San Francisco Bay Times - July 11, 2019

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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area

CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2019) July 11–24, 2019 | http://sfbaytimes.com

Cruisin’ the Castro Tour

PHOTO BY JP LOR

PHOTO BY JP LOR

PHOTO BY RON WILLIAMS

honored as Legacy Business

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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2019)

Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tours Honored as First San Francisco Legacy Business Tour Company

Hailey was born Dorothy Evelyn Fondren in Jackson, Mississippi. Later nicknamed “Skinless” by her friends and family, in part due to her openhearted spirit and hunger for adventure, she became a Navy nurse and traveled to the Philippines, was of service on a hospital ship, and then traveled to the Bay Area. It was here that Trevor Hailey was born with her embrace of the LGBTQ community. She became an activist and later earned a master’s degree in recreation and leisure before creating the walking tour.

Her obituary at Legacy brings back fond memories of the charismatic tour guide: “As Trevor Hailey, she blended a unique sense of history of the Castro District with humor and a raspy, Southern voice, resulting in an entertaining and informative walking tour of this historical community.”

Amendola, who purchased the business after Hailey’s retirement in 2005, told the San Francisco Bay Times, “Trevor became an icon as well as the orator of the Castro community for 16 years.”

Passing the Torch Amendola brought years of travel industry experience to the business, nurturing its success and enabling its longevity. Her career began at Thomas Cook Travel in New York City. She subsequently worked for luxury resorts on Maui for 6 years before transferring to San Francisco’s Hotel Palomar (now Hotel Zelos) in 1999.

As for Hailey, the move to San Francisco sparked greater LGBTQ community involvement. Amendola served as a board member for the Golden Gate Business Association (GGBA), the Merchants of Upper Market & Castro (MUMC) and the Rainbow Honor Walk project, where she remains an emeritus board member. Since purchasing Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tours, her mission is not only to educate people on LGBTQ culture, but also to raise awareness that equality is a human right, and not a privilege.

“As a diverse culture, we don’t have visibility or equal rights in America nor many parts of the world where homosexuality/ diversity is still illegal, or worse, a death sentence,” she added. “My tour gives people the education and knowledge to make differences in their lives and communities. This is how we change the world, one heart at a time.”

Her favorite story to share includes the Pink Triangle Park & Memorial and the rose quartz stones that fill the triangle. Visitors are encouraged to take the stones and to spread pride throughout the world. One tourist from Germany, Kai Klose, a member of the Green Party in the German Parliament, was so inspired that he returned to Germany and decided to come out as LGBTQ at his job. For 7 years, Klose carried his rose quartz while making speeches in the Parliament about incorporating LGBTQ laws into Germany’s government.

A Crusin’ the Castro Tour, led by Kathy Amendola, began with opening commentary at Harvey Milk Plaza on Saturday, July 6,

Amendola, who has stayed in touch with Klose over the years, said, “In 2017, Germany legalized same-sex marriage and it was his party that was the forefront of the whole movement!”

has been the rash of “free or pay as you please” tour companies—some of which have big advertising budgets and volunteer guides. She shared that many are uninsured and most are “illegally operating without San Francisco tour guide licenses.” She said, “It’s tremendously hard for any business to compete against ‘free.’”

Weathering Threats and Ref lecting the Evolving Castro Amendola notes that, over the past 30 years, the Castro neighborhood has changed as the spectrum of sexuality and gender diversity has become more visible.

She said, “No longer an exclusively white, male, homosexual haven, the emergence of bi-sexuality, pansexuality and a-sexuality—to name a few—has become much more prevalent in straight looking people.”

Community involvement remains important to her. Noting her professional achievements, the San Francisco Police Department in 2017 began hiring her to train their new cadet classes. To date, over 400 new officers have received LGBTQ cultural training to better understand and service our community.

Nevertheless, Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tours has thrived and continues to be a highly respected and award-winning company that offers what is arguably the most comprehensive LGBTQ tour in the world. It is a rare and exceptional San Francisco business created by two passionate women spanning 30 years.

Through their colorful characters, heartfelt stories, cultural knowledge and political activism, they’ve lived history, and like ripples, continue to change history.

Through the decades, it hasn’t always been easy for the woman-owned tour business. It has weathered the ebbs and flow of the economy, political tugs of war pertaining to LGBTQ rights, the deadly AIDS epidemic and more. The biggest threat according to Amendola, however,

CRUSINTHECASTRO.COM

Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy’s mural

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The Orator of the Castro

Amendola said, “It’s been a tremendous opportunity for me to call the Castro community my home. So much of LGBTQ history, activism and culture started in San Francisco. Over the past 14 years, my job went from being a tour guide to a civil rights activist. And following pioneers like Del Martin, Phyllis Lyon, Harvey Milk, Cleve Jones and Carol Midgen is a tremendous honor.”

Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tours offers tours for the public on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 am to 12 pm. Private educational, corporate and group tours are available upon request. For more informa- Rainbow Honor Walk’s plaque honoring NASA astronaut Sally Ride is embedtion, visit https://bit.ly/2La2Um1 ded in the sidewalk near the Market and Castro intersection.

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It was placed on the Legacy Business Registry on June 24. ( https://bit.ly/2CI2LCE )

Changing the World One Heart at a Time

PHOTO BY JP LOR

The San Francisco Small Business Commission last month unanimously approved Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tours as the city’s first and only Legacy Business Tour Company. Founded in 1989 by historian Trevor Hailey (1941–2007) and now owned and operated by talented travel professional Kathy Amendola, the company was recognized “for providing 30 consecutive years as a longstanding, community-servicing business and a valuable cultural asset to the city and county of San Francisco.”

Trevor Hailey’s Legacy Thrives in the Castro bow flag should permanently fly in the Castro,” Adams told the San Francisco Bay Times. “Brown turned to Dean Goodwin, his official liaison to the city’s gay community, and said, ‘Make it happen!’”

Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tour’s “Historical LGBTQ Tour” offers a fascinating 2-hour look at the past, present and future of LGBTQ civil rights in America from a San Francisco perspective. If you have never been on the tour, we strongly encourage that you do so. Even if you are a longtime resident or have been on the tour in years past, you will likely learn something new, refresh your memory and fall in love all over again with our community and its living history.

And so it did.

Steve Adams, Senior Vice President of Sterling Bank who in the ‘90s was president of what was then called Merchants of Upper Market and Castro (now Castro Merchants), vividly recalls that moment.

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“During a walking tour of the Castro with then Mayor Willie Brown in 1997, Trevor looked into the eyes of the Mayor and with great convincing passion said that a rain-

Hailey didn’t stop there. She worried that Milk’s former camera shop at 573–575 Castro Street between 18th and 19th streets could be lost. She therefore suggested that it should hold landmark designation, and organized others who shared her view. On February 24, 2000, the city’s Planning Commission unanimously voted in favor of the idea.

The 1894 wood-frame structure was saved, and now houses the Human Rights Campaign Action Center and Store.

“Trevor could be feisty and opinionated, but she had a Southern charm about her and was very persuasive,” Adams said. “I think of her every time I look at the rainbow flag.”

Among other experiences, you will:

Crusin’ the Castro founder Trevor Hailey leading a tour on Castro Street was a familiar sight for neighborhood residents.

Members of our team often think of her too, remembering her distinctive voice echoing through every corner of the Castro.

“Follow me!” Hailey would command while bolting down side streets off the busier corridors of Upper Market as she pointed out some interesting nugget of queer history. “You didn’t read about this in your history books in school, now did you?” she would knowingly ask. Like a San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus concert under the capable baton of Dr. Tim Seelig, she could somehow pack stories of both great humor and sadness into an experience lasting just a few hours. She would take you along on the emotional ride and was so captivating that the time would just fly by.

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On November 7, 1997, which was the 20th anniversary of Harvey Milk’s election victory in the race for Supervisor of the 5th District (which then included the Castro), Mayor Brown raised a 20’x30’ rainbow flag on a 70-foot-tall flag pole in Harvey Milk Plaza. The flag raising happened during a ceremony to mark the Milk anniversary. A rainbow flag has been proudly flown in the Castro ever since, with smaller ones later added to the district.

• discover how San Francisco’s Gold Rush in 1849 created the city’s first gay community and how World War II, the Summer of Love, civil rights leader Harvey Milk, and the AIDS epidemic created the heart and soul of the Castro’s LGBTQ community; • learn how Milk’s arrival in the 1970s led to the creation of the Rainbow Flag and how the Castro became known as the “Gay Mecca” of the world; • better understand the Rainbow Honor Walk with its bronze sidewalk plaques honoring famous LGBTQ people who have made significant worldwide contributions to history.

Highlights include everything from “Hank’s Infamous Bill Doll Collection” to Castro’s colorful murals that you probably have walked by many times but might not have stopped to properly study. Once you book your reservation online ( https://bit.ly/2YAas4w ), tours meet at the Rainbow Flag pole at the corner of Castro & Market Street near 400 Castro. They cost just $25 per person, and are free for children under 5 years of age.

When Hailey passed in 2007, shortly after selling her tour business and moving out of San Francisco, the Castro’s rainbow flag was flown at half-mast. It was a fitting tribute to the visionary who helped both to enrich and save the history of San Francisco’s LGBTQ community.

PHOTO BY JP LOR

It is hard to imagine Castro Street without its iconic rainbow flag, but when Trevor Hailey (1941–2007) created Cruisin’ the Castro walking tours, such symbols of the LGBTQ community were largely absent from the neighborhood, outside of what LGBTQ residents dared to display.

Hailey, however, had a bold idea that she revealed at just the right moment.

At her retirement party in 2005, Trevor Hailey introduced Kathy Amendola, who would be taking over the tour.

A Tour That Everyone Should Take

A scene from Rick Bacigalupi’s film Only in the Castro with Trevor Hailey that premiered at Frameline31 in 2007.

(top) Visiting Harvey Milk Plaza and (below) visiting the Pink Triangle Memorial

PHOTO BY JP LOR

To view a series of videos highlighting Trevor Hailey and her legacy, go to: https://bit.ly/2YIPG2z

Trevor Hailey: In the Footsteps of History

Faces from Our LGBT Past Dr. Bill Lipsky No one knows when or where their “Ah ha!” moment will come to them.

For some of us, our great inspiration is a chance remark, an unexpected encounter or a fortuitous occurrence.

For the late great Castro resident Trevor Hailey—creator of “Cruisin’ the Castro,” the first LGBT+ experience of its kind in San Francisco— it was a lecture that she attended at San Francisco State University given

by Shirley Fong-Torres, the longtime leader of Chinatown walking tours.

At the time, Hailey was taking graduate courses in recreation and leisure. Fong-Torres’ remarks and her example resonated with Hailey. “It was like a lightbulb went off,” she told the San Francisco Chronicle. She began researching the history of

Questions flooded her mind: What was the city’s queer past? How did the Castro, its most famous and influential LGBT+ neighborhood, come to be? Who were its most important residents? What happened here and where? “I knew right then,” she later said about sharing what she had learned, “that’s what I wanted to do.”

Although she knew from an early age that she was not exactly like all of the other children, she was not sure what to do about it or how. Like many before her, and after, she joined the Navy to see the world and to find herself. Stationed first in New York, she then transferred to the Naval Hospital in Oakland in 1972, where she served as a nurse before moving to San Francisco.

Once in San Francisco, Hailey said that she “didn’t look back.”

She began a new career as a real estate agent, working for the next ten years at a brokerage just a few doors from Harvey Milk’s camera store on Castro Street. There she watched the neighborhood come into its own, experiencing the triumph of Milk’s election, the trag-

Trevor Hailey

edy of his murder, the devastation of the AIDS epidemic, the resilience of the community and so much more.

Hailey’s first walking tour was in 1989. From the beginning she explained not only the historic significance of a place, but also the importance of what happened there. The buildings she pointed out along the way might have been interesting in and of themselves, but she brought greater life to the overall history by explaining where people lived and worked, played and partied; and where they came together to protest discrimination and to secure the human rights previously denied to members of our communities.

When she came to 575 Castro Street, for example, she did not simply point out that this was where Milk once had his camera shop, but she explained how he became the first openly gay candidate elected to the Board of

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LGTB+ San Francisco, and especially the Castro. “That’s when I discovered we even had a history,” she added. “Until then, I thought we’d all sprung full-bloom from rocks.”

An archive of Trevor Hailey’s documents

Supervisors, where he advanced human rights for LGBT+ San Franciscans. Pink Triangle Park was not only the home of a memorial to lesbians and gays lost to the Holocaust, but also a sentinel to ensure that such horror must never happen again.

After 16 years, Hailey retired in 2005.

By then she had led some 4,000 groups of locals and tourists through the Castro’s and San Francisco’s history, sometimes having done her four-hour tours seven days a week.

Was it worth it? In numerous interviews, she responded in her own words with a passionate and fiery “yes!”

“Trevor was an institution in our community,” San Francisco Bay Times Publisher Betty Sullivan, a friend of Hailey’s who organized her memorial service, told the Bay Area Reporter. Her “goals were to educate and convey the history of and accurate information about the LGBT community, to locals as well as those from afar.”

No one can say that Hailey did not succeed, given that she left a history and a heritage woven deeply into the hearts of all who followed her.

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

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The 24th Pink Triangle Patrick Carney and a hardworking team of volunteers—including his husband Hossein and sister Colleen Hodgkins—installed the 24th Pink Triangle atop Twin Peaks on Saturday, June 27. Thanks to all who answered the San Francisco Bay Times’ and Carney’s calls for volunteers. The volunteers arrived at 7 am sharp on that morning, many with hammers and gloves in tow. Wearing Pink Triangle t-shirts provided by Carney, they installed the bright symbol, which could later be seen from parts of the East Bay, on the drive over the Bay Bridge, and from much of San Francisco.

A Commemoration Ceremony followed the installation. It included a performance by the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, the official band of San Francisco! Honored guests included Mayor London Breed; German Consul General HansUlrich Suedbeck; French Consul General Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens; California State Senator Scott

Photos courtesy of Patrick Carney

Wiener; California Sate Assemblymember David Chiu; San Francisco Treasurer Jose Cisneros; San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman; San Francisco Community College Trustees Alex Randolph, Tom Temprano and Shanell Williams; along with several SF Pride Parade Community Grand Marshals and Honorees.

San Francisco Mayoral Advisor Clair Farley, who is a transgender rights advocate, was among the speakers.

Farley addressed how, despite LGBTQ gains since the years when the pink triangle was used as a badge in the Holocaust, much still needs to be done to achieve full equality and basic human rights for all.

On the following day, June 28, members of the Pink Triangle team marched in the San Francisco Bay Times Pride Parade contingent. We look forward to next year, when the project will be celebrating its 25th anniversary!

Investing in California’s Future and Equality for All get that addresses key needs facing our state’s 40 million residents. It makes investments in long-standing priorities such as education, reaching a record level of funding at $81 billion in Prop 98 funds and over $12,000 per student, while paying off the “wall of debt” incurred during the Great Recession and making $4 billion in additional payments on our state’s pension liabilities.

Assemblymember Phil Ting Headlines from Washington are daily reminders that we live in uncertain and unpredictable times, especially when it comes to protecting civil rights for all. It is more important than ever that our state budget reflects clear progressive values and fiscal stability to protect us from future unknowns.

As Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, I am pleased to announce that we worked with our new Governor, Gavin Newsom, to pass an on-time and balanced bud-

This budget brings us closer to universal, affordable health coverage for all. Low- and middle-income Californians will get more Covered California subsidies, and MediCal will cover more seniors as well as young adults aged 19–25 regardless of immigration status, saving money on emergency room visits. Additionally, we finally restore “optional” Medi-Cal benefits, like optical care and podiatry, slashed during the recession; and allocate $15 million ongoing funding to implement innovative STD, HIV and Hepatitis C prevention strategies.

Our state’s linked crises of housing affordability and homelessness remain priorities, with $650

million going to localities to combat homelessness and an additional $500 million going directly to build more housing. Based off initial estimates, the City and County of San Francisco will receive nearly $40 million for emergency homeless shelters and services, with a new 8% set aside flowing directly to homeless youth services. Between 20–40% of all homeless youth identify as LGBTQ. Other critical investments in social infrastructure, to ensure equality and justice for all, include continuation of our state’s progress toward lifting families out of “deep poverty” by increasing CalWORKs grants and streamlining program requirements to make it easier to sign up for and retain benefits. And with the Trump Administration dropping its effort to add a citizen question to the 2020 Census, California can focus its efforts on ensuring every person in the state gets counted, so we get our fair share of funding and effective representation in Washington, D.C. (continued on page 26)

Oakland Together Budget Passes Unanimously and mental health workers to respond to appropriate 911 calls, reducing the need for police to intervene in an individual experiencing a mental health crisis, an audit of OPD. For housing and our unsheltered neighbors, there is funding for mobile showers and restrooms, a navigation center, a tiny house village project and additional safe parking sites.

Out of the Closet and into City Hall Oakland City Councilmember At-Large, Rebecca Kaplan On Monday, June 24, the Oakland City Council, in a rare unanimous vote, passed the Oakland Together budget. I introduced the amendments together with Councilmembers Bas, Taylor and Thao. The amendments included an estimated $44.4 million in additional investments to combat our homeless crisis, create and preserve affordable housing, maintain our parks, and tackle illegal blight remediation. The Oakland Together budget also restored cuts to Parks Maintenance positions and increased funding around police accountability and workforce development.

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The Oakland Together budget adds funding for food security and healthy options by adding funding to Meals on Wheels and the Alameda Food Bank, and piloting a healthy food conversion program in our corner stores in East and West Oakland.

The budget amendments did secure funding for our workforce development programs, but we need to assure the programs are fully funded and working to help our unemployed and underemployed community to get the training they need to secure living wage jobs. We know unemployment in the black community is much higher than their unemployed white counterparts, and a thriving workforce development program that focuses on equity is a solid step to balance the inequity.

To alleviate blight and illegal dumping, the Council added a fourth illegal dumping crew, additional cameras and enforcement measures, and an educational and outreach program to assure that people know Oakland is not the place to dump your trash.

There is also the issue of impact fees.

It is important to have transparency around funds paid to the city for the benefit of community. Finally, our city staff gave much in the downturn; some are even our working homeless.

It’s time that we thank them for making the sacrifices our city needed, and reward them with a contract that shows we value the work that they do every day to keep our city running efficiently and effectively.

To assist homeowners and other small property owners in adding an Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) or other projects to their properties, the budget adds evening hours at the permit desks for planning/building. And to assist LGBTQ+ families and youth, there are anti-displacement funding, services for LGBTQ+ homeless youth, and direct funding for Our Family Coalition that has a proven track record of creating community and assisting LGBTQ+ families in Oakland.

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

How Do You Take Your Mueller Report?

Cross Currents Andrea Shorter What’s on your summertime reading list? If you’ve actually read the entirety of the long-awaited Mueller report, bravo to you. According to a CNN poll, you’re among less than 3% of those polled representing the general U.S. population who claim to have read all of the report.

While the Washington Post-Scribner paperback publication of the officially titled Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election became a No.1 bestseller immediately upon its release in April, buyers haven’t necessarily read the 448-page report.

Whether purchased or downloaded for free online (check out NPR’s website) if read at all, readers report to have consumed on average about 10% of the investigative account since speed reading to complete this summer’s non-fiction top choice for those who want to be fully engaged by the time Mueller utters his first word in testimony.

For those not into cramming a 448page read over the next 6 days, luckily there are two video showcases of the report for your YouTube viewing pleasure. Up first is Vice News’ “The

Mueller Report: Watch as We Read the Whole Thing Live.” Seriously, reporters live-streamed a 12 hour and 22 minutes reading of the full report (with redactions).

There’s a reader at a desk, a pitcher of water, some weird background music and musical interludes, a plant, and framed photo of Mueller; no bells, no whistles—well, actually, for some odd reason there is a bell.

Most importantly, there is no commentary, no interjection and no spin; just journalists reading a big ream of a report. Well, I believe there is a series of “ journalists” reading aloud.

I just saw what I presumed was the first person up within the first hour or two I watched, and then paused.

That was this past Tuesday. Twelve hours is a lot of time to commit to YouTube.

Second, if an onstage mass ensemble of award-winning actors dramatically performing the report is more up your alley, and Annette Bening and Zachary Quinto are involved, then hold onto your seat. Now This News presents “The Investigation; A Search for the Truth in 10 Acts.” 10 Acts. Get it? The report posits that there are at least 10 charges that can be levied at Trump for a series of collusive and obstructs to justice to assist Russian interference in our elections, and to erode the now infamous investigations.

The night of many stars of the Hollywood Literati features, along with Bening and Quinto: John Lithgow, Danny DeVito, Wilson Cruz, Jason Alexander (as Chris Christie), Alyssa Milano, Alfre Woodward, Gina Gershon, Justin Long, Joel Grey (as Jeff Sessions)

and many others reading the report aloud.

John Lithgow takes the part of President Trump.

As one reviewer noted, “John Lithgow’s natural charm and charisma make Dimwitted Donald sound almost intelligent and sophisticated.”

It is all really quite gripping, and mildly entertaining in so far as the performances are inviting. The subject matter is such that you have to laugh to keep from crying when faced with the stark reality of just how off the rails, corrupt and compromised this president and his associates are.

Whether you read, watch or listen to the Mueller report (or don’t), comedian Wanda Sykes’ latest standup special on Netflix, Not Normal, is sure to keep you woke on just how out of whack life has become in the Trump era. She isn’t reading from or reenacting the Mueller Report. But Sykes’ commentary is just as potent.

Her hallmark “keep it 100” rendition of the insanity of all things Trump is quite sane. And who couldn’t use a little Sykes sanity these summer days?

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

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GLBT Fortnight in Review Halfway Measures I was reading an article about John Roberts the other day and the writer described his decisions as “Solomonic,” referring to his alleged tendency to find narrow rulings that split the difference between legal arguments. Hello, editors! Solomon was specifically known for suggesting that he split a baby in half as a strategy to determine the infant’s rightful mother. He did not intend to follow through, and indeed, he delivered the baby intact to the woman who was willing to give up the child rather than see it killed. Here, the adjective is not just misplaced, it’s completely wrong. I hate things like that.

Meanwhile, I bring this up because we are on the verge of a slow crescendo into the main theme of our half-century old civil rights movement. Is sexual orientation a morally neutral aspect of humanity? Or is gayness a slightly kinky sexual preference that has gradually become tolerated as no big deal in 21st century America? If the latter, we can split the difference, let gays live their lives to a large extent, but draw the line when they come too close to the people who still object. What’s the harm in that? Everybody wins because the Christian business owners can keep the faith while the gay people can simply go down the street to the next bakery. Surely that’s not too much to ask.

(I’ve written this several times before, but I’ll do so again. It’s not the baker, per se. It’s the taxi driver who threw two lesbians out of his cab at one am in the middle of an interstate highway because they offended his religious views. I’ve long forgotten where or when this happened, maybe in Oregon a few years back. But this is what discrimination looks like. If the baker has free rein, so does the taxi driver and the restaurant owner and even the EMT.) Next session’s High Court cases don’t involve the bakers and their ilk.

Instead, they focus on discrimination in the workplace. But it all comes down to claims of religious freedom in the end, because religion is the only remaining “legitimate” excuse for hating gays in this day and age.

Yet no one believes faith can justify racial discrimination in the workplace or anywhere else. So, if sexual orientation is a morally neutral aspect of humanity, it should be protected, like race, from public prejudice. There’s no middle ground here, but sadly, we might end up with a dead baby none the less.

By the way, oral arguments for our major gay rights case next fall have just been set for October 8. A second case will examine workplace discrimination against transgender men and women.

Twenty-Three and Me I don’t believe Pete Buttigieg will win the Democratic nomination, but Mel and I sent him some money early on because we want his voice to be heard. He’s young and smart.

Further, he’s not just gay; he’s apparently very, very religious as well. It’s important for people to witness that combination, because it puts the lie to the mindless assumption that very religious people automatically oppose gay rights.

Honestly, I admit that very religious people make me uncomfortable. I don’t think that anyone can begin to understand the cosmic mystery that much of organized religion pretends to interpret. That said, I find it infuriating when conservative courts respectfully give credence to someone’s “deeply held faith” in the con6

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text of some toxic display of antigay behavior. That’s not faith. It’s prejudice, and Buttigieg illustrates the distinction by his very nature.

press statement. “Issues of this nature are being introduced too early and too soon. It is extremely common, yet unnecessary.”

Speaking of the Democrats, I think I mentioned that former Congressman Joe Sestak joined the race last month.

His entry went completely unnoticed, so much so that I just had to check whether or not he really did file as a candidate. Apparently, it’s true, because I found him on a recent list.

After writing about Monica and her million moms, I just did a little research into her previous observations. I could list a dozen of her most amusing complaints, but my favorite involved Maxwell the pig who advertises for GEICO. In one commercial, his car breaks down while he’s on a date; he calls GEICO for a tow and his (human) girlfriend seems unhappy when she realizes how quickly GEICO’s truck will arrive.

Here’s Monica, alerting us to the implied bestiality:

You know, of course, that Eric Swalwell dropped out the other day. Sensible man. And the latest white male egomaniac to decide that he alone can rule the free world is Tom Steyer, he of the TV commercials urging us to impeach Trump.

I’m torn over the pros and cons of impeachment, evaluating everything through the lens of how best to defeat Trump. I don’t like to admit it, but I even have the unpatriotic thought that I wouldn’t mind a recession next year if it means we can rid ourselves of this dangerous buffoon.

As for Biden, sigh; if he continues to enjoy the largest margin of theoretical victory over Trump, I will support his bid. But Christ, the guy is old. He sounds old; he looks old; he seems mentally engaged in an earlier era. The other day he told a Seattle audience that, five years ago, a homophobic joke would have been overlooked in a business meeting, while today it would be condemned.

I see what he’s saying, but he’s implying that the general acceptance of gay men and women is only a few years old. Not true. Plus, the comment suggests that Joe himself is a fairly recent convert to our cause. I’m not sure that this is accurate or that he meant to give that impression, but why meander into this fraught territory to begin with?

It’s still early days. Mel and I are torn between Warren and Harris for now.

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid Was Melania deliberately wearing a rainbow dress at the July 4 festivities the other night? Who can tell?

She’s a cipher. I strangely find myself liking her, for reasons unclear. Mel hates her and calls her “Melanoma.”

I don’t know. Doesn’t she seem trapped and making the best of a bad situation?

Moving right along, singer Lil Nas X came out of the closet during Pride month, telling the press that he intended to take the secret of his sexual orientation “to the grave,” but recognized that he wanted to live his life in a more authentic fashion and open some doors to kids who might take courage from his example. My recent stint taking care of the grandchildren in Connecticut was set to a nonstop soundtrack of “Old Town Road,” as the kids relentlessly ordered Alexa to play the hit song over and over again. I liked it the first twenty times I listened.

And speaking of grandkids, we took them to Toy Story 4 at one point, and we missed the scene that has drawn the ire of the antigay group One Million Moms. The eagle-eyed activists noticed that in one part of the movie, two mothers appeared to drop their child off at school in the background.

“Later,” said Million Mom honcho Monica Cole, “the moms return to pick up their child, who gives them a hug. The scene is subtle in order to desensitize children. But it is obvious that the child has two mothers, and they are parenting together.”

“Toy Story 4 is the last place parents would expect their children to be confronted with content regarding sexual orientation,” she said in a

“It was just a pretty sleazy type of commercial because the girl [in the commercial] was really disappointed when she realized they wouldn’t be able to pass the time alone together ... . Kids are drawn to animals.

That’s normal. Animals are cute.

That’s why movies have animals that play the lead roles and the main parts,” she observed. “And it may be over their heads in terms of understanding the meaning behind it, but there’s a big concern when kids are being desensitized to this kind of thing.”

And that’s not all. Monica accuses the insurance company of a pattern of promoting unnatural animal/ human relations. “A bridesmaid was flirting with the gecko in a different commercial, so this is just becoming a norm for GEICO it seems,” she warned.

Golly. I had no idea.

Commission, Heal Thyself I don’t know what to make of Mike Pompeo’s new “Commission on Unalienable Rights,” an in-house offshoot of the State Department’s Policy Planning Council (I think) that Pompeo says will “provide the intellectual grist of what I hope will be one of the most profound reexaminations of inalienable rights in the world since the 1948 Universal Declaration.”

What?

I think it’s advisory, so it’s possible that it won’t be able to do much damage. But if that’s the case, where and why did it emerge? The 10-member commission will be chaired

by Harvard Law Prof Mary Ann Glendon, a conservative (of course) who has opposed abortion rights. I’m not clear on her GLBT views, but I’m assuming that she’s not particularly supportive. That said, this commission was previously going to be run by Robert George, a co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage, a venomous foe of our fight for marriage equality. George won’t be in charge of the group, but he will still be a member of the commission.

According to the Washington Post, quoting the Federal Register, the commission is designed to provide “fresh thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse has departed from our nation’s founding principles of natural law and natural rights.”

“What does it mean to say or claim that something is in fact a human right,” mused Pompeo? “How do we know or how do we determine whether that claim, that this or that is a human right? Is it true and therefore ought it to be honored?”

I’m guessing that Pompeo and his fellow thumpers are unconvinced that, say, health care is a human right, or that gay and trans people (continued on page 26)

GGBA LETTER FROM LEADERSHIP

The Importance of Being Out and Representing in Business

GGBA CALENDAR

By Jay Greene, JD, CPA As we reflect after celebrating a joyous 50th year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the Golden Gate Business Association (GGBA) continues to be a force for change and continuing achievements within the LGBTQ+ community. Celebrating the GGBA’s 45th anniversary in 2019, I want to reflect on how we all have achieved such momentous results for the LGBTQ+ community.

Founded in 1974, the GGBA was an historically commensurate force with our beloved Supervisor Harvey Milk as we both worked toward achieving equality by being out. As Harvey Milk so eloquently asked, “How can people change their minds about us if they don’t know who we are?” Through generations of LGBTQ+ individuals expressing their true authentic selves, society has moved forward with us in our continued march for equality.

Many individuals have found the freedom that being fully out offers in circles with their friends and family. However, many business owners and employees, who are members of the LGBTQ+ community, are not fully out in their professional lives.

