The Pride LA 3.3.23

UCLA’s New Volleyball Coach’s Gay Journey Reaches Full Circle

experience as both a coach and a player.

He returns to the West Hollywood gyms, where his sexuality was realized, as the new women’s volleyball coach at UCLA.

By Susan Payne

Playing volleyball in a West Hollywood gym is where Alfred Reft became comfortable with his sexuality, alongside a group of gay men.

Reft, a volleyball lifer, saw his new volleyball partners living free and open lives and they taught him how to be comfortable in his own skin. Over the years, he’s come out to hundreds of teammates and coaches, Outsports reported.

In his career, Reft was a two-time AllAmerican at the University of Hawaii and played seven professional seasons overseas, with over 12 years of U.S. national team

“When I say this place holds a special spot in my heart, it’s those times coming to LA and developing friendships here at such a young age, and seeing what was possible for me as an openly gay male,” Reft told Outsports. “That was transformative for me. It’s pretty surreal that I’m here now.”

Reft has loved volleyball since he was a kid, going to UCLA games and seeing Asian players succeed on the court, which inspired him to pursue his own volleyball career.

“I remember at the time going, ‘That person looks like me,’” Reft told Outsports. “It allowed me space to dream and set goals and visions that felt a lot more realistic.”

Reft came out in high school but told Outsports he felt like he had to protect himself to fit in at UC Santa Barbara. He eventually transferred to Hawaii and decided to redefine himself.

“I think the biggest thing for anyone is to

feel seen, and to feel heard for who you are. When I was able to be out with teammates at the University of Hawaii, my game started to soar,” he told Outsports. “I felt seen, I felt supported, and was able to play a lot freer. I think that’s no coincidence.”

His coaching style mirrors that of which he experienced at Hawaii. As an assistant at the University of Minnesota and the University of Illinois, he accumulated 68-32 conference record at both stints, and reached the Final Four with the Fighting Illini in 2018, according to Outsports.

Last season, he coached the University of Santa Diego to its first Final Four appearance in history, according to Outsports. Reft said he priorities his players’ personal development along with winning.

“The way I coach these players is putting an emphasis that, this is a space where you are enough,” he said. “We want to celebrate those unique traits.”

Reft celebrates his life, and his husband, Ryan, outwardly.

“Our love is just real,” said Reft. “ I couldn’t

be more proud of the love we share, and the impact we make with each other, but also with the ripples in the community we create around us. He is the absolute pride and joy in my life.”

Reft’s coming out life started in those West Hollywood gyms, and now he knows the difference representation can make.

“It is a big platform to stand on, and I really take it seriously to make sure that hopefully any other young queer person can think larger, because of what they see,” he told Outsports. “It pulls at my heartstrings for sure.”

Laguna Beach Closer to Having a New Pride Lifeguard Tower

City receives $10,000 for proposed tower

By Susan Payne

Laguna Beach was the recipient of a $10,000 donation from Mark Porterfield and Steve Chadima for its newly proposed Pride lifeguard tower at West Street Beach.

“We just thought it was a very clever way to celebrate the fact that that beach has been a haven for LGBTQ people for a long time now,” Chadima told the LA Times. “It just

seemed like a great way to acknowledge that and celebrate it.”

City officials said the city would purchase towers for the transferred beaches, for which the city will begin marine safety operations in March, according to the Times. Support for community fundraising or the rainbow-art painting was also in question.

The president of Laguna Beach Pride, Craig Cooley, expressed gratitude to the council for allowing the symbol of recognition for the LGBTQ community on the beaches, the Times reported.

“It speaks loudly to all the hate that is out there and diversity being a good thing,” Cooley

said. “Embracing diversity is a way to counter the hate.”

The tower is expected to be in place, fully decorated, by summer.

In about four weeks, the city will begin its marine safety operations in South Laguna.

“We just had another [lifeguards] tryout last weekend, and we were able to get another nine brave people trying out in the cold water,” Marine Safety Chief Kevin Snow said. “That brings our total hiring non-peak, which we’ve never done before, up close to 20 people. We’re doing well in our recruitment, and we are on target to meet our deadline.”

“The way I coach these players is putting an emphasis that, this is a space where you are enough,” says Alfred Reft

Photo: UCLA Alfred Reft.

Photo: LA County The Venice Beach Lifeguard Tower.

IMPORTANT FACTS FOR BIKTARVY®

This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment.

MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BIKTARVY

BIKTARVY may cause serious side e ects, including:

 Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. Your healthcare provider will test you for HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking BIKTARVY. Do not stop taking BIKTARVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months, and may give you HBV medicine.

ABOUT BIKTARVY

BIKTARVY is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults and children who weigh at least 55 pounds. It can either be used in people who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before, or people who are replacing their current HIV-1 medicines and whose healthcare provider determines they meet certain requirements.

BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. HIV-1 is the virus that causes AIDS.

Do NOT take BIKTARVY if you also take a medicine that contains:

 dofetilide

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 any other medicines to treat HIV-1

BEFORE TAKING BIKTARVY

Tell your healthcare provider if you:

 Have or have had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis infection.

 Have any other health problems.

 Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if BIKTARVY can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking BIKTARVY.

 Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk. Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take:

 Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, antacids, laxatives, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

 BIKTARVY and other medicines may a ect each other. Ask your healthcare provider and pharmacist about medicines that interact with BIKTARVY, and ask if it is safe to take BIKTARVY with all your other medicines.

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POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF BIKTARVY

BIKTARVY may cause serious side e ects, including:

 Those in the “Most Important Information About BIKTARVY” section.

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 Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, lightcolored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain.

 The most common side e ects of BIKTARVY in clinical studies were diarrhea (6%), nausea (6%), and headache (5%).

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You are encouraged to report negative side e ects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with BIKTARVY.

HOW TO TAKE BIKTARVY

Take BIKTARVY 1 time each day with or without food.

GET MORE INFORMATION

 This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.

 Go to BIKTARVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5

 If you need help paying for your medicine, visit BIKTARVY.com for program information.

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Griner to kick off season at game vs Sparks May 19

By Susan Payne

The WNBA will kick off its season in May –this time, with Brittany Griner back in action. Griner, who regained her freedom in December of 2022 in a prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, signed a one year contract with Phoenix Mercury, worth $165,100, according to ESPN and reported by the Los Angeles Blade.

Her first court return will be on May 19 against the Sparks at the Crpyto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Following her arrest in Moscow nearly one year ago, Griner missed the entire 2022 season.

Russian authorities said she broke their law by packing vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage, according to the Blade. She was sentenced to nine years for drug smuggling.

“Following a sham trial and the unjust sentencing of Brittney Griner, Moscow is transferring her from a prison in Moscow to a remote penal colony,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in November, the Blade reported. “It is another injustice layered on her

ongoing unjust and wrongful detention.”

Griner’s wife, Cherelle, along with the National LGBTQ Task Force and other advocacy groups, negotiated and protested until an exchange was made for the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was 10 years into a 25-year sentence for conspiring to sell weapons to a terrorist group, the Blade reported.

ESPN reported Griner will be playing her 10th season since her initial draft in 2013 with the Mercury. In 2021, she played her best season, averaging 20.5 points, 1.9 blocks, 2.7 assists and 9.5 rebounds per game, 2.4 offensive rebounds and a .846 free throw percentage.

Brittney Griner’s First WNBA Game Since Return Held in Los Angeles Eszett Bar Is Now Closed, Lesbian Wine Bar to Take Its Place

By Susan Payne

Eszett, the natural wine bar off Silver Lake’s strip mall, is now closed, but a lesbian Wine Bar called The Ruby Fruit will take its place.

“There is no denying that this is a hard task — a really tough act to follow,” Mara Herbkersman, the former general manager of Eszett and one half of the Ruby Fruit’s ownership, told the LA Times. “It’s been highly emotional.”

Herbkersman was approached by a coworker at Eszett, Emily Bielagus, and asked if she wants to open to a lesbian bar with her. The duo hopes to open The Ruby Fruit in February.

“We know what we’re stepping into,” said Bielagus. “We are taking over a very beloved space [and] we’re very grateful to them, and we know that they’re big shoes to fill. We’re also very aware of the history of the lesbian bar, as a concept, honoring the lineage of the people who’ve come before us.”

Herbkersman, a longtime friend and general manager of the former owners of Eszett, said she knows the operations intimately, and she’s hoping to employ that knowledge in the new venture.

Eszett had only three months of operation before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the owners told the Times they felt they never had a chance to get their business off the ground. In late 2022, they decided to close the bar.

