July 23, 2015 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

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Report highlights lack of LGBT CA judges

Vol. 45 • No. 30 • July 23-29, 2015

AIDS Walk ‘re-energizes’ HIV fundraising

by Matthew S. Bajko

new report is highlighting a fact often overlooked about the state’s judiciary – LGBT judges are largely missing from the state and federal bench in California. There is only one gay judge out of 62 Alameda County federal district court Superior Court judges in California Judge Victoria and just three openly Kolakowski LGBT federal magistrate judges among the 65 in the state. Of the state’s 58 counties, 45 have no selfidentified LGBT judges on the local state superior court. “In other words, the LGBT community is not represented in the judiciary in 78 percent of the counties in California,” states the “first in the nation survey” released July 14 by the California LGBT Bar Coalition. Representatives of LGBT bar associations in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, and Sacramento compiled the report, written in the style of a law journal article, in an effort to draw far more public scrutiny to the need to appoint or elect LGBT judges in the Golden State. “I think a lot of people do not know, or they have a false impression there is LGBT diversity on the bench. There is not,” said attorney Denise Bergin, who co-chairs the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom’s judiciary committee. Bergin, who did not write the report, added, “I think there has been a lack of energy around this from the LGBT community, and that is something that needs to change.” Titled “The New Frontier of LGBT Equality: The California State and Federal Judiciary,” the 15-page document concludes that “LGBTs are just treading water” when it comes to being appointed or elected to serve on state and federal courts in the state. The report highlights the fact there has never been an out justice on the California Supreme Court and that the number of LGBT state judges remained the same at 41 between 2013 and 2014, the most recent year for which there is data on the demographic makeup of the state bench. As the report notes, “even with recent appointments and election victories, the percentage of openly LGBT sitting California judges and justices still remains at a disappointing 2.4 percent.” “The report describes a real problem with See page 13 >>

by Sampson McCormick

ast weekend’s AIDS Walk San Francisco saw a resurgence in fundraising that left organizers pleased, especially in light of donor fatigue when it comes to HIV/AIDS causes. The July 19 event at Golden Gate Park saw about 20,000 participants raise $2.27 million for Project Inform, the lead nonprofit, and 42 other Bay Area agencies. The total is slightly larger See page 13 >>

An estimated 20,000 people took part in last Sunday’s AIDS Walk San Francisco in Golden Gate Park.

No change in percent of SF LGBT homeless Rick Gerharter

by Seth Hemmelgarn

leviate the homelessness and poverty that exists in our community,” an Francisco officials have Avicolli Mecca said. “... We need a released a report showing huge effort. We need the kind of that 29 percent of the city’s effort we put into gay marriage.” homeless population identify Avicolli Mecca lauded gay Superas LGBT – the same figure that visor David Campos for his efforts was reported in 2013, the last to increase affordable housing in time such numbers were released the Mission neighborhood, which locally. the District 9 supervisor oversees. City leaders and homeless adCampos also helped create vocates are expressing frustration Jazzie’s Place, the 24-bed shelter with the numbers, and are calling that opened in June and is defor more affordable housing. signed to be welcoming to LGBT Rick Gerharter “We’re not getting anywhere, homeless people. and even with increased resources A man, left, sleeps at the ATM on Market Street near Noe Street. In response to interview refinally starting to target the comquests, including an offer to email munity, we’re not gaining any questions to the supervisor, Caminclude sexual orientation. The margin of error ground,” said Brian Basinger, pos aide Carolyn Goossen replied is plus or minus 3 percentage points. director of the AIDS Housing Alliance/San that he would be out of town during the reBasinger called the homelessness problem quested times and unable “to do an interview.” Francisco. “We should not be seeing flat or in“one of the social needs that you can actually creasing rates of homelessness over time. They throw money at and fix. The cure to homeless- Castro changes should be decreasing.” ness is to build affordable housing.” The 2015 Point-in-Time Count includes people As the report noted, the number of homeless He added, “We need increased investment in without shelter, as well as those staying in homepeople in District 8, which includes the Castro less shelters, jails, and treatment centers. Counts a housing infrastructure to keep people in the neighborhood, almost doubled since 2013, homes they already have, and to help people were conducted January 29. There were a total of going from 95 to 183, according to the report. 7,539 homeless people, a 2 percent increase from move into homes after they lose their housing.” The figure doesn’t include youth. Tommi Avicolli Mecca, who’s another gay the 7,350 counted in 2013. At 29 percent, there Greg Hug, 29, who was sitting in the Castro’s longtime housing activist and works at the Jane Warner Plaza last Saturday, said he came were about 2,186 homeless LGBTs in 2015. Housing Rights Committee, said the new re- to San Francisco last month after staying at a The city’s Human Services Agency released port is “a wakeup call.” the report Thursday, July 16. shelter in Contra Costa County. “I wonder if now the community will take After the main count, 1,027 people comSee page 12 >> [the] challenge and start to do something to alpleted surveys, revealing characteristics that

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<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 23-29, 2015

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Lambda Legal’s Cathcart announces retirement by Chris Huqueriza

ambda Legal Defense and Education Fund will soon start the search for a new leader after Executive Director Kevin M. Cathcart announced that he will retire when his current contract ends in April. Cathcart has led the LGBT legal organization since 1992 and is one of the longest-serving heads of a gay rights group. “I am proud of what we have accomplished together and the work will not stop over the next 10 months or the decades ahead,” Cathcart, 61, said in a news release. “Our community deserves our best efforts, addressing the discrimination, violence, and inequality we still face.” As the oldest and largest nonprofit legal organization advocating for the LGBT community as well as people living with HIV, Lambda Legal has a docket of more than 100 cases and won three historic U.S. Supreme Court cases: June’s Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized marriage equality nationwide; Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 decision that overturned state sodomy laws; and 1996’s Romer v. Evans, which found that a Colorado constitutional amendment aimed at discriminating against gays was unconstitutional. “There’s not any particular achievement that I’m proud of except that I’m

Courtesy Lambda Legal

Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart

most proud that Lambda Legal has maintained a presence on the HIV epidemic among other vital issues of the community,” Cathcart, a gay man, said in an interview Monday, July 20 with the Bay Area Reporter. “Lambda Legal will continue to make an impact.” Cathcart originally led a staff of 21 members in New York and Los Angeles. The agency remains headquartered in New York City and now employs more than 100 people with offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and Dallas. Cathcart’s leadership was praised by local attorneys. “Kevin’s import to Lambda Legal has at least three very different com-

ponents,” gay attorney and Lambda Legal supporter Charles Spiegel told the B.A.R. “First, leading and guiding the legal strategy for Lambda Legal’s involvement in both marriage equality and the much bigger remainder of the docket. He also created the national organization of five regional offices, two in the Deep South, with more than 20 lawyers. “But as important, he’s provided over 20 years of organizational stability, support, and growth to the creative, legal, and educational staff members, so they could do the incredible labor required on all these issues, without fear for not being paid, or of being second-guessed,” Spiegel added. Prior to working with Lambda Legal, Cathcart was the executive director of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders from 1984 to 1992. Because he’s been the executive director for two major LGBT legal rights organizations for a combined 32 years, he’s often referred to as the dean of LGBT leaders as his tenure has encompassed many of the historic victories and advances of the LGBT community. Among his achievements is the expansion of the Youth in Out-ofHome Care Project for LGBT youth in foster care; the creation of both the National Marriage Project, which led to litigation and education to win the See page 14 >>

SF police release gay mural arson video compiled by Cynthia Laird

an Francisco police have released a video of someone setting fire to a Mission district mural depicting gay Latinos late last month. The video, from a surveillance camera at Galeria de la Raza, 2857 24th Street, shows someone in a black hooded sweatshirt or jacket with white stripes on the shoulders, black pants, white tennis shoes, and white gloves approaching the digital

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Por Vida (For Life) piece, pouring liquid on it, and lighting the fire, which burns for about a minute and a half before the footage ends. According to Officer Carlos Manfredi, a police spokesman, officers responded to the scene at 11:10 p.m. June 29, just after the fire started. The suspect is described as a 6-foottall man, weighing 190 pounds and wearing a black cloth over the lower half of his face, according to police. He was last seen running south on Bryant toward 25th Street. The mural had been vandalized with paint multiple times earlier in June. Police are investigating the incidents as a hate crime, based on social media messages and threats. The piece, by artist Manuel Paul of the Los Angeles-based Maricon Collective, shows a gay couple, a transgender man, and a lesbian couple. The surveillance video is available at https://www.dropbox.com/s/ hun77g210e0r6su/Video%201. mov?dl=0. Anyone with information in the

case may call the police department’s anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444, or text a tip to 847411 and type SFPD, then the message. People may also contact lead investigator Sergeant Pete Shields of the Special Investigations Division at (415) 553-1133. The case number for the June 29 incident is 150568699.

Ting to discuss ‘ministerial exception’ for Catholic staff

State Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) will hold an informational hearing with the Assembly Judiciary Committee to discuss workers’ rights at religious employers. The hearing comes as San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is in the midst of contract negotiations with staff at four Catholic high schools and wants to designate the faculty as “ministers.” The hearing, taking place Thursday, July 23 from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the Milton Marks Auditorium at the State Building, 455 Golden Gate See page 13 >>

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Community News>>

July 23-29, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

AIDS conference highlights treatment and prevention by Liz Highleyman

he 2015 International AIDS Society conference will be remembered as a milestone in the global effort to eliminate new infections and expand treatment to everyone living with HIV worldwide, experts said this week in Vancouver. Many recalled that Vancouver was also the site of the 1996 International AIDS Conference, where researchers presented the first study results that ushered in the era of effective combination antiretroviral treatment that saved countless lives. “IAS 2015 will be remembered as the definitive moment when the world agreed that earlier initiation of treatment is the best way to preserve the health of people living with HIV and one of the best tools we have to slow HIV transmission to others,” said conference Co-Chair Julio Montaner from the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Speakers at the opening session on Sunday celebrated the achievements of recent years, while also acknowledging the challenges that remain. UNAIDS recently announced that 15 million people are now on antiretroviral treatment worldwide and 83 countries have been able to stabilize or reduce the number of new HIV infections. An estimated 30 million new infections and 8 million deaths have been averted during the past 15 years. “Fifteen years ago people were saying we were dreamers,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe. “They were completely wrong. The 10,000 people [then] on treatment has swelled to 15 million. We brought the price down from $10,000 to $100 [per person per year]. We used to give 18 pills a day, now it’s one pill a day, and soon it will be one injection every six months.” The current UNAIDS target – known as 90-90-90 – aims to get 90 percent of people with HIV to know their status, 90 percent of these to be on treatment, and 90 percent of those to have undetectable viral load. Meeting these goals by 2020 could virtually eliminate the HIV/ AIDS pandemic by 2030, mathematical models suggest.

Study supports treatment for all

Researchers presented data at the conference from a number of key studies showing that antiretroviral therapy both improves the health and extends the lives of people with HIV, as well as preventing transmission to HIV-negative people. Jens Lundgren from the University of Copenhagen presented final results from the START (Strategic Timing of Antiretroviral Treatment) trial, which aimed to settle the controversy over the optimal time to initiate therapy. START enrolled more than 4,600 HIV-positive people in 35 countries who were randomly assigned to either start treatment immediately regardless of CD4 T-cell count or to delay therapy until their CD4 count fell below 350 or they developed AIDS symptoms. The study was halted in May after a data monitoring committee determined that there was already enough evidence to show an advantage for early treatment. Lungren reported that 1.8 percent of participants in the immediate treatment group experienced serious AIDS-related events, non-AIDS events, or death, compared with

Liz Highleyman

PrEP researcher Robert Grant signs the Vancouver Consensus at the International AIDS Society conference.

4.1 percent in the deferred therapy group – a 57 percent reduction. Serious AIDS events decreased by 72 percent, with tuberculosis being the most common event in both treatment arms. Serious non-AIDS events fell by 39 percent, largely driven by half as many cancer cases in the early treatment group. START provides the evidence some were waiting for to conclude that everyone living with HIV should be offered treatment. In 2010, San Francisco became the first city to offer treatment to everyone diagnosed with HIV. U.S. treatment guidelines made the same recommendation in 2013. This week the World Health Organization announced that its forthcoming guidelines will likewise recommend treatment for all. “[START] clearly indicates that antiretroviral therapy should be provided for everyone regardless of CD4 count,” Lundgren told the Bay Area Reporter. “Now we have evidence that aligns individual benefit and prevention benefit without evidence of harm.” “Let this be the conference where the question of when to start treatment becomes not a question of science, but one of financing and political will,” conference Co-Chair Chris Beyrer from Johns Hopkins University said at the opening session.

Focus on prevention

In line with other recent meetings, the Vancouver conference included little breaking news about new and improved HIV treatment, but several studies added to the understanding of biomedical prevention. Myron Cohen from the University of North Carolina presented final results from the HIV Prevention Trials Network study 052, which looked at antiretroviral treatment as prevention for serodiscordant (mixed HIV status) heterosexual couples in Africa. The trial previously made headlines when Cohen announced at the 2011 IAS conference in Rome that HIV-positive people who started treatment immediately instead of waiting for their CD4 count to fall had a 96 percent lower risk of transmitting HIV to their partners. The study ended in May and Cohen reported final data showing that early treatment led to an overall 93 percent reduction in transmissions within couples, while also improving the health of the HIVpositive partners. When transmission did occur, it was usually soon after starting treatment before viral load became undetectable. Also on the treatment front, preexposure prophylaxis, better known as PrEP, was among the hottest topics at the conference. See page 14 >>

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<< Open Forum

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 23-29, 2015

Volume 45, Number 30 July 23-29, 2015 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 ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman BARTAB EDITOR & EVENTS LISTINGS EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • Seth Hemmelgarn CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ray Aguilera • Tavo Amador • Race Bannon Erin Blackwell • Roger Brigham Brian Bromberger • Victoria A. Brownworth Brent Calderwood • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Belo Cipriani Richard Dodds • Michael Flanagan Jim Gladstone • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell • John F. Karr Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy • Joshua Klipp David Lamble • Max Leger Michael McDonagh • David-Elijah Nahmod Paul Parish • Sean Piverger • Lois Pearlman Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel • Khaled Sayed Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Jim Stewart Sean Timberlake • Andre Torrez • Ronn Vigh Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington Sura Wood ART DIRECTION Jay Cribas PRODUCTION/DESIGN Max Leger PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland • FBFE Rick Gerharter • Gareth Gooch Lydia Gonzales • Jose Guzman-Colon Rudy K. Lawidjaja • Georg Lester • Dan Lloyd Rich Stadtmiller • Steven Underhil Dallis Willard • Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge • Christine Smith ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATION Colleen Small VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING Scott Wazlowski – 415.829.8937 NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

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More LGBT judges needed

new report by the California LGBT Judicial Coalition puts into stark relief the fact that the state’s judiciary needs more diversity. According to the report, “The New Frontier of LGBT Equality: The California State and Federal Judiciary,” 45 of the state’s 58 counties do not have any LGBT judges, and furthermore seven counties with over 20 judges do not have any LGBT judges. There has never been an out judge on the California Supreme Court. There is no out bisexual judge. There is one out transgender judge, who was elected five years ago. Right now, there are 39 out LGBT judges at the superior court level. Among state appeals courts, that number is even smaller: there are two currently, with a third expected to be confirmed this week. Governor Jerry Brown makes the majority of appointments to the local bench and has a policy of not publicly identifying LGBT judges unless they are the first one. So, when Brown appointed Luis A. Lavin to associate justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Three last month, the news release from the governor’s office noted that Lavin is a gay man. But if the governor makes any other LGBT appointments to that division, the public wouldn’t necessarily know. It seems to us that if an out LGBT person is appointed to the bench, it would be a mark of pride and the governor’s office should include that information. Broadly, the judiciary in the Golden State does not reflect its LGBT population. And just last week, when Brown appointed two judges in Alameda County, one of the most diverse counties in the state, they were both straight white men. In fact, since 2011, of the 17 appointments he has made in the county, 11, or 64.7 percent, have been straight white men. So it’s not just an LGBT problem, it’s also an issue for women and minority attorneys who aspire to become judges. But even by comparison, LGBTs are sorely lacking representation on the bench. A pattern emerges in the profiles of

the judges the governor has appointed. Many are former assistant district attorneys or public defenders; the rest tend to be attorneys from large law firms. Overwhelmingly, they tend to be straight white men. And that leads to the next point, that in order to have more diversity on the bench, these other offices and law firms must hire more women, people of color, and LGBTs. In order to do that, there must be a pool of qualified applicants, and that, in turn, leads to colleges admitting a more diverse student body – especially law schools. It’s not easy to be appointed a state judge. The application process is grueling, and thorough. You must list every club or organization you’ve belonged to, possible controversial issues need to be included, as well as writing samples and references from colleagues. After all this, a committee screens and sends the qualified applicants on to the governor. When the occasional judicial seat is on the ballot, a judicial campaign is costly and timeconsuming. Money must be raised, endorsements sought, and campaign appearances are non-stop. Because judicial races are considered “down-ballot,” it’s more difficult to raise campaign contributions than for a mayor’s race or state legislative office. So yes, for qualified LGBTs to be considered, it takes a lot of hard work. But more of them need to apply – and the judicial committee

needs to send more applicants to the governor.

Federal level

The picture is even bleaker for federal judges. On the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes California and several other western states, there are no out LGBT judges. There are three gay or lesbian federal magistrate judges. At the federal level, the president and Senate are largely responsible for making judicial appointments. In California, the state’s two U.S. senators alternate in providing recommendations to the president, who then makes the nomination. Then it’s up to the full Senate to confirm. Unfortunately, there is still stigma attached to LGBT people in the minds of some senators, especially Republicans who now control the chamber. We can remember Senate fights over gay and lesbian nominees to other administration jobs back in the 1990s, when Roberta Achtenberg was called “that damn lesbian” by Jesse Helms and Ambassador James Hormel was subjected to anti-gay rants. But times are changing, or at least we like to think so. And it’s time for both Senator Dianne Feinstein (D) and Barbara Boxer (D) to solicit qualified LGBT applicants for the federal bench. Local LGBT bar organizations, some of which contributed to this latest report, need to create a pipeline whereby qualified LGBT attorneys and state judges can be seriously considered for federal appointment. The bar groups need to recruit qualified candidates, assist them through the application process, and push the senators to recommend LGBTs to the president. President Barack Obama has appointed – and the Senate has confirmed – six federal judges since 2009. One of those, Michael Fitzgerald, is in California, serving on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. That was three years ago. Next year Californians will elect a new U.S. senator. In three years, we will elect a new governor. LGBT legal organizations need to brief candidates for these offices about the need to increase diversity of judges at the state and federal level in order for the judiciary to reflect today’s society.t

Water, water everywhere – not by Michael Dryden

uring the mid to late 1970s, Californians saw a situation that mirrored our current dilemma, for the state suffered a catastrophic drought. In the 1970s drought, Californians were asked, and in some cases ordered, to save water, and we did. We joined as soldiers in a war, a crusade to save California’s precious water. We didn’t water gardens; we placed bricks in our toilet tanks to displace water when flushing, and we flushed according to the principle: “If it’s yellow, it’s mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down.” Waiters served water in restaurants only when requested, and we didn’t leave water running to brush teeth or shave. Washing machines and dishwashers operated only when full. A dirty car was a sign of a patriot. And importantly, our showers became “military showers,” whereby we rinsed briefly, turned off water, soaped up, briefly rinsed and turned off the water. We heeded the call, “Save water, shower with a friend.” For our efforts, we earned As, even though water districts lost great sums of money due to lowered water bills of conserving rate-payers. Flash forward and what a contrast today, where conservation efforts are spotty. On May 6 news stations grimly announced that Californians so far received an F in water conservation. NBC, CNN, Huffington Post, et al, criticized us. How embarrassing for us proud Californians. State residents apparently got the message though, because by early June, it was reported that they had cut water usage by 29 percent, which was encouraging news. Surely Californians know that we are in what newscasts have rightly called a “catastrophic drought.” We know this because we are living it. The drought has cost farmers their federal water allotments; citizens across the state now are allowed to water only two nights per week with no daytime watering. Citizen and special community patrols watch for water usage in-

fractions and in some jurisdictions, fines will begin for water abusers. Again water is supposed to be served only by request in restaurants. Moreover, boaters have moved their crafts to garages, and San Diegans have built a de-salinization plant that will supply, when fully operational, 17 percent of their water needs. So how can we individually improve our conservation efforts? I herewith offer one simple suggestion: recall the military, or navy, showers of the 1970s when we limited showers to two minutes or less. We really did shower together, and it was fun ... brief fun. In sad contrast to those habits, I observe daily at my gym, SF Fitness, men of all ages stroll into the showers, nonchalantly turn on the water and stand under a flood as though water were endlessly abundant. They soap, and rinse, lather and douse, stretch and preen as gallons of water pour off their backs and down the drain. Next they begin their shampoo, lathering and rinsing, turning front and back and front again. Rinsing and splashing as the drain claims gallons of our precious water; they seem to have no awareness of what they are doing. I have countless times admonished these wasters to think about

conservation. Some do, but others point to a sign applied to the shower door. Unbelievably, in this catastrophic drought, SF Fitness requests members to “limit” their showers to 10 minutes. When l first saw that sign, I furiously decided to estimate the water used in this “limited” shower. I gauged that the shower heads at my gym expel three times more than my water-saving shower head at home, which uses only 1.3 gallons per minute. The gym showers’, larger than average heads, pour about four gallons of water per minute. The showerheads at SF Fitness are at least a third larger than a “regular” (for lack of a more precise word) home shower. Ergo: a 10-minute shower at the gym pours about 40 gallons of water down the gutter. Now I multiplied that 40 gallons times the number of men and women showering at the gym daily. Conservatively, I estimated that 200 patrons visit each day. If only 100 take 10-minute showers, 40 x 100 = 4,000 gallons of water per day, 28,000 per week, 96,000 gallons of water every month! To imagine that amount of water, think of stacking six averagesized swimming pools (16x32x5ft average depth) and pouring that water into the ocean – that is the amount of water SF Fitness is encouraging be spilled to shower its patrons. And SF Fitness has five gyms. My point here is a plea to both the gym managers and their patrons. Start to think like the folks in the 1970s: save water at every opportunity, when washing clothes and dishes and cars, flushing toilets, when shaving and brushing teeth and when gardening. Finally, whether at home or the gym take navy showers and remember, when possible at home, make it fun and shower with a friend or loved one, but briefly.t Michael Dryden is a San Francisco resident.

