San Francisco Bay Times - March 24, 2022

March 24–April 6, 2022 http://sfbaytimes.com

SF Pride President Announces Next Chapter of Her Leadership Journey Carolyn Wysinger shares more in the launch of her new column.

PHOTO BY TEOFIE S. DECIERDO

See page 3

BAY TIMES S

Carolyn Wysinger for El Cerrito City Council

The Next Chapter of My Leadership Journey

A

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)

Photos courtesy of Teofie S. Decierdo

ing as advisor for the Black Student Union, Majorette Squad, and LGBTQ Student club.

She was recently elected Delegate to California Assembly District 15.

We are honored to feature her new column, “What Does Dubb Say?,” monthly in the Bay Times.)

What Does Dubb Say? Carolyn Wysinger (Editor’s Note: The San Francisco Bay Times is proud to launch in this issue a new column by SF Pride President Carolyn Wysinger, who is the Education Coordinator at The Commonwealth Club of California.

For several years she has worked in the LGBTQ community in many capacities and leadership roles.

As a blogger, she has written for Autostraddle, Everyday Feminism, Black Girl Dangerous, and Media Diversified. As an author, she published her first book, Knockturnal Emissions, which has been listed on LGBTQ essential reading lists at several universities.

In 2013, she was appointed to the Human Rights & Relations Commission of the City of Richmond. In 2020, she was appointed by Mayor London Breed and Treasurer José Cisneros to the Economic Recovery Task Force of the City and County Of San Francisco. Currently, she is the Vice President of Programs for the El Cerrito Democratic Club and PAC Chair of the Lambda Democratic Club of Contra Costa County. She was recently appointed to the Legislative Committee of the California Democratic Party as well as the Legislative Committee of the National Federation of Democratic Women, which functions as the Women’s Caucus of the Democratic National Committee. She also serves alongside the family of George Floyd on the board of the Philonise and Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change.

As an educator and workshop leader, she has facilitated workshops at BUTCHVoices, Black Lesbians United, BLAQout Conference, and Gender Spectrum. A former faculty member at Richmond High School, she taught English Language Learning, 10th Grade English, Leadership, and AfricanAmerican Literature, while also serv-

If you had told me in 2018 that I would have been making the announcement I’m making today, I would have called you a liar. In that year, I worked on a very dear friend’s political campaign, and I saw firsthand the emotional toll it could take on a person. How many people pull at you, dig into your personal life ... and every person expected you to take care of them personally in lieu of community. And my friend was a straight man! Oh, God, I thought to myself. I knew it would be 100 times worse as a Black LGBTQ woman. I had no interest in putting myself through that drama.

Enter the San Francisco LGBTQ Pride Celebration Committee.

Since joining the board in 2018 and being elected Chair in 2019, I have learned exactly how important it is for Black LGBTQ people to be visible & represented in all segments of community. While Pride board members are not quite the “quasi-public officials” that someone once claimed we are, it certainly puts us in the position to very publicly grapple with all kinds of community issues, deal with actual public officials, and be a public voice in the community. I decided that same year that if I could do it for Pride, I should do it for my local community. Queer voices are needed and necessary everywhere that equity work is being done.

birthday parties at Chevy’s in the El Cerrito Plaza. The people who ran the city didn’t look like me or anyone in my community. Now, in 2022, El Cerrito is one of the most diverse cities in our state with a rising number of workingclass Black and brown families (especially LGBTQ families) and students.

When you elect diverse members to any council or commission, you aren’t just doing it because it looks good. You should be electing representatives who make sure every nuanced view is represented when decisions are made. When elected to the

The work of making sure that we don’t have state legislatures creating policies and laws that marginalize LGBTQ people starts locally.

It starts with making sure that our voices are there in our local municipalities running our cities. That we are on the ground floor making housing, economic, and safety laws so that we aren’t left reacting to already enacted unjust policies. There is an old saying, “You may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you.” I decided it benefits my community more to be at the table instead of on the menu.

Today I am announcing the next chapter in my leadership journey, which is running for El Cerrito City Council! You may have heard of the little city on a hill right between Berkeley and Richmond. There are several random pop culture facts about the city, but my favorite is that it’s the home of Creedence Clearwater Revival, which means I get to claim at least a tiny piece of Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary.” Ha! I was born and raised across the Bay Bridge in West Contra Costa County. My family came to Richmond, California, during the second wave of the great migration, and for decades has been known for service to the West Contra Costa community as well as our hometown of DeRidder, Louisiana. One of my great-uncles, Rev. WW Batties, was the first Black Councilmember in DeRidder. Here in Richmond, my great-uncle Odis Cotright opened the first Black business in the city and started the first Black Chamber of Commerce.

After the grocery workers union fought to desegregate their workforce, they came to my uncle for a suggestion of who should be the first Black clerk in Contra Costa County. He immediately fired my aunt and namesake Carolyn Bluitt and sent her to work for Lucky’s, where she worked for over 30 years. Years later, my grandfather would take up doing the crucial work of helping community members on their road to sobriety.

So, you see, I am blessed to come from a family with a legacy of leadership. At the core of that legacy has always been a commitment to protecting and uplifting our community. I’m running for El Cerrito City Council because, for my entire life, I have seen EC as a city where a kid who ate a reduced lunch and had to work a family paper route before school to survive had no place in besides the fun I had as a student leader at El Cerrito High School and

El Cerrito Council, I will be the first Black LGBTQ councilmember in the city’s history.

As a councilmember I will: lead economic growth and recovery, ensure an equitable & transparent budgeting, prioritize community safety, support housing development, and expand El Cerrito’s climate leadership—all with a fresh, Black, queer view for the city with a view.

That’s a heck of a way to jump off a column, huh?! You are all invited to my campaign kick-

off on Thursday, April 14, 5:30 pm at Los Moles Beer Garden in El Cerrito. I look forward to seeing you all there!! Register here: https://tinyurl.com/2ea54xtv Carolyn Wysinger is an LGBTQ author, activist, and President of the SF Pride Board of Directors. She has written for Autostraddle, Everyday Feminism, and Black Girl Dangerous. She can be found starting trouble on Instagram & Twitter @CdubbTheHost

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

M ARC H 24, 2022

3

Springing Into Action Stop the Hate

In Case You Missed It Joanie Juster Slava Ukraini As the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine grows monumentally with each day of the Russian invasion, so does the need for us all to step up and help. In our last issue of the San Francisco Bay Times, I listed a number of organizations that are helping all Ukrainians, as well as LGBTQ+ Ukrainians, in particular.

Since then, more have come to light, and benefit concerts, protests, and events are popping up all over the Bay Area. Please do what you can to support these efforts. Every dol-

While the state legislatures in Texas and Florida have grabbed most of the media attention for their hateful bills targeting trans kids, other states seem to be trying to outdo each other in a race to see who can pass the most gratuitously cruel and damaging legislation. It’s a torturous game of whack-a-mole: every time we think we have alleviated the situation in one state, two more pop up with ever-more-destructive laws.

Alabama, Idaho (which may win this month’s Most Hateful State award), and now Alaska are trying to erase and punish trans people, and—just to add another level of evil—to punish anyone who loves or tries to help them.

My friend Ruth in Alaska is one of the smartest and most compassionate allies and activists I know. This week she penned a letter to the Alaska Senate Education Committee, strongly opposing a bill that would force students to play on teams that aligned with the gender assigned to them at birth. Ruth was having none of it: “Dear Senate Education Committee, I strongly oppose Senate Bill 140: ‘The Even Playing Field Act.’ Trans kids deserve to live honestly, and if they want to play games, let

4

SA N F RANCISCO BAY T I ME S

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

‘em. Sports are supposed to be for fun and personal achievement and teamwork, not a zero-sum gladiatorial trial for scarce resources to determine who can continue their education. If that’s what school sports are about then we have bigger problems to address, and forcing trans kids to play on a different team isn’t going to fix that.

What this will definitely achieve is making life harder for trans students by painting them as a threat to their classmates’ success, when they’re already struggling for acceptance. I’m not convinced that trans girls possibly winning a trophy now and then is all that big a threat to anyone, especially not when compared to the very real threat of losing more LGBTQ kids to hopelessness when they don’t see a place for themselves in their school or in their home state. The danger of trans athletes sounds like the latest incarnation of the trans bathroom bogeyman, or the argument that letting gay people get married will ruin marriage for everyone else. Those were bad-faith concern-trolling hogwash to rile up a political base, and this is too ... this is national politics using us, and using other state legislatures, to generate a lot of sound and fury around an emotional wedge issue as we head into midterms. Focusing negative political attention on trans kids will hurt those kids, it will hurt all LGBTQ Alaskans by sending the message that

they are not welcome to be themselves here ... .”

There’s more, but you catch her drift.

We all need to speak up against this kind of legislation. Thanks to Ruth for setting an example for allies everywhere.

Mental Health Resources from Juanita MORE! Spring may be in the air, with more sunshine and flowers blooming everywhere, but we are still living through particularly stressful times, and many are struggling to maintain their emotional and mental health. Juanita MORE!, who just completed her successful reign as Empress of San Francisco, keeps her finger on the pulse of the community, and responded to the despair she was seeing by publishing a compassionate and thought-provoking article that includes a valuable list of mental health resources compiled by Queer Life Space, a local nonprofit that provides long-term, low-fee mental health and substance abuse therapy for the Queer community.

MORE! candidly shares that she has at times struggled with some mental health issues herself, and addresses the challenges head on:

“Queer people often struggle with suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, trauma, abandonment, and loss of family. As if any of these issues weren’t problematic enough, government funding for nonprofits dealing with mental health issues has dramatically decreased over the past few decades. And their model doesn’t address long-term-based services, as well.” She adds that the past two years of COVID-induced isolation have been particularly challenging.

The comprehensive list of mental health resources, compiled by Queer LifeSpace, is available on MORE!’s web site: https://tinyurl.com/4j5d8sm8 And while you’re at it, mark your calendar for Queer LifeSpace’s 10th anniversary gala, coming up on May 7. More info coming soon. https://tinyurl.com/QLS10Gala Save Easter Weekend for the Sisters And now for some truly joyful news.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (continued on page 18)

PHOTO BY BETH PIELERT

lar counts. Here’s one place to help: https://tinyurl.com/mr4yd2zd

6/26 and Beyond Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis Mind your own business. That’s what Republican and other opponents of LGBTIQ equality bluntly need to be told in response to their utterly cruel, hypocritical, and exploitative efforts to deprive transgender youth of life-saving genderaffirming medical care.

Last year, Arkansas became the first state in the union—with many more seeking to follow—to pass a law interfering with the ability of health care professionals and parents to ensure that transgender minors receive needed medical care, in accord with current standards of care for treating gender dysphoria.

Medical professionals in the state who provide such care are subject to lawsuits and discipline for unprofessional conduct.

The ACLU immediately challenged the law upon its passage, and a federal district court enjoined its enforcement. Arkansas appealed the decision, and the case is now pending on appeal.

In legal briefing, the ACLU explained that medical protocols for treating minors with gender dysphoria involve a lengthy process that potentially entails carefully staged interventions, including puberty delaying medication, hormone therapy, and in some cases chest reconstruction surgery. Both the teenager and their parents must give fully informed consent, and no interventions are made unless deemed medically necessary.

Every major professional health association in the country endorses these scientifically based medical protocols to prevent trans youth from experiencing extreme harm and distress.

The cruelty of interfering with trans youth receiving proper care is clear and manifest. The ACLU legal briefing describes how the mere introduction of the Arkansas legislation resulted in a local physician’s office receiving “calls from numerous families, panicking because their children were expressing suicidal thoughts at the prospect of losing the healthcare they rely on for their well-being, and four of the clinic’s patients—and three other transgender adolescents—were hospitalized after suicide attempts.”

Last month, the State of Texas took it a step further when Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton bypassed the legislature and issued a legal opinion stating that some types of gender-affirming medical care for minors constituted “child abuse.” Governor Greg Abbott then directed the state child welfare agency to investigate parents of children who received such care and called on the public to report parents they suspect of helping their children receive it. Trans kids face the threat of being removed from their homes and placed in the foster system.

A Texas judge blocked the investigations from going forward, but Abbott and Paxton have appealed the decision and maintain the investigations can continue.

Even more draconian measures are currently under consideration in other states controlled by conservative Republicans.

The Idaho Assembly early this month passed legislation making it a felony, punishable by up to life imprisonment, for a medical professional or parent to participate in providing gender-affirming care.

The legislation criminalized going out of state to obtain it, too. Last week the Idaho State Senate rejected the measure, but legislation in Alabama making it a felony up to 10 years in prison for physicians to provide the care appears likely to pass. Legislation in multiple other Republican held states remains pending.

The hypocrisy of the Republicans’ efforts is unmistakable. Earlier this month, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis proclaimed 2022 “the year of the parent” as he endorsed Florida’s notorious “Don’t Say Gay” bill interfering with discussion of LGBTIQ people in public schools. The legislation, formally titled the “Parental Right Rights in Education” bill, declares that parents in Florida have “the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding the upbringing and control of their children.”

But what about the rights of the parents of transgender kids? What could be a more fundamental right of parenting than the freedom to engage physicians practicing the latest professionally based standard of care to provide their children affirming live-saving treatment?

The hypocrisy appears too much for even some Republicans to bear. Conservative Republican Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson actually vetoed the Arkansas legislation, terming it “vast government overreach” that made “the state as the

March & Rally for Cleve Jones and Housing Rights to Take Place on March 27 On Sunday, March 27 @ 11 am, a March & Rally for Housing Rights will take place at Harvey Milk Plaza, 17th and Castro Streets. The impetus for the event concerns San Francisco Bay Times founding contributor and renowned LGBTQ activist Cleve Jones. He recently shared via social media that his apartment building was purchased and his rent would be raised over 117%, forcing him to move from his long-time one-bedroom home in the Castro.

PHOTO BY RINK

Message to Anti-Trans Forces: Mind Your Own Business

He pointed out that, despite living with certain privileges, even someone as well-connected as he is seems to have no recourse in such a situation. His letter sounds the alarm for others; anyone living in a rent-controlled apartment is vulnerable to such abrupt changes.

Jones has led countless protests and rallies through the streets of San Francisco since the 1970s, and is not one to go quietly. His supporters will not go quietly, either, and will stand together to support him on the day of his displacement.

After gathering at Harvey Milk Plaza, marchers will go three blocks to Jones’ home on 18th Street.

Speakers at the rally will include Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and housing rights activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca.

(continued on page 18)

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

M ARC H 24, 2022

5

It’s Not Time to Unmask Yet

Bayard Rustin Birthday Celebration Photos by Rink

an MIT-trained scientist, I have been following the data and working to help protect the health of our communities.

Out of the Closet and into City Hall Oakland City Councilmember At-Large, Rebecca Kaplan In recent weeks there have been changes to the guidance issued by some officials and agencies regarding the use of masks to help protect the community from further spread of COVID. I, however, along with several public officials and experts, caution that the new, looser mask guidance is not based on COVID case rates dropping to the previously recommended and announced levels. Instead, some agencies and officials have changed their criteria, to remove masking, although the data of transmission levels does not support this change.

As someone who is elected to represent the public, and who has been working on COVID issues since the beginning of the pandemic, including launching the nation’s first FEMA-supported large-scale COVID vaccination project (headquartered at the Oakland Coliseum, with additional community-based outreach with mobile vaccination sites in hard-hit communities), and as

6

SA N F RANCISCO BAY T I ME S

Bayard Rustin Coalition members and friends gathered at the Sheba Piano Lounge at the Fillmore Center on Friday, March 18, for a celebration of the 110th anniversary of Rustin’s birth. Eric Johnson, Mario Benton, Lisa Williams, and Lawrence Shine were among those attending. Rustin is remembered for his critical role as the openly gay assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who organized the March on Washington where King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered.

I began masking around people outside my household, particularly indoors, in the spring of 2020, before health officials and the CDC began recommending it. I began wearing, recommending, and helping to obtain and distribute higher quality masks (such as N95, KN95) long before the CDC recommended them. And now, I will continue to wear a quality mask when indoors around people outside my household, even as some agencies are no longer requiring it; and I encourage the public to do the same.

While we may wish the pandemic were over, wishing does not make it so. Taking effective measures to stop the spread, including masking, is the thoughtful response, and will help end the pandemic rather than contribute to pretending it is over.

It is also important to note that even the very loose official new CDC guidance recognizes that there are many millions of people for whom the unmasking is incredibly dangerous—including those who cannot be vaccinated (which includes young children), the immunocompromised, and people with various disabilities and “pre-existing conditions.”

For the public at large to stop masking indoors, while transmission and case rates continue to be quite high, and while thousands of people per week continue to die of COVID, puts everyone at increased risk. Caring about our own lives should be reason enough to keep wearing masks indoors. I would hope that caring about the lives of others should also be a factor in our decisions.

Those who are at heightened risk and those who cannot be vaccinated should not be put at major risk of death or serious illness.

On Rustin’s actual birthday date of March 17, the National Black Justice Coalition urged Congress to pass the Bayard Rustin Stamp Act, which would require the U.S. Postal Service to issue a forever stamp depicting Rustin to honor his life and work.

