San Francisco Bay Times - May 14, 2015

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF MONTCLAIR WOMEN’S CULTURAL ARTS CLUB

May 14-May 27, 2015 | www.sfbaytimes.com

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Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club—We Will Never Forget You Dr. Betty Sullivan & Jennifer Viegas From the moment we first stepped into Boo Price’s warm, welcoming and truly magical Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club, we felt at home.

This was a beautiful place created by and for women, and particularly lesbians. As legendary singer/songwriter Cris Williamson wrote, “O, we are weeping-ripe for sanctuary. Carry us home, let sanctuary start.” But this was a sanctuary that was also open: to the entire LGBT community, to people from all over the Bay Area and world, and to great ideas that would emerge during passionate conversations in the fireside salon and courtyard.

Williamson’s words, and thoughts of Price’s club, seem all the more meaningful for us today, given that the club has been sold and will be closing at the end of July. The announcement shortly preceded closure of San Francisco’s only remaining bar for queer women, the Lexington Club, and news that

• 500 birthdays, anniversaries, memorials, corporate parties, organizational events, fundraisers, art exhibits, book readings, bar/bat mitzvahs, dance and music recitals, theater productions, musical theater, writers gatherings, f ilm showings, graduation parties, school reunions, song circles, country western/salsa/ballroom/swing/kids dance, psychic readings, meditation groups, PTA events, labyrinth walks, drumming events, film shoots, book groups, Obama phone banks, bi-annual polling place and much more

the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival would be holding its 40th and last festival this August. Price’s club itself holds such venerable status, given that it has been in operation for 20 years.

two decades. Consider that the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club has hosted the following:

Opened in a verdant corner of the Montclair district in Oakland in 1996, it was the site of over 2000 events during those

• 350 weddings, including some of the first ceremonies ever for same sex couples

• 150 concerts (which we can attest were fabulous, as we went to several)

• 100 individual classes with 1000 total meetings on subjects such as music, fitness, trapeze, Tai chi, Qigong, psychic readings, creative visualization, kids and adult dance, improvisation, goddesses, stretch, singing, writing, dream, meditation, cooking, postnatal mom’s fitness, choral, kids’ violin, other music classes of all kinds, kids’ Shakespeare theater and again, much more.

Special mention also goes to the popular open mic Third Thursday events, most recently hosted by talented Janet Rachel.

For those of you who frequented events at the club, we are preaching to the chorus. For those of you who are not as familiar with it, we hope that you will enjoy learning about the club and its remarkable founder, for which volumes could be written, given Price’s many noteworthy achievements. We hope to see you at the Farewell Celebrations, to be held later this month, when we will come together one last time at the beautiful club where so many treasured, unforgettable memories and friendships were forged.

Dr. Betty Sullivan and Jennifer Viegas are the publishers of the “San Francisco Bay Times.”

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDRES GARCIA-PRICE

Photos courtesy of Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club

MWCAC’s Fireplace Salon

Feminists Who Changed America Party, 2007

Valentine’s Soiree 2003

Boo Price with singer/songwriter Margie Adam and activist Sally Gearhart

Women’s music pioneer Alix Dobkin with Boo Price

Boo Price with performers Vicki Randle and Linda Tillery BAY T IM ES M AY 14, 2015

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Barbara Price’s Remarkable Life and Work was an owner and producer of the entire festival

“Life has its own idea of how things will work out,” says Barbara “Boo” Price, who continues to contribute immeasurably to the LGBT community both here and around the globe.

The idea of which she speaks must have been quite outstanding and unique, considering her groundbreaking achievements over the years.

1977–1984 Member of the executive committee of the national board for the National Women’s Political Caucus 1977 Produced the International Women’s Year cultural program for the National Women’s Conference in Houston 1978 Served as a delegate to the founding convention of the National Lesbian Feminist Organization in Los Angeles 1996 Founded the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club

Here are just a few such achievements that we have summarized, in part, from the fantastic book Feminists Who Changed America: 1963–1975 edited by Barbara J. Love (University of Illinois Press, 2006):

In addition to the above mentioned productions, Price over the years has produced: • The Malvina Reynolds’ Memorial Concert with Pete Seeger, Country Joe MacDonald, Holly Near and Margie Adam at the Berkeley Community Auditorium, 1978

1973- Created the first lesbian caucus at the University of California, Davis 1974- Produced one of the first Women’s Music concerts highlighting the work of lesbian artists; now-legendary performers Cris Williamson, Margie Adam and Vicki Randle were at this particular show in Davis Regarding the concert, Price says that it was “a fundraiser for the beginning of the original Bakke case (concerning affirmative action). I sat in the halls of the Law School at lunchtime, and played a little tape of the women singing. I think Vicki Randle sang Sweet Woman and Meg Christian sang If It Weren’t for the Music. I also called every woman’s organization in Davis (garden clubs, sororities, everything) urging all women to attend this concert for and about women. I was so naïve, but driven. Freeborn Hall holds 1000 people and 300 attended. It was actually a huge turnout given that it was so early, but I was a little disappointed. The following day I said it was too stressful, and I would never produce a concert again. However, within a week I was organizing two concerts for the spring: one was a woman-only concert with Meg Christian in a local saloon. The owner used only female waitresses since it was women-only! It was followed by a concert with Margie, Cris and Meg at a theater in Davis that held about 500 people and it was sold out. Women came from all over the state and even out of state. This was the inspiration of the Women on Wheels tour, which followed.”

• Opening Concert for Judy Chicago’s “Dinner Party” at the Herbst Theatre with Margie Adam in 1979 Enjoying the moment with dancers at MWCAC

1975 Co-founded Pleiades Records with Adam and began Women in Production, a production company that trained other women producers and technicians

nist law association of the 70s and 80s

1975 Became a member of the executive committee of the Women & the Law Conference, which was the femi-

1976–1994 Produced stage performances at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival; from 1983–1994, she

1976–1986 Practiced law in San Francisco, with a focus on custody, entertainment law and small business for women

• NWPC national 17-city tour with Margie Adam for Women Candidates in 1980 • The first Bay Area theater performance by Sweet Honey and the Rock (with Ginny Berson), 1980 • Close of the ERA Campaign in Washington, D.C., Constitution Hall with Bella Abzug, Margie Adam and Sweet Honey in the Rock, 1982

• Radical Harmonies Benefit Concert in 1999 (at the MWCAC) with a dozen women performers • San Francisco City Wedding Reception in 2004 for Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon’s first wedding at the Hyatt; Montclair Women’s Big Band performed • Ron Dellums Mayoral Inauguration LGBT Gala in Oakland, 2007, with Linda Tillery, Vicki Randle, and the Glide Memorial Choir • Feminists Who Changed America by Barbara Love - All Contributor Reception 2007 (at the MWCAC) • San Francisco City Hall Memorial for Del Martin with Carolyn Brandy, Sistah Boom, Holly Near, Margie Adam, Linda Tillery, Ellen Seeling, and the Glide Memorial Choir, 2008 • Cris Williamson’s 35th anniversary of The Changer and the Changed for two nights at the Herbst Theatre, 2010 • Gwen Avery Memorial, 2014 • Multiple years of producing the stage for East Bay Pride, Oakland’s Sistahs Steppin in Pride, New England Women’s Music Festival and the West Coast Women’s Music Festival The above doesn’t even address how Price worked at the White House for the Food for Peace Program as well as the President’s Commission on Civil Disorders (the first entity of the U.S. Government to focus on racism). She additionally worked at the State House in Boston, and has traveled the world helping with numerous political and organizational efforts. In her “spare” time, she hosts scuba diving trips and is an expert diver!

Her list of achievements is enough to fill the resumés of multiple individuals because she manages to pack every day of life with meaningful projects, and she is far from being done yet! What’s next on the horizon? We will have to wait and see, but knowing generous Price, she’ll somehow take us and the entire LGBT community along for the joyous ride.

Honorees featured in Barbara Love’s Feminists Who Changed America, 2007

Reflections on a Hallowed Club Infused with Spiritual Energy

By Barbara Price

thought I would figure that out later.

We worked out that I would lease the building with an option to buy it within 15 months. I picked up the key on October 8, my birthday.

Twenty years ago this summer, I was sitting in the audience of a Joan Armatrading concert at the Berkeley Community Theater just before the show began, and my partner at the time leaned over to me and whispered, “I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, but whatever it is is reverberating two feet beyond your head.”

I laughed and said, “Tell you later.”

I’d just received a message loud and clear that I was to drive up and down Highway 24 in the Oakland hills, and find a perfect place to create a community center and performance space primarily for women. That led me to the Montclair Women’s Club on the corner of Mountain and Thornhill.

I spent a couple of weeks just sitting in the bare bones of the Club and waiting for inspiration. Slowly I began to get images of how this utilitarian rental hall would become a beautiful, welcoming center for feminist cultural activities and performances, and would be financed by occasional rentals for weddings and other life celebrations. The entire club was white inside and out; no color, no draperies, no indirect lighting. There were sliding glass aluminum doors and two very utilitarian bathrooms.

The club had been built as a hunting lodge by a group of men from San Francisco. It was the first piece of land broken out of the old Spanish ranchero in the East Bay hills.

Ground was broken in 1919, but by the early 1920s, the building had become a traditional Women’s Club until 1994, when it was sold to Moyer Realty. They were looking for someone to operate the building as a rental venue. I told them I wasn’t interested in renting the club and operating it for someone else—I wanted to buy the Club. I didn’t have the financing and any idea how I would get it, but I

I put the word out to friends that I was doing a “barn raising” and that everyone was welcome. Alix Dobkin had just moved into the house I shared with Susan Brennan. Retts Scauzillo was driving a school bus in San Francisco, but had evenings free.

Peg Morris ran a t-shirt company in the South Bay, but put in lots of hours and brought her rolling scaffolding.

We cleaned every surface, primed and painted—often a number of times as I was working my way through the color palette of Mark’s Paint shop with advice from Jade Freed, a professional painter.

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Barbara “Boo” Price

One night it was raining, and a woman came in under a full slicker and said, “I go by here every night on my way home and see you all in here climbing the walls with paint brushes. What are you doing?!” We laughed and gave her a paintbrush and she came nightly thereafter, crawling in the overhead kitchen cupboards, cleaning and painting. Even the inside of the cupboards had to look good. Late at night when we were exhausted, Alix would keep us going by calling out every old joke she could remember. More and more women came, giving a few hours (or days) at a time.

One night, Elizabeth Seja M in walked in and said, “I think you need a piano and I have one to spare.” It turned out to be the first practice piano played by Antonia Brico as a child

(the f irst professional woman conductor in the world). That old 1920 Estey was the club piano for about 15 years—played by Mary Watkins (she always professed that she loved that old seasoned piano), Ady Torf, Barbara Higbie, Tammy Hall, Margie Adam, Cris Williamson and even Dave Matthews, plus so many others.

A few years ago, Vicki Randle walked in and offered a significant upgrade with her much newer piano from Los Angeles, which wouldn’t fit through her living room window when she moved back to the East Bay. One day, I was testing a deep color of Cranberry Red (which I had mixed myself at the paint store) on the walls of the foyer. Friends hesitantly suggested that it was way too intense and alarming to be the first thing that greeted people. I said, “But it’s magic.

You walk in through a narrow opening that expands into a large open room and it’s all red. What could be better? It kind of secretly anoints everyone in the Goddess when they enter.” I was getting skeptical looks.

Then Judy Grahn walked in to consider the club for her Goddess Series (that went on for several years), and pronounced, “This is my color!” She had published Blood, Bread and Roses.

That sealed the deal. The warm magical color has been a hallmark of the club ever since.

I contacted my old friend Dreamwalker, who had been the quilter at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival during the 20 years I was producing it with Lisa Vogel. I invited her to come stay with me for a few months and paint a mural on the wall of the bar. I had dreamed a fanciful garden named Lilith’s Garden that would be beautiful, fun and playful, and yet imbedded with much magic and deep women’s energy accessible to all. She manifested that, and sponged a dozen colors of latex paint on the walls, which took two weeks. She then began to apply the images. The corners began to crack. We had thought the walls were plaster, but in fact they were 10 layers of paint and 3 layers of wallpaper going back to the 1920’s.

So much water had soaked the walls for weeks that we were able to pull off large pieces of the original handscreened wallpaper from under the paint. A large section of that wallpaper was framed by Elida Scola, and hangs in the foyer today to honor the original women who began this club. We moved on to painting the bar furniture and a whole new set of helpers arrived including Linda Tillery, Abby Abinanti, Margaret Sloan Hunter, Robin Flower, Ginny Berson and many others. Then I began to make table cloths for the bar, and draperies for my office in the adjoining caretaker’s cottage.

Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club Farewell Celebrations On May 23, the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club will host two Farewell Celebrations.

The evening event immediately sold out, so a second event at 1:00pm was added. MWCAC founder Boo Price writes:

Concert series, the Community Sings, Breakfasts, Teas, Talent Nights, Dinners and Parties, we’ve planned a full day of love, fun, conviviality, great food, entertainment and singing together.

“Yes, it’s true. After 20 years of producing a broad range of cultural events at the Montclair Club, the Club has been sold and will close at the end of July 2015. Of course, we will celebrate together big time. In the tradition of the

Linda Tillery, Holly Near, Melanie DeMore, Alix Dobkin, Terry Garthwaite, Barbara Higbie, and a special appearance by The Washington Sisters along with Mary Watkins, Tammy Hall, Adrienne Torf, Dave Belove and David

Rokeach, will perform and lead well-chosen songs for everyone to sing together.

ticket sales and drink tokens.

We’ll start with a grand picnic in the courtyard, move into the ballroom for the concert and a rousing sing-a-long. All the regulars will be on hand with Retts Scauzillo as Stage Manager, David Allen and Leslie Ann Jones running sound, KC Cohen running lights, Sharon Washington wrangling the performers, Sean Araneda as House Manager, Tia Watts, Janet Rachel and Barbara Zoloth in the box office for

And all of you to raise your voices to celebrate the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club and our community over these last 20 years!”

For more information and to purchase tickets to the afternoon event, please visit: http://www. brownpapertickets.com/event/1422925

Boo Price (back row second from left) with Women’s Word featured writers and event crew.

Montclair Women’s Big Band’s Jean Fineberg and band members

Laura Love, Boo and crew

but she wasn’t. So I got a video recorder and taped myself walking through the whole club, explaining every corner to her. I wish I knew where a copy of that recording was now.

More women came to join afternoon sewing circles and to help with the hemming—Ali Marrero, Nancy Schimmel, Terry Sendgraf and Jackie Dennis (eventually Terry ran women’s workout classes and Jackie ran women’s intuition classes here for years).