Letters >>

Praise for Our Family Coalition

July 23-29, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Thanks for covering Our Family Coalition in last week’s issue [“Another Bay Area ED takes sabbatical,” July 16]. Its more than $1 million annual budget and 13 staff members to advocate and support LGBT families compares to well under $100,000 and at most a single half-time staff more than 10 years ago. How do I know? Because I was that single employee as executive director, following Cheryl Deaner in the same role. When we were there, we were told to keep gay couples with kids in the background of the then-marriage equality fights because we were too “controversial.” Now, in part directly through the work of OFC’s current lawyer and Executive Director Judy Appel, LGBT families moved the justice who wrote the U.S. Supreme Court marriage equality decision specifically focusing on the lives and needs of the children of same-gender couples as a key part of the legal reasoning for marriage equality for same-gender couples with and without children. This centrality came against the “best” argument for the other side, that heterosexual procreation is the only

or best way to have children (wrong) and that justified marriage inequality. And came in part through Appel’s work to involve OFC in friend of the court legal filings. In my opinion this change occurred in large part because same-gender parents became more visible, and when we did so, we do it in schools (pre and elementary and secondary), religious institutions, etc. where we interact with people who can be persuaded one at a time about our lives. OFC’s support of safety and education in schools for our kids and our families makes that possible. For 10 years work, in my opinion, that clearly qualifies OFC’s ED for a two-month paid sabbatical to use as she wants to recharge for this vital work that positively changes all our world. Hopefully the prospect of another will motivate her and other staff to stay another decade, because we know the battle is not won. OFC was not big enough to offer sabbaticals when I worked there, and I’m glad to support them being big enough and a long-term focused enough institution to do so now. Charlie Spiegel, Esq. San Francisco

Out candidates seek CA legislative seats in 2016 by Matthew S. Bajko

ith the June 7, 2016 primary now less than a year away, a number of LGBT non-incumbent candidates have already launched campaigns for California legislative seats. There are at least five gay or lesbian Democratic candidates seeking state Senate or Assembly seats next year, with all but one running for office in southern California districts. So far no known out Republicans have announced campaigns, according to the head of a statewide group for LGBT GOPers. The list is likely to grow in the coming months, as electing LGBT candidates to the Legislature is a top priority for the LGBT Legislative Caucus in order to replenish its ranks. Three of its current seven members will be termed out of office next December, with the remaining four all seeking re-election to their respective seats next year. Gay San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, so far, is the only declared non-incumbent out candidate in the Bay Area. This month Wiener formally announced his bid for the Senate District 11 seat, which includes all of San Francisco and portions of northern San Mateo County. The current officeholder, gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), is termed out of office in 2016 and has endorsed Wiener to be his successor. So far no other candidate has officially jumped into the race, though gay former Assemblyman Tom Ammiano or gay San Francisco Supervisor David Campos may also run for the seat. In San Diego, gay City Councilman Todd Gloria is running to succeed lesbian Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), who is also termed out of office next fall. Gloria has the backing of Atkins, the California Latino Legislative Caucus, and Equality California, which endorsed him July 2. “Todd has said his mission is to leave things better than he found them,” stated EQCA Executive Director Rick Zbur. “He has certainly achieved that during his time on the city council, where he helped ease homelessness, create affordable housing, and made San Diego a better place to live for LGBT people and all its residents.” Atkins’ 78th Assembly District hugs the coast from Solana Beach to the U.S.-Mexico border. It also includes a number of San Diego’s inland neighborhoods, such as Uni-

Courtesy City of San Diego

San Diego City Councilman Todd Gloria is running for state Assembly.

versity City, Bay Park, Clairemont, North Park, and City Heights. Also expected to seek the seat come June, when the top-two vote getters will advance to the November election, are lifeguard Ed Harris, a Democrat, and Republican Kevin Melton, who ran for the seat last year but failed to advance past the primary. Gloria, who in 2013 served as his city’s interim mayor for six months due to the resignation of former mayor Bob Filner, announced this week he has already raised more than $200,000 for his Assembly bid. At this point, he is expected to easily win the seat next November. “I am humbled and grateful to all of those who supported us right off the bat. It means a great deal to me and I cannot thank you enough for making this a great experience thus far,” wrote Gloria in an email July 20 to his supporters. Of the quintet of out non-incumbents, two hail from the San Gabriel Valley area northeast of Los Angeles. Seeking the 25th Senate District seat is Katherine Aguilar Perez-Estolano, an expert in urban planning and transportation who serves on the California High Speed Rail Authority. She lives with her wife, Cecilia Estolano, in Pasadena, and the couple co-owns with a third partner the consulting firm Estolano Lesar Perez Advisors LLC, which has offices in Los Angeles and San Diego. The Senate district covers the Los Angeles County foothills from Sunland-Tujunga in the city of Los Angeles on the west to the city of Upland in San Bernardino County on the east. Along with Pasadena, the district includes the cities of Burbank and Glendale as well as most of the Angeles National Forest. The current officeholder, Senator Carol

Liu (D-La Canada Flintridge), will be termed out next year. Perez-Estolano, who reported raising nearly $16,000 this year for her campaign, is facing a number of Democratic opponents, including Assemblyman Mike Gatto (DGlendale); former Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge); and retired Pasadena police lieutenant Phlunte Riddle, the first black woman to reach that rank in the department. Republican Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich is reportedly also eying a bid for the seat. Running for the 48th Assembly District seat, currently held by Assemblyman Roger Hernández (D-West Covina), is Bryan Urias, a gay man and lifelong resident of the San Gabriel Valley who serves on the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District Board. He reported surpassing his goal of raising $150,000 in the first half of 2015 for his bid to succeed Hernández, who is termed out next year. “Our campaign will be reporting close to 165k raised for the first quarter, and as of today we have over 170k raised! This shows how strong our campaign is and that we are in it to win it!” wrote Urias on his Facebook page July 13. Also in the race is Blanca E. Rubio, who is seeking re-election this November to her seat on the Baldwin Park Unified School District board. She has yet to report any fundraising for her Assembly bid, which was also endorsed in June by the California Latino Legislative Caucus. The 48th Assembly District covers the cities of Azusa, Baldwin Park, Bradbury, City of Industry, Covina, El Monte, Glendora, Irwindale, Monrovia, West Covina and the unincorporated communities of: Bassett, Charter Oak, East Arcadia, Ramona, Royal Oaks, Valinda and West La Puente. The fifth non-incumbent candidate is Greg Rodriguez, who lives in Palm Springs with his husband, Alejandro, and his two adopted sons, Joshua and Zachary. He is seeking to oust from office next year freshman Assemblyman Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley) from his 42nd Assembly District seat, which covers most of Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Earlier this year Rodriguez, who is HIV-positive, resigned as district director for Congressman Raul Ruiz (D-Palm Desert) two months before entering the Assembly race. He reported raising $49,420 so far for his campaign, which will likely be a long shot bid as the district leans Republican. See page 7 >>

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<< International News

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 23-29, 2015

Trans bill passes in Ireland by Heather Cassell

orks flew into the air as Irish transgender activists popped open champagne to celebrate the historic passage of the Gender Recognition Bill outside Leinster House, home of Ireland’s parliament, in Dublin. The bill is now on its way to President Michael D. Higgins’ desk to receive his signature. Advocates expect he will sign the bill and that it will be law by the end of this summer. The transgender bill comes two months after Ireland overwhelmingly voted in favor of samesex marriage in a closely watched referendum. The July 15 passage of the bill was long fought and Ireland now becomes the fourth country in the world with legislation based on self-determination for transgender people. “This is a proud day for Ireland,” wrote Broden Giambrone, a trans man who is chief executive of Transgender Equality Network Ireland, in an email interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “This is an incredible step forward for our community.

Dr. Lydia Foy began her legal battle 22 years ago and we now have a progressive law.” Foy, a 68-year old transgender woman, has waged a long legal battle to change her name on her birth certificate. Her case was documented in the film My Name is Lydia Foy. However, her groundbreaking case wasn’t the end of the battle. The battle to legally recognize all Irish transgender people with respect and dignity continued with the Gender Recognition Bill. Under the new law, Irish transgender people who are over the age of 18 will be able to selfdeclare their gender by way of a statutory declaration. Transgender youth, ages 16 and 17, will also be able to self-declare their own gender but through a more restrictive process, wrote Giambrone. “At the heart of this law is a clear message from the Irish state that trans people exist and we will finally be legally recognized for who we truly are,” wrote Giambrone, expressing the importance to the community to finally have the “right to self-determination and bodily autonomy.”

Courtesy Transgender Equality Network Ireland

Vanessa Lacey, left, joined Victoria Mullen and Broden Giambrone in toasting the passage of Ireland’s Gender Recognition Bill.

The vote helps Ireland’s transgender community move away from the “fringes of Irish society,” he continued, and be legally recognized. “This is a historic day because we are stepping out of the shadows,” wrote Giambrone, echoing Irish transgender people who expressed their elation for the passage of the bill. “Today marks the start of the rest of my life; I am having my deepest childhood dream realized. No legislative change could ever happen in the future that could affect me more

than the one that was passed. Today, my identity has been finally recognized as authentic by the state,” Sam Blanckensee, a 21-year old transgender man, said in a TENI news release. “I’ll never forget how this feels.” Ben Power, a 34-year old transgender man, agreed, adding that he was grateful that he won’t have to “out” himself in the future because his legal identity documents match his gender and name. “So many times in my life I have felt like I had to ask for permission

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to exist but that will no longer be the case,” he said in the release. “Finally, I will be able to have matching identity documents and I will be spared the discomfort and embarrassment of having to out myself as trans in public settings.” Beyond stepping out from the shadows Ireland also “emerged as a leader in the area of trans rights” with the bill’s passage, Giambrone added. “Ireland is amongst the leaders in Europe now as we observe a trend across the continent toward quick, accessible, and transparent gender recognition procedures based on self-determination,” Richard Kohler, senior policy officer for Transgender Europe, said in the release. “Hesitant states should take motivation from Ireland and swiftly bring about legislation protecting trans people’s human right to recognition.” Ireland’s transgender community still has a lot of work ahead of itself to gain full acceptance and equality. “Legislation is never the end but the beginning,” wrote Giambrone. The bill has shortcomings. It doesn’t recognize transgender youth under 16 and even for older teens, the process is “very onerous and restrictive,” Giambrone pointed out. The bill also doesn’t recognize non-binary identities or intersex individuals, sticking to the restrictive male or female check box, therefore reverting to not legally recognizing a transgender person’s gender or identity. It also doesn’t address divorce from a person applying to change their gender identity, TGEU pointed out in the release. Furthermore, transphobia remains a significant problem, from discrimination in employment and health care to bullying in schools and violence on the streets. Transgender youth advocates and youth called for the legislators to amend the bill to include transgender youth protections during a debate of the bill, but in the end it wasn’t included. However, Minister Kevin Humphreys announced that the Department of Education will host a roundtable discussion with key stakeholders, including TENI and BeLonG To Youth Services, on transgender issues in the fall, according to TENI.

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The documentary A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile, which explores the rise and fall of the fake lesbian blogger, opens July 24. The documentary uncovers the story of Amina Arraf, an alleged Syrian-American “revolutionary” whose blog A Gay Girl in Damascus gains a huge following at the beginning of the Syrian uprising and the Arab Spring in 2011. Subsequently, Arraf is allegedly kidnapped by the Syrian secret police. Sandra Bagaria, Arraf ’s online girlfriend in Montreal, tips off authorities, sparking an international movement to find her and the shocking discovery. Following the trail of American government officials, journalists, activists, and sympathizers, director Sophie Deraspe unravels the tangled web on the Internet that unraveled in deceit and betrayal in real life. The film released by A Sundance Selects/Sundance Doc Club is in English, French, and Arabic with English subtitles. Screenings begin Friday July 24, at 7 p.m. at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco. General admission is $10. For more information, visit www.roxie.com/ai1ec_ event/a-gay-girl-in-damascus-theamina-profile/?instance_id=8177.t Got international LGBT news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at 00+1-415-2213541, Skype: heather.cassell, or oitwnews@gmail.com.

Commentary>>

July 23-29, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

This is not justice by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

eagan Taylor is a 22-year-old hairstylist from Illinois. She is also a transwoman of color. Taylor was on a trip to Des Moines, Iowa with another transgender friend of hers. While in the city, the duo got a room at the Drury Inn in Des Moines. Taylor noticed the staff “acting really funny.” A short time after they checked in on July 13, West Des Moines Police were at their door. The hotel staff had called the police, saying that “two males dressed as females” had checked in, and they had concerns there was “possible prostitution activity” going on. The police found no evidence of sex work, which is what one might suspect when someone is not actually involved in same. This did not stop the police from finding other things to charge Taylor with. They found she had a probation violation stemming from a credit card fraud case she was involved with as a teenager. While she served time for that charge, she had not yet completed paying off related fines. She also had spironolactone – a testosterone blocker common in transgender hormone regimens – but did not posses a current prescription for it. She had also used a pseudonym when checking into the hotel that, I should note, is not a crime. She was charged for the possession of the spironolactone and the probation violation, as well as a charge for “malicious prosecution.” That’s a misdemeanor that is reserved for “a person who causes or attempts to cause another to be indicted or prosecuted for any public offense.” It’s really not very clear exactly what Taylor did to be charged with that. While in police custody, she received two pat-downs: a female officer managed her upper body, while a male checked over her lower body. The police are now housing her at the Polk County Jail in an isolation cell. The jail has no policy on detaining transgender inmates. So we have a black transwoman held in isolation, essentially for the crime of being a black transwoman. The staff of the Drury Inn clearly only assumed there may have been prostitution involved based on Taylor’s transgender status. I can’t help but feel that her race was part of their assumptions. The West Des Moines Police added to this, clearly fishing for something with which to charge Taylor. It’s not to say that she did not have a parole violation and some drugs that may not have been prescribed to her, but I don’t think anyone can look at the charges and her treatment and feel that justice is truly being served. To me, this is a nightmare scenario. As of this writing, she is still in custody, in isolation. She did not have the money on her to post bail in excess of $2,000. A fundraiser is underway, in order to get her out of

Political Notebook

From page 5

Nonetheless, in a statement this month about his fundraising to date, Rodriguez boasted about receiving donations “from 190 unique individuals demonstrating strong grassroots support.” He added that he is “humbled by the showing of such generous support this early in the campaign. My message to supporters about how I can be a better representative for all of the people in this district and my work in activism, education, govern-

Meagan Taylor

isolation in advance of her August 25 court date. People can donate through Welcome, A Communal Response to Poverty, by visiting http://sfwelcomeministry.blogspot. com/2015/07/arrested-for-beingtransgender-meagan.html. Taylor was released on bond this week, after funds from Welcome were used to pay her bail, said pastor Megan Rohrer, a member of the coalition. Additional funds raised will be used to pay Taylor’s fees from the earlier case. In recent months, the media has been intensely focused on Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out. It’s a big and compelling story, and I don’t fault anyone for having at least some interest. Jenner is a national hero after her victory in the 1976 Olympics, and her family has been under intense media scrutiny for years thanks to their reality television show. Thus far, Jenner has done a remarkable job of managing the public side of her transition. Jenner’s transition is also taking place at a time when transgender issues are gaining an incredible level of visibility. Many other transfolks have become celebrities, and many others are successfully making a name for themselves. It is almost like a renaissance for transgender people: we’ve gone past the tipping point and into new territory of acceptance. Yet even with all the success, all the media hype, all the visibility, there are still cases like Taylor’s, and others. I cannot help but think of the case of Ky Peterson, a 23-year-old black transman who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for killing his rapist. Peterson discovered a bag of roughly 100 pills – an anti-seizure medication known as Tegretol – placed with his belongings. Peterson attempted suicide using the Tegretol. By the same token, I can’t help but think of the recent death of Sandra Bland. Bland was a cisgender black woman from Chicago, starting a new job in Texas. Police there pulled her over for a broken turn signal. She was then arrested for assault on a public servant and jailed. She was later found dead in her cell, with local police claiming her death a suicide. All for not using a turn signal. As we enjoy what is an incredible time of visibility and growth for the transgender community – and LGBT rights in general – we need ment and my role as a father are not only being heard, but embraced.” As for the out incumbents, gay Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) and lesbian Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman (DStockton) are both seeking re-election to their seats in the Legislature’s lower chamber. In the state Senate, lesbian Senator Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) and gay state Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Los Angeles) are both seeking re-election to their seats next year. See page 14 >>

to be mindful of the experiences of people like Taylor. When you can have the police called on you for little more than being a black transgender woman – because the hotel fears you might be prostituting yourself on their premises – that’s a problem. When the police act on those fears by jailing you on charges that don’t seem to fit the reality of the situation, and hold you in isolation for days on end based purely on the nature of your body – that’s a travesty. Transgender people have faced issues with bring harassed by police, assumed to be sex workers by police eager for an arrest. People of color, particularly blacks, are also familiar with being targeted by police and others. This needs to change. We can celebrate our victories, but while people like Taylor are in prison, we can never truly be free and equal.t Gwen Smith just wants justice. You can find her on Twitter at @gwenners.

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<< Community News

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 23-29, 2015

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of DIFFA San Francisco’s 2014 DIFFA NOW fundraising event; Dr. Paul Volberding, director of the AIDS Research Institute at UCSF; Dr. Diane Havlir, division chief at the UCSF Positive Health Program; and designer Steven Miller, DIFFA NOW co-chair.

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n East Bay lesbian city council member addressed guests at a recent LGBT Democratic club dinner and talked about changes that have happened across the bay. Jovanka Beckles, a black Latina lesbian who was re-elected to the Richmond City Council last November, recalled the uphill battle she faced in her quest for public office as she delivered the keynote address at the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club’s annual dinner. She also addressed the changes that have come to her city in terms of greater acceptance for LGBT people. “We can’t thank Harvey Milk enough for the sacrifice he made,” Beckles said as she took to the podium at the July 16 event, held at a Chinatown restaurant. Milk, the first out gay person to win elective office in California, served less than a year as a San Francisco supervisor before he and then-Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in their City Hall offices in November 1978. “He empowered us to shift San Francisco politics,” Beckles said. Beckles acknowledged the challenges she faces as Richmond’s first out LGBT elected official. The East Bay city has traditionally had conservative leanings. “We’re a working class town of 100,000,” she said. “Forty percent Latino, 25 percent black. Seven years ago a young lesbian was gang raped because of who she was.” Beckles also spoke of Richmondbased Chevron Oil Corporation, which opposed her re-election last year and spent heavily to defeat her and other progressives. “Chevron spent $3 million sending out mailers filled with lies and negativity,” she said. “In spite of that, we beat them.” Chevron, she pointed out, recently held a Pride event, a sign of the changing times. The 39th annual Milk club dinner and Gayla celebrated recent gains but also looked toward the future. Held at the New Asia Restaurant, the mix of LGBT and ally attendees was in a joyously upbeat mood, still basking in the afterglow of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Attendees included gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and gay former Supervisors Bevan Dufty and Harry Britt. Straight allies such as District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim were also in attendance. Awards were distributed to several people. “Our 2015 honorees reflect some of the most inspiring leaders,” Milk Club Co-Presidents Laura Thomas and Peter Gallotta said in a statement. “They are centering the voices of the most marginalized in our community

Bill Wilson

Richmond City Councilwoman Jovanka Beckles

and are showing how our community is about more than marriage in our fight for justice and equality.” The Hank Wilson Activist Award was shared by writer, activist, and historian Gerard Koskovich and the #My Name Is campaign, which continues to challenge Facebook over its names policy for users of the social media site. The controversy dates back to last year when a number of drag queens and transgender people reported being locked out of their Facebook pages for not using their legal or birth names. The entire #My Name Is contingent took to the podium, vowing not to be silenced as the audience cheered. The Bill Kraus HIV/AIDS Activism Award went to Prevention Point, a needle exchange program that is affiliated with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. The Bayard Rustin Civil Rights Award went to Taja’a Coalition, a group of mostly transgender activists who are addressing the escalating violence against trans women of color. The coalition was formed after Taja Gabrielle de Jesus, a 36-year-old transgender woman, was found fatally stabbed in the Bayview district in February. “As humans our lives are important,” said coalition spokesperson Dani Castro. “We demand that the violence ends.” The Sylvester Pride in the Arts Award was given to Shine Louise Houston of Pink and White Productions. The company is best known for producing queer, feminist porn and includes transgender models in its films. Jane Martin, a longtime advocate for fair wages, took home the Howard Wallace Labor Leadership Award. Wallace, who died in 2012, had been instrumental in building bridges between the queer community and the labor movement. Tim Redmond, former editor of the defunct San Francisco Bay Guardian, was given the Commu-

nity Ally Award. The Harry Britt Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. A veteran of the Stonewall riots and a formerly incarcerated black transwoman, GriffinGracy, known as Miss Major, currently serves as the executive director of the Transgender Gender/Variant Intersex Justice Project. “We should not be living in a country where the government throws people under the bus,” Griffin-Gracy said as she accepted her award. “We have to hold our hands together. We have to give people the room to be who they are and who they say they are.” She also addressed the violence faced by transgender women. “We have to be able to go to the store and know that we’re going to get home, not hope we’re going to get home,” she said. The audience jumped to its feet as Griffin-Gracy explained why the community has survived. “We’re a tough bunch of bitches,” she said. Beckles said it was an honor to attend the event. “It was incredibly inspirational to be in the company of the awardees,” Beckles told the Bay Area Reporter after the dinner. “What they do for the queer community is phenomenal.” Beckles said that she was seated next to Griffin-Gracy during dinner. “I was honored to sit near this woman who lived through the Stonewall riots and has lived a life of service to the community,” she said. Beckles, who also works in the mental health field, recalled a young trans girl she knew in the rough and tumble Richmond Projects. “Her body still looked male,” Beckles said. “She had the courage to dress as she felt. I still wonder where and how she is. I hope she’s OK. I hope she’s alive.” Milk Club Co-Presidents Thomas and Gallotta were pleased with how the evening turned out. “We had over 250 of our closest friends and allies from San Francisco’s progressive community in one room to celebrate with us,” said Thomas. “We drew attention to important and urgent issues facing our community and helped elevate voices that are often overlooked by the mainstream LGBT movement.” Gallotta said the location of the event was no accident. “We hosted our dinner in District 3, which is a battleground district this year in terms of the future of our city,” added Gallotta, referring to the supervisor race between appointed Supervisor Julie Christensen and former D3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin. “There is much work to be done to keep District 3 and all of our city affordable and the Harvey Milk Club is dedicated to that fight.”t

<< National News

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 23-29, 2015

On heels of EEOC decision, Dems plan LGBT equality bill by Lisa Keen

ust days after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that existing federal law prohibits employment discrimination against federal workers based on sexual orientation, reports surfaced that congressional Democrats plan to introduce comprehensive federal LGBT non-discrimination legislation. The LGBT non-discrimination bill, expected to be introduced Thursday, would replace the long-stalled Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The new bill, dubbed the Equality Act, reportedly also includes gender identity protections, according to BuzzFeed, which first reported the news. The legislation, expected to be introduced in the House and Senate by gay Representative David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), would ban discrimination in seven categories, including housing, education, and public accommodations, the website reported. The bill’s introduction comes on the heels of a major determination by the EEOC, which in a 3-2 ruling July 15 said that existing federal law prohibits employment discrimination against federal workers based on sexual orientation.

