November 20, 2025 edition of the Bay Area Reporter
John Ferannini
Bay Area Reporter publisher Michael Yamashita, left, admired the Rainbow Honor Walk plaque for Bob Ross, the paper’s founding publisher, with former state legislator Mark Leno, former B.A.R. publisher Thomas E. Horn, Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, and former supervisor Bevan Dufty.
B.A.R. publisher plaque unveiled
by Cynthia Laird
On a crisp fall day, San Francisco politicos, emperors, and members of the Bay Area Reporter family paid tribute to the paper’s founding publisher, Bob Ross. The occasion was the unveiling of a plaque for Ross by the Rainbow Honor Walk outside of 508 Castro Street, near the site of the former Harvey’s bar and restaurant.
Ross, who died in 2003, likely would have approved of the November 17 ceremony, as he was referred to as intimidating, a curmudgeon and even “an asshole,” all accurate descriptors, several speakers agreed. But his contributions to the LGBTQ community were many, and they were also noted.
The Rainbow Honor Walk is a nonprofit that honors deceased LGBTQ luminaries with sidewalk plaques throughout the LGBTQ Castro district. Donna Sachet, a former empress and onetime B.A.R. society columnist, serves as board president for the honor walk. The project began in 2014 with the installation of the first 20 plaques, said Sachet, who now pens a column for the San Francisco Bay Times. Additional plaques were installed in 2018, 2019, and then, 2022. The three-year gap was attributed to changes in city rules, she explained.
It also costs money to design and install the plaques. As previously reported, the honor walk is looking at possibly changing how it selects people and fundraises for the plaques. Right now, there are about 20 people who’ve been selected but plaques for whom have not yet been installed.
Last month, a plaque honoring Irish human rights activist Roger Casement was unveiled on the other side of Castro Street from the site of Ross’ plaque. Plans are underway to install four more plaques currently held in storage by the end of the year or in early 2026, Sachet said, with one being for the late lesbian trailblazer Phyllis Lyon, whose late wife Del Martin is already honored with a plaque on 19th Street.
See page 8 >>
Gay makeup artist works to move forward after prison release
by John Ferrannini
Months after his release from an El Salvador megaprison known for reported human rights abuses, a gay Venezuelan makeup artist is having trouble finding work because of how notoriety found him. Andry Jose Hernández Romero had been sent to the prison by the Trump administration earlier this year.
Hernández Romero, 32, told the Bay Area Reporter he is currently with his family in Venezuela. After opening up about his experiences at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known by the Spanish acronym CECOT, he stated, “Some beauty salons refuse to hire me because they associate me with criminality or say I belong to the Venezuelan government.”
He added that he is “attending to some clients who contact me because of all the labels imposed on us by the Trump administration.”
Asked what other plans he has in mind for the future, Hernández Romero stated he “will continue fighting for human rights and for the entire LGBT community. If it happens to one, it happens to all.”
He also wants to be able to open a foundation to help children with HIV, cancer, and those living on the streets, he continued, called the Angel of God Foundation.
“Otherwise, I’ll work hard and be able to help my parents,” he stated.
Hernández Romero said he wasn’t aware of the LGBTQ supporters who’d rallied for his release during his time in confinement.
“I didn’t know people were advocating for me in the four months and two days I was detained over
there in El Salvador,” he told the B.A.R., in remarks translated from Spanish during a recent virtual interview. “I didn’t have any contact with the exterior. I didn’t know the time. I didn’t know anything.”
As the B.A.R. previously reported, Hernández Romero left Venezuela for the U.S. in May 2024, citing his political views and homosexuality as reasons to seek asylum. He had been detained at an immigration facility in San Diego since August of that year when he crossed the U.S.-Mexican border. He’d had a pre-arranged asylum hearing in San Diego at the time of his removal to El Salvador, according to reports.
“After I came, I right away got detained at the immigration center in San Diego,” he said during the interview. “I stayed for six months where I went to many different courts to ask for asylum.”
In March, Hernández Romero was among a group of Venezuelan migrants sent to El Salvador. Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began in January, his administration made a deal with Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele to house 238 Venezuelan migrants at CECOT. The megaprison was built as part of Bukele’s gang crackdown, and the Trump administration alleged that the migrants were members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
See page 9 >>
No nod from LGBTQ caucus in Lt. Gov. race
by Matthew S. Bajko
Despite it being the only race at the moment that could ensure there is an LGBTQ statewide elected leader come 2027, the affinity group for out California legislators is sitting out the 2026 primary contest for lieutenant governor. It is a disappointing decision for gay candidate Janelle Kellman, a Democrat who is trying to nail down the support of more LGBTQ leaders and organizations for her candidacy to be the Golden State’s second-in-command.
Candidates were informed in recent days of the decision by the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus not to endorse in the race to succeed Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, the Bay Area Reporter has learned. The Democrat is term-limited from running again for her statewide position and is a candidate in 2026 to be the next state treasurer.
“The Caucus reviewed all applications submitted for endorsement consideration. After careful review, the Caucus decided to forgo endorsing in the Lieutenant Governor’s race at this time,” according to an email sent by a consultant for the caucus that was reviewed by the B.A.R.
Spokespeople for the affinity group have yet to respond to the B.A.R.’s request for comment about its decision.
In response to a request for comment from the B.A.R., Kellman expressed her disappointment at not receiving the affinity group’s support of her candidacy.
“I’m profoundly disappointed in the California
Legislative LGBTQ Caucus’ decision to not endorse in this race. All over the nation, people are demanding change. They want leaders who will stand up and fight for them, for basic human rights and dignity,” stated Kellman. “The caucus chose to stay on the sidelines, which is a vote for politics as usual, against upcoming LGBTQ leaders.”
Kellman, 52, is an environmental attorney who founded and is CEO of nonprofit Center for Sea Rise Solutions. The former member of the Sausalito City Council is running in a crowded field in next
year’s June 2 primary where only the top two votegetters will advance to the November ballot.
As the B.A.R.’s Political Notebook reported last week, Kellman launched her lieutenant governor bid two years ago but has struggled to break out from the pack of her better-known opponents in the race in terms of media coverage, endorsements and donations. Nonetheless, she has remained dogged in seeking the position.
The East Area Progressive Democrats based in Los Angeles endorsed her last month. Earlier this year, Kellman had secured the support of LPAC, the political action committee that helps elect LGBTQ women and nonbinary candidates to office across the U.S. She is now seeking endorsements from two other high-profile LGBTQ groups, Equality California and the nationally focused LGBTQ+ Victory Fund. In doing so, Kellman has been highlighting the fact that should she lose her race, then it could be 2031 before California has another LGBTQ statewide elected leader serving in Sacramento.
“I think that would be terrible, and I don’t think it would represent who we are as a state and who we are as a community. I mean, it makes a lot of sense to have an LGBTQ representative statewide,” Kellman had told the B.A.R. at a fundraiser her campaign held in San Francisco in late October. “I’m the only, openly LGBTQ running for statewide office. So, I just, I think it’s imperative upon us in our community to make sure we create that visibility and we continue to show up.”
See page 8 >>
New rainbow crosswalk
Roddy Bottum
California lieutenant governor candidate Janelle Kellman is trying to break out of the pack in a crowded primary race.
Courtesy the candidate
Andry Jose Hernández Romero was released from a Salvadoran prison in July and is now home in Venezuela.
Courtesy the subject
Oakland celebrates new rainbow crosswalk
by Cynthia Laird
It was Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural
District Day in Oakland Thursday, as Mayor Barbara Lee and many others celebrated the special district’s two-year anniversary and cut the ribbon on a rainbow crosswalk that spans Lakeshore Avenue. The Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, the anchor of the cultural district, was also honored, even as its CEO lamented recent funding cuts from the Trump administration.
The new crosswalk, located just outside the center, is billed as the first thermoplastic one in the city. There had been rainbow crosswalks at 20th and Franklin streets where the Oakland Pride festival has been held. Those, however, have significantly faded and the area was under construction this summer, forcing the Pride festival to move outside City Hall.
The new crosswalk features the colors of the Progress Pride flag. It is not far from the city’s Lake Merritt tidal estuary.
“This neighborhood is the most visibly queer in the East Bay,” said Joe Hawkins, a gay Black man who’s CEO and co-founder of the Oakland community center.
Lee delivered a proclamation to the cultural district.
“It’s part of the fabric of Oakland,” she said. “We’re going to continue to stand with the LGBTQ community and continue to stand with artists and small businesses.”
MC YB, who is queer and serves on the cultural district committee, kept the program going. It featured performances from the Oakland Gay Men’s Chorus and flautist Pied Piper.
The cultural district was launched two years ago, as the Bay Area Reporter noted.
Last year, for the first anniversary, a flagpole and Progress Pride flag was installed outside the LGBTQ center; it was limp during the November 13 event due to the steady rainstorm. Much of the ceremony was moved indoors to the center’s conference room;
the crowd then went outside for the ribbon cutting.
The cultural district includes the Lakeshore Business Improvement District and the historic Grand Lake neighborhood.
Several speakers noted that Oakland’s installation of the rainbow crosswalk comes at a time when cities in red states like Texas and Florida are razing theirs. Ones that were near the Pulse LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Florida, site of the 2016 mass shooting, which were part of a memorial, were destroyed by the Florida Department of Transportation in August. More recently, rainbow crosswalks in Houston’s LGBTQ Montrose neighborhood were bulldozed. That followed a directive from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy that stressed “consistent” roadway markings that are “free from distractions,” NBC News reported.
