April 28, 2022 edition of the Bay Area Reporter, America's LGBTQ newspaper by Bay Area Reporter

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Vol. 52 • No. 17 • April 28-May 4, 2022

GHB: The ‘elixir’ that no one is talking about (but everyone is drinking) by Adam Echelman

Courtesy Twitter

Courtney Brousseau

Still no arrest in 2020 killing of bi transit advocate by Eric Burkett

e was only 22 and powered by a strong desire to make the world a better place. On May 1, 2020, he was gunned down in a barrage of gunfire at 14th and Guerrero streets in San Francisco, the victim of what is suspected by police to have been a drive-by gunfight. Courtney Brousseau, a bisexual transit advocate and product manager at Twitter, died three days later after being taken off life-support at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. Another man who was also injured in the incident survived. Only moments before the shooting, Brousseau tweeted a photo from the nearby Mission Dolores Park where he had eaten a burrito. “I just ate a delicious burrito in Dolores park and for a brief moment everything felt okay,” he wrote in what would become his final tweet. Two years later, Brousseau’s case is still under investigation according to Robert Rueca, a public information officer with the San Francisco Police Department. However, “We are not able to speak to what the investigation has at this stage,” he added. While continuing to keep tabs on the case, gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said his office hadn’t received any updates. “Courtney’s death was a tragedy for his family, friends, and an entire community that had come to know and love him,” Mandelman stated in an email to the Bay Area Reporter. “The city has an obligation to do everything in its power to provide closure for those close to Courtney.” Jane Natoli, a trans woman who serves on the San Francisco Airport Commission, told the B.A.R. that she’s disappointed to hear police have not yet made any arrests in the case. “Courtney was someone I was just getting to know – that’s the tragic part,” she said in a phone interview. “A life cut short and a lot of people getting to know him post-college.” See page 10 >>

ranz Lao had a few quiet hours at work so he left the office to take some meth and drink some G. When he returned to the office later to present at a 6 p.m. corporate board meeting, he was high, but he felt great. “Then all of a sudden the G starts to surpass the meth,” he recalled, “and I started just ‘falling out’ in the board meeting.” To his co-workers, it looked as though he had suddenly become drunk and manic. That was back in 2009, when Lao was using Gamma-hydroxybutyrate, known as GHB or G, every few hours. He got fired after that board meeting and started to use G even more. Jobs were harder to come by as the nation spiraled into the Great Recession. One morning after losing his job, he woke up and went looking for his car so he could go out and buy more G. “I walked around the block – I couldn’t find it,” he said. The next day, he got a letter that his car had been repossessed. Today, Lao, who identifies as gay, has been sober for more than a decade and serves on the board of the Castro Country

Adam Echelman

Franz Lao lives in a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco’s LGBTQ Castro neighborhood with his dog, Cody. He serves on the board of the Castro Country Club in order to help others recover from Gamma-hydroxybutyrate, known as GHB or G, and other substance use disorders.

Club, a clean and sober coffeehouse and meeting space in the LGBTQ neighborhood. He is 48 years old and is soft-spoken

with an unwavering smile, even when he talks about the challenges he faced while using G. See page 10 >>

Glide granted federal historic status by Matthew S. Bajko

lide Memorial Church in San Francisco is now an official federal historic site, adding one more property important to LGBTQ history to the National Register of Historic Places. The Keeper of the National Register in Washington, D.C. officially listed the religious institution on March 14. It followed the California State Historical Resources Commission unanimously voting in January to support the liberal congregation’s Tenderloin sanctuary plus an adjacent apartment building at 330 and 302 Ellis Street be added to the register. News of its being approved as a national historic place was shared with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as part of its April 26 meeting packet. As the B.A.R. first reported in 2016, the San Francisco Planning Department used part of a $55,000 Underrepresented Communities Grant from the Department of the Interior to hire architectural historian Shayne Watson to write the nomination for Glide. Watson, a lesbian, had co-written a city report on LGBTQ historical resources that had highlighted Glide’s contributions toward LGBTQ rights. “I’m tickled pink,” Watson said of the listing being officially approved. She credited Glide archivist Marilyn Kincaid for working with her on the extensive documentation needed to support the nomination request. It being listed, said Watson, is

Courtesy Kyle Jarret

Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco is now an official federal historic site and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

largely due to Kincaid’s “heart and soul and devotion” to the church. Glide’s 91-year-old church and several other buildings its foundation owns were already part of the federally recognized Uptown Tenderloin Historic District created in 2009. At

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the time Glide’s significance to LGBTQ history went unmentioned. As Watson noted in her reports about the church, Glide’s pastoral leaders fostered dialogue between faith leaders and LGBT people See page 11 >>

<< Pride 2022

2 • Bay Area Reporter • April 28-May 4, 2022

SF Pride names community grand marshals by Eric Burkett

an Francisco Pride has released its list of community grand marshals for this year’s Pride parade and celebration in June, its first live event since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Six individuals and one organization were announced as community grand marshals, to be recognized during the 52nd annual San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Celebration and Parade. The theme for the June 25-26 event is “Love will Keep Us Together.” “As we return to an in-person celebration this June, SF Pride is thrilled to honor this exceptional group of individuals and organizations who have contributed greatly to the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ+ community and to society at large,” said Suzanne Ford, a trans woman who is San Francisco Pride’s interim executive director. “Each of this year’s grand marshals are local heroes in their own right and leaders in the efforts towards inclusion, acceptance, and equality for all LGBTQ+ people.” The grand marshals were selected by the Pride membership, board, and the public. “These individuals and organizations have been chosen by their own community to be honored for their great work,” stated San Francisco Pride board President Carolyn Wysinger in an email. “As a past honoree, I know that means so much to these community members to be recognized by the

Courtesy SF Pride

Community grand marshals, clockwise from top left, are Vinny Eng, Mellanique “Black” Robicheaux, Melanie DeMore, Amber Gray, Andrea Horne, and Socorro “Cori” Moreland

very community they give of themselves to serve. My goal since 2019 has been to honor Black LGBTQ community members who work tirelessly and often thanklessly to serve Black queer and trans people. This year’s selection includes many amazing Black LGBTQ individual honorees. “I am elated to honor the African American Arts & Cultural Complex for their work as a legendary space who is using their platform in the black community to center the Black queer and trans community,” Wysinger added. Trans and Black Indigenous and people of color, or BIPOC, continue to stand out in this year’s class of grand marshals.

Melanie DeMore was chosen by SF Pride’s membership. She is a Grammy-nominated singer/composer, choral conductor, music director, and vocal activist. On SF Pride’s website, she stated, “My first experience of SF Pride was singing ‘Over The Rainbow’ on the main (1990?) stage.” Vinny Eng, the public poll choice, serves on the board of Openhouse, an organization focused on LGBTQIA+ seniors, and also co-chairs the policy committee of the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club Board of Directors. “Serving as grand marshal of SF Pride fills my heart with incredible gratitude for the community elders who

fought before and alongside our current generation. Love as we know it today is possible because they stood unwavering in their truth in pursuit of a better world for all of us,” Eng told SF Pride. Amber Gray, the SF Pride board choice, is a group facilitator and public service aide for the City and County of San Francisco’s Community Behavioral Health Services. “Pride is a lifeline for our community,” Gray stated on the SF Pride website. “It’s the one day of the year when we celebrate the LGBTQ community. It’s more about being around nonjudgmental people and having memories together. I am all about our community. We deserve to have a sense of community even for just that weekend.” Socorro “Cori” Moreland, members’ choice winner, is founder and CEO of Brotherhood510, a resource and education group for Black trans masculine people. “To be chosen as community grand marshal is a humbling experience as a Black man, but also a man of transgender experience,” Moreland told SF Pride. “I’ve done so much work around creating spaces, making necessary noise, and bringing my community members to the table, but never expected to be honored at this capacity. To be chosen and to experience this is surreal and is a historical and important step to visibility.” Mellanique “Black” Robicheaux, SF Pride board choice, is a 30-year veteran DJ who couldn’t play in queer clubs because of racism so she paved her own way in the 1990s hip-hop

scene by opening her own clubs and producing memorable parties like Tight, Rise, Dream EZ, Hella Gay, and Ships in the Night as a result. “As a Black queer woman DJ, I have used music to bring people together for the past 30 years, and it is an honor to represent this beautiful community as one of the community grand marshals for 2022 gay Pride,” she stated on the SF Pride website. This year’s honored organization and public poll choice is African American Art & Culture Complex, a Black arts and cultural institution in the Fillmore. The arts and empowerment organization provides “space for Black creatives, healers, and activists all over the Bay Area to create art, host provocative conversations, and bring people together in joy, mourning, and political power.” “The African American Art and Culture Complex stands in gratitude for this honor,” the AAACC team stated on the SF Pride website. “We welcome everyone to come into the fullness of who YOU are. We consider this a season of joy and liberation, as the AAACC family is committed to being a safe space for all Black people and the ways we live, identify and love. As SF Pride organization grand marshal, we are committed to amplifying safety and the full self-expression of the BIPOC LGBTQIA+ community and ask the broader community, ‘How are you ensuring, activating, and implementing the same?’” See page 10 >>

SF supervisors lift gay bathhouse prohibitions by Matthew S. Bajko

an Francisco could see the return of a gay sex venue as soon as June now that the Board of Supervisors has thrown its support behind removing prohibitions that have kept such establishments from opening their doors in the city’s historic LGBTQ neighborhoods. The decision also paves the way for a traditional gay bathhouse to once again operate in the City-by-the-Bay. At its April 26 meeting the board voted 11-0 in support of a zoning change that allows gay bathhouses and other adult sex venues to operate in the Castro, Tenderloin, and most of South of Market. It needs to vote a second time at its May 3 meeting before the city code update is sent to the

Rick Gerharter

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

desk of Mayor London Breed, who is not expected to veto it. The changes should become effective in Pride Month. Once they do Eros, the sex club for queer and trans

men, will reopen its doors at 132 Turk Street. After vacating its upper Market Street location in December, Eros began remodeling and moving into its new space, where the gay Bulldog Baths had operated in the late 1970s and 1980s. Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman has led the legislative push to allow for the return of gay bathhouses in the city. His efforts saw the lifting in early 2021 of a rule that prevented adult sex venues from having rooms with locked doors, a feature common in gay bathhouses around the globe. The only such venue left in the Bay Area is Steamworks Baths in Berkeley. Put in place during the AIDS epidemic, the restriction no longer was needed due to HIV becoming a manageable disease and new infections in

San Francisco precipitously dropping in recent years, argued Mandelman and LGBTQ health officials. But a decision by Zoning Administrator Corey Teague in December 2020 to define adult sex venues in the city’s health code as being a type of adult business meant they were still broadly banned in the city, including in the three LGBTQ cultural districts. Thus, Mandelman came back to his colleagues with a second code amendment to define adult sex venues as businesses that include retail sales and service uses. It also specifies that they “may include bathhouse facilities such as pools, tubs, or steam rooms, and are eligible for a Limited Live Performance permit.” The new zoning outright allows adult sex venues to operate 24/7 in the

Castro and on upper Market Street between Octavia Boulevard and Castro Street. The change also makes way for such businesses to operate in much of SOMA and the Tenderloin. The businesses can seek approval from the planning commission to operate in the eastern SOMA, the Mission, Dogpatch, and Bayview, and if they want to operate between 2 and 6 a.m. in those locations. Adult businesses remain banned in the Chinatown Community Business District. After the supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee voted April 25 a second time in support of the zoning change, chair District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar expedited having the full board vote on it TuesSee page 3 >>

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t Queer therapy center marks 10 years with benefit

April 28-May 4, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 3

compiled by Cynthia Laird

ueer LifeSpace, an LGBTQ+ mental health provider, will celebrate its 10th anniversary with an outdoor party Saturday, May 7, from noon to 5 p.m. on the rooftop patio at 620 Jones Street in San Francisco. The event will include a luncheon, tea dance, and the launch of a new emerging artists program promoting equitable access to mental health services called EQUARTY (emerging queer artists in their youth). A news release stated that to commemorate the launch, there will be an art exhibition and auction supporting emerging queer artists. The gala’s theme is “Metamorphosis: Embracing Change in the Queer Community,” which explores the idea of metamorphosis in an ever-changing and resilient queer community. Drag artist Juanita MORE! will host and there will be entertainment by the House of MORE! Queer LifeSpace began in 2011 with the shared vision of its founding directors to bring quality, long-term, and affordable mental health and substance use care to the LGBTQ+ community, the release stated. As the Bay Area Reporter has previously reported, (https://www.ebar. com/news///247208) the original cofounders had all been mental health and substance use therapists at the former New Leaf: Services for Our Community, which shuttered in 2010. The therapists opened the for-profit San Francisco Therapy Collective, which still operates. They soon discovered there was a dearth of mental health services for low-income clients so they launched Queer LifeSpace. The release stated that EQUARTY was conceived in late 2021 in response to the growing research on the significant impact of the COVID pandemic on artists who’ve experienced limits on social interaction; physical movement; long-term closure of studios, galleries, and exhibition spaces; and the loss of paid work in the gig and services economy. This has led to heightened emotional and financial vulnerability for artists, the release stated. “These trying times have heightened, perhaps more than at any other time, the importance of Queer LifeSpace’s mission and the work that we have been doing over the past decade,” stated co-founder and clinical director Chris Holleran, MFT. “We’ve been steadfast and consistent in providing affordable, accessible, and effective mental health services to the LGBTQ+ population in San Francisco.” The EQUARTY program primar-

Bathhouse

From page 2

day. The decision sets up the supervisors to cast a final vote next week. “I hope this is it,” Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter of having to update the city’s rules for gay bathhouses and adult sex venues. “I hope this opens the door for some entrepreneurs and some really great establishments to open up. In short time it will allow for Eros to open.” Eros co-owner Ken Rowe noted during the April 11 land use committee hearing that the gay- and transowned business operates similar to a “day spa” with daytime and evening hours and not as a 24-hour venue. 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 closure in 2020 of SOMA sex club Blow Buddies.t

