San Francisco Bay Times - November 16, 2017

DONNA SACHET’S 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Songs of the Season

November 16 - 29, 2017 | sfbaytimes.com

Gareth Gooch Photography/Special to San Francisco Bay Times

SPECIAL SECTION PAGES 14-18

In the News Compiled by Dennis McMillan Transgender Americans Won Historic Races on Election Day Following an incredible turnout of pro-equality voters, Americans across the country elected over half a dozen out transgender people to office during the November 7 election. These historic wins took place in states across the country from Georgia to Pennsylvania, as Americans rejected the homophobic rhetoric that President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence continue to use.

These openly transgender candidates won a wide variety of races: Danica Roem, Virginia (Virginia House of Delegates), is Virginia’s first out transgender public official and the nation�s only out transgender state representative; Andrea Jenkins, Minnesota (Minneapolis City Council), is the first openly transgender woman of color elected to public office in the U.S.; Lisa Middleton, California (Palm Springs City Council), is the first openly transgender person elected to a non-judicial office in the state of California; Stephe Koontz, Georgia (Doraville City Council), is her city’s first openly transgender elected official; Tyler Titus, Pennsylvania (Erie School Board), is the first out transgender person elected to office in Pennsylvania after a successful writein campaign to join the ballot; Phillipe Cunningham, Minnesota (Minneapolis City Council), is the f irst transgender man elected to a major city�s council in the U.S.; and Raven Matherne, Connecticut (Stamford Board of Representatives), joins her local Board of Representatives as the state’s first openly transgender lawmaker. Matherne will also be the youngest member in the board’s history. These candidates represent not only regional voters, but the 1.4 million transgender Americans across the country. (For more information, see Andrea Shorter’s column on page 5.) hrc.org SF Supervisors Approve Resolution Calling for President Trump’s Impeachment The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved a resolution submitted by District 1 Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer calling on Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings for President Donald Trump. The resolution cites the president’s alleged “obstruction of justice, collusion, violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause, and other high crimes and misdemeanors” as reasons to “investigate whether sufficient

grounds exist” to remove him from office. The resolution also points out Trump�s attempt to inf luence then FBI director James Comey to cease investigations regarding Russia’s interference in the presidential election.

San Francisco is the fifth city in the Bay Area to formally call for Trump’s impeachment. Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda and Richmond have already passed similar resolutions, as have Santa Cruz and Los Angeles.

A copy of the resolution was sent to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and to Assemblymembers Phil Ting and David Chiu, as well as State Senator Scott Wiener. hoodline.com California Approved 10 LGBTInclusive Textbooks for Elementary & Middle School Use The California State Board of Education recently agreed to recommend ten LGBTQ-inclusive history textbooks for Kindergarten through Grade 8. In addition, the board also rejected two books from Houghton Miff lin Harcourt that failed to include LGBTQ people. In 2011, California passed the FAIR Education Act, which added people with disabilities and LGBT people to the list of minorities whose contributions must be included in textbooks in the state.

Conservatives, however, opposed any inclusion of LGBTQ people at all. The California Family Institute claimed that the law “doesn’t take into account the sincerely held moral and religious beliefs of millions of California parents.” It should be noted that California is the first state to use LGBTQ issues as a criterion for textbooks. lgbtqnation.com Eight New Rainbow Honor Walk Plaques to be Installed in the Castro A reception at Catch restaurant on November 15 celebrated the next eight honorees to have plaques installed in the Castro Rainbow Honor Walk. The first round of 20 plaques was installed in 2014 on Castro Street between Market and 19th Streets and along 19th Street between Castro and Diamond. In July 2016, the next 24 honorees were announced and will be installed in phases. And now eight more deceased LGBT people have been honored. Honorees on the north side include Iranian poet Fereydoun Farakzah, Barbara Jordan, Japanese-

American civil rights activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya, and astronaut Sally Ride.

Plaques to be installed on the south side include Glenn Burke, the first openly gay player in Major League Baseball; drag queen and founder of the Imperial Court Jose Sarria; lesbian bar owner and founder of the Gay Games Federation Rikki Streicher; and Zuni Native American two-spirit/mixed gender tribal leader We’Wha. hoodline.com Mayor Lee Addresses 40th Anniversary of Harvey Milk’s Election San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee noted that 40 years ago, San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk forever changed our City and helped to reshape politics in our state and nation.

Mayor Lee said as the first openly-gay elected official in California history, Milk broke down barriers and opened up boundless possibilities for members of the LGBTQ community. “He was a fearless trailblazer who refused to be marginalized, and his courage inspired countless others to follow in his footsteps,” said Lee. “As we continue to witness assaults on our civil rights—particularly the rights of our LGBTQ members—now more than ever we need to embrace the spirit of Harvey. In San Francisco, we will embody his legacy by being a City that stands up and proudly fights on the behalf of all of our residents.” Lee concluded, “We will forever remember what Harvey used to say—hope will be never silent.” sfgov.org Tenants Together Mobilize in State Capitol Tenants Together, California’s Statew ide Organizat ion for Renters’ Rights, gathered in Sacramento to attend the first-ever State Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee informational hearing on “The Housing Affordability Crisis: Exploring the Effects of Renter Displacement” and asked attendees to contact their local state representatives to demand the repeal of the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. “You all stepped up and made an enormous impact,” said a spokesperson for Tenants Together. Over 100 attended the hearing, with tenants and allies taking over the hearing room and overflow rooms. Hundreds more calls were made around the state, and several tenant and allied organizations held phone banks. After the hearing, activists held protest (continued on page 30)

In Memoriam Our community recently lost three accomplished individuals who, in their respective f ields, benef ited LGBT and civil rights.

Documentary filmmaker and activist Debra Chasnoff (1957–2017), through her production company GroundSpark, created several films that address progressive social justice issues. Many of you might remember her historic speech at the 1992 Academy Awards ceremony. When she won for Best Documentary Short Subject for her film Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons, and Our Environment, she thanked her then-partner, Kim Klausner, becoming the first woman to thank a same-sex partner when accepting an Oscar.

For more about Chasnoff and her achievements, see: https://groundspark.org/what/who-we-are John Paul De Cecco (1925–2017), a professor of psychology at San

Francisco State University, was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Homosexuality—the first peer-reviewed scholarly journal of its kind—from 1975–2009. He was also the cofounder of the Center for Homosexual Education, Evaluation and Research (CHEER) at SFSU. Additionally, he was a member and sponsor of the GLBT Historical Society.

In a statement, the society wrote that De Cecco “donated his extensive professional papers to our archives in 1999. He also was a frequent f inancial supporter whose generous gifts helped ensure our success over many years. His legacy as a scholar and teacher will continue contributing to the well-being of LGBTQ people.” http://chss.sfsu.edu/news-announce/john-paul-de-cecco-pioneer-sexuality-studies-dies-92 Journalist Liz Smith (1923–2017) had a lengthy career in her field before becoming a well-known gossip

columnist. Instead of biting barbs, she usually wrote fondly about her subjects with a self-effacing wit, making her a beloved figure in the New York entertainment scene. She came out as bisexual in her memoirs, but preferred to say that she was “gender neutral,” becoming one of the few to embrace such an identity at the time. We knew her as a regular in Katharine Hepburn’s circle of friends back in the 80s. Like Eleanor Roosevelt and other LGBT women before her, Smith and Hepburn mixed such social time with important political discourse. Smith raised millions of dollars for charities, including the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

Her obituary appeared in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes. com/2017/11/12/arts/liz-smithdead.html S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

3

Taking Steps to Prevent Tenant Displacement and Homelessness empted from rent control if an owner spends fifty percent of the average basic cost for new construction on the property. Numerous residents, however, have notified the City that this exemption is being abused, that expenses unrelated to improving the unit have been included, and that their rents will increase to unaffordable levels if such exemptions are granted, forcing them out of their homes. By imposing this moratorium, for 180 days, on new substantial rehabilitation petitions and exemptions, we now have the opportunity to consider modifying and strengthening our protections for the long term.

As the Bay Area struggles with rising rents, homelessness, and displacement, we must continue to create and implement policies to protect our residents. As Oakland’s Councilmember At-Large, I have recently authored a series of tenant protection measures aimed at preventing displacement and solving our growing homelessness crisis.

The Oakland City Council unanimously passed my UniOut of the Closet form Relocation Ordinance, and into City Hall which provides relocation payments to tenants displaced for owner or relative move-ins, as Oakland City Councilmember At-Large, Rebecca Kaplan well as tenants who are displaced by condominium conversions. Tenants who do not have adequate funds to move and who are forced to move by no-fault evictions, face displacement When residents are pushed out of our city, the and great hardship, including an increased risk of negative impacts hurt all of us. Displacement not only causes disruption and hardship to the indihomelessness. viduals and families directly involved, but it also Displaced tenants can incur substantial costs re- undermines the bonds of our neighborhoods and locating. These may include needing to pay first community. The harms weaken our core instiand last month’s rent as well as a security deposit tutions needed for a well-functioning society, as for new housing and moving costs. They may also rising rents and increasing displacement have lose work time while seeking housing and experimade it harder for our schools to attract and reence additional challenges. My Ordinance helps tain teachers, and we are losing nurses for our to mitigate these hardships by requiring landlords to pay $9,875 to those evicted from three hospitals, and other vital workers. or more bedroom units, $8,000 to renters evicted from two-bedroom units, $6,500 to people evicted from studios or one-bedroom units, and an additional payment of $2,500 per unit for households with low-income, elderly or disabled people.

The Oakland City Council also unanimously passed the proposed moratorium on the Substantial Rehabilitation Exemption to rent control, authored by myself and Councilmember Kalb. This moratorium seeks to end abuses of the law, and minimize the displacement of tenants unable to afford the higher rents that owners charge after units are removed from the rent control program through the substantial rehabilitation exemption.

Oakland’s laws on this have been the least protective in our State, allowing housing to become ex-

The most recent data on homelessness in our area also found that the majority of people living homeless in our community are from here, and became homeless most often due to economic forces, such as evictions. As we work to strengthen our response to help those who have already become homeless, part of the solution also needs to include preventing more people from becoming displaced.

Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan was elected in 2008 to serve as Oakland’s citywide Councilmember; she was re-elected in 2016.

She also serves on the Board of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), and as the Chair of the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC).

Leading the Way on Ending Homelessness If you surveyed San Franciscans and asked them to name the most pressing issues that we face as a city, homelessness would be on everyone’s list. It’s for good reason: the 2017 San Francisco Homeless Point-in-Time Count and Survey found a total of 7,499 homeless individuals currently living in the city. Fifty-eight percent, or more than 4,000, of that number were not living in a shelter.

Additionally, I authored and passed Assembly Bill (A B) 932 through the Legislature this year, and it was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. This legislation creates a three-year pilot program in selected communities, including San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Los Angeles, with the goal of expediting the process of building more temporary shelters.

Assemblymember Phil Ting

After conferring with advocates and the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, I fought to include $10 million in this year’s state budget to establish at least one permanent site for a navigation center. Navigation centers temporarily house individuals while case managers work to connect them with stable employment and housing.

The first navigation center opened at 16th and Mission Streets two years ago, and the newest opened earlier this year at the site of the former McMillan Electric Company at 26th Street and South Van Ness Avenue. In neighborhoods where navigation centers were proposed, residents initially resisted due to the belief that these centers would only draw more homeless to their sidewalks and stoops, but tent encampments in the blocks surrounding these centers have all but vanished.

Unfortunately, all of these sites are temporary and will eventually close. The two sites in the Mission, which together currently house 195 people, will close next year and be developed into housing. Currently, sites are being scouted in the industrial area of the Mission and beyond. I eagerly await news from San Francisco’s Department of Real Estate as they look for sites, and I look forward to touring the finished facility when it opens.

4

SA N F RANCISCO BAY T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

More than one in five of our nation’s homeless live in California. Several communities in California have formally declared shelter crises for their homeless populations, as demand for shelter beds far outstrips supply. Two-thirds of our state’s homeless are unsheltered, and no city in the state shelters more than half of their homeless populations in a given night. The status quo is not working.

AB 932 also includes standards for accountability. Starting in 2019, communities in the pilot program must report to the Legislature annually on how they have reduced the number of their unsheltered homeless and increased the number that they have helped to become permanently housed, and they must also create a plan for developing more permanent supportive housing.

Under AB 932, cities will have the freedom to try new and innovative shelter models, and our city’s navigation centers can serve as an example for a new model. With the combination of monetary and legislative support from the state, we can continue to address this critical issue.

Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) represents the 19th Assembly District, which includes the Westside of San Francisco along with the communities of Broadmoor, Colma, Daly City, and parts of South San Francisco.

Transformative Victories: Giving Thanks for Our Transgender Candidates in our LGBTQ and broader communities. By running campaigns focused on addressing the real-life issues facing real-life voters, voters could see their way through the divisiveness and derision often casting transpersons as the new gay threat to America, towards empowering capable persons—regardless of gender identity—to represent their values and interests in public office.

Cross Currents Andrea Shorter Something for which we should all give thanks? The record numbers of transgender people elected to offices across the country earlier this November!

From Danica Roem’s masterful win of a highly contested seat in the Virginia House of Delegates against selfdescribed “chief homophobe” and veteran Delegate Robert Marshall, to the series of local city council and school boards won by transpeople in Minnesota, California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, the wins were hard fought and rightly won.

Why should we be so thankful? First and foremost, let’s be very thankful for the fortitude and urgency with which each of these candidates worked to present their authentic selves and the valuable experiences of transpersons

Danica Roem’s historic victory in Virginia was especially sweet. Make that sweeeeeet!

