April 4, 2013 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

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Debriefing on Prop 8, DOMA

Head up to the river

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6-7

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Vol. 43 • No. 14 • April 4-10, 2013

Obstacles limit affordable housing

by Matthew S. Bajko

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Jane Philomen Cleland

Supervisors Mark Farrell, John Avalos and Scott Wiener listen to testimony about the harmful effects federal budget cuts would have on city residents living with HIV/AIDS.

HIV cuts concern supes

by James Patterson

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n a packed City Hall committee room, activists, caregivers, and people living with HIV, who ranged in age from 19 to 68, testified their services, health care, and lives would be endangered if $5.3 million in funding cuts for HIV services are not restored by Mayor Ed Lee. Gay Supervisors Scott Wiener and David Campos held a Budget and Finance Committee hearing March 27 to discuss effects of reduced federal funding to the city’s HIV services community for fiscal 2013-2014. Supervisors John Avalos, London Breed, Eric Mar, and Mark Farrell also attended.

In opening remarks, Wiener called reductions of an estimated $1.88 million from Centers for Disease Control prevention funds and an estimated $3.42 million in funds from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act, “extreme and shortsighted.” San Francisco’s response to HIV/AIDS is a “model for the world,” he added.

Campos said the city needed to act to “protect the safety net for the city’s most vulnerable people.” San Francisco has an obligation to restore the cuts, he said.

“If people can’t get lifesaving services, it will result in greater costs to the city,” Campos said. “People will die if services are not available.”

Health Director Barbara Garcia testified the cuts, if not backfilled, would reduce services and programs. She expressed concern the federal cuts would set back the city’s progress on reducing HIV transmissions.

See page 28 >>

Anti-violence rally draws crowd Peter Thoshinsky

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l/La Para Translatinas, an agency serving transgender people in San Francisco’s Mission district, held a rally at the 16th Street BART station plaza Thursday, March 28 to call attention to what the group says is an uptick in anti-transgender violence. Protester Rafael Lopez, left, who identifies as a gay man, wore a dress in what he said was “a show of support to

raise awareness of people being beaten.”

Others who attended included gay San Francisco Supervisors David Campos, whose district includes the Mission, and Scott Wiener, who represents the Castro. a police officials told the Bay Area Reporter last week that officers are “extremely sensitive” toward the transgender community and are working with community leaders.

ith rents and housing prices skyrocketing in San Francisco, the issue of affordable housing is once again at the forefront.

It is of particular concern for LGBT residents who are reaching their senior years or have lived with HIV/ AIDS longer than they had imagined they would. Many older LGBT residents do not have family to rely on in their retirement Bill Hirsh years, or for people living with HIV/AIDS, they did not think they would live long enough to need to financially plan for their golden See page 26 >>

Foundation continues Ross’s legacy

by Seth Hemmelgarn

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lmost 10 years after the death of Bob Ross, the Bay Area Reporter’s publisher and founder, the foundation that bears his name continues to support a diverse range of HIV-related, LGBT, cultural, and other nonprofit organizations.

Thomas E. Horn, the director of the Bob Ross Foundation, became the B.A.R.’s publisher after Ross died of complications from diabetes in December 2003 at the age of 69.

This month marks the paper’s 42nd anniversary.

The foundation offers “ongoing evidence” of Ross’s “commitment to the cultural health and educational vitality of San Francisco and the Bay Area” that he contributed to when he was alive, Horn said.

“That didn’t stop with his death,” he said.

“It’s only increased.”

Horn, who isn’t compensated for his foundation work, said that Ross “knew that when he died there would be a substantial estate,” and he’d wanted an organized way to make distributions.

Ross was right about the size of his estate – Horn said it was between $11 million and $12 million, and it all went to the foundation, which is currently worth roughly $7.5 million.

(Although the foundation owns the newspaper, “they are financially completely independent,” Horn said.)

Tom Schmidt

Thomas E. Horn is director of the Bob Ross Foundation.

He estimated that Ross established the foundation around 1995, and that in its first year, the foundation distributed $100,000.

After Ross died, the contributions jumped to $300,000.

In 2012, the foundation donated almost $450,000 to more than 40 groups. Horn expects it will share at least as much money this year.

AIDS Emergency Fund, where Ross was once a board member, is a longtime

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beneficiary.

Last year, the foundation contributed a total of about $60,000 to the nonprofit, which provides cash grants to people living with disabling HIV/AIDS so that they can pay rent and other expenses.

“There were a handful of pioneers who really stood up at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic,” AEF Executive Director Mike Smith said. “Most of them have passed either from AIDS or just from old age. I think it’s important we remember those people who made a difference in the early days of the epidemic.

Bob was one of them.”

The foundation has also provided funds to the Transgender Law Center for several years.

TLC Executive Director Masen Davis said the foundation’s support of his agency has ranged from $2,500 to $10,000 each year.

“Unfortunately, very few people and foundations provide support for transgender legal services,” he said. The foundation’s assistance “has been critical for us to provide free legal services to low-income people in the Bay Area,” Davis said.

Ross’s interests weren’t strictly LGBTrelated. He also gave to groups like Meals on Wheels and the San Francisco Ballet.

In 2012, Horn made a commitment of $250,000 to the ballet. Distributions start this year and will be spread out over five years.

Ross was on the ballet’s board for many years See page 26 >>

<< National News

6 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

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All eyes turn to Kennedy in marriage cases

by Lisa Keen

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ow that legal activists and experts have had a chance to go back over the U.S. Supreme Court arguments in last week’s two big same-sex cases, most are predicting victories, but only incremental ones.

Decisions in the two cases are likely in June.

In the case dealing with Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban, it appears that most believe the court will find that Hollingsworth v. Perry was improperly appealed. If so, a lower court decision striking Prop 8 will remain intact, and same-sex couples in California will be able to obtain marriage licenses within a few days.

In the Defense of Marriage Act case, U.S. v. Windsor, it appears most believe that, if the court reaches the merits, a 5-4 vote will strike the law down. But there is less confidence with Windsor about whether the court will get that far; many are unsure there will be a 5-4 vote to say the case was properly before the court.

Much of the post-argument speculation is based on the general consensus that the court’s four more liberal members – Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan – will vote for marriage equality and that its four more conservative jurists – Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito – will vote against. Justice Anthony Kennedy is considered the less predictable vote and one that could go either way to form a majority decision in either or both cases.

In the Prop 8 argument, Kennedy asked three questions concerning legal standing and five concerning constitutional issues.

On legal standing, he sent mixed signals. He expressed discomfort with the idea that the governor or attorney general of California could seemingly “thwart the initiative process” by refusing to defend a voter-approved initiative all the way through the appellate process. He also rebuffed a statement by Roberts, who said a state “can’t authorize anyone” to press an appeal. Kennedy said the Yes on 8 proponents were “different from saying any citizen.”

Those two points seemed to support allowing Yes on 8 standing to appeal.

And yet, he acknowledged there is a “substantial question on standing.”

On the constitutional questions surrounding Prop 8, Kennedy signaled five concerns. He underscored a question by Ginsburg concerning whether Prop 8 might be making a “gender-based classification,” adding that he sees it as a “difficult question” and one he has “been trying to wrestle with.” He challenged Yes on 8 attorney Charles Cooper on whether Yes on 8 was “conceding” that allowing same-sex couples to marry posed “no harm or denigration to traditional opposite-sex marriage couples.” He voiced his own concern about the “immediate legal injury” Prop 8 pressed on the 40,000 children of same-sex couples in California. (Cooper sought to deflect that concern by saying there was no data to indicate that marriage had any greater benefit for the children of same-sex parents than did domestic partnerships.)

But Kennedy also expressed his discomfort with the case dragging the court into “uncharted waters,” given the relative newness of families headed by same-sex couples.

And he declared the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel’s narrow

Justice Anthony Kennedy

ruling to be “very odd.” That latter declaration seemed odd itself, given that the 9th Circuit decision was based largely on a decision Kennedy wrote, in the 1996 Romer v. Evans case.

Legal experts posting at http:// www.scotus.com have identified at least seven potential outcomes in the Perry case, all of which would lead to same-sex couples being able to obtain marriage licenses again in California. One potential ruling would require eight other states to allow same-sex couples to marry, and a long-shot possibility is that the justices could decide that samesex marriage bans in all states are unconstitutional. But with one exception (the Michigan attorney general), no one is predicting that the court will rule that Prop 8 is a constitutionally valid measure.

UC Irvine law dean Erwin Chermerinsky points out that there are two ways the Supreme Court could avoid ruling on the constitutionality of Prop 8 in Hollingsworth v. Perry.

First, the court could decide that the appeal was “improvidently granted” review by the Supreme Court. That would leave the 9th Circuit ruling intact and same-sex couples could begin marrying again in California within days.

Second, it could decide that the Yes on 8 coalition had no legal standing to appeal to the 9th Circuit; that would leave the federal district court’s broader ruling in effect. Gay couples could begin marrying again in California within days.

DOMA and consequences

Even though most legal experts say they believe Kennedy will likely provide the needed fifth vote to overcome the procedural obstacles in the DOMA case, he voiced twice as many questions on those issues as he did during the Prop 8 case.

During oral argument in Windsor on March 27, he raised six questions over matters pertaining to the legal standing of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in the matter.

Kennedy questioned whether BLAG, representing Republican House leadership on appeal, had standing. If just one chamber of Congress could assert standing, said Kennedy, then the other chamber (in this case, the Senate) could also assert standing “to take the other side of this case.”

Kennedy, like the more conservative justices on the court, said he found it “very troubling” that the president would continue to enforce a law that he considers unconstitutional. That appears to be a straw man argument, as it seems unlikely the court would concede its power of judicial review to the executive branch. But it follows in a line of questions about whether the U.S. government had any need to ap-

peal the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that DOMA is unconstitutional.

To have an appeal properly before the court, the appealing party must show it is injured by the decision and that there is adversity between the party and the decision. In other words, a party who wins a court decision below has no need to appeal it. And the Obama administration agrees that DOMA is unconstitutional.

Kennedy did, however, say it “seems” to him “there’s an injury here.” Kagan identified the injury as a loss of the $363,000 plaintiff Edith Windsor paid to the government in estate taxes after her spouse died.

“If the court dismisses Windsor on standing grounds, it is harder to know exactly what that will mean,” said Chermerinsky, in his March 28 essay at scotusblog.com.

“Ms. Windsor will prevail and not have to pay the estate tax owed after her spouse’s death,” said Chermerinsky. “But this would not strike down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. All other same-sex married couples seeking benefits under federal law would need to bring an action. President [Barack] Obama, however, could cure this by changing his policy that the federal government will enforce, but not defend, DOMA. He could, and should, issue an executive order that DOMA is unconstitutional and the executive branch may not and will not enforce it.”

During oral argument on the DOMA case, Kennedy posed seven questions concerning the constitutionality of the law, five of them to BLAG attorney Paul Clement. Kennedy seemed to accept that the federal government might have occasional need to set a federal standard regarding marriage (for instance, to prevent couples from divorcing at the end of every tax year to reduce their tax bite). But he seemed uneasy with BLAG’s argument that “uniformity” was the overriding need for a definition of marriage that would exclude one group of married couples in more than 1,100 federal laws and regulations.

“When it has 1,100 laws, which in our society means that the federal government is intertwined with the citizens’ day-to-day life, you are at real risk of running in conflict with what has always been thought to be the essence of the state police power, which is to regulate marriage, divorce, and custody,” said Kennedy.

“It’s not really uniformity,” he added later, “because it regulates only one aspect of marriage.” And DOMA doesn’t, as Clement suggested, help the states, said Kennedy, because it contradicts states that have decided marriage for samesex couples should be treated the same as marriage for male-female couples.

“We’re helping the states if they do what we want them to,” quipped Kennedy. And that, he said, is “not consistent with the historic commitment” of having states regulating marriage and the rights of children.

Kennedy shot down Clement’s claim that Congress, in passing DOMA, was “trying to promote democratic self-governance,” noting that DOMA “applies to states where the voters” have chosen marriage equality. And that, said Kennedy, is “a DOMA problem.”

Kennedy resisted efforts to consider the DOMA problem asserted

by Solicitor General Donald Verrilli and Windsor attorney Roberta Kaplan – that DOMA violates the equal protection clause of the constitution.

See page 28 >>

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Community News>>

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

Legal expert predicts a celebration in June

by James Patterson

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large crowd of marriage equality supporters at a town hall at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center last week heard legal analysis from attorneys about the U.S. Supreme Court’s oral argument on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and their assessment was that the laws would likely fall.

Roger Doughty, executive director of Horizons Foundation and moderator of the event, said it was important for San Francisco’s LGBT community to hear the audio arguments and for legal experts to analyze and explain statements by the justices and defense attorneys.

“Community discussion,” he said, “is important to our understanding of these historic cases.”

Joining Doughty, who is also an attorney, were Matt Coles, deputy national legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union and a law professor at UC Hastings College of the Law and New York University School of Law; and Chris Stoll, senior staff attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

The two-hour audio-visual presentation covered the two days of oral argument in Washington, D.C. Images of the justices and defense attorneys were screened as attendees listened to their statements. Due to media interest, the court expedited release of the audio recordings of the oral arguments, Doughty said.

Coles and Stoll agreed marriage equality was good for business. They said business played an important political role in getting states to accept marriage equality.

Coles said if the Supreme Court overturned Prop 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban, and DOMA, “it will be progress.”

Stoll said he expected “good results in both cases.”

Courtesy NCLR

NCLR senior staff attorney Chris Stoll

“It will be great to have marriage equality in California again,” he said, as he predicted that, “We will be celebrating in June.”

San Francisco resident David Blazevich, 45 and who works at a nonprofit, said he was informed on the cases before the town hall, but “to have the arguments explained by people fighting for LGBT rights is terrific.”

He said he was hopeful Prop 8 would be overturned. Though he had no immediate marriage plans, he said he was “strongly fighting for the rights of others.”

Prop 8 case

Highlights of the case involving Prop 8 were first. The early issue in the case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, was standing and whether or not proponents of the law could defend it.

During the March 26 oral argument, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Clinton appointee and considered to be a vote for marriage equality, asked Prop 8’s defense attorney Charles Cooper, “Have we ever granted standing to proponents of

ballot initiatives before?”

“No,” Cooper replied.

One possible outcome, Coles said, was the Supreme Court could rule Prop 8 proponents had no standing and dismiss the case.

“The lower court ruling would hold that Prop 8 was unconstitutional and Jerry Brown would begin issuing marriage licenses to samesex couples,” Coles said, referring to California’s governor.

During the argument, Justice Antonin Scalia, a Reagan appointee, said if the court found a constitutional right for same-sex marriage in California it would effectively be a national decision. The audience hissed, jeered, and groaned at Scalia’s image and words.

Coles said Scalia’s “national decision” remark was intended, he believed, to scare the other justices into a ruling supporting Prop 8 or limiting the decision to California.

Audio highlights included Justice Anthony Kennedy’s reference to “40,000 children of same-sex couples,” and how they may be harmed and Scalia’s question to Theodore B. Olson, one of the two attorneys who argued against Prop 8, “When did it become unconstitutional to exclude homosexual couples from marriage?”

Windsor case

The final hour of highlights focused on the DOMA challenge, U.S. v. Windsor. Since President Barack Obama and the Department of Justice declared DOMA unconstitutional and declined to defend it, the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, led by House Republicans, financed the defense, Stoll said.

BLAG’s attorney was Paul ClemSee page 12 >>

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<< Open Forum

8 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

Volume 43, Number 14 April 4-10, 2013 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Thomas E. Horn Bob Ross (Founder, 1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador • Erin Blackwell Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Chuck Colbert Richard Dodds • David Duran Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino Peter Hernandez • Liz Highleyman Brandon Judell • John F. Karr Matthew Kennedy • David Lamble Michael McDonagh • David-Elijah Nahmod Elliot Owen• Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr Donna Sachet Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus Gregg Shapiro • Gwendolyn Smith Ed Walsh • Sura Wood ART DIRECTION T. Scott King ONLINE PRODUCTION Jay Cribas PHOTOGRAPHERS Danny Buskirk Jane Philomen Cleland Marc Geller Rick Gerharter Lydia Gonzales Rudy K. Lawidjaja Steven Underhill Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge Christine Smith GENERAL MANAGER Michael M. Yamashita DISPLAY ADVERTISING Simma Baghbanbashi Colleen Small Scott Wazlowski NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad

Managing expectations

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n a couple months, probably right before Pride weekend, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue its decisions in two same-sex marriage cases. One, Hollingsworth v. Perry, seeks to overturn Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban. The other, U.S. v. Windsor, would dismantle the federal Defense of Marriage Act. We’re hoping for victories in both cases. But people planning on a broad, national right to marry for same-sex couples should check their expectations. While it is not clear exactly how the high court will rule, last week’s historic oral arguments did provide some clues.

During the Prop 8 arguments there were some serious questions posed by the justices about proponents’ standing. Justice Anthony Kennedy wondered aloud whether the Prop 8 case should even be before the court. The case is unique in that California officials refused to defend Prop 8, which they saw as unconstitutional (and two federal courts agreed). That left Prop 8’s proponents to defend the law, which the California Supreme Court approved, but which some justices on the U.S. Supreme Court find troubling. In order to appeal a decision, there needs to be standing, in other words, the party appealing must demonstrate suffering some harm. Prop 8 proponents have not shown that they would be harmed if same-sex couples marry, thus possibly disqualifying them from the case.

There were also indications that there does not seem to be a majority of justices who back a national right to marry. Justices hinted at their desire not to get too far in front of public opinion, even though it is rapidly evolving on marriage equality. In the days leading up to the oral arguments, several Democratic senators and a Republican came out in support of same-sex marriage. In the last few days, even more Democratic senators have joined the side of equality, as has another GOP senator, bringing the total to 50 – one-half of the Senate. At press time, only seven Democratic senators were still on record as opposing same-sex marriage. That’s a sea

change from just a year ago. And while we are pleased with all this new-found support, the fact remains that same-sex marriage is legal in only nine states and the District of Columbia. Marriage equality is banned in 31 states. More of those states will need to repeal those constitutional amendments before there is widespread support for marriage equality, at least in the eyes of the Supreme Court. For historical perspective, by the time the high court ruled that interracial marriage was unconstitutional, nearly every state had made the same determination.

And that is key, because, as several justices noted last week, marriage, divorce, and child custody issues have traditionally been the purview of the states.

The arguments seemed clearer in the DOMA case, where there is demonstrable harm in that plaintiff Edith Windsor, 83, had to fork over

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$363,000 in estate taxes to the IRS after her spouse died. Had Windsor been a straight woman, she would never have had to pay that money.

That’s an example of real harm that we think the justices understood.

An incremental ruling in the Prop 8 case, one that would restore marriage equality in California, would be a huge victory. And if DOMA is ruled unconstitutional, same-sex couples would finally begin to receive the benefits to which their straight counterparts are already entitled. That would go a long way to creating more equal relationships in areas of taxes, immigration, and other spousal benefits.

As public opinion continues to shift, more states will receive marriage equality. While we’d like the justices to say that marriage is a right to be enjoyed by any couple, gay or straight, it doesn’t seem likely. At the same time, restoring marriage equality to the largest state in the nation sends an undeniable message – same-sex marriage is here to stay.t

Financial planning starts now

by Bruce S. Stuart

LGBT real estate matters.

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If Prop 8 and DOMA are struck down – what next?

he recent Supreme Court hearings on the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 highlighted the financial inequities that samesex couples in the United States face on a daily basis due to existing state and federal laws. As a financial adviser who is not only a member of the LGBT community, but also someone specifically trained to help LGBT individuals and couples navigate the financial planning process, I must deal with these inequities and obstacles in order to work toward helping my clients to achieve their financial planning goals and dreams.

LGBT retirement planning

Bay Area Reporter

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Retirement planning is primarily about creating streams of income to replace the income you had while you were in the workforce. Examples of these streams of income are rental income from real estate, and investment income such as dividends from a stock portfolio or income from bonds, as well as potential income from annuities. Some of you may have a pension from a company or municipality that will pay you a percentage of your former salary while you are in retirement. For others, Social Security is the bedrock of your retirement stream of income.

As a result of DOMA, which does not recognize same-sex couples for purposes of spousal Social Security benefits, special steps should be taken to compensate for the fact that surviving partners of same-sex relationships are not entitled to their partners’ Social Security benefits. This basically translates into having to plan for a potential loss of a stream of income that opposite-sex married couples may take for granted.

LGBT families

Same-sex couples with (or planning to have) children should be aware that currently they may not be entitled to many of the financial benefits heterosexual parents enjoy under federal law. While heterosexual couples can automatically jointly

Bruce S. Stuart

file for a child tax credit, each partner in a same-sex couple must either be a biological or adoptive parent of a child in order to file for a joint child tax credit. This must be taken into consideration when financial planning for LGBT families.

LGBT real estate and estate planning

Real estate is an important part of financial planning. In the Bay Area, many of us aspire to own real estate for our primary residence and for investment purposes. While a heterosexual married couple is eligible to exempt up to $500,000 in profits from the sale of a home, LGBT couples often get to exclude much less. It is also important for LGBT couples to realize that due to the complexity of current and evolving laws regarding samesex couples and real estate, it is critical for California LGBT couples to make sure that their real estate holdings are titled correctly. I would strongly advise any LGBT couples considering buying real estate together to consult with an attorney who is well versed in

If DOMA and Prop 8, California’s samesex marriage ban, are struck down, the pathway would open for both state and federal recognition same-sex marriage in the state.

What would this mean to you? Financial planning is a constantly evolving process. If you have previously created a financial plan, you may need to update it to take into consideration rights and benefits that were not previously available to you. If you haven’t yet made a plan, it could well be the time to do so. Even if the obstacles to financial planning for members of the LGBT community are lessened, it is still critical that you regularly update your plan as you encounter major life events such as getting a new job, planning for retirement, changing geographic location, planning for children, and hopefully very soon, getting legally married in California.t Bruce S. Stuart is a certified financial planner and an accredited domestic partnership adviser in the global wealth management division of Morgan Stanley in San Francisco.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is not a solicitation to purchase or sell investments. Any information presented is general in nature and not intended to provide individually tailored investment advice. The strategies and/or investments referenced may not be suitable for all investors as the appropriateness of a particular investment or strategy will depend on an investor’s individual circumstances and objectives. Investing involves risks and there is always the potential of losing money when you invest. The views expressed herein are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, or its affiliates. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisers do not provide tax or legal advice. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC, member SIPC.

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Politics>>

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 9

Book presents Milk in his own words

by Matthew S. Bajko

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he debate over naming San Francisco International Airport after Harvey Milk, the slain gay rights leader who was the first LGBT person elected to public office in San Francisco, has raised questions about just how much the public knows about the historic figure’s legacy.

Gay District 9 Supervisor David Campos, who surprised City Hall and others in January when he announced his charter amendment aimed at renaming the airport after Milk, has repeatedly said that as people become more educated about what Milk stood for and espoused during his time as a resident of the Castro in the 1970s then support for the airport renaming will grow.

Backers of the idea created a website and posted a lengthy biography about Milk, compiled by the Harvey Milk Foundation and found at http://harveymilksfo.com/?page_ id=322, to kick off their efforts to increase awareness of Milk’s achievements.

Most people’s knowledge about Milk these days likely comes either from viewing the 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk or the 2008 docudrama Milk, starring Sean Penn in the title role. Both films went on to win Academy Awards but only scratch the surface of Milk’s life.

There is also the 1982 biography about Milk written by the late San Francisco Chronicle reporter Randy Shilts titled The Mayor of Castro Street. It was published four years after Milk, along with thenMayor George Moscone, was assassinated in City Hall by disgruntled former Supervisor Dan White.

Since then there have been a few literary works about Milk, the most notable being Mike Weiss’s Double Play, which focused on the murders of the two progressive politicians. It was first published in 1984 and then updated in 2010.

Last year the same publisher of Weiss’s book, Vince Emery Productions, released a compilation of newspaper stories and interviews Milk had given to various publications, from the Bay Area Reporter and the Chronicle to the Advocate and the New York Times magazine.

This year saw the publication of An Archive of Hope: Harvey Milk’s Speeches and Writings (University of California Press) edited by Edward Black and Charles E. Morris III. The two collected various pieces written by Milk, from campaign materials and his political columns for the B.A.R. (he stopped writing for the paper after his historic supervisor win in 1977) to editorials and public letters.

“In one important sense, the documents add texture to the narratives we get in Milk and the documentary.

Any film documentary or commercial Hollywood film will lay out the narrative,” said Morris. “With the speeches, I felt like I learned a great deal more about what the experience may have been like to be struggling for gay rights in the 1970s. The documents deepened our understanding of what hope might have meant as Milk was trying to instill that in those fighting for LGBT equality.”

Morris, 44, a professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University, which he joined in January, was in middle school in Baltimore at the time of Milk’s death. A gay man who lives with his partner, Morris has taught about Milk in his college

Two university professors have compiled many of Harvey Milk’s writings and speeches into a new book.

courses for years, first at Denison University in Ohio and later at Boston College.

Growing up in West Palm Beach, Florida near Miami, Black’s first recollections about Milk stem from stories his grandmother told about fighting alongside her gay friends against Anita Bryant’s campaigns to undo gay rights laws in the 1970s.

He would later come across Milk’s famous “Hope” speech as an undergraduate at Florida State University and again doing postdoctoral studies at Wake Forest University and later at the University of Maryland.

“It always struck me, as someone interested in archival work and rhetorical history, that there was so little work of Harvey’s out in the public sphere,” Black, who is straight and has been in a committed relationship with the mother of his two children for 19 years, wrote in an emailed response.

In 2005 he began researching what he could find on Milk. An associate professor of communication studies and an affiliate professor in gender and race studies at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Black said he felt it was important to bring Milk’s speeches and political writings to a larger audience.

“I don’t think his ‘hope trope’ is a mere catchword or a fantastic hook for his many glorious speeches. Rather, I think his notion of ‘hope’ is an ontological, a visceral and palpably felt, power that is measured on one’s pulse and made electric in one’s personal and public lives,” wrote Black.

“The larger movement today needs Harvey Milk – not just in name or in philosophy, but also in text. We need to see his words and gain strength from them. We need to see how he balanced victimage and survivance.”

After meeting Morris at a conference, Black suggested that the two work together on culling Milk’s writings into an anthology.

“We had the same opening hunch that, despite the fact Milk’s name had been pretty much in our lives quite a while, there didn’t seem to be a large body about Milk’s work circulating,” said Morris in a recent phone interview.

In 2007 they spent a week at the San Francisco Public Library reviewing its Milk archives, photographing documents they found of interest.

They returned in 2009 to conduct more research for the book, and also worked closely with Milk’s former speechwriter Frank Robinson and his close confidante and photographer Dan Nicoletta.

As they sorted through the material, the two determined they needed to write an introduction not only to

the book but also for each of Milk’s writings that would be included in the anthology in order to “contextualize the documents,” said Morris.