Courtesy QLS

Queer LifeSpace co-founder Chris Holleran, MFT

ily supports up-and-coming LGBTQ+ art students and recent art graduates from disadvantaged and underserved backgrounds living in the Bay Area between the ages of 18-30 who lack access to mental health and substance use services, the release stated. The program aims to provide local queer artists with access to individual and group therapy, and connections to career development resources so that they can con-

tinue to invest in their work without sacrificing their mental health needs. “We continue to honor, respect, and hold space for this diversity inherent in the queer community while promoting safety, creativity, and understanding,” Holleran stated. Jessica Woznak, principal at Project Art Consulting, noted the new program will further support and enhance the mission of Queer LifeSpace. “Having worked in the museum field for nearly 20 years, I have seen the positive value and impact that art can have on people by opening doors to expression, engagement, introspection, and healing,” she stated. The exhibition and auction will socially and financially benefit emerging queer artists by providing an opportunity for artists from all backgrounds to gain visibility, stability, and access to artistic resources early in their careers. All proceeds from the first EQUARTY exhibition and auction will go directly to the emerging artists whose work is showcased. Tickets range from $25 for individuals with financial hardship (for the tea dance only) to $200 for the luncheon to $250 for the VIP luncheon. To view ticket levels and to register, go to https://bit.ly/3Mzvpou For more information on Queer

LifeSpace, go to https://www.queerlifespace.org/ For more information on the San Francisco Therapy Collective, go to https://sftherapycollective.org/

Women’s cancer group holds Swim a Mile

The Women’s Cancer Resource Center will hold its Swim a Mile/ Move a Mile fundraiser April 30-May 1, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland. According to an email announcement, swimmers and movers of all fitness and skill levels can participate. The event typically sees about 500 people who commit to raise money for WCRC by swimming or moving (walking, etc.) a mile. Some participants have experienced cancer themselves and jump in the pool to celebrate their own recoveries, the email noted. Others use the event as an opportunity to honor the memory of friends or loved ones who have died of cancer. The event is green – no plastic water bottles, cutlery, or non-recyclable

items – and features locally grown and organic food. Local DJs spin music and children and adults enjoy various activities at the Mills College campus. WCRC, which is based in Berkeley, provides free programs and services to women and their loved ones who are impacted by a cancer diagnosis. So far, more than $225,000 has been raised. To sign up and make a donation, go to https://www.wcrc. org/.

Fitness promoted ahead of Bay to Breakers

The San Francisco Independent Fitness Studio Coalition is teaming with the city to promote fitness for residents leading up to the Bay to Breakers foot race on May 15. “Let’s Move, SF” will see gyms across the city offering fitness specials starting May 2 for two weeks leading up to the race, getting people in shape for the event. It also coincides with Small Business Week, a news release stated. To view offers from fitness coalition gyms, check out https://bit. ly/3sfPPeTt

Helping to build meaningful, compassionate connections in our community Shanti’s LGBTQ+ Aging & Abilities Support Network (LAASN) offers emotional and practical support to LGBTQ+ older adults and LGBTQ+ adults with disabilities who face isolation and need greater social support and connection. If you are experiencing isolation, especially now as we are living through the impact of COVID-19, please reach out to LAASN to see how we can be of support. For more information about LAASN services, please email djohnson@shanti.org. If you would like to become a peer support volunteer to an LGBTQ+ older adult or LGBTQ+ adult with a disability, please email acone@shanti.org.

Shanti’s LGBTQ+ Aging & Abilities Support Network is made possible by funding from the City and County of San Francisco’s Department of Disability and Aging Services (DAS) and Metta Fund.

<< Open Forum

4 • Bay Area Reporter • April 28-May 4, 2022

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Reject the recall of SF DA Boudin

an Francisco voters will be asked June 7 to decide whether to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was narrowly elected in 2019 and took office in January 2020, just a couple of months before the COVID pandemic upended everything, including the criminal justice system. While we fully understand and empathize with residents and small business owners who are affected and angered by the perceived uptick in petty crime – smashand-grab car break-ins, smashed storefront windows, and burglaries – it’s unlikely that recalling Boudin will solve those problems. We recommend a no vote on the recall measure, Proposition H. San Francisco police data indicate that burglaries and larceny theft were down in 2021 compared to 2019 (the pandemic resulted in a decrease in 2020), but people, especially victims, don’t see it that way. Throw in high-profile cases like the hit-and-run that killed two women on New Year’s Eve 2020, by a man allegedly driving under the influence who has a lengthy criminal record and who was on parole after a plea deal that involved the DA’s office, and the seeds of the recall were planted. In an online editorial board meeting with the Bay Area Reporter April 1, Boudin made the case for himself. Despite the pandemic that closed courtrooms and despite having to run his office almost entirely via Zoom, Boudin said that he has adopted initiatives to help crime victims as well as defendants. These include a neighborhood liaison program. As we reported last fall, the District 8 liaison is Assistant District Attorney Samantha Adhikari, a straight ally who works to address concerns in the neighborhood that includes the Castro. Boudin announced a policy last June whereby prosecutors will be required to ask every defendant their preferred pronouns and if they use a different first name than the one listed in the charging document. The policy also has provisions to try to ensure correct pronoun and name usage for crime victims, survivors, and witnesses. It’s important to understand that the DA’s office works in conjunction with the San Francisco Police Department. “We can’t prosecute cases if the police don’t bring them to us,” Boudin said. “We can’t prosecute people for being homeless, that’s illegal and unconstitutional.” To this end, we would like to see a better working relationship between SFPD and the DA’s office. Yes, Boudin’s office is prosecuting several police officers for various charges, which is hardly going to endear him to the powerful Police Officers Association, but such accountability is needed for a more just society. Every law enforcement agency has its so-called bad apples; smart, hard-working, lawabiding officers should welcome intervention by the DA’s office when it’s needed. And there are instances when that is so. Just recently, SFPD made arrests of two officers and a retired officer, the former two on suspicion of destroying evidence and the latter on suspicion of possessing a machine gun in a separate incident.

Prosecutions

According to the DA’s 2021 annual report, the office filed over 4,500 new criminal cases last year. The DA’s office filed cases in 57% of arrests presented by police in 2021, “the highest filing rate in 10 years the DA’s office has been tracking this data,” the report states. While the COVID pandemic resulted in fewer criminal courtrooms available, the DA’s office brought over 50 cases to trial, including six homicide trials, four sexual assault trials, and eight domestic violence trials, according to the report.

Victim services

The recall proponents, Safer SF Without Boudin, have argued that Boudin falls short in victim services, however, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Boudin said that he has expanded victim services and victim advocates, including a nearly 500% increase in the number of Chinesespeaking victim advocates, “and the creation, for the first time ever in San Francisco history, of two full-time advocates focused on supporting victims of property crime.” “Nothing is more important than expanding victim services,” he said. He talked about the pilot program his office started in District 5 that reimburses business owners for smashed windows. Gay Supervisor Rafael Mandelman has talked about starting a similar program in his District 8.

Rick Gerharter

SF DA Chesa Boudin

Hate crimes

Boudin said his office has been “really proactive around the issue of hate crimes. We’ve prosecuted hate crime charges in anti-transgender attacks, and dedicated a full-time experienced prosecutor to handle hate crimes,” he said. The DA’s office has done training sessions with the SFPD to “expand their ability to gather evidence and document and investigate” possible hate crime cases. This is especially critical given the increase in reports of hate crimes by the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, which is due in large part to the manifestation of former President Donald Trump’s racist statements on China when COVID erupted.

Diversion programs

One major issue in the recall is diversion programs. That’s when a defendant is offered the opportunity to complete a program and if successful, their criminal charges can be reduced or dismissed. The recall proponents claim that Boudin no longer offers that “carrot-and-stick” approach, and said the diversion program now lacks accountability. Boudin told us that’s not true. “The judges accept requests for diversion; the charges are still there,” Boudin said, adding that if the defendant fails to comply with all the requirements of the program or gets arrested, the case is kicked back to criminal court. He said that diversion programs are successful and cited a California Policy Lab study that showed that those who successfully complete diversion are 20% less likely to reoffend. “If they don’t complete the program they go to the traditional prosecution of the criminal complaint,” he said.

Office management

Another criticism of Boudin is that his office has had high staff turnover. Let’s just be clear – San Francisco DA’s going back to Terence Hallinan, and probably before, have all come in and shaken the office up, including firing people, as Boudin did when he assumed office. “There’s been high turnover well before I was DA,” Boudin told us. Beyond that, his critics say that many others have left, and one of them, former homicide prosecutor Brooke Jenkins, is now a chief spokesperson for the Safer SF campaign, which also says that Boudin has filled those vacancies with inexperienced assistant district attorneys. The downside to this, of course, is that cases are reassigned and the new prosecutor must get up to speed. Boudin acknowledged this has been the case at times but that the pandemic has made some people reevaluate their life choices, including jobs. “It has its downsides,” he said of turnover, “and cases can fall through the cracks. We’re living through a two-year period where people are rethinking their life choices and leaving their jobs. The New York Times called it the ‘great resignation.’ The recall is trying to blame it on me.” He said his office has recruited experienced prosecutors, including nearly a dozen former assistant district attorneys, and said that brings with it “new energy and new ideas.” “We can all agree that the status quo in San Francisco was not working,” he told us. “Voters wanted and deserved a change.” In fact, turnover at most DA offices is constant.

Criticism, praise in court

During an April 14 online interview with San Francisco Standard editor-in-chief Jonathan Weber, Boudin was asked about criticism his office received from the bench by Superior

Court Judge Bruce Chan in September 2021, which was reported by multiple outlets. According to a transcript included in a packet from the Safer SF campaign, Chan said, “I have seen several other instances where the fundamentals of competent, professional prosecution have not occurred ..., I cannot express in any more certain terms my disapproval of the manner in which the Office of the District Attorney is being managed. We simply cannot have the current levels of inadvertence, disorganization, and expect there to be any public confidence in what we do here collectively.” Boudin pointed out that the same judge praised the DA’s office just three months later, in another case. According to that transcript, Chan said, “So it’s the present district attorney and the two assistant district attorneys who are here that discharged their ethical responsibilities in a way that most district attorneys strive to do and they’ve done so.” The point is that recall proponents are highlighting a negative anecdote while omitting a positive one, which is not surprising, but not helpful to voters.

Doing what he said he’d do

In his conversation with us, Boudin was firm that he’s done what he campaigned on: prioritize serious crime and hold law enforcement accountable. He has filed criminal charges against several San Francisco police officers. The first case to go to trial resulted in an acquittal. Boudin said that the jury’s decision won’t deter him. “Every case is different; every jury is different,” he said. Boudin told us that when he took office he inherited 5,000 open cases. He’s working to resolve those cases; most of the non-serious ones likely will result in plea-bargains. At the time of our interview, there were four old homicide cases in trial.

Recent exoneration by his innocence panel

Boudin established an Innocence Commission in his office and recently a man was exonerated and freed after spending 32 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, a panel of experts reviewed the case of Joaquin Ciria after a referral from the Northern California Innocence Project, which represented Ciria. The commission recommended Boudin join a motion to overturn the conviction, which he did. This is also what a DA’s office should be doing; not just prosecuting defendants but fighting for justice for those cases in which people are wrongfully convicted of a crime.

Conclusion

Recalling an elected official requires serious consideration, and should, in our opinion, meet a high threshold of negligence, incompetence, or evidence of wrongdoing – which is why we supported the recall of the three Board of Education members earlier this year. In other words, officeholders shouldn’t be recalled just because people don’t like their policies or changed their minds. That’s what elections are for. Boudin has not met the minimum offenses to be subjected to a recall. Can he improve upon some of his decisions? Certainly. But the recall proponents use sweeping generalizations and some cherry-picked data to paint a picture of a DA’s office that is out of control. We don’t see it that way. We reported on the poll released in March by the Safer SF Without Boudin campaign that showed more than a majority of likely voters would recall him. However, Boudin has cited another poll done in conjunction with the Assembly District 17 race that showed tighter numbers, albeit focused on the eastern half of the city. As he said, the only poll that matters is the one on election day. On balance, Boudin has done what he said he would do as the city’s top law enforcement official. We urge readers not to be swept up in the highly charged rhetoric coming from recall proponents. It’s no secret that some Republican donors have contributed big bucks to Safer SF, though that campaign insists that 80% of its donors have given $250 or less, and 79% are from San Francisco. The influx of GOP money does raise questions, however, about the influence these donors want to have on a local election in a progressive city. We did not endorse Boudin in 2019. However, we do not see a reason to recall him from office now.t