“We here in Oakland will not back down,” said the Reverend Kevin Mann of First Unitarian Church of Oakland, who delivered a blessing. “We love our LGBTQ siblings; we love our undocumented LGBTQ siblings.”
Lesbian District 2 Oakland City Councilmember Charlene Wang, who took office this spring and represents the cultural district area, said that fellow queer at-large council-
member Rowena Brown designated $40,000 from her office’s discretionary funds for the crosswalk. Wang said that she had done some research on rainbow crosswalks.
“West Hollywood had the first one,” she said, adding it was followed by similar efforts in Seattle and San Francisco. Today, numerous cities have them, even internationally, she noted.
“This effort here connects us,” Wang said, lamenting the destruction of rainbow crosswalks in Florida and Texas.
“Houston caved,” she said. “We’re adding crosswalks. We are a city of proud queers.”
Wang also offered a moment of silence for lesbian couple Peggy Moore and Hope Wood, who were killed in a car crash in 2024. There is a plan to name the plaza in front of the community center the Moore Hope Plaza, Hawkins said.
In terms of new small businesses in the cultural district, Wang suggested a lesbian-owned cafe, bars, “and especially for the trans community, a beauty salon that cares for the trans community.”
Brown told the audience of 50-plus people that she appreciated the work of the Oakland Department of Transportation and the public works team.
SF Two-Spirit group gains nonprofit status
compiled by Cynthia Laird
Bay Area American Indian Two-Spir-
its has gained its nonprofit status, the organization posted on social media. Best known for its annual powwow, BAAITS also announced that it has opened a satellite office at the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center.
The news coincided with National Native American Heritage Month, which is annually observed in November. In a post on Threads last week, administrators of BAAITS touted the developments.
“As of October 2025, thanks to our leadership team, we are officially operating as our own nonprofit 501(c)3 organization,” the post stated. “In November 2025, we opened a satellite office at the Oakland LGBT center. Come visit us.”
BAAITS had been fiscally sponsored by the Queer Cultural Center and the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous People Inc., according to its website.
A BAAITS representative did not return a request for comment. Its web-
site notes that BAAITS’ 15th annual powwow will take place Saturday, February 14. For more information, go to baaits.org.
Milk club to observe trans day of remembrance
The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club’s Trans Caucus will observe the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance Thursday, November 20. The group will hear from speakers
at 5 p.m. outside San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlet Place, before marching to the San Francisco LGBT Community Center at 1800 Market Street.
TDOR, as it’s known, was started by Bay Area Reporter Transmissions columnist Gwen Smith in 1998.
The Milk club invites interested people to “hold space for the friends and community we lost this year,” officials wrote in an Instagram post.
“Our trans siblings need our support now more than ever with their identities continuing to be politic pawns for right wing policies,” the club added. “Your presence is one of the first steps to resistance. Allies always welcome. Hope to see you there.”
Lesbian pie-eating contest
The Curve Foundation and Rikki’s, a women’s sports bar in San Francisco’s Castro LGBTQ neighborhood, will hold a lesbian pie-eating contest Sunday, November 23, at 1 p.m. at 2223 Market Street in San Francisco.
Similar contests have been held in Brooklyn, New York, and Toronto.
“No forks, no hands, no shame,” reads the contest tagline.
There is a $5 entry fee and a prize of $100. Spectators are welcome to watch and those tickets are $10. The event is a fundraiser for Lesbian Visibility Week annually observed at the end of April.
Gay San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman is also a co-sponsor. For more information, go to https:// tinyurl.com/ybf56874
SF Community Health Center events
The San Francisco Community Health Center has events coming up to share the Thanksgiving spirit.
A Grateful Gathering will be held Friday, November 21, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the center’s Community Living Room, 730 Polk Street. The space is a hub for people experiencing homelessness. According to a newsletter announcement, there will be food and friendship at the event, which is for longtime members or those new to the space. People can stop by.
Attendees at the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits powwow entered the ball at the 2024 event.
Courtesy BAAITS
Oakland at-large City Councilmember Rowena Brown, left, and Jeffrey Myers, co-founder of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center and president of the Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural District Committee, waited for other officials to join them to cut the ribbon for the new rainbow crosswalk, which is in the background.
Cynthia Laird
Alice in Wonderland fan? Follow the mesmerizing dancer-illusionists of MOMIX down the rabbit hole in this series of vignettes that are a wild and fantastical take on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland!
San
A little naughty, but mostly nice, the much-adored chorus returns for its annual Christmas celebration.
Revel in the warm sonic embrace of a few hundred talented tenors, baritones, and basses dressed in ugly Christmas sweaters.
Lift your spirits this winter with Ensemble Cherubim! Led by choral director Marika Kuzma, the acclaimed choir brings a stirring program performed in Ukrainian and other languages that reflects music traditionally sung in Ukrainian homes, churches, and town
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Riccardo Muti, conductor
One
Jan
An Evening with Kelli O’Hara
A marquee Broadway star, opera diva, and acclaimed television actor, what can’t Kelli O’Hara do? Don’t miss this special chance to hear her radiant voice, where she sings favorite show tunes and classics from the Great American Songbook!
Jan
ZELLERBACH
Bruce
Capturing the attention of listeners worldwide, the young Chinese Canadian pianist makes his Berkeley debut in a recital featuring a selection of works by Chopin, Beethoven, and a trio of pieces inspired by Spanish themes.
Cécile McLorin Salvant
McLorin
Feb
Martha Graham Dance Company
GRAHAM100: A Celebration of the Company’s 100th Anniversary
Feb 14–15
Soweto Gospel Choir Peace
In this special holiday season concert, the multiGrammy-winning South African cultural ambassadors return to Berkeley singing of love and peace. The program ranges from gospel classics and spirituals to feel-good pop songs by artists like Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Leonard Cohen.
Dec 14
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
WEST COAST PREMIERE Mark Morris Dance Group MOON
Wendall K. Harrington, projections Isaac Mizrahi, costumes
A multimedia extravaganza danced before a backdrop of video, animation, and photo stills of the moon, Mark Morris’ newest creation, MOON, features nine dancers and live music. “A luxuriant dreamlike escape (LA Times).”
Jan 23–25
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
An all-star collaboration! Superstar mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato joins with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts and Grammy-winning chamber ensemble Time for Three in a series of intimate songs based on the deeply touching poetry of Emily Dickinson.
Feb 7
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano Time for Three Emily – No Prisoner Be Somi
Global jazz artist Somi found her musical voice traversing cultural bridges between Africa and the US and weaves storytelling with modern jazz, Afropop, soul, and African sensibilities.
Feb 21
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
47 years post his death, Milk still roils US politics
by Matthew S. Bajko
early five decades since the late gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk’s political career was tragically cut short, the civil rights icon is still roiling politics in the United States. And it appears his hold on the country’s political discourse won’t be fading anytime soon.
As the Political Notebook exclusively reported earlier this month, Milk’s legacy is set to have an impact on the 2028 presidential election. Current and former LGBTQ servicemembers are pushing to see any candidates running that year commit to naming a new naval vessel in his honor.
| san francisco
Dubbed the USNS Harvey Milk Lives! A National Campaign, the initiative is also calling on the candidates to confirm they will nominate a secretary of the navy supportive of making it happen. And the campaign also wants to see both the Democratic and Republican parties insert support for a Milk naval ship into their platforms adopted at their nominating conventions ahead of that November’s election.
“People will not forget about this, and we are going to be dogged about it until it happens,” said gay U.S. Marine Corps veteran Bob Lehman, 60, who is the California state chair for the Milk ship naming campaign.
It stems from the decision in June by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to strip the USNS Harvey Milk of its name. He later rechristened the replenishment oiler the USNS Oscar V. Peterson in honor of a chief watertender killed in battle during World War II.
“They broke a tradition, and it is considered a bad omen and a curse if you strip a name off a Navy ship, which they did,” noted gay San Diego leader Nicole Murray Ramirez, who got to know Milk in the 1970s and first called for a naval ship to be named after him in 2011.
The move by Hegseth prompted a Utah state lawmaker in June to call for changing the name of Harvey Milk Boulevard in downtown Salt Lake City. In September, Republican Representative Trevor Lee introduced a bill to have the roadway be renamed in honor of the late conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated over the summer at Utah Valley University in the city of Orem.
“From the vast majority of Utahns, they would say that Harvey Milk does not have any connection to Utah whatsoever,” Lee told the local ABC affiliate. “But Charlie Kirk does now, especially after being assassinated in the state of Utah.”
As News4Utah noted, neither Kirk nor Milk had direct connections to Salt Lake City. The station also questioned if state lawmakers have any jurisdiction over the naming of the city street, which was changed in 2016 in honor of Milk.
Talking to the Salt Lake Tribune in July, having screened the Oscar-winning documentary “The Times of Harvey Milk,” Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson told the paper she saw no reason to change the name of the street, as it is an “appropriate tribute” to Milk that should remain.
“This can be a challenging state, and I believe that it’s important to remember that we should love and support all members of our community,” Wilson said.
Because they don’t want to see Peterson be dishonored in the same manner as Milk, the leaders of the Milk ship naming campaign are asking for a different vessel to bear the gay leader’s name. Ahead of Veterans Day General Dynamics NASSCO, the company’s San Diego-based shipyard that built the oiler initially named for Milk, announced it has been awarded a $1.7 billion contract to construct two more John Lewis-class fleet replenishment oilers, T-AO 215 and T-AO 216.
