second section
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40th anniv., readers' poll
Boston, P-town travel
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Considering Balenciaga
The
www.ebar.com
Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
by Seth Hemmelgarn
REPORT CITES HEALTH GAPS
F Community looks back at 40 years of the B.A.R.
by Bob Roehr
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report released last week detailed the need for more federal research and data collection on the health of LGBT people. “Lesbian, Bob Roehr gay, bisexual, Dr. Robert Graham and transgender individuals experience unique health disparities. Although the acronym LGBT is used as an umbrella term, and the health needs of this community are often grouped together, each of these letters represents a distinct population with its own health concerns,” stated the summary of the report, written by the prestigious Institute of Medicine. “Furthermore, among lesbians, gay men, bisexual men and women, and transgender people, there are subpopulations based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographic location, age, and other factors,” the report continued. While that summary statement is not news to anyone familiar with the LGBT community, the fact that it was made in the IOM report, which was commissioned by the National Institutes of Health, adds new meaning and credibility to shaping health policy, which that heretofore had been lacking. Traditionally, IOM committees are asked to identify research gaps and priorities within a field. “But that paradigm does not fit for this area,” chair Dr. Robert Graham said at the March 31 news conference releasing the report. See page 24 >>
Our new look The Bay Area Reporter decided to update its look now that we’re 40. So we’ve made some slight design changes in both sections of the paper, with new fonts, and in the case of the Arts and Culture section, a new name. Most significantly, our website has been updated to allow for video with stories, and readers can now comment directly on our online content if they are friends on Facebook.▼
Vol. 41 • No. 14 • April 7-13, 2011
Founding publisher Bob Ross
or 40 years now, the Bay Area Reporter has informed, entertained, and frequently miffed people in San Francisco and beyond. The paper started when Bob Ross – chef, Tavern Guild president, and bar culture insider – launched it with business partner Paul Bentley. The first issue was dated April 1, 1971 but hit the streets on April 2, Ross’s 37th birthday. Ross pasted up all the pages by hand, copied them, and delivered them to local bars. In the beginning, nobody took the paper too seriously. Cleve Jones, who said he had an “up and down” relationship with Ross and who was a close friend of slain gay icon Harvey Milk, started reading the paper after his arrival to San Francisco in 1972. “To be honest, it was sort of a silly publication,” said Jones, who now works with the Courage Campaign. “Most of the other young people didn’t really have much use for it. It was basically just announcements about whatever specials were going on at whatever bar.” The front covers of many early 1970s issues were dedicated to the Imperial Court’s See page 23 >>
Despite setbacks, LGBT scene in San Jose is ‘vibrant’ by Seth Hemmelgarn
T
he past year has seen several setbacks in San Jose’s LGBT community, even as data from the 2010 census recently revealed that the South Bay berg is now the 10th largest city in the country. Recent events, however, have made it seem that for a city with almost 1 million people, there’s not much strength in the gay community there. Last month, the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center canceled its 30th anniversary party, which had been planned for March 26. Only about 40 tickets had been sold. Last November, the Silicon Valley AIDS Leadership Center, which had organized the annual Walk for AIDS, announced its closure. And about three months before that, in August, the Gay Pride Celebration Committee of San Jose Inc. opted not to hold a parade. Of course, problems at LGBT organizations aren’t unique to San Jose. Several San Francisco agencies have been struggling financially. And people with Pride and the DeFrank center indicate they’re all right. “We have a vibrant community, and when we can engage them, I think that they’re there,” said Ray Mueller, who joined San Jose Pride’s board earlier this year. One example is last Thursday’s LGBT night with the San Jose Sharks hockey team. Tickets sold out in 10 days.
The Pro-Latino contingent marched in the 2008 San Jose Pride Parade; officials are not yet sure if there will be a Pride Parade this year, although the festival is scheduled for August.
Rick Gerharter
Mueller said the event will generate about $1,000 for this year’s Pride, which is August 2021. A block of about 300 tickets, ranging from $36 to $73, were reserved for the hockey night. “I think the Sharks event proves there are people out there to go to something that isn’t the usual ‘Let’s go to a gay bar and have a fundraiser,’” said Mueller.
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Center official appears hopeful The DeFrank center has been hobbled by financial and leadership problems in recent years and currently has no full-time executive director. However, Chris Flood, the DeFrank’s board president, indicated that the center’s doing better than it might appear. He was at a See page 22 >>
<< Community News
2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
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A new generation of Israeli queer activists speak out by Heather Cassell
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new generation of Israeli queer activists is galvanized to fight for LGBT rights in the aftermath of the 2009 shooting at Tel Aviv’s gay community center that left two people dead. “It gave us more power ... it made us grow as a community, it made us more aware, and that awareness gave us power,” said Anna Shilansky, a young lesbian who was one of the people who was shot and injured on August 1, 2009. She was inspired by the outpouring of support from Israeli elected officials and citizens at a rally a week after the incident. Recently, Shilansky and three other Israeli LGBT young people were in San Francisco and spoke at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav. She told an audience of about 50 people that she was afraid to return to the center after the shooting. She changed her mind after speaking with a counselor who reminded her that the center was her “home.” “This place is my home. It’s where I got the strength to be myself and to live like I do,” said Shilansky, 18. “Someone actually came into our home and shot our friends, but it’s still my home. That doesn’t change.” Shirel Touitou, 20, shared Shilansky’s feelings about the center being their home and how the shooting changed her. “I wasn’t that much of an activist before the shooting,” said Touitou, who came out at 18 and moved to Tel Aviv soon after the shooting. “Now I feel more strong ... we are going to be more strong.” The visiting group also included a transgender man, Sam Rosenfeld, 18. Event organizers requested that the Bay Area Reporter not identify the fourth man, who is bisexual and in the military, due to Israel Defense
Jane Philomen Cleland
Anna Shilansky and Sam Rosenfeld, visiting San Francisco last month, laughed during their talk at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav.
Forces policies. The young people are active participants in the Israel Gay Youth Organization housed at the center in Tel Aviv. The organization operates more than 40 support groups in 25 cities throughout Israel, according to the event organizers. The delegates came to San Francisco last month to speak to organizations about Israeli LGBT issues and continue to build coalitions with U.S. gay organizations – Jewish and nonJewish, said Ilan Vitemberg, Israel education initiative director of the Bureau of Jewish Education. The delegation, the second to visit the U.S. in the past year, has received an overwhelming response from audiences and organizations that they’ve visited, said event organizers. “It’s important for us to hear their stories and for us to understand their challenges and also for us to all work together to help make the entire Jewish world a better place for LGBT people,” said Arthur Slepian, executive director of A Wider Bridge, which sponsored the young people. Israel’s policies for LGBT citizens and individuals living in the country
are the most progressive in the Middle East, but the land of milk and honey can be bittersweet for queer youth. The four speakers talked openly about their experiences coming out, growing up in conservative and Orthodox families, reconciling their faith and queerness, homophobia in Israel, openly serving in the Israeli military, and their observations of American LGBT activism and community. Josh Weisman, program director of A Wider Bridge, moderated the discussion. Some of the issues the youths faced were very similar to those faced by LGBT young people in the U.S., such as family acceptance and homophobia outside of Tel Aviv, which is a gay mecca in the Middle East. Some of the youths’ families were accepting of their LGBT children, but others weren’t. “My mom reacted in an amazing way. My mom said it was okay and that I didn’t invent anything and that my girlfriend could come over whenever I wanted,” said Shilansky. Unfortunately, she and her girlfriend broke up a week later. See page 24 >>
Lyon-Martin >>
Former ED joins board of SF clinic by Seth Hemmelgarn
Mirkarimi’s proposal being rejected would be, Plumb said she didn’t know. “This is a day-to-day situation right now,” she said.
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till facing the possibility of closing, a San Francisco health clinic that works with women and transgender people has a new board chair who has served the agency twice as director. Meanwhile, a city leader is continuing his support, and clinic officials are allowing themselves more time to seek financial help. In late January, the board of directors of Lyon-Martin Health Services made the surprise announcement that the clinic was more than $500,000 in debt and would close within days. Community members quickly rallied to raise funds to help save the clinic. The board’s lack of planning would have meant the abandonment of almost 2,500 patients. Last week, the clinic announced that Marj Plumb, 52, who served as Lyon Martin’s executive director from 1989 to 1993 and as interim executive director from 1999 to 2000, is the new board chair. Previous chair Lauren Winter has resigned from that position but remains on the board. Plumb would not say that the clinic is out of the woods yet. “I can’t make any guarantees of whether the clinic can stay open or not,” Plumb, a nonprofit consultant,
Timeline stretched
Courtesy Marj Plumb
New Lyon-Martin board Chair Marj Plumb
said in an interview. She said the clinic “is in serious trouble” and “needs even more community support.” Some of that financial assistance could come from the city. On Tuesday, March 29, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who has said it would be “inexcusable” to let Lyon-Martin fail, proposed a supplemental appropriation of $150,000 to the city’s health department that would likely be used to assist the clinic. Asked about what the impact of
In March, Eric Fimbres, LyonMartin’s interim executive director, said the clinic was projecting it needed $200,000 by the end of that month to continue operations. But the deadline for raising the money has been moved to April 30. Over $53,000 toward that goal had been raised as of March 30. Plumb said the date was moved back because, despite the clinic’s problems, “We have enough money to keep the clinic alive for the next couple months, and extending the deadline gives us more opportunity to seek additional funds.” Fimbres has said a total of $500,000 is needed by the end of December. That’s on top of more than $300,000 already raised by clinic supporters. Plumb, who has years of experience in consulting and health care, noted this isn’t the first time Lyon-Martin’s been in financial trouble. She said that when she had returned to the clinic in 1999, “it also had failed financials, failed See page 25 >>
Read more online at www.ebar.com
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3
<< Open Forum
4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
Volume 41, Number 14 April 7-13, 2011 www.ebar.com
Reflections at 40 by Thomas E. Horn, publisher
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 • Matt Baume Erin Blackwell • Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Chuck Colbert • Richard Dodds Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino • Liz Highleyman Brandon Judell • Robert Julian • John F. Karr Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy • David Lamble Michael McDonagh • 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 Kurt Thomas PRODUCTION MANAGER T. Scott King PHOTOGRAPHERS 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 Colleen Small Scott Wazlowski CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING David McBrayer
NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863 LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad
I
n 1969, America woke up to read and hear about the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. Although skirmishes had made local news in San Francisco in the mid-1960s at Compton’s Cafeteria and at California Hall, it was the three-day battle between the NYPD and a bar full of fed up drag queens and transgenders at Stonewall that began what was then called the Gay Liberation Movement. People everywhere took notice. And when Life magazine ran a cover story on the new, emerging movement, noting that some 70,000 homosexuals lived in San Francisco alone, a migration of LGBT people to the city was unleashed that would make San Francisco the center of what was to become the civil rights movement of the next four decades. It is the evolution of this movement and those who comprise it, that the Bay Area Reporter has attempted to chronicle for now 40 years. Bob Ross was one of those 70,000 who comprised the early, vibrant gay community in San Francisco. He, too, was an immigrant, settling in San Francisco from New York following three years of service on a Navy submarine. A chef by trade, he witnessed the growing pains of this emerging new community of which he was a proud member. San Francisco had nightclubs and bars, baths and churches, and communities of gay people grouped by their particular interests. What it didn’t have was a voice, a common means of communication across groups and interests. It didn’t have a newspaper. And it needed one, as the mainstream press seemed only to be interested in the sordid side of gay life. So in 1971, Bob and a business partner, Paul Bentley, launched the B.A.R. to report on the LGBT community in all its diversity. It would be free and it would report on matters of interest to the community it served, subjects that often weren’t mentioned elsewhere. Its reporting would be accurate, in depth, relevant, hopefully interesting and entertaining. Ross hired writers who knew their fields and would become household names. He asked Harvey Milk to write about politics. When Milk retired his column to run for public office, Wayne Friday took his place and became, for decades, the most read (and often feared) political writer in San Francisco. Sweet Lips (Dick Walters) wrote of the Polk’s vibrant social scene and its behind the scenes intrigues. Marcus Hernandez (Mister Marcus) wrote proudly of the large leather community that was developing. Freelance writers were hired to cover the goings-on in the cultural world. Not only did they know their subjects better than their counterparts in the straight press, they
T
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were more entertaining – and always looking for the gay angle. If Marlena attended the opening of the opera in six-inch heels and a foot of hair, you read about it in the B.A.R. Over time, the B.A.R. expanded and was able to hire full time reporters and editors, journalists with degrees in their fields. In addition to its commentary on events that were happening, the B.A.R. was able to report, to investigate what was happening behind the scenes and to make that information available to our readers. The 1970s focused on our emerging community’s struggle for equal rights and dignity, investigating police abuse and tensions with other authorities and even within our own community, and covering the community’s early efforts to elect one of our own to public office. Then the early 1980s came, and we were shaken to our core. There was a new disease, a “gay cancer.” No one knew what it was or what caused it. The president of the United States refused to say AIDS. Homophobia and just fear of the unknown made gay men pariahs. San Francisco was ground zero for the AIDS epidemic. The important research into the disease was being done here. People wanted information. Ross and the B.A.R. committed to provide that information. It was for its coverage of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that the B.A.R. became more than just a community newspaper. It became essential to the fabric of our community and our city and the go-to source for information worldwide. And we
demanded respect for those living with HIV/ AIDS and particularly for those who succumbed to its ravages. The B.A.R. committed that they would not be forgotten and printed photos and life stories of the dead. Some weekly issues were particularly painful as the obituaries took multiple pages to print. And in recent years, the B.A.R. has been the unquestioned source for information on the fight for marriage equality. The B.A.R. has attempted to stay relevant to our community, not only in its content but in the manner of delivering that content. The paper’s website is considered by its peers as the best gay newspaper website in the country; our multimedia additions and participation in social networking adds a totally new dimension to reporting on and commenting on matters of relevance to our readers. Sensing a need, we have recently launched our monthly nightlife guide BARtab to keep our readers informed of the goingson around town in a glossy publication that contains additional original content. All this is made possible by the dedicated staff and writers who toil to make the B.A.R. not only the oldest LGBT newspaper in America but the best as well. A huge shout out also to our advertisers who have remained loyal and make our work possible. And, of course, to our readers, without whom, we would have no purpose. It is said that newspapers are the first draft of history. The B.A.R. has played a seminal role in writing that draft. It has been our mission for 40 years. It remains our mission today. ▼
A loud, angry, and insistent voice by Jeff Sheehy
Best Bay Area Community Newspaper 2006 San Francisco Bay Area Publicity Club
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his year the Bay Area Reporter celebrates 40 years of existence on April 7 alongside the marking of the 30th year since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s first report of a mysterious ailment afflicting gay men on June 5. And for the last 30 years, through straightforward reporting on the disease itself, advocacy journalism supporting and encouraging the activist community, and the weekly recording of the toll in its obituaries, the B.A.R. has been a source of information; an indispensable ally in war; and a place for remembrance, mourning, and solace for a community under siege from HIV/AIDS. In trying to write this, I did some research and went through old copies of the paper and quickly found myself overwhelmed. The stories of so many lives touched by HIV are contained here and all of them should be remembered. When I first arrived in San Francisco in 1988 and starting reading the B.A.R., I used to avoid the obit page. But it soon became a must-read section. I did not know anyone at first unless they were famous, but the stories of their lives never failed to move and amaze me. Coming from all over the country and the world, with an immeasurable variety of interests and a
limitless capacity to seek and find love, the recording of their lives by their lovers and their friends shouted “we lived” even when many families back home wanted to forget. I have long felt that an appropriate AIDS memorial in the Castro would be a simple kiosk that slowly shuffled pages of B.A.R. obits. I don’t know how we could have come to grips with what was happening to us without the B.A.R. as a forum to share experiences and information. I remember reading Michael Botkin’s column weekly, and Jeff Getty’s obit for him in Poz captures the column perfectly: “Michael was not afraid of controversy, and his weekly column in [the] B.A.R. has been identified by readers as the most popular item in the paper. Mike Salinas, B.A.R.’s editor, said of Botkin’s writing: ‘With as many stories about adversity and outrage as I read every week, Michael’s perceptions were always original enough to make every story gripping and sometimes hilarious.’ “Following a near-fatal gay-bashing he received in a city park, Michael’s columns described the experience in vivid, sharp imagery – and we found ourselves there, in the dirt, being kicked and beaten along with Michael. And when Michael penned the agony of his tube-feeding treatment and its failure, and his ill-fated encounters with overpriced AIDS medical practices, we read along, already knowing the story. It was our story, too.” And speaking of Salinas, he was not only an
editor, but also an activist of the highest order himself. His editorials ripped the increasingly fat and sassy HIV/AIDS industry, “AIDS Inc.,” and demanded accountability, urgency, and compassion instead of fat paychecks. He ran the “No Obits” story by Timothy Rodrigues in 1998 that made news around the world. Relentless, he regularly reamed me out for half-assed activist work and I seriously doubt that I was the only one in town who incurred his wrath. But, I learned and I will always be grateful to him for his mentoring. When Getty was making news and Salinas needed to run a photo, he liked to use a one of Getty scarfing down a banana. This usually pissed off Getty, recipient of a baboon’s bone marrow transplant in 1995 – a brave experiment that foreshadowed the “Berlin patient” in the news now as the first functionally cured HIV patient. Getty, along with the rest of the ACT UP/ Golden Gate activists, had a weekly writers’ pool column in the B.A.R. At a time of doubt and uncertainty about experimental treatments, the column provided the latest research findings. And later when combination therapy starting proving effective, personal experience with the therapies supplemented the scientific data. In sharing some memories, I’ve tried to capture a sense of the B.A.R.’s role in our seemingly endless HIV/AIDS epidemic. It remains an invaluable forum for organizing a demonstration or march. Cynthia Laird See page 10 >>
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Letters >>
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5
Happy birthday, B.A.R. It’s hard to believe that the Bay Area Reporter is approaching the 40th anniversary of its founding. I have many fond memories of Bob Ross. He was a wonderful leader for our entire city. I know that he would be proud of how you [publisher Thomas E. Horn] have carried on his legacy of publishing a newspaper with the very highest standards for quality news and entertainment writing. The publisher, editors, and the contributing writers of the B.A.R. have my very best wishes for many more years of continued success. Charlotte Mailliard Shultz, Chief of Protocol City and County of San Francisco
Dufty’s wish list OMG! Can you imagine? If Bevan Dufty brought Diana Ross to the city, not only should he be mayor of San Francisco but God [“Spears visit was a team effort by LGBT leaders,” March 31]. Rick Ramirez Petaluma, California
Historical society’s missed outreach I read Austin Tobin’s recent letter to the editor about the current situation at the GLBT Historical Society with a sad sense of satisfaction [Mailstrom, March 24]. I have had terrible experiences with the archives. I tried repeatedly to access the archives and eventually gave up. I called and if I left a message it was never returned and emails were ignored. On a rare occasion someone answered the phone and told me to email or come in on Saturdays. Around and around and around. The final straw came when the archivist insulted me and told me serious researchers had priority. It seems they only want to deal with a small, select group of people. Mr. Tobin’s letter sadly confirmed my conclusion that the organization does not feel any need to respond to the community they have drawn their material from and who this educational organization is suppose to serve. I share Mr. Tobin’s hope that soon with the addition of this second archivist community members will have access to the material currently locked up and stashed away. If my past experience is a guide the grant they received will be another silly waste of public funding. Liz Xu San Francisco
Do your civic duty Do you believe that San Francisco is a great city but can be even better? Do you like to work with a group of diverse and concerned citizens? Do you believe you have the motivation to root out abuse and inefficiency in government? If you answered yes to these questions then you may be a prime candidate to be a member of the 2011-2012 San Francisco Civil Grand Jury. Applications are due by April 15 and as a member of the sitting grand jury I encourage you to apply. To apply, go to the website www.sfsuperiorcourt.org and click on “Civil Grand Jury” and then scroll down
to find the application form. You may also apply at the Superior Court building at 400 McAllister in room 008 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays or you may call (415) 551-3605. While on the website I would encourage you to review some of the reports from previous juries. So step forward and make a difference. I got excited about the prospect of being a member of the jury after reading a story about the civil grand jury in this paper just last year. As a gay man living in the Castro serving on the jury gave me such an insight into the workings of local government and gave me a wonderful opportunity to get to know some fabulous people and to make a difference. Diversity is a major positive force in San Francisco and I would encourage the gay population of our city to be represented and be a force on the 2011-2012 San Francisco Civil Grand Jury. You can make a difference. Hal Smith, Secretary 2010-2011 San Francisco Civil Grand Jury
SFPD and patrol specials As a client of the Patrol Special Police, I wanted to offer thanks for the educational coverage by reporter Seth Hemmelgarn in the March 24 Bay Area Reporter, on the bizarre situation regarding bogus disciplinary charges brought by the SFPD against a Patrol Special Police officer for merely befriending a “known prostitute” and for “entering a known transgender and/or gay bar,” Divas – the very bar where the transgender former police commission president held her kickoff campaign for supervisor last year [“Police panel dismayed by patrol special case”]. A fact not noted in the article is that the Specials are well-regarded neighborhood police officers, as stated on their official uniform patch approved by the Police Commission, as well as in the commission’s own rules and regulations on page one, which calls them “Patrol Special Police” (www. sfpatrolspecpolice.com/city_charter.html). In fact, the Patrol Special Police provide what is known in criminology as “order maintenance” or “quality of life policing,” which is extremely valuable policing desperately needed in this cash-strapped city. The Specials are a littleknown and sometimes disrepected force that is actually a critical asset to public safety because they are privately paid, because their presence frees up the public police to attend to serious law enforcement needs, and because of the service-oriented nature of their policing model. A final point is that even though the SFPD attorney dismissed the second charge, she refused to allow a hefty majority of six out of seven commissioners to do what they wanted, dismiss both charges. A procedural technicality forced them to send the remaining charge back to the SFPD, whereupon I understand that the SFPD promptly accomplished internally what they could not accomplish formally: The officer’s captain issued a reprimand based on “association with a known prostitute.” Sadly, while doing one right thing, the commissioners left the door open for the SFPD to continue to do wrong. Ann Grogan San Francisco
EQCA launches survey, plans town hall compiled by Cynthia Laird
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ith the prospect that a resolution to the federal Proposition 8 court case could take years to resolve, Equality California this week launched an online survey to gauge community support for repealing the state’s same-sex marriage ban next year or waiting for the legal case to end. In conjunction with the online survey, EQCA is planning a series of town hall meetings across the state, including one in San Francisco on May 19. This preliminary work is not to suggest that EQCA has made a decision to return to the ballot in 2012. Interim Executive Director Jim Carroll said much more outreach and research would take place before that decision is made. Another important factor is where public polling on marriage equality stands; it is unlikely EQCA would
entertain placing an initiative on the ballot if there was not at least majority support in California for marriage equality. “We were truly optimistic that the court case to overturn Prop 8 would restore marriage equality by the end of 2010 or early this year, making a ballot measure unnecessary” Carroll said in a statement. “Despite the amazing work of the dedicated lawyers leading this effort, there is no guarantee how or when the courts will ultimately rule.” The legal case, known as Perry v. Brown, is currently in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal. But before that panel issues a decision, it has sought a decision from the state Supreme Court over the issue of standing of the Prop 8 proponents. In addition to the online survey, town hall meetings, and researching polling data, EQCA would also conduct a poll of likely 2012 voters, and consult with political experts, coalition partners, its members, and
the LGBT community. Some of the survey questions ask about whether community members would be willing to financially contribute. The Prop 8 campaign in 2008 was the most expensive social issue initiative race ever, with both sides raising about $40 million. Prop 8 passed with 52 percent of the vote. To take the online survey, visit www.eqca.org/prop8survey.
APIQWTC banquet Saturday The Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Community will hold its 24th annual New Year’s banquet on Saturday, April 9 at the Legendary Palace Restaurant, 708 Franklin Street in Oakland. The event takes place from 5 to 11 p.m. The banquet is a way to gather hundreds of APIQWTC members to celebrate and support one another. The group will also bestow its Phoenix Award, given to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the community. This year’s recipient is See page 25 >>
6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
Serving the LGBT communities since 1971
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April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7
8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
Serving the LGBT communities since 1971
Read more online at www.ebar.com
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9
<< Commentary
10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
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At 40 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith n 1999, a young, somewhat idealistic transgender woman had a guest opinion piece published in the Bay Area Reporter. The piece – focusing on the murders of transgender people that went virtually ignored between the much more prominent murders in 1998 of Matthew Shepard and early 1999 of Billy Jack Gaither – was the start of what would be a long partnership. It was the fall of 2000 that the idea for this column was born. It was not the first time a transgender columnist would be in an LGBT newspaper on a regular basis: many had before, though few actually wrote about transgender specific topics, and some were even fully in the closet about their transgender status. So while I can’t claim “firsties,” I do know that this is the longest-running transgender column of its kind. The first Transmissions was published in the B.A.R. on November 2, 2000. It was largely an introduction to me, and the sort of column I intended to write. I’ve actually stayed fairly close to what I intended in that first piece, combining current news with education about the issues and interests of transgender people like myself. The B.A.R. has now hit the big Four-Oh. While I am very much honored to have been a part of the paper for a bit more than a quarter of its life to date, I can’t help but look back at how the world has changed in those years. Consider what it was like for transgender people in 1971, when the B.A.R. was but a fledgling newspaper. The “community” was very different then. There were a couple early groups that catered to people we might call transgender or transsexual today, but these were few and far between, and in many ways hard to come by. Here in San Francisco, you had the California Association of Transsexuals, born out of an earlier group called Conversion Our Goal that met at Glide Memorial Church in the late 1960s. Being a transperson then, from the accounts I have read, was a somewhat clandestine operation. The university system largely forbade you from talking to other transfolks, and would remove you from the system for doing so. Meanwhile crossdressers and others would also meet in secret, for fear of societal repercussions – including arrest. It was only a few years after the Compton’s Cafeteria riot in the Tenderloin, and being publicly crossdressed was very much against the law in many parts of the country. Transsexuals, once considered a part of the “Gay rights” movement – indeed several were involved with the Stonewall riots in New York City in 1969 – found themselves pushed out in the early 1970s, with transgender
Opinion << Guest From page 4 editorializes beautifully and passionately about HIV/AIDS. Bob Roehr and Liz Highleyman cover the research side of HIV/AIDS as well as or better than anyone else in the country. Matthew Bajko adroitly delivers the inside scoop on the political side, while Seth Hemmelgarn examines the nonprofits. The B.A.R. remains the only place where many of our stories are told – the infamous Castro Sweep in 1989, when the police
Christine Smith
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people uninvited to women’s music events and gay Pride parades within the first few years of the decade. Transsexuality was viewed as undesirable, a byproduct of the oldschool, closed gay community of the pre-Stonewall era. Hormone treatments were hard to come by, and genital reassignment was even rarer. Many resorted to back-alley practitioners to get surgery done, like the infamous Dr. John Ronald Brown, a former physician who, until his death last May, served time for one of his botched surgeries. Many died or were mutilated in their quest for surgical reassignment. Of course, there was also no Internet then, either. Information was scarce, even when you could find it. Christine Jorgensen’s much-publicized reassignment surgery was less than 20 years previous, and Dr. Harry Benjamin’s groundbreaking The Transsexual Phenomenon was still relatively new. It would be decades before Kate Bornstein’s Gender Outlaws, Les Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues, or Loren Cameron’s Body Alchemy would ignite a new generation, and just as long before the radical notions of the Lesbian Avengers or Queer Nation would help lead to early transgender activism groups like Transgender Nation and the Transexual Menace. This is what the B.A.R. has witnessed. While it watched the horrible rise of AIDS in the 1980s and the struggles for rights and acceptance for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people before and since, it also witnessed transgender people right alongside. It was there when the first transgender civil rights task force happened in San Francisco in 1994,
and has watched the workings of later implementation groups. The B.A.R. has seen the transgender community go from powerless, to today, where transgender people can seek – and even gain – elected office. It’s been there for the high-profile murder of transgender teenager Gwen Araujo in Newark, California, and was there for the outcry after there was a hung jury in the first trial of her murderers. While this was far from the transgender community’s Milk-Moscone murders, and nowhere near the rage of the White Night riot, it was a moment of change for our local community. It has been an honor to bring a voice to the transgender community within the B.A.R. for the last 11 years. I am also very proud to work for a paper that does appreciate the needs of transgender people. It is all-too-common that one will find transgender issues forgotten, shunted to the side in favor of more “mainstream” (read gay- and lesbian-centric) news within the LGBT press. The B.A.R., however, has in my experience, strived to provide accurate and complete coverage of transgender issues, well beyond that of its contemporaries. It has employed other transgender and gender variant staff members, including Christine Smith, who has illustrated Transmissions since the fourth column. It has presented news specific to the transgender community for decades, often when other papers were unwilling to even use the “T” word within their publications. Thank you, B.A.R. and congratulations on your 40th. I hope to be with you for many years to come, and continue to witness history with you.▼
placed the Castro under martial law in response to an ACT UP demo, was quickly forgotten by the mainstream media when the earthquake hit but kept alive and seared into the consciousness of a newbie like me by the B.A.R.’s reporting – and are told in our voices. Where else would a page one story run with a quote about a move to criminalize the ability of HIV-positive men to have sex by a now-departed public health official stating that he “... wants the dicks of people with HIV in his back pocket and he wants us to ask him permission to use it. And I am
not giving him my dick...”? That comment was made by yours truly. The motto of our fight against HIV/AIDS has been “Silence equals Death,” and the B.A.R. for 30 years has been one of the loudest, angriest, and most insistent voices.▼
Gwen Smith also wishes to congratulate Christine Smith on her 40th birthday. You can find Gwen online at www.gwensmith.com.
Jeff Sheehy is on the board of the AIDS Policy Project, a group advocating for the cure/eradication of HIV. He was co-creator of SF’s 1996 equal benefits ordinance, a member of ACT UP/Golden Gate and served as HIV/AIDS adviser to SF’s mayor from 2004 to 2006.
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Politics >>
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11
LGBTs engage in redistricting process by Matthew S. Bajko
L
GBT activists around the state are beginning to engage in the redistricting process as local panels, as well as a statewide commission, tasked with drawing up political boundaries begin their work. The process stems from the decennial census count and is expected to alter California’s political map as most of the state’s population growth since 2001 has occurred in the Central Valley and southern California’s inland areas. In Sacramento and San Diego LGBT-specific groups have formed to influence how council and supervisor districts are drawn in the two cities. The organizing is driven by concerns about the dilution of LGBT voters’ power at the ballot box. LGBT San Diegans are trying to block seeing their City Council’s District 3 seat carved up as the city adds a ninth council district. Some fear such an outcome could make it harder for LGBT candidates to be elected in the redrawn districts. The current District 3 includes the gayborhood of Hillcrest as well as other gay-friendly sections of San Diego, such as North Park, University Heights, Normal Heights, and Kensington. The seat has long been held by out Democratic politicians, helping to launch the careers of state Senator Christine Kehoe, Assemblywoman Toni Atkins and Todd Gloria, the current officeholder. Writing for a local gay website, longtime San Diego Democratic Club member Mel Merrill warned that “the LGBT community has a very strong interest in preserving a District 3 that can continue to be represented by a community member.” Meanwhile, LGBT residents of the state’s capital are looking to their city’s redistricting process to help them elect Sacramento’s first out council member and county supervisor. Many LGBT people live downtown or in Midtown, but the two areas are located in several political districts, weakening the currency of a gay vote. The LGBT Redistricting Committee of the Rainbow Chamber Foundation and the Sacramento Stonewall chapter are hosting a town hall meeting tonight to discuss how to impact the drawing
of new political boundaries for local offices. The hope is to see the city’s LGBT population consolidated within the confines of one council and one supervisor district in order to bolster the chances of seeing LGBT candidates elected to the seats. In San Francisco little attention has been paid so far to how the city’s supervisorial districts may change. Few expect to see the Board of Supervisors’ District 8, long viewed as the gay seat at City Hall, drastically redrawn. Instead, most of the attention has been on what will happen to the city’s two Senate and two Assembly seats. Some have speculated that due to the state’s changing demographics San Francisco is set to become a one Senate district town. The uncertainty of what the state’s Citizens Redistricting Commission will decide has openly gay state Senator Mark Leno (D) unsure if he will have a seat to run for in 2012. Interest in the issue is so high among LGBT circles that the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club pressed the oversight panel to reschedule its meeting in San Francisco. The commission had planned to be in town Sunday, June 26, which coincides with this year’s annual Pride Parade and celebration. Apart from the logistical issues the date conflict would present to the commission, Alice officials also warned that it would be impossible for many LGBT people to attend due to their Pride day commitments. “It is particularly important to our organization that members of the LGBT community are able to participate in this hearing. Alice takes the issues of redistricting very seriously as it has always been at the forefront of political issues and activities throughout the state for the last 40 years,” wrote the club’s co-chairs Bentrish Satarzadeh and Reese Aaron Isbell in a letter they sent the commission last week. The redistricting commission is expected to reschedule the San Francisco hearing. It may be pushed back to Monday, June 27; a final decision should be made this week.
Gay GOPer wins prez straw poll He may not command the same frenzied media attention as developer and TV personality
And most news stories this week about President Barack Obama launching his re-election bid failed to mention Karger at all. Yet Karger remains upbeat. “My message of inclusion in the Republican Party and reaching out to younger people is working, and I will continue to be the one candidate who works to grow the Republican Party by campaigning right on college campuses,” he stated.▼
Courtesy Bentrish Satarzadeh
Alice Club Co-Chairs Reese Aaron Isbell and Bentrish Satarzadeh have asked the redistricting commission to change the date of its San Francisco meeting.
Donald Trump, but gay GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger is proving he is adept at garnering notice in the race. Amid the cable cacophony on whether Trump is pulling another charade with his presidential exploration – most pundits believe he is only testing the campaign waters to boost ratings for his reality show – Karger broke through last week by winning a straw poll in the early primary state of New Hampshire. Karger, a southern California gay rights activist, is desperate to show he should be taken as a serious contender in the race. To date the only declared Republican candidate, his main goal is to be included in the various forums and debates the better-known presidential wannabes will be invited to attend. So far, he hasn’t had much luck in the invitation pursuit. But he did score a victory by taking the top spot in a straw poll of potential
Santorum, with 20 votes. “My message of inclusion in the Republican Party and reaching out to younger people is working, and I will continue to be the one candidate who works to grow the Republican
presidential candidates conducted by the St. Anselm College Republicans. According to Karger’s campaign, he placed first with 79 votes out of 322 ballots cast among a list of 16 candidates. The second place finisher, with 74 votes, was former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, considered a strong frontrunner in the race. Capturing third place, with 26 votes, was Trump. Others receiving double-digit votes were former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, tied with 24 votes; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, with 22 votes; and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick
Party by campaigning right on college campuses,” stated Karger, who campaigned hard at the campus to garner support. “Now we are off to a great start in New Hampshire as the campaigning begins, and it is on to South Carolina and the first Republican debate to be held in Greenville on May 5.” It remains to be seen if Karger will be allowed to take part in what is being billed at the “First in the South” debate hosted by Fox News and the South Carolina Republican Party. Despite his willingness to debate, the only participants confirmed to be there are Santorum and former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer.
Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check www.ebar. com Monday mornings around 10 a.m. for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. The column will return Monday, April 11. Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ twitter.com/politicalnotes. Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 861-5019 or e-mail mailto:m.bajko@ebar.com.