Politics >>

April 28-May 4, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 5

Breed could double LGBTQ supervisors with D6 pick

by Matthew S. Bajko

ayor London Breed could double LGBTQ representation on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors with her nomination to fill the soon-to-be-vacant District 6 seat. She could also name the first known transgender person to serve as a county supervisor in California if she selects queer San Francisco Democratic Party Chair Honey Mahogany, who would also be the city’s first out Black supervisor. Or Breed could tap for the vacancy the highest-ranking LGBTQ person in the city’s police department Matt Dorsey, a gay civilian who is director of strategic communications and part of Police Chief William Scott’s command staff. He would be the second known person living with HIV to serve as a San Francisco supervisor. “I may have to stop saying I am the only queer supervisor. I wouldn’t be sad about that,” gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter. Either Dorsey or Mahogany would make for a great colleague on the board, added Mandelman, who is running for reelection to his seat in the fall. “Matt Dorsey is a personal friend of mine and a talented public servant, and I think he would contribute a lot to the Board of Supervisors or to any public service he might want to do,” said Mandelman. “I also think Honey Mahogany would be an excellent supervisor and would be history making.” Current District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney will officially resign from his board seat at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 3, when he takes his oath of office to become the assemblymember for San Francisco’s 17th Assembly District. He won a decisive victory in the special runoff race April 19 against gay former District 9 supervisor David Campos to succeed David Chiu. With Campos deciding not to campaign for the seat in this year’s general election, Haney is nearly assured of being elected to a full two-year Assembly term in the November 8 election. Chiu had departed the Legislature in November to become San Francisco’s first Asian American city attorney. Breed had nominated him to the position after she named former city attorney Dennis Herrera last year to lead the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. For years Dorsey had served as Herrera’s spokesman as the city’s top lawyer. He formerly served on the elected committee that oversees the local Democratic Party and held the office of secretary on it. Until very recently Dorsey had served on the board of Mid-Market Neighbors, having helped to co-found the neighborhood association. As for him now potentially being tapped for the supervisor seat, Dorsey isn’t commenting publicly. One of the few LGBTQ leaders to endorse Haney for Assembly, Dorsey declined the B.A.R.’s interview request Tuesday for this article. Mahogany has worked for Haney as his de facto chief of staff at City Hall and has made no secret about her interest in succeeding him on the board. Even before Haney entered the Assembly race, Mahogany had indicated she planned to campaign for the District 6 supervisor seat once it became open. As he sought the Assembly seat over the past seven months, Haney had often noted a vote for him could lead to Mahogany being appointed

Barry Schneider Attorney at Law Mahogany, courtesy Honey Mahogany; Dorsey, courtesy SFPD

Honey Mahogany, left, and Matt Dorsey are among the names floated for District 6 supervisor.

as his replacement on the board and making LGBTQ political history. In addition to being San Francisco’s first transgender and queer supervisor, Mahogany would be the second nonbinary supervisor in the Golden State, as San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer is nonbinary and pansexual. Talking to the B.A.R. Tuesday ahead of her boss’ final full board meeting, Mahogany said she remained “hopeful” that Breed would see the benefit to the district in naming her its next supervisor and the message it would send nationally. “I am hoping she takes into account the breadth of my experience and what it would mean to have a transgender supervisor right now with the anti-trans rhetoric and legislation being passed all across the country,” said Mahogany, who is also a co-owner of the Stud bar collective and a drag artist who garnered national attention as a contestant on the television series “RuPaul’s Drag Race” in 2013. “There are only six months before the November election, and District 6 deserves that continuity during this upcoming budget cycle, which we are in the middle of right now.” Whomever Breed names as the new District 6 supervisor will need to run on the November ballot for a full four-year term representing the newly drawn district expected to be finalized by the city’s redistricting task force Thursday. The Tenderloin and most of the city’s Transgender District is being removed from District 6 under the new map and put into the new District 5. All of South of Market, where Dorsey and Mahogany both live, is remaining in District 6 along with Rincon Hill, Yerba Buena, and Mission Bay. Some have suggested that Mahogany move to District 5 and run to be its supervisor when the seat will be on the November 2024 ballot when the current officeholder, Supervisor Dean Preston, is expected to seek reelection. “Two years from now? There are more pressing things happening right now in District 6,” said Mahogany when asked about her interest in running for the other supervisor seat. Asked if the mayor naming someone else as the next supervisor would impact her decision to enter this fall’s race for the seat, Mahogany replied, “Similarly as with the redrawing of the district lines, the appointment will not impact my plans for the future.” Sources in recent days told the B.A.R. that Breed is being pressured not to pick Mahogany since she is seen as being more aligned with the city’s progressive faction within the local Democratic Party. They want Breed to name someone more mod-

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erate, with Dorsey seen as being part of that camp along with former Obama administration staffer Bilal Mahmood, who came in third place in the Assembly race and then endorsed Haney. “I like Bilal too, but I think that Honey and Matt have a track record of public service in San Francisco, and involvement in the LGBTQ community, and involvement frankly in the Democratic Party in both cases for many years, if not decades,” said Mandelman. “I think there are at least two very strong queer candidates for that job. They both have a lot to offer, both are very talented, and I would like to see both on the Board of Supervisors. If I were the mayor, I would be looking closely at both of them.” Two other names floated as possible appointees are American Civil When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in Liberties Union deputy director Vikadvance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial rum Aiyer, a member of the mayor’s and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead Workforce Investment Board; and When your celebration lasting protectsyou your plan loved ones fromlife unnecessary stress and and financial burden, Planning Commission president When Rayou 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 chael Tanner, who was appointed to advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial detail ofusyour owntheunique memorial andlegacy provide the powerful oversight body by Breed. Contact today about beautiful ways to create a lasting atyour theloved San Francisco Columbarium. loved ones with true peace mind. Planning ahead After Breed didn’t name an and LG- provide your ones with true peace ofof mind. Planning BTQ parent in March for one ofprotects the your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial ahead protectsProudly yourserving loved onesCommunity. from unnecessary burden, the LGBT three school board seats vacated by allowing them focus on whatburden, will matter most them at thattotime—you. stresstoand financial allowing the three former members recalled in February – and so far not naming focus on what will matter most at that time—you. an LGBTQ person (or a straightContact apus today about the beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy pointee) to the seat vacated in Febatofthe San Contact FranciscousColumbarium. ruary by gay former City College today about the beautiful ways to create San Francisco board vice president a lasting legacy at the San Francisco Columbarium. Tom Temprano when he was hired One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 Proudly serving our Community. as political director of statewide LGSanFranciscoColumbarium.com BTQ advocacy organization EqualProudly serving the LGBT Community. ity California – LGBTQ leaders are FD 1306 / COA 660 watching closely to see who the mayor taps for the supervisor seat. “This definitely has to be an LGBTQ seat. We did not get an LGBTQ appointee on the school board, and our representation is at an all-time low right now in the city,” said Gary McCoy, stressing he was speaking personally and not as co-chair of the One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club, for which Mahogany formerly SanFranciscoColumbarium.com co-chaired its political action committee and now sits on its policy FD 1306 / COA 660 committee.t

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<< Pride 2022

t Pride flag will fly at Martinez school district office 6 • Bay Area Reporter • April 28-May 4, 2022

by Eric Burkett

he Pride flag will, indeed, fly over the Martinez Unified School District office in Contra Costa County, after a resolution first proposed earlier this month was finally passed at the school board’s April 25 meeting. The measure, initially proposed by interim Superintendent Helen Rossi, declares June as Pride Month for the 4,125-student district, and paves the way to fly the Pride flag over the school district office grounds. After discussion over the course of two meetings, school board members voted 4-0 to support the resolution, with one member, Carlos Melendez, abstaining. The issue is once again being considered by school districts ahead of the annual LGBTQ celebrations that take place in June but in a more heated atmosphere this year. Elected officials at the school board level up to state legislatures across the country in recent months have enacted policies that strip away the rights of LGBTQ students, particularly those that are transgender or gender-nonconforming. In Gilroy in the South Bay, its school district last week passed a resolution proclaiming June LGBTQ Pride Month for the first time, according to a news release and tweet by Zach Hilton, a Gilroy City Council member. “History has been made in the Gilroy Unified School District. This is the first Resolution passed to recognize LGBTQ+ Pride Month within the GUSD School District,” tweeted Hilton on April 23. When the resolution first came up before the East Bay school board at its April 11 meeting, according to a video, several members expressed

Courtesy Patch

The Martinez Unified School District will fly the Pride flag at its main office in June.

concern about flying a flag other than the California and United States banners. Some worried it would pave the way for any group at all to request their flags be flown over the district as well. Martinez school board President Deidre Siguenza wondered if the district would be setting a new precedent for different flags upon request. No one at the meeting seemed to know but most had concerns. “Historically, we’ve not flown any other flags, right?” asked board member Jeremie Ginelli. “We’ve gotten requests in the past and those requests have been denied, all correctly.” Rossi said she thought she remembered the subject coming up before and it being noted that some of the groups that might want to do so “might not be groups we’d want to support.” Board Vice President Anne Horack Martin said the issue left her torn. While she flies a Pride flag at home she, too, worried about what precedent might be set by the district flying the flag.

“Does it come to the board every time?” she wondered. “I would say I’m struggling because this particular cause is so important and, then, what about the next cause about which I feel completely differently about?” Board member Melendez had a simple solution: just continue to fly the American and Californian flags, as the district has always done. “It’s equal to all,” he said. “That way no one is getting preferential treatment. It’s fair.” Eventually, the floor was opened for the public to comment and four did. Two parents spoke in favor of the resolution, as did Sara Stafford, who teaches art at Alhambra High School and said she was disappointed to hear school board members “vacillating” over the issue. California flies the Pride flag she noted, as does the City of Martinez and “most every district.” To not do so would send the wrong message, Stafford said. Contra Costa Community College Board Trustee Rebecca Barrett threw her support behind the resolution, as well.

Coming to the end of the meeting, the board agreed to amend the proposed resolution by adding language recognizing the mental health dangers to many LGBTQ kids and their need for a supportive environment. With that, the resolution was postponed to April 25. When that meeting finally rolled around, in a video of the proceeding Rossi read the proposed resolution from the previous meeting with the new language added. Numerous people were on hand to voice their support. In fact, the only person to voice any opposition to the resolution all evening was Melendez. After Ginelli expressed a desire to set up parameters for future, potential flag requests, Melendez spoke up, expressing an understated opposition to the resolution. “I do understand the school district is here to provide a safe and supportive culture as we’ve identified in our mission statement,” Melendez said. “I do believe that flying the flag … I have trouble saying that it represents the entire community. We fly the United States flag as it represents all of us as Americans; we fly the California flag as it represents all of us as Californians. And I don’t know that the entire community would be in support. “I support any practice, trainings, community groups, organizations that demonstrate effectiveness to help improve our social understanding and acceptance and betterment of the community,” he continued, “and then teach our children to be respectful and accepting of one another. But I don’t think demonstrating the Pride flag at this time is equitable and representative of support of the entire community.” There was a notable, awkward pause before Martin spoke up.

The board needs to make a stand, she said, and it needs to take it seriously. There may be issues with the flag policy but, she added, the board already has a consensus on the matter and those additional concerns can be dealt with as they come up. “I would be in favor of just moving this forward,” she said, even if it were done conditionally. Melendez’s views would be the only statement in real opposition to the resolution all evening. Searching for ways around the possibility that the board might have to entertain requests to fly the flags of organizations and groups who didn’t share the school district’s values, others began to encourage the board to support the resolution anyway. One student who identified as trans said they supported the resolution because they had endured slurs and harassment from students, and teachers who wouldn’t call them by their correct name or proper pronouns. “Even when reported, it doesn’t get taken care of the way it needs to,” they said. A woman with two LGBTQ children in the district told the board they needed to support the resolution. “Voting yes today is a small show of support for these kids, teachers, and parents in the queer community,” she said. “Voting no is a blatant disregard for who they are, and you’re saying to these families ‘we don’t care enough about your inclusion or even your safety enough to do what’s right.’” More people spoke; emails of support were read, as well. It was finally time to vote. As the small crowd who attended the meeting applauded the resolution’s passage, the board moved on to the next item on the agenda. t

UNIT NO.

BEDROOM COUNT

BATH COUNT

SQUARE FEET

FLOOR #

MONTHLY HOA DUES W/O PARKING

PRICE W/O PARKING

MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE INCOME LEVEL

203

1,052

$759.57

$402,447

100% of AMI

206

722

$686.36

$352,766

100% of AMI

304

612

$662.45

$293,814

100% of AMI

312

626

$667.19

$292,897

100% of AMI

403

1,052

$759.57

$402,447

100% of AMI

Community News>>

April 28-May 4, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

Panel set to finalize new SF political map by Matthew S. Bajko

he San Francisco Redistricting Task Force is set to vote Thursday one last time on a new map for the city’s 11 supervisorial districts. It will bring to a close a line drawing process that has upset LGBTQ leaders and likely make moot a lawsuit filed against the panel. District 8 will continue to have the Castro LGBTQ district at its center but will be losing parts of the Mission Dolores neighborhood and nearly all of the Valencia Street corridor to District 9. It is expanding northward with the addition of Cole Valley and Ashbury Heights from District 5. Due to a carve out that saw his residence on Valencia between 24th and 25th streets remain in District 8, gay Supervisor Rafael Mandelman will be able to run for reelection in the fall without having to move. “It is a much better map than the first one that came out, obviously,” said Mandelman, referring to an initial proposal that removed his residence from the district and cut out Duboce Triangle from it. “I am sad to be losing a big chunk of that Valencia corridor, but I am looking forward to getting to know the residents and businesses of Cole Valley.”