EEOC ruling

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund hailed the EEOC ruling as a “landmark” decision, saying it “authoritatively recognizes that federal workers mistreated because of their sexual orientation have a claim under Title VII.” Lambda Legal added that the decision could have a positive impact for LGBT employees beyond the federal workplace. “This ruling is likely to have enormous positive effects because EEOC interpretations of Title VII are highly persuasive to the courts,” said

Lambda Legal employment fairness strategist Greg Nevins. “Given the clarity and logic of this opinion, most courts are likely to stop simply referring to old, illogical rulings about Title VII coverage. A few may disagree, but most probably will be guided by the commission’s straightforward approach.” President Bill Clinton signed an executive order in 1998 to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation against federal civilian employees. And last April, President Barack Obama added a prohibition against gender identity discrimination and discrimination by federal contractors. “The EEOC decision,” explained Nevins, “affords a concrete remedy directly to the aggrieved party, i.e., the usual remedies available under Title VII. Under the president’s executive order, discrimination could result in significant penalties for the employer/ government contractor, but wouldn’t directly result in the target of discrimination being made whole.” The decision is one that has been in the making at EEOC for some time. Last October, the EEOC filed a brief in a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals court case, arguing that the EEOC and an increasing number of courts have recognized that “intentional discrimination” based on sexual orientation “can be proved to be grounded in sex-based norms, preferences, expectations, or stereotypes.” Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It also prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee who files a discrimination complaint. The current EEOC case, Complainant v. Anthony Foxx, was brought by an air traffic control supervisor, who was not publicly identified by name, who asserted that he was fired in retaliation for filing a complaint that he had been passed over for a promotion

Courtesy Lambda Legal

Lambda Legal’s Greg Nevins

because he was gay. The employee filed a complaint three years ago after being fired from his position as a supervisory air traffic control specialist at Miami International’s control tower. The Equal Employment Opportunity office of the Federal Aviation Administration dismissed his complaint. Last week’s decision by the EEOC did not determine whether the employee’s FAA supervisors had, in fact, discriminated against the employee based on his sexual orientation; rather it sent that question back to the FAA, directing it to process it as an EEO complaint. In doing so, the EEOC decision stated, “Title VII’s prohibition of sex discrimination means that employers may not ‘rely upon sex-based considerations’ or take gender into account when making employment decisions. ... This applies equally in claims brought by lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals under Title VII.” “A complainant alleging that an agency took his or her sexual orientation into account in an employment action necessarily alleges that the agency took his or her sex into

account,” states the decision. “Title VII similarly prohibits employers from treating an employee or applicant differently than other employees or applicants based on the fact that such individuals are in a same-sex marriage or because the employee has a personal association with someone of a particular sex,” wrote the commission. But as important as the ruling in Complainant v. Anthony Foxx is, it does not compensate for the lack of explicit language in federal law prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination, advocates said. Longtime gay legal activist Evan Wolfson of the national Freedom to Marry project noted that ENDA sought to prohibit discrimination not just in employment but also in housing, public accommodations, education, and federal funding, which is what the new Equality Act reportedly does. The EEOC decision “avoids uncertainty that makes it more difficult for both individuals and employers,” Wolfson said. Nevins agreed. “Even if this [EEOC] decision was adopted by every court and carried out to a natural conclusion, it still wouldn’t accomplish what ENDA is trying to do there.” But Nevins said the EEOC ruling would “absolutely” help persuade Congress to move forward with equality legislation and influence courts. The EEOC decision itself notes, “Some courts have also relied on the fact that Congress has debated but not yet passed legislation explicitly providing protections for sexual orientation.” “But the Supreme Court has ruled that ‘[c]ongressional inaction lacks persuasive significance because several equally tenable inferences may be drawn from such inaction, including the inference that the existing legislation already

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incorporated the offered change.’” LGBT advocacy groups generally praised the ruling. “This historic ruling by the EEOC makes clear they agree workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, much like gender identity, is illegal,” said Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin in a statement released last Thursday. “While an important step, it also highlights the need for a comprehensive federal law permanently and clearly banning LGBT discrimination beyond employment to all areas of American life. Such a law would send a clear and permanent signal that discrimination against LGBT people will not be tolerated under any circumstances in this country, and we remain fully committed to making that happen.” Tico Almeida, founder and president of Freedom to Work, applauded the EEOC ruling. “We encourage all gay men, lesbians, and bisexual Americans who face harassment or discrimination on the job to consult an attorney and file Title VII sex discrimination claims with the EEOC,” Almeida said in an email to the Bay Area Reporter. “It’s time for LGBT advocates to retire the incorrect talking point that gay Americans can get married at noon and fired at 2 p.m. without legal recourse. That kind of unlawful firing falls clearly under Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination, and it is already illegal.” Almeida added that the “LGBT movement should take this historic EEOC decision and run with it by turning to the federal courts to win workplace protections in all 50 states.” A 2014 report by the Office of Personnel Management indicated there are 4.2 million U.S. federal employees worldwide. A 2012 survey indicated that about 2 percent (84,000) of the federal workforce identifies as LGBT.t PAID ADVERTISEMENT

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<< Sports

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 23-29, 2015

EuroGames set to open in Stockholm by Roger Brigham

fter a two-year hiatus, EuroGames will return to the LGBT sports calendar next month, highlighted by the annual International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics World Championships. Some 4,000 athletes are expected to compete in 28 sports at the 2015 EuroGames August 5-9 in Stockholm, Sweden, according to Niklas Torsell, press spokesman for the event. Torsell said about 500 of the competitors will be Americans. EuroGames 15 will also include a three-day program of conferences and workshops on human rights issues in sports, such as the prevalence of transphobia, racism, and homophobia and how to organize inclusive sports events; as well as multiple museum exhib-

its illuminating LGBT challenges in sports. Local track and field athlete Reggie Snowden told the Bay Area Reporter about 10 athletes from San Francisco will attend the games to compete in track and field. “It should be a lot of fun and I look forward to seeing a handful of competitors that did not attend the last Gay Games,” Snowden said. “Cleveland was a tough sell to a lot of Europeans, so I look forward to catching up with them in a couple of weeks. I’m a little banged up from a tough workout schedule, but I look forward to being back on the track doing both hurdles – the 100 meter hurdles and 400 intermediates – along with long and triple jumps if my knee holds up, and the 4x100 meter and 4x400 relays. I’m excited to board the plane already.”

Courtesy EuroGames

EuroGames spokesman Niklas Torsell

The IGLA championships, first held in 1987 in San Diego, will include competition in swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the numbers to send a team to Stockholm,” Nick Davidson, president of San Francisco Tsunami Water Polo said. “Our next big tournament will be the West Hollywood Sports Festival coming up over Labor Day weekend.” Jeremy Davidson, president of SF Tsunami Aquatics, said the club

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was sending 17 swimmers with two coaches and 12 synchronized swimmers with one coach to Stockholm. The EuroGames, which were inspired by the early Gay Games, were started by the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation in 1992. Originally scheduled to be held in the three years of a quadrennial cycle in which Gay Games are not held, since 2009 they have not been scheduled in years that offer a World Outgames. The events are categorized as “large” EuroGames, such as the 28-sport Stockholm event; and “small” EuroGames, such as the 13sport program Helsinki will offer next year, or the 2012 EuroGames that were held in Budapest.

Soccer head to step down in January

With top officials of the international soccer federation scrambling to avoid criminal prosecutions for bribery, corruption, and money laundering, Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, earlier this year said he would step down just as fast as a special election to replace him could be arranged. Just to show how quick he is to leave office, Blatter held a news conference this week to announce he will step down – in January. Blatter said he wanted to stay in office over

LGBT homeless

From page 1

Hug, who’s bisexual and is living with AIDS, is hoping to switch to doctors in the city and get an apartment here. With an income of less than $1,000 a month from Social Security Disability Insurance, finding housing is tough. He said he’s chosen the Castro’s 18th street to sleep on instead of staying in another neighborhood because when you “sleep on the sidewalk, you don’t have to worry about getting robbed as much.” Gay Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose District 8 includes the Castro area, said he thinks part of the increase of homeless people in the neighborhood is related to development in areas like mid-Market and South of Market. Many homeless people haven’t been able to stay in those neighborhoods, and there’s “an uptick” in the homeless population in several places that hadn’t traditionally had as many homeless people, Wiener said. He said the data in the report “reiterates the importance of creating housing for everyone across the entire income spectrum.” The city needs “more supportive housing” and “more affordable housing overall,” Wiener said. “We need more support for those in our community who are living on the streets, and we have to continue working hard to move in that direction.” More affordable housing projects could be on the way, he said. “Overall, we have to accelerate the production of affordable housing,” Wiener said. Officials are “looking

Seth Hemmelgarn

Greg Hug sits in Jane Warner Plaza in the Castro district.

at other opportunity sites in [District 8] for construction of affordable housing.” Wiener declined to say where those sites are, but he said, “We’re actively exploring where we can build affordable housing.” The supervisor is also co-sponsoring recently introduced legislation that would “provide a preference for 25 percent of the units” in affordable housing projects be set aside for residents of the supervisor’s district in which the projects are built, he said. New York City is being sued over a similar policy, Wiener said, and there’s “a fine line” legally, but officials have to “make sure people who live in an area where affordable housing is being built have an opportunity to access that housing.” Wiener said he’s continuing to work with the nonprofit Larkin Street Youth Services to boost the number of rooms available for

Obituaries >> Paul Shammim Cruikshank

November 9, 1964 – July 13, 2015 Paul, born in Tucson, Arizona, was raised in Hawaii, where he graduated from the Academy of the Pacific, Honolulu. In 1989, he moved to San Francisco where he was a disc jockey at Badlands, the Eagle, the Hole in the Wall, the Cinch, the Kat Club, and the Stud. He then performed with the group Enrique in “The Cereal Killers,” and “Nothing Lasts Longer.” At the same time, he managed Copy Central for many years and then worked at Whole Foods, where he became the best-known fishmonger. Paul touched everyone who met him with his warm sense of humor. He was the

funniest, silliest, and most upbeat person on this Earth, He always had a corny joke to tell. He wore the most unusual wardrobe, which people loved – his M&M hoodies and orange camu pants. As his friend, Roy Clark, put it: “Paul would laugh or yawned at people sending him prayers as he was an atheist at heart.” Paul turned people to good music. He owned every song put out by the Pet Shop Boys. He designed Woof-Man T-shirts for the PSB, which they wore on tour. His favorite song was “Being Boring,” which talks about immortality. Paul leaves behind his father, Dr. Dale Cruikshank; mother, Nooria Noor; brothers Mark (Sarah) and Jeff (Victoria); stepbrother Michael; stepsister Kimberly; nephew Connor and niece Chloe; and his partner and soul mate, Jose Garcia. A celebration of life memorial will be held in August. Please contact Garcia at jgsf48@yahoo.com or (415) 793-0764.

the next few months to oversee “enhanced integrity checks” that will be overseen by the same internal ethics committee that found no wrongdoing in the bribe money paid to World Cup site selection bidders. To underscore how deeply corruption is embedded in the FIFA corporate culture, British comedian Simon Brodkin showered Blatter with counterfeit cash at his July 20 news conference while shouting out, “This is for North Korea 2026. Thank you very much. As a North Korean football ambassador, I’m delighted that I’ve been able to seal the deal with FIFA and North Korea for the 2026 World Cup. It makes sense for everyone. Here we go, Sepp. Thank you. Cheers Sepp. It’s all there, as discussed. Thank you. Good doing business.”

Correction

I incorrectly identified the name of a Cincinnati museum exhibit portraying pioneers who had helped to break down prejudice in baseball in my column last week (July 13 Jock Talk). The correct name of the exhibit at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, to coincide with the Gay Softball World Series next month in Columbus, is Diversity in Baseball. The online version has been corrected.t young people in the Upper Market neighborhood. In last year’s budget, he said, he got funding for efforts that include trying “to connect with youth living on the street, and to try to get them into housing.” He also said, “I was able to obtain quite a bit of funding in the budget this year specifically for homeless and at-risk youth.” Former Supervisor Bevan Dufty, a gay man who is now Mayor Ed Lee’s director of Housing Opportunity, Partnerships and Engagement, called the 29 percent figure “staggering.” But Dufty pointed to the city’s navigation center, which opened two months after the homeless count was taken, as a sign of progress. “In our first three months of operation, we are showing success,” he said. “We are housing people, and we’ve created a place that works for people who are long-term homeless individuals on the street,” including people who are LGBT. Dufty said the city’s budget includes about $30 million over two years to master lease several single-room occupancy hotels. That will mean about “500 units of housing for guests at the navigation center to move into.” One of the hotels is the Civic Center Hotel, a rundown brick building at 40 12th Street where people regularly lean against the walls outside next to shopping carts. Many people would likely find sending people to live at the Civic Center unimaginable, but Dufty said, “It has gotten better,” with help from the city’s Department of Building Inspection. Lily Madjus, a spokeswoman for the agency, confirmed “conditions have improved” at the building. The housing situation at the hotel would be temporary. Housing at other hotels would be permanent. Among other findings, of the survey respondents who said they’re LGBT, 34 percent are bisexual, 22 percent are gay, 18 percent are lesbian, 19 percent are transgender, and 9 percent are queer. The other 17 percent “reported an alternative gender identity,” according to the city’s report. Additionally, the study says, “Respondents who identified as LGBTQ were more likely to report they were experiencing homelessness for the first time,” at 32 percent.t The full report is available at http://sfgov.org/lhcb/2015-sanfrancisco-point-time-homelesscount-0.

t <<

Community News>>

AIDS Walk

From page 1

than last year’s $2.24 million. (Last year, Project Inform said that $2.3 million was raised, but Executive Director Dana Van Gorder said a mistake was made in the 2014 projection.) Under sunny skies last Sunday, walkers and others were upbeat during the opening ceremonies. “We’ve taken major steps as a community, and in this country. We’ve achieved marriage equality, the Confederate flag has come down in South Carolina, the trans community will be able to serve in our military, and the Supreme Court has ruled that health care is a fundamental right,” declared an energetic Van Gorder from the podium in Golden Gate Park’s Sharon Meadow, referring to recent U.S. Supreme Court victories on marriage and health care, and recent

News Briefs

From page 2

Avenue, will include testimony from a variety of perspectives and include an opportunity for public comment. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that religious employers have wide latitude in how they treat their workers, given the “ministerial exception” from anti-discrimination laws. This exception has been a central issue in the high schools in the archdiocese, which are located in Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties. The hearing is open to the public.

LGBTs and the Affordable Care Act

Covered California, the state-run health insurance exchange that was established after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, wants to remind LGBTs that heath insurance continues to be available through its special enrollment program. Peter Lee, the executive director of Covered California, said last week that consumers can enroll through the special enrollment if they have experienced a qualifying life event, including getting married or adopting a child. “The Supreme Court’s historic

Judge report

From page 1

non-representation on the bench of LGBT people, particularly the B and T part of that. Bisexual and transgender people are not represented,” said Alameda County Superior Court Judge Victoria Kolakowski, the sole transgender judge in the state who won election to the bench in 2010. Chris Burdick, an out lesbian who is the Santa Clara County Bar Association’s executive director and general counsel, said she welcomes the LGBT legal groups’ effort to highlight the issue. But she questioned some of the report’s conclusions. “I think it is good to get this information out so that people understand what progress has been made and what progress still needs to be made,” Burdick said. “I think it may be just a tad misleading. The numbers are accurate but the overall conclusion falls just a little short. It is true, historically, the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender attorneys on the bench has been woeful. But there has been, in the last five years, significant effort to increase those numbers.” The Bay Area Reporter has been reporting on the lack of LGBT judges on the state bench since 2011, when California judges were first asked if they identify as LGBT. State law requires the California Administrative Office of the Courts to annually report on the diversity of the judiciary, including on the sexual orientation and gender identity makeup of the state bench. Responding to the questionnaire is

July 23-29, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

news that top Defense Department brass are working on a plan to allow transgender people to serve openly in the military. “The idea of that should give us the courage to continue the fight against HIV/AIDS,” Van Gorder added. The tone of the day was similar to that of an upbeat church revival, blended with the swagger of a neighborhood block party, a celebration of justice, community, and progress, all while serving as an urgent reminder of the need for diligence in a fight that a community is determined to conquer. The event began with a crowd that filled most of the seats and lawn area of the meadow by 10 a.m., and there was never a dull moment as Culture Shock, a popular Oaklandbased dance troupe, opened the ceremony, followed by a rousing gospel number from another Oaklandbased group, The Messengers of

Hope. The gospel choir was created and led by Ernest Larkins, 44, who’s lived with HIV for over 25 years. Larkins created the group, not only to sing songs of hope, but to challenge the views and stigma of HIV in the black church. “There is a lot of work to be done, and music is how we push the message of hope in the community,” he said. There were wide variations of messages delivered about the need for action and continued commitment in how the community battles the disease. Speakers and guests included AIDS Walk founder and senior organizer Craig R. Miller, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (DOakland), Joe Wilkins, elected officials, AIDS activists, and corporate sponsors. Emmy Award-winning writer and comedian Bruce Vilanch served as emcee for the ceremony, helping to keep an already energetic crowd

in good humor, praising the work of Project Inform and the steps being taken to further encourage safe-sex practices. “It’s great that we have options like PrEP now, we take those around my house like Flintstones vitamins,” Vilanch quipped, referring to preexposure prophylaxis that studies show can prevent HIV if taken as prescribed. While embracing the lighthearted references toward the new drug, Jen Dowd, a retail services manager at UCSF who has been participating in the AIDS walk for 14 of the 15 years that she’s been there, feels that public enlightenment around sexual health options is mandatory, and needs to continue in order to make a difference. Her motivation to attend AIDS walks, fundraise, and advocate for treatment options was fueled by an AIDS-related death of a close friend who was an event coordinator in 2006.

“If I can eliminate the amount of suffering of someone living with AIDS, I do what I need to do,” Dowd said. UCSF boasted the top spot for AIDS Walk fundraising, raising over $107,000. The attendees, varying in age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and walk experience remained in good spirits throughout the six-mile trek. Afterwards they were treated to music from local bands and even an underwear show by Stag Condoms models, which work to make condom use look and feel sexy. As the walk portion of the afternoon came to an end, participants were greeted at the finish line with more celebrating as AIDS Walk organizers announced the grand total raised. In a post-walk email, Van Gorder said that the fee paid to MZA, which produces the event, was $162,500, a decrease from a couple years ago.t

rulings in June enshrined the conviction that in this day and age, all Americans deserve an equal right to health care and an equal right to marry,” Lee, a gay man, said. “I was proud to join hundreds of thousands of my fellow Californians the following weekend as they celebrated both equality of health care and equality of marriage at SF Pride in San Francisco.” Lee said that some LGBT consumers may be unaware of the health insurance benefits available to them. For instance, consumers who marry or adopt a child have 60 days from the date of the event to enroll in a Covered California health insurance plan or change their existing Covered California plan. If the 60 days pass and people don’t sign up for health coverage, they will have to wait until the next open enrollment period, which could possibly make them subject to a tax penalty for the months they went without health coverage. Covered California can also determine, on a case-by-case basis, that a consumer experienced an exceptional circumstance, which could allow for a special enrollment period. Other qualifying life events in-

clude loss of employer-sponsored coverage, change in residency, or becoming a new citizen. For more information, go to www.coveredca.com.

egogo.com/projects/get-lgbtq-youthto-the-white-house-tech-summit#/ story.

with the center’s goal of providing a safe space that nurtures creativity. The aim of the film festival, titled, “Truth Be Told: Justice Through My Eyes,” is to highlight and empower young voices and visions through film. The festival and competition seeks artists with an eye toward social justice issues and a focus on juvenile and criminal justice. The films, up to 12 minutes in length (eight minutes is suggested), may include juvenile and adult criminal justice systems, anti-violence, school to prison pipeline, criminalization of immigrants, and alternatives to incarceration. The films can be shot with any equipment, including cellphones. Submissions will be judged based on story, relevance to justice themes, artistic vision, and production quality. The deadline for submission is Friday, August 28. Cash prizes ranging from $50 to $250 will be awarded. For full details, including requirements and instructions for submission, visit http://www.rysecenter. org/truth-be-told-justice-throughmy-eyes/.t

entirely voluntary, and the identities of the lesbian, gay, and transgender judges are not disclosed. As the B.A.R. noted in a March story about the data released earlier this year, there were zero bisexual judges among the 1,655 jurists serving as of December 31, 2014. It marked the fourth year in a row that bi justices were missing from the demographic data. In a news release about its report on the state’s judicial makeup, the California LGBT Bar Coalition stated, “among the remaining frontiers for full LGBT equality is equal representation in the state and federal judiciary. It is both ironic and sad that the very judicial institutions that we rely upon for our equality are themselves so unequal and uninclusive of LGBT Americans.” The report is obliquely critical of Governor Jerry Brown, who appoints legal professionals to fill vacancies on the state bench. Of the 237 judges Brown named to the bench between 2012 and 2014, just 10 were LGBT, according to the report, on par with the number of LGBT judges who left the judiciary. Asked about the report by the B.A.R., Brown’s office noted his appointments of the first lesbian and gay judges to state appellate courts – on Thursday Luis A. Lavin is expected to be confirmed as the first out justice on the Second District Court of Appeal in southern California. Brown’s office also pointed out that, based on the state judicial data from 2011 to 2014, the percentage of LGBT judicial appointees (4.2 percent) has been about 35 percent

higher than the percentage of LGBT applicants (3.1 percent). “As the report notes, this administration has made many qualified and diverse appointments,” Gareth Lacy, Brown’s deputy press secretary, told the B.A.R. in an emailed response. “The governor is committed to appointing qualified judges that reflect the diversity of our state.” Yet last Thursday Brown appointed 19 people to judicial seats on superior courts across the state, none of whom were identified as LGBT. Asked about it, Bergin said the problem does not lie solely with the administration’s judicial selection process. “I think it is a lost opportunity but it is not one surprising to me. Part of the problem we identified in the report is a lack of a pipeline for LGBT lawyers to be appointed to the bench,” said Bergin, a lesbian and partner at Oakland law firm Weaver Austin Villeneuve & Sampson, LLP. “Without that pipeline it is hard for us to expect that suddenly there will be a significant number of LGBT people appointed.” Geoff Kors, an attorney and former executive director of Equality California, the statewide LGBT advocacy group, agreed. Unless LGBT lawyers are willing to seek out judicial seats, and be open about their sexual orientation or gender identity, the makeup of the state’s judicial bench will remain a concern. “What matters is how we move this forward. Having regional LGBT bar associations ban together to form a California LGBT bar organization is going to be very helpful,” said Kors, who is gay and now works for the

Fundraiser for LGBTQ students headed to DC

The White House will host the second annual LGBTQ Tech and Innovation Summit next month and five of the 200 people selected are youth from the Bay Area who have turned to crowdfunding to raise money for the trip. “As a member of the summit advisory committee, we advocated for LGBTQ youth to be at the table,” said Monica Ann Arrambide, founder and chief executive officer of Maven, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that works to diversify the pipeline into tech careers. Arrambide has created the “Maven 5” fundraising campaign on Indiegogo, referring to the five local youth planning to attend the conference. The five also recently attended a youth tech camp hosted by Maven. The goal is to raise $6,000 and the campaign has already raised almost $2,000. The students leave for D.C. August 8 and return the day after the August 10 summit. To donate, visit https://www.indi-

SF career fair

HireLive, a company specializing in career fairs, will be having one in San Francisco Thursday, July 23 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, 450 Powell Street. Interested people are invited to bring 10-15 resumes and dress business professional. The career fair is free for job seekers. HireLive marketing coordinator Lauren Baker said in a news release that companies registered for the event include Eli Lilly, Ricoh, Restaurant Depot, YP, Staples, Waterlogic, American Fidelity, and Empire Today. For more information, visit www. hirelive.com.

Youth artists invited to submit film shorts for festival

The RYSE center, which operates in Contra Costa County, is soliciting short films from video artists ages 13-24 for its upcoming film festival. Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, one of the founders of the center, said in an email that RYSE’s first film fest is in keeping

National Center for Lesbian Rights. The report posits that the lack of a pipeline of qualified candidates is also responsible for the dearth of LGBT people on the federal bench. For instance, of the 29 judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California and eight other western states, none are LGBT. Many federal judges served on state courts before coming to the attention of California’s two U.S. senators, who vet and endorse candidates, and the White House, which makes appointments to vacancies on the federal bench that must then be confirmed by the Senate. “Politics is inherent in the process,” notes the report, which includes a quote from Candace Carroll, who chairs Senator Barbara Boxer’s Judicial Appointments Committee for the Southern District of California. Noting there are fewer federal district court seats compared to the state court system, “an effort is made to appoint to federal seats the best of the best,” Carroll is quoted as saying. “That means the LGBT community has to make sure there are many highly-qualified LGBT candidates available and applying from private practice, from the U.S. Attorneys’ offices, from the magistrates’ bench, from the state court bench, and so on.” The selection process itself is part of the problem, argued Kolakowski. Effort needs to be made to look for judicial candidates outside of the larger law firms and district attorney’s offices throughout the state, she said, in order to increase the pool of LGBT

Seth Hemmelgarn contributed to this report.

attorneys eligible for appointments. “Most of those places are not hiring trans people or LGBT people in general ... And so it is hard when you don’t have access to the same positions to get to know the people who are making the decisions at the top level, who make the recommendations to the governor,” Kolakowski said. “If you aren’t known to those people and don’t know how to push your name forward then we are not going to have our people get there. It doesn’t mean they are trying to exclude us. It means these are competitive positions and they may prefer other people sometimes, people like themselves.” A sustained commitment by the LGBT legal groups to vet potential judge candidates and advocate for their appointment to the bench will be beneficial, said Kors. And having the issue presented in such stark terms in the report will also help, he added. “I think one of the main things it highlights is the vast majority of counties in the state where there are no LGBT judges,” said Kors. “Not a single LGBT judge in so many places really demonstrates this is a problem that the governor’s office needs to address.” LGBT lawyers and judges also have a key role to play, said Bergin, by coming out of the closet and being role models for others in the profession. “We hope this is a wake up call and inspires people to think about serving on the bench,” she said. “We hope it maybe encourages people who are not out on the bench to come out, even publicly, not just in a report.”t

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 23-29, 2015

Lambda Legal

From page 2

freedom to marry; and the creation of Proyecto Igualdad, a project to better reach the LGBT Latino community and build bridges with other Latino civil rights organizations. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch praised Lambda Legal in a recent speech. “Lambda Legal’s visionary activists and unstoppable advocates have made a mark so deep, so transformative, and so permanent that no account of this movement – and no history of this nation – can be written without reference to your enduring contributions to the meaning of full and equal citizenship,” Lynch said in a June speech. Lambda Legal has worked on important issues such as transgender rights, employment discrimination, health care fairness, policy misconduct, low-income advocacy and immigrants’ rights. It also won a major

Political Notebook

From page 7

The other gay lawmaker termed out next year is Assemblyman Rich Gordon (D-Menlo Park), who is eying a run for state Senate in 2020. It is unlikely an LGBT candidate will seek Gordon’s 24th Assembly District seat; Gordon has already endorsed Palo Alto City Councilman Marc Berman, who is straight, in the race.

