June 23, 2016 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

The

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Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971

Fighting for justice

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e commissioned this cover illustration long before the tragic events in Orlando, but it seems fitting that it shows our community fighting for its life. Whether breaking the bonds of incarceration, seeking accountability from law enforcement, or trying to raise a family in one of the most expensive regions in the country, our LGBT brothers and sisters have to do all that and mourn the recent loss of 49 lives in the Pulse nightclub shooting. It doesn’t seem fair that this happened during Pride Month, but life rarely is.

The drawing, by “hella queer” illustrator Diego Gomez, seeks to reflect this year’s San Francisco Pride theme, “For Racial and Economic Justice.” Gomez is a native San Franciscan who is also known as Trangela

Lansbury. His work has been used by Tweaker.org and can be seen in the comic books Glamazonia and The ALPHABET: LGBTQAI Anthology. He is currently writing and illustrating his civil rights comic EX-MEN ‘63: The Feminine Mystique.

The stories inside this special Pride section feature the various parade grand marshals and other honorees. They reflect the broad spectrum of our community and include groups working on racial and economic issues, HIV/AIDS awareness, and taking care of one’s self. Each is being recognized for their contributions to the LGBT community.

We also take a look at the city’s homeless crisis through its shelters and single-roomoccupancy hotels, in advance of our participation with over 60 media outlets next week

{ FIRST OF FOUR SECTIONS }

Vol. 46 • No. 25 • June 23-29, 2016

in the SF Homeless Project.

In the news section, you’ll find all that you need to know about the Trans March, Dyke March, and of course, the Pride parade and festival.

The Arts and Culture section includes Frameline film festival coverage.

For nightlife and events, BARtab includes expanded listings of notable LGBTQ events.

Last year at this time, we were anticipating the U.S. Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision. This year, we’re grieving. But through good news and bad, the LGBT community is resilient. We will keep fighting for equality. We will keep working to overturn homophobic and transphobic laws. We will keep marching with Pride, even if we have to do it through tears.t Diego Gomez

<< Pride 2016

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

t

Trans woman grabs for the gold at the end of the rainbow Happy 46th Annual San Francisco Pride!

Sincerely,

I am delighted to join San Francisco’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community in our commitment to “Racial and Economic Justice" for all Americans. Thank you for the opportunity to represent this great city that embraces and thrives on our diversity.

Sincerely,

NANCY PELOSI

House Democratic Leader

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by Heather Cassell

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ransitional youth advocate Mia “Tu Mutch” Satya is one of this year’s individual community grand marshals for San Francisco Pride.

Satya, a 25-year-old queer transgender woman, is excited to be selected for the honor bestowed upon her by the board of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee.

“I feel super excited and elated to be chosen this year,” said Satya, who is proud to be selected under this year’s San Francisco Pride theme, “For Racial and Economic Justice.”

“I love to have any excuse to talk about racial and economic justice, so the fact that it is the theme feels magical and perfect,” she said, pointing out that it “isn’t enough if the only day we think about that is on Pride.”

“It’s not enough if we are not tying that to different movements and giving them visibility,” continued Satya, who plans to use her platform as grand marshal to support Black Lives Matter, the organization grand marshal, and other racial and economic justice leaders and organizations.

“Pride isn’t just about LGBT rights, it’s about complete liberation for all people,” she said.

“I recognize that [it’s] not only a watershed moment for trans rights – both for positive policies and negative policies across the country – but it’s also a time where communities are rallying for support for economic justice and racial justice in communities across the country,” 9:29 AM said Satya.

Satya recently completed a training program at Emerge California, which works to elect Democratic women to office. She was the first trans woman

Liz Highleyman

Mia “Tu Mutch” Satya, right, joined Stephany Ashley, executive director of the St. James Infirmary, at the clinic’s recent grand reopening.

“I love to have any excuse to talk about racial and economic justice, so the fact that it is the theme feels magical and perfect.”

–Mia “ Tu Mutch” Satya to graduate from the program.

Kimberly Ellis, executive director of Emerge California, told the Bay Area Reporter that she is proud of Satya.

“We can’t imagine a more fitting choice. Mia stands out with her passion and advocacy for LGBTQ liberation,” said Ellis.

Transcending challenges

Being in San Francisco is a hardearned dream for Satya, who grew up in a white working class “very” conservative Southern Baptist family in Texas.

As someone who was “very visibly queer” and who “transgressed See page 14 >>

WE STAND WITH ORLANDO On this special Pride Weekend, we wish our LGBT community all our very best, and in his last year in the State Senate, a heartfelt thanks to Mark Leno for his years of tremendous leadership!

Assemblymember David Chiu

Assemblymember Phil Ting

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Pride 2016>>

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

SF works to fix up housing for homeless

by Seth Hemmelgarn

W

hen homeless people in San Francisco move off the streets, they often go into one of the city’s single-room occupancy hotels or homeless shelters.

Many times, they find conditions that are similar to the outside environment, but work is being done to change that in many places.

For years, the Civic Center Hotel, at 20 12th Street, was a prime example of the problems.

Department of Building Inspection data show that, according to some residents, there were maggots, mice, and cockroaches in the hotel.

Elevators were often broken, there was garbage in the halls, and one person reported that people were sleeping in the fifth floor bathroom.

Another resident wrote, “There are too many crazy crackheads outside and people getting beat up and robbed.”

Since then, the Civic Center – which the city will soon use as a Navigation Center to help homeless people get into permanent housing – has been cleaned up.

On a recent afternoon, David Jones, 65, a resident since 1993, sat outside the hotel’s Market Street side smoking a cigarette.

“Now, it’s very good,” said Jones, a straight man who pays $300 a month for his room. “It’s very clean.

There’s no trouble, and no noise. It’s all 100 percent” better than it was.

Sam Dodge, director of Mayor Ed Lee’s Office of Housing, Opportunity, Partnerships and Engagement, said the agency has been “really aggressively moving to improve the SRO conditions.”

The Civic Center, which had been sued over its poor conditions, is now leased directly from U.A. Local 38 Trust Fund, which owns the hotel.

“We made a bunch of improvements to it, and we’re getting ready to open it up for navigation services on June 20,” Dodge said in a recent interview.

The nonprofit Community Housing Partnership, which took over operations of the Civic Center in November 2015, has a contract of about $2 million with the city to run the hotel. That includes the lease and providing property management and social services.

“We cleared all the notice of violations” from the Department of Building Inspection, including the broken elevators and other problems, said Gail Gilman, Community Housing Partnership’s CEO. Even more work is on the way, as the Civic Center will eventually be torn down.

Community Housing Partnership is part of the master development team that’s redeveloping the site.

“We’ll be constructing a brand new hotel with 100 units,” Gilman said. It will be another two to three years until the Civic Center’s demolished.

The current hotel’s permanent residents will have the right to move into the new building, she said.

The Civic Center won’t be torn down until the new building’s been constructed.

Gilman said that the Navigation Center at the current site could house up to 90 clients “at any point in time.” The Civic Center’s 50 permanent residents will have access to the same services available to clients of the Navigation Center.

The new hotel will feature 100 studio apartments, including 50 spots for formerly homeless people, but there won’t be a Navigation Center.

Shelters

It’s not clear if San Francisco’s homeless shelters are seeing the

Rick Gerharter

The Civic Center Hotel has been cleaned up and is expected to offer Navigation Center services beginning this week.

same progress as the SROs. Data from the city’s Shelter Monitoring Committee, which includes members appointed by the mayor and others, show that from July 2015 through May 2016, a total of 112 complaints involving 21 sites were filed.

Multiple Service Center South’s shelter and drop-in center had more complaints than any other facilities, with a combined 32 during the 11-month period, according to the committee’s data. The shelter and drop-in are run by St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco.

In a complaint submitted in May, one person alleged that an employee of the massive shelter, which is at 525 Fifth Street, “has been harassing him and trying to deny him services, even though the complainant states that he hasn’t broken any rules.” The committee says that case is pending.

Lessy Benedith, MSC’s program director, didn’t respond to an interview request.

In an email, Mwangi Mukami, who chairs the Shelter Monitoring Committee, responded to an interview request by saying the panel’s bylaws “restricts our engagement with the media without a full committee vote.” The topic is now expected to be addressed at the panel’s July 20 meeting.

Most of the complaints submitted last month about the city’s shelters related to the way staff treated clients, although one person said there were bedbugs.

Jazzie’s Place, 1050 South Van Ness, a shelter designed specifically for LGBTs, opened a year ago this month after several years of delays.

There were three complaints about the shelter in the July through May period, according to the Shelter Monitoring Committee’s data.

Among other problems, residents complained that two standards had not been met: “Treat clients equally, with respect and dignity,” and “Provide shelter services in an environment that is free and safe of physical violence.”

Two of the complaints were closed “due to no contact from the client,” while in the third case, “Committee staff determined that Jazzie’s Place was in compliance” with the standards, according to the panel’s records.

In response to emailed questions, Wendy Phillips, executive director of Dolores Street Community Service, which operates Jazzie’s Place and adjacent shelters, indicated there have been issues.

“A huge challenge has been having an LGBTQI shelter next to two predominantly hetero-male shelters,” Phillips said. “We have addressed through educating people that at the core of who we all are, we are more similar than different and we are all human, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or anything else that could be used to separate us.”

Dolores Street also has “a zero

tolerance policy for hate, bullying, discrimination,” and similar behavior, she said.

Jazzie’s Place has room for 24 people. Phillips said, “In general, it is full most nights.”

“We don’t have a breakdown of the demographics,” she said. “There are people of all ages in all sections. ... For the purposes of maintaining sections so that folks feel comfortable with others that are similar to them, we have eight beds in the male section, eight in the female section, and eight beds in the gender nonconforming section.”

More work coming

Kimberly Cruz, 27, a transgender woman who often sleeps in a box in the Mission district, said she’s been homeless for over a year.

Cruz said one hindrance to getting into shelters can be long lines, but she hasn’t been too worried about conditions in the facilities.

“Honestly, sometimes I just want to sleep,” she said. “... I try not to complain about what they look

Seth Hemmelgarn

Kimberly Cruz

like.” When she’s inside a shelter, “I’m grateful to have a roof over my head at the moment.”

That sentiment was echoed by Brian Basinger, co-founder of San Francisco’s Q Foundation, which provides housing and other services.

In an email exchange with the Bay Area Reporter, Basinger urged caution when writing about conditions in SROs. “I’ve been around long enough to see when well meaning people bring expectations based in privilege (the same ones I had when I was new) and helicopter into the SRO situation,” he said.

Basinger recalled testifying at a Board of Supervisors hearing where someone “made a stigmatizing remark about living in SROs.” He said he “defended people for whom getting into an SRO was a success. ... When my people get into a place, we high five. It doesn’t matter what it is.”

Dodge, the HOPE director, said his agency is working on taking over three more hotels this year:

The National, 1139 Market Street; The Crown, 528 Valencia Street; and The Winton, 445 O’Farrell. The three hotels have about 250 units altogether.

The Crown and National are set to open August 1 and the Winton should open November 1.

The city’s putting in about $3.5 million while the federal government’s investing approximately $3 million. The funds will be used for the leases, as well as 24-hour desk clerks, on-site social workers, and other program costs.

“It’s pretty complex to bring on more buildings,” Dodge said, “but we can do it. We need more supportive housing exits for our system.”

The rooms are meant to go to people who are currently in places including the Navigation Center and shelters.

Work will include upgrading bathrooms and electrical systems in the Crown and National, while the Winton will get some “major” rehab, which will include upgrading the elevators, he said. All three will be getting community kitchens.

As far as solving homelessness, Dodge said, “We can demonstrate successes in housing all different kinds of people, whether families or the chronically homeless or people experiencing mental health or substance abuse, but in the absence of real federal investment in ending homelessness, we’re only going to be able to get so far, so we can certainly do much better than we can see right now.”

He said the city’s new Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing will be helpful, but the city getting to “a place we can all be proud of ” will require federal and state agencies “stepping up in ways that they haven’t done in a few decades.”t

All Inclusive All Embracing All Loving

RACIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE Celebrate Your Pride!

Senator Mark Leno "Let us remember those who have died for justice, for they have given us life.

Help us to love even those who hate us, so we can change the world."

— Cesar Chavez

<< Pride 2016

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Yang finds strength in meditation

THE CASTRO’S MOST

FAMOUS

by Sari Staver

I

n the early 1990s, when Larry Yang first began studying meditation, he rarely saw people of color in San Francisco’s Buddhist temples, known as “sangha.”

“I was like a fly in buttermilk,” Yang, an Asian-American queer man, said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

Yang, 61, received the most votes from the public in balloting for this year’s community grand marshal of the San Francisco Pride parade. He is being recognized for his work helping to found a number of long-running meditation groups for people who are members of marginalized communities, including queers, people of color, and people in recovery.

One of the core teachers at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland and the Insight Community of the Desert in Palm Springs, Yang has taught meditation to over 10,000 students in the past 25 years. He is also on the Teacher’s Council of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, a small town in Marin County.

Yang’s current focus is training spiritual leadership within communities of color and LGBTQI communities, he said. He is part

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EQUALITY IS A YEAR-ROUND COMMITMENT.

we can survive and build the new queer land of our dreams,” Ream said. “Larry gives queer people in the Bay Area and across the world a place to come and be safe, at ease in our bodies and our lives, to rest a while, grow and heal and make the world a place where we can be whole.”

Another student, Louije Kim, 38, has been practicing meditation for over a decade, “thanks to Larry’s work,” she said in an interview with the B.A.R.

–Amanda Ream of the coordinating team developing future diverse community meditation teachers in Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leadership 9:24 AM Program and is part of developing the next residential retreat teacher training program to include the participation from multicultural, queer communities.

Yang’s work has had a “profound” impact on student Amanda Ream, a 40-year-old Oakland union organizer who nominated her teacher for Pride grand marshal “Larry Yang is a spiritual leader for the new queer era – he engages us in healing our hearts from separation, fear, and the harshness of the world, and creates a healing space of community and reconnection for us to come back to the basic goodness and tenderness of life,” Ream, a queer woman, said in an email to the B.A.R. “This is no small thing – to have a leader like Larry, who can hold the broadness of our experiences as queers, along with the specificity, means we can be together in our wholeness, building queer resilience, getting free, falling in love with community and supporting each other,” Ream added. “Totally vital work to our survival – Larry creates a place for that and for our brilliance, the fun, the excitement and magic of queer life.

“To be around Larry is to feel like

“An enticing, poignant and highly engaging collection that presents men and relationships of all ages and from all walks of life… Forty Wild Crushes

THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS ORGANIZATION IS PROUD TO SUPPORT THE SAN FRANCISCO LGBT COMMUNITY

features colorful characters,

Kim, a queer person of color, said that when she began meditating she “was in a hard place in terms of racism in my personal and professional life.”

Yang “constantly brought to light the dire need for practice spaces for people of color and brought that concept into the consciousness of the broader meditation community,” she said.

Kim, a mental health clinician, is also studying to lead LGBTQ meditation groups. “A queer-only space provides the freedom, joy, connection, and understanding” that adds to the healing effects of meditation, she said.

Yang’s focus on developing spaces for people in marginalized communities was an outgrowth of his childhood experiences. As a boy, he said that he heard the word “chink” on the playground at his school in the largely Caucasian community of Levittown, Pennsylvania, and didn’t know how to deal with that.

When Yang realized he also had feelings for other boys, “I decided then and there that if being different as a person of color was going to be this painful, there was absolutely no way I was going to be gay. I couldn’t hide being Chinese, but I thought I could hide – or deny – being gay,” he said.

That plan “made for an absolutely miserable” adolescence, he said. By the time he entered Yale University

as an undergraduate, “I was drinking myself into unconsciousness to deal with my isolation.”

After obtaining his master’s degree in fine art from Yale, Yang taught graphic design at various colleges and had a successful business as a graphic designer after graduation. Several of the posters he designed are now in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

“I channeled all that sexual repressed energy into art – trying to gain some control of my life,” he said.

“I didn’t realize at the time that being so closeted was bringing on all of the pain and anguish that I felt. Everything looked good on the outside but everything felt tortured on the inside.”

After a move to San Francisco in 1989, Yang examined his life when a psychotherapist suggested he consider getting sober.

“I was in such a deep state of denial that I thought it was normal to open a bottle of wine when I began to iron my shirts and stop only after I finished the bottle, not the shirts,” he said.

Eventually, Yang began attending 12-step meetings, started studying and practicing mediation, and decided to go to graduate school in social work to make a career change.

After obtaining at master’s degree in social work from San Francisco State University, Yang held a series of jobs at San Francisco General Hospital, Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, Baker Places, and the Department of Public Health’s Tom Waddell Clinic. Yang has spent time studying meditation in Burma and Thailand, including a six-month period of ordination as a Buddhist monk.

The practice of meditation, said Yang, can also help people to develop the awareness skills necessary to have successful personal relationships.

Growing up so closeted and isolated, “I realized I had missed all the heteronormative development that goes on in the dominant culture.

I didn’t have role models where I could learn these things.”

After Yang began practicing meditation, he met his husband and partner of 16 years, Stephen Pickard, who teaches social work gerontology at UC Davis.

“I am so grateful for the many blessings that have come into my life since I began to meditate. I don’t believe the timing is a coincidence.”t

Books Inc. signing & reading with Michael Aleynikov, Jim Provenzano and Na’amen Gobert Tilahun

July 11, 7pm.

601 Van Ness Ave.

rich story lines and profound messages.”

– Edge Media Network

FortyWildCrushes.indd 1 Untitled-1 1

Courtesy SF Pride

Larry Yang, who teaches meditation, is a Pride parade community grand marshal.

“Larry Yang is a spiritual leader for the new queer era – he engages us in healing our hearts from separation, fear, and the harshness of the world.”

1936–2016

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<< Pride 2016

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

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Freedom Award goes to lesbian pioneer

by Sari Staver

R

etired college professor turned activist Sally Miller Gearhart will be recognized with San Francisco Pride’s the Heritage of Pride, Pride Freedom Award for her outstanding contributions to advancing the civil rights and freedoms for LGBT people.

Now 85 years old, Gearhart was the first out lesbian to receive a tenure-track position at San Francisco State University in 1973. She established one of the first women’s and gender studies programs in the country while at SF State, and was a leading LGBT activist throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

She was featured in the Oscarwinning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (1984), having been a friend and colleague of Milk, the late San Francisco supervisor. Gearhart worked with Milk on the 1978 defeat of Proposition 6, a California ballot initiative that sought to exclude gay men and lesbians from teaching in public schools. Gearhart is also an acclaimed author of feminist science fiction.

“As an old timer who was present at our very first gay march I am especially astounded by how far we’ve come,” Gearhart told the Bay Area Reporter in April, via email from her home in Mendocino County. “And by what we have gone through to get here.”

Gearhart is unable to attend this

Melanie Nathan/via SF Pride

Sally Miller Gearhart

year’s parade.

“We were aware of Sally’s situation, and the board wanted to recognize her for her tremendous work in the community,” San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee parade manager Marsha Levine said a couple months ago. “This award is a great way to honor that.”

In an email last week Gearhart said, “It was Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon who first catapulted me into the realm of political activism, for when I edited their book, Lesbian/ Woman, I had to drop the robes of a ‘sweet college professor’ and enter a brand new world. It is with this acknowledgment that I gratefully and humbly accept this honor from what has become our powerful LGBT community.”t

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Stephany Ashley, left, executive director of St. James Infirmary, celebrates the opening of the organization’s new clinic in March.

by Liz Highleyman

S

t. James Infirmary, the country’s only occupational health and safety clinic run by and for sex workers, has been named this year’s recipient of the Pride Community Award recognizing outstanding service to LGBTQ communities, one of the Heritage of Pride awardees selected by the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee’s board of directors.

“St. James is very honored to receive the Heritage of Pride Award, giving more visibility to the intersectional and invisibilized struggles of sex workers in San Francisco,” said Executive Director Stephany Ashley. “Sex worker rights mean rights for trans people, poor people, people of color, people with HIV, incarcerated people, undocumented people, and gay and lesbian people.”

St. James Infirmary offers free and confidential services for current and former sex workers of all genders and their families. It serves around 4,000 clients with a staff of 17 and about 25 volunteers, and operates on an annual budget of ap-

proximately $750,000, Ashley told the Bay Area Reporter.

Named after pioneering sex worker activist Margo St. James, the infirmary started in 1999 at San Francisco City Clinic and opened its own clinic at 1372 Mission Street in March 2004. This past March the clinic moved to a new location at 234 Eddy Street in the Tenderloin.

Medical services at the clinic include primary care, HIV testing and prevention services, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, transgender hormone therapy, and mental health care. St. James Infirmary also offers street outreach, harm reduction services including needle exchange, case management, support groups, and free food and clothing.

In addition to direct services, the clinic also participates in advocacy for sex workers’ rights, policy work, public education, and community organizing to fight the stigma, criminalization, and violence that put sex workers at risk.

“Pride’s recognition of our clinic See page 14 >>

LOVE IS THE ANSWER. FOREVER PROUD OF OUR COMMUNITY.

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<< Pride 2016

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Drag pageant winner has a creative streak

by Khaled Sayed

M

ercedez Munro, Miss Gay San Francisco, Miss Gay California, and Miss Gay United States, is the first drag queen to hold all three titles in the history of drag pageants and the first-ever in California to hold a national title.

Munro, also known as Lonnie Haley, will receive this year’s Heritage of Pride, Pride Creativity Award from the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee for outstanding artistic contribution to the LGBTQ community.

Pride Service

He grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan where he attended Loy Norrix High School. The trained theatre actor’s interests shifted to drag, which gave him an outlet to embrace both his masculine and feminine sides.

“I started doing drag while I was still in high school, actually,” Haley said. “It was the fall of 1987 that I first put on my first pair of kitten heels ... and sashayed my way into Brothers Beta Club for amateur night.”

Haley, 44, adapted the personality of Mercedez Munro as his alter ego and used the name as a drag name for himself.

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“Acting all of my life, I look at Mercedez Munro as a character that I am blessed to play, whose personality adapts and changes with the times.”

– Lonnie Haley, aka Mercedez Munro “Acting all of my life, I look at Mercedez Munro as a character that I am blessed to play, whose personality adapts and changes with the times,” he said. “I love entertaining and by embracing the illusion of Mercedez, it allows me to do just that. I am her ... she is me.”

Haley moved to San Francisco from Los Angeles in 2003 because his husband at the time found a job in the city and he managed to transfer to San Francisco with Yahoo.

After winning many titles in Michigan he was looking for a challenge. Haley took a long break from performing, from 1996 to 2006, but in 2006 he won the Miss Gay San Francisco title. He’s been doing it ever since.

Haley’s attention to detail comes from his theatrical background, which taught him to rehearse over and over to achieve perfection.

“I’ve also never been the type of person to do a contest just for the thrill. I have to plan it out and execute it sharply,” he said.

John Uetz, aka Ibiza Munro, has known Haley for seven years. He remembers meeting Haley first socially through mutual friends enjoying the nightlife of San Francisco.

“At the time, I knew he did drag but had never seen him perform.”

Uetz said. “It was a while later before I actually saw him perform

and met Mercedez.

“Throughout my life I’ve known lots of drag queens,” Uetz said, “but never really paid much attention to them or the drag community because I felt they were all a little exclusionary and, frankly, a little bitchy. Mind you, I grew up in Austin, Texas, so the drag community there might be different.”

In addition to doing drag and a full-time job, Haley plays softball and coaches two gay softball teams and has taken his teams to the gay World Series three times. He is believed to be the only drag queen in San Francisco that also coaches sports teams.

Several years after winning Miss Gay San Francisco, Haley won Miss Gay California in 2013, and he went on to win Miss Gay United States the same year.

“What lit a fire under my butt was that, in the history of national pageantry going back to 1974, never has one drag queen in the entire state of California won any national pageant,” Haley said.

Amelia D. Ross, aka Amelia Munro, has known Haley for a year and remembers doing a show with Haley.

“She walked in all dolled up and I was like umm OK ... and we shared a moment,” Ross said. “On New Year’s I became Haley’s daughter ... and

Courtesy SF Pride

Mercedez Munro is this year’s recipient of the Pride Creativity Award.

the rest is history.”

Ross believes that everything his drag mom (Haley) has achieved was

by God. “She truly is an inspiration, not only to the Munro family but, to all,” Ross said. “She tries to set examples for all. And everything she does is to help the community.”

Haley said that he is “currently in down season but many of the kids in my house, La Maison de Munro, are competing for titles. My drag daughter, Ruby Red Munro, is competing for Miss Gay San Francisco.

My granddaughter Ibiza Munro – also my best friend and Beatfish Productions business partner – is running for Golden State.”

His other drag daughter, Paju Munro, who is the crown princess in the house, is running for Miss Gay California, the same title that Haley took to nationals.

“I’m trying to get my family together and get them to achieve their goals as well, and next year, I’m going for something nationally again,” Haley said.t

Black Lives Matter resonates with many

by Khaled Sayed

B

lack Lives Matter is more than a trending hashtag or a slogan. In the last few years it has become a movement that resonates with African-Americans due to their experiences with police brutality. And it has become a powerful rallying point for both blacks and their allies.

It initially gained prominence after a killing that didn’t involve law enforcement, but rather an acquittal in the shooting death of an unarmed, black teenager.

According to its website, Black Lives Matter is a chapter-based national organization working for the validity of African-American life.

In keeping with the theme of this year’s San Francisco LGBT Pride parade, “For Racial and Economic Justice,” Black Lives Matter was named organizational grand marshal in public voting earlier this year.

Police violence against AfricanAmericans isn’t a new phenomenon, but social media and smartphones, aided by video, have helped bring national attention to numerous incidents of mistreatment and misconduct.

Black Lives Matter originated in the U.S. in 2013. The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag trended on Twitter after George Zimmerman, who was involved with a neighborhood watch program in his Florida community, was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin, an AfricanAmerican teenager.

Since then, it has gained popular-

Rick Gerharter

Alicia Garza, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, was a community grand marshal at last year’s San Francisco Pride parade.

ity. Most law enforcement personnel have neither been indicted nor fired in the aftermath of incidents, sparking protests and calls for reform and accountability.

See page 10 >>

live, play and enjoy

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<< Pride 2016

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Shriver has spent lifetime fighting AIDS

by Brian Bromberger

M

ike Shriver had one expectation after learning he was HIV-positive in November 1989.

“I never thought I was going to live to be 30,” he said.

Shriver, 53, beat that prognosis and is being recognized this year by the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee with its Lifetime Achievement Award for his AIDS advocacy and activism.

He said he remembers that November date so clearly, because at 26, he was the youngest member of the task force helping to organize the San Francisco International AIDS conference, to be held the following year.

He said that he had to reveal the news to the planning committee.

“It was very surreal, but I had no time to think about it as we had a tremendous responsibility, so I just kept focusing on the work,” he said.

Despite being in the center of the epidemic, he would not be overwhelmed or defeated by it, even after testing positive for hepatitis C in 1990.

“I have been living with this virus for 30 years and I wake up every morning bearing the physical reality of having it,” he said.

HIV has shaped most of Shriver’s adult life. Arriving in San Francisco in 1987 after finishing graduate work at Notre Dame University, he went to his first ACT UP meeting – his proudest moment was shutting down the Golden Gate Bridge in 1989 as an act of civil disobedience – and signed up to train as a practical support volunteer at the Shanti Project.

It has been nonstop work ever since, starting as a specialist at the old 18th Street Services, which worked to prevent gay men using speed from contracting AIDS. Stints at the Tenderloin AIDS Network

(later Resource Center) focusing on needle exchange programs would lead to then-Mayor Frank Jordan appointing him as a city health commissioner, but not before Jordan had him arrested a year earlier.

ACT UP opposed Jordan’s budget cuts, which would have decimated Ryan White funding, by occupying his office as a protest.

He then became executive director of the old Mobilization Against AIDS, leading the candlelight vigils, at the time one of the largest grassroots AIDS activities.

Shriver moved to Washington, D.C., where he became deputy director of federal HIV policy in the Clinton administration. He returned to San Francisco as co-director of UCSF’s AIDS Policy Research Center. Then-Mayor Willie Brown asked him to be his special adviser on HIV/AIDS policy.

Shriver later retired for health reasons, but after successful inter-

Brian Bromberger

Mike Shriver has spent most of his adult life combatting AIDS.

feron treatments saved his liver, he joined the board of directors of the National AIDS Memorial Grove in 2009, serving on its fund development committee, as well as being co-chair of the grove’s World AIDS Day events in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

He is an honorary trustee of amfAR as well as a board member of the Castro Country Club.

John Cunningham, executive director of the AIDS grove, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

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What excites Shriver today is the possibility of ending the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco in the next 10 years. The city’s Getting to Zero initiative aims to reduce new infec-

<<

Black Lives Matter

From page 8

Black Lives Matter was co-founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse KahnCullors, and Opal Tometi. Garza, a queer Bay Area woman, and the others were honored earlier this year by the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

“When we say Black Lives Matter, we are broadening the conversation around state violence to include all of the ways in which black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state,” the website states. “We are talking about the ways in which black lives are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity.”

The Black Lives Matter network, which was accelerated by organizers and activists in Ferguson, Missouri after police shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown in 2014, spurred a broader movement and promulgated an international conversation about anti-black racism, American democracy, and the experiences of black people across the globe.

Local leaders didn’t respond to the Bay Area Reporter’s request for interviews for this story, but at the NCLR gala, Garza said that Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world

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tions as close to zero as possible.

“I love San Francisco because it’s in this city, more than any other, that the impossible is possible. The lesson of AIDS is that change had to be possible,” Shriver said. “No is not an acceptable answer. Single individuals and communities do change. I’ve seen it everywhere and that is what gives me hope. I want a future where young gay men are not afraid of sex or staying connected with someone if they are HIV-positive.”

The AIDS grove has been Shriver’s focus for the last decade.

“This is the only time the U.S. has created a national memorial to an issue or an event that is ongoing,” he said. “When the epidemic is over we will be the one entity left standing with AIDS in the title, so we have begun video archiving different communities and survivors, with their response to HIV.” Last year the grove honored the leather community and this year the focus is hemophiliacs, he said.

“We have to be the repository of the story because our generation will eventually pass and I want my nephew, Dylan, to know objectively what his Uncle Mike saw and experienced, why they let it happen, why they didn’t care and what we did, so he doesn’t have to undergo our trauma when he has his Zika, Ebola, or issue du jour,” he added. “We can never forget or stop telling people what it was like, otherwise we accomplish very little.”

See page 14 >> where black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise.

“It is an affirmation of black folks’ contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression,” Garza, who was a community grand marshal at last year’s SF Pride, said at the NCLR gala.

In addition to Brown’s killing, Black Lives Matter became nationally recognized for its street demonstrations after other high-profile incidents, including Eric Garner, who died July 17, 2014 in Staten Island, after a New York City Police Department officer put him in what has been described as a chokehold while arresting him. The event was caught on camera. Garner’s cries of “I can’t breathe” became a rallying cry.

Last year, Freddie Carlos Gray Jr., 25, an African-American man, was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department for possessing what the police alleged was an illegal switchblade. While being transported in a police van, Gray suffered a severe spinal cord injury and fell into a coma. He died April 19, 2015.

According to Mapping Police Violence, a research collaborative collecting comprehensive data on police killings nationwide to quantify the impact of police violence in communities, police killed at least 102 unarmed African-American people in 2015 alone, nearly twice each week.

One in three African-American people killed by police in 2015 were identified as unarmed. Thirty-seven percent of unarmed people killed by police were African-American in 2015, despite African-American people making up only 13 percent of the U.S. population.

According to the website of the NAACP’s Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, African-Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites. Together, African-Americans and Hispanics comprised 58 percent of all prisoners in 2008, even though African-Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one-quarter of the U.S. population.t

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<< Pride 2016

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Life coach uses his talents to help others

by David-Elijah Nahmod

W

hen he first arrived in San Francisco, Fresh White thought the city was “magic.” Twentyfive years later his love for his adopted hometown has not diminished.

“I love the way radical dykes, lesbians, transwomen, drag queens, and gay men had fun and mixed it up with politics here,” White, who prefers not to reveal his age, told the Bay Area Reporter. “Everyone was working on expanding, creating, and living expressions of themselves.”

He named the Women’s Building, the storefront that once housed the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and the Center for Sex and Culture as among the venues for which he retains a fondness.

Now, after many years of work as both an activist and a certified mindfulness coach, White, a trans man, has been selected as one of this year’s community grand marshal sin the San Francisco Pride parade.

He’s a busy guy, working at multiple careers.

White is on the team of the San Francisco LGBT Community Cen-

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ter’s Transgender Employment Program. He’s also a life and career coach, helping people to achieve their dreams. His coaching work includes the Brown Boi Project, a racial and gender justice project focused on young masculine-identified individuals.

In addition, White sits on the board of the Trans March, where he serves as a liaison between the board and the city’s staff and events team.

Also an in-demand public speaker, White’s focus is on respect and inclusion for LGBTQQI people from all Bay Area communities. He is affiliated with SF LGBT Speakers Bureau, Marin’s Spectrum Center, and Out and Equal Workplace Advocates.

White spoke openly about his transition process.

“I identified as a boy earlier than I can remember,” he recalled. “By the age of 6 I had already figured out that I was attracted to girls. The last sweet moment I had with my dad was when he taught me how to tie a tie.” He added that, at that time, he identified as a transvestite.

“That was the only term I knew for what I was doing,” he explained.

It was many years later, at the now shuttered San Francisco lesbian bar Lexington Club, that he knew it was time for a change.

“At 38, sitting at the Lexington, one of the straight friends with whom I had recently made out with asked me if I was trans,” White recalled with a laugh.

“By the time I transitioned I was already separated from my adopted family and both my adopted parents had passed,” White said. “I have one younger sister who doesn’t talk to me and an older sister who still calls me ‘girl’ in our conversations.”

But with his friends, it was a different story – though his transition did, unfortunately, end his last relationship.

Courtesy SF Pride

Community grand marshal Fresh White’s work as a mindfulness coach has helped people realize their potential.

“All my friends were and are supportive,” he said. “My last partner, however, felt like she was losing her identity with me because I was so masculine as a woman. My transition was definitely one of the reasons for our break-up. I certainly don’t blame her for that – I still have a hard time identifying as anything but butch and gay. It happens to a lot of guys.”

White pointed to a disturbing statistic: 33-55 percent of transmasculine people have attempted suicide. “Which is why it’s important for me to talk about it,” he said.

“Silence around it is just another form of misogyny. It makes total sense that we have experienced more domestic, dating, and sexual violence as youth, because we were

female gendered at birth. If it’s happening to cisgender women, then of course it’s happening to us.”

White embraces his past life, during which he presented as female.

“I’m not one of the folks who feels like I was born in the wrong body,” he said. “I feel like it was very important for me to live most of my life as female, even though there were things about my body I was uncomfortable with. And for me, it’s because of our society that I medically transitioned. I was already two spirit and had identified that way since the 1980s. Unfortunately, society has a gender dysphoria, and until now, has only believed there were two genders; in fact, our histories, globally, tell another story.”t

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<< Pride 2016

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

<<

Trans woman

From page 2

gender” in the “middle of nowhere” in the Lone Star State, she didn’t fit in, but she “somehow miraculously survived high school.”

She threw herself into activism.

“I wanted to help people. I wanted to help animals,” said Satya, who started advocating on behalf of whales and seals and speaking out against war when she was about 14 years old in middle school.

“I never knew that living life as a trans woman was a possibility and I also didn’t know that I could make a career out of fighting for progressive policies,” she said.

Back then, listening to her “conservative relatives” who used San Francisco as an “example of how everything that was wrong with the country and how it was becoming gay-friendly and appealing to liberals,” Satya knew where she had to go.

“It sounded like a fun place to be,” she said.

