November 3, 2016 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

Prez race down to wire

ARTS

Bruce Conner

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The

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

Gay serial killer breaks his silence by Matthew S. Bajko

case before he dies. “This has been bottled up so long,” or nearly 30 years Randy Kraft has a graying Kraft, dressed in dark blue sat on California’s death row atpants and a light blue shirt, said during tempting to clear his name. A gay an interview in March over a lunch of man given the nicknames “the Scorecard a microwaved southern fried chicken Killer” and “the Freeway Killer,” Kraft has sandwich and a cheese and bean burrito. been described as one of the “deadliest “I am getting older. I am going to die and most depraved serial killers” in the here. And I am frustrated my attorneys state’s history. aren’t saying these things. If I don’t say In May 1989 a jury convicted him something it will never be said.” of killing 16 men over the course of 11 Over the course of 10 months, through years in southern California and, that written correspondence and three inNovember, recommended the death person meetings at San Quentin State penalty. Prosecutors had also tied him Prison, Kraft repeatedly maintained his to the deaths of eight additional men in innocence and alleged he had been the Oregon and Michigan. victim of a criminal and judicial system In the summer of 2000, with Kraft’s biased against him because of his sexual appeals of his verdict in state court exorientation. Courtesy San Quentin State Prison hausted, the California Supreme Court “To begin, I did not kill Terry Gamupheld his conviction and death sen- Randy Kraft brel,” Kraft wrote last November in one tence. Kraft then turned to the federal of his first letters, referring to the Marine courts to seek a new trial of his case. He found slumped over in the passenger his case other than through copious court filhas been mired in the federal appeals system ings over the years. seat of his car when two CHP officers pulled ever since, and on numerous occasions, he him over on Interstate 5 in Orange County During his jury trial, Kraft did not testify on has petitioned to have a new federal public his behalf. After the trial court judge refused for suspected drunk driving late one night 33 defender assigned to represent him. to grant his request to testify about only one years ago. “And neither did I kill or assault any To this day Kraft has never confessed to the of the murder charges he was facing, he opted, of the other persons as the authorities claim. murders he was found guilty of committing. based on the advice of his attorneys, not to Notwithstanding that, I have been imprisoned And other than an interview with a Los Angesince May 14, 1983, some 32 years, nearly half take the stand to defend himself. les Times reporter six months after his arrest of my life.” Kraft, 71, contacted the Bay Area Reporter in 1983, Kraft has not spoken publicly about See page 20 >> last fall about his desire to publicly discuss his

B.A.R. election endorsements SAN FRANCISCO RACES GENERAL ELECTION State Senate Dist. 11: Scott Wiener

SAN FRANCISCO SUPERVISORS Dist. 1: Sandra Lee Fewer Dist. 3: Aaron Peskin Dist. 5: London Breed Dist. 7 (ranked): 1: Norman Yee, 2: Joel Engardio Dist. 9 (ranked): 1:Joshua Arce, 2: Hillary Ronen Dist. 11 (ranked): 1: Ahsha Safai, 2: Kimberly Alvarenga CITY COLLEGE BOARD: Rafael Mandelman Alex Randolph Amy Bacharach Shanell Williams SF SCHOOL BOARD Mark Sanchez Matt Haney Rachel Norton Jill Wynns BART Board Dist. 9: Bevan Dufty Judge SF Superior Court Seat 7: Paul Henderson State Assembly Dist. 17: David Chiu Dist. 19: Phil Ting

President: Hillary Clinton U.S. Senate Kamala Harris Congress (Bay Area) Dist. 2: Jared Huffman Dist. 3: John Garamendi Dist. 5: Mike Thompson Dist. 11: Mark DeSaulnier Dist. 12: Nancy Pelosi Dist. 13: Barbara Lee Dist. 14: Jackie Speier Dist. 15: Eric Swalwell Dist. 17: Mike Honda Dist. 18: Anna Eshoo Dist. 19: Zoe Lofgren

State Assembly (Bay Area) Dist. 15: Tony Thurmond Dist. 18: Rob Bonta Dist. 28: Evan Low

EAST BAY

BART Board Dist. 3: Rebecca Saltzman Berkeley City Council Dist. 2: Darryl Moore

Concord City Council: Pablo Benavente East Bay Regional Parks Ward 4: Ellen Corbett Emeryville City Council: John Bauters Martinez City Council: John Stevens Oakland City Council Dist. 3: Lynette Gibson McElhaney At-large: Rebecca Kaplan Peralta College Board Area 6: Nick Resnick Richmond City Council: Cesar Zepeda State Senate (Bay Area) Dist. 9: Nancy Skinner

CALIFORNIA PROPS

Yes on 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64, 67 No on 53, 60, 66, 65 No endorsement on 61

REGIONAL

Berkeley Mayor (ranked): 1: Jesse Arreguin, 2: Kriss Worthington

BART Bond, Measure RR: Yes

Berkeley School Board: Judy Appel

Yes on A, B, C, E, F, G, I, J, K, N, O, S, V, W No on D, H, L, M, P, Q, R, T, U, X

SAN FRANCISCO PROPS

Remember to vote Nov. 8!

Vol. 46 • No. 44 • November 3-9, 2016

SF mayor’s trans adviser: ‘Exciting time’ by Seth Hemmelgarn

our months into her latest post, Theresa Sparks, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee’s senior adviser for transgender initiatives, said it’s “the most exciting time in the trans community I’ve certainly been involved in” in her 20 years Rick Gerharter of work in the field. Theresa Sparks Sparks, a transgender woman who was once president of the local Police Commission and served for years as executive director of the city’s Human Rights Commission, has had plenty to work on since Lee named her to the job in June. Even before she took her current job, likely making her the first person in the country with such a role, she’d been working with the sheriff’s department to give transgender inmates the ability to move from segregated housing into the general jail population. Sparks has also been helping to bring all gender bathrooms to the city, another issue in which San Francisco has taken a lead role. See page 21 >>

New research debunks Patient Zero myth by Liz Highleyman

to bear on this and resolve questions of those early moments of HIV,” said Dr. Paul Volberding, director of the UCSF AIDS Research Institute, who once cared for Dugas at San Francisco General Hospital. “None of this is about blame. New York doesn’t blame Haiti, nor does San Francisco blame New York. And now we can add that we can’t blame Patient O.”

new genetic analysis shows that HIV likely spread from the Caribbean to New York City around 1971 and from there to San Francisco around 1976, laying to rest the misconception that a Canadian flight attendant, Gaétan Dugas (also commonly spelled Gaëtan), Courtesy Wikipedia was responsible for sparking the epiCanadian flight demic in the United States. Evolution of HIV attendant The persistent myth about a so- Gaétan Dugas Michael Worobey, an evolutioncalled Patient Zero was popularized ary biologist from the University by gay journalist Randy Shilts in his of Arizona in Tucson, led a genetic 1987 book about the early epidemic, analysis of stored blood samples And the Band Played On. (Shilts from gay men participating in hepadied of AIDS-related complications titis B research in the late 1970s. in 1994.) Looking at a repository of nearly Richard McKay, a historian from 9,000 stored samples from New York the University of Cambridge and and nearly 7,000 from San Francisco co-author of the paper published in City Clinic, Worobey’s team found the October 26 edition of Nature, that 6.6 percent of the New York Courtesy VA Dept. found that Dugas was designated as samples and 3.7 percent of those case “O” – meaning outside Califor- Dr. Paul Volberding from San Francisco contained HIV nia – in an early Centers for Disease in 1978-1979. Control and Prevention analysis of HIV sexual The researchers then attempted genetic transmission networks. During publication of sequencing of a subset of the stored viruses. the study in 1984, the letter “O” was misinterAlthough the blood samples have been availpreted as the number zero. See page 21 >> “It’s great that modern science can be brought

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<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

Porn actors, supes speak against condoms measure by Seth Hemmelgarn

orn actors joined San Francisco Supervisors Jane Kim and Scott Wiener and others Tuesday to speak out against Proposition 60, the California ballot measure that would require condom use in adult films made in the state. The porn industry, many HIV advocates, and others are working against the proposal, saying it would endanger performers’ safety, among other problems. The actress and producer who’s known as Venus Lux said at the November 1 news conference that if Prop 60 passes, “My life, as well as my livelihood, will be severely at risk.” Among other provisions, the measure would also allow any California resident who complains to the California Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Occupational Safety and Health about a suspected violation to potentially file a civil action against an actor if he has a financial interest in the film and if the agency doesn’t start an investigation within a certain time period. Opponents fear that during such court proceedings, actors’ addresses and other personal information would become public, possibly leading to harassment and physical violence. Lux, who identifies as transsexual, said that she’s received messages like “Fuck you faggot, go kill yourself,” and if people had easy access to her private information, “I would truly fear for my life.” The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which is pushing Prop 60, was behind a similar law that passed in Los Angeles County in 2012. The nonprofit has

Rick Gerharter

Actress and producer Venus Lux spoke out against Proposition 60 Tuesday at a news conference in San Francisco.

spent more than $4.5 million to back the current measure, according to the secretary of state’s office. Wiener said Tuesday that Prop 60 would “enshrine into law” that condoms are the only appropriate tool for preventing HIV and would be “very dangerous” in terms of efforts to end HIV transmission. He also said AHF President Michael Weinstein has been “absolutely obsessed with trying to delegitimize PrEP,” a prevention tool that the gay supervisor has spoken publicly about using. Supervisor Jane Kim, who’s battling Wiener to win the state Senate seat being vacated by termed-out gay Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), said that as someone who’s been in the public eye, “I know what it’s like to be intimidated,” and “I completely understand why this legislation is so dangerous.” Brad Hertz, an attorney representing the Prop 60 campaign, has said health care is AHF’s mission, “specif-

ically in the HIV and sexually transmitted disease area.” He’s called the fears of private information being made public “a red herring,” and he’s said publicizing that data could be blocked through protective orders. Hertz has also said that state and federal law already mandates condoms be worn in porn, but Prop 60 is needed because current regulations “are not being enforced.” In its review of the proposal, the state Legislative Analyst’s Office said that if Prop 60 becomes law, “Some parts of the adult film industry would comply with the measure while others might choose to relocate outside of California. It is also possible some adult film producers would try to evade state and local law enforcement while continuing to make films here. Adult film wages and business income in California would likely decline and, as a result, the measure would likely reduce state and local tax revenues by several million dollars per year.”t

City and County of San Francisco

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SCOTT WIENER SCO S

Alice’s choice for Senate District 11

As a former Alice Co-Chair, Chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, and the only San Francisco Senate Candidate endorsed by the Democratic Party, Scott has been a strong LGBT leader in our city. With Senator Mark Leno’s endorsement to fill his shoes, we know Scott will do us Proud.

www.AliceBToklas.org Building Coalitions in San Francisco for Over 40 Years

Keep our LGBT representation in Sacramento. VOTE SCOTT FOR STATE SENATE! VOT VO

ELECTION ENDORSEMENTS

BY VOTE BER 8TH NOVEM IN PERSON OR BY MAIL

LOCAL BALLOT MEASURES

CITY COLLEGE BOARD

AMY BACHARACH

ALEX RANDOLPH ▼ Alice Board Member

SHANELL WILLIAMS

RAFAEL MANDELMAN

LATEEFAH SIMON BART Board, District 7

BOARD OF EDUCATION

STEVON COOK

RACHEL NORTON

MATT HANEY

GWYNETH BORDEN BART Board, District 9

JILL WYNNS

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

STATE BALLOT MEASURES LONDON BREED, D5 Board of Supervisors President London Breed has been a champion for affordable housing, the environment, the LGBT community and all San Franciscans

MARJAN PHILHOUR, D1 Small business owner and community advocate Marjan Philhour is fighting for affordable housing, effective transit, and public safety

JOSHUA ARCE, D9 Joshua Arce, a labor and environmental leader, offers real solutions and the ability to deliver results for the community

AHSHA SAFAÍ, D11 Ahsha Safai is a labor leader and passionate advocate for children and working families, running for a safe and affordable District 11

ELECTED OFFICIALS

LOCAL BALLOT MEASURES

SCOTT WIENER State Senate District 11

YES PROP A – Our Kids Deserve

DAVID CHIU Assembly District 17

YES PROP B – Expand

PHIL TING Assembly District 19

YES

PAUL HENDERSON Superior Court Judge

MARJAN PHILHOUR Supervisor District 1

YES PROP E – Healthy Trees,

LONDON BREED Supervisor District 5

YES

JOSHUA ARCE Supervisor District 9

YES

AHSHA SAFAI Supervisor District 11

LATEEFAH SIMON BART District 7

YES

Opportunities at City College

GWYNETH BORDEN BART District 9

BOARD OF EDUCATION STEVON COOK

PROP C – Create More Affordable Housing PROP D – Political Games with Appointments Safe Sidewalks

YES

PROP F – Voting Rights for Youth PROP G – Police Accountability PROP H – Expensive New City Elected Office PROP I – Dignity Fund for Seniors and Adults with Disabilities PROP J – Support Comprehensive Homeless and Transportation Planning

YES PROP K – Fund

Comprehensive Homeless and Transportation Planning

MATT HANEY RACHEL NORTON

PROP L – Political Games NO with MUNI

JILL WYNNS

CITY COLLEGE BOARD ALEX RANDOLPH

Strong Schools

▼

AMY BACHARACH RAFAEL MANDELMAN SHANELL WILLIAMS indicates that the candidate is LGBT

PAUL HENDERSON Superior Court Judge Long time, active Alice member and former Chief of Staff to Kamala Harris, Paul Henderson would be the first LGBT African American to serve on the San Francisco Superior Court End the Death Penalty

NO PROP P – More Political

Games with Housing

YES PROP 56 – Cigarettes Kill,

Fund Health Programs

NO POSITION

PROP Q – Homeless Tent Regulations

YES PROP 57 – Common

YES

PROP R – New Police Neighborhood Crime Unit

YES

PROP S – Cuts Valued City Services

NO POSITION

PROP T – Lobbyist Regulations

NO POSITION

PROP U – Affordable Housing Income Levels

YES

PROP V – Healthy Kids and Families

YES

PROP W – Real Estate Tax for Free City College

PROP X – Even More NO Political Games with Housing YES

PROP RR – For a Safe and Reliable BART

STATE PROPOSITIONS YES

PROP 51 – Support Quality Education Around the State

Sense Sentencing Reform

YES

NO PROP M – Political Games with Housing

PROP 53 – Stop the Attack on Local Control

YES PROP N – Voting Rights for

PROP 54 – Costly Special Interest Proposition

PROP O – Jobs, Housing, YES and Parks in Hunters Point

YES

PROP 55 – Fund Education and Healthcare

School Parents

▼ indicates that the candidate is an Alice Board Member

PROP 59 – Oppose “Citizens United” Unlimited Spending PROP 60 – Dangerous Pornography Production Rules PROP 61 – AHF’s Poorly Written Prescription Drug Scheme

YES PROP 62 – End the Death

Penalty

YES

PROP 63 – Support Gun Control

YES PROP 64 – Legalize and

Regulate Marijuana

NO NO

YES PROP 52 – Strengthen

Medi-Cal

PROP 58 – Multilingual Education for a 21st Century Economy

YES

PROP 65 – Plastic Bag Industry Poison Pill PROP 66 – Removes Critical Death Penalty Safeguards PROP 67 – Keep the Plastic Bag Ban

Paid for by the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club PAC, FPPC #842018.

<< Open Forum

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

Volume 46, Number 44 November 3-9, 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 ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Peter Sailsbery – 415.829.8941 NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad, Esq.

Clinton the fighter T

he most polarizing presidential election in recent history will conclude next week, likely not a moment too soon for those of us who just want it to be over. We’re tired of Republican candidate Donald Trump’s lies, and of him saying one thing one day, and contradicting himself the next. We’re exhausted hearing about his boorish behavior toward women – 11 have now come forward to accuse him of unwelcome sexual advances. We’re angry at the shenanigans at the Trump Foundation, which, according to a monthslong investigation by Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold, received $5.5 million from Trump over its life and nothing since 2008. It received $9.3 million from other donors. One of the most consistent charities that his foundation gave to was Trump himself: He used his foundation to settle his legal disputes; he used it to purchase giant paintings of himself; he did not use it to make many donations to charity. Of course, we would know much more about Trump’s finances if he released his taxes. But breaking with a tradition that goes back to the 1980s, he refuses to do so. That should be an automatic disqualification. Most of all, we’re disappointed with the mainstream media, which has, throughout this campaign, largely given Trump a pass. It took until last month for the media to state that Trump has lied. It took a racy audiotape of Trump bragging about “grabbing” a woman’s pussy for the media to finally realize this guy is unhinged. But through it all, from the beginning of Trump’s campaign when he called Mexicans “rapists” and “criminals” to these final days when Trump encouraged supporters to call for “jailing” Clinton, the mainstream media has been mostly on the sidelines. The blatant sexism during the campaign has been appalling. Clinton should smile more, pundits say on TV. She shouldn’t sound so “shrill.” And on and on. This election is too important – and Trump is too dangerous – for LGBTs to sit it out. Trump can’t simply wave a rainbow flag at a rally, as he did in Colorado on Monday, and expect to have our support. He does not favor equal rights for LGBTs and has said he would appoint justices who would undo marriage equality. (It’s unclear how that would be accomplished, but we

certainly don’t want to find out.) Many people have said that this election is a choice between the lesser of two evils. We do not agree. Clinton is by far the superior candidate. She has the knowledge of how government works and the experience to make real progress on LGBT rights, improve the economy, and make life better for working people. She will appoint Supreme Court justices who likely will view the Constitution as a living document, not one set in stone that can’t adapt to the times. Clinton’s campaign was overshadowed by last Friday’s announcement by FBI Director James Comey that investigators have found a cache of emails belonging to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. These emails, found on the laptop of disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner, Abedin’s estranged husband, may or may not be relevant to the earlier investigation into the emails Clinton kept on a private server while she was secretary of state. That examination wrapped up in July when Comey said the FBI recommended to the Justice Department that “no charges are appropriate in this case.” Comey defied previous protocol – and Attorney General Loretta Lynch – in making the recent announcement. Generally, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday authorities “are tempered by longstanding practice and norms that limit public discussion of facts that are collected in the context

44 Gough Street, Suite 204 San Francisco, CA 94103 415.861.5019 • www.ebar.com A division of BAR Media, Inc. © 2016 President: Michael M. Yamashita Chairman: Thomas E. Horn VP and CFO: Patrick G. Brown Secretary: Todd A. Vogt

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. Advertising rates available upon request. Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

of those investigations.” Comey was also told that alerting Congress to the discovery of the new emails would “violate department rules and norms against both discussing a continuing investigation and taking any actions in the days before an election that might influence that election,” the New York Times reported. As a result of this latest “October surprise,” Clinton’s momentum has slowed as the public grapples with yet more email releases. One would think that Clinton is the only administration official to ever use a private server. That would be wrong. Many have, including Republicans like Colin Powell. And given the breeches that have occurred to government servers over the years, it may not be such a bad idea after all. But let us say now: we are sick of the various releases or leaks of Clinton’s emails, none of which have resulted in any criminal charges. Suppressing voter turnout in key states is Trump’s strategy, and Comey’s bombshell is apparently helping in that regard. Enthusiasm for Clinton is down in these final days of the campaign, and that’s not a good sign. Not only will dampened enthusiasm affect Clinton’s prospects, it could significantly affect Democrats’ ability to take back control of the Senate, and with it, confirmation hearings – and votes – for federal judges and Supreme Court justices. Republicans have already said that even if Clinton wins, they will not vote to confirm Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace the late Antonin Scalia. In fact, it’s likely a GOP-controlled Senate won’t hold hearings on any judicial nominees, raising the specter of justices retiring or dying in office and not being replaced. That violates principles on which our government is based: separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. Trump has his solid 40 percent of supporters – they don’t care what hateful things he says or that he flip-flops on just about everything. They don’t care that he maligns Muslims, people with disabilities, and, of course, women. But as Election Day draws near, we need the rest of the country to stand with Clinton. At the end of the second debate, when he was asked to say something positive about his opponent, Trump said, “I will say this about Hillary. She doesn’t quit. She doesn’t give up. I respect that” – probably the only truthful comments he ever uttered about Clinton. Next week, the American people need to vote for Clinton, a fighter who doesn’t give up.t

Vote yes on Prop E for healthy trees, safe sidewalks by Scott Wiener and Dan Flanagan

BAY AREA REPORTER

few years ago, City Hall’s budget cuts forced Public Works to make the wildly unpopular decision to transfer responsibility for street tree care and related sidewalk damage to whichever property owner lives closest to that tree. This misguided policy applies whether or not the owner planted the tree, wants the tree, knows how to care for the tree, or has the physical and financial ability to care for the tree. The result has been exactly what you would expect – dead trees with dangerous limbs, particularly on windy, rainy days, and high cost for our residents. At the same time, more than 6,000 sidewalks in San Francisco are in need of repair because of damage caused by tree roots, and many property owners either don’t realize the city also holds them responsible for those repairs, or they lack the resources or desire to make the repairs. They face sizable bills, and liability for trip-and-fall lawsuits. Seniors and people with disabilities face mobility hazards. Our offices worked together over the past three years to create a solution to these problems. That solution is Proposition E on your November ballot. Prop E fixes these tree and sidewalk maintenance problems permanently by shifting all tree care and related sidewalk repairs to the city, where it belongs. Transferring the responsibility back to the city will save our residents money and headaches, and make our sidewalks and public spaces safer. Importantly, Prop E also sets aside appro-

Dan Flanagan and Supervisor Scott Wiener support Prop E.

priate funding – $19 million per year – for the purpose. The money would come from the city’s general fund, and therefore will not raise taxes. Prop E also supports the care of trees in public schoolyards to create greener and safer play spaces for students. The funding will also cover maintenance costs for 50,000 new trees the city aims to plant over the next 20 years to reverse the decline of our urban forest. Currently, our street tree population is actually shrinking as tree mortality now outpaces tree planting. Among the 20 most populous U.S. cities, San Francis-

co ranks only 17th in its tree canopy coverage. By providing funds to care for our trees, Prop E will lay the groundwork for the future planting of new trees in all neighborhoods – increasing our city’s green canopy, beautifying our streets, and improving our environment. Planting and maintaining street trees in San Francisco reduces pollution in our air and water, increases oxygen, and improves public health. And passage of Prop E will ensure that street trees no longer place a disproportionate financial burden on San Franciscans in less affluent neighborhoods, which are far less leafy than our affluent neighborhoods. Prop E will make it possible for all San Franciscans to enjoy the benefits of a thriving urban forest, regardless of their ability to pay for the maintenance of trees and sidewalks. Prop E is endorsed by both the Democratic and Republican parties, the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters, SPUR, and organizations that represent seniors and people with disabilities. Please view the entire endorsement list at http://www.healthytreessafesidewalks.org. As you consider the many measures on your ballot, remember that voting Yes on Prop E is easy!t Scott Wiener is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and represents District 8, which includes the Castro, Noe Valley, and Glen Park, and is a candidate for state Senate. Dan Flanagan is executive director of Friends of the Urban Forest and chair of the San Francisco Urban Forestry Council.

Letters >>

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Remembering ‘Our Man Friday’

It’s not often I read anything in any paper that touches me personally but that’s what happened when I read the Bay Area Reporter issue about Wayne Friday, especially as I read it sitting in my living room in which I’d entertained Wayne more times than I could count over the years [“Friends recall B.A.R. columnist Friday,” October 20]. I’ll bet Wayne’s other friends got to experience his sense of humor even though he seemed not to show it very often. I’d chuckle when he called me and couldn’t remember if he should use the name Wayne or “Glen,” or how difficult it was to try to change the subject once he began discussing politics and I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. We also had entertaining discussions about his meetings with celebrities. We saw each other less often in the internet age but kept in touch via email. Never once did he mention being ill, but that doesn’t surprise me. A unique man and special friend. Ken Hensley Alameda, California

Friday stood out

We are saddened to hear of the death of one of your past, foremost columnists, Wayne Friday. It will be difficult to think of any political life without that vibrant, fearless man. In times when being gay was to be vilified, he stood out, an extraordinary voice in the wilderness of anger, mistrust and downright disgust of gay life. Friday did, however, continue to make a change in the world. It is easy to stand by and hope for the best. Doing your best to make good lives better is, on the other hand, not that easy a task. Friday took his task seriously and never faltered. We thank him for his service to the Bay Area Reporter and to humanity. A job well done. Mary Richards-Rocos Cathedral City, California

Why LGBTs should care about Prop O

housing at Market and Laguna. That same year San Francisco voters approved the Hunters Point Shipyard plan to restore economic vitality to a community still reeling from the Navy’s shipyard closure. The plan promised to transform an abandoned wasteland into a thriving new neighborhood with vast benefits for Bayview-Hunters Point. Fast-forward to 2016, and what happened? The first phase of Openhouse’s LGBT-friendly housing development at 55 Laguna is built and opening its doors this fall to aging seniors. We’re so thrilled to see our dream of affordable housing become a reality for many of our elderly friends and neighbors. But we’re also dismayed that after eight long years of waiting, residents of BayviewHunters Point still don’t have all the affordable homes, jobs, parks, and prosperity they were promised. That’s why we must pass Proposition O. It’s a matter of social, economic, and environmental justice. Prop O will break the logjam and speed construction of thousands of new affordable homes. It will help Bayview-Hunters Point residents stay in their community instead of being forced out by rising housing costs. That’s social justice. Prop O will create an array of work opportunities at new businesses – 17,000 permanent jobs with a commitment to local hiring. That’s economic justice. The Bayview-Hunters Point community, for the first time, will have real green space – 300 acres of clean parks and beaches where families and friends can picnic, play, hike, and bike in healthy, safe surroundings. That’s environmental justice. Prop O will do that by removing an unfair, unjust requirement that forces office buildings at the deserted Hunters Point Shipyard to compete with downtown high-rises for limited construction permits. Those of us who have struggled so long for equality and justice understand why Prop O is critical to the residents of Bayview-Hunters Point. Prop O should be a priority for our entire LGBT community and for all San Franciscans. Bring social, economic, and environmental justice to Bayview-Hunters Point. Vote yes on Prop O.

