San Francisco Bay Times - January 26, 2017

January 26 - February 9, 2017 | sfbaytimes.com

IN SE AN CH AP PHOTO BY

SOURCE: DEUTSCHE WELLE

Five Thousand Demonstrators Gather in San Francisco on Inauguration Night to Protest Trump and His Policies ANSWER Bay Area [Act Now to Stop War and End Racism] partially sponsored the 5 pm Friday demonstration against Trump on Inauguration night. Sponsors stated, “On January 20, 2017, the racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-worker Donald Trump will be elevated to the off ice of President, despite the fact that he lost the popular vote by a significant margin. On that disgraceful day, tens of thousands of people will be marching in the streets in Washington D.C., San Francisco and other cities, saying ‘no’ to Trump and the Trump program.” They continued, “It is of the utmost urgency that all progressive people take to the streets in defense of im-

migrants, Muslims, women, all people of color and all working people. We take to the streets to advance an alternative vision.”

Before the event officially began, dancers in costumes performed Native American Indian prayer dances. Then the massive protest took place downtown in Union Square with people blocking and taking over both sides of Market Street after an hour of rallying. It was peaceful with no arrests.

Some of the placards read: “Homes for people! Not for profit” “Racist! Fascist” “Fight white supremacy!”

“Nasty women rebel!”

And this reporter’s clever favorite: “Mein Trumpf!”

Colorful banners proclaimed, “Protect Communities of Color” and “No Borders to Nations!” and a big three lane-wide banner urged, “Say no to the Trump agenda! #Inaugurate the resistance!

No racism, sexism, homophobia, war!”

Outside UBER headquarters, protesters chained themselves to the doors with signs of “Resist!” and “UBER collaborates! We resist!”

In this case, individuals were arrested. Eleven were also arrested on the CalTrain tracks, and normal service shortly commenced.

Many peaceful demonstrators assembled in front of the 555 California Building owned 30% by

Inauguration Protests - Friday, January 20

Trump with his uber-wealthy Goldman Sachs advisors ordinarily occupying that space.

Rain dispersed the demonstrators, so many hours later they marched to the Castro and then into the Mission and Tenderloin—chanting all the way with such phrases as: “2-4-6-8! No to Trump; no to hate!” and “Racist! Sexist! Anti-gay! Trump & Pence, go away!”

Police estimated over 5,000 people of all ages, races, sexes, causes and orientations participated passionately, but peacefully, through the night.

ANSWER Coalition (answercoalition.org/san_francisco) plans to have many more demonstrations and marches in the future. For updates, contact their website.

PHOTO BY RINK

By Dennis McMillan

Photos by Rink

In spite of the rain, our streets came alive on Friday, January 20, as thousands took to the streets in San Francisco, Berkeley Oakland to protest the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. Unlike protests in Washington, D.C., where more than 200 were arrested, the Bay Area’s were largely violence free.

Thousands Gather for Obamacare Rally Outside City Hall

by Dennis McMillan On Sunday, January 15, thousands assembled outside San Francisco City Hall to voice their support for nationwide healthcare and to share concerns about how the Trump administration would affect the American Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare). Similar events were held in Sacramento, Los Angeles and nationwide.

“At a time when the United States remains the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all as a right, the Republicans want to throw nearly 30 million people off of health insurance, make massive cuts to Medicaid and defund Planned Parenthood,” the organizers wrote ahead of the event.

The crowd was made up of young and old, gay and straight—as seen by leather flags and rainbow flags alike. A huge cloth banner with red writing stated, “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t ‘Fix’ It!” One demonstrator held a placard, “If you’re so sick that you want to gut the ACA, you need it, my friend!” Many carried printed signs with Martin Luther King’s face and his famous quote: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” One of this reporter’s favorites was: “Repeal and Replace Trump!” It took 13 people to hold a very long electrified banner saying: “Protect Improve Expand Medicare for all!”

A young girl wore a t-shirt stating, “Dreamers gonna dream!”

Standing at a podium with the sign “#Our First Stand” and “Save Health Care,” Representative Pelosi said, “Their plan is to make America sick again!” She also stated the Rev. Martin Luther King’s quote about inequality and health care.

Mayor Ed Lee said, “A repeal vote [of ACA] will start us down the path to the road of chaos in the insurance markets and declines in coverage.”

The National Nurses United were out in force, noting the millions of Americans who would not receive healthcare if the ACA, Medicare, and Medi-Cal were repealed. National Nurses United Co-President Deborah Burger said, “ On this day of action, we are standing with our elders, our friends, and family—along with many of our elected representatives—to say no to the Republicans’ disastrous proposals.”

Supervisors Malia Cohen and Norman Yee and Senator Scott Wiener spoke, among many others. Veteran activist and folksinger Joan Baez changed the lyrics a bit to a well-known protest song to sing: “Ain’t gonna let no ego-maniac turn me around, turn me around, keep on walkin’, keep on talkin’, gonna build ourselves a brand-new world.”

It was announced that the next San Francisco ACA repeal protest would take place on February 1. Location to be announced.

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Photos by Rink

WOMEN’S MARCH ON WASHINGTON & SISTER MARCHES

Remarks Presented by U.S. Senator Kamala Harris

Remarks Presented by Gloria Steinem

I think that because I and my beloved co-chairs, the golden oldies, right? Harry Belafonte, Dolores Huerta, LaDonna Harris … all these great people, we may be the oldest marchers here today, so I’ve been thinking about the uses of a long life, and one of them is you remember when things were worse.

We remember the death of the future, with Martin Luther King, with Jack Kennedy, with Bobby Kennedy, with Malcom X. Without those deaths, for instance, Nixon would not have been elected, and there would not have been many of the wars that we had. Now, our great leaders like Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are still with us and remember how much we feared they might not be, and how much threat there was, in fact, on their lives. And they are with us.

And now, our honored Bernie Sanders is still with us. And not only with us, but he’s focusing on economic justice and achieving free universal college education in my state of New York. And now Hillary Clinton is alive and definitely not in jail. She who told the whole world that women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights—so crucial, when collectively violence against females in the world has produced a world in which, for the first time, there are fewer females than males.

I’m not trying to deny the danger that this day initiates. Trump and his handlers have found a fox for every chicken coop in Washington, and a Twitter finger must not become a trigger finger. Some very experienced doctors of the American Psychiatric Association have publicly written to warn us that, and I quote, “His widely reported symptoms of mental instability, including grandiosity, impulsivity, hyper-sensitivity to slights or criticisms, and an apparent inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality, lead us to question his fitness for the immense responsibilities of the office.” Unquote.

This was on full display in his inaugural address yesterday. Everything that happened before him was a disaster. And everything that he would do would be fantastic, the best ever, miracles, and all the superlatives. He also said he was with the people. Indeed, he was the people. To paraphrase a famous quote, I just have to say, “I have met the people, and you are not them.” We are the people.

Just this march in Washington today required 1,000 more buses than the entire inauguration. A thousand more buses. And I was just talking with people from our many sister marches, including the one in Berlin, and they asked me to send a special message: “We in Berlin know that walls don’t work.”

And remember Poland, where last month the government passed an anti-abortion law and six million women turned out in the streets and they had to change it? We are the people. We have people power and we will use it. All the power that you tried to eliminate. For instance, you tried to eliminate the Congressional Ethics Committee. You had to reinstate it, right? Because of people power. Because this … this, is the other side of the downside. This is an outpouring of energy and true democracy like I have never seen in my very long life. It is wide in age. It is deep in diversity. And remember the constitution does not begin with “I, the president.” It begins with: “We, the people.”

So, don’t try to divide us. If you force Muslims to register, we will all register as Muslims. I know that there are women here from corporations and media and all kinds of places that make it kind of risky for you to say what you care about, what you feel, and what you support. And there are women here, I know, who have survived a national and global sex industry that profiteers from body invasion. We are united here for bodily integrity. If you cannot control your body from the skin in, you cannot control it from the skin out; you cannot control your lives, our lives. And that means the right to decide whether and when to give birth without government interference.

We are here and around the world for a deep democracy that says we will not be quiet. We will not be controlled. We will work for a world in which all countries are connected. God may be in the details, but the goddess is in connections. We are at one with each other. We are looking at each other, not up. No more asking daddy.

We are linked. We are not ranked. And this is a day that will change us forever because we are together. Each of us individually and collectively will never be the same again. When we elect a possible president, we too often go home.

We’ve elected an impossible president; we’re never going home. We’re staying together. And we’re taking over. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Make sure you introduce yourselves to each other and decide what we’re going to do tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, and we’re never turning back.

It’s a moment in time that many of us have experienced in our personal lives. You know, when that circumstance and situation required us to look in the mirror and, with furrowed brow, we ask the question: “Who are we?” This is that moment in time for our country, where we are collectively looking in a mirror and, with furrowed brow, ask this question: “Who are we?” And ladies and gentlemen, I believe the answer is a good one. Imperfect though we may be, I believe we are a great country.

And part of what makes us great is we are a nation that was founded on certain ideals. Founded on ideals that were spoken in 1776 that we are all, and should be, treated as equals. Founded on the ideals that guarantee every person’s right to worship freely without intrusion. Founded on the ideals where our immigrant communities represent the heart and soul of what it means to be an American.

And when I look out at this incredible crowd today, I know one thing. Even if you’re not sitting in the White House, even if you are not a member of the United States Congress, even if you don’t run a big corporate super PAC—you have the power. And we the people have the power. And there is nothing more powerful than a group of determined sisters marching alongside their partners and their determined sons and fathers standing up for what we know is right.

And here’s the thing. We know that it is right for this nation to prioritize women’s issues.

Now here’s what I’m talking about in terms of women’s issues. When I was first elected District Attorney of San Francisco, Attorney General of California, and a United States Senator from the

COURTESY OF THE WOMEN’S MARCH ON WASHINGTON

So here’s the deal. I believe we are at an inflection point in the history of our country. I believe this is a pivotal moment in the history of our country. I think of this as being a moment in time similar to when my parents met when they were active in the civil rights movement as students at the University of California Berkeley in the 1960s.

State of California—in each of those positions, I was elected as the first woman or the first woman of color. And folks would come up to me and they’d say, “Kamala, talk to us about women’s issues.”

And I’d look at them and I’d say, “I’m so glad you want to talk about the economy.” I’d say, “Great, let’s talk about the economy because that’s a women’s issue. You want to talk about women’s issues?

Let’s talk about national security. You want to talk about women’s issues? That’s fantastic. Let’s talk about health care. Let’s talk about education. Let’s talk about criminal justice reform. Let’s talk about climate change.”

Because we all know the truth. If you are a woman trying to raise a family, you know that a good paying job is a women’s issue. If you’re a woman who is an immigrant who does not want her family torn apart, you know that immigration reform is a women’s issue.

If you are a woman working off student loans, you know the crushing debt of student loans is a women’s issue. If you are black mother trying to raise a son, you know black lives is a women’s issue. And if you are a woman period, you know we deserve (continued on page 26)

‘I Am a Nasty Woman’ by Nina Donovan and presented at the Women’s March on Washington by Ashley Judd I’m a Nasty Woman.

Not as nasty as a man who looks like he bathes in Cheetos dust.

Not as nasty a man who is a diss track to America.

From back to broken back he’s stomped on, his words are just more white noise ruining this national anthem.

I’m not as nasty as confederate flags being tattooed across my city; maybe the south actually is going to rise again Or maybe it never really fell Because we’re still drowning in vanilla-coated power Slavery has just been reinterpreted into the prison system Black lives are still in shackles and graves just for being black in front of people who see melanin as animal skin Tell me of a decade that didn’t have traces of white hoods burning up our faith in humanity.

I’m not as nasty as a swastika painted on a pride flag And I didn’t know that devils could be resurrected but I feel Hitler in these streets A mustache traded in for a toupee The Nazis renamed The Cabinet Conversion therapy the new gas chamber, Shaming and electrocuting the gay out of America turning rainbows into suicide notes.

I’m not as nasty as racism, or fraud, or homophobia, sexual assault, transphobia, white supremacy, white privilege, ignorance, or misogyny Not as nasty as trading girls like Pokémon before their bodies have even evolved.

Not as nasty as your own daughter being your favorite sex symbol Like wet dreams infused with your own genes.

But yeah!

I’m a nasty woman.

PHOTO SOURCE: BRIT.CO

Thank you for understanding that sometimes we must put our bodies where our beliefs are. Sometimes pressing send is not enough. And this also unifies us with the many in this world who do not have computers or electricity or literacy, but do have the same hopes and the same dreams.

What a beautiful sight I see. What do my eyes behold? This is an extraordinary day and we all should be extremely proud.

PHOTO SOURCE: EONLINE.COM

Friends, sisters and brothers, all of you who are before me today and in 370 marches in every state in this country and on six continents and those who will be communing with us at 1 [pm] in a silent minute for equality in offices, in kitchens, in factories, in prisons, all over the world. I thank each of you, and I especially want to thank Gloria Steinem (center) with Amy Schumer and Madonna on stage at the hardworking vi- the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. sionary organizers of this women-led, inclusive march, one of whom managed to give birth while she was organizing this march. Who else can say that?

JANUARY 21, 2017

A funky Crusty Bitchy Loud Nasty woman.

Not as nasty as the combo of Trump and Pence being served into my voting booth, But I’m nasty like the battles women fought to get me in that voting booth.

Nasty like the fight to close the wage gap.

Nasty like conversations trying to remind people there is such a thing as a wage gap.

Tell me that this is only because women usually go into lower paying fields.

So why did last year’s top actresses make less than (continued on page 26)

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Politics Is Always Local

Thoughts on Inauguration Day 2017

darkest moments. I was lucky enough to have had the support of my family and counselors, who helped me to push through and complete community college, and that has brought me here today.

Alex Randolph, Trustee City College of San Francisco I have been trying very hard for months to get myself out of the Trump Depression. But no amount of Netflix, ice cream, or sleep did the trick. The world around seemed ever darker the moment I watched him take that oath of office.

That changed the Saturday after the inauguration when millions of women and their allies marched across the country and world. Many brought their daughters. Grandparents joined in as well. It was a beautiful day of action and was exactly what I needed. It reminded me that all politics and organizing are local.

I may not be able to impact anything nationally immediately, but there is so much we can do right here in San Francisco, and I am ready to get back to work.

It has been a true privilege to serve on the City College Board of Trustees; I am so excited to have been sworn in to another term earlier this month.

Sixteen years ago, I almost dropped out of community college. I was broke and feeling hopeless, and was struggling to comprehend how I was going to survive the financial, mental, and emotional costs of another semester without taking on multiple jobs. It was one of my

Cabinet members ever, lacking in empathy and compassion, tells me that Trump has shown us his cards. There is no such thing as “time” or to give him a chance. Giving him time or a chance will only ensure that his agenda is met. We need to fight back. We need to speak up. We need to take action. We need to band together and stop the infighting.