She out- organ ized a homopho bic, segregationist, unapologetically proud son of the Confederacy, who is steeped in the cultural wars and dog whistle rhetoric of the day (and yesterday) and who refused to respectfully acknowledge, let alone debate, a transgender candidate. Danica instead pressed forward to actually address issues that really matter to voters—infrastructure, jobs, teacher’s salaries, commuter traffic—and proved to be the winning ticket.

Apparently, for a good portion of Virginia voters, public bathroom segregation based on gender identity was not at the top of their minds after all.

Note to the GOP: Enough already with the silly and harmful anti-trans policies, posturing, and just plain ugly antics. It is not a good look and does not make America great.

Note to Dems: When we support the full LGBT spectrum of poten-

tial state and local candidates, we strengthen our big “D” Democratic party.

long way since Stonewall or even the Lavender Sweep of yore in San Francisco.

Most importantly, we elevate our greater democratic values, which hold that any qualified citizen—regardless of race, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation—should be able to fully engage in free democratic elections as voters and candidates for public office.

If we’ve learned anything since the days of Harvey Milk, we know that LGBT candidates cannot be elected solely by LGBT voters. There just aren’t enough of us. Working within and building cross-currents of coalition-based support and movement forge the only path towards electoral victory.

Finally, a note to the Victory Fund: Thank you, VictoryFund.org!

Thank you for your grassroots and grass-tips support for this term’s slate of talented, qualified, in-it-to-win it candidates across the nation. Your support for returning and embattled candidates like LaWana Mayfield of the Charlotte City Council of North Carolina—who led the passage of the non-discrimination ordinance regarding transgender access to public facilities heard ‘round the world— and the new slate of trans-identified brothers and sisters fighting for elected seats at the table elsewhere is much appreciated. This year’s annual Victory Institute’s International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C., in December for over 500 elected and appointed officials should be a time of great celebration, as well as a time to continue sharpening tools and resolve for the battles ahead.

We have a long way to go towards electing more qualified LGBT candidates into office, but we’ve come a

Through coalition-driven movement, our unique issues as LGBT people become less marginalized and vilified.

The “gay agenda” for fair and equal treatment becomes accounted for as a key tenant in related causes for equality and inclusion. From all accounts, these vital lessons towards winning full LGBT liberation were well in play in these campaign efforts.

This calls for keeping the lessons of building much-needed coalition and inclusion of T-people within the historically GLB-centric political ranks.

If this past election teaches us anything, we cannot, and should not, under-estimate the political power and vital contributions of the T in LGBT. Yes, transgender people have always been at the forefront of the modernday movement for LGBT liberation since and before Stonewall. However, the days of dishonoring their place in our own collective political history by throwing our trans-brothers and sisters under the bus for political ex-

pediency are over. When you’ve been thrown under the bus, or relegated to the back of the bus, you eventually reach for and grab hold of the driving wheel of the bus.

If Virginians can get with that program, surely we will continue to emerge from whatever coastal blue enclaves (or delusions) in which we reside. In this Trumpian era, the political ascension of transgender candidates is the best expression of #Resistance. The elections, and reelections, of the growing ranks of out and proud transgender persons—in purple and red state districts—is the better example of what really makes America great: inclusion and diversity.

The welcome expansion and inclusion of more trans-folks inspired by these and other forbearers, who dared to break through our own historically LGB-centric “pink ceiling” and beyond, are poised to prove positively transformative. For that, we should all be thankful.

Andrea Shorter is President of the historic San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women. She is a longtime advocate for criminal and juvenile justice reform, voter rights, and marriage equality. A co-founder of the Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition, she was a 2009 David Bohnett LGBT Leadership Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

5

Taiwan Activists Say Now Is the Time to Fulfill the Promise of Marriage Equality riage Equality Coalition, as she and other activists inspired marchers to urge legislators to finish the job by passing a full marriage equality bill as mandated by the Court decision by the end of the year.

In a Facebook message to attendees of Taipei Pride, President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female president and a marriage and LGBTQ equality supporter, affirmed that the Constitutional Court’s ruling “is binding on all,” but did not address specifics, and noted that “we also have a responsibility to ensure social cohesion.” From the stage at Pride, Lu responded that she supported social cohesion, but made clear that there could be no unity when one group of people, namely LGBTQ people, continues to face discrimination under the law.

6/26 and Beyond

Among the crowd at Pride was Jay Lin, a Marriage Equality Coalition member; he and his partner are proud Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis parents of two small ch i ld ren a nd wa nt This past October, we were thrilled to get married. Lin’s to attend Taipei Pride, the largest anwish for his family is nual gathering of LGBTQ people in simple, yet profound: Asia. We also then witnessed the ex“I hope that we will traordinary synergy taking place bebe able to get married tween the political, social, and culturwith our boys as the al elements of the Taiwanese LGBTQ flower boys. The wedcommunity. ding doesn’t need to John and Stuart with Vic- be big or fancy, but it is This year’s Pride toria Hsu and her part- significant for us to be in Taipei was by ner Chih-chieh Chien, co- able to show our comfar the biggest ever founders of the Taiwan with over 123,000 Alliance to Promote Civ- mitment to each other, attendees. Exciteil Partnership Rights, legal to our families, and to counsel in May’s marriage society at large.” We ment and anticequality Court decision ipation were sky met many LGBTQ high with May’s people who, even if Activist Jennifer Lu of the they didn’t want to get historic ConstituTongzhi Hotline and Taiwan tional Court vicmarried now, spoke of Marriage Equality Coalition t or y pr om i s i n g how important marmarriage equality Stuart and John with legendary Taiwanese gay riage equality was to within two years activist Chi Chia-wei and young lesbian activists their sense of dignity from Beijing and Taipei. Below: Jay Lin, his partand also granting ner, and their children as LGBTQ Taiwanbroad const it uese. tional protections Advocates are pasfor gay people that sionate in their quest are even stronger t o m a ke Ta iw a n’s than we have in dream of full equality the U.S. We loved come true.

Ta iwa n, a nd it was a great place T h e n i g ht b e fo r e to visit as an LGPride, we had the opB T Q t r a v e l e r. portunity to meet legWe’ll share our endary LGBTQ acexperiences and tivist Chi Chia-wei, report on the stawhom some call the tus of the LGBTQ “ H a r vey M i l k ” of movement in Taithe Taiwan LGBTQ wan in this and movement. Ch iaupcoming issues. wei has been fighting for LGBTQ Community leadand marriage equality for over ers at Pride rallied 30 years, and was a party to last the crowds with May’s landmark lawsuit. Through inspiring messaga translator, Chia-wei told us that es about the immarriage is the only “true equaliportance of makty” and that no country has gone ing t he Cour t’s backwards from marriage equality prom ise of f u l l to something less. marriage equality Stuart and John with marchers at Taipei Pride His attorney in the case, a reality now. The Victoria Hsu, co-foundConstitutional Court gave er of Taiwan Alliance to the government two years to Promote Civ il Partnerimplement its decision and ship Rights and herself an “discretion” as to “the foricon of the Taiwanese LGmality” of how they do it. If BTQ rights movement, exthe national legislature fails plained: “The government to act in two years, same-sex has the constitutional duty couples will be able to marto fulfill the Constitutionry then under current procedures. So far, the legislature John & Stuart with Wayne Lin, Joyce Teng, and Sean Sih- al Court’s ruling … . The Cheng Du of the Tongzhi Hotline and Taiwan Marriage Equal- government should pass a has not acted. ity Coalition full, comprehensive bill.”

Activists are concerned that Hsu vowed to go to court the legislature might duck on behalf of deprived LGthe issue over the next 18 BTQ families to enforce the months, or pass a bill that Court’s decision if the govdeprives married same-sex ernment did anything less. couples of important rights She emphasized that “waitsuch as adopting children, ing two years is simply too access to fertility clinics and long. A lot of LGBT couples other equal treatment with can’t wait that long,” referrespect to parental rights, ring to couples who “are and equal access to immisuffering because of illness gration. Anti-equality politJohn & Stuart with Jennifer Lu and other activists and accident.” Some memical groups have been lobbers of couples have already bying against full equality passed away while they wait.

“It is the government’s responsibility to rein implementing the Court’s decision. pair this human rights violation as soon as possible,” said Hsu. “Don’t be so happy yet,” cautioned Jennifer Lu of the Tongzhi Hotline, Some may ask: Why Taiwan? Why does Taiwan have some of the most a leading LGBTQ organization and progressive laws on LGBTQ rights in the world? For example, same(continued on page 25) one of the leaders of the Taiwan Mar6

SA N F RANCISCO BAY T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

San Francisco Bay Times Wishes You a Happy Hanukkah!

Roland Schembari and Bill Hartman, Co-Founders Randy Alfred, Founding News Editor 1978

December 12-19, 2017

Kim Corsaro Publisher 1981-2011

2261 Market Street, No. 309 San Francisco CA 94114 Phone: 415-601-2113 525 Bellevue Avenue Oakland CA 94610

Entitlement and Gratitude But in a recent survey, only 20% of American adults reported that they rated gratitude as a constructive and useful emotion, as contrasted with 50% of a comparison group of Germans; and only 10% of Americans responded that they “regularly and often” experience the emotion of gratitude, as compared to 30% of Germans. Gratitude doesn’t seem to be all that popular in our culture.

E-mail: editor@sfbaytimes.com www.sfbaytimes.com

The Bay Times was the first newspaper in California, and among the first in the world, to be jointly and equally produced by lesbians and gay men.

We honor our history and the paper’s ability to build and strengthen unity in our community.

The Bay Times is proud to be the only 100% LGBT funded and owned newspaper for the LGBT community in San Francisco.

Dr. Betty L. Sullivan Jennifer L. Viegas

Examined Life Tom Moon, MFT

Co-Publishers & Co-Editors

Beth Greene Abby Zimberg

Design & Production

Kate Laws Business Manager Blake Dillon Calendar Editor

Kit Kennedy Poet-In-Residence J.H. Herren Technology Director Carla Ramos Web Coordinator Mario Ordonez Juan Ordonez Distribution

CONTRIBUTORS Writers Rink, Sister Dana Van Iquity, Ann Rostow, Patrick Carney, Kate Kendell, Alex Randolph, Heidi Beeler, Gary M. Kramer, Dennis McMillan, Tom Moon, Tim Seelig, Cinder Ernst, John Chen Rafael Mandelman, Jewelle Gomez, 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, Randy Coleman, Debra Walker, Wendy Ross, Howard Steiermann, Andrea Shorter, Tom Temprano, Lou Fischer, Karin Jaffie

The Thanksgiving season is traditionally a time to turn our attention to everything for which we feel grateful.

It’s a good time to give some thought to how gratitude functions in our lives, especially since an avalanche of recent research has shown that cultivating “an attitude of gratitude” can have amazingly positive benefits in almost every area of our lives. Study after study shows that gratitude opens the door to new relationships, makes measurable improvements in both emotional and physical health, improves sleep and raises self-esteem, enhances empathy and reduces aggression, reduces stress and aids in recovery from trauma, and improves resilience in the face of difficulties.

Photographers Rink, Phyllis Costa, Jane Higgins Paul Margolis, Chloe Jackman, Bill Wilson, Jo-Lynn Otto, Sandy Morris, Abby Zimberg ADVERTISING Display Advertising Standard Rate Cards are available online at sfbaytimes.com or calling: 415-503-1375 Custom ad sizes are available. Please inquire! The Bay Times reserves the right to reject any advertising at the discretion of the publishers.

National Advertising: Contact Bay Times / San Francisco.

Represented by Rivendell Media: 908-232-2021 Circulation is verified by an independent agency Reprints by permission only.

CALENDAR Event listings for consideration to be included in the Bay Times online or print Calendar section should be sent by e-mail to: calendar@sfbaytimes.com. © 2017 Bay Times Media Company Co-owned by Betty L. Sullivan & Jennifer L. Viegas

8

SA N F RANCISCO BAY T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

On the other hand, can anyone deny that an attitude of entitlement is pervasive in contemporary society? By entitlement, I mean the assumption that we deserve whatever good things come our way, that our privileges are really rights, and that they are to be expected as a matter of course. Entitlement is abetted by a common cognitive distortion called the “self-serving bias,” the assumption that when good things happen to us, they happen entirely through our own efforts.

(The corollary assumption is that when bad things happen, other people or circumstances are to blame.)

Closely related to this distortion is the “ just world” bias, which is basically the view that “fair and just” means getting whatever it is that I want.

The big problem here is that when we deserve everything, we don’t feel grateful for anything. This attitude inevitably leads to suffering, because it also means that when we don’t get what we

“deserve,” we are entitled to feel resentful and victimized. The more entitled we feel, the more likely we are to carry a chip on our shoulders.

Gratitude counteracts the assumption of entitlement, and opens the path to accept the gifts that come our way with grace and humility. It goes against the self-serving bias because when we’re grateful, we give credit to other people for our success. We acknowledge that we accomplished some of it ourselves, but we widen our range of attribution to appreciate the many people who assisted us along the way.

Gratitude also counteracts another common distortion—the comforting delusion that we’re in control of our environment and circumstances. Gratitude involves understanding that we aren’t all separate islands.

It means recognizing how much we need and depend on other people and fortunate circumstances for our wellbeing.

Gratitude, more than any other emotion, creates a sense of abundance in our lives, such that we are more likely to treat others with generosity. The research shows that grateful people are less committed to the idea that material wealth brings happiness, and are more willing to share what

they have while feeling less envious of the material possessions of others.

