San Francisco Bay Times - March 8, 2018

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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area

CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2018) March 8–21, 2018 | sfbaytimes.com

MARCH 16, 2018 • HYATT REGENCY SAN FRANCISCO GGBA SPECIAL SECTION: PAGES 15–18

In the News Compiled by Dennis McMillan Gays Against Guns Launches San Francisco Chapter Gays Against Guns (GAG) is an inclusive direct-action group of LGBTQ people and their allies who are committed to nonviolently breaking what the founders say is “the gun industry’s chain of death—investors, manufacturers, the NRA and politicians who block safer gun laws.” The group is based in New York, but chapters have been established in other cities, and interest in the effort continues to grow. GAG will be holding a meeting on Thursday, March 8, from 6–8 pm at MCC San Francisco, 1300 Polk Street, to launch the San Francisco Chapter. According to the event announcement, “GAG chapters work in other cities to ensure safety for all individuals, particularly vulnerable communities such as people of color, women, people who struggle with mental health issues, LGBTQ people and religious minorities. GAG condemns white supremacy, all instances of excessive force by police, and police militarization.” The chapter is forming ahead of “March for Our Lives,” a gun control rally that will be held in cities across the country on March 24. gaysagainstguns.net California’s Sanctuary Policies Under Federal Attack At a speech given on March 7 at the California Peace Officers Association’s annual meeting in Sacramento, Attorney General Jeff Sessions criticized California’s sanctuary policies, which help to protect the state’s estimated over 2.3 million undocumented immigrants. Sessions said, “California, absolutely, appears to me, is using every power it has—powers it doesn’t have—to frustrate federal law enforcement. So, you can be sure I’m going to use every power I have to stop them.” He specifically mentioned Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s decision to warn her constituents last month about an impending raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He alleged that her announcement prevented the arrest of 800 illegal immigrants and put ICE agents in danger. The Justice Department’s lawsuit, however, focuses on three California laws: Assembly Bill 450, Assembly Bill 103 and Senate Bill 54. Before Sessions’ speech, hundreds gathered in Sacramento to protest the federal stance on immigration matters, and to support immigrant rights. The participants yelled out chants such as “Sí, se puede;” “Stand up, fight back;” and “No justice, no peace.” The protest, called “Stand Up for Immigrants,” was organized by the Black Young Democrats of Sacramento, Latinx Young Democrats of Sacramento County, Fem Dems of Sacramento and several other organizations.

Debate Rages Over Immigrant ‘D rea mer s,’ I nc lud i n g t he 75,000-Plus Who Are LGBT On February 26, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a federal judge’s order that the Trump administration continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that was previously set to end on March 5. The denial leaves in place DACA for now, but the debate over the fate of DACA recipients— including Dreamers—and other illegal immigrants has been affecting many in the Bay Area. Federal immigration officials recently concluded a days-long sweep of Northern California, with ICE reporting the arrests of at least 232 people. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s warning prior to the ICE actions triggered a firestorm of controversy and review by the Department of Justice. Other Bay Area mayors, such as Gabriel Quin-

to of El Cerrito, who is an out member of our LGBT community, also reaffirmed the state’s sanctuary bill, SB 54. On February 28, hundreds of activists held an “emergency rally” outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in San Francisco, demanding an end to the ICE raids and calling for support of immigrants’ rights. According to The Williams Institute of the UCLA School of Law, there are over 75,000 LGBT Dreamers in the U.S. Of that number, over 36,000 have participated in DACA. The vast majority of these LGBT DACA participants live in California, Texas, Illinois, New York and Florida. williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu San Francisco Establishes 24Hour Multilingual Hotline in Response to ICE Actions In collaboration with communitybased organizations, the City of San Francisco has established a 24-hour multilingual rapid response hotline to respond to the heightened enforcement actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Individuals facing enforcement activities and those who are in need of immediate assistance are asked to call the San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network hotline at 415-2001548. For all other legal immigration services, contact the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs at 415-581-2360. sfgov.org Former SF Gay Bar Turned into $5.9 Single-Family Home In 1969, the Lion Pub was established in Pacific Heights at 2062 Divisidero. It evolved to become a gay bar for a large portion of its history, particularly drawing the male leather community. The location made it all the more important, as it provided LGBT men with a gathering place outside of other more established gay neighborhoods and active nightlife spots such as Polk Street, South of Market and the Castro. The Lion Pub closed in 2016, with many wondering what might happen to the beloved bar, which is still on Google reviews. (“An eclectic crowd warms up by this bar’s fireplace with cocktails featuring freshly squeezed juices.”)

The circa-1900 Victorian has since been transformed into a contemporary, single-family residence with an asking price of $5.9 million. Because the new home took over an additional space, the address is now 2060 Divisidero. Photos and more information about the property are at a Paragon Real Estate Group website (http:// www.2060divisadero.com/). sf.curbed.com GLAAD Calls for Increased and Accurate Media Coverage of Transgender Murders GLAAD is calling on the media to report on the brutal violence perpetrated against transgender people, particularly transgender women of color. With violence against transgender people at an all-time high and rising, GLAAD finds national media coverage is severely lacking.

“The media must do a better job of reporting these murders and bringing needed attention to a community under vicious and violent attack,” says MJ Okma, Associate Director of News & Rapid Response for GLAAD. “In order for people to be aware of the horrific violence affecting the community, the public needs to know it is happening. The media has a responsibility to communicate about the deadly realities faced (continued on page 30) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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Prioritizing Funding for Homeless Services in matching grants to help local leaders curb homelessness. Pooling state and local money together will result in $3 billion in funding to provide more beds and to augment services to get as many people off the streets as possible.

Assemblymember Phil Ting Homelessness has reached crisis levels in our state. The latest federal numbers show California’s homeless population has surged to 134,278. Closer to home, San Francisco’s count has reached nearly 7,500.

Some groups are particularly vulnerable to homelessness, including the LGBT community. An estimated 14% of the city’s population identify as gay, lesbian, queer or transgender.

Yet, 30% of the homeless identify as LGBT. We need to step up our efforts to address this issue.

I’m proud to have stood with the mayors of the state’s eleven largest cities recently, including the mayors of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland, to introduce Assembly Bill 3171, which will allocate up to $1.5 billion

This prioritization of funding for homeless services comes on the heels of what the Legislature accomplished last year. As Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, I fight to ensure San Francisco receives its fair share of funding in the state budget for homeless services. I was excited to join Mayor Mark Farrell and the Board of Supervisors last month to announce $10 million to open two new Navigation Centers in the next few weeks.

One will be located in the Bayview/ Potrero Hill neighborhood; the other will serve the Mission and Bernal Heights.

These facilities have had great success in the last couple of years. Unlike traditional shelters, clients can bring pets and belongings. Once inside, they receive lasting social services connections, such as those pertaining to healthcare, job search and more permanent housing. I recently met a gentleman named “John” who had been homeless since 1999. He was accepted into a Navigation Center last year, and he now lives in permanent housing. John’s face lit up as

he told me about the prospects of his next step: finding a job. It’s great to hear stories like that and to see how our investment works.

I also worked to secure $10 million for our state’s homeless youth during last year’s budget process. According to Chapin Hall, a University of Chicago research and policy center, LGBT young people ages 13 to 25 are 120 percent more likely to become homeless than their straight peers. The state’s Office of Emergency Services has already begun approving grants, which will fund housing and programming to those who are homeless and under the age of 24. The hope is to stabilize them so that they can begin their journey toward independence.

With such momentum, we can’t stop now. I look forward to working with the Governor and my colleagues in the Legislature to continue fighting for more funding this legislative session so that all of our local communities have more resources to respond to this urgent matter.

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

Calling on the Warriors to Pay Their Debt ing to news reports, the Golden State Warriors are threatening not to pay $40 million of the outstanding bond debt on the Oakland Arena. This is the cost that the Warriors had promised to pay in order to make upgrades to the Arena at their request.

Affordable Homes for Sale in San Francisco Out of the Closet and into City Hall Oakland City Councilmember At-Large, Rebecca Kaplan

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My hope is that instead of having this strife, we can unite together, as we are warriors to protect all of our community.

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

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

Queers Against Islamophobia The Third Muslim Exhibit at SOMA Gallery Photos by Rink and Paul Margolis

Applications will be accepted beginning March 1st and must be received by 5pm on Thursday, April 12th, 2018 to:

All BMR Application and qualification questions should be directed to one of the five housing counseling agencies listed here: homeownershipsf.org/workshops or to HomeownershipSF at info@homeownershipsf.org or 415.202.5464.

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Please contact 415.701.5613 for more information about the COP Program.

I’ve also asked that they search their hearts to act in a positive and uplifting manner, to still believe in “strength in numbers” and upholding their reputation of community service, and to promise to fully pay the debt on the Arena.

An art installation entitled “The Third Muslim: Queer and Trans Muslim Narratives of Resistance and Resilience,” was a highlight among recent exhibits. Providing a look at the world of queer, trans and gender non-conforming Muslims, the show was currated by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Yas Ahmed to prompt consideration of the intersections of Islamophobia, gender-based oppression, racism and patriarchy. San Francisco Bay Times photographers Rink and Paul Margolis were on hand to capture images from a reception held at SOMAR Gallery on February 7.

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

100% OF MEDIAN INCOME 2017

That is why I wrote a letter to the Golden State Warriors, urging them to drop their efforts to avoid paying $40 million of their debt. Accord-

As we work hard to provide for public needs, remedy our homeless crisis, crack down on illegal dumping, and more, to be faced with tens of millions of dollars of cuts would be unjust, unacceptable, and would cause harmful cuts in vital public services

PHOTO BY RINK

HOUSEHOLD SIZE

As Oakland’s city-wide elected Councilmember, I seek to serve and protect the needs of all the people of Oakland. This includes the importance of protecting our public from potentially devastating cuts to public services.

In my letter, I hoped to appeal to the Warriors’ knowledge of the long history of Oakland and Alameda County’s commitment to the Warriors for many years, even when the Warriors were not a championship team, and Oakland’s extensive work to help support and celebrate the victories.

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

This threatens Oakland and Alameda County taxpayers, who would then be left to foot the Warriors bill. The Warriors have already announced that they are moving to the Chase Center, a new facility being built in San Francisco. While the move on its own will cause economic harm and job loss to Oakland and Alameda County, and traffic congestion and difficulty for hospital patients for San Francisco, my concerns were regarding the even greater harmful effects that the people of Oakland and Alameda County would endure, should they be forced to cover this debt.

for the people of Oakland and Alameda County.

Gen Z Is Taking Down Barriers to Gun Control

Andrea Shorter As much as I love my home here in San Francisco, at heart I will always be a Hoosier from Indiana. As a Hoosier, I love that as a kid in Indiana, the Jackson 5 shot a rocket out from Gary to the Motor City to take over the radio airwaves as well as Soul Train, American Bandstand, and eventually Saturday morning cartoons with their big afros, striped bell bottoms, and signature pop songs that still make you jump up at 50 plus years old and bust into those synchronized dance moves to “ABC” and “I Want You Back.”

As a young, Black kid, it would be expected that I was a huge Jackson 5 fan. No surprises there. It might be of surprise that I am also a fan of another Indiana native who took over the Top Ten a few years later down the road: John Mellencamp. That’s right. John Mellencamp of “Jack and Diane,” “Little Pink Houses,” and “Hurts So Good.” It wasn’t easy being one of a handful, and I do mean a handful, of queer black kids who liked those soulful twangy homages to the Heartland, but I managed.

A few days ago, while driving, I managed to tear myself away from addictive Teri Gross on NPR to dial up a classic rock station, which was playing Mellencamp’s “Crumblin’ Down.”

“When the walls come tumblin’ down, when walls come crumblin’, crumblin’, tumblin’, tumblin’ dowwwwn.”

There woefully remains campaign rally rousing big talk about building a “huge wall” to protect us from more brown people from down Mexico way. Trumped up charges against these immigrant subjects in the name of national security, and economic remedy (i.e., “they’re taking our jobs”) are fed as red meat to red state-of-mind followers. Erecting an impenetrable barrier to keep the described undesirable and undeserved out of the promised land draws the imagination to wonder just what kind of physical monstrosity of steel, stone, and electrical current is to be built.

Who knows how it should, if ever, be constructed. Does it really matter?

It’s not the intimidating physicality of the infamous wall that might capture and satisfy some imaginations, so much as what the idea of a huge wall might truly represent and reveal.

Embedded in the proposition of a behemoth material barrier is an expression of existential crisis. In one way or another, how we see ourselves, our purpose, reason for existing, and our values as a people extends to this ridiculously huge wall idea. For some, such a wall is a basic prescriptive utility that marks and safeguards sovereign turf from threat of intrusive or incursive foreign elements, preventing the unwelcome entry of huddled masses presupposed not to share our values, or which adds value to some idealized way of nativist being.

To many others, the wall is little more than an artifice of a mean-spirited notion—ultimately publicly funded

and not by Mexico—serving as a monument to its self-aggrandizing, narcissistic instigator. If there is any way to have it branded with “TRUMP” in tacky glowing lights you can see from the moon, he is surely scheming to make that happen in between tweeting, associate indictments, and mass departures of administration personal.

However one views this offensive huge wall, it remains a relentless top priority amidst denial and refusal to respond to the very real threat of cyber-warfare declared on the sanctity of what should be our most protected democratic stronghold: the right to free elections without interference or disruption by a primary foreign adversary. Here’s an idea: let’s build impenetrable protective walls against those intrusions.

I’ve managed to see the new Marvel blockbuster powerhouse Black Panther three times now. Beyond the muchdeserved hype surrounding its release and herald of cultural import during Black History Month, a fascinating aspect of this fictional, yet dead-on, social commentary concerns the complex (as far as complex can be presented in a Marvel Comic serial) relationships between a number of very present isms: isolationism, nationalism, racism, colonialism, and globalism. With ample cause and reason for the albeit fictional African nation of Wakanda to remain in fortressed isolationism, threatening forces beyond its protective borders cause a reckoning with what it could mean to the evolution of humankind by becoming an underrated, yet real, global leader by sharing its most precious resources to build bridges between communities, rather than walls.

Similar themes run through DC Comic’s classic Wonder Woman. Amazon Warrior Diana Prince’s venture beyond the once impenetrable borders of her ultra-feminist utopia also brings to fore similarly complex relationships between self-preserving isolationism and responsibilities to the global causes of saving or advancing humanity. In all great comic serials, the chief protagonist essentially faces an existential crisis about their place and purpose as a meta-human, or amazing advanced hi-tech aided avenger savior/protector of the deserving from less deserving villains in a calamitous world of helpless and flawed mortal men.

While we await the building of an actual southern border wall, by one non-meta human heroic act after another, longtime erected walls appear to be crumbling down before our very eyes. Stepping into this month’s celebration of women’s history, the walls containing the shame, fury, and menace of sexual harassment are being dismantled through the persistent #MeToo movement.

In the wake of the latest mass shooting and slaughter of 17 high school students in Parkland, Florida, a youth uprising is organizing to demolish the walls that have too long held us all hostage from serious, sensible, lifesaving gun control laws. There is no reason that anyone of any mental state should have access to military grade weapons of war. The material threat to civilian life that military, semi-automatic weapons of war pose is indeed repeatedly very real and grossly established fact. They should be banned. United States Senator Dianne Feinstein, a longtime champion for the banning of semi-automat-

ic rif les, looks to be at the precipice of a bi-partisan reinstatement and retooling of a much-needed ban on such weapons.

Unless you are a card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association, who knew there were so many companies offering discounts and perks to NRA members? Starting with the First National Bank of Omaha, sector leaders including MetLife, Chubb, Alamo, Enterprise, National, Avis, Hertz, Symantec, and Amazon have joined the growing list of companies cutting ties and discount programs with the NRA. Perhaps we are witnessing the end of the NRA’s might and blustery indignant, willful denials of the dangers posed by the manufacturers and peddlers of the deadly instruments they truly represent. Fewer people are buying their overplayed and hokey “you’ll have to pry this gun from my cold dead hands” protection of the Second Amendment they’d have a fear-induced nation believe is their true cause.

