San Francisco Bay Times - January 25, 2018

BAY TIMES S

A

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area

CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2018) January 25–February 7, 2018 | sfbaytimes.com

7th Annual

TWO-SPIRIT POWWOW

SEE PAGES 10–11

San Francisco Interim Mayor Mark Farrell PAGE 15

Indigenous Peoples Day Is In, Columbus Day Is Out PAGE 16

WOMEN’S MARCH 2018 Saturday, January 20 STEVE JAWORSKI/ BAY AREA WOMEN’S MARCH

San Francisco

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRITANY VOCK

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREA SHORTER

Photos by Rink

2

SA N F RANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

PHOTO BY JANE HIGGINS

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUAN DAVILA

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUAN DAVILA

PHOTO BY JANE HIGGINS

PHOTO BY JANE HIGGINS

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUAN DAVILA

PHOTO BY SANDY MORRIS

PHOTO BY SANDY MORRIS

N

Oakland

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

F

PHOTO BY JANE HIGGINS

PHOTO BY SANDY MORRIS

BAY TIMES A

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUAN DAVILA

PHOTO BY JANE HIGGINS

PHOTO BY JANE HIGGINS

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUAN DAVILA

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUAN DAVILA

S

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2018)

STEVE JAWORSKI/ BAY AREA WOMEN’S MARCH

JANUARY 25, 2018

3

WOMEN’S MARCH 2018 Saturday, January 20 STEVE JAWORSKI/ BAY AREA WOMEN’S MARCH

Las Vegas

Morgan Shidler and Conrad Moore

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

"It was important to be there initially because I wanted to support the national organizers in getting numbers attending, and I really wanted to hear what their agenda was," she said. "Then when I got there, it was important to be showing up in a place outside of the liberal Bay Area, to hear and see what their priorities are and who the crowd is."

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

We asked Shidler to tell us a bit about the experience and why she wanted to attend in Las Vegas.

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

Morgan Shidler, San Francisco Bay Times contributing photographer, and her friend Conrad Moore paused in front of the “step and go” display at the UNLV stadium in Las Vegas (top left photo). On Saturday, January 20, Shidler attended and photographed the Bay Area Women’s Marches in San Francisco and Oakland. She then caught a flight to Las Vegas for the Women’s March held there on Sunday, January 21.

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO COURTESY OF MORGAN SHIDLER

Report from the Las Vegas Women’s March: Power to the Polls

"Last year I was in D.C.," she continued, "and the crowds there didn’t feel too different than the Bay Area. They were predominantly white. Las Vegas was not only diverse, but also represented a much wider range of organizations and speakers including sex workers, young people, unions, Native Americans and more. The national organizers are trying hard to build a movement that’s intersectional—something that has never been done before and is inevitably imperfect in its construction."

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

She added, "Las Vegas felt truly representative of who this movement should serve, and I felt inspired beyond belief. In times like this, it’s important to show up to stuff like this for the cause, but also for my own sanity. If I feel inspired, I can bring that energy home and get to work. If I stay home I feel defeated and hopeless, which accomplishes nothing."

4

SA N F RANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO BY MS PHOTOGRAPHY

"I’m so glad I went. I feel more motivated than ever to work for women to sweep these midterms and to find their voice along the way."

BAY TIMES S

A

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2018)

STEVE JAWORSKI/ BAY AREA WOMEN’S MARCH

Marching for the Dream, Dreamers and a Fair 2020 Census

Cross Currents Andrea Shorter This past Saturday, hundreds of thousands of true believers in equality joined Women’s Marches around the country and world. Many of us who marched continue to share our stories and smartphone photos on Facebook, including mentions of why or for whom we marched—for ourselves, for our daughters, for our grandsons, for generations to come.

The initial impetus for last year’s march in the hangover of the sobering results of the 2016 presidential election has evolved into the resistance movement. In this second wave, marking the anniversary of the first, we marched against what predictably bared out as near daily and unparalleled assault on practically every civil sensibility, policy, and proposition that has sought in the last fifty years to move us closer to realizing equality as women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ people.

Just a week before the march, and days before MLK, Jr. Day, bi-partisan talks regarding immigration reform in the Oval Office quickly imploded when the President reportedly profanely debased immi-

grants from Africa and Haiti by referring to their homelands as “s--holes,” stressing his preference for much less or none of them and for boatloads of more immigrants from places like Norway. Translation: to make America great again, we need more undeniable, certifiable white immigrants, and much less black and brown people. After all, is there a country more predominantly white than Norway? Maybe Iceland? Did he say Norway because he just met earlier that day with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg?

As all hell broke loose around the world—including from righteous, unflattered Norwegians—at yet another unbelievable, yet characteristically believable, utterance from this sitting POTUS, the idea that such vulgarity was described as having spewed from Trump’s mouth was of no surprise. Even sadder was that the isolationist leader of the free world’s long record of clearly racist sentiments (see Trump’s ventures in housing discrimination, the Central Park Five, Birtherism, Pocahontas, Mexicans as rapists and murderers) were further affirmed.

I’ve since fantasized about millions of descendants of the heroic Haitian Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, the African slaves who built the White House, and Latin, Asian, and other less-than-Nordic descendants streaming en masse in non-violent protest at the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue through the midterm elections in November. That perfect picture fantasy, of course, would be incomplete and colorless without the full palate of European, Scandinavian, Slavic, and other non-brown descendants also keep-

ing their eyes on the prize of full equality, inclusion and diversity.

I do believe that King’s dream is alive. The record numbers of women and LGBT people running for office is one testament to a turning tide. With at least 79 women considering gubernatorial runs and nearly 1,000 reaching out to EMILY’S List exploring running for local and state offices, it is reported that nearly 26,000 women have at least entertained the prospects of running for office since Trump’s election and the first Women’s March.

With last election’s historic ascent of 8 transgender people into public offices, fuller representation of the rainbow movement is gaining ground.

According to OutSmart magazine, a record number of LGBT people, 35, are intending to run for either governor, judicial seats, state legislature or Congress in the state of Texas alone this year.

For the first time in its proudly proclaimed center of all things socially progressive, the race for mayor of San Francisco doesn’t include a single white, cisgender straight male amongst the four major candidates. With a roster boasting three women, two women of color, and an openly LGBT man contesting to succeed the city’s first Chinese American mayor after his unexpected death in December, this in and of itself is a historic first for any major U.S. city’s mayoral race.

And, in the City by the Bay, the race for Mayor is always major. Whoever wins, it will be a major historic win for the city.

These glimmers of hope for potentially greater gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and racial

diversity amongst elected officials are why we march. As division and fear of the browning of America are stoked by racist authoritarian isolationist fascists in our midst, the evolution of a majority-minority society appears concurrent—not colliding—with the rise of democratic women and LGBT people working to take the political reigns of America’s better destiny. Dare we call it collusive? Well, maybe not. We still have a long way to go before we break out into a full chorus of “Kumbaya.”

One test of our ability to hang tight together will be the upcoming U.S. Census in 2020. This administration has already demonstrated efforts to basically eradicate the 2010 Census inclusive count of same sex households from the 2020 count, while seeking instead to intensify the count of non-U.S. citizens and undocumented immigrants within our borders. The Census not only determines tax apportionment by state, but it also determines the number of congressional representatives per state. Next to Hawai’i, California is the second most racially and ethnically diverse state. It also has votes for 53 of the 435 U.S. Representatives. It additionally has the largest number of undocumented immigrants, upwards of 2.4 million in 2014, according to the Pew Research Center.

The fates of Dreamers and DACA designates remain a major priority for California representatives and the state’s Hispanic communities. With 61% of Hispanic voters registered as Democrats, California Democrats face not only a moral imperative, but also a potential political crisis should efforts to protect

Dreamers and DACA fail. While conservatives speculate that the real imperative of Democrats to save the Dreamers and DACA is to increase its voter base with currently undocumented persons, the most immediate crisis resides in failing to maintain the coalition and support of the existing block of Hispanic voters, and eventually not losing one of its 53 U.S. Representative seats.

As the efforts to protect Dreamers and DACA drum on, including the concerns, vulnerabilities, fears, and hopes of these families in our march forward in the resistance remains paramount. No one wants their lives or their families to be used as a political football. As we work to build that grand coalition to elect the diversity representative of our changing society in the face of the ever-apparent racism, sexism, homophobia, and nationalism posited by this President and his true believers, hanging tight together no matter our place of origin, language, gender, gender identif ication, or sexual orientation remains the ultimate test for resistors in the long march toward a better future.

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.

Trump Is Inadvertently Revitalizing the Women’s Movement on TV or radio, I truly do get sick to my stomach.

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History Louise “Lou” Fischer November 8, 2016, was one of the worst nights in Democratic Party history: the improbable election of an unqualified, immature, unhinged, erratic, malignant narcissist for President of the United States. On a personal note, while attending what was supposed to be an Election Night celebration party, I literally got sick to my stomach.

It was so bad and I was so desperate for relief that I actually believed my Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club colleague, Olivia, who said, “Drink this ginger ale. It has real ginger in it; you’ll feel better.” I didn’t feel better that night, and for the past year, every time I read an inappropriate tweet or hear the President

The current administration is very bad for women. The President, an outspoken, misogynistic, bullying womanizer who brags about “grabbing women by the pussy,” has appointed the least diverse and most male-dominated cabinet since the era of Don Draper and the TV show Mad Men. With a Republican majority in both the House and the Senate and many State Legislatures and Governorships, it is pretty clear that reproductive rights for women are in danger of being stripped away along with every other right, freedom and liberty women have fought for since the feminist movement began over 50 years ago.

Conversely, the previous administration was good for women. Barack Obama was a hands-on feminist Dad with a brilliant policy mind.

The former f irst lady is a f iercely intelligent woman who successfully led important political and socially conscious initiatives and served the country with grace, elegance and humor. The Affordable Care Act made contraception affordable and accessible. Sometimes it was even free! Gender-rating by insurance companies was prohibited; women could not be charged more for gender-based health issues.

Being a woman was no longer considered a “pre-existing condition.”

The Supreme Court made same-

sex marriage legal in all 50 states, “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the military was repealed, important protections for female workers were enacted to combat discrimination at work, and colleges were forced to crack down on sexual assault against women on campus.

And then Trump and his merry band of he-man, woman-hating Republican sycophants came along to dismantle Obama’s feminist legacy: the Affordable Care Act, workplace protections for women, contraception access, women’s right to choose, LGBT equality, crackdowns on fighting campus rape, and so many more.

The election of Donald Trump, however, has galvanized the women’s movement more so than any other president in modern times.

The day after the inauguration, millions of women around the world held the largest mass global protest in history. In San Francisco, we suffered through freezing and unrelenting rain—even my partner Amy, whose two least favorite things are being cold and being in a downpour—said, “My feet are soaked and I’m freezing, but we need to show the world that we’re finishing this march!” The Women’s March was the seminal moment of the rebirth of the women’s movement.

This year’s March was equally energizing and well-attended.

Trump’s election inspired thousands of women to run for office.

Not only were they appalled by the behavior and political ideologies of the (mostly) male incumbents, but they also realized they are more qualified to hold public office than even the President of the United States. The biggest success story of 2017 was the 100-member Virginia State Legislature. Sixty-one women filed papers to run, 51 made it past the primaries and 18 won, including openly transgender woman Danica Roem, who in pure poetic justice unseated an 11-term incumbent who dubbed himself the state’s “chief homophobe.”

EMILY’s List president Stephanie Schriock announced that at the end of 2017, 20,000 women had stated their intention to run for public office in the U.S., an historic and massive increase from previous years.

It’s clear that women led the fight for equality in 2017 and have no intention of letting up in 2018. It’s not that women suddenly woke up on January 21, 2017, and started to care about feminist and women’s issues, but for the first time in decades, women have a shared cause and a framework of resistance organizations to make their voices heard.

While the gains have been good, remember that it’s been 94 years since the first version of the Equal Rights Amendment was drafted and it’s still not in the Constitution (hope

springs eternal). Twenty-six years after the 1992 historic electoral victories of the “Year of the Woman,” when women were elected to the House and Senate in record numbers, women still hold just one-fifth of congressional seats, one-quarter of state legislative seats and oneeighth of governorships. Twentyfour states, including California, have never had a female governor.

My home state, Connecticut, is one of only two states to have elected female governors from both major parties.

While it shocks me to think this, let alone commit it to print, Donald Trump has unknowingly reignited the women’s movement and incited the shift from the welldressed white-pantsuit nation who work “within the system of establishment politics” to a wild, “roll around in the mud” movement, but wild and muddy is what feminists need to keep the momentum going.

We need to keep getting muddy; I look terrible in white pants anyhow.

Louise (Lou) Fischer is the Immediate Past Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and has served as an appointed and elected Delegate for the State Democratic Party. She is a San Francisco Commissioner and has served in leadership positions in multiple non-profit and community based organizations.

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

JANUARY 25, 2018

5

In the News Once-A-Week HIV Treatment Pill Could Be Coming Soon

Compiled by Dennis McMillan San Francisco School Funds and Lands May Be Used to Help Homeless Students Board of Education Commissioners Matt Haney and Shamann Walton and City College Board Trustee and former San Francisco Bay Times columnist Rafael Mandelman have sponsored legislation in their respective boards that would create programs for housing, feeding, and providing enhanced services to San Francisco students and their families experiencing homelessness. The initiatives, announced this week, would use school lands, funds, staff and programs to care for over 3,000 students and their families who are currently experiencing homelessness. If enacted, the programs would be the first of their kind and would require educational institutions that do not have homeless services implicitly outlined in their mission statements to act as partners with the Department of Homelessness in addressing San Francisco’s homeless crisis. matthaney.com Queers Came Together at SF Women’s March Queers, Transfolk, Bisexuals, Leather community members, Lesbians, Gays, activists and allies gathered in front of Wicked Grounds on 8th near Folsom Street to walk together in the Women’s March in San Francisco. Hosted by Queer Nation SF, the group of demonstrators brought rainbow flags, leather flags, all manners of queer-related flags, placards, and bullhorns. They were nonviolent but not compromising. They marched to show that queers will continue to fight for LGBTQ rights, for women’s rights and for civil rights for all. The

group started gathering at 11 am and walked together to the Civic Center at 11:30. Their motto was: “Hear Our Vote—First We Marched; Now We Run.” Among the clever signs carried: “Grab ‘em by the midterms!”

“This is what democracy looks like,” and “I’m with her” with a picture of the Statue of Liberty.

Homeless Senior Drives Van into Rossi’s Deli On January 20 at approximately 3:12 pm, dispatchers at the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management received multiple 911 calls regarding a subject driving recklessly— including on the sidewalk—on the 400 block of Castro Street. SFPD officers responded and found the vehicle, a purple Dodge van, driving westbound on 18th Street toward Sanchez Street. Officers effected a stop and detained the suspect, identified as Kenneth Rotter, a 70-year-old man who lived in the car with his dog. According to SFPD, the suspect was driving under the influence of drugs and hit multiple parking meters and sidewalk trees. He backed into the front of Rossi’s Deli, and then drove forward off the sidewalk onto the roadway and down 18th Street, going through intersections without stopping and often on the wrong side of the road.

Rotter told SFPD that he was having trouble with his brakes. The Mission Station Investigation Team has been assigned to the case. Rotter’s dog was taken to San Animal Care and Control. sfgov.org

A study published in Nature Communications by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) showed promise for a capsule that can release HIV drugs to a patient for a whole week. The capsule could improve the health of people living with HIV and prevent transmission because patients often forget to take medication daily. The development is based on a design used for malaria medication. MIT researchers developed a capsule that could release the malaria drug ivermectin for two weeks. That capsule was made up of a star-shaped polymer with six arms that were loaded with medication and then folded in. The whole thing was encased in a smooth coating. When swallowed, the arms open and attach to the stomach. Each arm slowly releases medication, and the pill disintegrates and passes through the digestive tract when finished. The capsule has been tested in pigs, and it successfully lodged itself in the pigs’ stomachs and appropriately released medication throughout the week. The researchers also believe that the capsule could be used for PrEP, the practice of taking HIV medication to prevent infection. lgbtqnation.com Danica Roem Sworn In Danica Roem was publicly sworn in to the Virginia House of Delegates on Saturday, January 20. In her brief time in office, she has drafted legislation to cap fees for FOIA requests, provided additional mental health resources to public schools, and is already working on bipartisan transportation and utility bills. As Roem put it, “I’m not putting in bills to make statements. I’m putting in bills to turn into laws.” The contrast be-

tween her leadership and Trump’s vision of “American Carnage” from one year ago could not be more glaring. In the past 365 days, the Trump Administration has tried to ban trans people from the military, summarily fired the council on HIV/AIDS, moved to protect healthcare providers that turn away LGBTQ patients, and much more. LGBTQ Victory Fund spokesperson Sean stated, “At this rate, the gentlewoman from Manassas is well on her way to making lasting change for all Virginians.