The good news from the research is the optimistic finding that an attitude of gratitude isn’t just something that some people have and some people don’t. It’s an attitude that we can intentionally cultivate, and it isn’t particularly difficult to do. All that is required is that we make a personal commitment to turn our attention deliberately to the things for which we are grateful on a regular, preferably daily, basis. In other words, gratitude isn’t a character trait so much as it is a practice.

One researcher found that when subjects kept a daily gratitude journal for just six weeks, they found that they were less envious, resentful and regretful, and had a higher sense of selfworth. He also found that they focused less on leaning into the future in the hope that it would bring something they didn’t have, and instead were more able to relax and appreciate the present. Entitlement, it seems, leads to discontent; gratitude leads to contentment. Entitlement constricts the heart. Gratitude opens it.

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

LAVENDER pen tour

Lavender Pen Tour: Off Stage Moments Photos by Gareth Gooch

In the pages that follow, Dr. Tim Seelig brings us his story of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’ historic tour across five states in seven days. We hope that you will enjoy this account with its first person humor, details and poignancy presented by SFGMC’s talented conductor and artistic director.

Some of our San Francisco Bay Times team members have ties to the southern states included in the Lavender Pen Tour. We were deeply moved to learn about the experiences along the way of our friends at SFGMC, as well as those of the the accompanying Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir members who were also on the tour.

To document the journey, photographer Gareth Gooch captured thousands of images during every activity and performance.

Some of them, presented here, feature the places and the people met along the way in Jackson, Mississippi; Selma and Birmingham, Alabama; Greenville, South Carolina; and Knoxville, Tennessee. In our next issue, we’ll share with you some fabulous onstage photos by Gareth. Here, we are highlighting memorable behind-the-scenes moments.

Edmund Winston Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

9

LAVENDER pen tour

Behind the Lavender Pen

Photos by Dave Earl

majority and the tour went without incident. The months of detailed planning paid off.

Whew. Breathe.

There is no way to share every moment. That would take longer than the actual tour. But I would love to give you a few of my personal highlights, things you didn’t read in the press releases. Every single member has his/her own highlight reel, but go with me. I’m going to try to choose one highlight per day and a song—in bold—that we sang along the way and a picture that accompany it!

TLC: Tears, Laughs and Conversation Dr. Tim Seelig Hopefully you have been watching, reading, and hearing all about the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’ Lavender Pen Tour. The sheer magnitude of the undertaking was staggering: almost 300 travelers, six buses, three vans plus security vehicles.

We did nearly 30 appearances, sang to thousands of people across f ive states and raised tens of thousands of dollars, which we left in each city to help them continue the amazing work they are doing.

There were five huge concerts and interfaith services in churches at each stop, as well as university appearances and seminars given by experts among our members on PrEP, our transgender world and coming out.

We held “World Café’s,” where leaders of the local community came together to discuss how they could advance their work more effectively.

One of the best things that happened on this tour was that we fell in love with Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and their amazing director, Terrance Kelly. We basically served as their opening act! The audiences everywhere absolutely went crazy when they took the stage. It was a match made in heaven.

It was seven days absolutely crammed with activities. It wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns, of course. Even Hurricane Nate, arriving on the very day we f lew from SFO to Jackson, Mississippi, couldn’t stop us! Exhaustion doesn’t adequately describe our state of mind, but the singers were bionic and just kept going.

There were protesters along the way, of course. We had abusive phone messages here at our offices and in cities we visited, e-mail threats and a few tense moments with one venue being swept (not with a broom) between our tech rehearsal and performance.

Those pale in comparison to the rousing and heartfelt welcome from the

Day 1 Stand with us on the steps of the Mississippi State Capitol in the sweltering southern sun—even in October. It is only two days after it was announced that HB1523 would become law. Protesting one of the nation’s worst discriminatory laws in decades is why we came and why we named the tour Lavender Pen. We began our tour raising our voices in protest of discrimination however and wherever is still exists.

“Singing for our Lives”

Tim directing traffic on the Edmund Pettus Bridge

Day 2 We arrive in Selma with full police escort. We drive through a town in the direst of conditions, then through the very projects that protected the church in the early 60s. Walking past protesters into the historic Brown Chapel, we filled the chapel to the brim. We all knew we were entering a sacred space as we listened to speakers who were there in the months leading up to “Bloody Sunday” in 1965. We sat in the pews where the courageous men and women literally planned a revolution. Singing “We Shall Overcome” will never again be as powerful as in that space. We then moved to the Edmund Pettus bridge for a reenactment of the Freedom March—accompanied by several who had marched with Martin Luther King.

“Love Can Build a Bridge” Day 3 This was the day of our first big interfaith service. It was noon. It was the First Methodist Church. We had invited speakers from all religions to join us. We didn’t know if anyone would show up. After conducting the first song, I turned to see the sanctuary filled with beautiful people—the majority of whom were senior citizens. It looked like my dad’s Sunday School class. I was stunned. They were there to send us a message, and not the other way around. As the Pastor said to us, these folks are going to stand up, protect and love their grandchildren unconditionally and with every breath they have. We were their grandkids for an hour.

“Amazing Grace” Day 4 Hitting 5 states in 8 days left us with a lot of “share time” on our buses. Being resourceful gays, this time was not wasted. One of the highlights was Bus Aisle Drag Karaoke! Oh, yes. Singers had to dress in whatever they could fit into their very small personal carry-on bag— the definition of booger drag! The most special of those happened between Alabama and Tennessee. All 6 buses stopped at the big “Welcome to Tennessee” Information Center and Rest Stop! I’m not sure we were all that welcome, but it sure was fun watching the locals!

“Proud Mary”

University of Tennessee Men’s Chorale + SFGMC

Executive Director Chris Verdugo and Artistic Director Tim Seelig at the final concert at Ovens Auditorium, Charlotte, North Carolina

The gays arrive in Selma

Bus Aisle Drag Karaoke somewhere between Alabama and Tennessee.

10

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

The famous ROCK at the University of Tennessee painted with SFGMC logo!

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

Mississippi State Capitol

SFGMC’s very own Patsy Cline graced the stage in five states!

OIGC, Director Terrance Kelly, Birmingham, AL

Day 5 We spent time with young people throughout the trip—both high school and college students. We spent a lot of time on the University of Tennessee campus, from seminars, to painting their famous rock, to an interfaith service and finally a joint rehearsal with the venerable University of Tennessee Men’s Chorale. They sang for us. We sang for them. There were tears and cheers on both sides. The head of choral studies stood, in tears, to say that she never dreamed of a day when her students would get to experience something like this. “This is what music is all about.”

“True Colors/Brave” Day 6 This was one of the most anticipated days of the entire trip—right up there with Day 2 in Selma. A few months ago, we made contact with the gorgeous — a nd huge —Fir st Bapt ist Church of Greenville, South Carolina. They invited us to give a concert there. We didn’t believe it, but went with it. And, it happened. Once they publicized the concert, they received incredible hate from near and far. The pastor, Dr. Jim Dant, and congregation stood firm. After our afternoon rehearsal, we gathered for a meal before moving back to the sanctuary for the concert. We had no idea how many people would attend. As we entered the back of the auditorium, we were blown away to see the church was packed—standing room only—bringing in overflow chairs. As the singers began down the aisles to the altar to sing, the audience literally jumped to its feet as one and applauded until the last singer reached the stage. We wept at this. Two things that should not go together in nature: gays and Southern Baptists. And yet, here we were. They loved the concert. The impact of that evening will last in our hearts and in that community and beyond for a very long time.

“God Help the Outcasts/Give Me Your Tired Your Poor” Day 7 Feeding the 300 was a challenge. In many places, we were hosted by local groups and even churches. They all wanted to make sure we got to taste the local cuisine. Our week began with fried chicken and ended with fried chicken. We ate more fried food in one week than perhaps in a year: fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, fried

okra—just to mention a few. Biscuits were definitely the bread of choice, and dessert meant either peach cobbler or pecan pie. I was in heaven. Our last day in Charlotte featured a raisethe-roof interfaith service after which they served us fried chicken and ended with a magnificent concert that night, before which we were served fried chicken! It was a great day.

“Celebrate” We shed a lot of tears on this tour.

Every time Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and SFGMC joined to sing “There Are No Orphans of God,” we were moved. No matter what singer or listener might believe about god, we all realized in those moments that we were not alone. “There are no strangers. There are no outcasts. There are no orphans.”

The tour was so much more than music and sharing, drag and pie, buses and motels. We went hoping to encourage our LG BTQ brothers, sisters and allies. We were there to give them a musical Vit a m i n B -12 s hot with our voices and the funds we raised for them. In the end, we brought home far more souvenirs than the gifts we left behind. The greatest among t hose was what we learned.

I think I can speak for the entire group when I say that, for most people, t he Brown Chapel AME perception of “people in the south” was altered. Those we met along the way were wonderfully warm, accepting and beyond eager to hear our message.

Fighting hate with love.

The repercussions of this tour will last lifetimes. Thank you for your interest, support and encouragement. Not to worry: We’re doing a one-night-only welcome home concert at Davies Symphony Hall on March 29, or you can hear most of the music on our new recording 40.

University of Alabama Birmingham Concert Choir + SFGMC, Southside Baptist Church

Finally, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. We’ll see you at one of our 9 Bay Area concerts!

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

First Baptist Church, Greenville, South Carolina

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

11

GLBT Fortnight in Review

By Ann Rostow

A Cancer on the Internet Before I start, may I share something?

I’m no Luddite, and I can get enjoyably lost online as I may have mentioned in previous asides. But I’m not prepared for the unexpected encounters with the horrific and repellent excesses of the modern internet. Sometimes it’s just a glance at a page, and I quickly scroll away. Sometimes it’s my poor eyesight. “Hmm. What’s that? I’ll get my glasses … oh God, no.” Recently, my curiosity was captured by the story of a three-foot “coconut crab” that attacked a bird. Yes, it sounded a bit gruesome, but also intriguing. A three-foot crab on a remote island? My my!

I clicked.

The article described a giant crab that attacked, killed and tore apart an innocent wild hen of some sort, at which point some other crabs joined the killing spree! There was a snuff video accompanying the article, and although I did not watch it, I could not help seeing the cover shot of a bloody bird in the clutches of a grotesque orange crab. Three feet in diameter.

When I was younger, I would not have hesitated to watch the video. Indeed, I would no doubt have surfed through all sorts of violent or squalid offerings just for the hell of it. In college, we all happily attended a screening of Salo, 120 Days of Sodom. I’m sure the shadowy parts of the internet can produce far more disturbing scenes, but back then this was the worst we could find (so of course we had to see it).

I have since learned that not only do the things you see have an impact on you, but also, to be trite, you cannot un-see them. Mindlessly clicking on things that are gross or shocking and watching whatever comes up is not a passive thing to do. It is a decisive action and it can diminish you if you’re not careful. It can desensitize you to shock, pain, nausea or even sexual desire for those who overdose on porn. It can warp you.

We were not meant to bear witness to other people’s abscesses; we were not meant to read about personal bodily functions or to see blackheads popped on cable TV. We were not meant to watch animals die as we check the political news first thing in the morning. We were not meant to watch rape pornography in sixth grade. We are coarsened by all of it, and we may never recapture our innocence.

That said, we got rid of floor-length petticoats and chaperoned dates a hundred years ago with no ill effects, so maybe we’ll be fine. I’m still not watching the crab video. And decades later, I’m still haunted by that disgusting movie.

Roll Tide I’m not sure I was “wrong” in my last column when I said Kevin Spacey should not be judged on a single episode from his 20s. But now that we’ve heard from several other victims and now that we’ve learned that he stuck his hands down the pants of an unwilling teenager the summer before last, I think we can safely throw him under the bus. Bye bye, Kevin! That said, I’m still giving the benefit of the doubt to George Takei. Take us out of orbit, Lieutenant Sulu, warp two!

Meanwhile, what do you think of our old buddy Roy Moore, who insists that, after he returned from military service, he never dated any girl “without the permission of her mother?”

Oh. Okay then!

You know, of course, that Roy personifies the lascivious old Christian white guy who spends an inordinate amount of time waving his finger at anyone and everyone who leaves the sexual straight and narrow. A year ago last March, nearly a year after 12

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

marriage equality was imposed on the nation, Roy wrote: “Homosexuals who seek the dignity of marriage must first forsake the sexual habits that disqualify them from admission to that hallowed institution. Surely more dignity attaches to participation in a fundamental institution on the terms it prescribes than to an attempt to wrest its definition to serve inordinate lusts that demean its historic dignity … . Sodomy has never been, and never will be, an act by which a marriage can be consummated.”

Of course, the emphasis is mine. And speaking of inordinate lusts, isn’t it almost always the case that these archhomophobes conceal deep sexual insecurities, sometimes made manifest in an embarrassing park sting, and sometimes just hinted at by kinky rumors of, let’s say, sporting lace underwear or cruising the malls for teenage girls? They’re never normal, are they?

The fact is, normal men do not obsess over the sex lives of total strangers.

They do not salivate or pant; they do not rave or rant. They frankly don’t care about anyone else’s sexual orientation but their own.

As for the U.S. Senate, I’m tempted to say, elect him. Elect Roy Moore and let the Republican Party answer for their despicable representative all next year, all the while failing to pass legislation, because Roy Moore won’t vote for anything Mitch McConnell wants him to vote for. It’s a win win!

I say “tempted” only because I celebrated back when the Republicans nominated Donald Trump for President rather than someone like Jeb Bush, and my smug pleasure at that state of affairs was profoundly shortsighted—not to mention short-lived.

