April 9, 2020 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

CDC: Wear masks in public

Ammiano's new memoir

FDA blood ban changes

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For LGBTs with disabilities, virus brings challenges by Matthew S. Bajko

elo Cipriani vividly remembers the three days he had a fever of 102 degrees after contracting the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, back in 2009 while living in San Francisco. Legally blind, he likely Jane Philomen Cleland touched a staircase Belo Cipriani with railing or other surhis guide dog, face in a public space Oslo and didn’t wash his hands soon enough to prevent becoming sick. Now living in Minneapolis with his husband, James Kirwin, 37, who has partial sight, Cipriani quickly became alarmed when he first heard news reports about the novel coronavirus outbreak in China. His worries grew when he found out there were nearly a dozen Minnesotans stranded on the Grand Princess cruise ship docked off San Francisco’s coast due to several crew members and a few passengers testing positive for the virus. “I thought it is going to come here, so I decided to start early,” said Cipriani, 39, who began sheltering in place in early March, weeks before others in his state were ordered to do so. “For me, especially, I am completely blind and I need to touch things. It is one of the things I feel about my specific disability for why I am more vulnerable. I need to touch things to get around. James has some sight but he has to touch things to make sure things are there.” The couple is lucky that they have family members in the area to run errands for them if needed. And Cipriani joked the couple normally over-buys at the store to limit their need to shop, so when they heard about the run on toilet paper, their reaction was at least they were stocked up on the bathroom necessity. “We are pretty prepared. One thing about having a disability, we buy in bulk because we can’t always go to the store,” said Cipriani. “I feel like this may sound dramatic, but my husband and I are both blind, so we tend to stock up for three to four months at a time. We do a have big pantry.” San Francisco resident John Marble, a gay man who is autistic, was fairly certain he had contracted the coronavirus last month as he celebrated his 43rd birthday while severely ill. After he noticed a loss of taste, Marble started getting headaches and having digestive issues followed by difficulty breathing. “I felt winded doing anything. For about two weeks all I was doing was sleeping,” recalled Marble, who in consultation with his doctor opted not to get tested and remained at home. “My official diagnosis was highly probable.” More than a decade ago Marble had worked on the H1N1, and to a lesser extent, the Ebola See page 10 >>

Vol. 50 • No. 15 • April 9-15, 2020

Hunky Jesus joins Easter and Passover services online “Funky Jesus” Sean Lavelle, right, with his custom designed wooden cross, won the 2012 Hunky Jesus contest at the annual Easter Celebration in Dolores Park hosted by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Lavelle crafted a functioning guitar onto a wooden cross, playing a few riffs in his winning bid.

by John Ferrannini

he novel coronavirus outbreak has moved much of life, both in the city and around the world, online – and celebrations of one of the holiest times of the year for Christians and Jews are no exception. For those not inclined to participate in a formal worship service, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s popular Hunky Jesus

and Foxy Mary contests will also be virtual this year. Many of San Francisco’s LGBT-friendly religious congregations have moved their Easter and Passover services online for the first time. The Sisters, a charitable drag nun group, made their announcement March 23, and it is the first time in the 25-year history of the event that it will be held online. The Sisters had initially announced March

10 that the event would be postponed, but that was before shelter-in-place orders left much of the Bay Area and the nation shut down for weeks. “The decision to make this contest online was because our Easter Celebration in Park has already become a cultural part of San Francisco. Every year we get thousands of visitors who are eager to have some fun and elect the new reigning Hunky Jesus and Foxy See page 10 >> Rick Gerharter

2020 San Francisco Pride ‘will look very different,’ ED says by John Ferrannini

an Francisco Pride is working with City Hall to make major changes to the 50th annual parade and festival, which is scheduled for June 27-28, in light of the novel coronavirus outbreak. “It is apparent that SF Pride will look very different from the two-day celebration that we initially envisioned, and we continue to work closely with our partners at City Hall to evaluate all available options,” SF Pride Executive Director Fred Lopez wrote in a Facebook post April 7. Lopez added that the organizing committee for the largest LGBT Pride celebration on the West Coast anticipates “being able to share what we’ve learned very soon.” The acknowledgement that this year’s twoday celebration and parade would not go off as planned came a day after the Bay Area Reporter reported Monday that SF Pride is facing growing pressure to postpone the event and that a meeting was planned this week between city officials and the organizers of not only the annual Pride celebration but also the Trans and Dyke marches. As other media outlets picked up on the story Tuesday, and organizers of Boston’s Pride scrapped their celebration in early June, calls

Jane Philomen Cleland

The Apple contingent sported rainbow-colored balloons in last year’s San Francisco Pride parade.

for changes in San Francisco Pride’s golden anniversary only grew louder. In his Facebook post, Lopez alluded to the internal debate SF Pride officials are having on how to mark the event’s milestone year while also taking into consideration the need to protect the health of participants and attendees. The event draws hundreds of thousands of

people from across the Bay Area, California, and around the country. “We know that many people want to see a commemoration of Pride50, and we also hold the safety and well-being of our LGBTQ+ communities at the highest priority,” wrote Lopez. “The global Pride network is responding in See page 11 >>

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<< Coronavirus News

2 • Bay Area Reporter • April 9-15, 2020

SF doc sees promise in HIV drug as treatment for COVID-19 by Ed Walsh

San Francisco physician wellknown for his decades-long work conducting clinical HIV drug trials told the Bay Area Reporter Wednesday that he is seeing encouraging results from an FDA-approved fast track trial he is overseeing that uses an experimental HIV drug as a treatment for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Dr. Jacob Lalezari, better known as “Dr. Jay,” said that so far, 10 patients are using the drug Leronlimab, or Pro 140, to fight COVID-19 and that early data is showing promising results. So far researchers have been able to look at data from four critically ill COVID-19 patients. “We saw clinical benefits in three of the four,” Lalezari said, noting that this represents a vast improvement on similar intubated patients in China, 90% of whom died. Lalezari added that Leronlimab would likely show even better results when patients were administered the drug early, before they needed ventilators. Lalezari explained that it’s not the COVID-19 disease itself that kills, but the body’s immune response to it. “At the end of the day, it’s the inflammation that is killing people,” the researcher said.

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Dr. Jacob Lalezari

Leronlimab works by targeting the CCR5 receptors on white blood cells. The drug has been shown to help people with HIV because that virus uses CCR5 receptors to enter healthy cells. Lalezari explained that during the bubonic plague in the 14th century, the people who had a mutated form of the receptor known as CCR5-delta 32 were immune to plague, which wiped out 60% of the European population. As a likely legacy of the so-called Black Death, about 1% of Northern Eu-

ropeans still have that mutation that makes them immune to HIV. Lalezari said that doctors treating COVID-19 patients can request the use of Leronlimab by applying to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its EMERGENCY use as treatment for COVID-19. Lalezari noted that the drug has been shown to be safe, with no known side effects, and is currently being used by 750 people with HIV and a dozen women as a treatment for breast cancer. He said that COVID-19 patients can be treated in as little as two weeks, receiving injections once a week. Leronlimab is produced by the Vancouver-based pharmaceutical company CytoDyn. Last month, CytoDyn named Lalezari as interim chief medical officer to oversee its COVID-19 trials. Since 1997, Lalezari has been CEO and clinical director of Quest Clinical Research in San Francisco. t Full disclosure: Ed Walsh has been a volunteer research patient for two studies conducted by Quest Clinical Research since 2013 under the supervision of Dr. Jacob Lalezari and is currently one of the subjects in the study of Pro 140 as a treatment for HIV.

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by Liz Highleyman

he general public should routinely wear cloth face masks to reduce transmission of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The updated guidelines were announced during the daily White House coronavirus briefing on Friday, April 3. President Donald Trump stressed that the new mask recommendation is voluntary, promptly adding that he is choosing not to wear one. The CDC’s new guidance is a departure from previous recommendations stating that people should not routinely wear masks unless they have symptoms or are caring for someone who is ill. Now, the CDC advises that people wear cloth face coverings when shopping for groceries, going to work, or wherever else they might come into contact with people outside of their household. However, health officials stress that wearing face masks is not a substitute for social distancing efforts, including staying at home as much as possible, hand washing, and keeping a six foot distance from other people. “It is critical to emphasize that maintaining six-feet social distancing remains important to slowing the spread of the virus,” the CDC’s updated website reads. “CDC is additionally advising the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others. Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an addi11-5 tional, voluntary public health measure.” The earlier recommendation was based on the fact that face masks do not offer complete pro-

Courtesy City of Sacramento

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now recommending that people wear cloth face masks when they are out in public, such as going to grocery stores.

tection, especially if they are not worn correctly. What’s more, N95 respirators and surgical masks are in short supply and should be reserved for health care workers. Cloth masks do not filter out tiny particles such as viruses, like N95 respirator masks do. But they do block respiratory droplets that carry the coronavirus. These droplets are expelled when people cough or sneeze, and the virus is released into the air even when people sing, talk, or breathe. Wearing a cloth mask is not so much intended to protect the wearer from contracting the virus, but rather to reduce transmission to others. Studies have found that surgical masks significantly reduce the release of respiratory viruses by the wearer. But even the more modest protection offered by homemade cloth masks could add up to substantial risk reduction at the population level. In addition to blocking the spread of the coronavirus through the air, wearing a mask can remind people not to touch their face, which can transmit virus left on surfaces such as door handles. Many homemade masks are similar in design to surgical masks.

One recent comparison found that masks made from a double layer of heavy-duty cotton appear to work well. But even a bandana or cutup T-shirt can lessen the spread of virus-containing droplets. Make sure the mask fits snugly and completely covers both the nose and mouth. The change in the guidelines was motivated in part by a growing recognition that people can transmit the new coronavirus even when they have no symptoms. Some studies suggest that up to a quarter of people who contract the virus are asymptomatic. For this reason, it is not enough for people to wear a mask only when they are feeling ill or are in contact with someone who is ill. What’s more, widespread mask use reduces stigma that could arise if they are only worn by people who are ill. “One advantage of universal use of face masks is that it prevents discrimination [against] individuals who wear masks when unwell because everybody is wearing a mask,” Dr. Shuo Feng of the University of Oxford and colleagues wrote in a recent commentary in the Lancet.t

Community News>>

April 9-15, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 3

New Castro businesses delay opening doors by John Ferrannini

aid Almasser was getting ready to open his first restaurant at 417 Castro Street – the former home of Dapper Dog, which shuttered earlier this year. But then the novel coronavirus struck, and the city was placed under a shelter-in-place order. Now, while he is looking forward to opening, he is hardly alone among small business owners who will owe rent for time when they could not make the money to pay it. Almasser’s new eatery, the Golden Grill, will focus on “sandwiches, hot dogs, and burgers,” he said. “We’ll also try to make organic sandwiches, Philly cheesesteaks, club sandwiches, chicken, an egg and bacon breakfast,” Almasser said in an April 3 phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “I will follow what the neighborhood likes because I love the neighborhood.” Almasser, a straight ally, emigrated from Jordan six years ago. He previously worked as a manager at the 17th & Noe Market. “I have good skills,” Almasser said. “I’m a good guy and have positive energy. I will succeed.” Almasser said that he has lived in the neighborhood, near Dolores Street, for years, and loves it there. “I can’t open because, you know the situation,” Almasser said, adding he may open Golden Grill as deliveryonly for now so he can pay the business’s bills. Andrew Fidelman of the Aquitaine Wine Bistro said he has been prevented from opening by the shelterin-place as well. Aquitaine had been on Sutter Street and planned to open at 216 Church Street (at Market Street) in March. “I used to live at Clinton Park for seven to eight years, so I knew it and always loved the Church and Market area,” Fidelman said in a phone interview with the B.A.R. April 3. Fidelman said that the Aquitaine Wine Bistro was one day from opening when he found out it could not. “We were ready to open when we heard we had to shut down,” Feldman said. “If we would have opened two weeks earlier and put money into our inventory and payroll, we would have invested a lot.” Fidelman said that Aquitaine will open as soon as it is permitted to. “We are waiting to hear from the mayor and the governor,” he said. “We have gone through the [state Alcoholic Beverage Control] process and all the permits are in place.” David Salazar advises the owners of a yoga studio that plans to open at 227 Church Street (Salazar did not identify the owners but said he was representing them publicly at this “very early” point in the process). The studio, which will be at the site of the old Aardvark Books, will be the first location of a “family-run small studio,” Salazar said. It has not been delayed primarily by the shelter-in-place order, Salazar said. “We have a city process we’re going through,” Salazar said in an April 7 phone call with the B.A.R. “(Department of Building Inspection) is closed but we are still working with them.” Salazar said the closure of so many city offices, however, has hampered the owners’ ability to get things done quickly. “What’s going on is everything is taking longer but the city is doing a good job,” Salazar said. The Castro Merchants has a list on its website of Castro area businesses that are open. (http://www.castromerchants.com/#home)

Shelter-in-place may last beyond May 3

Castro Merchants held a virtual

Matthew S. Bajko

Aquitaine Wine Bistro on Church Street was one day from opening when the city’s shelter-in-place order went into effect, closing non-essential businesses.