A decade ago our LGBT community came together to fight for affordable housing for our growing senior population. It was a tremendous struggle, but in 2008, the city approved a plan to build affordable LGBT senior

Bevan Dufty, Former SF Supervisor Tom Nolan, Chairman, SFMTA Board of Directors Petra DeJesus, San Francisco Police Commission San Francisco

Saint Harridan seeks dancers for flash mob compiled by Cynthia Laird

aint Harridan, the Oaklandbased clothing store and community space catering to masculine presenting women and trans men, is seeking LGBTQ folks to participate in a flash mob for a dance video it is filming. Dubbed “Swagger,” organizers said that everyone is welcome and no experience is needed. The flash mob takes place Saturday, November 5 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. between Oakland City Hall and the Saint Harridan store, 120 Frank Ogawa Plaza. A rehearsal is scheduled for Friday, November 4. Those who are masculine presenting women or trans men are encouraged to participate. While people don’t have to identify as such, organizers said the outfit for the day is masculine presenting. The day will be one of community building and queer visibility. Participants will be entered to win apparel and the grand prize of a custom suit. For a list of frequently asked questions, visit https://sainthar ridan. com/pages/dance. To register, visit the Eventbrite page at https://www.eventbrite. com/e/saint-harridan-swaggerflash-mob-dance-video-registration-28409724250. Those under 18 will need parent/ guardian permission.

Hospice by the Bay gala in Richmond

Hospice by the Bay’s annual ball will be held Saturday, November 5, beginning at 6 p.m. at Craneway

Courtesy Saint Harridan

Dancers will be filming a video for Saint Harridan, a store that caters to masculine presenting women.

Pavilion, Ford Point, 1414 Harbour Way South in Richmond. Guests can dine, dance, and drink in the stunning views at Soiree by the Bay. Now in its 41st year, Hospice by the Bay is celebrating the expansion of its pediatric programs into the East Bay. Funds raised at the event support the community-based nonprofit’s caring programs. The organization provides compassionate end-of-life care for patients, support for their families, and grief counseling to anyone coping with loss in Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Sonoma counties and the cities of American Canyon, Napa, and Vallejo. Tickets start at $250 per person. For more information, visit http:// www.hospicebythebay.org.

Open house for Maitri commercial space

Maitri hospice is having an open

house Tuesday, November 8 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at its vacant ground floor commercial space at 100 Church Street. According to Michael Colbruno, a consultant who’s working with the hospice to lease the 4,000 square foot space, the open house is being held to get the word out about it. Maitri’s ground floor space has been mired in controversy since Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which operates a chain of Out of the Closet thrift shops, settled an eviction lawsuit with Maitri over its rejection of a rent increase in 2015. Maitri then endured harsh criticism earlier this year when it announced plans to lease the space to a sex offender rehab company, without giving nearby residents a heads up. That deal fell apart after a neighborhood uproar, and the space has remained vacant. More recent negotiations with a prospective tenant were unsuccessSee page 21 >>

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Join us for a community update on progress toward an HIV cure, featuring leading researchers from the amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research. This community update is free and intended for the general public. To RSVP go to www.amfar.org/RSVP2016

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Politics>>

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Gay Mt. View City Councilman Clark seeks re-election by Matthew S. Bajko

Should he win his race next week, Clark said he has not given any thought yet to running for higher office since he will be term limited on the council. Any decision to do so, he added, would be determined on what county, state, or federal level political offices become available in the coming years. “People have asked me that. Frankly, I haven’t thought that much about it,” said Clark. “We will see when we get there what is open and isn’t. It doesn’t make sense for me to seek any of those things and run against folks I agree with or are friends with.”

gay Mountain View city councilman is hoping voters will re-elect him Tuesday to his seat, ensuring there is at least one out LGBT city council person in Santa Clara County. Chris Clark, 33, is running for his second and last four-year term on the council. His first term, during which he served as both vice mayor and mayor, expires in January. “We put a lot of high level plans in place over the last four years and now is the time to implement them. I would like to continue working on the things we started and then, in four years, I will be termed out so the voters will be rid of me,” joked Clark when asked by the Bay Area Reporter why he had decided to seek re-election. “I am enjoying myself and want to continue the work we started.” It is his third run for a council seat, having lost his first bid eight years ago. “In 2008 when I was knocking on doors, there were Yes on 8 signs in the yards of doors I was knocking on. That was really intimidating,” said Clark, referring to the statewide ballot measure banning same-sex marriage that passed that year. Nowadays, his being an openly gay candidate “isn’t a big deal,” said Clark. “People are looking for public servants who are genuine and honest and want to know they are the same person in front of a camera as elsewhere,” he said. “A lot of folks are kind of fed up with different personas. I think honesty on those fronts, and just being who you are, really appeals to people right now, at least in Mountain View.” He is the only known LGBT person currently serving on a city council in the South Bay. The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund endorsed Clark, as did three former gay city councilmen in the county: Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager, the first out person to win a council seat in the area when he was elected to San Jose’s city council; Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), who served on the Campbell City Council; and former Campbell City Councilman Rich Waterman. “Chris’ steady leadership and comprehensive knowledge of the issues facing our region make him a highly effective policymaker and advocate for Mountain View. He deserves another term,” stated Low as for why he is backing his re-election bid. Four of Mountain View’s seven city council seats are on the November 8 ballot. In addition to Clark, fellow incumbent John McAlister is also seeking another term, leaving two other seats open. Six other candidates filed to run for the seats, which are all elected citywide. “I feel good but I am not taking any chances this cycle,” said Clark, who is single and the chief operating officer for nonprofit Y Combinator Research. “In a presidential year you get much higher voter turnout than you normally do. The times incumbents lost have been in big presidential election years with higher turnout.” A homeowner, having bought his first condo shortly after winning his race in 2012, Clark now owns a two bedroom condo and has a roommate to help pay off his mortgage. While he doesn’t support imposing rent control in Mountain View, and is against a charter amendment on the ballot that would, Clark said there are other ways to meet his city’s housing needs. “As we have seen in San Francisco, rent control doesn’t have the long-term impacts we would like to have on the affordability front,” said Clark, who voted to require landlords to offer tenants six- to

Courtesy Chris Clark for City Council campaign

Mountain View City Councilman Chris Clark

CA LGBT site deemed historic

12-month leases. “We wanted to make sure no one was in a monthto-month scenario.” Clark also supported imposing development fees on developers that the city has used to partner with nonprofit builders to construct affordable apartments for seniors, veterans, and others. The city has collected $50 million to do so. “We built 200 to 300 units in the last few years and there is another 300 to 500 in the pipeline,” he noted. “That is pretty significant for our population.”

A West Hollywood building that housed several gay bars and hosted fundraisers early in the AIDS epidemic has been deemed to be of historic significance by a state panel. The State Historical Resources Commission voted 4-2 at its meeting Friday, October 28 in favor of listing the Mitchell Camera/The Factory site on the California Register of Historic Places. The oversight body also voted to recommend that the property be considered for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The decision was a reversal from the commission’s earlier deadlocked 3-3 vote at its July 29 meeting on whether to list the property. With one commissioner absent, the panel failed to advance its staff ’s recommendation to nominate the property for listing on the National Register. Because no action was taken, the proponents of the listing, couple Kate Eggert and Krisy Gosney, resubmitted their request. The Factory site has a dual address of 665 N. Robertson Boulevard and 652 N. La Peer Drive in West Hollywood, the largely LGBT enclave in Los Angeles County. As the B.A.R.’s online Political Notes column has previously reported, the site is the first in California to be considered for listing on the National Register of Historic Places specifically due to its ties to LGBT history. And it comes after the National Park Service last month officially released a study about LGBTQ historical sites across the country and called on the public to submit sites to be considered for federal historical status. To date, all seven of the properties on the National Register specifically

listed due to their LGBT historical importance are located on the East Coast. It is highly unlikely that The Factory building will be listed on the National Register, however, since the building owner does not support doing so, which is required under federal rules. According to a story in the Los Angeles Times last July, local developer Faring Capital wants to demolish the Mitchell Camera/The Factory building and replace it with a hotel, meeting spaces for people visiting West Hollywood’s design district, and a “park-like walkway” connecting four streets in the area. The structure can be listed on the California Register of Historical Resources despite the opposition of the property owner, thus requiring greater scrutiny for any development plans that would alter or demolish the existing structure. In a note posted to a Facebook page in support of the Factory listing, Eggert praised the state commission’s decision last week as “great news.” And she held out hope of securing federal listing for the building. “We should know for sure about the National Register listing around the beginning of next year,” she wrote.t

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<< Election 2016

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

Queer man takes helm of SF Democratic Party by David-Elijah Nahmod

s San Francisco voters head to the polls, the new executive director of the local Democratic Party is likely to see a slew of fellow Democrats elected in this famously liberal town. Adam Mehis, who identifies as queer, was named to his current post in September. He said that he brings a long history of activism and community service to the table. His resume includes working as a housing advocate for the Q Foundation, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, and the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, where he continues to serve on the board. “My heritage is the Milk club,” Mehis told the Bay Area Reporter. “It’s where my political rearing took place.” Like many LGBTs, Mehis, 36, came to San Francisco because of the city’s status as a gay mecca and as a place of progressive politics. “I fell in love with what a San Francisco Democrat was supposed to be. I wanted to be what Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer were. It was easy to build community here,” he said, referring to the House minority leader and the state’s retiring senator.

The Texas native grew up in an area that planted the seeds for the activist he would become. “I grew up in a blue pocket of Texas,” Mehis said. “I once thought of going back but I felt I would be going back to a place with no LGBTQ community.” Even before his arrival in the Bay Area, Mehis was involved in social justice causes. As an intern at the Texas After Violence Project, he worked on a disability awareness video for the Coalition of Texans With Disabilities, as well as illustrated the misapplication, unevenness, and discrepancies in the Texan death penalty. Mehis explained how his new position came his way. “I’m a member of six political clubs,” he said. “I applied and got an interview – within a few days they asked for my references. Then they offered me the position.” Mehis declined to state his salary. He was more interested in discussing the current issues and challenges facing the LGBTQ community. Mehis expressed his support for giving all people in the community a voice, while also expressing the importance of Democratic wins in this year’s national elections – the Demo-

Courtesy Adam Mehis

Adam Mehis

crats support a variety of LGBTQ issues, while many Republican Party candidates have threatened to roll back marriage equality, reproductive choice, and to prevent immigration reform from moving forward. Some LGBTQ people who are not thrilled with Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton have said they will vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein as a protest vote against the two party system – pundits have pointed out

that those votes are being siphoned from Clinton. “A protest vote enacts a huge level of privilege,” Mehis said. “People who are protest voting should think about why they’re voting and what that means.” Helping Democratic candidates get elected is part of Mehis’ job description, but personally, he leans progressive. He hopes that District 11 voters will elect lesbian Kimberly Alvarenga to the Board of Supervisors, especially since gay District 9 Supervisor David Campos is termed out. Gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener could leave the board if he is elected to the state Senate next week. “If Kimberly wins she will be our one LGBTQ voice on the board,” Mehis said, if Wiener wins the Senate seat. “If she doesn’t it will break a 40-year record of having LGBTQ people on the board.” Alvarenga’s main opponent in the race, Ahsha Safai, a straight man, is also a Democrat but is viewed more as a moderate. There are other issues close to Mehis’ heart. “All Democrats are united to do something to alleviate the city’s housing crisis,” he said. “How we get there is the question. Thirty percent

of homeless adults are LGBTQ – 50 percent of homeless youth are LGBTQ. Democrats need to come to the table to solve the problem.” The city’s Point-In-Time survey revealed nearly 30 percent of the city’s homeless population identifies as LGBTQ. Recent studies have shown that nationally, about 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ. Mehis added that five of the city’s eight Democratic County Central Committee leaders identify as LGQ. They are Petra DeJesus, first vice chair; Keith Baraka, second vice chair; Pratima Gupta, third vice chair; Tom Ammiano, treasurer; and Bevan Dufty, corresponding secretary. “With us being so well represented, we have to figure out how to solve this,” he said. “Right now, my goal is to help the party help those who have been left out. It’s incredibly fulfilling – I can be a proxy for different communities.” Mehis said that he has no plans to run for office in the immediate future. “Right now I’m learning how the party runs,” he said. “I’m taking it one day at a time. I’m learning so much in this new role.”t

Gay SF consultant makes Trump donation by Cynthia Laird

ay San Francisco political consultant Jack Davis has spent much of his career helping elect Democrats. So it was surprising to see his name on a list of local donors to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. A list of local Trump donors on the San Francisco Examiner’s web-

site last week listed Davis as having donated $2,700 to the campaign. “It is me,” Davis said in an email when contacted last week. Davis, 70, helped elect former Mayor Willie Brown and has had a hand in various campaigns over the years. He now splits his time between San Francisco and South Wales. He said that he was a “huge” Ber-

nie Sanders supporter during the primaries as the Vermont senator was a populist reform candidate. Sanders was “part of a movement to change Washington’s insider corrupt politics by creating a movement that understood Secretary [Hillary] Clinton represented the entrenched special interests, banks, Wall Street, lawyers at the expense of ordinary people who were losing

their jobs because of stupid trade deals and policies that favored the rich,” Davis said. He said he wanted change and decided he would support Trump in July. At the time, Trump’s campaign “was more of a populist campaign against the haves, vetting immigrants, no open doors, ending the stupid Democratic ‘globalization theory’ that was not working and diminishing America’s standing in the world and the pitiful ObamaClinton misunderstanding of radical Muslim extremism and Sharia law.” “A law that would kill all LGBTQ individuals in the most barbaric ways. Beat and kill women. I am indeed fearful for America and its people, of our future,” Davis said. Davis said that eight years ago, he was an early Barack Obama supporter, “to the distress of many of my Democratic friends.” “Hillary Clinton was someone I didn’t trust then,” he added. “Today she is a seminal liar who has lied under oath, used her position to raise money for the Clinton Foundation from dictatorships with disastrous records on human rights, plotted behind Bernie’s back, will sell her soul for a couple hundred [thousand] in speech money to Wall Street brokers, [and] supports open borders.” Clinton’s campaign has been beset by problems related to her use of a private server while she was secretary of state. After clearing her in July, last week, FBI Director James Comey wrote to congressional leaders that investigators had found more emails on a laptop belonging to disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner. Weiner’s estranged wife, Huma Abedin, a top Clinton aide, apparently saved the emails. It is not yet known if they are pertinent to the previous Clinton investigation.

Long involved in politics

Davis arrived in San Francisco in 1972 as part of the gay migration. “It was a time of assimilation and community building,” he said in the email. He joined the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and later was a charter member of the San

Courtesy Jack Davis

Jack Davis

Francisco Gay Democratic Club (now the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club). He was a friend of Milk’s. In 1977 he was asked to go to Dade County, Florida to help fight Anita Bryant’s initiative. “Jim Foster, David Scott, Randy Shilts, Lenny Matlovich, Bob Basker, and Jack Campbell, to name a few, spent months working with the local community to defeat the first vote in America to take away human rights,” Davis recalled. They lost, but ended up gaining in the long run. “That debate forced America to face us as a people,” Davis said. “It changed my life, too.” Davis said he started to see running campaigns as a cause, along with other gay consultants such as the late Dick Pabich and the late Jim Rivaldo. Electing Mike Hennessey as San Francisco sheriff was Davis’ first campaign, he said, and he built his company. Other campaigns he has worked on include the San Francisco Giants downtown ballpark, BART to the airport, the Laguna Honda First Committee, UCSF Mission Bay campus, and the 49er Stadium-Mall campaign. Davis said that he’s “well aware” of those who view his Trump donation – and his thoughts on the presidential race – as “heresy.” “I’m OK with that,” he said. “It’s time to drain the swamp that is Washington politics as usual. In this great democracy my views are just as valid as any others.”t

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<< Election 2016

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

Clinton, Trump stagger toward finish line

theonemarkethaps

by Lisa Keen

olls were predicting Democrat Hillary Clinton would almost certainly win the White House November 8 – up until a few days ago. That nearly unanimous consensus Join us for our Saturday was thrown into question October 28, after a letter from FBI Director Happy Hour from 5:30-9pm James Comey to several Republican with cocktail, wine and beer House leaders became public. The specials in the lounge. letter said that, in working on an unrelated matter, FBI investigators had come across some emails they believe were “pertinent” to an investigation into Clinton’s use of a private server as secretary of state. Comey said his The reservation books are now Rudy K. Lawidjaja investigators would be assessing these new emails to determine whether they open. Treat yourself and your Hillary Clinton campaigned in Pennsylvania last month. “may be significant,” but he gave no family and friends to a stresshint of when that might be. free, farm-fresh Thanksgiving. Senate races to watch: Indiana and At a minimum, the controlling party The news hit the presidential camKentucky: Democrats are expected must have 50 senators and the White paign like an earthquake, making to pick up their first new Senate seat House (with the vice president’s vote every survey suddenly out of date in Indiana, with former Senator Evan breaking any tie). For the current and sending pollsters scrambling to Bayh, who had Human Rights CamRepublican-controlled Senate to gauge the impact of something that paign scores between 84 and 90 for change party hands, Clinton must Comey’s letter failed to define. his voting record on LGBT issues in win and Democrats must pick up By Saturday, some news orgaLive jazz piano Monday Congress. And in Kentucky, openly four new seats and not lose any existnizations were saying that various through Saturday nights gay candidate Jim Gray is making a ing seats. If Trump wins, Democrats unidentified sources said the new from 6:30-9:30pm. Catch tough bid to unseat incumbent Rewould need to pick up five new seats. emails were neither to nor from Billy Philadelphia Wednesday publican Rand Paul. In the governors’ races, politiClinton, but were to or from one of Governors’ races in Indiana and cal observers will be eager to learn her closest aides, Huma Abedin, and through Saturday. Vermont: These are very tight races whether North Carolina Governor her estranged husband, former Repfor the open seats in both states. In Pat McCrory will lose his job over resentative Anthony Weiner. The Indiana, Democrat John Gregg has his enthusiastic support for the unrelated investigation is reportMention The B.A.R. and receive a complimentary promised to issue an executive order anti-LGBT law, House Bill 2, that he edly looking into Weiner sending Singular Sensation dessert with dinner entrée purchase. prohibiting discrimination against signed this year. sexually related emails or texts to a state employees based on sexual Viewers can tune in to any of 15-year-old girl. orientation and gender identity. the five major television networks Republicans, including presidential 1 MARKET STREET Republican Eric Holcomb says he (ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, NBC/ candidate Donald Trump, seized on SAN FRANCISCO doesn’t plan to focus on the issue. MSNBC), which will have the latest the announcement in hopes of rescu415.777.5577 R E S T A U R A N T In Vermont, Republican Phil Scott news quickly because they, plus the ing their hopes for the White House. 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Election 2016>>

transgender people and prohibiting local governments from passing laws to prohibit discrimination against LGBT people. The controversial law has cost the state millions of dollars in lost revenue and jobs, as corporations and big sports tournaments have pulled out in protest. At deadline, polls showed him slightly behind Democratic challenger Roy Cooper, the state’s attorney general. Cooper has refused to defend the constitutionality of HB 2 and has earned the endorsement of LGBT groups. In West Virginia, Democrat Jim Justice opposed a so-called religious freedom law; Republican Bill Cole voted for it.

States with polls closing at 5 p.m.

Connecticut, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Alabama, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee Electoral votes on the line: 172 Presidential: All eyes will be on Florida, with 29 electoral votes, and Pennsylvania with 20. Once again, Trump needs both to have any chance of winning the White House. Before the Comey letter, Clinton had a five-point lead in Pennsylvania and less than a one-point lead in Florida. If Clinton does pick up Florida and Pennsylvania, she’ll take the lead, with at least 143 electoral votes and she will have enough electoral votes in the remaining true blue states to run well past the 270 she needs to secure the White House. But if she’s having a bad night, she’ll end the 5 o’clock hour with only 94 votes and will need to pick up Texas (a long shot) or both Arizona and Nevada in the coming hours. Senate races to watch: Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Illinois: Democrats are poised to pick off a second Republican-held Senate seat in Illinois, with Representative Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth got the backing of most LGBT groups, though the Human Rights Campaign initially gave its endorsement to incumbent Mark Kirk as the lone Republican willing to endorse the Equality Act. But HRC announced Saturday that it was revoking its endorsement of Kirk due to the “deeply offensive and racist” remarks he made during his debate last Thursday. Kirk has apologized for saying to Duckworth, “I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.” Democrats have a chance of picking up a third new seat in New Hampshire and/or Pennsylvania but polls are too close to call. New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan (D), a strong supporter of LGBT equality, has been trading the lead with incumbent Kelly Ayotte (R), whose HRC scorecard has run from 15 to 60 to 80 in the past three sessions. In Pennsylvania, where the race is also very tight, Democrat Katie McGinty has been taking a high-profile pitch for the LGBT vote. Incumbent Pat Toomey’s (R) last HRC score was a 16. House races to watch: Connecticut, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island: Openly gay candidates are running for House seats in these states, though incumbent David Cicilline in Rhode Island is the only sure winner. Openly gay challengers are also running in Connecticut (Clay Cope), New Hampshire (Shawn O’Connor), and Oklahoma (Al McAffrey). Governors’ races: New Hampshire’s longtime lesbian activist Mo Baxley endorsed Democrat Colin van Ostern early in the race, saying he is a “trusted ally in the fight for equality.” Republican Chris Sununu said he would have “a real problem” with businesses denying services to LGBT people based on the businesses’ religious beliefs, but he said, in a separate interview, that he’d be willing to take a look at a law that enabled that. Polls show a very tight race.

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

States with polls closing at 6 p.m.

Arkansas, New York, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming Electoral votes on the line: 158 Presidential: This is potentially the Waterloo hour. If Trump has been able to pull Ohio, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania into his column, the race will still be alive at 6 p.m. when results from another 14 states holding 159 electoral votes will become known. His best case scenario would be to win 280, so he can afford to lose 10 electoral votes along the way, but at 6, he’ll still need to see Arizona (11 electoral votes) and Texas (38) in his column or the race is likely over. If Clinton has won Pennsylvania, Florida, and Minnesota, she’ll be at 235 and the race is all but over because she can reach the magic number of 270 by simply taking California – and that’s a given. But if Clinton’s having a bad night, she’ll need Texas or Arizona this hour. Senate races to watch: Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado: Democrats are expecting to keep their Senate seat from Colorado and pick up a new seat from Wisconsin. If they have already won Indiana, New Hampshire, and Illinois, then Russ Feingold, a strong LGBT equality supporter,

show host running on the Republican side. Two other gay congressional candidates – both in Arizona (Paul Babeu and Matt Heinz) – have tough but possible chances of success. And in Colorado, newcomer Misty Plowright, a trans woman, is making a long-shot Democratic bid to unseat a Republican incumbent for the state’s 5th district. Four incumbent gay or bisexual Democrats are expected to enjoy easy re-elections: Jared Polis in Colorado, Sean Patrick Maloney in New York, Mark Pocan in Wisconsin, and Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona. Brown for Governor campaign

Oregon Governor Kate Brown is running for re-election.

makes four and – if Clinton wins the White House – Democrats will take over control of the Senate. If Trump wins, Democrats will still need to pick up one more Senate seat. But no celebration can begin until Democrats secure the existing Democratic seat in Nevada next hour. House races to watch: Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin: Watch for Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District – voters are leaning toward gay businesswoman Angie Craig (D), and last week, the Minnesota Star Tribune endorsed her over Jason Lewis, the “outsized personality” radio talk

States with polls closing at 7 p.m.

Iowa, Montana, Utah, Nevada Electoral votes on the line: 21 Presidential: Montana’s three electoral votes are going to Trump, but the other three states each have six electoral votes and polls prior to the Comey letter showed them each to be a toss-up state. And each could become critical to reaching 270, depending on how the evening has been going so far. Senate races to watch: Iowa and Nevada: If Democrats haven’t won five new seats by now, Nevada is the last chance for a Democratic majority in the Senate. Plus Democrats have to retain this seat – currently held by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. The Democrat’s nominee, Nevada Attorney General

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Catherine Cortez Masto, has the endorsement of the Lesbian PAC and the Human Rights Campaign. The Republican candidate, Representative Joe Heck, has a zero score on LGBT issues in Congress. House races to watch: Montana and Utah: For Montana’s one atlarge congressional seat, lesbian Native American Denise Juneau has the backing of HRC and the Lesbian PAC but the Republican incumbent is expected to win. In Utah, Democrat newcomer Misty Snow, a transgender woman, is running against incumbent Mike Lee, who had a 35point lead in the polls mid-October. Governors’ races: Montana’s Democratic Governor Steve Bullock signed an executive order in January prohibiting discrimination against LGBT state employees. He’s urged support for programs that help homeless youth to include LGBT kids and he’s presided over a same-sex wedding. His Republican challenger, Greg Gianforte, is opposed to marriage equality and has given more than half a million dollars to the anti-gay group Focus on the Family. Polls show the race leaning toward the Democrat. In Utah, Democratic challenger Mike Weinholtz is pro-LGBT but far behind the incumbent Republican Gary Herbert, who is opposed to legal protections for LGBT people. See page 21 >>

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What is TRUVADA for PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis)? TRUVADA is a prescription medicine that can be used for PrEP to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection when used together with safer sex practices. This use is only for adults who are at high risk of getting HIV-1 through sex. This includes HIV-negative men who have sex with men and who are at high risk of getting infected with HIV-1 through sex, and male-female sex partners when one partner has HIV-1 infection and the other does not. Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to prevent getting HIV-1. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about TRUVADA for PrEP? Before taking TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: u You must be HIV-negative. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1 infection. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are conﬁrmed to be HIV-negative. u Many HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has recently become infected. If you have flu-like symptoms, you could have recently become infected with HIV-1. Tell your healthcare provider if you had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting TRUVADA for PrEP or at any time while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin. While taking TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: u You must continue using safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1. u You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. u To further help reduce your risk of getting HIV-1: • Know your HIV-1 status and the HIV-1 status of your partners. • Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months or when your healthcare provider tells you. • Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV-1 to infect you. • Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior. • Have fewer sex partners. • Do not miss any doses of TRUVADA. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection. • If you think you were exposed to HIV-1, tell your healthcare provider right away. u If you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA alone to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time. TRUVADA can cause serious side effects: u Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, nausea, vomiting, stomach-area pain, cold or blue hands and feet, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or fast or abnormal heartbeats. u Serious liver problems. Your liver may become large and tender, and you may develop fat in your liver. Symptoms of liver problems include your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, and/or stomach-area pain.

u You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver

problems if you are female, very overweight (obese), or have been taking TRUVADA for a long time. In some cases, these serious conditions have led to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any symptoms of these conditions. u Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. If you also have HBV and take TRUVADA, your hepatitis may become worse if you stop taking TRUVADA. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without ﬁrst talking to your healthcare provider. If your healthcare provider tells you to stop taking TRUVADA, they will need to watch you closely for several months to monitor your health. TRUVADA is not approved for the treatment of HBV.