Trans district split

San Francisco’s historic transgender neighborhood is getting a new supervisorial home due to the decision to move the Tenderloin out of District 6 and into a new District 5. LGBTQ advocates lost their battle to see it remain in D6 with the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District in western South of Market. A small section of the Transgender District running along Sixth Street will remain a part of District 6. But transgender leaders had argued it made no sense to move the bulk of their cultural district

Screengrab

The San Francisco Redistricting Task Force will vote on this final map April 28.

into District 5, where it will be combined with the Western Addition, Japantown, Alamo Square, and the Haight. Their concerns ranged from seeing the neighborhood’s political power diminished to the impact it will have on financial resources for the community since the city often divvies up funding by supervisorial districts. At the task force’s April 21 meeting Jupiter Peraza, director of social justice and empowerment initiatives for the Transgender District, called the decision to split the two LGBTQ districts up “blatant transphobia.” She likened it to “Republican state legislatures across the country criminalizing being transgender. I am shocked.” As for SOMA, it is staying in District 6 along with Rincon Hill, Yerba Buena Gardens, and Mission Bay. The neighboring Districts 9 and 10 are also largely remaining the same. Task force chair the Reverend Arnold Townsend had voted along with vice chair Ditka Reiner, Matthew Castillon, Lily Ho, and Chasel Lee, one of two

queer men on the panel, in support of breaking up the current District 6. Townsend had argued for weeks that he wanted to see the Tenderloin combined with the Western Addition in order to bolster the political power of Black residents in the two neighborhoods. Whether doing so increases the chances of a Black candidate winning the District 5 seat on the Board of Supervisors remains to be seen. The current officeholder, Supervisor Dean Preston, is white and will stand for reelection in 2024. Task force member J. Michelle Pierce had fought to keep the Tenderloin in District 6. She explained at the April 21 meeting that her main reason for doing so was because “in this city we do really tie funding to supervisorial districts we have.” Thus, Pierce added, “my concern is that we really are putting people’s lives in danger when we do it this way.” Task force member Jose Maria (Chema) Hernández Gil also had argued for keeping the Tenderloin with SOMA in District 6 so that its residents

wouldn’t see their representation at City Hall diminish. “I am talking about their ability to write to their supervisor and get their issues addressed,” he said. “I am still very confused as to why we have to rehash what should be a pretty obvious legal and moral issue.” Voting with Gil and Pierce were Raynell Cooper and Jeremy Lee, the other out member on the task force. While the four voted with the other task force members at their April 25 meeting in support of several minor tweaks to the proposed map, it is expected they will once again vote in the minority to reject the new boundaries for the supervisor districts when the task force reconvenes at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 28.

Lawsuit unlikely to proceed

Even if the vote is again split 5-4 to approve the final version of the new map, the task force’s completing its work should also bring to a close a lawsuit that three San Francisco residents

had filed April 19 against it. One of the litigants, Noe Valley resident Todd David, told the Bay Area Reporter there would be no reason to continue on with the case once a map is approved. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer has scheduled a hearing at 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 29, in the matter. He is likely to dismiss the lawsuit should the task force wrap up its deliberations Thursday. The lawsuit had been filed as a “failsafe” measure to have the courts step in if the task force failed to settle on a proposed map at its meeting last Thursday, explained David. It had missed its April 15 deadline as mandated in the city charter, and the city attorney’s office had informed the task force it needed to vote on a map at its April 21 meeting. 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 begin to prepare for the November election where the even-numbered supervisor seats will be on the ballot. Mandelman will be courting voters in the newly drawn District 8, which will continue to include the neighborhoods of Twin Peaks, Corona Heights, Duboce Triangle, the Castro, Noe Valley, Diamond Heights and Glen Park. The 100 block of Valencia Street where the Chan National Queer Arts Center, home to the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, is located also is remaining in D8. “I think the district is probably a little more moderate, definitely a little less Latino, and I think a little less queer. But overall, I think it is still a district that would probably favor a queer candidate,” said Mandelman. For information about the task force’s April 28 meeting and to view the map it is now set to approve, visit its website at https://sf.gov/publicbody/2020-census-redistricting-taskforce#. t

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<< Obituaries

8 • Bay Area Reporter • April 28-May 4, 2022

Richard Labonte, former SF bookstore manager, dies by Cynthia Laird

ichard Labonte, who once managed the LGBTQ bookstore A Different Light in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, died March 20 at his home in British Columbia, Canada after a battle with stomach cancer. He was 72. Mr. Labonte was a co-founder of A Different Light with his thenpartner Norman Laurila, according to an article on SF Gate. The Castro store opened in 1985, following the first location in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood. Mr. Labonte became the manager of the Castro store in 1986. The store closed in 2011. Throughout the 1990s, A Different Light became a center of queer culture in California and New York, places where authors and fans met for readings and informal receptions, an online obituary noted. Over 22 years, Mr. Labonte combined his bookselling career with his editorial expertise to connect authors with thousands of new readers. Friends mourned Mr. Labonte’s passing. “Richard Labonte was a gentle lion,” gay nightlife producer Marc Huestis wrote in a message to the Bay Area Reporter. “He made A Different Light an important com-

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Former A Different Light bookstore manager Richard Labonte

munity space for smart people. He hired our queer guiding lights, many who went on to significant careers, and some who would have had a hard time finding a good job elsewhere. And the staff made it so much fun to spend time in the store and catch up on the latest with Justin Vivian Bond, or be clued into the hottest new book release by Alex Chee.” Huestis, who produced events at the Castro Theatre, noted the store served in some ways like a community center.

“Of course, many of us didn’t buy books, but Richard didn’t seem to care. He just loved fostering that creative atmosphere,” he wrote. “And as a businessman, Richard was beyond fair. A Different Light was the ticketing outlet for my early extravaganzas at the Castro. He didn’t charge an extra fee to the customers, and took a ridiculously low percentage from me for his services. I think again he was just happy it brought traffic into the store. And I actually looked forward to our meetings to close the books, because he was such a sweet presence. He exuded a calming eminence and that was such a rarity in business. Hopefully his historic importance will only increase with time. He deserves a legacy plaque outside the store.” Queer activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca worked at A Different Light for almost 10 years, starting out as a bookseller and rising to assistant manager. He said that Mr. Labonte had a love for LGBTQ books and literature. “That bookstore was the most supportive place for LGBTQ writers – it didn’t matter if they were well known of not,” he told the B.A.R. in a phone interview. “If you were just beginning to write, you could have readings there.” Of course, well-known queer writers also made appearances at A

Different Light, such as lesbian tennis great Martina Navratilova and gay Olympic swimmer Greg Louganis, when people would line up down the street waiting to see them, Avicolli Mecca recalled. “At the same time, there was opportunity for those just starting out,” he said. Mr. Labonte decided to start a readers and writers conference, and put Avicolli Mecca in charge. “We talked it out,” he said, and came up with a conference that was held for several years. Most of all, though, Mr. Labonte loved to read, Avicolli Mecca recalled. He worked to carry books in other languages at the store in an effort to show that queer literature was not just published in English. In a Facebook post and in the interview, Avicolli Mecca talked about Mr. Labonte’s compassionate side, such as helping to feed homeless young people in the Castro after the dot-com bust in 2000. “Richard was also a man of compassion. I remember the cold, rainy morning he told me to go get some soup for the obviously homeless young gay man hanging out among the shelves in the back. I remember him at Simply Supper serving meals to those who came to MCC church for something to eat. For a while, the bookstore sponsored the

Memorial set for Robert Mainardi

Mr. Mainardi died December 11, 2021. He was 75. He was a longtime supporter of LGBTQ cultural institutions such as the GLBT Historical Society and the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center at the San Francisco Public Library, as was noted in the obituary that appeared in the Bay Area Reporter.Robert Mainardi.

Friday meal,” Avicolli Mecca wrote on Facebook, referring to the old Metropolitan Community Church in the Castro. “Feeding people was the logical and compassionate thing to do,” Avicolli Mecca said. “That’s just the kind of man he was.” Prior to coming to the United States, Mr. Labonte had been a journalist in Canada and in 1980 was one of the first to come out as gay when he wrote a column in the Ottawa Citizen. “That was a hard piece to write – harder than almost anything I ever wrote,” Mr. Labonte recalled in a 1992 Citizen story about the column, according to the paper’s recent obituary on him. “The main thing that I was trying to say was simply that gay people are a part of the fabric of life. You may not know who they are or where they are, but they’re certainly there.” Mr. Labonte was born in Edmonton, Alberta on July 5, 1949 and came to Ottawa to attend Carleton University, where he was editor of the student newspaper, now called The Charlatan, the Citizen obituary stated. He was hired in 1971 at the Citizen, where he worked as a writer and editor, mainly in the arts department. Mr. Labonte is survived by his husband, Asa Liles.t

Memorials >> Bernardine Anna Banonis September 30, 1936 – March 19, 2022

Bernardine Anna Banonis passed peacefully on to her eternal reward on March 19, 2022. She was a 55-year resident of San Francisco, living in the Castro district of the

city. She and her dog, Chelsea, were a fixture in the Castro neighborhood. Her memorial Mass will be held at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 100 Diamond Street, on Saturday, May 7, at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please remember her by donating to the Most Holy Redeemer AIDS Support Group, 100 Diamond Street, San Francisco, CA 94114 or your favorite charity.

A remembrance for Robert Mainardi, who operated The Magazine, a vintage magazine, ephemera, and erotica store in San Elijah Nahmod Francisco, will be held Wednesday, May 4, beginning at 6 p.m. at the shop, 920 Larkin Street.

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ppropriately on 4/20, the Flore Dispensary unveiled a compassion mural on the Beaver Street side of the dispensary located at 258 Noe Street in the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood. Terrance Alan, the founder of Flore dispensary and the recently elected co-president of the Castro Merchants Association, said the public art depicts the coming together of two communities during the AIDS crisis: the Humboldt cannabis farmers and San Francisco patients. The most notable figures in cannabis legalization were the late Mary Jane Rathbun, aka Brownie Mary, and the late Dennis Peron, a gay man. At first, they gave cannabis in all forms,

from flowers and edibles to brownies and tea. Then, they went on to write and promote California’s Proposition 215, the Compassionate Care Act, which changed the nation’s perspective on cannabis as medicine. This mural tells that story, Alan stated in a news release. Attending the unveiling, from left, were Brian Applegarth, who gives cannabis culture tours; mural artist Dave Van Patten; Alan; gay former state senator Mark Leno; and medical cannabis pioneer Wayne Justmann. The unveiling coincided with the grand opening of Flore Dispensary.

Obituaries>>

t Gay longtime state worker Kenneth Topper dies

April 28-May 4, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 9

by Cynthia Laird

enneth William Topper, a gay man and longtime state government worker in Sacramento, died April 17 at his home in Arden, North Carolina. He was 65. According to an online obituary posted by his family, his passing was unexpected. He had worked in California state government for over 20 years in various capacities and was involved in charitable organizations. Mr. Topper was known in LGBTQ activist circles and media outlets as the person responsible for getting the rainbow flag flown at the state Capitol in Sacramento. A Pride flag was raised above the dome of the Sacramento structure on Coming Out Day October 11, 1990. It was said to mark the first time the symbol of the LGBTQ community had flown at a state Capitol building in the U.S. A 2019 Bay Area Reporter article recalled that event, as Governor Gavin Newsom had a Pride flag raised at the Capitol that June, and his office and Equality California had claimed it was the “first time” that had occurred. The 1990 article in the Bay Area Reporter explained that the flag-raising was the result of a joint resolution passed October 10 that year by the Assembly and Senate. Mr. Topper, a past president of the Sacramento gay and lesbian River City Democratic Club and legislative aide to then-Senate Pro Tem Dave Roberti (D), had approached the late Senator Milton Marks (D-San Francisco) to introduce the resolution.

Courtesy Matthew Whitley

Kenneth William Topper, right, enjoyed a laugh with former state Controller John Chiang at Mr. Topper’s retirement party in 2012.

“It sends a message to all constituencies that we’re as much a part of this society as any other minority or cultural group,” Mr. Topper had told the B.A.R. at the time, adding that “the raising of that flag raises our visibility and it will enable people to be freer in acknowledging who they are.” Marks had sought to have the Pride flag fly from sunrise on October 11 until the flags were taken down that night. Yet the flag ended up being flown for only a few hours that day, as

KEEP UP! EMAIL STRIP.indd 1

the B.A.R. reported in its October 18, 1990 issue. Then-governor George Deukmejian (R) ordered the flag to be taken down shortly after it was raised, according to the article. The story also reported that state police had received threats from veterans who said they planned to shoot or burn the flag. Former state assemblymember Dennis Mangers, a Democrat who represented an Orange County district in the late 1970s and early 1980s,

told the B.A.R. in a phone interview that Mr. Topper and his then-partner, Stan Hadden, were very helpful when he came out as a gay man in 19811982. Hadden was also involved in state government work, including its early response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He died in 1992. Mangers said that Mr. Topper and Hadden joined what was then called the Capital Network, an early group of LGBTQ politicos and staffers that “met quietly during the Deukmejian administration,” Mangers explained. “He was devoted to gay civil rights,” Mangers said of Mr. Topper. There was a similar flag incident during a fundraiser for the Sacramento AIDS Foundation, with which Mr. Topper was involved, Mangers recalled. At its fundraiser at the Sacramento Convention Center, actress Jane Fonda was a special guest and organizers had received permission from then-mayor Anne Rudin to put the rainbow flag up. Mangers said it didn’t last long, as the city manager at the time ordered it taken down some 40 minutes later. (Rudin died in November 2021.) Those were different times, Mangers pointed out. “He was an amazing friend,” Mangers said. “A fabulous young man. He and his partner helped many people who came out later in life and helped us navigate the new culture.” One of Mr. Topper’s last government stints was working for Carole Migden (D), a lesbian and former legislator, when she served on the state

Board of Equalization. “Ken was dapper, friendly, liked by all he encountered,” Migden wrote in an email. “He was a ballast in the early days of our struggle for equity and opportunity in Sacramento. He was a steady, welcomed presence in the corridors of power as he effectively worked to unite our often-divided community.” Mr. Topper was also involved in charity projects. Longtime gay activist and AIDS Memorial Quilt cofounder Cleve Jones told the B.A.R. that Mr. Topper was president of the Sacramento AIDS quilt chapter years ago. (The quilt is now under the stewardship of the National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco after the NAMES Project, which had moved to Atlanta from San Francisco, closed up shop in 2020.) Matthew Whitley said he will miss his longtime friend. “He was truly a kind and loving man who impacted everyone he met,” Whitley stated in an email. Mr. Topper was born March 6, 1957 in San Francisco, where he grew up. He moved to Sacramento during the AIDS crisis as he and Hadden realized work to address the deadly disease was needed from inside state government. Mr. Topper was preceded in death by his mother, Barbara, and sister, Karen Topper. He was the oldest of five children. He is survived by his father, Charles Topper, and his brothers Robert, Peter, and Joseph Topper, and their families. t

Stay up-to-date with late breaking news, online extras and our weekly email recap of the most comprehensive Bay Area, state and national LGBTQ news. Sign up today at ebar.com/SUBSCRIBE 6/19/19 11:29 AM

<< Community News

10 • Bay Area Reporter • April 28-May 4, 2022

GHB

From page 1

“It was the elixir that fixed everything,” he said. A stressful job, depression, anxiety – it all led back to G. There is little public awareness about G, but for gay men in San Francisco and across the country, it is a staple for many raves and sex parties. The intake survey from the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which includes roughly 10,000 patients, shows that more than 6% of people reported using G in 2021. For context, that’s more than three times the number of people using MDMA/molly/ecstasy. And for some, G has become an addiction, too. Chad Ngo, the communications manager with SFAF, said that roughly half of the 120 clients in the foundation’s Stonewall Project’s substance use treatment and harm reduction program have used G. The use of G came to the fore recently in the case of Jaxon Sales, 20, a gay man who died in March 2020 from an accidental overdose of G, cocaine, and methamphetamine, according to the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. He was found naked at the Rincon Hill apartment of a 41-year-old white man. His parents have sought more details from San Francisco police and the medical examiner’s office and held a rally in late February to garner public support and mourn their son. Billy Lemon, a gay man, heard about the Sales case, but he is quick to point out that it isn’t an outlier. He’s the executive director of the Castro Country Club, located in a converted Edwardian townhouse just steps away from some of the city’s most popular gay bars and clubs in the LGBTQ neighborhood. He’s also a former drug user and dealer. “A lot more folks are using it than would openly admit they are using it,” said Lemon about G. “Your dentist is using it. Your chiropractor is using it. The person selling you your house is using it.”

