San Francisco Bay Times - May 18, 2017

May 18 - June 7, 2017 | sfbaytimes.com

NCLR - 40 Years of Advancing LGBTQ Equality

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NATIONAL CENTER FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS

SEE PAGES 3– 6

NCLR - 40 YEARS OF ADVANCING LGBTQ EQUALITY

MORE THAN RESISTANCE:

Celebration at SF City Hall, 2008

PHOTO COURTESY OF NCLR

Persistence and LGBTQ Movement-Building

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO COURTESY OF NCLR

Leaders of the Lesbian Rights Project founded in 1977

Supporters dressed as U.S. Supreme Court justices led the NCLR contingent in the 2015 SF Pride Parade

By Kate Kendell, Esq.

D

uring a BBC interview (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04yvljf ) earlier this year, I stated that San Francisco is leading the resistance. And we are.

From challenging this administration’s unlawful immigration policies to rising up on behalf of LGBTQ youth and families, we are speaking up and speaking out. This is a time for action, and we know that we cannot afford to be bystanders.

Under this administration, it feels like our community is under constant attack. Every day brings forth new executive orders, firings, appointments, and legislation that seek to take our country backward. In fact, Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, now Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, once chillingly stated that courts should look “backward, not

Press Conference at SF City Hall on Friday, June 26, 2015, Supreme Court Decision Day

forward.” After decades of hard-won progress, we face constant pushback and repeated attempts to roll back our rights.

Today, a growing number of states are introducing legislation to chip away at marriage equality. Transgender students face more barriers at school. Many LGBTQ immigrants and their families live in fear. And decades of progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS could soon be undercut by the repeal of a healthcare plan that now insures millions of LGBTQ Americans.

In the face of these indignities, we have heard many calls from across the country to “resist.”

We will continue to take a stand, to lead, and to resist—but resistance alone is not enough. We must do more. We not only must defend against attempts to push us back, but we

must also persist in affirmatively building and strengthening our movement, including seizing on new opportunities for creativity and collaboration that are more important than ever before.

We will not put our work to advance LGBTQ equality and intersectional feminism on pause, or be satisfied with merely holding our ground. We will push forward so that LGBTQ people across the country can live freely and safely—at work, school, and in all aspects of our lives.

We will ensure that our families are respected and eradicate anti-LGBTQ bias in courtrooms. We will protect more LGBTQ youth across the country from the harmful and unscientific practice of conversion therapy. We will advocate for LGBTQ people in rural communities. We will stand up for (continued on page 6) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES M AY 18, 2017

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NCLR - 40 YEARS OF ADVANCING LGBTQ EQUALITY

Forty Years Later, NCLR’s Work Still Honors Its Family Law Beginnings

By Catherine Sakimura The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) was founded in 1977 to help mothers who were losing their children when they came out as lesbian or bisexual. NCLR quickly expanded its work to focus on all LGBT parents and the full range of issues affecting LGBT people and their families, but throughout the last four decades, family law has remained a core part of NCLR’s work.

In the 1980s, NCLR helped to pioneer second parent adoptions to protect the families of unmarried same-sex parents.

In the 1990s, NCLR litigated cases across the country urging courts to protect non-biological parents, permitting them to seek custody or visitation. And in the early 2000s, NCLR began a nationwide campaign to win full parental rights for non-biological LGBT parents and, in particular, to protect the rights of transgender parents, who still often lose custody of their children.

In the last decade, NCLR was counsel in one of the Obergefell cases, which established that same-sex couples have a right to marry with all of the benefits of marriage in every state.

At the same time, we continued and grew our work on behalf

of transgender children, bringing the first successful custody cases on behalf of affirming parents of transgender and gender nonconforming children.

Today we continue to work on all of these issues, because although we have come a long way in establishing that LGBT families have the same right to dignity and respect under the law as other families, LGBT families continue to face serious barriers to full equality. In the past year, NCLR helped to win an important case in the Washington Supreme Court, reversing a lower court decision that had denied custody to a mother because she was in a same-sex relationship.

On our current docket, we are representing a lesbian mother in Arizona who is fighting for her marriage and parental rights to be recognized, a mother who lost custody of her children because she affirmed her gender non-conforming child, and an unmarried, non-biological lesbian mother in Idaho who was denied even visitation with children she has raised since birth. We are also asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a blatantly discriminatory decision by the Arkansas Supreme Court. It held that Obergefell does not require states to name married same-sex parents on their chil-

dren’s birth certificates, as it does for married opposite-sex parents.

In addition to continuing this work, NCLR is also always looking for the families and issues that have not been in the spotlight and are in desperate need of assistance. We began the first national project focused on the needs of low-income LGBT families, and are expanding our work advocating for young children who are transgender or gender non-conforming. We started a national network of LGBT family law (continued on page 6)

NCLR TIMELINE 1977—Lesbian Rights Project founded (re-named National Center for Lesbian Rights in 1989) 1980—NCLR wins landmark victory in California for Denise Kreps, denied a job as County Sheriff because of her sexual orientation

2003—NCLR litigates and wins the first school harassment case to involve both lesbian and gay students who were subjected to years of anti-lesbian and anti-gay harassment 2005—NCLR wins the first round of the California marriage battle when the San Francisco Superior Court rules that excluding samesex couples from the right to marry violates the California Constitution

2007 Rene Portland

1981—NCLR brings groundbreaking case on behalf of a woman discharged from the National Guard solely for being a lesbian

2006—NCLR successfully defends the marriage of a Cherokee lesbian couple before the Cherokee Supreme Court

1985—NCLR represents two gay men in one of the first cases in the country to seek equal health benefits for same-sex partners

2006—NCLR launches the Family Protection Project to improve access to family law services for low-income, same-sex parent families, with a focus on serving families of color

1986—NCLR represents Annie Affleck and Rebecca Smith as they become one of the first same-sex couples to jointly adopt in the U.S. OUTSPORTS.COM

1987—NCLR wins one of the first second-parent adoption cases in the country and begins promoting second-parent adoption as a legal strategy for protecting same-sex parent families 1988—NCLR wins one of the nation’s first court custody battles for a parent with AIDS on behalf of Artie Wallace, a gay dad whose son was kidnapped by his ex-wife

2007—NCLR represents a gay couple in a landmark victory against an Internet adoption business that discriminates against same-sex couples and single parents

1993—NCLR is the first national LGBT legal organization to launch a groundbreaking advocacy program on behalf of LGBT youth

2007—NCLR and California Rural Legal Assistance launch another first-of-its-kind project, Proyecto Poderoso/Project Powerful, to improve legal services for low-income LGBT farm workers and people in rural California

1994—NCLR dramatically expands its advocacy on behalf of LGBT immigrants with the launch of its Immigration Project, becoming the first national LGBT legal organization to do so

2008—NCLR is lead counsel in the historic case in which the California Supreme Court rules the state can no longer exclude samesex couples from marriage, including holding that LGBT people are entitled to the highest level of constitutional protection, the first time any high court has ever done so

1996—NCLR represents a lesbian mother in Florida in a precedent-setting case holding that courts must not base custody decisions on stereotypes about lesbian and gay parents

2008 Supreme Court decision

2000—In a powerful decision that adopts many of the arguments put forward by NCLR in an amicus brief, the Ninth Circuit awards asylum to a gay man from Mexico and holds that sexual orientation is an immutable characteristic

2009—NCLR’s Legal Director Shannon Minter testifies in the first-ever congressional hearing on gender identity discrimination

2008 Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin wedding

2001—NCLR becomes the first national LGBT legal organization to launch a Transgender Law Project 2001—NCLR is the first national LGBT organization to tackle the rampant homophobia and transphobia in sports with the launch of its Sports Project 2001—NCLR wins a landmark wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Sharon Smith against the owners of two vicious dogs that killed Sharon’s life partner, Diane Alexis Whipple 2002—NCLR wins a victory on behalf of a lesbian mother in Mississippi who lost custody of her child to her former husband who had physically abused and padlocked her in their home 2002—NCLR represents Michael Kantaras, a transgender dad in Florida, in a landmark custody and divorce case televised on Court TV SA N F RANCISCO BAY T I ME S MAY 1 8 , 2 0 1 7

2008—The day after passage of California’s Proposition 8, NCLR files a legal challenge with the California Supreme Court 2009—NCLR wins a case that establishes that Florida must give full faith and credit to all adoptions, including second-parent adoptions, granted to same-sex couples by other states

1999—NCLR is the first LGBT legal organization to launch a permanent Elder Law Project as the first wave of baby boomers become senior citizens

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2007—In the first lawsuit to shine a public spotlight on pervasive homophobia in women’s sports, NCLR represents Jennifer Harris, a former college basketball star, in a discrimination case against Penn State and former coach Rene Portland

protect LGBT students

2010—NCLR represents Clay Greene, an elderly man forcefully removed from the Northern California home he shared with his longtime partner after he was hospitalized, eventually settling the case for $600,000 2010—NCLR wins U.S. Supreme Court case upholding the right of colleges and universities to enforce non-discrimination policies that

2011—NCLR client Vanessa Adams settles with Federal Bureau of Prisons, establishing major changes in transgender medical policy for those in federal facilities 2011—NCLR prevents state officials from separating and denying health care rights to an elderly lesbian couple in rural Florida 2011—NCLR successfully settles a federal case on behalf of two lesbian high school seniors in Minnesota, enabling them to walk together in “royalty court” procession 2011—NCLR wins 20 asylum cases on behalf of LGBT people facing unspeakable discrimination, harassment, and violence in their countries of origin (continued on page 5)

In Our Voices: The Early Years of NCLR As part of the National Center for Lesbian Right’s 40th anniversary celebration, the San Francisco Bay Times asked NCLR’s earliest leaders to reflect on how far the organization has come over the years.

Retired San Francisco Superior Court Judge Donna J. Hitchens founded the Lesbian Rights Project (LRP) in 1977 with the support of Equal Rights Advocates. LRP later became the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). For 24 years, Judge Nancy L. Davis led the Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), a public interest law firm dedicated to equality of rights under law for women and girls. NCLR was first housed at ERA. Former San Francisco Supervisor and Clinton Administration official Roberta Achtenberg served first as a Lesbian Rights Project staff attorney and then served as Executive Director from 1984–1990, overseeing the organization’s transformation into the newly named National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Below, these three extraordinary women reflect on the early years of NCLR. Judge Donna Hitchens: 40 years ago, upon graduating from UC Berkeley Law School, I looked at the world around me. It was decades before the Supreme Court marriage equality ruling. The Stonewall Riots had occurred only eight years earlier, and our identities were still seen by many as an illness or a crime.

In 1977, lesbian leadership and advocacy on behalf of lesbians lagged far behind advocacy for gay men. Lesbian issues were too often ignored or pushed aside. As we were working to find our place and to build a movement, it was this disparity that inspired me to work together with Equal Rights Advocates to found the Lesbian Rights Project, now the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Photos courtesy of National Center for Lesbian Rights

Roberta Achtenberg, Esq.: As a Lesbian Rights Project staff attorney, I worked closely with Donna and Nancy on cases and strategy. We knew that we couldn’t lose sight of the forest through the trees.

Each individual case we took on would become part of the body of a very new area of law, setting the table for how courts in California and across the country would view these issues.

Our contributions to the LGBTQ movement were not just groundbreaking because of the legal precedents our lawyering helped set for our community, but also because of the intersectional feminist lens we applied to our work— and that is still applied by NCLR today. We came out in front on issues that were being ignored by others, and we built the foundation of the rich body of work NCLR takes on today to protect and strengthen LGBTQ families. We know that our community members are more than their sexual orientations and gender identities, and have evolved to ensure that we have the legal expertise to serve our clients’ complex, intersectional families and lives.

Judge Nancy L. Davis: With the encouragement and support of Equal Rights Advocates Board and Staff, right away, L R P/NCL R took on precedent-setting cases, first in California and then nationally in the areas of family law, employment, and insurance. This casework has continued and grown over the past four decades, during which time the National Center for Lesbian Rights has completely altered the LGBTQ legal landscape.

Losing child custody or visitation based on sexual orientation or gender identity used to be an everyday occurrence. But thanks in great part to NCLR’s pioneering work on this issue, such injustices are far more rare today. In the earliest cases, we saw LGBTQ and HIV+ parents removed from their children merely because of who they were. LGBTQ families and community members faced undisguised discrimination from the courts, other family members, school officials, employers, health care providers, and others. The LGBTQ community’s legal needs were vast, and we all knew (LRP and ERA) that more than a legal “project” was needed to meet them. What was needed was an entire legal organization.

LGBTQ family law was a new and emerging issue in our legal system. During this time, Donna and I created the Lesbian Mother Litigation Manual. We created this important resource to help private attorneys litigate cases on behalf of lesbian mothers and their children. Courts then were disrupting these parent-child relationships—taking children away from LGBTQ parents during divorce proceedings— because identifying as LGBTQ was thought to be an illness.

Homophobia was disrupting these important parent-child relationships.

Even during those early years, we were aware of the awesome responsibility we faced—not just to represent the needs of our clients to the very best of our abilities, but also to stay responsible to the movement.

Today that responsibility continues for NCLR. Although Donna, Nancy, and I are no longer at the helm, we’re glad to see leaders like Kate Kendell, Catherine Sakimura, and Shannon Minter take up this mantle. From securing LGBTQ adoption rights to being part of the team of attorneys that won national marriage equality, forty years later, the work of NCLR continues to make us proud.

