10
Ghost Ship shocker
Night minister retires
ARTS
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15
'Pirates of Penzance'
21
Aish's unique music
The
www.ebar.com
Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community
Vol. 48 • No. 33 • August 16-22, 2018
Castro’s ‘pretty clean,’ mayor says by Alex Madison
Cynthia Laird
Jason Van Dyke’s letter to the Bay Area Reporter demands a retraction for an opinion piece by the paper’s Resist columnist Christina DiEdoardo.
Proud Boys threaten B.A.R. with legal action by Alex Madison
T
he Proud Boys, an international, far-right male fraternity, threatened the Bay Area Reporter with legal action last week after an August 9 opinion column was published describing the group as “white supremacists” and “fascists.” The Proud Boys’ website describes its members as “Western chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world,” and that they long for days when, “girls were girls and men were men.” It denies being an alt-right group and says it welcomes all races. The Southern Poverty Law Center has long labeled the Proud Boys a hate group. The B.A.R.’s Resist column, “Proud Boys not welcome in Oakland,” by Christina A. DiEdoardo, recounted a July 23 protest objecting to an announced meet-up of a Bay Area chapter of the Proud Boys at Make Westing, a bar at 1741 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland. The protest was held after a vigil for Nia Wilson at the MacArthur BART station the same night. Wilson, an 18-year-old African-American woman, was allegedly killed by a white man at MacArthur station July 22. Many who attended Wilson’s vigil also marched to Make Westing to protest the Proud Boys. DiEdoardo’s column, which was labeled as commentary, suggested the protesters successfully barred six white men, allegedly Proud Boys members, from entering Make Westing. B.A.R. publisher Michael Yamashita said the column was clearly labeled commentary and that it was not a news article. The words are DiEdoardo’s opinion he said, and that he did not see any bias or violation on her part. “It smacks of press intimidation without any real knowledge of how the press operates in relation to news articles, commentaries, columnists, and reporters,” Yamashita said. “They each have different parameters and guidelines that they have to abide. If anything, this is a misunderstanding on [Van Dyke’s] part about what constitutes libel and what was actually said in the column.” In a cease and desist demand letter emailed to the B.A.R. August 10, a day after the column was published, Proud Boys’ representative Jason Van Dyke, an attorney in Texas, denied that the group of men who met at Make Westing were Proud Boys. See page 13 >>
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n her third unannounced neighborhood walk since taking office, Mayor London Breed visited the Castro Monday and declared it “pretty clean.” Breed’s visit came in response to the Bay Area Reporter’s August 9 editorial inviting her to the district after her initial merchant walk was canceled due to weather when she was acting mayor in January. Shortly afterward, Breed’s colleagues on the Board of Supervisors voted her out as acting mayor and installed Mark Farrell as mayor. Breed won the mayor’s race in June. Additional Bigbelly trash cans, outreach for the homeless population, continued beat cop coverage, and cleaning up dog and human feces were the mayor’s main takeaways from her unannounced 25-minute walk up Castro Street to Jane Warner Plaza. Sandra Zuniga, director of the Mayor’s Fix-It Team, was also present. One of her first greetings were to two homeless men sitting in front of Posh Bagel on Castro Street. “Our friends are going to come out to see what we can do to help you,” Breed said. Breed quickly had her team call Jeff Kositsky, director of the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. Later in the walk, she said an area of improvement is getting her team to respond more quickly to requests regarding homeless people. Passing the CVS parking lot, Zuniga
Rick Gerharter
Mayor London Breed checks out the Bigbelly trash can on Castro Street during her unannounced walk around the neighborhood Monday.
mentioned the decrease in car break-ins and loitering in the lot since the installation of a security gate that locks at night. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency announced plans last month to install another security gate in the Walgreens parking lot on 18th street between Castro and Collingwood streets. A Castro resident, Seth, who declined to give his last name, then approached Breed, urging her to improve the safety and cleanliness of the Castro and expressed his concern of the
sustainability of tourism in the area. “I agree,” Breed said to the man. “That’s why I’m doing this. I come out, check it out, call my team. I want some attention paid to all of these neighborhoods.” She said she expects the Fix-It Team to be in the Castro everyday cleaning the streets. Andrea Aiello, executive director of the Castro/ Upper Market Community Benefit District, was at See page 12 >>
Guerneville gears up for Pride
by Charlie Wagner
S
eeking to maintain LGBT Pride activity in Guerneville following Sonoma County Pride’s move to Santa Rosa this year, the inaugural Russian River Pride celebration will be held August 24-26. The main event is a parade down Main Street at 11 a.m. Sunday, August 26. Rodger Jensen, Pride producer and event coordinator at the R3 Hotel, has announced many other activities. The theme for the weekend is “River Proud, River Strong, A Celebration of Diversity.” Since 2009, the annual Sonoma County Pride celebration had been held in June in Guerneville, but in March, the Sonoma County Pride board moved that event to Santa Rosa, in what was ultimately a successful effort to attract more attendees. Russian River Pride activities start this Saturday, August 18, with a lighting ceremony at the Guerneville Bridge, a pedestrian span. Jensen said organizers were “inspired by the Bay Bridge lighting,” and view the event as the “true kickoff for Russian River Pride.” According to Jensen, the evening will start with a pre-celebration from 8 to 10 p.m. at the R3 Hotel, located at 16390 Fourth Street. People will then walk to Guerneville Plaza and give a blessing of the bridge. After the lighting ceremony, people will gather back at the plaza, then head to an after-party at the Rainbow
Charlie Wagner
Russian River Pride head of décor Nicholas “Little Nick” Carrigan, left, and Pride producer Rodger Jensen have lined up lots of activities for the inaugural Russian River Pride weekend.
Cattle Company, located at 16220 Main Street. The entry to the bridge crosses Guerneville Plaza, where a rainbow flag is flown along with U.S. and California state flags. Starting in the spring, the rainbow flag was stolen repeatedly. On July 13, Vincent Joseph O’Sullivan was sentenced to 36 months’ probation and 100 hours of community service for those thefts. Jensen believes walking through the plaza will commemorate, “the whole crisis we’ve been going through with the rainbow flag theft.”
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Nicholas “Little Nick” Carrigan is volunteering as head of décor for Russian River Pride. Carrigan revealed they plan to attach 17 different types of lights to the bridge’s exterior. “We will meet at the south end of bridge after dark, and walk together to the flagpole,” he said. “We plan to leave the lights on until Monday, August 27,” Carrigan said. “The lights will recognize what an iconic monument the Guerneville See page 12 >>