December 12, 2024 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

Becker convicted of perjury, resigns from council

by Matthew S. Bajko

Ajury on December 5 convicted gay Santa Clara City Councilmember Anthony Becker of perjury over his lying about leaking a report detailing the dealings between the South Bay city’s leaders and the San Francisco 49ers football team. Becker, who lost his bid for reelection in the November 5 election, opted not to testify on his own behalf during the trial.

Late December 6, Becker resigned early from his council seat effective immediately. In his resignation letter, he took no responsibility for the leaked report nor mentioned it, the court trial, or his guilty verdict.

He noted his serving as a councilmember and a city planning commissioner over the last six years “was the greatest honor, joy and privilege” and would miss serving “the people of this wonderful city.”

“It was always a dream of mine to be a part of the government process, creating our city’s policies, enhancing development, and shaping the City’s direction. I’m deeply grateful for the experience, knowledge gained, and relationships built with the exceptional city staff and residents over the past ten years,” wrote Becker.

In spring 2023, the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury revealed that it had indicted Becker after he lied to it about his disclosing in October 2022 the grand jury’s report “Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Santa Clara City Council” to Rahul Chandhok, who was at the time the professional sports team’s chief communications and public affairs officer. The grand jury had determined that several City Council members, including Becker, had engaged in an unethical relationship with the San Francisco 49ers, which relocated to Santa Clara over a decade ago after it built a new stadium there.

According to the five-page indictment released last year by the office of Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, Becker provided a copy of the confidential document to Chandhok several days before it was to be publicly released on October 10. It also said the grand jury had found evidence showing Becker had also leaked the report to the local news website Silicon Valley

See page 8 >>

SF supes settle 1 suit against pilot trans income program

by John Ferrannini

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors this week voted to settle one of two lawsuits against Mayor London Breed and other city leaders brought by a conservative group due to a now-lapsed program that sought to provide guaranteed income to some transgender people. The settlement was only for attorneys’ fees and less than $4,000.

As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, the suit was first brought earlier this year by attorneys from Judicial Watch on behalf of San Francisco residents Paul Wildes and Reed Sandberg against Breed, gay City Treasurer José Cisneros, City Administrator Carmen Chu, and John Doe.

The supervisors voted to approve the settlement 7-3 for the second and final time at the December 10 meeting. Supervisor Shamann Walton and outgoing Supervisor Dean Preston joined outgoing Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin in voting not to approve the settlement, which will pay $3,250 in attorneys’ fees to the plaintiffs. The ayes and nays were the same as at the December 3 meeting the supervisors initially voted on the matter.

The suit, filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative group, was the second one brought against the city due to the pilot Guaranteed Income for Trans

People, or GIFT, program that Breed established in November 2022. As of December 2023, there were 55 people in the program who received $1,200 a month for 18 months. No further monies have been disbursed since the program quietly ended in September.

Another lawsuit against GIFT, filed last year

by John Ferrannini

Tby the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, is still pending. However, there has been no activity in the case since February, when the Judicial Watch case was filed. It also was directed at city programs aimed at helping artists, pregnant women, and Blacks that the plaintiffs alleged

2017 Media Kit 0 a

Castro likely to remain under Mission police precinct

he Castro neighborhood likely won’t be moving into the boundaries of the San Francisco Police Department’s Park Station and will remain within Mission Station’s precinct, the district’s supervisor confirmed to the Bay Area Reporter at the Castro Merchants Association meeting December 5. Some of the Castro is already covered by Park Station and that will also likely remain the case.

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In other news, the merchants heard about holiday events, a planned mural, and funds raised for nonprofits at this year’s Castro Street Fair that was held in October.

Police station boundaries

The B.A.R. previously reported on a proposal from SFPD to shift boundaries of several precincts, notably, Mission Station, one of the department’s most active. While there was some support among Castro leaders, some Castro residents and other community leaders were concerned the shift would decrease foot patrols, which they desperately want to maintain in the LGBTQ neighborhood.

The proposal would have put the entire LGBTQ neighborhood under the jurisdiction of one police precinct; it is now split between the Mission and Park stations. The idea was one of 15 proposed

changes to police station boundaries throughout the city.

“I think everything I’m hearing is that it’s off the table,” said gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. “I would be very surprised at this point if that proposal went forward.”

Two public meetings were held on the subject in October. Asked if it was that feedback that changed the minds of police officials, Mandelman said, “I

See page 8 >>

think the feedback we have heard and the feedback we have provided is that residents and merchants in the Castro have an existing relationship with Mission Station and, frankly, get a lot of resources from Mission Station, and the concern that I have had that I have heard from others is whether Park Station would have the ability to provide the same level of service we have been getting.”

See page 8 >>

Former Santa Clara city councilmember Anthony Becker

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter it’s unlikely the Castro will be covered solely by the San Francisco Police Department’s Park Station and remain divided between the Park and Mission stations.

John Ferrannini

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, shown here signing a Transgender History Month proclamation in 2021, started the Guaranteed Income for Trans People pilot program that a right-wing group sued the city over.

Rick Gerharter

EQCA talks good, bad, and ugly of election 2024

by John Ferrannini

Equality California, the statewide LGBTQ rights organization, is taking stock of what went well and what went poorly during the 2024 election cycle. Meanwhile, EQCA was one of 19 organizations that signed on to a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders about safeguarding LGBTQ+ rights in the Golden State under the second presidential term of Donald Trump, which starts next month.

The Bay Area Reporter caught up with EQCA Executive Director Tony Hoang, a gay man, after the organization’s virtual town hall, the “State of Equality,” was held Friday, December 6. (EQCA did not allow the B.A.R. to quote speakers and attendees from the hourlong event and offered the post-event phone interview with Hoang instead.)

Asked about the good and the bad during the election, Hoang said, “I think obviously we’re very disappointed in terms of the presidential race and the outcome of that, but there were a number of bright spots. Obviously the biggest one was Prop 3, righting the wrong of Prop 8 and enshrining marriage equality for our community.”

Proposition 3 struck language banning same-sex marriage from the state constitution and passed overwhelmingly. Prior to Election Day, the California Constitution stated, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California” – a remnant of the anti-same-sex-marriage-equality Prop 8 passed by voters in 2008. The passage of Prop 3 removes this outdated language and replaces it with a provision

that establishes the right to marry as a fundamental right.

Voters approved the constitutional amendment, which the Legislature voted last year to put on last month’s ballot, by 62.6% of the vote, according to the secretary of state’s office.

LGBTQ advocates had decided to add Prop 3 to the November 5 ballot in case a conservative Supreme Court overturns the right to same-sex marriage, as it did with the right to an abortion two years ago. Prop 3 also protects the right to interracial marriage.

Hoang said that he thinks LGBTQ advocates should be “pushing back against the narrative that everything shifted to the right – nearly 30 points shifted on marriage equality in a relatively short amount of time,” he said, referring to public sentiment in support of

same-sex marriage.

Hoang said that another bright spot was “growing the record number of LGBTQ representation in the Legislature.” As the B.A.R. reported earlier this month (https://www.ebar.com/story. php?336766), 15 out of California’s 120 state legislators, or 12%, are now LGBTQ.

“Having a new generation of folks coming is something we are really excited to see,” Hoang said.

The out lawmakers include Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego), the first out Republican elected to a legislative seat.

As for Congress, Hoang credited EQCA efforts for the fact that House “Speaker [Mike] Johnson has a very, very thin majority.” Indeed, the GOP majority in the House of Representatives is expected to be 217-215 once members chosen to staff the Trump administration leave office (the Democrats picked up a net gain of two seats in the November election).

“Even though it took nearly a month [to count the votes] we were able to hold the Orange County seat – Dave Min –and picked up three others with folks close to the organization – Adam Gray, George Whitesides, and Derek Tran,” Hoang said, referring to Democratic straight allies who were elected.

Asked about what EQCA could’ve done better on, Hoang referred to the loss of Lisa Middleton, who was hoping to become California’s first out transgender state lawmaker, in the state Senate race against incumbent Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Redlands). An outgoing member of the Palm Springs City Council – Middleton steps down

December 12 – she had also been the desert enclave’s ceremonial mayor.

As the B.A.R. noted, EQCA’s political action committee allocated $45,500 since February to Middleton’s race, the most of any candidate backed by the PAC.

Gay lawyer Will Rollins (D) and bisexual Palm Springs City Councilmember Christy Holstege (D) also fell short in their efforts to be elected to the House and to the state Assembly in Riverside County, respectively. Holstege will also leave the City Council Thursday.

“I think obviously one of the disappointments of this cycle is we invested quite a bit of resources in the races in the Palm Springs area,” Hoang said. “Our priority candidates for Congress, state Senate, and Assembly fell short in terms of switching those seats.

“So, organizing in places like that so we can increase pro-equality representation in that region” is something EQCA could improve, he continued.

“The national context seeped into these local races, so how do we move the ball forward and gear up for the 2026 cycle?” Hoang asked. “Unfortunately, the headwinds were too strong for San Bernardino and Riverside [counties].”

On the town hall call, EQCA representatives said that the group would focus on increasing compliance with the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act, or FAIR Act, which requires the inclusion of LGBTQ people in instruction materials in public schools.

After a decade of the law being on the books, full compliance for all grades had been met by only 37% of the school districts that took part in an Equality California Institute report card earlier this

year, as the B.A.R. reported.

Just 43% of California unified school districts responded to inquiries to be a part of the report card, with nearly 60% saying they had adopted FAIR Act compliant instructional materials in social studies and history for at least one of the school-age cohorts.

At the time of the schools report card’s release in October, the B.A.R. had requested an interview with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who has been a strong ally on LGBTQ school issues and wrote an introduction to it. While the California Department of Education has yet to make Thurmond, a 2026 gubernatorial candidate, available to talk about the report findings, it acknowledged school districts could be doing better on FAIR ACT compliance in a December 10 emailed reply.

“Ideally, we want these percentages to be much higher, so that more schools are adopting FAIR Act compliant instructional materials in all four minimum required topics: History, Government, Social Studies, and English Language Arts for all grades (elementary, middle, and high school),” stated the department. “Adoption of LGBTQ+ inclusive textbooks and educational materials must be more consistent across districts and ensuring that all students learn about the contributions and history of LGBTQ+ people is vital. Increasing collaboration and shared resources on LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum leads to a continual improvement of FAIR Act compliant instructional materials.”

Pair in killing of SF gay man gets life in prison

by John Ferrannini

Two people convicted of first-degree murder in a retrial of the 2017 killing of a gay San Francisco photographer while he was taking pictures of the sunrise from Twin Peaks were sentenced last week to life in prison, according to a news release from the office of District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, Lamonte Mims, 27, of Patterson (Stanislaus County), and Fantasy Decuir, 27, of San Francisco, were convicted following a second trial in September in the murder of Ed French, 71. The first trial, in 2023, ended in a mistrial after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. Members of French’s family had told the B.A.R. then that they were exasperated by trial delays.