<< International News
▼ 10 years of same-sex marriage in the Netherlands 12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
by Rex Wockner
I
t was 10 years ago April 1 that the Netherlands became the first nation in the world to let same-sex couples marry. Now same-sex marriage is legal in 12 nations, including in five U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and the Netherlands has seen nearly
15,000 same-sex marriages. This reporter was present for the first Dutch gay weddings on April 1, 2001, and wrote: “Amid an international media frenzy, the weddings took place at City Hall as the law became effective at the stroke of midnight. Mayor Job Cohen officiated. “As Cohen finished his opening
remarks at 11:58 p.m., the audience in the City Council chambers began syncopated clapping as they waited for the room’s clock to click over to 12:00. When it clicked, cheers erupted. “The ceremonies themselves took about half an hour. Cohen stood where individuals stand to address the City Council. The four couples sat in the front row of the seats where the councilors sit. “Cohen read the marriage vows once for each couple and they individually responded, ‘Yes.’ Each couple shook hands, kissed, and signed documents, which were then signed by the mayor. “A reception followed in the City Council foyer and the couples departed in four brightly colored Volkswagen Beetles for a party at a gay club.” In the intervening 10 years, 14,813 of the Netherlands’ 55,000 gay couples have gotten married, according to Statistics Netherlands. Of those couples, 7,522 were female and 7,291 were male. There have been 1,078 same-sex divorces, 734 of them by
John Hein/ScotsGay
It was 10 years ago April 1 that the Netherlands became the first nation in the world to let same-sex couples marry, and four couples tied the knot at midnight in the Amsterdam City Council chambers. From left: Gert Kasteel and Dolf Pasker, Helene Faasen and AnneMarie Thus, Ton Jansen and Louis Rogmans, and Peter WittebroodLemke and Frank Wittebrood.
female couples. In addition to the Netherlands, same-sex marriage is legal in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Mexico (where same-sex marriages are allowed only in the capital city but are recognized nationwide).
In the U.S., same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. In addition, same-sex marriages from anywhere in the world are recognized as marriages in Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island and California (if the marriage took place before Proposition 8 passed) even though those states do not let same-sex couples marry.
Ugandan AntiHomosexuality Bill reportedly dropped Uganda’s Parliament reportedly has dropped consideration of the notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill that has been pending since 2009. The measure would imprison for life anyone convicted of “the offense of homosexuality,” punish “aggravated homosexuality” (repeat offenses, or having gay sex while being HIV-positive) with the death penalty, forbid “promotion of homosexuality” and incarcerate gay-rights defenders, and jail individuals in positions of authority for up to three years if they fail to report within 24 hours the existence of all LGBT people or sympathizers known to them. Ugandan LGBT activists are not relaxing, however, because in announcing that the bill is being abandoned, a government spokesman added that “most” of the same provisions are contained in another active bill, the Sexual Offenses Bill. No details were provided. “We have not completely let down our guard, at least not until May when this Parliament term comes to an end,” said Adrian Jjuuko, executive director Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum Uganda. “One battle might have been won, but the war on the other fronts clearly goes on. What the government has done is to remove this ‘troublesome’ bill and still reach the same conclusions using existing laws and new bills.”
IGLHRC: LGBT Haitians ignored in quake recovery According to a report issued March 28 by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Haiti’s SEROvie, “violence and discrimination against (Haitian) LGBT people has increased since the January 2010 earthquake” and their needs during the recovery period have been “completely ignored.” “U.N. agencies, private organizations, and governments must recognize the horrible impact of the Haiti disaster on LGBT people,” said Cary Alan Johnson, IGLHRC’s executive director. “While the needs of some marginalized groups are at least acknowledged, LGBT people are completely ignored.” In addition, some religious leaders have blamed the quake on gays, saying God punished the nation for See page 16 >>
Travel >>
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April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13
Discover historic Boston, P-town
Boston’s John Hancock tower, right, as seen from the Prudential Building observatory. Ed Walsh
by Ed Walsh
A
s the Bay Area Reporter celebrates its 40th anniversary of pioneering LGBT journalism, what better place to spend your next vacation than Massachusetts, the state that pioneered gay rights? Of course, Massachusetts was the first state to allow same-sex marriage in 2004. That was by court decree but subsequent motions to amend the state constitution to prohibit the unions were defeated by the legislature. Massachusetts has a long legacy of supporting LGBT rights. In 1974, three years before Harvey Milk was elected, Elaine Noble was voted into the Massachusetts House of Representatives, becoming the first out LGBT politician elected to a statewide office anywhere in the U.S. Massachusetts has a lot to offer LGBT travelers and springtime is one of the best times to visit the state. Massachusetts had another very snowy winter, with an “April Fools” snowstorm just last week. But that only makes residents celebrate the spring all that much more. The gayest cities in Massachusetts, are of course, Boston and Provincetown, and you can easily combine the two. A good way to go is to fly into Boston, spend a few days there, then take the 90-minute highspeed ferry from downtown Boston to the heart of downtown P-town. But whatever you do, fly back home from Provincetown Airport. The tiny airport has TSA screeners so you can fly through without dealing with the security lines and congestion you would have to face in Boston’s airport. Through an association with Cape Air, you can seamlessly book your flight on JetBlue back to San Francisco. Cape Air is just steps from JetBlue in Boston’s Logan airport. The flight is just under a half-hour. Ask to sit in the co-pilot’s position for a bird’seye view of Boston while you land.
The sights What the San Francisco Bay Area considers history is laughable to most Bostonians, who routinely walk by Revolutionary War cemeteries and buildings that proudly show up the city’s heritage as the cradle of liberty. One of the best ways to see the city’s top attractions without getting lost is a guided tour, the most famous being the Duck Tours. One of the fleet’s amphibian vehicles, South End Sara, is painted in rainbow colors and is part of Boston’s Pride Parade every year. The Old Town Trolley Tours is another good way to see everything. It is a hop-on-hop-off bus, so if you see something along the way that strikes your fancy, you can hop off and take the next bus. If you like to walk, don’t leave Boston without taking the Freedom Trail. Just follow the red brick trail that will take you by 16 historical
sights. Boston is also rich in African American history and the Black Heritage Trail will take you by some of the most important sights in the early struggle for civil rights. The National Park Service offers free guided tours of the trail and you can also download a map from Boston’s Museum of African American History (www.afroammuseum.org/ trail.htm).
The Faneuil Hall Marketplace (www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com) is the most visited attraction in Boston. Faneuil Hall was constructed in 1742 as town hall and is often referred to as the cradle of liberty. The oldest building in downtown Boston is just a short walk from Faneuil Hall in the oldest part of the city, the North End, also known as Boston’s Little Italy neighborhood.
There you will find Paul Revere’s House, which was built in 1680. The church that made Revere famous, the Old North Church, officially called Christ Church, is also in the North End. By the way, when you walk from Faneuil Hall to the North End, you will cross over the “Big Dig,” the most expensive highway project in U.S. history. It involved replacing the elevated I-93 Central Artery with
a freeway tunnel. A beautiful park now stands in place of the elevated freeway over the tunnel. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum (www. jfklibrary.org) is another of Boston’s most visited attractions. It is just south of downtown Boston, in the Columbia Point neighborhood. See page 14 >>
<< Travel
14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
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<< Boston From page 13
Boston’s Women’s Memorial on the mall on Commonwealth Avenue shows author Phyllis Wheatley looking toward first lady Abigail Adams.
Ed Walsh
The gay nightlife is centered around the South End. Like the Castro, it first emerged as a gayborhood in the 1970s. The gays fixed up the beautiful brick buildings that had deteriorated in what was one of Boston’s most blighted neighborhoods. The South End is now one of the most desirable and expensive neighborhoods in the city. The Club Cafe (www.clubcafe. com) in the South End is a gay bar and restaurant and is popular seven days a week. There are no full-time lesbian bars in Boston, but Club Cafe is very gay-women friendly. A restaurant and lounge are in the front of the bar and a dance floor, stage, and video bar are in the back. The Alley Bar is in the Downtown Crossing shopping district and is a leather and bear bar. It attracts a friendly after-work cocktail crowd and is more cruisey at night. The Fritz bar (www.FritzBoston. com) in the South End has been called Boston’s gay Cheers. It has a friendly neighborhood feel and is a popular place for gay sports fans to gather to root for the home team. There are no gay hotels in Boston, but Fairmont in Copley Square, in the Back Bay, is within easy walking distance to most of the city’s gay nightlife. The 55-room Chandler Inn in the heart of the South End was once a gay hotel, but it’s now a very gay-friendly inn with affordable rates. Designer queens will find a lot to love in the Liberty Hotel, which was once the city’s jail. Even if you’re not staying there, be sure to stop by for a glimpse in the lobby where you can look up and see the former cellblocks.
Provincetown Regular visitors to Provincetown will find that very little has changed in this town over the past 30 years. Most of the gay bars and gay or gay friendly inns are where they have always been. Provincetown is on the tip of Cape Cod. In good traffic, it is about a two-hour drive from Boston. But if you are traveling in the summer, the traffic probably won’t be very good. The 90-minute high-speed ferry is faster because the Cape Cod peninsula is shaped like a flexed arm with its “fist” curving north and west back toward Boston. The way the crow flies, over water, is much shorter than the vehicle route. Provincetown has long been one of the gayest cities in the country. Like California’s Palm Springs, more and more gay residents are living there year-round. Telecommuting has made living in P-town year round much easier. Provincetown has it all in one small place. It has a quaint and lively downtown with all the restaurants and nightlife you could want. Downtown P-town is on the side of the town that faces west back to Boston. You will find the city’s beach there with gentle waves that are softened by the jetties. On the other side of town, you will find the beautiful open beaches and spectacular marshland. Don’t drive in P-town if you go during the busy summer months. Traffic is often stop-and-go. The town opens up the big lot at its high school for parking over the summer, but for a fee.
P-town nightlife Nightlife, like it has for more than three decades, begins in the afternoon in Provincetown. It starts with the Boatslip Tea Dance (161 Commercial Street) every day in the summer, from 4 to 7 p.m. It’s gay/lesbian mixed. The tea dance features an inside dance floor and the crowd spills over to its pool and patio. After the Tea Dance, the crowd makes its way up to The Pied (193A
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Travel >>
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15
Ed Walsh
A view of Commercial Street in downtown Provincetown. The Pilgrim Monument can be seen in the background.
Commercial Street) for a beachside dance party. The Pied (as in Pied Piper) is very popular with lesbians later into the night after the more mixed post-Tea Dance crowd goes to dinner. The bars close at 1 a.m. but in the summer, the crowd gravitates to Spiritus Pizza (190 Commercial Street) and spills onto the street for a late-night slice. By the way, you can check it out for yourself, through its Web cam: www.spirituspizza.com. For complete list of the very lively gay bar scene in P-town, visit www. ptown.org.
Daylife The southern end of Herring Cove Beach is the town’s unofficial gay beach. The best way to get there is by bicycle. Go to the western end of Commercial Street, P-town’s main drag, and turn right on Route 6. Keep heading in that direction away from downtown, past Bradford Street, and you will see a wooden fence on the left. Chain your bike to that fence with the other bikes and follow the crowd for about a 20-minute walk to the beach. If you are driving, you can park at the main entrance to Herring Cove beach farther north along Route 6. You can use pedal power to
navigate through some of the best bicycle trails you will find anywhere. You can take the paths through a spectacular natural seaside landscape that will leave you feeling like you’ve gotten away from it all, but don’t worry, you are still a short ride away from downtown. The symbol of Provincetown, the 252-foot Pilgrim Monument, bills itself as the largest all-granite structure in the United States. It commemorates the Mayflower Pilgrims’ first landing in America before they decided to settle further down the Cape in Plymouth. While anchored in Provincetown, the Pilgrims wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact, the first democratic document written in America.
Accommodations Provincetown boasts a wealth of small gay-owned and gay-friendly guesthouses. Many of the guesthouses in Provincetown were once old sea captains’ houses back in the town’s past as a Portuguese fishing village. While incorporating the modern conveniences, the houses have retained their old Cape Cod character. For a good list of the type of accommodations available visit www.ptown.org.▼
<< Community News
16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
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Perry v. Brown >>
Yes on 8 trying to ‘usurp’ power of elected officials by Lisa Keen
P
roponents of Proposition 8 are trying to subvert the California Constitution for a second time, argues the legal team of Theodore Olson and David Boies, in a brief filed Monday, April 4 with the California Supreme Court. The brief is in preparation for oral arguments in September on the question of whether there is any authority in California law to give Yes on 8 officials standing to represent voters in a federal court case that elected state officials chose not to appeal. The case is Perry v. Brown, in which a U.S. district court judge ruled last August that the 2008 initiative banning recognition of same-sex marriages in California violated the federal constitution. The California governor and attorney general were only passive defendants at the district court level and declined to appeal the district court decision. But Yes on 8 was allowed to defend Prop 8 in the district court and now seek the right to appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit has already heard oral arguments on the merits of the
Jane Philomen Cleland
Attorneys David Boies and Theodore Olson are leading the federal courrt case against Prop 8.
appeal, and it heard arguments concerning whether Yes on 8 has standing to bring the appeal. But before it issues an opinion, the panel has said it would like to hear from the California Supreme Court whether there is any authority in state law
to provide Yes on 8 with standing. The panel’s request is essentially following a procedure laid out for it by the U.S. Supreme Court in an earlier, unrelated, voter case. In its brief, the Olson-Boies team argues that allowing Yes on 8
standing to represent voters after the state’s election officials have decided against appeal would “subvert the express constitutional authority of the governor and attorney general to direct the defense of state laws.” Both Governor Jerry Brown and
Attorney General Kamala Harris have said they would not defend Prop 8. Brown was previously attorney general and refused to defend the law while he was in that office. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also declined to defend the law. Allowing Yes on 8 to pursue the appeal of a decision that the state’s elected legal officers have chosen not to appeal, said the brief, “would upend the settled separation of powers and eviscerate the constitutional authority of the governor and attorney general. ...” “The governor and attorney general have decided that the arbitrary, discriminatory, and irrational restriction on the right to marry imposed by Proposition 8 should not be defended on appeal,” concludes the brief. “Under California law, that is the end of the matter. Neither proponents – nor any other private party – can usurp the constitutional prerogative of the governor and attorney general to decide that, in some circumstances, it is in the best interests of California, and all its citizens, for the state not to participate in the defense of a patently unconstitutional initiative. Proponents’ remedy for their disagreement with their elected officials lies at the ballot box-not in this, or any other, court.”▼
News << World From page 12 homosexuals’ sins. The findings, detailed in the IGLRHC/SEROvie briefing paper, are based on more than 50 interviews the groups conducted with LGBT people and representatives of relief organizations, the United Nations, and diplomatic missions. For the full document, see http://www.tinyurl.com/iglhrchaiti.
ILGA-Europe launches major documentation project ILGA-Europe – the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association – has launched a large-scale project to document the advance of LGBT rights and related social changes across the continent. “Rainbow Europe: ILGA-Europe Annual Report on the Situation for LGBTI People in Europe” will appear on the group’s website at the beginning of next year. “Already for a couple of years, ILGA-Europe produced the Rainbow Europe Map identifying the legal situation for LGB people in Europe, and in 2010 we started comparing and indexing them,” said communications manager Juris Lavrikovs. “We want to cover LGB and TI issues, we want to monitor and document developments in many more areas. ... More importantly, we want to start a proper indexing and comparison so it will be easy to identify and follow the changes and developments.” The project will track legislation and policy, statements by politicians and other prominent or influential individuals, law-enforcement activity, court activity, research and polls, LGBTI-movement developments and other areas. It also will follow all LGBTIrelated developments at the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.▼ Bill Kelley contributed to this report.
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National News>>
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 17
Legal matters >>
Courts struggle to find balance in school cases by Dana Rudolph
A
pril 15 marks the 15th annual Day of Silence, a national event organized by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network to bring attention to anti-LGBT namecalling, bullying, and harassment in schools. But a recent federal court decision – in a case stemming from a conservative response to the Day of Silence – has upheld the right of students to express certain anti-gay sentiments. A leading expert on LGBT youth and the law says the case and others like it show the courts are struggling to define just where the expression of hostile views becomes harassment. And so far, even when they have allowed anti-gay speech, the courts have shown some sympathy to the needs of gay students to be protected against harassment. In a decision March 1 in Nuxoll v. Indian Prairie School District, a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that students have a First Amendment right to wear shirts stating “Be Happy, Not Gay.” The school, the court said, had not demonstrated that wearing the shirts would cause “substantial disruption” – a metric the U.S. Supreme Court has used to evaluate permissible speech in schools. Unlike more overtly confrontational slogans, such as “Homosexuals go to Hell,” wrote Judge Richard Posner for the panel, “Be Happy, Not Gay” is “only tepidly negative.” “A school that permits advocacy of the rights of homosexual students cannot be allowed to stifle criticism of homosexuality,” Posner said. “People in our society do not have a legal right to prevent criticism of their beliefs or even their way of life.” The Nuxoll case began in 2006, when Heidi Zamecnik, a student at a public high school in Illinois, wore a T-shirt with “Be Happy, Not Gay” on the Day of Truth, an event developed by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal organization. ADF sees a Day of Truth as a conservative response to GLSEN’s Day of Silence, and promotes the event on the school day following the Day of Silence. School officials told Zamecnik that her T-shirt violated school policy forbidding “derogatory comments” referring to sexual orientation, among other characteristics. The following year, Zamecnik, now joined by fellow student Alexander Nuxoll, again wanted to wear the shirt on the Day of Truth. This time, school officials suggested alternatives, including the slogan, “Be Happy, Be Straight” and an ADF-produced Day of Truth shirt saying, “The Truth Cannot Be Silenced.” Zamecnik and Nuxoll refused those options and, with the help of ADF, filed a lawsuit challenging school officials’ actions. A U.S. district court in April 2007 found in favor of the school, but the plaintiffs appealed. The 7th Circuit overturned the first ruling in 2008, saying the school had not shown that the T-shirt message “Be Happy, Not Gay” would cause “substantial disruption.” But the appeals panel denied ADF’s request that it declare the school’s “derogatory comments” policy unconstitutional. The 7th Circuit then sent the case back to the lower court with instructions to enter a preliminary injunction allowing the wearing of the T-shirts. It noted that “the district judge will be required to strike a careful balance between the limited constitutional right of a high school student to campaign inside the school against the sexual
orientation of other students and the school’s interest in maintaining an atmosphere in which students are not distracted from their studies by wrenching debates over issues of personal identity.” On remand, the district judge granted the preliminary injunction allowing the two students to wear their T-shirts, then granted a summary judgment in their favor, awarding them each A court has ruled that students do have the $25 in damages, and issuing right to wear “Be Happy, Not Gay” T-shirts. a permanent injunction allowing any student to display the slogan on clothing enough evidence that it had “a or “personal items.” reasonable belief” the T-shirt would cause “substantial disruption.” School appeals It therefore ruled the summary This time, the school appealed, judgment was valid. claiming in its brief that the district Jack Canna, principal attorney court improperly issued a summary of Canna and Canna, which judgment because the school had represented the school, said in an presented evidence – “numerous interview that he thought “the court examples of emotional, violent and/ should have provided us with a trial or threatening reactions of students into the problems the schools face.” to the phrase ‘Be Happy, Not Gay’” “A summary judgment presumes – that should have warranted a trial. no issues of material fact,” he The 7th Circuit issued its second explained. “We felt there were issues opinion in the case on March 1, and related to the impact these messages said the school had not presented have on kids,” but the court “just
wasn’t impressed with the severity or derogatory nature of this piece of expression.” Stuart Biegel, a member of the faculty at the UCLA School of Law and UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, analyzed the early stages of the Nuxoll case in his 2010 book, The Right to Be Out: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in America’s Schools. He said in an interview that Posner did show some “sensitivity to what LGBT youth were going through,” as he did in the earlier ruling, while he also “set forth some guidelines that try to respect everybody’s free speech rights.” The Nuxoll case is only the latest of several cases in which courts have been charting the boundary between harassment and free speech with regard to anti-gay sentiments expressed at school. In the 2001 case Chambers v. Babbitt, a Minnesota high school told a student he could not wear a T-shirt saying, “Straight Pride.” The U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota found that the T-shirt
was unlikely to be disruptive, and therefore, the student had the right to wear it. Biegel noted in his book that the court in Chambers still “went out of its way” to indicate the opinion was not anti-gay – and parts of Judge Donovan Frank’s opinion may be “among the most supportive of LGBT students” in a federal court decision. Frank noted, for instance, the challenges faced by LGBT youth and praised the school for its efforts to be inclusive. And in a 2004 case, Harper v. Poway Unified School District, Tyler Chase Harper, a student at a San Diego area high school, wore a T-shirt to school on the Day of Silence saying, “Homosexuality Is Shameful” and that the school “had accepted what God has condemned.” The school tried to ban the shirt, and Harper sued. In this case, however, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California and (on appeal) a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the T-shirt went too far. Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th Circuit wrote that the slogan interfered with See page 22 >>
18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
Serving the LGBT communities since 1971
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Community News >>
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19
Health care>>
Reform act benefits LGBTs by Matthew S. Bajko
L
GBT Americans have much to gain with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the health care reform law passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010, according to a recent report issued by an LGBT-friendly progressive think tank. Some of the benefits LGBT Americans could see due to the legislation, according to the report’s authors, include an expansion of Medicaid eligibility for many people unable to afford health insurance or health care; increased cultural competency on LGBT issues for medical professionals; and improved data collection to better identify and address health disparities within the LGBT community. “Only one provision (Section 5306, regarding participation by people of ‘different genders and sexual orientations’ in mental and behavioral health education and training programs) explicitly mentions the LGBT community, but the law as a whole implicitly recognizes the toll that disparities, discrimination, and inequity are taking on gay and transgender people as part of the fabric of American society,” concludes the report. Titled “Changing the Game: What Health Care Reform Means for Gay,
Rick Gerharter
Regional director of Health and Human Services Herb Schultz
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Americans,” the 31-page report was issued by the Center for American Progress, a think tank with Democratic ties that has offices in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. It was co-authored by the center’s Jeff Krehely and Kellan Baker with the National Coalition for LGBT Health. They argue that despite intense debate about the controversial law, whose provisions started being rolled out last fall and is set to be fully implemented in 2014, its impact on LGBT people and their families “remains largely unexplored.” One of the main benefits is that by 2014, when having health care will be a mandate, insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny someone coverage for a pre-existing condition, such as being HIVpositive or having breast cancer.
According to the report there are already insurance coverage options listed on www.healthcare.gov where consumers can find “pre-existing condition plans and coverage for domestic partners in states that recognize these relationships.” Herb Schultz, the openly gay Western regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has been promoting the health care act’s benefits before LGBT audiences since it began to take effect last fall. In a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter, when asked how the reforms help LGBT people, Schultz pointed to the many preventive health care services all insurance plans will be required to provide without charging co-pays for, help with the cost of prescription drugs for disabled people and those on Medicare, and tax credits for small business owners who provide health insurance to their employers. He also pointed out that starting in 2011, health insurers will be required to spend 80 to 85 cents of every dollar on health care or benefits. If they don’t, they will be penalized. “If those insurers don’t hit that target, they will have to decrease the premiums or provide rebates to consumers. That is a significant step to making health care more affordable and transparent to people,” he said. As administration officials work on implementation of the law, Krehely and Baker in their report point out several areas where more advocacy by the LGBT community and its allies is needed. Two of the key suggestions they make are that the state-based health insurance exchanges, aimed at providing See page 22 >>
bartabsf.com
ebar.com
<< The Sports Page
20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
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Paper helped connect LGBT athletes by Roger Brigham
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he Bay Area was a great place to be a sports fan in 1971. The San Francisco Giants, rock solid in the outfield with the likes of Willie Mays and Bobby Bonds, traded away George Foster, a seldom-used reserve outfielder to the Big Red Machine (which showed every sign of being a one-season wonder) as they battled their way to the National League West Championship by a single game over the hated Los Angeles Dodgers. Across the Bay, the Oakland Athletics were running away with the American League West for their first postseason
appearance in 40 years behind the sensational Vida Blue, who became the first African American to win the AL Cy Young Award – and grabbing the MVP to boot. The San Francisco 49ers lost their final game at Kezar Stadium in the NFL playoffs before moving to Candlestick Park; and the San Francisco Warriors played their last regular season games in SF before permanently relocating to Oakland
and becoming the Golden State Warriors. Surrounded by such athletic excellence, the Bay Area Reporter showcased its sports sensibility in that inaugural year by scooping all the other news organizations with its coverage of ... the 1971 Great Tricycle race, a s p o ke - a n d - p e d a l pub crawl. Okay, not exactly a stellar start, but then, even Willie Mays, the greatest baseball player of all time, went hitless his first dozen at-bats in the majors before going on the 22-season tear into immortality. Since its first tongue-in-cheek venture into the field of sports coverage, the B.A.R. has become one of the most influential voices of LGBT sports, even as sports became one of the most influential pillars of LGBT life. Four decades ago, LGBT sports was the love that dared not report its box scores. Not a single celebrity athlete or former athlete was out of the closet. “Smear the Queer” was a staple of virtually every gym class. All of that changed in the 1970s. “POLICE BEATEN!” the July 1974 front-page headline of the B.A.R. screamed when the local gay softball team beat the cops in their second ever head-to-head contest. Significantly, the series was created to improve the typically adversarial community relations with the police department, which as yet had not begun to actively recruit gay or lesbian officers. The subsequent growth of LGBT sports over the next 40 years is a testament to its potential to change the world. In the 1970s, bowling and softball games emerged as places for gays and lesbians to meet and connect outside the bars. In 1974, Patricia Neal Warren published her novel
The Great Tricycle race, a pub crawl, was featured on the front page of the Bay Area Reporter in 1974.
The Frontrunner, about a same-sex relationship between a coach and an athlete, inspiring the foundation of queer-centric running clubs in San Francisco and across the globe. In 1975, former NFL player David Kopay became the first athlete from one of the country’s major professional team sports to come out. In the span of that decade, LGBT athletes learned we were not alone. Then, with key support from Bob Ross and the B.A.R., the Gay Games were launched in 1982 and suddenly gay athletes discovered not only were they not alone, there were a hell of a lot of us. Five years ago, Jim Provenzano, my inestimable predecessor, wrote an exhaustive column surveying the previous 35 years of B.A.R. sports coverage. The list of people who have written sports for the B.A.R. reads like a Who’s Who of local LGBT sports leadership and activists: Jack “Irene” McGowan, Mark Brown, Lou Greene, Paul Bentley, Jack Burden, Tom Waddell, Allen White, Paul Lorch, Scott Treimel, Corinna Radigan, Rick Thoman, Hal Herkenhoff, Nancy Boutilier, Gene Dermody ... all at one time or another have wiped the sweat off long enough to take pen or keyboard in hand to inform, entertain, eulogize, exhort, or outrage fans and athletes alike. The role of the B.A.R. in the local LGBT sports world has changed through the years. In earlier years, the newspaper served as a primary vehicle to enable clubs to publish results and schedules and recruit new members. As clubs became more reliant on their own communications networks, and some events became big budget items, B.A.R. sports became more focused on features, enterprise reporting, and issue advocacy. The unprecedented 10-year reign of Provenzano over B.A.R. sports earmarked from 1996 through 2006 brought the paper’s coverage into the 21st century, marked by the impact and potential of the emerging Internet, and will be best remembered for his investigative reporting into the financial drain of the AIDSRides (replaced in 2002 by the AIDS/LifeCycle) and the financial sinkhole that was the Montreal Outgames. “Coverage of LGBT sports helps to show the public at large (both gay
and non-gay) that we can succeed as athletes and that we have goals and aspirations athletically as much as anyone else,” said Thoman, San Francisco Track and Field cofounder. “It helps to break down stereotypes. It helps to promote LGBT sports organizations. It helps foster new relationships with non-gay sports organizations and sponsors. “The more we can demonstrate that sports are as much a part of the LGBT community as art or politics or business, the better it is because it highlights how multi-dimensional the community is, and it helps combat some of the misconceptions people have about gays and lesbians being athletic. We have a long, proud athletic history and coverage of this history will help the LGBT community move forward to even greater success.”
Shanti launches training sessions Shanti will hold a half-marathon training program to prepare runners for the San Francisco Half Marathon on July 31. The 16-week program will give runners the tools they need to succeed by providing professional fundraising, training, and nutritional support every step of the way in the program to raise funds to support San Franciscans living with a life-threatening illness, such as HIV/AIDS and cancer. It will offer two group training sessions a week: a Tuesday night mid-week track or cross training workout and a Saturday morning long run. The program begins with a group run Saturday, April 9 at the Ferry Building. Participants of Shanti Compassionate Athletes Running to Enhance Services will register for the San Francisco Marathon race of their choice and be asked to meet a minimum fundraising goal of $1,300 during the season, contributing to an overall team fundraising goal. Once the fundraising minimum is met, Shanti will reimburse the registration fee. ▼ Information and registration for the training program are available at www.shanti.org/pages/shanticares.html. Next week: LGBT sports leaders will reflect on the past 40 years and the importance of sports in their lives.
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Community News >>
Bruce Pavlow’s book, Survival House 1977 was self-published this year.
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21
Seth Hemmelgarn
The house on Haight Street as it looks today.
Book chronicles former SF halfway house by Seth Hemmelgarn
F
rom the outside, the Victorian house at 758 Haight Street mostly looks the same as it did more than 30 years ago. But the lives of the people now residing in the four-story San Francisco building are likely much different. In 1977, the residence was known as Survival House, a halfway home that provided job and housing placement and other services for LGBT people who had sought refuge in the city. Bruce Pavlow, 58, has written Survival House 1977, a book using photos and transcripts from interviews he did with the home’s residents in May and June of that year. He’ll be at A Different Light Bookstore on Saturday, April 9 to sign copies of the book, the title of which also bears the home’s address. Pavlow hopes the book provides people with “a sense of history, and the sense that these are portraits of gay people you really don’t see.” He said many of those he interviewed are “sort of ordinary looking,” and many residents were “in the margins” of society. “These problems still exist,” said Pavlow. The city is still thought of as a haven for LGBTs, especially youth, who are looking for better lives but often find staying in such an expensive city challenging. In the book, a resident named Tom (Pavlow did not use people’s last names) said before his stay at Survival House, “I spent eight weeks out on the street, and I know what it’s like to eat out of garbage cans and to bum money from people, and to sleep out in the cold.” In another interview, a former resident of the house named Terry told Pavlow about her hopes, which included reassignment surgery and becoming a hairdresser. “Actually, what I want to do is be able to do something on my own, say, ‘I am a transsexual. I did something to make my life better,’” she told Pavlow. The year 1977 was significant in gay history. Harvey Milk first won election to the Board of Supervisors that November, making him the first out elected official in the state. Also that year, Armistead Maupin continued running his Tales of the City stories in the San Francisco Chronicle. Pavlow was studying architecture and film at UC Berkeley at the time, and he wanted to see how people from different backgrounds lived together in a communal setting. He doesn’t remember how he found out about the house.
He said about 30 people lived in the house at a time, “but a lot of people would come in and out all day.” He estimated the average stay was three to four months. Pavlow said that one thing that came out in the interviews was the “good atmosphere at the house. People made friends, whereas before they were there, they were very alone.” Many of the residents had never been around other gay people, so the house provided an experience that was “really new, and they really liked that,” he said. There were at least three or four beds in a room. The house had eight or nine units. It looks like they got along well, judging from the book. There were only the usual roommate spats. “Just the typical bitching,” said Pavlow. In an interview Pavlow did with Mitchell, Survival House’s founder and director, the man – referred to only by his first name – said residents supported the house financially. Clients with Supplemental Security Income paid $125 a month for food and rent, and a resident on general assistance paid $65 a month, Mitchell told Pavlow. Survival House closed down in 1978. “They just didn’t have the money” to keep going, said Pavlow, who’s gay and works in film distribution. He doesn’t know what happened to the house’s residents, and he hasn’t tried to follow up with them. “I think it would be next to impossible,” said Pavlow. “It was done in 1977 and I don’t know their names.” A film that included the interviews was shown in a few gay festivals in 1977, said Pavlow, who left San Francisco for New York City around 1982. He had kept slides of his work in a metal storage box, “so they were in pretty good shape,” he said. He had been meaning to produce the book for a while and finally, with design and layout work by Kevin Gaor, he published the book himself. Since Survival House closed down, it appears that the building has been split into five units. Instead of dark brown, the home’s now light beige, and the carport that used to be in front is gone. A late-model Mercedes was parked in the driveway last weekend, and the house’s neighbors include a day spa and a cafe. None of the building’s current residents answered their buzzers when a reporter recently visited. The Survival House book signing starts at 5 p.m., Saturday, April 9 at A Different Light Bookstore, 489 Castro Street, San Francisco.▼
<< Community News
22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
Jose Pride << San From page 1
www.ebar.com
loss to explain the poor ticket sales to the anniversary party. “It’s hard to say” what to attribute for the poor party ticket sales, said Flood. He said “very few” people complained the $75 tickets were too expensive. Flood said as many as 200 people visit the center, where activities include programs for seniors and youth, each week. He said the center hasn’t added new services, but it also hasn’t cut any, and doesn’t plan to. The budget is roughly $250,000 a year, which mostly comes from grants and individual contributions. The center pays $1 a year for rent for its building on The Alameda, a short distance from downtown San Jose. He said the center would remain open, “because predominantly we’re being run by volunteers right now.” Flood estimated the center has $50,000 in the bank. It does not have any debt. There are only two paid staff members – an office worker and an HIV program coordinator. The center also pays a third person
through a Horizons Foundation grant to work on the senior nutrition program. Flood estimated there are over 100 volunteers helping out at the center regularly. Despite the community enthusiasm that figure might indicate, San Jose’s nightlife apparently lacks what some people want. “People in San Jose, they go to San Francisco to have a good time,” if they want to be “in a gay environment,” said Flood. He said community members from bar owners to nonprofit leaders “have always talked about ‘How do we change that?’” “It’s always been a struggle,” he said. “We’ve never really been able to answer that question.” Next to the DeFrank center, and also close to the WaterGarden bathhouse, is San Jose’s Crema Coffee Roasting Company. Andy Narayan, who’s 36 and identifies as gay, was there with friends on a recent Saturday night. Narayan favors bars in San Francisco’s South of Market area for going out. “There’s nothing that compares to that down here,” said Narayan. There’s “no real central mixing pool” in San Jose similar to San Francisco’s Castro or SOMA neighborhoods, he said. George Zavala, 54, a straight friend of Narayan’s who has lived in San Jose for 50 years, said that years ago, the neighborhood around Crema was popular for cruising and was known as the “Fruit Loop.” Now, said Zavala, despite the city’s large gay population, “there hasn’t really been a gay district in years.”
Pride plans Mueller, who’s working to help increase sponsorships for Pride, referred to the 1930s film The Wizard of Oz and said, “We live just outside the gates of Oz. A lot of people would rather go into the Emerald City,” than socialize in San Jose. He also said a lot of LGBTs are happy to go to bars that aren’t geared toward gays. Mueller said the board is talking about doing a Pride week this year, partnering with different groups to hold events. “Our theme this year is ‘Moving Forward Together,’ and that’s what we would really like to do,” he said. He said he couldn’t answer fully as to why the parade last year was canceled, but he said he had heard that it was a monetary decision. The organization has asked San Jose’s Office of Cultural Affairs for a $30,000 grant so it can try to restart the parade. He said whether the parade will happen again is “a definite maybe.” Mueller said that for several years, Pride’s budget has been around $250,000. The total debt is about
cases << School From page 17 the right of other students to be free from “verbal assaults on the basis of a core identifying characteristic such as race, religion, or sexual orientation.” Harper appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which vacated the 9th Circuit’s ruling and remanded the case to the 9th Circuit with instructions to dismiss the appeal to the 9th Circuit as moot, since the
act << Reform From page 19 affordable insurance plans, must include LGBT non-discrimination policies and any definitions about families should not be based solely on marriage or adoption laws so as not to exclude LGBT families. They also call for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity demographic questions in federal health surveys, something
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$27,000, and the organization has approximately $2,000 in the bank. So far, he said, sponsors have committed about $3,000 for this year’s Pride. He said that 6,000 to 10,000 people have attended previous Pride celebrations.
