December 26, 2019 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

06

Decade in review

Gloves off in debate

ARTS

02

13

Fine Art 2019

19

Ben

& Jinkx

The

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

Vol. 49 • No. 52 • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

Gay BART board prez passes the gavel

by Matthew S. Bajko

E Assemblyman Todd Gloria

Courtesy Todd Gloria

2020 to usher in new CA LGBT laws

by Matthew S. Bajko

L

egislation aimed at assisting transgender youth, LGBT-owned small businesses, same-sex parents, and efforts to end the transmission of HIV in California is set to take effect in 2020. LGBT advocates in the coming months will be tracking the implementation of nine bills in particular.

Several laws should benefit transgender youth, especially those in the Golden State’s foster care system. Assembly Bill 2119, authored by gay Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), is first-of-its-kind legislation that requires transgender foster youth receive health care services consistent with their gender identity. It includes interventions to align a patient’s physical appearance with the patient’s gender identity and interventions to alleviate symptoms of gender dysphoria.

The bill, which was adopted in 2018, instructed the California Department of Social Services, in consultation with the California Department of Healthcare Services, to develop guidelines by January 1, 2020 on how to identify, coordinate, and support foster youth who wish to access gender-affirming health care.

AB 711, authored by Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) and adopted in 2019, ensures that transgender students can obtain their school records and diplomas with their preferred name and gender pronoun.

Gloria’s AB 493, the Safe and Supportive Schools Act of 2019, calls on public schools to provide training on LGBT cultural competency and how to address LGBT-based bullying to teachers and other certificated staff members.

While the bill takes effect in 2020, it gives the California Department of Education, overseen

by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, until July 1, 2021 to develop and update its resources and training materials so they incorporate the LGBT topics.

At the request of Governor Gavin Newsom, lawmakers removed from the bill the requirement that the training be mandatory as it was estimated to cost the state’s 343 school districts a combined $3.25 million. In exchange, he promised to work with LGBT lawmakers and advocates on providing funding for school districts to train their teachers in his 2020 budget proposal.

Parental rights

Parental rights of LGBT people are addressed by several pieces of legislation taking effect next month. Senate Bill 495, authored

by Senator Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), codifies into state law that a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity can’t be used to disqualify them as being an adoptive parent or legal guardian of a child.

AB 2684, the LGBTQ Family Law Modernization Act of 2018 authored by Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), takes effect January 1. It ensures that the parentage provisions of the state Family Code treat same-sex parents equally.

A companion bill from Bloom passed in 2019, AB 785, the Uniform Parentage Act Updates, will assist LGBT couples and others who use gamete banks when wanting to have See page 10 >>

nding what was often a tumultuous 12-month tenure as president of the board that oversees the BART regional transit system, gay director Bevan Dufty passed the gavel December 19 to director Lateefah Simon. Dufty’s presidency was marked by the hiring of a new general manager for the agency, but also marred by several high profile murders of its passengers.

The system also faced questions about the treatment of its African American riders after BART police cited a black man for eating on a station platform. A social media firestorm erupted after video of the confrontation was posted online.

BART’s attempts to rein in fare evaders also prompted ridicule when photos circulated in the summer of a fare gate design the agency tested at its Richmond station. Some likened the stacked fare gate installation to a guillotine.

There were also lighter moments during Dufty’s time as president, such as when the public – and media – went gaga for Sweets, a miniature horse in training to be a service animal seen riding a BART train with her human handler. Another feel-good viral moment came when a BART employee swiftly pulled up a man who had fallen on the tracks at the

Courtesy BART

BART directors Rebecca Saltzman, left; Lateefah Simon; then-board President Bevan Dufty; Oscar Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson; and BART directors Janice Li; Liz Ames; and Mark Foley attended a June unveiling of the mural of Grant at the Fruitvale BART station, the site of Grant’s killing by a BART police officer in 2009.

Coliseum station just as a train was arriving.

But the majority of Dufty’s time as president was spent dealing with a litany of issues, from service meltdowns and broken equipment to addressing the homeless individuals seeking shelter on trains or station hallways. And continued delays in syncing the newly constructed segments of BART’s extension into Santa

Clara County with its older, antiquated operating systems only added to the headaches.

Dufty, a former San Francisco supervisor who oversaw the city’s homeless outreach and services in the administration of the late mayor Ed Lee, recently met with the Bay Area Reporter to talk about his yearlong presidency of the BART board. In discussing the status of the See page 9 >>

Maitri shifts as face of AIDS changes

by John Ferrannini

A

s more people with HIV/AIDS are living on city streets, Maitri Compassionate Care, the HIV/AIDS hospice in San Francisco’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood, is changing its admission requirements.

As the agency’s executive director explained in an email to supporters, Maitri has changed its admission guidelines as the city’s housing crisis “has proved detrimental to access to care among those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.” “We are changing because the people who need our services and the kind of services they need are changing,” wrote the Reverend Rusty Smith, a gay man who in July became the agency’s fifth executive director in about four years.

Smith described his tenure so far as “busy, challenging, awakening, inspiring, transformational, exhausting, and totally worth it” in an email to the Bay Area Reporter December 19.

In the email to supporters, Smith noted that in recent years, “the majority of residents at Maitri come for short-term stabilization with the goal of stabilizing their health and returning to the community.”

That’s different from when people used to go to Maitri for 24-hour end-of-life care. The agency, founded in 1987, has served as the “the final home for more than 1,600 people” with AIDS since then, according to its website.

But as HIV infection became a more manageable disease with the advent of antiretrovirals in the mid-1990s, the face of AIDS has changed, Smith said.

“I did not fully realize or understand how many people no longer recognize the impact of AIDS on our community,” Smith told the B.A.R., when asked what challenges he didn’t anticipate when he started in his role. “Things are much better now, but HIV/AIDS has not gone away and even as the face of AIDS is changing, the need for services and support remain critical.”

He said that he is trying to help the nonprofit adapt to the changing needs of the epidemic, which include transgender medical support services.

Indeed, statistics show that transgender people are disproportionately affected by HIV infection, an issue that compounds with race and ethnicity. Nationally, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from this year

Rick Gerharter

Jim King, left, board president of Maitri Compassionate Care, joined Executive Director the Reverend Rusty Smith and his husband, Scott Reiber, at the hospice’s annual holiday open house December 14.

shows that an estimated 14% of transgender women have HIV, with as many as 44% of black and African-American transgender women living with HIV. As San Francisco has reduced the number of new HIV transmission cases, those living with the disease are increasingly 55 years or older.

Many never expected to live this long, and, as the B.A.R. has previously reported, few are financially prepared to deal with end-of-life issues and are also worried about losing their housing and ending up on the street.

According to a 2019 National Vital Statistics Report from the CDC, 5,698 deaths in the United States were attributable to HIV infection or AIDS in 2017, the last year for which statistics are available.

While this is a decline from 1995’s high of 41,699 deaths, most deaths due to HIV infection or AIDS in the U.S. today are of people who can’t access consistent health care or are experiencing homelessness or mental health problems.

Smith, who is also an Anglican priest, said that he considers his work at Maitri to be “my full-time ministry and job.”

“My church is the mission of Maitri: ‘no one should have to suffer or die alone,’ and my faith community are the people that come to our doors in need of help and services,” Smith said.

Smith said he could not point to a particular moment since he started the job as his proudest, but gave a few examples that filled him with “overwhelming gratitude,” including providing “medical support for a HIV-positive transgender resident as she completed an important medical step in her journey of becoming her most true self ” and “welcoming a resident struggling with addiction, AIDS, and the exhaustion of living on the streets and helping him regain his health and find his way home.”

In the email to supporters, Smith pointed out that Maitri wants to remind community providers that it accepts clients for short-term stabilization who are homeless. It also noted that most recent residents admitted to the hospice have been triply-diagnosed: “HIV/AIDSpositive, with history or current substance use disorder, and history or current psychiatric/ mental health disorder.”

“It is imperative that we now take into account a ‘new’ diagnosis of chronic homelessness, a category that a majority of incoming residents fall under,” the email stated.

Crystal Russell, who serves as program director for Maitri, told the B.A.R. December 19 that Smith has “done a tremendous job of motivating and connecting staff, encouraging culturally competent and sensitive training, and supporting both professional and personal growth.”

“He has also been a compassionate support for our residents and their families, demonstrating to our staff and volunteers exactly what he means when he speaks to his strong belief in ‘servant leadership,’” she added.

Russell said that Smith took over “at a very interesting time” for the organization, adding that while Maitri prioritizes end-of-life care, it has been taking in a lot of people affected by the housing crisis.

“Our social work case managers are tasked with the difficult challenge of assisting their clients with navigating the complicated housing system in the City and County of San Francisco,” Russell said.

Maitri has an annual budget of $2.7 million, according to its website. Seventy-seven percent of its revenue is from government support, 9% is from corporate and foundation grants, 9% is from events, and 3% is from fees associated with its programs.t For more information, visit www.maitrisf.org.

<< National News

2 • Bay Area Reporter • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

t

Same-sex marriage was the decade’s top story analysis by Lisa Keen

S

ame-sex marriage was the decade’s top LGBT story. It embodied twists and turns and went on for years – in the courts and in the streets – as the issue finally broke through the mainstream in ways that many LGBT people thought they would never see in their lifetimes.

In some ways, the classics of Charles Dickens come to mind. Like in the infamous passage from “A Tale of Two Cities,” the past decade for LGBT people carried “the best of times” and the worst. It was an “age of wisdom” and of foolishness; “an epoch of belief” and incredulity; “a season of light” and then darkness. It was “the spring of hope,” followed by the “winter of despair.”

The question that looms over the start of the new decade is whether hope and light, wisdom and belief – in American democracy and in the hearts of American people – will prevail.

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) December 17, President Donald Trump warned that the House impeachment proceedings against him constituted “open war” and an “attempted coup.”

He likened the investigation into his request that Ukraine announce an inquiry of the top-polling Democratic presidential candidate for 2020 to the Salem witch trials. In a widely viewed on-the-spot interview following a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania, a supporter of the president speculated that, if the Congress removes Trump from office, Trump supporters would react with “physical violence in this country that we haven’t seen since the first Civil War.” (The House impeached Trump December 18 on two articles for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.)

This was not one aberrant view. In August, an ABC News survey documented 36 incidents of violence in which the perpetrator said he was inspired to act because of Trump – seven by people who opposed Trump, 29 by people who supported him.

“The perpetrators and suspects identified in the 36 cases are mostly white men ... while the victims largely represent an array of minority groups – African-Americans, Latinos, Muslims, and gay men,” said ABC. “ABC News could not find a single criminal case filed in federal or state court where an act of violence or threat was made in the name of President Barack Obama or President George W. Bush,” said the network.

Rick Gerharter

Rick Gerharter

Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart held a copy of the Supreme Court’s positive decisions about DOMA and Proposition 8 during the official city reaction to the rulings June 26, 2013. Stewart is now a state appeal court justice.

The best and the worst

During the Obama administration, the federal Defense of Marriage Act was eradicated, the long-sought right to marriage equality was realized, and Congress repealed the ban on gays in the military – the Obama administration said transgender people could serve, too.

LGBT people working for the federal government could file employment discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Those working for companies that contracted with the federal government also had protection under a presidential executive order. And Obama made clear, through actions and words, that he would stand up for the civil rights of LGBT people.

During the Trump administration, many of those gains were lost. Trump announced a ban on transgender service members within months of taking office. He signed an executive order reversing Obama-era protections for LGBT federal employees and contractor employees. Under Trump, the Department of Education withdrew an advice letter to schools that had suggested transgender students were protected by Title IX. The Department of Health and Human Services announced it would no longer interpret the Affordable Care Act to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and it removed questions from at least two federal surveys that would have identified data specific to LGBT people.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development canceled a survey to determine the prevalence of homelessness among LGBT people and removed from its website a link

that instructed emergency shelter personnel on sensitivity to transgender people seeking help.

Beyond this contrast between the administrations of Obama and Trump, there were these other major moments of light and darkness.

Same-sex marriage

Even before the decade started, marriage equality was an issue in California. The past decade saw the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. In 2010, gay federal Judge Vaughn Walker presided over a trial in San Francisco and that August overturned Prop 8 in Hollingsworth v. Perry. The case was appealed but a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Prop 8 proponents appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in June 2013 declined to revisit the 9th Circuit’s decision, effectively legalizing same-sex marriage in the Golden State.

Months later, IRS officials decided to allow same-sex couples in marriages recognized by their state to file jointly – the same as heterosexual couples.

In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that state bans on marriage for samesex couples are unconstitutional and that states must recognize marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples from other states. The 5-4 decision, in Obergefell v. Hodges, came 43 years after the first same-sex couple brought a case before the Supreme Court seeking marriage equality. The court dismissed that appeal, Baker v.

Nelson, in 1972, but efforts to achieve marriage equality continued through the four decades. There were battles

Proposition 8 plaintiffs Sandy Stier, left, and Kris Perry rode in San Francisco’s Pride parade June 30, 2013, just days after they were married by then-state Attorney General Kamala Harris.

in the courts and on the ballot. Finally, the legal challenge reached the Supreme Court again and Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, stated “the right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the liberty of the person, and under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment couples of the same-sex may not be deprived of that right and that liberty. ...

The court now holds that same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry. No longer may this liberty be denied to them.”

Kennedy retires

Kennedy did not have the best LGBT voting record on the high court (that honor goes to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg), but he did provide the crucial fifth vote for, and led that majority in writing eloquently, the most historic and significant decisions in support of equal rights for LGBT people. In this decade alone, he led the decision (U.S. v. Windsor in 2013) that struck down a key section of DOMA that had denied recognition of marriage licenses for same-sex couples for any federal purpose. He led the majority again in writing the aforementioned Obergefell v. Hodges, striking down state bans against recognizing or issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

But the season of light was followed by darkness. In 2017, he voted with a majority, in Trinity Lutheran v. Comer, to say that church schools should receive state grants the same as non-church schools. Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said the ruling amounted to state support for discrimination based on sexual

orientation. In 2018, Kennedy led a majority in Masterpiece Cakeshop v.

Colorado that enabled a baker to discriminate against same-sex couples to evade a state law barring sexual orientation discrimination in public accommodations by claiming a religious right to do so.

And then, after the 2018 term, he suddenly retired. That not only meant the loss of Kennedy, it resulted in turning his seat over to an ultraconservative replacement (Brett Kavanaugh) and tipping the balance decidedly away from the trend of progressive rulings toward LGBT people as equal citizens.

DADT repealed

In another long-standing battle for the LGBT movement, Congress, in 2010, repealed a law enacted in 1993 that banned openly gay or lesbian people from serving in the military.

Obama helped drive through passage of the repeal of the ban signed into law by a previous Democratic president, Bill Clinton. When Clinton signed the ban, most Americans supported it (56%), but by the time of the repeal, only 21% favored a ban.

In 2010, a Williams Institute study estimated there were 48,500 lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals serving on active duty.

Since the repeal, the Defense Department has participated in Pride celebrations, Eric Fanning, a gay man, served as the secretary of the army (in the Obama administration), and lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals can be honest about their sexual orientation without being discharged. A Defense Department survey in 2015 estimated about 80,000 service members were LGB. See page 10 >>

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<< Open Forum

4 • Bay Area Reporter • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

Volume 49, Number 52

December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

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Pelosi’s our person of the year

H

ouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a woman you want on your side – and during 2019, the San Francisco Democrat steadfastly stood with the LGBTQ community as we continued to endure a hostile presidential administration obsessed with taking back rights that we fought long and hard for. Pelosi will continue to be a voice for equality and fairness, exemplified by the skillful way she managed last week’s impeachment of President Donald Trump. Long resistant to moving forward on impeachment, she was prompted by a whistleblower’s complaint about Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine in which he asked for that country to investigate his political rivals and exerted pressure by withholding financial aid and a coveted White House meeting. Trump is only the third president to be impeached. While an eventual Senate trial likely will result in Trump’s acquittal, the House vote will be a permanent mark of his abuse of power and the contempt of Congress – two articles the House voted on.

Pelosi has been under pressure from restless House Democrats who wanted impeachment since she took back the speaker’s gavel last January.

Despite this, she found time to accomplish other important legislation benefitting the LGBTQ community as well as helping successfully negotiate the return of the Names Project AIDS Quilt to its rightful home in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Winning the midterms

This year’s Democratic control of the House started just over a year ago when the party rode a blue wave in the midterm elections, capturing a majority of seats and installing Pelosi for a second stint as speaker (she previously served in that role from 2007 to 2011). During the campaigns, Pelosi raised money and helped elect Democrats to Congress from districts all over the country, including those where Trump won in 2016. Election night victories resulted in the most diverse incoming class of freshmen lawmakers ever, even growing the number of LGBTQ members to 10 (that was reduced to nine in late October when bi Congresswoman Katie Hill, D-California, resigned).