Enter Maya. Maya is a freshman at Crystal Springs Upland High School in Hillsborough, California. She is one of the dozens of Bay Area high school students organizing the upcoming “March for Our Lives” rally in San Francisco’s Civic Center on March 24. I met Maya through inquiries to the Women’s March leaders, and other seasoned organizers assisting the youth leading this local event.

Within an hour, I was introduced to Maya, and we chatted by phone in the morning while she had a break between classes.

When asked what inspired her to activism, she told me that—aside from growing up in a household that regularly discusses current and political events and engaged in Model UN—she is accustomed to being civic minded and was gravely affected by the events in Parkland. What eventually spurred her to action was a tweet describing a 9-year-old girl who asked her mom to buy her new shoes for school. She was afraid that if a shooter came to her elementary school, the lights in Skechers sneaker soles would make it hard for her to hide and would become an easy target for a shooter. “No child should ever have to live in fear of going to school feeling that she has to prepare for the possibilities of being shot and killed. That is unbearable and unacceptable. It’s just not right. We can change that.”

Maya has a firm grasp of the facts, stats, legislation, and other data related to serial mass shootings and civilian deaths involving accessible “weapons of war.” I appreciate how these young people of Generation Z are wading through the dizzying technicalities and deceptive nicknames used to describe semi-automatic rifles, bump stocks, and ammunitions by cutting to the chase: these are indeed weapons of war that have no place in civil society.

This calling out BS approach Maya and other high school students are taking to the streets, into legislative chambers, and the White House is the real deal that seems to be the tip-

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREA SHORTER

Cross Currents

There’s only so much foot tapping you can do with your foot on the gas pedal, so I welcomed this familiar hometown jam with head boppin’ and finger drumming on the steering wheel.

There are so many way, way cooler protest-anthem songs these days— mostly by Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell Williams, and the notoriously profane YG & Nipsey Hussle’s “F- Donald Trump”—to rev up rallies, marches, or just to lift your spirits while driving down Market Street. At that moment, it wasn’t “Roar” or “Run the World,” it was “Crumblin’ Down.”

Maya

ping point towards demolishing the material barriers, namely elected adults’ fear of the NRA lobby or loss of campaign contributions. They are also speaking truth to power to break through existential barriers that dehumanize young lives of all races, sexual orientations, gender identities, places of origin, and social and economic strata by making them moving targets of rapid fire instruments of war on the streets and in what should be the safest environments of all— schools. Is this who we are, or really want to be as a nation?

Gen Z seems to understand fully that guns are material objects that we should regulate and control, and not be controlled by the politics surrounding their access and usage. To them, the useless politics surrounding gun control represents how we value each other, and their rightful destiny as civil citizens in the world.

Maya isn’t the least bit interested in nonsensical propositions, such as arming teachers in the classroom for her protection against machine gun strapped intruders. Like many of her outspoken peers, she’s ready to lead us to real solutions to save real lives.

They are speaking up and organizing like their lives depend on it, because they very well might.

Neither Maya nor other Gen Z resistors are meta-humans equipped with hi-tech suits or magic golden lassos of truth to save the day. Thankfully, they are far better equipped with sheer force of human willful resistance: the urgency of now, standing their ground, not taking no for an answer, and holding a fervent belief that we can and must do better.

As Maya proclaimed at the end of our call, “Watch out politicians. Gen Z is on the way!”

I look forward to meeting Maya in person, and to hearing her speak at the March 24 rally. I sincerely doubt that my Hoosier brethren’s “Crumblin’ Down” will be blaring among the playlist of 21st Century protest anthems, but I do expect to bear witness to the crumbling down of a huge wall at the Skechers-lit feet of these super humane young resistors.

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.

Check out the LGBT Community Events in the Coming Up! Calendar on Pages 28-29 and Online: sfbaytimes.com/events/ 6

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#NeverAgain

By Lyndsey Schlax (Editor’s Note: Teacher Lyndsey Schlax of the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts launched the nation’s first on-site high school LGBT course in 2015. She still offers that groundbreaking class, but is now teaching Ethnic Studies this semester. The two subjects often intersect, so in this column her students share their thoughts about both Ethnic Studies and LGBT-related matters, including their concerns, what they have learned in class and more.

Here, a student shares a thought-provoking piece about the recent school shootings and their aftermath.)

Students nationwide are united in one idea: survival. Although it is not something we should be worried about, this is what the world has come to now. This, of course, does not mean all adolescents want to get rid of guns, or have the same political beliefs, but we all want to live.

No longer are we allowed to go to school and feel safe, at least completely. Mass shootings in the U.S. happen much too often. We live in a country where we do not bat an eye to gun

STUDENT VOICES owning. It has become normalized.

This has to be changed, to at least a degree in which people do not have the power to hurt so many others at once.

There needs to be gun regulation, at least to some degree, if we want the lives of our future generation to be safe. The fact that some people believe arming teachers is the answer infuriates many students at my school.

This is especially confusing when you think about teachers who have mental illnesses. Will they be allowed to have guns? Would they be required to lose their job? It is impossible for me to understand how this concept would be carried out on a nationwide level.

As a student, I know I would feel completely unsafe with my teacher being “armed” at all times. The student who committed the murders in the

Parkland, Florida, shooting is known to have struggled with mental health problems. These obviously had an effect on how he grew up and was treated. Do we allow students like this to continue having easy access to guns?

Change is necessary if we want to protect the young lives of this country and all of its people.

For more information about the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, please visit http://www. sfsota.org/ Lyndsey Schlax has been a teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District since 2008. She is uniquely qualified to address multiple areas of LGBT studies, having also specialized in subjects such as Modern World History, Government, Economics and U.S. Politics. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, and earned her M.A. in Teaching at the University of San Francisco.

Gender Schmear - LGBTQ Purim Party Photos by Paul Margolis

Keshet and Sha’ar Zahav members and friends enjoyed the annual celebration of Purim with a night of dancing, costumes and schmoozing at Chez Poulet restaurant.

(Purim commemorates the saving of the Jews in ancient Persia from the plans of a prime minister known as Haman.

Find out more online (keshetonline. org.) Guests at the party enjoyed the DJs on hand spinning tunes, a drag Purim schpiel by Trixie Lamonte/Ariel Vegosen, fresh hamantaschen pastries, drinks and schmoozing. The event also honored the 40th Anniversary of Congregation Sha’ar Zahav as a diverse Jewish community in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

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The Problem of Physical Inactivity

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be physically inactive than their married counterparts.

STREETCAM presented by

Aging in Community Kaci Fairchild, PhD, ABPP Physical inactivity is a global public health crisis that accounts for nearly 3.2 million deaths annually, or 49,837 deaths each day. To put that in perspective, if physical inactivity were a disease, it would be the third leading cause of global deaths behind heart disease and stroke.

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

1978

Taken in 1978, this photo features Tales of the City acclaimed author Armistead Maupin standing in front of a window display at Paperback Traffic in the Castro. The popular bookstore began at 1501 Polk Street, where it was run by comedian Margaret Cho’s parents, Young-Hie and Seung-Hoon Cho. Another Paperback Traffic opened at 558 Castro Street in 1972 before moving to 535 Castro. Many still fondly remember the stores, including Cho, who spoke about them with the San Francisco Bay Times in an interview a few years ago (sfbaytimes.com/october/).

On this day in 1978, Maupin was the star. There, he read from his book. He was joined by drag entertainer Pristine Condition (left) and legendary NFL football running back David Kopay, who became one of the first professional athletes to come out as gay. Today we might say that Rink’s image captured Maupin’s two friends doing a photo bomb!

Maupin continues to earn admirers. Just last year, he wrapped up a book tour in Europe. His latest work, Logical Family: A Memoir (Harper, 2017), can be found at Dog Eared Books and other local bookstores.

Like Maupin, we strongly urge you to support local bookstores! You can also read more about Maupin and order signed and personalized copies of his books at his website (armisteadmaupin.com).

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In the United States, rates of physical inactivity have decreased slightly over the past eight years. In 2010, approximately 20% of adults met the federal physical activity guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities compared to 22% of adults in 2016. Unfortunately, the prevalence of physical inactivity grows with age as only 15% of adults aged 65– 74 years and 8.7% of adults aged 75 years and older met the federal guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening exercises. Importantly, this reduction in physical activity occurs at a time in life in which the importance of physical activity is heightened.

Older adults have long been encouraged to be physically active. The term “use it or lose it” may sound trite, but the evidence of the importance of physical activity and exercise in successful aging cannot be ignored.

Physical activity and exercise are key to the primary and secondary prevention, as well as the management, of many age-related conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, and cognitive impairment. Recent research has highlighted the potential of physical activity and exercise to prevent or delay development of serious cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. In fact, the American Academy of Neurology updated their practice guidelines to include recommendations for physical activity for those patients atrisk for dementia.

If physical activity is associated with so many positive health outcomes, why aren’t people more active? Rarely is there one reason that fully accounts for a person’s physical activity behavior. Often it is an array of factors that interact with each other to inf luence physical activity behavior.

The rise in physical inactivity can be partially attributed to the co-occurring decrease in leisure-time physical activity behavior and increase in sedentary behavior at work and at home.

Yet while these are important factors to consider when discussing physical inactivity, there are other contributing factors that are particularly salient to older adults that warrant discussion.

Demographic factors such as ethnicity, education, and marital status are associated with physical activity behavior in older adults. Older women tend to be more physically inactive than older men, as do Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks compared to non-Hispanic white and those of other ethnicities. Older adults with less than a secondary education are more likely to be physically inactive compared to those with at least some secondary education, and older adults who aren’t married are more likely to

Older adults also experience physiological changes as part of the aging process that have direct implications on physical activity behavior. For instance, changes throughout the musculoskeletal system reduce a person’s range of motion and mobility as well as limit engagement in weight-bearing exercises. Older adults also experience many age-associated medical conditions that limit physical activity behavior including arthritis, cancer, diabetes, coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and stroke. The detrimental impact of these conditions should not be discounted. Recent research by the CDC found that rates of physically inactivity were 40% higher in older adults who experienced at least one of these medical conditions.

Emotional factors such as depression, isolation, and loneliness also impact physical activity behavior. Older adults are vulnerable to these emotional factors, which in turn can interact with other factors to reduce physical activity. Notably, there are emotional factors that are associated with the positive effects on physical activity behavior, namely self-efficacy and self-regulation. Self-efficacy is a person’s confidence regarding completing a task or achieving a goal, whereas self-regulation is the ability to manage one’s behavior in accordance with the demands of the situation. Older adults who are more confident in their ability to exercise are more likely to be physically active as are those older adults who are better able to set goals and track their progress towards meeting those goals.

Older adults are vulnerable to environmental factors that serve as barriers to exercise engagement. Frequently cited barriers to exercise include the costs associated with gym memberships and exercise classes, access to gyms or senior centers, scarcity of exercise classes suited for older adults, and lack of safe walking paths with available benches or resting spots.

The World Health Organization also highlighted the unique impacts of urbanization on physical activity. Older adults in urban areas may be discouraged from engaging in exercise because of safety concerns related to violence, poor air quality due to pollution, heavy congestion and traffic, and lack of parks, sidewalks, or recreation facilities.

When discussing exercise with patients, the first question I am often asked is: “How much exercise do I really need?” The answer to that question differs for each person, but a great starting point is the federal recommendations that are based on the CDC’s guidelines for physical activity in older adults. These guidelines recommend a minimum of 30 minutes/5 days each week (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 20 minutes/3 days each week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity.

Older adults can also engage in some equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous intensity exercise each week to get similar benefits. In addition to the recommended aerobic exercise, older adults should also engage in at least two days of musclestrengthening exercise, on non-consecutive days, each week, and at least 10 minutes, twice a week, of exercises designed to increase flexibility and maintain or improve balance.

There are several important things to note about these recommended guidelines. First, these guidelines provide recommendations in terms of “moderate” and “vigorous” levels of exercise intensity. Levels of exercise intensity are measures of how hard a person feels like they are working dur-

ing exercise. Each level of exercise intensity has a corresponding heart rate training zone based on a person’s ageadjusted maximum heart rate.

For people who do not have access to a heart rate monitor or do not know their heart rate training zones, an equally effective way of gauging the level of exercise intensity is the “Talk Test.” Using this method, a person is able to sing during low intensity exercise, talk but not sing during moderate intensity exercise, and only manage a few words at a time during vigorous intensity exercise.

Second, for those people who are not physically active, the idea of exercising for 20–30 minutes may be quite daunting. This group should be encouraged to know that aerobic activity need only be performed for at least 10 minutes to obtain the physiological benefits. Thus, for those people who are physically inactive or have limited exercise capacity, the 30 minutes of daily aerobic exercise can be divided into three 10-minute segments each day and still be adequate to meet the recommended amounts of physical activity.

Third, what is moderate intensity exercise for one person may be low intensity exercise for another person or vigorous intensity exercise for someone else. People often overestimate how physically active they are, which can lead to a mismatch in the types of activities and exercises that people think they can do versus what activities people are able to do. People then exercise too much or ramp up their exercise program too quickly, resulting in burnout or even worse, injury or illness.

If you are new to exercise or you have not exercised in some time, you should consult with a physician before beginning any exercise program. A physician can help make adjustments for any health concerns that may impact the ability to engage in exercise.

Also, when beginning any new exercise program, or if you have not been active in a while, you should follow the recommendation to start low and go slow. This conservative approach will protect against potential injury and allow you to build your strength.

The choice to become more physically active is important as it has direct implications on how you will age. In choosing to become more physically active, you are increasing the likelihood of successfully aging.

Dr. Kaci Fairchild is a board-certified Geropsychologist at the Sierra Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center at the VA Palo Alto and a Clinical Associate Professor (Affiliated) of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Fairchild’s research seeks to develop non-pharmacological interventions to prevent or delay the development of late life cognitive impairment. Dr. Fairchild’s research is funded by the VA Office of Research and Development, the Department of Defense, the National Institute on Aging, and the Alzheimer’s Association.

Dr. Marcy Adelman oversees the Aging in Community column. For her summary of current LGBT senior challenges and opportunities, please go to: sf baytimes.com/challenges-and-opportunties

The Power of Being Extraordinarily Ordinary

6/26 and Beyond John Lewis On my f irst day of law school 35 years ago, each member of my small group section of twenty students was asked as part of an ice-breaker exercise to share something interesting about themselves. The first person to speak, a young man named Mark, replied in the most friendly, matter-of-fact, and unselfconscious manner: “I’m a gay rights advocate.”

Mark’s saying those words changed my life. I had not yet come to relate to my own sexuality in an authentic way, but I remember thinking to myself: “I want to get to know him.” I now realize that what I was really thinking was: “I want to get to know myself.”

Mark was the f irst gay person I met who articulated his experience openly. He of fered himself to his classmates as a way to get to know a gay person as a peer in a welcoming way—something that was not that common 35 years ago.

We soon became close friends, as we remain to this day, and Mark was the first person to whom I came out. Mark’s quiet conf idence and willingness to take a risk—indeed, the very ordinariness with which he presented himself and his activism—made all the difference to me.

Ironically, as I watched new gay superstars Adam Rippon and Gus Kenworthy take the world by storm at the Olympics, I found myself thinking about what Mark did 35 years ago.

Amidst the wild media frenzy and their extraordinary athletic performances, and even Rippon’s oversized personality, what struck me most about Rippon and Kenworthy was how ordinary—and quintessentially fabulous—they were as gay men.

Rippon and Kenworthy seem like people I could imagine hanging out or sassing it up with at a bar or at a

party. In addition to Kenworthy’s wonderful, televised kiss with his boyfriend at the end of his ski competition, Kenworthy and Rippon did not shy away from hugging each other and physically demonstrating their affection for each other as gay friends. They didn’t try to control their gestures, intonation, playful joking, or choice of words. In a Washington Post interview, Kenworthy responded to something Rippon had just said, “Aw, good, the Whitney’s on!” invoking gay icon Whitney Houston, assuming (and seemingly not caring) whether the non-gay component of the audience would get the joke.

I loved how Rippon quipped to reporters that he didn’t want to be just “America’s gay sweetheart,” but “America’s sweetheart,” pure and simple. Rippon’s performance on the ice was gender bending as well with his signature “layback spin,” the most recognizable image of women’s f igure skating.