town hall on its Facebook page April 6 with John McKnight, the community branch coordinator with the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management. The department, set up during city emergencies, contains officials from many city departments, such as police, fire, and public health. The community branch coordinator represents the world of nonprofits. Until the coronavirus outbreak, McKnight had been the operations manager for the San Francisco Fleet Week Association and had experience as a director of emergency and disaster services for The Salvation Army. McKnight told the merchants that he personally expects the shelter-inplace order to be extended beyond May 3. San Francisco Mayor London Breed extended the order from an initial expiration date of April 7 last week. “I’m in the opinion phase here. Do I think it’ll be extended past May 3? Pulling the vest off: I think we are,” McKnight said, adding he is planning on canceling a Memorial Day event he hosts at Lands End in memory of soldiers who lost their lives in World War II. “I know I’m done,” McKnight said. “This viral outbreak is going to be a more protracted event.” Breed said last week that an extension beyond May 3 was possible. McKnight said that the most important number to look at when assessing government orders are the number of hospital beds and ventilators being used by coronavirus patients. “Last I heard, it’s well under 50%,” McKnight said. “As long as the number is low we can take care of people when they get sick.” At a news conference later April 6, Dr. Grant Colfax, a gay man who is the city’s director of public health, said that the city has more than 1,600 acute care hospital beds (up from 1,055 before COVID-19, which is the illness caused by the novel coronavirus). The number of the city’s intensive care unit beds has increased from 277 to 530, Colfax said. Eighty-three of the city’s 583 COVID-19 cases are hospitalized, with half in intensive care, Colfax said. McKnight said that getting back to normal will not be a return to a precoronavirus world. “Businesses will be challenged to find ways to stay open while not exacerbating the spread with people coming out their doors,” McKnight said. “I’m prepared for this to last a while.” McKnight said that the time has come for everyone to wear protective masks while they are in public. “The virus is now in the general population. Any person you pass on the street could be positive,” McKnight said. “After a day’s work, I come home, put my clothes in the laundry, and take a shower.” McKnight said he had not seen the homeless shelter system at Moscone Center, which was roundly criticized by current and past elected officials

over the weekend for being inadequate to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the city’s homeless population. At the time of the McKnight town hall, the city planned to use Moscone West as a temporary homeless shelter. Less than three hours later, officials changed plans and said that the city would use more hotel rooms and that the Moscone West location would be used for people who have recovered from COVID-19 and people who tested negative. Five supervisors, including Matt Haney from District 6, have been pushing for the city to buy reservations at some of San Francisco’s thousands of vacant hotel rooms to house the homeless. According to Trent Rhorer of the city’s human services agency, officials initially opted not to take that approach for financial reasons. “Given the significant projected budget shortfalls of over $1 billion that the city will likely be facing over the next two years, it would not be fiscally prudent to spend city general fund [dollars] on renting thousands of hotel rooms for a population that does not require an urgent COVID health quarantine or isolation intervention,” Rhorer’s statement to several news outlets over the weekend read. McKnight said there was little he could say about that situation. “I didn’t see these reports so let me be limited. The point of opening the shelters was to give people already in the shelter system the ability to have six-foot separation,” McKnight said. “I haven’t seen the shelter. ... I can’t speak about the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning). My guess is that’d be a pretty good place though those filters would need to be scrubbed, I would imagine. I’m out of my lane there. Let me be careful with that. “The heart of this motion is to take care of our homeless and give them a place to be,” he added. “If they choose to be sheltered, we’re going to give them the safest sheltering system we can pull together.” At the news conference the afternoon of April 6, officials stated the city will need a total of 4,500 hotel rooms. At least two people who were at the MSC-South homeless shelter in South of Market (not to be confused with Moscone Center) tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to an announcement from the city April 6. McKnight said he did not know if there were tents in stock, but he had heard of a “tent area being set up.” McKnight said he wasn’t aware of the antibody test that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration April 2. Currently approved tests for the coronavirus can only detect a present infection, not one that an infected person has recovered from. Antibody tests look for the evidence of the body’s struggle against the virus in the bloodstream, and could be useful for determining who can and can’t return to work.

The Department of Emergency Management did not respond to a request for comment about how long it may take for the general public to have access to those tests.

Police cite violators of shelter-in-place

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said at an April 6 news conference that the police have not seen an uptick in hate crimes against Asian Americans in San Francisco due to the coronavirus, which was first reported in China. Scott said that there were six reported hate crimes against Asian people in San Francisco to this

date in 2019, and five in 2020. “If you are the victim of a hate crime please call the police, call us,” Scott said. “These types of crimes are unacceptable at any time, particularly during this pandemic.” Scott said that a curfew has not been discussed but that there have been two citations issued for violating the stayat-home order. One was, as the San Francisco Examiner reported, to an 86-year-old anti-abortion protester. “This is a matter of life and death,” Scott said about heeding the order, which is punishable as a misdemeanor. The other was to an individual who police suspect of trespassing. “The second citation was surrounding an incident that occurred on March 23, 2020,” a police spokesman wrote in an April 6 email to the B.A.R. “At approximately 12:06 a.m. officers responded to a business located on the 2000 block of Van Ness Avenue regarding a burglary in process. Officers arrived on scene and located a suspect for burglary. The suspect was cited for trespassing and the California Health and Safety Code violation for not complying to a lawful health order.” Scott said that police have given 26 warnings to people violating the order – 22 individuals and four nonessential businesses. Officers will cite people or businesses after one warning, Scott confirmed April 3. t

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<< Open Forum

4 • Bay Area Reporter • April 9-15, 2020

Volume 50, Number 15 April 9-15, 2020 www.ebar.com

PUBLISHER Michael M. Yamashita Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013) Publisher (2003 – 2013) Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird CULTURE EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • John Ferrannini CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ray Aguilera • Tavo Amador • Race Bannon Roger Brigham • Brian Bromberger Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Dan Renzi Michael Flanagan • Jim Gladstone David Guarino • Liz Highleyman Brandon Judell • John F. Karr • Lisa Keen Matthew Kennedy • Joshua Klipp David Lamble • Max Leger David-Elijah Nahmod • Paul Parish Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota Gregg Shapiro • Gwendolyn Smith Sari Staver • Charlie Wagner Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington • Sura Wood

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Small step for gay, bi blood donors I

t was long overdue and not enough when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it had issued new guidance for gay and bi men donating blood. On April 3, the FDA said that men who have sex with men can donate blood if they’ve been celibate for three months. The celibacy requirement had been 12 months and before that it was a lifetime ban. The justification was that in 1983, there wasn’t a way to detect antibodies to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in blood. Today that is not the case, as antibody tests to detect HIV infection in the bloodstream have existed for decades. The FDA made the decision because the sharp rise in COVID-19 patients has drained blood bank supplies. Its sudden policy change to address this health emergency revealed the longtime discrimination against gay and bi men blood donors – and the insulting celibacy requirement it clings to. The FDA continues to ignore the science of HIV testing, and, as gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) noted, “continues to codify irrational, factfree discrimination against gay and bisexual men who simply want to donate blood to save lives.” “While a three-month celibacy requirement is less awful than a one-year celibacy requirement, it is still awful,” Wiener stated. “The celibacy requirement still excludes from blood donation a huge number of healthy, HIV-negative gay and bisexual men.”

Courtesy FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently changed its guidelines for gay and bisexual men who want to donate blood.

We have railed against the FDA’s discriminatory blood donation policy for years, as have many LGBT political and community leaders. Modern HIV testing technology is so accurate that it can detect any HIV infection that occurred 10-14 days or longer before the donation is made. There is no reason to insist on a three-month (or roughly 90day) celibacy period for gay and bi men to donate blood. Anyone can have HIV and all blood donations are tested equally. In addition to changing the celibacy requirement for men who have sex with men, the FDA also revised the deferral period from

12 to three months for female donors who have had sex with a man who had sex with another man, and for anyone with recent tattoos and piercings. For the agency’s part, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, acknowledged that maintaining an adequate blood supply is vital to public health. “Blood donors help patients of all ages – accident and burn victims, heart surgery and organ transplant patients, and those battling cancer and other life-threatening conditions.” The American Red Cross estimates that every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. Blood donations have dropped dramatically since most blood drives have been canceled due to stay-at-home and physical distancing orders. But blood banks are considered an essential service, and donations can be made safely within the current public health orders. Marks stated that the FDA wants to do everything it can to encourage more blood donations. But using outdated science is not the way to accomplish that. The FDA needs to revise its guidance so more gay and bi men who are healthy can donate blood like everyone else. This is not only necessary to save lives jeopardized by the coronavirus pandemic, but also for other uses when the outbreak diminishes. To prepare for future health crises, it’s imperative to implement policies and practices learned from the current one. Blood donation guidelines are set by the federal government. The new guidance should also be reevaluated so that more changes can be made.t

Easter 2020: Now more than ever by Jim Mitulski

his Sunday is Easter, typically the most joyous day of the church year for Christians. People in my spiritual tradition gather even when they don’t typically attend church. Sometimes they sport new clothing, hats, or suits. The mood is festive. In our part of the world Easter is also associated with the end of winter. Flowers abound, trumpets join with organs and choirs and the word Alleluia is repeated in the hymns and anthems, all of which celebrate new life, the power of resurrection. We tell the story of Jesus, a wrongfully convicted criminal executed by the Roman authorities in occupied Palestine/Israel, cruelly executed without due process in an act of capital punishment as egregious as those depicted in the current film “Just Mercy,” based on Bryan Stevenson’s memoir chronicling the racial injustice of the death penalty in the United States. We celebrate that the power of the revolution initiated by Jesus and his followers cannot be contained even by death. Our favorite songs recall how the power of sacred memory makes it possible not only for Jesus but also by implication all of our departed loved ones, “to walk with me and talk with me” in a perpetual garden where “the joys we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.” Whether or not it can be sustained by reason, this story is fed by faith and generally it works to inspire us to live a larger life and a more hope-filled existence. For 15 years, from the mid-1980s and throughout the 1990s, I was the pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco, an LGBT church in San Francisco’s Castro district, during the terrible AIDS epidemic. The congregation has since relocated but the building is still there and the sidewalk is etched with memorials from that period where, in a city that lost over 20,000 people, a community once thrived where the principal sustaining belief was “Love Is Stronger Than Death.” We endured presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush (as awful in their time as Donald Trump) and terrible religious bigotry that described our situation as God’s punishment. We overcame social stigma and lived for many years without significant medical relief and still, as best we could, we ensured that no one died alone. We became family for each other, a web of friends and lovers and ex-lovers and we were defiant and angry and proud. We invented a new kind of gay activism that lesbian feminist poet Adrienne Rich described as an “anger laced with mourning.” Usually this time of year researchers and scholars of the period contact me to ask, “How did you celebrate Easter in an epidemic” surrounded by relentless death? Here is what I recall. It was easier to observe Good Friday some years than it was to celebrate

Courtesy Reverend Jim M.

The Reverend Jim Mitulski

Easter. The suffering, the crucifixion, the pain seemed more real than the promise of new life and resurrection. Re-reading black lesbian poet Audre Lorde’s “The Cancer Journals” (Spinsters Ink, 1980) recently reminded me that our community brings a rich tradition of coping with death and suffering that begins with acknowledging the reality of the suffering. She writes: “I must let this pain flow through me and pass on. If I resist or try to stop it, it will detonate inside me, shatter me, splatter my pieces against every wall and person that I touch ... I want to write rage but all that comes is sadness. We have been sad long enough to make this earth either weep or grow fertile. I carry death around in my body like a condemnation. But I do live. The bee flies. There must be some way to integrate death into living, neither ignoring it nor giving into it.” We were able to maintain a future focus because in part we engaged fully the seriousness of our situation. We understood that many would die and we poured ourselves into an activism that laid the groundwork for it the future that we knew would come after. I understand that AIDS and HIV are different than the coronavirus. The very fact that right now we are separated by quarantine and sheltering in place and literally unable to touch each other, when touch was such a lifeline for us, underscores the difference. I also know that my single biggest regret from that period is that we did not emerge from it with universal health care for all. We cannot let this happen again. We owe it to those who have died from either virus to make sure that as we rebuild, universal health care as a human right for all is a non-negotiable building block of the society we create next. And

we learned from HIV and AIDS that it showed us where sexism and racism and poverty infected our culture and government, just as the coronavirus is beginning to in the disparate numbers of black people who are dying. We must not settle for a public health approach that is not committed to addressing these inequities. We must remain vigilant to the discourse and practices of public health officials in regard to civil rights. I had a chill when I heard the otherwise admirable New York Governor Andrew Cuomo explain last week how they were deploying tests to “hunt positives” in order to identify people who may already be immune to infection or re-infection. I understood his meaning, but I maintain that we hunt game, not people. We bring to this new epidemic a finely tuned ear to making sure that everyone affected by this virus are people, not statistics. I remember Good Fridays in the epidemic. To echo the words of the spiritual, “We were there when they crucified my Lord.” And “we were there when he rose up from the grave.” Because I also remember that each year I became better attuned to signs of resurrection that existed as persistently as spring. Some of my best Easter memories involve Castro Street promenades with Easter bonnets that rivaled Fifth Avenue in New York, parties led by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and tapping into the conviction that “Love is Stronger than Death.” As a Christian I believe that I will once again see the people I love but long to see, and if I listen carefully I can still hear their voices from time to time, and right now they say in unison, “Don’t Give Up! You are stronger than you think!” This week I’ll be singing this traditional Easter hymn via Zoom with my congregation, and next year I believe I will be singing Alleluias back together in person. We need Easter now more than ever. “Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia! Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia! Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia! Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia! Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia! Following our exalted Head, Alleluia! Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia! Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!” (Charles Wesley, 1739) t The Reverend Jim Mitulski is the pastor of Island United Church UCC in Foster City, California. He can be reached at revmituslki@gmail.com.

Politics >>

April 9-15, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 5

Gay trailblazer Ammiano pens humorous tell-all

by Matthew S. Bajko

eated at his kitchen table, gay political leader and comedian Tom Ammiano began to recount his life story in July 2018 to journalist Tim Redmond and Jon Golinger, a political consultant and author. By the time the trio had finished, they had amassed 30 hours of recorded conversations from 13 two-hour sessions. The reminiscing was both bittersweet and uproarious, recalled Ammiano, 78, during a joint phone interview with Golinger April 1 while he sheltered at home with his husband, Carolis Deal, due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. “It was a little bit of everything. Some of the memories are very emotional,” said Ammiano, a New Jersey native raised Catholic who moved west in the early 1960s when he enrolled at San Francisco State University to earn a master’s degree in special education. “Expressing it verbally could for me be very powerful, but we did have a lot of laughs. It was very positive.” The transcripts were then turned into a memoir jointly pieced together by the three progressive stalwarts of the city’s political scene. The process took a bit longer than expected because some of the taped conversations were inaudible, said Golinger. “As I transcribed the recordings, numerous times I couldn’t hear super clearly because there was too much laughter. Mostly Tim and I laughing through much of it,” recalled Golinger. “It made it more challenging but much more fun. I hope that comes through in the writing.” The fruit of their collaboration, Ammiano’s “Kiss My Gay Ass: My trip down the Yellow Brick Road through activism, stand-up, and politics,” will officially be released Thursday, April 9, by Redmond’s Bay Guardian Books. Printed in softcover, the book costs $20, and an excerpt will run in the Bay Area Reporter’s April 16 edition. “This is all bittersweet,” Ammiano told the B.A.R. in his first media interview about his memoir. “I am excited by the book being ready, but the timing is very sobering.” The 240-page book has been a long time coming. In 2013, a year prior to his political career being cut short by term limits, Ammiano had told the B.A.R. he planned to write a memoir. He promised it would retell, “the journey I have been on in this city. San Francisco has been tremendously supportive.” Overshadowed at times by the city’s first out elected official, Harvey Milk, who was killed in 1978 11 months into his first term as a supervisor, Ammiano was just as much a gay trailblazer in the city’s politics. A contemporary of Milk, Ammiano became the first public schoolteacher in the city to come out of the closet in 1975. He worked alongside Milk and other LGBT activists in 1978 to defeat the anti-gay Briggs initiative, which would have banned LGBT people and their straight allies from working as schoolteachers in the state. It was only days after that victory that Milk was assassinated inside City Hall along with then-mayor George Moscone. Twelve years later Ammiano en-

