December 21, 2017 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

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Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community

Vol. 47 • No. 51 • December 21-27, 2017

Gay publisher buys B.A.R.

by Cynthia Laird

T

he Bay Area Reporter has been sold to a gay man who has helmed the legacy LGBTQ publication in various capacities for more than 20 years.

Michael Yamashita, who has been the Cynthia Laird publisher of the B.A.R. Michael Yamashita since 2013 and was the paper’s longtime general manager, has purchased the paper after acquiring shares from two former investors.

The deal was announced Monday, December 18, in an all-hands staff meeting.

Yamashita, 51, becomes the first gay AsianAmerican publisher and owner of an LGBTQ newspaper. The move also means that the B.A.R. remains an LGBT-owned and -operated local small business.

Yamashita will take over BAR Media Inc., which was formed four years ago in a restructuring of the paper’s ownership. At the time, the Bob Ross Foundation had a 20 percent stake, See page 14 >>

CDC denies ban on words

by Lisa Keen

T

he director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is denying that there is any ban on words at the CDC. The denial came just two days after widespread media attention erupted around an article in the Washington Post, saying the CDC was instructing its budget officials not to use words like “transgender” and “diversity” in its upcoming budget proposals.

The Post report Friday quoted a CDC budget analyst as saying that a senior official at the CDC’s Office of Financial Services informed a meeting of CDC budget officials Thursday, December 14, that the Trump administration was banning the use of seven words from official budget documents.

In addition to “transgender” and “diversity,” words reportedly banned were “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “fetus,” “evidence-based,” and “science-based.”

The Post did not identify its source but said, “Other CDC officials confirmed the existence of a list of forbidden words.”

A CBS News report three days later said budget analysts indicated the word ban was intended as a way of attracting greater congressional support for funding. And the New See page 14 >>

Rick Gerharter

Mayor Ed Lee’s daughters, Tania, left, and Brianna, remember their father during his celebration of life Sunday.

SF says goodbye to Mayor Lee

by Matthew S. Bajko

A holiday Cheer for kids

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eeAnn Dundon, left, and fellow Cheer San Francisco members Shelton Jorden, Adriano de la Cruz, and Jannine Crow unpack boxes of toys courtesy of Sparky’s Balloons and donated them to the San Francisco Firefighters Toy Program Saturday, December 16. Other Cheer SF members who helped

Rick Gerharter

with the donation were Sara Toogood, Leah Guillermo, and Jacob Dillon. Cheer SF is the official cheer team of the city and county of San Francisco, and the performing unit of the Cheer for Life Foundation, which raises funds for LGBTQ, HIV/AIDS, and other nonprofits.

For more information, visit www.cheersf.org.

A

grieving city paid its respects to Ed Lee, San Francisco’s 43rd mayor and first Chinese-American occupant of Room 200 at City Hall, at a packed memorial service Sunday under the rotunda of what Lee referred to as “the people’s palace.”

Lee died suddenly last Tuesday at the age of 65 after suffering a heart attack while shopping for apple juice at his neighborhood Safeway store. Thousands of people paid their respects See page 14 >>

Fighting cancer, Concord LGBT center ED announces retirement

by Matthew S. Bajko

I

n 2010 Ben-David Barr, Ph.D., the executive director of the Rainbow Community Center in Concord, started getting sick, but his doctors were unable to figure out why he was ill. Five years later he was diagnosed with Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia, a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“I have too many white blood cells, so they actually attack my own body,” explained Barr, 57, who lives in Point Richmond.

His body has responded well to immunotherapy treatments, allowing Barr to yet begin chemotherapy, which he will eventually need.

“I am pushing it out as long as I can,” said Barr, adding that his plan is to “try to do the least invasive treatment as long as possible.”

The experience, which until now Barr had kept largely private, only telling family, friends, and close associates, has been similar to what he has seen his friends and others living with HIV cope with as the virus damaged their immune systems. Having worked as a social worker for many years in the medical field, Barr said dealing with his own health issues these last seven years has been a humbling experience.

“To go from a person who is a helper to a person who needs help is ... it sucks. I don’t know any other way to say it,” said Barr in a

Jane Philomen Cleland

Rainbow Community Center Executive Director Ben-David Barr, Ph.D. is retiring.

recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

Through it all he continued working, not only overseeing the center that serves LGBT residents of Contra Costa County but also as an adjunct faculty member in the school of social work at Cal State East Bay. But he recently made the decision that it was time for him to step down as executive director of the center to focus more on his health and spend time with his family.

{ FIRST OF THREE SECTIONS }

He and his husband, John Peterson, an engineer, have three adult children and four grandkids in Salt Lake City, where the couple grew up.

They will be spending the holidays in Hawaii the next two weeks.

“As much as I would like to keep working – I have always been a workaholic – but I just can’t do it anymore,” said Barr, who does plan to continue teaching part-time. “It is time for See page 15 >>

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Castro fair helps nonprofits

T

he Castro Street Fair Board of Directors distributed $55,000 to numerous nonprofits during a party

Road Road

Jane Philomen Cleland

December 14 at Beaux. The money represents donations and proceeds from the annual street fair.

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according to Ronen’s office, and that makes it difficult for the district attorHillney’s office to charge “exploitative and Every Thursday in April between 4 & 7pm ary Ronen has announced she’s violent johns and pimps” who’ve been take 20% OFF all parts, accessories & clothing.* launching a pilot program to address arrested in the stings. ready to ride public safety concerns around sex “This partnership is an innovative *Sales limited to stock on hand. work in the Mission district. way to make contact with sex workThrough the program, which will ers, in particular women, on the street start in January, Ronen, who represents who have been incredibly isolated, to District 9, will work with St. James know if they are victims of violence, 1065 & 1077 Valencia (Btwn 21st & 22nd St.) • SF Infirmary, an occupational health and and see if they are looking for another 1065 (Btwn & Valencia (Btwn SF 1065 1077 Valencia 21st &415-550-6601 22nd St.)St.) •21st SF• &SF22nd St.) •safety SALES 415-550-6600 • 1077 REPAIRS 1065 &&1077 Valencia (Btwn 21st & 22nd clinic that offers free medical care way of life,” said Ronen.

Hybrid/City SALES 415-550-6600 • REPAIRS 415-550-6601 SALES 415-550-6600 • REPAIRS 415-550-6601 and other services to sex workers.

Johanna Breyer, St. James’ interim Mon.Sat. 10-6, Thu. 10-7, Sun. 11-5 SALES 1065 415-550-6600 •Valencia REPAIRS(Btwn 415-550-6601 & 1077 21st &Sun. 22nd11-5 St.) • The SF program’s being funded Mon-Sat Sun Mon.Sat.11-5 10-6,11-5 Thu. 10-7, Mon.- Sat. 10-6, 10-6, Thu. 10-7, Sun. executive director, stated the nonMon.Sat. 10-6, Thu. 11-5 Rick Gerharter SALES 415-550-6600 •Xmas REPAIRS Closed 4pm Xmas & NY’s Eve and10-7, all daySun. & NY’s415-550-6601 Day through the city’s budget process. The profit “focuses on the needs of sex Supervisor Hillary Ronen money will allow St. James to do peerworkers by involving them directly in 1065 & 1077 Valencia (Btwn 21st & 22nd St.) • SF Mon.- Sat. 10-6, Thu. 10-7, Sun. 11-5 based outreach in the Mission to enthe services and advocacy they receive SALES 415-550-6600 • REPAIRS 415-550-6601 “Residents who live in these hot gage with people involved in sex work to be healthy and safe.” The agency Mon.- Sat. 10-6, Thu. 10-7, Sun. 11-5 spot areas regularly contact me very during “peak hours” – midnight to 5 Road will have a mobile unit in the Mission upset – not only do they often hear ValenciaCyclery_121417.indd 1 12/14/17 9:36 AMa.m. – and find out workers’ health every week, said Breyer.

Now O late night arguments, but they can and safety needs, Ronen’s office said About 70 percent of St. James’ HAPPY actually hear women being beaten. in a news release. participants have Thur never disclosed Ever y One constituent told 20% me he witnessed Capp and Shotwell streets are well their occupation OFF to medical or social take a woman being beaten with a pipe known for drawing sex workers and service providers, “fearing poor treatoutside his window,” stated Ronen. their clients. Ronen’s staff stated that ment,” according to the agency. The “We need the police to be actively neighbors often call Ronen’s office new program will allow sex workers monitoring these areas, but that is expressing “frustration from excessive “to get help on the street, and gain not enough. I don’t want to continue noises, acts of violence they witness access to healthcare support and emdoing the same thing if it yields the against sex workers, and both johns powerment opportunities.” same unwanted result. I want us to and pimps speeding with their cars up Spokespeople for theVale San Francisco 1065 & 1077 engage directly with the sex415-550 workers and downSALES the street.”

Police Department didn’t provide and Mon.increase public safety for everyThe city’s longtime strategy has comment for thisSat. story. An aide to one in the neighborhood.” been to perform sting operations to Ronen didn’t respond to an email valenc Sex workers often fear reporting arrest pimps and solicitors, but the from the Bay Area Reporter asking incidents to the police because many arrests just push sex workers to the how much money is being dedicated have been mistreated by officers, next street. to the program. t *Sales limited to stock on hand. *Sales limited to stock on hand. limited to on hand. Supervisor *Sales to stock on hand. *Sales limited to stock on*Sales hand. limited anstock Francisco

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SPRING We’ve got m ready to ride We’ve got m Fresno school board replaces anti-LGBT prez ready to ride

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by Seth Hemmelgarn

T

he man who said that teaching LGBT curricula would turn children gay and compared LGBTs to people who commit genocide has been replaced as the Fresno Unified School District’s school board president.

Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, 33, was unanimously voted into the position Wednesday, December 13, taking over from Brooke Ashjian.

The strife around Ashjian started with an August Fresno Bee article that quoted him dismissively talking about LGBT curriculum.

“You have kids who are extremely moldable at this stage, and if you start telling them that LGBT is OK and that it’s a way of life, well maybe you just swayed the kid to go that way,” he said, according to the paper.

Many had called on Ashjian to resign since he made the comments, which were an apparent reference to

Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas

laws such as the California Healthy Students Act, an LGBT-inclusive sex education measure that Governor Jerry Brown signed into law in 2015.

In a statement he read at the August 23 school board meeting, Ashjian said, “1.5 million Armenians were murdered because they dared to disagree with the powers [that] be. The intolerance shown by the Ottomans toward my people was insufferable.

These leaders of the LGBT movement are much like them.”

Ashjian was eligible to serve in the top role again for 2018, but Rosas, a straight ally, was the only nominee last week.

In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Rosas wouldn’t comment on Ashjian specifically, but she said, “There’s a silver lining,” as the controversy “opened up a conversation that wasn’t being had about how can we support our LGBTQ students, and how can we make things more accessible for our transgender students.Rosas was set to meet Friday with students from a local gay-straight alliance to discuss establishing partnerships to combat bullying.

“We’re a big organization,” she said.

“We can’t change overnight, but I assure you we’re taking this as an opportunity to make our district better.”

See page 8 >>

ITIS C T A P E H IC N O FOR CHR

Y L N O E H T S MAVYRET I . . .

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...FOR ADULTS WITH ITHOUT CIRRHOSIS DW N A D E T A E R T Y L S U PREVIO r today and visit to c o d r u o y to lk Ta

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USE MAVYRET™ (glecaprevir and pibrentasvir) tablets are a prescription medicine used to treat adults with chronic (lasting a long time) hepatitis C virus (hep C) genotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 infection without cirrhosis or with compensated cirrhosis.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about MAVYRET? Hepatitis B virus reactivation: Before starting treatment with MAVYRET, your doctor will do blood tests to check for hepatitis B virus infection. If you have ever had hepatitis B virus infection, the hepatitis B virus could become active again during or after treatment of hepatitis C virus with MAVYRET. Hepatitis B virus becoming active again (called reactivation) may cause serious liver problems including liver failure and death. Your doctor will monitor you if you are at risk for hepatitis B virus reactivation during treatment and after you stop taking MAVYRET. Do not take MAVYRET if you: • Have certain liver problems • Are taking the medicines: – atazanavir (EVOTAZ®, REYATAZ®) – rifampin (RIFADIN®, RIFAMATE®, RIFATER®, RIMACTANE®) What should I tell my doctor before taking MAVYRET? • If you have ever had hepatitis B virus infection, liver problems other than hep C infection, or any other medical conditions.

• If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, or if you are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. It is not known if MAVYRET will harm your unborn baby or pass into your breast milk. Talk to your doctor about the best way to feed your baby if you take MAVYRET. • About all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. MAVYRET and other medicines may affect each other. This can cause you to have too much or not enough MAVYRET or other medicines in your body. This may affect the way MAVYRET or your other medicines work, or may cause side effects.

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©2017 AbbVie Inc.

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North Chicago, IL 60064

46A-1933271

November 2017

Printed in U.S.A.

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DO NOT RE-SIZE Ad unit Project # must match this project # 46A-1933271

MAVYRETTM (MAV-ih-reht) (glecaprevir and pibrentasvir) tablets, for oral use

CONSUMER BRIEF SUMMARY CONSULT PACKAGE INSERT FOR FULL PRESCRIBING INFORMATION

Patient Information

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How should I take MAVYRET?

MAVYRET can cause serious side effects, including: Hepatitis B virus reactivation. Before starting treatment with MAVYRET, your doctor will do blood tests to check for hepatitis B virus infection.

If you have ever had hepatitis B virus infection, the hepatitis B virus could become active again during or after treatment of hepatitis C virus with MAVYRET. Hepatitis B virus becoming active again (called reactivation) may cause serious liver problems including liver failure and death.

Your doctor will monitor you if you are at risk for hepatitis B virus reactivation during treatment and after you stop taking MAVYRET. For more information about side effects, see the section “What are the possible side effects of MAVYRET?” What is MAVYRET? • MAVYRET is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with chronic (lasting a long time) hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 infection without cirrhosis or with compensated cirrhosis.

MAVYRET contains the two medicines: glecaprevir and pibrentasvir.

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MAVYRET FULL PAGE BW 120717.indd 1

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Ref: 03-B512 Revised August 2017 46A-1923228 MASTER

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What are the possible side effects of MAVYRET? MAVYRET can cause serious side effects, including: • Hepatitis B virus reactivation. See “What is the most important information I should know about MAVYRET?” The most common side effects of MAVYRET include headache and tiredness.

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Community News>>

December 21-27, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

LGBT theater extends run of ‘Avenue Q’ compiled by Cynthia Laird

F

or the fifth straight year San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center has extended its holiday production of the raunchy, award-winning musical “Avenue Q.” The show will now close Sunday, January 21.

As the Bay Area Reporter noted in a November 30 story, the Broadway hit about a group of puppets trying to make it as adults has been an unprecedented success for the nonprofit LGBT theater company since it first produced it in 2013. Demand for tickets has yet to ebb, even with additional shows added to the schedule this year and last.

The popularity of “Avenue Q” not only means sold-out performances for the theater, but also bolsters the company’s bottom line and helps to fund its presenting new works by LGBT playwrights each season. It is likely that the musical will return in December 2018, though the theater company has yet to announce if it will.

There are still tickets available for the special New Year’s Eve performance at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, December 31. The price ranges from $50-$60 and includes complimentary champagne and party gifts. Regular performances cost $35-$55 depending on the night of the week and location of the seats.

New Conservatory Theatre Center is located in the basement of 25 Van Ness Avenue at Market Street near San

York pizza, non-alcoholic beverages, and dancing before going to other parties or heading home.

The event is free. For more information, visit defrankcenter.org/.

Francisco’s Civic Center.

To purchase tickets online, visit nctcsf.org/.

SF Pride accepting grand marshal nominations

The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee has announced it is accepting nominations for 2018 community grand marshals.

SF Pride has a long history of recognizing generations of LGBTQI leaders and heroes who have led the way in the struggle for equal rights.

With this year’s theme, “Generations of Strength,” the Pride Committee intends to continue that tradition.

Community grand marshals are local individuals or nonprofit organizations that have contributed in large part to the Bay Area LGBTQI community; or as openly LGBTQI-identifying to the broader society. Suggested nominees must live or be based in the nine-county Bay Area region (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties).

SF Pride will be accepting nominations online until 7 p.m. Wednesday, January 10. To submit a nomination, visit https://sfpride. wufoo.com/for ms/ p1dekqz31pcmrxz/.

Homeless memorial Thursday in SF

The San Francisco Interfaith Council and San Francisco Night Ministry

Stem cell agency awards research grants

Lois Tema

Kate Monster (Emily Serdahl) sings “There’s a fine, fine line” in New Conservatory Theatre Center’s production of “Avenue Q.”

will hold their annual homeless persons memorial Thursday (December 21) at 5:30 p.m. on the Polk Street side of Civic Center Plaza.

The event is open to the public.

People are invited to bring candles.

LGBTQ centers announce holiday events

LGBTQ community centers in Oakland and San Jose will hold holiday events.

Before Christmas, the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center, at 938 The Alameda in San Jose, will have an ugly sweater party Friday, December 22, at 11 a.m. There will be a prize for the tackiest sweater, so people can adorn theirs with glitter, buttons, and bows.

On Christmas Day (December 25), there will be a potluck brunch at the

center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Attendees are asked to bring a dish to share.

For more information, visit https:// www.defrankcenter.org/.

In Oakland, the LGBTQ Community Center will be open from 2 to 6 p.m. December 25. Executive Director Joe Hawkins said people can stop by for food, games, and movies. There is no cost to attend.

The center is located at 3207 Lakeshore Avenue (enter on Rand Avenue). For more information, visit https://www.oaklandlgbtqcenter.org/.

The aforementioned Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center will hold a New Year’s Eve party Sunday, December 31, from 6 to 9 p.m.

The center will show televised coverage of the ball drop from Times Square in New York City (9 p.m. Pacific time), and people can enjoy New

Hanukkah celebrated in the Castro

by David-Elijah Nahmod

A

round 100 people joined Castro Merchants and Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, San Francisco’s LGBT temple, for a Hanukkah menorah lighting in Jane Warner Plaza.

The event took place Wednesday, December 13, the second night of Hanukkah.

Also known as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah commemorates the battle waged between the Jewish people and the Syrians, who tried to force them to give up their culture. Led by Judah the Maccabee, the Jews defeated one of the most powerful armies on Earth and reclaimed their Holy Temple in Jerusalem. There was only enough oil in the temple to light its menorah – the seven-branched candelabrum – for one day, yet the menorah burned for eight days. To commemorate this miracle, Jews light candles and exchange gifts for eight days.

“I’m so proud to be sponsoring this third candle-lighting,” said Daniel Bergerac, president of Castro Merchants. “Please remember to shop small and to remember the merchants – without them there would be no Castro.”

Bergerac then introduced Rabbi Mychal Copeland of Congregation Sha’ar Zahav.

“I’m thrilled to be here,” Copeland, who’s a lesbian, said. “We light these

candles when our days are short. When we have a lot of dark, we light up.”

The rabbi also alluded to the current political situation, referring to President Donald Trump without mentioning his name. “We have to keep trying and pushing and never despair,” she said. “We must never forget the story of Hanukkah – we must light that first candle.”

Rafael Mandelman, a gay man who’s a City College of San Francisco trustee and District 8 supervisor candidate, mentioned the grief many were feeling over the unexpected death of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee the day before.

“Yesterday was a nuts day. It started with a sadness that reminded us of our mortality,” he said, referring to Lee, who was 65. He then noted the stunning victory of Doug Jones (D) against anti-gay Roy Moore (R) in the special Alabama Senate race later that same day.

“I’m hopeful that things will change,” Mandelman said as he asked the crowd to join him in a moment of silence for Lee. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco) also addressed the crowd.

“It’s an honor to represent this community,” Wiener said. “Thank you for this honor. We must show the country what love and diversity is.

That’s what Hanukkah is about – having the tenacity to win.”

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state’s stem cell agency, last week invested almost $24.8 million in 13 projects targeting a wide range of diseases and disorders.

One of those is a team at UCLA, which was awarded $1.7 million to develop a way to genetically modify blood stem cells to help make the immune system resistant to the AIDS virus as a potential treatment and possible cure for HIV/AIDS. The grants are part of CIRM’s Discovery Quest Award Program.

Quest promotes the discovery of promising new stem cell-based technologies that could be translated to enable broad use, and ultimately improve patient care.

“One of the most important things CIRM is able to do is invest in early stage projects, long before other industry or private investors show any interest in them,” Dr. Maria Millan, president and CEO of CIRM, said in a news release.

Other projects included a $2.2 million grant to Stanford researchers to help people battling liver failure. t Matthew S. Bajko contributed reporting.

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Copeland then lit the candles as she made the traditional Hebrew blessings. Two candles were lit for the second night. After the candle-lighting, sweet pastries were served as Sha’ar Zahav’s cantor, Sharon Bernstein, backed by Gay Izmar, the synagogue’s in-house Klezmer band, sang Hanukkah songs in both Hebrew and English.

A number of people danced to the music. t

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Rabbi Mychal Copeland, from San Francisco’s Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, waves after lighting the second candle of Hanukkah on the giant menorah in Jane Warner Plaza.

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<< Open Forum

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 21-27, 2017

Volume 47, Number 51 December 21-27, 2017 www.ebar.com

Reacting to CDC’s banned words W

PRODUCTION/DESIGN Ernesto Sopprani

hen the Washington Post broke the story of the seven words banned from budget documents at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we were both outraged and unfazed. We were angry that once again President Donald Trump’s administration was making no secret of its disdain for the LGBTQ community, but we weren’t surprised that it would stoop to censorship.

After all, this is the same administration that, for nearly a year, has sought to marginalize us. If the administration thinks it can make transgender issues disappear by prohibiting the CDC from using the word “transgender,” it is just as incompetent as we suspected and engages in magical thinking that doesn’t jibe with reality.

The other reported banned words are “diversity,” “fetus,” “vulnerable, “entitlement,” “evidence-based,” and “science-based.” You know, words that the CDC regularly uses in its myriad programs, funding requests, and reports. Of course, CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald denied the existence of a forbidden words list, writing in Twitter posts on Sunday, “There are no banned, prohibited or forbidden words at the CDC, period.” She may say that, but count us skeptical. The Post quoted several sources for its story, and while they were not named, this is not the Trump administration’s only attempt at deception. We’ll see soon enough when the proposed budget is released in February.

So, do we believe Fitzgerald? No. And while the CDC still has pages on its website addressing LGBTQ issues, the official funding requests

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t

– and everything in Washington, D.C. revolves around money, or “resources” – likely will not have “transgender” or “diversity” or the other prohibited words in them. For an agency that deals directly with science and evidence, it’s inexcusable that it is being ordered to omit any words from budget requests.

This decision could have a profound impact on LGBTQ health care as it has in the past. More than 30 years ago, homophobia, transphobia, and religious dogma kept the Reagan administration from following sound public health practices to educate the public about AIDS, Gay Men’s Health Crisis officials said in a news release. “Because of this, the government failed to mount a specific campaign targeting diverse communities with explicit and effective public education messages that could have prevented the spread of HIV,” the agency noted.

Words, or the lack thereof, have a powerful effect on policy. Reagan didn’t utter the word

by A. Skye Youth make up approximately 20 percent of the homeless population in San Francisco, about 1,400 unaccompanied children and transitionage youth (18-24 years old). Nearly half (49 percent) are LGBTQ, higher than the national average for homeless youth (40 percent) and significantly higher than San Francisco’s homeless adult population (25 percent).

Lavander Youth Recreation and Information Center has seen a dramatic increase in the percentage of youth who are homeless/unstably housed at initial engagement – now at 68 percent of youth served – almost two times what it was seeing just six years ago. Seventy-five percent of these youth are youth of color and 49 percent are trans/gender nonconforming; 86 percent have a special need, disability, or mental health challenge. These high numbers have been part of, and failed by, social systems (special education-15 percent; foster care-25 percent, justice-75 percent).

I

believe youth homelessness can be healed if we know the root causes of it. When I arrived in San Francisco three years ago, I didn’t know anyone. I wanted to improve my life personally and socially. I didn’t have any connection with anyone trans and gender nonconforming like me. I always wanted to be social with people like me or at least with people who respected me, but that wasn’t happening in my Florida town. I had a falling out with my family and my college pursuits faltered. I was desperate and living in an unsafe place.