At any rate, it looks as if the tide is going to roll right over Roy regardless of the political machinations on both sides.

Those Lion Eyes I should let you know that Australia’s postal vote on marriage equality will be wrapped up as we go to press, but in keeping with my news blackout of Aussie politics, I’ll leave it at that. Google the results and remember the adjective “non-binding.” (Editor’s note: Australians, via the aforementioned “nonbinding” postal vote, voiced a majority support—61.6%—for marriage equality. It is now expected that samesex couples will at last be able to marry in Oz by year’s end.)

I should also stop messing around and get going on GLBT law and politics, and I will. Soon. But first, I was just reading about a crazy African, the head of the Kenya Film Classification Board, who is upset over news that two gay lions have been spotted in the Maasai Mara national game reserve.

I almost thought this was Fake News because there are two shots of the lions, Simba and Mufasa, which look like they’re posing for the engagement photographs in the Lion Social Register. They are simply adorable! They are so cute that just looking at them eased the inner discomfort I was carrying from seeing the crab picture.

Could something that charming really have been haphazardly captured on film by a wildlife photographer? I had my doubts.

But much like the sordid Moore stories we read about and heard on TV, we have to decide if we are prepared to believe what we see. We are not going to get further information. We are not going to see proof or evidence. I choose to believe Leigh Corfman and Beverly Young Nelson, and I choose to believe that Simba and Mufasa are committed partners.

Film censor Ezekial Mutua told the Nairobi News that the lions might be possessed by demons, or perhaps (continued on page 30)

Congratulations to Donna Sachet & the

Songs of the Season

team on your Silver Anniversary

Photos by Gareth Gooch Photography

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Donna Sachet “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” is a phrase from the 1897 editorial “Is There a Santa Claus?” which reminds us that “love and generosity and devotion exist.” For us, entertainer and LGBT activist Donna Sachet is such a loving force in San Francisco.

With genuine warmth, intelligence, style and wit, this generous dream-like diva in red has brightened many of our foggy days, and has done more for local charities than anyone else we can think of now. It is with great pleasure that we celebrate Sachet and the 25th anniversary of “Songs of the Season” in this special issue of the San Francisco Bay Times.

Born as Kirk Reeves in South Carolina, Sachet attended Vanderbilt University before working in fashion in New York and then moving to San Francisco. She has not looked back since. Sachet reigned as Miss Gay San Francisco in 1992 and as the thirtieth elected Empress of San Francisco in 1995–96. In 2000, she received the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian & Gay Democratic Club Community Service Award and, well, if we kept listing her numerous deserved honors, we would soon run out of space!

In terms of historic firsts, Sachet was the first known drag personality to address the Commonwealth Club of California and to sing the National Anthem for a major league sports team. Accolades have come her way from numerous San Francisco mayors, the City Board of Supervisors and the State Legislature. She co-chaired the SF GLAAD Media Awards for many years and has served on the Board of Directors of PRC, the

Imperial Council, the SF LGBT Community Center, and the State Board of Equality California—to name just a few.

We cannot imagine June Pride without Sachet, given that she has co-anchored the live television coverage of the San Francisco Pride Parade for many years. Speaking of Pride, her and Gary Virginia’s annual Pride Brunch is one of the season’s most anticipated events. It honors the Grand Marshals of the parade and benefits PRC. Come to think of it, much of our annual calendar is based on Sachet time. We could even say weekly calendar, given her always delightful Sunday’s a Drag Brunch events at the Starlight Room, featuring other talented performers. The documentary Sachet, about her life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2IM_yH3ibI), begins as one Sunday’s a Drag show does, with these lyrics from Gypsy: “Let me entertain you. Let me make you smile.” The words might as well have originated with Sachet. If we open our hearts to the love that she continues to pour out, our lives will be the better for it.

As the timeless holiday editorial from well over a century ago shares: “Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! … [T]here is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond.

Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.”

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

15

Congratulations to Donna Sachet & the

Songs of the Season

Donna Sachet’s

I

team on your Silver Anniversary

Songs of the Season 25 Yea

t has always been my dream to gather talented friends for a musical production celebrating the holidays—perhaps a dream born of those old Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney movies and the charming story in White Christmas. In 1992, as Miss Gay San Francisco with the visibility of my title and the support of the Imperial Court, I vowed to make my dream come true.

Songs of the Season began humbly in 1993 hosted by Lily’s on Market and Kimo’s on Polk Street. It co-starred my singing Mr. Gay San Francisco, Scott Stewart, and a lively cast of drag queens. Tips thrown in a jar or handed to performers were donated to AIDS Emergency Fund; believe me, it couldn’t have totaled more than $50. In 1994, Songs of the Season became a traveling show appearing at Charpe’s, The Galleon, and The Mint over several nights. In 1995 and 1996, partnered with my talented, singing Emperor Brian Benamati, we added Marlena’s, Company, The Cinch, Eichelberger’s, Daddy’s, The Edge, and The Wooden Horse.

Philip Turner—a skilled producer of many events—saw great potential, but encouraged me to rein in this scattered event to a single location. So, in 1997, Songs of the Season moved to the Transmission Theatre for two nights and Bob Ross, Paul Scudder, Marlena, Ken Turner, Don McMartin and Eric Weinmann joined Philip Turner as our first sponsors. We had a winter wonderland of trees (donated by Delancey Street and transported by Brad Cavalier), colorful posters (designed by Anita Martini), and a delicious buffet (provided by Kevin Kropp at Harvey’s).

Even with such gracious support, I had a lot to learn about producing an event. I learned about liquor licenses, f lame retardant f locked trees, and the power of the press. My dreams of generating huge sums for the AIDS Emergency Fund (AEF) faded after expenses decimated our profits.

In 1998, it was back to the drawing board, committed to Songs of the Season, but only if it could generate significant money for the cause. We made The International Ballroom (now the Conservatory of Music) our home for 1998 and 1999, and added new sponsors like Budweiser, Grenier Liquors, and Sunrise Printing, and professional production assistance from Bob Brunson and Richard Sablatura. Russell Kassman generously lent us a grand piano, as he has done many years since, and Lu Conrad sponsored a pre-show reception. We were finally raising thousands of dollars for AEF.

foot Champagne reception, and the first Donna Sachet snow globe collectables. We were performing in a venue graced by legendary entertainers and we raised nearly $20,000 that year and again in 2001.

Songs of the Season celebrated its ten-year anniversary in 2002 at a brand-new location for a single night—Ruby Skye on Mason Street. Although newly elected State Assemblyman Mark Leno was detained by business in Sacramento, he sent his sister to present a special certificate of recognition. Members of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus joined us for a rousing White Christmas finale, not with snow, but bubbles! Despite backstage challenges, including my piano accompanist, Larry O’Leno, falling down some stairs and injuring his hands, the comedy, music, and a spectrum of emotions distinguished that year’s show and raised over $30,000 for AEF.

they had come to e gency Fund.

In 2008, the long-r ert Kotonly and Ro Hotel Nikko. We q tradition of Lu Con struments to our ba ing Abigail, Kim K to our cast. Loyal

After 10 years, burnout, exhaustion, and personal challenges in the lives of many of the key players threatened to end the tradition. Urged on by the encouragement of performers, sponsors, and audience members, however, Richard Sablatura stepped in to produce the event with tireless energy and heartfelt commitment. In 2003, with only 3 weeks of preparation, we returned to The Plush Room with a single sold-out show, added a second night in 2004 and 2005, and a third night in 2006 and 2007.

These were truly the golden years for this event; Songs of the Season continued to give our audiences the nontraditional musical celebrations

In 2000, Trevor Logan and The Plush Room in the York Hotel—to my astonishment—agreed to host Songs of the Season and ever ything took on a new level of professionalism, including Sharon McNight’s first performance with us, the first Bare-

Consola, Leo Frappier, and so many talented guest performers. I could finally say, “This next song is from my latest (and only) recording, available in the lobby after the show.” Richard Sablatura created one of the most memorable program covers featuring miniature covers of the past 20 years, Michael Loftis became my costumer extraordinaire, and it finally snowed on stage.

I think this is the year that AEF let me know that this event had become a revenue line item in their annual budget! The pressure!

With every step forward, there seemed to be a step backward the next year.

Indeed, 2013 saw the conversion of The Rrazz Room to Feinstein’s at the Nikko with new management, new contract conditions, and the need for a new venue in order to keep costs in line and to maximize revenue for 16

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

What Audiences Are Saying About Photos by Gareth Gooch Photography

ars Later…

By Donna Sachet

expect, while consistently raising thousands of dollars for AIDS Emer-

rumored closing of The Plush Room became a reality, but Robory Paull welcomed us to the brand new Rrazz Room at quickly settled into The Rrazz Room, continuing the nrad presents Opening Night, adding additional inand, now led by Michael Grossman, and welcomKuzma, Paula West, Val Diamond, and others and new sponsors, and an ever-enthusias-

d s . e

r. e r r

tic audience over 3 nights, pushed income up past $30,000 in 2009 and nearly $50,000 in 2010 and 2011.

In 2012, we wanted to do some special things for the 20th year and so, we produced 4 nights of Songs of the Season, as always benefiting AIDS Emergency Fund, with a cast of returning favorites and a few brand-new guests, the largest sponsor list ever, and a commemorative CD available in the lobby, thanks to Matt

Songs of the Season The winter holiday season would not be complete without Songs of the Season. After performances, messages often come in—sometimes with names attached, other times not—regarding the performances. Here are just a few:

“Donna’s Songs of the Season has united AIDS Emergency Fund’s extended family through music, laughter, and love ... . At AIDS Emergency Fund, we count our blessings every day for the extraordinary work of one of San Francisco’s most talented and generous performers, Miss Donna Sachet.”

–Mike Smith, former Executive Director of AEF

“It was an amazing show, and just what I needed. All of the artists were incredible. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Abigail (Zsiga) took the stage and brought tears to my eyes. Thanks again. I will definitely be there next year.”

“Just a quick CONGRATULATIONS on another successful Songs of the Season! I thoroughly enjoyed the show and felt empowered to donate to AEF at this time of year.”

“You think of Song of the Season as a fundraiser in many instances—I think of it as a compass gage. I look around and see survivors: of life and all of its elements in judgment and devastation. You are a changing factor of essence.”

–Joan Pacelli

AEF. Michael Pagan came to the rescue, offering The Starlight Room, home of Sunday’s a Drag, for 2 nights. We packed the room to capacity, so in 2014, we moved downstairs in the Sir Francis Drake Hotel to the Franciscan Ballroom, returning to 3 sold-out nights. For 2 years, Michael Pagan poured attention on Songs of the Season and the results were fantastic! Hotel events, however, no matter how well-connected, are expensive; the next year we were on the look-out for a new location.

Brian Kent had offered Beatbox to the community for so many different kinds of events and so, in 2015, we transformed that raw industrial space into a holiday cabaret. His staff made everyone feel welcome, and that staircase has never seen such dramatic use! Here’s a little-known fact: the location of Beatbox was once the location of the Transmission Theatre, where we performed in 1997! What a small world! When the space was sold, Brian generously coordinated a smooth transition with the new owners of Halcyon, so that we could return in 2016 to a familiar venue, but with even more lights, intimate acoustics, and comfortable seating. Michael Loftis and Erik Nickel made sure that the room was warm and inviting, sparkling with holiday décor, and that my finale outfit would be unforgettable.

That brings us to tonight and 2017! We are back at Halcyon for the 25th and final Songs of the Season and do we have some surprises for you! We have tried to recreate the best over its 25-year history and have produced a finale you’ll never forget! Why the last? Many reasons go into this decision, including volunteer burn-out, donor fatigue, and evergrowing expenses, but wouldn’t you rather end on the high of tonight with people clamoring to get in? Why not open the door for others to host holiday benefits and stretch their creativity? I am so proud of what we have all accomplished, not the least of which is the nearly three quarters of a million dollars raised for AEF, and I will always treasure the memories of the past 25 years. Maybe AIDS Emergency Fund will find a way to continue something similar to this event, maybe it will find a new injection of life, and maybe I’ll come back and sing a song or two … .

Meanwhile, don’t miss what we have in store for you this year over 3 nights!

There will be something for everybody! Get ready to hear amazing singers, to laugh as never before, and to share my dream with me one more time. Remember, “The holidays don’t begin until you’ve seen Donna Sachet’s Songs of the Season!”

For more information and tickets, please visit: http://www.songsoftheseason.net/

“Thank you for hosting, once again, such a wonderful show. So often I find myself struggling at this time of year to rise above and align myself with the best of intentions for the holiday season. Last night’s performance was an evening full of warmth, spirit, humor and just the right mix of tradition and irreverence—truly the best jump-start for the holidays, ever!”

–Cyril Barmore

“Wow, once again as every year it was an amazing Songs of the Season. We were at Tuesday’s show and so thoroughly enjoyed each and every performer. Thank you so very much for all of your hard work in putting the show together.”

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

17

Congratulations to Donna Sachet & the

Songs of the Season

team on your Silver Anniversary

Songs of the Season PROGRAMS OVER THE YEARS...

Songs of the Season SCENES FROM PREVIOUS YEARS

18

SA N FRANCISCO BAY   T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

PHOTO BY DAVID HANCOCK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTOS BY PAUL MARGOLIS

From the Coming Up Events Calendar See page 28 Friday, November 17 - Shake it! Booty Band and Haight Street All-Stars @ Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Avenue, Albany. The rockin’ all women band presents an evening of disco dance music.