Who should not take TRUVADA for PrEP? Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP if you already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status. If you are HIV-1 positive, you need to take other medicines with TRUVADA to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP if you also take lamivudine (Epivir-HBV) or adefovir (HEPSERA).

What are the other possible side effects of TRUVADA for PrEP? Serious side effects of TRUVADA may also include: u Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider may do blood tests to check your kidneys before and during treatment with TRUVADA for PrEP. If you develop kidney problems, your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking TRUVADA for PrEP. u Bone problems, including bone pain or bones getting soft or thin, may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones. u Changes in body fat, which can happen in people taking TRUVADA or medicines like TRUVADA. Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP are stomach-area (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or do not go away.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking TRUVADA for PrEP? u All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare

provider if you have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection. u If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if TRUVADA can harm your unborn baby. If you become pregnant while taking TRUVADA for PrEP, talk to your healthcare provider to decide if you should keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Pregnancy Registry: A pregnancy registry collects information about your health and the health of your baby. There is a pregnancy registry for women who take medicines to prevent HIV-1 during pregnancy. For more information about the registry and how it works, talk to your healthcare provider. u If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. The medicines in TRUVADA can pass to your baby in breast milk. If you become HIV-1 positive, HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk. u All the medicines you take, including prescription and overthe-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. TRUVADA may interact with other medicines. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine. u If you take certain other medicines with TRUVADA for PrEP, your healthcare provider may need to check you more often or change your dose. These medicines include ledipasvir with sofosbuvir (HARVONI). You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see Important Facts about TRUVADA for PrEP including important warnings on the following page.

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TRUVADA for PrEP ? TM

The once-daily prescription medicine that can help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 when used with safer sex practices. • TRUVADA for PrEP is only for adults who are at high risk of getting HIV through sex. • You must be HIV-negative before you start taking TRUVADA. Ask your doctor about your risk of getting HIV-1 infection and if TRUVADA for PrEP may be right for you.

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Community News>>

t CA court recognizes woman’s non-binary gender

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

by Heather Cassell

ara Kelly Keenan was pleasantly surprised when Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Robert B. Atack recently approved her request for gender reassignment. The former paralegal, who used to work in the very courtroom she appeared in, anticipated a battle to change her gender. She came armed with a seven-page brief outlining the ways that California was in violation of its own laws by denying her the right to appropriately identify herself as a “non-binary female.” When Atack gave her the stamp of approval September 26, Keenan, 55, who uses female pronouns, was overjoyed. Keenan was joined in court by Toby Adams, an attorney for the Intersex and Gender Queer Recognition Project. Adams reviewed Keenan’s brief and helped her keep her documents in order as she presented her case to the judge. “She really had a very strong case,” said Adams, who Keenan contacted after she had filed her case with the court. “We really felt good about both Sara’s case as well as Santa Cruz County being a liberal place where we thought we would have a good shot at winning.” Win they did and in the process Keenan also made history, becoming the second individual in the U.S. to be legally granted a court order to change her gender identity to non-binary. In June, Jamie Shupe, 52, became the first individual in the U.S. to legally change their gender identity to non-binary in Oregon. In Santa Cruz, it was the first time Adams saw a judge physically alter court documents to correct Keenan’s gender to non-binary. “It’s very significant that he did that because now judges in other counties can say, ‘Oh, well I’m not

“It demonstrated that this was possible to do by court order and I needn’t wait for the Legislature.” –Sara Kelly Keenan

Courtesy Sara Kelly Keenan

Sara Kelly Keenan, left, holds the court document designating a non-binary gender as attorney Toby Adams looks on.

the first one, somebody has already done it,’” said Adams. “I’m really impressed with Sara and the willingness to put herself out there and ask for what’s right and to demand for what’s right,” added Adams. “All of these people who are seeking these gender changes are very, very brave.”

A path forward

Shupe inspired Keenan, who is now a life coach, to file her own case to legally change her gender identity on her identification documents. “It demonstrated that this was possible to do by court order and I needn’t wait for the Legislature,” said Keenan, who has been advocating for intersex rights for the past several years and speaks regularly in schools about gender identity and intersex issues. Keenan didn’t think that getting her gender changed would be as easy as drawing the appropriate boxes on California’s gender change form and submitting it to the court. She imagined that it would be a long battle changing California’s laws to

Parole granted for Araujo killer by Seth Hemmelgarn

arole has been granted for one of the men who murdered transgender teenager Gwen Araujo in 2002, while parole for another one of Araujo’s killers has been denied. The state Board of Parole Hearings granted parole for Jose Antonio Merel, 36, after a hearing last month at Soledad State Prison. The board denied parole for Michael William Magidson, 36. Magidson is being held at Valley State Prison. Araujo, 17, was killed in October 2002 at a house party in the East Bay city of Newark, California. Two men at the party had reportedly had sex with the young woman they’d known as Lida, and they murdered her after their suspicions that she was biologically male were confirmed. The men then drove Araujo’s body to a grave in the Sierra foothills. Araujo’s murder brought unprecedented attention to transgender issues and prompted state law barring the use of the “panic defense,” where people charged with murder defend themselves by claiming the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity triggered them. Merel, whose parole hearing was October 14, and Magidson, whose hearing was October 12, are serving prison sentences of 15 years to life after being convicted of seconddegree murder. Sylvia Guerrero, 52, Araujo’s mother, has been supportive of Merel. In 2012, she told the Bay Area Reporter that she planned to

include intersex or non-binary gendered people under the umbrella of protections for gender identity alongside transgender individuals, she said. Shupe changed that expectation. Keenan believed that she had a chance to win her case because several years ago she discovered that she is “quite literally” intersex. Her chemical and physical makeup is male and female. She has male chromosomes and her anatomy is female, a condition that is known as Swyer syndrome. Before she left the courtroom with her order, Atack expressed concern to Keenan regarding the long road she had to walk down changing all of her documents, she said. Keenan is aware and prepared to take on the challenge.

tion for non-binary gender on driver’s licenses, said Keenan and Shupe. In an email, the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ Office of Public Affairs stated, “We are aware of the recent legal proceeding

regarding non-binary gender and will be carefully reviewing the issue. This review will include collaborating with other states and the federal government to identify best practices and options for how to proceed.” Shupe forwarded a letter from the Oregon Department of Transportation that confirms its DMV intends to adopt an administrative rule that, among other things, clarifies the requirements for requesting a change to a sex designation on an existing DMV record. Keenan, a resident of Ben Lomond in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and who has been married to David Keenan for nearly 30 years, is curSee page 16 >>

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“Now we have to fight for its implementation in the various state departments that are currently violating the civil rights of people who are non-binary in gender,” said Keenan, who purposefully chose the non-binary term. “I specifically chose non-binary so that all genderqueer people and trans people who identify as nonbinary could be welcomed under this umbrella with this designation,” said Keenan. In a swift and unprecedented move, Keenan and Shupe have received acknowledgement from their respective state motor vehicle departments to update their driver’s licenses to properly reflect their gender as non-binary. Both departments stated that they were in the process of forming committees to help them address their forms and systems to enable the op-

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Jose Merel sits in court during the 2004 murder trial for Gwen Araujo.

visit him at Soledad. “I’ve been talking on and off with the Merel family for years,” Guerrero, who lives in Manteca, California, said at the time. She said that of the four men, Merel has “always been remorseful.” But Guerrero wants Magidson to stay in prison. In an October 12 Facebook post, she said, “I trust in God that he will remain behind bars as he should be. He’s never showed remorse nor taken responsibility for his actions. ... Here’s to keeping this dangerous person incarcerated for as long as possible.” The earliest Merel may be released will be around January. Parole agent Brian Kelley, who’s with the state parole board, said the agency’s legal division has 120 days to review the decision in Merel’s case for any legal or factual errors. See page 16 >>

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<< Commentary

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

CA voters appear poised to legalize marijuana by Sari Staver

an Francisco is ready to become the capital for urban cannabis consumption if Proposition 64 is approved November 8, according to Terrance Alan, chair of the city’s 22-member Cannabis State Legalization Task Force. “I can’t imagine it not passing,” Alan said in a telephone interview with the Bay Area Reporter. A variety of polls have shown that at least 60 percent of likely voters are in favor of the measure, which has raised over $20 million, outspending opponents – who have raised about $1.5 million – in an effort to turn the tide in the state’s war over weed. Prop 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, if approved, would control, regulate, and tax adult use, sale, and cultivation of cannabis in the state. It would make California the sixth place in the U.S. to legalize recreational use of the plant, joining Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington state, and the District of Columbia who beat the Golden State to the punch. Four additional states – Nevada, Arizona, Maine, and Massachusetts – have similar measures on the ballot next week. Alan, a gay man and longtime cannabis activist, has headed the year-old task force established by the Board of Supervisors to advise the city on every imaginable issue it will need to deal with should pot be legalized. Final recommendations are due in December. “We will have recommendations on all the tools the city will need” to prepare for the cultivation, distribution, taxation, and sale of cannabis, he said. Passage, said Alan, “would be a revolutionary change” by allowing adults

“to walk in off the street and purchase cannabis the same way they buy any other adult product.” Such changes would not take effect until January 2018, to give local governments time to adopt rules and regulations about how the products are sold. In addition to the ability to buy pot in retail stores, Alan, a nightlife entrepreneur, said he can envision the city having non-alcoholic cafes offering cannabis on the menu “so cannabis could be enjoyed socially” as it is in cafes in Amsterdam. The ballot measure prohibits the sale of cannabis at any establishment where alcohol is served, “definitely a disappointment,” added Allen. The 62-page proposition (https://ballotpedia. org/California_Proposition_64,_Marijuana_Legalization_(2016) - Text_ of_measure) would: • Legalize the possession and use of one ounce or less of marijuana by adults 21 and over, ending the state’s 103-year-old prohibition law. It would also let adults cultivate up to six plants for personal use in a private, enclosed space. • Downgrade the penalties for cultivation, sale, transport, and possession with intent to sell from mandatory felonies to misdemeanors. • Impose a 15 percent excise tax on cannabis, expected to eventually raise up to $1 billion that will be directed to children and youth, law enforcement, and the environment. • Not override, repeal, or detract from the existing Proposition 215 rights of qualified patients to possess and cultivate medical marijuana for personal use, nor would it change how doctors recommend it. In California, the possession or use of marijuana for recreational purposes is illegal. The passage of

And if you’re curious to Prop 215 in 1996 legalized know where others stand, medical marijuana. Since here’s a list of some of the then, 25 other states and players. the District of Columbia have approved medical Support for Prop 64 marijuana and several Groups that are in supmore have similar meaport include the California sures on the ballot this Medical Association, the year. California Nurses AssociaAlthough the U.S. Detion, United Farm Workpartment of Justice under ers, the American Civil President Barack Obama Liberties Union of Califordoes not prosecute most nia, California NAACP, the individuals and busiHarvey Milk LGBT Demnesses following state and ocratic Club, the Alice B. local marijuana laws, both Courtesy Terrance Alan Toklas LGBT Democratic medical and recreational Terrance Alan is chair of the San Francisco Cannabis Club, the Brownie Mary marijuana are illegal under State Legalization Task Force. Democratic Club, and federal law. Prop 64 would Equality California. make recreational mariPoliticians in support juana legal in California Politicians generally fall along include Lieutenant Governor Gavin state law. A similar proposition was party lines, with the California Newsom (D), Senator Bernie Sanddefeated in 2010. Democratic Party and the California ers (I-Vermont), and gay state SenaOpponents of the measure (http:// Green Party in favor and the Califortor Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). www.noon64.net) argue that passage nia Republican Party and the CaliNewspapers that have editoricould greatly increase highway fatalifornia Libertarian Party opposed. alized for a yes vote include the ties and would endanger children by But Representative Dana RohraBay Area Reporter, San Francisco allowing cultivators to grow near bacher (R-Costa Mesa) is notably Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, schools and parks and allow sellers to in favor, arguing that the measure Mercury News, Orange County Regadvertise on television. According to will replace failed prohibition with ister, and the Los Angeles Times. Politifact California, a judge ordered a safe, regulated system. Senator Prop 64 opponents to dial back their Dianne Feinstein (D-California) Opposition to Prop 64 claims on what the initiative would opposes Prop 64, the first statewide Organizations opposed to do. They have now said primetime politician to do so. Feinstein has marijuana legalization include the TV ads for marijuana “could be alcited the proposal’s lack of safeCalifornia Hospital Association, lowed.” The Yes on 64 campaign conguards for children and motorists. California Association of Highway tends that nothing in the initiative Taking a position similar to that Patrolmen, California Police Chiefs makes it legal to show marijuana ads of most industry representatives is Association, Los Angeles Area on TV, as federal law prohibits it. Erich Pearson, a gay man who is coChamber of Commerce, and the Of course, behind the rhetoric founder of the San Francisco Patient International Faith Based Coalition. of civil rights and public policy, and Resource Center, or SPARC, Newspapers that have editorialthe stakeholders in the cannabis one of the city’s largest medical ized against Prop 64 are the Santa industry are also trying to protect cannabis dispensaries, who said in Rosa Press-Democrat, the Fresno their own turf, with most industry an email, “There are many negative Bee, and the Sacramento Bee.t officials supporting the measure symptoms to an unregulated canand most law enforcement and renabis market, such as unjust laws ligious leaders opposed. Activists Bay Area Cannasseur runs the disproportionately affecting comfirst Thursday of the month. and growers are divided, with many munities of color. Prop 64/AUMA To send column ideas or tips, opposing Prop 64, fearing that the is solid first step crafted by a broad email Sari Staver at sari@ industry they began years ago will group of stakeholders, aimed at bayareacannasseur.com. be taken over by big business. righting these wrongs.”

I am the future of the LGBT community. I’m gay.

I’m 22 years old and I’m an exchange student from Spain. Going to college here means a fun time, lots of hard work and getting to see new things. It also means a chance to really be myself. My parents are supportive of my sexuality, and my host family here is a couple with two teenage boys. Nobody cares if they’re gay or straight. I’m excited to be part of a world where that can be true. I am the future of the LGBT community. And I read about that future every day on my Android tablet. Because that’s where I want it to be.

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

Non-binary

From page 15

rently planning to travel to New York, where she was born, to change her gender on her birth certificate. She hopes to eventually to be able to change it on her passport. Currently, intersex activist Dana Zzyym, who is being represented by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, has a case against the U.S. State Department to change her gender to non-binary on her passport. “I’ve got a court order that the state is not currently able to honor and I won’t rest until it is honored,” said Keenan. “I really want more people to know that this option exists for them, if this is a truthful gender identification for them,” said Keenan, who explained that she also had to submit a physician’s affidavit declaring her non-binary. She said that she hopes state

Parole

From page 15

Governor Jerry Brown will then have 30 days to review the decision. Magidson stipulated to a threeyear denial, Kelley said, meaning he agreed that the board should not grant his parole. His next hearing will be no later than October 12, 2019. Others involved in Araujo’s killing have already been freed. Jason Cazares, 36, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was discharged from prison in 2012. Jaron Nabors, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for his testimony and has been discharged. Since her daughter’s murder, Guerrero has worked to raise awareness of trans issues. But she’s been faced with physical and financial

forms will be amended. “It’s time for not only society at large but our own community to recognize that we are here too,” said Keenan. Veteran intersex activist David Strachan, 69, a non-binary individual who has been pushing for intersex rights for more than 20 years, expressed gratitude for the sudden gains. “I feel hopeful that more will come,” Strachan wrote in an email from New York responding to the Bay Area Reporter. “I am grateful for the courage Jamie and Sara had in doing what they did. “My hope is that LGBT people will finally recognize that we exist and include us in their work for all our human rights,” he added. Adams and Keenan are now working on helping others process their gender to non-binary.t For more information, visit http:// www.intersexrecognition.org.

problems, on top of the emotional destruction that came with her Araujo’s death. “I’ve lost everything,” Guerrero said in an interview last year. “I lost my kid. She’s never going to go home. That’s the one thing I wish never happened ... When they killed Gwen, they killed her mom. This is just what’s left of me. It’s changed my life forever.” Despite the importance of Araujo’s death, though, many seem to have forgotten. In her Facebook post the day of Magidson’s parole hearing, Guerrero wrote, “I’m very shocked and surprised from the lack of letters being written to the board. It saddens me to no end.” A Gofundme campaign to help Guerrero is at https://www.gofundme.com/mjcbpda6?r=78353.t

AIDS at 35>>

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 17

Hayes Valley church was a beacon during AIDS crisis by Brian Bromberger

t is very easy to miss the entrance to the Church of the Advent of Christ the King. Advent, as it’s known, is an inclusive parish of the Episcopal Diocese of California, located in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood. Founded in 1858, it is one of the oldest churches in San Francisco. “People do not even know we are here,” Father Paul Allick, a gay man who recently became Advent’s priest, said in an interview. “The outside doesn’t look like a church and there isn’t good signage. It’s not obvious it’s a church.” Allick, 47, moved to the city from Minneapolis; he and his spouse, Keith Schaumann, live in the rectory above Advent. Once one locates the entrance, suddenly you find yourself in the middle of the church, surrounded only by stained glass windows, myriad candles, and quiet. One cannot see outside into the garden courtyard or the street. One can smell incense immediately as you arrive since it actually reeks from the walls. It is as if one has traveled to a mysterious, sacred alternative universe. As one parishioner said, “There are not many places where one can immerse oneself in the beauty of holiness.” It is hard to believe that Advent in the 1980s and 1990s was one of the epicenters of the AIDS epidemic that has killed more than 20,000 San Franciscans over the last 35 years, according to the Department of Public Health’s HIV Semi-Annual Surveillance Report. Paul Ellison, 60, came to Advent in 1990 as director of music, a position he continues to hold. “This small parish lost several hundred parishioners,” Ellison, a gay man, said. “There was so much death and loss. I can’t tell you how many personal friends of mine died. I played at many of their funerals. People would come to me and ask to plan their memorial services, which shocked me at first, but of course made sense because friends and family would be too upset to deal with such painful details. “People could be in denial elsewhere, but not here,” he added. “They didn’t have to hide behind cancer or pneumonia labels. Yet this catastrophe was overwhelming. By all rights this church should have closed.” Jack Jensen, 51, who came to Advent in 1986 just out of college, became the unofficial funeral director for the parish. “I took care of people who were also friends of mine. It is a great privilege when you have known and loved someone who is part of your extended family and, as an undertaker, I could provide a deeper level of emotional involvement and commitment,” Jensen, who is gay, said. “The parish held funerals for people who were attached to City Hall and city employees, as geographically we are centrally located. “Dying is an intimate process and close friendships were born. Even parishioners who have long since moved away still keep in touch with family members of men who died of AIDS with whom they once acted as caregivers,” he said. “It’s as if a group of people were sent away to war, living in the trenches together and knew they were called to care for one another, which at the end of the day is what church is all about.”

Brian Bromberger

Music director Paul Ellison

in 1995. He was the owner of a gay bookstore in the Castro called The Love That Dares, and active in the African-American gay community, Ellison said. “We had been together for eight years. He was atheist but would come to services to support me,” Ellison said. “When he got sick he decided to explore Christianity and see if it could help him in his illness. He wanted a miraculous physical cure but instead received a spiritual healing from within. It helped prepare him to get ready to die, a huge step for him. He had taken catechism classes. When he was baptized, Nick Papadopoulos, a former Greek Orthodox parishioner and his godfather, gave him an icon. Nick would die soon afterwards, in 1994, but when Calvin was dying we had the icon next to his bed. It was as if Nick through the icon was helping him move through death. I buried the icon with Calvin, as it had done what it needed to do. None of this was planned.” When Jensen came to the parish he described himself as an agnostic. “How could one believe such silly things like miracles living in the modern age?” he asked. “But I witnessed among many friends deep devotion to something stronger than themselves. I eventually came to realize that it is difficult not to have some sort of belief to hold onto, to shape your view of who we are, why we are here, and where we are going.” The church sponsored a Trinity Guild, which alerted members that someone was ill and listed their needs, whether it be home visits, cleaning, doing errands, or driving them to medical appointments, and someone would step in to help. Ellison was a beneficiary of the parish’s kindness. “After Calvin died, the church gave me Calvin’s half of the rent for three months, so I could have some time alone to decompress before I had to find another roommate,” Ellison said. “Yes, the situation was gloomy with young men having to deal with dying decades before they should have, but people tried to remain positive and wanted to help.” Jensen, while acknowledging it was a very sad period in the church’s history, stated it was also a spiritually powerful time, giving everyone a sense of purpose and meaningfulness. “I can’t say they were good years, of course they were horrible, but something very beautiful happens when human beings are under pressure of losing the ground from beneath their feet,” Jensen said. “Even though members were dying all around us, our numbers didn’t go down. We thrived as new people came replacing those we had lost. We felt empowered and spiritually focused so that people were drawn to this church.

Profound spiritual experiences

While often spending most Saturday afternoons together conducting funerals along with then-pastor Father Bill Rhoades, both Ellison and Jensen had profound spiritual experiences during this period. Ellison’s partner, Calvin Lowery, died of AIDS-related complications

Brian Bromberger

Longtime Advent parishioner Jack Jensen

“You can’t describe it as flourishing,” he added. “That is not the right word but everyone was centered on one goal. We were in the middle of a war, as everyone knew someone who was sick or dying. This catastrophe, this fire burning around us, made us all realize what we needed to do. This sanctuary was a sanctuary, a place of refuge, a place of strength. We were doing what churches are supposed to be doing.” John McCutcheon, 64, a longterm HIV survivor and all-around volunteer then and now, got tired of going to funerals and wanted to help in a more substantial way. “I joined the Most Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church AIDS Support Group in the Castro,” McCutcheon, who is gay, said. “I signed up for their emotional training weekend based on the Shanti model but with a religious dimension, so sick people could unburden themselves with the heavy psychological and spiritual load they were carrying. I got as many people as I could from Advent to take that training.” McCutcheon noticed a big change among parishioners.

Brian Bromberger

Long-term HIV survivor John McCutcheon

“We became more inward, more prayerful, almost monastic. We developed evening prayer rituals. We were looking for a new way of being in our community. While we had been one of the few mostly gay Episcopal parishes, we no longer felt ghettoized and became more integrated with straight people. We showed such grace under fire that heterosexuals who had visited us for a funeral or stayed awhile during a loved one’s illness, came to admire us, as did the institutional church. In a Will and Grace type of situation, we opened up the minds of people. They saw the love we showed each other. I believe AIDS led to acceptance of LGBT people in the Episcopal Church.” McCutcheon also revealed that the church became radicalized by taking the first baby steps toward same-sex marriage. “Because bathhouses and sex clubs were closed down, gay people started dating and entering monogamous relationships. We started blessing same-sex unions in 1987, long before the official church did,” McCutcheon said. “We developed our own liturgy, using it with our first couple, one of whom eventually died of AIDS. We became activists in these blessings, as people were affirming their relationships in the face of death, willing to cast aside shame, come to church and publicly profess their love. We didn’t care what the rest of the church said or thought, and we could have gotten in deep trouble, even closed down.” Allick observed that Advent is still adjusting to this new openness. “I never thought I would see same-sex marriage in my lifetime,” he said. “There are even bishops saying gay clergy must be married, not living together. All these unintended consequences and we still don’t know quite how to do it.” The legacy of those AIDS years lives on. Ellison mentioned that once a year there is a requiem mass on All Soul’s Day. The high point of the liturgy is the reading of the names of all those who died of AIDS, “something comforting and tangible you can hold onto, a living memory, even

though the person is gone.” Allick referenced a healing mass held every Saturday, with prayers always including people living with HIV, a tradition started over 30 years ago. Jensen said the people who died during those years are still in Advent in a spiritual sense even if people can’t look out and see them sitting in the pews. “If they were physically present, you would notice standing room only, the pews packed with people. Those folks did not just die and disappear or go away,” he said. “They still live on in different memories, the saintly work they accomplished, and bequests that have kept this parish going financially.” For McCutcheon, the impact of all that suffering was that “people saw how courageous we were. Our fight was not in vain. It wasn’t just about people dying or being buried. Our work inspired a connection with the larger church that led to our approval. Where we are today we owe to the struggles we endured then.”

Church is a survivor

Advent the church is as much a survivor as McCutcheon or anyone who lived through those dark, perilous times. Advent is looking toward the future trying to boost its small, primarily LGBT membership, especially with a younger crowd. Allick believes that Advent’s unique blend of traditional daily worship (“smells and bells to the max,” he quipped) with socially progressive, compassionate values might be that source of attraction, exemplified every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. by Allick and a few parishioners saying mass together at the Episcopal Sanctuary, a shelter for the homeless. Jensen said what Advent learned about itself during those years is a spiritual resource that can come in handy as the church ponders new directions. “We learned we were good in dealing with crises, became more

Brian Bromberger

Father Paul Allick

emotionally mature and inclusive of all people, and we did an excellent job of taking care of people when they needed it most.” Allick concurred and doesn’t want the hard-learned lessons from that era lost or wasted. “We are a strong, resilient place and we need to be that now. We can call on all that is part of our history and do it again,” he said. Although hidden from street view, Advent is still here, its past not forgotten. In the back of the church next to a statute of Jesus, there is a candle that has been burning nonstop since the late 1980s for those who died and for those living with HIV. Every time someone leaves the church they can’t help but see the always-burning candle, a symbolic eternal flame, reminding new generations what Advent endured during the AIDS epidemic with its many sacrifices. But that flickering candle also sheds light on the reality that whatever the future holds, those who died of AIDS, though long gone, will play an integral role in what lies ahead for the Church of the Advent of Christ the King.t The entrance to Church of the Advent of Christ the King is at 261 Fell Street. Sunday high Mass is held at 11 a.m. For more information, visit advent-sf.org.