‘The world has shrunk’ One factor that could be making it harder for many people to go out is the economy. Like people across the country, longtime LGBT activist Gloria Nieto, who grew up in San Jose, is out of a job and has had trouble finding work. She’s on food stamps, so she said she’s not in the “social swing” of the city and for her, “the world has shrunk a lot.” However, said Nieto, “I still like San Jose, because it’s always been a small town feel. Even though it’s the 10th largest city, lots of people know each other.” She may be unemployed, but Nieto, 56, is still working. She said she’s currently involved in immigration work with the Asian and Pacific Islander and Latino communities. Another person who found herself out of a job in recent years is former DeFrank Executive Director Aejaie Sellers, who was fired from her post in 2009. Sellers now owns Carla’s, a San Jose boutique and social club for the transgender community. In a brief interview, Sellers recently said her business would be “a bad gauge” of how the LGBT community in San Jose is doing. Carla’s does “some business with locals, but we have a lot of international travelers that come in,” she said. She then said she “would rather not be in an article” and that she had “stepped far, far away” from the local community. She cited “personal reasons” and explained she has a family. But it appears Sellers is also still upset about her ouster from the DeFrank center, which announced it was canceling its anniversary party in a March 21 e-mail blast. A March 22 post on Sellers’s blog, which included spelling errors, said an organization she was “happy” to no longer be a part of “do to one members need to stroke their ego, grad power and control an organization based on their small world views was planning a large event,” but that event was canceled. “…I don’t wish the organization any ill will,” the post said. “I just find karma interesting when people who said they could and would do something better then someone else, get a little humble pie, I just take notice.” Sellers declined to comment about the post. The next day, the blog had been taken down.▼
district court had, by then, entered a final judgment, stating that because Harper had graduated, his claims were now moot. The Harper case, however, spurred the ADF to create the Day of Truth as a counterpoint to the Day of Silence, Biegel noted. The Day of Truth is now sponsored by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family and has been renamed the Day of Dialogue. ADF is continuing to provide free legal assistance to participating students.▼ LGBT advocates have been stepping up pressure to see be adopted. “Unfortunately, the law does not make explicit calls for LGBTspecific programs, care, and services. But with strategic advocacy efforts in the next year or two, the law’s implementation can be crafted to maximize its positive impact on LGBT people,” write the authors.▼ The full report can be downloaded at www.americanprogress.org/ issues/2011/03/aca_lgbt.html.
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Community News >>
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23
years of B.A.R. << 40 From page 1 Emperor and Empress candidates, contests, and events. Another early B.A.R. reader was Gilbert Baker, creator of the rainbow flag. Like Jones, Baker didn’t have the best relationship with the paper’s founder. “Bob Ross hated me. He couldn’t stand me,” said Baker. “... I didn’t fit into the old drag queen, Empress thing.” As the community evolved through the 1970s, so did the paper, which began to offer more political coverage. That included Milk, a longtime friend of Ross’s, and a B.A.R. political columnist before he was elected San Francisco supervisor. The paper’s also been known for its letters section. Jones said although turmoil in that part of the paper has “calmed down in recent years,” there have been times when it seemed “everyone just wanted to go out and be the biggest bitch they could.” The B.A.R. became a weekly publication in October 1981 in part to fill the need for information on the new disease that was devastating the community. “As time went on, [the B.A.R.] became more important, especially when AIDS hit,” Baker said. He said the paper “woke people up. It was invaluable.” A powerful symbol of the personal toll of AIDS was evident in the November 16, 1989 issue, when the paper ran an eight-page section bearing the pictures and names of everyone who had died that year. (Not all of the 610 people featured had died from AIDS.) Almost a decade later, on August 13, 1998, the B.A.R. ran its famous “No obits” headline, marking the first time in years that the paper had not received any obituaries that week. The article noted that the headline did not mean no one had died of AIDS that week, just that no obituaries had been submitted. Coming a couple years after the advent of protease inhibitors, it marked a turning point of sorts in the epidemic.
Room for improvement Over the years, the paper has been known for its original reporting; the B.A.R. at one time subscribed to the UPI wire service but no longer does. It relies on staff writers and a network of freelancers, both local and national. “I think the paper has really endured and been a voice of integrity and strong reporting and great advocacy,” said Carole Migden, a former state senator and San Francisco supervisor. But Migden, an out lesbian who now serves on the state’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board, also recalled the paper’s work during the height of the AIDS crisis, and she wants to see more. “I’d like the paper to return and urge the community to get reactivated with regard to HIV issues,” she said. The B.A.R. should continue “to press for full resources and drug funding for HIV-positive people,” she said. Still, the paper does its best to hold people accountable. Out mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty, another former supervisor, praised the B.A.R. as “The New York Times of LGBT journalism” but said, “There are certain weeks it’s harder for me to read the paper,” such as around “tough times” like Halloween. Dufty has been criticized for his role in muting the annual celebration in the Castro. He said the paper’s “a major tool for accountability” on the part of elected and community leaders. Early in his own political career, Dufty failed to win Ross’s endorsement for the 2002 supervisors race.
Rick Gerharter
Longtime gay activist Cleve Jones
“We had lunch in South of Market, and Bob said he couldn’t be with me, and I understood,” said Dufty. He said, however, that former B.A.R. political editor Wayne Friday was strongly supportive and Dufty asked Ross “if Wayne could have free reign to talk positively about my candidacy, and Bob honored that.” (The paper did go on to endorse Dufty in the runoff that year.) Asked if there’s anything the paper should change, Dufty said, “Make it a daily.” Out Supervisor David Campos also had kind words for the paper. “I think that it’s the main source of news in terms of what’s happening in the LGBT community, and the place where members of our community
turn to for news,” he said. But like Migden, local labor activist Gabriel Haaland, suggested more coverage of a specific topic. “There’s a richness and diversity in the transgender community” that Haaland, who’s transgender, wants to see reflected in the paper more often, he said. He’d like to see more work from transgender writers. Dana Van Gorder, the executive director of Project Inform, which runs an HIV hotline, has held a series of jobs in San Francisco over the years. He’s worked for former Supervisors Migden and Harry Britt, the health department, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. “I’ve obviously had a series of jobs in which the ability to communicate about important issues was central, and the B.A.R. is always the media outlet that we first think of when there is something important to say to the community, more so than any other community newspaper, and more so even than the [San Francisco] Chronicle,” said Van Gorder. However, he said, “There were a number of years some time ago when sometimes the paper felt like the Fox News of LGBT reporting,” meaning news stories were “heavy on editorializing and light on the reportage.” “In more recent years,” Van Gorder said, “the coverage is significantly more balanced and has more breadth.”
Looking ahead After 40 years, the B.A.R. continues to make changes. This week the paper unveiled a redesign and has also recently updated its website, allowing people to offer their immediate comments on stories via Facebook. Thomas E. Horn, who became the paper’s publisher after Ross died in 2003, said in an email, “We need to be on the cutting edge of new
technology,” including social media. He added, “We also need to appeal to a younger demographic whose interests lie less in news and more in just ‘what’s happening.’” That sentiment led to BARtab, the monthly LGBT nightlife guide and website, which the paper launched last May and which Horn said is “just in its early stages of development.” Finally, he said, “If we produce a quality product that is relevant, the readers will come.”▼
<< Community News
24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
activists << Israeli From page 2 Shilansky’s father, who she had came out to a week before the shooting, had a more difficult time with his daughter’s sexuality, she said. Touitou, who came from an ultraOrthodox family, received support from her father and brother, but not her mother and sister. The speakers agreed that after the shooting Israelis developed awareness and understanding that
gaps << Health From page 1 “There has been so little fundamental, across the board research with the LGBT communities that we couldn’t just identify gaps, we really needed to base our findings upon a more broad and encompassing degree of needs in terms of research,” said Graham who is a professor at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine. He said much of the research that does exist focuses on gay male adults, particularly with regard to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. And that research has been conducted largely in urban environments, not suburban or rural ones. There is little research focusing on bisexuals and transgender persons or on issues of childhood or aging. Information on racial and ethnic groups, and lower income populations also is scant. Some of these factors may confer additional health risks “and these sorts of crosswalks just have not been examined at all,” Graham added.
Recommendations There are several broad recommendations. Data collection: Most federal surveys should offer opportunities for people to self-identify as LGBT, should they choose to do so. Electronic health records should contain information on sexual orientation and gender identity. Methodologies: NIH should support developing standardized definitions and measures of sexual orientation and gender identity, to facilitate comparisons across studies. Training: NIH should create a comprehensive research training approach to strengthen LGBT research at NIH and among its grantees. Research: Researchers applying for grants from NIH and other federal agencies should identify how their research will meet the needs of LGBT Americans, in much the same way they do now along lines of race and gender.
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a similar situation could happen to their own children, which has led to an apparent decrease in homophobia. “One thing that is always nearly surprising to me is how much the learning there is done on both sides of this experience,” said Vitemberg. “In so many ways Israel is more advanced than we are here in the states, like with the army,” said Slepian. “That advancement didn’t come from grassroots organizing ... it came from a lot of fairly progressive liberal people
that the Israelis happened to get into political office.” “It’s much more recently that the LGBT community in Israel has had to organize and march and stand up for their own rights to try to make further change,” Slepian added. “There’s a lot of ways that both communities can strengthen each other. It’s important for Jews here, particularly LGBT Jews, to know about the LGBT community in Israel and for us to also feel that we have a stake in the future of Israel.”▼
Committee members at the news conferences offered their own, more focused research priorities toward meeting those needs. “We don’t have a good understanding of the developmental processes that affect LGBT persons. I would love to see something that pulls together what we have attempted to piece together, the LGBT life cycle,” said Brian de Vries, a gerontologist at San Francisco State University. For Robert Garofalo, a pediatrician and professor at Northwestern University, “HIV is the number one health disparity that affects our community. If I were to design a study it would be to focus on intervention research for underserved populations, like young African American men in this country who are facing exorbitant amounts of HIV.” Garofalo, a past president of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, said very little has been done in the area of intervention research that has been proven effective in reaching this community. He is particularly interested in structural and community-based rather than medical interventions. Judith Bradford, with Fenway Community Health in Boston, would focus on behavioral risk factor surveillance that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. Only 13 states currently measure it, “so if you look across the country you have a patchwork of places in which this data are collected,” she said. Bradford also would extend the questions to include adolescence through older age.
“The report does an incredibly good job of condensing the available literature. I think that will help medical schools develop curriculum,” Garofalo said. Graham said a similar first report on black and minority health disparities in the 1980s “worked its way into medical school curriculum as a sourcebook. We have some hope this report will do the same thing for the LGBT community.” Bradford said many of these recommendations “are not a big deal” to implement, but she acknowledged that there are barriers, including political barriers, to doing so. For Garofalo, “This is something we have done for other populations and we think we should be doing it now for this population. This document goes a long way in framing it from a very scientific perspective. It is entirely now a matter of political will.” The day prior to release of the report the New England Journal of Medicine published an article in its clinical practice section entitled “Care of Transsexual Persons.” It is the first time the widely respected journal has dealt with the subject so extensively. Garofalo said the U.S. has much to learn from the Dutch in this area. Graham said the journal article, the IOM report, inclusion in surveys and electronic health records are important because they create opportunities for self-reporting of sexual orientation and gender identity. And for others, including physicians, “seeing those questions legitimates the fact that it’s okay to be that way ... It is a sensitizing experience.” The NIH has appointed a liaison to coordinate implementation of the report’s recommendations within that agency.▼
Other areas A second year medical student in the audience noted the spotty nature of education on LGBT issues in medical schools – some offer little to no training while a few are doing “a fantastic job” – and asked how the report addresses that training. The NIH plays only a small role in medical education so that was not a major focus of the report.
www.ebar.com
The report, “The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding,” is available at www.iom.edu/lgbthealth.
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Community News>>
clinic << SF From page 2 billing, failed governance, and failed leadership, and we rebuilt it, but apparently not well enough.” Fimbres has said the cost of operations through December would be about $1.3 million. With debt payments, the budget would be about $1.5 million.
More fundraising work Fimbres said last week that the clinic’s debt is “still hovering around $1.1 million.” That includes money owed to the IRS because of payroll taxes that haven’t been paid and payments that remain on a $600,000 loan. He said the clinic’s currently paying “mission critical” expenses such as utilities, medicine, and staff. Asked what would happen if Mirkarimi’s $150,000 proposal is rejected, Fimbres said it would be “some kind of setback” and “I’ll be hurt, but will it bring us to our knees? I don’t think so.” The clinic’s trying to find money in other places, as well. As a primary and mental health care provider the clinic subcontracts with other agencies and is hoping to get advances on money for work it will be doing, said Fimbres. He estimated that those subcontracts are worth slightly over $200,000. He’s also talked to representatives of the Horizons Foundation and the Blue Shield of California Foundation about how they could help the clinic, including the possibility of gathering other foundations. Both have previously provided funding to the clinic and appear open to the idea of providing more help. Asked about what conditions should be in place at Lyon-Martin before they receive more help, Roger Doughty, executive director of the Horizons Foundation, said there needs to be “a clear plan and direction for how Lyon-Martin is going to go forward.” He said that’s “a very simple question to ask, and a complicated one to answer.”
Briefs << News From page 5 Pam Louie. Louie was raised in Oakland’s Chinatown and attended several colleges, including UC Berkeley and Stanford. She currently works as a controller for a nonprofit organization. A longtime LGBT community activist, Louie has organized numerous events for San Francisco Pride, the 1993 March on Washington, and API Wellness Center. Tickets to the event are $45, with discounts available for students and seniors. For more information, visit www.apiqwtc.org.
Mayor, supe to hold budget town hall Mayor Ed Lee and District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener will hold a town hall meeting Thursday, April 14 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Mission High School, 3750 18th Street, in the auditorium. Wiener said that a number of department heads will also be on hand, including District Attorney George Gascón, interim Police Chief Jeff Godown, and Rec and Park Director Phil Ginsburg. School district officials will also be there, he said. Lee is planning budget meetings in every district in an effort to hear from San Franciscans about their budget concerns and ideas as the city faces a projected $380 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 20112012. “These district town halls provide
Doughty also said the clinic needs to look at “how to maximize revenues from the client population” it is serving. He noted LyonMartin works with “a lot of people without the means to pay for their own care” and said the clinic needs to look at how to get most efficiently reimbursed by private or government agencies. Clinic officials have indicated they’re doing that. Brenda Solorzano, chief program director at Blue Shield of California, said most foundations would want “to make sure the organization is sustainable and it’s going to be around,” and it would be important for Lyon-Martin to show it can “put itself in a position to be sustainable.” Asked if the clinic’s capable of doing that, Solorzano said, “I don’t know. I’m hoping and rooting for them, but I don’t know.”
Board possibilities Lyon-Martin’s board has been looking for new members. Plumb, the new board chair, said it’s unknown whether current board members would step down. “I think once they realized the situation and realized their mistake in trying to close the clinic so quickly, I think they’ve done a phenomenal job of pulling the clinic out of the fire, and I would be happy to continue to work with them and some of the new folks as well,” said Plumb. Jackson Bowman, who’s received services at Lyon-Martin and is one of several people working to save the clinic, has applied to be on the board. He said there’s a desire “to see greater involvement from community members and people who received services from LyonMartin” on the board. Bowman and others have been heavily involved in raising money to keep the clinic open, and they’re looking at switching gears from holding events such as bar parties to trying to find big donors. They’ve been talking about focusing “on larger donations that require less running around,” he said.▼
direct input from residents about what they think is important,” Lee said in a statement. Wiener said the meeting is important and urged District 8 residents to attend. For more information, check out Wiener’s Facebook page.
CUAV plans Safetyfest Community United Against Violence will hold a series of free workshops, parties, and other activities during its four-day Safetyfest, April 14-17 in Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco. A launch party will be held April 14, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Bench and Bar, 510 17th Street in downtown Oakland. Festival attendees can choose from a range of topics and activities to learn about and experience – from creative writing to acupuncture to theater, mural-making to healthy relationships on April 15 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Ed Roberts Campus, 3075 Adeline Street in Berkeley (across the street from Ashby BART) and Saturday, April 16 at Everett Middle School, 450 Church Street in San Francisco. A cultural event, Making it Better: LGBTQQ Youth Power, takes place at the Eastside Arts Alliance, 2277 International Boulevard in Oakland’s Fruitvale District, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, April 15. For more information, visit www. cuav.org. This week the agency is relocating to its new offices at 427 South Van Ness Avenue (between 15th and 16th streets). ▼
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April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25
Classifieds The
Legal Notices>> City and County of San Francisco For Papers April 7, 2011 Notice of Public Hearing and Availability of Draft 2011-2012 Action Plan, Including Preliminary Funding RecommendationsThe Draft 2011-2012 Action Plan, which includes preliminary funding recommendations for the CDBG, ESG, HOME and HOPWA programs, will be available for public review and comment from March 28, 2011 through April 26, 2011. For more information, please visit www.sfgov.org/moh or call 415-701-5500. Pier 70 Six Historic Buildings on 20th Street REQUEST FOR INTEREST In Rehabilitation Opportunity under Long-Term Lease Register and receive the RFI on the Port of San Francisco website: www.sfport.com/pier70. Or email Lynda.Swanson@sfport.com Submittal Deadline: June 1, 2011. URBAN FORESTRY COUNCIL MEETING SCHEDULE April 26, June 28, August 23 and October 25, 2011 – Evening Meetings will be held at 6:00 p.m. in City Hall, Room 416. May 27, July 22, September 23 and December 9, 2011 – Morning Meetings will be held at 8:30 a.m. in City Hall, Room 400. *There will be no meeting in November. Planning and Funding Committee meets on the 3rd Thursday Monthly, at 4:15 p.m. in City Hall, Room 421.
STATEMENT FILE A-033363900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as AMANA MEDICAL EQUIPMENT, 1298 Valencia St.,San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a general partnership signed Francis Hamdi. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/22/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/22/11.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033392700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as 1.YOBOKRA PRESS, 2.YOBOKRA, 555 Clayton St., #30,San Francisco, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual signed Charles Schoellenbach. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/04/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/04/11.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033379000
COMMISSION ON THE ENVIRONMENT MEETING SCHEDULE May 24, July 26, September 27, and November 22, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. in City Hall, Room 416. Policy Committee meeting dates are: April 11, May 9, June 13, July 11, August 8, September 12, October 24, November 14 and December 12, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. at City Hall, Room 421. Operations Committee meeting dates are April 20, July 20, and October 19, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. at the Department of Environment Eco Center.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as QUIC PIC GROCERIES, 2146 Mission St.,San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual signed Gwen Ma. 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 02/28/11.
APRIL 2011 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS REGULARLY SCHEDULED BOARD MEETINGS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – Come see your San Francisco government in action. Tuesdays, 2:00pm, City Hall Chamber, Room 250 «À Ê£ÓÊUÊ «À Ê£ ÊUÊ «À ÊÓÈ News from the S.F. Residential Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board Did you know you may be due interest on your security deposit? Chapter 49 of the San Francisco Administrative Code requires landlords to pay interest annually on deposits held on residential property. Landlords are required to pay interest on all monies held over one year, regardless of what the deposit is called. From March 1, 2011 through February 29, 2012, the interest rate on security deposits is 0.4%. More details at www.sfrb.org. From March 1, 2011 through February 29, 2012, the annual allowable increase amount for rent-stabilized homes, apartments and hotel rooms is 0.5%. More information at www.sfrb. org. Information on over 80 topics of interest to landlords and tenants is also available in English, Spanish, and Chinese by calling (415) 252-4600. For individual counseling call (415) 252-4602 or visiting the Rent Board’s office in San Francisco at 25 Van Ness Avenue, Room 320, during regular business hours. The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033339200
NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:BUN MEE LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:2015 Fillmore St,San Francisco, CA 94115-2708. Type of license applied for:
41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE MAR 17,24,31, 2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:MISSION BAY FOODS COMPANY LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:2 Henry Adams St,San Francisco, CA 941035016. Type of license applied for:
41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE MAR 17,24,31, 2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:FARES H MOHAMED, MOHAMED ABDULLA MOHAMED, NAGI H MOHAMED. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:500 Bayshore Blvd.,San Francisco, CA 94124. Type of license applied for: 21 off sale general
MAR 17,24,31, 2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-11-547563 In the matter of the application of JENNIFER KRISTY KERN for change of name and change of gender. The application of JENNIFER KRISTY KERN for change of name and change of gender having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that JENNIFER KRISTY KERN filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to JONATHAN FLYNN KERN and his/her 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 Room 218 on the 5th of May, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033400200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as YUMI BOUTIQUE, 1737 Post St.,#301,San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Mei Ng. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 3/08/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/08/11.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033396500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as AESTHETIC LASER CONCEPTS, 490 Post St.,#1701,San Francisco, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Nui Laosaengthong. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 3/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/07/11.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033383700
To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:AMERICAN AIRLINES INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:San Francisco International Airport Terminal 2 SP D2 205,San Francisco, CA 94128-3161. Type of license applied for: 51- club
The following person(s) is/are doing business as DESIGUAL, 101 Powell St.,San Francisco, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company signed Thomas Meyer. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/30/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/02/11.
MAR 17,24, 31, 2011
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011
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The following person(s) is/are doing business as LOVEBIRD PHOTOGRAPHY, 1359 Hayes St., #7,San Francisco, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual signed Jen Siska. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/10/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/10/11.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033380900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CUMAICA COFFEE CO., 2800 California St., San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual signed Sergio Guerrero. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/01/11.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033387300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DIESEL DELIVERY SF, 237 Kearny St., #289,San Francisco, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual signed William Hoag. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/02/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/02/11.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033381200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE CITY SMOKE SHOP AND GIFTS, 644 Polk St.,San Francisco,CA 94102. This business is conducted by a husband and wife, signed Teofilo Pena. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/01/11.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033343400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE LIVING ROOM, 1735 Polk St.,San Francisco,CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Linda Nguyen. 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 02/11/11.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-0320106-00 The following persons have abandoned the use of the ficticious business name known as DIBBS BBQ & GRILL,1109 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94115. This business was conducted by an individual, signed Issa Dabai. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/21/09.
MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:KATANA YA SF LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:422B Geary St. San Francisco, CA 94102-1223. Type of license applied for:
41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE MAR 24,31,APR 7,2011
Serving the LGBT communities since 1971
26• Bay Area Reporter • April 7-13h, 2011
Legal Notices>> nOTICE OF APPLICATIoN to sell AlCOHOLIC BEVERAGEs To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:CHILLI CHA CHA THAI NOODLE CAFE. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:3166 24th St. San Francisco, CA 94110-4033. Type of license applied for:
41 on-sale beer and wine Eating place mar 24,31,apr 7,2011 statement file A-033419200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LIMO TRANSPORTATION,2142 42nd Ave.,San Francisco,CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Kwok Man Chan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/15/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/15/11.
mar 17,24,31,apr 7,2011 statement file A-033416000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as 780 SWEETS, 161 Capp St.,San Francisco,CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Kristopher Ramirez. 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 03/14/11.
mar 17,24,31,apr 7,2011 statement file A-033413100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as INGENIOUS3D.,123 10th St.,San Francisco,CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Christopher Sherrill. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/11/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/11/11.
mar 17,24,31,apr 7,2011 statement file A-033378600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LA FARMACIA, 2600 Lawton St.,San Francisco,CA 94112. This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Michael Walker. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/25/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/28/11.
mar 17,24,31,apr 7,2011 statement file A-033408200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SERENA MITNIK-MILLER, 1502 Great Highway,San Francisco,CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Mara Serena St. Peter. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/10/11.
mar 17,24,31,apr 7,2011 statement file A-033356100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as OPEN IMAGERY,588 Sutter St.,San Francisco,CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Charles H. Anderson. 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 02/17/11.
mar 17,24,31,apr 7,2011 statement file A-033388900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE ALL FAMILY PROJECT, 1800 Market St.,PMB 89,San Francisco,CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Charles H. Anderson. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/19/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/03/11.
mar 17,24,31,apr 7,2011 statement file A-033387000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as VIET DUONG CO. LTD.,150 Escolta Way,San Francisco,CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Jack Vy Viet Duong. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/02/11.
mar 17,24,31,apr 7,2011 statement file A-033415700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as REGENCY COMMONS I, 3344 Fillmore St.,San Francisco,CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Jonathan Soffer. 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 03/14/11.
mar 17,24,31,apr 7,2011 statement file A-033415600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as REGENCY COMMONS II, 3334 Fillmore St.,San Francisco,CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Jonathan Soffer. 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 03/14/11.
mar 17,24,31,apr 7,2011
Legal Services>> statement file A-033368300
statement file A-033446600
The following person(s) is/are doing business as MAX MAIDS, 207 Peabody St.,San Francisco,CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Haileab Gebreselassie. 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 02/23/11.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as PEGASUS BUILDERS, 250 Olmstead St.,San Francisco,CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Gearoid O’Sullivan. 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 03/28/11.
mar 24,31,apr 7,14,2011 statement file A-033426000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BEST OF TIMES VINTAGE,685 Lakeview Ave.,San Francisco,CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Lorry Thomas. 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 03/17/11.
mar 24,31,apr 7,14,2011 statement file A-033429700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as REAL MANAGEMENT COMPANY, 1234 Castro St.,San Francisco,CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Jeffrey J. Panzer. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/21/11.
mar 24,31,apr 7,14,2011 Statement of abandonment of use of ficticious business name: #A-0326567-00 The following persons have abandoned the use of the ficticious business name known as CAFE PESCATORE,2455 Mason St., San Francisco, CA 94133. This business was conducted by a limited liability company, signed Evan M. Mallah. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/10.
mar 24,31,apr 7,14,2011 Statement of abandonment of use of ficticious business name: #A-0325014-01 The following persons have abandoned the use of the ficticious business name known as CAFE PESCATORE,425 North Point, San Francisco, CA 94133. This business was conducted by a limited liability company, signed Evan M. Mallah. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/19/10.
mar 24,31,apr 7,14,2011 Statement of abandonment of use of ficticious business name: #A-0325014-02 The following persons have abandoned the use of the ficticious business name known as TUSCAN INN,425 North Point, San Francisco, CA 94133.This business was conducted by a limited liability company, signed Evan M. Mallah. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/19/10.
mar 24,31,apr 7,14,2011 Statement of abandonment of use of ficticious business name: #A-0275868-00
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The following person(s) is/are doing business as JUDAH COSMETOLOGY & FOOT CARE, 2721 Judah St.,San Francisco,CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Sin Lin Leong.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 03/29/11.
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orty years ago this week, the first issue of Bay Area Reporter was delivered to the quickly growing community of gay restaurants, businesses, and bars. To mark the milestone, we’ve stopped to reflect on our community’s history here as reported on the covers and in the pages of our newspaper. Looking back reminds us again of the amazing progress we’ve all made in response to the many challenges we’ve faced in the effort to live our lives openly and with integrity. But still after four decades, our struggle for equality is not over; the issues may change, but we continue to fight against bigotry and discrimination.
F
the museum’s archives and the online searchable B.A.R. obituary database can be found on its website at www.glbthistory.org/obituaries.
To help us celebrate, the GLBT Historical Society is hosting a small, temporary exhibit of the B.A.R. past issues and ephemera in the GLBT Museum at 4127 18th Street in the Castro. The exhibit will be on view April 8-13. It is a good opportunity to see the other interesting items displayed from the museum’s collection. Back issues of the B.A.R. are available for research in
We’ve made our home and built a community in San Francisco and inspired others to do the same around the country. We can be proud of our accomplishments in a short 40 years. It’s been quite a journey so far and we’ll continue together in pursuit of our equal rights.
As part of its ongoing commitment to diversity, Union Bank, N.A., will be the exclusive sponsor of the B.A.R.’s 40th Anniversary Retrospective Exhibit in recognition of the strength, vitality, and significance of the San Francisco LGBT community. The expanded exhibit of enlarged iconic covers from the newspaper will illustrate our history and will be displayed during June at Union Bank’s 400 California Street location in the heart of the Financial District.
{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }
<< 40th Anniversary
30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
A B.A.R. timeline
Here’s a look back at what has happened in the pages of the Bay Area Reporter.
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April 1, 1971: The B.A.R. publishes its first issue. The editorial noted the publication is independent and pledged to bring readers a paper of “news, information, and comedy.”
compiled by Cynthia Laird and Rick Gerharter
Rick Gerharter
The Bay Area Reporter on microfiche, stored in rolls in boxes at the San Francisco Public Library, has been used by numerous researchers.
Researchers, historians utilize LGBT press by Matthew S. Bajko
T
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ype Bay Area Reporter into the search field for Google Scholar and 641 results come up for everything from academic papers on AIDS marketing and tobacco advertising targeted at LGBTs to journal articles and graduate student dissertations on topics like portrayals of gay men in the media. The same is true for other gay publications, such as the Washington Blade (641 citations); Out magazine (at least 631 when combined with the word gay) and Chicago’s Windy City Times (259). Even the gay teen magazine XY shows up (61 references). The academic publications run the gamut, from not-sosurprising titles like the Journal of Communication and the American Journal of Public Health to unexpected ones such as the Journal of Vacation Marketing and the International Journal of Canadian Studies. Nor is it merely academic researchers utilizing the LGBT press for their work. Historians, authors, artists and documentarians have turned to LGBT news outlets for source material for their projects. The recent film We Were Here, producer/director David Weissman and editor/co-director Bill Weber’s retelling of the early days of the AIDS epidemic and its toll on San Francisco, includes how the B.A.R. documented the innumerable deaths during the 1980s through the mid-1990s. Glenne McElhinney, a lesbian historian and filmmaker, turned to a number of the state’s LGBT publications for a project that looked at the birth of the gay Pride movement in California. In addition to old copies of the B.A.R., she perused the Advocate; Plexus, an East Bay women’s magazine no longer in print; and the Sentinel, a now-defunct San Francisco-based LGBT paper. “I have done a lot of research around the different state parades for which the B.A.R. has been helpful. They carried articles about other parades in the state but
especially about the background of the San Francisco parade,” said McElhinney, who was a friend of the paper’s founding publisher, the late Bob Ross. “Having these periodicals, and the issues of the periodicals, available to historians is really important. It helps round out the information you are getting from the people you interview yourself for the first-hand accounts. It is important to have some ability to fact check and verify the dates.” Her next project will examine what McElhinney refers to as the “golden era in California queer history” from 1975 to 1982. She expects she will rely heavily on old newspaper accounts from that time. In addition to interviewing people, having access to the B.A.R. and other LGBT publications will be “key,” said McElhinney. Copies of the articles can also be used as visuals when other images are not necessarily available. Mark Schoen, a producer of the documentary Finding A New Hope, about the transgender community, recently requested a reprint of a B.A.R. story about the election of Victoria Kolakowski, the country’s first transgender trial judge, who is interviewed in the film. “It certainly gives these stories credibility,” said Schoen, who hopes to have his film finished by August and shown at a film festival sometime in 2012. The advent of the nation’s first LGBT newspapers over four decades ago has been grist itself for several books chronicling the various publications, their publishers and their impact in their communities. “I had been involved as an activist in the movement and involved as an academic and scholar studying the relationship between gay people and the media for some time, close to 15 years. It was a good opportunity to pull all that material into a single book,” said Larry Gross, the openly gay author of the 2002 book Up from Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media In America. Now a professor and director of the School of Communication See page 31 >>
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40th Anniversary >>
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31
February 1, 1972: As an example of the community often being at odds with itself, the Gay People’s Action Committee, a coalition of “militant” gay groups, demonstrated against a fundraiser held by the Society of Individual Rights, a large conservative gay organization.
<< Researchers From page 30 at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, Gross in his book credited the early days of the gay press for helping to form a national LGBT movement. “I don’t think there is any question the press was an integral part of the gay movement when there was a movement,” said Gross, whose book is used in college courses on the media and LGBT community. “To create a national consciousness at a time when the mainstream media certainly wasn’t paying attention, and if they were they were often hostile, requires a conversation and that conversation was in the gay press.”
A recruitment tool for research Looking at the LGBT press, it was evident to researchers early on that they could be venues to recruit research subjects who otherwise would be near impossible to find. They could run advertisements seeking LGBT people willing to enroll in their studies. Throughout the 30 years of the country’s AIDS crisis, gay papers have run ads for numerous studies looking to recruit gay men, both HIV-positive and HIV-negative, to test the latest drugs or give their input into developing the latest
Courtesy Kevin Naff
Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff
HIV prevention strategy. To this day researchers from San Francisco State University, UCSF, and Columbia University in New York use the gay press to fund study participants. Brian D. Carpenter, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, said he has used the local LGBT news outlet the Vital Voice to recruit study participants. He said it can be particularly useful in reaching older people who are less inclined to be Internet users. “My research is interested in older adults. There are still a lot of older adults who don’t turn to the Internet for their news,” said Carpenter, who himself is gay. See page 54 >>
Courtesy John Blackburn
Bob Heacock, left, and his partner John Blackburn, right, traveled to a school near Baltimore last year after students Aivana Hoang, second from right, and Keith White, third from right, contacted them about San Francisco gay history.
Interview leads couple to Baltimore school by Matthew S. Bajko
N
ow that the Internet has made LGBT publications – through their websites – available to anyone with a computer, a new readership has been discovering the coverage: high school and middle school students. Not only are teenagers coming out of the closet earlier, topics such as openly gay politicians, the history of AIDS, and the fight for same-sex marriage are making their way into the school reports of LGBT and straight students alike. That is how partners Bob Heacock, 64, and John Blackburn, 59, found themselves visiting a Parkville, Maryland middle school
last March. Reporting on the 30-year anniversary of the White Night riots in May 2009, the Bay Area Reporter interviewed the San Francisco couple, who met on the steps of City Hall during the protests over a lenient jury verdict against former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White, who had killed Supervisor Harvey Milk, the city’s first out politician, and Mayor George Moscone on the morning of November 27, 1978. The article caught the eye of Aivana Hoang, a teenager at Parkville Middle School and Center of Technology who was doing research online about Milk. See page 54 >>
<< 40th Anniversary
32 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
March 21, 1973: From its earliest days, the B.A.R. covered police harassment.
1974: The Twin Peaks softball team won against the San Francisco Police Department team, 9-4. This was the second annual event. It was hoped the socializing would improve relations between the police and the gay community.
▼
September 5, 1975: The paper often endorsed candidates for emperor and empress, in addition to its political recommendations.
B.A.R. seen as male-focused by Seth Hemmelgarn
O
ver the Bay Area Reporter’s four decades of churning out a community newspaper, it has mostly skewed to gay male readers. The perception that it is a gay male paper has been hard to shake, even though there are several women on staff and a lesbian has been the news editor since 1999. Gay and lesbian life in San Francisco in the 1970s was somewhat segregated by the sexes – there were bars for lesbians and bars for gay men, for example. The advent of AIDS changed a lot of that, when lesbians began helping and caring for their gay male friends who were dying in droves. When the B.A.R. recently asked lesbian pioneer Phyllis Lyon to share her thoughts about the paper, she said the B.A.R. mostly does “a pretty good job.” However, Lyon, who has been reading the paper since it started 40 years ago, said the B.A.R. hasn’t had as much coverage of lesbians as gay men. “I understand that’s all because
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you’re gay men, and you’re prejudiced,” said Lyon, who said, “It is not a big secret” that some gay men don’t like lesbians.
Jane Philomen Cleland
Lesbian pioneer Phyllis Lyon says the paper could do with more coverage of lesbians.