They are the second and third ships to be built as part of an eight-vessel multiship contract the company received last year. Since 2016, NASSCO has been con-
tracted to build 17 of the next generation fleet of oilers for the Navy, thus providing plenty of opportunity for another replenishment oiler to be christened the USNS Harvey Milk.
The rescission of the naming honor for Milk, who had enlisted in the Navy in 1951 and was later given an “other than honorable” discharge four years later, made global headlines and elicited outrage from elected officials on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to San Francisco City Hall. Congressmembers Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Lateefah Simon (D-Oakland) and Mark Takano (D-Riverside), the gay chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, were among the 70 members of Congress who had sent a letter to Hegseth demanding he reverse course.
“When the USNS Harvey Milk was commissioned in 2021, former Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro rightfully acknowledged that, ‘for far too long, sailors like Lt. Milk were forced into the shadows or, worse yet, forced out of our beloved Navy. That injustice is part of our Navy history, but so is the perseverance of all who continue to serve in the face of injustice.’ Ordering this renaming and intentionally timing this announcement to coincide with Pride Month is a cruel insult to tens of thousands of LGBTQI+ individuals currently serving in our nation’s military and the nearly one million LGBTQI+ Veterans across the country,” stated the congressmembers in their letter.
As the Bay Area Reporter first reported in February 2020, Milk accepted a forced resignation from the military on February 7, 1955 rather than face a court-martial due to having sex with other servicemembers, according to a trove of naval records obtained by the paper. Nonetheless, he spoke favorably of his time in the service and was wearing his U.S. Navy diver’s belt buckle when he was shot dead.
Later made history
number of police cars on fire during what became known as the White Night Riots. After serving just five years in prison, White won his release and two years later died by suicide.
While White’s death 40 years ago on October 21 was largely overlooked last month, the lives of Milk and Moscone will be celebrated at the yearly vigil and candlelight processional held to honor their memories. The 47th Annual Vigil in Honor of Harvey Milk & George Moscone will take place from 7 to 8 p.m. November 27.
Hosted by the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, the gathering this year coincides with the Thanksgiving holiday. Attendees are asked to gather that evening at Harvey Milk Plaza, the parklet above the Castro Muni station at Castro and Market streets. Following remarks by invited speakers, those gathered will be asked to walk to 575 Castro Street where Milk operated a camera shop and had his campaign headquarters.
The public plaza named after him is set for a major renovation to make it more user-friendly and better honor Milk’s contributions to the local LGBTQ community and the neighborhood.
A planned historical installation for the site is to feature a number of impor - tant LGBTQ residents of the Castro and city.
As Milk would often address those gathered at the site throughout the 1970s for protests and rallies, one feature of the redesigned plaza has been dubbed “The Pedestal.” As the project’s website explains, the raised platform to be built near the intersection of Castro and Market streets will serve as “a focal point for large gatherings and represents Harvey’s idea that each of us plays a role in the movement and that leadership arises from community – anyone can stand on the Pedestal and lead the way toward greater social justice.”
Twenty-two years after being drummed out of the military, Milk made history with his 1977 election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on his third attempt to serve on the city’s governing body. In doing so, the Jewish leader raised in New York became the first gay person elected to office in California. Sadly, a year later Milk and thenmayor George Moscone would be assassinated inside City Hall on the morning of November 27, 1978. Their killer, disgruntled former supervisor Dan White, would further outrage the LGBTQ community when he used his now-famous “Twinkie defense” to avoid being found guilty of murdering the two progressive politicians.
Rather, a jury on May 21, 1979, a day prior to what would have been Milk’s 49th birthday found White guilty of two counts of voluntary manslaughter. The decision led locals to erupt in anger, damage the entrance to City Hall, and set a
Milk’s various speeches received renewed attention this year in Thomas R. Dunn’s book “The Pink Scar: How Nazi Persecution Shaped the Struggle for LGBTQ+ Rights.” Released October 21, coincidentally on the anniversary of White’s death, by Penn State University Press, it is the first book in its Troubling Democracy series.
As the Political Notebook first noted last month, Dunn, a gay man, examined how different generations of American LGBTQ activists framed the atrocities unleased on queer and trans people by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s to advance their civil rights goals. The founder and director of the Queer Memory Project of Northern Colorado, Dunn dedicated an entire chapter to how Milk referenced the Holocaust in his public addresses during and after he won elected office.
A photo of Harvey Milk had been displayed on the USNS Harvey Milk before his name was stripped from the ship.
Matthew S. Bajko
Volume 55, Number 47
November 20-26, 2025 www.ebar.com
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Feds clamp down on US passports
J
ust in time for holiday travel, the Trump administration has brought the hammer down on transgender and nonbinary people. It was expected, after all.
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month granted a stay of a lower court decision that said passport applicants could self-identify their gender, including with an “X” designation. That means that the executive order President Donald Trump issued in January can go into effect while the case proceeds in the lower courts. As usual, when it comes to detrimental actions against the trans community, the State Department wasted no time. This week it stated that U.S. passports must reflect the sex on a person’s original birth certificate.
The only silver lining is that the State Department indicated Monday that passports for trans people who have selected the sex marker that corresponds with their gender identity would remain valid for travel until their expiration date, the New York Times reported.
“All passports are valid for travel until they expire, are replaced by the applicant, or are invalidated pursuant to federal regulations,” the State Department has posted on its website.
After that, however, don’t plan on using an “X” designation, at least during the rest of this administration.
International travel for existing passport holders should be OK; although this too is not assured, as this administration has often changed course, especially when it comes to hot-button issues. And we’re not attorneys, so check with one if you have concerns.
But make no mistake, President Donald Trump’s war on transgender Americans shows no signs of abating, even as trans people and their allies mark the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance Thursday, November 20. Started by Bay Area Reporter Transmissions columnist Gwen Smith in 1998, the day is focused on re-
Burns’
by Mark Segal
The U.S. State Department is changing the rules on gender markers on passports, but those already issued are good for travel until they expire.
calling the loss of trans lives this year. There are too many, as is always the case. Transgender Visibility Week, which precedes the day of remembrance, is a chance for trans people to show that they are here and not going anywhere, no matter what the federal government says.
There are small signs that the country is already tiring of Republicans’ obsession with trans issues. As Smith noted a few weeks ago, a new Survey Monkey poll for The 19th found that four in 10 Americans want politicians to stop focusing on transgender issues. This was borne out in recent elections, in which Democratic candidates in New Jersey and Virginia won gubernatorial races and Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who has produced videos of him in strong support of the trans community, won the New York City mayor’s race.
In Virginia, the Republican candidate, Winsome Earle-Sears, tried to replicate the Trump
campaign’s 2024 anti-trans ads to little effect. She lost by 15 points to Democrat Abigail Spanberger. The Human Rights Campaign noted that veteran Virginia political analyst Bob Holsworth said it was almost as if Earle-Sears’ candidacy had become a “one-note campaign,” which clearly didn’t resonate with the state’s voters.
“If you look at her website and what she says every day, it’s all about Abigail Spanberger and boys in girls’ locker rooms,” he noted. “It just seems to me that this is not the dominant issue in Virginia today.”
Back at the White House, Trump is dealing with fallout from the Epstein files, which both the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved releasing on Tuesday. And he’s losing it because his beloved tariffs are having the disastrous effect on the economy that many predicted – people are having a tough time making ends meet as food and other costs rise. That affordability message was successfully brought home by Democratic candidates on November 4, and it resonated with voters. Yet, Trump still keeps blaming former President Joe Biden. Note to the president: It’s your economy now.
We’re realistic enough to acknowledge that the administration’s focus on trans issues will not go away in Washington; it’s a way for Trump to distract from the real problems he is causing and it’s catnip for MAGA-land. Republicans control all three branches of government, and so far, they’re mostly capitulating to Trump in one way or another. (The aforementioned Epstein files are a marked exception.) For example, in January, the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue of bans on trans girls playing on female sports teams. We expect the justices to favor such bans – after all, they upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth in June.
In the meantime, as the holiday travel season begins, trans travelers are right to be concerned, even if they don’t need a passport. There’s a lot of polarization in the country right now. People should do what they need to in order to stay safe, and sane, in these times. t
‘The American Revolution’ doc falls short
In the 1970s, I launched a campaign to end LGBTQ invisibility on television. Years later, that mission to show the public who we were expanded to another arena we’d long been written out of: American history. Just as television producers ignored us, so too had historians. Sadly, such erasure is happening again today, this time because of both the glaring absence and defamatory framing of LGBTQ people in Ken Burns’ new PBS documentary “The American Revolution.” How can LGBTQ people be both omitted and defamed in the documentary? Simple: the use of age-old stereotypes.
After a friend informed me a few weeks ago that Burns’ documentary portrayed Revolutionary War General Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben in a disingenuous and harmful way, I promptly reached out to both Terry Gross of NPR and the Museum of the American Revolution, who both had scheduled events with Burns, and soon after got a call from Burns’ team, led by Burns co-directors Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt. We met on Zoom, they shared the relevant clip with me (which was, indeed, disingenuous and harmful), and I explained why their portrayal of von Steuben was historically thin and reinforced harmful tropes.
It is often difficult for heterosexual historians to fully appreciate how LGBTQ people have been labeled throughout history. From my conversation with Burns’ team over the last month, it seems we agreed that most credible historians now accept that von Steuben would be considered a gay man by today’s understanding. That is never mentioned in the documentary. It risks erasing the fact that a gay man played a significant and indispensable role in founding this nation. Yet in Burns’ documentary, the only reference to his sexuality is a single line: “he took familiarities with boys.” That claim is misleading, damaging, and more harmful than if he’d just kept von Steuben in the closet. It reinforces the dangerous idea that all gay people are pedophiles.