<< National News

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

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significant fight is brewing in Congress over a defense funding bill and whether it should include language that would enable religiously affiliated contractors doing business with the federal government to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity. “We see this, in fact, as one of the most significant threats to LGBT people and to women that Congress has put forward in years,” said American Civil Liberties Union deputy legal director Louise Melling. The language appears in a House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2017 passed in May. The Senate passed its version, too, which does not include the language. A House-Senate conference committee tried to hammer out a final version of the bill to send back to both chambers but failed to do so before it recessed in September. The language in the House version of the bill is known as Section 1094 or “the Russell Amendment” – named after its sponsor, Representative Steve Russell (R-Oklahoma). Opponents say the Russell Amendment would provide sweeping exemptions to federal civil rights laws for a wide variety of religiously affiliated institutions. And, according to Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), who is leading the fight against the amendment, the language would allow discrimination against women, LGBT people, and people of various religions in “every federal department,” not just the Department of Defense. Blumenthal and 41 other senators signed an October 25 letter opposing the amendment. They include 40 Democrats and two independents, but no Republicans. The four Democrats not signed onto the letter are Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Senators Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Jack Reed of Rhode Island. The letter states: “If enacted, Section 1094 would vastly expand religious exemptions under the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act to allow religiously-affiliated organizations receiving federal funds to engage in discriminatory hiring practices – using taxpayer dollars to harm hardworking Americans who deserve to be protected from workplace discrimination based on sexual

Oklahoma Representative Steve Russell

orientation, gender identity, religious identity, or reproductive and other healthcare decisions.” The letter says Section 1094 would also undermine protections for LGBT people under President Barack Obama’s Executive Order 13672, prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination by federal contractors. In May, the Obama administration released a statement detailing a number of its objections to the bill, including that it “would make it easier to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.”

bill includes the amendment that would seek to allow religious entities to discriminate against LGBT, women, and people of faith. During House consideration of the NDAA in May, gay Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (D-New York) led an attempt to preserve Obama’s LGBT executive order. Maloney’s amendment had sufficient support, but the Republican chair of the House allowed voting beyond the allotted time until enough Republicans could be convinced to change their votes and the Maloney amendment failed. House Speaker Paul Ryan (RWisconsin) later allowed the House to entertain the Maloney amendment again and it passed, but then the overall bill failed. The text of the anti-LGBT amendment introduced by Russell sounds innocent enough: It states that the federal government will provide “protections and exemptions” for religious institutions “consistent with” certain sections of the Civil Rights Act and the ADA. Of the Civil Rights Act, the amendment identifies Section 702(a), which says the act does not apply to religious institutions, and Section 703(e)(2), which says the act does not apply to any religiously affiliated educational institution. Of the ADA, the amendment identifies Section 103(d), which says religious

“We see this, in fact, as one of the most significant threats to LGBT people and to women that Congress has put forward in years.” –Louise Melling, ACLU attorney The overall NDAA is an annual bill that stipulates how the Defense Department can spend its federal funding. The House version is HR 4909; the Senate version is S 2943. This year’s bills include a number of controversial measures, including language to require women to register for any potential draft into the military. With Congress now on recess, the conference committee will have to take the task up again when it reconvenes following the November 8 election. Only the House version of the

institutions can give preference to employees of a particular religion. But opponents say the language would create a vast loophole for religious schools, hospitals, charities, and other institutions, large and small, to discriminate against employees who don’t comply with the institutions’ religious beliefs. In a telephone news conference last week, Blumenthal said opponents of the bill hope to eliminate the language before the final version reaches the House and Senate floors again for approval.t

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t Trans bathroom case heads to US Supreme Court

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

by Lisa Keen

n a development that could worry LGBT legal activists, the U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it would hear an appeal that challenges a lower court decision in favor of a transgender student who was denied access to a school bathroom consistent with his gender identity. The case, Gloucester v. Grimm, asks the court to decide the validity of a U.S. Department of Education interpretation of a federal law prohibiting discrimination based on sex in education. The department says the law also prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. The case comes to the high court from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had ruled in April that Title IX of the federal Education Amendments Act of 1972 – which prohibits discrimination based on sex by federally funded educational institutions – also prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Gavin Grimm, the transgender high school student in the case, put a positive spin on the October 28 announcement, saying it would give the group an opportunity to “tell the Supreme Court who Gavin and transgender kids are throughout the country.” Grimm, 17, is a senior at a public high school in Gloucester, Virginia. Although identified as female at birth, he has felt since age 6 that he’s male. A psychologist diagnosed Grimm with gender dysphoria, a condition in which a person strongly identifies as a gender different from his or her physical gender attributes. His parents helped him change his name, secure treatment to transition to a male identity, and inform and seek help from school officials. Grimm sought use of the boys’ restroom because he said girls reacted negatively to his presence in the girls’ restrooms because they perceive him to be a boy. ACLU senior staff attorney Josh Block said the school’s refusal to let Grimm use the boys’ restroom is “not only humiliating but also affects his education and his ability to participate in school life.” In accepting Gloucester, the Supreme Court said it would address only two of three questions that the school district attorneys posed: First, they ask whether the courts should give “deference” to the Department of Education’s interpretation of the law, given that it came in an “unpublished agency letter.” And, second, they ask whether legal effect should be given to the department’s interpretation of Title IX. In its petition to the Supreme Court, the school district’s primary argument was that, when Congress passed Title IX, it intended the word “sex” to mean “nothing more than male and female, under the traditional binary conception of sex consistent with one’s birth or biological sex.” It says the Department of Education’s interpretation of “sex” to include “gender identity” amounts to creating new law. Block said the high court won’t necessarily reach the question of whether “sex” should include gender identity. It could stick to a very narrow ruling on whether the courts should defer to the department’s interpretation of “sex.” “The argument the other side is making,” said Block, “...is the unambiguous meaning is biological sex. In order to apply deference [to DOE], the court must first determine the regulation is ambiguous and then that [the department’s interpretation was] a reasonable construction. “The court could decide in a broad or narrow way but, at a mini-

“It potentially has implications for any statutes protecting on the basis of sex.” –Josh Block, ACLU attorney

Virginia high school student Gavin Grimm

mum, it would reject the idea that one and only one meaning of the word ‘sex’ is chromosomes or reproductive anatomy,” he said. Block said the court’s eventual ruling could have far reaching applications – impacting not only the sex discrimination language in Title IX affecting education but also in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, affecting employment. “It potentially has implications for any statutes protecting on the

basis of sex,” said Block. “It could decide on narrower grounds, but since 2000, the [lower] courts have kept up a steady drumbeat that discrimination against transgender people is discrimination based on sex. And this might be the opportunity for the U.S. Supreme Court to join that chorus.” The high court does not typically jump at chances to make sweeping decisions and, to some extent, it is unusual that the court took this case

because the ruling under appeal was a preliminary one, not one on the merits. The 4th Circuit’s ruling was issued in response to a preliminary motion in Grimm’s lawsuit. The preliminary motion requested that Grimm be able to use his public high school’s boys’ restrooms until his overall lawsuit – arguing that Title IX does cover gender identity – can be resolved. The 4th Circuit’s decision sent the case back to the district court with instructions to reconsider the preliminary injunction in light of the appeals court’s ruling that Title IX prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. The Gloucester school district appealed that preliminary ruling to the Supreme Court and, in August, the

Supreme Court agreed to stay the 4th Circuit’s decision until it could decide whether to take the case for review. Attorneys for Grimm argued against the court taking the appeal, saying that this case was “the wrong case at the wrong time” and noting that there are no conflicts – yet – among the various federal appeals courts. Grimm said in a telephone press call that he was disappointed that the Supreme Court accepted the appeal, “but I’m not afraid and not discouraged.” While he said he feels like he has a “target on my back” and things are “very difficult and stressful,” he hopes his case means that “no other transgender student will have to go through what I’ve gone through.”t

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<< Community News

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

Serial killer

From page 1

Nonetheless, several times Kraft stressed that he has no expectation of ever stepping foot aside of jail. At his age, he expects he will die an inmate. “Even if the federal courts agree with everything I am saying and sends it back to the state courts, I will still die in here because it takes so long. That is just the way it is,” said Kraft during a May interview. “I think the court is waiting for me to die. It is death penalty by attrition.” Odds are Kraft, one of 741 death

row inmates in the Golden State, will die of natural causes rather than be put to death. As the B.A.R. noted in September, California has not executed anyone since 2006. Two years ago, a federal judge ruled that the state’s death penalty system was unconstitutional because it is arbitrary and plagued with delays. And, for the second time in four years, the state’s voters this fall are being asked to abolish the death penalty. Polling indicates the fight to pass Proposition 62 next Tuesday on the November 8 ballot is tight, with the latest poll released this week by Stanford’s Hoover Institu-

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tion showing voters evenly split on the measure. A competing ballot measure, Proposition 66, which would keep the death penalty in place and accelerate the state appeals process, had been trailing with voters. But the Hoover Institution poll found it leading 38 to 24 percent, with as many Californians undecided as they are in favor of the measure. “It looks like it will pass, and then at the last minute, everyone changes their mind,” said Kraft about the death penalty repeal efforts. “Maybe it will pass this time.” In 2012 many of his fellow death row inmates were rooting for defeat of the measure, said Kraft, since it would not only have dismantled death row but have sent the prisoners to various prisons around the state. “Last time it was on the ballot, some people here didn’t want it to pass because they didn’t want to be transferred elsewhere,” recalled Kraft. Should this year’s Prop 66 pass, Kraft said he wouldn’t mind being transferred to a prison closer to Orange County, where his sister, who is in her 80s and frequently speaks with him by phone, lives and could potentially visit him. Yet he expressed some misgivings about leaving San Quentin, it having been his de facto home now for close to three decades. As for being released from prison, Kraft admitted he doesn’t see himself resuming his old life. As he recalled telling one of his former attorneys, who asked what he would do if his conviction was overturned, Kraft replied, “My life is here now. Almost all of the people I care for are here. I don’t have any former life to return to; it is obliterated. I don’t pine for release; my life is here. I’ll die here, and that’s OK with me.” The fact that Kraft is still alive continues to cause outrage in Orange County. In 2013 the local magazine Orange Coast ran a story titled “Why Isn’t Randy Kraft Dead?” and quoted several of the jurors who convicted Kraft expressing disbelief that he has yet to be executed. The author also spoke with Max Gambrel, a cousin of Terry Gambrel who grew up next door to him in Indiana. He expressed mixed emotions about Kraft, saying that while he has thought about killing him himself, he is also “glad” he remains behind bars. “He loved his freedom, and the longer he’s in jail ... it’s the only justice my family has,” Max Gambrel told the publication.

The night of his arrest

Born in Long Beach, the young-

Obituaries >> Stephen Francis O’Connell October 8, 2016

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Stephen Francis O’Connell died October 8 in San Francisco after a long illness. He was 66. Stephen grew up in Belmont, Massachusetts, the son of Ethel Sears O’Connell and Dick O’Connell, then the general manager of the Boston Red Sox. Stephen attended St. Sebastian’s School in Needham, Massachusetts; St. Francis College, Maine; and the University of Oregon, where he earned his master’s in landscape architecture. He moved to San Francisco in 1988. He became a visionary urban planner, pushing conventional spatial boundaries to create a sense of place and purpose that was fresh and pragmatic. In San Francisco, Stephen found loving community within the Billy Club and helped form a heart circle of close friends that met monthly for 16 years. He enjoyed the companionship of Digby, his first and only dog and the source of many new friendships. Stephen was a true original with no patience for clichés. He was funny, astute, ironic, and sometimes outrageous. When you were with him, he made you feel like you were the most important person in the world. Stephen is survived by a sister, Kathleen O’Connell; a brother, Kevin O’Connell; his nieces, Elizabeth and Lauren O’Connell; his nephew Brandon O’Connell Swanberg; and many devoted friends.

“I think the court is waiting for me to die. It is death penalty by attrition.” –Death row inmate Randy Kraft est child of four and the only son of parents Opal and Harold Kraft, Randy Kraft grew up largely in the Orange County town of Midway City. He attended Claremont Men’s College, from which he graduated in 1968 with a B.A. in economics. He then joined the U.S. Air Force and was stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California. He was discharged in 1969 after disclosing his homosexuality to a superior and moved back home with his parents. Seven years later he had met Jeff Seelig, who worked as a baker, and the two were living together in a home in Laguna Hills. Kraft was working as a computer consultant, a job that often had him traveling to other states. The night of May 12 Kraft said that he and Seelig had gotten into a fight about money and the next morning Seelig left to attend a chocolate show in Los Angeles. That night he thought about driving up to join him, but because of their argument the day prior, he instead headed south to San Diego. He had a few drinks at a gay bar called The Brig and set out to return home sometime after midnight. He stopped at a rest area off Interstate 5 not far from Camp Pendleton to clear some bottles and trash out of his car. There is where he encountered Gambrel, 25, a Marine stationed at El Toro, California. “He was sitting down, holding stuff in his lap near the trash can in the parking lot. He looked out of sorts and I asked him if he was OK,” said Kraft. “He didn’t say anything to me other than he said ‘El Toro.’ I thought he was drunk or whatever and would take him to the base.” A frequent cruiser of rest areas for gay sex hookups, Kraft said Gambrel “didn’t look the type” and Kraft helped him to his car. Eventually, they drove off toward the (now decommissioned) Marine Corps Air Station near Irvine. Kraft estimated they had been in the car for roughly 20 minutes, with Gambrel not saying anything and “drooling out of the side of his mouth.” He told the B.A.R. that his car was weaving not because he was drunk but because he was trying to help Gambrel and simultaneously drive. “I was shaking him, trying to wake him, shouting at him, trying to see if anything was in his mouth blocking his airway, looking to see if he was wounded or bleeding,” wrote Kraft. “Then I noticed the lights of the CHP patrol car that was pulling me over.” It was near San Juan Capistrano where the two CHP officers pulled him over and conducted two sobriety tests on him. Kraft insists he was told he had passed the tests but the officer wanted to run his license. At that point the other officer, who had been trying to rouse Gambrel, called over to his partner who then “roughly handcuffed and shoved” him, Kraft said, into the back seat of the patrol car. “I didn’t think the cops would take Gambrel to a hospital. I thought they would initiate CPR or do whatever was necessary,” wrote Kraft in one letter. “Instead they did nothing and at first tried to prevent the paramedics from starting CPR. Those first 4-5 minutes are critical, and the CHP did nothing.” According to court documents, the one officer found Gambrel with “no pulse and was not breathing. Upon lifting a jacket from Gambrel’s lap, (he) observed that Gambrel’s pants were unbuttoned and pulled down between his waist and his knees so that his penis and testi-

cles were supported by the crotch of the pants. The crotch area was wet.” A paramedic, according to court documents, said that Kraft told him that he had given Gambrel some of his Ativan, which he had been prescribed to treat panic attacks. Kraft, however, claims Gambrel stole the Ativan and that he did not know he had taken any that night until after seeing the police reports. At trial a doctor testified that Gambrel had died from asphyxia due to ligature strangulation and that the ligature “consisted of a strap that had been tightened” around his neck, according to court documents. Kraft repeatedly insisted to the B.A.R. that Gambrel was never dead in his car. “Had the CHP realized that, things would have unfolded much differently,” he wrote. “But they assumed he was dead and that I had killed him and was driving around for hours with his body in the passenger seat.” In the course of their investigation, the police found in Kraft’s car a list of names split into two columns on a piece of legal pad paper. The prosecution argued it was coded references to Kraft’s numerous murder victims over the years and used it in court to tie him to their deaths. On several occasions in his letters, and in speaking to the B.A.R., Kraft disputed that characteristic of the document. He said it was a list of people he was going to invite to a surprise housewarming party he planned to throw for Seelig, as they were redoing their bathroom and installing a spa to an outdoor deck. Written out in mnemonics, Kraft explained, “One column was the names of people I wanted to invite and the other column were maybes. It was in code so he wouldn’t recognize it.” The purported “murder list” would later factor into why Kraft’s attorneys advised him not to take the stand at trial. In explaining their thinking, Kraft wrote, “If one believed what the prosecutor claimed about the list – that it is a list of murder victims – that it amounts to a confession. The prosecutor claims the list is a confession, but he reaches that conclusion by psychic powers, imagining what was in my mind when I wrote it.” Over the years Kraft learned that three of the judges who handled his case, including the presiding trial judge, the late Donald A. McCartin, had served in the US Marine Corps, and therefore, he contends should have recused themselves. And he maintains a key piece of evidence in the case – his fingerprint on a glass – “was manufactured.” The appellate courts, however, have rejected Kraft’s contention that he should have been tried solely for the death of Gambrel and not had that charge be combined with the murders of the 15 other men. “I didn’t get a fair trial,” said Kraft. “The government turned it into a serial killer trial.”t

Correction The date and time of San Francisco Tsunami Masters Swim Team’s 30th anniversary celebration were listed incorrectly in last week’s Jock Talk column. The party will be from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, December 3, at Slide, 430 Mason Street in San Francisco. The club is trying to connect with as many past members as possible. For more information about the party, visit the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ events/1807976712793847/.

t <<

Community News>>

Trans adviser

From page 1

Last year, before he lost his reelection bid to current Sheriff Vicki Hennessy, former sheriff Ross Mirkarimi announced he planned to stop classifying transgender inmates who have not had surgery according to their birth sex, meaning trans inmates could be housed with cisgender inmates. Several months ago, the agency moved female trans inmates, who make up the majority of the county jails’ trans population, from the men’s facility to the jail where women are held. However, the trans inmates still haven’t been mixed in with the general population. The draft policy for the sheriff ’s department is “essentially done,” Sparks said, and is being reviewed by the agency’s unions. The main issues being ironed out are details related to housing and strip searches. Neither Sparks nor Hennessy had a timeline for when the housing transition would be complete, but Sparks said, “I’m very optimistic about getting this thing done relatively soon, hopefully by the end of the year.” Most of the concepts are resolved, but training and discussion with the unions have to be finished first, Sparks said. “We don’t want to throw any deputies into the mix that haven’t been trained,” Sparks said. Several weeks ago, there was a “train the trainers session” with sheriff ’s deputies who are educating hundreds of other deputies in the agency, Sparks said. Topics ranged from search techniques, pronoun usage, and defining terms like “sex” and “gender identity.” Sex has typically referred to what someone’s been assigned at birth, while gender identity refers to “someone’s sense of self,” Sparks said. “Gender identity will be the predominate element used in housing

Patient Zero

From page 1

able for decades, the team had to develop a new laboratory technique – dubbed “jackhammering” – to analyze the old and degraded viral RNA. They were able to obtain complete HIV genetic information from five New York samples and three from San Francisco. Worobey’s team then constructed an evolutionary tree for HIV-1 group M subtype B, which accounts for most cases in North and South America, Europe, and Australia. Because HIV accumulates genetic mutations at a steady rate over time, virus with more genetic diversity is known to be older. The researchers determined that subtype B, thought to have origi-

News Briefs

From page 5

ful, Colbruno said in an email.

PG&E trans networking event

PG&E will hold an “Out at Work” networking event Monday, November 14 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. in the auditorium at its headquarters, 77 Beale Street in downtown San Francisco. The event, titled “Out at Work: Transgender Policies, Training, and Resources,” is aimed at providing

Clinton, Trump

From page 11

States with polls closing at 8 p.m.

California, Hawaii, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington Electoral votes on the line: 85 Presidential: Most of the electoral votes this hour will go to Clinton (78 of the 85), California being the biggest prize of them all with 55

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

all-gender toilet facilities beginning March 1. San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed a similar bathroom ordinance, authored by gay Supervisor David Campos, in April. “I didn’t realize getting bathroom signage would be quite so difficult,” Sparks said. Officials in San Francisco will be using “all gender restroom” signage since there are “so many different genders,” but the signs also need to include people who are disabled and people with assisted care, such as families with kids. On top of her other work, Sparks said that by the end of the year, she wants to have a meeting with all of the major transgender service providers, including community-based organizations and city agencies, to talk about issues like employment, violence prevention, education, and health care. One of the aims will be identifying gaps in service delivery. One thing that’s already known is that “it’s been difficult for transgender individuals who’ve had surgeries” and are living in transitional housing such as a shelter or treatment centers to get a private spot “for post-surgery care,” she said. Currently, Sparks is working out of a small office at 25 Van Ness Avenue, a building near City Hall that houses the HRC and other city agencies. She hopes to have her office established at the LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street, by around the first of the year. The building is currently undergoing a major renovation. Sparks plans to hire at least one policy analyst and someone to do clerical work. The office will include space for volunteers and interns, as well as room for meeting with community members to talk about policy. The office won’t be designed for walk-ins, but people can make appointments. “I want to get as many community people involved in these policy

discussions” as possible, she said, adding, “I want this to be completely transparent and get as much feedback as we can.” Another function Sparks sees for her office is working to prepare younger transgender people for leadership. It’s important to “train the next generation of leaders,” and “start turning responsibility over to them,” she said. Sparks said with the creation of her position, San Francisco is on the “cutting edge,” and it’s important to develop policies and “make sure these policies are available to other municipalities.” “I’ve gotten no resistance at all” from people in San Francisco on her efforts, Sparks said, and people, including Lee’s staff, have been “extremely supportive.” She said she usually meets with Steve Kawa, Lee’s gay chief of staff, and City Administrator Naomi Kelly “every other week for a status meeting.” Sparks said that the mayor’s office has asked her to examine best practices to address bullying targeting LGBT youth. She said statistics from 2015 show “a lot of suicides” are connected with people’s parents not accepting them and cyber bullying. She plans to work with the school district on the issue. She also said that Lee has created an organization to collaborate with the U.S. Conference of Mayors called “Mayors Against Discrimination” that’s being led by San Francisco and is addressing LGBT issues but will also tackle race and ethnicity. Sparks said she was recently in Europe and has been talking to people in Amsterdam about the “Rainbow Cities Network.” “Hopefully we will be a hub for the United States” to “connect major cities in Europe and the U.S. around these policies.”t

middle of the evolutionary tree, not near its base. “[We] found neither biological nor historical evidence that he was the primary case in the U.S. or for subtype B as a whole,” the researchers wrote, noting that his virus “appeared typical of U.S. strains of the time.” Dugas did, however, play an important role in understanding HIV transmission because he kept a diary of his sexual partners and provided this information to CDC investigators. While the new genetic analysis offers clues about the time frame of HIV’s introduction into the U.S., it does not provide definitive answers about who introduced it or how it happened – it may have come from contaminated blood products pro-

duced in Haiti – but it does let one historical suspect off the hook. Advocates said misconceptions about Patient Zero had done much to promote stigma and blame of people with HIV and of gay and bisexual men in general. “The Patient Zero story created a folk figure that responded perfectly to the fears and prejudices of American society,” community historian Gerard Koskovich told the Bay Area Reporter. “It reflected and reinforced longstanding homophobic stereotypes of gay men as irresponsible, sex-obsessed, narcissistic, amoral, and self-destructive. Given that combination of elements, the Patient Zero myth is one of the most persistent and harmful tales to have

come out of the darkest years of the AIDS epidemic.” Scientists have said all along that Dugas was not the first person with HIV in the U.S. and that the origins of HIV likely cannot be traced to any single individual. But the myth has persisted in popular culture, and advocates hope Worobey’s study will finally help dispel it. “It’s hard to overestimate the damage that the Patient Zero myth has done to expand the hatred and discrimination against gay men for allegedly starting AIDS,” said former ACT UP/New York member and Treatment Action Group cofounder Mark Harrington. “This paper represents science at its best, and, one hopes, the truth will set many free from destructive selfblame or social stigma.”t

education and information to company human resource representatives and employee resource groups in order to promote improvements toward encouraging inclusion, support, and recruitment of trans employees. This year’s event (the company also held one about a year ago) will focus on successes and opportunity regarding policy, training, and resources. The Out at Work series is a partnership between PG&E, the Transgender Law Center, and the trans employment program at the

San Francisco LGBT Community Center. To register for the event, which is free, visit https://transgenderlawcenter.secure.force. com/events/CnP_PaaS_EVT__ ExternalRegistrationPage?event_ id=a0td000000Aa5WyAAJ.

Project Homeless Connect’s third annual “Hoodies for the Homeless” drive is underway and people can provide the gift of warmth to those

experiencing homelessness. Amy Golsong, director of logistics and special events for Project Homeless Connect, said in an email that 2,000 pieces of new or gently used outerwear (jackets, hoodies, and coats) are needed in adult sizes L-4XL. Smaller sizes cannot be accepted as Project Homeless Connect has learned over the years that people prefer larger sizes for layering, she said. People can set up coat drives at their work, school, or place of worship, as well as on social media or

anywhere they choose. The items can be dropped off at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove Street, Tuesday, December 6 between 9 a.m. and noon. To download a flier that you can use to publicize the coat drive, visit https://www.projecthomel e s s co n n e c t . o r g / w p - co n t e n t / uploads/2016/10/HoodiesForTheHomeless_flier.pdf. To drop off donations sooner, email Golsong at Amy.Golsong@ sfdph.org and she will set up a time and location.t

electoral votes. Senate races to watch: The California U.S. Senate seat held by retiring Barbara Boxer is not in danger of being taken by a Republican. In fact, only Democrats have survived to run in the general election: state Attorney General Kamala Harris and Representative Loretta Sanchez. Both are strong supporters of equal rights for LGBT people, but Equality California and LPAC have

endorsed Harris, who is ahead in the polls. House races to watch: Incumbent gay Democrat Mark Takano is expected to win his re-election to California’s 41st Congressional District. Governors’ races: Oregon, Washington, North Dakota: Governor Kate Brown, a bisexual woman, is running for re-election in Oregon. She’s a Democrat in a blue state and a safe bet. Washington state’s Dem-

ocratic Governor Jay Inslee is a safe bet there, too. He supports marriage equality; his Republican opponent does not. And in North Dakota, polls indicate a Republican win, but GOP candidate Doug Burgum bucks the common trend on LGBT issues. He’s said there should be no discrimination based on sexual orientation and that he would work with the Legislature to address the problem. On the transgender bath-

room issue, he’s said he’s for both religious liberty and tolerance. He’s also in support of marriage equality. Democrat Marvin Nelson has spoken out strongly against anti-LGBT discrimination and for the rights of transgender people to use public restrooms. Results from Alaska, with three electoral votes, are not expected until after 10 p.m. All are expected to go to Trump.t

and treating transgender people” with respect, Sparks said. She also pointed to the emerging use of gender-neutral pronouns such as “they” and “them,” along with terms such as “pansexual.” One challenge is “How do you develop policy when the culture and the vocabulary are continually changing ...?” Spark said. In addition to her efforts with the sheriff ’s department, Sparks is also working with the police department so that its policies and orders related to transgender people mirror those of the sheriff ’s department. The goal is to have “consistency” with pronoun usage and other areas “from the time the initial interaction occurs through the housing portion,” she said. “Both departments are making an honest effort to use the proper pronouns,” and when they don’t know, they ask, Sparks said of the sheriff ’s and police agencies. Deputies’ questions have included what they should do when there aren’t enough female staff available to search a female transgender inmate during a given shift. Sparks said she’ll next be working with judges and the juvenile and adult probation departments “to make sure that from beginning to end” people are managed “by the same policies.” One challenge there is that the juvenile and adult probation agencies transport and search people differently. She said that she and Hennessy have had “a good relationship.” Hennessy’s put this on the “front burner” including by working on weekends on the issue and has been “really, really supportive,” said Sparks. Hennessy said that Sparks’ new role will help with implementing these changes. “I’ve always admired Theresa.,” Hennessy said during a recent interview. “She’s very, very thoughtful, she’s very smart, and she’s very helpful.” One area in which Sparks has been

of assistance is the training that the sheriff’s department has been doing. “She’s got a really good way of being pragmatic but also being sensitive and also being understanding,” Hennessy said. Like Sparks, Hennessy expressed optimism about the progress being made on housing transgender inmates. Among other improvements, trans inmates who’ve been moved are getting access to programs in County Jail 2, where women are housed, that they were not getting in County Jail 4, the men’s facility. “We’re committed to doing this, and Theresa is committed to helping us do this,” Hennessy said. “I’m very happy to have her as a resource.” However, some issues, such as strip search procedures, remain. “In our policy, we will take their preference into consideration ...,” Hennessy said. “If we don’t have housing for them on the women’s side, we can’t put them there.” She said there isn’t a lot of empty space on that side. Additionally, she said, “If I have somebody who is a predator” and “happens to be a transgender woman,” that inmate may not be able to be housed with cis women prisoners. The Transgender Law Center and the Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project, two nonprofits that have been working with the sheriff ’s department on housing issues, were approached for comment for this story but didn’t provide statements.

nated in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly the Belgian Congo and later Zaire), made its way to Haiti around 1967. From there it spread to New York around 1971 – well before Dugas began traveling as a flight attendant for Air Canada. HIV arrived in San Francisco by 1976, and the three sequenced San Francisco viruses all appeared to descend from a single New York strain. The first reports of the disease later known as AIDS were published in medical journals in 1981, and the virus that caused it was finally identified in 1983. Worobey and his colleagues also obtained and sequenced HIV from a sample donated by Dugas not long before he died of AIDS in 1984, showing that his virus fell in the

Bathrooms

One of the biggest challenges Sparks has faced is related to single stall, all-gender bathrooms. Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law Assemblyman Phil Ting’s (DSan Francisco) Assembly Bill 1732, which requires single-user toilet facilities in any business establishment, place of public accommodation, or state or local government agency needs to be identified as

Project Homeless Connect seeks coats

Myth contributed to stigma

Sparks may be reached at Theresa.Sparks@sfgov.org.