As soon as she graduated high school she made her way to San Francisco with stops in Austin,

<<

St. James Infirmary

From page 6

and its services helps to legitimize sex work,” SJI medical director Dr. Pratima Gupta, an OB-GYN physician at Kaiser-Permanente, told the B.A.R. “The mission of SF Pride is to ‘educate the world,’ and we are thrilled to enlighten individuals

<<

Shriver

From page 10

When Shriver was asked what his message was to younger LGBTQs he replied, “I would remind them that they have an ethical responsibility not only to know, but to honor that history,” he said. “We are surrounded by people who have actually changed the course of history.

Making her peers proud is exactly what she is doing but she is also up-

lifting them to be the change they envision.

In addition to completing the Emerge program, Satya graduated last month with her bachelor’s in public policy from Mills College in Oakland.

She isn’t wasting any time implementing her political skills. At the beginning of this year she founded All Out: The LGBTQ+ Political Pipeline, a group to connect, inspire, and train LGBTQ youth to create change, according to its Facebook page.

“We are all out of patience waiting for change to come and all out of patience waiting for our elected representatives to reflect the community’s needs,” said Satya. “I see myself continuing to work on policies that have a community-wide impact in San Francisco and anywhere else that I’m needed.”

This summer she plans on working on political campaigns, especially with candidates who are working on policies to create more affordable housing as well as working on affordable housing policies directly, she said.

“I hope to continue to live out those values and to make that happen [in] incremental ways that will have monumental impact,” she said.

Ellis believes that Satya will fulfill her goals. During her brief tenure on San Francisco’s political scene, Satya has been able to secure free Muni for 40,000 low-income youth and created LGBT diversity training for 9,000 city employees. She also led a youth engagement strategy that secured more than $150 million annually for services for children.

She’s also served on more than 10 committees in five city departments.

“Mia exemplifies the type of servant leadership that we need to see more of in political office,” said Ellis, who hopes more transgender women will go through Emerge California’s program. “We hope that Mia will be a role model for other transgender women interested in running for public office.”

Satya does plan to run for political office, but she wasn’t ready to reveal when and for what seat.

“I fell in love with this city and I still have a commitment to stick around,” said Satya.t

that consensual sex work is safe and should be honored.”

Gupta, who was elected earlier this month to a seat on San Francisco’s Democratic County Central Committee, gave as an example a California initiative coming up on the November ballot, spearheaded by the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, that would

require adult film performers to use condoms and require producers to obtain state health licenses.

“Pornography is one of the only legal forms of sex work currently in the U.S., but lobbying groups around California are attempting to regulate the industry, which threatens its very existence,” Gupta said. “At St. James Infirmary we are working to educate

the public around the concerning potential public health consequences of this ballot measure.”

Ashley noted the contrast between SF Pride’s recognition of sex workers and the marginalization they too often receive from other LGBT organizations.

“The sex worker community, which is disproportionately LGBTQ,

often experiences shame from mainstream society, and silencing from mainstream gay rights movements,” she said. “We are grateful that Pride chose to recognize and celebrate the contributions of sex workers this year, and we can’t wait to celebrate in the spirit of resistance and continue to fight for racial and economic justice for all San Franciscans.”t

And these people, these heroes, are all around us. I have had the incredible fortune of being surrounded by such heroes.

“Secondly, the struggle is never over. There is always work that needs to be done,” he continued.

“Our lives, our dignity, and our survival are too important to be taken for granted. We need to be vigilant and always engaged in the struggle

for equality – we neither have the luxury to relax in our activism nor do we have the right to become complacent. There is too much at stake.”

Shriver said he thought at first that his receiving SF Pride’s Lifetime Achievement Award was “a joke.”

“There are so many who deserve it more than I,” he said. “All I can think of is that this work had to be

done, despite ongoing AIDS fatigue.

I’m just one of thousands who have done it and I have been surrounded by amazing people, who never said no or why and just did it.”

Shriver said that he has reached back to his Irish Catholic upbringing.

“There is this Catholic concept of a calling, that once you find what you are supposed to do, you

keep doing it,” he said. “I persevere to honor the fallen gay men who preceded me and to make life better for the generations to come. In 1992 my best friend Patrick Leach, the founder of ACT UP at SF State, died. There have been many Patricks in my life and I represent them.

I’d like to believe that they will be riding with me in my convertible during the parade.”t

Texas and San Diego before landing in the city by the bay.

“I moved here to find community and safety and I found that,” said Satya, who was 19 at the time.

She realizes that many LGBT youth who move to the gay centers of the United States, “don’t have the same luck at succeeding that I’ve had.”

That luck wasn’t handed to Satya, but even so she recognizes her privilege as a white person helped her along the way.

“First I dealt with a lot of homelessness, discrimination, [and] violence before I eventually found a career and housing,” she said.

Today, she’s the director at Transitional Age Youth San Francisco, a collaborative network of city departments, service providers, and youth to improve the outcomes for the city’s transitional age youth, according to the organization’s website.

For about two years she was homeless off and on and struggling living on about $15,000 a year in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. She’s watched as her friends have been pushed out of the safety

of San Francisco to Oakland and then farther out into other East Bay cities.

During hard times there were people who helped her along her journey.

“I am only able to do the work that I’m doing now because of hundreds of community members who believed in me and supported me,” said Satya.

She hopes to inspire other transgender individuals, like herself, especially youth, to continue their education and “fighting for their survival,” through living her story, she said talking about the Hulu documentary, What’s the T? The documentary is available June 24, according to the website.

“Honestly, sometimes that has been the only thing that has gotten me through really hard weeks is knowing that I have hundreds and probably thousands of LGBT youth already around me [and who] have been inspired by me,” said Satya.

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Vol. 46 • No. 25 • June 23-29, 2016

Mourning Orlando victims

Rick Gerharter

B.A.R. society columnist Donna Sachet, left, and Michelle Meow anchored the Pride TV broadcast in 2013.

Rick Gerharter

Latino groups carried flags from Latin America and Caribbean countries in last year’s Pride parade.

Live SF Pride broadcast axed

For 1st time, Pridegoers in SF to be screened

I

M

by Seth Hemmelgarn

by Matthew S. Bajko

f you want to see this year’s San Francisco Pride parade live, you will have to venture down to Market Street to view it in person.

For the first time in more than two decades a live broadcast of the parade will be unavailable, either online or on cable television. In See page 35 >>

Jane Philomen Cleland

D

rag queen Persia sang “Rocio durcal amor eterno,” a traditional song of eternal love for a lover who has passed away, and danced with

members of the crowd at a memorial for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting Saturday, June 18 in San Francisco’s Mission district. See story below.

etal detectors and bag checks will greet the hundreds of thousands of people attending this weekend’s San Francisco LGBT Pride celebration, marking the first time such screening has occurred at the event and sure to lead to long lines to get in to the Civic Center site.

See page 28 >>

Program aims to curtail binge drinking

by Matthew S. Bajko

H Jane Philomen Cleland

Ani Rivera, left, executive director of Galeria de la Raza, and Lito Sandoval, president of the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club, spoke to the crowd at the Mission rally.

Latinos march for Orlando

by David-Elijah Nahmod

H

undreds of LGBT Latinos and their supporters marched from the Castro to the Mission Saturday, shrouded in grief for the 49 lives lost in the mass shooting at a gay Orlando nightclub and vowing to show love for each other in the face of hate.

Forty-nine of the marchers were asked to carry signs bearing the names of Pulse nightclub victims.

See page 40 >>

vides counseling and support services to substance users.

It had recently launched a new weekly Smart Drinking Group for gay and bisexual men, and Frankie attended his first meeting in January. The experience proved to be helpful, and Frankie has routinely attended the Tuesday evening meetings ever since.

“I felt I was doing something finally about my drinking,” he said. “To my mind the best way to deal with the problem is to learn about it. I feel like alcohol is an enemy I am dealing with. I need to find out about that enemy as much as I can.”

is weekend bar jaunts began as a way to decompress from his hectic weeks juggling a part-time job while attending graduate school to earn a master’s in physics. A major component of his revelry involved alcohol consumption.

And at first, Frankie didn’t pay much attention to his waking up the next morning and being unable to recall the goingson of the night prior.

“My friends and I would just think we must have had fun last night,” said Rick Gerharter Frankie, a gay San Francisco resident who Studies have shown that many gay and bi men can asked that the Bay Area Reporter not disengage in binge drinking; a new program at the San close his last name.

Study data The consequences of his drinking be- Francisco AIDS Foundation aims to help them.

Studies have found that Frankie is not come more serious, however, with Frankie alone in terms of gay and bisexual male waking up one time a few years ago in a Altogether, Frankie, who is now 26, has been binge drinkers. And various reports over hospital emergency room with no recollection admitted to emergency rooms four times due the years have shown a correlation between exof how he ended up there. He was told passersto excessive drinking. He doesn’t consider him- cessive alcohol consumption by men who have by had found him passed out on the sidewalk in self to be an alcoholic, however, merely a binge sex with men and rates of HIV and other sexuthe city’s gay Castro district. drinker, which researchers define as consuming ally transmitted diseases.

Last year he ended up in the drunk tank after five or more drinks in one setting.

“We know bars are important places for a night out.

“I don’t have days where I need to have a people to meet and have a good time. We want “By the fall of 2015 it was getting really bad. I drink,” he said. “I don’t drink every day.” people to do that,” said Jen Hecht, SFAF’s inwas blacking out every weekend. One weekend I Unsure of where to turn for help, Frankie terim senior director of programs and services. woke up under a freeway overpass and had my happened to mention he wanted to improve “We also have data from the city and our own wallet and phone stolen,” recalled Frankie. “I his drinking habits during a regular checkup at research that suggests greater than 65 percent of remember waking up thinking, ‘Again? Great, I Magnet, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s MSM in San Francisco report binge drinking at did it again.’ The next weekend I went out and health services program for gay and bisexual least monthly.” tried to control my drinking. But it had escalated men in the Castro. His counselor referred him See page 20 >> again, and I woke up in the emergency room.” to the agency’s Stonewall program, which pro-

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Community News>>

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

SF AIDS agencies, rehab facility plan merger

by Seth Hemmelgarn

P

ositive Resource Center, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that helps people who’re living with HIV/AIDS or mental health disabilities, is planning to merge with Baker Places, a local agency that provides residential substance abuse treatment and other services, the organizations announced Monday.

The merged organization, which would maintain the Positive Resource Center name, is likely to include AIDS Emergency Fund, which offers financial assistance to people disabled by HIV/AIDS. The nonprofits said in a news release Monday that about 5,000 clients would benefit from the combination of “multiple, like-minded services.” The three groups’ aggregate budget would be $20 million.

PRC Executive Director Brett Andrews, 51, who would be the CEO of the new organization, said in a brief interview, “We’re very excited.

We’re going to have an opportunity to bring a broad array of these complementary and comprehensive services under one roof.”

Among other assistance, PRC provides benefits counseling and employment services.

Andrews, who’s gay and declined to state his HIV status, has a current base salary of $161,000. He wasn’t sure what his new salary would be.

“We’re still in contract negotiations,” he said.

BP Executive Director Jonathan Vernick, 64, will leave his current post after October 31 to become a special adviser to the merged organization.

In an interview, Vernick, who’s been with BP for 33 years, said he’d been looking “to make some plans for my own succession” when he met about nine months ago with Andrews, whom he’s known for years, and discussed a merger.

He said that among other considerations, BP, which has a budget of $14 million, “is dependent on local funding for virtually all its programs,” and PRC “has a very active fundraising arm,” so he thought “it would be a very good marriage.”

Vernick, an HIV-negative straight ally, said the transition should be seamless for BP’s clients.

“Because of the service PRC provides, particularly their jobs program, I believe there will actually be more clients than are currently involved in it and will benefit from that significantly.”

Vernick’s salary is $198,000. He’s not sure how much he’d make as a special adviser.

“The agreement we have is that I will be paid based on an hourly rate that hasn’t been negotiated,” he said.

The number of hours he’d work also hasn’t been determined.

AEF

The inclusion of AEF in the merger is surprising but likely to occur. Sandra Nathan, an AfricanAmerican lesbian, became executive director of AEF and Breast Cancer Emergency Funds nine months ago “to lead both organizations through a strategic planning and restructuring process,” PRC’s news release said. She’ll leave her role when the merger’s complete.

The Breast Cancer Emergency Fund will remain as an independent entity.

AEF was born out of the leather community in the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

“In 1982, a group of San Franciscans came together to pay bills for their friends that were too ill to work due to HIV/AIDS,” Nathan stated, and AEF is still providing financial assistance to more than 2,000 low-income people.

“This proposed merger will provide even greater financial assistance

Courtesy Terrence McCarthy

Sandra Nathan, left, executive director of AIDS Emergency Fund; Brett Andrews, executive director of Positive Resource Center; and Jonathan Vernick, executive director of Baker Places Inc., have announced plans to merge the three agencies.

by increasing the availability of services that are still in demand,” she said.

David Cumpston, a spokesman for the agencies, said in response to emailed questions that AEF’s clients would continue to get their checks the same way they are now.

According to Nathan, “AEF is very strong. We had $1.7 million in income last year, and have $2.3 million in reserves, largely through bequests.”

BCEF’s budget is $839,000.

“AEF is not undergoing strategic restructuring because it is in trouble,” she said in response to emailed questions. “It is a strategic decision based on our desire to more effectively meet the needs of our clients.”

She added, “The decision to investigate a possible merger was the outcome of an examination of our options through a strategic planning process. Then, based on a discussion of those options, the board chose to look into a potential merger with a like-minded organization.”

In an interview, Nathan said that after taking time off, she would “sort out what my next steps will be with the hope of returning to the nonprofit sector.”

She plans to work with BCEF “on a part time basis through the end of August,” and is “working with the board to come up with a new organizational structure that will provide for the leadership of the organization after I exit.”

Her combined salary is $160,000.

She declined to share her age.

Mike Smith, a gay man who led AEF for more than 12 years before stepping down in 2015, praised the merger.

“AEF’s reserves and cash flow are very healthy. These community agency mergers always work better when both partners are strong and services complement, not compete, with each other,” Smith told the B.A.R. Tuesday via a Facebook message. “AEF and PRC are probably the two AIDS service organizations that already work closest together daily to provide coordinated short term and long-term financial help for the same base of clients.”

Smith said the merger is “a win for both programs and all clients.”

He also praised Andrews, with whom he had worked for many years.

“I am delighted to see that a partnership that Brett and I nurtured

together for many years become a permanent one-stop solution for our clients in need,” Smith said.

In the news release, BCEF board Chair Heather Renshaw said her group’s focus “will be to continue to raise funds that directly help lowincome women maintain medical care and basic living expenses when they’re too sick to work. Furthermore, we’re going to more deeply engage our donors, funders, and other key stakeholders to take our compassionate service model to the next level of growth.”

The boards of BP and PRC have unanimously approved the merger plans. The deal between the two groups “is subject to customary closing conditions, including notice and consent requirements under applicable regulations,” according to the agencies.

Cumpston said that “the intended merger” with AEF “will not be definite and final until the board votes on it in the coming weeks.”

The new PRC would have a staff of approximately 250. None of the agencies would lay off employees.

The buildings that are part of each group will still be in operation, but PRC’s office at 785 Market Street will remain the headquarters.

Board of Supervisors President London Breed stated that the merger would “facilitate an integrated, comprehensive health care approach to minimize any additional stress from paying medical bills to finding housing while getting treatment.”

San Francisco Health Director Barbara Garcia, a lesbian, stated, “Due to expanded health care options provided through the Affordable Care Act, many departments of public health and health and human services nonprofits across the country are restructuring, with a priority focus on integration. This merger not only achieves this purpose, but it also brings together multiple services to meet the many needs of our community.”t

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<< Pride 2016

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

t

Juster using recognition as platform for volunteerism

by Brian Bromberger

L

ike many volunteers, it was personal for Joanie Juster, very personal.

Having worked in theater and cabaret, in the early 1980s, her close friend, David Percival, a gay man who was a lighting designer whom she had met working at ACT, had gotten his first big gig at the Houston Grand Opera.

“They were at tech rehearsals when he collapsed,” Juster said. “He was dead of AIDS three days later.

I never got to say goodbye. He was suddenly gone. I didn’t even have a photograph of him.”

It was non-stop loss with other friends and co-workers dying in greater numbers.

“If you saw someone and then didn’t see him again within a month, you just assumed he was dead,” Juster said.

Her best friend D.W., or Hot Stuff, called her in 1987 with the news he had pneumonia, “a code word for I will be dead soon,” Juster recalled. He was going home to Kansas to die. Juster helped him pack, but before he left, she invited him to meet her Bay Area relatives at her uncle’s birthday party.

“I brought this flaming gay man with AIDS and I told my family he’s OK, please accept him,” Juster said, “and they did.”

Recognized for her years of vol-

<<

Binge drinking

From page 17

Using data from the 2011 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance, which surveyed gay and bi men in 20 cities, including San Francisco, researchers of a study published in the February 2015 issue of the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal found 4,008 HIV-negative gay and bisexual men

unteer work in the HIV/AIDS and LGBT communities, Juster, 63, will receive this year’s Heritage of Pride, 10 Years of Service Award from the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee.

Inundated with grief

By 1988, Juster was a mess, inundated with unending grief.

“The whole city was on edge.

Death was everywhere,” she recalled.

A friend of hers was a Shanti Project volunteer and she said if anyone needed a Shanti volunteer it was Juster.

“My friends were involved in their own grief and didn’t want to listen to my barrage of sadness,” she said.

“So I was given a fabulous former nun who just listened. She helped me heal and said the next step in getting out from under my grief was to help others and volunteer.”

Juster couldn’t quite handle the intensity of Shanti, but she could sew. She had been aware of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and knew it was heading for a full display in Washington, D.C. in 1988. She had decided to make a quilt panel for Percival and was sewing madly until right before the midnight deadline. She arrived two minutes after 12 and was standing there crying outside the closed doors when someone let her in.

“I saw the huge number of FedEx boxes holding quilts and I could tell they needed help. So I asked, what who reported binge drinking.

They accounted for nearly 50 percent of the men included in the study. And 1,720 of the men, or 21 percent of the study cohort, reported drinking five or more drinks on a typical drinking day.

Men aged 25 to 34 were “significantly higher,” at 63 percent, to be binge drinkers, according to the study, as were non-Hispanic whites

Brian Bromberger

Longtime volunteer Joanie Juster got involved in part to ease her grief as friends died of AIDS-related complications.

can I do? They pointed to a sewing machine. I hung out till 2 a.m. and for the next four nights after work, I stitched,” Juster said. “I soon felt a pair of hands massaging my shoulders saying, ‘Thank you for staying late.’ It was Cleve Jones! I was hooked.”

Jones didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

Through the support of gay friends, Juster was able to go to Washington and become a quilt monitor, which meant “providing grief support and Kleenex. Once you do that, you are part of the quilt for life.”

Eventually she would coordinate readers for the names of all the people who had died, a huge logistical (63 percent) and Hispanics (61 percent). The study, “Binge Drinking and Risky Sexual Behavior among HIV-Negative and Unknown HIV Status Men who have Sex with Men, 20 U.S. Cities,” also found that binge drinkers engaged in more condomless sex than non-binge drinkers and were more likely to exchange sex for drugs or money and to have concurrent partners.

THE

and organizational chore, prior to the internet.

Around 1990, Juster decided it was time to become a practical volunteer for Shanti, taking the intense weekend training, to provide nonjudgmental compassionate support, which she found life changing. Her very first client died the day after she met him, though she became good friends with subsequent clients, one of whom asked if she could rub his feet, “as no one would touch him as he had KS lesions all over his body, which I was happy to do,” Juster said, referring to Kaposi’s sarcoma, which affected many AIDS patients back then.

“I knew this scenario was being played out thousands of times with PWAs being treated as pariahs due to unrealistic fears,” said Juster.

“Some of the early quilt panels only had a first name due to the stigma.”

She would also get involved with the AIDS Emergency Fund, eventually serving on the board and then as a team coordinator for the AIDS Walk. Her philosophy about volunteering is simple: “We can all pitch in; every little bit helps, and together we can make a huge difference.”

Supporting the community

Juster stressed that her work is not just about AIDS and providing comfort, but supporting the LGBT community as a straight ally, with her husband, Mark Mitchell, being her anchor. She fought for marriage equality

“This suggests that binge drinking potentially affects more than just the decision to use a condom during sex. It is associated with a wide range of sexual risk behaviors,” stated the study, whose lead author was Kristen L. Hess.

Services expanded

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expanding its services in order to assist gay and bisexual men in managing their alcohol consumption.

In addition to the weekly groups, which take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Tuesdays at Strut, the gay men’s health center in the Castro, there are also walk-in individual sessions available on weekdays at 4 p.m.

Recognizing that binge drinking is a growing concern, SFAF has been

See page 40 >>

BROADMOOR

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and transgender rights, believing people fear what they do not know.

“The more you see other people, the more they become part of the fabric of your life,” she said. “Part of my mission is to help with visibility.”

The common thread connecting her volunteer experiences, which she ties into this year’s Pride theme of “For Racial and Economic Justice,” is treating all people equally and with dignity under the law.

“Remember Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird, who treats everyone with common decency. If we all dealt with each other like that, wouldn’t things be better?” she said.

Juster said that she was shocked when she heard she had received the Heritage of Pride 10 Years of Service award.

“I’m just a volunteer behind the scenes, not the executive head or founder of an agency. There are countless numbers of us, so why me?” she asked. “I’ve decided to accept this award on behalf of every volunteer who came early and stayed late. This award has given me a platform I’ve never had before and I better learn how to use my voice for good, by encouraging everyone to volunteer and straight people to speak up for gay rights.”

Juster then gently apologized that she needed to take a nap, as she was participating in the Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk for suicide prevention.t

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<< Open Forum

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Volume 46, Number 25 June 23-29, 2016 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 • Sari Staver • 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 Jo-Lynn Otto • 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

LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad, Esq.

Work to do on two fronts T

his year’s San Francisco Pride celebration theme, “For Racial and Economic Justice,” highlights unmet goals for the Bay Area’s LGBT community. Even as we mark the oneyear anniversary of same-sex marriage, the battle for equality continues.

Economic justice means seeking economic parity for LGBT people. People of color and transgender people are particularly vulnerable in a volatile economy. Studies have consistently concluded that transgender people remain underemployed and unemployed.

The minimum wage has risen in cities around the Bay Area, but the high cost of living here means that the higher wages don’t go far. San Francisco’s unemployment rate is a measly 2.9 percent, yet many trans people and people of color struggle to find jobs.

What can be done? For starters, LGBT nonprofits that focus on workplace issues need to broaden their reach beyond big corporations.

The regional economy depends on small business owners, who often hire locally. It’s these mom-and-pop shops that can really make a difference by hiring qualified LGBT workers.

Additionally, San Francisco has many programs to help small businesses, including the recently passed Legacy Business Registry and Historic Preservation Grant, which was created by Proposition J that gay District 9 Supervisor David Campos spearheaded and voters approved last November. The resource is meant to provide financial assistance to keep the city’s “legacy” businesses open.

At the national level, instead of cozying up to anti-gay Republicans – gay Apple CEO Tim Cook is reportedly hosting a private breakfast fundraiser next week for House Speaker Paul Ryan (Wisconsin) – tech CEOs should be leading the charge to pass federal legislation such as the Equality Act. The Equality Act, which was introduced in Congress, establishes explicit, permanent protections against discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity in matters of employment, housing, access to public places, federal funding, credit, education and jury service. In addition, it would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in federal funding and access to public places. Old manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back in

Rick Gerharter

In response to the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando and the statement by the shooter’s father that his son was furious when he saw two men kissing in Miami, San Francisco resident Curt Janka, right, took his camera to the streets June 15 and asked passing couples to kiss. Above, Jeffrey Henderson, left, and Kevin Sonnichsen, with their dog, Madoc, kiss at Harvey Milk Plaza. Janka posts the photos on social media under the hashtag #SpreadLove.

this country. Tech and so-called green jobs are where the future is. LGBT workers can and should be given an opportunity to get those jobs without fear of bias.

Racism

Regarding racial justice, there is a need, as the SF Pride Committee stated, to “illuminate the intersections of our movement with the broader population, acknowledge our connected struggles, and ignite our obligation to address all forms of inequality.” Despite progress, LGBTs of color often face discrimination – even

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News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Out & About listings • jim@ebar.com Advertising • scott@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation.

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in our own community. We experienced this in the Castro, when bars used to demand multiple forms of ID from people of color. A decade ago there was the protracted Badlands discrimination case that was eventually mediated to a confidential settlement. Here at the Bay Area Reporter, we are constantly aware that we must reach out to communities of color, not only for stories about their experiences, but also to seek comment in the regular course of gathering news. Adding more people of color to the staff is also a goal to which we aspire.

There is white privilege in the gay community, and being aware of that is the first step to making changes. Queer Latinos should have been on the stage at the June 12 vigil in the Castro hours after the Pulse nightclub shooting rampage in Orlando, yet they were mostly absent and were compelled to organize their own march to the Mission district last weekend.

That’s the sort of disconnect that should concern all of us, no matter our politics or our skin color. The tragic deaths of 49 mostly gay Latino men, African American women, and others at Pulse nightclub should unite us all as we seek answers about the anti-gay hate crime in the months ahead.

We are stronger when we’re working together. And these days, as LGBT people, we need to stand together with others more than ever.t

Pride is a declaration

by Dafahlia Mosely

BAY AREA REPORTER

t

s a 20-year-old trans woman, I face misogyny on a daily basis. Too often, I experience a worldview that defines femininity as weak, vulnerable, and artificial. My own personal expression of femininity is seen by others as especially artificial. Add my status as an African-American and I am a walking target for society’s judgments. I have felt the wind of these arrows passing me by.

This summer season, I will be wearing Pride as a statement.

Growing up as a queer boy, I considered myself a feminist. I understood girls’ need for this affirmative recognition, especially from me as a male ally.

From a young age, I was a witness to the sexualization of female bodies. Girls at school were sent home with the reasoning that they were in “inappropriate attire for the classroom setting” under the school’s “tip of the finger rule”; they were disturbing the learning process of the boys. Other girls were rockin’ the same Forever 21 cutoffs and getting away with it.

At that time in my life, I identified as a male – unintentionally, yet subconsciously, reaping the benefits of male privilege. While the girls got judged by the adults, the oppression directed at me came from my peers – sexualization of my body and pure homophobia.

I pretty much always had a womanly figure since sophomore year of high school, placing me closer to the female side of the gender spectrum. My bottoms were often leggings or

Dafahlia Mosely

those same Forever 21 cutoffs. However, when my peers bullied me, I never got sent home for distracting the boys. Nor did my aggravators, who were given a pass even after many warnings. My high school years went on as me being the innocent gay boy, my friends were the provocative Lolitas, and our antagonists were “just the boys being boys.”

As I reflect back on my life as my younger self, I can now honor my determination. I am dedicated to shift-

ing the toxic dynamics of gender and racial oppression that young people face on a daily basis. As a queer educator at LYRIC (short for Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center), I have discovered my personal power as well as the power of community. Through my studies at City College of San Francisco and my work at LYRIC, I see how power can demonstrate resilience and pride, dismantling the societal norms that have been constructed through oppression. As a black trans woman, I claim my power, I am resilient, I am proud.

Learning what it means to be unapologetically black has shaped my appreciation for who I am as a whole. I strive to be unapologetically me, in all identities.

Each of us embracing who we are and loving ourselves for who we are will allow us to embrace and celebrate our differences. In turn, we will not be so fearful or angry or insensitive to differences in others. And when we truly see one another – our similarities and our differences – appreciation will be reciprocated throughout all communities, we will embody a sense of pride.

Pride is a declaration of resilience.t Dafahlia Mosely is a queer educator at LYRIC, which was named best LGBT nonprofit by Bay Area Reporter readers in this year’s Besties readers’ poll.

For more information on the organization, visit http://www.lyric.org.

t

Letters >>

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Editorial made the point

Thank you for your piece entitled “We will not be diminished,” [Editorial, June 16]. Well written and well said.

Erick Miranda San Francisco

On the subject of Orlando

I have been largely silent in the wake of this horror. I didn’t know how to respond. My private moments and conversations have been flooded with tears. For a long time now, I have been deeply troubled by the venomous propaganda that fuels our political discourse. Frightened by the reified hatred that marginalizes and divides.

As a member of the LGBTQ community, the Orlando tragedy feels very personal. Close. And as a Jewish woman, I know what can happen when people turn a blind eye. As perhaps all queers and females, I know what it’s like to walk through the streets with hypervigilance.

And conversely, as someone who’s been denied equal rights under the law and experienced the recognition of those civil rights in my own lifetime, I’ve witnessed firsthand what can happen when we stand together and continue to fight for what’s just and right.

As a lesbian mother, I grapple with what I want to convey to my daughter in the face of the tragedy that befell my community and our nation. What do I want my own actions to express to her?

And this past week I have faced my own cowardice in this regard – aware that it would perhaps be reasonable for me to retreat from public visibility and remain silent – in the service of “protecting my family.” But that kind of retreat or “self-preservation” allows forces of evil to fester and persist.

In the aftermath of Orlando, I have had to look squarely at the painful truth that I am – and in fact, that we all are – to some extent culpable. We all find ways to cope with the reality of the world we live in. And I believe this requires some level of denial. Some level of ignoreance, if you will.

I have observed that even within the LGBTQ community, individuals are encouraged to conform to subcultural norms and boxes and factions and rules. People seek comfort in the confines of their own microcultures.

And reciprocally, or so it seems to me, all too often reject those who dare to challenge or push at the margins of microcultural norms. People want to be “a part of ” something, and in turn, that inclusion seems to rest on the exclusion of some others. There always seems to be an “in” group, defined in part by those kept out.

In my world, we talk of “inclusiveness,” “celebrating diversity,” “honoring differences.” But do we really walk this talk?

In my silence, I have been grappling with these questions. And out of my silence, I have been compelled to dig deeper, to open my heart wider, to extend the hand of compassion and forgiveness to those who may have hurt me, or whom I may have hurt. I am compelled to be a better person in all my affairs, however great or small.

And I want my daughter to know I stand firmly for what I believe in, even in those times I feel defeated or isolated or afraid.

I am Orlando. And I hope that my actions today honor the lives of those senselessly lost and stand in quiet resistance to all the forces that have contributed to this tragedy.

Lisa Cohn, Ph.D. San Francisco

Don’t be fooled by Trump

As a gay man who has participated in our fight for equal rights I was surprised and elated by our successes in some legal rulings. I never thought I would live long enough to see same-sex marriage. Like many people I was shocked by the despicable actions of one religious lunatic and the carnage and hate he spewed with an automatic weapon in Orlando. I was never fooled into thinking that after our successes the LGBT community was somehow granted equality in the minds of the many homophobes in this country and in the world.

All one has to do is read the opinions of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, beloved and lavishly praised by Donald Trump, to see our legal rights are tenuous. The Donald has used this tragedy to urge the LGBT community to support him. What really goes beyond all human decency is his fawning over the religious right and homophobes like Scalia and his willingness to take away rights from children of immigrants, Muslims in general, and any group that his right wing coalition finds politically incorrect. What happens when his conservative allies make him bow to their idea of political correctness and dump us? Clearly he has no strong held beliefs other than he should be president.

Mark Dunlop San Francisco

Don’t even try to pinkwash the war on Muslims

There are no words that adequately express how sad and enraged we are by the mass shooting in Orlando June 12. As queers we hold it all at once: grief for our

dead, the memory of the state ignoring our dead and dying of HIV/AIDS, the way our tears will be used by the U.S. government to justify the murder of Muslim and Arab queers at home and abroad.

Almost as soon as the shooting stopped, the same politicians and media who have been attacking LGBTIQ rights framed the shooting as “Islamic extremism” and “terrorism.” In many cases they refuse to use the word “gay” and choose to call it instead an attack on “Orlando,” or “America.” Attacks on LGBTQ people are and have been committed by homophobes of many religions. Before the killings at Pulse, the largest single mass murder of queers in the U.S. occurred by arson at a New Orleans gay club, the Upstairs Lounge, in 1973, where 32 people died. Daily, LGBTIQ people are beaten, raped, mutilated, and killed.

Most of the people killed and injured at Pulse were queers of color. Almost half of the dead, 23 people, were Puerto Rican, from a land under U.S. colonial rule that grants the people of the island few rights and which has destroyed their economy while demanding massive loan payments.

Now the same politicians who would require a birth certificate to use a bathroom are standing behind a pink curtain calling for exclusion of Muslim immigrants, surveillance of Muslim communities, and war and more war in the Middle East. Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism stands against this cynical use of queer death as a form of pinkwashing –- that is, using queer oppression as a front for racism, war, Israeli apartheid, or police violence. We are tired of the killings, and we are tired of vigils. Please join us in resisting militarism and policing by refusing to refer to this attack as “terror,” and naming it for what it is – a hate crime against lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people, intersex people, and queers.

Barry Schneider Attorney at Law

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Gave up Frameline membership

This is why I gave up my membership to Frameline: After nearly a decade of trying to discuss with Frameline directors why it is important to refuse to take money from the Israeli government, after having Arab queers request a meeting with Frameline only to be denied, and after several filmmakers have pulled their films or refused to submit their films to Frameline, until Frameline denounces their position of accepting money from the Israeli consulate, it is time for the community to take a stand.

It is clear that “brand” Israel, which portrays Israel as the only LGBTQ-friendly country in the Middle East, needs to be challenged. Israel is not LGBTQ-friendly if you are Palestinian seeking to live as an openly LGBTQ person.

As queer people we understand that meaning of hatred against us and the fact that the mainstream media frequently lies about who we are and our histories. The same is true for Palestinians. They live under an illegal military occupation and encroaching illegal settlements that steal away more and more of their lands promised as their country. Life under military occupation is not a life of freedom, and after decades of military occupation it is time that we demand an end to it rather than support the country (Israel) that uses military force.

As a member of the LGBTQ community I want my community organizations to stand for the liberation of all people, including Palestinians. Until Frameline commits to this, I cannot in good conscience be a Frameline member.

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Power, progress, and equality

In 1986, the PG&E Pride Network, one of the first corporate LGBT organizations in America, held its first meeting. Since that day, we’ve proudly supported equal rights in California. As we celebrate Pride Network’s 30th anniversary, we’re constantly looking for new ways to support our employees and Californians, so they can be their “whole selves” at work and in life.

Most recently, our leadership, me included, took part in the “I’m an Ally” campaign to support LGBT inclusion and safety at work. PG&E’s diverse 70,000-square mile service area stretches from Eureka to Bakersfield and our 23,000-plus employees have equally diverse needs. When we create a safe space for our people, we are better able to support our customers and provide safe, reliable, affordable, and clean energy throughout Northern and Central California.

We are proud to support the LGBT community and allies during the San Francisco Pride parade on June 26.

We’ve made incredible progress over the past 30 years and are committed to building a better future for all Californians.

Stephanie Isaacson, Senior Manager San Francisco Division, PG&E

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Politics>>

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

Local National Park Service staff to march in SF Pride

by Matthew S. Bajko

U

nder the National Park Service’s uniform rules, employees are required to wear their ranger hats with their official uniforms whenever they are outdoors, with very few exceptions.

So when members of the Gay and Lesbian Association of the National Park Service decided two years ago to have an official contingent for the first time in years in San Francisco’s Pride parade, its members fully expected they would march adorned in their iconic headgear.

Yet Christine Lenhertz, a lesbian who, at the time, was the regional director for the park service’s Pacific West region, recalled that the group was told its members couldn’t wear their uniforms in the parade. So she lodged a complaint against the directive, leading the Office of the Solicitor for the Department of the Interior to weigh in and agree with Lenhertz that there was no reason to ban the uniforms from the parade.

“We were allowed to march in our uniforms,” said Lenhertz, now the superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, in an interview this spring with the Bay Area Reporter.