Furthermore, the risk factors in most public discussions have been ignoring the danger of “long COVID,” in which even those who have a “mild” or “asymptomatic” initial infection may suffer a wide array of ongoing negative health impacts long after contracting COVID. For those of us, including myself, who were activists fighting to save lives in the early days of the AIDS pandemic, when federal officials were still treating it as a joke, this current challenge is upsetting, but not unprecedented. We have actions we can take to help protect both ourselves, and one another. We can care about disability justice. We can care about the stark racial inequities being revealed and exacerbated by COVID. We can care about the people around us. And we can protect our own health.

Wearing a higher quality mask, such as an N95 or KN95, substantially reduces the risk of COVID transmission, both for the person wearing it, and for the people around them. Why would we want to do any less?

Councilmember At-Large and Council President Rebecca Kaplan, who is the Vice Mayor of Oakland, was elected in 2008 to serve as Oakland’s citywide Councilmember; she was reelected in 2016 and 2020. She also serves on the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC). Follow Councilmember Kaplan on Twitter @Kaplan4Oakland ( https://twitter.com/ Kaplan4Oakland ) and Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/Kaplan4Oakland/ ).

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

https://bayardrustincoalition.com/

Celebrating Women’s History Month More policing isn’t the answer. We need to invest in additional services for victims and prevention programs to bring further attacks to an end.

Plus, a more inclusive education system that teaches about Asian history and experiences would also help.

Cynthia Choi

I wanted to do all I can as Assembly Budget Chair to support these initiatives. The $166.5 million statefunded API Equity Budget I championed last year aims to make progress on each of those fronts.

Assemblymember Phil Ting Each year March is designated as Women’s History Month to honor the accomplishments and contributions women have made to every facet of our lives. From science to social justice, it’s a chance to reflect on the trailblazers who have led the way for change. I love the fact that this national celebration’s roots can be traced back to the Bay Area—Santa Rosa, in fact. A local educational task force there first proclaimed Women’s History Week in 1978 to comply with Title IX, and the movement grew from there.

The California State Assembly marks the occasion annually by having lawmakers name their district’s Woman of the Year. This year, I’m excited to announce I’ve chosen Cynthia Choi, Co-Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), a community-based civil rights organization, which is committed to protecting the dignity and fair treatment of all immigrants.

CAA also strives to fulfill the promise of a multi-racial democracy.

You’ve probably seen her more recent work as Co-Founder of Stop AAPI Hate ( https://stopaapihate.org/ ),

a national coalition addressing incidents of anti-Asian hate across the U.S. The group formed at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, when incidents of hate targeting members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities increased dramatically. Stop AAPI Hate created a national reporting website where victims can share what happened to them. It’s the only platform tracking COVID-related attacks or discrimination.

Through the end of 2021, nearly 11,000 incidents have been logged.

The cases involve name calling, harassment, or worse, beatings and murder. Perpetrators have been wrongly blaming the AAPI community for COVID-19 and the restrictions that were part of the public health emergency.

Cynthia’s work is important for not only documenting but also solving this epidemic of violence against Asians. I agree with her approach in that solutions need to be holistic and will take time and resources.

While the Outer Sunset resident is getting accolades for her Stop AAPI Hate work, Cynthia has spent more than three decades in the nonprofit sector, tackling issues that include environmental justice, immigrant/ refugee rights, and gender violence.

As a daughter of immigrants, she is deeply committed to and passionate about creating a world that is socially just. She describes her superpowers as being able to listen, understand, and evoke empathy. These traits have contributed to her success in leading change, and our world is better because of her.

Congratulations to Cynthia. I have no doubt this tireless advocate will continue to make waves. I’m proud to name her 2022’s Woman of the Year for Assembly District 19. I hope you have a chance to honor someone in your life for Women’s HERtory Month.

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

Jewelle Gomez Women and Children First?

Leave Signs Jewelle Gomez Many years ago, I was riding a subway to work when a guy deliberately pushed up against me repeatedly.

Fury rose inside me like an incendiary bomb so I shoved him back. He was so shocked he just shouted the “B” word until he hurried off the train at the next stop. I was lucky.

I thought of that incident recently when reading a mystery novel and a character mentioned Lakshmibai, a 19th century Maharani and warrior for Indian sovereignty. I searched online where I was swept up in her heroic defense of her country against British colonialism. Her exploits deserve to be a realistic superhero movie. I mean, how many iterations of Batman can we swallow? In that moment when I was protecting myself, I must have felt Lakshmibai’s warrior power.

In the 1970s and ‘80s, every lesbian I knew was in a sexy gi and taking aikido so we could defend ourselves.

However, simply taking a self-defense class rarely overcomes the generations of guilt instilled in women about defending ourselves, which translates into “hurting somebody.” It’s not an easy binding to break.

Data and experience tell us that the male-dominated cultures not only do not value the lives of women and girls but rather use our lives as fodder to heighten their sense of hegemony. I know I’m on the verge of a crazy lesbian/feminist rant. So be it! Especially since the statistics barely reflect the number of women who are harassed (humiliated) in public every day.

To change this, we must change the way children, especially boys, are raised. It’s not just training them to say “thank you” and wash dishes, but instilling in boys as early as possible the need to curb and redirect their impulses—away from shoving girls on the playground, making cat calls on the street, rape, domestic violence, and Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian maternity hospitals.

I saw a post on Twitter (I know, I know!) in which a young woman offered thanks to an anonymous elderly woman who noticed her being harassed by a man on the street. He wouldn’t leave her alone so the older woman simply walked

up, took her arm, and started a conversation as if they were related. It interrupted the harasser, who then scurried away.

More extraordinary: in the thread that followed, a huge number of women reported similar stories.

In each case, a stranger (female and male) recognized that a woman was being harassed and stepped up, not in a violent way. They simply interceded as if they were friends or relatives giving the aggressor a chance to retreat.

The statistics about the abuse and murder of women around the world can be debilitating—”on average a woman or girl is killed by a family member every 11 minutes,” according to a UN report on global killings in 2020. However, this post on the internet felt like a small ray of hope.

Women don’t have to be alone.

In some faiths, “intercession” is a valued concept. In our everyday lives the act of intercession by individuals can be a new kind of faith—in each other. An organization that used to have the exultant name “ihollaback” offers education and instruction on these non-aggressive ways of interceding on the behalf of others who are being harassed. The group, now called Right to Be, is found at https://righttobe.org/

We can each have our Lakshmibai moments as we watch out for each other, and not just during the month of March.

Jewelle Gomez is a lesbian/feminist activist, novelist, poet, and playwright. She’s written for “The Advocate,” “Ms. Magazine,” “Black Scholar,” “The San Francisco Chronicle,” “The New York Times,” and “The Village Voice.” Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @VampyreVamp S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

M ARC H 24, 2022

7

Rainbow World Fund Creates Emergency Fund Supporting LGBTQ Ukrainians

By Jeff Cotter Rainbow World Fund (RWF) stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. During this crisis, already vulnerable LGBTQ+ Ukrainians are even more at risk to be further marginalized and scapegoated. We are funding the evacuation of members of the LGBTQ+ community from Kyiv, Kharkiv, and other cities to Lviv and Poland. RWF funds

ing transgender people in Ukraine for 10 years. They provide psychological, legal, and medical help and assistance transgender people. They also focus on the needs of lesbian and bisexual women.

are also being used to provide for humanitarian aid needs related to the circumstances of the war—food, emergency supplies, medical, communication, transportation, and stipends for individual financial support.

Our funds will support Fulcrum and Insight in Ukraine. Both organizations are functioning in emergency mode.

Fulcrum is one of the largest LGBTQ+ human rights organizations in Ukraine.

Fulcrum works within the queer community to achieve greater civil freedoms and security.

This is a time to remember who we really are—to call upon the better angels of our nature, to respond with courage, compassion, and generosity. We know that the LGBTQ+ community will respond with mighty efforts that will promote the well-being of our global family in Ukraine. This effort will provide needed aid and foster a shared hope that is essential to our survival, our healing, and humanity.

Please be part of the LGBTQ+ community’s response. 100% of the donations that RWF receives for Ukraine will fund lifesaving actions. Specify “Ukraine Emergency Fund” when you donate online ( https://tinyurl.com/346brm8m ) or when you send a check to Rainbow World Fund, 4111 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94114.

RWF is committed to ensuring that all LGBTQ+ people are accepted

Insight has been help-

fully wherever they live, and that the world will see that our community is one of peace, hope, and love.

Jeff Cotter is the Founder and Executive Director of Rainbow World Fund.

BAY TIMES S

A

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area

CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)

DIVAS & DRINKS @ The Academy

UNITY WITH UKRAINE!

Thursday, March 24 6–10 pm The Academy 2166 Market Street Divas & Drinks this month will include a raffle in support of the Rainbow World Fund’s fundraising for Ukrainian LGBT community members. Come and join in as we pass the hat, hear about support efforts, and more: A generous donor has agreed to match raised funds if we reach our goal!

Join emcee Donna Sachet and DJ Rockaway presented by Olivia Travel for a memorable evening honoring LGBTQ Ukrainians. Our Name That Tune contest will feature the return of current champions Team Village People facing off against Team GGBA. 8

SA N F RANCISCO BAY T I ME S

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

Back-to-HIV Rally and Die-In Held at San Francisco City Hall

Photos by Rink

While San Francisco has been a leader in the fight against COVID-19, it has come at a price for other health programs. In a city once world-renowned for its innovative and effective prevention and treatment for people living with HIV, a number of alarming setbacks in these areas have resulted during the past two years as funding and resources have been diverted for the COVID pandemic, including the following: • • • • • •

HIV testing is down by 44% from 2019; rates of viral suppression have dropped from 75% to 70%; among homeless persons living with HIV, only 20% have reached viral suppression, a decrease from 50% in 2019; PrEP use has decreased, leading to potential new HIV transmissions; during times of lockdowns, clinic visits decreased, interrupting testing and early treatment; and San Francisco’s long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS still lack adequate access to deeply affordable housing, harm reduction, mental health care, social housing, and economic assistance

(Source: 2020 HIV Epidemiological Reports from City & County of SF Dept of Public Health) A coalition of HIV organizations and activists on Monday, March 21, staged a rally and die-in on the steps of City Hall to bring attention to this situation, and demanded that San Francisco treat the HIV community as a population with the greatest social need, as defined by Senate Bill 258 (the HIV & Aging Act).

It is clear that sheltering in place for COVID has severely impacted HIV services, but it is necessary to determine exactly how severely, and where these services need to be bolstered. To that end, the rally’s organizers and supporters demanded that hearings be convened by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors and the Human Rights Commission to address these issues, as each body uses a different set of tools to measure this impact, and determine what steps to take to mitigate the effects.

Dr. Monica Gandhi, who is not only a widely respected infectious disease expert and leading voice on COVID19, but also the medical director of Ward 86, the HIV Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital, was the keynote speaker at the rally. In a recent interview with long-term survivor activist Hank Trout on the San Francisco AIDS Foundation website, she said, “I think the HIV treating community, i.e., healthcare workers, need to team up with activists, community, and patients like we did in the ‘80s to again raise awareness that HIV is not over and that more resources and support should go towards HIV/AIDS. Our strength in HIV activism has always been researchers, clinicians, patients, advocates, and activists working together. We need to do this again to ‘take back’ HIV as a major priority in our city.”

In addition to Dr. Gandhi, other speakers included: Paul Aguilar - a longtime survivor of HIV/AIDS and a member of the HIV Caucus, Harvey Milk LGBTQ+ Democratic Club; Harry Breaux - a longtime survivor and founder of The San Francisco Principles; Hulda Brown - a longtime survivor and a member of Shanti’s Honoring Our Experience; Vince Crisostomo - a longtime survivor who is the Director of Aging Services, SFAF; John Cunningham - Chief Executive Officer, National AIDS Memorial; Nikos Pecoraro - an overdose survivor and member of the HIV Advocacy Network; Michael Rouppet - a longtime survivor and housing advocate; Liliana Talero - health educator, Shanti Project (she spoke in Spanish at the event); Dr. Tyler TerMeer - Chief Executive Officer, San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Co-sponsors of the event included the HIV Caucus of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ+ Democratic Club, the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, The San Francisco Principles 2020, HealthRight 360, and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital’s Ward 86.

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

M ARC H 24, 2022

9

Never Alone Mural at Maitri Completed Despite Graffiti Attacks, Unveiling Planned for April Maitri Compassionate Care, a residential care facility in San Francisco’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood, is proud to announce the completion of their Never Alone mural by artist Serge Gay Jr. The mural is meant to tell the story of Maitri and the broader HIV/AIDS pandemic depicting a diverse community coming together to support one another.

First announced in June 2021, work on the mural began in January 2022.

The work took longer than expected as the mural became the target of repeated graffiti. Two large portraits of people of color were the most frequent targets, leading to artist Gay feeling as if he and his art were being “personally targeted” by the vandal.

Despite the setbacks, Maitri staff and clients are ecstatic about the end result of the mural. “I think it’s beautiful! It shows the story of Maitri and the wonderful diversity of our community of support and clients,” said Maitri Executive Director Michael Armentrout.

A mural unveiling event is currently being planned for midApril. For more information, contact Maitri’s Development Director Tomas Moreno at tmoreno@maitrisf.org

10

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

Photos courtesy of Maitri

Coming Out Stories

Photo courtesy of Rabbi Camille Shira Angel

Say Gay! Say Lesbian! If It’s Safe for You, Come Out and Feel Proud! By Rabbi Camille Shira Angel For as long as I can recall, I wanted to be a rabbi.

As I came of age, I never doubted that as a woman I could follow in my father’s footsteps. But when I began to come out as a lesbian, I worried whether or not I would be allowed to enter the seminary as the application process entailed taking an extensive psychological test “meant to weed out homosexuals,” among other concerns. Once enrolled, would I be able to find a congregation willing to hire me? At that time, I only knew of a couple closet cases but the situation was about to change for the better.

In 1990, the Reform seminary, The Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, made public its decision to ordain lesbians and gays as rabbis. It would take another twenty-three years before the seminary would see the ordination of the first transgender rabbi. I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me and suffered great homophobic abuse.

Those shoulders include local heroes and mentors—Rabbis Allen Bennett, Yoel Kahn, Eric Weiss, and Denise Eger—four of the most influential and wellknown gay and lesbian rabbis.

I began my rabbinate at Congregation Rodeph Sholom on New York’s Upper West Side of Manhattan. What a wonderful five years! I had the support of a visionary senior rabbi, Robert N. Levine, and a congregation proud to be on the frontlines of leading mainstream metropolitan synagogues’ efforts of inclusion.

RABBI CAMILLE SHIRA ANGEL

In 2000, I moved to San Francisco, where I became the spiritual leader of the world-renowned LGBTQ+ Congregation Sha’ar Zahav for the next fifteen years. Highlights included editing the congregation’s own amazing and inspir-

The Inaugural Alvin H. Baum, Jr. Memorial Lecture Honoring an LGBTQ+ Jewish Social Justice Activist Sunday, March 27, 6:30–8 p.m.

University of San Francisco, Maraschi Room, Fromm Hall To Register: rsvp.usfca.edu/memorial-lecture-2022

USF

My family likes to tell the story that, as a young child, I used to stall for bedtime by appearing with scribbled notes of paper announcing that I had a sermon to give. My dad was the 8th generation in his family to be ordained a rabbi. This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sally Priesand being ordained as the first woman rabbi. I remember 1972 because, with the passage of Title IX, I got to play hardball with the boys on my local Little League team.

Alvin H. Baum Jr.

Rabbi Camille Shira Angel

ing prayerbook and getting it into the hands of students, teachers, queer-identified people worldwide, hospital chaplains, and even then President Barack Obama and First Lady Michele Obama. The experience of seeing your own experience reflected back on the pages of a gorgeous traditional and radically inclusive book of prayer can resurrect a person’s faith or plant the seeds for a newfound relationship with community and connection to our ancestors’ rites and rituals.

At the University of San Francisco (USF), our motto is “Change the World from Here.” Throughout the city, our green and yellow banners promote inspiring messages such as: “Humanity. Justice. Integrity.

You know, Wild-Eyed San Francisco Values.” These days, I don’t miss an opportunity to speak out. I often take the mic and remark that, while the world is filled with alarming news, much of which is catastrophic in nature, it has never been a better time to be a lesbian rabbi teaching queering religion at a Catholic University!

While some estimate that approximately 30% of the campus community is queer-identified, others find that suggestion hard to reconcile with USF being a Catholic university. What I find among my students is that too few have encountered out, loud, and proud lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual adults professing the good news about being part of our fabulous and diverse tribe. I love introducing students to religious communities and leaders, who are integrating their sexual and gender identities across race and faith without apology. I can wholeheartedly attest that USF

A new lecture series, produced by the University of San Francisco’s Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, will be launched to honor the memory of Alvin H. Baum Jr., noted LGBTQ+ Jewish social justice activist. This lecture will preserve the memory of Alvin H. Baum Jr. (1930-2021), a monumental Bay Area figure who fought passionately for the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the Jewish community and beyond. Mr. Baum was a lawyer, urban planner, social worker, therapist, and a brilliant strategic philanthropist who emerged as a pillar in the Jewish, civil rights, and gay communities.