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552446

In the matter of the application of: MEGAN MCKAY STOESZ AKA MEGAN ELIZABETH MCKAY, 1998 25TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MEGAN MCKAY STOESZ AKA MEGAN ELIZABETH MCKAY, is requesting that the name MEGAN MCKAY STOESZ AKA MEGAN ELIZABETH MCKAY, be changed to MAGNOLIA ELIZABETH MCKAY. 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 1st of December 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 20, 27, NOV 03, 10, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552435

In the matter of the application of: ERIN ELIZABETH FLANNERY, 2865 JACKSON #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ERIN ELIZABETH FLANNERY, is requesting that the name ERIN ELIZABETH FLANNERY, be changed to ERIN FLANNERY LI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 29th of November 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552438

In the matter of the application of: NICHOLAS DMITRI REPIN, 582 MARKET ST #2001, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner NICHOLAS DMITRI REPIN, is requesting that the name NICHOLAS DMITRI REPIN, be changed to NIKOLAI DMITRIEVICH REPIN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 29th of November 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552440

In the matter of the application of: HSING-YUAN TING, 2355 POLK ST #306, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner HSING-YUAN TING, is requesting that the name HSING-YUAN TING, be changed to WAYNE HSING-YUAN TING. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 1st of December 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037300200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KARLA CLEANING CARE, 24 BYRON CT, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual and is signed KARLA AMADOR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/11/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/11/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037300300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ANTONIO’S JANITORIAL SERVICES, 22 RELAIGHT AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BOANERGES GARCIA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/11/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/11/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037300400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ELVIS MAINTENANCE SERVICES, 1935 DONNER AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ELVIS GUTIERREZ .The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/11/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/11/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037301100

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037295100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DIRT ALLEY DESIGNS, 1924 KIRKHAM ST #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MICHELLE CHANDRA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/05/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/05/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037293800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: METRO CAFFE, 247 FILLMORE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed OMAR NAZZAL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/06. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/05/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 2, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037276400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DABBLE, 140 ARAGON ST, VALLEJO, CA 94591. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ASMARA VEGA-CURTIS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/22/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/22/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037297300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WHAT’S UP DOG, 300 DE HARO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALEX TAO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/07/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037291300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HANG AROUND HOUND, 182 TIOGA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed THERESA HEDGEPETH. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/04/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037292000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GIRLS UP FRONT, 1306 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed CAITLIN FREEMAN & BETH MILES. 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 10/04/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037298700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NOVEL3; ADVANCED CONSULTING & ANALYTICS. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ADVANCED CONSULTING & ANALYTICS (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/25/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037297600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO TRANSGENDER INSTITUTE, 45 CASTRO ST #121, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed THE BUNCKE MEDICAL CLINIC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/06/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037285900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BALBOA PLUMBING SUPPLY CORP., 2633 CLEMENT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BALBOA PLUMBING SUPPLY CORP. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/29/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037294300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VOW IN PARIS, 41 VIENNA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PUI HANG YEUNG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/11/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/11/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LUXURIOUS NAIL BOUTIQUE, 4138 3RD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed THE WASHINGTON, LLC (CA). 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 10/05/16.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037271600

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037310100

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037301300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BAYVIEW RENOVATION, 1206 SHAFTER AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BAYVIEW RENOVATION & DEVELOPMENT, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/11/16.

OCT 20, 27, NOV 03, 10, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037305100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MAREA MEDIA INSTITUTE; EDUCATIONAL MEDIA ARTS, INC, 2261 MARKET ST #317, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed EDUCATIONAL MEDIA ARTS, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/13/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/13/16.

OCT 20, 27, NOV 03, 10, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037304900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MAREA MEDIA, 2020 15TH ST #9, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed RUTH GUMNIT & MARGUERITE SALMON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/07. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/13/16.

OCT 20, 27, NOV 03, 10, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037306500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: QUINN ADVISORY GROUP, 8 10TH ST #1017, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CJQ LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/13/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/13/16.

OCT 20, 27, NOV 03, 10, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037273900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BAR SAN PANCHO, 3198 16TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CHINO-AMERICANO LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/15/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/21/16.

OCT 20, 27, NOV 03, 10, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037312500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: K-OZ CAMPER, 250 BEACH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed KEI AND OZ LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/10/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/16.

OCT 20, 27, NOV 03, 10, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552356

In the matter of the application of: KENNETH BURT PERFIT, 1591 22ND AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KENNETH BURT PERFIT, is requesting that the name KENNETH BURT PERFIT, be changed to KENNETH BURT PERFITT. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 6th of December 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552477

In the matter of the application of: GLORIA JEAN MABALATAN, 2609 MARKET ST #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner GLORIA JEAN MABALATAN, is requesting that the name GLORIA JEAN MABALATAN, be changed to JASMYN GLORIA MABALATANWEISSMAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 15th of December 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552439

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RRM CLEANSIT CO., 2443 FILLMORE ST #438, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RICARDO RICKY MYERS. 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 09/20/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE PARK GYM, 1960 HARRISON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAVID PARK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/17/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/17/16.

In the matter of the application of: KARL PRELOVSKY JACOBSEN, 381 TURK ST #305, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KARL PRELOVSKY JACOBSEN, is requesting that the name KARL PRELOVSKY JACOBSEN, be changed to KARL PARKER SANDORA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 8th of December 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 13, 20, 27, NOV 03, 2016

OCT 20, 27, NOV 03, 10, 2016

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037311500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GEHRUA, 643 MASON ST #8, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JEANETTE MARIE YOUNGER. 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 10/18/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037313300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE GAME PARLOUR, 1534 19TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BENSON CHIU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/15/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037318300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GLOBALPERFORMANCE.BIZ, 1245 CALIFORNIA ST #602, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RAMIN RANJBAR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/24/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/24/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037312800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EYE PLUS LASH, 555 SUTTER ST #200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MIEASHA BROWN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/18/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037315700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE CARVILLE, 3100 NORIEGA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TABITHA TOTAH. 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 10/20/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037299400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DISTRICT 3, 704 FILBERT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JORELL CORPUS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037316300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GHOST CAT STUDIOS, 2261 MARKET ST #450A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAY MARSTON RUBIN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/15/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/21/16.

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552472

In the matter of the application of: DANIEL ADRIAN VALCHAR COFFEY, 1346 ALABAMA ST #C, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner DANIEL ADRIAN VALCHAR COFFEY, is requesting that the name DANIEL ADRIAN VALCHAR COFFEY, be changed to DANIEL GEORGE VALCHAR COFFEY. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 29th of December 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037312900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NEW REVOLUTION MEDIA, 1250 MISSOURI ST, #112, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed NEW REVOLUTION MEDIA LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/16/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037316600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KEGERATOR WORLD; THE COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATOR, 1 POLK ST #1903, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BE YOUR ACT LLC (NV). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/16/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/21/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037315200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BARRY’S BOOTCAMP, 333 BUSH STREET #101, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BBC 333 BUSH STREET LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/15/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/20/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-034410100

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: SAN FRANCISCO GUITAR QUARTET, 3820 IRVING ST #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business was conducted by a general partnership and signed by PATRICK O’CONNELL & JONATHAN E. MENDLE. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/15/12.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF PETER MON YU HUNG IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-16-300244

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: INTERNET SIMPLICITY; ISIMPLE, 1035 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed STEPHENSON VENTURES, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/16/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/19/16.

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of PETER MON YU HUNG. A Petition for Probate has been filed by MICHAEL PUI HUNG in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that MICHAEL PUI HUNG 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: November 23, 2016, 9:00 am, Dept. 204, Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, 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: MR. JAY GREENE, ESQ (297803), 447 SUTTER STREET, SUITE 410, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108; Ph. (415) 905-0215.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016

NOVEMBER 03, 10, 17, 2016

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037315600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BAY AREA BOOK REPAIR, 912 KIRKHAM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SARAH SONGER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/27/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/20/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037284100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOODS HOLDING COMPANY, 5826 CALIFORNIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed EVA HOLMAN & CAROLYNN BOX. 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 09/28/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037308100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO GUITAR QUARTET, 3820 IRVING ST #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed PATRICK O’CONNELL, RAMON FERMIN, DAVID GONZALES & MATTHEW FISH. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/14/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/14/16.

OCT 27, NOV 03, 10, 17, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037314400

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Legal Notices>> NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF DAISY M. TURNER IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-16-300253

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of DAISY M. TURNER. A Petition for Probate has been filed by KASHINA D. PIERCE in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that KASHINA D. PIERCE 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: November 09, 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: MR. OSBY DAVIS, ESQ. (SBN: 59272) LAW OFFICE OF OSBY DAVIS, 410 TUOLUMNE ST, VALLEJO, CA 94590; Ph. (707) 644-7424.

OCT 20, 27, NOV 03, 10, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552425

In the matter of the application of: ROBERTO LOBO FILHO, 160 EDDY ST #425, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ROBERTO LOBO FILHO, is requesting that the name ROBERTO LOBO FILHO, be changed to ROBERTO DO CARMO GUIMARAES. 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 22nd of December 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 03, 10, 17, 24, 2016

Classifieds The

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037327600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CUE MARKETING, 1019 MINNESOTA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CELESTE HENKELMANN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/29/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/01/16.

NOV 03, 10, 17, 24, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037325600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CASERO GOURMET SAUCES, 1394 A HAYES ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GUSTAVO DELLY PENA. 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 10/28/16.

NOV 03, 10, 17, 24, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552496

In the matter of the application of: KARIN ABERG BROOKS, 4086 25TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KARIN ABERG BROOKS, is requesting that the name KARIN ABERG BROOKS, be changed to KARIN MARGARETA ABERG BROOKS. 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 10th of JANUARY 2017 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOVEMBER 03, 10, 17, 24, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037322700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AUTOEROTICA; THE DILDO MINES, 4077A 18TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PATRICK E. BATT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/16/97. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/27/16.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MCNERNEY PELICHOFF ROESS HOWARD PROPERTIES, 14 MINT PLAZA, 5TH FLOOR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed PATRICK MCNERNEY, SCOTT PELICHOFF, ROESS LLC (CA) & MARTIN MCNERNEY DEVELOPEMENT, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/21/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/31/16.

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NOV 03, 10, 17, 24, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037294800

NOV 03, 10, 17, 24, 2016

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NOV 03, 10, 17, 24, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037326800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ADVANCE HEALTH SF, 582A SAN JOSE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ADVANCE HEALTH SF (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/05/16.

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City and County of San Francisco Outreach Advertising NOVEMBER 2016 Stay Connected To the City through SF311

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037319500

The SF311 Customer Service Center is the single stop for residents to get information on government services and report problems to the City and County of San Francisco. And now, we have even more ways for you to stay connected to the City with our SF311 App and SF311 Explorer website. The SF311 App lets you get information on City services and submit service requests on-the-go right from your smartphone. You can track your service requests through the app or through our new website, SF311 Explorer. Download the SF311 App from your smartphone’s app store and visit the SF311 Explorer at explore311.sfgov.org today! Count on WIC for Healthy Families WIC is a federally funded nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children. You may qualify if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or just had a baby; or have a child under age 5; and have a low to medium income; and live in California. Newly pregnant women, migrant workers, and working families are encouraged to apply. WIC provides Nutrition Education and Health information, breastfeeding support, checks for healthy foods (like fruits and vegetables), and referrals to medical providers and community services. You may qualify for WIC if you receive Medi-Cal, CalFresh (Food Stamps), or CalWORKS (TANF) benefits. A family of four can earn up to $3,747 before tax per month and qualify. Enroll early! Call today to see if you qualify and to make an appointment. Call City and County of San Francisco WIC Program at 415-575-5788. This institution is an equal opportunity provider Board of Supervisors Regularly Scheduled Board Meetings November and December 2016 Meetings OPEN TO THE PUBLIC –Tuesdays, 2:00pm, City Hall Chamber, Room 250. • November 1 • November 15 • November 29 There will be no scheduled meetings on November 8th and 22nd.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MISSION ASIA NOODLE, 5249 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed MISSION LILY’S CAFE, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/25/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/25/16.

NOV 03, 10, 17, 24, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037321000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MOLLY HOUSE RECORDS, 3724 21ST ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SWAGGER LIKE US PRODUCTIONS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/26/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/26/16.

NOV 03, 10, 17, 24, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037324000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FLORES, 2030 UNION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed 2030 UNION STREET LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/27/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/27/16.

NOV 03, 10, 17, 24, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037292600

• December 6 • December 13 There will be no scheduled meetings on December 20th and 27th. LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST CHINESE…. SPANISH…. FILIPINO Requests must be received 48 hours in advance required for interpretation. For more information see the Board of Supervisor’s website www.sfbos.org, or call 415-554-5184. The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions.

CNS-2940294#

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Stoppard sign

Grace notes

Seed farm

Out &About

O&A

Vol. 46 • No. 44 • November 3-9, 2016

www.ebar.com/arts

Bruce Conner’s walk on the dark side by Sura Wood

retrospective has the ability to map the arc of an artist’s career, its unifying and diverging themes, but it’s unlikely that it’s an artist’s intention to have his or her life’s work shown en masse. So does this mode of presentation enhance, skew or alter the perception of the work? That question arose recently when viewing Bruce Conner: It’s All True, the first and certainly most multi-faceted, comprehensive survey of the prodigious 60-year output of this Bay Area iconoclast who, to paraphrase that old Sinatra standard, did it his way. See page 30 >>

One of the artistic pranks pulled by Bruce Conner was running for San Francisco Supervisor in 1967. A poster from that race as well as other objects pertaining to his early artworks are included in Bruce Connor: It’s All True, now at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Rick Gerharter

Musical fortnight at Davies Hall by Philip Campbell

or the past two weeks, audiences in Davies Symphony Hall have been offered beloved works from the core repertoire as interpreted by two generations of orchestral leaders, San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and regular guest conductor Pablo Heras-Casado. There is surprisingly little contrast to note between the two maestros. As far as control or interpretation goes, each displays an expert’s ability and, perhaps most admirably, a generosity of support for their fellow musicians. See page 34 >>

Guest conductor Pablo Heras-Casado returned to lead the San Francisco Symphony.

Y A D I L HO S E D I U G

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

2016

Harald Hoffmann/Deutsche Grammophon

Publishing Nov. 24, Dec. 1, 8, and 15

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<< Out There

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

All the graphic details

by Roberto Friedman

WINNER Best Wedding Photographer

Steven Underhill

PHOTOGRAPHY

415 370 7152

WEDDINGS, HEADSHOTS, PORTRAITS

stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

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raphic novels have come into their own only in recent times, shedding their association with comic books and superheroes and gaining literary respectability. Art Spiegelman’s Maus was a striking and important addition to the Holocaust literature; Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home took on such matters as same-sex familial secrets and suicide. By now, just because a novel is illustrated as well as written doesn’t disqualify it from serious consideration. Two graphic works have just made their way to Out There’s desk. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” – The Authorized Graphic Adaptation by Miles Hyman (Hill and Wang) is a beautiful retelling of the classic short story by Jackson, who was born 100 years ago in San Francisco. Hyman is Jackson’s grandson, an artist and printmaker. He has made a specialty of adapting classic literature into graphic novels, so it’s natural that he turned to illustrating his grandmother’s most famous story. Jackson’s centenary has brought a flurry of publishing activity. FSG is reissuing The Lottery and Other Stories, Liveright has published Ruth Franklin’s biography Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life to acclaim, and Penguin is reissuing classic Jackson spookers The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. “The Lottery” is Jackson’s immortal tale of small-town tradition and ritual, and how group think and mob rule can lead to atrocities, even in the name of “family values.” Its terrifying relevance will apparently never go out of style. Soviet Daughter – A Graphic Revolution by Julia Alekseyeva (Microcosm) is Julia’s recounting of her great-grandmother Khinya

“Lola” Ignatovskaya’s 100year life (1910-2010), interspersed with scenes from the author’s own 21st-century life. Lola was born in the Jewish ghetto of Kiev before the Russian Revolution. During the Civil War period that followed, the most violent atrocities in Kiev (pogroms) against Jews, other minorities and the poor were carried out by Ukrainian nationalists. Lola survived them, then weathered the Stalinist purges and murders of the 1930s. WWII came to Kiev with a vengeance in 1941, as the city was a major target for the Germans. Lola escaped with her two young children to Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, just outside Kiev, Babi Yar was the site of the deadliest two-day massacre of the Holocaust. Most of Lola’s family died at the hands of the Nazis. She and her children’s families filed refugee papers and were finally allowed to leave the Soviet Union for America in 1992. When Lola died, she left her savings, $5,000, to Julia, who used it in production of this graphic account of Lola’s tumultuous life and times. Though Julia is pictured at a Gay

Pride Parade in Chicago, and makes brief mention of the break-up of her non-gender-specified relationship, her book’s focus is on her great-grandmother’s life, not her own. Throughout her book and Hyman’s, their artwork is as much a driver of the narrative as the words. It’s a new way to tell serious stories.

Fabulous fun

Fresh from their success promoting Absolutely Fabulous the Movie, the Royal British Comedy Theatre company is performing two delicious AbFab episodes, Sex and Small Opening, at the Exit Theatre through Nov. 19. In the former, playgirls Edina and Patsy plan an orgy; in the latter, Eddy’s put-upon daughter Saffy dramatizes their pathetic existence. Everyone in the cast gives it their all (Terrence McLaughlin is Edina, ZsaZsa Lufthansa is Patsy, Dene Larson is Saffy, Ryan Engstrom is Gran, Raya Light is Bubble; Lisa Appleyard, Nick Leonard, Ginorma Desmond, Steven Sparrow, Lisa Darter, and Hilda Roe), with McLaughlin absolutely nailing Jennifer Saunders’ classic portrayal. Info: rbct.us.t

Devil on my shoulder by Jim Piechota

The Angel of History by Rabih Alameddine; Grove Atlantic, $27 here is a lot of conflict and negotiation happening in awardwinning San Francisco-based author Rabih Alameddine’s latest novel The Angel of History, a stylish gem constructed of love and loss. All of it forms a glorious excess of life, death, and haunting memory. The story, masterfully told, takes place in a single day as a man waits in the foyer of the Crisis Psych Clinic to be seen for bouts of hallucinations, the ceaseless voice of Satan swirling in his head, and a possible emotional breakdown. That man is Jacob, a gay, Middle Eastern, Yemeni-born poet with a solemn past and a present-day struggle that forms the rapidly beating heart of the story. Taking up temporary residency in his apartment are Satan and Death, who embark on a cerebral duel for Jacob’s soul. That soul is a tortured one, as evidenced by flashbacks told through Jacob’s journal entries, validating much of his interior sadness and the longing he never quite manages to vanquish through sex, BDSM dungeon experimentation, drugs, or the simple passage of time. This rich history is comprised of Jacob’s childhood spent in Cairo, where his mother was a brothel whore (“I don’t have to mention how my mother supported herself without a family, we can both surmise what she resorted to”) and of his move to Beirut, his Christian baptism at the

urging of his father, time spent in Catholic school catering to a nun who sexually abused him through holiday breaks, and an eventual move to America and the open arms of the San Francisco gay community. There he meets and falls in love with Doc, his life partner. They have an often precarious “open relationship” until AIDS claims Doc’s life and decimates concentric circles of Jacob’s friends. Survivor’s guilt consumes his soul. “Misery is what you get for not dying – misery, but some good stuff, too.” It’s all up for grabs, the good and the bad, by the Lord of the Underworld and the Red Devil. Satan reminds Death that Jacob doesn’t like anyone smoking in his apartment. “Fuck him,” Death spits. Both of these gothic deities are outspoken, their banter catty, expletiveridden, foreboding, and sarcastic.

Satan, who believes “sanity is overrated,” wants Jacob to remember his past, while Death would rather have him forget everything. They are joined by 14 saints: Catherine, Eustace, and other haloed spirits who anxiously flit into the two-bedroom apartment one by one. All of the saints have kept Jacob company for his time on Earth and attempted to bubble-wrap him from collapsing under the weight of life’s agony. While Jacob’s plight is compelling and supports the weight of this beautiful novel, its intricate details are picture-perfect. Death has green eyes and blue-black manicured fingernails; Satan is always impeccably dressed; perched on Death’s couch, the saint Pantaleon is vividly and hilariously described with “spastic hand gestures, bobbing brown curly hair that veiled and revealed his eyes many times per second, the Picasso harlequin top, and the blindingly fuchsia ballet tights that highlighted every vein and sinew.” Alameddine, a daring and perceptive storyteller, adds a final descriptive touch that leavens all the darkness in his pages: “Pantaleon was the gayest of the fourteen, and the happiest. Satan loved him best.”t Rabih Alameddine will appear in person at the Jewish Community Center, 3200 California Street, San Francisco as part of the LA Review of Books Radio Hour on Thursday, November 3, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $28 (with a two-for-one special code) available at https:// www.jccsf.org/arts-ideas/larbradio-hour/.

Theatre>>

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

Consciousness raising by Richard Dodds

t’s almost as if Tom Stoppard has been touched by an angel, and that Della Reese is hovering about ready to put some heavenly coincidences into motion. One precept repeated in The Hard Problem is that there are no real coincidences, only situations where we don’t have all the information. Divine intervention could be one explanation for unexpected convergences, but so could factors that may be as small as the flap of a butterfly’s wings halfway around the globe. Existential questions have been at or near the heart of most of Stoppard’s plays, dating back as far as 1966 with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Thanks to his long association with ACT’s Artistic Director Carey Perloff, many of those plays have been produced at the Geary Theater, where The Hard Problem is now having its West Coast premiere. It’s Stoppard’s first full-length play in a decade, and while its essence is of familiar intellectual muscularity, a notion of a beneficent, responsive God is frequently invoked. At the center of the play is the question of mind versus brain, whether human kindness innately exists or is the result of hard-wired responses rooted in survival instincts. That’s a debate that doesn’t necessarily need God in it, but the play’s central and most sympathetic

and Safiya Fredericks, character believes both while others exist to prothat consciousness can be vide Hilary with debating altruistic independent of partners, including her Darwinian controls, and prickly sometimes-lover that praying to God just (Dan Clegg), a bitter remight get you what you searcher she beats out for ask for. Not a created-thea job (Vandit Bhatt), a world-in-six-days kind too-eager assistant (Narea of God, but some kind of Kang), and a genial superhigher moral intelligence visor (Anthony Fusco). In who takes requests. a more faceted role, Mike Psychology scholar HilRyan brings a strong presary kneels at her bedside ence as a ruthless financier every evening in silent with a soft side as a philanprayer, something an thropist and a father. unpleasantly clever lover Director Carey Perloff ’s named, appropriately, production starts off stiffly Spike finds ridiculous. in a post-coital scene beWhen she lands a job at tween Hilary and Spike, a prestigious institute for with Clegg’s substitution of brain science, her research declamation for projection adheres to empirical data, skewing early rhythms. If but she can’t help herself sharpness remains elusive from presenting a paper Kevin Berne in the staging, spread out making a case for God’s on Andrew Boyce’s austere existence, something that A psychology student (Brenda Meaney) and her sometimes-lover (Dan Clegg) debate the high-tech set, it loosens prompts tut-tuts from nature of the mind in Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Problem now at ACT’s Geary Theater. into more natural patterns her colleagues. And then as it proceeds. The ultiexample: Can a computer be said – but she is the one character that it’s back to hard-core data mate issues with The Hard Problem to be actually thinking when it plays warrants a fuller investment. leading to a seeming breakthrough are not in the production but in the chess? Not until it feels bad when it Brenda Meaney pays off that in behavioral studies before we’re play itself, one that finds Stoppard loses. Stoppard provides hefty aminvestment by creating a character again knocking on heaven’s door as opting for squishy equivocation munition to all sides in whatever who is smart, vulnerable, and actuGod grants, or so Hilary believes, in a play that teases us with hard discussions are at hand, but ultially likeable. Not that all the other her most ardent prayer. Whether or answers.t mately his sympathies seem to align characters are unlikeable, but they not God is necessary for altruism is with Hilary’s more benign take on aren’t developed enough to earn not among the hard questions that human nature. Her arguments much of an emotional connection. Stoppard tries to answer. The Hard Problem will run don’t necessarily win the day – unSome of the characters feel little The play does provide good menthrough Nov. 13 at the Geary Theater. Tickets are $20-$105. Call less you chalk up a life-changing more than ornamental, like a lestal exercises as the characters debate (415) 749-2228 or go to act-sf.org. coincidence to divine intervention bian couple played by Stacy Ross the nature of thought. One tidier

French film feast

Simone Renant and Jean Marais in Voyage sans espoir, aka Journey Without Hope, part of The French Had a Name For It, playing the Roxie.