Meanwhile, anti-equality politicians are sending every signal that they view us and other communities as disposable.” victoryfund.org Mark Leno Joins Environmental Groups Urging SF to Divest from Fossil Fuels Openly gay, former California State Senator and mayoral candidate Mark Leno joined 350.org, Fossil Free SF, San Francisco Defund DAPL Coalition, SEIU 1021, SF Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, Center for Biological Diversity and other organizations calling on the San Francisco Employee Retirement System to divest from fossil fuels. “Let us be clear: climate change is not an ‘issue’ that you can choose to support or deny—it is the ​harsh ​reality that our entire planet is facing,” Leno said. “Fossil fuels are the driving force behind climate change, and San Francisco should no longer invest in companies that are part of the problem.” He pointed out that by divesting pension funds from fossil fuels, the City can take a crucial step towards a clean, green future while still ensuring a secure retirement for our teachers, police of f icers, firefighters, and city workers. “​Today,

San Francisco can be a global leader by moving our $20 billion in pension assets from dirty fossil fuels to clean investments that will protect future generations. I am proud to stand with 350.org ​a nd other environmental groups to send a strong message to the corporations profiting off of our planet—the end of the fossil fuel era is here.” Leno urged the San Francisco Retirement Board to follow in the steps of New York City’s recent move to divest from fossil fuels. markleno.com Harvey Milk Plaza Design Meetings Scheduled Castro Merchants has been working with Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza (FHMP) to re-imagine and create a major destination in the Castro. “We hope that you share FHMP’s mission, to see that Harvey is properly honored at the Plaza which bears his name and which includes the Castro Muni Metro Station at Castro-Market Streets,” said Castro Merchants President Daniel Bergerac. FHMP is beginning the next phase of its design process with four Community Meetings, beginning this week. They will enable the public and key stakeholders from the community to talk directly with FHMP and representatives from Perkins Eastman-San Francisco, the firm that won the competition to re-imagine Harvey Milk Plaza late last year. The meetings provide an opportunity to speak directly with FHMP leaders and the design team, allowing community feedback that will propel the design process forward. The meetings will be held at Most Holy Redeemer Parish Hall, 100 Diamond Street, in the Castro, Saturdays 3–4:30 pm: Janu-

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

(continued on page 19)

JANUARY 25, 2018

9

Bay Area American Indian

TWO-SPIRIT POWWOW Saturday, February 3

Powwow to Celebrate Native American Two-Spirit Culture

“Two-Spirit” is a Native American term for people with both female and male energies. Two-Spirits may (or may not) also identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. Two-Spirits often held—and many still hold— honored positions in their traditional Native American and First Nations communities. “Two-Spirit” is a pantribal term—it is rooted in the Anishinaabe term describing such individuals: “niizh manidoowag.” This translates literally as “two spirits.”

BAAITS Board Member Ruth Villasenor says, “For our people, a powwow is a social gathering that brings people from many of the 500-plus Native American nations together.” She adds, “The reintegration of Two-Spirit people into the broader Native community is part of our mission, so this is an important step.”

Powwow Coordinator Derek Smith adds, “This powwow provides a lot for a lot of people. For some non-Natives, it is an introduction to our people. For some Native community members, it’s a reminder of the role of Two-Spirits in our community. It’s an amazing opportunity for healing.”

At this powwow, all Two-Spirits and LGBTQ people and their allies from all over the U.S. and Canada get a chance to come together to celebrate Native culture, build community, and express themselves.

John M. Sneezy is of San Carlos Apache and Spanish descent. On his mother’s side, he is from the Istaan’Iye’, which is a water clan and identifies the people that come from the underground waters (Artesian). On his father’s side, he is of the rock clan Dzil tse’skitnn, which is Mountain of Rocks Clan. John has been dancing since he was 8 years old as a grass dancer. Since 1993, John has traveled extensively teaching and performing about the Apache Culture and the powwow community. John is a singer and songwriter of traditional and contemporary Apache and hand drum songs. He is also well known for hoop dancing.

He has performed, and shared the bill, with The Sneezy Boyz (his family’s band), Apache Spirit, Ulali, Pura Fe and Yellowbird Dance Group, just to name a few. John has been working as a Certfied Nurse’s Assistant for the past 22 years. John also does presentations on caregiving for families with members who have been diagnosed with cancer. John’s goal is to return back to school to complete his education to become a Registered Nurse.

The head youth dancer will be Jarron William Richard Goggles-Lahr, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Browning, Montana, and the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Ethete, Wyoming. His Indian name is Little Singer, given to him by his Grandpa Professor Marvin Weatherwax. Jarron was born on the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, MT, and lived there until 2016. He is 12 years old and is a 6th grader at Mother Load Adventist Jr. Academy in Sonora, CA. Host drums at the powwow will include Southern Pride Family Drum from Oklahoma. This drum group has been with the BAAITS powwow since the very beginning. The group will be traveling to the Bay Area from Jay, Oklahoma. Its members are Two-Spirit singers and drummers and their families.

For more information: http://www.baaits.org/

PHOTO COURTESY OF BAY AREA AMERICAN INDIAN TWO SPIRIT

PHOTO COURTESY OF BAY AREA AMERICAN INDIAN TWO SPIRIT

The powwow features several head dancers who will honor the event as leaders: Candi Brings Plenty (Pronouns: She/Hers & They/Them) is a Queer Indigenous, Two Spirit, cis Oglala Lakota Sioux and a descendent of Crazy Horse’s Band. She is the founder of the Two Spirit Nation and led the Two Spirit encampment at Standing Rock for eleven months during the peaceful prayer movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline. As a Lakota cultural practitioner and through her spiritual activism, she works to bring her medicine to the Oyaté and advocates espe-

cially for the empowerment and visibility of Two Spirit warriors to reclaim their walk of life in the sacred circle.

10

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

PHOTO COURTESY OF BAY AREA AMERICAN INDIAN TWO SPIRIT

PHOTO BY RINK

A powwow is a traditional Native American event that gathers all tribes and invites non-Native guests to learn more about Native American cultures. Last year, the event welcomed more than 4,000 people and an even larger crowd is expected this year. Vendors will be on site selling frybread, buffalo burgers, Native art and jewelry, and other wares. This powwow features contest dances; all powwow dancers and drums are welcome.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BAY AREA AMERICAN INDIAN TWO SPIRIT

On Saturday, February 3, the Seventh Annual Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirit (BAAITS) Two-Spirit Powwow will be held at Fort Mason in San Francisco from 10 am to 6 pm with featured dancers making their Grand Entry at Noon. This event is free and open to the public.

It was the first Two-Spirit powwow in the world open to the public, and remains the largest.

BAY TIMES

PHOTO COURTESY OF BAY AREA AMERICAN INDIAN TWO SPIRIT

S

A

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2018)

BAAITS and Two-Spirit Powwow Continue to Grow

by Promoting Community Healing, Togetherness

By Derek Smith BAAITS is entering its 20th year as an organization. Our core mission remains the same: to retain and restore the traditional and modern roles that Two-Spirit and gender variant people have held in our tribal communities for generations. As such, our powwow has truly become medicine to help heal our community.

PHOTO BY RINK

We started the powwow seven years ago as a sort of dream project. We all knew friends and family who grew up attending traditional Native American gatherings and inter-tribal powwows. They perhaps never quite had a place in them due to their sexual orientation or gender expression. As with all great developments, we realized that there had never been a Two-Spirit organized powwow, so if we would like to see one, we would have to organize it ourselves.

In 2011, we started planning our first TwoSpirit powwow, reaching out to many straight allies in the Native American community. These hero allies provided crucial logistical help and support in making our dream a reality. We were unsure how our event would land—would our straight Native American brothers and sisters attend? Would we be successful in making an event that honors all our people and spotlights Native American culture in a positive way?

PHOTO BY RINK

At the time, we had an office in the old LGBT Center, and our first powwow was to take place in February 2012 in the Rainbow Room at the Center. After months of planning, the day of the event arrived and we were overwhelmed by the attendance. At our very first powwow, we outgrew the space before the event got going, with over 500 attendees the f irst year. While we were quite cautious about how this newly formed event might proceed, we also were bold enough—we are queer after all—to name the event our “First Annual BAAITS Two-Spirit Powwow.” That confidence proved to be prescient. We have grown year after year and expect the 7th annual powwow on Saturday, February 3, to be our biggest and best yet.

breaks down barriers. It gives space for people to see themselves in a new light and to honor all of the beauty of themselves and their people. There are countless stories of questioning youth who find a voice and see TwoSpirit/queer adults living their whole selves at our event. We see laughter and hugs year after year, and we know what we are doing is healing community.

Regarding the current political state of affairs, I would say that we as Native people are born to continue our traditions. No matter how hard things become, we keep working toward serving our people and making sure there is a space for our community. For Native Americans, survival is an act of resistance. The last year has revealed so many challenges, and exactly one year ago, we had so many members representing and resisting at Standing Rock, where Native American people drew a line in the sand and fearlessly stood up for what is right, for the rights of future generations. We are really honored this year to welcome Candi Brings Plenty as a head dancer. She was integral in organizing a Two-Spirit camp right at Standing Rock last year.

In recent years, our powwow has featured fundraisers for students who represent the first in their family to attend college. We have also had political dances that honor and draw attention to the countless missing and murdered indigenous women and trans women. Our community continues to struggle with violence and victimization. It is the strength of our traditions that keep us going, making a place for all of our community, no matter how they dress or identify. It is crucial not to lose another Native American person needlessly.

We are honored to present the 7th Annual BAAITS Two-Spirit Powwow, and welcome all to attend, respectfully observe, and learn by engaging with our people, and sitting with our traditions on Saturday, February 3. We are still in need of much help in addition to attendees, so if anyone would like to support BAAITS, they can make a financial contribution (https://baaits.abilafundraisingonline.com/7thannualpowwow) or sign up to volunteer with us (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/ e/1FAIpQLSfKmpT__d6drRPjbjPpw760E1eEYHCSgGMKQZ-yeexdfQU0wQ/viewform).

Over the next year, BAAITS hopes to celebrate the anniversary of our organization, perhaps partnering with the LGBT Historical Society and other partners in the queer and Native American communities to spotlight 20 years as a vibrant cultural organization and piece of the fabric of the Bay Area. We invite folks to stay tuned for further exciting news as we embrace our history as an organization, and continue to envision our growth and next steps.

Derek Smith is the Coordinator of the BAAITS Two-Spirit Powwow.

After year one, we needed to find a larger space and moved across the Bay to a church in Oakland. That year we were packed to the rafters, so for our third powwow we returned to San Francisco and held the event at SOMArts. Again, we outgrew the space as word caught on that our powwow was both a place for Two-Spirits, as well as respectful to non-Native people who desired to learn about our traditions.

What struck us most is how many Native American allies kept joining us and making our event a real success. For our fourth year, we went south to the Cow Palace, renting a huge hall where our attendance continued to grow. In our fifth through current seventh year, we have been at Fort Mason Center, presently at the beautiful Festival Pavilion.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BAY AREA AMERICAN INDIAN TWO SPIRIT

There is so much to be proud of as last year we welcomed more than 4,000 people to our event, including over 60 vendors who sold their traditional arts and crafts. We hope Fort Mason will be our forever home, as it is about the largest venue space in San Francisco. It’s also quite interesting to hold the event at a former military base, given the large number of Native American service members and veterans, whom we honor, as is our way at powwows. This is not to mention the beautiful view of Alcatraz right out the window from our dance arena at the event—a reminder of our ancestors who bravely stood for Indian rights here in the Bay Area just a generation ago.

Powwows are such important events for Indian people. They allow us to reconnect, dance, drum, share our culture and our art. And in our case, we have seen countless stories of people who wear traditional regalia for the first time ever. Our first year, a very tall, straight Native man entered one of our dance contests, with his two toddlers by his side, wearing a shawl that traditionally a woman would dance in. He danced beautifully, not mocking, and not being disrespectful in any way.

He won the dance contest, and after he was asked about how it felt to dance in regalia traditionally not associated with men. He stated that he danced trying to honor his mother and grandmother. He danced for his people and with the hope that he could do as good a job raising his own children as the women in his life did raising him. Our event S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

JANUARY 25, 2018

11

New Leadership Elected for Influential SF Political Organizations

Tom Temprano Congratulations, dear readers, we made it through 2017! There were times when, I’m sure, you felt certain that a Twitter-induced nuclear war was right around the corner. But we beat the odds and arrived at 2018 largely intact.

This year we Democrats have our work cut out for us at the federal level as we do everything we can to restore checks and balances in our government and win back the house.

The good news is that Republicans are running scared or not running at all. Prominent California House Republicans like Darrell Issa and Ed Royce have decided to ride off into the sunset rather than face the difficult road to reelection. Make no mistake—California is the place where we stand the best chance to pick up many of the seats needed to win back the house, so plan to pack a bag and spend some weekends in the swing district nearest you.

Locally, 2018 will be one of the most important election years in decades, with the majority of our Board of F ROfficeA A Nand the Mayor’s SSupervisors up for grabs. Despite being less than

a month old, the race to replace the late Mayor Ed Lee is in full swing.

Just this week I saw no less than five mayoral candidates—former State Senator Mark Leno, Super v isor Jane Kim, Supervisor and former Acting Mayor London Breed, former Supervisor Angela Alioto and community organizer Amy Farah Weiss—politicking before most of us even had our coffee at early morning events held by the San Francisco Labor Council and the San Francisco Democratic Party.

With all of this important electoral work ahead, our city’s most influential political organizations elected new leadership during the past couple of weeks.

The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, of which former San Francisco Bay Times columnist Rafael Mandelman and I are past-presidents, voted in a new board helmed by Carolina Morales and Honey Mahogany.

Carolina served as co-president last year along with Kimberly Alvarenga, and brings back strong personal and professional experience as an immigrant and legislative aide to Supervisor Hillary Ronen. Honey, a drag performer who competed in Ru Paul’s Drag Race and who co-owns the Stud bar in SoMA, is next in a long tradition of queer nightlife activists to lead the club and is also the District Manager of the Compton’s Transgender Cultural District.

San Francisco’s other queer Democratic Club, the Alice B. Toklas Club, also elected new leaders in January with Gina Simi, a San Francisco C O S Francisco I San planner, succeeding Bay N C Times columnist Lou Fischer as the

organization’s female Co-chair. She’ll join last year’s Co-chair Eric Lukoff to form a great young leadership team for the club.

I’m especially proud of the newly elected Co-president of the San Francisco Young Democrats, Erin Mundy.

Back in 2015, I was a first-time candidate and Erin was my first-time campaign manager. Since then, she’s gone on to lead Hillary Ronen’s successful supervisor campaign and is now the campaign manager for Mark Leno’s mayoral bid. At 25, she’s done more in her political career than lots of people twice her age and is one of many young queer women of color across the country stepping up and leading the resistance. Her Co-president, Courtney McDonald, is another impressive and accomplished organizer who will also be busy as the campaign manager for Matt Haney’s District 6 supervisor campaign.

The endorsements and organizing of these political clubs will be critical to winning over voters, and with less than five months until the June election, these folks will need to hit the ground running. I know that all of them are up to the task and are ready to get down to the business of shaping the future of our city and country.

Tom Temprano was elected to the City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees in 2016, making him the city’s youngest elected official.

He also owns Virgil’s Sea Room, a small business in the Mission District, and is a member of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center Board of Directors. Follow him on social media at twitter.com/

IMES AYPhotoTThrowback BRink 1978 LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Are) a CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2018

A

fter winning in his third bid for election to public office, Harvey Milk was inaugurated as a San Francisco CityCounty Supervisor on January 9, 1978.

He became San Francisco’s first openly gay city official and one of the first openly gay individuals to be elected to office in the U.S. As reported by legendary photographer Rink, our featured photo here depicts Harvey Milk with his lover Jack Lira (left) and San Francisco Bay Times founding editor Randy Alfred (right) as they walked in a parade from Castro Street to City Hall for the inauguration ceremony.

As Heard on the Street . . . What issues should the San Francisco mayoral candidates focus on the most during the campaigns?

12

compiled by Rink

Sylvia Blalock

Mimi Ossa

Dana Hopkins

Larry Roberts

Emma Peel

“Homesteading for San Francisco natives, homeless placement and senior abuse.”

“Rent control in the city, not just for residents, but for small businesses as well.”

“They should focus on our homeless folks. Not how to remove them, but how to get them housed with services and safety.”

“Housing security, including affordability and eviction representation.”

