December 17, 2020 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

03

Wiener seeks CDPH audit

SFMTA nominees advance

06

Remembering Laurie McBride

ARTS

02

10

Holiday Cheer w/SFGMC

The

www.ebar.com

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

Vol. 50 • No. 51 • December 17-23, 2020

SF to award $1.6M for Black trans programs

by Matthew S. Bajko Rick Gerharter

S

an Francisco officials are seeking proposals for $1.6 million to be awarded over the next two years aimed at boosting the lives of Black transgender residents and other LGBTQ people of color.

Monday the city’s Human Rights Commission opened up the process for nonprofits and social service agencies to submit proposals for $1,375,000 to be divided among three organizations over the next two years specifically for programs aimed at Black trans individuals, especially Black trans women. The city department is particularly interested in proposals that will provide economic security, stabilization, and arts and cultural enrichment programmatic services to transgender and gendernonconforming communities of color. “A lot of trans organizations only get 1% of government contracts and large foundation-based contracts,� noted Tuquan Harrison, the HRC’s LGBTQI policy adviser. “This funding is meant to support them with capacity building and to expand their

The leather pride flag flies at the Eagle bar in 2018 as construction continued on a mixed-use development that will pay for a leather-themed public plaza nearby.

Haney proposes landmarking for Eagle bar

by John FerranniniÂ

D

istrict 6 San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney introduced a resolution at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting to grant landmark status to the Eagle, the South of Market gay-owned leather bar. “Today, I am also introducing a resolution to initiate landmark designation for the San Francisco Eagle Bar, a historic LGBTQ nightlife institution and legacy business located in District 6 within San Francisco’s Leather &

Rick Gerharter

San Francisco is accepting proposals for $1.6 million in grants to the trans community. Above, trans flag colors are painted on light poles in the Transgender District.

See page 8 >>

See page 8 >>

Queer artists allege censorship by SOMA West CBD Biden picks Buttigieg as

by John Ferrannini 1st gay cabinet T secretary

by John Ferrannini

P

resident-elect Joe Biden finally announced a gay cabinet secretary pick Tuesday.

Pete Buttigieg is set to become the first LGBTQ cabinet secretary after being nominated as the 19th U.S. Courtesy Biden Transition secretary of transportation by Biden De- Pete Buttigieg was nominated cember 15. as PresidentBiden’s formal anelect Joe Biden’s nouncement followed transportation reports on CNN and secretary.

Politico earlier in the day that said Buttigieg would be tapped for the transportation post. “Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a patriot and a problem-solver who speaks to the best of who we are as a nation,� Biden stated. “I am nominating him for secretary of transportation because this position stands at the nexus of so See page 8 >>

he decision to exclude certain kink- and leather-inspired art pieces from public display has drawn allegations of censorship against the SOMA West Community Benefit District.

Dorian Katz, an artist of one of five pieces of art submitted to the SOMA West CBD, said she was told that her piece would be featured on a new trash receptacle at the southwest corner of 11th and Harrison streets, only to find out that it was not there. “We were told the exact location of where each trash can was going to be,� Katz, a queer, bisexual dyke who paints under the name Poppers the Pony, told the Bay Area Reporter. “We were paid for our work, and in September people went out to see them and one-third of us went out to find our art was not up.�

Justin Hall, a gay artist, bicycled to the trash bin at the southeast corner of Ninth and Folsom Streets, where his art was supposed to be displayed. His art depicted people in bondage. “I found out that it wasn’t there,� Hall said. “I felt very hurt and offended that my art would be pulled without notice, without a chance to change the art.�

Katz noted that two of the rejected pieces of art featured handkerchiefs. The handkerchief, or hanky, code developed in the 1970s as a way for gay men looking for casual sex to indicate what sex act and position they were seeking via

Courtesy Dorian Katz

Art by Dave Anderson depicting the hanky code was apparently too much for the SOMA West CBD’s art project to decorate trash cans.

the display of a handkerchief of a certain color, and in a certain back pocket.

The other rejected pieces of art feature two bearded men kissing; two burley, hairy-chested men facing each other; and three people tied in bondage gear.

The late Alan Selby, who was known as the “mayor of Folsom Street� and founder of Mr. S Leather (which is still at the intersection of Eighth and Harrison streets), claimed to have

started the hanky code.

The art had been commissioned to decorate the new Bigbelly trash cans popping up all over San Francisco, including in the South of Market district. These new, smart trash receptacles compact waste and are nearly impossible to rummage through.

Christian Martin, the executive director of the SOMA West CBD, stated in an email to the

ENT PRESS SF INDEPEND ION ASSOCIAT

See page 8 >>

<< Community News

2 • Bay Area Reporter • December 17-23, 2020

Wiener wants audit of CA’s LGBTQ data collection efforts

by Matthew S. Bajko

A

gay state lawmaker wants an audit of California’s LGBTQ data collection efforts as health officials continue to drag their feet on asking people what their sexual orientation is when they test for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, San Francisco officials are working to improve their SOGI data collection through its testing sites.

Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) told the Bay Area Reporter December 10 that he plans to send a legislative audit request to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee in order to examine how state health officials are collecting not only sexual orientation but also gender identity demographic data.

Since 2018, a number of California departments and agencies focused on health care and social services were to be collecting SOGI data after lawmakers enacted several pieces of legislation requiring that they do so.

With the Legislature in recess until January 4, it will not be until

sometime in 2021 that such an audit could be conducted. It was announced December 14 that newly seated gay state Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) will be vice chair of the committee that oversees audits.

“It is not a short-term solution, but it is the one tool we have,” said Wiener. “We need to continue to be very loud about this failure. It is not rocket science.”

Wiener also this week sent a letter to the state’s health department calling on it to direct “all testing sites, regardless of whether they are statesponsored,” to collect the SOGI data and for the agency to begin publishing it. He told the B.A.R. he also plans to bring up the issue with Dr. Tomás Aragón, San Francisco’s health officer who was recently named by Governor Gavin Newsom as the new director of the California Department of Public Health.

“I have been tested multiple times and I am asked about gender identity and not sexual orientation,” noted Wiener.

At the onset of the health crisis

Below Market Rate (BMR) Rental Apartments Available Konrad on the Park at 971 Eddy St, San Francisco CA 94109 1 Studio at $1,228 a month; 8 One-Bedrooms at $1,357 a month; 2 Two-Bedrooms at $1,494 month.

Seven parking spaces available to BMR renters for an additional $100 a month and will be offered to households in lottery rank order. Must be income eligible and must not own a home. Households must earn no more than the maximum income levels below:

60% of Area Median Income One person - $53,800; 2 persons - $61,500; 3 persons - $69,200; 4 persons - $76,850; 5 persons- $83,000

Applications must be received by 5pm on January 1, 2020. Apply online through DAHLIA, the SF Housing Portal at https://housing.sfgov.org. Contact a housing counselor for assistance with your application:housing.sfgov.org/get-assistance. Please contact the Konrad on the Park leasing team for more information at 415-636-5097 or bmr@rentkonrad.com. Units available through the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and are subject to monitoring and other restrictions. Visit www.sfmohcd.org for housing preferences and program information.

Sign up!

RECEIVE OUR FREE WEEKLY EMAIL NEWSLETTER, BREAKING NEWS, SPECIAL OFFERS, GIVEAWAYS AND MORE!

ebar.com/subscribe

in March, CDPH was not collecting SOGI data among those infected with the coronavirus. For months Wiener and other LGBTQ advocates had called on health leaders to start asking people being tested for the virus if they are members of the LGBTQ community.

Without such information, it is unknown what the impact of the pandemic has been on the state’s LGBTQ residents, many of whom have comorbidities that put them at greater risk should they become infected with the coronavirus. Fed up with the lack of action, Wiener authored a bill to require the SOGI data be collected.

Lag in implementing bill

Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law in September, and it was to have immediately taken effect.

But as the Bay Area Reporter first reported in November, state and local health officials have not interpreted the law or regulations instituted in July by Dr. Mark Ghaly, the secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, to mean they need to ask everyone getting tested for COVID-19 the SOGI questions.

People seeking tests via the city of San Francisco, for instance, are not asked about their sexual orientation when they make an appointment.

They are asked about their gender identity and can choose such options as “Trans Female,” “Trans Male,” or “Genderqueer/Gender Nonbinary.”

Clair Farley, a trans woman who is the director of the Mayor’s Office of Transgender Initiatives, had told the B.A.R. it was the city’s understanding

Courtesy State Senator Scott Wiener’s office

State Senator Scott Wiener has asked for an audit on California’s LGBTQ data collection efforts.

that both the regulations and Senate Bill 932 only mandate reporting SOGI data for positive test results. She added that the city’s health department was ascertaining the sexual orientation of people who test positive for COVID-19 via contact tracing.

A few jurisdictions, such as Monterey County, are asking the SOGI questions of people when they get a COVID-19 test. But most of the state’s major metropolitan areas are not, noted Wiener.

“I will be honest, it is horrifying San Francisco isn’t implementing it, of all places,” Wiener told the B.A.R. “I think it is random. Some providers are asking it and others aren’t.

CDPH doesn’t appear to be doing anything to ensure consistency.”

On Friday, December 11, Farley told the B.A.R. that her office has been working with the city’s Department of Public Health to update its SOGI data collection at testing sites

t

and expects that the sexual orientation questions will be added to the demographic information people are asked to provide.

“Since the end of April the SFDPH has been collecting sexual orientation and gender identity during contract tracing. We are working with the department and our city sponsored testing provider, Color, to expand the data requested at the time of testing or during registration,” stated Farley.

“We have received a commitment that sexual orientation will be added by the provider.”

Wiener expressed his frustrations about the lack of LGBTQ COVID information in a letter he sent December 8 to Dr. Erica Pan, the acting director of the state health agency.

And he demanded she take immediate steps to fully implement his legislation, SB 932.

“We are now more than two months after SB 932 became the law, and as far as we can tell, CDPH has not made public any SOGI data around COVID-19. Indeed, based on my own personal experience and numerous reports from others, major COVID-19 testing sites are not collecting this data at all,” wrote Wiener.

“SB 932 requires that all healthcare providers testing for COVID-19 collect this data. Yet, CDPH does not appear to have ensured that data collection, let alone publish it.”

He stressed how there are “life or death consequences” when health officials and state leaders are blind to how a disease is impacting various demographic groups.

See page 6 >>

SF supportive housing tenants to get rent reduction

by Matthew S. Bajko

N

early 3,000 residents living in supportive housing units in San Francisco are set to receive a rent reduction by the fall of 2023.

At its meeting Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors voted 11-0 to adopt an ordinance reducing the tenants’ requirement that they pay 50% of their monthly income toward their rent to just 30%. District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney authored the legislation, which will bring the city’s rent rates in line with the federal standard of 30% for such units.

It will also bring rent parity to all tenants in supportive housing, as those in buildings built since 2016 in the city are paying only 30% of their income toward their rent. The ordinance allows for the city to institute the rent cap change by October 1, 2023, but backers of the policy hope it would be enacted sooner than that.

District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen noted it would allow the tenants to have more money each month for food, medicines, and other essential services they need.

“This has been truly a long time coming and is the result of grassroots organizing and advocacy,” said Ronen.

Eight supervisors were official cosponsors, meaning Haney already had the votes needed to ensure the ordinance’s passage by the full board.