“No archive speaks for itself,” he added. “His voice is the most important part of this archive but Milk needs people to provide the context.

The history infrastructure of that memory is lacking in so many places.

This history is not being taught in schools to the extent it should be.”

They consider the book to be suitable not only for college courses but also high school classes, especially as a way to meet California law requiring the teaching of LGBT subjects in public schools.

“We think this should be an important resource on the shelves of a K-12 library,” said Morris. “A teacher can go to this book and choose from the documents to have the kids recite Milk’s speeches.”

As for renaming SFO to honor Milk, Morris said if it were to happen the “symbolism would be great,” particularly with flights from Milk to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia just outside of D.C., and could prompt people to want to learn more about who Milk was.

“My only fear is people would be self-satisfied that would be enough,” said Morris. “Milk’s memory has been strong and faded since 1978. And so one of our arguments we make in the introduction is we think it is probably best to always be worried that public memory could fade again.”

It remains to be seen if the Milk airport idea will take flight. A poll conducted earlier this year by the local chamber of commerce found a majority of respondents (61 percent of likely voters) were against changing SFO’s name.

Asked about the poll results, Campos insisted at the time that the “more information people get, the more appealing” his idea to rename SFO in honor of Milk will become.

In terms of the cost for implementing the change, budget analyst Harvey Rose issued a report in which he estimated it could be as low as $355,000, far lower than some had speculated the price tag would be.

Campos has pledged to work with airport staff to keep the total below $500,000.

So far Campos remains short one vote of the six he needs from his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors to put the proposal before voters in November. A board committee had been expected to hold the first hearing on the proposal Thursday (April 4), but Campos’s office had the item pulled from the agenda in order to give SFO Airport Director John Martin, a gay man who had been on vacation, a chance to weigh in first.

The city’s airport commission, whose members have voiced concerns about changing SFO’s name, announced this week the creation of an eight-person committee to review naming procedures for the airport, its terminals, and other facilities.

Members include San Francisco Travel Association Vice President of Public Policy Jon Ballesteros, a former Equality California board member, and Pamela David, a National Gay and Lesbian Task Force board member who is executive director of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund.

According to the San Francisco Examiner, which first reported about the task force’s creation Tuesday, SFO currently has no naming policy in place.t Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8615019 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar. com.

<< Travel

10 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

Russian River gearing up for summer

by Ed Walsh

T

he Russian River area is gearing up for what merchants expect will be a busy summer season.

The dry winter weather has already translated into more visitors and river businesses hope that trend will continue.

Just 90 minutes north of San Francisco, the Russian River’s gay popularity dates back to the 1970s.

The river’s first gay resort, the Russian River Lodge, opened in the mid-1970s in the location where the Farmhouse Inn is now, on River Road in Forestville, just outside of Guerneville. Gay Philadelphian Peter Pender took it up a notch when he took over Murphy’s resort in Guerneville and remade it into the gay resort, Fife’s, in 1977. Gays helped revitalize Guerneville, which had fallen out of fashion as a vaca-

t

tion destination in the 1960s.

While Guerneville doesn’t have the crazy party scene that it did in its early gay days, it boasts more year-round gay residents than ever.

Based on 2010 census data, Guerneville (population 4,500) has the highest per capita number of samesex couples in the Bay Area and is ranked fifth in the U.S. in per capita same-sex pairings behind Provincetown, Massachusetts; Wilton Manors, Florida; Palm Springs; and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Upcoming events

While locals keep Guerneville going all year round, summer is the time when businesses cash in on sun-seekers. A number of LGBT events planned over the next few months will entice even more people up to the river.

The 33rd annual Women’s Weekend is May 16-20. Lesbians and their pals take over Guerneville’s largest space, Jerry’s River Theater, on Friday night for “Dragstravaganza” and Saturday night for the third annual “Pirate Dance Party.” Daytime pool parties are planned at the r3 Hotel and comic Karen Ripley performs there on Saturday. VIP passes are just $30 if you buy before April 15.

For information on all the Women’s Weekend events and to purchase tickets online visit http://russianriverwomensweekend.org.

The Sacramento-based gay square dancing club, Capital City Squares, hosts the annual “Stumptown Stomp” gathering in Guerneville the same weekend as the women’s party, May 17-19. If you plan on going to either event, it’s a good idea to book your room as soon as possible. Many Guerneville hotels are already sold out.

The Sonoma County Pride Parade is Sunday, June 2. The parade down Main Street (River Road) starts at

Ed Walsh

Visitors enjoy some of the tallest redwood trees in the area at the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, named after a logger who dedicated more than 800 acres as a redwood sanctuary.

11 a.m. A festival follows on the meadow of the Guerneville Lodge from noon to 6 p.m. The Guerneville Lodge (formerly the Willows) was badly damaged in a fire last November but the owners hope to have it up and running before Sonoma Pride.

For more information visit http:// www.sonomacountypride.org.

But by far the biggest gay event in Guerneville is Lazy Bear Weekend, a series of parties and events for hirsute gay men and their admirers. If you don’t already have a reservation to stay in Guerneville, you are probably out of luck. The event is so popular that some attendees have to stay in hotels as far away as Santa Rosa, a half-hour away. Lazy Bear is packed with activities from Wednesday, July 31 through Monday, August 5. For more information visit http://www. lazybearweekend.com.

Sights

Guerneville was once known as Stumptown because of all the redwood stumps that loggers left

behind. Fortunately, 19th century logger Colonel James Armstrong decided to set aside 805 acres of his land as a redwood forest sanctuary.

The Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve is a public park through which you can hike, bike, or drive. It’s free to park at the visitor’s center but it costs $8 to drive through. The Armstrong Woods, as most people call it, may be the most underrated park in the state. Muir Woods in Marin County is much smaller at 554 acres, but perhaps because it’s closer to San Francisco, is much better known and gets far more visitors. By the way, the tallest tree in Armstrong Woods is 50 feet higher than Muir Woods’ tallest tree. Armstrong Woods is also conveniently located just two miles from downtown Guerneville.

If you want to be one with the giant redwood trees, check out one of the Russian River’s newest attractions, Sonoma Canopy Tours. The attraction’s zip lines will whisk you from See page 11 >>

t <<

Travel>>

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 11

River

to meet other guests.

From page 10

one towering treetop to another. If you go, book ahead. The 2.5-hour adventure tours fill up fast. It costs $89 for weekdays and $99 for the weekend and tipping is strongly encouraged.

Training and all the equipment you need are included. The tour is based in the town of Occidental, about a 15-minute drive from Guerneville.

If you are a fan of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic The Birds and you missed the 50th anniversary celebration in Bodega Bay last month, fear not, another celebration will be held in September. Bodega is home to the schoolhouse that was shown in the movie and it still stands today. It is a scenic half-hour drive from Guerneville. The Birds was filmed in Bodega Bay and Bodega, which many people don’t realize are two separate towns.

The town of Bodega is inland, about six miles from Bodega Bay. A statue of Hitchcock stands guard now outside the Bodega Country Store, a deli and general store that houses a large collection of Birds memorabilia. The movie plays continuously inside.

The big Birds event will be on Labor Day, Monday, September 2, with a parade of Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren lookalikes. Hedren, 83, starred in the 1963 film, and will be signing autographs at the Tides restaurant in Bodega Bay. A limited number of tickets are available for a tour of the schoolhouse, which is now a private home. Those tours and other special events will take place on Sunday night, September 1. For more information visit http://www.bodegabirds.com/.

Hotels

Guerneville his home to three gay resorts – the Highlands, the Woods, and the r3 – but you would be hardpressed to find any of the towns’ hotels that are not gay-welcoming.

The Highlands Resort is in a perfect location in a redwood grove on a hill just a few steps from downtown Guerneville. The rustic cabins are

Nightlife

Ed Walsh

The old schoolhouse featured in The Birds movie is now a private home in Bodega. It will be open for limited tours later this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the film’s release.

beautifully restored with a retro look that will give you the feel of what the town was like in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s when the Russian River was a favorite getaway for fog-weary San Franciscans. Highlands is also open for tent camping in the summer. If you want to hang out there for the day, it will be open for pool passes starting May 1. Passes cost $10 weekdays and $15 on weekends. The pool and hot tub are clothing optional. A continental breakfast is included for overnight stays.

The Woods, in the heart of downtown and like the Highlands, features a huge pool. The modern rooms are maintained in perfect condition by the owners, who live on site. The rooms range from smaller bunkhouse units to large apartment suites. This is the perfect place to be if you want to be in downtown but want to be a little removed from the party. The clothing-optional pool is also open for day use for a $5 charge.

The r3 hotel (formerly the Triple R) is a block from the Woods and is party central for gay Russian River.

It is home to one of the two gay bars in town. You can hang out at the r3’s pool and patio but please buy a drink

or food to help them pay the bills. The r3 is known for live entertainment and some big names, so be sure and check out its website to stay in the loop.

The gay-friendly Boon Hotel and Spa is one of the most upscale resorts in Sonoma County. If you imagine a high-end resort in Palm Springs and add in redwood trees, you will get an idea what to expect at the Boon.

A gourmet continental breakfast is included and most rooms have working fireplaces. The modern minimalist chic decor will delight designing gays. Boon also provides free bicycles for guests to use. You can take a bike about a mile down the road to tour the Armstrong Woods.

The gay-owned Village Inn in neighboring Monte Rio is another gay-friendly hotel with a lot of history and was the setting of the Bing Crosby movie Holiday Inn. The hotel’s restaurant serves up great food with a wonderful view of the river.

The Sonoma Orchid Inn is on River Road just outside of downtown Guerneville. The gay couple who bought the property have kept it in perfect shape while retaining its farmhouse feel. Delicious gourmet breakfasts served family style are a great way

SF LGBT seniors survey launches compiled by Cynthia Laird

A

new survey on the needs of LGBT seniors in San Francisco has launched.

The online survey officially went live today (Thursday, April 4) at a specially created website: http:// www.CaringAndAging.org/survey.

It is available in five languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, and Russian.

Anyone who is 60 years of age or older, living in San Francisco, and identifies as LGBT or has had samegender relationships or attractions is eligible to participate. The confidential online questionnaire consists of 40 multiple choice questions on a range of topics relating to seniors’ health and well-being.

The questions include what sort of services people have utilized in the last 12 months, such as in-home care or delivered meals, and how comfortable they are being openly LGBT in accessing such programs. The survey also asks why people have not used services they need; what their relationship, living, and family status is; and how out of the closet they are about their sexual orientation.

It is estimated to take 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Participants are not required to answer all 40 questions, the last of which is for people to give feedback on any topic of their choosing. More than 400 people are needed to participate, and special emphasis is being put on recruit-

Rick Gerharter

Professor Karen FredriksenGoldsen, Ph.D., helped create an online survey for older LGBT San Franciscans; the survey goes live April 4.

ing transgender seniors and older people of color.

The San Francisco LGBT Aging Policy Task Force created the survey with the assistance of Karen Fredriksen-Goldsen, Ph.D., a professor and director of the Institute for Multigenerational Health at the University of Washington.

Fredriksen-Goldsen is a noted expert on LGBT aging issues and oversaw the Caring and Aging with Pride survey, the largest and first national federally-funded study to examine the aging and health of LGBT seniors.

The volunteer task force is work-

ing on developing a plan for how San Francisco officials can better provide for the city’s estimated 18,000 LGBT residents age 60 and older. Very little information is available on this population as few city agencies collect data based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

As an incentive for filling out the surveys, all eligible respondents will be entered into a raffle to win one of five $100 Macy’s gift certificates.

For questions about the survey, email AgePride@uw.edu. To request a hard copy of the questionnaire, contact Meals On Wheels of San Francisco at (415) 920-1111.

CUAV open house tonight

Community United Against Violence will have an open house at its office tonight (Thursday, April 4) from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

The open house takes place at 427 South Van Ness Avenue (between 15th and 16th streets) and will include refreshments, beverages, and art from Oakland-based artist Ajuan Mance. El Rio’s resident DJ Javier will provide music.

Aging confab next week

The Institute on Aging will present LGBT and Aging: Focus on Equality Wednesday, April 10 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hotel Kabuki, 1625 Post Street in San Francisco.

While the conference does provide continuing education credit for professionals, it is also open to interested members of the public, organizers said.

There are an estimated 18,000 See page 26 >>

There are two full-time gay bars in Guerneville. The aforementioned bar in the r3 Hotel is popular with locals all year round. Karaoke nights are Sundays and Fridays. You can order restaurant food with your drinks from the r3 restaurant. To check out the bar’s packed calendar of events, visit http://www.ther3hotel.com.

The Rainbow Cattle Company, in the heart of Guerneville’s Main Street, has been a mainstay in the town since 1979. You can’t miss the neon rainbow arch over the entrance.

The Rainbow is known for its community “Giveback Tuesday” fundraisers and has a been a focal point for community activism and generosity for three decades and counting.

The bar’s signature drink is served in a Mason jar. Check out the Rainbow’s website for special event information: http://www.queersteer.com.

Eating out

The Russian River is part of the Sonoma Wine Country and you will find an abundance of restaurants

there that show off some of the region’s finest wines.

The Whitetail Wine Bar is a great place to stop for dinner or wine tasting. The neighboring Boon and Big Bottom Markets are known for upscale decor and great food and drink.

The Hi Five Korean pop-up restaurant takes over the landmark Pat’s restaurant for dinner, while Pat’s continues to dish it out for breakfast and lunch.

The gay-owned Sophie Cellars recently moved to Duncans Mills, eight miles west of Guerneville.

Spa

Be sure to make a stop at Osmosis Spa in Freestone, a scenic 30-minute drive from Guerneville. Osmosis is very gay-friendly and has an LGBT micro site: http://www.osmosis. com/lgbt. The spa is known for its signature treatment, a cedar enzyme bath made from finely ground cedar, rice bran, and plant enzymes.

Osmosis plans an event for men on Sunday, May 19, from 4 to 9 p.m., which will include free facials as part of a promotion to introduce a male skin care line.t

<< Community News

12 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

No longer safe in Arizona

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

I

t was only a few weeks ago that I praised the Phoenix City Council for passing a bill that added sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s existing anti-discrimination bill.

I wrote that if one could pass something protecting transgender people in the land of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Governor Jan Brewer, then we could achieve this in less politically conservative places. I even talked about the fact that some of my family hails from Arizona, and displayed a bit of pride over this.

So it is with egg on my face that I now find myself in the awkward position of never setting foot again in the state my own mother spent her childhood years in: it is not a safe place for me.

As a clear reaction to the passage of the above bill, Arizona state Representative John Kavanagh (R) introduced Senate Bill 1432 that would have barred a person from going in any public restroom, bathroom, shower, bath, dressing room, or locker room if the door on the bathroom did not match the gender on that person’s birth certificate. A violation would have been a class 1 misdemeanor.

Thankfully, Kavanagh scrapped his bill not long after introduction, thanks to pretty heavy public backlash. This is nowhere near the end of the story, however.

Undeterred, Kavanagh authored a brand new bill, Senate Bill 1045.

Rather than making all transgender people – and anyone else – a criminal for using a bathroom that didn’t match their birth certificate, this one took a new tack.

SB 1045, dubbed “no loo for you” by local residents, would prohibit local governments from creating or enforcing non-discrimination laws meant to protect transgender people in regards to “access to privacy areas.” More than this, any business that denies access to such areas based on gender identity or expression would be in no way civilly or criminally liable for doing so.

In layman’s terms, this means any facility with a bathroom, dressing room, locker room, etc. could freely discriminate against transgender people – and essentially anyone else they feel does not conform to their gender expectations – and there would be no recourse.

Now I would love to tell you that Kavanagh shelved this bill, too. Unfortunately, this horrible, bigoted piece of legislation passed out of the appropriations committee in a 7-4 vote and will now go to the Arizona House floor for a full vote.

Kavanagh is a firm believer in the so-called bathroom meme, that somehow allowing transgender people to use a bathroom appropriate to their gender identity or ex-

pression will be carte blanche for male sexual predators to enter opposite gender restrooms and assault women and young girls.

“The city of Phoenix has crafted a bill that allows people to define their sex by what they think in their head,” said Kavanagh in an interview with a local NBC affiliate. “If you’re a male, you don’t go into a female shower or locker room, or vice versa. It also raises the specter of people who want to go into those opposite sex facilities not because they’re transgender, but because they’re weird.”

For the last several years, this image of the shady male rapist or child molester being somehow protected by transgender-related public accommodation protections has been used in location after location to erode transgender rights. I have pushed for some time for the need to counter the bathroom meme, killing it outright. To date, little has really caught on to stop it.

In locations that have transgender anti-discrimination ordinances that include public accommodations language, not a single rapist or molester has been protected. There have been no cases that I could find of a sexual predator appearing as the opposite gender to enter a restroom and then claim that they were expressing their gender identity by doing so. This just does not happen.

The whole notion should be

laughable: no transgender protections are going to shield a sexual predator in the act of a crime. They would not shield a transgender person or a non-transgender person who also happened to be a sexual predator. It is akin to comparing apples and ball-peen hammers.

At the same time, I suspect we can find plenty of cases of transgender people who were victimized in restrooms of either gender. The first example that comes to my mind is that of Chrissy Polis. Two other women beat her for roughly 15 minutes – until Polis suffered a seizure – all for attempting to use the restroom at a McDonald’s in Baltimore.

I presume that Kavanagh would

t

feel that the horrific beating that Polis suffered would be simply what Polis deserved for being “weird” enough to use the bathroom most appropriate to her gender identity and expression. That none of the McDonald’s employees stepped in may well have been not going far enough under Arizona’s SB 1045.

I can only speculate just what Kavanagh imagines people do in restrooms. Perhaps his fevered brow is full of Larry Craig-style sexual propositions and anonymous sexual escapades, I don’t know. What I am sure of is all I want when Christine Smith I walk into a restroom is a safe place to relieve myself. The best place for me to do that is not in the men’s room: that much should be obvious.

I think all sides can agree to that one thing. We all want safe restrooms devoid of predators of all types. We do not want to be assaulted, sexually or otherwise, when our only goal is to take care of our bodily functions.

SB 1045 does nothing to make the restrooms of Arizona safer: it only enshrines discrimination. Strike this bill down.t Gwen Smith is going positively potty over the bathroom meme.

You can find her online at www. gwensmith.com.

SF Fog coach is calm, but in command

by Roger Brigham

S

o often we think of coaches as loud, demonstrative demons, posturing for the cameras as they bewail and bemoan every perceived grief.

The best coaches, however, are those who needn’t shout to be heard and listened to, who can direct with clarity and compassion.

There is calmness and command when Kathy Flores, the out, veteran rugby coach for the San Francisco Fog, stands on the sidelines, surveying the action and giving directions.

Her demeanor is utterly approachable and without a hint of nonsense – even when her eyes sparkle as she enjoys a good joke or a well-designed play goes bust.

“As a player, I was already always kind of a coach,” she said. “I’ve always been interested in coaching without thinking of it as coaching.”

Flores, a former javelin thrower and field hockey payer, was introduced to rugby at the age of 23 while she was a graduate student at Florida State University.

“I loved football and played quarterback,” she said. “Someone told me there’s this sport where you can actually tackle someone. Actually tackle

<<

them.”

So she started showing up, but at first it was total frustration.

“It was completely foreign to me,” she said. “It was an ego thing for four to six weeks, when I was wondering, ‘Why can’t I get this thing?’ Then I fell in love.”

And into the sport that was to become her life. Since then she’s gone on to be a player on national championship teams and coach of the USA women’s team. Currently in addition to the Fog, she coaches the women’s team at the University of San Francisco and the women’s Berkeley All Blues.

“Kathy is the critical link to the All Blues’ tradition of athletic excellence and the bright future of American rugby,” said Alexandra Boskovich, president of the All Blues. “Her commitment and ability to develop any player or club distinguishes her in our growing sport and community.

It is a rarity and a tremendous gift to have someone like Kathy, whose knowledge of the game runs as deep as her dedication to the club and our members.”

When Flores was approached about taking on the Fog a couple of years ago, she jumped at the chance.

Courtesy SF Fog

Coach Kathy Flores, center, talked to players during the 2012 Bingham Cup tournament.

“I had always wanted to coach the Fog,” Flores said. “I love the sport and I want to expose as many people to it as I can, particularly young women.

It’s important for their confidence and self-esteem. With college girls, after playing rugby they start thinking better of themselves and realize what they can do better. You see them walk into interviews differently. Working with

gay men, I see the same things. After playing a little bit of sports, there’s a whole change in how they see themselves, kind of like a flower blooming.”

Flores said she likes the bashes after the matches as much as the bashing during the matches themselves.

“I like the camaraderie,” she said. “In rugby, what you learn is after you fight on the field, you host each other with food and drink.

What other sport do you get that in?

You learn more than just competition.”

Flores described herself as an army brat, moving around with her family throughout childhood but spending her high school years in New Jersey.

She came out while she was a sophomore in college.

“My father would make homophobic jokes,” she said. “I think he knew but couldn’t face it. I already knew what I was, but my freshman year I had an experience that scared me. My sophomore year I just decided I am what I am. Then I was get-out-of-myface-I’m-gay.”

Now 58, Flores still remembers

what it was like to tackle the sport when it was still all new, foreign and distant to her. She works to help younger athletes take it on.

“Coaching and playing: people try to compare them,” Flores said. “It’s just not the same. Often players will gravitate to coaching because we miss the physical energy. But you really have to switch gears. It’s a process.”

A process she embraces.

“People discovering themselves – that’s one reason why I’ve always wanted to work with the Fog. I feel like I’m a good coach and they deserve a good coach who would help them feel about themselves. Whatever I ask them to do, they do. They trust me.”

The SF Fog has a mission to help bring diverse and underrepresented groups into the sport of rugby. The men and women’s squads train on Treasure Island on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Previous experience is not a requirement to join.

For more information, visit http:// www.sffog.org.t

Obituaries >>

Legal expert

From page 7

ent, solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration.

“Clement was paid with our tax dollars,” Stoll pointed out.

Coles said standing is clearer in DOMA as it is a “fight over money.”

The IRS, guided by DOMA, forced same-sex widow Edith Windsor, 83, to pay $363,000 in estate taxes when her wife died in 2009. Legally married same-sex couples are denied over 1,100 federal benefits due to DOMA. On audio from the March 27

argument, Clement told justices DOMA was necessary as the government needed a “uniform” and “consistent” definition of marriage.

He said they used a traditional definition.

Justice Elena Kagan, an Obama appointee and considered a vote for marriage equality, countered with wording from a 1996 House Report that DOMA was a “moral judgment” by Congress of “disapproval of homosexuality.”

Windsor’s attorney Roberta Kaplan told Chief Justice John Roberts, a Bush appointee, that Congress enacted DOMA in 1996 due to a “mis-

understanding about gay couples.”

Roberts said he found it “contradictory” that Obama considered DOMA unconstitutional yet he enforced it.

Stoll and Coles said Obama “acted on principle” and it was not contradictory for the president to enforce.

“The Supreme Court does not encourage presidents to ignore acts of Congress,” Coles added.

Other audio highlights included Ginsburg’s comment during the arguments that same-sex marriage was like “skim milk marriage.”

See page 26 >>

Luis Torres August 1, 1937 – March 17, 2013

It is with a heavy heart that friends announce the passing of Luis “La Diva” Torres, who died March 17, 2013 at approximately 10:20 p.m. Luis was surrounded by his closest friends.

As a gay Latino man living with HIV since 1986, Luis gave his life as a volunteer to Project Open Hand, packing lunches for homebound HIV clients; Mission Cultural Center, where he showed his

elaborate costumes at Carnaval, dressing as different Puerto Rican artists and performing his poetic talents; Instituto Familiar de la Raza, where he won the title of Mr. Safe Latino; and Living Sober, where he was part of the musical.

Luis leaves behind a family of friends who adored him and were his care providers in these final months of his life.

He is survived by two sisters, Nilda and Luz; and two brothers, Reynaldo and Enrique.

There will be a memorial Sunday, April 7 from noon to 4 p.m. at the San Francisco Women’s Building, 3543 18th Street, in the Audre Lorde Room. Bring your memories to share.

Rick Gerharter

<< Best of the Gays 2013

14 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

t

Simply the Best!

Compiled by Matthew S. Bajko and Cynthia Laird

S

pring is here and that means it’s time for the Bay Area Reporter’s third annual Best of the Gays readers’ poll. We made some changes this year, streamlining some categories, jettisoning others, and

creating new ones, all with the goal of increasing interest. That seems to have worked, as we had a record number of votes cast by you, the readers of the B.A.R. We’d also like to acknowledge our appreciation for this year’s

survey sponsors Maui Sunseeker, Academy of Friends, the San Francisco Ballet, and Swirl Radio for providing our readers a chance to win some fabulous prizes.

So enjoy this year’s round-up of the Best of the Gays.t

– oldest, best-read LGBT newspaper.

Best LGBT nonprofit

Bay Area Reporter, 395 9th Street, San Francisco, (415) 8615019. http://www.ebar.com.

Cheer San Francisco The Bay Area’s favorite philanthrop-

Best LGBT blog/website

ebar.com

ebar.com

The Bay Area Reporter’s website, ebar.com, was the winner in this new category. The B.A.R., founded in 1971, was late to the Internet, with its website going live in September 2005. But the site quickly caught on and is praised for its easyto-use format. A blog feature allows reporters to post items quickly.

The paper’s active Facebook page regularly shares our award-winning original content from the website and is part of our multi-platform for readers. People can also sign up for the free weekly email newsletter.

Get the latest news and information on arts, entertainment and culture from the Bay Area – and America’s

Rick Gerharter

One of several colorful ensembles from Verasphere showed their colors in the annual LGBT Pride Parade.

SF Pride is a show stopper

by Cynthia Laird

T

here isn’t another parade like it in the region. And it draws hundreds of thousands of people to San Francisco the last Sunday every June. You know what we’re talking about and Bay Area Reporter readers were emphatic: San Francisco’s Pride Parade and festival is the best LGBT event in the city in this year’s Best of the Gays readers’ poll.

Going on 43 years in 2013, the Pride Parade is awash in rainbow colors, hot bodies, and hundreds of contingents representing the best of San Francisco, the Bay Area, and beyond. The diversity is electric as straight allies march with their LGBT friends, family members, and co-workers.

The two-day festival in Civic Center Plaza offers a mix of up-and-coming musical acts and hit-makers, along with an assortment of grand marshals, political leaders, spoken word, and other entertainment.

Prides numerous community stages offer something for everyone: leather, Asian and Pacific Islander, Latin, ghetto disco dance area, homo hip-hop, the Faerie Freedom Village, queer youth, and more.

SF Pride was also voted best LGBT fundraiser. Over the years, Pride’s successful community partners program has returned hundreds of thousands of dollars to a variety of local nonprofit organizations that provide volunteers to collect donations at the festival gates and operate the beverage booths.