“Affordable housing, homelessness and improving public transit.”

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

Does the New Tax Law Help or Hurt You? Taxation—won’t bother itemizing their taxes (but they still won’t be able to file on a postcard). See below for why you’re getting this “gift.”

Money Matters Brandon Miller The President called the new tax law a “big, beautiful Christmas present” for Americans. Now that we’ve had a little time to unwrap the impact of the new tax code, let’s see if you got a shiny diamond—or a lump of coal.

Here are some of the major changes: Lower income ta x brackets.

There are still seven brackets, all of which are going down except for the very lowest earners. Sounds great, except other changes may offset what you save here. And in 2026, the rates go back to 2017 levels, unless Congress extends them.

A higher standard deduction.

The deduction rises to $12,000 for single filers and $24,000 for joint filers.

With this increase, most filers—94% according to the Joint Committee on

Elimination of most itemized deductions. Yep, you’ll need a higher standard deduction, because there are fewer items that you can use to lower your taxes. That $4,150 personal exemption you used to be able subtract for each person claimed?

Gone! Moving expenses for a job relocation? No more, unless you’re in the military. Deductions for alimony payments? Not if you get divorced this year or any year thereafter. Writing off the interest paid on your home equity debt? Kiss that goodbye. What all this means is that for many income brackets, the higher standard deduction won’t offset these lost deductions.

Caps on deductions of state and local taxes—including property taxes. If itemizing still works in your favor, you can now only deduct up to $10,000, not the unlimited amount that used to be eligible.

Lower mortgage interest deductions. Homeowners who bought prior to 2018 aren’t affected, but new owners can only deduct the f irst $750,000 of mortgage debt—not the $1 million that used to be eligible.

This change is particularly painful for us in the San Francisco Bay Area, given that the median home price was $787,000 in December 2017.

Higher A MT threshold. Fewer people will have to deal with the dreaded alternative minimum tax now that the exemption has been raised to $70,300 for singles and $109,400 for joint filers.

Doubled estate tax exemptions.

Fewer large estates will be subject to the estate tax now that the threshold is twice the former amount of $5.49 million for individuals and $10.98 million for married couples.

Expanded credits for dependents. The child tax credit doubles to $2,000 per child, 17 and under. It’s now available to single parents earning up to $200,000 and married couples making up to $400,000. And there’s a new $500 credit for taxpayers claiming non-child dependents, such as an elderly parent or adult child with a disability.

As you can see, the new law is a mixed bag. Some things work in your favor, others against you.

If you’re confused about whether to itemize or not, given all of these changes, it may make sense to go see a tax professional. But don’t try to deduct their fees from your taxes. That break has been eliminated as well.

Brandon Miller, CFP® is a financial consultant at Brio Financial Group in San Francisco, specializing in helping LGBT individuals and families plan and achieve their financial goals.

Two Approaches to Sporty Coupes

Auto

Toyota C-HR

Philip Ruth If this were the disco 70s, you’d probably seek out a coupe if you wanted to make an automotive statement. Think Chevrolet Monte Carlo or Mercury Cougar XR-7, and your mind fills with neon-lit city nights and Farrah Fawcett draped on the hood.

The cheaper Malibus and Montegos don’t evoke those images.

SUVs have overtaken coupes as status symbols, and now, with the 2018 Toyota C-HR (Coupe High-Rider), we’re seeing a melding of the two styles.

Acura’s attempt at a rakish crossover, the dramatic ZDX, fell flat. But Toyota thinks the C-HR’s design has the formula to succeed.

And what a design it is. The good news is that all of the C-HR’s various swoops and bulges live in relative harmony with one another, and they make a strong visual impact, judging from the many looks and comments this C-HR got. Additionally, my tester’s “Radiant Green Mica” finish had an emerald-like sparkle in the sun, and it shifted to blue when the fog rolled in.

The C-HR’s bulky contours compromise rear visibility, though. Neither crossovers nor coupes are known for their clear view over the shoulder, and the C-HR presents an extreme example, with upswept hind quarters and a slit-like rear window. Behind you, the interior is a black plastic cavern that has little relation to the outside world.

14

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

Hyundai Veloster

The backup camera tries to help, with its seemingly over-sharpened image in the rear-view mirror, but without a dip-down passenger mirror, it’s a guessing game to parallel park the C-HR without curb-gashing the “vortex-styled” 18-inch wheels. I typically landed a mile away from the curb on the first attempt, and then cautiously nudged the C-HR closer.

Of course, one has to accept compromises to be chic, but the C-HR indicates just how cumbersome a vehicle with a compact, 171.2-inch overall length can be. The outgoing Hyundai Veloster—time’s up for this model after its extended 2017 model year—is very easy to place, like a sporty coupe should be.

The Veloster has its own distinctive lines and curves, and they’re familiar enough to seem dated. But its package is more space-efficient than the C-HR’s. The Veloster is about five inches shorter, but has more passenger room, and it nearly matches the C-HR’s cargo capacity, even

without its competitor’s crossover pretentions. This indicates the extra bodywork the C-HR has versus the usable space within. The Veloster is the clear winner over the road.

The C-HR feels stable and comfortable, but its four-cylinder is shrill, and the CVT automatic transmission over-revs the engine on San Francisco’s hills, such that you instinctively back off the throttle to stop the noise.

By contrast, the Veloster, either in standard or Turbo form, encourages you to probe the car’s limits, and you feel more involved.

It’s probably a sign of the times that the Veloster exits the market as the C-HR enters, as driving fun becomes secondary to isolation, down to the C-HR’s “MeZONE” driver’s area.

At least buyers have a clear choice, for now.

Philip Ruth is a Castro-based automotive photojournalist and consultant (www.gaycarguy.com). Check out his automotive staging service at www.carstaging.com

San Francisco Board of Supervisors Appoints Mark Farrell Interim Mayor

PHOTO BY RINK

On Tuesday night, January 23, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted in favor of appointing Mark Farrell interim mayor. He is the third mayor of San Francisco in six weeks, as Farrell’s appointment unseats London Breed as Acting Mayor following Mayor Edwin Lee’s passing on December 12, 2017. Prior to the appointment, Farrell was a Supervisor for Mark Farrell nearly two terms representing District 2. He is now charged with appointing a replacement—for himself in the Supervisor role. In earlier years, he practiced law as a corporate and securities attorney in Silicon Valley and also worked as an investment banker before co-founding the venture capital firm Quest Hospitality Ventures.

The Board of Supervisors meeting was at times emotional and confusing. The vote to appoint Farrell actually occurred twice, as Supervisor Katy Tang withdrew her initial vote of support for Farrell. When the voting finished, supporters of Breed shouted, “Racist!” “Shame on you!” and more in front of a line of police separating them from the supervisors. Reporter Alyana Gomez of KTVU posted a short clip on Twitter capturing just some of the statements (https://twitter.com/AlyanaGomezKTVU). Many Breed supporters had already left by that time, however, given the very long meeting.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen gave a tearful speech ahead of her vote for Farrell. She accused “rich white men” of steering the “policies that have created the mess we are in today... .” She said they “are the same people who are firmly behind the candidacy of London Breed. They have been

bullying anyone they can to force people to support President Breed, including threatening people’s careers if they don’t support her. This concerns me a lot.” You can read her entire speech online (https://www.facebook.com/hillary.ronen/posts/10156581176387565).

Breed spoke after the meeting. She said, in part, “It’s not about a progressive or a moderate. All of the people who live in this city are San Franciscans and deserve the right to be treated with respect and deserve to have a mayor who represents them. If you don’t belong to one of the cliques that they (supervisors) are talking about, then I’ll be your mayor too.” Video of her speaking was captured

by Joe Fitz Rodriquez and posted to Twitter (https://twitter.com/FitzTheReporter/status/956010152456437760).

Supervisor Aaron Peskin had called for the hearing and vote, saying that he was concerned that Breed’s position as both Acting Mayor and President of the Board of Supervisors was a “mixing of the two branches of government.”

The city’s Charter, however, led to that situation following Mayor Lee’s death.

On June 5, a special election will be held for mayor of the City and County of San Francisco. The winner of the election will serve until 2020, filling Lee’s unexpired term.

The following eight candidates qualified for the ballot by filing all nomination documents and paying the filing fee.

They include Breed, as well as former supervisor Angela Alioto; massage therapist Michelle Bravo; business consultant Richie Greenberg; Supervisor Jane Kim; former supervisor, former state assemblyman and former state senator Mark Leno, homelessness activist Amy Farah Weiss and volunteer social worker Ellen Lee Zhou.

A Mission Statement, a Purpose, or Intention: Just Be Sure to Have One choosing, found myself at a crossroad of my career. In some self-imposed way, I decided that I was too old for the youth director position I held for over a decade, and at the same time, was wildly unsure of what, professionally, I was qualified to do, or what type of work would again bring me such rewarding satisfaction.

Moving People Forward Brett Andrews And so, a New Year begins—one f illed with hope, promise, and opportunity. While we hold fast to the optimism that surrounds it, we are also aware that it can, and most likely will, be peppered with difficulty, challenge, and controversy. This is where a mission statement will come in handy.

I came to understand the full benefit of having what I like to refer to as a mission, twice in my life. The first time was around the death of my dear mother. I found myself rudderless, and without wind to feed my sail. I did not realize that I spent the better part of my life, living for her.

Now, without her, the questions became: Whom should I try to please and where do I go for validation?

The second time emerged when I was living in Los Angeles and, at my own

It took a UCLA situation comedy writing class exercise to finally put to words what had long lived inside me—guiding me throughout my life.

On the first day, the professor asked the class if we had a mission statement, and if we did not, we needed to write one. This was not a suggestion; it was an assignment to be recited in the next class convening.

Understanding where I was in my life, always wanting to please, and in desperate need of validation, I took this assignment quite seriously. After days of toiling over words, their meaning, and my truest intentions, a mission finally emerged. It was not at all what I expected. It became very clear, pretty quickly, that though I love humor, I did not want to be a situation comedy writer. I also revealed to myself that no matter what I did for work, it would have to be in support of helping others. I am gratified to say that since that time of reflection and introspection, I have spent the past 15 years doing precisely that.

There will always be forces that pull and push you; temptations that under dim and bright light ref lect as

pure gold. In these fast-moving, everchanging times, it is most important to have a true north to help guide you down life’s path. With that, I share my mission statement I fashioned over twenty-one years ago and encourage everyone to write one for themselves.

My mission is to celebrate life, to have no regrets, to challenge myself on all fronts, to confront my fears, and delight in my accomplishments.

In short, I want to understand myself that I might better understand and accept others. As a hopeful and hopeless romantic, I will always succumb to the love I have for mankind. I am both wise and foolish enough to trust that man will continue to make mistakes, yet, in the face of adversity, step forth and rise to new heights of human kindness and love. In my seemingly endless quest to love more, I see myself as an ever-evolving paradigm who seeks to set the standard and then challenges to break it.

Brett Andrews is the Chief Executive Director of PRC (http://positiveresource.org/Default.aspx), which is the only place for people living with HIV/AIDS or mental health disabilities to get comprehensive benefits counseling and employment services in San Francisco. Andrews is a member of the San Francisco HIV/ AIDS Provider Network, the San Francisco Human Services Network and the Mayor’s CBO Taskforce. He additionally serves on the Board of the National Working Positive Coalition.

An Update on Noe Valley’s ActionSF Neighborhood Group

PHOTO BY CARY FRIEDMAN

ActionSF is an informal neighborhood group formed after the Women’s March in 2017 as a response to the 2016 election. We have held meetings over the past year to discuss ways to become more active as participants in our democratic process.

ActionSF members represented Noe Valley at the Women’s March in San Francisco on Saturday, January 20.

On a monthly basis, we have concentrated on several different “actions” that reach out to our state representatives to urge them to respond to our concerns. We have covered issues from bump-stock gun regulation, President Trump’s tax returns, the 2017 Republican Tax Cut, thanking Senator Feinstein for releasing the testimony from Fusion GPS and many, many more.

We meet twice a month at the Noe Valley Library with an open agenda and discuss the issues that are most pressing to the group. In

By Haney Armstrong

February, we will continue to discuss DACA, the CHIP program, the government shutdown, the Mueller probe, supporting SwingLeft and StandUp SF, and any other issues that the group finds pressing.

We are also following the lead of several cities in the East Bay by distributing a poster that reads “Noe Valley Stands United Against Hate” to as many local businesses and residents as possible. We are funding the poster drive with a GoFundMe campaign (www. gofundme.com/san-francisco-united-against-hate).

Meetings are open to all, and all are welcome. Next meeting: Sunday, February 11, 3 pm @ Noe Valley Library, 451 Jersey. For more information, contact Haney Armstrong: haneyarmstrong@gmail.com S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

JANUARY 25, 2018

15

Overcoming Toxic Shame - Part 1: What Is It? Roland Schembari and Bill Hartman, Co-Founders Randy Alfred, Founding News Editor 1978 Kim Corsaro Publisher 1981-2011

2261 Market Street, No. 309 San Francisco CA 94114 Phone: 415-601-2113 525 Bellevue Avenue Oakland CA 94610 E-mail: editor@sfbaytimes.com www.sfbaytimes.com

Examined Life Tom Moon, MFT

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 newspaper for the LGBT community in San Francisco that is 100% owned and operated by LGBT individuals.

Dr. Betty L. Sullivan Jennifer L. Viegas Co-Publishers & Co-Editors

Beth Greene Michael Delgado Abby Zimberg Design & Production

Kate Laws Business Manager Blake Dillon Calendar Editor

Kit Kennedy Poet-In-Residence J.H. Herren

Technology Director

Part of being human is that we all experience guilt (the judgment that I’ve done something wrong) and shame (the judgment that I am wrong) at various times in our lives. These experiences may be painful, but they are also inevitable and normal consequences of the fact that we are social animals., hardwired to connect, to attach, and to belong.

We instinctively reach out to others for safety and protection. We strive to be seen, understood and accepted.

The responses we get when we reach out both condition our sense of selfhood and our internal working mod-

els of what we can expect relationships to be. If the responses we get are positive, then we feel secure, loved, and lovable; but if we are met with responses that push us away, give us the sense that we are unlovable or are consistently doing something wrong, then our brain function and brain structure develop such that they continue to support our anticipation that relationships will hurt us in this way.

change, even in people who have long ago come to terms with their sexual orientation.

I n t he 196 0 s, psycholog ist Si lvan Tomkins coined the term “toxic shame” to refer to a deep and debilitating pathology that results from traumatic experiences of being repeatedly humiliated, rejected, despised, and treated as worthless.

When people are subjected to this kind of treatment, especially in childhood, they are in danger of internalizing and identifying with the experience of shame.

Cognitively, it builds a “negative recursive loop” in the neural circuitry, which means that victims of toxic shame begin to perceive everything through a shame filter, finding themselves locked into the eternally present past of the original shaming events.

The person continually relives these memories and re-experiences the shame in undiminished strength. Life is experienced in a kind of “trance of unworthiness.”

The result is what some psychologists refer to as a sense of “basic badness”—a deep and pervasive experience of oneself as defective and unlovable. By the way, even after all the progress we’ve made, I see this condition all-too-often in LGBTQ patients. It is one of the by-products of growing up in a homophobic environment. It can be highly resistant to

Interpersonally, toxic shame has paradoxical results. On the one hand, because of the tremendous abuse those with toxic shame have suffered, most live with chronic suspicion and mistrust of other people. But ironically, at the same time, they often trust too much, in the sense that they are prone to get into relationships in which they allow themselves to be continue to be

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, Randy Coleman, Debra Walker, Howard Steiermann, Andrea Shorter, Tom Temprano, Lou Fischer, Karin Jaffie

© Randy Coleman, 2018

SF Sketch Randy Coleman

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. © 2018 Bay Times Media Company Co-owned by Betty L. Sullivan & Jennifer L. Viegas

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

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

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.”

Photographers Rink, Phyllis Costa, Jane Higgins Paul Margolis, Chloe Jackman, Bill Wilson, Jo-Lynn Otto, Sandy Morris, Abby Zimberg, Morgan Shidler

16

Just as toxic shame begins in relationships with others, it must also heal in relationships in which it is safe to tell our secrets, and in which we are not punished for being who we are. But there is also an internal dimension to the recovery process. The opposite of toxic shame is self-compassion, and it is vitally important to learn the habit of responding to our own inner experience with compassion. How we do that will be my theme next time: Tools for Healing Toxic Shame.