Last year, Haney had secured $1 million in the city budget to grant rental relief to more than 500 tenants of supportive housing units in the city who saw their monthly payments reduced to the 30% threshold.

According to the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing there are 2,887

Courtesy Matt Haney

Supervisor Matt Haney authored an ordinance to bring rent parity to those living in supportive housing.

such units that have tenants still paying more than 30% percent of their income toward rent each month.

Decreasing their share to the 30% limit would cost a little more than $6 million, according to the department. It is $2 million less than the initial estimates for how much of a budget allotment would be needed to institute the ordinance.

While some have expressed concerns about the cost to implement the policy with the city facing an estimated $653.2 million budget deficit over the next two years because of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, others have argued it will cost the city far more if the tenants are unable to pay their rents, end up homeless, and need emergency room care that is paid for with taxpayer dollars.

Many LGBTQ leaders backed Haney’s ordinance and signed onto the #30RightNow Coalition to advocate for its passage. One of the organizing conveners is Jordan Davis, a transgender resident of a singleresidency-occupancy unit who went

on a hunger strike to bring attention to the issue.

She told the supervisors’ budget and finance committee panel last week that it was “long overdue” for the city to set rents for all supportive housing sites at 30% of tenants’ income.

“We really need this. We really need the rent relief,” said Davis.

Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, a committee member, noted how the city is grappling with a dire budget atmosphere next year but nonetheless was supportive of the ordinance.

“Our budget is a zero-sum affair.

We increase our allocations $6 or $7 million for one thing, we have to find that money somewhere else,” said Mandelman. “All that being said, I believe this is an important thing to do. We will have to find an additional $7 million a year to make this happen, or perhaps it will be less.”

District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, a co-sponsor of the ordinance, pledged to fight for the money to ensure it is implemented.

Because it is an ordinance, the proposal will need to be voted on a second time by the supervisors, possibly at next Tuesday’s special board meeting. Or it will be up again in January for a final vote after the winners of the November supervisor races are sworn in at the board’s organizational meeting Friday, January 8.

Six of the ordinance’s official cosponsors will be returning, as will three of the other supervisors who voted for it Tuesday, so it should have enough votes to pass a second time and meet the threshold of eight votes to override a mayoral veto. It will likely pass a second time with another unanimous vote.t

t

Community News>>

December 17-23, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 3

Supes panel advances Yekutiel for SFMTA board seat

by Cynthia Laird

A

gay small business owner is one step closer to a seat on the powerful San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s board after a hearing Monday by the Board of Supervisors rules committee.

Emanuel “Manny” Yekutiel’s nomination was approved 3-0 during the December 14 remote hearing. The committee also unanimously recommended disability rights advocate Fiona Hinze to another seat on the SFMTA board.

Mayor London Breed nominated both Yekutiel and Hinze.

Yekutiel owns the eponymously named cafe and event space at 16th and Valencia streets in the Mission district. He currently serves on the San Francisco Small Business Commission, a seat he will resign if approved for the SFMTA board.

Yekutiel would be the only LGBTQ member of SFMTA’s board.

Art Torres, a gay man who is the former chair of the California Democratic Party, previously served on the panel. The supervisors rejected the nomination of Jane Natoli, a trans woman, earlier this year, setting up Breed’s second attempt to name an LGBTQ person to the oversight panel.

SFMTA is a city department that’s responsible for all ground transportation. It has oversight of Muni, as well as bicycling, paratransit, parking, traffic, walking, and taxis. It is led by Jeffrey Tumlin, a gay man hired by Breed a year ago.

District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who represents the district where Manny’s is located, praised him and Hinze during the hearing, as did rules committee members Supervisors Catherine Stefani (D2) and Gordon Mar (D4).

During his remarks, Yekutiel spoke about the importance of having a brick and mortar small business owner on the transit board, and noted he would be the first.

“SFMTA has a unique ability to save small businesses,” he said, noting that thousands in the city have been lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other strengths Yekutiel pointed to include that he’s an organizer and community-builder and that in his role at Manny’s he’s worked to connect people to politics.

The event space hosted a bevy of politicians, including presidential candidates, before the pandemic hit. Since then, it has held virtual events.

In a preemptive move, Yekutiel also told the committee that he’s met with union leaders, something that Natoli hadn’t been able to do by the time of her hearing. Ronen noted that she received texts from members of the San Francisco Labor Council and the Transit Workers Union in support of Yekutiel.

In regard to how the pandemic has affected public transportation,

Yekutiel said that as SFMTA recovers people need to be informed that they can ride the bus or take the underground when it reopens.

“Vaccines will help, reopening downtown will help,” he said when asked what needs to change for people to return to transit.

Shortly after the shelter-in-place order went into effect in midMarch, SFMTA closed the Muni Metro underground and dramatically reduced bus lines. Only 17 of

the system’s 89 bus lines are operating.

Ronen also asked Yekutiel, who is Jewish, how he would represent the Latinx community.

“I’m not Latino,” he said. “But as a Mission small business owner I went through a yearlong process of conversations” with Latinos and others in the area.

“I will say my advocacy for small business has had an impact on essential workers,” he added. “I’ve

had to go through the gauntlet, as most people know.”

When Manny’s first opened it was subject to protests by Palestinian supporters in the fall of 2018.

Yekutiel has also faced complaints that he’s helped gentrify the Latino neighborhood. Over the weekend, Manny’s was vandalized with a broken window and some items were stolen, according to a message Yekutiel posted on Facebook.

During public comment at the

hearing, Ben Bleiman, president of the San Francisco Entertainment Commission, said that Manny’s was “the victim of harsh anti-Semitism.”

Yekutiel talked about the importance of SFMTA soliciting input from small business owners before it begins significant projects. And he noted how the Shared Spaces and Slow Streets programs impleSee page 9 >>

ADJUSTABLE-RATE MORTGAGE OPTIONS FROM RCU

MAKE SOMEDAY HAPPEN, TODAY.

Whether you’re in the market for a single family home, condominium, or multi-unit property, Redwood Credit Union has a variety of options from tenancy in common (TIC) to 5/5 adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) to best suit your needs. Our 5/5 ARM provides security with five-year fixed periods. Often misunderstood, an adjustablerate mortgage actually offers many benefits, including: LOWER RATES ARMs typically offer lower starting rates than fixed-rate mortgages, helping you save money while building equity in your home.

QUALIFYING POWER A lower monthly payment gives you the ability to afford a larger loan. You also have the flexibility of paying your loan down faster, for overall interest savings.

PEACE OF MIND RCU’s 5/5 ARM offers the benefits of both a fixed- and an adjustablerate loan. Enjoy the financial security of periodic and lifetime adjustment caps.

Not sure what option is right for you? Our friendly and knowledgeable agents are ready to discuss the options that suit your needs and budget. Let’s get started today.

Screengrab via SFGovTV.

Manny Yekutiel spoke to the Board of Supervisors rules committee Monday, December 14.

1 (800) 609-9009 redwoodcu.org/homeloans CA properties only

<< Open Forum

4 • Bay Area Reporter • December 17-23, 2020

Volume 50, Number 51 December 17-23, 2020 www.ebar.com

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

ART DIRECTION Max Leger PRODUCTION/DESIGN Ernesto Sopprani PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland • FBFE Rick Gerharter • Gareth Gooch Jose Guzman-Colon • Rudy K. Lawidjaja Georg Lester • Rich Stadtmiller • Fred Rowe Steven Underhill • Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Christine Smith

VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING Scott Wazlowski – 415.829.8937

NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad, Esq.

Bay Area Reporter 44 Gough Street, Suite 204 San Francisco, CA 94103 415.861.5019 • www.ebar.com A division of BAR Media, Inc. © 2020 President: Michael M. Yamashita Director: Scott Wazlowski

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.

t

CA risks LGBTQ residents’ health G

ay state Senator Scott Wiener is absolutely right in calling for an audit of the California Department of Public Health to find out why it is still not collecting sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data for COVID-19.

We’ve been calling for this data since the pandemic started because information suggests the health crisis affects the LGBTQ community more than we know. Earlier this year, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Wiener’s Senate Bill 932 to collect SOGI data as an urgency measure, yet, as Wiener wrote in a letter to CDPH, the agency “has not made public any SOGI data around COVID-19. Indeed, based on my own personal experience and numerous reports from others, major COVID-19 testing sites are not collecting this data at all.” SB 932, he added, requires that all health care providers testing for COVID-19 collect this data. As we reported last month, tests in San Francisco do not ask about sexual orientation; for gender, the choices are male, female, or nonbinary. The city says it’s working on it.

This week, a new report by the Movement Advancement Project adds evidence to Wiener’s concerns. “Disproportionate Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTQ Households in the U.S.” was compiled using the findings and analysis of a nationally representative online and phone survey conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, NPR, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

While it doesn’t specifically address health care, the report did find that nearly two-thirds of LGBTQ people and their families experienced a job loss or disruption, compared to just under half (45%) of non-LGBTQ households. As we know, when there is a job loss or disruption, people often lose their health insurance if it is provided by employers. (The survey included 3,454 adults, of whom 8% identified as LGBTQ.) In May, we pointed out that the Williams Institute, an LGBTQ think tank at the UCLA School of Law, revealed that more than 200,000 LGBTQ adults in the Golden State are

Rick Gerharter

State Senator Scott Wiener

at high risk for COVID-19. According to the institute, these LGBTQ state residents have one or more medical conditions that put them at high risk for COVID-19. The institute noted that approximately 361,000 LGBTQ adults in the state were in fair or poor health before the pandemic began earlier this year. The state is home to nearly 1.7 million LGBTQ adults, including 1,646,000 LGB people of any gender identity and 109,000 trans people of any sexual orientation, according to the institute. The vast majority of these adults – 92% – live in urban areas. The data in the institute’s report came from the California Health Interview Survey.

At that time, Wiener was getting SB 932 through the Legislature.

As we’ve also noted, CDPH has been woefully uncommunicative with the LGBTQ press over the years, and apparently it is just as silent with LGBTQ lawmakers, which is shameful. “As you know,” Wiener, the San Francisco Democrat, wrote to acting CDPH director Dr. Erica Pan last week, “data collection isn’t an academic exercise. Rather, it has life or death consequences. It is only because of data that we know, for example, that

COVID is killing Black people at outrageous rates and that our Latinx communities have very high infection rates. And, it is only because of data collection that we understand COVID’s impacts on different age groups.”

But the disease’s impacts on the queer community are largely invisible, he added, due to the lack of data collection. He passed SB 932 so that our community would not be erased, yet that is exactly what’s happening without this necessary information.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The state health department should already be collecting SOGI data that includes COVID-19 information. Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) authored the original legislation a few years ago and even gave state departments, including CDPH, more time to get their systems up and running. Delays have hampered this effort. COVID does not discriminate but LGBTQ health experts have pointed out that health disparities do. As the B.A.R. and other outlets have reported, the National LGBT Cancer Network anticipates that LGBTQ people have more risk from COVID-19 because of higher rates of cancer, HIV-infection, smoking and its attendant respiratory illnesses, and structural discrimination in the medical field.

Wiener’s letter also pointed out that with the state vaccine distribution plan being formulated, which is based on data around risk levels, “the LGBTQ community will be left out entirely.”