“For the most part, you all are most interested in people of your same sex,” she said, although she acknowledged “lesbians are sometimes more interested in people of their sex, too.” Lyon, of course, founded the Daughters of Bilitis with her late wife, Del Martin, in San Francisco in 1955. That group had a lesbian newsletter, The Ladder, for many years. Lyon, who said she wouldn’t think about not taking the B.A.R., isn’t alone in commenting that the paper’s coverage leans toward men. Betty Sullivan, who runs the popular Betty’s List LGBT information service, said, “The majority of women in our community think of [the B.A.R.] only as ‘that paper for the guys.’” Sullivan calls that notion a mistake and said, “The best gay paper around is the B.A.R., and that’s just the way it is.” However, she said, “There is some truth to the fact that the B.A.R. needs to do more coverage of women, so I would be silly to ignore that perception.” Gwenn Craig, an African
American lesbian, was the first out person of color and the second out person appointed to the San Francisco Police Commission, where she served from 1989 to 1992. Craig said she doesn’t find “many people who are offended or horrified” by the paper traditionally being male-oriented, and she said there’s been more coverage in recent years of what’s happening in the lesbian community. But Craig, who indicated she reads the paper only occasionally, said she goes to www. shewired.com for lesbian news. Ten or 15 years ago, she said, the San Francisco Bay Times covered a lot of lesbian news and she would read that. The B.A.R. had, from the 1990s until 2008, ran various columns aimed at its lesbian and female readers. Sapphistication was written by Beth Elliott in the 1990s. That was followed by Dykeotomy, written by Nancy Boutilier in the late 1990s, and Lesbian Notions, which ran from 2000-2008 and was written by Paula Martinac and then Libby Post. Over the years, the paper’s See page 54 >>
Courtesy Gwenn Craig
Longtime activist and former SF Police Commissioner Gwenn Craig.
Read more online at www.ebar.com
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 33
<< 40th Anniversary
34 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
March 18, 1976: Long before he was governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger was interviewed in the B.A.R. about bodybuilding. As governor he never did grant the paper an interview.
October 27, 1977:
▼
December 7, 1978: A year later, in November 1978, Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated. Milk’s remains were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
An ad late in the campaign for Harvey Milk; he would go on to win the race.
Rick Gerharter
This ad from 1973 hailed the grand opening of Folsom Prison for leathermen.
Advertising reflects changes to city’s LGBT community by Matthew S. Bajko
M
uch has changed within the Bay Area’s LGBT community since the Bay Area Reporter began publishing four decades ago. And the paper’s news and arts coverage has chronicled the various evolutions in the social, political and cultural realms that have reshaped San Francisco’s gayborhoods as well as the lives of those LGBT people living in the surrounding cities and suburbs.
The historical shifts have also been encapsulated by another feature of the weekly newspaper – its advertising. Looking back at the various advertisements in old editions of the B.A.R. one can detect the changing tastes and concerns that the city’s LGBT residents faced. The ads pinpoint the gay migration patterns within San Francisco and detail how technological advances reshaped sexual practices. The paid notices also illustrate the LGBT community’s growing political clout back in the 1970s and detail how and which marketers grew to covet gay consumers. It is a trove of information that researchers, historians, and academics have and continue to mine. “We look at the entire paper, not just a few articles, especially the ads and the calendar listings. I find them rich, rich with information,” said Glenne McElhinney, a historian and filmmaker who has used back issues of various LGBT publications in conducting research for her projects. The advertising also speaks to the disenfranchisement many out people of color and women felt at the advent of the nation’s community gay press. Much of the imagery used in the ads showcased white men, and most gay papers came to be seen as speaking primarily to Caucasian male readers. See page 35 >>
▼
40th Anniversary >> May 24, 1979:
Riots erupt after Dan White is convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the murders of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone.
<< Advertising From page 34 It is a problem that persists to this day. “The centuries old underground gay and lesbian culture – in which people with strongly stigmatized identities blurred class and race boundaries and risked much to affirm their own desires – has been repackaged with its ‘rough edges’ trimmed away. The commodification of gay and lesbian identity has resulted in the construction of a ‘straight’ gay/ lesbian identity,” wrote Fred Fejes in his essay “Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity” in the 2003 edition of the textbook Gender, Race and Class in Media. Fejes went on to argue that “it would seem that today the consumer-based media, and not the state, the church or the scientific professions, are the far more effective creators and regulators of identities and desires.” Certainly, this is manifested in the depictions of men in numerous gay bar ads. Notions of the ideal man have changed over time as tastes evolve; the advertising has reflected these fluctuations in concepts of attractiveness. “A really good cultural marker is
the fashions and how people looked in the ads,” said Rick Gerharter, a longtime photographer for the B.A.R. who spent the last several months cataloguing different trends found within the newspaper’s pages. “There were a lot more regular looking guys and body hair in those early years in the 1970s, especially a lot more mustaches. That changed.” The locations for the gay bars also serve as mapping data to signify how San Francisco’s gay center has migrated from North Beach into the Tenderloin and Polk Gulch areas then on to the Castro where it remains today. “By looking at the addresses you can see how the community moved around the city,” said Gerharter, adding that the one constant has been the presence of gay bars in the South of Market neighborhood. The advertising also speaks to the
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 35
February 28, 1980:
October 22, 1981:
Reviewer Michael Lasky panned Cruising, a film that gained notoriety because of gay protests.
The B.A.R. goes weekly.
Rick Gerharter
This ad from the Stop AIDS Project in 2002 shared a blunt message that living with HIV is no picnic.
political maturation of the LGBT community. From very early on the B.A.R. became a conduit for politicians to court LGBT voters. Both gay and straight candidates running for various public offices ran ads in the paper signaling their willingness to represent the LGBT community and listen to the concerns of LGBT constituents. Of course beginning in the mid1980s much of the advertising in the gay press focused on HIV prevention and AIDS medications. Conversely, that period saw fewer and fewer gay bars and clubs advertising as the community was gripped with fighting the deadly epidemic decimating its gay male population. Again the imagery selected depicting healthy, young – mostly white – individuals engaged in such athletic activities as mountain-
climbing sparked controversy. Not only did some object to the ads’ subliminal messaging that AIDS and HIV were manageable diseases, it also renewed debate about the absence of minorities and women within the pages of gay publications. “Although the gay press in the early 1980s made occasional references to lesbians and LGBT people of color, the dominance of AIDS issues from mid-decade on narrowed the editorial focus largely back to white, gay male concerns,” noted Katherine Sender in her 2004 book Business, not Politics: The Making of the Gay Market. “The focus on AIDS issues also legitimated the ongoing marginalization of women within gay media, because lesbians were not considered a desirable audience for AIDS-related advertising dollars.” See page 54 >>
<< 40th Anniversary
36 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
September 2, 1982:
May 12, 1983:
The first Gay Games is held at Kezar Stadium; organizers lost a bid at the U.S. Supreme Court to call the games the Gay Olympics.
Gay bathhouses become controversial as the AIDS virus continues to spread in San Francisco.
▼
Our Man Friday returns to dish political dirt by Wayne Friday
R
ealizing that we are all getting older (I’ll never see 60 again, but beyond that, don’t ask), it’s truly amazing that the Bay Area Reporter is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and after all these years it is still by far the best LGBT publication in the country. The years have gone by quickly since 1975, when Harvey Milk was planning his second run for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk had been writing a somewhat regular political column for the B.A.R. for a couple of years, and after announcing his candidacy, then-editor Paul Lorch and publisher Bob Ross, a longtime friend and supporter of Milk’s, assured Milk he could always count on the political support of the paper. However, both felt that as an announced candidate he should no longer write a column. Ross and Milk, both knowing even back then that I was the ultimate political junkie, suggested I write the political column. I agreed to do it (though unbeknownst to either Lorch or Ross, Milk wrote several more columns and simply put my name on them). The years all too quickly passed and after Ross died in 2003 I
realized it had been nearly 30 years, so I continued it for one more year, mostly as my private tribute to Ross, and then decided that my readers had likely grown tired of me so I somewhat reluctantly retired the column. Admittedly, there have been times I missed cranking out the column and occasionally still get tips worthy of print, and I’m always thankful of those who sometimes still tell me they miss it, but that is all in the past. My heartfelt congratulations to Tom Horn, Cynthia Laird, Michael Yamashita, David McBrayer, and the writers at the B.A.R. (I never miss your columns Donna Sachet and John F. Karr) and I know that without a doubt this extraordinary paper will be around for many years to come. And now, please let me indulge in a bit of political gossip.
Politics and people I strongly supported President Barack Obama in 2008 and will definitely vote for him next year, but at times I wonder what the hell is happening with Obama’s “Where’s Waldo?” presidency. The guy ran on a “Change We Can Believe In” pledge in 2008 but I’m seriously beginning to ask, what change Mr. President? While Obama is brilliant on things like his healing words to the nation
Dan Nicoletta
Wayne Friday, left, and Harvey Milk celebrated on Election Night 1977, when Milk won his seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
in the aftermath of the Tucson shootings, his prompt action in guiding our nation’s response to the Japan tragedy, and others, Obama is, at least from where I sit, sorely lacking when tackling tough issues like weighing in (or rather, not weighing in) on those labor battles and standing with the working men and women in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio against the union-busting Republican governors of those
states; his turnabout after many days of waffling on a no-fly zone over Libya (wrongly or rightly) until forced into it by our UN allies – do we really need another war in the Middle East? – and as the Washington Post recently pointed out, the president has become an embarrassing bystander in the ongoing battle between the GOP-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate over the lagging budget negotiations and simply relying on endless stopgap budget bills. Hey, I love Obama, but damn, let the guy at least take a few political risks by giving some strong instructions to the Congress on things like entitlement spending, the Defense of Marriage Act, and standing up to those Tea Partycontrolled Republicans on Capitol Hill; show Americans that Obama can, like Lyndon Johnson once bragged, “walk and chew gum at the same time.” Yes, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) will run for reelection next year and there isn’t a Republican in the country who could beat her. San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi is a sure bet to be our next sheriff, and while I don’t always agree with his positions on the board, he’ll make a good boss at the Sheriff ’s Department if he’s successful in November’s election. Incidentally, if there is a more respected male politician around than retiring Sheriff Mike Hennessey I’ve yet to meet him; he’s far and away one of the best. Am I the only one around wondering when or if one of the Bay Area’s better known politicos will finally come out of the closet? (No, don’t even bother asking me.) Mayoral roundup: The city’s lefties have yet to come up with their candidate for mayor, perhaps that’s the reason former Supervisor and current SF Democratic Party chair Aaron Peskin is reportedly making calls all over town. Meanwhile, Dennis Herrera, Bevan Dufty, and Leland Yee appear to be the early frontrunners, but in a contest where more than 30 candidates have already filed, and with the idiotic ranked choice voting in play, it’s anyone’s game (just ask Oakland’s
Don Perata). This entire RCV idea, in my opinion, really sucks. I place the blame solely on the Board of Supervisors, which put this stupid proposal on the 2004 ballot. The majority of city voters will readily admit they don’t understand how RCV works, and as the San Francisco Examiner’s Ken Garcia recently put it, “In San Francisco coming in third means you can win.” Trust me readers, despite all his publicity-seeking antics for his Celebrity Apprentice television show, Donald Trump will never become a candidate for president; Trump is the biggest publicity whore in the business. Two of the new supervisors getting high marks at City Hall are Scott Wiener and Jane Kim. And state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), who has the unenviable but powerful job as chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, is doing one helluva job working with Governor Jerry Brown (D) in trying to settle the state’s huge budget mess; I’m proud to call him a close friend. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that for the first time ever more Americans (53 percent) support legalization of same-sex marriage; just five years ago this same news group poll showed only 36 percent favoring marriage equality. Apparently with Republicans like Dick Cheney and Barbara Bush (George W. Bush’s daughter) defending the rights of gays to marry, the wedge has lost its edge. For what’s it’s worth, I’m with local labor boss Larry Mazzola and those union members who are urging a boycott of Chris Daly’s Market Street bar Buck Tavern (“Daly’s Dump”?); indeed, no selfrespecting member of the LGBT community should enter the joint until the boorish former supervisor publicly apologizes for the ugly – really ugly – remark he reportedly made about one of the city’s most popular officeholders during a “roast” held in Daly’s honor after he was termed out of City Hall. Democrats in the Palm Springs area think they have a candidate who can take out Congresswoman Mary Bono (R) next year, and here’s a bit of political trivia: Bono is now married to Representative Connie Mack (R-Florida), making her the only member of Congress to have ever been married to two other members, one of whom, her late husband Sonny, once had a singing act with his then-wife Cher. Many Castro residents are wondering where the cops are when all those ugly nude dudes are running around the streets; I guess we should feel sorry for these pathetic souls if they are so starved for attention they gladly pose like fools for camera-toting tourists. The last true movie star died last month; by the time Elizabeth Taylor left this mortal soil at age 79, she had become an international treasure to our community in great part because of her public work and the hundreds of millions of dollars she raised to fight AIDS. We will not see the likes of this great woman again. And how was your week?▼
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Best of the Gays 2011>>
W
e decided to mark our 40th anniversary by asking our readers to nominate their favorite people, places and things about living in San Francisco and the Bay Area. The large number of responses produced some surprises and a few ties among the winners. It’s a reminder of the many wonderful, enjoyable things about living and visiting here.
FOOD & DRINK Best Bartenders
440 Castro A bartender can be a friend, confidant, psychiatrist, enabler, artist -- take your pick. A great bartender knows your drink, how you like it, and can lead you to push your beverage boundaries. They’re worth finding and following whether it’s happy hour or late night. Readers say the best bartenders can be found in the Castro at 440, serving on $2 Tuesdays, 2 for 1 Wednesdays, or
Brad Liberti, above, and Nick Mills from 440 Castro, where the best bartenders can be found.
Friday happy hour. 440 Castro St., San Francisco, (415) 621-8732, www.the440.com. The most popular individual bartender is the always fun and friendly Larry Spenier, who keeps the drinks flowing and his See page 38 >>
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 37
If your favorite didn’t win, you’ll have another opportunity next year. We’d also like to acknowledge our appreciation to our survey sponsors Southwest Airlines, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Peppermill Resort Spa & Casino in Reno, Amtrak, Gallery of Jewels, and Bursa Mediterranean Cuisine
for providing our readers a chance to win a weekend getaway to Boston Pride, a train trip to Seattle and Los Angeles on the Starlight Express, a luxurious weekend in Reno, fine dining, and jewelry.
Compiled by Michael Yamashita
<< Best of the Gays 2011
38 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
November 29, 1984:
March 21, 1985:
A San Francisco judge reversed another judge’s ruling that closed gay bathhouses, but ordered doors to be removed and monitors hired.
The Times of Harvey Milk wins the Oscar for best documentary feature at the Academy Awards.
of the art sound and lighting. This hot spot creates a festive atmosphere with world-class entertainment, renowned DJs, sexy dancers, and aerialists. Trigger, 2344 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 255-2733, www.clubtrigger.com.
of the Gays << Best From page 37 customers satisfied South of Market. “I’m lucky to work at this great bar with the best customers and the best music in town,” Larry said. Hole in the Wall Saloon, 1369 Folsom St., San Francisco, (415) 431-4695, www.holeinthewallsaloon.com.
Best Karaoke Bar
The Mint
Best Overall Bar
Blackbird Choosing a best overall bar is like choosing your best overall sexual encounter: so many to choose from. If you enjoy anything often enough, it’s difficult to settle on a favorite because you like each for different reasons. For those who are decisive and believe a good drink requires more than what’s in the glass, their favorite bar turns out to be a former speakeasy, a sailors’ bar, and a longshoreman’s dive, but now features a rustic modern decor. Still don’t know what to drink? Peruse the seasonal menu of craft cocktails, artisanal beers, and 10 wines by the glass. This is the only haunt in town that features barrel aged cocktails! Blackbird, 2124 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 503-0630, www. blackbirdbar.com.
Best Happy Hour
Badlands There’s a reason it’s called happy
Trigger is where the hip and swank party the night away.
hour, and for those who seek affordable drinks and camaraderie after a long day’s work, they look forward to a lot of happy and expect it to last longer than an hour. Readers agree that a happy hour will be had by all at Badlands, 4121 18th St., San Francisco, (415) 6269320, www.sfbadlands.com.
shirt off after 8 p.m. on Thursdays. The only rules of the house: “Everyone welcome, except bigots and those with attitude.” Hole in the Wall Saloon, 1369 Folsom St., San Francisco, (415) 431-4695, www.holeinthewallsaloon.com.
Best Swanky Bar
Best Dive Bar
Trigger
Hole in the Wall Saloon
There should be a club to suit every taste. If your inclination is for the hip and swank, then the industrial-glam style of ultra lounge Trigger may be your new hangout. The space is outfitted with two levels with a large central bar, stage, private booths, smoking patio, dance floor and state
Leave pretension behind and take a walk on the wild side, where you can let your hair down at this selfdescribed biker bar. You get a $1 discount on drinks if you take your
Seems everyone knows that when you get that urge to belt one out before an appreciative audience, there’s only one place to be. The Mint has a worldwide reputation and has one of the largest karaoke selections around. There’s no cover or song charges. And some of the regulars really have some pipes! The Mint Karaoke Lounge, 1942 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 626-4726, www.themint.net.
Best Wine Bar
Blush This little enoteca turns out to be quite a hit with it’s cozy décor and knowledgeable staff who will guide you through a selection of some 50 wines by the glass from their extensive cellar. New offerings include small plate bites, beer menu, and brunch served on weekends. There’s no cover for live music every Thursday night. Blush Wine Bar, 476 Castro St., San Francisco, (415) 558-0893, www. blushwinebar.com.
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Best Grocery Store
Trader Joe’s Readers were looking forward to a new store that nearly opened in the Castro. But for now there are many other locations around the city and Bay Area. Trader Joe’s is a national chain that has the feel and service of a neighborhood grocery store. Wildly popular, they are known for the more than 2,000 unique grocery items sold under the Trader Joe’s label. Trader Joe’s, www.traderjoes.com.
Best Overall Restaurant
2223 Melinda Randolph oversees every aspect of this neighborhood favorite, from flowers to music to the menu. It’s an ideal place to linger over a cocktail and enjoy modern American cuisine. The $12 Tuesday Menu features starters for $6 and entrees like classic meat loaf, spicy poblano pulled pork and southern fried chicken salad for $12. 2223 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 431-0692, www.2223restaurant.com.
Best New Restaurant
Frances My, restaurants seem to come and go so quickly around here. An instant favorite was opened by award winning chef Melissa Perello, the former executive chef at Charles Nob Hill and Fifth Floor, who says she named her first restaurant after her grandmother. Her seasonal American menu features local produce grown by her network of area farmers. Frances, 3870 17th St., San Francisco, (415) 621-3870, www.frances-sf.com.
Best Café
Cafe Flore
The Ferry Building is home to the best farmers market, where organic and sustainable produce change with the seasons.
Best Farmers Market
Ferry Building If you ever need a reminder to count your blessings for living in the Bay Area, spend a Saturday morning at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and sample the offerings of area farmers who practice sustainable agriculture. Grab a meal and get some fresh produce for your very own culinary creations. It’s not only an orgy of organics, so don’t forget to check out the cooking demonstrations, farm tours, culinary classes and panel discussions organized by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture. Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, One Ferry Building, San Francisco, (415) 291-3276, www.cuesa.com.
Café Flore has been a convenient meet-up spot at the corner of Market and Noe streets since it opened in 1973 and was the infamous setting for Mark Huestis’s 1984 cult classic film Whatever Happened to Susan Jane? While the styles have changed with the decades, it’s always been the gathering place for an ultra-hip and colorful crowd. Brunch, dinner and cocktails are served indoors in the café or outside on the patio. It’s the perfect perch for people watching on a bright sunny afternoon. Café Flore, 2298 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 621-8579, www. cafeflore.com.
Best Pizza
Nizario’s Pizza This family-owned and -operated pizzeria opened in 1983 and now has three San Francisco locations and one in the South Bay. The stores are small in size but the pizzas are big in taste, using fresh, quality ingredients. A convenient stop for a quick late-night bite on the way home. Stop in for a hot slice or have a pie delivered or have them cater your next event. Nizario’s Pizza, 4077 18th St., San Francisco, (415) 487-0777, www.nizarios.com. See page 40 >>
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 39
<< Best of the Gays 2011
40 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
July 3, 1986:
July 16, 1987:
Gays protest the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bowers v. Hardwick decision, which criminalized gay sexual acts.
AIDS claimed the life of Gay Games founder and Olympic athlete Dr. Tom Waddell.
Choose among the brunch selections like the “I’m Yummy Omelette” at Harvey’s to start your day.
of the gays << Best From page 38
Best Brunch
Harvey’s This place is redolent of shades of gay: it’s located at the epicenter of the gayest neighborhood in America; it’s named after our very own political legend, Harvey Milk; and its serves a mean brunch – practically a gay invention. How can you resist dishes like the “Hungry Man Combo,” the “I’m Yummy Omelette,” or “Harvey’s Mess” when you need an eye-opener or cure for the morning after? Harvey’s, 500 Castro St., San Francisco, (415) 431-4278, www.harveyssf.com.
Best Burger & Fries
Super Duper and BurgerMeister Whoever voted for Hot ‘N Hunky needs to get out more, girlfriend! It’s been shuttered for years now. They say if you do only one thing, make sure you do it well. Readers couldn’t decide between two casual spots that grind a mean burger. The folks behind Starbelly restaurant have joined a classic burger joint with retro-modern style to create Super Duper. A simple menu of Niman Ranch burgers, fries, and Strauss organic cream-based shakes, also includes pies, cookies, and other sandwiches. Super Duper Burgers, 2304 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 558-8123, www. superdupersf.com. Bay Area chain
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February 11, 1988: The B.A.R. ran a graphic ad from the San Francisco AIDS Foundation promoting National Condom Week.
The Sutro balcony at the Cliff House offers elegant dining and unmatched views of Marin and Seal Rocks.
BurgerMeister has several locations in San Francsico, one of which is on Church Street near Duboce. American comfort classics like Niman Ranch burgers, hot dogs, salads, specialty sandwiches, shakes, and other snacks are prepared to your specifications. Check out other
Steven Underhill
Luis Flores, left, and Jessica Johnson serve up the burgers and fries at Super Duper on Market Street
items like the Kobe steak sandwich or a variety of chicken sandwiches. BurgerMeister, 138 Church St., San Francisco, (415) 437-2874, www.burgermeistersf.com.
Best Restaurant with a View
Cliff House and Greens Restaurant Readers tied two restaurants with great views. Perched on the dramatic cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Cliff House is famous for its location, ambiance, and 148-year history – and it’s a short distance
from Baker Beach. Enjoy the spectacular sunsets or Ocean Beach while dining at the casual Bistro. The elegant Sutro has inspiring vistas of the Marin coastline and Seal Rocks. It’s a perfect place for brunch or early evening cocktails. Cliff House, 1090 Point Lobos, San Francisco, (415) 386-3330, www.cliffhouse.com. Greens Restaurant is located in a converted warehouse at historic Fort Mason, where San Francisco Zen Center carpenters incorporated 12 types of recycled or reclaimed wood. Floor to ceiling windows in the airy, artfilled dining room afford breathtaking views of the Marina, Golden Gate Bridge, and Marin headlands. The elegant, fine-dining vegetarian menu is determined by available seasonal produce and changes daily. Greens Restaurant, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, (415) 7716222, www.greensrestaurant.com.
Best Late-Night Restaurant
Orphan Andy’s It’s dark and late and you’re looking for a friendly spot to get a bite to eat before heading home. Or maybe you’ve just had too much to drink and need some comfort food for fortitude before embarking on the early morning walk of shame in last night’s clothes. Or maybe you just like to get up and have breakfast very early. The light is always on at Orphan Andy’s where you’ll find great satisfying diner fare such as omelettes, salads and burgers. You’re bound to bump into friends here like owners Dennis Ziebell and Bill Pung, who have lived in the Castro for 40 years and have run this
Chef Elizabeth Faulkner tied for best dessert and just opened a new location of Citizen Cake.
neighborhood fixture for the last 34. Orphan Andy’s Restaurant, 3991 17th St., San Francisco, (415) 8649795.
Best Dessert
Sweet Inspiration and Citizen Cake Life may be just a bowl of cherries, but we’d settle for just one atop an indulgent dessert or two. Readers agree on two local favorites whose treats make life all the sweeter. Sweet Inspirations prides itself on its cakes and pastries made from scratch and freshly baked daily. A selection of colorful, delicious cakes, pies, tarts, tortes and mousses tempt visitors who drop in for a refreshing beverage or gelato. All items are available for special order, even a 9” single layer vegan cake that is worth the 4-day wait. Sweet Inspiration, 2230 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 621-8664, www. sweetinspirationbaker y.com. Fans have been cheering since local star chef Elizabeth Faulkner, proud member of our community, has relocated her successful Civic Center area restaurant to upper Fillmore Street. Delectable patisserie offerings include cakes, cupcakes, macaroons, tarts, cookies, and pate de fruit, with liquid nitrogen ice cream and sorbet coming soon. The seasonal brunch and dinner menus are creative takes on regional produce. Citizen Cake, 2125 Fillmore St., San Francisco, (415) 861-2228, www.citizencake. com.
Best Vegetarian/ Vegan Restaurant
Greens Restaurant
Steven Underhill
Sweeties like Hans Djunaidy, left, and Peder Berthelsen will tempt you with the best desserts at Sweet Inspiration.
In the 1960-70s, Greens Restaurant was a pioneer in raising vegetarian cuisine to a fine dining experience in the United States. Dishes created by chef Annie Sommerville for the daily menu balance flavors, colors, and contrasting textures using seasonal organic produce. By drawing on the full-flavored cuisines of the Mediterranean, Mexico, and the American Southwest, the restaurant has earned a worldwide reputation. Greens Restaurant, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, (415) 7716222, www.greensrestaurant.com. See page 42 >>
Read more online at www.ebar.com
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 41
42 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
<< Best of the Gays 2011
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November 16, 1989: This powerful issue included AIDS deaths for the year
Neighborhood fixture Orphan Andy’s is the best late-night and cheap restaurant, which might also describe some of the regulars.
of the Gays << Best From page 40
Best Chef
Gary Danko
Congratulations on the historic 40th Anniversary of the Bay Area Reporter and
Thank You to the readers for voting Walgreen’s - Castro Best Pharmacy
498 Castro Street at the Corner of 18th San Francisco, CA 94114 415-861-3136 • www.walgreens.com
We’re so fortunate to live in a city considered one of the foodie capitals of the country, where so many star chefs create new worlds of culinary delights for the eye and palate. Among the hundreds of contenders, readers overwhelmingly voted multi-award-winning Gary Danko as their favorite chef. Danko’s cooking focuses on lively, seasonal dishes prepared with a careful eye toward classical technique. “What we do here is definitely theatre,” explains Danko. “We work hard to ensure that each evening’s ‘performance’ is seamless and magical.” He’s so popular that you can’t get a seat to his show for at least two months. A memorable dining experience will reward the patient. Gary Danko, 800 North Point, San Francisco, (415) 7492060, www.garydanko.com.
Best Splurge Restaurant
Gary Danko Of course, our readers’ best chef owns and operates the best splurge restaurant. Gary Danko’s namesake
restaurant is a temple to fine dining worthy of any international city. Signature dishes like roast lobster, foie gras, and lamb loin are served with accompaniments appropriate to the season. The prix-fixe menu offers three, four, or five course meals, accompanied with wine pairings for each course. The growing wine cellar holds over 1,800 wines ranging from exceptional grand vintages to coveted small producers. The expansive cheese service is one of the best in the country and diners can view the carefully aged selections in the restaurant’s handsome cheese case. Gary Danko, 800 North Point, San Francisco, (415) 749-2060, www. garydanko.com.
Best Cheap Restaurant
Orphan Andy’s In one of the rare buildings that pre-dated and survived the 1906 earthquake – 1896 – you’ll find a longtime local hangout whose comfort fare has reminded patrons of home for several decades. Originally a doctor’s office and pharmacy with a soda fountain, it has been a diner since the mid40s. Choose from an honest menu of familiar items like egg dishes, breakfast fare, burgers and salads See page 44 >>
Read more online at www.ebar.com
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 43
<< Best of the Gays 2011
44 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
October 4, 1990: Long before Craigslist, 900 numbers were a gateway to hooking up.
of the Gays << Best From page 42 for around the price of a cocktail or two. Orphan Andy’s Restaurant, 3991 17th St., San Francisco, (415) 864-9795.
ARTS & NIGHTLIFE Best Movie Theater
Castro Theatre There’s nothing more iconic of the Castro than the art deco façade and marquee of the Castro Theatre.
May 9, 1991:
January 9, 1992:
Gays protested another controversial film, Basic Instinct, which was filmed in San Francisco.
B.A.R. co-founder Paul Bentley died of cancer December 24, 1991.
The original location was where Cliff ’s Variety is now and has stood as the entertainment center of the neighborhood for generations. The site of countless first dates, movie premieres, and film festivals, the “Castro” is suffused with nostalgia for locals and visitors alike, who all know that the strains of “San Francisco” on the Mighty Wurlitzer signals the start of the feature presentation. One of the last privately owned cinemas in the country, the Nasser family will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the 1,400-seat movie palace in 2012. It was designated a landmark in 1977. Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St.,
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San Francisco, (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com.
Best Rep Film House
Castro Theatre As the longtime owners and operators of the Castro Theatre, the Nasser family is committed to scheduling “diverse film programs for a diverse audience.” There’s a constantly changing schedule of films ranging from studio classics and foreign fare to obscure art house and recent releases. It’s one of the few movie palaces left to witness
Left to right, Cameron Cummings, Tom Orr, and Joe Wicht star in a recent production of Dirty Little Showtunes at the New Conservatory Theatre Center.
classic films on the big screen as they were intended to be seen. Have you ever experienced a crowded theater full of queens during a Bette Davis movie or Sing Along Wizard of Oz? Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., San Francisco, (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com.
Best Theater Company
New Conservatory Theatre Center Executive and Artistic Director Ed Decker leads this successful theater company whose vision is to “champion innovative, high-quality theatre experiences for youth, adults, and artists to effect personal and societal growth, enlightenment, and change.” It is the only theater company to consistently present LGBT plays each year as a part of it’s Pride Season Plays. New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, (415) 861-8972, www.nctcsf.org.
Best Dance Company
San Francisco Ballet If you like seeing beautiful bodies moving through space and
time, check out America’s oldest professional ballet company and one of the three largest ballet companies in the country. Since its founding in 1933, San Francisco Ballet has enjoyed a long, rich tradition, including the first American productions of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson has led the company for the last 25 years and has achieved an international reputation as one of the preeminent ballet companies in the world. San Francisco Ballet, 455 Franklin St., San Francisco, (415) 865-2000, www.sfballet.org.
Best Art Gallery
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The galleries at SFMOMA have always displayed works by LGBT artists from their permanent collection and hosted a number of innovative programs and exhibitions exploring gender and sexuality. Opening later this year is a new exhibition, “The Air We Breathe,” in which 27 artists and seven poets have been commissioned to create works that address same-sex marriage. Also opening will be a survey exhibition of Mark Bardford’s work that probes
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Best of the Gays 2011>>
March 11, 1993:
August 25, 1994:
Hirsute men gathered in San Francisco o for the Bear Expo.
America Online ushered in email and Internet connections for the masses, including LGBTs.
Best Club for Trans People
the substructures of urban society as defined by gender, race, and class. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 3rd St., San Francisco, (415) 357-4000, www.sfmoma.org.
Divas
Best Museum
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Readers unanimously voted for SFMOMA as the best museum, although there’s no shortage of worthy museums of all kinds in the Bay Area. “The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde,” will premier at SFMOMA in May. It will honor lesbian, feminist, writer, philosopher, and Oakland native Gertrude Stein with works from the influential collection of French artists collected by the Stein family at the turn of the 19th century. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 3rd St., San Francisco, (415) 357-4000, www.sfmoma.org.
Best After Hours Club
The EndUp The original home of the wet underwear contest, the dancing never stops on the weekends at this long-running club. Start on Friday night with DJ Hawthorne’s Ghetto Disco and keep going until Sunday Sessions. The outdoor patio is great for a change of atmosphere for taking a break from the dance floor. The Endup, 401 6th St., San Francisco, (415) 646-0999, www.theendup.com.
Best Club for Queer Men
Badlands Readers just can’t get enough of this place. The inviting lounge and bar are a great place to meet old friends or make a new one. Drop in for the popular happy hour or Sunday beer bust. After sundown, DJs spin the hits that get you on the dance floor. Badlands, 4121 18th St., San Francisco, (415) 626-9320, www.sfbadlands.com.
Best Club for Queer Women
The Cafe Women love this club for the action on and off the dance floor. It was completely remodeled in 2009 to create the “Café” experience. Check out Delicious every third Thursday of the month for “ladies rocking the Castro.” The Café, 2369 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 834-5840, www.cafesf.com.
Best Drag Act
Donna Sachet The ubiquitous lady in red, Empress XXX of San Francisco, and B.A.R. society columnist Donna Sachet is everyone’s favorite drag performer. Her tireless work on behalf of the LGBT community has raised funds for many deserving agencies over the past 20 years. She created the successful annual December fundraiser Songs of the Season and currently stars in
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 45
Donna Sachet is a San Francisco original and best drag act.
Sunday’s a Drag at Harry Denton’s Starlight Room every week. Donna is a real San Francisco creation. Donna Sachet, www.donnasachet.com.
You’ll find the only transgender nightclub in all of California only right here in little ole San Francisco. Empress Alexis Miranda has been ruling the roost at Divas for the past 27 years, which began in 1988 as the Motherload on Larkin Street. It’s one of the few remaining bars that harkens back to the days when it was a gay neighborhood known as Polk Strasse. Can you name the other survivors? This dream palace has three floors and the only club where you can indulge in topless transgender dancing. It continues a longtime San Francisco tradition and now claims the mantle of the “Longest Running Drag Show in See page 46 >>
ebar.com
<< Best of the Gays 2011
46 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
January 5, 1995:
October 24, 1996:
SF police raid an AIDS benefit and cops are accused of making antigay slurs.
Members of ACT d UP/SF poured used cat litter on Pat Christen, then the e head of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
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of the Gays << Best From page 45 the City.” Divas, 1081 Post St., San Francisco, (415) 474-3482, www.divassf.com.
Best DJ
Robbie Martin
www.ebar.com
DJ Robbie Martin has been keeping San Francisco clubs and parties sweating and dancing since 2005, and has garnered a reputation as one of the leading DJ talents in the Bay Area. He cut his teeth in New Orleans, where he learned at the knee of many of the circuit’s hottest DJs. “I love the Bay Area and I love dance music. I definitely am where I am supposed to be right now,” says Robbie. Robbie Martin, www.djrobbiemartin.com.
Best comedian Marga Gomez has been keeping us in stitches through the years.
Best Comedian
Marga Gomez Marga Gomez was one of the first out comedians in the country and has since enjoyed a long career in comedy, theater, film and television that has taken her across the country and abroad. She got her start in San Francisco and hasn’t stopped laughing since then, garnering praise, fans and awards along the way. Maybe you’ve seen this funny lady on a local stage recently or caught one of her annual New Year’s eve shows. Currently you can catch a laugh weekly in Berkeley where she hosts Marga’s Funny Mondays at The Marsh. Marga Gomez, ww.margagomez.com.
SEX & ROMANCE Best Place to Meet Someone
Online It turns out the best place to meet someone is online, according to respondents. It would have been more helpful if we had a referral. But with the explosion of websites catering to all manner of types and tastes, you’re bound to find the right one if you look hard enough. But let’s hope that meeting someone in person will never lose its allure to spark lust or romance.
