April 21, 2022 edition of the Bay Area Reporter, America's LGBTQ newspaper by Bay Area Reporter

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Vol. 52 • No.16 • April 21-27, 2022

Courtesy CA Assembly

Christopher Robledo

Several LGBTQ-related bills are being heard in Sacramento.

Assemblymember-elect Matt Haney

Haney wins big in Assembly race

Trans issues top CA LGBTQ legislative push

by Matthew S. Bajko

istrict 6 Supervisor Matt Haney declared victory Tuesday in the special runoff election for San Francisco’s vacant 17th Assembly District seat based on the initial vote count. Trailing in second was David Campos, a gay man who is a vice chair of the California Democratic Party. Haney took first place with 64% of the vote-by-mail ballots that the elections department received and processed before Election Day, while Campos received 36%. With 3,306 votes received from polling places where people cast their ballots in person Tuesday added in, Haney’s total vote count stood at 38,916 votes and Campos’ was at 22,567 votes. Because most ballots were expected to be mailed in ahead of Election Day, Haney thanked voters for electing him to the Assembly seat representing the city’s eastern neighborhoods as soon as the first election results were posted. “First results are out: We’re up by over 27 points. We won,” tweeted Haney. “Thank you so much to San Francisco voters, & to all of our staff, volunteers, donors, endorsers, & everyone who worked so hard over the last 6 months.” Campos told his supporters as the first numbers came in that “it doesn’t seem like we are going to be able to win this race.” According to the elections department it still has approximately 16,400 ballots to count and expected to receive approximately 2,700 vote-by-mail ballots on Wednesday. It will next update the vote count in the race at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 21. The progressive politicians were the top two finishers who advanced out of the February 15 election to fill the seat vacated by David Chiu, who in November became San Francisco’s first Asian American city attorney. In that contest Haney had also placed first, though by a narrower margin of about 700 votes. They have also both qualified for the June 7 primary race for a full two-year term in See page 10 >>

Sisters’ Easter party a hit

he Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence brought their Easter party back to Mission Dolores Park Sunday, April 17, for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic and the crowd was thrilled. This year’s Hunky Jesus was “Black Woman is God” (Brittany Henry) and the Foxy Mary, at far left, was “Transgender Maria de Guadalupe”

Gooch

(Shane Zaldivar). The day before, nearly two-dozen Sisters gathered at Alert Alley, between Dolores and Landers streets, for the commemorative street renaming of the alley to Sister Vish-Knew Way, after Sisters co-founder Sister Vish-Knew, aka Kenneth Bunch. For more on that, see story, page 6.

alifornia legislators are once again pushing forward on a number of bills aimed at improving the lives of the state’s transgender and nonbinary residents. And due to the legislative attacks on trans children in several other states, lawmakers in Sacramento are also focused on assisting those youth and their parents who are trying to access genderaffirming health care. See page 7 >>

Crego tapped as permanent ED of San Francisco’s trans office by Cynthia Laird

ayor London Breed has made it official and appointed Pau Crego as the permanent executive director of the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives. Crego, a trans and nonbinary Spanish immigrant, had been serving as acting executive director since Clair Farley, a trans woman who headed the department since 2017, stepped down last September after leading the office for four years. Breed and City Administrator Carmen Chu made the announcement April 21. The office was established by the late mayor Ed Lee in June 2016 with Theresa Sparks as its inaugural director. It marked the first time a mayor in the nation had a senior director of trans initiatives, Lee’s office stated at the time. (Santa Clara County’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs was started in 2015, and there are similar offices in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.) In a phone interview April 19, Crego, who started at the trans office in 2017 and rose to deputy director before taking over on an interim basis, said he was honored by the appointment. “I’m thrilled,” he said. “I’ve been with the Office of Transgender Initiatives almost since the beginning. It’s an exciting opportunity for me and the trans community locally.”

Courtesy Pau Crego

Pau Crego is the new executive director for the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives.

Breed stated that Crego’s experience will be an asset to the department. “I am proud to officially name Pau Crego as the new executive director of the Office of Transgender Initiatives,” she stated in a news release. “For years, Pau has led critical and effective initiatives that have served some of our city’s most vulnerable trans and LGBT residents. His experience and connection to the community will help build on the instrumental work of this office.” Chu stated that Crego has been “founda-

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tional to the office’s efforts to promote safety and inclusion for trans and gender-nonconforming people, creating a model for other local governments to follow.” Crego, 34, said that one of his first priorities will be to staff up the office. Currently, there are only three staff members, including him, and one is leaving at the end of the month, he said. Crego said that he wants to take this opportunity to restructure some of the job duties as new staff come on board. “Right now we’re very understaffed,” he said. Another immediate goal for Crego is to “deepen some of the trust our office has had” by meeting with community organizations and individual trans leaders “to make sure I’m available as the new director,” he added. In his role as deputy director at the office, Crego advanced the launch and development of some of its most notable initiatives, the mayor’s office stated. These include increasing funding for transgender and LGBTQ community services in the areas of housing, health care, arts and culture, violence prevention, and leadership and economic development. The office also worked to ensure that the city’s COVID response included efforts to focus on LGBTQ people, particularly housing vulnerable queer people in shelter-in-place hotels during the pandemic. See page 10 >>

<< Community News

2 • Bay Area Reporter • April 21-27, 2022

Lawsuit filed over SF redistricting process by Matthew S. Bajko

lawsuit has been filed against the panel redrawing the local electoral map for San Francisco’s 11 supervisorial districts and the city’s director of elections. It is seeking to have the San Francisco Superior Court step in and take over the process. A legal challenge had been expected after the San Francisco Redistricting Task Force missed its deadline as mandated by the city charter to have a new map approved by April 15. After rejecting by a 5-4 vote last Wednesday a map widely panned by Black, Latino, and LGBTQ advocates, the task force is expected to reconvene at noon Thursday, April 21, to complete its line drawing work. But Tuesday three San Francisco residents calling themselves “good governance activists” filed a lawsuit with the local court asking it to hold a hearing next week and to adopt a final supervisorial district map by May 2 that can be used for the November races for even-numbered seats. They are alleging that “partisan political interests” intervened in what is supposed to be a process overseen by an independent commission. They also cite the state’s Fair And Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities And Political Subdivisions (FAIR MAPS) Act as requiring the court to step in and oversee the redistricting process if a petition for it to do so is filed when a local body tasked with redrawing political districts misses its deadline to do so. “This is an attack on the process by extreme partisans to protect their entrenched interests,” stated Todd David, a plaintiff in the suit and pro-housing activist. “They are worried that a fair redistricting will ultimately result in a shift away from the status quo. These extreme partisans are finally being challenged so that San Francisco can

Screengrab

The San Francisco Redistricting Task Force will meet Thursday and discuss Map 7, which maintains the Tenderloin in District 6.

fulfill its potential of becoming the shining beacon on the hill.” David, who lives in Noe Valley, has managed past campaigns for gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and is executive director of the Housing Action Coalition. He was joined by Drew Min, an Asian American community activist, and Jon Schwark, an urbanism advocate and Mid-Market resident, in filing the lawsuit. “A coordinated effort from politically toxic forces threatened and intimidated anyone who disagreed with them,” stated Min. “These bullying, antidemocratic tactics were successful in delaying the passage of the final map, illegally missing the mandated deadline.” The task force’s deliberations had become increasingly chaotic and controversial over the last month. A lastminute effort to have the city’s elections commission remove its three appointees to the task force failed.

One of the trio, Raynell Cooper, ended up voting with the majority of the nine task force members to continue their line drawing work. The four others were chair the Reverend Arnold Townsend and members Jose Maria (Chema) Hernández Gil, J. Michelle Pierce, and Jeremy Lee, one of two queer men serving on the task force. Voting in the minority were vice chair Ditka Reiner, Matthew Castillon, Lily Ho, and Chasel Lee, the other out member of the task force. They, along with Townsend, had initially supported a map that would have moved the Tenderloin and its Transgender District into a new District 5 while keeping SOMA and its Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District in a new District 6. Another controversial change that the task force was set to adopt was moving the Portola and University Mound neighborhoods into District

10 from District 9 and the Potrero neighborhood into D9 from D10. African American residents of District 10 vocally complained about the decision, arguing it would dilute the Black vote and make it more likely an Asian candidate would be elected as its next supervisor. The task force is now set to take up what has been dubbed Map 7, which keeps the Portola and University Mound grouped with the Mission in District 9. Potrero and the Dogpatch continue to be with the rest of District 10 under that map, which can be seen online at https://bit.ly/3xDULxx. The Tenderloin and SOMA remain together in District 6 with Mission Bay and Treasure Island. District 8 also remains largely the same, though its eastern boundary with District 9 is moved west from Valencia Street to Guerrero Street. Yet the block of Valencia between 24th and 25th streets, where gay Dis-

trict 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman lives, would stay a part of District 8, as under Map 7 the line would run down Valencia to Cesar Chavez Street where it would turn west again up to Guerrero. The 100 block of Valencia where the Chan National Queer Arts Center, home to the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, is located would also be carved into District 8. Whether those district boundary lines on Map 7 will remain in place as the redistricting task force regroups this week to try to finish its map continues to be an open question. Nor is it clear if the superior court would adopt such a political division of the city if it decides to take over the line drawing. If the redistricting task force approves a map Thursday then it would hold another one 72 hours after the proposed map is published online to cast a final vote for it. It would also hold a meeting in the interim to gather additional public comment, though the task force could become a moot body should the superior court decide to intervene. The city’s elections department has said it needs to know what the new map is going to be by May 2 so it can determine if candidates who file for the November races are eligible to seek the supervisorial seat they wish to represent. A supervisor must live within their district. Mandelman is also waiting to find out what the new map will look like, as he is already campaigning for his reelection in the fall to the District 8 seat. The redistricting task force will meet Thursday in Room 406 at City Hall and also screen the proceeding online. For more information about the task force, and how to view its April 21 meeting virtually, visit its website athttps://bit.ly/3L33Svk. t

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t Sci-fi writing program helps queer youth of color by Heather Cassell

group of queer youth of color is putting its imagination into words at an inaugural science fiction and fantasy workshop in Oakland. Earlier this year, Chapter 510 launched a first-of-its-kind science fiction and fantasy workshop for LGBTQ sixth and seventh graders called New Origins. Jahan Khalighi, director of programs at Chapter 510, told the Bay Area Reporter that the organization developed New Origins to create more space for Black and Brown queer middle school-aged youth to connect with each other. The organization created a space where youth “can utilize their imagination” to connect, build community, and gain confidence and joy “in their capacity to imagine themselves into the future and also write the stories that feel most compelling to them,” he said. The creative writing and bookmaking organization based in Oakland has a budget of $850,000. It focuses on raising young people of color’s voices and stories. Queer youth are a part of the community, said Khalighi. The organization is also celebrating the grand opening of its new Writing Center on Write Your Roots Day, April 29. Khalighi, a 41-year-old ally, pointed to the importance of the New Origin’s workshop, pointing to Black science fiction legends, such as Octavia E. Butler, and a recent Afrofuturism exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California as examples of the importance of the genre to people of color. He added, “There’s some incredible Black, Brown, and queer fantasy writers in the Bay Area.”

Jane Philomen Cleland

New Origins teaching artist Duane Horton works with queer youth of color and others in writing science fiction and fantasy.

There are seven queer students currently crafting science fiction and fantasy stories in a 10-week workshop led by teaching artist Duane Horton. Horton, 29, is a gay Oaklandbased fantasy and science fiction writer. His short fantasy story, “Summer Land,” was published in an anthology by Green Mountains Review and other stories have been published by Sapphire Hues Press. He is working on his first Black queer fantasy novel. He also works at the Academy of Art University as an admission and outreach administrator.

Love of fantasy

“I have always been a fan of fantasy,” Horton said, talking about how his mother instilled a love of fantasy and science fiction and storytelling in him, his twin brother, and their older sister from an early age. He then fell in

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April 21-27, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 3

love with Marvel comics, particularly the X-Men, and the character, Storm, portrayed by Halle Berry in the movies. He loved the fact that they were “ragtag outsiders” who banned together through their superpowers and created a community. At the same time, he didn’t see himself in the media or in the places he went to. “I didn’t see anybody like me,” he said. “I never had a clear image of this is who you can be. Work toward that,” he said. “I always was creating my own [path] ... what I felt was right for me.” That path led him to New Origins after teaching middle school in New Jersey and coming to Oakland in 2017. He earned his undergraduate degree in English and minored in women’s studies. He received his master’s degree in creative writing at Mills College. There remains a dearth of Black and Brown people in fantasy and science fiction. Three and a half decades ago, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” led the way with Whoopi Goldberg, LeVar Burton, and Michael Dorn on the show. It was a long stretch since the original “Star Trek” in the 1960s that featured a Black character on TV: Communication Officer Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols in her groundbreaking role. Berry came later in the Marvel’s “X-Men” franchise. Storm Reid played Meg Murry in the 2018 film adaptation of “A Wrinkle in Time,” which also starred Goldberg and Mindy Khan. It wasn’t until Oakland native and director Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther,” in 2018 – starring the late Chadwick Boseman – that Black science fiction and fantasy

fully came to life for fans. “What ‘Black Panther’ did for us as a society was it brought Blackness to fantasy. Superhero fiction is fantasy in so many ways,” said Horton. “We got to see this Black man participate in this fantasy world that also highlighted aspects of African culture – and in some really important ways. That impact will never be lost on me.” Black science fiction authors such as Butler, W.E.B. Du Bois – also a civil rights leader – and many others have been a part of the genre for generations, just not fully recognized by wider audiences.