By spring, I put out another call, and had legions of helpers climb on the roof and paint the entire exterior of the building, including my son Andres home from Los Angeles, Rhiannon, Martha Steinhagen, and so many others. There were lots of extension poles down from the roof. Susan Brennan’s parents, Bob and Helen, came to visit and they bought me beautiful new front doors before they left.

One day I was talking to Therese Edell on the phone, and we both wished she were well enough to visit from Ohio,

Around the f irst Thanksgiving (6 weeks after I first turned the key), I set up a large square table in the middle of the ballroom that would seat about 40 women. I invited a group of friends who had joined the work crew for a large feast I had cooked. They included singers, musicians, writers, natural health practitioners, body workers, psychics and my friends. There was an altar on the front of the stage, for thanks and many blessings for what would be manifested in this building.

We began the dinner with a musical invocation from Linda Tillery, Alix Dobkin, Lauren Carley and Ellen Seeling on trumpet. We called the directions by each musician walking in from one corner of the ballroom, singing/playing a beautiful call. We all shared stories and blessings, and Debbie Fier played the piano in the salon (my growing up piano as a child). Her daughter Reina and Abby’s daughter Emma were tiny girls and they passed trays of chocolates to everyone (eating quite a few as they went). I feel that evening protected the club, and invested it with the highest purpose. It laid the grounding for all that would follow in the next 20 years.

A Halloween Party at MWCAC

So many events have happened at the club in the last 20 years. Concerts by all the musicians, from across the country and round the world covering 3 generations. There have been years of monthly breakfasts served by club members, cooked by Joan Antonuccio after she closed the Brick Hut; and monthly teas with scones and egg sandwiches and sweets from my hands, monthly game nights, monthly Third Thursday Talent Nights coordinated by Alix Dobkin, then Retts Scauzillo and me, and finally Janet Rachel. The Montclair Women’s Big Band was created here by me, Ellen Seeling and Jean Fineberg. The band played here many times for parties, concerts and dances, but also at the Grammys, the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center, and at the SF Jazz Festival with a recording at SkyWalker.

There have been so many people who have worked on staff in all capacities over the years, and I want to name those who have given so much. Retts Scauzillo as Stage Manager, Leslie Ann Jones as the first Sound Engineer, followed by David Allen from Beach Blanket Babylon who has been Sound Engineer for many years now, KT Graham as the first Lighting Director and then KC Cohen as the Lighting Designer who was on stage crew when I was Producer of the Night Stage at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, Tia Watts who drives down from Sonoma County each time to be the Box Office Manager, of course Joan Antonuccio from the Brick Hut days is our House Chef, Sue Stacey who set up my club computer and helped in so many ways, Peg Morris who was my right hand helper in the first year and actually gave me a loan for the down payment on the club until I could qualify for a bank loan, Susan Brennan who supported me emotionally in the first years when I leapt into this crazy made-up idea, Martha Steinhagen who flew in from Michigan or the Caribbean yearly to help with all the physical and mechanical repairs, Lynnee Breedlove who worked here for several years assisting with events, and a special shout out to my son, Andres García-Price, who has crewed for shows, painted the front yard sign, provided many graphic artworks for

letterhead and posters, and produced and directed the Montclair Women’s Big Band DVD. My great thanks goes to my House and Event Manager Sean Araneda who has worked with me here for the last several years from 8am–2am, setting up furniture, equipment and electrical, corralling outside vendors from band members to caterers to f lorists to sound and light guys to all. He’s family to me, and I am indebted to him for accompanying me on this trip.

Of course, there have been many weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, bar/ bat mitzvahs, memorials, recitals, casino parties, and art shows. This club is layered with thousands of celebrations.

It is sad to close the doors on this era, but it will be transformed into its third life as a beautiful LaPort Montesorri School, and all those children will be infused with the spiritual energy embedded in this hallowed club.

My many thanks to the Women’s Community, the LGBT Community, the City of Oakland, and to the people of the San Francisco Bay Area for embracing this club as a rich part of the great culture of the Bay Area. I treasure every minute of the whole run.

Barbara “Boo” Price founded the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club in 1996. See page 4 of this issue for more information about her incredible life, work and achievements.

BAY T IM ES M AY 14, 2015

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“Barbara ‘Boo’ Price has consistently acknowledged that music being written and performed by feminist musicians needed an outlet, a venue, a festival, a sound system, pretty lighting, a tuned piano, a hot meal, an audience. We thank you, Boo, for your beautiful support.”

Linda Tillery

PHOTO BY IRENE YOUNG

“Boo Price has been a faithful supporter of women’s culture for over forty years.

Her journey as a concert producer and artist manager began when the genre known as “women’s music” was in its nascent stages.We will all miss Boo and the Montclair Women’s Club. I wish her the best of luck in this next chapter in her life.”

Holly Near

“The MWCAC was such a classy performance space and Boo always provided a most professional production. I am so glad I got to perform there a few times!

Adieu, Boo. “ Kate Clinton

37th Annual Pride/ Panama-Pacific Centennial Concert

DEUCE (Jean Fineberg and Ellen Seeling) with Boo Price and event crew, Valentine’s Soiree, 2003

Palace of Fine Arts Theatre 5 pm Film Premiere When the World Came to San Francisco

by R. Christian Anderson

7:15 pm Book Talk San Francisco’s Jewel City

by Laura Ackley 8 pm Concert

Melanie DeMore

$25 for all 3 events

Featuring San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco and Special Guests

Tickets: sfprideconcert.org Media Sponsors

“There are so many reasons to say ‘Thank you’ to Barbara ‘Boo’ Price: first of all, anyone who’s ever been to Michigan Womyn’s Fest, met their partners there, had their kids happily running all across the land, or found their freedom in the joy of women making music and home together, gotta give it up to her. She helped start what became a lifeline to many in the community and a place for women artists, craftswomen, and healers to come together in a beautiful sacred (and at times), deliciously profane space. It was the place where Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir made its first appearance. I had the pleasure of singing on every stage and spending time with some of the most extraordinary folks all over the land as well as conducting the Gospel Choir for 2 or 3 years.

Secondly, When she opened Montclair, the club become the rehearsal home of the LT and the CHC. It was the place where Mary Watkins and I did our first concert together. I had the pleasure of being a part of the many concert series that happened over the years, hearing the Montclair Women’s Big Band, Margie, Cris, Holly, Linda, June, Mary, Tammy…the list goes on and on.

Boo made a place where all kinds of folks married, celebrated birthdays and milestones and where we said good bye to cherished loved ones. She created a place for a lot of us to call ‘home.’

So thank you, Boo, for caring enough to make sweet places for all of us to ‘Be.’”

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PHOTOSOURCE: NPR>ORG

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Round About - NCLR 38th Anniversary Celebration Photos by Phyllis Costa, Jo-Lynn Otto, Rink and Steven Underhill stevenunderhill.com

Madelynn “Lee” Taylor (U.S. Army retired) received the Courage Award. NCLR executive director Kate Kendell delivered the keynote address and the Sarah Bush Dance Project presented a performance during the final segment of the evening in which audience members recorded in text messages their pledges of support totaling more than $200,000. The dinner was followed by the Anniversary Party at City View at Metreon, which featured dancing, an array of circus entertainers mingling with the crowd, red carpet photo ops and a variety of games and activities in addition to food and beverages.

PHOTO BY JO-LYNN OTTO PHOTO BY JO-LYNN OTTO

PHOTO BY JO-LYNN OTTO PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY JO-LYNN OTTO

PHOTO BY STEVEN UNDERHILL

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY JO-LYNN OTTO

PHOTO BY JO-LYNN OTTO

PHOTO BY JO-LYNN OTTO

PHOTO BY JO-LYNN OTTO

PHOTO BY PHYLLIS COSTA

PHOTO BY JO-LYNN OTTO

PHOTO BY STEVEN UNDERHILL

PHOTO BY PHYLLIS COSTA

PHOTO BY PHYLLIS COSTA

PHOTO BY JO-LYNN OTTO

PHOTO BY JO-LYNN OTTO

Event co-chairs Tamika Bulter and Kelly McCown welcomed an overflow crowd to NCLR’s 2015 Anniversary Dinner held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel on Saturday, May 2. Honorees included the plantiffs and legal team from Tennessee for the marriage equality case currently before the United States Supreme Court; they received the Justice Award. NCLR Advisory Council member Abby Rubenfeld, who presented the case before SCOTUS earlier in the week, told the story of how the Tennessee case originated and evolved during the past two years.

BAY T IM ES M AY 14, 2015

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In the News

By Dennis McMillan San Francisco Small Business Week - May 16-22 The 2015 Small Business Week in San Francisco schedule includes GGBA’s annual MEGA Make Contact to be held on Tuesday, May 19, starting at 6pm, at the SF LGBT Community Center. San Francisco Bay Times is a co-sponsor along with the Castro Merchants Association and others. A Small Business Conference, including 64 free workshops, will be held on Friday, May 22.

Full details of plans for the week are available on the SF Small Business Week website: sfsmallbusinesswekk. com/events/ Update on Pink Party Planning This year’s Castro party on Pink Saturday, June 27, scheduled 3-8pm, is being overseen by the SF LGBT Community Center in conjunction with community partners. Plans are to have increased security plus close coordination with the Dyke March.

Expanded entertainment options with four stages will also be included.

The party is designated as for all ages, so no alcohol will be sold as part of the event’s activities. Local bars and restaurants, however, will be open and serving alcohol according to legal permits. The SF LGBT Community Center has contracted with ECee Productions for event production services.

Ted Gullicksen Entered into Tenant Hall of Fame To honor Ted Gullicksen, the beloved late executive director of the San Francisco Tenants Union, the union has elected him posthumously into its Hall of Fame. A celebration honoring Gullicksen’s work was subsequently held at the Tenants Union headquarters.

Whether it was running a program to help tenants stave off evictions, or amending legislation to protect low-income residents from being priced out during renovations, Gullicksen was always front and center. sfgate.com Spectrum and Marin AIDS Project Merge The recent merger of Spectrum LGBT Center and Marin AIDS Project in San Rafael has created the Spahr Center. A ribbon cutting ceremony officially inaugurated the new agency. The Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr, founder of both Spectrum LGBT Center and Marin AIDS Project, is the namesake of the new agency. marinaidsproject.org Pride Parade Elects First Blind Grand Marshal Author and disability advocate Belo Cipriani has been confirmed as a Community Grand Marshal in the 2015 San Francisco Pride Parade.

Cipriani joins Judy Dlugacz, Alicia Garza, and Brian Basinger in receiving this year’s honor. Cipriani was fully sighted until age 27, when he was kicked in the eyes in a brutal assault. He has forged on to become a successful writer and an activist for LGBT, disabled and cultural minority communities. hoodline.com Horizons Foundation Offers Free Forum on LGBTQ Aging In its ongoing Philanthropy Series, Horizons Foundation is presenting a free informational event, “LGBT Aging: Keeping the Golden Years Golden.” The forum will be held on May 20, 6–8pm in the Merrill Lynch 8th Floor Conference Room at 555 California Street in San Francisco. A panel of experts, including OpenHouse Executive Director Seth Kilbourn, will explain how decisions we make today impact our health, finances and quality of life far into

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the future. Register by email at events@horizonsfoundation.org or call (415) 398.2333 x103. horizonsfoundation.org American Bar Association to Sponsor LGBT Advocacy Day The American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity will sponsor its first-ever LGBT Advocacy Day(s) on May 18–19. Over the two days, ABA members will have the opportunity to attend a White House briefing and meet members of Congress, build relationships with new members of Congress, and to educate members and their staffs on issues supported by the ABA that are of importance to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community. With nearly 400,000 members, the ABA is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. ambar.org

has worked in City Hall as an aide to Bevan Dufty when he was a City supervisor; served as Mayor Gavin Newsom’s special assistant for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community affairs; and has been the spokesman for the City’s Recreation and Parks Department. Today, Randolph works as a liaison for agencies doing business with the U.S. General Services Administration. alicebtoklas.org Protest Group Demands Ban of Facebook from Pride Parade and Events An activist group is protesting Facebook representatives being allowed to march in the SF Gay Pride Parade. Because Facebook continues to allow members of the queer community to be targeted and reported based on identity, particularly trans men and women, a grassroots campaign, #NoPrideForFacebook, has sprung up. change.org/p/noprideforfacebook

National Give Out Day Supports LGBTQ Nonprofits Give OUT Day is an annual, 24-hour online fundraising competition that unites the LGBTQ community nationally to raise critically need-

AHF Supports Development of Implant to Deliver HIV Drugs AIDS Healthcare Foundation applauds findings recently published in the “Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy” report that scientists have created the first subdermal implant that delivers antiretroviral drugs for up to 40 days to prevent or

ed funds to support a diverse array of nonprofits, including community centers, arts groups, organizers, clinics, student clubs, sports leagues and more.

Launched in 2013, it has raised over $1.6 million for over 500 LGBTQ organizations from all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. This year, Give OUT Day is Thursday, May 21, from 12am to 11:59pm Eastern. giveoutday.org

treat HIV. Numerous medical studies have proven that one of the most significant challenges in suppressing the virus is getting patients to take their medications every single day. While patient studies, federal approval and information on pricing and availability are still needed at this early stage, the news that scientists have created the first implant to deliver HIV medications for prevention or treatment is a potential medical breakthrough that AHF wholeheartedly welcomes. aidshealth.org

Transgender U.S. Navy SEAL Honored at Gala The American Military Partner Association (AMPA), the nation’s largest organization of LGBT military spouses and their families, honored Kristin Beck, a retired transgender U.S. Navy SEAL, at the 2nd Annual AMPA National Gala. The AMPA Gala is the nation’s biggest LGBT military event of the year.

Brett Jones, the nation’s first openly gay U.S. Navy SEAL, was the featured speaker. militarypartners.org

Castro Cares Reports Success So Far Castro Cares has been up and running for several months now and reports success. Castro Cares is a coalition of neighborhood groups, businesses and social service and City programs coming together to improve the quality of life for both those living on the street and those who live, work, shop and play in the Castro/ Upper Market district. The Homeless Outreach Team has been able to permanently house many homeless individuals. Positive referrals were made to mental health, substance use, the Navigation Center, Project Homeless Connect and food resources. Other services provided include assistance in obtaining identification, laundry, employment and school enrollment. castrocbd.org

Nationwide Campaign Engages LGBTQ People in Conversation Over 100 national, local and statebased LGBTQ organizations across the country have launched “Our Tomorrow,” a grassroots and digital campaign designed to engage LGBTQ people in a national conversation about their future. The campaign encourages LGBTQ individuals and friends across the country to share their hopes, fears and ideas in their own words. Our Tomorrow’s digital hub is shareourtomorrow.org Activists are also urged to visit “Share Your Voice, Shape Our Future” at youtube. com/watch?v= of61k3NLF8 Alice Board Member Appointed to City College Board Alex Randolph, Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club emeritus board and long time member, has been appointed to the Community College Board of Trustees. Randolph

Sidewalk Talk Proves to be a Successful Project After receiving funds from a Kickstarter online campaign, the Sidewalk Talk offering free peer counseling during Mental Health Awareness Month was a success. Counselors positioned themselves at 15 locations throughout San Francisco on May 7. This public access gave more people a chance to be listened to right on the streets. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence helped out with the Castro location, which was kept very busy. More Sidewalk Talks are planned in the future. kickstarter.com/ projects/38768919/sidewalk-talk

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BAY T IM ES M AY 14, 2015

9

In Memory of Sam

presented by

A San Francisco Kind of Democrat Rafael Mandelman Regular readers of this column may recall that back in September I wrote about a college friend of mine who had lost his mind and ended up living on the streets of San Francisco. Well, in the intervening months, my friend’s situation only got worse. Arrested multiple times for all manner of petty crimes, he spent much of the last half-year in various Northern California jails before finally being released to a San Francisco halfway house in early April. Just days after arriving, he snuck out and made his way to the Civic Center BART station where he threw himself down in front of an oncoming train and died.