Not only that, but the small contingent of several dozen marchers “were carrying an enormous National Park Ranger hat” – à la the enormous headwear featured in the long-running San Francisco show Beach Blanket Babylon, recalled Alexandra Picavet, formerly a spokeswoman for the GGNRA who is now the chief of communications for the park service’s Midwest Region.

This year local Park Service staff will again be marching in the Pride parade. Employees at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park have taken the lead in organizing the contingent, as last year’s parade participation was coordinated by staff with several national parks in the East Bay, said Michele Gee, the GGNRA’s chief of interpretation and education.

In an email, Gee wrote that, “2014 was not the first time,” the Park Service had a presence in San Francisco’s Pride parade, as her “understanding (was) that NPS marched prior but it may have been a decade ago.”

The National Park Service will mark its centennial this August 25 and is also expected to soon release a National Historic Landmark LGBTQ Theme Study and proposed framework titled “LGBTQ America.” As the B.A.R. has previously reported, the report is a coast-to-coast effort to bring to greater attention the oft-buried history of the country’s LGBTQ community.

“Uncovering these stories gives us a truer understanding of our American heritage, and a new way to see the connections between diverse American experiences,” wrote Leslie Crippen in “Finding Our Place: Queer Heritage in the U.S.,” a 28-page report released in April by the park service’s Cultural Resources Office of Outreach.

The park service will be uploading the various chapters of the theme study in PDF form online at https://www. nps.gov/subjects/tellingallamericansstories/ lgbtqthemestudy.htm.

In the meantime, the list of LGBTQ sites on the National Register of Historic Places continues to increase. In May the Park Service added, as detailed in a Facebook post, the Edificio Comunidad de Orgullo Gay de Puerto Rico, which “served as the meeting hall for the first gay/lesbian organization established in Puerto Rico,” and the Furies Collective house in Washington, D.C., which housed “a lesbian feminist collective that in the early 1970’s created and led the debate over lesbians’ place in American society.”

And President Barack Obama, who over the weekend visited Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada, is widely expected to designate the area around New York City’s famous gay bar the Stonewall Inn as the country’s first LGBT national monument.

SF Zoo celebrates Pride

Also returning to the Pride parade this year is the San Francisco Zoo and Gardens, which is hosting four days of special events for visitors of the zoological park near Ocean Beach.

“This is the first time SF Zoo has had a float in the Pride parade since 2012. Our float will feature elements of our newly opened Mexican gray wolf exhibit, but there will still be plenty of color, including pink!”

Rachel Eslick, the zoo’s marketing

with plastic pink flamingos, ribbons and more.

The zoo will also have supplies available near the flamingo exhibit for visitors to make pink decorations to adorn its Pride float. Special pink food will also be on sale, such as sugar cookies with pink frosting and Rice Krispy treats with pink sprinkles.

“We celebrate one another and stand in solidarity with Orlando victims, friends, family and the entire community,” stated the zoo on the event page for its Pride weekend.

For more information, visit http://www.sfzoo.org.t Courtesy National Park Service

Members and supporters of the Gay and Lesbian Association of the National Park Service carried a giant Park Service Ranger hat in the 2014 Pride parade.

communications manager, told the B.A.R. The festivities begin Thursday, June 23, which is both Pink Flamingo Day and National Pink Day. The

zoo is asking its guests to wear pink, as it is decorating its Zoo Street, the walkway from the gatehouse to Leaping Lemur Cafe and the adjacent exhibit of Chilean flamingos,

The Political Notes online column is on hiatus until Monday, July 11.

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.

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<< Commentary

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

The real fight

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

F

or months, years even, the battle over transgender public accommodations has raged. What was originally a strategy to torpedo LGBT and trans-specific rights bills by raising the specter of sexual assault has grown to new heights. The issue of transgender access to restrooms and other gender-segregated spaces has become one of the bigticket issues in a very strange election season.

But as much as the topic of restrooms comes up, I want you to understand one important thing: while so much of this evokes their use, this really isn’t about bathrooms.

Sure, the people behind all these bills have pushed any number of fear mongering proposals, claiming to be concerned about the privacy and safety of women.

Scores of commercials have been produced – some of them slated for national airing – that make the same, tired case that America’s daughters will be stalked by men in restrooms.

It still baffles me that there’s such

a disconnect on this. No one is going to get out of a crime by claiming to be transgender. It’s like that obvious detail is totally forgotten, either by accident or intent. Being trans is not a “get out of jail free” card.

The group behind the most recent advertisement push, the Conservative Republicans of Texas, is calling this move the “Campaign for USA,” repurposing the same materials it used in the successful repeal of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.

The website, http://www. campaignforusa.com, is full of the same misinformation one sees in the television ads, but goes one step further. “The term transgender is a euphemism,” it states, “a weaker alternative, for the term pervert, in order to make the behavior seem more acceptable.”

Of course, it gets a lot more wrong, claiming that public accommodations for trans people is all a part of recruiting children into “the homosexual lifestyle,” and equating transgender identity with “puppy play.”

Much like the Conservative Republicans of Texas, Focus on the

Family and the Family Research Council are listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups.

The founder of the latter two, James Dobson, has also hopped into the fray.

On Dobson’s “Family Talk” radio show, he kicked off a discussion about transgender rights by quoting from Leviticus 19:29. “’Do not degrade your daughters by making them a prostitute or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.’ That comes right to the heart of this,” said Dobson. “It sort of feels like that’s where we are.

We’re taking our little, vulnerable kids and we’re saying in the name of political correctness, ‘Here are our children. Do with them what you want.’ And I’m here to say that I’m going to fight that as long as I have breath in my body.”

He then turned his attention to his wife, Shirley Dobson, worrying about her “being in a bathroom where some grungy guy comes in there and zips down the zipper and does things that she will remember the rest of her life.”

After this, with his guest on the show at the time, Janet Porters of Faith 2 Action, they questioned the manhood of anyone who would not “stand and fight” to defend their

Christine Smith

families against – well, I’m not entirely sure. The argument seems to be that by allowing your children to share facilities with trans people, you are “prostituting” them.

I find myself coming away from this with some big questions: What does Dobson think happens in restrooms? Does he somehow see these as a place for sexual contact, at least for men like him? That’s certainly what I’m reading into this.

This whole image he paints of some man walking into a ladies room and “doing things” in front of his wife.

The notion that letting your daughters use a public restroom that allows transgender people equates to prostituting them. It’s such a bizarre and irrelevant concept.

RHODA GOLDMAN PL AZA

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As I said, though, while so much of this discussion has mentioned bathrooms, it’s not what this is all about. Not really.

When the HERO initiative was repealed last November, it took with it a slew of rights for any number of classes, even beyond the LGBT community. It gutted a number of protections, not solely the right for transgender people to use a restroom appropriate for their gender identity or expression.

When North Carolina enacted House Bill 2, it did not just disallow people like me from using a restroom at rest stops in the state, but also removed a number of otherwise unrelated protections from municipalities throughout the Tar Heel State.

By focusing on what conservatives think is the hot button issue of allowing sexual assault in women’s rooms, they’re creating a smokescreen that allows them to attack the rights of all.

There is more to this for transgender people beyond restrooms, too. A number of my friends have decided to cut back or cancel vacation plans this year, for fear of increased harassment in the wake of laws like HB2, or actions like those of Dobson or the Campaign for USA. Others are opting out of public life in other ways, big and small. Many are avoiding public restrooms and other public accommodations overall.

That, of course, is exactly what the Dobsons of the world want. He is feeding an audience with the notion that to be a proper man, they should be willing to hunt, even kill transgender people.

At the same time, transgender people are forced to live in fear, worried that they will indeed be branded a pervert or worse, and harmed by these same people.

This isn’t a fight about bathrooms. This is a fight for our very humanity, and our very existence.t Gwendolyn Ann Smith isn’t afraid of James Dobson. You can find her at http://www. gwensmith.com.

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SF Pride

From page 17

The screenings are in response to the recent massacre at a gay Orlando, Florida nightclub in which 49 people were fatally shot and 53 were injured, SF Pride Executive Director George Ridgely said Monday at a news conference with the mayor, police, and other city officials.

“We are obviously continuing with a heavy heart as we go into this week,” Ridgely said, referring to the June 12 shooting at the Pulse nightclub. Gunman Omar Mateen, 29, died while exchanging gunfire with police in the attack. His motives weren’t clear.

Ridgely said there would be metal detectors and bag checks at all entry points of the Saturday, June 25 and Sunday, June 26 Pride celebration.

There will not be screening at the parade.

In response to emailed questions, SF Pride spokesman Sam Singer said, “We anticipate that the new measures may slow the entrance, but not cause any significant delays into getting to the event.”

Bags larger than 18 inches by 18 inches won’t be permitted.

“Not bringing a bag will absolutely speed up the process,” Ridgely said Monday.

On its website, SF Pride said everyone must be screened, and there won’t be any lockers where oversized bags may be stored.

Besides obvious bans on firearms or other weapons, illegal drugs, or alcohol, people also won’t be alSee page 40 >>

<< Travel

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Austria offers splendor without the crowds

by Heather Cassell

A

rt, architecture, great food, history, music, and an active gay scene can be found in Austria, without the crowds of more famous European destinations.

That’s what my girlfriend and I found while we explored Salzburg and Vienna, two very distinct cities that are each charming in their own right.

Salzburg is mountainous and lush, nestled in the foothills of the Alps and filled with lakes and a river flowing through it, while Vienna is a sprawling metropolis where the modern world brushes up against centuries of gothic and baroque art and architecture.

In Salzburg, we were greeted by our guide, Roman Forisch, who pointed out historic sites such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s family home and burial place, locales from

The Sound of Music, and two gay bars and meeting spots. One of the secret romantic rendezvous spots is the rose garden behind Mirabell Palace, which is just on the other side of the Mirabell Garden.

We couldn’t resist The Sound of Music tour aboard Panorama Tours (http://www. panoramatours.com/ en). While the tour didn’t quite live up to the hype in our minds, it was an experience that we both enjoyed.

Salzburg is also an artistic and musical center. The Salzburg Festival (http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/summer), which runs July 22-August 31, attracts performers and visual artists and their admirers from around the globe to the foothills of the Alps.

Forisch himself celebrates Salzburg’s musical history as the manager of The Sound of Salzburg Dinner Show (http://www.sound-

Geena Dabadghav

A view of Salzburg from the Hotel Sacher, on the banks of the Salzach River in Salzburg, Austria.

ofsalzburg.info). The show takes guests through a musical feast from traditional Austrian folk songs to operettas to Mozart to more contemporary classics, including favorites from, of course, The Sound

of Music, while they dine on traditional Austrian cuisine.

The food was hearty in Salzburg, and we enjoyed drinking beer made by monks at the former monastery, Augustinerbrau-Kloster Mulln (http://www.augustinerbier.at), you simply grab a mug, rinse, PUB: where Bay Area Reporter and hold Issue: May 26, 2016 it under the spout to get Client:the Astonday’s brew, then sit outside in the AD: Hotel Renew or inside the cool dark hall garden Size: 5.75” withx 11” thenon-bleed stained glass windows.

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Vienna thrilled us with its art, nightlife, and dining scene.

Modern life seamlessly moves between ancient buildings that have been standing for centuries in Vienna.

In Vienna, gay men will want to stop by the Field Marshall Prince Eugene Maurice of Savoy’s Winter Palace, which has been transformed into a museum that opened in 2013.

However, the artwork they will admire is outside the palace, where the walls are adorned with homoerotic plaster molds. The prince and his lover, Louis XIV’s flamboyant brother, Philippe I de France of Duc d’Orleans, were openly gay, explained our lesbian guide, the late Ines Rieder, an LGBT historian who died unexpectedly December 24.

Vienna no longer has an LGBT community center, which closed in February, or a gayborhood, so the community gathers at bookstores, cafes, and parties.

“Be aware that you are not traveling to a gay destination,” said Carlos Kytka, 53, a gay man who is the founder and executive director of the Gay European Tourism Association (http://www.geta-europe.org).

“You are traveling to a destination

t

that gays love and that embraces gay travelers.”

Monika “DJ Mo” Mayr, 40, is a lesbian and producer of the allwomen’s party G-Spot (http://www. gspot.at/home). She noted that Vienna’s LGBT nightlife isn’t as big as other European cities, but it’s improving.

Travelers come to Vienna for the “cafe shops, restaurants, shops, culture, history, museums, the fantastic old huge buildings are all very impressive,” she said.

During the day it’s a different story, according to Eva-Maria Trimmel, a 41-year-old lesbian who is the owner of the cafe, Fett and Zucker (http://www.fettundzucker.at).

“Vienna has a vivid queer scene and a lot of queer art projects are going on,” Trimmel told the Bay Area Reporter.

Feminist and LGBT bookstores are still en vogue in Vienna. Women can be found getting their literary fix at ChickLit (http://www.chicklit. at), a feminist bookstore. There’s also Lowenherz (www.http://www. loewenherz.at), a gay bookstore.

These centers are particularly important now in the city where the LGBT community is spread throughout 23 districts.

Vienna is one of the few places in the world where the pageantry of the ball hasn’t drifted away into a bygone era. Vienna boasts of more than 450 balls during Ball Season that kicks off with the Red Cross Ball (http://www.wienerrotkreuzball. at/viennese-red-cross-ball/?L=1) in November and stretches into May, wrapping up with the annual Life Ball (http://lifeball.org/en/lifeball/), which is the most popular ball of the season among the LGBT community and raises money to fight HIV/AIDS. Throughout the season there are several LGBT balls, such as the Rainbow Ball (http://www.hosiwien.at/en/rainbowball/) in January and the Kreativeball (The Creative Ball) (www.clubkreativ.at) in February. The Diversity Ball in held in April.

Balls that aren’t LGBT specific, but attract a large queer crowd, are the Rosen Ball (Rose Ball) (www. rosenball.eu) and the Opera Ball (http://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/ Content.Node/home/opernball/ Allgemein.en.php).

Not all balls are lavish fancy affairs where strict dress codes must be adhered to, just check with the See page 41 >>

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<< Community News

32 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Advocates push for more HIV funds in SF

t

by Seth Hemmelgarn

A

s San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee unveils steps to eliminate new HIV infections in the city, advocates are pushing for more funding for the initiative, known as Getting to Zero.

Lee announced last week the launch of a campaign meant to increase PrEP use, as well as the creation of the city’s HIV Community Planning Council. The Bay Area Reporter previously covered the merger of the HIV Community Planning Council and the HIV Prevention Planning Council into the new body.

“To achieve our goal of reaching zero new HIV infections, we need aggressive strategies like promoting PrEP use,” gay Supervisor Scott Wiener, who in 2015 announced that he was taking PrEP, said in a statement from Lee’s office. “San Francisco has long been at the forefront in the fight against HIV/AIDS and we can lead the nation in ending this epidemic.”

Health Director Barbara Garcia, a lesbian, stated, “PrEP is an important tool in our fight against new HIV infections. PrEP has revolu-

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tionized prevention, by providing a safe and effective way that people can take charge of their own health, without being dependent on a partner. With PrEP, people who are HIV-negative can stay that way.”

But Dana Van Gorder, executive director of the San Francisco nonprofit Project Inform, recently told the B.A.R. that “several months ago,” advocates presented Lee with a request for an additional $3.1 million for the Getting to Zero initiative.

The added funds would go to-

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ward PrEP retention and other activities. The money would be on top of the approximately $1.3 million the mayor committed last year. The New York-based MAC AIDS Fund also put in $500,000.

However, when Lee’s budget was released this month, it included only $600,000 of the funds advocates are seeking, Van Gorder said. He said he and others are talking to city supervisors about adding the rest of the money. The new fiscal year starts July 1.

In response to an email asking about the $3.1 million request, Francis Tsang, a spokesman for the mayor, said the proposed budget for the fiscal years beginning in 2016 and 2017 “includes $2.5 million of continued funding for Getting to Zero efforts over the two years. This ongoing annual funding of $1.24 million funds the Getting to Zero initiative,” which includes over 10 full-time health department employees and more than $500,000 of contracts for community-based contracts and UCSF. Tsang added that the 2016 and 2017 budget “continues the mayor’s commitment to HIV/AIDS support and services and adds $600,000 in grant funding for PrEP navigation, clinical services, and case management in neighborhood specific services in underserved communities.

Further, the mayor’s budget backfills $450,000 of federal cuts to HIV/ AIDS funding” through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Ryan White funds.

“Overall, over the last few years, Mayor Lee has made historic levels of funding available for HIV/AIDS care and prevention,” Tsang said.

Wiener, who Van Gorder called “very helpful,” said in an interview that he’s working to get more money through the city’s add-back process.

“I’m going to try to get as much as we can get,” he said. “A budget process is always challenging. There are so many pushes and pulls on the amount of money we have. ... HIV care and prevention is an extremely high priority, so I’ll be pushing to get as much of the $3.1 million as we can get.”

Wiener said that “from the beginning,” he’s been part of the Getting to Zero coalition, a public-private partnership that includes the health department, service providers, and others.

“It is important for us to fund it so we can get it right,” he said.

One of the organizations in the Getting to Zero coalition is the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Joe Hollendoner, who started in May as the nonprofit’s new CEO, said he’s “glad to see the mayor’s commitment.”

“We need to add resources if we’re seriously going to get to zero, and I’m optimistic we’ll have the necessary funds” to do the work, Hollendoner said.

According to Lee’s office, there were 255 new cases of HIV, down from the See page 41 >>

t

Pride 2016>>

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 33

Lesbians to celebrate Maud’s 50th anniversary compiled by Cynthia Laird

T

he well-known lesbian bar Maud’s has been shuttered for years, but on Saturday, lesbians and their friends will gather at what used to be the famous watering hole to celebrate what would have been its 50th anniversary.

Maud’s Study, as it was formally known, opened in 1966 by its owner, the late Rikki Streicher.

The bar closed in 1989.

Now called Finnegan’s Wake, the bar at 937 Cole Street (at Carl) in San Francisco will be overflowing with lesbians June 25, when organizers celebrate with an anniversary reunion. The event, organized by Mandy Carter and others, has been taking place over Pride weekend for the last seven years.

In an email, organizers are looking for people who went to Maud’s in 1966, as well as others who frequented the establishment when it was open.

The reunion, which takes place from noon to 6 p.m., will feature a cash bar, Maud’s reunion welcome table, pool table, and backyard seating. It is wheelchair accessible.

Organizers thanked Finnegan’s Wake staff for the hospitality, and noted that the bar renewed its lease for 20 years.

line in Millbrae south of San Francisco. It is scheduled to arrive at the Embarcadero Station, its first stop in the city, at 7:52 a.m.

Two more trains will depart from Pittsburg/Bay Point prior to the normal 8 a.m. start time at 7:17 and 7:37 a.m.

Meanwhile, three early trains will service the Fremont to Daly City line beginning at 7:10 a.m., the Richmond to Millbrae line

starting at 7:06 a.m., and the East Dublin to Daly City line beginning at 7:01 a.m.

On the Peninsula, BART will run three early trains departing from Millbrae beginning at 7:01 a.m. and two trains from Daly City starting at 7:10 a.m.

“This is a pilot so it is important we get a good turnout. Utilization of the first trains will determine whether BART will open early again for SF Pride next year,” BART See page 41 >>

Lydia Gonzales

People raised their glasses in a toast at the 2010 Maud’s reunion party.

Last chance to help with the pink triangle

If you’re looking for something different to do over Pride weekend, consider helping install the giant pink triangle atop Twin Peaks.

Patrick Carney, co-founder of the pink triangle, said that volunteers are needed for three aspects of the project. On Friday, June 24, from 1 to 5 p.m., people will set up the outline of the triangle. Carney said that only a handful of people are needed.

Saturday, June 25 is the big day.

The main installation will take place from 7 to 10 a.m., which is when most of the volunteers are needed.

Then there will be a ceremony at 10:30 featuring local dignitaries, some of the Pride grand marshals, and others.

On Sunday, June 26, from 4:30 to 8 p.m., volunteers are needed to take down the pink triangle.

“One need not stay the entire time, it is casual,” Carney said in an email message earlier this month.

“Even an hour of help at either or all of these times can accomplish a lot.”

Volunteers are asked to bring a hammer and gloves to the site.

People should wear closed-toe shoes with non-slip tread; sandals are not recommended. They should also wear long pants and sunscreen.

Carney said that “fashionable pink triangle T-shirts” will be provided to all who help out.

Carney and others started this Pride tradition two decades ago to reclaim the pink triangle symbol, which was used by the Nazis in concentration camps to identify and shame homosexuals. The pink triangle is now embraced by the LGBT community as a symbol of pride.

To volunteer, and for more information and driving directions, visit http://www.thepinktriangle.com.

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BART service begins hour early for SF Pride

BART trains will be running an hour earlier than normal Sunday, June 26 in order to accommodate the crowds headed into San Francisco for the annual Pride parade that day.

The Bay Area’s regional transit agency will begin service at 6:57 a.m. when the first train leaves the Pittsburg/Bay Point station in the East Bay and heads toward the end of the CCT6915-1 LGBT Neon Print 7.75x13_BayAreaRep.indd 1

5/24/16 3:11 PM

<< Pride 2016

34 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Dyke March returns to traditional route

by Liz Highleyman

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his year’s Dyke March will return to a daytime rally in Dolores Park, a 6 p.m. kick-off time, and the traditional 18th Street route after controversial changes in 2015, according to the organizing committee.

The event is being put together by many new organizers after Liz Highleyman dwindling to the bare bones last Dyke March participants held the year. banner at last year’s event.

“We are really excited to be back in the park after a threeyear hiatus,” Dyke March comwomen marching behind a large mittee member Elizabeth Lanyon “Dyke Power” banner broke away told the Bay Area Reporter. “The from the main march and crossed increase in support, in voices, and in police lines, removing metal barminds has been incredible. We have ricades to reclaim the traditional grown into a strong community of route. informed organizers, bringing a Last year’s route change was trigvariety of skills and experience to gered by renovations in Dolores support Dyke March and our queer Park. A week before the march, the communities.” south side of the park where the pre-march rally is usually held was 2015 controversy fenced off. The newly renovated Last year’s Dyke March was beset north side was reopened, but city by controversy after organizers deofficials did not allow a stage in cided to alter the route to go along the park. Organizers instead got a 17th Street rather than 18th Street. permit for a street party at the interThis minor change was historically section of Dolores and 18th streets, significant, as it meant the march and for safety reasons decided to didn’t pass the Women’s Building route the sound truck that leads the or the former site of the lesbian march a block farther north. bar Amelia’s (now the Elbo Room).

The other major change – startComing soon after the closure of ing the march in mid-afternoon the Lexington Club – the city’s instead of early evening – was due only dedicated dyke bar – the route to a time change for the traditional change became a symbol of the disCastro street party formerly known placement affecting San Francisco’s as Pink Saturday. After the party’s queer communities. longtime sponsors, the Sisters of In response, several thousand Perpetual Indulgence, withdrew

t

from the event over increasing concerns about violence, the LGBT Community Center took on the event and moved it earlier, hoping that ending before dark would minimize problems.

This year

This year Dolores Park is once again fully open. The Dyke March program will start Saturday, June 25 at 11 a.m. with music, comedy, and entertainment, organizers said.

The march will take off at 6 p.m., proceeding down 18th Street, up Valencia to 16th Street, and ending on Market Street in the Castro.

As previously reported, the LGBT center declined to host a Pink Party this year and no one else has stepped forward to organize an evening street event in the Castro, leaving some uncertainty as to what the end of the Dyke March will look like.

“We started with a blank slate this year – with lots of voices, it was clear that Dyke March wanted to go back to the traditional route and land in the Castro,” Lanyon told the B.A.R. “Our vision is that Dyke March will briefly stop our sound truck at the intersection of Market and Castro, as a way to lead the march into the Castro safely,” she said. “We are working with local party promoters to get the word out about dyke, lesbian, and queer parties happening both in the Castro and in other areas of the city. Once the march is in the Castro, the truck will drive off. We are planning to have EMTs on site See page 36 >>

Street renaming highlights Trans March

by Sari Staver

event is free and open to anyone who identifies as a youth or elder he 12th annual San Francisco of the transgender, genderqueer, Trans March – the city’s largest or gender-neutral communities. transgender Pride event and one of Between 3 and 6 p.m., there the largest in the world – will conwill be stage performers and clude with the official renaming of speakers, also at Dolores Park. a street in the Tenderloin to honor The march steps off at 6 and Compton’s Cafeteria, a defunct resends at Taylor and Turk streets SPRING taurant that was a favorite gatherat approximately 7:30, where a ing place for transgender and queer ceremony will be held to dedicate We’ve got m people in the 1960s. the new street name. ready to ride Last month, the city’s Board Beginning at 9, the official of Supervisors unanimously Trans March after-party, Bustin voted to christen the 100 block of Out, will be held at El Rio, 3158 Jane Philomen Cleland Taylor Street as Gene Compton’s Mission Street. It is restricted to Cafeteria Way, a measure intro- Thousands of people participated in last those over 21 years of age. The Hybrid/City duced by Supervisor Jane Kim, year’s Trans March. party is a fundraiser for TransHybrid/City Kid’s who represents the area and is gender Gender Variant and Interrunning for state Senate. Because sex Justice Project. it would be an honorary street transgender individual in San FranJamie Rafaela Wolfe, 38, former name, the mailing addresses for cisco, the first time the city had ever co-chair of the Trans March and a businesses and residences on that done so, when we renamed the 100 longtime volunteer, said the event Road block will not change. block of Turk Street as Vicki Mar began as and remains a “grassroots “I was very happy to work with Lane,” Kim said, referring to Marlane, effort.” Wolfe, who identifies asOp genNow our transgender and LGBTQ leadwho had hosted a popular drag revue der neutral, told the Bay Area ReHAPPY Ever y Thurs ers, many of whom were there durshow at nearby gay bar Aunt Charporter in OFF an interview that they has take 20% a Road Mountain ing the Compton’s Cafeteria riot, lie’s. She died in 2011 at the age of 76 met “so many absolutely amazing and the struggles for social justice due to AIDS-related complications. and fierce activists” who are responThanks to Thursday our customers and basic human rights that defined “Leaders like the Screaming Now Open to 7pm! sible for making the march “the huge this era,” Kim said.

Queens talked to me then about success that it has been every year.”

This year marks the 50th annihow important it was for the city “These aren’t the people you read Every Thursday in April between 4 & 7pm versary that transgender and queer to recognize and celebrate the about in magazines. These are the 2016 Project Open Hand take 20% OFF all parts, accessories & clothing.* 1065 patrons of the eatery stood up to & transgender 1077 community and this people behindVale the scenes doing the Benefit Donation!

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Mon.Sat. 1 rested on sex work charges and roufor making the Gene Compton’s put this together,” Wolfe said.

We’ve got m valenci tinely harassed in general. It is beCafeteria Way renaming a success,” The mission of the march, acready to ride lieved that the Compton’s Cafeteria Kim added. cording to Wolfe, is “to inspire all riot took place in August 1966, three The theme of this year’s Trans trans and gender non-conforming years prior to the more famous riots March is “Embracing our Legacy: people to realize a world where we at the Stonewall Inn gay bar in New We Are Still Here.” It is produced are safe, loved, and empowered.

York City. The exact date has been entirely by volunteers and everyone We strive to create a space for our lost to history. is welcome to march. diverse communities to unite and 1065 & 1077 Valencia (Btwn 21st & 22nd St.) • SF Hybrid/City This isn’t the first time Kim has The daylong event begins with an achieve the social justice and equalSALES 415-550-6600 • REPAIRS 415-550-6601 been involved with helping preserve 11 a.m. youth and elder brunch at ity that each of us deserves.”t trans history.

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Pride 2016>>

Pride broadcast

From page 17

recent years the online broadcast had attracted a global audience of more than 500,000.

Unfortunately for those viewers, the live feed has been axed this year because iHeartMedia, formerly known as Clear Channel Communications, is not sponsoring the Pride broadcast. In years past the company had provided live and uncensored coverage on a special website with the URL http://www.sfpridelive.com.

“Obviously, we are disappointed we don’t have a live feed so people around the world can log in and see the parade live. It is unfortunate, but we hope to bring that back next year,” said Michelle Meow, who since 2007, except for one year, has co-anchored the live broadcast of the parade.

Valerie Klein, director of marketing and activation for iHeartMedia in the Bay Area, told the Bay Area Reporter the reason for its absence this year is due to the company not receiving the sponsorship revenue needed to air the parade broadcast.

In an emailed response, Klein added that “nor did the partners agree to increase their contribution to cover the cost of an Emmy-nominated, union/professional production. We have high broadcast standards and were not able to guarantee those standards with our budget constraints.”

Klein, who has served as executive producer of past Pride parade broadcasts, pledged that iHeartMedia intends “to work with SF Pride and the other partners next year and come back as the producers of the live coverage.”

Meow, whose given name is Michelle Sinhbandith, learned of the company’s decision last month. It

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 35

coincided with Meow, who is the current president of the SF Pride Committee board, also learning that three people injured during shooting incidents at past Pride festivals had sued the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee.

At the time it was unclear if there would be any broadcast of the parade this year. But last week Meow told the Bay Area Reporter a taped broadcast would air on local cable channel KOFY TV20 Cable 713 at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 26.

She explained there wasn’t enough time to find a new sponsor willing to cover the production costs associated with airing the parade live.

“The reality is we need sponsorship dollars to fund the capability to produce a live broadcast. It takes a little more from the technical needs to pull that together as well as the bandwidth to broadcast it,” explained Meow. “We just did not have that infrastructure or sponsorship in place.”

Meow said she couldn’t estimate how much money is required to stream the broadcast live.

“I can’t comment to the actual cost, since there was another company producing this for us,” she said.

“From the organization’s point of view, in order for us to do this, there has to be some funds in place to pay for it. We need to re-examine that opportunity for next year.”

Viewers will notice other changes to this year’s televised broadcast, which Meow said will be five hours long. The anchor booth is being relocated from its longtime perch at Market and Sutter streets to near the corner of 7th and Market, close to the parade grandstands and a block away from the endpoint.

“We want to remind the contingents, since the broadcast will be more toward the end of the route, that they perk up and know they are going to be on camera for the broadcast,” said Meow.

B.A.R. society columnist Donna Sachet, who has co-anchored the Pride coverage for years, will return.

But online video personality Davey Wavey and SFPD Inspector Lenny Broberg, gay men who were part of iHeartMedia’s broadcast team, will not be returning.

There had been calls for Broberg not to be included in this year’s broadcast following media reports that he had called a deputy public defender a “bitch” and made derogatory comments about suspects.

Broberg told the B.A.R. he had no comment about not being part of this year’s parade coverage.

This year’s guest hosts will be lesbian comic Marga Gomez and transgender advocate Tiffany Woods.

The street reporters will be drag queen BeBe Sweetbriar and journalist Oscar Raymundo, who writes the Confessions of a Boy Toy blog.

Broadcast changes nothing new

Changes with the parade broadcast are nothing new. According to SF Pride, the first station to broadcast the parade live was WB20, which is now known as KOFY TV, in 1995. Local station KRON 4 then took over as the parade broadcaster in 2003, airing a two-hour live broadcast of the parade that year.

In 2007 the station decided not to air the live two-hour broadcast because its license was up for renewal, as the B.A.R. reported at the time. It came amid the Federal Communications Commission taking a hard stance toward indecency, profanity, and obscenity complaints following a number of incidents on live TV, including Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

Pride reached an agreement between KRON 4 and Comcast that allowed a live broadcast of the parade to be seen that year on digital cable channel 99. The B.A.R. also reported at the time that Clear Channel would provide an internet broadcast of the parade, and KRON did air a taped showing.

In 2008, KRON 4 aired the parade live via a webcast, but then ended its broadcast agreement with Pride the following year. KOFY TV 20 came on as the main broadcaster of Pride, with Comcast channel 99 showing the coverage live and Clear Chan-

nel Radio airing it online via the SFPrideLive.com website.

Complaints about the 2009 coverage of the Pride, largely due to comments made by co-anchor Jai Rodriguez, of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame, led to another revamp of the broadcast in 2010. Sachet was brought back to co-anchor with Meow after not being part of the 2009 broadcast.

In 2010 SFPrideLive.com provided live online coverage as did Comcast Hometown Network on cable.

In 2011 Clear Channel was named the “Official Radio Partner and Producer of Parade webcast and broadcast,” with both KOFY and Comcast Hometown Network continuing to broadcast it.

Last year’s coverage reflected the rebranding of Clear Channel, with the 2015 Parade broadcast produced by iHeartMedia and Pride Radio, with the live webcast found at PrideRadio.com. Comcast Hometown Network continued to broadcast the parade live on cable.

This year Pride’s sole broadcast partner will be KOFY TV20 Cable 713, according to the information listed at http://www.sfpride.org/ broadcast/. The channels will rebroadcast the parade footage at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 3.

In addition to SF Pride and KOFY TV, Airbnb and Weatherford BMW are sponsoring this year’s parade coverage.t

Oakland gay bar set to open

Gustavo Serina, resident since 2013 Jeff Kaluzny

Port bar co-owners Sean Sullivan, left, and Richard Fuentes

by Cynthia Laird

T

he Port bar in Oakland, which has been under construction for a couple years, is set to have its grand opening Saturday, July 9, coowners Sean Sullivan and Richard Fuentes told the Bay Area Reporter.

Sullivan said in a text message Tuesday that there was a chance the bar would have a soft opening this weekend, for LGBT Oaklanders who want to “stay local and still celebrate an important and timely Pride weekend.”

The Port will be Oakland’s first seven-days-a-week LGBT bar, according to a news release.

Fuentes and Sullivan, who are a couple, have been involved in Oakland for over a decade. Both ran for public office in 2012 – Sullivan for a City Council seat and Fuentes for a position on the school board – but came up short in their elections.

They said the idea for opening a gay bar stemmed from their campaigns.

“During the campaign we spoke to so many LGBT residents and so very often heard, why isn’t there a gay bar, See page 41 >>

Sense of

COMMUNITY Pride Of The City.

Gustavo believes in giving back. He sits on several boards and manages duties as vice president of the SF Commission on Aging and Adult Services. Under the pen name “Tavo Amador” he also writes for the Bay Area Reporter. With roots still deep in the Castro, he loves to walk the city and find the stories that connect us all. See why his sense of community extends far beyond his address here at San Francisco Towers, the city’s most appealing Life Plan Community. To learn more, or for your personal visit, please call 415.447.5527.

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<< Pride 2016

36 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Dawn takes the reins to help nonprofits

by David-Elijah Nahmod

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eana Dawn couldn’t be happier about being honored at this year’s Pride parade with the Audrey Joseph LGBTQ Entertainment Award.

The award, given by the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee board, recognizes those who have made a significant impact on the LGBTQ community through artistic expression. It is named for Joseph, the former longtime Pride main stage producer.

Dawn, 45, an ally, moved from Iowa to San Francisco in 1991.

“Women didn’t always get a nice reception in gay bars back then,” she told the Bay Area Reporter. “It took a few years to find my niche and I found those bugle-beaded queens in the Imperial Court. Once again I was embraced by queens and most of them didn’t make an issue that I was a girl in drag.”

Dawn’s star began to rise when she became a performer at gay rodeos – it made her happy to see that many of these events served as fundraisers for charities that are near and dear to her heart.

“I was hooked after one gay rodeo event where they raised money for nonprofit groups. I jumped into the gay western lifestyle by first earning the fundraising titles of Ms. Bay Area Rodeo 2001, Ms. Golden State Gay Rodeo 2002 and Ms. IGRA first runner-up 2003,” she said, referring to the International Gay Rodeo Association. “I was required to learn to ride, but it was worth the saddle sores to be able to give back to the community while living my dream as Dolly Parton. The IGRA taught me to be a leader and for that I’m forever grateful.”

Dawn said that Parton, perhaps the most famous figure in country music, played a major role in influ-

Courtesy SF Pride

Deana Dawn

encing her career path. Parton has also consistently been an outspoken LGBT ally.