The inaugural lecture will be delivered by Dr. Marcy Adelman, a stalwart activist in the Bay Area LGBTQ+ community. Dr. Adelman is the cofounder and visionary of Openhouse, which works to center the voices and experiences of older LGBTQ+ adults by providing housing and opportunities to make social connections and build community. Throughout her extraordinary career, Dr. Adelman has advocated for affordable, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender-friendly senior housing and trained service providers to better support elderly LGBTQ+ people.

If you would like to support this important work go to: https://tinyurl.com/3n8v2fbb

has been totally supportive of my Rainbow Ministry.

I will be coming out in public conversations until the day when we see full acceptance and inclusion, mental well-being, and LGBTQIA+ young people thrive.

My sexual orientation and gender expression matter, not least in this era when LGBT civil rights are once again being contested (most notably in Texas and Florida), but also because religious organizations still in many locations happily receive the tireless offerings of time, talent, and treasure from their LBGT members as long as they don’t mention the “gay part.”

I married into a large family that includes several religious conservatives, including my motherin-law and several of my wife’s brothers. Recently, on a family email chain, my liberal fatherin-law posted the recent profile on my work at USF. Lisa Loeb’s piece, “Meet the Rabbi ‘Queering Religion’ at a Catholic University,” appeared first locally in the Bay Area Jweekly and then got picked up by the JTA ( Jewish Telegraphic Agency) and is circulating in the national and international Jewish news.

One “religious” brother messaged to the family, “Can you imagine spending your hard-earned money to send your kid to college to learn this kind of crap?!”

I guess we won’t be staying with him and his wife any time soon.

Hate-filled words still sting, no matter how many times I’ve heard them before.

August 15, 2022, wedding of Rabbi Camille Shira Angel and her wife officiated by the Director of the USF Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, Dr. Aaron Hahn Tapper.

It is a privilege to come out. My undergraduates teach me each semester that I ought not assume that everyone can come out and (continued on page 18) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

M ARC H 24, 2022

11

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

Developing Leadership Skills for Latinx LGBTQ+: La Academia by AGUILAS

2261 Market Street, No. 309 San Francisco CA 94114 Phone: 415-601-2113 525 Bellevue Avenue Oakland CA 94610 E-mail: editor@sfbaytimes.com www.sfbaytimes.com The Bay Times was the first newspaper in California, and among the first in the world, to be jointly and equally produced by lesbians and gay men.

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

The Bay Times is proud to be the first and only LGBTQ newspaper in San Francisco to be named a Legacy Business, recognizing that it is a longstanding, community-serving business that is a valuable cultural asset to the city.

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

Beth Greene, Michael Delgado, John Signer, Abby Zimberg Design & Production

Kate Laws Business Manager Blake Dillon Calendar Editor

Kit Kennedy

Poet-In-Residence

J.H. Herren Technology Director Carla Ramos Web Coordinator Mario Ordonez Distribution

Juan R. Davila Volunteer Coordinator

Nuestra Voz Eduardo Morales, Ph.D. The ViiV Foundation did an extensive inquiry as to how an initiative for HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention is best developed. Interestingly, the largest request was to develop the leadership capacity of the Latinx LGBTQ+ communities throughout the U.S. and its territories.

An extensive report of their findings in English and Spanish is published on their website and entitled “Here as I Am: A Listening Initiative with Latinx Gay and Bisexual Men Affected by HIV.” As a result of this effort, the ViiV Foundation created a funding initiative in 2021 that focused on providing leadership development and training that is suitable and effective.

Since many in the current leadership are retiring or moving on to other activities, having cadres of persons who feel prepared to become leaders in their communities to address HIV/AIDS was a key component of this new initiative.

In a competitive review of proposals, AGUILAS in San Francisco was successful in being selected and is funded for a three-year period. The leadership development and training program is called La Academia by AGUILAS. The program offers two types of certificates, one of which contains four three-hour workshops at a basic level; and another similar set of four three-hour workshops at an advanced level. The trainings are part of a collaboration that was created ten years ago through a twoyear grant funded by Levi Strauss to AGUILAS. The collaboration consisted of AGUILAS, GLAAD, Alliant International University, and the Rockway Institute of Alliant.

The four topics for the four threehour workshops are: 1) basic financial knowledge, 2) effective strategies for advocacy, 3) legal awareness for Latinx, and 4) efficient communication tools with a focus on communicating effectively with the media.

Experts in each of the areas provide the training. During the Fall of 2021, eight individuals completed the basic set of workshops and received a certification for completion of the basic level in a formal ceremony to include it on their résumé. It is hoped that participation in the trainings will motivate individuals to obtain advanced degrees and engage them in programs at various universities to increase the workforce pipeline.

All classes accommodate training in English, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese.

During the month of April, AGUILAS will offer another

round of the basic level of training workshops to be held in the SF LGBT Center. All of the workshops start at 4 pm and end at 7 pm with the dates and topics for the April round of basic level training being: 1) Monday, April 11, on Basic Financial Knowledge; 2) Wednesday, April 13, on Effective Strategies for Advocacy; 3) Monday, April 18, on Legal Awareness for Latinx; and 4) Wednesday, April 20, on Efficient Communication Tools. To obtain the leadership certificate, participants need to attend all of the four different workshops. Individuals may elect to choose one or more of the workshops.

Registration is required by calling the AGUILAS office to reserve a seat for each of the workshops being offered.

During this year, AGUILAS discovered other important programs that further support the community.

Two informational orientation sessions will be offered by AGUILAS. These informational workshops will accommodate those who primarily speak English, Spanish, or Brazilian Portuguese.

One of these workshops offers an amazing opportunity to obtain a home purchase loan in the San Francisco Bay Area that was discovered by a particular financial broker. A specific lender now allows for the purchase of home-occupied residences that can be single family homes, condos, a Planned Unit Development (PUD), or a two-unit building. This specific lender only requires one percent down and provides a two percent grant to assure

that the purchaser’s residence is owner-occupied for a three-year period with no mortgage interest charges (PMI) at closing. Qualified borrowers who meet specific income criteria and do not own property can participate. There are other programs available with varied regulations. AGUILAS can refer you to an award-winning realtor to locate a property for which participants could qualify.

The second informational session addresses legal topics and will be conducted in partnership with Oasis Legal Services. This informational workshop will focus on three areas: 1) Asylum, 2) Residency, and 3) Naturalization. These sessions will be held at the SF LGBT Center, and more information about them can be obtained by calling the AGUILAS office at 415-558-8403 or by going to its website: https://www.sfaguilas.org/ All training sessions adhere to common protocols to prevent COVID-19 infection. This includes being vaccinated or having a negative COVID test prior to attending the training sessions.

Eduardo Morales, PhD, is one of the founders of AGUILAS, where he serves as Executive Director.

He is also a retired Distinguished Professor at Alliant International University and is the current Past President of the National Latinx Psychological Association.

CONTRIBUTORS

Photographers Rink, Phyllis Costa, Jane Higgins Paul Margolis, Chloe Jackman, Bill Wilson, Jo-Lynn Otto, Sandy Morris, Abby Zimberg, Joanie Juster, Darryl Pelletier, Vincent Marcel ADVERTISING Display Advertising Standard Rate Cards http://sfbaytimes.com/ or 415-503-1375 Custom ad sizes are available. Ads are reviewed by the publishers.

National Advertising: Contact Bay Times / San Francisco.

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

CALENDAR Submit events for consideration by e-mail to: calendar@sfbaytimes.com © 2022 Bay Times Media Company Co-owned by Betty L. Sullivan & Jennifer L. Viegas

12

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

BuildOUT California Partners with Another Planet for Castro Theatre Project Another Planet Entertainment is partnering with BuildOUT California, the world’s first LGBT industry association for construction and architecture, as part of the renovation and restoration of San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre.

ily and our community! As a gay man in the steel industry, a project like the improvements to the Castro Theater comes along once in a lifetime. To work on a building designed by Timothy Pflueger is a tradesperson’s dream.”

“The Castro Theatre is a cathedral to the LGBTQ communities,” said Mary Conde, Vice President for Another Planet who is in charge of the overall Castro Theatre Project.

“It’s absolutely expected and appropriate that we partner with LGBTQ firms as we revitalize this irreplaceable icon for future generations. We’re thrilled to partner with BuildOUT moving forward.”

“To be able to provide electrical construction supplies on the historic Castro Theater project would be an honor for my LGBT-owned/ certified business,” stated Sandra Escalante, CEO of Laner Electric Supply. “A building with the iconic status of the Castro Theatre deserves to have safe, reliable, state of the art electrical systems throughout. As a member of the LGBTQ community from the Philippines, my friends there had heard of the theater and have seen photographs of the Castro Theatre; it’s famous even back home. It would be an honor to work on this project.”

“Another Planet is the definition of a local company rooted in San Francisco and the Bay Area and sensitive to gay community and architectural concerns,” said BuildOUT founding member Paul Pendergast.

“There’s a lot of work to be done and we’re thrilled that LGBTQ contractors and vendors will be at the front of the line when considered for this work.”

Often overlooked in the fields of construction, LGBT contractors are getting renewed opportunities through the work of BuildOUT and partnerships such as the one with Another Planet.

“As a lifelong San Franciscan, a member of the LGBTQ community and a Latino, the Castro Theater holds a very special place in my heart,” said Nick Colina, COO of Anco Iron and Construction, a third generation San Francisco firm based in the Bayview Hunters Point. “A very special moment in my life was when I got take my mom, Dr. Colina, to the Gay Men’s Chorus on Christmas Eve where we celebrated famMA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

When the project is ready to proceed, Another Planet Entertainment will hold construction project meetings with key representatives from BuildOUT California with the express purposes of providing information outlined below: • project timeline and schedules; • unbundled contract opportunities; • clearly articulate any/all insurance, bonding, and pre-qualification requirements to potential subconsultants and subcontractors; • and introductions to key trade subcontractors in areas where LGBTQ/allied businesses with the proper qualifications, experience, and capacity can actively compete for bid subconsultant and subcontracting opportunities.

Also being considered are construction and project management, inspection services, advertising,

PHOTO BY RINK

Writers Rink, Sister Dana Van Iquity, Ann Rostow, Patrick Carney, Carolyn Wysinger, Leslie Sbrocco, Heather Freyer, Kate Kendell, Heidi Beeler, Gary M. Kramer, Joanie Juster, Julie Peri, Jennifer Kroot, Robert Holgate, Eduardo Morales, Dennis McMillan, Tim Seelig, John Chen, Rafael Mandelman, Jewelle Gomez, Phil Ting, Rebecca Kaplan, Leslie Katz, Philip Ruth, Bill Lipsky, Elisa Quinzi, Liam Mayclem, Karen Williams, Donna Sachet, Gary Virginia, Zoe Dunning, Derek Barnes, Marcy Adelman, Jan Wahl, Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis Brandon Miller, Jamie Leno Zimron, Michele Karlsberg, Randy Coleman, Debra Walker, Howard Steiermann, Andrea Shorter, Lou Fischer, Brett Andrews, David Landis

Renovation work on the Castro Theatre began with a new coat of red paint applied to the famous vertical sign known as the “blade.” The paint job was completed on January 27.

media and community engagement, catering, event planning and production, public and neighborhood notification services, print production, and more.

“We’re looking forward to working with Another Planet Entertainment to make meaningful introductions between qualified subconsultants and subcontractors who have relevant experience, qualifications, and capacity to provide real value on the Castro Theatre Project,” said Pendergast, noting that Another Planet has long been committed to the LGBT community and employs many members of the LGBT community. “This is the definition of a big rainbow win.” www.buildoutcalifornia.org

GLBT Fortnight in Review What Color Is Your Pill?

Do you know those theories about the universe that suggest we may all be part of a simulation, like in The Matrix? The odd thing is that while the idea seems absurd on its face, the rationales for being in a simulation make about as much sense as any of the other harebrained scenarios being bandied about by our astronomy friends. Multiverses, mysterious dark energy, string theory; we have no idea where we are.

These days, the notion that we might be in a simulation doesn’t seem that outlandish. What else explains the email headline: “Five reasons we should not just ‘move on’ from the Hunter Biden laptop story?” What else explains the people waiting for JFK Junior to come back to life and run for Vice President with Donald Trump? (And why are they waiting in Dallas rather than on a boat off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard?)

What else explains our nihilistic indifference to pollution and climate change? Our inability to legislate beyond next week? Our narrowing minds and hardening hearts? The comic book-level craziness of world leaders like Trump, Putin, and Kim Jong-un? Someone must have programmed this descent into lunacy.

Moving right along, I have a number of dismal stories this week, so instead let me begin with a snippet from North Carolina, where a man turned his four-year-old dog, Fezco, over to the animal shelter because the dog humped another male and the owner thought the dog was gay. I thought I was the one to discover this little gem but I see from Google that it is all over the news, and may have gone viral by the time you read this.

And we don’t have to worry about Fezco’s future. He is a medium-sized brown dog who looks like your idea of how a generic “dog” should look.

He is clearly very sweet and it seems as if everyone wants to adopt him.

Oh, and because I was on a gay dog Google page, I encountered a white dachshund named “Whitney Chewston,” who is often pictured online near a brandy glass full of red wine captioned: “not too fond of gays.” Instagram gradually filled with variations on Chewston’s strangely adorable homophobia and his general snooty affect. Eventually, it became clear that Chewston’s owners are two gay guys, and in one scene he is pictured with them, thinking to himself: “tired of the gays.”

Cute!

Please Spare Us Would you be astonished if I told you I agreed with one of One Million Moms’ recent press releases? The Moms are annoyed with a women’s intimate deodorant called “Lume” that apparently has an over-the-top TV commercial that I haven’t seen personally. That said, I have seen— and been increasingly grossed out by—other ads that focus in on private bodily functions. I have already called out the disgusting toilet paper bears in these pages more than once.

Then we have the repellent tooth brushing ads that show icky stuff caught in teeth or corn cobs ( just as bad). Don’t get me started on ear wax ads or acne products. And I actually saw one the other day that featured a woman defecating on the toilet and making a joke about it. Close the bathroom door and remove those cameras! If you must hawk these items, do so with a little discretion.

By Ann Rostow As for Lume, the Moms tell me that the ad “specifically mentions lady bits, testicles, chesticles, buttcracks, and sweaty backs.” Chesticles? What the hell are chesticles? And why do we want to deodorize these areas?

Wash them, for God’s sake. You know what? I don’t want to even discuss this any further. One Million Moms plus at least one lesbian agree.

And it’s not even a matter of family values. It’s civility.

Before we leave the world of the Moms, otherwise known as the American Family Association, I was reading yet another poll that showed support for GLBTs continues to rise across all faith categories in the United States. White evangelical protestants, however, remain at the bottom of a long list of religious denominations, and indeed are part of the only group that continues to oppose same-sex marriage.

I was going to skip the poll story, from the Public Religion Research Institute, because, well, it’s a poll story. But then I learned that our adversaries in the white evangelical protestant group represent only 14 percent of Americans. How do they get all the attention?

And why are the lawsuits that pit gay clients against Christian business owners considered a third rail?

According to this poll, sizable majorities of most religious groups believe faith should not trump civil rights in the public square. The exceptions are the evangelical protestants (38 percent support civil rights) and Mormons (44 percent). Everyone else (16 other categories) agrees that GLBT rights laws should protect market participants even when a business owner doesn’t like us, just as racist business owners are none-

theless required to serve all comers. Overall, 66 percent of citizens oppose letting faith dictate customer service when it conflicts with antidiscrimination laws.

Gay Gay Gay! It’s hard to say which is worse: the “don’t say gay” bill in Florida, or the executive decision by the Texas government to criminalize parents who seek gender identity care for their kids.

Last issue, I wrote about the backlash against Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who voiced a tepid objection to what’s actually titled the Parental Rights In Education bill. As our issue went to press, Chapek reversed himself and apologized for the halfhearted reaction, pledging to stand with Disney’s GLBT employees in opposing the bill, which bans discussion or depiction of anything gay or trans to third graders and younger.

The bill also effectively requires public school staff to report students of any age to parents if they seem to be questioning their sexual orientation or gender.

And while we all agree that third graders don’t need to be taught the graphic ins and outs of gay sex— or any sex, for that matter—what this bill does is scrap any and all representation of gay families, no matter how anodyne. As for sexual orientation, it’s implicit in every story about a King and Queen or Prince and Princess. With this bill, however, sexual orientation means heterosexuality. Discussing the bill, Governor Ron DeSantis’ spokeswoman Christina Pushaw said that anyone who opposed it was presumably okay with “the grooming of 4–8 year-old children,” as if the recogni-

tion that gay families exist was tantamount to pederasty.

Disney’s worldwide staff went out on a one-day strike Tuesday, March 22, to protest the bill and provoke the company out of its complacency. As GLBT Pixar staff wrote in an open letter: “We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were.” Indeed, as a result of the reaction from Disney staff and observers, the company has reportedly restored a same-sex kiss that had been edited out of the upcoming animated film Lightyear.