Michele Morgan in Les scélérats, aka The Wretches, part of The French Had a Name For It, playing the Roxie.

by Erin Blackwell

he words “French actress” excite a number of thunderous emotions in the Puritan breast, all of them earned. French actresses have a way of getting to the heart of the matter merely by raising their eyelids and staring down any manbeast in the vicinity. Quick on their feet, their dignity only enhanced by emotion, they are uniformly as trim as ballerinas, sturdy as farmgirls, and eloquent as judges. These exemplars of femininity have a dignity in distress unseen in their Anglo counterparts. We rarely get a chance to savor the vintage variety, but extraordinairement, the feisty Roxie is overflowing with French Noir for five days, during The French Had a Name For It series, starting tonight, Nov. 3. Michele Morgan is a stunning representative of French actressness. Born in 1920, she left home at 15 to study in Paris, where a director soon cast her opposite French workingclass screen hero Jean Gabin. She

was 16 when they kissed for the cameras. Morgan, who renamed herself after a bank, lived up to the promise of this debut with a long and varied career. She really wanted to make it in Hollywood, and Hitler gave her her chance. She made a few U.S. films in which her exotic sang froid, or poise, seems like a holdover from a different planet. She is too reserved, and Hollywood is too macho. The five-foot-two blonde with the slanting eyes of a Gothic saint can be seen in Les scelerats (1960), aka The Wretched. (11/5, 7:45 p.m.) Robert Hossein, the director and star of Scelerats, was a stage actor and director skilled at broad-stroke theatricalism, which he parlayed into a film career. With his haunted dark eyes, rugged cheekbones, and sensitive mouth, he makes a poetic, masculine leading man in a pinch. He lacks the inner life of a great cinema star, but this very lack of complexity recommends him to Anglo-Americans. He’s a bit like Daniel Craig’s James Bond. Watch him stand soberly as Morgan does

all the acting in this ramshackle tale of a loving married pair destroyed by their child’s accidental death. Morgan’s emotions run quick and deep, glass in hand, as an alcoholic glamour girl. Did I mention they play Americans? Far too gracefully. Le jour se leve (1939), or Daybreak, is a must-see classic for Francophiles and other gourmandes of all things Gallic. Arletty is a performer who both embodies and undercuts French classical style, as her street smarts shine through her perfect equipoise. Her nasal twang is simply je ne sais quoi. Her leading man, Jean Gabin, is the standard against whom all other actors are judged. (11/3, 7:30 p.m.) Two films directed by Christian-Jaque fill Friday’s double bill: Voyage sans espoir (1943), or Journey Without Hope (11/4, 7:30 p.m.), stars gay icon Jean Marais, who was famously Cocteau’s lover and muse. Un revenant (1946), A Lover’s Return (11/4, 9:20 p.m.), features fantastic classical theatre villain Louis Jouvet. Think Alan Rickman on Absinthe. Saturday is given over to five films directed by Hossein between 1959-65. These are all closely plotted intrigues, reaching back to 19th-century melodrama and forward to post-colonial avant-garde soul-searching. Programmer Don

Malcolm obviously likes Hossein’s fidelity to certain creaky, stageworthy tropes, by which he distinguishes himself from the flamboyant liberties of the Nouvelle Vague. Le jeu de la verite (1961), The Truth Game (11/5, 9:30 p.m.), is a locked-room mystery in a gorgeous

mansion filled with fancy furnishings, featuring spoiled bourgeois in complicated relationships and evening wear. Hossein makes a Columbo-like appearance, again without bothering to inhabit a character. Performing is left to a glittering cast including Nadia Gray and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Sunday is full of marvelous actors in ticklish situations, including the unique Michel Simon, the perpetual outsider to whom insiders are indifferent until somebody dies. And even then. Also Simone Signoret, Louis Jourdan, and Lili Palmer, better-known here for their English-language work. Monday features a fabulous double bill of Macao, l’enfer du jeu (1942), Gambling Hell (11/7, 7:15 p.m.), starring Eric von Stroheim doing his naughty but nasty Prussian officer shtick, of which I never weary, do you? With Sessue Hayakawa, doing his. Les jeux sont faits (1947), The Chips are Down (11/7, 9:30 p.m.), features the subtle machinations of Micheline Presle. All double bills are $12, festival pass is $50.t

<< TV

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

Will & Grace: the sequel?

by Victoria A. Brownworth

t’s just a few more days until the end of the longest and worst reality series we’ve had to endure in our personal history of watching the tube. Our hope is that we won’t need to see Donald Trump ever again, and that there will be a blowout on Nov. 8 that will rival 1984 or 1964. While we wait for that to happen, we need distractions. There’s always the late-night comedians to help us with the daily onslaughts from Herr Trump, and if we’re feeling especially masochistic, CNN and MSNBC, but we have gone for sitcoms and dramas of the scripted kind to keep our blood pressure within reason. Fortunately, there’s a hella great TV this season both on and off the tube (yes, we’re streaming and binging). One thing we won’t get to see before the election is the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode ripped from the Trump headlines. The episode had been scheduled for Oct. 26, but got pulled. The episode, “Unstoppable,” the preview for which has remained online, features Gary Cole as a self-proclaimed “handsome, charming millionaire. ‘Women throw themselves at me.’” Cole is a politician whose campaign blows up when several women accuse him of grabbing them by the – well, you know. Now the episode will air on Nov. 16, the week after the election. We think NBC was cowardly for not airing it since they always claim their stories, while ripped from the headlines, are purely fiction. But Trump seems to be able to do enough damage on his own without scripted help, so tune in post-election for that one. One of the only good things to come out of this endless election season is while working to elect Hillary Clinton, the cast of Will & Grace did a short video in September to get out the vote. When it went viral, interest was sparked in a re-boot. According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBC is considering a one-season return of the popular gay sitcom. The foursome of Will (Eric McCormack), Grace (Debra Messing), Jack (Sean Hayes) and Karen (Megan Mullaly) have been busy acting in a range of projects since the show ended a decade ago after 194 episodes. But they have all expressed interest in Will & Grace: The Sequel. Messing has been on NBC for a while, first in Smash, then in The Mysteries of Laura, just cancelled in May. Out gay actor Sean Hayes. who exec produces NBC’s Grimm, had an ill-fated run in Smash, then his own gay sitcom Sean Saves the World was cancelled after one season. But he’s been nominated for a fistful of Tonys and guested on toprated shows. Megan Mullaly had her own talk show and has also been on a dozen others. McCormack starred in Pound Puppies for six seasons, and Perception for three. We recently caught some old episodes of W&G, and they are still funny, but the show would need to be brought into the 21st century. The actors are significantly older (though wearing it well), and as Hayes’ sitcom illumined, audiences now are looking for much more sophisticated LGBT fare. What would a W&G re-boot look like? McCormack told THR in an interview with Messing about the shoot for the election: “The whole eight years was lightning in a bottle. You want to be careful that you don’t mess too much with that bottle.” Messing noted that TV isn’t just network now, as it was when W&G premiered. Perhaps NBC wouldn’t

Courtesy NBC-TV

Cast of Will & Grace: Will they be returning for a new round of episodes?

be the best place to revive the fey frenetic foursome. Messing said, “Maybe having the limitations of being on network TV lifted may give us a fun, fresh opportunity because we could be really, really naughty!” Maybe. Our memories of W&G as our first weekly TV fix of gayness are precious. We’d hate to have them smashed. Conversely, there’s not nearly enough LGBT TV, and the success of a series like Transparent shows there is definitely a market for complex LGBT comedy with characters that are not all gorgeous 20somethings. W&G feels like our gay past, not our gay future, but if the foursome is open, why not? We would like to see some middle-aged gay folks on the tube, and a comedic LGBT Big Chill could be compelling.

Housewife helper

Speaking of comedies, we take back everything questionable we said about American Housewife because it’s brilliantly funny and probably the best new comedy on the tube this season. Katy Mixon is hilarious, and she really is the show, although the supporting cast is all quite strong. We love Katie’s besties the best: Doris (San Francisco comedian Ali Wong) and Angela (Carly Hughes), who is a lesbian, demand some suspension of disbelief (how did Katy find these two women of color in her whiter-than-white suburb, why did she seek them out?), but the exchanges among the three make us forget (almost) they are basically props. In the Oct. 25 episode, Katy tells Angela she could have sex with a woman and does the most amazing visual as she waves her hands and says she could do those (Angela’s quite lovely breasts) but not that (waves toward the nether regions), with a pitch-perfect tone for both. It’s fun. And we need fun. But drama is our wheelhouse, and we can’t say enough great things about our fave new show, Fox’s The Exorcist. This may be the best new drama on the tube this season, and it has everything. There are two sexy, complicated priests, Father Tomas (Alfonso Herrera) and Father Marcus (Ben Daniels). There’s Oscar winner Geena Davis as Angela (she also has a shocking secret identity) and Sharon Gless as her mother. Aside: The exceptionally queerfriendly Gless is only 13 years older than Davis and has been playing a lot of mothers in the past 15 years, including on Queer as Folk and Burn Notice. But there seem to be a dearth of roles for older women on the tube, so nice work if you can get it. Angela’s older daughter Katherine (Brianna Howey) is a lesbian ballet dancer cut from the Black

Swan cloth. Her lover came predeceased, so we only get to see Kat in mourning for her beloved at present, as well as some sexy flashbacks. The younger daughter, Casey (Hannah Kasulka) is, well, possessed. We are rarely at a loss for words, but this show leaves us in awe. It’s sumptuous visually. The acting is superb and understated. Davis is a little large for this stage: at over six feet, she’s taller than everyone, which makes her more imposing than she intends in this claustrophobic drama. Nevertheless, we believe her desperate search for help for her daughters. She initially thinks the problem is with the heartbroken Katherine, whose lover is killed right before the story opens, but that’s because she doesn’t realize Casey is consorting with a Baron Samedi dude. Daniels and Herrera are mesmerizing. Daniels has won a bazillion theatre awards, and his tone is pitchperfect. His role is the most challenging, as we need to believe he believes (even though he’s on the verge of being a fallen priest) that there is Evil with a capital E in the world. His Father Marcus is deeply damaged and has spent time in the developing world as a white savior, so he has baggage. The Exorcist is layered: You can watch it solely as superb horror drama. Or you can delve deeply into the psychological aspects of mental illness vs. possession, the priesthood and its issues, the psycho-sexual nuances of budding female sexuality and priestly celibacy, the role of the Church in the lives of poor people of color. It’s a Pandora’s box that can be unpacked in each episode. But be warned, it’s extremely violent and unsettling. Binge at Fox.com or Hulu. The clock is ticking toward the season finale of ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder because Viola Davis’s contract makes for a shorter season than most. The Oct. 27 episode gave us Annalise (Davis) defending Danny, a lesbian vet who slit the throat of a man who came onto her and the woman she was with in a bar. He survived, but barely. Did Danny do it because she has PTSD? Turns out yes and no. Like everything HTGAWM, it’s complicated, but also deep and meaningful. It left us pondering about what war does to women. Meanwhile, Connor and Oliver, wth? While it’s fun seeing Connor play house with Michaela and Asher (he flops on their bed wearing her robe), we want him back with Oliver. Except Michaela found him an Internet date, Tom, and it looks like they will see each other again after they kissed at the door. We’ll try to be happy that now there are three gay guys on the show instead of just two and random hookups. We still don’t know who is under the sheet, but we will find out the same week we find out who is going to be our next

president. Our money is on Nate. Over at Grey’s Anatomy, Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) has been wandering around as the solo lesbian since she sent Callie (Sara Ramirez) off with their daughter and Callie’s new love, Penny. But on Oct. 27, Leah Murphy (Tessa Ferrer) returned to the hospital to an all-around whoa. Maybe these two will land back in bed together. Leah ostensibly broke up Arizona and Callie, so hard to say. But Arizona did enjoy the frolicking. Now Leah is a better surgeon. We just don’t want Arizona falling off the canvas because she doesn’t have anyone to screw. This is often the kiss of death for LGBT characters. Some startlingly good new shows you also want to add to your DVR repertoire include USA’s Eyewitness and Hulu’s Chance. Hugh Laurie is massively talented: novelist, musician, actor, raconteur and friend to LGBTQ folks. We hated House yet watched it for the entire eight years because of Laurie (and the bisexual character of Thirteen, played by the sumptuous Olivia Wilde). He’s that compelling. This season we’ve got two limited series with Laurie. The Night Manager was on AMC in the late spring. Chance just debuted on Hulu. In-between, Laurie was on Veep. Chance is set in the Bay Area, and pays extended homage to Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Laurie plays neuropsychiatrist Dr. Eldon Chance, whose specialty is examining the files of patients who are coping with serious illness or have experienced horrifying freak accidents and making determinations about their care. He steers clear of actual patients. It’s a dark set-up, and the mood doesn’t lighten. Chance is lured into patient care by Jaclyn Blackstone (the amazing Gretchen Mol), suffering from some vague complaints that mimic those of Kim Novak in Vertigo, and a violent cop husband in equal measure. But there is more: Chance is in the midst of a divorce from his wife Christina (Diane Farr) and needs money because his kid is in private school. Things get darker as Chance becomes enmeshed in a relationship with an antiques dealer (Clarke Peters from The Wire, quite fey here) and some other less savory characters, one of whom, D (Ethan Suplee), might be a sociopath. Chance notes, “I’m a medical professional. I’m not some Raymond Chandler character.” He’s clearly both. His relationship with D reminds us of a line from The Maltese Falcon when Humphrey Bogart says to Peter Lorre after striking him, “When you’re slapped, you’ll take it and like it.” We recommend sticking your toe in the Bay water of Chance, for Laurie and Suplee. If it feels too cold, you’re already home. Eyewitness is the best gay-themed drama of the season so far. It’s a

remake of a Norwegian series, and translates well from the bleak European landscape to In Cold Blood rural America. We don’t want to give too much away, but this series has a gay couple: one semi-out, one decidedly not. Tyler Young plays Philip Shea and James Paxton (son of actor Bill Paxton) plays Lukas Waldenbeck, the gay couple. Their performances lure the viewer immediately. They’re also lovely to look at. Julianne Nicholson (L&O: Criminal Intent, Boardwalk Empire) plays a New York City detective, Helen Torrance, who’s moved to upstate New York to work as a town sheriff. Helen has moved there with her husband and child to have a more bucolic existence. But as we know from Capote to Cheever to O’Connor, things lurk in rural America that are no less awful than the blatant violence of the city. Women who once sought adrenaline highs are not going to go gentle into that staid night. Eyewitness is uniquely compelling, in part for Nicholson’s understated performance and the performances of Young and Paxton, in part because of the claustrophobic atmosphere created by showrunner Adi Hasak (Shades of Blue). A must-see. Finally, because this is 2016 and nothing is normal, Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg have a show debuting Nov. 7 on VH1 called Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party. “My homegirl Martha and I have a special bond that goes back. We’re gonna be cooking, drinking and having a good time with our exclusive friends,” Snoop told the Hollywood Reporter when their show was announced. “Can’t wait for you to see how we roll together!” The two have been good friends since they met in 2008 when Snoop was on Stewart’s show making mashed potatoes and the two talked about everything from Snoop’s upcoming album to his performing for the soon-to-be-inaugurated Barack Obama. Last week Snoop and Martha were on Ellen’s show talking about their project and playing a game of “Never Have I Ever” with daytime’s favorite lesbian. When the topic went to sexting, all three guests (Anna Kendrick was the third) said they had. “Martha, you’ve sexted? Do you know what that is?” Ellen asked. Stewart replied, “I have used technology for a lot longer than you have, Ellen.” When asked if the sextee was “someone current” or an old flame, Stewart flipped her sign back and forth and said, “It doesn’t say ‘None of your business’ here.” So for amazing moments like that, for glimmers of gay and the City by the Bay, and for the last days of the election, you know you really must stay tuned.t

Music>>

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 29

Senior moments in popular music by Gregg Shapiro

he most senior of the seniors in this column, Leonard Cohen is the true definition of someone who gets better with age. You Want It Darker (Columbia), produced by Cohen’s son Adam, is nothing less than a religious experience, opening with the title cut, in which the Congregation Baar Hashomayim Synagogue Choir sings “Hineni Hineni/I’m ready, my Lord.” Hineni translates from Hebrew as “Here I am.” There is water into wine in “Treaty,” an angel and a devil in “On the Level,” and turning the other cheek and grace in “It Seemed the Better Way.” There is also a timeless love song (“If I Didn’t Have Your Love”) and useful advice (“Steer Your Way,” featuring Alison Kraus and Dana Glover on backing vocals). If you pray, pray that there is still more to come from Cohen. Neil Sedaka started his songwriting and recording career a few years before Cohen, making his name as one of the songwriters housed in the legendary Brill Building. Like Cohen, Sedaka achieved massive success by having his songs recorded by others. Interestingly, Sedaka’s greatest professional triumph occurred during what could be considered a

second-stage resurgence. After experiencing acclaim overseas, Sedaka was signed to Elton John’s Rocket Records label, resulting in the 1975 album Sedaka’s Back. The album included the comeback single “Laughter in the Rain,” as well as the Captain & Tennille hit “Love Will Keep Us Together.” So began Sedaka’s return to the limelight. More than 40 years later, Sedaka is back again, with the uneven I Do It for the Applause (neilsedaka.com). Ill-fitting dentures aside, Sedaka accompanies himself on a dozen songs recorded between 201015. Tunes such as “Tonight We Gotta Call It a Day,” “Distant Memories” and the uplifting “Nothing Is Impossible” show that he can still write and sing. “Super Hottie,” the unintentionally gayest song Sedaka has ever written (in the voice of a woman), includes the line “Your Speedos are showing your desire,” which tells you all you need to know. By teaming up with the young musicians Rosie Bones and Carmen Vandenberg on his new album Loud Hailer (Atco), rock guitar god Jeff

Beck freshens up his vintage sound, still metal-loud and as bluesy as all get out. But the youthful female energy provided by Bones and Vandenberg has a lively effect on Beck. The best examples can be found on “Live in the Dark,” “Shrine” and “The Ballad of the Jersey Wives.” The last surviving brother Gibb, or Bee Gee if you prefer, Barry Gibb has released In the Now (Columbia), his first solo album in many years. A musical collaborator throughout most of his career, Gibb worked closely with sons Stephen and Ashley on the album’s 12 tracks.

Many numbers wouldn’t have been out of place on a Bee Gees album, including “Star Crossed Lovers” and “Meaning of the Word.” But songs where Gibb attempts to unleash his inner rocker – “Grand Illusion,” “Blowin’ a Fuse” – are embarrassing misfires. Gibb brings the disc to a close with the country-tinged heartbreaker “End of the Rainbow,” dedicated to his late brothers Robin, Maurice and Andy. Heart’s Beautiful Broken (Concord) finds the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, re-imagining

deep album cuts and performing three new tunes, including the NeYo song “Two,” featuring Nancy on vocals. Other standouts include “Sweet Darlin’” and “Heaven.” Stephen Bishop has had success as a songwriter for others and a performer of his own songs. His debut album Careless, released 40 years ago, contained his hit single “On and On” and his renditions of songs covered by artists Phoebe Snow (“Never Letting Go”), Barbra Streisand (“One More Night”) and Art Garfunkel (“The Same Old Tears on a New Background”). It’s interesting that he should open Blueprint (General Records), his first studio album in two years, with a cover tune. It’s the wonderful “Everyone’s Gone to the Moon,” and Bishop does a lovely rendition. The other cover song, “It Might Be You,” is a remake of his 1982 hit (written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman) from the movie Tootsie. Among the recommended original numbers are “Holy Mother” (co-written with Eric Clapton) and “Before Nightfall.”t

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<< Film

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

Repertory rewards in Castro November by David Lamble

is a hypersensitive youth who Polyester (1981) John Waters pushes his limits against an started his drift towards mainstream he Castro Theatre in Nounforgiving Mother Nature. comedy with this cute drag work. vember has a delicious An avuncular train conductor Divine is a suburban housewife, mix of film repertory ranging (“Next stop: New Canaan, Confading glamor-boy Tab Hunter from Hitchcock to Francis Ford necticut!”) frames a flashback makes a comic appearance. Good Coppola, Douglas Sirk, John structure that reinforces the campy fun. (both 11/10) Hughes and Gus Van Sant. We film’s tragic ending. Like most Donnie Darko (2001) Richard begin our capsules with some of Lee’s work, the film overflows Kelly’s brilliant use of a suburban of the month’s highlights. with unresolved homoerotic Republican family to evoke existenPlanes, Trains and Automolongings added to jack up the tial dread. Jake Gyllenhaal is great as biles (1987) This laugh-outmoral stakes, exposing our stilla fearful teen whose nightmares inloud comedy is both a collisionunresolved Puritanical roots. volve a premonition of disaster and of-opposites buddy film and River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves in director (both 11/23) a large, threatening bunny. A blackan astute psychological study Gus Van Sant’s queer masterpiece My Own Author: The JT LeRoy Story comedy thriller about repressive of how two grown men can Private Idaho. (2016) Another version of this high school life and phony huckster provoke each other to a degree SF-based artist’s attempt to exsolutions. that might result in mayhem in tend an overblown literary hoax. Prisoners (2013) In French Casharing intimate spaces without bereal life. A tight-ass ad guy (Steve My Own Private Idaho (1991) nadian director Denis Villeneuve’s ing overtly homophobic. Martin in a career-topping role) Gus Van Sant’s queer masterpiece is gripping thriller, two sets of parThe Ice Storm (1997) Director finds himself sharing close quarters a layered study of two male hustlers ents, one black, one white, react Ang Lee asserts his claim to being with an aggressively friendly travel(Keanu Reeves, River Phoenix) set badly when their young daughters his generation’s Billy Wilder with ing salesmen (John Candy). Del against a complex American landare abducted and the initial clues this nuanced study of how subur(Candy) talks nonstop, a defense scape. The Shakespearean conceit point to a mentally impaired young ban New York couples allow their against loneliness, a trait that infuis overdone but doesn’t distract hedonistic lifestyles to undermine riates Neal (Martin), a type-A ad from a sublime achievement in their role as parents. Based on Rick executive whose job involves sufferrevelatory queer filmmaking. Moody’s Watergate-era novel. Lee ing more than his share of fools and (both 11/4) matches a stellar ensemble of young bores. All That Heaven Allows and mature actors with traits both Director John Hughes takes (1955) Douglas Sirk casts Jane admirable and destructive. Joan some of the secrets about human Wyman as an aging upper-class Allen is a neglected suburban wife nature displayed in his Brat Pack woman who inspires envy and who acts out against her philanderteen comedies and applies them to hatred from her family and ing husband (deceptively charming real-world icky moments. Martin’s friends when she crosses class Kevin Kline) by shoplifting at a slow burn to full-out tirade against and age lines to date her younglocal store where she’s almost sure a cloying rental-car clerk remains er yardman (Rock Hudson in to be caught. Tobey Maguire is a an 80s comedy high spot, complete his prime). Later remade by witty boarding-school teen whose with an overuse of the F-word. queer German director Rainer Gene Hackman in director Francis Ford early attempts at scoring drugs Martin and Candy both manage Werner Fassbinder (Ali: Fear Coppola’s The Conversation. and sex are undermined by his opto evoke straight-guy aversions to Eats the Soul). portunistic roommate. Elijah Wood

adult (very brave Paul Dano). Hugh Jackman abandons his nice-guy image and becomes a raving lunatic vigilante dad. Gyllenhaal is sublime as an overworked police detective who must battle the incompetence of his local department, the abusive madness of Jackman, and an audacious villain you probably will not suspect. An instant modern classic. (both 11/18) The Conversation (1974) The film that Francis Ford Coppola considers his best is a haunting thriller involving a wiretap expert (Gene Hackman) trapped by the logic of his job bugging other people’s lives. The film, based on Coppola’s original screenplay, explores the human need to spy, deceive and upend the lives of others. Hackman is marvelous as a man who learns all too late the consequences of destroying any semblance of privacy. A great SF-set film with shots of Union Square that will stir nostalgia for those who know our city’s history. Great use of banal pop music that, with repeated exposure, becomes sinister. (11/16) Rear Window (1954) Hitchcock’s most stirring view of a modern American sin: voyeurism. James Stewart is a wheelchair-bound magazine photographer injured on assignment who spends his time spying on his neighbors across See page 31 >>

Bruce Conner

From page 25

While many visitors will have a passing familiarity with Conner’s work and have been exposed to it in small doses over the years, immersion in a large, concentrated volume in one sitting yields a far grimmer impression of his oeuvre. Best-known for his assemblages whose materials he scavenged from the streets and thrift shops of his Western Addition neighborhood, his fluency in multiple mediums is borne out by the over 300 photograms, photographs, videos, sculptures, drawings, early paintings and engraving collages here, as well as 10 of his influential experimental films, which are integrated, as he would have wished, into the context of the massive show. Chock-full of artworks, and inclusive almost to its detriment, the exhibition could have done with some pruning. Plan to spend the better part of a stimulating afternoon taking it all in. The show, which was organized by SFMOMA and opened at MOMA in New York last summer, is an intense affair, a walk on the dark side with a mischievous provocateur of the first order. Conner even ran for San Francisco Supervisor, recruiting an unsuspecting elephant for a campaign flyer. He came of age, artistically speaking, in the mid-1960s, the decade that never lets go, and he lived a creative life in the shadow of the very real prospect of nuclear annihilation following the Allied bombing of Japan and ensuing flurry of nuclear tests. “BOMBHEAD” (1989), a collaged found illustration and photocopy depicting a man in shirt and tie who has a mushroom cloud where his head should be, seems like a cheeky though ominous tip of the black derby to Magritte. But “Crossroads” (1976), a riveting, 37-minute black & white 35mm film (transferred to video) of two initial nuclear weapons tests conducted at Bikini Atoll in 1946, is deadly serious. The amalgamation of found footage shot by over 700 cameras, from different angles and at multiple slow-motion speeds, captures the awesome explosions. Horrifying in their magnitude and the sheer power of

Conner Family Trust, SF/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Bruce Conner, “The Artist” (1990), collage of found illustrations; collection of Joel Wachs.