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The disproportionate over-representation of the mentally ill among the homeless is well established and obvious to anyone paying attention. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration tells us that between 20 and 25 percent of homeless individuals in the United States suffer from a severe mental illness, and I have seen other estimates that are higher than that. To be sure, there are plenty of other causes of homelessness, most notably the painful and growing shortage of affordable housing for poor people in our rapidly gentrifying inner cities, but it strikes me that many of the most visible and intractable cases are actually simply individuals with untreated mental illness abandoned to spiral down in plain sight.

The disproportionate over-representation of the mentally ill among the incarcerated may not be as obvious, but (continued on page 26)

Five Building Blocks of Successful Change premise is that individuals “can only successfully adopt new behaviors if they have the five building blocks of successful change.” These are AWARENESS of the need for carrying out the behavior, DESIRE to participate and support the change, KNOWLEDGE on how to change, ABILITY to implement the required skills and behaviors, and REINFORCEMENT to sustain the change.

Do Ask, Do Tell Zoe Dunning

with guest artist BREANNA SINCLAIRÉ

lack of effective societal interventions for people who are going off the rails.

As San Franciscans can see plainly every day on our sidewalks and in our transit stations, there are a lot of people out there who are not able to care for themselves and yet are left to rot on their own unless and until, like my friend, they start committing crimes.

Then, of course, they go to jail, which in some cases may actually be an improvement over life on the streets, but is hardly a therapeutic environment.

In my day job, I am a change management consultant. Usually when I tell people that at a cocktail party I get a perplexed look. I watch the other person quickly assess whether they know what that is and, if they don’t, decide whether to fake understanding or ask me what the heck that is!

My elevator speech is that I help organizations going through major change (for example, a merger/acquisition, IT system implementation, new product introduction, or organizational restructure) understand the impacts to various stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers, donors) and create strategies and tactics to help those stakeholders prepare for the change, get through the change with minimal disruption, and sustain the change. It typically involves building sponsorship for the change within the organization’s leadership, developing targeted communications and designing and delivering training.

It’s a rather lengthy elevator ride, but it’s the best I can come up with.

Basically I spend a lot of time in meetings, make a lot of PowerPoint presentations for executives and project teams, do a lot of “impact analysis” and facilitate lots of workshops and strategic planning sessions.

It may sound boring, but I get to work with a wide variety of people and I help leaders empathize with their employees and all those who may be resistant to whatever change is taking place. I utilize several frameworks and methodologies and change theory, depending on the situation. One very popular framework for change management is the Prosci ADKAR model. The basic

Not only is this useful for guiding organizations through major transformations, but I also think it is an interesting way to build a successful political campaign strategy.

AWARENESS: Before you can support or vote for anyone, voters have to be aware the election is happening and that you are running. Voters have to know who you are and when to vote for you. In crowded fields (like my DCCC race in 2012 with 31 candidates vying for 14 seats), name recognition is the key. That is why candidates wear buttons and ask their supporters to wear buttons and t-shirts. You also notice candidates often put the date of the election on their campaign materials.

“Vote for Zoe on June 7, 2016!”

DESIRE: You have to inspire voters to want to vote at all, as well as to donate and vote for you specifically. Our voter turnout has been abysmal in the United States and particularly California, where turnout in the primary and general elections in 2014 came in at 18% and 21% respectively. Part of that is apathy, inconvenience or cynicism that one person’s vote can’t make a difference. If a voter has not personally met you, they are less likely to make the effort to vote for you. That is why candidates hit the campaign trail hard, meeting as many voters as possible. It is also important to convey that every vote counts. In my 2012 election I beat out the next candidate by a mere 32 votes, in a district covering 60% of the city—I can attest, every vote does count! Obama won in 2008 because he was able to inspire young voters to care enough to get out and vote for him.

KNOWLEDGE: Voters need to know how and why to vote for you. Where do (continued on page 26)

See Our Progress

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At PG&E, our customers are our neighbors. The communities we serve as PG&E employees are where we live and work too.

That’s why we’re investing $5 billion this year to enhance pipeline safety and strengthen our gas and electric infrastructure across northern and central California. It’s why we’re helping people and businesses gain energy efficiencies to help reduce their bills. It’s why we’re focused on developing the next generation of clean, renewable energy systems.

Together, we are working to enhance pipeline safety and strengthen our gas and electric infrastructure—for your family and ours.

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Keeping an Eye on Interest Rates but there is a downside. When interest rates rise, the value of bonds already in the market (and potentially held in your portfolio or bond mutual fund) declines.

These price declines occur as the bond yields rise to reflect the increase in interest rates. In the long run, the bonds will mature at par, or 100% of their initial value, but in the short run, investors may see a drop in investment values.

Money Matters Brandon Miller The Federal Reserve and the monetary policy it pursues is always a matter of interest to investors. The level of intrigue has been particularly acute this year because of growing speculation that the Fed is likely to boost the Fed Funds rate, a short-term interest rate it controls directly, for the first time since 2006.

This creates challenges for investors who may have pursued one investment strategy in a period of declining or stable interest rates. A different approach might be required if the interest rate environment shifts to one where rates trend higher.

Assessing bond market risk today Interest rate risk is always a concern for bond investors, but especially when rates are as low as they are today. Rising interest rates may seem beneficial to fixed income investors who would like to earn higher yields on their savings,

For several years, there’s been significant speculation among market analysts that the interest rate environment was due for a change. Consider it from an historical perspective using the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note at constant maturity as a benchmark: • The yield peaked at 15.84 percent in September 1981.

• Over the next 30 years, yields moved lower, eventually hitting a low of 1.43 percent in July 2012.

• For the last three years, yields have fluctuated in a fairly wide range, from 1.68 percent to 3.04 percent, as investors have digested economic data and Federal Reserve commentaries.

At these current low levels, the general consensus is that rates are likely to move higher, meaning bond portfolios might be at risk of losing value in the near term.

A potential residual effect on stocks The impact of rising interest rates on the equity market is typically less direct

than it is on the bond market. At times in the past when interest rates have moved higher, it has dampened returns in the stock market. There could be a few reasons for this. With rates moving higher, some investors think bonds are more attractive than stocks. Also, higher interest rates could potentially dampen borrowing activity, and even contribute to a slowdown in business activity. Of course, there are many other factors that can also affect stocks and businesses besides interest rate movements.

Regardless of what happens with rates, your age and investment time horizon have a lot to do with how you make investment decisions. Make sure these decisions are in the long-term interests of achieving your financial objectives.

Positioning for a change If past market cycles are any guide, it is inevitable that at some point, interest rates will begin to move higher. The biggest questions are when it will start, and how quickly and dramatic the increase will be. While it may not be possible to eliminate all risk from the impact of rising rates, investors should exercise some caution. Now is a good time to consult with a financial professional about how to prepare for potential changes in the investment landscape that would occur if interest rates begin to move higher.

Brandon Miller, CFP, is a financial consultant at Brio Financial Group, A Private Wealth Advisory Practice of Ameriprise Financial Inc. in San Francisco, specializing in helping LGBT individuals and families plan and achieve their financial goals.

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Upscale can mean many things. For some, it translates to straight-ahead luxury, like a shopping spree through Union Square’s prestige names. For others, it means having a car that’s sportier and more responsive, as if it’s been to the gym every day while watching its carbs.

The two sedans tested here–the Acura ILX and the Hyundai Sonata Sport 2.0T–don’t have identities that inspire envy, but they do deliver on the sportier side of things.

Both Acura and Hyundai are in a pitched fight to raise their brand equity. As cars and their features become more similar, carmakers must imbue their offerings with their brand characters. The allure of a status symbol with a definable personality can be a strong motivator to get a buyer to a dealer.

If you don’t have that allure, then it can be very much like being in the closet, where you’re not being seen, no matter how good you are. And so it is with Acura and Hyundai and many others, as these companies work to produce offerings that make a mark when they’re driven and raise the allure.

Hyundai Sonata Sport 2.0T

In pricing, both the ILX and the Sonata Sport 2.0T top out around $35K, the difference being size: the Acura is based on the compact Honda Civic, while the Sonata is a mid-sized sedan. Size aside, these two sport sedans have very similar personalities.

They have nice firm suspensions, smooth power, and dialed-in driving positions; they both feel engaged.

They also have enough exhaust burble to make them sound kicky as you cruise the Castro (the Sonata Sport, in particular).

Acura has Honda’s revvy i-VTEC valvetrain to bang out 201 horses from its 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine.

The Sonata Sport adds a turbo to its 2.0-liter engine to produce 245 horses.

As a result, the Sonata has more surge. There is such little turbo lag— the time it takes for the turbo’s impeller to spin up and accelerate the exhaust gases—that this Sport feels like

The ILX feels ready too, and its eightspeed automatic, with two more speeds than the Sonata’s, is very responsive. But the terrible shame of the ILX’s revisions for 2016 is the elimination of the sweet-shifting manual transmission. The Sonata Sport doesn’t offer a manual, either.

Inside, the aforementioned driving positions get you ready for serious driving with lower cushions that power up in front for thigh support that gives a real buckety feel. The dashboards diverge: the Acura presents you with a spacey, two-screen setup, while the Hyundai’s one-screen panel is flatter and more straightforward, which befits its more mainstream mission.

Both succeed with appeal. Acura and Hyundai are not forgiven for offering these sporty models without manual transmissions, but both the ILX and the Sonata Sport 2.0T are memorable drives, and they have distinguishing allures.

Now it’s up to their makers to get these cars out of their closets.

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

BAY T IM ES M AY 14, 2015

13

Making San Francisco Streets Safer for Seniors

Aging in Community Marcy Adelman Walk SF, a San Francisco nonprofit pedestrian advocacy organization, is working to make San Francisco a safer, more walkable city for pedestrians.

Seniors and lower income communities are presently more at risk for injury or death from pedestrian traffic collisions.

In 2014, seniors accounted for nearly half of all traffic deaths, even though they represent only 20% of the city’s population. Regardless of age group, people are more at risk when walking in San Francisco than in almost all other cities in the U.S. Approximately 60% of traffic deaths in 2014 were people walking, which is four times the national average.

I recently got a chance to speak with Nicole Ferrara, Executive Director of Walk SF, to discuss the problem. She said, “San Francisco is a city where people can age in place with great access to transit, close proximity to services and activities for seniors to engage in. Our transportation system, however, has not kept pace with other community resources.” Ferrara added, “It’s not safe for seniors to walk when seniors account for approximately 50% of all pedestrian deaths.”

In the recently released report, Street Score 2015: Annual Report Card on Walking (http://bit.ly/WalkSFStreet Score2015), Walk SF documents how well, and not, San Francisco is meeting its goals for increasing pedestrian safety. Ferrara explained that “the report is our way of keeping the city accountable.” It’s important to note that the report card shows no decrease in serious injuries and fatalities, despite new safety projects.

Mayor Lee in 2013 committed to reducing by half, by the year 2021, the number of pedestrians severely injured and killed in San Francisco. In March of 2014, the Mayor revised that commitment to a goal of zero traffic

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deaths by 2024. He also secured $17 million to improve pedestrian safety over the next 5 years. The Mayor additionally rolled out WalkFirst, a groundbreaking pedestrian safety initiative. It is the first of its kind in the country to identify where and why pedestrian collisions occur, with the goal of developing and delivering the most effective safety improvements.

I asked Ferrara why she thought that, despite such efforts and engineering improvements, the city did not meet benchmarks for a reduction in injuries and deaths.

She replied, “Injuries are strongly tied to dangerous street design— streets like Harrison in SOMA, Golden Gate in the Tenderloin, or Geary in the Richmond. These are among the 6% of streets that Nicole Ferrara, Executive Director of Walk SF account for over 60% of severe and fatal traffic deaths.” She continued, (San Francisco Municipal Trans“We will need to see a greater increase in the portation Agency) and SFDPH (San quantity and quality of pedestrian safety Francisco Department of Health) are projects addressing those streets, and that’s working hard to ramp up and hire when we can expect to see the significant more staff,” she said. “We very much declines in severe and fatal injuries that our appreciate the Mayor and Supervisors community deserves.”

Kim, Mar and Wiener for their focus I then asked her why pedestrian and commitment to making San collision incidents are so high for Francisco streets safe for everyone by seniors, in particular. She responded: investing in making our neighborhoods “Seniors are more vulnerable to severe more pedestrian friendly.” and fatal injuries in general. Seniors are less able to recover from collisions. She concluded, “WalkFirst rightfully They are more likely than younger targets resources where they are needed pedestrians to sustain a serious injury, most—on our city’s 6% most dangerous or suffer a fatality. For instance, when a streets for walking. It is a work in senior is hit by a car traveling 30 mph, progress, so we aren’t there yet. Walk that person has a 38% chance of SF will keep pushing and working with survival. Compare that to 15–59 year the city until we have reached our olds, who have a 93% chance of survival. I hope that stat alone target of zero traffic injuries and fatalities.” encourages everyone to slow down.”

She added, “Seniors need longer crossing times, leading pedestrian intervals that give people on foot a head start before those in cars can proceed, new signals at dangerous intersections, and most of all, slower traffic.”

Dr. Marcy Adelman, a clinical psychologist in private practice, is co-founder of the non-profit organization Openhouse and was a leading member of the San Francisco LGBT Aging Policy Task Force.

She and her team at Walk SF are advocating for a comprehensive Safe Streets for Seniors program that would combine more aggressive implementation of senior zones, enforcement of those zones, and public education about them. This program, as well as the non-profit’s other work and Ferrara’s words here, provide hope.

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

“We know the city, especially SFMTA

*

San Francisco Bay Times columnist Heidi Beeler and Priya Kalra tied the knot on March 21 in an inter-faith ceremony including Hindu and Christian elements.