What does it mean to be fully out in your professional life? It means empowering your community and making sure that the business decisions reflect the entire rich diversity of the LGBTQ+ community. It means expressing yourself as queer, bi, lesbian, gay, pansexual, or any of the sexualities represented in our community. Your voice as a gender non-conforming, nonbinary, gender neutral, transgender, male, female, or any of the spectrum of genders represented in our community helps to

Jay Greene JD, CPA

enrich the entire business world when it is expressed in your business.

You might be asking: How can I start to express my true authentic self more in my business? The GGBA has been serving the San Francisco business community for over four decades, providing a resource that offers its members opportunity, education and advocacy. The GGBA welcomes you to join the discussion within our community: https://ggba.com/ You will find mentors and peers who want to see your business succeed. Others will be enriched when you actively bring your thoughts and skills that add diversity to our membership. Membership in the GGBA allows for certification at no cost as a majority-owned LGBT business enterprise for qualifying businesses. This allows diverse owned businesses to get equity when competing for contracts with corporations. Please reach out to any GGBA board member to learn more about how you can enrich your community.

Jay Greene, JD, CPA, is an attorney at his namesake The Greene Law Firm (447 Sutter Street) that handles estate, probate and elder law. For more information: https://assetprotectionbayarea.com/

GGBA Member Spotlight

Jonathan Mildenhall of Twenty First Century Brand The GGBA member spotlight for this issue is on Jonathan Mildenhall and Twenty First Century Brand (21CB). Mildenhall, former CMO of Airbnb, co-founded the company, which helps businesses to use marketing to drive their financial, consumer, cultural and employee growth and value. As Joe Gebbia, Airbnb co-founder says, “The 21CB team brings brands to life with unlimited humanity. Be prepared for an explosion of creativity.”

Magdalena Rodriquez: Please describe your business and its mission and values.

Jonathan Mildenhall: 21CB is a marketing consultancy, founded in May 2018. Our mission is to work with founders and CEOs to help build the world’s most influential brands.

We believe in building purpose-driven businesses that have values and integrity at their core. We hold ourselves accountable to high standards of excellence and use the following values to guide us: • Ambush with Humanity - We go out of our way to create a safe space for people to be vulnerable, creative and challenging. To be themselves, and not who they think they “should” be.

• Diversity & Harmony - We embrace all forms of diversity from ethnicity to experience. The process of building harmony can be messy, but the results are powerful and more than worth it.

• Commercial Creativity - We see creativity as a mindset and not a discipline. The art is in using it to create real value, with the entire company as our canvas.

• Purposeful Growth - Commerce is predicated on growth, but not all that grows is good. We pursue growth that is sustainable for people, the planet and profit.

Magdalena Rodriquez: Why did you decide to create your business?

Jonathan Mildenhall: 21st century companies desperately need clearer brand strategies that can act on a purposeful North Star that can guide strategic decisions across a number of company-wide initiatives including corporate culture, product development & innovation, community management, employee engagement, and marketing strategy and execution.

The collective experience of the team at 21CB means that we can unlock the strategic and creative potential with our client companies, and in so doing accelerate growth and reputation in a clear and purposeful way. Our clients include Pinterest, WeWork, Harklinikken, Thrive Global, Airtime, GoDaddy, Peloton, UberEats, Uber and TurboTax.

By Magdalena Rodriguez

Coffee with the President Each Friday through September 6, 2019, Audry deLucia and Gina Grahame—President and President-elect of GGBA—invite you to share your thoughts with them about GGBA and to learn more about the Association and LGBT business certification.

July 12, 19 and 26, 7:30 am–8:30 am Equator Coffee, LinkedIn building 222 2nd Street (at Howard) https://bit.ly/2LJm01E GGBA Member Roundtable Make Contact The GGBA is shifting the July Make Contact a bit, asking members to engage in a roundtable discussion regarding the chamber’s member programming. The board wants to hear from members on what programs you want the chamber to continue producing and what other programming you would find meaningful and engaging, in pursuit of your business goals.

Tuesday, July 16, 5:45 pm Registration 6:15 pm–7:30 pm Program/ Roundtable Discussion Free for Members; $25 for Non-Members SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market Street https://bit.ly/2Jp18K8

GGBA’s Pride Make Contact, held on June 18 at Goorin Brothers Haberdashery, celebrated local retail merchants. The gathering featured lessons in hat care, festive drinks, tasty bites and guest speakers led by GGBA’s president Audry deLucia.

Photos Courtesy of GGBA

Jonathan Mildenhall

Magdalena Rodriquez: Do you have any specific policies in place that benefit the LGBT community?

Jonathan Mildenhall: First and foremost, we pride ourselves on creating a work environment that is fair and inclusive to all regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. Everyone gets the same benefits, including parental leave for LGBTQ moms and dads. In addition, we are proud to say we received our LGBT certification with NGLCC (National LGBT Chamber of Commerce) in our first year in business and look forward to continuing finding other ways to support and partner with the LGBT community as a whole.

Magdalena Rodriquez: Do you have any specific policies in place regarding workplace equality?

Jonathan Mildenhall: As mentioned, all of our employee benefits have been built around fairness and equality.

Magdalena Rodriquez: Why did you decide to join the GGBA? Jonathan Mildenhall: We joined GGBA because a number of our employees and clients are proud members of the LGBTQ community and as our business grows, so too will our involvement in the Bay Area communities that we are part of. GGBA is the first of several organizations we hope to partner with.

Magdalena Rodriquez: What has been your biggest reward and satisfaction during your journey as an entrepreneur?

Jonathan Mildenhall: Candidly speaking, the most rewarding aspect of my journey as an entrepreneur is that I get to build a company and culture that reflect the real human values I care passionately about. I have had to fire a client that compromised my company values and therefore my employee experience.

21CB is a company built without compromise.

Magdalena Rodriquez: And your biggest disappointment/nerve-wracking situation?

Jonathan Mildenhall: Firing a client is never easy, but it was necessary to protect our company culture. Even though it cost

my company $225k in lost revenue—which hurt—it was without question the right thing to do.

For more information: https://twentyfirstcenturybrand.com/ Magdalena Rodriguez is the Co-Founder and Director of GPSGAY Inc. mobile app and website—available in Spanish, English and Portuguese—for the LGBTQ community, www.gpsgay.com S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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Hatred Does Not Cease by Hatred On both a political and personal level, the image of the hate-filled extremists covered in their own filth that they had stolen to hurl at others is a powerful metaphor for the destructiveness of anger and hatred not only on its innocent victims who are its intended object but also on the perpetrators themselves.

and Kyrgyzstan), anti-LGBTIQ extremists had hatched a depraved and despicable plot “to literally throw feces at Pride participants.” On the morning of the Pride march, the Kiev Police Chief announced that they had thwarted the plot, arresting nine people whom they accused of setting up what police called a “s--t-laboratory.”

6/26 and Beyond Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis As many readers may know, queer demonstrators protesting among other things police presence and corporate participation in this year’s San Francisco Pride Parade delayed the march for 50 minutes, one minute for each year after Stonewall. We were marching with the LGBT Asylum Project, a nonprofit organization that provides legal services to LGBTIQ immigrants fleeing persecution in their home countries and seeking asylum in the United States. The delay in the parade actually gave us the opportunity to have in-depth conversations with the queer asylees.

Indeed, we learned of a most extraordinary attempt not by queer activists, but by far-right anti-LGBTIQ extremists to disrupt this June’s Pride March of Equality in Kiev, Ukraine.

As the asylees explained to us and we later confirmed on the website of Bellingcat (an organization that monitors right-wing movements in Ukraine, Armenia

In the words of the Buddhist adage, “Hatred does not cease by hatred, but by not hating. This is the eternal truth.” Or in the words of Richard Nixon the morning that he was forced to resign the presidency: “Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.”

And who can forget the “angel activists,” who spread their wings wide to shield Matthew Sheppard’s family from the vitriolic anti-gay messages of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church at the trial of Sheppard’s killers?

According to the police, the extremists—whom many now refer to as “excremists”—“admitted that they had stolen four portable toilets filled with feces, set up a laboratory and stuffed approximately 200 condoms full of feces to throw at Kiev Pride marchers and police.” Police say they caught the extremists, who purportedly are associates of a “fiercely anti-LGBT Pentecostal pastor,” as they were driving toward the march in their van.

According to Bellingcat, another news source reported that not only had the right-wing fanatics “poured the feces” from the toilets into barrels “without respirators,” while being swarmed by flies, but also “[a]t times, apparently, the men themselves were covered in the filth from the toilets when some of the stuffed condoms burst.”

Not being consumed by hatred does not foreclose bold, passionate and timely action to stop harm.

The Ukrainian LGBTIQ community is doubtlessly grateful to the police for foiling the plot in the nick of time and protecting the marchers. Indeed, in researching this topic further, we were horrified to learn that far-right protestors at a Baltic Pride event in Riga, Latvia, in the early 2000s successfully carried out a similar plot.

We and Ukrainians who immediately took to the internet to mock the extremists could think of no more fitting outcome for their efforts. The Kiev Pride March itself appears to have been a great success with only “a few minor incidents,” according to Bellingcat.

San Francisco ignited the marriage equality movement 15 years ago by (continued on page 26)

Real Estate

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Jay Greene and his mom Lola at the San Francisco Pride Parade and Festival, June 29-30

PHOTO BY MORGAN SHINDLER PHOTOGRAPHY

“I want everybody to be happy,” she added. “I wanted to be there for people who need family love. At both the parade and festival, people were friendly, warm, caring, compassionate and enjoying life.

Individuals were giving me so much more back from the hugs. It made me feel important that people cared enough about me that they came up to me and wanted me to hug them.

Everybody told me how fabulous and amazing I looked. People made me feel good about myself.”

At the parade they were also joined

by Uber attorney Laura McAdams and her husband Paul of Landau Gottfried & Berger LLP. Laura said,

Jay described the parade as “the experience of a lifetime. It was definitely an opportunity to have a lot of fun with many great memories. It

allowed my mother to express her support for me in a way that I had never experienced before.”

Hopefully Lola can come back next year, when we imagine that more people—perhaps rejected from their own families—will be in need of a warm, caring hug.

PHOTO BY RINK

“Walking in the Bay Times Pride contingent was the best way to start off Paul and my new journey in the first week of our move to San Francisco.”

PHOTO BY MADDIE HIGGINS

In addition to the hugs, she gave away 5,000 rainbow stickers over the course of the weekend. Her son was often by her side. She explained, “It was fun to do something with my son where we could both show off our child at heart natures.”

PHOTO BY SANDY MORRIS

“Everybody is important, deserves to be loved, and to get a hug,” Lola told the San Francisco Bay Times in her lyrical soft Southern accent.

“God created love and made everybody equal. He wants us to give love back.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF JAY GREENE

Wearing a “FREE MOM HUGS” shirt, with the “O” shaped like a heart in rainbow colors, Lola Greene of Oxford, Alabama, hugged an estimated 1000 people in San Francisco on Pride Weekend last month. Both she and her son Jay Greene of The Greene Law Firm were in the San Francisco Bay Times Pride Parade contingent. Our team of photographers captured photos of not only Lola, but also of other mothers wearing similar hug-inviting shirts along the parade route.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JAY GREENE

Mother Lola Greene Hugs Over 1000 People During Pride Weekend in San Francisco

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Childhood Bullying Has Long-Term Consequences to 40 years later. In one study, adults who were childhood victims of bullying were found to be more likely to be unemployed, earn less and have lower educational levels than people who had not been bullied.

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

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

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

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

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

Beth Greene Michael Delgado Abby Zimberg Design & Production

Kate Laws Business Manager Blake Dillon Calendar Editor

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

CONTRIBUTORS Writers Rink, Sister Dana Van Iquity, Ann Rostow, Patrick Carney, Kate Kendell, Alex Randolph, Heidi Beeler, Gary M. Kramer, Dennis McMillan, Tom Moon, Tim Seelig, Cinder Ernst, John Chen Rafael Mandelman, Jewelle Gomez, Phil Ting, Rebecca Kaplan, Kin Folkz, Leslie Katz, Philip Ruth, Peter Gallotta, Bill Lipsky, Karen Williams, Donna Sachet, Gary Virginia, Zoe Dunning, Marcy Adelman, Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis Brandon Miller, Jamie Leno Zimron Michele Karlsberg Lyndsey Schlax, Randy Coleman, Debra Walker, Howard Steiermann, Andrea Shorter, Lou Fischer, Karin Jaffie, Brett Andrews, Karen E. Bardsley, David Landis Photographers Rink, Phyllis Costa, Jane Higgins Paul Margolis, Chloe Jackman, Bill Wilson, Jo-Lynn Otto, Sandy Morris, Abby Zimberg, Morgan Shidler, JP Lor 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 © 2019 Bay Times Media Company Co-owned by Betty L. Sullivan & Jennifer L. Viegas

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Examined Life Tom Moon, MFT If there is one thing that virtually all of the LGBTQ folks whom I’ve ever known have in common, it is the experience of having been bullied in childhood. All of the research shows that LGBTQ youth are bullied at much higher rates than their straight counterparts (who already deal with too much of it themselves). The effects on young people are well-documented: increased risk for suicide, anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder and social isolation, among other painful consequences.

But only in recent years has research confirmed what psychotherapists have long known—that the negative effects of childhood bullying are long-lasting and can still be felt up

They were also less likely to be in a relationship or to have good social support. They additionally report lower quality of life and life satisfaction than their peers who had not been bullied. When you’re taught in your formative years that there are people in this world who will go out of their way to torment you, none of this should be surprising.

Bullying is always a shaming experience. The terrorizing, ridicule, taunting and ostracism are meant to make the victims feel small, worthless, helpless and ridiculous. The tragedy is that it works. When children are bullied (or subjected to any kind of abuse), they almost can’t help but interpret the experiences as accurate reflections of their worth as human beings.

They internalize the judgments, and come to see themselves as “less than”—defective, unlovable, worthy only of contempt and so on. Later, even if they come to accept the sexual orientation or gender non-conformity that was the original excuse for the bullying, a kind of free-float-

ing shame can still lurk in the background and continue to cause damage.

One form of shame that can linger on in adults is a blanket shame about their human vulnerabilities. As physical beings, every one of us can be overpowered, wounded and made to hurt. As social animals, since we all need to belong, to be loved and respected, we can all be deeply hurt by scorn and rejection. If you’ve been bullied it means that someone else has used your human vulnerabilities to make you suffer physical or emotional pain.

Too often the result is that we come to despise our own humanity, to see it as weak and inherently degraded and to hate ourselves for our sensitivities and susceptibilities. We may then long for a humanly impossible sense of invulnerability and fearlessness. It is by this route that the bullied sometimes become bullies themselves.

Against the long-term damage that bullying can cause, psychotherapy has essentially one weapon: to provide a safe and supportive environment where survivors of this abuse can tell their stories in detail. It is amazing how many survivors have never talked about what happened to them, even decades after it happened. Many have learned to mini-

mize it—to treat it as no big deal, as just a rite of passage that young people move through and get over. That is why so many survivors, when they finally begin to talk about it, are shocked to discover how intense their buried pain still is.