Equality Act

That net gain of 41 seats gave House Democrats a solid majority to pass legislation, which they’ve been busily doing. On May 17, the House approved the Equality Act, legislation that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination throughout daily life. The bipartisan vote was

Courtesy Mike Shriver/National AIDS Memorial Grove

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talked about the return of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to its original home in the San Francisco Bay Area during an announcement November 20 at the Library of Congress.

236-173, and it marked the first time a chamber of Congress had approved a comprehensive LGBTQ rights bill. The Human Rights Campaign and other LGBTQ groups had tried for decades without success to get the Employment Non-Discrimination Act passed, until lawmakers tried a different tact. One of the sponsors was gay Congressman David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island), who noted that the Equality Act would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to extend protections to sexual orientation and gender identity. So, rather than attempt a standalone bill, congressional Democrats determined that a better solution would be an amendment to existing law. The Civil Rights Act ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

As we reported at the time, Pelosi made passage of the Equality Act a priority once she returned to the speakership. It was rolled out in short order, and was supported by eight Republicans, according to Gay City News. “Fifty years after LGBTQ Americans took to the streets outside of New York’s Stonewall Inn to fight against harassment and hate, we take pride in the progress we have forged together,” Pelosi stated after the vote. “Our founders, in their great wisdom, wrote in our beautiful preamble – wrote of the bless-

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ings of liberty, which were to be the birthright of all Americans.”

We know the Republican-controlled Senate won’t take up the Equality Act anytime soon – heck, it doesn’t even want to conduct a fair trial on Trump’s impeachment, thanks to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – but the importance of the act passing the House should not be overlooked. And it should motivate LGBTQ and straight voters alike to do all they can to flip the Senate to the Democrats come November 2020.

McConnell himself is on the ballot in Kentucky, which shocked the country when voters there elected a Democratic governor in an off-year election last month. He has a couple of challengers and an upset would be sweet revenge for all the cynical games he’s played to stymie fair-minded legislation and push through ultraconservative federal judges.

AIDS quilt

The return of the AIDS quilt to the Bay Area – all 50,000 panels – was one of our major news articles this year. The panels are now under the stewardship of the National AIDS Memorial Grove and are in the process of moving from Atlanta to a storage facility in San Leandro after the Names Project, the quilt’s parent agency, determined it could no longer shoulder the responsibility. Pelosi, a longtime supporter of the AIDS grove who helped secure its designation as the country’s only national AIDS memorial, played a behind-the-scenes role in facilitating the agreement, working with Representatives John Lewis (D-Georgia) and Barbara Lee (D-Oakland). When the accord was announced at a November event at the Library of Congress, Pelosi spoke about the quilt’s history, acknowledging co-founders Cleve Jones, Mike Smith, and Gert McMullin. (The quilt’s archives will move to the Library of Congress.)

Having the grove assume stewardship of the quilt means that panels will be on display in San Francisco. They could be part of any LGBTQ museum or center that the GLBT Historical Society and the grove are working on, respectively.

The grove will continue the Names Project’s educational programs such as loaning panels to schools and community events. Pelosi and the others involved recognize the quilt’s historical importance, which is why she was able to bring everyone together.

We have no doubt that 2020 will be a challenging year politically. Defeating Trump must be a priority. San Francisco residents can take comfort that Pelosi will once again be leading the charge to keep her majority in the House. It’s the only check on the president we have right now. t

Be counted: Why LGBTQ+ data collection matters

by Pau Crego and Clair Farley

Bay Area Reporter

t

n 2016, gay then-Supervisor Scott Wiener led the charge to require improved data collection on our local LGBTQ+ communities to measure equity and inclusion in city services.

This legislation required six departments in the City and County of San Francisco and their grantees to collect sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data on their clients, and to report this data annually.

Upon taking office, gay current District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman took on the mantle to ensure the city collects, reports, and uses SOGI data meaningfully to count and account for LGBTQ+ communities. This November the Board of Supervisors held a hearing to discuss the city’s progress on SOGI implementation and to report findings from fiscal year 2018-2019. City departments presented data on the proportion of LGBTQ+ clients utilizing their services, identified program areas that appear to underserve LGBTQ+ clients, and outlined plans to address the barriers experienced by LGBTQ+ communities in accessing their programs. This hearing, and the SOGI reports from the past fiscal year, highlighted some important lessons and areas for growth for the city. Undoubtedly, they served as a reminder of why being counted matters.

(The Bay Area Reporter has extensively covered the SOGI process.)

The 2018-19 SOGI data established that LGBTQ+ people are best served by programs that include and reflect us, meaning services that explicitly engage LGBTQ+ people and that are staffed by our communities. For instance, of all the clients that the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Develop-

Rick Gerharter

Pao Crego, left, and Clair Farley

ment programs served, 11.80% identified as LGBTQ+. However, of all clients served

by MOHCD’s LGBTQ+-focused programs, 45.84% were LGBTQ+ (and some programs served 100% LGBTQ+ clients). The Department of Children, Youth, and their Families data corroborated this: LGBTQ+ transitional age youth are more likely to participate in LGBTQ+ programming. Furthermore, while general services tend to serve few LGBTQ+ clients, LGBTQ+focused programs serve many non-LGBTQ+ clients (in the MOHCD example, 54.16% of clients accessing LGBTQ+focused services did not identify as LGBTQ+ or declined to state).

Thus, LGBTQ+-focused programs perform better than general services in engaging people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

The SOGI reports also documented differences in service utilization among subgroups, in particular between cisgender LGBQ+ people and transgender and gender-nonconform-

ing people. Despite being a smaller community, TGNC people experience higher needs for services because inequities in all life areas conspire to make us deeply vulnerable. TGNC San Franciscans are almost 18 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general population (15% compared to 0.85%). We are also less likely than cisgender LGBQ+ people to afford basic needs, such as food, transportation costs, and medicine. Yet the SOGI data did not reflect this: for instance, of all clients served by the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing programs that collected SOGI data, only 1.35% identified as TGNC – which closely matches estimates for the proportion of TGNC people, but is incongruent with the high rates of TGNC homelessness. This trend, of TGNC people experiencing extreme needs for services but not being able to adequately access them, was reflected in most SOGI reports.

Similarly, HSH’s 2019 Point-in-Time Report noted that 27% of people experiencing homelessness identify as LGBTQ+, but as with TGNC people, the number of LGBTQ+ people served by HSH programs does not reflect these inequities (only 14.43% of HSH clients identified as LGBTQ+). Despite these discouraging numbers, at the hearing HSH shared hopeful updates regarding its progress on integrating LGBTQ+ equity into the housing referral assessments: an early analysis suggests that LGBQ+ adults who receive initial assessments are 20% more likely to be prioritized See page 10 >>

t

Politics >>

December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 5

Artist’s op-art highlights needs of the homeless

by Matthew S. Bajko

T

he plight of those living on the streets inspired this year’s opart submission by San Franciscobased artist Kurt Schwartzmann, a gay man who was homeless for six months in 2007. A pastry chef for two decades, Schwartzmann’s life unraveled due to methamphetamine.

“I found myself sitting on the curb one day, looked up, and asked, ‘My God, what happened?’” recalled Schwartzmann, 55, during a recent interview.

At night he would sleep by a stairway in Diamond Heights or ride a Muni late-night bus route. He still recalls the kindness a female bus driver offered him one night at 3 a.m. near City College of San Francisco.

“I had no money, but she said, ‘Get on, you can keep me company.’ It is horrible to have no money and be

at the mercy of the elements,” said Schwartzmann, who has tried in vain to locate the driver to thank her. “I was touched by her humanity.”

Eventually, he took refuge at a South of Market shelter, first sleeping on a metal chair then a cot. A boyfriend he met at Pride in 2007 had him move in after learning Schwartzmann was homeless.

“His place was in Twin Peaks, and from the balcony I could see the shelter where I had stayed at,” recalled Schwartzmann, now clean of meth for 10 years.

A year later Schwartzmann met the man he would marry. At his suggestion, Schwartzmann took a printmaking class at City College thinking he could design their wedding invitations.

He discovered being blind in his left eye due to CMV retinitis, an HIV-related opportunistic infec-

tion, didn’t hinder his artistic abilities. One art series he created was a tribute to Muni operators. It was featured in the Bay Area Reporter’s Seeing in the Dark column last January.

His exclusive drawing for the B.A.R., “Sutro Suds & Showers,” features a showerhead raining water down on City Hall whose facade features washing machines and toilets.

It highlights the need for such amenities to be offered free of charge to unhoused individuals.

It’s also an homage to Adolph Sutro, mayor of San Francisco from 1895 to 1897, as he opened his estate to the public and was known for generous acts of public benefit, like the Sutro Baths he constructed near the ocean, explained Schwartzmann.

“I often hear people and news reports speak of how filthy the streets of San Francisco are. This really disturbs me as I was homeless once, and I understand that nobody wants to use the street for a toilet,” he said. t

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<< Election 2020

6 • Bay Area Reporter • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

Rivals spar with Buttigieg at debate

by Lisa Keen

G

ay Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was under fierce attack Thursday night in the sixth Democratic debate and, by the end of the evening, there was some data suggesting he had suffered in his effort to convince voters he is a candidate who listens to the little guy and is electable.

The three-hour event in Los Angeles sponsored by PBS NewsHour and Politico also brought more reference to LGBT issues than the previous five debates. (Not including the LGBTspecific forum held in October.)

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, one of the Democratic field’s most progressive candidates, fired off

Untitled-5 1

most of the incoming hits at Buttigieg, but he also had to fend off significant attacks by one of the field’s moderate challengers, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Buttigieg and Warren were clearly ready for battle Thursday night, and once they started taking punches, the intensity of the fight escalated quickly.

And while Klobuchar jumped in at one point to stop the fracas, she, too, threw some verbal jabs at Buttigieg.

Buttigieg had to know the attacks were coming. He’s been steadily climbing in the polls in his presidential bid. He leapt into the lead in mid-November polling in Iowa and is bouncing between first and second place in New Hampshire. His success cost Warren her own surge to the top. For weeks, they’ve been taking swipes at each other: Warren saying that the South Bend, Indiana mayor is basing his ideas on what’s popular with focus groups and Buttigieg saying Warren is too rigid in pushing Medicare for All and that her “math is certainly controversial.”

With the Iowa caucuses just six weeks away, the December 19 debate inspired them both to amplify their critiques. It was polite and understated at first. A moderator asked candidates to comment on former President Barack Obama’s recent remark that women are “indisputably better” as leaders than men.

Warren said she thought Obama was talking about “who has power in America, whose voices get heard.”

“I believe he’s talking about women and people of color and trans people and people whose voices just so often get shoved out,” said Warren. Then she took a hard pivot, pointing out how the presidential candidates are “running their campaigns in 2020.”

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Democratic presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg, left, Elizabeth Warren, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and Bernie Sanders stood on stage at the PBS NewsHour/Politico debate Thursday in Los Angeles.

to run not to do business as usual and I’m proud to have been in 100,000 selfies,” said Warren. Those photos, she said, gave her intimate familiarity with the personal stories and challenges of “people who can’t pay their medical bills, stories from people who can’t find child care.” But most candidates on the stage with her, she said, go “back and forth from coast to coast to rich people and people who can put up 5,000 bucks or more in order to have a picture taken, in order to have a conversation, and in order maybe to be considered an ambassador.”

The moderator quickly called on Buttigieg, who acknowledged what most political observers were probably already thinking – that Warren’s dig at candidates cozying up to “rich people” was directed at him.

“Here’s the thing,” said Buttigieg.

“Donald Trump and his allies have made it abundantly clear that they will stop at nothing, not even foreign interference, to hold onto power.

They’ve already put together more than $300 million. ... This is our only chance to defeat Donald Trump, and we shouldn’t try to do it with one hand tied behind our back.”

He was tacitly acknowledging that he was raising funds from wealthy people, but he added that he’s seeking contributions from all walks of life, whether “you’re a grad student digging deep to go online and chip in 10 bucks” or “you can drop $1,000 without blinking.”

That’s when Warren delivered a wallop, repeating a recent news report that Buttigieg was the beneficiary of a lavish closed-to-the-press fundraiser in a “wine cave” of a wealthy Napa Valley couple. The wife, Kathryn Hall, garnered an ambassador position from President Bill Clinton after she and her

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husband supported his campaign.

“We made the decision many years ago that rich people in smoke-filled rooms would not pick the next president of the United States,” said Warren. “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States.”

Buttigieg countered quickly, noting he was “literally the only person on this stage who is not a millionaire or billionaire.” Then he hit her with his own counterpunch.

“Senator, your net worth is 100 times mine,” he said.

“I do not sell access to my time,” said Warren. “I don’t do call time with millionaires and billionaires.”

“Hold on a second,” said Buttigieg.

“As of when?” He then noted a recent news story about Warren that indicated that she had done fundraising with big donors for her re-election campaign to the U.S. Senate in 2018. Then, according to the New York Times, she vowed not to solicit money from big dollar donors but transferred $10 million of the Senate re-election money into her presidential campaign.

That’s when Klobuchar finally said, “I did not come here to listen to this argument.” She said the candidates could not defeat Trump by arguing with each other “but by finding what unites us and getting that done.”

Klobuchar then got in a swipe at Buttigieg: In the last debate, she said, “you basically mocked the hundred years’ experience” of the other U.S. senator candidates and former Vice President Joe Biden. But those people, she pointed out, had accomplished a great deal with their work in Washington, D.C. She cited specific examples of important legislation that she, Biden, Warren, and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) had accomplished.

“So, while you can dismiss the committee hearings,” said Klobuchar, “I think this experience works. And I have not denigrated your experience as a local official,” she added, noting that she once was a local official herself.

Buttigieg swung back, noting that Klobuchar, earlier in the debate, seemed to suggest Buttigieg was just rattling off a “talking point” about the First Amendment when he criticized Trump for describing the press as the “enemy of the people.”

“Let me tell you about my relationship to the First Amendment,” said Buttigieg. “It is part of the Constitution that I raised my right hand and swore to defend with my life,” he said, referencing his military service in Afghanistan. “That is my experience.

And it may not be the same as yours, but it counts, Senator. It counts.”

But Klobuchar doubled down, pointing out that Buttigieg did not have the same track record as she does when it comes to winning elections.

She noted he made an unsuccessful bid to become chair of the Democratic National Committee.

“The point is we should have someone heading up this ticket that has actually won and been able to show that they can gather the support that you talk about of moderate Republicans and independents

t

... and not just done it once,” said Klobuchar. “I have done it three times. I think winning matters. ...

And I also think showing our party that we can actually bring people with us, have a wider tent, have a bigger coalition, and, yes, longer coattails – that matters.”

Klobuchar was clearly trying to win over moderate voters – those who are considered more likely to support one of the Democratic field’s moderate candidates (Buttigieg, Biden, and Klobuchar).

Buttigieg pushed back.

“I know that, if you just go by vote totals, maybe what goes on in my city seems small to you,” said Buttigieg.

“But if you want to talk about the capacity to win, try putting together a coalition to bring you back to office with 80% of the vote as a gay dude in [Vice President] Mike Pence’s Indiana.”

“If you had won in Indiana, that would be one thing,” shot back Klobuchar. “You tried and you lost by 20 points.” That was an apparent reference to Buttigieg’s one attempt at a statewide office, running for secretary of state. He lost by 25 points, and Klobuchar opened up an “electability” concern for Buttigieg.

Perception: Buttigieg lagged

A post-debate poll conducted by Nate Silver’s www.fivethirtyeight. com scored Buttigieg’s performance as sixth place among the seven candidates on stage.

“Being the focus of several of his rivals’ attacks seems to have hurt Pete Buttigieg; he got low marks relative to how well-liked he was going into the debate,” said fivethirtyeight.

Some political commentators said Biden “won” because he did not commit an embarrassing gaffe, something that has plagued him in previous debates. Many gave the win to Klobuchar, who was pithy, confident, and persuasive in her hold on a moderate approach to problem-solving.

LGBT issues

The debate will be remembered primarily for the attacks on Buttigieg but, for LGBT voters, there were other moments to recall.

In answering a question about whether the candidates had any litmus test for determining who they might appoint to the Supreme Court, Buttigieg made reference to his marriage to a man, something made possible “by the grace of a single vote” on the high court. He said he expected a justice nominee would have “an understanding that voting rights are human rights” and that “equality is required of us all.”

Klobuchar noted that, among the judicial nominees she has recommended for federal court appointments, was lesbian Sharon Lubinski, who was confirmed as the first openly gay U.S. marshal.

Trans issues

PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor asked candidates what they would do to stop the violence against transgender women of color. Sanders said he would do “everything humanly possible to end all forms of discrimination against the transgender community,” including making sure that “health care is available to every person in this country, regardless of their sexual orientation.”