The couple, who met in the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, played a duet at the reception.

Photos by Jane Philomen-Cleland 14

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Cocktail Party 101 the little black dress of events. If you put the time in initially to select what works best for you, you will always be able to have something chic and quick to pull out of your proverbial closet. However, the issue is that for many, a cocktail party appears to be a large, daunting and expensive endeavor when it doesn’t have to be.

Style Courtney Lake

I like to think of cocktail parties as falling into three categories: full bar, signature drink and mixing station. Once you have made a decision on what type of party you want to throw, you can then decide what your total investment (time and money) will be for your festive evening.

A mixing station cocktail party focuses on one liquor, such as vodka, and you provide a variety of mixers for your guests to experiment combining with it. A signature drink cocktail party features one or two mixed drinks that you choose in advance. Depending on the occasion, I love throwing one of these two types of parties. If you opt for a mixing station cocktail party, I like to organize two to three different stations around the house to avoid bar congestion. Each station has a different mixer and a bottle of the signature liquor and different garnish. To help reduce costs and for a fun twist to this idea, I ask guests to bring their favorite brand of the signature liquor to the event. It’s a great way to reduce your costs and to learn about the subtle differences in flavor profiles.

A full bar cocktail party is exactly what it sounds like. It is what your friends might live for—an open bar that includes an assortment of liquors, mixers and toppers. It’s the most expensive

PHOTO BY ADZA

Cocktails. The name alone involves two of my favorite things. That aside, throwing a cocktail party may be my third favorite type of get together to throw. Cocktail parties are easy to execute, and can be as glam or laidback as you want. They are the equivalent of

and most time consuming, because basically you are creating a bar for your friends to get drunk at for free. Unless your company just did its IPO, you are looking to clean out your liquor closet, or you just enjoy dropping several hundred dollars, then avoid this type of cocktail party. Aside from the cost of the liquor and mixers, you are looking at additional costs associated with multiple types of glasses, ice and the inevitable chaos that comes when you end up with 15 open bottles of mixers in your fridge. In my opinion, take your friends out to a bar and open a tab; you will be happier (and just as broke) for it.

But for the biggest impact, the signature drink cocktail is the hands down winner. I love that with this type of cocktail party, the drink can be made in advance and put in decorative pitchers and containers. It’s simple and easy, plus you control costs and, honestly, having a good time on a budget can be

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To round out your cocktail party, be sure to serve a few nibbles to accompany the drinks, like herbed popcorn, roasted almonds and a small assortment of cheeses and crackers. There is no need to do a full spread; your friends came to get their drink, not their ‘eat on’! Follow these simple guidelines and you are assured of having a smashing cocktail party.

Courtney Lake is the interior designer and lifestyle expert behind Monogram Décor (www. monogramdecor.com) and its celebrated blog, “Courtney Out Loud.” His work and writings have appeared on television and in writing including “The Wall Street Journal,” “The Nate Berkus Show,” the “San Francisco Chronicle,” “Life & Style Magazine,” “RUE Magazine,” “Real Simple,” “This Old House” and “7x7 Magazine.”

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Working Toward a Giant Victory in June

Marriage Equality Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis, Marriage Equality USA As anticipation builds for the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision this June, we felt lucky to be able to attend Marriage Equality USA’s annual awards celebration shortly after returning from the hearings in Washington, D.C. The event honored California State Senator Mark Leno, Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, and the World Champion San Francisco Giants. These three honorees symbolize three key elements of the LGBT equality movement that have been instrumental in bringing us as far as we have come.

Senator Leno represents the highest level of legislative leadership. As an Assemblyperson, Leno introduced the first marriage equality bill in the nation—coincidentally, on February 12, 2004, the same day that then Mayor Gavin Newsom opened the doors to San Francisco City Hall for LGBT couples to marry. The California Assembly Judiciary Committee became the first state legislative body ever to vote in favor of marriage equality when it approved the

bill in 2004. Two years later, Leno successfully led the full California Legislature to become the first state legislature to pass a marriage equality bill, although then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the legislation. Leno courageously stood up for our rights on the floor of the Assembly, even as another Assemblyman openly mocked him for being gay as he spoke. Today, states such as New York, Illinois, and Minnesota have all passed marriage equality legislatively. The movement that led to those legislative successes began 11 years ago with Leno and many other supporters and activists.

ity and full LGBT equality are all about. We seek every person’s freedom to marry the person they love regardless of who they are or whom they love. More broadly, our movement seeks the freedom for each person to be able to pursue their own vision of happiness in their life, free from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or any other characteristic of whom a person is. For decades, BALIF has filed numerous powerful amicus or friend-of-the-court briefs advocating for these goals. We look to the U.S. Supreme Court to take a major step forward this June toward our achieving them.

Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF) represents the importance of legal advocacy for marriage equality. When the California Supreme Court in 2008 struck down the state’s then existing marriage ban, California became the f irst state to recognize that LGBT people, just like other citizens, have a fundamental right to marry the person they love and should be protected from governmental discrimination in all aspects of their lives. BALIF was the nation’s very first—and today remains the largest—association of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons in the field of law.

The San Francisco Giants represent the importance of winning hearts and minds and of bold leadership for LGBT rights in the community at large. Professional sports had for so long presented itself as a bastion of male heterosexuality, where LGBT and women were unwelcome. The Giants have actively worked to break those barriers. In 1993, the Giants became the first major league baseball team to have a female public address announcer, and they have had a female announcer ever since. The Baseball Hall of Fame recognized the Giants’ current announcer, Renel Brooks-Moon, as the first female announcer of a championship game in any professional sport, when she was the announcer for the 2002 World Series.

When it formed 35 years ago, it was considered unsafe to use the phrase “LGBT” in its title, and consequently, the organization chose to highlight the phrase “individual freedom.” In many ways, “individual freedom” lies at the heart of what the movement for marriage equal-

The Giants in 1994 became the firstever professional sports team to host a benefit game to end AIDS, with their annual “Until There’s A Cure Day.” In 2011, the Giants became (continued on page 26)

Two Grooms on the Threshold of Their Wedding friends all over the country.

Moving back to San Francisco was easy as we’d never lost touch with friends and family here.

Weddings Reverend Elizabeth River My friends Carl Hungerford and Andy Dvorak are just about to get married—next month! They live in San Francisco and have been together for 5 years. I asked them to talk about how their relationship has developed in the face of educational demands, a new job, and moving across the country not just once, but twice.

Elizabeth River: I hear that you met at a party. What first attracted you to each other?

Carl Hungerford: The moment I met Andy, I knew I had found ‘the one.’ It’s true; I just knew. What attracted me the most was his kindness, his innate sense of humor, and he’s so good looking!

Andy Dvorak: His kind and gentle heart, caring spirit and his willingness to go out of his way to help others.

And he’s so tolerant of my sense of humor!

Elizabeth River: As you dated and were falling in love, what 16

BAY TIMES M AY 1 4 , 2 0 1 5

did you feel was the strongest bond between you?

Carl Hungerford: From the very beginning, we both understood and respected one another. We’re very different people: I’m Type A, a planner who likes to figure things out.

Andy usually lets things evolve.

Andy Dvorak: We complement each other. Carl’s strengths balance out my shortcomings. Best of all, our good communication helps us maintain and even deepen our bond.

We are not afraid to talk about anything, no matter how difficult. We don’t fall into the trap of making assumptions about each other. It’s all out in the open between us.

Elizabeth River: Was it hard for you to move to Washington D.C.? What were the challenges?

And likewise about moving back to San Francisco.

Carl Hungerford: I enrolled in nursing school at Georgetown and we got to know people right away. As a flight attendant, Andy has always had

Andy Dvorak: The move to D.C. was almost too seamless. I got my transfer on the exact date we needed so we could be together. When he completed nursing school, Carl applied for a job here at Hospice by the Bay, so I put in for a transfer to San Francisco. We made some sacrifices for each other with each move, but they only strengthened our commitment. Our unwavering support for each other in all aspects of life just reminds us how great life, and our relationship, is.

Elizabeth River: What are your favorite things about this man with whom you are going to spend the rest of your life?

Carl Hungerford: My favorite things are those qualities that first attracted me to him: his kindness and his sense of humor. Actually, a lot of his jokes are pretty bad, but that’s also what makes them memorable—and they always make me smile!

Andy Dvorak: Carl is very consistent. Over the past 5 ½ years, we’ve had the opportunity to grow together, but I am marrying him for the same exact reasons that attracted (continued on page 26)

Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun

By Sister Dana Van Iquity Sister Dana sez, “Thanks to changing laws and a society growing more of an open mind, more and more LGBTQ people are able to start families of their own.

That means more and more women are celebrating Mother’s Day! The holiday fell on May 10th this year. Didja at least call home? What?? Not so much as a text and a lousy emoticon?!”

It was Cinco de Mayo, so why not celebrate AIDS EMERGENCY FUND/ BREAST CANCER EEMERGENCY FUND Exec Director MIKE SMITH’s departure from office with the CINCO DE MIKE-O farewell fiesta at Chambers Eat + Drink with fish tacos and margaritas and best wishes from all his friends! The party was also in honor of Mike’s 55th (Cinco-Cinco!) birthday on May 1st - as well as in recognition of his tireless fundraising for 13 years on behalf of low-income people with HIV/AIDS and breast cancer! So, of course, the event was a fundraiser for BCEF (BREAST CANCER EMERGENCY FUND). A pink and a red piñata were provided to be filled with well wishes and fond goodbyes written on pieces of paper. A video screened zillions of photos of Mike at various events over the years.

Entertainment was provided by colorful flag twirlers, hula hoopers,

and fire dancers. Donna Sachet sang her special lyrics as a love song to Mike to the tune of “My Man” from Funny Girl. Sister Roma cofemceed with Donna. Everyone gave Mike special Certificates of Recognition, including one from Speaker Nancy Pelosi presented by Dan Bernal, from Senator Mark Leno presented by Anna Damiani, from the SF Board of Supervisors by Supervisor Scott Wiener, and one from Mayor Ed Lee. We Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence even sainted Mike for his many good works. The evening ended with Mike’s friends making a circle of love around him while waving lit sparklers in the night air.

Oh yes, and Mike somehow managed to avoid threats of being tossed into the pool.

The NATIONAL CENTER FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS (NCLR) honored a retired Navy veteran and NCLR client who is fighting to bring LGBTQ equality to Idaho, as well as the plaintiff couples and legal team in NCLR’s historic Tennessee marriage equality case. NCLR’s 38TH ANNUAL CELEBRATION was held at Marriott Marquis hotel. Idaho Navy veteran Madelynn “Lee” Taylor, 75, was honored with the Courage Award for her work standing up to the state’s discriminatory laws banning marriage equality and for her efforts calling attention to the need for anti-discrimination laws by taking part in sit-ins at the State Capitol. The Tennessee marriage equality plaintiff couples and attorneys received the Justice Award, just days after their hearing at the U.S. Supreme Court that could result in a nationwide marriage equality victory. The plaintiffs in the Tennessee marriage case who received the Justice Award

were Dr. Valeria Tanco & Dr. Sophy Jesty, and although the couple had married in New York, the state of Tennessee treats them as if they are two unmarried women; Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Ijpe DeKoe & Thom Kostura, who have known each other since they were teenagers; and Matthew Mansell & Johno Espejo, who were married in California but moved to Franklin, Tennessee, in 2012 with their two children. The attorney honorees were Abby Rubenfeld, Maureen Holland, and Regina Lambert, and the law firms of Sherrard & Roe PLC and Ropes & Gray LLP.

Obituary: Daniel James Aiello (1961–2015) Daniel James Aiello, owner of Midtown Moped in Sacramento and a longtime freelancer who wrote for the Bay Area Reporter and other local publications, was found dead in his shop on the morning of April 15, according to CBS Sacramento. The news service reported that Sacramento Police later announced the arrest of Kyle Fletcher, who is accused of burglarizing Aiello’s home and killing Aiello with a belt.

Sarah Schnepf with Leslie Katz and the SF Giants’ attorney, Jack Bair, who accepted an award for the Giants at the Marriage Equality USA Garden Party and Awards at the Chambers Club on May 3.

Aiello “will be deeply missed,” B.A.R. news editor Cynthia Laird told the San Francisco Bay Times. “I was shocked when I heard the news a few weeks ago and still cannot believe that he is gone.”

PHOTO BY RINK

She added, “Mr. Aiello was a dedicated journalist who was always seeking to get to the heart of a story.

He was deeply interested in marriage equality, and used his reporting talents to bring to light various campaign elements that the Yes on 8 side was using during that fight.”

“Every single one of our honorees has demonstrated incredible courage and perseverance in their quest to help the entire LGBT community achieve full equality,” said NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell. She added, “The NCLR board and staff are invigorated for the challenges ahead to bring the full promise of equality to every member of our community.” She screened a video of the many victories won and challenges to come for full LGBTQ equality. “We are going to finish the job,” said Kendell. “And we can’t claim justice if it’s just us: everyone everywhere must be free of discrimination and stigma!” The after-party at City View Metreon had entertainment by Velocity Circus, including roller skaters, unicyclists, jugglers, and fan dancers - as we danced till midnight.

third annual MARRIAGE EQUALITY USA SAN FRANCISCO GARDEN PARTY + AWARDS RECEPTION. (See additional information on page 16.)

Celebrated on the heels of the landmark United States Supreme Court marriage hearing, the Garden Party was held at Chambers Eat + Drink, adjacent to the San Francisco Civic Center, where so much marriage equality history has been created. “Marriage Equality USA, an organization I have partnered with for more than a decade, honored me with this recognition,” said State Senator Leno, the 2015 Ally Honoree.

“Together we have helped realize the dream of marriage for samesex couples in California, while also fighting to secure more equal treatment of all LGBT people.”

California State Senator Mark Leno, the San Francisco Giants, and the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF) were honored and acknowledged for their Giant contributions to the marriage equality movement at the

“Raising our voices together, both in the courtroom and in the community, has created the unstoppable momentum we see today,” said John Robert Unruh, BALIF Board Co-Chair. (continued on page 26)

An online biography provided by Aiello to Yelp mentions that he was particularly passionate about local environmental issues, such as water use in the state; restoration of the Lake Tahoe, Delta and Hetch Hetchy watersheds, and fracking, which became a focus of his more recent writings. The biography mentions, “It is with this environmental background that he first began to be interested in promoting greener solutions to Sacramento commuters.”

Aiello’s longtime friend Megan Juring shared with Laird that the deceased graduated from San Carlos High School and the University of California at Davis. He is survived by his mother Beverly Aiello and siblings David, Allison, and LeeAnne (Cliff Larson), his sister-in-law Gina Aiello, his nephew Michael “Mikey” Aiello and his niece Francesca “Cecca” Grady (Beau Grady) and great-nephew Cruz, as well as his father Frank.