Earl Plante, the new CEO of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, which produces the parade and festival, told the B.A.R. earlier this year that he envisions Pridesponsored events taking place throughout the year. But first, getting things in order for the June 29-30 weekend is the priority.

Plante said last week that the organization is thrilled with its wins.

“On behalf of the board, staff, and thousands of volunteers associated with San Francisco Pride, I want to personally thank everyone who voted for us,” Plante said in an email. “We are deeply humbled that our loyal stakeholders from across the SF Bay Area recognize our bedrock principles of service, and the larger role that we play in the community at large.

“All of us are profoundly committed to promoting our groundbreaking mission, using inclusive liberation as a graceful medium for honoring our past, celebrating the present, and fearlessly reaching into a bright future. We take our obligations and responsibilities seriously,” he added.

Expect announcements soon about community and celebrity grand marshals, and this year’s entertainment headliners. Then mark your calendars and prepare to take in one of the largest LGBT Pride parades in the world. San Francisco Pride. http://www.sfpride.org.

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Best of the Gays 2013>>

Rick Gerharter

Cheer San Francisco performed at the San Francisco Pride Parade.

ic cheerleading squad was formed

by Guy Andrade in 1980. After some name changes and other affiliations, it moved to San Francisco and became its own 501(c)3 nonprofit in 2004 called the Cheer for Life Foundation Inc. This platform allows the LGBT and ally pep squad to raise funds, which it gives back to the community, providing support to HIV/AIDS organizations and other groups. Their athleticism, teamwork, and esprit de corps has earned them a reputation of respect and admiration amongst the collegiate cheer squads in the region with whom they participate at annual cheer camps. They have gone from pursuing performance opportunities to being sought-after as featured performers at large scale events, including LGBT Pride parades and professional sporting organizations.

Cheer San Francisco, contact@ cheersf.org, http://www.cheersf. org.

Best LGBT Sports League

SF Gay Softball League The San Francisco Gay Softball

League has been a longtime fixture in the LGBT community. SFGSL Commissioner Vincent Fuqua said that the league, now in its 41st year, boasts 64 teams and over 1,000 members.

“I believe the one of the reason that our league continues to be popular, is due to the fact that it gives people the opportunity to meet and be social with others in our community,” Fuqua said in an email. “If you are new to the area or just do not have a network of friends, our league is set up for people to connect in that way. It is also set up so that anyone can play, regardless of their skill level. In essence, it comes down to being a welcoming and friendly league where people can connect and have fun.”

The league has spring and fall seasons and is divided into two divisions, the Open Division (co-ed) and the Women’s Division. Each division is broken down into A, B, C, D level teams. Games are played most Sundays at fields around the city.

San Francisco Gay Softball League, http://www.sfgsl.org.

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 15

hours.

Orphan Andy’s Restaurant, 3991 17th Street, San Francisco, (415) 864-9795.

Best Lunch

Chow Diners have been enjoying the comfort food at Chow since 1997.

Its menu changes with the seasons, but lunch favorites include the Cobb salad, any of its wood-oven pizzas or the organic veggie burger with tzatziki and avocado. At the Church Street location next-door bar the Pilsner Inn doubles as the restaurant’s waiting area on busy days.

There are also Chows near Golden Gate Park on 9th Avenue and in the East Bay cities Lafayette and Danville.

Chow, 215 Church Street, San Francisco, (415) 552-2469. http:// www.chowfoodbar.com/index. html.

Best Dinner

Catch Opened in 2002, Catch is known

Best Breakfast, Best LateNight Restaurant

Orphan Andy’s Night owls and early risers cross paths at the Castro’s 24-hour diner Orphan Andy’s, which has welcomed patrons since 1977. This greasy spoon is one of the last surviving eateries from the gayborhood’s heyday, when Harvey Milk was galvanizing a movement and a new generation of LGBT people were making San Francisco their home.

Jammed after the gay bars close down in the wee hours of the night, it fills up again with a pre-work breakfast crowd. Sundays often find a line out of the door during brunch

for serving fresh, affordable seafood in its historic perch on Market Street. The building is considered a local landmark, as it was the home to the AIDS Memorial Quilt back in the early days of the epidemic. It was also the first site of Harvey Milk’s camera shop before he relocated to Castro Street.

The restaurant’s fireplace in a heated patio area is a major draw on warmer evenings, while a jazz piano indoor beckons on colder nights. If dining alone, grab a seat at the bar and make yourself home for the evening.

Catch, 2362 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 431-5000. http:// www.catchsf.com/.

Best Brunch, Best Outdoor Patio

Cafe Flore Another stalwart from the 1970s is the corner eatery Cafe Flore that serves as a gateway between the Castro and Duboce Park neighborhoods.

With a Parisian flair to its decor and an indoor area reminiscent of an oversized glass greenhouse, it has been serving up caffeinated drinks

and down-home cooking for decades.

Its sidewalk tables and outdoor patio seating beckon an eclectic clientele on warm San Francisco days.

At brunch try the Hawaiian French toast and dream of whiling away the day in the island state.

Cafe Flore, 2298 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 621-8579. http://www.cafeflore.com.

Best Dessert

Sweet Inspiration Tempting the taste buds with its array of sweet and savory snacks is perennial favorite of Bay Area Reporter readers Sweet Inspiration. From its berry tarts to its wide assortment of cakes, this locally owned bakery is the perfect place to treat a date, cheat on a diet, or just indulge in a moment of pure sugar bliss. It’s also a great go-to source for a birthday cake or last-minute dessert for a dinner party.

Sweet Inspiration, 2239 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 6218664. www.sweetinspirationbakery.com.

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Best Bar Food (place), Best Sports Bar

Hi Tops

www.ebar.com

Eye-opening views are on display at the Cliff House.

The views are eye opening at these eateries

by Matthew S. Bajko

M

erriam-Webster defines the word view as “extent or range of vision.” It also includes “scene, prospect” as a secondary meaning.

In terms of restaurants with a view, so often the draw for diners’ eyes is to what extent they can see outside of the eatery. More likely than not the scenes framed by an establishment’s windows are what wins it raves.

The scenic outdoors, aweinspiring sunsets, city skylines, or ocean landscapes all lure diners to various restaurants.

In some circumstances, the view can outshine the food served. In others the visual sumptuousness complements what is created in the kitchen.

Yet how does one define a restaurant’s view when its windows look upon nothing of grandeur? Is the measurement based on the works of art plated by the chef, just as photographable as an outdoor tableau?

These are the questions raised by the winning establishments sharing the title of best restaurant with a view in this year’s Best of the Gays.

Tied for the honor are the Cliff House, perched perilously close to the Pacific Ocean, and Gary Danko, tucked into a corner spot a block away from Ghirardelli Square.

An elegant spot for dinner or cocktails after a day at the beach, the Cliff House shared this category in last year’s Best of the Gays poll. It has been luring city residents and visi-

tors to the ends of the Earth since 1863.

Situated in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the Cliff House underwent a major renovation in 2004. Its Sutro Wing is a two-story dining room that promises guests “stunning panoramic ocean views.”

Its window seating is so coveted that the restaurant does not allow reservations specifically for one of the oceanside tables. However, one can be requested upon arrival, and on fogless days, the wait is well worth the time spent.

At the 14-year-old Gary Danko, the lure has more to do with the eye-popping entrees dished up by chef-owner Gary Danko, who was named best chef in last year’s Best of the Gays poll. Reservations need to be made two months in advance for the 75-seat awardwinning restaurant at the base of Russian Hill.

While the interior itself is stunning, it is the dishes that continually impress the eyes.

One need only search on Google under “Gary Danko photos” to see pages of images of the meals that have dazzled diners there.

As one reviewer online noted, “I spent most of my time concentrating on my food.”

Cliff House, 1090 Point Lobos, San Francisco, (415) 386-3330. http://www.cliffhouse.com.

Gary Danko, 800 North Point, San Francisco, (415) 749-2060. http://www.garydanko.com.

Since its debut in late November Hi Tops has been an instant hit, and it gained international fame when a photo of a gay couple making out at the bar during a 49ers playoff game landed in Sports Illustrated’s special Super Bowl issue. Promoted as the first real LGBT sports bar in the city’s gayborhood, it replaced Lime restaurant, despised for its Sunday bottomless Mimosa’s that left diners, gay and straight alike, inebriated.

A mixed clientele can still be found at the upper Market Street hangout, but the focus is no longer on drinking to excess on a weekend day. Instead, patrons are more likely to be glued to the TV screens watching their favorite sports teams.

Even non-sports fans have been flocking to try out the well-reviewed menu at the bar. As one Yelper hooked on the place raved online, the choices include “really good gluten-free options for me, and even some good bar eats for my vegetarian partner.”

Hi Tops, 2247 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 551-2500. http:// hitopssf.com/.

Rick Gerharter

The 49ers came up short in this year’s Super Bowl, but a packed house of screaming fans cheered the team at Hi Tops, including Philip Garcia.

Best Mixed Drink, Best Gay/Gay-Friendly Bar

Blackbird Perhaps it’s the Butler, a blend of Earl Grey infused vodka, Algarvinha Almond, Cassis and lemon, ready to greet you at the bar? Or maybe it’s the warm embrace of the Drunken Sailor, a mix of El Dorado spiced rum, Creme de Cacao, Dry Curacao, orange, and cream?

The answers weren’t specific on which best mixed drink tickled respondents’ fancies, but they did know it is served at Blackbird.

B.A.R. readers also named the watering hole with an English sensibility this year as the best gay/gayfriendly bar.

Be adventurous and order one of the bar’s unique signature cocktails. For at Blackbird the atmosphere is relaxed but the liquor connoisseurship is taken seriously.

The view is more an appreciation of fine dining at Gary Danko, a readers’ favorite.

Blackbird, 2124 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 503-0630. http://www.blackbirdbar.com.

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Bartender Jack Faulkner draws a draft during a recent happy hour at the Edge bar in the Castro.

Rick Gerharter

Partying cheaply is easy at the Edge

by Matthew S. Bajko

S

ometimes it isn’t enough to hang out where everyone knows your name, as the famous saying goes, to have a fun night on the town. There are those days when cheap prices are even more important in determining the destination.

That is why Bay Area Reporter readers in-between paychecks – when their cash reserves are running low – head to Castro watering hole the Edge, named the best bang for your buck bar in San Francisco in this year’s Best of the Gays poll.

It also was named the best neighborhood bar this year, as the Edge draws a loyal local crowd not only with its drink specials but also its roster of friendly bartenders, sexy dancers, and DJ lineup.

The corner spot has been a favorite place to imbibe for more than two decades. It is especially crowded post work when patrons will find “a truly ‘happy’ happy hour,” promise the bars’ owners.

A perusal of the Edge’s daily cocktail specials explains why a dollar can “truly” be stretched at this bar. Mondays are dubbed “Musical” and often the casts of

touring Broadway shows pop in to entertain the crowd, who get a 2-for-1 drink deal all night from 5 p.m. to close. (Patrons are given a chip to exchange later on for their second drink, in effect masking one’s limited purchasing power.)

Tuesdays are “Easy” with $1 well drinks; Wednesdays domestic beer costs $2 and premiums $3; Thursdays Absolut Citron or Mandarin run $5; and Fridays feature cheap shots. Sundays “Kick It” at the Edge with $3 tall Bloody Mary’s or $4 tall Mimosas.

Probably the best deal of the week is the $8 Mason jar drink special on Saturdays.

Even better than the bargain booze are the many inexpensive beer busts the Edge hosts for local sports teams, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and a wide assortment of nonprofit organizations.

So drink up for a good cause, even if it will be a while before your wallet is replenished, and mingle with your neighbors at this beloved bar.

The Edge, 4149 18th Street, San Francisco, (415) 863-4027. http://www.edgesf.com.

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 17

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Nightlife

From page 17

Best Place to Meet Men

440 Castro B.A.R. readers out on the prowl for a mate have one place in mind, 440 Castro. Yes, distractions await those who enter this bar, whose address doubles as a name, such as the long-running Monday underwear nights or the special Sundays geared to hairy men.

But those looking for a man – whether hirsute or just scruffy – will no doubt find a plethora of potential paramours at this gay-

borhood hangout.

440 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 621-8732. http://www. the440.com.

Best Place to Meet Women

Lexington Club The Lexington Club – known simply as the Lex by locals – asks patrons to this Mission district bar one question: Do you like beer and boobs? If the answer is yes, then be sure to check out its $10 beer busts.

Long the pre-eminent “friendly neighborhood dyke bar” in San

Francisco, the Lexington is one of the few remaining establishments from when Valencia Street was a Sapphic wonderland. Today it remains a welcoming place for women who love women to meet and relax.

Lexington Club, 3464 19th Street, San Francisco, (415) 863-2052. http://www.lexingtonclub.com/.

on tap. Locals also know on sunny days to head to this Church Street hangout for its sizeable outdoor patio.

And any day of the week, rain or shine, pool mavens can be found here aiming for the corner pocket as they show off their skills.

Best Theme Night

Diva’s

Truck

Head over to the Polk Gulch to find Diva’s, once again voted the best bar to strike up a friendship with a transgender person. Whether it is one of the performers on stage, or a fellow customer in the audience, the patrons here are always friendly and out to have fun.

Those in the know about the city’s best “down, dirty, and cruisy” party can be found Tuesday nights starting at 10 p.m. at Busted, a weekly event held by off-the-beaten-path gay hangout Truck. The speakeasy vibe comes complete with the need to whisper a secret password to enter. Our lips are sealed, so you’ll need to do your own investigation into how to gain access.

Best Dance Floor

Badlands

drinks. Dalton, 40, said in an email that he was honored and flattered to win the category, but that “there is absolutely no way this could have happened without my Pilsner family.” With only two years tending bar, Dalton said he is fortunate to be surrounded by the experience

Pilsner Inn, 225 Church Street, San Francisco, (415) 621-7058. http:// www.pilsnerinn.com/.

Best Place to Meet Transgender People

Diva’s, 1081 Post Street, San Francisco, (415) 474-3482. http:// www.divassf.com.

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Truck, 1900 Folsom Street, San Francisco, (415) 252-0306. http:// www.trucksf.com.

The line up the block on a weekend night is a testament to the popularity of Badlands, perennially picked by B.A.R. readers as the place to go to show off your dance moves. The Castro establishment packs in locals and out-oftowners onto its circular dance floor, surrounded by a video wall. The latest pop tunes and dance songs dominate the play list seven nights a week.

Badlands, 4121 18th Street, San Francisco, (415) 626-9320. http:// www.sfbadlands.com.

Best Bar with a Patio, Best Bar with a Pool Table

Pilsner Inn Since 1980 the Pilsner Inn has welcomed thirsty patrons to its bar, famous for its selection of 30 draft beers

Rick Gerharter

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano

Best LGBT Activist

Tom Ammiano California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) has been one of the leaders of the LGBT community for decades. Ammiano worked with the late Supervisor Harvey Milk and the late activist Hank Wilson to fight against the Briggs initiative in 1978. The proposition, which would have barred gays and lesbians from teaching in California public schools, was defeated by voters.

A former school teacher and stand-up comic, Ammiano, 71, began his political career on the San Francisco school board. He went on to serve as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1994-2008, including stints as board president. He was an architect of the city’s domestic partner ordinance and is best known in recent years for spearheading Healthy San Francisco, the city’s universal health care program.

Since being elected to the Assembly in 2008, Ammiano has been a champion of the underserved, including LGBTs, immigrants, and prisoners. A father and grandfather, he is known for his quick wit and comebacks, which have on occasion provided levity in the Statehouse. http://www.asmdc.org/members/ a17/.

Best bartender (individual)

Steve Dalton Stop by the Pilsner Inn in San Francisco’s Castro district, and you may see Steve Dalton pouring the

Courtesy Steve Dalton

Bartender Steve Dalton

of his co-workers: Michael Pell, Gaddy Gadbouis, Alan Hadley, David Hartzell, Jeff Morten, Tommy “Mama” Tortstensen, and Johnnie Wartella, whom he thanked. Dalton also said that his bosses Pat Conlin, George Loudis, and Bryan Hoff are like family.

Dalton, who is gay, hails from Alabama and credits his upbringing in the South with helping him ease into bartending. “You can train a monkey to make a drink, but personality makes a true bartender,” he said. “My success as a bartender comes from Southern hospitality and a work ethic to match. People seem to be drawn to the accent, but stay because I make a good cocktail and work hard to show them a good time.”

He also credited the Pilsner regulars with being some of the friendliest and most loyal customers in the city.

“I have grown close to them all,” he said.

Pilsner Inn, 225 Church Street, San Francisco, (415) 621-7058. http://www.pilsnerinn.com.

Best DJ (Tie)

Robbie Martin, Sophia Hernandez Robbie Martin is no stranger to this category, which he has won for the third consecutive year. Martin, who is gay, has been DJing for 23 years.

Martin, 38, said that last year’s honor kept him in the game a bit longer, but he is now transitioning out of the city.

Last December, he was asked if he would move back to his hometown of New Orleans to manage the Club Baths in the French Quarter, the only bathhouse in Louisiana. “After deliberation and negotiation I accepted an offer in February,” he told the B.A.R. He relocated this week, after a giant going-away party, Bunny, was held April 1. Celebrity DJ Tracy Young spun the tunes.

Martin said that he has loved his time in San Francisco and he thanked the paper for its support over the past eight years. “I have been included and published for things I never thought possible,” he said. “Thank you so much for everything!”

Sophia Hernandez is a new winner. Hernandez is a DJ for Radio Valencia, an independent, freeform, commercial-free radio station in San Francisco. Radio Valencia can be found at 87.9 FM and online at www.radiovalencia.fm.

Best Personal Trainer

Daniel Paul Young Personal trainer Daniel Young works out of the Sessions Training

<< Best of the Gays 2013

20 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

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People/City Living

progressives who are critical of a plan he and Supervisor Mark Farrell are pushing regarding condo conversions. He acknowledged that his work in the Castro, backing the removal of the benches at Harvey Milk Plaza and his legislation establishing plaza rules, has drawn criticism.

“Whenever you’re active and taking on hard issues some people are going to love you and some people are not going to love you. I didn’t run for this office to be universally loved,” he said.

From page 18

Facility in San Francisco. He is a premiere provider in personal fitness and provides a range of services, including indoor, outdoor, and couples training. He has worked in San Francisco for almost a decade.

Young began his career 15 years ago working at the YMCA in Omaha, Nebraska. Since then he has have at various fitness facilities. He is a licensed, insured personal trainer and is CPR/AED certified. “What makes me happy is to provide you with quality service, experience, and the ability to achieve your fitness goals,” he says on his website.

Daniel Paul Young. www.danielpaulyoung.com.

Best Resource for LGBT Seniors

SF LGBT Community Center The San Francisco LGBT Community Center is a hub for elders in the community. Partnering with Openhouse, the LGBT senior agency that now has its offices and a community room at the center, it provides a venue for regular events such as Health and Wellness Fourth Fridays, drop-in groups, and the popular Game Day every Saturday.

The LGBT center also offers gallery shows and a variety of workshops and seminars.

San Francisco LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 865-5555. http:// www.sfcenter.org.

Best Photographer

Joe Mazza Joe Mazza has spent much of his life observing and photographing the human experience. He spent many years traveling to remote and desolate places, and while most of his travel-

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http://www.sfbos.org.

Courtesy Joe Mazza

Photographer Joe Mazza

ing companions were photographing architecture, Mazza, armed with an old film camera and zoom lens, went off on his own to candidly shoot the faces of the people who lived there, according to his website. It was those people who helped form his fascination with the story behind the eyes of his subjects – a trait that still finds its way into his work. Originally from Los Angeles, Mazza moved to San Francisco more than 15 years ago and is a freelance photographer and acting coach. He has a broad range of credits and clients, including the Bare Chest Calendar, Yorkies underwear, and the website of American Idol.

Mention the B.A.R. when you book your photo shoot and receive magazine-quality retouching on one additional image from your proofs, free of charge.

Joe Mazza Photography, (415) 552-6844. http://www.joemazzaphotography.com.

Best Politician, Best Politician You Love to Hate

Scott Wiener Love him or hate him, everyone seems to know gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, the winner in these two categories. Wiener, 42, has raised his profile considerably this year with not one, not two, but three feature stories in local media outlets.

In a recent interview, Wiener, who is in his first term on the board, pointed to his work last year restoring HIV/AIDS funds and getting transgender benefits included in Healthy San Francisco, the city’s universal health care system. He was also a proponent of the LGBT Aging Policy Task Force, which is studying the needs of LGBT seniors.

Regarding non-LGBT specific legislation, he talked about his work on transportation issues, with a focus on Muni, car-sharing, and bikesharing, as well as his work on housing issues like micro units.

Wiener has his detractors, most notably urban nudists – Wiener spearheaded the nudity ban that went into effect February 1 – and

Best Place to Pamper Your Pets

Mudpuppy’s Tub and Scrub The popular Mudpuppy’s Tub and Scrub has won before as readers love the dog-washing service. The company has two locations, Point Isabel Regional Shoreline (washing

Mudpuppy’s

Mudpuppy’s head groomer Blake Hernandez

only), and the Castro, where full grooming services are now available for dogs and cats, according to the company’s website.

Co-owners Todd Ahlberg, Daniel Bergerac, and Eddie Lundeen opened the Castro location a couple years ago and never looked back.

Ahlberg said the company was thrilled with its Best of the Gays award, despite Bergerac remarking at a recent Merchants of Upper Market and Castro meeting that “print is dead,” “Well, Dan says silly things sometimes,” Ahlberg said, adding that the context for the comment was Bergerac was trying to make a case for the removal of empty newsracks.

“Personally, I read the B.A.R. every week.”

When you visit, be sure to say hi to resident French bulldogs Miss Moo and Winston.

Mudpuppy’s Tub and Scrub, 536 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 431-8899. 1 Isabel Street, Richmond, (510) 559-8899. http:// www.mudpuppys.com.

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April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 21

of 360 Skin, a fully licensed awardwinning medical esthetics practice for advanced skincare located in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial district. Doyle specializes in the unique needs of the professional client with the expressed goal of solving your skincare issues and maintaining your skin’s health and appearance. The utilization of noninvasive cosmetic procedures, nutrition, and a keen, discerning eye all allow him to rectify the aging process with natural appearing results.

variety of drinks, food, and desserts,” Virginia said in an email. “There’s something for any taste without breaking the budget, with just enough distractions at the bustling intersection to keep your interest if your date doesn’t.”

On the other hand, the cafe can be a safe place to end a relationship if it’s reached its final chapter.

“With its cozy seating and plentiful cruising sight lines, you’ll not only have witnesses if things get ugly, but you might just spot your next love interest through the flower-hanging windows,” Virginia said. “There are also two exits on this major transit hub for a quick getaway.”

Cafe Flore, 2298 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 621-8579. http://www.cafeflore.com.

BAYS founder Jason Galisatus Courtesy Jason Galisatus

Youth leader on a roll

by Cynthia Laird

E

nergetic gay youth activist Jason Galisatus was the winner in this new category in this year’s Best of the Gays. The Stanford University sophomore, 19, heads up Bay Area Youth Summit, a nonprofit organization focusing on middle school students who are struggling with coming out as LGBT. Prior to forming BAYS, Galisatus led the gay-straight alliance at Aragon High School in San Mateo. He started organizing a youth conference in 2011 and following its success, he teamed up with other young adults to create BAYS. One of the unique things about BAYS is that it is a youthled organization. That aspect has attracted supporters such as gay state Assemblyman Rich Gordon (D-Menlo Park), who told the Bay Area Reporter last year that he believes the nonprofit has found a niche within the broader LGBT community that needs to be filled.

Galisatus said he was proud to win the readers’ poll award for best LGBT youth activist under 25.

“I’m so grateful to the San Francisco LGBT community and the B.A.R. for this honor,” he said in an email. “It is not often that

youth activists are recognized for their work, and I am so thrilled to see this trend changing.”

Readers may recall that Galisatus was featured in the B.A.R. a couple of weeks ago as he is one of a dozen people nominated for community grand marshal of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade. BAYS was nominated for organizational grand marshal. Public voting is now under way.

“I hope these honors can be an opportunity to encourage our fellow youth to decide to make the difference in their communities,” Galisatus said of the grand marshal nominations.

He wanted to point out that BAYS is in the midst of organizing its biennial youth leadership conference, the Summit, which takes place Saturday, May 11 at Aragon High School. The daylong event will feature RuPaul’s Drag Race Season three winner Raja Gemini, Scouts for Equality Executive Director Zach Wahls, Academy Award-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, and past San Francisco Pride grand marshals the Reverend Roland Stringfellow and Andrea Shorter. Details can be found at http://www.bayareayouthsummit.org.

Best Attorney Best Dentist (Tie)

Thomas R. Burns

Paul-Ryan Lake, Blair Keck

Attorney Thomas R. Burns won the category this year. His specialty is bankruptcy law and the firm was founded in 1992. Burns has offices in San Francisco and Walnut Creek.

For over 20 years, Burns and his team have provided help and relief to clients suffering from unmanageable financial situations.

Drs. Paul-Ryan Lake and Blair Keck have their practices in the same building, 4128 18th Street, and were our readers’ choice in this category. Lake’s website indicates he offers a full range of dental services, as well as another office in Union Square. Blake’s entry on http://www.vitals.com says that he practices general dentistry.

Paul-Ryan Lake, DDS; Blair Keck, DDS, 4128 18th Street, San Francisco, (415) 863-9255. www. drlakesf.com.

Best Healthcare Provider

Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is one of the region’s largest health care providers, offering members an array of plans and coverage. Kaiser has been a leader in HIV/AIDS treatment, with high quality doctors, nurses, and medical staff. Kaiser also offers programs in men’s health, women’s health, fitness and weight management, nutrition and recipes, preventive care, smoking cessation, and much more.

Kaiser Permanente. www.kp.org.

Bankruptcy Law Center of Thomas R. Burns, 703 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 543-9900. http://www.tburnslaw.com.

Best Tax Preparer

H & R Block

H & R Block is synonymous with taxes and has the category to itself this year. With the April 15 tax deadline around the corner, the company offers many products, including online filing, and has offices throughout the Bay Area.

H&R Block, 2370 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 241-0318. http://www.hrblock.com.

Best Day Spa

360 Skin Brandon Doyle is the founder

Courtesy 360 Skin

360 Skin’s Brandon Doyle

Facials, waxing, chemical peels and more are available.

360 Skin, 21 Columbus Avenue, Suite 227, San Francisco, (415) 5010360. http://www.360skin.com.

Best Place to Get Your Hair Done

Joe’s Barbershop “Just a little off the top” is the slogan at Joe’s Barbershop, a Castro favorite since 2004. Owner Joe Gallagher, who studied at Moler Barber College in Oakland, started in the business in 2002. The shop moved to its current location in 2009, where a number of barbers now work. A fire in March 2012 closed the business for a time, but it was back up and running two months later. Readers love that Joe’s is now open seven days a week so that they can get a special cut for any occasion.

Gallagher said that he and the crew are grateful for the honor. “We had quite a year and are thrilled to have survived the fire, and to be thriving with all our great customers,” he said.