Warren made a promise: “I will go to the Rose Garden once every year to read the names of transgender women, of people of color, who have been killed in the past year,” said Warren. “I will make sure that we read their names so that, as a nation, we are forced to address the particular vulnerability on homelessness. I will change the rules now that put people in prison based on their birth sex identification rather than their current identification.” t

Community News>>

t Start the new year with a hike compiled by Cynthia Laird

P

eople looking to get a fresh start in the new year – as well as burn off some of those calories from the holidays – can enjoy a First Day Hike at state parks throughout California.

Docents, volunteers, and staff will be providing about 50 hikes on New Year’s Day at various state parks, including Angel Island in San Francisco and Año Nuevo in San Mateo County.

“First Day Hike creates opportunities to connect with families, friends, and communities,” California State Parks Director Lisa Mangat said in a news release. “Public outdoor places support healthy, affordable, physical, and social activities. California’s state parks are a gateway to these benefits.

Come join staff, docents, and volunteers as well as fellow outdoor enthusiasts to welcome the new year.”

This is the 10th year California has participated in the First Day Hikes Program, which is part of a nationwide initiative led by America’s state parks to encourage people to get outdoors. More than 33,000 visitors took part in over 1,110 hikes in 2018 in the U.S. and Canada. That included more than 2,400 visitors at 55 California state parks.

Angel Island State Park has beautiful vistas of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge and features a rich history. Año Nuevo, south of San Francisco, offers a variety of natural and cultural resources, including equal access walks to see the famed elephant seals.

For a complete list of participating state parks and how to safely

Courtesy CA State Parks

Hikers enjoyed views of San Francisco during a previous First Day Hike.

enjoy a First Day Hike, visit www. parks.ca.gov/FirstDayHikes. Hikes are still being organized and will be added to the website.

Visitors are encouraged to share their experiences on social media using the hashtags: #HikeInto2020, #FirstDayHike, and #CAStateParks.

Free Muni, later BART for NYE

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will again offer free rides on New Year’s Eve from 8 p.m. Tuesday, December 31, through 5 a.m. Wednesday, January 1.

“We wish all San Francisco residents, workers, and visitors a safe and happy New Year,” said Jeffrey Tumlin, a gay man who started as the city’s new director of transportation December 16. “So to help everyone cel-

ebrate the end of 2019 without worrying of drinking and driving, we are providing free Muni service on New Year’s Eve to get you around the city and safely home.”

This will be the 20th year of free Muni on New Year’s Eve. This year, 76 is sponsoring it.

The free rides include all Muni lines and routes. Buses will provide service on cable car lines after approximately 6 p.m. Buses will provide service on the F-Market streetcars all day.

Clipper card customers should not tap their cards to make sure they don’t get charged a fare. Muni mobile passes will not be necessary. Metro fare gates will be open that night.

At midnight, a city-sponsored fireworks show from a barge off of The Embarcadero, south of the Ferry Building, will take place. Motorists should anticipate delays between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.

For more information, visit http://www.sfmta. com.

Over at BART, service will not be free, but it will be extended until approximately 3 a.m. January 1.

After 8 p.m. December 31, BART service to and from the East Bay will be split between the Embarcadero and Montgomery stations in downtown San Francisco. Antioch and Richmond trains heading into the city will not stop at Embarcadero; exit at Montgomery station for the fireworks show. Dublin/Pleasanton and Fremont/Warm Springs trains See page 10 >>

December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

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AGs protest another anti-LGBT rule from Trump’s HHS

by John Ferrannini

C

alifornia Attorney General Xavier Becerra joined the attorneys general of 17 states and the District of Columbia in signing a December 19 comment letter protesting the proposed elimination of LGBT discrimination protections from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines.

“This is the latest move from the Trump administration’s playbook of denying people their rights and access to care based on who they love, no matter who it hurts – including children in need of loving homes,” Becerra said in a California Department of Justice news release December 20. “In California, we will keep moving forward on behalf of all of our communities and families in the fight to defend our nation’s anti-discrimination protections.”

The current HHS guidelines were implemented in December 2016 – one month before President Barack Obama left office. They prohibit discrimination based on “age, disability, sex, race, color, national origin, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation.”

The proposal, announced last month, would change that provision to prevent discrimination “to the extent doing so is prohibited by federal statute.”

But how much discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited by federal statute is up for debate. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide next year whether Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects LGBT people under its prohibition of discrimination based on sex.

If the HHS rule goes into effect, it would open LGBT people to broad discrimination by organizations and programs that receive funding from

Rick Gerharter

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra

the department, should federal nondiscrimination law be interpreted not to apply to LGBTs. “The proposal would apply to a broad range of HHS grant programs, including maternal and child health grants, federally-assisted health training programs, Head Start programs, and mental health and substance abuse grants,” Becerra’s release states. “LGBTQ families who foster and adopt children are among the most likely to be harmed by potentially being excluded from participation in federally funded child-welfare programs.”

Others who joined in the comment letter included Maura Healey, a lesbian who is Massachusetts’ attorney general, and Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s AG. Both the attorneys general and HHS cited civil rights in defense of their positions.

“HHS is committed to fully enforcing the civil rights laws passed

by Congress,” a November 1 HHS statement justifying the decision reads. “The proposed rule represents the Trump administration’s strong commitment to the rule of law – the Constitution, federal statutes, and Supreme Court decisions. These re-

quire that the federal government not infringe on religious freedom in its operation of HHS grant programs and address the impact of regulatory actions on small entities.”

The November 1 statement also said that the regulation in question will not be enforced between that time and the promulgation of the new rule.

Becerra’s office joined San Francisco and Santa Clara County in suing HHS earlier this year on account of its proposed “refusal rule,” which would have allowed hospitals and health care workers to refuse service on account of their religious beliefs – a move aimed at limiting access to abortion and contraception but that would have allowed broad-based discrimination against LGBT people generally.

The rule was intended to go into effect on November 22; however, three federal judges – including one in San Francisco who decided the California suits – struck down the rule as unconstitutional.

When asked if Becerra would sue the Trump administration over the latest proposed rule change, a person in the attorney general’s office said only “stay tuned.”

When asked if Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which joined the refusal rule lawsuit, would consider suing, attorney Currey Cook said in a phone interview with the B.A.R. that his organization would “look at that possibility, for sure.”

“I definitely think it is problematic,” Cook said. “They are basically saying ‘it’s already final’ instead of doing what government agencies are supposed to do. They are turning their backs on sound policy in line with professional standards.”

The San Francisco City Attorney’s office did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.. t

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<< Travel

8 • Bay Area Reporter • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

Palm Springs welcomes winter travelers

by Ed Walsh

I

f you want to avoid crowds and save big on airfare, one of the slowest times of the year in Palm Springs is coming up. The week after New Year’s tends to be a quiet travel time even in places like Palm Springs that attract snowbirds trying to get away from much colder locales.

The peak time for tourism in Palm Springs starts around Valentine’s Day and lasts until early May. Airline bargains can be found. Sun Country Airlines began its twicea-week seasonal service to Palm Springs from San Francisco International Airport this month. Although the fares for traveling around the holidays are expensive, if you can hold out until mid-January, airfares were running as low as $49 each way.

But as the demand creeps up, so do the prices on Sun Country and the two other airlines offering nonstop flights to Palm Springs from SFO, Alaska and United. A drawback to flying on Sun Country is that service is only two days a week – Thursdays and Sundays. If you book far enough in advance, you can snag a seat on Sun Country for as little as $39 one

way but those cheap seats book up fast.

If you travel to Palm Springs in January, you can expect sunny weather most of the time with highs in the low 70s and cold nights in the 40s.

And if you like a little snow, you can have the best of both worlds in Palm Springs. Earlier this month I braved near-blizzard conditions on a mountain above Palm Springs to take a photo of an iconic Christmas tree. A few hours earlier I was lying out in the sun by the pool at the Hacienda Warm Sands Resort.

Thanks to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, you can get a taste of winter weather while enjoying a warm weather vacation – all in the same afternoon. The tram takes just 10 minutes to transverse four seasons to the summit of Mount San Jacinto.

A Christmas tree of lights is installed on top of the tram’s Mountain Station where the tram docks. While it is not California’s tallest Christmas tree, at an elevation of 8,516, it undoubtedly is the highest.

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day lights without the cold weather, the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in nearby Palm Desert offers the spectacular Wild Lights holiday show where you can see and learn about animals while enjoying colorful lights. But if you want to see the show, you have to hurry. The last night is December 28, although there is always next year.

This time of year is also a great opportunity to take in a desert hike and the Palm Springs area has some great options. You don’t have to go far to find them. One of the easiest hikes is the Museum Trail, in the heart of downtown Palm Springs. It starts from the parking lot of the Palm Springs Art Museum and goes up the rocky mountain behind the museum, offering a spectacular view of the city.

A few other great hikes are the Indian Canyons, a series of three oases that showcase Native American culture and desert ecology. The entrance to the canyons is a short drive from downtown Palm Springs. It doesn’t rain much in Palm Springs, but during, or after, a rainstorm, the canyon shows off spectacular waterfalls. Rain or not, water always flows through the canyons, which is why Native Americans settled there. A series of ancient Native American grinding holes can be seen just next to the parking lot at the main entrance. Admission to the Agua Caliente Indianowned canyons is $9.

Joshua Tree National Park, about an hour outside Palm Springs, has some of the desert’s most spectacular hiking trails. The loop trail is one of the park’s most popular. It is an easy walk and goes in a loop so you don’t have to take the same path back to where you started. It is at a higher elevation and cooler than Palm Springs. Entrance to the park is $30 per carload.

The Palm Springs Art Museum is showcasing a photo exhibit of LGBT diversity that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. It runs through March. The Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center’s Edwards Harris Pavilion is in a refurbished bank building in downtown Palm Springs and through December 31 features exhibits dedicated to the 91-year-old San Francisco graphic artist Barbara Stauffacher Solomon. Her “Breaking all the Rules” exhibit allows you to break the rules by playing pingpong on the tables set up symmetrically in the exhibit.

Accommodations

One of the biggest draws to Palm Springs for gay men are the city’s gay resorts. It has more than a dozen hotels marketed to gay men. All are clothing-optional and with the exception of All Worlds, they all offer a free continental breakfast. Wi-Fi is also free at all the gay resorts. The only gay resorts that charge a resort fee are Santiago, Cathedral City Boys Club, and Hacienda, the latter of which has a non-tipping policy so tips are paid through the extra fee.

For the quality and level of service, many of the gay resorts often rank at the top of TripAdvisor’s ratings of all specialty hotels in the city. Sadly, since the closing of Casitas Laquita three years ago, there are no longer any lesbian resorts in Palm Springs.

The Hacienda Warm Sands justifiably ranks near the top, or at the top, of lists of the country’s best gay resorts.

Included in the service is a free gourmet lunch and an upscale expanded continental breakfast. Hacienda’s high employee-to-guest ratio makes visitors there feel very pampered.

Hacienda’s next-door neighbor, Vista Grande Resort, is another hotel that deservedly earns high repeat

t

Ed Walsh

A Christmas tree of lights is perched atop Mt. San Jacinto.

Ed Walsh

Scott Murchison is the owner of Palm Springs’ newest bar, Eagle 501.

business from clients, who return year after year and sometimes several times a year. The lushly landscaped cruisy resort includes a cavernous steam room and a beautiful waterfall and wading pool. The resort has done a perfect job of refurbishing and upgrading the rooms while maintaining its mid-century modern charm. Amenities include a free continental breakfast and free lunch. The resort also gives guests a free pass during their stay to the WorkOut Gym, a great gay gym at the north end of town.

Both Hacienda and Vista Grande are in the Warm Sands neighborhood, less than a mile from downtown Palm Springs. The area is home to the fabulous gay resorts InnDulge, Desert Paradise, the neighborhood’s first gay resort, El Mirasol Villas, and the neighborhood’s largest resort All Worlds, which is the only one of the resorts in Warm Sands that is open for day passes.

Another cluster of three gay resorts can be found on East San Lorenzo Road, east of Warm Sands. The resorts are all first rate: Triangle Inn, Tortuga del Sol, and Santiago. The fourth gay resort on San Lorenzo

Road, Escape Palm Springs, sold and closed in August.

Three other gay resorts on the north end of downtown include the expansive Canyon Club Hotel, which is know for its big landscaped backyard with a koi pond and hedge maze. It is also open for day passes.

The Bearfoot Inn caters to bears but draws a good cross section of gay men who enjoy the hotel and the location. Chaps Inn is marketed to leather/Levi and SM clientele.

The only gay resort outside of Palm Springs city limits is the aforementioned Cathedral City Boys Club. It now includes the gay bar and restaurant, Runway. The 3.5-acre resort is open for day passes

Nightlife

Since the closing of Delilah’s in 2007, there are no full-time lesbian bars in the Palm Springs area but the LGBT Community Center of the Desert maintains a great list of lesbian-focused events and mixers.

Visit the center’s website and click on the “Programs” tab, then click on “Women.” Chill, Toucan’s, and See page 10 >>

Ed Walsh

An exhibit at the Palm Springs Art Museum features stacked bowls.

t

Sports >>

December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 9

Aussie takes helm of LGBT running group

by Roger Brigham

(www.sffr.org), and Baylands Front Runners (www.baylands.org).

I

nternational Front Runners became a little more “inter” and a little less “national” toward the end of 2019 when it elected Chris Rauchle of Australia as its new president. Rauchle, 52, is the first IFR president from outside the United States. Long primarily composed of clubs in the United States, IFR now has 113 clubs on five continents and most of them are not in the U.S. Rauchle, a gay man who married his husband, John Byrne, in New Zealand in 2015, was elected during a steering committee conference call December 1.

“I think it is important to show that Front Runners is a truly global organization for it to continue to be successful into the future,” Rauchle told the Bay Area Reporter. “We have had clubs in Asia, South America and Europe before, but bringing an emphasis to clubs outside of North America is important, given that most population growth will be in Asia and Africa in the coming decades.”

Rauchle said he took up running about 15 years ago and connected with the Sydney chapter of Front Runners once he decided it was a sport he would stick with.

“I have been running with the Front Runners for over 10 years and have served on the Sydney committee in a variety of roles for half of that,” he said. “I have been the International Front Runners representative for the Australia/Pacific region for over four years. When Danny Luong announced he was going to retire, I thought it was a good opportunity to continue on with his good work.”

Former president Luong is credited with establishing an IFR partnership with Brooks Running and will continue to oversee that scholarship program. Under the agreement, the network of LGBT running clubs and the Seattle-based sports footwear and apparel maker will work to promote inclusion in running.

Rauchle is expected to focus efforts on further international expansion.

“Asia is a massive opportunity that cannot be ignored,” he said.

“While we must retain a focus on existing memberships in Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong, China has four cities that have a larger population than the whole of Australia, and a hundred cities with over a million people.

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Gay Games bidding for 2026 opens

Courtesy IFR

New International Front Runners President Chris Rauchle

“India, too, has over 40 cities larger than a million people; and both China and India have large expat populations in North America and Australia,” he added. “I hope we can leverage our connections in existing clubs to start new clubs in these growing regions as their environment becomes cleaner, LGBTQI+ rights become more common, and people have time to start running as a hobby.

Worldwide, there are opportunities in countries and cities are enjoying newfound freedoms where LGBTQI+ runners can now freely meet up. We have started working to establish clubs in Africa and Mexico/South America and I see future opportunities in newly liberal Taiwan and Vietnam to name a few.”

And of course, the 2022 Gay Games are scheduled for Hong Kong, assuming that remains feasible in the changing political scene.

“I think Hong Kong is hugely significant and it is important that the Gay Games in Asia succeed now as this will hopefully be the first of many such events in the future,” Rauchle said. “Just as the economic center of the world is moving back to Asia, in the future – with 4 billion people projected to be living in Africa in the next 30 years, and a billion in China and India – it is to be expected that the landscape of Front Runners clubs will have a different and more diverse membership than it does today.”

For information about IFR, visit http://www.frontrunners.org. Local clubs include East Bay Front Runners (www.eastbayfrontrunners. org), San Francisco Front Runners

BART board prez

From page 1

system’s Civic Center station mere blocks from San Francisco City Hall, one of several stations that are a part of his District 9 seat, Dufty’s depiction of its current condition is also an apt descriptor for the BART system as a whole.

“The station is obviously a lot better,” said Dufty, but he acknowledged, “it ain’t Mayberry.”

He hailed two achievements the transit agency marked this year, successfully negotiating several union contracts and selecting Robert “Bob” Powers as the systems’ 10th general manager in July.

“Labor relations have really improved at BART,” said Dufty.

Powers had been serving as BART’s deputy GM since 2017 and started with the agency in 2012 as its assistant general manager of planning, development, and construction. His hiring, noted Dufty,

Courtesy BART

BART general manager Robert “Bob” Powers

was just one instance of “leadership growth” where current BART employees were tapped for promotions.