“Dolly Parton is my idol,” she said. “Since I can remember I have loved her elaborate costumes and amazingly big, blonde hair. Dolly’s iconic joviality, talent and rags-toriches story showed me that anything was possible, even for a country girl like me.”

For Dawn, though, fundraising has been the icing on the cake.

“Early in life I learned that giving back is rewarding,” she said. “As a kid, my wonderful mom took me to volunteer at nursing homes to visit the elderly. I’d help her hold craft and bake sales for charity. She’s a dedicated volunteer to this day whose passion is child abuse prevention. I owe my love of paying it forward to mom.”

Dawn has used her drag talent to help more than 30 charities, including the AIDS and Breast Cancer Emergency Funds, Pets Are Wonderful Support, Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation, the Transgender Law Center, and Jazzie’s Place.

Dawn, also known as Deana Hemrich, talked about the origins of her name and what drag means to her.

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“My given first name is Deana,” she explained. “Deana Dawn was created on the second Trannyshack bus to Reno in 1999,” she said. “I had a wild, red wig that came with the name Dawn. By the end of that crazy trip, the two names joined and it stuck like spirit gum. Drag is a creative outlet by which you can express yourself and be inspired by life.

It’s an incredibly empowering state of mind, and once that wig goes on, you can conquer the world.”

Dawn credits Logo’s RuPaul’s Drag Race with the rise in drag visibility in popular culture.

“Drag increased in popularity because of television,” she said. “RuPaul’s Drag Race made it accessible by showcasing it to the general public. Drag remains popular because it’s larger than life, fascinating and hilariously entertaining while having the ability to heal at the same time.”

Like many San Francisco residents, Dawn expressed her hopes that the housing affordability and income inequality issues that currently plague the city will be resolved so that many of her fellow performers in the LGBT community can continue to find a safe and welcoming haven in the city.

“The most important issue in San Francisco is the dividing financial gap between the classes and people losing their housing to new developments,” she said. “The need for affordable housing is a dire situation that we must continue to fight for to keep San Francisco a welcoming melting pot for residents that can’t find acceptance elsewhere. Here your friends are your family that look out for each other.”

Dawn said that this year marks her 25th as a Pride parade participant.

“I will march not just for myself, but for all the fabulous queens that lead the way,” she said. “Long live the queens!”t

Johnson brings spotlight to trans inmates

®

NEXT

t

13!

J

anetta Johnson wears many hats.

She is currently the executive director of the Transgender Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project, a nonprofit that works with people inside and outside of prisons, jails, and detention centers, according to its website.

Johnson, an Afro-American trans woman, was chosen by the membership of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee as a community grand marshal.

She was unavailable to speak with the Bay Area Reporter, citing overseas travel.

“I am thrilled to be selected as grand marshal and deeply appreciate the recognition of my work with TGI Justice Project,” Johnson, who previ-

<<

Dyke March

From page 34

with us, given that we are expecting to come into an area that we anticipate will be very crowded.”

New organizing energy

After last year’s march Lanyon told the B.A.R. that the Dyke March organizing committee – made up of just six women – “did not anticipate the backlash” from doing things differently, and acknowledged that the small and over-extended group had not done enough outreach to the community about the changes.

In January the four remaining

Courtesy SF Pride

Janetta Johnson

ously declined to share her age, said in March when she was selected. “I just have to say that while I am honored, I am also aware that there is no pride committee members called a meeting to recruit new people, emphasizing that they were stretched to the limit and the march might not happen unless more organizers stepped forward.

More than 40 women attended that meeting, with many stressing the importance of maintaining the Dyke March as a community event.

About 30 got involved in ongoing organizing for the forthcoming march.

“Right from the beginning I was so inspired by the passion our community had for this march,” said new organizer Nicole Richards.

“That first meeting was a combina-

for some of us without liberation for all of us. So I will be celebrating, and I will also be thinking of my trans sisters, brothers, and siblings currently kept out of the community in cages by systems of oppression – including prisons, jails, and detention centers.”

Johnson, who is formerly incarcerated, is now dedicated to helping trans women of color and gender non-conforming people break free of the prison complex and to find their places in the world. She is also involved with the Black Lives Matter movement.

“At TGIJP we have the opportunity to listen to people and to work with women who are getting out,” Johnson states in a video for SF Pride. “We are very low funded but we have the opportunity to help people who are getting out.”t tion of people who had marched once and people who have been marching since the beginning. And now, months later, everyone is connected and working to make this march the best yet.”

Joey “Cupcake” Stevenson, who helped spearhead last year’s breakaway march, said she thinks the splinter march “inspired a lot of people to get more involved with Dyke March.”

“I’m blown away by the competent and passionate dykes on the committee and the ways in which everyone works together,” StevenSee page 41 >>

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<< Pride 2016

38 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

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SF art college honors lesbian photographer Catherine Opie

by Matthew S. Bajko

Arts President Stephen Beal said she has long been an “inspiration” to photography students.

“She has expanded the definition of what it means to be an American artist,” said Beal.

Added Carland, “She is a star in our field.”

N

ew York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, for a 2008 midcareer survey of her work, christened Catherine Opie an “American Photographer.”

Museums on three continents and across the U.S. have exhibited the works of the celebrated lesbian artist. This year three arts institutions in her hometown of Los Angeles honored her with simultaneous shows, leading the Los Angeles Times to declare in January that Opie was having “one of the most visible moments of her career.”

Yet her works, which have featured everything from lesbian couples and bondage fetishists to high school football players and surfers, have never been showcased in a solo show by a major museum in San Francisco, where Opie attended arts school and first delved into sadomasochism.

“A lot of my work was made up here early on,” said Opie, 55, who graduated in 1985 from the San Francisco Art Institute with a B.F.A. and is now a professor of photography at UCLA. A pair of galleries in the city did mount two of her shows in 1994: the Kiki Gallery showed “Portraits” and the Jack Hanley Gallery featured “L.A. Freeways.” Since then Opie has been included in several group shows in the Bay Area but has never been the focus of her own retrospective.

“It seems like people would be interested in my work,” said Opie, who married her partner of 15 years, painter Julie Burleigh, in 2014.

“Hopefully, I will do a bigger show up here like I did with the Guggenheim. That would be amazing.”

Her work was part of the “Air We Breathe” show mounted in 2011 at the SF Museum of Modern Art, which recently re-opened after completing a massive addition to

SF left a lasting impression

Alison Yin

Photographer Catherine Opie, center, was joined by California College of the Arts Provost Tammy Rae Carland, left, and President Stephen Beal at the school’s commencement last month.

its South of Market building. It now houses the John and Lisa Pritzker Center for Photography, the largest exhibition space for photography in a United States museum.

Of the expanded MOMA, which Opie previewed in early May, “it is a really astonishing accomplishment,” she said. “It is a beautiful, beautiful museum.”

Opie spoke to the Bay Area Reporter while in town last month to receive her first honorary doctorate from the California College of the Arts at its 109th commencement ceremony. The Bay Area-based school, which has campuses in Oakland and San Francisco, had invited Opie to deliver the commencement speech at the May 14 ceremony before 400 graduating students.

Tammy Rae Carland, the college’s provost, has been friends with Opie since the women first met in 1992 when she attended graduate school at UC Irvine where Opie was working at the time. A lesbian who is also a photographer, Carland and her former partner were featured in Opie’s “Domestic” series, a collec-

tion that featured lesbian couples she photographed in their homes.

(The project was later nicknamed the “Kiss of Death” series after at least three of the couples Opie photographed all soon after split up.)

It is shocking, said Carland, that a local museum has yet to present a show of Opie’s works.

“This is such a photography city and she lived here. It is time for her to have a show here,” said Carland, who noted that the college had asked Opie to be its commencement speaker last year but, due to a scheduling conflict, she was unable to accept. “She has been on our list of someone we wanted to honor.”

Opie’s previous honors include a Julius Shulman Excellence in Photography award in 2013 and a United States Artists Fellowship in 2006.

On a few occasions she has worked for the the New York Times magazine and the New Yorker and her photographic campaign last year for the television series Portlandia won her a Clio Award.

Speaking at a luncheon held to fete Opie, California College of the

Born in Sandusky, Ohio, Opie at the age of 9 declared she wanted to be “a social documentary photographer.”

Her family moved to San Diego when she was 13, and a year later, she used the money she saved from babysitting to build her own darkroom, similar to how her grandfather had his own darkroom in the basement of his home.

“No parent wants their baby to be an artist,” Opie told those at the luncheon. “My dad’s girlfriend told me, ‘You are an artist and you need to go to a big city and go to art school.’”

She moved to San Francisco in 1981 to start college, and her five years spent in the city coincided with the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

“It was a radical transformation of my community,” recalled Opie while seated in the opulent lobby of the city’s Palace Hotel.

“It is something I will never forget experiencing.”

She drew inspiration from the queer thinkers and writers she met, including Gayle Rubin, Pat Califia, and Dorothy Allison. Opie, a selfdescribed butch lesbian, also made friends within the city’s leather and S&M communities.

“I loved the exposure and freedom I found here. When I moved to Los Angeles, it was hard to find that and other transgressive queers,” recalled Opie.

Her O Portfolio, which is being shown in its entirety at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Hammer Building through September 5, was a

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response to how leather folk and kink queers were often ostracized by more mainstream gay culture.

“I was shocked our own community entertained that discourse and ideas around what is normal,” she said of LGBT people who considered those in the leather community to be “deviants or perverts.”

Over the course of three summers, Opie set up shop in a room in a house on Capp Street in the Mission district and turned it into a photo studio and recruited friends who engaged in bondage play. According to LACMA, the O Portfolio photos were responding to the late gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe’s X Portfolio, his 1978 work featuring scenes of gay male sadomasochism.

(In an unplanned coincidence of timing, the museum also opened a show featuring the X photos earlier this year as it mounted Opie’s works.)

Opie, however, told the B.A.R. that Mapplethorpe “was not a major influence” on her work. “Certainly, he was somebody, as an important queer artist, one looks up to,” she said.

One of her more famous photos comes from her 1994 series “SelfPortraits & Dyke” and is a self-portrait where Opie is shirtless with the word “pervert” scratched into her skin above her exposed breasts. Adorned in a black leather hood obfuscating her face and black leather pants, Opie is seated with her hands clasped together on her lap; both arms sport 23 needles piercing her skin.

In a February interview with NPR, Opie admitted that the work is even hard for her to see. She told the B.A.R. that she enlisted the help of her friends who ran the Body Manipulations piercing studio in the Mission to achieve the look.

“I would imagine it took 25 to 30 minutes,” said Opie, explaining the photo recreates the portraits done of Henry VIII but “in a queer way.”

See page 39 >>

t

Sports>>

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 39

Warriors come up short

by Roger Brigham

W

arriors fans were out in force for one last historic moment in a monumentally historic season. They got a piece of history all right – but not the ending they had hoped for.

LeBron “King” James turned in one of the greatest closing performances in NBA history and Cavs teammate Kyrie Irving hit the biggest shot of his budding career to defeat the Golden State Warriors 93-89 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. That completed the first time a team had come back from a 3-1 deficit in the seven-game series to win the championship.

Then again,“first time” was a phrase the Warriors fans heard over and over again this season, usually with a happy ending attached. For Cleveland fans, the operative phrase this season was “about time,” because of all the ill-fated endings which have ensued over the past five decades.

For what it’s worth, the game was played on the last day of what has been termed a palindrome week, in which the numerical designations of the days were the same forward as backward, Sunday being 6-19-16. And indeed, as the teams exchanged leads and runs and joys for almost 47 of the game’s 48 minutes, it was hard to tell what was the ending of something old and what was the beginning of something new.

James fulfilled the personal and highly publicized mission he had undertaken the previous season when he returned to his native northern Ohio with the goal of bringing home a championship in a major pro team sport for the first time since Jim Brown led the Cleveland Browns to the NFL title in 1964. He led all players in virtually every statistical category and threw in a few signature plays – an incredible sprint downcourt to block an Andre Iguodala layup, a successful goading of Festus Ezeli into a foul on a three-point attempt – to bolster supporters who hope to pro-

<<

Roger Brigham

Draymond Green reflects on the Warriors’ Finals loss.

claim him the NBA’s all-time greatest player. The final tie of the game was broken when Irving, who had missed last year’s NBA Finals loss to the Warriors, hit an off-balance, contested three-point shot, just his second three-pointer of the game.

Now, there may always be just a stinging taint to the series victory, especially after James did what was probably his biggest play of the finals, disrespectfully stepping over Draymond Green to provoke him to take a tepid swing at James, followed

by James’ successful whining and lobbying to get the league to suspend Green for Game 5 at Oracle – a loss from which the Warriors never recovered, despite Green’s stellar performance in Game 7.

In Sunday’s game, Green was clearly the best player on the court – better than Irving, better than James, better than acclaimed teammates Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, who had just 31 points between them on atrocious shooting. Green was the only player from either team to deliver with impact from three-point range, finishing the game with six three-pointers, 32 points, 15 rebounds, and nine assists – an astonishing figure considering how poorly the other Warriors shot.

Until the Game 5 suspension, Green was the favorite to win MVP for the finals. And now, shockingly, he found himself in front of a room of reporters trying to absorb where and how it had all gone so terribly wrong.

And that may be when he put on his best team performance of the year, shouldering the blame for the final three losses and realizing that he still has some maturing to do.

“I think that’s where the series turned,” Green said of his Game 5 suspension. “As you know, I blame myself for everything. I think as a leader that’s important. I’m not afraid to take the blame. I learned from it. If I don’t put myself in that position and I don’t get suspended for Game 5, are we sitting here champions? Maybe, maybe not. I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot as a man, as a teammate, as a basketball player. I learned a lot that will help me for the rest of my life.”

Green didn’t cost them the championship – he just cost them their best chance at it. Both teams played brilliant defense in the final game. The Cavaliers won because after showing a propensity for losing their cool in pressure situations in the series, they finally kept theirs. Every time the Warriors started to build a run, the Cavs called timeout to deflate their emotions. In the end, the Warriors showed a lack of patience and poise.

Maybe it was just too much for local fans to hope for; maybe we have become too complacent and too greedy.

Think of the pain and suffering ended in the past six years in Cleveland. John Elway beats them in the NFL playoffs with a brilliant drive.

A reliable reliever blows a World Series lead for the Indians. James, in his earlier days with the Cavs, falls short in the finals.

And in that period, the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers

have combined for seven Super Bowl championships, the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants have totaled seven World Series titles, and the San Jose Earthquakes have won two Major League Soccer championships. Last year the Warriors won the NBA title for the second time in that span; this year both they and the San Jose Sharks fell just short in their title bids and the Giants are running away with their division.

And as far as the regular season this year, well Curry won his second straight MVP, the Warriors broke records for win streaks and road victories, and are the only team in history to win 73 games in season and won a record 84 overall.

As former Niners coach Jim Harbaugh would say, “Who’s got it better than us?”

Well, for the moment, Cleveland.

Kudos to James and the Cavs; you were the better team in the final day of the postseason. You’ve got five decades of emotion to celebrate.

But remember, payback’s a pain in the butt. The Cavs were fueled this season for a chance to avenge last year’s loss. That sounds like a lot of motivation for the Warriors next year.

Let’s see, this decade the Giants have won in even-numbered years and are on the path to repeat that pattern this year. What say you if the Warriors lay claim to the odd-numbered years? Sounds good to me.t

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Lesbian photographer

From page 38

She often focuses on society’s pre-conceived notions about gender in her work, perhaps most playfully in her Dyke Deck, a set of 54 playing cards featuring black and white photos of various women. Each suit represents a different gender stereotype, with femmes for diamonds, butches for spades, jocks for clubs, and couples for hearts.

In 1995 the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, produced a number of the decks, and “They sold out,” noted Opie.

Carland said one of her favorite series by Opie, which “was a game changer for me,” appeared in Art Forum in the 1990s and featured queer women with mustaches.

“These are amazing photos of her friends, of queer women who are gender masculine and in gender drag,” said Carland.

Opie turned her attention to questions about masculinity again with her 2007 series “High School Football,” which melded her portraiture work, shooting individual players, and her love for landscapes, training her lens on the expansive spaces inside stadiums and on the field. The idea derived from a twoweek visit with family in Louisiana when she asked her nephews, who all played football, if she could attend their practices and games.

Her photos challenge the accepted image of a jock, as rather than featuring muscled footballers, Opie’s

With heavy hearts

Courtesy Autostraddle

Catherine Opie’s photo from “In and Around Home,” 1999.

subjects are mostly adolescent boys, with lanky bodies drowned by their uniforms.

“I wanted to bear witness to a group we don’t think of as vulnerable but really are,” she said, since many of the players can’t afford college and enlist in the military.

“For a good amount of these young men, the country has been at war for most of their lives. These kids don’t have a chance of go to college or win an athletic scholarship,” she said. “They are pre-trained for the military. They are the soldiers and a lot of them don’t come home.”

Audiences are often surprised, said Opie, at how powerful the portraits

of the individual players, in particular, are.

“They are very moving. People don’t expect that,” she said. “They are honest and not performing except standing in front of me.”

Opie and Burleigh are raising their own son, Oliver, 14, and are grandmothers to a 2-year-old boy whose mother, now 36 years old, Burleigh gave birth to when she was younger.

Another of her more famous photos features a naked Opie breastfeeding Oliver; titled “Self-Portrait/Nursing,” the 2004 work is now part of the Guggenheim’s permanent collection.

See page 40 >>

Meet Your Neighbors

In Memoriam Orlando, June 12, 2016

You’re invited to mix and mingle with the people who will one day share your permanent San Francisco address.

Wine & Cheese Open House Friday, July 19, 2013 2—5pm

RSVP Required: (415) 752-8791

At no time have we ever had more PRIDE and stood taller with the LGBT community.

1 Loraine Court—San Francisco, CA 94118

<< Community News

40 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

<<

“We want to provide a safe space where people can address their alcohol consumption from a non-threatening perspective,” said Richard Lugo, a substance health services counselor at Stonewall who oversees the Smart Drinking Group. “We don’t want people to feel ashamed or think they have a problem if they don’t think that.”

This year the agency received $150,000 from the city’s Department of Public Health to help cover the cost of Stonewall’s binge drinking program and will receive $200,000 next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

It is also working with local health officials on the PACE Study, short for Pacing Alcohol Consumption Experiment, and is aiming to enroll 240 gay and bi men into the Single Intervention Project, or SIP for short, which involves a 60-minute session to discuss their drinking, a follow-

up session a month later, and a final evaluation after three months.

“It is more about being a partner of members of the community than trying to steer them away from their usual activities,” explained Lugo.

SFAF has also partnered with bars in the Castro on ways they can assist their patrons, from providing free water to posting messages that encourage people to slow down their drinking. As for bargoers, the agency recommends taking a set amount of cash when going out and leave the ATM and credit cards at home.

Other suggestions include alternating alcoholic drinks with nonalcoholic ones and skipping mixed drinks, whose alcohol content is hard to control, and ordering beer or wine instead.

“What we know is that, in our community, it is exceedingly easy to drink to a high level,” said Hecht, citing heavy pours and cheap drink specials.

“It can be hard to stick to your limits.”

To avoid blacking out when he drinks socially at a party or bar, Frankie now restricts himself to only consuming beer and has a cap of 15 drinks a week.

“It works well for me. If I am at a party Friday night and know I am going out Saturday, I try to conserve how much I drink,” he said.

And he continues to work with a counselor to delve into the reasons behind his binge drinking. Some of it has to do with overcoming his shyness, and another is realizing how quickly alcohol takes effect on him.

“My ultimate goal from this program is to build a set of skills and habits I am building for myself.

So when I go to a bar, it is second nature to have a beer and limit my drinking,” he said.t

who helped to get the word out and organized the march’s Castro District commencement. Jones and queer housing activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca were among those who led the hundreds of marchers as they made their way past the Castro Theatre.

The march turned left onto 18th Street, continued to Mission Street, then turned right, where attendees walked through the heart of the primarily Latino Mission district.

It continued to 24th and Bryant streets, where a memorial service honoring the dead was held in front of Galeria De La Raza, an art gallery and artist collective that serves the local Latino community.

“For decades we’ve asked people to meet in the Castro to mourn our losses and celebrate our victories,” Jones told the B.A.R. as the march was getting underway. “Today we’re marching to the Mission to show our solidarity with a community deep in grief. We’re here to support what the Latino LGBT community is organizing.”

As the march made its way through the adjoining neighborhoods, many passersby applauded.

People stood in the windows of their homes waving rainbow flags.

“I’m here because it’s a tragedy,” said Edgar Littleton, a gay AfricanAmerican man. “They’ve been killing gays for hundreds of years, and no one cares. This must stop.”

About midway through the march, participants began chanting “Viva, Orlando! Somos Orlando!”

(Orlando lives – we are Orlando.)

“It all boils down to love,” said Steve Ibarra, a gay man who declined to share his age. “Love is at the core of our behavior and understanding.

If we can just be the love we want to see in the world, the world would be peaceful and loving.”

Those sentiments were echoed repeatedly as the speakers began their program in front of Galeria De La Raza. The ceremony began with a prayer for peace, healing, and remembrance by Estela Garcia and the Two Spirit Drummers.

Lito Sandoval, president of the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club, noted that Latinos and other communities of color often face discrimination and exclusion, even within the LGBTQ sphere.

“We are devastated over the loss of 49 queer, and trans Latinos and Afro Americans,” Sandoval said, speaking from the podium. “We are here today in solidarity. Our communities often have to make separate nightclubs – even in LGBT communities our spaces like Esta Noche are routinely shut down because of escalating gentrification.”

Esta Noche was a popular queer Latino club at 16th and Valencia streets that closed in 2014 – the space is now a trendy straight watering hole called Bond bar. Drag queen Persia, a regular performer at Esta Noche, performed during the program. She danced her way from the podium down into the crowd and hugged several attendees.

Several speakers decried the attempts by mainstream media to

make the Orlando murders about the war on Islamic terrorism – the shooter, Omar Mateen, 29, was an American citizen of Afghan descent.

They noted that Islam does not condone violence.

Alex. U. Inn, a popular AfricanAmerican drag king, broke down into tears as he took the podium.

Inn noted that fellow drag king Kimberly “KJ” Morris was among the dead at Pulse.

“If we could all say I love you to each other when we see each other,” Inn said as his voice cracked, “we can change the world from hate to love just by our spirit.”

Gay District 9 Supervisor David Campos, who represents the Mission, is working to erect a memorial to the Pulse shooting victims at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro.

On Monday, gay Supervisor Scott Wiener, who represents the Castro, told the B.A.R. that he envisions a community process for any memorial, but that he and others are supportive of it.t

community would not “curl up in a ball.”

“You can attack us, you can beat us, you can bully us,” he said, but “we’re going to come back stronger than ever before.”

The Orlando attack has called attention to “the level of violence directed at the LGBT community every day,” including transgender people and school students, Wiener noted.

It’s time “to get it together and take violence against the LGBT community seriously,” he said.

In May, three men injured in shootings at recent San Francisco Pride festivals filed lawsuits against organizers and tried to get this year’s celebration called off unless SF Pride agreed to metal detectors, bag checks, and several other tactics.

As recently as a court hearing last Thursday, organizers had still been refusing to make the changes.

Attorneys for SF Pride said in recent court documents that “Transforming the celebration into a ticketed event with metal detectors, patdowns, and bag checks fundamentally changes the nature of the

tradeoff” to ensure safety, and he said he’s confident SF Pride would make it as smooth a process as possible.

Ridgely and Singer didn’t respond to numerous emailed questions, including what would be done to ensure the security of people waiting to be screened, and where people would need to line up.

Mayor Ed Lee called on people Monday to “remember the individuals, those families that were the victims of that horrific tragedy in Orlando.”

Lee noted people are mourning, but he predicted there would be “even more people that will come to our celebration” this weekend and “that is a good, good thing.”

Besides the Pride parade and celebration, other events will include the Trans and Dyke marches. There will be no Pink Saturday or Pink Party festival in the streets of the Castro district this year, but thousands of people are still expected to flock to the neighborhood.

Police pledged security around all the events.

Wiener said he’d met with bar owners, police, and others last week to discuss safety.

Bar owners are “a little freaked out

right now,” he said, and had questions about ensuring guns don’t make it into their venues and keeping the city updated on the physical layouts of their clubs if they remodel.

Lawsuits

event as an open and public celebration of the LGBT community and LGBT rights, and it would violate the core values of San Francisco Pride.”

In a tentative ruling last week, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Joseph Quinn denied the request for an injunction. Citing the timing of the lawsuits, among other factors, Quinn finally denied the injunction request in an order he issued Tuesday.

Ridgely said Monday that his organization’s decision to perform security screenings isn’t related to the lawsuits.

Asked last week about the injunction attempt, Wiener said, “The idea that we would shut down Pride or require security measures that would effectively shut down Pride makes no sense.”

Monday, he said, “I don’t love the idea of metal detectors” and similar security steps, “but given the circumstances, I understand why the Pride Committee has decided to do this. ...

We are in a very unique situation.”

Wiener, who said he’s “unaware of any credible threat” around this weekend’s events, acknowledged “there will be delays” getting into the Pride festival, but there’s “always a

The works were a reaction to Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort, a 1991 book of photos edited and introduced by Peter Galassi, a former curator at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

“There were no queer families in it,” said Opie. “It was important for me to make images that need to be there and kind of seen. Visibility is important to our history.”

As an out artist, who witnessed an entire generation of gay men decimated by AIDS, Opie throughout her career has been driven by a desire to document the LGBT com-

munity. It is a theme she returns to again and again in her work.

“I was never going to be closeted,” she said. “I wanted to make images that exist in the world that I really believe in.”

How one relates to that world, and their environment, also plays into her fascination with photographing landscapes. Those works also require the viewer to question their own identity and community within the various landscapes they reside.

“One thing people forget about America is the notion of independence,” Opie said.

She is returning to that theme with her latest work, a new installation titled “Yosemite Falls” inside the Los Angeles Federal Courthouse set to open this summer. The “segmented vertical landscape,’” as described by the L.A. Times, is one photo broken into a series of six pieces spanning all six floors of the building.

“You have to traverse the building to understand the photo,” Opie explained to the B.A.R. The next project she wants to tackle will honor her favorite film La Jetée, which was released in 1962 a year after she was born and was con-

structed out of black and white photos. But she has declined to reveal to reporters any specific details about it.

In her interview with the B.A.R. Opie would only allow that she wrote the script several years ago and feels she is now ready to tackle the project because she is in a “more allegorical space” at the moment.

“If it doesn’t work, I don’t want to be embarrassing myself,” explained Opie about her reticence to be more forthcoming. “It will be a private failure and not a public failure. I am not sure if I will pull it off. It will be harder than anything I have done before.”t

Rick Gerharter

Heavy pours or drink specials can make it hard for customers to stick to their alcohol intake.

<<

Latinos

From page 17

David A. Diaz, 50, a gay man who lives near the Castro, carried a sign that bore the name of 22-year-old Peter Gonzalez. Diaz drew a red heart underneath Gonzalez’s name.

Most of the people killed June 12 at Pulse were gay Latino men.

Another 53 people were injured in what’s being called the worst mass shooting in the U.S. “As a gay man and as a CubanAmerican I strongly identify with the victims of this tragedy,” Diaz told the Bay Area Reporter as he marched.

“When my family escaped Cuba they started their journey in the U.S. in Florida, so if they’d made a different decision I might have grown up in Florida, and I might have been one of those people. It’s important to me that their identity as Latinos isn’t erased.”

The June 18 march was coordinated by a number of Latino LGBT organizations, with assistance from longtime gay activist Cleve Jones,

<<

SF Pride

From page 28

lowed to bring in coolers, glass bottles, radios, or cigarettes, including vapes. Guide dogs and other authorized service animals helping people with disabilities will be permitted.

Ridgely urged people to “be vigilant.”

“If you see suspicious or violent activity, please report it immediately” to police or event staff, he said.

Deputy police Chief Mike Redmond said there would be “an increased, large, visible presence at all entertainment venues” and parties in the coming days, with a 25 to 30 percent increase in police officers on hand. Plainclothes officers will be among the police at the celebration and other events.

Gay Supervisor Scott Wiener was also at Monday’s news conference.

“On Sunday, I think a little piece of all of us died,” said Wiener, referring to the nightclub massacre.

He spoke of bars as longtime safe spaces for LGBTs and said, “Orlando was and is unbelievably traumatizing for the LGBT community. We can all picture ourselves in that nightclub.”

Wiener also said, though, that the

<<

Lesbian photographer

From page 39

Since meeting Burleigh, Opie has found the long-term domesticity she once longed for and which inspired her “Domestic” series of portraits of lesbian couples.

In the late 1990s she spent three and a half months traveling the country in an RV she bought, staying with friends who would introduce her to lesbian couples they knew.

“This was before Facebook or Craigslist,” noted Opie. “It was all done by word of mouth.”

Binge drinking

t

From page 20

For more information about SFAF’s programs for binge drinkers, call (415) 437-3439.

Celebration and parade basics

The Civic Center celebration runs from noon to 6 p.m., Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday. The festival is free, but there’s a suggested donation of $5 to $10. Donations from the celebration have helped Pride contribute more than $2.5 million to community nonprofits since 1997.

The parade begins at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday at Market and Beale streets and ends at Market and Eighth streets.

This year’s theme is “For Racial and Economic Justice.”

Stars of the TV reality show Transcendent are among the celebrity grand marshals. Community grand marshals include local transgender activist Mia “Tu Mutch” Satya, and the organization grand marshal is Black Lives Matter.

For more on the community grand marshals, see the profiles elsewhere in this section and the Pride section. For more information, visit http://www.sfpride.org.t

t <<

Read more online at www.ebar.com

HIV funds

From page 32

309 that were reported in 2014.

“That is a significant drop from 2,332 at the peak of the AIDS crisis in 1992,” the mayor’s office said.

‘Our Sexual Revolution’

As the B.A.R. recently reported, spokespeople for Lee said that more than 6,000 city residents are on PrEP, but “more needs to be done,” especially for groups who are most at risk, such as African-American and Latino gay and bi men, and transgender women.

With funding from the CDC, the city is launching a campaign called “Our Sexual Revolution” (http:// www.oursexualrevolution.org). The

<<

News Briefs

From page 33

spokeswoman Alicia Trost wrote in an email to the Bay Area Reporter.

This is the second year in a row that BART has adjusted its service on Pride Sunday, when the system usually experiences a surge in ridership throughout the day due to the LGBT festivities.

In response to complaints about overcrowded stations and too few trains during the 2014 celebration, BART officials last year ran trains with up to 10 cars each and added 14 special event trains that day on top of the 25 trains that normally run Sun-

<<

Dyke March

From page 36

son, who is also on the board of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, told the B.A.R. “It feels like there is a nod to Dyke March’s radical history. What a difference a year makes.”

In addition to the organizing committee, the Dyke March hopes to recruit an additional 20 or more people to volunteer on the day of the event. Volunteers can still sign up on the newly redesigned website (http://www.thedykemarch.org).

Organizers want to “continue to hold the Dyke March as a self-identified dyke-only space,” according to the website. Allies who are not selfidentified dykes are asked to support the march from the sidelines or volunteer to help break down the stage and clean up the park so more dykes can join the march.

The Dyke March is committed to accessibility and will have a wheel-

<<

Austria

From page 30

ball committee that you are interested in attending to find out what you need to wear.

Ball season leads right into Pride with Vienna Pride (http://www. viennapride.at/wordpress/) in June and Salzburg’s Pride Boat (http:// www.prideboat.eu), which floats down the Salzach River in July.

During the late summer, Austria’s LGBT community and visitors head to Lake Worthersee, about a two

<<

Oakland gay bar

From page 35

just a bar, open seven days a week in the heart and soul of Oakland’s Uptown,” Fuentes said in a news release.

Following the election, the men convened focus groups about the concept. Then they found the site, located at 2021 Broadway in the old Ragsamatazz building next to the Paramount Theatre.

Fuentes said that Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, whom Fuentes used to work with when they were both aides to the City Council, has often remarked about the city’s “special sauce.”

“That sauce refers to our diversity, but it’s also our commitment to an activity spirit, fighting for equality,

campaign was set to start appearing last Wednesday in spots throughout the city including the Civic Center Muni station, and on buses, billboards, and social media.

Lee’s office also noted the formation of the HIV Community Planning Council, which is the result of the recent merger of two panels tasked with determining San Francisco’s priorities for fighting HIV and AIDS. The mayor, who last week swore in the new members, appoints the council’s 44 members.

About half of them are HIV service consumers. The council’s members include community-based providers, health department representatives, and others. The group’s work covers San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties.t days. It plans to have the same sort of additional service this year.

Leaders of the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club, an LGBT political group, and lesbian BART board member Rebecca Saltzman, who is up for re-election this fall, have been working with BART staff for the last two years to address how best to provide increased service during Pride Sunday.

To download the full Pride 2016 BART service timetable, visit http://m.bart.gov/news/ articles/2016/news20160609-1.t Matthew S. Bajko contributed to this report.

chair accessible, fragrance free area, a motorized cable car along the route for those who may not be able to walk, an ASL interpreter at the stage, and shuttles to and from BART. “What excites me most this year is the level of commitment from Dyke March organizers, the love from the community, and a desire to be part of a larger dialogue and action about queerness in the city,” Lanyon told the B.A.R. “Our theme ‘#stillherestillqueer’ is about resilience in a city that keeps pushing harder and harder. We are standing stronger than ever and holding steady.”

Richards expressed similar feelings.

“The conversations we are having really go beyond just our march,” she said. “Especially now, with our city changing so drastically and the tragic events in Orlando, our community needs this. We need to march. We need to have space for each other and ourselves. We need to take up space in a place that is making that harder everyday.”t and a half hour drive from both Salzburg and Vienna, for the Pink Lake Festival (www.pinklake.at).

It’s not all formal balls and festivals in Austria, as Vienna and Salzburg offer up an emerging gay nightlife.

Salzburg’s bars provide a casual night out with friends, whereas Vienna’s bars and nightclubs pulsate with American music from the DJ booth for the crowds out on the dance floor.t A longer version of this article can be found at ebar.com.

and equity through protest, struggle, and recognition of those whose shoulders we stand on,” he added.

The men said that the recent Orlando nightclub tragedy added urgency to their desire to open Port as soon as possible. They wanted local LGBTs to have a place to “meet and unload.” The bar will feature artisan cocktails, along with other beverages.

The formal grand opening will be July 9 at 10 p.m.

But Sullivan hopes that people can get a sneak peak sooner.

“Barring any last minute hiccups, we expect to be serving up cocktails and community this weekend,” he said.

To see if Port will be open this weekend, Sullivan said people should check the Facebook page at http:// www.facebook.com/onegaydrink.t

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 41

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<< Legal Notices

42 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINSTER ESTATE OF DAVID JOSEPH DYROFF IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-16-299887

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of DAVID JOSEPH DYROFF. A Petition for Probate has been filed by STEPHEN COWAN C/O JOSHUA C. PEACOCK, ESQ. SBN 257257, THE PEACOCK LAW GROUP, LLP, 291 JOAQUIN AVE, SAN LEANDRO, CA 94577, in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that STEPHEN COWAN 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: JULY 12, 2016, 9:00 am, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney.

If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later 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: JOSHUA C. PEACOCK, ESQ. SBN 257257, THE PEACOCK LAW GROUP, LLP, 291 JOAQUIN AVE, SAN LEANDRO, CA 94577; Ph. (510) 483-3400.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME

The Notice is hereby given that an order entered by the PanTerra D’Oro Ecclesiastical Court of the Ekklesia, county San Bernardino, California, on the April 5, 2016, bearing Court Record No. COTE.WRIT.0316.0016, a viewing of which may be examined at the office of the clerk, by written request sent for appointment posted to Clerk of Court, 305 North Second Ave, #197, Upland, California, near [91786] Non-domestic, zip exempt. Said Writ of Entry removes all temporary tenants from the Landed Estate of the body based on Petitioner’s right to secure his religious beliefs to assume the name of ‘Darren’ and/ or ‘Darren DeLeon’ (for identification purposes) forever sanctified from the ens legis legal styled name, ‘Darren James Michaels’ or any combination. Petitioner is forever detached from any reassignment of any liability associated to and not clothed with representative capacity with the said former legally styled name, ab initio.