That line, which the producers believe to be “fact,” is based on a single rumor from a religious order with whom von Steuben had political conflict. Historians have often repeated it not because it is well-founded, but because it conveniently fits the long history of how gay men have been smeared through innuendo. In my correspondence with Paul Lockheart, who authored the definitive von Steuben biography “The Drill-
master of Valley Forge,” he told me he didn’t believe those rumors to be true. Even more institutions, including the Smithsonian, have called the rumors unproven and anonymously reported.
If Burns’ film fully accepts the allegation, made in 1777, at face value, the logic becomes absurd: it would require the viewer to believe Benjamin Franklin knowingly sent a pedophile to George Washington to train our troops. Franklin was many things, but he was not a fool.
His note to Washington reads:
“Sir,
I beg leave to recommend to your Excellency the Baron de Steuben, a gentleman of rank and military experience, who served for many years with great reputation in the Prussian Army under the King of Prussia. His zeal for our cause has brought him from Europe at his own expense, with a desire to offer his services to the United States.
I make no doubt his knowledge and discipline will be of great use in forming our troops. I therefore take the liberty to recommend him to your Excellency’s attention and favorable notice.
With great respect, B. Franklin” Franklin’s letter – along with the writings of Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson – all portray von Steuben as a man of extraordinary integrity and a true hero of the Revolution. None of that balance or historical nuance appears in Burns’ series.
Sadly, I’ve seen this kind of distortion before. More than 15 years ago, during a televised debate on LGBTQ equality, an opponent leaned across the set and snarled at me, “This country was not founded for people like you.” I answered that one of the men who helped found this nation was “like me,” General von Steuben. By then I had already spent years researching and writing about him. One of my lines has been repeated so often it’s practically folklore: Franklin sending von Steuben to the Continental Congress made Franklin the father of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
In Burns’ portrayal of the Revolution, LGBTQ people are not only erased but defamed, reduced to a caricatured trope instead of being recognized as real participants in shaping our country’s history. And this type of omission is not new in his documentary work.
In Burns’ 2014 series “The Roosevelts,” he faced criticism from historians and LGBTQ advocates for omitting Eleanor Roosevelt’s close and welldocumented relationship with Lorena Hickok. In his 2017 documentary on the Vietnam War, there was no mention of Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, the most famous LGBTQ service member of that era and the poster figure for DADT, or any other LGBTQ veteran who served. Taken together, these choices form a troubling pattern: showing America that LGBTQ people don’t exist.
Burns’ documentary correctly highlights von Steuben’s crucial role in transforming Washington’s troops and helping win the war. But it ends that portrayal with the oldest, most dangerous stereotype used against gay men. That isn’t history. That isn’t education. It’s a blatant disservice to the truth, to viewers, and to von Steuben’s legacy. That’s what I take away from “The American Revolution.” LGBTQ Americans have always been part of our nation’s story. We’re done being erased, sidelined, or misrepresented. And as long as documentaries, museums, and classrooms continue to perpetuate old myths, we will keep demanding the accuracy our history deserves. t
Mark Segal, a gay man, is an American journalist. He is the founder and publisher of Philadelphia Gay News and has won numerous awards for his column “Mark My Words,” including best column by The National Newspaper Association, Society of Professional Journalists, GLAAD, and The National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. This column was reprinted with permission from PGN.
Revolutionary War General Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben
Public domain
Cynthia Laird
Friends recall early gay liberationist James Gordon
by Cynthia Laird
Friends are remembering James Edward Gordon, a gay man who served as the first secretary of Bay Area Gay Liberation and was a nude liberationist. He died May 31 at the age of 86.
Born James Edward Groski, his family changed their last name in 1955, according to an obituary prepared by John Blackburn.
Blackburn, a gay man and longtime friend of Mr. Gordon’s, said that Mr. Gordon died of complications of Parkinson’s disease. A Navy veteran, he had been living at the Park Senior Villas assisted living facility in Tucson, where he was placed by the Veterans Administration.
Mr. Gordon did volunteer work on three of the late gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk’s campaigns and was a co-founder of the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club (now the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club), where he served as the group’s second secretary.
According to the obituary, Mr. Gordon co-founded the GLBT Historical Society.
Greg Pennington, a gay man, recalled knowing Mr. Gordon in that capacity.
“He was involved in the meetings that Willie Walker and I held to begin the formation of the historical society in 1983 and 1984,” Pennington wrote in an email.
Larry Johnston was a fixture of Sanchez Street and a fan of Bombay Saphire, up with a twist. He grew up in Vallejo, joining the Navy in his youth. He traveled the world, spending time in Germany for his career, and
The obituary noted Mr. Gordon was an enthusiastic member once the society was formed.
“He donated many personal items, including gay-related color slides, to the GLBT Historical Society,” the obituary stated. “He donated 465 color slides of San Francisco murals, and donated nearly 2,000 color slides of San Francisco locations and public events to the San Francisco History Center at the main San Francisco Public Library, which remain available for public viewing. Two of his photographs were included in a ‘Harvey Milk: Messenger of Hope’ exhibit for the opening of the Harvey B. Milk Terminal at the San Francisco International Airport.”
worked at the San Francisco Planning Department until he retired.
Larry was a dedicated and thoughtful friend, congenial traveler, and convivial dinner companion. A mind like a steel trap, he could recall names, places, and events at the drop of a hat.
Larry experienced balance challenges that affected his mobility for a few years. He later passed away from a heart attack. Following cremation, his remains were interred beside his brother, Gary, at Skyview Memorial Lawn in Vallejo.
A nude liberationist, Mr. Gordon was active in the Gay Male Nudists and San Francisco Kindred Nudists, according to the obituary. A lover of nature, he explored caves with the Society of Spelunkers, birded with the Audubon Society, and led over 120 hikes for the San Francisco Hiking Club and served as the club’s president from 1989-1990.
Dan Nicoletta, a gay man and longtime photographer who worked with Milk, recalled Mr. Gordon.
“I knew Jim well in the years right after Harvey was killed and the now-defunct Harvey Milk Archives met regularly at Scott Smith’s apartment to organize Harvey’s papers,” Nicoletta wrote in an email to the Bay Area Reporter, referring to Milk’s boyfriend. “He was very loyal to Scott and our group. He worked professionally in science as an archivist and so brought discipline to our often-chatty group. Jim continued to follow and attend events I was involved with over the years and was always affable and bright of spirit.”
Early life
Mr. Gordon was born August 7, 1938 to Edward Richard Gorski and Agnes Elizabeth (maiden name) Antonowicz, in Buffalo, New York.
He came out as a gay person in 1974, the obituary stated.
Kevin Udlinek
February 2, 1954 – November 2, 2025
Joseph Kevin Udlinek, aka Jake, passed away at the Bruns House hospice in Alamo, California after having been diagnosed with cancer in August 2023. He was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and lived
From age 9, Jim grew up in Miami. His parents changed the family last name to Gordon on February 1, 1955. He was a high school member of the Spanish National Honor Society. He attended the University of Miami under a full-tuition, four-year scholarship. He attained college membership in Phi Eta Sigma Freshman Honor Fraternity (he was president of the Miami chapter), Delta Theta Mu Arts and Sciences Scholastic Honor Fraternity, Beta Beta Beta Biological Honorary Society, and held an honorary membership in the American Ornithologists’ Union. He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology. He did graduate work in zoology at Louisiana State University and University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduate work in philosophy at the University of Chicago.
Mr. Gordon joined the United States Navy. He graduated as company honor man from Navy Hospital Corps A School, attained the rank of hospital corpsman second class, and completed four years of service with an honorable discharge and a good conduct medal. He also received a letter of commendation from the officer in charge of Project SHAD (Shipboard Hazard and Defense) Technical Staff, according to the obituary. He received a U.S. Civil Service Commission rating of 95 at GS-7 for zoologist/ wildlife biologist.
most of his adult life in the Bay Area, moving to Orinda with his partner of 20 years, Douglas Myers. Joseph was retired as a facilities operations manager at CB Richard Ellis. He was most proud of the letter President Bill Clinton sent him, after his visit to San Francisco, when Joe worked at Hitachi.
Joe loved all dogs, most especially Zion, Babar, Clancy, Celeste, Thor, Maddie, Samson, Sadie and Betsy. Aside from the hounds, he loved casinos and playing the slot
During his time in the Navy, the obituary noted, Mr. Gordon was assigned to Project SHAD Technical Staff in Honolulu. He conducted biological weapons-related lab tech work for SHAD for three and a half years in Hawaii and Alaska. He observed and banded birds with Smithsonian Institution personnel in the Phoenix Islands and Fiji, as part of his naval duties.
He worked as a curatorial assistant at the U.S. National Pacific Program, the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife Bird and Mammal Laboratories, the Louise A. Boyde Marin Museum of Science, and the California Academy of Sciences Departments of Ichthyology and Invertebrate Zoology (where he worked for 10 years), and was acknowledged in 31 scientific papers, magazines, and books for radiologic work, and other technical assistance.
Mr. Gordon was employed for over 14 years at the Golden Gate Regional Center in San Francisco as an office assistant in accounting and a fiscal assistant in data processing. He was employed by COPE Community Services in Tucson as health information clerk and received the COPE Excellence Award.
machines. Joe was interested in astrology and was a voracious reader, particularly the work of M. Scott Peck.