“I don’t really like the word leadership transition because it just feels like you’re handing the baton from one person to another,” said Dufty, “and I think what’s magical about BART is that what you’re seeing are people that have been within the organization for years and demonstrated their capability, and now

The Federation of Gay Games announced this week the start of the bidding cycle for the rights to host the quadrennial Gay Games XII in 2026.

The site selection committee reported at the FGG’s annual meeting in November that 24 cities had already expressed interest in hosting Gay Games XII – up from the 11 at the start of the Gay Games XI bidding that wound up being won by Hong Kong.

Interested bidders will need to submit their request for information documents by February 21.

Brisbane, Australia and Liverpool, England both began efforts in 2018 to land Gay Games XII. The “long list” of official bidders will be announced February 29, and then the prospective bidders will be sent the request for proposal forms the next day. Bidders who wish to proceed must submit letters of intent and a fee of $7,500 by April 30. A second $7,500 fee will be due August 1 when formal bid books are turned in and question and answer discussions with federation member delegates begin.

FGG will choose finalists January 31, 2021. Those that are selected and choose to continue will undergo more discussion rounds, expand their bid books, sign a pro forma license agreement, and pay a $15,000 fee at the end of April 2021. The members and board of the FGG will vote on the presumptive host in November 2021, in Hong Kong.

Bid information is available at http://www.gaygames.org.

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Mosier in Olympic Trials

Transgender athlete Chris Mosier announced December 18 on Instagram that he will compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials in January in Santee, California, trying to earn a spot on the men’s Olympic track team competing in the 50-kilometer race walk.

This would make Mosier at least the second transgender man to compete in the Olympic track trials – Keelin Godsey competed in the 2008 and 2012 trials in the women’s hammer throw after transitioning in 2005 – and it is believed he will be the first to compete against fellow men.

“Transgender athletes do have a place in sport, even at the highest levels,” Mosier wrote. t

they’re stepping up into a higher leadership role.”

One of those employees is Tamar Allen, who has worked for BART for 37 years, first hired as a police officer shortly after she graduated from UC Berkeley. She went through training to work on BART’s rolling stock, rising through the ranks to become the agency’s chief maintenance and engineering officer. Allen, a lesbian who is now BART’s assistant general manager of operations, is the agency’s highest-ranking LGBT executive.

“I feel really proud about the fact that these individuals are coming in and they’re taking ownership,” said Dufty, who had Powers and Allen accompany him to speak with the B.A.R. about their priorities for BART. Having worked so long for the agency, Allen said she is making it a priority of hers to talk to the frontSee page 11 >>

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<< Community News

10 • Bay Area Reporter • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

<<

LGBT laws

From page 1

children. It requires gamete banks receiving donors’ gametes to maintain the contact information of the gamete bank from which the samples were received. The measure also clarifies health code regulations to include oocyte and embryo donors.

Business

Two laws are squarely meant to assist LGBT business owners in obtaining contracts from insurance providers and hospitals in the Golden State.

Both take effect January 1.

AB 962, co-authored by Assemblywoman Autumn Burke (D-Inglewood) and Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), requires California hospitals to publicly disclose how much they are contracting with LGBT-owned businesses. The reports must also include businesses owned by women, minorities, and other disadvantaged groups.

<<

SB 534, by state Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), requires the state’s $310 billion insurance industry biennially report how much it is contracting with businesses owned by women, people of color, veterans, and LGBT individuals. Gay Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara co-sponsored the legislation, as it revives the state agency’s Insurance Diversity Initiative, which aims to see insurers have diverse suppliers and governing boards, and expands its scope to include LGBT- and veteranowned businesses.

“California’s long experience with the utility companies shows that simply requiring firms to report their levels of contracting with businesses owned by people of color, women, veterans and LGBT people leads to big increases in contracting with diverse businesses,” stated Greenlining Institute Health Equity Program Manager Kelsey Lyles. “We’re delighted to see that level of transparency brought to the hospital and insurance industries

Courtesy Flickr

Assemblyman David Chiu

through AB 962 and SB 534. Thanks to SB 534, we’ll also learn more about the diversity of insurance companies’ governing boards.”

Lastly, starting next summer Californians will be able to obtain a two-

Decade’s top story

But the fight goes on, as the Trump administration attempts to defend its ban on transgender service members.

As the decade closed, efforts to thwart the ban through language in a bill in Congress authorizing defense spending failed, but legal challenges are still proceeding through the courts.

GOP controls Senate

<<

Guest Opinion

From page 4

for housing, and that TGNC transitional age youth are 53% more likely to be prioritized for housing.

(These assessments do not prioritize LGBTQ+ identities, but other vulnerability factors that impact LGBTQ+ people at higher rates.) In addition to improving general services to make them attainable, these differing levels of utilization across LGBTQ+ communities speak to the value of community-specific initiatives to help us tilt the scale by pri-

<<

News Briefs

From page 7

will not stop at Montgomery; people should exit at Embarcadero.

After the fireworks, Dublin/Pleasanton and Fremont/Warm Springs trains will not stop at West Oakland; the first East Bay stop will be Lake Merritt station.

Millbrae and Daly City passengers should use Montgomery Street station.

Regular fare pricing applies.

For more details, visit http://www. bart.gov.

Caltrain service will be free after 8

<<

Palm Springs

From page 8

Hunters are among the city’s bars that are particularly women-popular.

The Castro Street of Palm Springs is downtown on East Arenas Road, the block between Indian Canyon Drive and South Calle Encilia. The first gay bar on the block, Streetbar, opened in 1991. The block was rundown at that time with many vacant storefronts. Now it is one of the most popular business blocks in the city.

Streetbar is still on Arenas Road and always draws a crowd. Hunters is the biggest bar on the block with a main bar, dance room, and expansive

month supply of an HIV prevention medicine known as PrEP from their local pharmacy without having a prescription from their primary care doctor. SB 159, authored by Gloria

obstruct the confirmation of Obama appointees – including Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland – and give Trump two appointments to the high court (Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch), creating a new conservative majority.

It also enabled conservatives to mount an aggressive campaign to confirm young, conservative judges to federal appeals (47 so far) and district courts (112). The effects of their confirmations will be felt for decades to come.

From page 2

In the November 2014 midterm elections, Republicans won control of the Senate, giving the party dominance in both chambers of Congress (until Democrats took control of the House two years later) and making the prospects for passage of any pro-LGBT legislation – including the Equality Act (formerly the Employment Non-Dis-

Courtesy Autumn Burke

Assemblywoman Autumn Burke

DOMA dies

crimination Act) – virtually nil.

With Republicans in control of the Senate, it also gave right-wing con-

servatives complete control over filling Supreme Court seats, which they exercised – some say overreached – to

With Kennedy writing for the 5-4 majority, the Supreme Court declared in 2013 that the key provision of DOMA was unconstitutional.

The law, signed by Clinton in 1996, had barred any federal entity from recognizing for the purpose of any benefit the valid marriage license

oritizing those most impacted and with fewest options.

Additionally, all city departments underscored challenges in collecting accurate data and using them meaningfully for service improvement, such as capacity limitations, complicated data systems that hinder data comparisons, and a need for training on LGBTQ+ issues. Our local efforts come up against the unfortunate reality that there is such a dearth of data on LGBTQ+ communities and the issues we face – in particular on LGBTQ+ communities of color, trans-

gender communities, immigrants, people with disabilities, and other uniquely vulnerable communities – that SOGI data becomes all the more pressing. Indeed, many data collection initiatives do not adequately count our LGBTQ+ identities, yet are used to make decisions that greatly impact our lives. A major and timely example is the 2020 census. Although it should count LGBTQ+ identities better than it does, the census remains crucial for our communities. The 2020 census captures other identities, is used to allocate resources (for schools,

health programs, social assistance programs, and more), and determines the number of members of Congress that California has in the House of Representatives and the number of votes the state has in the Electoral College. In imperfect systems, we must be counted in every way possible.

While there is much to be done, we look forward to working with Mandelman, city departments, and community-based organizations toward more and better LGBTQ+ data in San Francisco – because we deserve to be counted. t

p.m. December 31, and continue until 5 a.m. For more information, visit http://www.caltrain.com.

SamTrans will offer free rides on all buses beginning at 8 p.m. December 31, and continue until 5 a.m. For more details, visit samtrans.com.

and if they want to continue, he will help them with registration.

For more information, contact Hermes at (707) 227-6935 or garydhermes@comcast.net.

Santa Rosa Jr. College offers class for LGBT seniors

Santa Rosa Junior College’s older adults program has announced that Aging Gayfully, its popular class for older LGBT adults, will be offered during the Spring 2020 semester. The class is on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. from January 16 to May 14

at the Finley Center Person Senior Wing, 2060 West College Avenue in Santa Rosa.z The instructor is Gary “Buz” Hermes, an LGBT aging consultant who has facilitated workshops, classes, and discussion groups for over 30 years. There is no class fee but the Santa Rosa Department of Parks and Recreation charges a facilities use fee of $3 per class for non-members.

Students will discover LGBT aging strategies and community support and share their life experiences with peers.

Hermes noted that people can come and check out the first class

patio. BlackBook bar and restaurant features upscale bar food and is the place to go for a late night meal. The piano bar Stacy’s has been a welcome addition to the block for clientele who prefer a quieter venue. The video bar Quadz is undergoing an expansion that will include a patio.

Quadz’s neighbor, Chill, is known for its plate glass windows where you can watch the crowds on Arenas Road go by. The newest bar on the block is Eagle 501, which opened in July in place of the dive bar Score. It is already drawing a loyal crowd.

The other two gay bars in Palm Springs are Toucan’s Tiki Lounge and Cabaret, which boasts Palm

Springs’ longest running drag show.

It is on North Palm Canyon Drive, north of downtown. The other gay bar in Palm Springs, the Tool Shed, is on Sunny Dunes Road. The Levi Leather bar is infamous for its Thursday underwear night.

All the Palm Springs’ LGBT nightlife used to be in Cathedral City, just south of Palm Springs.

There are still four gay bars left there: The popular Barracks leather, fetish, and bear bar also has a poplar underwear night on Wednesday evening. Trunks is a friendly locals bar with a pool table, sports on multiple screens, and inexpensive drinks. Studio One 11

is a cocktail lounge with live entertainment nightly.

The newest gay bar in Cathedral City is Runway, which is part of the CCBC resort but it has a separate entrance so you don’t need to be staying there to visit. As its name implies, Runway features drag shows and other live entertainment.

President Barack Obama signed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal December 22, 2010.

APIQWTC offers scholarship

Asian and Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Community, an organization in the San Francisco Bay Area providing support and community for nearly 800 queer and trans API individuals, is now accepting applications for its scholarships.

The APIQWTC scholarships support queer API women and trans-

Retail

Palm Springs has two gay general stores: Gay Mart, on Arenas Road, and Q Trading Company on Sunny Dunes Road, a few steps from the Tool Shed. Gay Mart has an expansive gym and swimwear clothes section. Q Trading offers a wide selec-

t

and gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), authorizes pharmacies to furnish at least 30 days worth, and up to 60 days, of preexposure prophylaxis pills that have proved to be effective at preventing the transmission of HIV. Pharmacies will also be able to supply customers with a 28-day regimen of drugs for PEP, or post-exposure prophylaxis, that has proved to be effective at keeping someone HIV-negative if they have been exposed to HIV through sex.

The legislation also prohibits insurance companies from requiring patients to obtain prior authorization before using their insurance benefits to obtain PrEP or PEP from a pharmacy.

The Board of Pharmacy has until July 1 to adopt the emergency regulations needed in order for SB 159 to be implemented. t

of a same-sex couple. The majority opinion in U.S. v. Windsor, said DOMA Section 3 violated the constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process.

The decision struck like the first domino to fall against same-sex marriage prohibitions. State legislators cited it during debates over marriage equality bills; state and federal courts cited it to strike down other DOMAlike laws and regulations.

On the perch of a new year and a new decade, the presidency, the control of Congress, and the Supreme Court stand once more as pivotal determinants in the “futurity,” as Dickens called it in “Hard Times.”

“Do the wise thing and the kind thing,” he offered that troubled world, “and make the best of us and not the worst.”t

Learn how to ensure all San Francisco residents are counted in the 2020 census by following the San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@OCEIA_SF). Text COUNT to 415-340-7170 for reminders about participating in the census this spring.

Pao Crego is director of policy and programs at the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives; Clair Farley is director of the office.

gender people in their pursuit of technical and professional training or higher education. The scholarships recognize those who are active in the community and encourage future leaders.

APIQWTC will be awarding scholarships of $2,500 each to two API lesbian, bisexual, or queer women or transgender individuals pursuing technical or professional training or an undergraduate or graduate degree.

The deadline to apply is February 10. For requirements and the application, visit https://bit.ly/2OZcVTD. t tion of gay books as well as various sex toys and accessories. Bear Wear Etc. is on the Arenas Road strip and, as its name implies, sells clothing and accessories focused on bears. Gear Leather and Fetish is similar to Bear Wear and has a large selection of underwear and gym clothes.

For more information, check out Palm Springs’ official travel website at visitpalmsprings.com. t For links to many of the places and accommodations mentioned in this story, see the online version at ebar.com.

t <<

Community News>>

December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 11

BART board prez

From page 9

line employees to hear what their concerns are and what suggestions they have for how to address BART’s myriad issues.

“I spend a tremendous amount of time with them and I’m working very hard to make improvements that make the lives of our frontline employees better,” said Allen. “Those improvements, therefore, are twofers for our customers because usually the improvements that our employees are identifying are things that benefit the customer.”

Powers, selected unanimously by the board after conducting a nationwide search for a new GM, said his first five months on the job had been “enlightening.” In addition to meeting with employees, Powers has been visiting stations to talk directly with riders of the BART system. (Last week, he arrived on the Walnut Creek station platform as part of his listening tour shortly after a woman dropped her cellphone onto the track. A station agent and BART police quickly responded and safely retrieved the device, according to images posted on BART’s Twitter feed.)

Among his top priorities when he started in his new role, said Powers, “first and foremost was putting the riders first, and making sure that

Courtesy BART

Tamar Allen, BART’s highest ranking LGBT executive, marched in the San Francisco Pride parade in June.

our frontline employees had all the tools and the resources to make that happen. They’re not unrelated right.”

He also sees BART as being integral to addressing regional issues such as homelessness and the lack of affordable housing. He is pushing forward BART’s long-held desire to see housing built at and near its stations across the system, especially in the East Bay and on the Peninsula.

“We are well positioned to be part of those solutions, you know,

whether it’s the affordable housing crisis in the Bay Area or the homeless crisis,” said Powers. “We have, you know, an integral stake in that.”

In contrast to his predecessor, Powers has made himself more available to the media, something Dufty said is a welcome change as BART had lacked someone who could speak with “one voice” for the agency.

“What I love about Bob is that his first answer isn’t ‘No.’ He really wants to hear you out,” said Dufty.

“He wants to see if there’s common ground or if there are ways to do it.”

In the coming years, as BART replaces its fleet of trains and upgrades its power and control systems, the agency expects to increase its capacity through its bay tunnel by 40% come late 2026 or early 2027.

“That’s a significant impact to the mobility of the Bay Area,” said Powers, “I mean it’s going to be a game changer.”

Asked about the possibility of seeing a second tube built under the bay, Powers replied he would like to see a study first be done of what the transportation needs will be for a new mega-region of commuters encompassing Gilroy south of San Jose north to Sacramento and east to the growing cities in the Central Valley.

“Let’s figure out where the people are and where they’re trying to go to,” he said.

As for the extension that will bring BART into downtown San Jose, Powers demurred when asked what the timeframe now is to see the first stations in Santa Clara County open at Milpitas and Berryessa/ North San Jose. A website for the project lists an opening sometime in 2020.

“We don’t have the date for you right now,” he said.

Managing assets

Costa County or San Francisco’s western neighborhoods, Powers said that is not utmost in his mind at this point.

“I’m not precluding or kiboshing any discussions on any extensions,” he said. “There could be some opportunities there, but our focus is certainly on managing the assets that we have right now, you know, and getting them into a state of good repair.”

Apart from focusing on the running of the transit system as board president, Dufty said he also aimed to address what he described as BART’s “long-standing malaise” in responding to the family of Oscar Grant, who was killed by a BART police officer January 1, 2009 at Fruitvale station. In June, a mural honoring Grant was unveiled at the station and a street there was renamed for him, though the agency has not embraced calls to rename the entire station after Grant.

Dufty did organize a group of BART managers and leaders to sponsor a table for the first time at the dinner the Oscar Grant Foundation annually holds to raise money for scholarships it awards.

“It was noticed. I mean, it really said something to those in attendance who waited for a long time for us to do the right thing,” said Dufty. t

In terms of additional line extensions, whether further into Contra

now being accepted Nominations for BESTIES 2020 the LGBTQ Best of the Bay, are now being accepted.