All persons possessing an interest in this shall timely petition the court to show cause, why the court’s decree is not a settled matter and failing to do so, be it resolved that the matter is forever settled, Res Judicata. Any correspondence for Darren can be posted to General Post 300621, Fern Park, Florida near [32730] Non-domestic, zip exempt. Petitioner’s place of nativity is on the land of New York City, borough Brooklyn, union State of New York. Nativity day is December 30, 1960.

JUNE 02, 09, 16, 23, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037118500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MONKEI MILES, 1406 25TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MONICA URICK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/31/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/31/16.

JUNE 02, 09, 16, 23, 2016 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-036769000 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: P.J. CONNNOLLY CONSULTING; LIBERTY HILL COMMUNICATION; METAMORA NETWORK SYSTEMS; 862 DOLORES ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by P.J. CONNOLLY. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/09/15.

JUNE 02, 09, 16, 23, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037126300

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552153

In the matter of the application of: JIEYING WU, 5 SONOMA ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner JIEYING WU, is requesting that the name JIEYING WU, be changed to JOSIE JIEYING WU. 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 28th of July 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552093

In the matter of the application of: ISABELLA BORJIGIN SUN, 132 SANTA ANA ST, SAN PABLO, CA 94704, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ISABELLA BORJIGIN SUN, is requesting that the name ISABELLA BORJIGIN SUN, be changed to QIWEN BAO. 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 30th of June 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552152

In the matter of the application of: LILLY WHITE, 1049 HOWARD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner LILLY WHITE, is requesting that the name LILLY WHITE, be changed to TONY LATRONE WHITE. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Rm. 514 on the 26th of JULY 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037127500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MAGIC UNDERGROUND; MAGIC UNDERGROUND SAN FRANCISCO; MAGIC ON THE SQUARE; SEBASTIAN BOSWELL III; 684 20TH AVE #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual and is signed REED KIRK RAHLMANN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/03/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/03/16.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037129300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO MAGIC UNDERGROUND; SF MAGIC UNDERGROUND; MAGIC UNDERGROUND SF; 684 20TH AVE #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed REED KIRK RAHLMANN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/06/16.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/06/16.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037093300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DREAM HOLIDAY, 775 JACKSON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JIA HUANG JIANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/13/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/13/16.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037122600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: IRMA’S BARBER & BEAUTY SALON, 5465 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed IRMA ELIZABETH TRIGUEROS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/16.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037128500

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037018900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AUDREY 3 PLUS 1, 1034 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation and is signed AUDREY ROSE CO INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/28/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/28/16.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037125600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CAREZONE INSURANCE SERVICES, 3175 17TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CAREZONE FINANCIAL SERVICES LLC (DE).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/27/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/02/16.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037122900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GENJI SUSHI PTH, 450 RHODE ISLAND ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed GENJI PACIFIC LLC (PA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/16.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037102300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HUMPHREY’S JOINER LAW GROUP, LLP, 584 CASTRO ST #720, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114.

This business is conducted by a limited liability partnership, and is signed JONATHAN JOINER & BENJAMIN HUMPHREYS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/11/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/19/16.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037141200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MV CONSTRUCTION; MCV PROPERTIES, 467 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NICHOLAS VRIHEAS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/14/16.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037137000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: UPBEAT MUSIC CAMP, 518 1/2 LINDEN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOSEPH M. RODRIGUEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/08/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/10/16.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037137500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TUSCAN PROPERTY SOLUTIONS, 143 POPE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GINETTA LUCCHESI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/13/16.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/13/16.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037135500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE PEOPLE CHANGE GROUP, 15 RICO WAY #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LISA MARIE FELICE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/10/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/10/16.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037137100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LITTLE ONES, 315 MONTGOMERY ST 9TH FLR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARIA DEL PILAR ALVARADO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/10/16.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037133400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EMPAWTHY, 3215 20TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALISHA JEAN ARDIANA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/11/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/06/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CURIOUS CAT CLUB, 2955 CLAY ST #7, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LINDSAY SAITO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/09/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/09/16.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037127700

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037135800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KAMBARA PLUS DANCERS, 3828 21ST ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YAYOI KAMBARA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/03/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/03/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SORTIE, 1001 TENNESSEE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed SASKIA MAURO & RACHEL HOOPER. 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 06/03/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STELLAR JEWELS; LUXURY LIVING, 855 LA PLAYA ST #363, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALISON WAHL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/10/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/10/16.

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016

JUNE 09, 16, 23, 30, 2016

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINSTER ESTATE OF STEPHEN WAN IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-16-299872

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of STEPHEN WAN. A Petition for Probate has been filed by CHI LING WONG AKA GILLIAN WAN c/o SONIA M. AGEE, ESQ. SBN # 164560, ROPERS MAJESKI KOHN & BENTLEY, 50 W. SAN FERNANDO ST #1400, SAN JOSE, CA 95113 in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that CHI LING WONG AKA GILLIAN WAN 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: July 05, 2016, 9:00 am, Probate Department Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later 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: SONIA M. AGEE, ESQ. SBN # 164560, ROPERS MAJESKI KOHN & BENTLEY, 50 W. SAN FERNANDO ST #1400, SAN JOSE, CA 95113; Ph. (408) 947-4889.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037117900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CKO+ MEDIA; CKO PLUS MEDIA, 219 DWIGHT ROAD, BURLINGAME, CA 94010. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed LOURDES ALCAZAREN-KEELEY, CAROLINE OCAMPO & ESTHER MISA CHAVEZ. 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 05/27/16.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 SUMMONS SAN FRANCISCO SUPERIOR COURT NOTICE TO DEFENDANT: KATHLEEN GILHEANY, DOES 1 THROUGH 50, AND ALL PERSONS UNKNOWN CLAIMING ANY INTEREST IN THE PROPERTY, INCLUSIVE YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PLAINTIFF: KEVIN GILHEANY CASE NO. CGC-16-551651

Notice: You have been sued. The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below.

You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case.

There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp) your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court.

There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www. courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case. The court’s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case.

The name and address of the court is: SAN FRANCISCO SUPERIOR COURT, 400 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102.

The name, address, and telephone number of the plaintiff’s attorney, or plaintiff without an attorney, is:

t

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037110900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FISHER WEISMAN COLLECTION, 1101 CLAY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed FISHER WEISMAN INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/20/16.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/24/16.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037132800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE UPS STORE #2255, 588 SUTTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed INJP, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/26/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/08/16.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037130400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TOPSY’S BARBER SHOP, 1348 9TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SUNSET GROOMERS, LLC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/07/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/07/16.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037138300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KAGAWA-YA UDON NOODLE COMPANY, 1455 MARKET ST #3A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed KAGAWAYA NOODLE COMPANY LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/06/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/13/16.

JUNE 16, 23, 30, JULY 07, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037117500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CALLAWAY LANDSCAPES, 101 27TH ST #10, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LEE BRITT CALLAWAY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/15/15.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/16.

JUNE 23, 30, JULY 07, 14, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037116900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MARINA GREEN MEDIA, 1490 JEFFERSON ST #202, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed COLIN McCRACKEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/16.

JUNE 23, 30, JULY 07, 14, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037125900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: INNER CIRCLE ACUPUNCTURE, 3150 18TH ST #442, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MICHELLE MEDINA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/16.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/03/16.

JUNE 23, 30, JULY 07, 14, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037143100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NADI’S CHARMES AND EVENTS, 349 CHICAGO WAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NADINE MANUELLE KPOKPA ZIHIRI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/15/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/15/16.

JUNE 23, 30, JULY 07, 14, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037123000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ADVENTURE INK, 1227 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ZACHARY WINE. 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 06/01/16.

JUNE 23, 30, JULY 07, 14, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037145100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OPERATION ACCESS, 1119 MARKET ST #400, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed AMBULATORY SURGERY ACCESS COALITION, (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/20/95. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/17/16.

JUNE 23, 30, JULY 07, 14, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037140100

LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE M. SCANCARELLI, 220 BUSH ST #1650, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104; (415) 398 - 1644.

Date: April 25, 2016; Clerk, by Arlene Ramos, Deputy.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HH MICRO, 5999 3RD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed AMERITECH COMPUTER SERVICES, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/14/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/14/16.

JUNE 23, 30, JULY 07, 14, 2016

JUNE 23, 30, JULY 07, 14, 2016

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Together is beautiful.

We celebrate the power and beauty of working together. It’s why Wells Fargo works with national and local organizations that serve the LGBT community to strengthen their impact. And it’s the reason we work with you — to help you realize your potential, and succeed financially. wellsfargo.com/LGBT

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Summer opera

62

Imperial art

54

Out &About

Summer theatre

51

O&A

50

Vol. 46 • No. 25 • June 23-29, 2016

www.ebar.com/arts

Further reflections: Frameline 40 wraps up

Joe Seo as David in director Andrew Ahn’s Spa Night.

by David Lamble

T

he San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival’s last four days offer a string of intense dramas, mostly focused on family life, both traditional and the new-fashioned LGBTQ kind.

Spa Night Korean American filmmaker Andrew Ahn plants his good-little-boy protagonist David (Joe Seo, in a Sundance Special Grand Jury Award performance) into the bowels of his family’s rundown Los Angeles bathhouse. David quickly discovers that this very old-fashioned business has become a de facto late-night same-sex make-out club. Ahn combines a sexy premise with steamy interiors that devotees of the steam-bath culture will savor. (Castro, 6/23) See page 46 >>

Courtesy Frameline

Photo finish:

‘LGBTQ Chronicled’

by Sari Staver

F

rom 1930s clandestine Mattachine Society meetings to the June 12 Castro candlelight vigil honoring the victims of the Orlando massacre, the 125 images in the new photography exhibit at the Harvey Milk Photo Center are a stunning chronicle of the LGBT movement in San Francisco. The exhibit, LGBTQ Chronicled: 1933-2016, includes the work of several dozen photographers, from high school students to Pulitzer Prize winners, on view until July 16 at the Center, 100 Scott St., adjacent to Duboce Park.

See page 61 >>

“Pride event at Dolores Park, 2015,” by CJ Lucero, part of LGBTQ Chronicled: 19332016 at the Harvey Milk Photo Center.

{ THIRD OF FOUR SECTIONS }

Bay Area Cabaret salutes LGBT Pride!

IN THE LEGENDARY VENETIAN ROOM, FAIRMONT SAN FRANCISCO

New season announcement - coming soon! www.bayareacabaret.org

Courtesy the artist

<< Out There

46 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

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Frameline strikes a pose

by Roberto Friedman

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Steven Underhill

PHOTOGRAPHY

415 370 7152

WEDDINGS, HEADSHOTS, PORTRAITS

stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

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his year more than ever, we needed to be with our LGBTQ brothers and sisters at opening night of the San Francisco LGBTQ Film Festival. As it happened, the Frameline 40 opening-night film, Kiki, profiled queer youth of color, so it seemed right up-to-date with the week’s blood-soaked headlines.

Kiki was fun and uplifting, a documentary about the New York ballroom scene that inspired with its portraits of these queer young things, incredibly creative, athletic and community-building with their mad vogueing skills. Director Sara Jordeno and co-writer Twiggy Pucci Garcon joined other Kiki stars such as Gia Marie Love and Chi Chi Mizrahi on the Castro Theatre stage for tumultuous applause, and afterwards for the opening-night gala party at The NWBLK. Decades after partying down for Paris Is Burning, Out There exulted in the fresh energy, artistry and confidence of these ballroom youths. They gave us the shot of gay adrenaline we needed to start off Pride Week in San Francisco.

That terrific party, in the warehouse NWBLK space, was the first time we could think of that arriving guests were wanded down and checked for metals or weaponry at the club door. Sign of the troubled times: It’s as if our entire society has been taken hostage by psychopathic killers, the bloodthirsty NRA, and the pandering GOP. Appallingly, there is still such a group as the Log Cabin Republicans, deluded souls that they are. And the Western World has passed through another door, wanded down, and it seems that we’re never going back.

Victorian novel

Catching up: The 28th Annual Lambda Literary Awards, or the Lammys as they are affectionately known, were held June 6 in NYC. It was a record year, with 933 submissions (up from 818 last year) from 321 publishers. Submissions came from major mainstream publishers and from

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Steven Underhill

Stars of director Sara Jordeno’s Kiki look fierce outside the Castro Theatre for the opening of Frameline 40.

Courtesy Frameline

Scene from director Sara Jordeno’s Kiki.

independent presses.

The B.A.R.’s own Victoria Brownworth won the Lammy for lesbian mystery, one of the most competitive categories, for her horror novel Ordinary Mayhem, published by Bold Strokes Books. In a recent interview with Curve magazine, Brownworth, who was the first out lesbian columnist for a daily newspaper in the U.S., said of her novel, about a lesbian photojournalist, “I have spent all of my life as a journalist writing about the people no one wants to write about, especially the lives of marginalized people. I wanted to bring those people to life in this novel in a

more personal way than I have been able to do in news stories. I particularly wanted to highlight the impact of violence against women.”

Upon winning the award, Brownworth told the B.A.R., “This novel, more than almost any of my books, feels acutely personal to me. It’s in part my own story as a journalist, in part my own story as a victim of life-altering male violence that left me permanently scarred. I am thrilled to have won this award. I know this isn’t an easy book to read, but I think Ordinary Mayhem is an important story, and I hope winning the Lammy, an award so important for LGBTQ writers, will bring the book to a new group of readers.”t

Frameline 40

From page 45

Front Cover Ray Yeung, director of the 2008 London-based Asian sex comedy Cut-Sleeve Boys, returns with a flashy Manhattanbased peek at a Chinese American dude’s ascent up the ladder of the Gotham-based fashion business.

Ryan (Jake Choi) is none-toohappy when his female editor withholds a long-awaited cover story and instead assigns him to report on an ego-inflated cute Chinese fashion model. From the get-go, Ryan and Ning (James Chen) clash over cultural effluvia.

While his Chinese parents are happy he’s not chasing after another white boy, Ryan is perplexed about what he should do with an attitude-flaunting foreigner.

Combining a hip insider’s take on fashionistas with a two-worldscollide, cute-boys implosion, Front Cover is as current and entertaining as tomorrow’s headlines. (Castro, 6/25) Jonathan This absorbing father/ son tale from German director Piotr Lewandowski kicks off with a dying man, Burghardt (Andre Hennicke), achieving a painful deathbed coming out. Looking after his father is 23-year-old Jonathan (newcomer Jannis Niewohner), whose task is lightened after he falls in love with

Jeremy Rouse

Jannis Niewohner as Jonathan in director Piotr Lewandowski’s Jonathan.

his dad’s young nurse, Anka (Julia Koschitz). The pivotal moment of the story arrives in the person of an old friend of his dad’s, providing Jonathan with a disconcerting view of his family’s long-kept secrets.

(Castro, 6/26) Looking The closing-night festival slot is devoted to a film whose characters many of us will greet like old friends. I can still remember the excitement a few summers ago when British director Andrew Haigh (Weekend, 45 Years) brought his

cameras and hunky cast into the Castro to tell the story of three aging but still handsome gay guys in search of steady love and job relationships.

The youngest of the trio, Patrick Murray, brings immediate appeal as played by Jonathan Groff. HBO cable fans may recall Groff as the cute queer lad trapped in Oregon apple country in COG (Child of God), a fairy tale based on a David Sedaris story.

See page 49 >>

MORE MYSTERIOUS A FRONTIER

THAN THE MOON

Now open

In the depths of the ocean’s twilight zone—a region scientists know less about than the surface of the Moon—every dive yields new discoveries. Explore these deep reefs and the fascinating marine life found hundreds of feet below.

Get tickets at calacademy.org Generously supported by

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6/14/16 10:18 AM

<< Books

48 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Manly health advice by Walt Whitman

by Tim Pfaff

wink-wink about Walt’s caution about spending too much time with women – when he’s explicitly talking about the syphilis epidemic tearing through New York at the time. But in fact Whitman seems eminently sane in his open discussion of sexuality, counseling only against dissipation.

By the time he actually writes, “We are no moralist,” it’s already clear.

And to talk about sexuality and virility in a Sunday paper in 1858 is, well, something, particularly given the unmistakable homoerotic (but

not leering) tone of the writing.

It may have been part of the reason for Whitman’s resort to pseudonym, but it’s just as likely it was New York journalism politics. Not only does the Manly Health series add significantly to our trove of Whitmania, it helps fill in one of the least well-known periods of the poet’s life. Probably Whitman pitched the series because he needed the money. There’s also evidence that he was severely depressed, and he writes about “the horrors” of depression with a sane, self-tested recommendation for increased exercise. There were family problems and the breakup of an intense romantic relationship with a man (or men). His own “perfect health” (the holy grail of his enterprise) was on the wane, and he was suffering from high blood pressure. He’s not writing as the men’s auxiliary of the WCTU when he recommends temperate drinking (of everything, including water), and it was at this time that he himself returned to the blandishments of booze at Pfaff’s, Manhattan’s legendary Bohemian saloon.

Yes, his style is incantatory, but it’s altogether readable when it is remembered that it is by a man through whose hand and pen the blood and ink of the Greeks and the Hebrews, the orators and prophets and preachers, flowed in ecstatic torrents. And then, he means what he says. Predictably, he’s sometimes self-contradictory, and his views of dancing vacillate (though he sees its value for developing flexibility of the all-important foot). Turpin is right to call Manly Health “an invaluable, revealing, and even frustrating document,” one that sometimes rambles and argues with itself.

Such as Whitman is railing, it’s against New York’s increasingly sedentary (and dissolute) office culture, which he see as weak and nothing short of a threat to American democracy. Such as it’s mad, there’s

method in it. There are echoes of the “beauty, handsomeness, goodness” of Melville’s Billy Budd. Whitman is not, tongue hanging out, calling for a race of handsome supermen (though you’ll find language resembling that) but for a revitalized generation of American men who are hot because they’re happy.

I’ve not seen citations of Whitman’s theory of “magnetic attraction” as a harbinger of New Age attraction theory. But in these writings we have his vision: “This singular but sure magnetic condition, the result mainly of animal robustness (through which the moral nature of course effuses), is, we cannot too often repeat, the result of the health of the whole being, from top to toe – all must be sound, without exception – and then the stronger the tone of health, the mightier will be the stream of magnetic influence involved.”

This is a step beyond gym cruising. But today’s gay gym culture will find little unorthodox in Whitman’s trenchant advocacy of exercise and training. His alarm about viruses entering the collective male bloodstream adumbrates the refining fire of AIDS. And his advocacy of beards will appeal to today’s fashion-minded.

I would wager than anyone willing to dismiss this new material as “wacky” – the prevailing sentiment in its popular journalistic reception so far – hasn’t looked at the poetry recently enough. “I Sing the Body Electric” (has any poem ever had a happier title?) is only a year off. I don’t recall seeing the word “love” in this new Whitman find, but as the overriding tone, it suffuses it all. At the end of “Body Electric”’s first stanza, we read: “And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul? The love of the body of a man or woman balks account, the body itself balks account, That of the male is perfect, and that of the female is perfect.”t

including his successor, Antoninus Pius, were adopted.) There was no public opprobrium in Hadrian’s relationship with Antinous or with any of his young male lovers. It was an accepted form of sexual behavior, although the Romans didn’t idealize love between two males as the ancient Greeks did.

In 130, Antinous drowned in the Nile. The emperor called it an accident. Others claimed he had been killed or induced to sacrifice himself to protect Hadrian from a deadly prophesy. He may have committed suicide.

The emperor’s health was declining. An avid astrologer and believer in magic, he sought to determine when and where he would die and how he could cheat his fate. Hadrian appears to have grown tired of Antinous. They

may have quarreled – Hadrian was quick to anger and could be violent. Sacrificing Antinous, or inducing him to sacrifice himself, to circumvent or defy a prophecy, is a distinct possibility.

Additionally, as the Emperor’s favorite, Antinous was envied by many and may have unwittingly made enemies who wanted him eliminated. Even if he hadn’t yet lost the Emperor’s favor, he likely wondered how long it would last.

Once he experienced puberty, his desirability would diminish. (The onset of puberty in the ancient world was much later than is currently the case.) No doubt aware of Hadrian’s anxiety about his health and forecasted death, the youth may have felt sacrificing himself was an honorable thing to do – and one that spared him the humiliation of being cast aside by the jaded emperor.

Publicly, Hadrian’s grief was intense, reminiscent of Alexander the Great’s for his lover Hephaestion, a comparison the Emperor welcomed, despite the significant differences in the two relationships.

(Alexander and Hephaestion were near-contemporaries in age, and had been intimate since boyhood.)

As Alexander (356-323 BC) did for Hephaestion, Hadrian built cities and temples honoring the deified Antinous. The cult of Antinous swept much of the Mediterranean world and remained popular for several centuries. Over 400 statues of this idealized image of youthful male beauty are extant. He is portrayed in many guises, including the Egyptian god Osiris and the Greek god Dionysus. For many,

Hadrian and Antinous became one of the great historical love stories. Is that accurate?

Probably, although if so, it was a relatively short romance, one driven by Hadrian’s intense sexual attraction for Antinous. Hadrian’s private feelings about his lover’s death aren’t known, but if the youth had sacrificed himself, then gratitude may have replaced imperial desire.

Sadly, no eyewitness accounts have survived to confirm the details of the relationship. What is known comes from histories penned long after the events described. But those writings are based on earlier, most likely original sources.

Early Christian writers believed they were lovers. Not surprisingly, they condemned the relationship while struggling to acknowledge Hadrian’s achievements. Some authors sought to portray them as platonic friends, which required denying compelling evidence to the contrary. This judgmental, puritanical perspective continued into the modern era.

A fine assessment of Hadrian and Antinous’ affair is Royston Lambert’s meticulously researched, balanced, and highly readable Beloved and God (published by Viking in 1984, but now out of print). Also excellent is Elizabeth Speller’s Following Hadrian: A Second Century Journey through the Roman Empire (Oxford University Press, 2003). Spiller’s discussion of Antinous’ death is especially nuanced and logical. Finally, Marguerite Yourcenar’s magnificent novel The Memoirs of Hadrian is a dazzling achievement in historical fiction.t

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thought it would be somewhere between cute and cool to write in our Pride Issue about the newly discovered Walt Whitman articles that address, head-on, manliness.

I thought that with my reverence for the poet I could walk the line between his time-bound and timeless rants. I thought I could be wry about the doctoral dissertations that, god forbid, now lie in the offing, connecting the dots between Whitman’s grunt journalism of 1858 and the vast expanses of poetry to come. But in a day when a masculine ideal is most likely to be articulated in a Grindr profile or an Instagram feed, I was unprepared for the degree to which Uncle Walt would, one more time, knock me out.

Not literally, of course, though Whitman does write in his 13-part series in The New York Atlas about the value of bare-knuckle boxing in fostering a masculine culture. Days ago I might have been horrified by Whitman’s advocacy of sport brainbashing – yet while I’ve been reading this newly discovered material, along have come the passionate paeans to Muhammad Ali, who likely would have fallen dead-center in the poet’s masculine ideal.

Some facts. As alert scholars sometimes do, Zachary Turpin, a doctoral candidate at the University of Houston, poring over microfilm, discovered Manly Health and Training, with Off-hand Hints Toward Their Conditions, that 13part series published in the autumn of 1858. Spotting the name in its byline, Mose Velsor, one of Walt Whitman’s known pseudonyms, Turpin immediately knew what he had found. The 47,000 words increase the cache of known Whitman journalism by half again.

It’s all been republished in the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review,

Samuel Hollyer, of a daguerreotype by Gabriel Harrison now lost

Great gay poet Walt Whitman in 1854.

with an informed and immensely readable Introduction by Turpin, which can be accessed free of charge at ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent. cgi?article=2206&context=wwqr The popular press has, so far, honked its greeting. Commentators have stumbled over one another noting that Whitman’s advocacy of all lean meat (with a crust of bread) as the ideal diet for a man in training is his anticipation of the paleo diet (hold the bread). And there’s been the even more predictable nudge-nudge

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Hadrian & Antinous: Passion & mystery

by Tavo Amador

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he word “homosexuality” was coined by English writer Charles Gilbert Chaddock in 1892.

Chaddock was expanding on what previously had been called “sexual inversion” to denote innate physical attraction between two men. This radical concept had been first articulated publicly in Germany in 1867 by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs.

Before this, “homosexuality” as understood today didn’t exist.

People didn’t think in terms of sexual orientation. While every form of sexual activity has been practiced since recorded history, the classifications “heterosexual,” “homosexual” and “bisexual” are modern.

Consequently, it’s anachronistic to call the great Roman Emperor Hadrian (76-137) a homosexual, although he had many young male lovers, including, in all probability, the most famous of them, the beautiful Greek youth Antinous (ca.

111-130).

Historical consensus rates Hadrian as one of the most accomplished Roman emperors.

Born Publius Aelius Hadrianus, most likely in what is now Spain, he was probably descended from a well-established Hispanic-Roman family. The Emperor Trajan was a distant paternal relative. As a young man, Hadrian became a member of his intimate circle.

Hadrian was three times chosen tribune, a rare distinction, before becoming a quaestor, serving with distinction in the senate, where he read and perhaps composed some of Trajan’s speeches. He had

already proven himself an able commander in Germany and other provinces. In 117, shortly before dying, Trajan named Hadrian his successor, although it’s unclear if he officially adopted him. It didn’t matter. Having earned the loyalty of the army, Hadrian quickly assumed power.

He shrewdly made the empire more defensible by withdrawing troops from Mesopotamia and Armenia, countries conquered

by Trajan.

The peripatetic emperor visited almost all the Roman provinces and territories.

Still standing, Hadrian’s Wall separates England from Scotland and marks the empire’s northernmost frontier. In Rome, he restored the Pantheon, which remains intact, and constructed many new temples.

A passionate philhellene, Hadrian lavished attention on Athens, which he saw as the cultural center of the world. He ordered temples and other buildings built there.

Hadrian’s Gate, located near the Temple of Zeus, is a reminder of his love for the city. The Adriatic Sea is named for him.

While traveling in Bithnyia (modern Turkey) in ca. 123, Hadrian probably first saw Antinous, then around 12 years old. The beautiful boy was sent to Rome to be educated at the imperial court. Within a few years, he had blossomed into an exceptionally handsome youth who, according to ancient sources, became Hadrian’s lover and traveling companion.

(Hadrian’s marriage produced no natural offspring. Both his sons,

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Music>>

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 49

Boy oh boys!

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco are proud to support SF Pride.

Courtesy SFGMC

Well-Strung will join the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus for Pride concerts.

by David-Elijah Nahmod

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hey’re sexy, they’re trained musicians, and they sing. Ever since the Beatles and the Beach Boys, “boy bands” have been big sellers among pop-music fans. It’s a phenomenon that continues today, as evidenced by the chart-topping success of boy bands such as Back Street Boys and the Jonas Brothers, who have made many hearts go pitter-patter. Teen girls and gay men are among those who swoon with delight when these talented and hot young men take to the stage.

The venerable San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, known to have a few cutie-patooties of their own among its ranks, will be celebrating Pride by bringing the music of these bands to the stage of the Nourse Theater. At performances of Heartthrobs: Biggest Boy Band Ever on Fri., June 24, at 8 p.m., and Sat., June 25, at 2:30 and 8 p.m., the Chorus will be joined by a gay boy band. Well-Strung, who have performed at SFGMC Christmas shows, is a quartet of cute guys who play strings and sing.

“We decided it was time we studied groups like us, men who sing and are devastatingly handsome,” explained Dr. Tim Seelig, SFGMC artistic director and conductor. “So at the top of the whiteboard we put Heartthrobs and Boy Bands. Boy bands represent some of the gayest straight music and musicians of all time!”

Seelig feels that it’s the perfect show for Pride. “There are tidbits of double entendre throughout, especially when 250 men sing the boy-band music to other boys,” he said. “For us to camp up some of these songs is just too much fun.

But there are also some incredibly moving moments as well, with surprising arrangements of a song such as One Direction’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful,’ which turns into a gorgeous anthem about self-worth.”

He added that Well-Strung is the perfect boy band for this show, since they’re talented and gay. “Did I say they’re gorgeous? The definition of heartthrobs.”

“The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus is so much fun to work with,” Well-Strung’s Chris Marchant

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Frameline 40

From page 46

In this 85-minute “final episode,” Patrick comes back to the hood for the wedding of his furry-bear buddy Eddie (Daniel Franzese).

Patrick looks forward to seeing his old restaurant-owning friend Dom Basaluzzo (Murray Bartlett), along with his wisecracking soulmate Doris (Lauren Weedman).

Jonathan Groff recently recalled what had drawn him to the HBO

told the B.A.R. “It’s clear they really love performing together, which makes it an awesome experience for us. They sound phenomenal. Also, they aren’t afraid to be both silly and serious, which we very much appreciate.”

Marchant explained the artistic appeal of boy bands. “Everyone likes to see collaboration, especially in the artistic world. When people are united by an artistic idea and they execute that idea to the best of their ability, it’s a cool thing to witness.”

This year’s Pride celebrations will no doubt be a somber occasion in the aftermath of the killings at Pulse, a gay club in Orlando, Florida, but Marchant is determined that the show go on. “I am deeply saddened by the events, but also motivated,” he said. “We get one life to live, and things like gun violence in Orlando only spur me on to do what I can to help influence the national conversation on guns, violence, hate crimes, and homophobia. Jubilant voices and instruments should not be silenced because people lost their lives. Those voices and instruments should be emboldened and should honor our fallen brothers and sisters.”

Seelig promises Heartthrobs will feature the usual SFGMC trademarks. “The song selection really took care of itself. Once we identified the top boy bands in history, we tried to choose the iconic chart-toppers. We chose boy bands that had great four-part male harmonies. You can think of them yourselves: Beach Boys, Backstreet Boys, Beatles, Boyz II Men, Village People, Mumford & Sons, Chicago, One Direction, NSYNC. You can probably guess the songs yourselves!”

There will also be fabulous costumes and outrageous choreography. “There will be lots of Pride pizzazz thrown in,” Seelig promised. “There will be lots of dancing, 250 top hats, maybe some original Beach Boys and updated versions of the Village People!

No one will go home wanting for extraordinary entertainment and music!”t Tickets: cityboxoffice.com/ eventperformances.asp?evt=2103.

series in the first place. “One of the cool things about the show is that no one’s having a coming out story. My character is 29, and that’s the youngest of the ensemble. Most of the characters are in their 30s and 40s. In this show, everybody’s completely fine with the fact they’re gay, and so the issues become about their relationships and work. Hopefully it becomes even more relatable to people who aren’t gay.”

(Castro, 6/26)t Info: frameline.org

JUNE 18–SEPTEMBER 11, 2016

Artists have long been inspired by the promise and peril of the American West. See more than 170 paintings, prints, historical objects, and other works that trace our shifting sense of the country’s last frontier.

This exhibition is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Benefactor’s Circle: Mr. and Mrs. Charles Crocker.

Chiura Obata, Setting Sun on Sacramento Valley, California, 1930. Color woodcut.

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts

<< Theatre

50 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Summer stages forecast: intriguing

by Richard Dodds

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ow that it’s officially summer, maybe we’re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave.

But probably not. And yet do balmy breezes blow? Well, we can usually count on the breezy part of the equation, and to push the metaphor, they often blow in theatrical attractions that may not fit into the schedules of the traditional theater season. Here are some of them.

Professor Leguizamo

Berkeley Rep isn’t letting any dust gather now that its 2015-16 season is barely over. A summer special returns John Leguizamo to the Bay Area, where the edgily comedic storyteller has previously performed Freak, Ghetto Clown, and Sexaholic – A Love Story, each of which traveled to or from New York.

One future destination for John Leguizamo: Latin History for Morons is New York’s Public Theatre, but the solo show will get its start right here on July 1.

The title tells the story, though for marketing purposes, it is likely

hoped that audiences will take “morons” with a pinch of irony. A pair of intersecting realizations led Leguizamo to develop the piece that, with frequent ruptures of comedy, explains how Latino history within both North and South American borders is often ignored in school curriculums. From the Aztecs to the Incas, and to the Latinos who fought in the Revolutionary, Civil, and World Wars, Leguizamo condenses 3,000 years of history into 90 minutes.

It didn’t seem to him that his teenage son was seeing the likes of himself in his textbooks. “But more of it was this article I read that said 45% of Latin kids drop out of high school,” he told a newspaper in San Diego, where the show was workshopped with Berkeley Rep’s Tony Taccone as director. “I said, ‘Wow, I understand that.’ I never felt connected to what I was studying. You couldn’t project yourself into those areas like all the other kids could.

You’re like, ‘I guess I’m not made of that stuff. I must not be of that quality.’”

Zack DeZon Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Solo performer John Leguizamo returns to the Bay Area with his version of high school in Latin History for Morons at Berkeley Rep.

Leguizamo didn’t want the show to come across like a textbook, and for the first time in his career, he played comedy clubs to calibrate his jokes per minute, or JPMs as he calls them. “It was an education for both of us,” he said of himself and club audiences. “I had to re-educate them and go, ‘I’m going to give you a dense narrative that you’re not used to. But you’re also making me joke-smith a lot more.’ I want this history thing to be really palatable.”

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Courtesy Wesla Whitfield

There will be a free staged reading and talkback of Robert O’Hara’s gay-odyssey play Bootycandy at Brava Theatre Center on June 28.

Popular cabaret artist Wesla Whitfield will play the title role in Hello, Dolly! as Feinstein’s at the Nikko launches its Musicals in Concert series on July 6.

Latin History for Morons runs through Aug. 14. Call (510) 6472949 for ticket information, or go to berkeleyrep.org.

widely praised as it has made its way through regional theaters since its debut at New York’s Playwrights Horizons in 2014. No Bay Area theater has yet to pick it up for a full production, but Brava Theatre Center is giving it a staged reading with a follow-up discussion with the playwright.

The June 28 event is free, and it marks O’Hara’s return to San Francisco, where his Insurrection: Holding History had its West Coast premiere at ACT. The play is made up of short pieces – plays, sermons, sketches – that follow the story of Sutter as he embarks on an odyssey through his boyhood home, his church, dive bars, motel rooms, and nursing homes in a mash-up that isn’t hesitant to break the fourth wall. The show is seriously tagged with a “for mature audiences” warning. More info at brava.org.

Don’t touch the candy

Grandma tells young Sutter that playing with your privates, what she calls his bootycandy, is off-limits – but whenever has that been known to work? Bootycandy is Robert O’Hara’s semi-autobiographical play about growing up gay, black, and confused, a work that has been

DR. TIMOTHY SEELIG, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

School daze

r e v e d n a b y o b biggest JUNE 24 8 p.m. june 25 2:30 + 8 p.m. nourse Theater featuring well-struNG the singing string quartet

TICKETS: SFGMC.ORG OR 415-392-4400 Season 38 is presented by

The San Francisco Mime Troupe is back for its 57th season with Schooled, a cautionary satire about the confluence of public education and private enterprise. A series of free outdoor performances in area public parks starts off on July 2 & 3 in Berkeley’s Cedar Rose Park before the traditional debut in Dolores Park on July 4. From there, it will travel throughout the area before finishing up its season with a return to Dolores Park in September.

Michael Gene Sullivan and Eugenie Chan have written the new show, with Sullivan directing, which tells of profiteers who want to turn public education into virtual experiences that no longer need brick-and-mortar schoolhouses. The cast includes veteran Mime Troupe collective members Velina Brown, Rotimi Agbabiakao, Keiko Shimosato-Carreiro, and Lisa Hori-Garcia. A full schedule of performances is available at sfmt. org.