Gov signs first 2015 LGBT bill

Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law the first LGBT-related bill of the 2015 legislative session. Assembly Bill 87, which Brown signed Thursday, July 16, bans discrimination against transgender jurors during the jury selection process in California courts. Authored by Assemblyman Mark Stone (D-Monterey Bay), the bill also clarifies that jury selection discrimination based on ethnicity, age, genetic information, or disability is also prohibited. “The jury system provides the foundation for California’s justice system; it is designed to yield just and fair results for defendants and victims alike. This new law will take a modest but necessary step to ensure that defendants are allowed a trial by an impartial jury that reflects a cross section of the population in a community,” stated Stone in a release issued by EQCA, a sponsor of the measure. “Additionally,

AIDS conference

From page 3

Researchers reported new findings from HPTN study 067 – conducted in Harlem, Bangkok, and Cape Town – showing that taking PrEP before and after sex may be an option for some people, though daily dosing led to better adherence. Conference delegates also heard findings from several real-world PrEP programs, including PrEP Demo Projects in San Francisco, Miami, and Washington, D.C. (PrEP research will be covered in more detail next week.)

Who is left behind?

While the overall tone of the conference was optimistic, speakers also called attention to the barriers that stand in the way of bringing HIV testing, care, and treatment to heavily affected but underserved groups including gay men, transgender people, people who inject drugs, sex workers, and people living in areas where stingy funding and repressive laws hamper the response to the epidemic “To achieve the 90-90-90 targets we need to look for game changers – it’s not going to happen with business as usual,” said UNAIDS deputy executive director Luiz Loures. “The epidemic is about those who are

case in 1996, Nabozny v. Podlesny, finding schools liable for failing to protect gay students from harassment. “We just won marriage equality (or marriage), but it’s important that not one Supreme Court ruling solves everything,” Cathcart told the B.A.R. “There’s a lot of work to do from workplace discrimination to LGBT youth homeless to transgender issues to LGBT elder housing. Don’t confuse celebration with content on all issues of the LGBT community. There’s no end to the work that needs to be done.” For the next several months, Cathcart will be transitioning out of his role and working with Lambda Legal’s board and staff to successfully move forward. The board will be conducting a search, beginning in the fall, to replace Cathcart. “I’m retiring but I’m not sure what retiring will be like,” Cathcart said. “In the foreseeable future, I’ll be resting up, reading books, and seeing friends. I won’t be traveling as much. I traveled a lot for work.”t without this protection, prospective jurors could be denied the right to participate in the justice system and complete their civic duty.” A peremptory challenge is the removal of a prospective juror from serving on the jury panel without providing a reason. During a trial, the prosecution and defense are allowed a certain number of peremptory challenges. AB 87 ensures transgender individuals and others are afforded the same rights and responsibilities as other Californians. “Trial by a jury of your peers is a core part of our legal system,” stated Zbur. “But a jury can’t represent the necessary cross-section of the population when potential jurors are excluded based on gender identity or other characteristics. This law ensures that transgender people cannot be barred from jury service simply because of who they are.” AB 87 will take effect January 1.t Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http:// www.ebar.com Monday mornings at noon for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column reported on the relaunch of a San Mateo County LGBT political club. Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes. Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8298836 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

left behind. ... We need to empower people to be able to make decisions about their health and life.” Delegates at the 2015 IAS conference released a call to action to sustain and intensify the response to the epidemic. The Vancouver Consensus statement – endorsed by the conference organizers, major agencies including UNAIDS and PEPFAR, and leading researchers and advocates – is intended to pressure governments and donors to support expanded HIV treatment and prevention. “Vancouver will be the place where we draw the line in the sand,” Montaner said at Sunday’s news conference. “Politicians have to decide whether they’re with us or against us. We know the evidence and we know what needs to be done.” Dazon Dixon Diallo, with SisterLove in Atlanta and the U.S. Women and PrEP Working Group, emphasized the challenges of bringing early antiretroviral therapy, treatment as prevention, and PrEP to the people who need them most. “We know that we have consensus about the science ... [but] we need to extend it to the real world,” she said. While global HIV/AIDS leaders talk about the 90-90-90 goals, “there are still voices concerned about the 1010-10 that still need to be reached.”t

Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-15-551292

In the matter of the application of: DAVID SCOTT LLEWELLYN, 25 MIRABEL AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner DAVID SCOTT LLEWELLYN, is requesting that the name DAVID SCOTT LLEWELLYN, be changed to DAVID SCOTT LOWE. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 1ST of SEPTEMBER 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036551400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LLOYDS LIMOUSINE SERVICE, 1770 PINE ST #401, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MANSOUR TAVAKOLIAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/04/93. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/29/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036553300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ECO SMART ROOF, 61 MINERVA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ARMAND ABELITIS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/30/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/30/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036543500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BROWS & BEAUTY BAR, 3196 24TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed SWASTI THAPA; SUJATA ARYAL; SANGITA THAPA. 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 06/24/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036545100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO CHILD CARE PROVIDER’S ASSOCIATION; SFCCPA, 445 CHURCH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SAN FRANCISCO EARLY CARE EDUCATORS RESOURCE PROGRAM (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 06/24/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036549700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: K & D REMODELING, 2706 40TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed K & D REMODELING (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/15/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/26/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036544900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DOCTORS OF THE PACIFIC, 300 MONTGOMERY ST #813, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed RGA ASSOCIATES, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/06/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/24/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036536700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HELMAND PALACE, 2424 VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HELMAND RESTAURANT INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/18/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/18/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036543900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HOTEL DIVA, 440 GEARY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited partnership, and is signed 440 GEARY OWNER, L.P. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/13/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/24/15.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036564600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SEIPPEL COACHING & CONSULTING, 1059 UNION ST #E, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHELSEY ANNLYN SEIPPEL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/07/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/07/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036563300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LE COULOIR, 1537 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MASHAV SHELEF. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/02/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/06/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036555900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GARLIC LUVRS SPREAD, 984 OAK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ERIC C. JOHNSON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/01/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036554000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SOMA LEADERSHIP COUNCIL, 364 TENTH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAMES E. MEKO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/18/00. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/30/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036550700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: R.L. CABINET, 541 GIRARD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LI, ZIRUI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/26/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/26/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036561600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PAINTED MONKEY, 4200 18TH ST #103, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SHADOW MORTON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/15/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/06/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036562900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROWDYPENCIL.COM, 32 TERRA VISTA AVE #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115-3850. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed RICHARD J. FOSSELMAN & NANCY G. GOLDENBERG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/12/06. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/06/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036552400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SELLING ENERGY; SF GREEN SPACE; 657 MISSION ST #200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ENERGY EFFICIENCY FUNDING GROUP, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/29/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/29/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036561800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TRAVEL DARLINGS, 2745 WEBSTER ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed TRAVEL DARLINGS (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/06/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/06/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036552100

NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF SUIT FOR COMPLAINT FOR DEBT AND MONEY DUE AND FOR FORECLOSURE SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, COUNTY OF BERNALILLO, STATE OF NEW MEXICO ROBERT WOODFORD & NANCY WOODFORD, HUSBAND & WIFE, PLAINTIFFS, V. BRIEN BURROUGHS, AND THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO TAXATION AND REVENUE DEPARTMENT, DEFENDANTS.

No. D-202-CV-2015-03019 STATE OF NEW MEXICO to Defendant BRIEN BURROUGHS. You are hereby notified that ROBERT WOODFORD and NANCY WOODFORD have filed a FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR DEBT & MONEY DUE AND TO FORECLOSE DEED OF TRUST [NON-OWNER OCCUPIED] against you in the above-entitled Court and cause, the general object thereof being obtain a money judgment on a Promissory Note and to foreclose a Deed of Trust which was recorded on September 2, 2009 as Document Number 2009100363, in the records of the office of the County Clerk of Bernalillo County, New Mexico and concerning the real property described as follows: Unit 3-A of the Sixth Street Lofts Condominiums as described and designated in that certain Sixth Street Lofts Condominium Declaration executed by Quickel Building LLC, a New Mexico limited liability company on June 13, 2005 in Book A98, page 3480, as Document Number 2005084744, and being further amended by that certain Amendment to Sixth Street Lofts Condominium Association, filed November 9, 2005, in Book A106, page 6531, as Document Number 2005166981, records of Bernalillo County, New Mexico. TOGETHER WITH an undivided percentage interest in the common elements and common expenses appurtenant to each unit, as provided for in the declaration; TOGETHER WITH a non-exclusive easement for ingress and egress through all common elements, as more particularly set forth in the declaration. Said Sixth Street Condominiums located within Lots numbered One (1), Two (2), Three (3), Thirteen (13), Fourteen (14), and Fifteen (15), in Block numbered Twenty (20) of the New Mexico Town Company’s Original Townsite of Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the same are shown and designated on the plat thereof, filed in the Office of the County Clerk of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, on December 29, 1882, in Map Book D, folio 140. more commonly known as 600 Central Ave SW, Unit 3A, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102. BE ADVISED that unless you respond to the Complaint within 30 days of the completion of the publication of this Notice, judgment by default will be entered against you. SPANN, HOLLOWWA & ARTLEY /s/ J. Kerwin Hollowwa J. Kerwin Hollowwa Attorney for Plaintiff P. O. Box 1307 Albuquerque, NM 87103 (505) 243-3525 WITNESS the Honorable Victor S. Lopez, Second Judicial District Court Judge, and the seal of the Second Judicial District Court, on this 30th day of June, 2015. James A. Noel CLERK OF THE SECOND DISTRICT COURT By: /s/ Cathy Chavez Deputy Clerk

JULY 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036558900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROCKET POSTCARDS, 605 20TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CLIC, 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 07/02/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC15-551311

In the matter of the application of: MARIA YAROSLAVOVNA BEZCHINSKY, 1324 WILLARD ST # 206, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MARIA YAROSLAVOVNA BEZCHINSKY, is requesting that the name MARIA YAROSLAVOVNA BEZCHINSKY, be changed to MARIA HITRAYA-LOW. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 10th of September 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036574200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LOMBARD NAIL SPA, 2447 LOMBARD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HA PHUONG QUAN. 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 07/13/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036543700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HOTEL UNION SQUARE, 100-120 POWELL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited partnership, and is signed 100-120 POWELL OWNER, L.P (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/13/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/24/15.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MIND’S EYE INTERNATIONAL FILM ACADEMY, U.S.A.; MIND’S EYE INTERNATIONAL FILM PRODUCTION COMPANY; MIND’S EYE CLOTHING COMPANY; 1719 30TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed YING ROYAL INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/29/15.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SIENNA TRADITIONAL MEDICINE, 4052 18TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed STEPHANIE RAE HANEY. 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 07/03/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036560100

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

Legal Notices>> NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINSTER ESTATE OF THOMAS FENNER DALLMAN IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-15-298529

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of THOMAS FENNER DALLMAN. A Petition for Probate has been filed by ANN DALLMAN in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that ANN DALLMAN 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: August 18, 2015, 9:00 am, Dept. 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: HEATHER R. STONEMAN, ESQ. (SB#214917), JEWEL & STONEMAN, LLP, 220 MONTGOMERY ST #678, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104 Ph. (415) 394-6800.

JULY 23, 30 AUGUST 06, 13, 2015 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 400 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102 FILE CNC-15-551362

In the matter of the application of: ORS DENES CSASZAR, 531 BAYSHORE BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ORS DENES CSASZAR, is requesting that the name ORS DENES CSASZAR, be changed to ORS CSASZAR. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 29th of September 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 13, 2015 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 400 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102 FILE CNC-15-551361

In the matter of the application of: JOSE MINORU MORRISON, 2 TOWNSEND ST #2-403, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner JOSE MINORU MORRISON, is requesting that the name JOSE MINORU MORRISON, be changed to GARY MINORU MORRISON. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 29th of September 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 13, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036567600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GAY THERAPY CENTER, 538 HAYES ST #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ADAM D. BLUM. 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 07/08/15.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036563600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AGD ENTERPRISES, 2227 FILBERT ST #10, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALEXANDER DEA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/06/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/06/15.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036563400

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MS DEALS, 501 41ST AVE #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MICHAEL SARKISSIAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/06/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/06/15.

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JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036568400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ANGELINA- PALM READER, 3127 GEARY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LOLA NICHOLAS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on12/12/98. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/09/15.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036565900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VIKING PHOTO, 1219 2ND AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LEIF HEILBERG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/08/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/08/15.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036535700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SILVER SPROUTS, 1901 JERROLD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation and is signed GRUBMARKET INC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/17/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/17/15.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036546900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THERAPEIA, 1801 BUSH ST LOWER WING, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed RANGNEKAR CHIROPRACTIC INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/25/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/25/15.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036551600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALPHAPUP OFFICE; BLITZ; BLITZ ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN; BLITZ SAN FRANCISCO; BLITZ SF; 435 JACKSON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed DESIGN BLITZ (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/11/2011. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/29/15.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036568800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MILLER GLOBAL TRAVEL, 1949 GREEN ST #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed MILLER GLOBAL TRAVEL INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/06/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/09/15.

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ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 400 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102 FILE CNC15-551354

JULY 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 13, 2015 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 400 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102 FILE CNC15-551356

JULY 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 13, 2015

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JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 400 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102 FILE CNC15-551355

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ARUM TEA, 1886 18TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited partnership, and is signed NOVO INTERNATIONAL 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 07/08/15.

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R i c k 41 5. 82 1 . 1 792

In the matter of the application of: KENNETH MICHAEL DAIGLE, 261 OXFORD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KENNETH MICHAEL DAIGLE, is requesting that the name KENNETH MICHAEL DAIGLE, be changed to KENNETH MICHAEL SCHRAMM DAIGLE. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 29th of September 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036566000

In the matter of the application of: JOHN DAVID SCHRAMM II, 261 OXFORD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner JOHN DAVID SCHRAMM II, is requesting that the name JOHN DAVID SCHRAMM II, be changed to JOHN DAVID DAIGLE SCHRAMM II. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 29th of September 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036562800

July 23-29, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

In the matter of the application of: YELENA BERDICHEVSKY, 99 LUPINE AVE #302, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner YELENA BERDICHEVSKY, is requesting that the name YELENA BERDICHEVSKY, be changed to HELEN DE FRANCESCO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 29th of September 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 13, 2015

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036572400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: A NEW INDULGENCE BEAUTY, 1145 DIVISADERO ST #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MALKIA M. GEORGEWATKINS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/13/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/13/15.

JULY 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 13, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036572100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DEHART STUDIOS; DEHART BODYWORK; 1395 31ST AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JANET DEHART. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/10/15.

JULY 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 13, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036577700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PAPILLO MASSAGE, 155 HARRIET ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHARLES STEVEN PAPILLO. 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 07/15/15.

JULY 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 13, 2015

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036571400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE BAGEL BAKERY CAFE, 151 TOWNSEND ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHEA SOK MAY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/10/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/10/15.

JULY 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 13, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036577801

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HAI FENG CHINESE HERBAL; HAI FENG TRADITION CHINESE MED; 1818 NORIEGA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ZHUSEN LIANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/15/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/15/15.

JULY 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 13, 2015 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-035920800

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: HAI FENG CHINESE HERBAL, 1818 NORIEGA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by RU HAI LIANG. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/02/2014.

JULY 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 13, 2015

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Waltzing Matilda

Jewish Film Fest

Baby lesbian

Out &About

O&A

Vol. 45 • No. 30 • July 23-29, 2015

www.ebar.com/arts

On the tip of my gay tongue by David Lamble

he entertaining and provocative new documentary Do I Sound Gay? manages in 77 minutes to unpack a lifetime’s worth of anxieties about what it means to be fully yourself (opens Friday). Filmmaker David Thorpe creates a cinema spotlight and bravely shines it on himself. Thorpe argues that all people have secrets they wish to protect, and they do so by constructing elaborate images of themselves, billboards projecting how they wish to be seen by the world. Thorpe warns that these personal closets can become prisons mitigating against the processes of growth and change that everyone must undergo. See page 20 >> Filmmaker David Thorpe wonders, Do I Sound Gay? IFC Films

Ceiling fans

Odd couple

Legendary cartoonist/author Jules Feiffer, left, and Broadway composer Andrew Lippa have teamed for a musical based on Feiffer’s The Man in the Ceiling, part of TheatreWorks’ New Works Festival. Courtesy Andrew Lippa

by Richard Dodds

t took three years, but the hit of TheatreWorks’ 2012 New Works Festival is now running as the full-scale opening production of its new season. And shortly after Triangle vacates the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto, the 2015 festival will take over the space with five readings of new works that may find their way into the big leagues down the road. The 14th edition of the New Works Festival

runs Aug. 8-16, with productions each receiving two performances on a rotating schedule. The piece that, on paper at least, shows the most promise to move on up is The Man in the Ceiling. That promise stems from the fact that its creators have each made it more than once to Broadway: songwriter Andrew Lippa (The Addams Family, Big Fish, and off-Broadway, The Wild Party) and author-cartoonist Jules Feiffer (Little Murders, Knock Knock, and Grown Ups). See page 25 >>

Salvador Dali and Walt Disney by the beach in Spain, 1957. Courtesy Walt Disney Family Museum

by Sura Wood

he avuncular Walt Disney, the conservative Midwesterner who built an animation empire on family entertainments, one cartoon and theme park at a time, and the effusive, wild-eyed Surrealist artist Salvador Dali would appear to be the world’s unlikeliest

collaborators, let alone members of a mutual admiration society, but in fact, they held each other in warm regard, corresponded and became friends. Disney even hung several Dali paintings, which frightened his grandkids, in his Palm Springs home, and in the mid-1940s, they joined forces for Destino, a short animated film that was never fully realized. See page 18 >>

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS } Spring and summer mean later sunsets and later hours at the Asian Art Museum. We’re open ‘til 9 PM on Thursdays and for just $5 after 5 PM, you can spend an evening in our beautiful building enjoying the galleries, special exhibitions, fun talks, lively gatherings and intimate hangs with artists. On first Thursdays, there are even cash bars, DJs and more. For details, visit www.asianart.org/thursdays

AT THE ASIAN ART MUSEUM

$5 AFTER 5PM

<< Out There

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 23-29, 2015

Remarkable renovations by Roberto Friedman

fter 26 months of intensive seismic upgrade and improvements, that beautiful Beaux Arts pile the Veterans Building is set to reopen in September. It’s where, in 1945, President Harry Truman signed the United Nations Charter. Last week Out There was among a small group of arts editors, reporters and administrators who took a hard hat tour of the construction workin-progress led by San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center managing director Elizabeth Murray. The renovations to the Herbst Theatre, jewel of the complex, knocked our socks off. All of its features – painted walls, gilded columns, gleaming chandeliers – have been renovated to original polish, and the dreamy Frank Brangwyn murals on either side of the auditorium, which date back to the 1916 Pan Pacific International Exposition, have been cleaned and restored to their original eye-popping colors. Side-boxes have been replaced for better sightlines, and a new backstage suite offers rehearsal and dressing-room space that the Herbst has never had before. The Green Room has been restored to its original color, and looks terrific. The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery will return to the building with an expanded public space for exhibitions beginning in January. SFAC Galleries director

Disney & Dali

From page 17

The trajectories of these two influential figures and how they intersected is central to Disney and Dali: Architects of the Imagination, an absorbing exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum that’s a joint venture organized by the host venue and the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. In one of the show’s more extraordinary revelations, Dali declared in a letter to Andre Breton that in Hollywood, he had made contact with the three American surrealists Harpo Marx, Cecil B. DeMille and Walt Disney, all of whom would have been mighty surprised to learn they were included in

Meg Shiffler noted wryly that in its original incarnation at the VB, the gallery was known as “Capricorn Asunder.” We miss the 1970s. A new venue, the Wilsey Center for Opera performance space on the fourth floor, will open in October, to seat 300. A new café in the lobby will open in January. The redesigned Herbst Lower Lounge now boasts a handmade wooden bar. At tour’s end, project manager Tara Lamont asked if anyone wanted to see the boiler room down in the building’s bowels. Photographer Rick Gerharter did, so OT tagged along. The huge steel boilers date back to the early 20th century, look straight out of a Batman movie, and like so many things, they just don’t make-em-like-that anymore. The steam they produce travels underground to heat the Opera House next door. What a concept.

Rick Gerharter

The newly refurbished Herbst Theater in the Veteran’s Building.

Music critic Tim Pfaff writes from Bangkok: “Alan Curtis, the out specialist in 17th- and 18th-century music, died on July 16 at his adopted home ‘40 yards south of Florence, [Italy],’ as he liked to say. A one-time music professor at UC Berkeley, Curtis was instrumental in the revival of the music of Monteverdi and particularly Handel. He performed and recorded prolifically with his ensemble, Il Complesso Barocco. It’s possible that the Handel revival could have happened without him, but no one

musician contributed to it more or more saliently. His appetites for all things were as robust as they were refined, and he had a keen ear for young voices. As just the most conspicuous example, his extensive work with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato began well before she became one of opera’s brightest stars. It was his idea that she take on the soprano role of Handel’s Alcina, and their recording of it is one of the great opera recordings. The performance of Cesti’s Il Tito he conducted in 1984 in the Venetian theater where it had been first performed was one of the most exquisite opera performances of my life. Alan didn’t mind when people recognized his genius, but he also wouldn’t mind a bit if we remembered him mostly as enormous fun.”t

that particular club. It’s not clear if he met DeMille, but there’s a photograph of Dali sketching Harpo strumming his instrument, and Dali penned a screenplay with the Marx Brothers in mind titled Giraffes on Horseback Salad. Though the show presents parallel time-lines following the lives of the two men from their small-town childhoods onward, the connections are tenuous: one was a brilliant fine artist, albeit twisted; the other, a brilliant innovator and storyteller; both were fascinated by cinema and machine gadgetry and manifested an artistic bent while still in their teens; each was on the cover of Time magazine, a year apart; and they were both charismatic showmen

with an undeniable flair for selfpromotion. Disney’s editorial cartoons for his high school newspaper, and Dali’s early flirtation with Impressionism “Tieta, Portrait of My Aunt, Cadaques” (1923-24), painted before he went off the deep end artistically speaking, are emblematic of the path not taken. The exhibition makes a more compelling argument for Disney and Dali as a study in contrasts rather than similarities. Walt was fairly literal in his wholesome narratives – what you saw was what you got. Dali was all about subtext. Dali, lost in his subconscious, was an incessant fount of ideas, often without direction. Disney developed concrete new technologies, like his

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Rick Gerharter

The nearly finished Green Room in the Veteran’s Building.

multi-plane camera, to advance his vision. Dali reacted to the horror of WWII with “The Face of War” (1940), a grotesque apparition with hollowed-out eye sockets and orifices stuffed with skulls; Walt hit the drawing board and came up with exhilarating, dramatic animations promoting the war effort. But it was the Destino project in particular that illustrated how their sensibilities diverged. Dali conceived of it as “a magical exposition of life in the labyrinth of time,” Disney described it in linear terms as “a simple love story: boy meets girl.” The Destino background paintings and sketches reflect Dali’s fondness for dream logic and disturbing, sometimes alienating psychological landscapes, where hands are covered with ants, bicyclists balance rocks on their heads, elephants have spidery legs, etc. Not exactly the stuff of Cinderella and Prince Charming. A seven-minute version was eventually released in 2003. Of the project’s failure, Dali wrote at the time: “In Walt Disney’s studio reigns a silence like the silence of the mysterious place where the cyclotron is guarded.” But the men remained friends and fantasized about an adaptation of Don Quixote. Some color illustrations for it are here, as well as a notebook of Dali’s preparatory drawings, which will make you want to reach into the display case and flip through its pages; no wonder Walt held onto it. The Disney Museum’s shows haven’t been known for their curatorial rigor, but the wealth of archival photographs, stunning highcolor concept art, clips from Disney classics such as Fantasia and Snow White, Dali’s silent short made with Luis Bunuel Un Chien Andalou (remembered for a shudderinducing sequence in which a razor slashes an eye), an assortment of Dali’s skewed-perspective, nightmarish paintings, and the hilarious musings in his faux newspaper The Dali News, are so engrossing one quickly forgets about tracking a thru line. The exhibition, WDFM’s

most ambitious effort to date, and perhaps the only one not primarily a showcase for all things Uncle Walt and/or his acolytes, has lots of interesting anecdotes and materials to peruse. Ample use is made of touch screens, video monitors and storyboards with the animators’ editorial notes. I found myself soaking up every bit of text and looking at each photo and installation, not just because I would be writing this story. They certainly hit the mother lode with Dali, a complete card and something of a prankster. A pro at corralling our attention, he nearly steals the show. He’s photographed in his studio in 1926 next to a painting, wearing paisley pants, a white tennis sweater and an oversized top hat that must have been stolen from the Mad Hatter’s closet; in another, earlier picture, he’s a dead ringer for the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. He’s seen restraining a pair of wolfhounds while hidden inside an old-fashioned deep sea diving suit like something out of Jules Verne, a get-up he wore for a publicity stunt at the 1936 Surrealist exhibition in London. But the suit, symbolizing his descent into the subconscious, almost became a death trap when he could neither breathe nor remove the heavy helmet. Though not intended to be a rendezvous with destiny, it was certainly a close call. A section called Daliwood chronicles Dali’s brief working relationship with Hitchcock, who in 1944 invited the Spanish artist and set designer to create a dream sequence for Spellbound. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall listening in on those discussions! Dali imagined 15 sculpted pianos suspended from the ceiling gently grazing the heads of dancers, but the final product was diluted and didn’t please either man. In an article he later wrote for The Dali News, Dali ruefully recounted the episode: “My friend and agent ordered a nightmare from me,” but he also advised, “They want to use you only in small drops.” (Through Jan. 3.)t