Joe’s Barbershop, 2150 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 2559096. http://www.joesbarbershop.com.

Best Nail Salon

Queen Bee Nail Salon The winner in this new category does more than nails. You can also get a facial or waxing at the Queen Bee Nail Salon in the Castro. The business bills itself as one of the few professional nail salons and spas in the city, where new facilities and a trained professional staff are waiting for you. For more information, visit their Facebook page.

Queen Bee Nail Salon, 2380 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 252-8092.

Best Place for a First Date, Best Place to Breakup

Cafe Flore It says something about this popular Castro cafe that LGBTs feel comfortable enough to excitedly start a potential relationship or, heartbreakingly, to end one.

Gary Virginia, a longtime gay activist who helps owner JD Petras with marketing, offered this perspective on why Cafe Flore makes a great place for a first date.

“Perhaps the attraction of Cafe Flore to take a love interest on a first date is the romantic patio garden and wide

Best Jewelry, Best Clothing Store Men and Women

Macy’s Who says department store shopping is out of fashion? Not B.A.R.

Macy’s has a fine men’s department.

readers, who again have chosen Macy’s at the best place to shop in San Francisco.

The famous retailer has long been supportive of the LGBT community, it hosts a yearly AIDS fundraiser called Macy’s Passport, and during Pride last year, helped raise money for the Human Rights Campaign. It also teamed up with celebrity gay pastry chef Yigit Pura to house his Frenchinspired patisserie Tout Sweet.

Macy’s Men’s Store, 120 Stockton Street, and Macy’s Union Square, 170 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco, (415) 397-3333. http://www. macys.com.

<< Best of the Gays 2013

22 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

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Shopping

From page 21

Best Place to Buy Eyewear

Site for Sore Eyes Looking for a new pair of designer glasses, or need to restock your contact lens prescription? Then head to Site for Sore Eyes, named best place to buy eyewear in this year’s Best of the Gays poll.

The national chain, which started with one shop in Berkeley in 1979, has several locations in San Francisco, including in West Portal and downtown. It carries name-brand frames by Guess, Calvin Klein, and Tommy Hilfiger.

Site for Sore Eyes, 140 Battery Street, San Francisco, (415) 4212020. http://www.siteforsoreeyes.com.

Best Bank

Wells Fargo Perhaps it has something to do with images of chaps-attired, horse-handling stagecoach drivers galloping across the west, for when it comes to handling their money B.A.R. readers choose Wells Fargo.

Named best bank this year, the storied institution began in San Fran-

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cisco in 1852 during the heyday of the Gold Rush.

It has long been recognized as a good place to work for LGBT employees and supports a vast array of LGBT nonprofits and Pride events across the country.

Wells Fargo Castro branch, 557 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 621-0122. https://www. wellsfargo.com/.

Best Bookstore

Books Inc. Once again locally owned chain Books Inc. has been named the best place to purchase books by B.A.R. readers. Its Castro location is now the only full service general interest bookstore in the gayborhood and hosts numerous author readings and book signings throughout the year.

The company also traces its history back to the Gold Rush days of 1851, when Anton Roman struck it rich in Shasta City, California and started selling books. Over the next century the Gold Country shop moved locations, changed hands, was rebuilt after burning down, and eventually was re-christened as

Books Inc. is a Castro favorite.

Apothecarium coowner Ryan Hudson in 2010

Books Inc. in 1946.

Books Inc., 2275 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 864-6777. http:// www.booksinc.net/sfcastro.

Best Adult Store

Mr. S Leather South of Market outpost Mr. S Leather continues to be a beloved place to shop for bondage and fetish gear by B.A.R. readers. This year the store earned the title of best adult store.

Its fans include those who make a pilgrimage to its warehouse-like building in person or out-oftowners who order online their sex toys, clothing, and other items from its extensive website. A portion of the proceeds from those sales is then filtered back into the LGBT community via donations to various nonprofits and sponsorship of leather events across the country.

Mr. S Leather, 385 8th Street, San Francisco, (415) 863-7764. http:// www.mr-s-leather.com.

A medicine shop for the new millennium

by Matthew S. Bajko In olden times one seeking out medicines would contact their local apothecary, a druggist who filled prescriptions akin to modern-day pharmacists.

Similar transactions occur daily at the Apothecarium, the only medical marijuana dispensary in the Castro district. The medicine being prescribed, however, carries a different legal status depending on one’s point of view.

To many in California the items for sale at the understated Market Street shop–bearing labels such as pink lemonade, cherry pie and berry white – are no different than the array of drugs found at CVS or Walgreens. The shop, to them, should be regulated on the same basis as a corner liquor store.

But to federal prosecutors, the Apothecarium and its brethren are violating federal laws that classify marijuana, even for medicinal use, as an illicit substance. They have gone after dispensaries around the state, despite comments from President Barack Obama that his administration would not crack down on cannabis in states that have legalized its use.

“We all are saddened by the outcomes of the current crackdown in our community. We understand the frustration that comes about from these types of experiences, but we remind everyone to stay focused and positive,” states the Apothecarium on its blog.

Since 1996 it has been legal in the Golden State to treat symptoms for cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, and other illnesses with marijuana. There is talk that voters will again be asked to legalize

Best Bicycle Shop

Valencia Cyclery Bicyclists looking for new wheels would best be advised to spin over to Valencia Cyclery, named the best bicycle shop in this year’s Best of the

recreational use of the drug, similar to what residents in Colorado and Washington state did last fall.

And a gay Democratic congressman, Jared Polis of Boulder, Colorado, is sponsoring federal legislation to reclassify marijuana as a legal substance and allow states the power to regulate it.

Until the laws are changed, though, owners of medical marijuana dispensaries face the risk of being raided and arrested by the feds. Several already have been shuttered in San Francisco, though new ones continue to open their doors.

For B.A.R. readers, the best medical marijuana dispensary in town is the Apothecarium. Owned by two straight men, the store maintains a low profile and is outfitted to resemble an apothecary’s shop of yore.

In addition to the herbal remedies for sale to its members – as required by law medical marijuana users must have a valid doctor’s recommendation to purchase cannabis products at the dispensary – the Apothecarium offers free weekly support groups, such as a yoga class or meditation group.

It also funnels a portion of its profits back to the Castro neighborhood, having donated to various nonprofits serving the LGBT community. And in honor of comedian Sarah Silverman being a celebrity grand marshal at Pride last year, the shop sold a specialty item it dubbed Super Sarah Silverman Haze.

The Apothecarium, 2095 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 500-2620. http://www. apothecariumsf.com.

Gays poll. The family bike shop in the Mission district caters to riders of all ages and abilities.

Opened in 1985, the shop prides itself on being a “down to earth business.” For the last 17 years it has held an annual benefit sale for Project Open Hand, an HIV-focused food pantry, that features incredible markdowns and 10 percent of all sales donated to the nonprofit.

More than $107,000 has been raised through the sales.

Valencia Cyclery, 1065 and 1077 Valencia Street, San Francisco, (415) 550-6600. http://www. valenciacyclery.com.

Best Vintage Clothing Store

Sui Generis Bikes for all cyclists are available at Valencia Cyclery.

For the finest in recycled fashion, B.A.R. readers head to Castro clothing store Sui Generis. The sole winner this year in the best vintage

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Best of the Gays 2013 >>

clothing store category, this Market Street store continues to build on its success from opening a closet-sized shop five years ago.

Since then it has expanded into a larger storefront to showcase its men’s collection and now has a smaller, designated store for women’s fashions. Shopping at either has been dubbed a museum-like experience by fashionistas, and its merchandise runs the gamut from clothing to shoes to accessories.

Street, San Francisco, (415) 7779858. http://www.cowdenautomotive.com/.

Sui Generis, 2231 Market Street, (415) 437-2231 (men’s); 2265 Market Street, (415) 437-2265 (women’s). http://www.suigenerisconsignment.com.

Ho-hum is not a word associated with De La Sole, a repeat winner of the best shoe store category.

This gay-owned Castro business has won a devoted following for carrying hard-to-find styles to grace customers’ feet. It stocks both men’s and women’s shoes, which run the gamut from ultra-high-end leather boots to more moderately priced sneakers.

De La Sole, 549 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 255-3140. http:// www.delasole.com.

Best Place to Get Fit

Fitness SF It appears its decision to part ways with Gold’s Gym last fall, due to donations the company’s founder made to anti-gay groups, and become its own mini Bay Area chain impressed B.A.R. readers, as Fitness SF won top honors among fitness buffs in this year’s poll.

The family-owned company now has four locations, two in San Francisco and one each in Oakland and Marin. It describes its Castro gym as a “neighborhood institution” and boasts “if you want to be part of the community this is where you need to be.”

Special offer: Mention this listing for a free one-day pass to Fitness SF for a friend or family member.

Fitness SF Castro location, 2301 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 348-6377. http://fitnesssf.com/.

Best Place to Buy a Car

San Francisco Honda When in need of a new vehicle, B.A.R. readers recommend heading over to San Francisco Honda. Owned by the Boas family since 1971, it was the second Honda franchise to open in northern California. Business has been brisk ever since, and the dealership near the Civic Center, where it has been located for the last 35 years, recently was remodeled to better serve customers.

Special offer: Mention this listing for complimentary first maintenance visit with new vehicle purchase or lease.

SF Honda, 10 South Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, (415) 9135165. http://www.sfhonda.com.

Best Auto Mechanic

Cowden Automotive Having trouble with a foreign car you own? Best to take it in for a tuneup at Cowden Automotive Foreign Car Repair, named best auto mechanic by B.A.R. readers this year.

Started more than three decades ago by Paul Cowden, the business has grown from a one-man shop into a 10-bay facility with the latest in diagnostic equipment and automotive technicians trained to fix modern foreign cars such as Subarus, Hondas, and Volkswagens.

Cowden Automotive, 875 Folsom

and its website features a live chat option where a personal shopper can answer any questions submitted.

For the last eight years the store has also sponsored its Quickies film fest, showcasing seven-minute or less erotic tales on celluloid that are screened at a live event. And it hosts a yearly Sex Summit that brings together policy wonks and activists to discuss the latest trends in sexual politics, health, education, and culture. There’s also a store in Oakland.

Good Vibrations, 899 Mission Street, San Francisco, (415) 5131635. http://www.goodvibes.com.

Best Sex Club

Best Shoe Store

De La Sole

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 23

Blow Buddies Good Vibrations has a variety of sex toys.

Best Place to Buy Sex Toys

Good Vibrations Vibrators, dildos, and butt plugs may get all the attention at Good Vibrations, once again winner of this category. But the 35-year-old store does so much more than just sell sex toys. It offers how-to advice both in-store and online so its customers make the most of the items they buy,

Going strong for 25 years, Blow Buddies has survived into the Internet age when other sex clubs closed and remains open today despite the emergence of smartphone hookup apps.

It is no wonder this members-only SOMA sex club is a perennial winner with B.A.R. readers.

Apart from providing a safe, sexpositive space for men to meet and comingle, the club sponsors events such as the Up Your Alley and Folsom Street fairs.

Blow Buddies, 933 Harrison Street, San Francisco, (415) 777-4323. http://www.blowbuddies.com.

<< Best of the Gays 2013

24 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

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Shopping

From page 23

The Castro Street Fair always draws a crowd to the gayhorhood.

Best Cruising Spot

Folsom Gulch It could be that headlines about a grizzly murder there, or reports of trees being thinned out, ruined last year’s winner Buena Vista Park as the place to go to cruise. Or maybe it was getting too cold at the hilltop park and men wanted to find a warmer, indoor spot to size each other up. For getting top nods this year as the place to see and be seen when looking for sex is SOMA shop Folsom Gulch.

Part of the Adult Megastores chain on the West Coast, the store features all-day arcade passes with in and out privileges. It promises that it is “a great place to meet people in the city.” On weekends its PlaySpace across the street (962 Folsom) draws a male-only crowd.

Folsom Gulch, 947 Folsom Street, San Francisco, (415) 495-6402. http://adultmegastores.com/ stores/store-locations-in-sanfrancisco/folsom-gulch/

Castro Street Fair is tops

by Cynthia Laird Courtesy SF Ballet

The San Francisco Ballet is a world-class institution that has a large LGBT following.

Best Live Music Venue

The Warfield The Warfield has been a San Francisco institution for 86 years. Opened on May 13, 1922, it was built by showman and theater chain owner Marcus Loew, who named the showplace after his old friend David Warfield, a native San Franciscan who began as an usher and grew to be one of the greatest silent film actors of his time. Over the years, numerous acts have taken to the stage, from Bob Dylan to Prince to Adele. Upcoming shows include Alesso (April 5) and Knife Party (April 12).

The Warfield, 982 Market Street, San Francisco. http://www. thewarfieldtheatre.com.

Best Theater Group

ACT

Trannyshack staged a tribute to Madonna in 2011.

Best Drag Show

Trannyshack Trannyshack, San Francisco’s infamous drag performance nightclub, shocked and delighted packed audiences every Tuesday night at midnight for over 12 years. It now is more of a random party with no set schedule.

Next up is a Madonna tribute night in May at the DNA Lounge.

Trannyshack. http://www.trannyshack.com.

The American Conservatory Theater has a long and distinguished history. The company was founded by William Bell in 1965 and opened its San Francisco season at the Geary Theater in 1967. In the 1970s, ACT solidified its national and international reputation, winning a Tony Award for outstanding performance and training in 1979.

Today, ACT is recognized for its groundbreaking productions of classical works and bold explorations of contemporary playwriting. Its longtime artistic director is Carey Perloff.

It will host the world premiere of Stuck Elevator April 4-28. Perloff will direct Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia in May. American Conservatory Theater, Box Office 405 Geary Street, San Francisco, (415) 749-2228. www. act-sf.org.

third consecutive year. Nothing says classic movie like a classic movie house. Film premieres, special shows, and sing-a-longs are just some of the magic you will find at this theater in the heart of the gayborhood. It is well-known for its diverse programming and is one of the venues for the Frameline Film Festival in June. It also plays host to several other film festivals throughout the year.

A registered landmark with the city of San Francisco, the Castro Theatre was built in 1922 and is currently owned by the Nasser family.

Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 6216129. www.castrotheatre.com.

Best Museum

de Young Museum

Castro Theatre The Castro’s very own art deco movie palace wins this award for the

Best Dance Company

San Francisco Ballet The oldest professional ballet company in America, the San Francisco Ballet has emerged as a world-class arts organization since its founding as the San Francisco Opera Ballet in 1933. Helgi Tomasson’s arrival as artistic director in July 1985 marked the beginning of a new era for the company. The ballet has staged new productions of the classic holiday favorite, Nutcracker, and next month will showcase the U.S. premiere of Cinderella.

Upcoming programs include Raymonda Act III, Ibsen’s House, and Symphonic Dances (April 9-20) and Criss-Cross, Francesca da Rimini, and Symphony in Three Movements (April 11-21).

The deYoung Museum is a Bay Area favorite.

new winner in the best fair or festival category, organizers of the long-running Castro Street Fair were ecstatic when told of the Best of the Gays honor.

“In a city that is world-renowned for outdoor festivals and events (queer, straight, athletic, musical, or otherwise; and all of the above), it is truly an honor to be recognized as a stand-out by your readers,” George Ridgely, executive director of the fair, said in an email.

“In the company of such stellar events as Folsom Street Fair and Pride, it is particularly sweet to receive this honor on the eve of our 40th anniversary – which is coming this October.”

There’s a lot of history to the Castro Street Fair, which was founded by slain gay supervisor Harvey Milk in 1974. Ridgely said that the fair strives to honor Milk’s original vision for the fair,

The de Young is a winner for the second time in this category. And while the museum, part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, has made headlines recently over its leadership issues, the jewel in Golden Gate Park is as popular as ever. (FAMSF just announced the hiring of director Colin B. Bailey.)

Currently, the acclaimed Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis exhibition is drawing crowds and will be on display through June 2.

The new de Young, designed by the Swiss architectural firm Herzog and de Meuron, opened in 2005. The museum showcases American art from the 17th through 21st centuries, international contemporary art, textiles, and costumes and art from the Americas, the Pacific, and Africa. de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, (415) 7503600. http://deyoung.famsf.org.

Best Movie Theater

A

San Francisco Ballet, 455 Franklin Street, San Francisco, (415) 865-2000. http://www.sfballet. org.

and embody all that is San Francisco and the Castro. The historical, hyper-local, grassroots event includes entertainment for families, dancing, informational booths, food and drink, and much more.

A big part of the Castro Street Fair, like many others in the city, is to raise money for nonprofits.

Every year the fair supports 2030 beneficiary groups. Ridgely pointed out that the fair also helps fund the rainbow flag that flies at the corner of Market and Castro streets.

“We have raised over $1.1 million since 1998 and we couldn’t have done this without the generous gate donations of our attendees,” Ridgely noted.

This year’s 40th anniversary edition of the fair is sure to be a smashing success, so put the date on your calendar and come out on Sunday, October 6. www. castrostreetfair.org.

highest concentration of artists, religious congregations – and lesbian couples,” Kaplan, 42, said in an email. “By naming me as best East Bay politician and Oakland Pride as best East Bay fair or festival, the Bay Area Reporter honors and acknowledges Oakland for being a truly diverse and inclusive place.

“I’m thrilled by this special distinction as we work to expand economic opportunity in our community and stop gun violence on our streets. These awards are an incredibly positive reflection of an Oakland on the rise.”

Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, 94612. atlarge@oaklandnet.com.

Best Fair or Festival

Oakland Pride Jane Philomen Cleland

Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan

Best Politician

Rebecca Kaplan Rebecca Kaplan, the out lesbian Oakland City Councilwoman and council president pro tem, has been a rising star in the East Bay since her decisive election to the at-large seat in 2008. She easily won re-election last November despite being challenged by a fellow council member.

Oakland has its share of issues, especially around public safety as the police force has been cut to around 625 officers. Last month the City Council unanimously approved a resolution, co-authored by Kaplan, that divests the city from making investments in the manufacturers of firearms or ammunition.

Kaplan also touts the positive aspects of Oakland, including its vibrant food and culture scene, as well as a large LGBT population.

“Oakland is home to our nation’s

Since its rebirth in 2010, Oakland Pride has added pizazz to the city’s Uptown district every Labor Day weekend. A Pride festival had been around starting in the late 1990s but that ended in 2003. Seven years later, led in part by out City Council woman Rebecca Kaplan and with help from San Francisco Pride and the East Bay’s Bench and Bar gay club, Oakland’s daylong festival has been a hit with families, older LGBTs, and young people.

Oakland Pride. http://www. oaklandpride.org.

Best Restaurant

Chez Panisse American food pioneer and chef Alice Waters opened this classic Berkeley bistro in 1971. The restaurant is open for dinner Monday through Saturday, by reservation only. The fixed dinner menu consists of three to four courses. The menu, which changes every night, is designed to be appropriate to the season and composed to feature the finest sustainably-sourced, organic,

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Thomas Burns Best of the Gays 2013 >> • 2x3 2110

Patrons regularly pack the dance floor at the White Horse Inn.

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 25

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Courtesy White Horse Inn

by Cynthia Laird

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he White Horse Inn is historic. Situated at 66th Street and Telegraph Avenue on the Oakland-Berkeley border, it was built in 1933 and is still going strong. Long known as a hangout for gays, especially college students from nearby UC Berkeley, general manager Joey Velez said that the White Horse is officially the oldest gay bar in the United States and will soon celebrate its 80th anniversary.

Owned since 2000 by Chuck Davis, the White Horse Inn has been a community mainstay for decades. Davis and Velez said the mix of customers makes the White Horse unique.

Davis told the Bay Area Reporter that it’s a fun neighborhood hang-out bar that turns into

and seasonal ingredients including meat, fish, and poultry. There is also a café.

Sadly, as the B.A.R. was tallying the Best of the Gays results, Chez Panisse suffered a severe fire in early March and is temporarily closed.

According to the restaurant’s website, Waters and her team hope to re-open by the first week in June.

Foodies should check the site for updates.

Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck

a dance club on the weekends and is enjoyed by people of every race, sex, age, and orientation.

“We cater to a diverse clientele,” Velez added. “We are a community-oriented, neighborhood bar.”

The White Horse offers numerous special events throughout the year, and Velez said celebrations that draw a crowd include Oakland Pride, Halloween, and New Year’s Eve. The bar was packed for last month’s St. Patrick’s Day party as well, he said.

Karaoke nights on Mondays and Tuesdays are popular, as are the drink specials, such as $3 Long Island iced teas on Wednesdays to go with the drag nights. The White Horse has a dance floor, and there’s dancing every night except Mondays and Tuesdays, Davis said.

395 Ninth The White Horse is also in-

volved with the community and sponsors a gay softball team, Davis said.

Davis and Velez announced that at the end of April, things will kick into high gear with a week of parties to commemorate the milestone anniversary. The fun starts Monday, April 29 with karaoke.

Other events include an anniversary show (May 1), a DJs battle of the beats (May 2), presentation of the anniversary mural and Carousel ball with guest DJ Haute Mess (May 3), guest DJ Shawn P (May 4), and a big Cinco de Mayo party and celebration (May 5).

BAYAREAREPORTER White Horse Inn, 6551 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, (510) 652-3820. http://www.whiteStreet S.F. CA horsebar.com.

PHONE 415.861.5019

Avenue, Berkeley. http://www. chezpanisse.com.

Best Reason to Cross the Bay Bridge

The weather LGBTs in San Francisco may love living in the world-class, cosmopolitan city, with neighborhoods like the Castro within easy reach. But when the fog starts rolling off the ocean and through

FAX 861-8144

the Golden Gate, many make the quick trip across the Bay Bridge where the sun and warmer climes await. With its plentiful hiking trails and Point Isabel Regional Shoreline, a great off-leash dog park (East Bay Regional Park District, http://www.ebparks.org); shopping (http://www.Ikea.com); and a gay bathhouse (http://www. steamworksonline.com), LGBT city dwellers find all kinds of amusements just a quick drive or BART trip away.

Sisters on parade

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he Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence didn’t let a little rain dampen their Easter spirit, as Sisters Blanche Davidian, left, Agnes Dei’afa Tamara, Luna Jocqui, and Nancy Drew Blood dressed in their spring ensembles and welcomed partygoers to the annual Easter party in Dolores Park Sunday, March 31. The kids events and bonnet contest were held, but an afternoon downpour rained out the Hunky Jesus contest. Not to worry, Sister Connie Pinko issued a news release stating that the group of drag nuns will hold the contest, now dubbed the Second Coming, later this month. “Hunky Jesuses, rejoice!” Pinko said. “And keep your loin cloths and thorny crowns at the ready – your moment in the spotlight will happen soon.” For updates, check http:// www.thesisters.org.

Jane Philomen Cleland

Fax to: Fax from:

<< Community News

26 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

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Foundation

Little instruction

Horn said he asked Ross once whether he had instructions on how to distribute the money. He said that in Ross’s “typically charming manner,” he said, “Oh, you know who I give to.” That was just about the only instruction Horn received.

“The current beneficiaries are very close to the beneficiaries he gave to during his lifetime,” Horn

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Housing

From page 1

years.

In the Castro in particular, many LGBT adults living in rent-controlled units are now being evicted when their building sells and the new owners want to move in.

“We have seen Ellis Act evictions increase by owner move-in. Those kind of evictions definitely are on the rise,” AIDS Legal Referral Panel

<<

said. There isn’t a formal application process, but inquiring groups need to make a “really compelling” case to get on the roster, he said.

Ross was a “stickler” for administrative efficiency, and Horn said he’s continued Ross’s practice of studying organizations’ finances to make sure they weren’t spending

too much in areas like salaries and fundraising.

The foundation’s assets include about $3.2 million in mutual funds.

Growth in that portfolio “pretty much” covered last year’s grants, Horn said.

Usually, grants are made from the earnings and principal from those funds.

Ross didn’t necessarily intend his foundation to last forever, Horn said.

Mitch Richstone, the foundation’s chief financial officer, said Horn has run the foundation well, and he seemed to agree with Horn’s remarks about longevity.

“I think the emphasis is not on having it be around forever, but getting the charities and the community some money that they need currently, and finding a mix between the two,” said Richstone, who’s with Good and Fowler, LLP. “You don’t want to give the whole thing out in one year. You want to have it be reasonable, so you can make some money off the investments and use that money, along with the principal, to fund the donations.”

Horn said he expects the foundation to be around for at least another 10 years, but he added, “When it’s gone, it’s gone.”t

Executive Director Bill Hirsh testified this week during a special hearing on the housing needs of LGBT seniors.

He noted that many HIV-positive people have used long-term disability policies to assist them in paying their rents. But those policies often include age cap clauses that go into effect when a person turns 61 or 62, noted Hirsh.

“People who didn’t think they would live that long or didn’t plan

for the future are now at risk of losing their home,” warned Hirsh.

Or they are now finding it difficult to live in high-rise buildings with decades-old elevators that can be out of service for weeks at a time.

With few options to relocate, they are stuck in place.

“I am grateful for my apartment but I feel closed in,” said Jon-Edmond Abraham, 62, who lives on the fourth floor of a building whose See page 28 >>

Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington – and lightly asked, “Where else would you want to go?”

One questioner asked the panel if the justices would be influenced by public polls that show nationwide support for marriage equality. Coles and Stoll agreed the justices “do not care about public opinion.”

In closing remarks, Coles said if justices do not overturn Prop 8, “voters will repeal it in 2014.” Still, he said, “There will be work to do.”

“Big changes don’t come in one fell swoop,” Coles said about the history of social progress. He reminded the audience, “Mayor Dianne Feinstein vetoed the city’s first domestic partnership bill in 1982.”

Forty-eight year old Napa resident Deb Stallings, director of development at Horizons Foundation, said she and her spouse got the first same-sex marriage license in Napa County in 2008, during the brief period when same-sex couples could wed.

“We went to the marriage license bureau for five years on Valentine’s Day to get married,” she said. “They saved the first license for us when it became legal.”

Her wife, Carol Whichard, is 58 and president of Communication Workers of America, Local 9404.

Of the event, Stallings said “it was a privilege to get insights from the brilliant attorneys.”

The high court’s decisions on Prop 8 and DOMA are expected in June.t

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Night Out event benefits LGBT family group

From page 1

and often traveled with the company, according to Horn. He also funded San Francisco Ballet School scholarships named for Keith White and Eric Hellman, two B.A.R. dance writers who died from AIDS. Each scholarship cost Ross $250,000.

Tom Flynn, the ballet’s development director, said Ross and the foundation’s assistance, which totals more than $1.5 million, “have touched virtually all aspects of the San Francisco Ballet.” Ross’s legacy includes the three endowed scholarships that he and his foundation established. Since 2000, the funds have supported 21 students in the ballet school, “many of whom have gone on to have professional careers,” Flynn said.

Legal expert

From page 12

During questions at the town hall, an attendee asked why Scalia did not recuse himself because of his numerous anti-gay writings and public remarks.

