May 2, 2013 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

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Pacific Center turns 40

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Restoring gay man's meadow

ARTS

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Michael Feinstein

The

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

Vol. 43 • No. 18 • May 2-8, 2013

Manning nixed by Pride board by James Patterson

T Jason Collins made history this week.

NBA player makes history by Roger Brigham

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hen David Kopay learned this week that basketball player Jason Collins had become the first active male athlete in a major U.S. professional sports league to come out of the closet, he said he could not restrain his tears. “I’m so pleased to be around to see this,” Kopay told the Bay Area Reporter. “Think of what Harvey [Milk] would have thought of it.” If one person has an appreciation of what awaits Collins, 37, in the wake of the NBA player’s public disclosure in the cover story of the current issue of Sports Illustrated, it is Kopay, a former pro football player who once played for the 49ers. In 1975, when he became the first retired player in any major U.S. pro league to come out of the closet, many expected his announcement to be followed by an avalanche of players coming out in short order. Instead we have had decades of waiting to exhale. “Today I just found myself weeping,” Kopay, 70, said. “It’s so fucking wonderful.” So wonderful, and so all over the news, which was awash with tales of President Barack Obama phoning Collins, many NBA players – and first lady Michelle Obama – tweeting support, rehashes of every past player coming out reporters could remember, and speculation about how much interest the former Stanford star will draw when he tries to sign on as a free agent with a new team after playing last season with the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards. “I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport,” Collins wrote in Sports Illustrated. “But since I am, I’m happy to start the conSee page 8 >>

he board that oversees the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade is facing a backlash from community members after it rescinded a community grand marshal honor for Army Private First Class Bradley Manning, the gay man who leaked 700,000 classified government documents to WikiLeaks. Two days after releasing the list of grand marshals that included Manning, Lisa Williams, president of the board of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, issued a terse statement that said his selection had been a “mistake” and that he would not be a grand marshal. Manning, 25, who is currently in a military prison awaiting a court-martial, has a wide group of supporters in the LGBT community and beyond. He confessed in open court earlier this year to providing the material to WikiLeaks and is facing at least 20 years in prison. On Monday, April 29, a hastily arranged protest was held outside of the Pride Committee’s Market Street offices, where famed Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg said he would march in June’s Pride Parade in support of Manning.

Rick Gerharter

With an image of Army Private First Class Bradley Manning behind him, famed Pentagon papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg spoke in support Manning being named a grand marshal of the San Francisco Pride Parade at a protest outside the Pride Committee’s offices. Manning’s selection was nixed by Pride board President Lisa Williams two days after being announced.

An estimated 200 protesters were at the rally, expressing their frustration at Williams

for rescinding the selection of Manning. See page 9 >>

Agency caters to homebound seniors

by Matthew S. Bajko

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ive days a week Polk Gulch resident Candi Guerrero has food delivered to her by a driver with Meals on Wheels of San Francisco. It’s been a weekly ritual for the last nine years. “They make this great beef stew. It reminds me of when I lived in New Orleans and would eat at this French restaurant that served beef bourguignon,” said Guerrero, a transgender woman who celebrated her 70th birthday last month. After reading about Meals on Wheels in an obituary in the Bay Area Reporter, Guerrero asked her doctor at the Tom Waddell Health Center, a city-funded clinic for transgender people, about the program. Guerrero, who uses a cane, was experiencing mobility issues due to arthritis and contracting hepatitis C. Juggling the cost of her medications and grocery bills proved to be challenging. With her doctor’s recommendation, Guerrero was accepted as a Meals client. “It is a life preserver as far as I am concerned,” she said. Since 1970 the nonprofit agency has delivered nutritious meals to San Francisco seniors who want to age in their home but have trouble cooking their own meals or leaving the house to grocery shop. Today it serves 2,100 clients on a weekly basis. Last fiscal year the agency delivered 1,060,199 meals. The majority fed people age 60 and over, while 80 clients are disabled young adults, ranging in age from 18 to 59 with most in their 50s.

Rick Gerharter

Meals on Wheels client Candi Guerrero, left, talks with driver Jim Fleming.

“We are not serving seniors who are healthy enough to go to a food bank or congregate at a meal site. We are focused on someone who can’t leave the house to buy groceries or cook their own food consistently,” explained Ashley C. McCumber, 51, Meals’ executive director since 2007. Its client base continues to grow at a rapid pace as the city’s population grays. The agency had projected 5 percent growth for fiscal year 2012-2013; instead it has seen 14 percent. “We have grown 47 percent in less than six years,” said McCumber. The agency tries to see that any senior that qualifies for its services waits no longer than 30 days to

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start receiving meals, with emergency cases approved within three days. “Our average wait time is around 22 days or less,” said McCumber. Its current budget is set at $7.3 million, up from nearly $6.5 million in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. According to its most recent tax filing, McCumber earned $174,652 in salary and benefits in the 20112012 fiscal year, while its program costs totaled more than $5.8 million. “Food is half our budget,” said McCumber, as the agency provides clients with two meals for each day. Private donations account for 60 percent of the See page 8 >>


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