From GNC to GBL

While G is considered a depressant by medical professionals, it has had a wide range of almost

Grand marshals

From page 2

Last year queer African American Arts and Culture Complex coexecutive directors and twin sisters Melonie and Melorra Green were community grand marshals. Finally, there’s Andrea Horne, a Black trans woman who is this year’s lifetime achievement grand marshal. “It’s an unexpected and incredible honor,” Horne told the Bay

Bi transit advocate

From page 1

Natoli said that she still feels Brousseau’s absence from advocacy work. “The cheer with which he brought his advocacy was not necessarily common,” she said. “That positive attitude of youth, but it’s not just that, that was who he was.” Shortly after the shooting, SFPD’s Captain Gaetano Caltagirone told the B.A.R. that SFPD’s gang task force was trying to identify suspects and make an arrest. James Caldwell, chief officer on criminal justice and public safety for Mayor London Breed, suggested at the time that the shooting was related to other violence in the Bay Area. “It’s spilled over from things going on around the city,” Caldwell said at a

Adam Echelman

Billy Lemon is the executive director of the Castro Country Club, a sober community space in the heart of the Castro. He is also recovering from substance use disorders, including the use of G and meth.

Adam Echelman

Gamma-hydroxybutyrate, known as GHB or G, can come in powder or liquid form, but most people drink it in plastic water bottles. The cap from this bottle is sometimes used to measure the right dose of G.

“The most important thing is for people not to freak out and to put them on their side so that they are going to breathe if they vomit,” said Adam Zeboski, a lead registered nurse with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. At first, Lao used it on weekends only, but he liked G so much and the hangover seemed so minimal that it soon became his drug of choice when meeting friends at bars on weekdays too. He started studying everything he could about G to understand the right dosage, to anticipate any adverse side effects, and to manage his and his friends’ experiences while using. One key resource was dancesafe.org, which provides detailed information on how to use a range of common party drugs safely. (Representatives from DanceSafe did not respond to a request for comment.) After being fired from his job, Lao continued to use G for another two years, even as it was ruining many aspects of his life. “Logically and functionally,” he would explain to himself, “it [sobriety] made sense. It’ll help me with my career. It’ll help me with my debt. It’ll help me with my relationships. But how am I supposed to have fun?” He didn’t intend to get sober at first. But Lao had a crush on a man who was attending 12-step meetings like Alcoholics Anonymous and Crystal Meth Anonymous, and he figured his own participation might bring them closer together. While the relationship didn’t work out, the fellowship meetings piqued his interest, and ultimately, he decided to admit himself into the Friendship House’s substance use treatment program. As his body and mental health started to recover, he learned, slowly, how to have fun without G. One day, his rehabilitation group went to Mission Dolores Park where Lao saw a DJ playing rave music nearby. With a little coaching from his rehabilitation group, he walked over to the DJ and started dancing. “I was just raving, and I was sober,” he recalled: “I was just the happiest I’ve ever been.” t

contradictory applications over the years. The first clinical application of GHB in 1962 hoped it might serve as a safer alternative to the sleeping medicines available at the time, according to a paper published by the International Anesthesia Research Society. Further research cemented it as a treatment for narcolepsy, an application that still exists today. As police began clamping down on recreational steroid use in the 1980s, weight lifters popularized small doses of GHB as an alternative for augmenting muscle growth, and soon, it started to double as a party and sex drug. Its acidic properties led to other applications too, like paint stripping and stain removal. By the 1990s, gay men were buying G in powder form at the GNC health foods store near the intersection of Dolores and Market streets and filling Gatorade-sized plastic bottles with a few ounces of G and a chaser. Lemon and Lao both began using G in the 1990s, during a heyday of San Francisco’s rave culture. Parties would last until 4 a.m. at places like Club Universe, after which point people would spill over to Castro Station, where Lemon conveniently worked as a bartender. “Everybody says the slang for G is, ‘Do you have a cap?’ Meaning the cap from the bottle,” explained Lemon. “That’s all you need.” Since it is transparent like water,

it’s easy to mix a cap of G into a regular beverage. Lemon remembers one store in the Castro that sold the perfect water bottles for G: they were cheap, had the perfect-sized cap, and the plastic was strong enough that the G wouldn’t burn through it. G tastes salty and sometimes has a metallic or acidic flavor, depending on whether it is actual GHB or a knock-off, but the taste can be somewhat disguised by the drink it is in. Around the turn of the millennium, Congress took notice of G after it was sampled in date-rape and murder cases involving young women. It became an illegal, Schedule 1 controlled substance with limited pharmacological exemptions. Those high-profile cases created a popular conception that G was something men might slip into an unsuspecting woman’s drink at a bar. What lawmakers and the media missed – and continue to miss – is the recreational market for G. That market is overwhelmingly gay and male. Once it became illegal to purchase over the counter, men started buying gallons of G and shipping them from Europe or China to San Francisco. Stronger knockoff drugs like Gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) emerged, which led some men to overdose easily because they mistook it for GHB and assumed it should be consumed at the same dosage. Regardless of the particular chemical, G was

Area Reporter in a phone interview, although she noted “it’s a recognition that five years ago I probably wouldn’t have received.” A woman with a storied personal history of her own – the late disco chanteuse Sylvester convinced her back in the 1970s to move from Hawaii to San Francisco where she has been ever since – Horne has been researching and documenting the lives of trans women of color. Within 10 minutes of a phone interview with the B.A.R., she had

dropped the names of three notable examples – Mary Jones, Sylvia Rivera, and Sir Lady Java. She dove into each of their stories, happily sharing their histories and why they are important today. She was notably less open about one aspect of her own life, however. “Do you mind if I ask your age,” a reporter asked her. “Yes,” she said. The honor of grand marshal is one Horne plans to use to further the visibility of trans women of color.

“Historically, black trans women are overlooked,” she said, “It’s like the Stonewall Rebellion. It was Black trans women who threw the first bricks and fought with the police. But when the story is told, it was white, gay guys who did it.” But, at the moment, Black trans women are “trendy,” she observed, pointing out examples like actress Laverne Cox and author Janet Mock, but that hasn’t diminished the need for her research work. As a woman of privilege herself, she

said – she grew up in a middle class Black household in Los Angeles – Horne said she believes she must assist her community in the process of “elevating themselves.” “I’m going to just continue to do the work I’ve always been doing,” she said. t

2020 meeting called by Mandelman, as Mission Local reported. “There have been issues with Valencia Gardens [the complex near where the shooting occurred.] There has been some cross-county work in trying to de-escalate the violence that’s coming from San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond, and San Jose, and how these young men and women are maneuvering throughout the Bay Area. ... A task force has been put together to quell the violence, to ensure that young people take responsibility for their own neighborhood.” Last November, friends installed a plaque on the bench in Dolores Park where Brousseau took the photos for his final tweet. It’s believed to have been done by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s Love Courtney project, as Hoodline reported.

As the B.A.R. previously reported, Brousseau graduated from Newbury Park High School in Ventura County, California in 2015. He was a valedictorian and the editor of the high school’s newspaper, according to the Ventura County Star. The year prior, he interned at the office of Democratic former presidential candidate Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. Brousseau went on to attend UC Berkeley, where he graduated in 2019 with degrees in economics and computer science, according to his website. Brousseau was a co-organizer of Gay For Transit alongside Janice Li, a queer woman who is a member of the BART board of directors. Li did not return a message seeking comment for this story.

According to a fundraising page on the bicycle advocacy group’s website friends and family of Brousseau would also like to memorialize him with a public parklet and a bike lane in San Francisco, noting that “Courtney would have loved a parklet created in his honor.” His family also continues to raise money for several scholarships created in Brousseau’s honor, according to a separate webpage. One created in collaboration with the Newbury Park High School Scholarship Foundation is for students at the public school interested in pursuing a career in journalism or public policy, as Brousseau served as co-editorin-chief of the school’s Panther Prowler newspaper. His family is hosting a celebration of life for Brousseau from

3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, May 7, at Newbury Park High School in Thousand Oaks, California. An additional memorial is to be held in the San Francisco Bay Area at a future date, according to the invite page for the event. “A life lived so happily deserves a happy remembrance and special celebration. We’ve cried our tears and mourned our loss of Courtney. Now we give our grieving hearts relief by coming together to celebrate and honor the life of Courtney, a remarkable young man who not only had a zest for life but shared it with everyone he knew,” wrote the family in a message on the event page. Anyone with information about this case should contact SFPD’s tip line at 415-575-4444. t

relatively cheap at first, typically about $10 per ounce, said two former dealers who asked that their names not be used. Over the years, the price has risen, and it has become harder to acquire, though by no means impossible.

Highs and lows

Much like MDMA or ketamine, many gay men consider G a party or sex drug, something that is offered on a dance floor or at an orgy. “I don’t have the enzyme that processes alcohol so I turn red and puffy, and it’s not really comfortable,” said Lao. “When I discovered G, it’s like, ‘Oh wait,’ I’m getting the same effects of joy and kind of drunkenness and feeling good, but I don’t turn red and puffy.” At the right dose, G induces a sense of euphoria and intense sexual arousal, and unlike the other drugs, G doesn’t induce a hangover feeling the next day so it’s easy to consume it regularly. Many men interviewed by the Bay Area Reporter mixed G with meth, moving seamlessly through clubs, house parties, and bathhouses over days and nights. But getting the exact right dosage is tricky, and with a little too much, the user can pass out and fall into a nearly comatose state. Sometimes, they start moaning, screaming, or start seizing.

This is the first article in a threepart series about GHB use in the gay community.

For more information on SF Pride, visit its website at sfpride. org.

t <<

From the Cover>>

Historic sites

From page 1

in the early 1960s. Their outreach led to the creation in December 1964 of the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, notable for being the first group to use the word “homosexual” in its name. The church has continued to be a safe haven for LGBTQ parishioners and a vocal advocate for LGBTQ issues. It is the fourth LGBTQ historic site in San Francisco to be recognized by the U.S. National Park Service, with the others being the Women’s Building, founded in 1971 by a group of women that included a number of lesbian leaders, such as Roma Guy and her wife, Diane Jones; the Federal Building at U.N. Plaza where a group of AIDS activists held vigil 10 years to protest govern-

April 28-May 4, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 11

ment inaction toward the deadly disease; and the Japanese YWCA/ Issei Women’s Building, which was the site of the pioneering gay rights group the Mattachine Society’s first convention in May 1954. Another California property recommended in January for listing on the national register was the Morris Kight House in Los Angeles. In 1967 Kight, a Los Angeles gay activist who died in 2003, moved into the Craftsman bungalow at 1822 West 4th Street. His home became a meeting place and organizing center for such groups as the L.A. chapter of the Gay Liberation Front, the Christopher Street West parade, and the Gay Community Services Center (later the Los Angeles LGBT Center). Kate Eggert and her wife, Krisy Gosney, own the firm Gosney-Eggert Historic Preservation Consul-

tants and wrote the nomination for the Kight property. Eggert told the B.A.R. this week that the national register keeper asked them to make a couple of additions to the nomination and they are awaiting word on a final decision if it will be listed. If listed it would become the second Los Angeles property on the national register. The Great Wall of Los Angeles, a half-mile long mural that depicts numerous California historical events and figures, including the struggle for LGBT rights, was listed in 2017.t

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.

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.

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.

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557030

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557035

To learn more about the various federally recognized LGBTQ historical sites across the U.S. visit https://www.nps.gov/subjects/tellingallamericansstories/ lgbtqplaces.htm

Laura Dominguez, L.A. Conservancy

The Morris Kight House is in Los Angeles.