Theatre>>

July 23-29, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

Clamorous children’s hour Shape-shifting through time

Kevin Berne

Ross Lekites and Zachary Prince play characters with a shared interest in one of victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire (Megan McGinnis) in TheatreWorks’ new musical Triangle.

by Richard Dodds

T Joan Marcus

Bryce Ryness as headmistress Miss Trunchbull rules over the classroom as precocious student Matilda Wormwood looks on in Matilda the Musical at the Orpheum Theater.

by Richard Dodds

here is much to behold and to be heard in Matilda the Musical, but too much attention must be directed at deciphering the aural part of the experience. You may find yourself hunting for identifiable key words in the lyrics to help make sense of the songs. It’s a shame that so much of the work that Tim Minchin put into his densely packed songs ends up as just so much sonic mush. The London and Broadway hit is now at the Orpheum Theatre, and that it’s a darkly imaginative interpretation of the Roald Dahl story is clear in its touring edition. But what seems to be a confluence of a poor sound design, the high-pitched voices of the child performers, the occasionally shrill sounds from the adults, thick approximations of Eng-

lish accents, and all those intricately worded lyrics begging for clarity is a cause of consternation that I’m sure was widely shared on opening night. Dahl wrote children’s books that often had an edge, with Matilda more overtly rebellious than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. Enough so that the musical’s sophistication can also make a grab at adult audiences without children in tow. The Royal Shakespeare Company developed the show that debuted in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2010 before sending it to London and Broadway for commercial runs that are still packing in audiences. Title character Matilda Wormwood was despised by her parents from birth. Pregnancy interfered with her mother’s hope to compete in an amateur ballroom dance competition, and

her father wanted to trade her in for a boy before they left the hospital. But they reluctantly take her home, only to verbally abuse her for such defects as preferring reading over television and pointing out her father’s unscrupulous tactics as a used-car salesman. They can’t wait to send her off to a school with the motto Bambinatum Est Maggitum, which sounds better than its English translation as “Children are maggots.” Dennis Kelly’s script and Matthew Warchus’ direction get to kick up a notch once the action relocates to Crunchem Hall Academy, and Peter Darling’s quirky, exuberant choreography gets to cut loose. Matilda has a kind and sympathetic teacher named Miss Honey, but she’s no match for headmistress Miss Trunchbull, who See page 23 >>

he new musical Triangle is not an equilateral triangle, a shape with angles and sides of equal dimensions. But the creators of this intriguing project work earnestly, and at times effectively, to get its proportions aligned. It’s not an easy task, considering a time-traveling plot across 100 years that directly invokes the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, more obliquely the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, forbidden cross-religious love in the early 20th century, a fledging gay romance in the 21st century, and a possible ghost from the past who can’t be stopped from breaking Sabbath with tragic results. Triangle was the breakout success of TheatreWorks’ 2012 New Works Festival, and is now opening the theater’s 2015-16 season at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto. It’s a simple but stylish production, smoothly moving in director Meredith McDonough’s staging amongst many locales on Daniel Zimmerman’s adaptive set. And the performers, all of strong vocal skills, communicate the heart of the story through composer Curtis Moore’s and lyricist

Thomas Mizer’s score, which alternates between stand-alone songs and connective recitative. The appealing melodies have light-rock underpinnings (Next to Normal comes to mind) but too often fall prey to repeated progressions of chords, an easy way to suggest memorability but one that only briefly lingers. While some of the lyrics are built out of generic platitudes, there is also an inviting mix of heart and ingenuity. The sevenpiece orchestra is sharply guided by Musical Director James Sampliner. Where the proceedings fall most out of proportion is in Mizer, Moore, and Joshua Scher’s script that forces a parallel between the events of 1911 and those of 2011. In the contemporary scenes, a medical student working in the same Manhattan building where the fire took place a century before has intimacy issues. Brian pushes away an affable female colleague who tries to encourage a relationship between him and a free-spirited young man fascinated with the Triangle fire. The earlier scenes take place in the Triangle garment factory and at the home of a young Jewish immigrant who works See page 23 >>

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WWW.ASIANART.ORG #28CHINESE 28 Chinese is organized by the Rubell Family Collection, Miami. Presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible with the generous support of China Art Foundation, Gorretti and Lawrence Lui, Silicon Valley Bank, The Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Fund for Excellence in Exhibitions and Presentations, William Mathews Brooks, Lucy Sun and Warren Felson, and an anonymous donor. Media sponsor: The California Sunday Magazine.Image: Rain-washed Sky, 2008, by Lan Zhenghui (Chinese, b. 1959). Ink on Xuan paper mounted on canvas. Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection, Miami. © Lan Zhenghui.

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<< Film

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 23-29, 2015

Jewish lives & loves onscreen by David Lamble

uly brings the 35th edition of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, July 23-Aug. 2 at the Castro Theatre; July 25-30 at Palo Alto’s Cinearts; July 31-Aug. 6 at Berkeley’s California Theatre; Aug. 7-9 at Oakland’s Lakeside Theater; and Aug. 7-9 at San Rafael’s Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center. This year the fest features an especially eclectic collection of films, ranging from a history of the kosher hot dog (Famous Nathan) to the absurd stylings of The Singing Abortionist. Those People Director Joey Kuhn zeroes in on a combustible male erotic trio, inviting comparisons to the characters and privileged environs of Evelyn Waugh. Kuhn has assembled the kind of attractive cast, especially the teddy bear-cute Jonathan Gordon, where the fact that they can also act their pants off seems both a blessing and somehow unfair. (Castro, 7/26; California, 8/2) Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw Rick Goldsmith presents the disturbing story of how a talented Queens, NY high school basketball star, at one time thought to be the female Michael Jordan, finds her highvelocity career derailed by bouts of bi-polar depression. Goldsmith uses his special access to his subject to craft a complex portrait of the pressures that big-time athletics can bring to bear on a young woman already striving to be a “super kid.” Chamique Holdsclaw can protect her younger siblings from the ravages of their parents’ alcoholism while attempting to scale heights courtside never before achieved by even the most gifted women athletes. (Castro, 7/31; California, 8/1. Director Goldsmith and Holdsclaw will appear for a post-film Q&A.)

Sound gay?

From page 17

Thorpe begins his film by asking a series of strangers – American, French, male, female, butch, fem, young, old – his film’s deceptively simple question: “Do I sound gay?” An attractive young New Yorker saucily replies, “Yes, but not as much as I do.” A young woman temporizes, “I would have lumped you in with the artsy-fartsy crowd.” Others chime in, “There is some something slightly melodic [in your voice.]” “There is the nasality.” “I would definitely rate you as a metrosexual.” “We enunciate! And if that’s gay, wha?!” Thorpe discovers that his on-thestreet strangers are polite, but most of them do confirm his worst fears that his slip is showing, linguistically. Thorpe then consults speech experts, most hilariously including the witty

Courtesy SFJFF

Scene from director Joey Kuhn’s Those People.

Scene from director Rick Goldsmith’s Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw.

Love & Taxes “Why do they only pay for things you don’t want to do?” Josh Kornbluth has neatly fashioned the perfect artistic hybrid: a monologue that rolls out like a fully staged play on film, and a film that features the quirky asides normally only encountered in live theatre. Kornbluth and director brother Jacob have produced a work so special that it features its own version of scholarly footnotes in the form of a post-film Q&A from famed economist Robert Reich, at the Castro. (Castro, 7/29; California, 8/3) The Singing Abortionist Dara Bratt’s exuberant portrait of a nebbish everyman is a textbook case of the kind of stories that draw us to the Jewish Film Fest. Henry Morgentaler is short, skinny, with an unkempt beard and a determined gleam in his eyes. A survivor of the Nazi death camps, Henry leaves Poland for a fresh start in Canada, where he marries, starts a large family and begins a medical practice that turns him into one of his adopted homeland’s most unpopular public figures. A chilling highpoint

comes from archival TV news footage of Henry getting a police escort to escape the furious mobs on the street in front of his modest bungalow. Anti-abortion mobs hurl insults and wield their “baby murderer” signs like axes. Henry’s life appears riddled with paradox, as one of his adult sons notes. “In psychology, we see people return to the scene of the crime. So if you had a mother or father who abused you, often you find partners where you recreate the situation. You’re going to make this one a success where before you were a victim. In some ways, my dad also returned to the scene of the crime: he was in concentration camps, there were guards, he had no privileges. He put himself in a situation where that was going to happen again.” A story that seems to pinpoint the contradictions in Henry’s soul comes from his brother, himself a death camp survivor. The brother notes that Henry, while a prisoner on a Nazi train headed to the ovens, got so caught up in a conversation

with a fellow inmate that he was almost left behind when prisoners jumped from the train, fleeing into the woods. Who did the singing abortionist sing for? Mostly the women on his operating table, certainly one of history’s more improbable captive audiences. (Castro, 7/31; California, 8/5) As I AM: The Life and Times of DJ AM Kevin Kerslake brings the tragically short life of a fabled club DJ to the screen, shedding light on a musical subculture. The life arc of DJ AM (aka Adam Goldstein) is a sadly familiar one: charismatic kid is seduced by a music scene that becomes a way of life, complete with dangerous excursions into an underground drug scene. We follow DJ AM from his native Philly to a seductive LA subculture where he would become a savior to many addicted kids before abruptly dying from an overdose at 36. (Castro, 7/30; California, 7/31) The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films Their body of work was insanely eclectic. Israeli

Michael Harrington, a young gay man whose study of the late flamboyant 60s TV personality Paul Lynde has morphed into an amusing Las Vegas stage act. The other experts advise that it is indeed possible to sound “less gay,” but caution that, as with the characters in Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band, there is often a price to be paid. Thorpe includes a scene from the 1970 film directed by William Friedkin, in which the most “queeny” character at a birthday party, Emory (Cliff Gorman), confronts an imperious straight friend of the host. “I have such a problem with pronouns.” “How many s’s are there in pronouns?” “How’d you like to blow me?” “What’s the matter, your wife got lockjaw?” “Faggot!” At times, Do I Sound Gay? plays like a deft extension of the late Vito Russo’s critique of film-industry homophobia in The Celluloid Closet.

Visual quotes from Boys in the Band, Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, and a mean-spirited comedy routine from comic Louis C.K. demonstrate that the problem is both societal and personal. Thorpe employs a parallel analogy, the account of how his premature baldness also impacted his self-confidence as a newly out gay man. At first Thorpe compensated with a series of hair pieces. But although many said he looked younger and sexier with a wig, he decided that the disguise made him feel false, and therefore was too big a price to pay. My conversation with Thorpe illustrates how thorny the problems of identity, image and personal integrity have become for many gay men nearly half-a-century after Stonewall.

Courtesy SFJFF

David Lamble: When you came out as gay in college, you changed, your voice changed. When did you become aware that you were gay as a kid? David Thorpe: I became aware when I hit puberty. I was always attracted to boys.

cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, themselves lowbrows, improbably began serving a highbrow cinema audience as importers of such esoteric art-house fare as Jean-Luc Godard’s King Lear. But their bread-and-butter output came from the funkier side of the tracks, from seemingly endless Charles Bronson action sagas to Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky’s action thriller Runaway Train. Israeli director Hila Medalia gives us an entertaining peek behind the scenes of a singular film empire stretching from Tel Aviv to Hollywood. (Castro, 7/25; Cinearts, 7/27; California, 8/2; Smith Rafael, 8/9) Probation Time In one of the more challenging emotional rides at this year’s festival, director Avigail Sperber casts a telling eye on Israel’s uncomfortable relationship with its Ethiopian minority in this compelling family drama. (Castro, 7/27; California, 8/3) Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah He set himself a big challenge: produce the first comprehensive documentary/oral history of the Holocaust without showing the familiar footage of death-camp ovens and human-skeleton survivors. 1985’s nine-hour Shoah gives those willing to engage with this most painful chapter a candid account of how humankind’s most revealing catastrophe went from unimaginable to inevitable. My viewing of Shoah has shaped my perspective on Holocaust history on film. One chapter that I’ll never erase is a candid chat with a former deathcamp worker who provides a chilling account of the minutia of mass murder. This 40-minute doc plays on a shorts program. (Castro,7/28; CineArts, 7/30; California, 8/4) Info: sfjff.org.

called “faggot” relentlessly every day and coming home in tears. I don’t think I really knew what that was. That’s when I realized that there was some sort of conventional way of being a boy that I wasn’t succeeding at, and had to, in order to survive.

IFC Films

Filmmaker David Thorpe practices vocal exercises in Do I Sound Gay?

ing, being part of the community, and when are you caving in to homophobia or internalized homophobia? I mean, your eye color doesn’t change, you can control how you dress, but your voice is a little more slippery when it comes to your identity.

Which is okay up to a certain age, and then the rules change. Yes. I was in seventh grade in the early 80s. I was in South Carolina, it was the beginning of a conservative era, and certainly where I was gay people didn’t exist, you know, men were men and women were women. Schoolkids enforce those stereotypes much more severely than adults. It was tough, I was kind of a fugitive from the beginning. My family moved to South Carolina when I was very young, from Pennsylvania. What’s funny is that when my mother and brother are around Southerners, they have light Southern accents.

Define the term code-switch. Well, I’m not a linguist, but codeswitching means changing the way you speak based on who you’re with. Oprah is famous for code-switching, and Obama is also an example: if he’s speaking at a black church, suddenly he’s sounding more like an African American preacher. I pick those examples because everyone can relate to them, but we all do it. When adults talk to children, they change the way they speak. They say, “Oh Tommy, what a cute little shirt you have on.” Their voice goes a little higher, and they may talk a bit more clearly. That’s a kind of code-switching. Sometimes we find ourselves changing well beyond what we need to do because it’s such a reflex to try to fit in.

Then it can disappear, just like that? Yes, we all code-switch, we all subtly change our voice. One of things I wanted to explore in the film is, When is changing your voice code-switch-

When did you notice that it was a problem? For me it first became a problem in middle school when I stepped on the bus. Soon after that I was being

And you didn’t even know it was a contest. Yeah, listen, I’m over it, but it’s still sad to think that we all, a lot of us, gay or not, went through that experience of being whipped into shape by the kids who were a little more sophisticated about being a boy or a girl. How did your family treat you? It was a mixed bag. For some members of my family it was a nobrainer, for others it took a long time. My mother and my stepfather took many years to get past what at the time was a really tricky subject. It was hard, but I feel really good about where we are now. Even in the dreaded past, there were examples like Truman Capote and Paul Lynde of famous and successful gay men, if anything more successful because they were effeminate. Exactly. Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly and a lot of these very flamboyant and successful 60s and 70s stars are fascinating because they seem so gay, but they were in this sort of glass closet where it couldn’t be talked about, where this flamboyance might be coming from. Paul Lynde is such an intriguing figure. He was a huge star, he was on the cover of People. As one of my subjects says, he was bigger than John Wayne. But he couldn’t say that he was a “fag.” It all had to be implied, winked and suggested. You could look at Lynde and think he was a selfhating queen, but in another way you can think he was this amazing figure who managed to be wildly gay and successful, at a time when that wasn’t supposed to happen.t

Film>>

July 23-29, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

Virtual lesbian veils geopolitical thrust by Erin Blackwell

prehensive analysis of the subterfuge practiced by Tom MacMaster, who as “Amina” created a “Gay Girl in Damascus” blog self-described as “an out Syrian lesbian’s thoughts on life,” on February 19, 2011. Raise your hand if on a world map you can point to Syria without searching. Raise your other hand if you can explain what the U.S. is trying to do to that country, how long it’s been trying to do it, and who among the players has received taxpayers’ dollars to achieve deniable ends. For the record, Syria sits beneath Turkey, to the west of Iraq, to the east of Lebanon and Israel, above Jordan. I know because I looked at a map, because I’m one of the ignorant Americans this film, with its odd bifurcate title simultaneously appealing to gay, spy, wonk, and geek demographics, is designed and marketed for. The film will leave you as ignorant as you enter, unless you believe people you meet online are who they say they are. For 101 minutes, director Sophie Deraspe floods the screen with fictitious reenactments, machine-gun fire, atmospheric riffs on Arabic instruments, fuzzy shots of clashes in unidentified streets, indecipherable images, eerie music, a shadowy figure wandering narrow alleyways,

ueen Victoria famously didn’t believe in lesbians, didn’t think they were possible, let alone desirable, certainly nothing to codify in law with punishment for their fantastic habits. Today we know better, or do we? Have we been tricked into thinking that lesbians exist, and from there been led into the error of accepting as “lesbian” anyone who says they are, until the category stretches to absurd dimensions, and lesbians once more disappear into a mist of wannabes, pretenders, and socialmedia constructs indistinguishable even to those who ought to know better? These questions arise in contemplating the film A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile, opening July 24 at the Roxie Theater. The mystery that lesbians represent to people who are not lesbians is equaled only by the mystery the Middle East represents to the Western mind, but nothing beats the mystery of our own foreign policy, unless it’s the geography or geopolitics underlying that policy. In my Francophile naïveté, I expect French people to be savvier: they understand history, geography, and the downside of imperial rule. I’m sad to say the French film in question fails to render a com-

Shadowy scene from director Sophie Deraspe’s A Gay Girl in Damascus.

gratuitous shots of “Assad regime” bullies and torture, and lonely “lesbian” flesh, along with the expected talking-heads in San Francisco, Chicago, D.C., Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Beirut, and possibly Syria itself. The narrative thrust, if you will, is also bifurcate, torn between a lovelorn leading lady who foolishly falls in love with Amina, and what exactly MacMaster’s machinations signify about the nasty Western habit of mucking about in the Middle East. Of the two, unsurprisingly, only the foolish lesbian attains closure.

Of those 101 minutes, you might find the first 40 slow-going, depending on your tolerance for backstory evoked via tedious typing of chatroom clichés between a lesbian seeking same and her mystery woman, interspliced with process shots of the disrobing silhouette of a lithe young stand-in in a characterless room. Although MacMaster’s provenance and personality are later superficially exposed, Sandra Bagaria remains a mystery. Which is odd, considering she’s the director’s friend. The pertinent points that Bagaria’s mother is

from Morocco, grandmother from Egypt, and great-grandmother from Syria, aren’t mentioned. Her intriguing ancestry, not uncommon in France, suggests Bagaria’s motive in seeking out a virtual Syrian lesbian to fall in love with. When I interviewed her in the Castro last month, she said people who are “only white” bore her. Imagine her disgust when after innumerable texts, sexts, and 135 blog posts, Amina was outed not only as male, but American and white. At about minute 40, the film picks up speed and relevance, suddenly deconstructing Amina’s mediatized spycraft, cramming in tasty tidbits like the five-word comment from Anonymous, “You’ve been trolled by Mossad.” The tip flashes onscreen and disappears. So did an American agent for the Israeli secret service invent a virtual Syrian lesbian to attract and distract Westerners from actual Syrian political realities during the ballyhooed “Arab Spring” of 2011? The answer to that question depends not on what we wish to believe, but on access to accurate information. Where is such information to be found? Not in corporate media, not in A Gay Girl in Damascus. The film does warn Westerners that your otherwise blameless exotic foray into erotic tourism might be a CIA plot.t

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<< Out&About

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 23-29, 2015

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Space opp. era by Jim Provenzano

T Sat 25

John Benko’s art @ Glama-Rama

Thu 23 Black Virgins are Not for Hipsters @ The Marsh Echo Brown’s comic solo show follows a young women’s impending sexual encounter, and its political implications. $20-$35. Thu 8pm. Sat 8:30pm. Extended thru Sept. 1062 Valencia St. at 22nd. 282-3055. themarsh.org

Champagne White and the Temple of Poon @ Oasis D’Arcy Drollinger’s sequel to the hilarious hit comedy Shit & Champagne, with a women’s prisonthemed parody and suspense-filled action-comedy show. $25-$200 (fourperson VIP table). Thu-Sat 7pm. Thru Sept 12. 298 11th St. sfoasis.com

Club Inferno @ Hypnodrome Thrillpeddlers’ hilarious rockin’ production of Kelly Kittell and Peter Fogel’s glam rock musical spin on Dante’s The Divine Comedy, where the road to fame can be hell, literally! $30-$35. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru Aug. 8. 575 10th St. at Bryant. 377-4202. www.hypnodrome.org

Each and Every Thing @ The Marsh Solo performer Dan Hoyle returns with his acclaimed show about about the slow-tech movement and how personal interactions outweigh technology. $20-$100. Thu & Fri 8pm, Sat 5pm. Thru Aug. 22. Mainstage Theater, 1062 Valencia St. at 21st. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Juárez: a Documentary Mythology @ Z Space Collaborative multimedia performance about the small border town, antiimmigrant violence, and race issues. $20. Thu-Sat 8pm. Also Sat 2pm, Sun 5pm. Thru July 26. 450 Florida St. www.zspace.org

SF International Jewish Film Festival @ Castro Theatre Festival of feature, short and documentary films, by and/or about Jewish people around the world. $15 and up. Thru Aug. 9. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Obscura @ La Val’s Subterranean, Berkeley Christian Cagigal returns with his touching solo show about family, magic, and tales of the occult; it includes some amazing sleight of hand. $15-$25. ThuSat 8pm. Thru Aug. 8. 1834 Euclid Ave., Berkeley. www.impacttheatre.com

Summer Sampler @ ODC Theater New works by ODC’s Founder and Artistic Director Brenda Way and Associate Choreographer Kimi Okada. $30-$5. Thru July 25. 3153 17th St. www.odcdance.org

Sat 25

Sweeney Todd @ Exit Theatre

Love and Information @ Strand Theater

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s adaptation of the penny dreadful tale, is produced by SF Bay Area Theatre Company. $15-$35 ThuSat 8pm. Sat 3pm. Thru July 25. 156 Eddy St. www.sfbatco.org

The inaugural performances at American Conservatory Theatre’s new satellite theatre; Carol Churchill’s kaleidoscopic play captures the dizzying array of electronic communication that helps and hinders true human connection. $40-$100. Tue-Sat 7:30pm [note earlier curtain time]. Wed & Sat 2pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru Aug. 9. 1127 Market St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

W. Kamau Bell @ The Marsh, Berkeley Acclaimed comic and commentator performs Home by 10, his solo show about current events. Partial proceeds benefit Hearts Leap Preschool. $15$50. Thursdays, 8pm. Thru July 30. 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Post: Ballet @ YBCA

Fri 24

Robert Dekker’s innovative local dance company performs a world premiere Do Be: Family Sing-along and Game Night, plus four other works, with parties before and after the “Six Pack” 8pm shows. $30-$50. Also July 25. 700 Howard St. www.postballet.org www.ybca.org

Blondie, Melissa Etheridge @ Mountain Winery, Saratoga

Queer Open Mic @ Moderm Times Bookstore

The classic pop-punk band and the folk-rock singer share a night at the elegant outdoor ampitheatre. Dinner and wines available. $50-$130. 14831 Pierce Road, Saratoga. www.axs.com

Company @ SF Playhouse Local production of the classic 1970s Stephen Sondheim musical about a perpetually single Robert and his notso-happily married friends. $35-$12. Wed & Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Sept. 12. 450 Post St. 6779596. www.sfplayhouse.org

Detroit @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Lisa D’Amour’s Obie-winning satire about two very different straight couples in a suburban neighborhood. $32-$50. Tue 7pm. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. auroratheatre.org

Divas, Anyone? @ Freight & Salvage, Berkeley Oakland-East Bay Gay Mens’ Chorus and Katya Smirnoff-Skyy perform a summer pops concert. $18-$22. 7pm. Also July 26, 1pm. 2020 Addison St. (510) 644-2020. www.oebgmc.org

Baruch Porras-Hernandez and Blythe Baldwin cohost the lively reading/ performance series, this month featuring Denise Benavides. 7pm. sign-up for five-minute slot. 7:30pm show. 2919 24th St. www.queeropenmic.com

Ricky Lee Jones @ Regency Ballroom The jazz-pop singer is back, with new and classic songs. $40-$60. 8pm. 1290 Sutter St. www.rickieleejones. com www.theregencyballroom.com

Top Girls @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Player’s production of Caryl Churchill’s witty play about an ‘80s British employment agency and its women through history. $5-$25. Wed 7pm. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru Aug. 2. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. shotgunplayers.org

Sat 25

Do I Sound Gay? @ Various Cinemas David Thorpe’s acclaimed new documentary about his quest to understand “gay voice.” Opera Plaza Cinema, SF; Shattuck Cinema, Berkeley. www.doisoundgay.com

Don’t Stop Me @ Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, Oakland Youth Musical Theater Company’s production of Dave Malloy and Krista Knight’s commissioned musical about the lives of the theatre company’s teens, including lesbians coming out. $15-$28. Fri & Sat 7pm. Sun 2pm. Thru July 26. 1428 Alice St., Oakland. www.ymtcberkeley.org

GAPA Banquet @ Far East Café Gay Asian Pacific Alliance dinner and celebration, honoring Lawrence Wong, with performances by GAPA Chorus, Rice Rockettes, and Leung’s White Crane Dancers. $65-$100. 6pm10pm. 631 Grant Ave. www.gapa.org

Shirtlifter #5 contributors, including Justin Hall @ Mission Comics

he rent is too damn high, but most arts events won’t bust your budget. For rock concerts and cabaret shows, plus Up Your Alley street fair events, go to www.ebar.com and On the Tab in the BARtab nightlife section.