Writing the future

Horton’s goal is to give his students everything that he didn’t have during his development as a Black, queer, science fiction and fantasy writer: access to stories that reflect Black and Brown people and role models from history. He wants to validate and notate his student’s experiences “through the lens of fantasy,” he said. “Fantasy really has the power to give us imaginative alternatives,” Horton said, pointing out that “imaginative alternatives” can potentially “blueprint the future.” He believes fantasy and “the work of imagining and being in conversation with whoever you imagine yourself to be when you’re older, but also having someone who you can imagine yourself to be when you’re older is really important for queer youth.” The students are loving the class, Horton said, as he is too. “I cannot say how amazing this program has been just for me and the students,” Horton said, talking about how the students have embraced the opportunity

to show their imaginations from one student who personified the moon while another student told an elaborate fairy tale made up on the spot in one exercise. Some New Origins students sent statements about the workshop to the B.A.R. anonymously to protect their privacy. One queer youth participant wrote they enjoyed the workshop because they were learning with other kids, but more so “I can get more information and specifics on how to write a story and what makes a story good.” Another young person in the program stated they liked that there were “no rules.” “There may be made-up rules but you can decide them,” the youth wrote. Another youth added, “There are no limits to what you can write.” “The students are really tapping into their imagination,” Horton said, using the media they’ve already consumed to help them create personification, metaphors, and voice “to really create the stories that they want to write.” “It’s been truly transformative and just amazing,” Horton added. “I’m really excited to support them on this journey.” Only a few weeks into the program, Horton said he hopes the New Origins workshop will continue. The program also connects the students with Bay Area writers who mentor them as they prepare their stories to be published in an anthology, Horton and Khalighi said. The grand opening of Chapter 510’s Writing Center is Friday, April 29, from noon to 7 p.m. at 546 Ninth Street in Oakland. t

4 • Bay Area Reporter • April 21-27, 2022

Volume 52, Number 16 April 21-27, 2022 www.ebar.com

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<< Open Forum

t Time for APE to work with the Castro S

ince the surprising news in January that Another Planet Entertainment was taking over management and programming at the historic Castro Theatre, it’s been our hope that APE and Castro stakeholders could work together on everyone’s shared goal of rejuvenating a vibrant movie palace in the heart of San Francisco’s LGBTQ neighborhood. Last week, however, the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District and numerous other groups and community leaders sent Gregg Perloff, APE chief executive officer, a letter expressing their concerns and requests. This wasn’t the first attempt at engagement either. Shortly after the announcement was made by APE – which it later admitted that it “fumbled” – cultural district leaders reached out and requested a meeting. While APE representatives said that virtual meetings have taken place, those apparently are falling short for what the cultural district has requested. Since APE assumed management of the theater, APE spokesperson David Perry told us that four meetings have been held (all on Zoom): two with the cultural district staff and two with the Castro Merchants Association with members of the cultural district present. “In addition, just last week, we supplied them with detailed answers to a number of their questions and concerns,” Perry stated to us April 13. “Two days ago, we reached out to them for a face-toface meeting now that COVID protocols and scheduling allow, and are looking forward to that.” We hope so. From the perspective of the cultural district, these meetings have fallen flat. In a news release accompanying the letter to APE, cultural district manager Tina Valentin Aguirre stated that APE is “refusing to meet with us or respond with substantive answers to detailed concerns that we have presented to them privately and now publicly.” “I was cautiously optimistic in early February,” Aguirre added. “In the past two months, APE has not met with us despite multiple attempts on our part. I now fear that their commitment to dialogue was less than genuine.” The cultural district was joined in its letter by the Castro Merchants; evidently that group, too, despite having APE officials address its members, feels that more information is needed. Additional signatories include the Frameline Film Festival, which uses the theater for much of its LGBTQ film festival

Scott Wazlowski

Neighborhood groups have become increasingly concerned since Another Planet Entertainment took over management and programming of the Castro Theatre.

and thus, has a major interest; the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District; the SOMA Pilipinas – San Francisco’s Filipino Cultural Heritage District; Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza; the city’s two LGBTQ Democratic clubs; and preservation groups like Heritage SF, the Art Deco Society of California, and the Tenderloin Museum. In other words, these organizations feel that to date, APE has not been as forthcoming and transparent as they would like. At the top of the coalition’s agenda is a prompt and thorough walk-through of the theater with community members and historic preservation groups to document the current conditions, including a thorough cataloging of culturally significant ephemera inside. That seems to us a reasonable request and one that should take place as soon as possible. There have recently been two vandalism incidents at the theater that caused about $45,000 in damages, so it’s imperative that a full accounting of the interior be completed. Aguirre told us Wednesday that gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s office will facilitate a meeting between the cultural district and APE, hopefully in early May. The coalition also wants APE’s support on an update to the landmark designation for the property – the theater is already designated a San Francisco landmark – to reflect updated standards and the Historic Preservation Commission’s 2020 resolution, “Centering Preservation Planning on Racial and

Letters of hope amid the darkness by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

can’t even fathom. We express freedoms they are utterly terrified by. You contain magic, and that magic is amazing and powerful – and all your own. They can never take it from you, just like they’ve never been able to take mine. They can try, but they cannot ever truly hold back souls like ours. Be unfettered, be free, and let your magic shine like nothing that ever came before. Cheers, Gwen Smith

News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Out & About listings • jim@ebar.com Advertising • scott@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation. Advertising rates available upon request. Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

Social Equity.” Thirdly, the letter asks that APE immediately cease renovation or the removal of items until a memorandum of understanding has been signed with the cultural district to respect the interests of key stakeholders, including the GLBT Historical Society. And finally, the group wants good faith meetings with APE on various issues related to enhancing pre-existing, accessible community programming and resources. Groups and individuals have mentioned this repeatedly since January. APE needs to commit to reasonable rental rates so that nonprofits like Frameline and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus can continue to hold events at the theater. The coalition wants APE to provide an annual screening of “The Life and Times of Harvey Milk” coinciding with Harvey Milk Day May 22. The coalition wants commitment from APE that the organ will be preserved and upgraded – organist David Hegarty is involved in helping APE to replace the Mighty Wurlitzer, which he owns, Perry has said. And it wants APE to offer support for a robust repertory film program when the theater is not otherwise engaged. These all are reasonable requests and they are all issues that APE should have been aware of when it agreed to take over management of the theater. The Castro Theatre is a special jewel in San Francisco. Its success under this new business model will help the LGBTQ neighborhood recover from the COVID pandemic’s economic fallout and bring people to the area. Perry, a gay man, told us he “would never” work for a company trying to erase queer culture. We hope that APE will right its ship and immediately get to work meeting with Castro community leaders, specifically the cultural district. Last year, we urged the Castro cultural district to focus on things other than the long-debated rainbow flag, over which it has no control. We’re pleased to see that the district is doing just that regarding the Castro Theatre. This is a project that cries out for involvement from stakeholders such as the cultural district, which is working hard to do that. We strongly urge APE leadership to meet – inperson if possible – with the cultural district manager and board leadership and schedule the walk-through of the theater. Those two requests, followed by the others, will go a long way toward forging a better working relationship, which is in the Castro neighborhood’s best interest. t

ver the last few weeks, anti-transgender and general anti-LGBTQ animus has reached a fever pitch. The hatred is easily as bad as it’s been since orange juice pitchwoman Anita Bryant was fighting against our rights in Dade County, Florida back in 1977. It is bad enough that Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” has been signed into law and several states are seeking to follow suit. But many others are passing antitransgender sports bills, bathroom bills, and even laws that make transgender care itself a felony. Transgender people specifically, and LGBTQ people and allies in general, are being increasingly targeted. Anyone showing support for trans and LGBTQ people is being labeled a “groomer,” and pedophilia is being wrongly linked to our rights. You are even seeing the killings of transgender people being set up as a joke, as right-wing Blaze TV host Elijah Schaffer and guest Dave Landau did recently. “Yeah, we all have to put a trans kid and drag them behind a truck,” Landau meanly joked with Schaffer April 14. “How many trans kids did you kill today?” Schaffer then asked. “Uh – six. They come with a toll tag,” replied Landau. This, of course, is occurring in a year where we know of 12 people who have been killed due to anti-transgender violence. And it’s only April. To say that these times are bleak is to sugarcoat the climate toward trans people right now. Even with some assurances and positive moves from the Biden administration, transgender people are finding ourselves with few friends willing to stand with us.

Christine Smith

Into this environment, Ina Fried, an Axios reporter and longtime friend of mine, has exhibited a faint ray of hope. She took to Twitter to start a project with the hashtag #Letters4TransKids. The project is just as it sounds. Fried, a trans woman, has invited people to write letters to transgender youth so as to provide a little reinforcement for our most vulnerable community members. Dozens have added their own letters to the mix, including yours truly. What follows is my own letter. Greetings, I know, things are freakin’ scary right now. There’s just so much going on, so fast. I feel it too. These are scary times, no doubt. I’ll tell you a secret, though: you know who is scared more? The people making these laws. OK, that is pretty obvious, I’m sure, but it’s not that they’re scared of us in bathrooms, or in sports, or whatever else they’re saying: that’s just their excuse. No, they’re scared of what we represent. They look at us and see something special, and rare, and wonderful. We represent possibilities they

I believe every word of the above. As the transgender community has grown since the 1990s, reaching what Time magazine prematurely coined the “transgender tipping point” in 2014, it was inevitable that we would be on the receiving end of a backlash. On top of that, there is a rabid conservative faction that is looking for an anti-LGBTQ fight to rally around post-Obergefell (the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision) and post-Donald Trump. All of this is clearly setting up an epic Supreme Court battle as well as vicious midterm elections later this year. Yet, I do feel the issue goes deeper than merely toxic right-wing politicians crafting more ways to cynically claim power. I really do believe this is emblematic of their fears. They see a new generation that may not wholly embrace their biases, and is open to accepting gender identities and expressions that their parents and grandparents don’t understand. We represent possibilities they cannot fathom. They don’t understand how wrong they may be about gender as a whole, and fear what that might mean to them. They may have spent decades shoring up their own unreasonable attitudes toward gender; any other path may seem See page 5 >>

Politics >>

April 21-27, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 5

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From page 4

a dire threat. No longer able to dismiss us, no longer feeling they’re part of the majority, they can only move to try to eradicate transgender people and the rest of the LGBTQ community. They need to ban books that support us, or even ones that might speak of embracing difference in even the most milquetoast forms. They need to bar us from participating in society. They need to try to crush us, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

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Yankee Clipper Travel

by Matthew S. Bajko

igh school government and history teacher Gary Blenner may be a long shot candidate to be elected California secretary of state this year. Nonetheless, he is breaking through another pink political ceiling in the Golden State. Blenner is the first known gay Green Party candidate to qualify for a statewide primary race in California. He is one of five LGBTQ statewide candidates this year. “I haven’t received any negative comments about it; haven’t got any positive comments either. I am running on my ideas,” said Blenner, 55, who lives in Antelope, outside of Sacramento. “I had always been interested in running for secretary of state. One of my areas of interest is in electoral reform.” Fellow Green Party member Veronika Fimbres, a transgender nurse from San Francisco, is running in the primary race for California insurance commissioner. She is one of eight challengers running against gay Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara (D). Four years ago Lara became the first LGBTQ person elected to a statewide office in the Golden State. He has had a bumpy first term and is facing a tough reelection campaign. Lesbian Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, an independent, is running against Attorney General Rob Bonta. And gay Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin is now seeking to be elected as the state’s controller. He is one of four Democrats seeking the open seat, as Controller Betty Yee is termed out of office this year. Among the quartet are former San Francisco supervisor Malia Cohen, currently on the state’s Board of Equalization, and state Senator Steve Glazer (D-Orinda), while Republican Lanhee Chen is also vying to survive the primary and advance to the November ballot. The first known out candidate for statewide office in California was Tony Miller, a gay man appointed to fill the vacancy created when March Fong Eu resigned as secretary of state. He lost his 1994 race for a full term. Two decades later fellow gay Democrat John A. Perez, then serving as Assembly speaker, fell short in his bid to become the state’s controller. Blenner is facing an uphill battle this year as he is running against Secretary of State Shirley Weber, the first African American to hold the statewide office. Governor Gavin Newsom tapped the former Democratic assemblymember from San Diego in 2020 to fill the vacancy created when he appointed Alex Padilla as California’s first Latino senator in the U.S. Congress. Padilla and Weber are now both seeking full terms this year in their elected positions.

All loans subject to approval. Rates, terms and conditions may vary based on qualifications. Financially insured by NCUA.

415.356.2260 kirk@yankeeclippertravel.com

Courtesy Gary Blenner

Secretary of state candidate Gary Blenner

With four Republicans and one independent candidate also on the June 7 primary ballot for secretary of state, Blenner is hopeful his GOP opponents will end up splitting the vote from their party members enough to allow him to be one of the two top vote-getters to advance to the November ballot. He is part of the Left Unity Slate that the statewide Green Party formed with the Peace and Freedom Party this year. In order to do so he is planning to run television ads on cable targeted to voters in certain cities across the state, such as San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley, who may be supportive of his platform. “What I am fighting for in my candidacy is to try to open up the process and not to keep people off the ballot,” said Blenner. “I want to give people realistic choices in terms of how to vote in the future.” He is a big supporter of rankedchoice voting, noting its use not only benefits candidates from all political parties but also reduces the cost to hold elections. And he wants to change how campaigns are funded. “It’s important to get PAC and corporate money out of campaign finances,” said Blenner, referring to political action committees. “I would like something in our state constitution that ends corporate personhood.” He also backs a proposed ballot measure that would change how members of the state Assembly are elected. Rather than having 80 separate Assembly seats, the idea would be to create eight large regional districts where 30 candidates would be elected to serve, thus increasing the number of assemblymembers to 240. “It would bring about coalitions to govern, not just coalitions to get elected,” argued Blenner. He pointed to a Democratic lawmaker’s failed attempt this month to try to ban cities from using rankedchoice voting, such as San Francisco and Oakland, as one example of how some Democrats want to curtail voting rights. “What I would say to Democrats is if you are voting for the Democratic

In times as bleak as these, it is easy to give in to despair. Frankly, these are huge threats to us all, not the least the families of transgender people in the states most affected by these horrible new anti-transgender, anti-LGBTQ laws. Fried’s project gives us a template to fight back against anguish. She has shone us a beacon of hope though the darkness. We’ll need more, certainly. Not just letters to trans kids – though more of these would help – but we need people who are willing to risk these laws, and speak out for transgender and LGBTQ people, and