I have encountered many students who face the same sense of overwhelming fear when thinking about their paths in life. My story and journey are a powerful example to these students that City College is a place for all San Franciscans regardless of their circumstances, and I am more committed than ever to ensuring that in these difficult times.

I can’t prevent Trump from deporting millions of undocumented residents. I can’t stop him from rolling back LGBT rights. I can’t stop him from interfering in women’s health decisions.

But I sure can make it harder for him to do it here in San Francisco, here at City College. I am so proud that my colleagues and I unanimously passed several resolutions declaring City College a Sanctuary Campus, and ensuring that all of our students have access to affordable higher education. Nobody should stand in the way of others reaching their full potential and fulfilling their dreams of a better life.

It will also be up to us to push back against a new Secretary of Education who does not believe in the power of public education, and who does not understand what it means to be burdened with thousands of dollars in student loan debt. I hope she will take the time to visit a community college and see the incredible impact education has on students like me.

The good news is that City College’s accreditation was reaffirmed for a full seven years on lucky Friday the thirteenth. This decision is a major victory and a true testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire City College community. With this dark cloud now lifted, we can make sure that public education local(continued on page 17)

Frank Woo, Guest Commentary This is a day that I could never fathom happening in my lifetime. The extraordinary progress we have made just in the last eight years has been remarkable.

Who knew or even expected that someone not qualified; someone who has literally been able to seemingly succeed in life without really trying or sacrificing anything; someone who has no qualms whatsoever about lying to the public; someone with no moral values, integrity or character; someone who has such low regard for members of the human race who are different from him; and someone who has been exploiting his white privilege his entire life could be elected the leader of the free world. I mean this is a man who brags that he punched his teacher in the face when he was in the fifth grade.

I struggle to find why one would want to reverse and overturn rights and protections of individuals, knowing that by doing so causes more harm than good. And to know that this man wants this to be one of his first actions, via Executive Order, after being sworn in?

That, coupled with the fact that he has appointed some of the least friendly and fair-minded

On a very personal note, growing up knowing I was gay since I was 11 or 12, I ate up the crap that was spewed about homosexuality. I thought I was a sinner, damaged goods, and ready to go to hell when I died. A lot of days I wished I was, in fact, dead; totally convinced that it wouldn’t matter and I wouldn’t be missed.

My getting involved with the community and the community-at-large gave me a completely different perspective of myself, my life, and my worth. My very first volunteer role was as an Emotional Support Volunteer at the Shanti Project, where I provided active listening skills to persons living and dying with HIV/AIDS and to ease their transition.

This was in the ‘80s, so it was mostly people dying with AIDS. My first client was Joe, a young and handsome guy when he was healthy. He had a beautiful soul. He couldn’t get out much, but he made himself feel better because he knew he was dying and wanted to go out and see Beaches starring Bette Midler. We went, we saw, we cried, and Joe died.

Joe’s death had a profound effect on me. Here I was thinking that living or dying didn’t matter, and here was a man, not wanting to die, wanting to live and clinging to his life.

Another goodbye went to President Obama, a man who has also had a profound effect on me.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I would be invited to the White House, not once, but twice. Never did I ever imagine I would get Christmas and birthday cards from the White (continued on page 17)

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In the News

Compiled by Dennis McMillan San Francisco Elected Officials Denounce Trump, Commit to Protecting Health Care On Tuesday, January 24, numerous San Francisco officials led a Community Rally and Press Conference with Elected Women Leaders. Participants included Supervisors Hillary Ronen, London Breed, Sandra Lee Fewer, Jane Kim, Malia Cohen, Katy Tang; Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu; Sheriff Vicki Hennessy; Board of Education Members Emily Murase, Hydra Mendoza, Rachel Norton; Community College Board Members Thea Selby, Brigitte Davila, Shanell Williams; Democratic County Central Committee Members Cindy Wu, Petra DeJesus, Sophie Maxwell, Pratima Gupta, Angela Alioto, Mary Jung, Leah Lacroix; Planned Parenthood Northern California; Women’s Community Clinic; and many community organizations. They committed to protecting women’s universal access to affordable reproductive, family planning and sexual health services.

They also voiced support for protecting health care for all, which is under threat from the new Trump administration. A resolution (see text on this page) was announced at the event. sfgov.org Governor Brown Gives Forceful State of the State Speech California Governor Jerry Brown gave a forceful State of the State speech on Tuesday, January 24, men-

tioning that “California is not turning back. Not now. Not ever,” and reinforcing “basic principles.” He highlighted the continued work needed on immigration matters, renewable energy and climate change, health care and infrastructure. Assemblymember David Chiu, after the speech, commented: “Governor Brown today delivered a vintage defense of California’s values and accomplishments. His overall theme of inclusion, of our mutual dependence amidst our State’s incredible diversity, resonates in this moment of national fear and division.” He added that he hopes “Governor Brown will apply his considerable skills to working with the Legislature this year to move forward solutions” to the particularly “vexing and persistent” problems associated with the housing crisis. The full text of the speech may be read at https://www.gov.ca.gov/ home.php Massive Crowd for Women’s March in San Francisco San Francisco police estimate that at least 150,000 people came from all over the Bay Area to San Francisco Saturday afternoon, January 21, for the Women’s March. This was a day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. A rally was held at 3 pm at Civic Center Plaza. After the rally, participants head-

ed down Market Street to Justin Herman Plaza near the Ferry Building. Many women, men and children wore pink “pussy” knitted hats as a reference to a 2005 video released during the presidential campaign in which Trump told an entertainment reporter about grabbing women by their genitals. Sister Merry Peter from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an order of queer nuns, said sisters marched in 38 cities nationwide. “We’re here because women have always been with queer people in their struggles and it’s time to pay that back,” Sr. Peter said during the San Francisco event. “Today is the day our community has said that we have to have a rally to show that this election, while (Trump) may have won, he did not end the conversation.” The San Francisco march was one of several sister marches that took place around the Bay Area, with others held in Oakland, San Jose, Walnut Creek and additional Northern California cities. abc7news.com and multiple other reports Elton John AIDS Foundation Grants Millions to AIDS/LGBT Organizations In the midst of much uncertainty around the future of healthcare in America, several San Francisco-based organizations working to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic just got a major boost from the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF).

The foundation announced a new round of grants totaling $3.5 million to 57 organizations across the country. EJAF’s support will help pro(continued on page 26)

Resolution Denouncing the Trump Administration and 115th Congress’ Plans to Defund Preventative Care for Women and Basic Health Services Introduced by San Francisco Supervisors Ronen, Breed, Fewer, Kim, Cohen and Tang W H E R E A S , P resident Dona ld Trump and the 115th Congress have repeatedly threatened to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that provides coverage for women’s health services, and defund, cut funding to, or exclude women’s health providers from the Title X Family Planning Program and Medicaid; and

WHEREAS, Congress passed the

Francisco because they sustain Medi-Cal and California’s Family PACT family planning program, allowing thousands of patients to access reproductive health care at low or no cost; WHEREAS, Family planning and preventative health care, including cancer screenings, contraception, and abortion, promote healthy families and save taxpayers $7.09 for nearly every public dollar invested; and

W H E R E A S , Ke y memWHEREAS, San Francisco’s bers of the Trump adminissupport for family planning tration including Vice President Mike Pence, Tom Price sits within robust support R-GA, nominee for Secrefrom the state of California tary of Health and Human through the Family PACT Services, Katie Talento, approgram, offers free repropointee to Trump’s Domesductive and contraceptives to tic Policy Council, and many low income women, girls, and others have been vocal in transgender women; and their opposition of access to WHEREAS, San Francisco’s contraception and abortion and support the repeal of the approach to open access famAffordable Care Act; and Board of Supervisors President London Breed spoke at an SF Women ily planning has led the City W HER EAS, The Trump Elected Leaders press conference to support women’s reproductive to have a significantly lower ad m i n i st r at ion ha s t a k- health services, at City Hall on January 24. Supervisor Ronen led the rate of teen births at 10.2 per women majorty of the board of supervisors. Others also spoke to the 1000 teens versus 24.2 per en steps to repeal the ACA, crowd of 50 plus. which would cut health cov1000 teens nationally; and erage and required coverage for crit- Women’s Health Protection Act of WHEREAS, San Francisco has a ical preventative and screening ser- 2013, which protects a woman’s right long history and proud legacy of leadvices for women, girls, transgender and ability to determine whether and ing the fight for women’s rights and women and their families; and when to bear a child or end a pregchampioning the reproductive freeWHEREAS, Under the ACA, wom- nancy by limiting restrictions on the dom of women; therefore be it provision of abortion services by indien’s preventive health care services RESOLVED, That the Board of Suin reproductive, family planning and vidual states; and sexual health must be fully covered by WHEREAS, The Title X Fami- pervisors will continue to prioritize the provider; and ly Planning Program is critical to protecting women, girls, and transW HER E AS, Women, g irls, and women’s health in San Francisco be- gender women’s access to preventatransgender women are only safe and cause it is the only federal grant pro- tive care, birth control, family plansecure if they have access to the full gram dedicated to solely providing ning, reproductive and sexual health range of preventive and reproduc- individuals with comprehensive fam- care, and sex education despite tive health care services, including all ily planning, reproductive and sexual threats to cut federal funding to these Federal Drug Administration (FDA)- preventive health services and educa- programs; and, be it approved contraceptives, access to tion through a network of communiFURTHER RESOLVED, That the abortion, and preventative health ty-based clinics such as Planned ParBoard of Supervisors will do whatevcare services including cancer screen- enthood Northern California and the Women’s Community Clinic in San er is necessary to defend and mainings, testing and treatment for sexFrancisco, and through the San Frantain the universal healthcare access of ually transmitted infections (STIs), cisco Department of Public Health; women, girls, and transgender womprenatal and postnatal care, medien in San Francisco, including urgcally-accurate, comprehensive sexual and health education, and screenings for WHEREAS, Medicaid funds are ing the State of California to protect inter-personal violence; and critical to women’s health in San women from federal attacks.

PHOTO BY RINK

J O H N S T O N, K I N N E Y & Z U L A I C A LLP

WHEREAS, Under the ACA, women have free access to birth control, which has been legal since 1965 and 99% of sexually-active women in the United States use birth control at some point in their lifetimes to plan their families, reduce unintended pregnancies, achieve greater financial security, and treat medical conditions; and

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Queer Life in the Best Little Neighborhood You’ve Never Heard of: SF’s Portola District

6/26 and Beyond

We’ve all heard of San Francisco’s famous LGBT neighborhoods such as the Castro and Polk Street, right? But how about the Portola?

The “Portowhat?” you might be asking. If so, you’d be like us before we discovered, and then moved to, this wonderfully diverse and down to earth village with a vibrant LGBT presence in the southeast quadrant of the city.

For years, LGBT people in the Bay Area have lived in neighborhoods outside of the Castro and other known enclaves, but generally with less visibility. When we moved to the Portola seven years ago, we were delighted to learn that not only were we the sixth LGBT household on our immediate block, but also that our block sported a radical faerie house and that two of our neighbors hosted an annual Walt Whitman party to celebrate the iconic queer poet’s birthday.

The Portola is also home to a longstanding lesbian community, including our real estate agent, who helped us. Many other LGBT and community-minded residents make a home in the neighborhood. We have tremendous straight ally neighbors too, many of whom have marched with us in the Pride Parade and joined in the Portola Pride Picnic, held in nearby McLaren Park. A gay couple who moved in a couple years ago took the direct approach to raising queer visibility when they realized that drivers on the nearby 101 Freeway had a perfect view of the back of their house that stood atop one of the neighborhood’s many hills.

They painted the entire rear of the house in the colors of the rainbow f lag, earning their home the nickname Chateau Rainbeau.

A Diverse Community The area, which is now the Portola, was originally inhabited by Native Americans, with the first settlers being Eastern European Jewish immigrants, some of whom termed the community “Little Jerusalem.”

Many Italian and Maltese immigrants also came and cultivated numerous rose and other f lower nurseries that supplied most of San Francisco’s cut f lowers. With last century’s baby boom, the nurseries gave way to housing, and the neighborhood is now home to a diverse spectrum of residents with large numbers of Latinx and Asian Americans. In our immediate area alone, we feel fortunate to have Italian, Maltese, El Salvadoran, Chinese, Filipino, Greek, Irish, African American, European American, Malaysian, Indian, and Iranian American neighbors.

For years, LGBT people have been a vital part of the life of the neighborhood, both taking an active role as community leaders and creating queer-themed events open to everyone. One of the striking things about the Portola is how many neighbors actually know each other and spend time together both to have fun and to make the neighborhood a better

PHOTO BY SHAE INGLIN

John Lewis & Stuart Gaffney

Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis (under the umbrella) with neighbors and friends representing the Portola community at the Women’s March - San Francisco on January 21.

place. When we moved in, we were charmed to learn that LGBT and other residents had created a very popular come-one, come-all style holiday party where neighbors can catch up with each other at the nearby Italian American Social Club of San Francisco.

The new queer-friendly microbrewery—Ferment, Drink, Repeat (FDR)—will feature a specially formulated LGBT Pride brew this June and is located on the Portola’s main commercial street, San Bruno Avenue, which boasts a bounty of Chinese, Vietnamese, Mexican, and El Salvadoran restaurants and food stores.

Of course, all is not bliss in the Portola, and creating a community in which diverse people overcome barriers to live in harmony and connection with one another is not always easy. On the morning of September 7, 2015, the neighborhood was rudely awakened to the sight of graffiti reading “No More Chinese” in multiple locations. The neighborhood reacted swiftly, powerfully, and creatively. Within hours, residents transformed the graff iti to read “❤ more Chinese.” A few days later, a large and diverse group of residents came together for a public rally at one of the spots where the graffiti was painted and together denounced racism and stood up for inclusion and community solidarity. Former Supervisor David Campos, himself a Latino gay man, and Portola Neighborhood Association President Chris Waddling, an immigrant gay man whose husband is Chinese American, were among the community leaders who spearheaded the rally. The man who painted the graffiti turned out to be a longtime resident, and was prosecuted and convicted of multiple counts of vandalism and hate crimes. No such incidents have occurred since.

Drag Queen Bingo, Portolove, and the Goettingen Cascade Project Nothing embodies the increasing queer visibility in the Portola more than the neighborhood’s semi-annual Drag Queen Bingo fundraisers that support local community projects. They are held at El Toro, San Bruno Avenue’s Latin music and dance club—the former location of Fucile’s Bar, where local legend has it that Frank Sinatra once sang.

Anyone LGBT or otherwise interested in experimenting with a bit of gender bending, trying out some f lamboyant self-expression, or just plain hanging out and playing bingo with those who do, is welcome to at-

tend. It’s a family friendly event that attracts people of all ages, and last time included both fabulous drag queens dressed to the nines and stylishly handsome drag kings.