Musicals in mufti

Feinstein’s at the Nikko will switch gears for two weeks this summer, replacing its cabaret acts with stripped-down versions of musical comedies. Both are Jerry Herman shows, and they will feature casts well-known from area boite spots. Hello, Dolly! will launch the Musicals in Concert series on July 6-10 with Wesla Whitfield as Dolly Levi and real-life husband Mike Greensill as Horace Vandergelder, the half-a-millionaire Dolly hopes to make her husband. Narrator Darlene Popovic will offer trivia and tidbits from the show’s history during its condensed staging.

Popovic will be back as narrator when Mame arrives for an Aug. 10-14 run. Meg Mackay stars as Mame Dennis, with Sharon McNight as bosom buddy Vera Charles. Allen Sawyer is directing both productions, with musical director Joe Wicht. Tickets for both productions are now on sale at (866) 663-1063, or feinsteinsatthenikko. com.t

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June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 51

Psychological saga sung with passion

by Philip Campbell

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econd in the line-up of three powerful productions in the San Francisco Opera’s summer season, Verdi’s epic Don Carlo opened last Sunday in a superb performance, cast from strength and played with passion.

The crowd filling the War Memorial Opera House was still processing early reports from Orlando before the matinee began, and the Company quickly assembled a supertitle requesting a moment of silence. It allowed some reflection before conductor Nicola Luisotti took the podium to guide us back to another time, of love, loyalty, intolerance and betrayal.

Presented in a five-act Italian edition, director Emilio Sagi’s production is receiving its third and most likely final SFO revival. It remains a marathon for performers and audience alike, but there are improvements, notably in a brighter lighting design (thank you, Gary Marder), and the cast is perfect this time.

The long afternoon unfolded with Wagnerian gravitas and the spectacle, political intrigue and humanity of a Shakespeare play. Short breaks between acts were minor mood-breakers; two intermissions supplied necessary breathers for the audience. This is what people mean by “grand opera,” and Luisotti shows an elegant grasp of the long form. He already has us missing him, even before he makes his departure as Music Director after the 2017-18 season.

Complaints about Zach Brown’s original production design (too dark and monochromatic) were mostly fixed by the director’s latest tweaking, and the view from the sight lines on the right side of the house showed the pageantry of the striking stage pictures to full effect.

Glossy black walls appear simple rather than anachronistic, and the remarkably rich costuming pops against the sleek background. For an opera that demands uniformly excellent musical values, Sagi’s unfussy direction gets sensibly out of the way.

The conductor and his wonderfully responsive orchestra and the virtually flawless cast seized the day and proved Verdi’s psychological saga (after the dramatic poem by Friedrich von Schiller) contains some of his loveliest music.

Bass Andrea Silvestrelli’s Grand Inquisitor was not only well-sung, but also really creepy.

His confrontation with the King revealed the complicated problems facing the ruler with such chilling detail, we could almost sympathize with his despicable complicity.

As Elizabeth (Elisabetta), soprano Ana Maria Martinez made her role debut as the title character’s first betrothed, then later wed to his father, love interest. This situation alone should give some idea of the story’s intricacy. Martinez started with caution and remained hesitant through much of the first act, but blossomed as her voice warmed. Some four hours later, she triumphed with remarkable freshness.

Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Nadia Krasteva was making her SFO debut as the scorned Princess Eboli, and she convincingly portrayed her character’s fury. The richness and power of her singing was strong throughout.

The performance ultimately belonged to the trio of male leads.

The thrilled crowd repeatedly endorsed them with spontaneous and prolonged ovations. Polish baritone Marius Kwiecien has made great successes with the

Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

Michael Fabiano (Don Carlo) in San Francisco Opera’s Don Carlo.

Mariusz Kwiecień (Rodrigo) in San Francisco Opera’s Don Carlo.

SFO (notably his sophisticated Don Giovanni), and he brilliantly reminded us of his ability playing Don Carlo’s loyal-unto-death best friend Rodrigo. Kwiecien magnetically commands attention with confident singing and moving intensity.

vulnerability in his acting, and his duets with Kwiecien were equally heart-breaking and exciting.

German bass Rene Pape returned to enact the tortured and deeply conflicted King Philip II. To say he has an immediate stage presence is understatement, but the international

We won’t be calling American tenor Michael Fabiano a rising star anymore. He is there now, and his appearance as Don Carlo proved it. His wonderfully full tone stays essentially sweet from top to bottom, and he is always heroically audible. There is an appealing

star still manages to disappear within the role. Another favorite, Ferruccio Furlanetto, assumes the part for the final performance. That’s enough for me to go again.t Don Carlo continues in repertory through June 29.

<< Music

52 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Unconditional love brings redemption

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Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

Malin Byström (Jenůfa) in San Francisco Opera’s Jenufa.

by Philip Campbell

C

Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

Karita Mattila as Kostelnička Buryjovka in San Francisco Opera’s Jenufa.

zech composer Leoš Janáček wrote some of the 20th century’s greatest operas, yet many music-lovers are still unaware of his unique sound-world and his knack for creating compelling theatrical experiences. His early success with the moving story of Jenůfa made him a staple of the Central European repertoire, and productions in America have helped him gain international appreciation.

The San Francisco Opera has

enjoyed some major artistic successes with Janáček’s operas, too. The Cunning Little Vixen (a real charmer), a chilling The Makropulos Case (returning next season), and four previous stagings of Jenůfa prove the Company’s belief in the composer. Last week the SFO presented Jenůfa yet again, as the third and final offering in the current summer season. The production becomes the last and most inspiring part of the trio; each opera is thematically linked as explorations of the many faces of love. Love equals death in Carmen, and is divided between loyalty and betrayal in Don Carlo.

Jenůfa shows that unconditional love can give redemption.

I might argue that the sadly wronged heroine shouldn’t need redemption. The innocent village girl has been impregnated out of wedlock, but she hasn’t done anything worse than yield to a lover’s charms and promises of marriage.

Suffocating villagers and a domineering stepmother judge and control her with cruel disregard. Števa, the caddish father of her child, deserts her after his half-brother Laca scars her face in a fit of jealous rage. Stepmother Kostelnička tries to save her honor in a horrific act of infanticide (sorry for the spoiler), but she is really thinking more of her own pride.

Jenůfa’s saving grace comes from her healing compassion for the true sinners. It is a message that transcends sordid actions and fills witnesses with consoling hope.

The cast underlines the uplifting moral. The throbbing and lyrical score is performed to stunning effect.

Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek draws exquisite results from the fine SFO orchestra. Chorus Director Ian Robertson adds another triumph to his career, reminding us that the SFO boasts one of the best choruses in American opera. Stylized sets filled with symbolism, and simple costumes by designer Frank Philipp Schlössmann support director Olivier Tambosi’s clear pacing of the turbulent action.

Finnish soprano Karita Mattila rightfully commands a star’s position in her staged role debut as the wicked (but curiously sympathetic) stepmother. Looking unavoidably refined, Mattila’s Kostelnička is by turns frightening and lovingly concerned. Her laser voice is perfect for the difficult part.

American tenor Scott Quinn makes a promising SFO debut as the heartless Števa. His acting is believable enough to disgust, even as we admire his sound.

Tenor William Burden returns to SFO for his role debut as Laca, and his strong, sweet voice adds depth to the pitiable character.

It will be a long time before Swedish soprano Malin Byström’s SFO and role debut as Jenůfa fades from memory.

Her lovely presence and crystalline tone make her utterly convincing. The exultant audience obviously shared in my emotional response.t Jenůfa continues in repertory through July 1.

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Maria Kochetkova in Wheeldon’s Cinderella© // © Erik Tomasson

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<< Out&About

O&A

54 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Thu 30 Alan Cumming @ Castro Theatre

Rainbow connections

by Jim Provenzano

T

housands, millions strong, we and our allies celebrate this weekend.

For more events, visit us online at www.ebar.com. For nightlife and more Pride events, check out On the Tab in BARtab.

Thu 23 Cinco y Cinco @ The Mexican Museum Opening events for a new exhibit of works by 10 contemporary artists from Mexico and Latin America. Thru Nov. 6. Fort Mason Center, Bldg. D, Marina Blvd. at Buchana. www.mexicanmuseum.org

Colette Uncensored @ The Marsh Lori Holt’s new solo show tells the story of the famed French novelist’s pioneering feminist life. $20-$100. Thu & Fri 8pm.

Sat 5pm. Extended thru June 25. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. themarsh.org

Frameline 40 @ Castro, Victoria, Roxie and other Theatres The 40th anniversary San Francisco International LGBTQ Film festival continues with multiple daily screenings thru June 26. Closing night is a screening of Looking, the movie. frameline.org castrotheatre.com

The Invisible Hand @ Marin Theatre Company Bay Area premiere of Ayad Akhtar’s political drama about a banker in Pakistan forced to show his kidnappers how to play the stock market. $10-$58.

Tue-Sun 7:30pm. Thru June 26. 397 Miller Ave. Mill Valley. marintheatre.org

Magenta Party @ CounterPulse Housewarming and fundraiser for the dance-performance space’s new home, with live performances, art silent auction, cocktails, and DJed dancing. Magenta attire (to match the fab exterior paint job) encouraged. $30-$100. 6pm-9pm. 80 Turk St. www.counterpulse.org/event/ magenta

Perverts Put Out @ Center for Sex and Culture Pride Week reading of sexy prose and poetry, with Greta Christina, Sherilyn Connelly, Gina DeVries, Daphne Gottlieb, horehound stillpoint, Na’amen Tilahun and Xan West, and cohosts Carol Queen and Simon Sheppard. $10-$25. 8pm. 1349 Mission St. www.sexandculture.org

Queer as Fuck @ Bindlestiff Queer Asian and people of colorthemed and performed short works of theatre and performance. $10-$25.

June 23-25. 8pm. 185 6th St. 2550440. www.bindlestiffstudio.org

The Village Bike @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Players’ controversial new production of Penelope Skinner’s drama about intimacy and connections. $23-$35. Wed-Sun Thru July 3, then in repertory with Hamlet.

1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. www.shotgunplayers.org

Fri 24 Barrett Foa @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The Broadway singer performs his witty musical cabaret show, Grin and Barrett. $45-$65. $20 food/drink minimum. June 24 at 8pm, June 25 at 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. feinsteinsatthenikko.ticketfly.com/

For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday @ Berkeley Rep Kathleen Chalfant stars in Sarah Ruhl’s drama about a family facing a father’s death and reconnecting to childhood dreams. $29-$61. Tue, ThuSat 8pm. Wed & Sun 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru July 3. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Red Velvet @ SF Playhouse SF Playhouse’s production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s drama about Ira Aldridge, the 1833 first British African American stage actor. $20-$120.

Tue-Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm, Sun 2pm. Thru June 25. Kensington Park Hotel 2nd floor, 450 Post St. 6779596. www.sfplayhouse.org

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus @ Nourse Theater Heartthrobs, the Biggest Boy Band Ever, is the musical theme of the Pride week concerts, with music from The Beatles, Jackson 5, Bruno Mars and Backstreet Boys, and a special set with Well Strung. $20-$60. 8pm. 275 Hayes St. June 252:30pm, & 8pm. www.sfgmc.org

Trans March @ Dolores Park March and rally for trans people and their families. 11am-2:30 youth and elder brunch. 3pm-6pm: stage performers and speakers. 6pm7:30pm street march to Taylor & Turk streets. 7:30pm Compton’s Cafeteria Riots presentation. After-party at El Rio, 9pm- 2am 3158 Mission St. www.transmarch.org/transmarch-2016/

Rumer Willis @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The TV and Broadway actress performs her acclaimed new cabaret show, of jazz, rock and classic songs, with a 3-piece band. $50-$70. 8pm.

Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 6631063. www.feinsteinsathtenikko.com

Approaching American Abstraction @ SF Museum of Modern Art See the restaged installations and new exhibits of Pop, Abstract and classic Modern art at the renovated and visually amazing museum, with two extra floors, a new additional Howard Street entrance, café and outdoor gardens. Free-$25. 10am8pm. 151 Third St. www.sfmoma.org

Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution @ Contemporary Jewish Museum Exhibit of photos and documents of and about the famous rock concert promoter. June 30: Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition, about the prolific filmmaker (thru Oct. 30).

Other exhibits about Jewish culture, lectures and gallery talks as well. Free (members)-$12. Fri-Tue 11am-5pm, Thu 11am-8pm (closed Wed). 736 Mission St. 655-7800. thecjm.org

Butch: Portraits by Meg Allen @ Glamarama

Eating Pasta Off the Floor @ The Marsh Maria Grazia Affinito returns with her comic solo show about ItalianAmerican family life and her mother’s history. $20-$100. Thu 8pm, Sun 5pm.

Thru July 24. 1062 Valencia St. 2823055. www.themarsh.org

San Francisco Pride @ Civic Center Enjoy dancing at several DJed stages (Latin, International, soul, country-Western dancing, Indie, Left Magazine dance, Women’s) and areas (Leather Alley, Faerie Freedom Village, 60+ Space, Family Garden, Deaf Space), performances (Peaches, Psychic TV, Hector Fonseca, Betty, BeBe Sweetbriar, Duserock and Friends, Cheer SF, Bluebird, BAAITS, Mix’d Ingrdnts, Breathless, HipHop4Change), MCs Sister Roma and Honey Mahogany, Liam Mayclem and Carnie Asada, community booths, food and drinks. $5-$10 donation at gates. VIP Pride Party in City Hall, $50. 11am-5pm. Also other acts and stages on Sat., June 25. Entrances at all ends of Civic Center (Grove at Van Ness Ave., Market at Larkin). www.sfpride.org

Allen’s exhibit of photo portraits of masculine lesbians. 304 Valencia St. Thru July 3. www.megallenstudio.com www.glamarama.com

Fri 24 San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus @ Nourse Theater

Will Durst @ The Marsh The political comic’s updated solo show, Elect to Laugh: 2016, adds topical jokes about the bizarre election season. $15-$100. Tuesdays, 8pm. Extended thru July 26. 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

Wed 29 10 Percent @ Comcast David Perry’s online and cable interviews with notable local and visiting LGBT people, broadcast through the week. ComcastHometown.com

From Piss to Bliss @ The Marsh Ady Lady’s solo show explores the search for happiness and higher consciousness amid daily life. $20$100. Wed 7:30pm, Sat 5pm. Thru July 9. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Pity Sex, PWR BTTM, Petal @ Slim’s Enjoy power-pop alt-rock and punky grooves from three bands, including the queer PWR BTM. $15-$18, $40 with dinner, 9pm. 333 11th st. www.slimspresents.com

Sun 26

Dyke March @ Dolores Park Public march for women, lesbians, and their allies, with a park rally and performances. 1pm-7pm. Dolores Park, 18th St. at Dolores. www.thedykemarch.org

Peaches performs at San Francisco Pride @ Civic Center

The Grace Jones Project, Dandy Lion @ MOAD Dual exhibitions of video, performance and artwork about the iconic singer and queer identity; and Dandy Lion: (Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity. Free-$10. Both thru Sept. 18. Wed-Sat 11am-6pm.

Sun 12pm-5pm. 685 Mission St. at 3rd. www.moadsf.org

LGBT Chronicled: 1933-2016 @ Harvey Milk Photo Center Group exhibit of photos documenting Bay Area LGBT lives. Tue-Wed 4pm8pm. Thu 1pm-9pm. Sat & Sun 12pm5pm. Thru July 7. 50 Scott St. www.harveymilkphotocenter.org

Present Laughter @ Eureka Theatre Theatre Rhinoceros’ production of Noël Coward’s comedy of a man with a boyfriend and girlfriend vying for his attention. $10-$15. Wed-Sat 8pm.

Sat 3pm. Extended thru July 2. 215 Jackson St. at Battery. (800) 8383006. www.therhino.org

Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen @ Exploratorium New exhibit of the amazing walking sculptures that resemble giant insectlike creatures. Thru Sept. 5. Free-$25.

Pier 15 at Embarcadero. Tue-Sun 10am5pm (Thu night 6pm-10pm, 18+). 5284893. exploratorium.edu/strandbeest

Sun 26 Abrazo, Queer Tango @ Finnish Brotherhood Hall, Berkeley Enjoy weekly same-sex tango dancing and a potluck, with lessons early in the day. $7-$15. 3:30-6:30pm. 1970 Chestnut St., Berkeley. (510) 8455352. www.finnishhall.com

Angel Ceballos

The Wild Bunch @ SF Conservatory of Flowers New Spring exhibit of oddly-shaped succulents, cacti and fat plants. Thru Oct. 16. 100 John F. Kennedy Drive, Golden Gate Park www.conservatoryofflowers.org

Mon 27 Pride Art Show @ 611 Hyde Exhibit of works by local artists (Andrew Fisher, Thomasina DeMaio, Brian Moore, Matt Pipes, Morris Taylor, Elliott C Nathan & James Swainson) at the intimate gallery.

Thru June 30. 611 Hyde St. www.facebook.com/611Hyde/

Queerest Library Ever @ SF Public Libraries Hormel at 20: Celebrating Our Past/ Creating Our Future, a dual exhibit of archival materials celebrating the two decades of the LGBTQ collections.

Thru Aug 7. 100 Larkin St., 3rd floor, and at the Eureka Valley Branch, 1 Jose Sarria Court at 16th St. www.sfpl.org

Tue 28 Dancers We Lost @ GLBT History Museum

Sampson: A Tough Act to Follow @ UC Robertson Auditorium Sampson McCormick, the stellar socialcommentary stand-up performer, is the subject of a new documentary about the challenge of being Black and gay in show business. 7pm. 1675 Owens St. www.sampsoncomedy.com

Sat 25

t

Dancers We Lost: Honoring Performers Lost to HIV/AIDS, an exhibit of photos and ephemera, curated by Glenne McElhinney, about Bay Area dancers who died of AIDS. Thru Aug. 7. Also, Feminists to Feministas : Women of Color in Prints and Posters, a new exhibit of illustrations depicting LBT women of color from the 1970s to today. Thru July 4. $5. 4127 18th St. www.dancerswelost.org/exhibit/ www.glbthistory.org

Thu 30 Alan Cumming @ Castro Theatre The Tony-winning performer brings his Sappy Songs concert to the heart of the Castro. $35-$150. 8pm. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

César L. Baquerizo @ Books Inc. Opera Plaza The gay author of A Safe Place for You, about South American antigay conversion camps, reads from and discusses his book. 7pm. 601 Van Ness Ave. www.cesarluisbaquerizo. wordpress.com www.booksinc.net

Colors of the Tenderloin @ Tenderloin Museum Opening reception for an exhibit of photography by Darwin Bell. 6:30pm9pm. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm, $6-$10 ($15 includes walking tour).

398 Eddy St. 351-1912. www.tenderloinmuseum.org

Kate Kendall, Jennifer Pizer @ Laurel Bookstore, Oakland The two marriage rights activists discuss the book, Love Unites Us: Winning the Freedom to Marry. 7pm.

1423 Broadway, Oakland. www.laurelbookstore.com

Literary Speakeasy @ Martuni’s One-year anniversary of the monthly reading and cocktails series, with host/poet James J Siegel, authors Peter Bullen, Ginger Murray, Anna Pulley and Jim Provenzano, and musician Jeff Desira. No cover, raffle tickets for a prize. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. www.facebook.com/ events/1183245538355399/

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Books>>

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 55

Neon paradise

I am the future of the LGBT community.

I was married to a wonderful woman for 30 years. Now it’s time to be who I really am. Now I’m happy, authentic, and dating a wonderful man. I read EDGE on all my devices, because I have a whole future to look forward to - and that’s where I want it to be.

by Jim Piechota Arcade by Drew Nellins Smith; Unnamed Press, $16 ritten while the author worked at a motel in Austin, Texas, Drew Nellins Smith’s provocative debut novel Arcade showcases the mystery, the taboo allure, and the “Wild West of promiscuity” found at a triple-X porn arcade. Though many of these classic institutions have gone the way of the record store, the ponytail, telephone sex lines, chatrooms, and VHS video stores, Smith breathes new life into one particularly seedy, nondescript roadside shop located in rural Texas, where his protagonist Sam becomes a regular customer with mixed results.

Hoping to consummate his secret passion for men, he ventures way beyond casually perusing the “Missed Connections” ads on Craigslist and heads for an outof-the-way bastion of unashamed sexuality and pornography. Armed with a fistful of tokens, Sam becomes one with the arcade’s “catalog of potential partners, all moving in circles and lines and figure eights, from booth to booth, hallway to store to hallway.”

Curiously, Sam treats his visits to the booths as one treats a hopeful, recurring date: showering first, and donning “a clean pair of jeans and a striped polo shirt that I didn’t like particularly, but had twice been complimented on.” He makes small-talk with the clerk first, then embarks upon a succession of adventures within the cloaked recesses of the store.

Smith has created a relatable character in Sam. He is an instantly likeable guy filled with common insecurities, longing for both the thrill of an orgasm with a stranger and the intimate contentment of another’s hand to hold. Sam is often humorous as well, as in one scene when leaving an almost deserted booth hallway in the arcade. “When I found myself alone in terrible and shameful situations,” he laments, “my first assumption was always that the end of the world was upon us, and I had been caught with my pants down. Had the nuclear apocalypse been announced, and here I was to die alone, blasted

W

apart along with one of the biggest collections of sex toys and videos in Central Texas?”

The novel’s primary focus is on his visits to the arcade, which will please lovers of erotica, wellwritten smut, and the multifaceted world of human sexuality. Smith describes Sam’s adventures in expert detail, lingering over the specifics of the dark dankness of the back hallways, the creaking of booth doors, the shadowy faces hungry and whispering for any human connection, and the bleachy smell of sticky floors from booths that “were just destroyed” at the end of the night. The sexual encounters, both the wildly satisfying and the crestfallen, are just as vividly portrayed, though Sam admits he is somewhat obsessed in his awareness of contracting an (incurable) sexually transmitted disease, alongside the hard cold truth that he’d “spent a lot more time alone in those booths than I ever did with someone else.”

One wishes Smith embodied Sam with more depth and characterization outside the swinging doors of the arcade. As much as his novel exposes the shrouded microcosm of the video arcade store, he leaves his main character without much soul. When there’s a hint that the narrative may veer into more of Sam’s past aside from his horny anecdotes, the story, almost embarrassed of itself, moves right back to the arcade.

The novel’s bittersweet conclusion occurs with the arcade’s abrupt closure causing Sam to sadly reflect on the education, the sexual freedom, the fantasy, and the orgasmic gratification he’d received there. “I pictured the other men from the arcade like satellites cut loose in space with nothing to orbit. There was no chance I’d see the Marine again, or the bull, or the hedgehog, or the guy who said I should read The Better Angels of Our Nature.”

Though readers don’t really get to know Sam as well as they might have liked, still, this is a sexy, amusing, and thoroughly engrossing slice of gay fiction that is impressively accomplished for a debut. It’s also a highly auspicious beginning for a Texas writer with certain promise.t

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<< Books

56 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Pride 2016 reading list

by Gregg Shapiro

F

ictional forays: 19th-century literary heroine George Eliot (born Marian Evans) wrote Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss under a male pseudonym in order for her work to be taken seriously. She’s the subject of The Honeymoon (Other Press) by Dinitia Smith, about the author’s brief, late-in-life marriage to the considerably younger John Walter Cross.

Arriving in time for the 2016 political season, The Pink Bus (Lethe Press) by journalist Christopher Kelly, takes us on a journey through Texas Senate candidate Patrick Francis Monaghan’s life, following an assassination attempt during a campaign stop.

Set in the 24 hours around the time that Rasa, a gay man living in an unnamed Arab country, is outed by his grandmother, putting his life, his boyfriend Taymour’s life and the lives of others in jeopardy, Saleem Haddad’s debut novel Guapa (Other Press) is a welcome introduction to a new literary voice.

The late Jackie Collins often included gay characters in her beachread novels, including Dante, the gay brother of Lucky Santangelo.

The “ever-powerful” Lucky is the

main focus of Collins’ final novel The Santangelos (St. Martin’s Press).

Y/A? OK!: The Great American Whatever (Simon & Schuster), the third Y/A novel by gay writer Tim Federle, is described as a “winning testament to the power of old movies and new memories.”

It introduces us to 16-year-old Quinn, who in the midst of mourning the death of his sister just might be falling in love.

David Levithan, no stranger to collaboration, teams up with Nina LaCour for the novel You Know Me Well (St. Martin’s Griffin), a “friends-at-first-sight” story told in alternating chapters about Mark and Kate.

Born of Y/A author Kody Keplinger’s “love of female friendship,” her fifth novel Run (Scholastic Press) features bi Bo and sheltered Agnes, who go on the run and encounter a series of life-changing experiences that only deepen their unlikely friendship.

Set about 100 years into the

future, The Chronicles of Spartak: Rising Son (Jubilation Media) by “soldier, teacher, journalist, state legislator, literary commissioner” Steven A. Coulter, is the first in a series told through the eyes of 16-year-old athlete Spartak Jones.

Poetic license: Now in its second printing, Night Sky with Exit Wounds (Copper Canyon Press), the full-length debut collection by lauded gay poet Ocean Vuong, is not only deserving of all the praise it has already received, including a Whiting Award, but much of the acclaim that is sure to follow in its wake.

Award-winning lesbian writer and educator Julie Marie Wade seamlessly merges the poetry and memoir realms of her work in Catechism: A Love Story (Noctuary Press), resulting in a dazzling collection of poetic essays about loving others and learning to love oneself.

Poetry by Jeff Mann, Trebor Healey, Alan Martinez, Mark Ward, Daniel Allen Cox, Jonathan Lay, Miles Griffis, Stephen Mead, and a collaboration by Elizabeth J. Colen and Carol Guess, are among the selections found in Not Just Another Pretty Face (Beautiful Dreamer

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Press), edited by Louis Flint Ceci.

The memoir’s the thing: Baptist pastor’s son Garrard Conley’s Boy Erased: A Memoir (Riverhead Press) is about his family’s inability to come to terms with his being gay, leading to the writer spending time at the soul-crushing ex-gay Christian ministry formerly known as Love in Action, and how he survived the experience.

As any survivor of sexual abuse can attest, the violation knows no sexual identity, meaning that while The Telling: A Memoir (Curbside Splendor) by Zoe Zolbrod is written by a straight woman, it’s the kind of book that has the potential to ignite conversations among every type of reader.

Electronic music legend and activist Moby (aka Richard Melville Hall), a longtime friend of the LGBT community who counted out DJs including the late Frankie Knuckles and Danny Tenaglia among his closest associates, tells his story in Porcelain: A Memoir (Penguin Press).

Co-written by actress Charlotte Stewart with Andy Demsky, Little House in the Hollywood Hills (BearManor Media), subtitled A Bad Girl’s Guide to Becoming Miss Beadle, Mary X, and Me, details Stewart’s 50-year career in movies and on television, including roles in Little House on the Prairie, Eraserhead and Twin Peaks, and her friendships with Joni Mitchell and others.

Long out of print, Blue Days, Black Nights (Lethe Press), Oscarnominated screenwriter Ron Nyswaner’s (Philadelphia) brutal memoir of his decline into drugs and sexual obsession, has been reissued with an introduction by director Jonathan Demme and an epilogue by Nyswaner.

With the lengthy subtitle Writers Reflect on Love, Longing and the Lasting Power of Their First Celebrity Crush, co-editors Cathy Alter and David Singleton’s Crush (William Morrow) features contributions by queer writers Richard McCann (on Bette Davis), Shane Harris (on Mark Hamill) and Roxane Gay (on Almanzo Wilder), and straight writers including Jodi Picoult (on Donny Osmond), Steven King (on Kim Novak) and James Franco (on River Phoenix).

If having four lesbian moms isn’t inspiration enough for the memoir Queerspawn in Love (She Writes Press), then Kellen Anne Kaiser’s personal journey, including a stint in the Israeli army and the challenges of maintaining a heterosexual romance, certainly qualifies as fodder.

A memoir about “raising a gender creative child from toddler to adult,” My Son Wears Heels (Wisconsin)

by Julie Tarney begins with the chapter “How Do You Know I’m a Boy?,” a question she was asked by her then two-year-old son Harry in the early 1990s. It follows the author on her quest for answers.

Necessary non-fiction: Kevin Mumford, a professor of history at the U. of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, is the author of Not Straight, Not White (U. of North Carolina Press, subtitled Black Gay Men from the March on Washington to the AIDS Crisis.

In Fair Play (Akashic), Cyd Zeigler, “one of the foremost experts on LGBT issues in sports,” writes about how sports have transformed for LGBT athletes, including Michael Sam, Britney Griner, Jason Collins, John Amaechi, Billy Bean and Fallon Fox.t

<< Music

58 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Pride 2016 playlist

by Gregg Shapiro

A

nybody who counts themselves as a Rufus Wainwright fan knew that we were going to lose him to opera sooner or later. All of the signs were there, beginning with the song “Damned Ladies” on his brilliant 1997 eponymous debut album. Wainwright often discussed his love, rather obsession, with opera, so none of this should come as a surprise. In 2015, a double-disc recording of Wainwright’s 2009 opera Prima Donna was released, making it more or less official. Or did it? Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets (Deutsche Grammophon), Wainwright’s musical observance of the Bard’s 400th anniversary year, does something remarkable. It seamlessly combines Wainwright’s opera fixation with his pop passion as he sets selected sonnets to music.

The album features a stellar array of guest vocalists, including opera diva Anna Prohaska, singing sister Martha Wainwright, Florence

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Welch of Florence and the Machine, as well as spoken passages performed by Carrie Fisher, William Shatner, Helena Bonham Carter, Sian Phillips, and others.

Wainwright rocks harder on record than ever before on “Unperfect Actor (Sonnet 23).”

Why be wrought when you can be overwrought?

That’s a question Michael Longoria might have asked himself as he set out to record Broadway Brick by Brick (Broadway Records).

Just as it seemed the cabaret community had turned a corner by expanding its palette to include interpretations of more daring modern material, along comes this cliché offering from “Jersey Boy” Longoria. Seemingly unaware that love is a four-letter, not a foursyllable word, Longoria, who has a pleasing voice, takes to the recording studio like it’s a gymnastics event.

Even more disappointing is the uninventive choice of material, as if there weren’t a decent song from a Broadway musical after Sunset Boulevard or Mamma Mia! Check again, mister! Longoria does deserve praise for singing songs traditionally sung by women, including “Tell Me on a Sunday” from Song and Dance, “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from Sunset Boulevard, and “Music and the Mirror” from A Chorus Line. Closing the disc with “Over the Rainbow” gave Longoria the opportunity to clear out before someone dropped a house on him.

Fast Forward (E·A·R Music/Edel), queer singer-songwriter Joe Jackson’s first album of original material in seven years, is his best and most consistent disc of the 21st century.

Jackson, who along with Elvis Costello and Graham Parker arrived among the first wave of punk/new wave artists, was a synth-pop pioneer (remember “Steppin’ Out?”), composed memorable movie scores (Mike’s Murder, Tucker) and dabbled in jazz and symphonic music over the course of his lengthy career. Separated into four city sections – New York, Amsterdam, Berlin and New Orleans – the 16 selections are fine examples of Jackson’s versatility. His covers of songs by Television (“See No Evil”) and German cabaret composer Peter Kreuder (“Good Bye Johnny”) co-exist comfortably alongside topnotch originals including “Poor Thing,” “A Little Smile” and “Keep On Dreaming.”

Each new Tegan and Sara album has become its own sort of event.

Since the release of the queer twin duo’s major-label debut in 2000, as they evolved their definitive folkpop style to their current electropowered sound, their popularity has continued to mount. Love You to Death (Rhino/WB), propelled by the irresistible first single “Boyfriend,” spins around like 80s nostalgia filtered through the 20-teens. There’s so much to love to death here, including “Stop Desire,” “White Knuckles,” the dazzling piano and vocal break-up ballad “100X” and its flipside “B/W/U,” the retro strut of “U-Turn,” and the swirly dream of “Hang On to the Night.”

Is there anything Margaret Cho can’t do? She’s a comedian, a writer, an actress, a burlesque artist, an activist, and a fashionista. In 2010

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she expanded her reach with her music album Cho Dependent, and she’s just released its highly anticipated follow-up, American Myth (margaretcho.com). On the whole, the album, a collaboration with lesbian singer/songwriter Garrison Starr, feels like a more serious effort, beginning with the way that Cho has become a better singer. “Come with Me,” “Moran & Miiri,” “Anna Nicole,” and “Daddy, I Miss You” reflect a fundamental change in her approach to making music. Cho still knows how to make us laugh, as she does on “Ron’s Got a DUI,” “Fat Pussy” and “We So Worry.” Brava diva!

First things first: there is nothing as exhilarating as “Paris Is Burning” on Wild Things (Mid-Century), the new album by out electro goddess Ladyhawke. That said, the disc still has plenty going for it. Opening

track “A Love Song” is certain to keep listeners moving, as are the busy beats of “Golden Girl” and “Let It Roll.” Heather Mae is not the first queer woman of size to address issues of body image.

Beth Ditto and Mary Lambert get some of the credit for paving the way. Nevertheless, Heather Mae’s self-empowering five-song EP I Am Enough (heathermae.net) is deserving of attention. She’s got talent to burn, both as a singer and a songwriter. Broken but with her “feet still on the ground,” as she sings in “Hero,” she vows to get crowned and be the hero in her own story. The brilliant title tune, with its “turn around” advice to detractors, and the anthemic “Stand Up,” on which she’s accompanied by a badass chorus, are also noteworthy.

This is the kind of EP that will leave listeners longing for more from the singer.

Filmed in October 2015 at Como, Italy’s Teatro Sociale, Sinfonia Pop (Eagle Vision), the live concert video

by Mika, features songs from the queer singer/songwriter’s majorlabel recordings, including his latest, 2015’s No Place in Heaven, as well as a couple of non-LP singles. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of attending a Mika concert, you know he’s a first-rate showman. Even in such a sophisticated setting, backed up by a full orchestra, the buoyant energy of Mika’s music comes through. DVD bonus features include interviews with Mika and conductor Simon Leclerc.t

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<< Film

60 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Documentary finales

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by David Lamble

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Resource Guide to San Francisco's LGBT nonprofit service providers, arts and athletic groups Includes: events calendar & recent photos

Connect - Volunteer - Donate Keep the Good Work Going !

he San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival’s finale has a slew of memorable documentaries, three of which I’m proud to recommend.

The Freedom to Marry Eddie Rosenstein’s informative, moving doc traces the history of the queer right-to-marry movement back to a then-obscure Harvard Law School student. Dubbed “the Marriage Guy” by the filmmakers, Evan Wolfson doggedly pursued marriage equality even while friends and colleagues were far more concerned with HIV/AIDS. One of the many historical ironies in this decades-long struggle is the role unwittingly played by President Ronald Reagan. Reagan’s choice of a lawyer dubbed “a liquor lobbyist from Sacramento,” Anthony Kennedy, would later translate into four significant proLGBTQ decisions, including the right to marry. The language of Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion upholding a universal right to marry has proved so moving that many queer couples have opted to include its wording as part of their marriage vows: “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies

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Courtesy Frameline

Scene from director Eddie Rosenstein’s The Freedom to Marry.

the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.” (Castro, 6/25) The Celluloid Closet Back in the early 1970s, a New Jersey-born Italian American film scholar began researching the gay community’s longstanding ambivalent relationship to the iconic American film industry. Received as a cultural bombshell in two bestselling editions, by 1995 the word became an incisive film documentary, modeled after the entertaining slideshow lectures author Vito Russo had been delivering to a worldwide audience (directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman).

Narrator: “Hollywood, that great maker of myths, taught straight people what to think about gays, and gay people what to think about themselves.”

Quentin Crisp: “Mainstream people dislike homosexuality because they can’t help concentrating on what homosexual men do to one another. And when you contemplate what people do, you think of yourself doing it.

There’s that famous joke: I don’t like peas, and I’m glad I don’t like them, because if I liked them I would eat them, and I hate them.”