A celebration of life will be held in Sacramento at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church the afternoon of May 16, 2015, at 1 o’clock. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to The BOK Ranch Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church or another charity with special meaning to you.

BAY T IM ES M AY 14, 2015

17

Repairing a Damaged Relationship most of these disagreements are rooted in fundamental differences in values, lifestyle, or personality. In all partnerships there are some basic differences, but when a couple constantly fights over them in the vain hope of “winning,” all they succeed in doing is creating more distance.

Roland Schembari and Bill Hartman Co-Founders in 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 Phone: 510-504-9255 E-mail: editor@sfbaytimes.com www.sfbaytimes.com

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

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

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CONTRIBUTORS Writers Rink, Sister Dana Van Iquity, Ann Rostow, Kirsten Kruse, Kate Kendell, Heidi Beeler, Gary M. Kramer, Dennis McMillan, Tom Moon, Terry Baum, Gypsy Love, Rafael Mandelman, Kit Kennedy, Phil Ting, Rebecca Kaplan, Leslie Katz, Bill Lipsky, Karen Williams, Donna Sachet, Gary Virginia, Zoe Dunning, Marcy Adelman, Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis Brandon Miller, Jamie Leno Zimron Rebecca Kaplan, Thom Watson, George Langford, Philip Ruth, Courtney Lake, Michele Karlsberg Photographers Rink, Steven Underhill, Phyllis Costa, Cathy Blackstone, Robert Fuggiti, Chloe Jackman, Bill Wilson, Jo-Lynn Otto, Sandy Morris, Abby Zimberg

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR If you would like to write a letter to the editor with comment on an article or suggestions for the Bay Times, email us at editor@sfbaytimes.com. © 2015 Bay Times Media Company Co-owned by Betty L. Sullivan & Jennifer L. Viegas Reprints by permission only.

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Examined Life Tom Moon, MFT (Editor’s Note: This article is the second of a three-part series entitled “Strengthening Relationships.”)

In the last issue, I summarized some of the groundbreaking research of psychologist John Gottman concerning what makes relationships work or fail.

To recapitulate, he identified four patterns that, if unchecked, are so lethal to a relationship that he termed them the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They are Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness, and Stonewalling. Most couple counselors assume that when couples are caught in these patterns, they need to learn better ways to fight fairly and negotiate their differences. But Gottman found that this isn’t correct. He discovered that most ongoing arguments in relationships (69 percent, to be exact) are never resolved. That’s because

The key to successful relationships, Gottman found, isn’t how the couple handles disagreements, but how they are with each other when they aren’t fighting. When a couple is spiraling into warfare, the way out is to stop focusing so much on the differences and work more on enhancing the strengths in their relationship. One of the most direct ways of doing this is to make sure you’re continually learning more about your partner. In successful relationships, each partner makes plenty of cognitive room for the relationship by remembering the other’s history, his or her preferences, ideas, opinions, emotional rhythms, vulnerabilities, etc.—and constantly updating this understanding as the partner grows and changes. The easiest way to prevent a relationship from going stale is to work daily at being curious about what your partner is doing, feeling, and thinking.

The most deadly of the four horsemen is Contempt, and the most effective way to prevent it from poisoning your relationship is to work daily at

nurturing your fondness and admiration for one another. Fondness and admiration are the two most crucial elements in any rewarding and long-lasting romance. Without the fundamental belief that your partner is worthy of honor and respect, no basis for a satisfying relationship exists.

Focusing on fondness and admiration for your partner is an immediate antidote to contempt, because contempt and admiration can’t both occupy your mind at the same time.

Another simple strategy is to remember to turn toward each other instead of away from one another. Do you talk over dinner or eat in silence while watching television? Do you have little telephone chats during the day, and spend time talking about each other’s day in the evening? These little events do more to keep a relationship vital than any number of candlelight dinners or romantic vacations. When you turn toward one another in small ways every day, you create an emotional bank account for the relationship, which will protect it in times of stress.

One of the most concrete ways to demonstrate your fondness and admiration is to let your partner influence you. When she or he expresses disagrees with you, does things in a different way from you, or gives you advice and suggestions, do

you respond as if your personal power and autonomy are being threatened?

Do you resort to criticism, contempt, defensiveness or stonewalling to drown your partner out and obliterate his or her point of view? Or do you listen, discuss and consider what you’re hearing? (Note to male couples: the research shows that men are far more prone to turn disagreements into power struggles than women are.)

When you allow your partner to influence you, you also create something else that is crucial in any successful relationship: a sense of shared meaning and purpose. While you can’t force yourselves to agree about all the fundamentals in life, you’re far more likely to achieve some meeting of the minds on these issues if you’re open to each other’s perspectives. When you create an atmosphere in which each partner feels that their fundamental dreams and values are respected, you’re more likely to arrive at a sense of shared meaning of the purpose of your relationship, and more likely to experience each other as allies in the fulfillment of your deepest desires, rather than as adversaries who stand in each other’s way. Next: Handling Conflicts Skillfully Tom Moon is a psychotherapist in San Francisco. To learn more, please visit his website at tommoon.net

Round About - San Francisco Equality Awards

Photos by Rink

“Claiming Our Future” was the theme for Equality California’s 2015 Equality Awards Dinner held on Saturday, April 18, at the Westin St. Francis Hotel. EQCA’s annual dinner honors leaders and organizations for their selfless work helping to create a more fair and just society.

Honorees included Former Congressman Barney Frank (Vanguard Leadership Award), Suzy Jones (State Farm Good Neighbor Award), and Jody Cole and Geoff Kors who received jointly the Community Leadership Award. Event co-chairs were Supervisor David Campos, Supervisor Scott Wiener and Andrea Casalett.

GLBT Fortnight in Review

By Ann Rostow And the Beat Goes On At some point in every single presidential race, without exception, some commentator or candidate observes that among other issues, the campaign is also about the future of the Supreme Court. Think how many justices the next president might be able to appoint! God forbid the other side gets that power!

I know we’re just beginning to contest the 2016 election in earnest, but this time the old saw will actually have freshly honed little teeth. Scalia is 79, Ginsburg is 82, Kennedy is 78 and Breyer is 76. Think about that as we decide who will govern until January of 2021, when this foursome reaches 84, 87, 83 and 81. In my head, I hear once again the voice of Ming-Ming, the Wonder Pet duckling, who cautions: “This Is Sewious.”

Speaking of 2016, I’m a political junkie but even I find the prospect of 17 more straight months of nonstop election blather a little exhausting.

Must we? And when, I wonder, will we all just give in and submit to nonstop presidential politics that ebb and flow around the actual elections, but basically just maintain a constant current. Oh, wait. We’re already there.

That said, I am delighted to see that the Republicans are beginning to assemble another cartoon lineup for the primaries, despite the best intentions of certain party strategists.

Ben Carson just told a TV interviewer that the Supreme Court’s role as the interpreter of the Constitution is “something we should discuss” as a nation. Hello? This man is a candidate for President of the United States? As for Carly Fiorina, does anyone remember the demon sheep?

That’s all there is to say except for the minor detail that a woman who is incapable of running a computer company cannot run the executive branch of the United States. Throw in Rand Paul, whom I think disapproves of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Mike Huckabee, Bridgegate Christie, Oopsgate Perry and the rest of the gang, and we’re on track to make the last primary crew look sedate.

(By the way, check out a Huffpo piece

by Geoffrey Stone for a nice take on the once and future Court.)

So Sue Me, Sue Me, What Can You Do Me? I feel easily distracted this morning, incapable of resisting the click bait that runs temptingly down the side of my screen. As such, I just investigated a link for “five foods you should never eat after 45.” In a flash, the forbidden five raced past me, at which point a nutritionist started what appeared to be a very lengthy sales pitch. I tried to exit and re-enter the site, but I kept being sent to the commercial. Never again could I retrieve the five foods, which included whole wheat bread, orange juice and artificial sweeteners. Oh! Margarine was another. I just remembered! At any rate, I can’t remember the fifth and as mentioned, I only remembered number four just now. Why is this important? Because I am obsessed with getting the full list.

I don’t eat margarine or whole wheat bread, and I don’t drink orange juice as a rule, so here’s my chance at last to succeed at a health program. All I have to do is give up Coke Zero and figure out bad food number five.

I’m distracted because none of the GLBT news headlines have engaged my brain for more than a few seconds. How can I rehash them for you in an entertaining manner if I can’t find a kernel of amusement or wisdom at their core? Why would you care about a subject if I do not? New Zealand gay and lesbian athletes are less

likely to be out of the closet than their counterparts in Australia, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S.. Do you care?

Me neither. The only New Zealand athlete I care about is Lydia Ko, who transcends sexual orientation.

I suppose we can talk about the Nebraska woman who f iled a federal suit against us, all of us that is who fit under the rubric “homosexuals.”

Indeed, the formal name of the suit was “Sylvia Ann Driskell v Homosexuals.”

What annoys me about this incident is the fact that a federal judge actually issued a three-page order, dismissing the case on lack of subject matter jurisdiction and other technicalities. By technicalities, I refer to the fact that Driskell has no standing to sue, that you can’t sue a generic group of people, and that Driskell failed to ask for specific relief or state any damages. In other words, some lady, calling herself “Ambassador for plaintiffs God and His son Jesus Christ,” scrawled a bunch of scripture on a few sheets of notebook paper, addressed it to the court and wound up being taken seriously by a federal judge and a bunch of news reporters. How did that happen? Why didn’t this “litigation” find its way directly to the circular file?

Big Love So, let’s talk polygamy, shall we? You recall that in last month’s High Court arguments on marriage, Justice Alito persisted in absurd hypotheticals, including the old song and dance about why brothers and sisters or groups of people should not be allowed to marry. Attorney Mary Bonauto was obliged to parry these extra-judicial softballs like a guest on a talk show rather than a lawyer arguing before the highest court in the land.

The polygamy question is interesting, however. Why is marriage between just two people? The best answer, as Bonauto explained it, is really a logistical one. Leaving aside the abusive history of polygamy, when powerful men essentially used women and girls, it’s fairly impossible for the state to come up with rules and regulations to suit an inf inite variety of legal households. It’s hard enough to govern marriage, with two adults and legal children. But when you throw in multiple mates and then imagine the partial dissolution of the family and wonder whose kids get whose inheritance and consider what happens when one wife wants to leave with one of the husbands who originally belongs with another wife…Well, you get the picture.

But my answer to the slippery slope argument has always been a little different. We are on the verge of marriage equality for same-sex couples for one reason. Same-sex couples have been living together, basically married, for years and years. Hundreds of thousands of couples. The Court is not deciding whether or not to launch an experimental new family structure. It is deciding whether or not to acknowledge the same-sex marriages that have already proliferated throughout the country.

If polygamists had also proliferated, we would be having the same conversation about them. If you looked around and saw tens of thousands of households, led by multiple unrelated adults who professed to be committed for a lifetime and all in love with each other, this country would be debating the legal future of polygamy. Likewise, if siblings all over the nation were forsaking all others and forming marriages in all but name, we might be asking why our incestuous neighbors weren’t being treated equally. But, in fact, we don’t see polygamy with the exception of a few communal households and the odd religious cult or two. We don’t see

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incest. We don’t see people wanting to marry pets or whatever. That’s why arguments on the slippery slope fail to gain momentum.

To admit this is sort of to admit that philosophical, legal or moral judgments are to some extent inf luenced by mere numbers. But I guess I’d say that when large numbers of people act in a way that suggests I’m wrong about a philosophical assumption, it’s appropriate to revisit that assumption. Ergo, I would be happy to consider the validity of polygamy if I were to witness case after case of happy polygamous families. Fortunately for those of us who are indifferent to the plight of gigantic complicated families, there’s no sign of polygamous hordes on the horizon.

While We’re Waiting…

What else is new, you ask? Well, the Eighth Circuit has decided to postpone arguments on their marriage cases, presumably in deference to the Supreme Court. The oral arguments had been scheduled May 12 on cases out of Arkansas, Missouri, South Dakota and someplace else. Oh, Nebraska. How could I forget? At any rate, it was unclear why the court was proceeding with these cases to begin with, considering the High Court will resolve the whole question in a matter of six or seven weeks. Now they’ve seen reason.

The Fifth Circuit (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi) heard marriage arguments back in January, and I guess I thought they might weigh in on the subject by now. Since we have yet to hear a squeak out of them, I’m guessing they’re going to put their decision on hold as well. Now that I’ve put that prediction in print, you can expect a ruling from the Fifth Circuit within a few days.

Over in Alabama, where all that weirdness went on a month or so ago, litigation continues on the question of whether or not the entire state must follow a ruling from a single federal court. Again, the Supreme Court will settle the issue of marriage before the tide rolls in on this intriguing state versus federal court question. I think it’s clear that Alabama does, in fact, have to follow a decision by the Supreme Court, even if Ben Carson disagrees.

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That said, does Texas have to follow the Supreme Court as well? One of our idiotic state legislators (and there are many) opined that the late June ruling on marriage won’t effect the Lone Star state since the cases in question originated elsewhere. Hmmm. Sleep through con-law class in college? Or maybe he didn’t take it. Maybe he skipped college all together.

But Texas is about to vote on a couple of antigay laws; one that lets ministers opt out of performing a same-sex ceremony, and another that says state funds can’t be used to issue or recognize marriage licenses or something like that.

Of course, ministers are already free to decline anything that they don’t like under the First Amendment, and Texas already has one of those religious freedom laws on the books as well. But, by all means, let’s pass another statute.

As for the bill that says Texas won’t spend money to register or recognize a same-sex marriage, I confess I don’t really understand that one. Do our lawmakers think that they can restore an unconstitutional marriage law to the books with a little bureaucratic red tape? Or do they simply aim to delay the onset of marriage equality in Texas with another round of litigation? Either way, as a married lesbian Texas resident, it’s infuriating. (continued on page 26)

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Landmark CollaborationMuseum of the African Diaspora and SFMOMA Jointly organized by the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Portraits and Other Likenesses from SFMOMA brings together approximately 50 carefully selected artworks that explore the dynamic role of portraiture in modern and contemporary art.

Some include LGBT themes. On view until October 11, the landmark collaboration will activate numerous spaces in the newly renovated MoAD, and will be the most extensive exhibition in the museum’s10-year history.

Robert Colescott, Colored TV, 1977; acrylic on canvas; 84 x 66 in.