In addition to his partner, Doug, he is survived by his sisters, Freddi Jo Soto and Darlene Willis; his brother, John Udlinek; his nephews, Jeffrey Christensen, and Kevin and Jimmy Udlinek; his former wife, Lynne Kazmerkoski; and his many close friends in Minnesota.
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Larry Johnston October 23, 1944 – March 23, 2025
Joseph
Obituaries >>
James Edward Gordon
Courtesy John Blackburn
Gay San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman arrived late to the unveiling, having been at a committee hearing.
“I think the Rainbow Honor Walk is doing amazing things,” he told the B.A.R. “Now, Bob Ross is very much getting his due.”
Gay former state legislator and San Francisco supervisor Mark Leno told the small crowd that included B.A.R. staff, freelancers, and other community members that Ross was from a different era.
“Bob was from a generation of queer folks who came to San Francisco about 20 years before I did,” said Leno. “But things were beginning to change and Bob Ross was so much a part of that.”
Ross worked in restaurants, notably the old PS Restaurant as a chef, and, as a gay man, believed that the LGBTQ community had strength in numbers. He knew gay bar owners who were tired of paying off the police to stay in business, so they created the Tavern Guild. It met regularly to discuss issues affecting the community.
Former emperor Leno also noted Ross’ involvement with the San Francisco Imperial Court, a drag philanthropic organization started in 1965 by the late José Julio Sarria, a gay Latino veteran who was Empress I and was the first
<< Oakland
From page 2
“It’s not just public art, it’s a public commitment,” she said of the crosswalk.
Jeffrey Myers, a gay Black man who’s co-founder of the community center and chair of the cultural district committee, praised Lee and Brown for their help with the crosswalk project.
District 3 City Councilmember Carroll Fife, a straight ally, has long supported the community center and the cultural district. “When we formed the district we wanted a safe space,” she said.
Shawn Surratt is a straight ally who, with her husband, owns Mimosa 2 restaurant on Grand Avenue that is within the cultural district.
“Over the past year it’s been a privilege to collaborate with Jeff [Myers],”
<< Lt. Gov. race
known gay person to seek elected office when he unsuccessfully ran for the Board of Supervisors in 1961.
The current reigning Emperor Ashle Blow and reigning Empress Afrika America were on hand, along with former emperors John Carrillo (28), John Weber (36), JP Soto (42), Terrill Grimes (47), and Michael Chua (51). Ross himself was Emperor 7 after Norton, and some believe he paid a price for that.
“It may have cost him a seat on the Board of Supervisors,” Leno said, referring to the fact that Ross was named by gay supervisor Harvey Milk in his “political will” as someone who should succeed him if he
she said. “We’ve hosted events to bring people together.”
Another straight ally who has a business in the district is Jenny Bregman, co-owner of Bardo Lounge and Supper Club on Lakeshore Avenue. She said that she liked how the district serves as a community.
Darron Lewis, a gay Black man who’s the boyfriend of Brandon Harami, who serves on the cultural district committee, told the B.A.R. he was excited for the cultural district and the center.
Tariq Paulding, a gay Black man who’s a Realtor and member of the cultural district committee, spoke to the audience about the importance of the crosswalk.
“I didn’t always grow up in spaces safe to be my authentic self,” Paulding said. “The crosswalk’s message is visibility. It’s a visible hug for someone.
was killed. Milk and then-mayor George Moscone were assassinated on November 27, 1978. Then-mayor Dianne Feinstein, however, was reportedly not pleased that Ross was at the time the reigning emperor and disliked the drag connotations that the Imperial Court stood for.
(Feinstein died in 2023.) Ultimately, Feinstein named Harry Britt, a gay man, to Milk’s seat. Ross later served on the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District board for 18 years.
Leno said that he thought Ross “enjoyed his curmudgeoness.”
Sachet noted that Ross is the first former emperor to be recognized by
Center fights on Hawkins spoke about the community center’s fiscal concerns. As the B.A.R. reported this summer, it lost a $622,000 federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that went through the Sierra Health Foundation. In February, the center began laying off some staff, with about a 26% reduction.
Yet, the center maintains its programs, including a new trans wellness center operated at the City of Refuge church in East Oakland. It also operates its Glenn Burke Clinic at the main campus, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, and a satellite location in East Oakland across from the trans wellness center. The center also runs the Town Youth Club, which is located near the main center.
Jade Moncado, who is director of youth and family services, told the B.A.R. that she was happy to see the
the honor walk. Sarria’s plaque was included in the first batch.
Blow pointed out that Ross was very active in the old AIDS Emergency Fund and the former New Leaf: Services for Our Community. He served as a board president for Meals on Wheels San Francisco.
Thomas E. Horn, a gay man who runs the Bob Ross Foundation and became publisher of the B.A.R. after Ross’ death, said that Ross was not a newspaper person, but nonetheless saw the need for such a publication.
“Although we were everywhere, we weren’t talking to each other,” Horn noted. “Bob knew there was strength in numbers, and you can’t have that without community.”
Ross, said Horn, “put together a fantastic operation” in starting the B.A.R.
As he thought about his legacy, Horn added, Ross set up the foundation, which has continued to give funds to charitable organizations.
Michael Yamashita, a gay man who is the current owner and publisher of the B.A.R., said that Ross gave him his first job out of college at the paper, and later named him office manager. Ten years after Ross’ death, Horn handed the paper over to Yamashita.
“He was a real asshole sometimes,” Yamashita said of Ross, yet “he had a soft spot and he helped a lot of people.”
“I loved Bob so much,” Yamashita said through tears.
Gay former supervisor Bevan
crosswalk installed.
Hawkins noted that HIV transmission continues to be an issue in Black and Brown communities, even as the center is working with county health officials on Getting to Zero East Bay in an effort to reduce new cases and deaths.
“Our team, although smaller, is serving a much larger population in need,” Hawkins said.
A representative from Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas spoke and said Bas is expected to soon award the LGBTQ center $100,000 as her first major grant commitment. Bas had served on the Oakland City Council for six years until taking office as the District 5 supervisor in January.
Hawkins also recalled some history of queer Oakland, noting it became a place for many Black LGBTQs who experienced racist treatment at bars in
Dufty added some levity to the celebration, though he noted Ross could be intimidating.
“In the spring of 2002, Bob invited me to lunch and he said, ‘I’m not going to endorse you for supervisor,’” recalled Dufty, who was running for the Castro-centered District 8 seat at the time.
Dufty said that what he didn’t realize then was that Ross and gay longtime B.A.R. political columnist Wayne Friday didn’t always share political beliefs. Friday, who died in 2016, used his column to relentlessly promote Dufty’s candidacy, even as the paper endorsed Tom Radulovich, a gay man who at the time served on the BART board.
“Not a week went by that Wayne Friday didn’t have my picture in the paper,” Dufty recalled.
Dufty went on to win the race and served for two terms. He was later elected to the BART board, where he also served for two terms.
“Bob taught me that sometimes you can win by losing,” he said of failing to nab the paper’s endorsement but emerging victorious in the race.
Dufty also mentioned the B.A.R.’s well-known holiday parties that were held in Hayes Valley and how Ross decided which politicians would get a coveted invitation.
“Getting invited to the B.A.R. holiday party was like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval,” said Dufty. “You might not be invited back next year.” t
San Francisco’s LGBTQ Castro neighborhood decades ago. People of color often had to show two forms of ID, among other wrongs.
“The retreat was always to Oakland,” Hawkins said, adding that queer people owned salons and other businesses back in the 1980s.
“It’s really important that people not think this is something new,” he said, referring to the cultural district and center. “Our community is evolving. We need places where queer families and children can come.
“We’re among so many allies,” he added. “I’m very, very happy the district is happening.”
To donate to the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, go to oaklandlgbtqcenter.org
To donate to the Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural District, go to lakeshorelgbtqculturaldistrict.org. t
Gay California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is term-limited from running again in 2026 and has not announced a candidacy for another statewide position. He has come under renewed attack for his handling of insurance issues in the state and is facing calls to resign early.
In late July, as the B.A.R.’s online Political Notes column was first to report, the LGBTQ caucus had endorsed lesbian former state senator Toni Atkins in the
From page 1 << News Briefs From page 2
The Lotus Project and Stop the Hate will co-host a Friendsgiving potluck Saturday, November 22, from 1 to 3 p.m. at 1460 Pine Street. Asian, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islander LGBTQ community members are invited to bring a dish to share and gather in celebration of friendship, culture, and gratitude.
<< Political Notebook
From page 4
2026 gubernatorial race. Her campaign was already limping along at that point, however, having failed to catch on with voters based on a number of polls.
Atkins ended up suspending her campaign in late September. Her decision to do so left Kellman as the lone LGBTQ candidate vying for one of the eight statewide constitutional offices up for grabs in 2026.
The LGBTQ caucus’ decision to sit out the lieutenant governor race, for now, is hardly shocking considering many of its members have personally endorsed Democratic candidates other
RSVPs are encouraged and can be made at https://tinyurl. com/3addf45k.
Finally, TransGiving will be held Wednesday, November 26, from 3 to 5 p.m. at 1460 Pine Street. This event is created by and for transgender and gender-nonconforming community members. There will be food, gifts, and a photo booth. Interested people should RSVP at transthrive@sfcommunityhealth.org.