Newsom recently announced that he’s named Dr. Tomás Aragón, San Francisco’s health officer, to be the new CDPH director. Aragón has been at San Francisco’s Department of Public Health for many years, so he surely knows the importance of accurate and timely data around LGBTQ health issues. We hope that his leadership of the state agency will be a breath of fresh air, not only for queer people but for all state residents. We urge him to immediately have the department begin collecting SOGI data per SB 932 on COVID so that our community can have the same information that other demographic groups have – and get treatment and the vaccine accordingly.t

Not the other you thought we were

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

E

very so often I like to sit back and address my non-transgender readers, and help them understand trans issues, perhaps, just a bit better. This is one of those times.

Right now, in this country and elsewhere, trans people – especially young trans people – are under attack. There are many who are very busy trying to make our lives difficult, if not impossible, and they are doing it under the guise of protecting women and girls.

I want you to understand that these same people do not have your best interests – or even the best interests of the “women and girls” they may mention – at heart. Many of them may even be members of anti-abortion and/or anti-LGBTQ organizations that are using trans people as a foot in the door toward laws that will aid their larger goals.

You will hear some awful things about us in an attempt to vilify us, ranging from the tired “bathroom predator” myth to misleading claims about puberty blockers and transgender people desisting from being trans. The goal is to raise so-called reasonable concerns that are disingenuous at best and outright falsehoods and propaganda at worst.

One big thing they will try to do is paint transgender and nonbinary people as some shadowy “other” to be fought against, in order to protect the people you may hold dear. They may claim that we’re trying to turn people transgender for any number of reasons, or that we’re using our trans nature as a grift or dodge, in order to inflict harm on others and get away with it.

Yes, it’s not a coincidence that this sounds like arguments used against the rest of the LGBQ community, or against other races, religions, etc. Much of it comes from the same playbook.

Transgender and nonbinary people, however, are not the other that many want to paint us as. In fact, I would contend that our experiences are largely the same as our non-transgender family and friends in most respects.

First and foremost, we all share the same

Christine Smith

world. This should be obvious, but just like everyone else trans and nonbinary people have to deal with paying taxes on a yearly basis. We watch a lot of the same TV shows, listen to a lot of the same music, and otherwise engage in the same culture as everyone else. We just might cringe a bit more when a transphobic joke pops up.

More to the point, most every trans man has had to navigate toxic masculinity on one level or another, and just about every trans woman has had to deal with misogyny. Indeed, we have probably had to deal with both over the course of our lives. We get passed over for jobs, face sexual harassment, and so on just the same as everyone else. We may just have a few more elements to deal with when it comes to that.

Don’t get me wrong. Yes, there are things that are certainly different. We have to face life for at least some time with people expecting us to participate in this world in a gender with which we simply do not identify. On one level or another, we may take steps to address this, whether that means changing our appearance, making legal changes to our name and gender, or even getting surgical interventions to feel more comfortable in our body.

Even with this, however, there are a lot of

people who are transgender-identified who were placed in situations growing up that did not line up with their sense of self, such as those who may have been born into religious families that did not feel comfortable in same.

Likewise, it doesn’t take being transgender for someone to opt to make changes to their appearance, to seek legal intervention to change all or part of their names, or undergoing cosmetic and other surgeries to lead a fuller life. We surely have more in common than not, even in this.

You have surely seen transgender people and our allies making statements like “trans women are women.” This is what that means.

Yes, we who identify as women may have a specific term applied to our womanhood, but we are, nevertheless, women. Our issues are, largely, the same as every woman.

The same applies to trans men being men, and nonbinary identities being valid. We’re all humans on the same mud ball hurtling through the void of space. We’re all just trying to make it through this thing called life.

There are some specific areas where I think we can argue we are very different, however.

We do face a heightened level of suicide. We are murdered more often. Due to the way we tend to be treated in the world at large, we deal with higher levels of depression and minority stress-related issues.

Also, I suspect most of us are now trying to avoid each and every public restroom for fear that we might be attacked simply for having to urinate, all because so many have pushed falsehoods about scary bathroom predators.

This is the thing that is most frustrating about those who are trying to tear down transgender and nonbinary people. They want you to focus on the “otherness” of us. They want you to think of us as some client construct, divorced from our flesh and blood, and treated as some dark disease here to infect those you care about.

The reality, however, is much different. We simply want to be allowed to live our lives without fear and violence – just like everyone else.t Gwen Smith suspects being trans is about the fifth most interesting thing about her, at best. You’ll find her at www.gwensmith.com.

t

Politics >>

December 17-23, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 5

Sacto region bids farewell to gay elected leaders

by Matthew S. Bajko

T

he Sacramento region said goodbye to three longtime gay elected officials this month, as the trio all lost their reelection bids in November. With the departure of a gay Stockton school board member, who also failed to secure a second term last month, California’s northern Central Valley will have no out male local political leaders for the first time since 1987.

In 2005 gay West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon came out during his State of the City address. The Filipino politician had won reelection until this year, bringing to an end his tenure as the country’s longest continuously serving out politician.

Also falling short in the November election was gay Roseville school board member Gary Miller, who had served on the oversight body since 2008. His defeat ends a remarkable political run, as Miller had served on various school boards for 30 years and was the first out LGBTQ elected official in both Sacramento and Placer counties.

And Lange Luntao, a gay member of the Stockton Unified School District Board of Trustees, also left his school board this month having fallen short in his reelection bid.

Their defeats, and several out candidates who did not win their races on the November 3 ballot, came eight months after gay Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen lost his bid for a third term in the March primary. The first out LGBTQ person to serve on the council, Hansen’s last day after serving eight years representing his city’s gay neighborhood Lavender Heights and downtown district came December 15.

“That’s a wrap! Last official public meeting completed,” Hansen posted to his Facebook page Tuesday afternoon after his final council committee meeting ended. “All good things ... and all that jazz. Love to all of you and wishing you the best for the holidays and year to come.”

According to the LGBTQ Victory Institute’s map of elected LGBTQ officials, there are now only three out female local elected officials in the Sacramento region. All are up for reelection over the next two years.

“The part of this that sears the deepest is basically the erasure of GLBT representation in city, county, and school offices in the entire region, which is not how it is supposed to happen,” said Cabaldon, whose mayoralty ended December 9 when he certified the results of his race.

“We delude ourselves into thinking there is an inevitable march of progress forward. But that’s not the case.”

While he acknowledged the out women who are still in office – they include lesbians Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and Sacramento Municipal Utility District Director to Rosanna Herber, whose terms are both up in 2022, and pansexual American River Flood Control District Trustee Rachelanne Vander Werf, up for reelection next year – Cabaldon said the local LGBTQ community nevertheless will be at a disadvantage because of the dearth of out elected leaders.

“All the new LGBT candidates running, every single one lost,” he noted. “My city is in good shape, and I left City Hall with my head very much up high. In terms of the LGBT community, it is is not where we should be. I am just disappointed in the electoral outcomes all over our region.”

Courtesy Christopher Cabaldon via Facebook

West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon, left, joined Jann Dorothy and Sacramento City Councilmember Steve Hansen at a June 2019 event for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign.

Hansen echoed that sentiment, also telling the Bay Area Reporter that the LGBTQ community can’t take for granted that it always will have out elected representation.

“The community is pretty devastated,” he said of the electoral results this year. “I think many people, when you have achieved a lot of progress like our community has achieved, want to assume it is going to last longer than it does.

It is not necessarily complacency, more of a sense we have arrived. But every time we get comfortable, the world has a way of showing up and we have to remain vigilant. We can’t take our progress for granted.”

Having out representation equals power, Hansen noted.

“If we give up our representation, we lose our ability to be at the table and fight for our family and kids in the authentic way we know how to do,” he said.

Cabaldon, 55, told the B.A.R. he has no plans to run for mayor again in two years when the position will be back on the ballot. He is leaving California State University, Sacramento, where he has been a professor of public policy and administration, but will remain a partner at the consulting firm Capitol Impact.

“I don’t have an announcement pending. I am taking the opportunity to sleep longer and more soundly,” he said when asked about his future political plans. “I have been mayor for the vast majority of my adult life. ... Maybe I will do something different; I gave up a concert oboe career when I got into politics.”

He leaves office having transformed his riverfront city, as the B.A.R. detailed in a feature story in its 2017 Pride issue. Not only did Cabaldon usher in a major redevelopment of his city, he also helped to diversify its leadership during his time in office.

“So few people know what their purpose is and to get a chance to accomplish it has been extraordinary,” said Cabaldon. “For me, personally, and for the future evolution of the city, this is a welcome opportunity for a change.”

Hansen, 41, has opened up a mayoral campaign account for a potential run in 2024 when Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg plans to leave office but is unsure at this point on if he will end up seeking the post.

In January, Hansen plans to announce what his new job will be.

When asked by the B.A.R. if he was interested in the executive director position with Equality California, where he worked for two years as its legislative director in the mid-2000s, Hansen said he hadn’t thought about applying. The statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization’s current leader, Rick Chavez Zbur, will be departing at the end of 2021 as he is running to be Los Angeles’ city attorney on the

2022 ballot.

“I love Rick and think he has done an amazing job,” he said. “It is a great job, but I don’t know if I am the right person.”

For now, Hansen is looking forward to spending quality time with his partner, Michael McNulty, and their son, Henry, whom the couple officially adopted last year. It marks the first time Hansen finds himself not working since high school.

“We would like to have another child. It is pretty difficult for these really demanding jobs in public service to have young children,” said Hansen. “It is not impossible but it takes a toll on the family. That is where my heart and head are right now.”

Last week, Hansen’s staff and supporters heralded his time on the council during an hourlong tribute broadcasted via Facebook Live. It kicked off with a performance by Sacramento’s gay men’s chorus and wrapped with a drag performance to Deniece Williams’s song “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” by Taryn Thru-U, the alter ego of Sacramento performance artist Johnathan Cameron.

Amid the accolades and thankyous from various local artists and leaders of community groups and civic organizations, one of the best segments was a sendup of the viral TikTok video of a skateboarder lip-synching to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” by lesbian restaurateur Andrea Lepore. Working with McNulty, she shot herself bicycling between Hansen’s favorite eating establishments and eating and drinking his favorite items to order from each.

“It was very sweet and touching,” said Hansen, who also released a commemorative artwork people can buy for $35 at https://amberwitzke.com/product/steve-hansensart-print/ with all of the proceeds going to the Laurie McBride Scholarship at Sacramento State through the Stonewall Foundation of Greater Sacramento. McBride, a longtime lesbian leader in the Golden State, died December 4.

Hansen also released a report detailing all the accomplishments he and his office achieved during his two terms on the city council. His aim was to celebrate what he was able to do in collaboration with his constituents and community and bring them some joy in what has been a “brutal” year, noted Hansen.

“The goal was to help people feel proud about what they have been a part of and to commemorate all the things we were able to do,” he said.

“I hope people look to that body of work and are inspired to continue giving their heart and soul to the city of Sacramento.”

At peace

Noting that every mayor in his region up for reelection this year lost their races, Cabaldon said he is “100% at peace” with his not winning a ninth consecutive two-year term as mayor.

“There was a much larger dynamic involved this year in local races in Northern California,” he said.