Barry Schneider Attorney at Law

family law specialist*

• Divorce w/emphasis on Party because you think it is idealisReal Estate & Business Divisions tically pure and progressive, they are • Domestic Partnerships, Support & Custody not. You should look to the Green • Probate and Wills Party as the true progressive alternative in the state of California,” said www.SchneiderLawSF.com Blenner. Born in New York City’s Queens borough, Blenner at age 13 moved *Certified by the California State Bar with his parents to Fremont in the Bay Area. He graduated from UC Davis in 400 Montgomery Street, Ste. 505, San Francisco, CA 1988 with a double major in political science and history. After two years at Lincoln Law School, a private college in Sacramento, Blenner dropped out to beVice President of Advertising come a schoolteacher and earned a advertising@ebar.com master’s degree in education from National University. He has taught at the San Juan Unified School District since 1994. He first disclosed his being gay to a friend at the age of 26, having led a closeted life up to that point. He joined the Green Party after the 1988 midterm elections, though registered as a Democrat from 2012 to 2016 in 44 Gough Street #204, San Francisco, CA 94103 order to vote for U.S. Senator Bernie (415) 829-8937 • www.ebar.com Sanders (I-Vermont) as he sought the party’s presidential nomination. He currently is co-coordinator of the Sacramento County Green Party, having helped to revive the local party chapter. This isn’t Blenner’s first time seeking public office, but it is as an openly gay candidate. Blenner twice ran unsuccessfully for county supervisor in 2012 and 2016. In 2006, he was elected to the school board for the Center Joint Unified School District in Sacramento County but lost his bid for reelection four years later. “I think my being defeated in part was because I took the position that students were to be exposed to LGBTQ+ ideas in the 10th grade health and safety curriculum. EvangeliWhen you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in cal groups didn’t like that,” recalled advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial Blenner, who had also tried to get his and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead board to adopt a resolution in supWhen your celebration lasting protectsyou your plan loved ones fromlife unnecessary stress and and financial burden, port of same-sex marriage amidWhen the you remembrance plan your celebration and lasting in allowing themlife to focus on what will matter most at design that remembrance time—you. in advance, you can every 2008 election fight over Prop 8, which advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial detail ofusyour owntheunique memorial andlegacy provide banned such nuptials in California Contact today about beautiful ways to create a lasting until it was later overturned byand the provide atyour theloved San Francisco Columbarium. loved ones with true peace mind. Planning ahead your ones with true peace ofof mind. Planning courts. “My neighborhood was more protects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial ahead protectsProudly yourserving loved onesCommunity. from unnecessary burden, the LGBT conservative than it is now.” allowing them focus on whatburden, will matter most them at thattotime—you. To learn more about Blenner, stresstoand financial allowing visit his Facebook page at https:// focus on what will matter most at that time—you. w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / p r o f i l e . Contact us today about the beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy php?id=100075853868655 t

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protect us in the most direct ways. We also need lawmakers who are willing to strike back at these proposals whenever they come up, and instead introduce legislation that consists of stronger protections. Yes, this includes Congress, which needs to pass LGBTQ protections far more robust than what a single administration can craft. But first, we need hope. t Gwen Smith thanks Ina Fried for showing us the path. You’ll find Smith at www.gwensmith.com.

One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 Proudly serving our Community.

SanFranciscoColumbarium.com Proudly serving the LGBT Community. FD 1306 / COA 660

One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717

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<< Community News

6 • Bay Area Reporter • April 21-27, 2022

San Francisco unveils street sign for drag nun by Matthew S. Bajko

alling it recognition for all the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the co-founder of the international drag nun philanthropic group unveiled Saturday the San Francisco city street named in her honor as Sister Vish-Knew Way. It coincided with the group’s annual Easter Weekend celebrations and came 43 years after she first manifested the Sisters with a few friends. “Even the Catholic Church called it Holy Saturday,” joked Sister VishKnew, sporting a black-and-white ensemble with a circular headpiece forming a silver halo above her. She added that the street sign “is a stamp of approval for the Sisters.” Referring to the war in Ukraine and the global assault against LGBTQ rights, she added, “The world needs us now more than they ever did.” The commemorative renaming of Alert Alley between Dolores and Landers streets marks the first time a member of the Sisters has been honored in such a way. The new signage can be found at both ends of the narrow alleyway a short walk from the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Mission Dolores Basilica and the historic Misión San Francisco de Asís. “It feels so amazing. It just makes me very happy and proud,” Sister Roma told the Bay Area Reporter. “I owe my life to Vish. I wouldn’t be who I am today, none of us would be, without Vish.” Roma, now serving as the local order’s Mistress of Novices to assist new aspirants, first joined the Sisters in 1987 two years after she had moved to San Francisco. Last year, Roma approached gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman about erecting a street sign to honor Sister Vish-Knew, as the B.A.R. was first to report in January. “I think it is a great way to come out of the pandemic. It is a little bit of cele-

Rick Gerharter

After a little difficulty of removing the cloth, the new street sign for Sister Vish-Knew Alley was revealed in a sidewalk ceremony April 16. Sister Vish-Knew, aka Kenneth Bunch, left, and over 20 Sisters were there to celebrate.

bration that is well deserved,” Mandelman, who shepherded the street-naming proposal through the city approval process this winter, told the B.A.R. at the April 16 unveiling ceremony. Cory Nichols, a gay resident of the neighborhood, told the B.A.R. he is excited to see the street sign whenever he heads to his job as a bartender at the Castro restaurant Starbelly or takes his 3-month-old Boxer puppy Colby out for walks. It will be a daily reminder of his being a Sister, having joined the local order six years ago and taking the name of Sister Angelina Holi. “I think it is fabulous. She founded the order, and it is a great way to acknowledge the work of the Sisters in the city,” said Nichols, who had come to the ceremony out of his nun drag with Colby by his side. “Sisters wanting attention and having a street named after us, it’s a fabulous thing.” Right next to the alley is the apartment at 272 Dolores Street where

Sister Vish-Knew, known as Kenneth Bunch out of her nun drag, and several friends had gotten together on the eve of Easter in 1979 and ended up donning nun habits. Their venturing out into the city adorned in the religious garb that Saturday was the first manifestation of the Sisters, which today has orders in 60 different cities and 14 countries. Bunch, who as a 25-year-old gay man first came to San Francisco on vacation in January 1977, decided to relocate to the City-by-the-Bay permanently from the gay-owned farm he had been living on outside Iowa City, Iowa. He had packed the nun habits with him when he moved. As it also happens, Bunch has lived for nearly 36 years nearby Alert Alley. Ordained the group’s Grand Mother Vicious Power Hungry Bitch, Bunch shortened his name to Sister VishKnew a decade ago so it wasn’t so long or sounded as harsh.

The second half came about from repeatedly being asked if he knew the Sisters would have such longevity when he helped found them so many decades ago. It is also an homage to the Hindu god Vishnu. Early on Bunch was called Sister Ady in reference to Ardhanarishvara, which is a form of the Hindu deity Shiva combined with his consort Parvati. They are usually depicted as halfmale and half-female. Local Catholic Church leaders throughout the decades have clashed with the sisters, calling them heretics and famously protesting their being given a permit to close down Castro Street on Easter Sunday in 1999 to celebrate their 20th anniversary. They held the annual party April 17 in Mission Dolores Park for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. “We stand as the epitome of freedom, at a time when religious oppres-

sion and authoritarianism are on the rise worldwide,” said Sister Vish-Knew during the Saturday street sign unveiling attended by two-dozen Sisters and a handful of local residents. “We defend and exercise those boundaries of freedom. We are needed today, more than ever.” Taking part in the ceremony was Jeffrey Tumlin, a gay man who is the city’s director of transportation. He praised the Sisters for teaching him how to be a San Franciscan when he first moved to the city more than two decades ago. They also showed him how to “take the oppression, bullying, and hatred” directed at gay people, Tumlin said, “and confront it directly with disruptive joy, love and gratitude.” Not too far away from Alert Alley is José Sarria Court along the block of 16th Street where the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library is located. Sarria performed in drag at the North Beach gay bar the Black Cat in the 1950s and, with his 1961 unsuccessful bid for supervisor, was the first out LGBTQ person to seek elected office in the U.S. The 100 block of Turk Street is also called Vicki Mar Lane on behalf of trans performer Vicki Marlane, who died in 2011 at the age of 76 due to AIDS-related complications. She had hosted a popular drag revue show at gay bar Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, located at 133 Turk Street, and was the first transgender person to be honored with a street naming in San Francisco. Other LGBTQ luminaries with San Francisco streets named for them include Frida Kahlo, Dr. Tom Waddell, Alice B. Toklas and Jack Kerouac. The 100 block of Taylor Street is also named Gene Compton’s Cafeteria Way for the business where a transgender-led uprising against police brutality occurred in 1966.t

Coalition wants more info on Castro Theatre changes by Eric Burkett

group describing itself as “a coalition of community stakeholders concerned about the future of the Castro Theatre” have written Gregg Perloff, chief executive officer of Another Planet Entertainment, to express their concerns about the future of the theater. Another Planet is the Berkeleybased concert promotion company that assumed management of the fabled cinema earlier this year. “We are very concerned that changes being made without the input of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District will result in the erasure or drastic reduction of queer culture in the Castro Theatre,” the letter stated. Dated April 12, the letter expresses concern about “the probable loss of regular film programming, singalongs, world-class film festivals, and low-cost rentals accessible to specialty producers like Mark Huestis and Peaches Christ beyond this calendar year.” Furthermore, it details additional concerns about preservation of the historic theater along with its organ, the movie screen, “a century’s worth of ephemera worthy of cataloging,” and various other matters. In a news release to the Bay Area Reporter which accompanied the letter, cultural district manager Tina Valentin Aguirre, a genderqueer Latinx person, said that APE had refused to meet with them. “It’s been really disappointing to experience Another Planet Entertainment’s erasure of film and queer culture in the Castro Theatre while refusing to meet with us or respond with substantive answers to detailed concerns that we have presented to

Scott Wazlowski

A coalition of community stakeholders concerned about the future of the Castro Theatre has written to Another Planet Entertainment requesting more information about the company’s plans for programming at the movie palace.

them privately and now publicly,” Aguirre stated. “I was cautiously optimistic in early February. In the past two months APE has not met with us despite multiple attempts on our part. I now fear that their commitment to dialogue was less than genuine.” The letter’s authors, representing 23 individuals and organizations, then present a list of requests including a “prompt and thorough walkthrough” of the theater with members of the community and qualified historic preservationists; the concert promoter’s “full cooperation with and support of an update” to the theater’s landmark designation which was granted in 1977; an “immediate cessation” of renovation or removal of items from the theater until a memo-

randum of understanding is signed with the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District leadership; and “good faith discussions” with the leadership of the Cultural District and community stakeholders “resulting in mutually agreeable commitments to preserve, integrate and enhance pre-existing, accessible community programming and resources…” In addition to the Castro cultural district, the letter’s signatories include the Castro Merchants Association, Frameline Film Festival, the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District, SOMA Pilipinas Filipino Cultural Heritage District, the Harvey Milk and Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic clubs, Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza, the Queer Cultural Center, drag artist

Juanita MORE!, gay activist Cleve Jones, gay photographer Daniel Nicoletta, and several additional groups and individuals. The Bay Area Reporter noted in a March article that many people have expressed concerns about the future of the theater. Those include changes to the seating and the cost to rent the facility for programs. “We are already in negotiation with several nonprofit and LGBTQ community groups to provide access and budgets that are workable for all concerned,” David Perry, a gay man and spokesperson for APE, said in a statement. “This is a priority for us, and we’ll continue to do so.” Perry said that meetings have been held with the cultural district and

other groups. In February, for example, the company met with members of the Castro Merchants Association during the business group’s monthly virtual meeting, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported. Since APE assumed management of the theater in January, Perry said that four meetings have been held (all Zoom): two with the cultural district staff and two with the Castro Merchants Association with members of the cultural district present. “In addition, just last week, we supplied them with detailed answers to a number of their questions and concerns,” he said in a statement to the B.A.R. “Two days ago, we reached out to them for a face-to-face meeting now that COVID protocols and scheduling allow, and are looking forward to that.” Perry said he hopes that meeting will happen within the next couple of weeks. That aside, Perry takes particular issue with the letter writers suggesting that APE is working toward the erasure of queer culture at the theatre, stating that he himself “would never” work for a company that would do such a thing. As far as the letter writers’ concerns over the possible removal of artifacts and historic ephemera, again, he insisted, there is nothing to worry about. Another Planet wants, eventually, to be able to display many of the historic tchotchkes in the theater for the public to enjoy. “Another Planet is deeply committed to the historic preservation of the Castro Theatre and its unique place within the Castro, film, and LGBTQ communities,” Perry said in a statement. t

Community News>>

t Vallejo trans archive damaged in hit-and-run crash

April 21-27, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

compiled by Cynthia Laird

he Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive in Vallejo was damaged last month after a driver plowed into the converted garage that houses it and reportedly fled, while the founder is expressing support as she works to have the building repaired. Ms. Bob Davis, a trans woman who founded the archive in 2017 – it opened in September 2018 – told the Bay Area Reporter in a phone interview that no one was injured during the incident, which occurred on March 31, Transgender Day of Visibility. “I was rushing to events in San Francisco and ran into the archive to get some brochures,” Davis wrote in an email to supporters. “Imagine my surprise when I was greeted by an SUV parked in the middle of the office. How did that get here??!” Neighbors said the driver lost control, smashed through the rear wall of the archive, and ran. He hasn’t been seen since, Davis added. “The damage was largely confined to the office, which is one of two rooms that houses the small archive. It obliterated the whole office,” she said. The archive is named in honor of the late northern California transgender pioneer Louise Lawrence (1912-1976), who began living fulltime as a woman in 1942, first in Berkeley then San Francisco, as the B.A.R. noted in a 2017 article. She, along with Virginia Prince and others, published the first incarnation of Transvestia in 1952. Lawrence’s address book was the initial subscription list, and she was instrumental in developing the trans community’s connection to pioneering sex researchers such as Alfred Kinsey and Harry Benjamin, according to Davis. Davis told the B.A.R. that Robert Oakley, the man who built out the archive – it used to be a termite-infested garage, she explained – came over the next day with plywood and 2x4s to cover up the gaping hole left by the vehicle. “The police showed up at 1 a.m. and impounded the SUV so from 3 a.m. until he showed up I had this big hole,” Davis said. Oakley said in a phone interview that he’s known Davis for about 20

Courtesy LLTA

The Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive in Vallejo suffered significant damage after a hit-and-run driver plowed into the building last month.

years and remodeled the building for her a few years ago. “It was quite an impact,” he said of the collision. He said some of the electrical was torn out and the crash pushed the right side of the wall out. Fortunately, the circuit breaker popped so it didn’t start a fire, he explained. Davis said she’s met with an insurance adjuster and is awaiting an estimate. But the repair work will be pretty significant, she said. The foundation is cracked, she noted, and there may be foundation damage in the other room of the archive. “They’ve got to take out two walls,” she said. Some musical instruments were also damaged, said Davis, a retired music instructor from City College of San Francisco. The next step, she said, will be getting people from the GLBT Historical Society to help her go through and pack up items to place into storage prior to construction. Isaac Fellman, research archivist at the society, is organizing a team of archivists to come to LLTA for a cleanup and remediation day, Davis wrote in the email. The San Francisco-based historical society is the fiscal sponsor of the archive.