NCLR TIMELINE (continued) 2011—NCLR drafts comments on behalf of over 30 organizations successfully persuading the Department of Housing and Urban Development to include LGBT people and families in their housing benefits and programs

PHOTO BY TRISH TUNNEY

2013 Tennessee Marriage Equality

2011—NCLR convinces Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination in the new state healthcare exchanges 2012—NCLR’s 35th anniversary

2012—NCLR drafts and helps pass California’s Senate Bill 1172, the first law in the country to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangers of conversion therapy 2012 – NCLR wins a case in New Mexico establishing that unmarried non-biological mothers can be recognized as parents under New Mexico’s parentage statutes 2013—NCLR works with New Jersey leaders to pass the second bill of its kind in the country protecting LGBT youth from conversion therapy 2013—NCLR wins New Mexico marriage equality case; files marriage cases in Tennessee and Idaho; and begins representing plaintiffs in Utah 2013—Along with members of NCLR’s National Family Law Advisory Council, NCLR staff helps draft legislation in Delaware and Nevada allowing all intended parents, including unmarried parents and intended single parents, to conceive through surrogacy 2014—NCLR launches its #BornPerfect campaign to end conversion therapy nationwide by 2019 2015 Tennessee Marriage Equality

2014—NCLR drafts and helps pass California’s Senate Bill 274, the first comprehensive statute in the country explicitly allowing children to have more than two legally recognized parents in limited circumstances 2014—U.S. Supreme Court declines review of NCLR Utah marriage case, resulting in marriages beginning in the state and several other states within days of decision 2014—Washington, D.C., is the third jurisdiction in the country to protect LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy; #BornPerfect leaders testify before the UN

2 015 —NC L R r e pr esent s marriage plaintiffs in Alabama, Idaho, Florida, Tennessee, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota 2015—#BornPerfect helps pass laws protecting LGBTQ youth from conversion in two more states, Oregon and Illinois

Women’s March on Washington, January 21, 2017

2015—U.S. Supreme Court grants review of NCLR’s Tennessee marriage case, along with cases from three other states 2015—History is made when the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of marriage equality nationwide after hearing NCLR’s Tennessee marriage case and cases from three other states 2015—NCLR launches the #Equality4Families campaign to raise awareness about the need to update family laws across the country to fully protect LGBT parents and their children 2016—U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reverses an Alabama Supreme Court decision refusing to recognize our client, a lesbian mother, and her prior adoption of her three children in Georgia 2016—#BornPerfect helps pass law protecting LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy in Vermont 2016—NCLR wins groundbreaking victory for transgender girl in Jane Doe v. Highland School District, requiring her school to treat her the same as other girls 2016—NCLR wins Title VII victory for Louisiana transgender man who was fired after his employer learned that he is transgender 2016—NCLR wins cases requiring Arizona and Florida to name both parents on the birth certificate when a child is born to a married same-sex couple 2016—NCLR’s legal director is the first transgender person appointed to the President’s Commission on White House Fellows 2017—#BornPerfect helps pass laws protecting LGBTQ youth from conversion in two more states, Oregon and Illinois 2017—In direct response to an NCLR lawsuit, the Utah Legislature repeals hateful law prohibiting teachers or students from making positive statements about LGBT people in response to NCLR lawsuit 2017—NCLR expands its Immigration Project, serving hundreds of LGBTQ immigrants 2017—NCLR’s litigation helps to establish marriage equality in the Cherokee Nation S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES M AY 18, 2017

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NCLR - 40 YEARS OF ADVANCING LGBTQ EQUALITY

NCLR Anniversary Celebrations

KENDELL (continued)

LGBTQ immigrants, asylees, and their families. And we will continue to gain ground on addressing the sexism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia that are still rampant in many sports programs across the country.

We will do these things, and many more.

As National Center for Lesbian Rights’ early leaders Donna Hitchens, Nancy Davis, and Roberta Achtenberg can attest, we’ve seen plenty of what look like unwinnable fights over the last 40 years. From securing same-sex parent adoptions to winning marriage equality, we’ve had decades of experience doing what many said could not be done. Throughout those decades, we’ve expanded our team and our toolset to address a range of issues facing the LGBTQ community, including immigration, employment, healthcare, housing, parenting, incarceration, sports, and barriers faced by transgender youth.

There is so much left to be done to bring true justice and freedom to all in our community. Despite the enormity of the challenges, we will never let up nor stand down until we reach that day.

Kate Kendell, Esq., is the Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (http://www.nclrights.org/).

SAKIMURA (continued)

attorneys, who previously worked in isolation without sharing strategies for advancing this work. And we helped pass the first comprehensive laws explicitly recognizing that children can have more than two legal parents in some circumstances.

In this time of increased attacks on LGBT people and our families, we must focus both on defending the rights we have already gained and advancing the right of all families to be recognized and respected. More than ever, LGBT families need strong advocates, and every LGBT person needs to ensure that they have done all that they can to protect their families. Through our national helpline, we provide information and assistance to thousands of people every year. If you or anyone you know has any questions about the security of their family relationships, please contact us at www.nclrights.org/gethelp NCLR will be here fighting for LGBT people and their families until every family can live freely and with dignity.

Catherine Sakimura is the Family Law Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

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Photos by Trish Tunney for NCLR and Rink

Calafia: Queen of California

Photos courtesy of Bill Lipsky

Faces from Our LGBT Past Dr. Bill Lipsky Once upon a time, long, long ago, “very near to the region of the Terrestrial Paradise,” there was a legendary island. “One of the wildest in the world,” it was protected by “bold and craggy rocks” that were the strongest “that is found in the world.” A wondrous realm, it was ruled by a queen “more beautiful than all others, and in the very vigor of her womanhood, valiant and courageous, ardent and with a brave heart.” Her name was Calafia (also called Califia). The land she ruled was called California.

Whoopi Goldberg as Queen Calafia at Disney California Adventure

The great queen, announcing that she and her Amazons could do better, took leadership of the Muslim forces. During the battle, she “pressed audaciously forward among her enemies” with such skill that “it cannot be told nor believed that any woman has ever shown such prowess.” She “dealt with many noble knights, and no one of them left her without giving her many and heavy blows,” yet she remained fearless and undaunted.

In those days, no men lived on the island of California. “It was home to a nation of black amazons,” who l i ke t heir queen “were of powerful bodies and strong and ardent hearts and of great strength.”

Brave warriors all, they had a “Women Only” policy that was strictly enforced. “Their weapons were golden and so were the harnesses of the wild beasts that they were accustomed to domesticate and ride.” Men who ventured into their realm were destroyed by griff ins, Queen Calafia cave art photo trained to kill any man they encountered.

“The greatest of the long line of queens who ruled over this mythical realm,” Calafia desired “to perform nobler actions than had been done by any other ruler before her.” One day she encountered Radiaro, a great Muslim warrior, who told her that in a far distant land “all the world is moving in an onslaught against the Christians.” Now Calafia “did not know who Christians were, but believing only that “with the great strength of herself and of her women” she would be victorious, she joined the expedition.

Calafia and her warriors arrived at their destination just after a fierce struggle that ended in a stalemate.

There st ill was no victory for either side, so the Muslims issued a challenge to the Christians: let them send two warriors to f ight R ad ia ro and Calafia in a single combat to decide the battle.

King Amadis, the leader of the Christian forces, and his son Esplandián accepted the proposal. Then the unexpected, unimaginable happened.

Calaf ia, learning from an aide that “Esplandián is the most handsome and elegant man that has ever existed,” resolved to see this enemy for herself before meeting him in mortal opposition. Escorted by 2,000 of her warriors, she journeyed to the camp of her antagonists. To impress them, she wore a golden toga embroidered with jewels and crowned by a golden hood, raiment fit for a California queen even today. When she finally saw Esplandián, she immediately fell in love with him.

There were hurdles, however, to their romance. First, they had to survive a test of valor on the battlefield. Then there was the matter of an interfaith relationship—to Esplandián, Cala-

Map of California as an island, Nicolas Sanson, 1656

Queen Calafia by Susan Shelton

fia was an infidel. Even more serious was the fact that they both were physically attracted to women. They additionally both held divergent views of females in society: Esplandián believed they were subservient to men in all things; Calafia strongly disagreed.

Never mind that he was already engaged to the beautiful Leonorina.

The next day, Calafia dueled with King Amadis, and Radiaro with Esplandián. The Christians won. The vanquished surrendered and were imprisoned. During her time in captivity, Calafia, who after all did have an eye for women, acknowledged “Leonorina’s astonishing beauty” and decided not to compete with her for Esplandián’s favors.

Calafia’s story has a happy or a tragic ending, depending on your point of view. She converted to Christianity as “the one true faith.” She then married Talanque, a handsome knight and valiant warrior, and returned with him to California to establish a new dynasty that would rule over a Christian nation of both women and men.

This story of Queen Calafia was first told in Las Sergas de Esplandián (T he Exploits of Esplandián) by Garcí Rodríguez de Montalvo, published in Seville in 1510. It was the fifth book in a series that told the story of the conf lict between Christians and Muslims during the Crusades. The f irst four volumes were praised in their time,

but t his one was pretty much considered summer beach reading when it first appeared. In Don Quixote, Cervantes’ hero bu r ned h i s copy. Even so, it was hugely popular and went through edition after edition.

At least one person among the first Europeans to visit California in the early 16th century read the book. No one knows who first used the name for the region, but by Ancient American sacred cave art: Yellow Diamond Harvest 1560 it was appearthe wife of an English king, among ing on maps and in accounts of trav- others. Only California is named for els there. an island realm that was ruled by a California is unique in many ways, black bisexual Amazon woman. but especially in its name. We have states named for a virgin queen, a French monarch, Native American nations, an American president, and

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

Queen Calafia: TheArthur Wright

Mural: Maynard Dixon and Frank Van Sloun

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES M AY 18, 2017

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In the News Compiled by Dennis McMillan Democrats’ New CEO Is an Out and Proud Lesbian With newly installed DNC Chair Tom Perez in charge, the Democrats are starting to remake their organizational structure. As Perez lines up his team, he has picked a well-known, successful lesbian as CEO. Jess O’Connell, the former Executive Director of EMILY’s List, was a powerhouse surrogate for Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president—while at the same time leading the organization, which focuses on electing women to political office, to historic increases in membership and fundraising. lgbtqnation.com Tipping Point and Mayor Lee Pledge to Reduce Chronic Homelessness by Half Mayor Edwin M. Lee and Tipping Point Community, a private povertyfighting organization, have launched a $100 million initiative to reduce chronic homelessness by 50 percent within the next five years in San Francisco. Partnering with Tipping Point is part of Mayor Lee’s multifaceted approach to combating homelessness in San Francisco. Since he took office, nearly 11,000 residents experiencing homelessness have been housed, but this and related problems, such as the lack of affordable housing in the city, are clearly far from being solved. sfgov.org San Mateo LGBT Center to Open on June 1 The official grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the new San Mateo County Pride Center will happen on June 1 from 4–7 pm. The Center, located at 1021 S. El Camino Real, San Mateo, has a $2.2 million budget for operation over the next three years and will bring together the efforts of five nonprofits and the county’s Health System. StarVista will primarily manage the Center, with the other partners including the nonprofits Outlet Adolescent Counseling Services, Peninsula Family Services, Pyramid Alternatives, Daly City Partnership and the county’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. smdailyjournal.com Mark Leno Announces Run for Mayor of San Francisco Mark Leno has announced his plans to run for Mayor of San Francisco.

Leno was joined by longtime friends and community supporters at his San Francisco City Hall announcement.

“It’s time for a new direction,” said openly gay Leno. “I’m ready to lead with a progressive vision for our City, grounded in a commitment to affordability and civil rights.” Leno has dedicated his life to serving the San Francisco community as a small business owner, Supervisor, Assemblymember, and State Senator. He brings a progressive vision for the City, grounded in a commitment to affordability and economic equity. A longtime civil rights champion, Leno has spent over a decade authoring historic legislation to protect and fight for equality.

His landmark FAIR Education Act ensured that the contributions of LGBTQ Americans and those with disabilities are included in public school curricula. In 2014, Governor Brown also signed into law Leno’s historic legislation formally recognizing marriage equality in California.

MarkLeno.com Chelsea Manning Released from Prison, Scheduled to Return to Active Military Duty Pvt. Chelsea Manning, who came out as transgender while in prison for leaking documents to Wikileaks, was released from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Leavenworth, Kansas, this week. Although Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013, former President Obama granted Manning clemency. At the time of his decision, President Obama said, 8

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“I feel very comfortable that justice has been served.” Manning is set to return to active Army duty and will be eligible for some benefits, according to Army spokesman Dave Foster.

He explained, “Pvt. Manning is statutorily entitled to medical care while on excess leave in an active duty status, pending final appellate review. In an active duty status, although in an unpaid status, Manning is eligible for direct care at medical treatment facilities, commissary privileges, Morale Welfare and Recreation privileges, and Exchange privileges.” Will Manning appear at LGBT events, such as Pride parades, this summer? No announcements have yet been made, but U.S. active duty members of the military are allowed to participate in gay pride parades, and can wear their uniforms while doing so. armytimes.com Resolution to Landmark Rainbow Flag (and Pole) at Harvey Milk Plaza in Works Plans are in the works to grant City landmark status to the rainbow flag and flagpole located at Harvey Milk Plaza at the intersection of Market and Castro Streets. The flagpole was erected as an art installation in 1997 and was never intended to be a functioning flagpole, said District 8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, the man behind the resolution. Gilbert Baker, creator of the Rainbow Flag, latched onto the idea of installing a giant rainbow flag over the Castro in 1997. He had identified an unused flagpole near U.N. Plaza, and through a chance encounter with Willie Brown, got the f lag and pole up in about six weeks. If the Board of Supervisors vote to landmark the iconic flagpole, the matter will be referred to the City’s Historic Preservation Commission, something that Sheehy’s office hopes will happen as soon as this summer. If the commission gives the initiative a green light, it’ll return to the supervisors for final approval. hoodline.com Rainbow World Fund Helping Global LGBTQ Family in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon Over the years, San Francisco-based Rainbow World Fund has provided emergency grant assistance to LGBTQ refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon who have faced imminent threats in their homelands. RWF funds have allowed LGBTQ Iraqi refugees to be flown out of Iraq to Turkmenistan and then to Lebanon, where conditions are safer, but no less precarious. RWF has covered the costs of airplane fare, food, basic needs, and housing for 2–3 months as the refugees await safe evacuation from the region and eventual connection to LGBTQ groups able to assist them with filing for asylum. RWF is located in the Castro and can always use volunteers. rainbowfund.org U.​S. Support of Same-Sex Marriage Hits All-Time High Despite a perceived political shift to the right, support for same-sex marriage continues to rise in the United States. According to recent results released by Gallup, 64 percent of U.S. adults say same-sex marriages should be recognized by the law and valid. Gallup notes that Americans’ support for same-sex marriage has more than doubled since Gallup first polled on the issue in 1996, when 27% said it should be recognized as valid by the law. Once considered a political lightening rod, support for samesex marriage has almost always been strongest among Democrats, with 74 percent saying they approved in the survey. Independents followed with 71 percent approving. And while Republicans came in at a meager 47 per(continued on page 30)

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Assemblymember Phil Ting Immigrant communities are afraid.

They’re afraid to visit their families outside the country because they may be turned away when coming back.

They’re afraid to report crimes for fear of deportation. They’re afraid of being separated from their children.

This environment of fear is pervasive and omnipresent for immigrant and Muslim communities due to President Trump’s executive orders promoting racial and religious discrimination. Today’s political climate isn’t unprecedented and Asian Americans see the echoes of the past in President Trump’s executive orders.