“Usually, recusals occur due to financial concerns,” Coles said.

Another questioner asked for guidance when visiting states that do not recognize same-sex marriage. Stoll advised married same-sex couples to take along legal documents confirming their family relationship. Coles named the nine states (plus the District of Columbia) that recognize samesex marriage – Connecticut, Iowa,

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Since his death nearly 10 years ago, Bay Area Reporter publisher Bob Ross’s foundation has distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to nonprofit organizations.

News Briefs

From page 11

older adults living in San Francisco who identify as LGBT, and some experience harassment, discrimination, and prejudice. Many seniors don’t feel safe talking to providers.

Speakers will address topics like a national call to end LGBT health disparities; understanding government benefits for LGBT seniors; tobacco use by LGBT elders; and more. Shane Snowdon, formerly with UCSF and now with the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, will speak about best practices for LGBT equity and inclusion.

Registration is $110 with continuing education, $95 without, and $50 for students.

The IOA, a nonprofit, is producing the conference in conjunction with the UCSF Division of Geriatrics and the Northern California Geriatric Education Center.

For more information or to register, visit http://www.ioaging.org.

Our Family Coalition will hold its annual Night Out benefit Thursday, April 11 at the InterContinental Hotel, 888 Howard Street (at 5th Street) in San Francisco. The evening begins with a reception and silent auction at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and the awards program at 7.

This year’s honorees include Betty DeGeneres, the mother of daytime talk show host and out lesbian Ellen DeGeneres, who will receive the Ally Award; and retired San Francisco Superior Court Judge Donna Hitchens, who will receive the Groundbreaker Award.

Our Family Coalition promotes the equality and well-being of LGBT families with children. The organization holds special events and workshops on various family issues and works to promote social justice.

Tickets for the gala are $150 and can be purchased online at www.ourfamily.org.

Matthew S. Bajko contributed to this report.

Celebrating 10 Years Benefiting Local Charities & Institutions

Smith ctor Mike e ir D e v ti h at Execu artha Was M a iv D o d’s 30th and Disc gency Fun r e m E S D 12. the AI Gala in 20 y r a s r e iv n An

SF Ballet School students.

Photo: Erik Tomasson

(Left to right) D onna Sachet, M ayor Ed Lee, Distric t 8 Supervisor Sc ot t Wiener, former District 8 Super visor Bevan Dufty, G LBT Historical Society Board Co-C hair Amy Suey oshi and District 9 Su pervisor David Campos inaugu rate the openin g of the GLBT Histo ry Museum in 2011.

Since 1984, Lar kin Street Yout h Services has pr ovided homeles s, runaway and at -risk kids betw een the ages of 12 an d 24 with the h elp they need to re build their lives .

Dan Tracer (left) and Eric Esquivel star in New Conservatory Theatre Center’s 2013 production of James Lantz’s “The Bus,” directed by Sara Staley.

Local star chefs receive applause for their contribution to the annual gala for Meals On Wheels San Francisco, which visits homes and delivers meals to seniors’ homes.

t <<

more online at www.ebar.com 28 • BayRead Area R eporter • April 4-10, 2013

Housing

From page 26

elevator was not working for 10 days.

At the opposite end of the age spectrum, many younger LGBTs are finding it unaffordable to own a home or rent an apartment in the Castro, which has been a welcoming gayborhood since the 1970s. Homeless LGBT youth also find little housing options for them in the gay district.

“One thing that has kept the Castro queer is one generation dies and a younger generation moves in.

Then the dot-com boom stopped that; young people can’t afford to live in the Castro unless they work in the dot-com industry,” said queer housing rights activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca, who serves on the LGBT Aging Policy Task Force and convened the housing hearing this week as part of the panel’s work.

“They are moving to the Tenderloin or Oakland. Oakland is becoming more and more a place where young queers are living.”

As noted in a Bay Area Reporter article last week, over the next several years several hundred below-marketrate housing units will become available along the upper Market corridor in the Castro district. One project being overseen by Openhouse will result in 110 affordable units specifically geared for LGBT seniors, while the rest will be sprinkled throughout roughly a dozen new developments being built along Market Street.

Yet housing advocates note the 228 new BMR units are not nearly enough to meet the Castro’s affordable housing needs. And those with low-incomes will still be priced out of affording most of the BMRs, they contend.

Various obstacles, however, stand in the way of building more affordable units.

For one, there are few proprieties available to be redeveloped. For-

<<

HIV cuts

From page 1

Department of Public Health Chief Financial Officer Greg Wagner said that the CDC directed HIV prevention funds to other states because infections in San Francisco were down.

“The CDC cuts punish San Francisco for its success,” in HIV prevention and treatment, Wiener interjected.

An additional burden to the city’s HIV services community, Wagner said, would come from the sequester, an across-the-board budget reduction in federal programs due to Washington, D.C.’s failure to agree on spending cuts to reduce the federal deficit.

In previous years, the city has backfilled federal Ryan White reductions, but this year also includes sequester cuts, increasing the amount the city would need to provide.

Wagner testified DPH estimates the sequester cuts will reduce HIV services and prevention by $1.3 million per year. In current form sequester is a 10-year plan. If it is fully implemented, city HIV services and prevention could suffer a $13 million reduction, Wagner later confirmed in a phone call.

“It would be a significant reduction,” Wagner said. He could not say if the city could restore a reduction of that magnitude.

Mike Smith, executive director of

<<

Kennedy

From page 6

Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, who argued against sodomy laws in the Bowers v. Hardwick case in 1986, said, “I am cautiously optimistic that a majority of the justices will reach the merits in the

profit developers have either already scooped them up or builders of affordable housing find those that are for sale to be too expensive.

“Why would affordable housing developers want to go into the Castro? It is seen as an upscale community now,” said Avicolli Mecca, pointing to the astronomical prices for property in the neighborhood.

Another issue is there is nothing forcing owners of developable properties to sell them to non-profit housing builders, noted Olson Lee, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing, which funds affordable housing projects throughout the city.

“We are trying to build as much affordable sites as possible. But it is hard for us to find sites,” Lee said during a recent interview with the B.A.R. The city is committed to seeing that Openhouse’s LGBT senior housing project, which is expected to begin construction in late 2014, is fully funded. Fourteen of the units will be set aside for people with disabling HIV or AIDS, and it is hoped that through rental subsidy programs residents will pay no more than 30 percent of their income to live there.

“We are working with the Mayor’s Office of Housing, which has been enormously supportive, to put together the financing,” Openhouse Executive Director Seth Kilbourn testified at this week’s hearing.

As for other projects, Lee’s office is responsible for overseeing the Housing Trust Fund, which voters approved last year and sets aside tens of millions of dollars over the next three decades to support the creation of affordable housing as well as homeownership programs.

This year the fund is allocating $20 million for those efforts; the amount will increase to $50.8 million annually in later years.

Smaller sites

One idea under development that Lee suspects could be advantageous

AIDS Emergency Fund and president of HIV/AIDS Provider Network, a coalition of health providers, said new infections were down, but he had a grim message: “Reduction of CDC funds and a reduction of the city’s HIV services would result in higher infections.”

“We work hard to get people safe, to know their status, to educate them on prevention and it frustrates me we will have more infections as a result of these cuts,” Wiener said.

Fear of health reversals

During public comment over 50 people, some nonprofit executives and some living with HIV/AIDS, spoke passionately for the city to backfill federal cuts in HIV services.

The supervisors listened as people testified their viral loads were undetectable due to treatment services. But many expressed fear of health reversals if treatment services were reduced or eliminated.

Former hotel worker Ron Hernandez, 43 and a San Francisco resident for nearly 20 years, is a client with Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center. He testified after being diagnosed HIV-positive he lost his job and health insurance.

“San Francisco’s safety net saved me when I lost everything and when everyone gave up on me,” Hernandez said. “What will happen to me and all the people living with HIV in San

Windsor case and will strike down Section 3 of DOMA, with the four more liberal justices relying principally on an equal protection analysis and with Justice Kennedy relying principally on federalism principles.”

So, if the court does reach the constitutional merits of DOMA,

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay area reporter • 28

<< Community News

t

for the Castro district is a small-sites acquisition fund. The program is expected to be up and running later this year and is aimed at helping finance smaller in-fill projects that could result in eight or less BMR units on a site.

“This could provide for a lot of opportunity for the Castro and Mission where there is not a lot of sites for larger developments,” said Lee. AIDS Housing Alliance Executive Director Brian Basinger is one of the advocates who supports the creation of the small-sites program.

He believes it is could be an “excellent” option for the Castro and upper Market areas.

“We want to make sure the infrastructure is in place so that the LGBT community gets fair and equitable access to all housing in the city, especially housing built in neighborhoods that are the safest and most welcoming to the LGBT community,” he said.

Peter Cohen, a Duboce Triangle resident whose job at the Council of Community Housing Organizations is focused on building affordable housing projects, expressed doubt about how impactful the

small-sites fund would be for the Castro.

“Where? There are no sites to spend the money on,” said Cohen, adding that even if a site can be found, “Castro, upper Market real estate is extremely expensive. So affordable housing, whether leasing it or buying it, will cost a ton of money; there are very few sites to play with.”

Another problem Cohen cited is that if a project can be found in the Castro, it will fall behind those already seeking money from the mayor’s housing office and other funding sources.

“Right now there is a big pipeline of affordable housing projects already in the queue that the city will spend money on long before it spends money on projects up in the upper Market or Castro,” said Cohen.

Basinger has long pushed for turning two small city-owned parking lots in the heart of the Castro, one on Castro Street behind the Castro Theatre, and another off 18th Street adjacent to Magnet, the gay men’s health center, into affordable housing projects built above parking geared toward LGBT seniors and youth or HIV-positive

people.

“Definitely, the time has come to wake that idea back up,” said Basinger, adding that momentum for the projects waned due to the economic downturn.

Another concept being looked at is working with the SF Land Trust to acquire buildings with a majority of LGBT tenants and set them aside as affordable units for perpetuity. Discussions are under way for the trust to buy a 55-unit building where many people living with HIV currently reside.

“We think it could be a national model,” said Basinger, who declined to specify the address but did say it is not located in the Castro.

LGBT housing advocates are also seeking housing for LGBT youth who are transitioning out of the foster care system due to their age.

Advocates have their eye on a particular site; it too is not in the Castro but nearby.

A co-op type model is under consideration for the housing, said Basinger.

“We are actively looking for an opportunity site around that,” he said.

Openhouse’s Kilbourn said this week that his agency is also looking for additional opportunities to build more LGBT senior housing in the city in addition to its buildings at the 55 Laguna development site.

“We are always keeping our eyes open for other opportunities out there,” he said. “I don’t have anything definitive to tell you now.”

Over the last two years 300 LGBT seniors have sought assistance from Openhouse at its bimonthly housing clinics. And the need is expected to only increase in the coming years.

“What I urge you to think about today is moving quickly. The longer we wait many people who have lived here 30, 40, 50 years will be dispersed from our city,” warned Ellyn Bloomfield, Openhouse’s social services manager, at the hearing.t

Francisco if that safety net is taken away?”

Retired hair stylist David Arcel, 53, is a client of the Tenderloin Area Center for Excellence. He said he has been living with HIV since 1984 and also has depression, panic disorder, and agoraphobia.

Arcel said TACE provides him with a variety of services including health education, mental health care, medical attention, food, and a community.

He said his viral load was undetectable but he worries about cuts in services.

“Stress affects my viral load and my T-cell count and thinking about trying to do all of this by myself is terrifying,” he told the supervisors. “It’s like a 500-pound weight pressing down on me.”

Wiener and other supervisors were noticeably moved by the speakers. After comment period closed, he said he would work closely with Lee to advocate backfilling the cuts.

“It is important to keep our safety net intact,” he said. Other supervisors said they also would help.

“San Francisco is a compassionate city,” Avalos said. “We care for people.”

In a post-hearing e-mail, Mar said, “I am supportive of doing everything we can as a city to ‘backfill’ the huge gaps in funding for SF’s AIDS/HIV community services and health care programs. The human stories of empowerment and dignity by people living with AIDS/ HIV at the hearing

were both effective and uplifting for me as a Budget Committee member.”

One man, who gave his name as W. Ortega, left immediately after commenting. He told supervisors he came to San Francisco three years

ago to die. He said he would not be alive today without the city’s HIV services. He left them with a stark message.

“Our lives are in your hands,” he said.t

Jane Philomen Cleland

Jon-Edmond Abraham testified at this week’s hearing on LGBT senior housing.

it appears a 5-4 majority will find DOMA unconstitutional but that only four of those five will say it also violates equal protection.

That could mean Kennedy would be the likely author – for the third time since the 1996 Romer decision – to write a major pro-gay decision for the Supreme Court.t

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CAFE MADELEINE, 149 NEW MONTGOMERY ST., SF, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed San Francisco Madeleine Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/04/04. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/04/13.

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The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/07/13.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CAFE MADELEINE, 300 CALIFORNIA ST., SF, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed San Francisco Madeleine Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/09/02. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/04/13.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CAFE MADELEINE, 43 O’FARRELL ST., SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed San Francisco Madeleine Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/99. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/04/13.

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Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 4-10, 2013

Classifieds

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Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC13-549336 In the matter of the application of: MERCEDES KEARNS, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MERCEDES KEARNS, is requesting that the name MERCEDES KEARNS, A.K.A. MERCEDES MORGAN KEARNS, A.K.A. MERCEDES M. KEARNS, be changed to MERCEDES KEARNS HOGLUND. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Rm. 514 on the 9th of May 2013 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

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In the matter of the application of: EDMUND PENDLETON GAINES III, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner EDMUND PENDLETON GAINES III, is requesting that the name EDMUND PENDLETON GAINES III be changed to COOPER GAINES. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 514, Dept. 514 on the 30th of April 2013 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

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April 4-10, 2013 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME & GENDER IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC13-549384 In the matter of the application of: RAVEN LEE PARDUE, for change of name & gender having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner RAVEN LEE PARDUE is requesting that the name RAVEN LEE PARDUE be changed to VINCENT LEE PARDUE, and requesting a decree that the petitioner’s gender be changed from female to male. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 30th of May 2013 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 18, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034965900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: IMAGINARY DEN, 640 MASON ST. #503, SF, CA 94108.

This business is condu cted by an individual, and is signed Karan Jain. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/14/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/13.

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This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Ben Gu Yu. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/15/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/15/13.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034965500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE HAPPY EGG COMPANY, 50 FRANCISCO ST. #203, SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Noble Foods Inc. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/13.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034945600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: D&H SUSTAINABLE JEWELERS, 2323 MARKET ST., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Daunell and Higgins Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/05/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/05/13.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034967400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: REGROUP, 709 NOE ST., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Dais, Inc. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/13.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034956200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: YOUR COMMUNITY FOODS, 1711 REVERE AVE., SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed The Center for Self Improvement and Community Development (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/08/13.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/08/13.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034971100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BARROW, 256 SUTTER ST. 4TH FL., SF, CA 94108.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Queen of Clubs LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/18/13.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034969300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TAPS, 1516 BROADWAY, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Red Stick Enterprises, LLC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/15/13.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-031881300 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: EMPEROR’S KITCHEN, 418 LARKIN ST., SF, CA 94102. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Sharon V. Tran. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/27/09.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-033292100 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: AL DESIGN, 239 CERVANTES BLVD. #1, SF, CA 94123. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Ana Lazaro Campos. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/24/11.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034964800

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034980300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AARON SIGN & CONSTRUCTION, 4 DORMAN AVE., SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Harun Cetin. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/14/13.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/13.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LEADER HOUSE, 1409 SUTTER ST., SF, CA 94109.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Yorbarn USA Corporation (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/20/13.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-032975000

MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 18, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034981700

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: MISSION DELI & CAFE, 5457 MISSION ST., SF, CA 94112. This business was conducted by a general partnership and signed

by Po Ka Yim & Yim Fan Li. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/17/10.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-031312300 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: FRANCES LEGAL NURSE CONSULTING, 1484 33RD AVE., SF, CA 94122. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Frances Woo. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/17/08.

MAR 21, 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES Dated 03/21/13 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: CHUBBY MARINA, LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 33 New Montgomery St. #1230, SF, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 2205 LOMBARD ST., SF, CA 941232703. Type of license applied for

41 - ON-SALE BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES Dated 02/15/13 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: SERGIO HUAMAN, EPIFANO C MOREANO. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 33 New Montgomery St. #1230, SF, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 3299 MISSION ST., SF, CA 94110-5006. Type of license applied for

41 - ON-SALE BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034973900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LEVIS SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY, 3150 18TH ST. #264, SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Bailey Venkatraman Levis. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/18/13.

MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 18, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034951800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ONENINETYSEVEN, 450 TOWNSEND, SF, CA 94107.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Eric Thoreson. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/07/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/07/13.

MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 18, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034985700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HIGH RISE JANITORIAL & MAID SERVICES, 1026 ALABAMA ST., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Alberta Teran. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/22/13.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/22/13.

MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 18, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034963100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CITY LUNCH, 2101 INGALLS ST., SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Jae Sup Choi. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/13/13.

MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 18, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034991300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: V.I.P. MASSAGE, 266 SUTTER ST., 5TH FLOOR, SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Paul Young. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/25/13.

MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 18, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034986300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: UNCONQUERABLE, 1 POLK ST. #605, SF, CA 94102.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Carey Leo. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/22/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/22/13.

MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 18, 2013

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: R&D CONSTRUCTION CO INC., 224 ELMIRA ST., SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed R&D Construction Co Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/20/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/20/13.

MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 18, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034954600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JW DECORATION, JW FLORAL, 1916 LAWTON ST., SF, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Infinite Creation LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/08/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/08/13.

MAR 28, APR 4, 11, 18, 2013 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES Dated 03/13/13 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: STEVEN KA LOK WOO. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 33 New Montgomery St. #1230, SF, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 3015 GEARY BLVD., SF, CA 94118-3314.

Type of license applied for

41 - ON-SALE BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE APR 4, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034997800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PRESIDIO RESOURCING PARTNERS, 5400 FULTON ST. #104, SF, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Susan Rohlman. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/27/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/27/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034990100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ADVANTAGE CLEANING SERVICE, 389 TEMPLETON AVE., DALY CITY, CA 94014. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Oscar Parish Jr. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/15/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/25/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034987700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KING POULTRY & PRODUCE, 758 BROADWAY, SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Qiqiong Guan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/22/13.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/22/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035002500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STELLA SF RECORDS, 1288 MISSION ST. #239, SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Carlos Dahl Araiza. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/28/13.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/28/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034997400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BURN THE BOX STUDIOS, 3466 16TH ST., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Tamara Lynn Albaitis. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/27/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035007300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KARMA DELIVERY SERVICE, 384 STRATFORD DR., SF, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Hak Wong. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/01/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034999100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: APRIL NINE THAI KITCHEN, 701 RANDOLPH ST., SF, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Karuna Jaramonburapong. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/27/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/27/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034969400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO NEUROMUSCULAR MASSAGE, 1290 SUTTER ST. #208, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Nathaniel Wells Willis. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/15/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034960400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BEAUX, 2344 MARKET ST., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Deviate SF Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/08/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/12/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034967300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: IGNITION POINT CONSULTING, 139 HENRY ST., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Kelliher Marketing Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035005000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PRETTY PRINCESS CORP., 805 STOCKTON ST., SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Pretty Princess Corp. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/29/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034964300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JJARDINE CATERING & EVENTS, 4104 24TH ST. #355, SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JJardine LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/08/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/13/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT NOTICE TO PROPOSERS GENERAL INFORMATION The SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT (“District”), 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, California, is advertising for proposals for Workers Compensation Third Party Administration Services, Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 6M4257, on or about March 29, 2013, with proposals due by 2:00 PM local time, Tuesday, April 30, 2013.

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED The District is soliciting the services of a Contractor to provide Workers Compensation Third Party Administration Services, to coordinate the processing of workers’ compensation claims with District-designated service providers, including utilization review services, bill review services, case management services, and investigation services utilizing effective cost containment measures, all as specified in the RFP. A Pre-Proposal Meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 16, 2013.The Pre-Proposal Meeting will convene at 10:00 AMlocal time in the District’s Board Room, Kaiser Center 20th Street Mall – 3rd Floor, located at 344 – 20th Street, Oakland, California 94612. At the Pre-Proposal Meeting the District’s Non-Discrimination Program for Subcontracting will be explained.

All questions regarding MBE/WBE participation should be directed to Mr. Maceo Wiggins, Office of Civil Rights at (510) 464-7194 – FAX (510) 464-7587. Prospective Proposers are requested to make every effort to attend this only scheduled Pre-Proposal Meeting, and to confirm their attendance by contacting the District’s Senior Contract Administrator, telephone (510) 464-6390, prior to the date of the PreProposal Meeting. Networking Session: Immediately following the Pre-Proposal Meeting, the District’s Office of Civil Rights will be conducting a networking session for subcontractors to meet the prime contractors for MBE/WBE participation opportunities.

WHERE TO OBTAIN OR SEE RFP DOCUMENTS (Available on or after March 29, 2013) Copies of the RFP may be obtained: (1) By written request to the District’s Contract Administrator, 300 Lakeside Drive, 17th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612.

Reference RFP No. 6M4257 and Title and send requests to Fax No. (510) 464-7650.

(2) By arranging pick up at the above address. Call the District’s Senior Contract Administrator, (510) 464-6390 prior to pickup of the RFP. (3) By E-mail request to the District’s Senior Contract Administrator, Ms. Irene G. Gray, igray@bart.gov.

(4) By attending the Pre-Proposal Meeting and obtaining the RFP at the meeting.

Dated at Oakland, California this 27th day of March, 2013. /s/ Kenneth A. Duron Kenneth A. Duron, District Secretary San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District 4/4/13 • CNS-2465253# BAY AREA REPORTER

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC13-549394 In the matter of the application of: DEAN ARTHUR IGNACIO GONZALES, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner DEAN ARTHUR IGNACIO GONZALES, is requesting that the name DEAN ARTHUR IGNACIO GONZALES, be changed to DEAN IGNACIO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 4th of June 2013 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035009500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FINALINA WEAR, 675 25TH AVE. #102, SF, CA 94121.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Josefine Gylleback McLean. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/02/13.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/02/13.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-032965700 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: PRETTY PRINCESS, 805 STOCKTON ST., SF, CA 94108. This business was conducted by a corporation and signed by Shu Qing Luo. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/12/10.

APR 4, 11, 18, 25, 2013 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT NOTICE TO PROPOSERS GENERAL INFORMATION The SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT (“District”), 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, California, is advertising for proposals to provide PEST AND BEE CONTROL SERVICES DISTRICTWIDE, Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 6M6065, on or about April 3, 2013, with proposals due by 2:00 PM local time, Tuesday, May 14, 2013, at the District Secretary’s Office, 23rd Floor, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, California, 94612 (mailing address: P.O. Box 12688, Oakland, California, 946042688). The Proposers are responsible to ensure that their Proposals are received at the time and location specified.

Proposers should note that this Agreement is subject to the District’s Small Business Program that includes a preference of 5% of the lowest responsible Proposer’s price, up to a maximum of $250,000, for a certified Small Business Prime Contractor submitting a Proposal on this Agreement. Inquiries regarding the District’s Small Business Program shall be directed to the District’s Office of Civil Rights, 300 Lakeside Drive, 18th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612, telephone at (510) 464-6100, or to BART’s Website at: www.bart.gov/ocr.

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED The District is soliciting the services of a Maintenance Services Firm (“CONTRACTOR”) to provide PEST AND BEE CONTROL SERVICES DISTRICTWIDE.The Services Agreement will be for a period of three years with options to extend the Agreement, for two additional one-year periods at the District’s discretion. The scope of services and requirements are further described in RFP No. 6M6065.

PRE-PROPOSAL MEETING AND JOB-SITE TOUR A combined Pre-Proposal Meeting and Job-site tour will be held on Wednesday, April 17, 2013. The Pre-Proposal Meeting and site tour will convene at 10:00 a.m. at the District’s Offices, at 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA 94612, the 11th Floor Main Conference Room No. 1100. At the Pre-Proposal meeting the District’s NonDiscrimination Program for Subcontracting and the District’s Small Business Program will be explained. A conducted inspection tour of a representative sample of the various Job-sites will immediately follow the Pre-Proposal Meeting.

Prospective Proposers are requested to make every effort to attend this only-scheduled Pre-Proposal Meeting and Job-site tour and to confirm their attendance by contacting the District’s Contract Administrator, Ron Coffey, telephone number (510)-287-4775; or email to rcoffey@bart.gov , prior to the date of the scheduled Pre-Proposal meeting and site tour.

WHERE TO OBTAIN OR SEE RFP DOCUMENTS (Available on or after April 3, 2013) Copies of the RFP may be obtained: (1) By written request to the District’s Contract Administrator, 300 Lakeside Drive, 17th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612; and Reference RFP No. 6M6065, PEST AND BEE CONTROL SERVICES DISTRICTWIDE, or send requests to Fax No. (510) 464-7650.

(2) By arranging to pick up at the above address. Call the District’s Contract Administrator at telephone number (510)287-4775, prior to pickup of the RFP. (3) By E-mail request to the District’s Contract Administrator, Mr. Ron Coffey, at rcoffey@bart.gov.

(4) A PDF version of the RFP will be sent to all firms on the Interested Parties List at time of advertisement; or, (5) By attending the Pre-Proposal Meeting and obtaining the RFP at the meeting.

Dated at Oakland, California this 28th day of March, 2013. /s/ Patricia K. Williams Patricia K. Williams, Assistant District Secretary San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District 4/4/13 • CNS-2466145# BAY AREA REPORTER

Bus stop

42

Biker dad

Easter baskets

42

Out &About

36

O&A

35

The

Vol. 43 • No. 14 • April 4-10, 2013

www.ebar.com/arts

Tarts attack!

by Richard Dodds

Man on a mission

by Philip Campbell

Pam Tent, Rumi Missabu, and Scrumbly Koldewyn are the three original Cockettes members back for a retooled version of Tinsel Tarts in Hot Coma for Thrillpeddlers.

T

he Cockettes were set to take New York by storm in 1971, but the thunder heard once the performance started was from the stomping of famous feet toward the exits.

The massive pre-show publicity and openingnight shambles quickly became one infamous marker in the setting of the Age of Aquarius.

The musical at the epicenter of this particular storm, unseen for more than 40 years, is dawn-

dannynicoletta.com

ing again as the latest Cockettes reboot by the Thrillpeddlers troupe.

Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma, opening this week at the Hypnodrome, was actually more of a hazy concept than a sturdy construction. It fell to “Sweet Pam” Tent and Richard “Scrumbly” Koldewyn, two original members of the Cockettes, to come up with a stageable See page 46 >>

Pianist Jonathan Biss.

Jillian Edelstein/EMI Classics

P

ianist Jonathan Biss and the Elias String Quartet concluded a series of concerts for San Francisco Performances last week with a beautifully realized program ingeniously designed for Schumann: Under the Influence. Biss is a man on a mission to inform listeners and historians of Robert Schumann’s unique importance to music, and defend him against the often dismissive attitude of critics

throughout the ages.