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DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555426 In the matter of the application of: APRIL MAI NGUYEN, 4442 KIRKHAM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner APRIL MAI NGUYEN, is requesting that the name APRIL MAI NGUYEN, be changed to TUYET ANH NGUYEN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept.103, Room 103 on the 7th of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019

In the matter of the application of: AN LI ZHUO, 2639 NEWHALL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner AN LI ZHUO, is requesting that the name AN LI ZHUO, be changed to ANNIE AN LI ZHUO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept.103N, on the 7th of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019

In the matter of the application of: PHILLIPE FLORES FRANCISCO, 3338 26TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner PHILLIPE FLORES FRANCISCO, is requesting that the name PHILLIPE FLORES FRANCISCO, be changed to PHILLIPE FRANCISCO FLORES. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept.103, Room 103 on the 28th of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038878700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PADALECKISTUDIO, 61 CENTRAL AVE, #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MEGAN ALYSSA PADALECKI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/01/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/22/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019

<< Legals

12 • Bay Area Reporter • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

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Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038887100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TOPCUTS, 1642A IRVING ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed WEILAN XU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/27/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/27/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038872700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ENGRAFFT, 258 MINERVA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DEREK HANNEMAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/09/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/19/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038884800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CLEMENT PODIATRY, 505 SANSOME ST #850, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LEILA OSTOVAR-KERMANI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/09/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/26/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038862400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CANDY QUEEN, 81 DUKES CT, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RAYLINA JOSEPH. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/12/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/12/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038876200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STARDUST MARKET, 3801 GEARY BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NAVIN BUDHATHOKI. 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 11/21/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038877900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE OPPORTUNIVORE, 885 FULTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GIULIA PISCHE DAVID. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/16/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/22/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038876400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ST. CLAIR’S LIQUORS, 3900 24TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed MOUSA R. KHOURI & MAHER R. KHOURI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/17/91. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038882900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SOTTO CASA, 1351 GRANT AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed VILLA ITALIA GOURMET FOOD & WINE INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/25/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/25/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038884300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WILLY’S FOOD, 4517 3RD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed WILLY’S FOOD INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/26/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/26/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038878200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SANCTUARY CHURCH SF, 382 MADISON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed RADIANT CHURCH, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/28/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/22/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038882600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FRESH HOME STUDIO, 2309 NORIEGA ST #78, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed COOCRR INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/25/19.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555389 In the matter of the application of: ACHRAF EL KOUHEN, 1745 VALLEJO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ACHRAF EL KOUHEN, is requesting that the name ACHRAF EL KOUHEN, be changed to ASHRAF HAROON KOHEN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept.103N, Room 103N on the 14th of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038874800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: REBEL NEON, 1745 YOSEMITE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed AMY PALMS. 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 11/20/19.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF DAVID ROBERT SENECHEK IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-19-303335

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of DAVID ROBERT SENECHEK. A Petition for Probate has been filed by JUDY SENECHEK JARVIS in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that JUDY SENECHEK JARVIS 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: January 08, 2020, 9:00 am, 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: Nicole C. Kelly, Esq., The Kelly Law Firm, 345 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102; Ph. (415) 552-0059.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038890600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE STONE CLINIC, 3727 BUCHANAN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed KEVIN R. STONE & SUSAN STONE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/99. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/03/19.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038890700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE MENISCUS TRANSPLANT CENTER, 3727 BUCHANAN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed KEVIN R. STONE & SUSAN STONE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/03/19.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038868900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PRESTO INTERACTIVE OPERA, 32 WOOL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed PRESTO INTERACTIVE OPERA (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/10/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/18/19.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-037111200 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: TOPCUTS, 1642A IRVING ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by KAREN CHIU. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/24/16.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555458

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HIGH RISE FIRE SAFETY DIRECTORS, 2 TOWNSEND ST #2-403, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SHAWNA MICHELLE MORRISON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/06/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/06/19.

In the matter of the application of: IULIIA SHMELEVA, C/O DAVID STERNFELD, LAW OFFICE OF DAVID STERNFELD, 420 THIRD ST #200, OAKLAND, CA 94607, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner IULIIA SHMELEVA, is requesting that the name IULIIA SHMELEVA, be changed to YULIA SHMELEVA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept.103, Room 103 on the 28th of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038894100

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038905200

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038895800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FORTUNATE HAPPENSTANCE, 830 HAYES ST #308, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VINCENT PULITI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/05/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: D.W. GRAPHIC & SIGN CO., 1908 QUINT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAVISSON ZOU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/16/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/16/19.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038892200

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038899500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BLUE WARRIORS, 3145 GEARY BLVD #22, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PEP CEARNAL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/04/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/04/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AAA ARCHITECTURE, 150 HAIGHT ST #501, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RANDOLPH R. RUIZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/31/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/10/19.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038867600

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038882100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BM REALTY, 2501 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BROOKE MATTICE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/15/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/15/19.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038893500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LILY NAILS SPA, 1198 HYDE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LY THI DIEU NGUYEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on12/05/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/05/19.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038876600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LIFSCHITZ LAW, 345 FRANKLIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed LOELL, PC, (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/25/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/19.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038895700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: UNION SQUARE DENTAL, 450 SUTTER ST #2414, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed NAZANIN HAKIM DDS/MAHSA HAKIM DDS, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/06/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/06/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WERTHMAN INVESTIGATIONS, 4424 3RD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NICHOLAS HOWELLS WERTHMAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/24/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/25/19.

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038888000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: YOUNTESS COMMUNICATION DESIGN, 1014 SHOTWELL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ASHLEY ROSE YOUNT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/27/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/27/19.

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038884600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MAD HANDYWOMAN, 501 AMAZON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARY ANN LORICO DESUYO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/26/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/26/19.

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038884700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SIMPLE MARKETING CONSULTING, 501 AMAZON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LUZ ROMERO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/26/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/26/19.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038886200

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038884900

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038893400

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038897900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CARY LANE, 1615 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CARY LANE INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/20/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/26/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND MAGIC, 779 23RD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JULIA HAY SYMINGTON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/26/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/26/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GREEN LIFT, 2121 NEWCOMB AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BAY AREA GREEN CROSS DISPENSARY INC. (CA). 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 12/05/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOLDEN BEAUTY SALON, 494 EDDY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SANDRA ADELA RODRIGUEZ VERA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/09/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/09/19.

DEC 12, 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 2020

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038898100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CLOUD AND CROW GARDEN & APOTHECARY, 1322A NATOMA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KATHRYN M. DELWICHE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/09/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/09/19.

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038896100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO DOWNTOWN DENTAL STUDIO, 133 KEARNY ST #301, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BAYSAC DENTAL GROUP SAN FRANCISCO 133 KEARNY PC (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/17/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/06/19.

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038896000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: REJUVEDENT; REJUVADENT, 3580 CALIFORNIA ST, # 204, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BAYSAC DENTAL HEALTH 3580 CALIFORNIA PC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/17/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/06/19.

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038900500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: D + A TEAM, 1400 VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed THE DALE + ALLA TEAM (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 12/12/19.

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038896700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SANFRANCISCOTIM.COM; BARBARY COAST PRESS, 1575 BAYSHORE BLVD #2158, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124.

This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed TIMOTHY P. KEEFE & ELIZABETH L. BOWERMAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/24/97. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/09/19.

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038901400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS, 1597 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MJ UNLIMITED LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/21/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/12/19.

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038890000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HOLLYWOOD BEAUTY THREADING, 2859A MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HOLLYWOOD BEAUTY THREADING LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/02/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/02/19.

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-038720500

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: LEDA COHORT 5 FUND, 773 TEHAMA ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by VINCENT CASTANEDA. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/15/19.

DEC 19, 26, 2019; JAN 02, 09, 2020 BURK CHUNG FOUNDATION

The Annual Report of the Burk Chung Foundation, 465 Clementina Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 is available at the Foundation’s office for inspection during regular business hours. Copies of the Annual Report have been furnished to the Attorney General of the State of California. Burk Chung, Trustee. Fiscal year ended November 30, 2019.

DEC 26, 2019, JAN 02, 09, 16, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555465 In the matter of the application of: VICTORIA JEAN MCGOOGAN, 2209 GOUGH ST #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner VICTORIA JEAN MCGOOGAN, is requesting that the name VICTORIA JEAN MCGOOGAN, be changed to VICTORIA JEAN PHILLIPS. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept.103, Room 103 on the 30th of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 26, 2019, JAN 02, 09, 16, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038910800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SOLENTSA, 12 AVALON AVE #9, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed OLAYINKA SYLVIA NGUESSAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/20/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/20/19.

DEC 26, 2019, JAN 02, 09, 16, 2020

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DEC 26, 2019, JAN 02, 09, 16, 2020 AMENDED SUMMONS NOTICE TO DEFENDANTS: HENRY W. AND CHARLOTTE N. BESUDEN, AS COTRUSTEES FOR THE HENRY W. BESUDEN AND CHARLOTTE N. BESUDEN REVOCABLE TRUST DATED FEBRUARY 5, 1992; MATTHEW A. WITMAN AS TRUSTEE, OR THE SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE, OF THE SURVIVOR’S TRUST OF THE HENRY WILLIAM WITMAN, III AND BETTY A. WITMAN FAMILY TRUST DATED NOVEMBER 6, 1990; MATTHEW A. AND CAROLYN O. WITMAN, AS CO-TRUSTEES OF THE MATTHEW AND CAROLYN WITMAN REVOCABLE TRUST DATED JUNE 24, 1996, PREDECESSOR OR SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST TO THE SURVIVOR’S TRUST OF THE HENRY WILLIAM WITMAN, III AND BETTY A. WITMAN FAMILY TRUST DATED NOVEMBER 6, 1990; SAN DIEGO GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CALIFORNIA CORPORATION; WILLIAM M. BALLON, AN INDIVIDUAL; RACHEL BALLON, AN INDIVIDUAL; BERNARD SOLOMON, AN INDIVIDUAL; PERLEE SOLOMON, AN INDIVIDUAL; FRED GEORGE HUMISTON, AS TRUSTEE OF A TRUST WITH AN UNKNOWN NAME; WALLY WINCHELL, AN INDIVIDUAL; THE SOLK RANCH, A DEFUNCT CALIFORNIA GENERAL PARTNERSHIP; ALL PERSONS UNKNOWN CLAIMING AN INTEREST IN THE PROPERTY, SUED HEREIN AS DOE 1; RICHARD N. KRUPP, AS AN INDIVIDUAL AND AS A PARTNER OF THE SOLK RANCH, SUED HEREIN AS DOE 2; THE HEIRS AND DEVISEES OF WILLIAM A. BALLON, DECEASED, AND ALL PERSONS CLAIMING BY, THROUGH, OR UNDER SAID DECEDENT, SUED HEREIN AS DOE 3; THE HEIRS AND DEVISEES OF BERNARD SOLOMON, DECEASED, AND ALL PERSONS CLAIMING BY, THROUGH, OR UNDER SAID DECEDENT, SUED HEREIN AS DOE 4; THE HEIRS AND DEVISEES OF PERLEE SOLOMON, DECEASED, AND ALL PERSONS CLAIMING BY, THROUGH, OR UNDER SAID DECEDENT, SUED HEREIN AS DOE 5; THE HEIRS AND DEVISEES OF FRED GEORGE HUMISTON, DECEASED, AND ALL PERSONS CLAIMING BY, THROUGH, OR UNDER SAID DECEDENT, SUED HEREIN AS DOE 6; AND DOES 7 THROUGH 20, INCLUSIVE. YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PLAINTIFF: RAMONA MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT, A PUBLIC AGENCY AND A CALIFORNIA MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT CASE NO. 37-2019-00036007-CU-EI-CTL NOTICE! You have been sued. The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below.

You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your responses. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court. There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service.

If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center(www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case. The court’s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case. The name and address of the court is: SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OFSAN DIEGO, Central Division (Hall of Justice), 330 W. Broadway, San Diego, California 92101 . The name, address, and telephone number of plaintiffs attorney, or the plaintiff without an attorney, is: Stephen E. Boehmer and Elizabeth A. Mitchell, McDOUGAL, LOVE, BOEHMER, FOLEY, LYON & CANLAS, 8100 La Mesa Blvd, #200, La Mesa, CA 91942; Telephone: (619) 440-4444.

Date: Sept 27, 2019.

Clerk of the Superior Court,

by C. Miranda, Deputy.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 26, 2019

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Porter house

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Lesbian moms

Music 2019

President’s crimes

Vol. 49 • No. 52 • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

www.ebar.com/arts

Rick Gerharter

2019 in Bay Area art museums

by Sura Wood

A

h, what to say of 2019? It was relatively free of fireworks splashed across the arts news, glaring missteps or stand-up-and-shout museum exhibitions, and, though the year had its moments, a saucy costume show from an out-there designer was nowhere in sight. YBCA, which has lost its footing, continues to search for it, and it appears that the future of Pier 24 Photography, the singular cathedral for photography marking its 10th year, is precarious. Investment bankerturned-collector Andy Pilara and his Foundation, who poured millions into renovating the 27,000-sq.-ft. warehouse venue a decade ago, is locked in a tense lease dispute with the Port of San Francisco, and has been threatened with imminent eviction. Here’s hoping for a happy resolution in the New Year; the alternative would be a terrible loss for the city.

See page 16 >>

Musée D’Orsay paintings curator Paul Perrin, co-curator of the exhibit “James Tissot: Fashion and Faith” at the Legion of Honor, discusses two paintings, “The Circle of the Rue Royale” and “The Two Sisters: Portrait.”

Best Films 2019

by David Lamble

P

art Two of our Best Films of the year round-up is meant to lasso some late-season releases into the list, and hint at some of the strongest contenders for the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

See page 14 >>

Swedish mezzosoprano Anne Sofie von Otter.

Two beloved singers

by Philip Campbell

S

wedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and American soprano Dawn Upshaw are treasured singers with enduring careers. Bay Area fans had a holiday-season chance to reconnect with both as they appeared in highly contrasted but likewise smartly programmed concerts.

See page 18 >>

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

Courtesy the artist

Manolo Pavón/El Deseo, Sony Pictures Classics

Antonio Banderas in director Pedro Almodóvar’s “Pain and Glory.”

<< Out There

14 • Bay Area Reporter • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

Corresponding with Cole Porter

by Roberto Friedman

“The Letters of Cole Porter,” edited by Cliff Eisen & Dominic McHugh; Yale University Press, $35

“T

he Letters of Cole Porter” weighs in at over 650 pages with notes, but it’s really meant to be read in toto only by scholars and Porter completists, so the general reader can feel okay about selective skipping.

His correspondence consisted mostly of working out the details of his lyrics or orchestrations with colleagues, and making sure he got paid when his songs were used in revues and, later, commercials. But there’s much to be gleaned from the letters, too, about his private life.

Though he was happily married and generally considered closeted in his professional life, Porter (18911964) was surprisingly revealing in private communiqués. To a young lover: “Oh Boris, write me and tell me that you love me as much as I

love you. You can’t say it too often, because you are so far from me and it makes me so miserable.” Letters to his close friend Sam Stark also refer frankly to his homosexuality. Editors Cliff Eisen & Dominic McHugh note, “He refers to a lover (Michael Pearman) and mentions Gore Vidal’s gay novel ‘The City and the Pillar’ (1948). Here is confirmation that although Porter kept this part of his life private, he was sexually active, promiscuous, and apparently not particularly repressed about his sexuality.”

Knowing this, it’s fun to read the principal at Cole’s grade school, the Worcester Academy, caution his mother in a letter, “He does not go with bad boys but he goes with those considerably older than himself who, while they do not exactly pet him, yet show their kindness toward him in a marked way. There are some delightful boys in his own class it would be far better for him to know, but his cuteness and brightness and versatility commend him to older boys.”

The Red List

Songwriter Cole Porter in 1933.

In 1942 Porter opened, with financial backing, the 1-2-3 Club at 123 E. 54th St. in NYC, “apparently a safe meeting place for Porter and other homosexuals.” He wrote to apparently desirable men, asking them to meet him there. To Monty Woolley (“Dear Beardie”) he

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Zelda. They were both exhibitionist drunkards + when I saw them anywhere in Paris, I always made a quick exit for I knew that if I stayed, this would implicate me in a possible police raid.”

“The cook is pure French with an ass so big that I can’t understand how she keeps her balance.”

“Please tell Jane Rubin that I should be very interested in working on a musical version of ‘The Barretts of Wimpole Street’ if she can guarantee me a singing dog.”

“I am sending you, from Liberty Music Shop, the most popular record in the country, titled ‘Doggie in the Window.’ To me, this is the most repulsive song that has ever been written.”