The f irst time I heard Rippon interviewed shortly before the Olympics, I remember saying to Stuart, “Wow—he’s the real thing. He’s not trying to fake it or pretend at all.” On NBC’s Today show, Rippon explained, “I came here being authentically myself and sharing my story and being gay is part of that.”

But Rippon and Kenworthy didn’t just joke around in their interviews. They articulated the struggles that they faced as a result of being gay. In particular, Kenworthy described how, four years ago at the Sochi Olympics, “I was very much in the closet and very much ashamed of who I was, and I actually didn’t get to appreciate the medal that I won because of that.”

Both men spoke of the pressure they felt to be at their very best when they came out, perhaps ref lecting the enduring relevance of the “Best Little Boy in the World” hypothesis, which posits that some gay men compete to achieve extremely high external success in response to their lacking healthy internal self-worth because of societal homophobia.

Kenworthy told The Washington Post: “When I came out, I felt like I needed to be the best, because that was what I thought it would take to be accepted. No one can

talk s--- on you if you’re the No. 1 ranked in the world ... so I made sure that the season before I came out, I was the No. 1-ranked guy in the world.” Rippon continued, “I actually feel exactly the same, where I made sure that when I came out, I was skating very well, so that I would be taken seriously.” Both men talked about the psychological pain, stress, and exhaustion of being in the closet and the power, joy, and ease they have felt now that they are out.

Perhaps most importantly, Rippon articulated on the Today show what I perceive both he and Kenworthy embody: “It’s important that if you are given the platform, to speak up for those who don’t have a voice.” As young, accomplished, attractive, charming, clever, and articulate white men, they have more of a voice than many others—and they appear to want to use it for everyone.

Rippon was fearless when he told the Today show: “I feel that Mike Pence does not stand for anything I was taught when I grew up.”

Kenworthy, speaking of racial, gender, and all other types of diversity, told The Washington Post of his optimistic vision of an Olympics, twenty years from now, where “anyone can be exactly who they want to be ... like a complete rainbow.” Rippon told reporters, “I want to inspire other young kids, no matter what their background is or where they’re from or anything like that.”

In coming out and unapologetically being themselves for their own well-being and the betterment of others, Rippon and Kenworthy are partaking of the LGBTIQ movement at its best. I was the beneficiary of such ordinary activism 35 years ago. I am confident that many others will be beneficiaries of Rippon and Kenwothy’s extraordinary ordinariness.

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.

items of the week

Adam Rippon at the Oscars As media writer Gibson Johns reported, Adam Rippon wore a harness to the Oscars and “nothing else matters.” In fact, Rippon also wore loafers without socks and customized his Moschino tuxedo jacket to feature “cold shoulders” showing off the leather underneath and thereby, Johns said, “… served up some BDSM on the red carpet.”

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Thoughts on Turning Seventy you hear, or do you live a counterfeit life that may feel safe, but which forecloses on any possibility of real happiness? Soul misery, I’ve learned, is the inescapable consequence when we betray ourselves.

Roland Schembari and Bill Hartman, Co-Founders Randy Alfred, Founding News Editor 1978 Kim Corsaro Publisher 1981-2011

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

Examined Life Tom Moon, MFT My husband and I marked my 70th birthday in February with ten days of non-stop partying in New Orleans.

I mention this because I know all too many people who can’t imagine the 70th birthday as anything other than a disaster to dread and mourn.

I haven’t found it so. I’ve faced my share of difficulties—not the least of which was working as a gay psychotherapist in the Castro throughout the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco—and I’ve certainly learned that being a human being is no free lunch.

But overall, I’ve found this life to be very much worth living, and I come to the latter part of it happier and more optimistic by far than at any previous time in my existence.

A few lessons stand out. Like many people in my generation, discovering that I was gay (in 1962!) precipitated an emotional crisis, and mine took more than seven years to resolve.

After years of soul-searching, pain, and psychotherapy intended to cure me, all of the turmoil and confusion boiled down to one issue. (Yes, I am a survivor of reparative therapy. I went through it right here in San Francisco. In those days it was standard practice in my field.)

I wrote it in a journal: “Life is asking me a simple question, and that is, do I or do I not have the courage to live the one and only life that is in me to live?” At the time, I imagined that this question was addressed uniquely to me. Later I came to understand that, in one way or another, life eventually seems to ask it of virtually everyone. When that happens, do you listen to the voice of the spirit, or the heart—or whatever you call it— that tugs inside of you? Do you live an authentic life that expresses what

This question is fundamentally a spiritual one. In my case, I was able to answer it because of a spontaneous spiritual awakening that happened to me in my early twenties. The experience I’m talking about was not “religious,” as most people use the term. It was a sudden, direct experience of my connection with all of life, and a felt sense that I am a part of the world, not something that stands on the sidelines and watches the world.

It was a confrontation with the mystery that is succinctly described by Rumi: “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” Nothing is a more radical cure for our “self-esteem issues” than being enfolded in that vision!

I have come to regard spirituality as essential to human well-being; “spirituality” understood as tending to that in us which never separates, but unites; and which never shames, but affirms.

Over the years I’ve encountered just about every form of therapy and self-help process that is on offer, and have practiced many of them, but there is one practice that towers in effectiveness above all the others— and that is regular mindfulness meditation. I know that I don’t have to explain what it is in much detail, since it’s all the rage now, and everyone seems to have at least heard of it. Mindfulness means getting out of our normal busy-ness, our constant “doing” mode, and resting in “being” mode.

It means just being present to whatever is happening without judging or trying to change anything. I’ve been so impressed with the power of mindfulness practice to improve almost every aspect of life that it is almost all I teach as a psychotherapist anymore. If you want to have a deeper understanding of yourself and life, there is nothing I know that

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SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

SF Sketch Randy Coleman Randy Coleman hails from New York, but has lived in San Francisco since 1975. Coleman shares that before moving to the Bay Area, he studied Art History and Architecture at Boston University while working as a resident artist for architectural rendering at a Massachusetts historical society. “All of my life I’ve been an artist,” Coleman says. “To know me is to know that I have a passion for art and architecture. I love this project for the San Francisco Bay Times, and hope that you enjoy my sketches.”

MA RC H 8 , 2 0 1 8

© Randy Coleman, 2018

is more effective than simply to pay attention to what is actually happening in front of your own nose.

W h at I ’m outlining here are, I suppose, the guiding values of an introvert: pay attention to what Husbands Craig Wenzl and Tom Moon enjoying some relaxation time is happening in- together side of you, and to be loyal to what you find there. To how indispensable our connections come home, again and again, to the with others are, and just how much silent witness that is always there in- I have gone astray whenever I’ve side of us, is the only way I know tried to go it alone. It’s important how to survive the insanity of this that we know what is inside of us, dark moment in our country’s his- but it is equally important that we tory. Almost everyone I know who are connected to what is inside of is awake these days seems to swing others as well. between rage and despair and has My greatest good fortune was to be to fight to resist being consumed by born in San Francisco, and to have depression. been able to live and work through The Enlightenment values of rea- my whole adult life in the LGBTQ son, civility, respect for factual re- community here. More of you than ality, and just plain ordinary hu- I can ever count have held me up man decency, are all under assault when it seemed as if I could no lonin the era of Trump, while irratio- ger stand on my own two feet. To nality, tribalism, intolerance, cru- all of you who have followed my elty, and extremism are so ubiqui- thoughts in this space over the detous that it is essentially impossible cades, I have felt your silent presnot to be affected by the toxicity. In ence constantly, and your support times like these, the most effective and encouragement has meant way I know to keep our own sanity more to me than I can ever put into and act effectively is to be able to be words. still, and to hear the quiet voice of Tom Moon is a psychotherapist in one’s own soul.

San Francisco. For more informaFinally, one of the most important tion, please visit his website http:// lessons I’ve learned in this life is just tommoon.net/

GLBT Fortnight in Review

By Ann Rostow Real News I like to think that I’m not one of those people who surrounds themselves with just the news they want to hear, and only those opinions with which they agree. Hey! I actually enjoy reading articles from The Other Side. Because I’m emotionally confident. Right, Ann? (Raises Champagne glass to toast image in mirror.) Cheers!

Or maybe not. I’m starting to suspect that I am indeed trapped in an echo chamber with all of the other myopic consumers of partisan information that I hear about. For example, I just scanned the legal blog “How Appealing,” and found myself incapable of clicking on the link: “How Donald Trump is remaking the law in his own image,” a piece by CNN’s Joan Biskupic.

I wanted to read it. I thought it was an important subject; the underreported news of Trump’s horrendous judicial nominations. But I could not bear to start my day with such a depressing punch in the gut. I wanted to digest it on your behalf and issue another Trump warning. But I could not do it.

Let’s just acknowledge what we already know, that our ludicrous President has appointed over a dozen judges to lifetime spots on the federal appellate courts; all far right, all relatively young.

It’s a cold shower, folks. We don’t want to stand there and be hammered by its painful icy blows if we don’t have to.

We’d much rather relax into the warm bubble bath that surrounds our discussion of ...

Dead Sky Diver Wins Major Gay Rights Case ... the Title VII ruling in our favor from the full bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit! Trump hasn’t infiltrated the New York-area appellate court to detrimental effect quite yet.

Don’t roll your eyes, dear readers. It’s important. A decision from a full appellate court, not a mere three-judge panel, is one rung down from the U.S. Supreme Court. Such a ruling becomes binding law throughout a multi-state jurisdiction and serves as an inspiration to likeminded judges in other realms.

As you know, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the law that protects citizens from discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sex, race, national origin and religion. The ban on sex discrimination, in turn, has been interpreted by the High Court to outlaw sex stereotyping. In other words, it’s illegal to badger employees for violating gender norms. It sounds as if that means it’s illegal to discriminate against GLBT staff, don’t you think?

As if that weren’t fairly definitive, it has also been established that racial bias, for example, exists when a white employee is punished for associating with a minority. This logic could also support the claim that a harassed lesbian employee is being punished because of the sex of her partner. Likewise, there’s the argument that gay bias is sex bias simply because the victim would not be targeted if he were a she or if she were a he.

Should Title VII be interpreted to cover GLBT workers? It’s pretty clear that, as the Second Circuit says, the answer is yes. Indeed, the only argument on the other side is that lawmakers in 1964 did not intend to include the GLBT community in the bill’s coverage. Well, of course they didn’t. At that time, “homosexuals” comprised a despised minority seen as sexual perverts and pedophiles. They sound horrible!

The men of the 1964 Congress also likely didn’t intend to protect women from predatory male coworkers either.

Nor did they intend to prohibit companies from enforcing archaic standards of femininity as the price of advancement. Lawmakers legislate, and over time, courts interpret, expand and contract the law in line with the evolution of society. The law is alive. It breathes.

It doesn’t sit there, forever enmeshed in the disturbing world of 1964.

The Second Circuit’s 10–3 ruling came in the case of Donald Zarda, a plaintiff notable for the fact that he died BASE jumping, and that his surname makes him sound like a comic book character.

Every time I think of this case I imagine “The Great Zarda” hurling himself off a cliff, Icarus-style, in a wing suit.

But that’s neither here nor there now, is it? The decision generated something like eight opinions, including a fivemember main opinion, several others agreeing with the outcome, but with other rationales, and a trio of dissents.

One of the concurring opinions included a one-line footnote, written in Greek, implying that the other opinion was long-winded. (!)

Last year, the full Seventh Circuit also ruled that Title VII covers GLBT employees, while the Eleventh Circuit declined to review a three-judge ruling to the contrary. That case was petitioned to the High Court, but the justices also declined to take the Eleventh Circuit review, leaving the status of the law somewhat in disarray. I had assumed someone on the losing side would appeal the Zarda case, giving the Justices another opportunity to resolve this critical anomaly in American civil rights law, but apparently the matter will go no further. Much as the losers at the Seventh Circuit declined to petition the High Court, Mr. Zarda’s former sky diving employers will apparently settle with his estate.

Something’s Rotten in Bermuda I’m not exactly sure what’s happening in Bermuda. I think someone has filed another marriage equality lawsuit aimed at the antigay domestic partner law that was recently enacted by the island powers that be. This domestic partner law effectively nullified a previous court ruling that had briefly allowed marriage between same-sex couples. It seems as if that bad law is somehow on hold, but you know what?

I don’t care! The damage is done. Bermuda made its bed, and I’d like to see tourism come to a halt and deep regret envelop the bigoted politicians who thought no one would notice if Bermuda became the only territory other than California to revoke gay marriage rights.

We noticed.

And while I’m off in a potpourri of random thoughts, will someone explain what’s wrong with a trade deficit? It means we are consuming more of country X’s stuff than they are of ours, which makes sense as long as we are bigger and growing faster than other countries. What’s wrong with that?

I’m serious, because I don’t know much about the dynamics of trade. Here’s what I do know, unlike Mr. Trump.

I know that I don’t know much (in a Rumsfeldian way). And I know that a trade “deficit” is not inherently “bad” like a budget deficit. Oh, I also know that trading partnerships and alliances are not zero-sum “deals.” And I know that we live and operate in a complicated 21st century global marketplace. So, I know enough to wonder what the hell is going on.

Speaking of complexity, amidst all the craziness and the insane pace of news, we all skipped over some truly frightening and bizarre comments that Trump recently made in Florida: “I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly,” he mused. “The whole age of (continued on page 30) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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San Francisco Imperial Council Coronation

Photos by Rink

The Imperial Council of San Francisco on Saturday, February 23, held its 54th Coronation welcoming the new reigning monarchs, Her Most Imperial Majesty Pollo Del Mar and His Most Imperial Majesty Leandro Gonzales. The evening included numerous performances and the presentation of visiting monarchs representing cities throughout California and other states. Outgoing San Francisco monarchs Emperor Nic Hunter and Empress Mercedez Munro were also honored. Presiding on behalf of the International Imperial Court were Imperial Court Queen Mother Nicole the Great and Emperor of the Americas Terry Sidie.

Krewe de Kinque’s Bal Masque XV

Photos by Rink and Paul Margolis

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PHOTO BY RINK PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

The Castro’s unique venue known as The Café welcomed Krewe de Kinque members, supporters and guests for Bal Masque XV with the theme “Flight 420 Come Fly with Us!” Honored at the event as Celebrity Grand Marshal was Hon. Mark Leno, who led the traditional Second Line Parade. The evening included a Creole buffet, costumes, performances, a silent auction and a raff le. Congratulations to organizers, including the organization’s founder Gary Virginia, who declared to all, in Mardi Gras style, “Laissez les bons temps rouler!”

A Gay Victorian Love Story

Photos courtesy of Dr. Bill Lipsky

Ned, darling; he was something to you; you were all the world to him.

O Tom!”

Faces from Our LGBT Past Dr. Bill Lipsky It was love at first sight for the two young men, students at Harvard just before the Civil War. Tom, “a lovely boy,” was strikingly beautiful— his “beauty charms you immediately”—with “soft, curling brown hair, deep blue eyes, and a dazzling complexion.” Ned, “not as handsome as Tom,” still was “a graceful boy of twenty,” with an olive complexion, brown eyes, “lips strongly cut,” and a mercurial personality.

Journalist, novelist and poet Fred W. Loring told Ned and Tom’s story in Two College Friends, published in 1871, the year after he graduated Harvard summa cum laude. Written at a time when human sexuality simply was not discussed or even acknowledged publicly, Loring, in what to us seems remarkably frank terms, described a deeply emotional, homoromantic relationship between the boys, including numerous allusions to the true and complete nature of their intimacy.

It was a “gay” love story from 1871.

Loring’s readers would not have thought so, however. During the 19th century, Americans believed in intense “romantic friendships” between two people of the same gender, who often expressed their mutual affection with great candor. Erotic intimacy, which our world sees as necessary to validate a passionate love between two people, was not

Ned was deeply in love with Tom. “I care more for him than for any one else in the world,” he told a professor, “but you never will know how much.” He wondered “if I shall ever care for any woman as much as I do for Tom.” He refused to meet Tom’s parents, he said, “because I did not wish to have our attachment or my character analyzed or criticized” by them.