Trans issues

From page 1

In addition to improving transgender medical care in the Golden State, lawmakers have introduced bills that will require California community colleges not to deadname their trans and nonbinary students, faculty or staff; require the governor to annually proclaim November 20 as Transgender Day of Remembrance; and create an advisory body for a statewide pool of funds for trans services that would be renamed the Transgender, Gender-Variant, and Intersex (TGI) Wellness and Equity Fund. Other bills would protect LGBTQ people who want to become foster parents, establish a pilot project to assist LGBTQ youth receiving child welfare services, and require affordable housing builders to contract with LGBTQ-owned businesses. Tuesday, April 19, gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) released the language for the bill he plans to officially introduce this month that will make California a refuge for trans kids and their families persecuted by their own governments in states such as Texas and Idaho. The Idaho House of Representatives passed legislation last week to make it a felony for parents to allow their children to receive gender-affirming care, while similar policy is under consideration by lawmakers

Courtesy Wiener’s office

State Senator Scott Wiener

in Louisiana and Arizona. In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott is appealing a state court decision that put on hold his directive that state agencies consider removing trans children from their parents and placing them in foster care. “California can and should be a place of refuge for trans kids and their families,” stated Wiener. He is gutting and amending his Senate Bill 107 he had introduced last year regarding the state’s CalFresh program in order to establish protections for parents who bring their trans kids to California to access gender-affirming health care. (Gut and amend refers to a lawmaker swapping out the language of a bill they had initially filed with completely new provisions because the deadline to file a new bill has passed.) He had announced his intention to author the bill in March but had been awaiting legal guidance on it.

Davis thanked the organizations and people who have helped publicize the incident. While she has insurance, there is a high deductible and other expenses. The Solano County Pride Center included the incident in its recent newsletter with a donation link. The Solano Stonewall Democratic Club and Vallejo Gay Network have also posted about it, Davis said. “I’m so gratified by the response and support,” Davis said, adding that Robyn Adams, who does web design and oversees social media for the archive, has been “pitching in and helping out.” In a phone interview, Adams, a trans woman, said that she has been sharing the news on social media helping to raise money. “I’m quite delighted,” Adams said of the community response. “It takes a difficult situation and makes it better.” Gwen Smith, a trans woman who writes the B.A.R.’s Transmissions column, is on the speakers’ bureau for the archive and was saddened by the turn of events. Wiener shared the bill language via Twitter LINK: https:// twitter.com/Scott_Wiener/status/1516475367845892099 in hopes of seeing other state legislatures also adopt it. SB 107 would make it California policy to reject any outof-state court judgments removing trans kids from their parents’ custody for allowing them to receive gender-affirming health care. It also would bar compliance in California with any out-ofstate subpoena seeking health or other related information about people who come to California to receive gender-affirming care for the purpose of criminalizing such individuals or removing their children from their homes. And it would make clear that any out-ofstate criminal arrest warrant for someone based on violating another state’s law against receiving gender-affirming care is the lowest priority for law enforcement in California. “We will not stand idly by while a new generation of trans kids is marginalized, criminalized and subjected to violence and hatred,” stated Wiener. “SB 107 will ensure that California pushes back against this vile new trend that could cost the lives of innocent children who just want to live as their authentic selves.” See page 9 >>

“One of the things that has long given me a sense of both purpose and pride over my years has been knowing that I am part of a much larger trans history,” Smith wrote in an email. “As a result, I’ve been honored to be a small part of the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive. “Likewise, the damage it suffered feels all the more painful. With so much of our history being unknown, every archive is precious, and needs love, protection, and care,” Smith added. The archive is now closed and will remain so probably until this summer, Davis said. To help rebuild the space and continue the archive’s programs, Davis has announced the Louise Lawrence second annual birthday fundraiser. Lawrence’s 110th birthday would have been April 28. To donate, go to https://www. glbthistory.org/louise-lawrence. For more information about the archive, check out its website at https://lltransarchive. org/.

Leather flag day

The San Francisco Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District and the Eagle bar will hold Leather Pride Flag Day Saturday, April 23, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Eagle Plaza, 398 12th Street, adjacent to the bar. According to a news release, the inaugural event aims to bring together the Bay Area leather/ kink community to celebrate the leather flag and its creator, Tony DeBlase. It’s also a fundraiser for the upkeep of the giant leather pride flag at the plaza and a festive send off for the local International Mr. Leather contestants, the email stated.

DeBlase, who died in 2000, founded DungeonMaster magazine in 1979, according to Leatherpedia. He purchased Drummer magazine in 1986 and sold it in 1991. He first presented the leather pride flag at IML in May 1989. He was posthumously inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame in 2010. There will be two speakers at the upcoming flag day who will provide a historical perspective on the creation of the flag and share stories about DeBlase. It will be streamed during the virtual International Ms Leather/International Ms Bootblack contest that takes place this weekend. For more information, visit the Facebook event page at https://bit. ly/38O6IGn

SF gay choral group raises $750K

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus announced that it has raised $600,000 at its recent Crescendo benefit and silent auction. Combined with a $150,000 donation from Amazon, the event brought in $750,000, officials stated in an email to supporters. The April 8 event, held at the Four Seasons Hotel, was also a farewell to artistic director and conductor Timothy Seelig, who was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Seelig had announced in 2021 that he would be retiring at the end of the chorus’ season this July. Last week, the chorus announced that Jacob Stensberg, a gay man, will be the next artistic director and conductor, as the B.A.R.’s Arts section reports.t

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8 • Bay Area Reporter • April 21-27, 2022

SF judge rules in favor of Castro bar The Mix by John Ferrannini

legal battle involving shareholders of the Castro neighborhood bar The Mix is over after a San Francisco judge granted summary judgment in favor of the 18th Street watering hole. In a March 23 decision, Judge Suzanne R. Bolanos of the San Francisco Superior Court ruled in favor of The Mix (referred to as TDG Inc.) and its shareholders Ross Crum and Virginia Crum-Ross. Bolanos also ruled against Lawrence “Larry” Metzger, who initially brought suit against The Mix and his two former partners in October 2019. The Mix brought a cross-complaint against Metzger in June 2020. Mahsa Hakimi, Metzger’s attorney, told the Bay Area Reporter that “Mr. Metzger is clearly disappointed by the court’s decision.” “He maintains that the company, at the direction of Ross Crum, treated him improperly,” Hakimi stated. “Nonetheless, Mr. Metzger remains committed to the success of The Mix and the Castro District, which remains his home.” John Hendricks, an attorney for The Mix, did not respond to multiple requests for comment by press time. As the B.A.R. previously reported, the legal saga began when Metzger sued The Mix, Crum, and Crum-Ross

John Ferrannini

A San Francisco judge ruled in favor of The Mix bar over its former shareholder Lawrence “Larry” Metzger.

for breach of contract after he was removed as a shareholder and subsequently fired from The Mix. Metzger had been a 35% owner and served as vice president of TDG Inc., according to the court filing. He also claimed that Crum removed an obligation of $175,000 owed to Metzger by TDG Inc. between 2016 and 2017 “at his sole discretion, without any information or consent of plaintiff or approval of the board of directors” according to court documents. The next year, The Mix filed a cross-complaint against Metzger claiming that he issued unauthorized checks of The Mix’s assets to himself,

exercised personal control over its property, breached his fiduciary duty to the corporation by accepting a position at a rival business, and even sold The Mix’s alcohol there. That court filing stated that Metzger “engaged in numerous instances of conduct detrimental to TDG,” including his association with convicted arsonist David Munoz Diaz. Diaz, 29, was sentenced to four years and four months of incarceration in 2020 on charges stemming from a 2018 incident when he allegedly lit a homeless person on fire. In November 2019, Diaz pleaded guilty to arson, possession of an incendiary device, and vandalism. Diaz has served his time, since he got credit for time served, according to the San Francisco District Attorney’s office. Diaz has been prosecuted for arson and other charges on multiple occasions in recent years. In 2014, Diaz stood trial for the June 2011 death of Freddy Canul-Arguello, 23, in Buena Vista Park. During the trial, Diaz testified that Canul-Arguello had asked to be choked during a sexual encounter and that he’d accidentally killed him. Jurors acquitted Diaz of seconddegree murder but convicted him of involuntary manslaughter and arson, among other charges. He was released from jail in September 2014. Prosecutors said that Diaz lit the

body of Canul-Arguello on fire. The judge dismissed the arson count during sentencing so that Diaz wouldn’t have to spend the rest of his life as a registered arsonist. But after his release in the Canul-Arguello case, Diaz was again arrested in 2015 after he was alleged to have started a series of fires in the Castro neighborhood, including at the Up Hair salon on 18th Street, adjacent to The Mix. Diaz pleaded guilty to possessing an incendiary device in 2016 and was then made to register as an arsonist. Two months later, Diaz was again arrested for assault, battery, and false imprisonment after allegedly biting off a chunk of a man’s scalp and handcuffing another man while impersonating a police officer outside of a south of Market nightclub. He pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and was released on probation in March 2017. The Mix’s court filing stated that Diaz and Metzger lived together in 2015 when Diaz allegedly set fire to the hair salon, which led to The Mix having a criminal protective order to keep Diaz away. “Metzger’s association with Diaz caused TDG to pursue additional safety measures, such as security personnel to protect TDG’s facilities, TDG employees, and the general public,” the filing stated. “Local print and internet media, including the Bay Area Re-

porter, Hoodline, and SFist, reported on the situation. Upon information and belief, this caused harm to TDG’s reputation, including public calls to boycott the bar, as well as a diminution of bar traffic and sales, thereby causing economic injury.” Furthermore, the filing stated that “Metzger escalated his conduct detrimental to TDG and began working for an unrelated business and competitor, a bar and restaurant located fewer than two blocks from SF Mix, as the competitor’s on-site manager.” That competitor is the now-shuttered Hamburger Mary’s on the 500 block of Castro Street. “At the time of this competitor’s ‘grand opening,’ on or about March 10, 2018, Cross-Defendant Metzger unilaterally and without the knowledge or consent of other TDG shareholders, caused SF Mix employees to transfer several cases of distilled spirits from SF Mix’s alcohol inventory to the competitor, for sale to the general public and consumption at the competitor’s premises. SF Mix is not licensed as a distilled spirits wholesaler nor was it reimbursed for the expense of lost alcohol believed to be at least several hundred dollars.” Before the summary judgment ruling was made, the case had been removed from the master court calendar for a case management conference that’d been scheduled for June 22. t

Queer cannabis company takes root in SF by Eric Burkett

ar collisions often result in dented fenders, an exchange of insurance information, or worse. Sometimes, though, the outcome is a little more hopeful.

John Xavier Moore, 31, and his business partner, Paul Walker, 29, both queer, were in a ride-share vehicle in 2019 when their driver ran a red light. The injuries they suffered were enough to make them worry about the longer-term repercussions of

prescription opioids, a direction they very much wanted to avoid. So they came up with another approach: a cannabis-based balm. One they made themselves. “The idea for the balm came after the accident, infusing full spectrum oil into balms similar to ones we were already using as a means of alleviating soreness and pain,” said Moore, who was the photography director of an Oakland-based organic beauty brand at the time. They ended up calling it Bay Balm and the company, Bay Remedies. Three years and three product

incarnations later, the two are raising money on the micro-donations website Mainvest. [https://mainvest.com/b/bay-remedies-sanfrancisco?inNetwork=true] “We are fundraising through Mainvest to go into legal production,” Walker, a body worker and massage therapist, explained in an email. They get their raw material from a grower in Santa Rosa, but their five-year plan is to raise the money to open a dispensary. “We want to deal with the public directly,” said Walker. “The money from the campaign will allow us to

go into a white label agreement with Enlightened Studio in Oakland to produce our product. We shall sell the product to dispensaries, but use their distribution license to transport the product throughout the Bay Area for delivery.” White label agreements are those between businesses providing goods or services to other businesses. White label manufacturing is a legal protocol allowing goods and services to be sold and rebranded as another company’s own brand. See page 10 >>

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Maitri mural unveiled

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rtist Serge Gay Jr. spoke about his new mural “Never Alone” on the wall of Maitri Compassionate Care hospice at 401 Duboce Avenue in San Francisco’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood during its formal unveiling April 18. Gay, who is a gay man, previously told the Bay Area Reporter (https://www.ebar. com/news/news//305524) that the mural includes “a lot of symbols of people who have died from AIDS and HIV and what has

Rick Gerharter

happened, and is still happening.” For example, people in red symbolize those lost to AIDS. A lotus flower symbolizes life and rebirth. Animals symbolize both caregivers and companions, and are a reminder of nearby Duboce Park, which is a favorite spot for dogs and their owners. It’s the third mural in the LGBTQ Castro district that addresses the AIDS epidemic.

Community News>>

April 21-27, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 9

Panel OKs SF gay bathhouse zoning update by Matthew S. Bajko

proposed zoning change to allow gay bathhouses and other adult sex venues to open in the city’s historic LGBTQ neighborhoods is close to being finalized. The new rules for such businesses should be in place by Pride Month in June. It will allow Eros, the sex club for queer and trans men, to reopen its doors at 132 Turk Street. After closing its longtime upper Market Street location in the Castro LGBTQ district in December, Eros began remodeling and moving into its new space, where the gay Bulldog Baths had operated in the late 1970s and 1980s. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee voted 2-0 Monday, April 18, in support of the changes to the city code needed for Eros and other such businesses to legally operate. The full board is expected to vote in favor of the zoning change at its May 3 meeting and cast a final vote the following Tuesday. “Bathhouses are a common feature in LGBTQ communities in many cities around the world, and they used to be quite common in San Francisco as well,” noted gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman at the committee hearing. He ended up voting along with District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston in support of the zoning change 2-0 due to the absences of committee chair District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar and District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin. Because of several substantive amendments made to the zoning proposal, the land use committee needs to vote on it again next Monday, April 25. Mandelman has spearheaded the legislative effort to undo a prohibition against such businesses having locked rooms that was enacted in the 1980s during the height of the AIDS epidemic. It effectively led the city’s

Rick Gerharter : Rick Gerharter

The former Bulldog Baths building at 130-132 Turk Street is expected to become the new home of Eros sex club.

gay bathhouses to close their doors, with the only ones left in the Bay Area being in Berkeley, where Steamworks Baths continues to operate, and San Jose, which saw the Watergarden go out of business in the summer of 2020 amid its forced closure during the COVID-19 pandemic. San Francisco officials lifted their prohibitory rules for gay bathhouses in early 2021. Yet zoning restrictions remain in place preventing adult sex businesses from operating in most of the city. Zoning Administrator Corey Teague in December 2020 determined that adult sex venues as defined by the city’s health code were considered a type of adult business under the planning code. Such estab-

Trans issues

From page 7

Wiener is also the author of SB 923, the TGI Inclusive Care Act, which passed out of the Senate Health Committee by a vote of 8-2 earlier this month. The Senate Appropriations Committee will now take it up. As the B.A.R. noted in February, when Wiener introduced the legislation, SB 923 would require medical professionals who interact with transgender, gender-nonconforming, and intersex patients to receive cultural competency training, and health providers would need to create searchable online directories of their genderaffirming services. “Proper gender-affirming care can alleviate a patient’s mental and emotional distress and lead to significant improvements in the overall well-being of the TGI community. We are grateful that TGI people will be able to receive the health care they deserve as human beings,” stated Dannie Ceseña, the transgender health equity manager for the California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network, after the bill received the backing of the health committee. If enacted into law SB 923 would also require the state to track and monitor complaints made by trans patients about the health care they received and publicly post findings in health regulators’ annual reports or websites. The Health and Human Services Agency would also be mandated to convene a working group of various representatives to develop quality standards with input from at least three TGI-serving organizations on recommended training curriculum.