If there are painful events in your past that you keep secret, and which, to this day, cause you to cringe whenever you remember them, then these are the very stories that you need to share with at least one trusted friend or therapist.

We are social animals to the core.

Just as we only learn shame and self-hatred from others, so we also can’t learn self-compassion and selfrespect until we first see them in the gaze of at least one other human being. Sharing our secrets is never easy to do. It takes great courage to speak our truths when our oldest experiences have taught us that to do so can be suicidal; and yet this apparently reckless act of faith is the first step on the road to victory over our pasts.

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

Business Equality Magazine Names Legacy Leaders To commemorate Stonewall50, Business Equality Magazine (BEQ ) selected an inaugural list of Legacy Leaders Over 50.

BEQ Founding Publisher Robin Dillard and the magazine’s editorial board shared that “posthumous celebrations are wonderful, but BEQ Pride wants to celebrate the legacy that our leaders are building now—while we can show our appreciation for their hard work and how we intend to build on that foundation. It’s all about the legacy we’re leaving. Their hard work and perseverance are a gift, a bequest to us all.”

Robin Dillard

The list includes several members of the San Francisco Bay Times team, including Publishers Dr. Betty Sullivan and Jennifer Viegas, National Advertising Representative Todd Evans of Rivendell Media, Columnist Kate Kendell (former longtime leader of the National Center for Lesbian Rights) and Golden Gate Business Association President Audry deLucia, who has facilitated the creation of the GGBA page in the paper.

Other community leaders from the Bay Area are included on the list, such as Joe Hawkins, Co-Founder of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center. To see the full list, go to: https://bit.ly/2Xyt7RQ For more information: Business Equality Magazine: https://businessequalitymagazine.com/ Robin Dillard: https://www.robinrdillard.com/

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

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© Randy Coleman, 2019

Generations of Resistance

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SF Pride’s theme “Generations of Resistance” played out on Market Street, as a group of protestors broke through the route’s barricades and halted the parade for at least 50 minutes as SF Pride team members assessed the demonstrators’ grievances that included criticism over police presence and corporations. A later statement from SF Pride, in part, shared: “Pride volunteers joined hands to create a protective space around the demonstrators so that they could openly verbalize their actions. The demonstrators’ criticisms of Pride were brought forward, and the parade was ultimately able to continue.”

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Messages of resistance were not limited to the widely covered protest. All along the parade route, individuals were seen with signs reading everything from “Community Not Corporations” to “RESIST” over an iconic image of political activist, academic and author Angela Davis. The San Francisco Bay Times team of photographers captured many of these signs, as well as those that were not necessarily supportive of the LGBT community. At least free speech was in force at the largely peaceful event.

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21st Annual Pride Brunch

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Gary Virginia and Donna Sachet’s 21st Pride Brunch, benefiting PRC, took place at its new home—the Westin St. Francis at Union Square—on Saturday, June 29.

(Previously it was held at Hotel Whitcomb.) The new venue proved to be a perfect match for the three-hour, spectacular benefit that started with rousing musical entertainment by the Dixieland Dykes +3, hosted bars by Tito’s Handmade Vodka and new sponsor Korbel.

The Grand Ballroom of the hotel was festooned with rainbow bunting, colorful balloons and gorgeous florals. In addition to SF Pride Grand Marshals and honorees, several city officials were in attendance, including Mayor London Breed, who expressed her support for the LGBTQ community. PRC CEO and San Francisco Bay Times columnist Brett Andrews also spoke.

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Guests tucked into a delicious gourmet brunch buffet and bid on an array of silent auction items. Virginia spoke movingly at the end about how much the event and beneficiary mean to him, being a longtime HIV-positive gay man. Sachet beautifully closed the event out by singing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

By Donna Sachet

elieve it or not, we have survived another San Francisco Pride Week! The Pink Triangle atop Twin Peaks has come down, the rainbow flags along Market have disappeared, and the Pride Parade and Celebration in Civic Center are now but a memory.

Whether you dashed from event to event, concentrated on key films from the Frameline Film Festival, or simply watched from the sidelines as San Francisco and the nation marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, it was hard to ignore this year’s historic significance. We all owe a great debt of gratitude to those who fought so hard to open the door to the world in which we live today. Did you legally marry your same gender partner? Have you voted for an openly Gay or Lesbian political candidate? Are you living your full life as an LGBTQ individual at home, at work, and in the public eye? None of this just happened and we must be ever aware of that fact. Now, what role will we play in the changes to come? Involvement takes many forms, but there is no excuse for idle observation and lethargy. Find your own personal way to join the ongoing fight for full equality and genuine acceptance. You’ll be glad you did!

One of the highlights of our weekend was the 21st annual Pride Brunch presented by Wells Fargo, relocated this year to the Westin St. Francis Hotel Union Square. In partnership with our longtime friend Gary Virginia, PRC staff members Cal Callahan and Hayden Reynolds, and a team of tireless volunteers, we pulled out all the stops, increasing attendance to over 350, assembling the largest silent auction ever, and creating a gorgeous setting in which to honor the Grand Marshals of the SF Pride Parade. Elected officials were everywhere, including Mayor London Breed, State Senator Scott Wiener, Supervisors Rafael Mandelman and Vallie Brown, Treasurer Jose Cisneros, and City College Board President Alex Randolph. Mario Diaz, soon to retire from Wells Fargo, our Presenting Sponsor, shared personal remarks, as did PRC Executive Director Brett Andrews. Grand Marshals and Honorees Donna Personna, Vince Chrisostomo, Sampson McCormick, China Silk and members of the casts of television shows Vida and Tales of the City spoke briefly and as always touched the audience with their courage, candor and humor. The Dixieland Dykes + 3, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Korbel and massive rainbow flag decor by Tommy Taylor and florals created by CoCo Butter kept the atmosphere festive and proud. It would be impossible to thank all the many who contributed to this successful event, but their generous financial sponsorships, product donations and hands-on volunteer efforts took the Pride Brunch to a new level. Thank you all!

We can’t share much personally from the Celebration in Civic Center, but according to all reports, co-emcees Sister Roma and Honey Mahogany expertly guided the thousands assembled through a powerful lineup of speakers and entertainers. Meanwhile, we were on air covering the Pride Parade on CBS KPIX with news anchors Ken Bastida and Elizabeth Cook, community representatives Peter Gallotta, Michelle Meow, and Pearl Teese, and field reporters Liam Mayclem, Jackie Ward, Anne Mackovec, and Veronica De La Cruz, backed up by the best support team in the business.

Because of this bold partnership between SF Pride and CBS KPIX, our Pride Parade was seen on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube by tens of thousands more than those present in person. As more and more Pride Parades across the globe experiment with live streaming and other methods of viewership, let’s not forget that ours was the first to be televised and has been made available to a wider public for over 15 years! What a seat we have enjoyed for 14 of those years as this dynamic, energizing and richly diverse demonstration of the LGBTQ Community passes by!

And the 2019 Pride Parade was no exception, skillfully organized by a hardworking SF Pride Board and membership, facing even an unexpected delay with peaceful negotiation and calm resolution. From the boisterous beginning with Dykes on Bikes through over 280 contingents, we were on display and resolute, supported by thousands of cheering spectators. And if you thought this was an incredible event, wait until 2020, celebrating 50 years of San Francisco Pride!

–Unknown

Calendar a/la Sachet Every Sunday Sunday’s a Drag!

The Starlight Room Sir Francis Drake Hotel 10:30 am Brunch, 11:30 am Show $75 inclusive https://starlightroomsf.com/sundays-a-drag Saturday, July 20 Community Day at Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at SFO Sneak preview of historic terminal Original art, historic displays, family activities Noon–4 pm Free! www.flysfo.com/grandopenings Saturday, July 20 Black & Blue Ball Hosted by Imperial Crown Princess Sadyst Payne Catalyst, 1060 Folsom Street 7 pm–11 pm $10 www.imperialcouncilsf.org/events Sunday, July 28 Up Your Alley Street Fair Dore Alley & Folsom Street between 9th & 11th 11 am–6 pm Voluntary gate donation www.folsomstreetevents.org Sunday, July 28 PLAY T-Dance Brian Kent Production, fetish dance party, DJ Russ Rich City Nights, 715 Harrison Street $60 & up www.eventbrite.com

Our final Pride event was Juanita MORE!’s annual Pride Party on Jones Street, packed as always with an eclectic mix of her supporters and this year raising money for the GLBT Historical Society and Museum. Juanita herself was resplendent as drinks flowed, laughter rang out and friendships old and new were rekindled.

Reported proceeds exceeded $130,000! What a way to finish off the weekend!

We end this edition’s column with another thanks to all those behind the scenes of the many Pride events over the past month. From concerts, films and dance parties to marches, political actions and fundraisers, San Francisco continues to offer something for everyone. Next year, in addition to participating in some of the panoply of events, find your way to contribute to their success, as a volunteer, donor, performer, promoter or active member. And let’s begin now to aggressively reach out beyond our borders whether geographic or cultural to make SF Pride 2020’s Generations of Hope the biggest and best ever!

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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

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus Queens concert, presented on June 21-22 at the Sydney Goldstein Theater, featured Donna Sachet singing “I Am What I Am” and introduced members of the Ducal and Imperial Council families along with Heklina, Sister Roma, Sister Phyllis and Kylie Minono.

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Donna’s Chronicles

“The world has bigger problems than boys who kiss boys and girls who kiss girls.”

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San Francisco Bay Times Prid Photos by Morgan Shidler, Jo-Lynn Otto, Sandy Morris, Paul The San Francisco Bay Times Pride Parade contingent for 2019 was the largest ever in the history of the paper, thanks to the many participants and supporters who made this annual, unforgettable journey down Market Street possible. Leading the way were ABC7 News’ Dan Ashley and his band, choreographer Juan Davila and Maribel Rodriguez with dancers from Carnaval and AGUILAS, gymnast and filmmaker Jack McGreal (yes, he managed to both film and perform incredible gymnastic feats!), Patrick and Hossein Carney with a mighty team from The Pink Triangle, Sister Dana Van Iquity, performer Glenn Michael Baker, and transportation from Gray Line Tours San Francisco (motorized cable car) and Lucky Tuk Tuk Eco-Friendly Vehicles, which featured rotating disco balls and melodic horn honks!

Other honored guests included San Francisco Bay Times Founding News Editor Randy Alfred; Judy Young, Executive Director of the National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health; members of the UCSF Black Women’s Health & Livelihood Initiative; Jamie Leno Zimron of The KiAi Way; Diane Lewis, Director of Health Systems for the Alzheimer’s Association; Eduardo Morales, PhD, Executive Director of AGUILAS; LaTonya Lawson, Regional Marketing Leader for Celebrity Cruises, Inc.; San Francisco Credit Union team members; Beth Schnitzer, Co-Founder and President of SpritzSF; Joe Shirley, Director of Winemaking at Trinchero Family Estates; and representatives from the Golden Gate Business Association, Grubstake Diner, Marcum LLP and Rhoda Goldman Plaza.

In addition to Gray Line Tours and Luky Tuk Tuk, our contingent supporters included Olivia Travel, Extreme Pizza, La Mediterranée, Crystal Geyser and NAPA Cellars. Special thanks also go to Christina Shamon of Gray Line, Contingent Manager Karen Bardsley, Vehicle Captain Warren Alderson, Steve Scheitlin, Hospitality Manager Phyllis Costa and Morgan Shidler Photography along with Rink, Sandy Morris and numerous other photographers. There were teams who carried the San Francisco Bay Times banner, served as Wheel Monitors, stuffed and handed out goodie bags and much more.

While, like SF Pride, the San Francisco Bay Times has grown and evolved over the past four decades, efforts like this would not be possible without grassroots values and the diverse talents of hardworking volunteers. We thank all who participated, including those of you who cheered us along. We look forward to next year, when SF Pride will be celebrating its 50th anniversary!

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CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2019)

Margolis, Abby Zimberg, Rink

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Trans March: Our Home, Our Sanctuary

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The 16th Annual San Francisco Trans March took place on Friday, June 28, with participants gathering at Mission Dolores Park. The day began with a Youth & Elder Brunch hosted by LYRIC and Openhouse. It was followed by activities such as a Resource Fair, a Family Area hosted by Our Family Coalition, a Transformation Booth hosted by the San Francisco Community Health Center and makeovers provided by Sephora.

Stage performers and speakers included Holy Old Man Bull, Shawn Demmons, Alejandra de la Vega, Norma Griyett, Miss Ella 2019, Nine Inch Males, Mikaela Marvel, Tania Dupree, Tajah J, Anjali Rimi & Dancers, Luis & Ngoc, Ladies of Asia SF and Sheena Rose.

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The Street March, from about 6 pm–7:30 pm, wove from the park to Market Street, and then to Taylor towards Turk, where marchers honored Trans history and the landmarks of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riots and Vicki Mar Lane. The official After Parties were Transfabulous at Wicked Grounds and Bustin’ Out: Industrial Complex! at El Rio and Virgil’s Sea Room.

27th San Francisco Dyke March The San Francisco Dyke March—welcoming trans dykes, genderqueer dykes, non-binary dykes and dykes that use any and all pronouns—took place on Saturday, June 29. Those on motorcycles gathered on the east side of Dolores Street, where the revving of engines could be heard throughout the neighborhood.

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The Rally, from 11 am–4:30 pm, included performances by Amanda & Megan, Blue Charisma, Genesis Fermin, The Rebel Kings and more. The March, which started at around 5 pm, was led by Dykes on Bikes followed by the Access Trolley, the Senior and Disabled Dyke Contingent, the Dyke March banner and all of the amazing dyke community!

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The 49th annual San Francisco Pride Parade & Celebration took place on Sunday, June 30. It included over 280 contingents, well over 500 volunteers and an estimated 700,000–1,000,000 people in attendance. Many more watched on television, with coverage provided by KPIX 5 and KBCW. Check out the pages of Donna Sachet and Sister Dana Van Iquity in this issue for their thoughts and perspectives concerning the event.

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LGBT Latinx Athlete Brings Global Outlook to Sports, Environmentalism ... and Stripping! it means to me, to support the causes in LGBT communities and bring people laughter and entertainment.”

Hernandez was born in Michoacán, Mexico, but grew up in Colusa, California, a rice growing farming town north of Sacramento. “My parents were migrant workers, and in order to get me across the border, they hid me in a star-shaped piñata.

I basically ‘Trojan’ my way into this country, and now I am an American citizen,” he said with pride and a smile.

Sports John Chen

Step into the story... and become art

San Francisco Gay Flag Football League’s Rubén Mojica Hernandez recently took the stage and took his clothes off for a good cause.

Mojica Hernandez told me for the San Francisco Bay Times, “[Stripping] empowers me to be able to say this is my body. This is me. I am proud of who I am and that I am able to get up and dance for everyone. But stripping is not about me. It’s about what

“I am a lot of things,” he shared.

“I am Latino, awkward, weird, an uncle, an environmentalist, not too athletic athlete and a dancer. I am also gay. At Berkeley, I was blessed to be surrounded by openminded and supportive friends who truly believe that people should be who they are and not pretend to be something they are not. These friends have become my ‘chosen family.’ And I realized it was OK to be all of those things.