Best Place for a First Date
Cafe Flore There are certain requirements when choosing a site for a first date: it must have a comfortable ambiance to put you both at ease, it should have an affordable and interesting menu of refreshments, and it must have multiple doors for a quick exit, just in case. While the chances of bumping into a familiar face or two are high, a lot of readers like to meet at Café Flore to size each other up and see if sparks start to fly. So if you see someone you know with a stranger, try and be discreet unless your friend needs to be rescued. Café Flore, 2298 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 621-8579, www.cafeflore.com.
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Best of the Gays 2011>>
June 12, 1997: The B.A.R. investigated raises at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 47
August 13, 1998:
August 5, 1999:
For the first time since the B.A.R. began running them, there were no obituaries submitted for that week’s paper. The story made national news.
Hours after a federal judge ruled against United Airlines, the carrier said it would offer domestic partner benefits to its workers under San Francisco’s landmark equal benefits ordinance.
soon. Mr. S Leather, 385 8th St., San Francisco, (415) 863-7764, www.mr-s-leather.com.
Best Adult Video Store
Superstar Satellite Superstar Video has distinguished itself for stocking the most extensive, inclusive catalog of gay adult films anywhere. When possible, you’ll find uncensored, complete mail-order versions on the shelves that are typically unavailable for rental anywhere else. New titles are added daily from major production houses like Falcon, Raging Stallion, and Bel Ami, as well as from smaller, specialized studios. Previously viewed films are frequently discounted for purchase. Superstar Satellite, 474 Castro St., San Francisco, (415) 863-3483, www.castromoviestore.com. Blow Buddies is one of the private member clubs that won readers’ vote for best sex club.
Best Place to Break Up
Best Flower Shop
Mission Dolores Park
Urbano Reynoso has been a professional florist for over 21 years and his eponymous, familyowned and -operated store has been doing business in the Castro for 10 years. A local favorite for the freshest floral products at affordable prices, Urbano provides his customers exceptional service that keeps them returning. Rather than wait until you start pushing up daisies, communicate your sentiments to that special someone with a surprise that can only be conveyed by a fragrant bouquet. Urban Flowers, 4025 18th St., San Francisco, (415) 355-1028, www. urbanflowerssanfrancisco.com.
Seems people are doing more than enjoying the green space or relaxing in the sun at Dolores Park. We suppose the breath-taking panoramic view helps to assuage the pain of breaking up, whether you’re the dumper or dumpee. So if you see a couple deep in conversation, give them some space. Mission Dolores Park, 500 Dolores Blvd., San Francisco, (415) 831-2700, www.sfrecpark.org.
Best Place to Buy Wedding Wear
Nordstrom Nordstrom has a full-service wedding department that will help you with everything that you could possibly need to outfit you and your wedding party whether it’s a modest or extravagant affair. We all look forward to the day when same-sex marriage will be legal in this country. Nordstrom San Francisco Centre, 865 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 243-8500, www. shop.nordstrom.com.
Best Place to Get Married
San Francisco City Hall City Hall’s august rotunda is the perfect setting for tying the knot. It’s suffused with a quiet dignity and a history that makes us all proud to live in San Francisco. And what could be more perfect than a wedding photo against the dramatic backdrop of the grand staircase? The staff at the County Clerk’s office is on standby to handle the rush of same-sex weddings when our marriages will be legally recognized. San Francisco City Hall, Office of the County Clerk, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl. Rm. 168, San Francisco, (415) 5544950, www.sfgov2.org.
Urban Flowers
Best Place to Buy Sex Toys
Good Vibrations Toys are not just for tots anymore. Sex toys come in every conceivable form, size, color, and synchronized movement to tickle your fancy. For three decades, Good Vibrations has been providing high quality products, education, and workshops that promote sexual health, pleasure, and empowerment in a safe, comfortable environment. There are three locations in San Francisco and one in Berkeley, as well as a comprehensive online store. Good Vibrations, 899 Mission St., San Francisco, (415) 513-1635, www.goodvibes.com.
Best Place to Buy Fetish Gear
Mr. S Leather San Francisco’s premier fetish gear purveyor has been outfitting the South of Market scene for the last 30 years. The range of fetish gear, bondage equipment, and sex toys demonstrate the changing tastes and creative responses to making sexual fantasies into a hot reality. The Madame S boutique showcases women’s clothing. Nasty Pig, Inseam, and Mr. S Locker Room are new lines that are coming
Best Sex Club
Blow Buddies and Eros Even with all the choices and opportunities in the Bay Area, there is a tie among readers who can’t seem to decide whether they like saunas or gloryholes more – so why not have both? The more the See page 48 >>
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<< Best of the Gays 2011
48 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
March 9, 2000:
September 20, 2001:
Prop 22 wins big, banning same-sex marriage.
Gays were among those killed in the terror attacks of 9/11.
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June 20, 2002: San Francisco Police Officer Jon C. Cook became the first openly gay cop to die in the line of duty. Cook was involved in a collision with two marked patrol cars while responding to a call.
of the gays << Best From page 47 merrier and it’s always nice to have company. Going 23 years strong, Blow Buddies is a locally owned and operated private men’s sex club south of Market with a membership of about 250,000. Every Wednesday has a different buddy party catering to your favorite fetish to get the juices flowing: bears, naked, underwear, golden shower, and leather. So get yourself lost in the maze or gloryhole gallery. Blow Buddies, 933 Harrison St., San Francisco, (415) 777-4323, www. blowbuddies.com. Eros, which began 19 years ago, is also locally owned and operated. Every day at noon it opens for appointments as Indulge Day Spa, attended by licensed, professional massage practitioners who provide a range of body treatments. At 4 p.m. day spa clients can remain and are not charged an entrance fee when it becomes Eros, a private men’s sex club with various creative play spaces and a lounge and garden for relaxation. The club is distinguished by its large Mediterranean tiled shower room, expansive European steam room, and two-tiered sauna, as well as its calendar of special parties and events. Eros, 2051 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 864-3767, www.erossf.com.
Best Cruising Spot
Buena Vista Park In the olden days before gay bars, cruising developed into an art form – a mating dance of sorts – so we could find each other in an otherwise straight world. Buena Vista Park has never lost its appeal as an ideal cruising spot where an inviting glance can lead to a chance encounter in the brush. But keep in mind that this can put you at risk for some unpleasant endings so please be cautious. Buena Vista Park, 1100 Haight St., San Francisco, (415) 831-2700, www.sfrecpark.org.
OUTDOORS & SPORTS Best Non-Professional Sports Team
San Francisco Fog Rugby Football Club You may enjoy getting into the scrum or simply be happy just to watch. There’s something for everyone in this gay-identified, all-inclusive rugby club that includes one women’s and two men’s teams that are competitive in local leagues and international tournaments. New members of all types are welcome at any time, and experience is not required. The Fog will travel to Manchester, England in 2012, hoping to bring home the Bingham Cup that was named after 9/11 hero and former Fog member Mark Bingham. San Francisco Fog Rugby Football Club, San Francisco, www.sffog.org.
Eric Nielson
Members of the best non-professional sports team SF Fog Rugby Football Club.
Best Professional Sports Team
San Francisco Giants Was there any other choice than our 2010 World Series champs? The San Francisco Giants, which was established in 1883 and moved to San Francisco in 1958, is one of the oldest franchises in Major League Baseball. In 1994 it became the first team in professional sports to host a game dedicated to raising AIDS/HIV awareness. Since then, Until There’s A Cure Day has raised more than $1 million for these critical programs to our community. San Francisco Giants, 24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco, (415) 972-2000, www.sanfrancisco.giants.com.
Best Place to Buy Bikes & Gear
Mike’s Bikes Founded in Marin County in 1964, Mike’s Bikes shops are now all over the Bay Area. The knowledgeable staff will guide you through the variety of types and styles of bikes to meet your needs as well as all the accessories and components. And of course, they offer bike repairs and servicing. Mike’s Bikes, 1233 Howard St., San Francisco (415) 241-2453, www.mikesbikes.com.
Gold’s Gym
Urban Flow’s mission is to create a yoga community in San Francisco and offers donation-based yoga sessions. You’ll experience a healthier body and peace of mind, but the goal is experiencing enlightenment or oneness. Classes are led by Bhakti Flow certified instructors. Urban Flow Yoga, 1543 Mission St., San Francisco, (415) 355-9642, www.urbanflowyoga.com.
Best Place to Buy Camping Gear
REI REI is known around the country for its exhaustive array of all manner of gear for any outdoor activity. You’ll find it hard to decide among the many choices for camping equipment and if you’re not sure about buying an item, it may be available for rental. REI San Francisco, 840 Brannan St., San Francisco, (415) 934-1938, www.rei.com.
Best Park for Hiking
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Best Nude Beach
Baker Beach Best personal trainer Andrew Duffy will help you meet your fitness goals.
Best Yoga Studio
Urban Flow Yoga
walk from the Castro. The park is large enough that different areas seem like you’re in another park entirely. Picnic benches and grills can be reserved for a fee. Or you can spread your blanket and take your chances with the ants. Mission Dolores Park, 500 Dolores Blvd., San Francisco, (415) 831-2700, www.sfrecpark.org.
There’s no tiring of the amazing hikes available in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The changing, sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Marin Headlands, San Francisco, and the Pacific Ocean make each hike a different, rewarding experience no matter how many times you’ve traversed these trails. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, www.nps.gov/goga.
Best Gym A regular stop at the gym is part of the weekly routine for keeping fit and looking great. Gold’s Gym is a national chain of full service gyms with two local franchises in San Francisco. The gym in the Castro features two levels of free weights and training machines to help you meet your fitness goals. Gold’s Gym, 2301 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 626-4134, www.ggsf.com.
Rick Gerharter
Nude sunbathers and stunning views will be found at San Francisco’s Baker Beach.
Best Personal Trainer
Andrew Duffy Keeping fit is easier with the support of a personal trainer. Andrew Duffy is the popular owner of ThriveSF, who offers innovative techniques driven at results for his clients. “Making personal change is hard – whether the goal is physical, emotional, and behavioral. And every change affect all three elements: the body, the heart, and the mind. Having the right support system for each element is integral to successful positive change.” Andrew Duffy, PES, Thrive SF, (415) 8282440, www.thrivesf.com.
Best Picnic Spot
Mission Dolores Park On those spectacular sunny days, Mission Dolores Park is the ideal site for a picnic – and it’s a short
Best Place to Watch a Sunset
Ocean Beach Sunrise, sunset – oy vey, already! Sometimes this is a city for sunsets, except for when the early morning fog is hanging out over the Great Highway. But on those languid Indian summer days when the air is clear, the California sunset lives at Ocean Beach. Ocean Beach, 800 Great Highway, San Francisco, (415) 561-4323, www.parksconservancy.org.
Best Clothed Beach
Ocean Beach Ocean Beach is the widest and longest expanse of sand in San Francisco. When it’s not foggy or too windy, it’s a great place to escape the pressures of the city for a seaside stroll, kite flying or people watching. Ocean Beach, 800 Great Highway, San Francisco, (415) 561-4323, www.parksconservancy.org.
Best Public Park
Golden Gate Park
If you survive the hike down and don’t get sidetracked in the bushes, this mile-long stretch of beach at the western edge of the Presidio will not disappoint, with postcard views of the Marin Headlands and the Golden Gate Bridge. The far end of the beach has always been popular with gay sun worshipers who like it in the buff and distain tan lines. Just don’t forget to put sun block on those sensitive body parts. Baker Beach, Battery Chamberlin Rd., San Francisco, (415) 561-4323, www.parkconservancy.org.
Covering more than 1,000 acres, Golden Gate Park is one of the great public parks in the country and is the home of many entertaining attractions. There are gardens, museums, lakes, sporting facilities, picnic areas, and even a Japanese Tea Garden. It is also the site of the National AIDS Memorial Grove where many from our community are remembered and honored. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, (415) 831-5500, www.golden-gatepark.com.
Best Place to Watch a Sunrise
Duboce Park
Twin Peaks San Francisco is not a city for sunrises due to the Oakland Hills to the east. But from the heights of Twin Peaks on a clear day you can get a glimpse of the rosy fingers of dawn poking over, illuminating the skyline and bay area. The trek up is well worth the sweeping view. You can almost believe that you can reach out and touch the city. Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks Blvd., San Francisco, (415) 831-2700, www.sfrecpark.org.
Best Dog Park This small urban park is a gathering place for dogs and their humans. Conveniently located between several neighborhoods, doggies are permitted to run and romp off-leash in the multi-use area at the southeastern section of the park. On sunny weekends there seems to be more dogs here than people. Duboce Park, 500 Duboce St., San Francisco, (415) 831-2700, www.sfrecpark.org.
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April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 49
50 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
<< Best of the Gays 2011
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July 3, 2003: The U.S. Supreme Court in late June reversed its Bowers v. Hardwick decision when, in Lawrence v. Texas, it threw out the remaining 13 state sodomy laws.
Drag star RuPaul at one of the many book signing events at Books Inc. in the Castro.
of the Gays << Best From page 48
Best City Vista
Twin Peaks The city is full of iconic vistas that capture its spirit. The readers’ favorite is the panoramic view from Twin Peaks. While the view from the top is unmatched, nothing can match the view up toward Sutro Tower on those sunny days when the fog flows over the top. Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks Blvd., San Francisco, (415) 8312700, www.sfrecpark.org.
SHOPPING Best Jewelry Store
Shreve & Company A San Francisco institution since 1852, Shreve & Company has been the purveyor of fine jewelry and watches for generations and is one of the oldest independent jewelers in the United States. A second store is located in the Stanford Shopping Center. Spoil yourself or someone you love with tasteful bling by Mikimoto, Roberto Coin, Marco Bicego, SUNA, Furrer-Jacot, Hearts On Fire, Slane, Kwait or the Shreve Estate jewelry collection. Service departments at both locations have experienced jewelers and skilled master watchmakers to care for your precious heirlooms. Shreve & Co., 200 Post St., San Francisco, (415) 421-2600, www.shreve.com.
Best Bookstore
Books Inc. Believe it or not, people still read books. Established in 1851, Books Inc. is the West’s oldest independent bookseller and is going strong with many stores in San Francisco and nearby cities. In every store, you’ll find thoughtful gifts for the book lover in your life as well as a regular schedule of visiting authors. From mainstream to masochism, Achebe to Zzyzzyva, the Castro’s only full service bookstore is Books Inc., 2275 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 864-6777, www.booksinc.net.
Best Magazine Selection
Books Inc. Your favorite bookstore also features the best magazine collection. Books Inc. carries a wide selection of domestic and international magazines devoted to LGBT, fashion, art, architecture, travel, lifestyle – or almost anything that looks great that’s glossy and slick. Books Inc., 2275 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 864-6777, www.booksinc.net.
Best Place to Buy Vinyl and CDs
Amoeba Music Amoeba Records is a treasure trove of music. Hard to find LPs on vinyl and tons of CDs are there to pore over. If you can’t find it at the Haight St. store, check the website or stop in the other store on Telegraph
Steven Underhill
For your viewing pleasure, Anthony Morin, left, and general manager Victor Phillips of Superstar Satellite, the best place for movie rental and adult films.
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February 19, 2004: Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered city officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The move ignited debate over marriage equality. Some 4,000 couples from across the U.S. came to San Francisco during the “Winter of Love.”
give us unconditional love and companionship – in addition to the side benefit of meeting strangers while out on a stroll. This neighborhood shop opened for business nearly 10 years ago and continues to provide irresistible items and accessories to treat your dog or cat. Check out the unique Best in Show products only available here. Best in Show, 545 Castro St., San Francisco (415) 864-7387, www.bestinsho.sf.com
Best Quirky Specialty Store
Cliff’s Variety The old front of Cliff’s Variety, the best quirky specialty store, has been a presence in the Castro for generations.
Ave. in Berkeley. Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight St., San Francisco, (415) 831-1200, www.amoeba.com.
“Illa” Boutique. 2265 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 437-2265, www.suigenerisconsignment.com.
Best Place to Rent Movies
Best Thrift Store
Superstar Satellite Gay owned and operated for 25 years, Superstar Satellite is one of the few stores left in San Francisco that rents films and prides itself for a fine selection of independent, LGBT interest, and major studio movies. Beyond the blockbusters, you’ll find obscure films that cater to progressive tastes, not to mention many of the films that you may have loved or missed at Frameline’s International LGBT Festival. And do you know about the comprehensive collection of adult films? Superstar Satellite, 474 Castro St., San Francisco, (415) 863-3483, www.castromoviestore.com.
Best Vintage Clothing Store
Sui Generis Miguel Lopez and Gabriel Yanez’s stores have redefined vintage: they selectively “curate” merchandise to provide high-end designers and superlative garment condition to help you look fashionable at affordable prices. “Ille” caters to men and a new second store, “Illa,” caters to women. Sui Generis, “Ille” Boutique, 2231 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 437-2231 and
Out of the Closet AIDS Healthcare Foundation owns and operates the many Out of the Closet stores in northern and southern California. Donations help fund the medical services and advocacy programs run by AHF. The Polk and Church Street stores have private areas for free HIV testing and counseling. Out of the Closet, 100 Church St., San Francisco, (415) 252-1101, www.outofthecloset.org.
Best New Furniture Store
Room & Board To make a house a home, readers like the classic contemporary furnishings of Room & Board. For more than 30 years this national company has focused on the simple idea that good design should be beautiful, affordable, and longlasting. American artisans produce furniture, accessories, and custom pieces that fit the needs of modern living. Room & Board, 685 7th St., San Francisco, (415) 252-9280, www.roomandboard.com.
Best Pet Shop
Best in Show Nothing is too good for our pets. We spoil them because they
Another satisfied customer at Best in Show.
Hilario DeBaca’s descendants have operated this neighborhood institution since he first opened Cliff ’s Variety 75 years ago. The current store is the second location and occupies the lot where the first Castro Theater stood. It was the first straight-owned business to join the Castro Village Association and also started celebrating Halloween in the Castro with a children’s parade, complete with costume and pieeating contests. You’ll always find something there that you didn’t know you needed. Check out their annex next door to find the right touches for your next creative project. Cliff ’s Variety, 479 Castro St., San Francisco (415) 431-5365, www.cliffsvariety.com. See page 52 >>
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52 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
September 15, 2005: After a second trial, a Hayward jury found Michael Magidson and Jose Merel guilty of second-degree murder in the death of transgender teenager Gwen Araujo. A mistrial was again declared in the case of defendant Jason Cazares.
June 1, 2006:
August 9, 2007:
The world marked 25 years of the AIDS epidemic.
The famed Castro Theatre e celebrated its 85th anniversary.
Best Place to Buy Eyewear
of the Bay << Best From page 51
Best Pharmacy
Eye Gotcha
Walgreens
Dr. Greg Higuchi and his helpful staff have been providing eye care and eye wear in the Castro since 1993. There are plans to unveil a groovy new look later this year. You will see well and look fabulous in frames from their well-curated selection of unique styles from around the world. Eye Gotcha Optometric, 586 Castro St., San Francisco, (415) 431-2988, www.eyegotchasf.com.
Of the many pharmacies to choose from, the one that’s been proudly serving, supporting, and caring for customers in the Castro for 28 years is the readers’ favorite. Store manager Sharon Woo and pharmacy manager Brett Murdy provide a range of services like specially trained HIV pharmacists, personal medication consultation, immunizations, and same-day prescription delivery. Staff will help you solve any insurance problem. Walgreens Castro, 498 Castro St., San Francisco, (415) 861-3136, www.walgreens.com.
Steven Underhill
Counter clerk Ricky Ho, left, and pharmacist Peter Fong at Walgreens Pharmacy in the Castro.
CITY LIVING Best Tattoo Studio
Bulldog Tattoo Gauge Strongarm is the aptly named artist who has been inking the
LGBT community in San Francisco for the past 15 years. His new shop is a comfortable, professionally equipped environment that remains the premier owned and operated tattoo studio in the Castro. Gauge will help you develop your next body art project when you are ready to get illustrated. Bulldog Tattoo, 2275C Market St., San Francisco, (415) 948-0332, www.bulldogtattoosf.com.
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during the “Winter of Love” until they were stopped by court order. His bold move set in motion the struggle for marriage equality in California that will likely culminate in a decision by the United States Supreme Court. Gavin Newsom, www.gavinnewsom.com.
Best Politician You Love to Hate
Best Politician
Chris Daly
Gavin Newsom
Chris Daly won this election hands down. His tenure on the Board of Supervisors was marked by one explosive incident after another and his battles with other supervisors were “on like Donkey Kong.” He’s termed out of office so we won’t have Chris to kick around anymore, that is unless you drop by when he’s holding court in his bar Buck Tavern on Market St. Chris Daly
Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom has been a longtime supporter of LGBT rights. In 2004, just 36 days after becoming mayor of San Francisco, Newsom gained worldwide attention when he granted marriage licenses to samesex couples. About four thousand legal marriages were created
Local entertainment reporter and movie critic Jan Wahl can been seen on KRON-TV and heard on KCBS news radio.
Best Local TV Personality
Jan Wahl Readers tipped their hats for Jan Wahl. She’s seen on KRON-TV, where she critiques recent movies and covers the entertainment business, when she’s not on the radio or in the local newspapers. She’s a great supporter of the LGBT community and our causes. “Thank you for this great honor, and the honor of being of service, being a big sister to you all and getting the rest of the world living in fear and ignorance out of the friggin’ way!” Jan Wahl, www.janwahl.com.
Best Street Fair
Folsom Street Fair Folsom Street Fair breaks all records for being the largest leather event in the world. Covering 13 city blocks, it attracts people from around the world who come to romp around in their leather, rubber and all manner of fetish attire. The daylong fair features vendors and entertainment that benefit local charities and causes. Folsom Street Events, 131 10th St., San Francisco, (415) 444-3247, www.folsomstreetfair.com.
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Best of the Gays 2011>>
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 53
June 19, 2008: A summer of “I do’s” began in California after the state Supreme Court ruled that Proposition 22, a same-sex marriage ban, was unconstitutional. Marriage foes quickly put Prop 8 on the ballot.
Best Pet Groomer
VIP Grooming Every dog has his day – hopefully it’s a day of pampering at this salon in Noe Valley. With over 20 years of grooming experience, Lancy Woo and her caring staff provide a full range of grooming services to keep your dog looking healthy, beautiful, and in top form. Think of it as a doggie day spa. VIP Grooming, 4299 24th St., San Francisco, (415) 282-1393, www.vipgroomingsf.com.
Best Dentist
Michael Perona First impressions can begin with a smile and Dr. Michael Perona and his dedicated staff have been helping San Franciscans look their best since 1996. A graduate of the San Francisco School of Dentistry, he maintains membership in many professional organizations to stay updated on the latest developments in the industry. His inviting practice provides cosmetic, restorative, and preventive dental care. Michael Perona, DDS, 120 Howard St., San Francisco, (415) 546-7990, www.sfteeth.com.
Best Attorney
Deb Kinney Sooner or later, we all need the wise counsel of a good attorney. Deb Kinney is the principal of DLK LawGroup PC, a firm that offers comprehensive estate planning, trust administration, and probate services with a special understanding of the rapidly evolving legal framework and tax requirements for the LGBT community. She urges everyone to be active participants and donors to their favorite LGBT community organizations because she believes we are stronger when we act together. Deb Kinney, DLKLaGroup, 1 Bush St. #1150, San Francisco, (415) 693-0550, www.dlklawgroup.com.
Best Massage Therapist
Joshua Alexander The stress of modern living getting you down? There’s nothing like the healing technique of a talented, caring massage therapist to make you feel whole and hale. Joshua Alexander, who practices a variety of massage and energy work modalities in a warm, comfortable Castro studio, is a very popular CMT. His sessions are tailored to
your needs and focus on goals like relaxation, pain relief, or spiritual growth. Joshua Alexander, CMT, San Francisco, (415) 691-4076, www.joshuaalexandercmt.com.
Best Day Spa
Kabuki Springs & Spa Kabuki Springs & Spa is a peaceful sanctuary devoted to nurturing harmony and relaxation through the healing powers of water and therapeutic touch in a warm, inviting Pan-Asian setting. Check out their highly skilled staff of therapists and amazing body treatments. Although entry is restricted to men and women on alternate days, Tuesday is open to all. Kabuki Springs & Spa, 1750 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, (415) 922-6000, www.kabukisprings.com.
Best Hotel
The Fairmont Sitting atop Nob Hill, the Fairmont’s setting features all the best that San Francisco has to offer: spectacular panoramic city and bay views, cable car lines, historic neighborhoods, and impeccable luxury service. Each of the hotel’s 591 guestrooms and suites are elegantly styled with modern amenities like flat screen TVs, Frette linen ensembles, pillow top beds, and electronic docking stations. Fine dining is available in three renowned restaurants and lounges, as well as 55,00 square feet of rooms for special functions. As one of the world’s grand hotels, you won’t soon forget your stay there. The Fairmont San Francisco, 950 Mason St., San Francisco, (415) 772-5000, www.fairmont.com/sanfrancisco.
Best Senior Living Community
Fountaingrove Lodge No, it’s not Palm Springs or the Twin Peaks bar. And no, it’s not the Castro either. While the gay life sometimes means living for today, sooner or later it’s best to face the future and prepare for one’s gay golden years in stylish comfort. The first LGBT senior living community to offer high quality services and amenities is under construction on 10 acres in Northern California’s wine country, and it has people buzzing with anticipation. Besides gourmet dining, concierge service, pet parks, resident gardens and a continuum of care, you might also
find yourself looking forward to a weekly Sunday tea dance with different kinds of party favors. Fountaingrove Lodge, 4210 Thomas Lake Harris Dr., Santa Rosa, (707) 576-1101, www. fountaingrovelodge.com.▼
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<< Best of the Gays 2011
54 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
May 28, 2009:
May 27, 2010:
The California Supreme Court upheld Prop 8, which barred same-sex marriage in the state. At the same time the justices let stand the estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place before Prop 8 was passed.
San Francisco joined with other cities to mark the first state observance of Harvey Milk Day, a day of special significance that was signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
<< Advertising From page 35 Sexual reawakening As new HIV medications emerged in the mid to late 1990s, ending the likelihood an AIDS diagnosis would be a death sentence; the parallel sexual reawakening that came with it could be seen in a new batch of gay press marketers. Technological advancements were changing how gay men met one another, so advertising for phone chat lines exploded. So did ads from models, massage therapists, and
<< Male-focused From page 32 readership has changed and surveys indicate more women read the paper now than just 15 years ago. In an April 1996 readership survey done by Simmons Market Research Bureau, 554 people responded. Of those, 94 percent were men and only 6 percent were women. The paper’s female readership has risen since then. According to a 2010 survey of B.A.R., 79.7 percent of the 823 people who were asked with which community they identified said “gay man.” “Queer” was the choice of 14.2 percent, and 13.6 said, “lesbian or gay woman.” “Bisexual” accounted for 7 percent of the responses; “other” was 3.9 percent; and “transgender” was 2.6 percent. Respondents were allowed to choose multiple responses. The rest were “heterosexual,”
<< Interview From page 31 She emailed the paper asking to be connected to Heacock and Blackburn so she could interview them for her project. The men agreed to participate and talked to Aivana by phone. They also emailed her photos of Heacock with Milk and the links to
<< Researchers From page 31 Getting a publication to write about his research can have a positive impact on recruiting people of color, he said. “Racial minorities tend to be more suspicious of researchers. But somehow when it shows up in a newspaper it conveys some legitimacy to them,” he said. “If a newspaper published something on it then it must be a legit undertaking.” Perhaps less well known to readers of LGBT media is how authors and academics outside the AIDS field are tapping into the archives of various LGBT publications for source material for their work. While listed in the credits or reference bibliographies, it isn’t always so evident the role LGBT media has played in helping to shape these works. “Most academic researchers will look at gay media as well as our papers and other materials here,” said Rebekah Kim, the managing archivist at the San Francisco-based GLBT Historical Society.
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escorts. The B.A.R. also introduced what it called its BarTalk Personals. While readers could place small ads for free in the pages of the paper, they would be charged 98 cents per minute to respond. “It was a glorified voicemail system. At the time it was a big money maker,” recalled B.A.R. general manager Mike Yamashita. “At the time it was cutting edge.” The advent of the Internet brought drastic changes in the 2000s to the mix of advertisers in the paper. Online hookup sites brought to an end BarTalk and the number
of phone lines dwindled. The creation of the website Craigslist ate away at not only the escort ads but also classified advertising in all manner of categories. A different change reflecting the expansion of legal rights for the LGBT community over the last decade was cropping up in the paper’s professional services ads. Attorneys promoting their expertise in housing and employment discrimination gave way to lawyers and accountants promoting assistance with estate planning, wills, and tax preparation for
domestic partners. No doubt as the landscape of LGBT rights continues to advance, those legal successes will be reflected in the mix of marketing messages found within the pages of the nation’s LGBT press. Most likely will be a flourishing of advertisements selling wedding services and honeymoon destinations to samesex couples once they win the right to marry. Many LGBT newspapers like the B.A.R. are free. As a result, LGBT publications owe their very existence to the advertisers who
choose to promote their businesses within their pages. While the relationship at times stirs debate, it is a necessary one to ensure that the nation’s gay press survives over the next forty years. “It is advertising, after all, that allows for a still-vibrant gay press,” noted David Gudelunas in his research paper titled “Consumer myths and the gay men and women who believe them: a qualitative look at movements and markets” in the January 2011 issue of Psychology and Marketing.▼
“questioning,” or “intersex.” Asked with which gender they identified, 70.9 percent of the 182 people who responded to that question said “male,” while 24.2 percent said “female;” and 4.9 percent chose “other.” People responding to that question were only supposed to choose a single response. The online survey was conducted May 14 to July 21, 2010 by Community Marketing Inc. A total of 44,852 responses were collected; 823 were analyzed.
Sullivan said she doesn’t see coverage of events for single women, and the paper should look at how women find each other. “We don’t stand around in a bar and get drunk and ogle each other,” she said, before adding, “some do.” Jim Provenzano, the editor of the paper’s monthly BARtab nightlife
guide, pointed to his efforts to include lesbian entertainment in that publication as well as in the paper’s weekly arts section calendar, which he also edits. “Unlike any other northern California nightlife publication, we have set a deliberately diverse editorial policy and have womenspecific events in nearly every issue, including issues on Oakland and the East Bay,” Provenzano said. He added that queer and straight women have been featured on the covers of four issues of the glossy. Arts editor Roberto Friedman added that he also oversees diverse coverage; the section has long had women writers and just this week featured an article on music by lesbians. Among other suggestions Sullivan said, “There should be ongoing coverage of women’s health in the B.A.R., not just coverage of women’s health when Lyon-
Martin is about to close,” referring to Lyon-Martin Health Services, the San Francisco-based clinic that works with women and transgender people and has been struggling to stay open. Craig said she’d like to see more in the B.A.R. about “up and coming lesbians in the community,” such as women who are politically active. Others, however, pointed to gay culture being more visible. “Gay men’s culture is so much more visible and so much more omnipresent and undergirds the entire gay culture in the city, it’s hard to not have it be very prominent,” said longtime transgender activist Jamison Green, who identifies as bisexual. He said it “would really take a significant investment” from the paper to offer more coverage of the lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities. But “there’s a clear effort” to address those areas, and
there’s been improvement since he started reading the paper in the late 1970s, he said. Particularly regarding the Latina transgender community, Green suggested economic, education, housing, employment, and immigration issues as specific coverage areas. Not everybody agrees with the notion that the B.A.R.’s coverage favors men. San Francisco Human Rights Commissioner Cecilia Chung, who’s transgender, said, “I think that that is really troublesome, even knowing people have that kind of attitude, or that kind of sentiment.” She said she wasn’t sure where such an idea would come from. She noted that the paper’s recent coverage has included the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, as well as Lyon-Martin, “which is not about gay men at all.”▼
several websites they felt would be helpful to her. Then Keith White, a classmate of Aivana’s whose project focused on the AIDS epidemic, also inquired if the couple would talk to him about their experience with the devastating disease. Having lost his nephew, Michael Overstreet, to AIDS in 1985, Blackburn agreed to be interviewed.
Not only did the students followup with thank you letters, they also invited Blackburn and Heacock to their school’s open house to see them present their projects. With the additional draw of visiting several museums in the Washington, D.C. metro area, the two men decided to accept the invite. “We just said wouldn’t it be a kick if we actually showed up,” recalled
Heacock. “We were treated like rock stars. The parents, teachers, principal were absolutely thrilled we came all the way from California.” The visit led to dinner out with both of the students’ families and a lasting correspondence with them. Both students entered their reports – Aivana’s was a video documentary, while Keith teamed up with a classmate to do a theatrical
performance – into the National History Day Contest. They won at the regional level but came up short in the national competition. Blackburn told the B.A.R. that he is “eternally grateful to both of them because they have taken an interest in not only history but the history of the gay and lesbian community, a history that changed the world in so many ways.”▼
“I think the one difficulty in some of the gay media is there isn’t a good index so people can’t look up things by topic or subject. They have to look up by year so it makes it difficult,” said Kim. The Blade in D.C. is looking at how to digitize its 42 years worth of archives, which are currently stored in filing cabinets. It formed a 501(c)3 corporation called the Washington Blade Foundation for Education and Research to help oversee the project. While the Library of Congress has the paper’s back issues on microfilm, Blade editor Kevin Naff said that it is not conducive to academics, students and other researchers who want to see the paper’s coverage. “Right now that stuff is all in filing cabinets and not accessible,” said Naff. “The first phase is getting the archives digitized and online. We are working on that now and raising money for that.” The foundation would also like to fund more research into LGBT topics. Naff, who is on the board of the LGBT student center at Penn State, said, “I heard from folks in academia
how hard it is to get grant money for LGBT topics.” Like with the B.A.R., Naff said how the Blade chronicled the AIDS epidemic is highly prized by researchers. One student is reviewing the differences in how the gay paper covered AIDS versus its mainstream counterpart the Washington Post. “We get a lot of requests – a couple a week – from researchers who want to go back and look at our coverage of AIDS,” said Naff. “It is impossible to fulfill them all.” While the paper’s more recent content is searchable on its website, it lost eight years of archived material during the Blade’s financial troubles in 2010 when the paper briefly stopped publishing. Now it is trying to determine the best way to put the paper online. “There are services that just take it and scan it page by page online, which is fairly cheap but not useful if you want to search,” said Naff. “The optimal way to do it is to have someone keyword in each story with what it is about, who is interviewed, those kind of keywords. But that is very expensive.”▼
Steppin’ out
The society’s archives, housed on Mission Street in a building located near Yerba Buena Gardens, includes hard copies of the B.A.R. dating back to its inaugural edition from April 1, 1971. (Both the society and the main public library also have the old B.A.R. volumes on microfiche.) More obscure holdings in the LGBT archivist group’s collection include copies of Albatross, a radical lesbian magazine from the late 1970s; Ach, a magazine for black lesbians from the early 1990s; and David, a magazine for gay men published in the early 1970s. Recently, the archive made available a searchable database of the B.A.R.’s obituaries and has been making its holdings of LGBT radio and television shows accessible online. There are now 250 audio hours of Randy Alfred’s LGBT talk show The Gay Life on KSAN-FM from 1973 to 1984 and KPFA Berkeley’s Fruit Punch gay programming from 1975 to 1979. Before they went online “it was inaccessible to people,” said Kim, because the recordings were in a format not easily played. “This makes it accessible to researchers
Rick Gerharter
GLBT Historical Society archivist Rebekah Kim
and preserves them.” The archival material can be hard to search through, however, making it a laborious task for researchers to locate what they seek. For now the society doesn’t have the funds to create a searchable database of its periodical holdings.