Legals >> 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-22557013

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

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

APR 14, 21, 28, 2022

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

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

APR 14, 21, 28, MAY 05, 2022

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

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-22557047

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

<< Legals

12 • Bay Area Reporter • April 28-May 4, 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 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT NOTICE TO PROPOSERS GENERAL INFORMATION

The SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT, 2150 Webster Street, Oakland, California, is advertising for proposals for Language Translation and Interpretation Services (RFP) No. 6M5188, on or about April 19, 2022 , with proposals due by 2:00 p.m. local time, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at the District Secretary’s Office, 10th Floor, 2150 Webster Street, Oakland, California, 94612. Proposers are responsible to ensure their proposals are received in a timely manner. PRE-PROPOSAL MEETING AND NETWORKING SESSION A Pre-Proposal Meeting and Networking Session will be held on Tuesday , M ay 3, 2022 . The Pre-Proposal Meeting and Networking Session will convene at 9:00 a.m. local time via a Zoom presentation. All Interested Parties must register via the following Zoom link prior to participating in the Pre-Proposal Meeting: Click here to Register. After registering, participants will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. REQUIRED REGISTRATION ON 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 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. Dated at Oakland, California this 21 st day of April 2022. /s/ John Mazza John Mazza, Director of Procurement San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District 4/28/22 CNS-3579139# BAY AREA REPORTER

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 FRAN-

CISCO, 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-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

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF EUGENE ROBERT STAGNARO IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA: FILE P22-00050

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of UGENE ROBERT STAGNARO. A Petition for Probate has been filed by ROBERT GAI in the Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa. The Petition for Probate requests that ROBERT GAI 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 17, 2022, 9:00 am, Dept. 30, Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa, Wakefield Taylor Courthouse, 725 Court St., Martinez, CA 94453. 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: MICHAEL WOODS (SBN 227665), 395 WEST PORTAL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127; Ph. (415) 759-1900.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557076

In the matter of the application of DORA WAI HAN WINTOR-SNIDER, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner DORA WAI HAN WINTOR-SNIDER is requesting that the name DORA WAI HAN WINTOR-SNIDER be changed to DORA WAIHAN SNIDER. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 7th of JUNE 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039694400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as A’SHANNIE PRODUCTIONS, 180 BRANNAN ST #212, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SHANTÉ SAULSBERRY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/19/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/20/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039690900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ESCOBAR BROS RECYCLING & DEMOLITION, 1225 THOMAS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DOUGLAS ESCOBAR. 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 04/11/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039691300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as POST BROKERAGE, 60 FAIR AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHARLES POST. 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 04/18/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039695500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as NEWMOON BY LENA, 1550 EDDY ST #411, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARLA ALLEN. 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 04/21/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039690300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FOG CITY CONCRETE, 115 GLADEVIEW WAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ZACHARY NACHTSHEIM. 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 04/15/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039680600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as DE LA TOUR SAINT RAPUNZA, 536 14TH ST #6, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KIRSTEN JANENE-NELSON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/29/02. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/06/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039677600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as GENERAL MAX CONSTRUCTION, 322 31ST AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MAXIM OSTAPOV. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/31/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/30/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039695000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CITY TENT, 900 FOLSOM ST #453, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a general partnership, 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 04/20/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/20/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039694100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PAZGEAR.US, 1388 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BUBBLE LOUNGE LAUNDROMAT 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 04/20/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039696400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ACTUARIAL CONSULTING GROUP LLC, 626 POWELL ST #506, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed ACTUARIAL CONSULTING GROUP LLC. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/21/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/22/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039682300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HURD LIMO LLC, 466 23RD AVE #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HURD LIMO LLC. 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 04/07/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039696600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HEY BIG SISTER PROJECT, 1808 47TH AVE #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HEY BIG SISTER PROJECT (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/22/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/22/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039677700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PRIVACYCARE, 1700 VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed QUANTA NETWORKS LLC (CA). 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 03/31/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039698200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SF PLAZA HOTEL, 510 BUSH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed KAS HOSPITALITY 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 04/25/22.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-039378300

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as ESCOBAR BROS RECYCLING, 1225 THOMAS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by DOUGLAS ESCOBAR. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/23/21.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-037550200

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as CONSENSUSLAB, 400 MONTGOMERY ST #700, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business was conducted by a corporation and signed by TERRIS BARNES WALTERS BOIGON HEATH, INC. (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/07/17.

APR 28, MAY 05, 12, 19, 2022

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itual? What is your own spirituality? (To be human is to be divine?) Ajuan Mance: My family has deep roots in the African American protestant tradition, and I feel a profound connection to the diverse ways that Black people around the world access and express reverence for things unseen. From the AME Church to Candomblé, Akom, Vodou, Santería, and beyond, the colors, language, and iconography of Black spiritual and religious traditions make their way into my work in so many ways. I am a part of the Black religious and spiritual tradition, and it feeds my creativity in so many important ways. How have people responded to your work? I have experienced so much love and support from the Black art community, from the Bay Area to Brooklyn. I draw strength and inspiration from my Black artist community, as well as from the heartfelt appreciation that Black viewers have shown for my work. My work is a celebration and exploration of what it is to be Black in the U.S., and it means a lot to me when Main: Portrait from Ajuan Mance’s Black viewers see them‘1001 Black Men’ Inset: Ajuan Mance selves reflected in my art and comics.

by Laura Moreno

pening April 30 and running until August 7, San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum presents the art of Ajuan Mance as part of its ongoing Emerging Artist Showcase. Mance’s illustrations and comics have appeared in several anthologies, including, most recently, “Drawing Power” from Abrams Press, winner of the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Anthology; “Menopause: A Comic Treatment,” winner of the 2021 Eisner Award for Best Anthology; “She Votes” from Chronicle Books; “COVID Chronicles: A Comics Anthology,” from Penn State University Press, and others. A Professor of English at Mills College in Oakland, Mance has authored two fascinating books on African-American writers: “Inventing Black Women: African American Women’s Poetry” and “Self-Representation, 1877-2000 and Before Harlem: An Anthology of African-American Literature from the Long Nineteenth Century.” Mance is perhaps best known for her series “1001 Black Men,” and her unique style that explores the complexities of race, gender, and identity. As ever, the idea is to get past harmful stereotypes that impair our vision of others (and ourselves) to instead see –with eyes unclouded– the rich complexity of Black men as they exist in the world. Mance confessed that it took her the first 300 drawings of Black men to recognize her own image bias in the types of men she chose to draw. She tended to draw men who reminded her of people she knew or dressed in a familiar way. Importantly, she aims to bring to the fore the objectification of Black men that no one talks

The art of Ajuan Mance about. The hypersexual images of ads of the 1960s and ’70s continue to color our view of Black men. To this end, Mance decided to attempt to depict virtually every type of Black man she encounters on the street and in daily life. Mance’s style is similar to graphic or pop art. The use of the heavy black line is almost ubiqui-

tous within her portraits. She claims stained glass windows as her inspiration. She explained her creative inspirations in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. Laura Moreno: The stained-glass quality in your art evokes spirituality. Are you spir-

Life in wartime

Peeter Rebane and Tom Prior’s Russian Cold War love story

Tom Prior and Oleg Zagorodnii in ‘Firebird’

hen “Firebird” screened at last year’s Frameline Festival in the just reopened Castro Theatre, it received a deserved standing ovation from the nearly full house. It won an Honorable Mention in the Juried Award for First Feature at the Festival. The dreamy

See page 14 >>

star/writer/co-producer Tom Prior and Estonian writer/director Peeter Rebane, via a Zoom video interview in London, where their film premiered.

Firebird’s flight

by Brian Bromberger

I suppose the racism happens in our minds rather than on the page or in the actual images. Do you find Gwen Stephani’s “Harijuku Girls” racist, for example? How can we all get on the same page on these issues? If our minds were the only places where racism occurred, it would be a very different world. Racism definitely happens in actual images, on the page, on the screen, and in all forms of media. In my scholarly work as an English professor at Mills College, I study and write about literature that reflects how Black people see themselves and each other. I pursue a similar line of inquiry in my art. From my ‘1001 Black

romance of the two handsome leads is the best gay male love story since “God’s Own Country” (2017). Based on the true memoir by Sergey Fetisov (1942-2017) set during the Cold War, Sergey (Tom Prior), is a young private, weeks away from completing his Soviet Air Force conscription in Estonia in 1977. He dreams of becoming an actor in Moscow. He works with Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya) an ambitious secretary to the base commander. She is

secretly in love with Sergey, but when an ace fighter pilot Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii) arrives at the base, both Sergey and Luisa are attracted to him. Sergey and Roman begin a forbidden but passionate affair, especially precarious during this tense period, as they must hide their affections from everyone or face dire consequences. In preparation for its April 29 release in theaters, the Bay Area Reporter spoke to British

At a time when Russia is attacking and committing war crimes against Ukraine and the world is canceling and boycotting Russian cultural events, should audiences watch this film? Rebane replied, “We should not judge the people by their horrific leader. That would be as unjust as me saying, ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with the people of Florida due to their horrendous new legislation against ‘homosexual propaganda.’ “I know many people who have escaped, including the founders of the Side by Side Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (held in St. Petersburg), who told me that right after the Ukraine War started, Russian authorities began arresting all the political activists opposing the war and then LGBTQ activists. Pretty much anyone against the system is now being persecuted and arrested.” Straight actor Oleg Zagorodnii, who plays Roman, is from the Ukraine and despite the war, is doing fine. He’s in constant communication via WhatsApp with both Prior and Rebane. Rebane continued, “It is important to remind people that ‘Firebird’ is the film the Russian government tried to ban last year, so in no way is it endorsing Putin. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s a film Russians don’t want the world and its own public to see. When we played at Side by Side, and were doing a live online Q & A it had to be terminated because Russian bots attacked the website and the festival servers were eventually taken down by the government. Funnily, we later used servers in Ukraine to show the film in Russia.” See page 14 >>

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<< Film

14 • Bay Area Repor ter • April 28-May 4, 2022

‘Everything , Everywhere’ is almost everything by Gregg Shapiro

ey, Marvel and DC, there’s a new multiverse in town, and it’s here to kick both of your tired, sagging asses. In the mind-blowing “Everything Everywhere All At Once” (A24), cofilmmakers Daniels (aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, co-creators of “Swiss Army Man” which they’ve described as a “gay necrophilia movie”) take us on a hallucinogenic journey involving family drama, coming out, martial arts, piles of receipts, silently communicating rocks, Bluetooth earpieces, a laundromat, a fanny pack, butt plugs, a raccoon, an everything bagel, and heartless IRS agents. Opening as it did in some theaters on April 15 (Tax Day) is only one of the inspired moments connected to “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” While it’s at least 20 minutes too long, it’s worth investing the time for Michelle Yeoh’s performance and the dazzling special effects alone. Laundromat owner Evelyn (Yeoh) is clearly cracking under the weight of external stresses. Deirdre (a fantastic Jamie Lee Curtis) is the relentless IRS auditor gunning for Evelyn. Poor Evelyn is unable to make sense of the bottomless stacks of receipts and paperwork on her desk, despite the approaching deadline. Waymon (Ke Huy Quan), Evelyn’s

S T O TP

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Ajuan Mance

From page 13

Men’ portrait series to my comics and illustrations, I create art that reflects my experience of Black community and individuals. You ask how we can get on the same page around issues of racism and cultural appropriation. I believe that the key step in addressing these concerns in a meaningful way is to center BIPOC voices and artworks. How do Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color depict themselves?

Steven Underhill

Tom Prior and Peeter Rebane at the 2021 Frameline screening of ‘Firebird’ at the Castro Theatre.

Firebird

From page 13

An authentic life

Proud to support the community 479 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA 94114

www.cliffsvariety.com

Because throughout the film Sergey is struggling to lead an authentic life of being who he is, Prior was asked about his connection to the LGBTQ community, especially since Rebane is openly gay. “I consider myself part of the LGBTQ community in the sense I don’t want to define myself in any particular way,” he said. “I’ve had all kinds of experiences with all kinds of people.” When queried if that included gay men, Prior answered, “That is a matter of interpretation. I believe in being authentic, but not identifying with any

Michelle Yeoh in “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” currently playing at several Bay Area cinemas.

long-suffering husband, is waiting for the right moment to ask her for a divorce. Joy (Stephanie Hsu), Evelyn and Waymon’s lesbian daughter, wants to bring her girlfriend Becky (Tallie Medel) to the party being thrown in the laundromat for Evelyn’s father Gong Gong (James Hong). However, Evelyn is against Joy introducing Becky to Gong Gong as her girlfriend. On the way to an appointment with Deirdre in the Simi Valley IRS office, Evelyn’s fantasy world begins to reveal itself. In the elevator, Waymon slaps

a pair of Bluetooths on his wife, and the multiverses rev their engines. According to one of Waymon’s multiple aliases, Evelyn is the last great hope to save her universe from an evil being known as Jobu Tupaki (also played by Hsu) who is determined to destroy all parallel universes. What happens over the course of the next two hours is visually captivating, laugh-out-loud hilarious, and tear-jerking touching. There’s a lot to keep track of, and the action is rapidfire, so you may find yourself resisting the urge to blink in the event that you might miss something. Ultimately, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is a story about the struggle for acceptance, from parents, from people in power, and from personal and professional acquaintances. It’s about old-world values banging into rapidly evolving 21st-century cultural and societal ideals. Sure, the fight scenes go on ad nauseum (good time to blink), however, the one with the phallic trophies which function as jump pads shouldn’t be missed. Yeoh and Curtis are sensational, as is the supporting cast, including Hsu, Quan, Hong, and even Jenny Slate (as a disgruntled customer). One can only imagine how the Daniels will ever be able to top this film.t Rating: A-

On film, in music, on television, in books, and on museum walls, we need depictions of BIPOC individuals and communities that prioritize our experiences of the people and places that shape our lives.t The Cartoon Art Museum’s Emerging Artist Showcase, April 30 – August 7.11am-5pm, closed Wednesdays. Free-$10. 781 Beach St. https://www.cartoonart.org/

Read the full interview on www.ebar.com

Portrait from Ajuan Mance’s ‘1001 Black Men’

particular categorization. The most paramount thing about myself and acting is to be true to my self.” However vague Prior might be in sexually identifying himself, he had strong opinions on whether only gay actors should play gay roles. “If we start saying only gay actors can play gay parts, then how do we know the pendulum might not swing the other way and then only straight actors can play straight parts, which I think would be terribly sad.” He continued, “For anyone on any kind of spectrum, it’s really being able to inhabit the truth of your character, which is always my job as an actor. It comes down to the integrity of the actor. We should be cast on merit, not life circumstances. Where does the line stop? Do you have to be a real shark hunter to play one in a film? And how can you really know the actor is gay. If someone really wants the role, they could say, ‘Sure I’m gay.’ If you’re only going to interview gay actors, that is discrimination.”