The exhibit includes (213.36 x 167.64 cm); Collection SFMOMA, gift of Vicki and Kent Logan; © Estate of Robert Colescott; photo: Don Ross paintings, sculptures, MoAD has been committed to deliverphotog raphs and media art. The exhibition additionally ing vibrant, relevant exhibitions in our includes a newly commissioned multi- reimagined space. We were thrilled to media installation by Mickalene be asked by SFMOMA to collaborate Thomas, Between Ourselves Together on developing a show of artists from (2015), which places her large-scale the African Diaspora and Latin photograph from SFMOMA’s collec- America, and I’m grateful for the cretion—Sista Sista Lady Blue (2007)— ative hard work of co-curators Caitlin alongside related photographs and a Haskell and Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins. film in an immersive setting designed Our collaboration with SFMOMA to evoke a 1970s living room. continues MoAD’s transformation as a Look for Glenn Ligon’s Narratives serious cultural player in San (1993). Ligon shared that he adapted Francisco.” the now antiquated format of 19thcentury slave narratives to comment on his own life and experiences as a gay black man in the 1990s.

Yet another standout among many is Sargent Johnson’s sculpture Forever Free (1933). It presents an allegory of the promise and realization of freedom, and was on view in SFMOMA’s inaugural exhibition in January 1935. The piece ultimately became one of the artist’s signature works and inspired a new generation of black artists.

Commenting on the exhibit as a whole, MoAD Executive Director said, “Since reopening last year,

“The closure of SFMOMA for expansion construction has provided us a tremendous opportunity to partner with many of our peer cultural institutions, like MoAD,” said Neal Benezra, director of SFMOMA. “We are delighted to share these collaborations with our community, and look forward to continuing to build on this strong foundation of relationships when our museum reopens next spring.”

The Museum of the African Diaspora is at 685 Mission Street in San Francisco. For additional information about the museum and the new exhibit, please visit moadsf.org

above: Mickalene Thomas, Sista Sista Lady Blue, 2007; chromogenic print; 40 3/8 x 48 1/2 in. (102.55 x 123.19 cm); Collection SFMOMA, gift of Campari USA; © Mickalene Thomas / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; photo: Katherine Du Tiel

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left: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Wedding Portrait, 2012; acrylic, pastel, colored pencil, marble dust, fabric, and electrostatic transfers; 63 x 54 in. (160.02 x 137.16 cm); Collection SFMOMA, purchase through a gift of Pamela Joyner in honor of Gary Garrels, Elise S. Haas Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture; © Njideka Akunyili Crosby; photo: Don Ross

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Arts & Entertainment

The Missing Generation: Voices from the Early AIDS Epidemic Expressed in Dance Marking the 35th Anniversary of the advent of AIDS, Sean Dorsey Dance’s new show The Missing Generation explores the impact of the loss of part of an entire generation of gay and transgender people to AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s. This powerful work by award-winning transgender choreographer Sean Dorsey premieres May 14–17 at Dance Mission Theater, during the company’s tenth anniversary season.

The Missing Generation invites us to reckon with our long-buried grief and lost loves, and to connect to the enormous power of our community’s compassion, righteous anger and resiliency.

We recently spoke with Dorsey about the world premiere, forgotten survivors and trans history.

San Francisco Bay Times: What inspired you to create this work?

Sean Dorsey: There was an incredible urgency to undertake this project now: during my lifetime, we will see the passing of the last generation of people who actually experienced the early years of the AIDS epidemic first-hand. We are already rapidly losing our community’s stories. I wanted to capture and share part of this important history and keep it alive.

San Francisco Bay Times: You talk about the missing generation as “giving voice to those who lived through the early epidemic.” Why is this important to you?

Sean Dorsey: I think of the show as a love letter to a forgotten generation of survivors—those who witnessed and experienced the loss of part of an entire generation of gay and transgender people to AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s.

I think our culture has turned its back not only on the history (those terrifying early years of the epidemic), but also on an entire generation of survivors.

People who lived through those years had to pack a lot of it away just to continue functioning, but then our culture turned its back on all those survivors.

Some of the people I interviewed for this project said that our conversation was the most anybody—in 20 or 30 years— had let them speak about their experiences of the early AIDS crisis.

We’re talking about a lot of people who have been ignored for a really long time.

This project is an invitation to longterm survivors: tell us your story. Tell us about your losses, your grief, your rage, your loves. And it’s an invitation to all of us to show up and hold each other.

San Francisco Bay Times: What can people expect to see when they come to The Missing Generation?

Sean Dorsey: It’s a powerful show.

It’s intense physically and emotionally.

This is full-throttle dance, luscious queer partnering, intimate story-

Sean Dorsey Dance 2015 –The Missing Generation left to right: Brian Fisher, ArVejon Jones, Nol Simonse, Sean Dorsey

Photo by Lydia Daniller

telling—and through all of it, we’re dancing to the real-life recorded voices of longtime survivors of the early AIDS epidemic.

San Francisco Bay Times: Is this why you refer to your work as dance-theater?

Sean Dorsey: Yes. I’m working with world-class, award-winning dancers, so the technique and beauty of the dancing are extraordinary. But this is not abstract, inaccessible modern dance! This is deeply human, deeply felt and very accessible, emotionally resonant work. The whole show is rooted in story and in real human characters, and explores themes of longing, love, loss and grief. Things we can all relate to.

San Francisco Bay Times: You spent over two years creating this show. What was your process?

Sean Dorsey: First, I travelled to six cities across the U.S. where I met with communities and recorded oral history interviews with people who lived through the early epidemic. I recorded 25 long interviews, and talked to people who were diagnosed with HIV 30 years ago; people who lost lovers and friends; early ACT UP activists; early health care workers and family members. I then had to transcribe and spend hundreds of hours sitting with all those interviews in order to start building the soundscore in sections.

Then I worked with a team of composers to develop music for the score. And then I spent a year choreographing with my dancers in the studio. The soundscore itself took over 300 hours! The audience hears people’s actual real-life stories in their

Sean Dorsey Dance 2015 –The Missing Generation

own voices, as recorded in our interviews.

San Francisco Bay Times: Share more concerning your passion about bringing attention to transgender histories of AIDS. Sean Dorsey: If culturally we’ve turned our back on this history and its survivors, then we’ve completely abandoned transgender people— especially transwomen. Transwomen’s communities were decimated by the early AIDS epidemic, but there were no resources, nonprofits, agencies or lobbyists of any kind serving transpeople. Transwomen were dying painful deaths, completely unseen by politicians, media, and the rest of the

Photo by Kegan Marling

LGB community. As a transperson, it was very important for me to bring trans stories into this work.

San Francisco Bay Times: What do you hope people take away from the show?

Sean Dorsey: The show is full of pain and loss, but also full of beauty and deep love, bravery and connection.

We need to look at all of these things in order to heal and in order to continue fighting for our communities’ well being. I want people to leave the theater with full hearts and with hope in the power of love.

San Francisco Bay Times: What’s next for you and the project?

Sean Dorsey: We will be touring the show to 20 cities over the next couple of years. On tour, we not only perform, but also teach free classes and workshops and host conversations in communities. People can visit our website to see where we’re touring next and to bring us to your city!

The Missing Generation by Sean Dorsey Dance will be at Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th Street in San Francisco from May 14–17. For a video preview, go to https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=PyuvAfjsNXA For tickets and additional information, please visit www.seandorseydance.com BAY T IM ES M AY 14, 2015

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Round About - Cinco De Mike-O Farewell Fiesta & Fundraiser for AEF & BCEF

Photos by Rink

An adoring crowd of friends and colleagues was on hand to share the love with AIDS Emergency Fund and Breast Cancer Emergency Fund executive director Mike Smith, who is stepping down from his longtime leadership roles. Held at the Chambers Club on Tuesday, May 5, the event included multiple proclamations honoring Smith for his community service and activism dating back more than 30 years. Donna Sachet and Lenny Broberg served as emcees for the evening, which also included entertainment by the Centrifugal Force flag team and the Solar Flare fire dancers.

As Heard on the Street . . . What is your favorite thing to do in Oakland? compiled by Rink Alice Heimsoth

Bill Crissman

Christine Konkal

Larrybob Roberts

“I enjoy the Piedmont area because of the Piedmont Theater and the popular ice cream store across the street.”

“I like to go to the Paramount Theater. It is an exalted example of Art Deco architecture and it is near BART.”

“I love the independent book stores on Telegraph Avenue, in particular, Ancient Ways.”

“I like to go to the Spectrum Queer Media’s Pass the Mic Tuesdays Queer Open Mic in Oakland.”

Steven Underhill

PHOTOGRAPHY

415 370 7152

WEDDINGS, HEADSHOTS, PORTRAITS

stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com 22

BAY TIMES M AY 1 4 , 2 0 1 5

Two French Films: Saint Laurent and In the Name of My Daughter fashion line. Ulliel is also playful, as when he recreates YSL’s famous nude photograph for an advertisement.

Film Gary M. Kramer Saint Laurent, opening May 15, is the second feature film about Yves Saint Laurent in as many years. Despite its title, this biopic, co-written and directed by Betrand Bonello, is not a hagiography. The filmmaker does not present the trendsetting fashion designer’s life from childhood to death (as Jalil Lespert’s uneven Yves Saint Laurent did last year). Instead, this film focuses mainly on the period of the late 1960s/early 1970s, when Laurent (Gaspard Ulliel) was at the height of his fame. Saint Laurent toggles back and forth between various years, which makes this drama more of a patchwork chronology than a proper biography. The narrative approach actually dilutes the drama because Bonello emphasizes mood over plot, giving the film a lush, velvety feel rather than imbuing the story with emotion.

Saint Laurent is best when it immerses viewers in an aspect of its subject’s life. An early scene in the designer’s atelier, where his seamstresses are fitting clothes, is sublime; it captures the detail of the work, and the genius of Laurent’s style. Likewise, a pair of episodes set in discothèques where Laurent spots and desires the model Betty Catroux (Aymeline Valade), or f lirts with the dangerously sexy Jacques de Bascher (Louis Garrel) are terrific.

When Bonello slowly pans back and forth across a crowded dance f loor between the two men, he raises the erotic frisson between them.

However, too much of Saint Laurent is all style and no substance. The clothes

Quirk Mode

Words Michele Karlsberg Michele Karlsberg: What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

Rob Byrnes: Unlike pretty much every writer who ever lived, I love love love to edit my work. Putting words on a blank page is tough— even typing these few short paragraphs is killing me—but once I have an opportunity to print out those words and rework them, my creativity is at its peak. My raw work on paper is harsh; to steal from Capote, it’s typing, not writing. Creativity—not to mention readability—comes through the editing and polishing of that work.

Of course, the problem then becomes: when do you stop? Because you do have to stop eventually. I imagine for the many writers who hate editing

are fabulous, and there are moments where Laurent talks about his inf luences—Marlene Dietrich, Mondrian, and Marrakesh—or mentions having youth, beauty, and wealth, but they are not especially illuminating. The film shows Laurent’s lavish lifestyle, replete with objets d’art he and Bergé collect, but these symbols of divine decadence—plates, a giant Buddha, dogs—are meaningless and empty.

Clocking in at 150 minutes, Saint Laurent is too long not to be a more thorough investigation of its subject’s life.

Much of the film is given over to Laurent losing his grip on reality, something his mother (Dominique Sanda) observes, but which is also conveyed

by Bonello in magical-realist scenes as when Laurent sees/imagines snakes in his bed. When Laurent, in a state of hallucination, almost kills Bergé, the latter moves out. But so little is shown of their relationship together that this event has no real impact.

Bonello makes other strange choices that also fail to pay off. A scene featuring a model and a nude woman discussing Laurent is intriguing, but it goes nowhere. The film also jumps ahead in time during its last third to show Laurent in 1989 (where he is played by Helmut Berger). These scenes feel very out of sync with the rest of the film.

To his credit, Bonello does coax an outstanding performance by Ulliel.

The actor, a spokesmodel for the cologne Bleu de Chanel, channels Laurent convincingly eyeing a model as he dresses her, or expressing Laurent’s despair as he grapples with the pressure of having to create another new their work that’s an easy question. For me…not so easy. Left to my own devices, I’d probably still be in the fourteenth year of polishing my f irst manuscript. Fortunately, deadlines are unforgiving of my own devices.

My short answer, then, is that I stop editing when I’m happy enough with what’s on the page and/or finally become sick of reading what’s on the page. One has to move on and acknowledge that the most perfect gem has a f law. And I inevitably find that f law a few months— or years—later, when my carefully edited manuscript is out in print. That’s okay, though. It gives me an incentive to indulge in my love—self-editing my work—again in the future, in that ongoing effort to get it right.

Rob Byrnes is the Lambda Literary Awardwinning author of six novels. He lives in “Manhattan-adjacent” New Jersey, where he’s working on several new projects. http:// www.robbyrnes.net/ J.M Redmann: As if writing about invisible worlds only you can see isn’t quirky enough, I’ve been asked to come up with a quirk on that quirk.

Which is hard, as I’m either not all that quirky or too crazy to notice any quirks (s e e i n v i s i b l e wor ld a b ove).

Wel l, t here is

In support, Jérémie Renier is underutilized as Pierre Bergé, but Louis Garrel makes a very striking impression as Jacques de Bascher.

Garrel is so seductive and captivating here, the film loses some momentum when his character disappears from the story.

Saint Laurent is a glossy, but erratic film.

Bonello eclipses his subject, capturing Laurent’s spirit, but not his soul.

San Francisco Bay Times group tickets:

Opening May 22 is gay writer/director André Téchiné’s In the Name of My Daughter, a juicy drama about greed, love, and betrayal in 1976, Nice. A fictional tale based on true events, the film has Renée Le Roux (the indomitable Catherine Deneuve) assuming control of the struggling Palais de la Méditerranée casino with the assistance of her young hotshot lawyer, Maurice Agnelet (Guillaume Canet).

Around the same time, her daughter Agnès (Adèle Haenel), returns home after a failed marriage. When Maurice is denied a promotion, and Agnès has her inheritance delayed, the pair couple up and plot to unseat Renée from her board. But the relationship between the young lovers may be in trouble, and things eventually take a mysterious turn.

415-601-2113

Téchiné takes a slow-burn approach to In the Name of My Daughter, and the film benefits from a trio of top-notch performances. If the film’s too cool tone fails to yield much suspense, the end credits deliver a nice little shock. © 2015 Gary M. Kramer

T H E RI C H M O N D / E R M E T A I D F O U N DAT I O N P R E S E N T S

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 sacrif icial vodka on occasion, but don’t all writers do that?

I, and my circle of friends, came up with a religion in which we thank the great Cosmo for all that is right and good in the world. It is our many libations to Her that keep the zombie apocalypse away.

THE BOOK OF

I don’t know if this is a quirk or just reality, but I can’t write without a good chunk of time in front of me, at least a couple of hours. It takes time to leave daily life and re-enter the invisible world of the book, so I usually read what I wrote the last time before starting to write (all right, adjust the chair, get something to drink, contemplate whether to go to the bathroom now or wait a bit). It can often be half an hour or so after I’ve sat down before I start writing. Once I get going, I’m good; it’s the getting going that can be hard, especially if more than a few days have passed (pesky day job to pay the pesky mortgage and cat food bills). Here’s to the great Cosmo!