With concerts, recordings, interviews and an appealingly passionate e-booklet (available as a Kindle download), Biss makes a strong personal case for a composer known and perhaps loved best for his own capability in expressing the deepest of personal thoughts and emotions. For myself, there is little need to enforce See page 34 >>

Spring fling at the Castro

J.T. Pitoc as go-go boy Mark in director Jim Fall’s Trick.

by David Lamble

A

remarkable month for repertory-movie fans at our Castro Theatre palace kicks off with the sweetest and most perceptive American gay male romantic comedy ever shot – at least in 1999, during the reign of NYC family-guy mayor Rudy Giuliani. Director Jim Fall’s Trick (April 6, Noon) begins with office-temp/wannabe-Sondheim Gabriel (Christian Campbell) groggily resuming consciousness in front of the shabby fifth-floor walk-up he shares with his horndog straight roommate, Rich (Brad Beyer). As Gabe enters the grubby studio, even his tiny dog tilts towards the needs of the naked hetero couple inside.

“Remember, I need the apartment tonight,” Rich says.

“No problem.”

Act I climaxes with Gabe and his faghag childhood friend Katherine (Tori Spelling) serving up a pratfall-laden sampling of Gabe’s musical work-inprogress for a less-than-spellbound crowd at the community center. Trick’s

good witch/fairy godmother Perry (cabaret artist Steve Hayes) urges our beaten-down but still plucky hero to go with his heart.

“Gabriel, have you captured that feeling you have after a really great kiss, the best kiss you’ve ever had? It’s exciting, and it’s terrifying and sexy, and maybe you feel you could fall in love?”

“I can’t have them falling in love the first night! That wouldn’t be believable.”

“Well, not if you don’t believe it.”

Trick’s a trifle, a bon bon, a lovely time-out from our faux-serious 24/7 news cycle. Director Fall and writer Jason Schafer hook us up with a pale Candide, a sweet and optimistic romantic who enters the underworld of Lower Manhattan go-go-boy dance bars on a whim. He’s immediately beset by evil forces, bar trolls (“You’re cute as shit!”) and worse. Gabriel flees Hades for a downtown local train where, miraculously, Mark (J.T. Pitoc), the cutest go-go boy, is tantalizingly dozing.

The balance of Trick follows Gabriel and Mark’s slapdash search for an

{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }

empty bed “in this best of all possible worlds.” Their bond is severely tested by the film’s wicked witch in an incendiary five-minute rant to a pee-shy Gabriel in a bar men’s room by Miss Coco Peru (Clinton Leupp). The boys bend but don’t break, and the payoff comes in a lip-lock outside the IRT. In our benighted era when gay-boy love stories no longer fit big screens, Trick reveals why so many straight-boy actors make the cut. While a masturbation scene may have been shelved to appease the actors, Campbell and Pitoc ace the romantic arc and are all the better for experiencing the story in a fresh way, just like their characters. Caution: the biggest jolt in this fable for some will be the sight of the Twin Towers still anchoring the Lower Manhattan skyline (4/6, Noon).

All About My Mother (1999) Director Pedro Almodovar kills his cute teen-boy lead in the first act, leading his mom on a painful journey through See page 46 >>

<< Out There

34 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

We cover the waterfront

by Roberto Friedman

T

he Golden Gate Bridge usually basks in all the good press and movie cameos, but ever since the debut of the art installation The Bay Lights on the San FranciscoOakland Bay Bridge, the wheel of fame has finally turned. Out There has always had a thing for the Bay Bridge – it’s got such a masculine, Art Deco, industrial-chic thing going on – so it’s great to see artist Leo Villareal’s masterpiece grab a piece of the spotlight for it.

Its 25,000 LED lights strung along suspension cables along a 1.8 mile span of the bridge make The Bay Lights the biggest public artwork we can think of. Pepi and OT have gone to check out its constantly mutating light show from several different vantage points on the waterfront, and it never loses its appeal. We’ve been following Villareal’s ethereal light sculptures for years, since we first encountered his permanent installation Multiverse at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He was the

subject of an impressive retrospective at the San Jose Museum of Art a few years ago that showed the range and appeal of his art. Now, with this enormous gift of art for the public, the whole world knows his work.

The Bay Lights will be on display every day for two years, from dusk until 2 a.m. For a map of the best views and more, go to www.thebaylights.org.

Three easy pieces

1. From a front-page story in The New York Times, March 26: “Mr. Clinton was the first president to openly court gay Americans. He met an openly gay man for the first time at Oxford in 1968 when a fellow Rhodes scholar, Paul Parish, revealed himself as gay. ‘He always had gay friends,’ Mr. Parish recalled last week. ‘He’s always wanted to do the right things by gays.’” Yes, that is B.A.R. dance critic Paul Parish, one and the same! We’re proud of him.

2. Colla Voce is a small gay men’s ensemble in San Francisco that performs benefit concerts where all tick-

Rick Gerharter

Close-up of the white LED lights that are strung on the Bay Bridge for The Bay Lights art installation.

et proceeds go to a local nonprofit.

Their next concert is on April 6, and will benefit Asian & Pacific Islander (API) Family Pride. Coming Out, Coming Home will feature songs by gay composer Robert Seeley and a mix of songs from Broadway and classical music. Here are the deets: Coming Out, Coming Home, Sat., April 6, 4 p.m., at St Aidan’s Episcopal Church, 101 Gold Mine Drive, SF. Tickets are $20 (adult) or $10 (child), online at www.colla-voce. org. Tickets will be $25 at the door.

3. This month, the Phoenix Sanctuary Theater Project will present The Balcony by the great gay poet/playwright Jean Genet, directed by Kristopher Wilde in its origi-

Rick Gerharter

The Bay Lights artist Leo Villareal has scored a triumph.

nal version, uncut and uncensored, including its famous deleted dream sequence. Performances are April 11-13, 19-21, 26-27 at The Vulcan Studios, 4401 San Leandro Blvd. in Oakland. Tickets are $15 and are available at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/344421.

Days of wine and hoses

There are few things Out There wants to hear less on our first morning back to work after our days off than: “Um, Roberto, there’s a package here that came for you, and it’s labeled ALCOHOL.” But that’s what greeted us back at the office early one recent morn, and what a sprightly package it was. Now, sometimes liquor companies do send a bottle of their finest spirits to OT as a promo-

Courtesy Hangar 1

New bottle design for Hangar 1 handmade vodka.

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Jonathan Biss

From page 33

a lifelong love of Schumann’s peculiar genius. Having an intelligent advocate articulate and talented as Biss comes as a special blessing, even if only to produce the current but alltoo-brief concentration of illuminating programs and recordings.

Being Under the Influence was immediately apparent during the first half of the recent concert. Opening with three Fantasias by English composer Henry Purcell (generally considered the first great English composer), the Elias String Quartet set in motion the underlying theme of the evening. The development and harmony of musical expression that begins with individual instrumental voices figured strongly in all of the works on the bill.

The Fantasias are subtly dissonant and reflective pieces built on a ground of sturdy melody. The dark and intense performance by the Elias at first seemed a rather sobersided and uninspiring opening for a first half that was finally rounded off by a relatively light-hearted reading

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tional thing, or some savvy publicist will drop off a nice little bottle of boutique grape. But this latest carton clearly packed more than a bottle, in fact it looked big enough to house an entire distillery.

Turned out to be a handsome display case for a bottle of handmade Hangar 1 vodka plus four smaller bottles of their flavored vodkas, all designed apothecary-style with cute rubber stoppers, and a long, glass pipette designed for mixing, infusing, and what-have-you. Plus a book of company history, suggested concoctions, etc. All hand-numbered 8 out of 300, so we know it’s part of a special limited edition.

When we brought it all home, Pepi and OT looked over the contents of the kit with our manly jaws agape. Sending this much free handmade vodka, complete with accouterments, to an unreformed alcoholic is comparable to sending a nice fat chunk of heroin, syringe and rubber hose for tying off to a hopeless junkie, with a greeting card: “Have a great trip!”

Rather than “alcoholic,” we prefer to identify as “dipsomaniac,” which has a charming old-world ring to it.

“Alcoholic” reduces us to the name of our preferred poison, the way “homosexual” reduces us to what we do in bed – or sometimes on the floor.

It’s too reductive. But like all true dipsomaniacs, we have a devil of a time stopping the partaking once we have begun. “She’s like a runaway train,” friends have been known to remark, using the homosexual pronoun “she” to mean “has a penis.”

This is why Pepi acts as a sort of regulator on us, cutting us off when we’ve reached the tipping point. We think this is known as “tough love,” and we do love it when he gets all tough.

Now, we do know some dipsomaniacs who say the only way forward for them is to quit the stuff cold turkey, and we say more power to them. OT’s own path is based on the harm-reduction model, by which we mean, outa our way to the open bar and no-one will be harmed. Anyway, we have by now sampled all the Hangar 1 products, and found them to be potent potables. The Kaffir Lime flavored vodka blends beautifully with Trader Joe’s Low Calorie Lemonade made with organic lemon juice. We call it a 7-Urp! The Maine Wild Blueberry, Buddha’s Hand Citrus and Mandarin Blossom flavored spirits are like fellating yummy Gummy Bears that have been soaked in hooch. And that’s our idea of a Saturday night.t

of Schumann’s String Quartet in A minor, Opus 41, No. 1. Written as one of the composer’s few chamber works without piano, the Quartet in A minor afforded some challenges of musical exploration when separated from his own signature instrument.

I may have wanted Biss and his pianistic presence onstage a bit earlier, but the Elias String Quartet proved, in my first introduction to them, to be an engaging and satisfying group, awfully serious in their presentation, but appealing nonetheless. The members of the young Quartet, founded in England in 1998, are Sara Bitlloch, violin; Donald Grant, violin; Martin Saving, viola; and Marie Bitlloch, cello. Their clear understanding and technical mastery of Schumann’s imaginative response to the compositional challenge of the A minor quartet proved invigorating.

The biggest surprise of the evening followed after intermission.

Composer and pianist Timo (short for Timothy) Andres comes from Palo Alto, CA, lives in Brooklyn, NY, See page 38 >>

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Theatre>>

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 35

Vehicular man-secret

by Richard Dodds

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s it a bus bound for glory or damnation? Yes. In The Bus, playwright James Lantz combines good intentions, plot contrivances, and a schematic route for a story that never quite gets to a satisfying destination. Part of New Conservatory Theatre Center’s gay-themed Pride season, The Bus is also slated to travel to three smaller inland communities as part of an outreach that at this point in time seems, at least to this city slicker, too rudimentary even for Fresno, Modesto, and beyond.

Actually, Lantz has in his hands the ingredients for a wrenching drama in which conflicting notions of righteousness can become explosive. But the literal explosives become part of a clumsy shell game of swapped-out combustibles that undermines responsibility for the tragic ramifications.

The titular vehicle has sat motionless for years on the corner of a small-town gas station, part of an understanding between the station’s former owner and a fundamentalist church that uses it as a road marker to its facilities. It has also become the site of clandestine rendezvouses between two teenage boys with differing notions of the need for secrecy.

Ian, the more anxious of the two, has understandable reasons for his edginess. His father now owns the gas station, and wants to be rid of the old bus, while his mother is a fervent member of the church that wants to maintain its landmark. They are divorced, and the bus has become a

photo

Eric Esquivel and Dan Tracer play small-town teens whose relationship is caught up in a bitter community feud in The Bus at New Conservatory Theatre Center.

symbol of their bitter estrangement.

The grown-up battles over the bus and the adolescent affections within it are not well integrated, and the amount of time allocated in the play’s 80 minutes to the dramatically wan bus fuss becomes excessive.

The late revelation that the father’s motives are more complex feels like an arbitrary plot twist.

Director Sara Staley’s production is simple and smooth, with Bruce Alvin, Eileen Fisher, and Dan Tracer bringing passions to their roles as father, mother, and son, and with Eric Esquivel offering an easygoing charm as Ian’s secret boyfriend, and Harry Breaux providing an aw-

shucks balance as an old mechanic at the gas station.

The playwright uses a kind of Our Town narrator, billed as “Little Girl,” to offer folksy observations and wind her way through the story as various characters. Giovanna Arieta is an affable presence in the role, but these scenes feel mismatched with the generally angry tone of the play. Explorations of forbidden affection are what should be driving The Bus, but they end up taking the back seat.t The Bus will run at New Conservatory Theatre Center through April 28. Tickets are $25-$45. Call 8618972 or go to www.nctcsf.org.

DVD >>

Well Dunye

by David Lamble

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irector Cheryl Dunye, who has wowed Frameline film festival-goers with Watermelon Woman and Stranger Inside, returned with The Owls, written with the help of co-screenwriter and acclaimed novelist Sarah Schulman. Now on DVD, it’s a funny and painfully accurate take on the members of a cult dyke band who are aging badly, to say the least, 10 years after their 15 minutes of fame.

With a fabulous cast – Guinivere Turner, V.S. Brodie (Go Fish), Lisa Gormick (Tick Tock Lullaby), Deak Evangenikos (Itty Bitty Titty Committee), Skyler Cooper (Elena Undone) and Dunye herself – The Owls (it’s an acronym meaning Older, Wiser Lesbians) is part sophisticated cat-fight, part psychological thriller and mind-game standoff, part witty and self-conscious postmodern film critique, and mostly, just nimble good

fun in 67 swiftly paced minutes.

Imagine Last Summer at Bluefish Cove meets a lesbian take on The Petrified Forest meets anything by Charlie Kaufman. Enough said – enjoy!

Bonus features: Concept: The Story of the Parliament Collective, cast and crew bios.t

ebar.com

<< Film

36 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

Daddy was a desperate bank-robber

by David Lamble

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he sins of the fathers are visited upon their sons in The Place Beyond the Pines, a powerful new triptych of stories from Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance.

Multi-tattooed motorcycle trick rider Luke (Ryan Gosling) turns into a flamboyant bank-robber to assuage his conscience about a kid he’s had out of wedlock.

Bandana-masked Luke leaps onto the tellers’ cages, frightening them into surrendering sacks of cash.

The robberies lead him to a fateful smash-up with Avery (Bradley Cooper), a self-righteously honest small-town cop who unfortunately happens to be working in a department staffed by some especially crooked ones. In a masterful character turn, veteran actor Ray Liotta plays an oily charmer in charge of dividing up payoffs, kickbacks and stolen evidence.

One night, Deluca, Avery and a couple of vice officers pay an unofficial visit to the mother of Luke’s kid (Eva Mendes).

Atsushi Nishijima

Ryan Gosling stars as Luke in director Derek Cianfrance’s sweeping emotional drama The Place Beyond the Pines.

“I’m Officer Deluca, we’re here to search your home. We’re looking for the money that Luke Granton may or may not have given you.”

The lion’s share of the stash goes to our hero, Avery, who sees it as his duty to blow the whistle on his corrupt colleagues. His commanding officer will have none of it, hissing at Avery, “This is your problem, and I’m not going to let you take me down with you.”

Avery’s problem turns into a full-blown melodrama. Then, voila, it’s 15 years later, and Avery is running an Elliot Spitzer-style campaign for New York State Attorney General. Avery is also a rather bad, distracted dad, and his son A.J. (Emory Cohen) is blowing off the neglect by becoming his high school’s braggart, a bully-

ing party-boy. He runs into Luke’s boy, the drug dealer Jason, given a slow, simmering turn by Sundance sensation Dane DeHaan, soon to be seen making out with Daniel Radcliffe in the forthcoming Beat drama Kill Your Darlings.

The Place Beyond the Pines (the title is the Mohawk Tribe’s name for the Upstate New York city of Schenectady) is an ambitious, largely successful attempt to condense a cable TV mini-series’ worth of narrative into a gripping, big-screen intimate epic. The first chapters, Luke’s and Avery’s stories, are deftly paced cliffhangers that take us into a bleak future where two emotionally volatile young men will be left to settle their dads’ scores.

Other equally ambitious young filmmakers have pared their work down to more single-viewing palatable portions. Director Tod Williams chose to turn only the first section of the massive John Irving novel A Widow for One Year into the riveting 2004 dark comedy/ drama The Door in the Floor. A fiendishly manipulative writer of children’s books (Jeff Bridges) inflicts emotional scars on a naïve college student (Jon Foster) under the illusion he’s being mentored by a great man. The Door in the Floor uses well-positioned flash-

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backs to produce its devastating emotional crescendo. But Place’s Cianfrance is content to run the narrative chronologically, in the hopes that a murderous third-act meltdown will tie up all the loose strings and give filmgoers an experience roughly equivalent to what Arthur Miller once offered on the New York stage. Thanks largely to a visceral turn from the sensational young DeHaan, whose angelic features are beaten to a movie pulp before he seeks his revenge, Place gets very close to its target before an untamed soul hits the open road on a big bike.

Cianfrance is not only testing the viability of movies to replicate the catharsis available in weekly cable installments, but also implicitly asks the question of whether oldstyle American movie stars have outlived their usefulness.

Life of Gosling

Born to a Mormon family in Ontario, Canada, Ryan Gosling was bullied at school, home-schooled by his mom, then packed off to The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he learned Show Biz 101 while being sort of adopted by the family of fellow Mouseketeer Justin Timberlake.

Soon the corn-silk blonde beauty barely into his 20s was starring in movies. Projecting a thin layer of toughness masking deep pools of vulnerability, Gosling spun himself into a fragile Montana schoolboy football player who doubts his sweet-talking coach’s intentions in The Slaughter Rule (2002). He was a lead in the bold, only partly successful rewind on the Leopold and Loeb legend Murder by Numbers, and in the whiplash thriller Fracture, made for a latter-day Paul Newman. Hitting the Oscar-nominee jackpot in 2004 with director Nick Cassavetes’ The Notebook, Gosling swerved out of the limelight after a couple films fell through, finally hitting the streets again with the hyperviolent but breathtaking Drive (2011), a movie with the past decade’s best high-octane mix of brazen stuntdriving and spot-on internal beats.

In Place, Gosling retains the high adrenaline stunt-work, but thanks to writers Cianfrance, Ben Coccio and Darius Marder, he has an See page 37 >>

Courtesy Dada Films

Toni Collette plays a tough-love nanny in director P.J. Hogan’s Mental (see next page for capsule).

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Books >>

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 37

Queer spring bookshelf

by Gregg Shapiro

of Pittsburgh). Anyone who has been through a difficult divorce or break-up (is there such a thing as an easy one?) will appreciate Duhamel’s insightful handling of the subject matter, put forth in her distinctive style.

Queer publisher A Midsummer Night’s Press has two new titles available for the season. Gay poet, editor and educator David Bergman’s Fortunate Light, part of the press’ Body Language series, pulsates with sexuality. Deleted Names is by Lawrence Schimel, the press’ prolific publisher.

Not for the faint of heart, American Honor Killings: Desire and Rage Among Men (Akashic) by David McConnell is a detailed exploration of hate-crime-motivated murders of gay men, from 1999 to 2009. McConnell adds his own personal analysis and reflections on the crimes, and links them together.

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uthor and film expert B. Ruby Rich, the woman behind the term New Queer Cinema, revisits the subject in New Queer Cinema: The Director’s Cut (Duke University Press).

In it, she writes about LGBT film festivals, what makes a “good gay film,” analyzes queer filmmakers (including Todd Haynes, Jonathan Caouette, Gregg Araki and Gus Van Sant) and examines films such as Go Fish, The Watermelon Woman, Itty Bitty Titty Committee and Brokeback Mountain.

Consisting of interviews with queer youth as well as essays by the author, In a Queer Voice: Journeys of Resilience from Adolescence to Adulthood (Temple University Press) by Michael Sadowski chronicles an unheard community, and provides youth with a forum in which to speak their minds.

In the new edition of Inside the Vortex (justinhernandez. net), Naked in New York City blogger Justin Hernandez reflects on his personal journey from actor/dancer to stripper/ sex worker. From “Drinking the Kool-Aid” to “Coming Clean,” Hernandez tells his story, sharing what he learned so that we may also learn something from his experience.

On a more academic note is The Missing Myth: A New Vision of Same-Sex Love (Select Books) by Gilles Herrada.

Among the book’s “controversial claims” are the lack of biological and anthropological data to support the existence of a single “gay” gene, the inaccuracy of the claim that gays and lesbians can’t or don’t reproduce, and how modern homosexuality was made possible by the JudeoChristian world.

Straight ally and outspoken supporter of same-sex marriage and parenting Anne Lamott coauthored Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son (Riverhead) with her son, San Francisco-based Sam Lamott.

Australian feminist/queer theorist Annamarie Jagose gets up-close and personal with the illustrious and elusive orgasm in Orgasmology (Duke University Press). Jagose elevates the material beyond sex and sexual orientation, venturing into “agency, ethics, intimacy, modernity,” and more.

Under “homosexuality” in the general index of The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2013 (World Almanac Books), readers will find information about civil unions, the gay rights movement, military policy, marriage, the Matthew Shepard murder trial, the New Hampshire bishop election, and more.

Poetry in motion

Award-winning lesbian poet Maureen Seaton’s eighth solo po-

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Place Beyond/Pines

From page 36

enhanced emotional through-line that nails one type of pretty badboy-lost. He’s offering us the package: a thinking man’s tragic savage, a very buff loser/hero. But are we willing to do our share of the heavy lifting? (Open Friday at Landmark Theatres.)

Mental I’ve never been subjected to the movie The Sound of Music. Ironically, a running “hills are

Fictional accounts

etry collection, Fibonacci Batman: New and Selected Poems (Carnegie Mellon) draws on six of her fulllength books (including Iowa Prize and Lambda Literary Award-winning Furious Cooking). Comprised of more than 60 poems, the book gives readers a first-hand look at the ongoing evolution of Seaton’s work.

Straight ally Denise Duhamel returns with her 10th full-length book of poetry, Blowout (University

Published last year, A Horse Named Sorrow (Terrace Books) by award-winning gay novelist Trebor Healey is a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, to be presented in June. It’s not too late to read this acclaimed novel, set in San Francisco in the 1980s and 90s.

“Sister Spit superstar” Ali Liebegott’s latest novel Cha-Ching!

(City Lights/Sister Spit) is set in the 1990s, following “down-on-herluck queer girl” Theo’s relocation from San Francisco to Brooklyn, where her new circle of friends includes her roommate, her girlfriend and a rescued Pit Bull named Cary Grant.

Monica Nolan, author of Lois Lenz, Secretary and Bobby Blanchard, Lesbian Gym Teacher, is back for more pulpy and steamy Sapphic fun with Maxie Mainwaring, Lesbian Dilettante (Kensington), set in the fictional Bay City in the carefree mid-1960s.

William Klaber’s debut novel The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell (Greenleaf Book Group) is a fictionalized memoir based on the true-life story of pioneering American lesbian Lucy Lobdell.

Lobdell, who beginning in 1855 lived her life dressed as a man, even managed to have what may have been the first same-sex marriage when she wed Marie Louise Perry, in Klaber’s fictional telling.

Can’t get enough queer historical fiction? Consider Fortune’s Bastard or Love’s Pains Recounted (Chelsea Station Editions) by Gil Cole. Cole’s novel tells the tale of young Antonio, who, in an effort to escape Renaissance Florence’s “religious hysteria,” sets sail on the Mediterranean and encounters a series of adventures, including the opportunity to pursue his desires for other men.

Musician-turned-novelist Steven Jordan Brooks also takes us back in time, to the 1970s, with Hollywood the Band (Authorhouse). Subtitled A Tale of Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll, the book touches on the sexual revolution, gay and women’s issues, as well as racial and civil rights matters.t

alive” gag may be the only positive bit from director P.J. Hogan’s operatically awful family mental-health comedy Mental.

Granted, Aussie popular culture is a landmine zone of bizarre myths and pratfalls. In the 1970s cult classic Awake in Fright, a fresh-faced teacher witnesses a horrific Outback kangaroo hunt and is then sodomized by an aging zombie (veteran Pinter actor Donald Pleasance).

Mental clears this bar with miles to spare. Dad (Anthony LaPaglia) con-

signs his daughters to a tough-love nanny (Toni Collette) after Mom’s sent to the funny farm. Nanny gives joy-for-life lessons, but her efforts never rise above over-the-top SNL outtakes. There’s a running gag of a Crocodile Dundee type zapping a cute blonde surfer in the nuts for breaking a no folk-singing rule; there are sharks, wild dogs, clueless older gents. But nothing rises to the pleasure expected from the director of Muriel’s Wedding and My Best Friend’s Wedding.t

Check out our ‘Best Of’ on page 13 in the News Section.

<< Books

38 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

Pilgrim’s progress

by Brian Jackle Does Jesus Really Love Me? A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America by Jeff Chu; HarperCollins, $26.99.

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was reminded what the key issue surrounding gay marriage really is when I saw recently retired openly gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson on TV, being interviewed outside the Supreme Court. “It’s really important for progressive religious people to be here to counter the notion that religious people are against marriage equality. There are lots of different ways of reading Scripture.”

After all the debates at the Supreme Court arguing for and against same-sex marriage, Jeff Chu’s Does Jesus Really Love Me? A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America reminds us that most of these pro and con arguments have a religious foundation, and how one interprets the Bible is the Rosetta stone for full acceptance of gays and lesbians in the U.S. Having come out to his devout mother, who sees him as going to hell, and as a journalist and believer, Chu charts a personal cross-country journey to discover how people who supposedly follow the same God and the same Scriptures have come to hold radically different positions on homosexuality. Chu surveys contemporary Protestantism on gay issues, interviewing with empathy and open-mindedness people traversing the entire theological, political, and experiential spectrum, from the vitriolic Rev. Fred Phelps – who, having discovered that Chu’s grandfather was a Baptist minister, tells him, “I think we might be able to have a little bit of friendship,” which must feel like the Devil breathing down your neck – to gay celibates. Here are fulfilling marriages of gay men and straight women, formerly closeted pastors kicked out of churches for being gay, an inclusive evangelical church in Denver, our own San Francisco MCC, and openly lesbian Episcopal LA Bishop Mary Glasspool.

Ironically, Chu found individual lay church members more open to LG-

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Jonathan Biss

From page 34

and is under 30 years old. I remember when we didn’t trust anyone over 30, but decades past such arrogant thinking, I now confess to a little ageism in the other direction. Thankfully, Andres breaks any such prejudice from me upon first hearing. He had me at “Hello” with the very first notes

BTs than clergy.

Because Chu himself is a Southern Baptist, most of his pilgrimage focuses on evangelical Christianity, with arguments for and against LGBTs’ inclusion in the church we have heard many times.

One drawback to the book is that there are no representatives from Catholicism or Judaism.