Rick Gerharter

A bill would require California community colleges, like City College of San Francisco, not to deadname their trans and nonbinary students, faculty or staff.

“SB 923 will ensure that California providers treat patients with the culturally competent and respectful care that they deserve,” stated Wiener. “This legislation will set a new standard nationwide for what truly inclusive genderaffirming care looks like.” SB 923 builds on the state’s Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund created in 2020 and allocated $13 million last year. The Office of Health Equity within the state Department of Public Health administers the fund and awards grants to organizations providing trans-inclusive health care. Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), who was a main champion for the fund’s creation, is back this year with his Assembly Bill 2521 to rename the fund as the TGI Wellness and Equity Fund. It also would require the health equity office to establish a

lishments include adult bookstores, video stores and theaters historically patronized by men in order to engage in sex with other men on site. They are broadly banned throughout much of San Francisco, including in such LGBTQ neighborhoods as the Castro, Upper Market, Tenderloin, and South of Market. To lift the de facto adult sex business ban, Mandelman introduced the cleanup zoning proposal in March. Last Monday, the city’s Small Business Commission unanimously voted in support of it; its decision came just days after the planning commission had also done so at its April 7 meeting. His ordinance updates the definition for adult sex venues to include retail sales and service uses. It also out-

right allows them to operate 24/7 in the Castro and on upper Market Street between Octavia Boulevard and Castro Street. They would also be allowed on Folsom Street between Dore Alley and Seventh Street, and throughout SOMA west of Seventh Street. While initially proposed to only include the 100 block of Turk Street in the Tenderloin, the ordinance is being expanded so that such businesses would be allowed throughout the Transgender District’s boundaries. It would also make clear that the venues could seek live entertainment permits. Such businesses would need to seek a conditional use permit if they wanted to open in other parts of SOMA or in the Mission, Dogpatch,

community advisory committee of TGI individuals that would recommend which organizations and entities should receive funding and how much each grant should be. “Thanks to the Assembly Health committee for passing #AB2521! This bill increases TGI voices in TGI Wellness and Equity Fund by creating a TGI advisory board,” wrote Santiago in an April 5 tweet. The legislation is now before the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno) is the author of AB 2315, which would require the governing board of each community college district in California to implement a process by which students, staff, and faculty can declare an affirmed name, gender, or both name and gender identification to be used in records where legal names are not required by law. The community colleges would need to be in compliance with AB 2315 commencing with the 2023–24 academic year. It builds on a bill adopted last year that prohibits the state’s community colleges and public universities from deadnaming trans and nonbinary students – that is using their former names they were given based on the sex they were assigned at birth — on their diplomas and academic records. AB 2315 is awaiting a vote by the Assembly Higher Education Committee. “Assembly Bill 2315 seeks to minimize the chance that a student or faculty member or staff member is deadnamed while attending or working at a California community college. This is an important issue because not everyone uses their legal name for a variety of reasons,” Arambula told the B.A.R. “Specifi-

cally, this bill will ensure that transgender and non-binary individuals have the right to choose a name, without fear of being outed, bullied, discriminated against, or becoming a victim of violence. It’s a matter of dignity and understanding.” AB 1741, introduced by gay Assemblymember Evan Low (DCampbell), chair of the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, would require the governor to annually proclaim November 20 as Transgender Day of Remembrance. The event, started in 1998 by B.A.R. Transmissions columnist Gwenn Smith, commemorates those transgender people lost to violence in a given year. The bill is awaiting a vote by the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee. “I’m very pleased to see this happening. In a time when so many other states are attempting to legislate trans lives and trans history out of existence, it is all the more important to see California lead the way in honoring people lost due to anti-transgender violence and hatred,” stated Smith. “This is a small but important move that shows the state cares.”

Bills focus on LGBTQ youth

Lesbian Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes (D-Corona) authored AB 2466 to bolster protections for LGBTQ foster families. The bill, passed out of the Assembly Human Services committee April 5 and awaiting a final floor vote, would explicitly prohibit an agency that places foster children from declining to place a child with a resource family because a resource family parent identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. It would also scrap the usage of the phrase “hard-toplace children” in state codes.

and Bayview. They would also need to seek permission to operate between 2 and 6 a.m. in those locations. Because it would require a vote by the planning commission, residents of those areas would be able to weigh in on allowing an adult sex business to open. The zoning change makes clear that adult businesses, however, are not permitted in the Chinatown Community Business District. It also amends the definition of an Adult Sex Venue to specify that they “may include bathhouse facilities such as pools, tubs, or steam rooms, and are eligible for a Limited Live Performance permit.” As Mandelman told his colleagues Monday, “the purpose of this ordinance is to complete – we hope – the work we began in 2020 to overcome the lingering stigma from a painful chapter in the history of the San Francisco’s queer community by once again welcoming these safe, LGBTQ-affirming spaces in our city, and paving the way for queer business owners to open up and contribute to our post-pandemic economic recovery.” Eros co-owner Ken Rowe stressed during the hearing that the gay- and trans-owned business operates similar to a “day spa” as it has set daytime and evening hours and is not open 24 hours a day. Since it opened in 1992, the business has worked “to exceed,” noted Rowe, the requirements the city has placed on commercial sex venues. “We have been able to weather the crises of AIDS and STIs, the drug crisis, and we find ourselves the only gay commercial sex venue to remain in business post the COVID imposed closures,” said Rowe, referring to the fact that the sex club Blow Buddies that had been in SOMA closed down.t

AB 2417, the Youth Bill of Rights by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), would require incarcerated youth, many of whom are LGBTQ+, to be informed of their existing rights under state and federal law and have easier access to that information. It passed out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee Tuesday (April 19). Under AB 2663 by Assemblymember James C. Ramos (DHighland), the state Department of Social Services would establish a five-year pilot project called the Youth Acceptance Project in counties that volunteer to sign up for it. The state agency would contract with the nonprofit Family Builders by Adoption to provide therapeutic-style support and intervention services to LGBTQ+ youth who receive, or are at risk of receiving, child welfare services. LGBTQ+ youth who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness, and their families who are struggling with accepting the youth’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, would also be eligible to receive services through the project. A clinician or social worker would be in charge of the services, which the bill specifically requires to be designed to increase acceptance among a LGBTQ+ youth’s parents, caregivers, foster parents, adoptive parents, extended family members, social workers, and additional staff involved in a youth’s care. The state agency would have to submit a report to the Legislature with an evaluation of the pilot project, which would end on January 1, 2030. The bill is to be heard by the Assembly’s Human Services Committee April 26. See page 10 >>

<< Community News

10 • Bay Area Reporter • April 21-27, 2022

Crego

From page 1

Crego said that one of the things he’s most proud of is his work in launching Our Trans Home SF. That transitional housing program opened in January 2020 and provides rental subsidies for trans people to live in apartments. St. James Infirmary and Larkin Street Youth Services are the lead agencies overseeing the program, which was initially funded with $2.3 million from the city. The goal is to have residents stay in the apartments for a year and receive assistance looking for employment. Another program the Office of Transgender Initiatives worked on was the city’s trans guaranteed income pilot program that Breed and gay city Treasurer José Cisneros announced in June 2021. As the B.A.R. previously reported, Crego has lived in San Francisco since 2008 after moving from Barcelona, Spain to study queer studies

Trans issues

From page 9

Other bills for LGBTQ families, businesses

AB 2029 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) would prevent health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies from restricting infertility treatment and fertility services based on such traits as a patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It also would require religiously affiliated health care service plans and health insurers to cover the treatment of infertility, as they currently have an

Haney

From page 1

the Assembly seat. Campos will now have to decide if he wants to continue to compete for the seat or return to his job as chief of staff to San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, from which he has been on leave from while campaigning for the Assembly. Haney, with endorsements from former Obama administration staffer Bilal Mahmood, who placed third in the February election for the Assembly seat, Mayor London Breed, the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner, was considered the frontrunner going into the April 19 runoff. He also benefited from weeks of television ads bought by labor groups that also backed him. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who had not

Crego said that this fall, the trans office will start a strategic plan process. “We want to hear from the community on what the Office of Transgender Initiatives can do,” he said. Part of that outreach is through

the office’s transgender advisory committee that meets quarterly, Crego said. Just last week, committee members met with the mayor and supervisors to discuss their priorities in the next two-year city budget. Some of the committee’s goals include ending trans homelessness in San Francisco in two years, which would be estimated to cost $46 million over two years, and investing in economic and leadership programs such as internships for trans youth and adults and professional development services for trans immigrants, formerly incarcerated trans people, and trans people with disabilities. It’s estimated this would cost $3.2 million over two years, according to a summary Crego provided. Finally, the committee would like to invest in trans violence prevention and wellness through behavioral health services, mental health services, peer counseling, and arts and culture. This is estimated at $1.1 million over two years.

Crego made the connection between his work and the larger trans community. “As we’re seeing all these attacks on trans youth I’m reflecting on seeing trans adults being visible,” he said, referring to the numerous legislative proposals aimed at erasing LGBTQ curriculum from schools, banning LGBTQ-affirming books, and efforts prohibiting trans student athletes from participating in school sports. “I was aware of being trans at a very young age,” he added. “I never imagined I’d move from Spain to San Francisco and work in one of the most important offices focusing on trans issues in the country and perhaps the world.” Crego wasn’t sure of his exact official start date and did not yet know his salary but told the B.A.R. he hoped to get through the human resources process “as soon as possible.” t

exemption from doing so. The bill is to be heard April 26 by the Assembly Health Committee. Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) is again focused on making death certificates more equitable to LGBTQ people, having passed legislation last year that added nonbinary as a gender option on the forms. This year she has co-authored with Cervantes AB 2436 to require death certificates to list a decedents’ parents without referring to the parents’ gender. The change would benefit LGBTQ+ parents as they navigate estate proceedings and other matters

following the death of a child. The bill is awaiting a vote in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, having been passed out of the Assembly Health Committee in late March. The STI Prevention & Treatment Fairness Act, SB 1234 authored by Senator Dr. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), would expand access to services related to the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections to income-eligible patients who have confidentiality concerns, including LGBTQ+ patients, through the state’s Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment pro-

gram. Such patients would be reimbursed for the cost of their care, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature and any potential draw down of federal matching funds. The Senate Appropriation Committee placed the bill in its suspense file Monday, April 18, to be voted on at a later date. AB 2873, authored by Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), would require applicants to the state’s low-income housing tax credit programs, as well as any of their subsidiaries and affiliates, to annually submit a report to the California Tax Credit Al-

location Committee on how they plan to increase procurement from LGBT business enterprises and those owned by women, minorities and disabled veterans. The bill would also require the state committee to include in its annual reports beginning in 2023 a summary of the commitments made by affordable housing companies to increase their working with the various business enterprises and their progress toward meeting those goals. The Assembly Housing And Community Development Committee was scheduled to vote on the bill Wednesday (April 20). t

endorsed in the race, congratulated Haney on his win in his own tweet shortly after the first election results were posted. “Serving in the Legislature is a huge honor & creates major opportunities to move the dial for our community. I look fwd to working together to advance a pro-housing agenda + other critical needs. Welcome, colleague,” wrote Wiener. Campos had secured endorsements from the Bay Area Reporter, the Bay Guardian, and the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club. City College of San Francisco trustee Thea Selby, who placed fourth in the February election, threw her support behind Campos. Haney will vacate his seat on the Board of Supervisors in order to join the state Legislature. It will be up to Breed to appoint someone to serve out the remainder of his term

through the end of the year. Whomever she selects will be seen as the frontrunner in the race on the November ballot for a full four-year term. Among the list of possible appointees is Haney’s chief legislative aide, Honey Mahogany, a Black queer, nonbinary, transgender native-born San Franciscan. If appointed Mahogany, who also chairs the San Francisco Democratic Party, would be the city’s first transgender supervisor. She has already said she plans to run for the District 6 supervisor seat once Haney departs. Had Campos won the legislative seat he would have been the first gay formerly undocumented immigrant to serve in the state Legislature. He and his family escaped Guatemala when he was 14 and illegally crossed the border into the U.S. Campos would also have been the city’s first Latino legislator and

would have returned LGBTQ representation from San Francisco to the Legislature’s lower chamber. When the 17th Assembly seat was last open in 2014, due to gay former assemblymember Tom Ammiano being termed out of office, Campos had lost to Chiu. At the time Campos was serving as San Francisco’s District 9 supervisor. His election would also have resulted in a record high of nine members in the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus. Helping the affinity group for out legislators reach that milestone could now be former San Diego City Council President Georgette Gómez, who is vying to become the first queer member of the state Legislature. With all votes now counted she ended up in first place in the April 5 special election for the vacant Assembly District 80 seat. She is now in

a runoff race on the June 7 primary ballot against the second-place finisher, former San Diego City Council member David Alvarez. Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher had resigned from the seat in January ahead of her leading the powerful California Labor Federation this summer. She endorsed Gómez as her successor, and Gómez is also on the June ballot in the primary race for a full two-year term in the Assembly seat. The top two finishers in that contest will advance to the November ballot. “That’s right: I’ll be on the ballot twice — which is confusing, I know,” Gómez wrote in a recent email to supporters. “But at its core, this is still a simple race: In the State Assembly, I’ll stand up to special interests and fight for working families, always. My opponent’s record proves he won’t do the same.”t

at City College of San Francisco on a student visa. He later received a green card then became a U.S. citizen during the Trump administration. Prior to joining the trans office he worked at Larkin Street Youth Services and was the first case manager for El/La Para TransLatinas. Nicole Santamaria, a trans woman, is executive director at El/La and told the B.A.R. she’s known Crego for five years. “He’s a good ally of El/La and a great advocate,” she said, adding that Crego and the trans office have helped El/La navigate the city’s bureaucracy. Santamaria also noted that Crego is multilingual and that is a plus for connecting with El/La’s clients, some of whom are monolingual Spanish speakers. El/La now sees about 300 clients, she noted. It works to educate clients on health and safety as well as identifying barriers to full participation in society and finding resources to overcome them.