That was my epiphany and my coming out.”

“My mother Lucila is my hero,” he continued. “She ingrained in me the importance of family, hard work and education. She also taught me to think about how to better our community. And whatever we do, how we do it, we always do it with kindness, courage and strength. This is the motto and mantra I follow every day of my life.”

In high school, Hernandez was a model scholar athlete who took

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN CHEN

Portraiture, Fine Art, Event Photography 415.481.5185 www.exlightstudio.com

part in various community projects, played most sports and earned an admission to the University of California, Berkeley. He was the son, and the student, whom everyone envied. But he never had told anyone that he was gay.

After graduating from Berkeley with a Conservation and Resource Studies major and a minor in Global Poverty and Practice, Hernandez joined the Peace Corps as an environmental volunteer consulting on issues such as deforestation, as well as teaching science to children in a remote mountain town of Achuapa, Nicaragua. During his time with the Peace Corps, Hernandez was recognized by the national publication La Prensa for his work in educating and training 115 Nicaraguan teachers to incorporate environment themes into all class lessons.

Currently, he works for the Environmental Protection Agency (continued on page 26)

Take Me Home with You! “My name is Spotty! I’m new to the city and am still learning my way around. I love to cuddle; once you become part of my inner circle, I’m going to want as much body contact as possible.

‘Up close and personal’ is my motto! After nine years of living in the countryside, I’m hoping to find a quiet home. I’d also love to have a doggie sister or brother. If that sounds like a match, come and meet me!”

Spotty

Spotty 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 Spotty.

To see Spotty as well as other pets seeking their forever homes, please visit: San Francisco SPCA Mission Campus 250 Florida Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 415-522-3500 Aside from major holidays, the adoption center is open Mon–Fri: 1–6 pm and Sat–Sun: 10 am–5 pm. Free parking is available for those wishing to adopt!

For more information: https://www.sfspca.org/adoptions

Fitness SF Trainer Tip of the Month Jesse Schmidt -

Fitness SF Oakland “The Deadlift is a very popular exercise in the fitness world, both for its full-body challenge and the rising popularity of powerlifting & Olympic lifting. Always make sure to keep your back straight and never hunched. This is what will guarantee gains and keep you free from injury.”

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/

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Dr. Jennifer Scarlett and Pup

Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun through the Deep South, celebrating music, challenging intolerance and confronting their own dark coming out stories to bravely counter a resurgence of anti-LGBTQ laws. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house—both laughing and crying. My makeup ran all over my face. It was the perfect way to end Pride Weekend!

to be a pretty (?!) nun. I added two small disco balls as accessories to my shiny silver habit. Everyone there was discolicious!

By Sister Dana Van Iquity Sister Dana sez, “Pride! Pride!

Pride! Since LGBTQ Pride Month is over, are we supposed to now have LGBTQ shame?!

Just kidding. Certainly not!

LGBTQ Pride is 24/7!”

The last Wednesday night before Pride Weekend, Grace Cathedral presented SISTER ACT MASS using the lively music from those classic movies, Sister Act & Sister Act Two; inspirational scripture readings by members of The Vine (the urban progressive branch of Grace), including Sister Dana reading in rainbow nun drag; an invigorating sermon by openly gay pastor Brendan Robertson about how to be a proud queer Christian; a final sing-along song, “Born This Way;” and then sudden “manna from heaven” (rainbow confetti and paper pieces dropped from the ceiling).

After that, we enjoyed festive rainbow cake on the labyrinth. I invite you to check out my fabulously gay and gay-friendly church, The Vine, Wednesday nights at 6:30 pm in the little chapel inside the cathedral. https://gracecathedral.org/thevine/ I attended THANKS TO HANK at the Castro Theatre on June 27. This was a Frameline biopic about the late great activist Hank Wilson, directed by Bob Ostertag.As Hank was a good friend of mine and several other Sisters, we appear in the show as nuns officially sainting the man. On the Castro stage, in the nun garb I wore in the film, I spoke of how the movie pays tribute to this profound man’s legacy in the queer/ HIV community. Afterwards I went to the cast party and mingled with people who spoke in the show and those who were behind the scenes.

Activists should definitely put this on their must-see list!

Sister Dana sez, “It has been recently discovered that Attorney General Barr killed 7 Mueller Probes 10 days after the release of his April Fools 4-page Bogus Summary. Disgusting! Disbar Barr!”

PRIDE AT THE DISCO! was a night of music, glitz and glitter put on by us Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence on June 28 at Bespoke in the San Francisco Centre. We truly unleashed our inner disco queens. Since it was also a night of beauty, instead of doing my clownish makeup, I let Sephora do my face

Gary Virginia & Donna Sachet’s 21ST ANNUAL PRIDE BRUNCH benefiting PRC honored the Grand Marshals of the SF LGBT PRIDE PARADE and afforded us a rare opportunity to meet and hear them speak. We joined Gary and Donna at their new totally gorge home in the Westin St. Francis on June 29 for a threehour spectacular benefit. It started with rousing musical entertainment by the Dixieland Dykes +3 and ended with Donna singing “San Francisco.” Special speeches were given by SF Mayor London Breed—with emphasis on the importance of the COMPTON CAFETRIA RIOTS for trans rights; by Senator Scott Wiener,

by PRC CEO Brett Andrews, and

by Mario Diaz from presenting sponsor WELLS FARGO, a wonderful man who has served the community over three decades. The bash included hosted bars by Tito’s Handmade Vodka and their new sponsor Korbel. Now THAT’S what a call a Pride brunch! Do check out https://prcsf.org/

Sister Dana sez, “I strongly suggest you check out the NYRB photo comparisons of tanks used by fascist dictators to Trump’s horrendous 4th of July spectacle.” https://bit.ly/2Lydwue For THE FOURTH OF JULY, I was with close friends in Diamond Heights where we couldn’t see ANY fireworks through the thick fog, but were treated to several neighbors’ illegal fireworks, which we could see from our balcony and we cheered them on. I had a glowing wand thing that blinked with red and blue stars that I used to wave at the neighbors below in appreciation for putting on spectacular shows. Some were on the ground, and most were in the air with loud booms and amazing colorful bursts. These demonstrations went on for several hours. We drank.

We ate. We sang around a piano.

It was awesome to sing about “the bombs bursting in air” while fireworks exploded around us! It was a fabulous Fourth!

A few hours after that, we had SISTERS’ HIGH HOLY TEA at Hotel Zeppelin featuring a RuPaul-like Lip-Synch for Your Life contest with a whole lotta nuns.

I chose not to compete, as I did not want to do the death-drop—having great respect for my testicles. But congratz to those who participated and especially to Sister Hera Sees Candy and Sister Maddie Bout You who tied.

Sister Dana sez, “I’m sorry I missed the Fourth of July with you, but there are still more exciting events worthy of fireworks in July.”

For the month of July, STRUT at 470 Castro Street is featuring the art work of Jim James, BLACK AND WHITE NOSTALGIA: Vintage Gay SF. This group of black and white photography work is from the late seventies to late nineties. It was a time of transition from the good old days, or the golden era of gay, to the challenging, difficult AIDS years. Having fled the persecution of Anita Bryant’s Florida, James found an unbelievable community in San Francisco, not just surviving, but thriving against incredible odds.

When just the thought or rumor of being gay was dangerous, and the hysteria of AIDS gripped the nation, here was a generation of men living openly, proudly, defiantly, flamboyantly and flawlessly! James notes that the Castro, South of Market and Polk Street felt like movie sets, a constant costume party twentyfour seven. Elaborate festivals, fundraisers and parades were staged every weekend. Not to mention all of the intense, heavy cruising everywhere, and always some kind of sex behind the next half-closed door or corner. It was against this backdrop that his photography blossomed. It was a delicious buffet of gorgeous, beautiful, outrageous people he either knew, got to know, or wanted to know. He has perfectly captured the flavor and feel of those times, and these images are the result.

Sunday morning gave us the Pride Parade. After hours of having to wait for a few protesters chaining themselves together and thereby rudely stopping the Pride Parade, our glorious San Francisco Bay Times caravan finally made its way down Market Street, with Sister Dana the Rainbow Nun on the top of a motorized cable car—blowing and receiving air kisses to and from the crowd.

Then we enjoyed the VIP party in the Rotunda, where huge 3-D renderings of Sister Roma, Sister Selma and yours truly were on display, created by awesome artist Deirdre DeFranceaux.

And still not totally exhausted, I went to the final Frameline film at the Castro Theatre, GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH. In this groundbreaking documentary, director and writer David Charles Rodrigues, writer Jeff Gilbert, producers Bud Johnston and Jesse Moss, and director of photography Adam Hobbs followed the 300 members of San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus—along with special guests from the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir—as they embarked on an unprecedented bus tour

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The incredible musical CABARET is playing now through September 14 at San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street, Floor 2M. I enjoyed it immensely. The choreography is really intricate. The dancers are vivacious. The singers are astounding. And one cannot help but compare the horrible immigration crisis that Trump created. Come hear the music play! https://bit.ly/2ZFTOAp

Sister Dana was up front on the San Francisco Bay Times contingent’s VIP Gray Line Tours vehicle throwing kisses to the crowd all the way up Market Street in the 2019 SF Pride Parade on Sunday, June 30.

AIDS WALK SAN FRANCISCO is a 10k fundraising walk that will bring together 10,000 Bay Area residents in Golden Gate Park on July 14. This year’s Walk benefits PRC, PROJECT OPEN HAND, the Pop-Up Clinic at Ward 86, as well as dozens of other Bay Area AIDS service organizations— all working to end the AIDS epidemic. https://sf.aidswalk.net/

JOIN THE BID TO WIN! PUBLIC NOTICE: Access To Caltrans Upcoming Construction and Architectural & Engineering Projects California Senate Bill 1 (SB1) will provide $54 billion over the next 10 years for state and local transportation projects. This creates additional opportunities for all small businesses, including businesses owned by women, minorities, disabled veterans, LGBT, and other disadvantaged groups, to participate on public works projects with local and state transportation agencies.

Now is the time to get involved. Visit Caltrans’ SB1 web site, www.rebuildingca.ca.gov, and learn more about planned improvements. Review Caltrans’ online “look ahead” reports of upcoming construction and architectural and engineering contracts to identify potential opportunities for your business. Attend contract-specific outreach events, that include pre-bid meetings and pre-proposal conferences, and meet with prospective bidders/proposers. Learn about Caltrans contracting requirements at a free training or workshop.

Caltrans needs your help to repair and rebuild California’s transportation system. We are looking for qualified contractors, consultants, suppliers, truckers, and service providers to help fix our roads, freeways, and bridges.

Construction look-ahead report: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/esc/oe/contractor_ info/12_month_Advertising_Schedule.pdf Architectural and Engineering look-ahead report: http://www.dot.ca.gov/dpac/ae/doc/lookahead.pdf Caltrans Events Calendar: http://www.dot.ca.gov/obeo/calendar.html For more information, contact Caltrans’ Small Business Advocate at smallbusinessadvocate@dot.ca.gov.

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Marc Huestis Outshines Stars in Larger Than Life Intimate Showbiz Memoir

Photos Courtesy of Marc Huestis

“My name is Marc Huestis and I am an impresario. Yes, I have been dubbed ‘Impresario of Castro Street.’ I’ve come to embrace that title, but getting there has been a long, circuitous journey; rough and rocky, often full of capricious twists and turns. In the swirl of historic events, I have often been at the right place at the right time. Even in the wrong times I tried to make them right. I was not a silent witness; I have always been a participant—both in show business and as an activist for social justice. And throughout, the stars have always been my touchstones. Morning stars and death stars. Shining stars from Hollywood, and guiding stars high above the Sierras. ‘The Morning After’ from The Poseidon Adventure is my theme song. I’ve lived through a whirlwind of memorable nights and mornings after. Some mornings were filled with heartaches, headaches, and hangovers. Others brought dreams fulfilled.

This book will attempt to balance all those nights and mornings— to make peace with the past. With others, and with myself. Now step right up, the show is about to begin!”

So opens Huestis’ remarkable page turner Impresario of Castro Street (Outsider Productions, 2019), which is unsurprisingly in the top 20 of Gay Studies books at Amazon now. In 1977, Huestis was in Harvey Milk’s camera store when the young fillmmaker helped to found Frameline, now the oldest and largest LGBT film festival in the world. He made several award-winning shorts including Unity (1978) about the persecution of gays during Nazi Germany. In 1983, he released his first feature Whatever Happened to Susan Jane?, a new-wave musical comedy that documents San Francisco’s underground scene. Diagnosed with HIV in 1985, he took his talents and made Chuck Solomon: Coming of Age, one of the first documentaries concerning the AIDS crisis from a gay perspective.

Marc’s mother Matilda before she developed the character “Marija, the Continental Gypsy”

Those achievements alone could cap off a successful career. But Huestis additionally rocketed the Castro into the international limelight with his unparalleled in-person tributes/benefits feting celebrities from Hollywood’s Golden Age. The book is full of revealing juicy tidbits from many of these events, such as the following from actress Carol Lynley: “I rehearsed for three weeks with Judy Garland, who played my mother (in The Poseidon Adventure). And the night before we’re about to shoot, Judy said: ‘Carol, I’m quitting. They’re gonna say that I’m crazy and I’m drunk and I’m stoned.’ And she wasn’t. Then she said, ‘I gotta tell you, this is a piece of s--t and I’m outta here.’

And I went home that night and thought, well maybe she’s just testing me. And the next morning Ginger Rogers was there on the set instead!”

The cast of Huestis’ real life adventure also includes Debbie Reynolds, Ann-Margret, Ann Miller, Jane Russell, Sandra Dee, Tony Curtis, Patty Duke, Rita Moreno and Kim Novak, to name drop a few. Then there are cult personalities such as John Waters, John Cameron Mitchell and Joey Arias.

Huestis’ own voice and perspective carry their own gravitas. It is hard to imagine anyone else like him, particularly given his unique background that even a Hollywood scriptwriter could not have dreamed up. As he explains in the memoir, “ ... show business was in my blood. My dad was an editor for NBC-TV. And my mother was a stripper. My gene pool danced. On television, in living color.”

The story about his mother alone could have warranted the book.

Bored as a housewife, the Lithuanian immigrant got an agent. He informed her that her real name, Matilda, “would never sell.” So, she became “Marija, the Continental Gypsy” and subsequently

Marija, the Continental Gypsy in her full glory

Marc Heustis

was a scantily clad draw at Atlantic City clubs and more. She would bring Huestis and his older brother Henry with her.

Later, the boys endured their mother’s mental illness that led to embarrassing emotional outbursts and multiple suicide attempts.

With such a family life, it is understandable how Huestis as an adolescent became “the resident Gypsy Rose Lee” in the Boy Scouts. Already demonstrating his showbiz knowhow, he would use flashlights as spotlights once the scout-

master went to sleep. They flashed over his body as he entertained Troop 69 with his strip tease. His performance even included a seductive dip and glove a/la Gypsy.

Huestis discovered his sexuality at around this time of his life, gifting his sister’s Easy-Bake oven brownies to a 13-year-old boy named Walter who caught his eye. Walter cursed, smoked and was ready for action. Let’s just say that their first sleepover led to repeated other meetings.