In talking to the various local public officials who lost their reelection bids this year, Hansen said he has suggested they form a former elected officials group, as he noted many had faced “vicious campaigns” against them.

“Just because the public is a fickle lover doesn’t mean the relationship ends. It transitions to a new phase,” he said. “You don’t stop caring about the place you called home or gave so much of your heart and soul to. It is also important to give our successors a chance to achieve their vision and to be successful in their own right.”t

Barry Schneider Attorney at Law

family law specialist* • Divorce w/emphasis on Real Estate & Business Divisions • Domestic Partnerships, Support & Custody • Probate and Wills www.SchneiderLawSF.com

415-781-6500 *Certified by the California State Bar 400 Montgomery Street, Ste. 505, San Francisco, CA

LGBT PROGRESSIVE CATHOLICS † OUR FAMILIES & FRIENDS

Celebrating our Sexuality and Love as Gifts of God Liturgy & Social: Every Sunday 5pm First Sunday Movie Night Second Sunday Potluck Supper Third Wednesday Faith Sharing Group 1329 Seventh Avenue † info@dignitysanfrancisco.org Follow us on Facebook!

<< Obituaries

t AIDS and LGBTQ lobbyist Laurie McBride dies 6 • Bay Area Reporter • December 17-23, 2020

by Karen Ocamb

L

aurie McBride, the highly regarded longtime advocate for people with HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ equality, died December 4 of a heart attack, according to her beloved wife Donna Yutzy, whose comment was posted on Facebook by friend Julia Mullen.

Ms. McBride, who lived in Magalia (Butte County, California), was recovering from a stroke, as she pecked out on Facebook November 7. “Laurie McBride: HAD STROKE OCT 12. Lost right side. Still in rehab. Also lost kidneys so now on dialysis 3 times a week. Getting excellent care here in Chico (30 minutes from our home in Magalia). Donna visits every day. Sending group post cuz typing w/left hand sucks. Below is an update from Donna about it all. YAY Biden/Harris – let healing for all begin!”

Yutzy reported that, “Laurie is doing remarkably well in rehab,” with movement in her right arm and leg.

“She is in either physical therapy or occupational therapy 6 hours a day.

She is learning to walk. ... She is in really good spirits. Her Germanic stubbornness is paying off ... she’s working really, really hard to recover as much as she can. She is feeling better by the day and is starting to find her ‘spa prison’ annoying on occasion. So it’s really motivating her to come home! The bottom line ... Laurie is on-target to make a remarkable recovery. We are both doing well and have settled into this new routine for the time being. I fully expect Laurie to be back online and talking to you all in the near future.”

Ms. McBride came home November 22: “I’M HOME!!!!! Settling in.

Still mostly paralyzed on the right side, although I can now move my arm pretty well, and open/close my fist. Can stand and pivot. But only walk with LOTS of help. Onward!

“Donna is amazing. So supportive. Depend on her for most everything,” she added. “She is my rock.

Screenshot via Legends of Courage

Laurie McBride in a video from the Legends of Courage project

Typing is still an ordeal – left-handed, etc. So no more group emails until I can use my right hand again ... THANK YOU all for notes of support ... greatly appreciated!”

Ms. McBride was born on June 8, 1949 in Los Angeles, attended C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Pacific in 1971. She served as secretary for the Golden Gate Business Association from 1982 to 1983, after which she became president from 1984 to 1986. She also served as president of the GGBA Foundation (now Horizons) from 1983 to 1984. Ms. McBride married Yutzy on May 17, 1985.

Ms. McBride came to the attention of AIDS and gay rights advocates in 1984 when she chaired the Community Partnership on AIDS for two years. In 1986 and 1987, she co-chaired the successful grassroots No on 69 and No on 64 – known as the LaRouche initiative that would quarantine and limit employment for people with HIV/AIDS.

From 1988 to 1990 she co-chaired Mobilization Against AIDS. From 1990 to 1991, she was vice president of the National Stonewall Democratic Club. And then, in 1990, Ms. McBride’s life became even more hectic when she joined the Lobby for Individual Freedom & Equality, or LIFE Lobby, as executive director.

LIFE AIDS Lobby was formed in 1985 by several statewide gay, AIDS, and political groups out of the desperate need for representation in the state Capitol. The anti-gay right wing had their conservative friends in the White House with Ronald Reagan; in Congress with Representative William Dannemeyer; and in Sacramento with Traditional Values head the Reverend Lou Sheldon. Gays had to rely on straight liberal elected officials such as then-Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, then-Assemblyman Art Agnos and then-state Senator David Roberti, who fortuitously used openly gay aide Stan Hadden to craft legislation to encourage a coordinated approach to local AIDS programs and services.

Among those who fought Proposition 64 was 27-year-old law student John Duran, who had been galvanized into action by the AIDS-related death in June 1985 of his close friend Scott Fleener. Duran volunteered as an attorney for ACT UP in Orange County, during which he encountered Sheldon and his religious zealots and supporters such as the White Aryan Resistance. Duran joined the board of the LIFE AIDS Lobby and wound up serving as co-chair from 1988 to 1992. He and Ms. McBride drafted groundbreaking AIDS and gay rights legislation, including the gay rights Assembly Bill 101.

“Laurie and I drove together across the state of California to get

<<

Let’s talk cannabis.

CASTRO • MARINA • SOMA C10-0000523-LIC; C10-0000522-LIC; C10-0000515-LIC

Data collection

From page 2

“It is only because of data that we know, for example, that COVID is killing Black people at outrageous rates and that our Latinx communities have very high infection rates. And, it is only because of data collection that we understand COVID’s impacts on different age groups,” wrote Wiener. “Yet, COVID’s impacts on LGBTQ people are largely invisible due to the lack of data collection. We introduced and passed SB 932 to stop the erasure of the LGBTQ community. Yet, without strong implementation of this legal requirement by CDPH, that erasure will continue, and the law will be a dead letter.”

Wiener also pointed out that “time is of the essence” as COVID cases and hospitalizations are surging across California, leading to counties again ordering their residents to remain at home as much as possible, curtail social gather-

our community behind AB 101 – the employment non-discrimination bill for LGBT people back in 1990. We met activists in Bakersfield, Stockton, and Fresno and rallied them to the cause,” Duran said.

“Laurie was a lesbian warrior. She fought for her brothers with AIDS. So many gay men alive today are deeply indebted to Laurie for saving their lives. My heart goes out to her wife Donna. She was one of a kind.

Gentle and fierce at the same time.”

By then Ms. McBride was overseeing such a diverse organization of about 80 groups. Log Cabin Republicans founder Frank Ricchiazzi sat next to ACT UP/LA’s Connie Norman at statewide meetings. Bob Craig, publisher of Frontiers News Magazine, was LIFE Lobby’s treasurer, having given the first check to hire staff, and became close with Ms. McBride, giving her a regular column to push legislation.

Changes

Things changed in 1998. The Republican dominance of California politics ended with the election of moderate-to-conservative Democrat Gray Davis as governor and the miraculous new three-drug cocktail was turning HIV/AIDS from a likely death sentence to a chronic manageable disease. With gay rights and AIDS on their way to being “handled,” people stopped contributing to LIFE Lobby and it folded in 1999.

Later, Ms. McBride described LIFE’s “organization of organizations” to this reporter as “groundbreaking work by a bunch of brilliant, dedicated activists who paved the way for non-discrimination laws and eventually marriage equality, not to mention the creation of sane HIV/AIDS policy in California, which was a blueprint for the Ryan White CARE Act nationally. On issue after issue, the heavy lifting was done by LIFE Lobby staff and board members – and the activation of organizations around the state.”

When LIFE died, Ms. McBride moved on, becoming chief of staff to California Assembly Majority Leader Kevin Shelley from 2000 to 2002, then becoming assistant secretary of state when Shelley was elected secretary of state in 2003. Meanwhile, Ms. McBride kept up her political activism via the National Stonewall Democrats and the Sacramento Stonewall Democratic Club. In 2007, she was elected Northern California co-chair of the California Democratic Party’s LGBT Caucus.

“We have a pretty good slate of ideas about how to make the caucus more meaningful and responsive to the clubs and the community statewide,” Ms. McBride told the Bay ings even outdoors, and cancel any plans to spend the holidays with family or friends outside of their households.

“Every day without this data collection, particularly during the current surge, means that tens of thousands of COVID tests will lack this information. And as California formulates its vaccine distribution plan – a plan based on data around risk levels – the LGBTQ community will be left out entirely,” wrote Wiener.

Farley told the B.A.R. that San Francisco leaders support Wiener’s calling on state public health officials to improve the collection of SOGI data statewide.

“We join Senator Wiener in calling on the state to provide additional guidance and support so that all testing sites are consistently collecting this vital data,” she stated. “This will help assure our community gets access to the resources we need since we know that LGBTQ community already experiences disproportionate rates of pre-existing conditions,

Area Reporter about work she and co-chair Jess Durfee, chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party, had planned. Ms. McBride remained active in educating people about AIDS, including coming to West Hollywood in 2017 to speak at the Paul Starke Warrior Awards on World AIDS Day, preceded by a clip of her from the Legends of Courage project.

“It’s important to talk tonight, on World AIDS Day, about how we fought, how we dug in and how each of us found our place on the front lines, how the epidemic changed us, and how we changed the world,” Ms. McBride said. “Because traditional medicine didn’t want to spend money on us, AIDS became the first disease where treatment and research dollars were allocated by legislation.

“And in lobbying, we learned once again that we had to do everything. ...

[E]very way that HIV/AIDS pushed us, we pushed back,” she added.

“We changed the way people with a disease organize, we changed the very nature of the doctor-patient relationship, we changed the way experimental drugs are tested and handed out. We fought back a host of punitive legislation – and we fought for treatment and research funding.

We fought discrimination and won our rights. We are proven agents of change. That’s a hell of a legacy, not just to honor, but to live up to.”

Gay Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), the new chair of the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, told the Blade in an emailed statement: “Laurie McBride was a true warrior for the LGBTQ+ community and a fierce ally during the HIV/ AIDS epidemic. While she might not be a household name, Laurie’s leadership on numerous political campaigns and advocacy organizations saved countless lives. It should also be noted that much of this work took place at a time when not a single openly out person held elected office. Laurie was an activist who knew how to craft public policy, and her commitment to equality shaped hearts and minds across California, laying a foundation for the progress we’ve seen in recent years. Her work also led to greater protections for LGBTQ+ workers here in California and across the country. We want to offer our condolences to Laurie’s wife, Donna, and express our gratitude for Laurie’s trailblazing life.”t This article was originally published in the Los Angeles Blade at www.losangelesblade. com/2020/12/05/laurie-mcbridetreasured-aids-and-lgbtq-lobbyist-dead-at-71/. Check it out online for more photos and video.

homelessness and poverty.”

That is why, Farley stressed, “collecting comprehensive data is essential in supporting all of our communities most impacted by the pandemic including our LGBTQ residents. We are continuing to work on expanding these efforts.”

When asked by the B.A.R. last month about the issues surrounding implementation of SB 932, Ghaly noted the order was still “fairly new” and promised to look into the issue.