On Tuesday, January 23, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to honor the indigenous people living in California by changing the name of the holiday previously known as Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. More than seventy other cities and locations preceded San Francisco in making the change, with Berkeley, back in 1992, leading the way as the first municipality to do so. Lewiston, New York, and Lawton, Oklahoma, celebrate both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day. San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen has asked the City Attorney to draft legislation that would establish a separate Italian American Heritage Day. If passed, San Francisco could then respectively honor both the city’s rich and long-standing Native American history as well as its Italian heritage.

Mario Ordonez Juan Ordonez

Custom ad sizes are available. Please inquire! The Bay Times reserves the right to reject any advertising at the discretion of the publishers.

In addition, toxic shame also often leads to the worst excesses of perfectionism because people often try to escape their shame by making impossible demands on themselves. Finally, people who suffer from toxic shame are often susceptible to addictions, because of their need to find ways out of their chronic emotional pain.

San Francisco’s Indigenous Peoples Day

Carla Ramos Web Coordinator

ADVERTISING Display Advertising Standard Rate Cards are available online at sfbaytimes.com and by calling: 415-503-1375

Unlike normal shame, toxic shame isn’t an experience that comes and goes. It imbeds itself in mind and body and becomes a f ixed part of our sense of who we are. Physically, it causes a visible collapse: the chest caves inward, the head goes down, and the eyes look away.

abused and shamed because they fundamentally don’t believe they deserve any better.

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

GLBT Fortnight in Review

By Ann Rostow Is There Hope for the Roberts Court?

Buzzfeed’s legal whiz, Chris Geidner, has an interesting article about John Roberts, speculating that the Chief might be evolving our way ever so slightly. It’s a slim reed, but it’s something to hang on to. It has some tensile strength.

Obviously, we all remember how Roberts twisted himself in a bit of a knot in order to uphold the individual mandate in Obamacare. It’s not hard to view the current Court, not as 5–4 conservative or even 4–4-Kennedy, but as a split between 3 tea party types, two old school Republicans (Roberts and Kennedy) and four liberal/moderates. And like the never Trumpers on the right, the old school types have a Burkean regard for continuity and institutions.

(We once found that attitude stolid and unhelpful. In the age of Trump, we’re all for it.)

Second, as Geidner reminds us, you’ll also remember that we arguably won the fight for marriage, not in June of 2016, but months earlier when the Supreme Court decided to let appellate court rulings in favor of equality go forward in the fall of 2014. It takes four justices to accept review. Back in late 2014, we had just won marriage rulings from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th, 7th and 10th Circuits, while another victory was at hand in the vast 9th Circuit. By allowing those marriage rulings to take effect, the High Court effectively legalized marriage in three fourths of the United States.

If John Roberts had opposed marriage with all his heart, he could have talked his three conservative buddies into reviewing all those marriage cases. Yes, they might lose, and probably would lose. But by allowing marriage to take effect in 35 states, they would lose for certain and they would lose immediately. Yet, instead of rolling the dice and stalling, Roberts went along with a strategy that allowed the Court to make marriage equality a fait accompli well before the nine justices would be obliged to cast their votes.

Was that the behavior of a hardened reactionary? Or was that the decision of a man who saw the writing on the wall and chose to protect the Court by taking incremental steps? A man who once (absurdly) saw himself as an umpire calling balls and strikes, and who has now seen what happens when those calls are missed.

The unintended consequences of decisions by the Roberts Court have led to a decline in minority voting through voter ID laws, the loss of abortion clinics and perhaps a rise in maternity deaths, plus the new flow of tens of millions in unidentified cash into our elections. After a dozen years, is he starting to think twice, or maybe three times before he pulls the trigger on some classically conservative legal thinking? If so, what will he do about the Colorado law that outlaws GLBT discrimination in public accommodations? Will he rule that religious business owners have every right to ignore it, just because? Maybe, maybe not.

I have a tendency to imagine a well of intelligence and fairness hidden deep inside Chief Justice Roberts, but I’m not sure why, and I’m frequently disappointed when my fantasy Chief fails to make himself heard.

Pet Friendly Skies As usual, my GLBT news research has led me down some unrelated side streets. How about the recent fuss over pets in airplane cabins? Here’s a Washington Post article about a man who sat down next to another man with a large Labrador in his lap, and was immediately attacked for about 30 seconds and needed 28 stitches in his face! The lab was an “emotional support” animal.

Frankly, I think support animals are

great. But not emotional support animals. Honestly. It’s one thing to keep a mouse or a small bunny in your pocket.

But don’t tell me you can’t live a normal life without dragging a large attack dog around on planes and in restaurants.

And since when do we all have the right to feel emotionally supported every minute of every hour?

I guess there’s a 1986 law that requires airlines to make allowances for support animals, but it also seems as if the regulations have generous loopholes for vague forms of companionship. “The result,” says the Post, citing airline off icials, “has been a surge in poorly trained animals that has turned some flights into airborne menageries, with dogs blocking beverage carts, cats urinating on seats and ducks wandering the aisles.”

I loved that image so much I had to share the whole story. For the record, I just read about the duck, Daniel Turdunken Stinkerbutt, and he sounds pretty incredible. His owner was in a bad accident and it does seem as if he is extremely supportive. He wears shoes and a diaper in public.

Did We Just Take a Step Forward?

Moving right along, I was reading about the new Virginia legislature— the one that went from big GOP majority to a virtual split last November. It seems, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch, that conservatives have lost their appetite for sour attacks on our community and other minorities. Of the 1,300 bills introduced so far, there are no bathroom bills or anti-abortion proposals or any other favorites from the right-wing agenda.

No sooner had I added the Virginia story to my news list did I encounter a more general article on the same subject. The headline in The New York Times of January 22 said it all: “Wary, Weary, Or Both, Southern Lawmakers Tone Down Culture Wars.” The gist of the article was that repeated failures to pass bathroom bills and/or religious freedom bills have been taking their toll on conservative legislatures that have been lax in dealing with bread and butter issues.

Yes, North Carolina got a bathroom bill. But they paid a heavy price—one that forced them to step away from the original law and one that convinced many other states to avoid the dangerous terrain. Yes, Mississippi got its religious freedom bill. But Gay Law is just waiting to sue at the moment someone tries to put it to the test. (The Supreme Court declined to evaluate the law because it has yet to be enforced against anyone.) And did everyone notice the competition over Amazon’s second headquarters? Do you really think Amazon is going to set up shop in a state that goes on record in opposition to GLBT civil rights?

Not only is everyone tired of the divisive fights, but activists on both sides of the culture war are waiting for the High Court to rule on the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, a decision expected in a month or so that might tell us where the Court stands on the balance between civil rights laws and religious freedom.

(Note that there is also a technical decision available to the Court that would tell us very little.) It seems that lawmakers in conservative states are keeping their powder dry until the Court gives them a signal one way or another.

Well, it’s good news, I guess. Like many of you, I’ve displaced some of my political ardor, moving it from gay rights to American human rights in general. Hey, we can’t have the former without the latter.

We All Need a Support Duck You know what? I think I need an emotional support animal. My pugs died last year, but I have my cat. Yet the cat, much as I love him, does not give me (continued on page 19) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

JANUARY 25, 2018

17

Family taking

Major Advance for Marriage Equality and Gender Identity Rights in Latin America

Care of family

Family of Choice Homecare, LLC offers compassionate inhome care that addresses the unique needs and concerns of LGBT older adults, and allows them to age authentically and with pride in their homes and communities for as long as they can.

SERVICES: Light Housekeeping • Companionship • Mobility Support • Dementia/ Alzheimer’s Care • Medication Reminders • Fall Prevention • Shopping • Personal Appointments • Eating Assistance • Menu Planning & Preparation • HIV Care • Transgender Aging

6/26 and Beyond Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis

We invite you to contact us directly to discuss your needs or a FREE initial inhome assessment.

We look forward to becoming your family of choice!

Kevin Pete & Kenneth Boozer, owners Call (510) 285-6484 FamilyofChoice.us

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

With nine attorneys in two locations, we serve the LGBT community with expertise, experience and sensitivity.

We offer services in: • LGBT Families

• Tax Planning

• Estate Planning

• Family Law

• Trust & Probate Administration

• Elder Law & Benefits

• Beneficiary Representation

• Entity Formation & Real Estate

SAN FRANCISCO

SANTA ROSA

415.693.0550

707.237.7371

www.jkzllp.com | www.jkzllp.com/español

Two weeks ago, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a path-breaking decision in favor of marriage equality and an individual’s right to self-determination of one’s gender identity under the law.

LGBTIQ activists across the Americas were thrilled by the decision. Although the decision could ultimately bring full marriage equality to 19 additional countries throughout the Americas, if you were like us, you might have been a bit confused as to the decision’s exact meaning and impact and even as to what the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights is.

In 1979, the Organization of American States (OAS), itself founded in 1948 to promote security and cooperation amongst the nations of the Americas, established the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights to interpret and enforce the American Convention on Human Rights, which came into force in 1978. The Convention obliges all countries that ratified it to conform their domestic laws to its provisions, which guarantee essential human rights. The Court issues both adjudicatory decisions and advisory opinions, in which signatory countries seek an interpretation as to how the Convention applies to particular legal issues in their countries. The Court has jurisdiction over the 23 Latin American and Caribbean countries that are currently active parties to the Convention.

(Neither the United States nor Canada, for a variety of reasons, are parties to the Convention.)

In 2016, Costa Rica asked the Court for an advisory opinion as to how the Human Rights Convention applied to two issues: 1) determination of gender identity on government identification documents and 2) the economic rights of same-sex couples. And this month, the Court issued a sweeping opinion strongly in favor of LGBTIQ rights and freedom. The Court reiterated the Human Rights Convention’s protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and that debate about these issues within member countries did not permit the countries to perpetuate historical and structural discrimination against LGBTIQ people.

With respect to gender identity, the Court recognized that a person’s gender identity was an individual and internal experience that may not coincide with gender assigned at birth and that a person’s right to self-determination of their gender identity was essential to a person’s freedom and their right to give meaning to their existence. Respect for each person’s gender identity was critical to their access to health, education, employment, and housing and their ability to live free from violence, torture and other ill-treatment. Accordingly, the Court ruled that identity documents must reflect a person’s self-perceived

18

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

gender identity, that governments could not require such things as surgery or medical certification of gender change as a prerequisite to changing documents, and that procedures for changing gender identity must be simple, confidential, and efficient.

The Court was equally unequivocal when it came to marriage equality. The Court recognized that same-sex couples may form a family bond just as heterosexual couples do, and that the Human Rights Convention did not prescribe any particular form of family. The Court opined that only the freedom to marry provided equality, and that lesser alternatives such as civil unions carried a stigma of inferiority, and thus were unlawful discrimination.

Addressing religious opposition to marriage equality, the Court articulated how—as the Convention proscribes—in democratic societies, religious and secular spheres must co-exist peacefully without one imposing itself on the other, and how religion cannot be used to perpetrate discrimination based on sexual orientation. Just as self-determination of a person’s gender identity is central to their humanity, the freedom of a person to choose with whom they form a marital bond is intrinsic to deeply intimate aspects of their life and to their essential human dignity. Far from devaluing the institution of marriage, providing equal rights and protections in marriage, regardless of sexual orientation, confers human dignity on people who had faced historic oppression and discrimination.

The Court made clear that the Convention binds all countries that are party to the Human Rights Convention to follow the Court’s decision both in their legislatures and courts. Four such countries (Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, and Uruguay) and parts of Mexico already have marriage equality. The decision is thus particularly critical to attaining full marriage equality throughout Mexico and in 18 other Latin American and Caribbean countries: Barbados, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Suriname.

However, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights does not have the same ability to order signatory countries to comply with an advisory opinion the same way that the United States Supreme Court and lower federal courts had the power to ensure compliance in all 50 states and U.S. territories with the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality decision. Each member nation to the Human Rights Convention must still change its laws through its own legislatures or courts. Indeed, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in its opinion recognized that governments may encounter both institutional and political difficulties in changing laws and the process may take time, while recommending that countries issue temporary decrees to implement the opinion during the process of enacting permanent laws.

Embrace of the Court’s decision by leaders of two countries, Costa Rica (who brought the issue to the Court) and Panama, was swift, although as of press time, marriages of same-sex couples had not yet begun in those or any of the other additional signatory countries, and may require legislation or court decisions. Although the landmark decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights did not produce full marriage equality overnight in 19 countries, the decision stands as a compelling declaration of LGBTIQ rights, a testament to the extraordinary dedication and work of thousands of LGBTIQ people and human rights advocacy organizations, and a powerful tool for these activists to make marriage equality, transgender rights, and full LGBTIQ equality a reality throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

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.

NEWS (continued from page 9) ary 27, March 3, April 7, and meeting #4 TBA. castromerchants.com HRC Releases Annual State Equality Index The Human R ights Campaign (HRC) Foundation and the Equality Federation Institute released their annual State Equality Index (SEI), a comprehensive state-by-state report detailing statewide laws and policies that affect LGBTQ people and their families and placing states in one of four categories based on their pro- and anti-LGBTQ state laws. This year’s SEI details the onslaught of more than 125 anti-LGBTQ laws introduced across 30 states during the 2017 state legislative season, including legislative proposals to grant sweeping licenses to discriminate, undercut marriage equality, and target the transgender community—including transgender children. The report comes as more than 40 state legislatures will reconvene at the end of January. A new 2018 legislative preview report from HRC also found that state legislators, under relentless pressure from opponents of equality, are expected to wage attacks on transgender people—particularly in the critical areas of health care and access to appropriate restrooms. hrc.org Mathilde Krim Honored for Trailblazing Contributions to the Fight Against HIV/AIDS In light of the passing of Mathilde Krim, Founder of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), at 91 years old, Elton John, Founder of the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), and many oth-

er LGBT community leaders honored her trailblazing contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS. John said, “Dr. Krim was a close friend and mentor, and I am deeply saddened by this news. She dedicated her life to understanding the science behind the epidemic, and was a force to mobilize research around the globe that helped to save millions of lives and reduce the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS.” The legacy of Dr. Krim’s deep commitment to ending HIV/AIDS will live on in the advocacy, action and compassion of those that follow her lead.

John concluded, “We would not be where we are today without her, and we must continue to work tirelessly to further understand and prevent the disease. My thoughts are with her family at this time; she was a true hero.” ejaf.org Tenants’ Rights Counselor Training Offered Tenants Together, California’s Statewide Organization for Renters’ Rights (based in San Francisco), is looking for new volunteers to become tenants’ rights counselors. Now more than ever, organizers say they need volunteers to support the fight against federal and state policies that put LGBTQIA, black and brown, undocumented, and disabled communities at risk of displacement. In many counties across California, the Tenants Together Hotline is the only service that offers information and support to renters. Volunteers are asked to come work on the hotline and support the fight for housing as a human right. Volunteers are expect-

ed to commit to at least three hours per week at the Tenants Together off ice located at 474 Valencia Street. The Hotline operates Monday through Friday, 10 am–5 pm and Thursdays 6–8 pm. The next scheduled two-day training, 5:30– 8:30 pm, is Wednesday, February 7, and Thursday, February 8. tenantstogether.org

CASTRO STREETCAM presented by

Chelsea Manning Files for U.S. Senate Run in Maryland Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who spent several years in prison for leaking classified information, has filed to run as a Democratic candidate for Senate in Maryland. Manning is one of four Democratic candidates who have filed to run for Senate in Maryland. Incumbent Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, 74, has not yet announced he would seek a third term in the Senate. His campaign committee has nearly $2 million in cash on hand, according to the FEC. Manning was convicted in 2013 of stealing 750,000 pages of sensitive government documents and videos and leaking them to WikiLeaks and received a sentence of 35 years in prison on 20 counts, including violating the Espionage Act. After the sentencing, Manning, who was then known as Bradley, identified as transgender and changed her first name to Chelsea. President Barack Obama commuted Manning’s sentence in January 2017 and Manning was released from prison in May 2017. cnn.com

sfbaytimes.com

items of the week

ROSTOW (continued from page 17) emotional support. Instead, I get demanding purrs, sudden assaults for no reason, and indifference. Yes, he can be very sweet at times, but I can’t count on him.

And don’t accuse me of making light of serious cases such as the injured woman who relies on Daniel the duck. True, I am doing that.

But I don’t like negative feedback as a rule. Plus, all of us who vote to the left of, say, Sons of the Confederacy, have been damaged over the last year and continue to suffer the slings and arrows of the Trump administration. And there’s nothing we can do about it save wait it out.I recently declined to attend an impeachment protest, because I don’t think impeachment is an answer.

You can’t impeach a man for horrendous incompetence, cowardice, ignorance, and cruelty if that man won the electoral college with all these features in full view. And also, I am coming to dislike Mike Pence more and more. Trump lies like a small child who doesn’t quite understand the difference between right and wrong. Pence is Eddie Haskell on steroids. Trump is pathetic. Pence is nasty.