Bruce Conner, “Spider Lady Nest” (1959), wood box with aluminum paint, spray paint, window shade, nylon, thread, fabric, fur, lead customs seal on string, pearl bead, cotton ball, feathers, tassels, and cardboard. Yale University Art Gallery.

their destructive force, they’re hard to look at, impossible to turn away from, and terribly sad. The film, amplified by soundtracks commissioned by Conner from Patrick Gleeson and Terry Riley, is screened in a hushed booth. Drawing and film remained constants in Conner’s career, as did his habit of thinking outside the box, as he did with “Angels” (1973-75), a series of 29 tall, rectangular, uniformly-sized photograms made with projected light and photosensitive paper. Conner stood on a platform blocking some or all of the light, producing spectral gamma-ray images, some suggesting aliens with white-gloved hands; together, they form a Greek chorus from the Great Beyond. They’re displayed as they were when first shown at a dimly lit, blackened gallery in 1986, minus the box of crickets Conner had installed for atmospherics. Emerging full-blown as if from

a hole in its eye-socket, wrapped in cloth that’s tied by rope at the neck, lying inert on a moldy antique divan. Though a ray of sunshine penetrated the gloom during his brief stint in Mexico (1961-62), an obsession with decay and the withering effects of time, informed by the possibility of extinction and Cold War dread, permeates much of his work, as does a preoccupation with spider webs and ladies’ hosiery, materials that are creepy and sexy, respectively, and as a bonus, can veil and obscure. There’s an aura of Victorian haute past its prime in “The Bride” (1960), a small-scale construction of a dilapidated mansion that could have belonged to Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Abandoned and swathed in cobwebs, it contains secrets unearthed by none but the brave. Occupying several galleries, the

Conner Family Trust, SF/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

the head of Zeus with a voice difficult to ignore, Conner arrived on the scene in earnest with “Child” (1959), a gruesome, cracked-blackwax likeness of an infant with partially amputated legs. Strapped to a wooden high chair, its contorted face is frozen in a permanent howl of terror. The notorious work, a protest against the death penalty, in particular the pending execution of convicted Los Angeles rapist and kidnapper Caryl Chessman, slowly disintegrated and has been reconstructed by NYMOMA’s conservation team. It’s shown in a gallery of the macabre with the understated title Dark Sculptures (1959-63), along with other grotesque, undeniably magnetizing assemblages that could be production designs for a haunted-house horror movie. Just in time for Halloween, there’s “Cherub” (1959), in which a doll’s head presses against a nylon scrim, and “Couch” (1963), a skull with

assemblages are the spine of the show, and one can spend delicious hours lost in their charms. Though a channel for his originality and a medium at which he clearly excelled, by the time he received acclaim for them, he had moved on, one of several drastic shifts he made in his career, including declaring himself dead at one point. Conner created his final assemblage in 1964. “Looking Glass,” a biting critique of voyeurism and consumption of female sexuality, features a chunk of dried blowfish with mannequin arms and painted fingernails caught in nylon netting. Sitting on the top shelf of an open cabinet, it’s like a madam presiding over a bawdy house whose walls are papered with nudie girlie pictures. One half-expects to be socked with the scent of cheap perfume.t Through Jan. 22, 2017. Info: sfmoma.org.

Books>>

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

Lesbian nature mysticism by Tim Pfaff

f a writer the likes of Marilynne Robinson can ask, “What has become of American generosity?,” surely one answer would be that there still is Mary Oliver. The thing about Oliver, the great lesbian poet and nature mystic now in her ninth decade, is that she keeps asking us along, tirelessly taking us on her daybreak walks in the woods or along the Provincetown shore – giving up, albeit after the fact, the solitude that has been her choice, and her need. Death, which she understands as well as any mortal, has claimed the great human love of her life, and many dogs that share a tended, seaside graveyard, has its natural place in the scheme of things. Oliver’s recent volumes of poetry have ventured into prose poems, but in Upstream: Selected Essays (Penguin Press), the glory is prose, writing equally exacting, equally ecstatic. The first section, as aphoristic as mature Nietzsche, is the most fragmentary, deliberately, but

Courtesy the subject

Poet Mary Oliver has published a volume of essays.

it is there, apparently the most recent writing and the also the most backward-looking, that she explains “upstream.”

As a very young woman, she writes, “I walked all one spring day, upstream, sometimes in the midst of ripples sometimes along the shore. My parents were downstream. Finally I was advertised on the hotline of help, and yet there I was, slopping along happily in the stream’s coolness. If this was lost, let us all be lost always. I do not think that I ever, in fact, returned home.” To the extent that Oliver has, over time, become misconstrued if not misunderstood – often by her adherents, among them particularly the feel-gooders and reflexive dog-lovers as well as the people of all ages perched precariously on ragged rehab couches – these essays are, if not a corrective, a reminder. Wind-in-your hair exalted states are paired with the lumber and clumsiness of actually making things. The plea for solitude for creative activity is offset by the reminder that the most perilous interruptions come

from within. The energy of life itself, which lusts for motion, is contrasted with the immobility of writing actual poems, “in the posture of deliberate or hapless inaction.” In the small-n nature Oliver describes so compellingly in prose, things eat each other – strangely, more convincingly, more realistically, than they do on Nature Channel. In contrast to the other animals that have afforded her uncommon physical proximity, even intimacy, there is the great horned owl, “with nothing but blood on its mind. I have found the headless bodies of rabbit and blue jays, and known it was the great horned owl that did them in, taking the heads only, for the owl has an insatiable craving for the taste of brains. The world where the owl is endlessly hungry and endlessly on the hunt is the world in which I live in too. There is only one world.” The saga of the injured gull she and her partner rescue won’t leave your memory anytime soon. Equally, it is difficult to gauge the outright shock Oliver induces by her account of disturbing a turtle’s

nest, taking 13 of the eggs while leaving 14 – and back home making what turned out to be a fibrous omelet of the baker’s dozen. “I am no fool, no sentimentalist. I know that appetite is one of the gods, with a rough and savage face, but a god all the same. Teilhard de Chardin says somewhere that man’s most agonizing spiritual dilemma is his necessity for food, with its unavoidable attachments to suffering. Who would disagree?” Her comparable appetite for books, for the words of others, yields rich commentary on the works of Whitman, Emerson and Poe. But in “Wordsworth’s Mountain,” the shortest and most mysterious of the essays in that section, her poet’s concision returns. “Beauty has its purposes, which, all our lives and at every season, it is our opportunity, and our joy, to divine.” Alongside purposive beauty lie a complex of other duties and responsibilities that inhere if not uniquely then conspicuously in the lives of American artists. She rebels in “that most joyful of circumstances – a passion for work.” It’s no accident that Whitman makes two appearances in these pages, the first as the poet who saved her life as a young woman. In her reading of the Leaves of Grass, she sees how the poet’s ecstatic affirmations arise out of the anything but blithe or casual sexual longings and “a loneliness near fatal.” The “great labor,” as she and Whitman see it, is “the merging of the lonely single self with the wondrous, never-lonely entirety. This is all.” For emotionally bereft, spiritually shell-shocked Americans on the verge of a values breakdown, Upstream comes in the nick of time. It’s like a real-time retreat to the Provincetown that has been Oliver’s sanctuary of a half-century.t

I am the future of the LGBT community. I’m gay.

Nature boys

by Ernie Alderete

Guys, Light and Nature by Manuel Moncayo: Bruno Gmuender Portfolio, $65 he problem with photographer Manuel Moncayo’s Guys, Light and Nature is too much light and nature, and not enough guys. Some of the pictures are of nature, or of urban architecture alone without the male form at all. In some of the pictures you can barely make out the male image behind bushes, brush and other plant life. Sort of like hide-and-seek. Gay men expect the male image

Castro Theatre

From page 30

a Manhattan apartment courtyard. His hobby takes a dark turn when his camera lens focuses on a portly neighbor (pre-Perry Mason Raymond Burr). Suspecting the man of murdering his wife, Stewart and friends (Wendell Corey, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter) lay a trap for him that nearly backfires. (11/20) Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) The comedy farce that

on every page of their physique pictorial books. Trees are nice, but secondary. If we want flora and fauna, we can subscribe to National Geographic. The best pictures feature the male form prominently, dominating nature, using the natural world as a backdrop or prop, but focused succinctly on the naked male. I like the men. They appear to be mostly in their 30s. Not model types, sort of the handsome guy next door. Not overly muscular, no body shaving, just attractive, normal guys with body hair, hairy chests and beards.t defines Bette Davis and Joan Crawford for many, this Robert Aldrichdirected black comedy/horror-fest involves crippled Crawford tortured by her demented, revenge-seeking sister Davis. If you can scrape off the campy barnacles, this one still has things to say about the sometimespsychotic dangers of aging. Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) Aldrich returns with a campy vehicle for Davis and Olivia de Havilland. This time the joke’s on Bette. (both 11/17)t

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

<< Out&About

32 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

O&A

Bay Area Rainbow Symphony @ Everett Middle School Enjoy orchestral works by Mozart, Aaron Copeland, Barber, Britten and other composers, with clarinet soloist Stephen Zielinski. $10-$25. 8pm. 450 Church St. www.bars-sf.org

Dia de los Muertos @ SOMArts Cultural Center A Promise Not To Forget, the annual exhibit of installations inspired by traditional Mexican tributes to deceased families. Thru Nov. 5. 934 Brannan St. www.somarts.org

Electitude

Hindsight @ Modern Eden Gallery

by Jim Provenzano

an you stand the next week of pre-election tension? Vote to see some art. For nightlifery, check out On the Tab in BARtab.

Fri 4 Rainbow Logic: Arm in Arm with Remy Charlip @ CounterPulse

Opening reception for a group exhibit of unique animal paintings and sculptures by Josh Keyes, Sandra Yagi, Ahren Hertel and Ellen Jewett. 6pm9pm. Thru Dec. 3. 801 Greenwich St. www.moderneden.com

Justin Sayre @ Oasis

Thu 3 Absolutely Fabulous @ Exit Theatre Royal British Comedy Theatre returns with the fun stage adaptations of two new episodes of the hit comedy show: Sex and Small Opening, costarring Terrence McLaughlin and Zsa Zsa Lufthansa. $15-$25. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru Nov. 19. 156 Eddy St. www.rbct.us

Alonzo King Lines Ballet @ YBCA The fall home season of the innovative local dance company includes Meyer, King’s collaboration with Grammywinning composer & bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer. $35-$80. Thru Nov. 6. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. www.linesballet.org

Baker Street @ Eureka Theatre 42nd Street moon’s production of Marian Grudeff and Raymond Jessel’s musical adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia. $25-$75. Thru Nov. 20. 215 Jackson St. 255-8207. www.42ndStMoon.org

The Hard Problem @ Geary Theatre Tom Stoppard’s thoughtful drama about a psych graduate forced to balance her romance with her advisor and a prestigious research job. $10-$115. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sat 2pm. Sun 7pm. Thru Nov.13. 405 Geary St. www.act-sf.org

John Cleese & Eric Idle @ Golden gate Theatre Two of the Monty Python’s Flying Circus comedy veterans bring their duo show to the Bay. $77-$117. 8pm. Also Nov. 4 (In San Jose Nov. 5 & 6). 1 Taylor St. at Market. www. cleeseandidle.com www.shnsf.com

Mincing Words @ The Marsh Tom Ammiano returns to the stage with his comic solo show about his life in politics. $20-$100. Thu 8pm, Sat 5pm. Extended thru Nov. 19. 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

New & Classic Films @ Castro Theatre Nov. 3: Brights Lights starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (7pm). Nov. 4: Author: The JT Leroy Story (7pm) and My Own Private Idaho (9:05). Nov. 5: Scary Cow Short Film Festival (2pm). Nov. 6: Into the Inferno with Werner Herzog (8:30). Nov. 9: Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (7pm) and Koyaanisqatsi (8:55). Nov. 10: All That Heaven Allows (7pm) and Polyester (8:45). $11-$16. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

The Rocky Horror Show @ Victoria Theatre, SF It’s back! Ray of Light Theatre company’s hit production of Richard O’Brien’s sweet transvestite rock musical returns, with D’Arcy Drollinger leading a talented cast. “Oh, Rocky!” $25-$40. Wed-Fri 8pm. Sat 7pm & 11pm. Thru Nov. 5. 2961 16th st. www.rayoflighttheatre.com

Seared @ SF Playhouse World premiere of Theresa Reback’s play about a Brooklyn chef who deals with the pressures of sudden success. $35-$75. Tue-Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Nov. 12. 450 Post St. www.sfplayhouse.org

Shocktober 17 @ Hypnodrome The 17th annual theatrical scarefest of four one-acts will shiver your timbers with terror and titillation. $30-$35. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru Nov. 19. 575 10th S.t at Bryant. 377-4202. www.hypnodrome.org

Fri 4 Casa Valentina @ New Conservatory Theatre Center Harvey Fierstein’s play about straight men in the 1960s who privately crossdressed at Catskills parties, and the pressure to ‘come out.’ $20-$65. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Nov. 6. 25 Van Ness Ave, lower level. www.nctcsf.org

Celebrating Sondheim @ Geary Theatre American Conservatory Theatre students perform a cabaret show with songs by Stephen Sondheim. $20. Nov 4 & 7 at 5:30pm. Nov. 5 & 6 at 5pm. 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org

Fabian Echevarria @ Strut Opening reception for Fotohodo, an exhibit of the local gay photographer’s work. 8pm. 470 Castro St. www.strutsf.org

Funsch Dance experience @ ODC Theater Le grand spectacle de l’effort et de l’artifice, an evening-length, sixdancer work including Daniel Nagrin’s 1965 Path. $18-$35. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. 3153 17th St. www.odcdance.org

Hamilton, the Drag Experience @ PianoFight Drag parody of the hit political history musical, with Kai Kai Bee Michaels, Sugah Betes, Gia Maica, Rock M. Sakura, Celeste Yaas, Otter, Maddogg 20/20, Intensive Claire, Scroto T Bagginz, Cruzin d’Loo. $15-$20. 11:30pm. Also Nov 11, 9:30pm. 144 Taylor St. www.pianofight.com

It Can’t Happen Here @ Berkeley Rep New and timely stage adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 book about a tyrannical demagogue’s rise to power in America. $45-$97. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun & Wed 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Nov. 6. Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison St. www.berkeleyrep.org

The Last Tiger in Haiti @ Berkeley Rep Jeff Augustin’s then-and-now story of a group of modern Haitians fleeing to freedom. $45-$81. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed & Sun 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Nov. 27. 2025 Addison St. www.berkeleyrep.org

Latin Standards @ Brava Theater Marga Gomez performs her biographical solo show before performing it in New York, next year. $15. 8pm. Also Nov 5 (5pm, 8pm) & 6 (3pm, 7pm). 2781 24th St. margagomez.com www.brava.org

Poem Fields @ Great Wall, Oakland Outdoor projections of animated poems by Stan VanDerBeek. 6:30pm9pm. Reception 8pm-10:30pm at B$BEL4B, 184 10th St., Oakland. www.b4bel4b.com www.greatwallofoakland.org

Rainbow Logic: Arm in Arm with Remy Charlip @ CounterPulse

The ascerbic solo performer brings his farewell tour of the gay comic “Meeting of Sodomites” to discuss “the gay agenda.” $20. 7pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Lesbian/Gay Chorus of SF @ Community Music Center All Creatures Great and Small is the theme of the choral concert. $20. 7:30pm. Also Nov 6, 4pm. 544 Capp St. www.LGCSF.org

Queer Flash Mob @ Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland Butch women and trans men are invited to the Saint Harridan clothing company’s promotional flash mob. Info: www.saintharridan.com/dance

Seth Eisen’s loving dance-theatre and puppetry tribute and biographical play about gay author, choreographer and artist Remy Charlip, with Colin Creveling, Paul Loper, and Molly Shaiken. $20-$35. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. Thru Nov. 20. 80 Turk St. eyezen.org www.counterpulse.org

Sun 6

Summer in Sanctuary @ The Marsh

Date Night at Pet Emergency @ The Marsh

Andra Day @ The Fillmore The sensational soul singer returns; Chloe x Halle opens. $32.50. 8pm. 1807 Geary St. at Fillmore. www. andraday.com www.thefillmore.com

NPR radio host Al Letson performs his solo show about working as a community writing teacher in Florida. $20-$100. Fridays 8pm. Saturdays 8:30pm. Thru Nov. 26. www.themarsh.org

Lisa Rothman’s solo show about family troubles surrounding a sick dog. $20-$100. Sundays, 2pm. Thru Dec. 4. 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

Terra Incognita @ Exit Studio

The acclaimed performer Monique Jenkinson returns with her solo show, The F Word. $20. 7pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

UpLift Physical Theatre and DIVAfest present a three-woman acrobatic dance and storytelling work about joyful and sorrowful memories. $20$30. Fri & Sat 8pm. Thru Nov. 19. 156 Eddy St. www.divafest.info

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Players perform Edward Albee’s classic drama about disgruntled married college town couples. $25-$40. Wed-Sun thru Nov. 20. In repertory Nov. 27-Jan. 22. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org

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 Nov. 8. Also at The Marsh Berkeley, Nov. 4, 8pm and Nov. 5, 8:30pm (2120 Allston Way). 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

Sat 5 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee @ Alcazar Theatre Bay Area Musicals’ production of William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s musical comedy about a spelling bee and the nervous parents of its kid contestants. $35-$65. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat 2pm. Thru Dec. 4. 650 Geary St. www.bamsf.org

Fauxnique @ Oasis

Joan Baez @ Fox Theatre, Oakland The iconic folk singer performs two nights of concerts. $55-$85. 7pm. Also Nov. 7, 8pm. 1807 Telegraph Ave, Oakland. www.apeconcerts.com

Poison @ New Parkway Theatre, Oakland Screening of Todd Hayne’s cult classic queer-themed film; presented by Small Press Distribution (books on sale, too). 1pm. 474 24th St., Oakalnd. www.spdbooks.org www.thenewparkway.com

SF Hiking Club @ Coyote Hills Join GLBT hikers of the SF Hiking Club for a 9-mile hike at Coyote Hills Regional Park near Fremont. Bring your binoculars for bird-watching. Also bring water, lunch, sturdy shoes, layers, sunscreen, hat. Carpool meets 9:00 at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores. (650) 740-9849. www.sfhiking.com

Mon 7 Donde Esta Mi Gente? @ Strut Latinx performer showcase with Azuah, Natalia Vigil, Rene Vasquez, Lito Sandoval, comedy by Jennifer Dronsky and host Baruch Porras Hernandez. 7pm. 470 Castro St. www.strutsf.org

Martin Hyatt, Anne Raeff @ Dog Eared Books LGBTQ Pride reading with the author of Beautiful Gravity, and Raeff’s collection The Jungle Around Us. 7pm. 489 Castro St. www.dogearedbooks.com

Rhino in the Castro @ GLBT History Museum The gay play reading series presents Bahalana (Let It Go), Clarence Coo’s family comedy. $5. 7pm. Also, Noche de Ambiente, a mini-exhibit of Latino/x LGBT history, curated by Juliana Delgado Lopera and Ángel Rafael Vázquez-Concepción. Also, exhibits Through Knowledge to Justice: The Sexual World of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935), about the early gay rights pioneer and scholar (thru Nov. 23). $5. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Tue 8 After Hours @ SF Art Institute Gender in Translation, an event with Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the US, features talks by Marie-Hélène Sam Bourcier, a leading figure of queer activism in France; Brice Dellsperger, a French visual artist; and Lola Lafon, a feminist writer, songwriter and singer, with additional special guests. Free. 4:30pm-10pm. 800 Chestnut St. www.sfai.edu

Floral Exhibits @ Conservatory of Flowers Beautiful floral displays, plants for sale, and docent tours. Reg hours: Tue-Sun 10am-4pm. $2-$8. Free for SF residents. 100 JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park, 831-2090. conservatoryofflowers.org

Wed 9 10 Percent @ Comcast David Perry’s online and cable interviews with notable local and visiting LGBT people, broadcast through the week. 7pm. Thu-Tue 11 & 11:30am & 10:30pm. www.ComcastHometown.com

Skin Deep: The Art of Tattoo @ Katz Snyder Gallery Exhibit of art and photos about tattoo art by 20 regional artists. Thru Jan. 20. Jewish Community Center, 3200 California St. www.jccsf.org

Thu 10 Letter To a Man @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley Mikhail Baryshnikov stars in Robert Wilson’s dance-performance work about dancer Vaslav Nijinsky’s descent into schizophrenia. $75-$220. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru Nov. 13. UC Berkeley campus, Bancroft Way at Dana St. www.calperformances.org

Octopus Literary Salon @ Oakland Cassandra Dallett, Kit Kennedy, Richard Loranger, Jan Steckel, and SB Stokes, contributors to the new anthology The Careless Embrace of the Boneshaker, and editors David Lawton and Jane Ormerod read; open mic as well. 7pm. 2101 Webster St., Oakland. www.oaklandoctopus.org

SF International South Asian Film Festival @ Castro & New People Theatres The 14th annual festival includes gaythemed films Aligarh (Nov 13, 12pm) and Escaping Agra (Nov 13, 7:15pm). $10-$125 (full pass). www.thirdi.org

Transgender Film Festival @ Roxie Theater The 15th annual cinema festival of trans-representing films. $12-$15. Thu & Fri 8pm. Sat 7pm & 9:30pm. Sun 2pm & 4pm. Thru Nov. 13. 3117 16th St. at Valencia. www.SFTFF.org www.roxie.com

DVD>>

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 33

From the Godfather of gay porn by Brian Bromberger

f anyone doubts that pornography is an important part of gay culture, the new DVD Seed Money: The Legend of Falcon Studio, just released by Breaking Glass Pictures, will purge any misgivings. While Seed purports to be a documentary on the life of Chuck Holmes, the founder of Falcon and godfather of gay porn, it is really the story of porn’s evolution in gay male identity from the 1970s to the present. A big hit at last year’s Frameline, the film highlights the role San Francisco played in allowing gay men to be more comfortable, less apologetic and inhibited about their sexuality. The archival footage of gay San Francisco in the 1970s-80s is one of the gems of Seed. Porn meant freedom, and in graphic detail it showed how it was okay to be gay at a time when society said that was not true. Holmes, born on an Indiana farm, was one of the legions of gay men who arrived in San Francisco in 1970 to escape oppression and find sex following the Stonewall revolution. Holmes wanted to make movies, and created Falcon Studio in his home in 1971. In 1972, writer John Karr arrived in San Francisco and began reviewing porn for the Bay Area Reporter. Karr offers insightful commentary throughout Seed. At that time, porn was mostly 8mm loops of short scenes shown in peep shows. Holmes felt he could do better, and began to improve the craft of the medium by looking for attractive

“models” and shooting in beautiful locations, especially outdoors. As Karr points out, Holmes/Falcon were filming their sexual fantasies (very anal-oriented, as was Holmes) “filtered through what a little old man in Peoria wanted to see.” They were also translating gay life in the cities into a historical record, as well as creating porn stars (Casey Donovan, Al Parker, Don Fisk) who became heroes in the gay community because they were out when many could not be, whie facing the risk of being arrested by vice squads. In 1978 Holmes, who loved to ski, took some performers and a skeleton crew to film a few shots in Aspen so he could write off the trip as a business expense. He later added some additional scenes, producing the landmark The Other Side of Aspen, inventing the gay porno full-length feature. Friends with designer Calvin Klein, in 1979 Holmes adopted his clean-cut, muscled, smooth, mostly bleach-blond tighty-whitey look that quickly became the norm for all porn. African-Americans were not allowed in Falcon porn unless there was a reason in the plot for the person to be black, and then they could only be tops, reinforcing old racial stereotypes. Holmes was rich, spending it on sex parties and recreational drugs, starting to drag Falcon down with him. Diagnosed with KS in the early 1980s he cleaned up his act, but the VHS revolution resurrected Falcon as they transferred their 8mm films to video for home use,

making a fortune. By the mid-80s AIDS was casting its shadow over porn, and Seed poignantly features a brief montage of the Fade Out obituaries of all the Falcon stars who died of AIDS. To its discredit, Falcon was among the last of the studios to let their actors use condoms, at first advocating non-oxynol 9 use, which actually made transmission of the AIDS virus easier. The few still-alive stars insisting on condom use amd a possible action by ACT-UP finally convinced Holmes to change policy. But because many men were afraid to have sex, even safer sex, because of AIDS, porn became their only sexual outlet. Years later, customers would approach Holmes thanking him for saving their lives. Worried about his legacy, beginning in 1993 through his participation in the March on Washington for LGBT rights, Holmes became involved in politics to protect his business, gain respectability, and advance gay politicians (SF’s Carol Migden and Mark Leno, who comment favorably) through his philanthropic donations. His generosity made him a strategic player on the board of HRC, though some politicians, such as Tammy Baldwin of

Wisconsin, rejected his money. He died of AIDS-related liver failure in 2000. Even in death he remained controversial, as he had given $1 million to fund the SF LGBT Community Center. When it was named after him, people (mostly women) protested at its opening. Holmes remains a cipher. Because he didn’t like pictures taken of him, he appears in only three small clips, a total of three minutes. Yet perhaps

the best record of his life are the many clips (all soft-core) of the movies he produced. A genius at marketing, he was a Type A tyrant at the office, where a paper clip on the floor could send him into a flying rage. Suave and debonair (with a conservative look), he had complicated personal relationships. He didn’t allow the men in his life to express themselves. He was a lonely person, not satisfied with his vast wealth, and never felt accepted by his society friends. He was not proud to be a pornographer. When asked how he made his money, he replied he was in videotape replication or the mail order business. Yet despite his flaws and complexities, as Elizabeth Birch, former chair of HRC, said at his memorial service, “He never forgot the need to make a better life in this country for young gay and lesbian people.” Through interviews with Holmes’ colleagues, porn stars (Jeff Stryker, Jim Bentley), observers of the period (Chi Chi LaRue, John Waters), this winning documentary reveals the crucial role Holmes played by not only setting standards for porn and teaching gay men how to have sex, but in shaping ideas about masculinity and what it means to be gay.t

Punk royalty

Frank Pettis, courtesy of Amazon Studios/Magnolia Pictures

Iggy Pop, Scott Asheton, Ron Asheton, and Dave Alexander in director Jim Jarmusch’s Gimme Danger.

by David Lamble

ame the outlandish rock star whose claim to fame rests on an odd relationship to the world of gold albums, drugs, party-til-youdrop and that timeless line, “Die young and leave a pretty corpse.” Give up? The name James Newell Osterberg Jr. will probably be of little help in identifying the career trajectory of proto-punk recording artistsinger-songwriter Iggy Pop, the subject of the new bio-doc Gimme Danger. Its director Jim Jarmusch describes it as a “love letter to possibly the greatest band in rock-n-roll history.” Jarmusch, whose resume features such hard-to-define American

New Wave classics as Stranger than Paradise, Mystery Train, Night on Earth, Dead Man, and his recent vampire black comedy Only Lovers Left Alive, has with Gimme Danger truly outdone himself. The boy born James Osterberg, Jr. was a 2010 Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame inductee. His high school graduation picture presents the image of a clean-cut downright sweet-looking kid who should have been running for Congress from his Ann Arbor birthplace rather than representing the lower depths of the late-60s, early70s mosh-pit-diving, sweaty teen club decadence. Jarmusch, with the full support of his 69-year-old subject, provides a raunchy non-cautionary

tale of how to succeed in the rock business despite being at one point dropped from his major-label recording contract by a recording industry “suit” who was unimpressed by the payout from hanging onto The Stooges as a business proposition. Gimme Danger is essentially a 108-minute talking heads film where the music passes by almost subliminally for those not intimately familiar with The Stooges’ playlist. The real reason for shelling out for this one (opening Friday at Landmark’s Embarcadero Cinemas in SF and Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley) is Iggy’s unique gift for gab, and his impressive physical state. Except for the turkey neck, this guy seems good for another 100,000 high-decibel miles belting such Stooges classics as “Asthma Attack,” “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” “TV Eye,” “Kick Out the Jams,” “Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell,” “November 22, 1963,” “I Got a Right,” “I’m Sick of You” and my fave, “Cock in My Pocket.” Why isn’t Iggy queer? Neither the filmmakers nor your reviewer have a clue, and Iggy ain’t saying. Perhaps the best clue to where this bundle of raging hormones is coming from is contained in the lyrics to “Cock in My Pocket”: “I’ve got a cock in my pocket, and I’m reelin’ down the old highway./I’m gonna whip it out on you, honey/Gonna whip it, truth or dare?/Gonna get up, turn around, try it anywhere./I got a cock in my pocket, and I’m shoving it through your pants./I got a cock in my pocket, and I don’t want no romance.” The lyrics to Iggy’s songbook give credit to all members of the original Stooges band, some of whom are now deceased. As Iggy puts it, “Back then, we were communists.” The only other hairpin in the Iggy Pop saga is the brief time Iggy and bandmates spent in England as guests of Ziggy Stardust himself, the notably bisexual David Bowie, another rock trickster known for playing stealth games with identity, all in the interest of career longevity.t

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34 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

SF Symphony

From page 25

Both concert programs also featured guest artists who might have shown a separation in technique or stylistic approach because of their age difference, but again, the youngster and the oldster only proved that talent is really ageless. Apparently, coiled energy doesn’t suffer much in advanced maturity either, as veteran pianist Rudolf Buchbinder made wonderfully clear last week when he played the lovely Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20, with MTT conducting. That concert opened with Pacific Boychoir, director and conductor Kevin Fox and Men of the SFS Chorus positioned throughout the auditorium to perform the exquisite Gregorio Allegri Miserere mei, Deus (1638). The beautiful rendition, both forceful and tenderly moving, resounded in the dry DSH acoustic with impressive power. The heartstopping moments when the boy soprano sings a high C had the proper effect. It might have seemed like a hard act to follow, but Buchbinder is the very definition of old pro, and he commenced his appearance with subtly assured elegance. My knowledge of the Austrian pianist stems mostly from years of admiration for his recorded Beethoven. After hearing him make such nimble and

Jamie Jung

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein performed with the San Francisco Symphony.

elegant sense of Mozart, I may be turning next to his set of complete concertos with the Vienna Symphony, with the artist also conducting from the bench. It has been more than three decades since Buchbinder first

appeared at DSH. He turns 70 this December. Hopefully, local audiences won’t have to wait again so long to appreciate his impressively burnished talent. And burnished is a word commonly applied to the symphonies of Johannes Brahms.