The next drag queen bingo—called “Portolove” and hosted by drag queen Van Detta—is coming soon on Thursday, February 9. It will benefit the Goettingen Cascade Project, an innovative art and greening project that will employ state or the art materials to transform a formerly dilapidated outdoor staircase atop one of the neighborhood’s hills into the appearance of a glowing nighttime waterfall that will also function practically to illuminate the staircase at night for pedestrians. Phillip Hua, an internationally recognized queer artist who lives in the neighborhood with his husband, is the designer of the installation, which is part of the Goettingen Neighbors Group’s years’ long efforts to create beautiful gardens aside the previously neglected passageway. The group is one of many in the neighborhood taking a proactive approach to greening, celebrating gardens, and preserving the area’s historic nurseries. In recognition of these efforts and the neighborhood’s proximity to McLaren Park, the city named the Portola, “San Francisco’s Garden District,” last year.

Detail of Silver Avenue Mural, by neighborhood artist, Arthur Koch, co-owner of Frame Art Studio, celebrating the rainbow spirit of the Portola.

Last drag queen bingo, we decided that it was time for us to do drag ourselves. But what should marriage equality activist grooms wear?

The answer was obvious, and John adorned himself in one of famous marriage equality activist Molly McKay’s historic wedding dresses, while Stuart presented as a dashing butch bride. As John exited El Toro at the end of the evening, a passerby making a bee line to the bus suddenly stopped as she encountered John on the sidewalk. Her mouth agape, she audibly gasped and exclaimed: “How beautiful! Your wedding day!” John smiled and thanked her in the best falsetto he could muster, and she and he both had huge smiles on their faces as she made her way to the bus. Yet another reason we love this diverse, queer thriving, “can do” and “do it yourself” neighborhood we call home: The Portola.

John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, together for over three decades, were plaintiffs in the California case for equal marriage rights decided by the California Supreme Court in 2008. Their leadership in the nationwide grassroots organization Mar riage Equality USA contributed in 2015 to making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES JANUARY 26, 2017

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San Francisco’s New Port Director Elaine Forbes Hits the Ground Running

Forbes recently took time out of her busy schedule to speak with the San Francisco Bay Times about leadership, her vision for the Port, the challenges that lie ahead, and much more.

San Francisco Bay Times: You were recently appointed Executive Director of the Port of San Francisco. Tell us about yourself and how your personal background will help you to be a good leader?

Elaine Forbes: I want to thank the entire Port Commission for their recommendation and I want to thank Mayor Lee for appointing me. Mayor Lee has made it abundantly clear he is cheering for a successful Port.

I want to thank my staff for outperforming in their roles to help me succeed as a leader and thank you to outgoing Executive Director Monique Moyer who was a stellar mentor to me, and who saw in me the ability to lead before I recognized it.

I also want to thank my co-conspirator in life and in love, Angela Calvillo. She has encouraged me with courage, humor and kindness. I know with her by my side, I will lead with confidence.

I was born in San Francisco at Children’s Hospital and I have a long family history in the City. In fact, my great grandfather was a longshoreman and worked at the Port. My parents were high school sweethearts, but the romance ended when I was three. My young mom raised me. She worked very hard to make sure I had opportunities in life. As one example, her waitressing job somehow supported tuition at the San Francisco Girls Chorus. I experienced much of San Francisco in the 1970s as a young child—we lived in a commune in the

Haight Ashbury, attended civil right rallies and concerts, and had an expansive definition of family and community. I also had early experiences in “managing up” so the adults would focus on meal preparation, instead of records, and conversation.

I had a third-grade assignment: “What do you want to be when you grow-up and why?” My report was simple: a person with her own apartment because privacy is important.

My mom achieved my long-sought apartment of our own when I was in the fourth grade in the Canal area of San Rafael. I can proudly say that I achieved getting my own apartment and much more. I credit my mom.

She showed me the value of working hard, of integrity, and she had an easy laugh and understood that life should be fun. While she died when I was only 19, and she was a young 37, I luckily carry a lot of her with me. I am the successful product of public education and public programs aimed at supporting working families. I attended Skyline Community College, Mills College, and then earned a graduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Today, I live with my partner of 16 years, Angela Calvillo, and our two dogs in the Castro neighborhood. Prior to my employment at the Port of San Francisco, I held executive management and leadership positions at both the Planning Department and the San Francisco International Airport. I’ve worked for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the Budget Analyst’s Office providing fiscal and policy analysis. I’ve worked as a redevelopment agency planner for the City of Oakland and worked for several non-profit land use policy and economic development organizations including the Urban Strategies Council and the California Budget Project.

My personal and work experience has allowed me to work well with diverse communities, to practice hard work, and lead with a purpose of collaboration, integrity, results and excellent service to the public. I’m proud to be one of eight women port directors in the United States during a time when women and minorities in our nation have experienced a setback. I hope my appointment inspires other women, and the LGBTQ community, to not lose hope and to not give up.

Elaine Forbes, Port Executive Director, and Joe Roger, Port Senior Engineer, conduct a waterfront tour with Mayor Ed Lee to discuss future plans for the Mission Bay Ferry Landing

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PORT OF SAN FRANCISCO

Elaine Forbes was appointed by Mayor Ed Lee as Executive Director of the Port of San Francisco in October 2016, with the recommendation of the Port Commission. She is now one of just eight women port directors in the entire country. Forbes, who previously held executive management and leadership positions at both the San Francisco Planning Department and the San Francisco International Airport, is also openly LGBT. She resides in the Castro with her partner of 16 years, Angela Calvillo, and their two dogs.

Elaine Forbes, Port Executive Director, and Mayor Ed Lee visit with Captain Peter McIssac, President of the San Francisco Bar Pilots, at Pier 9.

San Francisco Bay Times: What is your and your colleagues’ vision for the Port in 2017 and beyond?

Elaine Forbes: The Port is essential to the identity of San Francisco, and provides for unique and vibrant experiences that bring the public back again and again. The Port is also a place of work and supports over 500 tenants, many maritime and small businesses, and their employees. We must protect this valuable public resource. During this divisive time for our nation, all of us at the Port will make sure our San Francisco values of inclusiveness, diversity, collaboration, integrity, service to the public, and compassion for one another remain our priority. To value and foster diversity and respect for everyone is essential. This value will continue to guide Port staff in all of our interactions and will be the underpinning of our success.

I started my career in social justice and I will not relent on this vision.

In 2017, the Port will focus on connecting our working-class families and communities of color to every project and activity. We will do this with more outreach and engagement, through contracting, and through workforce development partnerships.

The Port will continue to support our maritime businesses like ship repair and cargo at Pier 80 and 96 because

Elaine Forbes welcoming Olivia Travel’s first Port of Call visit to the Port of San Francisco

growth in this business line means good paying skilled jobs.

challenges, and how do you plan to tackle them?

We will continue to do more to connect our diverse communities with the jobs and opportunities they deserve. Port staff and I are already creating a work plan to ensure a vibrant Southern Waterfront that supports surrounding neighborhood residents with jobs, more open space, and a thriving maritime-industrial center that works. We owe it to the Bayview community to invest more in our Southern Waterfront.

Elaine Forbes: Make no mistake— the Port is facing big challenges— challenges bigger than our Port enterprise can tackle alone. We need our partners. We are in the process of updating the Port’s Waterfront Land Use Plan with a public working group. This 20-year-old plan needs updating to address the financial realities of waterfront projects, and to provide a framework to respond to sea level rise and seismic threats. Staff and I will initiate tough conversations with the public, regulators, City staff, and the Port Commission about trade-offs, and in doing so we will value openness of thought, and the ability to disagree in constructive ways and find solutions to move the Port forward for future generations.

And as we create even more parks and open space, we will also preserve the space we have. With global forces acting on the ecology and economy of our planet and with the dismissive rhetoric taking place nationally, it is imperative that the Port advance climate protection and strive to be truly sustainable.

Water transportation will be in one of the many areas that we can ensure our environmental agenda is advanced. In fact, studies are underway to implement a hydrogen fueling station for ferry and vehicle use. And, I will prioritize the development of new and improved ferry landings, which will benefit the environment and help move our growing City around the region.

San Francisco Bay Times: What do you see as the Port’s largest

Elaine Forbes, Suzette Love, Linda Richardson, Lavena Holmes, Marie Mitchell and Patricia Marquez-Ramirez celebrate the inaugural ship call of Pasha Automotive Services at Pier 80.

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SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S JA NUA RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 7

We are already in the project planning phase for one of our biggest challenges, which is to rebuild our over 3-mile Seawall. The Seawall extends beneath our Embarcadero Promenade that welcomes millions of people each year, provides flood protection to portions of the downtown, supports historic buildings, diverse small business and is a critical emergency response and recovery area for the entire City. The Seawall has done its job for 100 years, and it is our time to invest in this critical infrastructure to keep our residents and visitors safe.

We must rebuild this infrastructure to address seismic vulnerabilities, protect portions of our City from flooding, and prepare for sea level rise.

I’m already working with my staff to implement innovative and creative financing mechanisms to address the Port’s $1 billion capital backlog challenge and to ensure we restore our treasured historic piers. Addressing the backlog will ensure our future generations will also have a worldclass waterfront. (continued on next page)

Building a Successful Business: Bank with Experts of how the bank has handled a common issue in this industry, or has been creative when dealing with a complex situation?

Will my business have a single, experienced point-of-contact throughout its relationship with the bank?

Bank with Pride Wendy Ross Young businesses, large and small, are f lourishing in the Bay Area.

Those that are highly successful have the assistance of trusted advisors, including accountants and lawyers. The most successful of all, however, are those that have a good bank and a knowledgeable banker by their side.

A strong banking relationship means having the tools to meet day-to-day needs, and the guidance and resources necessary to grow and scale when the timing and conditions are right.

How does a business select the bank and banker best suited to meet banking needs? Here are several questions to ask every bank and banker: Does the bank have expertise in banking businesses like mine?

A ll businesses are not the same.

Young, growing businesses have particular needs. Different industries have different requirements and different growth cycles. Does the bank have experience with other businesses in my field? What are some examples

It is extraordinarily helpful to have one person to work with who, over time, has developed a thorough understanding of the business and its owner(s). This consistent one-on-one interaction is what builds a banking “relationship.” As the banker learns more, she or he can help assess growth options, determine debt capacity, customize services, and offer solutions suited to the company’s position in the business cycle. A business can compete more effectively, and grow more efficiently, with a banker as a partner and a bank that is agile by its side. At the same time, it is important to know others within the bank, ideally someone in senior management or at a decision-making level. This helps when your main contact is on vacation, retires or leaves the bank for some other reason. You don’t want to have to start over with your financial institution.

Does the bank make its decisions locally?

All banks will take a business’s f inancials and creditworthiness into consideration when making lending decisions. A bank that makes local decisions understands the local market and is able to consider a business owner’s reputation and character within the community as well. This can be a big differentiator for a business

that may not fit into a certain “box.”

Banks with local decision makers are also able to create quick turnarounds, as they have a strong knowledge of industries in their specific marketplace.

Does the bank have a full range of services to help my business succeed and grow?

As a business grows, banking needs evolve. Does the business need new equipment or the funds to build out new space? Has the business grown large enough to consider buying a building, or would a remodel be sufficient? When it comes time to expand, will the banker anticipate needs and offer a range of services and products to make it happen? Ask the banker for examples of businesses she or he has helped to grow.

How does the bank employ technology to streamline services?

Technologies such as remote deposit, online access, and mobile banking apps enable a business to handle its banking needs anywhere, at any time. Don’t you want your bank to work 24/7—alongside you?

Your banker and your bank should work for you, and with you. Think of them as members of your team, and select them with as much consideration as you would any valued partner.

Wendy Ross is the President of Bank of San Francisco. She has more than 35 years of international, commercial, and private banking experience. Ross is a 2002 graduate of Leadership San Francisco and is a board member of numerous Bay Area organizations.

FORBES (continued from page 10) We cannot accomplish these challenges alone. Public-private partnerships have and will continue to transform this waterfront for the future.

Therefore, we work tirelessly in support of proposals at SWL 337 and Pier 70 that will create vibrant new neighborhoods with ample affordable housing, and will provide the Port with needed new revenue streams.

San Francisco Bay Times: We know you work closely with Leslie Katz, who is a Port Commissioner and LGBTQ community member. How will you work together to advance the LGBTQ community?

Elaine Forbes: Last year, Leslie and I welcomed the first Olivia cruise ship to Pier 35 for a port of call. This was a milestone for the Port enter-

prise and for Leslie and me, and we look forward to having more opportunities to celebrate our community this year and beyond.

Leslie also led the creation of an LGBTQ Affinity group for the California Association of Port Authorities.

This group helps improve working conditions for LGBTQ staff in ports across California. I look forward to working with her and ports across

the State to ensure our organizations support and celebrate LGBTQ employees and embrace diversity more broadly. Finally, Port enterprise actively outreaches to the Golden Gate Business Association and the LGBTQ community for all our contracts that totaled $44.1 million dollars last fiscal year.

Commissioner Katz is a great mentor to me; I look forward to working with her more to make sure our LGBTQ community is represented in Port activities to realize our core value to celebrate diversity.

For information about the Port of San Francisco, including upcoming events, go to: http://sfport.com/

SF Sketch Randy Coleman Randy Coleman hails from New York, but has lived in San Francisco since 1975.

Coleman shares that before moving to the Bay Area, he studied Art History and Architecture at Boston University while working as a resident artist for architectural rendering at a Massachusetts historical society. “All of my life I’ve been an artist,” Coleman says. “To know me is to know that I have a passion for art and architecture. I love this project for the San Francisco Bay Times, and hope that you enjoy my sketches.” © Randy Coleman, 2017 S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES JANUARY 26, 2017

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Dysfunctional Family Roles: #2 The Scapegoat Roland Schembari and Bill Hartman, Co-Founders Randy Alfred, Founding News Editor 1978 Kim Corsaro Publisher 1981-2011

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Examined Life Tom Moon, MFT In the previous column, I described dysfunctional families as “characterized by abuse coupled with denial that any abuse is going on; by disrespect and violations of members’ boundaries; by shaming and lack of empathy; and usually by a fair amount of chaos, often due to alcoholism or drug abuse,” and I noted that children in such families inevitably find themselves tracked into surprisingly predictable and limiting roles. The four most commonly discussed of these are the hero, the scapegoat, the lost child, and the mascot. Last time I discussed the hero role, and this time I’ll focus on the scapegoat.

heard was questioned by many, and the notion that we would have equal rights to marriage and more was seen by some as an impossible dream.