“We’ve had some slow weeks and slow months, and with just the cost of everything

going up, and the whole restaurant and food landscape changing, we just couldn’t make the numbers work when it came down to it,” Spencer Bezaire told the Times. “We’re so happy for Mara and Emily to be able to do their own thing that I honestly feel that if all this was to get them to this point, it makes me feel like it was all worth it.”

“My first reaction was I was just devastated,” Herbkersman said. “I offered any solution I could possibly think of: I offered to quit. I said take my salary out of the equation, put me back hourly. I just wanted to do anything to keep them in it, and they said, ‘Thank you. But no.’”

The Ruby Fruit is meant to be a neighborhood bar and a home base, “like a Cheers, but for lesbians,” Bielagus said.

Ruby Fruit’s kitchen will comprise women. The wine, although natural, will take an Austrian and Eastern European focus. Movie screenings, tasting nights, DJ appearances and book clubs, will also be a part of the Ruby Fruit. Employees will cross train and have a well-rounded experience that teaches business management, should they ever choose to start their own business, the Times reported.

“Having a space for women to work and to feel comfortable is one of my biggest goals,” she said. “I really want women to feel good at work. I want them to feel confident, to ask questions, to voice opinions, to share when they don’t feel well because they have their period and not be afraid of being looked down upon. That’s not to say that that occurred at

Eszett, but it’s something that is pervasive in the world.”

Nurturing of staff, and nurturing the community is equally as important to the new Ruby Fruit owners. The Ruby Fruit offers a gathering place for all, not just lesbians, to feel safe on a date, find and foster conversation, and hold hands in public without fear.

“We want to honor that history and also recognize the ways in which women and nonbinary people and gender-nonconforming and trans people fit into the lesbian umbrella,” Bielagus said. “We’re very conscious of wanting to honor the past, and also be very aware of what’s happening now and our role in that journey.”

Huntington Beach No Longer Flying LGBTQ Pride Flag

Move met with backlash from wide range of groups

By Susan Payne

Last month, the City of Huntington Beach made the decision to no longer fly the LGBTQ pride flag over City Hall during Pride Month.

The request was made by newly elected Councilman Pat Burns, who suggested the city draft an ordinance specifying that only standards representing the United States, state of California, Orange County and the city of Huntington Beach, along with the POW/MIA flag can be raised on city property, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“The City of Huntington Beach should avoid actions that could easily or mistakenly be perceived as divisive,” Burns stated in a staff report explaining his reasoning for the request. “[We] are one community with many different cultures and people. All are equally valued members of our community, and none are to be treated differently or discriminated against.”

A Huntington Beach spokesperson Jennifer Carey confirmed to the LA Times that the sixstriped rainbow flag, a symbol of inclusion, is the only other banner approved by members of the council for civic display.

The city first hoisted the Pride flag on May 22, 2021— the birthday of former San Francisco supervisor and civil rights activist Harvey Milk, fatally shot in 1978 — after the City Council voted 6-0 in a May 3 meeting to keep the banner flying throughout the month of June to mark LGBTQ Pride Month, the LA Times reported.

Peter Levi, regional director of the AntiDefamation League of Orange County/ Long Beach, urged officials to reject Burns’

ordinance proposal in a comment submitted to the City Council on Feb. 2.

“Prohibiting the display of Pride flags because they are allegedly ‘divisive’ sends a dangerous message to the LGBTQ+ community and allies,” Levi stated. “The change in Huntington Beach policy will actively send the message that they are not welcome here, that they do not belong, while emboldening extremists.”

In response to Huntington Beach elected officials barring the LGBTQ flag from flying over City Council during Pride, the Los Angeles LGBT Center issued the following statement:

“The Greater Los Angeles area is for everyone and yet Huntington Beach officials landed on a cliche and reductive approach to making headlines: marginalizing queer Californians (and potentially, millions of tourists) in one fell swoop. It’s alarming and embarrassing that in 2023, on the heels of 150+ anti-LGBTQ legislations ravaging the country, this is what municipal employees are focusing on– not the unhoused, gun safety or the care of our seniors,” said Joe Hollendoner, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. “For a city that prides itself on exercising its rights, it’s abhorrently inexcusable to infringe upon the First Amendment rights of the LGBTQ tax-payers; they’re sending us a clear message of hate and shamelessly putting young, queer lives at stake. Huntington Beach’s officials are taking a cue from the political playbooks of extremist politicians across the country— using their hatred of queer and trans people as launching pads for their careers. We will not be relegated to a closeted existence as those days are long behind us, and our people will always find a way to fly our flag loud and proud. I hope the elected officials who voted in favor of the flag ban remember that representation matters, and that the LGBTQ+ community will work tirelessly to elect representatives who champion our rights.