Rick Gerharter

Then-Assemblyman Tom Ammiano spoke at a rally in 2013.

tered into political office by winning a seat on the San Francisco school board and served as its first gay president. In 1994, he won a seat on the Board of Supervisors, though his victory came a few days after his longtime partner, Tim Curbo, died due to AIDS complications. He twice ran unsuccessfully for mayor, first as a write-in candidate in 1999 who forced then-mayor Willie Brown into a runoff. Ammiano then lost in 2003 to fellow supervisor Gavin Newsom, now California’s governor. Ammiano’s election in 2008 to the state Assembly marked the first time an out gay father served in the Legislature. He has a daughter, Annie Jupiter-Jones, with couple Diane Jones and former Health Commissioner Roma Guy, and three granddaughters now 18, 13, and 8 years old. After being termed out of his seat in 2014, Ammiano returned to the classroom, teaching at San Francisco State University and the private Jesuit-run University of San Francisco. He also returned to the comedy stage, with his 2016 solo show “Mincing Words” at The Marsh receiving rave reviews. Throughout his political career, Ammiano made deft use of his comedic chops. The title of his memoir comes from his retort to Republican former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who made a surprise visit in 2009 to a fundraiser for the San Francisco Democratic Party. At the time, Ammiano was upset that the governor vetoed his bill aimed at protecting LGBT state prisoners and another bill focused on updating the gender of transgender individuals on their birth certificates. Unlike the “fuck you” response Schwarzenegger hid in a veto message that fall of another of his bills, Ammiano told the B.A.R. he didn’t slip a secret profane reply in his book for the governor, who does get namechecked in one of the chapter titles. Former mayor and current Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) is also featured in a chapter title. It derives from a joke Ammiano would often tell during his standup routines. “Dianne always makes good copy, let’s leave it at that,” said Ammiano when asked if she will like how he portrayed her. The book, Ammiano said, settles a

few personal scores, corrects what he felt were inaccuracies in other chronicles of city history, and includes some juicy gossip such as what happened when he met a handsome soldier on the Greyhound bus he took to San Francisco. “History is made up of many interpretations. I thought rather than just complain at least put my two cents in,” he said. “Let the chips fall where they may.” Some people may be surprised to find their names were left out entirely. “I think we balanced it very smartly,” said Ammiano. “Sometimes we, rather than mention someone, we left them out. But we described it so when you read it, you will understand who we meant.” Golinger, whose 2017 book “Saving San Francisco’s Heart: How to win elections, reclaim our city, and keep SF a special place” was also published by Bay Guardian Books, told the B.A.R. that he encouraged Ammiano to go with his famous quote for the title of the book. “It merges three pieces of Tom: his sharp elbows as a political activist with his hilarious stand-up comedy and his big heart. He was being real in that moment with Schwarzenegger,” he said. “It was a real, raw, uncalculated or planned moment that was genuine. Tom is honest, sometimes bluntly so, but he is also hilarious, completely truthful and genuine.” In his author’s note for the book, Ammiano references his having dyed his hair blue for several years now. It is the color of “Mary,” he notes, adding the quip “Camp rules,” from the late gay San Francisco drag queen and first known out person to run for office Jose Sarria. “It is one of my favorite lines from Jose and very apt today,” said Ammiano, noting his hair currently is “a mess” since he can’t see his stylist. “When things are pretty down, Jose used to say, ‘I get up every morning and I look at the mirror and I say good morning, Mary!’” In these perilous times, Ammiano and his collaborators hope his memoir will bring some hilarity and levity to readers. “Finding ways to laugh and be true to yourself, I think we need that more than ever now,” said Golinger. As for their taped conversations, Ammiano plans to donate them to an LGBT historical archive. To order a copy of the book, visit https://www.kissmygayass.com/. t

Obituaries >> No good news in B.A.R.’s challenges

I was most distressed to read the publisher’s letter in the April 2 Bay Area Reporter about the continuing financial challenges that the paper faces. The fact that we are facing a public health emergency recalls powerfully our public health crisis in the early years of the AIDS epidemic. That crisis and many others have been documented and supported by your paper over many years. The prospect of the loss of your absolutely essential perspective is frightening to many in the community.

Clearly, this is a time when we all need more communication, rather than less. It was especially disheartening for me, personally, to learn of the layoff of the esteemed arts editor at the B.A.R. Roberto Friedman has overseen the work of writers on a dazzling array of artistic pursuits with a wealth of knowledge, talent, and humor that few have rivaled. He will be sadly missed. Bill Hirsh, Executive Director AIDS Legal Referral Panel San Francisco

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<< Commentary

6 • Bay Area Reporter • April 9-15, 2020

Papers, please by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

ou don’t need me to tell you how difficult and challenging these times are. We’re all living through a pandemic and the affiliated economic collapse, made all the worse by an inept and cruel response from a corrupt federal government. Even more so, this will end up disproportionately affecting marginalized groups, including transgender people. Under the cover of all this, Idaho decided to prioritize anti-transgender legislation over protecting its own citizens’ health or prosperity by passing a pair of bills, which Republican Governor Brad Little signed into law, as the Bay Area Reporter recently reported. The first of these is like many we’ve seen this legislative cycle, barring transgender women and girls from competing in women’s sports, with the added twist of allowing any opposing coach, school administrator, or even parent to challenge the sex of a student athlete. Once they do so, the athlete would be required to undergo invasive sex testing – including genital examination – to participate in sports activities within their gender. I want, however, to talk more about the other bill that Little signed. This one, House Bill 509, would disallow changes to birth certificates, including updating a gender marker, one year after the certificate is issued. Known as the Idaho Vital Statistics Act, the bill states that it is all about presenting a “factual record,” and declaring that “allowing individuals to alter their vital records, including birth certifi-

Christine Smith

cates, based upon subjective feelings or experiences undermines the government’s interest in having accurate vital records.” Yet a birth certificate isn’t some simple piece of paper issued by the state to provide data used to determine gender for scientific reasons – as Idaho attempted to declare – but is used far more to determine the rights and privileges presented by the state. It is used to declare your identity at the most basic level, including your name, your family, and even your nationality. In spite of Idaho’s arguments, a birth certificate isn’t a one-time document that proves a snapshot of one’s birth, immutable from that point forward. It is a document of your very existence. A birth certificate can be used to determine if you can marry, if you can or cannot serve in the military, and if

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you can hold a bank account. It can be used to determine your right to vote, your ability to obtain a passport, and in so many other ways to prove who you are. For a transgender person, this document is a key part of establishing our identity in the eyes of the law. Being unable to update, in short, disallows transgender people the full protection of the law. Let me explain for those who have never had to go through this, those who may not consider themselves transgender, and for whom their documentation doesn’t present anything not in line with their own sense of self identity: imagine if you had to prove to the government just what your name or gender was – and it wasn’t willing to take your word for it. First and foremost, you might reach for your driver’s license or your

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ourselves, and update a gender marker on our paperwork, it is a binding declaration that affirms our identity in a legal form. It is the very opposite of this false notion of transgender people wanting to bounce between one gender and another as a lark. Indeed, by removing the ability to update one’s legal paperwork, one could argue that Idaho is trying to make that myth a reality, forcing us to have no legal recourse on our name and gender, and causing such to have no foundation. Unlike those who are not transgender, our names and genders are hard won, the product of years, even decades, of soul searching and hard work. They are part of a lengthy path of recreating ourselves in a world that all too often would rather see us be miserable, hollow shells, rather than presenting the whole of our beings. If you are not transgender, that may sound a bit like hyperbole. Yet I assure you that seeing our names and genders recognized can often be a case of life or death. It would seem that the Idaho Legislature and Governor Little prefer the latter. t Gwen Smith has been Gwen Smith for more than a quarter century. You’ll find her at www. gwensmith.com.

Openhouse to hold virtual panel on two-spirit life compiled by Cynthia Laird

penhouse, the LGBT senior agency in San Francisco, will host a virtual panel discussion where two-spirit First Nation people will share stories of life on the reservation and in the city’s queer community. “Two spirit” is a Native American term for people with both female and male energies. Two spirits may or may not also identify as LGBTQ. Traditionally, two-spirit people often held – and many still hold – honored positions in their Native American and First Nations communities. The online panel will be held Saturday, April 18, from 1 to 3 p.m. The panel is being done in partnership with Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits, the Native American Health Center, and the San Francisco LGBT Community Center. To RSVP, contact Ephraim at (415) 535-0927.

SF launches volunteer match program

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identification card or passport. But at the heart of all of these identity documents is your birth certificate, this “factual record” of who you are. Imagine, for a moment, that it listed a gender identity different from the one you claim, and a name that also reflects that erroneous gender. Imagine that information being used as the basis for all of your identification, forcing you to live and work, knowing that your own innate sense of identity that could be legally challenged at any time, and you would very likely lose. Imagine if you ended up being locked up for whatever reason, and your identity paperwork being used to place you in a prison not fitting your gender, or being forced to assert your gender identity in myriad other ways that could be challenged? The arguments that have long been put forth about transgender people is that we seek to change our genders on a carefree whim, perhaps bouncing back around as we see fit, using our identities to gain special benefits as needed. Yet changing a birth certificate has never been something that can be done so easily. It typically takes a court order to update such paperwork, and isn’t something you can flit by the judge’s courtroom and get changed. It takes a certain level of work. I might even argue that it should be easier, not harder, to update this paperwork. When we choose a new name for

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has announced the creation of a citywide volunteer network to support seniors and people with disabilities during the coronavirus pandemic and throughout the duration of the stay-athome order. In a news release, Breed noted that during the shelter-in-place order, many older people and adults with disabilities need support with tasks they used to be able to do on their own. Additionally, these people are at greater risk of social isolation and would benefit from social interactions with other neighbors

Courtesy BAAITS

Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits members will be part of an online panel discussion organized by Openhouse.

and family by phone or video call. The city has created a centralized volunteer page for those who are interested in helping seniors and adults with disabilities. It partnered with Shanti Project to develop the COVID-19 Emergency Response Volunteer program, which leverages existing infrastructure and vetting volunteers and matching to community members in need of help. The city is also working with Mon Ami to do volunteer matches. Mon Ami typically coordinates in-person visits to isolated seniors using its app. With inperson visits on hold, the app has been repurposed to enable volunteers to call isolated seniors for friendly check-ins and to coordinate errand runs. Mon Ami will provide free access to the smartphone app during April. The match program is currently being piloted by Openhouse, the aforementioned LGBT senior agency. For more information about

volunteer opportunities, visit www.sf.gov/covid19volunteer.

Asian Americans deliver with Masks for Life

A community-led group of Asian American activists has launched Masks for Life in an effort to get protective face masks to community organizations, health care workers, and essential workers on the front lines of COVID-19 support services. Team members have been working in the health field for decades, according to a news release. So far, many of the essential organizations that are receiving help target marginalized populations including the LGBTQ, disabled, homeless, and the elderly populations, as well as Asian & Pacific Islander and Native American local health care organizations, HIV/AIDS service organizations, and many other essential organizations/hospitals/clinics. Since the launch of its GoFundMe page March 23, Masks for Life has raised over $48,000, ordered 51,000 masks, and is placSee page 12 >>

Business News>>

April 9-15, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

Linguist teaches SF first responders Spanish by Matthew S. Bajko

rom an early age Dino Medardo Rosso had an ability to master foreign languages, first learning Spanish in kindergarten. It prepared him to converse with his adopted brother from El Salvador. To date Rosso has studied roughly 17 languages and is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Arabic. He graduated University of Massachusetts Amherst with degrees in Spanish, Portuguese, Latin American studies and in theater, ballet, and opera; Rosso then graduated from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont with a degree in Arabic, French, and education. “The more languages you learn, the easier it becomes because you recognize the patterns,” said Rosso, who spoke with the Bay Area Reporter this month via Zoom. Rosso, 42, whose Twitter profile describes him as a professor, polyglot, and pirate, spent most of his 20s in Europe, working as a fit model for Dolce & Gabbana in Italy and as a tour guide in Norway, Spain, and Romania. He moved to San Francisco 10 years ago and landed a job teaching foreign languages at the private San Francisco Waldorf School. The gay Castro resident three years ago launched his own business, Lingo, to teach others foreign languages. In particular, Rosso trains restaurant managers how to communicate with their mostly Spanish-speaking staff and in turn teaches English to the cooks, chefs, and other back-of-the-house employees. He also provides individual sessions for people wanting to learn a language ahead of a vacation or business relocation to a foreign country, or to communicate with the family of their foreign-born partner or spouse. On an average week he sees a dozen students mostly learning Spanish, charging $75 an hour for adults and $100 for youth. As demand has grown, Rosso hired three other instructors. It all came to a crashing halt last month when the novel coronavirus outbreak led his high school to shutter its campus, the city’s restaurants to close their dining rooms, and most people to sequester at home for the time being. “When the whole thing happened, overnight I lost 20-plus private students and a whole host of restaurants,” said Rosso, who spent a week eating ice cream and watching “Golden Girls” episodes alone at home before resorting to online platforms to relaunch his business. “People are starting to come back now. I am doing it all on Zoom; some people prefer Facetime but Zoom seems to be the best way.” He has started back with some of his restaurant clients and is building up a reputation with families in China who are hiring him to teach their children Spanish. “I have five high school students right now in China. If they are up

Courtesy Dino Rosso

Linguist Dino Merdardo Rosso, center, marked the end of a fall/winter restaurant class with now current or former Tacolicious employees Alex Miller, left, Lauren Schindel, Nicole Sweeney, and Nuranne Dairkee.