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Lesbian melodies
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Dance rebounds
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Justin Bond unbound
O& A
Out &About
The
Vol. 41 • No. 14 • April 7-13, 2011
www.ebar.com/arts
Altering the fashion silhouette ‘Balenciaga and Spain’ shows at the de Young Museum by Sura Wood
A cocktail ensemble with dress and cape from 1962 at the Balenciaga and Spain fashion exhibit at the de Young Museum.
Rick Gerharter
T
here’s more to master couturier Cristobal Balenciaga than the designer handbags and magnificent, structured evening gowns that fashionistas covet. At least that’s the premise of Balenciaga and Spain, the latest costuming exhibition at the de Young Museum. The show, consisting of over 120 garments, hats, headdresses and sketches –
one wishes there were more of the latter, and a fuller examination of his process – emphasizes the dashing Spaniard’s artistry, technical virtuosity and the defining influence of his native Spain, from flamenco to bullfighting, religious pomp to royal regalia, and painterly inspiration derived from El Greco, Goya, Velazquez, Miro and Picasso.
Although it’s no accident that Spain, an incubator of modernism that spawned Picasso, Picabia and Gris, also produced the innovative Balenciaga, who’s credited with altering the fashion silhouette and inventing the pill-box hat, one suspects the role of Spain is stressed in this context, perhaps, to make the enterprise appear less frivolous to those who
regard fashion as an extravagance of the rich rather than an art-form. Considered the star atop the icy pinnacle of haute couture by no less than Dior, Chanel, Givenchy and Oscar de la Renta, who are all positively effusive in their praise, Balenciaga enjoyed a meteoric rise from See page 77 >>
Draw your own conclusions Gladys Perint Palmer, her world of fashion & celebrity • by Cornelius Washington
I
llustrator Gladys Perint Palmer is an icon in the world of fashion and celebrity portraiture, and her work has appeared in every major magazine for well over 30 years. Her latest triumph, creating all the advertising and promotional imagery for Mercedes Benz – New York Fashion Week 2011, the first illustrator to have been invited to do so, left her in a state of shock as she spilled the ink on her views of fashion, politics and art. Cornelius Washington: It’s an honor to finally meet you, Gladys, I’ve loved your work for years. I sense you had a very special relationship with Gianni Versace.
Gladys Perint Palmer: I met him on a plane, I just went up and asked to work with him. I was amazed that he knew who I was. I drew about 30 illustrations for his book on his homes. Then, at his next show, he gave the drawings back to me and said, “Now here’s your book.” He was very brotherly towards me, he was a beautiful person. Your work is so knowing and provocative, you really twist the knife. Well, I try to entertain and amuse. Basically, fashion is a gay See page 65 >>
Fashion illustrator Gladys Perint Palmer. Courtesy Academy of Art University
{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }
<< Out There
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Interview with a culture vulture by Roberto Friedman
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e thought it would be fun to come to the B.A.R. 40th anniversary celebrations this week impersonating arts contributor Cornelius Washington, and ask him to come as us. “Hey baby, how’s it hanging?” This admitted whim would follow a long tradition of nametagswapping at B.A.R. Xmas parties, where we have masqueraded as, variously, Patrick Hoctel, Adrian Roberts and Sweet Lips. Then we thought: Dear reader, we’ve really never been properly introduced to begin with! So we assumed our civilian identity, broke out the old taperecorder, and interrogated ourselves. Out There: By now it seems you’ve been the B.A.R. arts editor for a few thousand moons. But what exactly is your employment history? Roberto Friedman: My first job, at 16 for minimum wage, was packing alfalfa sprouts in a warehouse on the wrong side of the tracks in
Baltimore, MD. I was the only white boy on the assembly line, and the radio was always tuned to the soulmusic station, so that’s where I first learned to love R&B, disco and soul standards. I also enrolled in the young recitalists program at the Peabody Institute, and have always loved both classical and popular music. But I knew I wasn’t destined for a career as a concert pianist. I’m far too mercurial – and impatient – for that. How on earth did you wind up here? I came to the West Coast in 1983 to attend the Writing Program at Stanford University, fell in love with the Bay Area, and never looked back. I studied with the great fiction-writer Gilbert Sorrentino (Mulligan Stew), and our workshop was guest-hosted by such powerhouse figures as Toni Morrison and Eudora Welty. My colleagues included Middlesex author Jeffrey Eugenides, whom I took to his first nude beach. For my master’s degree I produced a book of short stories, Childlike Men. Taught freshman composition
Philomel, and took on the role of Scriba in the Philomathean Society, the nation’s oldest undergraduate literary society. We had a great clubhouse, and all of the principle players were gay. I wrote purple prose about boys I loved.
Michael Strickland
Arts editor Roberto Friedman contemplates a painting by artist Cy Twombly at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
at Stanford and developed my own curriculum for a course in gay literature, which I offered for three years. We read Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, Jean Genet’s Notre Dame des Fleurs in translation – still see some of my former students out & about in SF (hi, Valentin!). Wrote a novel, Bad Reputation, and a sex memoir. Spent several years toiling in the financial purgatory of freelance writing, contributing to The Washington Post Book World among other outlets. But I never considered writing for the gay press as “slumming it” at all. I’ve always wanted to write from my gay community, for my gay community. Here’s where I have to acknowledge some of the people who helped me along the way, among them former B.A.R. arts editors Chris Culwell, Robert Julian, Danny Mangin, John Karr; B.A.R. co-founder Bob Ross and former news editor Mike Salinas, who took a chance on me; assistant arts editors Hoctel, Mark Mardon and Jim Provenzano, for kind support; publisher Tom Horn, news editor Cynthia Laird, and general manager Mike Yamashita, who make it all happen. Here’s also to art director Kurt Thomas, who’s the man behind the paper’s brilliant re-design. It’s as if someone you know finally had a bath after 15 years. How do you feel when people call the B.A.R. a “gay rag?” Listen, San Francisco has a long, proud tradition as a real newspaper town, and the B.A.R. is one of the
last, best vestiges of that honorable tradition. These days you can’t throw a rock without hitting a blogger, but a San Francisco columnist is still something to be. Mostly feel sorry for the snobbery inherent in the term “rag.” Do you ever feel guilty about getting comp tickets at various arts events? At my current salary, it would take roughly four months of saving my shiny pennies to attend just the opera alone. No one wants an arts editor who can’t sample the arts. My friends in the press departments of arts institutions understand that; thanks to their generosity, I can keep up with B.A.R. writers and photographers, who know no bounds! I can’t imagine editing an arts section in San Francisco and not covering the San Francisco Symphony, Opera and Ballet. They’re the big leagues! It would be like a sports editor never covering the San Francisco Giants. The funny thing is, at the opera house let’s say, people know I’m sitting in house seats, so they feel free to interrogate me: “Are you reviewing this? Who do you write for?” (That’s whom, sir.) One subscriber complained to my “plus one”: “But I don’t see him taking any notes!” Intrinsic American suspicion of the press. Have you always wanted to work in media? As a child, I drew up mock-ups of an invented newspaper, with regular columns and features, pasted them on my walls. I wrote whole issues of tabloid magazines and insisted that my friends subscribe. At college, I wrote for the campus newspaper, edited Penn’s literary magazine
What’s your editorial vision for the arts section? Thought you’d never ask! I’ve always wanted to cover arts & culture both high and low: Gubaidulina and Gaga, Aeschylus and Ass Masters. I want our talented staff to write about gay artists, gay arts, other art that matters to gay people. That’s a lot of territory to cover, and there’s never enough space. But I give it the old college try every week. The gay press has matured over our lifetimes. It doesn’t have to be all about boosterism any more. Lordy knows there are enough outlets out there – blogs, tweets, cable shows – designed for self-promotion. I look for intelligent critical writing from contributors. What’s the best headline you ever wrote, and one you’ve never had a chance to use? For a feature on David Weissman and Bill Weber’s documentary The Cockettes: “Acid-washed queens.” For a column, considered but nixed, on a working-man’s diet: “Muffin-top editor eats through the week.” You’ve had a good run! Thanks, just getting started.
Defense dept. But enough about us. One of our favorite gay writers, humorist David Rakoff, will make a case for the art of “defensive pessimism” – the theory that it’s always better to assume the worst to avoid being disappointed – at the Bankhead Theater in Livermore on Thurs., April 28, at 7:30 p.m. A regular contributor to public radio’s This American Life, Rakoff ’s most recent book of essays Half Empty follows Fraud and Don’t Get Too Comfortable. He wrote and appeared in The New Tenants, which won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Tickets: (925) 373-6800 or www. bankheadtheater.org. Comedian Sarah Silverman, “the most outrageously funny woman alive” pace Rolling Stone, comes to Cal Performances’ Zellerbach Hall on Mon., April 11 at 8 p.m. We’re told her act will include reading from her first book, The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee. Tickets: (510) 642-9988 or www.calperformances.org. RIP bisexual film star Farley Granger, 85.▼
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Music >>
Justin Bond unbound by David Lamble
M
y ideal listener is someone who’s smoked a little pot and is playing dress-up in their room, getting ready to go out.” – Justin Bond. It’s balmy, almost sweltering in my Market Street flat, not a breeze stirring as I dial up Justin Vivian Bond, cabaret artist extraordinaire who, as we speak, is standing on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 19th Street, late on a cold, drizzly Manhattan afternoon. As I rhapsodize about our little heat wave, Justin cries out, “Don’t rub it in. I just hope it lasts until I can get there.” Proclaimed “the best cabaret artist of his generation” by New Yorker critic Hilton Als, Bond is doing his second live show in a year at the Castro Theatre (Saturday, April 9 at 8 p.m.), again produced by Marc Huestis, this time a live concert in celebration of his first full-length solo CD, Dendrophile. The title is Bond’s affectionate term for his self-proclaimed tribe of fans. “A dendrophile gets an erotic charge out of nature, which I do – I lost my virginity in a treehouse at the age of 13 – so I use dendrophile to describe those who honor nature and honor their own nature. Dendrophile is a freak flag for us to fly under.” Bond admits that cutting a record is a whole new experience, one that never seemed quite the appropriate medium for his previous incarnation as the saloon singer way past her prime Kiki DuRane, one-half of the Kiki and Herb
lounge act that brought fame and a Tony nomination for himself and musician partner Kenny Mellman. “I wasn’t into the idea of Kiki and Herb being recording artists, so we did one Christmas record and we had our Carnegie Hall CD. I never went into the studio as Kiki because that was intended to be a live experience. “When people see my shows, a lot of them say, ‘Well, we just feel that
we’re in your living room.’ That’s because I’m very intimate, very conversational. I wanted to make the record seem intimate, so it’s very quiet, it’s not like I’m doing a show, I’m just singing these beautiful songs for people.” Bond is especially proud of the album’s original compositions. “American Wedding” features poetry by late Essex Hemphill, set to music by Bond. “In America I place my ring on your cock where it belongs./ No horseman bearing terror, no soldiers
of doom will swoop in and sweep us apart.” Bond says, “I’ve never been a huge proponent of marriage, so I can’t wait until marriage is legal, so I can go back to not caring about it anymore.” The album features an eclectic mix of cover songs once performed by Karen Carpenter, Nina Simone, Phoebe Snow, Melanie, Harry Nilsson, Joni Mitchell and Odetta. A highlight of Bond’s stage show is a moving rendition of “The Golden Age of Hustlers” by San Francisco t transsexual artist Bambi Lake. D David Lamble: How would y describe your voice? you I not a traditional one, It’s n even for cabaret, but it not r really works well for a wide r range of material. Justin Bond: I’d like t think that it’s a voice to t that conveys the life I’ve l lived. I was trained for m musical theatre, but I wasn’t u ultimately very interested in musical theatre. I have a always loved cabaret, and my v voice is just another way of expressing who I am. These things develop a life of their own, don’t they, without necessarily involving conscious effort. I mean, there was no way I was going to sound like Judy Collins or Joni Mitchell, so I had to sound like myself. Cabaret is more vital these days, but still you have to keep reinventing it. It does seem to hang on with a new generation of artists, just when you think it’s caput it sort of bounces back.
Ioulex
Cabaret and recording artist Justin Bond: “I’m very intimate.”
Cabaret by its very nature is not supposed to remain the same. That’s what killed it, when people tried to make cabaret be something about nostalgia. Cabaret originates in Switzerland and Germany in the beginning of the last century as a sort of political form. It was intimate, in small rooms, it’s about an audience coalescing about ideas. Then it became very stylish and stylized in the middle of the last century, and made itself irrelevant. Cabaret evolves – it’s there when people need it and when artists decide to express themselves in an original way: it’s very, very big in the UK right now. Time Out London just did a cabaret issue, and they had 10 different covers with 10 different artists in one week. And I do think it’s flourishing in San Francisco, it’s just that it’s not in the traditional venues. There are so many great young queer performers doing offthe-wall things in smaller venues, in people’s homes, and in their lofts and on the street. There’s not much difference
between punk performance and cabaret if they’re done right. I went to a performance that was under a freeway overpass in the East Bay that had a lot of young queer bands, which I consider a kind of cabarettype scenario the way they were presenting themselves. It’s very underground, but I think it exists. Now, the Castro Theatre, where you’ll be performing, is not exactly our Radio City Music Hall, but it appears to be tilting towards live performance and away from movies, just the way Radio City did. Talk about performing at the Castro. I think it’s a real tribute to what Marc Huestis has done there. Hilton Als sent me a link to a recording of Sylvester and Martha Wash singing at the Castro in the 70s. Hilton said when he talked to Martha Wash about the performance she said they were terrified that the balcony was going to collapse because the audience was going crazy. I’m so happy to be a part of the Castro’s ongoing live-performance history.▼
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Theatre >>
For the Bible tells me so by Richard Dodds
W
elcome to the New Conservatory Theatre Seminary, where the curriculum includes not only the murky history of the gospels, but also the very rationale for Christianity – or any deist-based religion, for that matter. Lest there be any confusion, we are talking about the New Conservatory Theatre Center, but Keith Bunin’s play The Busy World Is Hushed often has a debate-club quality that can keep theatrical interest at a scholarly remove. To illuminate all, or even many, of the theological conundrums that Bunin raises through dramatic development and dialogue rather than the large swathes of uninterrupted speeches that his characters are apportioned here would assuredly be a difficult task. But that’s why we have playwrights in addition to speechwriters. There is no faulting director
Dennis Lickteig’s production, nor his fine cast who find emotional connections where possible, and even at times when it might seem otherwise. And to Bunin’s credit, even when his material reveals its schematic devices, what his characters say is intelligent and often thought-provoking, if you wonder at all about how and why Christianity found such a firm footing based on what is largely anecdotal evidence. “The Bible is a self-contradictory, haphazardly edited compilation,” admits the Episcopal minister in whose church office the play unfolds. When a potential assistant compliments the office’s stainedglass window depicting the Annunciation, she complains that it looks like “Gabriel coming down to have tea with the Princess of Monaco.” Not that Hannah isn’t a believer, but she’s looking for facts to back up her convictions. A newly
discovered gospel account of Jesus’ life that predates the famous four might have some answers, and she needs to hire a ghostwriter to organize her thoughts. That her potential colleague is young, gay, and theologically inexperienced is not an obstacle. Indeed, she sees the gentlemanly Brandt as a potential good influence and possible stabilizing lover for her renegade son Thomas, who seems bent on selfdestruction. As Hannah, Lindsey Murray gives a lovely, stately, and emotionally rich performance as a mother torn between her son and God the Son. Justin Dupuis provides a realistic prickliness as Thomas, who tellingly arrives in the play studded with porcupine quills following one of his wilderness walkabouts. William Giammona has a stalwart appeal as the buttoned-down Brandt, even though the character can feel something like a catalytic device.
Lois Tema
Lindsey Murray plays an Episcopal minister who hires an assistant (William Giammona) as her ghostwriter and potential lover for her gay son.
Megan Wilkerson’s set reflects the tasteful production of a play that has a good heart even when its dramatic manipulations strain credibility. Faith, the playwright seems to be saying, should be an endlessly debatable subject that goes sour
once the questions have answers.▼ The Busy World Is Hushed will run at New Conservatory Theatre Center through May 1. Tickets are $24-$40. Call 861-8972 or go to www.nctcsf.org.
Gay heroes with theatrical pride by Richard Dodds
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reek gods on roller skates, heady dramas inspired by James Baldwin and E.M. Forster, a return to Laramie’s shame, and the stirrings of the gay-liberation movement are among the destinations New Conservatory Theatre Center will visit when its 17th Pride season opens in August. Artistic Director Ed Decker recently announced the eightplay series, which is now on sale
to current subscribers and will be available to the general public on May 16. Gay literary hero James Baldwin will open the season on Aug. 19. Not actually a Baldwin play, but a “dream play” imagining the writer pondering his life and career just before the 1956 publication of his homoerotic novel Giovanni’s Room. Jewelle Gomez, a familiar local figure in lesbianfeminist literature and politics, has
written this world-premiere play in collaboration with Harry Waters, Jr. “Temperamental” was the oblique term coined by gay-rights pioneer Harry Hay for homosexuals as he and fashion designer Rudi Gernreich created the Mattachine Society in the early 1950s. Their story of love, politics, and sexual identity has been turned into The Temperamentals, a docudrama by Jon Marans, seen in New York in 2010, and beginning its NCTC run on Nov. 4. For holiday cheer, NCTC will continue its season on Dec. 2 with Xanadu, the unlikely Broadway hit of 2007 extracted from the James Baldwin and Harry Hay are seminal gay figures being evoked in the plays in New Conservatory Theatre Center’s recently announced 2011-12 season of eight productions.
notorious Hollywood flop of 1980. Douglas Carter Beane (As Bees in Honey Drown) adapted, with irony, the original screenplay about a Greek muse who lands at Venice Beach to help a starving artist build the roller disco of his dreams. Songs by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar have been carried forward from the screen original. A more serious musical arrives on Jan. 20. The Story of My Life, seen briefly on Broadway in 2009, follows the friendship of two men from their childhood together to adult lives that have taken very different paths. Neil Bartram provided the songs and Brian Hill the book for the two-character musical that leaves ambiguous the precise nature of the friendship. E.M. Forster wrote Maurice in 1913, between creating Howards End and A Passage to India, but by his decree it was not published until after his death in 1970. The frank, non-judgmental story of a same-sex love affair was adapted for the stage by Roger Parlsey and Andy Graham, and had its premiere in London in 1999. Five members of the Tectonic Theatre Project returned to Wyoming to create The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, after a 1998 residency by the company spurred by the murder of Matthew Shepard that produced the original Laramie Project. The follow-up theatrical documentary begins its NCTC run on March 23. The New York Times described Daniel Talbott’s play Slipping as a “gay Rebel Without a Cause.” The rebel in this case is a gay San Francisco teen who is packed up and moved to Iowa, and who finds
love unexpectedly in the Hawkeye State. New Conservatory introduces the play to the Bay Area on May 18. NCTC will conclude its season in June with one of the few Terrence McNally plays it has not yet presented: Lips Together, Teeth Apart. The 1991 play takes place on Fire Island, where two straight couples confront fear and mortality in a gay milieu. Other McNally plays staged by NCTC include Master Class, The Ritz, The Lisbon Traviata, and Love! Valour! Compassion!
‘Angels’ on Market The most important play to make its debut in San Francisco returns to its birthing city 20 years after that fateful premiere. Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, which had its world premiere at the Eureka Theatre in 1991, is the ambitious upcoming project of Theatre Shark. Opening April 22, it is a rare theatrical event at the LGBT Center. The first part of Tony Kushner’s epic story encompassing AIDS, religion, politics, love, hope, and abandonment is being directed by Laura Lundy-Paine, who cofounded Alameda’s Virago Theatre Company. The cast includes Donald Currie, John Steen, Cary Cronholm, Dara Yazdani, Adam Simpson, Annie Larson, Anthony Rollins Mullens, and Liz Ryan. Theatre Shark was created in response to actor-playwright Jeffrey Hartgraves’ death in 2008 by local theater artists who knew and had worked with him. For more information and tickets, go to www.angelsinamericasf.com. ▼ Richard Dodds can be reached at BARstage@comcast.net.
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Music >>
Elements of style by Tim Pfaff
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any an out pianist will be able to lay the limp-wristed trope to rest in this, the Liszt year, but first out of the gate and to date most interesting has been Louis Lortie, with the aptly named Annees de Pelerinage (Years of Pilgrimage). A handful of the luckiest cities in the Western world will be hearing Lortie play all three books of this central Liszt masterpiece in a tworecital single day, with dinner break, and Lortie playing from memory. The 51-year-old, FrenchCanadian, Berlin-based pianist began this particular pilgrimage in Costa Mesa and San Diego in late January, and is in the Big Apple as I write. Accounts of his recitals of the Annees so far have been consistently ecstatic. For the rest of us, there is his terrific new recording of the work (Chandos), made only last November, with the three movements and nearly 20 minutes of Venezia e Napoli thrown in as a kind of encore for anyone not yet sated at pilgrimage’s end. No stranger to San Francisco, Lortie is one of those pianists – there’s a surprising number of them – whose playing is regularly met with “as good as it gets” plaudits, but whose name somehow doesn’t float to the top. His repertoire, huge and all to memory, is nevertheless carefully selected (one of his subspecialties is the piano music of the gay musical titan Thomas Ades), and Liszt has long been part of it. So what you get in this latest Liszt offering is playing that encompasses the full range of
the composer’s expression. The thunder is elemental and awesome (in the old sense of the word), but as captivating are the phrases floated on the breaths of angels. It’s the kind of playing best described by the word “execution,” given Liszt’s own spin on it. The runs, the octaves, the octave runs and all the other trademark virtuoso stunts that got Liszt the bad name for much of the last century get full voice in Lortie’s powerful reading, but what lingers longer in the memory are spare, penetrating moments with their often adventurous harmonies. In Lortie’s hands, the sound and fury come off as elements of style, and commanding ones. But these
Elias
Pianist Louis Lortie makes a pilgrim’s progress.
recollected memories of Liszt’s travels in Switzerland and Italy in his young, celebrity years, when the first versions of some of the pieces were composed (Liszt was a compulsive, tireless reviser), were never meant as depictions of the scenes for which they were named, but rather as a record of the composer’s inner responses to them. What makes Lortie’s interpretations so ineffably right is the atmosphere of rapt contemplation they evoke.
After Dante The marvels, predictably, are the colossal pieces, “Vallee d’Obermann” from the Permiere Annee: Suisse, and “Apres une lecture du Dante” from the Deuxieme Annee: Italie, where the musical canvas is as huge and all-inclusive as it is in Liszt’s far more famous Sonata. Lortie’s pointillist feel for color, sure sense of proportion, and extraordinarily sensitive handling of transitions conspire to make these outsized works – which seem almost to want to fall apart with the daring of their construction – the most cohesive and compelling of narratives. Yet the real jewels of the set turn out to be the more austere and introverted pieces of the Troisieme Annee, which is not assigned a country but was composed by Liszt over a 10-year period during which Liszt often stayed at the Villa d’Este, near Rome, with his friend Cardinal Hohenlohe. He finished these pieces around the time his sonin-law, one Richard Wagner, was finishing Der Ring des Nibelungen, and without straining you can hear the composers and those works influencing each other. Many pianists of the first rank have recorded a selection or two from it (most often the two “laments” on the cypresses of the Villa d’Este), but few have taken it on whole and harnessed its sage power to make a cycle of the three
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Annees. That’s not uniquely Lortie’s achievement, but one he has made uniquely his own. (Word has it that in the recitals, he literally makes the Troisieme Annee central by playing the first half of it before the dinner break, and starting the evening recital with the remainder.) Reverential is not too strong a word (if, that is, it doesn’t have negative connotations for you) to describe Lortie’s approach to the mysteries of the Troisieme Annee, and the spell it casts, and he casts with it, is of a decidedly otherworldly nature. And, ironically, it’s some of the most picturesque music in the “cycle.” Because the playing was so patently magical, I was struck by how much “Les Jeux d’eaux a la Villa d’Este” foreshadows Ravel’s “Jeux d’eau” (“Water Sports”), only to discover that my observation was commonplace. The evanescent beauty of Lortie’s playing of it is anything but.▼
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64 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
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Music >>
SFGMC celebrates a new era Bringing an evening of ‘Words’ to Davies Symphony Hall on April 21 by Jason Victor Serinus
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n invigorated, bursting-atthe-seams San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus has proclaimed the beginning of a new era. Buoyed by the arrival of their new artistic director and conductor Dr. Timothy Seelig, the chorus has attracted 68 new members since the start of the year. Given unusually strong ticket sales, the 280-plus chorus expects to sell out its first concert with Seelig well in advance of the April 21 extravaganza at Davies Symphony Hall. Entitled Words, the evening revolves around settings of texts by Eckart Tolle, Barack Obama, a gay Holocaust survivor, and others whose social consciousness was way ahead of their times. With the inclusion of a multimedia presentation, a chamber orchestra from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Mission High School Choirs, two piano accompanists, and the hall’s raftershaking Rufatti Organ, it promises to be quite the night. “Everything old is new again,” Seelig told the Bay Area Reporter. “We are certainly building on our legend and all the things that have gone before, but we’re trying to refresh pretty much everything about the chorus. We have a new logo, new casual wardrobe, and so many new singers that after our first rehearsal, we had to move to a new rehearsal space because we no longer fit into our old one. While we expect to fit onto the stage at Davies, we’re going to have to build the stage out at the Castro Theatre
in order to perform there.” Among the headline pieces at the concert is “An Exhortation.” Composed by David Conte, a gay faculty member at the Conservatory, the setting of speeches by President Barack Obama earns accolades from Seelig for its “beautiful words.” When Seelig was preparing to guest conduct the Los Angeles Gay Men’s Chorus last fall, he attended a concert that opened with Kevin Robinson’s setting of text by Eckart Tolle. Seelig was so “blown away” by the piece that he used it to audition for his SFGMC conductor’s job. When chorus members heard it, they immediately clamored for the chance to sing it in public. Also on the program is the “almost world premiere” of “A Hundred Thousand Stars.” Written by San Francisco’s most wellknown, internationally famous gay composer, Jake Heggie (Dead Man Walking, Moby Dick), the piece for two soloists and male chorus tells the “stunning” true story of two young German men in gay Berlin during the Holocaust. “One of them survived,” says Seelig. “In the libretto by Gene Scheer, the one who passed away returns 60 years later to visit the survivor. Scheer fashioned the libretto from an actual diary at the Holocaust Museum, and also drew from a documentary about gays in the Holocaust. The Seattle Gay Men’s Chorus, which commissioned the piece, gave us unusual permission to do one movement of the extended work less than three weeks after the premiere. It is breathtaking.”
Shawn Northcutt
San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus artistic director Dr. Timothy Seelig.
Other works include famed choral composer Morton Lauridsen’s Sure on the Shining Nigh, to text by James Agee – “it’s a jewel,” says Seelig – and James Granville Eakins’ exciting multimedia work “We are the Stars,” to Native American Algonquin text. Of the concert opener, Eric
Helmuth’s “Everyone Sang” to words by Siegfried Sassoon, Seelig says, “If I get through it, I’ll know I can keep my job. It’s a big risk, because it calls for triple chorus a cappella, with one chorus onstage, and two equally sized choruses out in the aisles. The chorus loves it, but
it’s not easy, because the entrances are unevenly staggered.” If anyone can guide the chorus through an evening that also promises its share of hilarity, it’s Seelig. A member of the Gay and Lesbian Chorus Association (GALA) for 25 years, he conducted Dallas’ famed Turtle Creek Chorale for two decades. During that period, he also founded and conducted the Women’s Chorus of Dallas, and taught at Southern Methodist University. After leaving Turtle Creek, he spent two years as inaugural Artistic Director in Residence of GALA. Twenty months after his husband of 12 years began working for Apple in the Bay Area, Seelig quit everything and came to San Francisco with the dogs. His daughter and her husband had already moved here, and welcomed him as the perfect babysitter for his new granddaughter. Seelig turned 60 after his first rehearsal with SFGMC. He admits that he never expected to be at the helm of another major gay men’s chorus. “After 20 years with Turtle Creek, I could have sat in a rocking chair and felt fulfilled,” he says. “But when this opportunity came out of left field, I couldn’t pass it up. It’s a dream job, and it’s fun. These men are paying to volunteer. If it’s not fun at the end of the day, they’re not coming back.”▼ Tickets to SFGMC’s concert at Davies Symphony Hall on Thurs., April 21, 8 p.m., are at www. sfgmc.org or (415) 392-4400.
For the love of lesbians Women-loving women singer/songwriters to look out for by Gregg Shapiro
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f the company you keep says volumes about you, then out musician Joan Wasser a.k.a. Joan As Police Woman, an associate of Antony & the Johnsons, Rufus Wainwright, the late Jeff Buckley and others, must be cranked up to at least 11. Volume levels come into play on her latest album, The Deep Field (PIAS), which might be a bit startling to those who were expecting more of her particular brand of post-cabaret singer/ songwriter style. That shouldn’t detract from the enjoyment of the disc. It’s exhilarating to hear Wasser stretching out, plugging in and tearing it up with retro R&B energy. Listening to Diana Jones’ country-style folk warble on her new album High Atmosphere (Proper) serves to remind us that the LGBT community expands far beyond the borders of major metropolitan areas. You can almost see the fireflies and hear the creak of a porch swing as she sings on “Poverty,” “Motherless Children” and “Sister,” the tale of
a suspicious fellow. There’s also a sadness permeating the atmosphere in the song “My Love Is Gone” and the disc’s finest moment, “Drug for This.” A country cousin to Diana Jones, Brenda Jean’s Joe Pye Weed (Butch Bunny) is a tasty slice of Americana pie. Brenda Jean covers fellow out singer/songwriter Cheryl Wheeler (“So Far To Fall”) and folk legend Laurie Lewis (“Love Chooses You”) as well as Peggy Lee (“It’s a Good Day”). She also demonstrates her own songwriting skills on “I’m Better Off Without You” and “All I Ever Got from You.” The Cup & the Lip (Jane Wayne) by Tucker Finn is one of the most original and promising debut discs in recent memory. Finn, who sounds like a queer Rickie Lee Jones, separates the disc into two acts, complete with an intermission and an epilogue. Marvelous opener “Desperado on a Bike” sets the tone and conjures Mary Gauthier on “I’ve Been Doing OK.” Finn adds a string section to “Cold Paper Heart” with heartwarming results.
On Boi in the Girls’ Room (julieschurr.com), queer singer/ songwriter Julie Schurr finds a common ground between her serious and humorous sides. The title track features God-des in an intelligently performed diatribe against restroom discrimination.
“PSA” finds her on the lookout for her “STD-free princess.” Schurr sings the praises of her strap-on in “Ode to My,” and proudly displays her political side in “Hymn 10.” As one-half of the lesbian duo Bitch & Animal, Animal Prufrock seemed to take something of a
backseat to Bitch. In post-Bitch & Animal, the prolific Bitch has put out a handful of cool discs. Now it’s Animal’s turn, and the 12-track Congratulations; thank you + I’m sorry (Righteous Babe) was worth the wait. A musical buffet, the disc includes electro, pop, psychedelic hip-hop (“Cosmic Tranny”) and even a bit of drama (“Getting Into.”) It’s never a bore. Shunda K, formerly of queer, Christian hip-hop trio Yo Majesty, steps out on her own with The Most Wanted (Fanatic). Still combining religious references with out-andproud rhymes and pelvis-pumping beats, Shunda K just might save the world (“Here I Am to Save the World.”) Her trademark rapid-fire delivery is in full effect and she’s at her most forceful on “It’s Time to Get Paid,” “I Am Da Best” and “Hard!”▼
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Dance >>
Dance rebounds by Paul Parish
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he no-man’s land between the gay-friendly and the queer remains treacherous, despite the enormous gains we’ve seen since this paper was founded, 40 years ago this week. Twice in the last fortnight of dance-viewing I’ve seen someone “stung,” in a moment of considerable vulnerability, by an incensed “friend” across that great divide. Once it was onstage in a brilliant group-improv piece, and once it was in the audience. In the latter case, it happened to me. The issue that stands out for me, when I try to think about these pieces, is Fear of Rejection (and in extremis of Being Disowned). Still, whether it was in big-hit shows by world-famous dance companies (Paul Taylor’s and Alvin Ailey’s, at Yerba Buena Theater and UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, respectively), or by out-there, avantgarde shows that played to the same 150 people (Meg Stuart’s Auf den Tisch at Yerba Buena’s Forum, and the Kegan Marling/Dandelion double-bill at the hole-in-the-wall space Counterpulse), the artist’s deepest concern seemed to be, “What do I have to do to belong?” (Full disclosure: But this is the big issue in my life, so it’s the filter I see things through.) In the case of Alvin Ailey, in Revelations he made his mother proud by depicting his mother’s world, everything she cared about, the down-home, African-American church he remembered from his childhood, where the spirit is shouting through the singing, dancing body. This justly famous ballet set to “Negro spirituals” has been seen all over the world; in the 70s, it was being sent abroad by the State Department as a universally intelligible statement of American values. Revelations has become the bread-and-butter of the Ailey
company, who for years have performed it on every tour, almost every show. Ailey was still closeted when he died. The company does not lie about his homosexuality (as the Joffrey Ballet did after Joffrey died, saying he died of asthma when in fact it was AIDS). And the joy of Revelations rises to a peak tantamount to ecstasy; the audience is out of their chairs, dancing in the aisles, and up on the stage dancing with the performers. Queers need to keep an ear out for the bad things coming, and the bisexual Paul Taylor is uncanny in his insight into what’s going on. Black Tuesday, which formed the centerpiece of the company’s opening night, spooked everybody when it debuted 10 years ago, right on the heels of 9/11 – and it was just as upsetting to see the great Michael Trusnovec dance Brother, can you spare a dime? last Wednesday and realize that in 2001, nobody was worried about foreclosures and losing their jobs and falling out of the social network, but now – it’s not just a metaphor. The artists who decide to go for the big audience have to simplify their visions, put strong outlines around their imagery, train their dancers to a highly specific big technique, and punch it out huge to reach the very back of the house. Those who refuse to pander to the big audience often decide to play for their fellow artists, whom they can expect to understand them without the extra emphasis it takes to subdue the big house. Meg Stuart is a performance artist who works mostly in Berlin and is highly admired around here; everyone from Anna Halprin (the 90-year-old Mother of Modern Dance here) on down was there for the opening of Auf den Tisch last Friday. It turned out to be a happening, purporting to be a “conference” on sustainability.
Courtesy Academy of Art University
Tom Ford and Carine Roitfeld, by Gladys Perint Palmer.
Perint Palmer << Gladys from page 57 sensibility. I remember working a Nolan Miller show at the height of the TV series Dynasty. I had two gay friends of mine in the front row dressed as Krystie and Alexis. Even though it was San Francisco, it was considered very scandalous and shocking. But it worked! Alexander McQueen: discuss. It annoys me that now that he’s gone, everyone wants to say how much they loved him, and now they’re all wearing his clothes. He was one of the best, an excellent tailor, an excellent colorist. What have you not worn that you would kill to wear? For me, it’s not so much about wearing haute couture as it is
drawing it. But I’d have to say Armani’s early work is really great. his jackets especially, I’d kill to wear any of that. What do you think of the return of Tom Ford? As far as I’m concerned, he never left: doing menswear, directing his movie, he stayed in the public eye. I’ve met him, he’s a true gentleman, a very classy guy. I hope he continues to do well. Who would you like to have sit for you for a portrait? My dream is the Obamas, if only for 15 minutes. I’m their biggest fan. Michelle always looks so beautiful. Thanks so much for your time, and for contributing to our 40th anniversary issue. I hope the B.A.R. continues to do well, good luck to you all!▼
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 65
Annmaria Mazzini and Michael Trusnovec and Paul Taylor Dance Company in Promethean Fire.