During World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to internment camps. They lost their homes, their businesses, and their livelihoods because of the assumption that they

On May 6, 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was signed by President Chester A. Arthur. It was the country’s first law prohibiting immigration solely on the basis of ethnicity.

This law, made permanent in 1904, prevented Chinese laborers from entering the country, despite the many years that these laborers toiled on the Transcontinental Railroad. It also denied a path to citizenship for Chinese persons for more than 60 years.

While the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943 and Japanese internment has long since ended, this stain on our nation’s history serves as a painful reminder about the very real harmful effects of discrimination against an individual’s ethnicity, race, or religious beliefs. Unfortunately, the current federal administration under President Trump is repeating the same mistakes of the past.

The tragic reality of today is that we have a president who does not understand our nation’s history, and pursues senseless executive orders that discriminate against an individual based upon their immigration status or religious beliefs.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was a painful part of Chinese American history in this country that we cannot forget. I introduced Assembly Joint Resolution (AJR) 14 with Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco), so that we can mark the 135th an-

niversary of the Act, call on Trump to repeal his anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim executive orders, and push every person to stay awake and act when injustices of the past are recycled and repeated.

The text of the Chinese Exclusion Act states “the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities,” which served to criminalize Chinese people who wanted to come to the United States to work. This parallels Trump’s executive orders, which operate on the assumption that Muslims are terrorists, Mexicans are rapists to be walled off, and people who come to our country for a better life are dehumanized with the label “illegal.” We cannot let this stand. We are better than this.

The President rose to power despite acknowledging our history of prejudice, and the consensus that equal rights strengthen our nation.

If we’ve learned anything from these last few months, it’s that our progress to become a more perfect union is fragile. We must be vigilant about keeping the progress we have made, and stopping rollbacks of justice and equality. We must stay informed and stay awake to resist the wrongs of those who seek to divide this country.

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

Prioritizing Solutions to Our Homeless Crisis

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our community. It is time for Oakland, Alameda County, and our surrounding jurisdictions to take a more effective action—a type of response that is often called “navigation centers”—providing a low barrier-to-entry homeless facility, which includes both living space and social services on site. Oakland already has one such successful facility, the Henry Robinson Center, but with growing demand, we need additional space to help more people.

Out of the Closet and into City Hall Oakland City Councilmember At-Large, Rebecca Kaplan As our homeless population continues to grow, it is essential to pledge resources to help our homeless neighbors f ind safety and shelter. I am dedicated to advocating for an urgent city response to the homeless crisis, including by urging allocation of Measure KK funds (the Infrastructure and Housing Bond Measure passed in November, https://ballotpedia.org/ Oakland,_California,_Bond_Issue,_ Measure_KK_(November_2016), to purchase existing motel and SROtype buildings to provide immediate homeless housing and services to help get people off the streets now.

In addition, I am calling for a CityCounty partnership to remedy the large and growing homeless crisis in

Currently, it is hard for many homeless people to use existing shelters, both because they are often full, and many have strict rules for entry that exclude certain people. Other areas are now experimenting with an easier to access model, which allows those camping on our streets and sidewalks to have a safer alternative location to go to where they can stay while receiving services and support and being matched for longer-term housing.

Just as we must fight against homelessness, we must also fight against displacement of residents from our City. As the result of my amendments to the Code Enforcement Relocation Program, a property owner is responsible for providing relocation payments for those being evicted due to code compliance activities. If the property owner does not provide relocation payments to an eligible tenant, the City can provide the tenant relocation payment, making the property owner responsible to reimburse the

City, including placing a lien against the property.

I am happy to announce that Oakland City Council recently took action to help prevent homelessness and displacement, by voting to allocate $615,000 of Community Development Block Grant funds to the Code Enforcement Relocation Program.

It’s not fair to expect struggling tenants, who have lost their homes, to go through the process of suing the property owner for relocation assistance. By the City allocating money for tenants whose landlords have not paid the relocation fees, we are taking strides to keep Oakland residents in our City.

The work does not end here. We as policy leaders and concerned citizens of the Bay Area must come together to solve the homeless crisis facing our region, and collaborate to help our neighbors most in need.

Oakland City Councilmember AtLarge Rebecca Kaplan was elected in 2008 and was re-elected in 2012, and again in 2016. She is working for safe neighborhoods, for local jobs and for a fresh start for Oakland. Councilmember Kaplan graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the Massachusetts Institute of Technolog y, obtained a master’s degree from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School.

FOR MORE INFORMATION City-County partnership: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4k7eaDkAjFzLTVKX1VBV1paZ3c/view Amendments to the Code Enforcement Relocation Program: https://drive.google.com/file/ d/0B4k7eaDkAjFzZlc5bzJjVzBYYnM/view

Immigration Rally at Portsmouth Square

photos by Rink

Activists, including LGBT leader Helen Zia, gathered on May 6 for the 75th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act. 10

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S MAY 1 8 , 2 0 1 7

Voices of LGBTQ Refugees from Trump’s America

6/26 and Beyond Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis Many of us felt the sting of Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States and feared how it would affect our lives. But as San Francisco Supervisor Jeff Sheehy reminded us at a hearing he convened last week on youth homelessness in the city, Trump’s election has already become a matter of “life and death” for some LGBTQ young people. Such was the case for D. Andrew Porter, a queer youth living in rural western Kentucky when Trump was elected, and who soon thereafter f led to San Francisco with a friend for safety. D. Andrew—who uses the pronoun “they”—shared their story and spoke of the desperate need for better services for homeless youth in powerful testimony they delivered at the hearing.

D. Andrew described how since Trump’s election last November, “threats of violence have drastically increased. A dear friend of mine living in Cookeville, Tennessee, had her car vandalized [and] set on fire … .

[S]he was hospitalized after being assaulted. And the realities set in. And my mother said, ‘If you stay here, you will die. Go.’” So D. Andrew and a friend went— driving 2,327 miles in two days to San Francisco. D. Andrew, who is 25 years old and has been doing LGBTQ organizing in rural areas since the age of 15, never intended to leave Kentucky for San Francisco. “[B]eing a Southerner and living in Kentucky, all my life people have said: Move to California, move to New York City, move to these big urban spaces. And there you will find open arms and love and affirmation, the things that you are seeking here that we simply cannot provide you.” But D. Andrew “spent many years advocating against that.

I’ll be quite frank about it: San Francisco was never where I thought I would end up.” With Trump’s election, D. Andrew felt they no longer had a choice.

D. Andrew is not alone in fleeing to San Francisco, and they warn of po-

tentially greater numbers of LGBTQ youth coming in the future.

“The reality is that the refugees of Trump America are going to be younger and younger. Queer youth are coming out sooner and sooner. Trans youth are beginning to transition faster and faster.”

Although D. Andrew found “coming to California … really exciting and liberating,” they didn’t exactly find the “open arms” they had heard about. “Getting to California and … specifically being here in San Francisco, a new set of obstacles were thrown at my feet.” They, like many other homeless youth, found navigating the system to find youth services and housing extremely difficult— “barriers and barriers and barriers … to navigate.” Supervisor Sheehy described how D. Andrew “couch surfed among friends, but eventually ended up living in a cold, unheated industrial garage” before getting a studio apartment they share with two other people.

D. Andrew acknowledged how fortunate they are compared to many other youth because they “had some income saved up” and a network. They didn’t succeed by themselves. “My story is a common one, but my successes are not. And that’s the harsh truth.”

Many homeless youth “feel trapped in a cage of circumstances.”

D. recounted that one day “I was in the Castro and I gave money to a 16-year-old queer youth from Iowa and sat down with her and talked about her story and promised her that the reality is that even in the hardest of times you can do anything for a year … . And … the saddest truth I’ve ever had to say is that if you can’t make it [here] in a year, you probably should move back to less safe spaces, because I’d rather see you move into a more conservative area … than living in California, this space where we talk often about how [many] resources we have and how much we care deeply for these individuals, but … if you are living on the streets, how accessible are those resources to you?”

As Supervisor Sheehy set forth at the hearing, as of 2015, “the city’s point and time count identified 1,569 homeless youth on the street or in shelters,” and that is “probably an undercount.” Nearly half, 48 percent, identify as LGBTQ , and 13 percent are HIV positive. Numerous people who have been working in the field for years spoke at the hearing and identified many steps to take, such as opening navigation centers and drop in centers and providing housing and access to health care to improve the lives of homeless youth.

They pointed to the fact that data shows that targeted programs work. Everyone pointed to the lack of financial resources.

As we listened to D. Andrew’s voice as an LGBTQ refugee from Trump’s America, we were above all struck by their strength, compassion, and desire to help others. For years, these qualities have sustained LGBTQ people from all walks of life in the face of myriad challenges. Those of us who have better living conditions than homeless youth are not separate from those of us on the street. We owe it to each other to end the scourge of Trump’s America and to demonstrate as much strength and courage in supporting LGBTQ youth as the youth themselves have shown.

As Super visor Sheehy concludes, “We talk about refugees from other places in the world, and certainly we have to be a haven for people from other places in the world. But we have an internal refugee problem, specif ically for LGBTQ kids, and all across America with what’s happening with Trump America.”

Supervisor Jeff Sheehy

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SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S MAY 1 8 , 2 0 1 7

John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, together for over three decades, were plaintiffs in the California case for equal marriage rights decided by the California Supreme Court in 2008. Their leadership in the nationwide grassroots organization Marriage Equality USA contributed in 2015 to making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.

Food Is Love and Food Is Medicine

Aging in Community Mark A, Ryle When you serve 19 million nutritious meals to seniors and critically ill neighbors in your community, you learn a thing or two along the way.

At Project Open Hand, where we recently surpassed the 19 millionth meal served milestone, two lessons stand out: Food is love. And food is medicine.

Our founder, Ruth Brinker, understood this, when in 1985, as San Francisco found itself at ground zero of a frightening and devastating epidemic called AIDS, she took it upon herself to prepare what she called meals with love to seven neighbors with AIDS who were far too frail to cook for themselves.

Today, Project Open Hand has expanded its services beyond HIV/ AIDS to include serving those with critical illnesses such as breast cancer and diabetes, as well as seniors and adults with disabilities fighting hunger.

floor at the N’Touch on Polk Street, he felt too drained and depressed to even think about food and groceries. These days, Mario not only looks forward to his weekly meetings with our registered dieticians—he spends extra energy as the lead volunteer in our Grocery Center in the Tenderloin.

It’s the one-on-one relationships that Project Open Hand has w ith our communit y of clients, coupled with our unique model of serving nutritious meals tailored to the individual health needs of our clients, which makes our program so health and cost effective. Research has shown that Project Open Hand’s medically tailored meals increase an individual’s health and well-being.

Project Open Hand is the city’s largest provider of congregate meals for seniors, serving healthy meals seven days a week at over 20 sites across San Francisco—including our graying LGBT community who meet and eat daily at the Castro Senior Center near Diamond and 18th Streets.

The Food Is Medicine Pilot study, published this year in the Journal of Urban Health, involved more than 50 San Francisco and Alameda County residents living with Diabetes, HIV/ AIDS or dual diagnosis. HIV-positive clients who received healthy food and snacks for six months from Project Open Hand were more likely to adhere to their medication regiments, and they, along with clients with Type 2 Diabetes, were less depressed and less likely to make trade-offs between food and healthcare, according to researchers at UCSF.

Mario in the Mission

M.J. from Chicago

As usual, our clients articulate it best.

The food as medicine manifests in food as love when you look into the eyes of folks like M.J., a life-long civil rights activist and member of the LGBT senior community. For the past ten years, M.J. has relied upon Project Open Hand’s senior meals program at the Curry Senior Center in the Tenderloin.

“Before Project Open Hand’s meals, I could barely walk. Now, I can dance,” says Mario, a client of our Wellness Program for more than 20 years. Mario’s quote and infectious smile has been celebrated across the city via busses and BART trains and billboards through our recent Food = Love outdoor awareness campaign.

After being diagnosed with HIV, Mario lost well over 25 pounds and had major mobility issues. For a man known to own the strobe-lit dance

“My case manager downstairs told me to come here,” says the Chicago native. “I had just been told that I have been disabled. My social security hadn’t started. I had to figure out some way to pay rent and some

Mario in the Mission

M.J. from Chicago

way to eat. All that happened and my case manager said, ‘well you can get at least one nutritious meal upstairs.’”

That one meal a day now empowers M.J. to dedicate time and energy to walking her Tibetan terrier, Diva, and focus on her passion for photography. You can hear more about M.J.’s story through a special podcast and photo essay (https://vimeo. com/208913060) published on our website (https://www.openhand.org/ blog/project-open-hand-reinforcespledge-serve-san-francisco-seniors).

Food Is Medicine Coalition At a time when seniors like Mario and M.J. are bombarded by news of possible cuts to senior services, Project Open Hand is more committed than ever to protecting their rights to obtaining healthy food. Project Open Hand is a proud founding partner of the Food Is Medicine Coalition (FIMC), an advocacy group of nonprofit food nutrition service providers. FIMC advances public policy that supports access to food and nutrition services for people with severe and or chronic illnesses.

In April, I was part of an FIMC group that met with California legislators to urge them to fund the Medi-Cal Medically Tailored Meals Pilot Program.

We advocated before the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee on Health and Human Services for inclusion of the meals program in the upcoming state budget. Dr. Richard Pan, committee Chair, described the FIMC’s program as a “transformational approach” and “an investment that would lead to cost savings.”

Whatever the outcome, we will continue to fight for the people’s right to secure healthy food and continue to serve, 365 days of the year, healthpromoting and life-enhancing meals.

Or, as Mario likes to put it: “Project Open Hand is Humanity 101. It’s what keeps me alive.”

Mark A. Ryle, LCSW, is Project Open Hand’s Chief Executive Officer. Ryle leads California’s largest and most iconic nutrition agency serving more than 8,600 clients in the Bay Area. He spent the first 25 years of his career in corporate finance and private equity before he found his calling in social work.

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

Resource Guide to over 300 SF LGBTQ Nonprofit Service Agencies, Arts & Athletic Groups

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

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Examined Life Tom Moon, MFT Q: I was with Tim, the love of my life, for fifteen years. He died fifteen years ago this month. My years with him were the happiest of my life. He was the kind of guy who never got sick, and I always assumed we’d grow old together. But one day he was well, the next day he was in the hospital, and a week after that he was gone. There wasn’t even time to say good-bye to him. But this was all a long time ago.