and it is 2 in the morning here, I am teaching,” said Rosso, who is learning Mandarin from a Waldorf colleague. Utmost for Rosso was reviving his free, weekly Spanish classes for first responders and health care workers in the city, especially now that they are dealing with a serious public health crisis. “What I am doing with them is helping them help the community,” explained Rosso. “It is open to any city employees who are emergency personnel. It is for anyone who has contact with the Spanish-speaking community and wants to learn how to communicate with them.” The relationship with the city’s fire department and other emergency departments and health care providers began with a chance encounter at the 2018 Castro Street Fair between Rosso and Jonathan Baxter, a 21-year fire department employee. Rosso had ventured over to the annual fall festival to make contacts with the different groups that had booths at the fair. He struck up a conversation with Baxter at the fire department’s booth and learned the agency had long talked about providing language classes to its employees so they could communicate better with the general public. Most needed was Spanish, as many people they treat only speak Spanish. “Coincidentally, we were working on how to bring programs into public safety, not just for the fire department but for all public safety and health care providers, so we can get individuals at a bare minimum to communicate with people who are experiencing likely the worst moment of their life when they call 911,” said Baxter, 48, a lieutenant overseeing homeland security operations and public information for the fire department. The classes launched last summer Rosso used as a pilot to better

understand what was needed. He also spent 15 hours riding in an ambulance on New Year’s Eve to see firsthand what emergency responders face on the job. “I had to see things from the point of view of a firefighter,” explained Rosso. “Most people think they exist to put out fires and 10% of their time is spent doing that. But 90% of their job is responding when you call 911 because someone has had a heart attack or overdoses or got stabbed in a bar fight. They are the ones who show up.” For those safety personnel unable to speak Spanish, they either would call a phone translation service for assistance or use a phone app. But both resources have drawbacks, noted Baxter, whether in wasting precious seconds or resulting in translation errors. Some emergency responders pay to attend costly language courses, but Baxter said they are not geared toward teaching how to speak with people during a time of crisis. “I was averaging $7,000 to $8,000 a year on Spanish lessons. That is expensive, especially trying to live on a public servant salary,” said Baxter. “Those classes are structured for your building from zero to be a proficient Spanish speaker. We want a program where we can learn how to speak and communicate right now to help minimize suffering and save lives then build on it.” Rosso has created specialized curriculum tailored to teaching phrases and terms that firefighters, police, and health care staff need to know. “Dino is able to bring an innovative approach to educating first responders and our health care providers how to communicate and

learn Spanish,” said Baxter. “You get a lot of people who have different learning abilities, but they want or their desire is to speak that language. Or at a bare minimum get basic information to get help to the person who needs it.” The hourlong classes began last summer after Rosso’s employer offered use of one of its classrooms so the emergency responders would have a safe and private space to learn and practice their Spanish. Upward of 20 people attend the weekly Friday classes, which Rosso this year had held at the Ingleside police station. He spends 30 minutes on lessons and the students have 30 minutes to practice speaking. While Rosso isn’t charging for his services, attendees often donate him some money for his time. Last year, he received a mayoral award of excellence for the program and this year received a Guardians of the City award from the fire commission. He conducted his first online course Friday, March 27, and geared it toward teaching phrases and terms specific to the coronavirus outbreak and how to talk to people about COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus. “Dino focuses on what phrases do we need to help patients out, so whether it is the police, firefighters, or nurses, he is very attune to what kinds of phrases we use,” said Pacific resident Serina Maali, 27, who became a licensed nurse in February and started taking Rosso’s classes in January after learning about them via a Facebook post. “Instead of learning basic Spanish 101, we are learning a lot of phrases we can use and that is very helpful.” While sheltered at home with

her three children and looking for a nursing job, Maali is logging into Rosso’s virtual classes. She took Spanish in high school but isn’t proficient in the language and wants to be able to speak with her patients without needing to use a translator. “In nursing school I was exposed to many Spanish-speaking patients who only spoke Spanish. I was able to use a translator, but it is not the same as being able to speak in the native tongue of somebody else and to give them that comfort,” said Maali, adding that Rosso’s “enthusiasm and passion for teaching” makes him an excellent linguist. “He just really cares at the end of the day and will do whatever it takes to help a student out.” Already, regular attendees of the free class are becoming more proficient in speaking Spanish, said Baxter, with several wanting to also write in the language. The hope is to expand into other languages commonly spoken by San Francisco residents, such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Russian, and Tagalog. “He is helping us break through the barriers we have,” said Baxter, who recounted giving directions last December to a car full of tourists from Spain who happened to pull up alongside his fire department vehicle. “I responded immediately in Spanish, and they pulled off. But then I was worried I had told them to go the wrong way, so I called Dino and he said I had told them to go the right way.” For more information about Rosso’s language classes, visit https:// dinorossolingo.wixsite.com/lingo.

Castro website plugs open businesses

To help its members while much of San Francisco shelters in place, the Castro Merchants business association is using its website to promote which businesses in the neighborhood continue to be open. As of Tuesday, April 7, there were more than 50 eateries listed on the http://www.castromerchants.com main page that were offering takeout or delivery or both in some cases. The site also lists those neighborhood grocery stores and other shops that continue to be open, as well as several retailers accepting orders online and other businesses that continue to offer their services to customers. “We started with restaurants, listed by food category, and will be updating other categories soon,” noted Dave Karraker, with MX3 Fitness, which has closed its Market Street location but is providing livestreamed workouts online. “We think this is a great way for residents to easily see a way to help local small businesses by ordering delivery or take out.”t Got a tip on LGBT business news? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8298836 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

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<< National News

8 • Bay Area Reporter • April 9-15, 2020

FDA eases gay blood ban from 12 to 3 months by John Ferrannini

Incremental progress

he U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced major changes April 2 to its ban on blood donations from men who’ve had sex with men amid major challenges to the nation’s blood supply in the wake of the novel coronavirus shelter-in-place orders. For men who’ve been deferred from blood donations for having sex with another man, the prohibited period has been changed to three months. It was previously one year, based on 2015 FDA guidelines. The deferral period has also been lowered to three months for women who’ve had sex with a man who’s had sex with another man. The deferral period for people who have had tattoos and piercings has also been reduced from 12 months to three. The move brought mixed reactions from LGBT leaders, who have stepped up their yearslong advocacy for the ban to be lifted entirely now that there is a greater need for donated blood. There had been a lifetime ban for gay and bisexual men from 1983 until the Obama-era change to a one-year deferment in 2015. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who previously reported, penned a letter to the FDA and started a petition March 23 calling for the ban to be entirely revoked, stated that it is hypocritical to ban gay and bi men and their partners for a single sexual contact while allowing promiscuous heterosexuals to donate blood. “While a three-month celibacy requirement is less awful than a oneyear celibacy requirement, it is still awful,” Wiener said in a statement. “The celibacy requirement still excludes from blood donation a huge number of healthy, HIV-negative gay and bisexual men. The celibacy requirement

Rick Gerharter

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, left, chats with state Senator Scott Wiener, right, as she donates blood April 7 with the assistance of American Red Cross attendant Erika Baniqued, in a drive sponsored by Wiener to highlight the continuing prohibition on gay and bisexual men donating blood.

still irrationally discriminates against gay and bisexual men by placing a celibacy requirement on them without placing that same requirement on sexually active straight people. “The celibacy requirement continues to ignore the fact that modern HIV testing technology is so accurate and powerful that it will detect any HIV infection that occurred 10-14 days or longer before the donation,” he added. “If HIV testing has a window of a mere 10-14 days, why on earth would the FDA insist on a threemonth celibacy period for gay and bisexual men to be able to donate?” Wiener held a #giveforagay blood drive with the American Red Cross Tuesday, April 7, at the Zellerbach Rehearsal Hall, 300 Franklin Street, where he asked heterosexuals to give blood on behalf of someone they know who cannot. It saw 50 people donate blood. Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who as the B.A.R. previously reported introduced a Board of Supervisors resolution March 31 calling for the federal government to rescind the ban, stated that the FDA’s changes are “weak tea.” The board

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unanimously passed the resolution April 7. “They still apply an unscientific, unnecessary, and demeaning standard for sexually active gay and bisexual men that they do not apply to sexually active straight people,” Mandelman wrote to the B.A.R. the afternoon of April 2. But LGBT rights group GLAAD hailed Thursday’s changes as a victory for gay and bisexual rights. “LGBTQ Americans can hold their heads up today and know that our voices will always triumph over discrimination,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis stated in an April 2 news release. “This is a victory for all of us who raised our collective voices against the discriminatory ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood. The FDA’s decision to lower the deferral period on men who have sex with men from 12 months to three months is a step toward being more in line with science, but remains imperfect. “We will keep fighting until the deferral period is lifted and gay and bi men, and all LGBTQ people, are treated equal to others,” she added. In a news release, the FDA said it was revising its guidance because of the data. “Based on recently completed studies and epidemiologic data, the FDA has concluded that current policies regarding certain donor eligibility criteria can be modified without compromising the safety of the blood supply,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, stated April 2. The justification for the initial ban had been that in 1983, there was not yet a way to detect antibodies to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in blood. But antibody tests to detect HIV infection in the bloodstream have now existed for decades.

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sure, so we’ve been more doing quiet advocacy.” In addition to the 17 U.S. senators who penned a March 26 open letter to the FDA – including lesbian Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) and California’s own Kamala Harris (D) – Stacy said that gay Representatives David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island) and Sean Patrick Maloney (D-New York) joined Oakland’s own Representative Barbara Lee (D) in lobbying for a change. Lee’s office did not respond to a B.A.R. request for comment at press time. Baldwin said that the changes are a first step. “We want our politicians in a public health crisis to be informed by the best science,” Baldwin said. “Similarly, we want that to be true of our blood supply in the United States. It shouldn’t have taken a pandemic and the resulting blood shortage to bring about progress on this issue. “We know that blanket deferrals are not based in science and the best medical expertise on this topic, so we’ve got to go forward,” Baldwin added. Log Cabin Republicans, a group advocating for LGBT representation within the GOP, praised the decision in an April 2 news release. The organization stated it had lobbied behind the scenes for the change after President Donald Trump said he was identifying “red tape” to cut that was hampering federal response to the coronavirus outbreak. “Because of our solid relationships in the White House and the Department of Health & Human Services, Log Cabin Republicans immediately requested a review of this particularly onerous restriction on blood donations, especially in this great time of need,” a news release from the organization stated. Log Cabin Republicans stated that major gay organizations and news outlets were not discussing or reporting on the FDA’s rule changes, though this was not borne out by the facts. According to the AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks), hundreds of thousands of blood donations that would have occurred if not for the coronavirus epidemic will not. Over 10,000 blood drives have been canceled nationwide. Although blood donations and drives are allowed under shelter-inplace orders, the fact that people will not be leaving their homes means attendance is expected to reduce to a trickle. One single blood donation can save up to three lives, according to the American Red Cross. t

SF shows solidarity with Spain

One Loraine Court between Stanyan & Arguello

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At a Zoom news conference April 2, officials from the Human Rights Campaign, the national LGBT rights group, said that the changes represented incremental progress in the direction of LGBT equality. HRC representatives stated that any blood donation deferment should be based on individual participation in the types of behavior that are likely to transmit HIV, not characteristics of individual identity, per se. “The Human Rights Campaign is advocating to remove any ban based on identity,” Alphonso David, a gay man who is president of HRC, said during the news conference. “Instead, the FDA should look into particular risk factors to determine who donates blood.” Scott Schoettes, the HIV Project Director at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, was more specific about what he thinks changes going forward should be based on. “Receptive anal sex has a 12 times higher risk than any other sex act,” Schoettes said on the Zoom call. “So there are some gay and bi men who are going to be excluded, but you can engage in that act regardless of whether you are a woman or man, et cetera.” Schoettes said that while HIV antibody tests are very effective, it is a common misconception that they are 100% accurate at detecting the presence of the virus in the bloodstream. Antibodies to HIV are produced by the body between six weeks and three months from the time of infection, according to the World Health Organization. “There is a reason there are deferral periods,” Schoettes said. “There is a window period where testing will not cover a newly acquired infection.” Schoettes said that Lambda Legal has been working for decades – “from the very beginning” – to have the ban changed. David Stacy, HRC’s government affairs director, said that removing gay and bisexual identity from blood deferments has been a major policy initiative of the organization since Barack Obama’s ascension to the presidency in 2009. Indeed, the only major change heretofore (from a lifetime ban to a one-year deferment) took place under his administration. Stacy said HRC’s work has been behind the scenes, contrasting it with – and complementing – more public entities such as U.S. senators and representatives, and San Francisco queer politicians such as Wiener and Mandelman. “We’ve been in touch with the FDA,” Stacy said. “Public pressure often gets perceiv0ed as political pres-

an Francisco City Hall was lit up in the red and yellow colors of the Spanish flag at nightfall Friday, April 3, as the city expressed its support with the European nation over the novel coronavirus pandemic. The

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Steven Underhill

request was made by Francisco Elias de Tejada Lozano, the consul general of Spain in San Francisco, who noted his native country has been hit hard by COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

National News>>

April 9-15, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 9

FDA approves coronavirus antibody test by Liz Highleyman

he U.S. Food and Drug Administration on April 1 granted its first emergency use authorization for an antibody test that could show if people are immune to the new coronavirus. Unlike existing tests, which detect the virus in people who are currently infected, antibody tests show whether someone was previously infected and recovered. Antibody testing is already being used in some other countries, including South Korea, to help health officials get a handle on their local epidemics. Antibody tests could show which health care workers could have already developed immunity and can safely treat patients with COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new virus. On a larger scale, they might show who can return to work, letting up on physical distancing. Existing PCR RNA tests detect viral genetic material in a nasal swab sample. The newly approved antibody test, from Cellex, detects antibodies made by the immune system to fight the virus in a drop of blood from a finger prick. “[An antibody test is] much quicker, it’s much easier, and it’s much cheaper” than current tests, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci told Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry in a

Screengrab via Instagram

Dr. Anthony Fauci recently appeared in an Instagram chat with Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry to discuss the new coronavirus.

recent Instagram Live chat. Several other medical technology companies and academic institutions have also developed antibody tests that are not yet FDA-certified. Rolling out these tests nationwide will take time and will require the combined efforts of multiple companies and commercial laboratories. The first antibody tests will be administered by health care providers and interpreted by a lab, but a home test could become available in the future.