“We are super excited not only for the El/La team but for the trans community to have Pau in this leadership position,” she added. Aria Sa’id, a trans woman who is president and chief strategist of the Transgender District, also praised the appointment. “I wholeheartedly believe Pau is exactly who we need to lead the Office of Transgender Initiatives,” Sa’id stated. “His bold vision, strategic thinking, and commitment to equity and compassion will continue to lead our communities towards greater trans justice. I look forward to strengthening the partnership between The Transgender District and OTI under Pau’s leadership.”

The future

Cannabis company

From page 8

In those early days they offered the balm to family members and friends to try, said Xavier, after having it tested at a lab – Cannasafe – in Hayward. There, it was tested for potency, terpenes (volatile unsaturated hydrocarbons found in the essential oils of plants), and the absence of pesticides. Those early batches, too, were made “originally using raw flower,” Moore said. Now, they’re made with a full spectrum extract, which utilizes the full profile of the weed including THC, CBD, and numerous other compounds. But Moore and Walker are concerned with more than just the technicalities of testing. Moisturizing properties and aromatics matter, too. And that has paid off as far as one of their biggest fans is concerned. Drag artist Juanita MORE!, loves the product, she said. Given the physicality of performing in drag, she needed something to handle the pain she deals with as a result. “Being in drag is painful,” said MORE! “It can be so painful to be in heels. I wanted this balm so bad. So, yeah, I was definitely from the start a big supporter.”

Rick Gerharter

Cannabis entrepreneurs Paul Walker, left, and John Moore have founded Bay Remedies.

They probably would have had her support anyway. “I love both of them,” she said. “I consider both of them my children,” she added, laughing. MORE! shares an even deeper connection with Moore, who also performs in drag as Newoncé Gazelle. “I’m Jonathan’s drag mom,” MORE! added. Walker said that MORE! has helped them in various ways. “Juanita MORE! has shown us the

significance of building community and how you do so,” said Walker. “She has shown us the power of collaboration with artists and public figures to address issues in the community.” But drag artists with sore feet aren’t the only folks Moore and Walker are aiming for. The balm is good for new tattoos and, particularly, for trans folks recovering from surgery, they said.

“We have had the honor of sharing our topical product with trans clients who have recently undergone top surgery or a B.B.L.,” said Walker, referring to a Brazilian butt lift. “We have seen what the opioid crisis has done to our country. We wanted to offer something that is non-addictive while folks are recovering. Pain management should not be limited to just pharmaceu-

ticals. Bay Remedies is an inclusive LGBTQIA [company] that wants to create an elevated narrative about pain management and includes trans folks who are recovering from surgery. We have yet to see this in the market.” The two entrepreneurs are determined that their product will make positive contributions to the community. Besides using locally sourced, organic ingredients, they work with LGBTQ artists in their promotional outreach, and plan to give 3% of their profits to the Q Foundation. They’re also inspired by, and plan to contribute to, Blk Canna Joy, “a social justice lifestyle collective, supporting holistic rehabilitation for black people through community based projects,” according to the group’s website. They were encouraged early on to look to the Oakland-based collective, which distributes boxes of product to low-income folks who might not otherwise have access to the medicinal aspects of cannabis. “We’ll definitely be turning over some of our products to them for their boxing program because they were so supportive of us in our infancy,” said Moore. t

Legals>>

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-556983 In the matter of the application of TAM MINH NGUYEN, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner TAM MINH NGUYEN is requesting that the name TAM MINH NGUYEN be changed to TOM MINH NGUYEN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 3rd of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-556995 In the matter of the application of IRIS BERNARDA SANCHEZ, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner X IRIS BERNARDA SANCHEZ is requesting that the name IRIS BERNARDA SANCHEZ be changed to IRIS SELENA SANCHEZ. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 3rd of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-556993 In the matter of the application of DANIEL OTTO WACKER, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner DANIEL OTTO WACKER is requesting that the name DANIEL OTTO WACKER be changed to OTTO WACKER. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 3rd of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557007 In the matter of the application of REED WALKER HINCKLEY BARNES, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner REED WALKER HINCKLEY BARNES is requesting that the name REED WALKER HINCKLEY BARNES be changed to REED WALKER HINCKLEY-BARNES. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 10th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557008 In the matter of the application of MARISSA TAYLOR ELLISON, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MARISSA TAYLOR ELLISON is requesting that the name MARISSA TAYLOR ELLISON be changed to MARISSA TAYLOR HINCKLEY-BARNES. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 10th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039669300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as AFFORDABLE FISHING & TOURING, 26 RIDGEWOOD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARTIN GALLARDO MACIAS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/23/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039667200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TRANSWAY, 350 TOWNSEND ST #827, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VITALY DANEKIN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/21/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/21/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039668500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SWITCH CONSTRUCTION, 98 PARKRIDGE DR #105, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LIAM MITCHELL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039667700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE PATH ILLUMINATED, 1044 PINE ST #11, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KIMBERLY RICE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/15/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/22/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039667500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as AT TRAVEL & TOUR SERVICES, 245 CLEMENT ST #5, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YUI A. TUNG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/09/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/22/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039667300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as MICHELLE WONDER SCHOOL, 7 ACEVEDO AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MICHELLE VINES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact

April 21-27, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 11

business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/07/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/21/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039667900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as IRVING SEAFOOD MARKET, 2130 IRVING ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed XIU L. CHEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/10/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/22/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039668100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SEMILLA SPEECH THERAPY, 737 LA PLAYA ST #B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANGELA DIBERNARDO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/22/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039668900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BAY INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL, 1660 SUTTER ST #206, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SOOTEENIE STRICKLAND. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/03/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039674100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TWIN PEAKS YOGA, 4686 18TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOSEPH A. NAUDZUNAS JR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/28/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/28/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039646900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as GROOMING AND MORE, 1524 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARWAN ZEIDAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/03/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/03/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039673900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as FREE ART, 341 11TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YU LI GELLERMAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/28/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/28/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039674200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LUIS & CHRIS HANDYMAN CREW, 379 COLLEGE AVE, VALLEJO, CA 94589. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAISY VALDEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/28/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/28/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039675100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LAHORE DI KHUSHBOO, 4445 3RD ST #310, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SHUMAILA ALI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/29/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/29/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039671100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as NEBIA, 375 ALABAMA ST #200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BRONDELL, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/24/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/25/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039670200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as COMMUNITY VISION CAPITAL & CONSULTING, 870 MARKET ST #677, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed COMMUNITY VISION CAPITAL & CONSULTING (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/20/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/24/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039672400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as FIGURE, 757 BRANNAN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed FIGURE DESIGN (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/29/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/25/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039673200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LITTLE DUMPLING, 59 30tTH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed PHO BERNAL (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/25/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039656300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as MALCOLM PLUMBING AND MECHANICAL INC., 184 MENDELL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CAHILL & KAVANAUGH INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/20/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/10/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039671500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as MAN OF THE WORLD MEDIA, 450 VICKSBURG ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed MAN OF THE WORLD INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/25/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039661000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE SARUM SEMINAR. 1400 GEARY BLVD #6-P, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed JULIA P. FREMON & ROBERT A. SCOTT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/01. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039668200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as GHOSTNOTE WINES, 624 ASHBURY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed B.P. FRIEDMAN WINES, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/22/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/22/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039669500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SEETEADISH, 280 SPEAR ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HOMETOWN TASTE (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/23/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039671700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as RICCO MEDITERRANEAN, 3145 FILLMORE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed COW HOLLOW MEDITERRANEAN DINING GROUP, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/25/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039668600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as VAMPIRE SPIRITS, 1615 INNES AVE #C, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed RAFF BEVERAGE, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N /A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039665100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as COOKING WITH CLASSIE; CLASSIE COCKTAILS; 2 VISTAVIEW CT, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed COOKING WITH CLASSIE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/18/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/18/22. MAR 31, APR 07, 14, 21, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557017 In the matter of the application of ARIEL GLIAHOU COHEN, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner ARIEL GLIAHOU COHEN is requesting that the name ARIEL GLIAHOU COHEN be changed to ARIEL ELIJAH COHEN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 12th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 AMENDED ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556781 In the matter of the application of KUJICHAGULIA ANGELO MAILHOT SADIQ, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner KUJICHAGULIA ANGELO MAILHOT SADIQ is requesting that the name KUJICHAGULIA ANGELO MAILHOT SADIQ be changed to ANGELO MAILHOT SADIQ. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 14th of JUNE 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557013 In the matter of the application of ANA MARIA SALGADO, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner ANA MARIA SALGADO is requesting that the name ANA MARIA SALGADO be changed to ANA MARIA MEDICI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 12th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-556997 In the matter of the application of DINA RAQUEL GUILLEN GARCIA, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner DINA RAQUEL GUILLEN GARCIA is requesting that the name JIMENA RAQUEL GUILLEN MARTINEZ be changed to JIMENA RAQUEL GUILLEN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in 103N on the 12th of JULY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557016 In the matter of the application of CINTHIA ROSE SHARP, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner CINTHIA ROSE SHARP is requesting that the names CINTHIA ROSE SHARP AKA CYNTHIA ROSE SHARP AKA CINTHIA ROSE TIPTON AKA CINTHIA ROSE-TIPTON SHARP AKA CINTHIA ROSE SHARPE be changed to CYNTHIA ROSE TIPTON. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 12th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557024 In the matter of the application of AKIHIKO MARUSHIMA, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner AKIHIKO MARUSHIMA is requesting that the name AKIHIKO MARUSHIMA be changed to AKI MARUSHIMA EZAWA SIEBELINK. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 17th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557015 In the matter of the application of VIVIAN KATE BARAD-BURDITT, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner VIVIAN KATE BARAD-BURDITT is requesting that the name VIVIAN KATE BARAD-BURDITT be changed to VIVIAN KATE BARAD, and the name ESTHER BARAD THOMPSON be changed to ESTHER VERA BARAD-THOMPSON, and the name MOSS EMIL BARAD THOMPSON be changed to MOSS EMIL BARAD-THOMPSON. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 12th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039676500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as HUGO’S HANDYMAN REMODELING, 929 CAYUGA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HUGO ESCOBAR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/20/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/30/22. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039679100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as RED KITE MEDITATIONS, 16 COVENTRY CT, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SHONA CURLEY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/04/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/02/22. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039679200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BUTTERMILK SOUTHERN KITCHEN, 2848 23RD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed G & GR INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/04/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/04/22. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039679500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PEPITOS PALETAS, 161 CLEO RAND LANE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ABEL 1950 INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/04/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/04/22. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039670300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DANIEL LEROUX; DANNY LEROUX, 2156 GROVE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed YEARS NOT DOLLARS LLC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/24/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/24/22. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039676400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TEMESCAL BREWING COMPANY, 1195 EVANS ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HUNTERS POINT BREWERY LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/30/22. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-038039000 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as RED KITE MEDITATIONS, 650 LAGUNA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business was conducted by a limited liability company, and signed by HASTI PILATES LLC (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/09/18. APR 07, 14, 21, 28, 2022 NOTICE OF AMENDED PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF MOIRA HASTINGS SCHERER IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-22-305097 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of MOIRA HASTINGS SCHERER. An Amended Petition for Probate has been filed by MEGAN HASTINGS in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Amended Petition for Probate requests that MEGAN HASTINGS be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: MAY 09, 2022, 9:00 am, Dept. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: SUTTER C. SELLECK (SBN 290247), 649 MAIN ST #102, NUMBER 107, MARTINEZ, CA 94553; Ph. (925) 899-9130. APR 14, 21, 28, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557030 In the matter of the application of ZIRU FAN, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner ZIRU FAN is requesting that the name ZIRU FAN be changed to ZEE FAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 19th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557027 In the matter of the application of JAMES ANTHONY COTTON, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner JAMES ANTHONY COTTON is requesting that the name JAMES ANTHONY COTTON be changed to JAMES ANTHONY SAYLES-ALLEN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 17th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 AMENDED ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-556946 In the matter of the application of SEOK MENG TAN, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner SEOK MENG TAN is requesting that the name SEOK MENG TAN be changed to SHERONE TAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 30th of JUNE 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557021 In the matter of the application of WEI YANG CHEN, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner WEI YANG CHEN is requesting that the name WEI YANG CHEN be changed to MICHAEL WEI YANG CHEN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 17th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557042 In the matter of the application of CASANOVA KAHLIL TEIXEIRA JENNINGS, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner CASANOVA KAHLIL TEIXEIRA JENNINGS is requesting that the name CASANOVA KAHLIL TEIXEIRA JENNINGS be changed to CASANOVA KAHLIL MOON. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 24th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022

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12 • Bay Area Reporter • April 21-27, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557039 In the matter of the application of MARY TERESA DUFFY, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MARY TERESA DUFFY is requesting that the name MARY TERESA DUFFY AKA MAURA TERESA DUFFY AKAMAURA DUFFY AKA MAURA DUFFY-HAMILTON AKA MAURA T. DUFFY be changed to MAURA TERESA DUFFY. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 24th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557046 In the matter of the application of PRECIOUS FAITH M TAN, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner PRECIOUS FAITH M TAN is requesting that the name PRECIOUS FAITH M TAN be changed to FAITH TAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 24th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557035 In the matter of the application of MELINA SARABI, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MELINA SARABI is requesting that the name MELINA SARABI be changed to SATCHITA MELINA SARABI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 19th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557044