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Out of the Closet and into City Hall Oakland City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan When I first became out and active as a queer person, in the 1980s, we did not have the support of a President, and services for us were not listed on the White House website. Our very existence and right to be seen and

Circulation is verified by an independent agency Reprints by permission only.

Karen Williams, M.Ed. (Editor’s Note: With this article, we welcome back talented columnist Karen Williams, who is also a popular stage performer and motivational speaker. She is the Founder and CEO of the HaHA Institute, hahainstitute.com) Hi! I’m back. Did you miss me? Well, I missed you.

Life is good, and I want to share more love and laughter with you in 2017! Why? Because we’re gonna need both—love and laughter—in massive doses in the coming years. It

12

As we worked to assert our right to exist, demonstrations often featured the chant: “We’re here; We’re queer … .” And now that our existence is no longer honored on the White House website and is not respected by this President, it is worth remembering that we are still here. Our validity, existence, rights, and self-respect do not disappear by updating a website, nor by the opinion of people in positions of authority.

At the Women’s Marches across the world on Saturday, January 21, we proved that we are still here, showing up in masses to exert our collective power and resistance. Worldwide, more than 1 million people mobilized against Trump’s attacks on our dignity, safety, and civil rights.

would be great if we could do what we used to do: dance, dance, dance all night long in the lesbian bars and gay mancave clubs. But alas, they’re gone and we’re left with misty reminders of the good ole days when we grooved to Donna Summer without any idea that she really didn’t like us after all. Sigh!

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Scapegoats are caught in a trap that too many never figure out—that their conscious defiance is really unconscious compliance. By being “bad” and rebellious they actually help shore up the very system they despise and are trying to expose. Their psychological task—and it is a formidable one—is to access their authentic human dignity and to act from that, and not from the role they have been assigned.

what they have come to believe about themselves—that they are bad, inadequate or defective—is not the truth, and that these perceptions are lies that were created to prevent family members from acknowledging their own problems. Scapegoats need relationships with people who can help them remember that their feelings of shame, guilt and self-blame were imported from the perpetrators, and belong to them, not to the scapegoat.

Armed with that insight, it then becomes possible for the scapegoat to stop volunteering to be a dumping ground for the bad feelings of others, and to start standing up to accusations of being the one who is at fault.

The interpersonal task then becomes to stop tolerating abuse from others, as in, “If you want to have a relationship with me, you are going to have to stop the rages, the name calling and accusations, etc.”

This, in outline, is the typical path of recovery from the scapegoat role.

I don’t want to be glib—it is an easy path to describe, but it is long and difficult to walk. For scapegoats, it is literally a battle for their souls.

Having lived for so long in “the trance of badness,” it is crucial that they connect with people outside of the family who will help them remember that

Tom Moon is a psychotherapist in San Francisco. For more information, please visit his website http://tommoon.net/

In Oakland, my wife and I marched alongside an estimated 100,000 people in a beautiful, peaceful march for the rights of women, immigrants, Muslims, people of color, the environment, our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, and other marginalized communities. Together, we sent a message of unity and resistance to the Trump Administration, a message that we will continue to project in the four years to come.

Three cheers and dammit, C’est la vie

As Stephen Sondheim wrote in the evocative and oddly timely lyrics written decades ago: “Good times and bum times, I’ve seen ‘em all And, my dear, I’m still here Plush velvet sometimes Sometimes just pretzels and beer, but I’m here I’ve run the gamut, A to Z

I got through all of last year, and I’m here Lord knows, at least I was there, and I’m here Look who’s here, I’m still here” We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re part of the resistance.

Oakland City Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan was elected in 2008 and was re-elected in 2012, and again in 2016. She is working for safe neighborhoods, for local jobs and for a fresh start for Oakland. Councilmember Kaplan graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, obtained a master’s degree from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School.

Living The Laughter Lifestyle

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They are constantly accused of doing what the scapegoater is actually doing. For example, a parent may constantly berate and yell at the scapegoat, and then accuse the scapegoat of being verbally abusive. But if scapegoats speak softly and thoughtfully, they may hear, “What are you hiding?” Scapegoats don’t volunteer for their family role; they are usually assigned it at a very early age, and once they are assigned that role they can never win, because everything they do is seen through the lens of their “badness.”

Most scapegoats, in my experience, have a lot of courage. They are the ones who refuse to be silent and are the truth tellers, the ones who verbalize or act out the problem, which the family is attempting to cover up or deny, and for that they pay a heavy price. Because of their “disloyalty” they are the black sheep, the outcasts and the misfits. They are treated with disdain and contempt, and they are attacked and disbelieved when they blow the whistle on destructive family behavior. As a result, behind their “tough” veneer, they usually feel a lot of shame and guilt because, deep inside, they believe what they’ve been told—that they are responsible for all the family suffering.

We’re Still Here

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CONTRIBUTORS Writers Rink, Sister Dana Van Iquity, Ann Rostow, Kirsten Kruse, Kate Kendell, Alex Randolph, Heidi Beeler, Gary M. Kramer, Dennis McMillan, Tom Moon, Tim Seelig, Cinder Ernst, John Chen Rafael Mandelman, Kit Kennedy, Phil Ting, Rebecca Kaplan, Leslie Katz, Philip Ruth, Bill Lipsky, Karen Williams, Donna Sachet, Gary Virginia, Zoe Dunning, Marcy Adelman, Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis Brandon Miller, Jamie Leno Zimron Thom Watson, Michele Karlsberg Lyndsey Schlax, Elisa Quinzi, Elizabeth River, Debra Walker, Wendy Ross, Howard Steiermann

Where the hero is most commonly the first-born child, the scapegoat is more often the second born. He or she is the “problem kid,” the “trouble maker,” the one who always seems to be rebellious, defiant, and hostile.

Scapegoats receive a lot of negative attention in the family and get into trouble in school because they get attention in the only way they know how: by breaking rules, evoking animosity. and calling down punishment on themselves. But in behaving this way, they serve an important, if unacknowledged, service to the family. By taking on the role of the “problem,” they help the family to cover up or deny its deeper issues (such as alcoholism, drug abuse, or untreated mental illness).

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S JA NUA RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 7

Yet, besides being the comic activist that I am, I also remain an eternal optimist, which means that I don’t stay down for long … . Did I really say that?

I’ve decided to call this column “Living the Laughter Lifestyle,” largely because it occurred to me that my choice to consistently see the brighter side of life is actually my lifestyle, and that if it works for me, there may be some benefit in sharing it with you.

And like all things improvisational, including life, I get to make up this lifestyle as I go. With a grateful heart, I want you to know that it will be really wonderful and luscious if you let me know your thoughts about this column.

This first installment, excerpted from my delightful little handbook of axi-

oms, idioms and common-sense tips, is designed to point you in the right direction this year and every year of your precious life. Of course, the way that it is presented makes it seem as though you can do all of these things at once. But we know that’s impossible. Remember to take your time.

Savor … relish … and enjoy! I’ll be back next month with more words of wisdom and wit to further whet your appetite for joy and laughter!

So here goes…

Positive Living Speak Up, Speak Out, Laugh Often.

Words are golden. Words are our currency. Go for broke.

Silence is quicksilver. Catch it when you can.

Listen with your heart. Keep it open like your ears.

Trust your intuition. Use it!

Study people. Read books.

Exercise your mind and your body will follow.

Don’t depend on anyone. Be dependable!

Learn to play the instrument you always wanted to play.

Sing!

Laugh a lot. See the humor in all things. Giggle.

Laugh ‘til you cry.

Tune into your own biorhythm. Follow it.

Now take a few moments and think about your own journey and write what you’d like to experience along your positive living path.

Live honestly, openly and without regret.

Until next time, launch yourself onto your own pathway to joy and laughter!

Practice thinking positive thoughts.

© 2017 Karen Williams

Practice speaking positive words.

Karen Williams loves you because you make her laugh! Contact her at karenwilliamscomic@gmail.com

Practice taking positive action.

Practice having your thoughts and words match your actions.

GLBT Fortnight in Review

By Ann Rostow The President’s New Clothes Every day, every week, every month, this Trump business has gotten worse.

It’s all been worse than I expected, and believe me, dear readers, my expectations were very low indeed. I had not quite realized the extent of my general tendency to hope for the best, but now I can see it clearly; it’s a tendency that has usually held me in good stead, but which now produces regular blows to my psyche. It’s like getting sucker punched over and over again, even as I sort of see it coming.

One of the chants that circulated during Saturday’s marches was “Not my President!” I wanted to join in, but I couldn’t. Tragically, he is my president, period, and no amount of wishful chanting will change that for now.

My only choice is to keep reeling, or expect the absolute worst, which is just not possible. Recession, pollution, war, poverty, sickness, massive inequality in education, health and opportunity? All overseen by a belligerent puffball, toying with our country like a toddler with a loaded gun? I can’t give in to that future. I will have to hope and continue to reel.

But here’s how far I’ve descended. At this point, I would prefer Mike Pence to be President.

Think about that. Unlike Trump, Pence is a hard-right ideologue, committed to an antigay agenda. Unlike Trump, Pence would probably control the levers of power effectively.

Where Trump would deliver chaos, Pence would likely usher in systemic conservatism, the antithesis of all my political aspirations. Unlike Trump, a President Pence might roll to re-election. Pence might name three High Court justices, threatening our somewhat fragile legal status for the indefinite future.

For these reasons, I’ve kind of thought that Crazy Trump might be better than Pence as long as he didn’t do lasting damage to the nation and the world. But I can’t count on that premise any longer. Pence does not appear to be clinically insane. Trump does.

This is not hyperbole. I’ve googled “is Trump insane,” looking for an explanation into his behavior. Yes, we all recognized his many eccentricities during the campaign, but his demeanor over the last months and in the days since inauguration has been inexplicable. Do the people around him not see this? Forget Russian connections or the emoluments clause.

Forget his ignorance of policy and government. He’s not all there, folks!

That’s the elephant in the room.

Okay, It’s Time to Be Afraid I could carry this train of thought to the column’s end, but we have other subjects to confront.

Remember that tendency to look on the bright side I mentioned? I fear it has come into play during my speculation over the Supreme Court and our legal status in general. Could a future Court upend our right to marry, I asked in recent weeks? Not in a million years! Our 5–4 gay rights majority remains in place, regardless of who replaces Scalia, I pointed out. And even down the road, the Court’s interest in constancy and the implausibility of rolling back what is now an established civil right means that marriage equality will remain the law of the land.

But will it? What if we’re still allowed to marry, but businesses and state governments are also free to limit marriage benefits to heterosexual couples? Take another example.

What if we’re still allowed to have abortions, but state governments close down most clinics or slap a ten-week limit on the procedure?

That’s only a small exaggeration, but the fact is abortion rights are still be-

ing litigated on a case by case basis four decades after Roe v Wade was decided. So are we in danger of having to defend marriage rights against piecemeal legislation or policies for the duration of GOP dominance?

At first glance the answer is no. And there’s an obvious distinction in the analogy to abortion. The right to an abortion can never be absolute. No one would countenance an abortion at eight months unless a mother’s life were at risk. (Indeed this is why a ban on late term abortions is particularly cruel. They are always medically required by tragic circumstances.) It’s not hard to see how anti-abortion activists could whittle away at a woman’s right to choose, one week at a time.

But surely our marriages can’t be reduced to mere symbolism when public benefits and policies are applied to heterosexual unions. That’s why the Windsor Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, and that’s why the same majority ruled in favor of marriage equality in Obergefell v Hodges.

It seems obvious, but why then has the Texas Supreme Court recently reversed itself and agreed to consider a case of marriage discrimination? Never known for progressive rulings, the Texas Supremes nonetheless declined to rehash marriage rights nearly unanimously when previously asked. Now, this month, under pressure from our far-right state officials and under the harsh new light of Trump’s America, the justices have f lip f lopped and agreed to hear arguments in March. The astonishing question before the bench is whether or not Houston can offer marriage benefits to straight couples only.

This is a case that I didn’t even bother to mention to you because a) it was so absurd and b) not even the Texas Supreme Court would waste their time on it. Now I don’t know what to think. I suppose it could simply be a political gesture to the powers that be.

But is it possible that the conservative members of the Texas court think they can get away with eviscerating both Windsor and Obergefell? Do they think that they can rule against us and bring the issue back to a more conservative High Court? Perhaps a Supreme Court with not one, but two Trump appointees?

But surely, not even a conservative Court could simply overrule two recent precedents, right? Normally I’d say right. But Justice Kennedy’s opinions, all four of them if you include Romer v Evans and Lawrence v Texas, are a fluffy pile of sweet rhetoric sitting high on a small foundation of who knows what. Justice Kennedy, our champion, came down on our side every time. But he did so while deliberately avoiding strong legal statements or clarifying exactly how future courts should evaluate gay rights cases.

We yelled and clapped and cheered and popped the Champagne corks every time. And rightly so. It was no small accomplishment to end sodomy laws, to crush the Defense of Marriage Act, to win marriage equality.

But only the lawyers among us paused to analyze the reasoning behind our victories, and sometimes even they couldn’t figure it out. Is our right to marry based on Equal Protection?

Due Process? Both, sort of. Is sexual orientation a minority status, are laws that touch us likely due to discrimination? Maybe, maybe not. Who cares!

We can get married!

For now.

Hello Mudda, Hello FADA So, what else lies in store for us? You may recall that a little time bomb called the First Amendment Defense Act lies in wait in the bowels of Congress, a proposal that elevates (continued on page 17) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES JANUARY 26, 2017

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San Francisco Bay Times salutes our readers and friends who attended the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., and Sister Marches in other cities, including the Bay Area. Thank you for sharing your photos!

OAKLAND

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ROSTOW (continued from page 13) opposition to same-sex marriage or gay rights into a sacred position that transcends discrimination laws. We also have a few mini-FADAs lurking around the states along with the usual bathroom bills and who knows what.

It continues to irk me that everyone assumes opposition to gay people in general is part and parcel of a legitimate array of religious mandates.

Hell, even our side accepts this premise, arguing against religious loopholes instead of challenging the idea that antigay sentiment is religious to begin with.

Racism used to be a “faith based” stance. People can still point to Biblical passages about separating the races, but they don’t. We no longer accept the fact that Christianity requires an allegiance to the white race.

So when will people stop dumping homophobia in with, I don’t know, not eating pork, shaving, wearing a scarf and all of the other religious prescriptions that the Constitution protects?

Sure, some Christians don’t like us.

Others do. Can certain Christians ban adulterers from shopping at their bakeries or staying at their bed and breakfasts?

Oh, by the way, I just read about a beautiful gay movie, set in Italy, entitled Call Me by Your Name. Guys, google it.

At any rate, I’m hoping (here I go again) that Congress will be too busy with bashing immigrants, building walls, isolating our country with odd trade deals, collaborating with Putin, slashing taxes and dismantling our health care system to bother with us.