On December 6, Mims and Decuir were finally sentenced by Judge Alexandra Gordon to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

“They often say justice delayed is justice denied, but not in this case,” Jenkins stated, referencing the delays. “I am grateful to the victim’s friends and family who have stood with us over the years as we fought for justice. With justice done, I

hope that the victim’s friends and family are able to continue healing and moving forward past this horrific murder.”

Assistant District Attorneys Heather Trevisan and Aaron Laycook prosecuted the case, with assistance from DA investigators Gino Guerrero and Omega Crum; paralegals Jessica Diamond, Julio Flores Guzman and Hang Ngo; and IT support from Noaeh Pinaire, according to the release.

“After seven long years we have a conviction and now a just sentence,” Trevisan stated. “Although nothing will truly heal the anguish caused by this callous senseless murder, we are relieved that Ms. Decuir and Mr. Mims will not be able to hurt anyone else in our community ever again.

“I would like to thank Mr. French’s family for their support and patience throughout this case and the jurors who carefully weighed all of the evidence and rendered a just verdict,” Trevisan stated.

Decuir had been found guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances, an allegation of personal and intentional use of a firearm, seconddegree robbery, and an allegation of the personal and intentional use of a firearm causing death.

Mims was found guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances and an allegation of personal and intentional use of a firearm.

Prosecutors said the killing started as a robbery. On July 16, 2017, French went to Twin Peaks to photograph the sunrise with a new Canon Mark III camera. At that time, video evidence showed Mims and Decuir attempted to rob him, and, as Mims pulled French’s camera bag away, Decuir shot him, according to the DA’s office.

“The victim was ripped from the lives of his friends and family by this callous killing over a camera,” Laycook stated. “We are profoundly grateful for the jury’s thoughtful and deliberate consideration of the evidence in this case, and we hope their verdict brings some sense of justice and closure to the loved ones of the victim.”

The DA’s office alleged that after fleeing the scene, the pair attempted to sell the stolen camera around Market and Seventh streets.

Decuir and Mims were arrested several weeks later after a man and woman were robbed of their camera, wallet, credit cards, and both United States and European Union currency at St. Mary’s

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Cathedral Square, according to the DA’s office. Decuir and Mims were found guilty on the counts relating to these allegations at the first trial, which were separate from the charges of homicide and robbery against French.

At the first trial, the defense brought in a medical expert who stated that Decuir’s sickle-cell disease led her to think that “she was dreaming and didn’t realize she killed someone,” according to Brian Higginbotham, the late French’s partner. Higginbotham didn’t immediately return a request for comment for this report.

fenders like Ms. Decuir have a heightened capacity for change and rehabilitation,” Iverson stated. “The stark racial disparities in how LWOP [life imprisonment without parole] has been administered in California, generally, and in San Francisco, specifically, illustrates the profound institutional racism underlying this punishment.”

Iverson quoted a statistic from the state corrections department that over 50% of sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in San Francisco were meted out to Black defendants, and that “the vast majority of these Black prisoners were youth offenders.” Decuir is Black.

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Mark Iverson, Decuir’s attorney, at that time had told the B.A.R. that “the legal defense of unconsciousness we presented on behalf of Ms. Decuir involved the interaction of the extreme pain Ms. Decuir experienced during that time from her sickle-cell disease and the large amounts of opiates prescribed and administered to her to relieve her pain. Her ability to manage this medical crisis and her withdrawal from opiates was severely compromised by her intellectual disability.”

Iverson stated to the B.A.R. that the sentence is “inhumane and unjust.”

“This legacy of racism compounds the cruelty of this punishment where Ms. Decuir will never have a meaningful opportunity to appear before a parole board,” Iverson continued.

He also noted that “the statements from Mr. French’s family at the sentencing hearing reflect what a gracious and kind man he was and what an unimaginable loss his family and the wider community suffered as a result of his death.”

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“She has no prior criminal record, and she experienced extreme and unaddressed childhood trauma. Science has demonstrated that youthful of-

Mims’ attorney, Paul DeMeester, returned a B.A.R. request for comment but a comment has not yet been provided as of December 10. t

The killers of gay photographer Ed French were sentenced December 6

prison without the possibility of parole.

Courtesy Stop Crime

EQCA Executive Director Tony Hoang

Courtesy EQCA

B.A.R. wins overall excellence from SF press club

compiled by Cynthia Laird

The Bay Area Reporter took first place for overall excellence from the San Francisco Press Club’s Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards. Writers for the LGBTQ newspaper also took home honors, which were announced December 4 at the press club’s gala held at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in downtown San Francisco.

The B.A.R. was entered in the newspaper-non-daily category. The award period covered 2023 and the first half of 2024.

Assistant editor Matthew S. Bajko took home first place in sports feature for “Gay Olympian Kenworthy promotes mental health at SF event,” having been granted an exclusive interview with the men’s slopestyle silver medal winner before his address at the SoFi Child Mind Institute Golf Invitational dinner fundraiser last April.  Bajko also took second place for his weekly “Political Notebook column” in news/political columns.

Assistant editor John Ferrannini received first place in the news story category for his article “Long-term HIV survivors fighting for their lives all over again.”

The piece was made possible by a grant from AARP to the News Is Out collaboration, of which the B.A.R. is a part. Ferrannini took home second place in breaking news for “SF archbishop says priests can deny samesex blessings.”

Finally, the paper’s editorial board, consisting of news editor Cynthia Laird and publisher Michael Yamashita, won first place in the editorial category for “Oakland NAACP should cut ties with Scott,” about former Oakland mayoral candidate Seneca Scott’s history of anti-LGBT statements. Scott is a former execu-

tive board member of the longtime civil rights organization.

Yamashita, a gay man, said that he was proud of the staff at the paper’s holiday party December 7 at Martuni’s. He elaborated in an email.

“I’m proud of Matthew and John for their double first and second place awards for their reporting,” he stated.

“I was stunned at first and very gratified for our B.A.R. team for winning the Overall Excellence Award, as well as Cynthia’s first place editorial. It’s great to be recognized and appreciated for these journalism awards by the SF Press Club. Journalism is important work crucial to our democracy.”

the festive night will feature unforgettable performances, music, and heartwarming community spirit. The event is a partnership between Sonoma County Pride and the Redwood Ice Theatre Group.

Hosting the night will be MILK from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” who will be joined by the duo Shania and Maria Twampson, and San Francisco’s very own Tila Pia. The ice skating show will further be elevated by skaters from the Redwood Ice Theatre Company and those from THTR Productions, the announcement stated. DJ Rotten Robbie will keep the beats pumping.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 for standing room only, $50 for preferred seating, and $125 for preferred seating and a meet and greet with skaters following the show.

For tickets and more information, go to https://tinyurl.com/3e247fdv.

SF leather district’s holiday market

Sonoma County Pride holds Drag on Ice event

Sonoma County Pride will hold its third annual Drag on Ice event Friday, December 13, at 6:30 p.m. in Santa Rosa on the Old Courthouse Square’s synthetic lighted ice rink.

An announcement stated that

It’s not too late to get that someone special a kinky or leatherthemed gift and a great opportunity takes place at the San Francisco Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District’s holiday market Saturday, December 14, from noon to 5 p.m. at SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan Street.

According to the cultural district, there will be vendors, entertainment, and a chance for people to swap gear that will be sold on consignment. (More information is at sfleatherdistrict.org/gear-swapinfo/.)

For more information on the event, including a list of participating

vendors, go to sfleatherdistrict.org/ holiday-market/. There is no cost to attend but donations are welcome.

SFMTA releases Church and Market improvement designs

Improvements – in the form of a transit plaza – are coming to the intersection of Church and Market streets in the Castro neighborhood, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has announced.

SFMTA recently released designs for the project. In an email announcement,

SFMTA noted that the intersection of Church and Market streets has long been one of the most important hubs in the Muni system, with eight Muni lines intersecting within a block. Over 14,000 Muni riders got on or off a bus or train on the street at this bustling neighborhood transit center every day before the COVID pandemic.

SFMTA stated that it has partnered with local merchants, neighbors, and San Francisco Public

Works to design a new permanent plaza that will better serve the neighborhood at this key transit hub, creating a lively new gathering space and an improved transit boarding experience.

Features include wider sidewalks, among other changes, according to the design concepts, which can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/ yk8fd5de.

Full construction of this permanent plaza is anticipated to begin in mid-2026. The final design concepts may undergo some refinements as the project proceeds through the detailed design phase – which will involve coordination with and input from the San Francisco Public Works and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, SFMTA stated. These permanent improvements will not change the existing parking or traffic configuration, the agency added.

For more information on the project, and to sign up for project updates, visit SFMTA.com/ ChurchMarket at https://tinyurl. com/33bh5hn2. t

In 2025, EQCA also plans to continue to push back against anti-LGBTQ policies at the school district level. It has worked closely with Thurmond and his office on doing so over the last year.

“Obviously, the school boards have been a hotbed of action nationally and even in California over the past number of years – we expect that will continue,” Hoang said. “As we think about comprehensive sex education, implementation of FAIR, and a number of policies

… how do we ensure school districts across the state support LGBTQ youth? We need to ensure, one, they are following the law and thinking of policies to truly affirm LGBTQ students in these districts. We won’t stop on that. We’ll be moving the ball forward.”

Letter

EQCA sent a letter December 4 to Newsom, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Salinas), and Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) alongside 18 other Golden State LGBTQ organizations, asking for their help in

shoring up LGBTQ equality in California before Trump takes office again.

As the B.A.R. previously reported, Newsom called a special session of the Legislature December 2 to protect “California values, including fundamental civil rights, reproductive freedom, climate action, immigrant families, and more,” an announcement from his office stated.

“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack – and we won’t sit idle,” Newsom stated. “California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond. We are prepared, and we will do everything necessary to ensure Californians have the support and resources they need to thrive.”

of unlawful discrimination, harassment, and bullying.”

On immigration, the letter states its support for sanctuary laws and continues that “California must continue to protect and expand the rights of incarcerated individuals and asylum seekers, including their right to be housed consistent with their gender identity, to be free from inhumane solitary confinement practices, and to receive critical public health and health care services.”

Hoang said that EQCA remains in touch with other organizations.

governor and legislature to help protect the freedoms and rights we have fought hard to obtain,” he continued.

The centers didn’t return requests for comment by press time.

Valerie Ploumpis, EQCA’s national policy director, stated to the B.A.R. that a GOP-led Congress could see some of the anti-LGBTQ legislation that’s been debated or passed in red states come up for congressional votes, particularly on issues relevant to the trans community.

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The letter makes a number of specific requests. On identity documents, it states “California must take steps to eliminate statutory barriers that prevent transgender individuals from updating their identification documents without unnecessary delays, and ensure that California courts and the California Department of Public Health’s Vital Records Office have adequate staffing and resources to process applications for name and gender marker changes as quickly as possible.”

On health care, EQCA is worried the Trump administration may want to roll back Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is its non-discrimination protections.

“We are in active communication with our allies, both in terms of organizational partners and members of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus,” he said.

