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PAWS remains unleashed
No 4/20 event this year
SF HRC outreach
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Remembering Esta Noche
The
www.ebar.com
Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Vol. 50 • No. 16 • April 16-22, 2020
Lesbian pioneer Phyllis Lyon dies
SF Pride cancels 2020 event
by Cynthia Laird
by John Ferrannini
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earless lesbian activist icon Phyllis Lyon died peacefully at her home in San Francisco Thursday, April 9, of natural causes. She was 95. Few individuals contributed more to issues impacting LGBTQ, Joyce Newstat women’s, civil rights Phyllis Lyon, and the rights of elder shown in 2016 Americans than Ms. Lyon and her partner of 58 years, Del Martin. Ms. Lyon and Ms. Martin were the first same-sex couple to marry in California on June 16, 2008. Weeks later, on August 27, 2008, Ms. Martin died in San Francisco, with Ms. Lyon at her side. Ms. Martin was 87. The couple’s wedding in 2008 was not their first. In 2004, when then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom determined to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in California, Ms. Lyon and Ms. Martin agreed to be the first couple to receive such a license. Their story, 54 years together and a lifetime of love and commitment, reverberated around the world. While that marriage was invalidated by the California Supreme See page 7 >>
he 2020 San Francisco Pride parade and festival has been canceled, according to an April 14 news release from the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, which puts on the annual commemoration of the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots that kicked off the modern LGBT rights movement in the United States. “Uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified in recent weeks, and the organization has concluded that the risks to public health of a large-scale gathering such as Pride preclude this year’s production of the annual event,” the release stated. As the B.A.R. previously reported, SF Pride officials announced last week that celebrations “will look very different” in light of the novel coronavirus outbreak, which by press time had killed over 25,000 Americans since its emergence in late 2019. That announcement came after the B.A.R. reported growing calls from community members that the celebration be canceled or postponed. “Since the coronavirus first emerged, we have held out hope that the situation would shift and we would be able to gather later this year,” SF Pride Executive Director Fred Lopez stated in the release. “Well before the first
A contingent marched in the 2019 San Francisco Pride parade.
shelter-in-place order, our team began to balance our excitement for Pride 50 and evaluate possible alternatives. With heavy hearts, we have decided not to go forward with the Parade and Celebration in 2020.” Lopez stated the decision was a difficult one. The annual parade boasts an attendance of one million people, and the weekend festivities put millions of dollars in the coffers of local nonprofits and community groups, not
With local businesses shuttered, the Bay Area Reporter is mostly distributed in San Francisco news racks like this one in the Castro.
B.A.R, other LGBT media, fundraise to stay afloat by John Ferrannini
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s the economy reels from the effects of the novel coronavirus outbreak, LGBT news organizations aren’t just covering other companies facing closure – they are trying to stay in business themselves. Michael Yamashita, the publisher of the Bay Area Reporter, said that he has had to launch an Indiegogo fundraising campaign, which he called “a sort of necessary and sort of desperate move.” “We were late to asking readers to support us financially,” Yamashita said in an April 14 interview. “A lot of publications have been doing it a long time.” See page 7 >>
to mention the city’s LGBT businesses, LGBT districts such as the Castro, and the city’s tourism sector. “This was not a decision we arrived at lightly,” he stated. “Far from it: Our staff has been in frequent talks with our board, our production team, our partners at many departments of City Hall, officials at other Pride organizations worldwide – and most See page 8 >>
Newsom outlines 6 steps to reopen California amid health crisis
by John Ferrannini John Ferrannini
Rick Gerharter
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here are six criteria that the state government will look at when considering modifications to the stay-at-home order brought about by the coronavirus outbreak, California Governor Gavin Newsom said in an April 14 news conference. Newsom did not unveil a specific timeline as to when his statewide stay-at-home order, which does not have an expiration date, will be lifted. The Bay Area’s specific shelter-inplace order is set to expire in early May. “We can’t get ahead of ourselves,” Newsom said. “Let’s not make the mistake of pulling the plug too early.” The criteria are based on how well the state can do the following six things: monitoring COVID-19 cases through testing and contact tracing; preventing infections in people at greater risk for adverse outcomes; preventing surges in the hospital and health systems; developing therapeutics at a rate to meet demand in the absence of a vaccine; ensuring that schools, child care facilities, and businesses can support safe social distancing; and determining when some of the more restrictive orders can be re-introduced if the health systems are overwhelmed.
Screengrab via Facebook
Governor Gavin Newsom speaks about benchmarks that are needed to reopen the state.
Newsom said that how well the state can meet these criteria will be re-evaluated in two weeks and he will make any further decisions about the stay-at-home order at that time. The governor said these criteria were formed in conjunction with the states of Oregon and Washington, which announced a coordinated coronavirus response pact April 13. Seven northeastern states – including New York, which is experiencing the worst coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. – similarly an-
nounced plans to work together on reopening the economy there. Newsom stressed that even after the easing of current orders life will still look very different than before the outbreak, which had killed more than 25,000 Americans at press time. In California, 758 had died at press time. The governor said that reopening the economy would be more like the steady raising or lowering of a dimmer rather than like turning on a light switch. “It’s more like a dimmer – this toggling back and forth between more restrictive and less restrictive measures,” he said. When now-shuttered public spaces reopen, there will be changes from life before midMarch: restaurants will have less seating to allow for social distancing and schools may be more regularly sanitized and have smaller cohorts of students. Face masks may become ubiquitous. Large gatherings such as sporting events or concerts are very unlikely until a vaccine is created, which realistically is not expected for 12 to 18 months. “We are not out of the woods yet. We are not spiking the ball,” Newsom said, referring to the fact that 71 COVID-19 deaths were reSee page 7 >>
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