December 5th, 2019 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

SJ marks World AIDS Day

Cannabis gift ideas

ARTS

SF Gay Men's Chorus

Arts Events

The

www.ebar.com

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

Vol. 49 • No. 49 • December 5-11, 2019

Holidays go to the dogs

he Castro Merchants business group held its annual holiday tree lighting Monday, December 2 at Castro and 18th streets. Jim Oswald, director of marketing and communications at Meals on Wheels San Francisco, shared a moment in front of the tree with his adopted dachshund, Lulu, and thought about the spirit of the season. “The holidays can be difficult for many, which is why Meals on Wheels is grateful for the ongoing support from the community, allowing us the privilege to serve meals and companionship to nearly 5,000 homebound seniors in the city and making their holidays a little brighter,” he told the Bay Area Reporter in a text. For volunteer information or to donate, visit http:// www.mowsf.org. The tree lighting ceremony included performances from some of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band (the city’s official band), as well as a visit from Santa and his elf.

Jane Philomen Cleland

Senator Kamala Harris dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary race Tuesday.

Harris drops out of prez race by Lisa Keen

Courtesy BART

BART board President Bevan Dufty speaks at the Powell Street station Tuesday to kick off the agency’s “Partners for Change” initiative with the Salvation Army.

Salvation Army vows LGBTs are welcome

by Matthew S. Bajko alifornia Senator Kamala Harris withdrew from the Democratic presidenddressing long-standing beliefs that tial field Tuesday, saying her campaign the organization discriminates against “simply doesn’t have the financial resources we LGBT people, Salvation Army officials need to continue.” are attempting to change people’s views of the “I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own charitable Christian organization as they ramp campaign,” Harris wrote in a statement reup their services for homeless individuals in San leased to supporters and the press. “And as the Francisco and other West Coast cities. campaign has gone on, it’s become harder and At its annual luncheon held in San Francisco harder to raise the money we need to compete.” November 20, the agency officially announced Billionaire former New York City mayor Miits “The Way Out” initiative to double its efforts chael Bloomberg, who entered the race for the Jon Candor Democratic nomination only last week, immeSee page 5 >> diately overtook Harris in polling. He quickly unleashed a $50 million ad buy in numerous states, including Harris’ home turf of California. Billionaire businessman Tom Steyer, who’s also released TV ads in several states, had already qualified for the December Democratic by Matthew S. Bajko debate. Harris had qualified for the December deore than a year after it was released bate but, in polling, her consistently fifth or in draft form, San Francisco’s sixth place stature had shown signs of eroding, groundbreaking LGBTQ+ Cultural slipping from a high of 20% to 2% as of DeHeritage Strategy has yet to be formally adoptcember 1. ed by the city. It is now likely to be approved In her statement, Harris, a former San Fransometime in 2020. cisco district attorney and California attorney A draft version of the strategy was met with general, said it was with “deep regret – but also unanimous praise when it was first presented to with deep gratitude – that I am suspending my the city’s Historic Preservation Commission in campaign today.” Articles over the weekend in September last year. The oversight body was inithe New York Times and the Washington Post tially expectedback to vote on a final version of the plan Earn 1% for everyday purchases described a• campaign in turmoil, with staff lay-cash by the end of 2018 so the Board of Supervisors offs and indecision on how toAnnual proceed. • No Fee could approve the document earlier this year. “Eleven months ago at the launch of our Yet in the spring Planning Director John campaign in I told Balance you all: ‘I am not •Oakland, No Transfer Fee Rahaim, a gay man who plans to step down in perfect,” she wrote. “But I will always speak earlyTransaction 2020, had told the Bay Area Reporter that Fees • and No Foreign with decency moral clarity and treat all the planning staff was focused on first winpeople with dignity and respect. I will lead with • No Interest charged for ning approval for designating the city’s Castro 25 days integrity. I will speak the truth.’ neighborhood as a LGBTQ cultural district. It Rick Gerharter “So here’s the truth today. I’ve taken stock Apply today! wasn’t until early July that the supervisors apand looked at this from every angle, and over The city’s LGBTQ Cultural Heritage Strategy will focus on preserving the city’s Call 415-775-5377, stop by a branch or visit SanFranciscoFCU.com queer proved the designation, with Mayor London the last few days have come to one of the hardcultural districts, like the Castro, among other things. Breed finalizing it shortly thereafter. est decisions of my life,” she added. Preserving San Francisco’s LGBTQ cultural Harris, 55, did well with LGBT voters. A address the de-gayification of San Francisco. being, culture, and opportunity. The culture districts, there are also ones in the Tenderloin study of campaign contributions from heavily A working group tasked with figuring out how to category called on City Hall to lend support focused on the transgender community and LGBT ZIP codes showed her the second stronpreserve the city’s LGBTQ cultural heritage met in for the three LGBT cultural districts and the one South of Market aimed toward the leather gest fundraiser, behind gay candidate Pete But2017 to devise a plan for achieving that goal. When GLBT Historical Society’s plans to open a largand kink scene, are major components of the tigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. adopted it will be the first such citywide strategy in er museum than the one it operates now in the citywide strategy. It was concerns about the Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Franthe country aimed at protecting and enhancing a Castro. Since she first ran for mayor in 2018, loss of LGBT bars, businesses, and entertaincisco), an early backer of Harris, told the Bay municipality’s LGBT cultural heritage. Breed has pledged backing for the four projment venues throughout the city that promptArea Reporter he was sorry to see her exit the As the B.A.R. first reported last fall, the draft ects from her mayoral administration. ed calls for the creation of an overall plan to race. plan was divided into three focus areas: wellSee page 12 >> See page 13 >>