Timing is everything

People with the novel coronavirus test positive for viral RNA very soon after infection, even before they develop symptoms. But once they recover, these tests become negative. Because PCR testing has been delayed in the United States and is still not widely available in many areas, some people recover before they ever get tested. In contrast, it takes several days for the body to produce enough

antibodies to show up on the new test. But these antibodies remain in the blood and a person who was once infected will continue to test positive even after recovery. Research is underway to determine how long these antibodies last and whether they will prevent future infection. Antibodies against the coronaviruses that cause the common cold wane in several months to a couple of years, leaving people

susceptible to repeat infections. But people who recovered from the SARS epidemic in the early 2000s – which was caused by a coronavirus more closely related to the current one – continue to have measurable antibodies nearly two decades later. Widespread antibody testing would enable public health experts to learn more about the epidemic. For example, knowing the size of the total pool of people who have ever been infected will allow epidemiologists to accurately calculate mortality rates. And if antibodies against the new coronavirus are in fact protective, such tests could guide government policies about physical distancing and sheltering in place. With most contagious diseases, once enough people have developed antibodies, so-called herd immunity emerges and transmission slows down, making it easier to contain small outbreaks as they arise. Although much remains to be learned about the new coronavirus and how the immune system responds to it, most experts expect that antibodies in the blood will confer some degree of protection. “[I’m] willing to bet anything that people who recover are really protected against reinfection,” Fauci said in a recent chat with “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah. t

EQCA’s Zbur to run for LA city attorney by Cynthia Laird

ick Chavez Zbur, the executive director of the statewide LGBT rights group Equality California, told the Bay Area Reporter that he will be a candidate for Los Angeles city Attorney in two years. In a phone interview, Zbur said he was informing media outlets and others now, though he will remain as EQCA’s leader through the end of next year. That will give the organization time to develop a succession plan, he said. “I will be staying on as executive director through the end of 2021,” he said. Zbur for City Attorney campaign He said that he was filing for the Rick Chavez Zbur announced he’s 2022 race so that he can open a running for Los Angeles city atcampaign committee to raise funds, torney in 2022 and so that he can be a leading progressive voice in the race. Zbur, 63, is a gay man who’s been his website, he lists as endorsers at the helm of EQCA since 2014. lesbian state Senate President pro He ran for a Southern California Tempore Toni Atkins (D-San Dicongressional seat in 1996. He is a ego), Lieutenant Governor Eleni Democrat. Kounalakis (D), gay state InsurThe Los Angeles city attorney ance Commissioner Ricardo Lara represents city departments but un- (D), state Treasurer Fiona Ma (D), like the position in San Francisco, it Assembly Speaker Anthony Renalso handles misdemeanor criminal don (D-Los Angeles), and state cases in the city. Felony cases are Controller Betty Yee. handled by the Los Angeles County Zbur said that he started thinking District Attorney’s office. about running about nine months Zbur comes out of the gate with ago. some key endorsements, includ“I’ve always wanted to serve in ing LGBT community leaders. On public service,” Zbur said.

The 2022 race is open as current City Attorney Mike Feuer is termed out of office and announced last month that he’s running for mayor. The Los Angeles Daily News reported in March that another candidate for the city attorney’s race is Marina Torres. On her website, she stated that she served as a federal prosecutor. She also worked in the Obama administration in the Department of Homeland Security, where she helped craft and implement the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and immigration policy, according to her website. Given the novel coronavirus pandemic, Zbur said that he “probably” won’t start fundraising for awhile. He said he wanted to remain at EQCA to ensure the organization is on solid financial footing. He has also overseen EQCA recover from previous money woes and a succession of executive directors before he was tapped to run the organization. He said that his goals as city attorney would be to decriminalize homelessness and bring the city into the 21st century, as well as protect residents from fraud and abuse. On his website, he lists other policy positions. “Justice for our planet and for the communities most impacted by pollution and climate change,” he wrote. “Economic justice for working families and our

most vulnerable. Criminal justice and gun safety. Health justice for everyone.”

For more information, visit www. rickchavezzbur.com. t

Help preserve

as an historic and important community institution for the future.

Obituaries >> Jeffrey Tilmon November 2, 1961 – March 20, 2020

Jeffrey Tilmon, born in St. Paul, Minnesota on November 2, 1961, left this world after a brave battle with cancer on March 20, 2020 in San Francisco. A proud veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, he served honorably overseas and

achieved the rank of sergeant. After his military service, he returned to Minneapolis and became a fitness instructor. In the 1990s, he moved to San Francisco and called it home. Jeffrey loved to travel and visited his friends all over the world. With a long love for music and dance, Jeffrey became a well-loved member of the electronic and techno club scene in the city and he loved his newfound family. His light, love, and boundless energy, his positivity, humor, gossip, love of music and dance

and his dedication to those he considered family will be missed by all. He is survived by a large international family of brothers and sisters. Rest in peace, Jeffrey. You will forever be remembered as one of San Francisco’s most beautiful souls; bringing light, love, and laughter everywhere you went. Jeffrey’s friends will be holding a memorial party in his honor at a later date. For more information, please contact klove48@gmail.com.

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<< From the Cover

10 • Bay Area Reporter • April 9-15, 2020

Hunky Jesus

From page 1

Mary,” Sister Tilda NexTime wrote in an April 1 email to the Bay Area Reporter. “Since we can’t have this celebration in the park this year due to the current situation, we thought that making it an online event was the best way to not let these people down. That way we can still have lots of fun ... staying home and healthy!” This year’s celebration had been planned for Mission Dolores Park. People can still enter, as the deadline was extended to Good Friday, April 10. The top 15 Jesus and top 15 Mary contestants will be unveiled on the Sisters’ Instagram page (@ SFSisters) on Easter Sunday, April 12. The San Francisco Queer Nightlife Fund is partnering with the Sisters for the virtual event. The Sisters announced April 5 that they have donated $10,000 to the fund. As the B.A.R. previously reported, the fund was set up to help displaced nightlife workers. It has been hosting a Quaran-Tea Dance Sundays at 1 p.m. on its Facebook page to promote its relief efforts and the contest will be presented during that livestream. “The logistics of the online Hunky Jesus and Foxy Mary contest remains the same as what was originally planned,” Sister Carrie Me Away wrote to the B.A.R. in an April 7 email. “What has changed is the cross promotion with the Queer

Nightlife Fund. The Sisters were looking for a way to raise money and support our queer nightlife out of work when we discovered the incredible work the Queer Nightlife Fund had put into motion. We wanted to support them and help promote their fundraiser and they have invited us to be a part of the weekly Quaren-Teas. We are planning to showcase some of our competitors as part of the Easter Sunday Quaren-Tea, which will coincide with our contestants being posted to Instagram for community vote.” As of April 6, the Queer Nightlife Fund had raised $117,000 out of an initial $200,000 goal, according to a post on its Facebook page. Sister Roma encouraged contestants to “remember that our audience responds best to the Hunky and Foxy contestants who manage to convey a political, environmental, or unexpected twisted sense of humor to their character!” “As the emcee of this event for more than 20 years I can tell you that voting for, and selecting, a winner will be done the same way it always is – by the public,” Sister Roma wrote in an April 1 email to the B.A.R. “Fans of Hunky Jesus/ Foxy Mary can visit the Sister’s Instagram account on Easter Sunday to see the top contenders. They can vote with ‘likes’ and comments and the winner will be announced in the following week.”

Streaming services

Glide Memorial United Method-

Disabilities

From page 1

responses for the Obama administration. He also worked on the administration’s continuity of government preparations in case of pandemics or other disruptions. Those experiences guided him on his decision not to immediately get tested for the coronavirus, so as not to pass it on to his health care providers. “I am doing fine and a lot better. I have my energy back and feel good,” Marble said last week. “The truth is my breathing capacity is just not the same. I am feeling better but I still get winded. I have heavy breathing and that is a scary feeling.” A few days after Marble spoke to the Bay Area Reporter, he ended up going to the emergency room and did get tested. After returning home, he received a phone call from a public health investigator confirming he had COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus. It brought Marble a bit of relief, as not knowing for sure what caused him to be so ill had been stressful. “I am autistic and one thing that helps autistic people is certainty,” noted Marble.

Lives upended

The lives of people with disabilities have been upended in countless ways by the global pandemic. Similar to the LGBT community, the disability community is diverse and requires different services and levels of assistance. Obeying the shelter-in-place orders can be a challenge for people who are disabled. “It is not easy for us to shelter in place because groceries need to be picked up, which requires transportation, but public transportation in many places is shut down. There’s just a lot of ways this situation is affecting the disability community,” said Ben Spangenberg, the national leadership program director for RespectAbility, a nonprofit that advocates for the needs of people with disabilities. Spangenberg, 38, has remained at home with his husband, Justin Chappel, in Silver Springs, Maryland since March 12. They both use wheelchairs, and even though they live near a grocery store, the couple is opting not to venture outside for the time being. “It is rough. I like to get out and have fresh air and can’t do that right now,” said Spangenberg. “It is challenging finding essential needs, like waiting

two weeks to get a bottle of laundry detergent, and not being able to go over to the grocery store even though it is literally across the street from us. Having that fear of catching something crossing the street is not fun.” They are also leaving all packages of nonperishable items delivered to the door of their unit outside in the hallway for 48 to 72 hours as an added precaution against the virus. “My husband and I get our meals from delivery meal kits so that is a nice consolation for people with disabilities,” said Spangenberg, who grew up in the Bay Area and on the Monterey Peninsula and moved to the D.C. region two years after graduating from UC Berkeley in 2005. “We’ve tried to stock up on nonperishable stuff so we are good for eight weeks. Hopefully, this isn’t going to last more than eight weeks.” While the couple continues to work, Spangenberg said a main concern during the crisis within the disability community is unemployment. Disabled people already face barriers to employment and many work in industries considered to be nonessential businesses. Seven out of 10 of the 56 million working age Americans with disabilities do not have jobs because they can’t get hired or gave up looking for work. “Oftentimes, people with disabilities are the last hired and the first fired,” he noted. “When people are being laid off oftentimes people with disabilities are laid off first, so that has been a big effect.” They also may be unable to continue working because their disability or underlying health issues put them at greater risk for contracting COVID-19. “Obviously, the virus is more virulent for people with lung issues and immunosuppressant folks,” said Spangenberg, who was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that results from the spine and spinal cord forming irregularly. Another issue is if a person with a disability has a personal care attendant, someone who comes to their home to help them with such things as going to the bathroom or bathing. Employing such a person could put them at risk for the virus, yet suspending such care for the time being isn’t really an option for some people with disabilities who live alone. “There is going to have to be a lot of intentional decision-making in how people with disabilities can continue to get the services in case per-

ist Church at 330 Ellis Street is one of many LGBT-friendly churches that have moved Sunday services online. This will include Easter services, according to Marvin K. White, Glide’s minister of celebration. “We are doing our first-ever sunrise Easter Zoom celebration,” White said in a phone call with the B.A.R. April 3. “We’re going to do what we normally do but on Zoom and Facebook and do it from there. “This is the highest liturgy we do – Palm Sunday and Easter,” White added. White said that Glide was one of the first Bay Area churches to move services online. “We’re going into our fifth week of virtual online celebrations,” White said. Glide is trying to make attending church virtually as normal an experience as possible during the stay-athome order, even going so far as to have ushers checking in on people in the comments section. Glide will livestream its Easter Sunday celebrations on Facebook at 7, 9, and 11 a.m. St. Francis Lutheran Church at 152 Church Street has also been doing Zoom services. “Zoom is a new technology for many of us, and it has been both bumpy and sometimes hilarious as we learned the ins and outs together,” pastor Bea Chun wrote in an email to the B.A.R. April 3. “Of course, it is upsetting that we are not able to gather as community in our sacred space with cherished

rituals. And to celebrate the holiest time of the year in this way feels very strange. But we show our love for God and our neighbors by keeping everyone safe, and this is our highest priority, right? Besides loss of the familiar, there have also been blessings: with Zoom we can connect with many other worshippers who would normally either not come or not be able to come because of distance or other circumstance.” Virtual services will be held at 11 a.m. on Easter Sunday and are accessible at St. Francis’ website. The Reverend Annie SteinbergBehrman, the senior pastor at the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco at 1300 Polk Street said that the whole Easter Triduum (April 9-12) will be streamed online. “We will continue to Zoom our worship on Sundays. For Holy Week we will have a candlelight Zoom service at 7 p.m., a Maundy Thursday communion service at 7, on Good Friday we are joining with six other MCC churches for a Zoom service, and on Easter Sunday, we will have a Zoom Easter service complete with Easter Bonnets.” These will be accessible via MCC’s Facebook page. Most Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church at 100 Diamond Street in the Castro did not respond to a request for comment. However, a voice message on its answering machine states “all masses have been closed to the public due to the directives of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.”

Courtesy Ben Spangenberg

Ben Spangenberg, right, the national leadership program director for RespectAbility, with his husband, Justin Chappel.

sonal attendant care is discontinued, either by the agency that provides it or if it is an independent person,” said Spangenberg. “That’s going to impact many, many people. You need to still use the restroom, you still need to take a shower, and all of those services are going to be important.” And should a person with a disability need to be hospitalized, there is a likelihood they could be denied care if the hospital is overwhelmed with patients and running low on supplies such as ventilators. Even under normal circumstances, Marble noted, there is a tendency to deny people with disabilities the medical care they need. “What officials need to be enforcing is a first-come, first-served policy at hospitals,” he said. “Often, public policy is if a disabled person goes to the hospital at a time like this, they might be denied services because disabled persons are seen by society as being disposable.” He pointed to state directives that say not to resuscitate disabled people in order to save on medical supplies. Alabama, for example, says, “persons with severe mental retardation, advanced dementia, or severe traumatic brain injury may be poor candidates for ventilator support,” as ProPublica recently reported.