Their attachment was obvious to others. After they enlisted as soldiers in the Civil War—Tom followed Ned into uniform—even a rebel soldier, a “Virg inia barbar ian” w ith “a rough, unshaven face” noticed it: “You care for him as you would for a gal, don’t you?” And why not?

He’s “pootier than any gal I ever see anywhar.”

The friends, of course, would do anything for each other. First Tom saved Ned’s life during a fierce battle. Later, captured by Confederates, Ned escaped across enemy lines with Tom to get him the help he needed after being seriously wounded. He told an orderly tending Tom, “Go outside” and “let no one enter under any pretext whatever.” Then he “threw himself down beside Tom ... laid his hand upon his forehead, and bent over and kissed his hot face.”

At last Ned spoke his true feelings to Tom. “O my darling, my darling, my darling! Please hear me. The only one I have ever loved at all, the only one who has ever loved me. If you knew how I love you, how I have loved you in all my jealous, morbid moods, in all my exacting selfishness—O Tom!—You won’t forget

Victorian Era friends

Engr

a v i n g of Fr e d L o r i n g

required—or acceptable—to complete the yearning two men or two women had for each other.

When it was published, Loring’s readers would have found the novel in a tradition of American storytelling that went back at least to Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans (1826); included Melville’s Moby Dick (1851); and continued with Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). These books, and others, as the historian A. L. Rowse wrote in a different context, “do not see manliness as instinctive, but rather as something to be gained by moral effort.” This is also Loring’s theme.

Here was a world where young men—or a younger man g uided by an older man—were deeply devoted to each other, achieved manhood through personal moral

Two Victorian friends, Henry Dalond and William Lewis, California 1870s

struggle, had committed relationships, and sacrificed for their companion. It was a man’s world completely, one that was away from the “interference of women,” who they believed brought civilization and softness.

By the time Two College Friends appeared in print, Loring was a member of a government-sponsored expedition to the Arizona Territory as a correspondent for Appleton’s Journal. The trek was diff icult, especially for a sensitive New England author used to raw oysters and eiderdown, and not hardtack and rough cloth. In August of that year he wrote to his employers, “I am bootless, coatless, everything but lifeless,” but he stayed with it for another three months.

L or i ng met Ev i l Merodach, a saddle mule whom he named after an obscure Babylonian monarch mentioned in the Bible, at an Arizona trading post in October. The two never became great friends.

The beast threw him several times, trampled his hat, and decided to be difficult at inconvenient moments, including those just before they had their picture taken, Loring’s last.

That November, after eight months on the frontier, Loring was dead in an ambush near Wickenburg, Arizona, where he is buried.

In his eulogy, William Ellery Channing wrote of “Loring! Boy of the Roman face, The sweeping locks, and that expression stern, Sweet in its early manhood.” Was he Ned? Was he truly so passionate about another man? We may never know.

As somebody once remarked, “Most gay history lies buried in bachelor graves.” Loring eventually became unread, but his only novel remains a heartfelt tale of the great, enduring love between two college friends long ago.

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

Fred W. Loring’s grave at ambush site S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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BALIF 39th Annual Gala Photo by Rink Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF) members and friends filled the house at the Bently Reserve on Friday, March 2, for the organization’s 38th Annual Gala. With the theme “Resilent” setting the tone for the evening, more than 600 attendees enjoyed the Gala’s Pre-Party at the Le Meridian Hotel’s BAR 333, and then the Gala featuring cocktails, food stations, mingling and more. Honored this year were the Intersex & Genderqueer Recognition Project (IGRP), receiving the Legal Service Award; and Justice Now, receiving the Community Service Award. balif.org

Red Envelope Giving Circle Photos by Paul Margolis Celebrating six years of giving to the API LGBT community in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Red Envelope Giving Circle (REGC) held its Grant Ceremony on Sunday, February 11, at the GLBT History Museum. The organization’s mission is to create positive social change through philanthropic support to improve the lives of Asian and Pacific Islander LGBTQ people and communities. A total of nine grant recipients were announced. apiqwtc.org

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Business Tips from GGBA

GGBA to Host the Western Business Alliance LGBTQ Economic Summit

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the Bay Area have many small businesses concerned. As a result, the GGBA along with our colleagues at the Golden Gate Restaurant Association are providing information to you as an employer as well as to your employees.

By Dawn Ackerman and Paul Pendergast

Have a plan for who on staff handles government officials. Establish who that point of contact is—whether a specific manager or owner—and instruct employees of the appropriate contact. Your plan should also include contacting legal counsel.

Anyone showing up at your workplace is only allowed to enter public areas without your permission—primarily the dining area. California law AB 450, which just went into effect, requires that employers may not voluntarily consent to an immigration enforcement agent to enter any nonpublic areas of “a place of labor” without a subpoena or judicial warrant. Any areas that are off-limits to the general public can therefore be off limits to federal officials as well. This includes your kitchen, office, breakroom, etc.

Ask to See a Warrant A valid warrant should be signed and have listed names of employees. You do not have to provide them more information than what is requested on the warrant. In fact, the new state law indicates that, except as otherwise required by federal law, employers cannot re-verify the employment eligibility of a current employee at a time or in a manner not required by federal law.

Basically, do not offer up, or penalize, employees whom you think may not have the proper documentation just because ICE has arrived.

Employers Must Give Proper Notice to Employees ICE will likely request to see your Employment Eligibility Verification forms, known as I-9 forms. You should have these forms separate from other employee records, which federal officials do not have a right to review.

You have the right to request that officials come back at another time to re(continued on page 18)

GGBA CALENDAR WBA LGBT Economic Summit & Conference hosted by the GGBA Friday, March 16 Hyatt Regency San Francisco RSVP at wbasummit.com LGBT Business Leaders from 22 Chambers from throughout the U.S. and Canada GGBA’s “Become a More Effective Speaker and Communicator” Workshop Wednesday, March 21 8 am to 9:15 am U.S. Small Business Administration 455 Market Street, 6th Floor, San Francisco Led by Award-Winning Speaking Coach Gina Grahame RSVP at ggba.com/events/ GGBA East Bay Make Contact Thursday, March 29 6 pm to 8 pm Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union 2001 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley GGBA’s signature networking event with an East Bay Focus RSVP at ggba.com/events/ GGBA San Francisco Make Contact Tuesday, April 10 6 pm to 8 pm Sennheiser 278 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 Get some rhythm in your networking and enjoy the amazing food, sound & discounts on products!

RSVP at ggba.com/events/

There is a new discussion taking place withi n t he larger context of the LGBTQ business community. Perhaps it’s because we have achieved marriage equality, or maybe it’s because the current political climate emanating from Washington, D.C., is making us uneasy and energized. LGBTQ professionals, business owners, entrepreneurs, merchants, coders, programmers, millennials, transgender advocates, community foundations and our allies are talking about the need for economic equality.

In early March, we saw over 5,000 lesbians, queer women, and allies in tech gather in San Francisco to address critical issues of raising visibility, getting more lesbians/women in tech and building community.

In mid-March, we’ll see an historic number of over 20 LGBTQ Chambers of Commerce from throughout the Western United States and Canada gathering with the Golden Gate Business Association (GGBA) for an LGBTQ Economic Summit (wbasummit.com). The purpose of this groundbreaking Summit is to discuss issues such as: addressing the entrepreneurial needs of LGBTQ millennials, thinking outside of the box on access to capital for LGBTQ entrepreneurs, addressing LGBT homelessness from a regional perspective, and how we can harness the power of “disruptive technologies” to grow LGBTQ entrepreneurs.

One need only to look at the sheer numbers of people attending these events, the roster of sponsors, the speakers, the organizers who have lined up to support these powerful events in order to see that the issues of LGBTQ economic empowerment are moving to the forefront of our community. It’s getting louder. It’s getting more focused.

GGBA officers Paul Pendergast and Dawn Ackerman with California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (center)

It’s becoming more critical than ever that we challenge ourselves to face the economic realities on the ground that while some are prospering within our community, we have a significantly large number of community members who are disenfranchised, feel left behind, and are challenged by the costs of day to day living, finding affordable housing and employment, and gaining access to economic opportunity.

These discussions can’t just be taking place in our major cities. A growing number of LGBTQ entrepreneurs are moving into the suburbs and rural areas to open businesses, create jobs, support their communities and build their families. The Western Business Alliance LGBT Economic Summit will feature representatives from cities all over the West—including Spokane, Albuquerque and Tucson—all adding their voices to the important discussion of LGBTQ economic equality. (continued on page 18)

GGBA Member Spotlight

Homegrown Sustainable Sandwiches: Epicenter of the ‘Sandwich Environmentalism Movement’ Homegrown Sustainable Sandwiches is a missiondriven fast-casual restaurant brand based in Seattle, WA, with 10 stores in Seattle and San Francisco. Founded in 2009 by Ben Friedman and Brad Gillis with the goal of making the food system more sustainable, Homegrown’s food is sustainably sourced, farm by farm, ingredient by ingredient. The founders, who are also co-CEOs, strive for what is best for all stakeholders: people, farm animals and the planet.

In 2014, Homegrown launched Homegrown Sprouting Farms in Woodinville, WA, its very own certified organic farm that supplies seasonal, organic produce for the menu and serves as a model for sustainable agricultural practices, including notill farming methods, eco-friendly weed and pest controls, and drip irrigation. Homegrown also uses the farm as a place to teach partners (employees) about sustainable agriculture. The farm is a small part of the growing business, but it is a big part of Homegrown’s commitment to keeping it local.

Homegrown’s company vision is to grow with purpose to change the food system. “Growing with Purpose” means ensuring the food is coming from farms that are growing with sustainable agricultural practices. Gillis and Friedman believe that, as their business grows, their positive environmental impact should, too.

This belief stems from the idea that food is the liaison between the earth and the communities we live in. Understanding the relationships that link the planet to the product is an important part of their recognition that, in addition to their econom-

PHOTO SOURCE: YOUTUBE

Know Your Rights as an Employer

PHOTO SOURCE- IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT

ICE Raids: What Your Business Needs to Know

GGBA PHOTOGRAPH

GGBA Monthly Report

ic impact, they are responsible for their environmental impact as well.

Homeg row n’s m i s s ion statement consists of four simple pillars: 1- reduce environmental impact; 2- craft the best food; 3- provide exceptional service; 4- cultivate their people.

The stores are designed to be as low-impact as possible and as green as the food. Homegrown uses reclaimed, recycled and FSC certified building materials and low-VOC paints in furniture and wall coverings, and also uses hyper-efficient LED and CFL lighting. Additionally, next to larger containers for recycle and compost, there are tiny little trash cans in the dining rooms because nearly all (continued on page 18)

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San Francisco Gay Chamber of Commerce Timeline Founded in 1974, the Golden Gate Business Association (GGBA) is the San Francisco gay chamber of commerce and the nation’s first LGBT Chamber of Commerce. The GGBA is also the first business organization founded by LGBT entrepreneurs. With members who live and do business across San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Marin counties, and beyond, GGBA proudly serves as the voice for the San Francisco Bay Area’s LGBT business community.

The history of the GGBA includes a rainbow of achievements. See what GGBA has accomplished since its founding year: 1974- The Golden Gate Business Association, the world’s first LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce, is founded. Membership grows substantially throughout its first decade of existence.

1979- GGBA has its official “coming out day” by using the word “gay” publicly for the first time and cements the organization’s role as the San Francisco gay chamber of commerce.

1980- Arthur Lazere, GGBA president from 1979 to 1981, helps to found the National Association of Business Councils (NABC), a national organization of LGBT business and professional people. “The GGBA Foundation” is established to raise funds for nonprofits of critical importance to the LGBT community, including the SF Pride Parade, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Lyon-Martin Women’s Clinic, Operation Concern, Project Open Hand, Community United Against Violence, Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights, the Eureka Valley Theatre Company, and the Academy Award winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk. The GGBA Foundation changes its name to Horizons Foundation in 1988.

February, 1978 newspaper article (unknown source)

GGBA works to pass California State Bill AB1, which sought to outlaw workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and provided support for groups such as Bay Area Career Women and Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights.

1980 - GGBA and Horizons Foundation founder Arthur Lazere with Stan Yogi and Cheri Bryant

1982- The first cases of HIV/AIDS start to emerge in San Francisco. Over the next two decades, this epidemic would take the lives of hundreds of GGBA members throughout the Bay Area. The disease knows no bounds and takes the lives of GGBA Past Presidents, Board Members, incredibly successful LGBT entrepreneurs, merchants, professionals, family members, friends and colleagues. GGBA and its members take extraordinary measures to support the community. Even amidst the worst days of the epidemic, GGBA soldiered on and gained strength by its remarkable members.

1988- GGBA is a founding member of the Small Business Network, and continues to serve on the board, which represents the voice of small business at San Francisco City Hall, Sacramento and Washington, D.C. GGBA is a charter member of the Western Business Alliance and continues to participate actively with sister LGBT chambers of commerce in the West.

1992- GGBA joins with Don Fisher (Founder of The Gap), Charles Schwab (Schwab, Co.), Sam Ginn (CEO of Pacific Telesis) and Committee on JOBS (top 25 employers in San Francisco) to advocate for key initiatives to keep jobs in San Francisco marking a new collaboration between the LGBT business community and captains of industry.

1993- GGBA gains its first Corporate Partner, Nestle Beverage Company, marking the first time in history that an international corporation joins an LGBT chamber of commerce. Pacific Gas & Electric, Pacific Telesis, and AT&T follow shortly thereafter, further empowering the mission of the GGBA. 1994- GGBA convenes the first-ever “LGBT Business Expo,” held in the United States at the Marriott Hotel. Over 100 LGBT owned businesses showcase their products/services and nearly 500 attendees take part in the festive occasion. The event earns significant media coverage for the GGBA. 1995- GGBA celebrates its 25th Anniversary at City Hall.

2002- GGBA becomes an early tenant at the new San Francisco LGBT Community Center.

2003- GGBA becomes a founding member of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) and hosts its first national conference. The Tourism Advisory Program (TAP) is established by the GGBA and later partners with SF Travel to promote San Francisco as a primary destination for LGBT visitors from out of the Bay Area.

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

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(2015) U.S. Small Business Association Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet.

2009- GGBA and Rainbow Chamber of Commerce/Silicon Valley receive the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Innovative Program of the Year Award in honor of their collaboration on “The Pride Pages.”

) Men reading postings in the Star Pharmacy window on Castro Street about ay Cancer."

2012- GGBA member OutSmart Office Solutions receives the NGLCC Supplier of the Year Award.

(2012) Out Smart - National LGBT Supplier of the Year

2013- GGBA joins forces with the $1.5 Billion Transbay Transit Center Project to hold the first-ever outreach to LGBT businesses for a public works project in the United States. GGBA is joined by Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, Caltrans, California Department of General Services, U.S. SBA and NGLCC on this important milestone.

2014- GGBA celebrates its 40th Anniversary at the world-famous San Francisco Opera House. Over 400 attendees are part of the festivities and the organization raises the largest amount of corporate sponsorship to support the event in its 40-year history.

The GGBA Open House Series with International Developers and Governmental Agencies is launched, providing unparalleled access for LGBT businesses in the real estate sector to largescale urban housing projects in SF and Bay Area. This program wins “National Program of the Year” in 2015 by the NGLCC. GGBA launches its award-winning “Power Lunch Series” with the express purpose of highlighting extraordinary LGBT Entrepreneurs who are literally transforming how people around the globe are doing business. “Fireside Chats” with World Trade Center developer Phil Hettema and American Indian/LGBT Entrepreneur Greg Sarris of the Graton Tribe of Rancheria Indians/Graton Resort & Casino are highlighted.

2015- GGBA takes a leadership position, with NGLCC and six LGBT chambers from throughout California, to win the passage of historic California Assembly Bill 1678, which codifies LGBT business participation in the procurement programs of California Public Utilities.

GGBA partners with the San Francisco Business Times to create the “Business of Pride” issue that, for the first time in history, unveils the “Top 25 LGBT Business of San Francisco” based on the number of employees. Subsequent issues in 2016 and 2017 will expand to include “Top 50 LGBT Businesses” with criteria evolving to include financial success.