LA County Math Teacher Takes Son to Nail Salon After Daycare Teacher Detests

By Susan Payne

“Painting your nails is only for girls,” a daycare teacher told the three-year-old son of Christian Shearhod, a Los Angeles County math teacher.

“My son came home from school upset because his teacher told him that painting his nails is only for girls, so today I’m taking him to the nail shop!” Shearhod said in a TikTok video posted last week.

Shearhod said the boy’s daycare teacher scolded him for wanting painted nails, calling it a “girl’s only” activity.

In an interview with NBC News, Shearhod said his son expressed interest in painted nails at the age of two.

“Since then, we started painting our nails together,” Shearhod, a straight LGBTQ+ ally

California Non-Profit Assists

Unhoused People, Offers Support for LGBT Community With Emergency Housing Vouchers

who uses his TikTok platform to promote LGBTQ+ equality, told NBC News.

Shearhod told NBC News he wanted to cheer his son up after the daycare worker’s comments.

“I really just wanted to make sure that he didn’t have guilt or shame, because it is something that he enjoyed, and we had done together multiple times,” Shearhod said, adding that he wants his son to enjoy life to the fullest at his age, without “strict gender norms.”

Shearhod, the next day, spoke with the daycare teacher.

“I just told them, ‘Hey, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say that kind of thing to Ashton, kind of let him do his own thing,’” Shearhod told NBC.

Recipients include those fleeing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking

By Sam Catanzaro

As the New Year dawns, Find Homeless People Inc., a California-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, continues to do its part in assisting unhoused people. The Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) effort has enabled Find Homeless People, Inc. to distribute 30 emergency housing vouchers to those who were in need and met eligibility criteria within the greater Los Angeles, CA area.

The recipients of these vouchers had access to LAHSA – approved homeless shelters such as LA Family Housing, Village Family Services, Single-room Occupancy Programs,

Midnight Mission, Los Angeles LGBT Center and Home at Last. For an individual or household to be eligible for EHVs they must be fleeing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking; be a survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking; seeking an emergency transfer through the Interim LAHSA Emergency Transfer Plan under Violence Against Women Act (VAWA); generally homeless; a homeless military veteran; enrolled in time-limited subsidy programs that need a permanent housing resource; enrolled in interim housing whose sites are closing; long-term enrolled in interim housing with three months or longer; and/or enrolled in programs that offer navigation, case management and/or post lease up retention services such as Housing Navigation.

Find Homeless People Inc. encourages those who meet any of the aforementioned criteria and live in Los Angeles County to contact their office by calling 562-472-0222 or through their website contact page for assistance obtaining an emergency housing voucher and safe shelter.

“My son came home from school upset because his teacher told him that painting his nails is only for girls,” says parent

Howard Bragman, PR Veteran and LGBTQ Advocate Dies at Age 66

40-year veteran of entertainment public relations, Howard Bragman, died of Leukemia at the age of 66 February 11

By Susan Payne

A 40-year veteran of entertainment public relations, Howard Bragman, died of Leukemia at the age of 66, according to a Caring Bridge journal entry posted by his boyfriend, Mike Maimone.

“The enormity of our shared loss can’t be overstated — Howard was a constant in so many of our lives and the brightest star in his wide constellation of friends and family,” Maimone wrote.

The news came Feb. 11, a major shock to

journalists and public relations professionals who worked closely with Bragman.

Bragman co-founded the firm BNC, which was later merged with PMK and his own Fifteen Minutes PR, and later in life, LaBrea Media, serving clients such as Cameron Diaz, Paula Abdul, Stevie Wonder, Sharon Osbourne, Monica Lewinsky, Joe Manganiello, Anna Kendrick, and more, according to NBC News.

Bragman was born in Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1978, working in Chicago and then Los Angeles in PR. On top of his PR career, Bragman served as an Adjust Professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center for Communication from 1998 to 2003.

In 2010, Bragman appeared on an episode of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” as Camille Grammer’s representative. In that same year, he was a guest judge on the inaugural season one of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” according to the NBC News.