“I’m always interested to hear from those who have to put into practice some of these changes, what the difficulties are, whether there is a reason it’s delayed, that at the state level or the local level we can intervene and support,” he said. “So I will highlight we are getting more and more of the sexual orientation-gender identity data attached to our cases. Of course, there’s going to be some entities we know that don’t put into practice the expectations and those are all worth following up.”t

Obituaries>>

t Milk club co-founder Terry Henderling dies

December 17-23, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

by Cynthia Laird

B

ack when LGBTQs in San Francisco were starting to flex their political muscle, Terry Henderling was one of the co-founders of the Gay Democratic Club, which was renamed in honor of Harvey Milk after the gay San Francisco supervisor was slain in 1978.

Mr. Henderling died at his San Francisco home December 8. He was 79. Friends said Mr. Henderling’s body was transported to the medical examiner’s office; no cause of death has been released. The medical examiner’s office did not return a call seeking information.

In addition to being an early leader of what is now known as the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, Mr. Henderling was involved in the Butterfly Brigade, an early safe-street patrol program, his friends Randy Alfred and John Blackburn wrote in separate emails to the Bay Area Reporter.

After disgruntled ex-supervisor Dan White assassinated Milk and San Francisco mayor George Moscone, Mr. Henderling for a time was the custodian of Milk’s materi-

Dan Nicoletta

Terry Henderling

als. That was after Milk’s lover, Scott Smith, died in 1995. According to Alfred and Jim Gordon, Mr. Henderling received permission from Smith’s mother, Elva, to serve as caretaker of Milk’s memorabilia until its transfer to the GLBT Historical Society, of which Mr. Henderling was also a co-founder.

But it was in local politics that Mr. Henderling is best known. According to Blackburn’s longtime partner, Bob Heacock, Mr. Henderling, Gordon, David Goldman, and others were “at the famous meeting in Yosemite where Chris Perry [Heacock’s former lover] suggested forming a Democratic club with the

word ‘gay’ in the name,” Blackburn wrote. “If politicians wanted the endorsement of the gay community, they would have to put the word ‘gay’ in the name of the club that endorsed them.”

Mr. Henderling worked on Milk’s winning supervisorial campaign in 1977, and worked in Milk’s City Hall office as a community adviser.

Other people also served in that capacity, Blackburn noted.

“Terry was very much in the thick of things,” Blackburn recalled, adding that he and Gordon were inseparable.

“Jim and Terry ended up being delegates to the San Diego State Democratic Convention,” he wrote.

“The goal of attending the convention was to get the convention to condemn the Briggs initiative.”

That anti-gay ballot measure was on the 1978 California ballot and would have barred gays and lesbians from working in California public schools. Milk was a major force on the anti-Briggs campaign, along with others such as Gwenn Craig and Sally Gearhart. Voters defeated the measure in a major victory for LGBTQ rights.

Early life

Mr. Henderling was born D.W. Terrance Henderling on August 30, 1941 in Burlington, Vermont. He grew up in Hartford, Connecticut.

Blackburn said that Mr. Henderling’s family was poor and that he had difficulty growing up because of his effeminacy.

“Terry was never butch – that’s putting it mildly,” Blackburn recalled. “He never fit traditional masculine roles, and of course his famous, and one-and-only laugh (high-pitch cackle) was worldrenowned. When he was amused, his cackle could be heard for a vast distance!”

Mr. Henderling served in the Navy but received an undesirable discharge because he was gay, Gordon stated, adding that his discharge was later upgraded to at least general. Blackburn said that Mr. Henderling had VA benefits that helped care for him in his later years.

Mr. Henderling is survived by his longtime boyfriend, Edward C. “Eddie” Anderson. He was not able to be reached for comment.t

Stanford offers telehealth PrEP program for teens

by John Ferrannini

T

hat 2020 made telehealth the norm, rather than the exception, has led to an expansion of the Stanford Medicine Virtual Preexposure Prophylaxis Program for Adolescents and Young Adults, which was launched by two physicians late last year.

The program at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto serves about two-dozen patients who are adolescents or adults 25 or under throughout California.

It was founded by Dr. Geoff HartCooper, medical director of the Stanford Medicine Virtual PrEP Program, in partnership with Stanford Children’s Health; and Dr. Megan Vo, the associate medical director of the Virtual PrEP Program. (Both declined to say how they identify.)

“After I finished my medical training in New York, I had a fellowship down at the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and became interested in the intersection of LGBT health and sexual health,” Hart-Cooper told the B.A.R. “Initially, PrEP wasn’t FDA approved for youth but it was certainly used

off-label. ... Telehealth provides an important way to reach youth where they are from both the provider and patient perspective.”

Vo said that “this has been in the works for almost four years now.”

“People said it couldn’t be done,” Vo told the B.A.R. “They said ‘people have to see you in person’ and we didn’t understand why.”

The virtual program launched in December 2019, taking awhile to set up after the duo received an internal Stanford grant of $50,000. Under the program, patients are connected with a pediatric and adolescent care provider specifically trained to provide sexual health counseling, labs, and adherence support for PrEP. “This was novel when we started working on it,” Vo said, adding that since the pandemic they have been getting more referrals. “We do our best to make sure we can see people regardless of insurance status and can use a variety of patient assistant programs to cover the medication and make sure the issue of payment doesn’t stop people from getting scheduled.”

Hart-Cooper said that the program has been opened up to pa-

tients outside of network “for a few able in the U.S. about two months tools, such as PrEP, or may not have months now.” ago. It costs about $1,455 per experience discussing sexual health “A lot of our patients are outmonth. Insurance generally covers with young patients, which can make side of the network of Stanford,” he the generic Truvada and Teva, the it difficult for youth to disclose sexual added. company that makes it, has a patient behavior, or lead to concerns about Accessibility is a lodestar of the assistance program. confidentiality,” Vo stated. program.

The Stanford program also proPatients connect to the health “The remote nature of the virtual vides webinars to educate pediatricare provider via their computer or PrEP program eliminates the need cians around the state about PrEP mobile devices. People who are infor patients to travel to a care faciluse. terested in joining the program can ity, making ongoing care convenient “Some providers, particularly pecall (650) 497-2701 or visit www. and efficient, which is especially diatricians, may not be aware of, or stanfordchildrens.org/en/service/ important during the COVID-19 trained, to provide HIV prevention prep.t pandemic,” Hart-Cooper stated in a Stanford news release. “Virtual care allows us to meet youth where they are, even during transition to college or other moves, and offers an added layer of confidentiality, as it allows providers to communicate with patients one-on-one, without involving a parent or other guardian if that is the patient’s preference.”

Following a virtual intake visit, patients are mailed an at-home testing kit; ongoing labs are conducted every three months at a local clinical laboratory, PrEP prescriptions are fulfilled via a patient’s local pharmacy, and patients have biweekly video calls with their dedicated PrEP navigator. The program is available to anyone in the state of California regardless of When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial whether they are an existing Stanand provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead ford patient, and in almost all cases When your celebration lasting protectsyou your plan loved ones fromlife unnecessary stress and and financial burden, the cost is supported through variWhen you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you. remembrance in advance, you can design every ous patient assistance programs, you canofdesign every detail of your ownand unique memorial the release stated. Insurance advance, and detail own memorial provide Contact usyour today about theunique beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy co-pays are another option. and provide atyour San Francisco Columbarium. loved ones with true peace mind.

Planning ahead yourtheloved ones with true peace ofof mind.

Planning In October 2019, Descovy was approtects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial ahead protectsProudly yourserving loved onesCommunity. from unnecessary burden, proved by the federal Food and Drug the LGBT Administration as a second drugallowing for them focus on whatburden, will matter most them at thattotime—you. stresstoand financial allowing use as PrEP (joining Truvada, which focus on what will matter most at that time—you. was approved for that use in 2012).

Contact us today about the beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy Vo said that accessibility is the most important factor. Descovy costs at the San Contact FranciscousColumbarium. today about the beautiful ways to create about $2,000 a month. a lasting legacy at the San Francisco Columbarium.

“There’s a lot of marketing and One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 news around the new drug,” Vo said.

Proudly serving our Community.

“Our patients are able to access the SanFranciscoColumbarium.com Proudly serving the LGBT Community. generic more easily. To me whatever FD 1306 / COA 660 they can access is what I want them to take.”

Generic Truvada became avail-

PlanningAhead Ahead isisSimple Planning Simple The benefits are immense.

Planning Ahead is Simple The benefits are immense.

The benefits are immense.

Courtesy Stanford University

Drs. Megan Vo and Geoff Hart-Cooper lead Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital’s PrEP telehealth program for adolescents and teens.

Obituaries >> James Walter August 9, 1937– October 26, 2020

James Walter, known to his friends as “Jim

Bear” or “Big Jim,” passed away on the morning of October 26, 2020.

He was 83.

Jim was a longtime resident of San Francisco and a proud member of the Rainbow Deaf Society, Bay Area chapter. He loved watching sports, was a competitive body builder in

his youth, and an avid Teddy bear collector. He lovingly maintained a collection of over 3,000 bears in his home, several of which he created himself. He was a selfless, caring friend to many and always had a big smile to share with everyone he met.

He will be missed by all.

One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717

SanFranciscoColumbarium.com FD 1306 / COA 660

<< From the Cover

8 • Bay Area Reporter • December 17-23, 2020

<<

Buttigieg

<<

Trans programs

From page 1

operations and their data support systems.”

Working with the city’s Office of Economic & Workforce Development, the HRC is also accepting proposals for $250,000 in funding over the next two years. It will be divided between two organizations and is meant to assist queer people of color, particularly Black trans and nonbinary entrepreneurs, who want to open their own businesses in San Francisco.

“Many transgender business

<<

Censorship

From page 1

B.A.R. that the organization reached out to the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District, among other community groups, to facilitate art for the Bigbelly trash cans in the spring.

“Right at the onset of COVID, we reached out to [Robert] Goldfarb at the leather district to see if they would be interested in cobranding with SOMA West CBD to decorate some of the Bigbelly trash cans with art from local artists,” Martin, a straight ally, stated.

“He enthusiastically said yes and began to reach out to local artists who may be interested in submitting art for the project. We also reached out to the Filipino Cultural District and other individual artists for submissions.”

But the CBD could not use all the submissions, he stated.

“We received more leather LGBTQ-themed submissions than anticipated and unfortunately, we couldn’t use them all,” Martin wrote.

“We were on a very short timeline and did not have time to do an of-

<<

Eagle

From page 1

LGBTQ Cultural District in SOMA, as provided for under Planning Code Section 1004.1,” Haney, a straight ally, told the Bay Area Reporter.

The resolution is expected to first go to the supervisors’ land use committee early in 2021. The Board of Supervisors would then take a vote on it. After that, the proposal goes to the historic preservation commission, which has 90 days to weigh in on the proposal. It then returns to the supervisors for a final vote officially designating the property as a city landmark.

The same process is currently underway for the historic home of late

2015.

Despite a sometimes tense primary season – Biden and Buttigieg were both seen as leaders in the moderate wing of the party – the former vice president and the break-out novice to national politics mended fences, with Biden going so far as to say that Buttigieg reminded him of his late son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who was also once one of Biden’s rivals for the presidential nomination, also praised Buttigieg.