Paul B. Goode
Twenty-odd brilliant performers improvised around and on a table the size of my entire apartment. The premise was not to be taken too seriously, though some tried; Stuart herself appeared in a colossal wig like a Bacchante drunk on some preposterous idea, and her hilarity infected everybody as she staggered onto the table, fell and spilled several quarts of M&Ms all over the table.
There were many zany moments, but most telling for me came when Sheldon Smith, who attacked a pink-unicorn piñata without doing much damage, began apologizing to it and encouraging it to just be still, collect yourself, and mused how his sense of personal identity was always with him. “You mustn’t be gay then!” cried a woman from the sidelines, which was exactly what I had been
thinking. I confess, I often feel like I have disappeared or have been erased; I don’t know what she meant, but I do know that sometimes I feel not like a motherless child, but that if I did assert myself I’d be disowned. So sometimes I find, though I’m thought to be articulate and even glib, that I can’t say anything. That happened to me at the end of Jump Ship Midway, the paean to darling gay boys which Kegan Marling put on at Counterpulse last Friday, which left me so stunned I couldn’t speak, which enraged my gay-friendly best friend (who’d been shaken up herself in her own way), who abandoned me and left me to wonder through the next piece if she’d made it safely home. The house had been set up like a nightclub – platforms in the audience where a go-go boy might dance or do a monologue while another worked the staircase. The four guys See page 75 >>
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Film >>
The last star: an appreciation of Elizabeth Taylor by Tavo Amador
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f historians and aficionados of classic Hollywood held a convention to select the greatest female star of the studio era (ca. 1920-60), they’d debate endlessly. They’d examine objective criteria: length of stardom, box office grosses, earnings, artistic recognition, career management, business skills, and legacy. They’d raise subjective standards: beauty, ability, image, mystique. Arguments would be made on behalf of Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman, and Marilyn Monroe, among others. But there would be no consensus. If, however, they were asked to name the last such star, it would be quickly decided. Elizabeth Taylor, whose death on March 23 at age 79 triggered an astonishing outpouring of media attention, would be the nearunanimous choice. She was the final great creation of MGM, the most celebrated studio, with “more stars than there are in heaven.” She was also instrumental in their undoing. After her contract with Leo the Lion ended in 1960, she commanded record salaries and set terms for how, where, and when she’d work. Within a decade, studios were no longer in charge. Actors were. Starting in the 1940s, MGM introduced Taylor as a pretty girl, promoted her as a lovely teenager, then packaged her as the beautiful embodiment of an American princess: sensual but proper. By 1960, she’d shattered that false image, by becoming a voluptuous, sexually aggressive adulteress on and
off screen, while winning Oscars and setting box office records. She combined talent, beauty, popularity, fame, notoriety, illness, substance abuse, obesity, serial marriages, and business acumen with an astute ability to control her image. Her public and private lives seemed to merge, but on her terms. By the mid-1980s, her 40-year movie career was essentially over, but she used her still powerful celebrity in unprecedented ways. She launched a successful line of perfumes that are still being sold and which earned her more money than all her highly-paid film roles. Simultaneously, she became a social activist. When her close friend, gay actor Rock Hudson, died of AIDS, she made battling the disease her mission. Unless one lived through those horrifying years, it’s hard to imagine the stigma associated with the illness because its first American victims were almost all gay men. Taylor’s friendships with homosexuals began early: childhood co-star Roddy McDowell became a lifelong intimate. So did Montgomery Clift, Hudson, her long-time secretary Richard Hanley, and business tycoon Malcolm Forbes. Her father may have been bisexual. Her humanitarian activism challenged the Hollywood and political establishments. Frank Sinatra suggested she find a new cause. For years, President Ronald Reagan didn’t utter the word “AIDS.” She spoke out against the policies – or lack of them – during the first George Bush’s presidency, publicly telling him that he was “wrong” about AIDS. She testified
Immortal screen goddess Elizabeth Taylor: a matchless legacy.
before Congress, co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research, then established the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. In addition to reportedly raising $270 million to combat the illness and care for its victims, she helped the gay community in another, crucial way. AIDS had suddenly forced thousands of men out
of the closet. People realized we were their sons, brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins, nephews, close friends, neighbors, colleagues. Now homophobes could no longer define or demonize us. We were individuals who were ill, perhaps dying, and for many, our sexual orientation no longer mattered. Teachers, movie stars, professional
athletes, dancers, singers, corporate executives, stockbrokers, electricians, truck drivers, cops, firemen, attorneys, accountants, hairdressers, gardeners, artists – we were everywhere, touching countless lives. Elizabeth Taylor, a staunch heterosexual, insisted we were worth loving, worth caring for, worth fighting for. We had a disease – one that would soon spread to the general population – that had to be eradicated. Others had felt the same way, but no one of her stature had valued us so openly. When she embraced the gaunt, ill Hudson, she dared the public to ignore us; she shamed our leaders into acting. Far too much homophobia remains, but it’s much less acceptable than it once was. Today, with same-sex marriage legal in many countries and several states, with gays and lesbians soon to be allowed to serve openly in our military, when in much of America and elsewhere we live openly and keep gaining civil rights, when for many AIDS is a manageable disease, it’s easy to forget how new our social acceptance is. No one is solely responsible for this breathtaking progress. But no star ever influenced the public the way Elizabeth Taylor did, except for Ronald Reagan, who used his celebrity to become an elected official. Taylor didn’t run for office. Yet she became one of the 20th century’s most effective politicians. It’s unlikely any actress will match her legacy. She was the last star, and, because of the way she used her stardom, possibly the greatest, and definitely the most important of them all.▼
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April 30. 1062 Valencia St. at 22nd. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org
Ruined @ Berkeley Rep
& A O t u o b A & Out venzano • Pro • by Jim
Fri 8 >> 7 Sins … One More Time! @ Exit Theatre Comedian James Judd returns with his acclaimed solo show about his misadventures in various odd jobs, and a 5th grade book report about Patty Hearst. $24-$40. Fri-Sun 8pm. Thru April 10. 156 Eddy St. 206-1651. www.theexit.org
Beardo @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley The always entertaining Shotgun Players present playwright Jason Craig and composer Dave Malloy’s commissioned new play, an updated variation on the story of Rasputin, the Russian mystic, who seduced his way through the Tzar royalty. $17-$26. Thu-Sat 8pm, Sun 5pm (Wed 7pm starting April 6). Thru April 24. 1901 Ashby Ave. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org
The Busy World is Hushed @ New Conservatory Theatre Center San Francisco premiere of Keith Bunin’s drama about a minister who finds her faith at odds with her estranged son. $24-$40. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm, thru May 1. 25 Van Ness Ave at Market St., lower level. 861-5019. 8972. www.nctcsf.org
The Eccentricities of a Nightingale @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Tennessee Williams’ fascinating 1976 revision of his 1951 play Summer and Smoke. $10-$45. Tue 7pm. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru May 8. 2081 Addison St. www.auroratheatre.org
Eight Events, Eight Stories @ Knuth Hall, SF State James Warren Boyd and four other performers perform Boyd’s autobiographical play about his experience at Gay Games VIII in Cologne, Germany while competing in eight different track and field events. A portion of proceeds benefits SF Track & Field Club. $4-$8. 8pm. Creative Arts Bldg., 1600 Holloway. www.sfsu.edu
Fact/SF @ The Garage Charles Slender’s ensemble performs his new and recent dance works, many with a daring theatrical edge and LGBT
themes. $20. 8pm. April 8-10, 13-15. 975 Howard St. at 6th. (800) 838-3006. www.factsf.org www.975howard.com
Into the Clear Blue Sky @ Phoenix Theater J.C., Lee’s post-apocalyptic drama where New Jersey-ites flee a melting earth for the moon. $15-$17. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru April 30. 414 Mason St. at Geary. www.sleepwalkerstheatre.com
Lemi Ponifasio/MAU @ YBCA Tempest, a dance-theatre-ceremony by the powerful Samoan New Zealand ensemble, about the erosion of freedoms post-9/11. Thru April 9. Special pre-show conversation April 7 with director Peter Sellars and Ponifasio, 7:15pm. $25-$30. 8pm (April 7, 8:15pm). Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Novellus Theatre, 701 Mission st. www.ybca.org
Loveland @ The Marsh Ann Randolph returns with her solo show about a sexually frustrated woman who flies home and faces the greatest love of her life. Fri 8pm. Sat 5pm. $20-$50. Thru May 8. 1062 Valencia St. at 21st. (800) 838-3006. www.themarsh.org
Pearls Over Shanghai @ The Hypnodrome
Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about the harrowing lives of women in Africa. $14.50-$73. Tue-Sat 8pm, (Wed 7pm). Thu, Sat, Sun 2pm. Sun eve 7pm. Thru April 10. Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St. at Shattuck. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org
San Francisco Ballet @ War Memorial Opera House High quality dance night; 7pm Meet the Artist talk. 8pm concert: Program 7: Renato Zanella’s Underskin, Christopher Wheeldon’s Number Nine, and Fokine’s historic Petrouchka. Last “Nite Out” event with an LGBT community post-concert party (10:30pm-12am). $48 and up. 401 Van Ness Ave. 865-2000. www.sfballet.org/niteout
Singing at the Edge of the World @ The Marsh Cabaret, Berkeley Randy Rutherford’s inspirational autobiographical solo show, with music, about his life as an Alaskan folksinger overcoming congenital hearing loss (captions for hearing impaired at first three Saturday shows). $15-$50. Thu & Fri 8pm, Sat 5pm. Thru April 16. 2120 Allston Way, near Shattuck. (800) 838-3006. www.themarsh.org
Talking With Angels @ Royce Gallery Shelley Mitchell’s solo play tells of multiple characters searching for meaning and survival in Nazi-occupied Hungary. $21-$35. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru May 21. 2901 Mariposa St. at Harrison. www.talkingwithangels.com www.roycegallery.com
Thunder From Down Under @ The Rrazz Room Australian Vegas-style male strip group performs their sexy act. No full nudity, and more popular with women, but gentlemen are welcome. $35-$55. 8pm. (April 7-9, 12-14) 7pm April 10, 17. 9:30pm April 15 & 16. 2-drink minimum. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. at Ellis. (800) 380-3095. www.therrazzroom.com
Triptych @ CounterPulse New dance and aerial works by Kelly Bowker, Gretchen Garnett and Ishaka Seth, with themes on dreams and parallel universes. $10-$20. 8pm. Also April 9. 1310 Mission St. (800) 838-3006. www.CounterPulse.org
Twelfth Night @ Buriel Clay Theatre
Thrillpeddlers’ revival of the comic mock operetta by Link Martin and Scrumbly Koldewyn, performed by the gender-bending Cockettes decades ago, and loosely based on the 1926 play The Shanghai Gesture ; with an all-star local cast. $30-$35. 18 and over only! Fri & Sat 8pm. Closing April 9! 575 10th St. at Division. (800) 838-3006. www.thrillpeddlers.com
African American Shakespeare Company performs The Bard’s most popular comedy, re-set in the 1940s San Francisco’s club scene. $15-$35. Sat 8pm, Sun 3pm. Thru May 1. 762 Fulton St. at Webster. (800) 838-3006. www.African-AmericanShakes.org
Rain @ Orpheum Theatre
Touring production of the mirthful muse-filled musical comedy based on the strangely lovable film, complete with roller-skating disco numbers set to the original music, and a script that takes a satirical edge. $24-$44. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Extended thru May 8. 1694 Saratoga Ave. (408) 404-7711. www.TheRetroDome.com
A Tribute to The Beatles brings live music performances of a wide range of Beatles classics. $35-$180. 8pm. Also 2pm Sat & Sun. Thru April 10. 1192 Market St. (888) 746-1799. www.shnsf.com
The Real Americans @ The Marsh Dan Hoyle’s moving and funny solo show, with multiple characters based on Midwesterners on the right and Coasters on the left, asks how a politcially divided America can survive. $25-$35. Fri 8pm, Sat 8:30pm. Thru
Thu 14 TOM SCHMIDT @ LGBT CENTER >> For a stunning and sexy perspective on biblical stories with a decidedly gay angle, stop by the opening reception for Sons of God, an exhibit of allegorical male nude photos. Friday, April 9, 7pm-9pm. The exhibit is on display through May 13. 1800 Market St. at Octavia. www.sfcenter.org
Hot and d Healthy l h @ Café f Flore l Garza hosts the monthly fundrasier and HIV awareness show at the popular café and restaurant. 9pm-11pm. 2298 Market St. www.projectoutlet.org www.cafeflore.com
Justin Vivian Bond @ Castro Theatre Former SF performer who became the toast of New York’s cabaret scene returns to perform songs from the new CD Dendrophile with a live band. Taylor Mac opens. $25-$75. 8pm. 429 Castro St. 863-0611. www.ticketfly.com www.castrotheatre.com
The Oldest Profession @ Brava Theatre Evren Odcikin directs Paula Vogel’s satiric comedy about senior women prostitutes in the Reagan 80s who decide to work themselves to death. $10-$25. 8pm. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru April 9. 2781 24th St. at York. 647-2822. www.brava.org
Olmec @ de Young Museum Exhibit of colossal ancient Mesoamerican face sculptures $12-$17. ulptures and other artifacts. $12 $17. Thru
dinner extravaganza, with twin acrobats Ming and Rui, Vertical Tango rope dance, plus magic, comedy, a five-course dinner, and a lot of fun. $117-$145. Saturday 11:30am “Breve” show $63-$78. Wed-Sat 6pm (Sun 5pm). Pier 29 at Embarcadero Ave. 438-2668. www.teatrozinzanni.com
Textural Rhythms @ Museum of the African Diaspora Constructing the Jazz Tradition, Contemporary African American Quilts, a new exhibit of quilts by the Women of Color Quilters Network that visualize jazz artists. $5-$10. Wed-Sat 11am-6pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. Thru April 24. 685 Mission St. at 3rd. 358-7200. www.moadsf.org
Three Sisters @ Berkeley Rep Sarah Ruhl’s re-written version of Anton Chekhov’s classic drama. Opening night April 13. $14.50-$73. Tue-Fri,Thu, Sat 8pm. Wed 7pm. Thu, Sat, Sun 2pm. Sun 7pm. Thru May 22. Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. at Shattuck. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org
Xanadu @ Retrodome, San Jose
Sat 9 >> Anarchist Book Fair @ County Fair Bldg. Annual fair of alternative publishers and authors, including gay author Larry-bob Roberts reading at 12pm. Fair runs Sat 10am6pm and Sun 11am-5pm. 9th Ave at Lincoln Way, Golden Gate Park. www.sfbookfair. wordpress.com
Sun 10 SUNDANCE SALO SALOON @ SPACE 550 Sundance Saloon, the popular country-western dance night for the LGBT community, celebrates its 13th anniversary, with special fun, along with the usual friendly urban cowboys and cowgirls two-stepping and line dancing the night away. Free! 21+. Sundays 5pm10:30pm, lessons 5:30–7:15pm. Thursdays 6:30–10:30pm, lessons 7pm-8pm. 550 Barneveld Ave., near Bayshore and Industrial. www.sundancesaloon.org
BAR Anniversary Party @ Toad Hall Celebrate the 40th anniversary of America’s oldest LGBT newspaper. Meet the staff, freelancers and many local celebrities at an informal gathering. No cover. 21+. 5pm-8pm. 4146 18th St. Also, stop by the GLBT Historical Society Museum ($5; across the street at 4127 18th St.) to see Our Vast Queer Past and the BAR history mini-exhibit (April 8-13). www.toadhallbar.com
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. $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.). 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com
Cirque de Follies @ El Rio
Fri 9 SINS INVALID @ Z SPACE >> This ain’t no After-School Special. The fifth annual showcase of performance works in music, dance, spoken word and visual art by people with various disabilities takes on explicit themes of sexuality and other taboos. See Aurora Levins Morales, Antoine-DeVinci Hunter (pictured), Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Ellery Russian Nomy Lamm, Alex Cafarelli, Juba Kalamka, Leroy F. Moore Jr. and Maria Palacios. $16-$25. 8pm. Also April 9, 8pm and April 10 at 7pm. 450 Florida St. at 17th. www.sinsinvalid.org
Festive benefit for IEP’s Women Health Program, with performances by Duniya Drum and Dance, Paul Nathan, Amber Field, Isis Starr, Mickey Finn and the Rebel Kings and more. Hosts Alotta Boutte, Anna Conda, Kylie Minono and Sister Phyliss With Litaday. $10$50. 5pm. 3158 Mission St. www.iepclinic. com www.elriosf.com
Eadweard Muybridge @ SF Museum of Modern Art Fascinating exhibit and the first-ever retrospective examining all aspects of artist Eadweard Muybridge’s pioneering photography. $9-$18. Daily 11am-5:45pm (closed Wed.). 151 Third St. 357-4000. www.sfmoma.org
May 6. $12-$17. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park. 750-3600. www.deyoung.famsf.org
Pastor Tom Show @ Live365.com Weekly LGBT-themed talk show; archived shows available, too. www.Live365.com
Perverts Put Out @ Center for Sex & Culture Sexy literary event with Daphne Gottlieb, Sherilyn Connelly, Philip Huang, Logan Knight, Celestina Pearl, Thomas Roche, Steven Schwartz, horehound stillpoint, and co-hosts Carol Queen and Simon Sheppard.$10-$15. 7:30pm. 1349 Mission St. (new address!). www.simonsheppard.com
Pulp Fashion @ Legion of Honor The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave, an exhibit of amazing paper costumes by the acclaimed Belgian artist based on classic historical royal garb. Free-$10. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Thru June 5. 100 34th Ave. at Clement St. 750-3600. www.legionofhonor.famsf.org
SF Hiking Club @ Mt. Tam Join LGBT hikers on 13-mile strenuous hike up Mount Tamalpais for a splendid view of the entire Bay Area. Carpools meet 9am at the Safeway sign, Market St. at Dolores. 2795570. www.sfhiking.com
Teatro Zinzanni @ Pier 29 Caliente is the new show at the theatre-tent-
Week of Compassion @ Various Venues Fundraisers for Rainbow World Fund’s Japan earthquake relief efforts. ‘Shake It for Japan,’ a gogo contest, April 9, 9pm-12am at The Powerhouse, 1347 Folsom St. April 10: Interfaith Prayer/Meditation at the outdoor labyrinth of Grace Cathedral, 1100 California St., 2:30-3:30pm. April 10, Garza’s Tea House at Cafe Flore at 2298 Market St., 5pm–7pm. April 13: Come Out for Japan at Trigger 2348 Market St. 7pm–10pm. April 14, HeartBeat for Japan at Deco Lounge 544 Larkin St. 6pm– 8:30pm. www.rainbowfund.org
Yisrael K. Feldsott @ Paul Mahder Gallery Opening reception for Still Standing, an exhibit of vibrant neo-primitive paintings by Chicago-born California artist. 6pm-9pm. Thru May 28. 3378 Sacramento St. at Walnut. 474-7707. www.paulmahdergallery.com
Sun 10 >> Balenciaga and Spain @ de Young Museum Fashion exhibit focusing on the influence of Spain on the work of haute couture master Cristóbal Balenciaga. 6:30pm-8:30pm. $6-$17. Thru July 4. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park. 750-3600. www.famsf.org
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April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 69
Tue 12 >> The Chants Resuming @ SF Public Library Singing the First Chapter of Leaves of Grass, a performance by Daniel Redman with vocal rendition of the famous Walt Whiman epic poem; in conjunction with the exhibit In Paths Untrodden (see below). 6:30pm. James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian center, 3rd floor, 100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org
Davis Davis: Planet X @ Marx & Zavattero Gallery Exhibit of eerie space-age toy battlescapes with a pre-Sputnik flavor of paranoia. Thru April 23. Tue-Sat 11am-5pm. 77 Geary St. 2nd floor. 627-9111. www.marxzav.com
Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey’s Ronn Vigh hosts the weekly LGBT and gayfriendly comedy night, with special guest Scott Silverman. One drink or menu item minimum. 9pm. 500 Castro St. at 18th. 431-HARV. www.harveyssf.com
Thu 14 FREEDOM DREAM DREAMS @ BENCH AND BAR Fundraiser for Community United Against Violence (CUAV), with performances by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Brown Boi Project, Bollywood Burlesque (pictured), Elena Rose, GlitterAction, Juba Kalamka, Maya Chinchilla, and DJ LadyRyan. Hot sex toy raffle, too! $5-$8. 21+. 517 17th St., Oakland. (510) 444-2266. www.bench-and-bar.com
Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance @ Asian Art Museum
minimum. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. at Ellis. (800) 380-3095. www.therrazzroom.com
Expansive exhibit of more than 100 historic art works in exhibits that showcase the practicality of the performing and visual arts in this beautiful culture. Special performances and interactive workshops throughout exhibit run. $7-$17. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm. Thu til 9pm. Thru Sept. 11. 200 Larkin St. www.asianart.org
Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room
Bijou @ Martuni’s It’s Crooner Heaven as Mark Johnson, Sheelagh Murphy, Cara Burgoyne and host Joe Wicht bring a song-filled evening at the intimate martini bar’s back room. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis/com
Happy Hour @ Energy Talk Radio Interview show with gay writer Adam Sandel as host. 8pm. www.EnergyTalkRadio.com
Manon @ Marines Memorial Theatre Donald Pippin’s Pocket Opera performs Massenet’s high-spirited work about an independent woman caught in a struggle on conflicting desires. $20-$37. 2pm. Also April 17. 609 Sutter St. at Mason. 771-6900. www.pocketopera.org www.marinesmemorialtheatre.com
Northern California Book Awards @ Koret Auditorium Annual awards ceremony for regional authors, including gay nominees Michael Alenyikov ( Ivan and Misha ) and poet Brian Teare ( Pleasure ). Free. 1pm-2:3pm. SF Public Library, 100 Larkin St. www.poetryflash.org www.sfpl.org
Rockabilly Q @ Milk Bar The Queer Jitterbugs present Sunday Swing-out, a mixed ‘straight’ friendly weekly night of social dancing to DJed and (twice monthly) live music. $3-$15. 8:30-11pm, lesson 8:30pm. 1840 Haight St. at Stanyan. (415) 305-8242. www.QueerJitterbugs.com
Steve Ross @ The Rrazz Room Classy cabaret pianist singer perfoms the best of Gershwin, Porter, Berlin and Coward. $30-$40. 5pm. Also April 11, 8pm. 2-drink
Donna Sachet and Harry Denton host the fabulous weekly 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
Mon 11 >> Comedy Night @ El Rio Lisa Geduldig presents another edition of her laugh-filled night, with Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Brendan Lynch, DJ Real, Erikka Innes, and Elea Altman. $7-$20. 8pm. 3158 Mission St. at Precita. www.koshercomedy.com www.elriosf.com
Marga’s Funny Mondays @ The Marsh, Berkeley Marga Gomez, “the lesbian Lenny Bruce” (Robin Williams), brings her comic talents, and special guests, to a weekly cabaret show. $10. 8pm. 2120 Allston Way. (800) 838-3006. www.margagomez.com www.themarsh.org
In Paths Untrodden @ SF Public Library Walt Whitman’s Calamus Poems and the Radical Faeries, curated by Joey Cain; an exhibit of the gay poet’s influence on contemporary queer culture. Thru May 19. James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center, 100 Larkin St. third floor. www.sfpl.org
Mark Johnson @ Magnet Montgomery-Ward and the Office Adonis, the artist’s exhibit of retro ad-inspired art. 8pm10pm. Thru April. 4122 18th St. at Castro. 581-1613. www.magnetsf.org
Stomp @ San Jose Center for the Performing Arts Broadway San Jose presents the hit show, a cacophonic cathartic dance-percussion show, with new acts; garbage cans have never sounded so good. $20-$69. Tue-Thu 7:30pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 2pm. Sun 1pm & 6pm. Thru April 17. 255 Almaden Blvd. (408) 792-4111. www.sjtix.com
Women and Creativity @ ODC Theater Performer Laurie Anderson, choreographer Brenda Way, Pulitzer winner Jorie Graham, best-selling author Mona Simpson and other renowned artists and producers join a twoday series of panels discussing the creative process and issues related to be being a woman artist. $850-$1,150. Also April 13. 3153 17th St. www.womencreativity.com
Wed 13 >>
Sarah Silverman @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley
John O’Reilly, Reed Danziger @ Hosfelt Gallery
Emmy Award-winning outrageous comic (Jesus is Magic) tells controversial jokes and reads from her new book The Bedwetters: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee. $25-$75. 8pm. Bancroft Way at Dana Ave., UC Berkeley campus. (510) 642-9988. www.calperformances.org
Dual exhibit of homoerotic saint/wrestler montages by O’Reilly, and abstracts by Danziger. Thru May. 430 Clementina St. 4955454. www.hosfeltgallery.com
Ten Percent @ Comcast 104
New exhibit from the GLBT Historical Society, with a wide array of rare historic items on display. Free for members-$5. Wed-Sat 11am7pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org
David Perry’s new talk show about LGBT local issues. Mon-Fri 11:30am & 10:30pm, Sat & Sun 10:30pm. www.davidperry.com
West Coast Painters @ John Pence Gallery Group exhibit of realist painters, from landscapes and still lifes to portraits and nudes. 6pm. Thru April 30. Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat til 5pm. 750 Post St. 441-1138. www.johnpence.org
Our Vast Queer Past @ GLBT History Museum
Allen Ruff, Penelope Rosemont @ CounterPulse Biographer and publisher of Charles H Kerr Publishing Co. discuss the historic 125-yearold leftist publishing house’s legacy. Free. 7:30pm. 1310 Mission St. (800) 838-3006. www.CounterPulse.org
Thu 14 >> Amara Tabor Smith @ CounterPulse Smith’s Deep Water Dance Theatre and other artists perform Our Daily Bread, a contemplative performance-dance work about the rituals of food, agribusiness and traditions of eating. $15-$22. Thu-Sun 8pm. Thru April 24. 1310 Mission St. (800) 838-3006. www.CounterPulse.org
Armistead Maupin @ Julia Morgan Theatre, Berkeley Celebrated bestsellijng author of Tales of the City talks with columnist Jon Carroll about his work, and the upcoming ACT world premiere of the musical stage adaptation of Tales. Proceeds benefit the Park Day School. $30$50. 7pm. 2640 College Ave. (510) 653-0317. www.ParkDaySchool.org
The Objects of Our Affection @ SF Public Library Exhibit of wit and humor books by Phyllis Dillers, David and Amy Sedaris, P.T. Barnum and many others. Thru May 31. Skylight Gallery, 6th floor, 100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org
Fri 9 KENNY MENCHER C @ ARTHAUS >> Kenny Mencher’s endearing faux-retro themes and style are uniquely reminiscent of an era gone by, kind of like Edward Hopper if he was a bit more cheerful. The opening reception for Renovated Reputations, an exhibit of paintings coordinated with his online flash fiction contest, should be a hoot. Retro dress encouraged, with an onsite photo booth. 6pm-9pm. Exhibit thru June 25. Tue-Fri 11am-6pm. Sat 12pm-5pm. 411 Brannan St. at 3rd. 977-0223. kenney-mencher.blogspot.com
To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com. Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication. For more bar and nightlife events, go to www.bartabsf.com
www.ebar.com
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70 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
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Scott Brogan
Truck Renegade 2011 Contestants Cole Streets, Race Cooper and winner Steven Guenther tease the crowd at Truck on March 25.
Renegades run amok by Scott Brogan
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or the past several weeks we’ve seen a flurry of activity leading up to the Renegade Weekend 2011 that starts this Friday. Renegade is not a “leather titleholder contest” in the traditional sense, but more a celebration of kink, fetish, and gear. They still have feeder contests with judges and categories, but the overall vibe is fast, loose, sexy and irreverent. Renegade is the brainchild of Paul Miller, part owner and manager of the popular Truck Bar (www.truckbarsf.com) and thenewly opened, and just as popular, Rebel (1760 Market). When I spoke with Miller last year prior to the first Renegade Weekend, he explained to me that the idea and mission of Renegade is just as the name implies: a deviation from the norm. Last year’s debut weekend, while not without the expected freshmen obstacles, was a success, and I’m very happy that it’s continuing,
with the support of our community. Renegade isn’t confined to the Bay Area, either. This year Seattle is sending Mr. Seattle Eagle “Chuey” as their Renegade contestant. Kok Bar SF (1225 Folsom) is the in-town host bar for Chuey, welcoming him with a pre-contest Friday evening prior to the contest. The Renegade fun began two weeks ago on March 25, when Sister Roma emceed Truck Renegade 2011 with her festive and nasty aplomb. Contestants Race Cooper, Cole Streets and Steven Guenther gave the audience, judges and Roma tons of tasty eyecandy to feast on. Coop dazzled in his equestrian outfit. Cole kept everyone’s blood boiling with a masturbation scene. Guenther’s fantasy, featuring rope play with a taser (no one was tazed), helped
him become the winner. Five nights later, on March 30, the Powerhouse Deviant contest took place, with Joshua Pritchard winning. Guenther, Pritchard and Chuey are all competing for Renegade 2011 this Friday at the Cat Club (1190 Folsom). Contest starts at 10 p.m. The Renegade Weekend has been expanded this year, beginning with a motorcade heading out from Rebel at 9 p.m. on Friday. Hosted by Homoto, the motorcade is open to all riders, and will gather the contestants from their host bars and escort them to the Cat Club for a Meet & Greet followed by the contest. DJ Brian Maier will host the dance floor, while Monistat will dazzle in the front bar area. Scheduled judges are Atom of Mr. S Leather and the editor of Instigator magazine, Michael Thorn. The party continues through 3 a.m. with “top notch DJs, a sweet dance floor and plenty of barely clothed dancers making their mothers ashamed.” Club NV (525 Howard) continues Renegade Weekend on Saturday See page 71 >>
Coming up in leather and kink Thu., Apr. 7: Underwear Night at the Powerhouse (1347 Folsom), 10 p.m. Wet undie contest and drink specials. Go to www.powerhouse-sf.com. Thu., Apr. 7: Edges Wet Munch at Renegades Bar (501 W. Taylor St., San Jose). 7 p.m. Happy hour for sex positive and alternative communities: 4-7 p.m. Go to: www.edges.biz or www.renegadesbar.com for details. Thu., Apr. 7: Locker Room Thursdays at Kok Bar SF (1225 Folsom). 9 p.m.-close. Jockstraps, gym towels, sports gear, wrestling singles, etc. Free clothes check. Hotwire on deck. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Thu., Apr. 7: Mystique Female Dominant Party at the SF Citadel (1277 Mission). For dominant women and whose who wish to serve them (male & female). House slaves provide service all evening. 8 p.m.-1 a.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Fri., Apr. 8: Renegade Weekend featuring the Renegade Contest tonight at the Cat Club (1190 Folsom). Meet & Greet, 9 p.m., followed by the contest at 10 p.m. Go to: www.therenegadecity.com. Fri., Apr. 8: Ruff House Dance Party in conjunction with The Renegade Weekend at Club NV (525 Howard). 10 p.m.-5 a.m. Featuring DJ Craig Gaibler vs. DJ Christopher B; and DJ Joseph Lee vs. DJ Noah Bud. Go to: www.therenegadecity. com. Sat., Apr. 9: Lady Thorn’s Community Exchange, aka SM Flea at the SF Citadel. 1 p.m. $5. Go to: www. sfcitadel.org or www.smflea.com. Sat., Apr. 9: Shake It for Japan hosted by Daddy Tony Koester and Kelly Rivera Hart at the Powerhouse. Shake it and win $100 while raising money for disaster relief in Japan. 9 p.m.Midnight. Entertainment by Lexi Girard, and some
sexy surprises. If you can’t attend, donate at: www. rainbowfund.org. Sun., Apr. 10: Beer Bust Sundays at Kok Bar SF. All you can drink Bud Light or Rolling Rock drafts. 5-9 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Sun., Apr. 10: SF Men’s Spanking Party at the Power Exchange (220 Jones St). This is a male-only event. You must be 18+ with valid ID. 1-6 p.m. Go to: www.voy.com/201188/. Sun., Apr. 10: Castrobear presents Sunday Furry Sunday at 440 Castro. 4 - 10 p.m. Go to: www. castrobear.com. Sun., Apr. 10: PoHo Sundays at the Powerhouse. DJ Keith, Dollar Drafts all day. Go to: www. powerhouse-sf.com. Mon., Apr. 11: Trivia Night with host Casey Ley at Truck. 8-10 p.m. Featuring amazing prizes and ridiculous questions. Go to: www.trucksf.com. Mon., Apr. 11: Happy Hour After Gym at Kok Bar SF. Mondays are all-day happy hour; Tue.-Thurs., 6-9 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 4-9 p.m. $2.75 on all beer & well drinks. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Tue., Apr. 12: 12-Step Kink Recovery Group at the SF Citadel. 6:30-8 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Tue., Apr. 12: Ink & Metal followed by Nasty at the Powerhouse. 9 p.m. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com. Wed., Apr. 13: Golden Shower Buddies at Blow Buddies. Yellow is the color of the night. This is a male-only club. Doors open 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Play till late. Go to: www.blowbuddies.com. Wed., Apr. 13: SoMa Men’s Club. Every Wed., the SoMa Clubs (Powerhouse, Truck, Lone Star, Hole in the Wall, the Eagle, Kok Bar SF) have specials for those who wear the Men’s Club dogtags.
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Karrnal >>
April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 71
Symphonic surges by John F. Karr
H
ere we have one DVD that contains two movies by Wakefield Poole, Moving and One, Two, Three. The set is offered up by Gorilla Factory Productions at a price so low you could get four of em before hitting the retail price of only one current sexo. Check out the website: www. GorillaFactoryProductions.com. You’ll find the video production company founded and run by Jim Tushinski, who made the doc about Peter Berlin, and saw to it that Berlin’s movies were remastered and released. Tushinski is currently working on a documentary about pioneering filmmaker Poole. Attendant to that, we get the hot history of two humpy movies, which Tushinski has remastered so they look and sound as good as possible. The three 20-minute loops of Moving are vaguely connected by theme. In the middle is a passionate make-out for a pair of groovy guys. That’s what a hot guy was called back then – in fact, I think this flick’s star, hunky, hung Burt Edouards, had been elected the Los Angeles “Groovy Guy” one year. The scene here: two preppy guys, cockrings, sharp tan-lines, gregarious sex. The first and last scenes were considered controversial in 1974, and their presentation of fisting was instrumental in bringing the as-yet little-known activity into the mainstream. The first scene stars Casey Donovan (at his glamorous best) and underground leather master Val Martin (at his most rugged). Casey’s a dream – and oh, man, those tight 70s stovepipe jeans fit! Showing off how longlegged and lean he is. The back pockets are high on the ass, not like today’s, goiters dragging inches below. Casey: long and lean cock, too, striking eyes, blond hair, almost unnerving charisma. Both movies feature lots of Poole-isms. Sex partners appear first as visions, and disappear afterwards into thin air. Symphonic music broods or swells with the sex, signaling foreboding extremes, and then celebrating orgasms. Nobody scavenges in the fields of classical music better than Poole. Another Poole trademark: vanilla sex blossoming into extreme. Just watch Casey and Val’s passionate foreplay,
Gorilla Factory Productions
Casey Donovan at his glamorous best in Wakefield Poole’s Moving.
making out, sucking and rimming. Wow. Martin lays a lot of lovin’ on Casey, almost as a diversion to his attempts to slip his fist up Casey’s cloister. But Casey’s not having it, can’t get over Val’s knuckles. Casey doesn’t give up trying, though, and his struggle is exciting to see. His facial expressions are a wonderment. His orgasm comes with a flood of late-Romantic music. Could this overheated tumult be Scriabin? I don’t know. It’s a symphonic surge that seems specially composed for Casey. The movie’s final sequence is
another visionary dream. It stars big Peter Fist, sliding his tattooed forearm fiercely into little Tom Wright’s asshole and punching the
+ << Leather from page 70 night with “Ruff House,” featuring the sonic battling of DJ Craig Gaibler vs. DJ Christopher B., and DJ Joseph Lee vs. DJ Noah Bud. The whole weekend promises to put Pagan Rome to shame in true San Francisco fashion. For information check out: www.TheRenegadeCity. com.