DeSantis, meanwhile, claims not to care what his state’s major employers think of his policies. Disney, he said, “is in far too deep with the Communist Party of China and has lost any moral authority to tell you what to do.” Okay then!

All Hat and No Cattle Now, we come face to face with a couple of guys who make Ron DeSantis look like a moderate democrat, namely Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his partner in a special combination of stupidity and evil, Governor Greg Abbot.

As you may recall, Paxton recently issued a non-binding “legal” opinion stating that providing any kind of treatment to help transgender kids was a form of illegal child abuse under existing Texas law. Within a few days of digesting this nonsense, Abbot ordered state agencies to investigate parents who might be guilty of “breaking the law” in this fashion.

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

(continued on page 18)

M ARC H 24, 2022

13

To Mask or Not to Mask few virtual “rehearsals.” Week number 5, we began in-person rehearsals, but masked with formal black KN94s.

TLC: Tears, Laughs and Conversation Dr. Tim Seelig The answers to the question, “To mask or not to mask?” are completely up in the air all over the country and world. Do we wear them? Do we not? It is still unclear and mask wearing has turned into gentle, confusing suggestion rather than a mandate in most areas. I have begun to travel and I’ve got to say that the disregard for any safety precautions in other parts of the country is still appalling. Most recently it was Atlanta and Phoenix.

Good Lord, it was everything I could do to keep from running around inside the airport yelling at people!

It’s not much better here at home, to be honest. Since the very beginning of the pandemic, singing has been flagged as one of the seven deadly COVID sins. It started early on with a choir in Washington State that rehearsed before any of us knew anything, and half of them got sick and a couple of them died—from choir rehearsal, for heaven’s sake. That was two years ago this week!

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus rehearsed through the fall wearing masks of our own choosing.

Of course, it became a fashion show of the most creative masks to be found—from rainbow flags to puppy dogs to fully sequined for more formal rehearsals. Our medical team developed a rigid protocol for the chorus, so every one of the 250+ singers was tested at rehearsals and performances.

We finally took our masks off the first week of December with every singer being tested at every rehearsal and performance from there on. We got through 5 major shows until the Omicron variant showed up. We had to cancel our favorite shows at the Castro on Christmas Eve, a tradition that is 32 years old. Even masks wouldn’t allow Santa or Jesus to appear in the Castro that night.

In January, we started back with a SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

When the moment finally came and we removed our masks, we were completely surprised at what the bottom two-thirds of peoples’ faces looked like. I know for me, most of them did not look anything like I had imagined—having only seen eyes, ears, and hair—or no hair. I thought, “I had no idea your nose looked like that or that you even had a goatee.” I was immediately taken back to my childhood when

Then there are oxygen masks, anesthetic masks, surgical masks, snorkel masks, steampunk masks, and the ever-popular death mask. I keep my beauty and youth with a face mask made from avocado and volcanic ash!

There are also a host of non-physical masks. We each wear different masks to hide who we really are.

We wore a very specific mask before coming out. It was a mask of “I’m not gay” when every possible indication said otherwise. It was a mask that put me in the untenable position of degrading and diminishing those who had courageously removed their masks to make sure those in my circles didn’t suspect I was actually one of “them.”

We still wear masks of all kinds. A mask is a great metaphor for our fear of the present moment. Some people who wear hidden masks understand it is more than a metaphor. It is survival.

There are many situations that, unfortunately, force us to “be someone else.”

We chose to wear the mask to please others or to protect ourselves from those who would not understand or accept us the way we are—unmasked.

Dr. Tim Seelig’s son Judson, Halloween 1982

At the beginning of the pandemic, almost every clothing designer jumped into creating gorgeous cloth masks. I bought some myself—from a bow tie company. (The demand for custom bow ties was dying a natural death long before COVID.) Regardless, you could hear these businesses pivot, it was so loud. Now, the natural demand has died off, and what’s even worse, cloth masks are no longer safe. They just hang on a hook near the door with the car keys and dog leash. Science now says we have to use only KN95 masks. In this strange new world, Mask to Mask has now replaced Masc 4 Masc as the norm.

14

This past August, we had auditions for new members. They had to wear masks during their auditions and every rehearsal from August until December. On December 6, we had our first rehearsal without masks.

It’s sometimes said that “the eyes are the window to the soul.” Well, that’s nice. But when the eyes are all that you can see, the soul has a hard time showing itself.

and the Lone Ranger saved the old West. As an adult, I watched as Hannibal and Scream scare the s--t out of generations. And as a Broadway queen, I was literally blown away the first time I saw Phantom of the Opera.

I put facial hair via magnetic shavings on my “Wooly Willy.” I’m pretty sure Mom and Dad would not have allowed me to play with it if they had known I would only be attracted to men with facial hair from then on!

Of course, when I began thinking about masks as a topic for an article, I began looking at the history of masks. Oh, my goodness, masks run the gamut. There are historical masks with origins in every corner of the world. The first masks to be found or recorded are 9,000 years old and since that time have been found in every region on the earth.

That research, I’ll leave to you.

It used to be fun to wear a mask from time to time for those special occasions such as Halloween or Mardi Gras. I’m not sure it is going to be that much fun for a while.

Comics Basics says masks “are as common in the world of comic books as allergies on a spring day.

They protect the identity of the heroes who wear them, strike fear into villains who oppose them, allthe-while looking, for the most part, really awesome.” They list the top mask wearers: Batman, Cyclops, Batgirl, Dick Grayson, The Flash, Wolverine, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Mask, and Spiderman.

Of course, I went farther back to my days in front of the screen in the den as my Mother taught voice lessons in the living room when Zorro

I leave you with a hope that, one day soon, we will never have to wear a mask again to protect ourselves from a virus— or from one another.

I hope for the day when choosing to wear a mask is just for fun. And, of course, I dream of a day when no one feels pressured to “wear a mask” in order to satisfy someone else’s ideas of whom they should be.

I’m heading out to do some shopping; grabbing my KN95 off the hook by the door. I’ll see your eyes soon.

I leave you with these haunting lyrics from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom: “Masquerade!

Paper faces on parade!

Masquerade!

Hide your face, So the world will Never find you!

Masquerade!

Every face a different shade!

Masquerade!

Look around— There’s another Mask behind you!

Masquerade!

Burning glances, Turning heads ...

Masquerade!

Stop and stare At the sea of smiles Around you!

Masquerade!

Grinning yellows, Spinning reds ...

Masquerade!

Take your fill— Let the spectacle Astound you.”

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

“I have tasted freedom. I will not give up that which I have tasted.”

By Donna Sachet

– Harvey Milk

T

he headlines are full of announcements of the return to live and in-person events, so keep that proof of vaccination handy, tuck a mask in every jacket pocket, and find your own comfort zone within the waning weeks of the COVID pandemic, but by all means, get out of the house! Let’s support these restaurants, bars, clubs, entertainment venues, and more that have been hanging on against all odds for two years and now await your festive return.

We found ourselves several times recently at Oasis, well-known for offering a smorgasbord of performances representing the rich diversity of our LGBTQ+ Community. We caught the second of two nights of Heklina’s Grand Opening, her first one-person show and what a debut! She may be one of the most recognizable drag personalities in town, even after her recent move to Palm Springs, but never has she told her own story in this way and the audience was crazy for it. With Tom Shaw on piano and sharing the stage with Trixxie Carr and Matthew Martin, Heklina belted out songs, dazzled in two different sequin mini-dresses, dished the dirt on fellow performers, and basically showed us the world through her personal lens. The crowd was on their feet by the end of the show! Brava, Heklina!

When the constant flow of international news is so full of dire reports from Ukraine, one can easily feel helpless against such a faraway disaster. We are sure you’ve seen and maybe participated in a number of fundraising efforts designed to help relieve the pain and misery of the Ukrainian people, but can we give generously, confident that the money raised will have some real impact? The Rainbow World Fund has decades of experience raising money in the LGBTQ+ Community to address international concerns and a small band of enthusiastic, grassroots activists created a fundraiser at Harvey’s to support their efforts. Moxie & Ben Penn spearheaded this project, Christina Ashton emceed, Tweaka Turner DJ’ed with panache, Erin Lavery sold tons of raffle tickets, Sister Roma represented the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and Gary Virginia lent his considerable event planning and execution skills. The fast-paced show included heftily tipped performances by Olivia Hart, Kelly Rose, Brett Wiley, Gregg Starr, Carly Ozard, Alexis Miranda, John Weber, Jasper David Lauter, Candi Mint, Bobby Friday, Sara Nicole, and the Reigning Emperor Brent Marek & Reigning Empress Ehra Amaya. What a show, enjoyed by all in attendance and many passing by on the street! When all was said and done, this one-night event raised $4500! Guess what? There is a way for us in San Francisco to make a difference half-way around the world!

Your next opportunity to join a very hands-on fundraising effort for Ukrainian disaster relief is tonight, March 24, at The Academy and Divas & Drinks. These monthly events have usually been pretty lighthearted, but tonight, we’ll hear from Jeff Cotter of Rainbow World Fund and Ukrainian Americans Leo Volobrynskyy and Polina Krasnova with personal stories to tell. Let’s see what we can raise in a few hours!

Proving that even larger scale in-person events are making a comeback, we spent Saturday night back on the dance floor! First, we joined friends and supporters of Wayne Sobon for his LOVE60!

60LOVE! birthday celebration at Great Northern. The party had several phases, from mid-afternoon to late evening, but you can guess when we arrived! Parked in front was the decked-out Baah Bus, a fixture at Burning Man, and a couple of food trucks, ensuring that celebrants wouldn’t go hungry. Once inside, the venue exploded with colorful décor, booming music from DJs Shaman and Prince Wolf, and all kinds of circus-inspired performances, not to mention colorfully dressed attendees dancing with abandon. Rarely have we seen such a diverse group of people getting along so easily under the trance of music, color, and friendship ... truly a tribute to the guest of honor and host.

Too early to call it a night, we headed over to DNA Lounge, where producer Brian Kent pulled the stops out for a St. Patty’s Day dance with DJs David Harness and Dan Darlington. We can’t attest to the Irish heritage represented, but the crowd was definitely easy on the eyes. Dancing into the night felt so refreshing and rejuvenating after such a long absence from the dance floor and what better place than at a Brian Kent produced extravaganza!

Thursday, March 24 Divas & Drinks Standing with Ukraine fundraiser through Rainbow World Fund Jeff Cotter and Leo Volobrynskyy speak Bacardi drinks, Name That Tune competition DJ Rockaway, Donna Sachet hosts The Academy, 2166 Market Street 7 pm $10 Sunday, March 27 Oscar Night at the Academy Food, drink, and good times The Academy, 2166 Market Street 5–9 pm Members & guests Tuesday, March 29 SF Pride Member Drive & Benefit Hosted by Gary Virginia, Michelle Meow, & Donna Sachet Complimentary appetizers, auction, & door prize The Lookout, 3600 16th Street 6–8 pm Free! But membership encouraged Wednesday, April 6 Castro Farmers’ Market ribbon-cutting Elected officials & Donna Sachet Noe & 16th Streets 4 pm Free!

Saturday, April 9 Soirée 2022 SF LGBT Community Center’s annual gala Co-Hosted by Sister Roma & Honey Mahogany Entertainment curated by Juanita MORE! City View at Metreon 5:30 pm $95–250

So, check out the calendar adjacent to this column and elsewhere to find your opportunity to get dressed (not just from the waist up for a Zoom call) and hit the town once again! San Francisco is ready; are you?

PHOTO COURTESY OF EHRA AMAYA

Donna Sachet is a celebrated performer, fundraiser, activist, and philanthropist who has dedicated over two decades to the LGBTQ Community in San Francisco. Contact her at empsachet@gmail.com

Sister Roma (back, left) and Donna Sachet (back, right) with friends and participants at a recent benefit at Harvey's supporting Rainbow World Fund's relief for LGBTQ+ Ukrainians.

PHOTO BY SHAWN NORTHCUTT

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

M ARC H 24, 2022

15

Pam Q. a motorcycle before I even drove a car. I appreciated as a young person the freedom of getting around and through San Francisco traffic, and the ease of parking a motorbike on the crowded city streets.

Motorbikes became a hobby and an interest that would take me many places.

In 2018, I had a strong urge to be more connected with the motorbike community. I reached out to San Francisco Dykes on Bikes and started sitting in on their meetings at The Eagle. I really enjoyed hanging with the group and just clicked with them. I started volunteering and attending Dykes on Bikes events.

Dykes on Bikes® Tales From Two Wheels My name is Pam Q. I earned my San Francisco Dykes on Bikes® patch in 2018. I have been a Board member since 2018 and the Vice President since 2019. I am a native San Franciscan and I know I was fortunate to have San Francisco Dykes on Bikes as a name I grew up with.

Before I knew it, it was June and Pride month and everyone in San Francisco Dykes on Bikes was working hard to prepare for the ride down Market Street. That year was my second time riding a motorcycle in San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ Pride Parade. However, new to me that year was an awareness of the history of Dykes on Bikes and the many Dykes before me that fought to protect the name and logo of Dykes on Bikes, all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Riding motorcycles came easy to me because I have been around them my entire life. I remember riding with my father when I was a kid, and him passing me from his motorbike through the window of the family van to my mother. I rode

I grew up in San Francisco as a young, self-identified Dyke, and am thankful that future generations, like myself, will embrace the term “Dyke” proudly in no small part because of the legacy of the San Francisco Dykes on Bikes. It is also important to me to continue to support and encourage Dykes on Bikes chapters in other parts of the world, so that others have the same opportunity as I to proudly identify as a Dyke on a Bike. https://www.dykesonbikes.org/

Something Nice, or a Tank? underway. However, acceleration from rest was complicated by a start-stop function that wasn’t quick enough in restarting the engine; I’d step into the pedal during reactivation, resulting in a balky beginning.

Auto Philip Ruth “Wow, this is nice!” “This thing is a tank!” I got those two very different assessments over two weeks of similarly-priced luxury SUVs from a buddy who rode along.

Similarly-priced means as-tested prices of $73,055 for the Land Rover Discovery R Dynamic S (the “nice” one) and $82,757 for the Dodge Durango SRT 392 (the “tank”).

These are not direct competitors in terms of their missions, but they are interesting counterpoints to each other, with their own sets of strengths.

Strength is the Durango SRT 392’s domain, with its 6.4-liter V8 Hemi flexing out 475 horsepower. The Discovery R Dynamic S also had the most powerful engine available, a 355-horsepower straight-six.

The Durango’s muscle-car acceleration was thrilling, and its eightspeed automatic generally kept the responses tight. The “high performance exhaust” had a mighty tone and was part of the “tank” allusion.

The Discovery’s six-cylinder is turbocharged and sports a mild hybrid system, and it was peppy after getting 16

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

The simple solution is just to turn it off, right? Yes, although usually there’s a physical defeat button you can quickly press. Land Rover decided to program it into the center screen, so it’s two taps after waiting for the screen to boot up, and the stop-start is turned back on every time you fire up the ignition.

Part of the benefit of stopstart is to increase urban gas mileage. Maybe it did, but this Discovery consistently showed below 11 mpg in San Francisco driving. The Durango’s Hemi V8 had me averting my eyes from the trip computer, which pegged mileage at about 7 mpg, even with restraint from really using its power.

Handling is a relative term when discussing 5,000-pound SUVs, though the Durango SRT 392 rewards its driver with communicative steering and a beefy suspension while still maintaining a smooth ride. The Discovery R Dynamic S is more of a cruiser, with less feel through the wheel and more drawn-out motions from its air suspension. There’s not much that’s car-like about the Land Rover, and that’s part of its appeal.

Inside, the tested Durango was dark and dramatic with a red-stitched instrument panel and deeply bolstered sport seats; very sporty and purposeful. The Discovery’s Light

Land Rover Discovery R Dynamic S

Dodge Durango SRT 392

Oyster leather and large windows made it feel open and airy, though the trim was problematic. The flat and shiny steering wheel spokes collected hotspots of reflected sunlight, and in my example, the inside passenger door handle’s metallic-look covering ripped open and carved a gash into my pal’s finger.

Dodge is placing high on reliability scores, just landing at number-eight in the latest JD Power survey. The very last brand on the list is Land Rover, which is true to its heritage as being quirky and maintenance-intensive. So, there’s plenty to think about when choosing something nice, or a tank.

Philip Ruth is a Castro-based automotive photojournalist and consultant with an automotive staging service.

Fitness & Sports

BAY TIMES S

Sports John Chen What is paradise? Does it really exist? If yes, where? For the sport of tennis, paradise is located in our great state of California, about 15 miles southeast of Palm Springs, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. This desert oasis earned the name Tennis Paradise because it has a 360-degree view of majestic surrounding mountain ranges, 29 immaculate tennis courts, two stadiums, and a host of entertainment venues ranging from the national pickleball championships, music festivals, collegiate competitions, and the penultimate BNP Paribas Open, the world’s largest professional tennis tournament outside the four Grand Slams.