I’ve now been without him for as long as I was with him, and I thought I’d be finished with my grieving process long ago. Not a day goes by, however, when I don’t think about him, and

whenever I remember him, I ache inside. Our anniversary, his birthday, and the date of his death are always sad days for me. It’s not that I just sit around and think about him all the time; I actually have a busy life. I have a successful career, and many close friends to keep me company. No one who knows me would say that I’m depressed, but this sadness about Tim is always in the background. I’ve never found another partner, even though I’ve dated some great guys. I don’t know why I can’t shake free of these feelings. Shouldn’t I be over all this by now? What do I need to do to finish my grieving process?

A: I’m very sorry that you lost Tim. You were very fortunate to have someone to cherish for fifteen years, and I can feel the tragedy of your loss in your words.

I believe that our culture has so lost touch with the tragic dimension of life that too many of us make our inevitable suffering into “disorders” requiring “treatment.” Our sorrow over our losses is now a “grieving process,” which is an unfortunate temporary aberration, a deviation from being appropriately “positive” about life.

But if we do our “grief work” properly, we’ll “work through” the various

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“stages” and finally arrive at home plate, “acceptance.”

Not all of our suffering is psychopathology requiring treatment, though.

One of the realities of life is that some grief does last a lifetime. Some losses leave us with sorrow that never “heals.” Most people keep their private grief to themselves, but I suspect that if you talk to your friends about it, you won’t find anyone who doesn’t mourn loved ones who are gone from their lives.

You’ll probably always feel sad when you think of Tim. And, really, would you want it any other way? Your grief is also your link to the love that you feel for him. I think a better approach than trying to “get over” these feelings would be to respect their essential dignity. Treat your grief with respect, not as a weakness from which you should “recover.”

Having said that, I am curious as to why you haven’t connected with another man in fifteen years. In your heart of hearts, do you prefer to be single at this point, or would you like to be with another partner? If you do, something other than grief may be getting in your way.

photos by Rink

Grief by itself, in the long run, doesn’t prevent people from getting into new relationships. There is no inherent psychological contradiction between mourning the loss of one love while also loving someone new. Yet there is something that sometimes accompanies grief (and is often mistaken for it), which can interfere with new relationships, and that something is survivor guilt. This is the more or less unconscious idea that to go on with your life, to allow yourself to experience new relationships is a betrayal or abandonment of Tim. Is it possible that you are holding yourself back from letting someone new into your life because you’re afraid that this would have to mean evicting Tim from your heart?

It might be useful for you to think about this possibility, and maybe explore it with a therapist. Grief may be inevitable in this life, but guilt about your own survival is not. In most areas of your life—career, friendship— you’re psychologically free to let yourself have a life. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to extend this freedom to your love life.

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

GLBT Fortnight in Review

By Ann Rostow

Wishing and Hoping Before I start, do you think it’s unpatriotic of me to wish that Trump remains in office? I also wish that he continues to stumble and bumble, but that he avoids starting a war or passing any legislation. Then, I want a Democratic wave in 2018, followed by a prolonged stalemate and a chaotic presidential campaign featuring a GOP primary challenger for Trump. After that, I want the Democrat to trounce the Republican in an historic electoral college wipeout. Along the way, I’d like to win back a bunch of state legislatures and state houses. I don’t think this is too much to ask.

By the way, in the last few days I’ve been glued to the coverage of Trump leaking classified information to the Russians, and I’ve watched a lot of people make the comparison between Clinton’s email “scandal” and Trump’s security lapse. But no one bothers to point out that Clinton had just three emails retroactively marked classified out of 40,000 or so that were checked out by the FBI on her private server.

The news anchors just glide over this fact even though it makes the contrast that much more severe. It’s as if the GOP claim that Clinton was regularly using her private server for classified information has just taken root at the expense of the truth—a truth that was publicly confirmed by the FBI after months of investigation! This bothers me.

What the hell. While I’m at it, I also want Trump to gain about fifty pounds and start to look really puffy and old.

I’d like Melania to divorce him, and I’d like someone on the level of Kellyanne Conway to drop out of the power circle and write a tell-all book. I’d also like a reporter from Golf Digest to sneak around behind Trump for eighteen holes and reveal his actual score. Don’t tell me that bozo can break eighty.

Finally, will someone explain why Jared and Ivanka are never around when bad news breaks out of the oval office?

Where are they, and what are they doing?

My Masterpiece Obsession Continues Let’s talk Cakeshop, shall we? Once again, the Supreme Court failed to act on the petition for review of the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, a lawsuit filed by a Denver baker who declined to sell a wedding cake to two gay men. This is the twelfth time the case has been listed for conference and then rescheduled, this time for the next conference on May 18. As far as I can tell, that’s an extraordinary sequence of delays. It sort of looked as if the Court was waiting for Gorsuch to take part in the deliberations, but he’s now had several opportunities to weigh in, and we’re still waiting.

This time, the antigay legal eagles at Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter to the justices pointing out a related case from Kentucky, where a state court of appeals just ruled that a t-shirt company had the right to refuse service to a gay pride group, even though a local Lexington ordinance forbade discrimination based on sexual orientation. The 2–1 court said the t-shirt company had a free speech right to refuse to print the shirts, even though the proposed message simply said, “Lexington Pride Festival 2012,” and included a rainbow.

Keep in mind that antigay bakers like the one in Denver claim, among other things, that their cakes are artistic creations, which are protected by the First Amendment. I’m sure they would also insist that putting two little men on top of a cake would constitute forced “speech.” In the Denver case, however, the baker refused to sell a wedding cake right off the bat before anyone got around to discussing any specifics.

This is critical, because obviously, no baker can be forced to make a penisshaped cake or write some racist slogan in icing. Likewise, the gay group in Kentucky would not be justified in demanding an obscene t-shirt. But where anti-discrimination laws are in effect, it’s illegal to flatly refuse all service, or to claim that an innocuous message like “Lexington Pride 2012” offends religious sensibilities.

Who’s Your Mama?

There’s another High Court petition up for discussion on May 18, to wit a case out of Arkansas, where the state supreme court ruled that the samesex wife of a new mother need not be noted on the child’s birth certificate.

A husband, on the other hand, is automatically listed as “father” in the Hog State, even if he’s not the biological dad. Keep an eye out for Pavan v Smith, which feels as if it should be a slam dunk for us. (I’m afraid I’m missing something.)

The same issue is also up for discussion at oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on May 22. That appeal followed a federal court ruling in Indiana in favor of two married women who sued the state after the non-biological mother was told to adopt her child if she wanted to be a parent. We got used to these kinds of inequities back before our unions were legally recognized, but we assumed that the right to marry would include the right to parent the children who are born into our marriages.

And speaking of marriage equality litigation, do you remember Kim Davis, the grotesque, publicity seeking county clerk from Kentucky who made an obnoxious show of her Christian misgivings by refusing to sign marriage licenses? There were a number of lawsuits filed against her back in the day, but they were deemed moot after Kentucky removed the name of county clerks on its marriage paperwork.

Now, however, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has revived one of those lawsuits because it includes a claim for damages. The damage inf licted on David Ermold and David Moore was not resolved by the change in state policy, ruled the court.

So, the men can return to court to argue their case. Go get ‘em.

Texas Hold ‘Em There’s an alarmist article in USA Today about all of the antigay proposals floating around the Texas legislature. I’m sure we’re probably high on the list of states with nasty bills on the drawing board (I live in Austin), but I will wait until the mercifully short session comes to an end before drawing conclusions. There’s a lot of sound and fury strutting across the Capitol stage, y’all. I’m not saying it will signify nothing when all is said and done, but it might not be as bad as some say.

And speaking of not being as bad as some say, there was a rumor floating around a couple of weeks ago about an Executive Order that would roll back President Obama’s gay rights policies and/or carve out an explicit religious right to discriminate against our community. That was the second time such a rumor had reached high on the decibel meter, but like the first time, it turned out not to be true.

That’s nice, but did you notice that while we were all exhaling, Trump signed an order that attempts to weaken the rules preventing religious nonprof its from political activity? The good news is that the order has no concrete impact on churches or tax policy; it’s so vague that the ACLU dropped plans to file suit. The bad news is this represents another suck up to conservative Christians, who are already whittling away at abortion access and who would love nothing more than to create a gay exception to anti-discrimination laws. (continued on page 30) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES M AY 18, 2017

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Separation of Church and Gays?

TLC: Tears, Laughs and Conversation Dr. Tim Seelig In the last couple of years, organized, fundamentalist religion has reared its ugly head again—under the guise of religious freedom. To be clear, it’s been there lurking just below the surface, waiting for an opportunity to pop out and scare the hell out of us like a Jack in the Box with a Bible.

And somehow, that “old time religion” has found the most unlikely of mascots in the head of the new administration.

The grand poohbah has sold his soul to the devil so many times it makes one’s head spin like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. He has surrounded himself with the most frightening array of mostly white, really rich disciples.

They have taken over our nation’s capital armed with big erasers aimed at blurring the centuries-old line separating church and state. The move toward religious freedom has nothing to do with freedom. It is their lastditch effort to reverse the freedoms we have fought for and won. It is their intent to put us back in our places of subservience where we once were.

What’s a gay to do? If you are not scared to death, you’re not paying attention!

Any discussion such as this must begin with a thorough inventory of one’s own relationship to organized religion. This is not about being spiritual or deep or thoughtful. It’s all about the huge organizations— that should be for-profits and pay taxes—who live in a world of rules, dogma, bibles and guns.

These are my stories,

I know these people all too well, having spent the first three and a half decades as a devout Southern Baptist and minister of music. At its core, fundamentalism in any form is about forcing others to believe and adhere to doctrine—all or nothing. We had mandatory, organized proselytizing.

We were like Mormons without the bikes and badges. We had church visitation every Monday night where we were given the names of “prospects” to visit. We were to hunt down the heathens in our neighborhoods and convince them that there was a “Jesus-shaped hole” in their hearts and they were going straight to hell, not passing “Go” if they didn’t sign up.

We were encouraged to keep score of those we brought to a saving knowledge of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Notches in the “Bible Belt,” as it were.

That changed abruptly when I came out and was thrown out of the very church I had served as a music minister. I have often been asked how I have personally reconciled having been thoroughly indoctrinated into one of the most conservative of all religions and being a BOG—Big Ole Gay. I’ve been working on the most important response for three decades, and there is no magic remedy or one answer fits all. I applaud churches who are willing to affirm our community and attempt to bring religion and gay together. I don’t need religion and gay to merge. I am fine with the concept of “separation of church and Tim.” But that is my own path.

I have often said that recovery from growing up Southern Baptist (insert Mormon, Catholic, Pentecostal, etc.) is a 24-step program. Twelve is just not enough. You have to rinse and repeat often. Even then, I don’t believe we are ever fully released from

VOCATIVE.COM

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its grip. It comes back on you when you least expect it in often debilitating ways. This all depends on how religion was delivered to you when you were growing up as a required course or an elective.

What has brought this to the top of my mind right now is the chorus’ impending tour to the south. We are traveling to a land where most of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters live under the most incomprehensible pall, subjected to constant rhetoric of unworthiness. They are living lives in fear in states where they have no real rights, and where religion is king and Elvis is alive.

They are, however, way ahead of us in so many ways. They don’t need Betsy DeVos to order them to put Jesus back in school … he never left. They don’t need an executive order for preachers to tell their flock who to vote for— they never stopped. And, according to Mike Pence on Fox News, most don’t need healthcare; they’ll just need to get back to church. God can take the cancer away through prayer, if he wants to. My son-in-law is a pediatric oncologist, and my daughter is a nurse in the same department. I’ve seen way too many examples where this theology defines a god I do not wish to have anything to do with.

Sometimes, in moments of weakness, I think maybe it wasn’t that bad.

Then I am reminded that it was. At my brother’s funeral a few weeks ago, the pastor used the scripture: “In my Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.” Steve suffered debilitating and excruciating brain cancer for 4 years after the life expectancy of 3 months. The explanation of this lengthy suffering was that his mansion just wasn’t ready yet. I wanted to jump up

out of Christmas” and sing only nonsectarian holiday fare. After the concerts, I received a letter I have kept for almost thirty years. Not long after Mark wrote this letter, he died of complications from AIDS. I can’t remember a more peaceful, confident “home-going.” He was not afraid of death, as most of my Christian friends are. Here is some of that letter:

PHOTO COURTESY OF TIM SEELIG

my thoughts. As you read, please take a moment to reflect on your own stories and journey. I am envious when I encounter people who were raised with a healthy relationship with religion. I’m envious that they aren’t schlepping the baggage that others of us have collected over the years.

and scream out, “Of course it wasn’t ready. All of the interior decorators are in hell. The 3 straight ones who made it to heaven are busy, busy.”

How do we bring light and hope on our journey? How do we give them a sense that it is going to be OK? How do we bring our San Francisco gay bubble experience to the south and make it meaningful and life-changing for them?

On one hand, we have chosen to sing music that they grew up with, such as a beautiful arrangement of “Amazing Grace.” “I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see.”

The words placed against a backdrop of authenticity brought by coming out have all new meaning! We are also singing an incredible piece by activist musician Holly Near. “I ain’t afraid of your Bible. I ain’t afraid of your churches. I ain’t afraid of your stories.

I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your god.”

In the early years after coming out, I was shedding the layers of religion like a rattlesnake sheds its skin—only to have to do it all over again. I had the chorus sing “Ave Maria” for the holiday concert. Up to that point, they had managed to “take the Christ

“I have been an agnostic since I was 18 years old. I am much more comfortable with the question being left open than answered. I much prefer to stand in awe of the sheer mystery of life than to accept or ascribe to any grouping of articles of faith. I won’t say that I didn’t lapse back into that comfort the Christian community affords a person. But once you realize that something, no matter how beautiful a metaphor it is, is indeed only a metaphor, you cannot go back to a literal understanding and accepting of it. I have spent the last 21 years occasionally being so terribly moved by the metaphor that sometimes I weep for its beauty and this has been enough for me.”

And thus, it is for many of us. There are many parts of the religion of our past that remind us of moments when we felt something so deeply, we weep.

It could be an organ playing, a choir, a prayer, the “smells and bells” (for you high church folks), Mormon funeral potatoes, Lutheran one dish, Baptist green bean casserole, Pentecostal green Jello mold, or Catholic bratwurst and beer.

What does it all mean to us? It’s a journey. Each of us has a responsibility to examine what place organized religion holds in our lives. We must look at it, at its impact on our lives, and somehow manage to put it into its proper place. The bottom line is to come to a place where each of us believes—with all of our hearts—that we are whole and perfect just the way we are!

As for separation of Church and Gays, that is a personal decision. It’s a matter of choice! As for separation of Church and State, that is not. We must resist. We must fight. Our freedom and our future depend on it.