SF LGBTQ cultural strategy awaits approval Stay Jolly and Gay this Holiday! M Use our low-rate credit card for your holiday purchases*

• Rates as low as 6.74% APR

{ FIRST OF THREE SECTIONS }

Get our FREE e-newsletter!

• LGBTQ breaking news • Online updates • Exclusive discounts and offers

*Rates are subject to change. All loans subject to credit approval. Federally Insured by NCUA. No fee for balance transfers that posts to your account during the first 60 days from the date opened. Thereafter, balance transfers will be charged 1% of the amount transferred.

www.ebar.com/subscribe

Scan the QR code on your phone to sign up now!

IMPORTANT FACTS FOR BIKTARVY®

This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment.

MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BIKTARVY

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF BIKTARVY BIKTARVY may cause serious side effects, including: } Those in the “Most Important Information About BIKTARVY” section. } Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking BIKTARVY. } Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. If you develop new or worse kidney problems, they may tell you to stop taking BIKTARVY. } Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat. } Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain. } The most common side effects of BIKTARVY in clinical studies were diarrhea (6%), nausea (6%), and headache (5%). These are not all the possible side effects of BIKTARVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking BIKTARVY. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with BIKTARVY.

BIKTARVY may cause serious side effects, including: } Worsening of Hepatitis B (HBV) infection. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking BIKTARVY. Do not stop taking BIKTARVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.

ABOUT BIKTARVY BIKTARVY is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults. It can either be used in people who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before, or people who are replacing their current HIV-1 medicines and whose healthcare provider determines they meet certain requirements. BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. HIV-1 is the virus that causes AIDS. Do NOT take BIKTARVY if you also take a medicine that contains: } dofetilide } rifampin } any other medicines to treat HIV-1

BEFORE TAKING BIKTARVY Tell your healthcare provider if you: } Have or have had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis infection. } Have any other health problems. } Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if BIKTARVY can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking BIKTARVY. } Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk. Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: } Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, antacids, laxatives, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. } BIKTARVY and other medicines may affect each other. Ask your healthcare provider and pharmacist about medicines that interact with BIKTARVY, and ask if it is safe to take BIKTARVY with all your other medicines.

Get HIV support by downloading a free app at

MyDailyCharge.com

(bik-TAR-vee)

HOW TO TAKE BIKTARVY Take BIKTARVY 1 time each day with or without food.

GET MORE INFORMATION } This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more. } Go to BIKTARVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5. } If you need help paying for your medicine, visit BIKTARVY.com for program information.

BIKTARVY, the BIKTARVY Logo, DAILY CHARGE, the DAILY CHARGE Logo, KEEP EMPOWERING, LOVE WHAT’S INSIDE, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. Version date: December 2018 © 2019 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. BVYC0105 02/19

KEEP EMPOWERING. Because HIV doesn’t change who you are. BIKTARVY® is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in certain adults. BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS.

Ask your healthcare provider if BIKTARVY is right for you. To learn more, visit BIKTARVY.com.

Please see Important Facts about BIKTARVY, including important warnings, on the previous page and visit BIKTARVY.com.

<< Community News

4 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

Lottery opens for affordable Castro units compiled by Cynthia Laird

he city is now accepting applications from those eligible to move into eight affordable apartments in the LGBT Castro district. The residents will be selected by a lottery draw to be conducted January 7. As the Bay Area Reporter noted in an online story last week, the five 1-bedrooms and three 2-bedrooms are located at 2100 Market Street, the new building constructed by local developer Brian Spiers at a prominent corner parcel at the intersection with Church and 14th streets. The monthly rents for the units range from $1,293 to $1,440. Residents must earn a minimum monthly income of $2,586 to $2,880 in order to be eligible. Their total household income can’t exceed the 55% threshold of the Area Median Income for 2019. For a one-person household the AMI is $47,400 and for a two-person household it is $54,200. The lottery will also use the preferences similar to other District 8 housing projects. People displaced by redevelopment in the city’s Western Addition and Hunters Point neighborhoods in the 1960s and 1970s will be given first preference for the eight units. Those who were displaced by an Ellis Act or owner move-in eviction will be given second preference for one of the units. Residents of the District 8 supervisorial district or living within a half-mile of the building will be given third preference for three of the units. Finally, applicants who live or work in San Francisco will be given fourth preference for the units. Applications are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday, December 17, and can be filed online at https://housing.sfgov.