In a published study by the BNP Paribas Open, the tournament’s “total gross economic impact” on Coachella Valley was a staggering $466 million in 2014 and attracted an all-

Reilly Opelka signing autographs

As a tennis player, a fan, and a former coach, I’ve taken many friends and kids to watch the most decorated players of all time compete. Players such as Roger Federer, Venus and Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Andrei Agassi, Jimmy Connors, and Chris Evert electrified, dazzled, delighted, and thrilled even the most casual fans throughout the years.

This is pretty much the who’s who not just in tennis, but in all of professional sports!

In March of 2020, excited to see Roger and Serena, my buddy Jared and I had barely settled into our hotel room when we heard the news no one wanted to hear. The tournament was cancelled due to COVID, the beginning of a pandemic. There was a tremendous amount of fear and anxiety due to the unknown. We had to drive home to the Bay Area overnight due to the impending lockdown.

Fast forward to March 2022 and COVID is transitioning from a pandemic to an endemic (cross fingers, toes, and all appendages). This time, BNP Paribas Open allowed only fully vaccinated players and staff, and only fully vaccinated fans to attend with little restrictions. Just a few weeks ago, my buddy Jared and I returned to Tennis Paradise because we had unfinished business from 2019.

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)

Tennis Paradise time high 475,000+ attendees in 2019. Enthusiastic sports fans come from all over the world, making this truly an international event and destination.

A

Photos courtesy of John Chen

Although neither Roger or Serena played due to injuries, we were able to watch up close and personal some of today’s biggest and brightest young tennis stars such as Naomi Osaka and Daniil Medvedev.

We also got a glimpse of Rafael NadJared Mlekush at the BNP al and Andy Paribas Open Murray, two of the all-time greats. We saw (kind of) a booming 144 mph serve! We were also entertained by two of the best tennis showmen in Nick Kyrgios and Gael Monfils.

We took in the amazing reflexes and speed of doubles as the sun went down behind a snowy mountain peak. And we cheered on the American twin towers of John Isner (6’10”) and Reilly Opelka (6’11”).

We did all of this in 80 degrees not a cloud in the sky conditions.

If this isn’t Tennis Paradise, then I don’t know what is.

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

Jared Mlekush (left) and John Chen

British tennis star Andy Murray

BNP Paribas Open

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

M ARC H 24, 2022

17

ROSTOW (continued from page 13)

JUSTER (continued from page 4) will be filling up our dance cards on the weekend of April 16 & 17 for two celebratory, only-in-San-Francisco events.

First, on Saturday April 16, a modest little one-block street near Dolores Park will be undergoing a highprofile name change, when Alert Alley receives the commemorative designation “Sister Vish-Knew Way, in honor of Kenneth Bunch, aka Sister Vish-Knew, one of the original founders of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. For almost five decades Sister Vish has been a pioneering human rights activist who has devoted their life to serving the community. Congratulations, Sister!

Then on Easter Sunday, April 17, the Sisters are bringing back, live and in person, one of San Francisco’s favorite traditions: Easter in Dolores Park. Promising live entertainment, drag, and miracles, fans are excited about the return of the Foxy Mary and Hunky Jesus contests. https://tinyurl.com/BacktoHabits Rainbow World Fund Heads Back to Cuba When Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February, Rainbow World Fund sprang into action, creating an emergency fund to aid vulnerable LGBTQ+ Ukrainians who were at risk of being marginalized and scapegoated.

An all-volunteer LGBTQ-based organization, Rainbow World Fund did this on top of their ongoing work of pro-

viding humanitarian aid to countries around the world, including planning their ninth annual humanitarian visit to Cuba on May 12–22. Annual visits have helped build relationships and community, as they meet with human rights activists, members of the LGBTQ community, politicians, artists, scientists, and leaders in many fields. Past visits have also included visiting schools and medical clinics, delivering medical and educational supplies, attending LGBTQ Pride events in Havana, and marching in solidarity in the Pride parade.

Tickets are available to take part in this journey. For more information: https://tinyurl.com/436e6nje 2nd Annual Weaving Spirits Festival The Weaving Spirits Festival of Two-Spirit Performances is celebrating its second anniversary at Counterpulse Theatre; you can catch their second weekend on March 24–26. The festival brings together local and national Native American artists whose powerful performance offerings range from traditional song, to modern dance, and drag. https://www.weavingspirits.com/ That’s it for this week. Please take time to be kind to others, and to yourself.

Joanie Juster is a long-time community volunteer, activist, and ally.

This latest attack on trans kids comes after the state has already banned transgender student athletes from playing for their own gender, relegating transmen and boys to the female teams and transwomen and girls to the male teams. Some families are already making plans to move out of the state, and major cities are starting to lose convention business and tourism.

The good news is that Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union have put a quick stop to any investigations, let alone any criminal legal procedures against Lone Star parents. The lawyers won an injunction against the state, forbidding Texas from launching any probes into parenting while the underlying policy is reviewed in court. (That injunction was briefly frozen after Paxton filed an appeal, but the freeze was released and the injunction was restored on March 21.)

The bad news is that no one knows what could happen down the road if this case or another gets out of the state courts and arrives in courtrooms possibly run by Trumpian fools. Texas, after all, is the state that banned abortion after six weeks under a bizarre system where the law would be enforced by vigilantes who can file civil suits. And the federal courts are where that law somehow survived review and was allowed to remain on the books during lengthy litigation. Why not let the vigilantes in Texas enforce the newly interpreted child abuse laws and sue parents of transgender kids for damages? They can sue the therapists too, why not?

The really bad news is that some 15 states have now shifted from anti-trans sports bills to focus on preventing or hindering transgender kids and adults under 21 from accessing health care, whether it be hormone treatments, psychological evaluation, puberty blockers, or other transition strategies.

Transgender kids aren’t just political targets; they are targets of an inexplicable surge of venom that is difficult to understand or explain.

That said, I should note that the Republican governor of Indiana, Eric Holcomb, just vetoed a transgender sports ban, calling it too broad and saying that it “leaves too many unanswered questions.” Thanks for that one, Eric.

GAFFNEY & LEWIS (continued from page 5)

Bulldogs, Bulldogs, Bow Wow Wow

definitive oracle of medical care, overriding parents, patients and healthcare experts.” But the Arkansas legislature quickly overrode his veto.

What else is new, you may ask. I see that our old nemesis, antigay ex-Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, is back in the headlines, now that the two gay couples who filed a civil suit against her have won their case. I know!

I’m surprised as well to see that a lawsuit filed in July 2015 is being adjudicated nearly seven years down the road. I know the wheels of justice can turn slowly, but that is ridiculous. Davis, you remember, was the county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples even after the Supreme Court had ruled and she was ordered by a judge to comply or step down.

For years, political opponents of LGBTIQ dignity and equality have used whatever message or strategy they have found effective to raise money, motivate their base, or scare voters—particularly in an election year such as 2022.

They exploit public discomfort, uncertainty, or lack of understanding of a particular issue pertaining to LGBTIQ people for their own political gain without concern for the toll their actions take on LGBTIQ people and their friends and family.

Although these opponents care little about the actual substance of the issue they assert, their talking points often emphasizing the need to protect children, distract the media from their actual motives, and stir their base and sometimes the general electorate. It is critical to understand that opponents’ interests and tactics are political at their core and shift over time as Americans eventually come to reject each one of them.

We find this current iteration—Republicans’ naked exploitation of the vulnerability of trans youth—to be particularly callous and inhumane. As Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Paul Castillo said: “Parents who love their transgender children and work with healthcare providers to support and affirm their well-being should be celebrated, rather than investigated as criminals.”

Numerous courageous trans youth, their families, and other LGBTIQ people have spoken up to Republicans and other opponents at legislative hearings across the country about the devastating effects of legislation targeting trans and other LGBTIQ youth. It’s time we all tell them to stop interfering in our lives and simply mind their own business.

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.

I understand from the Lexington Herald Leader that the case was sidetracked by several appeals during the course of the litigation. Davis argued that she was a public servant, protected against lawsuits. (Cue: error buzzer.) You are not covered if you deliberately violate the constitution. Davis then argued that she was protected against lawsuits by her religious freedom. (Cue: error buzzer.) Government officials cannot use faith as an excuse to deny services to this person or that one.

Back on schedule, the men won a summary judgment against Davis, who will have to face a jury for punitive damages and attorney fees. It doesn’t sound as if the woman has any money, so I’m guessing that bankruptcy court is the next legal venue on her list. She lost reelection back in 2018.

I could also tell you about yet another drama going on at the Yale Law School, where students protested an antigay conservative lawyer who was invited to speak by the Federalist Society. At issue was whether or not the students themselves interfered with the free speech of the lawyer, or whether the university interfered with the students by sending armed campus cops to patrol the scene.

After the incident, whatever it was, appellate court judge Laurence Silberman of the D.C. Circuit sent the following unbelievable email to colleagues: “The latest events at Yale Law School in which students attempted to shout down speakers participating in a panel discussion on free speech prompts me to suggest that students who are identified as those willing to disrupt any such panel discussion should be noted. All federal judges—and all federal judges are presumably committed to free speech—should carefully consider whether any student so identified should be disqualified for potential clerkships.”

I’d say Judge Silberman needs a refresher course on the First Amendment. arostow@aol.com COMING OUT (continued from page 11) be public. This is particularly true among my students of color, for whom coming out risks the loss of familial ties and financial support. Coming out is seen as a luxury for the white and the wealthy.

Some of my students challenge me and take issue with the idea that everyone can and should be publicly out. They argued that this value rests on the notion that one’s personal story and desires are the most important factors in one’s life, ignoring the non-individualist modes of life many non-Western, queer people live by. An emphasis on coming out assumes that frank and direct conversations about bodies and sexuality are always culturally appropriate when, in fact, this is culturally myopic.

When prospective students and families see the rainbow flag in the window of my University Ministry office, when queer people see USF marching in the Pride parade, when we make religious support for LGBTQ people fully visible and explicit—it matters; for some it’s life-changing and for others it’s lifesaving. I am grateful beyond words for the opportunity to work for the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice at the Jesuit USF. Here and now, in this critical moment in history, I am reminded that by the grace of God, in whose image we are all created, I am contributing to the repair of the world.

Rabbi Camille Shira Angel is an ordained Reform rabbi with over 25 years of experience guiding couples and families in Jewish lifecycle events.

She is an award-winning educator, public speaker, and LGBTQIA religious activist. Currently, she is Rabbi-in-Residence at the University of San Francisco.

18

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

Take Me Home with You! “My name is Delaney! I’m a 1-year-old Doberman Pinscher mix. I’m looking for a new best friend and a second chance! I’m an easygoing fella who gets along well with just about everyone. I enjoy long walks, hiking, swimming, and of course—playtime! I’m hoping to find someone who likes to explore and will join me on fun adventures. Maybe you!?”

Fitness SF Trainer Tip of the Month

Delaney

Adele at Fitness SF Mid-Market “Animal Flow is an essential practice. It’s a ground-based movement that’s challenging & effective. This system is designed to improve strength, power, flexibility, mobility, and coordination.”

Delaney 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 Delaney. Dr. Jennifer Scarlett and Pup To meet Delaney, visit the SF SPCA Mission Campus @ 201 Alabama Street. It is open for appointments from 8 am–6 pm daily. For more information: https://www.sfspca.org/adoptions/

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

As Heard on the Street . . . When and why did you move to San Francisco? compiled by Rink

Kristi Kissel

Paul Schmitt

Fayette Hauser

Jen Chan

Phillip Ruise

“In 2001. I always wanted to live in San Francisco, but I had to travel through Los Angeles, Fresno, and Sacramento first.”

“I moved to San francisco in 1994 for my sanity.”

“I arrived in 1968 because I had a ride from Nancy Curley, the wife of James Curley, of the Big Brother Band.”

“In 2000 I moved across the country to turn my dreams into reality, both personally and professionally.”

“I moved to San Francisco in 1973 to get out of Hollywood because beautiful San Francisco is more my vibe. It’s a more creative scene and I fit right in.”

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

M ARC H 24, 2022

19

BAY TIMES S

A

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)

Being BeBe: The BeBe Zahara Benet Documentary A Pandemic-Era ‘Movie Miracle’ Close to My Heart

By Marc Smolowitz Two years ago, all of our lives changed when the pandemic started, and each of us has our unique version of what life became during the first shelMarc Smolowitz ter-in-place.

My version was about how to be a viable working independent filmmaker during a pandemic. At the time, I had some ten films at various stages of the filmmaking journey that were impacted by festival cancellations and production being stopped.

As spring of 2020 unfolded, the Hollywood industry had figured out Covid protocols that could help keep larger films and TV series humming along, but we on the decidedly indie side of the business couldn’t afford the 20%+ increase in budgets and insurance that the pandemic required.

Our only safe options were to pivot entirely into editing, post-production, and limited remote-style shoots with skeleton crews in masks.

Fortunately, my San Franciscobased film company was already accustomed to the demands of remote work, and we had a strong slate of projects in post-production. In a matter of weeks, the pivot became both real and exciting as my various

teams around the world figured out how to keep our films moving forward despite Covid. It was hard and uncomfortable at times. But, as I reflect on the last two years, I can hardly believe that my boutique company was significantly involved in the completion and release of seven independent movies. Looking back, it has oddly been one of the most prolific periods of my 30year career. Some days, it felt miraculous to be doing my job in the ways I was doing it, and I woke up every day feeling so very grateful.

One of those seven movie miracles— Being BeBe: The BeBe Zahara Benet Documentary— is especially close to my heart, and we’re about to have the film’s longawaited San Francisco premiere at the Roxie Theater on Thursday, March 31. Directed by New York City-based filmmaker Emily Branham, Being BeBe tells the remarkable story of BeBe Zahara Benet, the renowned CameroonianAmerican drag performer and recording artist who became the first winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2009.

In January 2020, we were already feeling the pressure to get Being BeBe done and out into the world. Emily had been filming with BeBe since 2006, and 2020 was poised to be a very big year for BeBe with new music being released and a tour on the horizon. When Co-

vid hit, we had to stop and take stock of the story we were trying to tell.

Unexpectedly, the gifts that emerged from being forced to slow down resulted in extraordinary changes, both in BeBe’s life and in how we decided to share BeBe’s unique journey with the world.

Notably, BeBe is based in Minneapolis, and BeBe came up the ranks doing drag in the local clubs until RuPaul hand-picked BeBe for the first season of Drag Race. In 2020, BeBe was back in the Twin Cities experiencing an uneasy Covid standstill like everyone, so it was naturally a time of great reflection for BeBe. When the murder of George Floyd happened and the protests and racial reckoning of 2020 followed soon after, we realized together that our film, which was about the journey of an immigrant, queer, and BIPOC artist, needed to embrace this urgent moment in our country.

By August 2020, we figured out how to safely film one final set of interviews with BeBe remotely, with Em-

Director, Emily Branham

QUEER POP QUIZ

ily directing from her desk in New York, me producing from my desk in San Francisco, using a local 2-person crew in Minneapolis, and a combination of Zoom, Google Meet, and FaceTime all in real-time. Without giving too much away, this afforded us an unmatched opportunity to invite BeBe to reflect on 15 years of the making of the film and the film’s larger themes of Queer and Black excellence, set against the difficult backdrop of George Floyd in BeBe’s home city, and including some surprise interactions filmed over Zoom to help us complete BeBe’s inspiring story.

Much to our delight, all of these creative elements worked beautifully and became the new scaffolding for our entire film. Ironically, none of this would have been possible without the pandemic. Covid pushed us to figure out how to complete our film in ways we could’ve never imagined in late 2019. The result, I am proud to say, is a film that has been surprising and delighting audiences everywhere. In June of 2021, we world premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, one of the leading festivals on the planet, and have gone on to screen at 30 film festivals on four continents. I cannot tell you how excited I am to finally share this beautifully touching and joyous film with my local communities here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In a business whereby coming together physically in dark rooms has always been our most coveted way of experiencing the work, let me for-

mally invite you to come down and see Being BeBe on March 31 at the Roxie. Both BeBe and Emily will be here with us in person to celebrate, and we’re hosting a special pre-reception Meet and Greet before the film’s main screening, co-presented

by Frameline, BraveMaker, and Rainbow Railroad, a leading organization that works to advance international LGBTQ+ safety and civil rights.

Get your tickets at https://tinyurl.com/zbwaay4m Then, for those who want to experience BeBe’s music live, we are partnering with D’Arcy Drollinger and OASIS to present BeBe live-in-concert with a 6-person band on April 1.

Tickets are available at https://www.sfoasis.com/events These two events are poised to be memorable nights for San Francisco.

Don’t miss them!

Marc Smolowitz is one of the proud producers of “Being BeBe.” He is a multi-awardwinning director, producer, and executive producer who has been significantly involved in 50+ successful independent films over the last 30 years. His San Francisco-based film company, 13th Gen, is widely considered one of the world’s leading independent film companies focused on LGBTQ+ films and filmmakers. Learn more at http://13thgenfilm.com

94TH ACADEMY AWARDS One of the three hosts of the 2022 Academy Awards will be this out and proud celesbian: A) Wanda Sykes

B) Ellen DeGeneres

C) Regina Hall

D) Gayle King

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

ANSWER ON PAGE 32 M ARC H 24, 2022

21

Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun

Sister Dana sez, “Let me be your APRIL FOOL’S DAY prankster. Imagine I switched your salt shaker with sugar. Or slipped a whoopee cushion onto your chair. Ha ha ha. Were you amused?!”