So, we wait. We win the midterms and use our congressional authority to pen Trump in or maybe manipulate him to our ends. Then we restore sanity to the world in 2020 and see how many decades it takes to rebuild America’s credibility.

Meanwhile, we need supportive pets. And cocktails.

Citizens Split If you are American, are in a binational relationship and live overseas, are your children American citizens? Apparently, the answer is no unless they share your DNA. Immigration authorities actually forced a family of two married men and their twin sons to take DNA tests, before determining that one of the twins is not a citizen, because

his DNA comes from his Israeli father. (Prior to the obligatory test, the family had deliberately avoided making this revelation.)

In another case, two women got married and lived in England.

While the American, Allison Brixt, had no problem registering her biological son’s citizenship, she was told that her other son was ineligible since his biological mother was Italian. Given the option of “sponsoring” her son as a “stepmother,” Blixt refused. “The principle of that is just a bit too hard to swallow,” she said. “I’m not his stepmother. I’m his mother.”

Now, Brixt and her wife have sued the federal government, as have Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks. Both families seek to realign immigration law to recognize kids born to binational marriages as American, regardless of the genetic matchup.

As the law states: “a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years ... shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth.”

In other words, “blah blah blah blah gay families should be treated like all other families.”

You know, I assume snags like this one exist throughout American law and will continue to ensnare gay couples for several years until they get ironed out on a case by case basis. The legal children born into the family of an American man are American, period. Nor should he have to adopt his own kids. Nor should an American mother have to endure a Kafka-esque routine in or-

der for her child to carry an American passport, or in order to be listed on her child’s birth certificate, or in order to be noted on her spouse’s death certification, or in order to get whatever paperwork her heterosexual counterpart receives as a matter of course.

Ethics Supply Candles Transport yourselves to majestic locations with candles inspired by Zion National Park, Joshua Tree and the California Redwoods.

Mixture Bath & Body Relax in the soothing waters of Mixture.

Be it a luxurious foaming bath or an herb and flower infused bath tea, you’re sure to enjoy the pampering moment you so deserve.

The Lord Made Me Do It Finally, did you read about a charming new group called the “Conscience and Religious Freedom Division” of DHH’s Office for Civil Rights? Yes, that’s correct.

The Health and Human Services Department’s civil rights arm has a new little sub-office designed to protect people who violate civil rights.

The office comes complete with a clever name that makes it sound like it’s a fine and worthy operation.

George Orwell has risen from the dead, zombie fashion, a pet cemetery version of Orwell who is putting his once satirical ideas to work for Pence and company down at the animal farm. The office will be tasked with protecting health providers who refuse treatment based on their religious beliefs.

Meri Meri Nobody does Valentines like Meri Meri. This whimsical collection of cards and party accessories will put a smile on even the most stodgy of friends.

Y

ou’re done with those holidays for everyone else, so this one’s just for you and your dearest love.

Valentine’s Day is a celebration of appreciation and an opportunity to spoil your most favorite person in the whole wide world.

Look, I’m not sure how this sort of thing is implemented, given that all sorts of laws might be violated if a health professional refused treatment to a transgender man or lesbian woman and let someone die, for example. What if a nurse refused access to the hospital room of a same-sex spouse? What if a clinic refused to notify a gay husband or refused to treat a person with AIDS? Forget religion, ladies and gentlemen. Such rejection is based on prejudice pure and simple— there’s nothing faith-based about it, and I can’t imagine someone can avoid the consequences of their actions by running to a newly invented sham cabinet division. arostow@aol.com S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

JANUARY 25, 2018

19

Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2018 Photos by Rink

Caltrain’s Celebration Train tradition, now in its fourth decade, once again brought marchers from San Jose to San Francisco on Monday, January 15, to join the annual day of events. Following a route along 3rd Street, marchers moved into Yerba Buena Gardens for a unity rally featuring speeches by then Acting Mayor London Breed, who said, as reported by ABC-7, “ … thank god San Francisco is a sanctuary city so we don’t care what they say in Washington, D.C. We’re going to follow in Dr. King’s legacy.” Additional activities, such as a children’s chalk drawing, were organized by the Museum of African Diaspora.

20

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

From the Coming Up Events Calendar See page 32 Wednesday, January 31 - Turning Into A Butterfly with Special Guests Julie Wolf and Vicki Randle @ The Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Ave. Albany. The heartfelt music of Zachary Ostroff and Scott Amendola with the Bay Area’s own Wolf and Randle. 8pm. ivyroom.com

Thursday, February 8 - Diane Amos and Friends @ Black History Month Comedy Night, Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center, 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. Amos will be joined by Donald Lacy, Tim Jackson, Valerie Vernale, and Lisa Geduldig. 8pm. ashkenaz.com

Mardi Gras Flight 420 to Land in the Castro

Photos by Rink

By Gary Virginia If you are craving the tastes, sounds, music and traditions of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras, you need not f ly 2,000 miles to the Big Easy. San Francisco’s Krewe de Kinque (pronounced “crew da kink” and KDK for short) social, charitable Mardi Gras club is turning 15 and is about to throw the best Mardi Gras party on the West Coast!

Fasten your seat belt, put on your mask, and head over to The Café (2369 Market at Castro) on Saturday, February 10, for KDK’s themed extravaganza, Bal Masque XV - “Flight 420” benefiting Larkin Street Youth Services. Expect royal kings and queens, a costumed show incorporating the airline and cannabis theme this year, elaborate decor, staged photos

by Gooch, exciting raff le and silent auction items, and specials on Hurricanes ($7) and Stoli drinks ($5).

The best bang for your buck is the $40 advance VIP Party ticket ($50 door), that includes a 5–6 pm private reception featuring an authentic Southern/Creole buffet and hosted Stoli vodka bar, music by KDK King XIII Sergio Fedasz (Go BANG!), auction preview and your name in the printed program. Limited Gold Sponsor guests also can enjoy reserved seating ($100).

The masked ball kicks into “high” gear from 6–9 pm ($20 advance/$25 door) featuring a Second Line Parade led by Grand Marshal Mark Leno, former CA State Senator and Assemblyman. Decorated umbrellas, noisemakers, and swaying cocktails will meander through the multilevel venue before the “tableaux” show takes f light. Rave reviews f ly in annually for club performances by Deana Dawn, John Weber, Donna Sachet, Kit Tapata, Mark Paladini and more.

The revelry of dancing and “earning your beads” by showing some f lesh will culminate with the crowning of the new King and Queen XV, secretly chosen by the reigning King XIV Barry Miles and Queen XIV Lady Cuki Couture. The latter have led fundraising efforts to produce the ball with monthly benefits at The Edge bar and an October benefit at the SF Eagle last year.

A krewe (pronounced “crew”) is an organization that puts on a parade or ball for the Carnival season. The term, thought to have been coined in the early 19th century, is best known for its association with Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, but also is used in other Carnival celebrations around the Gulf of Mexico and beyond.

Krewe de Kinque was coined by club founder Gary Virginia in 2004. Fearing community burnout of volunteer fundraisers in the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis and other emergency causes, he created the club to rally diverse (aka kinky) members

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ

Krewe de Kinque fundraisers throughout the year, such as those held at the Lookout, The Edge bar, The Mix and other popular clubs and lounges, support important LGBT community service organizations, including Larkin Street Youth Services, Jazzie’s Place and others.

of the LGBTQ community and allies. The first KDK benefits were held on February 21 and 22, 2004, for Immigration Equality and AIDS Benefits Counselors (now PRC). Two days later on Fat Tuesday, February 24, Gary threw a Mardi Gras party at The Edge, and after a few libations, jumped up on a bench and declared himself Founder and King I of Krewe de Kinque, alongside his good friend KC Dare (Rick Ashworth), whom he declared Queen I. Cheering and dancing prevailed and it was time to let the good times roll.

In addition to KDK’s annual bal masque, club members will kick off Mardi Gras season at a membersonly Twelfth Night party, held 12 days after Christmas each year. They also host a traveling Fat Tuesday bar crawl (this year on February 13 in the Castro).

From such humble beginnings, KDK has raised tens of thousands of dollars for 24 charities and crowned 28 kings and queens. Emergency funds have been raised for victims of Hurricane Katrina, Peru and Japan earthquake relief; Oakland Warehouse Fire victims; and clients of the SF AIDS Emergency Fund and Breast Cancer Emergency Fund.

Tickets to the February 10 Bal Masque XV may be purchased online (https:// mardigrassf.bpt.me) or by sending a check payable to Larkin Street Youth Services to: KDK, 156 Hancock St. #4, SF CA 94114. ($20 General Admission. 6–9 pm, $40 VIP 5–9 pm, $100 Gold Sponsor 5–9 pm reserved seat.) All tickets will be held at the door. 21 and over with photo ID required of all guests. Festive costumes, masks, and beads are encouraged! Stay abreast of KDK at Facebook (www.facebook.com/KDKinSF/). For more info, phone 415-867-5004.

Past beneficiaries also include: AIDS Housing Alliance, Food for Thought (Sonoma County), HepCarestream, Homobiles, Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, Jazzie’s Place (LGBT Homeless Shelter), MAGNET, Pets Are Wonderful Support, Rainbow World Fund, San Francisco Night Ministry, St. James Infirmary, Sunburst Projects/Mama’s Toy Drive, The Richmond/Ermet AID Foundation, Tenderloin Tessie’s Holiday Dinners and Transgender Law Center.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Gary Virginia, Founder of Krewe de Kinque, is the former President of the Board of Directors of San Francisco Pride and Positive Resource Center.

KINKY BOOTS Which artist wrote the music and lyrics to the queer-positive musical Kinky Boots?

A) Billy Joel B) Elton John C) Bruce Springsteen D) Cyndi Lauper ANSWER ON PAGE 34

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

JANUARY 25, 2018

21

Documentary Profiles Quiet Heroes of the Early HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Utah tients either had HIV or were elderly. The two women eventually became a couple themselves, lending additional support to LGBT causes, if not visibility.

Film Gary M. Kramer The many documentaries about the AIDS crisis have chronicled stories both personal and universal. The honorable and inspiring new f ilm, Quiet Heroes, which is having its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this week, tells the story of Dr. Kristen Ries and Maggie Snyder, her Physician’s Assistant, who ran the only practice to care for HIV/AIDS patients in Utah.

The film, directed by Jenny Mackenzie and co-directed and produced by Jared Ruga and Amanda Stoddard, is conventionally made, with talking head interviews, photographs, news reports, and home movie footage. The film also traverses familiar territory when it discusses the shame and stigma HIV/AIDS patients face (especially during the early years of the epidemic), and how life expectancies for patients changed as AZT and cocktails were able to treat the disease.

Where Quiet Heroes excels is in the personal stories that put a face on both the doctors and their patients. Dr. Ries eloquently explains why and how she became interested in infectious diseases and was willing to take on HIV/AIDS patients, especially when the Utah Department of Health refused to treat the many people who were suffering.

The film also shows how Maggie Snyder provided support for both Dr. Ries and patients, giving them the respect they deserved. Ries recounts losing many patients who felt uncomfortable being treated by the “AIDS doctor.”

She jokes that her practice consisted of “gays and grays” because her pa-

A n interesting observation in the film is how Ries and Snyder—again the only medical team treating HIV/AIDS cases — wou ld not acknowledge patients in public unless cued, so as not to reveal their medical status. In addit ion, they had a back door to their office for patients to use to avoid being identified. These points indicate just how great the fear and disdain were for HIV/AIDS patients in particular and the LGBT community at large in Salt Lake City, a region not generally associated with the AIDS crisis.

Quiet Heroes addresses this point in more depth as it describes the Mormons’ attitudes toward homosexuality. The Church of Latter Day Saints believes that couples married on Earth are also connected in the hereafter. As such, homosexuality is not tolerated because of how the Mormons consider the family in the afterlife. One interviewee describes how mothers often abandoned their LGBT kids because of Mormon teachings about homosexuality being a sin, forcing these mothers to choose between God and family.

Ries and Maggie Snyder’s help) is both poignant and moving.

The film then introduces a Mormon couple, Kim and Steve Smith, who get married and have two children.

The couple faces a crisis when Steve acts on his same-sex desires and eventually transmits HIV to Kim. How she handles this situation (with Dr.

Quiet Heroes raises other key points, such as how HIV/A IDS patients think about themselves in negative ways. It is powerful to hear Dr. Reis and Maggie Snyder recall the many gay men who felt they “deserved” the disease.

Another “hero” in the film is a woman named Cindy. Although she lost her battle with HIV/AIDS, before she died, Cindy fought to change laws that prevented people with HIV/ AIDS from getting married. Cindy sued to wed her husband, showing just how the epidemic made accidental activists out of ordinary citizens.

Cindy’s openly gay daughter recounts her mother’s achievements in the film, indicating how her mother’s activism was passed along.

The film also includes some upbeat stories. Peter Christie, a Director of Education at Ballet West in Salt Lake City, is a patient of Dr. Ries’ who was on the brink of death with 60 T-cells before cocktails helped to prolong his life. As Dr. Ries and Maggie Snyder explain in one of the more fascinating revelations in the film, they often redistributed HIV/AIDS drugs collected from deceased patients. This practice was illegal, but they insisted that they felt the good it would do—assisting folks who had financial hardships when it came to health care— was worth the risk of prison and/or losing their medical licenses.

The film only briefly touches on the expenses HIV/AIDS patients incur and how great a financial hardship it can be for folks too sick to work and without medical care. It may be a function of the 69-minute running time that the film fails to explore this or some of the other topics raised in greater detail. Nevertheless, it is important to be aware of these individuals and the situations they faced. In this regard, Quiet Heroes does justice to its subjects. © 2018 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 22

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

Embracing the Queer Literary Community feeling insecure about t he new book and looking for feedback.

Words Michele Karlsberg Michele Karlsberg: For this issue of the San Francisco Bay Times, I present a guest article written by author Sassafras Lowrey.

I started writing in 2002, when I also became an active member of queer zine communities. My friends and I were creating independently produced publications about queer and trans identities, bad dates, good dates, funny adventures with friends, sex, George W. Bush, my dogs, politics, vegan food, and anything else that was of interest to young LGBTQ punks.

Sure, there were cool kids in the zine scene—I was living in Portland, Oregon, (capitol of the zine world) at the time—but on the whole, there wasn’t competition; there was community.

None of us were competing for book deals, or literary awards. There were no six figure fantasy advances. This was the perfect introduction to the literary community for me.

We were all printing our zines at Kinko’s copy centers and getting paid in concealed dollar bills stuffed into envelopes sent through the postal system. Because of this, and a relationship to the local feminist independent bookstores where I ran an open mic/ zine read for several years, I have always deeply prioritized building community with other writers, and specifically other LGBTQ writers. For me, a foundation in this kind of scrappy lit community where we are not only excited about our own work, but also enthusiastically supportive of each other’s new projects, is the kind of queer writing community that I am committed to participating in, and continue to foster, even though I haven’t written a zine in over a decade.

I’m as much of an introvert as the next writer, and I love how writing is a solitary art form. But at the same time, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of queer writers finding a way to get involved with the LGBTQ literary community. Even more important, I think it’s essential for writers to foster their own little corner of community, aka friends in the writing world. This month, I had the opportunity to read the manuscript of a book releasing sometime soon whose author, while very experienced, was

Dur ing t he sa me week, I was leaning heavily on a different group of author friends while I waited for some big news from publishers about a new book, and was preparing to go back to school after a decade to start an MFA program. Showing up for my community of queer writers, and the ways that community has consistently held, challenged, and supported me, has made me a much better writer.

Sassafras Lowrey

I know a lot of writers complain about the presence of the internet in their lives and the push for authors to be online in order to market their books, but I’ve always been the opposite. Since the days of AOL chat rooms, LiveJournal, and now the myriad of social media platforms, I’ve found social media to be an excellent tool to bring the literary community together. The internet has to allowed me to find, connect and—when I’m lucky—to maintain close relationships with writers all over the world.

As a queer writer who predominant ly w r ites queer books for queer readers, I believe LGBTQ writers need connection to one another not just to support our work, but also to support each other in the work. In this cultural moment, it is especially important for our community to stand unified with all LGBTQ people, and not just gay and lesbian writers. We need our LGBTQ literary spaces to explicitly be welcoming to genderqueer writers, transgender writers, bisexual writers, queer writers, intersex writers, pansexual writers, asexual writers, leather writers—to name just a few.

Are you looking for easy ways to start building LGBTQ community? Follow writers you admire, message writers to tell them how much you like articles or books that they write, comment on the pictures they share and more.