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

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PAWS Petchitecture Benefit Party Held May 4 at The Fairmont photos by Rink and Paul Margolis

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

I love this project for the San Francisco Bay Times, and hope that you enjoy my sketches.”

© Randy Coleman, 2017 S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES M AY 18, 2017

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Speaking to Your Soul

Astrology Elisa Quinzi There is something in each of us that wants to be heard and wants to be healed, and now is a time for giving voice to that.

By acknowledging and integrating previously unconscious material, we have an opportunity to utilize more conscious ways of communicating.

ARIES (March 21–April 19) Allow what’s coming up in you to come up, particularly around relationships, intimacy, and what you truly value and deeply desire. Give voice to it by written or spoken word.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) As an analogy, if you lost your eyesight, your inner senses would heighten. Consider this a period of one usual line of perception and communication being blocked for the purpose of you leaning into your intuition.

TAURUS (April 20–May 20) You might be ending a relationship or tie to someone.

Or you might just be letting go of the past. In either case, the space opens for liberation and renewal.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) A wound to personal security affects sexual spontaneity and potency. Exposure to consciously loving partners helps heal your soul.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) This new cycle can be one of deeper depths and more authentic freedom, to the degree that you grieve your attachments and withdraw your projections.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) How have you been holding back your wildness? This will undoubtedly come up in dialogue with a partner now. Communicate what’s arising in you, and also listen to what a partner or close friend is telling you.

CANCER ( June 21–July 22) One of the benefits of crises is that we are humbled by our fragility. As you access your vulnerability, you access life intelligence. Keep your mind open to receive higher guidance via your heart.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22–Jan.19) Be curious about your suffering. Humility and honesty can help you set forth developing new habits that will better serve your goals.

LEO ( July 23–August 22) In what way might a personal desire for ego expression be thwarted so that you realize a greater purpose to serve life? Open your heart to new information and let your curiosity lead you.

VIRGO (August 23–Sept. 22) A wound is triggered that has affected your personal relationships for years. See in fresh ways now so that you can bring in a future that matches what you truly want.

AQUARIUS ( Jan. 20–Feb. 18) Solo Aquarians are called to the social scene to meet new people and follow curiosities. Partnered Aquarians are prompted to be curious as to what it would be like to date your partner again.

Renew the spark with a beginner’s mind.

PISCES (Feb. 19–March 20) Be on a fact-finding mission with regard to your personal motives. This isn’t about self-criticism, rather, you are called to get honest about what’s driving you from below the radar so you can then move forward with greater self-awareness and a fresh outlook.

Elisa has been enjoying the art of astrological counseling since earning professional certification many years ago. In addition to astrological knowledge, she brings a high degree of conscious presence to her work, and creates a safe, comfortable atmosphere for sessions to unfold organically. Contact her at futureselfnow@gmail.com or 818-530-3366 or visit www.ElisaQuinzi.com

As Heard on the Street . . . What LGBT woman do you admire and why?

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compiled by Rink

Nya Ampon

China Silk

Nikki Calma

Tom Taylor

Jeffrey Lilly

“Theresa Sparks, an amazing woman who has been a mentor to me as a new member of the Human Rights Commission. I am forever grateful to her for being my guiding light.”

“Tita Aida (Nikki Calma) has done so much for the community.

And not just for Asians, but for all people of every race and color. She is truly my inspiration.”

“I admire many women, but one who stands out is Cecilia Chung.

I have known this woman for over 20 years and she is grounded, a fighter, and smart.”

“Carole Migden, for her work on domestic partnership registry for all, saving thousand-year-old redwoods, for harm reduction, and community choice for utilities.”

“Rabbi Camille Shira Angel, who led Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, an LGBTQ synagogue with a heterosexual outreach into a broad group of religious organizations.”

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From the Coming Up Events Calendar See page 28 Monday, May 22 - Harvey Milk Day The Times of Harvey Milk Screening @ Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. Free daytime program, 12pm; evening VIP reception and screening 6pm-9:30pm

Friday, May 26 - For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf 2017 @ Odell Johnson Performing Arts Center, 900 Fallon Street, Oakland. 9pm. Also in Berkeley on June 2. sanfrancisco.eventful.com

Queer Films at the 2017 San Francisco Documentary Film Festival

Film Gary M. Kramer The San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, May 31–June 15, features several films with LGBT content. Here is a rundown of four interesting films screening at the fest.

Finding Kim is a thoughtful documentary portrait about Kim Byford, a transgender man in Seattle. Since childhood, Kim has felt like a guy. Called “he” as a little girl wearing dresses, Kim was bullied at school and not allowed into the girl’s bathroom. While Kim searched for acceptance, he found it reading Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg. Now, at age 50, Kim is looking to transition, taking testosterone shots and meeting with Dr. Tony Mangubat about surgery. Kim eloquently expresses his angst about his chest (he binds his large breasts) and his fear to discuss his transitioning with his conservative parents.

Director Aaron Baer also includes interviews with other members of the trans community, ranging from A Soldier’s Girl subject Calpernia Addams, to porn star Buck Angel, and RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Carmen Carrera. The chorus of voices discusses the changing attitudes towards the trans community, from combating judgment and prejudice through education. What emerges is an inspiring doc that showcases the people working to improve how we think about and promote gender identity issues.

Another inspiring film is Shelter, an observational docu ment a r y a b out Covenant House in New Orleans. Dedicated to helping runaway, homeless, and at-risk youth ages 16–24, the film profiles several residents in the program. Matthew is seen working on his résumé and getting a job. In contrast, Elizabeth is a difficult young woman who abuses drugs a nd a lcohol a nd spends too much time on the streets.

The film also briefly introduces Raven, a transgender young woman who talks about Janet Mock and Carmen Carrera as her role models. Raven seems to find peace at Covenant House through cooking. The film’s strength is that it shows how the men and women who work with the atrisk youth treat them with the dignity and respect that is missing from their lives.

Everybody Has an Andy Dick Story is an affectionate doc about the polarizing, bisexual comedian. Created and directed by his friend Cathy Carlson, the film has Dick watching footage of his friends and fellow comedians, including Kathy Griff in, Ben Stiller, Pauly Shore, Kate Flannery, and Vicki Lewis, among many others, recounting stories about him.

While his friends praise Dick’s unique “crazy genius” brand of humor, it is his outrageous and out of control antics that truly stand out.

Robert Cohen, one of the writers of The Ben Stiller Show, describes chasing Dick, who was dressed as Sandra Bernhard at the time, through the streets of Los Angeles, while the actor/comedian was falsely accusing him of rape. Loveline co-host Mike Catherwood explains how Dick was repeatedly determined to touch his naked penis (and succeeded, twice).

Carlson also addresses some of Dick’s legal troubles and issues with addiction and getting (and staying) sober. Everybody Has an Andy Dick Story includes clips and photos to show the actor as genuinely misunderstood. While the film won’t likely change the minds of anyone who doesn’t already appreciate the comedian, it will certainly satisfy anyone who loves Andy Dick.

The provocat ively t it led Homo: The Documentary, by local filmmaker Riley Hayes, has five straight individuals taking a road trip across America a year before the Supreme Court decided the case that established marriage equality. Their goal is to investigate how ordinary folks view the LGBT community. Homo journeys to the heartland—stopping in Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Tennessee, and South Carolina—to show, unsurprisingly, that where people have queer friends or family members, they are enlightened about equality.

In contrast, people with strong religious backgrounds are less accepting. The step-and-repeat nature of Homo is further weakened by the film’s amateur quality. Even when the interviews are interesting, they are rarely dynamic. Episodes depicting an equal rights vote in Roeland Park, Kansas, or a visit with a Pentecostal Prophet in Spartanburg, South Carolina, go on too long before or after the salient points are made. The even-handed approach to the topic is useful, but Homo: The Documentary would have been stronger if it had generated some real emotion. It seems to be preaching to the converted.

Also playing at the fest is Memories of a Penitent Heart, by Cecilia Aldarondo. It is a poignant documentary about the filmmaker seeking out her late uncle Miguel’s lover, Robert, decades after Miguel has died from AIDS. Miguel was estranged from his family when he moved to New York City from Puerto Rico, and Robert was shunned by the family after Miguel had passed. Aldarondo investigates the reasons behind her family’s treatment of Miguel and Robert, discovering long-buried family secrets in the process. It’s a remarkable story, well told. © 2017 Gary M. Kramer Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” Follow him on Twitter @garymkramer S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES M AY 18, 2017

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Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun

Sister Dana sez, “Maybe the Federal Government is a whole lotta bad news lately, but at least we can still celebrate HARVEY MILK DAY (May 22) as a huge win for queer civil rights!”

On HARVEY MILK DAY, people celebrate the life and achievements of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist who was the first openly gay politician to be elected to public office in California. Tragically, Milk served as City Supervisor in San Francisco for only a little less than a year before he was murdered by Dan White, a rival politician. During his time in office, he was responsible for championing a civil rights bill that outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation. Harvey Milk found his calling as a leader of the gay rights movement in the Castro. He was naturally charismatic and deeply concerned with social issues. His successful campaign was a landmark in American political history. On Harvey Milk Day, people around the world celebrate the achievements of the international gay rights movement, and reflect on the work that still remains to be done. Personally, I prefer Harvey Milk Month! One day just ain’t enough.

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Each year EQUALITY CALIFORNIA (EQCA) holds the EQUALITY

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AWARDS to honor the inspirational leaders and outstanding allied organizations whose selfless work helps to create a fairer and just society. These are special times to celebrate community achievements while renewing the commitment to the fight for equality. Among California’s premier gala events, attendants regularly include leaders of the LGBT equality movement and leaders from the business, nonprofit, civic and political landscapes. The Equality Awards are held each year in each of the top five media markets in California— Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles and Palm Springs.

This year in EssEff, the gala was held in the Westin St. Francis. Award recipients were California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, openly gay columnist and political commentator Jonathan Capehart, business leader Michael Dunn, and reality TV personality and author Jazz Jennings. Emcee was transgender star Scott Turner Schofield (known for TV’s The Bold and the Beautiful (1987) and various touring shows. Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom presented the Equality Visibility Award to Jennings, a trans teen activist. This year’s co-chairs, State Senator Scott Wiener, California Board of Equalization member Fiona Ma, San Francisco Supervisor Jeff Sheehy and Equality California board members Andrea Casalett and David Tsai, all celebrated our heroes and allies. Senator Wiener presented the Vanguard Leadership Award to Becerra, who on January 24, 2017, was sworn in as the 33rd Attorney General of the State of California, and is the first Latino to hold the office in the history of the state. Tom Steyer presented the

Humanitarian Award to Dunn. Ma and Sheehy presented the Equality Leadership Award to Capehart. Executive Director Rick Zbur spoke of the many victories LGBTQ citizens have accomplished, as well as those yet to be achieved.

the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco sang “Clouds” among other numbers; a small troupe from ManDance Company performed ballet; classically trained vocalist baritone Lawrence Beaman sang; and emcee/comic Marga Gomez gave us a hilarious standup act. As a very special treat, surprise guest singer and Broadway star Sheryl Lee Ralph entertained us, and when she upped the ante in a bidding war, by evening’s end, Maitri had met its $20,000 goal!

“BLISS 2017” was the 30th Year Celebration of MAITRI, providing compassionate residential care to men and women in need of hospice or 24-hour care. The event was held at the Golden Gate Club. Maitri came into existence in 1987, when the Zen teacher Issan DorsWe joined ACADEMY OF ey of the HARTFORD STREET FRIENDS at a very special event at ZEN CENTER took in a homethe Clift Hotel when AOF & Sponless student dying of AIDS. Located sors presented Bay Area HIV/AIDS in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro district, Maitri soon grew to beagencies with the money raised over come a model eight-bed hospice, a the past year and at their gorgeous place of solace in a community ravannual OSCAR NIGHT GALA. aged by AIDS. As the dynamics of There we honored their many wonthe pandemic changed—new drugs derful volunteers from the board, had helped reduce mortality but inmembers of the community, and bencreased the number of patients liveficiary agencies. AOF has distributing with severe debilitations—Maied over $8.8 million to HIV/AIDS tri responded flexibly by doubling its services since the beginning of the capacity and extending care to nonpandemic. hospice patients. This program ex(continued on page 30) pansion coincided with Maitri’s relocation to a state-licensed, custom-designed facility in late 1997.

Michael Sorensen—as its newest executive director—spoke of how, for three decades, MAITRI HOSPICE has helped those with HIV/AIDS pass on with dignity. He noted that “almost 2,000 people have died well” at Maitri over the years. He screened a video about Maitri. Several past executive directors and board memSister Dana has attended many NCLR Anniversary bers were in attendance. A Zen Celebrations over the years. Shown here at the blessing table and tribute to Issan 37th annual event held at the Marriott Marquis Dorsey was presented too. For en- Hotel on May 17, Sister Dana will be at the 40th Anniversary Celebration on May 20. tertainment, six members from

PHOTO BY PHYLLIS COSTA

By Sister Dana Van Iquity

PAWS, SHANTI PROJECT, and philanthropist Dede Wilsey presented “PETCHITECTURE 2017 - CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF PAWS” commemorating three decades of maintaining the human-animal bond for our most vulnerable neighbors at PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support)’ signature event, Petchitecture, held at the Fairmont Hotel ballroom. This event was unlike any other in San Francisco— bringing together humans, animals and premier Bay Area architects to create a spectacular evening of fun, fundraising, and pet-friendly architecture (all animal homes available for bidding). Lenny Broberg was auctioneer extraordinaire. Among my fave habitats were the Poochella Pup Tent, Golden Gate Cat Hammock, and Cat-Thedral. We humans wore our Classy Cat and Top Dog attire for the occasion. There was ample food and drink for the bipeds, and passed dog treats for our canine guests. My grey & black tabby cat, Pink Panther, stayed home and sulked. Emcee was Senator Scott Wiener. Entertainment was provided by The Lollipop Guild, an ensemble group from the SF Gay Men’s Chorus. An award was given to the PAWS volunteer veterinarians. Mrs. Wilsey screened a heartfelt video of happy clients and their pets. Executive Director Kaushik Roy noted that since officially becoming a program of Shanti in November 2015, PAWS has been able to increase staff and fundraising with the goal of serving many more clients than ever before—on the pace to serve 750 this year and projecting 1,000 by 2018.

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How to Get the Best Cake for Your Special Day

By Ayme Dickson Wedding cakes are a key component to any nuptials. Allow time to meet with prospective bakers so that you can find someone with a design aesthetic similar to yours, or at least someone who can live up to your expectations.