“We are lucky we have moved a lot of legislation to protect these key areas” already, Hoang said, adding that they anticipate the Legislature “will be responding in real time to whatever attacks come from the incoming Trump administration. If and when those attacks happen, how do we ensure the protections we fought so hard for are protected?”

The letter was also signed by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the Sacramento LGBT Community Center and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

“We’ve been accustomed to the House introducing horribly anti-LGBTQ+ bills and appropriations riders in the past two years but haven’t paid much attention to Senate Republicans because they’ve been in the minority,” Ploumpis stated.

“Still, a large number of Senate Republicans have introduced companion bills to most of the anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the House and commonly make viciously anti-trans statements. So for the next two years, at least, we expect many antiLGBTQ+ bills to be introduced in both chambers, including trans participation in school and college sports, access to bathrooms and single-sex spaces, gender-affirming health care for minors and perhaps adults and expanded parental rights.” t

Matthew S. Bajko contributed reporting.

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“California should take immediate steps to strengthen these protections, protect sensitive health care data, and ensure that California law enforcement and other entities do not cooperate with any attempts to criminalize or otherwise limit access to gender-affirming care,” the letter states.

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On education, it states that “given that the U.S. Department of Education will likely take a weaker approach towards enforcement of discrimination complaints against LGBTQ+ students and educators, the California Department of Education must be provided with adequate staffing and resources to quickly investigate and respond to complaints

Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., the foundation’s CEO, stated to the B.A.R. that “it is clear that many in our communities will be under attack in 2025 and the years beyond. Already, we face diminished support for HIV and AIDS programs and services, heightened transphobia, and backlash against progressive and inclusive social justice values and causes. It will only get worse with an incoming federal administration determined to undermine the rights, health, and freedom of immigrants, LGBTQ+ communities, people who use substances, and Black and Indigenous people of color.”  TerMeer said that the state has to do what it can to mitigate the damage.

“We recognize the many privileges we have as residents in California and as residents of a sanctuary city, which is why we have come together to urge our

Correction

The December 5 issue article “San Francisco supervisors send bathhouse rules change to mayor” misidentified a San Francisco AIDS Foundation staffer who spoke at a hearing. It was Justice Dumlao, a community mobilization manager at the nonprofit and an advocate with the HIV Advocacy Network. The online version has been corrected.

Bay Area Reporter publisher Michael Yamashita

Cynthia Laird

SFMTA has released preliminary designs for improvements at the intersection of Church and Market streets.

From SFMTA

Plant nursery takes root in SF backyard

by Matthew S. Bajko

In the backyard of the house they bought in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Heights neighborhood, when the fog dissipates and the sun shines down, John Alexander and Jai Alltizer have sweeping views of the churning waters of the Pacific Ocean and the city’s oceanside neighborhoods. It is a prime spot for Alltizer to cultivate various roses, succulents, and other plants for their Alexander Nurseries business.

“I love the fog; I rarely break a sweat. It is a natural air conditioner,” noted Alltizer, adding that it also provides benefits for his plants he propagates, keeping the cuttings moist. “They don’t dry out quite as fast as would happen in a sunnier environment. It is an unusual microclimate for plant propagation out here.”

He is partial to roses, with a favorite species being Gallicas, which are “incredibly fragrant,” said Alltizer, and don’t require a lot of maintenance. In particular, he is a fan of the Marianne Rose, a Gallica hybrid known for its apricot and peach color blend and strong fragrance.

“I have a passion for roses,” said

Alltizer as he showed off his plants one recent sunny morning to the Bay Area Reporter.

Alexander added, “I learned a lot from him about plants.”

Domestic partners for two decades, these days they are more business partners, said Alexander, 46, who grew up in South Charlotte, North Carolina where his family has long grown cotton and corn, as well as harvest timber, on a farm that he now co-owns with his three siblings.

Alltizer, 48, grew up in Sterling, Oklahoma on a ranch and had his own garden as a child. He moved to San Francisco in 2001 to take a job in costuming with the San Francisco Opera and has managed its costume shop since 2015.

Since childhood, he has always loved to get his hands dirty in the earth. Even if it is just spending time weeding his backyard, Alltizer said he enjoys being around plants.

“It is kind of its own therapy,” he said.

On the East Coast, Alexander was a Reiki practitioner. But when he moved to California in 2003, he decided he no longer wanted to be tied

to a massage table and opted for a new career in landscaping.

“If one thing we will need to the end of time, it is plants. And they don’t talk back,” quipped Alexander.

In 2008, Alexander enrolled at City College of San Francisco to learn about horticulture and landscape design. He has remained closely connected to the community college’s horticulture department, helping to teach students over the years about the field.

Alexander co-designed new gardens and landscaping for the city’s Laguna Honda Hospital in Forest Hill not far from where he now lives. He worked for almost seven years, until 2016, as a gardener for the medical facility and had obtained a $500,000 grant from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission for the project that resulted in a new drip irrigation system and drought tolerant, native plants on the medical campuses’ front lawn.

His personal business has gone by different names over the years, from Gardens by John to JGA Garden Designs, until Alexander took on co-ownership of his family’s farm following the death of his grandmother in 2015 and wanted to use a name tying his various business ventures on both coasts together. He provides garden design and installation services and ongoing maintenance in addition to the wholesale plant sales that Alltizer assists with as the company’s official rose specialist.

Tend gardens

They are participants in the annual Portola Garden Tour, from which Alexander was the first design scholarship recipient roughly 16 years ago. Several of the gardens they tend to for clients are located in the San Francisco neighborhood.

When they moved out of the Mission District in 2011 into their new ocean view home, Alexander turned portions of the garage into spaces for the land-

scaping side of the couple’s business and a workstation to prepare plants for shipping bought off their Etsy shop found at https://www.etsy.com/shop/AlexanderNurseries

Amid the roses and other plants they tend to in their backyard is a small greenhouse for Alltizer to propagate plants requiring warmer tempera tures than those provided by the chilly sea breezes that sweep in. Alltizer will take orders for custom grows of specific plants that clients request.

At one point, he had a three-year waiting list for a specific rose species he was cultivating, known as the Climbing Royal Sunset Rose, after one client several years ago bought all 35 of the plants he had. Normally, a custom cultivation will take him up to 16 months.

scape and garden work are cyclical, and will take a downturn during particularly rainy and wet seasons.

They were slammed during the COVID pandemic, when people were forced to work from home and wanted to upgrade their outdoor spaces. They grew to having a yearslong wait list for Alexander’s garden design services but have since returned to a more normal backlog of two to three months.

“You have to do a little bit of everything because not everybody wants the same thing,” said Alltizer. Their online sales have picked up due to the diverse plants they sell. Their land-

“We gardened through the pandemic,” said Alltizer, as performing arts groups like the opera were sidelined for several years by the health crisis. In 2017, having run out of space at their home, they had leased a nursery in Sebastopol that had been used to grow roses but laid fallow for two years. The half-acre site “is a beautiful spot of sunshine,” said Alexander, though it suffered some damage during the storms that blew into the Bay Area in mid-November.

Rose plants are generally in high demand at Alexander Nurseries.

Matthew S. Bajko

Jai Alltizer, left, and John Alexander stand in their garden in Golden Gate Heights.

Matthew S. Bajko

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Mandelman should be board president

Well, the third time’s the charm, as the old saying goes. We’ve editorialized twice before about how gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman should be elected by his colleagues to be president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Both times, in 2018 and 2022, he came up short. Now, with a more moderate-leaning board about to take over in early January, we believe that Mandelman is the right leader for the moment. He has the experience, temperament, and smarts not only to forge a productive working relationship with Mayorelect Daniel Lurie, a political novice, but to also stand up to President-elect Donald Trump and all the Trumpy things that his administration likely will throw at San Francisco, the city that MAGA loves to hate. Additionally, the city shouldn’t expect much help from Congress with both the House and Senate coming under Republican control starting January 3.

The board president assigns supervisors to the various committees and presides over the weekly board meetings. In short, the board president serves as the leader of the city’s legislative branch.

San Francisco will face numerous challenges next year, including a budget deficit that outgoing Mayor London Breed recently projected will be an $876 million shortfall in the next two years, growing the deficit to over $1 billion annually thereafter. This year Breed signed the city’s $15.9 billion spending plan that included some service cuts, but not as much as many feared, particularly around youth services, including those to queer young people. That likely won’t be the case next year.

In terms of hostilities from the Trump administration, Mandelman recently pointed out in an interview with us that everything from San

Francisco’s status as a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants and transgender people to standing up for reproductive rights and addressing climate change are likely to come under fire from Trump, his cabinet, and GOP congressional leaders. In fact, he told us, LGBTQs are concerned about what’s looking to be “an unprecedented assault on queer families ... and the weaponization of anti-trans fears. This was one of the key elements of Trump’s election and could well prove to be one priority for this federal administration moving forward.”

a strong focus on small businesses, not only in District 8, which includes the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood, but also in the city as a whole, which is key to economic recovery. He currently sits on the board’s budget and finance, and the budget and appropriations committees, so he has a keen understanding of the city’s fiscal picture. Speaking of that, Mandelman also works effectively with the city’s state legislative delegation. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has been a strong partner with Mandelman, helping secure state funds for things like the planned LGBTQ history museum in the Castro. New Assemblymember Catherine Stefani (D-San Francisco) and returning Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) have been incredible allies and both previously served on the Board of Supervisors. Governor Gavin Newsom, of course, used to be mayor of San Francisco.

It is in this environment that Mandelman would excel, in our opinion. He has not shied away from standing up for the community – and San Francisco. He has maintained

San Francisco can send an important message to the rest of the country – indeed, the world –by having a gay man as board president. The city is a beacon for LGBTQ people the world over, whether they come to visit or come to live here. And, it’s been too long since our last gay board president, former supervisor and later state assemblymember Tom Ammiano (1999-2003). Before that, the late supervisor Harry Britt held the gavel from 1989-1991. In Mandelman, his fellow supervisors will not only get a dedicated public servant, but a leader who can help steer San Francisco out of the COVID pandemic-induced economic doldrums. The 10 other members of the board should vote for Mandelman to lead them. t

The time for optics over action is over

by Gavin Grimm

There is no doubt that when any marginalized person becomes the first of their community to do something notable, they must navigate the difficult terrain of representing the part of themselves that is making headlines along with the rest of the multitudes that they contain. There is no doubt, either, that Congressmember-elect Sarah McBride (D) cares very much for the state of Delaware and believes firmly that serving as a congressmember is one of the best ways to make positive changes for her community. Not the trans community in this case, but the community that begins literally in her neighborhood and beyond.

What does seem to remain up in the air is whether or not having a transgender representative in Congress will help transgender people in their everyday lives, with respect to the issues we face on the basis of being trans. Health care, housing, whether or not our existence will be further policed and politicized, are just a few. Whether politicians will continue to egg on a social climate that makes it increasingly frightening to be a trans person in the world by parroting reactionary, debunked propaganda as winning election strategies is another issue.