I knew that connection with people would help me. I arrived at the SF Transbay Terminal on a Greyhound bus. A woman on the bus told me how Larkin Street Youth Services helped her out and that they had emergency beds. I ended up walking up and down Larkin Street because I didn’t know where it was. Two people beckoned me into a building. I didn’t want to be outside, so I went inside. Luckily, one of these people became key to me getting first connected to services.

It was scary and overwhelming to realize I wouldn’t have a physical place to be in San Francisco and that I wouldn’t have a roof over my head. I thought, “What should I do!?” I would sleep outside for a few weeks and then get a bed in a shelter, and repeat this cycle. There are only

A. Skye

Courtesy LYRIC

so many beds in shelters and you have to line up early to get a bed. People line up outside and sleep during the day while waiting to get a place to sleep for the night. I slept in all sorts of places from Lands End to the front of City Hall.

Homelessness is a sense of loss. It’s very heartbreaking to be a youth in an adult shelter. I want people to know an adult shelter is no place for a youth. The adult shelter is one big room with florescent lighting and no privacy. It’s sad to see adults in the same situation and they take it out on you as a youth. It’s critical that youth are housed off the streets, but there are only a few shelters for youth.

There need to be more youth shelters, emergency beds, and specifically, an LGBTQ youth shelter.

In many ways homelessness in America is a part of our social structure. As individuals and as communities, we need to recognize this as an everyday reality. Knowing our homeless youth populations better will help end youth homelessness. This can happen through continuous and dynamic surveys and community partners who want to help. According to the 2017 San Francisco Homeless Unique Youth Count Comprehensive Survey findings, 49 percent of homeless youth identified as LGBTQQ. This statistic shows how many LGBTQQ youth are homeless and provides data to help better and more accurately distribute resources to LGBTQQ youth.

I was fortunate enough to meet trans people and allies of the LGBTQ community in the shelter who took me under their wing and I got

“AIDS” until years into the epidemic, and politicians ignored the disease that was ravishing minority populations. This resulted in years of federal inaction and a dearth of government policy, leading cities like San Francisco to establish their own response to the crisis.

Fenway Health interim CEO Jane Powers called the reports on the restrictions on the use of words “deeply troubling.”

“It does not matter whether there is an outright ban based on ideology, or whether the list originated as a strategy to gain support for the CDC budget among Republican conservatives,” Powers stated. “Telling public health officials working to prevent Zika, HIV, and other diseases what words they can use is Orwellian.”

The CDC, however, is only the latest federal agency that has been directed to change the way it operates, to the detriment of LGBTQ people.

Since Trump took office and named many antiLGBTQ people to his Cabinet, the government has tried to eliminate us from surveys and the Affordable Care Act. But here’s the thing: trans people are not going away – they are becoming more visible – and government workers shouldn’t be tasked with trying to undermine whole segments of the population.

But if the administration is serious about going down that slippery slope toward authoritarianism, the 12,000 workers at the CDC will have to be more creative to comply with the administration’s directive and to remain inclusive. As we approach the first anniversary of Trump taking office, it’s time for federal bureaucrats to step up their game and muster the courage to not be bullied by a president who often doesn’t tell the truth. t

connected to services. LYRIC was a vital piece in my toolbox when dealing with homelessness.

I received therapy services at LYRIC to help me cope with what I’ve gone through, I became part of a community building group, I was part of a leadership conference, and now I’m a LYRIC Fellow. The LYRIC Fellowship is a two-year paid position for trans and gender nonconforming youth, 18-24 years of age. I am fun and outgoing and invested in internal and external change.

I have a commitment to learn and grow despite challenges in a cis-normative society. LYRIC invests in youth who are trans and gender nonconforming like me. LYRIC focuses on lifting up LGBTQQ youth and encouraging us to embrace our life experiences and use them to step into leadership. LYRIC provides youth with positive ways to build resilience.

By connecting with my LGBTQ community, I slowly started to rebuild my sense of home. Even though I didn’t have a place to stay in San Francisco, I had a home within the people who I met.

A home without walls.

Street kids know a lot about gay rights and the movement. In my experience being homeless, I’ve had people who connected me with housing and school and I’ve had the support of people still on the streets, still going through it. Because of them, I found selfdetermination even when things were looking bleak. Even though I’m not homeless anymore, they know where I came from and that I’m improving my life. When I’m feeling down, they propel me to keep going.

My homeless friends provide me with something special because they know what it means to strive for something better. People discount other people who look homeless, but they are helping me build my home.

I have learned you can have a house, but you might not have a home. I am a survivor. Life isn’t perfect and neither am I. Life is imperfect, but you can always make it better. Even if you’ve had everything and then lose it all, it’s about how you get back up and try again.t A. Skye lives in San Francisco. For more information about the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center, or LYRIC, visit http://www.lyric.org.

t

Politics>>

December 21-27, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

East Bay cities welcome gay mayors

by Matthew S. Bajko

R

esidents of two East Bay cities welcomed their first gay mayors in recent weeks. Tuesday night, December 19, Gabriel Quinto became the first LGBT and first Filipino mayor of the city of El Cerrito, and the first person living with HIV to serve in that role of any Bay Area city.

In mid-November John Bauters was sworn in as the first gay mayor of Emeryville, making the bayside city the third in the state to have both a gay and lesbian mayor. The first was West Hollywood, while San Diego has had interim gay and lesbian mayors.

Lesbian former Emeryville City Councilwoman Ruth Atkin had served in the ceremonial mayor role, which rotates among the council members, first in 2002 and several times thereafter. To date, Atkin is one of only two lesbians known to have served as mayors of Bay Area cities, while Bauters is only the second gay mayor of a city in Alameda County.

The first gay man known to have become mayor in the Bay Area was Jeffrey Shattuck Leiter, who in 1994 was named the mayor of Berkeley following the resignation of Loni Hancock, who stepped down to take a job with then-President Bill Clinton’s administration.

Leiter was seen as a caretaker of the office and agreed not to seek a full term.

The first LGBT person elected mayor in the Bay Area was gay Vallejo City Councilman Gary Cloutier in 2007. But he was ousted from office seven days after being sworn in following a recount of the vote that November in the Solano County city.

In the South Bay gay men have served as the mayors of Mountain

View (Chris Clark) and of Campbell (Evan Low, Rich Waterman.) In the North Bay gay former Sebastopol City Councilman Robert Jacob took over the role of mayor of his city in 2013; while lesbian Cloverdale City Councilwoman Carol Russell has twice served as mayor of her Sonoma County town, first in 2010 and again in 2014.

Quinto, 56, becomes the second gay mayor of a city in Contra Costa County, as gay Pleasant Hill City Councilman Ken Carlson served as mayor of his city from December 2014 through December 2015. Like El Cerrito, Pleasant Hill rotates its mayor position amongst the elected city council members.

“For our LGBT community, this is huge,” said Quinto, who is running for re-election to his council seat in November.“Even though we are mayors of small cities, we belong to regional boards and have a huge responsibility for what we do regionally in the Bay Area.”

Unlike Quinto, who invited Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Benjamin “Ben” T. Reyes II, the first-ever Filipino-American judge to serve on the Contra Costa County bench and the second Filipino-American judge to serve in the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties, to administer the oath of office, Bauters kept his swearing in ceremony at the council’s November 20 meeting a low-key affair.

“It was just part of the evening. There was no speech, I got sworn in and that was it,” said Bauters, 38, who won election to his council seat last year. “The staff liked that; they could go home early, and we went to have a drink.”

He told the Bay Area Reporter he hopes the day will come when a city in the Bay Area having an LGBT mayor will not be news.

Kelly Sullivan

Courtesy John Bauters

Emeryville Mayor John Bauters

“While I am grateful for having the honor of being one of the first LGBT mayors in the Bay Area, my hope is someone growing up in the Bay Area today will think it is normal and won’t be a distinction people will pay attention to,” said Bauters, director of government relations for the nonprofit Californians for Safety and Justice.

Bauters, who serves on the Alameda County Transportation Commission and chairs the board for the county’s Healthy Homes Agency, which works to prevent lead poisoning, said his top priorities as mayor will be housing and transit issues.

“People ask what is the gay agenda? Affordable housing, parking, traffic, environmental quality, and criminal justice reform, that is my gay agenda,” said Bauters, adding that, “as an LGBT person I have an added level of awareness and sensitivity to the needs of people whose voices aren’t often at the table. I will be damned if my turn as mayor does not represent people in an inclusive and cooperative manner. Everybody is welcome is the bottom line.”

Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Benjamin “Ben” T. Reyes II, left, administered the oath of office to El Cerrito Mayor Gabriel Quinto Tuesday.

As for Quinto, who used to live in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood prior to moving to the East Bay, he is on the Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus of the League of California Cities, as well as on the boards of the group’s East Bay division and LGBT Caucus. He also serves on the executive committee of the Sierra Club’s Bay Chapter, which includes the counties of San Francisco, Marin, Alameda, and Contra Costa.

His top concerns as mayor will be affordable housing, economic development, and construction of a new senior center in town. Both of the city’s BART stations have housing developments being built next to them that will set aside a portion of units as below-market-rate.

“My agenda will continue what we have been doing in El Cerrito and that is housing, housing, housing,” he told the B.A.R.

Gay West Sacto mayor fined

A state political watchdog agency has fined the gay mayor of West

Sacramento $656 for failing to properly disclose $5,745 in spending by his election campaign committee in 2016.

Christopher Cabaldon, 52, who is Filipino and a principal co-owner of Sacramento-based education consulting firm Capitol Impact LLC, is one of the state’s longest serving gay elected officials, having first won a city council seat in 1996, though he didn’t come out of the closet until 2005. With no one filing to run against him last year, Cabaldon cakewalked into a seventh consecutive two-year term as mayor.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission found that Cabaldon, his candidate-controlled committee called the Mayor Christopher Cabaldon Committee, and Lanz Nalagan, the committee’s treasurer, failed to timely disclose expenditures and independent expenditures on three campaign statements covering the period of July 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016.

It is expected to approve the fine See page 14 >>

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<< National News

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 21-27, 2017

Parker settles in as head of Victory Fund

by Seth Hemmelgarn

candidates to step up and speak for themselves. We’ll certainly support that process,” she said.

Parker added, “Ultimately, it’s about winning the races. We start with recruiting and training candidates,” and engaging LGBTQs across the country who are interested in running for office.

“Once candidates decide on a race and jump into the process, they contact the Victory Fund, and we put them through the paces,” she said. Being LGBTQ isn’t enough.

“We want to make sure the candidates we do endorse are capable and qualified and can put together a winning campaign.”

whose own political career was aided by the Victory Fund, warned against getting complacent.

“2018 is not going to be easy simply because we have someone in the White House to run against,” she said, referring to President Donald Trump. With past victories, many have said, “We’re on the right track,” and didn’t see as much of a need to push as hard for LGBTQ rights. But as has been seen with the Trump administration, “hard fought rights can be swept away very, very quickly,” she said.

She added, “The most important thing anyone can do is to be engaged” in the process, get registered, and vote in every election, among other steps.

Parker, whose salary is $300,000, replaces Aisha C. Moodie-Mills, who resigned. She will continue living in Houston, but she said, “I expect to do a lot of traveling next year.”

She doesn’t plan to focus on big cities on the coasts like San Francisco, either.

“I want to dispel the idea that any part of America is fly-over country,” said Parker, adding that she plans to go to places like Indiana, Ohio, and Iowa.

“We are very interested in the local races,” including at the levels of state legislatures, city councils, and school boards, she said. Among candidates of special interest are lesbian U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), who’s running for re-election in 2018.

“We still have to sit down and look across the landscape and figure out which races we’re really going to profile and make spotlight races, and we’re in the midst of that process,” said Parker.

With harassment and misconduct accusations roiling the political, entertainment, and media professions, Parker sees the opportunity for new candidates to emerge.

“We know that this is going to be an important year for women candidates ... and in my view, we need to be looking for places where we can build coalitions and leverage our support for candidates with other organizations,” she said.

Several transgender candidates are running for office, and “there are so many on the right who are targeting this, it’s important for transgender

said of Ashjian’s replacement, “I think it was appropriate for the season. Christmas wishes are granted.”

Stokes said that the last time she addressed the board she’d read them the district’s own anti-bullying policy.

“I asked them why the president was less accountable than our students and our staff,” she said.

Ashjian, who remains a trustee, didn’t respond to interview requests, but he posted a tweet responding to

the Bee’s story on last week’s board vote (the paper’s headline was “Embattled Ashjian succeeded by Rosas as Fresno Unified board president.”)

“Nobody ‘embattled’ here ...

I can’t believe ‘cut and paste the

L

esbian former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, the new president and CEO of the national Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and Victory Institute, is ready to get to work as the organization prepares to help LGBT candidates across the country in the November 2018 elections.

Parker, 61, who led the Texas city from 2010 to 2016, began her post at the Washington, D.C.-based Victory Fund Monday, December 11.

Asked about her first priority in the new job, Parker said, “I know the organization, and I know the issues, so the first job for me is to get to know the staff and to connect with the board members and our major donors across the country.”

LGBTs made history in elections across the country this November.

There were at least 71 openly LGBT candidates in 23 states. Of those, 55 percent won, 35 percent lost, and the results of 10 percent were not immediately available.

Among the winners was Danica Roem, who won election to the Virginia House of Delegates against a Republican incumbent who had made a name for himself trying to ban transgender people from public restrooms.

According to the Victory Fund, which supported 61 of the 72 LGBT candidates, Roem’s win makes her the first out transgender person to win and serve in a state legislature and the only out transgender state legislator in the U.S. However, in a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Parker,

<<

Fresno

From page 2

Tonya Stokes, whose transgender son goes to a Fresno Unified school,

Former Houston mayor Annise Parker is now president and CEO of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund.

Praise

LGBTs around the country had high praise for Parker.

“I couldn’t be more excited to have Annise Parker leading the Victory Fund as we continue our fight for freedom, fairness, and opportunity for all,” Baldwin said in a statement. “The Victory Fund has long elevated and championed LGBTQ leaders and our mission is no longer just about the history we make when we win. It’s now about the difference those leaders can make in people’s lives.”

One transgender woman who’s been helped by the Victory Fund in the past is Mia Satya, who’s currently running for the San Francisco Board of Education. Satya was a Victory Empowerment fellow in 2015 and has gone to several of the group’s trainings and conferences.

“As a former Texan turned San

t

Franciscan, I’m inspired by [Parker’s] leadership,” she said. “I know she will use her expertise as a candidate and as a mayor who was re-elected multiple times to really elevate the Victory Fund platform nationally in these tumultuous times.”

Former San Francisco resident Laura Spanjian, a lesbian who once ran for the District 8 supervisor’s seat and is a former co-chair of the local Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, left the city in 2010 to work under Parker as Houston’s sustainability director. She also served for many years on the Victory Fund’s board.

Parker is the “perfect” person to run the Victory Fund, said Spanjian, who now works for Airbnb.

“Her skillset is unmatched,” she said. The organization needs a CEO who understands what it takes to run successful campaigns, can raise money from national donors, and can build coalitions with diverse stakeholders.

“She excels at all of that,” said Spanjian.

David Feltman, who serves on the western caucus of the Victory Fund’s Victory Campaign board, said in a Facebook message that Parker “is a seasoned politician, successful fundraiser, and the skilled manager of the fourth largest city in the nation. Her leadership skills and experience will advance the mission of the Victory Fund and Institute to elect LGBT candidates across the country. We are fortunate to have her as president and CEO.”t

biased’ is still covering education???

Failing bee,” said Ashjian, adopting the tone of President Donald Trump to mock the Bee. t

Gooch and Josue Skaggs

The Bay Area Reporter staff (and Penny the Beagle) wishes you and your loved ones the best during this holiday season and a great 2018!

t

Election 2018>>

December 21-27, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

Lt. gov candidates gain LGBT support

by Matthew S. Bajko

S

everal candidates running in 2018 to become California’s next lieutenant governor picked up key LGBT endorsements in recent weeks ahead of the June primary, where the top two vote-getters will advance to the general election in November.

None of the candidates who have pulled papers for the race are from the LGBT community, leaving endorsements from out elected and community leaders as well as LGBT political clubs and organizations split among three Democrats and one independent candidate running to be the state’s second-in-command. The incumbent, former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, is termed out of office in early 2019 and running next year to become the state’s next governor.

In an exclusive interview with the Bay Area Reporter, gay former San Francisco supervisor Bevan Dufty, who now serves on the board overseeing the regional BART transit agency, revealed he had decided to support Oakland attorney Jeff Bleich, who served as former President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Australia. The two have known one another for years and were early backers of Obama’s 2008 campaign for the White House.

“He has expressed his values through his legal career and they are very much in line with mine. Jeff is a staunch LGBT advocate,” said Dufty.

“I think he has the experience professionally to be a tremendous asset as lieutenant governor.”

As he recounts in a video posted to his campaign website, Bleich provided pro bono counsel to gay Navy Lieutenant Commander Paul Thomasson in his legal fight against the military’s former de facto ban on out LGBT service members known as “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” Although they lost the case in the courts, it brought renewed scrutiny of the homophobic policy adopted by former President Bill Clinton.

“A lot of my friends said this was President Clinton’s initiative, our party’s got to fall in line. When my party is wrong, I will stand up and say that,” Bleich says in the video.

During his time in Australia, Bleich was a vocal supporter of seeing the country adopt marriage equality, which it did this month after years of debate.

It was an issue he had worked on in the U.S., providing support to the San Francisco city attorney’s office on its cases fighting to secure marriage rights for same-sex couples in California.

“I am thrilled,” he told the B.A.R., in a recent phone interview, about same-sex couples being able to marry in Australia.

Bleich, 56, who has three children with his wife, Becky, said the results of last year’s election prompted him to run for public office for the first time.

“My two takeaways were first nothing good will come out from Washington, D.C. and California was going to have to lead, and the second one was we needed to step in to positions that may be under-appreciated in California and move them in new directions to accomplish our goals,” said Bleich, a partner in the Dentons law firm. “The lieutenant governor role is an ideal role for the kinds of challenges we face today. It is not balled up in day-to-day politics; you can choose your issues and drive change through the important boards and commissions you serve on, as well as using the bully pulpit that comes with being in office.”

Other LGBT leaders who have endorsed Bleich include gay attorney and longtime marriage equality advocate Evan Wolfson; gay Obama administration official John Berry,

Jane Philomen Cleland

Gay BART board member Bevan Dufty, left, has endorsed former Ambassador Jeff Bleich in the lieutenant governor’s race.

who also served as ambassador to Australia; and lesbian former San Francisco Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg, who served with Bleich on the California State University Board of Trustees in the aughts.

“You can drive policy at UC and CSU and make sure the campuses comply with anti-discrimination laws,” Bleich said in terms of what he would do on LGBT issues if elected, as the lieutenant governor sits on the boards overseeing both the University of California and California State University systems.

“You can also foster an environment in which LGBTQ communities and interests are respected and welcomed and fully integrated into the school environment.”

Courtesy Kounalakis campaign

Former Ambassador Eleni Kounalakis has received the backing of Equality California in the lieutenant governor’s race.

Other candidates

Equality California, the statewide LGBT rights advocacy organization, last week endorsed another former U.S. ambassador in the race, Eleni Kounalakis, who was sent to Hungary by Obama. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Markos, and their two sons.

“Kounalakis has been a longstanding ally and activist, advancing civil rights and social justice for the LGBTQ community,” stated EQCA Executive Director Rick Zbur. “She was actively opposed to Proposition 8, and as ambassador to Hungary, made fighting for LGBTQ civil rights and protecting vulnerable LGBTQ people in Hungary one of her key priorities. We are confident she will continue to advocate to enhance the rights of LGBTQ Californians as our next lieutenant governor.”

Kounalakis, 51, was the first U.S. ambassador to Hungary to march in the Budapest Pride parade and she used the embassy’s cultural funds to support Budapest Pride Week. She has also pledged to ensure LGBTQ students at state-run colleges and universities are protected and have the services they need.

In addition, Kounalakis would convene a blue ribbon panel on the status of LGBTQ rights in California, with special attention to LGBTQ

youth, transgender individuals, and LGBTQ members of immigrant communities and communities of color should she be elected the state’s first female lieutenant governor.

“California must lead the way into the future – and that means doubling down on our California values. This starts with never tolerating discrimination and always working to ensure equal rights for all,” stated Kounalakis. “As lieutenant governor, I look forward to working alongside organizations like Equality California to amplify more voices so that government can help to create a world that is prosperous, safe, and fully equal for everyone in the LGBTQ community.”

Among the LGBT leaders who have endorsed her in the race are gay former state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco); gay former San Francisco Supervisor David Campos; lesbian former San Francisco supervisor Leslie Katz; and Michael Pappas, a gay man who is executive director of the San Francisco Interfaith Council.

Gay El Cerrito City Councilman Gabriel Quinto, who this week was elected as the East Bay city’s mayor, has dual endorsed Bleich and Kounalakis in the race.

Another Democrat in the race, Dr. Ed Hernandez, 60, a state senator, former Assemblyman, and optometrist from the San Gabriel Valley, also has received significant backing from LGBT leaders, including lesbian state Senate Pro Tempore-elect Toni Atkins (D-San Diego); gay state Senators Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Ricardo Lara (D-Los Angeles); lesbian state Senator Cathleen Galgiani (DStockton); lesbian Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman (DStockton); gay Assemblymen Evan Low (D-Campbell) and Todd Gloria (D-San Diego); and gay former Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles).

“Senator Dr. Ed Hernandez has spent his time in public office fighting for those without a voice, for patients, working people, immigrant communities and all Californians,” stated Eggman. “He’s been a forwardthinking leader on a range of issues, taking on Big Pharma to address skyrocketing prescription drugs, taking on Big Tobacco to raise the smoking age to 21, advancing healthcare for all, creating jobs and so much more.

I’m confident he’ll make a strong Lt. governor for California and I’m proud to endorse him.”

Former Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, 65, a former Green Party member who is running as an independent, also has gained LGBT support for her lieutenant governor bid. Lesbian Richmond City Councilwoman Jovanka Beckles, gay Berkeley City Councilman Kriss Worthington, and gay former San Francisco supervisor and Assemblyman Tom Ammiano have all endorsed her in the race. t

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<< Commentary

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 21-27, 2017

The return

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

T

he Winter Solstice is December 21: that’s the longest night of the year, when light is at its scarcest.

It is at this time of maximum axial tilt of Earth that those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere tend to celebrate with any number of ceremonies and celebrations focused on this very darkness – and, more specifically, the return of light to the world as the days begin to lengthen and we move ever so slightly toward spring and summer.

During the holidays, families and friends will gather once more, perhaps lighting a menorah for Hanukkah or a kinara for Kwanzaa.

Many others will celebrate Christmas alongside a fir tree, handing out gifts to each other to mark the day. Some may be at their church, celebrating a birth said to have occurred some 2,000 or so years ago in a manger in Bethlehem. This is a time of festivity, family, warmth, and togetherness.

Yet for many of us who are transgender, we are left outside in the cold come the solstice. Coming out as transgender, even as we move into an era of greater visibility and acceptance, can lead to estrangement from family and longtime friends, leaving us without a familiar outlet to participate in the season’s merrymaking.

Beyond the estrangement one may feel from relations, those who came up in a religious background may find themselves suddenly outside of their places of worship.

For some, we may be told that the only way we’ll be allowed to be a part of such events is to present in our birth gender, a condition that for many is unacceptable. For others – myself included – such fakery would be far more painful than not attending.

I grew up with a fairly close family.

While we weren’t especially religious, we still made a point to pile into the family car and head to whichever relative was hosting the Christmas gathering. There, amid the scent of overcooked bacon and pancake batter, we would share gifts and enjoy a time of togetherness.

When I came out as transgender, my mother forbid me to share my transition with my extended family.

This meant an end to family gatherings for me. While things have changed, the time for such get-togethers has also moved on. Christmas morning will be spent between my wife and I, alone. I should add, however, that I am fortunate to have her in my life, as many may have nowhere to turn to this holiday season.

This year, too, is a bit harder than most. We’re approaching the oneyear anniversary under the Trump administration, and have seen the havoc it has caused. For those of us who are transgender, this has meant the on- and off-again transgender military ban, the rollback of

t

Christine Smith

transgender protections throughout the administration, and even seeing the word “transgender” itself get barred from use within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As our visibility grows, we face increasing threats to our very survival at all levels.