A Gay Girl in Damascus @ Roxie Theater Sophia Desraspe’s new acclaimed film about a Syrian blogger and a Montreal woman’s quest to save her from abduction and torture. 3117 16th St. 863-1087. www.roxie.com

Anne Deveare Smith @ Berkeley Rep

Sat 25 Anne Deavere Smith @ Berkeley Repertory Theatre The award-winning performer presents her solo show, Notes From the Field: Doing Time in Education, the California Chapter; with music composed and performed by Marcus Shelby. $25-$89. Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm, Sun 7pm. Thru Aug. 2. Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Culture Club @ Greek Theatre, Berkeley The 80s pop band is back, with Boy George and the original band members. $45-$95. 8pm. 2001 Gayley Road, UC Berkeley campus. www.cultureclub.co.uk www.apeconcerts.com

Flagging in the Park @ AIDS Memorial Grove

Color of Life @ California Academy of Sciences

Robbie Leslie is the guest DJ at the outdoor flagging event-fundraiser, with ample room for picnicing. 12:30pm-4:30pm. Nancy Pelosi Drive at Golden Gate Drive. www.flaggercentral.com www.aidsmemorial.org

Exhibits and planetarium shows with various live, interactive and installed exhibits about animals, plants and the earth; new exhibit focuses on vibrantly colored species of octopus, snake fish and other live creatures. Special events each week, with adult nightlife parties most Thursday nights. $20-$35. Mon-Sat 9:30am-5pm. Sun 11am-5pm. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

Freedomland @ Various Venues SF Mime Troupe’s musical satire of government invasions and political corruption. July 25: Jerry Garcia Ampitheatre, McLaren Park 2pm). July 26: Washington Square Park (2pm). July 30: Troupe Studio Space (7pm). Also at multiple Bay Area locales thru Sept. 7. www.sfmt.org

John Benko @ Glama-Rama Salon BlingAdelik, an exhibit of paintings by Benko, in collaboration with jewelry designer T-Dub. Thru Aug. 30. 304 Valencia St. www.glamarama.com

Morrissey @ San Jose State University The former Smiths lead singer performs (without cancelling, again, hopefully) solo and favorite songs. Amanda Palmer opens. $60-$65. 8pm. 290 7th St. (408) 924-6360. www.axs.com

Perverts Put Out @ Center for Sex & Culture

Tue 28 OUTspoken @ City Hall Outspoken: Portraits of LGBTQ Luminaries, an exhibit of photographs by Roger Erickson. Ground floor, North Light Court. Thru Sept. 11. 1 Carlton B. Goodlet Place. www.sfgov.org

TransCuba, Jamil Hellu @ Rayko Photo Center Photo exhibit of the prints by Mariette Pathy Allen of Cuba’s transgender residents. Also, in the side gallery, Jamil Hellu’s Darrin, a series of homoerotic photos of his partner. Thru July 31. 428 3rd St. 495-3773. www.raykophotocenter.com

Sexy and sexual reading series, with Airial Clark, Gina de Vries, StormMiguel Florez, Daphne Gottlieb, Irene McCalphin, Fran Varian; cohosts Lori Selke and Marlo Gayle. $10-$25. 8pm. 1349 Mission St. www.sexandculture.org

Shirtlifter #5 Contributors @ Mission Comics Award-winning gay comic artists Steve Macisaac, Jon Macy and Justin Hall will sign copies of the fifth edition of the sexy gay comic series. 6pm. 3520 20th St. www.missioncomicsandart.com

Sun 26 ASL Open Mic @ Sweet Inspiration Open stage for hearing-impaired, ASLsigning and hearing poets, singers, etc. 4pm-7pm. 2239 Market St. www.facebook.com/ASLEpic

Cabaret Showcase Showdown @ Martuni’s Season 6 of the cabaret singing competition continues, with the Best Female Showtunes Singer edition. Joe Wicht and Katya Smirnoff-Skyy host/ accompany. 7pm. 4 Valencia St.

Help is on the Way XXI: Hollywood Glam @ Palace of Fine Arts Theatre John Lloyd Young, Constantine Maroulis, Loretta Devine, Caroles Cook, Jai Rodriguez, Susan Anton, Sony Holland, Paula West, and Kimberley Clarke are among the singers and stars performing at this benefit for the Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation, which includes a live and silent auction. $75-$150 and up. VIP reception 5pm. Gala 6pm. Show 7:30pm. after-party 9:30pm. 3301 Lyon St. www.reaf-sf.org

Up Your Alley Street Fair @ Dore & Folsom Streets The annual ‘dirty little brother’ of the Folsom Street Fair returns, with beer and drinks, DJed music, public displays of, well, anything; kink, fetish, or just a bit of leather. Gate donations. 11am-6:30pm. Folsom Street bet. 9th & 10th, and Dore Alley. www.folsomstreetevents.org

Mon 27 30 Years of Collecting Art That Tells Our Stories @ GLBT History Museum New exhibit of collected drawings, paintings and sculptures from three decades of queer donations, guestcurated by Elisabeth Cornu. Free (members)-$5. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Fri 24 Denise Benavides at Queer Open Mic @ Modern Times Bookstore

Wed 29 Pat Benetar, Niel Giraldo @ Mountain Winery, Saratoga The pop icon shares a concert with the rock musician at the elegant outdoor ampitheatre. Dinner and wines available. $45-$95. 7:30pm. 14831 Pierce Road, Saratoga. www.axs.com

Planet Booty @ Bottom of the Hill The fun Oakland funk band will get your booty shaking. Jamaican Queens and Phone Sex Operators also play. $10. 9pm. 1233 17th St. www.planetbooty.org www.bottomofthehill.com

Thu 30 Judy Gold @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The Emmy Award-winning actress, writer and comedian returns with her latest batch of insightful wit and comedy. $25-$40. 8pm. ($20 food/ drink min.). Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.judygold. com www.ticketweb.com

Our Lady J @ Oasis The Gospel of Dolly, the fab chanteuse’s tribute to Dolly Parton, with a gospel choir! $20. 10pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Todd Rundgren @ City Winery, Napa The indie rock icon performs as part of his Global tour. $45-$65. 8pm. 1030 Main St., Napa. (707) 260-1600. www.citywinery.com To submit event listings, email events@ebar.com Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication. For more bar and nightlife events, go to On the Tab in our BARtab section, online at www.ebar.com/bartab

Books>>

July 23-29, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Theatre archeology by John F. Karr

Matilda

From page 19

once was an Olympic medalist in the hammer throw, and rules the school as a sadistic tyrant who threaten misbehaving tykes with the dreaded spikefilled cabinet known as the chokey. But Matilda is clever at getting both herself and her classmates out of trouble at least some of the time. She has already established herself as a great storyteller, fascinating the librarian (a delightful Ora Jones) with installments of a yarn illustrated in different ways about married acrobats, their planned death-defying stunt, and an evil sister who brings their world crumbling down. It’s a concocted story that Matilda realizes is somehow a parable for Miss

Triangle

From page 19

there until Sarah discovers that her take-it-or-leave-it schedule requires working on Saturdays. She finds an ally in a young Italian foreman who tries to help her with her Sabbath dilemma, and the inklings of a problematic romance begin to stir. Brian, the med student, believes he is seeing visions of Sarah, and realizing she is the unidentified figure in the lore of the fire’s most tragically romantic story, tries to convince her not to go to work on Saturday, March 25, 1911. History can’t be altered, but it can affect the present, and Brian is loosened up enough to cope with having a suitor. There is refreshing

from each other: Little Me, I Love My Wife, On the 20th Century, City of Angels, The Will Rogers Follies. At his death in 2004 at the age of 75, Coleman was working on three shows, including one about Napoleon Bonaparte. And the one Coleman show that I sure regret never got past the planning stages would be the one about Julian Eltinge, the premiere female impersonator of the early 20th century. I was incredulous at Propst’s recounting of the not one but two times that Coleman put a new song into a show overnight. Those overnighters are myths, I thought. And I was put right by a time-table in Dominic Symonds’ We’ll Have Manhattan – The Early Work of Rodgers & Hart (Oxford, $34.95) that shows how R&H did, in fact, accomplish such a feat. And out of town, at that. Some of the Broadway Legacy books in the Oxford University series have been pedestrian, or ploddingly academic. Not so this one. Oh, it includes a fair amount of compositional analysis (with score reproductions) that is stiff going for us non-musicologists. But these passages are easily skimmed or skipped, and the rest of the book, consisting of Symonds’ sharp-eyed and detail-rich recounting of the adolescent team’s collegiate and first main-stem shows, is the real hard tack for Broadway fans. These shows of the 1920s – Dearest Enemy, Lido Lady, Peggy-Ann, Betsy, and eight

others – have been given abbreviated treatment in previous books, but certainly never been allowed Symonds’ full chapter for each. His indepth act of theatre archeology runs from fascinating to exciting. Rodgers and Hart might seem stylistically mismatched. Where Rodgers came from a love of Victor Herbert, Hart came from P.G. Wodehouse. Yet this combination proved successful – tart lyrics palliated by graceful melody. Here’s a reassessment typical of Symonds. The song “We’ll Have Manhattan” (the Bronx and Staten Island, too) isn’t from The Garrick Gaieties, as is commonly thought, but from the (entirely unknown) 1922 Winkle Town, where it’s the first announcement of the R&H we’d come to know: clever, romantic, poignant. Its use in Winkle Town also indicated the team’s career-long effort for their songs to be an expression of plot and character, rather than being a rendition of a song. Symonds’ greatest boon is his chapter covering CheeChee. The show’s plot hinged on castration, climaxing with the hero nearly getting his balls chopped off. Having to think about testicles for a full evening discomforted audiences, and the show flopped. Symonds exhumes it for our delight (Betty Comden’s recording of the show’s sweet songs is also delightful, but good luck finding it). We’ll Have Manhattan makes me look forward to next year, when Symonds will cover R&H in the 1930s.t

Trunchbull’s history with Miss Honey. If there is some sort of extrasensory action at play, it fully manifests itself in a burst of telekinesis that finally sends Miss Trunchbull packing. Three young actresses rotate as Matilda, and opening night brought Mabel Tyler to the fore with a performance that commands the stage with quiet intensity. Her main competition is in Bryce Ryness’ Miss Trunchbull, a role always cast with a man but decidedly without drag camp. Ryness has great comedic sensibility even amidst the character’s fearsomeness with an array of slow burns, double takes, and precise comic timing. As Miss Honey, Jennifer Blood is appropriately angelic, and her ballads are the only moments when we are sure of the words being sung.

They are also a respite from a generally clamorous tone, reaching a piercing pitch during Matilda’s scenes at home with her tacky-glamorous mother (Cassie Silva) and her pompously deluded father (Quinn Mattfeld). The musical’s best moments are in the classroom, as director Warchus and choreographer Darling put the kids into all sorts of clever physical permutations. At least, they’re the best moments when Miss Trunchbull isn’t center stage throwing little girls into the air by their pigtails. Not for nothing did she win the gold in the hammer throw.t

humor in both recent and past stories, but the notion that doomed Sarah has somehow presented herself to Brian to loosen him up enough to go on a first date is off-kilter. Brian is not a very interesting character, and despite a strong voice, Ross Lekites doesn’t do much to change that impression. Considerably more successful are the other cast members, each of whom play characters in both time periods. Megan McGinnis is mostly seen as conflicted Sarah, a good thing, because her performance is both sweet and savvy. Zachary Prince nicely shuttles between Sarah and Brian’s would-be swains of very different temperaments. Sharon Rietkerk, Rolf Saxon, and Laura D’Andre

Steven Underhill

PHOTOGRAPHY

stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com 2pub-BBB_BAR_070915.pdf

CMY

Matilda the Musical will run at the Orpheum Theatre through Aug. 15. Tickets are $45-$210. Call (888) 746-1799 or go to shnsf.com.

are the others who do double (and triple) duty with success. The relationship between two men in the modern scenes is a budding love story that happens to be gay rather than a gay love story. That the participants are of the same gender attracts no special reactions, another sign of spreading assimilation. There is some intimation of a shared sensibility with Sarah’s break from Jewish traditions, but the stakes turn out to be jarringly different. That’s where the show becomes scalene, better known as an irregular triangle.t Triangle will run at Lucie Stern Theatre through Aug. 2. Tickets are $19-$74. Call (650) 463-1960 or go to theatreworks.org.

415 370 7152

WEDDINGS, HEADSHOTS, PORTRAITS

he summertime seems to be the right time for show biz books. I’ve got a stack of new ones next to my bed. I’ve just read one that focuses on the little-documented early work of Rodgers and Hart, while another celebrates with great thoroughness the prolific life and shows of that songwriter turned showman, Cy Coleman. Broadway composer Cy Coleman wasn’t depressive, agonizing, or drug-abusing. He was goodnatured, generous, remarkably productive, and quite a composing chameleon. All of this is recounted in lively fashion in the composer’s first biography, You Fascinate Me So – The Life and Times of Cy Coleman (Applause Books, $32.99). Author Andy Propst has worked on Broadway and written about it previously. He knows his stuff. Coleman was a child prodigy at the piano, and between the ages of six and nine gave recitals at the most famed orchestra halls you can name. But he had a hankering for pop music, especially jazz. So during the 1950s, while his trio played in New York’s most tony supper clubs, he launched his tunesmith career by composing such masterful songs as “Witchcraft,” “The Best Is Yet to Come,” “When in Rome,” and “You Fascinate Me So,” to the acutely sophisticated lyrics of Carolyn Leigh (and wouldn’t a bio of this sometimes prickly dame be swell?). Then Coleman turned to shows. With Leigh, he wrote Little Me, but he tired of her turbulent behavior. So when he met Dorothy Fields at a party, he bluntly asked her if she’d like to collaborate with him. She answered, “Thank god somebody asked!” Together, they wrote Sweet Charity, then Seesaw. In the years between subsequent shows, Coleman performed, published, arranged, managed singers, and recorded a constant stream of albums and singles; the detailed discussion of each of these made me glaze over, but Propst is soon back on track, with insider looks at the making of and subsequent success of shows whose scores were entirely different

6/29/15

6:33 PM

<< DVD

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 23-29, 2015

Lyrical lesbian coming-of-age story

Courtesy Wolfe Video

Ceci Chuh as Alex in Of Girls and Horses, a troubled teenager with a history of self-harm.

by David-Elijah Nahmod

Ana Grillo

Of Girls and Horses director Monika Treut.

ormer San Francisco resident Monika Treut has achieved worldwide fame for her queerthemed films. The German native chatted with the B.A.R. about her new film Of Girls and Horses, a reflective drama about a young lesbian’s coming of age. The film is available on DVD through Wolfe Video, who offer the film in German with English subtitles. Before discussing this latest project, Treut fondly recalled her San Francisco days. She describes her SF-shot Virgin Machine as her “coming out film.” In the 90s, she researched and filmed her documentary Gendernaughts: A Journey through Shifting Identities, a wellreceived look at the city’s transgender artists. “I was in the fortunate situation

to explore San Francisco before it was gentrified as it is now,” she recalled. “During this time I taught a bit at the San Francisco Art Institute, and spent time with my close friends at the Italian restaurant Da Flora in North Beach, my favorite kitchen on this planet.” Treut calls San Francisco her second home. “I try to come back as often as possible to see my friends,” she said. Discussion then turned to Of Girls and Horses. The filmmaker paints a haunting portrait of lead character Alex, a troubled teenager with a history of self-harm, including cutting herself. Sent to a farm to work as an intern for a horse trainer, Alex learns to live her life in the present, to commune not only with the horses, but also with the people around her. Horse trainer Nina is a lesbian who rebuffs Alex’s attempt to kiss her. It’s a momentary lapse in judgment. Alex soon becomes more comfortable with herself as she becomes more in tune with her four-legged friends. She finds first love with Kathy, the upper-class girl whose parents own the farm. Can Alex maintain a newly found stability as she experiences love and lust for the first time? “My wish is to transpire my love

of horses to the audience and give an idea of their potential to support people who are insecure or imbalanced, like the main character,” Treut explained. “If the audience enjoys the film as an experience with nature, animals and young women as a break from exhausting city life, then I’m happy.” Horse-lovers should enjoy the film, regardless of their sexual orientation. “We got positive feedback from straight horse-people who dug the film, as well as from some gay men,” she said. “With gay men it might be a bit more complicated, since the world of girls and horses seems to be a special cosmos.” Some viewers have noted that the film takes a documentary-style approach. Treut said that she had in fact written a bare bones script. “I borrowed details from daily life on the farm and incorporated them into the story,” she explained. “We had two days to rehearse, and I left space for the actresses to improvise with the dialogue.” Treut expressed hope that getting LGBT-themed films produced would become easier than in the past. “But I have to confess that I’m no expert in marketing,” she said. “I have to rely on the expertise of the distribution companies.”t

No easy listening

I am the future of the LGBT community. I’m gay. I’m 55. I’ve been out to my family for twenty years. I married a wonderful woman six years ago, and we adopted a baby girl from Vietnam. My family is everything to me. That’s why I’m an avid follower of LGBT rights. Not just marriage, either. I want to make sure that I can travel safely, enjoy my retirement and have my child benefit from my life’s work. I’m the future of the LGBT community. And I read about that future every morning on my work laptop. Because that’s where I want it to be.

The person depicted here is a model. Their image is being used for illustrative purposes only.

by Tim Pfaff

rue record collectors can get pretty rapped out about forthcoming releases. As I was preparing to move to Luang Prabang, many of my friends were worried I’d fall afoul of the Lao police, but I thought that would be OK if I got to hear Gergiev’s new Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh first. When, more recently, ECM New Series announced a Schubert piano two-fer with Andras Schiff playing his own 1820 Brodmann fortepiano, I went into full stalk mode, working feverishly but at my most politic to con advance sound files. Call the police. I’ve listened to the recording countless times in two months, waiting for the miracle, but am now prepared to call it nearly unlistenable, at least if pleasure is one of the criteria. Some qualifiers are in order. I consider Schiff one of the finest pianists among us, and over the years his Schubert has shown why he considers the composer “the holy spirit” in a Trinity that includes Bach and Mozart. And his 2013 ECM release of the towering Beethoven Diabellli Variations, played first on a modern piano, and then on this Brodmann, while less extreme than Andreas Staier’s recording on fortepiano, was every bit as revelatory. Schiff includes a long note about his earlier aversion to the

dogmaticism of the “early-music movement,” with its insistence on authenticity despite trenchant differences among feuding performerscholars about what authenticity was. He says he’s come around, and clearly he has, but disconcertingly, there’s now an assertiveness about his Schubert that strikes me as at odds with the music. As but one consideration, Schiff writes about Schubert’s penchant for soft dynamics – even extremes thereof – and he lauds his fortepiano for its ability to achieve them. I could barely find a volume setting on my equipment that yielded even a “piano” (soft) on this recording, and, when I could, much of the music around it became inaudible. The dominant quality of his playing on these two discs is a grating percussiveness leading to a bluntness of attack and a downright rough-housing of the melodic line. There’s something unrelentingly square about the playing, and while it does throw a new light on this music, it’s a harsh, glaring one. Passages in a few of the Moments Musicaux and the Impromptus have charm and even an occasional insouciance. But the sonatas – in G Major, D. 894, and B Major, D. 960 – feel like arguments, both in the sense of their strong intellectual bent and their often-quarrelsome tone. See page 25 >>

Theatre>>

July 23-29, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

David Wilson

John Fisher, left, plays codebreaker Alan Turning, and Val Hendrixson his supervisor, in Theatre Rhino’s encore production of Breaking the Code.

New Works

From page 17

It was Lippa who suggested to Feiffer that they adapt Feiffer’s illustrated book The Man in the Ceiling into a musical, and Disney Theatricals signed on to the project in 2006. The 1993 book tells the story of a boy who wants to be an artist with a father who prefers sports, a school friend with strange suggestions for illustrations, and an uncle who writes flop musicals. “From the moment I first read this book I knew it could be a spectacular stage musical,” Lippa said back in 2006. “It has superheroes, show folk, delightful characters, and, at the center, a boy who wants to be a cartoonist in a world that screams that being an artist is an impossible dream.” The musical was shelved after a couple of readings, and while Disney is no longer attached, it has drawn the interest of mega-successful Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller (Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights, and the upcoming Hamilton), who will be directing the reading for the TheatreWorks festival. Performances of The Man in the Ceiling are on Aug. 9 and 13. At one of the performances,

how changing communication technology has affected it (readings on Aug. 11 and 15). Festival passes and single tickets are available at (650) 463-1960 or theatreworks.org.