8:30pm. ivyroom.com

Thursday, November 23 - Final Night! Summer of Love Illuminated Scenes in Golden Gate Park @ Conservatory of Flowers, 100 JF Kennedy Drive. 9:15pm. conservatoryofflowers.org

My Friend Dahmer Deftly Portrays Teen Years of Gay Serial Killer

Film Gary M. Kramer My Friend Dahmer is Marc Meyers’ sharp, smart adaptation of Derf Backderf’s graphic novel about the teen years of gay, cannibalistic serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. This outstanding drama, based on a true story, opened November 10 at the Roxie.

The f ilm depicts Jef frey’s ( Ross Lynch) agonizing young life, as if to provide an explanation for some of his later criminal behaviors. In high school, Jeffrey is a social outcast, often eating alone at lunch. He likes to spend his free time after school in a hut out in his backyard taking road kill he finds on the street and dissolving it in acid. He certainly wants to escape from his parents, Lionel (Dallas Roberts) and Joyce (Anne Heche), who are often fighting. Joyce is rather unstable, and Lionel, who eventually moves out, wants Jeffrey to “get out of his shell, and be more normal.”

Jeffrey soon befriends a trio of guys as a high school senior, after he starts faking seizures for attention (or comic effect) in the school hallways. Derf (Alex Wolff ), Neil (Tommy Nelson), and Mike (Harrison Holzer) are so amused by Jeffrey’s antics that they form a “fan club.” They conspire to pull pranks, like having Jeffrey pose in every school club photo for the yearbook. They even respect Jeffery when he initiates what becomes a meeting with Vice President Walter Mondale on a class trip to Washington, D.C. But they also are a bit freaked out by Jeffery at times, especially when he starts drinking heavily.

My Friend Dahmer generates its tension and intrigue by having every scene freighted with meaning. When his father gifts Jeffrey a set of dumbbells, it is hard not to recall that he later used weights to bludgeon one of his victims. Likewise, there are scenes of animal cruelty, as when he kills a fish he caught to see what’s inside. Jeffrey also plays with animal bones (he likes the sound they make).

These moments are indicative of his future crimes.

One of the most interesting aspects of this fascinating character study has Jeffrey becoming obsessed with a jogger, who Mike explains is Dr. Matthews (Vincent Kartheiser). When Jeffrey pays a visit to Dr. Matthews for a physical, he silently acknowledges his same-sex attraction. When Dr. Matthews asks if Jeffrey is sexually active, the teen replies, “What kind?” Jeffrey later masturbates and fantasizes about cuddling with Dr. Matthews in bed. It is not erotic.

The film effectively creates an atmosphere of menace, which is why it is so compelling. When Jeffrey and the school’s burnout case, Lloyd Figg (Miles Robbins), head into the woods, Lloyd pulls a gun to play Russian roulette. It becomes a tense encounter in which Jeffrey is unsettled.

Later, however, Jeffrey is seen stalking Dr. Matthews by hiding in the bushes with a baseball bat, only to react badly when Dr. Matthews fails to appear.

Meyers is asking viewers to understand Jeffrey, if not to sympathize with this misfit teen. Jeffrey is shown trying to forge his own identity, and his efforts such as acting out with his fake seizures, or drinking and becoming more withdrawn, are depicted as being ineffective. He certainly

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ

appears to be bright and clever, but he is socially awkward.

One of the most interesting scenes has Jeffrey asking a girl to the prom—to prove he can get a date. It is hard not to cringe when the photographer asks Jeffrey and his date to move closer together (he obviously has no interest in her), and when they start to dance, and Jeffrey does not know where to put his hands.

He soon excuses himself and leaves her at the dance to go be alone in his car.

The scene is funny, sad, and weird all at once. The period details of the cars and costumes only help bring this scene— and the film—vividly to life.

My Friend Dahmer also benef its from Ross Lynch’s unflinching performance as the title character. Lynch, whose career mostly consists of work for the Disney Channel, is suitably creepy in the film, but he is also quite funny. He gets the gawkiness of adolescence down pat, moving his body in ways that suggest a discomfort with himself and the world he lives in. Just watching him sitting and staring into space as his parents fight is unnerving.

In support, Anne Heche is fantastic as the shrewish Joyce, a woman who seems to have no filter, and Dallas Roberts is superb. He makes Lionel’s anguish palpable. As Jeffrey’s friends Derf, Neil, and Mike, Alex Wolff, Tommy Nel-

son, and Harrison Holzer are all uniformly strong.

My Friend Dahmer may walk the fine line between satire and horror, but the film succeeds because it is not judgmental. The dots are there to be connected, while the warning signs for Dahmer’s horrific future are both clear and chilling.

SCORING POINTS On the Kinsey scale, what number indicates that an individual is 100% homosexual?

A) 0

B) 1

C) 6

D) 10

ANSWER ON PAGE 30

© 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

Karin Jaffie as Kitty Tapata hosts Miss Kitty’s Original Trivia Nights at The Wild Side West on Wednesday nights from 8 pm–11 pm, 424 Cortland Avenue in San Francisco. As Tapata says, “It’s free, fun and friendly!

To play is to win!”

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

19

Photos by Stacy Boorn

Poet in Residence Kit Kennedy Kit Kennedy is the Poet-inResidence of the “San Francisco Bay Times” and at herchurch Ebenezer Lutheran, herchurch.org She has published 5 poetry collections, and for the past several years she has hosted the poetry series at Gallery Café. For more information, please visit her blog: http://poetrybites.blogspot.com

GR APES & GR ATITUDE In California we live in a state of grapes. So when you next see a bunch of these luscious globes, consider each as one of winter’s holidays. Sashay right over & pick your favorite. Some of us will taste Thanksgiving. Shoppers can’t get enough of Black Friday & Cyber Monday. Like a kiss, others anticipate Solstice, Hanukkah

Christmas, Kwanzaa, Diwali. Of course, New Year’s is the world’s holiday.

Whichever Winter Holiday you savor may it be ripe with traditions old & new.

May you revel in its foods from cookies to caviar. Winter Holidays are a harvest for friends & family. Space for introspection intentions & yes parties. A bit of glitz & glam never harms. Go ahead, pluck that grape & marvel at the sass in your lover’s eyes.

–Kit Kennedy

20

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

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.”

CASTRO STREETCAM presented by

SF Sketch Randy Coleman

sfbaytimes.com

W

items of the week e don’t have the turkey, but we have everything else you need for your Thanksgiving!

Finex 8” Cast Iron Skillet $124.99 Classic cast iron reinvented to be durable, beautiful, and easy to use. Finex cast iron is designed and made in Portland, Oregon.

NordicWare Crown Bundt Pan $29.99 Basic desserts are turned spectacular with this creative bundt pan. Other designs available.

F

or us, Thanksgiving is a time for family, biological and chosen, to come together, share a meal, and show gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Cliff’s.

© Randy Coleman, 2017

As Heard on the Street . . . What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

compiled by Rink

Nancy Fishman

Gil Padia

Mia Satya

Jeremy Prince

Bruce Beaudette

“Cranberry sauce”

“Green bean casserole”

“Bread. I love bread.”

“Sweet potato casserole.”

“Green bean casserole with onion soup on top”

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

21

You Dream It and ‘Entire Production’ Makes It Happen

Photos courtesy of Natasha Miller

By Natasha Miller Yes, you need some form of music for your ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing. Do not make your guests or yourselves suffer in silence—it’s quite painful. Typically, the thought is to bring in a string quartet, vocalists, pianist, dance band or DJ. Those all make sense, are traditional and expected. But what if you wanted to add a little something special to the day and catch your family and friends off guard a bit? What if you wanted to do something “twoclicks” away from what everyone else does?

I’ve had the pleasure of entertaining and fulfilling my clients’ wildest, sometimes weird and often just off the beaten path, requests.

Once a woman from Florida, who was getting married in the Bay Area, asked if we could bring in a Judge Judy impersonator to be their officiant. Well, yes, we can. But it didn’t happen. I’m not sure what the story was behind this one, but I’m sure it would have been pretty funny. We liked her thinking.

Then there was the time that a bride, who was getting married outdoors, asked us to bring in a whimsical stilt-walker to escort her and her betrothed’s dog down the aisle. That one happened, and was a welcome and delightful surprise to everyone not in the know.

Just last month we had a request to have a Tin Man character come in to surprise the bride and groom who were celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary at Bix restaurant in San Francisco. Unbeknownst to them, this Wizard of Oz character came bounding in and congratulated them on 10 years (for which the anniversary metal is tin) and posed for photos with everyone. We loved this couple’s creativity.

For a well-known actor/comedian and partner, we put together a group of musicians and vocalists to perform the theme from The Muppets Show for their Rabbi to process to.

They also had a very unusual selection of songs for other parts of their wedding ceremony. No rules were followed, and it was at once refreshing, authentic and unforgettable.

If you want to liven up and kick to the next level the dancing portion of a wedding reception, I suggest bringing in a “wow” performance with a flash mob approach. A Samba dance group with a team of percussionists will get a conga line going and will be what everyone talks about after the party.

You can also do something related to your heritage or interests—the sky’s the limit! Think Mariachi, a La La Land dance performance, or even an aerialist act. You dream it; we make it happen. We can also help you brainstorm something amazing to inject into your already beautifully planned and designed celebration.

Booking any talent through a reputable and insured company is the best approach to ensuring a seamless and excellent result. My company Entire Productions (http://entireproductions.com/) makes sure to hire only the most accomplished and professional musicians, handles all contracting, and manages the talent as well as provides a COI (Certificate of Insurance) that most venues require and that many artists do not have.

Natasha Miller is a recovering classical violinist and jazz vocalist who owns the entertainment production company, Entire Productions, in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. She is one of The Knot’s “Wed 100” #theknotwed100

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.

22

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DE YOUNG AND LEGION OF HONOR

Kara Walker’s Resurrection Story with Patrons

Featured in the de Young exhibit Revelations: Art from the African American South through April 1, 2018

Kara Walker (b. 1969), “Resurrection Story with Patrons,” 2017. Etching with aquatint, sugar-lift, spit-bite and dry-point, on paper, Triptych: 39.75 x 30 inches (101 x 76.2 cm); 39.75 x 49 inches (101 x 124.5 cm); 39.75 x 30 inches (101 x 76.2 cm). Printed by Burnet Editions, New York. Published by Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts Endowment Fund. Artwork: © Kara Walker. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

We’re delighted to announce the acquisition Kara Walker’s Resurrection Story with Patrons. Walker is an AfricanAmerican contemporary artist who was born in Stockton, but was raised from the age of 13 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Incorporating the triptych format of a traditional religious altarpiece, the etching depicts in its central panel a monumental sculpture of a black female, which towers over the figures that struggle to excavate and raise it upright. The artwork is currently on view in the exhibit Revelations: Art from the African American South at the de Young. The exhibit opened last June, and will be up through the first of April next year.

Walker made the work immediately after a stay in Rome, during which she reflected upon the recent surge in racially motivated crimes throughout the United States.

Resurrection Story with Patrons enriches our collection of Walker’s work, which includes a silhouette collage from 1994 and the 2013 artist-illustrated book Porg y and Bess. Walker burst into the art world in 1994, and has become known for her cutout silhouetted figures engaging in stereotypical and grotesque slavery horrors such as rape, dismemberment and lynching.

For more information about the Revelations exhibit: https://deyoung.famsf.org/press-room/revelations-art-african-american-south

A Friendship Forged at Historic Tan Oak Park

By Lyndsey Schlax (Editor’s Note: Teacher Lyndsey Schlax of the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts launched the nation’s first on-site high school LGBT course in 2015. She has resumed teaching that groundbreaking class. In this column, her students share their thoughts about LGBT-related matters, including their concerns, what they have learned in class and more.)

I Will Never Forget a Friend I Made at Tan Oak Park Student, Grade 12 Nestled near a watering hole, a highway, and thick California redwoods is Tan Oak Park. To an outsider, it appears as a cluster of family vacation homes, or maybe a small campsite. Tan Oak Park, however, means so much more to those who live there.

Since 1989, this cabin campground has housed many who are long-term victims of HIV/AIDS and their caretakers.

A couple of summers ago, I had the privilege of working there. I helped to clean up the park and some of the cabins when I stayed there for a week with a friend. We lived in a small trailer that was parked near some of the people that resided there.

Upon our arrival there was one man, a long-time resident of the park. Henry showed my friend and me nothing but support. As we grew closer with him, he slowly opened up and began to tell us his story. He was young, but he was missing his teeth and his cheeks were sunken in. He said he contracted the virus long ago. A decade had gone by, and he was still fighting. He was the first HIV/AIDS survivor I ever met.

Growing up as a teenage female in San Francisco, I often heard about AIDS but never really made a connection between my life outside of the 24

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

classroom and the disease. Tan Oak Park gave me a new perspective on HIV/AIDS. Of course, I can never truly understand it, given my privilege in the situation. The best that I can do is to make an effort to connect, emphasize, and support those whose lives have been directly impacted by HIV/AIDS. Making friends with Henry, I was able to understand the life of some AIDS victims: those without stable resources who are living day by day, not knowing when it will be their last.

He seemed to have moved past depression, anger and the control the disease had on him. He was instead trying to find love—he had a crush on the owner of the park—and desired to learn new skills.

I miss him, but I hear he has since moved into a bigger facility on the campsite. Keep fighting, Henry!

For more information about Tan Oak Park: http://tanoakpark.org/index.html HIV/AIDS in the Minds of Youth Student, Grade 11 As a young person, seventeen to be exact, I had until recently very little knowledge of the profound and intense effects that HIV/AIDS has had, and continues to have, on a multitude of communities as well as on the world as a whole.