Evangelicals are savvy in presenting their arguments, well aware of the discontent their bigotry provokes in other Christians both within and beyond their own spiritual confines. They seem to mask their displeasure in more sophisticated, less hate-centered language, aware that for many younger people in this country, Christianity is now synonymous with judgmental discrimination. So we read comments like, “We love everyone, just like God, but God just doesn’t like the sins that we do, and one of those sins is homosexuality.” This sounds like a kinder, gentler discrimination, a less-stinging rhetorical variation on God loving the sinner, but hating the sin. For example, Chu interrogates longtime Exodus president Alan Chambers, who says their ministry is no longer converting people to heterosexuality but to “holiness,” and while orientation may now be inevitable because it is seen as largely immutable, acting out on it as part of the gay lifestyle is still verboten. Not surprisingly, the more liberal one’s interpretation of Scripture, the more accepting one is of LGBT people.

Chu’s book reminds us that in certain parts of this country, the stakes in this debate are life-threatening. While the disputes may seem tiresome, their repercussions are as polarizing as ever. Chu interviews Jennifer Knapp, who was once a star in the Christian music world, selling more than a million CDs, and nominated for two Grammys. Yet when she came out to the public at 33, her Christian fans abandoned her.

Or Lianna Carrera, an LA-based

of his Piano Quintet, receiving its world premiere this year and commissioned by Wigmore Hall, San Francisco Performances, Carnegie Hall and Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam. That is a pretty hefty group of supporters, but it appears Andres is more than worthy of such trust.

By turns agitated, insistent and beautifully lyrical, the Quintet, comprised of five titled move-

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stand-up comedienne who was told in 7th grade that a deacon from her church had a vision she would grow up to become a lesbian. After a meeting with her coach, parents, and principal, she was removed from the basketball team and made a cheerleader because, as her father said to her at the time, “We don’t want you to grow up to be like Ellen DeGeneres.”

Chu communicates via e-mail (and finally in person) through the book with a young, closeted gay Christian in rural Arizona named Gideon Eads, who struggles with his sexuality and his faith as he decides whether or not to come out to his parents. Gideon’s tortured journey shows that, with all the progress LGBT people have made, religion is still a battlefield. Chu concludes that “Jesus really does love us, but after my year of pilgrimage, I understand that love differently, having seen the many, many faces of God in America.” Clearly, some of those faces remain scary, and until these spiritual bullies are converted, true gay liberation for all Americans is still an open question, no matter how the Supreme Court rules on gay marriage.t Jeff Chu will be reading at Books Inc., 2275 Market St., SF, on Thurs., April 18, at 7:30 p.m.

ments, provides an instantly enjoyable and rich listening experience.

There is some genuine wit and outgoing humor on display, but also extended moments of intense and yearning contemplation.

Andres describes his own inspiration from Robert Schumann as mostly structural, but I found the Piano Quintet perfectly at home on the bill and a wonderfully accomplished and original realization, pairing his own work to his “long-time favorite,” the Schumann quintet. The performance utilized Jonathan Biss sparingly, but his playing was predictably impressive, and his immersion with and punctuation of other members of the ensemble gave full voice to the dazzling and often surprisingly ardent voice of Timo Andres.

The evening concluded with a wonderful performance of the Schumann Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Opus 47. I suppose it would have been a little too on-the-nose to finish with Schumann’s much more famous and frequently performed quintet. It was a rare opportunity to hear the charming Piano Quartet live, and Biss was especially persuasive in his exquisitely phrased contributions. As a voice for and unapologetic promoter of Schumann, he really puts his heart and his talent where his mouth is.t

<< Out&About

40 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

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Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams @ Embarcadero Cinema

The color purple

by Jim Provenzano

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his is the space where I contrive to string together some connection between all the fabulous theatre, music, dance, visual art and other probably queer-ish events going on this week, oh, including a Stevie Nicks documentary - shawl swirl! I really can’t outdo that, except to note that a few images this week happen to include the same fabulous color purple... okay, lavender– as the floral pattern on the guy’s shirt in the ad at the center of these pages.

Ophelia @ Fort Mason Center

Thu 4

Carte Blanche’s innovative, site-specific interaction environmental dance-performance work based very loosely upon Shakespeare’s Hamlet, experienced from the perspective of this tragic love, Ophelia. (some spaces outdoors; so bring/wear warm clothing). $22. 8:30pm Thu, Sat & Sun thru April 14.www.carteblanche-sf.com

Alison Bechdel @ Herbst Theatre City Arts & Lectures presents the lesbian graphic novel/comic artist, who has an on-stage talk with Julia Bryan-Wilson. $22-$27. 7:30pm. 401 Van Ness Ave. 392-4400. www.cityarts.net

Pharoah Sanders @ Yoshi’s Grammy-winning legendary jazz saxophonist and John Coltrane collaborator performs with his trio. $21-$32. 8pm & 10pm. Also April 5 & 6. 1330 Fillmore St. 655-5600. www.yoshis.com

The Resurrection of She @ Brava Theatre Rhodessa Jones’ new music play about women’s lives hidden from mainstream society. $15-$30. Thu-Sat 8pm Sun 3pm. Thru April 7.

2781 24th Street at York. 6417657. www.brava.org

Alison Bechdel @ Herbst Theatre.

Thu 4 Flower Show @ Macy’s Annual colorful large-scale floral displays, this year with an Asian theme.

In-store events, fashion shows and other events thru the run, including a National AIDS Memorial Grove Art exhibition (on the main floor), and designer Bouquet of the Day displays. Thru April 7. Geary St at Union Square. macys.com/flowershow

Guy Writers @ Books Inc. Celebrate National Poetry Month with My First Gay Love; readings by James Siegel, Baruch Porras-Hernandez, Kevin Simmonds, Gregory Pond, Nick Chin, Blythe Baldwin and Amy Dentata. 7:30pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net

Shih Chieh Huang @ YBCA

Taiwanese artist’s colorful installations create sculptural ecosystems from found objects. $8-$12. Exhibit thru June 30. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 9792787. www.ybca.org

Sing-Along Disney’s Beauty and the Beast @ Castro Theatre Be our guest, with the animated musical film. Mar. 27-April 5, 7pm, also 2:30pm Mar. 30/31 (no shows April 1 & 2). $8.50$15. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Documentary film about Fleetwood Mac’s down-to-earth diva vocalist. $8.25-$10.50.

Various times. 1 Embarcadero Center. www.landmarktheatres.com

Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma @ The Hypnodrome Thrillpeddlers performs Scrumbly Koldewyn and Pam Tent’s new, full-length restored version of The Cockettes’ 1971 wacky drag musical comedy, on the 42nd anniversary of the original production. Thu-Sat 8pm.

Thru June 1. 575 10th St. at Bryant. (800) 838-3006. www.thrillpeddlers.com

USF Human Rights Film Festival @ Presentation Theater Three-day screenings of short and documentary films about human rights abuses and achievements worldwide, including local filmmaker Mark Freeman’s Transgender Tuesdays: A Clinic in the Tenderloin (April 6, 2pm). Thru April 6. Free. 2350 Turk Blvd. at Masonic. www.usfca.edu/artsci/hrff

Queer Dharma @ SF Zen Center

Reasons to be Pretty @ SF Playhouse. Sat 6

Monthly meditation and discussion group, this month with speaker Tova Green. 1pm3pm. 300 Page St. www.sfzc.org

Fri 5 The Arsonists @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Aurora Theatre Company’s production of Alistair Beaton’s new translation of Max Frisch’s classic comic parable about bourgeois complacency, and an absurdist allegory of the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia. $35-$60. Tue & Sun 7pm.

Wed-Sat 8pm. Also Sun 2pm. Thru May 12. 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 8434822. www.auroratheatre.org

Being Earnest @ Mountain View Center for the Arts Lyrical adaptation (and groovy 1960s London update) of Oscar Wilde’s comic play, The Importance of Being Earnest. $23-$73. Tue-Wed 7:30pm. Thu-Sat 8pm.

Sat & Sun 2pm. Also Sun 7pm. Thru April 28. 500 Castro St. (650) 463-1960. www.theatreworks.org

The Bus @ New Conservatory Theatre James Lantz’ drama about two boys living in a rural conservative church town who have romantic trysts in an abandoned bus. $14-$45 (also pay what you can nights).

Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru April 28. 25 Van Ness ave, lower level. Also tours May 3-11 in Central California. www.nctcsf.org

Carnival! @ Eureka Theatre 42nd Street Moon theatre company performs Bob Merrill’s jaunty musical about a girl who falls in love with a carnie. $25-$75. Wed- 7pm. Thu 7 Fri 8pm. Sat 6pm Sun 3pm. Thru April 21. 215 Jackson St. 255-8207. www.42ndstmoon.org

The Chosen Ones @ ArtHaus Opening reception for a diverse group exhibition of interior designers and visual artists; also MPA/ArtHaus Photo Essay Award winners. 6pm-8pm. 411 Brannan St at 3rd. 977-0223. www.arthaus-sf.com

The Coast of Utopia @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley

Shih Chieh Huang @ YBCA. Thu 4

Shotgun Players performs Shipwreck and Voyage, two parts of Tom Stoppard’s shipwreck utopian trilogy, about Russian pre-Revolutionary artists and lovers, in repertory. $8-$35. Wed & Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru April 21. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org

Friday Nights @ De Young Museum

The Life and Times of Tede Matthews @ GLBT History Museum The Life and Times of Tede Matthews, Poet and Revolutionary ; historian Greg Youmans presents a talk about his biography of the gay activist, performer and Modern Times Bookstore cofounder, with video clips and a discussion. 7pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistorymuseum.org

Music Recitals @ SF Conservatory of Music Student and faculty recitals of classical, renaissance and contemporary music. Duos by student composers, April 2, 8pm. Die Fledermaus, Strauss’ opera, $15-$20, April 4-6 7:30pm. April 7, 2pm. 50 Oak St. at Van Ness Ave. www.sfcm.edu

Season 9 of the popular weekly early evening museum parties continues, with live music and performance, exhibit-themed workshops and food and drinks. 5pm8:30pm. Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. 750-3600. www. deyoung.famsf.org/deyoung/fridays

Spring Book Sale @ Fort Mason Annual massive books sale, each $1-$3.

Plus DVDs and CDs. Proceeds benefit the SF Public Library. 10am-6pm. Thru April 7. Festival Pavilion, Buchanan at Marina. www.friendssfpl.org

Stuck Elevator @ A.C.T. American Conservatory Theatre’s production of Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis’ innovative musical play about an immigrant Chinese food delivery man who gets stuck in an elevator, but can’t call for help, as it will draw attention to his illegal immigrant status; with Chinese supertitles. Several special nights, including LGBT Out with A.C.T., April 17. $20-$85. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed & Sat 2pm. Sun 7pm. Thru April 28. 415 Geary St. 749-2250. www.act-sf.org

Fallaci @ Berkeley Rep Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright/ journalist Lawrence Wright’s intriguing two-person play dramatizes an interview with real-life journalist Oriana Fallaci. $14.50-$89. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed & Sun 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru April 21. Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Guys and Dolls @ Julia Morgan Theatre, Berkeley Berkeley Playhouse stages the classic Loesser Swerling/Burrows musical comedy about oddball romances between New York gamblers and missionaries. $17-$60.

Thu-Sat 7pm. Sat 2pm. Sun 3pm. Thru April 28. 2640 College Ave., Berkeley. (510) 845-8542. www.berkeleyplayhouse.org

Hedwig and the Angry Inch @ Boxcar Theatre New local production of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s popular transgender rock operetta, with multiple actorsingers performing the lead, including Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, Jason Brock, Arturo Galster and Trixxie Carr. $25-$40. Wed-Sat 8pm. Also Sat 5pm. Extended thru April 13.

505 Natoma St. 967-2227. www.boxcartheatre.org

The Real Americans @ The Marsh Berkeley Dan Hoyle returns with his acclaimed solo show with multiple characters based on his travels to the most liberal and conservative regions of America. $25-$50. Fri 8pm.

Sat 5pm. Thru April 6. 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. 826-5760. www.themarsh.org

Stanley Clarke Band @ Yoshi’s, Oakland Bass powerhouse and his band perform rousing jazz-fusion. $25-$35. 8pm & 10pm.

Thru April 7 (6pm & 8pm). 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square. (510) 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

Sat 6 Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. Reg: $25-$130. Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm. Sat 6:30, 9:30pm. Sun 2pm, 5pm.

(Beer/wine served; cash only). 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 4214222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

Jason Brock @ Martuni’s The gay singer with a powerful vocal talent performs X in the City, his story-song show about The X Factor, ex-boyfriends and more. $25. 5pm & 7pm. 4 Valencia St. www.martunisshow2013. brownpapertickets.com

Grand Opening @ Museum of Craft and Design Dogpatch warehouse is now a museum store, gallery and program space. Inaugural exhibitions are Michael Cooper: A Sculptural Odyssey, 1968-2001 and Arline Fisch, Creatures from the Deep. Mon-Fri 9:30am-5:30pm.

2569 Third St. 773-0303. www.sfmcd.org

t

Out&About >>

The Kinsey Collection @ MOAD New exhibit of works: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, Where Art and History Intersect offers an inspirational journey through five centuries of African American history. Thru May 19. Free-$10.

Wed-Sat 11am-6pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission St. at 3rd. 358-7200. www.moadsf.org

China’s Terracotta Warriors @ Asian art Museum The First Emperor’s Legacy, an exhibit of ten of the famous life-size sculptures of guards of China’s first emperor, and 100-plus other treasures from 2,200 years ago. Free-$22 ($10 Thu eves, 5pm-9pm). Tue-Sun 10am5pm. Thru May 27. 200 Larkin St. 581-3500. www.terracotta-warriors.asianart.org

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 41

Kehinde Wiley @ Contemp. Jewish Museum

Shawn Thomas @ Billy DeFrank Center, San Jose

New exhibit, The World Stage: Israel, a series of vibrant portraits of Middle Eastern and African men, created by the gay artist. Thru May 27. Also, The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League. Other exhibits (California Dreaming, Black Sabbath) ongoing. Free (members)-$12. Thu-Tue 11am-5pm (Thu 1pm-8pm) 736 Mission St. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org

Gay Christian singer performs a faith-focused concert. 7pm. 938 The Alameda. www.celebrationoffaith.org

Ernest Clayton @ SF Botanical Garden New seasonal exhibit of colorful floral displays, and a beautiful floral drawing exhibit of watercolor works by Ernest Clayton. Thru April. $2-$15. 9am-7pm. 9th Avenue at Lincoln Way, Golden Gate Park.

661-1316. www.sfbotanicalgarden.org

The Happy Ones @ Magic Theatre Bay Area premiere of Julie Marie Myatt’s play. $22-$45. Wed-Sat 8pm. Tue 7pm.

Sun 2:30pm. Thru April 21. Fort Mason Center, Bldg. D, 3rd floor. 441-8822. www.magictheatre.org

Reasons to be Pretty @ SF Playhouse Local production of Neil Labute’s dark comedy about superficial “beautiful” straight people. $30-$100. Tue-Thu 7pm. Fri/Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm. Thru May 11. Kensington Park Hotel, 2nd floor, 450 Post St. 677-9596l. www.sfplayhouse.org

Tarot: Art of Fortune @ Modern Eden Gallery Large group show of 75 artists’ interpretations of the entire deck of Rider-Waite Tarot cards. Thru April 9.

Tue-Sat 10am-6pm. 403 Francisco St. 956-3303. www.moderneden.com

We Live Here @ SF Public Library San Francisco 1960s-1970s, a new exhibit of historic local photos by photojournalist Phiz Mezey. Thru June 2. Jewitt Gallery, lower level, 100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org

Sun 7 Cabaret Showcase Showdown @ Martuni's The singing competition continues, with the Best Singer-songwriter competition.

Guest judges include Planet Booty’s Dylan Germick and SF Gay Men’s Chorus musical arranger Lynden Bair. Katya Smirnoff-Skyy and Mrs. Trauma Flintstone cohost. 7pm.

4 Valencia St. 241-0205.

Classic & Oscar-winning Films @ Castro Theatre Django Unchained (April 7 & 8; 1pm, 4:15, 8pm); April 10, Amour (2pm, 7pm) and Eternity and a Day (4:20, 9:20); April 11, Talk to Her (2:45, 7pm) and All About My Mother (4:55, 9:30). $8.250-$12. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Girl With a Pearl Earring @ de Young Museum Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis, a new touring exhibit of Dutch Masters paintings, drawing and etching; Thru June 2. Also, Eye Level in Iraq: Photographs by Kael Alford and Thorne Anderson, thru June 16. Also, Objects of Belief from the Vatican, thru Sept 8. Also, artist fellows Andy Diaz Hope and Laurel Roth’s triptych mural, The Conflicts, a contemporary tribute to the historic Unicorn Tapestries. $10-$25. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. (til 8:45pm Fridays) Thru Dec. 30. Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive.

750-3600. www.famsf.org

Figures @ John Pence Gallery. Mon 8.

Art: Kevin Gorges

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room Donna Sachet and Harry Denton host the weekly fabulous brunch and drag show. $45. 11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square.

395-8595. www.harrydenton.com

Wed 10

Mon 8

SF-based Jason Hanasik and Amsterdam artist Berndnaut Smilde’s dual installation about home, dislocation and impermanence, which includes Smild’e fascinating indoor clouds. Special artists’ talk April 10, 6:30-8pm. Thru April 27. Main gallery, 401 Van Ness, Veterans Bldg. Hours Wed-Sat 12pm-5pm. www.sfartscommission.org

Art-o-mat @ Costume Shop Theater American Conservatory Theatre’s satelite stage unveils the lobby vending machine that dispenses unique art for only $5 a pop! Unveiling, 6:30-8:30pm. 1117 Market St. www.act-sf.org www.artomat.org

California Native Plant Bloom @ SF Botanical Gardens Seasonal flowering of hundreds of species of native wildflowers in a century-old grove of towering Coast Redwoods. Free$15. Daily thru May 15. Golden Gate Park.

6612-1316. www.SFBotanicalGarden.org

Figures @ John Pence Gallery Group exhibit of compelling portraits, nudes and figure studies. Thru April 13.

Mon-Fri 10am-6pm. Sat til 5pm. 750 Post St. 441-1138. www.johnpence.com

Heels on Wheels Glitter Roadshow @ Solespace, Oakland Queer performance art cabaret with Shomi Noise, The Lady Ms. Vagina Jenkins, Heather Acs, and Damien Luxe, plus special local guests Meliza Bañales, Annah Anti-Palindrome, Kentucky Fried Woman & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. $5$15. 8pm. 1714 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. heelsonwheelsroadshow.com

Miss Coco Peru @ Castro Theatre The comic queen (aka Clinton Leupp) performs She’s Got Balls, her new show, all about childhood crushes on movie monsters, the evils of Facebook, nude beaches, and other topics! $28-$45. 8pm. Matinee screening of the gay comedy Trick at 12pm, with Coco short flicks and a look-alike contest. $10. 429 Castro St. 863-0611. www.castrotheatre.com www.ticketfly.com

Summoning Ghosts @ Oakland Museum The Art of Hun Liu, an exhibit of haunting paintings by the U.S.-based Chinese artist.

Thru June 30. Also, Beth Yarnelle Edwards: Suburban Dreams, a photo exhibit of 22 large-scale evocative portrait/tableaux of California families. Thru June 30. Wed-Sun 11am-5pm (Fri til 9pm). Thru June 30.

1000 Oak St. (510) 318-8400. www.museumca.org

Sundance Saloon 15th Anniversary @ Space 550

Heels on Wheels @ Solespace, Oakland Sat 6.

The popular country western LGBT dance night celebrates a decade and a half of fun foot-stomping twostepping and line-dancing. Free admission. Other added events through April. 5pm-10:30pm with lessons from 5:30-7:15 pm. 550 Barneveld Ave. www.sundancesaloon.org

African American GLBT Past Meets Present, an exhibit focusing on African American words, images and sounds that connect inspirational commentary by local queer community leaders with historic artifacts. Also, Migrating Archives: LGBT Delegates From Collections Around the World. $5. Reg hours Mon & Wed-Sat 11am-7pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistorymuseum.org

Sonoma International Film Fest @ Sonoma Filmfest which includes five LGBTthemed films, including an LGBT party, galas, and tribute to actress Mary-Louise Parker ( Weeds, Angels in America). Thru April 14, at various venues. (707) 933-2600. www.sonomafilmfest.org

Comedy Bodega @ Esta Noche The weekly LGBT and indie comic stand-up night.

8pm-9:30pm. 3079 16th St. at Mission. www. comedybodega.com

Charlie Ballard hosts the comedy night, a special ‘Gay for Pay’ theme, with straight comics doing gay jokes; Chris Riggins, Paul Doyle, Nick Palm, Aaron Barrett, Spencer Devine, Andrew Roberts, Steve Post, Juan Medina and Dustin Hempstead. $10. 21+.

8pm. 1772 Market St. www.facebook. com/hellagaycomedyshow

Join GLBT hikers for a 13-mile hike up and over many SF hills, including Corona Heights, Mount Olympus, Buena Vista Park, Twin Peaks, the walls of Glen Canyon, Diamond Heights, Fairmount, Holly Park, and Bernal Hill. This is a fabulous chance to see great views and architecture and to people-watch. Bring water, lunch, sunscreen, hat, layers, good shoes. Meet at 9:00 at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores.

837-8990. www.sfhiking.com

Legendary @ GLBT History Museum

Thu 11

Hella Gay Comedy @ 1772 Market

SF Hiking Club @ San Francisco Hills

Conversation 6 @ SF Arts Commission Gallery

Spencer Day @ Yoshi’s SF. Thu 11

Tue 9 Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey's Ronn Vigh hosts the weekly LGBT and gayfriendly comedy night. One drink or menu item minimum. 9pm. 500 Castro St. at 18th. 431-HARV. www.harveyssf.com

If Gender is a Kind of Doing @ MCCLA Gallery Group exhibit of visual art (by Regina José Galindo, Deborah Roberts, Elizabeth Maynard, Rye Purvis, Laura Lucía Sanz, Lorraine García-Nakata and Ana Teresa Fernandez) exploring the constructions of female gender. Opening reception April 12, 7pm. $5-$10. Tue-Sat 10am-5pm. Thru May 25. Mission Cultural Center, 2868 Mission St. 643-5001. www.missionculturalcenter.org

Gold Rush @ Old First Presbyterian Church Concert of contemporary/classical instrumental music by Martin Rokeach, Allen Shearer, Ryan Chase and Nicholas Vasallo. $14-$17. 8pm. 1751 Sacramento St. 4741608. www.oldfirstconcerts.org

Without Reality There Is No Utopia @ YBCA Group exhibit/installation of politicallythemed art focusing on the clash of Capitalism/Communism, propaganda/disinformation, financial lies and truths, and other global issues. Free/$10. Thru June 2.

701 Mission St. 979-2787. www.ybca.org

Alfred Hitchcock Films @ Pacific Film Archive Screening of the major works of the master of cinematic suspense. Tonight, The Birds (7pm). Thru April 24. $5.50-$13.50. UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. (510) 642-1124. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

Melissa Manchester @ Yoshi’s, Oakland Grammy-winning singer-songwriter performs her classic hits. $29-$35. 8pm & 10pm. 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square. (510) 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

Plane Queer @ GLBT History Museum Historian Phil Tiemeyer discusses his new book, Plane Queer: Labor, Sexuality and AIDS in the History of Male Flight Attendants. He’ll be joined by Bill Wright, a Pan Am flight attendant from the 1950s through the 1980s. $5. 7pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistorymuseum.org

Spencer Day @ Yoshi’s SF Popular local jazz/pop singer-pianist’s release party and concert for his new CD, The Mystery of You. $16-$22. 8pm & 10pm. 1330 Fillmore St. 655-5600. www.yoshis.com

To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com.

<< Leather

42 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

Latin lovers

t

by Scott Brogan

A

nyone who knows me knows that it’s no secret that I love the Latin men. I can’t help it. As I like to say, “If you’re Latin, you go to the head of the line.” It’s funny that my husband of 12 years is very Nordic. You can’t control who you fall in love with. Imagine my delight when I went to The Eagle last Saturday night and discovered that they were having a “Latin Bear Night.”

What a treat! What a crowd! At first, all I could see were pasty white boys like myself, obviously there because they share my passions. But in spite of the off-and-on sprinkles the crowd swelled, the Latin music played, and everyone had a great time. There was definitely no shortage of eye candy.

The Eagle has been doing an excellent job of having new, fun events all through the week, and not just on Sunday afternoons. A few days before the Latin event, they had a successful women’s night. Coming up we have Michael Brandon’s “Sadistic Saturdays” on Saturday, April 13. Earlier that same day are the world-renowned (well, maybe infamous) Golden Dildeaux Awards. At this date, you can still vote for your favorite person in many very clever categories at: www.ggguards.org/ new_site/gda/.

The day after my Latin Fest, we endured the rain to have some fun supporting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence during their annual Easter in the Park festivities. Sadly, due to the on-and-off downpour, the festivities were cut short, but that didn’t stop us die-hards from having a good time. Jay Harcourt was quite fetching in a fabulous Easter bonnet. As was his entire group of Easter revelers. Great job, guys!

“Young” Guard? San Diego’s Papa Tony has written a great article for the Leatherati website titled, “New Blood in an Old Guard World.” The gist of the article focuses on the need in our community for us “old guard” types to openly welcome the newer, much younger men and women who may not dress the way we want, nor say or do what we want. As he states: “It is time for us to let go of the fucking football, and let someone with new perspectives, new energy, and new passions grab it and run, while we cheer from the sidelines.

We can offer wisdom if it is asked for, but trust me – these guys can handle anything that comes at them, as long as they know that they can quietly call up the Wise, Trusted Uncles and get some private coaching.” I couldn’t agree more. I urge everyone to read his article. He clearly states not only what’s wrong with our community in this regard, but also what we can do to make things better. Here’s the link: www.leatherati.com/2013/03/ n e w - b l o o d - i n - a n - o l d - g u a rd world/.

IMSL: International Ms. Leather/Bootblack is just around the corner. You must purchase your tickets online – no tickets will be sold at the door. The deadline for registration is April 13. There are several different packages and options for the many great events planned throughout the weekend, beginning on April 18 and ending on April 21. A few highlights: More than 20 presenters giving seminars and panel discussions; Uniform Party; Onsite Play Space; the “Seduction” show; Bootblack Salon & Leathercare Lounge; and of course, the IMsL/ IMsBB contests on Saturday night.

The host hotel is still the Holiday

Scott Brogan

Fun took many forms in Dolores Park on Easter Sunday.

Scott Brogan

Tony Delfino, Daddy’s Barbershop’s contestant and First Runner-Up at Mr. SF Leather 2013.

Inn Golden Gateway. Go to: www. imsl.org for all the details.

New title: Daddy’s Barbershop has decided to sponsor titleholders on an ongoing basis. My source has told me that they are creating the t i t l e but have not decided on a name just yet. They don’t want any confusion with the previous Daddy’s Bar title. It’s great to see titles coming out of more than just the bars. Not that there’s anything wrong with the bars, but variety is a good thing. Daddy’s sponsored Tony Delfino for the recent Mr. SF Leather contest, and he came in as First Runner-Up. Not a bad start! Daddy’s is located at 4102 19th St. in the Castro (www.daddysbarbershop.org).