Y A D I HOL S E D I U G

That “autumnal glow” description might lead us to forget that the four masterpieces also contain many pages of fiery passion and unfettered joyfulness. Of course, MTT remembers, and his interpretation of the “sunny” Symphony No. 2 in D Major made sure to include darker moments of reflection before ending in triumph. The orchestra responded with one of the best performances by the horns in recent memory and some especially vivid support from the strings. Clear-eyed and perfectly paced, this was Brahms without the “old master” heaviness. The prior week brought Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado back to the podium at DSH for a series of subscription performances that also featured exciting young guest artist Alisa Weilerstein in Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A minor. I confess to being an avid fan, but not without some reservations, as Weilerstein exhibits both surprisingly advanced insights matching her sturdy technique along with the occasional lapse into monotonous and superficial tone. The audience response was suitably enthusiastic to her recent performance. The thoughtful moments of reflection were perked up by edgy explosions of sustained energy. If I wasn’t completely convinced, there were certainly many who were, and my estimation of the young star still

continues to grow. Heras-Casado opened the bill with a nicely articulated Mozart Symphony No. 29 that immediately captured the crowd with its seductive and familiar opening tune. The musicians of the SFS obviously know and respond well to the Spanish maestro by now. For audience members meeting the dynamic conductor for the first time, it proved a charming introduction. The big news of the evening was the second half, devoted to Dvorak’s magnificent Symphony No. 7 in D minor. And we offer big, big thanks for bringing us the Seventh instead of the too-often-heard Ninth, From the New World. The ensemble playing was superb throughout, and the sexy young conductor proved yet again that he is far more than an agreeable visual presence. Since he started in music as a boy chorister in Granada, it’s too bad the Pacific Boychoir couldn’t be on hand for his recent bill as well, and I also admit some regret at the absence of any contemporary music. New music is a noted specialty with Heras-Casado, but how refreshing it was to hear such sympathetic understanding in the core repertory, too. This week at DSH, firebrand pianist Yuja Wang pairs with MTT one last time locally before they embark on an extended Asian tour with the SFS.t

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Leigh Crow and Ruby Vixen cohost Dandy @ Oasis

Rick Gerharter

All Yesterday’s (Election) Parties A look back at elections, celebrations and protests by Michael Flanagan

n November 8, 2008 there was a moment during the election broadcast on MSNBC that captured the dual nature of election night for the LGBT community. An announcer reported: “I believe we have pictures out of San Francisco as well. Some of the celebration pouring out in the Castro District of the city....” See page 36 >>

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Crowds filled Castro Street to celebrate Barack Obama’s election as President, November 4, 2008.

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36 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

Ron Williams

Marchers protest the passage of the anti-marriage equality Proposition 8 in 2008.

Rick Gerharter

People celebrate the election of Bill Clinton as President on Castro Street, November 3, 1992.

Yesterday’s Parties

From page 35

Rachel Maddow responded: “That may not all be celebration if it‘s in the Castro....Have you heard anything about Prop 8?” Yes, there were people pouring out into the street - but no, it was not a celebration. On that night, as on many others, we were torn between joy for President Obama’s election and anger over the rollback of our rights. And on that night, as on many others, the question was whether to protest, celebrate or both. Election night parties have a long tradition in San Francisco. Our bars and clubs have served as the focal point of campaigns since at least 1961, when the Black Cat played host to Jose Sarria. There even used to be a handy source for finding out about the parties: The SF Bay Guardian provided a clip out “superlist” of election night parties. A decade which is fascinating for the back and forth of wins and losses is the period from 1980 through 1990. It’s the period when the city attempted (and eventually succeeded) in moving beyond one gay supervisor representing the Castro and faced multiple challenges to the civil rights of people with AIDS. Perhaps the saddest of election stories from this decade are the multiple attempts of Pat Norman to become a supervisor in San Francisco. Norman ran three times, in 1984, 1986 and 1988. By all accounts she was a stellar candidate.

At the time of her first race she was coordinator for Lesbian/Gay Health Services in the city’s Public Health Department and was the first out lesbian candidate for office. You would think that in the midst of a public health crisis like AIDS that she would be seen as the valuable asset she was – and in fact it’s clear many did see that. She launched her campaign at the home of Gay Games founder Dr. Tom Waddell and had a benefit concert at Great American Music Hall with Bobby McFerrin, choreographer

All photos: Rick Gerharter

Above: Tom Ammiano celebrates his election to the San Francisco School Board as part of the Lavender Sweep, November 6, 1990. Middle: Pat Norman speaking at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC as part of the ceremonies for the internment of Harvey Milk’s ashes, October 10, 1987. Bottom: During the victory party at Colossus nightclub, Supervisor Harry Britt (center) embraces his two aides Kurt Barrie and Jean Harris to celebrate the passage of Proposition K allowing domestic partners, part of the Lavender Sweep, November 6, 1990.

and dancer Ed Mock and the Linda Tillery Band. In that first run, she surprised the political establishment by placing ninth, three spots out from office. In her second race, she used the base of the LGBT community and reached out to the city at large on environmental and development issues. She had the backing of the Bay Area Reporter and did fundraisers with author Cherrie Moraga and Angela Davis. That time she placed seventh. By her last run, Norman had become the statewide director of AIDS education training and had been co-chair of the 1987 March on Washington. She had the backing of Cesar Chavez and (then Assembly Speaker) Willie Brown, but she still came in twelfth. Although she continued to work in public service, she never again ran for office. In a 2007 article about black gays seeking political office, she told B.A.R’s Matthew Bajko “Black lesbians apparently are really very frightening to people.” I cannot help but feel that her loss was also the city’s loss. In the second half of the 1980s, the state faced four propositions that would have enforced mandatory testing of people considered high-risk for AIDS and quarantine. Proposition 64 was placed on the November 1986 ballot by Lyndon LaRouche and caused a massive statewide mobilization to stop it. In San Francisco the effort was led by SF-CAN (Community AIDS Network). The reaction of the gay community and their supporters was awe-inspiring. Bars held benefits, one at the High Chaparral honored labor leader Howard Wallace and had entertainment by Tom Ammiano. There were fundraisers at Ginger’s Too, the Kokpit and Trocadero Transfer as well. Sharon McNight was tireless, raising money at bars in the Russian River and doing a fundraiser with Robin Williams at the Hyatt Regency. Frameline had benefit showings of films and fundraisers in private homes on the peninsula raised thousands of dollars. But support came from unexpected places as well. California Secretary of State March Fong Eu sued the LaRouche campaign over statements that AIDS was easily transmissible. The California Catholic Conference of Bishops released a statement saying the proposition could lead to the spread of the disease. Z Budapest placed a hex on the LaRouche campaign at the annual Spiral Dance. In the end all of the hard work paid off – the proposition was defeated by a four to one margin.

Elections are often emotional afBy October 1987, the LaRouche fairs for our community and they supporters were at it again. They have been throughout our history. placed Proposition 69 on the June What will it be this year? Will we 1988 ballot. This time, however, the protest or party? There is only one community relied largely on stateway to make sure that it is the latter. wide health organizations and civil Make your voice heard. Go out and liberty groups to lead the fight. This make some history – vote!t proposition was defeated 68 to 32 percent. Proposition 102 was placed on the November 1988 ballot by Congressman William Dannemeyer and would have eliminated anonymous testing and required reporting of people with HIV and contact tracing (notification of people potentially infected). Although it was again opposed by health, religious and civil liberties groups, it was supported by then-governor George Deukmejian. It was on the ballot with Proposition 96, which requires testing for anyone “interfering” with a peace officer, firefighter or EMS personnel and reporting of the identity of people suspected of having HIV in jails and prisons. Proposition 102 was defeated, but 96 passed. The victory party for 102 was moved from the Trocadero to Castro Street to incorporate a protest against the passage of 96. On November 6, 1990 LGBT San Francisco had good reason to cheer. That night, Roberta Achtenberg and Carole Migden became the first lesbians elected to the Board of Supervisors. Tom Ammiano came in first in a field of ten for a seat as the first gay man on the board of education. Also that night, eight years of work by Supervisor Harry Britt came to fruition when Proposition K ensured domestic partnerships in San Francisco. In the evening that came to be known as the “Lavender Sweep,” there were four victorious election night parties: Achtenberg’s at Café San Marcos, Migden’s at Bahia restaurant, Ammiano’s at Bull’s Texas Café and the Proposition K party at Colossus. The Advocate reported that at Colossus they “danced and wiped away tears of joy.” The November 1990 election had long term effects. Ammiano went on to serve on the Board of Supervisors and both he and Migden went Above: An ad for a No on 64 benefit on to the California Assembly. starring Robin Williams and Sharon Achtenberg was appointed McNight in the Bay Area Reporter, AuAssistant Secretary of Hous- gust 28, 1986. Middle: An ad for a No on ing and Urban Development 102 victory party at Trocadero Transfer by President Bill Clinton (moved to Castro Street) in the Bay Area (memorably being called Reporter, November 8, 1988. Bottom: a “damn lesbian” by Jesse An October 30, 1986 full-page Bay Area Helms during her confirma- Reporter ad for the victory celebration tion hearings). Proposition against the 1986 LaRouche AIDS quarK was a step in the inexorable antine proposition. march to marriage equality.

On the Tab>>

November 3-9, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 37

Shot in the City

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

Latin Explosion @ Club 21, Oakland Enjoy Latin, hip hop and electro, plus hot gogos galore, and a big dance floor. $10-$20. 9pm-3am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Manimal @ Beaux

Sat 5 Hard French @ El Rio

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 37

Thu 3

Jonathan Poretz @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The smooth crooner performs music popularized by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin and Sammy Davis, Jr. $35-$55. 8pm. Also Nov. 4. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com

Karaoke Night @ The Stud Sing along and sing out, Louise, with hostess Sister Flora Goodthyme. 8pm2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Kingdom of Sodom/Naked Night @ Nob Hill Theatre Strip down as the strippers also take it all off at the interactive sexy party. $20. 8pm-1am. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

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

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

Fri 4

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

Boy Bar @ The Cafe Gus Presents’ weekly dance night, with DJ Kid Sysko, cute gogos and $2 beer (before 10pm). 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle Music night with local and touring bands. $8. 9:30pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

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

Polyglamorous @ Oasis The groovy BAAAHS guys (Mark O’Brien, M*J*R) welcome DJ CarrieOn Disco to the cruisy dance night. Wigs welcome! $7-$10. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Red Hots Burlesque @ The Stud The saucy women’s burlesque show hosted by Dottie Lux will titillate and tantalize. $10. 8pm9:30pm. 399 9th St. Also Sunday brunch shows at PianoFight Theatre, 4pm. redhotsburlesque.com

Sat 5

Bearracuda @ SF Eagle The big bear dance party offers a cruisy night at the famed leather bar, with DJs Robert Jeffrey and Trevor Sigler, cubby gogos, and fun. 9pm1:30am. 398 12th St. www.bearrucada.com www.sf-eagle.com

La Bota Loca @ Club 21, Oakland Latin, hip hop and Electro music night. Oct. 22, Diana Reyes performs live. $5-$25. 9pm-4am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Bootie SF @ DNA Lounge DJs Mysterious D and guests spin at the mash-up DJ dance party, with four rooms of different sounds and eight DJs. $10-$15 and up. 9:30pm3am. 375 11th St. www.bootiesf.com www.dnalounge.com

Club Rimshot @ Club BNB, Oakland The weekly hip hop and R&B night. $5-$15. 9pm to 4am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Dance Party @ Port Bar, Oakland Enjoy relaxed happy hour cocktails early (open at 5pm) and later dancing in the cozy back room at the newest LGBT bar. Daily 5pm-2am. 2023 Broadway, Oakland. www.portbaroakland.com

Drag Me to Brunch @ Lookout Weekly show with soul, funk and Motown grooves hosted by Carnie Asada, with DJs Becky Knox and Pumpkin Spice. The yummy brunch menu starts at 12pm, with the show at 1pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

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, please! $5. 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

Sun 6

Sat 5

Joan Baez @ Fox Theatre

Andra Day @ The Fillmore

Dandy @ Oasis Leigh Crow and Ruby Vixen host the monthly variety night of drag king performances. $10-$20. 7pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Sat 5 Justin Sayre @ Oasis

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

DTF Fridays @ Port Bar, Oakland Underwear Night @ Powerhouse Free coat/clothes check when you strip down to your skivvies at the cruisy SoMa bar. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Picante @ The Cafe

Various DJs play house music at the new gay bar’s weekly event. 9pm2am. 2023 Broadway. (510) 823-2099. www.portbaroakland.com

Gogo Fridays @ Toad Hall Hot dancers grind it at the Castro bar with a dance floor and patio. 4146 18th St. www.toadhallbar.com

Psychedelic Furs @ Great American Music Hall

Some Thing @ The Stud Mica Sigourney and pals’ weekly offbeat themed drag performance night. $7. 10pm-3am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Stank @ Powerhouse

Tex Davidson, Dylan Strokes @ Nob Hill Theatre

The classic alt rock band perofmrs. Pom Poms open. $40. $65 with dinner. 8pm. 859 O’Farrell St. www.slimspresents.com

The manly porn stud does solo strip shows (8pm) and duo sex shows with Strokes (10pm). $25. Also Nov. 5. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Queer Karaoke @ Club OMG Dana hosts the weekly singing night; unleash your inner American Idol. 8pm. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com 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

Rita Rockitt’s 1st Fridays party, with Mercedez Munro and House of Munro queens, DG Sergio Fedasz, tattoos and more. 9pm-2am. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

The cruisy SoMa bar’s smelly pits and body night. Don’t bathe! Pit contest, lube giveaways, mr Pam takes pics, gogo guys shake it. $5. 9:3pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Lulu and DJ Marco’s Latin night with sexy gogo guys. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Rock Fag @ Hole in the Wall

Ror-Shok @ SF Eagle

Vibe Fridays @ Club BnB, Oakland

Thu 3 Psychedelic Furs @ Great American Music Hall

House music and cocktails, with DJs Shareef Raheim-Jihad and Ellis Lindsey. 9pm-2am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Erich Bergen @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The star of Jersey Boys and Madam Secretary performs his new solo cabaret show, with songs and some hilarious stories. $65-85. 7pm Nov. 6, 3pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com

Go Bang! @ The Stud Disco groovy retro tracks and contemporary mixes from Sergio Fedasz, Steve Fabus, Prince Wolf and guests Lester Temple and Justime. Free before 1pm. $10. 9pm-3am. 399 9th St. at Harrison. www.studsf.com

Hard French @ El Rio Vin Sol is the guest DJ (with residents Carnita and Brown Amy) at the fun soul patoi party, the last of 2016. $10. 2pm-8pm. 3158 Mission St. www.hardfrench.com www.elriosf.com

Justin Sayre @ Oasis The ascerbic solo performer brings his farewell tour of the gay comic “Meeting of Sodomites” to discuss “the gay agenda.” $20. 7pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

See page 40 >>

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

38 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 3-9, 2016

Politics and parties

Mystic Images

Attendees at the Human Rights Campaign gala at the Westin St. Francis Hotel.

Mystic Images

Lea DeLaria (center) at the Human Rights Campaign gala at the Westin St. Francis Hotel.

By Donna Sachet

leven years ago, in search of a signature annual fundraising event for the recently formed Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, modeled after the successful AIDS Emergency Fund, the perfect idea emerged: Why not solicit donated handbags from celebrities, boutiques, and other resources to be auctioned to the highest bidders during an elegant evening? Believe us, women love handbags and the celebrity tiein was inspired. The final decision was to name this annual event This Old Bag: The Power of the Purse, a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor that suggested a fun, not stuffy fundraiser. The formula worked, garnering donated bags from Oprah Winfrey, Sharon Stone, Liza Minnelli, Judith Light, Kathy Griffin, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Chanel Boutique, Wilkes Bashford, and locals Bahya Oumlil-Murad, Bella Farrow, Neil Figurelli, Dede Wilsey, Doris Fisher, and many others. In addition to the silent auction, BCEF assembled creative live auction packages tying together a signature bag with weekend travel, entertainment, and beauty spots that were then auctioned live, often by the very persuasive auctioneer Lenny Broberg. When this event caught the attention and generosity of people like Judith Branch, Beth Townsend, Hilary Newsom Callan, and Janet Reilly, we knew it would have lasting success. This year’s This Old Bag took place on Friday, October 21, at the Bently Reserve, showcasing handbags displayed with photos of their donors beneath sparkling white lights, as cocktails flowed and hors d’oeuvres were passed. Among the crowd were Jack Ryder, Mike Smith, Anna Damiani, John Rosin, Joanie Juster, Sean Greene, and Diane Brown. No messy bid sheets here, but all bidding was done on your personal cell phone. The program was brief, but poignant, outlining the incredible difference BCEF makes in so many lives. Then, the live auction took the room by storm, quickly generating thousands of additional dollars for the cause and putting smiles on the faces of a handful of stalwart bidders. Keep this event in mind for next year if you like a lively fundraiser in an elegant setting with a dash of whimsy for a great cause. With the national elections so close, we were sure that the Human Rights Campaign Gala would be more exciting than ever, and indeed it was. On Saturday, October 22, we

strolled into the Westin St. Francis on Union Square with Bevan Dufty and were quickly surrounded by the strange and wonderful world of San Francisco politics. We bounced from incumbent officials to challengers, State office holders to local school board members, and entrenched elected representatives to local activists anxious to keep everyone on their toes. But somehow, the room seemed united, firmly rooted in progressive politics, a commitment to equal civil rights, and a heightened awareness of the gravity of the looming presidential election. We often describe our San Francisco world as a bubble, usually as a cautious reminder that outside of this tiny peninsula, things are quite different, but once in a while it is exhilarating to immerse oneself in unanimity. Several times during this evening, the excitement and anticipation of hundreds of thinking, caring people erupted, especially when the name Hillary Clinton was spoken. We can only imagine how deafening the cheers will be on November 9 if we wake up to the reality of the first female PresidentElect of the United States. Once inside the ballroom, Gala Co-Chairs Christine Lehtonen and Jim Baney ran a tight program, making the most of professionally produced HRC videos and introducing an amazing series of speakers, notably Sarah McBride, HRC National Press Secretary, whose resume at age 26 is astounding. From a childhood and young adulthood of confusion, depression, and shame so familiar to many of us, this bold transgender woman has interned at the White House, served

on the Board of Directors of Equality Delaware, worked in Delaware Governor Jack Markell’s office, and made history this year as the first transgender speaker at the Democratic National Convention! Her remarks resounded with significance. When CEO of PayPal Daniel Schulman accepted an HRC award, he made basic civil rights, equitable financial access, and fair business practices seem so logical and undeniably the right thing to do, again confirming the vital support of our straight allies. In between speeches and dinner courses, we did our best to catch up with friends throughout the room, including State Senator Mark Leno, City Supervisor Scott Wiener, Frank Woo & Sheldon Sloan, Mark Rhoades, Kevin Shanahan & Michael Montoya, Jim Haas, Ken McNeely & Inder Dhillon, and HRC Charles M. Holmes Service Awardees Betty Sullivan & Jennifer Viegas. HRC Executive Director Chad Griffin spoke on stage several times during the evening, always clear, confident, and inspiring, acknowledging some past mis-steps, but focusing on a winning strategy now in place. We were especially pleased when he visited our table and chatted with each guest. And what a table it was! Jason Perez, Alex Chen, Tim Cherna, Ronald Harrison, William Tuttle, and table captains Pete Steinauer & Kevin Sawyers, all genuinely warm and welcoming individuals, not to mention enthusiastic live auction bidders. No one could deny that the best moment of the night was Lea DeLaria’s gutsy, uncensored, and wildly crowd-pleasing acceptance speech for the HRC Visibility Award. Here is a performer whose career as a comedian, actress, and musician has spanned decades, but more impor-

tantly, she has spoken her truth, unapologetically and often hilariously. Her simple and sober advice to us all was to be ourselves and it was a message each guest took with them into the night. Frequent readers of this column will undoubtedly know that The Edge in the Castro is one of our very favorite haunts. Well, last Sunday, October 23, The Edge celebrated 25 years with a two-hour party that included amazing raffle prizes, performers from The Monster Show, a continuous slide show of memories, BeBe Sweetbriar singing her latest song, “Dontcha?”, and wall-to-wall celebrants, all emceed by Brian Kent and this columnist. We even got to perform a solo each and a duet rendition of “I’m Still Here” with lyrics tailored for the day. We thank the owners, staff, and all the amazing patrons for 25 years of fundraising, community organizing, and just plain partying! Long may it continue. As we warned our loyal readers in September, the month of October is always jammed with major annual events for so many of the organizations that make our LGBTQ community better, resulting in a dizzying, non-stop schedule. Our final stop on that merry-goround was Saturday night at Project Inform’s Evening of Hope at the recently refurbished Green Room of the War Memorial Building on Van Ness. Among the attendees were Kevin Lisle, Lu Conrad, Randy Moore, Greg Peters, Greg Sroda, Christopher Berini, and Shane Humphreys. This annual event has become known for its fashion segments, featuring clothing made from condoms; this year’s nine designers paraded a stunning variety of “condom couture” across the runway. DJ Christopher B framed the night with appropriate music and the amazing Jason Brock sang to the accompaniment of Dee Spencer. We polished up our auctioning skills and offered up a variety of items and experiences for live auction.

Needless to say, there were some very happy winners, including someone who will enjoy four lovely hours sailing on the Bay with a captivating host. Executive Director Dana Van Gorder gave awards to outgoing Board members Christopher Esposito, Fred Dillon, and Brenden Shucart and then presented a charming locally produced video, offering guests an additional opportunity to give to the cause. While some are beginning to turn their direction away from AIDS and the many lives it continues to impact, Project Inform remains committed to effective treatments and a cure and it was an honor to work with them. Looking ahead, don’t let our comments about the busy month of October lull you into a lazy November. After considerable attention to Election Day on November 8 and all the ensuing events, the rest of the year leans towards seasonal holiday events, including the lighting of the Rainbow World Fund Tree of Hope in City Hall and the Castro Merchants holiday tree at Castro and 18th streets, Drag Queens on Ice in Union Square, Dance Along Nutcracker with the SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, Golden Girls Holiday Episodes at the Victoria Theatre, Sunday’s a Drag’s Miracle on Powell Street holiday shows, SF Gay Men’s Chorus holiday concerts and Christmas Eve at the Castro Theatre, and so much more… Don’t miss a single issue of the Bay Area Reporter if you want to keep up with it all. And make plans now to attend the 24th annual Songs of the Season, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, November 28, 29, and 39, at Halcyon (formerly Beatbox), 314 11th Street. This cabaret variety show benefits AIDS Emergency Fund and as as you must know, the holidays can’t begin until you see Donna Sachet’s Songs of the Season!t www.songsoftheseason.net

Steven Underhill

Breast Cancer Emergency Fund board members at the 2016 This Old Bag gala.

Donna Sachet sings “I’m Still Here” at The Edge’s 25th anniversary party.