A girl can dream, right?

Cue: Pharrell Williams I’m not sure I can bear to continue this dismal recitation. The guy Trump is considering for head of civil rights at the Justice Department is the lawyer who has been defending North Carolina’s HB2 in court. He’s on my list, but I’m not even going to go there. Everywhere we look, a disaster.

I just googled “fun news” and learned that a good time was had by all at the Bloody Mary Mix Off in Spring Lake, Michigan. Glad you enjoyed yourselves Michiganders, and thanks for nothing last November.

“Cute animals” brought news of a bar in Brooklyn that put together a 15hour tape of, yes, cute animals to air during the inauguration festivities.

Wish I had thought of that. Mel told me to put the TV on Friday morning but be sure to put it on some non-political channel so that our household would show up in the ratings as dismissive of Trump. But I couldn’t hold RANDOLPH (continued from page 7) ly serves as an example of what this country has always been about.

In his farewell address President Obama said: “If something needs fixing, lace up your shoes and do some organizing. If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for off ice yourself. Show up. Dive in. Persevere. Sometimes you’ll win.

Sometimes you’ll lose.”

We lost this time, but the women’s marches showed us what we are capable of when we stand together and show up. Let’s grab those clipboards, do some good old peaceful organizing, and kick some butt!

Alex Randolph is a Trustee for City College of San Francisco. He previously served in President Obama’s administration and as an LGBT advisor for Mayor Newsom. He lives in the Castro with his partner Trevor. Follow him on social media: www.twitter. com/adrandolph & www.facebook.com/AlexDRandolph

out. You only experience a limited number of presidential inaugurations in one lifetime and you probably don’t watch the first three or four. Plus, how would the ratings people know what we were watching? Is everyone monitored? Surely not!

Finally, “happy news” led me to a 12-minute TED talk by a man who is now leading a 75-year Harvard study on the lives of over 700 men, of which some 60 are still alive and in their eighties or nineties. Keeping the study going for so long was an accomplishment in itself considering these men were regularly required to fill out forms and submit to home interviews throughout their lives. The bottom line? Good relationships, not fame or fortune, lead to happiness and satisfaction and longevity. I think I’ve read that somewhere before.

So, if Trump is depressing you, make dinner for your significant other or get back on the GLBT equivalent of match.com We Don’t Have to Fake It I was reading that the new White House dot gov website has no references for a search of “GLBT” or “LGBT.” As for “gay,” that search leads you to a note about Calvin Coolidge’s wife, who had a gay time in the White House—or something like that.

But guess what? At this point, the website also provides no results for “Title IX” or “Title VII” and only 17 results for “civil rights,” none of them germane to the subject. In other words, the website is basically empty, and the lack of gay policy is nothing personal. The only actual result for “African American,” for example, tells us that Michelle Obama was the first African American First Lady. The other four “African American” links include separate references to “American” and “African.”

This observation allows me to conclude this column with another warning to my brothers and sisters on the left. Fake news is non-partisan, and we ourselves must not participate in this insidious discourse. A claim like: “Trump website erases references to gay community,” is simply not accurate in its implication. The Trump website has, apparently, erased references to almost everything. We must check our information, and we must particularly check negative stories about Trump. There is more than enough real news to horrify us (including “Trump administration fails to launch main government website”).

Let’s not undermine our outrage with anything short of that. arostow@aol.com WOO (continued from page 7) House. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine the rights extended to the LGBT community—in eight short years. So, yes, I am going to miss this man immensely because he made me feel like I belong and that I matter in this world.

To say I am devastated with a President Trump is an understatement.

I don’t want to feel like I was 11 or 12 yet again. The one difference this time? I’m fighting back and speaking up.

Frank Woo, the Honorary Grand Marshall of the 2002 San Francisco Pride Parade, served as CoChair of the Capital Campaign to build the SF LGBT Community Center. For thirteen years, he served on the Human Rights Campaign’s National Board of Governors and National Board of Directors. He and his partner Sheldon Sloan continue to actively support and strengthen the LGBT community.

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Clarence Lockett and Don Gono: The Case for Sexual Liberty

Faces from Our LGBT Past Dr. Bill Lipsky The two men probably never realized they were making history. They simply wanted to find a way out of a difficulty that could bring them up to 15 years in prison. Even so, appealing their arrest for having oral sex to the State Supreme Court, Clarence Lockett and Don Alvarado Gono became the first men to successfully challenge a California state law that forbade sexual intimacy between consenting adults.

In 1915 California’s state legislature added “a new section to the penal code, to be numbered 288a, relating to sex perversions and defining the same to be felonies.” For the first time, it prohibited “acts technically known as fellatio and cunnilingus,” the only time those words would be used in a statute passed in the United States.

Section 288a created legal confusion almost immediately. No one seemed to understand what it was the legislature had outlawed. In 1916 an appellate court, in the case of People v.

Carrell, overturned Carrell’s conviction for performing fellatio because the term describing his crime was not used or understood by the public. Carrell himself did not know what it meant. Apparently neither did anyone else: he had been charged with committing fellatio on a woman. The statute, however, remained intact.

Two years later, San Francisco police arrested William Soady for violating the new law. Although he was an army private stationed at the Presidio, he was jailed as a civilian be-

Clarence Lockett

cause his “sin against decency” occurred before he went into uniform.

While awaiting trial, his attorney petitioned for a writ of habeus corpus, arguing that Soady was being held illegally because Section 288a was unconstitutional.

Eventually, Soady’s case went up to the State Supreme Court. His position was simple. The legislature, of course, had every right to enact a statute “tending to the suppression of sins against decency.” Section 288a, however, by using a Latin word— “fellatio”—to designate, but not to define, the behavior it forbade, contradicted California’s constitution, which required that all laws be written in English. Therefore, the statute was invalid and unenforceable.

Soady lost his appeal. The Court ruled that Section 288a was viable because it obviously was enacted to ban “sex perversions.” Its intent, the majority claimed, made its meaning “clear in context and purpose,” whether or not anyone knew the term specifically. Soon after, on its own motion, the Court granted Soady a rehearing, but by t hen, t he charges against him had been dismissed.

Until his case came to trial, no one, apparent ly, not iced that Soady’s “grievous lapse” was in 1914, before t he legislature forbade “the specif ic act,” as the San Francisco Call and Post described it, so he had not broken any law.

With his mother sitting in the courtroom, a jur y acquitted him on the recommendation of the assistant district attorney.

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Soady also had committed his “sin” before he enlisted in the army, so he was also innocent of violating the military code of conduct.

His status as a soldier, if not his reputation, remained “w it hout of f icia l b l e m i s h ,” e v e n though the army knew he enjoyed sex with men. He remained in uniform, without any appar-

ent injury to military morale or effectiveness, until the end of his military service, when he received an honorable discharge.

Two more cases challenging Article 288A came before the State Supreme Court in late 1918. The first concerned Clarence Lockett, 23. The second case involved Don Juan Alvarado Gono, who was 42 when he was indicted. Although filed separately by different attorneys, the justices decided to rule on them together.

Lockett had been in trouble with the authorities before. Born in Waco, Texas, on April 26, 1895, he was nineteen years old when a jury convicted him of grand larceny in 1915. Sent to San Quentin, where he worked as a cell tender, he served two years, eight months of a 3 ½ year sentence. Exactly nine months after his release, on September 13, 1917, he was appealing his arrest for “sexual perversion.”

Lockett was fortunate to have Oscar Hudson as his attorney, the first African-American admitted to the California bar. Hudson argued that Section 288a, not being entirely in English, was “so indefinite and uncertain and unintelligible” that it failed to inform the accused of “the nature and cause of the accusation.” The Court agreed, invalidating the law for technical reasons; it did not endorse the “immoral behavior” it once again made legal.

Both Gono and Lockett continued to live in San Francisco, but their victories were short lived. In 1921 the legislature passed a new statute, written entirely “in plain English,” which made “the act of copulating the mouth of one person with the sexual organ of another” illegal. A busy year for the guardians of other people’s morality, it also enacted a bill that banned “any act … which openly outrages public decency.” Whatever that was, it gave police permission to arrest people for virtually anything.

The laws remained in effect for many years, disrupting lives, imprisoning people, and surrounding human interactions with fear and guilt.

Bill Lipsky, Ph.D., author of “Gay and Lesbian San Francisco” (2006), is a member of the Rainbow Honor Walk board of directors.

From the Coming Up Events Calendar See page 24 Friday, January 27 - Feinstein’s Presents Audra McDonald with Will Swanson – 8 pm @ Hofmann Theatre, 101 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. Tony, Grammy and Emmy-award winning McDonald teams with Broadway’s Will Swenson. feinsteinsatthenikko.com

Saturday, February 4 - Two Spirits 6th Annual Powwow – 10 am @ Festival Pavilion @ Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd. Free event fostering diversity and inclusion with dancing, drumming, singing, food vendors, health screenings and more. baits.org

Academy Award-Nominated Documentary I Am Not Your Negro Reminds Viewers of James Baldwin’s Greatness and Still-Relevant Work

Gary M. Kramer Raoul Peck’s rousing, provocative documentary, I Am Not Your Negro, opening February 3 in San Francisco, is a tone poem and a clarion call. This urgent, cogent film about James Baldwin is based on his unfinished work, Remember This House. Peck uses interviews, archival footage, film and television clips, as well as striking photographs to reflect on the way African Americans are oppressed in America.

Baldwin considers school integration, the teachers and “heroes” he had in his youth, playwright Lorraine Hansberry, and the lives and murders of Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X to show how they impacted his own intellectual development and activism.

Scenes of Baldwin on The Dick Cavett Show or lecturing at Cambridge feature his eloquent and blistering remarks about inequality and white privilege. There is also a section in the film addressing Baldwin being identified as a “dangerous individual” in the eyes of the FBI, both for his writings and for being a homosexual.

Peck makes the expected connection to the Black Lives Matter movement in I Am Not Your Negro, showing images from Ferguson, Missouri, and of Trayvon Martin, and yet these illustrations only magnify the importance of Baldwin’s powerful, forceful words written decades ago.

The filmmaker spoke with me for the San Francisco Bay Times about James Baldwin and I Am Not Your Negro.

Gary M. Kramer: What do you remember about first reading James Baldwin?

Raoul Peck: Someone gave me The Fire Next Time as an introduction to Baldwin. It blew my mind. It helped me understand what was going on.

He wrote it in a contextual way to see the issues and problems in your country, and who you are as a black person. I never left Baldwin. I went back again and again and read everything of his I could put my hands on.

Gary M. Kramer: How did you find and assemble all of the speeches, writings, film clips, photographs and news footage?

Raoul Peck

The film is remarkably well edited.

PHOTO ©MARIE BARONNET 2010

Film

Raoul Peck: As you can imagine, it’s a long process, and it was possible only because I had the time to search and experiment. Having access to the rights — if I didn’t have access to all of James Baldwin’s body of work, I couldn’t have made the film — I developed a relationship with the estate to keep those rights for ten years. I needed to have the time to search the archive and find the right clip, and find the way to use it that not only makes sense, but also creates sense beyond the archive alone … . Once you know James Baldwin wrote about Doris Day, you have to use that. It’s wonderful to take a clip from a Day film, but which one? You can start setting aside clips, but you don’t know where they will go, or how much of it to use.

You do that for Gary Cooper, John Wayne, etc. That’s a real accumulation of footage. That’s why it’s a process you cannot shorten.

Gary M. Kramer: The film has political and pop culture content that reflects Baldwin’s intellectual and activist development. Can you talk about the impact of these images and how photos are powerful and persuasive in terms of representation?

Raoul Peck: It’s almost a lesson on film or image analysis. He teaches you how to look at an image: it’s not the lighting, it’s the ideology, the narrative. No image is innocent. He’s giving you the instrument of your own analysis to deconstruct the image— and you can apply it to any image.

When he talks about Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, he tells you about the story and what Hollywood is asking of Sidney Poitier, and how this role is a double-edge role. It’s putting the bar high for the rest of the black population. It’s intriguing and exciting and when you see the film again, you don’t have the innocence. I hope (my) film does this as well.

would talk about it in private. I read a lot about this, but that’s another topic.

Gary M. Kramer: How did making I Am Not Your Negro re-inspire you about Baldwin?

Gary M. Kramer: The film only briefly mentions Baldwin’s sexuality. Was that deliberate?

Raoul Peck: Baldwin was discrete enough about his sexuality. I didn’t hide it. When he talks about being in Puerto Rico with Lucien [Happsberger], it was his lover. I respected

his words. When he wanted to talk about it, he wrote Giovanni’s Room. It was bold. I don’t know any white writer who would write about a mixed gay couple, and he did this before any gay movement. He is someone who would have put [his sexuality] in the bigger political and historical context. He

Raoul Peck: Because of my learning of him early on in my life, and using him in many of my projects as inspiration, the process was not selfdiscovery. Whatever I needed from Baldwin I already got. It was how to bring to others what Baldwin brought to me. © 2017 Gary M. Kramer Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” Follow him on Twitter @ garymkramer

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Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun ways incredible Alottte Boutte (real woman, stage name) from her many appearances at Beach Blanket Bingo.

This night she favored us with a Janis Joplin belt-out version of “Take Another Piece of My Heart,” and then joined Whitney for a dazzling duet of the Roberta Flack “Killing Me Softly with His Song” torch song. What a way to end the night! It should be mentioned that De Maio also offers Every Tuesday 6–9 pm open mic/karaoke for anyone so inclined. Also, live models for sketching every Thursday, 6–9 pm. facebook.com/sfartslave

By Sister Dana Van Iquity Sister Dana sez, “Have we all survived the DENAUGURATION (I can’t even use the proper word) of the Orange Ogre of Oligarchy & Plutocracy? Personally, I have not, and will remain in a democratic depression until it gets better.”

Always included in De Maio’s magnificent reception parties is delightful live entertainment. Kristine Wilson—loud & proud dyke—emceed with a little comedy, saying, “You want a joke? Just picture me in a dress!” Whitney Moses gave a couple of sweet a cappelas for us fellas, and then a beautiful Amy Winehouse “Valerie.” Debbie Dorisal served up some super slam poetry with “A Soldier’s Fight.” Kat Marie Yoas—who has toured with Sister Spirit—took us via monologue along her journey from baby dyke to millennial lesbian. You may know the al-

KREWE DE KINQUE (KdK) held our last festive fundraiser of the year at the Edge bar on Saturday, with current reigning KdK King Sergio and KdK Queen China Silk hosting the beer/soda bust.