What was NOT a joke was when several of our members from KREWE DE KINQUE including our reigning Queen XVIII Christina Ashton helped with a flawless fundraiser for the Ukraine LGBTQ emergency fund coordinated by our local RAINBOW WORLD FUND humanitarian organization. Queen Christina co-hosted with Terry Moxie Penn and an amazing cast in a show at Harvey’s in the Castro on March 12.

The Every Third Thursday LOCKDOWN COMEDY Zoom show on March 17 featured the fun lineup of Cathy Ladman (LA), Wendy Liebman (LA), Nina G (Oakland, who called herself “N-n-n Nina, Bay Area’s foremost st-st-stuttering comic”), producer/ comedian Lisa Geduldig (SF & Florida), and her 90 year-old mom, Arline Geduldig (Florida). Lisa had prefaced her publicity noting, “With Lockdown Comedy coinciding this month with the wild and

22

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

Sister Dana sez, “Botox will now stop shipping to Russia— meaning uber vain Putin’s face will wrinkle and shrink until he gives in and finally gives up his senseless War against Ukraine!”

Senator Scott Wiener has announced he will introduce legislation to protect and provide refuge for transgender kids and their parents if they flee to California from Texas, Idaho, or any other state criminalizing the parents of trans kids for allowing them to receive gender-affirming care. If these parents and their kids come to California, the legislation will help protect them from having their kids taken away from them or from being criminally prosecuted for supporting their trans kids’ access to healthcare.

Sister Dana sez, “Manchin blocked voting rights. And now he was the only Democrat to vote NO on the groundbreaking legislation to codify Roe v.

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

Wade into law. He needs to be voted out!”

San Francisco residents will now get in free at the Conservatory of Flowers and Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park following a vote by the city’s Board of Supervisors.

The San Francisco Botanical Garden, the third garden in Golden Gate Park, is already free to residents.

THE COCKETTES: ACID DRAG & SEXUAL ANARCHY is on display at the JAMES C. HORMEL LGBTQIA CENTER—3rd Floor now through August 11. This is a joyful celebration of the avantgarde psychedelic hippie theater troupe’s 50th anniversary, in conjunction with original member Fayette Hauser’s newly-published pictorial history by the same title. This site-specific installation invokes the Cockettes’ adage “too much is never enough!”

Dozens of rare photographs, posters, and memorabilia from personal as well as Hormel Center archives depict the pioneering group’s impact on San Francisco’s cultural scene and beyond. I recall coming to the old Palace Theatre to delight in the Cockettes’ hilarious, bizarre, risqué, live shows before I had a clue I was gay! https://sfpl.org/exhibits/ According to Dailykos, facing yet another midnight Friday deadline to avert a government shutdown, the Senate finally passed an omnibus spending bill to keep the government open through September and provide more aid to Ukraine. It took three stopgap bills and chewed up much of the fiscal year the funding is intended for, but this is what success looks like in the era of one party doing its best to break the government. The bill passed 68 to 31.

Sister Dana sez, “How can we possibly expect democracy in Ukraine when we are fighting for democracy right here at home?!”

The HARVEY MILK LGBTQ DEMOCRATIC CLUB, SAN FRANCISCO PRINCIPLES 2020, THE HIV ADVOCACY NETWORK, and WARD 86 met at the steps of San Francisco City Hall on March 21 to urge the city to make the fight against HIV a Dennis McMillan (aka Sister Dana) and Kenneth Bunch created this drapriority. 37.7 million matic image with photographer JP Carhaix during the 1980s. people worldwide Summing it up: 2021 marked the living with HIV 40th year of the HIV/AIDS panmeans HIV/AIDS is STILL a plague, they emphasized, and Silence demic. 40 years with no cure and no vaccine. As we enter the 41st year of STILL Equals Death! They pointed the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the City out alarming statistics: HIV testing of San Francisco MUST recommit is down by 44% from 2019. Rates to treating HIV/AIDS as an urgent of viral suppression have dropped public health issue and must recomfrom 75% to 70%. Among homeless mit funds to make up for recent persons living with HIV, only 20% losses. have reached viral suppression, a decrease from 50% in 2019. PrEP use has decreased, leading to potential new HIV transmissions.

During times of lockdowns, clinic visits decreased, interrupting testing and early detection and treatment.

The city’s long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS still lack adequate access to deeply affordable housing, harm reduction, mental health care, social housing, and economic assistance.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY TIMES & THE ACADEMY invite you to DIVAS & DRINKS “Unity with Ukraine” on Thursday, March 24, 6–10 pm at The Academy, 2166 Market Street. This month will include a raffle sponsored by RAINBOW WORLD FUND’s fundraiser for LGBTQ Ukrainians. (continued on page 32)

PHOTO COURTESY OF KENNETH BUNCH

By Sister Dana Van Iquity

wacky Jewish holiday Purim, we are partnering with the JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO ( JCCSF) to present our March show. The JCCSF’s Rabbi Batshir Torchio will say a few words at the start of the show to introduce the audience to Purim, which invites us to revel, dress up in costumes, and celebrate the randomness of life.”

Rabbi called us viewers “honorary Jews!” Of course, I had to add that it was additionally SAINT PATRICK’S DAY, meaning the wearing of green was also customary, so I wore a green shirt and green Mardi Gras beads! For info on the next Lockdown Comedy, check out https://tinyurl.com/39hkjtpp

Pacific Edge Voices Welcomes a New Leader By David Landis Ash Walker is the new conductor of the 40-year-old ensemble East Baybased Pacific Edge Voices (PEV).

I had the pleasure of speaking with him for the San Francisco Bay Times prior to PEV’s upcoming Bay Area concerts April 2 & 8.

PEV/JOEL MACKENDORF

Pacific Edge Voices in concert, December 2021

Ash Walker

Pacific Edge Voices with Ash Walker

come to California to study with Muddy James at Cal State East Bay (Hayward). Afterwards, I got the audition at PEV and now I’m also vocal choral professor at Los Positas College in Livermore.

Ash Walker: I am a baritone but sometimes sing tenor. I play piano and played trombone as a kid. I also do African drumming and drum corps (marching band on steroids!).

David Landis: In addition to singing, what instruments do you play?

David Landis: How did PEV survive the pandemic?

Ash Walker: I started in 2020 after Lynn Morrow stepped down after 15 years. When I became director, we were into masks and no vaccines. We couldn’t meet in person for safety.

We didn’t want to lose the continuity, so we met over Zoom. I didn’t meet many of the choir in person until a year after working with them.

A new software, Jack Trip virtual studio technology, allowed us to sing together and connect from home in real time over an audio connection.

We created The Great Event (inspired

by Leonard Cohen’s music) in March 2021—a virtual program with audiences listening via Zoom. The program was about the end of the world and the beginning of the new world: an apt moment for where society was in that moment.

PEV/JOEL MACKENDORF

Ash Walker: I am from a family of 9 and my mom wanted us to have a particular focus. I gravitated towards music at a young age, singing in the church choir in Philadelphia. I auditioned for the Philadelphia Boys Choir: that was an awesome awakening. We travelled around the world, performed at the White House, went to the Sydney Opera House in 1996 and South Africa in 1997. That trip taught me being a choral musician was possible. I joined ensembles in school at Millersville University.

While there, I started a men’s choir and had my first conducting experience. I focused on music from different cultures: Latin America, Africa, and Eastern European countries. Then I made the decision to

PEV/JOEL MACKENDORF

David Landis: What inspired you to go into music?

Pacific Edge Voices in concert, December 2021

David Landis: PEV’s next concerts are called After the Rain: Echoes of Nature. Why? Ash Walker: I needed an arranger and I stumbled upon Henrik Dahlgren. He had a song called “Hymn of Acxiom,” hauntingly beautiful, about society’s dependence on technology. We popularized and recorded this song in America. I reached out to him regarding a pro-

gram about music in nature and we started a partnership. I noticed how green and beautiful the hills were after it rained. Where did we all go for safety during the pandemic?

Outside. Beaches and parks. Our safe space. Because of that, it’s worth celebration. The other composer we’re featuring is Forrest Pierce, who wrote “Gratitude Sutra (giving thanks to nature).”

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

(continued on page 32)

M ARC H 24, 2022

23

BAY TIMES S

A

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)

Revisiting the Queer Classic Two Girls in Love

Film Gary M. Kramer The beloved 1995 queer romance, The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love, has just been released on Blu-Ray in a HD restoration, making it a perfect time to revisit this classic teen film. Writer/director Maria Maggenti’s debut—alas, she has made only one other feature film, Puccini for Beginners (2006)—is as charming now as it was on initial release.

and everyone else as “freaks.” Randy’s household consists of her aunt Rebecca (Kate Stafford) and her girlfriend Vicky (Sabrina Artel), as well as Rebecca’s former girlfriend, Lena (Toby Poser), who has come to live with them as the film begins. Randy is estranged from her biological mother, a religious pro-lifer who has been in jail for her activism.

The queer teens may be ostracized at school—Evie loses the support of her group of friends when she comes out to them one afternoon—but they are comfortable being themselves (Randy and Frank) and finding themselves (Evie). The troubles they face are less a function of who they are and whom they love, and more situational.

The filmmaker is also partial to overhead shots that are appealing.)

A scene where Evie comes to Randy’s house for dinner ends with the girls having their first kiss. A sequence in the last act has Randy sleeping over Evie’s house (while Evelyn is away).

After they get stoned, and drink some wine, and eat a feast, they retire to Evelyn’s bedroom to make love. The sex scene is beautiful because it captures the magic of a teenager’s first time.

It is refreshing that The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love does not feature much in the way of teenage angst. There is some brief anxiety as Randy obsesses about a note she put in Evie’s locker, but their problems

Like Randy (Laurel Hollomon, in her debut), the film’s working-class tomboy protagonist who lives in the moment, Two Girls admittedly is a little rough around the edges. (It was shot in 21 days.) Randy is an openly gay student at her high school, where her best friend is possibly the only other gay student, Frank (Nelson Rodríguez). That is, until she meets Evie (Nicole Ari Parker, in her debut), a privileged Black teen who dumps her boyfriend Hayjay (Andrew Wright) and takes an interest in Randy.

The girls meet cute at a gas station where Randy works. There is some attraction developing, but it builds slowly. The teens bond more when Evie confides in Randy about her problems

Randy is failing math and will not graduate, while Evie is fighting with her divorced mother Evelyn (Stephanie Berry), who is reluctant to let her daughter grow up or make her own decisions.

in the school bathroom. When the girls get caught smoking, they end up in detention together. Yet this only seems to bring them closer. Before long, they are passing notes, and Evie gives Randy a copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, which only stirs her emotions further. In the film’s sweetest scene, the girls hold hands in a diner, and Evie tells the more experienced Randy, “Unshelter me.”

The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love is wonderful because it treats its lesbian characters as normal 24

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

Maggenti’s focus on the teen’s relationship forms the heart of the film. How this unexpected but intense relationship emboldens each young woman is what makes it so special. There are scenes of Evie and Randy together listening to music, but Maggenti also contrasts Randy’s love of female bands against Evie’s appreciation of opera and classical music.

Likewise, there are contrasting scenes of the families cooking dinner, with Evie, a perfectionist worrying about ruining a meal she is making, whereas Randy’s family is a chaotic scene with everyone in motion.

(Maggenti films this sequence with a terrific shot that pans back and forth to capture all the energy of the scene.

are not based on if they will stay together. (Evie never indicates her interest in Randy is a phase.)

Maggenti also imbues her film with humor, such as a comic subplot involving Randy’s affair with a married woman, Wendy (Maggie Moore). Wendy actually plays a supportive role when Randy and Evie end up in some trouble with their families.

Holloman and Parker give natural performances and have terrific chemistry together. The supporting cast gives mostly broad, comic performances, but Dale Dickey is engaging in her film debut as Regina, Randy’s coworker at the gas station.

Perhaps the most incredible thing about The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love is that it is not an outlandish tale of same-sex love. Yes, being openly gay in high school in the mid-1990s was not readily accepted, but this film shows the possibility and the benefits of that. And that is why it is a film for the ages. © 2022 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

BAY TIMES S

A

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)

Fan Freaking Over Jacqueline Bisset and Her Latest Film with a Gay Lead

Off the Wahl Jan Wahl I thought to myself: my god. How can any woman be so beautiful? She’s 77 and drop dead gorgeous, like Ava Gardner if she hadn’t drunk and smoked, or Gene Tierney in Laura. Her looks are so original, yet classically chiseled and cheekbones for days. There’s a steely intelligence to her, as if she’s ready for a good fight. Her name is Jacqueline Bisset ( Jac-clean in the French way and Bisset as in kiss it).

Her latest film is Loren and Rose.

A single meal frames the three-act story of the close bond between a young, gay filmmaker and a storied actress. The place is an historic restaurant in Topanga Canyon. We go through appetizer, entrée, and dessert with them, enjoying her love of sumptuous food and his need for barely dressed simplicity. Like Louis Malle’s My Dinner with Andre, it is delightful to watch listeners and reactors, determined to communicate and achieve goals. Writer/ Director Russell Brown was inspired

by Bisset and told me for the San Francisco Bay Times: “It’s about the gifts our muses give us and the legacies they pass on.”

I was fortunate to have a Zoom with both Brown and Bisset. It turns out she was not aware of Hollywood movies growing up, and was worried about going to Hollywood itself. “I thought it would be heart-shaped

pools and silly words,” Bisset told me. “When I started at Fox, they were telling girls to wear stockings and heels and dresses. I was wearing jeans. I thought, ‘How extraordinary!’ I just didn’t go along with it. I love a great script and interesting words. The reason I became an actress was Jeanne Moreau.

She played subversive, diverse characters.”

I made an attempt to explain how popular Bisset is with many of us, and from Day for Night to McQueen (she was in the San Francisco classic Bullitt), always has been for both her distinctive beauty and talent. She seemed totally surprised. “I’m so unaware of that,” she responded. “Really? I am just so astonished when I read that.”

I look at her and think to myself, “Jacqueline, darling ... if you don’t see your own worth, there’s no hope for the rest of us!”

She shared, “I just try and play characters that are not flimsy or superficial, that are thick and full.

It is a challenge. I liked Rose in this film because, while we sit and talk, we also find the rigor, the emotional movement. Of course, I didn’t think about it being gay or straight; gay people are always part of my life. Funny ... many gay men and women like my film Grasshopper. My favorite work is my least known work. They always ask me about Bullitt, but never about Sleepy Time Gal. Well, I’m just glad anybody likes anything! I am so glad I have made a combination of small, independent movies and big ones.”

There’s a bit of Norma Desmond and some of Rosalind Russell’s Auntie Mame in this character of Rose in Loren and Rose.

Brown agreed and replied, “Like Auntie Mame always said: ‘Life is a banquet.’ That’s a very Rose

point of view. But like all people who live that way, there is a price to be paid being that free and uninhibited. We find that out with Rose’s relationships with her lovers and daughter. I love her attitude toward death since she is an older woman. She is like a cat that just wants to jump into her next experience.”

I especially liked the beginning of this film, where we are taken to an auction of Rose’s clothes and furnishings. Russell had directed a short film: The 44 Scarves of Liza Minnelli.

“I told Liza’s life story through scarves,” Brown said, “so, auctions were on my mind. I did two movies with Karen Black ... very different than Bisset, Karen was a bit was more extreme. Both brilliant women, so smart, a vast knowledge of history and literature. My film Race You to the Bottom was in Frameline years ago, filmed in the city (San Francisco) and Napa.”

Let’s get this new one, Loren and Rose, in Frameline! It would be fun to have Jacqueline back in town. I don’t often fan freak with my interview subjects, but will make an exception for Jacqueline Bisset.

While we’re in the orbit of extraordinary actresses, let’s move the frame over to Helen Mirren. She costars in a funny and true film called “The Duke.” I found it humorous because it is based on a true story of a working man in England who steals a Goya painting from London’s National Portrait Gallery. Jim Broadbent plays Helen’s husband, and the two together celebrate and fight, just like a true married couple. If you are expecting the glamorous Mirren, think again. She is dowdy, from one housedress to makeupfree face. After you see this, go and google the true story. It is wild and was the opening night film of the Mostly British Film Festival earlier this month.

Jan Wahl is a Hollywood historian, film critic on various broadcast outlets, and has her own YouTube channel series, “Jan Wahl Showbiz.”

She has two Emmys and many awards for her longtime work on behalf of film buffs and the LGBTQ community. Contact her at www.janwahl.com S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

M ARC H 24, 2022

25

BAY TIMES S

A

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)

The End of Her: Racing Against Alzheimer’s to Solve a Murder our officiant was dressed just as inconspicuously. (Mark had found him online, and I had laid out a few requirements for our bare-bones nuptials: “No vows, no God, and if you show up wearing any kind of collar or robe, I’m leaving.”)