“One of the most important parts of building America back better is ushering in a safe, modern, and sustainable transportation system that helps us grow our economy, tackle our climate crisis, and connect all Americans to jobs and opportunity,” she stated. “Mayor Pete Buttigieg is an outstanding choice to help spearhead this work. An innovative problem solver and trailblazing public servant, Mayor Pete is deeply committed to bringing people together and upgrading our transportation system in a way that serves Americans of all backgrounds and communities of every size – urban and rural – across our country.”t

from the race March 1, throwing his support behind Biden, but not before becoming the first LGBTQ person to win a presidential nominating contest when he defeated Biden and others in the Iowa Caucus earlier this year.

As the Washington Blade reported last week, Buttigieg – a top Biden surrogate in the fall campaign – turned down two prominent roles in the administration in recent weeks. Biden had pledged to be the first president to choose an LGBTQ member of the cabinet, saying on CNN two weeks ago, “I promise you, you’ll see the most diverse cabinet, representative of all folks, Asian-Americans, African Americans, Latinos, LGBTQ, across the board.”

Earlier this year, President Don-

ald Trump chose Ric Grenell, a gay man, to be his acting director of national intelligence – a cabinet-level position but not a cabinet secretary.

Biden has long discussed the necessity of a federal infrastructure package, a plan that Buttigieg would be promoting, shepherding, and implementing if he becomes transportation secretary.

Bevan Dufty, a gay man who is a member of the BART Board of Directors, said that Buttigieg will be helpful in that regard.

“He’s going to be a highly visible cabinet member,” Dufty told the Bay Area Reporter. “That’s good for transit. The Trump administration sat on an infrastructure bill for four years and there’s a lot of need because of COVID. Pete will help us

recover.”

The LGBTQ Victory Institute, which has pressed for out people in the Biden-Harris administration, praised the news.

“Pete’s nomination is a new milestone in a decades-long effort to ensure LGBTQ people are represented throughout our government – and its impact will reverberate well beyond the department he will lead,” Annise Parker, president and CEO of the institute, stated shortly after the news broke. “It distances our nation from a troubled legacy of barring out LGBTQ people from government positions and moves us closer to the president-elect’s vision of a government that reflects America.”

Dufty, who used to represent the Castro neighborhood on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, also reflected upon the historic nature of the appointment.

“I think it’s fantastic to break a glass ceiling and have someone so smart leading the U.S. DOT,” Dufty said, referring to the Department of Transportation. “As a BART director, I know he’ll be good for transit, helping to get us moving again.”

Buttigieg previously served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana from 2012 to 2020. He came out as gay in

owners need help going through the business licensing process.

They don’t have those supports to navigate the process,” noted Harrison, 29, who is Black, queer, and nonbinary. “The hope is lesbian, gay, and bisexual folks and queer folks of color will also be able to reap the benefit of this opportunity.”

The funding for the two grant opportunities came from Mayor London Breed and District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton’s efforts this summer to redirect funding from the San Francisco Police Department to the city’s Af-

rican American community in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 budgets.

Harrison and his boss, HRC Executive Director Sheryl Davis, worked to ensure that a portion of the funds was targeted to the Black trans and gender-nonconforming community.

Since August, the city department has held more than 60 meetings with various Black community and other diverse stakeholders about how to best invest the funding.

Harrison led the community input sessions with Black LGBTQI+ leaders, stakeholders, and community members about the specially tar-

geted funding opportunities.

“Funding opportunities get diluted, and LGBTQ folks don’t feel supported to apply even though we are,” said Harrison, who lives in San Francisco. “We need to make sure LGBT folks are centered in these equity programs when we are having these conversations around funding and resource allocations to communities.”

Applications are due January 8.

A review panel will then review the proposals and make a recommendation on which ones it believes should be funded.

As the request for proposals for

the larger grant amount stresses, “Special consideration will be given to organizations with experience working with sex workers, formerly incarcerated people, marginally housed people, and survivors of violence.”

The city departments and the mayor’s office will then confer on the final decision, and awardees will be notified by January 22. The programs receiving grants should begin February 1 and run through January 31, 2023.

For more information about the funding opportunity, visit http://sfhrc.org/grant-opportunities.t

ficial call for artists. If we had more time, we would have made clear that we reserved the right to choose (or not choose) whatever art we wanted, and that we could not guarantee that every submission would be selected. I’ve apologized and taken responsibility for not making that clear. We did make sure that each artist was compensated fairly for their time and work, whether we used the images or not.”

When pressed in a phone interview, Martin said that while “each piece of art was judged independently ... the hanky code depiction was raised as a concern that some might have.”

Martin stressed that other LGBTQ and/or BDSM-affirmative imagery was chosen for the trash bins, among art representing other communities. Some displayed art features the now-shuttered queer bar The Stud, the now-scant “Miracle Mile” that was once full of gay bars and bathhouses, the Powerhouse, a jock strap, and bondage gear.

“Much of the art has BDSM themes,” Martin said. “We didn’t put any prohibition on hanky codes,”

though some of the art was “a little too risqué for 24/7 public display.”

Martin said that since the art display is rotating, the artists whose works were rejected have been “reserved a spot in the next round.”

After being asked about the hanky code, SOMA West CBD board member Brandon McGanty said not all of the art was intended for final display. McGanty did not respond to a question about how he identifies.

“Not all artwork was intended to make it to print,” he said. “After reviewing all of the submissions, the committee overseeing this project narrowed down the final selection as a group.”

Hall accused McGanty of being the member of the SOMA West CBD board who had a problem with the hanky code, which led to the alleged censorship.

According to Hall, McGanty went to the printer to stop the production of the art.

When pressed by a B.A.R. reporter, McGanty would not answer if he, or anyone else, was the one who raised concerns about the hanky code.

‘Miscommunication’

Katz had learned where her art was to be displayed from Goldfarb, a gay man who is the president of the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District. Goldfarb chalked up the situation to miscommunication between the West SOMA CBD and the artists. The SOMA West CBD was established last year.

“The situation with the SOMA West CBD is complicated, and related to both miscommunication and the growing pains of a new organization,” Goldfarb wrote in an email to the B.A.R. “The objective of the CBD’s executive director, Christian Martin was to do something positive and provide a way to put leather and LGBTQ art on public display. Unfortunately, as a new organization, they had not yet developed a set of standard criteria for their art projects, which might have avoided the current situation.”

Goldfarb stated that “the CBD’s intent was to get art by these artists on public view while satisfying their board.”

“Some designs were not used, which led to a meeting between three affected artists, Christian Mar-

tin, and me. Possible resolutions to the situation were discussed as well as ways to avoid a repeat in the future. My recollection is that the CBD’s offers included a pledge for better communication, a pledge to pay for new art or revisions, and an agreement to produce a set of standards for their art,” Goldfarb wrote.

“We view the situation as still in the process of being resolved and my expectation is that we will meet with the CBD again when they develop clear standards,” he added.

“It’s even possible that when they shine a light on their objections, some of them may fall away.”

Hall, who was present for that meeting, said he is satisfied with how the situation turned out to the extent that he hopes policies will be put in place so that a similar situation does not happen again, adding that “Christian was very transparent and took the blame where necessary.”

Two of the other three artists whose pieces of work were not included on the Bigbelly trash cans were also contacted by the B.A.R. but did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.t

lesbian pioneers Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin at 651 Duncan Street in the city’s Noe Valley neighborhood, as the B.A.R. has been reporting.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in support of starting the landmark process for their twostory cottage and surrounding garden at its October 20 meeting.

It has not yet been heard by the historic preservation commission, but is expected to be in early 2021.

Lex Montiel, owner of the Eagle bar, answered a phone call from the B.A.R. December 15 but said he’d like to “reserve my comment.”

As the B.A.R. previously reported, the future of the establishment beloved for its Sunday beer busts on its outdoor patio, which have been put

on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is in question as the community wonders what will happen to it following the sale of its building.

The newly built Eagle Plaza leatherthemed public parklet on a portion of 12th Street is named after the bar and was championed by Montiel and his late business partner, Mike Leon, who died in 2019.

A deed of trust available on the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder’s website dated September 30 names Robert G. Scypinski as the grantor.

Attempts to contact Scypinski have gone unreturned.

Honey Mahogany, a queer nonbinary trans person who is the chief legislative aide for Haney, told the B.A.R. that she doesn’t know who

the new owner of the property is, but that her sense is that the Eagle “has about 10 years left on its lease.”

“Lex brought this up to us and said it was one of the things we could do to help him,” Mahogany said. “My sense is that Lex doesn’t like to show his cards before they’re ready. He’s going to get all his ducks in a row before coming out to the community with a plan to make sure the Eagle is saved.”

Mahogany said that Haney is introducing the resolution to highlight the importance of the Eagle as an anchor for not only the LGBTQ community, but the city as a whole.

“The Eagle is a cornerstone of SOMA for us, especially West SOMA,” Mahogany said. “The build-

ing was up for sale so we want to make sure that everyone knows how important the Eagle is for San Francisco, Eagle Plaza, and the [Leather and LGBTQ] Cultural District.”

Robert Goldfarb, a gay man who is the president of the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District board, wrote in an email to the B.A.R. late Tuesday that the bar deserves landmark status.

“We’re delighted that the Eagle Bar building is going to be given landmark status,” Goldfarb stated. “The Eagle has been an iconic gathering point for the leather community since May 1981, so it’s absolutely appropriate that it has landmark status. We look forward to it resuming its role in the community when pandemic rules allow it to reopen safely.”t

From page 1

many of the interlocking challenges and opportunities ahead of us. Jobs, infrastructure, equity, and climate all come together at the DOT, the site of some of our most ambitious plans to build back better. I trust Mayor Pete to lead this work with focus, decency, and a bold vision – he will bring people together to get big things done.”

Buttigieg was formally introduced by Biden Wednesday morning in Delaware, where he said he was “humbled” by Biden’s confidence in him.

“At its best, transportation makes the American Dream possible, getting people and goods to where they need to be, directly and indirectly creating good-paying jobs,” he said.

“At its worst, misguided policies and missed opportunities can reinforce racial and economic inequality, dividing or isolating neighborhoods, undermining government’s basic role of empowering Americans to thrive,” Buttigieg added.

Buttigieg, 38, burst onto the national scene last year with his landmark bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. He withdrew

t

Courtesy Bevan Dufty

BART board member Bevan Dufty, center, took Pete Buttigieg’s husband, Chasten, left, on BART when he stopped in the Bay Area in October 2019 and they talked with Becky Evans, a Sierra Club leader.

t <<

Community News>>

Yekutiel

From page 3

mented during the pandemic have largely helped local merchants.

Mar brought up the closure of the Great Highway to vehicles, and said that he expected such programs to transition once the pandemic eases.

“In general, opening streets has inspired civic pride,” Yekutiel said.

“At the same time, it has caused consternation for some.”

Stefani said that she was “absolutely thrilled” with Yekutiel’s nomination.

“You’re kind and you’re willing to listen to others,” she noted. “I think you seek unity.

Hinze nomination

Hinze, who lives with cerebral palsy and uses an electric wheelchair, also impressed the committee. She lives in the outer Richmond and primarily relies on paratransit to get around. She’s been active in

December 17-23, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 9

Vision Zero, the city’s plan to reduce traffic deaths and called for more public education around pedestrian safety.

She told the committee that there are concerns with Shared Spaces and Slow Streets in how the programs affect the right-of-way and keeping streets and sidewalks accessible for those with wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and scooters.