Many KdK members performed par excellence live on stage ( just to name a few performers: King VII John Weber, China Silk, Marcy Playground, Imperial Prince Arthur, and Kelly Rose)—or sold raffle tix or Jell-o shots or staffed the door (that would be Door Diva Sister Dana). Krewe de Kinque was officially founded on Mardi Gras night, February 24, 2004, in San Francisco’s Castro district. It was on this date when a small group of us friends formed a fraternal organization, now known as Krewe de Kinque, to promote the culture and traditions of Mardi Gras celebrations worldwide while raising funds and awareness for charitable causes. We are a volunteer-based organization made up of individuals (straight and gay) who care about GLBT issues with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion. The Krewe’s diverse membership includes San Francisco GLBT community and business leaders, titleholders, members from San Francisco’s Imperial and Royal Courts, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Bay Area Gay Rodeo Association, and the City’s leather, bear, and drag communities.

All members embrace a commitment to serving the GLBT and greater community through volunteer efforts. Membership to the Krewe is by invitation to individuals who embody this same commitment to community service. Just e-mail us or meet us at one of our events to learn more about our club. KdK produces an authentic, charity masked ball (BAL MASQUE) annually shortly before the official date of FAT TUESDAY. A King and Queen are crowned at the Bal Masque and rein for one year. An annual TWELFTH NIGHT PARTY was held approximately 12 days after Christmas, and the new King and Queen were announced in a secret ceremony to the members only. This was a masked and costumed soiree that took place in the Castro. This year the fourteenth annual Bal Masque is entitled 14K GOLD and will be held on February 11 at The Cafe benefiting HOMOBILES. Also on actual MARDI GRAS TUESDAY, we always fill a bus full of revelers touring the gay bars with entertainment and refreshments galore. Both events are not to be missed! Tell ‘em Queen VII Sister Dana sent ya! sfkinque.com

Sister Dana (aka Dennis McMillan) attending the Edgar Allan Poe 208th Birthday Party on January 19 at Dog Eared Books Castro with singer Connie Champagne, who appeared as Poe’s grieving fiance with her funeral wreath, and emcee Jim Jeske.

TONY VAGUELY (who was ill and could not be present in person—and with whom I can empathize fully, being in the strongholds of the demon bronchitis along with the rest us sickies) presented: “POE-POURRI 5”, Edgar Allan Poe’s 208th Birthday Party Reading & Performance Art Shindig! Poe-Pourri returned for a fifth time this year to a new location at Dog Eared Books Castro.

Guest Host and Master of Ceremonies was the always fantastic James Jeske, introducing the honored readers, dealing with raffle prizes, and offering free Poe birthday cake, nibbles & goodies, wine, and a total evening of fun! Featured readers were Johnny Ray Huston ( jour-

PHOTO BY RINK

Meanwhile, art can help save us. Because ARTSAVESLIVES Castro studio and gallery presented yet another fabulous opening party at 518 Castro Street, hosted by studio owner, artiste extraordinaire THOMASINA DE MAIO with artists and entertainers culled from our local talent, and a bevy of beverages (wine, beer, soda, vodka punch) and bodacious bites (courtesy of handsome chef Mauro Brito)—all complimentary always. Over a dozen artists are displaying their craft all month long. Column space does not allow me to mention everyone, but I do have a few faves I want to call to attention. My two absolute favorites are MichaelStaleyDesigns.com with his stunning Swarovski crystals and Czech crystals meticulously embedded cow skulls, deer antlers, deer sculls, and a sparkling rainbow phallus; and GregoryConover.com with his amazing recycled wall hangings of a school of various fish, an Empire State Building, and an Eiffel Tower. I am thrilled to report that Jerry Frost has gone beyond his usual modern art mode to become an activist. For example, “American Indian Woman” stating, “Many women in the tribe raped by gold miners.”

Irene Feiks has some lovely ceramic figurines on display. Michael Lownie (mlownie.com) has sculpted both large and very very small wall-hanging pieces, my preferred being “Freak Flag” and “Seeking Dali,” (with a tiny Dali twisted clock in hand) as well as his large colorful pieces of cartoonesque figures on canvas. Debbie Dorisal has an impressive head sculpture and a clever “Sisters” still life abstract painting.

JohnstonPhotography.com is exhibiting some beautiful black and white photography.

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nalist, artist & writer) with two moving poems (which he said were noteworthy during these totally terrible Trump times), “Alone” and “Dream within a Dream;” the incomparable Connie Champagne (SF’s legendary song bird and superb actress) actually SINGING Poe’s written onomatopoeia Bells with all the appropriate crescendos and decrescendos and tintinnabulation—brava!; James Jeske (artist and creative enigma) portraying an old-time radio host, Raymond DuPris (complete with past era commercials) enacting the terrifying 1849 short story excised Hop-Frog—with prerecorded sound effects and background mayhem to his two-character soap opera cast of creepies; Marilynn Fowler (KPOO radio host and actor) giving us the lovely haunting Annabelle Lee; and Russell Blackwood (of HYPNODROME fame—which venue alas and alack is doomed to leave us very soon) giving a shuddering re-enactment of the horrors of The Masque of the Red Death (which we enjoyed many months ago in its dramatic live form with Thrillpeddlers). This year’s Poe reading event promised to Fall like the House of Usher (get it?) on inauguration eve, and the theme was “fight horror with horror.” The event was free, but we passed the hat for donations to the AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, which we will be desperately clinging to as the very uncivil ‘rump people dissolve our liberties one by one.

About 230 people packed the Stud for a night of communication and commiseration at TRUMPOCALYPSE, including Mark Leno, David Campos, Kimberly Alvarenga, and a diverse crowd of politicos, activists, and local personalities. The drink specials were “The Trumpocalypse” (Fireball whiskey, ginger ale and maraschino cherries), the “Nyet My President” (a white Russian with a thin orange skin garnish), and Moscow mules. Speakers were: former Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, David Talbot (new Chronicle columnist and author of Season of the Witch), Mia Satya (trans activist and newly elected to the Democratic Assembly), Yayne Abeba (activist and woman of color), 48 Hills editor Tim Redmond and publisher Marke B. Tom Ammiano had the crowd laughing with jokes about Trump’s obsession with his hand size and spray tan. David Talbot urged for unity and strength to face the incoming administration.

SISTER DANA SEZ, “SURE, THE COUNTRY IS GOING TO HELL WITH THE NEW ANTI-LIBERAL HEARTLESS REGIME AND THE PREDATORIN-CHIEF, BUT YOU CAN STILL ENJOY THESE UPCOMING GAY EVENTS!” Please join the GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY for their new exhibition “BEARTOONIST OF SAN FRANCISCO: SKETCHING AN EMERGING SUBCULTURE.” Friday, January 27, 7–9 pm, The GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street. This is a new exhibition featuring the work of cartoonist Fran Frisch as a starting point for exploring the community of bears— a subculture that developed in the 1980s to celebrate older, larger, hairier, ruggedly masculine gay men who were largely excluded from standards of attractiveness in gay popular culture. The bear identity created positive self-images and an affirming subculture beyond the narrow concepts of gay masculinity and eroticism that prevailed at the time. The exhibition runs through May 2017 at the GLBT History Museum. $5 and free for GLBTHS members. glbthistory.com “SILENCE! THE MUSICAL” is a musical satire of the scary creepy (continued on page 26)

The Camelot of Nob Hill

By Chrissy Wolfman The ever-appealing Nob Hill location attracts locals and transplants alike, offering a glimpse into a former world full of romance, charm, and chivalry. While the setting of the InterContinental Mark Hopkins is the epitome of historic San Francisco, our weddings and social events are anything but traditional.

Special events range from daytime celebrations at Top of the Mark to flash mob ceremonies in Room of the Dons to five-course black tie celebrations in Peacock Court.

Our seasoned catering team is hands on in the creative planning process, offering ideas in layouts and décor that will complement the couple’s vision best; the team is never afraid to try something new. The hotel’s food and beverage program is, we believe, the crown jewel of our events.

Our couples are treated to an elaborate menu tasting and are encouraged to have an open discussion about their preferences with our Executive Chef and their Cater ing Manager. The end result is a well-choreographed event from planning to completion, leaving our couples and their guests with a lasting and memorable impression of their time and celebration at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins.

Chrissy Wolfman, Senior Catering Sales Manager at the InterContinenal Mark Hopkins, is an accomplished wedding and social event planner who will celebrate her fifth year with the IHG in May. She has produced over 400 large wedding and social events since 2008. She can be reached at chrissy.wolfman@ ihg.com or 415-616-6952.

Frederick Sullivan and Jaime Botello, who oversee the Weddings & Occasions page for the San Francisco Bay Times, are the talented wizards behind Sullivan-Botello Events (http://sullivanbotelloevents.com) and SnB Party Rentals (650-877-0840, www.snbpartyrentals.com). Both are Certified Wedding Planners with extensive experience in creating memorable, personalized events for special occasions. Their rental service is incredible, offering everything from beautiful gold Chiavari chairs to LED dance floors, and all at competitive prices. They are the creators of the Gay Vanity Wedding Show and are longstanding members of the Golden Gate Business Association, which is the nation’s first LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

TERRA GALLERY & EVENT VENUE

Reboot, Recharge, Restart perfect just the way you are … with just a few minor tweaks. Surely I can fix those with a New Year’s resolution or two.”

Call family more often. At least try.

Waiting until long after the inauguration.

I did not look at my phone and suggest it become something different— like be thinner. I didn’t tell my laptop it needs more muscles. I didn’t tell my iPad it needs to get out more! Or be more friendly to its iFamily. I just allowed them to clean out the airwaves, cookies and caches. I let them close their eyes for just a moment and ponder all of the miraculous things they already do. I turn them back on and, voila, they jump to attention, problems solved, ready to start work—and play—again.

Some other big ones that don’t happen annually might be:

That’s really all we need to do, and more often than once a year.

Get a new job.

Here then is my resolution. I will not wait until next January to pay attention to these things. I will Reboot, Recharge, Restart my life more often by turning off the clutter, cleaning it out and waking up refreshed.

The basic resolutions are all the same: Eat less/better. Maybe I’ll settle for a juice cleanse or a quick colonic.

Workout more. Maybe I’ll just buy new workout clothes and sign up for that extra spin class. (Truth is, I have never been to a spin class, so I can’t add one!)

TLC: Tears, Laughs and Conversation Dr. Tim Seelig Well, it’s been almost a month since the champagne corks popped and the creepy old man in diapers turned into an equally creepy, full-grown baby with baggy diapers and a sash, and all that is left of the New Year’s Eve fireworks are photos of locations we will probably never visit. We are all over that thing we call “holiday season.”

In the good old days, (I’m sounding like that old geezer again) we began celebrating Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. We started preparing for Thanksgiving once Halloween was over. No longer. Now we get one big holiday “festival” from Labor Day through New Year’s Day. January brings a dizzying mixture of relief, renewal, boredom, depression and “Thank goodness the Valentine’s candy and Easter Peeps will be out soon.”

We are now four weeks into 2017 and still writing 2016 on checks. Oh, wait, who writes a check anymore? Yes, that nice woman at the grocery store who waits until all of her groceries are scanned and bagged before rummaging through her large purse to find her checkbook and the only pen she ever uses to write checks and then, in perfect calligraphy, fills out her check.

That’s who.

Then there are the New Year’s Resolutions. Much has been written about those annual “Promises to Self.” We look in the mirror and say, “You’re

things a little rest. That’s it. And we start all over again.

Find a husband/wife or trade yours in on a newer model.

Hope for world peace.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

With that intro, here are my 2017 New Year’s Resolutions. Drumroll, please.

I promise to: Keep doing what I am doing.

Eat about the same.

Workout the same (about once a month).

Keep my husband and job.

Hope for world peace—staring in about four years.

So, we’re good here!

Aside from New Year’s resolutions, I actually have some words of wisdom for this time of year brought to me by my husband. Let’s use my iProducts as an example. I just go and go, using my products day after day and then something goes wrong and I completely freak out. My husband, the IT Guy, asks the simple question: “When did you reboot, restart, recharge your apparatus?” Answer: “I don’t know, sometime before the holiday season started, I think!”

So, I do all of those things. I just clear out the cobwebs, close some unnecessary applications, and give the poor

It’s just not that hard. Here’s the drill.

Reboot Close the unnecessary applications.

Those could be friends. Could be activities. Could be that third martini or Bi-rite ice cream.

Recharge Shut down the power.

Close your eyes. Rest for a moment.

Breathe. Wait 10 seconds.

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Can you keep your lifestyle in retirement?

Restart Turn your life back on.

But only turn on the applications that make your life better!

That’s about it. Oh, and maybe get rid of a few Facebook “friends.”

There might be a little rewind. It never hurts to go back and perhaps make amends or f ix something you may have messed up or left in disarray.

Maybe there’s also a little rekindle, such as of an old friend you’ve ignored … a past BFF that became just an F. That’s it. That’s my January pledge to you and the world.

Join me?

Dr. Tim Seelig is the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.

Let’s talk.

415.623.2450 Brio Financial Group

A private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Service, Inc. 44 Montgomery St, Ste 4210 San Francisco, CA 94104-4815 415-623-2450

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S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES JANUARY 26, 2017

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LGBT Sports 2017 Fitness SF Trainer Tip of the Month Jon Holsbach

Fitness SF SOMA

Sports John Chen Now that 2016 is over, we look forward to a new year filled with pitching, catching, pounding, butt patting, f ist bumping, swinging, sweating, stroking, panting … wait, what was I writing about? Oh, yes, LGBT sports for 2017! Thanks to a series of atmospheric rivers sending waves and waves of rain storms to Northern California, we are making a major dent in our historic drought. It’s a good thing that most sports are highly adaptable, where die-hards brave the elements and compete in the rain (i.e. rugby and football) and “melt in the rain princess” hacks like me simply move indoors (i.e. volleyball, soccer, water polo, and basketball) to get their sports fix. For this article, I’d like to focus on 1) indoor volleyball and 2) a 2017 LGBT Sports Guide.

One of the most versatile global sports is none other than volleyball, with multiple playing surfaces and player

alignments. In the dead of winter, indoor volleyball is the sport of choice for many LGBT athletes here in the Bay Area. With open gyms available virtually every day of the week, there’s no shortage of play. Over President’s Day Weekend (February 18– 20, 2017) one of the most historic volleyball groups in the country, South Bay Volleyball Club (blog.SBVBC. org), will host on the peninsula The 29th NorCal Volleyball Classic, a NAGVA (North America Gay Volleyball Association) sanctioned tournament. Teams of all levels and from all over the West Coast and across the country will vie for this coveted championship. Club President Jim Moore tells me that SBVBC will also run an inaugural tournament in Hawaii (!!!) later this year, and will additionally hold several local one-day indoor and outdoor tournaments over the course of 2017. Start practicing your bumps and spikes, boys and girls!