GGBA welcomes President Obama Cabinet Member, Maria Contreras Sweet to San Francisco for the national roll out of the Business Builder Workshop, done in conjunction with the NGLCC and US SBA. 2016- GGBA advocates for, and wins, ability for LGBT businesses to compete for contracts with the National Football League (NFL) in the production of Super Bowl 50. Additional “sporting inclusion” outreach efforts have opened up contract opportunities with the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors.

GGBA member Equator Coffees and Teas is named the National Small Business of the Year by the United States Small Business Association. This marks the first time a certified LGBT owned firm has achieved this award.

2017- GGBA advocates for, and wins, a huge milestone with transportation infrastructure projects with BART codifying into its procurement programs the utilization of LGBT certified firms. BART joins the Valley Transportation Authority with this landmark level of inclusion.

GGBA wins multiple awards at the NGLCC’s International Business & Leadership Conference in Las Vegas, including the recognition of having the largest contingency of LGBT certified firms of any LGBT chamber in the world at the Conference.

2018- GGBA prepares to host the March 2018 Western Business Alliance LGBT Economic Summit and Conference in San Francisco, marking a world-wide milestone for the LGBT business community.

(2015) Equator Coffee and Teas named National Small Business of the Year

GGBA receives a new member ... you! To learn more about GGBA and to apply for membership, go to: ggba.com/join-ggba/ S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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For GGBA’s 40th Anniversary, attorney Roger Gross wrote about the organization’s origins and evolution over four decades. In the article, published in the October 30, 2014, issue of the San Francisco Bay Times and distributed at the 40th Anniversary Grand Celebration, Gross named early leaders whose contributions moved the organization forward into its key leadership role for the entire LGBT community of our area. Among those he wrote about were Rick Stokes, John Schmidt, Jerry Robinson, Arthur Lazere and Dave Wharton, each of whom brought unique skills and expertise to the table. We reap the benefits of their contributions even now, decades later. More recent years have also seen tremendously talented individuals come forward to help lead the way. We thank all of those who have contributed over the past 44 years.

PHOTO BY RINK

GGBA Leadership

Robb Fleischer

Nanette Lee Miller

Rick Stokes

Roger Gross

Ron Willis

Peggy Hughes

Scott Levine

Jerry Becerra

Jon Paul Leddy

Eric GoForth

GGBA Networking Throughout the years since its founding, GGBA members have come up with innovative ways to encourage networking. From small group events to the very large, members and friends have come together for galas, workshops, luncheons, conferences, receptions and the ever popular monthly Make Contacts. For San Francisco Bay Times team members, we have especially fond memories of participating in Business Exchange Network (BEN) Groups, where it’s easy to meet your new lawyer, dentist, bookkeeper, marketing consultant, insurance agent, massage therapist and so many more. Thousands of LGBT community members have benefited from many GGBA gatherings and we predict that trend will continue, even during the upcoming Power Lunch and Economic Summit, March 16-17.

Be sure to attend GGBA's rewarding and memorable events.

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PHOTO BY RINK

CHLOE JACKMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Business Tips from GGBA

(continued from page 15)

view these forms. In fact, under California law AB 450, employers must give notice of 72 hours to employees of any immigration review of employment records, and there are specific measures for notifying “affected employees.”

The notice must be posted in the language the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information to the employee. In addition, the notice must include the following information: • the name of the immigration agency conducting the inspections of I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms or other employment records; • the date that the employer received notice of the inspection; • the nature of the inspection to the extent known; • a copy of the Notice of Inspection of I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms for the inspection to be conducted.

For additional information, please contact: info@ggba.com

GGBA Monthly Report

(continued from page 15)

Whether it’s 5,000 lesbians/queer women in tech getting together, a thousand entrepreneurs/business owners gathering, or the global roll out of StartOUT’s international Mentor/Protégé program for LGBTQ entrepreneurs, the one on one dialogues are now group discussions that are part of a growing chorus of an incredibly diverse LGBTQ community that needs to set the stage for the next steps of economic equality. Join the conversation because this is not going to be a discussion that you can stand on the sidelines and watch. It’s time to add your voice!

Dawn Ackerman, President, GGBA

Paul Pendergast, Chair, Public Policy GGBA

The Golden Gate Business Association (GGBA) is the world’s first LGBT Chamber of Commerce based in San Francisco. Complete details: ggba.com 18

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DYDYK PHOTOGRAPHY FOR GGBA

GGBA Member Spotlight

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of the products used are 100% compostable and recyclable.

Every season, Homegrown launches a new seasonal menu showcasing the best from each region at that time of year. The business partners with 1% for the Planet to give 1% of sales from the seasonal menu to organizations working on environmental conservation and sustainable agriculture. Customers can order one of the seasonal offerings—typically a sandwich, a bowl and soup—to accelerate funding for a healthier planet.

Catering is a big part of what makes Homegrown unique among the farm-to-table-inspired fast-casual dining cohort. Homegrown’s catering service represents nearly a third of its total business, and the business frequently touts that it offers the greenest catering in town. With the same commitment to eco-friendly food and packaging, the catering service offers companies an opportunity to live their corporate values during every meeting. As more and more offices focus on environmental initiatives and making their workplaces greener, having a catered meeting option like Homegrown brings them a lot closer to their values.

Homegrown’s food sourcing starts with their chef, Michaela Skloven, who comes from a background of cooking at acclaimed New York City restaurants such as Franny’s, Grammercy Tavern and Thomas Keller’s Per Se. Chef Michaela focuses on farmers market style eating—pulling the best produce from each region and creating clean-eating, healthful recipes with bold, craveable flavors.

Skloven’s belief is that sustainability is critical, but if the food is not amazing, she and her colleagues are back at square one. She has created a lineup of gourmet sandwiches on thin, crispy bread made from 100% GMO-free ingredients that pairs perfectly with a menu of grain bowls and salads that make for a hearty, but healthy, meal.

Homegrown is passionate about changing the food system through partnerships with the best sustainable growers, ranchers and producers on the West Coast. Farm to table eating has traditionally been available to a privileged few who could afford fine dining experiences that celebrated local growers and seasonality, but the entrance of fast-growing brands like Homegrown promises to democratize accessibility to this type of food to a much broader demographic.

For more information: www.eathomegrown.com/

Castro Farmers’ Market Readies for Season Opening Photos by Rink

Your favorite Wednesday evening event, the Castro Farmers’ Market, will be returning for the season on Wednesday, March 14, 4 pm to 8 pm, at Noe and Market Streets. Opening day will be a fun-filled community get-together with a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony at 5 pm and brief remarks from the District 8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy and other elected officials.

Hanson, Manager of the Castro Farmers’ Market, informed the San Francisco Bay Times: “We are looking forward to kicking off the season with a bang. We have a lot of great activities and events planned and we will offer a terrific selection of California produce.” She added that, throughout the year, patrons can enjoy an array of musical entertainment, tastings, and other seasonal events.

Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association team members work hard every year to oversee the Castro Farmers’ Market. Watch for them to obtain information and friendly service each month.

Steve Adams of the Merchants T he m a rket , of Upper Marwhich is sponket & Castro sored by t he will be in attenC a st r o Merda nce, a long chants Associwith Donation, provides na Sachet, the Emcee Donna Sachet along with Castro Castro resiQueen of the Merchants Association’s Dan Bergerac and dents a direct C a s t r o, w ho Richard Magary will be there on Wednesday, March 14, for the annual Ribbon Cutting opportunity to will be the MC Ceremony opening the new season. support local for the evening.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence California farmers. These local will offer a blessing of the market and farms will offer a variety of seasonmusical entertainment will be pro- al California produce, like earthy asvided by Jack Cutter. Kids can enjoy paragus from Cecchini & Cecchia scavenger hunt through the market ni of Brentwood, f lavorful greens and make a “Veggie Friend” puppet and ot her vegetables from Jacobs Farms of Pescadero and Hapat the market’s new craft table. py Boy Farms out of Watsonville, Allen Moy, Pacif ic Coast Farm- juicy strawberries from Berryliers’ Market Association (PCFMA) cious in Gilroy, Prather Ranch of Executive Director, told the San Pescadero, and exotic Asian specialty Francisco Bay Times, “This farmers’ greens from Nyia Yi Farm in Stockmarket is an integral part of the neigh- ton. The market will also have pasborhood and our local food system. ture raised eggs from Shelly’s Farm The California farmers who partic- in Brentwood, delicious baked goods ipate in the farmers’ market every from Feel Good Bakery of Alameda, week are selling fresh fruits and veg- and much more. etables that they grow themselves.

We hope the Castro residents will We know you won’t find better or enjoy their fresh produce and help fresher than at your local farmers’ market. Celebrate your local comsustain their farms.” munity and visit with friends. Come More than two dozen California down and start a fresh new season at farmers and other local food producers your Castro Farmers’ Market! The are expected to sell their products at market will be there each Wednesthe market on opening day. Melisa day evening through November 21.

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Academy of Friends - Academy Awards Night Gala 2018 Photos by Rink,Paul Margolis, and Juan Davila “Under the Big Top” was the theme for this year’s extraordinary Academy of Friends annual event held on Sunday, March 4, at City View at the Metreon.

Spoken of as “The Best Oscar Party in San Francisco,” the event raises funds and encourages volunteerism to benefit diverse HIV/AIDS organizations throughout the Bay Area.

As Heard on the Street . . . What movie do you never get tired of watching over and over again and why?

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compiled by Rink

Charles Sands

Annie VanBuren

Jokie X. Wilson

Nick Leonard

“The Fifth Element because it is a classic”

“La Dolce Vita, which symbolizes wants vs. needs for me, making it relevant today. I enjoy the famous dancing in the fountain scene.”

“The Wizard of Oz–it gives me a sense of hope. That movie should be seen in 3D on the 7-story screen at the Metreon.”

“Elvira, Mistress of the Dark because it’s upbeat, sassy, and it shows how the weirdest of misfits can win friends and follow their dreams by keeping true to oneself. And it has monsters.”

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From the Coming Up Events Calendar See page 28 Thursday, March 8 - Robert Rauschenberg: Erasing the Rules Exhibit @ San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 Third Street. More than 150 of the artist’s works show how he broke down boundaries. Through March 25. Closed on Tuesdays. sfmoma.org

Saturday, March 17 - Dionne Warwick @ Cache Creek Casino, 14455 State Highway 16, Brooks. The international music icon brings her music to Cache Creek. 8pm. cachecreek.com

Keeper of the Beat: A Woman’s Journey into the Heart of Drumming Award-Winning Documentary on Acclaimed Lesbian Drummer, Barbara Borden, to Air on PBS Stations

By Dianne Griffin Keeper of the Beat: A Woman’s Journey into the Heart of Drumming is an award-winning hour-long documentary on the life and music of Barbara Borden, the acclaimed and pioneering 72-yearold drummer, composer and teacher who lives in Mill Valley. It will air on PBS stations throughout the country during Women’s History Month in March. Keeper of the Beat will be broadcast locally on KQED, channel 9, on Wednesday, March 19, at 3 pm and on Saturday, March 24, at midnight.

The complete list of national airdates is online (www.kobmovie.com).

Keeper of the Beat tells Borden’s inspiring life story in eloquent words and toetapping music. Filmed on four continents, it was produced and directed by three-time Emmy-Award winner David L. Brown and premiered at the 2013 Mill Valley Film Festival. Janis Plotkin, who programs the festival’s documentaries, wrote that this was “the most enthusiastic, raucous, joyous and spiritual screening I have witnessed in more than 30 years as a film festival programmer.”

Keeper of the Beat weaves footage from She Dares to Drum, Borden’s autobiographical “percussion play,” and other dynamic performances from the last four decades with interviews of noted artists, students, family and friends. The film tells the story of a woman whose love of drumming and music gave her courage, inspiration, and the drive to find connectedness within a widening circle of communities throughout the world.

We watch the unfolding of Borden’s identity as she grows from a little girl in love with drumming to a pioneering woman drummer, a first-class percussionist and a world musician. Archival footage shows her career in performance, her leadership in drumming circles and peace and reconciliation projects, her teaching methods to bring drumming into all areas of life, and her exploration into the deep-

Barbara Borden

er cultural and ceremonial dimensions of drumming.

Born into a Jewish immigrant family, Borden was the kid sister of the show business Borden Twins, who performed as a novelty act on TV shows from the 1950s through the 1980s. Given a drum set by her sisters, Borden soon established herself as a hotshot “girl drummer,” performing at the Hollywood Bowl and in nightclubs in L.A. and San Francisco.

Marriage and self-doubt led her to abandon her burgeoning career for “normal life.”

In the 1970s, when the marriage ended, Borden found herself in the middle of the feminist cultural revolution and the robust women’s music movement as the drummer in a leading women’s jazz band, Alive! The documentary captures the electrifying performances of the band with its rapturous audiences. After eight years of international touring, her five-women musical family fell apart, and Barbara once again had to face the conflict between her love of drumming and her doubts about her ability to keep the beat on her own.

Since then, Barbara has become a drumming diplomat and citizen of the world.

We witness her drumming in the former Yugoslavia in the midst of civil war, and in Zimbabwe at a time of brutal dictatorship and economic collapse. In July 2008, Borden with her band Fools Gold performed in Abakan, a city in Eastern Siberia, as part of the Earth Spirit Theatre and Music Festival. The film captures the deep connection Borden developed with Tatiana, a shaman, during a life-changing ten-day eco-shamanism workshop.

Back in the United States, we see her generating joy with drummers at The Redwoods, a Mill Valley senior retirement community. We follow the engrossing story of how Borden gave a six-foot heart-shaped drum that had been made especially for her to a woman drummer of the Suquamish tribe. This gift clarified her life purpose as a Keeper of the Beat, whose drumming brings about group harmony, greater fellowship, and personal transformation.

A moving theme of the documentary is the importance of passing down the lessons, the love, and joy of drumming to younger generations. Home movie footage shows Borden giving her protégé Lotus her first drum at age one. The documentary concludes with a rousing version of “Sing Sing Sing” by Barbara Borden’s Hearts on Fire Band that features the now sixteen-year-old Lotus sharing the drum kit. Keeper of the Beat provides a timely and uplifting affirmation of the power of music, community, joy and love.

In directing Keeper of the Beat, David L. Brown found “Barbara’s message of hope, love, positivity, joy, gratitude and keep-

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ

ing the beat of all these positive values to be deeply inspiring. It’s an especially resonant message for these challenging times.”

Dianne Griffin is an award-winning documentary filmmaker based in San Francisco. Her most recent documentary, “Painted Nails,” follows Van Hoang, a Vietnamese nail salon owner, and her rise to activism. Check out www.diannegriffin.com

MOTIVATING MURDER This individual’s murder spurred Congress to eventually pass federal hatecrime legislation protecting LGBTQ people: A) Brandon Teena B) Matthew Shepard C) Gianni Versace D) Scott Amedure ANSWER ON PAGE 30

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!”

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Love, Simon Is a Conventional, Yet Enjoyable, Film About a Closeted Teen Coming Out having a gay connection, albeit a virtual one. Berlanti generates suff icient anxiety and anticipation for viewers and Simon as he waits for ever y email from Blue.

Film Gary M. Kramer There are hundreds of movies featuring gay teenagers, and dozens of films that feature out gay high schoolers.

The upbeat romantic comedy-drama, Love, Simon, which opens in area theatres today, takes a very conventional approach to telling a closeted teen’s coming out story—and that is not a bad thing. For the most part, this film is as affable and amiable as its title character.

Simon (Nick Robinson) introduces himself in voice-over indicating how “normal” he is. “I’m just like you,” he exclaims, “except I have a huge-ass secret.” Simon’s secret, of course, is that he is gay. And while he privately likes to ogle the strapping young guy doing lawn care across the street, he is not ready to come out.

Adapted from Becky Albertalli’s novel, Simon vs. the Homo sapiens Agenda, by screenwriters Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker, director Greg Berlanti’s film has all the hallmarks of the mainstream American teen film.

There are parties where teens get drunk. There are huge, embarrassing moments that take place in front of the whole school.

There are awkward scenes with parents and vice principals. There are leaked and shared emails.

And mostly, there a re m i s pl aced crushes, followed by heartbreak and, yes, sometimes, ultimately happiness.