“Equity is the key to all areas of SFMTA,” Hinze said, adding that communication is vital and can be

improved at the transit agency. She also said she would work to make sure SFMTA is held accountable to the public.

“Outreach would be a priority of mine. These large capital projects have been in the news for not running on time,” she added, referring to the long-delayed Central Subway.

All of the speakers during public comment supported Yekutiel, Hinze, or both. In fact, Ronen remarked at the end that there was

not a single negative comment.

Martin Rawlings-Fein, a transgender bisexual married father, said that both the nominees are “great picks.”

Jupiter Peralta, a Noe Valley resident, said that Yekutiel is a “great employer” and has “created a blue print for organizing.”

Sharky Laguana, president of the Small Business Commission, said he supported both candidates.

The full board is expected to take up the nominations soon.t

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: January 13, 2021, 9:00 am, Dept. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250.

A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: JAYSON M. LORENZO (SBN 216973), J. LORENZO LAW, 2292 FARADAY AVE #100, CARLSBAD, CA 92008; Ph. (760) 517-6646.

OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-556024

CROWN CO., 146 CORTLAND AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KELLY MEGAN WILSON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/28/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/04/20.

Legals>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-555994

In the matter of the application of DEANNA NGO LUONG, 1655 MISSION ST #547, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner DEANNA NGO LUONG is requesting that the name DEANNA NGO LUONG be changed to DEANNA NGOC NGO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103 on the 29th of December 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 26, DEC 03, 10, 17, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-556000

In the matter of the application of ERIK WOLFFINGER & ALMA ESPINOLA, 2011 26TH ST #301, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ERIK WOLFFINGER & ALMA ESPINOLA is requesting that the name TARTUFINO VAN WOLFINGER be changed to MAURICIO WALK WOLFINGER. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 5th of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 26, DEC 03, 10, 17, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039186100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as OSCAR LAUNDROMAT, 200 BRAZIL AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed OSCAR DUARTE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/26/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/13/20.

NOV 26, DEC 03, 10, 17, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039179200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CHARLIE BARNETT ASSOCIATES, INC, 626 HAMPSHIRE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CHARLIE BARNETT ASSOCIATES, INC (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/02/20.

NOV 26, DEC 03, 10, 17, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039191700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BORDERLESS WINE ALLIANCE, 450 VICKSBURG ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BORDERLESS WINE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/19/20.

NOV 26, DEC 03, 10, 17, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-555999

In the matter of the application of RODERIC LEROY FISHER, C/O ANA DENMARK (SBN 302559), LEGAL ASSISTANCE TO THE ELDERLY, 1663 MISSION ST #225, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner RODERIC LEROY FISHER is requesting that the name RODERIC LEROY FISHER AKA RODERIC LEROY TURNER be changed to RODERIC LEROY TURNER. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103 on the 5th of January 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 03, 10, 17, 24, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-555998

In the matter of the application of REMI PAYNE, 63 WESTBROOK CT, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner REMI PAYNE is requesting that the name REMI PAYNE be changed to REMI FRANKLIN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103 on the 19th of January 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 03, 10, 17, 24, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039190800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BOBBY PENNY CLEANING, 1210 DOLORES ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ROBERT PENNY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/26/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/19/20.

DEC 03, 10, 17, 24, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039191000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as GOUGH EXPRESS CLEANERS, 648 GOUGH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed ERIC LI &

YANZHEN WU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/12/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/19/20.

DEC 03, 10, 17, 24, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039189700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as OTHER AVENUES FOOD STORE, 3930 JUDAH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed OTHER AVENUES FOOD STORE (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/09/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/18/20.

DEC 03, 10, 17, 24, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039190600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as WHOLE HEART CARDIOLOGY, 2578 PINE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed NICOLE HARKIN MD, A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/19/20.

DEC 03, 10, 17, 24, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039192600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as AFFINITEL COMMUNICATIONS, 6512 MISSION ST, DALY CITY, CA 94014. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed PENNY FAMILY CORPORATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/23/20.

DEC 03, 10, 17, 24, 2020 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF CARLOS DAMIAN MORGNER IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES: FILE 20STPB07917

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of CARLOS DAMIAN MORGNER. A Petition for Probate has been filed by CARLOS E. MORGNER in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles. The Petition for Probate requests that CARLOS E. MORGNER be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. 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: February 16, 2021, 8:30 am, Dept. 2D, Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 North Hill St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250.

A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Petitioner: CARLOS E. MORGNER, 5055 WILSHIRE BLVD #333, LOS ANGELES, CA 90036; Ph. (310) 780-7786.

DEC 10, 17, 24, 2020 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF JOSEFINA G. DIZON IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-20-304035

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of JOSEFINA G. DIZON. A Petition for Probate has been filed by MARCELINA LORENZO in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that MARCELINA LORENZO 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

DEC 10, 17, 24, 2020 SUMMONS DISTRICT COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA FOR THE COUNTY OF CLARK, IN RE THE MARRIAGE OF PING LUO, PLAINTIFF, V. GUOYOU SUN, DEFENDANT. NOTICE! YOU HAVE BEEN SUED. THE COURT MAY DECIDE AGAINST YOU WITHOUT YOUR BEING HEARD UNLESS YOU RESPOND IN WRITING WITHIN 21 DAYS. READ THE NFORMATION BELOW VERY CAREFULLY. CASE NO: D-20-617441-D

To the defendant named above: The Plaintiff has filed a civil complaint or petition against you. Read that document (or get a copy at that court listed below) to find out the specific relief requested. The subject of this case is Divorce. If you want to defend this lawsuit, you must do al of the following within 21 days after this summons is served on you (not counting the day of service): 1. File a formal written answer to the complaint or petition with the Clerk of the Court (whose address is listed below). 2. Pay the required filing fee to the court, or request a fee waivers by filing an application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis. 3.

Serve a copy of your answer on the Plaintiff whose name and address is shown below. If you do not respond, Plaintiff can request a default against you.

The court can then enter a judgment against you for the relief demanded in the complaint or petition.

Steven D. Grierson, Clerk of the Court, by Tracy George, Deputy Clerk, 11/17/2020, Family Courts and Services Center, 601 North Pecos Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89155; Regional Justice Center, 200 Lewis Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89155. Issued on behalf of Plaintiff: Ping Luo, 9542 Belmont, Las Vegas, NV 89148.

DEC 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-556015

In the matter of the application of NICOLE ELIZABETH COX, 331 ANZA ST #311A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner NICOLE ELIZABETH COX is requesting that the name NICOLE ELIZABETH COX be changed to MALIBU NICOLE TAYLOR. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 7th of January 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-556016

In the matter of the application of ERIN NICOLE HOPPER, 331 ANZA ST #311A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ERIN NICOLE HOPPER is requesting that the name ERIN NICOLE HOPPER be changed to ERIN NICOLE TAYLOR. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 7th of January 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-556020

In the matter of the application of EMILIANO PIERRE CHACON BOURGOIS, 4233 ULLOA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner EMILIANO PIERRE CHACON BOURGOIS is requesting that the name EMILIANO PIERRE CHACON BOURGOIS be changed to EMILIANO PIERRE BOURGOIS-CHACON. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 26th of January 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE

In the matter of the application of RAE-IL LINDA PARK LEE, 19 BANNEKER WAY #D, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner RAE-IL LINDA PARK LEE is requesting that the name RAE-IL LINDA PARK LEE AKA RAE-IL PARK AKA LINDA PARK LEE AKA LINDA LEE be changed to RAE-IL LINDA PARK. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 14th of January 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039188000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE MONKEY LOCKSMITH, 88 HOWARD ST #1213, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed URIEL BOHBOT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/17/20.

DEC 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039194300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as GROOVE AND GO, 203 CASTRO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GRETCHEN MARIE SEELEY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/30/20.

DEC 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039200600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as JCA YACHT SERVICES, 416 42ND AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAMES ABELA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/26/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/04/20.

DEC 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039185100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as POLOPERRO, 400 PIERCE ST #6, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHARLES NIEMAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/02/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/12/20.

DEC 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039185700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FAST RESPONSE PLUMBING & ROOTER, 430 N CANAL ST #22, SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94080. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOSEPH TINSLEY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/21/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/13/20.

DEC 10, 17, 24, 31, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039200000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SOUL

DEC 17, 24, 31, JAN 07, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039194400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as NOE VALLEY CUTS AND SHAVE BARBERSHOP, 4137-1/2 24TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ARVIN DEL SOCORRO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/12/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/30/20.

DEC 17, 24, 31, JAN 07, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039197000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as GAPPIFY, 1161 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GAPPIFY, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/30/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/02/20.

DEC 17, 24, 31, JAN 07, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039197700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FU YUAN FOOD MARKET, 1251 STOCKTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed FU YUAN FOOD MARKET, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/29/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/02/20.

DEC 17, 24, 31, JAN 07, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039202100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BLCK VC, 1355 MARKET ST, 3RD FL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ALL RAISE (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/14/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/09/20.

DEC 17, 24, 31, JAN 07, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039202400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FOUND, 981 MISSION ST #64, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed INDIE TECHNOLOGIES, INC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/03/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/09/20.

DEC 17, 24, 31, JAN 07, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039200400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE ENTREPRENEUR’S SOURCE, 655 EDDY ST #6, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JONATHAN ORTIZ CONSULTING LLC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/04/20.

DEC 17, 24, 31, JAN 07, 2020

Classifieds Jobs Offered >>

Tech Support >>

PRINCIPAL BACKEND ENGINEER

MACINTOSH HELP

Partner with Architects, Prod. Mgrs & other engineers to build one of world’s largest mobile game advertising platforms. Req. Bach in Comp. Info. Sys. or rel. field or foreign equiv & 2 yrs exp in job or 2 yrs exp as Software Engr. or rel. occup. Any suitable combo of educ, training &/or exp is acceptable. Jobsite: San Francisco, CA. Send resume ref#19304 to: K. Jones, Activision Blizzard Media, LLC, 405 Howard St, #400, San Francisco, CA 94105.

Hauling>> HAULING 24/7

(415) 441-1054 Large Truck

29 YEARS EXPERIENCE SFMacMan.com

RICK

415.821.1792

Tech Support Ralph Doore 415-867-4657

Professional 30+ years exp Virus/Malware GONE! Device setup Mobile Support Network & wireless setup Discreet

 Yelp reviews

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’ 2019 holiday concert at the Castro Theatre

by David Nahmod

T

he San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus isn’t letting the pandemic spoil their Christmas holiday. The chorus’ annual Christmas Eve concert (At) Home for the Holidays will go on this year as a virtual event.

This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of this gay Christmas Eve tradition, which usually takes place at the Castro Theater. (At) Home For the Holidays first launched in 1990, when the AIDS pandemic was still raging. According to Artistic Director Dr. Tim Seelig, the chorus decided to rent the Castro on Christmas Eve to provide a place for those who had no home or family to go to. Much to their surprise, the theater was packed, and so the chorus began adding shows for subsequent years until there were three shows a night. Seelig is hopeful that next year the chorus will be back at the Castro.

This year’s virtual show promises to be as exciting as the live shows have been. Seelig and company have lined up an impressive roster of guests, including Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, India’s first openly gay royal figure. The Prince, who is friends with Chorus Executive Director Chris Verdugo, will be one of several people in the show who will be sharing favorite holiday memories.