As for the themes of the film, Prior believes that it calls people to live more courageously and authentically, even if they aren’t a part of the LGBTQ community. One should treat all people with openness and respect. Prior said the filmmakers made a conscious choice “to stress the love, two souls merging, rather than the explicit, mechanical sexual interactions.” For Rebane, it was the simple, human story that touched him and pushed him to make the film. “It’s so sad to think how the system destroyed their lives, which is exactly what is happening in Ukraine,” he said. “45 years later, it’s the same system, same KGB and dictatorship, with nothing really having changed. Yet when we started interviewing people, now in their late 60s, early 70s, who served in the Soviet military in the 1970s and who had same-sex relationships, we discovered a whole subculture that I knew nothing about and then realized life went on during the Cold War and people fell in love. We made the right choices on how to produce this film. I didn’t set out to make a political film. I wanted to tell the story of three people, living their lives in an authoritarian, hostile society, trying to find love despite having the odds stacked against them. Now is the time to foster more respect for one universal human right: to love and be loved.”t

True story

Both Prior and Rebane met and interviewed the real-life Sergey before he died in 2017. Prior found him to be “an amazingly warm, generous, caring, and charismatic soul. He behaved in a way that was truthful and authentic but streetwise. Peeter and I went to dinner with him in Moscow, and he was openly flirting with the male waiter, which is daring, but not in any sleazy way, just being true to himself. He did the best he could with what he had, in an environment not conducive to his lifestyle.”

Firebird opens in U.S. theaters April 29. www.firebirdmovie.com

Read the full interview on www.ebar.com

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<< Theatre

16 • Bay Area Repor ter • April 28-May 4, 2022

Rinabeth Apostol, take two

While Apostol says she is now in the fortunate position of “not having to run myself ragged” taking back-toback roles in order to stay afloat economically, she says she is willing to do it when it means “doing work that is relevant to what’s going on today and getting to work with new playwrights with fresh takes on the world instead of another iteration of Miss Saigon. As a woman and an Asian American, I live in a body that is politicized, whether or not I want it to be, and that has an influence on the roles I want to play and that I will take when I get the chance to play them.”

Roles that reflect real life

Let’s talk cannabis. Rinabeth Apostol

CASTRO • MARINA • SOMA

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n May 8, Rinabeth Apostol will take her last bow as Alison Bechdel in the 42nd Street Moon production of the Tony-winning musical “Fun Home.” Just three nights later, she’ll be on stage at the Magic Theatre, playing a titular sibling in the world premiere of Sam Chanse’s Asian American road trip dramedy “Monument, or Four Sisters (A Sloth Play).” If you catch Apostol in both productions, you’ll no doubt see what this critic called “a remarkable display of versatility” when the queer Filipina actor last pulled off two overlapping engagements in late 2019, rehearsing for her lead in the musical comedy “Groundhog Day” at SF Playhouse by day while playing the title character in “The Chinese Lady” at the Magic by night. As one of Bay Area theater’s most accomplished and in-demand actors, Apostol, who grew up in Berkeley, the daughter of political activist parents, has been fortunate enough to occasionally maintain lengthy periods of on stage employment. In New York, Professional headshots / profile pics that might mean a single role in a Weddings / Events long-running production, but in the scrappier scene here –where theater tourism is minimal so audiences consist almost entirely of locals– it means back-to-back parts and sometimes complex logistics, scrambling 415 370 7152 • StevenUnderhill.com between rehearsal rooms and spotlights. “When you’re working in entertainment, you don’t always know when UNDERHILL.indd 1 4/22/22 3:05 PM your next job is coming,” Apostol said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter last week. “Sometimes it’s crazy, practicing lines in the car and trying to stay in the right lane when you’re headed from one thing to the next. It can take a toll. Two shows is a lot of lines to keep memorized at once. And my wife will tell you that I can’t remember what I ate yesterday. But I’m grateful that I have these opportunities.” At least two other pairs of back-toback gigs sprung immediately to mind Monday 8am for Apostol. (last seating 9:45pm) “I realized the stamina it can take Tuesday 8am back it 2011 when I was rehearsNew Adjusted Hours (last seating 9:45pm) ing “Avenue Q” at San Jose Stage and driving to the Playground Festival in Wednesday 8am Potrero in the evenings. And I was liv(last seating 9:45pm) ing in Alameda at the time!” Thursday 8am “And in early 2019, Jomar Tagatac Open 24 Hours [A similarly versatile and in-demand local performer] and I were both doFriday ing ‘King of the Yees’ at SF Playhouse Open 24 Hours while we were rehearsing for a proSaturday duction of ‘Vietgone’ in Sacramento. Open 24 Hours “We took Amtrak back and forth every day,” she recalls. “In order to be Sunday 7am in San Francisco on time for the per(last seating 9:45pm) formance each night, our rehearsals for Capital Playhouse were at eight in the morning to accommodate us. Can you imagine? Nobody does that.” Proudly serving the community since 1977. In fact, they sometimes do; especially when it means an opportu3991-A 17th Street, Market & Castro nity to cast the likes of Apostol and

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Tagatac, whose consistent presence on local stages provides frequent theatergoers with a sense of familiarity and dependability. Spotting either of their headshots in your playbill feels like a Good Stagekeeping Seal of Approval, virtually guaranteeing smart and satisfying work in the evening ahead. Apostol is quick to acknowledge her wife of seven years, Marie Bernardo, for steadfast support of her acting career, even as it means they frequently work different schedules that can minimize time together. “The pandemic,” notes Apostol, “gave us a rare opportunity to spend time with each other.” While Bernardo, who works in marketing for a bank, has a largely consistent group of coworkers from day to day, Apostol observes that “I have a new group of colleagues every month or so, and she is so welcoming and warm to all of them. “Marie and I knew each other when we were much younger, but when we met as adults, she had no idea what I did for a living. But it turned out she’s a huge musical theater fan. She likes to call herself my manager. I’m actually not very good at publicizing my work, but Marie has a huge email list and gets our friends and family and coworkers out to my shows.”

While she’s been performing locally since childhood, Apostol notes that it wasn’t until 2015 that she first played a Filipina role, in “Monstress” at A.C.T. (A second followed quickly on its heels, when she played in Jessica Hagedorn’s “Dogeaters” at the Magic). And her current stint in “Fun Home” is the first time she’s ever played a lesbian on stage. “I’ve actually never seen a production of ‘Fun Home’ before,” Apostol says. “But I remember seeing an excerpt on the Tony Awards the year it was nominated and watching the girl who played Alison singing ‘Ring of Keys,’ which is about a child being first able to recognize herself and her value and possibilities in the world. My whole face was just leaking watching that. I was so moved.” In “Monument,” there is no specific mention of the fact that the four sisters are Asian American, but Apostol says she could feel some very familiar family dynamics baked into the characters by playwright Chanse. “I loved the fact that the play features Asian American characters,” says Apostol, “but that the story isn’t particularly focused on their Asian American-ness.” And so, another double-header: Two more irresistible roles for Rinabeth Apostol, two more promising nights at the theater for Bay Area audiences. ‘Fun Home,’ through May 8 at the Gateway Theatre. 215 Jackson St. $20-$70. 415-255-8207. www.42ndstmoon.org ‘Monument, or Four Sisters,’ May 11-29 at the Magic Theatre. Fort Mason. $20-$70. 415-441-8822. www.magictheatre.org http://www.rinabeth.com

Allegiance at Palo Alto Players

George Takei, the first major Asian American actor to publicly come out as being gay, was intimately involved in the original production of “Allegiance,” a musical about his own Japanese American family’s experiences in an internment camp during WWII. The story of a Salinas farm family forcibly relocated to Heart Mountain Relocation Camp in Wyoming is both touching and tuneful, and the rare musical with all Asian leads by and music and lyrics by an Asian-American composer, Jay Kuo.t Kevin Berne

Rinabeth Apostol in A.C.T.’s ‘Monstress.’

Allegiance, through May 8 at the Lucie Stern Theater, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto. $27-$57. 650329-0891. www.paplayers.org

Rinabeth Apostopol and Jaron-Vesely in 42nd Street Moon’s production of ‘Fun Home.’

Fine Art>>

April 28-May 4, 2022 • Bay Area Repor ter • 17

‘We Just Want to Be’ @ Spark Arts by David-Elijah Nahmod

n May 6 and 7 the Spark Arts gallery in the Castro will host a pop art show and a staged reading which will serve as a fundraiser for “We Just Want to Be,” an upcoming

feature-length documentary that will underscore the violence of conversion therapy. Now debunked, conversion therapy is the practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity using psychological, physical,

Shipyard styles; Bob Mizer inspires

Marti McKee’s art at Shipyard Artists Open Studios

by Jim Provenzano

n continuing our particularly queer art exhibit coverage, two opportunities in almost opposite ends of town might interest you. Hunters Point Spring Open Studios showcases a diverse array of 100+ visual artists’ works. A little gay birdie told me that LGBTQ artists presenting their works include Carol Banfield (vibrant drawings), James Groleau (evocative landscapes), Marti McKee (etchings and agitprop poster art) and Bruce Katz (urban and country landscapes). Shipyard Artists Open Studios, April 30 & May 1, 451 Galvez St.

or spiritual interventions. Conversion therapy is known to inflict great psychological harm on those who are subjected to it. Dr. Sé Sullivan, 60, knows a thing or two about conversion therapy, as they are a survivor of this horrific practice. Sullivan’s advice to others who have been through these “therapies” is simple. “Find your people and let them love you until you can love yourself,” they said in an email interview with the Bay Area Reporter. On Friday May 6, a free opening reception will display Dr. Sullivan’s art, inspired by their experiences. On display will be the doctor’s medical transcripts from when they were subjected to conversion therapy more than 50 years ago. “The theme of the art show is hanging the dirty laundry out,” said Sullivan, who identifies as non-binary and trans. “The main piece is called ‘Blood on the Page.’ Parts of the transcripts are hanging with red paint splattered on them, suspended by clothespins from hospital IV poles.” Also on display will be four large images, hanging from the wall. Three are of Sullivan at different ages while one is at the hallway at the UCLA neuropsychiatric building from a trip that Sullivan took there in 2015 while working on their dissertation. “There is an exhibition called ‘The Closet’ which tells the story of how at eight I hid in a psychiatrist’s office once a week for several months during conversion therapy sessions,” Sullivan continued. “There is a bowl of M&Ms people can take, the candy representing the actual candy while sitting alone in the dark closet of the psychiatrist’s office.” On Saturday May 7 there will be a staged reading, hosted by Sister Roma of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, in which local activists will perform a dramatic reading of

Sé Sullivan

Dr. Sé Sullivan’s medical transcript installation

Sé Sullivan

Dr. Sé Sullivan

Sullivan’s medical transcripts from their conversion therapy experience. Activists taking part in the reading include Susan Stryker and Malachi Garza, as well as Dr. Sullivan themself. Cost to attend the reading is $60. This event is limited to 60 people. Proceeds from the reading will go toward production of the film “We Just Want to Be,” which is being produced by Dr. Sullivan and Dr. Mauro Sifuentes. “The art show and the film project are the natural steps from my dissertation which is what both are based on,”

said Sullivan. “I feel that in the current climate of anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bills proposed across the country, the film first and foremost is to help people understand how conversion therapy was developed by extracting data and ‘improper’ gender from children. These doctors, through their racial and sexual anxiety, placed their research in a white heteronormative middle-class model of inquiry. They developed the pathology and the cure, claiming that trans, non-binary and other LGBTQ children were mentally ill.” Sullivan feels that it is most important to share their story. “Sharing is not about an ‘I’ story, it is about a ‘we’ story,” they said. “It is also a love letter to those who have survived by any means and to those of us, of this ‘we,’ that have lost believing that their divine humanity was deviant, ungodly and not worthy of love.” Ultimately, there is one thing that Sullivan wants the public to know about conversion therapy, “That it is a form of violence that causes lifelong trauma for many survivors.”t “We Just Want to Be” pop-up art show and staged reading, May 6 & 7 at Spark Arts Gallery, 4229 18th St. www.wejustwanttobe.org

www.shipyardartists.com

Keith Denatale’s “Column Rider” in the ‘Raw Mizer’ exhibit.

Over in the Tenderloin, the Bob Mizer Foundation, located at vintage shop The Magazine, will open a new group exhibit, “Raw Mizer,” with ten selected artists’ work curated by Kyle Quinn of Raw Meat Collective. The artists have made art directly and indirectly inspired by photos by Bob Mizer, the father of mid-20th-century homoerotic physique photography. “Raw Mizer,” May 5 (opening reception, 7pm-9pm) through May 26, 920 Larkin St. www.bobmizer.org/raw-mizer

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<< Books

18 • Bay Area Repor ter • April 28-May 4, 2022

Ocean Vuong’s rainbow afterglow

by Tim Pfaff

ne true way to envision Ocean Vuong is as, if not The Survivor, a survivor. He survived being plucked out of Saigon at the age of two and hauled, in stages, to the US. Here he survived illiteracy and dyslexia to learn English more deeply than most native speakers. Then he survived coming out in unswishy environments. He sur-

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vived drugs and alcohol. He survived poverty of a kind you almost have to be Asian to know, and he gives evidence now of surviving a pint-sized prosperity. As, if not most, miraculously, he has survived fame at its most relentlessly American. A waiting, hungry audience asked him say whence he’d come, who he was, and who made him. Generations of eager admirers, most who knew Vietnam as a movie rather than the grind of news-hour TV, asked him to forgive them yet one more time for the American War. He responded with a book of poems, “Night Sky with Exit Wounds,” and a novel partly in verse, “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” Huckleberry Finn playing The Barbarian Reed Pipe. When we called him a genius, he replied that he might not write more books, and that that would be okay. Not that it would have to be okay, but that it would be okay with him. And he wore the new mantles we put on him but did not write again until his newly released second books of poems, “Time Is a Mother” (Penguin Press). Its contents are not occasional poems, at least in the usual sense, but they were occasioned by the silence that enveloped him after the death of his mother, the nail salon worker who painstakingly saw to it that he would become someone she literally could not understand, whose public readings she could judge only by the looks on his listeners’ faces. She liked that we liked him.

