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AIDS 2020 goes virtual
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STD update
Besties 2020
The
www.ebar.com
Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Vol. 50 • No. 14 • April 2-8, 2020
Rick Gerharter
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, shown at the city’s emergency operations center last month, announced March 31 that the shelter-in-place order would be extended through May 3
Courtesy Grindr
Hookup apps like Grindr are urging people not to meet in person during the coronavirus outbreak.
Besties 2020: Readers can’t wait for their favorites to return
LGBT leaders urge no hook-ups amid virus outbreak by John Ferrannini
L
GBT community leaders call upon people to change their sexual habits amid a deadly viral pandemic. A recalcitrant few refuse, while many more are wracked with fear. Government orders shutter queer spaces. A news flash from the 1980s? No. This is queer life in the time of the novel coronavirus. The analogy isn’t perfect, but if history isn’t repeating itself in 2020 San Francisco, it is certainly rhyming. See page 16 >>
KaiKai Bee Michaels performed at QBar before the venue’s fire and the recent closure of all Castro bars. Gooch
I
n this time of staying at home and practicing physical distancing, it’s catastrophic that the majority of this year’s Besties winners are not open right now. But we pledged to publish this April 2 issue months ago, and we’re fortunate and grateful to have a few advertisers who are committed to supporting us while they are closed. A review of this year’s victors of the Bay Area Reporter’s 10th annual readers’ poll begins on page 19. It is our hope that when the coronavirus pandemic eases and businesses begin to reopen, readers will patronize them
– both as a show of support and because of their service, selection, or otherwise unique feature. The same is true across all categories of the poll, from arts and cultural organizations to nightlife and travel destinations. Information included in these brief reviews is mostly intended for the future, although we do not know at this writing whether all of the featured people, places, and things will return as we remember them. This challenging time will bring significant changes to the scene; we’ll have to wait and see what’s next. – The Editors
Shelter-in-place extended through May 3
by John Ferrannini
T
he shelter-in-place orders active in at least seven Bay Area jurisdictions to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus will remain in force through May 3, according to a news release from San Francisco Mayor London Breed and the other counties March 31. Breed announced the extension in remarks at the city’s emergency operations center at Moscone Center around noon Monday and officials formalized the date Tuesday. As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, the orders had first been declared two weeks ago, effective at midnight March 16, and were set to See page 16 >>
SF leather plaza inches along in SOMA by Matthew S. Bajko Barak Shrama
Audiences will have to wait until the fall for this year’s Frameline LGBTQ film festival.
Frameline postpones June LGBTQ film festival by Cynthia Laird
F
rameline, the San Francisco LGBTQ film festival usually held in June, has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, Executive Director James Woolley announced Tuesday. The film festival is now slated for the fall, though no dates were announced. It had been scheduled for June 18-28. The longest running and most widely recognized queer film festival in the world, Frameline will also be expanding its film offerings throughout the year and is working on innovative ways See page 6 >>
T
he first half of San Francisco’s underconstruction plaza dedicated to leather culture is now accessible to passersby on foot or bicycle. The remaining section isn’t expected to be complete until late April or early May. But due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, and the imposition of a shelter-inplace order for city residents through at least May 3, it is unclear when a dedication ceremony can be held for what is the world’s first public parklet honoring the leather and kink communities. “We are planning to push our celebration back from April to mid-May (this is a placeholder and will need to be confirmed),” Mark Bonsignore, a parks and place project manager with the San Francisco Parks Alliance, told the Bay Area Reporter this week. “The Friends of Eagle Plaza (FoEP) have been finalizing the group’s bylaws and fiscal sponsorship and should have more information on grand opening in the coming weeks.” The $1.85 million project, which is turning a portion of 12th Street in the city’s South of Market neighborhood into a community gathering space, has run into numerous delays since it was first proposed by the owners of the Eagle gay bar after which the plaza is named.
Rick Gerharter
Eagle Plaza, which includes an oversize leather flag, is nearing completion.
The new public open space sits in front of the business, now shuttered due to the health pandemic, on 12th Street between Harrison and Bernice streets. Place Lab, started by Build Inc. and now part of the nonprofit parks alliance, oversaw the design of, and permits for, Eagle Plaza. The local development firm is constructing the approximately 12,500 square foot
plaza as part of a $1.5 million in-kind agreement with the city for approval of its mixeduse development across the street from the Eagle bar on what was a surface parking lot. The 136-unit housing development at 1532 Harrison Street cannot open to residents until Eagle Plaza is built.
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Help preserve as an historic and important community institution for the future.
https://igg.me/at/save-the-BAR
See page 17 >>