Titled “Lambs to the Slaughter: Harvey Milk, Memories of Shame, and the Myth of Homosexual Passivity, 1977-1979,” the chapter takes a critical view of Milk’s contention that LGBTQ Germans and others reacted too passively and should have put up stronger resistance to Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich reign of terror. While Dunn understood why Milk used such rhetorical license in pushing his LGBTQ compatriots to come out of the closet and be more public in demanding their own rights, he also concluded Milk had done a disservice to those directly impacted by the Holocaust.
than Kellman in the contest. (It could opt to weigh in on the race following the results of the primary being held next Pride Month.)
Earlier this year, termed out state Treasurer Fiona Ma, a former San Francisco supervisor with strong support in the Bay Area, announced endorsements from a majority of Assembly Democrats. Included on the list were gay Assemblymembers Mark Gonzalez (Los Angeles), José Luis Solache Jr. (Lynwood), Corey Jackson, Ph.D. (Perris), and Chris Ward (San Diego), the current chair of the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus.
Horizons’ State of the Movement coming up Horizons Foundation’s annual State of the Movement virtual discussion will be held Thursday, December 4, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
The discussion will feature panelists Shelby Chestnut, a transgender TwoSpirit queer person who is executive director of the Oakland-based Transgender Law Center; Kevin Jennings, a gay man who is CEO of Lambda Legal
Ward has yet to respond to the B.A.R.’s request for comment about the caucus’ decision to remain neutral in the race for the time being.
Two other gay caucus members subsequently endorsed Ma in the race - Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (DHollywood) and gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). Gay former South Bay assemblymember Evan Low, who now leads the Victory Fund, is also listed among Ma’s endorsers on her campaign site.
Michael Tubbs, a former Newsom poverty adviser and Stockton mayor,
Defense and Education Fund; Kierra Johnson, a bi Black woman who’s president of the National LGBTQ Task Force; and Kate Kendell, a lesbian who is CEO of the Gill Foundation.
Horizons President Roger Doughty, a gay man, will moderate. An announcement noted that 2025 has been a challenging year for the LGBTQ community. More than 70 antiLGBTQ laws have been enacted across 22 states, and the Trump administration
“In his remarks and other affiliated discourses, Milk indicted German homosexuals of the 1930s and ’40s for refusing to fight back, resist, or save themselves while standing faceto-face with the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. Milk drew on the long, idiomatic history of the phrase lambs to the slaughter and conflated the Jewish and homosexual experiences of Nazi persecution to rhetorically reinvent these events and stir lesbian and gay mobilization,” wrote Dunn, who concluded, “this new approach forever changed how the lesbian and gay community remembered the Nazis’ homosexual victims.”
had picked up an early endorsement of his lieutenant governor candidacy from bisexual Assemblymember Sade Elhawary (D-South Los Angeles). She is the only caucus member currently listed among his endorsers on his campaign website.
Another candidate in the race, California Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday, to date has no caucus members listed among his endorsers on his campaign website.
A native of the North Bay city of Novato, he serves in Governor Gavin Newsom’s office. t
has issued executive orders aimed at rolling back rights for the trans community.
The webinar will focus on what’s working and what’s not, as well as how the queer community can fight back. It will include a question-and-answer session where people can pose questions live or submit them in advance, the announcement stated.
The event is free. For more information and to register, go to https:// tinyurl.com/shxfvj92. t
It is another example of Milk’s lasting legacy, and how 47 years after his death, his words and achievements continue to inflame passions and provoke debate. Such reactions and discourse factor into why Milk is as impactful today on the nation’s politics as when he first emerged onto San Francisco’s political stage decades ago. t
Former San Francisco emperors Michael Chua, left, Terrill Grimes, JP Soto, and John Weber joined former state legislator Mark Leno at the November 17 unveiling ceremony in the Castro for a plaque for Bay Area Reporter founding publisher and former emperor Bob Ross.
Bill Wilson
by Gregg Shapiro
Asinger’s voice, distinctive and immediately recognizable, is the key to their success. It’s what earns them a devoted following of fans who will stick with them through thick and thin. In recent years, a handful of memoirs by musicians, including “The Harder I Fight The More I Love” by Neko Case, “I’ll Never Write My Memoirs” by Grace Jones, “Boys Keep Swinging” by Jake Shears, “Broken Horses” by Brandi Carlile, and “Trans Electric” by Cidny Bullens,” have succeeded in capturing those voices in prose form.
The same can be said for gay musician Roddy Bottum’s memoir “The Royal We” (Akashic Books). Known by many for his membership in the bands Faith No More, Imperial Teen, and Man on Man, Bottum’s story, told without hesitation, is one of survival and resilience.
In advance of his book launch at City Lights Bookstore in conversation with author/musician Brontez Purnell on November 20, Bottum shared some inspirations for penning his memoir.
Gregg Shapiro: Roddy, why was now the
In chapter 31, you wrote, “I need to look up years. I have no idea what happened when, I’ve never known the year it was…” In chapter 33, it says, “I continue to write things down, but I still can’t remember them.” Does that mean you weren’t a jour
Roddy Bottum
Gay musician reaches new heights with memoir, ‘The Royal We’
part of the L.A. punk scene alongside X, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, the Go-Go’s, and others?
I grew up seeing bands in L.A., so, yeah, I would see X and the Go-Go’s and a million other punk bands, but I was pretty young. I didn’t think
such as heroin. As a sober person, what was it like revisiting that part of your life?
I tend to glorify my drug years, and it feels weird. Undeniably, there are exciting peaks, stories, and tales that buzz really loudly, know what I mean? The drama of what I went through
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Joey Holman
Holiday shows will bridge eras for SFGMC
by John Ferrannini
The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus will be celebrating the end of one era at the dawn of another with its annual holiday shows this December.
This year’s show will be the last with Chris Verdugo at the helm as CEO of the organization; a gay man who has led the nation’s first and oldest openly gay chorus for 10 years, Verdugo announced that he will be retiring at the end of the 2025-2026 season in June, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported.
“The holidays have always been a time when our music carries more than melody; it carries light,” Verdugo stated to the B.A.R. “Each concert reminds me how music can spark joy, heal hearts, and unite an entire community in hope. Knowing this will be my last holiday season as SFGMC’s CEO makes every performance feel even more special; a beautiful, bittersweet farewell to the tradition that has defined so much of my journey.”
Jacob Stensberg, a gay man who is the artistic director of the chorus, told
the B.A.R. his team is grateful to Verdugo for his leadership.
“The organization has grown fivefold, and he has created a successful model for running an arts organization,” Stensberg said in a phone interview. “I can’t wait to see it continue to
grow with a new executive partner.”
December will also have the last series of shows before the Castro Theatre – where the Christmas Eve SFGMC shows are traditionally held –reopens after an over $40 million restoration and renovation project. Since
the theater was closed for the project, the December 24 shows have been held at the Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue.
Stensberg said that the Christmas Eve shows are 70-to-75-minute versions of the 90-minute Winter Wonderland shows, at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. December 24.
The Winter Wonderland shows will be held at the Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Taylor Street, at 7:30 p.m. December 12, and 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. December 13; at Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. December 20; and at the Green Music Center, at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, 5 p.m. December 21.
Pop holidays
Stensberg said he didn’t want to give away too many details about the show, but teased that “This one is a lot of pop music,” including hits from artists including Cher, Elton John and Lady Gaga.
“There’s something in it for everyone,” Stensberg said. “We also have beautiful slow music, romantic music,
but it’s very pop heavy. We have amazing choreography and soloists and songs everyone will really love.”
The Golden Gate Theatre is a new venue for Winter Wonderland, which had been held at the Sydney Goldstein Theater, at 275 Hayes Street.
“It’ll be an amazing experience for our singers to be on one of the most historic stages in San Francisco,” he said.
He’s nonetheless pleased about the return to the Castro for Christmas Eve 2026.
“We’re so excited for it [the Castro Theatre] to reopen in 2026,” Stensberg said.
Stensberg also hopes that the concerts will help humanize the LGBTQ community in an era when hatred and fear have been on the ascendent.
“We believe, particularly in times that feel like societal darkness, our voices and hearts can shine a light on community, joy and healing,” Stensberg said. “We hope our audience experiences that same light and joy.”t
www.sfgmc.org
‘The Hills of California’ at Berkeley Rep
by Jim Gladstone
“Asong is a place you can live,” is the gauzy musical motto of Veronica Webb, the thorny Mama Rose to four singing daughters in Jez Butterworth’s tragicomic drama “The Hills of California,” now playing in a finely textured production at the Berkeley Rep.
While Veronica tried to groom her four daughters for success as an Andrews Sisters knockoff group during their 1950s childhoods, the song they live in (and that Veronica’s about to die in) by 1976 is less “Boogie Woogie
Bugle Boy” than a bitter blues. While punctuated by bright comic passages and reprises of long-ago good times, there’s no denying that the sisters reside in a mournful tune.
The action, split across the two time periods, is entirely set at the Seaview Luxury Guesthouse –which offers neither a sea view nor any sign of luxury– in Brighton, England. It’s the Webbs’ family business; already showing signs of decline in desperately cheerful ’50s scenes and frayed, possibly beyond repair, by the time the Webb sisters have grown into the profoundly damaged adults.
In those more recently set scenes, the sisters reunite to reveal a tangle of psychic traumas as their bedridden mother drifts through her final days in a painkilling opiate cloud.
Mothers, sisters, and a little lather
A rewardingly meaty, realist family drama, “The Hills of California” nonetheless tiptoes on the edge of pastiche. Lightly pinching from the likes of “Gypsy,” “Mildred Pierce,” Arthur Miller, and John Osborne, playwright Butterworth (“Jerusalem,” “The Ferryman”) manages to keep things just south of soapy.