THE MUSIC OF THE BEATLES

J.M. Redmann has published eight novels featuring New Orleans lesbian private investigator Micky Knight. Three of the books have won Lambda Awards. http://www. jmredmann.com/

MORMON ‘Come Together’ MAY 18, 2015, 7:30 PM

Marines’ Memorial Theater H

609 Sutter Street, San Francisco

H

Benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS & Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation of San Francisco

H

with special guest, Countess Katya Smirnoff Skyy

H

Tickets & Information

www.helpisontheway.org or 415.273.1620 SPONSORED BY

Michele Karlsberg Marketing and Management specializes in publicity for the LGBT community. This year, Karlsberg celebrates twenty-six years of successful book campaigns.

BAY T IM ES M AY 14, 2015

23

See many more Calendar items @ www.sfbaytimes.com

compiled by Robert Fuggiti

• 14 : T HURSDAY

The Power of Story: A Community Workshop UCSF Alliance Health Project. Free.

5:30 pm. (1930 Market St.) Author and psychotherapist David Fredrickson leads a community workshop for those that have survived the HIV epidemic. www.uscf-ahp.org Hairspray – Berkeley Playhouse. $23-$60. 7 pm. (2640 College Ave., Berkeley) Winner of 8 Tony Awards, this family-friendly production is replete with laughter, romance, and deliriously tuneful songs.Through May 17. www.berkeleyplayhouse.org Goapele – SF Jazz Center. $25$50. 7:30 pm. (201 Franklin St.) The Oakland-born soul singer with a silken voice and a spellbinding talent returns. www.sfjazz.org

Friday Nights at the de Young - Golden Gate Park. $15 through May 29. Open until 8:30 pm. 400 years of art history’s greatest hits. www.deyoung.famsf.com

Come Together – Marines’ Memorial Theater. $35-$80. 7:30 pm. (609 Sutter St.) An evening of music, dance and comedy featuring the touring cast of The Book of Mormon, and the music of the Beatles. One night only! www.richmondermet.org

30 Years of Collecting Art That Tells Our Stories – GLBT History Museum. Free. 7 pm to 9 pm. (4127 18th St.) You’re invited to the opening of 30 Years of Collecting Art That Tells Our Stories, a new exhibition by guest curator Elisabeth Cornu. www.glbthistory.org

Ester Rada – SF Jazz Center. $25-$50. 7:30 pm. (201 Franklin St.) Ester Rada is a stimulating young singer and songwriter with a unique cross-cultural approach that reflects her Ethiopian heritage and Israeli upbringing. www.sfjazz.org

• 15 : F RIDAY

The Missing Generation – Dance Mission Theater. $15-$25. 8 pm. (3316 24th St.) Sean Dorsey Dance presents a new dancetheater work that gives voice to longtime survivors of the early AIDS epidemic. May 14-17. www.themissinggeneration.brownpapertickets.com

Katharine Cole performs live at Dolores Park Cafe Friday, May 22. youth, and community members united for the rights and economic, social, and political equality of LGBT and non binary youth.

Meet the Animals – Randall www.bayareayouthsummit.org Museum. Free. 10 am to 4 pm. (199 Museum Way) Meet some of the Trans Promo: Under the T – El Rio. $15-$30. 9 pm. (3158 100+ animals live at the Randall Mission St.) Join for the first ever Museum. www.randallmuseum.org Trans Prom with proceeds benefitBay Area Youth Summit – ting the San Francisco Trans March.

Buena Vista Horace Mann School. www.transmarch.org Free. 12 pm. (3351 23rd St.) An annual conference of speakers,

• 16 : S ATURDAY

• 17 : S UNDAY

Carly Perloff – The Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Free. 4 pm. (736 Mission St.) Join Carey Perloff, Artistic Director of San Francisco’s A.C.T. and Lori Starr, Executive Director of The CJM, as they discuss Perloff’s latest book Beautiful Chaos: A Life In the Theater. www.thecjm.org Academy of Friends Volunteer Appreciation Party – Oasis. Free. 4 pm to 7 pm.

(298 11th St.) Join Academy of Friends for an evening celebrating the seven HIV/AIDS services that will receive checks from the money raised by our 2015 Awards Night. www.aof15check.eventbrite.com Venetian Gala and Masquerade Fundraiser Ball – Snow Building at the Oakland Zoo. $40. 7 pm. (9777 Gold Links Rd., Oakland) The California Revels present an evening of masked mystery, sparkling costumes, cocktails and dancing. www.californiarevels.org

Get outside and play!

2015 season

May 24, 31

•

June 7, 13, 14, 21

Mount taMalpais state park

MountainPlay.org 24

BAY TIMES M AY 1 4 , 2 0 1 5

• 18 : M ONDAY

Flavors at Metreon – City View. $20 or free for GGBA members. 5:30 pm. (135 4th St.) Join GGBA at the Metreon to kick off Small Business Week. www.sfsmallbusinessweek.com

• 19 : T UESDAY

Resonance – NOHspace. $35$40. 6:30 pm. (2840 Mariposa St.) A solo dance performance featuring Miki Orihara and Senri Oe. www.theatreofyugen.org Mega Make Contact 2015 – SF LGBT Community Center. $25.

6 pm to 8 pm. (1800 Castro St.) Join the Golden Gate Business Association’s monthly networking event for LGBT professionals and allies. www.ggba.com Ellen Robinson – Agelica’s. $10$15. 7:15 pm. (863 Main St., Redwood City)Enjoy an evening of live music by the Denny Berthiaume Trio and special guest vocalist Ellen Robinson. www.angelicasllc.com

• 20 : W EDNESDAY Penny Rosenwasser – Laurel Bookstore. Free. 7 pm. (1423 Broadway, Oakland) Author Penny Rosenwasser discusses her new book, Hope Into Practice, Jewish Women Choosing Justice Despite Our Fears. www.pennyrosenwasser.com Peaches – City Lights Bookstore.

Free. 7 pm. (261 Columbus Ave.) Musical artist Peaches signs copies of her new book, “What Else Is in the Teaches of Peaches.” www.citylights.com Trouble Cometh – San Francisco Playhouse. $20+. 8 pm. (450 Post St.) A brand new play on the nature of identity in the age of the Internet.

Through June 27. www.sfplayhouse.vbotickets.com

• 21 : T HURSDAY

Intercollegiate LGBT Alumni Mixer – Raven Bar & Lounge. Free. 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

(1151 Folsom St.) PennGALA and FFR/Princeton BTGALA present an LGBT alumni mixer. www.tigernet.princeton.edu Lending Circles Orientation – SF LGBT Center. Free. 7 pm.

(1800 Market St.) An informative orientation session that will walk you through the benefits and requirements of this innovative, credit-building group microloan and help you secure a no cost, zero interest loan. www.sfcenter.org Unlaced, A Dance Series – Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. $52+. 8 pm. (500 Castro St., Mountain View) Smuin Ballet presents a world premiere by choreographer Adam Hougland.

May 21-24. www.mountainview.gov

• 22 : F RIDAY

Harvery Milk Remembrance - GLBT History Museum. Free. 11 am to 7 pm. (4127 18th St.) In honor of Harvey Milk’s birthday, admission to the GLBT History Museum will be free, with guided tours available every hour on the hour. www.glbthistory.org Katharine Cole - Dolores Park Cafe. Free. 7:30 pm. (501 Dolores St.) Singer Katharine Cole delivers Blues, Americana & Country rolled into one dynamic sound. www.katharinecolemusic.com The Times of Harvey Milk – The Castro Theatre. $12-$40. 6 pm to 10 pm. (429 Castro St.) Join the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club for a special screening to celebrate Harvey’s 85th birthday. www.milkclub.org SF International Arts Festival – Fort Mason Center. $15+. 6 pm. (Fort Mason Center, Bldg. A) Enjoy the opening night of a three-week celebration of dance, film, theater and visual art. Through June 7. www.sfiaf.org

• 23 : S ATURDAY

The Color Run – Guadalupe River Park. $35-$55. 8 am. (Arena

Green East, San Jose) The Color Run has become a global event to promote healthiness and happiness by bringing communities together during a fun-filled 5k run. www.thecolorrun.com

Heathers: The Musical – Victoria Theatre. $25-$26. 8 pm.

(2961 16th St.) The darkly delicious story of Veronica Sawyer, the brainy and beautiful misfit who hustles her way into the most powerful and ruthless clique at Westerberg High.

Through June 13. www.victoriatheatre.org

• 24 : S UNDAY

United States Gay Open – Gay & Lesbian Tennis Federation.

Donation based. 10 am. (Golden Gate Park) The Gay & Lesbian Tennis Federation is pleased to announce the 35th Annual LGBT Tournament. www.gltf.org

Goapele will perform at the SF Jazz Center on May 14. pm. (429 Castro St.) Enjoy two movies released during the boom of Vietnam films: Full Metal Jacket (1987, 116 min.) and Birdy (1984, 120 min.). www.castrotheatre.com Monday Night Sketch – Stage Werx Improv. $10. 8 pm. (446 Valencia St.) Enjoy a night filled with 9 shows of comedic improv. www.stagewerx.org

BEN, Castro Group – Castro Community Room. Free for GGBA members. 11 am. (501 Castro St.) GGBA’s Business Exchange Network (BEN) is a category exclusive referral group designed to help members grow their referral-based business, develop professional relationships, and expand their network of contacts. www.ggba.chambermaster.com B-Lab – SF LGBT Center. Free.

1 pm to 3 pm. (1800 Market St.) A free, drop-in incubator for LGBT entrepreneurs and small business owners. www.sfcenter.org The Book of Mormon – Orpheum Theatre. $60-$210. 8 pm.

(1192 Market St.)The Book of Mormon winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, returns to San Francisco. Through June 27. www.shnsf.com

This Month at The Market!

ALL MAY LONG: Enter to Win 2 tickets to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park! It’s a perfect way to kick off the summer.

ARATA FRUIT: Deliciously juicy stone fruit like peaches, apricots, plums & nectarines.

FAR WEST FUNGI: Great tasting button, shiitake, lion’s mane, maiitake, oyster, reishi, and many more types of mushrooms!

ALPINE BLUE: Get your cherries, blueberries, and walnuts for a healthy snack or create a nice spring salad.

FROG HOLLOW FARM: Grown in Brentwood, they have the best organic stonefruit around such as peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines, and more!

Spanish Harlem Orchestra – Yoshi’s. $29-$59. 6:30 pm. (510 Embarcadero West, Oakland) Since its original conception in 2000, the Grammy Award Winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra (SHO) has established itself as a standard bearer of contemporary Latin music. www.yoshis.com

• 20 : W EDNESDAY

Carnaval Parade 2015 – Carnaval Parade 2015 – San Francisco Mission District. Free.

10 am (22nd St. and Harrison St.) Now in its third decade of celebration, Carnaval San Francisco has been an opportunity for many cultures to come together in one spirit to share their creative expression. www.carnavalsanfrancisco.org

Tosha Silver – Books Inc. Free. 7 pm. (2275 Market St.) Author and

pcfma.com/castro

1.800.949.FARM

Celtic Woman – Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium. $22-$110. 7 pm. (10 Ave of the Flags, San Rafael) Singing sensations Celtic Woman brings their 2014 North American Tour to the Bay. www.celticwoman.com

spiritual teacher Tosh Silver discusses her new book, Change Me Prayer: The Hidden Powers of Spiritual Surrender. www.booksinc.net Candlelight Flow Community Yoga – LGBT Center. Free. 7 pm to 8 pm. (1800 Market St.) Replenish your energy level with this weekly “Candlelight Flow” class.www.sfcenter.org

• 25 : M ONDAY

David Perry Interviews Darlene Weide – Ten Percent.

Free. 11:30 am. (Comcast Channel 104) David Perry interviews Darlene Weide about her work with mediation as a tool to resolve conflict without violence. www.davidperry.com Memorial Day Double Feature – Castro Theatre. $12. 7

fb.com/castrofarmersmarket

DESIGN : LOGOMAN : logomantotherescue.com

Golden Gate Model Railroad Exhibit – Randall Museum. Free.

10 am to 4 pm. (199 Museum Way) Discover the rich history of the California Railroads during this special museum exhibit. www.randallmuseum.org

• 26 : F RIDAY

A program of The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation

Resource Guide to over 250 SF LGBT nonprofits, arts and athletic groups and their events

Wednesdays: what’s for dinner? $10 DINNER

SPECIAL MENU Michael & Wendy invite you to come for dinner at Sweet Inspiration $10 special price does not include drinks and dessert.

Sweet Inspiration Bakery Cafe

2239 Market Street, San Francisco 415/621-8664 sweetinspirationbakery.com BAY T IM ES M AY 14, 2015

25

MANDELMAN (continued from page 10) is equally well established. A 2006 Special Report of the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated that 705,600 mentally ill adults were incarcerated in state prisons, 78,800 in federal prisons and 479,900 in local jails. It is an ugly irony that the “deinstitutionalization” of the last half-century in too many instances has really simply meant moving mentally ill people out of public psychiatric hospitals and into prison.

Given the tendency of our politicians to pander to public outrage over the colonization of our public spaces by people who have nowhere else to be, without offering any real solutions, it is a welcome thing when one of them actually offers something positive and real.

Former State Senator Darrell Steinberg did that back in 2004 when he got Proposition 63 on the ballot. The Mental Health Services Act, which increased taxes on millionaires to pay for increased funding for mental health programs and services, created a dedicated statewide funding source for the State’s mental health needs.

DUNNING (continued from page 10)

Unfortunately, in the time since then, much of the newly generated funding from the Act has been used simply to soften the blow of cuts elsewhere in the State budget during the Great Recession. Plainly, the need for significant additional resources to address mental health is as great, or greater, than it was back in 2004.

jail. But I fear that the fighting over Laura’s Law is a distraction from the main story: unless and until we commit to providing treatment and care to those who need it, the debates about the extent to which the State should be able to coerce that care and treatment will be a sideshow, a lot of sound and fury signifying…not much.

Laura’s Law, enacted by the State Legislature in 2002, is a California state law that allows for court-ordered assisted outpatient treatment for individuals with a serious mental illness plus a recent history of psychiatric hospitalizations, jailings, or acts, threats, or attempts of serious violent behavior towards themselves or others. The heated debates over local implementation of Laura’s Law have pitted civil liberties advocates against groups like the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, with its membership of family members desperate for any means to get mentally ill children, siblings and parents into treatment that could keep them alive, off the streets and out of

No one can know whether a different set of interventions could have saved my friend’s life, but I cannot help but believe that fixing our broken mental health system would save the lives of lots of people like him. And meanwhile, my friend Sam, whom I still think of as a sweet, smiling twenty year old in a Yale College dining hall long ago and far away, is dead, much too young and much too pointlessly. At least he went out in a big way, taking down a major regional transit system on his way out.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Rafael Mandelman is an attorney for the City of Oakland. He is also President of the City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees.