In San Francisco, the Balls of Furry (yes furry, not fury) bear, cub, friends

and supporters volleyball group is recruiting players for their upcoming winter/spring league (March–May, 2017). Currently, the only LGBT volleyball league in the Bay Area, Balls of Furry (ballsoffurryvolleyball.org) has become a volleyball enthusiast household name. Co-Presidents Adam Keim and Rich Sucre proudly built one of the largest gay volleyball groups on the West Coast that welcomes beginners to clinics and open gyms, and intermediate to advanced players to the league.

When performing a Decline Sit-Up, focus on rounding, not arching, your lower back at the top of the motion. Then, when you’re at the lower relaxed position, make sure to stretch your upper abs. Combining this technique with proper breathing and a big squeeze at the top is the key to developing the six-pack you’ve always dreamed of!

If you would like to join or explore volleyball and other LGBT sports in 2017, I encourage you to look at some of the available LGBT sports groups in the Bay Area (below). It may be wet outside now, but you can still play with balls of all sizes, both smooth and fuzzy!

John Chen, a UCLA alumnus and an avid sports fan, has competed as well as coached tennis, volleyball, softball and football teams.

BAY AREA LGBT SPORTS GROUPS Compiled by John Chen Basketball San Francisco Gay Basketball Association (sfgba.com) Year-round open gym Fall: league Bowling PRIDE Bowling League (Contact Tony Hoey at Anthony.t.hoey@ gmail.com) International Gay Bowling Organization (igbo.org) Year-round league Football (Flag) San Francisco Gay Flag Football League (sfgffl.org) Aloha Classic tournament (Feb 18– 19) Fall: open play and league Grappling Warrior Brothers (Facebook; Contact Michael Fuhrman) Year-round Ice Hockey San Francisco Goaldiggers (Facebook; Contact Don Otvos) Year-round league Rugby San Francisco Fog Rugby Club (sffog.org) Jan–April: league, practices (Tuesdays and Thursdays) Monthly: Sunday fundraisers/ socials at Pilsner Inn May: Memorial Day Tournament

Soccer San Francsico Spikes Soccer Club (Facebook) Winter: indoor league Spring: all Spikes indoor tournament Spring & Summer: outdoor league Fall: Spikes Folsom weekend tournament Softball San Francisco Gay Softball League (sfgfl.org) Jan 28: player clinic Feb 19: new player evaluation Mar 5: bowling fundraiser Spring: league (starts March 12) Jun 10: Switch Hitters Ball Silicon Valley Softball League (svsl.org) Spring, Summer & Fall: league in Sunnyvale Swimming and Synchronized Swimming Tsunami Aquatics (sftsunami.org) Year-round Tennis Gay and Lesbian Tennis Federation of San Francisco (gltf.org) Monthly: social doubles (3rd Friday at Bay Club SF) Spring: league, beginner’s academy Memorial Day Weekend: United States Gay Open Summer: Holleran and Sissenstein Club Championships

July: Bank of the West Classic Pride Night Fall: league, Tennis Palooza Volleyball Balls of Furry Volleyball (Facebook or ballsoffurryvolleyball.org) Winter & Spring: league (intermediate-advanced levels) Fourth of July Weekend: Red, White and Blue Tournament East Bay – LGBTQA Volleyball (Facebook) Spring, Summer & Fall: outdoor volleyball in Oakland (Sundays) Rainbow Recreation (Facebook) Spring & Summer: outdoor volleyball in Mountain View (Tuesdays) South Bay Volleyball Club (blog. sbvbc.org; Contact Jim Moore) Feb 18–19: NorCal Volleyball Classic Spring, Summer & Fall: clinics, local one-day tournaments in the South Bay

Troy Macfarland of Fitness SF provides monthly tips he’s learned from his colleagues who are professional trainers at local gyms.

He can be reached at tmacfarland@fitnesssf.com

Take Me Home with You!

Water Polo Tsunami Water Polo (tsunamipolo.org) May: Tsunami de Mayo Tournament Fall: Splish Fundraiser Year-round league Wrestling Golden Gate Wrestling (ggwc.org) Year-round

“Tired of turning on the TV and only seeing bad news? My name is Sami and I’d be happy to help cheer Sami you up! I’m a social butterfly who loves to run and play. Let’s turn off the TV and go on a long walk together. Or better yet, we could visit a dog park and make some likeminded friends! If you’re in need of some extra cuddles and TLC, come introduce yourself.”

Sami is presented to San Francisco Bay Times readers by Dr. Jennifer Scarlett, the SF SPCA’s Co-President. Our thanks also go to Krista Maloney for helping to get the word out about lovable pets like Sami.

To meet Sami and other pets seeking their forever homes, please visit: San Francisco SPCA Mission Campus 250 Florida Street San Francisco, CA 94103 415-522-3500

Dr. Jennifer Scarlett and Pup

Aside from major holidays, the adoption center is open Mon–Fri: 1–6 pm and Sat–Sun: 10 am–5 pm. Free parking is available for those wishing to adopt! For more information: https://www.sfspca.org/adoptions/pet-details/33698293 and sfspca.org/adopt 22

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S JA NUA RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 7

Professional Services

LAW OFFICES OF MILES & TORRES Estate Planning 1393 Noe Street, San Francisco, CA 94131 (415) 308-2307 www.milestorreslaw.com

PHOTO BY SANDY MORRIS

NewPer specti ves Center for Counseling

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY   T IM ES JANUARY 26, 2017

23

Compiled by Blake Dillon

26 : Thursday LGBTQ Book Club – Repeats monthly @ Peninsula Family Service, 24 Second Avenue, San Mateo. Information: 650-403-4300 x4383 Queer Arts Mixer – 5:30 pm @ El Rio, 3158 Mission Street.

Launching the new monthly mixer that’s a free, informal networking event hosted by Bring You Own Queer. byoq.org Same-Sex DanceSport Competition Prep for Beginners – 6 pm @ MetronomeSF, 1830 17th Street.

Learn to the waltz, tango, rumba and cha-cha with dance maven Emily Coles. emilycolesdancesf.com Frameline Encore: Strike A Pose – 7 pm @ Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street. Free event featuring the film on Madonna’s taboo-busting Blond Ambition tour that raised AIDS awareness and spotlighted seven male dancers. frameline.org Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA – Repeats through Sunday, Janaury29 @ AT&T Park (King & 3rdStreets). Performance based on the history and romance of Mexico. cirquedusoleil.com/luzia

27 : Friday January Open Mic Night – 5 pm @ Weaver’s Coffee & Tea-SF, 2301 Market Street. Musical performances, slam poetry, comedy and coffee. facebook.com/ events/2063074283936959 Feinstein’s Presents Audra McDonald with Will Swanson – 8 pm @ Hofmann Theatre, 101 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. Tony, Grammy and Emmyaward winning McDonald teams with Broadway’s Will Swenson. feinsteinsatthenikko.com The Sound Healing Symphony – 8 pm @ Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street.

A convergence of meditative musicians coming together in harmony with instruments including gongs, crystal singing bowls, Native American flutes, didgeridoo, harp and more. gracecathedral.org

28 : Saturday Pink Triangle Gardening & Clean-up – 9 am @ Pink Triangle Park & Memorial, Market Street & 17th Streets. Join volunteers from the Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence members, SF Department of Public Works and community members in giving some TLC to the park. facebook. com/events/846556505484564 Mango 2017 – 2 pm @ El Rio, 3158 Mission Street. Drink your worries away. Dance like nobody’s looking. And say “Happy Birthday” to Mango promoter Carol who has kept this event going for 20 years. eleiosf.com An Evening with Ira Glass – 7:30 pm @ Nourse Theater, 275 Hayes Street. City Arts & Lectures presents the NPR veteran discussing “Seven Things I’ve Learned.” cityarts.net/event/ira-glass/

24

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S JA NUA RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 7

The Rocky Horror Picture Show – 11:40 pm @ The Clay Theatre SF, 2261 Fillmore Street.

Launching the tenth anniversary year of the classic film’s monthly showing at The Clay Theatre featuring The Bawdy Caste. landmarktheatres.com/san-francisco/ clay-theatre/film-info/ the-rocky-horror-picture-show

29 : Sunday Lunar New Year Celebration, Year of the Rooster – 10:30 am @ Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin Street.

Talented dancers and musician celebrate the Year of the Rooster at The Asian Art Museum. go.asianart.org/ LNYsign Blame Sally Concert – 8 pm @ Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, Berkeley – Performance by the popular multi-genre band comprised of Monica Pasqual, Renee Harcourt, Jeri Jones and Pam Delgado. thefreight.org Mads Tolling & The Mads Men – 6 & 8 pm @ Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland.

Grammy-winning violinist performs with featured guest Kenny Washington. yoshis.com Elements – Imperial Corwn Princess’ Ball 2017 – 5 pm @ DNA Lounge, 375 11th Street.

Celebrate unity, diversity and love with the reigning emperors, empresses and Imperial Crown Princess Ehra Amaya. Dnalounge. com/calendar/2017/01-29.html

30 : Monday Klezmer: A Live Musical Revival – 7 pm @ The Royale, 800 Post Street. An interactive Klezmer concert and exploration of Jewish identity. http://jdcentwine.org/ Strut Book Club – 7:30 PM @ Strut, 470 Castro Street. Readings from Seth Dickinson’s The Traitor Baru Cormorant about a young woman from a conquered people who tries to transform an empire.

Info: bporrashernandez@sfaf.org

31 : Tuesday Justin Vivian Bond Shows Up – 8 pm @ Oasis, 298 11th Street. A “transgenre” artist based in NYC performing on and off Broadway, Bond appears through Feb 1.

Frank Stella: A Retrospective – 9:30 am @ Anderson Gallery 17, deYoung Museum, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. An exploration of the artists groundbreaking work in an exhibit through June 25. deyoung. famsf.org/exhibitions/stella

1 : Wednesday Beautiful Relationships: Flora and Fauna from Around the World – 10 am @ San Francisco Botanical Garden, 1199 9th Avenue. An exhibit of nature illustrations by Rachel Diaz-Bastin, open through April 30. sfbotanicalgarden.org The Christians – 8 pm @ San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street. Pastor Paul grows a megachurch and then wrestles with his own faith in a performance backed by a full choir. sfplayhouse.org

26 @ SF Museum of Modern Art, 151 3rd Street.The exhibit, through April 30, was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art considering the first seven years of the photographer’s career. sfmoma.org

2 : Thursday Dancing with Bad Ass Boots – 7 pm @ The Terrace Room, 1800 Madison Street, Oakland. badassbootsband.com Skirt Club for Ladies – 7 pm @ Monarch, corner 6th & Mission.

A private network for women promoting play parties featuring glamour and experimentation. skirtclub. co.uk/debut-party-san-franciscothursday-feb-2nd/ Ultra Showgirls – 7 pm @ Oasis, 298 11th Street. D’Arcy Drollinger & SF Sketchfest present a live drag rock musical. sfoasis.com Eat, Pray, Laugh – 8 pm repeating through March 11 @ The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. Award-winning comedian Alicia Dattner presents her solo show about a Jewish princess seeking an Indian guru for a one-life stand. themarsh.org

3 : Friday Future Positive CD Release & Birthday Party – 6:30 pm @ ArtSAvesLives Gallery and Studio, 518 Castro Street. Entertainer Kippy Marks invites you to celebrate his 50th birthday. kippymarks.com

Mads Tolling & The Mads Men with Kenny Washington at Yoshi’s on January 29

6 : Monday 19th SF International Film Festival – 7 pm @ The Roxie, 3117 16th Street. A series of films and parties continuing through February 16 at multiple locations. sfindie.com Motown on Mondays – 6 pm @ Madrone Art Bar, 500 Divisadero Street. A series of DJ’s present Motown music until 2 am. madroneartbar.com

7 : Tuesday Diane Arbus: In the Beginning – daily through March

Worshipping Women Power and Devotion in Indian Painting – daily @ Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin Street. Goddesses in Hindu devotional practices represent the primordial female force underlying nature and power. asianart.org

8 : Wednesday Dirty Old Women Book Launch Party – 7:30 PM @ The Makeout Room, 3225 22nd Street.

Readings and book signings celebrating the release of the Dirty Old Women Anthology. makeoutroom.com Ingrid Bergman Double Feature – Gaslight and Spellbound @ Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. castrotheatre.com Free Rapid HIV Testing at AHP – 5 pm @ UCSF AIDS Health Project, 1930 Market Street & Duboce. Support for those at risk for HIV and all members of the LGBTQ community. ucsf-ahp.org

Star Trek: 50 Artists, 50 Years Art Exhibition Continues through Feb 19 @ Chabot Space & Science Center, 10000 Skyline Boulevard, Oakland.

An exhibit of original art by 50 different artists including Leonard Nimoy. chabotspace.org Feinstein’s Presents James Monroe Iglehart – 8 pm @ Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. Tony Award-winner and Hayward native, Iglehart has starred on Broadway and in films. feinsteinsatthenikko.com Rufus Wainwright Concert – 8 pm @ Sunset Center, San Carlos & 9th Ave, Carmel-by-the-Sea. Vocalist, composer and songwriter makes a rare appearance in beautiful Carmel. sunsetcenter.org

4 : Saturday Oaktown 8s New Dancer Class – 1 pm @ Lake Merritt Dance Center, 200 W. Grand Avenue, Oakland. Modern Western Square Dance for singles, couples, gay and straight with this member organization of the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs. oaktown8s.org Two Spirits 6th Annual Powwow – 10 am @ Festival Pavilion @ Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd. Free event fostering diversity and inclusion with dancing, drumming, singing, food vendors, health screenings and more. baits.org House of the Beehives Concert – 7:30 pm and repeats on Feb. 6 @ The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley. Presented by the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. leftcoastensemble.org

5 : Sunday The Revolution Will Not Be Harmonized – 7 pm repeating through Feb 25 @ PianoFight, 144 Taylor Street. Opening Night of the musical comedy by an award-winning sketch comedy group. pianofight.com Sue-Per Bowl Sunday – 2:30 pm @ Oasis, 298 11th Street.

Watch the big game on the jumbo 16-foot mega screen. sfoasis.com

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES JANUARY 26, 2017

25

HARRIS (continued from page 3)

JUDD (continued from page 3)

a country with equal pay and access to health care, including a safe and legal abortion protected as a fundamental and constitutional right.

half of what the top actors did?

Do you realize that the World Cup shelf of the U.S. men’s soccer team is as empty as Trump’s promises But the women’s team has scored three World Cups, In 2015, brought in 20 million more dollars in revenue than the men’s team, but is still paid 75% less?

See even when women go into high paying careers, their wages are still cut with blades sharpened by testosterone.

Tell me why the work of a black woman and an hispanic woman is only worth 63 and 54 percent of a white man’s privileged paycheck?

This is not a feminist myth; this is inequality.

So we are not here to be debunked We are here to be respected.

We are here to be nasty like blood-stained bedsheets.