McBride has so far been quick to insist that she did not seek out her congressional seat to discuss where she should be using the bathroom. She wants to focus on the needs and desires of Delawareans that affect them every day, like the price of groceries, health care, and housing. In an interview with CBS News she said, “I didn’t run for the United States House of Representatives to talk about what bathroom I use. I didn’t run to talk about myself. I ran to deliver for Delawareans. And while Republicans in Congress seem focused on bathrooms and trans people, and specifically me, I’m focused on rolling up my sleeves, diving into the details, setting up my office, and beginning the hard work of delivering for Delawareans on the issues that I know keep them up at night.

“And I look forward to working with any colleague who’s ready to work and ready to be serious about the issues that matter because at the end of the day, how I’m being treated does not matter. What matters is how the American people are being treated and whether we’re actually focused on the issues that matter to them,” McBride added.

That would be enough if it were the case that the American people she mentions includes transgender Americans, in Delaware and beyond. Or if the resolution in the House about Capitol Hill bathrooms affected McBride at all. She said herself that she had already planned on staying out of multi-stall women’s restrooms, presumably to avoid the controversy that occurred anyway. After all, McBride will have a private bathroom in her office. But

other trans staff working on Capitol Hill don’t. And if Congressmember Nancy Mace’s (D-South Carolina) broader discriminatory federal bill is passed, then trans visitors won’t either. The trans youth that roll through on school field trips will fare the worst.

That isn’t to say that McBride has made some sort of formal announcement to swear off all trans advocacy, period. Instead, she has just very specifically avoided any promises to the trans community aside from those she is willing to offer all of her constituents. It is still very early days yet – McBride won’t be sworn in until January 3 – so her tenure in Congress will speak for itself soon.

During this latest election cycle, most Democrats largely treated trans issues like a poison pill. Republicans have successfully made trans rights into a fringe debate that even many Democrats would cede ground on, when just seven years ago a bathroom ban in North Carolina provoked the likes of then-presidential candidate and now President-elect Donald Trump to famously state in April 2016 that trans people can use whatever bathroom they want. That bill caused the NBA All-Star game in the state to be moved. That does not imply that Trump is now – or has ever been – a champion of trans rights. It is simply hard to ignore the change in temperature from then to now.

would follow the law, including discriminatory state laws like the ones enacted in Texas regarding the rights of transgender people.

But is it perhaps a little selfish for transgender people to expect McBride to use her platform as a congressmember to advocate for trans rights? She didn’t choose to be trans after all, she only chose to run for Congress. Can the victory of a transgender congressmember simply be symbolic, bettering the lives of trans people simply by being the case? Can she just be a congressmember from Delaware like any other?

The answers to those questions, for me, lie in the lives of those who came before her, and the lives of those who still fight now for freedom in a nation where even a transgender woman can be a member of Congress. Even before the famous 1969 Stonewall riots, queer people had been finding ways to live as gender outlaws in the eras and places in which they found themselves.

These people, by the numbers, overwhelmingly would never live to see the fruits of their labor. Either because time did not move quickly enough to bring them the world that they deserved, or because they gave their lives entirely to their cause. Or because our government allowed a health crisis – AIDS – to take the lives of our community by the hundreds of thousands in the 1980s and early 1990s. Most of these trans and queer people never lived in a world where dressing how they like, or kissing their lover, wasn’t seen as an obscenity to be hidden from polite society. Many of these people were beaten, imprisoned, and nearly all would certainly have been disenfranchised if they could not assimilate. And still, these people fought. No matter the cost, they fought harder battles with much less support. And it is only because of their lives and contributions that a world exists where a trans woman can be a congressmember in the United States of America.

In a nation of trans health care bans, where politicians and political talking heads alike openly profess their desire to drive trans people from society entirely, is it really so gluttonous of us to ask for a promise from someone, anyone, in a position of power to assure us that they are fervently on our side? McBride has promised to fight for Delawareans. Who will fight for us?

Now, Democrats are silent whenever they can get away with it on trans rights, and when they do make comments about it, it’s to state some kind of moderate-leaning-conservative position, like presidential candidate Kamala Harris balking at the idea of incarcerated trans people receiving health care during the campaign, or her comments that she

Only days after the announcement that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) would ban trans people from single-sex restroom spaces on Capitol Hill, 15 activists were arrested for staging a sit-in at a bathroom in the Cannon House Office Building near Johnson’s office. This group included

District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman

Courtesy the subject

Congressmember-elect Sarah McBride

Courtesy the subject

San Joaquin County to welcome gay mayor, council members

by Matthew S. Bajko

San Joaquin County is set to welcome its first gay mayor to lead one of its eight cities and the first gay male city councilmembers in Stockton. Tracy City Councilmember Dan Tavares Arriola will take his mayoral oath of office when his five-member governing body meets December 17.

Arriola bested two opponents to succeed Mayor Nancy Young, who is termed out this month, in his second bid for the position with a two-year term. Elected to his council seat in 2018, Arriola had first sought to become mayor two years later but fell short.

This time around, he won with 47% of the vote. He is eligible to serve two mayoral terms, thus could lead the city that is home to many residents who commute to jobs in the Bay Area through 2028 if he’s reelected in 2026.

“I am so incredibly thankful for the support of this community, and I would like to thank our residents who have placed their trust in me to lead this incredible city,” wrote Arriola in a Facebook post December 3 following the last vote count update for his county.

A board member of the Equality California Institute, the educational arm of the statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization, Arriola is now part of an out political duo. His partner, Hayward public school teacher Charlie Jones, won election last month to a school board seat in Pleasanton, becoming the East Bay city’s first LGBTQ elected official.

District 4 City Councilmember-elect

Mario Enríquez and District 6 City Councilmember-elect Jason Lee will be sworn into office Tuesday, January 7.

“It feels great,” said Enríquez, noting in a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter he had spent nearly two years “campaigning to get to this moment.”

His becoming an elected official feels “full circle,” he said.

When Arriola had run in 2016 for a school board seat in Tracy, he was outed just days prior to the election by a local blogger who posted photos of Arriola at Los Angeles Pride under a headline asking how he could “represent Tracy family values.” He won by more than 2,000 votes.

Born in San Jose to a white mother and Latino father, his parents divorced after Arriola was born, and his mother moved them briefly to Portugal. When he was 3 years old, they returned to Northern California and settled in Tracy where his father was living. His parents remarried and had a second son, but divorced again in 2019.

After leaving to attend college at UCLA, where he was the political science valedictorian in 2011, and then law school at the University of Southern California, Arriola moved back to Tracy in 2014 where he continues to rent an apartment, priced out of the local housing market.

A deputy district attorney for San Joaquin County, Arriola had made addressing the need for affordable housing, especially for the middle class, a top priority of his mayoral campaign. He hopes to be able to buy a home once he pays off his student loans next year.

“Seventeen years ago, as a high school student, I was working as a janitor and house cleaner simply trying to survive the challenges of poverty while living in Tracy. In the time since, I graduated from UCLA, earned my juris doctorate from USC Law, became a lawyer, and was elected to office as both a school board member and a city councilmember,” noted Arriola in his Facebook message declaring victory. “As I move into the role of mayor, I hope to build a community where every young person living in our city – no matter their background or the challenges they face – knows that they too can pursue their dreams and achieve success. If I can do it, I know our young people can too!”

Stockton

Come 2025, Arriola will have two out municipal counterparts in the nearby city of Stockton, which also is adjacent to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

“Since I was 13, I was always trying to focus on bettering myself for my community, and learning and growing along the way. Truly, this is due to the investments people made in me and those I made in myself,” said Enríquez, who will have lesbian former state senator Susan Talamantes Eggman administer his oath of office.

Eggman, a Democrat termed out of the Legislature this year, was the first out councilmember to serve in Tracy.

Enríquez and Lee are returning out LGBTQ representation to the council for the first time since 2012, when Eggman departed to serve in the state Assembly.

Enríquez grew up in nearby Lathrop and works for his alma mater the University of the Pacific. After graduating in 2010 with a B.A. in sociology, Enríquez left Stockton to pursue new educational and professional opportunities.

One ended up being with the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s educational arm, the Victory Institute, as its director of constituent engagement. He stepped down from the national nonprofit in early 2022 after being hired by the private college.

He won his council race with 51.56% of the vote. What put him over the top, he said, was spending time to knock on as many voters’ doors in his district as he could leading up to Election Day. The importance of canvassing was something the Victory Fund’s former CEO Annise Parker, who departed December 1, would drill into would-be candidates during the trainings it held and that Enríquez helped organize.

“Mayor Parker at the trainings would say the way to win is door knocking,” recalled Enríquez, using Parker’s honorific as a former mayor of Houston. “She said to me, ‘Mario, signs don’t vote, people vote.’ If you are not putting in the work to knock on doors and talking to people, if they don’t know who you are, they are not going to vote for you. That is literally what put us in our favor; we outworked the competition when it came to that.”

He told the B.A.R. he plans to begin the work of a councilmember on Day 1 of his term. He has been compiling a list of needs to address in his district, from filling potholes to fixing streetlights not working, and also plans to host quarterly town halls with his constituents in 2025.

“I want to hit the ground running,” said Enríquez, who also has been writing his first newsletter to have it ready to send out next month. “In this district, it didn’t seem there was much transparency with what the councilmember was doing. I want to

be very visible and out there.”

Lee won his race with 57.53% of the vote. Over the years he has had experi ence in labor relations as an employee with the Service Employees International Union and the media with his brand Hol lywood Unlocked and talk show, “The Jason Lee Show,” launched in 2023. His Los Angeles connections led to his fly ing in actor vate jet for a campaign forum he held, a video of which labeled “Jason Lee Forum #2” can be seen on his campaign website under the “Gallery” option when clicking “More” at the top of the main page.

He didn’t have endorsements of LGBTQ groups and didn’t make his being one of the first gay men to serve on the council a major aspect of his candidacy. Nonetheless, Lee has been outspoken about his experience as a gay, biracial man in the worlds of hip-hop and Hollywood, talking about it in interviews over the years.

“I didn’t want to lead with my sexuality but I have always been proud of it,” Lee noted during one discussion viewable at https://fb.watch/wn6Ff9-4r5/.

He appeared in several seasons of the VH1 show “Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood” and was also on MTV2’s game show “Wild ‘N Out,” during which he gained attention for unsuspectedly kiss ing gay rapper and “Love & Hip Hop: Miami” castmate Bobby Lytes a rap battle. It led to a 2018 “Pride Pro file” of Lee in Billboard where he said out signer Frank Ocean’s “Bad Religion” helped him come out.

“I was actually really emotional listen ing to that song; it was a really, it had a lot of impact on me,” Lee told the publication.

His campaign bio focused more on the travails he overcame growing up in the Central Valley city, from surviving being shot by a drive-by shooter at 15 to seeing his brother, Rodney Townsend, murdered at Lee’s going away party when he was 19.

According to his campaign bio, “Abandoned by his drug-addicted mother and absent father, Lee endured the horrors of molestation, gun violence, the foster care system, and abuse during his tragic childhood.” Delivering for his district’s and the city’s youth was a major campaign promise Lee made.