Words Michele Karlsberg “Who was behind the brutal murder of my great-grandmother?” wondered Wayne Hoffman, a New York City-based journalist and novelist. The true crime was not just a family legend—it made headlines across Canada in 1913—but Sarah Feinstein’s killer had never been found. In The End of Her, Hoffman meticulously researches this centuryold tragedy, while facing another: his vibrant mother’s decline from Alzheimer’s. Weaving back and forth between past and present, Hoffman invokes in dramatic detail the life and death of his immigrant greatgrandmother in Winnipeg’s North End, and his mother’s downward spiral. In the process, he discovers an extended family that has been scattered across thousands of miles for a hundred years.

Please enjoy an excerpt from The End of Her: A few hours before the Passover Seder in 2011, Mark and I drove from my parents’ house in suburban Maryland into Washington, D.C.— where we met back in 1989, where we had both lived in the nineties, and where same-sex marriage was already legal. We held a very quick and informal ceremony by the fountain on Dupont Circle: We were in jeans and button-down shirts, and

The ceremony itself lasted about five minutes. I read a poem by Cummings, Mark read a poem

by Whitman, and we exchanged rings—one he’d had made for me in Oaxaca, one I’d bought for him in Jerusalem. There was so little pomp and circumstance, it was hard for passersby to realize what was happening. In fact, a group of tourists behind us by the fountain interrupted me in the middle of my poem. “I’m sorry,” said one teenage girl, holding out a disposable camera, “would you take our picture?”

I held up one finger in the air. “Can you give me one minute?” I asked. “I’m in the middle of my wedding.”

That night, surrounded by the usual Passover crowd— plus Mark’s mother, Clarissa, who was visiting from Florida—I started the Seder normally. But when we got the Four Questions, I added a fifth. “Why is this night different from all other nights?” I asked. “Because tonight, we are married,” Mark and I said, holding up our hands, adorned with silver rings.

“Yes, Mom,” he said with characteristic sarcasm. (His sense of humor—“so dry it could blow away”—is what had attracted me to his personal ad all those years before.) “Every year, a different couple has to get married.”

My mother was caught off guard, but she understood what was happening—which was one of the main reasons we hadn’t wanted to wait any longer, as her dementia continued to worsen. She wasn’t thrilled that she’d missed the wedding. The woman who’d cautioned me years earlier not to “tell everyone” now wanted to spread the news. So I told her we’d plan a brunch a few weeks later, where she could invite people to the house and have a proper wedding celebration.

Last Night at The Telegraph Club

by Malinda Lo A rich homage to lesbian pulps, only better.

It shows the human impact of McCarthyism and ‘50s repression on immigrant families, young love, and the fragile underworld of lesbian bars. Set in San Francisco’s North Beach and Chinatown, it’s a book with characters you root for, pork buns, and a perspective made more thoughtful by our modern lens.

I Wished

by Dennis Cooper Grief is shattering. In this, the most personal of Cooper’s books, the author inhabits a variety of characters (Santa Claus, prairie dogs, John Wayne Gacy ... ) in order to cope with the decades-old death of one of his real-life friends.

Glory (fiction - hardbound) by NoViolet Bulawayo From the award-winning author of the Booker-prize finalist We Need New Names, a blockbuster of a novel that chronicles the fall of an oppressive regime, and the chaotic, kinetic potential for real liberation that rises in its wake, Glory centers around the unexpected fall of “Old Horse,” a long-serving leader of a fictional country, and the drama that follows for a rumbustious nation of animals on the path to true liberation. Inspired by the unexpected fall by coup, in November 2017, of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president of nearly four decades, Bulawayo’s bold, vividly imagined novel shows a country imploding, narrated by a chorus of animal voices who unveil the ruthlessness and cold strategy required to uphold the illusion of absolute power, and the imagination and bullet-proof optimism to overthrow it completely.

Who is Maud Dixon? (fiction/mystery - paperback) by Alexandra Andrews Florence Darrow has always felt she was destined for greatness, but after a disastrous affair with her married boss, she starts to doubt herself. All that changes when she sets off for Morocco with her new boss, the celebrated but reclusive author Maud Dixon. Amidst the colorful streets of Marrakesh and the wind-swept beaches of the coast, Florence begins to feel she’s leading the sort of interesting, cosmopolitan life she deserves. But when she wakes up in the hospital after a terrible car accident, with no memory of the previous night— and no sign of Maud—a dangerous idea begins to take form. This is as fun a read as it is suspenseful, with seemingly endless twists and turns and two quirky, yet believable, completely drawn lead characters. If you thought you couldn’t enjoy a mystery, this is the book that will teach you otherwise.

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

https://www.fabulosabooks.com/

“Only simchas,” she told guests who came to the wedding party in May—meaning we should always have happy occasions to celebrate.

Wayne Hoffman’s cultural reporting has appeared in “The Wall Street Journal,” “The Washington Post,” “The Village Voice,” “The Nation,” “Billboard,” “Slate,” and dozens of other publications; he is currently Executive Editor of “Tablet” magazine. His novels

include “Hard,” “An Older Man,” and “Sweet Like Sugar.” http://waynehoffmanwriter.com Michele Karlsberg Marketing and Management specializes in publicity for the LGBTQ+ community. This year, Karlsberg celebrates 33 years of successful marketing campaigns. For more information: https://www.michelekarlsberg.com

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM BOOK PASSAGE

I Was Better Last Night (nonfiction/memoir - hardbound) by Harvey Fierstein This poignant and hilarious memoir bares the inner life of this eccentric nonconforming child from his roots in 1952 Brooklyn, to the experimental worlds of Andy Warhol and the Theatre of the Ridiculous, to the gay rights movements of the seventies and the tumultuous AIDS crisis of the eighties, through decades of addiction, despair, and ultimate triumph. Fierstein’s candid recollections provide a rich window into downtown New York City life, gay culture, and the evolution of theater (of which he has been a defining figure), as well as a moving account of his family’s journey of acceptance.

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

A Quilt for David

by Steven Reigns This series of prose poems focuses on a tragic episode from the height of the AIDS crisis when a gay dentist became the victim of mob panic and homophobia gone wild. Reigns approaches the subject from multiple angles, which makes for a thought-provoking read. Trigger warning: could make you very sad and/or angry.

Clarissa, for whom this was her very first Seder, asked Mark, “Is this a regular part of the Seder?”

Top of your stack

26

Lit Snax

Upcoming Events Sunday, April 3 @ 4 pm (in-store/Corte Madera - free) Greg Sarris, author of Becoming Story: A Journey Among Seasons, Places, Trees and Ancestors For the first time in more than twenty-five years, Greg Sarris—whose novels are esteemed alongside those of Louise Erdrich and Stephen Graham Jones—presents a book about his own life. In Becoming Story he asks: What does it mean to be truly connected to the place you call home—to walk where innumerable generations of your ancestors have walked?

And what does it mean when you dedicate your life to making that connection even deeper? Moving between his childhood and the present day, Sarris creates a kaleidoscopic narrative about the forces that shaped his early years and his eventual work as a tribal leader.

Monday, April 4 @ 5 pm (live-online ticketed - $28) Elizabeth Alexander, author of Trayvon Generation From a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author and poet comes a galvanizing meditation on the power of art and culture to illuminate America’s unresolved problem with race. In the midst of civil unrest in the summer of 2020 and following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, Elizabeth Alexander—one of the great literary voices of our time—turned a mother’s eye to her sons’ and students’ generation and wrote a celebrated and moving reflection on the challenges facing young Black America.

Thursday, April 7 @ 5:30 pm (live-online - free) Raquel Salas Rivera (him/his) author of Antes que Isla es Volcán From the National Book Award-nominated, Lambda Awardwinning poet: a powerful, inventive new collection that looks to the future of Puerto Rico with love, rage, beauty, and hope. Raquel Salas Rivera’s star has risen swiftly in the poetry world, and this, his 6th book, promises to cement his status as one of the most important poets working today. In sharp, crystalline verses, written in both Spanish and English versions, Antes que Isla es Volcán (Before Island Is Volcano) daringly imagines a decolonial Puerto Rico. https://www.bookpassage.com/

Lesbian Game Changers

Photos by Rink

Lesbian Game Changers, a panel discussion co-sponsored by the Hormel LGBTQIA Center of the San Francisco Public Library, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Our Family Coalition, took place on March 15 in the library’s Koret Auditorium. Robin Lowey, a filmmaker, queer historian, and author of the book Game Changers: Lesbians You Should Know About, moderated the event. It featured a conversation about feminism, queer culture, intersectionality, the need for intergenerational involvement, and how the pandemic has affected the mental and emotional health of the queer community.

The panel featured three of the women included in Lowey’s book: Crystal Jang, Olga Talamante and Carla Trujillo.

Hormel Center librarian Kevin Darling welcomed guests on behalf of the library. https://tinyurl.com/muvbe6z5

Virtual Tour Now Available of the Lyon-Martin House

Photos courtesy of Kendra Mon

On March 22, the digital historic preservation firm CyArk, the nonprofit historic preservation group Friends of Lyon-Martin House, and the GLBT Historical Society (GHS) unveiled a virtual tour of the Lyon-Martin House, the San Francisco landmark inhabited for over five decades by lesbian, marriage equality, and social justice activists Phyllis Lyon (1924–2020) and Del Martin (1921–2008). Lyon and Martin were both founding contributors to the San Francisco Bay Times.

The GHS shared: “In 1955, together with three other lesbian couples, Lyon and Martin cofounded the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the U.S. the Daughters of Bilitis, much of whose activities they oversaw from their house in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood.”

The GHS added that the tour is organized into a total of 17 stations, taking in areas including the front yard, living room, second-floor landing, and kitchen. At each station, visitors can use four keys on their keyboard to move in three dimensions and the right mouse button to rotate the camera 360 degrees. Each station is accompanied by historic commentary, reflections, and interviews provided by LGBTQ historians, friends, and family members of Lyon and Martin.

To experience the tour, go to: https://tinyurl.com/3k5jew29

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

M ARC H 24, 2022

27

Bay Times Dines

BAY TIMES S

A

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)

18 Reasons for Better Cooking at Home with the confidence and creativity needed to buy, cook, and eat good food every day.” The Gay Gourmet conversed with this nonprofit’s dynamic Executive Director Sarah Nelson for the San Francisco Bay Times to discuss the organization, its accomplishments, how this nonprofit helps even the most vulnerable in our community, and how cooking can change lives.

The Gay Gourmet David Landis If you’re like The Gay Gourmet, often at the end of the day you think it’s simpler (especially in foodiecrazy San Francisco) to just go out to eat. Truth be told, I’m a little gun shy about cooking at home. Even though I appreciate good food, I’m not the best cook in the world—and I certainly don’t have the confidence to think I can create healthy, delicious dishes. (There, I said it!)

The San Francisco nonprofit organization 18 Reasons is on a mission to change that.

18 Reasons is, as they say, “a nonprofit community cooking school based in the Mission District, (created) to empower our community

Gay Gourmet: What’s the purpose of 18 Reasons? Why is it important?

Sarah Nelson: Our purpose is to inspire people to do more home cooking. We believe in the power of home cooking to change lives, to make people more empowered, and connect with their culture. There are so many great things that home cooking can do. We want to encourage everyone in the Bay Area to cook more at home and teach them how to make cooking at home fit into your life. We have a classroom in the Mission and anyone can join.

We run a free program, Cooking Matters, for low-income adults and kids and families in San Francisco and the East Bay. They’re offered for free with partnerships.

Partners are community centers, after school programs, affordable housing sites—anywhere that offers other services. We have a partnership in San Francisco, for example, with Openhouse, to offer residents at their housing site.

Gay Gourmet: You have 3 main programs—Cooking Matters, 18th St. Kitchen, and Nourishing Pregnancy.

Tell us a bit about them.

Sarah Nelson: Nourishing Pregnancy is our newest program.

We’ve had the other programs—18th St. Kitchen

18 Reasons Executive Director Sarah Nelson

and Cooking Matters—for many years. It is a 6-month program for newly pregnant clients.

It includes home delivered groceries and classes about parenting and infant care. They continue to receive groceries. About 20% of Black and Latinx parents experience food insecurity during pregnancy. We want healthier outcomes and will be expanding the program.

We have community partners who refer people to us, including: Sister Web (a doula collective that works with Black and Latinx parents in San Francisco), Black Infant Health, and the San Francisco Health Department’s “Expecting Justice” program. We offer classes in English and Spanish and they’re all online. It has worked out really well when people have newborns.

Cooking Matters was virtual during the pandemic and it will stay virtual. There were some positive aspects as people were able to cook in their own homes with their own equipment. Our paid classes were fully remote for a year and a half.

We started doing in-person classes last fall, and they’re popular. With Cooking Matters, we are staying flexible and responsive to what the community wants. The 18th Street Kitchen program offers a variety of cooking classes and events open to the public at large.

Gay Gourmet: Your public cooking classes run the gamut—from how to make a delicious croissant to a seafood primer to Korean and Chinese and to “knife skills.”

Do you embrace all types of cooking and cuisines?

Sarah Nelson: If there are things we don’t do, it’s only because we haven’t found someone to teach it. Italian classes are taught by an Italian woman. We have teachers from around the world who specialize in cuisines. We are always looking for new teachers. Knife skills is our most popular class—it’s a great skill to have. You will never cut yourself again. That’s a class that is only taught in person and we’ve already sold it out 5 times this year. Home cooking will continue to be a very popular activity. Our chef and Culinary Director is Mike Weller. He was the director

An 18 Reasons student proudly shows his homemade pizza

18 Reasons Culinary Director Chef Mike Weller teacing a class 28

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

Students at an 18th Street Kitchen class

Budding chefs prepping fruit during an 18 Reasons class

of curricula at the Cordon Bleu until they closed.

Gay Gourmet: What is the Peer Health Educator (PHE) program?

Sarah Nelson: In Cooking Matters, everyone has a chef instructor and a nutrition instructor. Peer Preparing a meal at 18 Reasons Health Educators They put up a billboard that said are people who have graduated “17 Reasons Why”—and when we from the Cooking Matters class and opened, that sign had just come then had additional instruction— down. We wanted to preserve a bit they help facilitate the class. They of the neighborhood history. Our are natural leaders from the comlogo is based on that. Everyone has munity and want to teach. their own reasons for wanting to learn how to cook and we want to Gay Gourmet: How do you get support those reasons. Also, we are around the fear of cooking? at 18th and Dolores.

Sarah Nelson: We try to be genGay Gourmet: What makes 18 tle. Our chefs are so passionate Reasons different? about food and that’s infectious.

Cooking doesn’t’ have to be someSarah Nelson: Our difference is thing you see on the Food Network. a focus on home cooking and home Because we focus on home cookcooking traditions from around ing, it’s not like coming to class the world, things that don’t always with a celebrity chef. Sometimes we get celebrated in day-to-day life. think cooking is either zero or 60; We believe in the cultural value of the reality is most people fall in the home cooking. middle. We may not even see that as cooking. We think, “I don’t know Gay Gourmet: Do you have how to cook, because I cooked pasta a connection with the Bay and put some sauce on it.” Maybe Area’s LGBTQ+ community? you want to learn about a differSarah Nelson: With our partent cuisine or culture and learn nership with Openhouse, we’ve simple techniques that make you developed a great relationship with feel more confident in the kitchen. the LGBTQ community. We also We’re about de-mystifying cooking. have staff and instructors who are We have a cooking essentials class, LGBTQ+. It’s a big part of life in which is a great way to dip your toe Dolores Park. in. We can help people build their confidence.

Gay Gourmet: How big is 18 Reasons?

Gay Gourmet: Why the name?

Sarah Nelson: There was a furniture store on 17th and Mission.

Sarah Nelson: We have 17 fulltime staff and 300 volunteers.

Bay Times Dines Between our three programs, we serve about 6,000 people a year.

Gay Gourmet: Do you have plans for growth?

Sarah Nelson: We’re local, but we hope to open a second location in the next 5 years.

Gay Gourmet: What’s your favorite easy-to-cook recipe for busy professionals to cook at home?

Sarah Nelson: One of my favorites is black bean and sweet potato tacos. You cut up sweet potatoes small so they cook quickly. With a taco, you can put anything on it—add an avocado, salsa, cilantro—and you can throw together something healthy and delicious in a short amount of time.

Gay Gourmet: Where do you like to dine in San Francisco?

Sarah Nelson: I cook at home almost every single day. But one of my favorites is the Heirloom Café—a beautiful and warm restaurant that feels like you’re being welcomed into someone’s home.

Gay Gourmet: How can people get involved with 18 Reasons?

Sarah Nelson: We are always looking for volunteers. They can get involved through our website: volunteer with us; come take a class ... it’s a great way to get to know us.

Bits and Bites Made in the Bay Area, Sweet Diane’s has a variety of tasty granolas that can start your morning off on the right foot. They are deliciously balanced and crunchy.

The natural granola has hints of oat, is semi-sweet, and holds its texture even with milk. It’s great on plain yogurt or with blueberries and cream. mo’mugi, North America’s only gourmet barley teabag brand, is robust, earthy, and delicious.

The company claims that this tea hydrates better than water and provides nutritious antioxidants. It’s caffeine-free and can be enjoyed hot or cold. A great substitute for decaf coffee!