‘Breaking’ back

Theatre Rhino is bringing back its production of Breaking the Code for a late-summer run at the Eureka Theatre. Rhino first staged playwright Hugh Whitemore’s 1986 rendering of the Alan Turing story in March, just as Turing’s saga had gained a high profile thanks to the movie The Imitation Game. Turing was a brilliant, eccentric British cryptologist whose work in cracking Germany’s Enigma code help change the course of World War II. But Turing was also indiscreet about his attraction to other men, leading to a gross indecency conviction and his choice of chemical castration over prison. The play time-travels between his college days, his war work, and the complications of his later life that led to a premature death. Director John Fisher returns to the role of Turing, and other original cast members Val Hendrixson, Patrick Ross, Celia Maurice, and Heren Patel are joined by Kevin Copps, Gloria McDonald, and Frank Wang. Breaking the Code will run Aug. 5-29. Call (800) 838-3006 or go to therhino.org.t

HIOTW_21-BAR-Ad_Dances from the Heart Poster 7/2/15 6:28 PM Page 1

Schubert

Gala Reception ★ Concert ★ After Party with Cast

FEATURING BROADWAY, TV, FILM STARS

JOHN LLOYD YOUNG, CONSTANTINE MAROULIS LORETTA DEVINE, JAI RODRIGUEZ, CAROLE COOK, SUSAN ANTON TV, RECORDING STARS

KIMBERLEY LOCKE, JAKE SIMPSON, LINDSAY PEARCE CABARET/JAZZ STARS

PAULA WEST, SONY HOLLAND B.O.O.B.S!, From The People's Couch SCOTT NEVINS LEA BOURGADE, Concert Violinist SALSAMANIA, World Champion Salsa Dancers WHITE TREE FINE ART, Ballet duo

★

none of its subtlety or insight. His Hungarian Melody has such snap and color that you could be excused for thinking it’s being played on an “old” piano. It’s as rhythmically alert as a Chopin mazurka and unearths a world of feeling in its three-plus enchanting minutes. He plays the last two items, for piano four-hands – the haunting F minor Fantasy and the A minor Allegro – with Jacques Rouvier, his teacher. Their Fantasy, delicate with strong punches, reveals the piece, written for amateurs, as the great bit of late Schubert it is. The “Life Storm” Allegro, a dazzler, rips out of the speakers.t

DAVID GALLIGAN, Director MICHAEL ORLAND, Musical Director TICKETS & INFO

Helpisontheway.org

★

the sound of the instrument decays, and only then presses on. Fray’s command of this great, mature sonata is complete, and it’s intellectually as satisfying as the best of the recordings. But what’s always clear is that it’s Schubert first, the piano second, and then the pianist. Sound and sense call the shots, and Fray listens deeply into both. He’s rightly acknowledged as a master of touch, but that’s a tricky one for pianists, perhaps particularly gay ones, who may be dismissed as more sensitivity than intelligence. Perhaps in compensation, Fray’s playing is bolder than it ever has been on recording before, but it’s sacrificed

★

An important trend in Schubert playing today is accentuating the music’s form-testing modernity. Schubert as we now understand him should seldom be easy listening and, other things being equal, will be among the most emotionally challenging music. But there’s too far with that, too. I anticipated that Schiff ’s performance of the Hungarian Melody in B minor, D. 817, on an instrument he loves would bring unalloyed pleasure. Instead it sounds like noise on a John Cage “prepared” piano. At almost exactly the same time, openly gay pianist (and San Francisco favorite) David Fray came out with his second Schubert disc, Fantaisie (Warner Classics), which contains both the G Major Sonata and the Hungarian Melody, the latter of which is by no means mainstream Schubert. What grabs you about his CD from the opening notes is that it’s all about the music’s direct relationship to the instrument, which may sound tautological, but it’s about the capacity, and limitations, of the instrument defining the far edges of the music – and, in Schubert’s case, the exploitation of those limits. The first thing you notice about Fray’s performance of the G Major Sonata, which opens the disc, is that the “life” of the opening chord determines its duration. It lasts until

★★★

From page 24

★

TBA, the 86-year-old Feiffer will be on hand to autograph copies of The Man in the Ceiling. In Marie and Rosetta, playwright George Brant imagines the first rehearsal between two real-life gospel icons: Sister Rosetta Tharpe and her protege Marie Knight. Brant’s Grounded, starring Anne Hathaway as an Air Force drone operator, was seen earlier this year in New York (and San Francisco Playhouse staged it in 2013). Readings of Marie and Rosetta take place on Aug. 8 and 12. Suzanne Bradbeer’s Confederates has gained hot-topic relevance, but was written well before the Charleston murders upended the Stars and Bars debate. Two reporters looking for headlines learn that the daughter of a presidential candidate once waved the Confederate flag, and all must choose what constitutes news in today’s society. Readings are on Aug. 14 and 16. The festival also includes Lynn Rosen’s Man and Beast, about a complacent social worker unnerved by a client who has found fulfillment by tending to wild animals in his apartment (readings on Aug. 9 and 15), and Jason Gray Platt’s The There There, which follows a relationship over 60 years and explores

★

Judy Gold

On the Tab

NIGHTLIFE

SPIRITS

DINING

The Transporner

SOCIETY

ROMANCE

LEATHER

PERSONALS Vol. 45 • No. 30 • July 23-29, 2015

www.ebar.com V www.bartabsf.com

r e p p i Big Dhe gay rapper,

one by Jim Gladst show came before RuPaul’s e er w ig ns ee qu here drag e now,” says B where bears ar ill ’s w at th ho r, w , ai er e on th sed rapp ne Brooklyn-ba ally re t no t’s “I . Dipper, the ursi ux , July 26 at Bea rperform Sunday ople are just starting to unde fly into town to pe ht ig ra St t. ye lture mainstream cu See page 28 >> ar is.” stand what a be

For t

“W Big Dipper Jelly

g” a Dr w e n e h t “Bear is

Rich Stadtmiller

Big Dipper, worshipped by hunky sailors, in his latest music video.

A trio of hard-nippled hunks at 2012’s Up Your Alley Street Fair.

Hunky D o r up your e a L

lley ris es agai by Race Bann n on

ast year about th is time, I wrote a column abou Fair produced t the Up Your A by Folsom Stre lley Street et Events. That the histor y of th co lumn focused a e fa ir as well as some pe who attend. Now lot on rsonal reflectio I’d like to talk ab ns from kinkster events and expe out other aspect s rience that surr s of the fair itsel ound it. f and the See page 32

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

28 • Bay Area Reporter • July 23-29, 2015

Big Dipper Jelly

Merman Big Dipper.

David Hawe

Big Dipper’s livin’ the thick life.

Big Dipper

From page 27

“Even in the gay world,” says Dipper —who prefers to keep his real name under wraps when promoting his raps— “despite the fact that there are young guys who call themselves bear cubs, I think there’s still an idea among a lot of people that a bear is something that it’s okay to end up as. You may be a twink now, but what will you look like when you’re 55? All roads lead to bear. Take a look at the throwback Thursday photos on Facebook: There are a lot of bears and daddies who were twinks until their metabolism slowed down.” The bear essentials are on eyepopping view in Big Dipper’s music videos, including his latest, the summery jam “Vibin’” in which the Dip sports a day-glo merman (Ariel, not Ethel) tail and frolics on a beach with sailor-capped hunks. While “Vibin’” is certainly amusing, the real not-to-be-missed Dipper clips are the raunchier “Meat Quotient,” “Skank” and his 2011 debut, “Drip Drop” which transgressively samples “Little April Showers,” a tune from Disney’s Bambi. For Dipper, the increased acceptance of bear culture, however slowly, has been a blessing. “I didn’t really grow into my body until I was 22,” says the Chi-

cago-born performer –now in his early 30s– who studied to be a theater director at Ithaca College in upstate New York. “I’d had a full beard on my face for six years,” he said. “As soon as I could grow a beard, I didn’t shave it. But at 22, my entire body seemed to sprout hair in one moment. It was like I woke up and I was covered. I was extremely self-conscious about my back and shoulders and neck. I would never wear a tank top. “Before my first relationship in my late 20s, I was hooking up with people I really wasn’t attracted to, chasing after a blond male model type that I thought I was supposed to like. But I moved back to Chicago when I was 26 to get involved in the theater scene there and ended up putting a cabaret act together with a couple friends –a woman in her 40s and a trained ballet dancer in his 30s– and we did pieces about body-image and gender identity. “We did our act in gay clubs,” Dipper continues. “I started to realize that people were excited to see my body type on stage. I mean, I looked like a fucking plumber from Cincinnati with my big hairy belly dancing around in high heels. Guys would come up to me and hit on me. When someone called me a bear for the first time, and it meant they found me attractive, that was a big deal. I started to realize that everybody is somebody else’s type.”

In a Bear Country In 2011, Dipper and some friends began to noodle around with recording a rap song. “There was no real intent behind it,” he recalls. “We got stoned and were singing funny songs. We were singing the Bambi song and were like, ‘What if we put a beat behind that?’

Big Dipper

“My secret dream was always to be a rapper,” Dipper says. “I grew up listening to hip hop and always liked to make shocking, playful raps for my friends. It actually started with Kriss Kross when I was nine or ten. I remember getting the cassette tape as a holiday gift and jumping around on my bed wearing my clothes backwards like they did. Another of my early favorites –the first CD I ever bought– was Skee-Lo, who rapped ‘I wish I was a little bit taller.’ I’ve always liked hip hop that had jokes in it, and now I see that Skee-Lo was even rapping about body type.” Dipper worked with buddies from Chicago’s theater community to create the video for “Drip Drop.” “I thought it was really good,” he recalls. “So I didn’t want it to be seen by only 50 people. I stepped up my social media game, got on Twitter and started sending it out to gay press. It got picked up by Huffington Post and went viral, partly because it was funny. But also because I think there was a need for someone like me in the world.” There was also unexpected backlash. “I was let go from one of my high school drama teaching jobs after the video came out. Some parents saw it and thought it was inappropriate for me to be teaching kids.” His firing was a major impetus for Dipper’s relocation to Brooklyn, where, within two quick years of recording and public appearanc-

es as Dipper, he was able to drop other jobs voluntarily and be a full time performer. Dipper says he’s experienced very little resistance to being a white rapper. “There have always been people of color at the core of hip hop, but by the time I was growing up in the 1990s, rap and hip hop were mainstream. That was the music I was listening to as a kid. “The thing that’s interesting about hip hop though,” he continues, “is that even as it’s become mainstream, its also always had very local sub-communities. There’s a very specific hip hop scene in Tokyo, in Madagascar, in India, in Russia.” And now in bear country. “Authenticity matters in hip hop, and the way I do it is authentic to me,” said Dipper. “I’m funny and I’m bawdy, with a touch of burlesque. That’s me, that’s my background. I don’t try to convey someone else’s experience by snatching someone else’s story or style. I’m a white person from the suburbs. I’m gay. I’m Jewish. I’m big. I’m covered with hair. And hip hop is my favorite kind of music.”t Big Dipper performs at Beaux Sunday, July 26 at the Dore Alley after-party, with RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Milk Queen, DJs Becky Knox and Ernie Cote; show at 11pm. $5 (no cover before 9pm). 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 23-29, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 29

Judy Gold

Golden Girl Judy Gold at Feinstein’s by David-Elijah Nahmod

udy Gold, nice Jewish girl, mother, Emmy winner, and lesbian, brings her outrageous brand of Yiddish dyke humor to Feinstein’s at the Hotel Nikko. The comedy legend will perform one show only, at 8pm on July 30. Like many, Gold is still bathing in the afterglow of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling which legalized same sex marriage nationwide. “It was an incredible day,” Gold said in an interview. “My mom had passed away the week before, so I had gone to Temple to say Kaddish, then went home and went back to sleep. My partner Lisa woke me up when the news broke. I had talked about being a gay parent long before it was fashionable to do so. I can’t believe it. I’m thrilled!” It was a rare serious moment for a woman who is best known for leaving audiences in stitches. “The fight has not ended,” she said. “It’s a continual fight. It’s important that we not forget all the battles that we fought.” Gold looked back upon the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, when an entire

generation was decimated. “When a community can come together to fight that disease, it shows the strength of the community,” Gold said. “We should be proud of what we accomplished by coming out of the closet.” Gold also spoke about one of her personal heroes and inspirations. “I love Eleanor Roosevelt,” she said. “She changed the role of the First Lady. She was fearless in voicing her opinions, truly a transformative figure for women. She broke down barriers.” Gold again spoke of her late mom, who was perhaps her biggest fan, and fodder for much of her comedy. “She used to ask me for residuals,” Gold recalled. Her teenaged son is also a member of her fan club, though he rarely admits to it. Gold told us that NBC’s Law and Order, a series she gueststarred on, is her son’s favorite show. “He won’t say if he thought it was good, but he shows it to people,” Gold said. “That’s how I know he likes it.” Gold promises that her show at Feinstein’s will offer a lot of laughs, and that there will be new material.

“Your act changes as you go through life,” she said. “Though my opinions on erectile dysfunction ads are very clear. How can I sit with my 13-year-old and hear about a 60-year-old who can’t get it up? No one gives a shit. Go to your doctor.” She warned that she might try to talk about dry vaginas. Then there’s social media. “I have a love/hate relationship with social media,” she said. “Everyone’s on the fucking phone all the time.” She complained that current technology makes it impossible to make crank calls these days. “I’ll talk about my family and my relationships,” Gold said. “The show will be hilarious.” As our chat ended, Gold revealedBAR 3.75x5 online appointment ad v3.indd that she and her partner Lisa were planning on getting married. “We hope to find a three-bedroom, twobath apartment in New York City for under $25 million.” t

8/15/14 10:17 AM

Media Sales Executive

Judy Gold performs at Feinstein’s at the Nikko, Thursday, July 30. $25-$40. 8pm. ($20 food/drink min.). Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.judygold.com www.ticketweb.com

San Francisco, CA

Seek new business opportunities with advertisers looking to market to customers through all forms of media—the web, print, and event sponsorships campaigns. Responsibilities will include but not be limited to: • Talking to a wide variety of business owners • Developing new clients through prospecting, cold-calling and networking • Manage the sales process from beginning to end—from prospecting to proposal and presentation, closing, campaign implementation through post-campaign analysis • Other duties as assigned Qualifications/Key Requirements: • 2 years minimum sales experience with strong sales skills, a proven track record and references • Proficiency in identifying and establishing prospect lists • Must be a problem solver and creative thinker, able to develop sales solutions based on customers’ needs • Proficiency in developing client proposals and presentations • Excellent communication skills—email, phone, face-to-face • Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications Ideal Candidates Will Possess: • Exceptional organization skills • Self-motivation with strong team collaboration • Knowledge of the product, market, competition, agencies and/or clients We offer a very attractive compensation package with potential for commission growth for talented applicants. Medical & retirement benefits. To apply, tell us about you in a cover letter and send your resume to advertising@ebar.com.

Judy Gold

BAR Media, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer, dedicated to promoting a culturally diverse work environment.

<< On the Tab

30 • Bay Area Reporter • July 23-29, 2015

On the Tab July 23–30

Xcess Thursdays @ The Café

Bearracuda @ Beatbox

idsummer fun has a lot of ‘80s music flashbacks. Seriously, it’s like my 20s are the new …whatever we call this decade. Culture Club, Morrissey, Blondie, Ricky Lee Jones, Pat Benatar! Goodness, it’s difficult to choose. Good luck! Oh, yes, and the Up Your Alley street fair and its related events should bring out contemporary and classic kinks.

Best in Show @ Beatbox Playpen Collective’s first annual Pup contest, a new pre-Up Your Alley street fair event, with proceeds going to Wagz Pack’s Service Pups. Canine kink welcome. $10-$15. 7pm-11pm. 314 11th St. www.beatboxsf.com

Big Talk @ DNA Lounge The alt-rock band performs. Picture Atlantic and The Trims open. $15 and up. 8:30pm. 375 11th St. www.dnalounge.com

Bulge @ Powerhouse Grace Towers hosts the weekly gogotastic night of sexy dudes shakin’ their bulges and getting wet in their undies for $100 prize (contest at midnight), and dance beats spun by DJ DAMnation. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Champagne White and the Temple of Poon @ Oasis D’Arcy Drollinger’s sequel to the hilarious hit comedy Shit & Champagne, with a women’s prison-themed parody and suspense-filled action-comedy show. $25-$200 (four-person VIP table). Thu-Sat 7pm. Thru Sept 12. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Circle Jerk @ Nob Hill Theatre Max Cameron (who performs onstage July 24 & 25) leads a very interactive session downstairs at the historic strip joint. $10. 9pm. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Fuego @ The Watergarden, San Jose Weekly event, with Latin music, halfoff locker fees and Latin men, at the South Bay private men’s bath house. $8-$39. Reg hours 24/7. 18+. 1010 The Alameda. (408) 275-1215. www.thewatergarden.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge The weekly drag show continues, with gogo guys and hilarious fun. $5. 9pm2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Morgan James @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko Singer-songwriter actress performs her unique cabaret act, with songs ranging from Prince to her own music from her debut CD, Hunter. $35-$50. ($20 food/drink min.) 8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.morganjamesonline.com www.ticketweb.com

Nap’s Karaoke @ Virgil’s Sea Room Sing out loud at the weekly least judgmental karaoke in town, hosted by the former owner of the bar. No cover. 9pm. 3152 Mission St. 8292233. www.virgilssf.com

Nightlife @ California Academy of Sciences Themed event nights at the fascinating nature museum, with DJed dancing, cocktails, fish, frogs, food and fun. July 23: Dinosaur Nightlife, with Slayers Club performing live, Jurassic Park-themed demos, exhibits and fossil fun. $10-$12. 6pm-10pm, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle Music with local and touring bands. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sfeagle.com

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Disco guru DJ Bus Station John spins grooves at the intimate retro music night. $4. 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

Funny Fun @ Club 21, Oakland

The notoriously naughty underwear party returns in time for Up Your Alley weekend, with DJs Louis Lennon, Del Stamp, plus swarthy gogo bears. $10. 9:30pm-3am. 314 11th St. bearracuda.com www.beatboxsf.com

Blondie, Melissa Etheridge @ Mountain Winery, Saratoga The classic pop-punk band and the folk-rock singer share a night at the elegant outdoor ampitheatre. Dinner and wines available. $50-$130. 14831 Pierce Road, Saratoga. www.axs.com

Some Thing @ The Stud

Sat 25

Bay of Pigs @ Factory The official dance event of Up Your Alley Street Fair, with DJs Phil B and Philip Grasso, a sexy dungeon space and sexy gogos. Leather/fetish gear strongly encouraged (clothes check usually $5). $35. 10pm-4am. 525 Harrison St. www.folsomstreetevents.org

Enjoy cheap/free whiskey shots from jock-strapped hotties and sexy sports videos at the popular sports bar. 10pm-2am. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Mother @ Oasis Heklina’s weekly drag show night at the fabulous renovated SoMa nightclub; plus DJ MC2 and guests. July 25, Sister Roma and Boomer Banks cohost a sleazy pre-Up Your Alley pornfest. $10-$15. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Pound Puppy @ F8 The Dore Alley Weekend edition of the sexy canine-themed dance party feautures DJs Harry & Jpeg, Doc Sleep & Jordee, Taco Tuesday & Kevin O’Connor. $10. 10pm-4am. 1192 Folsom St. www.feightsf.com

Fri 24 Blondie and Melissa Etheridge @ Mountain Winery

Hard Fridays @ Qbar DH Haute Toddy’s weekly electro-pop night with hotty gogos. $3. 9pm-2am (happy hour 4pm-9pm). 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Hog Wild @ SF Eagle Official opening party of Up Your Alley Street Fair weekend, with a dark leather kink, uniform, no-cellphone ambiance, plus leather-clad gogo guys; DJs Robot Hustle, Josh Cheon 9pm-2am. $10 in gear, $15 w/o. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com www.folsomstreetevents.org

Empire Ballroom @ Empire Room Gus Presents’ Mad Max-themed dance event features DJs Guy Ruben, Cindel, and Juan, a Drum Wars performance, and lots of men dressed liked sexy road warriors. $20-$30 9pm-4am. 555 Golden Gate. guspresents.com www.empireballroomsf.com

Stanley Frank spins house dance remixes at the intimate Castro dance bar. $3. 9pm-2am (weekly beer bust 2pm-9pm). 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

ShangriLa @ The Endup Panda, the Black and White Ball at the Asian gay night, with Griffin White, Jeff Morena, Khmera Rouge and Tintin V. $10-$20. 10pm-6am/ 6th St. at Harrison. www.shangrilasf.net The Polyglamorous crew (Mark O’Brien, M*J*R) welcome guest DJ Jackie House (Honey Soundsystem) as they celebrate Dore Alley weekend with a Berlin-style sneaker and sports fetish dance party; dress code enforced! $10-$15. 3pm-9pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

The handsome Tony Award-winning star of Jersey Boys performs his cabaret show, which includes songs from his new album, My Turn. $70$85. 8pm. Also July 25, 7pm. ($20 food/drink min.) Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.johnlloydyoung.com www.ticketweb.com

The saucy women’s burlesque revue’s weekend show; different musical guests each week. Also Wednesday nights. $10-$20. 7:30pm. 314 11th St. www.redhotsburlesque.com www.beatboxsf.com

Saturgay @ Qbar

Sneaks @ Oasis

John Lloyd Young @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko

Red Hots Burlesque @ Beatbox

John Lloyd Young @ Feinstein’s

The former Smiths lead singer performs solo and favorite Smiths songs. Amanda Palmer opens. $60-$65. 8pm. 290 7th St. (408) 9246360. www.axs.com

Valeria Branch’s new weekly comedy night, where she embodies her faux queen character Pia Messing, for some offbeat wit, with Donald Lacy and Sandra Risser. $5. 8pm-10pm. 2565 Mission St. www.balancoiresf.com

Weekly drag shows at the last transgender-friendly bar in the Polk; with hosts Victoria Secret, Alexis Miranda and several performers. Also Saturdays. $10. 11pm. 1081 Polk St. www.divassf.com

Fri 24

Morrissey @ San Jose State University

Comedy Noir @ Balancoire

Midnight Show @ Divas

Literary Speakeasy @ Martuni’s

Dore Alley Weekend underwear party at the (sadly soon to be closed) fun SoMa gay bar. No cover. 9pm-2am. 1900 Folsom St.

