Professional Services
Should We Spend Millions to Rename SFO After Harvey Milk? ated with more than just sourdough and Summer of Love. There is benefit to our city’s image when someone traveling from China for a meeting in Silicon Valley has a boarding pass destination of San Francisco.
The Western View Joel P. Engardio Is it sacrilege for a gay person to question why we need to rename San Francisco International Airport after gay trailblazer and martyr Harvey Milk? Milk had the courage to run as an openly gay politician before it could be done, win on the fourth try and take a bullet that would compel future generations to break down the closet door. For that, it’s difficult as a gay man to object to putting Milk’s name on a great landmark. Yet I’m not convinced Milk needs his name on the airport—or even the Golden Gate Bridge— to keep his legacy alive. First, there are practical reasons for keeping San Francisco’s name on the Bay Area’s largest airport. Much of the high tech innovation that drives our economy and inf luences global trends actually happens closer to San Jose. To stay relevant, the San Francisco brand name needs to be associ-
We should also remember that past attempts to rename the airport have failed, even for Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to ever serve in Congress. Then there are San Francisco political giants like former mayor Willie Brown, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Dianne Feinstein who are contenders for a monument to match their decades of service. Common sense says there are too many deserving names and only one San Francisco airport. Besides, “San Francisco” is already synonymous with everything Milk stood for. What concerns me most are the opportunity costs when our elected officials spend scarce time and resources on issues like renaming the airport. I believe focus is better spent on our $4 billion in unfunded retiree health care liability. Or figuring out how to fund and maintain our busses so they run on time. Changing the airport’s name will cost millions to create and market new signage. It will also require amending the city charter, which means putting yet another initiative on the ballot that adds to voter fatigue. We don’t need feel-good legislation that serves to raise a politician’s profile for higher office. Our supervisors should spend their political capital working on real problems that need fixing. Milk was only a supervisor for 10 months before he was shot and killed.
He wasn’t able to craft any laws to shape history. He wasn’t able to become a lion of any legislative body. That means his greatest legacy is the living, terrifying and liberating moment that every lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person faces when they heed Milk’s call to come out. “You must come out,” Milk said in a speech a few months before he died. “Come out to your parents. Come out to your friends. Come out to your fellow workers. Once and for all break down the myths, destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake, for their sake.” Milk said gay people would win their rights only after becoming visible. That’s why the oral tradition of coming out is Milk’s living monument. Voters wouldn’t have embraced samesex marriage for the first time last year and President Obama wouldn’t have supported it if enough people hadn’t followed Milk’s example. All the kitchen tables, employee cafeterias, family rooms, coffee shops and college dorms where a coming out conversation has happened deserve Milk’s name. These monuments are the places where a friend, co-worker or relative made the attitude-changing discover y that someone they know, respect and love is gay. These places matter more to Milk’s legacy than any airport could. In 2012, Engardio was the first openly gay candidate to run for District 7 supervisor on San Francisco’s historically conservative Westside. He serves on the board of directors for Plan C and the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club. Follow his blog at www. engardio.com
HIV/AIDS News Awareness Day Inspires New Apps Duane Cramer, an acclaimed photographer and HIV advocate, today joins the national HIV education campaign I Design. Duane has partnered with Project Runway star Mondo Guerra, who served as the voice of the campaign in 2012, to help empower people living with HIV to work with their doctors and approach HIV treatment “through their own lens.” The I Design campaign traveled the United States in 2012, and is embarking on its second year on the road this National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, including the launch of interactive digital tools to help with HIV management. “As a person who has lived with HIV for a long time, I’ve learned that selfexpression is incredibly important, especially when it comes to working with my doctor on a treatment plan,” said Cramer. “I look forward to helping people living with HIV understand the importance of an open and ongoing dialogue with their healthcare provider to manage this chronic disease.”
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An internationally known photographer, Duane has lived with HIV for nearly two decades. He is also a passionate activist for HIV awareness and education, particularly for the African-American community, which is disproportionately affected by the disease. Since being diagnosed as HIV-positive, HIV has become his artistic lens, no matter the subject. Some of his most rewarding work, through his photography and his personal life, comes from bringing attention to African-Americans living with HIV. Duane lost his father
Joe J. Cramer, Jr., PhD, an accomplished academician, to the disease in 1986, and later created a panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt in his honor with his mothers and sisters. He served as board member emeritus for the NAMES Project Foundation – AIDS Memorial Quilt. “Over the last year, I’ve been inspired by the many voices within the HIV community and want to continue reaching more people with the I Design message of work ing w ith your doctor in taking a tailored approach to your HIV treatment,” sa id Guer r a. “ T he ex per ience has been truly rewarding and I’m looking forward to working with Duane to continue sharing our mes-
Duane Cramer
sages about managing your HIV and the importance of patient-physician collaboration.” The “My Health Matters” and “My Positive Agenda” mobile and desktop apps – now available on w w w. Project I Desig n.com – include a symptom and medication tracker, which can create reports to make it easy to share information with your healthcare team.
N a t i o n a l B l a c k H I V/A I D S Awa reness Day wa s com memo rated to increase HI V awareness a nd a d v a nc e H I V pr e vent ion , t e s t i n g , a nd t r e a t me nt a mon g blacks in the United States. Accord i ng to t he Center s for Dis e a s e C o nt r o l a n d P r e v e nt i o n , African-Americans face the most severe burden of HI V compared to all racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Despite representi n g a p pr ox i m a t e l y 14 p e r c e nt of t he U. S. popu lat ion in 20 09, A f r i c a n - A m e r i c a n s a c c o u nt e d for nearly 45 percent of a l l new HI V infect ions in that year and account for a higher propor t ion of HIV infections at all stages of disease — from new infections to deaths.