Fast forward and there’s another whiff of smoke, this time clouds of marijuana, perfuming Huestis’ co-produced fledgling film festival—The Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films—that evolved into Frameline. The film splices broke and the audiocassette soundtracks often played out of sync. As Huestis explained, though, “The audience didn’t care; they were there to see images of the lesbian and gay community, something rarely addressed by the Hollywood machine.”

Marc, reclining, during his “hippie days”

Marc’s father Hank Huestis when he worked in radio

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The memoir is not all about the arts, though. It describes the shock and sadness after Mayor George Moscone and Milk’s assassination, and delves deeply

EXPRESS YOURSELF GLSEN’s stated mission is championing the rights of LGBTQ+ people in: A) Economics B) Engineering C) Education D) Entertainment ANSWER ON PAGE 26

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into the AIDS crisis. Yet again, those chapters alone could have warranted the book, with Huestis evoking the fear, anger and grief that emerged at various stages of the epidemic. An early memory, for example, concerns how actor Tommy Pace wore full-length gloves over his multiple costumes in the production Naked Brunch. When Huestis popped his head into Pace’s dressing room, to congratulate the actor on his performance, the gloves were off. It was then that Huestis saw the Kaposi sarcoma lesions covering Pace’s arms.

When Huestis himself was diagnosed as being HIV+, he became a leading activist and was one of the first to undergo AZT trials. “Let me live,” as he said, became his new mantra. Yet he still spiraled into alcohol and drug addiction, which resulted in other battles that he eventually overcame. He addresses such difficult subjects with great candor, providing inspiration for anyone who has struggled with similar demons.

Yet another memorable aspect of the book is the LGBT community in the Castro, with Huestis’ numerous friends and colleagues, such as Lawrence Helman, featuring prominently throughout its chapters. Where Tales of the City (continued on page 23)

Karin Jaffie, aka Kit/Kitty Tapata, won the title of Mr. Gay San Francisco in 2011 and has earned many other honors since.

Connect with Jaffie via Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pg/ktapata

Marc Huestis and a Galaxy of Stars Photos Courtesy of Marc Huestis Throughout his lengthy career as an acclaimed filmmaker, camp impresario and social activist, Marc Huestis has met and worked with numerous legends from Hollywood and beyond. Here is a look back at just some of these celebrated individuals, many of whom have since passed, making these memories captured in photos all the more treasured. The stars often appeared at our neighborhood’s own shining beacon: the Castro Theatre.

Marc with legendary Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs

Punk star Nina Hagen with Marc

Arturo Galster

Marc with movie critic Rex Reed

“Wasp Women’ at the opening of Susan Jane

Doris Fish in her final performance, November 1989

Marc with publicist Lawrence Helman

Marc with Debbie Reynolds Karen Black with Marc

The actress Carol Lynley with Lawrence Helman (left) and Marc

Marc with a Wizard of Oz Munchkin

(continued from page 22) author Armistead Maupin transforms real life LGBT subjects into collaged fictional tales, Huestis weaves the arts with his actual life in ways that can be just as compelling.

We love this quote from actor and writer Bruce Vilanch: “Marc Huestis is the master of a universe you’re gonna love, a small stretch of turf in San Francisco that is as crazy, funky, glamorous, flamboyant and eccentric as he is.”

Vilanch was among those who attended last month’s Frameline event celebrating Huestis. It chronicled his over two decades worth of legendary Castro star-studded

extravaganzas. Rare footage from those events was fused with in-person readings from the memoir by Vilanch, Danny Nicoletta, Helen Shumaker and a host of others.

The Victoria Theatre was therefore deservedly packed that night: Sunday, June 23.

It is hard to imagine what Huestis will do next, but those of us here at the San Francisco Bay Times who have admired him for decades are definitely hoping to be along for the ride. The memoir covers what he calls Act I and Act II of his life. He advises that readers not “go too far; Act III is about to begin!”

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Lazy Sluggard Photos Courtesy of Tim Seelig

TLC: Tears, Laughs and Conversation Dr. Tim Seelig For those of you who have read any of my articles, you might find it odd that I am using not one, not two, but three Biblical passages to illuminate my story. They are in the Old Testament. Don’t be scared.

OK, maybe a little. The O.T. has been used as a pretty good weapon.

I am still a recovering Southern Baptist. It’s a 24-step program.

Rinse and repeat.

Today’s article is about work. Hard work. I’d like to start with an uplifting, motivational scripture for you.

You may even want to print it out for your refrigerator. Perhaps next to Tony Robbins, Brené Brown or Marianne Williamson (fresh off the debates!).

Behold, the good news: Proverbs 6:6–11: You lazy sluggard, look at an ant. Nobody has to tell it what to do. How long are you going to laze around doing nothing? How long before you get out of bed? A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next? Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life. Poverty will be your permanent houseguest!

Makes you want to jump right out of bed and show that little ant who’s boss! Perhaps even get a button to wear, “Lazy Sluggards Unite.”

Well, I did not need that dreadful Proverb excerpt to motivate me to work. No sir. My Father was the grandson of German immigrants. His own Father died when he was seven. It was the middle of the depression; he left his wife with

Opera singer

three kids to raise. Every penny was precious. He worked incredibly hard, helping the family to eke out a living. He got a college scholarship and left home with one suitcase, $5 in his pocket, and hitchhiked 400 miles from home. Yes, I heard that story often. It bore repeating. Following in his footsteps, I’ve been working nonstop since accepting my inaugural career position at 14: Dishwasher! More on that in a moment.

That Proverb’s mess was “not my very favorite.” This passage from Leviticus is better. What? “No way,” you say. Leviticus—weapon among weapons. But there is one really good idea God had buried among all the rest. He apparently told Moses his awesome idea. Moses then shared it with some of his buddies and they shared with some friends and shepherds and stuff and so on until, about 500 years later, someone thought to grab a frickin’ pen and write it down. Sounds a lot like the game of “telephone,” but they didn’t have telephones.

Or pens, apparently. Regardless, I am grateful for Leviticus 25:25. It started the concept of a Sabbatical!

Who knew? God told Moses that his peeps should work six years and then rest one year. A Sabbatical.

And, lo and behold, I got me one of those Biblical Sabbaticals!

It’s not a year, but three months, and I am beyond grateful for every moment of it. It started July 1. There is one part of the commandment I am not following. The Bible says, “You are not to take your male or female servants on Sabbatical.” I’m taking the males!

By the way, if I’ve been working 54 years, I am actually due 9 years of Sabbatical. But who am I to quibble?

My brother had a more difficult time embracing the German work ethic. He followed more in my Mom’s footsteps. She was a diva, daughter of a West Texas oil baron who became a U.S. Congressman.

She had “people.” So did my brother. He was wildly charismatic and manipulative, and could get anyone standing in the vicinity to do his work for him. When I was 14, I got a learner’s permit. My brother, 16, had a driver’s license. He purchased a 1949 Ford for $700. It was financed by Mom and Dad for a $50 a month payment.

In no time, he defaulted on the loan. Rather than sell it, I took over the payments and, voila, I owned a car. At 14. What is ironic is that I couldn’t drive it without him in the car with me! Ouch! But I became his people: chauffeur. I needed money! My Dad twisted a couple of arms of friends who owned a big cafeteria and they hired me as an

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under-age dishwasher at $.81 an hour. I also got Mom and Dad to float me the money for a new lawn mower and edger and I started my lawn mowing business. I paid them back by doing our lawn for free! I was off and running! Throw in a paper route. Cha-ching.

In no time, I had the Ford paid off and soon upgraded to a 1957 Chevy! I haven’t stopped working—or trading in cars—in the ensuing 54 years.

I could never list all of the jobs that followed dishwashing, lawn mowing and newspaper delivery.

There were some doozies. Four of my favorites were shoe salesman, singing waiter, apartment manager (in Switzerland) and Kelly Girl. OK, some of that may need a little additional information.

In 1968, as a junior in high school, I was working as a shoe salesman in one of the more diverse malls in Fort Worth at that time. I was at work when news of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination came over the radio. I will never forget that moment. Everything Viewing the waves from the rocky beach in the mall turned silent. Then, as people streamed out into the mall, it changed into wails and sobs of disbelief and unfathomable grief.

The mall stayed open for a while, we shared our grief for a bit and then we all went home. It was the first time I had literally and figuratively put myself in the shoes of a community other than mine.

This moment was one of the milestones in my future life as an activist. It was that very fall, 1968, my senior year, when my high school With family visiting Hawaii first integrated.

I needed the money for child supIn 1977–78, during graduate school, port, so I sacrificed myself to the world of typing. It was actually Dr. I was a singing waiter at an Italian Kelly Girl. First assignment: in a eatery in Dallas. I was the worst pretty dirty car battery company waiter ever. A much better singer. inputting names and addresses.

I was horrible at my job because I have absolutely no idea what I when it came my time to perform was putting them into, but it was (we were on rotation), I just didn’t tedious. I learned nothing about care one bit about my patron’s food batteries. getting cold. I was going to sing, dang it. It was a lovely place with a $3 bottomless wine glass. Many was Then, there is the joy of my life.

My payback for all of the odd jobs the time when a customer of mine I did. In 1987, I started conductwould literally fall out of his/her ing LGBTQ choruses and never chair. And simply had to wait until Figaro was finished to be helped up! looked back. That’s 32 years without a break. I’ve conducted many In 1980, my then wife and two chilof them. I actually worked with 40 dren packed everything we had of them in the 2 years I was Artistic and moved to Switzerland. I had Director in Residence for Gay and scored the position of resident bariLesbian Choruses before moving to tone with the Swiss National Opera San Francisco. My 8 2/3 years have in St. Gallen. That is really glamorbeen incredibly rewarding. Now ous. But the salary was not glamormy extra work is guest-conducting, ous for 4 people. So as not to live in doing book tours, presenting at cona “vintage, historical” apartment, I ventions and speaking. Way bettook the position of apartment man- ter than any of the crazy jobs I had ager of a nice building. All was well through the years. until the snow started falling. I figSo, here I am, starting my three ured shoveling the snow and mopmonths. ping the inside stairs once a week was going to suffice. Not so much.

Of course, most of you know this The Swiss. Clean. Trains on time.

Sabbatical is less about five decades Clockwork. Shovel and mop mornof work than it is a chance for me to ing and night were required. So, it catch up emotionally. In two short was shovel, mop and sing. Shovel, years, I’ve lost my only Brother mop and sing. (the one with the 1949 Ford), my Father (who kept me on task) and In 1987, there was Tim the Kelly my daughter (the light of my life).

Girl. For those of you unfamilIn fact, it began last week with my iar, it’s a temp agency. Kelly Girl was the top of the line. I had begun whole family in Hawaii, saying work in Dallas after coming out and goodbye to her.

It’s time for Tim to regroup for the next amazing part of my lucky life! Thus, my final Bible reference from Ecclesiastes. To everything there is a season. I just started my three months with equal parts terrified and grateful. I have a plan. (Of course, I do. Thanks, Dad) My plan is: to heal to break down to build up to weep to laugh to mourn to embrace to seek to keep silence to speak to love.

Yes, I cherry-picked the parts I liked from the original Bible passage. I have no intention of dancing during Sabbatical. Even with my male servants in tow.

Thank you for your love and support these years. Much love.

I am going to sabbat better than anyone ever sabbatted.

Note to self: it’s not a contest.

PS. I will still be writing my monthly column. No lazy sluggard here.

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

Al Fresco Dining and a Show?

That and More at San Francisco’s 20-Year-Old Foreign Cinema

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CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2019)

taste to learn about wine. After that, the (now defunct) wine-focused restaurant Bacar offered me a sommelier position, so I worked there from 2006–2008. That’s where I went through testing and got to taste even more wine.”

What I love about the menu is the unexpected combinations. Dinner offerings include such dishes as New Bedford sea scallops with Thai coconut curry broth, sweet potato, Tokyo turnips, cumin basmati, poppadum and toasted peanuts; Pacific swordfish, Moroccan blood oranges, mojo verde, papas bravas, almond romesco, roasted kale and Meyer lemon mayo; Acquerello risotto scented with saffron, English peas, asparagus, chard, toasted gar-

Tucker has a funny story about one of her first experiences at Foreign Cinema: “I’ve spent a lot of time in Europe, but I also lived in the Bay Area when I was a teenager. We used to celebrate birthdays at Foreign

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If you want to take Foreign Cinema home with you, you can purchase The Foreign Cinema Cookbook, Recipes and Stories Under the Stars. And since the restaurant is celebrating its 20th anniversary this fall, stay tuned for some special events. A special Fellini-themed 20th anniversary party will take place on September 19 and will benefit a local charity. Some of the upcoming winemaker events include: Ghostwriter with Kenny Likitprakong on July 18; En Cavale & Methode Sauvage with Wolfgang Weber and Chad Hinds on September 12; and Nouveau Beaujolais and Cru Beaujolais (aka Bojo Fest) with Sam Imel of Kermit Lynch on November 21.

PHOTO BY CHARLIE VILLYARD PHOTOGRAPHY

“When I started, they asked me about winemaker dinners,” she adds.

“And I thought: what about doing it differently, inviting a winemaker in and have wines by the glass, but have it be for everyone at the restaurant?

This goes along with making wine more accessible. Now, we do these winemaker dinners every other month. We have a good mix of sommeliers—some well-known and some not so well-known. I try to make it affordable.”

Because Karl the Fog was having one of his episodes, we opted to sit inside—but the atmosphere there is just as lively and fun as outside.

So, grab your date (or just yourself), bring a sweater (just in case) and get ready to celebrate al fresco as Foreign Cinema enters its third decade of great food and entertainment.

For more information or to make reservations, visit Foreign Cinema online at: http://foreigncinema.com/ David Landis, aka “The Gay Gourmet,” is a foodie, a freelance writer and a PR executive. Follow him: @david_landis, email him at: david@landispr.com or visit online at: www.gaygourmetsf.com

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“I like to offer wine that surprises people,” Tucker says. “I love Eastern European and Loire Valley wines— the esoteric wines are the ones I’m passionate about.”

lic, Dutch fontina and Parmigiano Reggiano; or a heritage brined pork chop, tabil spiced, grilled plum, smoky shell beans, spring onions and chicories with balsamic jus.

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When we dined there, we can attest to the freshness of the oysters: we started with Mad King, Sea Hag and Olympia oysters (with the tasty Asti Spumanti); my husband had the Chateau de Peyrassol still rosé wine (in preparation for an upcoming trip to Provence). From there, we shared an utterly delicious and inventive soup with an unusual combination: apple, turnip, cream and spices; an uber-fresh Hamachi; a just-caught halibut (cooked perfectly, still moist) with seasonal, flavorful fava beans; five-spice duck breast, duck leg confit, peach, fava beans, butter beans, celery root and breadcrumbs; and a sesame fried chicken, crispy and tender.

(The Gay Gourmet can attest to how surprising the Aspi Spumanti is. When visiting there recently with my niece, she ordered it and I thought, “Uhoh.” And then when you taste it, it’s crisp, effervescent, dry and delicious.)