While I had been somewhat familiar with the dangers of the spectrum of conditions in the past, and knew why unprotected sex must be avoided, I had no idea how prevalent the effects of HIV/AIDS are today. I had no idea that there were seemingly endless sufferers of HIV/AIDS in Africa today, for example, and that the health care they are receiving is minimal and inadequate.

I also had no idea that, in some of these suffering communities, there

STUDENT VOICES are people who believe that sexual intercourse with a virgin will cure the disease. This idea has contributed to a large population being affected. This is utterly horrendous, and means that thousands of young women are being raped with the intention of curing people who have HIV/AIDS, but is really only spreading the infection.

The situation highlights the importance of education about HIV/AIDS. I have never been so inspired to take action than I am right now, due to the education that I received about HIV/ AIDS. It is imperative that my generation be educated about the virus because we are the ones who need to take action to help eradicate it.

For more information about the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, please visit http://www. sfsota.org/ Lyndsey Schlax has been a teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District since 2008.

She is uniquely qualified to address multiple areas of LGBT studies, having also specialized in subjects such as Modern World History, Government, Economics and U.S. Politics. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, and earned her M.A. in Teaching at the University of San Francisco.

Pop Up Pain Relief

Take Me Home with You!

Pop up pain is not caused by an in the moment injury. Acute injury pain is another topic all together.

Easy Fitness Cinder Ernst The last time we talked about muscle pain that comes from exercising, and how to know if you are on the right track. This time we are going to talk about what I call pop up pain. Pop up pain happens out of the blue and it can be familiar or new. For example, my knee will sometimes go from not hurting at all to hurting pretty sharply. As far as I can tell, this pain is not in response to some activity or position. The pain just pops up.

Over the years I have developed a particular response to the abovementioned pop up knee pain. Notice that I say I developed the response over the course of years. I used to feel worried when I would feel a sharp pain out of nowhere. Feeling worried would lead down a particular path with me thinking, “Oh no—what did I do? Oh no, this is going to ruin my plan to (fill in the blank). Oh no, will I have to go to the doctor?” The doctor thought can then lead to a whole bunch of other worrisome thoughts.

What I noticed over the years about the pop up pain was that it would often resolve itself quickly. It would be there for a minute, more or less, and then be gone. Since I am all about making friends with my body, I decided to react to the pain differently. So, when I felt the pop up knee pain, I would say, “Thanks for sharing, knee. I hear ya.”

I knew I could not ignore the pain, but I did not want to make it a big deal.

In the moment that I thank my knee for sharing, I relax a bit about it and then wonder if there is something I can do to soothe the pain. The train of thought that my knee is just talking to me and that I can help my own self feels empowering to me. One of the results of working with me in my six-month program is that my clients learn that pain doesn’t automatically mean stop and worry. Sometimes a simple Easy Fitness small step exercise will contribute to feeling better.

Pain is always an indicator to do something different—like rest, stop, stretch, move, ice, or medicate, to name a few. With pop up pain, the first step is to thank your body for sharing. The next step is to get curious about what might help. Sometimes just that easy pause and a relaxed attitude is all that are required.

Relax, breathe, all is well, carry on.

See what happens next.

For pop up knee pain, squeeze in your posterior muscle (yes, you read that right!) and then walk for a bit to see how you feel. Search on YouTube for “Miracle Knee Cinder Ernst” for another great soothing option. The Miracle Knee exercise fires the quadriceps muscle in the front of your thigh.

This is a great strengthening/soothing option too. At Easy Fitness, we know that motion is lotion.

Another great soother for pop up pain in your knee, hip or back is the Tush Tilt. You can find instructions for that exercise on my YouTube channel. Just search “Tush Tilt Cinder Ernst” and it should come right up. You can also do the Tush Tilt standing, which is a great option for pop up pain that happens while you are walking.

Be gentle with yourself and your body.

Relax whenever possible, and get curious about what your body communicates to you.

Cinder Ernst, Medical Exercise Specialist and Life Coach Extraordinaire, helps reluctant exercisers get moving with safe, effective and fun programs. Find out more at http:// cinderernst.com

Brock

“My name is Brock. I’ve been told that I’m handsome, but I don’t let it go to my head. I’m a friendly, down-to-earth fella who enjoys showering love and affection on my favorite people. Does your lap feel empty without a big, fluffy tomcat? If so, you might be the person I’ve been waiting to find!”

Brock 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 Brock.

To meet Brock, as well as other pets seeking their forever homes, please visit: San Francisco SPCA Mission Campus 250 Florida Street San Francisco 94103 415-522-3500 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: sfspca.org/adopt

Dr. Jennifer Scarlett and Pup

Fitness SF Trainer Tip of the Month Brandon Vu, Fitness SF Mid-Market Weighted V-Up (with client Elizabeth) “The Weighted V-Up is a great, simple exercise for your core muscle group. This can be done on a mat or open floor area. Simply sit down on a flat surface, raise your feet up in the air while keeping your legs straight, and hold a weight with your hands while also keeping your arms straight.

You will feel the ‘burning’ sensation after only 10–20 seconds. Try doing this 3 times for 30 seconds each.”

Tore Kelly, Director of Creative & Social Media for Fitness SF, provides monthly tips that he has learned from professional trainers. For more information: fitnesssf.com

6/26 AND BEYOND (continued from page 6) sex relations have never been illegal there, nationwide laws prohibit discrimination in employment and public accommodations, and LGB people have been able to serve in the military since 2002.

Jason Tsao of the Tongzhi Hotline and the Marriage Equality Coalition points to the fact that in the twenty years since the end of martial law in Taiwan, “people have learned to express their expectation for changes through elections.” This political engagement has enabled “the vigorous development of civil society and the political participation of the young generation.” Community mobilization through public rallies and other events garners media attention. Tsao also pointed to the path-breaking 2004 national Gender Equity Education Act, which he says has enabled more young people to understand LGBTQ and gender issues, but is unfortu-

nately under attack now from anti-LGBTQ political forces.

Taiwan appears to be a country in which democracy is growing and strengthening. The vibrant, engaged and ever-growing LGBTQ movement is truly inspiring. If as LGBTQ activists seek, the government enacts full marriage equality now and does not retreat on LGBTQ education in schools—Taiwan will unquestionably be a leader of the LGBTQ movement not just in Asia, but also in the world.

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 grassroots organization Marriage Equality USA contributed in 2015 to making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

25

Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun James Infirmary, Maitri, and Southern Poverty Law Center. The Foundation produces the annual REAL BAD fundraising party that follows San Francisco’s world-renowned Folsom Street Fair, and the REACH Pride T-Dance party during San Francisco Pride. The Foundation›s fundraising events and charitable contributions totaled $211,500.

Sister Dana sez, “This year as always I am celebrating Thanksgiving Day but calling it ‘ThanksGAYing’—because I am truly thankful to be gay!”

Some of us SISTERS of PERPETUAL INDULGENCE hosted our ANNUAL CHILDREN’S HALLOWEEN IN THE CASTRO— with clowning, bubbles, games, a costume contest, and a big parade down Castro Street where many, many generous shopkeepers had candy for the kiddies as they approached each doorway. Talk about your traditional family values! The parents were delighted, and the children were ecstatic.

“VULNERABLE, UNGUARDED, UNBOUNDED” is the title of the art of local accomplished photographer Joe Mazza now on display all November at STRUT in the Castro. According to the artist’s statement: “We are most authentic, our most beautiful selves when we are open and vulnerable. This photo series explores these aspects of the human condition—our inner struggle with loneliness, surrender, anticipation, and the embracing of our sense of playfulness, of intimacy, and sexuality.” The subjects in this series are not professional models; they are local artists, health care professionals, athletes, teachers, and students who live and work in San Francisco. None of the pieces are titled, so I just have to go by location. And in the very back left-hand corner are some lovely soft-focus B&W photos of Sister T’aint a Virgin—out of drag and out of clothing. These photos give off a special sweetness. Nearby and to the right is the only full-color photo quartet catching a fun-loving bear (human type) at first getting attacked by a toy racing car, but gradually getting friendlier and finally satiated to sleep. Another of my faves is the Pietà by Michelangelo (not its title), here and now depicted as a modern leatherman interpretation of that famous work of art showing the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion. What Mazza has portrayed in this exhibition is his models’ “open spirit and a willingness to explore honest moments that highlight the beautifully complex and vulnerable side of our shared humanity.” strutsf.org 12 of San Francisco’s fiercest drag queens have come together to create “QUEENS,” a 2018 calendar benefiting SHANTI PROJECT, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the health, quality of life and well-being of people with terminal, life-threatening or disabling illnesses or conditions. For more information on the 2018 “QUEENS” calendar and pre-sale orders of the limitededition calendar ($25) go to: calendarqueens.com THE GRASS ROOTS GAY RIGHTS FOUNDATION invited us to attend their WRAP-UP PARTY & CHECK PRESENTATION as their 2017 Season of Events had come to an end and they were very excited to present the “big check” to their 2017 beneficiaries. This year they supported the following worthy organizations: Dolores Street Community Services, LGBTQ Connection, Positive Resource Center, St. 26

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

PROJECT INFORM gave us AN EVENING OF HOPE - A Dream of No More: Getting to Zero for a festive night of cocktails, yummy (continued on page 30)

PHOTO BY RINK

By Sister Dana Van Iquity

San Franciscans gathered at Jane Warner Plaza at Castro & Market Street across from Harvey Milk Plaza on November 8 to celebrate Harvey Milk’s vision of equality and to give everyone hope for moving forward toward peace and justice. The rain was held back, but we couldn’t do much about the fog. The F-line train was temporarily closed off so Castro and 17th Street overflowed with enthusiastic celebrants.

We joined the Castro community as we honored Harvey Milk and celebrated the 40th Anniversary of his historic election to the SF Board of Supervisors. The evening was cosponsored by Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza and Illuminate. Gregg Cassin and Kate Kendell co-hosted with an abundance of speakers, performers, artists, and activists including some Harvey contemporaries: Jan Mirikitani & Mona Webb in an angry demonstrative slam poetry duet, transgender opera singer Breanna Sinclaire who sang “Somewhere” from the musical West Side Story, Gwenn Craig, Anne Kronenberg, Danny Nicolletta, current Castro District Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, former supervisor and Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, former supervisor Carol Ruth Silver, DJ Lamont, and San Francisco’s Gay Men’s Chorus. The evening began with the words from one of Milk’s speeches, “My name is Harvey Milk, and I am here to recruit you”—set to an extended rhythmic beat. We also heard the familiar chant: “The people united shall never be defeated.” This was followed by a hug-in where strangers and friends warmly embraced. Kendell remarked that after the previous night’s electoral victories for LGBTs and progressives, “we are taking our country back!” Castro Community on Patrol handed out free safety whistles for the “Stop the Violence” campaign. But the focus of the night was the Grand Lighting of Ben Davis’ “HARVEY’S HALO,” shining a constantly changing rainbow beacon of hope into the heavens, followed by the unveiling of HOPE WILL NEVER BE SILENT—produced by Illuminate (the team behind the Bay Lights and the lighting of the Conservatory of Flowers for the Summer of Love).

This was the emotional Hope Speech in Milk’s words set to “You Make Me Feel Mighty Real” by the late disco diva Sylvester. Closing the ceremony was a rousing recording of Freddie Mercury and his amazing anthem, “We Are the Champions.”

Sister Dana shared a toast with photographer Joe Mazza at his art show opening on November 4 at Strut on Castro Street.

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

N ewPer spec ti ves Center for Counseling

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY   T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

27

COMING UP

Compiled by Blake Dillon

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS sfbaytimes.com

16 : Thursday Transgender Day of Remembrance @ San Mateo County Pride Center, 1021 S. El Camino Real, San Mateo. An evening featuring refreshments, music, a call-to-action and candlelight procession. 5:30-7:30pm. sanmateopride.org

the volunteers who keep the Castro neighborhood safe. 6-8pm. castrocbd.org LGBT Alumni Mixer @ The Raven, 1151 Folsom Street. Hosted by Berkeley and Princeton BTGALA, the monthly mixer welcomes all alumni and friends. 6:30–9pm. btgala.tigernet.princeton.edu

Harvey’s Halo Lighting @ Harvey Milk Plaza, Castro & Market Streets. A public art exhibit presented by Illuminate, the team that created the Bay Lights and the Conservatory of Flowers’s Summer of Love light show. 6pm. Also on Nov 17 & 18. illuminate.org

Unveiled (a.k.a. Girl Unbound) @ Landmark Theaters Piedmont, 4186 Piedmont Ave, Oakland. A Frameline encore free screening of the documentary about Pakistan’s female squash player Maria Toorpakai who has been a target of Taliban death threats since the age of sixteen.

7pm. frameline.org

Castro/Upper Market CBD Annual Social @ Blackbird, 2124 Market Street. A party featuring prizes, food and a custom cocktail to benefit Pink Triangle Park and Castro Cares, and to celebrate

The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler @ Dragon Theatre, 2120 Broadway Street, Redwood City. Authored by Avenue Q playwright Jeff Whitty, the comedy presents Hedda of the Ibsen

classic who finds herself in an adventure with child-murdering Medea and Mammy (from Gone With the Wind). 8pm. Continues Thursdays-Sundays through November 19. dragonproductions.net Gordan Parks: Legacy @ Jenkins Johnson Gallery, 464 Sutter Street. A multi-media exhibition exploring the relationship between the works of Gordon Parks and those of artists he inspired, collaborated with and drew inspiration from. 10am-6pm, Tuesday-Saturdays through Dec 9. jenkinsjohnsongallery.com

17 : Friday “Rise” - NIA Collective’s 30th Anniversary Celebration @ Walker Creek Ranch, Petaluma. A weekend event (Nov 1719). The gathering, with the theme “Rise” for 2017, will honor Founding Mother Mary “Midgett” and include workshops, vendors performances and more. niacollective.org The Joffrey Ballet @ Zellerbach Hall, #4800 Berkeley. Cal Performances presents The Joffrey Ballet’s program featuring two West Coast Premieres and other recent works by choreographers Justin Peck, Nicolas Blanc, Alexander Ekman and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. Nov 17, 18 & 19. calperformances.org Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine @ Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addition Street, Berkeley. Written in 1941, the play is a timely examination of moral obligation, sacrifice and what it means to be American.