Simon experiences all of these things at different times over the course of this likeable film, and while none of it is groundbreaking, it is nice that the main focus is on a gay teen, albeit a closeted one.

For most of Love, Simon, Simon is out to one person: Blue, a student at his high school whom he connects with anonymously via email. The guys bond over their same-sex feelings in the safe space that the email exchange provides. They inspire each other by expressing themselves privately in a way that leads to them finding courage to do so in a more public manner.

T he e m a i l s c e r t a i n l y c h a n g e Simon’s disposition. He becomes happier, and more conf ident by

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It is, therefore, only a matter of time before Simon’s emails are accident ly discovered. M a rtin (Logan Miller), a s l i ght ly obnox iou s k id i n t he s c ho ol p l a y, b l a c kmails Simon into helping Martin connect romantically with Abby (A lexandra Shipp), one of Simon’s best f r iend s. M a r t i n say s he wa nt s A bby to “ l i ke me for me,” a lesson that Simon needs to learn as he tries to figure out who Blue is.

The “be more you” messages in the film are delivered with an appropriately light touch, but the episodes that teach lessons of respect and tolerance involving some homophobic bullies at the school are rather clumsily presented. At least the film’s coming out scenes—and there are a few—are sweet and satisfying. One moment, in

which Simon works up the courage to casually tell one of his friends, is quite charming. Likewise, it is hard not to cheer when Simon gets his very public first gay kiss.

For all its appeal, however, Love, Simon does at times seem as bland and as unremarkable as its protagonist.

Simon tries so hard to fit in and be normal that he doesn’t realize his sexuality makes him somewhat interesting.

The film takes almost more than half of its running time for Simon to selfactualize, f inally picking up some steam once he admits to someone other than Blue that he is gay.

W hi le Simon receives words of encouragement that are gratifying, it is notable that Simon also gets his comeuppance for some of his selfish and manipulative behavior. These moments deepen the teen characters

and make them feel authentic, rather than just stereotypes.

Berlanti’s sensitive f ilm thankfully avoids being lewd, or crude. He treats his teen characters with respect, even when they behave badly. But mostly, they are endearing. Love, Simon never becomes cringe inducing, even when it tries too hard. (Some of the pop culture references will quickly become dated.) While the mystery of Blue’s identity propels the story—and it would be novel for that to go unresolved—at least the reveal, when it does come, is heartwarming.

Nick Robinson ma kes Simon an ingrat iat ing hero.

While he comes off as a bit vanilla, even in an inspired and colorful gay fantasy musica l da nce sequence, he is meant to be so mainstream that any gay teen could identify with him. In support, Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel each have some touching scenes as Simon’s parents, and Natasha Rothwell gets all the best lines as Simon’s scene-stealing drama teacher.

In an era of marriage equality, a coming out film may seem quaint or perhaps even unnecessary, but Love, Simon still has the capacity to inspire.

It may wear its good intentions on its sleeve, but this feel-good film has no reason to feel ashamed about doing that. © 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

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DE YOUNG AND LEGION OF HONOR

Obama White House Designer to Speak at 34th Annual Bouquets to Art March 13 – 18 at the de Young Each spring, more than 120 of the Bay Area’s most innovative and sought-after f loral designers breathe new life into the de Young’s per manent col lect ion dur ing Bouquets to Art. Now in its 34th year, this highly anticipated weeklong event features a dazzling display of floral arrangements inspired by the de Young’s diverse collection of paintings, objects, and sculptures, as well as the architecture of the building. The event and fundraiser will take place from March 13 through March 18.

During the event, the galleries will be adorned with elegant and elaborate arrangements, including a large hanging aerial piece by local favorite Ornamento taking over Wilsey Court, the heart of the de Young museum. While the galleries are blooming, the de Young hosts a series of stylish luncheons, lectures, and pop-up discussions by renowned floral experts and tastemakers from around the world.

The weeklong event launches on Monday, March 12, with a preview opening gala where guests will enjoy the first viewing of the arrangements. Throughout the evening, models wearing ensembles created entirely from fresh flowers, designed by students from City College of San Francisco, will stroll through the museum.

Members-only v iew ing hours will be available Wednesday and Thursday nights from 6 to 8 pm, and photography-free hours will take place Friday morning from 9:30 am to noon.

Installation of Bouquets to Art on view at the de Young. Images courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Over the past 34 years, this beloved event—presented by the volunteer members of the San Francisco Auxiliary of the Fine Arts Museums—has drawn nearly 800,000 visitors, with net proceeds of over $6 million. Funds from Bouquets to Art help underwrite special exhibitions, conservation projects, and educational programs at the Legion of Honor and the de Young.

Obama White House Guest Designer Emily Thompson Emily Thompson, guest designer of the Holidays at the White House event during the Obama administration, will be presenting the talk “Flowers, Untamed” at the de Young on Wednesday, March 14, at 10 am. One of several guest speakers during Bouquets to Art, she describes her designs as “wildly beautiful things” that celebrate the natural world.

Thompson seeks out rare, ill-used, and unlikely flowers, seed pods, branches, and undergrowth to achieve design that creates desire for the obscure. For a look at her floral artistry, we recommend checking out the stunning images featured in the “Work” section at her website (https://emilythompsonflowers.com/). deyoungmuseum.org/bouquets | #BouquetstoArt | @deyoungmuseum

Installation of Bouquets to Art on view at the de Young. Images courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

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Exercises Not to Do

Easy Fitness Cinder Ernst I was answering an inquiry about what exercises trainers never do and realized that most trainers no longer have their clients do abdominal crunches. I decided quite a few years ago that abdominal crunches were not useful at best. They are actually bad for your posture. I have often found myself ahead of the trends in fitness.

Why were/are crunches still so popular? I believe people think that, if they do crunches, they will reduce belly fat. That will never work. You can’t spot reduce. If you could spot reduce, people who chew gum would have skinny faces.

Crunches will strengthen your abdominal muscles, but they also can cause a more forward posture, as in rounded shoulders. In today’s world, the last thing we need is a more forward posture. Our phones make us do that in an unhealthy way. Maybe you see people all the time looking down at their phones. Perhaps you do that?

Crunches train you to do that even more, so skip the crunches. Using your phone less might also be good!

Instead of crunches, look for abdominal exercises that can ma ke you longer and strong e r. Tr y t h i s r ight now: Sit with your feet on the floor and just press your feet into the f loor. Do you feel your core engage?

Hold that and lift both arms over your head. Reach for the ceiling as you press your feet down. When you do this move, you are strengthening your core in a long and healthy way.

Most abdominal exercises you learn in Pilates or yoga will also be appropriate and benef icial. In the gym, you can try rope pulls or kettle bell swings.

Another exercise to avoid is the Behind the Neck Lat Pull-Down. The most effective way to do this backstrengthening exercise is instead to move the weight down in front of your face. Come as close to your nose as possible and stop by your chin. Usually, if you pull below your chin, your shoulders will begin to roll in. Notice the next time you try this at what point your shoulders do start to roll forward, and then end the exercise there. The primary movers in this exercise should be the muscles working your shoulder blades. Put your focus on these muscles.

A good shoulder exercise to leave out is the Upright Row. Upright Rows contribute to shoulder joint impingement. You may not notice the damage until it’s too late. The shoulder is an amazingly mobile joint. The rotator cuff muscles act as the “socket” part

of the ball and socket joint, which explains why you can move your arm around in so many ways.

(Think of the difference between what your shoulder joint can do and what your hip joint can do.) Because the shoulder is so mobile, it is also vulnerable.

A good rotator cuff strengthening exercise to add in is the Arm Alphabet.

Stand with your arm straight out to your side, pointing your index finger toward an imaginary chalk board.

Now draw the alphabet on the chalk board. Make your letters big and use the area equally in front of you and behind you. Do one arm at a time.

You may not get through the whole alphabet when you first try it, but you will get stronger quickly. Doing this exercise can prevent future shoulder problems. If any of the letters hurt or the positions are uncomfortable, stop and get some advice from a good trainer or heath professional.

As always, go slow, pay attention and have fun!

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

Don’t Diet! Eat, Play Sports and Get a Cat naked. What were we talking about again?

Sports John Chen By now you’ve probably seen, read and heard about—and maybe even tried—all different types of diets out there, including those that are age old and “time tested,” as well as those that are the latest fads. One expert says this; another expert says that.

One friend swears by a particular method; another convinces you of the opposite. Yikes!

Over the years, I’ve met lots and lots of men and women in great physical and cardiovascular shape. How do they stay so healthy? Interestingly and shockingly, they all tell me that they don’t diet, nor do they exercise all of the time. They also say that they often splurge on caloric foods, such as my favorite, cheesecake. Huh?!

My sports buddy Desmond Smith is a big-time health nut who helps people get physically strong through easily achievable workouts and gasp, properly managed eating. Desmond says he loves to eat—don’t we all— and regularly consumes red meat, butter, fat, etc. How come I eat all of those things regularly and I look like a panda, and he resembles a Greek god? During our conversation my eyes wondered over to his nearly perfect and naked body. If you read my previous sentence like I had intended, Desmond is not naked, just nearly

You may get temporary results, but not reach long-term goals if that’s all you do. Instead, do fun and interesting physical activities, like play sports. Many sports are cardiovascular and serve as natural strength training programs for various parts of your body. For example, tennis and soccer build tremendous thighs, calves and glutinous maximus (buns of steel). Football and rugby build the shoulders, arms, chest and back. Water polo and swimming develop lean muscles virtually everywhere on our bodies.

If you like to go that extra mile, incorporate a diverse strength training

Jon Snow

“My name is Jon Snow. I’m all dressed up in my tuxedo and ready to make a grand entrance into my new home! I’m no wallflower cat—I’ll happily greet you at the door each night and tell you about my day. Some have even said that I have the loudest purr in town! I dream of having days that are filled with love and adventure, and I’m searching for someone who feels the same.”

Jon Snow 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 Jon Snow.

To meet Jon Snow, 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/adoptions/cats

Dr. Jennifer Scarlett and Pup

Fitness SF Trainer Tip of the Month Huyen Nguyen,

Fitness SF Fillmore “Don’t neglect the importance of Stretching & Dynamic Movements in your workout routine. I like to incorporate Side Lunges, Hip Flexor Stretches, and Plyo Step-Ups each day. These three moves are perfect before a workout, but they can also be used towards the end. Try them out!”

Oh yeah, our subject is eating, playing sports and getting a cat in order to be and stay healthy. Desmond explains that eating is a joy— duh!—but that he chooses foods that are natural and not processed. Heard this before? In front of me, Desmond prepared a mouth-watering grilled cheese sandwich made with butter and a thick layer of creamy pepper jack cheese.

You mean I can eat this and still be healthy? Naturally, he said, and that’s the key: as long as the butter, bread and cheese are organic and natural, and that you don’t eat three such delectable sandwiches in one sitting.

Of course, eating natural and rightsized portions are not the only answers to healthy living. Being physically active and reducing stress go hand in hand with food/nutrition consumption. Desmond told me that a major myth for losing weight, looking good, and gaining cardiovascular and physical health is to jog for miles or run on the treadmill for hours on end.

Take Me Home with You!

program catered to your own goals.

Strength training achieves muscle building and a cardio workout all at once, thus reducing your workout length and days spent in the gym.

And you’ll look and feel fabulous and guiltless while shoving that delicious grass-fed prime beef cut or that thick organic grilled cheese sandwich into your mouth!

After demonstrating a few and very effective strength training routines (I was sweating just watching my friend), Nerd, Desmond’s adorable calico cat, strutted out of her room and demanded our attention. With her tail in the air, Nerd rubbed up against us and jumped onto Desmond’s lap, purring loudly. Nothing is sexier than a man who is not afraid to love cats! It’s been

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

discussed many, many times that owning a pet, especially a cat, has a calming effect and can be a major stress reducer. Just like that, I felt all the stress of completing this article melt away.

My visits to Desmond taught me, and reaffirmed, several things about how to be happy and healthy. Eat well and naturally, play sports, and pet an adorable kitty like Nerd. It is no wonder that Desmond is so energetic and positive, looks incredible, smiles all of the time, and wears as little as possible. For insightful health tips, and more photos of Desmond, please visit his blog (newagehealthnut.blogspot.com).

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

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Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun eryone to be proud of themselves—no matter what). The Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation has worked with over 48 touring casts to date to produce “One Night Only Cabaret” events.

To date, REAF has distributed over $3.5 million to AIDS service agencies, hunger programs, and programs for homeless youth. reaf.org

By Sister Dana Van Iquity Sister Dana sez, “Will Trump EVER stop campaigning?! He threw out all kinds of red meat to his alt-right creeps at the American Conservative Union CPAC—including his tired old campaign promises of ‘The Wall,’ ‘Lock Her Up,’ and the ‘Crooked Media.’ Maybe we should let reporters—not teachers—carry guns and shoot down Trump’s ridiculous ideas!”

Speaking of which, possibly you heard about a group activity at the Harmony Learning Center in Maplewood, Minnesota, when a thirdgrade child was able to reach into a police officer’s holster and fire off his gun. The round hit the floor. Luckily, no one was hurt. This time. Am I wrong to think that educators should educate—not eradicate?

The DREAAM PROJECT was back with their PrEP rally event, “DIAMONDS IN THE SKY” party at Strut in the Castro. D.R.E.A.A.M stands for Determined to Respect & Encourage African American Men. The mission of DREAAM is to help grow this ongoing FREE community event with their continuing goal of unifying the Black community as they welcome allies. We enjoyed a live DJ, drag and other live performances from local artists, $100 Twerk Battle, fun games with great prizes, delicious food, and refreshments— all with our host Terrance Wilder. strutsf.org

PHOTO BY JIM NORRENA/ACADEMY OF FRIENDS

Philanthropy and stellar entertainment took center stage at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre as the RICHMOND/ERMET AID FOUNDATION (REAF) presented a special one-night-only benefit cabaret, BOOK OF MORMON singing “Songs Off the Resume,” to raise funds for REAF and BROADWAY CARES/EQUITY FIGHTS AIDS. Producers Ken Henderson & Joe Seiler brought together cast members to sing many of the songs that the performers had used in the past to audition for their various Broadway roles. Cast members from Bay Area Musical’s THE WEDDING SINGER also participated in this special “One Night Only” benefit show. A few of the song highlights: “Younger Than Springtime;” “Phantom of the Opera;” and two inspirational anthems, “You Raise Me Up” and “This Is Me” (the hit song from The Greatest Showman that inspires ev-

In this photo taken at the Academy of Friends 2018 Gala held on Sunday, March 4, Sister Dana looks like he is seeing a “tall drink of water” coming his way. The character on stilts was one among the cast on hand to convey the “Under the Big Top” theme.

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STRUT SF’s monthly Art Opening on the first Friday of the month— produced by community arts event organizer Baruch Porras Hernandez—is now exhibiting the fine arts photography of Alex Girard, titled MUSE, on display all month long. The Art at Strut program has been exhibiting the work of a local Gay or Queer artist once a month for over 14 years. Boys are Blue. Girls are Pink was the title of Girard’s college drawing professor’s show featuring embroidered boy scout merit badges donning traditionally feminine accomplishments. It was then that Girard started questioning societal gender-roles in media, in his upbringing, and in his everyday interactions with the people around him.

MUSE is an exploration of gender allowing these, otherwise masculine, men to play with their more feminine side. Grace Towers, a brilliant San Francisco drag artist, uses makeup and the power of a wig to transform these men into high fem muses.