Other guests include drag performer Bianca Del Rio and Tony Award winner Laura Benanti.

Bianca Del Rio, Seelig said, will be reading the holiday classic “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” albeit with an adult twist.

Of course, the evening will include performances from the Chorus itself. The show promises to offer upbeat, show-stopping numbers along with updated modern takes on old

Choral response SF Gay Men’s Chorus brings holiday music favorites. The San Francisco Philharmonic will also participate in the evening.

Seelig noted that the planning of a virtual concert is both the same as planning a live show, but also very different. In normal times, the chorus would simply gather together with three hundred singers and rehearse.

“Rehearsals provide much of the lifeblood of the chorus,” said Seelig. “It is where we truly build community and family.”

But for obvious reasons, there can be none of that this year. Instead, there are Zoom calls every Monday night during which it is laid out what the chorus needs to do.

“Virtual choir videos are very, very difficult,” he said. “The singers learn their part on their own. Then they videotape their part basically to a karaoke style background provided by our accompanist. They send it in and then, through an absolutely painstaking process, each of the videos are aligned and then a virtual choir video is produced. Our first, Truly Brave, is the best example, with over 200,000 views. Go look at it.”

Seelig acknowledged that a virtual concert isn’t the same as sitting in a theater with hundreds of people and hundreds of men live on stage, but live concerts are not an option for anyone this year. He promises that there are

upsides to virtual performances.

“It is Christmas Eve and you can be in your jammies at home with a hot toddy,” he said. “In addition, there are things we get to do virtually that we can’t do in a concert hall, such as filming in locations all over the city. You also get to see those handsome men up close and personal on your big screen TV.”t (At) Home For the Holidays Thursday, December 24 at 5pm. https://www.sfgmc.org

Read the full article on www.ebar.com

San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker

Classy classical Christmas Music, dances, plays and choral treats for the holidays

by Brian Bromberger

H

oliday-themed music, choral and dance concerts continue, albeit in virtual formats, including Chanticleer, Kitka, Cal Performances, San Francisco Bach Choir, and more. San Francisco Ballet’s 2008 The Nutcracker will be streamed, along with special treats for fans.

San Francisco Symphony’s annual familyfriendly 40th anniversary Deck the Hall Holiday Concert, a half hour of seasonal favorites, includes a reading of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

Chantcleer’s A Chanticleer Christmas: From Darkness to Light, takes on an appropriate somber mood. Opera San Jose performs Jake Heggie’s chamber opera Three Decembers, based on playwright Terence McNally’s unpublished play.

Q-Music reviews

San Francisco Bach Choir brings Comfort and Joy: A Homemade Holiday: From Our Homes to Yours. Cal Performances features A Christmas Carol performed by the Manual Cinema Company, with hundreds of paper puppets, miniatures, silhouettes, and an original live music score. Actor Jefferson Mays performs his solo version of the Dickens tale.

Old First Concerts, celebrating its 50th anniversary with A Choral Holiday Special. Smuin Contemporary Ballet shares three new dance programs. Mark Foehringer Dance Project’s enchanting Nutcracker Sweets returns, and The Christmas Revels in Oakland, celebrate its 35th annual show, Unruly Magic: A Spiritual Celebration of the Winter Solstice.t

H

Read all about them on www.ebar.com

Read­and listen, with music videos, on www.ebar.com

ave you been looking forward to the 2020 winter holidays, either as the giver of gifts or the recipient? If so, you can’t go wrong with some of these very Mary, I mean merry, titles.

Elton John’s Jewel Box includes a 96-page informational book, eight discs (or nine LPs) and almost 150 songs representing the British piano man’s evolution.

Little Richard’s Southern Child (Omnivore), a previously shelved album he recorded in 1972, is finally seeing the light of day. Leonard Bernstein gets a nice tribute in Bernstein Reimagined performed by Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra. These and new music from Tenant From Zero, Dust Bowl Faeries, Seattle’s Sundae Crush are reviewed by Gregg Shapiro.t

t

Music, Comedy & TV>>

December 17-23, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 11

maturity Colton Ford onandmusic, moving forward

Christopher Boudewyns

Colton Ford

by Jim Provenzano

A

fter a few years away from music, singer-musician Colton Ford has returned with new songs and new perspectives on art, life and yes, politics.

“I’m excited to get new stuff out,” said Ford in a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter. He shared his thoughts on current events, his family losses, and the adjustments he’s made amid the pandemic to produce new music in his four-song EP Unity.

Before he gained fame from his surprisingly brief career in gay adult videos (2001- to 2002), Glenn Soukesian was an accomplished actor and recording artist. The 2005 Christopher Long documentary Naked Fame covered his transition out of porn, refocusing back on music after his porn successes.

His 2008 Tug of War album (written and composed by Ford and DJ/ producer Quentin Harris) won fans and pleased critics. Four albums and EPs and some Off-Broadway acting are among his subsequent accomplishments.

Ford had been collaborating peri-

odically for years with Ron Schrader, a friend since kindergarten, who co-produced Unity along with Spin Sista. Ford had been working with Spin for the past two years. “We all just started doing stuff organically together, and it was a really productive time, creatively.”

With Schrader, Ford and Spin Sista in different cities (Washington, D.C., New York, and Houston) the trio sends each other single tracks, all shared privately online, backand-forth until the new works are completed.

“They create the instrumentals, then I in turn write the melody and lyrics,” Ford explained. “I use ProTools, and they have their studios.

We exchange files, do the mixing and mastering. With the technology today, you don’t have to be in the same room, which is great. But I miss the days when you’d go into a studio with an engineer, get up on the mic and just do your thing.”

How artists are adapting to political upheaval and COVID-19 to continue creating aligns with Ford’s decision to put new songs out.

“Entertainment and music are powerful tools, and at the very least, helpful distractions from all the pain and suffering, and the unconscionable behavior that we’re witnessing,” he said. “Music resonates even more during times of struggle. Singing and listening to songs provide a vehicle to help change the dialogue in our heads when we’re battered every day with bullshit.”

His new song “Modern World” addresses that in a danceable yet dark take on ‘haters’ and the vapidity of ‘glamour.’

While having moved forward in

his career, Ford is also open to reflecting back, specifically to his quick rise to fame in gay porn. While he worked in the adult video industry for a mere ten months (with videos released over three years), he’s never been dismissive of that work.

“That’s was kind of the last era of ‘porn stars’ that studios developed,” he said. “When I signed with All Worlds, they were mindful spreading it out. I was just having an adventure, doing something I’d fantasized about.”

“We still have issues with our sexuality, as a species. We’re sexual creatures. We’re built this way. It’s one of the pleasures of life we’ve been given, but people still feel afraid to explore it, to not feel shame about it. Obviously, it’s part of my story, and those conversations are still playing out 18 years later.”

How does Ford feel like having become identified as a ‘daddy’ at 58, and one of the elder musicians in his genre?

Ford commented, “One of the things we have to break down is ageism. I think now we’re seeing a broader spectrum of our community represented in the mainstream. Part of what I’m bringing is a new version of what being in your 50s is about.

It lends itself to empowerment. I’m still pursuing my dreams. I might show a little skin, but differently. It’s almost like armor. But it should also give hope to the youngsters. When you get into your 50s, it’s not slowing down, it’s not about stopping.”t facebook.com/ColtonFordMusic

Read the full article on www.ebar.com

Kosher Comedy

Give Yourself

! h t l a e H f o t f i G the

nce bra d m e em e an In r rs. Jo of D Marcia n owi McC

Smok and V ing aping doub les of Co the chanc vid in es and d fection eath —CD C

In one year your risk of heart attack drops by half.

Get free help quitting!

1-800-NO-BUTTS www.nobutts.org/free-services

This message placed in remembrance of Drs. Joe and Marcia McCowin

Personals

PLAYMATES OR SOULMATES

Reply FREE! 10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • DecemberBrowse 14-20,&2017

People>>

by David-Elijah Nahmod

SF - 415-692-5774 1-888-MegaMates Free to Listen & Reply, 18+

L

ike everything else, Kung Pao Kosher Comedy has been affected by the pandemic, but that isn’t stopping Kung Pao founder Lisa Geduldig from putting on a show. For 28 years, Kung Pao Kosher Comedy has been a San Francisco tradition. The shows are a take-off on the concept of Jews going to Chinese restaurants on Christmas because there isn’t anything else for them to do.

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy will take place in a virtual Chinese restaurant on Thursday and Friday, December 24 and 25 at 5pm, and Saturday December 26 at 2pm, and will be seen on Zoom and YouTube Live.

Attendees are encouraged to order Chinese food from their local takeout restaurant, or to cook Chinese dishes, such as the signature dish Kung Pao Chicken. Kung Pao Kosher Comedy will provide the recipe.

There are three performers this year; Alex Edelman, lesbian Jewish funny woman Judy Gold, and Geduldig herself. In addition to Kung Pao, Geduldig produces a monthly comedy show not set in a Chinese restaurant. These shows have also moved online.

At Kung Pao, Geduldig noted, the humor is mainly Jewish.

“It’s always Jewish comedians, and I always ask people to be heavy on the Jewish humor, but it doesn’t have to be entirely,” she said. “Kung

Justine Ungaro

Kent Taylor

Judy Gold, Alex Edelman and host Lisa Geduldig in this year’s Kung Pao Kosher Comedy.

Pao is a combination of Jewish and non-Jewish. I think the first four years it was 99% Jewish, but since 1997 when Henny Youngman performed, it put Kung Pao on the map on a larger scale, and more people started coming who weren’t Jewish.”

Judy Gold tells the Bay Area Reporter that people need to laugh now.

“They want to be entertained; they want to forget all this shit,” she said. “That’s what theater and comedy and art does. And it’s the perfect palate for stand-up, because everyone’s in the same boat. You can’t ask for a better palate to start a show. I mean can you believe this crap that we’re dealing with? I love that all these comics have figured out a way to do their art and to make people laugh during this shit time. Because we get to say all the things that you’re thinking, and we’re all thinking the same things, hopefully.”

Gold added that she’s looking forward to doing Kung Pao again.

“The greatest audiences,” she said. “Great combination of the Jews, and the LGBTQ community, and just people who love comedy.

You don’t have to leave your home and you get entertained. You never know what’s going to come out of my mouth, but I’m working on stuff about what’s going on in this great country of ours.”

“I hope audiences will get a sense of community from these shows,” Geduldig said. “And laughter. As always, what I want people to do during Kung Pao is to have a sense of belonging. I want people to feel a sense of community and joy and humor and laughter and hope.”t

a u Lake muni

Get tickets at koshercomedy.com

Read the full article on www.ebar.com

Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) in Grey’s Anatomy

Coronavision R

K

ead about queer news anchors, Rupaul’s Drag Race, A Million Little Things, and Grey’s Anatomy in Victoria A. Brownworth’s Lavender Tube column on on www.ebar.comt

FOR CAPACITY IS LIMITED OWN. R OU D YOUR SAFETY AN

Co pla

by Ton

T

he LGB Commu at 150 Eu San Fran next yea mental i developm tion of th Publis environm informa significa alternati

VALENCIA VALENCIA CYCLERY SPRING SALE ON NOW! CYCLERY

PRESS T N E D N E P E D SF IN ASSOCIATION