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PHOTO BY CHARLIE VILLYARD PHOTOGRAPHY

“As far as fine dining restaurants, there aren’t many lesbian wine directors,” explains Foreign Cinema’s dynamic General Manager and Wine Director Shannon Tucker to me for the San Francisco Bay Times.

“I was very lucky. I interned at Chez Panisse and then I worked for Tartine Bakery in the early 2000s.

I had bartended in college. When they were planning Bar Tartine, they asked me to work behind the bar there. I said yes, but maybe I should learn about wine. They introduced me to the wine buyer, Steve Kopp. He told me that I needed to

What are Tucker’s favorite dishes at Foreign Cinema? “I’m a sucker for the brandade (which is a blend of salt cod, potatoes, garlic and chilies; served with house pickles and grilled bread).

I would eat it all the time. It goes with white wine, red and sparkling. I also love anything from the raw bar: oysters, crab or whatever is fresh.”

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PHOTO BY LEONARD MARTIN HUGHET

And, did you know that Foreign Cinema has one of the few lesbian wine directors around?

Shannon Tucker, Foreign Cinema’s General Manager and Wine Director

Cinema. On one of my birthdays, my Dad had brought back a firecracker candle from Hong Kong that set the tablecloth on fire!”

The approach is informal, but the selection is formidable. Tucker has expanded the wine selections to include almost 1400 labels, which is among the largest of such offerings in San Francisco. Does she have a favorite wine on the menu? “The wine menu changes, but there are a couple that we always serve. The Asti Spumanti is always on the menu, because it’s my wife’s favorite wine. It’s made in the champagne method, a single vineyard.

It’s a wine that was industrialized, but if made well is delicious.”

That’s the idea behind the nearly 20-year-old Foreign Cinema, San Francisco’s Mission District restaurant that marries innovative California cuisine with screenings of foreign films in its convivial outdoor courtyard.

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What is it about a dinner and a show that makes a night on the town special? The combination of good food and an enlivening artistic endeavor just makes for a great date night.

And it’s even better when it’s onestop shopping.

PHOTO BY CHARLIE VILLYARD PHOTOGRAPHY

David Landis

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The Gay Gourmet

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She continued, “I grew up in Europe and we would have wine with dinner every night. Wine has become more a part of American food culture now. When I originally took over at Foreign Cinema 8 years ago, I wanted the restaurant to be a place where you can get a really great bottle of wine, without such a formal atmosphere. Foreign Cinema can change, depending on what you’re looking for. You can go for a casual dinner or a full, special memorable evening. There aren’t many restaurants in San Francisco where you can do that. The wine list mirrors that approach. It takes away a lot of scariness. Wine shouldn’t be intimidating—it should be all about pleasure.”

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TING (continued from page 4)

GAFFNEY & LEWIS (continued from page 8)

SISTER DANA (continued from page 21)

This budget includes $85.8 million for additional community engagement and outreach.

boldly opening the doors of City Hall for LGBTIQ couples to marry, revealing queer love to the nation unlike ever before. We remember how some of the prominent anti-LGBTIQ opponents acknowledged that their words and actions had given the public the impression that they were mean. Indeed, they were—even as they professed not to be.

HAIRSPRAY, winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, is a fabulous fifties flashback, piled bouffant-high with laughter, romance, and high-energy, utterly memorable songs. Based on the 1988 John Waters film, HAIRSPRAY features music by Mark Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman & Mark Shaiman, and a book by Mark O’Donnell & Thomas Meehan. It is playing now through August 11 at Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th Street. https://www.bamsf.org/boxoffice

One of the great joys and reasons for the success of the marriage equality movement was that its primary focus was on what’s right about LGBTIQ people and our love, and not what’s wrong with someone else, as the other side argued over and over. Indeed, upon victory we were showered with love ... far better than the alternative!

BRING IT ON, QUEEN! is the all new drag show parody spectacular brought to you by PEACHES CHRIST PRODUCTIONS celebrating the pop movie cheer squad hit, Bring It On. The show stars real-life sibling rivals Monet X Change (winner, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 4) and Bob the Drag Queen (winner, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 8) as captains of drag queen cheer squads who must battle one another for a national championship trophy. Written by Peaches Christ, the show promises to be a dance-heavy, hilarious send-up that will have you cheering for more. July 13, Castro Theatre, 4 pm and 8 pm. https://bit.ly/2XUjsnV

We also make meaningful investments to honor the contributions of LGBTQ heroes and inspire the next generation of leaders. This budget includes $1.1 million to support renovation of two LGBTQ public spaces in San Francisco, Harvey Milk Plaza and Eagle Plaza; $500,000 for the National LGBTQ Center for the Arts; $500,000 for preservation of other historical LGBTQ sites and $2 million to support the International AIDS Conference. The Conference provides a forum for the intersection of science and advocacy, including representation from individuals personally affected by AIDS, with the common goal to end the epidemic.

Our state budget takes steps to improve the lives of many Californians who are struggling and makes investments to ensure a strong future for our state. We can all be proud of this work.

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

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.

ROSTOW (continued from page 6) deserve equal treatment. According to Politico, the panel was conceived without any input from the State Department’s human rights bureau, veterans of the subject who have presumably thought long and hard about America’s moral posture in the world. So much for them.

But I return to my original confusion. We are no longer a principled role model for the world to begin with. We hold asylum seekers in abysmal detention centers, hobnob with dictators, turn our backs on allies, impose punishing tariffs, threaten violence. Our credibility on human rights has evaporated. What further harm can this commission really deliver?

(For the record, the preferred term appears to be “inalienable,” although “unalienable” was used in the final, but not the draft versions, of the Declaration of Independence. Both adjectives have the same meaning.)

Should Old Acquaintances Be Forgot?

What a turgid column I’ve written this week. Sorry.

Do you think Trump will get himself caught up in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal? I’ve sometimes thought that Trump’s downfall could come out of the blue, not from Russians or money laundering or groping, but from one, single, new, easy to understand, unexpected incident that will prove to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

An unforgivable comment on tape.

An undeniable crime. An inexcusable rally rant. An indefensible blunder that collapses the house of cards, leaving his base at odds and the Republican senators speechless. A girl can dream.

Speaking of Epstein, I briefly worked as a consultant to crazy British press magnate Robert Maxwell, an odious bully who intimidated everyone who crossed his path. To this day, one of my deepest regrets is sitting through a lengthy meeting with about six other people, while he railed insanely

This is the 60th anniversary of the SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE. Every year they put on free political theater in Bay Area parks. Using the classic pirate novel Treasure Island as its inspiration, the show is the story of Hawkins, a civil servant in San Francisco, who accidentally stumbles upon the plans of a developer, L.J. Silver. Through bribery and label brutality, Silver is overriding all of the clear health, safety and human concerns regarding developing Treasure Island for his own greed. For info and schedule of dates and parks, see https://bit.ly/2Xzx7MZ

against us all and made cruel phone calls, excoriating other employees and calling them into the office on a holiday weekend to reexamine corporate decisions from years earlier.

Equal parts funny and sexy, BALONEY is an evening of theater, dance, striptease, song, comedy, & acrobatics unlike anything you’ve seen before. Join the BALONEY Boys on a wild journey from corporate office to Dore Alley, from beach day to kink play, Sleepaway Camp to the Iron Throne! Playing 6 dates: Thursday, July 18–Saturday, July 27 at Oasis, 298 11th Street. https://www.sfbaloney.com/tickets

Why didn’t I just stand up, tell him what I thought and walk out? I was only a consultant! At any rate, his daughter Ghislaine, whom I saw from time to time, was apparently in charge of finding young girls for Epstein’s amusement. I remember several obsessive conversations with her about dieting, at a time when she weighed nothing and I was a size six.

Race Bannon, Jared T Hemming, Alex Ray and Strut invite you to MAGNEKINK, a social event for San Francisco’s queer leather/ fetish/kink community at 470 Castro Street on July 22, 7–9 pm. The event is FREE, and all are welcome! This is the 6th annual social in honor of UP YOUR ALLEY weekend. This year’s event will feature a live DJ, raffle prizes, complimentary refreshments, and clothes check.

I think of that period of time when I consider the people who work for Trump, tiptoeing around and trying to maneuver around his tyrannical outbursts. I did that.

But Ghislaine Maxwell! She recommended no breakfast, a salad for lunch and white wine in the evenings with a small and balanced dinner. arostow@aol.com

HARVEY MILK CLUB presents its 43RD ANNUAL GAYLA: Queer ‘70s Prom. The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club invites you to enjoy the prom that queers never got to experience, and with a 1970s theme, including dinner in the San Francisco War Memorial Green Room on Monday, July 29, 6–9 pm. https://bit.ly/2XXptQF Sister Dana sez, “After watching the Democratic debates, I’m voting for my ticket of President Kamala Harris & Vice President Pete Buttigieg! Do they have a prayer of a chance? This nun is praying so!”

Pets with Pride

The San Francisco Bay Times photography team at SF Pride captured images of many dogs–and one large pig–escorted by their owners in the 2019 Pride Parade. At least two contingents were devoted to canines, included Muttville Senior Dog Rescue and Everyone Loves a Corgi. Our own contingent included one fine pup, accompanied by the ultra furry dog’s owner.

CHEN (continued from page 20) (EPA), providing technical assistance to Native American communities in building and developing environmental protection programs such as climate change mitigation adaptation plans on reservations and tribal lands.

homeless people in [San Francisco’s] Tenderloin district,” he said. “I’ve also raised nearly $10,000 riding in the AIDS/LifeCycle for the past two years. Honestly, if I didn’t have a fulltime job, I would fill up my day 24/7 with various volunteer work.”

Although his career followed his love and passion for the environment, Hernandez’s heart is, and will always remain, with his community, and especially that which includes LGBTQ individuals, immigrants and migrants. As a volunteer at Refugee Transitions, Hernandez provides much needed support, resources and friendship to youths, individuals and families who recently came to the United States.

Recently, a friend of his suggested that he should audition to dance for Broadway Bares San Francisco, a performance program through the Richard/Ermet Aid foundation that supports HIV/AIDS initiatives, homelessness, and helping at risk youths. Having an athletic as well as a dancing background, Hernandez excitedly agreed. “Anything for charity!”

“I was conflicted and had to walk myself through the process,” he said.

“I wanted to do it for the people Broadway Bares serves, but I would have to take my clothes off. I wanted to dance, but I would have to take my clothes off. I wanted my family and friends to see me perform, but I would have to take my clothes off.

In the end, I decided to do the show because I was taught that whatever I do, and however I do it, I do it with courage, strength and kindness.”

But there was one caveat. He had to, one by one, remove his clothes while dancing for an audience. Well, this was certainly a conundrum. On the

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

“I am currently on the Board for Mama G’s, where we serve hot meals and provide hope to hundreds of

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ ANSWER (Question on page 22)

C) Education Since 1990, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network has been championing LGBTQ issues in K–12 education, with the mission to create safe and affirming schools for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

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one hand, he loves to dance and has given his all to good causes. On the other hand, he would have to bare his body to who knows how many people.

Historic Documentary Before Stonewall Gets a Rerelease

Film Gary M. Kramer The newly restored 1984 documentary Before Stonewall will screen at the Roxie Theater on July 18, 19 and 22.

The film—directed by Greta Schiller, co-directed by Robert Rosenberg and executive produced by John Scagliotti—traces LGBT visibility and pride, as well as homophobia in America up to the landmark riots.

But we veer away from that with the butch/femme culture section that is not geared to any year. We went back and forth, but we were talking about each decade to bring the audience along and see how these radical queer activists didn’t just spring to life in whole cloth—it was the political, social and culture changes that lead to the Stonewall riots.

Gary M. Kramer: Can you talk about incorporating the film clips, photographs and other materials that you use to illustrate each time period?

Barbara Gittings and protesters, Philadelphia, circa 1960s, courtesy of First Run Features

Through film clips, photographs and interviews with prominent members of the queer community (Harry Hay, Barbara Gittings, Allen Ginsburg, among others, as well as ordinary gay and lesbian folks), Before Stonewall shows how the queer community evolved, sometimes in secret. The filmmakers play up and break down stereotypes and they describe activist efforts and same-sex affections and attractions. They additionally describe illegal behavior, queer rebellion and the way that social attitudes in each decade changed—or how they need(ed) to change. The result is an empowering history lesson.

In a recent conference call, Schiller and Rosenberg chatted with me for the San Francisco Bay Times about their historic documentary.

Gary M. Kramer: Before Stonewall provides a history lesson of queer life through the lens of art, culture, politics and society. Can you talk about the decade by decade approach to show LGBT visibility?

Robert Rosenberg: We were focusing on the twentieth century, based on the research John D’Emilio and Allan Berube did. It made sense to look at pre-WWII, WWII and the ‘50s, and then the ‘60s leading up the riots as the climax. It’s three acts.

Greta Schiller: We had the idea to make the film about the homophile movement, but it became very clear once we got funding that we wanted to go from turn of the century to the riots—that’s when homosexuals began to have a cultural identity.

There wasn’t any archive to look up gay life in the ‘50s, so the research director, Andrea Weiss, came up with strategies, spending hours in the national archives. She would pore over material. One example she gave, of the men exercising in WWII—who’s to say the men filming them weren’t gay? It was so homoerotic! So instead of looking at gay bar raids, Andrea looked for undesirables, drag queens, perverts and police raids. She joked she was a missing persons bureau organizing things. She also had to convince folks that their snapshots were history to let us use an image.

Robert Rosenberg: There were some community-based LGBT archives. They didn’t have movie images, but they did have lots of photos and activist magazine covers. The more personal fill-in stuff we got from the community, but the movie images were difficult.

Greta Schiller: Vito Russo, who found every queer representation in Hollywood film, was tight with Andrea and gave her the nightclub [film] clip with the swishing guys and the lavender cowboys scene.

Gary M. Kramer: There were several examples of censorship issues—books and films in the ‘20s and ‘30s, as well as Howl in the ‘60s. What can you say about the suppression of queer culture?

Robert Rosenberg: One of the challenges was a lawsuit about being able to send [queer] material through the mail. Allen Ginsberg won a similar lawsuit.

Greta Schiller: I remember talking to Barbara Grier, who was active in The Ladder. She told a story about how hard it was to get women to have their photo on the cover or

inside their magazine. Communists were also closeted at the time; people outside the party didn’t know they were in the party, even though they were leaders. Homosexuals, same thing. They were closeted but out. It’s a weird thing.

Robert Rosenberg: Lorraine Hansberry wrote for The Ladder under a pseudonym. For the majority of people, it was repressive and dangerous. We need to remember that and honor that as well.

Gary M. Kramer: What were your criteria for whom to interview? The film features a mix of well-known and unknown people. How did you find them and get them to agree to discuss their lives/work?

Robert Rosenberg: I contacted lots of people, asking if they knew people over 70. That’s how I found Ted Rolfs, who makes the comment, “From Stonehenge to Stonewall.”

He volunteered at the San Francisco community center. He was a real find and not on the radar of historians. José Sarria, Harry Hay and Audre Lorde, we sought out.

Greta Schiller: When we started the project, we put ads in print media and sent out press releases. We wanted people to be geographically dispersed as well: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York. We had local researchers. We put a call out that we were looking for this or that and we’d pre-interview folks so we could find the best people to represent a story from each decade. Donna—who talks about her girlfriend being put in a mental institute—we were in her house and she was flirting like crazy with Andrea.