An assistant for Lee told the B.A.R. he was unavailable for an interview due to taking some personal time off until December 21. Arriola did not respond to the B.A.R.’s interview requests about his victory and swearing in plans by press time Wednesday.

Special election set for San Jose council seat

A placeholder councilmember will be appointed to fill a vacancy on the San Jose City Council until a special election is held in the spring. Candidates who run for the seat are ineligible to be selected as the interim holder of the District 3 council seat.

Tracy Mayor-elect Dan Tavares Arriola, left, will be sworn in December 17, while Stockton City Councilmembers-elect Mario Enríquez and Jason Lee will take office January 7.

Courtesy the subjects

Voice, which reported on it three days before it was to be published.

Another local news outlet, San Jose Spotlight, also wrote about the report prior to its being officially released. It also uploaded the entire 61-page document to its website.

The jury also convicted Becker, 39, of a misdemeanor for violating his duty to keep the draft report confidential. He now faces a maximum sentence of four years in county jail.

As KQED reported, “Becker stayed

<< Trans income

From page 1

were unconstitutional or violated civil rights laws.

The GIFT program ran afoul of a host of non-discrimination laws, the Judicial Watch suit alleged. The initial complaint was based on the state constitution – specifically Article I, section No. 7 (which ensures equal protection of the laws). The suit alleged this was violated by the program in three ways: on the basis of gender identity, on the basis of sex, and on the basis of race and ethnicity.

“Plaintiffs contend that any expenditure of taxpayer funds or taxpayer financed resources on the GIFT program is illegal under Article 1, section 7 of the California Constitution because the requirement that eligible participants be transgender, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, or intersex is immediately suspect and presumptively invalid and cannot survive strict scrutiny review,” the complaint stated. “Plaintiffs are being and will be irreparably harmed by Defendants’ illegal expenditure of taxpayer funds and taxpayer-financed resources on the GIFT program, unless and until Defendants’ illegal expenditures are enjoined.”

The San Francisco City Attorney’s office stated the settlement wouldn’t necessarily prevent similar programs from operating.

Castro

From page 1

A spokesperson for SFPD Chief William Scott didn’t return multiple requests for comment for this report.

In a December 3 email Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association President Jennifer “JDub” Waggoner had laid out some of the concerns the Castro residential group had heard regarding the proposed change to which police districts it would be in.

“We have received more concerns than enthusiasm about this plan. Park Station may not be able to deploy foot and car patrols to our area with the same frequency as Mission Station,” wrote Waggoner. “Park officers would not know our area, our people, and our issues as well as Mission officers because over the past decade, officers from Mission Station have built up relationships and expertise specific to our neighborhood.”

In another safety matter at the merchants meeting, SFPD Lieutenant James Tacchini advised – after a series of window-smashings in the neighborhood in October – that merchants invest in the best video surveillance equipment they can.

“Typically how things work when these things happen is we rely on you for video surveillance,” he said. “When you send it to our officers, they send an email blast to everyone in the department. Someone who commits burglaries here may be committing many burglaries on Taraval [Street]. Everyone reads the email and someone says, ‘I arrested this guy two years ago,’ and they arrest him. That’s how it works in a perfect world.”

Billy Lemon, a gay man who’s executive director of the Castro Country Club, a nonprofit sober space, advised merchants they could take advantage of a Horizons Foundation request for proposals that’ll give queer organizations $5,000 for camera installations.

seated and mostly still while the verdict was read out by the court clerk, closing his eyes at times for a few seconds. He and his legal team declined to comment after the verdicts were read.”

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Javier Alcala scheduled Becker’s sentencing hearing for January 31 at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill.

“Some may have grown used to public officials lying. Committing perjury to the civil grand jury is not a white lie, an exaggeration, or politics. It is a crime and a serious abuse of the public trust,” stated Rosen in a December 5 news release fol-

“This is a narrow settlement that does not prevent San Francisco from creating future programs to support all of our communities, including the trans community,” stated Jen Kwart, spokesperson for the office. “We believe this is an appropriate resolution given the inherent costs of continued litigation.”

Preston explained at the December 3 Board of Supervisors’ meeting why he voted against the settlement – the first in four years he voted not to approve, he said.

“Across this nation, trans people are facing hostile legislation, rhetoric, and hate crimes as the right of trans people to exist and be themselves is increasingly under attack. It is important our city shows leadership on this fundamental civil rights issue,” he said.

He said he believes it would “be a mistake” to approve the settlement, citing a directive from the book “On Tyranny” by Timothy D. Snyder not to “obey in advance.”

The city should let the courts rule against it, Preston said, rather than presuming they will before the matter is heard.

He conceded, “I recognize the legal terrain is not one of their [the city attorney’s office] choosing, and with the current Supreme Court, the legal terrain is hostile to programs to help the most vulnerable.”

Outgoing District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen said she would vote for the settlement.

According to Horizons, the program is for eligible nonprofits and applications are being accepted through January 31, as long as funds are available.

Holiday events

Terry Asten Bennett, a straight ally and co-owner of Cliff’s Variety who’s the organization’s president, said she had a marvelous time at the annual holiday tree lighting December 2.

“The tree lighting was a huge success,” she said. “It was great seeing the community come out like that. I think it’s my favorite event every year because it brings the community together.”

Unfortunately, the tree has been vandalized in the past.

“We did have to spend a lot of extra money this year to replace the red balls,” she said.

Asten Bennett had a stern warning for those who might go underneath the tree.

“There are spikes under the tree,” she said. “You are forewarned. Do not climb under the tree. You will get spiked.”

For those who didn’t go to the tree lighting, there are still opportunities to celebrate the season in the Castro, including the Winterfest block party on Noe Street at Market Street Saturday, December 7, from noon to 5 p.m.; the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Santa Skivvies run Sunday, December 8, at 11 a.m. in the same location; a Hanukkah menorah lighting Monday, December 16, at 6 p.m. in Jane Warner Plaza; and the second Castro night market on Friday, December 20, from 5 to 9 p.m. along 18th Street between Collingwood and Castro streets and then again between Castro and Hartford streets.

Castro fair bucks

The Castro Street Fair raised

$20,000 for community organizations and part-

lowing the jury’s decision. Becker had maintained his innocence of the charges and has long denied accusations that he has taken actions as a council member favorable to the 49ers despite team owner Jed York pumping millions of dollars into the 2020 council races to help elect Becker and several other council candidates that November. In 2022, Becker lost his bid to oust from office team critic Mayor Lisa Gillmor, whom he had also lost against in the city’s 2018 mayoral election. In both races Becker and Gillmor had clashed over the deal the city made more than a decade ago with the NFL team

After speaking to the city attorney’s office, she realized the program was structured in a way that made it likely to lose in court.

“I have no idea why this program was structured in the way it was structured,” she said. “I went to law school and studied constitutional law and would not have structured this program in this way. … We’re paying $3,000 to a rightwing organization, and I don’t want to pay them a cent more.”

Ronen continued that “this is not a weak move.”

“I will be supporting this settlement agreement, but in no way, shape or form, Fox News, do I want you to spin my vote in this matter against the trans community,” she said, referring to the right-leaning cable network. “We invite any trans person who does not feel comfortable in their own city or their own state to come and move to San Francisco.”

Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro neighborhood on the board, voted for the settlement.

“Especially in this moment, it is important for us to pick our battles wisely,” he stated to the B.A.R. “I am willing to send our city attorneys into fights they may lose, but I am not willing to send them into court when they are almost certain to lose and the most likely result is an award of significant attorneys’ fees to a group like Judicial Watch.”

The other two gay members of the

ners for this, its 50th year, the vice president of the fair’s board shared.

Fred Lopez, a gay man, also said that volunteers put in 860 hours for the event, which has raised $1.6 million for local nonprofits since the 1990s.

The benefitting organizations were Buen Dia Family School, Castro Community on Patrol, Everett Middle School, Haight Ashbury Community Nursery School, The Imperial Council of San Francisco, Instituto Familiar de la Raza, Maitri, Most Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church’s AIDS Support Group, SF CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), the San Francisco Sharks softball team, the 15 Association BDSM fraternity, and the UCSF Alliance Health Project.

Representatives of the aforementioned groups posed with a giant check presented by the fair’s board president, vice president, and treasurer.

“On behalf of the entire board, thank you for your support for the Castro Street Fair,” Lopez said. “We can always use new ideas and blood on the board, if you are interested in helping out.”

Mural idea presented

Jen Reck, a queer person who is the advisory board executive co-chair of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District, presented an idea to place a mural at 4122 18th Street “to create greater visibility for lesbians in this community.”

As the B.A.R.’s News Briefs column reported, the mural will feature artwork by Tanya Wischerath called “Living Lesbian Legends.” About $2,000 needs to be raised for the project, according to the cultural district.

In order to do that, Reck said the district needs the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to approve closing the parking lot between Walgreens and Toad Hall from April 1-15 so that the mural can be painted during that time. Reck requested the

that led to it leaving San Francisco for a bayside new stadium in Santa Clara. The football team has repeatedly fought with city leaders and staff about the facility, from how it is managed to what the city is owed in stadium rent, leading to legal disputes.

“The 49ers have bankrolled Becker’s political career in recent years,” Rosen’s office noted in its release. “In total, the 49ers provided over $3.2 million through independent expenditure committees to benefit Becker’s 2020 successful city council campaign and his failed 2022 mayoral bid.” It also noted, “Becker was not reelect-

board – District 6’s Matt Dorsey and District 4’s Joel Engardio – also voted for the settlement. Dorsey, who worked for 14 years as the city attorney’s office’s press liaison before moving to a similar role at the San Francisco Police Department, told the B.A.R. December 10 that “a case like the one we’re voting to settle today shows why discretion is sometimes the better part of valor.”

“It’s a prudent settlement that avoids the costs and risks of further litigation, which could include an unfavorable precedent for our community as well as a much higher price tag for taxpayers,” he stated.

Dorsey also defended the office’s record.

“I spent 14 years on the executive staff of the San Francisco City Attorney’s office, which has done more to advance the cause of LGBTQ+ equality than any legal advocacy organization I’m aware of,” he stated. “From domestic partnerships and equal benefits to marriage equality to beating back Trump administration efforts to role back access to gender affirming care, they’ve been a national leader for decades.”

Engardio didn’t return a request for comment by press time.

The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club is not happy, though, issuing a blistering statement December 4.

“On behalf of our trans, Black, and Indigenous members, and our members of color, we want to thank Supervi-

merchants vote to endorse closing the lot for those days, but Asten Bennett said that because a vote wasn’t scheduled in advance of the meeting, it will have to happen at the merchants’ next meeting in February.

“We’ll pretty much see that process move quickly if the merchants give their support,” Reck said, referring to the SFMTA approving the lot closure.

CBD ambassadors awarded Finally, Mandelman presented awards to Henry Lopez Hernandez and Rodrick Smith, two Castro Community Benefit District ambassadors.

“There is a ton of work that happens every single morning,” Mandelman said, adding he sees the Castro before and after his crack-of-dawn workouts. “Our ambassadors see the worst of everything, every day, and do the work for us, and we are grateful.”