The need for queer literary spaces is also why I believe so much in the Lambda Literary Foundation (http:// lambdaliterary.org/) and all of the work they do, as well as independent bookstores, and the Saints & Sinners Literary Conference in New Orleans (http://sasfest.org/), all of which are important sites that bring community together. Check them out, and find ways to get involved. Not only will you be supporting a larger LGBTQ literary community, but you also might make some friends.

When building friendships with other writers, it can be so easy to reinforce toxic dynamics that mainstream culture glorifies, like cattiness and competitiveness when, for example, someone scores a big book deal, or gets a great review. The LGBTQ writing community doesn’t have to be that way. Not only does being in competition with other writers feel crappy, but it also doesn’t foster the kind of literary friendships that I am invested in having.

For me, having a community of LGBTQ writers means celebrating when the times are good, and commiserating when a project flops. Your literary community doesn’t have to look like a structured writing group. It can just be the buddies with whom you share cute videos most of the time, but who might have your back when you need a book blurb, when they need someone to review a short story and give honest feedback, or when someone needs a laugh after their book gets a bad review, or a rejection.

Sassafras Lowrey is a teenage runaway who grew up to become the 2013 winner of the Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award. Hir books—Lost Boi, A Little Queer as Carol, Roving Pack, Kicked Out and Leather Ever After—have been honored by organizations ranging from the National Leather Association to the American Library Association.

Sassafras lives and writes in Brooklyn with hir partner, and their menagerie of dogs and cats. Learn more at www.SassafrasLowrey.com Michele Karlsberg Marketing and Management specializes in publicity for the LGBT community. This year, Karlsberg celebrates thirty years of successful book campaigns.

San Francisco Bay Times readers and supporters Mary Sager and Michelle Jester, both of whom are longtime LGBT community activists and leaders, celebrated the Women’s March 2018 on January 20 with friends at Twin Peaks Bar on Castro Street.

Check out the new

CASTRO STREET CAM at sfbaytimes.com

24

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

Photo by Rink

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DE YOUNG AND LEGION OF HONOR

VertiGhost Through March 25 at the de Young and the Legion of Honor

Installation of “Lynn Hershman Leeson: VertiGhost” on view at the Legion of Honor. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Lynn Hershman Leeson, an artist with strong connections to the Bay Area, is recognized for her pioneering contributions to media, performance, photography and film. Recently she premiered VertiGhost, inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), key scenes of which were filmed at the Legion of Honor.

The multidimensional installation draws the viewer into an online and offline narrative about the construction of identity and ideas of authenticity.

At the core of the project is a film weaving together stories of two paintings associated with FAMSF: Amedeo Modigliani’s Pierre-Edouard Baranowski (ca. 1918), a painting in FAMSF’s collection and that was once haunted by questions of authenticity (now resolved) and the other, the Portrait of Carlotta, a fictional construct and prop in Vertigo, which nonetheless is often believed to be in FAMSF’s collection.

“It has been a unique and uncanny pleasure to recreate an iconic film concerned with authenticity in the very location of Vertigo, and to learn about the ‘ghosts’ haunting both museums, providing ample material for a project questioning identity and representation, in this era where fiction and reality have become increasingly blurred,” says Hershman Leeson.

Amedeo Modigliani, “Pierre-Edouard Baranowski,” ca. 1918. Oil on hardboard, 63.1 x 47 cm (24 13/16 x 18 1/2 in.). Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Gift of Marian Walter Sinton, Hillsborough, California, 1981.2.37. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Featuring interviews with a conservator, art historian, and a psychologist about the construction of truths in both art and life, the exhibit creates a meditative foil to a reality riddled with fake news. The film is accompanied by an installation that includes Hershman Leeson’s own blurred version of the Carlotta portrait, which, through a Go Pro Camera peeking out from the canvas, captures the viewer’s movements and edits them in real time into a 3D installation that includes scenes of the film.

A live feed of the installation is broadcasted on the VertiGhost webpage (https://www.vertighost.net/), raising questions around how our digital lives impact and obscure notions of the self.

For more information: https://legionofhonor.famsf.org/

Installation of “Lynn Hershman Leeson: VertiGhost” on view at the Legion of Honor. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Lynn Hershmann Leeson: “VertiGhost”. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Installation of “Lynn Hershman Leeson: VertiGhost” on view at the Legion of Honor. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

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

JANUARY 25, 2018

25

Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun wooden rainbow phallus; some truly lovely photos on aluminum are “Captured Moments in Bali,” by Kent Anderson; the activist in me really appreciated the black & white Billy Douglas pieces, “If You Want to be Free, Act Free,” depicting various protest scenes such as demonstrators carrying placards saying, “People’s Power = Victory,” “Funeral for Politics as Usual,” and “Resist Trump! Fight Racism!” And how current can one get with “Mirror-Mirror” as a series of SF LGBTQ residents’ selfies turned into oil paintings by Alan Beckstead, as well as a beautiful non-selfie oil of the late, great Gilbert Baker at a Gay Pride Parade beneath a canopy of the rainbow flag that he created; for whimsy, I would have to say the ceramic sculptures of lovable creatures and monsters by Jack Stelnick take the prize; quite lovely are Ed Terpening’s oil on canvas depictions of nature in water on rocks; another recurring artist is Jack Mattingly with his intricate wood and gold-painted miniature pieces placed to elicit a theme; and for those who love kids, Kate Fair’s series of toys on canvas will appeal—including one of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, a little sports car, an airplane, and a clown. But the most moving piece to this particular Trump-defying nun—and those of us who have seen our flag being metaphorically ripped to shreds—has to be “Tattered Flag,” encaustic on wood by Jon Hearn.

His piece makes a powerful statement about the awful mess the opposition has made of our flag and all it used to stand for.

By Sister Dana Van Iquity Sister Dana sez, “Hey, Trump, how dare you refer to Haiti and some African nations as ‘sh**hole countries’ while discussing immigration reform with lawmakers at the White House.

The only sh**hole now is your big stinky mouth! Shut your sh**hole!”

Interesting fact: according to a January 12 WaPo article, “President Trump said he used ‘tough’ language during a discussion on immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and some African nations but appeared to deny using the term “sh**hole.”

But Senator Richard J. Durbin (DIll.), who attended the same meeting, said Trump’s denial was false. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) criticized Trump’s remarks during an event in Milwaukee, pointing to his own Irish ancestors’ migration to America.”

Sister Dana sez, “And no, Trump, we do not need immigrants from Norway—as you so explicitly stated—and other extremely white people in exclusion of the non-white immigrants. Why don’t you check the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, you racist pig?! Make America White Again? I don’t think so!”

Meanwhile, art saves us all!

ART SAVES LIVES Castro gallery and performance space, curated by San Francisco local artist Thomasina De Maio, held the JANUARY RECEPTION on Friday the 12th.

The live show included performances by locals. Emma Gabriel in black and rhinestoned mask recited a stirring original composition. Redwood Vos gave us some fierce Japanese Butoh ballet—in white face and arms, wearing a body suit and dress made of printed white papers—with Ron Jones on mic acting as human beatbox/sound effects/percussion as accompaniment. Jazz/blues chanteuse Magnoliah Black, adorned in gold lame’ gown, wowed us with her poignant interpretation of “I’ll Take Care of You.” Amazing.

PHOTO BY RINK

Many of the several dozen artists were there in person to discuss their works. Among my faves still on display all month long: “Metamorphosis” by David Wayne Floyd with a very large gorgeous oil painting of a nude man embracing a larger-thanlife butterfly; one of my old continuing favorites is Michael Staley and his crystal-embedded items from a high heel shoe to a puzzle box to a

Sister Dana (right) with Gary Virginia and Miguel Gutierrez at the Krewe de Kinque Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras party in February, 2016.

26

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

STRUT, the Castro hub of health and wellbeing for gay, bi, and trans men, has teamed up with “THE QUEER ANCESTORS PROJECT” to present prints by queer and trans emerging youth artists 18 to 26 years old in the galleries on the third and first floors. The Queer Ancestors Project is devoted to forging sturdy relationships between LGBTQI people and our ancestors. Using history as a linchpin, they build community by providing queer and trans artists free interdisciplinary workshops in printmaking, writing, and queer history.

Public exhibitions and readings of their work provide a window on the past through which the larger community can glimpse our collective future. Part of the Seasonal Art Show, they are exhibiting the work of this queer youth project now through May 19, as well as having hosted an opening reception on January 18. Artists featured include Bení Alí Ávalos, Jorge Mata Flores, Cedar Kirwin, Yonit Mordechai Moerman, Ben Panico, Shannon Prasad, Tavi Taos, Princesa Venegas, and Jai Lei Yee. Among my fave linocuts on the third floor are “A Legacy of Resistance” by Panico; “Hugging Themselves” by Flores; “Queer Liberation Means Prison Abolition” by Cedar; “1998”

by Avalos in memory of gay man Janes Byrd Jr. murdered in Jasper, Texas, and gay man Matthew Shepard murdered in Laramie, Wyoming; and “Orchid” by Venegas with the witty pun: “Know History, Know Self— No History, No Self.” On the first floor, my picks are “Dragons in Drag” by Avalos; “Lou Sullivan” (a pioneer in SF transgender movement) by Panico; and “Queer Heroes” linocut with watercolor in honor of five heroes–James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, and Leslie Feinberg by Cedar. To find out more about The Queer Ancestors Project and their Ar-

tistic Director Katie Gilmartin, visit them (queerancestorsproject. org).

Curator and artist Catherine Merrill returns to BACK TO THE PICTURE/VALENCIA STREET exhibition, PARADISE LOST, focusing on the human figure. After last year’s highly successful event, Merrill has collected all new works for the show. She held an OPENING RECEPTION at 934 Valencia Street with the artists on Saturday, January 20. Figurative paintings and sculptures by eight Bay Area artists “Reflect life in these times of darkness, affirming the unifying power of Art,” according to the mission statement.

Artists now showing there include Jane Fisher, Sylvie Guillot, Susan Kirshenbaum, Catherine Merrill, Stephen Namara, Fernando Reyes, Rick Rodrigues, and Michael Ruiz.

Merrill and Back to the Picture will be hosting a closing reception on February 24, 6 to 9 pm as well. backtothepicture.com I was fortunate to attend a meet & greet supporting SENATOR MARK LENO FOR MAYOR to hear Mark’s vision for a new direction for our City. Held on the 40th floor, high above the City in the Transamerica Building, Leno spoke to us one on one and proved he deserves to be San Francisco’s Mayor. For me, just as a citizen of EssEff and not speaking for any organization, Leno is clearly the choice for Mayor. He is my longtime friend and leader in San Francisco and California politics. He has been involved in state and local politics for over 20 years. As Supervisor, he wrote the City’s first affordable housing law, which is still the basis for providing affordable housing in San Francisco. At the state level, he exempted affordable SRO housing from the evil Ellis Act and passed protections for victims of domestic violence to get out of leases with their abusers. Leno passed a bill to allow school districts to build affordable teacher housing. And he convinced Governor Brown to sign a statewide $15 minimum wage into law. Throughout his career, Mark has been a pioneer for trans anti-discrimination laws. He wrote the law protecting trans Californians from housing and employment discrimination. He wrote the law prohibiting government contracts with companies that discriminate against trans people. He wrote the FAIR Education Act to make sure that public schools highlight LGBTQ and other underrepresented groups in history and social studies. Mark Leno is not just a Gay Mayor, but a Mayor for the People. All the People.

The HANK WILSON documentary, “THANKS TO HANK,” produced by Robert Ostertag, is in process of becoming reality.

A web site has been created by director Joan Grossman (pinballfilms.net/thanks-to-hank). There is a lot of information there, as well as a PayPal button people can use to make tax-deductible donations to the film through the fiscal sponsor, the GLBT Historical Society. There is a PDF of a fundraising letter and another PDF of their work plan for the movie. Feel free to share these with others, however you deem is appropriate. Several of us Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were asked to participate in a photo shoot in the Castro and the AIDS Memorial Grove in which we officially sainted Hank Wilson as Patron Saint of Housing Justice, Compassionate Action, Queer Underdogs, and Plague Survivors— (continued on page 34)

The 2 Minute Tune-Up

The KiAi Way Jamie Leno Zimron Most of us seem busy most of the time between work, home, our devices, and the fast-paced high-stimulus society we all find ourselves living in.

Meanwhile, our bodies and brains have limits, and needs of their own for rest, breaks, balance and renewal.

So, I’ve become a big fan of exercises that: a) don’t take much time to do; b) don’t require any special equipment; c) can be done anytime, anywhere; d) can be done easily, as often as you want or need; e) and that provide powerful, immediately-felt results while also building lasting mind-body benefits through regular use and repetition.

I am always very grateful to my fitness teacher in San Diego, Juawayne Kettler, for providing exercises that accomplish all of this, and more. Juawayne is the creator of BL I S Swork s: Ba lance Lengthen Integrate Stretch Strengthen. Primarily through BLISS exercises, plus good hands-on bodywork, I was able to heal from over twenty years of acute-turned-chronic sports and martial arts injuries.

Constant pain subsided, while energy and function returned. As just one example, I went from having to quit playing golf after only 5 or 6 holes, to playing in 100-hole Charity Golf Marathons—and often exceeding 200 holes, playing for 12 hours nonstop and with no pain!

Here is one of my favorite BLISS exercises, and the one that Juawayne uses to begin every workout. It’s called Spinal Pulsing, and can be done by yourself or with a partner. I’ve come to appreciate and teach it as a “2 Minute Nervous System Tune-Up.” Spinal Pulsing: By Yourself Begin by standing facing a chair, or desk, kitchen counter, railing, or window ledge. Stand upright, in good posture, just a few inches away. Hold on with your hands at about waist height, and with your feet close together (about 4–6 inches apart). Holding on to the stable chair (or desk, counter, railing, ledge, etc.), walk your feet back and bend over until you are at a 90-degree angle. Your back should be flat, with your feet directly under your hips and shoulders. (If you have shoulder or back pain, bend and work only as far as is comfortable for you.)

Once in this position, pull your hips away from your hands and shoulders, as you imagine and feel yourself creating more space between your vertebrae, lengthening your spine, stretching your hamstrings and your “lats” (upper-body muscles that come down from your armpits and then attach to your mid-back ribs on both sides of your body).

As you continue to pull your hips back and lengthen your spine, focus on a spot in the middle of your chest

at your sternum. Inhale gently, then exhale slowly as you pull your chest, vertebrae and ribs down towards the floor. Repeat this gentle inhale/slow exhale, pulling your chest to the floor sequence at least 5 up to 25 times.

Each sequence is aptly called Spinal Pulsing. This conscious “pulsing” movement not only stretches vital muscles, but it also stimulates the cerebral-spinal fluid from the base of your brain, down the whole length of your spine into your sacrum. It additionally promotes circulation and oxygenation throughout your nervous system.

After doing 5–25 Spinal Pulsing repetitions, remain in this L-shaped position of stretching and lengthening.

Now, bend your neck to look down at your belly, and then bend your neck and look up. Repeat this Look Down/ Look Up motion 5–25 times. Whenever I do these repetitions, I love the feeling of stimulating my cerebral-spinal f luid and stretching from inside my spinal column, as well as loosening between my shoulder blades.

You can add to the stretching and stimulation effects of Look Down/ Look Up by bending both knees as you look down, and then straightening your legs as you look up. You’ll be strengthening your quads as well as stretching, and the movement feels like becoming your own “human energy pump.” When you’re ready, come out of the exercise by gently bending your knees and walking back up to where you started. Gently bend backwards to reverse the stretch, supporting yourself with your legs and base.

Spinal Pulsing: With a Partner You can also have fun doing the full Spinal Pulsing exercise with a partner or friend. Begin by standing facing each other, upright and fairly

close, with your hands resting lightly on each other’s shoulders. Then walk back from each other, bending over until you’re both at a 90-degree angle and your backs are flat. Keep an image and feeling of a straight line connecting your spines. Then pull your hips back, away from your shoulders and partner, to create space between your vertebrae and to lengthen your spinal, hamstring and lat muscles.

Work in harmony following the same Spinal Pulsing instructions as before.

Breathe in gently together, and exhale slowly while both pulling your sternums to the floor. After 5–25 repetitions, and continuing to pull your hips away from each other to lengthen out, both partners should look down and then look up at each other (laughing is allowed!). Add bending your legs as you Look Down, and straightening your legs as you Look Up. When you’ve completed 5–25 repetitions, gently bend your knees and walk back up to each other until your toes are touching. Holding on with your arms, gently bend back for a nice sigh and counter-stretch, simultaneously and in balance, and come back to the neutral standing posture (smiles and hugs are good too!).