High 5ive, a lively rooftop bar & lounge offering panoramic views, just opened at the new Kissel Uptown Oakland hotel.

The Bay Area Left Bank Brasserie in Larkspur, San Jose, and Menlo Park will host Oyster Fête 2022, in celebration of National Oysters on the Half Shell Day (Thursday, March 31). The restaurants are offering an Oyster and Wine Flight special all day from March 31 through April 3. Also, watch for a new Left Bank restaurant opening in the old Scala’s space at San Francisco’s new Beacon Grand Hotel (formerly the Sir Francis Drake).

Samin Nasrat teaching at 18 Reasons

BAY TIMES S

A

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)

One of The Gay Gourmet’s favorites—but hard to find—are authentic, homemade French-style crepes.

From the owners of Le Marais Bakery, the Grand Creperie has now opened with artisanal crepes, croissants and pastries at a new Ferry Building location.

If you’re in the Civic Center for a concert or show, there’s now a great late-night option. Recently-opened newbie from Hi Neighbor Group The Madrigal has a late-night happy hour Tuesday–Saturday from 9 pm until they close around midnight.

Marlowe Restaurant, home of the popular “Marlowe Burger,” has just re-opened after COVID with its classic menu in its SOMA location on Brannan Street.

The Automat, a new documentary film about the famed restaurant directed by Lisa Hurwitz, opens April 1 at the Vogue Theatre and the San Rafael Film Center.

It stars Mel Brooks, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Colin Powell, Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould, Howard Schultz, the Horn & Hardart families and their dedicated former employees (among others), all sharing memories of life at the Automat.

Invented by chef Bruce Hill in his kitchen at Bix in San Francisco, The Chef’s Press is a vented and weight adjustable cooking tool that replaces old cast iron bacon presses and bricks. It’s adjustable, compact, and super handy (it will even fit in a kitchen drawer).

The Gay Gourmet was thrilled to be asked to be a guest judge for the 13th annual Taste Awards, called “the Oscars of food, fashion, and lifestyle media.” The awards will be televised across the United States on PBS stations in April 2022 (check local listings). Presenters include the Bay Area’s own Tyler Florence and Joanne Weir.

North Lake Tahoe’s Pride Ride takes place March 24–27 at Homewood Resort and includes a dinner and drag show on Friday, March 25, with Deja Skye (of RuPaul fame) at the West Shore Café.

Through 30, Crave in Novato, Cielito Cocina Mexicana in Danville and both Boca Pizzerias in Novato and in Corte Madera will offer specific menu items from 3–6

Mike Weller, 18 Reasons Culinary Director

pm dedicating 50% of the proceeds to the Ukraine Relief Fund.

18 Reasons: https://18reasons.org/ Sweet Diane’s Granola: https://sweetdianes.com/ mo’mugi barley tea: https://tinyurl.com/2p895t89 High 5ive: https://www.kisseloakland.com/ Left Bank: www.LeftBank.com Grand Creperie: https://www.grandecreperie.com/ The Madrigal: https://www.themadrigalsf.com/ Marlowe Restaurant: https://marlowesf.getbento.com/ The Automat (film): http://automatmovie.com/ The Chef’s Press: https://www.thechefspress.com/

Cooking Matters grocery tour

Taste Awards: http://www.thetasteawards.com/ North Lake Tahoe Pride Ride: https://tinyurl.com/y98hwv3d Crave: https://cravemarin.com/ Cielito Cocina Mexicana: https://www.cielitodanville.com/ Boca Pizzeria: https://www.bocapizzeria.com/ Heirloom Café: https://heirloom-sf.com/ David Landis, aka “The Gay Gourmet,” is a foodie, a freelance writer, and a retired PR maven. Follow him on Instagram @GayGourmetSF or email him at: davidlandissf@ gmail.com Or visit him online at: www.gaygourmetsf.com

18 Reasons’ students prep blueberries and figs S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

M ARC H 24, 2022

29

Bay Times Dines

BAY TIMES S

Cocktails With Heather Heather Freyer Bacardí Dragonberry Flavored Rum captures the exotic taste of ripe dragon fruit, which comes from a cactus native to Mexico,

30

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

Fill a highball glass with cubed ice.

Pour in the Bacardí Dragonberry Flavored Rum followed by the ginger ale. Stir gently.

Garnish with a lime wedge.

Central, and South America.

Its mildly sweet flavor is reminiscent of a blend of kiwi and pear. The Rum also has a hint of strawberry, making it a delicious sipper all on its own. Mix it with ginger ale and lime, however, and you will have a cocktail worthy of a vacation in tropical paradise. https://tinyurl.com/k3b69rfa

Heather Freyer is a beverage expert who is the Vice President and General Manager for Open West States at Bacardí USA. Previously she was with Trinchero Wine Estates, Castle Rock Winery, Cost Plus World Market, and more.

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

N

F

R

A

N

C

I

S

C

O

LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)

DRAGONBERRY & GINGER ALE 1 1/2 ounces Bacardí Dragonberry Flavored Rum 3 ounces ginger ale lime wedge for garnish

A

Castro Farmers’ Market Returns for the Season We’re excited to announce the return of the Castro Farmers’ Market for the season on Wednesday, April 6, with Northern California’s freshest fruits and vegetables, and live music. Neighbors from not only the Castro, but also the Duboce Triangle, Eureka Valley, Corona Heights, and Lower Haight neighborhoods enjoy this local seasonal destination.

The market, located on Noe Street between Market and Beaver, will be open every Wednesday from 3 pm to 7 pm, and will run through November 16. The entire Castro community is invited to join in opening day ceremonies with a ribbon cutting at 4 pm MC’d by community activist and San Francisco Bay Times columnist Donna Sachet and District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. Musician Ellie Thomas will also be here to entertain you.

Many of your favorite California farmers and other local food producers will be selling their products at the market on opening day. Mia Simmans, manager of the Castro Farmers’ Market, said, “We are looking forward to kicking off (continued on page 32)

Saint Patrick’s Day Parade 2022 San Francisco is home to one of the world’s largest Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations, with a parade that typically draws more than 100,000 people. After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the parade returned for 2022 on Saturday, March 12.

Starting at 2nd and Market Streets and ending at Civic Center Plaza, the parade included bands, local officials and first responders, nonprofit and other groups, Irish dancers, and plenty of festive green-bedecked floats and buses.

Unity with Ukraine was the theme of some contingents that included marchers of all ages carrying signs, flags, and handmade posters. Support for Sinn Féin also was expressed by paradegoers promoting an Irish republic. A green truck with a shamrock on its door was declared the “Blarney Fire Company.”

PHOTO BY RINK PHOTO BY JUAN R. DAVILA

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY JUAN R. DAVILA

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY JUAN R. DAVILA

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY JUAN R. DAVILA

PHOTO BY RINK

The entire parade was videotaped by talented Kevin Syoza (he records the SF Pride parade too!) and may be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/24c94vnt

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

M ARC H 24, 2022

31

SISTER DANA (continued from page 22)

LANDIS/WALKER (continued from page 23)

Donna Sachet will emcee with DJ Rockaway presented by Olivia spinning tunes. https://www.academy-sf.com/ Somewhere in Philadelphia, Elliot has returned from Iraq and is working at Subway while trying to jumpstart his acting career. Scattered throughout the world in chat rooms, recovering addicts keep each other alive, hour by hour, day by day. In this surging drama by Quiara Alegría Hudes (In the Heights), the boundaries of family and community are stretched across continents and cyberspace as birth families splinter and online families collide. Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, WATER BY THE SPOONFUL is a heartfelt meditation on lives on the brink of redemption. SAN FRANCISCO PLAYHOUSE, 450 Post Street. Now through April 23. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays 7 pm, Fridays 8 pm, Saturdays 3 and 8 pm, Sundays 2 and 7 pm. https://www.sfplayhouse.org/sfph/ THEATRE RHINOCEROS continues to present HOW BLACK MOTHERS SAY I LOVE YOU. Claudette travels to visit her dying mother, Daphne, in Brooklyn. But that doesn’t stop her anger and abandonment issues from bubbling up. It doesn’t stop Daphne from voicing her opinions on how Claudette lives her life, either. With Daphne, Claudette, and another daughter, Valerie, all under one roof again, each family member is forced to confront her emotions while there’s still time—until April 3, 4229 18th Street, live and intimate in the Castro. http://therhino.org/ LANDMARK MUSICAL THEATRE continues to present YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN. Based on the beloved comic strip by Charles Schultz, the Peanuts gang is brought to life in this classic musical by the talented group of Landmark Musical Theatre regulars. Good ol’ Charlie Brown is joined by his little sister Sally, Charlie’s principal nemesis Lucy Van Pelt, her blanket-loving brother Linus, young pianist Schroeder, and Charlie’s favorite

dog Snoopy for a delightful evening of songs and scenes depicting a typical day in the life of Charlie Brown.

This revised version of the original 1967 production includes two new songs written by Andrew Lippa for the 1997 Broadway revival: Sally’s “New Philosophy” and Schroeder’s “Beethoven Day” along with all of the wonderful songs from the original including “Suppertime,” “Baseball Game,” and “Happiness.”

Now through April 10, 8 pm at 533 Sutter Street, 2nd Floor. https://www.landmarkmusicals.com/ Broadway’s Golden Age keeps coming to life in A GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING, a stunning tribute to the legendary Rodgers and Hammerstein—with a modern twist by San Francisco’s 42ND STREET MOON, 215 Jackson Street. Thirty-two of Broadway’s greatest songs written by one of Broadway’s most iconic partnerships celebrate both the hits and hidden gems—showing off Rodgers’s exquisite melodies and Hammerstein’s evocative lyrics featuring favorites from Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and more. Must end March 27. https://42ndstmoon.org/ 42ND STREET MOON’s ANNUAL GALA is Saturday, April 9, with arrivals at 5 pm and performances at 7 pm. Join them either live or online! This year’s theme, “Raise You Up,” looks to the future towards a better, brighter Moon where students, artists, audiences, and the Bay Area arts community will all be able to share in the joy and magic of live theatre for many years to come. With a cast filled with Moon veterans, Bay Area favorites, and special guests from Broadway and beyond. Gateway Theatre, 215 Jackson Street. https://tinyurl.com/ymbtv36p Sister Dana sez, “Miracle of miracles! I still find it hard to believe that the Senate actually unanimously passed a bill! I’m thrilled it made DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME PERMANENT with no more troublesome clock-changing!”

David Landis: Why is it called PEV? Ash Walker: The group’s original name was the Pacific Mozart Ensemble.

But the group wasn’t Mozart specific—they needed a name that was better representative of the music they performed. PEV has always had a storied history with uncommon collaborators: Meredith Monk, Bobby McFerrin, Sweet Honey in the Rock. The name was meant to better serve the group’s mission.

We’re just under 40 members now. We have a lot of members who also perform with the Opera or Symphony Chorus. Members come from multiple professions and multiple disciplines. It can be a great place to find musical experiences that people who don’t work in music need in their lives. Robert Shaw eloquently said, “Music is not a luxury, but a necessity.”

David Landis: Tell us about your journey as a gay, Black man and musician.

Ash Walker: It’s pretty obvious that there are quite a few gay people who sing in choirs and participate in art. In Pennsylvania, it wasn’t easy to be out.

I didn’t come out until I moved here. I wasn’t denied my identity; I just didn’t’ feel comfortable expressing it. In California, identity and representation matter—culturally and gender-wise. It behooved me to be honest with myself.

Once I did that, my life opened up. Being in the closet affected my musical prowess. Being able to be my whole self has allowed me to express myself, not just musically but also as a writer and composer. That’s who I am. I want to show the world through my art that being out of the box is okay.

David Landis: Are you single or married?

Ash Walker: I am single. I live with college roommates. I don’t find myself to have a lot of time for a relationship, but I need to have better focus on it.

David Landis: What do you like to do when you’re not making music?

Ash Walker: Typically, I’m making music when I’m not making music. But I have a dog Rex, a Husky. I love my garden on my porch. I’m a huge Star Trek fan. I also like drum corps. I like hiking and walking. I always try to find ways to link aspects of my personal life with music.

For more information about PEV’s upcoming April concerts, visit: https://pacificedgevoices.org/ David Landis studied piano at Northwestern University, is Curator for the Amateur Music Network and an avid music afficionado, and also writes “The Gay Gourmet” column for the San Francisco Bay Times.

CASTRO FARMERS MARKET (continued from page 30) the season with a bang. We have a lot of great things planned and we will offer a terrific selection of California-grown produce.”

The market, which is sponsored by the Castro Merchants, provides Castro residents a great, convenient way to support local California farmers. This year, the market will welcome several new producers, as well as favorite producers from past seasons. These local farms will offer a constantly changing variety of seasonal California produce, including seasonal vegetables, juicy strawberries, and fresh eggs. In addition, the market will feature locally grown flowers, local grassfed meat, and locally made bakery items and gourmet foods.

Based in Concord, CA, the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association is a nonprofit organization that establishes and operates community-supported certified farmers’ markets and other direct marketing outlets throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. All PCFMA farmers’ markets accept WIC-FMNP (Woman, Infants, and Children Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program) coupons and CalFresh EBT. For more information on the Castro Farmers’ Market, or to find another farmers’ market in your area, please contact Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association at (800) 949-FARM or visit https://www.pcfma.org/

QUEER

POP QUIZ

ANSWER (Question on pg 21)

A) Wanda Sykes Sykes will be hosting the 2022 Academy Awards with Regina Hall and Amy Schumer. Hall, who is single and supportive of the LGBTQ community, prefers not to address information about her private life publicly.

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.”

SF Sketch Randy Coleman

© Randy Coleman, 2022 32

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

Round About - All Over Town

Owners Solange and Maurice Darwish and server Kristi Kissel shared a birthday cake with customers and staff at The Cove on Castro on March 17.

Girl Scout Cookie lovers can purchase their favorites at sites in the Castro during the annual cookie sales drive.

34

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

MA RC H 2 4 , 2 0 2 2

Kokak Chocolates gift assistant Michael Nguyen displayed a collection of Easter chocolates on March 1.

The recently reopened Assembly café in the Civic Center is located between the Main Library and San Francisco City Hall.

Diners, assisted by a server, enjoyed themselves at the sidewalk tables in front of Swirl on Castro on March 11.

Across the street from Macy’s at Union Square, diners filled the outdoor seating areas on March 5.

Photos by Rink

At Jane Warner Plaza on March 8, a family enjoyed drinks together.

Customers browsed the books available during a sidewalk sale outside the San Francisco Main Library on March 16.

In observance of Women’s History Month, Frida Kahlo Her Universe and other books related to women were included in the window display at Fabulosa Books.

St. Patrick’s Day decorations adorned the parklet at 440 Castro on March 11.

A biography of architect Julia Morgan

Rita Mae Brown’s classic Rubyfruit Jungle

A biography of Grace Jones, entitled A to Z, The Life of an Icon

Round About - All Over Town

Photos by Rink

CASTRO STREETCAM presented by

A chalk drawing on the street sign in front of Cheese Plus on Russian Hill celebrated Women’s History Month.

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade returned to the streets of San Francisco after a twoyear hiatus. A contingent of the parade included Delorean sports cars built in Ireland.

http://sfbaytimes.com/ Greeters James Hall, Matthew Thompson, Josh Winters, and Frank Pinto welcomed guests to a film screening during the SOMA Second Saturday at the Folsom Street Community Center on 9th Street.

Easter decorations for sale were on display at the One Half store on Polk Street.

The window display at the Out of the Closet store on Polk Street included a unique spring fashion outfit created by artist EIOTOWN.

We’ve received a fresh shipment of Momma Pots from San Diego. These gemstone cylinders are in stock in four sizes and many colors, including these electroplated gold beauties!

Starting at $23.99.

Byrd of Masks by Byrd Bannick displayed handcrafted items for sale at the SOMA Second Saturday on March 12.

SOMA Saturday’s organizer Cal Callahan with Folsom Street Community Center executive director Angel Adeyoha

Darren Moore staffed the popcorn machine, serving guests attending the film screening at the Folsom Street Community Center.

Anna Damiani (1956–2022)

Not enough light for a real plant?

Buy yourself or someone you love a paper bouquet! These oversized 3D cards from FreshCut Paper will brighten any room. $10.99 per bunch.

Former State Senator Mark Leno opened the program at a Celebration of Life ceremony memorializing his former aide Anna Damiani, who passed away in February. Represented in the program, which included a message from U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and a performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Selina Sun. Colleagues and friends from the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club Board of Directors and San Francisco International Airport staff were among the organizers and attendees.

S

Rink Remembers

Photos by Rink

ince our founding in 1936, Cliff’s Variety has been constantly growing and evolving in response to the needs of our customers. Our buyers strive to keep our selection fresh, on-trend and competitive.

We carry the best of everything from hardware & tools to cookware, garden supplies, toys, crafts, and gifts.

We also offer re-keying and lock repair, knife sharpening, glass, acrylic & wood cutting. Light fabrication, pipe threading, and cable crimping are among the many other services we offer at Cliff’s Variety. If your project has gone a little beyond your abilities, we’re here to help.

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

M ARC H 24, 2022 35