Andrea Aiello, a lesbian who is executive director of the CBD, stated that Smith “was the one who observed a robbery and, thinking quickly, he called 911, and they [police] arrived quickly.”

ed last month.”

Since joining the council Becker had an open door for team officials, arguing it is better for city leadership to engage with them in order to address the myriad issues with the stadium. He had denounced the grand jury’s report about the council members’ handling of the matter as a politically motivated hit piece aimed at derailing his second mayoral bid.

“This goes back 10 years when we brought the 49ers here. The mayor and City Council got a deal that is not the best for Santa Clara,” Becker had told the B.A.R. at the time. t

sors Dean Preston, Aaron Peskin, and Shamann Walton for their votes against bigotry and transphobia,” the statement reads, in part. “Now is not the time for a city that calls itself a Trans Sanctuary City to throw the trans community under the bus or shy away from protecting programs that serve them. We need our elected leaders to fight for programs that are meant to lift and stabilize vulnerable communities, especially trans people.

“Unfortunately, the settlement was approved by a majority of supervisors earlier today,” the statement continues, referring to Tuesday’s vote. “We thank all of the supervisors who voted no on this proposed settlement despite the pressure to approve it. And while we are disappointed with the way this settlement turned out, we hope that others will fight – in both words and actions – for our trans community as we face down yet another precarious four years under [U.S. President-elect] Donald Trump.”

The B.A.R. called Judicial Watch for comment for this report; the unnamed person who answered the phone tried to patch the B.A.R. to the person who could provide comment, but due to an error, the transfer didn’t work. The person on the phone explained that the person who could provide comment didn’t have an email they could be reached at, and that she could not leave some other kind of written message for her. The person on the phone advised the paper to call back December 6. t

She provided further details about the early September incident. (She could not provide an exact date.)

“He was cleaning behind Safeway [on Market Street] and he witnessed an individual just in plain view rob a person who was walking down the bikeway,” Aiello stated, adding the alleged robber may have had a knife. “Rodrick called 911 immediately, and the police arrived very quickly, apprehended the suspect and returned the items to the individual.”

1st of 2 public meetings

The merchants’ meeting was open to the public. Asten Bennett explained in her newsletter that “because of the dollar amount of our event grants from the city, we are required to have two public meetings per fiscal year.” This was one of those meetings, and public comment was to be taken on agenda items after member discussions but before any votes.

Alas, there was no comment given by members of the public, though they had the opportunity to do so.

The second public meeting will be sometime next year. t

Representatives from benefiting organizations posed with a giant check from the Castro Street Fair at the December 5 Castro Merchants Association meeting.

John Ferrannini

by David-Elijah Nahmod

On December 20 the glamorous Former Ladies of the Supremes will grace the stage at the Showcase Theater in San Rafael. They’ll be singing old familiar favorites as they recreate both the final days, and the glory days, of what is perhaps the most famous girl group of all time.

Appearing on the bill are Scherrie Payne, who sang lead vocals for the group from 1973 until 1977. Her vocals can be heard on the final albums released by The Supremes, and she became known as “The Lady with the Big Voice.”

Payne will be joined onstage by Lynda Laurence, also a former Supreme, and Joyce Vincent, who is best known as a former member of Tony Orlando and Dawn. The concert is being presented by Marin Jazz and the Marin Cultural Association.

Payne was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to chat with the Bay Area Reporter as the ladies prepared for their show in San Rafael.

David-Elijah Nahmod: The Supremes are a legend. How does it feel to have been part of such an iconic group?

Scherrie Payne: It’s been overwhelming! I never believed that something that huge would become a central figure in my life. I’m honored, humbled, thrilled, overwhelmed, overjoyed. There aren’t enough words to express my gratitude.

You performed with Mary Wilson as one of the Supremes? Please tell me your impressions of her and what it was like to work with her.

See page 12 >>

by Jim Gladstone

Brothers and sisters, I don’t know about you, but the cabinet I’m focused on this holiday season is the liquor cabinet. One needs to fortify oneself for the times ahead, or at least forget your troubles, like a good Judy (Shirley Temples ain’t gonna cut it).

So, belly up to the bar for a round of potable last-minute gifts, and some choice boozeless booty as well. We’ve checked our list twice with online purveyors to make sure anything you order by Dec. 15 will arrive in time for Christmas. All of our liquor selections are also available at some local retailers.

Bottle service

Denial will get you nowhere, so open your eyes to See the Elephant. Despite sounding fit for only a Republican publican, this eccentric amaro has an adventurous San Francisco foodie flair: The stuff is made with arugula! Difficult to pin down, but surprisingly smooth, this Italian concoction is a sure conversation starter.

The peppery bitterness of your pizza’s favorite salad green is balanced by a perplexing, soft sweetness that veers toward bubble gum. You’ll just have to drink more to untangle its mysteri-

Former Ladies of the Supremes

ous flavor. As a bonus, the trippy, multicolored label design means there’s no need for giftwrap. www.elephantamaro.com

You say Kahlua, and I say Koloa. But let’s call the coffee talk off, because when it comes to beanand-booze combos, Kōloa Kaua’i Coffee Rum is the flat-out winner when pitted against the old school, sickly-sweet java tipple. Its coffee flavor is richer, its alcohol content is higher, and it’s made with beans grown near the distillery on Kauai. www.koloarum.com

Spike your cocoa with something local! The latest release from the Sausalito Liquor Company is their limited-edition Unsinkable Chocolate Liqueur. It’s a Bay-spanning spirit, incorporating cocoa nibs sourced by Berkeley’s own TCHO Chocolate.

The flavor and texture are rich enough that a slowly sipped shot could stand in for dessert after a heavy holiday feast, and it’s not unthinkable to pour a glug of Unsinkable on a bowl of vanilla ice cream. www.sausalitoliquor.com

Jolly jaunts

We’re not quite done drinking yet. For a great experiential gift, stuff your sweetie’s stocking with a ticket for the little-trafficked Treasure Island Ferry and take them on a private gold rush.

After an eight-minute zip across the bay from

the Embarcadero, debark on the island and take a gander from whence you came. This is a spectacular perspective on downtown San Francisco never seen by many local residents.

Now walk a few hundred feet further onto the island toward the curved art moderne façade of a former U.S. Navy administration building. Inside, along with a spectacular 251-foot long, 26-foot mural chronicling military history in the Pacific since 1813, you’ll find a shiny surprise: The public headquarters of locally distilled Gold Bar Whiskey.

This plush cocktail lounge and showroom, open from noon to 9pm, Tue.-Sun., has a Midas vibe, with stacks of the brand’s shiny, ingotshaped bottles on display and a surfeit of gilded surfaces. How ridiculously glitzy is San Francisco’s secret Fort Knox of cocktails? Last year’s season finale of “Vanderpump Rules” was filmed here. www.goldbarwhiskey.com

Rev up for a wild 2025 with an exhilarating trip around the city (or wine country) on one of Jerome Ribeiro’s licensed fleet of sidecar motorcycles. For locals accustomed to traveling by car or public transit, Ribeiro’s Rides by Me is a whole new way to experience San Francisco. You’ll speed down the steepest hills, do the Lombard Street slalom, and wave at gawking pedestrians like you’re the queen of England. For a group gift, you can hire multiple vehicles. www.ridesbyme.com

See page 13 >>

Former Ladies of the Supremes Scherrie Payne, Lynda Laurence with Joyce Vincent

Classic pop music lives on at the Showcase Theater

Eric Iversen

See the Elephant amaro Kōloa Kaua’i Coffee Rum

Sausalito Liquor Company’s Unsinkable Chocolate Liqueur

Gold Bar Whiskey at Treasure Island

Rides by Me

‘Thirty-Six’ at Shotgun Players

by Jim Gladstone

Imagine a matchmaking app for theatergoers and plays.

Would you reflexively swipe left if a piece’s profile included the word “experimental”?

That’s the same insecure rush to judgement that keeps many folks who use Grindr and Tinder from ever meeting up in person, driven to anxiety by preconceptions.

It’s the sort of reaction that might keep you from stepping out for an evening to see playwright Nanako Winkler’s beguiling “Thirty-Six.”

The work’s world premiere production at Shotgun Players’ Ashby Stage has extended its run through December 29, due to popular demand. Perhaps you can be swayed from your deep-seated prejudices by peer pressure? Well, friend, I kindly suggest you pull up your big they pants and extend yourself. “Thirty-Six” is experimental theater that yields positive outcomes along with provocations.

Definitely? Not.

When Jenny (Lauren Andrei Garcia) makes a Tinder date with David (Soren Santos), she’s looking for a lusty, unemotional hookup. But when they meet in a bar just a stone’s throw from her place, he indicates a desire to hang out, talk, and get to know each other.

Soon, he’s nose-deep in vagina. Later, she’s angrily spilling her guts about abusive exes. Sometimes, people aren’t sure about what they want, when they want it, or from whom.

Winkler was most certainly uncertain about what would happen between these characters when she began writing this play. She was building on the bones of a formal thought experiment conducted by a group of

Mary was a stickler for getting things right. Besides singing and doing the right notes, get the right choreography steps, give the right impressions, always look the part. After all, the group had become iconic. We couldn’t let the fans down or disappoint them. The Supremes were Mary’s life and she took it very seriously as she should have. I always admired her for that.

Please tell me how you became a part of the Supremes in 1973.

academic psychologists and featured in a popular New York Times article, “The 36 Questions that Lead to Love.”

The study examined the extent to which a sense of emotional intimacy could be induced between two individuals, regardless of their pre-existing similarities and differences, by having them answer a specific series of questions designed to drive increasing openness, from “What would constitute a ‘perfect’ day for you?” to “Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?”

It was all because of Lamont Dozier, part of the Motown hit songwriting team Holland-DozierHolland. Lamont had come to Los Angeles on a business trip and he ran into Mary Wilson at an event. She informed him that Jean Terrell, who had replaced Diana Ross in the Supremes, had just left and that she was looking for another lead singer to take her place. At that time Lamont was my boyfriend, so naturally he told her about me. Mary called and after we chatted, she asked if I would send her pictures and recordings of mine. I did. I sent several photos and an album of Glass House, the group that I was a

3991-A 17th Street at Market & Castro

Shared questions

In the play, Jenny and David move through a single evening of exchanging answers to the study’s questionnaire as a third character called Stage Directions (How’s that for experimental theater?), played with quirky nonchalance by nic feliciano, provides narrative description as to their movements and whereabouts.

Getting to know each other proves a challenging creative process for the newly acquainted pair (I imagine that a playwright’s development of her

member was on the Invictus label.

Several days later, on a Thursday evening, my mother called and said that Mary Wilson had called and wanted me to please return her call ASAP. I was over at my best friend’s house, Walter and Barbara Gaines, with Lamont at the time. Walter was a member of the Motown group The Originals.

They were so excited for me to speak with Mary. I called her and she said she loved the pictures and album. She then asked if I could come to Los Angeles. I asked “when?” and she said “Saturday, I’ve got your plane ticket waiting at the airport.”