As you do this powerful Spinal Pulsing BLISS exercise, you will all at once be stretching and strengthening your spine, lower and upper body, and stimulating cerebral-spinal fluid and energy flow. In just a short time, you’ll be giving your nervous system an entire tune-up, and will come up feeling re-balanced and refreshed.

Jamie Leno Zimron is a Corporate Speaker-Trainer, Master Bodyworker, Aikido Instructor and LPGA Golf Pro. She can be reached at jamiesensei@thekiaiway.com or by phoning 760-492-GOLF(4653).

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

JANUARY 25, 2018

27

Highlights of the 2018 Winter Fancy Food Sho

By Elaine Viegas

T

he Specialty Food Association just wrapped up the 2018 Winter Fancy Food Show, which ran from January 21–23 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. At least 25,000 food professionals from 1400 exhibiting companies attended the show, where buyers representing businesses big and small determined what foods will be sold in stores across the nation. Decisions made at this influential event can therefore affect what you will be eating in the months to come.

California boasted the largest state presence at the show, with more than 351 companies there this year.

Our state’s presence is not just because of the location of the event, but also due to California’s overall leadership in this industry given our many farms, vineyards, and more. New York, New Jersey and Oregon also had strong participation. In terms of the 20+ countries that participated, the largest pavilions featured companies from Italy, Japan and France.

Below are some of our favorites from this year’s show: Best International Pavilion Our team from the San Francisco Bay Times is still in an Italian food swoon, as the Italy Pavilion offerings were stellar. They included Acquerello risotto that was rice perfection. The Carnaroli grains are grown and processed in Italy before being aged.

The proud Italian woman who gave us a sample said, “This will be the best thing that you will eat at the show.” She was right.

The simple risotto, which she had flavored only with olive oil and Parmesan, was outstanding. It was al dente without being too chewy, with each and every grain cooked to perfection.

At the front of the Italy Pavilion was a bow-tied young fellow making espresso drinks, one after another in a flash. Each was exceptionally good and better than what you can get at most cafes here.

At another booth, a team from Trentodoc was pouring sparkling wines made in Trentino, Italy. This region, part of the Italian Alps, produces juicy, intensely-f lavored grapes that, after fermentation, yield a characteristic bold crispness with bright effervescence. These wines are much better than most proseccos.

Yet another table in the show’s little “Italy” had prosciutto cut into paper-thin slices. The meat was so light and impossibly tender that the not-too-salty prosciutto could almost melt in your mouth without chewing. It paired well with a creamy grana padano, a cow’s milk cheese that had been aged for 14 months.

The cheese was flavorful, but quite creamy and not sharp at all.

We were told that the “riserva” grana padano, aged for over 20 months, takes on greater complexity.

If this were the Olympics of food, Italy would win hands down, in our opinion. Japan also had a strong showing this year, with some of the biggest crowds attending the event waiting for Japanese beer and sushi. One of the beers was brewed with sweet potatoes, which imparted very little f lavor, but added a nice smoothness.

Best New Product It was Mexico, not Italy, that produced our favorite new product.

The name is a bit wacky, but “Jicama Nachos” are a great alternative to tortillas. These are just thin slices of jicama shaped exactly like a corn or flour tortilla. You can use them as you would tortillas to hold other ingredients. At the show, they were filled with guacamole. The sweet, refreshing jicama paired well with the rich avocado mash and held its shape. For those of us trying to cut down on carbs, Jicama Nachos provide a good vegan alternative to tortillas.

Best Entrée Frida’s Foods, based in Texas, served up restaurant-quality chile rellenos. The chiles were mouth-wateringly spicy, but not too hot. The batter exterior was crisp and toasty and did not overwhelm the fresh, high-quality chile.

Best Out and Proud Couple at the Food Show Shannon Rowan and her wife Breelynn MacDonald are the two chicks behind Two Chicks Jerky. They were clearly having a blast at the show in their matching shirts. The two got their start making homemade goods, such as pickled vegetables, homebrewed pale ale and beef jerky for friends and co-workers. After a few months of hearing, “Oh my god, you should sell this,” they did, and now make a very delicious and protein-rich beef jerky that is a satisfying, portable snack. (Another good jerky is

28

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

made by Country Archer, also featured at the show.)

Best Cheesecake That Is Not Cheesecake A team from Japan featured “frozen cheese tarts.” These are handheld little tarts made with a pastry crust. The simple filling was creamy and not overly sweet like most American cheesecakes tend to be. I can see these served for breakfast, as a snack or—perhaps if topped with fresh fruit, shaved chocolate or other flourishes—dessert.

Best New Snack Pop’d Kerns is a popcorn snack that’s like a cross between a corn nut and regular popcorn. We have had similar products before that were tooth-breakingly hard, but the texture of Pop’d Kerns is just right. The ranch flavor was particularly good.

Best Phallic Packaging Our team did not get a chance to taste Angelo Pietro salad dressings, but the containers made us do a double take. The cartoon Italian man on the bottle has his mouth wide open.

Either we spend too much time in the Castro, or the marketers of this product line had some tongue-in-cheek fun when creating it. Maybe both!

Best Display The Aloha from Oregon booth is always incredibly beautiful. Their products, colorful jellies, glisten like holiday tree ornaments. We had to stop and admire them and the way in which they were lined up like elegant jewels.

Best Drinkable Vacation Caipirinha is Brazil’s national cocktail. Made with cachaça, sugar and a citrus juice (either lime or lemon), it is refreshing and delicious when done right. Brunholi Caipirinha is all natural and comes pre-mixed. Made with lemon, it is surprisingly tasty.

The festive Brazilian team was serving it in small shots, but it would be probably even better on the rocks in a chilled glass.

Best Humanitarian Work Two locally-based tea companies, The Republic of Tea and Numi, make consistently great products that are environmentally conscious and benefit humanitarian efforts. The Republic of Tea, for example, has just released Saffron Rose Tea that has a unique and exotic sweet-savory flavor. The saffron comes from Rumi Spice, a company founded by former U.S. Army officers who served combat tours in Afghanistan. (We also like The Republic of Tea’s new Apple Cider Vinegar Sips and Daily Greens Single Sips that come in pre-measured individual packets for consumption anywhere.) Numi has a fantastic line of turmeric-infused teas. The turmeric comes from Madagascar, where Numi brought safe drinking water to 4,000 farming villagers. Both The Republic of Tea and Numi have Fair Trade certifications. Numi even offsets carbon emissions from employee travel.

Now that the Winter Fancy Food Show is over, food industry professionals are preparing for the Specialty Food Association’s next major event: the Summer Fancy Food Show. It will be held at the Javits Center in New York from June 30– July 2. The San Francisco Pride Weekend is June 23–24, so you might consider the trip to NYC, if possible. The summer show is supposed to be even larger than the one in San Francisco. That is hard to believe, as you could spend days at the Winter Fancy Food Show, which covers 220,000 square feet, and still not have enough time to visit each booth and vendor.

For more information: www.specialtyfood.com/ Elaine Viegas is the food columnist for the “San Francisco Bay Times.”

ow

This Year’s

Hot Food Trends Food innovation is running at an all-time high and the Specialty Food Association’s Trendspotter Panel has named what they believe will be the hot trends of this year.

The panel draws perspectives from retail, foodservice, strategic marketing, and culinary education, and includes Ken Blanchette, FreshDirect; Jonathan Deutsch, Drexel University; Kara Nielsen, CCD Innovation; Perla Nieves and Alysis Vasquez, Midnight Market; Alison Tozzi Liu, James Beard Foundation; and Elly Truesdell, Whole Foods Market.

“Macro trends like sustainability and health are converging in the 2018 trends,” says Denise Purcell, head of content for the Specialty Food Association. “The Panel is predicting more algae and other plant-based proteins and products meant to reduce food waste, as well as growth in the use of functional ingredients like activated charcoal, which is a base for the so-called ‘goth’ foods. But, while a lot of these trends speak to health and better-for-you choices, consumers’ demand for deeper flavor exploration is still strong, as evidenced by the interest in Filipino and regional Middle Eastern foods.”

Here are the Trendspotters’ predictions for the top 10 food trends of 2018: Plant-based foods. Plant-based options are proliferating in many categories beyond meat substitutes. Segments like cheese and frozen desserts are enjoying growth in plant-based subcategories. As for meat alternatives, algae is winning fans. 2018 will bring more plant-based convenience foods too.

Upcycled products. As consumers become more aware of how much food is wasted in the U.S., upcycled products made of ingredients and scraps that would have otherwise been discarded, will hold bigger appeal. We’re already seeing pressed juice made from imperfect fruit, chips made from fruit pulp, and snack bars made from spent grain from the beer-making process. Expect more to hit the market this year.

Filipino cuisine. Often overshadowed by other Asian cuisines, the foods of the Philippines have not yet captured a broad U.S. audience.

That’s shifting, as American palates have become more sophisticated and attuned to the complex flavors and bitter or sour notes of Filipino dishes. Chefs and tastemakers are taking to this cuisine that infuses Asian and Latin flavors, and #filipinofoodmovement, founded in 2012 to create awareness and appreciation of Filipino culinary arts, is a growing force.

Goth food. Possibly a reaction to the 2017’s deluge of rainbow and unicorn foods, black is the new black. Activated charcoal—produced by heating coconut shells to extremely high temperatures until they are carbonized—is gaining superfood status for its reported detoxifying attributes and is being used as a surprising twist in everything from pizza crust to lemonade to ice cream. We’ll see its use spread this year.

Alt-Sweet. With sugar topping the list of dietary watch-outs, consumers continue to look to alternative sweeteners for lower glycemic impact, fewer added-sugar calories, and intriguing sweet flavors as well as sustainable footprints. Syrups made from dates, sorghum, and even yacon and sun root will join monk fruit on the market as emerging options for sweet.

Product labeling 2.0. More is more when it comes to product labeling. Consumers will seek greater on-label visibility into the farms, ingredient sources, and supply chain of each item in their shopping basket. GMO transparency is among the most prioritized details, but shoppers want new depths of information across the spectrum, including Fair Trade certification, responsible production, and no animal testing.

Root to stem. Between nose-to-tail butchery and reducing food waste, a few forces are combining to inspire root-to-stem cooking—utilizing the entire fruit or vegetable, including things like stems or leaves that are less commonly eaten.

Cannabis cuisine. As more states legalize recreational marijuana, the varieties of pot-enhanced food and beverage will increase. Look out for continued interest and acceptance in a host of snacks, treats, and beverages with a little something extra.

A (deeper) feast from the Middle East. Foods like hummus, pita, and falafel were easy entry points, but now consumers are ready to explore the deep traditions, regional differences, and classic ingredients of Middle Eastern cultures, with Persian, Israeli, Moroccan, Syrian, and Lebanese influences rising to the top.

The rise of traditional bread. Although much attention has been placed on gluten-free options in recent years, the traditional side of bakery has also been elevated by the same sourcing and fine-tuned production processes we see with proteins and vegetables. Bakers are using local grains, milling the day before baking, and incorporating long proofing times, re-inventing what good bread means.

Additionally, the Trendspotter Panel says we’ll see even more: • • • • • •

cricket flour and non-grain sustainable proteins; fermented foods; cocktail mixers and bitters for home use; savory flavors where one would expect sweet; pasture-raised animals for welfare, better health, and taste; bananas transformed into milks, snacks, frozen desserts, and flours and baking mixes.

Also on the radar: Eating for beauty with products like collagen-infused foods; moringa as the new superfood; mushrooms (extracts, powdered, or whole) as a functional ingredient in everything from chocolate to lattes.

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

JANUARY 25, 2018

29

Don’t Hesitate to ‘Course Correct’ Your Exercise Program

Take Me Home with You! Bunny

boxing, inaccessible to me right now.

I chose hot yoga because I thought the intensity would please me and the heat would soothe my joints. As I began, I did quite a bit of course correcting within the following three areas.

Easy Fitness Cinder Ernst

“My name is Bunny! As you can tell from my photo, I love to have a good time! I’m a young, energetic, bouncy party animal who’s looking for someone with stamina to match mine. But after a long day of romping around, I love a good evening cuddle session. Come celebrate with me!”

Bunny 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 Bunny.

To meet Bunny, 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

30

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

Did you happen to start or re-start an exercise program as the calendar turned? If yes, you might be rolling along easily and enjoying the exercise you chose. If so, you chose wisely— bravo! Or, you might be struggling.

If you are struggling, no worries. You simply have to course correct.

You might have bit off more than you can chew. Biting off more than you can chew is so common that we have this “more than you can chew” saying. You’re in good company. The experience of struggle is feedback for you. There’s nothing wrong. A course correction is merely called for.

Your exercise program can (and probably ought to) be adaptable as you go.

The following are some parameters to consider when designing your exercise program. I will relate each parameter to how I am adapting my new yoga practice to be just right for me.

Maybe these adaptations will inspire a good feeling path for you.

Dr. Jennifer Scarlett and Pup

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

I have recently started doing yoga.

Yoga feels like a last resort to me because arthritis makes the sport I love,

Frequency Exercise frequency most commonly refers to the number of days each week that you are exercising. When I began hot yoga, I did what I usually do ... too much. I thought, “Oh, it feels so good to sweat that I’ll do hot yoga every day like when I was in my boxing heyday.” I quickly found out that every day was not good for my body or my schedule. I am now doing three or four times a week. I still go through a bit of mind chatter about doing more, but I know it’s just chatter. Three or four times a week suits me right now.

Many of you will be thinking that you need to do more. Or, you might have started out trying to do too much. Relax, and back it off a bit. See how you and your body feel. There’s no hurry.

Be nice to yourself as you figure it out.

Let your body and your lifestyle guide your decisions.

Intensity Intensity often refers to the actual effort you exert into the exercise itself.

For instance, running is a higher intensity exercise than walking. You can adjust your intensity to suit where you are today. In yoga, I can tell right away how much effort I should exert to be successful. If I go in with pain (common), I don’t push hard. I try to be smooth and to pay attention. Too much intensity will make me hurt worse and will defeat my purpose. I give myself credit for showing up and then take it from there. Here’s a favorite sentence that I say to myself:

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you ought to.” I am usually taking it down a notch.

Duration Duration refers to the actual length of time that you spend in your exercise practice for the day. My classes are 90 minutes. That is a big-time commitment for some, but I find it reasonable. On the other hand, I observe that most of my clients don’t have that kind of time when they are starting out. I always have people begin with a small step and a little bit of time and build from there.

Relax about fitness and take the feedback your body and your life are giving you. If you are struggling, try an adjustment and see how it goes. Be easy and let yourself and your body off the hook.

Cinder Ernst, Medical Exercise Specialist and Life Coach Extraordinaire, helps reluctant exercisers get moving with safe, effective and fun programs. Her book, “Easy Fitness for the Reluctant Exerciser” (http:// cinderernst.com/easy-fitness-book/), is available in paperback and eBook.

She specializes in fitness and rehab for plus-size clients, but her stressfree approach is suitable for all. Find out more at cinderernst.com

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

JANUARY 25, 2018

31

COMING UP

Compiled by Blake Dillon

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS sfbaytimes.com

25 : Thursday Covered California Drop-In @ Strut, 1-A First Floor Conference Rm., 470 Castro Street. Certified enrollment counselors will be available to answer general or specific questions. 4–6pm. strutsf.org Toast the Nominees @ suiGENERIS, 2231 Market Street. Academy of Friends supporters will host a cocktail gala and provide information on the upcoming 38th Annual Academy of Friends Gala. 6:308:30pm. academyoffriends.org Frameline Encore Film: Pushing Dead - An AIDS Comedy @ Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street. The film, a Framline40 award winner, is an AIDS comedy presenting the story, complete

with pathos and black humor, of an HIV positive writer dealing with the tribulations of being a longtime HIV survivor struggling against the healthcare bureaucracy. 7pm. frameline.org Ricky Gervais @ The Masonic, 1111 California Street. The awardwinning British comedian will return to San Francisco to present Humanity, his first stand-up show in seven years. 7:30pm. sfmasonic.com The Laramie Project @ Palo Alto Players-Peninsula Center Stage, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Palo Alto Players continues its season with the powerful drama based on the murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998. A “Talkback” post

show discussion is included. Continues through February 4. paplayers.org Rent: The 20th Anniversary Tour @ San Jose Center for Performing Arts, 255 S. Almaden Boulevard, San Jose. Inspired by Puccini’s La Boheme, Rent is considered one of the most important musicals ever produced. The story follows a band of bohemians who are struggling to keep their heads above water. 7:30pm. Additional times and dates through January 28. san-jose-theater.com Marga Gomez’s Latin Standards @ Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th Street. Gomez will present the final performance of her original work that is based on a personal story that mixes nostalgia, urgency and comic edge.