Andrea used her charm to get Donna to let us use her photographs. We had to seduce people to be on camera.

Gary M. Kramer: What are your thoughts on how things have changed in the 35 years since you made the film?

Robert Rosenberg: Ironically, I think that that moment in 1983, making the film, is now a historical moment for millennials. It’s before they were born. © 2019 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 S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area

CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2019)

The 9th annual Castro Valley Pride will be held on Saturday, June 13, Noon-5pm at Castro Valley High School, 19501 Redwood Road (near Heyer Avenue) in Castro Valley with more than 80 vendors on hand offering food, merchandise, information and more.

COMING UP

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS Compiled by Blake Dillon http://sfbaytimes.com/

11 Thursday Aunt Charlie’s Angels by Tim Snyder @ Tenderloin Museum, 398 Eddy Street. A free public celebration and opening reception for the Ducal Court exhibition, featuring original, multimedia portraiture paintings by Tenderloin artist Tim Snyder, as well as performances by the Ducal court. 6-9pm. http://www.tenderloinmuseum.org Dee’s Keys Piano Bar @ Beaux Castro Cocktail Lounge, 2344 Market Street. Join Dr. Dee Spencer for drinks, music and singalongs every Thursday for Happy Hour and there’s no cover. 4-8pm. http://www.beauxsf.com All Vinyl Tribute to David Bowie @ The Cat House, 3255 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. DJ Daisy Van Tassel and DJ Major Thom will spin tunes for this celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the release of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity. “ 9pm-1pm. http://www.thecathousebar.com The Second City’s Left Leaning and Always Right Performances @ Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley. The Second City crew returns to Berkeley to celebrate nearly 60 years of cuttingedge satirical revues. 8pm.

Continues through July 14. http://www.berkeleyrep.org Rice Rockettes Presents Back to Basics! @ Lookout, 3600 16th Street. The troupe presents a tribute night revisiting their seminal performances. 10:30pm. http://www.lookoutsf.com NightLife LIVE @ California Academy of Sciences, 55 Concourse Drive. The first of four live shows to be held in the West Garden, this event features Montreal trio Men I Trust and singer-songwriter mk.gee.

Co-presented by Noise Pop with DoTheBay, Deep Eddy Vodka and Maggie West. 6-10pm. http://www.calacademy.org

12 Friday Cabaret Karaoke @ Feinstein’s At The Nikko, 222 Mason Street.

Participants are invited to belt out their favorite songs while backed by a five-piece band composed of top Bay Area musicians. 6pm through July 24.. http://www.freinsteinssf.com Cabaret Musical Revival @ San Francisco Playhouse. The classic Tony Award-winning musical tells 28

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the story of Cliff and Sally’s love story and also reminds us of the horrors humans are capable of.

Continues through September 14. http://www.sfplayhouse.org

13 Saturday AIDS 2020 Town Hall - San Francisco @ 730 Polk Street. The event is one in a series of town hall gatherings designed to provide information and answer questions on the 23rd International AIDS Conference planned to be held in the Bay Area in July 2020. 10am. http:/www.sfaf.org Bastille Day Festival 2019 @ Embarcadero Plaza-North West, 40 Clay Street. Enjoy French food, beverages, live music and family activities. 11am-7pm. http://www.bastilledaysf.org Comedy and A Couch: An Intimate Evening with Vickie Shaw @ Manny’s, 3092 16th Street. The show features award-winning lesbian comics Vickie Shaw and Jennie McNulty with stand-up performances plus Jennie interviewing Vickie on the hottest topics of the moment. 7:3010:30pm. http://www.welcometomannys.com

14 Sunday Lesbian Single Mingle @ Jolene’s Bar and Restaurant, 2700 16th Street. Meet real women and have conversations without having to yell over music. 4-6pm. http://www.jolenessf.com Dot’s Sunday Hoedown @ The Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Avenue, Albany. This edition of the ongoing event named in honor of the Ivy Room’s owner will feature Tremolo Saints, Little Buffalo and Rolling Thunder. 4pm. http://www.theivyroom.com

15 Monday Building Queer Political Leadership @ Manny’s, 3092 16th Street. The Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA), the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, and Team Q of the United Democratic Club are cosponsors of this panel discussion about how to increase LGBTQ political representation and build a pipeline of leaders. 6-7:30pm. http://www.welcometomannys.com Queer Stories Reign Supreme Exhibit @ Oakland Museum of

California, 1000 Oak Street. The four-month exhibition includes historical materials, artifacts and archival documents along with representatives of social activism, contemporary artwork, costumes and ephemera. http://www.museumca.org

16 Tuesday Harvey Milk Democratic Club General Membership Meeting @ The Women’s Building, 3543 18th Street. The Club’s regular monthly meeting. 7-9pm. http//www.milkclub.org Perfectly Queer Reading @ Dog Eared Books Castro, 489 Castro Street. Novelist Meg Elison and poets Jan Steckel and Michael Harris will read from new works.

Door prizes and refreshments. 7pm. https://bit.ly/2xDpb2H

17 Wednesday Boy Erased Film Screening @ San Leandro Library, 300 Estudillo, San Leandro. This month’s selection, the film is presented by the Lavender Seniors Film Series. 1-3pm 3rd Wednesdays. http://www.lavenderseniors.org Hairspray @ Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th Street. Winner of eight Tony Awards, this family-friendly musical brings the 60s in Baltimore to life. Through August 11. http://www.bamsf.org

18 Thursday Digital Democracy with the World’s First Transgender Cabinet Member @ Uber Headquarters, 4th Floor, 1455 Market Street. Audrey Tang, Taiwan Digital Minister, is an anarchist hacker with an IQ of 160. She will present a virtual fireside chat. 5pm. https://bit.ly/2xHN6he 39th Jewish Film Festival Opening Night - Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles @ Castro Theatre, 490 Castro Street. The featured film is a joyous documentary about the creators of Fiddler on the Roof. 6:30pm. Festival continues through August 4. http://www.sfjff.org A Great Ride: Adventures in Lesbian Aging: Film Screening @ GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street.

Filmmaker Deborah Craig will introduce a screening of her award-winning film A Great Ride, a 30-minute documentary about Bay Area lesbians confronting the challenge of aging with determination, dynamism, courage and humor. http://www.glbthistory.org Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight Film Screening @ Tenderloin Museum, 398 Eddy Street. The film,

by Susan Stryker, Kim Klausner and Michelle Lawler, which chronicles the remarkable experiences of Vicki Marlane, a drag performer still strutting it onstage in her seventies.

Vicki takes us on the ride of her life.

7-9pm. http://www.tenderloinmuseum.org

19 Friday Older & Out Therapy Group @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. A free, safe and confidential drop-in group for LGBTQ seniors 60+ to share thoughts, feelings, resources, information and support.

3:15pm. http://www.lavenderseniors.org Before Stonewall @ Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street.

Screenings of ground-breaking documentary presenting a decade-

by-decade history of homosexuality in America; continuing through July 22. http://www.roxie.com

20 Saturday Black and Blue Ball: A Night of Leather, Lace and Drag @ SF Catalyst, 1060 Folsom Street.

Benefiting SF Catalyst and the Imperial Council of SF, the first annual celebration of all things leather, lace and drag will include live performances, fetish and fun.

7-10pm. http://www.sfcatalyst.org Dollylicious! @ Michaan Theater, Alameda. Dr. William Sauerland, artistic director, and the Oakland Gay Men’s Chorus will present a show featuring the music of Dolly Parton. 8pm. https://www.oaklandgmc.org/

21 Sunday Sunday’s A Drag @ The Starlight Room, Powell Street.

Hosted by Donna Sachet, the event features a brunch and a troupe of entertainers. Described as “The Greatest Drag Show in San Francisco,” we agree that it is great!

Every Sunday at 11am. http://www.startlightroomsf.com GALA Alumni LGBTQ Wine Country Pool Party 2019 @ Sonoma Dream House, Sonoma.

Alums and their friends are invited to this 6th annual party hosted by Cornell University GALA and the Ivy Plus organization of Northern California. 1-6pm. scowls@mac.com Klipptones Live! In the Castro @ Jane Warner Plaza, 17th and Castro. Live outdoor performances are hosted by the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District. 1-2pm. http://www.castrocbd.org

22 Monday “Musical Mondays” SingAlong @ The Edge, 4149 18th Street. Sing and drink along every Monday and Wednesday at this landmark LGBT bar to favorite songs from musicals. 7pm-2am. http://www.theedgesf.com

23 Tuesday La Más Draga Weekly Viewing Party @ Flore, 2298 Market Street. The event is known as Mexico’s Drag Race where, every Tuesday, sisters in CDMX compete.

8pm. http://www.flore415.com Smart Drinking Group @ Strut, 3rd Floor 470 Castro Street.

A weekly drop-in group with no requirements and all goals supported. 6-7:30pm. http://www.strutsf.org

24 Wednesday Castro Farmers Market @ Noe Street, 16th and Market. Every Wednesday through November, the street next to Flore and Lookout is abloom with fresh fruits and vegetables, rain or shine. 5-8pm. http://www.pcfma.org

25 Thursday Sweet Honey in the Rock @ Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley. The renowned performance ensemble rooted in African American history and culture educates, entertains and empowers, through a capella singing and ASL interpretation; its diverse audience includes a variety of communities. 8pm. http://www.thefreight.org S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES JULY 11, 2019 29

Rink Photo Throwback ) CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2018

Round About - Pride Season Photos by Rink

Old Navy’s window on Market Street Macy’s on Union Square

Art fans at the Art Attack SF Gallery’s Pride Party on Pink Saturday, June 29

2007

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hen Cruisin the Castro tours’ founder Trevor Hailey passed in 2007, the sad news came as a shock to many of her friends. She had recently retired with her partner to San Diego, where many envisioned her enjoying a new life under SoCal’s often sunnier skies. A stroke, however, claimed the life of the famed tour guide and Castro legend. She was 66.

San Francisco Bay Times Publisher and “Betty’s List” Founder Dr. Betty Sullivan quickly arranged a memorial for Hailey. It was held on Saturday, October 6, 2007. The rainbow flag at Castro and Market was lowered to halfmast. Mourners heard speakers and viewed a showing of the documentary Only in the Castro with Trevor Hailey, which had premiered at the Frameline film festival that year, just days after Hailey’s death. (Clips from the film are now available at YouTube.) The mood was bittersweet, given Hailey’s great sense of humor that carried through the film and the shared remembrances of her.

It also spilled over into an optional tour that day presented by Kathy Amendola, who purchased the tour company from Hailey. San Francisco Bay Times photographer Rink captured a moment from the tour, when the participants stopped at the corner of Castro and 18th streets. Note that the Rainbow Crosswalks had not been created yet.

They were not painted until 2016.

Sharp-eyed viewers will also note that another member of our team was present on the tour. The blue-clad fellow holding the tape recorder was none other than Dennis McMillan, aka Sister Dana Van Iquity, who covered the news. He was one of many Sisters who admired Hailey and attended the memorial.

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Pink Saturday in the Castro on June 29 The San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band performed at the intersection of Castro and Market Streets on Pink Saturday, June 29.

Jazz singer Paula West, a longtime LGBT community favorite, perStreet venders filled orders placed by festival goers during the formed for a large crowd at the 36th Annual Fillmore Jazz Festival Fillmore Jazz Festival on July 6. on July 6.

SFPD officers in the Castro on Pink Saturday, June 29

Attendees at the Fillmore Jazz Festival who were among the more than 100,000 people attracted by the event

Members of the SF Mime Troupe’s Treasure Island 60th Anniversary show held at Dolores Park on July 4.

A large audience of more than 4000 were on hand for the SF Mime Troup’s performance at Dolores Park of Treasure Island where they heard discussions on the need for affordable housing.

A high energy member of the SF Mime Troupe’s Treasure Island 60th Anniversary show held at Dolores Park on July 4

Filmmaker Jenni Olson with filmmakers Catherine Pancake and Miriam Stewart with youngster Eliana stood under the marquee at the Castro Theater prior ro the screening of Queer Genius where Barbara Hammer and other aritsts were honored.

Co-emcee Dana Hopkins (left) with featured performer Juba Kalamka and coemcees Larry-bob Roberts at the Smack Dab open mic event held at Manny’s on July 7

Audience members were entranced while watching featured performer Juba Kalamka at the Smack Dab open mic at Manny’s on July 7.

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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area

CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2019)

CASTRO STREETCAM presented by

Gilbert Baker’s signature on the NIke billboard at Union Square

Macy’s on Union Square

Celebrity Cruise’s LaTonya Lawson and Chris Sisemore welcomed movie goers at the premiere of State of Pride at the Castro Theatre on June 28

http://sfbaytimes.com/

Filmmaker Meredith Bagley with Raymond Braun and Kin Folkz at the premiere of State of Pride at the Castro Theatre on June 28

Frameline’s Frances Wallace joined Oscarwinning filmmakers Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein along with Frameline’s Paul Struthers at the premiere of their film State of Pride at the Castro Theatre.

items of the week

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman presented a proclamation honoring Frameline’s Frances Wallace at the Frameline closing night party at Oasis on June 30

Nellie’s Cleaning Products What can we say… The Canadians seem to really have a way with creating safe and responsible cleaning products.

Nellie’s is everything from laundry powders to countertop spray, all of them Eco-Friendly, Hypoallergenic and Effective.

Unicorn Snot Sunscreen

Audience members cheered the film Song Lang which received a feature film award at the Frameline film festival during the closing night party at Oasis.

Actor Lien Binh Phat and actress Kieu Tran applauded filmmaker Leon Le who received the audience feature film award for the film Song Lang at the Frameline film festival’s closing night party held at Oasis.

Filmmaker Rodney Evans with Frameline’s Paul Struthers when Evans was honored on stage before the screening of his film Vision Portraits at the Castro Theatre

Filmmakers Philippe Gosselin and JeanBaptiste Huong at the Frameline closing night party at Oasis The marquee for filmmaker Rodney Evans’ film Vision Portraits during the Frameline film festival on June 26

It’s summer in the city, the music’s blaring in the park and so is the sun. Any sunscreen will give you protection, but only Unicorn Snot Sunscreen gives you the extra bonus of glitter. Check out the entire line of Lip Gloss, Sunscreen and Glitter Gel at Cliff’s Variety.

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ith all of the recent earthquakes in Southern California, it might be a good time to check on your emergency kits.

Do you have fresh batteries in your flashlights? Have you switched out your bottled water recently? Do you have important phone numbers written down? It might be a good idea to add N95 Masks to your emergency supplies. They are predicting a heavy wild fire season this year. Be prepared and stay safe.

As Heard on the Street . . . What building or location in the Castro has historical importance? compiled by Rink

Maya Bryne

Stephen Lawson

Dana Hopkins

David York

Kevin Goebel

“Joe’s Barber Shop.”

“Hibernia Beach, the sidewalks in front of the Bank of America at 18th and Castro Streets, and the bank’s windows that display memorial tributes”

“The Castro Theatre”

“Soul Cycle, the former Bank of America building at Harvey Milk Plaza”

“The Castro Theatre”

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