Girard says, “As I began to edit these photos, I imagined famous artists in history encountering these queer divine beings; inspiring their work in a way that was deemed unacceptable at the time. MUSE pays homage to a history of queer artists who lived in fear of expressing their true identity.”My fave among the many fierce guyz in makeup is “Emmett” for his expressive eye makeup and boldly pink hair wrap. alexgirardphotography.com and strutsf.org We kicked off the 2018 SAN FRANCISCO EQUALITY AWARDS at the EQUALITY CALIFORNIA’s CAPITOL CLUB RECEPTION on Thursday, February 22, at Xoom HQ downtown. There we heard from special guest speakers, event cochairs Senator Scott Wiener, Bevan Dufty, Laura Zagar, Kristen Kavanaugh, and Rebecca Saltzman. Each spoke about EQCA’s work and this year’s lineup of honorees—announcing that Senator Tammy Baldwin will join their previously announced slate of honorees that will include Congressman Mark Takano and Laverda Allen & Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). The SF Equality Awards gala will be held on May 12, 6–11 pm at Westin St. Francis, 335 Powell Street. At the kickoff, a new logo and slogan, “Until the Work Is Done,” were presented. eqcaawards.org The monthly CASTRO ART WALK on March 1 included art displays (that I assume will remain on exhibit all month long) at the following galleries: Art Attack, 2358 Market Street, Suite 1; Spark Arts, 4229 18th Street; Norden Living, 3618 17th Street; Blush Wine Bar, 476 Castro Street; The Apothecarium, 2029 Market Street; Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Drysdale Properties, 2324B Market Street; Dog Eared Books, 489 Castro Street; and Local Take, 3979 17th Street. I urge my readers to check out the amazing art at these venues. The Castro Art Walk, sponsored by Castro Merchants, occurs every first Thursday of the month from 6–9 pm. Participating businesses extend their normal hours to host special events and to share artwork with the neighborhood.

Each venue will have many works on display and for purchase. This event is free and open to the public. I want to especially mention my fave visit at Spark Arts. The art was a beautiful black and white photography exhibit by Monique Relova of transgender women in India. The live music (continued on page 31)

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

COMING UP

Compiled by Blake Dillon

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS sfbaytimes.com

8 : Thursday International Women’s Day Brunch @ Openhouse, 55 Laguna.

Join participants of the Sister Circle and the Koffee Klatch for a brunch discussion for those who are women-identified. 10am. openhouse-sf.org A People’s Forum: San Francisco Democratic Mayor’s Forum @ SF LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street. Democratic Party will host all six Democratic candidates for mayor with moderator Maria Leticia Gomez.

6–8pm. sfcenter.org The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot - The Play @ New Village Cafe, 1426 Polk Street. The Tenderloin Museum’s premiere run (through March 17) of this new play is currently sold out. Join the wait list to be notified when tickets become available: bit.ly/2FCciJq Robert Rauschenberg: Erasing the Rules Exhibit @ San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 Third Street. The exhibit includes more than 150 of the artist’s works demonstrating how he broke down boundaries between disciplines and redefined what art could be. Through March 25. Closed on Tuesdays. sfmoma.org

Colorful & Unconventional: A History of San Francisco’s Queer Art Scene @ GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street. Jeff Gunderson, librarian and archivist at the San Francisco Art Institute, and former SFAI library staffer Jim Van Buskirk will discuss the unconventional characters associated with SFAI, including faculty and alumni, plus other artists and personalities.

7–9pm. glbthistory.org Women’s History Month Comedy (On International Women’s Day) @ Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center, 1317 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley.

Comedian/comedy producer Lisa Geduldig returns to Ashkenaz with a multicultural lineup: Irene Tu, Priyaka Wali and Eloisa Bravo.

8–9:30pm. ashkenaz.com RuPaul’s Drag Race Showing @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. Held every Thursday.

8–10:30pm. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org

9 : Friday Cuddle Club @ Muttville, 255 Alabama Street. The event is a monthly group visit with dogs seven years and older. Every second Friday and organized by Openhouse. 2pm. ariel@openhouse-sf.org

Out in Tech SF I Know Your History @ Google, One Market Street, 55 Spear Street, 7th Floor.

LGBT rights movement leaders will discuss the struggles and successes of the early movement and their lessons for today, plus a briefing on the current state of LGBT rights under the Trump administration. 6–9pm.

Out In Tech on Facebook Jean Fineberg & Jazzphoria @ California Jazz Conservatory, 2087 Addison Street, Berkeley.

The ensemble, including LGBT community favorites Jean Fineberg and Marina Garza, will present a program of original music. 8pm. cjc.edu Bad Ass Boots Back Where It All Began @ High Street Station, 1303 High Street, Alameda.

The East Bay based band returns to High Street Station to present a Video Release and CD Fundraiser Party. 8–10pm. Bad Ass Boots on Facebook Soulskin Dance To Command World Premiere @ Dance Mission Theater. The company’s fifth anniversary season launches with a new work, To Command, that uses dance, photography and live music in a collaborative performance. Times vary through March 11. soulskindance.org Angela Davis OUTspoken Exhibit @ GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street. The new exhibit includes rare posters and ephemera tracing the turbulent history of activist and radical thinker Angela Davis.

Continues through May 20. glbthistory.org Theatre Rhinoceros’ Transitions @ Gateway Theatre, 215 Jackson Street.

Written and directed by John Fisher, this new work features a transsexual, a Russian President and an American President in a story about gender and sexuality in the world of geopolitics.

Continues through March 17. therhino.org

10 : Saturday Community Gathering: A March to Remember & Reclaim Queer Space @ Starting Point: The Gangway, 841 Larkin Street. A march through the Polk Gulch visiting four former queer spaces to lay black wreaths and call for commemorating and sustaining the city’s LGBTQ queer heritage and culture. Sponsored by GBLT Historical Society, SF LGBT Center, Lower Polk Neighbors, Middle Polk Neighborhood Association and more.

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From Baghdad to The Bay Film Screening @ Hammer Theater, San Jose. The screening will be the world premiere at Cinequest Film Festival of Ghazwan Alsharif’s story about struggling to rebuild his life after being ostracized from his family while also coming out as a gay man in the U.S. 4pm and also on Sunday at 3:15pm. frombaghdadtothebay.com

11 : Sunday MAX SF Second Sundays @ Finn Town, 2251 Market Street. The social group for gay men hosts a Sunday afternoon mixer where attendees can enjoy cocktails and wine tastings. 3–5pm. maxsf.org The Barbary Coast Cloggers - Clogging Classes @ Oberlin Dance Commons, 351 Shotwell.

Lessons every Sunday for beginners at 3:30pm progressing to intermediate and advanced levels. 3:30– 5:30pm. barbarycoast.org 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,” and we agree that it is great! Two shows every Sunday at 11am and 2pm. starlightroomsf.com

12 : Monday

SAVE THESE DATES SUNDAY, APRIL 8

Openhouse Spring Fling SATURDAY, APRIL 15

LGBT Community Center Soiree FRIDAY, APRIL 20

REAF’s Donna Sachet’s Songs for No Reason SATURDAY, APRIL 21

APIOWTC Annual Lunar New Year Banquet SUNDAY, MAY 6

Maitri’s BLISS FRIDAY, MAY 11

Our Family Coalition Gala SATURDAY, MAY 19

NCLR Anniversary Celebration SATURDAY, JUNE 23

Pride Brunch SUNDAY, JUNE 24

SF Pride Parade

“Empowerment in Print: LGBTQ Activism, Pride & Lust” Exhibit Opening @ GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street. The new exhibit, highlighting selected periodicals published from the 1950s to the 2000s, from the museum’s periodicals collection. Daily except closed on Tuesdays. glbthistory.org

SUNDAY, JULY 15

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra @ Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley. The Orchestra’s principals Tod Brody (flute) and Karla Ekholm (bassoon) will combine their talents for an evening of chamber music featuring woodwind instruments. 7:30–9pm. thesfco.org

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7

13 : Tuesday “Best Photo” Photography Exhibition @ Harvey Milk Photo Center, 50 Scott Street. Presented

by Through the Lens & Harvey Milk Photo Center, the exhibit continues through March 22. Check schedule for Tuesdays–Thurdays, Saturdays and Sundays. harveymilkphotocenter.org Tenants Rights Made Easy @ Strut, 470 Castro Street. Hosted by Elizabeth Taylor 50-Plus Network, AIDS Legal Referral Panel and LEDA Law Firm, the event includes a presentation and Q&A session on key tenant rights issues. 6:30–9:30pm. strutsf.org Perfectly Queer Reading Series @ Dog Eared Books Castro, 489 Castro Street. The evening

AIDS Walk AUGUST 2-5

Lazy Bear Weekend SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6

Horizons Annual Gala Castro Street Fair FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12

Mighty Real Gala will feature Kórima Press authors Maya Chinchhilla (The Cha Cha Files), Cathy Arellano (Salvation on Mission Street), Michael Nava (Street People), Dino Foxx (When Glitter Fades). 7pm. dogearedbooks.com Local Sirens: Women in Music Festival @ Rickshaw Shop, 155 Fell Street. Presented by the Women’s Audio Museum, this event is a panel discussion on the topic of Women in Hip Hop. Panelists are Rocky Rivera, Chhoti Maa, VerSoul fka Babii Cris, and moderated by Terri Winston. 7–11pm. womensadiomission.org The Velvet Rage Book Club @ Strut, 470 Castro Street. Part of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Stonewall Project, this book club explores the complexity of gay identity and culture, HIV, substance use, healing relationship trauma, shame, internalized homophobia and much more. Facilitators are Wade Smith

and Christopher Zepeda, and the featured author is Alan Downs.

4–5:30pm. strutsf.org

dancing for the LGBT community and friends (21+) every Thursday.

5–10:30pm. sundancesaloon.org

and stories from his remarkable career. Two shows: 4pm and 7pm. feinsteinsatthenikko.com

14 : Wednesday

16 : Friday

Good Luck to the Irish @ The Edge, 4149 18th Street. The monthly ALC Rest Stop 4 fundraiser for the AIDS LifeCycle will observe St. Patrick’s Day and bid farewell to a favorite Irish bartender. 4–7pm. qbarsf.com/EDGE

Castro Farmers Market Season Opening @ 16th and Beaver Streets. Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will bless the market and Donna Sachet will emcee as the Castro neighborhood’s Farmers Market kicks off a new season with fresh veggies, fruits, crafts and artisan-made goodies. 4–8pm.

Castro Farmers Market on Facebook SF Pride Member Meeting @ San Francisco Pride Office, 30 Pearl Street. The Member’s Choice voting for Community Grand Marshal will be held. 7pm. communityaffairs@sfpride.org Photosynthesis: Love for All Seasons @ San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers, 100 JF Kennedy Drive. The series of artistic illuminations are presented nightly through Spring. Sundown to midnight. conservatoryofflowers.org 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

15 : Thursday LGBT Economic Agenda & Power Lunch @ San Francisco City Hall Opening Reception (Thursday, March 15) and Hyatt Regency San Francisco. LGBTQ business leaders from throughout the Western states will convene in San Francisco for a two-day summit with breakout sessions and Power Lunch IV on Friday, March 16, 12noon. ggba.com Designing Women: A Lesbian Couple in the Arts & Crafts Movement @ GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street. Architectural historian Inge Horton and novelist Linda Ulleseit will present their research on architect Emil Williams and her partner, metalwork artist Lillian Palmer. glbthistory.org MAX Third Thursday @ Beaux, 2344 Market Street. Gay men and their friends meet to socialize and enjoy the scene at Beaux.

5–8pm. maxsf.org Michael Tilson Thomas and San Francisco Symphony Sudden Changes World Premiere @ Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness. MTT and the orchestra will perform the world premiere of the new work by composer Charles Wuorinen plus Copland’s Symphony No. 3 and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Also March 16 and 17. sfsymphony.org SFFD Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) Training @ Multiple locations. San Francisco residents are encouraged to consider the volunteer and training opportunities and to learn disaster skills as individuals and as members of emergency response teams. Times vary. Check schedules and info. sf-fire.org/training-schedule-registration NightLife Spotlight @ California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, 55 Music Concourse Drive. “Brain & Body NightLife” is the theme as the Academy’s popular Thursday night series explores the brain and body with mind-expanding talks, cutting edge demos and yoga sessions around the museum hosted by Yoga Tree, Yoga Works and Outdoor Yoga SF. Along with music, a variety of food and beverage options are available including special cocktails.

6–10pm. calacademy.org Sundance Saloon @ 550 Barneveld Avenue. Country-western

Smoke I Mirrors: Exploring Modern Drag Exhibit Opening Reception @ Ravot Gallery, 115 Clement Street. Photographer Gareth Gooch will present his first solo exhibit featuring a selection of his images depicting San Francisco nightlife. 6–10pm. Through April 13. ravot-sf.com Lesbian Happy Hour/St. Paddy’s Day Party @ Vertigo, 1160 Polk Street. SF Lesbian Happy Hour returns to host an evening of drinks, dancing and socializing celebrating St. Patrick’s Day Weekend. 6–9:30pm. meetup.com/sflesbianhh The Music Man Opening Night Dinner & Performance @ Fox Theatre 2215 Broadway, Redwood City. Broadway by the Bay’s season kick-off includes an opening night dinner and performance with shows continuing through April 1.

Dinner/6pm; Performance/8pm. broadwaybythebay.org Hey Girl! Bingo! Finale @ Ginger’s, 86 Hardie Place. Come and wish Shelix farewell and enjoy six rounds of bingo. 6–8pm. Hey Girl Bingo on Facebook Two Anniversaries, One Celebration! @ GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street. A double anniversary party celebrating the founding of the GLBT Historical Society thirty-three years ago and the opening of the GLBT History Museum seven years ago, featuring emcee Landa Lakes and DJ Marke B. Drinks. 7–9pm. glbthistory.org

17 : Saturday St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Festival @ San Francisco Civic Center Plaza. The 167th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade begins at 11:30am at the corner of Second and Market. The Festival at City Hall will showcase Irish culture through live performance, entertainment, arts and crafts exhibits, food and much more. St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Festival on Facebook The Art of Vanishing-A Memoir of Wanderlust Book Event with Author Laura Smith @ Laurel Bookstore, 1423 Broadway, Oakland. Smith will present her book, a young woman’s memoir, which examines, marriage, freedom and if it is possible to have both.

6pm. laurelbookstore.com St. Patrick’s Day Dinner with GMC @ The Gazebo, CPMC Davies Campus. CMG and MAX will partner to host the event at the CPMC Davies Hospital Campus plaza between the two wings of the hospital. 6:30–9:30pm. maxsf.org Marga Gomez’s Latin Standards @ Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th Street. Gomez will bring her twelfth and final solo show back to Brava for nine performances through April 1. Fridays & Saturdays, 8pm; Sundays, 7pm.

Dionne Warwick @ Cache Creek Casino, 14455 State Highway 16, Brooks. The international music icon brings her multi-decade career’s success story to Cache Creek. 8pm. cachecreek.com

19 : Monday Women’s Jazz & Blues Camp @ Jazzschool, Berkeley. Open to women instrumentalists and vocalists at all levels, the camp continues all week with a concert on Friday, March 23. cjc.edu/womensreg or womenscamp@cjc.edu 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 Mister Sister Mondays @ Midnight Sun, 4067 18th Street.

Rupaul’s Drag Race RUviewing Party.

9pm–2am. midnightsunsf.com

20 : Tuesday 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 13 Licks & Vice Tuesdays @ QBAR, 456 Castro Street. Two sequential parties for lesbians on one night, held every Tuesday for more than ten years, the event features diverse music talent from the Bay Area and beyond. 4pm–2am qbarsf.com

21 : Wednesday Margaret Cho, Ali Wong, Aparna Nancherla and Hari Kondabolu @ Cal Perforances Front Row for UCB Students @ 101 Zellerbach Hall, #4800 Berkeley. Outspoken comedian Margaret Cho will host the evening. Call to check on tickets available to general public. 510-642-9988. calperformances.org Mary Gauthier with Max Gomez @ Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley. The evening will introduce Gauthier’s tenth album, SongwritingWith:Soldiers, cowritten with wounded combat veterans. 8pm. thefreight.org LGBTQ+ People of Color Yoga @ Oakland LGBT Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. The event is held every 1st and 3rd Wednesday each month.

6:30pm. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org

22 : Thursday Castro Merchants Members Mixer @ Spark Arts, 4229 18h Street. Members and friends are invited to the first quarterly mixer for networking with local business owners, managers and staff. 6–8pm.

18 : Sunday

NightLife Spotlight @ California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, 55 Music Concourse Drive. “Robot NightLife” is the theme for an evening saluting all things robotic. Misty Robotics, Otherlab, PureRockets and Bot Bash experts will be on hand with demos.

Music and a variety of food and beverage options will be available.