For such a genius writer of the Great American Songbook, it’s easy to forgive Porter the candor of his correspondence and the snobbery of his opinions.t

Film 2019

From page 13

“Pain and Glory” Openly gay Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar returns with one of his favorite male leads (Antonio Banderas), who plays an aging film director in the throes of a creative slump reflecting on a 40-year career behind the camera. A man who has lived to work finds himself begging his estranged former male lead to help him pick up the pieces. The reunion is fraught with harsh memories, accusations, and heavy drug use.

“1917” Director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins lay bare the horrors of war. It’s April 5, 1917, as two British soldiers are ordered to deliver a message across the battlefield to prevent their countrymen from advancing into a German trap. Filmed as if in one continuous take, “1917” shows how modern warfare can obliterate the most cherished values of civilization.

“Jojo Rabbit” In New Zealandborn filmmaker Taika Waititi’s humane and daring black comedy, an imaginative and deeply lonely 10-year-old German lad (Roman Griffin Davis) tries to be an upstanding member of the Hitler Youth, who are encouraged to spy on their parents and neighbors, and turn them in for violations of Hitler’s murderous agenda. To his dismay, Jojo learns that his single mom (Scarlett Johansson) is concealing a young Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic.

Assisted by his imaginary pal Hitler (deftly played by Waititi), Jojo needs to face down his blind allegiance to the Nazi cause.

“Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivans” Back in the good old days when red-state Texas was firmly in the grip of good-ol’-boy pols, the best place to get the scoop on what oil money was up to was Molly Ivans’ reporting in The Texas Observer. Born into a rich family, Ivans gleefully became a class traitor whose muckraking columns took into account the state’s growing queer communities.

“One Child Nation” The unexpected consequences of China’s one-child-per-family policy are explored.

“Love, Antosha” A moving tribute to Anton Yelchin, the Russianborn, curly-haired imp whose 69 film credits included stints opposite Anthony Hopkins and for Nick Cassavetes. LGBTQ viewers should satisfy their Yelchin fix by catching

Professional headshots / profile pics Weddings / Events

wrote, “It was very nice to get your drunken telegram this morning and to realize that you haven’t improved in the least.”

Cherry-picking some juicy parts: On F. Scott Fitzgerald: “I knew him first when he was a most attractive cock-teaser. Later I knew him with

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Warner Bros.

Nicole Kidman and Oakes Fegley in “The Goldfinch.”

his starring role in the TV-movie “Jack,” based on an A.M. Holmes young adult novel. Yelchin’s Jack is passing through puberty when he learns that his dad (Ron Silver) has come out as gay. He discovers that the girl of his fantasies also has a gay father. After a bit of acting out, Jack beautifully comes to terms with his family ties, a trait for growth and redemption that the real-life Anton appears to have had in abundance.

“Ms. Purple” In Justin Chon’s melancholy but moving drama, a young Korean-American woman is torn between her desire to look after her dying father, her need to reconnect with her estranged younger brother, and the cruel realities of her job as a karaoke hostess paid for trying to please sadistic, drunken men.

“Mike Wallace Is Here” Alvi Belkin’s life of Myron Leon “Mike” Wallace reveals him to have been an emotionally complicated man who suffered from crippling depression that led him to the brink of suicide.

Wallace made a widely-seen PSA urging viewers to seek professional help for mental health issues.

“Sauvage/Wild” depicts the Paris male hustling scene of brutal acts and emotionally desperate people.

Leo (seductive Felix Maritaud) is a 22-year-old hustler who spits in the wind. A true orphan, we never get a hint about where he’s from. Writerdirector Camille Vidal-Naquet, in his debut feature, ponders whether Leo will opt for a dangerous freedom or the suffocating safety of a stable relationship with “an ugly older man.”

“The Kingmaker” Lauren Greenfield traces the bid for a comeback by the hopelessly corrupt family of Philippines ex-first lady Imelda Marcos.

“Richard Jewell” is Clint Eastwood’s deft account of a miscar-

riage of justice set at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Jewell is a pudgy, hard-working security guard who wants to be accepted as a “real cop.”

Saving lives after a bomb goes off at the Games, Jewell’s dream is derailed by a cynical FBI agent and a tabloid reporter.

“63 Up” The ninth episode in Michael Apted’s project to track the lives of a postwar British generation finds the survivors in a particularly lucid state.

“Bombshell” In a case of “blonde justice,” the women of Fox News bring down their fat, far-right boss, Roger Ailes.

“The Goldfinch” Lavishly mounted art-thriller adapted from Donna Tartt’s 2013 Pulitzer Prizewinning novel has a heartbreaking performance from the slightlyunder-five-foot imp Oakes Fegley.

He plays sweet-natured Theodore Decker, whose life is up-ended when a bomb explodes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art just as his mother is showing him the famous European painting “The Goldfinch.”

As the smoke clears, Theo is handed a small package containing the 1654 representation of a chained bird by Carel Fabritius, a 17th-century contemporary of Vermeer. He keeps it hidden away for most of the film as a memento of his dead mother.

Theo is virtually abducted into the Nevada desert by his alcoholic thief of a dad (Luke Wilson). He’s befriended by Yugoslavian prankster Boris (Finn Wolfhard), whose silent-film-star good looks and devil-may-care attitude sustain his will to survive, while leading Theo into a lifetime addiction to snorting crushed pills. Allow the homoerotic friendship between Theo and Boris to be your takeaway from “The Goldfinch.”t

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<< DVD

16 • Bay Area Reporter • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

Disjointed look at lesbian mothers

by David-Elijah Nahmod

disjointed, with many supporting characters coming and going without explanation.

For example, in one scene Ali is interviewing a poet. Why Ali is interviewing the poet is never explained. Is she a journalist?

That’s never made clear. But in a touching twist, the fertility clinic calls in the middle of the interview, and the poet offers to drive them all the way to Spain.

One character who gets more screen time than he deserves is Andrea, the women’s roommate.

He’s inconsiderate, appears not to work, doesn’t pay rent, borrows money, and holds them back from attaining their goals. Why do they put up with him? Why don’t they throw him out? This, too, is never made clear.

There are some genuinely touching scenes, such as when the women express their frustration over the fact that Ali is not yet pregnant. And there’s one lovely scene in which Karole comes out to her grandfather.

“Know why I never brought home a man?” Karole says. “Because I’ve never liked men. I like women better.”

Grandpa’s reaction is priceless.

“What’s the problem?” he asks.

“Even hens like to be together. They only need the rooster to make eggs.”

By contrast, Karole is unable to talk to her mother, a source of sadness for her. “How come you’re the only one I can’t talk to?” she wonders. “I can’t seem to tell you, of all people, that just like you, I want to become a mother, too.”

The film touches upon the financial hardships that come with attempting to get pregnant via In Vitro Fertilization. Karole and Ali aren’t rich. It’s a struggle for them to come up with the fees the clinic is charging them, and the film powerfully addresses that issue.

Caridi and Roveran are likable actors who convey a wide range of emotions as the story unfolds. Most

importantly, they paint a beautiful portrait of two women in love.

When they look at each other, when they touch, and when they kiss, they are convincing as soulmates who love each other deeply. Unfortunately, the film has too many secondary characters who contribute nothing to the story, who are supposed to be funny but aren’t, and this brings the film down a few notches.

There are a lot of good things in “Mom + Mom.” It’s just not the kind of story that lends itself well to comedy. The mix of comedy and drama makes the film feel disjointed. A more serious approach to the story would have been far preferable. Had there been more scenes in which Karole and Ali share their emotional intimacy, more interludes like the lovely scene with the grandfather, then it could have been a really good film. It’s in Italian with clear, easy-to-read subtitles. Now available on DVD.t

Photography as a vehicle for discussion and self-validation constituted the core of “The San Quentin Project: Nigel Poor and the Men of San Quentin State Prison” at BAMPFA. A product of an unusual collaboration between Poor, a visual artist and photographer, and the prison’s inmates, it provided an insider’s view of boredom and brutal violence behind bars at the notorious institution. Larry Rinder, a real treasure, unfailingly generous with his time and knowledge, steps down as director effective March 2020.

He’ll be missed.

All things great and small: The most bodacious creatures, human and beast, assembled in one place were found in “Early Rubens,” but good things came in compact packages, too, especially at SFMOMA,

where German artist Johannes Brus delivered a jolt to the jaded in a boutique solo exhibition. Brus advocates the mishandling of photos and working with negatives or prints at night in the bathroom or kitchen to maximize mistakes, accidents, and damage to the medium, thereby enhancing the possibility of small miracles and epiphanies. “Signs and Wonders,” up through Jan. 5, contains the chronicle amassed by the adventurous American, French-born archaeologist-photographer John Beasley Greene, who set out for Egypt with his camera to capture its majestic ancient monuments in 1853, when both fields were still young. On the other end of the spectrum, “Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again,” the museum’s epic 40-year

retrospective, was enough Warhol for another 20 years. A section that included his early line drawings of Truman Capote, whom he idolized, and flirty, hand-drawn ink illustrations of snazzy, pointy-toed slippers collaged with gold metal leaf was a highlight of the year.

Other high points: Isamu Noguchi’s commanding emotional sculptures imprinted the brain and the heart in “Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan” at the Asian Art Museum, which also hosted the first-rate “Tattoos in Japanese Prints.”

The vibrant, moving 1980s artworks of the late Ed Aulerich-Sugai, the gay painter, activist, gardener and orchid horticulturist at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers, who died from AIDS-related complications in 1994. His work, on offer in “With(out) With(in) the very moment” at SFAC’s Main Gallery, merged his Japanese heritage and Technicolor dreams.

CJM’s “Show Me as I Want to be Seen,” which triggered a wave of controversy that won’t be revisited here, was a revelatory and unsettling exploration of a path-breaking, gender-bending duo: queer photographer Claude Cahun and her partner in life and art, Marcel Moore (nee Suzanne Malherbe). Rebels

and provocateurs to the end that included a set-to with the Nazis, their early-20th-century collaborations produced imaginative portraits of Cahun, who inhabited a moveable feast of personas.

Alexandre Singh’s “The Gothic Tale” conjured a fantastical, fatalistic noir universe within a stage-set installation featuring fun-house mirrors, objects from the museum’s collection and a short movie about a missing novelist, mistaken identity, doppelgangers and a dose of Wes Anderson and misplaced Hitchcock.

San Jose Museum of Art’s “Undersoul: Jay DeFeo” examined a fertile period when the artist departed from gigantic canvases like her towering, 2,300-lb. masterpiece “The Rose” to experiment with photographs and small-scale sculptural paper-collage works that are both delicate and intense.

Biggest let-down: There couldn’t have been a better moment for the arrival of “Queer California: Untold Stories” at OMCA, a show that wore its inclusive spirit on its sleeve but came up short. Lacking a coherent narrative, it was both too much and too little, a lot of stuff and not enough substance, though who couldn’t dig Sylvester’s flashy, bluesequined jacket and the disco beat in the background? Kick up your heels, honey, here comes 2020.t

I

talian filmmaker Karole Di Tommaso offers “Mom + Mom,” a comedy-drama based on her own real-life experiences.

The film tells the story of Karole (Linda Caridi) and Ali (Maria Roveran), a lesbian couple in Italy who want to start a family.

There’s only one thing standing in their way: bigoted local laws that forbid LGBT couples from becoming parents. Undaunted, the women go to a fertility clinic in Spain, where Ali attempts to become pregnant.

Caridi and Roveran are immensely likable in the lead roles and have good chemistry as an onscreen couple. The film is effective in displaying their frustration at having to deal with prejudicial laws and their frustrating struggle to become mothers. Problem is, the film is very

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Fine Art 2019

From page 13

It was a year that saved the best for last, namely “James Tissot: Fashion and Faith,” on view at the Legion of Honor through Feb. 9. The show, luxuriant in its pleasures and brimming with life, gave the brilliant, iconoclastic 19th-century French painter a much-deserved and appreciative reappraisal. The experience was all the better for originating at the Fine Arts Museums and in the mind of its intrepid curator, Melissa Buron, a rising star if there ever was one. Tissot is nowhere near as well-known as his contemporary Monet, whose late-life output, splendidly showcased at the Legion, was an avalanche of paradisiacal color. We should all have such a stunning final act.

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The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society, New York

Andy Warhol, “Superman” (1961). Casein and wax crayon on canvas.

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<< Music

18 • Bay Area Reporter • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

Best classical recordings of 2019

by Tim Pfaff

M

y love of historical recordings doesn’t blind me to the fact that we live in a golden age of music-making now, and that it is preserved at a higher rate than ever.

Several 2019 recordings went so far as to bring new understandings of long-term repertory staples.

A Gounod “Faust” (Bru Zane) from out early-music wizard Christophe Rousset put the big-house warhorse in a genuinely transformative light. Returning to the earliest scores, reinstating the spoken dialogue and scraping off the accretions of sound-clotting “tradition” yielded an “authentic,” “original” “Faust,” as opera-comique. Leaning into the comic elements, particularly in the dialogue, restored a dramatic balance to the oft-inflated piece, and the live performance crackled. Rousset is all about historically informed performance, but he’s also one of the most important recording artists of our day. In 2019 alone he gave us a Salieri “Tarare,” a crowning addition to his Lully cycle with “Isis,” two Francois Couperins and a game-changing set of Frescobaldi harpsichord music, all on Aparte.

Literally following in the steps of his scholarly book “Schubert’s Winter Journey,” which radically re-envisioned Schubert’s “Winterreise,” Ian Bostridge released a shattering, live Wigmore Hall recording (Pentatone) that put the tenor’s singing mouth where his written

Eric Larraydieu

Early-music recording artist Christophe Rousset.

words were. Partnered by one of our time’s out musical wonders, Thomas Ades, Bostridge cried out a winter wanderer with all due agonies and ecstasies. There is no other “Winterreise” like it.

Nestled among superlative recordings of the literature for full orchestra were two by FrancoisXavier Roth’s historically informed ensemble, Les Siecles (Harmonia Mundi). A Mahler “Titan” Symphony took us to the music’s roots while blasting us into its revolutionary sound world. A live Berlioz “Symphonie fantastique” at year’s end was, besides ear-realigning, a truly, literally fantastic end to the

Berlioz Year, which also offered up a “La Damnation de Faust” from the John Nelson crew (Erato) worthy of a place next to last year’s stupendous “Les Troyens.”

Despite having no anniversaries to celebrate, Camille Saint-Saens, the supreme gay composer of the 19th century, had himself quite a year. The cycle of symphonies with Thierry Fischer conducting the Utah Symphony (Hyperion) peaked with a recording of the Third, with Paul Jacobs at the organ, that augurs to become the reference recording.

A superb live recording of “Ascanio” brought another of his lesser-known operas back into the light. Bertrand Chamayou’s vaulting, Technicolor performances of the second and fifth piano concertos (Erato) sat atop a pile of other remarkable new recordings, with Louis Lortie (Chandos) and an easy-on-the-eyes Alexandre Kantarow (BIS).

Bru Zane’s new four-disc set of the complete songs of Reynaldo

Hahn, Proust’s one-time lover and lifelong friend, sung by baritone Tassis Chrisotyannis with Jeff Cohen at the piano, proved as welcome as it was overdue. Hahn’s reputation today rests on a handful of songs, and this was the proof that there’s more where they came from.

The debut album of opera arias by French tenor Benjamin Bernheim (DG), Rousset’s terrific Faust, sent chills through me the likes of which I haven’t felt since the glory days of Jonas Kaufmann and Jose Carreras.

Every time.

As a kind of upbeat to the deluge of Beethoven recordings for next year’s 250th birth anniversary, Igor Levit released his mostly new accounts of the complete piano sonatas (Sony, which reissues Levit’s earlier recordings of the late sonatas).

I say accounts because the fearless pianist’s plunge into the works, in which not a single note is slighted or distended, comes off more like a deed than an interpretation. For

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piano recording of the year it vies with Francesco Piemontesi’s of the three last Schubert sonatas (Pentatone), in a year that also saw promise-fulfilling Piemontesi recordings of big Liszt and airborne Mozart.

The young Swiss shares with his German counterpart an alchemical mix of keen intellect and supremely refined touch.

In a major salute to contemporary opera at its most exalted, also by gay composer-musicians, there were live video recordings of George Benjamin’s “Lessons in Love and Violence” (Opus Arte) and Thomas Ades’ “The Exterminating Angel” (Erato). The good news is that the apposite productions (Royal Opera, Met, respectively) are already not the only stagings of these masterpieces.

The two operas, Benjamin’s take on Marlowe’s “Edward II” by way of Martin Crisp’s tight, modern libretto, and Ades’ revisioning of the Luis Bunuel film to a Tom Cairns libretto, reveal themselves as fundamentally works of the theater.

Wondrous as they are, their scores don’t play themselves audio-only, largely by dint of the intricacy of their blending of music and (notably wordy) texts.