I was in shock. Reluctantly I said “okay.” After I hung up Walter, Barb and Lamont were all over me with congratulations! I was numb.

Later that night when Lamont dropped me off at home and I told my mother what had transpired, I then told her I couldn’t do it. What was I thinking? The Supremes? That was way to big! I was scared! But my mother, being the strong leader and motivator that she was, gave me a big pep talk and before I knew it, come Saturday morning I was on a flight to L.A.

Why did The Supremes disband?

Mary had married Pedro Ferrer and made him our manager, replacing Bill Loeb. It was Pedro’s idea that Mary should go solo. Susaye Greene, the last Supreme, and I didn’t agree but had no say-so. He had made up her mind for her.

What, in your opinion, is Mary Wilson’s legacy?

Mary will always be remembered as the vivacious Supreme who gave 200% whenever onstage. She’s a living legend and I’m so proud to have been a part of her history.

Please tell me how The Former Ladies of the Supremes came about?

The Former Ladies of the Supremes came about because of the late Ronnie Marlon Phillips. He was the fa-

characters has a similar strangeness and vulnerability to it). To a certain extent, like any of us in such a situation, they’re groping in the dark. Or, in the case of “Thirty-Six,” groping in eerie, echoey whiteness.

Director Michelle Talgarow has worked with the outstanding design team of Randy Wong-Westbrooke (set) Spense Matubang (lighting) and Alex Fakayode (sound) to create an evocative abstract space, simultaneously suggestive of smart Apple packaging and a soulless vacuum.

As theatergoers, we can’t help but feel empathy for the palpably human characters making their way through this familiar, often chilly world. They’re trying to define and protect themselves as individuals, but also yearning to connect. But how? To wrestle with the existential, embrace the experimental.t ‘Thirty-Six,’ $15-$40, through December 29 at Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley www.shotgunplayers.org

ther of my daughter Shoshana Payne Phillips. in 1986 he, along with two others, formed Superstar International Records. We were to use the acronym F.L.O.S. But so many fans kept referring to us as The Flos, after Florence Ballard.

Please tell me about the two ladies who will be joining you onstage at the Showcase Theater.

I’ll be joined onstage by Lynda Laurence, former Supreme who joined in 1971, singing alongside of Jean Terrell. Lynda left the group at the same time Jean departed. She’s an excellent singer and toured with Stevie Wonder and Joe Cocker prior to joining The Supremes.

I’ve known Joyce Vincent since 1968 when she sang backgrounds with her sister Pam at Invictus Records. Then she, along with Telma Hopkins, went on to become part of the original group of Tony Orlando

and Dawn. Who knew back then that we would be singing together after all these years? She joined Lynda and me in 2009.

What can the audience expect at your December 20 show?

Wonderful music with a fantastic band! We’ll have Supremes song for everyone to enjoy and bring back wonderful memories. There will also be a surprise from Joyce. We always want our audiences to have a great time with us. These Motown songs are American classics, and we are honored to perform them worldwide for enthusiastic audiences. Supremes fans are the best!t

Former Ladies of the Supremes, December 20, 7pm, $75-$85, Showcase Theater, 20 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael. www.marinarts.org www.formersupremes.com

Former Ladies of the Supremes

Eric Iversen << Supremes

page 11

Lauren Andrei Garcia, nic feliciano and Soren Santos in Shotgun Players’ production of Nanako Winkler’s ‘Thirty-Six’

Ben Krantz

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy

by David-Elijah Nahmod

On December 24, 25, and 26 comic extraordinaire Lisa Geduldig returns with the latest incarnation of Kung Pao Kosher Comedy, a Jewish stand-up show produced for Christmas. There will be two shows a night, a 5pm dinner show and an 8:30pm cocktail show at the Imperial Palace Restaurant in Chinatown. The shows will also be live streamed on YouTube live for those who can’t make it in person.

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy was created in 1993 when Geduldig was 31 years old. 32 years later the show is going strong and has become a Christmas tradition in San Francisco. This year’s show is especially meaningful to Geduldig as she is grieving the loss of her mother Arline Geduldig, who passed away in August at the age of 93. Over the past few years, the elder Geduldig had been a fixture on Lockdown Comedy, Lisa’s monthly online show, as well as at Kung Pao, performing from her retirement community in Florida. This year’s show will be dedicated to the memory of Arline, and a clip of her comedy will be shown.

Eating Chinese food has become a Christmas tradition among Jews. After all, what else are they going to do on Christmas? In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Geduldig shared her own ideas as to why Jews eat Chinese food during the holiday.

“Because the food is plentiful and often eaten family style,” she said. “Even for some people who are kosher, there’s something about just a little hidden piece of treyf (non-kosher food) that’s okay. I used to do a joke: You know Jews aren’t supposed to eat pork? But there’s a small unknown clause in the Torah that says if it’s wrapped up in a wonton, it’s ok. There’s actually a study done on that called ‘safe treyf.’”

Coast to kosher

Geduldig did recall one unpleasant reaction she got from an Orthodox publication.

“I think I had sent a press release to a Jewish publication and didn’t realize they were Orthodox,” she recalled. “They basically treated me like a heathen in that they were not going to list my event because in their eyes I had blasphemously used the word kosher. Clarification, the comedy is kosher, the food is not. There’s one shrimp dish on the menu, but it’s kosher. Blessed by a very, very, very, very reform Rabbi.”

As always, Kung Pao will be donating some of its proceeds to two charities that are near and dear to Geduldig’s heart. One of the beneficiaries is Shalom Bayit (peaceful house), a Jewish domestic violence organization. The other is the Chinatown YMCA Food Pantry, which provides food to members of the local community who are in need. Geduldig said that she wanted to give back to the Chinatown community and has named them as a beneficiary for the past two years.

Glad rags Tie one on with Mister Bandana and reconnect with queer history.

New comics

In addition to hosting the evening, Geduldig will be performing her own comedy. She’ll be joined onstage by three very talented comics, such as Matt Kirshen, who hails from London, and Becky Braunstein, who is from Alaska.

“Becky is one of two Jews from Alaska,” Geduldig said. “She will talk about that in her set.”

This year’s show marks the first time Kirshen and Braunstein have per-

formed at Kung Pao, though the final comic, Ophira Eisenberg, has been on the Kung Pao stage before. Eisenberg told the B.A.R. that she often thinks about why she wants to be a comic, that it goes deeper than just wanting to make people laugh.

“There is that discovery that something you’ve been thinking about in this world, about humanity, about yourself, might be something that other people related to and then you

throw it out there and you find out that you were right,” Eisenberg said. “And that kind of connection is so gratifying. And sometime you find out, nope, just you. Back to the drawing board. But doing comedy and having that relationship with the audience makes me feel less alone and hopefully that’s how the audience feels too.”

Geduldig wants everyone to know that Kung Pao is a show that the whole family can enjoy.

“Sometimes people come with their kids and their parents, so it’s three generations at table,” she said. “The tables seat ten people. There’s no age limit. I don’t think a five-year-old would get the humor but sometimes, when people bring kids, they say how they are growing up in the Bay Area and have a sophisticated sense of humor. I do request, however, no crying babies, or roosters. One year someone brought a service animal I thought was gonna be a dog, but it was a rooster named Vern and he clucked when people laughed!”t

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy, Dec. 24, 25, 26. 5pm dinner show ($90) and 8:30pm cocktail show ($65). Imperial Palace Restaurant, 818 Washington Street. Also live streamed on YouTube Live. www.koshercomedy.com

Based in the gay stomping grounds of Manhattan’s East Village, Josh Stoneman and Roko Sinovcic design and produce a fetching collection of American-made bandanas for retro hanky-panky with contemporary style statements.

Check out their Tarzan-inspired “Jacked Lion,” roaring pink dragon, and rodeo buckaroo designs at www.misterbandana.com

Would you gamble on your garb?

At only $50, it’s well worth a wager on Chance by Annemarie, the artistic upcycling endeavor from Annemarie Hereford, an alumnus of San Francisco’s Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (now relocated to Los Angeles). A fulltime designer at a major accessories company, she operates Chance as a labor of love and a personal creative outlet.

Hereford sends customers small shipping bags to fill with clothes they’ve stopped wearing but still feel attached to, along with a questionnaire about their personal style.

She then makes like a fashion Frankenstein, snipping, sewing and

creatively remixing the submitted items into a fresh new statement piece. If you order this week, you’ll receive the shipping bag by Christmas, not the finished work. www.chancebyannemarie.com

Tradition and diversity

In anticipations of dark December nights when folks just want to snuggle up at home, give old-fashioned gifts with an LGTBQ+ spin. Crack open some snacks with rainbowfestooned wooden soldiers from Nutcracker Ballet Gifts, which donates 5% of the profits from sales of

its Pride Collection to queer charities. www.nutcrackerballetgifts.com

And for an update on Old Maid and other antiquated card games, consider the Many Queens Tarot Deck, with its inclusive illustrations of family, femininity, beauty, and body image. It’s designed by artist and San Francisco Art Institute alum Lettie Jane R ennekamp, who describes herself as “an Aquarius, a weirdo, a horse-girl” and a witch. www.lettiejane.comt

For more gifts, read the full article on www.ebar.com.

<< Last minute gifts

From page 11

Left to Right: Ophira Eisenberg, Matt Kirshen, Becky Braunstein

ArinSang-Urai

Left: Lisa Geduldig

Right: Dinner patrons at a recent Kung Pao Kosher Comedy night

Above: Mister Bandana Below, Left to Right: Chance by Annemarie, Nutcracker Ballet Gifts, Many Queens Tarot

‘Elton John: Never Too Late’

by Brian Bromberger

Elton John recently recognized it was time to quit performing live, and ended 50 years of entertaining in North America in 2022. His farewell tour is the subject of a new conventional documentary, “Elton John: Never Too Late,” streaming on Disney Plus beginning December 13.

It’s co-directed and produced by Elton’s husband David Furnish. The film is semi-biographical, since it refers back to Elton’s 1975 milestone concert at Dodger’s Stadium, performing in front of 110,00 people, the first solo rock act to sell out a stadium. The result is a sentimental lopsided tribute to one of the 20th century’s greatest rock stars.

It is staggering to consider that during Elton’s glory years, 1970-1976, he released 13 albums, of which seven reached #1 on the Billboard charts and toured extensively throughout the world.

Known for his flamboyant personality, catchy rock ballads, and ostentatious honky-tonk piano style, only David Bowie was his equal in charisma and electrifying stage performances. Yet he sees this era, despite all his accomplishments, as a dark period, using alcohol, cocaine, and casual sex to deal with depression and loneliness, culminating in a botched suicide attempt.

“I was either really having fun or very miserable,” John says in the film. “There was an emptiness within me. My soul had gone dark…It was like I was dead… I wish it had been different.”

Life on and offstage

There’s brief mention of an abusive childhood full of fear. “My mother beat me till I bled with a wire brush until I was potty trained.” His father showed little interest in him and never attended any of Elton’s concerts. Music became his salvation and perhaps to escape his past, when he started playing in bands, he changed his name from Reginald Dwight, commenting, “Reg was never gonna make it.”