Kok Bar SF opens On Fri., April 1, the new Kok Bar SF (www.kokbarsf.com) officially opened with a fundraiser for Bevan Dufty for Mayor. At press time I don’t have the exact figures of how much was raised, but I’m sure they’re substantial. Dufty previously served our community as District 8 Supervisor. He’s always been 100% supportive of the SoMa community, the entire gay community and our city at large. He’s our ally at City Hall.
Scott Brogan
Renegade 2010 George Schaffer passes on the Renegade tradition this Friday at the Renegade 2011 contest at the Cat Club in SoMa.
hell out of it. The scene’s so unlike other fistings of the day. It’s not in a dungeon, it’s not covered in Crisco, it’s not depraved. It’s in full daylight on a handsomely stained hardwood floor in the handsome room of a Victorian apartment. And none the weaker for it. There’s another symphonic climax, as Peter drops his load in the kid’s mouth. Here’s a thumbnail overview of One, Two, Three. It’s a solo, a duo, a trio, with a postlude of all the movie’s players (minus one) unloading in a circle jerk. The movie’s rarely been seen – sometime later, main player Dave Connors killed himself when his AIDS got bad, and that deepsixed the film. Ironically, it had been intended as a fundraiser for A AIDS organizations. So very few h have seen JD Slater’s uniquely su successful solo. What a handsome d dude he was. Menacing, hot. H still is menacing and hot; a He c career of guerilla filmmaking ( (and outrageous sex) has turned t handsome to rugged. In this the s sequence, he flashes his cred as the a avant-unguarded. He gets himself o with a monologue directed at off t viewer. Don’t care for playlets the i porn? Then watch it for the way in S Slater ties off his cock and balls w a leather thong. Nobody does with i tighter. it It’s amazing to me how all t guys in both these movies the c have tremendously hot sex can w without spitting on each other. A barebacking? That’s all they And d The Pre-Condom Classic do. moniker has been laid on a lot of s second-rate movies. Pre-condom they may have been, but hardly classic. The term, however, seems to have been created for the pair of flicks on this disc.▼
Don’t forget: Coming up this April 14-17 is the one and only International Ms. Leather (IMsL) 2011 Contest Weekend. It’s the 25th anniversary for IMsL, and if last year’s weekend is any indication, this anniversary year will be completely off the hook. Come to the host hotel (Holiday Inn Golden Gateway, 1500 Van Ness) and enjoy the varied activities. There’s always something for everyone. Get your tickets and details at: www.IMsL.org. Last but not least, on April 27 the Leathermen’s Discussion Group (www.sfldg.org) welcomes guest speaker Fakir Musafar. The legendary Musafar is known worldwide for his 50 years of research and exploration of primitive body decoration rituals. The discussion and Q&A are open to everyone (non-genderspecific) and held in the upstairs meeting room at Blow Buddies (933 Harrison), beginning at 7:30 p.m. Enjoy the festivities!▼
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72 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13
<< Society
▼ 40th anniversary reflections by Donna Sachet
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bartabsf.com
s the Bay Area Reporter looks back on its venerable 40 years of publishing, we take this opportunity to reflect upon our five-year-old column and the lively LGBT community that makes it possible. When we arrived in San Francisco in 1990, so many people here expressed their sympathy that we had missed the best days of San Francisco, especially in the LGBT community. From our perspective, however, this was the perfect place to be at the perfect time! Like so many others before us, we found unimaginable acceptance, incredible diversity, and a wonderful sense of celebration in San Francisco. Starting with the bar scene, we heard stories of taverns long gone, but the 30-some bars currently available seemed to offer plenty of variety and enjoyment. In the last five years we’ve seen additional closings, but new openings as well, like Trigger, Q-Bar, Truck, Toad Hall, and Blackbird, business partners willing to take a chance and pursue a dream, somehow navigating complex municipal requirements and weathering the often-fickle tastes of the public. Just as Chaps II recently reviewed their business, made some interior modifications, added a pool table and pinball machines, and reopened as Kok Bar, so we have seen other existing bars reformulate their message, like Steven Underhill 440 Castro, LookOut, Rebel, and the Edge, in response to changing The Franz is an early Easter Bunny: guard your eggs! patron needs, thereby keeping the bar scene fresh and appealing. Despite the devastating loss of of Friends, GLAAD Media Awards, creating an entire week or Pleasuredome, big dance parties EQCQ Gala, NCLR Dinner, weekend of activities. Yes, we have continue to find homes in various Imperial Coronation, and Help is on seen serious financial problems venues around town, like Ruby the Way may strain one’s individual with some of our most loved Skye, Mezzanine, 1015 Folsom, budget, but they bring us worldorganizations and events of late, but Public Works, and 550 class celebrations, survival sometimes requires new Barneveld, providing national celebrities, thinking, fresh perspectives, and a space for us to and the opportunity harsh decisions. The San Francisco commune with each to support vital LGBT community has proven again other through dance. nonprofit work in and again its resourcefulness and Wonderful nostalgic a big way. Smaller optimism. events like Remember events, whether held And finally, we are so appreciative the Party occur in some of the bars of the amazing individuals who periodically, while or businesses listed keep San Francisco bustling with brand-new events like above or at galleries, social interaction, particularly Pound and Epic spring public spaces, or homes, within our own community. You up constantly, always in search of offer a more personal connection may think they hear it all the time, the next great idea. Much of what to the mission of our LGBT but thank Juanita More!, Heklina, you read in this column happens in agencies, while providing a variety Sister Roma, Pollo del Mar, Bebe these bars, and we are fortunate to of entertainment. The huge annual Sweetbriar, Cookie Dough, have such a vibrant scene. Whether events like Folsom Street Fair and Ginger Snap, Mercedes Munro, it’s by generously tipping your Pride Parade & Celebration have Gary Virginia, Brian Basinger, bartenders, thanking your barbacks become powerhouses of revenue Ingu Yun, Harry Lit, Mama and doormen, or encouraging the generation and internationally Sandy Reinhart, Kelly Hart, Mark business owners, make sure you let praised celebrations, often Paladini, Chris Raisbeck, Betty those people know how much they surrounded by related parties Sullivan, Marc Huestis, Mark are appreciated. Rhoades, Carlos Medal, Other gay businesses Alexis Miranda, Suzan appear in this column as Revah, Patrik Gallineaux, well, as their products, Sean Ray, Gus Bean, services, and environments Audrey Joseph, Janine add to the rich social fabric Shiota, Mike Lane, Lisa of our community. From Geduldig, Tom Orr, Lord classics like Clift’s Variety Martine, Michael Brandon, Store (celebrating 75 years Tita Aida, Garza, and so of business this year), the many others for creating, Castro Theatre, Orphan hosting, and promoting Andy’s, the Cove, and Mr. event after event, whether S Leather to newer spots charitable fundraisers or like Swirl, Catch, Eureka, roof-raising fun-raisers. Sui Generis, and Joe’s And thank you for attending Barbershop, these are the and supporting these many businesses that advertise events, bringing your energy in our publications, assist and commitment and often in charitable fundraising, appearing in the pages of and respond to our specific this very column. needs; they deserve our Forty years and counting patronage and our dollars. for the B.A.R. Five years The many events and counting for On the sponsored by or created Town with Donna Sachet. for LGBT charitable Thank you for reading organizations provide a our rambling recollections myriad of possibilities for of the goings-on around this social column, and we us, and remember what are deeply appreciative of all William Saroyan once said: Steven Underhill the diligent work that goes “If you are bored in San into producing them. Large The Green Hornet himself, Ryan Reynolds, signing Francisco, you’re not trying autographs at the WonderCon convention in SF. annual events like Academy hard enough!”▼
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April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 73
Serving the LGBT communities since 1971
74 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
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Books >>
Memory lane by Jim Piechota True Stories: Portraits from My Past by Felice Picano; Chelsea Station Editions, $16
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ranz Kafka once wrote, “It is hard to tell the truth, for although there ‘is’ one, it is alive and constantly changes its face.” Telling truths is something that popular, prolific author and memoirist Felice Picano does extremely well. This is most evident in True Stories: Portraits from My Past, his latest collection of expanded personal essays and life reflections. While some are new, many of these pieces have enjoyed publication in other anthologies, but Picano presents them in their unedited form, free from the shackles of word counts and the red editing pencil. In the introduction, Picano bows to the “strange, wondrous, or simply nutty” people who have passed through his life, since they’re the ones who helped him become the writer that he is today. By extension, his writings are a grand gesture to “those I related to, over the years.” As far as celebrity encounters are concerned, Picano boasts a lion’s share of personal interactions with divas, doyennes, and a few gayer-thangay scribes along the way. The “British Auntie” in the opening story is none other than poet W.H. Auden, who accidentally (and quite flamboyantly) dropped a geranium flowerpot down onto St. Mark’s Place where a youthful Picano and “working” actor-pal George
Sampson happened to be strolling. While “his costume was curious and his apartment a horror,” Auden remained magnificently “something to behold.” In another rousing segment, a financially-challenged Picano becomes bewitched at a show by the indomitable Bette Midler, who, back then, was considered just an “energetic little red-haired
woman” performing torch songs and Broadway hits at “the tubs.” He recalls being shooed in through the side entrance of the Continental Baths, perplexed yet immediately entranced by Midler, who crooned to the boys in short white towels and ear-to-ear smiles. The mid1970s found the author toe-to-toe
at Fire Island summer shares with Frank Diaz and Jack Brusca, who each enjoyed their numerous carnal pursuits, but “we were never more than three for breakfast.” Elsewhere, Picano recalls interactions with fashion columnist Diana Vreeland (supposedly the real boss-from-hell from The Devil Wears Prada), Charles Henri Ford, and even Tennessee Williams, one of the author’s idols. His more commonplace pieces (sans celebrity glitterati) are just as compelling and entertaining, but in different w ways. Tender portraits of good ttimes with childhood friends llike James (“a fine romance, with n no kisses”) morph into supreme llessons taught to him at 4 a.m. w with a rifle at his Grandpa’s side, a bike ride that levels the playing field with a school bully, and the eexorcism of some heady personal d demons. Picano’s memory is impeccable, aand his ear for dialogue just as d distinctive and richly realized. SStories about his Manhattan aapartment poltergeist charm with th the same innocence as tales of his su summer adventures frolicking in Manhattan and beyond. A Appealing and wonderfully anecdotal, the essays shared here harken back to a cloudless era when fun was freewheeling and the consequences of that fun were overcast at best. With this collection, Picano pays tribute to the many unsung heroes of his past who have long since fallen, forever etched both in memory and the occasional bout of inexplicable laughter and tears. ▼
TV >>
GLAAD Media Awards announced T
he 22nd Annual GLAAD Media Award recipients were announced in 25 of this year’s 32 media categories in New York last month. Additional awards will be presented in Los Angeles on April 10 at the Westin Bonaventure, and in San Francisco on May 14 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis. Following is a complete list of the GLAAD Media Awards that were presented on stage, and the individuals who accepted the awards. Excellence in Media Award: Russell Simmons Vito Russo Award: Ricky Martin Outstanding Drama Series: True Blood (HBO) (Accepted by Denis O’Hare.) Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular LGBT character): “Klaus & Greta,” 30 Rock (NBC) (Accepted by Tina Fey.) Outstanding Digital Journalism - Multimedia: “Bridal Bliss: Aisha and Danielle” by Bobbi Misick (Essence.com) (Accepted by Aisha Mills and Danielle Moodie, with Essence.com editor Emil Wilbekin.) The following is a list of all other award recipients announced at the 22nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York. Outstanding Talk Show Episode: “Ricky Martin Coming Out as a Gay Man and a New Dad,” The Oprah Winfrey Show (syndicated) Outstanding TV Journalism – Newsmagazine: “Gay Teen Suicides” (series), Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN) Outstanding Newspaper Article: “Rutgers Student Tyler Clementi’s Suicide Spurs Action Across U.S.” by Judy Peet (The Star-Ledger,
Pop star Ricky Martin received the Vito Russo award.
Newark, N.J.) Outstanding Newspaper Columnist: Frank Rich (The New York Times) Outstanding Newspaper Overall Coverage: Denver Post Outstanding Magazine Article: “What Happens When You Find the One, And He’s Nothing – Nothing – Like You Expected?” by Allison Cooper (O, The Oprah Magazine) Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage: The Advocate/Out Outstanding Digital Journalism Article: “View From Washington” (series) by Kerry Eleveld (Advocate. com) Outstanding Blog: Joe. My. God. (joemygod.blogspot.com) Outstanding Music Artist: Scissor Sisters, Night Work (Downtown Records) Outstanding Comic Book:
X-Factor by Peter David (Marvel Comics) Outstanding Los Angeles Theater: Something Happened by L. Trey Wilson Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway & Off–Broadway: The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell Outstanding New York Theater: Off–Off Broadway: When Last We Flew by Harrison David Rivers Spanish-language awards: Outstanding Novela: ¿Dónde está Elisa? (Telemundo) Outstanding Daytime Talk Show Episode: Tie: “Mamá vístete de hombre,” Casos de Familia (Univision) and “La Proposición 8,” Caso Cerrado (Telemundo) Outstanding Talk Show Interview: “Saliendo del closet después de los 30,” El Show de Cristina (Univision) Outstanding TV Journalism – Newsmagazine: “En nombre del amor” Primer Impacto (Univision) Outstanding TV Journalism Segment: “Aumenta el hostigamiento” Despierta América (Univision) Outstanding Newspaper Article: “Acosados hasta el punto del suicidio” by Rubén Moreno (La Opinión) Outstanding Magazine Article: “Estoy feliz de ser quien soy” by María Morales (People en Español) Outstanding Digital Journalism Article: “Fedro llegó para quedarse” by Amy Linares (PadrisimoMagazine.com) More information about the upcoming GLAAD Media Awards events in Los Angeles and San Francisco can be found at www.glaad. org/mediaawards. ▼
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April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 75
DVD >>
Long, tall drink by Ernie Alderete Bel Ami Premiere Collection: Lemonade, produced and directed by George Duroy (Bel Ami, 90 minutes)
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emonade is composed of five scorching segments, each one featuring a different European male couple. The first scene pairs two of the hottest stars in the brightly illuminated Bel Ami constellation: blonde Dolph Lambert and darkhaired Brandon Manilow. The action begins with the couple enjoying breakfast in their sunny backyard. The witty dialog surprised me. Dolph tells Brandon he’s considering jumping ship to Falcon Studios in San Francisco! Brandon quickly retorts, Why would you want to step down to a B studio? Of course, Falcon is the premiere porno studio in the world. It’s meant as a joke, as well as a dig at Bel Ami’s main competitor. Their banter reminds me of screwball comedy at its best. The couple in the next segment is another stellar blonde-andbrunette pairing, Ollie Safronov and Paul Valery, much younger and slimmer than the previous pair, and infinitely more spontaneous, almost an example of cinema verite. Although these are seasoned professionals, you nevertheless feel the illusion that this is their first time performing before the cameras. Most of this segment is filmed indoors, in the derelict stairwell of a
long-abandoned, probably condemned apartment building. I like watching Valery wrap his exquisitely well-formed narrow lips around the blonde dude’s thick, stiff boner. But the intensity only escalates in the next scene as Safronov rides his buddy’s prick while Valery is seated on the stairwell. You can see every muscle in the rider’s tight, tan torso contract and expand like a boa constrictor swallowing his prey, as his body bounces up and down on Valery’s young, sheathed boner, as if he were riding a pogo stick. Maybe there’s unseen harsh overhead studio lights, because Valery’s forehead quickly builds up beads of sweet twink sweat. It would have been an exciting touch if Safronov had licked them off Valery’s face while still riding his dick. Valery does manage to quickly lick Safronov’s closest nipple once or twice during the cock-riding scene. It’s almost like a lizard snatching a fly with its long, moist tongue. In the next scene the same two assume another, more conventional position, but continue screwing. Yet that first fucking remains seared into the memory, a shining example of what a proper butt-
fucking should be. Safronov and Valery are both well-built and very handsome. But I would give Comrade Safronov the edge on his build, which is exceptionally sleek and wellproportioned, almost gazelle-like, and Mister Valery the win on his boyish, clean-cut face. Dialog is in Czech, with easy-toread English subtitles. Lemonade is a real keeper. On a scale of one to 10, a perfect 11. Don’t rent it, buy it. You won’t regret it. ▼ www.belamionline.com
Spoiled kiwi by Ernie Alderete
J
ohn: Lucky in Lust, Unlucky in Love was produced by Astrid Glitter, the only Kiwi female porn producer, for Glitter Films’ Guy
notes << Dance from page 65 were divided into “serious” modern dancers (Marling himself and the genius Nol Simonse) and silly boys James Graham and Mica Sigourney (a.k.a. VivvyAnne ForerevMore), with Marling crossing over at times into cuteness. When performers cross the proscenium, as performance artists love to do (who was that guy in New York who’d try to drown himself in a tub until an audience member intervened?), it’s dangerous; their function as artists is to stimulate our imaginations, but when one of them sits down in the empty seat next to you (as happened to Yours Truly) and tells you about the time in his life when he slept on the sidewalk
Love series. It has a boring title, uninspired cover art, a dreadful cast, and dull, ho-hum sex. The only believable acting is delivered by the token straight woman. The sole redeeming feature of Jo John is the handsome, u ultra-blond, almost p pigment-free, virtually b body hair-free actor who p plays the title character. B watching his hideous, But d dark-haired main sex p partner, perhaps the u ugliest man ever to mar t Silver Screen, lamely the s shove vibrators up John’s p pale ass, and stroke his p petite, pink, erect nipples w with other batteryo operated novelties, was a about as stimulating as w watching Kiwi fruit spoil. Another (yawn) slowm moving scene has John soaping himself up in the shower alone. Extraneous female coach potatoes sitting around a living-room
with his drug-addict friend to keep the friend’s shoes from being stolen, as if he’s having a conversation with you during the show and must violate the fourth-wall convention to share this, and when asked says yes, he’s not making this up, it can make you crazy for a while. At least, it did me. On reflection, I had misbehaved unpardonably to my friend, who is not returning calls or answering e-mails. But the incident points up how hard it still is for me and many queers of my generation – actually, most of my generation died in the 80s of AIDS – to deal with the fear of being disowned. Would I prefer my mother’s curse, or to hang out with those cute gay boys, if they would have me?▼
set watching a fat-assed male Chippendale dancer-reject strip down to his all-too-revealing G-string at an at-home birthday party is ill-advised, at best. Did I mention the soundtrack? Don’t ask. Frankly, despite the explicit man-to-man sex, I would not even consider this a gay film by any stretch of the imagination. If this movie depicts what gay sexuality is really like, then I must be a closet heterosexual. Filmed entirely on location in New Zealand, as evidenced by the thick Down Under accents. Certainly don’t buy this jive turkey, don’t even rent it out of a sick sense of curiosity. And if some desperado dares gives you a copy of John, Lucky in Lust, Unlucky in Love for a present, slap that person across the face and shove it up his or her ass.▼
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Serving the LGBT communities since 1971
76 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 7-13, 2011
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Music >>
Heart to heart with Hunx by Gregg Shapiro
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ed by Hunx (a.k.a. Seth Bogart), formerly of queer dance-unit Gravy Train, Hunx & His Punx puts the gay back into garage on Too Young To Be in Love (Hardly Art). Described as the first “proper” studio album by the band, the 10 songs smell like black leather motorcycle jackets and boots, Brylcreem and Final Net, cigarettes and Dentyne. The band’s girl-group grind is filtered through Hunx’s distinctly queer perspective. I spoke with Hunx shortly before he and the band embarked on tour. Gregg Shapiro: Your moniker Hunx stems from your time in the band Gravy Train. How did you come up with it? Hunx: That’s a good question. It rhymes with the other names in the band? It was kind of a nickname that my friend Chunx used to call me. Were there other band names under consideration before you selected Hunx & His Punx? I don’t know why I decided that, actually. It seemed appropriate, to bust out on my own! Hunx & His Punx is a mixedgender band. How important is that mix to you? Well, I love being in bands with girls, number one. But I guess that’s all I really know. So I have to say highly important. Could you ever see yourself in an all-male band? It’d have to be like an all-gay super group! Who would be in the super group? My friend Cody from The Sun. Myles Cooper, the guys from Limp Wrist, and maybe Jonny Make-Up?
Like a really obnoxious, over-the-top gay group! Did you grow up listening to the girl groups of the 1960s, or did you seek out the music on your own? My parents listened to some of them, like the Supremes. And this
“If You’re Not Here (I Don’t Know Where You Are),” which has a great line about teardrops on your telephone. Is that an honest reflection of your outlook on life, highs and lows? It kind of is, yeah. It’s a very honest look, and especially musically, because I started writing about stuff
“This is like really embarrassing, but I think that I was really into the movie ‘Sister Act!’” – Hunx, a.k.a. Seth Bogart is like really embarrassing, but I think that I was really into the movie Sister Act, and men’s versions of girl groups. I got like really into that as a kid. I bet Whoopi Goldberg would be happy to hear that. Many of the girl group hits were written by songwriting duos like Barry Mann & Cynthia Weill, Carole King & Gerry Goffin, Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry. Do you have a favorite among those songwriting teams? I can’t even think of who wrote what right now. I know Ellie Greenwich strikes a bell with me. She wrote “Leader of the Pack.” Yeah, her for sure. Didn’t Ellie Greenwich write “Be My Baby”? Yes, she co-wrote that with Phil Spector and Jeff Barry, her other songwriting partner. The songs on the album swing back and forth between the exhilaration of “He’s Coming Back” to the sadness of
more as an outlet, you know? If I was feeling really sad or heartbroken, writing songs made me feel better. You have referred to Hunx & His Punx’s music as “young oldies,” and youth figures prominently in some songs. What age do you think is the right age to be in love? There’s no right age to be in love. I actually think being young and in love is really sweet. This is just kind of a reflection on looking back at being in love when I was really young, and thinking it’s weird. It’s just intense, and uncontrollable, something you can’t help, and it’s kind of tragic, but also really amazing. Was it unrequited love? No, it wasn’t unrequited. I was in a super-long relationship, like eight years or something, from when I was like 18. Looking back on it just seems really intense. Do you still speak with this ex? Yeah, we’re friends now. Bad boys play a significant role
in these songs. Do you think it’s better to be a bad boy, or to be in love with one? I think it’s better to be in love with a bad boy. Because they’re really hot, and at the end of the day you’re not as troubled as them.
not really that into it.
Have you ever been in love with a bad boy? I’ve never been in love with bad boys but I’ve had many crushes, but they end up straight so it doesn’t really go that far. Gay bad boys are kind of hard to come by. They’re not the kind I like. I like gay boys a lot, don’t get me wrong, but gay bad boys take on a different meaning of what’s bad. Like crystal meth, I’m
Why do you like playing in the South? People just get crazy. I don’t like stopping in the South, like at truck stops. Gravy Train almost got killed a couple times. I enjoy small-town gays, they’re almost crazier than people I know here. They come to the show and get all dressed up, they’re so cute.▼
That’s good to hear. You’re embarking on a tour. What are you most looking forward to? Well, I love playing in the South. I can’t wait to go to Nashville, because I’ve never been there.
Books >>
The gay Dad by Jim Piechota Blind Sight by Meg Howrey; Pantheon Books, $24.95
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eg Howrey is brimming with artistic talent. A former Broadway dancer and actress who has toured nationally, she also confirms her status as a successful debut novelist with Blind Sight, a colorful tale about an estranged father and son who finally get to know one another and try to form a family. As the story opens, 17-year-old Luke Prescott has spent his pre-college summer months in Los Angeles. This was inspired after an unexpected invitation from his longlost biological father Mark Franco, a popular TV series regular on The Last, a futuristic drama about a group of exiles from a nuclear warravaged planet Earth. Mark is intent on making a dignified effort to get to know his son, who, while familiarizing himself with the L.A. lifestyle, is attempting to artfully pen a college application essay that is coming due. Lots of text messaging, introductions to his father’s gaggle of assistants and co-workers, and becoming initiated into the life of the son of a celebrity ensue – but it’s the surprise confession that shocks most: Dad’s gay! Since Mark’s on Hollywood’s turf, this is information that could put the kibosh on his micro-manicured career, so more is unsaid than is discussed. Conversations ensue about sucking cock, spirituality, and, eventually, what it is Luke really wants from life and from his Dad. There’s history – lots of it – and
Howrey delivers this quite effectively in flashbacks and melodramatic scenes that really get to the heart of her characters’ intensive inner feelings and true motivations. Luke, as the product of a one-night-stand and being raised in a primarily female-dominated household (generations of women, like sisters Pearl and Aurora, govern his family tree), is much more sensitive to the
delicately balanced ebb and flow of emotions, mood swings, intuition, and tolerance, just like his New Age mother Sara. Howrey also employs a unique (and risky) storytelling strategy of allowing Luke to narrate the novel in some sections; then, in alternating segments, the story is told from a third-person perspective. Sara becomes jealous of her son’s newfound father-friend, who has shown the boy what the glamorous life (pitfalls included) is really all about. Sparks fly, including a few plot-twists toward the conclusion that Howrey seems to tack on for dramatic heft, but her well-written, confident debut doesn’t need any bells or whistles to make it sing on its own. ▼
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April 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 77
Film >>
What’s opening this week in cinema? by David Lamble
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ill Cunningham New York An 80-something, slightly stooped, bicycle-riding, smock-wearing, eternally young street photographer stars this week in the best fashion flick and living ad for New York City as still the greatest place on earth. “The best fashion show is definitely on the street. It’s always the hope that you’ll see some marvelous, exotic bird of paradise, meaning a very elegant, stunning woman, or someone wearing something terrific!” In Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, a manly photographer, Jeff (James Stewart), is lobbied by a gorgeous blonde model, Lisa (Grace Kelly), to join her world of beautiful people. Stewart’s character, recovering from a leg broken in the line of duty, spends large chunks of the movie discreetly watching his neighbors from his cubbyhole apartment. In Richard Press’ intimate and entertaining bout of peoplewatching Bill Cunningham New York, the filmmaker gives us a privileged view of a contemporary Gotham character who combines the best qualities of Jeff and Lisa. Like Jeff, Cunningham takes deathdefying chances to get his photos – watch him cut off a Yellow cab on his Schwinn bike. Like Lisa, Cunningham is an old-fashioned patrician who sees nothing undemocratic about an individual defining herself in eye-catching costumes. Just as Hitch’s screen stories consumed months of off-screen labor, it took Press longer to gain the confidence of his non-assuming star than to actually film him biking uptown or downtown to grab candid shots of daringly attired New Yorkers for his two weekly New York Times columns, On the Street and
and Spain << Balenciaga from page 57 modest circumstances. The son of a fisherman, he apprenticed to a tailor as a youth, and was recognized as a prodigy and designing for Queen Nina by the time he was 25. It didn’t hurt that the man who once decreed, “A woman has no need to be perfect or beautiful to wear my dresses, the dress will do that for her” – Thank you, Cristobal! – looks like God’s gift. In photographs taken
Zeitgeist Films
Bill Cunningham New York: candid shots of daringly attired New Yorkers.
Evening Hours. We observe how Cunningham’s shrewd eye for life on the street spied trends in the making, from Woody Allen and Diane Keaton happening upon the Annie Hall look in the mid-70s to a potty-mouthed hip-hop generation’s dropping their underwear for an almost X-rated shot of their beat-sampling butts. Cunningham’s world runs the gamut from a retired Nepal ambassador’s dramatically undiplomatic nighttime costumes to his 96-year-old photographer neighbor’s gallery of a long-vanished Hollywood glamour. This lady, guarding her still money-making shot of Andy Warhol from Press’ camera, is the Cunningham doc’s Thelma Ritter. Just as Hitchcock made Peeping Toms of us all without ever revealing all there was to say about either himself or his dodgy characters, Bill Cunningham allows Press and us a seemingly-24/7, all-access pass to his world: his cramped, file cabinet-stuffed studio apartment at Carnegie Hall; rubbing shoulders with billionaires and fashion divas; receiving France’s top artistic
honor; hanging with his “kids,” a bevy of aspiring, fashion-hungry trendsetters like the sassy Kenny Kenny. But in the end, as one society matron after another admits, we never quite penetrate the innermost workings of a sensibility honed in a distinctly different time. Towards the end of a delicious 84 minutes, the filmmaker finally asks his immensely private subject, whose countenance and enigmatic smile resemble that of the British character actor Wilfred Hyde-White, the “S” question. “Have you ever had a romantic relationship in your entire life?” “Do you want to know if I’m gay?” “Yes.” “Isn’t that a riot. Well, that’s probably why the family wanted to keep me out of the fashion world. They wouldn’t speak of such a thing. No, I haven’t, it never occurred to me. I guess I just was interested in the clothes, that’s the obsession. It’s probably a little peculiar. I am human, you do have body urges, but you control it as best as you can.” Press then asks an even more intimate question about Cunningham’s weekly church
attendance. “I find it very important. As a kid, I went to church and all I did was look at women’s hats, but later, when you mature, for different reasons.” In a Better World Not everybody will agree with Oscar voters in picking Susanne Bier’s boy-centered moral parable over Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s spiritual voyage to Barcelona’s lower depths Biutiful for Best Foreign Film, but give this Bergman-lite exploration of the roots of human violence a fair hearing. The ads suggest that Bier evenly divides her time between Scandinavian adolescents battling school bullies and a Swedish doctor’s horrific duties in an African war zone that looks like Sudan. Actually, the movie is mostly about two boys whose unlikely and very rocky friendship seems at times to be heading for Columbine territory, then goes in a different direction. Elias (Markus Rygaard) is seemingly the little wimpy kid with crooked teeth who gets the stuffing kicked out of him. The personal punching bag for the school’s blond bully boy, Elias gets an odd reprieve when a depressed, subliminally angry new kid shows up. Christian (William Johnk Nielson) is distraught over the recent cancer death of his beloved mom, and truly pissed that his dad, Claus (Ulrich Thomsen), seemed indifferent to his wife’s terminal struggle. Innocently befriending Elias, Christian gets a punch in the face for his trouble. The boy takes unusual offense to the beat-down and later exacts a brutal revenge, beating the bully almost to unconsciousness with a bicycle tire pump. It’s here where American audiences, accustomed to “zero tolerance” rhetoric from our school authorities, may miss the not-sosubtle differences between American and Scandinavian ideas of crime and
prices were exceedingly high, but that didn’t dissuade the worshipful. Countess Mona Bismarck, one of his most devoted clients, reportedly locked herself in her bathroom for three days after he closed his atelier in 1968. He died in 1972. In these kinds of shows, there’s a subtext, rarely if ever addressed, of class, envy and the vicarious experience of a lifestyle and tax bracket beyond the reach of mere mortals; however, this hasn’t prevented them from being
“A woman has no need to be perfect or beautiful to wear my dresses, the dress will do that for her.” –Cristobel Balenciaga of him when he was in his early 30s, he’s darkly handsome, suave, impeccably dressed and groomed, radiating the elegance that would become his signature. Notoriously private, his sexual orientation was a subject of speculation. A perfectionist known for his hands-on approach to every aspect of his creations, Balenciaga worked in Spain for 20 years until the upheaval of the Spanish Civil War forced him to flee, first for London, where he couldn’t get hired – a loss for British fashion and a boon to France – and then to Paris, where in 1937 he established his studio, held court, and promulgated fantasy for the chicest – read: the richest – women in the world. Even in the costly realm of couture, his
extremely popular. But while the YSL show epitomized restraint in conjunction with a fanciful sense of fun and practicality, and Vivienne Westwood was south of outrageous, for the most part here, the collections are subdued and formal, and their appeal more remote; yes, the dresses are beautifully structured, but they seem conservative or simply skew toward the matronly, like some of the dowdy ensembles from the 1950s. The color palette is muted, with an allegiance to black except for a smattering of yellow, red or green; and the stiff, unyielding fabrics are descended from a prehistoric age before women demanded comfort, even from haute couture. Balenciaga’s bold geometric dresses and angular sculptural
A red evening dress from 1957 at the Balenciaga and Spain fashion exhibit at the de Young Museum. Rick Gerharter
pieces that stand away from the body echo cubism and seem dated in a mid-1960s, space-age way, but the strapless, usually black evening gowns with poofy skirts, whose curved hems are shorter in the front and graze the floor in back, are graceful and understated, perfect for gliding through a murmuring crowd or a night of flamenco dancing. Many of the ensembles, including one with a white pique bodice and flowing black organza skirt, are shown with above-the-elbow gloves.
The gowns have a body-hugging layer beneath with a second layer on top, allowing the garment to breathe and appear to float when in motion, a vision difficult to picture within the confines of an art exhibit. It has been said that Goya was an angel resting on Balenciaga’s shoulder, and several dramatic gowns with pale fabrics peeking out from underneath layers of gorgeously detailed, black lace recall the painter’s portraits of aristocratic women. And what of that most
punishment. The school officials, despite the shocking nature of Christian’s assault on the bullying boy, seek mediated reconciliation rather than summary expulsion. Later this philosophy will prevail despite a horrendous escalation of the young man’s violence. The aspect of the movie that seems to have inspired some critical reservations is Bier’s device of paralleling the boys’ struggle to contain their rage with Elias’ dad’s meltdown in the desert. Anton (the ruggedly handsome Mikael Persbrandt) is bitterly torn when asked to treat a local warlord whose crimes include slicing open the pregnant bellies of women. After at first turning a Gandhi-like other cheek, Anton finally loses his cool, resulting in a Lord of the Flies moment in the refugee camp. The attempt to draw moral lessons from the parallel stories will irk some liberal sensibilities, but Scandinavian society, however familiar, is not Obama’s America. For more than a millennium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland have waged ferocious internal tribal wars, the scars of which have brilliantly illuminated their film culture. In this film’s breathtaking conclusion, a disillusioned Swedish father addresses a suicidal Danish boy, responsible for a grievous injury to Anton’s precious Elias. Stepping up to a Bergman-like moment, Bier gives Anton a harrowing speech in which he informs the distraught Christian about the “veil of death” that humans only rarely, usually tragically get to glimpse. It is a tribute to a great ensemble and a fearless filmmaker that these words contribute to an upbeat if not truly “happy” ending. For those who can’t buy this retribution-free philosophy, wait for the Michael Haneke remake.▼
Spanish of arenas: the bull ring? Balenciaga hated the fighting, but loved the outfits. To wit, there’s an assortment of jeweled boleros and a case filled with adorable small hats including a black taffeta cocktail hat decorated with a crimson silk rose, and another suitable for a minimatador. A spectacular romantic creation, which would be ideal attire for a moonlit ride in a horse-drawn carriage, is the reed-slim, black crepe dress with a fantastic silk “chou” wrap that drapes luxuriously around the shoulders and above the head, framing the face, a crowning touch that resembles a tropical creature in heat, displaying its grand plumage. A simple peach-toned, floor-length number, worn by Ava Gardner, doesn’t look like much on the mannequin, but Gardner sure knew how to fill out a dress. No wonder she drove Sinatra off the rails. Though Balenciaga died almost 40 years ago, it’s a tribute to his achievement and the miracle of marketing that his name, which remains synonymous with refined elegance and wealth, still has cachet, though the current line that bears his imprimatur no longer packs the punch of his heyday. Not surprisingly, the show’s curator, Hamish Bowles, European editorat-large for Vogue, who collects Balenciagas (17 pieces on view are from his private collection), sidesteps this sensitive but intriguing question and doesn’t effectively tie Balenciaga to the present, preferring to focus on past glory.▼ Through July 4 at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.
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