All of this can make this time of year a particularly grim one for those of us who exist in this world as transgender people: all these supposed tidings of comfort and joy could ring very hollow when one feels alone during celebrations centered on fellowship.

Yet the solstice may remind us that while things may be dark, the light is growing. We may be facing a dark time, but at the risk of sounding saccharine, these times are only here now, and will not remain as such.

As I mentioned, my own family may not do the big holiday gettogether, but I have a partner who loves me with whom to spend the holidays. I also have a great many chosen family members, friends, and acquaintances I can reach out to for the season. I know that while some of the people I may have shared the holidays with no longer choose to associate with me, I have others in my life that gladly will.

There are people out there who will be there for all of us, who will be more than happy to welcome you with open arms in camaraderie this holiday season: you are not alone out in the world.

By the same token, many others and I are determined to push back against the ravages wreaked by the current political climate. The challenges are steep, but we are still standing and still willing to fight on behalf of us all.

If you feel you are in need, there are places to turn. If you can get online, you’ll find trans people the world over who will be willing to give you the support you may be lacking. There are also numbers you can call if you can’t get to a website – Trans Lifeline at (877) 565-8860 – or (877) 3306366 in Canada – is one good place to start but hardly the only one.

What’s more, if you have a local support group or even a queer community center of some sort, you may be able to find welcoming faces. Assume that there are people that are willing and wish to help, no matter what.

That’s what I want to leave you with. Just like our days are getting ever so slightly longer, so, too, is our community growing – in both numbers and in strength. We are here for each other in both large and small ways, and even when we may feel alone, and vulnerable, and threatened, we can be there for each other. Our light will return, stronger than ever.t Gwen Smith wishes you the best this season. You’ll find her at http://www.gwensmith.com.

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<< Queer Reading

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 21-27, 2017

t

‘Stonewall Strong’ looks at ‘conscious resilience’

by Brian Bromberger

T

hey may be the worst eight words a gay man can hear – “I have bad news on the HIV test” – but health journalist John-Manuel Andriote endured them in 2006 when he received an HIV diagnosis, turning his world upside down.

It was particularly difficult because for years he had been chronicling the impact of HIV/AIDS on individuals, the LGBT political movement, the medical research establishment, and popular American culture, which resulted in his critically acclaimed 1999 book, “Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America” (University of Chicago Press). He quickly decided his HIVpositive test result would not define him or undermine his self-esteem and sense of his own value and lovability.

Andriote’s journey to discover how he made those affirming choices to be resilient led to his latest book, “Stonewall Strong: Gay Men’s Heroic Fight for Resilience, Good Health, and a Strong Community” (Rowman & Littlefield). He writes about the traumas in

his own life, drawing from journals he kept since 1980, and how he managed to stay sane, hopeful, and optimistic.

Drawing from leading-edge research and almost 100 original interviews, he shows how gay men have been resilient before Stonewall, through the AIDS years, and onward to marriage equality. He charts resiliency in family (both birth and chosen) relationships, marginalized LGBTQ youth, drag houses, community centers, institutional religion, in work lives, among gay men of color, and the elderly, as well as resiliency being a key to good health.

Andriote, 59, recently spoke with the Bay Area Reporter.

He said that he has been asked many times why he became infected with HIV despite knowing all he knew on the subject.

“I got infected because I am human,” he said. “While I know a lot about HIV, that didn’t always translate into 100 percent safer sex, 100 percent of the time. As I reviewed my journals in writing this book, I was reminded that I took ever-greater risks because of my belief that as an HIVnegative ‘top’ I was at only minimal risk. But I had forgotten about at least

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one incident, in Amsterdam, where I bottomed for a hot young man in the dark room of a bar, so I clearly was not a total top. I still think I got infected by not consistently using condoms in topping guys. I think it’s my obligation to my fellow gay men to be frank about my own behavior if it can help them consider their own sexual choices.”

Andriote said that he came up with a definition of resilience.

“In the book I coin a term, ‘conscious resilience,’ by which I mean the ability to draw consciously on, and to bounce back, from earlier traumatic events in our lives,” he said. “Knowing we have already lived through tough experiences means we can comfort and encourage ourselves to keep going in spite of our newest challenge.”

Andriote explained why he thinks gay men remained so resilient despite the many social, political, cultural, and religious forces arrayed against them.

“We hear time after time in gay men’s coming out stories that a pivotal moment for them, the point when they somehow knew they would be OK after experiencing bullying or rejection, is when they realized they are not the only one,” he said.

Having lived among so many empowered gay men, Andriote believes he has the power to choose whether he will be a victim or victor in his own life story, an important theme of “Stonewall Strong.” Consequently, Andriote examines key pivotal events in recent gay history, “to showcase examples of how gay men have changed the world by refusing to live as victims, rejecting the stigma non-gay people have too-often expected us to bear for being ‘different,’” he said.

“We gay men have much to be

Brian Bromberger

John-Manuel Andriote

proud of in our history and I write about it in a way that flips the ‘victim’ narrative on its head to show that what was really going on was resilient men showing us how to survive and resist oppression – whether it was by living vicariously through the great female divas of stage and screen before Stonewall, the Stonewall riots themselves and the massive coming-out afterward, the community responses to AIDS, or the movement for marriage equality,” he said. “I believe we should celebrate our strong and our proud history of resistance against those who oppress us.”

What gays can teach straights about resistance

Andriote said that there are lessons about resilience that LGBTQs can teach straight people.

“I think the importance of framing our personal stories as tales of survival and strength, rather than struggle and weakness is key, as is the lifesaving value of being connected with a bigger

community, of claiming for ourselves the courage of, for example, our immigrant ancestors,” he said. “I write a lot in ‘Stonewall Strong’ about claiming our gay history as our own and it’s the same for people in other communities, regardless of their sexual orientation.”

The author also discussed resilience now that President Donald Trump is in the White House.

“In this time of anger, resentment, and uncertainty stirred up by Donald Trump, we must remember that gay men have a long history of resistance against oppression,” Andriote said.

“The very word ‘gay’ was chosen to give ourselves a way to speak to, and about, one another in the face of our oppressors. We have always found ways to subvert those who seek to marginalize and stigmatize us, and we must continue to do so, especially now. The most surprising thing I learned while writing this book was how few people, including gay men, seem to have a conscious awareness of their own resilience.”

With all the news about sexual harassment by powerful men in entertainment, media, and politics, it may not be surprising that Andriote learned that researchers at Boston’s Fenway Institute found that nearly half of gay men are sexually abused as boys, with an even higher rate for African-American and Latino gay men.

“The researchers found this after asking themselves, why it is that there is still a hardcore [group] of gay men that, in spite of every effort to encourage safer sex, continue to engage in risky sex and become infected with HIV? “What they found about CSA, as See page 15 >>

City offers winter shelters – but just for men

by Seth Hemmelgarn

S

everal San Francisco churches are offering winter shelter to people in the city who are homeless, but they are only for men.

Michael Pappas, the gay executive director of the San Francisco Interfaith Council, one of the city’s partners on the program, said that when it started in 1988, “that was the greatest need,” and “it’s difficult” for churches “to host folks of different genders.”

“There’s never been an ask to change it,” said Pappas, and that’s how the program will remain next year. He said that Episcopal Community Services, another program partner, does offer shelters for women. An Episcopal Community Services spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Yesenia Lacayo, the program director for Jazzie’s Place, a shelter designed to be welcoming for LGBTQs, said that people who want to get into that shelter need to get on a waitlist through Mission Neighborhood Resource Center.

The number for the resource center is (415) 869-7977. An operator wasn’t available at that number when the Bay Area Reporter called Tuesday afternoon.

Lacayo, who estimated that the waitlist is two to four weeks, said, “Anybody who is transgender but identifies as female should have access to the women’s shelters as well.”

The Interfaith Winter Shelter Program, which in November launched its 29th year, runs through February 24. As part of the program, four churches provide overnight shelter from the cold and rain that

Seth Hemmelgarn

Dale Coverdale

are expected in the coming months.

In a statement released in November, Mayor Ed Lee, who died December 12 from a heart attack, said, “We are always working on moving individuals off the streets and into stable living situations, and these efforts take on even greater urgency during the cold, rainy months of the winter. We are incredibly grateful that our partners in the faith-based community are once again opening up their doors and welcoming residents who are experiencing homelessness. During these times of great need, they are literally providing shelter from the storm.”

Spokespeople for acting Mayor London Breed didn’t respond to a question Tuesday about whether the program would be changed so that women would also be included.

Spaces are reserved on a firstcome, first-served basis each Sunday.

The reservation allows each guest a

seven-night stay. Two meals will be served each night. Last year, over 95 percent of the spaces were occupied.

Pappas stated that for almost three decades, organizers and the host congregations St. Boniface Church, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, and the First Unitarian Universalist Society “collectively constitute the miracle we call the Interfaith Winter Shelter Program.

Together, we offer this labor of love in emulation of the values espoused by our city’s patron Saint Francis.”

(St. Boniface stopped offering the service in early December.)

In a phone interview this week, Pappas said, “We’ve had a very good response” this year and the spaces “are almost at capacity.”

“It’s a blessing for us to be able to offer this,” he said.

Pappas said what attracts people to the churches is “they get treated with dignity, as well as a good meal.

They are safe places.”

The city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing funds Episcopal Community Services to provide operational staff that handle daily logistics at the host congregations. The group also engages guests “toward housing stabilization,” officials said.

Beth Stokes, executive director of Episcopal Community Services, stated, “For many of our guests, coming in from the cold at Interfaith Winter Shelter and engaging with staff and with services will be the first step towards accessing permanent housing – the only solution to homelessness.”

See page 15 >>

t

Community News>>

December 21-27, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

New app improves calls for people with hearing loss

by Belo Cipriani

D

uring his freshman year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983, film director Larry Guterman found himself at an extremely loud party. The boisterous festivity left him with ringing in both ears for about a week – ultimately pushing him to see a doctor.

“I went to get checked,” said Guterman, “and they found some mild loss, about 35dB, in one of my ears, at 2kHz.” That first visit to the audiologist marked Guterman’s hearing decline.

Over the next few years, he experienced gradual hearing loss – triggering him to try everything to keep his ears from getting worse.

“I went to Mass. Eye and Ear in Boston, the House Group in Los Angeles, where they pioneered the cochlear implant, UCSD, UCSF, Stanford, etc.,” he said.

“After ruling out acoustic neuromas and Meniere’s disease,” he continued, “each doctor gave me a different diagnosis – from cochlear otosclerosis to autoimmune disease to genetic or congenital causes – with no treatment.”

While Guterman’s cause of hearing loss was uncertain, what was clear to him was he had to adapt to his condition – something he admitted was not easy.

“I think some of the most anxietyridden situations I experienced included being in phone meetings, or being in business meetings at a restaurant or in a crowded environment, where it became harder to understand what others were saying. Work situations where there was critical information I needed to hear or process – that was nerve-wracking,” he said.

Despite the challenges he faced as a

Courtesy Larry Guterman

Film director Larry Guterman

result of his impairment, Guterman, 54, managed to launch a successful career in the film industry. He has collaborated with Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard and worked on such projects as “Antz” and “Cats & Dogs.”

But as Guterman’s career took off, he began to grow frustrated with the limitations of hearing devices.

“I was starting to have trouble understanding on phone calls even with my hearing aids,” he said.

“I’d get feedback, they were awkward to use with headsets, etc. I tried several different hearing aids with streaming from the phone through streamers. But, I couldn’t get the speech discrimination I needed and they were too expensive to buy just to use as regular hearing aids for ambient situations.

“So,” he continued, “I started taking my hearing aids out and using earbuds to talk on the phone. The problem, of course, was that I wasn’t getting any shaping of the speech signal and things sounded too muffled.”

Guterman, an LGBT ally, joined forces with Jody Winzelberg, Au.D., former chief of audiology at Stanford

Children’s Health, to create San Francisco-based SonicCloud, an app for iOS that puts hearing aid technology on the iPhone.

One of SonicCloud’s investors is gay actor Sean Hayes – who many readers know as “Jack” from “Will & Grace” – and who also stars in a funny commercial about the app.

Unlike sound amplifying apps that only work for in-person conversations and for mild hearing loss, SonicCloud can help people with severe hearing loss experience clear conversations over the phone. It is currently the only app that can customize sound on a phone call according to the unique needs of each person.

“Our technology stack includes much more than an app,” Guterman said. “We’ve built a highly accurate hearing assessment tool, a cloudbased signal processing engine, and a fully functional, proprietary VoIP calling service that works not only on the phone (mobile), but also (currently in beta) on the desktop, and that uses the data captured by the hearing assessment tool to personalize audio on phone calls to the user’s unique hearing profile.”

Guterman said that while SonicCloud’s first product is in telephony, the company plans to expand and cover all things sound.

The SonicCloud app is available in the Apple app store. You can learn more about the technology at http:// www.soniccloud.com. To check out SonicCloud’s humorous commercial with Hayes, go to https://soniccloud. com/launch/.t

O

rganizers of the multi-sport Sin City Classic report that registration is open for 18 sports for next year’s festival, scheduled for January 11-14 in Las Vegas.

The Greater Los Angeles Softball Association has been locked in a legal battle with former tournament director Eric Ryan over ownership of the event. The case is currently in mediation and is scheduled for trial in April.

Nevertheless, GLASA announced that 18 LGBT sports organizations have signed up to host competitions during the weekend.

“The legal dispute between GLASA and Mr. Ryan is ongoing, and GLASA does not comment on ongoing litigation,” Larry Ruiz, GLASA commissioner, told the Bay Area Reporter.

The sports are: softball, golf, ice hockey, wrestling, volleyball, body building, running, soccer, dodgeball, tennis, diving, kickball, cheer, bowling, flag football, billiards, Frisbee, and bridge.

For registration details and more information on individual sports, visit http://www.sincityclassic.org.

Gay Games 2018 registration

Registration fees for Gay Games X in Paris next year are scheduled to increase January 1.

Organizers said more than 5,200 individuals had registered by the end of last week and all slots have been filled in golf and tennis.

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Belo Cipriani is a disability advocate, an award-winning journalist, the prize-winning author of “Blind: A Memoir” and “Midday Dreams,” and the spokesman for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Learn more at www. belocipriani.com.

Sin City registration opens

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Currently, the base registration fee is 175 euros ($206). That fee will increase to 185 euros ($218) in January, and then climb to 205 euros ($242) in May. The Gay Games are scheduled for August 4-12. For registration and more information, visit http://www. paris2018.com.

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Former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar, 54, was sentenced earlier this month to 60 years in prison on child pornography charges and faces further sentencing in January after pleading guilty to seven counts of sexual abuse of underage girls, many of them athletes under his care in gymnastics programs.

But USA Gymnastics does not seem ready to admit any responsibility for exposing so many athletes to the predator.

After releasing a statement that it was “sorry that

Registration is open for the Sin City Classic.

any athlete has been harmed during her or his gymnastics career,” USA Gymnastics said any lawsuits against the organization regarding Nassar should be dropped.

“While Nassar is liable to the plaintiffs, USAG is not,” the organization said in a statement. “Most of the plaintiffs failed to timely assert their claims, and, therefore, their claims are time-barred.”

See page 15 >>

Obituaries >> Joseph P. Bourassa November 25, 1956 – December 3, 2017 Joseph Bourassa, 61, died December 3 from injuries sustained in an accident at his home in San Francisco.

Joseph leaves his husband of 40 years, David Dietrich of San Francisco.

Joseph was the son of Cecile Bourassa of Bradford, Massachusetts, and the late Emile Bourassa. He also leaves brothers, Daniel (Linda) Bourassa of Atkinson, New Hampshire; John (Virginia) Bourassa of Hayward, California; Kevin Bourassa of Bradford, Massachusetts; sisters, Louise Mallory of Antioch, California; and Carol (David) Keating of Bradford, Massachusetts.

Joseph retired from the California State Compensation Insurance Fund, where he worked for the IT department. His smile and quick wit will be dearly missed by all who knew him.

We’ve expanded our services and kept the spirit and tradition.

Call (415) 771-0717 One Loraine Court between Stanyan & Arguello

FD 1306

COA 660

<< Community News

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 21-27, 2017

<<

Mayor Lee

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B.A.R.

From page 1

Yamashita had 31 percent, and Todd Vogt and Patrick Brown had 49 percent collectively. Vogt and Brown were previously with San Francisco Media Co., publishers of the Examiner and SF Weekly, and the shuttered San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Yamashita now has an 80 percent stake in the company; the Bob Ross Foundation retains its 20 percent collateral shares.

The foundation, named after the

<<

tens of millions of dollars in federal HIV/AIDS funding cuts.

Images included in a photo montage shown prior to the start of Sunday’s memorial showed Lee with various LGBT officials as well as attending the city’s annual Pride parade and the yearly dedication ceremony for the pink triangle installation on the side of Twin Peaks.

The creator of the display, Patrick Carney, and his husband, Hossein Carney, who were married

by Lee in a private ceremony held in his mayoral office, were among the first people in line for Sunday’s service. Patrick Carney recalled asking Lee when he became mayor at the Pride flag raising ceremony in early June that year if he could send goats up to the public park to clear out the poison oak and how, within minutes, Lee had worked it out with the public works director.

“The goats were up there the next day. He spoke that year at the pink triangle (as well as other years – four times in total),” Carney, a member of the City Hall Preservation Advisory Commission, told the B.A.R. “He not only did his best to support equal rights for LGBTQIs but for all groups, famously starting with the Chinese community as a housing activist 45 years or more ago.”

Hossein Carney, like so many others, said he would most remember Lee’s smile and how “humble and so down to earth he was.”

Nearby in line were Ken Maley and his husband, Firat Yener, whom the mayor also married in his office. Friends with Lee for two decades, Maley said, “He was so sweet” and remained so even after becoming mayor.

“You could sit down with him at lunch and have a lovely chat,” recalled Maley, who often dined with Lee at Zuni Cafe on Market Street.

“He didn’t push any agenda.”

Paul Henderson, a gay man who worked for Lee as a deputy chief of staff and is now interim director of the Department of Police Accountability, said he would most remember Lee’s “leadership and elevating the standards for public service.” Noting that Lee championed the disenfranchised, LGBT individuals, and people of color, Henderson added that “having an ally in leadership is invaluable.”

Rebecca Prozan, a lesbian who worked with Lee in the Brown administration in the 1990s on the implementation of benefits for domestic partners, said Lee “defined public service. His heart was always in the right place, and we are a better city because of him.”t

paper’s founding publisher, had to divest itself of the majority of its ownership interest in the paper four years ago during the restructuring.

As part of the agreement, Vogt and Brown have resigned from the board of BAR Media Inc. Yamashita said that he expects to nominate board replacements for Vogt and Brown soon.

Scott Wazlowski, a gay man who is vice president of advertising at the B.A.R., remains on the board of BAR Media Inc. Yamashita declined to disclose the sale price.

“It’s been an incredible experience since the day decades ago when Bob Ross first gave me a break; he hired me as an assistant editor and six years later suggested that I become the general manager of the B.A.R.,” Yamashita said. “He, like Tom Horn, was one of many mentors I was fortunate to work with and am proud to follow in their footsteps as publisher and an owner.

I believe in the B.A.R. as a community resource in our fight for equal rights and am honored to play a role in keeping it a local institution and

connected to San Francisco.”

In an email, Brown said that the paper “is in the right hands.”

“Ownership needed to stay in the Bay Area and Michael Yamashita is the perfect fit,” Brown wrote. “I have had the opportunity to work with Michael over the past four years and found him to be totally committed to representing the gay community through the oldest publication in the country serving this critical San Francisco audience. I treasure my relationship with him and the B.A.R. from both the growth and

contributions we were able to make and will miss it.”

Vogt did not respond to a request for comment.

The B.A.R., which marked its 47th year in 2017, is also a founding member of the National LGBT Media Association, a trade group comprised of LGBT publications Bay Windows, Between the Lines, Dallas Voice, Gay City News, Georgia Voice, Philadelphia Gay News, Los Angeles Blade, South Florida Gay News, Washington Blade, Watermark Online, and the Windy City Times. t

minimize the visibility of LGBT people, it has not yet permeated the agency. The opening statement on that website asserts, “The perspectives and needs of LGBT people should be routinely considered in public health efforts to improve the overall health of every person and eliminate health disparities.”

But a similar page on the HHS website has been “archived” and is no longer available, noted ThinkProgress.org.

And the Trump administration has been systematically eliminating LGBT people from federal concerns.

At HHS alone, the administration has removed, from at least two federal health surveys, questions that would identify data specific to LGBT people. It announced it would no longer interpret the Affordable Care Act to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. And, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality, President Donald Trump appointed a virulently antitransgender person, Charmaine Yoest, as HHS assistant secretary for

public affairs.

On Monday, Politico.com reported that HHS is refusing to release more than 10,000 public comments submitted in response to a proposal to reduce HHS regulations with regard to religious groups.

“While HHS received 10,729 comments on its proposal,” noted Politico, “the agency has only posted 80 comments – less than 1 percent of all submissions – that overwhelmingly back the administration’s anti-abortion policies or attack regulations advanced by the Obama administration, such as a rule forcing health care providers that accept federal funding to provide services to transgender patients. Sources with knowledge of HHS decision say the agency hand-picked the comments that it released.”

Politico said HHS officials said they are not required to release all the comments because the comments were responding to a “request for information” and not a proposed rule change.

HRC’s Stacy said the refusal to

release all the comments “is part of a disturbing pattern across the TrumpPence administration of refusing to even study the unique health care and other needs of LGBTQ people, jeopardizing science-based assessment of heath disparities, and undermining access to programs and services that are vital to the health and well-being of LGBTQ people.”

The Trump administration’s budget for the next fiscal year is due to be released in February.

Meanwhile, a team of researchers at UCSF launched a national longterm study in June to independently gather health data from individual LGBT participants. The PRIDE Study (Population Research in Identity and Disparities for Equality) seeks to collect health data from individuals through its website over the course of decades. t

which will also be adding “queer” to its name.

At its January 16 general membership meeting the progressive LGBT political club is expected to early endorse District 6 supervisor candidate Matt Haney, a straight man on the city’s school board, and gay District 8 supervisor candidate Rafael Mandelman, a member of the City College board running to oust appointed Supervisor Jeff Sheehy from the seat. Both Sheehy, who is the board’s first HIV-positive member, and Mandelman are former presidents of the Milk club.

Mia Satya, a transgender woman who works for the LGBT Community Center’s economic development program, is also set to secure the club’s early backing in her bid for a seat on

the board overseeing the San Francisco Unified School District.

In addition to supporting the decision by the club’s political action committee to schedule the early endorsement votes, Milk club members at their holiday party Saturday, December 16, adopted a proposal to add “Queer” to the club’s name, which will become the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club. t

Rick Gerharter

The casket of Mayor Ed Lee lies in state in the rotunda of City Hall Friday, December 15.

CDC

From page 1

York Times said a “few” Health and Human Services officials “suggested that the proposal was not so much a ban on words but recommendations to avoid some language to ease the path toward budget approval by Republicans.”

But the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT rights group, was not convinced.

“The Trump-Pence administration’s effort to eliminate entire communities from its vocabulary is a dangerous attack on LGBTQ people, women, and fact-based policy making,” said David Stacy, HRC governmental affairs director. “The move is reminiscent of a time not long ago when the government tried to ignore the reality of the HIV and AIDS crisis to the detriment of millions.”

And pro-LGBT Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) likened the reported word ban to the dystopia

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administrations and later urged him to run for the job after initially saying he wouldn’t.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (DCalifornia), the city’s first female mayor who played a part in convincing Lee to run for the position, recalled Lee not only as a “steadfast champion for human and civil rights” but also as someone who was “incredibly effective in government management.”

Newsom joked that Lee had a reputation as being “uncool” but was friends with “the coolest people

on earth,” like former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana and Giants great Willie Mays.

Lee was “a tribute to decency,” added Newsom, “a person beloved but in so many ways underappreciated” who “never sought the public spotlight.”

Lee’s daughters, Tania and Brianna, thanked the public for the support they and their mother, Anita, had received and announced they had set up a charitable fund in their father’s name at the San Francisco Foundation to support programs for the homeless and affordable housing, fighting discrimination, and protecting immigrants and the environment. It was Lee’s “absolute love for the city,” they noted, “that kept him going.”

None of the speakers at the memorial were from the LGBT community or directly referred to Lee’s support of LGBT issues and causes.