Government response

Such triage policies have alarmed disability rights advocates, while federal officials with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told the news organization they opposed rationing care for people with any kind of disability. “Persons with disabilities should not be put at the end of the line for health services based on stereotypes

or discrimination, especially during emergencies. Our civil rights laws protect the equal dignity of every human being from ruthless utilitarianism,” Roger Severino, the director of the federal agency’s civil rights office, told the news site. Alex Locust, 29, a queer man who lives near Precita Park in San Francisco, founded the website https://www. glamputee.com/ to advocate for and provide resources to others with disabilities. Locust lost his left leg above the knee to amputation after it didn’t develop normally when he was a child. As an advocate for other people of color with disabilities, Locust said he is concerned that their unique needs may not get addressed. He signed on to and has been promoting the #NobodyisDisposable campaign that is demanding health officials create policies during the crisis that avoid triage and avoid discrimination in triage. “Even here in San Francisco people with chronic illnesses and other conditions that require more medical attention will have people turning them away when they seek care. They are not deemed necessary to treat at the moment,” said Locust. “I am thinking if somebody is black or brown or queer or older and how all these things can kind of come together and put people at particular risk. I don’t think those things are being hashed out. Having to shelter in place may put them at more risk if they can’t access certain things.” The city has taken steps to ensure people with disabilities are being taken care of during the crisis. There are roughly 94,000 residents who fall under the classifications for being a person with a disability. The Department of Disability and

“We apologize for the inconveniences this may have caused,” the message continues. MHR’s Facebook page shows that a mass is being livestreamed Monday-Saturday at 8 a.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m. The date of the Christian Easter is tied to the Jewish Passover that preceded it. Sha’ar Zahav at 290 Dolores Street will be having a Passover Seder April 9 at 6 p.m., for which pre-registration is required and can be done online at the synagogue’s website. When asked for comment, the synagogue referred the B.A.R. to its website. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who is Jewish, wrote a Medium post April 6 in which he encouraged people to take part in seasonal celebrations while sheltering in place. The post, which he also sent out via his campaign email, contains a list of links to streaming religious services and to the Hunky Jesus/Foxy Mary competition. “This isn’t just about religious observance. It’s also about secular, cultural belonging and celebration,” Wiener wrote. “It’s hard to process that this year, instead of gathering together with family and friends and at places of worship or public parks, we’ll all be sheltering-inplace. Though it won’t be the same, there are so many diverse holiday activities taking place virtually.” t

Aging Services enhanced its Benefits and Resource Hub’s helpline that connects seniors, people with disabilities, and caregivers to supportive resources. The DAS helpline at (415) 355-6700 now operates seven days per week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. People can call the number if they need assistance with home care, delivery, or other essential tasks. People can also sign up to be matched with a volunteer for friendly check-ins through the helpline. “I really want to make sure people with disabilities do utilize the DAS intake hotline,” said Nicole Bohn, director of the Mayor’s Office on Disability. “If they need any kind of additional support, even if they aren’t previously connected to DAS programs, we want people to be calling that number and letting us know they need additional resources and support.” DAS also announced this month it is working with its nonprofit partners to prepare to train and hire up to 200 new home care providers to help older adults and people with disabilities live safely and independently in their communities during the stay home public health order. The city has also been developing guidelines for caregivers of people with disabilities, noted Bohn. And while the Human Services Agency’s In-Home Supportive Services two service centers are closed, the agency is working with clients over the phone or via email. “We know people with disabilities will need continued support and care,” she said. “We do anticipate there will be impacts from the virus on people with disabilities who previously had care support structures that might be changing now that people can’t come in their home. It is definitely one of the issues DAS is looking at, and we are hoping through the volunteer program and IHHS we will be able to connect people to additional support.” Bohn has been working at the city’s Emergency Operations Center several days a week assisting with the local efforts to address the crisis. Speaking to the B.A.R. last week, she said city officials were looking to host a community listening session virtually with the local disability community in April. “The first thing I will say is this evolves every day, so we are really See page 11 >>

t <<

Community News>>

Disabilities

vice and suggestions. “We talk about nothing about us without us,” said Spangenberg. “All too often we talk about these issues with elected officials and their staff who will sit down and start thinking about ways to solve problems like these but they don’t go to the people it affects the most. So really being intentional in reaching out to the disability community on all things that affect us is important.”

his guilty plea had been expunged in 2012 with the support of the district attorney’s office. Herman previously served on a number of city advisory panels, including as chair of the AIDS Health Project Advisory Board, co-chair of the Ryan White CARE Council, and co-chair of the LGBTQ Advisory Committee to the Human Rights Commission, which he also served on. To protect his own health, Herman is staying with relatives in Cloverdale for the time being and keeps in touch with Bohn and his fellow council members remotely. Addressing the multiple needs of the city’s disability community is a challenge, he noted. “The disabled community is a very complex community, it is not monolithic,” Herman said. “You have all sorts of ... a whole spectrum of disability from mobility issues and sight issues to mental health issues, autism, and people in wheelchairs. It is not just one fix for all, so it is very complex when you have a situation like this to try to put all the pieces together to help the people who are in the community.” Even prior to the current crisis and the orders for people to remain home, Herman said isolation was a significant problem within the disability community. The council had been working to ensure that more people with disabilities were serving on various oversight panels in the city so that their voices were heard. “We need more disability people at the table. Just like the AIDS epidemic forced us into more visible spots,” said Herman, referring to the LGBT community. “It is hard for the disabled community to be active and to be activists because of their disabilities. It is often overlooked because of their needs.” San Francisco was already doing a better job than many other jurisdictions on addressing the needs of

its disabled community prior to the pandemic, said Herman, so he is confident city officials will continue to do so during the current crisis. “I think we are very lucky to be here in San Francisco because it is not like the rest of the country,” he said.“You kind of live in a bubble here. There are services and people with the right mentality here to provide services to the under-privileged and those in need.” Disability organizations point to several provisions in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) Congress passed that will benefit people with disabilities. Although there are outstanding questions for what people with disabilities who are on Supplemental Security Income will need to do to receive their recovery checks, the $1,200 for eligible individuals and $2,400 for people who are married, plus $500 per dependent child, will be a onetime benefit, advocates noted. Students with disabilities will also be able to take advantage of the $30 billion in Emergency Education Relief grants. There is also $955 million for Aging and Disability Services Programs, such as nutrition programs providing people with disabilities and older Americans with food deliveries as well as direct support for family caregivers, according to an analysis by RespectAbility. The federal legislation includes $50 million for aging and disability resource centers across the country as well as $85 million for Centers for Independent Living. The bill also invests $15 million to support housing specifically for people with disabilities. But the nonprofit argues additional programs for the disabled are needed in future legislation. Especially important is providing paid sick leave to family caregivers for people with disabilities should their personal care attendant become sick and they need a relative or friend to pitch in in the meantime. “I am very pleased at what passed,” said Spangenberg, stressing that his agency doesn’t lobby lawmakers in Congress but does educate them about the needs of the disabled. “There is going to be a need for more, but in my personal capacity I would say I am pleased. I think it is a step in the right direction to provide small business loans and to provide additional unemployment benefits.” Key in developing any response to the crisis going forward, he said, is for local and federal policymakers to keep the needs of the disabled community front and center and to reach out to people with disabilities for their ad-

celebration can occur.” Nicky “Tita Aida” Calma, one of the organizers of the Trans March, which traditionally takes place the Friday of Pride weekend, stated that there would be a meeting this week to discuss next steps. “Thank you for your inquiry. As of the moment, we are going to be holding meetings with SF Pride, Dyke March, and the City & County of SF to discuss all the events happening in June, hopefully, next week,” Calma wrote in an April 3 email to the B.A.R. “We will issue a statement once a decision has been made and I do not know when that will happen.” But as late as April 3, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency was planning for Pride 2020 – the annual commemoration of the Stonewall Riots that sparked the modern LGBT rights movement in the United States – to proceed as normally scheduled. “Right now, we are still processing requests and permits past the period of shelter-at-home,” Nick Chapman, a manager with the SFMTA (which deals with the street closures associated with SF Pride and other major civic events), told the B.A.R. by phone April 3. “But everyone is aware the situation could change; new orders could come into play.” As the B.A.R. previously reported, Pride celebrations have been post-

poned in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma County. New York City Pride, which is scheduled for the same dates as its San Francisco counterpart, was slated to go on as scheduled at press time. New York City currently has the largest novel coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.. The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee stated in a Facebook post March 24 that “all options are on the table.” “While abiding by the city’s COVID-19 shelter-in-place directive, our staff and board continue to forge ahead, cautiously optimistic that taking sensible – if unprecedented – measures now will enable us to celebrate Pride 50 together as a community,” the post stated. When asked via email March 30, SF Pride Executive Director Fred Lopez said that the statement “still applies.” “We have no additional updates to announce at this time,” Lopez wrote. “Since COVID-19 emerged, we have been exploring alternatives to what we initially imagined for Pride 50, and in light of today’s extension of the shelter-in-place order (from April 7 until May), we will continue working with our partners at the city to determine the best course of action. We hope everyone remains safe and healthy.” Lopez had said the situation

would be clear “by about mid-April.” But some want a decision now. Larry Nelson, who created the 2018 “Generations of Strength” SF Pride theme that was spun off to create the 2019 “Generations of Resistance” and the 2020 “Generations of Hope” themes, stated that although he has a “special affinity” for SF Pride, it is time to make a decision. “We are past the time for SF Pride to step up and make an announcement that our annual celebration will be postponed,” Nelson wrote to the B.A.R. April 4. “We don’t know how long this crisis will last. Of course, postponement is preferred. ... It goes without saying, but bears repeating, that this is not our first pandemic, unfortunately, that our wonderful San Francisco community has faced. We know what we should do. The SF Pride board needs to make a decision now.” It is unclear what will emerge in San Francisco and the Bay Area once the stay-at-home orders are lifted. But it’s been reported that many experts believe there will be a gradual easing of physical distancing requirements over time, rather than everything reopening at once. Ken Jones, who had been the first African American chair of SF Pride’s board of directors, wrote in a Facebook post that he would be “very disappointed if it came to that,” in terms

From page 10

trying to make sure we have avenues to hear from people,” said Bohn, a straight ally who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. “Some things we’ve heard so far are we want to make sure we have appropriate communication access specifically for the deaf and hard of hearing community. We are also working on improving access to information for folks who may not have access to the internet and they need to use a telephone or other methods of communication.” Concerns have been raised, said Bohn, about people being able to use public transportation and still be able to be physically distant from other passengers, so they are addressing that with their counterparts at Muni. The transit service announced last week that passengers now must board via the backdoor of its buses, except for passengers in wheelchairs or with other accessibility needs. This week, the San Francisco Transportation Agency, which runs Muni, announced it was cutting 51 of Muni’s 68 bus lines. Bohn has also been working to ensure the information posted to the city’s special website for information during the crisis – https://sf.gov/ topics/coronavirus-covid-19 – is accessible to people with disabilities. “I would direct people there for info,” she said. “We are also encouraging people call our 311 employees with any questions.” Because of the shelter-in-place orders, the Mayor’s Disability Council was unable to meet in March, said Stephen Herman, a gay man who was recently elected co-chair of the advisory group. He is working to ensure it can meet this month via online platforms, Herman told the B.A.R. last week. “As co-chair of the council it is important for us to keep abreast of what is happening and give input from our community perspective,” said Herman, 72, a longtime survivor of HIV who is now immune compromised. “The disabled community is always the last one to be thought about and given the least amount. For many, the disabled community doesn’t exist.” Mayor London Breed appointed Herman to the disability council last year. An aide to former City College Chancellor Philip Day, Herman pleaded guilty in 2011 to two charges of spending college funds on political donations. The charges were later reduced to misdemeanors at sentencing, and Herman told the B.A.R. that

2020 Pride

From page 1

unique and creative ways to the challenge of physical distancing, and SF Pride plans to be a part of those efforts while developing some new plans of our own.” The shelter-in-place orders in seven Bay Area counties (including San Francisco), designed to halt the spread of the new coronavirus are currently scheduled to remain in place through May 3, though schools around the state will not be reopening this academic year. The statewide order for people to remain home and non-essential businesses to close, from the desk of Governor Gavin Newsom, has no expiration date. But LGBT elected leaders and longtime activists are worried that even if some semblance of normalcy is restored to daily life before late June, it may not be the best time from a public health perspective for the city to host an event that annually boasts an attendance of up to 1 million people. “Honestly, it is hard to imagine Pride coming together in its traditional form less than three months from now,” gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter on April 3. “Ultimately, public health will dictate whether and in what form this year’s Pride

April 9-15, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 11

Courtesy Stephen Herman

Stephen Herman is co-chair of the Mayor’s Disability Council.

Normal routines on hiatus

For many, their normal routines are now on hiatus. The college Cipriani teaches at closed its campus, so he had to move his lectures to an online platform. An author whose 2018 book “Firsts: Coming of Age Stories by People with Disabilities” was the gold medal winner in the nonfictionanthology genre for the 2019 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards, Cipriani had to cancel a seven-stop book tour this spring. This past Saturday, April 4, he was to appear at the San Diego Writer’s Festival, but the organizers postponed the event to the fall. He also owns Oleb Media, which works with companies on how to reach consumers with disabilities, and rather than give in-person presentations is setting up video calls. In terms of assisting other entrepreneurs like him, Cipriani said he is concerned that the government relief programs will not be accessible for people with disabilities. “I feel whenever we go into crisis management mode, people with disabilities always are the first to be left out. Like when it comes to, for instance, a lot of information being produced in alternative formats for people with disabilities,” said Cipriani, who penned the B.A.R. monthly column Seeing in the Dark about disability issues. “There’s been little talk about disabledowned businesses. That has a whole different level of needs.” Locust is a substance abuse counselor at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Stonewall Project. He has been working from home since mid-March, though it can be difficult reaching his clients who may not have access to video chat services. “It is a challenge as people using drugs or experiencing homelessness may not have access to a computer,” said Locust. “It makes it hard just getting them information on how to get remote services.” The Pennsylvania native moved to San Francisco six years ago for graduate school and decided to stay. He said he is lucky to live with four roommates

willing to do most of the shopping for their household so that he doesn’t have to leave the house most of the time. “I do walk around the park, but I am trying to make minimal grocery trips,” said Locust. “If I was living alone, I would be having an especially hard time. As a crutch user, carting large amounts of groceries is not feasible, and at this time, I can’t make multiple trips to the store.” Nor does he want to order often from delivery services, said Locust, and potentially expose those workers to the virus. “I don’t want to put people at risk for my wellness,” he said. Marble, the founder of Pivot Neurodiversity, is a neurodiversity and autism employment expert. He is working again, from home, and last week conducted his first online class for autistic adults on how they can adapt to the workplace. “Autistic people think differently. We view the world differently,” he said. “We have to live in a world not designed for autistic people.” A key concern he has with autistic people having to shelter in place is they are not likely to seek out support, preferring instead to take care of things on their own. For people with autistic family members or friends, Marble stressed it is important to be specific when offering to help them with tasks or errands. “The crucial thing with autistic people in your life is to reach out to them,” he said. “Offer specific things to help. If someone were to ask me, ‘Can I do anything for you?’ I would say no. If they were to say, “Can I get groceries for you?’ I will say yes.” Cipriani noted that there hasn’t been as much attention to grocery stores setting up special shopping hours for people with disabilities, as there has been for seniors or people with compromised immune systems. “A lot of them don’t have hours for people with disabilities who need more time to get around or help with their bags. They are not mentioned,” he said. “I think often it is assumed people with disabilities will be taken care of by their families. As we have learned in the LGBT community, not everyone has a family.” t For more information about federal disability employment resources, visit https://www.dol. gov/odep/ To connect with people of color with disabilities in the Bay Area, visit https://www.facebook.com/ disabilityjusticecultureclub/

of postponing the Pride parade but added that the board members “will debate the issue more fully.” When asked to expound upon this, Jones told the B.A.R. he had several considerations in mind. “Whenever a community of people have been challenged to alter and change their way of life for the sake of humanity, and our survival, there has to be a signal, a word, a sign that this battle is over,” Jones wrote. “If we are doing (continue doing) what we are supposed to be doing (and not three ZIP codes away from home) but continue to shelter in for just three more weeks, we will have made it through this.” Jones said that it would be hard to find an alternative date in 2020 “between July and November that will not be a major conflict with another major Bay Area event.” “I believe we can do this. I believe we must do this,” Jones added, finishing by saying that he has a vision of the San Francisco LGBTQ community setting a record for the world’s largest group hug. “What better occasion than Pride,” Jones wrote. Mayor London Breed’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story. t

<< Community News

12 • Bay Area Reporter • April 9-15, 2020

News Briefs

From page 6

ing another order for 50,000 more. It has already shipped 8,000 masks to numerous organizations, including San Francisco Community Health Center, Meals on Wheels San Francisco, and Russian River Health Services in Guerneville. Many more groups are on a waiting list. To donate, go to https://bit.ly/3bUczq0.