The Celluloid Closet even provided a forum for famous film stars to make amends for past sins, as Shirley MacLaine did for her role as a suicidal lesbian in a 1961 remake of Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour, where MacLaine’s unmarried schoolteacher is accused of having an affair with her teacher best friend (Audrey Hepburn).

MacLaine: “None of us were really aware. We might have been forerunners, but we weren’t really, because we didn’t do the picture right. We were in the mindset of not understanding what we were basically doing. These days, there would be a tremendous outcry, as well there should be. Why would Martha break down and say, ‘Oh my god, what’s wrong with me?

I’m so polluted, I’ve ruined you.’

She would fight! She would fight for her budding preference. And when you look at it, to have Martha play that scene – and no one questioned it, what that meant, or what the alternatives could have been underneath the dialogue – it’s

mind-boggling. The profundity of this subject was not in the lexicon of our rehearsal period. Audrey and I never talked about this. Isn’t that amazing? Truly amazing.”

Susan Sarandon: “You wouldn’t have to get drunk to bed Catherine Deneuve, I don’t care what your sexual history to that point had been.”

Arthur Laurents: “You must pay.

You must suffer. If you’re a woman who commits adultery, you’re only put out in the storm. If you’re a woman who has another woman, you better go hang yourself. It’s a question of degree, and certainly if you’re gay, you have to do real penance – die!”

Susie Bright, referring to Nicholas Ray’s Joan Crawford-starring “kinky Western”: “It’s amazing how, if you’re a gay audience and you’re accustomed to crumbs, how you will watch an entire movie just to see somebody wear an outfit that you think means that they are homosexual. The whole movie can be a dud, but you’re just sitting there waiting for Joan Crawford to put on her black cowboy shirt again.” (Castro, 6/24) Tongues Untied In 1989, during the height of the cultural wars over the explicit photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe, filmgoers gay and straight alike were forced to examine their souls and determine the depth of their ability to take on a poetic if brutally frank dialogue on race, sexuality and sexual orientation.

That dialogue was marked by vicious and explicitly homophobic attacks on the arts community and government funding of free expression, by North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms. African American filmmaker Marlon Riggs laid down the gauntlet in the opening frames of his 55-minute manifesto Tongues Untied. Its opening moments recalled the racial slurs hurled during his Southern childhood by ignorant white age-peers: “Motherfucking coon! Motherfucking coon!”

Combining the words of black gay poet Essex Hemphill with blunt if beautiful images, Tongues Untied’s retrospective screening should remind audiences of why it won a top prize in Berlin with such on-screen rhetorical flourishes as, “Black men loving black men is a revolutionary act.” (Castro, 6/23) t Info: frameline.org.

Courtesy Frameline

Scene from director Marlon Riggs’ Tongues Untied.

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Books>>

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 61

Perplexing consolations

by Tim Pfaff

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he most pressing question facing Abdellah Taia’s second novel, Infidels, is whether the world is ready – that is, adult enough – for it. I don’t know that it is. The book, a 2012 work of fiction (this cannot be said too loudly), has just appeared in English, translated from the French

by Alison L. Strayer (Seven Stories Press). It is a quantum artistic leap forward by the out Moroccan novelist, whose Salvation Army of 2006 announced the arrival, not the promise, of a singular new talent.

For such a short book, Infidels lays a long fuse to its climax, or the high point of its episodic plot, anyway.

And while the storyline throws sparks all along the way, you don’t see the actual jihadist bomb coming until a few pages before it is in the hands, and strapped to the body, of the novel’s highly sympathetic protagonist, Jallal. By the time the bomb explodes – in the occasionally childlike language of this book, it goes BOOOOOM – in a deserted Casablanca movie theater, you’re in the same stomach-in-the-throat fear and ambivalence as Jallal, who has been seduced into this act of

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terror by the promise, or illusion, of lasting male love.

Less reluctant than Jallal, author Taia is not at all chary of using the words Islamist terrorists to identify the two men who set that bomb off, in the end taking out only themselves. But he has written a novel in which the very names of the principal characters are as overlapping, fluid and ultimately confounding as the forces that influence their lives and drive their perplexing actions.

Despite the simple sentences in which it is told, many of which also are paragraphs, Infidels is the most adult of novels. It is not a thinly veiled suicide bomber video, nor is it an Internet rant about the making of one. Least of all is it an apologia for violent jihad. It will not make sense of Orlando, but it will put human flesh on the bones of the toxic mix of homophobia, Islamophobia and the particularly explosive cocktail of homophobia in the Islamic cultures in which it is also a known practice.

Infidels is a story told with the complexity that, finally, only fiction affords.

It depicts, in all its mystifications, the faux consolations militarized Islam – precisely like Ted Cruz’s kill-the-fags Christianity – offers the aggrieved and afflicted. Throughout the novel, Jallal could not be clearer about what a lax, lapsed, in-nameonly Muslim he is. But the promise of an enduring love that lures him one more time – as he teaches a

stranger the 99 names of Allah in Arabic – is all about warm comfort the real world offers only in a cold substitute. (Later, the men’s teeth will actually chatter.)

When we meet Jallal, he is literally spitting rage and scorn, at that moment aimed at his prostitute mother. Later, using words, he will tell her, “Maman, one day you’ll be stoned to death by the very same people who creep to the house each night to ask for your forgiveness and a bit of pleasure.” However diminutive physically, Slima towers over her son and this book. Her prolonged, increasingly violent rape at the hands of authorities who want her to confess information they already have (and she does not), is almost as harrowing for the reader – except, crucially, that the reader goes on while Slima literally slouches toward Mecca.

The reader also knows everything essential about the soldier in question, including that he was, while a client of Slima’s, a companion of the 10-year-old Jallal.

A sexual force, he’s also the only tender, caring presence in the life

LGBTQ Chronicled

From page 45

The 75-year-old photo center, part of San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks department, is headed by openly gay Dave Christensen, a photographer, designer, and teacher who has directed the center for the past six years. Before that, he taught classes there while running his own freelance photography business.

Christensen, who curated the exhibit, did a masterful last-minute job of expanding the exhibit when he heard the candlelight march in the Castro was scheduled less than a week before the opening of the show.

“I phoned and emailed all the photographers I know who I thought might be covering” the march, and asked them to submit some images for the show, said Christensen in an interview with the B.A.R. “The contrast of the secretive living-room meetings in the 1930s to the recent marches and parades is a reminder of how far we’ve come.”

Photographers Saul Bromberger and Sandra Hoover have more than a dozen images in the show, all a part of their seven-year project, started in 1984, documenting the gay pride parade. The goal of their project, said Bromberger in an email to the B.A.R., was to “capture the love and commitment that we witnessed again and again by couples and by the community organizations” marching in the parade. The couple said they also wanted to “create a moving and heartfelt portrait” of the gay community through the parade.

The Hoovers said their goal was to “create a historical archive of what it was like when gays and lesbians had the courage to march peacefully, demanding their rights,” and “how for one day during the year people could express their love for one another openly.” The project can be seen in full on their website saulandsandra.photoshelter.com.

The couple, who are married and have been working together for over 25 years, have had their work published in Life magazine and Newsweek. They have done several other documentary photo projects about the LGBT community, including Portraits of Caring: Living with AIDS at the Bailey-Boushay House and The Gay Prom: Portraits of LGBTQ Teens in Our New World.

Hal Fischer’s photographs were originally published in the late

Courtesy the artist

Photo of the 20th year anniversary of the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade by Saul Bromberger, part of LGBTQ Chronicled: 1933-2016 at the Harvey Milk Photo Center.

1970s, taken just after he arrived in San Francisco to pursue a master’s degree in photography, he said.

They were featured in Fischer’s first solo exhibition at the defunct Lawson De Celle Gallery, and the following year published as a book

by NFS Press that sold over 4,000 copies worldwide, and led to grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Fischer’s work is featured on the website CherryandMartin. com, which calls his book “a cult classic field guide to gay style and expression explored through photographs of nude men standing in trees, sadomasochistic contraptions, and the correct way to do poppers.” Last year, when the book was re-released, Fischer had solo exhibits in San Francisco, Zurich, and Berlin.

In an email to the B.A.R., Fischer said that two of his prints are on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the California and The West photo exhibition.

Fischer said the museum owns much of his work and has included his photographs in a number of exhibitions over the years. Fischer also said that the Lawson de Celle Gallery “was in the forefront of showing gay work,” including early works by Robert Mapplethorpe.

Bill Wilson’s photo of Nancy Pelosi were taken in 2012 when she was among the elected officials who spoke at the Pink Triangle ceremony

that takes place the Saturday of Pride weekend. In an email, Wilson said he has photographed the Pink Triangle ceremony for many years “because my Uncle Conrad was among those who helped evacuate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp” and witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust. “We can never forget the consequences of allowing our public policy to be based on fear and hatred.” His website: billwilsonphotos.com.

Hossein Sepas Carney has taken photos of the Pink Triangle commemoration for the past 19 years. In an email to the B.A.R., Carney said that his husband, Patrick Carney, is one of the organizers and a co-founder of the event.

“I sit in the front row and take photos of all of the speakers and the group photo that includes all the volunteers, dignitaries, and the band,” he said. The picture in the Milk exhibit is from 2009, where actress Cloris Leachman is seen sitting in a chair waving at the camera, he said. More of his photographs can be seen on the Pink Triangle website (thepinktriangle. com) and have been published in the B.A.R. and other local newspapers.

Rick Gerharter, who has been taking photographs for the B.A.R. for almost three decades, has eight images in the Milk show. Most were taken on assignment from the B.A.R., he said, and are from the

early part of his career. Two of the photos, noted Gerharter, are related to the AIDS Quilt, one a “head shot” of Cleve Jones, and the other a photo of the complete display of the quilt on the National Mall in Washington, DC, taken from the top of the Washington Monument.

Gerharter became a photographer after spending nearly a year traveling throughout South America in the mid-1980s. This was also the time

of the vulnerable boy, who also sees to the sexual needs of his mother’s other, usually rough, overflow.

Because of the soldier’s largesse, Slima and Jallal have a battered color TV, a commodity so precious it is their biggest secret from the community (which knows all about Slima’s work). On it they watch faded tapes, in English and also in a French dub, of River of No Return, a Western featuring Marilyn Monroe. In the heady mix of cultural perfumes that suffuses this novel, MM becomes a veritable character, as does the Moroccan Arab singer Samira Said, one of whose torch songs (you can hear it on YouTube) is at the core of the novel’s first half. It foreshadows the book’s haunting final pages: the “Trouble of the World” as sung

by Mahalia Jackson. “I soon will be done/With the trouble of the world/I’m going home to be with God.” Those three iconic women stand in for the defiant ur-feminine that knows the ways of dominating men all-too-well. When the two jihadists “wake,” in Heaven, it is to an understanding if impatient God. Wait till you meet Her.t AIDS activism “took off,” he said.

“So there was lots of strong visuals and an international market for them,” he said. Through his work with the B.A.R., Gerharter said he has “created a diverse body of work focused on the LGBT community.”

David Ayllon was inspired to start “PostersForPulse.com” by the loss of “so many gorgeous Latino lives” in the Orlando tragedy. Ayllon is selling “drag portraits” as poster prints and donating all of the proceeds to victims, he said in an email.

Ayllon, a New Jersey-based graphic designer and photographer, has done a lot of work for Peaches Christ, and a photo of her in the Milk exhibit “came about after I told her I had just recently gotten into photography.” The picture was taken while Peaches Christ was screening her film All About Evil in Pittsburgh. Many of Ayllon’s friends were models in his Posters for Pulse series, he said.

“Photographing these drag queens has been a really fulfilling way to use my skills to give back to the LGBT community, and now using those same posters to help raise money for Pulse victims adds another layer to that,” Ayllon said.

The photography exhibit is on display at the Harvey Milk Photo Center through July 16. The gallery is open Tues.-Thurs. from 4-9 p.m., and Sat. & Sun. from Noon-5 p.m.

Info: harveymilkphotocenter.org. t

<< Fine Art

62 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Emperors rule!

by Sura Wood

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hile the Asian Art Museum’s new show, Emperors’ Treasures: Chinese Art from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, offers an opportunity to observe the stylistic changes of Chinese art over the centuries and nearly 150 objects from a museum collection that rarely leaves its home country, visitors will be equally if not more captivated by the narratives of long-ago rulers who evidently were as idiosyncratic, exceptional, egocentric and flawed as our own.

It turns out that Chinese emperors, despite claiming a mandate from heaven, were all-toohuman. Perhaps the most fascinating character detailed here is Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong (173699), who may have been the world’s first tagger. An erudite art collector and China’s most prolific poetmonarch, he composed over 40,000 works, and was compelled to inscribe his writings and promiscuously emblazon his name, even on an ancient jade tablet, a Bronze Age (2500-1500 BCE) artifact used by necromancers in ceremonial rituals, which he “redesigned” in the 18th century. One of his poems was found on the base of a Northern Song

Dynasty (960-1127) sculpture, a ceramic pillow shaped like a reclining boy, said to enhance the prospects of bearing male children; apparently, no object was too small or too sacred.

Within the confines of his huge palace, Qianlong constructed hidden studios where he could take a break from matters of state and entertain himself with favorite possessions like a multi-story, red-lacquered treasure box etched in gold that stored 44 precious objects and curios. Its drawers, secret compartments and boxes within boxes contained miniature ivory carvings, hand scrolls, jade, bronze and porcelain pieces, as well as a notebook duly recording the contents and their locations.

Spanning 800 years of Chinese history, the exhibition’s Imperial masterworks, which were originally housed in Beijing’s Forbidden City, have had their share of narrow escapes, eluding destruction by foreign invaders and surviving China’s Civil War between the Nationalist and Communist armies, with a detour to London before being spirited off the mainland to Taiwan for safekeeping. The show is divided into four dynasties ruled by the Han, Mongols and Manchus, and organized chronologically

National Palace Museum, Taipei National Palace Museum, Taipei

Kublai Khan as the first Yuan emperor, Shizu. Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). Album leaf, ink and color on silk. National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Meat-shaped stone, Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Stone: jasper; stand: gold. National Palace Museum, Taipei.

around the reigns of nine monarchs, including a sole female, an infamous player blamed for the downfall of the Qing dynasty – more on her later. Each had their quirks, priorities and strengths – some were artistic in their own right – and all left their aesthetic stamp on art of their respective eras. They also had big egos and palaces to match, but, unlike the Egyptians, for instance, who were inclined toward the colossal, the Emperors’ treasures were less important as signifiers of wealth, status and religious belief

than as emblems of discriminating taste, technical brilliance and cultural sophistication.

The artworks were mostly intended for personal enjoyment and as food for the mind, which may explain why the emphasis is not on the monumental but on the intimate and the exquisite, the quietly spectacular.

The wow factor doesn’t come from size or glitter – refined jade, so hard it had to be cut with diamonds, was prized, gold was sparse – but from the beauty of the craftsmanship. A small cloisonné vase, decorated with a

delicate pink peony and rock-garden scene painted in enamel, and a square majestic yellow teapot that shares similar motifs, both produced during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (16541722), are just two of many examples.

In keeping with the consistently high standards of this museum, the show’s installation and accompanying explanatory text are top-notch.

While many of the colors in ceramics today descend from expertise developed in China in the 10th century, a cultural exchange with the Islamic world introduced a superior cobalt blue pigment.

Cobalt, a key component of Islamic art, was scarce in China, and difficult to master when working with porcelain. A deep cobalt blue saucer and matching cup with a geometric, modern-looking handle and a wide, gilt-trimmed lip, here, were rare indeed during the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). The nowfamiliar blue-and-white Ming Dynasty vases were the next step.

An elegant example on display, flat with double ears and images of West Asian performers, is one of only two of its kind that has survived.

But it was Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, revered for See page 63 >>

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Books>>

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 63

Return to Antelope Valley

by Brian Bromberger

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ith the revelation that the shooter in the horrendous Orlando atrocity may have been a closeted homosexual, despite all the progress made in LGBTQ civil rights in the last decade, entrenched homophobia still pervades our country. A possible antidote may lie in Chris McCormick. McCormick is the author of a new stellar work of fiction, Desert Boys, which has engendered praise in all quarters of the literary world, including the B.A.R. His series of intertwining short stories (he prefers the term fragmented novel) is set an hour north of Los Angeles in Antelope Valley, a working-class town near the Mojave Desert. The main character, Kush, is coming to terms with being gay and deciding whether to stay or leave Antelope Valley. McCormick, visiting SF for a book signing/reading, sat down with the B.A.R. When asked what role does gay sexuality play in your creativity, he answered, “I am not gay, and Desert Boys is fiction.”

Because of the genuineness of Kush, most reviewers and initially even his publisher assumed McCormick was gay, which he considers a great compliment. “I grew up where there was only one openly gay person in Antelope Valley, and he was my best friend.

People thinking I’m gay I hope reflects the authenticity of the character, that I’ve captured him accurately. Because I would not abandon or openly disassociate with my best friend, everyone in town thought I was gay, too. So I had access to this invisible othering, which impacted me even if I wasn’t officially gay.” McCormick felt

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like an outsider because he wasn’t what others in town felt a man should be. “I grew up like Kush, in a place where there is a correct way to be a man, so living where you are failing to perform that role or, worse, internalizing this thinking by performing a version of yourself that isn’t honest to who you are, that anxiety plagued me as a kid. Not being the man people expected me to be gave me empathy for gays and lesbians. My sister happens to be a lesbian, and there is tension in my family. My mother is hard on my sister, but is fine with other people being whoever they want to be, which is a test of where you are on this issue, as you may not come out looking as progressive or thoughtful as you claimed.”

McCormick didn’t set out to create a gay character or a gay book.

“I was writing about these two boys and exploring the dynamic they had, what was going on between them.

In the first story they are playing paintball and it is an erotic situation where they are pointing guns at each other face to face, which mirrors the kiss Kush gives to his best friend Karinger at the end of the story.”

In addition to hanging out with his GBF, McCormick was “bookish, a skinny kid who walked on his

Brian Bromberger

Desert Boys author Chris McCormick: “I grew up like Kush, in a place where there is a correct way to be a man.”

toes,” so he just assumed the gay label already imposed upon him.

“I was bullied, called all kinds of names, though not enough to want to leave school. There was a long stretch of my childhood into adolescence when I asked myself, are they right, am I gay? But as I matured, it didn’t feel right and I never had a gay sexual experience, which may sound like a cop-out.

Still there was something beyond friendship with my GBF, it was us against the world. This attitude, as well as sharing in the gay pain of

being ostracized, gave me fodder for my book. Over time we stopped taking being called gay as an insult.

I was proud to be loyal to my friend.

I used this empathy to build myself into the kind of man I wanted to be, then let my imagination fill in the gaps to create Kush.”

No one has reacted negatively once they found out McCormick is not gay. “I was worried from both sides, with conservative friends wondering that if I could have written anything, why would I choose this topic, and the left could accuse me of appropriating and exploiting a story that wasn’t mine.

I was aware of the risks but I trusted

myself, not molding Kush into representing any experience except his own, paying attention to the place, the scene of his development.

Any attempt to be who you really are is a universally shared struggle, which all people can relate to.”

McCormick says Antelope Valley, while generally not welcoming of gay people, is changing quickly. “When I was there recently, I observed a new section of the downtown with a younger, more accepting crowd.

I saw gay couples holding hands in the hotel, the first time I ever noticed that. While I’m sure they get looks and comments, it is still visibility, which seems like progress.”

Both his GBF and sister loved the book and were moved by it, seeing it as a tribute to their friendship. “The desire to get it right makes up for any icky feelings about my sexuality.

The last thing I wanted was to trick anyone or to dupe my publisher into buying the book.” It is reassuring that there is something appealing in the LGBT experience that speaks to a straight man. In his desire to embrace exclusion and otherness, he achieves in his writing solidarity with the LGBTQ community, which in these post-Orlando shooting days, gives a glimmer of hope of getting along in spite of so much hatred.t

Emperors

From page 62

leading a renaissance in Chinese court art almost 900 years ago, who set a standard of artistic excellence for the emperors who followed. An innovator, poet and accomplished landscape painter, he was also an influential calligrapher who devised a signature “slender gold” style seen in a pair of paper album leaves.

Traditional portraits of rulers, like the pensive likeness of Huizong’s ninth son, Emperor Gaozong, and a pair of lovely ink paintings of the young and older versions of his second wife, Empress Wu, were not for public consumption, and could only be viewed in the confines of ancestral temples. It was through his calligraphy that an emperor conveyed his image to his people.

The show’s most intriguing backstory belongs to the Machiavellian social climber and master manipulator Empress Dowager Cixi, an extravagant, dictatorial figure, partial to elaborate 18th-century porcelains and an opulent lifestyle.

In a whopper of a tale that could be the plot of a movie, she began her ascent to power as a low-status Manchu concubine to Emperor Xianfeng in the final years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and rose to the rank of Empress Dowager when he died in 1861, wielding formidable influence behind the scenes for nearly 50 years. She may be credited with recruiting female artists to the Wish-granting studio, and helping shape the foundation of modern Chinese aesthetics, but the end of the dynasty, which collapsed two years after her death in 1908, and three years before the bell finally tolled for the Imperial Era, has been laid at her feet. Her dragon lady rep is only reinforced by her golden, sixinch-long fingernail guards, a lethal delivery system ideally suited for dispatching her enemies.t Through Sept. 18. Info: asianart.org.

Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com and select Walmart locations. To charge by phone (800) 745-3000.

Limit 8 tickets per person. All dates, acts and ticket prices are subject to change without notice. All tickets are subject to applicable service charges.

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78

79

Alternative Pride

82

Leather

Shining Stars Vol. 46 • No. 25 • June 23-29, 2016

On the Tab

Shot in the City

www.ebar.com ✶ www.bartabsf.com

June 23-30

s just got more our Pride weekend option events, fundce homolicious, with dan course two of and es, raisers, brunch with your rch nter. Ma days of events at Civic Ce in every els rev in e ulg favorite nonprofit, or ind queer.

Be r. dea e, her ’re You . color of the rainbow

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Listings begin on page 67 >>

Sun 26

Glory Days

Mark Abramson (left) with a friend at the old Oasis rooftop deck on Pride Sunday, 1980.

Mark Abramson

Hard French @ Mezzanine

excerpts from ‘More Sex, Drugs & Disco’

By Mark Abramson

P

rolific author Mark Abramson’s diary entries from the early 1980s, a sequel to his memoir Sex, Drugs & Disco, provide a personal insight into the heydey of San Francisco culture amid the party life of a self-professed ‘Castro clone’ who lived through it all; bars, sex cubs, bath houses, and even a bit of romance in between all the sex.

To celebrate Pride and gay San Francisco’s sexy legacy, here are a few of Abramson’s entries from a much more innocent time.

See page 76 >>

{ FOURTH OF FOUR SECTIONS }

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On the Tab>>

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 67

Thu 23 Heklina at Pride Nightlife @ Academy of Sciences

Pride Kick-Off @ Virgil’s Sea Room

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle

Lexington Presents hosts a queer women’s night with DJs Jenna Riot, Chelsea Starr, Lady Ryan, and the Lex patio bars. $5. 9pm-2am. www.virgilssf.com

Music night with local and touring bands. $8. 9:30pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Rock Fag @ Hole in the Wall Enjoy hard rock and punk music from DJ Don Baird at the wonderfully divey SoMa bar. Also Fridays. 7pm-2am. 1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

Rumer Willis @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The TV and Broadway actress performs her acclaimed new cabaret show, of jazz, rock and classic songs, with a 3-piece band. $50-$70. 8pm.

Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 6631063. www.feinsteinsathtenikko.com

Sex and the City Live @ Oasis D’Arcy Drollinger and crew perform new episodes of the HBO comedy about four women in Manhattan. $25 and up. 7pm and some 9:30pm extra shows. 2-drink min. Thu Sat Thru July 2 (some nights off). 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

<<

Magenta Party @ CounterPulse

On the Tab

From page 67

Thu 23 Al Di Meola @ Yoshi’s Oakland

The jazz-soul guitar virtuoso performs with his band at the elegant nightclub-restaurant. $39-$139. 8pm. Also 8pm & 10pm June 24. 510 Embaracdero West, Oakland. (510) 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

Bulge @ Powerhouse Grace Towers hosts the fun sexy night. $100 cash prize for best bulge. $5-$10 benefits various local nonprofits. 10pm-2am.

1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Housewarming and fundraiser for the dance-performance space’s new home, with live performances, art silent auction, cocktails, and DJed dancing. Magenta attire (to match the fab exterior paint job) encouraged. $30-$100. 6pm-9pm. 80 Turk St. www.counterpulse.org/event/ magenta

Man Haters @ The White Horse, Oakland Enjoy queer comedy with Ash Fisher, Irene Tu, Jessica Sele, Luna Malbroux, Dash Kwiatkowski, Jennifer Dronsky. &.70 (women)-$10 (men). 7:30pm.

DJed dancing 9:30pm-2am. 6551 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. www.manhaters.org www.whitehorsebar.com

Trevor Runway @ Twitter Rooftop Gala benefit for the Trevor Project, with food, libations, entertainment, DJed dancing: Frenchie Davis, Honey Mahogany, Brian Kent, Nya, DJ Christopher B, Sister Roma, BeBe Sweetbriar, Ladies of Asia SF, Misa Malone, Donna Sachet and Javier Ninja. $95 and up. 7pm-10pm (doors close at 8:30). 1355 Market St. Afterparty at Beatbox, 9:30pm-2am. 314 11th St. www.cities.thetrevorproject. org/event/a-night-out-for-trevor-sanfrancisco-2016/

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Disco guru DJ Bus Station John spins grooves at the intimate retro music night. No cell phones on the dance floor! $5. 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

See page 68 >>

Mary Go Round @ Lookout Mercedez Munro and Holotta Tymes’ weekly drag show. $5. 10:30pm show.

DJ Philip Grasso. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge The weekly drag show with DJ MC2, themed nights, gogo guys and hilarious fun. $5. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Nightlife @ California Academy of Sciences Themed event nights at the fascinating nature museum, with DJed dancing, cocktails, fish, frogs, food and fun. June 23: Pride Nightlife: Heklina hosts a drag night tribute to Prince and David Bowie; DJs Juanita More and Leah Perloff, plus vogue class with Jocquese Whitfield. $10-$12. 6pm-10pm, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park.

379-8000. www.calacademy.org

on

Thu 23 Honey Mahogany cohosts Trevor Runway @ Twitter Rooftop

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<< On the Tab

68 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Cornelius Washington

Fri 24 Adam Killian @ The Nob Hill Theatre

Friday Nights @ Oakland Museum The family-friendly night events returns, with exhibit tours, dancing, food, drinks, and live music. $7-$15. 5pm-9pm.

1000 Oak St. www. museumca.org

Gogo Fridays @ Toad Hall Hot dancers grind it at the Castro bar with a dance floor and patio. 4146 18th St. www.toadhallbar.com

Happy Friday @ Midnight Sun The popular video bar ends each work week with gogo guys (starting at 9pm) and drink specials.

4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

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

Hella Gay Comedy Show @ Club OMG Enjoy extra-gay laughs with Justin Lucas, Arjun Banergee, Jesus U. Bettawork, Alyssa Westerlund, Tammy Powers, Nick Leonard, Julie Ash and host Nasty-Ass Bitch. $15. 7pm. 43 6th St. www.clubOMGsf.com

Pound Puppy @ SF Eagle Pride edition of the fun cruisy dance and hangout night, with guest DJs Gay Marvine and Carrie on Disco and Oscar Pineda. $20. 8pm-2am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Red Hots Burlesque @ Beatbox The saucy women’s burlesque show hosted by Dottie Lux. May 20 is a Dolly Parton tribute night. $10. 7pm10pm. 314 11th St. www.beatboxsf. com Also Sunday brunch shows (see Sun.) www.redhotsburlesque.com

Shenanigans @ Oasis Mask 4 Mask, a poke at hookup apps, is the theme at the fun costume monthly gay dance event, with masks a must; DJs Mark O’Brien, Adam Kraft, Lord Price, Becky Knox. $15-$20. 10pm-3am.

298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Some Thing @ The Stud Mica Sigourney and pals’ weekly offbeat drag performance night. $7. 10pm-3am.

399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Trans March @ Dolores Park March and rally for trans people and their families. 11am-2:30 youth and elder brunch. 3pm-6pm: stage performers and speakers. 6pm-7:30pm street march to Taylor & Turk streets.

7:30pm Compto’s Cafeteria Riots presentation. After-party at El Rio, 9pm- 2am 3158 Mission St. www. transmarch.org/trans-march-2016/

Underworld @ Roccapulco DJs Abel and Andrew Gibbons spin at the Pride circuit dance; wear pink undies, briefs, jocks, swimwear. $50.

10pm-4am. 3140 Mission St. (4-party passes $175). www.guspresents.com

t

Sat 25

Afterglow @ Sound Factory Comfort & Joy’s big queer blacklight disco party, themed “It Takes a Village, People,” with wild décor, DJs Sappho, Mark O’Brien, Steve Fabus, Synthe Tigers, Elaine Denham, Justime, Kegan and more, a midnight live show, a sexy play space, clothes check, and late night fun. $12-$80.

10pm-4am. 525 Harrison st. at 1st. www.comfortandjoy.org

Bear City @ SF Eagle Meet the cast and crew of the fun online web series about gay bears, with DJ Ernie Cote. 4pm-8pm. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

La Bota Loca @ Club 21, Oakland Latin, hip hop and Electro music night.

June 11, Banda Tierra Del Sol performs live. $5-$25. 9pm-4am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Bootie SF @ DNA Lounge The mash-up DJ dance party, with four rooms of different sounds and eight DJs. June 25: Madonna vs. Lady Gaga mashups, Smash-Up Derby live, Shyboy and more. $10-$15. 9:30pm3am. 375 11th St. www.bootiesf.com www.dnalounge.com

Boy Division @ Codeword The monthly gay New Wave night pays homage to Grace Jones, Pet Shop Boys (and concert ticket giveaways) and other pop icons at their Pride edition, with DJs Xander, Tomas Diablo, Starr and Domino. $5-$8. 9:30pm-3am. 917 Folsom St. www.codeword-sf.com

See page 70 >>

Ladies of San Francisco @ Club OMG Galilea hosts the weekly “old school drag show” with guest performers and DJ Jack Rojo. $4. 9pm-2am. 43 6th St. www.clubOMGsf.com

Latin Explosion @ Club 21, Oakland Enjoy Latin, hip hop and electro, plus hot gogos galore, and a big dance floor. April 29: Violeta and Jacqueline La Gata. $10-$20. 9pm-3am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Fri 24 Maribel Guardia at Club Papi @ Club 21, Oakland

Manimal @ Beaux Gogo-tastic dance night starts off your weekend. $5. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Midnight Show @ Divas

On the Tab

From page 67

Club Papi @ Club 21, Oakland

Fri 24

Maribel Guardia performs at the Latina/o club’s popular Pride kickoff party, with 12 sexy gogo guys (also June 25 in SF). $10-$20. 9pm3am.

2111 Franklin St. www.clubpapi.com

The two very sexy and enthusiastic porn studs get it on with Pride live sex shows. $25. 8pm & 10pm. Also June 25 & 26. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 3976758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Eden Pride @ Sound Factory

Adam Killian & Andre Orloff @ Nob Hill Theatre

Ain’t Mama’s Drag @ Balancoire Weekly drag queen and drag king show hosted by Cruzin d’Loo. 8pm10pm. No cover. 2565 Mission St. www.balancoiresf.com

Bearracuda @ Beatbox

7th anniversary women’s dance weekend kicks off with a Wet White Party; wear washable whites for a big paint party (paint cannons and squirt guns); 3 dance floors, 5 bars, VIP lounge; live acts Lady Cultura, Zulu Nasty, Devmo; DJs Skylar Madison, Motive, Andre, Lady Ryan, Val G, Angie Vee, Yo Yolie. $25. 9pm-3am. 525 Harrison St. www.edeninthebay.com

Ewe Nasty @ F8

The manly men gather for a Pride underwear/underbear party, with DJs Paul Goodyear and Ryan Jones.

Clothes check, snacks, and more. $15. 10pm-3am. 314 11th st. www. bearracuda.com www.beatboxsf.com

BAAAHS (Big-Ass Amazingly Awesome Homosexual Sheep), the gay Burning Man DJ crew, present a late night Pride celebration for the cool queers; boots, drag, butch, femme or whatever. $10-$15. 10pm-4am. 1192 Folsom St. 857-1192. www.feightsf.com

Boy Bar @ The Cafe

Friday Nights @ de Young Museum

Gus Presents’ weekly dance night, with DJ Kid Sysko, cute gogos and $2 beer (before 10pm). 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Season 12 of the fun art parties returns, with the Oscar de la Renta exhibit, live music and drinks. 5:30pm9pm. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, www.deyoung.famsf.org

Molly Mahoney @ Hotel Rex The cabaret singer performs Mischief: Bouncing Boogies, Bewitching Ballads and Quirky Tunes, with pianist G. Scott Lacy. $30-$50. 8pm. 562 Sutter St. www.societycabaret.com

Steven Underhill

<<

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 Eden Pride @ Sound Factory

Fri 24 Bearracuda @ Beatbox

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<< On the Tab

70 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Fly Me to the Moon @ Hotel Rex Danielle DeBow and Michael Scott Wells perform their cabaret show, with pianist G. Scott Lacy. $30-$50. 8pm. 562 Sutter St. www.societycabaret.com

Mango @ El Rio Pride edition of the popular women’s party, with Olga T, Lady Ly and Edaj playing hip hop, dancehall, and Latin grooves. $15. 6pm-2am. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Mother @ Oasis Heklina’s weekly drag show night with different themes, always outrageously hilarious. June 25, hiphop hunk Cazwell performs; also, Monistat, Dusty Moorehead and Sissy Spastik. $15-$25. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Sat 25 Afterglow @ Sound Factory

Nitty Gritty @ Beaux

<<

On the Tab

From page 68

Club Papi @ Space 550 The hot Latina/o night returns for Pride, with a live act by Diana Reyes, and a dozen hot gogo guys. $10-$20. 9pm3am. 550 Barneveld Ave. (also June 24 at Club 21, Oakland). www.clubpapi.com

Club Rimshot @ Club BNB, Oakland The weekly hip hop and R&B night.

8-$15. 9pm to 4am. 2120 Broadway.

(510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Colossus @ 1015

Dyke March @ Dolores Park

2nd of four circuit dance events for Pride weekend, with DJs Dani Toro and Joshu Whitaker. $60. 12am-9am. 1015 Folsom St. www.guspresents.com

Public march for women, lesbians, and their allies, with a park rally and performances. 1pm-7pm.

Dolores Park, 18th St. at Dolores. www.thedykemarch.org

Device/BLUF Invasion @ SF Eagle Douglas McCarthy (cofounder of Nitzer Ebb), Bill Converse (techno master) guest-DJs with resident Tom Ass at the fetish combined electro night. $10 (free before 10pm in gear). 9pm-2am.

398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Fabulism @ Mezzanine Eden’s hiphop women’s Pride party, with DJs Lady Ryan, Angie Vee, Motive, Val G. $25.

9pm-2am. 444 Jesse St. www.edeninthebay.com

Weekly dance night with nearly naked gogo guys & gals; DJs Chad Bays, Ms. Jackson, Becky Know and Jorge T. $4.

9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Pink Saturday Unchained @ SF Eagle The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence host an outdoor admission-only party in the parking lot across the street from the famed leather bar. Proceeds benefit Orlando shooting fundraising efforts. $10 and up. 3pm-10pm. 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com www.thesisters.org

t

Pride Brunch @ Café Klaus Enjoy an intimate home-cooked 4-course meal at the award-winning local singer’s home, near Pride Civic Center celebrations. $50. Also June 26.