But as the Bay Area Reporter noted last week, the mayor left a lasting legacy on LGBT rights, from appointing the first bisexual and HIVpositive members of the Board of Supervisors to being a national voice opposing policies that discriminated against LGBT individuals.

He was a leading proponent for transgender rights, naming the country’s first mayoral adviser on transgender issues, and backfilled

From page 1

to the civil servant turned politician while his body lied in state inside City Hall Friday, and his friends and family attended a private funeral service Saturday in Daly City.

The public commemoration of Lee’s life the next day saw elected leaders from around the country, local celebrities, city employees, and San Francisco residents pack into City Hall for a 90-minute tribute to the “unusual political leader,” as Governor Jerry Brown (D) described his friend and fellow lawmaker.

“Ed was a person who had an infectious smile,” recalled Brown, adding that, “anytime I got a call from Ed Lee it was a pleasure to talk to him.”

Noting that Lee had not sought out being named mayor after Gavin Newsom (D) resigned from the position due to his election in 2010 as the state’s lieutenant governor, former mayor Willie Brown said Lee “was different” from all of the city’s past mayors.

“He never wanted the job. I am not sure Ed Lee ever wanted any job,” remarked Brown, pointing to how he and other mayors recruited Lee, who had been a civil rights attorney, for various positions in their

Political Notebook

From page 7

against Cabaldon, who has agreed to pay it, at its meeting Thursday, December 21.

EQCA dual endorses in local races

Equality California, the statewide LGBT advocacy organization, has dual endorsed in two local races on the ballot next year. In the contest for the open 15th Assembly District seat in the East Bay, EQCA’s political action committee is supporting two lesbian candidates, Berkeley school board member Judy Appel and Richmond City Councilwoman

t

The CDC is denying it has banned words from official documents.

portrayed in George Orwell’s classic “1984.”

But CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald said in Twitter posts on Sunday “there are no banned, prohibited or forbidden words at the CDC, period.”

CDC’s current website includes a “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health” page with photographs of “Gay and Bisexual Men,” “Lesbian and Bisexual Women,” and “Transgender Persons,” suggesting that, if there is an effort underway by the Trump administration to Jovanka Beckles. The group snubbed a third out candidate in the race, bisexual East Bay Municipal Utility District board member Andy Katz.

In the race for the open District 2 seat on the state’s Board of Equalization, EQCA dual-endorsed lesbian state Senator Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) and straight San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen, who is termed out of her District 10 seat next year.

Milk club to early endorse in January

Three candidates for local office in San Francisco are set to secure early endorsements next month from the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club,

Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

t

International News>>

December 21-27, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

Trans Indians protest proposed rights bill

by Heather Cassell

“Our ministry feels that the bill made by us is good and there is no need to change it,” Thaawarchand

“The very definition of ‘transgender’ in the bill as neither male nor female, etcetera, is scientifically inaccurate and undignified,” Gee Imaan Semmalar of Sampoorna, India’s largest intersex and transgender network, told the Express.

“It’s wrongly based on the concept of ardhanaari in Hindu mythology.”

Ardhanaari is the androgynous form of the Hindu god Shiva, who is half man and half woman, according to lore.

Semmalar added that the bill also mandates a physical screening by district level panels, which goes against India’s Supreme Court 2014 judgment that recognized and mandated governmentled changes to integrate transgender individuals into Indian society.

For a longer version visit ebar. com.

Andriote said. “In fact, the numbers show that even as fewer Americans identify as persons of faith or align with a particular religious tradition, the numbers are actually increasing among LGBTQ people.”

Andriote noticed that LGBTQ people of color, whom he described as “doubly different, twice as strong,” while facing anti-gay stigma both in their own racial or ethnic communities as well as in white and middleclass LGBTQ communities, may actually have an advantage when it comes to being resilient.

“The twice as strong part comes in these folks’ ability to draw from other sources of personal identity – their racial and ethnic identities, their communities’ histories of resilience, and survival against challenging odds – to affirm themselves. I write about how African-American gay men have always told me they experienced the impact of AIDS on gay men differently because they were more in touch with these other aspects of their personal and community histories than the

urban gay men who frequently were cut off from, or living far away from, their families and hometowns, and didn’t have those sources of continuity and connection from which to draw.”

Another way gay men have developed resiliency is to find meaning in being stigmatized, the concept of “positive marginality,” which Andriote discusses in his book.

“This term suggests that we can draw on our experience of being stigmatized as gay men and our efforts to resist the stigma and replace it in our own minds with a definition of us that disproves the stigma. For example, our bullies might tell us that we are ridiculous fags who only care about sex,” he said. “If we internalize that message, allow our bullies to define us for ourselves, depression and selfdestructiveness too easily follow. But if we reject the stigma, and replace it in our minds with positive, affirming images of ourselves and what being gay ‘means’ to us, then we can support our health and well-being and not let the bullies win.

Andriote said that he wrote the book to encourage gay men to make healthy choices in their lives. For example, he observes how, in the gay community, there has been an attitude toward promiscuity and drug use that not only tolerates, but also celebrates them as “somehow being gay birthrights.”

Andriote suggests instead, that “we should consider celebrating our shared history of courage and resilience in the face of oppression, and the amazing cultural contributions we make in the world because of our ‘difference.’

Instead of celebrating our ‘right’ to be promiscuous (and I realize that for many gay men, this is an unpopular non-PC word), why not focus on our ability to love one another and build a strong community together?”

He said that he finds it nearly miraculous that any gay man survives to adulthood, especially having to deal with bullying or worrying that someone will find out their “truth,” coupled with rejection from families or sometimes from places of worship.

“Reminding us of what we have already learned about taking care of ourselves, how we managed to make it through all our trials, provides the nugget of pride and self-esteem that form the core of our drive to be good to ourselves. When we believe that we are lovable, despite what anyone may have tried to make us believe about ourselves, then we are more apt to treat ourselves in a loving manner – and to care for our health.”

For Andriote it all comes down to choice.

“My late, dear friend Richard Rasi, a psychologist and Catholic priest in Boston who founded the Provincetown Dignity chapter, always ended Mass by saying, ‘Let us not be our own oppressors,’” Andriote said. “Choosing to move beyond our internalized homophobia, our self-stigma, is the beginning of being whole and healed as gay men. We can reframe our stories not as victims but as the heroes we really are and to see ourselves as members of a long lineage of brave gay men.” t

public library, where he usually sleeps in one of the doorways.

“I’m hungry, I’m broke, and I’m cold,” said Coverdell, who’s bisexual.

“I have a blanket and a sleeping bag.

That’s all I’ve got.”

He said he hadn’t heard about the winter shelter, but he’d consider

going in. Like many people who are homeless in the city, he said his past experiences with homeless services haven’t been good.

“I don’t like the shelters they have now,” said Coverdell, who worried about getting robbed and didn’t like the rules at Multi-Service Center

South, the huge South of Market area shelter where he’s stayed in the past.

“I didn’t like it, so I left,” he said.

The Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption is at 1111 Gough Street, St. Mark’s is located at 1031 Franklin Street, and First Unitarian

is at 1187 Franklin Street.

For information on vacancies during the week for one night only, call Dennis McCray at (415) 4873300, extension 4101.

For more information, visit http://www.ecs-sf.org/programs/ winter.html. t

“We must look at the organizations that protected Nassar for years,” Olympian Aly Raisman, one of Nassar’s accusers, wrote in the Players Tribune. “Until we

understand the flaws in their systems, we can’t be sure something like this won’t happen again.”

Law enforcement officers said they found more than 37,000

child pornography images in Nassar’s home while they were investigating sexual abuse charges against him.

“He has demonstrated that he

should never again have access to children,” U.S. District Judge Janet Neff said. t

the agency had an annual budget of $100,000, whereas today it has a $1.2 million budget, the majority of which comes in government funding to run programs for LGBT youth, seniors, and people living with HIV and AIDS. This summer it opened a satellite location in El Cerrito to better serve LGBT residents in West Contra Costa County.

“I am proud of his leadership over the years,” said gay El Cerrito City Councilman Gabriel Quinto, who this week became his city’s first LGBT and Filipino mayor. “What he has done in Contra Costa County, where we were not organized, he organized the whole county to make sure we had a presence in Contra Costa.”

Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia had noticed that Barr had lost weight recently but was unaware he had cancer. His remaining on the job for so long speaks to his commitment to the center’s mission and clients, said Gioia.

“I think with him it is always more than just about himself, it is about the larger work,” said Gioia, who helped launch the RYSE Center for youth in Richmond that then

partnered with the Rainbow Community Center to provide programming. “We will miss him in his role, and I think he will have left the organization in a good place.”

He praised Barr for raising the LGBT center’s visibility and reach within the sprawling county, which extends from the Bay inland to the foothills of Mount Diablo.

“He has been a great advocate to bring and ensure culturally competent services to the LGBT population,” said Gioia. “The fact he has been successful in improving and expanding services that is a testament to his leadership. It will be big shoes to fill.”

Gay Pleasant Hill City Councilman Ken Carlson, president of the LGBT center’s board of directors the last two years, said Barr’s stepping down will have an impact but that he is leaving the center on good footing as it works on a new strategic plan for its future.

“I don’t want to sound overly dramatic, but it definitely will have an impact because he has done so much work there,” said Carlson.

“The work he has done there, he has made it an easy transition for the

next person to come in. It is more a matter of finding the best candidate who can take on the work.”

The board has already interviewed candidates to become executive director on an interim basis and expects to offer the job to one of them and begin contract negotiations this month so the person is in place after the new year. It should wrap up work on the center’s new strategic plan this spring and would like to have hired a permanent executive director within six months.

As for Barr, he is “one of the most courageous people I know,” said Carlson.

“You have to have tremendous courage and strength to go through that and keep an organization running like that. That is no small feat,” he added. “The center has grown significantly the last decade with him at the helm. It has been exceptional to see the center grow and develop and provide the services really no one else provides. With the changes in politics over the last year, being able to supply the services we do that are no longer provided, and with that focus on a marginalized community, it is huge.”

Having relocated the center closer to Concord’s BART station and opening the second location will be highlights of his time as executive director, said Barr, while the lowest point came when the facility was vandalized and broken into four times over 10 days by thieves who stole $30,000 from the center and another $30,000 from its donors.

“It was an incredibly stressful time. Our computers were stolen,” recalled Barr. “We had people using the center’s checks at casinos. They tried to take about $30,000 out of our account. It was all returned but it took months.”

As he and his partner have no plans to return to Utah, Barr said he will continue to support the center but intends to not get in the way of the new leadership.

“Nobody does this work alone.

I really appreciate all the people I had an opportunity to work for, both the board, staff, volunteers and community members,” he said. “It has been a great experience. I am really grateful I got to be a part of it.”t

H

undreds of transgender Indians and their allies protested this week outside the Ministry of Social Justice against Parliament’s reintroduction of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016.

Transgender activists say the bill criminalizes them rather than protects them.

The current bill inaccurately defines “transgender” and lacks many protections and provisions granted by India’s Supreme Court and a House panel report, according to experts.

Advocates for transgender rights are upset that the Union government decided not to adopt recommendations made by the Parliamentary Committee Report in November. Instead, the government chose to move forward with the bill in its original form and introduced it this week.

<<

‘Stonewall Strong’

From page 12

they refer to it, is that whether male or female, people who are sexually abused as children typically grow up with a poor sense of self-esteem, deep shame, and a propensity for self-destructive behavior, including unhealthy relationships, partner violence, and risky sex,” he said, referring to child sexual abuse.

“The researchers believe that if we can address the trauma of gay men’s CSA experiences, it would be by far the most effective way to prevent new HIV infections because healthy men make healthy choices, and unhealthy men typically don’t,” Andriote added.

Gays and religion

He also found interesting evidence that religion does play a role in fostering resilience for LGBTQ people.

“I cite research data showing the inaccuracy of believing that all LGBTQ people reject religion or that all religions reject LGBTQ people,”

<<

Winter shelters

From page 12

Dale Coverdell, 41, who said he’s been homeless for “longer than I care to remember,” was recently sitting outside San Francisco’s main

<<

Jock Talk

From page 13

At least one athlete differed with that opinion.

<<

Concord LGBT center

From page 1

me to learn to do a much better job of taking care of myself and taking time with my partner and kids and grandkids. It is time to really make sure I am here for my family.”

Barr announced the news of his retirement, which will become effective sometime next month once the center has hired an interim executive director, and revealed his fight against cancer in an emailed letter to supporters and clients of the Rainbow Community Center sent on December 7.

“It’s been a difficult situation, but it has also been a chance for me to see another side of Rainbow,” wrote Barr. “You see, I always knew we were an organization filled with great people, but since I’ve been sick I have seen my colleagues with new eyes. They have so much kindness and compassion.”

Transformed center

Friends and colleagues said Barr will be greatly missed and is leaving behind a transformed center. When he started as executive director,

Chennai-based transgender activist Grace Banu noted that the bill was silent on several aspects outlined by the court judgment and the House panel report.

“These include reservations for government jobs and educational institutions, recognizing intersex as different from transgender persons, stress on health care, [and] decriminalization of sex work and begging and the provision of livelihoods,” she pointed out.

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health agreed.

Last month the organization asked the Indian government to withdraw the bill and replace it with one that reflected more closely the “terms and spirit” of the court’s ruling. t

Gehlot, the minister of social justice, told the Indian Express last month.

Angered, transgender activists launched social media and letter campaigns directed at the prime minister’s office, leading up to Monday’s national demonstration in New Delhi.

Protesters chanted “Awaz do hum anek hain” (My body, my rule,) as they marched toward the Parliament House dressed in traditional saris and carrying colorful signs in multiple languages, reported the Times of India.

Another campaign launched last month by transgender activists opposing the bill has garnered support from 73 human rights organizations within India and 43 organizations around the world, according to the Express.

Christy Raj/Human Rights Watch

Transgender Indians and their allies protest against the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016.

<< Classifieds

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 21-27, 2017

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037845900

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037865900

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037857700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SHIRLEY SERVICES, 786 28TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed QI SHUANG GUAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/14/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/14/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GO GO 7, 1300 OCEAN AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARILYN SERAN LEE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/27/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/27/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ANGELA GRACE DESIGN, 2389 FILBERT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANGELA GRACE SCALETTA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/17.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037837300

DEC 07, 14, 21, 28, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037876000

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037872700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NORTH BAY AUTO GLASS, 60 - 29TH ST #3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LUIS SARAT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/07/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/09/17.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037864900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FEMININE WISDOM, 691 POST ST #204, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LORAE A. LAURITCH. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/17/03. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/27/17.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037860700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 501 MANAGEMENT LLC, 501 41ST AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed 501 MANAGEMENT LLC (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/21/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/17.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037864800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BENDER & COHEN, 849 AVE. D, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94130. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TREEHOUSE CRAFT DISTILLERY, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/27/17.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2017 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-037656400 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: SUGAR ETC, 3732 20TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by ULRIKE ZINNKANN. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/26/17.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037848100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE FLOWER GARDEN SHOP, 2770 SAN BRUNO AVE #6, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DANIELLE QUILES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/15/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/15/17.

DEC 07, 14, 21, 28, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037867000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HANNAH PIFER DESIGN, 100 HAIGHT ST #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HANNAH PIFER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/28/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/28/17.

DEC 07, 14, 21, 28, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037848500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BEAUTY IN EVERY WIG, 1333 YOSEMITE CIRCLE, OAKLEY, CA 94561. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BRITANY GIRON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/15/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/15/17.

DEC 07, 14, 21, 28, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037867900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PEDAL PUPS, 33 8TH ST #1940, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SCOTT LEE FRIESEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/22/27. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/28/17.

DEC 07, 14, 21, 28, 2017

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PAUL & DAVE’S MIXED DRINKS, 150 AVOCET WAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed DAVID SPRINGER & PAUL FRANCEUS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/01/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/04/17.

DEC 07, 14, 21, 28, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037861700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CPM ENVIRONMENTAL, INC., 1821 UNION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CPM ENVIRONMENTAL, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/04/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/22/17.

DEC 07, 14, 21, 28, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037875800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PIIR SOUL LLC, 1156 GOETTINGEN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed PIIR SOUL LLC (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/15/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/01/17.

DEC 07, 14, 21, 28, 2017 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-17-553513

In the matter of the application of: GHANI BOUHADRA, 800 EMBARCADERO #237, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner GHANI BOUHADRA, is requesting that the name GHANI BOUHADRA, be changed to DANIEL WILLIAMS BIRBAUM. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 1st of Feb 2018 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037851200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: IBARRA CHIROPRACTIC, 550A CASTRO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RYNE IBARRA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/16/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037866100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CHINATOWN MAGIC, 530 POINT LOBOS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CYNTHIA F. YEE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/14/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/27/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037880700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CAMPOS CREATIVE, 1259 HAYES ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANDREA CAMPOS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/05/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/05/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037886700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BANKHEAD EQUIPMENT, 1801 JERROD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JACK BANKHEAD. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/07/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/08/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ANCHOR MEDITATION, 748 B PORTOLA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94129. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KELLY MICHEL RYAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/30/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037878800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CREED CORE FITNESS, 145 GARDENSIDE DR #17, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KA YAN CHIU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/30/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/05/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037882300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOLDEN MEDIA MARKETING, 246 THRIFT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JESSE SAETEURN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/06/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/06/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037854400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CHEAPER CIGARETTES, 1709 NORIEGA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SHARIFI BROTHERS INVESTMENTS INC (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/17/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/17/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037885600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RAAVI INDIAN NEPALESE, 1063 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BHUWAN FOOD INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/07/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/07/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037885800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SENSE8, 404 CLIPPER COVE WAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94130. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TREASURE8 LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/20/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/07/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037879200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FLOR DE CAFE, 1020 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed LOPEZ ALVAREZ & OLVERA LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/05/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/05/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037879000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SPICE OF AMERICA, 1655 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed THE SPICE CLUB LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/05/17.

DEC 14, 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037893400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: IRISH EXPRESS MOVING; IRISH MOVING COMPANY; IRISH MOVERS; IRISH MOVING & STORAGE; IRISH EXPERT MOVERS; IRISH EXPRESS MOVING & STORAGE, 2095 JERROLD AVE #313, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOHN P. O’DONOGHUE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/26/94. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/11/17.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 11, 2018

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NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF PEARL N. MITSUGI, IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-17-301456

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of PEARL N. MITSUGI, AKA PEARL NOBUKO MITSUGI, AKA PEARL MITSUGI. A Petition for Probate has been filed by JUNJI SUZUKI in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that JUNJI SUZUKI be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.)

The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: Jan 10, 2018, 9:00am, Dept. 204, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code.

Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: ANDREW S. BARTLETT (SBN 305565), MARSHALL SUZUKI LAW GROUP, LLP, 150 SPEAR ST #725, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105; Ph. (415) 618-0090.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 4, 2018 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF FREDDIE PATRICK WILLIAMS, JR IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE X

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of FREDDIE PATRICK WILLIAMS, JR. A Petition for Probate has been filed by RENARD WILLIAMS in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that RENARD WILLIAMS be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval.

Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: Jan 11, 2018, 9:00am, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney.

If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250.

A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: MR. LON D. LAZAR (SBN: 127434) POB 720065, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94172, (415) 742-2088

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 2018

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037898700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: UNITED LOCKSMITH, 1190 PINE ST #109, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YGAL MAGEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/14/17.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 11, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037900100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FOR TOMORROW, 18A HENRY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LORA MENTER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/15/17.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 11, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037894600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MARINA HAIR SALON, 3224 SCOTT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOHNNY DAO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/12/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/12/17.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 11, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037871800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: INTERNATIONAL ANTIVIRAL SOCIETY - USA, 425 CALIFORNIA ST #1450, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed INTERNATIONAL AIDS SOCIETY - USA (DC). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/22/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/30/17.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 11, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037889300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: I AM WONDER WOMAN, 3956 20TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed I AM WONDERN WOMAN LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/20/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/08/17.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 11, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037875400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: COFFEE BAR, 1890 BRYANT ST #100, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed COFFEE BAR 1, LLC CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/12/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/01/17.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 11, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037894900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: COFFEE BAR, 101 MONTGOMERY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a limited liability company and is signed COFFEE BAR VENTURES, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/21/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/12/17.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 11, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037895000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: COFFEE BAR, 199 NEW MONTGOMERY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed 6 DEGREES CAFE LLC, (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/12/17.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 11, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037861200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SOCA, 2363 17TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed USA SOCA INTL TRADING LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/21/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/17.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 11, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037890500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HI-WAY, 3853 24TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed ROADSIDE BBQ III (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/01/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/08/17.

DEC 21, 28, JAN 04, 11, 2017

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Best nonfiction

Vol. 47 • No. 51 • December 21-27, 2017

Erik Tomasson

www.ebar.com/arts

A tale of two Nutcrackers

by Paul Parish

S

an Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker, which is the longest-running complete production of this ballet a’ grand spectacle in the country (debut 1944), opened its umpteenth annual run last week at the Opera House. Opening night had a packed house, with a great number of children in the audience, who could be seen during the intermission twirling on the staircases, caught up in the dream. The show runs through New Year’s Eve, and I recommend it.

See page 24 >>

San Francisco Ballet dancer Esteban Hernandez is the Russian who springs out of the Faberge egg in Helgi Tomasson’s “Nutcracker.”

Sony Pictures Classics

Oliver (background, Armie Hammer) and Elio (foreground, Timothee Chalamat) in director Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me by Your Name.”

Top 11 films of 2017

by David Lamble

M

arking 2017 are 11 films that cover themes from a glorious celebration of same-sex union (“Call Me by Your Name”) to the history of the worldwide movement against AIDS (“BPM (Beats per Minute)”), the insidious nature of anti-gay violence (“Beach Rats”), and the perils of contemporary poverty (“The Florida Project”). Then there were a deftly executed lesbian relationship comedy (“Beck’s”), a docudrama on a 1973 tennis match (“Battle of the Sexes”), a fight for same-sex adoption rights (“Alabama Bound”), an unlikely artist (“Maudie”), the impact of domestic terrorism (“Oklahoma City”), and the stain of racially motivated immigration bias (“The Chinese Exclusion Act”).

See page 24 >>

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

<< Out There

18 • Bay Area Reporter • December 21-27, 2017

Best Wedding Photographer as voted by BAR readers

Nutcracker check list

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by Roberto Friedman

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WINNER Best Wedding Photographer

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com 2pub-BBB_BAR_070617.pdf 1 6/22/17 4:05 PM

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n a New York Times piece given the headline “10 Ways to Tell If Your ‘Nutcracker’ Is True to Tradition,” dance critic Alistair Macaulay laid down the law about what does and does not constitute an authentic “Nutcracker.” In other words, “What’s kosher?,” in balletmaven terms.

Of course, the only truly authentic version is the authentic original.

The Mariinsky Theater debut, choreography by Marius Petipa, music

by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in Alexandre Dumas’ adaptation from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story, dates to 1892 St. Petersburg. But “The Nutcracker” didn’t really become a perennial American ballet in the Christmas season until the mid20th century. The vanguard was San Francisco Ballet¸ who gave the U.S. premiere of a full-length production in 1944.

As Macaulay puts it, variations abound. That cashew-crunching table utensil of yore has been dragged through time and historical period, country and city of setting, often the very hometown of the producing company. The current San Francisco Ballet production, first seen in 2004, choreography by Helgi Tomasson, is set in PanamaPacific International Expositionperiod San Francisco, 1915.

Out There doesn’t claim to be any sort of ballet expert, although we’ve worked with some very good dance writers. The best, such as Macaulay and B.A.R. scribe Paul Parish, write so that a layman can understand their insights without knowing a lot of technical terms. A few years ago, the NYT critic covered “Nutcracker” by going around the country to regional companies and attending their productions.

For a time OT’s niece worked for Richmond Ballet in Virginia, so we heard first-hand how thrilled a smaller company was to get the Times’ attention.

In his piece Macaulay offered 10 “Nutcracker” checkpoints to determine “where your ‘Nutcracker’ is or isn’t true to the ballet’s heart and (a different thing) its tradition.” Surely San Francisco Ballet’s production gets high points on this? OT attended opening night to try to see if a layman could use these signposts to determine the “authenticity” of the SFB version.

The numbered rules are Macaulay verbatim, sans his all-caps.