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT NOTICE TO PROPOSERS – GENERAL INFORMATION BHQ JANITORIAL SERVICES FOR BART PROJECTS RFP NO. 6M4790 The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (“BART” or “District”) intends to engage the services of a firm or joint venture (“CONTRACTOR”) to provide BHQ Janitorial Services for BART. Accordingly, BART will be accepting proposals (“Proposals”) from proposers (“Proposers”) for consideration for the selection of a CONTRACTOR to perform the scope of services specified in this Request for Proposals (“RFP”). Proposals must be received by BART by 2:00 PM local time on Tuesday, June 7, 2022 . Proposals shall be submitted to the following address: District Secretary’s Office San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District 2150 Webster Street, 10 th Floor Oakland, CA 94612 REQUIRED REGISTRATION ON THE BART PROCUREMENT PORTAL In order for prospective Proposers to be eligible for award of an Agreement being solicited on the BART Procurement Portal, such Proposers are required to be currently registered to do business with BART on the BART Procurement Portal online at https://suppliers.bart.gov and have obtained Solicitation Documents, updates, and any Addenda issued online so as to be added to the Online Planholders List for this solicitation. If a prospective Proposer is a joint venture or partnership, such entity may register on the BART Procurement Portal with the entity’s tax identification number (TIN) and download the Solicitation Documents so as to be listed as an online planholder under the entity’s name prior to submitting its Proposal. If such entity has not registered on BART Procurement Portal in the name of the joint venture or partnership prior to submitting its Proposal, provided that at least one of the joint venturers or partners registered online on the BART Procurement Portal and downloaded the Solicitation Documents so as to be added to the Online Planholders List for this solicitation, such entity will be required to register with the entity’s TIN as an online planholder following the submittal of Proposals, in order for the entity to be eligible for award of this Agreement. PROPOSERS WHO HAVE NOT REGISTERED ON THE BART PROCUREMENT PORTAL PRIOR TO SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL, (OR FOR A JOINT VENTURE OR PARTNERSHIP AS DESCRIBED ABOVE PRIOR TO AWARD) AND DID NOT DOWNLOAD THE SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS FOR THIS SOLICITATION ONLINE SO AS TO BE LISTED AS AN ONLINE PLANHOLDER FOR THIS SOLICITATION, WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR AWARD OF THIS AGREEMENT. PRE-PROPOSAL MEETING, NETWORKING SESSION AND WALK-THROUGH A Pre-Proposal Meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. local time via Zoom presentation . Later in the afternoon (same day), following the Pre-Proposal Meeting, a Walk-Through will be held at 3:00 p.m. local time. Location of the Site-Walk will be held at 2150 Webster St. Oakland, CA 94612. All interested parties must RSVP via registering with the Zoom link included within the RFP in order to participate in this Pre-Proposal Meeting and Walk-Through. Should there be difficulties in registering, please contact michael.lu@bart. gov. Instructions on attending the Zoom Presentation are included within the RFP. At the Pre-Proposal Meeting, the District’s Equity Program(s) will be explained. Prospective Proposers are requested to make every effort to participate in this only scheduled Pre-Proposal Meeting. At the conclusion of the Pre-Proposal Meeting, participants will be given the opportunity to share their contact information to facilitate networking offline. /s/ John Mazza, John Mazza, Director of Procurement San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District 4/21/22 CNS-3576811# BAY AREA REPORTER

In the matter of the application of SAM GAMEL YOUTOUB, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner SAM GAMEL YOUTOUB is requesting that the name SAM GAMEL YOUTOUB be changed to UNCLE SAM. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 24th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557045 In the matter of the application of CAREY BESCOBY ANDERSON, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner CAREY BESCOBY ANDERSON is requesting that the name CAREY BESCOBY ANDERSON be changed to CAREY ESTELLE BESCOBY. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103 on the 24th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557047 In the matter of the application of JASPER STEVEN NELSON AKA JASPER STEVEN THOMAS JR. AKA JASPER S. THOMAS JR. AKA JASPER STEVEN THOMAS, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner JASPER STEVEN NELSON AKA JASPER STEVEN THOMAS JR. AKA JASPER S THOMAS JR. AKA JASPER STEVEN THOMAS is requesting that the name JASPER STEVEN NELSON AKA JASPER STEVEN THOMAS JR. AKA JASPER S. THOMAS JR. AKA JASPER STEVEN THOMAS be changed to JASPER S THOMAS JR. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 24th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039677900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as AYUS CONSULTING, 1995 OAK ST #11, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHANDRA SWENSON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/31/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/31/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039678200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ZAIN’S LIQUOR, 34 3rd St, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MOHAMMAD A. ZUGHAIYER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/05/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/31/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039681500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as GUSEVAPHOTO, 4239 ANZA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VALERIIA BURKATOV. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/06/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/06/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039681100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SAN FRANCISCO BAY COMPUTER SERVICES, 4830 MISSION ST #101, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EDUARDO F. SANCHEZ DUARTE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/06/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/06/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039682200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ESSENTIAL DEBRIS HAULING, 1370 CALIFORNIA ST #311, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANATOLIY KULYA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/07/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/07/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039683100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SHE.HER, 2108 SUTTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BRETT GLICKMAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/08/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039683200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LA TROKITA, 2963 24TH ST #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VANESA SANCHEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/08/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039679600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ABOVE/BELOW, 690 MARKET ST #702, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOSHUA KATZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/05/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039682900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PAOLA GALLARDO DAY CARE, 1190 MISSION

ST #301, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PAOLA GALLARDO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/06/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/08/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039675300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as HOME RANCH LAND REALTY, 1160 BATTERY ST EAST #100, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JUAN CHAVARRIA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/25/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/29/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039685100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as JOY NAIL SPA, 3636 CESAR CHAVEZ ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DOMINIC CAY NGUYEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/11/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039680500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PHO DAY, 59 30TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed PHO BERNAL (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/05/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039668800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as VCMA, 415 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed VALENCIA CORRIDOR MERCHANTS ASSOC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039681800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CHUY’S FIESTAS TAQUERIA II, 710 POST ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CHUY’S FIESTAS RESTAURANT INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/07/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039686100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as NGUYEN PROPERTIES, 301 TOCOLOMA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed DOMINIC CAY NGUYEN & JENNY NGUYEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on . The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/01/95. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039669000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as HELIOTROPE, 415 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HELIOTROPE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/01/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039656400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as GOLDEN STATE GRAMS, 4348 3RD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed GOLDEN STATE GRAMS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/10/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039682100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as HPJ COACHING, 821 IRVING ST #225162, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed AO&FO LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/07/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/07/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039682500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as FLYING RAIJIN, 1737 POST ST #320, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SUSANO GROUP LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/09/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/07/22. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-038428900 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as HIDI SUEN PHOTOGRAPHY; PMP COCO, 3065 CLAY ST #302, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business was conducted by a limited liability company and signed by VIRTUOSO COLLECTION LLC (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/10/18. APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022 SUMMONS: SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 400 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102LACY, ET AL., V. CITY & COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, ET AL. CASE NO. CPF-22-517714 Notice To: Defendants City and County of San Francisco; John Arntz, in his official capacity as Director of Elections for the City and County of San Francisco; DOES 1 through 25, inclusive; and All Persons Interested in the

Matter of San Francisco Ordinance No. 206-21, which allows noncitizen voting in elections for the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Trustees. James V. Lacy, Michael Denny, United States Justice Foundation, and California Public Policy Foundation, the Plaintiffs in the above-captioned action, are suing Defendants City and County of San Francisco; John Arntz, in his official capacity as Director of Elections for the City and County of San Francisco; DOES 1 through 25, inclusive; and All Persons Interested in the Matter of San Francisco Ordinance No. 206-21, which allows noncitizen voting in elections for the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Trustees. In this action, Plaintiffs seek to invalidate San Francisco Ordinance Number 206- 21, adopted on November 2, 2021 and effective on January 13, 2022. This ordinance permits noncitizen voting in elections for the San Francisco Unified School District. Plaintiffs contend that the ordinance is invalid because it is contrary to controlling state law that limits voting rights to United States citizens. You may contest the legality or validity of the matter by appearing and filing a written answer to the complaint not later than May 20, 2022. Persons who contest the legality or validity of the matter will not be subject to punitive action, such as wage garnishment or seizure of their real or personal property. You may seek the advice of an attorney in any matter connected with the complaint or this summons. Such attorney should be consulted promptly so that -2- your pleading may be filed or entered within the time required by this summons. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557061 In the matter of the application of YIN-JEN WANG, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner YIN-JEN WANG is requesting that the name YIN-JEN WANG AKA ANGELA WANG AKA ANGELA YIN-JEN WANG be changed to ANGELA YIN-JEN FOX. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 31st of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557062 In the matter of the application of MYKHAILO MYKOLAICHUK, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MYKHAILO MYKOLAICHUK is requesting that the name MYKHAILO MYKOLAICHUK be changed to MICHAEL ALEXANDER BRUIN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 2nd of JUNE 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557033 In the matter of the application of FATEMEH SADAT SAJJADI, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner FATEMEH SADAT SAJJADI is requesting that the name FATEMEH SADAT SAJJADI be changed to FATIMA SADAT SAJJADI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 19th of MAY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039684300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BOB’S CUSTOM FRAMING, 1710A MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ROBERT HERNANDEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/11/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039684800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SHAMIEH BROS, 605 MARKET ST #600, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ELIAS SHAMIEH. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/11/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039689500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TOPIARY SALON, 646 GOUGH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HAREGEWOIN KASSAYE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/18/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/14/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039685900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as RE’NEWED BEAUTY CHÅTEAU, 1211 CHURCH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TIFFANI ELLIOTT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/12/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/12/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039688200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ROOKY RICARDO’S RECORDS, 419 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RICHARD R. VIVIAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/85. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/13/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039691100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as A&K HAIR SALON, 2250 TARAVAL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted

by an individual, and is signed CHANCHIO U. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/16/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/18/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039689200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as QUEER ARTS FEATURED, 575 CASTRO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DEVLIN SHAND. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/14/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039688000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as UNIVERSAL BREAKFAST & LUNCH, 1217 GENEVA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed UINIVERSAL BREAKFAST & LUNCH LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/13/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/13/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039689600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as RUSSIAN HILL CANNABIS CLUB, 2424 POLK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed A&E GREEN SOLUTIONS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/14/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039690200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CITY TENT, 990 FOLSOM ST #453, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by co-partners, and is signed HUNG GIA HA, ROMERICO RIEMEDIO & AUKUSITINO FELISE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/15/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/15/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039689000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LUCC BY ONLLWYN, 1190 MISSION ST #1209, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed LEVEL UP COACHING & CONSULTING (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/12/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/13/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039689400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as COLTON BEVERAGE COMPANY, 849 AVE D, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94130-2000. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TREEHOUSE CRAFT DISTILLERY LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/12/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/12/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039684000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ADAPT FITNESS, 1395 HAMPSHIRE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed EQUITABLE FITNESS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/14/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/11/22. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-039248600 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as ADAPT FITNESS, 1395 HAMPSHIRE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110-4227. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by MELISSA ASHLEY M. PERAZA. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/10/21. APR 21, 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022

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by Jim Gladstone

xploring the intellectual and emotional complexities of the generation gap between gay men who grew up in the midst of the AIDS epidemic and those who cameof-age with prophylactic tenofovir pills in easy reach, PrEp Play, or Blue Parachute, now in a world premiere at the New Conservatory Theatre Center, will provoke many valuable post-show conversations. Playwright Yilong Liu, 31 years old and a PrEP user himself, doesn’t put a thumb on either side of the scale when his protagonist couple, Erik, in his 20s, and Bryant, in his 50s, come into conflict over the younger man’s happy adoption of the regimen. To Erik (James Aaron Oh, convincingly callow), who makes his nominal living as a dog walker, a daily dose of Truvada allows him to enjoy searching, self-actualizing sexual adventures that he associates not just with his Generation Z zeitgeist, but with a pre-HIV era of gay men’s liberation. He views Bryant’s refusal to go Tru’ blue as a sort of shell-shocked prudery, believing that his older partner’s personal evolution was flashfrozen in 1986 when an HIV+ former partner, Jared (Troy Rockett, effectively conveying both warmth and desperation) committed suicide by leaping from a Manhattan rooftop. To school teacher and one-time novelist Bryant (Matt Weimer, one of our best local actors, surprisingly whiny and one-note here), the epidemic was a clarifying fire, reinforcing what seems to be his innate, earnest preference for romantic, monogamous sexual and emotional relationships. At its best, Liu’s writing gleams with faceted ironies: In 1986, Bryant beseeches Jared to try

L to R: Bryant (Matt Weimer), Erik (James Aaron Oh), and Jared (Troy Rockett).

experimental HIV treatments, such as AZT, but in 2018, he discourages Erik’s use of a preventative drug; the titular “blue parachute” metaphor refers at once to the way that Erik can jump into playful debauchery with a minimal worry, and the notion that, had PrEP been available decades earlier, the fate of Troy’s leap from on high might have been avoided. But the play’s effectiveness is weakened by Liu’s high-flown aspiration. As the script grows overstuffed with ideas, Erik meta-jokingly remarks that things are becoming very “Tony Kushner,” which underscores both Liu’s ambition and his overreach. True to his own Gen Z sensitivities as well as his personal background as an immigrant to the

PrEP Play, or Blue Parachute Strong medicine needs more regimen U.S., Liu aims to show the world through a lens of intersectionality. So Erik is Chinese-born, which amplifies his take on PrEP as part of a liberated, individualistic society; Jared is African-American, which is used to provide some rationale for his resistance to be “experimented on” by the white American medical establishment given the likes of the Tuskegee syphilis study. The play’s biggest pitfall is perhaps its most blatant borrowing from Kushner: the introduction of fantastical, magic realist elements. Rather than ghosts and angels, Liu quite cleverly comes up with Agent 701, a spiky personification of Truvada with an electric guitar slung over their shoulder. The part is well-played, with a chilly but seductive equanimity by Akaina Ghosh, but here’s