He gets major support in this effort from director Loretta Greco, the artistic director of Boston’s Huntington Theatre, Berkeley Rep’s production partner on this show. Greco, who formerly helmed San Francisco’s Magic Theatre, draws performances from her cast that, for the most part, vibrate with pained emotional restraint at moments that could easily erupt into melodramatic excess.
Played as teens and tweens by a different quartet of actresses than play their older selves, sisters Ruby (Chloé Kolbenheyer/Aimee Doherty), Gloria (Meghan Carey/Amanda Kristin Nichols), Jillian (Nicole Mulready/ Karen Killeen), and Joan (Kate Fitzgerald/Allison Jean White), the sisters find themselves aswim in a mystery of family history: What was it that ended their ambitious girl group and their harmonious girlhood?
By the time they’re grown women, Ruby and Gloria mothering unhappy families of their own; Jillian mired in elder care and old maid martyrdom; and Joan, at once the most successful and most misunderstood, their individual perspectives, the passage of time, and the licking of wounds have made precise recollection impossible.
Even audience members, who bear witness to betrayals that some of the sisters are blind to, are forced to wrestle with motivations that may have only existed in the subconscious of a teenager but lead to very real rupture in adulthood.
Casting coups and challenges
Allison Jean White plays both eldest daughter Joan, who left home for California and fleeting success as a solo act, and stage mother Veronica. Sharply drawn and instantly distinguishable from each other (Jennifer Von Mayrhauser’s period costumes smartly underscore their differences), these two characters, while long es-
tranged, share traits and desires that we come to see have inadvertently undermined the entire family’s sense of connection.
While this central dual-role casting is mandated by Butterworth’s script, there’s relatively little exploration of their psychological intertwinement, as the playwright wrangles a huge cast of characters. There are another dozen parts beyond the Webb women, played by five additional actors.
They all bring a lively specificity to their smaller roles, particularly Lewis Wheeler in his turn as oleaginous talent manager and Mike Masters, who embodies lifelong family friend and pianist Joe Fogg with a touching blend of good humor and heartbreak.
The pairings of actors as the four sisters at different ages is less successful, though. The manner and physiognomy of the youngsters don’t align clearly enough with their adult counterparts. Across the first few rotations of Andrew Boyce and Se Hyun Oh’s
magnificent time and space-shifting set, it’s a bit confusing to determine who’s who.
There’s a particularly problematic mismatch between the two Glorias. Carey’s awkward youthful enthusiasm and Nichols’ coruscating middle-age rage are both vivid and memorable, but disbelief requires excessive suspension in order to hold them in mind as the same character.
Overall, though, this is an evening of smart, solid, fully engaging entertainment. Regular Berkeley Rep-goers will recognize “The Hills of California” as an old-fashioned cousin of last season’s more contemporary family drama with music, “The Cult of Love.”
There’s a Turner Classic comfort to its dysfunctional familiarity.t
‘The Hills of California,’ through December 7. $25-$135. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. www.berkeleyrep.org
A recent San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus holiday concert
Stefan Cohen
Above: Amanda Kristin Nicchol, Karen Killeen and Aimee Doherty and Below: Meghan Carey, Kate Fitzgerald, Allison Jean White, Chloé Kolbenhyeradn and Nicole Mulready (on floor) in ‘The Hills of California’
Both photos: Liza Voll
Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’
by David-Elijah Nahmod
No director working today makes better horror films than Guillermo del Toro. The Oscar-winning filmmaker (“The Shape of Water”) brings to his films a grand, Gothic sensibility not seen since the Hammer horror films of the 1960s. His new adaptation of “Frankenstein,” now streaming on Netflix and screening locally, brings a fresh spin to the often-told story of an obsessed scientist who is determined to create artificial life.
“Frankenstein” is of course one of the greatest and best-known horror stories in all of literature. Written by Mary Shelley and first published in 1818, it was adapted for the stage as early as 1823.
In 1931, gay director James Whale made a version of the story which starred Colin Clive as the mad doctor and Boris Karloff in a star-making, career defining performance as the artificial creation. Though considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, Whale’s Frankenstein had little to do with Shelley’s novel other than the basic theme of the mad doctor creating life. Del Toro tells a story that comes very close to adhering to the book.
Set in the 1850s, the new film begins in the Arctic, where a ship bound for the North Pole has become trapped in the ice. Much to their surprise, the shipmates encounter a badly injured Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) and bring him aboard. Almost immediately, the ship is attacked by a being with superhuman strength (Jacob Elordi) who kills six crew members and cannot be stopped by gunfire.
“Bring him to me!” the creature cries.
Spark of life
The ship’s captain demands that Frankenstein tell him who the creature is, and Frankenstein recounts his story, explaining that he is the creature’s creator. The film then flashes back and Victor is seen explaining his theories of life and death to the teachers and students of the medical college he attends, going so far as to demonstrate his efforts at reanimating corpses. This is viewed as sacrilege and he is expelled from the school.
Undaunted, Victor continues his work, determined to create artificial life. The uncle of his brother’s fiancé gives him unlimited funds and an isolated castle in which to continue his work and Victor goes about collecting bodies and assembling his creature.
The creation scene is magnificent. As in the 1931 film, the creature is brought to life via lightning. The entire castle lights up in the night sky as a storm rages, the lightning striking a rod that Victor placed atop the castle’s tower. Electric sparks travel down to the creature’s body, bringing it to life.
But Victor has second thoughts about what he has done and attempts to burn down the castle with the creature in it. The building explodes, but the creature, who is immortal, survives.
Back at the ship, the creature tells the captain his version of the story. He recounts being taught how to speak
and read by an old blind man (David Bradley) who lives on an isolated farm.
The creature, desperately lonely and realizing that he cannot die, asks Frankenstein to make a companion for him.
The doctor refuses and the creature flies into a rage, killing Frankenstein’s brother on his wedding night.
The creature and Frankenstein then engage in a game of cat and mouse, chasing each other to the ends of the earth until they end up in the arctic.
Elordi and Isaac both offer superb
performances. Isaac’s Frankenstein is obsessed to the point of being manic as he goes about his ungodly experiments. Elordi almost steals the show as the tragic creature who yearns to be loved and accepted by a world that will never accept him. As with Karloff in the 1931 film, the creature’s humanity becomes the heart of the story.
The settings and costumes are lavish. Once again, del Toro has created a Gothic masterpiece, a visually stunning triumph in the vein of his 2015
film “Crimson Peak.” Making “Frankenstein” had been a dream project for the auteur, and he made his dream come true with love and care.
“Frankenstein” is a tale that may have been told too many times, with dozens of films inspired by Shelley’s novel having been made. Yet del Toro has done what so many have considered impossible; he’s made this overly familiar tale seem fresh.
The film had a limited theatrical release where a lucky few were able
to see it on the big screen where it belongs, where it impressive visuals could be fully appreciated. Landmark’s Opera Plaza Cinemas has been showing it these past few weeks. It will remain there at least through November 20. See it there if you can. If not, check it out on Netflix.t
Landmark’s Opera Plaza Cinemas, 601 Van Ness Ave. www.landmarktheatres.com www.netflix.com
Left: Oscar Isaac, Middle: Jacob Elordi and Right: Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac in ‘Frankenstein’
All photos: Netflix
‘House of Guinness’
by Brian Bromberger
We’re happy to report that the new eight-part Netflix series “House of Guinness” is not all suds and foam, but a glass act. While not pitcher perfect, it just might cure what ales you as it all goes down smoothly. Creator/writer Steve Knight’s (“Peaky Blinders”) offers a Celtic punk-rock version of the battle of control among the squabbling siblings and troubles brewing over the venerable beer company in the 1860s after the patriarch dies.
The series begins with the disclaimer, “This fiction is inspired by true stories,” meaning it’s mostly invention with a few spare facts to give it a glimmer of authenticity with barebones historical accuracy. It’s a rip-roaring, rousing romp, epitomized by a cousin assessing the Guinnesses: “So, infidelity, sodomy, lost love, and random acts of violence… a more typical Dublin family would be hard to find.”
We get to spend almost eight hours with this sprawling saga of the foibles of the toxic rich (they even get ice shipped from Greenland in the
summer), which should give viewers schaudenfreude as the nation seems to be undergoing a second Gilded Age. What could have been a stuffy period drama becomes a grimy, glossy 19th-century soap opera meant to be hip ala HBO’s sordid “Succession,” paired with a splash of “Downton Abbey” glamour.
Ale in the family
It’s 1868 and Sir Benjamin Lee Guiness, the grandson of the creator of the famous dark brew (“the elixir of the soul”), has died. According to the terms of his will, both the eldest son Arthur (Anthony Boyle), a conniving dandy who has spent the last five years thriving in London blissfully sexing and drinking, resents having to return to Dublin.
The youngest dutiful and ambitious dour son Edward (Louis Partridge) has been learning about the business for years, will jointly run the brewery. However, neither can walk away without forfeiting their share, including the properties and massive fortune bestowed to all four dysfunctional children.
Only daughter Anne (Emily Fairn), unhappily married to a cleric, and dissolute middle son Ben (Fionn O’Shea), an alcoholic and gambling addict, are excised out of the will, with his father writing, “I feel it wise not to burden Benjamin with the temptations that come with fortune.”