1. “This Is Not a Love Story.” “‘The Nutcracker’ isn’t about falling in love. So if you see the heroine Clara dancing a romantic pas de deux with the Nutcracker prince, you’re watching an alternative version. You’re also watching an unnecessary cliche.” Clara is a voyeur of Act II. Check.

2. “Paths that Must Not Cross.”

“Drosselmeyer should be seen only in Act I, the Sugarplum only in Act II. Part of the story’s mystery is that they never meet. Only the two lead children, the heroine and the Nutcracker Prince, meet both.” But SFB’s Drosselmeyer is also watching from the sidelines in Act II. What the sugarplum fudge is he doing there?

3. “The Overture: Just Listen.”

“If you see any character during the overture, you’re watching a modern version. Many productions, mistrusting an audience’s ability to cope without spectacle, try to distract from the music by starting to tell the story.” Yes and no. SFB has Drosselmeyer doing some stage business at half-curtain before full curtain-up.

Erik Tomasson

San Francisco Ballet dancers Maria Kochetkova and Joseph Walsh in Helgi Tomasson’s “Nutcracker.”

4. “Child’s Play.” “Clara should be played by a little girl; Drosselmeyer’s nephew (who later becomes the Nutcracker and then little prince) by a little boy. Their only dancing occurs at the opening Christmas party.” All A-OK. 5. “Who’s on Point?” “Clara never dances on point, but the story brings her a series of increasingly marvelous women who do.” Check.

6. “Don’t Mess with the Score” “Tchaikovsky’s musical composition has such integrity and variety that it should never be revised, cut or supplemented. I know only two productions that play all of Tchaikovsky’s score in the right order, Mark Morris’ ‘The Hard Nut’ and Alexei Ratmansky’s American Ballet Theatre production, both of which count as alternative versions, changing the story more than most.” We think there’s been some minor messing with the score in SF. 7. “Act I’s Ballerina?” “The Christmas tree must grow huge. As Balanchine said when fighting for money for his production’s tree in 1954, the tree is the ballerina of Act I. The music, a gigantic crescendo of ascending phrases, tells you what’s needed.” Grow huge it sure does at the War Memorial. Golly.

8. “Transformation (No Dancing, Please).” “This is the most controversial of all. After the tree grows and after the battle between the toy soldiers and mice comes phenomenal music that should never be danced. True, Tchaikovsky gave it a strong dance-like rapture, but, like the overture, he meant it to stay undanced. This is transformation music in which the whole stage changes and we see the unknown territory through which the children will pass. Where there was one huge Christmas tree, now we see a whole snow-clad forest.

“I know only one production that has the courage to leave this undanced: Balanchine’s. Many introduce a pas de deux here for the Snow Queen and her King, an anachronistic tradition that began

around 1940.” Uh-oh, we think there’s some sort of business going on during this music in SF. 9. “Keep the Pantomime Dame.”

“Act II has to include Mother Ginger. She’s a larger-than-life fertility figure, a pantomime dame whose crinoline hides multiple children – they dance their way out from under it and then back in. Audiences adore her, but for some reason European productions omit her. She’s not in good taste, and that’s the point.”

The SFB character is fully present and known as Madame Du Cirque.

10. “The Pas de Deux.” “The big Act II pas de deux has to be danced by the Sugarplum Fairy and her cavalier. If you see Clara and her Nutcracker dance the Sugarplum numbers, you’re probably watching a production by someone who grew up in the Soviet Union, and you’re far into a mind-set light-years from the vision of 1892.” OK by us here.

But: “Listen to how the score ends, with flowing music that implies travel, echoing the start of Act II. It does not take us back (as many productions do) to the start of Act I. Clara and the little Prince are, as in the original E.T.A. Hoffmann story, departing to yet other realms; they aren’t going back to her native Nuremberg.” Yet the SFB version brings Clara back to the San Francisco living room, where her mother walks her upstairs to bed.

Still, Macaulay concedes, “The best productions of classics aren’t about puzzle-solving or filling in some 19th-century prescription.

They’re about discovery and imagination, the very things at the heart of the ‘Nutcracker’ story.” Well, OK then! We call it a win for SF Ballet.

As a box of birds

Re last week’s DVD round-up feature “Lady Sings the Blues,” turns out there’s a local angle. Writer William Dufty, who co-authored the movie with Billie Holiday, was the father of Bevan Dufty, former District 8 Supervisor and currently a BART Director. Billie Holiday was Bevan’s godmother. The elder Dufty was gay, but had several wives, one of whom was Gloria Swanson. So, with that heritage, how could Bevan not be gay? Spoiler alert: he is!t

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Backstage>>

December 21-27, 2017 • Bay Area Reporter • 19

They got the 16th-century beat

Jenny Graham/OSF

An early version of “Head Over Heels” that uses the songs of the Go-Go’s to tell a 16th-century saga at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2015. A pre-Broadway production will open at the Curran in April.

by Richard Dodds

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one of the usual thesaurus sources can provide an antonym for “no-brainer,” but if an example were ever needed, “Head Over Heels” fills the bill. Here’s a case where a Broadway highflier learns that the Go-Go’s catalog is available for a theatrical treatment. Such songs as “Mad About You,” “Vacation,” “We Got the Beat” and the title song become part of the musical based on a 16thcentury prose poem by Sir Philip Sidney about an ancient Greek duke whose ominous reading from an oracle sends him and his family into a seclusion that becomes a mob scene.

Beyond the odd marriage of these peppy songs with this story, the GoGo’s catalog of hits is thin compared to the troves mined from the careers of the Four Seasons for “Jersey Boys,” Carole King for “Beautiful,” and ABBA for “Mamma Mia!” Nor

are they particularly story-driven songs, but now it’s their turn on the theatrical turntable as “Head Over Heels” gets its first spin at the Curran Theatre in April before a planned-for Broadway run next year.

This will not actually be the first time audiences have seen “Head Over Heels,” with an earlier version seen at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2015. The biggest name now attached to the show is co-producer Gwyneth Paltrow, who has held readings of the musical at her homes in the Hamptons and Manhattan. The latter was attended by pre-scandal Harvey Weinstein, who reportedly wanted in on the show, but it was an offer Paltrow shrewdly declined.

The one constant among the creators is gay writer Jeff Whitty, who won a Tony Award for the book to “Avenue Q” and wrote the libretto for the musical based on Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City” seen

at ACT in 2011. Another gay Tony Award winner, Michael Mayer, is directing the production. He won his Tony for “Spring Awakening,” and his Broadway credits also include “American Idiot,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

The project began when Whitty’s attorney, who also represents the Go-Go’s, told him that the group’s songs were available for a jukebox musical. Whitty had no interest in using the songs to tell the group’s up-and-down story, but somehow imagined that the songs could be combined with “The Arcadia,” which he had first read in college.

“It had never been adapted for the stage, and it’s a really great story,” Whitty said at the time of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival production. “I said, what if we put these two together, because I like the inclusion of opposites – that makes it fun to write a comedy improv of it.”

Sidney’s original narrative is incredibly complex, and he had not finished a revision that doubled its size when he died in 1586. The story

is filled with sexual encounters, attempted rape, political machinations, violence, sleeping potions, and cross-dressing that leads to some inadvertent same-sex attractions. While his source material has both high drama and low comedy, Whitty has taken a resolutely irreverent approach, filled with knowing winks, anachronisms, and overt homosexual desires. At the last minute, he ended up rewriting his script in Shakespearean-style iambic pentameter.

“That’s where the show began to get very eerie,” he told Oregon Public Broadcasting in 2015, “because the idea of a beat, iambic pentameter, a heartbeat, that you’re alive, we got the beat. All these crazy connections began happening, as though the Go-Go’s knew in advance what I was going to do.”

“Head Over Heels” is set to run April 24-May 30 at the Curran. Go

to sfcurran.com to receive an alert when tickets go on sale.

Holiday happenings

“Oy Vey in a Manger” brings the Kinsey Sicks back to the city of their virgin birth – on a street corner in the Castro in 1994. The “dragapella beauty shop quartet” will be offering its more-naughty-than-nice take on seasonal songs for seven shows on Dec. 26-30 at the Palace Theatre, also home to “The Speakeasy” production. Tickets at thespeakeasysf.com.

Comic-politician Tom Ammiano is headlining Theatre Rhino’s New Year’s Eve celebration at the Gateway Theatre. The bill includes comedian Justin Lucas, singers Scott Gessford and Patricia Pittipan, and multi-faceted queer entertainers Bambi Lake and Birdie Bob Watt. The cast of the new Morris Bobrow show “Megabites: The Musical” will also perform.

Tickets at therhino.org.t

Paco Ojeda

The Kinsey Sicks will offer a new version of their holiday show “Oy Vey in a Manger” at the Palace Theatre starting Dec. 26.

Resurrection of Tonya Harding

by Erin Blackwell

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onya Harding is a name that lives in infamy. She whacked her rival Nancy Kerrigan’s knee, or her ex-husband did, or her bodyguard hired some lowlifes. It’s all a blur, happened in 1994, and it’s figure-skating for chrissakes, who cares? Tonya cared, it killed her career. Nancy cared, and by extension so did Americans living vicariously because the Olympics threw an international spotlight on this rarified cat-fight. Tonya and Nancy are archetypes of ambition, rivalry, and who’s a lady. The bad taste never went away, the mystery of human motivation clings like fog. “I, Tonya” dredges up the sordid saga and lays it out in new and startling ways that make you laugh and cry. Opens at Embarcadero Dec. 22, Alamo Drafthouse Dec. 29.

Before the images take over, an onscreen note: “Based on ironyfree, wildly contradictory, totally true interviews with Tonya Harding and Jeff Gillooly.” A brief prologue introduces the oddball cast of characters speaking self-punishing oneliners into the camera, each from her or his own habitat. Alison Janney, who steals much of the movie with her Buster Keaton dead-pan and dour bowl-cut, sits on a couch with an oxygen tank, its tube running under her nose, while the parrot on her shoulder nibbles her ear.

She’s LaVona, the self-sacrificing scourge, the white-trash booster rocket of her daughter’s ascension,

the abusive mother who bullied her kid to greatness.

Paul Walter Hauser is comic gold as Shawn Eckhardt, Tonya’s bodyguard, a tub of lard with black button eyes and pencil mustache, a bad Xmas sweater, and a mind full of mayhem, still living with his folks. He does not appear to be acting. Most of his scenes are with Sebastian Stan as Jeff Gillooly, Tonya’s husband, who was a nice guy until he started hitting her. Seeing her give as good as she gets establishes

the culture of violence she called home. Shawn and Jeff concoct the plot to scupper Kerrigan, or maybe it’s all Shawn’s idea. Actually, “the incident,” which will never achieve transparence, is not the most interesting thing about “Tonya,” merely the most brazen moment in her 20year scramble to be the best figureskater in the world.

Fortysomething Tonya Harding sits at a kitchen table, consuming Marlboros and coffee, in a two-tone denim shirt, jeans, and cowboy

boots. Margot Robbie plays Tonya with intensity reminiscent of Joan Crawford, with her expressive eyes and teeth. She doesn’t have Tonya’s small, sharp, elfin features, but portrayal is deeper than surface resemblance. She isn’t short and doesn’t have Tonya’s thighs either, those tree trunks powering her elusive triple-axel jump. Robbie elicits our sympathy and respect on and off the ice. The illusion of her skating is so skillful we focus on the emotional price of the pursuit of perfection by

Courtesy Neon and 30West

Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan) and Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) in “I, Tonya.”

an imperfect person.

The narrative flashes back 40 years from the talking heads to Portland, Oregon, where LaVona takes her tiny blonde daughter to the rink in quest of lessons. A chronic drinker and smoker, Lavona doesn’t take no for an answer when the skating teacher tries to dismiss her. These early scenes of mother and daughter fighting the world and each other for her right to compete are the heart of the film. Tiny, tough, blonde, and passionate, McKenna Grace gives a stunning performance as young Tonya, proving that little girls can be portrayed like fully human beings. Her reaction when her dad drives away from home, leaving her alone with LaVona, rips a hole in the screen.

Director Craig Gillespie has reinvented the biopic, a notoriously dreary genre, by striking a hairtrigger balance between trauma and parody, mockumentary and melodrama, demolishing the fourth wall.

Delusion is the unifying personality trait among the principals, but the mother’s drive, the daughter’s talent, and the bodyguard’s surreal machinations twist reality into a highly regrettable Noir shambles.

Steven Rogers’ script toggles breezily between past and present, tracing Tonya’s trajectory from baby steps through “the incident” to her monsterization by the media. Don’t leave as final credits start rolling. Tonya Harding circa 1991 comes onscreen executing that triple axel, and it suddenly all makes sense.t

<< Books

20 • Bay Area Reporter • December 21-27, 2017

The year’s best LGBT nonfiction

by Tim Pfaff

plete, that’s a lot of death handled by writers who took he year turned into an it on board for seasoning – avalanche of superb LGBT the way time and air season nonfiction comparable to the chopped wood. Add to it, torrent of stand-out LGBT ficthen, Bill Hayes’ “Insomnia tion in 2016. Much of it bent City: New York, Oliver, and genres as well as genders.

Me” (Bloomsbury), whose None did so more than pivot – if again by no means Daniel Mendelsohn’s “An its single topic – is the death Odyssey: A Father, a Son and of the love of his life, Oliver an Epic” (Knopf). What, from Sachs, the octogenarian, legthe pre-publication excerpts, endary neuroscientist-writer looked like a compelling memwhose own homosexuality oir of the last great adventure was revealed only in his own, of a gay classics scholar and late autobiography “On the his cantankerous father grew Move.” in scope and depth like some Hayes, whose recorded recombinant molecule of the journey begins in a San atoms of time and love.

Francisco readers will recThe particles Mendelsohn ognize, writes searchingly puts through the centrifuge of and with quiet, sometimes imagination are Homer’s “Odstartling eloquence. To bring yssey,” his own scholarship on this saga full circle, at year’s Homer’s “Odyssey,” a seminar end came the publication of Matt Mendelsohn he taught on Homer’s “Odys“The River of Conscioussey” attended by his father, a “An Odyssey: A Father, a Son and an Epic” ness” (Knopf), a collection voluntary if recalcitrant par- author Daniel Mendelsohn. of Sachs’ essays rounded out ticipant, the trajectory of their with a previously unpublives together and apart, and lished late piece, “The Creevent on which her memoir pivots touchingly, a post-seminar cruise ative Self.” is her minutes of lesbian single they took together that followed Benjamin Taylor, an esteemed motherhood as her baby boy is born the geographical route of Odysseus’ journalist and Proust scholar, on the floor of a hotel in Mongovoyage home from Troy. weighed in with his own memoir, lia, where The New Yorker writer He doesn’t just teach Homer’s “The Hue and Cry in Our House: has sent herself on assignment in underlying technique of “ring comA Year Remembered” (Penguin late-ish pregnancy. The baby dies position” – telling a story in a nonBooks). The year is 1963-64, the minutes later – but not too soon linear way to impart time-cured pivot the assassination of JFK, but for this stunningly self-aware writer depth – he uses it in this beautifully the substance is a deep, bittersweet to have known motherhood. Like structured “memoir.” It would be reflection on coming of age as a gay Mendelsohn’s memoir, it’s about wonder enough if it were not also so man in turbulent mid-60s Middle countless other things, too, but in deeply felt.

America. the end it’s about being there for the The same to-the-bone honesty The esteemed LGBT historian whiplash changes life throws at you. infuses Ariel Levi’s “The Rules Do Martin Duberman also bridged Since Mendelsohn’s father had Not Apply” (Random House). The genres with “Jews Queers Gerdied before his memoir was com-

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mans” (Seven Stories Press), a novel best described by the musical category “historically informed.” Duberman examines the intersecting lives of five men who, in the decades bridging the 19th and 20th centuries, helped found and define what we now call gay culture. It reads so smoothly and compellingly, it’s easy to overlook what a daring stretch of the imagination this novel also represents.

Two gay musical figures won informed and immensely readable books about their lives and art. In “When the World Stopped to Listen: Van Cliburn’s Cold War Triumph and Its Aftermath” (Knopf), piano scholar Stuart Isacoff takes a balanced yet unflinching look at the truncated career and tortured sexuality of America’s most renowned

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musical celebrity. “Gay Guerilla: Julius Eastman and His Music” (U. of Rochester Press), a collection of specialists’ essays, brings acute scholarly attention to a true New York renegade composer-performer whose music is having a major revival now, decades after his sordid death a quarter-century ago, that is as unlikely as it is deserved.

If any 20th-century creative genius warrants a 1,000-page biography, it’s Jean Cocteau, master of many trades, influencer of artists arguably his superiors, and, against all odds, a breathtakingly highachieving opium addict. Claude Arnaud’s extraordinary biography (Oxford), newly translated from the French, turns an authoritative history that seems to leave out nothing into a bona fide page-turner. Fair warning: this is the kind of scholarly book that could cost you additional money, tracking down and re-examining the multiple facets of Cocteau’s art, all of which Arnaud writes about with deeply informed delectation.

Before we learned that it was an Arab prince who had “made off with” Leonardo’s late painting “Salvator Mundi” for a cool 450 million at auction, Walter Isaacson wrote a biography of Leonardo da Vinci (Simon and Schuster) that carefully considered all the aspects of Leonardo’s creative genius (including some stirring pages about “Salvator Mundi”). Not only was the book, beautifully produced with richly reproduced art, open about Leonardo’s homosexuality, it made his sexuality a natural part of life and work.t

Page-turners: books for holiday giving

by Tavo Amador

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nsure what to get readers on your holiday gift lists? Following are suggestions that may help you find the right tome.

The blockbuster biography of the season is “Avedon: Something Personal” by Norma Stevens and Steven M.L. Aronson (Spiegel & G. Rau, $40). Richard Avedon (1923-2004) was the foremost fashion photographer of the second half of the 20th century. He earned record sums working for Vogue, but yearned to be taken seriously as an artist. He was so adept at making his subjects look superb that critics often felt he was dishonest. He wanted to be seen as a peer of Diane Arbus. That wasn’t his only anxiety. Married twice to women and the father of a son, he was also attracted to men

and admitted to close associate Stevens that he was gay. He claimed his reason for being closeted was that he didn’t want to be known as “the gay photographer,” but it’s evident that he was deeply troubled by his sexuality. He told Stevens that he had an affair with director Mike Nichols.

Nichols had spoken with Stevens, saying that people always asked him if Avedon was gay, but saying nothing about their affair. Avedon wanted Stevens to tell the truth about his life, and she has done so.

This is a thoroughly researched and well-illustrated look at a gifted man and an era.

“God never made anything more beautiful than Ava Gardner,” insisted Elizabeth Taylor. Kendra Bean and Anthony Uzarowski’s “Ava: A Life in Movies” (Running Press, $30) makes a strong case for Tay-

lor’s assertion. Like Taylor, Gardner (1922-90) was a product of MGM. Gardner’s break came in 1946’s “The Killers,” co-starring Burt Lancaster, a loose adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s story directed by Robert Siodmark. Within a few years she was being called “the world’s most beautiful animal.” In the right part she was effective, but as this lavishly illustrated volume shows, it was her green-eyed, dark-haired beauty that audiences noticed, and that kept her in front of the cameras for over 40 years. It’s a must for fans of classic Hollywood.

In “A Place for Us: West Side Story and New York” (University of Chicago Press, $30), Julia L. Foulkes tells the story of the landmark 1957 Broadway and 1961 Hollywood musical, and ties it to Manhattan’s intense urbanism at a time when the city was experiencing massive changes. The show was the creation of gay men: music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book

by Arthur Laurents, direction and choreography by Jerome Robbins, and starring as the original Tony, Larry Kert. Bernstein, Sondheim, Laurents, and Robbins were also Jewish. Foulkes argues that their being Jews and homosexuals contributed to the show’s depiction of Puerto Rican and white gang members as “outsiders.” The title, a tune from the production, became the unofficial anthem for a generation of gay men.

“The Mistress of Paris” (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, $27.99) is Catherine Hewitt’s riveting biography of Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne, the inspiration for Emile

Zola’s once-shocking novel “Nana,” the rumored lover of Napoleon III and Edward VII, and the subject of a portrait by Edouard Manet. It turns out, however, that this society beauty was self-invented. She was born (1820) Emilie Delabigne, a peasant girl from Normandy. By the time of her death in 1910, she had succeeded in convincing the haute monde of her aristocratic heritage.

Hewitt vividly recreates a life that seems almost fictional.

Paris is also the setting for Mark Pryor’s “The Sorbonne Affair” (Seventh Street Books, $15.95), the newest Hugo Marston mystery.

American author and teacher Helen Hancock is in the City of Light to conduct research and to teach a class at the famous university. When she discovers that her hotel room has been bugged, she contacts the U.S. Embassy. Former FBI profiler Marston is sent to investigate. Almost immediately, the hotel staffer who may have planted the bug is murdered. Then a video of Helen and one of her male students having unbridled sex explodes on the Internet. More corpses turn up as Marston and his pal, Lt. Camille Levens, work frantically to solve the

case. Marston is an engaging and sympathetic hero. Pryor effectively captures Paris’ glorious and dangerous ambiance.

The art world was recently stunned by the staggering amount an anonymous collector paid for a heavily restored Leonardo DaVinci portrait whose authenticity had been questioned by at least one expert. Irina Reyn’s novel “The Imperial Wife” (Picador $16) reveals the reality behind the seemingly glamorous world of auction houses selling rarified objects to the super-rich. Her protagonist Tanya Kagan specializes in Russian art. Her parents, Russian Jews, emigrated to America when Tanya was still a child. She married Carl Vandermotter, a writer and teacher with a passion for all things Russian. He’s a member of an old-line WASP family. A priceless medal given to Catherine the Great by the Empress Elisabeth, who arranged for the obscure German princess to marry her nephew and heir to the throne, is going to be auctioned. Tanya must use her connections with members of the Russian nouveau riche to make sure it sells for a record sum. But is it authentic? And if it’s not? Meanwhile, Carl is writing a novel about the young Catherine. Reyn seamlessly weaves both stories together, conveying how an immigrant, no matter how assimilated, is often an outsider. She captures the feel of modern-day Manhattan, suburban New Jersey, where Tanya grew up, Monte Carlo, where the unimaginably rich Russians have their lavish villas, and the primitive world of 18th-century Saint Petersburg. It’s a dazzling achievement.t

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Music>>

December 21-27, 2017 • Bay Area Reporter • 21

Emotive landscapes

by Philip Campbell

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he San Francisco Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras released comprehensive multimedia sets on their in-house labels last month, just in time for the holidays. The deluxe editions each showcase a single composer, one Romantic and the other contemporary. Both continue a smart trend that is helping save the dwindling classical recording industry.

Robert Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1-4 San Francisco Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas, music director and conductor SFS Media Super Audio 2-Compact Discs (SACD); Downloads: digital outlets worldwide From the first imposing notes of the Symphony No. 1, “Spring,” Tilson Thomas signals an absorbing journey through the emotive landscape of Schumann’s mind. The live recording from Davies Symphony Hall starts big and solemn. March goes out like a lion, but once our attention is secured, the atmosphere quickly warms. By the spirited Finale, the world is in full bloom and the artistic wisdom of MTT’s approach is revealed.

Essentially a chamber-scale composer sometimes accused of clumsy orchestrations, Schumann deserves a thoughtful re-balancing in his varied cycle of symphonies. Some conductors try smaller readings to thin the texture; many plump the sound even more. MTT hits a well-judged center, coaxing chamber details to a place of prominence amidst the rich sonorities of a modern orchestra.

The musicians are on top form, and the technical engineering is breathtaking. It is hard not to bingelisten. Both discs, heard in succession, make a singularly triumphant marathon.

The well-loved Third Symphony, “Rhenish,” and the magnificently mysterious Fourth should earn entry to all SFS/MTT fans’ collections, but the superb rendition of the eccentric Symphony No. 2 in C major wins pride of place for me. It ought to become a breakout hit on its own.

Available in multiple formats and downloads, the latest addition to the SFS Media discography is luxuriously packaged in an attractive and informative hardcover book.

Individual tracks or entire symphonies may be purchased online. Be forewarned, though: once you start listening, you may not want to stop. sfsymphony.org/Watch-ListenLearn/SFS-Media The John Adams Edition: Berliner Philharmoniker John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, Alan Gilbert, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Simon Rattle, conductors Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings: 4 CD, 2 Blu-Ray, with Download Studio Master Audio

Files and 7-Day Digital Concert Hall Voucher In honor of John Adams’ 70th birthday and his 2016-17 Artistin-Residence season at the Berlin Philharmonie (the first such posting in almost 20 years), the legendary orchestra’s in-house label has produced one of the most lavish audio/visual sets I have seen in years. It definitely proves the mutual admiration and exciting challenges shared by the multi-national ensemble and America’s prolific composer, conductor, and creative thinker.