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has written since, and in everything he can imagine ever writing, he would, given time and the opportunity, tirelessly revise. Just not this time, these poems. In “Dear Sara,” he addresses his cousin, to whom he loves reading and who has asked him, “What’s the point of writing if you’re just going to force a bunch of ants to cross a white desert?” He replies that “my hands are monsters who believe in magic,” and then more about the ants “fossilized on the page,” and then more song. In “American Legend,” he gives us a rare glimpse of his father, “driving with my old man.” On a hairpin turn, “he slammed into me & we hugged for the first time in decades. It was perfect & wrong, like money on fire.” Father counseled, “Put it down on the page, son,” and Ocean “did what any boy would do after getting exactly what he wanted: I kissed my father.” In the poems he also speaks to his partner, Peter, often confessionally. Such as one could speak of a new confidence in Vuong’s poetry, the emphasis would have to be on the confide-ent. There’s bluntness about his psych ward days offset by what feel like present-day odes, such as “The Last Dinosaur,” in which he puts in the mouth of an ancient redwood, “Oh human, I’m not mad at you for winning but that you never wished for more.”

AUTO EROTICA AUTO EROTICA In the tidal wave of interviews he’s given about the new poems, he has offered the only critical opinion that matters: that he does not regret the book. That in the others, and what he

Author Ocean Vuong

His words for the most intimate things are so right you don’t blush. In “Dear T” he uses one of the longest poemscapes to show “maybe I can build a boy.” He has also said that what he likes about the new book is that in it he was able to write “in all registers.” What that means for the musical-score-attendant listener is that phrases like “the aubade left to rot in the afternoon” gets to rub elbows, and print gutters, with “Hey. I used to be a fag now I’m a checkbox.” (“Not Even”) Now when the old rage resurfaces, it’s as threnody as much as lament. Responding to a girl at an “artsy” Brooklyn party who says he’s lucky because as a fag he can also write about war, he replies, “Because everyone knows yellow pain, pressed into

American letters, turns to gold. Our sorrow Midas touched. Napalm with a rainbow afterglow.” There are long poems in this book that really hold up, the longest the last, addressed to his mother, Rose. “Let me begin again now that you’re gone Ma, if you’re reading this then you survived….” Ocean Vuong could be called a survivor of his mother’s death only by resorting to the desiccated language of the newspaper obituary. But as only mothers’ deaths can, hers –his– has set him free, at least free enough to write a body of verse that might be called, maybe even by him, settled. Not that, here, the poet has even for a minute settled.t Ocean Vuong, “Time Is a Mother,” Penguin Press, 108 pages, $24

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he problematic return of a gay Latinx man to his hometown after decades away is supreme fodder for an engrossing and melodramatic novel, and debut author Alejandro Varela seems more than happy to seize the moment. His protagonist in “The Town of Babylon” is Andres, a public health professor, who left his birthplace of Babylon (exact location not specified) 20 years prior for the safer higher ground of the big city. He has reluctantly planned an unceremonious return home to see his father who is home convalescing after intestinal surgery. The timing couldn’t be better to get away for a bit since his marriage to his husband has seen better days, thanks to an ordeal back home involving infidelity. Once back in the ever-familiar land of Babylon, Andres is reunited with friends and classmates from his past, including processing some closure from his older brother Henry’s emotionally crushing death. Adding fuel to this fiery homecoming tale is Andres’ 20th high school class reunion which just happens to be taking place during his visit. After much trepidation and swallowing the dread that caused him to leave town in the first place, Andres decides to bite the bullet and attend the gathering. The reunion is a swarm of former classmates who, as happens in reality, seem frozen in time and thirsty for some semblance of a life. They appear, to those who have moved away, to have never achieved any modicum of emotional growth or visible happiness, yet have aged onward nonetheless. Among the more uncomfortable scenarios he contends with at the reunion is meeting up with Jeremy,

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a former best buddy and high school flame who still looks handsome and soon becomes more than just a temptation for the emotionally fraught Andres. Unfinished business remains between the two since their high school dalliance was cut short “with the force and expediency of a welltimed blade.” Also at the reunion are less-savory classmates like Paul, a small-framed and insecure nugget of man-child who’d overcompensated for his stature with a caustic mean-spirited personality that tended to find Andres in its crosshairs. Of course, Paul is now an infuriatingly pious Christian minister at one of Babylon’s tacky storefront churches and, to Andres, responsible for the homophobic slaughter of a local gay man at the local gay cruising area years prior. Backstory material –sometimes necessary, sometimes excessively expository– duly fill in the histories of most of Varela’s engrossing characters and flesh out a community rife with

small-mindedness, loss, jealousy, hate, and the kind of still-smoldering missed opportunities for stealth affection that can sink even a fractured gay marriage. It is indeed the messy past that Andres struggles to move through, but, as in life, in order to truly move forward, dealing with what got you to your present in the first place must be subdued. This is a busy, heavily populated novel that feels overwrought in spots where Varela has added somewhat expository social and cultural criticisms or stuffed characters into scenes that didn’t need additional voices or drama. Overall, this is a dynamic and resonant debut that demonstrates lots of potential for the New York-based author whose work has prolifically appeared in a wide variety of literary journals. Hopefully there will be more books to come from the talented Varela.t ‘The Town of Babylon’ by Alejandro Varela; Astra House, $27 www.penguinrandomhouse.com www.alejandrovarela.work

Music & Books>>

April 28-May 4, 2022 • Bay Area Repor ter • 19

Q-Music: Fiercest females by Gregg Shapiro

owerful and talented women, including Oliva Rodrigo, Doja Cat, Lady Gaga, Lizzo and Billie Eilish, have been dominating our playlists as of late. However, they aren’t the only ones worthy of your ears and your time. Along with Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen, Mitski has been holding down the hipster fort with releases such as 2016’s “Puberty 2” and 2018’s “Be The Cowboy.” With her new album “Laurel Hell” (Dead Oceans), Mitski sounds like she’s hoping for some commercial crossover. While she hasn’t gone full-on Adele, “Laurel Hell” is Mitski’s most accessible album and features songs, such as “Stay Soft,” the ‘80s-pop-driven “The Only Heartbreaker” and “That’s Our Lamp,” the clubby “Love Me More,” and the ‘60s retro of “Should’ve Been Me.” Mitski isn’t the only one dipping her pedicured toe in the ‘60s retro pool. The aptly named technicolor tunes on “In Cinerama” (Omnivore) by April March (aka Elinor Blake) have the ability to make us feel as if we’re time traveling in a 21st-century vehicle. Francophile April March has created a soundtrack to the best French new wave movies never made.

Left to Right: Mitski, April March, Jenny Hval, Flock of Dimes, Anika, Basia Bulat

Album opener “Lift Off ” get things off the ground, while levitating numbers “Rolla Rolla,” “Stand In the Sun,” “Ride or Divide,” “Runaway,” “Down The Line,” and bonus track “Friends Peculiar” keep us afloat. It’s not surprising that Norwegian singer/songwriter Jenny Hval also writes prose in addition to making music. Just read the lyrics to “Year of Love,” the opening track of her new album “Classical Objects” (4AD) and you get a sense of Hval’s flair for language. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that she’s also a talented singer and musician. “American Coffee” starts

off like that first sip of hot java before becoming a caffeinated dance track. “Year of Sky” is another rhythmic track to keep your body in motion, while the experimental “Jupiter” is out of this world. Closing cut “The Revolution Will Not Be Owned” couldn’t be timelier. If you’re planning to dive into Flock of Dimes’ “Head of Roses: Phantom Limb,” it’s recommended to revisit its 2021 predecessor “Head of Roses” (Sub Pop). Flock of Dimes, the solo project of Jenn Wasner (of Wye Oak fame), is alternately beautiful and unsettling, beginning with

opening track “2 Heads.” “Price of Blue” is alternative blues, while “Two” is lightly funky. Also worth mentioning are the haunting “One More Hour” and “No Question,” as well as the subtle twang of “Awake for the Sunrise.” The trademark detached vocals of British/German singer Anika (think Nico in our century) are a good fit for a song such as the spoken/sung “Finger Pies” and “Critical” from her album “Change” (Sacred Bones). The spooky “Critical,” about giving her man “the last word” and giving him “what he deserves,” sounds like revenge set

to music. Potential club banger “Naysayer,” the dark wave of “Freedom” and dreamy album closer “Wait For Something” are also worth a listen. Hopefully, Anika won’t make us wait another 11 years between releases. It’s been 15 years since Canadian singer/songwriter Basia Bulat released her debut album “Oh My Darling.” On her latest, “The Garden” (Secret City), revisits 16 songs culled from her first five albums in “classical string-quartet arrangements” by gay musician Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) and others, giving listeners a fresh perspective on Bulat’s artistry.t

‘Start’ laughing with writer Gary Janetti by Gregg Shapiro

he humorous essay is an art form, one that has been perfected by the likes of gay writers including David Sedaris and the late David Rakoff. It’s a style of prose that can be as entertaining as it is enlightening. Gary Janetti is another gay writer who is well aware of the benefits of laughter. As a producer and writer for queer sitcoms including “Will & Grace” and “Vicious”, Janetti was good at tickling our funny bones. That ability also carries over to the page in “Start Without Me (I’ll Be There in a Minute)” (Holt, 2022), a collection of 18 linked essays that follow Janetti from his teen years through his 20s to the present, all the while providing multiple opportunities to laugh out loud. Gregg Shapiro: Gary, I’d like to begin the interview by asking you to say something about your fondness for parentheses, beginning with the one in the title of your book and continuing throughout the 18 essays. Gary Janetti: I guess it’s a device that works for me, that allows me to kind of do asides. It’s like talking to the audience, if you will. It allows you to kind of break out of it and get even a bit more personal or a little bit more kind of conversational. But I don’t know why. I just started doing it and it works for me. A majority of the essays take readers into your past. Were you a journal keeper or did you rely on memory when it came to writing about events from that time?

No, I never kept a journal. I think somebody gave me a journal once when I was in college, and I wrote in it the day that I got it. “I’m gonna write in this every day for the rest of my life!” And that was the last time I ever wrote in it. I rely on my memory. Do the essays in the book appear in the order in which they were written? They do. I thought after I finished, I didn’t know if I would want to keep them in that order. But I guess I had an instinct that hopefully, they would stay in that order because it felt like that’s the order they wanted to be in. It actually reads in an organic way, so yes, that makes sense. Speaking of order, “Start Without Me” opens with “The Carol Burnett Show” essay, in which you talk about not telling her how much of an influence she was on you when you met her. Even so, do you think you might try to get a copy of your book to her? [Laughs] That’s a good question. And the answer is yes. Yeah, I will, definitely. Public access TV host and superstar Robin Byrd also gets mentioned in the essay “J’s.” Will you be sending her a copy of your book? I hadn’t thought of that, Gregg. But now that you mentioned it, why not? Are you aware of “The Robyn Byrd Show?”

Of course, yes. I didn’t live in New York. But my friend Denise, who lived in New York, once sent me a VHS tape that she had made of it. Yeah, it’s so specific. It was our “Watch What Happens Live” [laughs]!

By trying not to think too much of it; by trying to be honest as best I could; by just trying to write exactly what I felt. I think that’s it. I didn’t really approach it any differently. I allowed myself to not worry about having to be funny.

Well, with a lot more going on, including stripping and nudity. It felt like there was something very sweet about it, even though she was interviewing porn stars. Not that one is exclusive of the other. But it had this kind of, “Let’s put on a show” charm to it that, in hindsight now, I’m like, “Awww.”

It takes the pressure off. Yeah. I was like, I’m not going to worry about having to be funny and having to be clever or having to make a joke or find a way. If something happens, it’s how I’m feeling as I’m writing this, and what I have to say is organic to it, that that’s okay. But I’m not going to worry with some of these about whether or not they’re funny. I’m going to hope that the audience will be along, regardless.

While most of the essays have a strong comedic element, there are also serious moments, such as in the “Grandma” essay when you hear the story about the grandmother you never knew defending the gay nephew of one of her neighbors. How do you approach serious subject matter versus humorous material?

No, no, not at all. He only just read it. He probably read it around the same time you read it. There’s nothing to negotiate. I could write anything that I wanted. He appeared in the first book, I think, a bit more than he appears in this book. I actually thought he might appear more in here. What I’m writing about is mostly a time way before him, but I’m looking at it from now, so he becomes a part of that. He trusts me. He doesn’t read anything until it’s literally done. That’s just how I am. I don’t like people, aside from my editor (reading it). I’d rather just get it done.t “Start Without Me: (I’ll Be There in a Minute)”, by Gary Janetti Holt. $28. Gary Janetti will read and sign his books in San Francisco at Book Passage on April 30, 2pm, SF Ferry Bldg., Embarcadero at Market. www.bookpassage.com

Your husband Brad Goreski appears in the “Destination Weddings” essay. How do you negotiate writing about him – for example, does he have to approve of the way he’s represented?

Read the full interview on www.ebar.com

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