8pm through Dec 31. berkeleyrep.org Shake it! Booty Band and Haight Street All-Stars @ Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Avenue, Albany. A rockin’ good evening of dance music. 8:30pm. ivyroom.com Winter Onesie Party @ Lookout, 3600 16th Street at Market. The infamous Onesie Party returns with DJ Casey Alva spinning.

9pm-2am. lookoutsf.com

18 : Saturday Macy’s 31st Holiday Windows Unveiling & Pet Adoptions @ Union Square, 170 O’Farrell Street. SFSPCA’s pop-up 28

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

adoption center inside Macy’s Holiday Windows. Unveiling 5-8pm; daily 11am-1pm, 5-7pm through January 1. sfspca.org The Lion in Winter @ Custom Made Theatre, 522 Sutter Street.

Academy Award-winning playwright James Goldman’s classic.

2pm Nov 18 & 25. custommade.org Book Launch with Author and Illustrator Arjun Rihan @ Laurel Bookstore, 1423 Broadway, Oakland. Award-winning filmmaker Arjun Rihan’s picture book, The Wrong Stripes!, comes alive in a story about diversity and acceptance. 2-4pm. laurelbookstore.com Trixie & Katya’s High School Reunion Film Screening @ The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. Presented by Peaches Christ Productions, there are two shows: 3 and 8pm (8pm sold out). peacheschrist.com Marlena’s 78th Birthday Celebration @ Twin Peaks Tavern, 401 Castro Street. Hosted

by Misty Blue, the party brings together Marlena’s friends and Imperial Council of San Francisco family and more. 6-9pm. twinpeakstavern.com OutWest Dance @ Wischemann Hall, 465 Morris Street, Sebastopol. Dancing includes 2step, country waltz, east and west coast swing, nightclub 2 step, salsa and line dancing. 6:30-10pm. outwestdance.com Dance Brigade presents Adelante! @ Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th Street. An evening of dance works by the Bay Area’s most provocative choreographers, including Krissy Keefer and more. 8pm and also on November 19. dancemission.com

19 : Sunday Community Women’s Orchestra Fall Family Concert @ Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. The annual program for families this year features Rumpelstiltskin, Karelia Suite and Romeo & Juliet Overture. 4pm. communitywomensorchestra.org Cast Members from Disney’s Aladdin @ Feinstein’s at

the Nikko, 222 Mason. Benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the program features Aladdin cast members performing their favorite songs and sharing stories.

7pm. feinsteinssf.com Symphony Relief: A Benefit Concert for the North Bay @ Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue. Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony and guest artists and crew present a concert to benefit victims of the Northern California wildfires featuring music by Copland, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven’s Ode To Joy. 7:30pm. sfsymphony.org

20 : Monday Indigenous Women’s Dance @ Alcatraz Island. Fancy dancer Eva Lopez, Dancing Earth and others present a program commemorating the 48th anniversary of the Alcatraz Occupation. The event is part of a multi-day All Tribes Coalition gathering Nov 20-23. 4-7pm. e.sparxo.com/188116846287904768 Trans Day of Remembrance 2017 @ SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market Street. The event is an occasion to remember and honor transgender people around the world whose lives have been lost to anti-transgender violence.

Hosted by Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) and others. 5:30-8pm. tdov.org Winter Interfaith Dinner @ St. Boniface Church-Franciscans, 133 Golden Gate Avenue. Volunteers are welcome to join in supporting the buying, cooking, preparing and serving of dinner on the first of two evenings organized by the Castro Rotary Club. 5-8pm.

Wednesdays at Feinstein’s @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko, 222 Mason.

A rotating series of events presented each month on Wednesdays, including Broadway Bingo at the Nikko with host Katya SmirnoffSkyy and musical director Joe Wicht.

7pm. feinsteinsatthenikko.com

21 : Tuesday The Grateful Table Benefit for Recovery Charities with Chef Tyler Florence @ Napa/Sonoma Line. A once-ina-lifetime Thanksgiving dinner with

all proceeds going to benefit wildfire recovery efforts. 1pm. visitcalifornia.com/grateful-table The Normal Heart @ the Gateway Theatre, 215 Jackson Street.

Larry Kramer’s drama about public and private indifference to the AIDS plague, presented by Theatre Rhino.

Tuesdays-Saturdays through November 25. therhino.org Queer Youth Meal Night @ San Francisco LGBT Center, 1800 Market Street. Dinner is served every Tuesday evening for LGBTQ youth ages 18-24 with drop-in mental health and HIV testing services available and opportunities to connect with community service providers from LYRIC, Larkin Street, HRTC and Street Soccer USA. 5-7pm. sfcenter.org

22 : Wednesday Home for the Holidays at Carolwood @ Walt Disney Family Museum, 104 Montgomery Street in the Presidio. The annual seasonal exhibit celebrates Walt Disney’s love of trains. 10am-6pm Daily except Tuesdays. waltdisney.org ’Tis the Season for Science and Holiday Ice Rink @ California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, 55 Music Concourse Drive. The Academy’s annual holiday exhibit celebrates how animals adapt in snowy ecosystems; and the outdoor Holiday Ice Rink has skating sessions available daily. 11am-5pm through January 7 (check special schedules for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day). calacademy.org Castro Farmers’ Market @ Noe & Market Streets. The final week for 2017 of the outdoor market in the Castro featuring fresh and organic foods from local vendors.

4pm-8pm. pcfma.org Question Bridge: Black Males @ Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak Street, Oakland. A selection of videos featuring more than 160 black men from across the U.S., answering each other’s questions on family, love, interracial relationships, community, education and wisdom.

Wednesdays through Sundays through February 25. museumca.org

23 : Thursday Thanksgiving Day at California Academy of Sciences @ Golden Gate Park, 55 Music Concourse Drive. A full day of programs from penguin feeding to the Dark Universe Planetarium to live performances and demonstrations. 10am3pm. calacademy.org Thanksgiving Day at The Center @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. The new Center’s 1st annual Thanksgiving Day Dinner, sponsored by Word of Mouth Food Pantry and Bishop Yvette Flunder of City of Refuge Church, open to family, friends and anyone who may not have a family dinner of their own to attend. 1-9pm (food served 2-5pm). oaklandlgbtqcenter.org 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Night Karaoke @ OMG!, 43 6th Street. All are welcome (21 and over) to join the queeraoke family for the third annual holiday orphans’ karaoke night. 8pm. clubomgsf.com Final Nights! - Nightly Illuminated Scenes in Golden Gate Park Inspired by Rare Tropical Flowers @ Conservatory of Flowers, 100 JF Kennedy Drive. Final nights for the public display of a light art installation every evening through

November 26 at approximately 9:15pm. conservatoryofflowers.org

24 : Friday Game Night @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. Free night every Friday for older teens and adults in the Common Ground Community Room. 7:30-10:30pm. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org Dark + Light Exhibit @ Harvey Milk Center for Photography, 50 Scott Street. An exhibit of Rock & Roll photography by Jay Blakesberg featuring iconic images of The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, The Rolling Stones and more. Through January 6. harveymilkphotocenter.org Castro Harm Reduction Night @ Strut, Group Rm 1, 470 Castro Street. A welcoming place for gay, bi, MSM interested in exploring their relationship to drugs, sex, dating or whatever you want to discuss with the group and facilitators Francisco Escobar and Rich Lugo. 6-7:30pm. strutsf.org

25 : Saturday Sing Along Beauty and the Beast @ The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. Disney’s popular classic presented for sing-along.

2:30 and 7pm; repeats Nov 26, 27, 29 and Dec 1&2 Klimt & Rodin: An Artistic Encounter @ Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, 100 34th Avenue. The exhibit pairs selections from the Legion of Honor’s Rodin collection with signature pieces by Klimt, many making their first visit to the U.S. 9:30am-5:15pm, Tuesday-Sunday through January 28. legionofhonor.famsf.org The Purple Ones @ Sweetwater Music Hall, 19 Corte Madera Avenue, Mill Valley. An incredible tribute to Prince by Oakland’s Prince tribute band. 9-11:59pm. sweetwatermusichall.com

26 : Sunday Decorate the Holiday/ Christmas Tree of San Francisco City Hall @ Doctor Carlton B. Goodlett Place. Help Rainbow World Fund decorate the World Tree of Hope 8am-8pm.

Attend the official tree lighting on Monday, December 4. worldtreeofhope.org Sunday’s A Drag @ The Starlight Room, Powell Street. Hosted by Donna Sachet, the event features a brunch and a troupe of entertainers. The event is described as “The Greatest Drag Show in San Francisco.” Two shows every Sunday at 11am and 2pm. starlightroomsf.com Stephanie Teel Band @ Sausalito Cruising Club, 300 Napa Street, Sausalito. Teel and her bandmates, including percussionist Robin Roth, perform at the popular “barge” location. 6-9pm. sausalitocrusingclub.org

27 : Monday 25th Annual Donna Sachet’s Songs of the Season @ Halcyon, 314 11th Street. Donna and a group of talented performers share the magic of the holiday season benefiting PRC and AIDS Emergency Fund. 8pm and again on November 28 and 29. songsoftheseason.net

Out at Work Transgender Policies, Best Practices and Success Stories @ PG&E Auditorium, 77 Beale Street. Sponsored

by GGBA, this free event includes hors d’oeuvres and networking.

5-8pm. ggba.org The Seen: What You Would Have Seen on Haight Street in 1967 @ SF Public Library Park Branch, 1833 Page Street. An exhibit of then and now photos providing a walk down memory lane of the Haight-Ashbury scene from 1967.

Through December 7. sfpl.org

28 : Tuesday Sister Circle @ Openhouse, Community Room, 55 Laguna.

All woman-identified community members are welcome to come together and make connections at a luncheon held every 4th Tuesday.

12:00-1:30pm. sylvia@openhouse-sf.org HIV Cure Summit @ UCSF Mission Bay Campus, Robertson Auditorium, 1675 Owens Street.

A World AIDS Day research and community update on progress toward a cure for HIV presented by amfAR Institute. 1-5:30pm. amfar.org/2017summitrsvp Pete Souza: An Intimate Portrait of President Obama @ The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. Presented by the Commonwealth Club, the event features the new book by former President Obama’s official White House photographer. 7pm. commonwealth.org Queer and Trans Open mic @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. Presented by Spectrum Queer Media and hosted by Kin Folkz and Blackberri, the event provides a safe space for transformative collective self-care with the LGBTQIA2S and Authentic Ally community. 7pm. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org Velvet Rage Book Club @ Strut, 470 Castro Street. The weekly Tuesday book club of the SF AIDS Foundation’s Stonewall Project, with facilitators Wade Smith and Christopher Zepeda, explores the complexity of gay identity and culture, HIV, substance use, healing, relationships and more. 4-5:30pm. strutsf.org

29 : Wednesday East Bay Coffee Crones @ Zing! Cafe, 3051 Adeline Street, Berkeley. A lesbian social group on Wednesdays meeting for coffee and conversation. 10:30am 12:30pm. Location varies, with Zing! confirmed for November.

Academy of Friends Holiday Party @ Williams Sonoma, Union Square. Live entertainment, festive cocktails and bites are included in this event commemorating World AIDS Day. 6:30-8:30pm. academyoffriends.org Tapata Trivia Round UP! @ Wild Side West, 424 Courtland Avenue. Kit Tapata hosts the weekly on Wednesdays trivia competition mixed with music and live improv at the popular Bernal Heights location. 7-9pm. tapatatwins.com Michael Feinstein’s Home for the Holidays @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko, 222 Mason. Two-time Grammy Award-nominated Michael Feinstein returns with classic standards from the Great American Songbook. 8pm. feinsteinsatthenikko.com S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

29

NEWS (continued from page 3)

ROSTOW (continued from page 12)

placards and stood together powerfully chanting, “Costa Hawkins has got to go!” tenantstogether.org

picked up an interest in same-sex action after witnessing some hanky panky by gay tourists. Also, he speculated, it’s possible that one of the lions was female (even though they both have spectacular manes).