While the media tells us of instances of bakeries that refuse to bake cakes for LGBTQ weddings, it might be advisable to find a baker for whom same-sex weddings won’t be an issue. This is supposed to be a happy occasion. There’s no sense in ruining your day with the bad taste of a cake baked by someone who didn’t want to make it in the first place.

Your wedding cake should ref lect your wedding day vision and personal style. When shopping for your cake, there are a number of things to keep in mind. All of them combined can help a lot with the cake design process. Ideally, you will want to consider them in advance so you can discuss them with your cake designer.

Concept & Creativity Is there a theme for the wedding?

Will the style of your wedding be rustic, vintage, modern, or something completely original? Is there a special feeling or memory you want to evoke that day? Think about the style of your invitations, your dress, and what the venue looks like. Bring in photos of your dress, or swatches of fabric or lace. These factors can all help make the cake design uniquely yours. Pinterest is full of a lot of great ideas, and a good bakery should be able to make a similar design, or take an existing concept and adjust it to suit your needs and desires.

Cost What is your overall cake budget?

Intricate designs can increase the cost considerably. If you have a design in mind, knowing your budget up front can help your designer suggest how to create a cake you will love at a price you can afford.

In some cases, it might be more affordable to have a smaller, designed cake for the cake cutting and photos, accompanied by cupcakes or a sheet cake that gets sliced in the kitchen to feed your guests.

Some venues may charge a cake cutting fee—think of it as corkage fee for your cake. Often, a wedding venue package may include a cake/dessert with the reception fees. If you are having your cake handled by an outside vendor, you might negotiate with the venue and upgrade on something else, or have another dessert that will complement your cake.

Colors What are your wedding colors?

Which ones are most important to include in the cake design? Do you have a cake topper you’re planning to use? If you have it, bring it, or a picture of it, with you. Do you want fresh flowers on your cake? If so, arrange for your wedding f lorist to

provide the flowers for the cake so they can match the floral design of your reception.

Headcount How many people should the cake serve? It would be a pity to have a cake that’s too small to feed your guests. Ask your cake designer how large the slices are estimated to be.

Flavor Most wedding cake bakers offer a cake tasting appointment/consultation. This may include just a few, or perhaps all, of their available cake flavors. This will help to ensure you get a wedding cake that you and your guests will enjoy. Note that some bakers will charge a fee for this.

It is also important to consider any guest allergies. Weddings are memorable enough without someone becoming ill from a nut allergy!

Wedding Date/Climate Once you have your wedding date set, keep in mind that several factors may affect your cake design, including: venue setting (inside or

outdoors); the time of year; and whether refrigeration is available. Chocolate ganache, meringue, whipped cream and buttercream will melt in high temperatures, while fondant will fare better in the heat. Depending on the expected weather, it may be ideal to have fondant over your buttercream iced cake.

Delivery Time Know your wedding day timeline so your baker can evaluate the best time to drop off the cake. The delivery time can be affected by how much design needs to be handled at the venue. In some cases, the venue may dictate the earliest/latest delivery time. It might also be good to have a contact name/number from the venue, in case your baker needs to contact the venue for any details, such as loading dock location access.

A f te r working for bake r Je n Kwapinski for several years, Ayme Dickson purchased Jen’s Cakes in 2014. Since then, Dickson and her team have continued to delight with their delicious desserts. Jen’s Cakes specializes in wedding and special occasion cakes, cupcakes and other desserts. Call or email to make an appointment for a complimentary cake tasting (408-293-CAKE, wedding @ jenscakes.com). See their reviews at theknot.com and weddingwire.com

Frederick Sullivan and Jaime Botello, who oversee the Weddings & Occasions page for the San Francisco Bay Times, are the talented wizards behind Sullivan-Botello Events (http://sullivanbotelloevents.com) and SnB Party Rentals (650-877-0840, www.snbpartyrentals.com). Both are Certified Wedding Planners with extensive experience in creating memorable, personalized events for special occasions. Their rental service is incredible, offering everything from beautiful gold Chiavari chairs to LED dance floors, and all at competitive prices. They are the creators of the Gay Vanity Wedding Show and are longstanding members of the Golden Gate Business Association, which is the nation’s first LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DE YOUNG AND LEGION OF HONOR

Thalia, Muse of Comedy In the Legion of Honor, Permanent Collection

Jean-Marc Nattier, “Thalia, Muse of Comedy,” 1739. Oil on canvas, 53 ½ x 49 in.

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase, Mildred Anna Williams Collection, 1954.59

Although acquired as a portrait of the duchesse de Châteauroux, a mistress of Louis XV (1710–1774), this painting by Jean-Marc Nattier (1685–1766) has, in fact, personified Thalia, Muse of Comedy. She is shown with an ivy crown and a dark mask. Thalia raises a heavy velour curtain on a theatrical scene.

Nattier achieved his reputation as the leading court portraitist of France with a skillful series of likenesses of Louis XV and his family. He evolved an innovative formula for mythological portraiture, entirely different in spirit from the genre admired in the sixteenth century.

The charm and vivacity of the nymph is presented with Nattier’s characteristic ease and intimacy, luminous color and sweetness of facial expression, enhanced by the artifice of rouge. Perhaps conceived as an “overdoor” (a painting meant to be placed over a door frame), the work has been reframed to reveal the original curved contour of the canvas.

Excelling as a painter of women, he flattered his sitters by endowing them with the attributes of goddesses of Olympus and posing them against backdrops of classical columns, voluminous silken draperies and decorative elements. deyoungmuseum.org | @deyoungmuseum

10th Graders Contemplate Works by Artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Alice Neel

By Jenn Bowman (Editor’s Note: Teacher Jenn Bowman of San Francisco’s Mission High School is teaching LGBTQ Studies.

In this column, Bowman’s students share their thoughts about LGBTQrelated matters, including their concerns, what they have learned in class and more. Recently, Bowman’s students were asked to choose some of their favorite LGBT-related artworks and to write about them. We present essays written by two of her 10th grade students.)

Robert Mapplethorpe, “Self Portrait” Maria Sagum: Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer born in Floral Park, New York, on

November 4, 1946. He studied various forms of art when he attended Pratt Institute, where he had the chance to grow as an artist away from the suburbs where he grew up. His photographs had a variety of subjects ranging from self-portraits and flowers to sculptures and nude models.

He was not afraid to showcase even his most controversial pieces, such as portraits of members of the S&M community. He continued to work after being diagnosed with AIDS in 1986. Even after passing away in 1989 due to AIDS-related complications, his work was the start of a culture war in 1989, when his exhibition of explicit photographs, called The Perfect Moment, caught the attention of Republican Senator Jesse Helms.

Helms was outraged when he discovered that the National Endowment for the Arts had funded the exhibition. He got more than 100 other Cong ress member s to write to the NEA, causing the museum to cancel the show.

Artists in the Washington, D.C., area, however, projected Mapplethorpe’s work on the outside of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The show eventually found another venue at the Wash-

ington Project for the Arts, where the exhibition was a success and was one of his most attended events.

The piece that I chose is titled, “Self Portrait,” and was taken in 1980. Student Voices The striking black and never seen t hemwhite image features Mapplethorpe from the side wear- selves represented in ing a debonair fur coat and dramat- this way. ic makeup. The lighting and compo- Alice Neel, sition of the photo make the subject “David Bourdon look elegant and refined. By express- and Gregory ing himself in this way, he is resisting Battcock” the gender roles forced upon our society. Being a male that wears make- A n ge l i n a: A l ice up was something that, at the time, Neel is known for was not something many people were her oil paintings of proud to be. This photo gave a voice lovers, family and to those who were silenced by society. friends, and the incredible realism she uses in her paintings. Her porI was drawn to this picture because traits are very intense. Her use of colMapplethorpe’s usual attire is very or can convey warmth, cold, frustrastereotypically masculine. This pic- tion, misery and life. ture highlights the strict gender binaries that our society is constricted by, She wanted to have a plan before she and how they can be broken. By por- started a painting. “I am never artraying himself in this manner, Map- bitrary,” she said. “Before painting, plethorpe is conveying through this I talk to my sitters and they unconimage that not following strict gen- sciously assume their most typical der roles should be more normalized pose, which in a way involved their and accepted. This concept caught character and social standing; what my attention because of how big of the world has done to them and rean issue this still is today. Pieces like taliation.” this that portray breaking traditional gender roles as something that can be described as grand and magnificent give hope to people today who have

Although she was not a lesbian, she was very much a feminist, and paint(continued on page 30)

Jenn Bowman, a history teacher at Mission High School, is a queer woman, activist, scholar, and queercore lover. With a small group of teachers, she took part in the initial LGBTQ Studies pilot class from 2010-11 in collaboration with the SF LGBTQ Center. This pilot, which offered a class for students on Saturdays at the Center, led to a 2010 school board resolution that promoted the expansion of LGBTQ Studies across high schools.

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES M AY 18, 2017

25

How to Be Your Own Personal Trainer, Part 2 right? In the previous Easy Fitness column, I offered two Keys to begin the process of becoming your own personal trainer:

Take Me Home with You!

1) Nothing behind, everything in front.

2) Don’t give a damn about what anyone else thinks.

Easy Fitness Cinder Ernst Easy Fitness strategies and systems make exercise easy to do. If exercising were easy for you to do, then you wouldn’t need a personal trainer,

In this column, you will discover the Easy Fitness Success formula. A client of mine recently noted that the Easy Fitness Success formula not only changed the way that she sees fitness, but also how she sees success itself. You can get the whole Easy Fitness system in my book, Easy Fitness for the Reluctant

Godiva

Exerciser (https://www.amazon.com/ Fitness-Reluctant-Exerciser-CinderErnst/dp/1946775096). I learned this way of looking at success from my coaching mentor, Dr. Maria Nemeth, who is the author of Mastering Life’s Energies and The Energ y of Money. Dr. Nemeth uses related concepts to help her readers and clients be financially successful.

When it comes to fitness, most professionals have you measure your success by your weight or your measurements. Sometimes that works out OK for people, but mostly, not so much.

People are not usually successful at losing weight. Making your exercise program about how your body looks can leave you feeling defeated, and then you stop exercising. What if you had a different way of looking at success, and a different way of looking at fitness?

The Easy Fitness Success formula can do that for you, and here it is: Fitness Success = Doing what I said I would do about exercise, consistently and without struggle. That’s it! Your success is measured in that moment when you do what you said you would do. Your improved strength, stamina and mobility are the natural consequences of your fitness success.

First, what you say you will do is very important. Here’s what I mean: If you say too much, or bite off more than you can chew, you will not be able to stick to the formula. Take a moment and think of a time that you tried to start an exercise program. Did you try to do too much, such that you ended up not being successful? Did you then beat yourself up about it? This is not success.

Ghirardelli

“Ready for some chocolate-y goodness?! My name is Godiva, and I’m looking for a quiet home to share with my bestie, Ghirardelli. We love playing with other dogs, meeting new people, and cuddle sessions! Ghirardelli and I promise to fill your life with lots of fun treats and sweet surprises. Come meet us!”

Godiva and Ghirardelli are presented to San Francisco Bay Times readers by Dr. Jennifer Scarlett, the SF SPCA’s Co-President.

Our thanks also go to Krista Maloney for helping to get the word out about lovable pets like Godiva and Ghirardelli. To meet Godiva and Ghirardelli, as well as other pets seeking their forever homes, please visit: San Francisco SPCA Mission Campus 250 Florida Street San Francisco, CA 94103 415-522-3500

Dr. Jennifer Scarlett and Pup

Aside from major holidays, the adoption center is open Mon–Fri: 1–6 pm and Sat–Sun: 10 am–5 pm. Free parking is available for those wishing to adopt! For more information: https://www.sfspca.org/adoptions/pet-details/35206820 sfspca.org/adopt

Fitness SF Trainer Tip of the Month Jesse Schmidt Fitness SF Oakland “The Dragon Flag is a core exercise named after Bruce Lee. Begin by gripping your hands firmly at the top of the bench. Lift your legs and feet straight up until they are pointing to the ceiling.

Then bring your feet slowly down. You will feel the burning sensation in your core muscles!”

The best way I know to get on the Easy Fitness path is to pick one simple exercise that you like and that is easy for you to do. Next, plug that specific exercise into the formula. For example, try plugging 3 short bike rides into the formula. Always build up slowly.

If bike riding is not for you, try a simple kitchen counter push up. Stand a couple of feet away from the counter. Put your hands at shoulder width.

Lower your chest to the counter as you squeeze your shoulder blades together, then push away. Plug 5 counter push-ups into the formula. See how it goes. Adjust as needed.

Look for me on YouTube for lots of Easy Fitness small step suggestions!

Next time, we’ll look at the “without struggle” piece.

Cinder Ernst, Medical Exercise Specialist and Life Coach Extraordinaire, helps reluctant exercisers get moving with safe, effective and fun programs. Find out more at http://cinderernst.com 26

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S MAY 1 8 , 2 0 1 7

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

You are invited to join us on Sunday, June 25, in our San Francisco Bay Times & “Betty’s List” Contingent San Francisco Pride Parade 2017 CALL 415-601-2113

Professional Services

LAW OFFICES OF MILES & TORRES Estate Planning 1393 Noe Street, San Francisco, CA 94131 (415) 308-2307 www.milestorreslaw.com

PHOTO BY SANDY MORRIS

NewPer specti ves Center for Counseling

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY   T IM ES M AY 18, 2017

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Compiled by Blake Dillon

18: Thursday Love or Confusion: Jimi Hendrix in 1967 @ Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission Street. Composed of photographs of the artist in 1967 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love. Wednesday–Sunday. moadsf.org May Queer Reading Series @ SF Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Rm, 100 Larkin Street. RADAR Productions’ monthly event for May features Stacy Nathaniel Jackson, Vanessa Hua, Meg Allen and Trinidad Escobar. radarproductions.org Academy of Friends Check Presentation Party @ Clift Hotel, 495 Geary St. Join AOF volunteers, beneficiaries, AIDS community leaders and more for the annual presentation party where Bay Area HIV/AIDS agencies receive funds raised during the past year and at the annual Oscar Night Gala.

8:30pm. academyoffriends.org

19 : Friday HRC Connect: Meet Artem Kolesov @ Human Rights Campaign Shop, 575 Castro Street.