The devout Anne wants to make a difference in the world as a woman of means, so channels her influence and money into philanthropic endeavors for the poor. Benjamin, the only sibling not pretending to be someone he’s not, is loved by aristocrat Lady Christine O’Madden (Jessica Reynolds) who wants to reform him, but he’s devoted to his profligate ways.
Arthur’s complication is that he’s gay, which doesn’t bother his other siblings. But living in that era’s superreligious Ireland makes him a target for blackmail and if the public found out about his orientation, it could destroy the company. Also, as the eldest son he’s slated to stand for his late father’s seat in Parliament, which he’s determined to do despite opposition (“I’m a wild enemy to have.”).
His Aunt Agnes (Dervia Kirwan) and Anne scheme to find him a suitable wife, which they accomplish in the cunning, no BS Lady Olivia Hedges (Danielle Galligan) in a lavender marriage, who’s fine with Arthur’s male dalliances as long as he’s discreet and she has the freedom to have her own affairs with men. They grow to be fond of each other, admiring their mutual deviousness.
Ellen (Niamh McCormack), seeking Irish independence from Britain. Relationships are constantly thwarted with one character observing, “No one in this family can be with the one they truly love.”
Irish ires
Oh yes, the politics of the era need to be explained. The Guinnesses are Protestant elite, with the family having a cozy relationship with the British government as unionists for years. When Sir Benjamin dies, there are rock-throwing Catholic protests at his funeral procession that have to be fended off with fists and guns by the company’s foreman/thug and family enforcer/henchman Brendan Rafferty (James Norton, the original hot priest on “Grantchester”).
He’s also having an affair with Lady Olivia. He sets the tone for the whole series when he says, “The man’s name is Guiness. Course there’ll be feckin’ trouble.”
The Fenians are the antecedents of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and are opposed to Arthur’s political candidacy, which will lead to a cliffhanger ending in the series finale.
could easily result in imprisonment.
Galligan is terrific as a woman determined to get whatever she wants no matter the cost. Fairn projects a sad vulnerability but also passion roiling underneath those petticoats in her Anne, who also has an affair with Brendan. Partridge is okay, though he improves as the series progresses and his character acquires some depth.
The real standout is Norton as he obliterates his pastoral image as the near sociopathic Brendan, though he exhibits some tenderness toward Lady Olivia when she experiences a personal tragedy.
Jack Gleeson, a leprechaun come to life, as a slick negotiator for the Guinnesses’ business interests in America who is brought back to manage Arthur’s political campaign and Michael McElhatton as the stoical, patient butler who knows all the family secrets, are both outstanding.
Even with the politics, there’s not much substance here outside of some sketchy social reform, even a kind of cynical hollowness at its core. But the intrigue, brisk pace, sexy politics, and gorgeous production design/period costumes keep viewers engaged. Its daring, robust confidence in its own intoxicating style sweeps us along and the tone of despair matches well with our current times. It’s never dull.
Edward has bought out Arthur’s portion of the company for a significant chunk of the profits since he has no desire to be involved in the business. Edward is intent on expanding Guinness beer into America. He’s also in need of a wife and has eyes for his cousin Adelaide Guiness (Ann Skelly) but initially she’s nonplussed with him. He winds up having a sexually liberating affair with a Fenian rebel
This all could have been a PR commercial for Guinness, though with Ivana Lowell, an actual Guinness descendant as executive producer, it’s doubtful we wouldn’t be rooting for this maladjusted family. It’s chockful of gratuitous violence, the F-word galore, greed glorification/denunciation, class warfare, betrayals, dynastic struggle, blackmail, smut (in all senses of the word, with some nudity), all the usual soap opera itinerary.
Roiling passion
However, the riveting acting of these vibrant characters is the crucial element here. Boyle, despite playing the unsavory gay character, still elicits sympathy, especially in his quest for true love at a time when being gay
Though it hasn’t been officially renewed for a second season, Knight is hoptimistic this high-budget series based on its high viewership will return next year for more frothy adventures. The women’s roles can certainly be expanded and we do want Arthur to find happiness. With a little tinkering it could hit its stride and entice us to keep imbibing this stout, energetic, entertaining, at times irresistible pint of an addictive ‘historical’ period drama.t
www.netflix.com
From page 11
adults.” Are you prepared for the various responses that will elicit from readers?
I’m hoping to push buttons, to provoke and prickle, if you will. I’ve always been one to push the envelope and challenge mindsets. Like I mentioned, it’s a truly ripe time to speak truths that are going to disturb and incite. I’m looking to start conversations and broaden the spectrum of what’s acceptable and not. Believe me, I’m aware of the reaction I’m sure to get and I’m living for it, yeah.
There are some wonderful queer moments in the book, including drinking “together in a small-town gay bar” with Robert Plant in chapter 26, and that Kurt Cobain “loved” that you were gay in chapter 27. Also, the time you kissed Kurt “goodbye on the lips and he said, ‘Mmmmmm, you kiss me like a man, boy.’” I kept a lot of the details and sce-
narios in the book to times in my life that resonated in a loud way to myself, things that changed me and opened me up. The queer moments that come up, particularly queer moments that happen alongside straight avenues, those are moments that got me through life. Pushing the envelope in worlds that may be initially
resistant to accepting me for who I am. These are my victories.
Finally, because you are best known as a musician, are there plans for new albums by Imperial Teen and/or Man On Man?
Imperial Teen just finished recording our new record before I came out on this press tour. Hoping it’s finished and out by summer. Man On Man is going to write and record over the winter. Crickets, too, my other band, I’m in with JD Samson and Michael O’Neill.t
Read the full interview, with music videos, on www.ebar.com.
Roddy Bottum will be at City Lights Bookstore in conversation with author/musician Brontez Purnell on November 20, 7pm, 261 Columbus Ave.; also online. www.citylights.com
‘The Royal We’ by Roddy Bottum, $27.95, hardback. www.akashicbooks.com
<< Roddy Bottum
Left: Anthony Boyle and Louis Partridge, Middle Left: Cúán Hosty-Blaney and Anthony Boyle, Middle Right: Danielle Galligan and Right: James Norton in ‘House of Guinness’
All photos: Netflix
Denne Michele Norris
by Laura Moreno
In a literary landscape hungry for authentic voices, Denne Michele Norris emerges this year with two groundbreaking works: her debut novel, “When the Harvest Comes,” and a trans anthology she has entitled “Both/And: Essays by Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Writers of Color.” It features underrepresented voices through a mix of short stories, essays, and poetry.
Denne Michele Norris is a trailblazing trans writer, editor, and podcaster based in Harlem, New York. In 2021, she made history as the first Black, openly trans woman to serve as editor-in-chief of a major literary publication when she took the helm at Electric Literature. The following year Electric Literature won the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize.
Norris co-hosts the acclaimed podcast “Food 4 Thot” (with Joseph
Osmundson, Tommy Pico, and Fran Tirado), an innovative space for queer and trans storytelling. Her work has appeared in places like American Short Fiction.
“When the Harvest Comes” is a poignant novel that begins with two men on their wedding day, which is also the day of one of their fathers dies. The story addresses themes of grief, gender identity, family, and the importance of love in healing.
Norris’s intimate prose paints a profound depiction of the queer love between Davis, a Black concert violist, and Everett, a white asset manager. The novel is garnering significant praise, particularly for Norris’s incisive writing and natural talent for storytelling.
Equally, Norris’s novel stands out for its candid look at trans Black life in America, offering a unique perspective that as tender as it is unapologetic. The vivid characters are portrayed with
‘When
the Harvest Comes’ & ‘Both/And: Essays by Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Writers of Color’
such warmth and pathos that many readers feel drawn to them, and experience their joys as well as their sorrows.
“When the Harvest Comes” is vaguely reminiscent of the introspective writing of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout, whose character Olive Kitteridge also resonates with readers.
Interestingly, the novel makes use of music as a language of emotion to express feelings words cannot convey. The book’s vibrant descriptions of music resonate to a surprising degree.
One of the novel’s greatest strengths is its structure. The book consists of stories that weave a tapestry of interconnectedness, each contributing to the central narrative of the main characters’ relationship.
Non-Conforming Voices
This past summer also saw the release of “Both/And: Essays by Trans
and Gender Non-Conforming Writers of Color,” an anthology edited by Norris and published by HarperOne.
The anthology includes works from a variety of genres, such as short stories, essays, and poetry, providing a comprehensive look at the trans experience that includes underrepresented voices.
Importantly, Norris’s curation highlights the complexity and depth of trans narratives, challenging stereotypes and providing a more nuanced understanding of gender identity.
Reviews have praised the breadth and quality of the contributions.
Among the many noteworthy writers featured in the anthology “Both/ And” are Akwaeke Emezi, known for works like “Freshwater” and “The Death of Vivek Oji,” Tanaïs, a writer and performer, and Egar Gomez, who offers a voice that resonates with the experiences of trans Latinx individuals.
Norris’s editorial vision ensures that
the anthology is both a celebration and a call to action. “Both/And” is a must-read for contemporary fiction aficionados as well as anyone interested in expanding their understanding of trans experiences and the diverse voices within the community.
Denne Michele Norris’s two published works establish her as a vital voice on the national stage. They each offer inclusive, emotionally rich narratives that invite readers to confront and honor the past while forging their own paths forward.t www.dennemichele.com
‘When the Harvest Comes’ by Denne Michele Norris, $28, Random House www.penguinrandomhouse.com
‘Both/And’ edited by Denne Michele Norris, $23.39, HarperOne www.harpercollins.com