Golden Gate Park photos moved online

A photography exhibit of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park has been moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic. “Golden Gate Park 150th Anniversary: A Photographic Collection” was curated by Dave Christensen, director of the Harvey Milk Photo Center, located at 50 Scott Street. It was done in honor of the park’s sesquicentennial this year. (An April 4 community day

KEEP UP!

at the park was previously postponed.) “The call for art was to capture unique sources of inspiration within this beautiful haven – a favorite spot, place, time of day, motif – that spoke to each photographer on a very personal level,” Christensen wrote on the exhibit’s website. “As a result, the images created in this incredible collection give us a diverse visual tour from this fount of inspiration, Golden Gate Park.” To check out the photos, which

are arranged by photographer, visit http://harveymilkphotocenter. org/ggp-150/.

San Mateo County Fair canceled

Add the San Mateo County Fair to the growing list of events that won’t take place this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Fair officials said April 3 that it’s “with a heavy heart” that the June 13-21 event won’t take place this year. It was to have included a Pride Family Day, concerts, and

other activities. Officials said that this would be the second time in its 86-year history that the fair was canceled. (The other time was one year during World War II, according to a news release.) Right now, the fairgrounds and event center in San Mateo are designated as a county Office of Emergency Services resource, fair officials said. t

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EMAIL STRIP.indd 1

6/19/19 11:30 AM

Legals>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039028500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BUSINESS LOGIC SOLUTIONS, 1140 HOLLOWAY AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PATRICK O’BRIEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/26/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/12/20.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039002200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GENERATIONAL HEROES, 698 PERALTA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KEANA L. ELZIE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/25/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/25/20.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039026500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AVITAL WOLF THERAPY, 459 FULTON ST #105, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed AVITAL WOLF-PRUSAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/11/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/11/20.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039030100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FERDEL STRUCTURAL STEEL, 1163 HOLLISTER AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed FERDEL BUILDER CONSTRUCTION INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/13/20.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039027400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AMERICAN INDIAN CUISINE, 138 CYRIL MAGNIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed AMERICAN INDIAN CUISINE INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/11/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/11/20.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039026300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MARHABA INDIAN PAKISTANI HALAL CUISINE, 1109 FILLMORE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed MARHABA INDIAN PAKISTANI HALAL CUISINE (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/11/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/11/20.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039013200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ODSY WORKSHOP, 2039 IRVING ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed YINA KIM & SOO JIN CHAE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/03/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/03/20.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039025400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NOVELA CAKES, 58 HANOVER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed MARVIN SIGUA & ELOISA SIGUA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/10/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/10/20.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039016900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 1 HEART CAREGIVER SERVICES SAN FRANCISCO, 981 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed A.R.E. CARE SERVICES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/05/20.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038998500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BLEW

SKY DELIVERIES, 354 THORNTON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SPHERES ENTERPRISE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/20/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/20/20.

ARKATOPIA, 3279-B 21ST ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ROBERT LAWRENCE WILSON III. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/14/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/09/20.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020

MAR 26, APR 2, 9, 16, 2020

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039014700

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039016000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JJ JANITORIAL SERVICES, 676 SILVER AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JJ JANITORIAL SERVICES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/04/20.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GEM JOY, 2200 SACRAMENTO ST #1603, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MAGINOT TECHNOLOGIES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/04/20.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020

MAR 26, APR 2, 9, 16, 2020

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-038048400

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039012600

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: GRANT AVE GARAGE, 501 FILBERT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by FONG CHOK CHEONG. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/19/18.

MAR 19, 26, APRIL 02, 09, 2020 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF MIKE ANGEL LEON IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-20-303566

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of MIKE ANGEL LEON. A Petition for Probate has been filed by EVELIA ROJAS LEON in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that EVELIA ROJAS LEON be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: APRIL 15, 2020, 9:00 am, Dept 204, Rm 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: Nicole C. Kelly, (SBN#320379), The Kelly Law Firm, 345 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102; Ph. (415) 552-0059.

MAR 26, APR 2, 9, 16, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039022600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ADVANCED DENTAL LABORATORY, 756 LA PLAYA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LEV SHAPIRO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/09/20.

MAR 26, APR 2, 9, 16, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039029000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: D.A.C.LANDSCAPE: SF, 167 CAINE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed DAVID ADAM CASELLA & AIMEE BETH GOLANT CASELLA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/06/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/12/20.

MAR 26, APR 2, 9, 16, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039022300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as:

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROW HOUSE MISSION BAY, 1375 4TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94158. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MT. EVEREST VENTURE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/10/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/03/20.

MAR 26, APR 2, 9, 16, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039012800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: X2 GREEN CARPETS, 101 CALIFORNIA ST #2710, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed WYSE DELIVERY LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/03/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/03/20.

MAR 26, APR 2, 9, 16, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039030700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING, 210 POST ST #1121, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/16/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/16/20.

MAR 26, APR 2, 9, 16, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039028800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CHENERY STREET ASSOCIATES, 654A CHENERY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VICENTE VIRAY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/10/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/12/20.

APR 2, 9, 16, 23, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039030600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CAFÉ 550, 550 15TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ESAID ZAWAIDEH. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/16/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/16/20.

APR 2, 9, 16, 23, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039029200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE CANLAS BROTHERS OF STELNICK, 188 KING ST PH7, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed JSL REALTY INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/13/20.

APR 2, 9, 16, 23, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039021800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALEENK TECHNOLOGIES, 2 BEACH ST SPACE I-01, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed NV BAY GROUP LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/28/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/09/20.

APR 2, 9, 16, 23, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE X-039027100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STEPHANIE KAYO. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed STEPHANIE KAYO BOOHER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/11/20.

APR 9, 16, 23, 30, 2020

Outreach April 2020 Board of Supervisors Public Access and Remote Participation In accordance with Governor Newsom’s statewide order for all residents to “Stay at Home,” the Office of the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors will begin to provide services remotely Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Employees will be checking their emails and voicemails frequently to answer your questions. Members of the public are highly encouraged to utilize the many resources provided by the Office of the Clerk of the Board to access information, remain updated, and participate remotely. For information on how to participate in the legislative process remotely, including providing publiccomment, please visit www. sfbos.org. Your answers matter. Your immigration status does not. The 2020 Census is for everyone—even if you’re not a citizen. The government cannot legally share your answers with any person or agency. And, there is no question about your citizenship status. When you do the Census, you help everyone, especially immigrant communities, get the social services they need and deserve. Count yourself in before May. Visit my2020census.gov or call 844-330-2020 to get started. Find a Census Help Center that speaks your language at sfcounts.org. The San Francisco Police Department offers qualified applicants the opportunity to make a positive difference in our citizens’ daily lives and to keep our community safe. We encourage you to apply today to see how you can become one of San Francisco’s Finest. To learn more, call 415-837-7270 or visit sanfranciscopolice.org/careers. GET THE SALARY AND BENEFITS YOU DESERVE. Learn to identify your value, how to conduct objective market research and develop persuasive strategies with the AAUW Work Smart Salary Negotiation Workshop designed for women presented by the FRIENDS of the Commission on the Status of Women, in partnership with the Commission/ Department on the Status of Women. Take the FREE and self-paced ecourse at friendscosw.org/online or register for an in-person workshop at friendscosw.org/equalpay. For more information, call 415.779.6636.” SFO Rental Car Companies Need Suppliers & Service Providers Come to SFO as we join dozens of airports across the country in connecting rental car companies and small businesses on Tuesday, April 28, 2020, from 9:30 am - 12:00 pm. Learn how the Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) program can help you do business with airport rental car companies. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SFORCCSupplierOutreach 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.

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Juanita MORE! still says, “Stay the fuck home.”

by David-Elijah Nahmod he Covid-19 pandemic is hurting the community in more ways than one. Scores of businesses were forced to close their doors when the shelter in place orders from San Francisco Mayor London Breed and California Governor Gavin Newsom took effect. The arts and nightlife communities have been hit particularly hard, with venues including Oasis and Manny’s in San Francisco and The Alice Collective in Oakland seeing their revenue streams disappear overnight. Many performers are also hurting, such as drag artists Peaches Christ and Poly Poptart, who were forced to postpone or cancel shows as the places where they perform shuttered. It’s all for our own good. Closing these venues, not congregating in crowds, is the only way to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, the deadly microbe which causes Covid-19, a life-threatening respiratory disease which has already killed tens of thousands around the world.

Keeping nightlife alive Events producers adjust, go virtual MORE! from less

“I’m happy to go over this with you as many times as needed,” writes drag hostess and event producer Juanita MORE! “Stay the fuck home. I know, it’s not easy, and it’s your friend’s birthday, so you all want to go out for dinner and drinks. But no, again, stay the fuck home. Be responsible for yourself as well as those around you.” MORE! has joined forces with Fog City Pack, Polyglamorous, Jolene’s Bar, DAD, Bay Area Leather Alliance, and the Center For LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research to form the Queer Nightlife Community Fund. Said MORE, “Those funds will be used to help to provide economic relief to workers in the Bay Area nightlife industry that are eligible to receive support such as bartenders, entertainers, DJs, dancers, drag performers, artists such as production and lighting designers, producers or organizers of nightlife events for as long as the current crisis continues.”

Gooch

Sue Casa and D’Arcy Drollinger (center) with dancers at the premiere of PopTart at Oasis.

An Oasis of civilization

Some in the nightlife community have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and helped themselves, such as drag artist D’Arcy Drollinger, who co-owns the ever-popular Oasis in SoMa. Drollinger has launched an Indiegogo campaign to help keep the club afloat and to help his staff offset their financial loss during the shutdown. So far the campaign has raised more than $40,000 of its flexible $50,000 goal. “I am overwhelmed by the show of support and belief in what we do and the space Oasis holds in the heart of the community,” Drollinger said. “In times like this, the financial part is crucial, but the emotional support is really just as important. Other ways we have been rallying support and keeping Oasis alive in people’s homes: I taught my dance class Sextitude live-streaming on Sunday to help raise money specifically for my staff.” Drollinger is also streaming past Oasis performances, such as their onstage tribute parodies of Three’s Company, Sex and the City, and The Golden Girls. These will be up for free for a limited time with the option to donate. To help the fabulous queens and kings who’ve performed at Oasis, the club is posting past numbers performed at the club on the Oasis Facebook page, with the performers’ Venmo handles, allow viewers to offer tips. “This global experience has pushed inventive new ways to create online content and to interact with the community,” said Drollinger.

Anthony Rogers

Jose A. Guzman-Colon @glamgender

Peaches Christ will break out soon!

Peaches’ keen

Joshua Grannell, aka drag superstar Peaches Christ, took a big financial hit when his August 14 Castro Theater show Drag Becomes Her was postponed due to Coronavirus concerns. Grannell said that the show has been rescheduled for August 29 and that he plans to sell Drag Becomes Her T-shirts online. He’s also trying to book as many Peaches Christ messages on the Cameo app as he can. “Cameo is an app where you can book your favorite ‘celebrity’ to send you or a loved one a personal video message,” Grannell explained. “Right now, I’ve noticed that folks in the arts, other performers, and nightlife folks are really trying hard to support each other personally, checking in on each other, promoting each other’s online events and fundraising efforts. I think we’re all struggling to figure out how best to survive this. I’m checking in on friends that live alone, running errands for seniors and immunity-compromised folks; doing what we can.”

Manny Yekutiel

Manny-ing battle stations

Manny’s, the popular coffee shop that hosts many political gatherings, is also finding ways to get through the shutdown. “We’ve been working around the clock to organize a series of live online civic conversations with civic leaders, elected officials, artists, journalists, business CEOs, and medical professionals to engage the public and bring in the donations we need to keep things going,” said Manny’s owner Emanuel Yekutiel, who is gay. Yekutiel said that it was “heartwarming” to see people donating what they can to support the space. He noted that help from the public and the government was needed to help brick and mortar businesses get through this storm. He added that he was personally supporting the queer nightlife fund. “We’re helping other businesses by sharing their fundraising pages, providing one on one friendship and advice to other small business owners, utilizing my position as a small business commissioner to distribute information about what the local, state, and federal governments are doing to provide relief to our industry, and by organizing these civic conversations to be of service,” said Yekutiel.

Go ask Alice

The Alice Collective, a popular Oakland spot that had just started hosting a weekly brunch with drag artist Poly Poptart, has also

Madison Kaviyakoen

been forced to close. Madison Kaviyakoen worked at The Alice Collective as the Beverage Director and Drag Brunch producer until she was laid off due to the Covid-19 crisis. “Since getting laid off, I have banded together with other unemployed chefs and bartenders in Oakland to continue cooking,” she said. “We are all doing our best to make ends meet for basic needs by doing what we do best and that’s hospitality. We are called Magnolia Street Food based in West Oakland. We are making sandwiches and brunch plates twice a week and posting them on Instagram. People are also donating so we can make food and deliver to local medical professionals. It’s beautiful to see all the love and support during this time of crisis. Hospitality doesn’t stop for us.”

Feinstein’s at the Nikko’s Creative Director Randy Taradash (right) with performer Leslie Jordan at the Hotel Nikko.

