April 15, 2021 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

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Eagle building still for sale

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Japantown site a landmark

ARTS

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Sean Dorsey

Since 1971

The

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Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971

Vol. 51 • No. 15 • April 15-21, 2021

On LGBTQ data, SF health department lags other city agencies by Matthew S. Bajko

Christina Dikas

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Dikas withdraws from San Francisco preservation panel by Matthew S. Bajko

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ours prior to her likely being rejected by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors at its meeting Tuesday, Historic Preservation Commission mayoral appointee Christina Dikas withdrew her nomination. Having been the fourth straight person named to the oversight body in recent months by Mayor London Breed, Dikas has faced stiff opposition due to her appointment meaning there would be no LGBTQ representation on the commission. The supervisors’ rules committee had voted 3-0 at its meeting last Monday, April 5, against seating Dikas, an architectural historian and cultural resources planner who works for the firm Page and Turnbull. The vote had been expected as all three committee members had told the Bay Area Reporter they would not support Dikas when her nomination was announced. The B.A.R. editorial board had called on the full board to reject Dikas at its April 13 meeting, as had local LGBTQ historic preservation advocates and the political action committee of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club. A source had told the B.A.R. Tuesday that there were likely at least six votes on the board against confirming Dikas, the minimum required to reject her nomination. Faced with such opposition, Dikas informed Breed Tuesday morning that she was pulling her name from consideration for the oversight role. She thanked the mayor for having confidence in her and said she was honored to be considered. “I was looking forward to serving on the Historic Preservation Commission and was eager to continue the work and conversation of balancing our city’s development needs together with recognizing the rich historical and cultural character of our City and its diverse communities through landmark designations and other preservation program initiatives,” wrote Dikas. “In my work and volunteer efforts with the California Preservation Foundation, both based in San Francisco, I will continue to be involved in discussions and initiatives within the field of historic preservation regarding the need for housing, the effects of climate change, and recognition of previously under-represented communities and voices.” In an emailed statement to the B.A.R. Wednesday, Breed press director Andy Lynch wrote, “Christina Dikas is highly qualified for this position and the mayor appreciates her willingness to serve the city, but it became clear that the board would not move forward with her nomination. See page 7 >>

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hen it comes to collecting the sexual orientation and gender identity data of San Francisco residents, most city agencies have made great strides since being required to collect the SOGI information in the summer of 2017. Yet the Department of Public Health continues to be a laggard. It seems counterintuitive, as when LGBTQ advocates over a decade ago first began demanding that SOGI data be collected, a main focus was on having a better understanding of the health needs of the LGBTQ community. SOGI data has routinely been gathered among those living with HIV and AIDS, as well as those diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease. Yet, for the third year in a row, the city’s health department has submitted a report about its SOGI collection efforts that includes no useable information about what diseases or health ailments are impacting San Francisco’s LGBTQ community. The DPH report for the 2019-2020 fiscal year runs just six pages, whereas the report submitted by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Develop-

Matthew S. Bajko

The San Francisco Department of Public Health continues to lag in its collection of sexual orientation and gender identity data.

ment runs 26 pages and includes a wealth of data about the 3,227 LGBTQ people it provided services to last fiscal year. According to DPH’s update, a main issue with its SOGI data collection stems from switching to a new records-keeping system called Epic during the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Just as it was ramping up work on converting tens of thousands of records and retraining thousands of clinical and non-clinical staff on how to use Epic, the COVID pandemic hit and a large portion of DPH’s IT and analyst

resources were rededicated to the health crisis. The San Francisco Health Network, the city’s public health care system, reported it did make strides improving SOGI data collection at such locations as its community oriented primary care sites, Laguna Honda Hospital, and its jail health services. The emergency department at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center was also set to begin collecting SOGI data last fiscal year, which was extended to September 30 from June 30 due to the COVID pandemic. See page 6 >>

EQCA names Tony Hoang as first API executive director by Matthew S. Bajko

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quality California has named its managing director, Tony Hoang, as its first Asian American executive director. Hoang will be the third out gay man of color to oversee the country’s largest statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization. At 31, Hoang will also be the youngest person to lead EQCA, its political action committee, and its educational arm the Equality California Institute. He will succeed Rick Chavez Zbur, who plans to step down at the end of the year to focus on his race for an open state Assembly seat in the Los Angeles area. While attending the University of Southern California Hoang first joined EQCA as a field intern in 2009. It led to a 12-year career with the organization, as Hoang rose through the ranks as EQCA’s database and volunteer manager, director of operations, chief of staff, managing director, and now its executive director-designate. “My whole career has been in the LGBTQ+ movement,” Hoang noted in a phone interview Tuesday with the Bay Area Reporter ahead of the announcement of his being selected Zbur’s successor. Hoang will join the handful of other out Asian and Pacific Islander leaders of prominent

Courtesy EQCA

EQCA Executive Director-designate Tony Hoang

LGBTQ groups when he takes over at EQCA. Among them are Andy Marra with the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, Kris Hayashi of the Transgender Law Center, and Lance Toma with the San Francisco Community Health Center. His being selected as executive director also coincides with a rise in violence targeted at the country’s API community largely due to the COVID pandemic. “I just am really humbled and honored the

board and the organization believed in my leadership to allow me to step up and lead this organization,” said Hoang. “EQCA being the largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization, we are a leader in the movement, and having a young person of color leading this movement shows the organization is meeting the moment just as this country is having a reckoning with racial injustice.” Michael Nguyen, a gay man who chairs the Bay Area-based GLBTQ+ Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, told the B.A.R. his organization is “proud and happy” for Hoang, whom he first met in 2017 during a lobby day EQCA sponsored at the state Capitol. “I think it is a wonderful, huge moment for representation, for statewide advocacy, and for our LGBT family. To have an API person as the next designated executive director of EQCA is a wonderful moment for all of us,” said Nguyen, who has helped organize several local rallies decrying the hatred and recent attacks focused on APIs. “I am very excited and proud for Tony and all the work he has been doing for us statewide.” Gay Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), the first out API elected to the state Legislature, praised the decision by EQCA’s board to select Hoang as the next ED. See page 7 >>


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