SF Film fest faves by Brian Bromberger

he 65th annual San Francisco International Film Festival, the longest running film festival in the Americas, will return to theaters (Castro, Vogue, Roxie, Victoria, Pacific Film Archive) in person from April 21 through May 1, featuring more than 130 films from 56 countries, including 16 World and 10 North American premieres. SFFilm always features several queer-related films, though there are only a handful this year. The most exciting entry is Benediction, which will open in early June, the latest by one of the world’s greatest gay directors, Terence Davies (Distant Voices, Still Lives; The Deep Blue Sea), about the turbulent life of acclaimed gay World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon (Jack Lowden), featuring archival footage and catty dialogue, charting the development of his antiwar position. It promises to be one of the standout LGBTQ movies of the year. Another potential winner is the English documentary Nothing Compares, profiling bisexual Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor, both her career rise and ensuing controversial stances, arguing how ahead of her time she was. An American documentary Jeannette por-

trays a competitive bodybuilder and queer single mother, coping with trauma in the wake of the Pulse Nightclub shooting. For the experimental crowd, a movie from Rwanda, Neptune Frost, offers mind-altering visual and sonic imagery, an Afrofuturist mélange of music, poetry, and resistance, in a visionary depiction of a genderqueer community of hackers and techno poets. An Argentinian narrative film Sublime, is a coming-of-age tale as teenage bass player Manu, part of a garage rock band, seems to be falling in love with his BFF and bandmate Felipe. A mid-length film, My Dear, from Portugal, by a young Chinese filmmaker (Aragon Yao), explores expressions of sexual identity in this essay about queerness, immigration, and performance. There is also the long overdue return of gay director Scott McGehee (Deep End, What Maisie Knew) along with his co-writer/director partner David Siegel (they’re not a couple) with their Montana Story, starring Haley Lu Richardson and Owen Teague as estranged siblings who return to their dying father’s ranch in a moving drama about healing. Early reviews suggest a possible rave. There are other films of general interest to LGBTQ audiences. Bitterbrush is an illuminating observational documentary on seasonal cattle-

the rub: Among PrEP Play’s most significant points is that drugs are not inherently good or evil; that morality, and all its relativity, lies in the perspectives and motivations of individuals. Anthropomorphizing a drug regimen may be an audacious coup de showbiz; but taken in combination with Aiden Walker’s direction, its side effects include arresting the momentum of real human drama.t PrEP Play, or Blue Parachute through May 8 at NCTC. 25 Van Ness Ave. Tickets: $25-$65. Tel: 415-861-8972. www.nctsf.org

Read the full review on www.ebar.com

Benediction and Neptune Frost at the 65th San Francisco International Film Festival.

women Hollyn and Collie, as they herd livestock in the remote, isolated, and rugged mountains of the American West. Sell/Buy/Date is a hybrid documentary in which Tony Award-winning performer and playwright Sarah Jones travels the country to interview real-life sex workers. The executive producer is actress Meryl Streep. A mid-length documentary, American Justice on Trial revisits the forgotten story of the 1968 death penalty case that put racism on trial,

in which Huey Newton, Blank Panther Party cofounder, was accused of killing a white policeman and wounding another at a pre-dawn car stop in Oakland. Newton’s defense team redefined a “jury of one’s peers” that led to a shocking verdict. Another race-relevant documentary is Black Mothers Love & Resist, whereby Wanda Johnson and Angela Williams, mothers of young Black men victimized by police brutality, come together and build a network of community-led support and mutual aid. And in another documentary seemingly ripped from the headlines, Navalny investigates the question of who tried to kill the now-imprisoned Russian opposition leader with a deadly nerve poison during a flight from Siberia to Moscow in August 2020. The opening night narrative film Stay Awake examining the opioid epidemic, follows two teenage brothers as they pace the streets searching for their painkiller-dependent mother Michelle, played by This Is Us star Chrissy Metz, who will appear at the Castro Theatre.t www.sffilm.org

Michelle Yeoh at the Castro Theatre April 29.

Read about more films on www.ebar.com

<< TV & Theatre

14 • BayArea Reporter • April 21-27, 2022

First ladies, freaky fellas by Victoria A. Brownworth

e saw Oscar/Emmy/Tonyaward winner Viola Davis on Jimmy Kimmel Live the other night sporting a green velvet pantsuit, a purple blouse and a big laugh. Davis was there to tout her latest project, The First Lady. The anthology drama series, created by actor and screenwriter Aaron Cooley, premiered on Showtime April 17. The First Lady stars Viola Davis as Michelle Obama,

Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt. British actor O. T. Fagbenle stars as Barack Obama and Aaron Eckhart is Gerald Ford. Keifer Sutherland plays FDR and Lily Rabe plays Eleanor’s lover, journalist Lorena Hickok. Also starring are Dakota Fanning as Susan Ford, Julian DeNiro as the young Obama, out lesbian actress Clea DuVall as Malvina “Tommy” Thompson, Eleanor’s private personal assistant, and a plethora of other actors including

Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn as Sara Delano Roosevelt. Davis is flat out brilliant as Michelle Obama, a role she told Kimmel made her anxious about what the former first lady, for whom she has tremendous respect, might think. Pfeiffer is a surprise as Ford, bringing a wholly different dimension to what we thought we knew about her. Anderson, who played British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season of Netflix drama series The Crown so convincingly her portrayal had her trending on social media, brings Eleanor to vivid life. Unlike Michelle Obama, who we all got to see evolve in real time over eight years in the White House, Eleanor Roosevelt is known to us via a pastiche of newsreel footage and PBS specials. Anderson makes her a woman of deep emotion and quiet elegance, infused with a passion for creating change and helping others. The First Lady is a must-see series.

Tuckered out

Fox’s ratings king Tucker Carlson has been bragging about being unvaccinated. The Fox News host announced at an evangelical church event that he’s unvaccinated against COVID-19. This goes against Fox policy that mandates employees be fully vaxxed, but it’s unlikely there will be any repercussions. Yet that isn’t the most stunning Tucker Carlson news. Rather, Carlson has been reporting –in as much as anything on Fox News can be called that– on the low testosterone crisis among American men over 40. Carlson, whose frequent high-pitched squeals often suggest his own testicles have yet to drop, is more obsessed with balls than the NBA. Among Carlson’s new series of documentaries for Fox Nation is The End of Men. Carlson opens by explaining the crisis: “One of the biggest stories of our lifetimes is the total collapse of testosterone levels in American men.

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The First Lady: Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt, Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford.

Those levels are declining by roughly 10 percent per decade, completely changing the way people are at the most fundamental level. The NIH doesn’t seem interested in this at all (sarcastically) ‘It’s not a big deal.’ We think it is a huge deal, so we wanna know what’s causing it and what we can do about it.”

Tucker Carlson’s bizarrely homoerotic trailer for ball-tanning.

The trailer that Fox Nation put out, though, replete with their logo in the left corner, is … wow. This is categorically one of the gayest, most porn-y things we have ever seen on TV. On April 16 when the trailer dropped, Star Trek alum and gay hero George Takei tweeted it to his 3.3 million followers with this simple comment: “This is so gay.” Totally ripped shirtless men (white, natch) hefting sledgehammers and flipping monster truck tires and dunking in hot tubs are very hot. But the final image in the trailer of a naked man, arms outstretched, his penis and testicles shimmering in an infrared glow is...something. So that infrared genitalia is apparently a thing. Carlson had Kid Rock, one of his fave MAGA celebs, on to chat about cancel culture and other GOP extremist nonsense. But the two over-50 guys also discussed that low T problem and one of the cures being touted, which is –wait for it– “testicle tanning.” You cannot make this stuff up, kids.t

Read the full column on www.ebar.com

Coming Soon at Z Space

by Jim Gladstone

here were giggles in the audience when Rachel Lark first sang a familiar nursery rhyme lyric on stage in 2013. Given that she was appearing as a special musical guest at Bawdy Storytelling, the San Francisco-based “Moth for Pervs,” it was clear that “this little piggy” was going to have a different meaning than usual. Or would it? Executing the kind of doublereverse entendre that marks her no mere dirty ditty-smith but a true songwriter, Lark, whose stage musical, Coming Soon, opens at Z Space this week, was debuting “Fuck My Toe,” a piggy pig’s pleading for footlong love, which also includes lines like “I’ve got a corny request” and “I don’t want to seem callous.” It’s a kick. In the pants. Ba-dum-bum! With success of that number, Oakland-based Lark –who in addition to working as a touring singer-songwriter is a creativity coach and sex/ relationship educator specializing in the polyamorous and queer communities– began to write a new song for each Bawdy Storytelling installment, based on the evening’s theme. While she had written and recorded songs influenced by longtime favorites including Fiona Apple, Tori Amos and Joan Osborne, in an interview last week, Lark told the Bay Area Reporter that, “I found that writing for a loose assignment was a great way to get into the creative process for me. You didn’t need to have some requisite inner angst or sadness to start writing a song. I had been a theater kid growing up, and after producing three albums

Rachel Lark

of original music, I started to think about taking on a musical.” Coming Soon, which Lark has been developing over five years and which benefitted from a concentrated period of work during the pandemic, has sex on its mind, but is more serious, and less schticky, than her Bawdy tunes. Partially inspired by sex-positive Broadway successes including Rent, Spring Awakening and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, it focuses on what Lark and other sex educators call The Orgasm Gap between men and women in contemporary society. The production features Lark, five additional cast members and a sixpiece band under the direction of Rachel Dart, another artist-cum-sex educator who has helmed shows at

Princeton University and the Actors Theater of Louisville, and facilitated sexuality-related workshops for the Office of the Mayor of New York City. The plot follows Maggie, who has been faking orgasms throughout the eight years of her relationship with Mark, as she embarks on an adventure in pursuit of sexual satisfaction and interpersonal harmony. “This is not a campy show,” says Lark. “It’s entertaining, for sure, but I also hope that audiences end up leaving with some tools they need to talk about serious topics together.”t Coming Soon through April 30 at Z Space, 499 Alabama St. $25-$69. (415) 626-0453. www.zspace.org www.rachellark.com

Music & Books>>

April 21-27, 2022 • BayArea Reporter • 15

Scaring up Stravinsky by Tim Pfaff

ne of the reasons, if a lesser one, that Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps (“The Rite of Spring”) created a scandal at its Paris premiere on May 29, 1913 –more than a century ago now– was that, despite unprecedented amounts of rehearsal, the orchestra was not up to the challenges of Stravinsky’s almost literally groundbreaking score. Like athletes, orchestral musicians and their leaders have gotten bet-

ter over that century, and today Le Sacre is deemed the Rite Stuff even for regional and semi-professional orchestras and is definitely in the active repertoire of any orchestra that hopes to qualify as world-class. That represents as much loss as gain. These days it takes an orchestra as ace as the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) playing at white heat under its beloved but imminently departing music director, Simon Rattle, to remind you what a still-stunning piece Le Sacre is. Its new release of

Toni Mirosevich’s ‘Spell Heaven’

the Stravinsky Ballets –The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite– on its in-house label, drawn from live performances, is everything you could possibly want from modern orchestra performances of these still-crowdcrazing pieces, issued at a time when the catalog is bursting with rival, often competitive versions. Something that has happened to The Rite over that time is that in 2013 the Stravinsky apostle – there’s no better word for him– Robert Craft disclosed, in Stravinsky: Discoveries and Memories (Naxos Books), that at the time Stravinsky was composing The Rite, he also was having sexual and romantic relationships with other men. If the allegation ruffled few feathers, it may be because it is no more surprising to contemplate than that the composer’s two most famous fellow Ukranians, pianists Vladimir Horowitz and Sviatoslav Richter, also were gay. At the Rite time, the composer was collaborating with extravagantly gay choreographer Sergei Diaghilev,

whose company, Ballets Russes, and star dancer, Vaslav Nijinsky, were turning the dance world on its ear. Stravinsky wanted the music for The Rite, which he knew would change the course of composition in the 20th century, to sound hard, not like something any old garage band could play. It’s an open question whether he would have wanted every note of the score to be heard as clearly as it is here, but with the LSO’s virtuosity, Rattle’s acuity, and the advanced state of digital audio recording, that’s what you get. In this case the textural clarity only adds to the hair-rising quality of the primitivism in the score. The piece has rarely sounded this modern, dissonances heightened, cross-rhythms accented, percussion an essential quality of every instrument in the orchestra. It’s propulsive to be sure, but equally happy to draw out the score’s more sickening, slow, slippery effects. Usually a known sonic showpiece, this Rite is disturbing. Rattle is as good

Simon Rattle, London Symphony Orchestra, Stravinsky Ballets, LSO Live www.lsolive.lso.co.uk

Read the full review, including Harmonia Mundi’s Ravel Piano Concertos and Orchestral Songs, on www.ebar.com

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by Miah Jeffra Milla

n “Out There,” smack dab in the middle of Toni Mirosevich’s collection of linked stories, Spell Heaven (Counterpoint), the narrator confesses, “In truth I should have been a sea captain. I should be standing at the helm of a boat, a middle-aged, not-so-ancient mariner, my hand at a right angle to my brow, scanning the horizon line.” By this point we already know the narrator comes from a working-class fishing family and has meandered through various labor jobs –truck driver, cashier– before finally settling into a tenure-track teaching position at a university, a position she loves for the students and loathes for the politics. I felt myself nodding to the frustrations of academia and to the relative anxiety and uncertainty that comes with the choices we make.t

with the pauses as he is with the audible music, and a primal dread in the silences does its chilling work. When it’s run its course, you know you’ve been through something.t

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Left: London Symphony Orchestra conductor Simon Rattle Right: Igor Stravinsky in 1903

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Toni Mirosevich’s book launch for Spell Heaven, with Aimee Phan, will be April 26, 7pm at The Booksmith, 1727 Haight St. www.booksmith.com Spell Heaven by Toni Mirosevich. Counterpoint Press, $16.95 paperback. www.tonimirosevich.com

Read the full review on www.ebar.com

New director for SF Gay Men’s Chorus

Cabure Bonugli

Jacob Stensberg

by Jim Provenzano

acob Stensberg has been hired as the new Artistic Director of San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, following an extensive nationwide search. Stensberg succeeds Dr. Timothy Seelig, who will retire at the conclusion of the chorus’ 44th season in July 2022. Stensberg most recently worked at Purdue University’s vocal music department as Assistant Director of the Purduettes and University Choir, and Director of the Chamber Choir, AllCampus and Community Chorale, and the PMO Kids Choir.

“We set out to find an artistic leader who could build on the monumental accomplishments and artistic excellence Dr. Tim Seelig has helped San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus achieve,” said Executive Director Chris Verdugo in a press statement. “We are extremely fortunate to attract someone with Jacob’s deep knowledge of vocal arts and musical theater, and proven commitment to his community. His enthusiasm and exuberance are contagious. I look forward to introducing him to the San Francisco Bay Area.” Originally from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, Stensberg received his Bachelor of Music Education in Vocal Music at Carroll University and went on to receive his Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Butler University. Since then, he has been recognized with numerous awards and grants for his leadership in conducting, program development, and intercultural competency and research. Prior to his role at Purdue University, Stensberg served the Indianapolis community through his musical direction of productions of The Rocky Horror Show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. t www.sfgmc.org

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