I heard two live broadcasts of the Ades and was ready to put it on the shelf as a piece of brilliant exhibitionism defying emotional engagement. With both works, it’s with camera’s careful focus on the action that these works come into their own.t

Merry impeachment!

by David Lamble

“A

ll the President’s Men” (1976) was the film that paved the way for Robert Redford’s role establishing the Sundance Film Festival as a one-stop exhibition center, production unit and teaching lab. The film itself was in some ways a happy accident.

<<

Two singers

From page 13

Their “bands” weren’t exactly chopped liver, either. Noted Brentano String Quartet backed Upshaw at Herbst Theatre for a one-nightstand early in the month, and music director-concertmaster Daniel Hope with New Century Chamber Orchestra supported von Otter closer to Christmas.

Von Otter’s voice is lighter and higher these days, but her unerring good taste, phrasing, and true pitch suited selections for her winter-season program. Appearing in Berkeley, Palo Alto and at pretty St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco, NCCO and von Otter were forthright in their Yuletide celebration, but Hope’s instrumental selections, ranging from Corelli to Handel, struck a more secular note.

Violinist Hope is a star in his own right, and his affection for Baroque music is abundantly clear.

He acknowledged a beaming Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, his NCCO

Following the Summer 1972 break-in at Democratic National Headquarters, Redford approached the real-life Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward (played in the film by Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) to get a film project rolling, only to be told that the journalists were too busy with the still-unfolding real-life story.

Contemporary viewers may be astonished to learn that newspaper reporters could wield such clout, that millions actually waited for news to be delivered to their front porch daily.

“All the President’s Men” comes to Blu-ray in a two-disc set with an impressive array of bonus features: “Telling the Truth About Lies:

predecessor, in the audience before launching into a boldly etched Handel Concerto Grosso in D minor. Von Otter appeared to sing a Bach aria from “The Christmas Oratorio” and an aria from Vivaldi’s “Giustino.” The first half ended with “Winter” from Vivaldi’s ubiquitous “The Four Seasons.” Hope’s confidently relaxed, almost improvisational style added bold and fresh impact to the pictorial score. Snow, howling winds, and cracking ice seemed especially tangible.

After a congenial intermission, a just-right collection of songs enforced the mood. With a breathy, intimate quality, von Otter sang a gorgeous version of one of the best modern Christmas songs ever, “Koppangen” by Per-Erik Moraeus.

The singer included it on her beautiful “Home for Christmas” album years ago, but it has actually improved with age. She followed with another wistful, jazz-inflected “A Child is Born” by Thad Jones, words by Alec Wilder.

“White Christmas” and “The

Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”) did not fare as well, revealing thinness in von Otter’s upper register, but the appreciative crowd was all-in for a group “O Tannenbaum,” and the encore, Ron Sexsmith’s “Maybe This Christmas,” was perfect. Hope and von Otter wished everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a cool Yule. Looking at the stylishly coiffed singer’s Converse-style sneakers, I thought: Ja, cool indeed.

The Making of ‘All the President’s Men,’” “Woodward and Bernstein, Lighting the Fire” and “Out of the Shadows: The Man Who Was Deep Throat.” Feature-film commentary by Redford, vintage featurette “Pressure and the Press,” vintage Jason Robards interview, excerpt from TV’s “Dinah,” hosted by Dinah Shore.t such a stretch after all.

Upshaw’s current mature sound fit the moodiness and disturbing imagery of the Respighi, but she has retained a brightness and edge that served the surprisingly lush Schoenberg as well. The Brentano String Quartet added strong and atmospheric support.

The Brentano Quartet, founded

in 1992 at the Juilliard School, comprised of founding members, violinists Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin; violist Misha Amory; and cellist Nina Lee, who joined in 1998, opened with an elegant if slightly blurred Mozart String Quartet No. 18 in A Major. The performance moved to “Il tramonto” with a sense of musical logic.t

New Dawn

Dubbed the “diva next door” and “one of the most consequential performers of our time” early in her career, soprano Dawn Upshaw has etched her distinctive voice in memory for decades. Her repertoire ranges from contemporary art songs and opera to the Baroque, show tunes, and pop. Equally at ease with Bach, Vernon Duke, and Rogers and Hart, Upshaw’s bright, clear, and virtually vibrato-less tone is instantly recognizable. “Dawn at Dusk” has darkened her sound, but a troubling wobble developed in recent years has corrected, and, like Anne Sofie von Otter, she chooses her current music with intelligence of strengths and shortcomings.

The concert at Herbst Theatre looked strangely contrasted on paper: Respighi’s Romantic-Goth setting of an Italian translation of Shelley, “Il tramonto” (“The Sunset”), with Arnold Schoenberg’s remarkable Quartet No. 2 for string quartet and soprano? In performance, however, it didn’t seem like

Courtesy the artist

American soprano Dawn Upshaw.

21

23

Arts Events www.ebar.com

Shining Stars Vol. 49 • No. 52 • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

BenDeLaCreme & Jinkx Monsoon Drag stars want your attention for the holidays

by David-Elijah Nahmod

D

AJ Jordan

rag superstars BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon will join forces onstage on December 28 at the Victoria Theater for a post-Christmas Christmas show. The show is part of a national and UK tour that the pair are undertaking under the banner of BenDeLaCreme Presents, DeLa’s newly formed production company.

See page 20 >>

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<< Drag

20 • Bay Area Reporter • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

<<

Creme/Monsoon

From page 19

DeLa and Monsoon, both RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni who live in Seattle, are close friends who have been working together for years.

Their new show, All I Want For Christmas Is Attention, promises to offer the audience a little song and a lot of eggnog. DeLa claims to be all sugar, while Monsoon says that she’s all spice. The Bay Area Reporter spoke to Jerick Hoffer, Monsoon’s alter ego, about who the character is.

“I think of Jinkx as a failed actress,” Hoffer said. “She always wanted to be a big movie star, and never made it. So she started doing drag cabaret work, because that’s the work she could get. Jerick the

artist has done well with drag cabaret. Jinkx the character will always be failing in life.”

Hoffer also spoke of how their Drag Race experience influenced them.

“It was very stressful, it was a lot of hard work, but I think it was one of the most profound experiences of my like,” they said. “I like to come up with really stupid ideas of what I think would be entertaining, and then back up those ideas with my rhetoric, my beliefs and my world view and try to make the world a better place than when I found it through entertaining and enlightening my audiences.”

Hoffer recalls RuPaul as a person with an “amazing” sense of humor who “gets every reference ever.”

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“When working with Ru, I can’t make a reference to a movie without Ru knowing the reference,” Hoffer said. “If I quote a line from a movie, Ru knows the line that comes after that. That’s one of my favorite things about Ru.” Hoffer noted that RuPaul often has to walk a fine line between being on the show and producing the show. “She’s always got to be thinking about the business aspect of being on the TV show.

“I always felt like we connected very well,” Hoffer said. “I always felt very seen by RuPaul, very appreciated, and that’s what made the experience a wonderful experience for me.”

Hoffer appeared on season 5 of Drag Race, and was thrilled when alter-ego Monsoon won. They now recall the experience as “surreal, and now refers to it as a “wild drag dream that came true.”

Hoffer considers friend and costar BenDeLaCreme to be “brilliant,” and feels that she is the best drag queen in Seattle.

“We share a mission statement,” they said. “We both have very similar goals as artists, and that is to be entertaining, while also being informed and informative.”

Hoffer describes All I Want For Christmas Is Attention as being about two drag queens who have very different views on the holidays trying to put on a show together. In the show, DeLa really loves Christmas and the holiday season, but her optimism is a tad misguided. Jinkx Monsoon, on the other hand, is much more cynical and critical of the holiday season structure and tends to be and tends to be dark and morose.

“Through working with each other throughout the show they come to a mutual conclusion at the end of the show,” Hoffer said. “But I can’t give that part away.”

The show features original music written by DeLaCreme, Monsoon, and Monsoon’s music partner Major Scales. There are both original songs and parody songs. There will also be dancing, and the entire show is comedy-based.

Hoffer also spoke of their commitment to not being silent in the current political climate.

“There are people who feel that their way of life is under attack because we’re asking for fair and equal treatment for all American citizens,” they said. “When you say ‘Make America Great Again,’ you have to remember that it only started being tolerable very recently.”

t

AJ Jordan

BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon

“Ben the artist and DeLa the character are slightly different creatures,” she said. “DeLa’s whole personality is sweet, bubbly, over the top, and optimistic, but she’s also smart. Underneath all of my writing and everything I like to put out there, I value research and intelligence and social commentary, so I use her sweetness and sometimes her naiveté to get that out there.”

DeLa recalls Drag Race as a huge event in her life. She had been doing drag for 16 years, but having this huge national platform changed everything, making it possible for her to make a good living doing exactly what it is she wanted to do.

“That is the greatest gift of Drag Race,” DeLa said. “Getting to have the means to really do what you do and heighten yourself as a performer.”

The success of appearing on Drag Race may have paved the way for BenDeLaCreme Presents, DeLa’s production company.

“It’s exciting to be the force behind a production company that not only helps get drag and queer

performance out into the world, but is run by a drag queen,” DeLa said.

“I feel really proud of the work-we never put anything out into the world that’s any less than our best.”

DeLa describes All I Want For Christmas Is Attention as a tonguein-cheek nod to the way they are choosing to spend the holidays by gathering people from all over the world to come to their show, stare at them and clap.

“It’s very fun, there’s a lot of comedy and song, and we have a great time. But the real heart of it is that the holidays can be a hard time for the queer community and many people who don’t have access to all the things that are supposed to make the season merry and bright.

But we all can create a space in this community together within the confines of this theater, and that’s the truth of this show.”t BenDeLaCreme & Jinkx Monsoon’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is Attention,’ Dec. 28, 8pm, Victoria Theater, 2961 16th St. $39-$99. www.jinkxanddela.com

Ben d’and snap

BenDeLaCreme, who markets herself as “sweet as pie and sharp as cheddar,” spoke to the B.A.R. briefly about who she is.

AJ Jordan

Scenes from BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon’s All I Want For Christmas Is Attention

t

Arts Events>>

December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 21

Arts Events

World Tree of Hope @ Grace Cathedral See the 14th annual Rainbow World Fund annual holiday tree with 1000s of origami cranes, a symbol of global unity. Also open New Year’s Day; thru Jan. 11. 1100 California St. www.worldtreeofhope.org

Dec. 26, 2019 – Jan. 2, 2020 Here we are, almost into a new year, ‘the 20s; here’s hoping it’s good.

Wed 01 Exhibits @ Chabot Space & Science Museum, Oakland

Thu 26

Sing-along The Sound of Music @ Castro Theatre

For full listings, visit www.ebar.com/events

Thu 26 Classic and New Films @ Castro Theatre Dec 26-29 & 31: Sing-along The Sound of Music (various times; goody bags, costume contest). Dec 29: Phantom Thread (5:30) and Eyes Wide Shut (8pm). Dec 30: A Star is Born (1937, 1:15, 6pm) and A Star is Born (1976, 3:25, 8pm). Jan 1: Singin’ in the Rain (2pm, 6:30pm) and The Apartment (4pm, 8:30pm). $8-$16. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Events @ Manny’s Dec 26-30, 5pm & 3pm: Holiday movie nights. Dec 28, 8pm ($10$15): Funny Immigrants Comedy Show with Zoheb Virani, Lilibeth Helson, Sergio Novoa, Maryam Moosavi, Alyssa Westerlund, and Maria Diploudis. 3092 16th St. www.welcometomannys.com

Mittens & Mistletoe @ Dance Mission Theater Sweet Can Productions’ 10th annual holiday show of dancers, tumblers, acrobats, circus clowns and more. $18-$25. Various times thru Dec. 29. 3316 24th St. www.SweetCanProductions.com

A Noh Christmas Carol @ Theatre of Yugen Third annual performances of a Noh adaptation of the Dickens holiday story. $15-$45. Thru Dec 30. 2840 Mariposa St. theatreofyugen.org

Fri 27 Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi Last days! The musical comedy revue celebrates its final week with fun lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. $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

Head Over Heels @ NCTC The music of the Go-Go’s, with story and book by Sir Philip Sydney and Jeff Whitty, presents a royal modern fairy tale. $34-$49. Wed-Sat 8pm.

Sun 2pm. Thru Jan 12. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. www.nctcsf.org

Lea DeLaria @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The ‘big dyke’ comic and accomplished jazz singer performs. $65-85 ($20 food/drink min.). 8pm.

Also Dec. 28. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.feinsteinssf.com

Summer: The Donna Summer Musical @ Golden Gate Theatre Biographical jukebox muscial includes some of her best hits. $56$226. Thru Dec. 29. 1 Taylor st. at Market. www.broadwaysf.com

Sat 28 The Batman Armory @ Cartoon Art Museum Artwork, Batman props and costumes on display, thru Feb. 16.

Pre-Code Horror: Scary Stories and Ghastly Graphics from EC Comics, thru March 1. Gemma Correll’s witty cartoons in the Emeerging Artist Showcase, thru March 29.

Free/$10. 11am-5pm daily; closed Wed. 781 Beach St. www.cartoonart.org

Holiday Extravaganza @ Gateway Theatre Theatre Rhino’s comedy and music variety show, with host AeJay Mitchell, Jesús U. BettaWork, Blisx, Drunk Drag Broadway, Suzy Jane Edwards, Jenn Ekman, Rudy Guerrero, Trudy Giuliani-Poeschel, Kim Larsen, Justin Lucas, Lisa McHenry, Deborah Russo, and Steven Satyricon & Andy Arcade. $60-$65. 8pm. 215 Jackson St. www.therhino.org

Kaleidoscope @ Exploratorium Artist Karina Smigla-Bobinski’s exhibit of interactive swirling electronic colors panels; thru Jan 20. Also, Cells to Self, an exhibit with amazing displays showing how single cells in the human body work, portraits engineered from DNA and more (talks, hands-on workshops and nightlife events). $10-$30. Pier 15 at Embarcadero. www.exploratorium.edu

The Tale of Despereaux @ Berkeley Rep Pigpen Theatre Co.’s inventive and imaginative muscial retelling of the beloved, Newbery Medal-winning modern fable. $35-$85. 7pm & 2pm thru Jan. 5. 2015 Addison Ave., Berkeley. www.berkeleyrep.org

Sun 29 Lost at Sea @ Asian Art Museum Recovered Art From Shipwrecks, a new exhibit of antiquities discovered in oceans (thru Mar. 22); also, Chang Dai-chien (thru April 26), contemporary works by Tanabe Chikuunsai IV, Kim Heecheon and Liu Jianhua; and exhibits of historic sculptures, prints and antiquities.

Sunday café specialties from $7-$16.

Free-$20. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm. 200 Larkin St. http://www.asianart.org/

No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man @ Oakland Museum No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, an exhibit of amazing large artworks; thru Feb 16. Free/$15.

1000 Oak St. www.museumca.org

Queer Tango @ Finnish Hall, Berkeley Same-sex partner tango dancing, including lessons for newbies, food and drinks. $5-$10. 3:30pm6:30pm. 1970 Chestnut St, Berkeley. www.finnishhall.org

Winter Park @ Civic Center Enjoy holiday festivities, ice skating, and concessions. 12pm9pm thru Jan 5. $13-$18. Civic Center, Grove St. at Polk. www.winterparkicerinksf.com

Mon 30 Andy Goldsworthy @ Presidio Enjoy a fascinating outdoor sculpture exhibit and three-mile walking tour. Free, extended thru June 2020. 50 Maraga Ave. www.presidio.gov/officers-club/ exhibitions/

Fiberful @ NIAD Art Center, Richmond Exhibits of art by visiting professionals, and art made by developmentally disabled people; new exhibits include Fiberful, a fabric sculpture group exhibit, Tippy Toes: Terry Hoff, and Right Here, Right Now, Richmond.

Mon-Fri 10am-4pm. 551 23rd St., Richmond. (510) 620-0290. www.niadart.org

Sing for Your Life @ First Congregational Church of Oakland OneVoice CircleSingers’ 18th annual group sing fest, with participatory singing, interactive altars. Drinks and snack, . $25. 12:30pm-12am.

2501 Harrison St. www.circlesing. org www.singforyourlife2019. brownpapertickets.com

Tue 31 Floral Exhibits @ SF Botanical Garden Visit the lush gardens with displays of trees, flowers and shrubs from around the world, including the annual Magnolia bloom. Monthly plant sales, plus art exhibits and gift shop; free entry with SF proof of residency. $5-$10 for others.

7:30am-closing. 9th Ave at Lincoln Way. www.sfbotanicalgarden.org

Gallery of Illustrious Queers @ SF Main Library Photographer Jordan Reznick’s LGBT portrait photo exhibit; thru Jan. 16.

Hormel Center, 3rd floor, 100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org

Spencer Day @ Feinsteins’ at the Nikko The jazz pianist and singer performs a NYE afternoon concert with his band. $80-$95. ($20 food/drink min.) 5pm. New Year’s Eve DJed dance party follow ($65, 10:30pm-1am). Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.feinsteinssf.com

Sutton Foster @ Geary Theater The two-time Tony-winning singer actor performs her special New Year’s Eve concert. Dining VIP packaages available. $60-$120.