MARRIAGE EQUALITY (continued from page 16) the first professional sports team to join the “It Gets Better” campaign with a moving video that featured many of their star players. The Giants host annual LGBT nights at the ballpark. Most recently, the Giants signed onto an amicus brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of marriage equality in all 50 states.

At the Marriage Equality USA awards ceremony, Giants’ Senior Vice President and General Counsel Jack Bair ROSTOW (continued from page 19) Cruz Control Let’s see here. Not much space left to tell you about some anti-gay guy who was just named Culture Minister in the U.K. Not enough room to talk about the gay hoteliers who “accidentally” invited Ted Cruz over for a reception and “fireside chat” at their New York apartment. When word leaked out, the ex-partners professed to be appalled to learn that the senator is actually one of the most reactionary antigay fools in Congress. Now, I

stated: “San Francisco is the epicenter of the marriage equality movement and it is only fitting that its professional sports team would support the LGBTQ community. The Giants are proud to support marriage equality as it speaks to our core values of equality and social justice for all.” Bair then wowed the crowd with his World Series ring.

At this year’s Giants LGBT night (and at the Oakland A’s first ever pride

guess, at least one of them is annoyed that his apology has not been enough to stem the community anger. Mati Weiderpass has just penned an op-ed in the New York Observer calling the hostile commentators “extremists.”

Hey, before I go, what’s up with the Cialis ads that point out there are moments—presumably amorous— when you don’t have time to find a bathroom—presumably to take a pill or something? I think they’re trying to promote the fact that Cialis works

night this year as well), we hope that LGBT fans will be able to wow the crowd with their wedding rings, which with their marriage licenses should be valid in every state of the Union.

John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, together for three decades, were plaintiffs in the California case for equal marriage rights decided by the California Supreme Court in 2008. They are leaders in the nationwide grassroots organization Marriage Equality USA.

longer than the competition. My problem with the commercial is that most of the couples in question are all outside in public, at a football game or a fair or whatever. So they do have time on their hands, unless we’re supposed to imagine that they’re going to have sex in the bleachers or under the carousel like teenagers. Okay, I guess they could. I don’t want to be ageist. I just dislike inconsistency in television ads.

you stand on the issues? What has been your record? How do you compare to other candidates? Where is their voting location? How do they fill out the ballot? Where will your name be on the ballot—can they find you? For my DCCC election, I was fortunate to be listed second in the long list of 31 candidates on the ballot (the order of names is randomly drawn). I had a simulated ballot on my mail pieces showing voters exactly where to find me and “connect” the arrow to vote for me.

ABILITY: This is hard to demonstrate prior to Election Day, but campaigns typically focus their efforts on those who have previously voted in a majority of recent elections. Those voters have not only demonstrated the DESIRE to vote, but also the ability.

Another reason for asking people to endorse your campaign is that it demonstrates commitment and, in a sense, gives them an early opportunity to “elect” to endorse you.

REINFORCEMENT: As a candidate you want to thank folks for voting and for donating to you and voting for you.

You should make them feel good about their choice. The Department of Elections gives you “I Voted” stickers

when you hand in your completed ballot. Candidates should always send donors thank you cards (mine were all hand written personally), provide email updates on the campaign and after you are in office, and host election night thank you parties for their volunteers, donors and supporters. If you run again, you want them to continue to be on your team.

I recognize this is not rocket science, and much of it may sound like common sense. But if you put all these building blocks together using this ADKAR framework, you have a powerful tool for persuading others to adapt to any change and to adopt the behaviors you would like for them to demonstrate.

Hopefully my case study of a political campaign has given you some food for thought and ideas for the next time you or your organization goes through a major transition.

Zoe Dunning is a retired Navy Commander and was a lead activist in the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. She currently serves as the 1st Vice Chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, as a San Francisco Library Commissioner, and as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club.

RIVER (continued from page 16) me to him in the first place. I love his kind and gentle heart, and his caring for friends and others as he would like to be treated. One life goal of mine is to tell the best worst joke possible! And as my jokes have gotten worse, Carl has remained faithfully tolerant. I am so grateful!

Elizabeth River: Is it a challenge, weaving your careers into your relationship?

Carl Hungerford: We both have jobs that allow us a fair amount of free time together, although Andy’s schedule has always been variable, which I’ve adapted to. My hospice work is very rewarding and also emotionally draining. My life at home with Andy renews me, and makes it possible for me to keep giving back in my work.

Andy Dvorak: Carl’s work as a hospice RN/case manager both rewards him and drains him. Being a flight attendant gives me both time off and also time apart from Carl. The time apart helps me appreciate our time together even more. Again, our great communication keeps us from getting stressed by the demands of our jobs. We’re always there to listen to each other.

The pair are joyously anticipating their wedding on June 6. We will interview them again when they have settled into life as an “old married couple” (well, a young married couple!), and hear their perspective on life then.

Reverend Elizabeth River is an ordained Interfaith Minister based in the North Bay. For more information, please visit marincoastweddings.com

arostow@aol.com

SISTER DANA (continued from page 17) “San Francisco is the epicenter of the marriage equality movement, and it is only fitting that its professional sports team would support the LGBTQ community,” said Jack Bair, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Giants.

“As the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots organization working on the issue of marriage equality, Marriage Equality USA’s work was a key part of bringing marriage equality to the steps of the United States Supreme Court,” MEUSA Executive Director Brian Silva concluded at the event.

LYRIC held its 27th Anniversary Open House, OUR QUEER STORIES, OUR QUEER HISTORY, at its HQ at 127 Collingwood Street in the Castro for an evening of food, memories, and youth art. Queer youth gave lively spoken word performances, and executive director Jodi L. Schwartz inspired us all. lyric.org Filmmaker DANTE ALENCASTRE and the San Francisco GLTB Historical Society invited us to attend a FUNDRAISING RECEPTION AT THE GLBT MUSEUM to benefit the production of the documentary film, NELLY QUEEN: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOSE JULIO SARRIA - the social, cultural, and political legacy of Jose Sarria, Empress I, the Widow Norton. It was an unforgettable evening of never-before-seen, raucous film 26

BAY TIMES M AY 1 4 , 2 0 1 5

clips of Empress Jose’s rare cabaret performances and poignant interviews surrounded by his majesty’s costumes and artifacts. droa70@msn.com and glbthistory.org Comedy queens played pageant queens in “the most smartest show” in town, when PEACHES CHRIST PRODUCTIONS presented DEATH DROP GORGEOUS, the witty, gritty parody of Drop Dead Gorgeous at the Castro Theatre. PEACHES CHRIST assembled one of her largest casts in history – including RuPaul’s Drag Race champ Jinkx Monsoon and fan favorites BenDeLaCreme and Pandora Boxx. The cleverly parodied performance was accompanied by an ultra-rare theatrical screening of cult classic Drop Dead Gorgeous. Peaches’ pre-show was a gas - much like the gassoaked flaming swan float in the movie - and every bit as explosive. The gorge live show starred talented Suppositori Spelling as pretty protagonist Amber Dragkins; BenDeLaCreme as evil, cheating, gun-toting Becky She-man; Jinkx Monsoon as beer-guzzling mama Annette Dragkins; Peaches Christ as pageant host and dirty underhanded Gladys She-man; and Pandora Box as Loretta the foul-mouthed but good natured friend of the She-mans. The cast was rounded out by co-hostess Beyonce (played by Mahlae Balenciaga), Amy Adams Apple (Noah Haydon), deaf Tanya HardaHearing (L. Ron Hubby), Shittany

Murphy (Persia), Anna Rexia (Meredeath), Boy Toy jock/cowboy (Adam Roy), and devoted documentarian David (Rory Davis). Costumes and props (featuring the huge crepe paper swan float) were amazeballs!

Peaches as director always utilizes all parts of the theater: marching actors up and down the aisles, commenting in the wings, and falling off the stage. The live show was a real winner - which, alas, we cannot say about most of the contestants.

CUMMING UP! Celebrate Harvey Milk’s 85th birthday at the Castro Theatre, Friday, May 22, at 6pm for a special one-time screening of the Oscar-winning documentary THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK. Presented by the HARVEY MILK LGBT DEMOCRATIC CLUB, this anniversary event will include a special VIP reception and fireside chat with the film’s director Robert Epstein, for mer Assemblymember To m Ammiano, former Supervisor Harry Britt, and other special guests from the film and friends of Harvey’s. milkclub.org/birthday RICHMOND/ERMET AID FOUNDATION presents on Monday, May 18, 7:30pm, cast members from the Tony Award-winning show THE BOOK OF MORMON with a night of music by the Beatles - a fundraising evening of music, dance, and comedy at Marines Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter Street.

Joining this amazing cast will be comedy/ drag sensation Countess Katya Smirnoff Skyy. helpisontheway.org ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: SEASON 2! from ROYAL BRITISH COMEDY THEATRE brings us more wacky live episodes from the TV classic AbFab starring: Terrence McLaughlin as Edina, ZsaZsa Lufthansa (Patsy), Lisa Appleyard (Gran), Dene Larson (Saffy), and Raya Light (Bubble) with: Nick Leonard, Ginorma Desmond, Michele Jenkins, Adam Schaaf, Bird McCargar, CoCo Buttah, and Lavale-William Davis. The Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy Street, “Morocco” and “New Best Friend”: May 15th-16th, 22nd-23rd. brownpapertickets.com/event/1568666 See it, sweetiedarling!

THE DRAG QUEENS OF COMEDY come to the Castro Theatre, Saturday May 23, 7 and 10pm - starring Bianca Del Rio, Jackie Beat, Sasha Soprano, Shangela, Lady Bunny, Willam, Alaska 5000, Peaches Christ, Heklina, Miss Coco Peru, and hosted by Michelle Visage. 6pm is Pre Show / Pink Carpet Experience in front of Theatre. Laugh yer wig off ! thedragqueensofcomedy.com STRANGERS WITH CANDY: LIVE plays at the Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy Street, May 21-30, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, 8pm. Your favorite 46-yearold high school boozer, user, and loser is

back! From the team that brought you Strangers With XXXmas Candy now brings two classic episodes: “Old Habits, New Beginnings” and “Who Wants Cake.”

Go Donkeys! facebook.com/strangerswithcandysf DOCUMENTING QUEER LOVE is this month’s exhibition on the gallery walls of MAGNET (the gay-bi hub of health and social wellbeing in the Castro). “There are many types of love, but what is true about all love, is that it is always evolving,” said photographer DOMINIC GARCIA, who uses different cameras for different images.

“Some love fades away while others quietly linger,” he added. “These are images of my shared intimate experiences with lovers.” My favorite is that of light coming through burlap curtains - leading the imagination to wonder what’s going on inside that room. My second fave is the first on far left, which Dominic told me was a journey capturing love. magnetsf.org and dgarcia@ artists.sfai.edu PORNUCOPIA: This week’s flick pick is Catch 22 from titanmen.com Sister Dana sez, “The 3rd annual Give OUT Day, the national day of giving for the LGBTQ community, is May 21. For 24 hours, the queer community and our allies nationwide will come together to raise critically needed funds to support the diverse array of LGBTQ nonprofits. Check out giveoutday.org!”

Round About - All Over Town

Photos by Rink

Centrifugal Force flaggers performed at Maitri’s Bliss at the MIssion Bay Conference Center.

Greg Carey and Ken Craig from the Castro Community on Patrol, Lou Fischer from the SFPD Auxillary Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) and Shaun Haines from the Bayard Rustin Coalition at the volunteer promotional event Atmosqueer at the SF LGBT Community Center

Therapists Clare Johnson and Valerie Tate were assisted by Novice Sister Kristina (left) and Sister Jendra Ufora in promoting Sidewalk Talk: You Talk We Listen. The program is designed to support therapists in taking their work to the streets to bring people together though communication.

Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) members at their table at Atmosqueer, the volunteer promotional event held at the SF LGBT Community Center.

Auctioneer Mark Paladina and actor/comic Alec Ser ver DimasJoe Arellano Mapa who entertained at Maitri’s Bliss Gala at served up pizza to hungry the Mission Bay Conference Center visitors at the new Oz Pizza location on Castro Street.

Photographer Dominic L. Garcia at the opening of his exhibit at Magnet.

SF City Treasurer Jose Cisneros with Lyric board member Mark Sanchez at the Bliss Gala 2015.

Stephen Henry and Doyle White enjoyed dinner at Castro Cove restaurant during Dining Out for LIfe, a benefit for the SF AIDS Foundation.

Volunteers Jessica Suarez, Michael Banko, Jorge Vieto, Courtney Green and Gary Keener at Magnet’s exhibit opening for photographer Dominic L. Garcia.

Actor Kim Larsen (third from right) with a Castro Tours group standing in front of the plaque featuring Harvey Milk at 575 Castro Street, the site of Harvey’s Castro Camera store which now houses the Human Rights Campaign store

Larkin Street Youth Services’ Linda Walubengo and recently appointed Community College Board member Alex Randolph at Maitri’s annual Bliss Gala, held this year at the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF

“Mexicans on a Mission: SF to LA 545” cyclists Joe Sanchez and Uzziel Prado pedaled and requested contributions supporting their participation in the AIDS Life/Cycle ride from SF to LA.

Jose Sarria’s friend Robbie Robertson, Jean Franco who played the role of Sarria at Theatre Rhino, filmmaker Dante Alencastre and producer Jese Carlo Parsons at the screening of Nelly Queen: The San Francisco Bay Times columnist Sister Dana with volunteers Win Mixter and Beau Ledloh at the GLBT LIfe & Times of Jose Sarria.

Historical Society’s screening of Nelly Queen: The Life & Times of Jose Sarria.

A group of young participants at the Lyric Open house held at their headquarters on Collingwood Street A team of young fundraisers at the Lyric Open House

Guests on the back patio at Lyric’s Open House event

The back steps became the set for young performers at the Lyric Open House BAY T IM ES M AY 14, 2015

27

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Celebrate

PRIDE at SF Pride Official Kickoff Party 速

Saturday, May 30, 2015 7 - 10PM Hotel Whitcomb Live entertainment by

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ADVANCE TIX: $75 $100 VIP HOST (name in program & gift) sfpride.org/fundraiser INFO: 415.867.5004

MEET THE 2015

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MUSIC BY Sergio Fedasz (Go BANG!)

Proceeds support SF Pride's $2 million operating budget & award-winning Parade & Celebration design by karinjaffie.com