Post-Pride thank you party with Latin music, a dozen hot gogos and live songs by Carmen Rios. $15. 10pm2am. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

It’s a Dore Weekend pornfest, with Cameron performing w/Jackson Fillmore and Logan Moore. $25. 8pm & 10pm. Also July 25. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Gym Class @ Hi Tops

Milkman @ Truck

Club Papi @ Oasis

Sugar @ The Cafe Dance, drink, cruise at the Castro club. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Max Cameron @ Nob Hill Theatre

LGBT comedy night hosted by Dan Mires. $10. 8pm. 2111 Franklin St. Oakland. (510) 268-9425. www.club21oakland.com

The new monthly reading series at the intimate martini bar is hosted by James J. Siegel (Guy Writers), with Mark Abramson ( Sex, Drugs & Disco ), July Westhale (poet and Fullbright nominee), Elizabeth Creely (California environmentalist and essayist) and Natalia Rose (musician with the band Raven Marcus). 7pm-8:30pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www. facebook.com/LiterarySpeakeasy

Fri 24

Mica Sigourney and pals’ weekly offbeat drag performance night. 10pm2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Natalie Merchant and the “original indie” band perform at the scenic theatre and restaurant. $40-100. 8pm. 1030 Main St., Napa. (707) 260-1600. www.citywinery.com Also July 25, 7:30pm ($49-$79) at Yoshi’s Oakland, 510 Embarcadero. (510) 238-9200. www.yoshis.com www.maniacs.com

Loretta Devine, part of Help is on the Way XXI: Hollywood Glam @ Palace of Fine Arts

Thu 23

The jazz-pop singer is back, with new and classic songs. $40-$60. 8pm. 1290 Sutter St. www.rickieleejones.com www.theregencyballroom.com

10,000 Maniacs @ City Winery, Napa; Yoshi’s

Sun 26

Ricky Lee Jones @ Regency Ballroom

Frisco Robbie and Persia’s dance and pop music night gets the weekend started, with gogo guys and gals, plus drink specials and guest DJs. No cover. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Sun 26

Beer Bust @ SF Eagle

Fri 24 DJ Louis Lennon at Bearracuda @ Beatbox

Flagging in the Park @ AIDS Memorial Grove Robbie Leslie is the guest DJ at the outdoor flagging event-fundraiser, with ample room for picnicing. 12:30pm-4:30pm. Nancy Pelosi Drive at Golden Gate Drive. www.flaggercentral.com www.aidsmemorial.org

The classic leather bar’s most popular Sunday daytime event in town draws the menfolk. Beer bust donations benefit local nonprofits. 3pm-6pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Big Dipper @ Beaux The gay bear rapper performs at the Dore Alley after-party, with RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Milk Queen, DJs Becky Knox and Ernie Cote; show at 11pm. $5 (no cover before 9pm). 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

On the Tab>>

July 23-29, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 31

Mon 27 Beat It @ Oasis

80s music party, with black light, cheap beer and acidwash jeans welcome. No cover. 8pm-2am. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Cindi Goldfield @ Oasis

Thu 23

Max Cameron @ Nob Hill Theatre

GlamaZone @ The Cafe Pollo del Mar’s weekly drag shows take on different themes with a comic edge. 8:30-11:30pm. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Hard French @ Oasis Jason Kendig and CarrieOnDisco guestspin at the Dore Alley Weekend event, with residents Brown Amy and Carnita. $10. 6pm-12am. 298 11th St. www.hardfrench.com www.sfoasis.com

Jock @ The Lookout

Talented local singer performs with collaborator David Aaron Brown. $15. 7pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Gaymer Meetup @ Brewcade The weekly LGBT video game enthusiast night include bigscreen games, and signature beers, with a new remodeled layout, including an outdoor patio. No cover. 7pm-11pm. 2200 Market St. www.brewcadesf.com

Hysteria @ Oasis Irene Tu and Jessica Sele cohost the new comedy open mic night for women and queers. No cover. 6pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Mahogany Mondays @ Midnight Sun Honey Mahogany’s weekly drag and musical talent show starts around 10pm. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey’s Ronn Vigh hosts the weekly LGBT and gay-friendly comedy night. One-drink or menu item minimum. 9pm. 500 Castro St. at 18th. 431-HARV. www.harveyssf.com

Gaymer Night @ SF Eagle Gay gaming fun on the bar’s big screen TVs. Have a nerdgasm and a beer with your pals. 8pm. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Naked Night @ Nob Hill Theatre Participatory strip and stripper night. $10. 9pm. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 3976758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Stoli Cocktail Classic Honors @ Beaux Meet the winner of the vodka cocktail competition, Beaux bartender Matthew Mello, with a check presentation to his chosen chairty. 6pm-9pm. 2344 Market St. www.BeauxSF.com

Switch @ Q Bar

Wed 29

Weekly women’s night at the stylish intimate bar. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Underwear Night @ Club OMG Weekly underwear night includes free clothes check, and drink specials; different hosts each week. $3. 10pm2am. Preceded by Open Mic Comedy, 7pm, no cover. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Planet Booty @ Bottom of the Hill

B.P.M. @ Club BnB, Oakland Olga T and Shugga Shay’s weekly queer women and men’s R&B hip hop and soul night, at the club’s new location. No cover. 8pm-2am. 2120 Broadway, Oakland. www.bench-and-bar.com

Follies @ Oasis Holotta Tymes hosts the new weekly variety show with female impersonation acts, and barbeque in the front Fez Room. $20. 7pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Man Francisco @ Oasis

I ❤ the ‘80s Clockwise from Top Left: Rickie Lee Jones @ The Regency Fri 24, Morrissey @ SJSU Sat 25, Pat Benatar @ Mountain Winery, Wed 29, Culture Club @ The Greek Theatre, Sat 25

Enjoy the weekly jock-ular fun, with DJed dance music at sports team fundraisers. 12pm-1am. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Thu 30

Play @ City Nights

Planet Booty @ Bottom of the Hill

Sunday Brunch, Xtravaganza @ Balancoire Weekly live music shows with various acts, along with brunch, mimosas, champagne and more, at the stylish nightclub and restaurant; shows at 12:30pm, 1:30pm and 2:45pm. After that, T-Dance drag shows at 7pm, 10pm and 11pm. 2565 Mission St. at 21st. 920-0577. www.balancoiresf.com

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room Donna Sachet hosts the weekly fabulous brunch and drag show. $45. 11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square. 395-8595. www.starlightroomsf.com

Up Your Alley Street Fair @ Dore & Folsom Streets The annual ‘dirty little brother’ of the Folsom Street Fair returns, with beer and drinks, DJed music (David Harness, Crystal Jones, Josh Whitaker, Ernie Cote, Dan De Leon, Derek Hena), public displays of, well, anything; kink, fetish, or just a bit of leather; promo and beverage booths hosted by local nonprofits and businesses. Gate donations. 11am-6:30pm. Folsom Street bet. 9th & 10th, and Dore Alley. www.folsomstreetevents.org

The pop icon shares a concert with the rock musician at the elegant outdoor ampitheatre. Dinner and wines available. $45-$95. 7:30pm. 14831 Pierce Road, Saratoga. www.axs.com

Sing along at the popular musical theatre night; also Wednesdays. 7pm2am. 2 for 1 cocktail, 5pm-closing. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Name That Beat @ Toad Hall BeBe Sweetbriar hosts a weekly musical trivia challenge and drag show. 8:30-11:30pm. 4146 18th St. at Castro. www.toadhallbar.com

Piano Bar 101 @ Martuni’s Sing-along night with talented locals, and charming accompanist Joe Wicht (aka Trauma Flintstone). 9pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

Underwear Night @ 440 Strip down to your skivvies at the popular men’s night. 9pm-2am. 440 Castro St. 621-8732. www.the440.com

Tue 28 13 Licks @ Qbar

The “lezzie queer dance party” brings out the femmes and butches. 9pm2am. 456 Castro St. 864-2877. www.qbarsf.com

Cock Shot @ Beaux Shot specials and adult Bingo games, with DJs Chad Bays and Riley Patrick, at the new weekly night. No cover. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Wed 29 Booty Call @ QBar

Juanita More! and her weekly intimate –yet packed– dance party. $10-$15. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.qbarsf.com

Bottoms Up Bingo @ Hi Tops Play board games and win offbeat prizes at the popular sports bar. 9pm. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Thu 30 Our Lady J @ Oasis

The veteran folk-rock singer (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) performs with his band. $70-$80. 8pm. 1030 Main St., Napa. (707) 260-1600. www.citywinery.com

Open Mic/Comedy @ SF Eagle

Pat Benetar, Niel Giraldo @ Mountain Winery, Saratoga

Monday Musicals @ The Edge

Stephen Stills @ City Winery, Napa

Wooden Nickel Wednesday @ 440

The weekly barbeque brunch on the newly opened rooftop deck, with Mimosas and Bloody Mary cocktails, gets combined with Comppund, the Dorey Alley sexy edition. 11am-3pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com Official after-T dance of Up Your Alley Street Fair, with DJ Russ Rich; leather/ fetish gear encouraged, fruit & snack table, chill space and more. $50-$65. 5pm-12am. 715 Harrison St. www.folsomstreetevents.org

The weekly dancing competition for gogo wannabes. 9pm. cash prizes, $2 well drinks (2 for 1 happy hour til 9pm). Show at 9pm. 4146 18th St. www.toadhallbar.com

New weekly all-male striptease revue with a storyline of San Francisco’s history, from the Gold Rush to the tech boom, performed by sexy local hunks. Weekly. $20. 9pm. Thru July. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Kollin Holts hosts the weekly comedy and open mic talent night. 6pm-8pm. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Morning After BBQ @ Oasis

So You Think You Can Gogo? @ Toad Hall

The fun Oakland funk band will get your booty shaking. Jamaican Queens and Phone Sex Operators also play. $10. 9pm. 1233 17th St. www.planetbooty.org www.bottomofthehill.com

Pussy Party @ Beaux Weekly women’s happy hour, with allwomen music and live performances, 2 for 1 drinks, and no cover. 5pm-9am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Buy a drink and get a wooden nickle good for another. 12pm-2am. 440 Castro St. 621-8732. www.the440.com

Chemical Brothers, Brodinski @ The Armory Hard San Francisco features internationally known electronic music stars and DJs. $50. 8pm-3am. 333 14th St. www.hardfest.com

Judy Gold @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The Emmy Award-winning actress, writer and comedian returns with her latest batch of insightful wit and comedy. $25-$40. 8pm. ($20 food/ drink min.). Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.judygold. com www.ticketweb.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge The dearly missed Cookie Dough’s weekly drag show continues, with themed events and cute gogo guys. $5. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Our Lady J @ Oasis The Gospel of Dolly, the fab chanteuse’s tribute to Dolly Parton, with a gospel choir! $20. 10pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Thursday Night Live @ Eagle Live bands- usually, rock, punk and always good- perform at the famed leather bar. 8:30pm first band. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Todd Rundgren @ City Winery, Napa The indie rock icon performs as part of his Global tour. $45-$65. 8pm. 1030 Main St., Napa. (707) 260-1600. www.citywinery.com Want your nightlife event listed? Facebook invites aren’t enough. Email events@ebar.com, at least two weeks before your event. Event photos welcome.

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

32 • Bay Area Reporter • July 23-29, 2015

Hunky Dore

From page 27

Each year Up Your Alley rises from the minds, hearts and backs of a lot of great people who ensure that this venerable institution continues its long San Francisco run. But what impact does this event have on the city? In April, 2015, Supervisor Scott Wiener released a San Francisco Controller’s Office study on the economic impact of outdoor events such as Up Your Alley in San Francisco. The study concluded that such events draw millions of visitors each year with event attendees Rich Stadtmiller spending more than $1 billion locally that supports 9,300 jobs in A strapping good time at last year’s Up Your Alley street fair. industries ranging from retail and food services to accommodations David Harness and Derek Hena DJ rocky coming out – to yourself and and transportation. set. And the fair will stop at 6:30pm others – as kinky. KuF’s goal is to Up Your Alley, and its bigger instead of 6:00pm. craft a safe space for young men to brother, Folsom Street Fair, are a big “We’re also celebrating with exexplore kink more easily. It’s part of that impact. While the imtra events like Hog Wild on Friday amazing what seeing peers pact of Folsom Street Fair night at the SF Eagle. That’s more who share your interests is dramatically larger of a gear party with proceeds bendoes to help you not feel than that of Up Your efiting Folsom Street Events. Honey alone. Up Your Alley Alley, the little brother Soundsystem DJs are being featured and Folsom Street Fair of the street fairs still along with some hot dancers and are so empowering and contributes a great deal. some retro decor. We’re really excommunal that we are Interestingly, most Up cited about that! getting rid of the upperYour Alley attendees are “We can’t wait to hear the Gayle age range for those two not from San Francisco. Rubin talk about the history of play parties. All ages 18+ Survey results indicate Up Your Alley at the LDG talk on are invited!” that 49% were San FranWednesday night, too. Then, there’s Moshoyannis also referred to cisco residents while 51% were from the BLUF dinner and PLAY! to wrap what we might see this year at Up out of town. 29% were from Bay up the weekend. So much going on!” Your Alley that’s new or changed. Area locales outside of San FranIndeed, there is a lot going cisco, 10% from elsewhere in on. Another new event is the California, 10% from someSan Francisco Best in Show where else in the U.S., and contest taking place at Beat3% from another country. box on July 23 at 7pm. It’s That’s a lot of out of town produced by Playpen Collecmoney and cultural mixing. tive, a group of community The total visitor impact of activists between the leather the Up Your Alley Fair was and drag worlds, and they are estimated to be $10.0 million, looking to find the next Pup including $2.2 million at reand Handler that has what it tail trade establishments, $1.9 takes to be the next commumillion at restaurants, and nity leader. $2.2 million at hotels. Another new event is Here’s how Demetri MoSneaks at SF Oasis on July 25 shoyannis, Executive Direcat 3pm. The guys from Polytor of Folsom Street Events, glamorous are bringing to the organization that proSan Francisco a Berlin-style duces Up Your Alley, assesses sneaker and sports fetish the survey results. dance party. Only someone “We at Folsom Street not paying attention would Events had always assumed not realize that sports gear has that Up Your Alley was overbecome its own subset fetish whelmingly local. But acand scene within the larger cording to the survey results leather and kink world. So in the Comptroller’s report, now guys into such fetishes that’s not entirely true – it’s have an event just for them to actually almost a 50/50 split attend. between locals and out-ofWhile it’s not actually part towners. We weren’t expectof the Up Your Alley week’s ing that. It’s good to know assortment of activities, I’d that there are leather folks like to point out one more that want to visit San Franthing happening, because too cisco so they can appreciate often the women in our scene our local leather scene. We don’t have their groups or should never take for granted events highlighted enough. all we have to offer in terms The San Francisco girls of great fetish organizations, of Leather (SFgoL) will hold nonprofits, events, parties, their monthly business meetand so on.” ing on August 6 at Chase Bank Up Your Alley brings with in the Castro at 7:30pm. I’m it not only a lot of money very impressed by this club. spent to boost our local Its quickly growing membereconomy, but also a great ship shows they are meeting time for kinksters. So, besides a need of the local women’s the fair itself, there are a lot leather and kink community. of other events that precede If you might be interested in and surround the fair, creatthis club, this meeting would ing a smaller version of what be a good introduction. is often referred to as Leather Enjoy Up Your Alley and Week during Folsom Street all of the events surroundRich Stadtmiller Fair time. ing it. Make sure to check Each year seems to bring Top: Porn actor Dirk Caber welcomes a volunout this column’s calendar, with it new events added to teer at the Steamworks Twister game in 2012. the already packed Up Your Bottom: Leather women at 2012’s Up Your Alley because there’s a lot going on and you’ll need to plan your Alley week. If you reference street fair. week carefully ahead of time. this column’s calendar, you’ll Aren’t we lucky to live in a city see a lot of them listed. that offers so much? It’s a pretty good “This year we are celebrating the One new event this year is the life these days being an SF Bay Area 30th Up Your Alley. In actuality, we KuF (Kinksters under Forty) play kinkster.t don’t know if it’s the 30th or not, beparty with this one being open to cause of some discrepancies in the men of all ages. early history of the event. RegardRace Bannon is a local author, I asked Mark Sade, founder of blogger and activist. less, we are choosing to celebrate its KuF, why he started the group and www.bannon.com longevity and impact this year with what made this particular party difa XXX vibe. There will be a slightly ferent from the others. For Leather Events Listings, larger stage with a vocal perfor“Ask around,” he said. “Many see page 34 mance by Krystle Jones during the guys will tell you it has been pretty

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 23-29, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 33

The Transporner

Pornteam

Israel Oka and Cyd St. Vincent, getting friendly before getting down, in Gender Benders 2.

by John F. Karr

like scrounging around in Alternadudes DVDs. I appreciate the alternative they allow to the confines of mainstream porn, in DVDs with self-explanatory titles like, Goth Cock, Finding Emo, Long Locks Hard Cocks, and Rocker Sex. While some of their guys are a bit too real for me, quite a few are a turn on. Mostly because, as Alternadudes publicity says, “These guys are real and off the streets. They’re scruffy, shaggy, pierced up, long-haired.” The films are amateur looking; I think of Alterna-flix as grunge porn. Without seeking sensation, they’ve recently offered a couple of movies with trans guys, and then some. Copy on the box of Gender Benders 2 tells us that the movie features “men with pussies, femme dudes who want to be women, femme dudes who like being men, and the studs, pigs and twinks who like to fuck them.” That’s quite a lot of ground to cover in five scenes spanning an hour and a half. But the individual 18-minute sessions do it. The movie has only one concession to mainstream standards of ‘pretty’ among its five tops. Jace is well-toned and tanned, and sinuous as a panther. The movie’s four other alterna-tops are rougher, carry more heft. Lance Blass, Lorne Rox, Christian Matthews and Israel Oka aren’t gym guys, but they’re big. Rox’s head is

shaved bald, Matthews has a ring through his nose and wears a somber watchman’s cap, and Oka’s ear stretches are mighty broad. None have been miserly with inking. All four look like they work in some mechanic’s garage. Or maybe they load freight. Yeah, that sounds like they look. Let’s take femme dudes who like being men. You may snort at that, but I’ve been well done by some nellies. In this batch, it’s Tyler Tremallose, a slender twink whose unkempt hair falls over his shoulders, in knots of an unreal henna color. His crotch is shaved; his cock is handsome. He’s a sloppy cocksucker; when he’s done working on Christian Matthews, there are puddles of spit on the floor. And, surprise, it’s the twink who

tops the toughie. Though Tremallose is willowy and wafer-sliced, he pounds the burly Matthews fiercely. Calling Skittles a femme dude who wants to be a woman may be misleading, or even confining for Skittles, who’s a rather plain-faced kid, pale and bald. He squeaks and whimpers when Rox fucks him. It’s not a real butch sound, but it conveys the intense affect of his fuck just fine. And Rox’s cock is throttled by a black rubber cock ring. At the end, Skittle’s load whitewashes his abdomen, and Rox blasts his face. Roxy Red is an attenuated, smooth twink of the emo genre. His long black hair is bound in a ponytail in the back, and falls in the front in such a Veronica Lake sheaf across his face that the first time we actually see it is when Blass has him pinned on his back to receive a copious anointment of cum. Before that, Red rode on Blass’ cock heartily, looking as fragile as a wishbone straddling the thick and beefy Blass. That brings us to the movie’s trans men, porn pro Cyd St. Vincent, and James Darling, a Bay Area-based artist and sex educator who has been awarded for his work across multiple porn genres. Here’s what I like about them— there’s no sense of enacted or aggrandized masculinity about either one. They’re just regular guys. With alterna-genitals. In the first scene, 25-year-old Mr. Darling is partnered by the handsome Jace, who says while being blown, “I always like looking down between my legs and seeing a boy.” Which subtly comments on Darling having had a previous gender expression. And though Darling seems a little ill at ease, he’s abandoned when sucking cock and deep-throating, and vocal when Jace eats his pussy. When he’s fucked,

Cyd St. Vincent and Israel Oka getting intimate, in a Gender Benders 2 screengrab.

Pornteam

Toughie and twink—Christian Matthews and Tyler Tremallose, in in Gender Benders 2.

I’ll admit it was a little strange, momentarily disorienting, to hear a guy say, “You like having your cock in my pussy?” A guy’s pussy? Well, hey; it’s a new world. And when Jace cums, he lays a copious amount on Darling’s tongue. The movie’s final scene is a star turn for Cyd St. James. His body carries lots of ink, and his moderately hairy torso shows no signs of breast removal scars. He has a vigorous session with Israel Oka, who mulches his face down into Cyd’s pussy, making visibly hard what both of them refer to as Cyd’s dick, and which the rest of us might call his clit. I don’t know if you’ve looked at one of those things recently, but in many ways that’s just what it is, a little dick. It welcomes manipulation in much the same manner as a dick, and Oka sucks it to orgasm. Cyd’s second orgasm is the result of Oka aggressively mashing four fingers into Cyd’s cleft. Then, as a parting shot, Cyd gets a face and mouthful of Oka ointment.t www.PornTeam.com

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

34 • Bay Area Reporter • July 23-29, 2015

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Leather Events, July 23-August 7, 2015 Thu 23 IN GEAR - Annual BLUFsf Up Your Alley Dinner @ Don Ramon’s Restaurant 6th annual BLUF dinner in San Francisco, leading up to Dore Alley Fair. 6pm. Contact BLUFsf@yahoo. com to reserve seats.

San Francisco: Best in Show Contest @ Beatbox Playpen Collective is a group of community activists between the leather and drag worlds, and we are looking to find the next Pup and Handler that has what it takes to be the next community leader. 314 11th St., $10 in advance, $15 at door. 7pm. www.beatboxsf.com

Boots, Bourbon & Cigars! @ Stompers Boots Come join Stompers Boots for a night of Boots, Bourbon, & Cigars! 323 10th St., 9pm. www.stompersboots.com

Fri 24 Up Your Alley Kickoff Party @ Powerhouse

Hog Wild - The Official Opening Party of Up Your Alley @ SF Eagle For folks of a certain mindset, we’re throwing an old school kind of leather party. 398 12th St., $10 if you’re in gear, $15 if you’re in street clothes, 9pm. www.sf-eagle.com

Sober Kink Together @ Castro Country Club Officially a CMA meeting, but open to all Anonymous 12-step Fellowship members, 4058 18th St., 9:30pm.

Gear Party @ 442 Natoma Gear play party (leather, rubber, harnesses, etc.) for gay men. 442 Natoma St., $15 (requires $5 membership), 10pm. www.442parties.com/

Sat 25 Boys, Beer & Gear: Up Your Alley Edition @ Mr. S Leather In-store party to celebrate Up Your Alley. 385 8th St., 11am. www.mr-sleather.com

Sneaks @ SF Oasis

Raffles, games, prizes and drink specials. Benefiting AIDS Emergency Fund and Positive Resource Center. 1347 Folsom St., 7pm. www. barechest.org

Dore Alley weekend, the boys from Polyglamorous bring you a Berlin style sneaker and sports fetish dance party. 298 11th St., $10 in advance, $15 at door. 3pm. www.sfoasis.com

Leather/Gear Buddies @ Blow Buddies

WRUFF!! @ The Edge

Erotic fun for leather and gear guys, $15, 933 Harrison St., 8pm. www.blowbuddies.com

Bring your Sirs, Daddies, Masters, Alphas, boys, pups, slaves, and friends to join us Saturday of Up Your Alley Fair weekend to enjoy all you can drink beer on tap for $10. 4149 18th St., 4pm. www.edgesf.com

The 15 Association Men’s Play Party @ Alchemy A men’s BDSM play party during their Associate’s Weekend. 1060 Folsom St., 8pm. www.the15sf.org

Golden Shower Buddies @ Blow Buddies A men’s water sports night, $15 with membership, 933 Harrison St., 8pm. www.blowbuddies.com

Bay of Pigs @ The Sound Factory The official Saturday night dance event of Up Your Alley weekend. 525 Harrison St., $35, 10pm. folsomstreetevents.org/bayofpigs

Sun 26 Up Your Alley @ Folsom Street from 9th/Juniper Up Your Alley is only for real players - and not for the faint of heart - where leather daddies rule the streets of San Francisco’s South of Market district. 11am. folsomstreetevents.org/upyouralley

Annual Back Patio Boot Party @ Stompers Boots Each year we open up our back patio to all our booted friends that come out for this amazing day. 323 10th St., 11am. www.stompersboots.com

Up Your Alley Sunday @ SF Eagle Demos, GoGos, Sweaty Hot Men and DJ-driven music. 398 12th St., Noon. www.sf-eagle.com

PLAY T-Dance @ City Nights Flirt. Frolic. Dance. 715 Harrison St., $60, 5pm. www.play1507. eventbrite.com

KuF (Plus) @ SF Citadel SF Kinksters under Forty (KuF) presents a sexy all-ages men’s play party in SF’s largest dungeon space. 181 Eddy St., 6pm. Tickets and info at www.SFKuF.org

Mon 27 Ride Mondays @ Eros A motorcycle rider and leathermen night at Eros, bring your helmet, AMA card, MC club card or club colors and get $3 off entry or massage. 2051 Market St. www.erossf.com

Tue 28 GameGear @ Wicked Grounds Game night hosted by Rubber Men of San Francisco. 289 8th St., 7:30pm. www.rmsf.org

Magnet Book Club @ Magnet This month’s book is John Preston’s Mr. Benson. This should be of interest to local kinksters. 4122 18th St., 8pm. www.magnetsf.org

Fri 31 Sober Kink Together @ Castro Country Club Officially a CMA meeting, but open to all Anonymous 12-step Fellowship members, 4058 18th St., 9:30pm. www.castrocountryclub.org

Gear Party @ 442 Natoma Gear play party (leather, rubber, harnesses, etc.) for gay men. 442 Natoma St., $15 (requires $5 membership), 10pm. www.442parties.com/

Sat 1 SF Young Leathermen’s Discussion Group Beer Bust @ SF Eagle We welcome everyone of all ages for a afternoon on the patio with YLDG, grab a beer bust cup for $12.00 (includes food) and socialize with us. 398 12th St., 4pm. www.sfyldg.org

Thu 6 CineKink: Oakland @ The New Parkway Films that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality will screen as CineKink, “the kinky film festival,” hits Oakland for a hot, one-night stand! 474 24th St., Oakland, 7pm. www.cinekink.com

San Francisco girls of Leather (SFgoL) @ Chase Bank Monthly business meeting for this club that celebrates and organizes the local girls of leather. 2112 15th St., 7:30pm. www.sfgol.org

Fri 7 SCCLA Bar Schmooz @ Renegades Bar Informal social where friends, prospective members and anyone else who wants to relax, laugh, talk and hang out with like-minded people, 501 W. Taylor St., San Jose, 9pm. www.renegadesbar.com

Boots Leather Cigars @ SF Eagle Social gathering for men into boots, leather, uniforms and cigars sponsored by SF BLUF, HotBoots, and Bay Area Cigar Buddies. 398 12th St., 9pm. www.sf-eagle.com

Read more online at www.ebar.com

Shooting Stars

July 23-29, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 35

photos by Steven Underhill Global Float

ast Saturday’s Global Float silent dance party, simulcast around the world, drew hundreds of dancers to the downtown starting point, where the earplugged crowd danced their way down Market Street to the Embarcadero and around other open spaces. For upcoming events, visit www.silentdiscosquad.com More event photo albums are on BARtab’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife. See more of Steven Underhill’s photos at www.StevenUnderhill.com.

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For headshots, portraits or to arrange your wedding photos

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