Contact: voilaveronica@gmail.com

Pride Brunch @ Hotel Whitcomb 18th annual brunch honoring SF Pride grand marshals, with hosts Gary Virginia and Donna Sachet, musical entertainment with Dixieland Dykes+3, hosted bars, all-you-can-eat buffet, with proceeds going to Positive Resource. $75-$150. 11am-2pm. 1231 Market St. www.positiveresource.org/ PrideBrunch

The Pride Slide @ Dolores Park Slip & slide down a rainbow water slide, with donations going to Equality Florida for Orlando, and the SF LGBT Center. 12pm-5pm. 19th St. at Dolores. www.crowdrise.com/thepride-slide1/fundraiser/theprideguys

The Queer Cruise @ Oakland Piers Enjoy love and libration as Spectrum Queer Media hosts a scenic boat cruise, food, a cash bar, live performance, DJed grooves with two floors of dancing $40-$75.

3pm-7pm. Departs at Broadway and Embarcadero W. www.SpectrumQueerMedia.com

See page 72 >>

<< On the Tab

72 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Sat 25 AB Soto at SF Pride @ Civic Center

<<

On the Tab

From page 70

Reach @ Oasis Real Bad’s celebratory house/hienergy Pride tea dance, with DJ Bret Law. $20-$40. 3pm-9pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

San Francisco Pride @ Civic Center The first of two days in Civic Center; enjoy dancing at several DJed stages (Latin, International, soul, country-Western dancing, Indie, Left Tobacco 1.pdf 1 6/6/2016 1:16:09 PM

Magazine stage, Women’s stage) and areas (Leather Alley, Faerie Freedom Village, 60+ Space, Family Garden, Deaf Space), performances (AB Soto, Danny BoySpice Queers, Shaun Wright, Alexx Mack, Kat C.H.R.), MCs Sister Roma and Honey Mahogany, speeches, community booths, food and drinks on the day before the big Sunday parade and second day of official Pride. $5-$10 donation at gates. 11am-5pm. Entrances at all ends of civic Center (Grove at Van Ness Ave., Market at Larkin). www.sfpride.org

t

Sat 25 The Queer Cruise @ Oakland Piers

Saturgay @ Qbar

Sugar @ The Cafe

Stanley Frank spins house dance remixes. $3. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Dance, drink, cruise at the Castro club.

9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Soul Delicious @ Lookout

Sundance Saloon @ Hotel Whitcomb

Brunch, booze, sass and grooves, with the Mom DJs, Motown sounds, and soul food. 11am-4pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Soul Party @ Elbo Room DJs Lucky, Paul, and Phengren Osward spin 60s soul 45s. $5-$10 ($5 off in semi-formal attire). 10pm-2am. 647 Valencia St. 552-7788. www.elbo.com

Enjoy two-stepping and social fun at the Pre-Pride Country-Western dance, 7:30pm-12am, 1231 Market St. at 8th. June 26, at Pride Civic Center, 11am-6pm, Grove near Larkin. Then, 6pm-10:30pm. $12.

1231 Market St. at 8th. www.sundancesaloon.org

Sun 26

BeBe Sweetbriar’s Brunch Revue, Femme @ Balancoire Weekly live music shows with various acts, along with brunch buffet, bottomless Mimosas, champagne and more, at the stylish nightclub and restaurant. BeBe hosts, with live entertainment and DJ Shawn P. $15$20. 11am-3pm. After that, Femme T-Dance drag shows at 7pm, 10pm and 11pm. 2565 Mission St. at 21st.

920-0577. www.balancoiresf.com

Beer Bust @ SF Eagle The classic leather bar’s most popular Sunday daytime event in town draws the menfolk. Beer bust donations benefit local nonprofits (Check the website for a list of recipients). 3pm6pm. Now also on Saturdays. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Big Top @ Beaux The fun Castro nightclub, with hot local DJs and sexy gogo guys and gals. $5. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.Beauxsf.com

Disco Daddy @ SF Eagle Special extra Pride edition of DJ Bus Station John’s disco-licious tea dance. $5. 7pm-1am. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Domingo De Escandal @ Club OMG Weekly Latin night with drag shows hosted by Vicky Jimenez & DJ Luis. 7pm2am. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

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

Hard French @ Mezzanine Pride party with live acts Genesis P-Orridge, Psychic TV, a block party, 2 stages, and hella grooves, multiple DJs. $15-$25. 3pm-11pm. 444 Jessie St. www.hardfrench.com

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Hero @ Ruby Skye 3rd of four circuit dance events, with DJs Wayne G and Grind. $20-$45.

6pm-12am. 420 Mason St. www.guspresents.com

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

Juanita More!’s Pride Party @ Jones The rooftop party and fundraiser will be sold out by the time you read this, because it’s that popular. Anyway, go if you can; proceeds benefit Queer Life Space; DJs Tedd Patterson, Guy Ruben, Rolo Talorda and performance

by Miss Rahni Nothingmore. $35-$45.

620 Jones St. www.juanitamore.com

Let’s Have a Kiki @ The Cinch Under the Golden Gate’s DJ Dank and Maria Konner cohost a postPride party at the fun Polk bar, with Ferosha Titties MCing a gaggle of drag queens. 4pm-8pm. 1723 Polk St. 776-4162. www.cinchsf.com

See page 74 >> T his advertis ement was made pos s ible by funds received from the C alifornia T obacco C ontrol P rogram, under C ontract No. 15-10244 TriCityHealth_BAR_062316.indd 1

6/20/16 10:38 AM

<< On the Tab

74 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

t

Sun 26 SF Pride performers Betty and Peaches @ Civic Center

FREE TO LISTEN AND REPLY TO ADS Free Code: Reporter

FIND REAL GAY MEN NEAR YOU San Francisco:

(415) 430-1199 Oakland:

San Jose:

(510) 343-1122 (408) 514-1111 www.megamates.com 18+

<<

San Francisco Pride @ Civic Center

On the Tab

From page 72

Pride Parade Viewing Party @ Equinox Academy of Friends and Equinox’ VIP cocktail party gives you a fabulous view of the parade, with live entertainment, DJed music, gift bags, raffles, food and cocktails. $50-$800. 11am-5pm. 747 Market St. www.eventbrite.com www.academyoffriends.org

Sanctuary @ 1015 Folsom 4th of four circuit Pride dance events, with a hot pink theme, with DJs Alex Acosta, Dan Slater and Nina Flowers. $70. 10pm-8am. 1015 Folsom St. www.guspresents.com

Enjoy dancing at several DJed stages (Latin, International, soul, country-Western dancing, Indie, Left Magazine dance, Women’s) and areas (Leather Alley, Faerie Freedom Village, 60+ Space, Family Garden, Deaf Space), performances (Peaches, Psychic TV, Hector Fonseca, Betty, BeBe Sweetbriar, Duserock and Friends, Cheer SF, Bluebird, BAAITS, Mix’d Ingrdnts, Breathless, HipHop4Change), MCs Sister Roma and Honey Mahogany, Liam Mayclem and Carnie Asada, community booths, food and drinks on the day before the big Sunday parade and second day of official Pride. $5-$10 donation at

gates. VIP Pride Party in City Hall, $50.

11am-5pm. Entrances at all ends of Civic Center (Grove at Van Ness Ave., Market at Larkin). www.sfpride.org

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room Donna Sachet hosts the weekly fabulous brunch and drag show, now celebrating its tenth anniversary. $45.

11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square. 395-8595. www.starlightroomsf.com

Sunday Brunch @ Thee Parkside Bottomless Mimosas until 3pm at the fun rock-punk club. 1600 17th St. 2521330. www.theeparkside.com

Xtravaganza @ Balancoire Latin music, drag shows, dancing and more. 7pm-1am. 2565 Mission St. at 21st. 920-0577. www.balancoiresf.com

Mon 27

Drag Mondays @ The Cafe Mahlae Balenciaga and DJ Kidd Sysko’s weekly drag and dance night.

9pm-1am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Epic Karaoke @ White Horse, Oakland Mondays and Tuesdays popular weekly sing-along night. No cover. 8:30pm1am. 6551 Telegraph Ave, (510) 6523820. www.whitehorsebar.com

Gaymer Meetup @ Brewcade The weekly LGBT video game enthusiast night includes big-screen games and signature beers, with a new remodeled layout, including an outdoor patio. No cover. 7pm-11pm.

2200 Market St. www.brewcadesf.com

Karaoke Night @ SF Eagle Sing along, with guest host Nick Radford. 8pm-12am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Mahogany Mondays @ Midnight Sun

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

Monday Musicals @ The Edge 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

No No Bingo @ Virgil’s Sea Room Mica Sigourney and Tom Temprano cohost the wacky weekly game night at the cool Mission bar. 8pm. 3152 Mission St. www.virgilssf.com

Opulence @ Beaux Weekly dance night, with Jocques, DJs Tori, Twistmix and Andre. 9pm-2am.

2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.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

See page 80 >>

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

76 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Steven Underhill

PHOTOGRAPHY

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415 370 7152

WEDDINGS, HEADSHOTS, PORTRAITS

stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

ebar.com

Mark Abramson

Mark Abramson (left) with one of his many lovers, Kap, blowing up balloons for a party.

<<

Glory Days

From page 65

Saturday, March 8, 1980

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told you I’m doing this exactly according to the blueprint and you weren’t supposed to lay the carpet (their towels) before I finished getting this wall in place. You’ll love the remodeling job when I’m done!” The others, also pretty stoned, but more restful, laugh good-naturedly at their friend and finally help him get settled.

Some arrive in twos, performing the rites of the laying out of blankets and towels as a team– two men, four arms at the four corners of the bottom cloth to keep out the sand. It billows up, unfurled like a flag, and then it is pulled taut and pressed to the earth, each corner secured by stones or shoes.

Then blankets are settled on top. Settled, settled… that is how I feel now, settling in to More Sex, Drugs & Disco. this spot on the sand – quieting down and slowing my getting a telegram. It was in Italian. brain into the peacefulness of sleepGlen and I made dinner for ing while wide awake in order to Emilio and Kap. Emilio had to teach give myself a sunny Saturday alone an early Tai Chi class. Then he and at Land’s End Beach.

Glen went to the Ritch Street Baths, and Kap and I went to bed. It seemed like it was the middle of the night Thursday, June 26, 1980 when the phone rang. It was Glen’s My real birthday yesterday was friend from New York who had just uneventful. I went to work and Kap arrived in Oakland. He couldn’t get went to work. It was only the second across the Bay Bridge because of a day in all the weeks I’ve known him chemical spill. I told him how to that I’ve seen him get up and go to take BART under the bay and then work. Today was the third. I got lots I had to get up again to let him in of cards in the mail, including one when he finally rang the doorbell. from Brent in Washington D.C. My Nobody else was home yet. parents pretended they were callEverything is shaping up for my ing me from the airport and on birthday party. We still have some their way over—very funny. I got a more shopping to do, and the mutelegram from Andrew Delfino and sic hasn’t been settled, but there’s Peggy Kennedy, the interior decotime tomorrow and Saturday mornrator of the Fairmont Hotel and ing. I’m looking forward to seeing his secretary who come in to have practically everyone I know in San lunch almost every day with me in Francisco in one place and also to the Transamerica Pyramid. It was the Pride parade on Sunday, when the first time I can ever remember the whole city takes to the streets in celebration.

This is my first day at the beach this season. In spite of anything in my life that may be less than perfect, I realize how happy I am to be able to wake up on a Saturday morning, drive across the city and climb down the hillside to this secluded stretch of sand and driftwood. I can spend the whole day alone in the sun and still be surrounded by beautiful naked men. I don’t have to deal with any thoughts of work or money or time or the men in my life or any lack thereof. I can dispel the negative energies of ill-health and consider only the good things that enable me to spend this Saturday at the beach.

I have been craving coming here for weeks! I remember once when Carl Beck was here with me, and he told me about visiting Glen and Russell in New York, when they were still lovers. Carl said they all went to Fire Island for the day, but Glen hated the beach so much that he had to take a Valium because the sound of the waves made him sick.

I laughed hard at that story, but just now I remembered when Glen came with me to this beach here in San Francisco once, and he didn’t seem to have any problem. Our dear friend Glen still lives in New York. I think of him walking those cruisy piers near the end of Christopher Street that he once showed me on his way to work in the Village.

I am here in San Francisco now in 11:43 AM 1980 and why is that such a difficult concept to grasp? I have made my choices, and I pray they were the right ones. Coming to this beach at Land’s End always reaffirms that feeling.

Now I have been here for an hour and a half, eaten half an orange, half my sandwich, smoked half a joint and read half the morning paper. So many things are half done, but I want to take my time. There is no hurry.

Dozens of men have arrived since I got here.

They choose their spots, clearing stones and sticks to build their little fortresses. I was tempted to ask the guy nearest to me if he planned to spend the whole summer in one spot. He might have built a house in that time and all the noise he made— grunting and crashing of rocks and huge logs of driftwood. Six men arrived together just a while ago. Five of them are lying in a row, but the sixth one is the comedian of the group. He is still clearing rocks and making wiseMark Abramson cracks while his friends Mark Abramson at Land’s End beach in 1981. are suntan-oiled and lying down. He announces, “I

Saturday, June 28, 1980

Kap and I have been sitting in the window seat of my bedroom. People should start arriving for my birthday party in half an hour. Glen and Emilio are out shopping for cheese. Glen made a ton of bite-sized puff pastries and piped them full of chicken liver paté.

It’s a recipe he uses at the Jules Verne restaurant in Greenwich Village in NYC. It’s good to know some chefs at a time like this. It’s a hot sunny day with an L.A. kind of sky full of smog. The garden is beautiful. There are fresh fruit and crudités cover-

t

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will take me some time to come back from this one.

Friday, July 4, 1980

Mark Abramson

Mark’s friend Ponce.

ing the table, which is draped to the grass with chocolate brown tablecloths I borrowed from Armando Catering. The parachute is stretched across the sky, and there are balloons everywhere. I bought a new dark blue tank-top at All-American Boy. Ron wasn’t even there at the time, so I didn’t get a discount, but that’s okay. I think I am ready, too.

Monday, June 30, 1980

I haven’t seen Kap since my birthday party Saturday. When the fog came in and filled the garden, he and Fred got cold and left. He finally called me this morning and sounded sheepish. “It is not the Messiah, just a very naughty boy.” I recognized that line from a Monty Python movie, The Life of Brian, we saw together a couple of weeks ago.

He said he’d been on a binge, but I thought of that line from an Anne Sexton poem, “I am a watercolor. I wash off.” Whatever enchantment I was can’t last forever. Tonight the sun is down, but it hasn’t grown dark yet. The air is cold, and the sky is filled with pink and blue. Kap called tonight to invite me to dinner tomorrow before he leaves town. I said, “No, let’s just give it a rest.”

The party depressed me in some ways, too. Some people came that I don’t even like. People came and went all day. Some came and left and came back again. Jonathan and Bobby came in drag! That thrilled me! Wigs were flying and make-up was heavily applied. They brought a huge entourage and everyone was dressed in pink to match my new bedroom with accessories in turquoise for contrast. They looked incredible, teetering around in high heels. They pulled it off so well, and it was such a surprise. All the while we were dating, I never thought of Jonathan as the type to do drag.

Bobby said they only did it to ensure that they would be included in my next book. I laughed at that.

Same Day, later

I’m just home from dinner at Jonathan’s. The sun is down, but it hasn’t grown dark outside yet. The air is cold, and the sky is filled with pink and blue. Kap called and said, “You were so beautiful at your party with all those people I don’t even know. I feel like I’m running away from you in order to protect myself.

You are so wonderful, Mark.” They are only words. It’s such a familiar plot, and I’ve seen it from every angle.

I could go out tonight and I probably will…to the Midnight Sun where we first met. I’ll go to the Ambush to buy some poppers and end up looking for sex. In every handsome man, I will see Kap’s face. It

Bobby couldn’t get me on the Dreamland list last night, so I went to the Midnight Sun, where I ran into Richard, Bill McC’s friend who showed up briefly at my birthday party and whom I also saw in the Gay Parade the next day riding a unicycle. We came back here together and fucked each other, although he wasn’t totally prepared and needed to clean out some more.

He has a hot body and a great personality. I asked about his unicycle, and he told me some fascinating things. I look forward to seeing him again.

Right now it is almost dark outside, and I am surrounded by the sounds of Handel’s sonatas for recorder and the bombardments of fireworks outside blowing off in the foggy night. I slept late today and drove to Land’s End. When I got down to the beach, I ran into Jonathan and Bobby and their friend Dennis from New York. We lay in the sun for hours. There was one beautiful man that I wanted. We smiled, observed and said hi to each other, but he left the beach with an ugly older man with a potbelly and gargantuan dick.

June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 77

I went home to shower and change, then out to the Balcony, the Ambush, and finally Ritch Street Baths, where I fucked a young man with a fabulous chest. He had all his pubic hair shaved off. I asked him why his ass wasn’t shaved, since it was so beautiful and he liked getting fucked so much. He said he just hadn’t gotten that far, but that if I wanted to find a razor I was welcome to do it. I had already cum, so I didn’t take him up on his offer.

Saturday, July 5, 1980

I’m in the park off Roosevelt way.

Emilio and I went to the nursery on Bayshore this morning and planted some vegetables in the garden. I have a mild headache and feel irritable, but mostly I am uninspired.

I am glad a week has passed since my birthday party so that I can say to myself, “I made it through one week. I will survive another.” I hate to see my life take on this attitude of mere survival, but that’s the way it feels right now.

A beautiful man across the park stands up and pulls on white cotton pants over his firm hard ass in a black spandex Speedo, shakes out his blanket, picks up his keys

Mark Abramson

Mark Abramson’s Jaguar Underground membership card.

from the grass, walks by me shirtless and smiles. I smile and sigh for every man I’ve ever cruised who has cruised me back, but nothing came of it. Neither of us made a move in time. He had already settled for someone else who may not have had whatever I have, but that guy had more self-confidence. Bad luck comes to everyone. Hearts break. Time heals. At least I don’t long for Armando anymore. Years have passed since then, and I still find myself surprised that I could ever get past that moment. There will always be other men, as long as I live in this town and have eyes and enough lust in my soul to make my mouth water.

I don’t spend all my waking hours being miserable. It’s only when I sit down with this journal and pick up a pen that I want to exorcise my little demons by writing them down. There is so much that is good in my life. I just don’t write it down because when life is good, I’m too busy living it and enjoying it. Pleasure is too elusive to waste those times trying to tell the whole story.t Mark Abramson’s ‘More Sex, Drugs & Disco’ and other books are available at Books Inc. Opera Plaza, and online. www.booksinc.net www.markabramson.net

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

78 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2016

Celebrating differently Alternative events for Pride

DJ the Sober Fest events from 3pm to 6pm, along with DJ Hotwire, the Mascara drag show, and 12-Step meetings. The SoberFest is organized by the Castro Country Club (www.castrocountryclub.org).

by Cornelius Washington

C

elebrating Pride can be a bit overwhelming for some people.

If you want to experience more than the mundane, if you want to get the ultimate, the spiritual, the cultural, and the diversity that separates San Francisco from all the rest, here are two people who will bring inspiration and energy to your Pride experience.

Rasa Vitalia is one of the most incredible and colorful people in the Bay Area, and she is one fo the organizers of the Faerie Freedom Village as a manager and performer.

DJ Robbie Martin, a three-time winner of the Bay Area Reporter’s Best of the Bay Award, will be headlining at the Sober Stage and bring the sober celebration to a Gay Pride that is in a dual state of melancholy and defiant celebration.

These are just a few of the alternative options for those who want an alternative to the crowds and noise of Pride Sunday.

Cornelius Washington: How long has the Faerie Freedom Village been at LGBTQ Pride?

Rasa Vitalia: The village was originated in the late 1990s and it is the longest-standing community stage at pride. The Radical Faeries are more than just a handful of beautiful weirdos. We have always been community-oriented, challenging the status quo, and creating a culture that celebrates gay eccentric.

What is unique about our place that would be alluring to attendees of Pride is that the Radical Faeries are latterly and fantastically over the top, but ultimately unfinished.

Our proud history of theatricali-

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Rasa Vitalia

Robbie Martin DJing at a recent SF Pride in Civic Center.

ties include the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, founded by participants in a 1979 Faeries history gathering.

Our village is an entirely built stage and a unique experience at SF Pride.

We create a space where you can revel in a spectacular, colorful, natural and non-commercial area that creates the most talented avantgarde performers and shamans.

You will experience delicious dance cabaret performance art offstage, stunning visual art, magic, and rituals. Sunday will be a very fantastic day. We will be having music all day from both the amazing DJ Sergio Fedasz and DJ Justime.

Are you planning on doing anything special on Gay Pride that haven’t done before?

Yes, we will have some very interesting ‘drag snakes’ at 1PM, 3:30PM and 5PM. What time will you be performing?

I can’t wait to perform at the Radical Faerie stage on Sunday because it will be my birthday, I will be presenting special show of my own!

I will be singing and dancing to my first dance single, “Make the Quake”

by Earth Make the Quake. It will be the premier invitation of new sexy gogo boys, The Disco Sluts.

Sober and celebrating

DJ Robbie Martin is out and proud, not only for being a popular DJ, but for his sober life and his support of events where drinking and drugs just aren’t needed. He’ll

Robbie, what you thinking in advance of DJing this year at the Sober Stage at Gay Pride?

Robbie Martin: There are few spaces where people in recovery can feel safe during Pride. The sober stage and dance space is the only designated sober location on the Pride grounds during the parade and celebration.

The events outside of the sober are full of intoxication, and as a person in recovery, I value the sanctuary that we have been allowed to headline the Sober Stage and dance space. It’s an honor, one that has been bestowed on me before. Although I live in the East Bay now, a part of me in still in San Francisco and I cherish this opportunity.

This is also, in part, a somber Pride for many.

In the wake of the Orlando Tragedy, it is more important than ever to show our numbers, celebrate our pride, and to dance. I wish I had more pep in my words, but at the moment, but I am very sad, very angry, and numb.

As a performer, one of the biggest challenges is how best to channel emotion into performance, sometimes blatantly and sometimes silently, and I’m still in the planning stages. But we will come together and dance our asses off for the brothers and sisters who are no longer with us.

Performing Pride

Other alternative areas include several DJed stages (Latin, International, Soul, Country-Western dancing, Indie, the Left Magazine dance space, and Women’s stage) and areas (Leather Alley, 60+ Space, Family Garden, Deaf Space).

For those into the big crowds, June 25 mainstage performances include AB Soto, Danny Boy, Spice Queers, Shaun Wright, Alexx Mack, Kat C.H.R., with MCs Sister Roma and Honey Mahogany.

June 26 mainstage performances include Peaches, Psychic TV, Hector Fonseca, Betty, BeBe Sweetbriar, Duserock and Friends, Cheer SF, Bluebird, BAAITS, Mix’d Ingrdnts, Breathless, and HipHop4Change.

If you’ve got $50 to donate, you can enjoy the cool comfort inside City Hall at the VIP Pride Party (11am-5pm), with more performers, food and drinks.

General admission is $5-$10 donation at the gates. 11am-5pm Saturday and Sunday. Entrances at all ends of Civic Center (Grove at Van Ness Ave., Market at Larkin). www.sfpride.orgt

jose A. Guzman-Colon

Pride Brunch @ Café Klaus Looking for an intimate and tasty prelude to your Pride celebrations? Singer Veronica Klaus’ unique homestyle private brunches this weekend are just a few blocks from Civic Center. Enjoy an intimate home-cooked 4-course meal at the award-winning local singer’s home, $50. June 25 & 26. Reservations: voilaveronica@gmail.com

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June 23-29, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 79

The Pulse of Leather

“An enticing, poignant and highly engaging collection that presents men and relationships of all ages and from all walks of life… Forty Wild Crushes features colorful characters, rich story lines and profound messages.”

– Edge Media Network

Books Inc.

signing & reading with Michael Aleynikov, Jim Provenzano and Na’amen Gobert Tilahun

July 11, 7pm.

601 Van Ness Ave.

Available at www.booksinc.net www.amazon.com www.barnesandnoble www.barnesandnoble.com Rich Stadtmiller

Community members proudly hold the Leather Pride Contingent banner that led the contingent in the 2015 Pride Parade.

by Race Bannon

H

ow could the horrific mass murder in Orlando unfold and me not comment here? It is clearly a watershed moment in our history and I would be terribly remiss not addressing it. But you might ask, what does that incident have to with leather and kink, the focus of this column? In short, everything.

As is clearly evidenced by a recent New York Times article in which the hate crime statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were analyzed, LGBT folks are the top targets currently of such crimes. So LGBT kinksters are already part of a much maligned and persecuted demographic.

Now add on top of that our kink sexualities and identities and an argument can be made that LGBT kinksters, especially those who live openly and are out about their proclivities, face potentially even greater persecution.

With no disrespect to the many heterosexual people in our scene who generally embrace and support us, this is why we sometimes say our kink experience is not the same as

Rich Stadtmiller

Erik Will, one of the driving organizing forces behind the local leather and kink community’s reaction to Orlando.

yours. If there was any doubt as to why the experience of LGBT leatherfolk and kinksters is not the same as our heterosexual counterparts, Orlando should be clear evidence. We truly appreciate and value your support, but as LGBT kinksters we face a struggle that I hope you see is uniquely challenging.

Erik Will, Chairman of the San Francisco Leathermen’s Discussion Group, and one of the most active Bay Area people in reacting to Orlando, posted a heartfelt response on their organization’s blog at www.sfldg.org that is worth your time reading. This snippet is particularly poignant.

“For some of us, this is a new battle in a very old war. For some of us, it is the first and largest direct attack on us. Either way, this is a terrifying and sobering experience for all of us, and we may not even know how we are supposed to feel. Right now, you may not know what to do to help or to heal. As with BDSM, there is no one right way. You do what you have to, what feels right, and what harms no one else.”

“In the short term, take care of yourself. Cry. Scream. Sleep. Eat. Make love. Laugh. Whatever heals your soul... Then take care of your family. As sexual outsiders, we have limitless magic, power, and resilience. Use that to offer a cover of protection for your family and friends.”

I echo that message. Orlando is a stark reminder that the battle for acceptance and freedom is not over. For LGBT people, and for the kinky within those ranks.

We are a resilient bunch and perhaps at no other time must our resilience be more heavily utilized.

Speaking for himself only, here’s what Erik said when I asked him about how Orlando impacted him as a kinkster.

“I’ve been very introspective this week, thinking about how we as BDSMers are dealing with this trauma. We regularly process intense physical and emotional sensations. We check in with each other and try to be transparent about our state of being. We very deliberately do self and aftercare for these intense sessions. We are always seeking to learn from powerful, transformative experiences. We are strong in the face of powerful stuff. We didn’t seek Orlando out, but it happened, and we are going to take the grief, terror,

FortyWildCrushes.indd 1

anger and other resulting emotions in stride and become better as individuals and better as a community as a result. There is a sea change happening right now because of Orlando, which gives me more than a glimmer of hope to come from this mess.”

Taking Pride

As our San Francisco Pride weekend is upon us, there are many ways you can display and celebrate your individual and collective pride. But there are specific ways the leather and kinky among us can show that we will not be silenced. We will not be made invisible. We will not cower in shame because there is nothing shameful about what we do or who we are.

Within the Pride Celebration itself, visit and support Leather Alley (www.leatheralley.net). Mix and mingle with those who share your common struggle. Walk in the Pride Parade with the Leather Pride Contingent. You can find details about their parade lineup location at www.sfleather.org.

Show the world that we are proud of our sexual orientations and identities. Frequent and support the many bars, events, venues, clubs and businesses that are an integral part of our local Bay Area leather and kink scene.

They provide much of the social glue that allows us to stand strong and openly be who we are.

I share the glimmer of hope to which Erik alludes. We, as LGBT people, will ensure that love wins.

We, as LGBT leatherfolk and kinksters, will ensure that love wins.

Amid all the trappings and constructs, our scene has at its core a single guiding reason why we do what we do – love.

As famous leatherman Joseph Bean once said in his 10 Rules of SM, “If you’re not in love, don’t do the scene.”

Here I’d like to expand on that notion and call on all of us to not only love each other, but to foster love for the entire spectrum of the LGBT community and the greater community in which it resides.

Love will win. For LGBT people.

For kinksters. For everyone. The alternative is simply unacceptable.t

For Leather Events Listings, please visit www.ebar.com/bartab Race Bannon is a local author, blogger and activist. You can reach him through his website, www.bannon.com

6/20/16 12:02 PM

<< On the Tab

80 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-30, 2016

t

Wed 29 PWR BTTM (pictured) with Pity Sex and Petal @ Slim’s

<<

On the Tab

From page 74

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

Bandit @ Slate Bar New weekly queer event with resident DJ Justime; electro, soul, funk; cocktails and food available. $3.

2925 16th St. www.facebook.com/ BanditPartySF www.slate-sf.com

Block Party @ Midnight Sun Weekly screenings of music videos, concert footage, interviews and more, of popular pop stars. 9pm-2am. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.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

Gaymer Night @ 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

Hella Saucy @ Q Bar Queer dance party at the stylish intimate bar. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

High Fantasy @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge

Underwear Night @ Club OMG

Weekly drag and variety show, with live acts and lip-synching divas, plus DJed grooves. $5. Shows at 10:30pm & 12am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

Weekly underwear night includes free clothes check, and drink specials. $4.

10pm-2am. Preceded by Open Mic Comedy, 7pm, no cover. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Hysteria @ Martuni’s

Wed 29

Irene Tu & Jessica Sele cohost the comedy open mic night for women and queers. No cover. 6pm-8:30pm.

4 Valencia St.

Meow Mix @ The Stud The weekly themed variety cabaret showcases new and unusual talents; MC Ferosha Titties. $3-$7. Show at 11pm. 9pm-2am. 399 9th St. at Harrison. www.studsf.com

Naked Night @ Nob Hill Theatre Strip down as the strippers also take it all off. $20. 9pm. 729 Bush St. at Powell.

397-6758. thenobhilltheatre.com

Retro Night @ 440 Castro Jim Hopkins plays classic pop oldies, with vintage music videos. 9pm-2am.

44 Castro St. www.the440.com

Trivia Night @ Hi Tops Play the trivia game at the popular new sports bar. 9pm. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Una Noche @ Club BnB, Oakland Vicky Jimenez’ drag show and contest; Latin music all night. 9pm-2am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Bedlam @ Beaux

New weekly event with DJs Haute Toddy, Guy Ruben, Mercedez Munro and Abominatrix. Wet T-shirt/jock contest at 11pm. $5-$10. 9pm-2am.

2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Bone @ Powerhouse Weekly punk-alternative music night hosted by Uel Renteria and Johnny Rockitt. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.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

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

Floor 21 @ Starlight Room Juanita More! presents a new weekly scenic happy hour event, with host Rudy Valdez, and guest DJs. No cover, and a fantastic panoramic city view.

5pm-9pm. Sir Francis Drake Hotel, 450 Powell St. www.starlightroomsf.com

Latin Drag Night @ Club OMG Weekly Latin night with drag shows hosted by Vicky Jimenez. 9pm-2am.

43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

25

$

EIGHTH

LGBT Pub Crawl @ Castro Weekly guided tour of bars. $10-$18.

Meet at Harvey Milk Plaza, 7:45pm.

Also morning historic tours on Mon, Wed, & Sat. www.wildsftours.com

Man Francisco @ Oasis The sexy, funny weekly male burlesque show features handsome talents who strip it al(most) all off; choreographed by Christopher James Dunn; Mr Pam MCs. $20. 2 Two-drink min. 9:30pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom.

795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Miss Kitty’s Trivia Night @ Wild Side West The weekly fun night at the Bernal Heights bar includes prizes, hosted by Kitty Tapata. No cover. 7pm-10pm.

424 Cortland St. 647-3099. www.wildsidewest.com

Open Mic/Comedy @ SF Eagle Kollin Holts hosts the weekly comedy and open mic talent night. 6pm-8pm.

398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Pity Sex, PWR BTTM, Petal @ Slim’s

1933 MISSION ST. www.medithrive.com SELECT TOP SHELF STRAINS Only individuals with legally recognized Medical Cannabis Identification Cards or a verifiable, written recommendation from a physician for medical cannabis may obtain cannabis from medical cannabis dispensaries. Expires June 3, 2016.

Enjoy power-pop alt-rock and punky grooves from three bands, including the queer PWR BTM. $15-$18, $40 with dinner, 9pm. 333 11th st. www. slimspresents.com

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On the Tab>>

Personals

June 23-30, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 81

The

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Pussy Party @ Beaux Ladies night at the Castro dance club.

9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Shit Talk @ Oasis

Thu 30 Bulge @ Powerhouse

Yuri Kagan’s naughty weekly comedy night with special guests. 7pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Grace Towers hosts the racy night with a $100 wet undies bulge contest at midnight. 10pm-2am.

1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

So You Think You Can Gogo? @ Toad Hall

Gym Class @ Hi Tops

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

Enjoy whiskey shots from jockstrapped hotties and sexy sports videos at the popular sports bar.

10pm-2am. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Way Back @ Midnight Sun

Literary Speakeasy @ Martuni’s

Weekly screenings of vintage music videos, and retro drink prices. 9pm2am. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

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

One-year anniversary of the monthly reading and cocktails series, with host/poet James J Siegel, authors Peter Bullen, Ginger Murray, Anna Pulley and Jim Provenzano, and musician Jeff Desira. No cover, raffle tickets for a prize. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. www.facebook.com/ events/1183245538355399/

Sun 26 SF Pride Parade

To place your Personals ad, Call 415-861-5019 for more info & rates

Marin County Fair @ San Rafael Fairgrounds 75th annual fair, with concerts (Foreigner, Shiela A., Kool & The Gang, Wallflowers, Orpheus), fireworks, food, drinks, animal exhibits, and carnival rides. $12-$20. 11am-11pm.

Thru July 4. 10 Ave. of the Flags, San Rafael. www.marinfair.org/2016

The Monster Show @ The Edge The weekly drag show with themed nights, gogo guys and hilarious fun. $5. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

My So-Called Night @ Beaux Carnie Asada hosts a new weekly ‘90s-themed video, dancin’, drinkin’ night, with VJs Jorge Terez. Get down with your funky bunch, and enjoy 90cent drinks. ‘90s-themed attire and costume contest. No cover. 9pm-2am.

2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Sun 26

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. 829-2233. 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. $10-$12. 6pm-10pm, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

Picante @ The Cafe Lulu and DJ Marco’s Latin night with sexy gogo guys. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Queer Karaoke @ Club OMG Dana hosts the weekly singing night; unleash your inner American Idol.

8pm. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

SF Pride Parade

Skate Night @ Church on 8 Wheels

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle

Groove on wheels at the former Sacred Heart Church-turned disco roller skate party space, hosted by John D. Miles, the “Godfather of Skate.” Also Wed, Thu, 7pm-10pm.

Sat afternoon sessions 1pm-2:30pm and 3pm-5:30pm. $10. Kids 12 and under $5. Skate rentals $5. 554 Fillmore St. at Fell. www.churchof8wheels.com

Music night with local and touring bands. May 26: Homobiles and Year of the Fist, with Juba Kalamka.

9:30pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Thump @ White Horse, Oakland Weekly electro music night with DJ Matthew Baker and guests. 9pm-2am.

6551 Telegraph Ave, (510) 652-3820. www.whitehorsebar.com

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Disco guru DJ Bus Station John spins grooves at the intimate retro music night; 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com Want your nightlife event listed?

Email events@ebar.com, at least two weeks before your event.

Event photos welcome.

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Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

82 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-30, 2016

Shining Stars 1.

photos by steven underhill Around the Castro

2.

1-2. Frameline’s opening night screening at the Castro Theatre June 16 included cast members from the documentary Kiki.

Golden State Warriors basketball fans enjoyed finals viewing parties at The Lookout [3] and at Hi Tops [4-7].

Other fans of dancing athleticism enjoyed tipping the talented gogo guys at Toad Hall [8] and at Boy Bar at The Café [9-11].

4.

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

call (415) 370-7152 or visit www.StevenUnderhill.com or email stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com