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Deviants’ fair returns to Folsom Street
Biker ethos kick-started Folsom scene by Tony K. LeTigre
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round the beginning of September when the black and blue flags go up, everyone knows it’s that special time of year again: two months of sunlight and a whole lot of leather. On September 25 Folsom Street between 7th and 12th streets will be cordoned off for the Folsom Street Fair, as it has been for 27 years now, since “Megahood” started it all in 1984. Many of Folsom’s attendees simply enjoy the fair for what it is today, without pondering its evolution through the years, or the South of Market neighborhood conditions that led to its creation. The gay male leather culture that hangs on today in SOMA and peaked in the preAIDS era has its roots in motorcycle clubs and marooned sailors and waterfront bars of the 1950s like Castaways and the Sea Cow. The first leather bars popped up in the Tenderloin, and were usually short-lived and subject to police harassment: The Spur Club, Why Not, and The Hideaway were all raided and closed between 1959-62. Author, anthropologist and leather historian Gayle Rubin, in her essential 1998 essay “The Miracle Mile,” traces the roots of
by Tony K. LeTigre
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ore than 400,000 people from around the world attend the Folsom Street Fair each year, making it the largest leather/ fetish event in the world and the third largest outdoor oneday event in California. Only San Francisco’s Pride Courtesy Jack Fritscher celebration and the Rose Parade Author in Pasadena top Jack Fritscher it in number of participants, but you can’t be flogged in public for charity at the Rose Parade. “One of the great things about the leather
Doug Mezzacopa gives a celebratory cheer as the leather flag is raised on the flagpole at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro, kicking off a week of activities culminating in the Folsom Street Fair this Sunday. Rick Gerharter
today’s gay male leather culture back to sailors and bikers: queer men who confounded the prevailing notion of homosexuals as effeminate and easily identified sissies. “If gay male leather can be said to have a core meaning, it would have to be masculinity,” Rubin wrote, adding that
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Eagle Tavern site set for change by Seth Hemmelgarn
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he owner of the site of the former Eagle Tavern in San Francisco is working on replacing the famed leather bar with another business. The fate of the shuttered space, at 398 12th Street, is unclear. However, landlord John Nikitopoulos has filed an application with the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to transfer a license from another business to the former Eagle site. Nikitopoulos, who signed the paperwork August 17, hasn’t responded to the Bay Area Reporter’s interview requests. The Eagle Tavern, well known for Sunday afternoon beer busts that raised money for numerous LGBT organizations over the years, closed in April after a rent dispute between Nikitopoulos and the bar owners. Many, including members of the Board See page 12 >>
Vol. 41 • No. 38 • September 22-28, 2011
the motorcycle, more than anything else, symbolized that masculinity. “Homomasculinity” was the word coined by Drummer magazine editor and pop-culture polymath Jack Fritscher to describe the gender expression of masculineSee page 10 >>
Service members come out post DADT repeal by Chuck Colbert
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ust past the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, Sept. 20, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the nearly 18-year-old ban on openly gay military service, became history. Now currently serving gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members, both active duty and reserve, are at liberty to come out without fear of being discharged solely for being gay. One soldier who has come out is Sergeant 1st Class Carmen Everinghman. A combat medic, the thirty-something California native, presently stationed in Sacramento, has seen duty stateside and overseas, including a deployment in Afghanistan, where she saved a Navy chief’s life. Altogether, Everingham has served for 14 years in the Army and plans to make it a career. “Many, without my saying anything, knew about me; they knew I was gay,” she said. Everingham is not only out. She is way out. A member of OutServe, an association of more than 4,000 actively serving LGBT military personnel, Everingham is featured in OutServe Magazine’s September 20th repeal issue. There, she is spotlighted in the publication’s third edition with a bio and photo - along with those of 100 other LGB men and women. “We could not be more proud of this magazine and the opportunity it gives us to
educate and inform all service members - gay and straight - about who we really are,” stated Air Force 1st Lieutenant Josh Seefried, codirector of OutServe, until now known by the pseudonym “JD Smith.” “There is so much misinformation out there about the LGBT community and as we begin a new day for the American military, OutServe Magazine will be a vehicle to tell our stories and a way of helping all of us understand each other better. As of today, we can speak up for ourselves honestly, so the troops on either side of us can understand, we have more in common than you might imagine.” Recently, the magazine launched an interactive website (www.OutServeMag.com) where readers can share articles via Facebook and Twitter and order both digital and print versions of the publication. The website also includes videos and member blogs. In addition, the Army and Air Force have given permission to distribute the magazine at limited base exchanges. “Profiles of currently serving people is how OutServe chose to celebrate September 20,” said Sue Fulton, the association’s communications director, an Army veteran and West Point alumna. Pretty much, “the day was business as usual for active duty,” Fulton said.
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courtesy of Carmen Everingham
Army soldier Carmen Everingham came out this week.
Meanwhile, during a recent telephone interview, Everingham said she “loves” her job and Army life. “I love the morale within units,” she explained. “I am a hard worker and do my job well and get a lot of respect.” Out to family and friends since she was 18, Everingham enlisted under DADT. “I pretty much grew up in the Army,” she said. “I loved it so much that I was willing to stand by the whole ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.” She is half Filipino on her mother’s side and half English and Italian on her father’s. Everingham was raised in a “warm” close-knit family. Her father is a retired Air Force veteran. See page 12 >>