Continues through January 28. brava.org 17th Annual SF Comedy Festival: SF Sketchfest @ Multiple venues. The 17-day festival will present over 700 performances, including those of major comedy stars and up-and-coming comedians as well, from around the world. Highlights include a tribute to Jane Lynch and presentations

by Dan Savage, Cameron Esposito, Rhea Butcher, Peaches Christ and many more.

Continues through January 28. sfsketchfest.com Man of La Mancha @ The Custom Made Theatre Company, 533 Sutter Street.

The Tony Award-winning adaptation of Cervantes’ classic story will be presented on the company’s intimate stage near Union Square. Continues Thursdays-Saturdays through February 17. custommade.org An Enemy of the People @ Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley.

Actors Ensemble will present Ibsen’s parable about the costs of truth, featuring a town in denial of an environmental disaster. Continues through January 27. aeofberkeley.org

32

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

26 : Friday Conversations with Gay Elders @ Oakland Marriott Civic Center, 12th Street. Filmmaker David Weissman (The Cockettes,We Were Here) will host a screening of his latest project and conversation with featured artist Daniel Maloney of the Martha Graham Dance Project in the 1970s. 6pm. californiaptcc.com 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 MECCA 2.0 Happy Hour @ Finn Town, 2251 Market Street.

The monthly networking happy hour for women returns at a new venue. 6:30pm. MECCA 2.0 on Facebook.

Sweat & Spunk - Plays Based on Zora Neale Hurston’s Short Stories @ Black Repertory Group’s Cultural Arts Center, 3201 Adeline Street, Berkeley.

The Sweat & Spunk series will present theatrical adaptations of Hurston stories celebrating the Birel L. Vaughn Theater’s 54th Season.

8pm. Continues through January 27. blackrepertorygroup.com Megabytes! The Musical @ Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter Street. A world premiere musical comedy revue by Morris Bobrow on the frustrations, annoyances and occasional joys of tech. 8pm through March 3. goldstar.com

27 : Saturday Mind, Body and Soul @ Oakland City Center Marriott, 12th Street. The event features speakers and workshops designed to support the health and wellness of the Bay Area’s diverse gay communities, addressing topics such as relationships and intimacy, building a spiritual foundation, increasing safe sexual pleasure and more. 9am–5pm. californiaptc.com Harvey Milk Plaza Design Meeting @ Most Holy Redeemer Parish Hall, 100 Diamond Street.

Open discussion meetings with Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza leaders and the design team for community feedback. 3–4:30pm. friendsofharveymilkplaza.org Blame Sally @ Berger Center, 6519 Meadowridge Drive, Santa Rosa. Sponsored by Oakmont Rainbow Women, the concert features a group of four talented singer/songwriters who are beloved among women in the Bay Area’s LGBT community. 7pm. oakmontrainbowwomen@gmail.com Men’s Mocktail Party @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue. Hosted by Milan Christopher of Love & HipHop Hollywood, the event features local artists and DJs. Virgin Happy Hour 5–7pm and Party 7–11pm.

Meow Meow in Concert with Thomas Lauderdale @ Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue. Accompanied by Pink Martini founder Lauderdale, the chanteuse will light up the stage at Davies with a century-spanning song list. 8pm. sfsymphony.org

28 : Sunday Sunday’s A Drag @ The Starlight Room, Powell Street. Hosted by Donna Sachet, the event features a brunch and a troupe of entertainers. It is described as “The Greatest Drag Show in San Francisco.”

Two shows every Sunday at 11am and 2pm. starlightroomsf.com MAX SF Launch Party @ The Academy, 2166 Market Street.

MAX SF’s event for men 40+ returns anew with this event, limited to 100 attendees, to introduce plans for trips, partnerships, gatherings and more. 3-6pm. masxf.org The Waiting Period @ The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia Street. Brian Copeland’s awardwinning work addressing his struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts. 5:30pm Sundays through March 4. themarsh.org Drag Me Along Tours with Faux Countess Lola Montez @ Portsmouth Square’s Goddess of Democracy Statue departure point.

“The Countess,” who is a San Francisco resident and tour guide (aka Rick Shelton), will present a 2.5

hour walking tour of favorite places while sharing stories of the Barbary Coast, the Gold Rush plus additional tales and lore. 11am every Sunday. dragmealongtours.com

29 : Monday Author Talk: Red Diaper Daughter, Three Generations of Rebels and Revolutionaries @ Folio Books, 3957 24th Street.

Author Laura Bock will read and tell stories from her new memoir, Red Diaper Daughter. 7–8:30pm. foliosf.com CA Conversations: Leading the Way on HIV Decriminalization @ SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market Street.

Moderated by Positive Women’s Network’s Naina Knanna, the event includes discussion of recent changes to California’s HIV criminalization laws. lambdalega.org

30 : Tuesday The 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 relationship and more. 4-5:30pm every Tuesday. strutsf.org NARAL Pro-Choice America Forum for Choice @ SOMArts, 934 Brannan. Four leading Democratic candidates for governor will discuss their positions on reproductive freedom and health care. 6-8pm. prochoicecalifornia.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, alcohol and scent free space for transformative collective self-care with the LGBTQIA2S and Authentic Ally community. 7pm on Tuesdays. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org

31 : Wednesday Tapata Trivia Round UP! @ Wild Side West, 424 Courtland Avenue. Kit Tapata hosts the weeklyon-Wednesdays trivia competition mixed with music and live improv at the popular Bernal Heights location. 7–9pm. tapatatwins.com Turning Into A Butterfly Zachary Ostroff & Scott Amendola with Special Guests Julie Wolf and Vicki Randle @ The Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Avenue, Albany. A show featuring the heartfelt music of Ostroff and Amendola on stage with the Bay Area’s own Wolf and Randle. 8pm. ivyroom.com

1 : Thursday 20th SF Independent Film Festival @ Roxie Theater, Victoria Theater and 518 Gallery. SF IndieFest celebrates two decades of presenting independent films and digital programs from around the world. Continues through February 15. sfindie.com Castro Art Walk @ Multiple Castro locations with music in Jane Warner Plaza. Sponsored by Castro Merchants Association, the Castro Art Walk is a monthly event on first Thursdays when participating businesses extend their hours, host special events and share artwork with the neighborhood.

6–9pm. castroartwwalk.com

Death of a Salesman @ Novato Theater Company, 5420 Nave Drive, Novato. Arthur Miller’s classic, directed by Carl Jordan and produced

by Candace Brown, continues at the Novato Theater Company. Through February 18. novatotheatercompany.org

2 : Friday MAX SF’s Monthly TGIF @ St. Regis Hotel, 125 3rd Street.

The monthly first Friday networking event for men. 5:30-8:30pm. maxsf.org EBabes TGIF @ The Terrace Room, 1800 Madison Street, Oakland. The longstanding TGIF networking event for women returns for its first Friday TGIF hosted by Jennifer Jones and more. 6pm.

510-5290-5147.

Friday Music Video Party Night @ White Horse Bar, 6551 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland. A video music party every Friday night at the historic White Horse in Oakland.

9pm–2am. whitehorsebar.com

3 : Saturday 7th Annual Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirit Powwow @ Fort Mason, Festival Pavilion. The annual event welcomes all and features contests for dancers and drummers. 10am–6pm.

BAAITS.org 10:30am-12:30pm.

415-417-3503

sation topic will be “San Francisco Black LGBT Leadership History.”

6:30–8pm. lookoutsf.com 40 Plus Men’s Group @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland.

A new monthly (1st Monday) multiethnic support group for men 40 and over. 7–8:30pm. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org Munros Weekly Drag Show Launch @ Midnight Sun, 4067 18th Street. A new drag event billed as a drag show RDR AS3 Ru-view.

9pm–2am. midnightsunsf.com

6 : Tuesday Queer Youth Meal Night @ SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market Street. For LGBTQ youth 18– 24, the event provides networking with community service providers from LYRIC, Larkin Street, HRTC and Street Soccer USA plus dropin mental health services. 5pm on Tuesdays. sfcenter.org Sally Yates @ City Arts & Lectures, 275 Hayes Street. The former Deputy Attorney General in the Obama administration and Acting Attorney General, Yates will appear in conversation with Jeffrey Tobin. 7:30–9pm. cityboxoffice.com

Country Nights Women’s Partner Dancing @ Lake Merritt Dance Center, 1st Floor Lounge, 200 Grand Avenue, Oakland. First Saturdays Women’s partner dancing and lessons. 7pm on First Saturdays.

Lesson; 8pm Dancing. countrynightsdance.com

Grab ‘Em By The Songs @ The Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland. The monthly first Tuesday event features women songwriters from the Bay Area preforming songs in the round including event host Kim Lembo, Paige Clem and Audrey Howard. 7:30–10:30pm. uptownnightclub.com

4 : Sunday

7 : Wednesday

2018 Two Spirit Brunch @ Native American Health Center, 160 Capp Street. The event includes coffee, breakfast and the opportunity to socialize. 2018 Two Spirit Brunch on Facebook.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day @ Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition. 9am. Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition. BRC on Facebook.

Sunday’s A Drag @ The Starlight Room, Powell Street. Hosted by Donna Sachet, the event features a brunch and a troupe of entertainers. It is described as “The Greatest Drag Show in San Francisco.” Two shows every Sunday at 11am and 2pm. starlightroomsf.com Dancing With The Queers @ Lake Merritt Dance Center, 200 Grand Avenue, Oakland. Ballroom and Latin lessons with a four-week series in various styles beginning on the first Sunday of the month.

12noon–2pm. sundancesaloon.org Belle Bottoms Presents Valentines @ Martuni’s, 4 Valencia Street. A Valentine’s show for all, even the sad, the lonely and those overthrowing the patriarchy.

7–8:30pm. missbellbotoms.com

5 : Monday Trumpocracy: The Corruption of American Democracy @ Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero. Conservative author David Frum will discuss his new book, Trumpocracy, and how he thinks President Trump has weakened the Oval Office and could push America toward illiberalism. Noon. commonwealthclub.org Sacred Cocktails @ The Lookout Bar, 16th and Market Streets.

This month’s First Monday conver-

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street @ The Stage Theater, 490 South 1st Street, San Jose. Stephen Sondheim’s classic presented for Valentine’s with the unique style of The Stage. Through March 18. thestage.org

8 : Thursday Diane Amos and Friends @ Black History Month Comedy Night, Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center, 1317 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley. Known as The Pine Sol Lady for having starred in their commercials for more than 20 years, Amos, the daughter of a pair of lesbian mothers, will be joined

by Donald Lacy, Tim Jackson, Valerie Vernale, and Lisa Geduldig. 8pm. ashkenaz.com Durst Case Scenario @ The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. Political comedian Will Durst’s solo show analyzes where America and society stand postelection. Also on February 9 and 10 at The March San Francisco. themarsh.org Gayface (Queer Vibezzzzzz) @ El Rio,3158 Mission @ Cesar Chavez. Happening in the venue’s Front Room with tunes by a local DJ, the event is a queer gathering held every Thursday. 9pm–2am. elriosf.com S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

JANUARY 25, 2018

33

Imperial Court Ball 2018 - Heroes for Asylum

Photos by Rink

San Francisco Imperial Court’s Heroes for Asylum Ball 2018, hosted by Emperor Nic Hunter and Empress Mercedez Munro, was held on Saturday, January 20, at Halcyon. Funds raised at the superhero costume-themed event will benefit the LGBT Asylum Project that provides pro-bono legal representation for LGBT immigrants fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in the U.S. Among those speaking on behalf of the Asylum Project was board member Adam Sandel who is a well-known journalist, playwright and screenwriter.

SISTER DANA (continued from page 26) with much deserved pomp and circumstance. We look forward to a teaser of the documentary as soon as funds allow. Their goal is to raise $25,000 by the end of the year from committed donors who can give $1,000 or more. With that money, they will then produce a short film or trailer that will become the centerpiece of a much broader, more community-based fundraising effort.

Sister Dana sez, “How absurd is it when Congress has to vote whether or not to shut down the government?! Meanwhile here’s what’s happening in our town.”

Experience the true spirit of Mardi Gras with San Francisco’s KREWE DE KINQUE Mardi Gras club! Our annual BAL MASQUE, with the theme “Flight 420,” will be held at the spectacular Castro nightclub The Café (Market at Castro) on Saturday, February 10. (See Founder Gary Virginia’s piece on page 21.) Expect wild costumes, outrageous performances, regal Kings & Queens, and sexy shenanigans by the West Coast’s authentic krewe! Our traditional Second Line Parade at 7 pm will be led by Celebrity Grand Marshal Mark Leno. And the National Anthem will be played by KDK Member & Trumpeter Aaron Priskorn. Costumes, masks, and beads encouraged. Laissez les bons temps rouler! is French for “Let the good times roll!” Proceeds benefit Larkin Street Youth Services. Since 1984, Larkin Street Youth Services has reached over 75,000 young people, ages 12 to 24, through a range of services including outreach, shelter, housing, health, wellness, education, and employment. Tickets and info at mardigrassf.brownpapertickets.com

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ ANSWER (Question on pg 21) D) Cyndi Lauper Kinky Boots, the Broadway smash hit based on a 2005 British film of the same name, is the lovechild of community ally Cyndi Lauper and theatre legend Harvey Fierstein. Crediting her own sister’s lesbianism as the source of her passion for equality, Lauper founded the True Colors Fund in 2008 to work toward ending LGBTQ youth homelessness.

34

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

JA NUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

ANGELA DAVIS: OUT SPOKEN is a new exhibition at the GLBT HISTORY MUSEUM drawing on rare posters and ephemera from a private collection highlighting the journey of black lesbian activist Angela Davis: from radical scholar, to political prisoner, to revolutionary icon, to public intellectual. Curated by collector Lisbet Tellefsen and historian Amy Sueyoshi, “Angela Davis: OUTspoken” considers some of the roles Davis has played in the American political imaginary and explores the complexity and impact of her life across nearly half a century. Reception at 4127 18th Street is on February 9 at 9 pm. glbthistory.org 2019 marks the 35th edition of the BARE CHEST CALENDAR. Finalists will complete their second challenge and show off for the judges at POWERHOUSE PRELIM #1. To date, 400 men have appeared on the pages of the Calendar and this year BCC is looking for 12 or more to represent the final print edition of the calendar. The Bare Chest Calendar and Team BCC exist for one purpose—to raise vital funds that support the missions of its beneficiary, PRC and its program, AIDS Emergency Fund. Come support the contestants on February 1, 8–11 pm at Powerhouse, 1347 Folsom Street. barechest.org Sister Dana sez, “Thank you to all the hundreds of thousands of spirited demonstrators in the National Women’s March.

Way to set the tone for 2018!”

Round About - All Over Town

Photos by Rink

Cyclists Robert Garcia and Gavin James offered their services on January 13 as bike washers to raise funds for AIDS LifeCycle 2018.

Family Dog Rescue volunteers with adoptable pups on January 13 at 18th and Castro Streets.

Cyclist Steve Pade peddled at Jane Warner Plaza on January 13 to raise funds to support AIDS relief in Zambia and the Zambia AIDS Ride.

Signs posted at 18th and Castro Streets announced the Bike Wash organized to support the AIDS LifeCycle 2018.

A host of Sundance Saloon dancers at Jane Warner Plaza on January 13.

The sign used by Steve Pade to promote his efforts to raise funds for AIDS relief in Zambia

Educator David Smith was on hand to sign up voters on January 13 at 18th and Castro Streets to promote support for a parcel tax petition to raise salaries and obtain funding for schools.

Grand Duke Madd Dogg 20/20 (left) with Bebe Sweetbriar and Grand Duchess Miss Mashuga at the Imperial Court benefit at Beaux lounge on January 13.

Sundance Saloon dancers at Jane Warner Plaza demonstrated their moves and promoted their upcoming dance classes.

Sundance Saloon members enjoyed the music and dancing presented on Saturday, January 13, at Jane Warner Plaza.

Goethe Institute director Sigrid Savelsberg and Berlin & Beyond Film Festival director Sophoan Sorn at a press conference announcing the annual festival to be held February 9–15.

An appreciative crowd applauded the performance of dancer Angelina at the Art Saves Lives show opening.

Dancer Angelina performed for a large audience at the Art Saves Live show that opened on January 12.

Sparks Arts Gallery co-owner Angie Sticher displayed cut paper designs, by artist Zhang Laoying, created to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Artist Elliott C. Nathan welcomed Art Saves Lives participants to view his work during the show opening.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation's (AHF’s) Helani Hodge (left) with bartender Hugh Hutchinson at the Arts Saves Lives show that opened on January 12.

Gallery coordinator Thomasina DeMaio and artist Mark LeGrand Trotter whose work was on display at the Art Saves Lives show that opened on January 12.

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

JANUARY 25, 2018

35