Later his manager, and first lover John Reid, introduced him to cocaine.

“A few drinks too many, if you crossed him, he’d punch you or he’d break a glass and put it in your face.”

Elton sums up his life in this period, “I didn’t have anything other than my success and my drugs.” Elton would get sober in 1990, though there’s no mention of why and how that journey occurred.

Rocketing

The film centers on stops in various cities on the “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” itinerary, leading up to the final L.A. show, with countdowns announced in hot pink texts. Among the stars of the film is the 1970s concert footage, with a dynamic, agile, inventive, boundless, energetic Elton dressed in flashy glam clothes and funky vintage eyeglasses, almost levitating above his piano, performing his hit songs (“Your Song,” “Rocket Man,” “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” “Philadelphia Freedom”).

When he gets to LA, he sings in his glittery Bob Mackie-designed Dodgers uniform, looking handsome and sexy. The later scenes of Elton, musing on his love for and friendship with his long-time songwriting partner, lyricist Bernie Taupin, are genuinely stirring.

The intent is to show how Elton’s career has come full-circle in almost 50 years, but the comparisons between 1975 and 2022 are not flattering. He wears his redesigned Mackie Dodgers uniform but now to accommodate his sizable girth it looks like a muumuu. It’s a struggle for Elton to get up and down from his piano. His quivering diminished voice pales with

his earlier powerful vocal range. The viewer realizes this is the right time for Elton to exit before he becomes a parody of himself.

Singing with John

The highlight of the film is the John Lennon sequence detailing their friendship and their wild nights doing coke together. One hysterical scene is them hiding out in a hotel room, ignoring a knocking Andy Warhol at the door. They compose a song together, “Whatever Gets You Through the Night,” which became a #1 hit. Then Elton convinces Lennon to be his special musical guest for three songs at a 1974 Madison Square

Garden concert, which would be the first time he performed on stage since the final 1966 Beatles concert.

Lennon was so nervous he vomited before the show. The crowd roars with exhilaration when Lennon appears on stage. Elton was instrumental in reuniting Lennon and Yoko Ono after a split of several years.

Family time

The other fascinating video clip is Elton being interviewed by “Rolling Stone” in 1976, revealing he wanted love, but hadn’t met anyone of either sex with whom he wanted to settle down. Elton says this confession of bisexuality did hurt his career with several conservative radio stations destroying his records, but it was worth the price of freedom. Yet there’s nothing about him formally coming out as gay to “Rolling Stone” in 1993, nor any mention of his romance with Furnish or his work with AIDS charities.

Instead, we witness touching or sappy (depending on your perspective) moments of Elton, aged 75, speaking via Face Time with his two young boys, later admitting, “I’d like to see them get married, but I don’t think I’m going to be around for that.” Elton has found the warm familial/home life he was denied in his childhood. His husband and kids are the reason he’s retiring.

Throughout the documentary, there are audio recordings of inter-

‘Billy Cross: A Gay Man’s Story’

by David-Elijah Nahmod

On December 15, “Billy Cross: A Gay Man’s Story,” a new documentary in which a gay man shares his life story, will screen at the Delancey Street Screening Room.

Billy Cross has quite a story to tell. He holds nothing back as he speaks, telling of the remarkable events in his life. His 21-year love affair with the chef Michael James, the loss of James and of so many friends during the height of the AIDS crisis, his travels around the world, both with and without James, his experience of having survived incarceration in a hospital that practiced gay conversion therapy, his emergence as an out, proud gay man, and so much more.

The film, which was directed by Erin PS Zimmerman, tells Cross’ story simply. Cross sits on a couch and talks,

sharing his memories and feelings about his life and the things that happened to him. Throughout the film,

archival photos and video clips are intercut in order to underscore what Cross is saying.

He begins with the story of how he and James first met, going into great detail of their life together, which included running a world-renowned cooking school for the better part of ten years. Cross also delved into James’ battle with AIDS, recalling how he was treated by the San Francisco Chronicle when he tried to put a death notice into that paper. (The Bay Area Reporter published James’ obituary.)

In the middle of the film Cross goes back to his youth. He was fortunate to have supportive parents, but things didn’t go as well when he entered the Peace Corps. After admitting that he had sexual fantasies about men, Cross was kicked out of the Peace Corps and forced into a hospital where gay men were subjected to electroshock “therapy” in order to “cure” them of their sexuality.

This was in the days when being gay was still considered a crime and an illness. Cross recalled how the men were treated. They were shown pictures of two men having sex. If they got an erection, they were subjected to such a severe dose of electroshock that their bodies would jump off the gurneys they were lying on.

Cross survived this horror. He survived the loss of James and of countless friends. He survived much more,

views Elton did with Alexis Petridis of “The Guardian” for his aptly titled 2019 autobiography, “Me.” Elton condenses his life journey with the line, “It did take me 43 years to learn how to function as a human being, not just a rock star.”

But overall, there are few new or lurid revelations here that haven’t appeared in his memoir or previous interviews. While overall Elton is candid, with his husband directing and producing, he’s presented in the best light possible, as a happy Father Christmas figure, beloved by fans. He shares his wisdom and talents with younger musicians through his ‘Rocket Hour’ podcast. He wrote the movie’s theme song “Never Too Late” with singer Brandi Carlile.

Domesticated, hackneyed, and humdrum are the best words to describe this film, lacking the unconventionality, which drove Elton’s peak metier. Certainly, one is glad Elton has found the happiness he deserves, but satisfaction rarely makes scintillating movies. Even the flawed biopic “Rocket Man” had more excitement and energy. At the documentary’s conclusion, one realizes it’s the songs that not only hold the movie together, but Elton’s life as well. His career deserves to be celebrated and “Never Too Late” fulfills admirably that laudable goal.t www.disneyplus.com

Special screening for new documentary

and he tells it all in a film that’s fascinating to watch because the subject is such a superb storyteller.t

In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Cross spoke of why he wanted to make the film. Read more on www.ebar.com.

‘Billy Cross: A Gay Man’s Story,’ Dec. 15, 2pm, Delancey Street Screening Room, 600 The Embarcadero. Free, RSVP required at: BillyCrossDoc@gmail.com, with a lunch and reception to follow; under-18 must be accompanied by parent or legal guardian. www.eventbrite.com

Billy Cross

Billy Cross in 1978 with his boyfriend, Chef Juan Diego Michel, at the Great Chefs of France Cooking School at the Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa Valley

Elton John in ‘Elton John: Never Too Late’ Disney+

Left: Elton John with John Lennon in ‘Elton John: Never Too Late’ Right: Elton John’s final tour performance

Both photos: Disney+

t TV & Event Listings >>

the Season

by Victoria A. Brownworth

As the year winds down and the holidays rev up, ‘tis the season to embrace joy and camaraderie and all things convivial.

We love Christmas and also have a bi-faith family, so we’ve been doing a lot of window shopping online and immersing ourselves in holiday-mode TV.

There’s nothing that gets one in the holiday spirit better than the queerfriendly Christmas baking shows.

Whether it’s Mary Berry’s “Ultimate Christmas” on PBS or the “Christmas Cookie Challenge” on Food Network, we are all in for holiday trifles with the perfect tweel on top or gorgeous royal icing confections.

We also love ABC’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight.” This is just the wildest show. Two hourlong segments with four families in each one vying for the best holiday light display.

an earlier era with animatronics. Some people literally create new facades for their homes to fit their theme. The only bad part is only one of the four wins the prize of $50,000 and a trophy because you really are cheering for everyone.

Romcom-arama

If you need a queer holiday romcom, “The Holiday Exchange” stars Taylor Frey, Rick Cosnett and Kyle Richards in a house-swapping adventure turned romantic as a single gay man living in Hollywood looks for a vacation getaway and finds it in a quaint European town in a house swap. Both men find that their new locales offer more than a change of scene as yes, romance is in the air. And there are accents to add to the glamour.

Designers Carter Oosterhouse and Taniya Nayak judge these elaborate Christmas displays created by families across the country.

These are just extraordinary displays that will knock your Santa socks off. The breadth of imagination and craftsmanship, combined with the incredible amount of dedication and work is just breathtaking. The detail in these displays is truly incredible.

Some have themes. Some are super modern, while others hearken back to

The movie’s official tagline reads: “Wilde (Frey) has just sold his company, but facing the holidays as a single man, he decides to swap houses on an LGBTQ app with handsome, Brilfax-bred Oliver (Cosnett). In their efforts to escape their woes, each end up meeting respective handsome locals in the forms of Julius (Samer Salem) and Henry (Daniel Garcia), who will spice up their visits. In the process, romance ignites in both sunny L.A. and a charming, snowy town called Brilfax.”

“The Holiday Exchange” was written by Frey and directed by Jake Helgren, who also directed last year’s

Going Out

hot Lifetime holiday offering, “A Cowboy Christmas Romance,”on Peacock and Amazon Prime video.

“The Holiday Club” is a delight. Sam hates the holidays. Bailey loves the holidays. On a lonely Valentine’s Day, the two meet-cute, quickly bond and become friends. With every passing holiday Sam and Bailey spend together, they fall further in love with each other.

Written and directed by Alexandra Swarens (“Looking for Her,” “LA

Web Series”) and starring Alexandra Swarens and Mak Shealy, it’s on Apple TV and Amazon Prime video.

Comic crush

“Fortune Feimster: Crushing It” is out now on Netflix and you really want to watch. The beloved lesbian comedian shares some hilarious stories from her life, including her “romantic” honeymoon with her wife and her reflections on no longer being her mom’s surrogate husband.

There’s something in the air besides pollutant particulates, and that’s the holiday spirit. Whether you’re a “Come all ye faithful” type or a downright Scrooge, it’s inescapable, so dig in and enjoy the fun, like these cuties at The Midnight Sun (see photo). For more secular arts and nightlife events, visit Going Out.

“With her always unique comedic perspective and infectious energy,” Netflix says, “Fortune invites audiences into her world where laughter and love reign supreme.” This is funny and feel-good and who doesn’t want to watch that?

Netflix is doing a great job of giving us queer TV for the holidays. On Dec. 12 the new series “No Good Deed” debuts and it’s queer and funny and just a little dark.

From the stellar lesbian writer/comedian Liz Feldman (“Dead to Me”), “No Good Deed” stars Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano as a couple of who are trying to divest of their past and move forward as empty nesters by downsizing, but then when a series of people start vying for the house, but things go awry.

In the cast are Abbi Jacobson and Poppy Liu who play a lesbian couple who have been trying to get pregnant unsuccessfully via IVF. Perennial lesbian heart-throb Kate Moennig (forever Shane) plays Gwen, a developer who’s in a secret lesbian relationship.

There’s a lot happening here and you’re gonna love it because Liz Feldman always puts on a good show.t

Read more on www.ebar.com.

Left: ‘The Great Christmas Light Fight’ Right: ‘Christmas Cookie Challenge’ ABC

Left: ‘The Holiday Exchange’ Right: ‘Fortune Feimster: Crushing It’

www.ebar.com

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