It is difficult to imagine Adams as elder statesman. It feels like yesterday that he was a Young Turk premiering astonishing works like the choral masterpiece “Harmonium” and the career-defining orchestral tour de force “Harmonielehre” in San Francisco. The decades have brought a succession of major operas, oratorios, symphonic works and cheeky chamber pieces. Adams is one of the most frequently performed living American composers.

Even if he isn’t ready to join the ranks of Mozart, Beethoven or Mahler just yet, an exemplary review of some of his important and popular works, performed by one of the world’s greatest orchestras, seems timely. It also offers a fresh take on pieces that are, almost certainly, already in many libraries. The Berlin set not only gives us familiar works in demonstration-quality sound, but also reprises some of Adams’ greatest recent scores (and a few old favorites) in High-Def concert videos on Blu-Ray disc.

Accompanying interviews and bonus material bear repeated viewing, and the 45-minute documentary “Short Rides with John Adams” serves as an illuminating way to get in the groove. Long-time creative partner Peter Sellars is on hand for a conversation that shows how deeply intelligent, politically moral and warmly affectionate the relationship has been. It gently prods viewers to reassess their many brilliant, sometimes misunderstood collaborations.

Young violinist Leila Josefowicz (who affectionately refers to Adams as “Johnnie”) performs the composer’s feminist reimagining of “Scheherazade.2.” San Francisco

Symphony audiences can’t forget her ferocious performance with MTT conducting in early 2017, but watching her again with the man who wrote it conducting is something extra-special.

New insights into the oratorio “The Gospel According to the Other Mary” derive from Simon Rattle’s intensely committed conducting, the highly theatrical participation of the Rundfunkchor Berlin, and a cast of soloists that adds to the drama and increases emotional involvement. We admired the imaginative work in Davies Symphony Hall, also part of SFS celebrations of Adams’ 70th, conducted by Grant Gershon and directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, but seeing it in an even more minimalist concert format in the Berlin Philharmonie has the curious effect of lessening the occasional longueurs. It is a bold and challenging piece, worthy of re-examination, by an uncompromising composer who continues to evolve regardless of age.

Berlin’s magnificent retrospective, encased within a gorgeous 90-page book designed by Wolfgang Tillmans, with an essay by Alex Ross, is more than a celebration; it is a testament to the relevance of a visionary’s musical genius. berlinerphilharmoniker-recordings.comt

ist with guest art kyy noff-S Katya Smir

CASTRO THEATRE

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24 5PM (SOLD OUT) + 7PM + 9PM

tickets:

SFGMC.ORG

-OR- (415) 392-4400

<< Music

22 • Bay Area Reporter • December 21-27, 2017

Give the gift of LGBTQ music

by Gregg Shapiro

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he following expanded reissues by George Michael, Pet Shop Boys, Jackie Shane and The Smiths are custom-made for the LGBTQ music-lovers on your holiday gift list.

There’s no way that the late George Michael could have foreseen the Trumpworld of 2017 when he wrote “Praying for Time,” the opening track and first single from his underrated second solo album, 1990’s Listen Without Prejudice. But with references to “wounded skies” and “days of the open hand,” as well as to the rich declaring themselves poor, Michael was nothing short of prescient. Newly reissued in a variety of formats, including a double CD set, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1/MTV Unplugged (Sony Music/ Legacy) features the remastered original album on the first disc, and Michael’s previously unavailable 1996 MTV Unplugged set, as well as a Nile Rodgers reworking of the track “Fantasy.”

The bonus material is lovely, but Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 (there is no Vol. 2) is the focus here. Sure, the album lacked the irresistible appeal of Faith, Michael’s flawless solo debut, but that’s an unfair comparison. Taken on its own merits, LWP holds up as well as its predecessor, particularly on “Praying for Time.” the drama of “Mother’s Pride,” the light jazz of “Cowboys & Angels” and

the rebellious beat of “Freedom 90.”

Michael even showed off his good taste as an interpreter via a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “They Won’t Go When I Go” and the interpolation of the Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” into his “Waiting.”

Would we have had Pet Shop Boys without George Michael’s previous band Wham!? Like Wham!, Pet Shop Boys (Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe) are a British male duo. Also like Wham!, Pet Shop Boys traffic in dance-pop with an electronic influence. Unlike Wham!, Pet Shop Boys manage to remain in existence, still making wonderful music, more than 30 years after their groundbreaking debut album, Please.

In 2001, the first six PSB albums were reissued in expanded editions, including a second “Further Listening” disc of bonus material. Sixteen years and a few different Stateside record labels later, a new reissue

campaign began with Nightlife, Release and Fundamental. The two latest installments are Yes and Elysium (both on Parlophone), from 2008 and 2012, respectively. By the time these two albums were released, PSB were no longer the chart-presence they were during the 1980s and early 90s. But both of these albums have their allure, especially when it comes to the bonus material. Yes includes PSB’s brilliant reading of Kate McGarrigle’s “I Cried for You” as well as a fabulous new version of “It Doesn’t Often Snow at Christmas.”

Trans soul singer Jackie Shane, who made a splash in the Toronto music scene of the 1960s, is the kind of semi-obscure performer that Queer Music Heritage’s JD Doyle, the man who wrote the liner notes for the late 2016 reissue of the subversively gay 1962 album Love Is a Drag, would unearth. In this instance, it was the good folks at the

Chicago-based reissue/archive label The Numero Group who have shone a bright light on Shane. Any Other Way (Numero Group) is an attractively packaged double album that includes a 12-track studio disc and a 13-track live disc.

A dynamic interpreter of other people’s songs, Shane effortlessly makes the songs “In My Tenement,” “Sticks and Stones,” “Money (That’s What I Want),” “Walking the Dog” and title cut her own.

The studio disc also includes a pair of Shane originals, “New Way of Lovin’” and “Cruel Cruel World.”

The Smiths’ former front, Morrissey has a habit of making headlines, often not for the most flattering of reasons. His penchant for canceling concert tours has more than a few of his fans jumping ship.

In October 2017, his controversial political comments put him back in the spotlight. Also among his attention-grabbing antics is his 2013 statement about his sexuality, in which he declared that he is not a homosexual, but rather a humasexual. As he put it, “I am attracted to humans. But, of course, not many.”

Nevertheless, humasexual sounds like a postmodern way of saying bisexual, and for that reason Morrissey and The Smiths, and the seriously expanded reissue of 1986’s ironically titled The Queen is Dead (Warner Bros.), are included here.

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The Queen is Dead has long been considered the best album by The Smiths, who disbanded not long after its release in 1987. The box set includes a 2017 mix of the original album featuring songs such as “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side,” “Bigmouth Strikes Again” and “Vicar in a Tutu.” A second 13track studio disc features B-sides, demos and more. The third “Live in Boston” disc was recorded in August 1986 at the Great Woods concert venue in Mansfield, MA. The fourth disc is a DVD containing the 2017 audio master, in addition to The Queen is Dead film directed by the late, gay filmmaker Derek Jarman.

This might be stretching the definition a little, but here’s why the expanded 60th anniversary CD reissue of Funny Face: Original Soundtrack (Verve/UMe) is included here. The screenplay for the film, which starred Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire and Liza Minnelli’s godmother Kay Thompson, was written by gay writer Leonard Gershe. Gershe and his life partner Roger Edens (Judy Garland’s music supervisor and arranger) wrote additional songs for the movie, to augment the ones written by George and Ira Gershwin. Edens also produced the movie. Finally, Funny Face is set in the world of fashion.

Gay enough for you yet? If not, take a listen to the songs “Think Pink,” “Bonjour, Paris!” and “On How To Be Lovely.”t

Music for the holiday season, part 2

by Jason Victor Serinus

S

tocking still empty? You can probably grab a USB stick, download these albums, and have fine holiday gifts for the carolstarved amongst us. As a follow-up to my first survey, published last week, here’s Part 2 of our Xmas music survey.

In Dulci Jubilo: Music for the Christmas season by Buxtehude and friends – Theatre of Voices, directed

by Paul Hillier (DaCapo) Beautifully recorded in extremely hi-resolution, Hillier’s fabled eight-person vocal ensemble, accompanied by a chamber ensemble of seven, sings a classic German program with refinement and polish. Hillier knows his voices, and these are superb. Recorded with

enviable clarity and depth in Garnisonkirken, Copenhagen, this is one album where high-quality repertoire receives the treatment it deserves.

Christmas Songs from Germany & All Over the World, Vol. 2 (Genuin) As the largest concert choir within the German Broadcasting Authority, the 73 voices of MDR Leipzig Radio Choir have made close to 200 recordings since the choir was founded over 70 years ago. Considered “a supreme musical ambassador for Central Germany,” its recent disc of Max Reger’s Motets, Op. 110 won the 2017 International Classical Music Award. The multiculturalism of the choir’s members (from 10 different countries) is reflected, in part, by selections from Japan, England, Portugal, Korea, USA, Italy, Finland,

Russia, Venezuela, Norway, Sweden, the Bermudas, Armenia, and Denmark, as well as Deutschland. Many of the selections you’ll encounter nowhere else. Some are simple and strophic, as in the opening “Macht hoch die Tuer” by an anonymous 17th-century composer. Alas, translations are only into German from other languages, and anyone who can understand the choir’s English in Britten’s “A Hymn to the Virgin” is more gifted than I. Regardless, with selections by Stravinsky, Palestrina, Lully, Stainer, Reger, Tchaikovsky, Nystedt, Handel, Schütz, and other gifted composers, vocal quality is very high.

Winter’s Night: Skylark Vocal Ensemble (Skylark) An impeccably tuned vocal ensemble composed of leading American vocal soloists, chamber musicians, and music educators, Skylark has spent years performing the music of Hugh Distler (1908-42). A German composer whose faith was severely tried during the Nazi era, Distler committed suicide rather than be conscripted into the Nazi army.

On this disc, recorded in the resonant acoustic of Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill, MA, Distler’s tonal settings have a fetching austerity and pristine beauty. Interspersed are several premiere recordings of other pieces, including Allegri’s sixpart “Salvatorem expectamus” and works by Nanino and de Mery. Fine singing, highly recommended.

Plácido Domingo & Friends Celebrate Christmas in Vienna (Sony) For a big-boned contrast with Skylark, you need only turn to the full orchestral Christmas carol potpourri from the Vienna Symphony that begins this album.

Recorded between 1992-2000 with the same orchestra and various conductors, it pairs the great tenor, then still singing tenor, with Vanessa

Williams, Jose Carreras, Diana Ross, Charles Aznavour, Dionne Warwick, and Tony Bennett. If you’re looking for crowd-pleasing familiar fare and can do without visuals, this one’s for you.

Christmas with the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus (MF Fanfare Cincinnati) Yup, another one with big forces, this time with a chorus, conducted by Robert Porco and accompanied by an uncredited organist. If you want to sing along to familiar fare, just as you might in church, this would do just fine. Those looking for the shimmering purity of boy sopranos or classic German and English soprano sections, or searching beyond cliches, need look elsewhere.

Choral Music for Christmas (Carus) Classic fare, recorded between 1996-2015, with excellent German choruses and orchestra, that rings with authenticity. If you don’t smile at the trumpets resounding in Zelenka’s “Laudate pueri in D Major,” or at Handel’s “Hallelujah!” chorus performed by Kammerchor Stuttgart and Barockorchester Stuttgart under Frieder Bernius, or at the more intimate Calmus Ensemble singing Philip Lawson’s “Hark! The herald angels sing,” you probably should be in the streets protesting Christmastime consumerism. Distler’s “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” surfaces again here, this time with the Athesinus Consort Berlin under Klaus-Martin Bresgott giving it a pristine treatment that goes deeper than Skylark’s rendition.

Christmas at Steinway Hall: Simon Mulligan (Steinway & Sons) In case Hillier’s is too holy for you, pianist Simon Mulligan is your man. Running all over the keys in New York’s Steinway Hall, Mulligan performs “tasteful jazz arrangements” that are quite lovely and, when appropriate, filled with humor and good cheer.

No surprises in the repertoire department, which is as popular as Cheerios and Snickerdoodles, and as at home in a lounge as by the proverbial fire. Ours is propane-fueled, but so what? Happy holidays.t

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DVD>>

December 21-27, 2017 • Bay Area Reporter • 23

Intimate connections among women

by Brian Bromberger

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hen the cartoonish movie “Wonder Woman” was released this past summer, it was hailed by some critics as a breakthrough because of the strong woman characters in the usually maledominated superhero genre. But the overhyped “Wonder Woman” can’t compare in either complexity or the intelligent, emotionally adventurous women portrayed in Stephen Cone’s “Princess Cyd,” just released on DVD by Wolfe Video. Playing to an enthusiastic audience at this year’s Frameline Festival, “Princess Cyd” confirmed Cone, who gave us the wondrous “Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party” and the insightful “Wise Kids,” as one of the premier and underrated LGBT filmmakers working today. “Cyd” is another jewel to be added to Cone’s crown.

Like his previous films, “Cyd” is character-driven, inserting subtext into the languid spaces in-between dialogue. Unlike the first two movies showcasing Cone’s mastery of ensemble playing (amidst evangelical Christian circles, since his father is a pastor), “Cyd” primarily depicts two characters bemusedly getting to know each other, moving from strangers to familial ties with a past tragic event lurking in the background, whose full dimension won’t be revealed until much later.

The film opens with a 911 call. Cyd’s mother has been killed in their

house, and a sleeping Cyd was rescued by a neighbor. Nine years later, the soccer-playing Cyd (Jessica Pinnick) is not getting on well with her depressed father, and is shipped from South Carolina to stay for two weeks in the summer with her Chicago aunt (her mother’s sister), Miranda Ruth (Rebecca Spence), whom she barely remembers.

Miranda is a famous novelist/essayist modeled on Marilyn Robinson, but Cyd isn’t familiar with her aunt’s success. She casually announces when she arrives that “she doesn’t really read,” to the stunned amazement of Miranda. While the film is titled “Princess Cyd,” it is as much about Miranda and the transformative effect they have on each other. Miranda is intellectual, spiritual (Lutheran), and set in her ways, while Cyd is sensual, comfortable in her body, and possesses a youthful, carefree, experimental attitude about her sexuality. The two women couldn’t be more different, yet they endeavor to seek common ground, and both will experience physical awakenings, though in dissimilar ways.

While jogging, Cyd gets lost. She walks into a coffee shop asking for directions and encounters the androgynous, Mohawk-hairstyled barista Katie (Malic White). They

become friends, and Cyd develops a crush on her, but isn’t quite sure what to do about it. She’s blase about her boyfriend in South Carolina.

She is invited to Miranda’s monthly soiree (Cone at his ensemble best), an artsy book salon where her friends bring food to eat and read favorite literary works out loud. Cyd encounters an older lesbian couple whom she quizzes about their relationship. When they ask about her story, she gamely replies, “I like everything,” which she illustrates by

having an amorous tryst with Miranda’s young, hunky gardener (Matthew Quattrocki).

Cyd boldly asks Miranda whether she has had sex, and Miranda realizes it has been five years since she was with a man. She has a longstanding friendship with another writer, Anthony (James Vincent Meredith), and when Cyd queries her about a romance, she at first dismisses the possibility. But later, though seemingly content with her celibacy, she mulls over her prospects with him. Later, in an unkind moment, Cyd bluntly, though not maliciously, observes, “If you had sex more, you probably wouldn’t want to eat all the time.” Then, in the highlight of the film, Miranda gives a spirited rebuttal monologue defending her choices that would make any single middleaged woman proud: “It is not a handicap to be one thing but not another, to be one way and not another. We are different shapes and ways, and our happiness is unique.

There are no rules of balance.”

In another peak moment, Cyd reveals her spark with Katie to Miranda, noting that Katie looks like a boy (so much that, in a lovely segment, two filmmakers notice the two on a rooftop and ask them to dance, assuming they are boy and girl). Miranda replies, “Maybe she

is a boy,” to which Cyd responds, “Yeah, maybe.” Cone’s handling of sexuality and gender is casual but instructive in that Cyd, while trying to figure out who she is and what she wants, doesn’t experience much anxiety in wherever her desires might lead, even proudly and unself-consciously walking down the street wearing Katie’s prom tuxedo to the soiree.

Cone’s film is a winner, stumbling only in a needlessly melodramatic attempted sexual assault on Katie by a male roommate, whose only function is to bring the two girls together as they seek refuge in Miranda’s home. The film could have been enhanced with some back-story on Cyd, such as why she doesn’t get along with her father, as well as more discussion of how her mother’s murder had an impact on both her and Miranda. Cone likes his audience to make their own connections. He doesn’t tie up loose ends. But sometimes he can be too deliberately introspective.

Still, this is one of those films where little happens plot-wise, yet by the conclusion everything has changed for both women. Spence and Pinnick are sublime, with White trailing close behind. “Princess Cyd” is thoughtful, empathetic, and hopeful, providing almost a primer on intergenerational relationships among women. Yet again Cone has given us one of the best LGBTQ films of the year.t

now available on Netflix for live streaming. Season One debuted on ABC-TV in America. The second

season was produced by Netflix for worldwide distribution. No word yet on a third season.t

Undead Down Under

by Ernie Alderete

A

ustralia keeps churning out quality TV programs, the latest

being “Glitch,” which has now completed its second season. You would think people have tired of zombies and the undead theme, but “Glitch”

Sean Keenan is the undead stud of the Australian TV series “Glitch.”

is so well-acted and well-presented that you eagerly suspend your disbelief at the ridiculous overall plotline.

The cast is superb, led by Patrick Brammall as policeman James Hayes. He’s handsome, manly, cute without being overly pretty, and always extremely believable. Hayes is caught between two wives, one dead but arisen, and a new, live, pregnant wife, who doesn’t seem to stay alive very long, either.

The entire series is based on his reality, how he uncovers the many layers of the eerie situation, and the scientific conspiracy that is bedeviling his tiny fictional town of Yaroona, in the state of Victoria. You are always aware that you are not in Kansas anymore with every scene and frame of the action.

I found myself totally engrossed in the Aboriginal struggle of the Land Down Under like never before.

I’ve spent time in Oz, and never felt as close to the native people as I did while watching “Glitch.”

I must admit I didn’t see the gay twist coming, which made it all the more exciting. One of the formerly dead, arisen from his grave a century after his death during WWI, Sean Keenan as Charlie Thompson, is the stud of the series. He’s stunning as he crawls out from his muddy grave butt-naked in a scene very reminiscent of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead.”

Charlie’s alive again, but apparently suffering from total blanket amnesia. He doesn’t even know his name, or how he died, or even that he’s gay, so when his same-sex attraction evidences itself, it surprises not only himself, but the viewer as well.

He never comes out quite as far as Priscilla Queen of the Desert, but he reveals that his partner was a fellow soldier he loved in the Great War. That’s just two members of the excellent cast, none of whom I have ever seen before, and you are unlikely to be familiar with them unless you live in Australia or New Zealand. Twelve 45-minute episodes are spread over two seasons

ift!

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HERSHEY FELDER

Music by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Written and Performed by Hershey Felder

Directed by Trevor Hay

”Felder is truly stunning!”

Broadway World

Acclaimed for recent portrayals of Beethoven, Irving Berlin, and more, piano virtuoso Hershey Felder brings to life the legendary Russian composer and LGBTQ issues in his day.

Jan 10–Feb 11 Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts theatreworks.org 650.463.1960

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HERSHEY FELDER / COURTESY EIGHTY-EIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

<< Dance

24 • Bay Area Reporter • December 21-27, 2017

<<

Nutcracker

From page 17

There are four great things about our Nutcracker: a) the dancers, who are among the finest artists in the country; b) Tchaikovsky’s wonderful music, and SF Ballet’s splendid orchestra; c) the look of the show, especially the “Victorian” house in San Francisco that forms the setting of the first act. OK, there is a fourth: our Opera House itself is an architectural poem in its own right, and before the overture begins the golden auditorium creates expectations that wonderful visions are going to rise before us. The stereopticon images of “old San Francisco” that flash on the screen as the music begins set you up to fall into the hopes and fears of a little girl growing up in the city that has just survived an earthquake. This brings home the theme of new life beginning at the darkest of times.

There’s the Christmas party itself, which evokes in me nostalgia for a kind of family-centered culture, with rafts of cousins you barely know, distant aunts you’ve only heard of, and the queer uncle who’s fascinatingly eccentric and echoes the way a gay boy like me could hope to function in the family economy. Now that gay marriage is an accepted fact in our culture, this dimension, which used to be problematic, has become poignant and sweet. In SFB’s production, Uncle Drosselmeyer, wonderfully realized in Ruben Martin Cintas’ performance, is clearly one of us, the brilliant member of the family, the guy with the imagination who can make magic happen, and whose investment in the education of the young brings about wonderful changes.

It doesn’t matter that Cintas is not gay; he sees into the life of things, as Drosselmeyer must. In my book,

<<

Erik Tomasson

San Francisco Ballet premier danseur Joseph Walsh in Helgi Tomasson’s “Nutcracker.”

he’s an honorary queer.

The Christmas party is too exciting for the kids, of course, and Clara (Olivia Callender) must see her new toy broken by her rowdy brother, Fritz (brilliant Shane Wexelman), who (poor boy) can’t contain himself with all these grown-ups around, Everybody dances! The kids all get presents! The Grandparents (Kristi de Caminada and Jim Sohm, excellent) dance! And the smallest child, a little girl (uncredited student at SFB school), steals the show. Then everybody goes home to bed, and Clara, who’s overexcited and can’t sleep, comes downstairs to check on her “wounded” Nutcracker, and Alice in Wonderland transmogrifications begin. This is the kind of thing that requires the technology of an opera house. Suddenly her world grows gigantic and menacing, the tree towers 40 feet high, huge mice spring out from among the Christmas presents, and war ensues. The dining-room cabinet lets down a drawbridge full of tin soldiers who come to her

in Zellerbach Hall and also runs the Waltz of the Flowers lacks shape. defense, led by her Nutcracker doll through New Year’s Eve. His burFortunately, the ballerina Sasha de (fabulous premier danseur Joseph lesque of The Nutcracker is actually Sola transfigured her humdrum Walsh), whom she then has to a great version. If you can, see both. choreography and made a thrilling rescue by distracting the Rat King SFB’s version was created in the set of dances out of it all, put it over (John Paul Simoens) and braining wake of Morris’, with designs by the the top. him. Whereupon at last everything same team: Martin Pakledinaz (cosMuch depends on the grand changes, a snowfall-like powdered tumes), James Ingalls (lighting), and ballerina who will dance the grand sugar envelops everything, and the the seminal idea of Drosselmeyer as pas. This is the most important and blizzard itself dances for her (Snow the gay uncle. most difficult magic of all, since Queen: Frances Chung, glorious in But Morris’ is sharper, harder, she replaces the child dancer who the role; Snow King: Vitor Luiz) as more brilliant, more incisive, played Clara but must seem to be an she makes her way with her Nutbetter-conducted (magnificent avatar of our heroine. We must feel cracker to Confituerenburg, the Colin Fowler), and far better chothat the soul of the child is still there Land of the Sugar-Plum Fairy. The reographed. The party scene is a in the dancer in pointe shoes, or first-act curtain falls, leaving you screamingly funny 80s affair, with else it’s just a display of fancy footbreathless. the bump, soul train, and hokey work and finery. Maria Kochetkova, All through the show, SFB’s supokey replacing the bourgeois though she’s a magnificent dancer perb dancers put an extra gloss on family-circle dances. Morris’ Drosand world famous, did not bring the things. Among the shining characselmeyer (Billy Ellis) is compellingly goods that night. But she certainly ters, Maria Kochetkova and Joseph sexy, profoundly imaginative, and did all her tricks just fine, and was Walsh danced the tricky grand pas his Clara (Lauren Grant) has the magnificent when she threw herself grandly. Lonnie Weeks made a faburole of a lifetime. at her cavalier and suddenly aplous splash as the scintillating ChiThe great scenes are Snow (unpeared serene and glorious, sitting nese acrobat, as did Esteban Hersurpassed, even by Balanchine), on his shoulder facing us. It’s not an nandez as the Russian who sprang Flowers, and the grand pas. This easy trick, and she killed it. out of the Faberge egg, in the only ballet has had the unusual fate of really superb choreography in the Another gay uncle coming into flower as time has gone whole show (ch: Anatole Vilzak).