9pm. 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org www.feinsteinsssf.com

Space, science and planetary exhibits, including planetarium shows and the Observatory; special nighttime events like meteor shower shows. Dec 13 & 14, 11pm-3am, Geminid Meteor Shower viewings!

Free-$18. 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland. www.chabotspace.org

Illuminate SF @ Citywide 40+ installations of light art sculptures in and outside buildings by more than 30 local artists. Free; walking tour info at illuminatesf.com

Safeway Holiday Ice Rink @ Union Square The ice rink in the middle of downtown SF is open for skating fun. Jan. 1 is a Polar Bear Skate (swimsuit & sunglasses skating), 2pm-3:30pm. Skate rentals $3-$18.

10am-11:30pm thru Jan. 20. Union Square, 333 Post St. www.unionsquareicerink.com

Thu 02 Beyond the Rainbow: Building Queer Symbologies @ GLBT History Museum Presentation and workshop exploring the history of LGTQ symbols, including Gilbert Baker’s rainbow flag. $5. 7pm. Also, Performance, Protest & Politics: Gilbert Baker’s Art , an exhibit of the works and ephemera by and about the creator of the Rainbow Flag. $5. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Black is Beautiful: Photography of Kwame Brathwaite @ MOAD Exhibit of prints by the Harlem Renaissance photographer of the 1950s and ‘60s; thru Mar. 1. $5-$10.

685 Mission St. www.moadsf.org

Various Events @ Oakland LGBTQ Center Social events and meetings at the new LGBTQ center include film screenings and workshops, 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. www.oaklandlgbtqcenter.orgt

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<< Nightlife Events

22 • Bay Area Reporter • December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020

Thu 26 After Dark @ Exploratorium Enjoy cocktails and science demos at the hands-on museum. Dec 26: Curious Contraptions; Jan 2: Exploring euphoria. Tactile dome evening hours Fri & Sat, weekly 6:15 and 7:30pm. $20. Pier 15, Embarcadero at Green St. www.exploratorium.edu/

Events @ Steamworks, Berkeley The stylish bathhouse’s DJed events take place Thursdays-Sundays, 10pm late; Sundays 1pm-7pm.. $7-$62, plus annual memberships $160.

Open 24/7, every day. 2107 4th St., Berkeley. (510) 845-8992. www.steamworksbaths.com

Best of Baloney @ Oasis

Club Show @ The Stud

Friday Nights at the Ho @ White Horse Bar, Oakland

VivvyAnne ForeverMORE’s new drag show. 9pm-3am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Dance it up at the historic (and still hip) East Bay bar. 9pm-2am. 6551 Telegraph Ave. whitehorsebar.com

DJ Boyshapedbox, bears and holiday fun. $5. 9pm-2am. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

Dina Martina’s Christmas Show @ Great American Music Hall

Growl’r @ SF Eagle

La Bomba Latina @ Club OMG

The hilarious twisted drag queen helps you celebrate the holidays. $30$50. 8pm. 859 O’Farrell St. www.slimspresents.com

The (nearly all) male strip revue’s best routines. $30-$60 7pm; thru Dec 31.

298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Big Boy @ Lone Star

Drag show with DJ Jaffeth. $5. 9pm2am. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Beary good fun (and otter delights, cub rubs) at the famed leather bar.

9pm-2am. 398 12th St. sf-eagle.com

Latin Explosion @ Club 21 The popular Latin club with gogo guys galore and Latin music. $10-$20.

9pm-3am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Lea DeLaria @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko

Junk @ Powerhouse MrPam and Dulce de Leche cohost the weekly underwear strip night and contest, with sexy prizes. $5. 10pm2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Jackie Hoffman ( Feud, Yenta the Matchmaker) headlines the 27th annual ‘comedy in a Chinese restaurant’ event, with comic Mark Maier, Nathan Habib, and host Lisa Geduldig; partial proceeds benefit Groceries for Senrios and Kehilla Community Synagogue Immigration Committee. $54-$74. 5pm dinner show, 8:30pm cocktail show. 772 Pacific Ave., Chinatown. www.KosherComedy.com

Dot

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

House music and cocktails, with DJs Shareef Raheim-Jihad and Ellis Lindsey. 9pm-2am. 2120 Broadway.

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

Sat 28 La Bota Loca @ Club 21, Oakland

My So-Called Night @ Beaux

Banda Los Shakas performs live at the LGBT Latinx night. $10. 9pm-4am.

2111 Franklin St. club21oakland.com

Carnie Asada hosts a weekly ‘90s-themed video, dancin’, drinkin’ night, with VJs Jorge Terez. Get down with your funky bunch, and enjoy 90-cent drinks. ‘90s-themed attire and costume contest.

No cover. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Brunch @ Jolene’s Enjoy DJed grooves, chicken & waffles, veggie scrambles and more, with brunch cocktails, at the new queer bar. 11am-3pm. Also Sundays.

2700 16th St. www.jolenessf.com

Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven @ Great American Music Hall

Tue 31

Rock Fag @ Hole in the Wall

Club Papi @ Club 21, Oakland

Enjoy hard rock and punk music from DJ Don Baird at the wonderfully divey SoMa bar. Also Fridays. 7pm-2am. 1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

The rock-country-americana bands performs; Buffalo Jones opens. $35-$40. 8pm. 859 O’Farrell St. www.slimspresents.com

Mother @ Oasis Heklina’s popular weekly drag show, with wild acts and music tribute themes. Dec. 28 is a Madonna tribute night. $15.

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

Fri 27 Bear Happy Hour @ Midnight Sun

Onyx @ Powerhouse

Hairy men and their pals enjoy 2-for-1 drinks and no cover. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com Beers, bears, cubs, snacks and grooves. $5. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. www.edgesf.com

Gooch

Beards & Booze @ The Edge

Tue 31

D’Arcy Drollinger and Heklina cohost New Year’s Eve @ Oasis

Tue 31

Men of coolor into leather and their fans meet up; 5pm-9pm.

1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

The Playground @ Club BNB, Oakland Dance night at the popular hip hop and Latin club. $5-$15. 9pm to 3am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Rogue @ SF Eagle

New Bohemia @ The Mint

Leather and kink fetish party. $10. 9pm-2am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Sugar @ The Café Weekly dance night at the renovated nightclub with a view. $10. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Sun 29 Beer Bust @ Lone Star

Tue 31

Fundraiser and fun, with proceeds going to local nonprofits. $10. 4pm7pm. 4149 18th St. www.edgesf.com

Big Gay Beer Bust @ The Cinch Benefits and plenty of beer at the historic neighborhood bar. 3pm-7pm.

1723 Polk St. www.cinchsf.com

Disco Daddy @ SF Eagle

Glam Sundays @ Valencia Room

Vibe Fridays @ Club BnB, Oakland

Afterglow @ Space 550

Beverage Benefit @ The Edge

Steam @ Powerhouse

The popular women’s dance party returns at the new nightclub, now weekly. 10pm-2am. 2700 16th St. at Harrison. www.jolenessf.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge

The popular daytime party, where $10-$15 gets you all the beer you can drink, supporting worthy causes.

3pm-6pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

DJ Bus Station John’s popular T-dance with classic disco grooves, and guestDJs Prince Wolf and Kenneth ‘Lulu’ Kemp. $8. 7pm-12am. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Uhaul @ Jolene’s

Tue 31

Beer Bust @ SF Eagle

The ‘big dyke’ comic and accomplished jazz singer performs. $65-85 ($20 food/drink min.). 8pm.

Also Dec. 28. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.feinsteinssf.com Bath house fun (sort of) with towelclad gogos, wet and steamy action, and Berkeley Steamworks swag. $5.

9pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy @ New Asia Restaurant

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Spencer Day @ Feinsteins’

Weekly benefits for various local nonprofits, with fresh local food served on the patio. $10-$15.

3pm-8pm. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

New weekly house, funk, soul T-dance with guest-DJs and no cover. 3pm9pm. 647 Valencia St. www.glamsundays.com www.thevalenciaroom.com

Jock @ The Lookout Enjoy the weekly jock-ular fun, with DJed dance music at sports team fundraisers. 12pm-1am. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Leather Show Tunes Sing-along @ SF Eagle Post-beer bust entertainment, with sing-along show tunes night, with painiast Maria Konner and Paul Hogarth. 7pm-11pm. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Shag @ Powerhouse Nic Candito’s monthly eve. $5. 9pm2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Sundance Saloon @ Space 550 The popular two-stepping linedancing, not-just-country music night, with free lessons. 5pm-10:30pm. Also Thursdays 6:30pm-10:30pm. 550 Barneveld Ave. sundancesaloon.org

Mon 30 Karaoke Night @ Lookout All-day songfest, 8pm-2am. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Munro’s at Midnight @ Midnight Sun Drag night with Mercedez Munro. No cover. 10pm. 4067 18th St. www.midnightsunsf.com

Underwear Night @ 440 Strip down to your skivvies at the popular men’s night. 9pm-2am. 440 Castro St. www.the440.com

Vamp @ Beaux Women’s night with a sultry vampire theme; goth, red & black, lingerie attire welcome but not required; bondage and BDSM demos, too. DJs Olga T and Jayne Grey. $5-$15. 8pm2am. 2344 Market St. beauxsf.com

Tue 31 Afterglow NYE @ Space 550 Comfort & Joy’s biggest queerest NYE party blends glowing décor by Chickpea with mutliple DJs (Steve Fabus, Aili, Denise, David Harness, Ruben Mancias, Prince Wolf and more), dance and chill spaces, peformers and cash bar; glowing attire suggested. $25-$100. 10pm6pm. 550 Barneveld Ave. www.playajoy.org

Bearracuda NYE @ Folsom Foundry Paul Goodyear and Nick Bertossi DJ the 14th annual beary popular New Year’s Eve party, with lots of space, clothes check and a lengthy bar. $20-$55. 9pm-4am. 1425 Folsom St. www.bearracuda.com

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Shining Stars>>

December 26, 2019-January 1, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 23

Shining Stars Steven Underhill Photos by

Help is on the Way for the Holidays @ Marines Memorial Theater

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he Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation’s 18th annual holiday benefit concert held Dec. 9, included stellar performances

by Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lisa Vroman, David Hernandez, Shawn Ryan, Kim Nalley, Steve Knill and cast members from local touring productions of Hamilton and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. Live and silent auctions raised funds for local charities, and patrons enjoyed schmoozing with the stars at the after-party hosted by the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. www.reaf-sf. org See plenty more photos on BARtab’s Facebook page, facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife. See more of Steven Underhill’s photos at StevenUnderhill.com.

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For headshots, portraits or to arrange your wedding photos

call (415) 370-7152 or visit www.StevenUnderhill.com or email stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

Club Papi NYE @ Club 21, Oakland

New Bohemia NYE @ The Mint

Enjoy a last night at the popular Oakland Latin club (before it closes mid-January), with hot gogo guys, drag acts, DJed dancing and multiple bars. $20-$35. 9pm-3am. 2111 Franklin St. www.club21oakland.com

The massive festive New Year’s Eve party takes place in multiple rooms at the historic Mint, now a beautiful party space; with DJs Just Emma, Syd Gris, Kerry Bo Berry, Vitamindevo and others; plus performances, visuals, multipel bars. $40-$95.

9pm-3:30am. 88 5th St. www.newbohemianye.com

The weeknight party gets going with DJ Chad Bays. No cover. 9pm-2am.

2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Drag Bingo @ Club 1220, Walnut Creek Holotta Tymes and Saki Samora cohost the East Bay game night. 7pm.

1220 Pine St., Walnut Creek. www.club1220.com

Fantastic Negrito @ The Chapel The local R&B master perfroms; Tory and the Teasers open. Also Dec 30. $70. 9pm. 777 Valencia St. www.fantasticnegrito.com www.thechapelsf.com

Fleetwood Macramé @ The Ivy Room, Albany The Fleetwood Mac tribute band performs a New Year’s eve concert. $25. 8pm. 860 San Pablo Ave., Albany. www.ivyroom.com

NYE @ The Stud

New Year’s Eve @ Lone Star DJ Marcos Moreno, bears galore and a New Year’s toast. $5. 9pm-2am. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

New Year’s Eve @ Oasis Heklina and D’Arcy Drollinger cohost their annual club-opening anniversary and NYE fete, with DJ Omar, drag acts and a midnight champagne toast. $35. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

New Year’s Eve with a View @ Commonwealth Club

The weekly gay/straight/whatever fetish-themed kinky dance night. $7$10. 9:30pm-2:30am. 1190 Folsom St. www.bondage-a-go-go.com

Bottoms Up Bingo @ Hi Tops Play board games and win offbeat prizes at the popular sports bar. 9pm.

2247 Market St. www.HiTopsSF.com

B.P.M. @ Club BnB, Oakland

Follies & Dollies @ White Horse Bar, Oakland

Musical Wednesdays @ The Edge

Weekly drag show at the historic gay bar. 9:30pm-11:30pm. 6551 Telegraph Ave. www.whitehorsebar.com

Sing along to shows tunes on video, lip-synched and live, at the Castro bar, with host Brian Kent; trivia contest, and prizes. 7pm-12am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Freeball Wednesdays @ The Cinch Free pool and drink specials at the historic neighborhood bar. 8pm-1am.

1723 Polk St. www.cinchsf.com

GAYmes @ Port Bar, Oakland

Olga T and Shugga Shay’s weekly queer women and men’s R&B hip hop and soul night, at the club’s new location. 8pm-2am. 2120 Broadway, Oakland. www.bench-and-bar.com

Board games night; Baila Conmigo, queer Latinx fundraiser (2nd Wed.), Wet & Wild drag shows (1st & 4th Wed.). 2023 Broadway. www.portbaroakland.com

Breakfast of Champions @ Great Northern

Miss Kitty’s Trivia Night @ Wild Side West

Annual New Year’s Day in and outdoor morning party, with Jan Blomqvist, Destructo, David Harness and others. $20-$70. 4am-9pm. 119 Utah St. www.thegreatnorthernsf.com

The weekly fun night at the Bernal Heights bar includes prizes, hosted

by Kitty Tapata. No cover. 7pm10pm. 424 Cortland St. www.wildsidewest.com

Mango NYE @ El Rio

Sutton Foster @ Geary Theater The two-time Tony-winning singer actor performs her special New Year’s Eve concert. Dining VIP packaages available. $60-$120. 9pm. 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org www.feinsteinsssf.com

Weekly underwear party at the intimate mid-Market nightclub. $1 well drinks for anyone in underwear from 9pm-10pm. 43 6th St. http://www.clubomgsf.com

Pan Dulce @ Beaux Drag divas, gogo studs, DJed Latin grooves and drinks at the Hump Day fiesta, open Christmas night. 9pm2am (free before 10:30pm). 2344 Market St. www.clubpapi.com www.beauxsf.com

Thu 02 Dancing @ Badlands

Latin Explosion @ Club 21 Latin beats, Lulu and Jacqueline’s drag show, gogo hotties and a packed crowd. $10-$15. 9pm-4am. 2111 Franklin St. www.club21oakland.com

Spencer Day @ Feinsteins’ at the Nikko The jazz pianist and singer performs a NYE afternoon concert with his band. $80-$95. ($20 food/drink min.) 5pm.

New Year’s Eve DJed dance party follow ($65, 10:30pm-1am). Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. feinsteinssf.com

NSA @ Club OMG

The Castro bar’s intimate dance floor and gogo guys, with drink specials.

9pm-2am. 4121 18th St. www.sfbadlands.com

The membership lecture event hall opens its rooftop with terrific NYE fireworks views, open bar, drinks and food. $290 and up. 9pm-1:30am. 110 The Embarcadero. www.commonwealthclub.org

Dancing, DJs, drinks and frivolity with MC Honey Mahogany, DJs Adam Kraft, John Fucking Cartwright and Marke Bieschke. $10-$20. 8pm-2am.

399 9th St. www.studsf.com

The popular women’s party celebrates the new year, with DJs Edaj, Olga T, Lady Lu and La Coqui. $15-$20. 8pm2am. 3158 Mission St. www.mangonye2020.eventbrite.com www.elriosf.com

Bondage-a-Gogo @ Cat Club

Thump @ White Horse, Oakland Weekly electro music night with DJ Matthew Baker and guests. 9pm-2am.

6551 Telegraph Ave. www.whitehorsebar.com Shot In The City

Cock Shot @ Beaux

Wed 01

Fri 27

Uhaul @ Jolene’s

TwerkBack Thursday @ Port Bar, Oakland DJ Deft plays hip hop grooves, gogos at 10pm, with hosts Mahlae Balenciaga and Amoura Teese. 2023 Broadway. portbaroakland.comt