So, all of this is to say, my sisters and brothers, that we are tired as women to simply being relegated to being a particular constituency or demographic. We together are powerful, and we are a force that cannot be dismissed or written off to the sidelines. But I’ve got to tell you, we’ve got our work cut out for us. And it’s going to get harder before it gets easier.

I know we will rise to the challenge, and I know we will keep fighting no matter what because we’ve got the power. And I promise that I, along with my sisters and brothers on this stage, will be fighting for you every single day. And I know, fight we will do and fight we will win, especially when they say it’s unwinnable. Especially when they say we might be the only one like you in that room. We know we will always be in that room together.

So, in closing, here’s how I think we should be thinking about today. This was a day for all of us to come together in our nation’s capital to be seen, to be heard, to be felt. Today is also a day we must recommit our power and our purpose.

Let’s make today a beginning. Let’s buckle in because it’s going to be a bumpy ride, and then let’s go back to Ohio, and New York and Florida and California. Let’s get to work.

In case you forgot, women don’t choose when or if they get their periods!

Trust me, if we could we would!

We don’t like throwing away our favorite pairs of underwear!

But men can choose to not have sex And they know how to live without a full head of hair, so why are tampons and pads still taxed, but Viagra and Rogaine aren’t?

Is your erection really more important than protecting the messy parts of my womanhood?

Is the thinning of your hair really more embarrassing than the period-staining of my jeans?

I know it seems petty to complain about a few extra cents But it’s just the finishing touch on a pile of change I have yet

to feel in this country.

So don’t try to justify our injustices with excuses that smell like your security when you’re walking alone to the bathroom or your car or down the street.

Security my eyes have yet to see They’re too busy praying to my feet So you don’t mistake eye contact for wanting physical contact I’ve been zipping up my smile so you don’t think I want to unzip your jeans.

I know you forget to examine the reflection of your own privilege You may be afraid of the truth But I’m not afraid to be honest I’m not afraid to be nasty Yeah I’m nasty like the struggle of women still beating equality into the world, because our rights have been

beaten out of us for too long.

And our fight will continue to embody our nastiness.

I’m nasty like red, white, and blue bruises.

Nasty like Elizabeth, Amelia, Rosa, Eleanor, Condoleezza, Sonia, Malala, Michelle.

Our mothers, our sisters, us sisters are all nasty like history And our pussies ain’t for grabbing They’re for reminding you that our walls are stronger than America’s ever will be.

They’re for birthing new generations of Filthy Vulgar Bossy Brave Proud Nasty women.

So if you a nasty woman say hell yeah.

NEWS (continued from page 8) vide these organizations with the resources they need to carry out their mission effectively, from combating HIV/AIDS and enhancing the quality of life of people affected by HIV to helping ensure that vulnerable populations—particularly the LGBT community—are treated fairly under the law. ejaf.org

tion was to help society to move in a better direction.” dailykos.com

Plans Being Set for a Redesign of Harvey Milk Plaza Backed by a $500,000 donation from a gay California man and an upcoming international design competition, plans are being set for a multimillion-dollar redesign of San Francisco’s Harvey Milk Plaza. The Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza, SFMTA (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) and AIASF (American Institute of Architects San Francisco) held a community meeting in the Castro to discuss the redevelopment and revisioning of the plaza named for civil rights icon Harvey Milk. A capital campaign will launch in February 2017 to fund the Harvey Milk Plaza redesign. friendsofharveymilkplaza.org

156 LGBT Elected Officials Speak Out for Equality In an unprecedented display of LGBT political power, 156 openly LGBT elected officials sent a letter to President Trump demanding that he declare full support for LGBT equality. These officials—representing millions of Americans—implore him to “be a president for all Americans,” and to make the values of inclusion, fairness and justice the cornerstone of his administration. They make clear that they will fight any efforts to roll back LGBT rights, and warn that they will continue to oppose his anti-LGBT nominees. “Now more than ever, we need LGBT people to run for office and be our voice in the halls of power,” says Aisha C. Moodie-Mills, President & CEO of Victory Institute. “That is why Victory Institute holds Candidate & Campaign Trainings throughout the country— so we can build a diverse pipeline of LGBT elected leaders.” victoryinstitute.org

Obama Credits His LGBTQ Legacy to All the Individual Activists Who Said, ‘This Is Who I Am’ In his final press conference, President Barack Obama said he “could not be prouder” of the progress made toward LGBTQ equality during his presidency, and added that the laws finally “caught up” to societal change. “I think we made some useful contributions to it,” he said, responding to a question from The Washington Blade, “but the primary heroes in this stage of our growth as a democracy and a society are all the individual activists and sons and daughters and couples who courageously said, “This is who I am, and I’m proud of it. And that opened people’s minds and opened their hearts.”

President Obama added, “I think that what we did as an administra-

Obama Commutes Sentence of Chelsea Manning, Transgender Soldier Convicted for Leaking Classified Information Chelsea Manning was convicted in 2013 for leaking secret diplomatic and military documents to WikiLeaks and was originally sentenced to 35 years in prison. President Obama commuted the 35-year prison sentence of Manning after deciding that she had served enough time. Officials said the president thought that in Manning’s case, her years behind bars were enough punishment, and that she had been given an excessive sentence—the longest ever imposed in the United States— for a leak conviction. Manning, 29, will be set free in four months, on May 17, instead of in 2045, under the terms of Obama’s commutation. washingtonpost.com

More Than 175 Mayors from 42 States Launch Coalition for LGBT Protections More than 175 mayors across the country, from cities large and small, announced “Mayors Against LGBT Discrimination,” a broad-based, nonpartisan coalition comprised of local officials who support equal protections and fair treatment for all LGBT people. The launch was announced at a breakfast roundtable briefing and discussion among LGBT policy experts and dozens of mayors—including co-chairs of the coalition—at the Holland & Knight law offices in Washington, D.C. The discussion centered on what mayors and local officials can do to support their LGBT constituents and advance equal protections at home, and took place alongside Freedom for All Americans and the Center for American Progress. The co-chairs included San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney. “I’m proud of San Francisco’s long-standing commitment to advancing and protecting the rights of our LGBT community, and of the tremendous contributions we’ve made to LGBT culture, history, and advocacy in America,” said Mayor Lee. “San Francisco is a stronger city in part due to the invaluable members of our LGBT community.” Thirty-two states still lack comprehensive protections for LGBT people, and the new administration brings increasing uncertainty surrounding federal policies. Mayors Against LGBT Discrimination will provide support and resources that can be implemented immediately at the local level in order to advance equality and affirm the dignity of all. freedomforallamericans.org Assessment Underway to Improve Local Services for the LGBTQ Community

Horizons Foundation is leading an LGBTQ community needs assessment that will result in current, actionable data about the queer community. The data will be utilized by the foundation to set grant-making priorities, and serve as a resource for community organizations and foundations. Horizons staff have been working with 14 other leading organizations serving our community, and Learning for Action to develop a survey that will help them gather this information. LGBTQ people are urged to take the survey at surveymonkey.com/r/SFBA_LGBT_ NEEDS_ENG The survey links will be open for people to share their input until midnight on Wednesday, February 1. horizonsfoundation.org Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy Sponsors Student March Students from the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, an inclusive elementary school in the Castro, took to the streets as Inauguration Day festivities were underway in Washington, D.C. Dubbed the “March of the Peaceful Penguins,” the event was organized by Castro resident George Kelly, a longtime volunteer at the Academy and the man behind Project Inscribe, the Milk Academy’s World AIDS Day commemoration. According to Kelly, the students weren’t marching in protest of the nation’s new president; rather, the neighborhood march was intended to spread a message of peace, love, and unity. The students, accompanied by Kelly, principal Ron Machado, as well as teachers and parents, began their march on 19th Street carrying signs with messages of peace, love and respect. Security for the march was provided by SFPD and Ken Craig of Castro Community on Patrol. hoodline.com

Texas Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Same-Sex Marriage Legalization The Texas Supreme Court has reversed its previous ruling and will hear a Houston case that top conservatives hope will let the state limit the impact of 2015’s federal legalization of gay marriage. The state’s highest civil court announced it was setting arguments for March in a lawsuit seeking to halt same-sex spousal benefits that America’s fourth-largest city offers municipal employees. lgbtqnation.com Ben Carson: No ‘Extra Rights’ for LGBT People Ben Carson was asked about his position on LGBT housing discrimination and said he opposed “extra rights” for LGBT people. In confirmation hearings for the Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Senator Sherrod Brown pressed Carson on whether he believed the HUD had “a duty” to take actions to reduce anti-LGBT discrimination. “What I have mentioned in the past is the fact that no one gets extra rights. Extra rights mean you get to redefine everything for everybody else,” Carson responded. “That doesn’t seem very fair to me.” It is unclear what exactly Carson meant in his answer. There is no statutory law that prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and discrimination on the basis of gender identity is actionable under the Fair Housing Act’s ban on sexbased discrimination. Discrimination is only prohibited by the HUD’s Equal Access Rule that bans discrimination in FHA-backed loans. The term “extra rights” is also unclear in this context. Carson defined it as “to redefine everything for everybody else,” an apparent reference to samesex marriage rights, which the HUD does not regulate. lgbtqnation.com

SISTER DANA (continued from page 20) movie SILENCE OF THE LAMBS playing at the Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th Street, now through Saturday, February 25. A huge hit when it debuted at the New York Fringe Festival, Silence! The Musical went on to enjoy several successful runs, and it now makes its way to The Victoria Theatre in San Francisco. Created

by Jon and Al Kaplan (music and lyrics) and Hunter Bell (book) as a parody of the 1991 Academy Awardwinning thriller, this wonderfully fun and over-the-top spoof features Clarice, Hannibal, Buffalo Bill, and a singing chorus of tap-dancing lambs 26

delivering outrageous songs and rapid-fire one-liners. In association with RAY OF LIGHT THEATRE, this hilarious CLOUD 9 production is really gonna slay you! silencethemusicalsf.com RICHMOND/ERMET AID FOUNDATION (REAF) invites you to join cast members from the hit Broadway show “FINDING NEVERLAND” in a fun, musical, gender-reversal, cabaretstyle show—BROADWAY BACKWARDS—where the girls get to sing famous Broadway songs usually sung by boys, and the boys get to sing the

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S JA NUA RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 7

girl songs. For this one night only, cast members get to hang up their fairy dust and sing their hearts out along with special guests, comedian/Broadway star Bruce Vilanch, TV/Broadway star Jai Rodriguez and jazz diva Kim Nalley at Brava Theater, 2781 24th Street. reaf-sf.org Their Most Imperial Majesties, Emperor Salvador Tovar and Empress Emma Peel, in conjunction with the IMPERIAL COURT OF SAN FRANCISCO and her Highness, Imperial Crown Princess EHRA AMAYA, invite you to celebrate UNITY, DIVERSITY AND

LOVE through entertainment and a night of fun at DNA Lounge, 375 Eleventh Street, between Folsom and Harrison, on Sunday, January 29, doors at 5 pm till 9 pm. AIDS EMERGENCY FUND is the beneficiary of the Princess’ Gala, “ELEMENTS.” “We are facing great trials and tribulations in the LGBTQ community and this is the perfect time to show that we are united and we refuse to sink,” says Princess Ehra. “Through the toughest times, we choose to rise above. Our voices will be heard and our faith will never falter.” “United we stand, divided

they get us one by one,” quote from Jose Julio Sarria, Absolute Empress I, The Widow Norton. aefsf.org Sister Dana sez, “As I witnessed on all the news channels regarding the Inaugural closing blessing of the Rev. Franklin Graham of the (anti-gay) Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, revvie dearest noted that the rain that fell that day was a Biblical blessing from God. Maybe he never actually read the Bible and that whole Noah’s Ark story with the flood killing almost everyone; because I tend to disagree, and I believe those were God’s very sad tears pouring down on the Trumpocalypse!”

Speaking to Your Soul ARIES (March 21–April 19) Your focus now is setting your sight on future goals that benefit the collective. Stay open to new or unconventional ways of getting there. Look for more of your tribe members with whom you can collaborate.

TAURUS (April 20–May 20) Though it’s easy to focus on the door that has shut, look for the door that is now opening. This is especially true in matters of career and/or your life’s direction.

Astrology Elisa Quinzi No matter what current circumstances look like, the real creative power is planted inside of us. This moment is ripe for easier access to that power. We are called to change not so much the circumstances we see in our lives, but the seedthinking that forms them.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Make a list of what your dream life would look like based on your most authentic values. Watch as opportunities come for you to step into that life.

CANCER ( June 21–July 22) Unexpected partnerships could form now. Sudden sparks between you and another note great creative or sexual potential. Stay grounded to hold the high wattage lest you burn out quickly.

LEO ( July 23–August 22) Be your truest self to get the love you want. As you shine your distinct light, you get to see your beauty reflected in the mirror of another who recognizes and appreciates you just as you are.

VIRGO (August 23–Sept. 22) The focus is on purification. Cleanse your mind, body, and routine of anything that holds you back from giving your gifts. As you remove the sediments from your vessel, pure creative energy can have its way with you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Ask yourself if you are happy. Librans, while keenly aware of others’ needs, need to periodically check in with themselves to point their compass toward true self. This is one of those times.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Your home environment has a big impact on your sense of wellbeing. It’s time to rearrange the furniture, both literally and figuratively. Changes to your immediate surroundings can boost you with a fresh perspective.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) Ever on the quest for the meaning of life, some clues are currently hiding right in your own backyard. No need to pack your bags for Bali yet again when interesting experiences are to be had at the grocery store, your yoga class, or on the phone with the computer technician.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22–Jan.19) If something in your life has fallen away recently, the silver lining is that you are now closer to that which can give you a deeper sense of security. That which crumbles away makes room for a stronger foundation to be realized.

AQUARIUS ( Jan. 20–Feb. 18) A successful revolution in the world begins with a revolution in yourself. Tap into the great creative intelligence that forms galaxies, and bring that through you now.

PISCES (Feb. 19–March 20) Go within to receive a powerful download of divine inspiration and apply it now. Trust that seeds you’re planting in this dark of winter will marvel you with their flowers come spring.

Elisa has been enjoying the art of astrological counseling since earning professional certification many years ago. In addition to astrological knowledge, she brings a high degree of conscious presence to her work, and creates a safe, comfortable atmosphere for sessions to unfold organically. Contact her at futureselfnow@gmail.com or 818-530-3366 or visit www.ElisaQuinzi.com

As Heard on the Street . . . If you could speak directly to President Trump, what would you say to him?

compiled by Rink

Lou Fischer

Thomas Simpson

Anna Heredia

Adam Mehis

Sue Englander

“Resign, because you are not qualified.”

“Please grow up”

“Will you step down?”

“I’d pretend I was on his board and give him a list of demands. I think he reacts well to demands.”

“Stay out of our vaginas and bodies.”

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