste at Oakland’s Golden Bull Below: A festive moment at Oaklash’s 2023 block party
Fred Rowe
The Einstein of Sex
by Tim Pfaff
It’s possible, even likely, that when W.W. Norton & Company decided to publish two fine new books about Magnus Hirschfeld –Daniel Brook’s “The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, Visionary of Weimar Berlin” and Brandy Schillace’s “The Intermediaries: A Weimar Story”– it timed publication to recognize the 90th death anniversary of the founder and chief researcher of Berlin’s groundbreaking Institute for Sexual Science. Then it happened that pub. date eerily coincided more closely with the night in 1933 that Hitler’s goons raided the good doctor’s Institute for Sexual Science and burned it down.
What perhaps none of the parties could have foreseen was that these new books would appear as Americans stare bug-eyed through the windshield as an autocratic orange monster looms in the headlights. Both books chart the advancing horror of national socialism, with its sinister obsession with traditional sexual roles and racial purity. The Nazis’ suppression of all the pollutants of this purity is a central “character,” if not the essential one.
The books are not groundbreaking in the sense of giving first exposure to this particular compelling chapter in pre-Stonewall LGBTQ history. Gay readers with little more than a passing interest in queer history will likely have heard of Hirschfeld and his Institute. Perhaps they know that Hirschfeld coined the word homosexuality (Homosexualität, of course) or at least is credited as having done so.
The full story is complex and endlessly fascinating and will probably never be told all in one place, although the literature to date is as impressive as it is serious. While telling the known stories anew (and some new ones), these two immensely readable books offer galleries of new pictures to further fill out the picture.
The “born-that-way” theorist
A gay Jew, Hirschfeld was on the radar of fascists before Hitler and in the Nazis’ crosshairs. Because the innovative institute he founded focused –in a highly serious, scientific way, if also with “heart”– on the “other” sexualities, with heavy concentrations on male homosexuality and transsexuality. The “purity”-seeking Nazis had no time for it, except to raid and burn it.
To date, most of the writing about Hirschfeld and his Institute has, rightly, focused on his achievements and less about Hirschfeld the person. The doctor himself acknowledged the moniker “the Einstein of sex” –insofar as it showed that both scientists studied relativity.
For Hirschfeld it was sexual relativity. Over time he posited a male-female continuum with no fixed gender points; the place an individual drops
<< Oaklash
From page 14
Horse, and two stages of DJs, music and dancing, and drag certainly helps to make it a party not to forget.
Will you be performing at any time during Oaklash?
Hell no! I work so hard leading up to this event every year that I finally get the weekend off just to enjoy the party. I’ll turn a look or three of course, so you can come take a picture with me if you’re lucky. But my goal every year is to go have the time of my life while my team holds down the event. So don’t ask me any questions unless it’s, ‘Can I buy you a drink? t
The complete Oaklash schedule:
May 16, 8pm-2am, White Horse Inn, 6551 Telegraph Ave.
Author Daniel Brook
anchor, on some sexuality or other or none, is indeed their individual slot on that continuum. By the end of his career, he assigned this sexual relativity to its own place in the larger, encompassing continuum of all life on Earth. His was a cosmology that had read its Darwin.
Booth is solid on the facts but unafraid to be engaging in his tone describing the subject he really loves, which I found refreshing. His chapters and their titles stake out the territory in new ways, and Hirschfeld the man comes to the fore, winningly.
Booth walks the reader through Hirschfeld’s own coming out, a latelife interracial love (Hirschfeld saw race on a continuum too), even his presence at the world’s first genderaffirming surgery, which took place at the Institute. By the time we see the Nazis’ volcano of burning books –Hirschfeld’s– it presages his forced exile from Germany and the effective end of a vital avenue of research.
Trans stories and rights
In “The Intermediaries,” Schillace, a historian and writer of fiction as well as non-fiction, tells the story of the Institute’s famously groundbreaking work on transexualism and its public discontents. She tells that part of the story through the voice of Dora Richter, a patient at the Institute in a tireless pursuit of her true identity as a woman.
Schillace’s “Weimar Story” is initially an examination of Germany during the rise of Hitler, before Hitler, though the Cabaret culture she depicts is soon enough shorn of snappy tunes. The author’s chief accomplishment here is the tracing of connections between sex research and the nascent queer rights movement. Although it’s obviously deeply researched, the book is told with a fiction writer’s feeling for character, event, and that thing we used to call meaning.
In these two books, history comes alive with the full-blooded character of Hirschfeld and the quests not only of the scientists but of the people they championed. Both are written
ApocaLipstick, the official Oaklash 2025 kickoff. Featuring Piss E Sissy, Obsidienne Obsurd, DJ NoSilence. $20 suggested donation. 21+ only.
May 17, 1pm-8pm, Old Oakland, 9th Street and Broadway, Oaklash Block Party; hosts: Nicki Jizz, Beatrix Lahaine, Yayah the Artist, Mudd the Two Spirit, La Chucha, Militia Scunt. Headliner is Yvie Oddly. $20 suggested donation. All ages welcome.
May 17, 8pm-2am @ Fluid510, Oaklash Afterkii, 1544 Broadway, featuring Sir Joq, DJ Mnemonics, $20 suggested donation, 18+ only.
May 18, 6pm @ Defremery Park, 1601 Poplar St., Panther Skate Plaza, Cool down in collaboration with Radically Fit, hosted by Cheetah Biscotti. $20 suggested donation. All ages welcome. www.oaklash.com
Homo-Sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld newly considered
with the compassion of authors who feel deeply for the human yearnings and courageous actions of people for whom the work was urgent, deeply personal, and explicitly in the hope of present –and future– deepened
understanding and acceptance of othersexuality.t
Daniel Brook’s ‘The Einstein of Sex: Dr.Magnus Hirschfeld Visionary of Weimar Berlin,’
Pride Day July 5
� Show your pride colors and join us for Pride Day at the Fair.
� Community Stage programming all day long by Out at the Fair.
� Free Mom Hugs!
LGBTQ+ country singers Chris Housman at 7pm and Brooke Eden at 8pm on the Island Stage
Ride the rides, enjoy the fine art and photography exhibits, explore the Barnyard, and stay for fireworks over the Lagoon at 9:30pm.
Author Brandy Schillace