HRC San Francisco’s networking event held at the store location that was once Harvey Milk’s camera shop. 6:30–8pm. hrc.org/local-issues/ community/san-francisco GROWLr @ SF Eagle, 398 12th Street (12th & Harrison). Kickoff event for the summer with DJ Asheton Lemay, raffle prizes, drink specials and lots of Otters, Bears, Cubs, Chubs and more. eaglesf.com Russian River Women’s Weekend May 18-21. R3 Resource & Hotel and Main Street, Guerneville. Bistro & piano bar, and more. A mash-up of activities organized for 37 years+ with some events hosted by the Soulfire Dyke Motorcycle Club and Bad Ass Boots Country Soul Band. See the full schedule online. womensweekendrussianriver.com

20 : Saturday NCLR 40th Anniversary Celebration @ Innovation Hanger at the Palace of Fine Arts, 3601 Lyon Street. Dinner is sold out. Party follows featuring a large crowd of lesbians and LGBT allies, with dancing, live entertainment and more. 8pm. nclrights.org

2nd Annual Spotlight on Broadway @ Sir Francis Drake Hotel Empire Ballroom, Union Square. San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band’s annual benefit with fun-filled audience participation, featuring Donna Sachet and Leanne Borghesi. 8pm. sflgfb.org SpiceRack – Summer of Lovin’ @ OMG, 43, 6th Street. A throwback to the world of tie-dye 60s with Sergio Fedaxz spinning hippie dippie beats, plus live performances by Loma Prietta, Logan Talbot and more. 9pm-2am. clubomgsf.com

21: Sunday Davis Pride Festival @ Davis Central Park, C Street between 3rd & 5th, Davis. A family-friendly free community celebration of LGBT equality featuring live entertainment, kids activities, vendor fair, food trucks and a 5k walk-run. davispride.org Mountain Play presents Disney’s Beauty and the Beast @ Mt. Tamalpais State Park. The Disney classic will be preformed in the outdoor amphitheater at Mt. Tam every Sunday from May 21 to June 18. Gates 9 am/Show 2 pm. mountainplay.org Forbidden Voices: Community Women’s Orchestra @ Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland. Performing with the UC Alumni Chorus, the Orchestra presents Street Requiem by Dr. Kathleen McGuire, William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony and the world premiere of June Bonacich’s Anne Frank: A Living Voice.

4-6pm. communitywomensorchestra.org

22 : Monday The Times of Harvey Milk Screening @ Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. Presented by the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club in celebration of Harvey Milk’s 87th birthday. Free daytime program, 12pm and screening, or the evening VIP reception and screening.

6pm-9:30pm.

Cary Leibowitz: Museum Show @ Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission Street. The first comprehensive career survey and solo exhibit devoted to contemporary artist Cary Leibowitz.

Continues through June 25, 11am5pm, closed Wednesdays. cjm.org Hey Girl! Bingo! @ Laszio Bar SF, 2526 Mission Street. Hosted by Shelix, the event is a night of food, drinks, music & drag bingo. 8:3011:30pm. laszlobar.com

23: Tuesday Dirty Old Women Open Mic & Poetry Reading featuring Jan Steckel and more with host Susan Kuchinskas @ Octopus Literary Salon, 2101 Webster Street, Oakland. Wine and food are available. 7:30pm. oaklandoctopus.org and jansteckel.com 28

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S MAY 1 8 , 2 0 1 7

Fighting Back: Development vs LGBTQ Preservation @ GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th Street. Facilitated by architectural historian Shayne Watson and local historian Jim Van Buskirk, the panel will focus on SoMa neighborhood sites, including the Ringold Alley Project, the Eagle Plaza and the Stud bar. 7pm. glbthitory.org 6 Years in Gay Conversion Therapy with Author Peter Gajdics @ Dog Eared Books Castro, 489 Castro Street. Bay Area suthor Anne Raeff will interview Gajdics about his recently published book, The Inheritance of Shame.

7-8pm. dogearedbooks.com/castro

24: Wednesday Double Header Dance @ The Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Avenue, Albany. Featuring two local women’s bands, Band X and Adelante Mujeres. 4pm. ivyroom.com City Lights Spotlight Series Poetry Reading with activist David Brazil @ City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue.

Brazil reads from his new collection Holy Ghost published by City Lights.

7pm. citylights.com

25 : Thursday What To Do About HateMotivated Violence @ SF LGBTQ Center, Rainbow Rm, 1800 Market Street. A Horizons Foundation Q Series event. A lineup of panelists, moderated by The Center’s Rebecca Rolfe, will discuss the rise of violence against some of the most vulnerable groups, including the LGBTQ community. 6-8pm. horizonsfoundation.org The 7 Threats to Your Family Security Estate Planning Workshop @ Sparks Arts, 4229 18th Street. Call to reserve seats at this free workshop hosted in the Castro by Greene Estate, Probate & Elder Law Firm.

6:30pm. 415-905-0215 or assetprotectionbayarea.com Pride Reading Series presents author Peter Gajdics in Conversation with Lucy Jane Bledsoe @ Laurel Bookstore, 1424 Broadway, Oakland. 7pm. laurelbookstore.com

27 : Saturday Melissa Etheridge @ Santa Cruz American Music Festival Weekend @ Aptos Village Park, Aptos. Two days of music also featuring Mavis Staples, Kenny Wayne Sheppard, Stephen Stills and Karen Soo Hoo. santacruzamericanmusicfestival.com Rainbow Honor Walk Baseball Food & Beer Benefit @ White Horse Inn, 6551 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland. A beer bust honoring Major League Baseball’s first openly gay player, Glenn Burke, who is one of the next 24 honorees to be included in the Rainbow Honor Walk. 3-6pm. rainbowhonorwalk.org Opening Night of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – The Musical @ Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson Street at Battery. Directed

by Theatre Rhino’s John Fisher, the evening features a reception immediately following. Continues through July 1. 8pm. therhino.org

28 : Sunday Sanctuary Memorial Weekend Military Ball @ 1015 Folsom Street. The 4th annual ball where you can look like a soldier or Navy fighter pilot with more than 1000 attending in uniform, featuring DJs Andrew Gibbons and Tommy Love. 10pm-6am. 1015.com Sunday’s A Drag @ The Starlight Room, Powell Street.

Hosted by Donna Sachet, the event features a brunch and a troupe of entertainers described as “The Greatest Drag Show in San Francisco.” Two shows every Sunday at 11am and 2pm. starlightroomsf.com

29 : Monday Music Mondays @ Mission Pie, 2901 Mission Street at 25th. A cozy woman-owned business featuring all sorts of pies, sweet and savory, made from scratch, and other locally sourced foods too. 6pm-8pm. missionpie.com AIDS LifeCycle Send Off Party @ SF Eagle, 12th Street. An annual fundraiser at the Eagle, this year featuring DJ BRD. 3pm. eaglesf.com

26 : Friday

30 : Tuesday

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf 2017 @ Odell Johnson Performing Arts Center, 900 Fallon Street, Oakland. Ntozake Shange’s choreopoem calling attention to the plight of Black and Indigenous women and children presented as a social justice art action. 9pm. Also in Berkeley on June 2. sanfrancisco.eventful.com

LGBTQ Senior Peer Counseling Training (Volunteer Opportunity) @ Peninsula Family Service, 24 Second Avenue, San Mateo. 9am–12pm Sessions on June 6–7 too.

Info: peninsulafamilyservice.org

Pre Pride Dance @ Sally Tomatoes, 1100 Valley House Drive, Rohnert Park. Dee Jay Jessie and DJ T-Rebel will be spinning tunes for a night of dancing at this Sonoma County LGBTQ event. 7pm-12am. sallytomatoes.com

Velvet Rage Book Club @ Strut, 470 Castro Street. The weekly Tuesday book club of the SF AIDS Foundation’s Stonewall Project with facilitators Wade Smith and Christopher Zepeda. 4pm. strutsf.org

31: Wednesday CBS LGBT Pride Month Kick-Off Celebration @ KPIX

Studios, 855 Battery Street. An annual event hosted by CBS Bay Area where local business, nonprofit and community leaders network with CBS staff. eventbrite. com/e/cbs-bay-area-lgbtq-pridereception-tickets-34147112934 16th SF Documentary Film Festival Opening Night presents Corbett Redford’s Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk @ Alamo Drafthouse New Mission Theater, 2550 Mission Street. 7pm. Festival continues at the Roxie,Vogue and New Mission Theaters through June 15 with a diverse line-up of documentaries. sfindie.comThursday, June

1: Thursday Relaunch Party with Rogue Wave @ Café du Nord, 2174 Market Street. The Summer calendar kickoff party for the legendary music venue’s recent restoration.

8:30pm. cafedunord.com

2: Friday Have a Poet for Lunch with Juliana Delgado Lopera @ Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission Street (between 3rd & 4th).

The award-winning Colombian writer performs her work in conjunction with Pride Month and the Cary Leibowitz Exhibition. 12:30-1pm. thecjm.org Older & Out @ North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Avenue, Berkeley. Group discussions on key topics such as dating, loss of friends, going back in the closet to survive, invisibility in the LGBT community, Alameda County services, dealing with exes and children, aging and loneliness. 3:15pm on Fridays. Info: anne@pacificcenter.org or 510-5488283 ext 126.

Dance Fridays: Dance Lessons @ Dance Friday’s, 550 Barneveld. An evening of live salsa Borinquen, SG salsa and bachata with beginners classes followed by a dance party. 7:30pm. dancefridays.com Artivism. Art Opening for Daniel Arzola @ Strut, 470 Castro. A Pride month exhibit of work by the Venezuelan artist, activist, writer and international gay right advocate. 8-10pm. strutsf.org

Toscano. 10am-3pm. richmondrainbowpride.org.

Sonoma County Pride Unity March, Parade & Festival @ Downtown Guerneville. Following the march, the festival continues with exhibitors, live entertainment and more at the Guerneville Lodge.

11am March/12pm Festival. sonomacountypride.org Pride Kick-Off: Queers of Color & Friends @ Virgil’s Sea Room, 3152 Mission Street, San Francisco. A benefit supporting the Asian Pacific Islander APIQWTC Scholarship Fund, the GLBT History Museum’s upcoming exhibition about Angela Davis and the Black Panthers, and SFSU’s Ethnic Studies Initiative. 2-5pm. virgilssf.com

5 : Monday Poetry Express open mic, featuring poet Jan Steckel and more, hosted by Jan Dederick @ Himalayan Flavors, 1585 University Avenue, Berkeley.

Free parking and Nepalese or Indian food available. jansteckel.com and poetryexpressberkeley. blogspot.com REAF’s One Night Only with the cast of Hamilton @ Marines’ Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter Street (at Mason St.), 2nd Level. Join cast members from the touring cast of the Tony Awardwinning Broadway show Hamilton for an evening of music, dance and comedy. 7:30pm. reaf-sf.org

6 : Tuesday Grab ‘Em by the Songs @ The Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. The Kim Lembo Project hosts this evening of songwriting, storytelling and badass women. 7pm. uptownnightclub.com Oakland A’s Pride Night @ Oakland Coliseum, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland. Attend a pre-game LGBT party, cheer for the A’s versus Toronto Blue Jays and redeem your special ticket for an exclusive A’s Pride Scarf. 7:05pm. oakland. athletics.mlb.com Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum, Barbara Higbie, T Sisters,

Thompsonia, Jenner Fox and special guests @ Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley. A great lineup of artists will perform with proceeds benefiting Foothill Conservancy and Friends of the River. 8pm. thefreight.org

7: Wednesday East Bay Coffee Crones @ Zing! Café, 3051 Adeline Street, Berkeley. (Location may change monthly.) No expectations for age for this on-going lesbian social group sharing coffee and conversation. 10:30am–12:30pm repeating on Wednesdays.

Broadway Bingo at the Nikko @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko, 222 Mason Street. Bingo combined with Broadway tunes with music director Joe Wicht and hostess Katya Smirnoff-Skyy. 5:30-7pm. feinsteinsatthenikko.com Stonewall Project: Abstinence Skills Enhancement @ Strut, 470 Castro. Support group on remaining abstinent from drugs and alcohol without judgment to relapse or slips. 6-7:30pm. strutsf.org

8: Thursday Gilbert Baker Memorial Celebration @ Castro Theatre, 428 Castro Street. A community celebration of the life of Gilbert Baker, creator of the Rainbow Flag.

Admission is free, but registration is requested and donations can be made to the Gilbert Baker Fund to continue Gilbert’s vision and advocacy. 7-10pm. diversitysf.org

Find us online at sfbaytimes.com LIKE us on Facebook Visit the Coming Up Calendar online for more event listings sfbaytimes.com

3 : Saturday Billy Gilman Concert @ The Ballroom, Graton Resort & Casino, 288 Golf Course Drive West.

Gilman, star of The Voice, with “All American Boy” Steve Grand. 9pm. gratonresortcasino.com Rise Up at Sonoma County Pride Weekend @ Guerneville Lodge, 15905 River Road, Guerneville. An LGBT Solidarity Rally that’s a call to action for LGBTQI Rights, Women’s Rights, Immigration Rights,Voting Rights, Racial Equality and Economic Equality. 1-4pm. sonomacountypride.org Ladies Night Hosted by Karen Soo Hoo@ Back Yard Coffee Company, 965 Brewster Avenue, Redwood City. Held every first Saturday, the event includes dance tunes, beverages and good times with friends. 7:30-11:30pm. allevents.in/redwood city/music#

4 : Sunday Richmond Pride 2017 @ Marina Bay Park, Richmond. With the theme Rise Up Together, the 3rd annual event produced by Richmond’s LGBTQI organization features activists Cleve Jones and Cecilia Chung along with performances by recording artist Xavier S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES M AY 18, 2017

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NEWS (continued from page 8)

ROSTOW (continued from page 15)

cent, it bears noting that the number shows GOP approval has nearly tripled since 1996. edgemedianetwork.com

They’ve been kept at bay as far as we’re concerned (reportedly we have Ivanka and Jared to thank for that), but I remain wary. Why, for example, did the Department of Health and Human Services take a question about sexual orientation out of the annual National Survey of Older Americans and delete another sexual orientation box from a survey on Centers for Independent Living? I hate to use the trite term “invisibility,” but it’s important to be measured.

GLBT History Museum to Offer Free Admission on May 22 in Honor of Harvey Milk Day The State of California annually marks Harvey Milk’s birthday, May 22, as a statewide day of significance.