Bragman was an openly gay executive and advocate of LGBTQ causes, also advocating

for a number of celebrities including actor Meredith Baxter, basketball player Sheryl Swoopes and country singer Chely Wright, NBC News reported.

In 2021, the NBC News said he contributed to a $1 million endowment to establish the Howard Bragman Coming Out Fund on the facilities of the University of Michigan. He announced the fund saying, ““As a fat, Jewish, gay kid in Flint, Michigan, I always felt like a Martian. … This campus allows you to be yourself. It allows you to spread your wings in the way you want to spread your wings. I tell people, ‘Stay strong, even when it hurts.’ And, I promise, it hurts sometimes. But, there are places that will help you ease the pain sometimes. That’s what the Spectrum Center did. That’s what Michigan did.”

“I don’t care how liberal the school is. I don’t care how accepting and loving your parents are. I don’t care how ‘woke’ the times are. Coming out is this most personal of journeys, and it’s a challenging journey,” he said. “It’s so important for students to know they are not

alone and that the Spectrum Center is there for them. … It was founded only two years after Stonewall, which we look at as the birth of the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement. So the center is not a flash in the pan. … I want to assure that other people get that same access that I had; life-changing, life-saving access.”

Billy London Cold Case Solved After 33 Years

suspect, according to WeHo Times.

“Investigators made the connection to (London’s) murder after Madden pleaded guilty to killing a gay man in in Oklahoma named Steven Domer and another man named Bradley Qualls, who had been Madden’s accomplice in Domer’s murder and had since confessed to abducting, robbing, beating and strangling (London) to death,” WeHo reported.

In the early 90s, Madden was a former gay porn actor named Billy Houston, WeHo said.

By Susan Payne

Billy London, a gay male porn actor also known as William Arnold Newton, was killed in October of 1990 and the case has gone cold, until recently.

Los Angeles Police Department Det. John Lamberti, with the help of Circus of Books Documentarian Rachel Mason and amateur sleuth Clark Williams, helped solve the case and identified the murder, according to the WeHo Times.

London was last seen at The Rage Nightclub in West Hollywood, his head and feet found in a Santa Monica Dumpster on Oct. 29, 1990.

Darrell Lynn Madden, a former selfproclaimed white supremacist and skinhead who now identifies as an Orthodox Jewish woman named Daralyn Madden, is the

Madden and Qualls committed the first murder as part of a gang initiation into the Chaos Squad Skinheads, according to a report from the LA Times. Later, Madden shot and killed Qualls.

In a recorded confession on the murder of Willian Newton, or Billy London, Madden said she abducted London from Santa Monica Boulevard, and that her and her skinhead friends had seen London walking along the street, targeting him for robbery.

Madden said she approached London and put her arm around his shoulder and threatened to “beat the crap out of him” and rob him, the LA Times reported. Madden ended up strangling London, matching the coroner’s findings. Madden claims she didn’t dismember London’s body, but she knows who did, but refuses to snitch, WeHo reported.

“Shortly before the 30th anniversary of his murder, Authors Christopher Rice and Eric Shaw Quinn sparked interest in the case.

Inspired by the HBO documentary series, ‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,’ based on a book by Michelle McNamara about her investigation into the Golden State Killer, Rice and Quinn did an episode of their podcast, TDPS Presents Christopher and Eric devoted to mysteries that both writers are obsessed with, which included the unsolved murder of Billy London,” WeHo reported.

Then, Emmy-nominated Rachel Mason known for writing and directing the widely popular Netflix documentary, “Circus of Book,” started searching for clues within the LGBTQ community on the murder of Billy London.

“Billy London reminds me of all the young

men I got to know that worked at my parents’ store but I had never heard of anything so brutal happening in the community, which had already suffered so much death due to the AIDS crisis,” said Mason. “His murder just hit me very hard, and I wanted to commit to helping the effort to solve this case.”

Billy London, or William Arnold Newton’s murder, will be the subject of a Circus of Books follow-up documentary.

Mason said there will more revelations that were not possible without the help of a long list of people who made the conclusion possible. She says the upcoming documentary will be much “deeper dive into the world behind the videos.”

Darrell Lynn Madden, a former self-proclaimed white supremacist and skinhead who now identifies as an Orthodox Jewish woman named Daralyn Madden, is the suspect

YOU BELONG AT SMC

Classes start March 6 On-campus and online smc.edu/spring