Speaking of titles, congratulations to Justin Emerick for winning the Mr. Los Angeles Leather 2013 title two weeks ago during the LA Leather Weekend. Emerick competed against six other men, no small feat. Marlon Morales is Mr. LA Leather 2012, and will be a tough act to follow. But from everything I’ve heard, Emerick is up for it.

Another farewell: After five years, Kok Bar closed last Saturday.

It was opened in 2008 as Chaps II

by David Morgan and his partner Stephen, then renamed Kok Bar in 2011. Per Morgan: “We really want to thank all of you – we’ve been extremely humbled every time someone walked in the door. Steven decided to move on – and David didn’t want to do it alone – but won’t rule out another bar in the future.” No word yet on what’s to become of the space.t

t

Karrnal >>

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 43

Rueful farewells

enough of Jesse. His fresh appeal, the beauty of his cock, his thick and tousled black hair, and his supple body – oh boy. And I know the exact moment I began to lose interest in him. When he got his PA. It simply ruined the sculptural perfection of his cockhead.

After that, he continued to systematically erase his unique qualities. He put barbells in newly pierced tits, and switched out suppleness for bulk with de rigueur hard muscle. He grew a regulation goatee, and buzz cut his hair.

Currently, he’s sporting a trendy Mohawk. All of these can be sexy (I cream over Mohawks), but they’re all pretty conformist. Pedestrian. The porn star

by John F. Karr

H

arry Reems died two weeks ago. He was 65, and had pancreatic cancer. A handsome, dashing performer, he’d been the epitome of a 1970s porn star.

I used to wonder at his career. He and I were the same age. And while I floundered rudderless out of college at age 22 and into San Francisco to pursue numerous vocations before securing a life in the theatre, Harry, also 22, floundered rudderless out of the Marines and into Off-Broadway, where a theatrical career as an actor eluded him. He earned his way by appearing in dozens of stag films. Loops, they were called. He graduated to a few porno features under the name Peter Long, and then in 1972 came a new name and Deep Throat, which made him nationally renowned (okay, infamous).

Reems (born Herbert Streicher) had been hired as part of the movie’s lighting crew, but was impressed into service as an actor when the movie’s key male role remained uncast. He was paid $250 for a single day of acting work, and was unaware that the director had given him a new name until he saw the movie.

Reems became the face of the industry when he quickly followed Deep Throat with The Devil and Miss Jones (1973). Together, the films ushered in the era of Porno Chic (I’ll soon be writing about another pinnacle of the day, The Opening of Misty Beethoven).

Between 1973 and 1989, he appeared in some 140 films while enduring, along with a dozen creators of Deep Throat and the numerous corporations that financed it, an FBI indictment for distributing obscenity across state lines. He was the first American performer to be prosecuted by the federal government merely for appearing in a film. His conviction was ultimately overturned, and the charges dropped.

But the trials dragged on with their stress and financial demands for years, during which Harry developed a debilitating drug dependency.

Happy ending?

Harry bottomed out in 1989, welcomed Jesus into his heart, converted to Christianity, married, and, retaining

Harry Reems was the epitome of a 1970s porn star.

Gigolo Hollywood

Once a unique twink, Jesse Santana is now standard issue.

his nom de porn, became a real estate agent. As a performer, he was known for his hefty Jewish schwanze (it was a truly sterling appendage), his thick bush of handlebar mustache, and most of all, for a sparkling personality that delivered sexuality with zest and humor. It wasn’t so much cock as character that made him loved, and will sustain his memory.

Mex twinks

by Ernie Alderete

W

hat exactly is a twink? In my opinion, it’s a handsome young man, not quite yet out of his teens, with a lean, slim, firm build. Perhaps growing his first ’stache. Generally free of body modifications, such as tattoos and piercings. And maybe, possessing a joyful disposition.

Of course, twinks are not confined to the borders of our United States.

Like the proverbial Castro Street clone, they exist in every corner of our evershrinking world. Chacalitos isn’t a direct translation of twinks, but the term holds a similar meaning in Spanish. I’ve collected scores of pictures of Mexican Twinks from half-a-dozen Chacales, sites across Facebook where they were more or less lost in the crowd in not fully focused male collections.

The mighty cell phone has made these choice images possible. Gay men no longer have to trudge old-school film in to be chemically developed by nosey and often disapproving, not to mention expensive, straight photoprocessors. This technological advance has freed hundreds of millions of people to take pictures of their most intimate and private moments, something they didn’t dare do even just a few years ago.

MexTwink1, in his snug, body-

Collection Alderete

“MexTwink 1” wears formfitting red trunks.

hugging red shorts, personifies what it means to be a Chacalito to me. He has a very sweet and innocent-looking face with a rock-solid build, smoldering with sexual eroticism about to burst forth upon the unsuspecting world around him.

MexTwink3 is yet another welcome cell phone self-portrait, this time featuring a somber-looking, broadshouldered, narrow-waisted, hairy MexTwink, taken on his 18th birthday.

More MexTwinks from my col-

Jesse Santana hasn’t died, but he has announced his departure from porn.

He told Next magazine, “My hopes are to slowly withdraw [from the industry] and move on.” He says he’ll attend Le Cordon Bleu and find a career in the food industry. I wish him the best. Yet between “hopes” and “slow withdrawal,” it doesn’t sound like retirement from porn is imminent (insert standard double entendre here: don’t we all hope for slow withdrawal?).

For several years, I couldn’t get

lection: one is again taking his own picture with his cell phone, a rocksolid example of physical perfection matched with a glowing, clean-cut disposition. Another is a solidly built, body hair-free, well-groomed teen with copper-toned skin, posed against his green bedroom wall, hands conveniently folded across his entirely concealed package.

One photo veers off in another direction entirely, although it’s another fine example of a similarly good body and fine character. But this time, the main Chacalito is totally hairless and naked in a gym locker room, pulled backwards off his feet good-naturedly by a partially obscured friend. The broad smile across his boyish face indicates that he and a partially clothed observer behind him enjoy the impromptu horseplay, even as he hurriedly covers his family jewels with his left hand. Who hasn’t been swatted across the ass by a towel while in a gym shower or locker room? It’s good, clean, harmless fun, yet with a sexual tingle and unmistakable erotic undercurrent.

All of these Chacalitos are real people, not porno stars or models.

They’re the kind of guys you might meet on vacation in Mexico. Stay tuned to this station for additional twink sightings to come.t

du jour.

I’m not maligning Jesse’s performances. Recent scenes for Raging Stallion have been très stimulating. But he used to look unmistakably himself.

Now he could be mistaken for anybody.

Happy ending? Perhaps. Jesse’s realized porn isn’t a career, and is heading toward something practical, sustaining. But what he’s called his parting shot to porn is, lamentably, his debut in bareback. I’ve seen it. It’s hot. But disappointing to me all the same. Neither a wise move nor a career capper.

I wonder if he’ll still cultivate that Mohawk at the culinary academy.t

<< DVDs

44 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

LGBTrue stories

by Gregg Shapiro

O

ver the years, porn stars gay and straight have been the subject of feature films. Linda Lovelace and Jack Wrangler, 1970s porn legends, have been featured in documentaries. But the fact that hypermasculine, tattoo-scalped, gay porn performer Francois Sagat gets his own doc, Sagat (TLA), directed by Pascal Roche & Jerome M. Oliveira, makes a statement about him and his career.

Sexually graphic with many clips from his gay porn videos, Sagat features an assortment of interview subjects, including directors Chi Chi LaRue, Bruce La Bruce and Christophe Honore; fellow porn stars Ethan Anders, Wilfried Knight and Dean Monroe; Brian Mills of gay porn company Titan Media; and even Francois’ sister Caroline, among others. But the most interesting interviews are the ones with Sagat himself. Hearing the 2007 GayVN Performer of the Year speak in his own words (in French with English subtitles) about how doing porn is “like jumping into space and trying to bounce back,” about the origin of his trademark scalp tattoo, and how he ended up doing porn because he was a fan of porn, and the pleasure he gets from drawing, is as revealing as watching him perform.

Sagat follows Francois in 2010 from San Francisco (where he signs calendars and dildos in an adult bookstore) to Paris and Cognac.

A private person, he does open up about his childhood and his physical transformation. Sagat also shares his strong feelings about bareback videos; he thinks they should be banned and that the porn production firms should be sued for the lack of controls when it comes to STDs. A performer with presence and connection who has been credited with changing the porn world, it’s easy to understand why he deserved to be the subject of a film.

More than an hour’s worth of DVD bonus features include interviews, short films and more.

The late Graham Chapman, the openly gay member of the groundbreaking, often cross-dressing comedy troupe Monty Python’s Flying Circus, deserved a far better cin-

ematic tribute than the one he gets in A Liar’s Autobiography (Virgil). Employing an array of animation techniques, vintage performances and interview footage (including narration by Chapman from a recording of him reading the book on which the doc is based), A Liar’s Autobiography wants to offer the viewer a good time. But the offer is hollow.

The animation lacks the liveliness and originality of the animated segments used in the old Monty Python’s Flying Circus TV show. While it may have been Chapman’s intention to paint a confusing portrait in his book, this is lost in the transition to film. The most revealing parts of the movie occur in footage from interviews with Chapman. The frank presentation of Chapman’s coming out story (his parents found out during a TV interview) is the most entertaining aspect, but it goes on far too long. DVD extras include several featurettes.

Out in the Open (Breaking Glass/QC) gets off to a bad start with an ineffective parody of the old black & white anti-homosexual scare-tactic flicks of the 1950s. Incorporating homophobic narration throughout doesn’t do much to help matters, even after we encounter actor/ director Matthew Smith and his actor boyfriend Solly Hemus. Instead of relying on many interviews with queer celebrities and regular LGBT folk, they detract from the content by resorting to this cheap device.

That’s too bad because listening to interview subjects including Carson Kressley, Greg Louganis, actor Josh Strickland, DJ/writer Paul V., politician James Healey, as well as straight allies Patrick Burke of the Philadelphia Flyers, musician Keaton Simons, Matthew and Solly’s parents and siblings, people of the cloth and others is the best part. But there are

t

some interesting points raised. Matthew, for example, thinks there is a need to change the “fight” for LGBT rights to a talk, in order to open more channels of communication.

Out in the Open does take some unexpected turns. It gets very serious more than halfway through the movie when it comes to the subject of bullying. Well-intentioned but overly ambitious, it would have benefited from a little more time in the editing room. DVD special features include bloopers, extended interviews, a featurette and more.t

The elusive Mr. Grant

by Tavo Amador

A

s different as their screen personas were, Mae West, Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, and Grace Kelly had at least one thing in common: each seduced a reluctant Cary Grant (1904-86). The films all had plausible excuses for his passivity: in She Done Him Wrong (1932), he’s a Salvation Army Captain who resists the vamping West; in Bringing Up Baby (1938), he’s a bookish anthropologist more interested in dinosaurs than in Hepburn – even donning her frilly robe and declaring he had just gone “gay”; in Notorious (1946), Bergman nearly rapes him, but he’s an American agent investigating her Nazi connections in Brazil, so he must remain distant; as a suspected cat burglar on a picnic with Kelly in To Catch a Thief (1954), she, ostensibly referring to chicken, asks if he wants “a breast or a leg.” His contemporary Clark Gable would have helped himself.

Off-screen, from 1932-42, before and after his first of five marriages, Grant lived openly with handsome actor Randolph Scott, who often referred to him as his “spouse.” Scotty

Bowers and Richard Blackwell both attested to Grant’s bisexuality, although he denied any homosexual tendencies throughout his life. Like Rock Hudson, however, his performances often suggest the truth.

Stanley Donen’s Indiscreet (1958) was Grant’s second teaming with Bergman. She’s Anna Kalman, a cel-

ebrated London theatre star who has yet to find the right man. Her sister Margaret (Phyllis Calvert) and brother-in-law Alfred Munson (Cecil Parker) introduce her to economist Philip Adams (Grant), whom Alfred is hoping will accept a major job with NATO in Paris. Anna is immediately attracted to him and he responds, but informs her he’s married and unable to get a divorce and thus, ultimately, unavailable. She accepts the situation and their adulterous romance begins – a daring topic during that era.

He commutes from Paris and takes a flat in her building. They’re happy, but she wants more and says so, immediately apologizing for putting him on the spot. He comforts her, but marriage isn’t an option. Instead, he lavishes her with gifts. She accepts a role in a new play, which is a hit, and adjusts her expectations.

Accidentally, she learns an unpleasant truth about her lover, and plots a comic revenge. Her scheme backfires, and she appears to have lost all she had wanted. Not surprisingly, things work out in the end, but not until some rather surprising role reversals regarding honor and morality take place.

See page 45 >>

t

Music >>

April 4-10, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 45

Pianistic enigma

by Tim Pfaff

V

ladimir Horowitz, one of the few musicians to have attained “household-word” name status in his adopted United States, divided pianists into three types: Jewish, gay, and bad. Safely included in the first group, he could conceal, from his adoring public anyway, his membership in the second group as well.

(Some have accorded him the trifecta.) Applying Horowitz’s formula to Sviatoslav Richter, indisputably one of the greatest pianists of the last century, “Slava” was not Jewish.

Richter L’Insoumis (Richter the Enigma), a documentary by Bruno Monsaingeon recently released on two DVDs (EuroArts/idealeaudience), plays heavily on the idea of Richter’s sphinxlike secretiveness.

As Monsaingeon well knew, the pianist’s career-long shunning of the limelight and the press (interviews in particular) only increased the importance of the long, late-life, on-camera interview the filmmaker pried from his elusive subject (who as often as not reads from notes, talking head down). But as with his playing, there’s nothing superfluous here, and you hang on Richter’s every word and pause.

Gratefully, though, much of the interview is used as voiceover for some rich documentary footage and captivating interviews (some clearly made expressly for this film) with other major players in Richter’s life.

Not the least of these is Nina Dorliac, his domestic partner of a halfcentury. In an early twist on the gay marriage idea, they were formally wed six months after his death on August 1, 1997, two months before hers. The speculation is that Dorliac was lesbian. No one who knew them doubted their deep devotion to one another.

A charming hint at the nature of their relationship – at a time when homosexuality was illegal in the Soviet Union – comes in their separate but mutually confirming accounts of their meeting, outside a rehearsal room where she was singing. He offered to accompany her. She asked if that meant he wanted the two of them to do a concert together. He replied that, no, he wanted to accompany her.

“Everything is kept secret,” Richter all but whispers in a perhaps more relevant aside. “In Russia, one

<<

Indiscreet

From page 44

Torrid affair

Bergman became a Hollywood star in 1939, and for the next decade won critical and popular acclaim, primarily in dramas. In 1950, while married to Dr. Peter Lindstrom, she had an affair with director Roberto Rossellini and gave birth to their out-of-wedlock son – which resulted in her banishment from American movies and widespread moral indignation. Resolutions were introduced in Congress to prevent her from ever entering the United States again. She and Rossellini eventually wed, but divorced in 1957.

In 1956, 20th Century Fox gambled by casting her as Anastasia, a smash which earned her a second Best Actress Oscar. That same year, Jean Renoir showed her flair for comedy in Elena et les Hommes. Indiscreet confirmed her comic skills. She’s radiant and funny, revealing a light touch that includes self-mockery. Wearing spectacular Dior gowns, she looks glamorous and enchanting.

Grant’s English accent makes him unbelievable as an American from San Francisco, but he’s lively, even if he sometime strains too hard to be “Cary Grant.” At one point late in the

knows why.”

Commentators have gone to absurd lengths to find “gayness” in Richter’s playing, despite there being no trace of effeminacy in any of the recordings or video footage (and instead, a keyboard attack so virile it could be pulverizing). Yet clips from a Sovietera biopic of the Russian composer Glinka, in which a bewigged Richter appeared as Liszt, flamboyantly playing a recital on a heavily decorated piano, yield a performance a handswidth this side of Liberace. Richter’s ongoing delight at the 1960 escapade provides one of the few light moments in Monsaingeon’s film. Recalling his movie cameo, Richter all but winks at the camera.

The picture that emerges is of a great all-around musician, not just a world-class pianist. “What interests me most,” he says early on, “is the theater,” by which he means opera.

He calls his three great teachers his father (a pianist), Heinrich Neuhaus (his piano teacher), and Wagner. A prodigious sight-reader from the start, Richter was a rehearsal pianist before beginning his solo career, and at an evening home-concert later in life, he once played the whole of Tristan und Isolde from full score.

Concert snippets, albeit frustratingly truncated, are highly revealing of this hugely spontaneous, supremely re-creative artist. Thrashing his way through a Brahms Second Piano Concerto in West Berlin, Richter (in a performance he likely would have wished were not on tape) holds the orchestra spellbound, the musicians all but falling off their chairs following his every unpredictable move.

Richter is shown with the greatest composers of his time, Prokofiev (whom he adored) and Shostakovich (who spooked Richter with his “blank eyes – no pupils”). Richter helped give birth to major works by both.

One of the film’s highpoints – a performance of Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos, with Benjamin Britten,

film, for logical plot reasons, she refers to him as “Doris,” the name of her maid (Meg Jenkins). It doesn’t bother him at all.

Norman Krasna’s screenplay, adapted from his 1953 Broadway play Kind Sir, which had starred Charles Boyer and Mary Martin, is a bit too leisurely for today’s audiences, as is Donen’s respectful direction. The last 20 minutes, however, crackle. The London locations are splendid.

The movie did well at the box office. Bergman made another 10 pictures, winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Murder on the Orient Express (1974), appeared in several prestigious television productions (Hedda Gabler, The Human Voice, The Turn of the Screw), and toured the country in Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife. She was brilliant in her last film, Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata (1978), and would win a posthumous Emmy for her portrayal of Golda Meir in 1982’s A Woman Called Golda.

Donen and Grant would re-team for 1964’s terrific thriller Charade. He insisted that because co-star Audrey Hepburn was 25 years his junior, her character had to chase him, and again, he had to appear to be unavailable.

The formula worked once more.t

the composer himself a legendary pianist – also counterargues Richter’s famous opinion about Mozart – “I prefer Haydn” – voiced again on this film. A wild charge through Wolf ’s “Der Feuerreiter” with an “impossible” Dietrich FischerDieskau is alone worth the price of admission.

It’s startling to be reminded that Richter was one of the first modern pianists to take Schubert’s music seriously. Excerpts from a searching account of the slow movement of Schubert’s final sonata frame Monsaingeon’s film, and other Schubert works, short and long, appear, none more potently than Richter’s favorite of the sonatas, in G Major.

Even these small slices of live performances demonstrate how completely in the moment Richter’s playing was. “The unexpected is what makes an impression,” he observes. But perhaps the most unexpected thing of all is the final selfevaluation of this most self-critical of artists, seldom satisfied with his playing. “I don’t like myself,” he says with a bemused smile. “That’s it.”

It’s been for generations of listeners to love him.t

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

46 • Bay Area Reporter • April 4-10, 2013

<<

Tinsel Tarts

From page 33

show that carried forth the Cockettes spirit.

“All we had was a four-page outline,” said Koldewyn, sitting with Tent in a Chinese restaurant prior to an evening rehearsal. “It might say, ‘Girls go to train station. Song.’ It was that sparse,” Tent added.

The minimal dialogue, little of it transcribed, was mainly a means of getting from one musical number to the next. And most of the melodies were borrowed from popular songs of the 1930s and 40s, with royalties not among the top priorities of the original troupe.

But four songs written

by Koldewyn and Link Martin for the original Tinsel Tarts are being played forward, and Koldewyn has composed 12 new songs to which he, Tent, and Martin Wor-

man have provided the lyrics.

Hollywood’s 1930s backstage musicals are the cultural touchpoints for Tinsel Tarts as a diva and an ingenue travel from coast to coast in search of the next rung on the ladder of success. “They meet a lot of characters from that era to make the plot go in many convoluted directions,” Tent said. “It’s a little like watching a Busby Berkeley movie on acid.”

To help with the restoration and renovation, Koldewyn and Tent looked through old papers and memories. “We did dig up a lot of the original lyrics from letters I had written to my folks,” Tent said.

“And we remember vividly everyone who was in the old show, and the way they played their roles.”

Original Cockette Rumi Missabu is back in the cast as Brenda Breakfast. Tent, who played multiple roles

Leonard Freed/Magnum Photos

Getting into makeup backstage at the Anderson Theatre for the Cockettes’ 1971 sojourn to New York with Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma.

in the original production, now plays showbiz columnist Vedda Viper. The character’s new dialogue includes a scathing review of the 1971 production, warning all entertainment seekers to avoid the Anderson Theatre, where the Cockettes had made their New York debut.

The oversized, underequipped Anderson, a former Yiddish vaudeville theater in the East Village, was the New York home to the Cockettes.

The wrong choice of theaters was just one of many cockeyed elements to an engagement that had seemed like such a good idea when syndicated columnist Rex Reed gave Tinsel Tarts a rave review after seeing it at a Midnight show at SF’s Palace Theatre.

“Rex Reed was swept up by the

<<

audience’s enthusiasm and got into the whole experience,” Koldewyn said. “We were sort of the glamor gay arm of the hippie tribe, and going to our shows was like your relatives getting up and entertaining at a family reunion.” Tent added, “And then they took us out of our milieu and stuck us in New York, where going to the theater is a spectator sport.” Koldewyn further noted it was probably bad strategy to market the show to an audience not experienced in psychedelic drugs.

The Cockettes themselves, Tent and Koldewyn agreed, merrily contributed to the debacle. “There was so much hype that some of the Cockettes really thought they were going to be stars and were play-

Castro Theatre

From page 33

her own unsettling adolescence to inform a transsexual named Lola that the son she never knew reserved his last written words for her.

Talk to Her (2002) Almodovar reinvents the buddy flick around the premise of two guys caring for two comatose women, one gored in a bullring. The silent film-within-the-film balances sincerity with parody, The Incredible Shrinking Man meets The Vagina Monologues (both 4/11).

Touch of Evil (1958) Queer fans note sightings of a cute Mexican thug in a leather jacket; Janet Leigh being tortured by Mercedes McCambridge’s scary dyke; and director Orson Welles getting a third-act sendoff from Marlene Dietrich: “You’re a mess!” That this film has possibly eclipsed Citizen Kane as Welles’ greatest achievement is due in no small measure to a magnificent restoration and the unflagging support of co-star Charlton Heston.

Blood Simple (1984) The Coen Brothers’ debut is a latter-day noir that showcases hetero cuckoldry with dark humor and blood-splattered plot twists (both 4/12).

Rushmore (1998) Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson recruited Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray to their whimsy tag-team in this post-modern prep school comedy that tops anything from Catcher in the Rye (4/13).

The Birds (1963) Neither the American Humane Society nor a misconceived HBO movie can dim the joy of Hitchcock’s aviary revenge classic (4/14).

Blowup (1966) Italian auteur Michelangelo Antonioni hits the jackpot with his first English-language feature. The then too-cool-for-school David Hemmings is a swinging London fashion photographer whose infatuation for young female models is a catalyst for a chilling murder mystery (4/17).

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2002) Queer diva/military brat John Cameron Mitchell invokes Fassbinder riffs in this absurdist, wildly entertaining trans parable.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1993) Stephan

Elliott’s Outback drag road travesty gets an electric trio of cross-dressing turns from Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, and the audacious, hissy-fitprone Guy Pearce (both 4/20).

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) David Lean’s desert spectacular didn’t deter W., but queer fans will find its pioneering cinematography, homo subtext and fabulous screen debuts – Peter O’Toole, then 30, and Omar Sharif – an irresistible draw for all 216 minutes (4/21).

Slap Shot (1977) George Roy Hill gets an aging Paul Newman, still at the top of his game, to preside over this slapstick bloodsports comedy. The profane and still controversial script is by Nancy Dowd. Don’t miss the thematically brutal ending, or Michael Ontkean’s ice-hockey striptease (4/24).

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

t

ing out their own little dramas,” Tent said. “I was the one at the theater every night trying to work out as much as we could while everyone else was out partying,” said Koldewyn, whom Tent called the troupe’s “designated driver.”

Tinsel Tarts is Thrillpeddlers’ fourth foray into Cockettes territory, a happy association that began in 2009 with a revival of Pearls Over Shanghai that ran for nearly two years. Artistic Director Russell Blackwood created Thrillpeddlers as an outlet for Grand Guignol productions, and about five years ago came across Tent’s book Midnight at the Palace: My Life as a Fabulous Cockette.

“Russell contacted me, and asked me if there are still any Cockettes around. A few, I said, and he said he’d love to have them at his theater.

I thought, this poor guy, he doesn’t know what he’s getting into. But a lot of people just don’t get what the Cockettes are all about, and Russell gets it on so many levels.”

Tinsel Tarts is the first of the Thrillpeddler revivals in which Tent has been able to participate, now that she has retired as an accountant. “I haven’t done a show in so long it’s like a drop of water on the desert floor,” she said. “I’m sensing some of the old magic.”

Koldewyn has been a familiar presence in SF theaters as a performer, pianist, composer, and arranger. “I now have an appreciation for something more fully rehearsed,” he said, and as wonkily spirited as a Thrillpeddlers production can seem, “Now, if someone is late for a cue, it’s on purpose.”t

Stanley Kubrick insisted that while reading Anthony Burgess’ dystopian teen-hooligans novel, the only face he could see as the chief mischief-maker was Malcolm McDowell’s. This still-shocking parable about the limits of free will features some hilarious if wildly homoerotic moments early on.

Barry Lyndon (1975) Ryan O’Neal is oddly compelling in Kubrick’s translation of Thackeray’s feckless 18th-century swashbuckler. The three-hour running time is relieved by John Alcott’s painterly cinematography and by Kubrick’s brilliant, hypnotic pacing (both 4/27).

The Year of Living Dangerously (1983) This is a favorite from the rep circuit in the early 1980s. With Mel Gibson, not yet repellent for his private views, and an awesome cross-gender debut by SF’s Linda Hunt (4/28).

Performance (1970) This Nicolas Roeg double bill kicks off with Mick Jagger’s devastating portrait of a reclusive rock singer who invites a dangerous, unhinged gangster (James Fox) into his lair.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust period is preserved in movie amber by his languid take on a doomed space visitor. Look for Buck Henry’s pathos-infused turn as Bowie’s gay business manager (both 5/2).

The Last Picture Show (1971) The Texas panhandle in the grey 1950s produces a roster of trapped humans, the luckiest of whom will escape to fight in Korea. Peter Bogdanovich transforms Larry McMurtry’s bleakly comic novel and creates new stars: Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, and Cybill Shepherd, with Oscars going to Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman.

Dazed and Confused (1993) Richard Linklater turns the last day of school in his Austin hometown into a breezy meditation on America’s 200th birthday. A funny riff on high school hazing rituals becomes a rite of passage for a plucky little scamp (Wiley Wiggins) (both 5/3).

Info: www.castrotheatre.com

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