Milk was the first openly gay elected official in California and one of the first in the United States. He served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for 11 months before he was assassinated. The GLBT History Museum will honor the occasion this year by offering free admission to all visitors throughout the day. The museum is located at 4127 18th Street in San Francisco’s Castro District. It will be open 11 am to 6 pm on Harvey Milk Day. glbthistory.org Cafe Du Nord Declared Official Landmark According to SF Planning’s landmark designation report, the Cafe Du Nord building is “architecturally significant as an embodiment of the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, and method of construction,” in addition to “being an architecturally significant work of master architect August Nordin.” Originally opened in 1907, Cafe Du Nord is located below The Swedish-American Hall. In 2013, it was sold to Dylan MacNiven, before a 2015 renovation. The club at 2174 Market Street will host its official reopening party on June 1. hoodline.com

The Census has never tracked gays and lesbians, so recent reports that the Census had removed us from the 2020 questionnaires were spurious. In fact, the Census only asks a handful of questions, and left room for “unmarried partner” back in 2010. Now, of course, we can respond as wives and husbands, so at least our unions will effectively be counted. Still, how hard would it be to add sexual orientation to some of the Census department’s other major exercises, like the annual American Community Survey?

ouster was a bit simplistic. I gather one of the last straws for Trump was Comey’s suggestion that the idea of having an impact on the election made him mildly nauseous.

Funny, I had a bad reaction to that comment as well. Mildly nauseous?

The thing is, I feel as if Comey’s mistake was based on a subconscious arrogance that he mistook for duty. I don’t feel as if his action was partisan—indeed, I suspect he came forward because he assumed Clinton would win and did not want it to appear as if he’d hidden a development in the investigation. So, I might not forgive him, but I don’t hate him, and I certainly didn’t want him to be fired before he had a chance to focus his professional intensity like a laser into the Trump investigation.

The Play’s The Thing Hey, did you see that Jim Comey and his wife spent one of their first nights of freedom at the theater, going to see Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home? The musical, based on the graphic novel by the author of Dykes to Watch Out For, is touring at present. The Comeys went backstage after the show, and reportedly, our ex-FBI chief had tears in his eyes.

RIP Pando Finally, the question of whether sex discrimination inherently includes sexual orientation discrimination continued in an unusual context this month as the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the state’s top court, ruled 3–2 that no hate crime charges could be advanced against a man who slugged two gay men after he saw them kiss. The Mountaineer hate crime law enhances sentences for crimes based on a range of factors, including sex. But as the slim majority pointed out, the legislature has failed to add “sexual orientation” to the language of the law no less than 26 times.

What a Shakespearean character he’s turned out to be, n’est-ce pas? I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive his pompous October surprise, but still, the idea that all of us Democrats would cheer his

For the majority, the matter was simple. Sex means male or female, sexual orientation means gay or straight; one is covered, the other is not. But the dissenting judges replayed the lat-

est civil rights case law in determining that a crime based on a gay act is inseparable from sex and gender expectations. The dissent even relied on our recent victory at the full Seventh Circuit, the Hively opinion, which said a lesbian community college teacher could bring a federal lawsuit under Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination.

Also, a New York judge this week declined to dismiss a gay case under Title VII, noting that three similar cases have all been appealed to the full appellate court of his jurisdiction, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. As we’ve mentioned, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been around for a half century, plenty of time for almost every appellate court to rule at some point that gays aren’t covered by its ban on sex discrimination. (I say “almost” only because I don’t want to check for precedents throughout the federal court system.) This means that, in order to reverse binding antigay precedent, we must bring our cases to the full appellate courts, sitting “en banc” with many judges. Eventually, one of these cases will hit the Supreme Court— probably sooner rather than later.

Lucky for you I’m at the end of my column, with no more room to discuss why courts are increasingly recognizing that antigay discrimination, or hatred, is inherently a variety of sex discrimination.

P.S. My pug died. arostow@aol.com

STUDENT VOICES (continued from page 25) ed portraits of gay couples before it was even legal to be gay. Her painting David Bourdon and Gregory Battcock is an image of two men sitting next to one another. One of the men is in a suit and tie, and the other man is sitting in his underclothing. I wasn’t sure what this painting was about, or how to think of it, but I began to look at the details.

I noticed their facial expressions and body language: the man in his undergarments is seated in a kind of relaxed manner, but is trying to show that he is classy. He has on yellow underwear, red socks and a white tshirt. The man at the right is seated on a blue couch and is wearing a brown suit, blue dress shirt, brown boots, a green and red tie with polka dots, and glasses.

This image caught my eye because I wanted to know what the relationship was with these two people. I felt like there was something about the man in his underwear; maybe he had lost a lot, but he still had his pride. It made me think about what clothing does to people. If people are dressed up for an occasion, they can feel confident and like they can conquer the world, but they would also have to be comfortable within themselves.

Mission High School: https://mhssfusd-ca.schoolloop.com/ LGBTQ Scholarship Opportunities: https://static1.squarespace.com/ static/52c7dc91e4b0c06fbd156f6b/ t/53b63fb8e4b079c1947dbd fa/1404452792563/LGBTQ.pdf

SISTER DANA (continued from page 22) There is a fabulous new Orbitz ad starring Randy Rainbow and featuring Margaret Cho, Bianca Del Rio, and Miss Richfield 1981. Along with a Broadway-esque jingle, a half-naked male acrobat, tap-dancing, and a few cynical references to politics, the ad is definitely directed at the gay male traveler. lgbtqnation.com/2017/05/randy-rainbow-sings DRAGATHON 2017 was the culmination of an amazing, super-powered crowd-funding campaign hosted by the SFGMC Divas, with all monies supporting the SAN FRANCISCO GAY MEN’S CHORUS FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE NETWORK (FAN)—helping Chorus members who can’t afford to participate the ability to do so. Over a dozen of these fierce fundraising “females” battled it out against one another at the Oasis club in “SHEROES vs.

VILLAINS” for a chance to earn the title of MS. DRAGATHON 2017 in a RuPaul’s Drag Racestyled event. Judges were burlesque dancer Rory Davis, Dragathon past winner Miss Nomer D’Sparatease, and Australia’s RuPaul winner Courtney Act. I had the honor of sitting next to SFGMC board member, handsome Gregory Marks. So, I gave him a spontaneous lap dance. Top queen of the night, Shero BELLE BOTTOMS, saved the world and won the trophy—all with an incredible show and appearances by Courtney Act, the (burlesque) Men of Baloney, and the SFGMC Divas. Top fundraising contestant, AMMY THEST aka The Joker villain, brought in an impressive $4,000. The total raised for SFGMC FAN was over $33,000.

SISTER DANA SEZ, “MAY I SUGGEST THESE GREAT MAY SUGGESTIONS?” Monday evening, May 22, 6–7:30 pm at the LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER lobby gallery, the Dutch delegation is unveiling a pho30

to art exhibit to hang in the gallery.

It is also the official SF/Amsterdam joint celebration of HARVEY MILK DAY. Speakers will be Stuart Milk (co-founder and board president of the all-volunteer HARVEY MILK FOUNDATION), SF Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, the Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam, Mark Leno and others. Also, watch for the appearance of the Dutch Rainbow Dress at STRUT in the Castro.

CASTRO STREET ARTSAVESLIVES STUDIO AND GALLERY, 518 Castro Street & 18th, presented a magnificent MAY ARTISTS RECEPTION at the gallery—open to everyone—with free food, drinks, and comic emcee Kristine Wilson showcasing local entertainment such as Scarlet Astrid executing modern dance under black-light; Kim Lembo with vocals on guitar; Julia Austenfeld giving us four coloratura soprano opera arias; Magnolia Black belting out the blues; faux queen Ruby Vixen singing and doing burlesque; and Sister Dana reciting “I Will Survive Trump”—changing the Gloria Gaynor disco lyrics to an anti-fascist president anthem.

Just a few of the artists now on display all month of May are Lorraine Grassano, Liam Peters, Vicki Kieban, James Windsor, Suzie Curtiss, Thomas H Lublin, Jay Davidson, Mark Arnold, Bob Burnside, Harry Leaf, Paul Arnold, Brad Jack Stelnicki, and Butch. Among my favorites are Michael Lownie (another of my returning fave raves, especially with his clever “Distrumpian Off-White House National Portrait Gallery” and seven scary dump Trump troll dolls); Gregory Conover with his whimsical robotic 3-D mixed media; Malcolm Drake’s luscious colorful oils, including a self-portrait; returning oil painting artist Donna De Matteo and “La Casa de las Madres/Holocaust Center” making a statement against immigrant

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discrimination with a nun guarding undocumented children and a dog peeing on a nasty ICE agent’s leg; Mark Gebhart’s color photography of tasteful male nudes; and “Dance Naked,” the black & white photos by Dot—capturing men in intricate ballet choreography. There is also art by THOMASINA DE MAIO, the owner and curator of ARTSAVESLIVES. Just in time for Harvey Milk’s birthday week, the windows feature artist renditions of Milk.

The gallery is usually open daily until 4 pm, and offers live figure drawing sessions on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 6–9 pm. Mark your calendars for Friday, June 9, 6–9 pm as “SF PRIDE PARADE PAINTINGS” (featuring the Pride Parade paintings by Alan Beckstead) offers artwork, a party, reception, food, drink, and live performances—all free to the public—at Art Saves Lives Gallery. Sister Dana sez, “Do NOT miss these marvelous monthly manifestations!” sfartslave.com Join the SAN FRANCISCO LESBIAN/GAY FREEDOM BAND for the second annual fun-filled audience participation concert on May 20, 8 pm at the beautiful Sir Francis Drake Hotel on Union Square, 450 Powell Street. We will belt out some of Broadway’s most beloved show tunes from throughout the decades!

Artistic Director Pete Nowlen will lead the fun as the Band musically transports us to the bright lights of Broadway with tunes from classics such as Hamilton, West Side Story, Hairspray, Chorus Line, Sweeney Todd, Shrek the Musical, Sound of Music, and more.

Special guest artists Donna Sachet and Leanne Borghesi will emcee the evening. brownpapertickets.com/ event/2914615%20 Celebrate HARVEY MILK’S 87TH BIRTHDAY this year at the Castro Theatre for two special screenings of the Oscar-winning documentary THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK.

Presented by the HARVEY MILK LGBT DEMOCRATIC CLUB, this anniversary event will include a daytime 12 pm program, free for students and seniors, as well as an evening 6 pm VIP reception and screening. milkclub.org/birthday The DRAG QUEENS of COMEDY - 2017 TOUR (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York City) is in EssEff’s Castro Theatre on Saturday May 27 with two fantastic shows: 6 and 10 pm. Starring these hysterical DQs: Alaska, Willam, Bob the Drag Queen, Sasha Soprano, Coco Peru, Lady Bunny, Jackie Beat, Peaches Christ, Heklina, & Lady Red Couture. dqoc.com “IN THE SPRINGTIME OF HIS VOODOO” is an art exhibition by Nathan Rapport on display all May at STRUT in the Castro. Nathan Rapport is a California-based multimedia artist working and showing in galleries and alternative creative spaces across North America. In October 2015, he released his queer adult coloring book, “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me,” receiving tremendous visibility and press for the project.

In 2016, he launched a queer focused line of wearables and fine art, and continues to nurture this project.

Currently Nathan lives in Los Angeles, and works full time creating visibly queer, sex positive art. My favorite is entitled: “And Right There for a Minute, I Knew You So Well” (two men embracing passionately).

My second fave is: “I Hope He Never Lets Me Down Again,” with emotion shown vividly in the color palate. NathanRapportArt.com “RAISE THE RAINBOW” is a very special GILBERT BAKER MEMORIAL celebration of life for the all too suddenly late great Gilbert (creator of the iconic rainbow flag) aka Sister Chanel of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

In 1978, this “Gay Betsy Ross” (as

he called himself) hand-dyed and stitched together eight strips of vibrantly colored fabric into a rainbow flag, instantly creating an enduring international symbol of gay pride. Most of the work on the rainbow flags was done at Tom Taylor’s shop, and the DIVERSITY FOUNDATION OF SAN FRANCISCO with Jerome Goldstein, M.D., has taken the ultimate steps to help further Gilbert Baker’s efforts to leave this universal symbol that is recognized worldwide as the statement of Gay Pride. Consider donating to the Gilbert Baker Fund in order to continue Gilbert’s vision and advocacy.

For more information, visit diversitysf. org/give/ Memorial will be held on June 8 @ 7 pm at the Castro Theatre.

Free admission with RSVP: tinyurl. com/gilbertbakermemorial Great news from Tinseltown: NBC’s “WILL & GRACE” returns for a 12-episode run beginning this Fall. Original series creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan will serve as writers, showrunners and executive producers. Legendary director James Burrows, who helmed every episode of the show during its initial eight-year run, will direct and executive produce. It’s about time for this reunion!

PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, the live stage musical by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott, runs at Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson, May 27–July 1. This is the glorious musical adventure about drag queens, drag shows, Down Under, and what we will do for love. therhino.org Sister Dana sez, “Now, according to new reports, T-rump’s 2018 budget proposal will include $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid and other programs such as Meals on Wheels—completely apart from the healthcare cuts—and he tops it off with additional cuts to Social Security Disability Insurance. Resist!”

Round About - Spring Season

Photos by Rink

A wreath was placed at Lotta’s Fountain during the annual commemoration of the Great Earthquake that happened on April 18, 1906.

Musician Kippy Marks (left) with volunteers Barry Miles and Don Ho Tse at the Krewe De Kinque Mardi Gras party on April 15 at The Edge bar.

San Francisco Bay Times columnists Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis (right) joined friends supporting Lyric at the organization’s annual Open House on April 27.

Frameline’s Frances Wallace (left) joined Wells Fargo representatives at the Equality California Equality Awards on May 6 at the St. Francis Hotel.

T-shirts were popular items on sale during the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy fundraiser on April 22.

Homobiles’ Lynn Breedlove and Stephanie Ashley at the Krewe De Kinque Mardi Gras party where the taxi service received a check for $7000 at The Edge bar on April 15.

Signs welcomed participants to the annual Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy fundraiser held at the school on April 22.

Volunteer CoCo Butter and event coordinator Gary Virginia displayed the orchid and Easter cookie raffle prizes at the Krewe De Kinque Mardi Gras party honoring Homobiles Taxi Service at The Edge bar on April 15.

Members and friends of the Imperial Court enjoyed a high energy benefit event celebrating Cinco De Mayo at Cinch Saloon on May 7.

A cake decorated with Harvey’s name was shared at the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy fundraiser.

The Awakko-Ren traditional Japanese dance troupe performed at Peace Plaza in Japantown during the Cherry Blossom Festival on April 16

Supervisors Jeff Sheehy and Fiona Ma joined event co-chairs Dave Tsai and Andrea Casalett on the stage at the Equality California Equality Awards at the St. Francis Hotel on May 6.

Commander John McCaffey and Adjutant Mario Benfield with a portrait of the group’s namesake at the Alexander Hamilton LGBT Veterans Post 448 spring event held at the Veterans Building on April 18.

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