6–10pm. calacademy.org

Tommy Tune @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko, 222 Mason Street. The legendary actor, singers, dancer, choreographer, director and producer will return to Feinstein’s for more songs

RuPaul’s Drag Race Showing @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. Held every Thursday.

8–10:30pm. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org

Saturday Night Soul Party @ Elbo Room, 647 Valencia Street.

Every 1st and 3rd Saturday hosting DJs present an all-vinyl 60s soul dance party. elbow.com

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NEWS (continued from page 3) by transgender people.” GLAAD’s “Doubly Victimized: Reporting on Transgender Victims of Crime” offers clear guidelines for reporting respectfully on stories where transgender people have been victimized by crime. GLAAD’s “Media Reference Guide” also offers a glossary of terms and best practices for fairly and accurately covering transgender stories. glaad.org M ay o r M a r k Fa r r e l l a n d Health Director Barbara Garcia A nnounce Expansion of City’s Conservatorship Beds Mayor Mark Farrell and Health Director Barbara Garcia have announced the opening of the San Francisco Healing Center, a major expansion of services for residents experiencing serious mental illness in the city. “The mental health problems on our streets are one of the biggest issues facing San Francisco,” said Mayor Farrell. “By more than doubling our conservatorship beds through our San Francisco Healing Center, we can provide real results for those with severe mental illness, along with our residents and businesses.” The new facility, located at St. Mary’s Medical Center, will add

54 new conservatorship beds to the city’s system of mental health care, more than doubling the current number in the county. It is hoped that the Center will serve a critical need for clients who are placed on conservatorship and who are too ill to live independently, but do not require acute hospital care. Expanding the supply of these beds in San Francisco will increase the county’s capacity to serve people with serious mental illness. sfgov.org Housing Site for Homeless Veterans and Low-Income Families Breaks Ground Mayor Mark Farrell, Supervisor Jane Kim, and the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure Executive Director Nadia Sesay joined public and private partners to break ground on a new 100 percent affordable housing development at 1150 Third Street in Mission Bay. During the ceremony on March 1, Mayor Farrell dedicated the site to former Mayor Edwin Lee, and proclaimed that upon completion, the building will be named after him.

“Today we are doing right by our veteran residents and lending a hand to struggling low-income families who deserve to call our city home,”

said Farrell. “This project moves us one step closer to bringing chronic veterans homelessness in our city to an end and I can think of no better tribute than to dedicate this new development to Mayor Lee, a man who spent his life uplifting those in need.”

The building will house 62 formerly homeless veterans and 56 low-income families with on-site supportive services. sfgov.org Castro Library Closes Parking Lot for Construction The Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library parking lot located at Pond and 16th Streets is now closed for construction. While the library itself remains open, the lot will remain closed until May. According to Mindy Linetzky, the library’s manager of communications, this is the beginning of SF Public Works construction on phase two of the Library Landscape Improvement Project. There will be no access via the parking lot, but a book drop facing Pond Street will be available for patrons’ use. hoodline.com Castro Comic Book Store Relocates The comic book shop in the Castro, Whatever Store, is relocating to

2275 Market Street in the former location of Books, Inc., which closed in 2016. Opened in May 2006, after nearly 12 years at 548 Castro Street, Whatever Store is closing there and moving a few blocks away—still in the Castro. Customers can check out the shop’s Facebook page (facebook.com/WhateverStore) for ongoing updates. hoodline.com Renewed Commitment to Help HIV+ Women March is officially Women’s History Month, a celebration of the vital contributions of women throughout history, and March 10 is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. During this time, San Francisco AIDS Foundation says they are reminded of the women we lost as well as those who responded in the early days of the AIDS epidemic—many being lesbians. SFAF says they will renew their commitment to serving women living with and at risk for HIV today and to supporting women who continue leading efforts to end this epidemic. Each year, SFAF welcomes over 25,000 people through their doors. Many are women who face unique health

risks and barriers to prevention and care, including domestic abuse, substance use, discrimination, and access to affordable housing. SFAF notes that the rate at which AfricanAmerican women, in particular, are being diagnosed with HIV is alarming. sfaf.org Lyft Announces Free Rides to ‘March for Our Lives’ Rallies Nationwide Lyft rideshare company will offer free rides to “March for Our Lives” demonstrations across America.

The protests, organized by surviving students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, will occur on March 24 all across America. “We believe there is something seriously wrong when the threat of gun violence is so frequent and real throughout our country.

And, like many, we are inspired by your leadership,” the company’s cofounders wrote. “We’d be honored to support your work with free Lyft rides to March for Our Lives rallies across the country on March 24.” lgbtqnation.com

ROSTOW (continued from page 11) computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what’s going on.”

He said that. This is a man who does not use email, except for when he writes something down in capitals with a giant black marker and has an aide Xerox it and turn it into a pdf file that can be attached to an email and sent to someone. He’s also the guy who bragged during the campaign that 10-year-old Barron was an incredible genius and could do all sorts of things on the computer. No offense to Barron, who I’m sure is adept, but your average first grader can run rings around Trump in the tech department. The man is a dinosaur, and this scary detail is eclipsed by the even more frightening facets of his Presidency. Oh, and no, Twitter does not count as mastering technology.

Bitter Melissa Plows On While we wait for the Supremes to release their Masterpiece Cakeshop opinion, you should know that Melissa Klein of “Sweet Cakes by Melissa” has appealed her most recent legal defeat to the Oregon Supreme Court. I remember this insuffer-

able woman from years gone by and I must confess I haven’t followed her recent litigation very closely. I thought she had given up her business or turned it into a home-based hobby. And I saw her on a panel at one of those right-wing conferences a couple years ago, when she was almost in tears describing the emotional investment she sinks into every wedding cake. Gag me with a spoon, as the Gen X kids used to say.

It turns out that the Kleins were recently assessed $135,000 in damages for the pain and suffering that they caused the two lesbians who were denied service. Not only did they refuse to do business with the gal pals, but when the women complained, the Kleins published their names and address and they got death threats.

At any rate, the Oregon state appellate court upheld the award, and the Kleins are now asking the top court to overturn the ruling. Lest you feel too sorry for the Kleins, note that they cashed in at least $100,000 from a Go Fund Me page until Go Fund Me shut down the appeal for violating its terms of service.

There was another one of these small business bias cases in Hawaii, where the antigay owner of a bed and breakfast tried to argue that her constitutional rights to privacy and/ or freedom of intimate association should allow her to reject lesbian customers in violation of state law. In another long-running case (the original incident happened in 2007), the state appellate court upheld a 2013 ruling in favor of the two women, noting—and I paraphrase— that if you elect to turn your house into a bed and breakfast, you automatically give up a degree of privacy. Nor can you invoke a need for privacy that applies only to categories of customers you dislike.

Lions and Tiger and Wolves, Oh My! Our thanks to The Washington Blade for a report on antigay Kentucky County Clerk K im Davis’s new book, Under God’s Authority: The Kim Davis Story. According to the promotional staff at the Liberty Counsel, the book’s distributor: “Kim chronicles her dramatic encounters with furious, fist-pounding, homosexual men and the hate mail that flooded

her office ... [and] takes you behindthe-scenes of the unlikely saga that took America by storm in 2015.

But that’s not all!

“She tells how God transformed her life in 2011, why she almost retired in 2014, and how she knew— six months before the U.S. Supreme Court’s disastrous 2015 same-sex ‘marriage’ opinion—she was headed for jail.”

Oddly, the Blade reports that Liberty Counsel has since removed the phrase “fist-pounding, homosexual men.” Hmmm. Was it the double entendre? The intervention of a fact checker? Did Jesus take the editor’s desk?

This November, Davis will be running for reelection against David Ermold, one of the fist-pounding homosexual men she refused to serve after the High Court authorized same-sex marriages in 2015. Now that would be satisfying, don’t you think?

Pride Goeth Before a Lawsuit And finally, attorney Roberta Kaplan (she of Edie Windsor fame) is

suing the city of Starkville, Mississippi, after they refused to authorize a Pride Parade. Representing Starkville Pride, Kaplan argues that the city singled out the Pride group for prejudicial treatment in violation of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. We’ll see if the council sticks to their guns in denying a permit for the parade. If so, keep in mind that the gay parade is the only one the city has declined to authorize. Viewpoint discrimination, anyone?

I can’t celebrate the end of my column because Mel and I are on a sugar “detox” thing, which is just another “don’t eat or drink anything interesting” ty pe diet. Can you imagine how much I hate this, dear readers? Mel just offered me a taste of some vegetable relish of some sort, which was fine as these things go.

(And I’m sure she worked hard at it!)

But listen. You can keep your sugar and your salsa. Just bring me a slab of decent cheese, a hunk of baguette and half a bottle of cold Krug.

I think Omar Khayyam wrote something along those lines once. arostow@aol.com

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ ANSWER (Question on pg 21) B) Matthew Shepard

In 2009, Congress passed, and then President Obama signed, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Byrd was a black man who was murdered in the same year as Shepard, 1998. President Obama hailed the Act as a step toward change to “help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray.”

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N ewPer spec ti ves Center for Counseling

SISTER DANA (continued from page 26) entertainment was provided by Morgan Nilson & Ofir Vziel of Maleh Klez klezmer band at the Purimthemed party. Fantastic lip synch of Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish” was delivered by hilarious Miss Shugana as the Biblical Queen Esther beating up a pop-up Bozo clown doll.

Sister Dana sez, “Hello from Tinseltown North! I am your fierce reportress for us Bay Area Hollyweird queers: I’ve got the scoop. The best Oscar Party in town, produced by ACADEMY OF FRIENDS (AOF), happened on Sunday, March 4, at City View. We came to celebrate on Oscar Night the films that dazzled us this past year— while raising much money for the Bay Area’s AIDS/HIV community. Beneficiaries were: AIDS Legal Referral Panel; Aguilas; HIV/AIDS Nightline; Maitri Compassionate Care; Positive Resource Center; and Project Open Hand. Of course, we loved the gold-painted, living Oscar statue guyz ‘n galz, worked the red carpet, got snapped by the paparazzi, and got the whole Hollywood VIP treatment. The title and basically the theme of the evening was UNDER THE BIG TOP where we saw many a clown (some were bearded ladies who were mostly drag queens with fake facial hair), ringmasters, and circus freaks. But enuff about us attendees—live entertainment was served up sensationally by Wooden Lickel Circus with acrobatics, juggling, flying trapeze, and contortion. We got a rare visit from Barbra Streisand (sensational impersonator) clutching to her breast a faux Oscar statue while lip synching “My Man.” Flawless. My only disappointment in the evening—no fault of AOF—was that we folks everywhere (warts & all) did not get our props for Song of the Year for “This Is Me” from The Great-

est Showman. I think this should be our interplanetary anthem for “being our authentic selves.” NUNtheless, I was utterly exhilarated upon the announcement of Best Adapted Screenplay for the way-gay romance, Call Me by Your Name—which also got noms for Best Actor and Best Picture.

Not bad for an Oscar event. Queers rule! We had an amazing evening, with delicious food and wine and spirits--all hosted by the wonderful Carnie Asada and Joel Riddell.

Hooray for Hollywood!

I am proud to say that members of the SAN FRANCISCO GAY MEN’S CHORUS joined international superstar Demi Lovato onstage when her world tour arrived at San Jose’s SAP Center on Wednesday, February 28. They sang “Tell Me You Love Me” and “Sorry Not Sorry” with her. How kewl is that?!

Sister Dana sez, “So March Madness will be here again, which means I am MAD that some of my TV is gonna be preempted by stinkin’ basketball.

Oh well, I’m sure you’ll go MAD for these upcoming events.”

GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY is currently exhibiting EMPOWERMENT IN PRINT: LGBTQ ACTIVISM, PRIDE, & LUST at their 4127 18th Street museum in the Castro. The new exhibition highlights the GLBT Historical Society’s holdings of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex periodicals published in Northern California from the 1950s to the 2000s. Curated by the society’s managing archivist, Joanna Black, and museum & exhibitions manager, Jeremy Prince, the show features 26 carefully selected titles—one for each letter of the alphabet—that suggest the range and depth of the institution’s peri-

odicals collection, one of the largest in the United States. The magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and zines on display reflect how queer people have used periodicals to create community, develop culture, express desire, and inspire activism. As the sign in the museum states: “From sober to sleek, from coy to explicit, from apolitical to militant, the publications demonstrate the myriad ways LGBTQ people have found empowerment in print.” The exhibition runs through May 21 at the GLBT History Museum.

On Saturday, March 10, at 4 pm, A MARCH TO REMEMBER & RECLAIM QUEER SPACE will take place. LGBT leaders, LGBT and neighborhood organizations, activists, and community members will gather at the former site of The Gangway, 841 Larkin Street, and march through Polk Gulch, laying black wreaths at the sites of former queer spaces in the historic LGBT district. Participants will call on elected officials, foundations, and philanthropists, as well as residents and lovers of San Francisco, to both commemorate the City’s LGBTQ past and take active steps to sustain the City’s living queer heritage and culture. Hosts: Juanita More, Cleve Jones, The GLBT Historical Society, SF LGBT Center, Supervisor Aaron Peskin, Lower Polk Neighbors, Middle Polk Neighborhood Association & and more.

Ravot Gallery is pleased to present SMOKE + MIRRORS: Exploring Modern Drag by the awardwinning San Francisco-based photographer GOOCH. This will be Gooch’s first solo exhibition of his glorious nightlife photography. This is a free exhibition. All photos are for sale. The exhibition runs March 16– April 13. The Ravot Gallery is at 115

Clement Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenue). ravot-sf.com/gallery and garethgoochphotography.com Written by four-time Tony winner Terrence McNally, IT’S ONLY A PLAY thrusts you into the middle of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans of a Broadway play. It’s the opening night of hilariously harried playwright Peter Austin’s new play, and everyone has gathered at the daffy producer’s townhouse to await the reviews. Joining Peter are his television producer best friend, a hilariously washed-up Hollywood diva, a lethal drama critic and more. Don’t miss this snappy sharp satire about the business of big-budget theater, complete with impromptu selfies and celebrity take-downs galore, at San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Avenue. nctcsf.org KREWE DE KINQUE is putting on a ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARTY at The Edge hosted by newly crowned Krewe de Kinque King Gareth Gooch & Queen Miss Chief. They will be shaking snakes & stirring up shenanigans for our $10 Beer Bust, Open Show, Raffle, & GREEN Jell-O Shots. Come earn some green & gold beads, enjoy some great drink specials, & win a prize for best costume! Join MC Deana O’ Dawn for a toast to the Irish! Performances by Miss Chief, DivaD, Mark Paladini, Gerri Lawler & Kelly Rose. Remember to wear green--or don’t, but I might have to pinch you! Come to The Edge on March 17th, 4-7pm, 4149 18th and Castro Streets. No cover.

TRANSITIONS by John Fisher is about a Russian President, an American President, and a drag queen in a story about gender and sexuality in the world of geopolitics. A surprising

relationship between a young Republican and a no-nonsense drag queen almost sets the world on fire. But in a moment of international crisis this romance might just save the planet, as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are about to find out. It is a satirical drama ripped from the world’s headlines in the tradition of filmmakers Billy Wilder and Oliver Stone. Shows are at the Gateway Theatre (formerly the Eureka Theatre), 215 Jackson at Battery Street. therhino.org PEACHES CHRIST PRODUCTIONS proudly presents DRAG BECOMES HER, a hysterical theatrical parody of “Death Becomes Her” starring Jinkx Monsoon, Bendelacreme, Heklina, & Peaches Christ on Saturday, March 10, at The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro, for two performances only, 3 pm and 8 pm. Each performance will be followed by a rare screening of an original Death Becomes Her film printstarring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis, and Isabella Rossellini on the enormous Castro Theatre screen. peacheschrist.com Sister Dana sez, “There are memos, and then there are MEMOS! In their retort memo, House Democrats charged that the GOP memo unfairly maligned the FBI and the Justice Department for citing in their surveillance application information from the author of a controversial dossier alleging that Trump had ties to Russian officials. Now THAT’S a memo!

BTW kudos to CA Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House Intel Committee, for keepin’ it real!!!”

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