Life is a cabaret

Randy Taradash, creative director for Feinstein’s at the Nikko, the hugely popular downtown cabaret which has hosted many gay performers, is optimistic about the future of nightlife in San Francisco. “It is my true belief, as someone who has been doing this for the past twenty five years, that when we are able to and when it is safe people will flock back,” he said. “Because live entertainment is food for the soul and nothing beats being in the room and sharing that moment together, whether it’s live music or theater, those moments that we can share with a stranger sitting next to you, it can’t be beat.”t Donate to the Queer Nightlife Fund: https://sfqueernightlifefund.org/ Google document with GoFundMe campaigns for various nightclubs and cafes, including queer venues: https://bit.ly/2WJBmJ4 Support the Oasis Indiegogo: www.indiegogo.com/projects/support-sfoasis-during-covid-19-closures# Alice Collective: www.facebook.com/AliceCollective Manny’s: www.welcometomannys.com

<< Music

14 • Bay Area Reporter • April 9-15, 2020

Lena Hall in Limbo and Hell by Jim Gladstone

or Lena Hall, limbo was a pre-existing condition. Like virtually all performing artists, the San Francisco native, best known for her Tony-winning turn as Yitzhak in the Broadway run of Hedwig & The Angry Inch, has had her schedule –including two cabaret shows at Feinstein’s at the Nikko scheduled for later this month– placed on indefinite hold by the Covid-19 pandemic. Concurrently, Hall’s biggest gig ever, a leading role in the TNT television adaptation of Parasite-director Bong Joon Ho’s 2013 sci-fi feature Lena Hall Snowpiercer, has kept her largely out of the public eye since 2017 when the series, coterview with the Bay Area Reporter. starring fellow Bay Area actor Dav“I’ve already filmed commercials eed Diggs, began shooting. and promotional interviews for the A full first season was filmed and second season and the first hasn’t so well-received by TNT that a seceven aired. It’s very strange.” ond was ordered and began filming Short cabaret runs, including a before broadcasts ever began. Subsold out engagement at the Nikko sequent scheduling shuffles at the last January, have provided an opnetwork have led to repeated postportunity for Hall to stay connected ponements of the premiere, which is with audiences, but theater projects now slated to air on May 31. bound for Broadway have been off “My career has been on hold the table given shooting schedules. waiting for this to happen,” Hall exAnd Hall has also faced stumbling plained in a late February phone inblocks in her efforts to launch a re-

cording career. “I like big bombastic rock and roll from the ’70s and ’80s and that’s the music I want to do in a solo career. I love Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Guns N’ Roses, AC/ DC. I want to mix the sound of old rock with contemporary hip-hop production. But the record company I was talking to just says that ‘Rock is dead.’” Last summer, between Snowpiercer shooting seasons, the stars aligned to give Hall a blissful six weeks indulging her passions for both the theater and old school rock music when she was cast in a limited six-week New York run of Bat Out of Hell, the notoriously troubled jukebox musical of songs by composer Jim Steinman, best known for writing huge hits for Meatloaf in the 1970s and ’80s. The phantasmagoric, vaguely coherent rock opera was a hit in the UK in 2017 and 2018, embraced for an over-the-top production perfectly aligned with Steinman’s bombastic and melodramatic tunes.

Mayhem and Madness by Victoria A. Brownworth

etflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, is the hottest show in America right now, the most-watched Netflix series ever. We wish we could explain how this documentary series grabbed the country in its teeth and hung on, but you will just have to see for yourselves. The true-crime documentary series delves into the life of Joe Exotic, a gay-as-can-be zookeeper with a predilection for the big cats who is surrounded by men, amputees and

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the aforementioned mayhem. Joe Exotic has hundreds of rare animals and nearly as many boyfriends. Tiger King delves into Exotic’s wild lifestyle and the world of big cat conservationists. Carole Baskin, owner of Big Cat Rescue, is a key player. She accuses Joe Exotic of abusing and exploiting the cats. That’s where the murder part comes in. On April 3, Joe Exotic answered questions in an interview, thanking his husband for standing by him, admitting shame on how his chimps were treated, and wishing he could experience some of the fame being generated by the series. Now Netflix has added an additional episode, according to Jeff Lowe, a zoo owner from the show. Bonus: Saturday Night Live’s resident lesbian icon, Kate McKinnon, is set to star in and executive produce a series in which she portrays Carole Baskin. Would Tiger King be as captivating without a quarantine? We’ll never know, will we? But it sure is amazing right now. So watch it, love it and stay tuned.

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There is no more engaging nor nuanced drama on the tube right now than AMC’s Dispatches from Elsewhere. This series could not be more perfect for the near-apocalypse in which we are currently living, as it suspends all reality while lifting you up with its magical realism and charming trans love story. We adore this show, the four main characters, the actors playing those characters and the surrealistic take on our world that could not have predicted this time and yet is uniquely of it. It is just so good. The series is based on the 2013 documentary film The Institute, reconstructing the story of the Jejune Institute, an alternate reality game set in San Francisco and created in 2008 by Oakland-based artist Jeff Hull. AMC describes the series as “a group of ordinary people who stumble onto a puzzle hiding just behind the veil of everyday life. They will come to find that the mystery winds far deeper than they ever imagined.” Accurate, yet the series is so much

“A parade of dry ice, skin-tight leather, fire-belching motorcycles– and just a smattering of self-awareness,” wrote Time Out London; and The Guardian opined, “The best musicals have a compelling storyline, thrilling stage pictures and astonishing sounds. This show completely lacks the first, but what swagger and songs it has. As Steinman put it himself, ‘Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.’” But a North American tour, which included a booking at the Golden Gate Theatre in December of 2018, was suddenly cancelled, with litigation erupting in its wake. “I hadn’t heard all the things that had happened with the show when I got the offer,” Hall recalls. “And I loved the music. It’s huge, epic, totally out there stuff, with epic journeys and stories in the lyrics and orchestrations. The music is utterly perfect for the stage. And the show doesn’t make the mistake that a lot of jukebox musicals do, where they cram too many snippets and medleys and montages of songs into the show to make sure everyone hears their favorites. The songs in ‘Bat’ are kept unabashedly long, like they were on the records –seven to ten minutes!” Of her performance in the limited Off-Broadway run, The New

York Times wrote that “Hall…approaches the material with a wink and a uvula-rattling belt. Her voice –rough and richly textured– feels like a sandpaper kiss.” While preparing for the role, Hall delved into Steinman’s entire story-song oeuvre which, beyond Meatloaf, includes “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” a huge hit for Bonnie Tyler; “Nowhere Fast,” from the movie Streets of Fire (“A real banger,” says Hall, “It makes you want to work out”); and “Left in the Dark,” which has the peculiar honor of being the only song released by both Meatloaf and Barbra Streisand. The set she planned to present at Feinstein’s this month – and will hopefully perform there in the future– was a personal survey of Steinman’s work, appropriately titled, ‘Bat Out of Hall.’ Just as her cabaret concert provided Hall with a welcome shot of escape during her Snowpiercer limbo, its ridiculous pleasures will serve B.A.R. readers as a tonic during our current holding pattern. Enjoy these links to some choice bits from both Hall and Steinman.t Lena Hall’s covers of her pop and rock obsessions, including Peter Gabriel, Nirvana and Pink: https://lenahallobsessed.com

The Lavender Tube on ‘Tiger King,’ ‘Dispatches,’ and more All ten episodes are available now for streaming on Hulu and Freeform.

Gone viral

Joe Exotic and friend in Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness

more. Created by Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother), this is a tour de force about how four displaced persons become involved in The Game, and how as they find each other, they find new meaning for their lives. Too many details will spoil the enticement, so we won’t. But the incipient love story between Segel’s character, Peter, and Simone (the evanescent trans actress Eve Lindley, who deserves all the roles after this one) is enchanting. Lindley is positively luminous as the quirky art museum docent who chats with French painter Berthe Morisot and aches for something to happen in her life as she watches Law & Order: Special Victims Unit with her grandmother, who is her protector and mentor. The always underrated actress Sally Field is stellar as Janice, a woman with a gigantic secret who also has a deep void in her life. And Hip-Hop great Andre 3000 aka Andre Benjamin, is perfect as the conspiracy-theory driven Fredwynn. Dispatches from Elsewhere is about trust, honor, love and a touch of madness. It lures the viewer in with compelling visuals and extraordinary acting. The thrum of queerness permeates every aspect of this series, although not everyone is queer. Mondays on AMC and On Demand.

This is ‘Everything’

Josh Thomas’s (Please Like Me) queer familial comedy Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, will leave you hopeful that there’s a future beyond COVID-19, even if the series starts with dying. Nicholas (Thomas), 25, is a neurotic, gay Australian entomologist who goes to visit his father and half-sisters in Los Angeles only to discover his father is dying. Nicholas is tasked with becoming guardian for Matilda (Kayla Cromer), who is on the autism spectrum, and Genevieve (Maeve Press), who is angry about almost everything. Adam Faison plays Alex, Nicholas’s hot, charming boyfriend who tries to help him navigate his new role and his neuroses. This newly formed family is traversing their grief and loss as well as their tentative bonds. Their fierce fealty to each other and to their familial unit is compelling and poignant without ever devolving into schmaltzy sentimentality. Nicholas’s gayness is a given, as is Matilda’s autism (Cromer herself is on the autism spectrum) and each big piece of who they are –as well as Genevieve’s anger– informs how they interact and how Nicholas cares for the girls and himself.

Gwyneth Paltrow says we should all be learning a new language or writing a book during our quarantine. If that advice from the woman selling “This Smells Like My Vagina” scented candles at $75 a pop at her Goop Shop annoys the heck out of you, you may find her role in the 2011 pandemic film Contagion satisfying. Now available on Netflix, Contagion has a surprisingly calming effect that we can’t quite explain. Something about everyone trying to stop the pandemic and find a cure is an antidote to President Trump saying “There’s going to be a lot of death,” as he did on April 4 in his daily press briefing. We highly recommend Contagion for COVID-19 viewing. It had lots of scientists working on it. More, alas, than on Trump’s coronavirus task force. Like everyone who is too anxious to read these days, we’re settling for TV viewing as much as we can and crocheting a lot. Streaming will be your bestie for the foreseeable future, so be sure to check out who is offering free stuff. On April 3, HBO began offering about 500 hours of programming for free (without ads) for a limited time. The list of free programming includes every episode of nine HBO series, nearly all of which have queer content: The Sopranos, Veep, Succession, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Ballers, Barry, Silicon Valley and True Blood. We urge you to watch The Wire, one of the greatest TV series ever made. Six Feet Under and True Blood have extraordinary LGBTQ content and are also just really superb TV. Veep has queer content and is just such a good dark comedy. Also streaming for free are ten HBO documentaries and docuseries including McMillion$ and The Case Against Adnan Syed. None of HBO’s recent megahits like Game of Thrones, Westworld, Big Little Lies, Euphoria and Chernobyl are available. Those you will have to pay for.t

Leather >>

April 9-15, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 15

Going solosexual Keeping an erotic spark alive

Pandemic humor on Grindr.

Men.com

Remember phone sex? Ask Men.com’s Jimmy Fanz.

by Race Bannon

write about sex, relationships, and associated communities. How can I be useful amid such a crisis? I’m emotionally exhausted. The pandemic’s impact leaves me a bit numb sitting in front of my laptop. In my last “Sex in the era of COVID-19” column I discussed why we must be cautious for a while having sex with people we don’t know well. Some will decide they’re not having any in-person sex until the health landscape becomes safer. Sex is vital to our wellbeing. Even if it’s masturbation with an active fantasy life, it’s necessary to have that outlet. Some people might be fine without sex, but they’re the minority. Most of us need some sexual outlet to feel balanced. If you have a live-in sex partner and that suffices, great! If you don’t have a live-in partner or require out-

side engagement, perhaps it’s time to embrace the solosexual inside you. A solosexual is one who prefers masturbation over other forms of sex. While that might not be your mainstay, it’s a viable option now. There is no way to make long-distance sex happen without technology; phone, tablet or laptop. Make sure your online security is optimized to make it as safe as possible. Update your device’s operating system, antivirus and anti-malware software, and communications applications. Current updates ensure that known security flaws are likely fixed. There’s no assurance your device or communications mechanisms are entirely secure. Do the best you can. There’s always at least a modicum of risk. We live with that reality every day we send email, post on social media, or receive an unsolicited text. Think of precautions as technological harm reduction.

Recent news reports point out security concerns among various online web conferencing and communication platforms. Companies are scrambling to address those problems, but this is a ‘buyer beware’ scenario. Search for the latest security news on whatever platforms or applications you’re using. Never use a company-issued work device for sexual communications or accessing adult sites. If you’ve got a great fantasy life, good old masturbation can work just fine. Technological assistance may not be needed. As my friend, author and masturbation expert, Dr. Gloria Brame, once said, “An orgasm is the biggest non-drug blast of dopamine available.” So, jerk off. The orgasms feel amazing, engender some muchneeded euphoria, and they’re safe and free. There’s always online porn to add a visual assist. To engage someone outside of your household, start considering ways to do that. If you’re open about such things, start by asking friends what systems they use and for their advice. Then do some research online. Search for every permutation of online sex, cybersex, or other such search strings. Add in your orientation to narrow results. Look for both news and how-to articles. The news might alert you to any current pitfalls with certain platforms. The how-to articles will give you tutorials and advice.

Online book, movie and music reviews We’ve got plenty of options for your home entertainment. The gay romance Almost Love, with actual gay actors (yay!); William T. Vollmann’s epic The Lucky Star covers the Tenderloin terrain, award-winning kid lit author Jacqueline Wilson’s latest, plus epidemic cinema classics, and San Francisco Symphony’s Keeping Score series and their performance of Aaron Copland’s Third Symphony. Find it at www.ebar.com

Cam sites can bring out your inner exhibitionist, or voyeur.

Dr. Gloria Brame, well-known author and sex therapist.

Do what it takes to ensure privacy and the best of use of platforms. For example, when using web meeting applications, require a password if that’s an option to keep unwanted malicious trollers out. Many of the dating and hookups apps are now currently acting primarily as hot chat systems. Some have video components built into their technology that are quite useful. If you want to have online sex with strangers, try to vet everyone with whom you interact. I know that’s not easy, but a bit of caution is wise. Don’t divulge any private information until you really know them. Maybe don’t show your face or live webcam image at all to start. Consent matters whenever sex is involved, and that goes for cybersex too. Don’t just send a naked photo or activate your web cam. Ask if you can. Maybe don’t send photos with your face showing with your naked body at all. Same for how you frame yourself when using a webcam. Ask

if there are off-limit topics in their cybersex and let them know yours. If using a webcam, make sure nothing in the background potentially divulges private information. Perhaps think the worst of people, at least when first interacting, and assume they’re capturing your image or recording a video of your interactions. I know some of these warnings might seem radically paranoid. I’m not suggesting you avoid online sex. In fact, I’m strongly encouraging you to give it a try if you haven’t yet in order to more easily make it through the next weeks of sheltering in place. Just do so with some forethought and attention to best practices. I want you to have as much amazing solosex as you want, whether alone or with a virtual partner. I’d rather people did that than choosing a hookup in person that hasn’t fully considered all the potential risk factors. Stay safe. Now, as our friends across the pond might say, go have a wank!t Resources Guide: The LGBTQ Leather, Kink and Sexuality Communities Resources Guide is a “living” document and will be updated ongoing as more information is made available. https://bit.ly/2Jpcxud Sex in the Era of COVID-19: www.ebar.com/ bartab/leather-kink/289810 Race Bannon is a local author, blogger and activist. www.bannon.com

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