Laundromat Shortage Impacts Castro Residents L&C Laundry at 685 14th Street and Market is the next in a series of laundry facilities closing. A sign has been posted confirming the coin-operated laundry�s closure and thanking customers for their years of loyalty. Perhaps a cause was the three Yelp reviews posted in October stating that the laundromat�s machines were recently not well maintained. Other local laundromats have suffered closures. In August, Little Hollywood Laundrette closed after 52 years to make way for Kantine, a new Scandinavian restaurant that will move into 1906 Market Street. In May, the owner of the building that houses Rising Star launderette at 439 Duboce Avenue filed an application to construct a three-bedroom residential unit to replace the laundry space. One solution for online service is LaundryLocker. com, which provides pick-up/drop-off service at more than 500 apartment buildings in the city. hoodline.com Auburn Hotel Will Provide 70 New Permanent Supportive Housing Units for Homeless Veterans The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) in San Francisco has announced the opening of the Auburn Hotel, a new 70-unit permanent supportive housing site to serve chronically homeless veterans. The Auburn will open by the end of this month. The Auburn Hotel, located at 481 Minna Street, will feature property management services provided by Delivering Innovations in Supportive Housing and on-site support services by Episcopal Community Services. Each unit will be furnished with a bed, dresser, mini-refrigerator, microwave and flat screen television. The Auburn is the latest in a series of new permanent supportive units opened in the last year. Previously, the City opened the Crown (50 units), the National (100 units) and the Winton Hotel (104 units). Each serves a mixture of chronically homeless veterans and non-veterans. The Auburn’s 70 units will only house chronically homeless veterans. Of the 324 new units created in the past year, 45% are veteran serving. sfgov.org Tis the Season in the Castro!

Castro Merchants will be decorating and promoting The Castro for the Holidays. The annual Tree Lighting in front of the Bank of America building at Castro and 18th Streets will be open to the public on Monday, November 27, at 6 pm. Children are invited to see Santa and his elves and other special guests, such as emcee Donna Sachet (see cover and pages 14– 18) and various members of local gay choruses. Soon to be seen are bright bows on Market Street median palm trees from Castro to Octavia Boulevard. The Chanukah Menorah Lighting will occur in mid-December; and special promotion events will happen during the Season. After a very popular and successful two years, Castro Merchants is proud to again light the sidewalk street trees in front of participating businesses, along both sides of Upper Market between Castro and Dolores Streets. The goal is to make this key retail strip stand out to pedestrians, passing motorists and Muni’s F-Line Streetcar riders alike—by enhancing a “warm village atmosphere” after dark during the holiday shopping season. castromerchants.com

“I mean where on Earth have you ever heard of something like this happening?” Mutua told the press.

“The demonic spirits inflicting in humans seems to have now caught up with animals … . That’s why I say isolate the crazy gay animals, study their behavior because it’s not normal … . Two male lions cannot procreate and therefore we will lose the lion species.”

It wasn’t clear why the newspaper was interested in Mr. Mutua’s views on the matter to begin with, but whatever.

I Do Not Like Thee, Mr. and Mr. Fell Here’s a new twist on a familiar theme. Consider a farm and wedding venue in Blendon Township, Michigan, that is openly in favor of traditional marriage. The Post Family Farm does not discriminate against gay couples, and insists that samesex clients will be treated professionally and provided with all of the services available to their heterosexual counterparts. However, a public statement also makes clear that the family “holds a traditional view of marriage, which we believe to be a sacred covenant between one man and one woman.”

marriage will dampen your wedding celebration and 2) consider providing your own wedding coordinator for the day of your event. Serving as a wedding coordinator is a very personal service that we offer as an option to brides and grooms, but a role that might be much better filled by someone who has experience with non-traditional weddings.”

Once you overcome the insulting premise, the suggestions are quite reasonable. After due consideration, I’m guessing most gay couples would pick another spot for their wedding.

At the very least, they’ll select their own coordinator. So, let’s ask again: is this discrimination?

Even though the Posts are offering respectful treatment to their gay customers, they are withholding the warm solidarity that all engaged couples expect from the businesses they hire. In a way, we think of that warmth as part of the service we’re paying for and that’s why we instinctively feel as if the Post family is not treating their gay clients as well as their straight clients. But no state can regulate warmth, and it’s not against the law to keep a straight face even when people expect you to smile.

I think the Post family’s strategy is unfortunate, but perfectly legal. I wonder if they will change their views after a dozen gay couples choose to make full use of their services.

Now What?

I’m no fan of a business or a family that disdains same-sex unions based on conservative interpretations of faith. But it’s not prejudice that the law prohibits; it’s discrimination. (Actually, Michigan does not ban gay discrimination in public accommodation, but bear with me anyway.) So, do we have a right to legally object to the Post family posture?

I know we had a great election night November 7, but you’ve already read all about it elsewhere. Of course, a problem with timing never stops me from rehashing weeks old news if I so desire, but I can still use it an excuse if I like. For the record, I think there were at least three dozen LGBT winners throughout the country, including seven new transgender officeholders.

“Much of our service is very personal,” the Posts warn prospective gay clients. “[B]efore reserving our venue, we would encourage you to 1) determine if your awareness of our view on

We should be encouraged, and of course we are! But we’re still stuck in Never Never Land with an incoherent child President who thinks his Asian summit was a success because

Optimistic;” and for the grand finale, aerialist Gemiah Kurzfeld.

CalHEP Awards were presented by Emalie Huriaux, Director of Federal and State Affairs, to Brandie Wilson, Annie Luetkemeyer, Christian Ramers, and Katie Burk. projectinform.org

Gate Park, is on November 30 at 6 pm. Always a sell-out, “Light in the Grove” has been voted Best LGBT Gala in the Bay Area. Held on the eve of World AIDS Day, guests experience a moving candlelight reflection in the Circle of Friends, the heart of the Memorial, then walk through the spectacularly-lit Redwood Grove to a beautiful banquet.

Inside, guests enjoy cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and a buffet dinner with special musical and artistic performances. The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day events is “Bending the Arc Toward Justice,” capturing the spirit of hope, determination, and resistance that has been at the foundation of the National AIDS Memorial and our community’s response to AIDS since the beginning. This year they are proud to honor Senator Mark Leno with the “Lifetime of Commitment” award. Leno is a longtime friend of the Memorial and tireless champion for civil rights, the LGBT community, and HIV/AIDS organizations. aidsmemorial.org

they rolled out the red carpets and everyone clapped when he entered the room. Speaking to the press in his trademark elementary school vocabulary, Trump made vague references to “$300 billion” couched in incomprehensible half sentences like: “we are going to have $300 billion—I think you’ll see—probably triple that, it could be a trillion or more.”

Three hundred billion of what? With whom? I read elsewhere that Trump and various leaders discussed a lot of high dollar plans in theory, but made no promises, no deals, and obviously signed no contracts. Yet, I’m starting to fear that this buffoon of a man actually believes his own hype, a truly chilling thought. If Trump recognized by now that being President of the United States is a lot harder than he thought and that concrete progress was difficult to achieve, he might start to respect his predecessors and feel some humility. Instead, he is insulating himself from reality in his own mind, living a fantasy that could lead us all into very dangerous places.

Sometimes I have a sick feeling that we’re standing on the precipice of some vast historic era. Future scholars will write dissertations on the extent to which the rise of social media heralded the end of 20th century political norms and structures and others will speculate on why a fearful 2016 American electorate decided to fold the country in on itself, abandon international trade, military and cultural partnerships, and gradually roll a once great country into a small inconsequential ball.

The question is, is this liminal moment the beginning of the end? Are we living through the transitional years between the American Century and whatever is to come? Or will we perhaps claw ourselves back from the brink, link arms with the rest of the world and face the future once again? arostow@aol.com

SISTER DANA (continued from page 26) food, music, education and inspiration on Veterans Day at The Lodge at the Regency Center. They featured speakers telling stories from around the country about the many ways in which Project Inform’s leadership in the HIV and hepatitis C epidemics has touched and transformed peoples’ lives. In his tenth year as PI, Executive Director Dana Van Gorder spoke of the goal of zero new deaths and zero new infections from HIV and Hepatitis C. He said, “Today, unfortunately, our work consists heavily of advocacy to prevent the Trump administration and Congress from undoing many of the key gains that have been made in the last nine years.” On a light-

er note, when I mentioned there were two “Dana Vans” at the event, he remarked, “In the house, so look out!”

Featured guests were Synchronicity Strings, a classical string quartet playing pop and rock tunes; Scott Wells & Dancers; Senator Scott Wiener, who lauded PI, took to task the Trump administration for destroying vital healthcare legislation, and then gave a Certification of Recognition from the Senate; hilarious comedian Casey Ley, HIV survivor, loud and proud gay man, and the evening’s emcee; pianist/vocalist Kitten on the Keys, whom I had the delicious pleasure to sit with, performing Blondie’s “Dreaming” and little Shirley Temple’s 1930s “Be

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ ANSWER (Question on page 20) C) 6

“A Kinsey Six” refers to someone who is exclusively homosexual. (The Kinsey Sicks musical quartet derived their name from this phrase.) Also called the Heterosexual–Homosexual Rating Scale, Alfred Kinsey’s scale is used to describe sexual orientation based on a person’s experience or response at a given time.

The scale ranges from 0 (exclusively heterosexual) to the aforementioned 6. Sexologist Kinsey (1894–1956) was reportedly bisexual.

30

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

NOVE MB E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

Jeff Cotter, Executive Director of RAINBOW WORLD FUND, the LGBTQ-based humanitarian aid organization, and OUT IN THE VINEYARD, presented WINE COUNTRY RISING, at Gough House, John Newmeyer’s beautiful Victorian mansion in Pacific Heights. This was a North Bay fire victims benefit for the local LGBTQ youth and the migrant farmer/undocumented immigrant communities that survived the recent wildfires. rainbowfund.org Reality TV just got real. THE GAY HUSBANDS OF SAN FRANCISCO takes a no-filter, hilarious look at today’s gay scene as it follows the lives and loves of six multi-ethnic gay men. The show was previewed at SF Oasis nightclub. Warning: This show contains adult language, sexual situations, partial nudity, protein drinks, tank tops, jock straps, white wine, kimonos, craft beer, and homemade pickles. The series was created by Adam Sandel and will be streaming soon on REVRY at www.revry.tv Sister Dana sez, “Let’s be THANKFUL for all these wonderful upcoming events!”

LIGHT IN THE GROVE, the annual fundraising gala for the national AIDS Memorial in Golden

Join RAINBOW WORLD FUND for the 12th Annual RWF WORLD TREE OF HOPE Tree Lighting Celebration on Monday, December 4, from 6–8 pm at San Francisco City Hall. Featuring a concert by the Grammy winning San Francisco Boys Chorus; Emcees Cheryl Jennings and Donna Sachet; Mayor Ed Lee, Linda Mihara, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence blessing the tree, and much more. Admission is free. rainbowfund.org FISHERMAN’S FAMOUS SAN FRANCISCO BURLESQUE

returns at the Makeout Room, 3225 22nd Street on November 30, doors 7:30 pm, show 8 pm. 20 years after its debut, Fisherman’s Famous San Francisco Burlesque returns to the stage with an all-star cast of strippers, singers, dancers, comedy, and circus acts. Tickets: pre-sale, $15 and the door, $20. For more of the story, go to fishermansfburlesque.com The 3rd Annual SAN FRANCISCO EMPRESS HOLIGAY BAKE SALE is Wednesday, November 22, 6–9 pm at Lookout SF, 3600 16th Street. Net Proceeds benefit the San Francisco Empress Fund. Event organizers are Absolute Empress 43 de San Francisco Cher-A-Little & Absolute Empress 50 de San Francisco, Khmera Rouge. imperialcouncilsf.org Join ACADEMY OF FRIENDS at their annual HOLIDAY PARTY on November 29, 6:30–8:30 pm, 340 Post Street, and support Bay Area HIV/AIDS service organizations! Enjoy live entertainment, festive cocktails and bites prepared by the Williams Sonoma chefs while shopping for all your holiday essentials. Through the generous support of sponsor Williams Sonoma, you’ll receive 20% off all purchases during the event. academyoffriends.org Sister Dana sez, “Just what will it take for Congressional Repugnicans to stop taking money from the National Rifle Association and start talking about sensible gun control?!”

Round About - All Over Town Photos by Rink

Who do you recognize in Rink’s collection of images this week?

A sign welcomed guests to the Veterans Weekend Beverage Benefit, held at Cinch bar on November 11, supporting the Alexander Hamilton LGBT Post 448.

Alexander Hamilton LGBT Post 338 members paused for a photo.

Member Tom Wren offered raffle tickets to guests attending the beverage benefit at Cinch bar on Polk Street held November 11.

Host Juanita MORE! (center) welcomed Nick and William to the party at The Cafe lounge on November 8.

Cassie Blythe, Deana Dawn and Gary Virginia shared a toast at The Cafe lounge following the unveiling of the Harvey’s Halo public art installation on November 8.

SF AIDS Foundation’s Joe Hollendoner and DJ Christopher Bernini at The Cafe for the party following the unveiling of Harvey’s Halo on November 8

Troy Burnet, Juan Diaz and Mustafa Khan staffed the door at The Cafe lounge on November 8.

Videos featuring Harvey Milk were screened at The Cafe lounge party following the Harvey’s Halo unveiling on November 8.

A volunteer held up a Harvey Milk t-shirt at the GLBT History Museum next to the late Kris Kovick’s art interpretation recently placed on display at the Museum.

Artist Heather Robinson showed her paintings at Sparks Art Gallery for the Castro Art Walk on November 3. (left) Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association’s Crispen Hollings (left), MUMC’s Richard Margary and Daniel Bergerac and SFPD’s new Mission District Captain Gaetano Caltagirone attended the Town Hall held on November 7 at Eureka Valley Recreation Center to discuss the gunfire incident that occurred late on Halloween night in the Castro neighborhood.

The jazz band 3 Yids and a Yam performed at Spark Arts Gallery during the Castro Art Walk on November 3.

(left) T-shirt artist Robin MacLean displayed her mushroom tshirts at Dog Eared Books on November 3 during the Castro Art Walk.

Hand screened t-shirts by artist Wolrabbit were displayed outside Dog Eared Books during the November Castro Art Walk.

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

NOVEM BER 16, 2017

31