Across the Bay, Mark Morris’ by – the finale is now one of the gloThey did all they could to buff wonderful “The Hard Nut” opened ries of classical dance. As new dancup a show whose choreography is ers have championed it, it’s unfortunately dull, and become the greatest exin key places threadbare. pression of young love and The new-concept production (new in 1994) devotion I know, as Grant required new sets and and her Nutcracker (Aaron costumes, new machinLoux) declare their love ery that would accommofor all the world to see. On date the transformations, every climax in the music all kinds of restagings of they kiss. The partnering is the traditional material. grand, intimate, fresh and Since the sets themselves astonishing, including immove around, the choreages I’ve never seen before, ography for the dancers as when they kneel, smile, was skimped on, and has each rests a cheek on the never been updated. other’s hand, and they rise If you’ve never seen it, together into a double arathe immediate impact of besque holding each other Frank Wing all the scenery is a mustup. It is one of the great imsee. But the storytelling Scene from Mark Morris’ “The Hard Nut,” presented ages of soul-matedness, the is muddled. The party by Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley. kind that only the dance can scene is a blur; likewise, provide.t

2017 Film

From page 17

1. “Call Me by Your Name” Romantic Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s delicious boy-meets-man romance explores the nuances of same-sex affection over a glorious Northern Italian summer in 1983.

Skinny, 17-year-old, curly-haired imp Elio (Timothée Chalamet) falls for Oliver (Armie Hammer), an American graduate student spending the summer as a live-in archeological assistant to Elio’s dad (Michael Stuhlbarg). American James Ivory (“Room with a View”) joins forces with author André Aciman to produce an R-rated version of Aciman’s novel. The bond between Elio and Oliver is both physical and verbal, including a playful moment when Elio leaps on the back of a retreating Oliver as if the latter were a wild horse in need of taming.

2. “Tom of Finland” Dome Karukoski presents the story of a legend. The work of Touko Laaksonen (1920-91) became iconic among gay men into leather. This bio-pic concentrates on the pivotal moments and relationships that inspired Tom’s hypermasculine drawings.

His art would excite gay men worldwide, especially in pre-Stonewall America, where freedom would march hand-in-hand with a dissolution of anti-sexual Puritan codes.

3. “BPM” (“Beats Per Minute”) Robin Campillo’s powerful docudrama centered on the Paris chapter of ACT-UP features a star-crossed couple. Nathan (Arnaud Valois) is mesmerized and seduced by Sean (Argentina’s charismatic Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), a young militant whose behavior intensifies just as his grip on life is challenged, by falling T-cell counts and screaming matches with others in the group.

Protagonist Pictures

Touko Laaksonen (Pekka Strang), the title character in director Dome Karukoski’s “Tom of Finland.”

4. “Beach Rats” opens on one of anti-hero Frankie’s favorite haunts: the Coney Island branch of the New York subway, which leads to the famous South Brooklyn boardwalk and Ferris wheel. Director Eliza Hittman pumps up the volume on each scene change revealing Frankie’s wanderlust and perpetual search for new highs and distractions. Slowly Frankie’s dilemma becomes clear: his desire for men’s bodies is no passing phase.

5. “The Florida Project” Sean Baker, whose 2015 “Tangerine” revealed LA’s “down-low” culture of drugs and prostitution, takes us to a broken-down motel in Florida where Moonee (Brooklyn Prince) lives with her childlike mom, Halle (Valeria Cotto). Halle dares her daughter, her fellow tenants, and the caretaker (a terrific Willem Dafoe) to challenge her flouting all the rules of decency.

6. “Becks” Daniel Powell and Elizabeth Rohrbaugh give us the hard-luck story of singer-songwriter Becks (Lena Hall, a Tony winner for a Broadway’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”). “Becks” opens with our heroine being shown the door by her

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New York girlfriend, who replaces her with a younger, better-stacked model. Returning to St. Louis and to her embittered mom (Christine Lahti), Becks earns her keep through pass-the-hat sets at a local bar.

7. “Battle of the Sexes” Flashback to Fall 1973, when aging tennis star Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell), more skilled at hustling for cash and cameratime than at winning on the tennis courts, challenges top female stars half his age to showdown

matches. Riggs takes on reigning women’s champ Billie Jean King (Emma Stone). The stunt, catnip to TV sports, transpired at Houston’s Astrodome before a live crowd of 30,000 and a TV audience of 90 million. Co-directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Feris (“Little Miss Sunshine”) offer up an A-list ensemble that includes Andrea Riseborough as Marilyn Barnett, King’s hairdresser and lover. She and Stone pull off the tricky feat of showing the strains and pleasures of a female couple outed on a world stage.

8. “Alabama Bound” Carolyn Sherer tackles the prickly subject of same-sex parenting and adoption in a state once considered the nation’s most deeply red. The film presents lesbians and their children whose rights are put on hold while the state’s white Christian oligarchy wages a rearguard battle against justice, led by right-wing state judge Roy Moore. Cari and her wife fight for joint custody of a son born with a deadly heart condition. Meanwhile African American mother Kinley has to fight her ex-hubby for custody despite evidence that his

Scene from director Robin Campillo’s “BPM” (“Beats Per Minute”).

new wife has abused their young son. The filmmakers argue that the battle for the rights and humanity of Alabama’s LGBTQ minority is an extension of the historic fight for equality of the races.

9. “Maudie” The primitive painter Maud Dowley Lewis was born in Nova Scotia to a blacksmith dad, Jack, and a folk-artist mom, Agnes.

Crippled by childhood arthritis, Maud developed a gift for painting comparable to the American folk artist Grandma Moses. Maud suffered the devastating loss of both parents at 14, and was consigned to the home of a stern aunt. From there we watch as Maudie (Sally Hawkins) becomes a kind of maid to 40ish recluse Everett Lewis (Ethan Hawke). The story of how this incompetent housekeeper and angry bachelor manage to coexist would be remarkable enough, but that Maudie wins him over to allowing her artistic pursuits is nothing less than astonishing.

10. “Oklahoma City” is a chilling and exhaustive account of convicted white terrorist Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. As the film opens, a title flashes, “April 19, 1995, 9:02 a.m.” We hear voices at a meeting of the local Water Resource Board, then a gigantic explosion. The filmmakers provide historical footage showing damage to the building, with first-person interviews of survivors. Then we flashback to the early 80s in northern Idaho, where white supremacists are massing.

This terrific PBS-funded film for “The American Experience” was also released in select theaters.

10 (2). Tied with “The Chinese Exclusion Act,” in which Ric Burns and Ll-Shin Yu explain the tangled history of laws barring Chinese immigrants to this country.t

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Leather Xmas

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Arts Events

www.ebar.com ✶ www.bartabsf.com

Shining Stars Vol. 47 • No. 51 • December 21-27, 2017

by Jim Gladstone

I

n the first national tour of An American in Paris, which ran at the Orpheum here in September and October, Nick Spangler played dashing Frenchman Henri Baurel.

See page 27

>>

Nick Spangler

On the Tab December 21-28

Sat 23 e 26 >> Listings on pag

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

Wilsonphotos

H

ere’s to ever yone not flying, driving, training or hitchhiking out of town. Here’s to holi day happy hour haunts, the Santafied Saturnalias.

Ginger Minge, Peppermint, and Manila Luzon, part of Christmas Queens @ Mezzanine

<< On the Tab

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 21-27, 2017

Christmas Queens @ Mezzanine

Vivvy's Saturnalia @ The Stud

The sexy male burlesque review (acrobats, circus studs and strippers) is joined by the groovy sexy Oakland funk band in a special show. $10-$170. 9:30pm-11:30pm. 522 2nd St., Oakland. facebook.com/ manarchymalerevue

RuPaul’s Drag Race stars perform a mega-big holiday-themed comedy show, including Manila Luzon, Ginger Minj, Jinkx Monsoon, Sharon Needles, Phi Phi O’Hara, Peppermint, Thorgy Thor, Willam, and Ivy Winters; hosted

by Michelle Visage. $39-$149. 9pm.

444 Jessie St. ChristmasQueens.net

VivvyAnne ForeverMORE's night celebrates the ancient Roman holiday; Pagan and mythological dress code adored; with DJ Siobhan Aluvalot. $5-$10. 399 9th St. studsf.com

Midnight Show @ Divas

Lips and Lashes Brunch @ Lookout

Darien Philips

Manarchy Male Revue with Planet Booty @ Oakland Metro Operahouse

Fri 22 The Secret Emchy Society at Queer Folk Punk Holiday Disaster Show @ The Lost Church

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

Weekly show with soul, funk and Motown grooves hosted by Carnie Asada, with DJs Becky Knox and Pumpkin Spice. The yummy brunch menu starts at 12pm, with the show at 1:30pm. 3600 16th St. lookoutsf.com

Queer Folk Punk Holiday Disaster Show @ The Lost Church

Mother @ Oasis

Shawna Virago, The Secret Emchy Society and Eli Conley share a festive bill of live music at the super-intimate cabaret club. $10-$15. 8pm. 65 Capp St. emchy.com

Red Hots Burlesque @ The Stud

Thu 21 After Dark @ Exploratorium The cocktails and science night for adults, with installations throughout the hands-on exhibit museum.

Dec. 21: Manganese; demos about the plant-supplement. $20. 6pm10pm. Pier 15 at Embarcadero. exploratorium.edu

Comedy Returns @ El Rio Enjoy the intelligent stand-up comedy of Marga Gomez, Will Durst, Aundre the Wonderwoman, David Lawrence Hawkins, and Lisa Geduldig. $7-$20.

8pm. 3158 Mission St. elriosf.com

Gay Witch Solstice Trivia, Ho is Life @ The Stud Enjoy pagan puns and pontification at the queer trivia night. 7pm-10pm.

Followed by the fun slutty par-tay.

399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Jason Brock @ Oasis The popular local singer performs two nights of holiday-themed songs; guests include vocalist Paula West, flautist Gerald Beckett, and piano accompanist Dee Spencer. $40-$45.

8pm. Dec 22 at 7pm. 298 11th St. brockwest.eventbrite.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge

Winter Solstice Ceremony @ East Bay Venue Women's celebration of Poli'ahu, the Hawaiian Snow Goddess of Mauna Kea. $15. 7:30pm. RSVP for info and address. daughtersofthegoddess.com

Winter Solstice Party @ Port Bar, Oakland DJ Jibbs plays grooves, plus vegan food, vendors, and no cover. 7pm-1am. 2023 Broadway. portbaroakland.com

XXXmas Variety Show @ SF Eagle Sister Roma and Dulce de Leche cohost the holiday show, with Munecas, Bitch Please, Juanite MORE!, Voodonna Black, Thee Pristine Condition, Beth BiCoastal and more, plus DJs Spaz and Dakota Pendant. $10. 9pm-2am. 398 12th st. www.sf-eagle.com

Fri 22 Ain't Mama's Drag @ Balancoire Weekly drag queen and drag king show hosted by Cruzin d'Loo. 8pm10pm. No cover. 2565 Mission St. www.balancoiresf.com

Bear Happy Hour @ Midnight Sun Hairy men and their pals enjoy 2-for-1 drinks and no cover. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Club Papi @ Club 21, Oakland

The weekly drag show with host Sue Casa, DJ MC2, themed nights and hilarious fun. $5. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Hip Hop and Latin grooves event, with 3 dance floors, gogo studs and drag acts. $10-$20. 9pm-4am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. club21oakland.com

Nice Jewish Boys @ Evil Eye

Disco Holiday @ Club OMG

Gay Jewish men's group and GAPA (Gay Asian Pacific Alliance) and their friends happy hour mixer. 6:30pm.

2937 Mission St. keshetonline.org

Vin Sol & Primo DJ disco grooves at the intimate club. $10-$20. 10pm2am. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Queer Karaoke @ Club OMG KJ Dana hosts the weekly singing night; unleash your inner American Idol ; first Thursdays are Costume Karaoke; 3rd is Kinky Karaoke 8pm.

43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Sundance Saloon @ Space 550 The Country-Western line-dancing two-stepping dance events celebrates 18 years. Free-$5. 5pm-10:30pm. Also Sundays (not Dec 24). 550 Barneveld Ave. www.sundancesaloon.org

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie's Lounge Disco guru DJ Bus Station John spins grooves at the intimate retro music night. $5. 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

Winter Sausage Party @ Hole in the Wall The SoMa rock bar celebrates the holidays with sausages paired with their tasty beer selection. 6pm-10pm.

1369 Folsom St. www.hitws.com

DTF Fridays @ Port Bar, Oakland

The saucy women's burlesque show hosted by Dottie Lux will titillate and tantalize. $10-$20. 8pm-9:30pm. 399 9th St. Also Sunday brunch shows at Piano Fight Theatre. 144 Taylor St. redhotsburlesque.com

Winter Onsieland @ Lone Star Saloon Don your gay union suits at Reddroxx and the bear bar's onesie night. 9pm2am. 1354 Harrison St. lonestarsf.com

Sun 24

Christmas Eve; some venues may be closed.

Heklina's popular drag show, with special guests and great music themes Dec. 23: Golden Girls after-party, and Xmas-themed drag acts by Heklina, D'Arcy Drollinger, Matthew Martin, Holotta Tymes, and (all the way from LA) Monistat! $5. 10pm-3am (11:30pm show). 298 11th St. sfoasis.com

Blessed @ Port Bar, Oakland

The Playground @ Club BNB, Oakland

Sing along at the popular musical theatre night, with a bawdy edge; also Mondays and Wednesdays (but not dirty). 7pm-2am. 2 for 1 cocktail, 5pm-closing. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Revamped night at the popular hip hop and Latin dance club. $5-$15.

9pm to 4am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Carnie Asada's fun drag night with Carnie's Angels Mahlae Balenciaga and Au Jus, plus DJ Ion. 2023 Broadway. portbaroakland.com

Dirty Musical Sundays @ The Edge

Shenanigans @ Oasis The fun costumed theme dance night comes to an end, with a "So long and thanks for all the fish" Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy theme. $10-$15.

10pm-2am. 298 11th St. sfoasis.com

Steam @ Powerhouse Bath house-ish fun, with towelclad gogos, wet towel contest, the notorious gogo power shower, and DJ Kelly Naughton. $6. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. powerhousebar.com

Vibe Fridays @ Club BnB, Oakland House music and cocktails, with DJs Shareef Raheim-Jihad and Ellis Lindsey. 9pm-2am. 2120 Broadway.

(510) 759-7340. club-bnb.com

Underwear Night @ SF Eagle Strip down to your skivvies at the famed leather bar, with host Dulce de Leche and DJ Marcos Moreno. 398 12th St. at Harrison. sf-eagle.com

Sat 23 Bad Santa @ SF Eagle Sit on his lap and get a photo taken with Dirty Ole Santa. 9pm-1am. 398 12th St. at Harrison. sf-eagle.com

Bollywood Dance Party @ Club OMG

Fri 22 Manarchy Male Revue with Planet Booty @ Oakland Metro Operahouse

Polyglamorous @ F8 The groovalectic DJ crew showcases residents mix masters Major, Mark O'Brien and Beya. Dance, cruise and enjoy; holiday garb encouraged. $7-$12. 10pm-3am. 1192 Folsom St. facebook.com/polyglamorous.club/

Pretty in Ink @ Powerhouse DJ Becky Know, tattooed love boy gogos and cruisy fun. $5. 9pm-2am.

1347 Folsom St. powerhousebar.com

Shake It Up @ Port Bar, Oakland

Trikone's South Asian dance party with DJ Sshaan. $5. 9pm-2am. 43 6th St. clubomgsf.com

DJ Lady Char spins dance grooves; gogo studs, and drink specials, too.

9pm-2am. 2023 Broadway. (510) 8232099. www.portbaroakland.com

Bounce @ Lookout

Soul Party @ Elbo Room

Dance music with a view at the Castro bar. 9pm-2am. 3600 16th St. lookoutsf.com

DJs Lucky, Paul, and Phengren Osward spin 60s soul 45s. $5-$10 ($5 off in semi-formal attire). 10pm-2am. 647 Valencia St. 552-7788. elbo.com

Domingo De Escandal @ Club OMG Weekly Latin night with drag shows hosted by Vicky Jimenez and DJ Carlitos. (Comedy Open Mic 5:30pm).

7pm-2am. 43 6th St. clubomgsf.com

Femme Brunch @ Balancoire Weekly live music shows with various acts, along with brunch buffet, bottomless Mimosas, champagne and more, at the stylish nightclub and restaurant, with live entertainment and DJ Shawn P. $15-$20. 11am-3pm. After that, Femme T-Dance drag shows at 7pm, 10pm and 11pm. 2565 Mission St. at 21st. 920-0577. balancoiresf.com

Game Heavan @ Brewcade Take a break from holiday burdens with a few rounds of video games and specialty beers. No cover. 2200 Market St. www.brewcadesf.com

GlamaZone @ The Cafe

Various DJs play house music, and a few hotties gogo dance. 9pm-2am.

2023 Broadway. (510) 823-2099. www.portbaroakland.com

Pollo del Mar's weekly drag show takes on different themes with a comic edge. 8:30-11:30pm. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Friday Nights at the Ho @ White Horse Bar, Oakland

Jock @ The Lookout Shot in the City

For full listings, visit www.ebar.com/bartab

▼

Dance it up at the historic (and still hip) East Bay bar. 9pm-2am. 6551 Telegraph Ave. whitehorsebar.com

Friday Night Live @ El Rio

Queer Tango @ Finnish Hall, Berkeley

Enjoy the weekly queer and LGBTfriendly live acoustic concerts. $5pm.

3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Same-sex partner tango dancing, including lessons for newbies, food and drinks. $5-$10. 3:30pm6:30pm. 1970 Chestnut St, Berkeley. finnishhall.org

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

Hella Gay Comedy @ Club OMG Queer joke night, with host Nasty Ass Bitch. $15. 7pm. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Enjoy the weekly jock-ular fun, with DJed dance music at sports team fundraisers. 12pm-1am. NY DJ Sharon White from 3pm-6pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Sat 23

Polyglamorous @ F8

Sunday's a Drag @ Starlight Room The weekly brunch and drag show with a panoramic view. $45. 11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square. 395-8595. starlightroomsf.com

▼

Cabaret>>

December 21-27, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

Matthew Murphy

Nick Spangler on tour in An American in Paris.

<<

Nick Spangler

From page 25

The character is reluctant heir to a family business who secretly dreams of becoming a cabaret star. The actor’s family has operated Spangler Mortuaries, based in Mountain View, for almost 80 years.

“My dad is the third generation, I guess third and final, owner,” says Spangler, who will debut a cabaret show of his own next Thursday at Feinstein’s at the Nikko.

Since I’ve Been Gone chronicles the time since Spangler left home to pursue a life on the stage. Unlike Monsieur Baurel, Spangler has enjoyed his family’s support in pursuing show business ambitions.

“I remember taking that first curtain call and feeling like, ‘This is it!

This is so awesome,’” he recalls of

his debut at age 5 as a munchkin in the Los Altos Youth Theater production of The Wizard of Oz. Years later, he played the Scarecrow in a virtually all-white production of The Wiz at Saint Francis High School.

“My mom was great about finding me great vocal coaches and dance lessons, until I got to junior high and was teased,” he recalls.

While he also ran cross-country and wrestled in school, Spangler says, “I found my best and closest friends at the Children’s Musical Theater of San Jose.”

One of Spangler’s two younger sisters, Joyah, also a New York-based actress, is flying out to join him for a few numbers at Feinstein’s.

But it was his other sister, Starr – once a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, currently working at Facebook– who partnered with Spangler in his

highest profile performances ever: his wedding (Wife Monica was on The siblings were the million dolthe cheerleading squad with Starr), lar winners of television’s Amazing all the while keeping his nose to the Race back in 2008. audition grindstone.

The year before, during his senior Moving up to Broadway from year at the NYU’s Tisch School of The Fantasticks, Spangler has won the Arts, Spangler was cast in the featured parts in The Book of MorOff-Broadway production of The mon, and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Fantasticks.

Cinderella.

“It was cool. For six months while He also had the rare opportunity I was still a student, I was commutto originate a Broadway role as best ing to Times Square to be a profesman Greg Madison, in the 2015 musional actor every night.” sical It Shoulda Been You, alongside After graduating, he stuck with major Broadway names including the show, while continuing to audiTyne Daly, Sierra Boggess, Harriet tion. “Somehow, with roommates Harris, and Edward Hibbert under and keeping costs down, I was able the direction of David Hyde-Pierce. to survive in Manhattan at minimum Off-Broadway pay.”

During a hiatus from Fantasticks for a regional production of La Cage Aux Folles in Denver, Spangler received a frantic call from sister Starr, who had recently turned 21, old enough to be on the television competition she and her brother had watched together since childhood.

“She’d found out that Amazing Race was accepting audition tapes and said we had to do it,” recalls Spangler. “She flew out to Colorado right after her college graduation. I was in rehearsal, but somehow, between dinner breaks and late at night in the Residence Inn, we put a tape together. A couple months later we were called back.”

The prize money proved to be “a big safety net,” Spangler says, describing the impact of the reality show on being a young working actor in New York.

He was able to put a down pay- Nick Spangler with his sister ment on an apartment with an Starr on The Amazing Race. affordable mortgage, and pay for

Mon 25

Juicy @ Club OMG

Christmas Day; most venues will be closed.

Weekly women's event at the intimate Mid-market nightclub, with DJ Micah Tron. 9pm-2am. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Holiday Ice Rink @ Union Square

Miss Kitty's Trivia Night @ Wild Side West

Enjoy skating at the downtown holiday rink; special performances and events thru January. To skate: $13$25, daily 9:30am-9pm. 333 Post St. unionsquareicerink.com

The weekly fun night at the Bernal Heights bar includes prizes, hosted by Kitty Tapata. No cover. 7pm-10pm.

424 Cortland St. 647-3099. www.wildsidewest.com

Holiday Potluck, Marathon Meetings @ Castro Country Club

Movie Night @ SF Eagle Enjoy drinks and a flick, with trivia games and prizes. 8pm-2am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Also, open Christmas Day for AA meetings, 7:30am-11pm; Holiday Potluck dinner, 1pm-4pm in the café.

Family Jewels, an exhibit of Timothy Snyder 's colorful new works at the LGBT sober space. 4058 18th St. castrocountryclub.org

Pan Dulce @ Beaux

Thu 28 Goapele @ Yoshi’s Oakland

Tue 26 Dragula @ Oasis Weekly screenings of LA's Boulet Brothers' dragtastic TV show of ghoulish glamour. No cover. 7pm.

298 11th St. sfoasis.com

Hella Saucy @ Q Bar Queer dance party at the stylish intimate bar. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

High Fantasy @ Aunt Charlie's Lounge Weekly drag and variety show, with live acts and lip-synching divas, plus DJed grooves. $5. Shows at 10:30pm & 12am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. auntcharlieslounge.com

Hysteria Comedy @ Martuni's Open mic for women and queer comics, with host Irene Tu. 6pm-8pm.

4 Valencia St.

Karaoke Night @ The Stud Sing Till It Hurts with hostess Sister Flora; 2 for 1 happy hour, no cover, plus raffle pirze drawings. 8pm-2am.

399 9th St. www.studsf.com

The hot weekly Latin dance night with sexy gogo guys, drag divas and more, with Club Papi's Frisco Robbie and Fabian Torres. $7. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Hump @ Powerhouse Naked Night @ Nob Hill Theatre

B.P.M. @ Club BnB, Oakland

Strip down with the strippers at the clothing-optional night. $20. 9pm.

729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Olga T and Shugga Shay's weekly queer women and men's R&B hip hop and soul night. No cover. 8pm-2am.

2120 Broadway, Oakland. bench-and-bar.com

Trivia Night @ Port Bar, Oakland Cranny hosts a big gay trivia night at the new East Bay bar; drinks specials and prizes. 7:30pm. 2023 Broadway. portbaroakland.com

Castro Karaoke @ Midnight Sun Sing out with host Bebe Sweetbriar; 2 for 1 well drinks. 8pm-2am. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. midnightsunsf.com

DJ Jim Collins plays vinyl grooves.

7pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Thu 28 Buffy Sing-Along @ Lone Star Saloon Enjoy musical numbers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show, plus drag acts and trivia contest prizes. 8pm show.

1354 Harrison St. lonestarsf.com

Ginger Minge @ Oasis

An American in Paris had Spangler on the road for a full year from October 2016 until this fall. It was his first experience with a national tour, ambitiously undertaken with a wife, toddler son, and family dog in tow.

“Most of the company flew between cities,” he recalls. “But we drove our RAV4. The first ten cities were one-week engagements. On my one day off, we were driving 12 to 16 hours.”

“Amazing Race was 30,000 miles in 23 days. This was 33 cities in 52 weeks, so much more exhausting.”

After the tour ended in Salt Lake City in October (San Francisco was the penultimate stop), Spangler and family drove back to the Bay Area for a long, well-deserved break and quality time with local relatives and old friends. They’ll head back east for the new year.

“Until I did American in Paris here,” says Spangler. “I hadn’t spent more than four days at a time the Bay Area since I left for college 14 years ago. I hadn’t performed here at all.

“Every night when we were playing at The Orpheum, people from my past came out of the woodwork every night. They’d come to the stage door to say hi and ask me what I’ve been up to. I specifically put this cabaret show together for the people who knew me back before my success.”▼

CBS

Nick Spangler performs his new cabaret concert, ‘Since I’ve Been Gone.’ $22.50-$50 ($20 food/drink min.). Thursday, December 28.

8pm. Feinstein’s at the Nikko, Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason st. feinsteinsatthenikko.com Nick

Kick It @ DNA Lounge Kandi Love, Northcore Collective and Plus Alliance's weekly EDM, flow arts dance night, with DJs; glow drag encouraged. $5-$10. 9pm-2am. 375 11th St. www.dnalounge.com

Literary Speakeasy @ Martuni's Readings by local authors, with Gina Stella dell'Assunta, Lewis DeSimone, Diane Glazman, Tony Press, and David Welper, and host James J. Siegel. 7pm.

4 Valencia St. at Market.

My So-Called Night @ Beaux Carnie Asada hosts a weekly '90s-themed video, dancin', drinkin' night, with VJs Jorge Terez. Get down with your funky bunch, and enjoy 90cent drinks. '90s-themed attire and costume contest. No cover. 9pm-2am.

2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

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

Nick Spangler @ Feinstein's at the Nikko The Bay Area native and Broadway star performs his new cabaret concert, Since I've Been Gone. $22.50-$50 ($20 food/drink min.).

8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason st. feinsteinsatthenikko.com

Underwear Night @ Club OMG

Cocktail Time @ Ginger's Trois

Weekly underwear night includes free clothes check, and drink specials; Santa hats welcome. $4. 10pm-2am.

Preceded by Open Mic Comedy, 7pm, no cover. 43 6th St. clubomgsf.com

Enjoy drinks at the intimate downstairs tribute to the original dive bar; Tue & Wed 5pm-12am. Thu-Sat 5pm-2am. 86 Hardie Place.

The RuPaul's Drag Race star brings her Crossdresser for Christmas show to the SoMa nightclub. $27.50-$40. 8pm.

Also Dec 29 & 30, 7pm (and at Mother Dec 30). 298 11th St. sfoasis.com

Comedy Showcase @ SF Eagle

Goapele @ Yoshi's, Oakland

Thirsty Thursdays @ Moby Dick

The gorgeous singer with an amazing voice performs four nights at the elegant restaurant-nightclub, inclduing two New Year's Eve concerts with her band. $36, $69, $99. Thu & Fri 8pm & 10pm. Sat 7:30pm & 9:30pm. Dec 31, 8pm and 11pm. 520 Embarcadero West. goapele.com

Happy hour at the Castro bar. 5pm8pm. 4049 18th St. mobydicksf.com

Wed 27 Bondage-a-Gogo @ The Cat Club The weekly gay/straight/whatever fetish-themed kinky dance night. $7$10. 9:30pm-2:30am. 1190 Folsom St. bondage-a-go-go.com

Kollin Holtz hosts the open mic comedy night. 5:30pm-8pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Freeball Wednesdays @ The Cinch Free pool and drink specials at the historic neighborhood bar. 8pm-1am.

1723 Polk St. www.cinchsf.com

Rice Rockettes @ Lookout Local and visiting Asian drag queens' weekly show with DJ Philip Grasso. $5. 10:30pm show. 3600 16th St. lookoutsf.com

Want your nightlife event listed?

Email events@ebar.com, at least two weeks before your event.

Event photos welcome.

<< Leather

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 21-27, 2017

Gift ideas for kinksters

Playmates or soul mates, you’ll find them on MegaMates

▼

by Race Bannon

Always FREE to listen and reply to ads!

I

San Francisco:

(415) 692-5774

www.megamates.com 18+

t’s that holiday time of year again, a time when many people are wracking their brains trying to figure out an appropriate gift for someone. If the recipient is kinky or sexually adventurous, that’s another consideration when pondering what gift to give.

Christmas isn’t the only time we give gifts, of course. Having some good ideas for what to give your friends and loved ones is useful any time of year. While this is by no means the definitive gift guide, perhaps it will feed your own thinking when figuring out what to give your favorite kinkster, during this season or any time of year.

One gift idea that never would have crossed my mind before seeing it is a new wine. The Tom of Finland Foundation wine was introduced to San Francisco this past week at a reception and party at Oasis with the Foundation’s official spokesmodel and ambassador, Terry Miller, in attendance.

I was lucky enough to have an extended chat with Terry at the event and I must say the Foundation picked a stellar ambassador.

The wine is quite good and is a satisfying blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah. I offer my endorsement of the wine as someone who is a bit of a wine snob.

I really did enjoy it.

So, check out www.tomoffinlandwines.com to purchase the wine for yourself or as a gift. With every wine purchase, a portion of the proceeds goes directly to the Tom of Finland Foundation, which promotes human rights and sexual expression through art.

Experience gifts

My favorite type of gift is the experiential one. By that I mean gifting someone something that’s about having an experience rather than a physical present. Getting “stuff ” of whatever sort can be enjoyable, but it’s often experiences and the memories they instill in us that can be the most valuable.

Imagine a friend opening a card that includes tickets to a local event like Mr. or Ms. San Francisco Leather, International Ms. Leather, Northwest Leather Celebration, GearUp Weekend, a play party, a formal leather dinner, or a special seminar or workshop.

But think beyond just local events. If you know someone is going to one of the big national leather or kink events and they don’t have tickets yet, that would make a wonderful gift too.

I once gave a full-pass ticket to International Mr. Leather to a friend and he was incredibly grateful. There are dozens of such national and regional events from which to choose.

There’s only one trick to giving such event gifts. You should find out ahead of time if your gift recipient is attending and determine if they’ve already purchased tickets. This means you probably need to give such gifts immediately upon learning they haven’t purchased tickets yet, so that they don’t go ahead and purchase them and ruin your surprise.

Is someone a reader? There are lot of fiction and nonfiction books you can buy. Topics range from BDSM to sexual technique to polyamory and beyond. A few local bookshops and retailers carry such books, but it’s more than likely you’re going to

Race Bannon

The Tom of Finland Foundation launched their new wine at Oasis hosted by the Foundation’s ambassador, Terry Miller.

have to buy most such books online.

If the gift recipient reads e-books, you can even have the gift delivered to them instantly via email.

Lucky for us we have quite a few kinky and sexual brick and mortar shopping options.

Retailers such as Mr. S Leather, Worn Out West 2nd Generation, Leather Etc., Rock Hard, Chaps and Good Vibrations offer countless kinky clothes and toys to appeal to anyone from the most experienced player to the curious newcomer.

When it comes to clothing, especially kinky clothing, I’m a big believer in the gift card concept. It’s nearly impossible to buy leather, latex, boots or similar gifts and be sure they’ll fit properly. Most retailers offer a gift card and it’s a great option for clothing.

However, when it comes to toys and play gear, assuming you know the recipient well, you can often hone in on their particular kinks or fetishes and find the perfect thing to make their next play or masturbation session rock their world.

I once gave a vibrating butt plug to a friend and he sent me an effusive thank you card along with a funny story about how he wore the plug out to the bar and he accidentally turned it on mid-sentence during a conversation with friends.

(Know your toys!)

Outside the box

Then there’s the zero-cost gift, and they can be among the best.

Let’s say you’re really experienced with rope bondage, flogging, bootblacking, or some other specific type of skill. How about you offer to teach someone how to do it as your gift to them? Not only does the recipient get a great gift by learning something new, but you have the bonus that you get to hang out and be together while you deliver your gift. Truly a win/win situation, and it doesn’t cost you a penny.

Lastly, there’s a gift that really can’t be quantified.

During this time of year especially, reach out and befriend a fellow kinkster. In fact, befriend anyone who appears to need a friend during this holiday season, or anytime. Gifts are nice, be they physical or experiential, but nothing can replace the gift of friendship.

We live in a big, bustling and kinky metro area, but it can be just as lonely here as anywhere. A few kind words and hanging out with someone might just be the gift someone really needs.

Happy Holidays!▼

For Leather events, visit www.ebar.com/bartab Race Bannon is a local author, blogger and activist.

You can reach him on his website, www.bannon.com.

Top/Middle: Mr. S Bottom: Michael Flanagan

Top: A Nasty Pig cap, the perfect stocking stuffer.

Middle: Michael Tempesta dons an ‘I (Flog) SF’ T-shirt from Mr. S. Bottom: Lube galore and plenty more at Rock Hard on Castro Street.

December 21-27, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 29

Forever Tango @ Palace of Fine Arts

Arts December Events 21-28

▼

Arts Events>>

Luis Bravos’ acclaimed tango company performs their holiday dance and music concert, with guest dancer Anna Trebunskaya ( Dancing With the Stars). $50-$170. Various times thru Dec. 31 (New Year’s Eve concert and party). 3301 Lyon St. forevertangolive.com

The Golden Girls @ Victoria Theatre

and green dressed in traditional red ot every arts event may be free to free but e, t-Channukah blu with white tinsel, or pos a.

Are Bay the r nts all ove your gay apparel at arts eve

N don

For full listings, visit www.ebar.com/arts

Thu 21 Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi The musical comedy revue celebrates its 43th year with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. Book now for holiday special shows. $25-$160. Beer/wine served; cash only; 21+, except where noted.

Wed-Fri 8pm. Sat 6pm & 9pm. Sun 2pm & 5pm. 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd. (Green St.). 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

Black Rider @ Ashby Stage Shotgun Players’ production of the Williams S. Burroughs, Tom Waits and Robert Wilson adult fairytale musical about a lowly clerk who must prove himself to his fianceé’s father by riding through a mysterious forest. $25-$40. Thru Dec 31. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. www.shotgunplayers.org

A Charlie Brown Christmas @ Davies Symphony Hall The cast of A Charlie Brown Christmas, SF Symphony Chorus and Symphony perform holiday pop favorites and traditional songs. $30$80. Dec 21-23 at 2pm & 7:30pm.

Dec. 24 2pm. 201 Van ness Ave. www.sfsymphony.org

A Christmas Story @ SF Playhouse Local production of Benj Pasek, Justin Paul & Joseph Robinette’s Tony-nominated musical adaptation of the classic movie about a young boy’s holiday hopes for a rifle. $20$125. Tue-Thu 7:30pm, Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Jan. 13.

450 Post St. www.sfplayhouse.org

Comedy Returns @ El Rio Enjoy the intelligent stand-up comedy of Marga Gomez, Will Durst, Aundre the Wonderwoman, David Lawrence Hawkins, and Lisa Geduldig. $7-$20. 8pm. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Classic & New Films @ Castro Theatre Dec 21: Singin’ in the Rain (4:45, 7pm, 9pm). Dec. 22: It’s a Wonderful Life (2:30, 5:15, 8pm). Dec 24: SF Gay Men’s Chorus (5pm, 7pm, 9pm, $30-$40). Dec 26-Jan 1: Sing-Along The Sound of Music hosted by Sara Moore and Laurie Bushman (1pm, 7pm). $11-$16. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Dysfunctional Holiday Revue @ Berkeley Rep The Second City’s comic sketch series focuses on seasonal satire and sacreligious songs. $40-$60 (includes one drink!). Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed & Sun 7pm, Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Dec. 31. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. www.berkeleyrep.org

The hugely popular drag performances of Christmas episodes from the classic elder women sitcom return, with Heklina, Matthew Martin, D’Arcy Drollinger, Holotta Tymes and special guest stars. $25-$40. WedSat 8pm. Sun 7pm. Thru Dec. 23. 2961 16th St. goldengirlssf.com

Thu 21

A Christmas Story @

SF Playhouse

OUT/LOOK and the Birth of the Queer @ GLBT History Museum OUT/LOOK and the Birth of the Queer, an exhibit about the groundbreaking LGBT quarterly based in SF from 1988 to 1992; curated by E.G. Crichton; and Faces of the Past: Queer Lives in Northern California Before 1930, part of the Queer Past Becomes Present main exhibit. $5. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

The Secret Garden @ Gateway Theatre 42nd Street Moon’s production of Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon’s Tony-winning 1991 musical based on the novel about an orphaned young girl’s discovery of an enchanted garden. $15-$45. Various times, Wed-Sun Thru Dec 24. 215 Jackson St. at Battery. 42ndStMoon.org

Smuin Ballet @ YBCA The SF company performs Michael Smuin’s popular Christmas Ballet. $30-$89. Thru Dec 24. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. www.smuinballet.org

Fri 22 Avenue Q @ NCTC The puppets return! The Tonywinning musical about a New York neighborhood of puppets and people is restaged. $35-$60. WedSat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Extended thru Jan. 21. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. www.nctcsf.org

Call Me By Your Name @ Landmark Embarcadero, AMC Kabuki Luca Guadagnino’s gay film based on André Aciman’s bestselling novel stars Armie Hammer and Timothée. $15. 1 Embarcadero. AMC Kabuki, 1881 Post St. (starts Dec. 22 at Alamo Drafthouse and other Bay Area cinemas). sonyclassics.com

A Christmas Carol @ Geary Theatre American Conservatory Theatre’s 41st annual production of Carey Perloff and Paul Walsh’s acclaimed stage adaptation of the Charles Dickens story, with a cast of dozens and a lavish design. $20-$135. Thru Dec. 24. 415 Geary St. act-sf.org

Fri 22

Forever Tango @ Palace of Fine Arts

Disney’s Aladdin @ Orpheum Theatre Touring production of the colorful hit musical based on the Disney animated film. $55-$162. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm. Sun 1pm.

Thru Jan. 7. 1192 Market St. www.shnsf.com

The Hard Nut @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley

Mark Morris Dance Group’s 22nd annual performances of the ‘70s modern fun twist on Tchaikovsky holiday ballet, with 33 dancers and colorful sets, and live accompaniment by the Berkeley Symphony and East Bay Children’s Choir. $40-$135. Various times thru Dec 24. Bancroft Way at Dana, UC Berkeley campus. calperformances.org

Manarchy Male Revue, Planet Booty @ Oakland Metro Operahouse The sexy male burlesque review (acrobats, circus studs and strippers) is joined by the groovy Oakland funk band in a special show. $10-$170.

9:30pm-11:30pm. 522 2nd St., Oakland. oaklandmetro.org

Mittens & Mistletoe @ Dance Mission Theatre Sweet Can Productions’ 8th annual fun family-friendly Winter Circus Cabaret, with acrobats, clowns and performers from Cal Shakes, Mixed Nutz, New Pickle Circus, Universoul, Cirque de Boheme, Ars Minerva, Teatro Zinzanni and more. $18-$60. 2pm, 4pm and some 8pm thru Dec. 28 (not Dec. 25). sweetcanproductions.com

Noh Christmas Carol @ Noh Space Theatre of Yugen’s theatrical Japanese reinterpretation of the Charles Dickens short story. $30$70. Fri & Sat 7pm. Sun 4pm. Thru Dec. 24. 2840 Mariposa St. www.theatreofyugen.org

Queer Folk Punk Holiday Disaster Show @ The Lost Church Shawna Virago, The Secret Emchy Society and Eli Conley share a festive bill of live music at the superintimate cabaret club. $10-$15. 8pm.

65 Capp St. emchy.com

See page 30 >>

<< Arts Events

Arts Events

From page 29

Shakespeare in Love @ Marin Theatre Company Lee Hall’s stage adaptation of Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman’s screenplay about William Shakespeare’s fictional romance with a female aspiring actor.

Tue-Sun 7:30pm. Some matinees.

Extended thru Dec. 23. 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley. marintheatre.org

Watch on the Rhine @ Berkeley Rep Local new production of Lillian Hellman’s Nazi/anti-fascist-themed drama set in 1940. $30-$60. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 7pm, Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Jan. 14. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. berkeleyrep.org

Sat 23 Kung Pao Kosher Comedy @ New Asia Restaurant 25th anniversary of the popular comedy and nosh night, with Cathy Ladman, Wendy Liebman, Gary Gulman and host Lisa Geduldig. $52 (5pm cocktails and bites) -$72 (8:30pm dinner and drinks). Also Dec 24 & 25. 772 Paficic Ave. at Stockton/Grant. Koshercomedy.com

Nutcracker Sweets @ Cowell Theater Mark Foehringer’s annual kid & family-friendly abbreviated fun version of the The Nutcracker ballet.

Sat & Sun 11am, 1pm (and some 4pm) thru Dec. 23. Fort Mason Center for the Arts, 1 Marina Blvd. nutcrackersweets.org

Teotihuacan @ de Young Museum Teotihuacan : City of Water, City of Fire, a new interactive exhibit of archeological discoveries from the ancient Mexican city (thru Feb. 11). Also, Revelations: Art from the African American South (thru April 1) and amazing modern and historic art. Free/$15. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park. famsf.org

World Tree of Hope @ City Hall

Isaac Julien’s Playtime @ Fort Mason Trio of video installations by the award-winning British artist. Free.

Wed-Sat, 12pm-8pm; Sunday, 11am-5pm. Thru Feb 11. Gallery 308, FMCAC Visitor Center, SFAI Gray Box Gallery. 1 Marina Blvd. fortmason.org/event/playtime

Klimt & Rodin: An Artistic Encounter @ Legion of Honor Dual exhibition of works by the painter and sculptor. Also, Gods in Color: Polychromy in the Ancient World, thru Jan. 7. Free/$30. Thru Jan. 28. Lincoln Park, 100 34th Ave. legionofhonor.famsf.org

Robert Rauchenberg @ SF MOMA Erasing the Rules, a new expansive exhibit of work by the postmodern artist; thru March 25.

Also, Walker Evans ; an exhibit of 300 prints by the acclaimed historic photographer of American culture from the 1930s, with 100 of his own collected artifacts.

Also, exhibits of Pop, Abstract and classic Modern art. Free/$25. FriTue 10am-6pm. Thru Feb 4. 151 3rd St. www.sfmoma.org

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus @ Castro Theatre 28th annual Home for the Holidays, a night of three concerts with a joyful and sincere holiday theme, with guest Katya Smirnoff-Skyy. $30-$40. 5pm, 7pm & 9pm. sfgmc.org castrotheatre.com

Mon 25 Community Day @ Contemporary Jewish Museum

Sun 24 Couture Korea @ Asian Art Museum

Holiday Ice Rink @ Union Square

New exhibit that showcases traditional and contemporary Korean fashion as art. Many other exhibits of sculpture and antiquities. Free$20. Thru Feb 4. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm.

200 Larkin St. www.asianart.org

Sun 21

Smuin Ballet @ YBCA

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus @ Castro Theatre

Same-sex partner tango dancing, including lessons for newbies, food and drinks. $5-$10. 3:30pm6:30pm. 1970 Chestnut St, Berkeley. www.finnishhall.org

Enjoy free admission with kidfriendly activities, art-making, live music, plus exhibit viewing: Sabbath,The Dorothy Saxe Invitational group exhibit, thru Feb 25. Also, Jewish Folktales Retold: Artist as Maggid (thru Jan 28). 11am-4pm Dec 25. Regularly (members)-$12. Fri-Tue 11am-5pm, Thu 11am-8pm (closed Wed). 736 Mission St. 655-7800. thecjm.org

See Rainbow World Fund’s 12th annual festive tree, where thousands of paper origami cranes send messages of hope. 8am-5pm. 1 Dr Carlton B Goodlett Place. www.worldtreeofhope.org

Sun 24

Queer Tango @ Finnish Hall, Berkeley

Enjoy skating at the downtown holiday rink; special performances and events thru January. To skate: $13-$25, daily 9:30am-9pm. 333 Post St. unionsquareicerink.com

Holiday Potluck, Marathon Meetings @ Castro Country Club Also, open Christmas Day for AA meetings, 7:30am-11pm; Holiday Potluck dinner, 1pm-4pm in the café. Family Jewels, an exhibit of Timothy Snyder ‘s colorful new works at the LGBT sober space.

4058 18th St. castrocountryclub.org

including Bruthas Rising, trans men of color meetings, 4th Tuesdays, 6:30pm. Film screenings, 4th Saturdays, 7:30pm. Game nights, Fridays 7:30pm-11pm.

Vogue sessions, first Saturdays.

3207 Lakeshore Ave. Oakland. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org

Wed 27 Fool La La! @ The Marsh Berkeley

Tue 26 The Kinsey Sicks @ Boxcar Theatre The dragapella quartet returns with Oy Vey in a Manger, their multiholiday comic music romp. $45-$65.

7:30pm. Wed & Sat also 2:30pm.

Thru Dec. 30. 644 Broadway. thespeakeasysf.com/event-oy-vey/

Kwanzaa 2017 @ Various Venues The Village Project’s celebration of Nguzo Saba: The Seven Principles, with live music and dancers.

Free. Dec. 26 – Jan. 1 7pm-10pm. kwanzaasanfrancisco.com

Unearthed @ California Academy of Sciences Exhibits and planetarium shows with various live, interactive and installed exhibits about animals, plants and the earth; new exhibit, From Stone Age to Space Age, showcases minerals through time. Special events each week, with adult nightlife parties many Thursday nights. $20-$35. Mon-Sat 9:30am-5pm. Sun 11am-5pm. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

Various Events @ Oakland LGBTQ Center

Unique Derique performs his wacky kid-friendly physical comedy clown show and holiday extravaganza. $15-$100. Dec 20-23, 27-30, Jan 2-7.

2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. www.themarsh.org

Queerest Library Ever @ SF Public Libraries Hormel at 20: Celebrating Our Past/ Creating Our Future, a dual exhibit of archival materials celebrating two decades of the LGBTQ collections.

100 Larkin St., 3rd floor, and at the Eureka Valley Branch, 1 Jose Sarria Court at 16th St. www.sfpl.org

There Is No Alas Where I Live @ Jenkins Johnsons Gallery Group exhibit of a dozen artists’ photographs, curated by Ann Jastrab. Thru Jan. 27. 464 Sutter St. www.jenkinsjohnsongallery.com

Social events and meetings at the new LGBTQ center include film screenings and workshops,

Thu 28 Goapele @ Yoshi’s, Oakland The gorgeous singer with an amazing voice performs four nights at the elegant restaurant-nightclub, including two New Year’s Eve concerts with her band. $36, $69, $99. Thu & Fri 8pm & 10pm. Sat 7:30pm & 9:30pm. Dec 31, 8pm and 11pm. 520 Embarcadero West. www.goapele.com www.yoshias.com

Nick Spangler @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The Bay Area native and Broadway star performs his new cabaret concert, Since I’ve Been Gone. $22.50-$50 ($20 food/drink min.).

8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason st. www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com

Ten Percent @ Comcast David Perry’s online and cable interviews with notable local and visiting LGBT people, broadcast through the week. Wed 7pm, ThuTue 11:30am & 10:30pm. www.ComcastHometown.com To submit event listings, email events@ebar.com Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

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Holiday Happy Hour @ Castro Bars

C

astro bars brought the holiday spirit, spirits and decorations, and Happy Hour patrons donned their gay apparel last weekend, at 440 Castro, The Midnight Sun, Twin Peaks, Q bar, The Edge and Toad Hall. We hope your holidays and New Year are full of life, love and two-for-one drinks.

See plenty more photos on BARtab’s Facebook page, facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife. See more of Steven Underhill’s photos at StevenUnderhill.com.

Read more online at www.ebar.com

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For headshots, portraits or to arrange your wedding photos

call (415) 370-7152 or visit www.StevenUnderhill.com or email stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

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