Rick Gerharter

The lottery is now open for eight affordable apartments in the new building at 2100 Market Street.

org/listings/a0W0P00000HbvrbUAB or downloaded from the website and mailed in by that date. It is a rare opportunity to apply for a brand new below-market-rate apartment in the city’s LGBT district, as few such rental units have been built in the area in recent years. The website for the lottery notes that people should not apply online and then mail in a paper application. It stresses that “all applications” from a person who appears on more than one application will be removed from the lottery. The building has no parking spaces and is situated above the Church Street Muni Station. Across the street is the Safeway shopping center and on the other side of Market Street a short walk away is a Whole Foods. As the B.A.R. noted in September, Sterling Bank wants to move its branch currently located in a storefront next to 2100 Market Street into

the new building’s corner retail space. It will need approval from the city’s planning commission in order to do so and is expected to face opposition from those resistant to seeing financial institutions open in such prominent locations in the city’s commercial districts.

World Tree of Hope lighting ceremony

The lighting ceremony for the Rainbow World Fund’s World Tree of Hope will take place Tuesday, December 10, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street atop Nob Hill in San Francisco. The 23 foot tall tree is notable in that it is decorated with up to 17,000 origami paper cranes that contain messages of hope, peace, and other wishes. Organizers said that people can still submit wishes online, and a team of more than 300 volunteers will fold them. They are then placed on the tree. “We created the World Tree of Hope to inspire hope and to encourage people to think about what they would like for the future of the world,

EARN MONEY FOR TUITION Talk to your recruiter or visit nationalguard.com/ca.

Programs and Benefits Subject to Change

and then take action,” Jeff Cotter, a gay man who is executive director of RWF, said in a news release. RWF is an LGBT humanitarian nonprofit that works with other relief organizations around the world and in the U.S. Cotter added that many of the volunteers are from the LGBT and Japanese American communities, survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, local children, and inmates at San Quentin State Prison serving life sentences. People can submit a wish by going to www.worldtreeofhope.org. It is free and open to anyone. Wishes will be added to the tree throughout December and are accepted year round. The tree itself will be on display at Grace Cathedral beginning Sunday, December 8, and will remain up through January 11. The church is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Christmas events at St. Paulus church

Saint Paulus Lutheran Church has announced several Christmas events that will take place at 1541 Polk Street in San Francisco. People are invited to help decorate the church’s Christmas tree Wednesday, December 11, beginning at 1 p.m. On Sunday, December 15, the church will hold its pre-Christmas service from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., which includes a potluck lunch and congregational meeting following worship. Finally, community members are invited to attend the Christmas Eve service Tuesday, December 24, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. For more information, visit http://saintpaulus.org/.

San Mateo Pride Center director departs

The program director of the San Mateo County Pride Center has an-

nounced she is leaving the post this month and moving to Marin County. Lisa Putkey wrote in a note in the Pride center’s monthly newsletter that she has been “blessed” to direct the first LGBTQ center in San Mateo County. The center opened three years ago, with 400 people attending. Other milestones include a delegation traveling to Sacramento to lobby for continued funding, which was successful; organizing queer proms; oral history projects; and intergenerational dinners. “Every step of the way I have witnessed beautiful moments of healing, connection, growth, and change,” Putkey wrote. Putkey’s last day will be Friday, December 13. People are welcome to stop by the center to enjoy tea and cookies and say goodbye to Putkey from 4 to 6 p.m. The center is located at 1021 S. El Camino Real in San Mateo. For more information about the center, go to sanmateopride.org/.

Openhouse offers holiday events for LGBTQ seniors

Openhouse, a nonprofit that offers housing and services for LGBTQ seniors, is holding several holiday events this month. The trans elder holiday luncheon takes place Tuesday, December 17, from noon to 2 p.m. at Delancey Street Restaurant, 600 The Embarcadero. Interested people should RSVP by Friday, December 6, at 5 p.m. as space is limited and preselected meal order is required. All trans, genderqueer, and nonbinary folks are welcome. Openhouse will hold its annual holiday party Saturday, December 21, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Francis of Assisi Dining Hall, 145 Guerrero Street. See page 5 >>

International News>>

December 5-11, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 5

LGBT groups call for investigation after activist’s death by Heather Cassell

rector Jessica Stern stated. “Even though the cause of death is yet unconfirmed, we fear it is part of a larger pattern of anti-LGBTIQ violence underway in Haiti, potentially focused on people visible within LGBTIQ organizations. We call on the police to carry out an immediate, credible, and transparent police investigation into the death of Jeudy Charlot. Haiti must protect LGBTIQ people from violence.” Representatives of IAGLBTLAC echoed the call for an investigation into Jeudy’s death, requesting authorities to go into “great depth” into the circumstances and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice if it is determined Jeudy was murdered. “The Republic of Haiti must show that it refuses to kill its citizens because of their sexual orientation and their commitment to the rights of LGBTI people,” stated representatives of IAGLBTLAC. The organizations were joined by U.S. and French embassies in urging the Haitian government to investigate Jeudy’s death. Reuters reported that diplomats expressed their own sadness of the loss. Even Haiti President Jovenel Moïse tweeted, “I wish the causes of his death will be clarified quickly,” reported the Virgin Islands Daily News.

Agence France-Presse reporter Amelie Baron, who broke the news, tweeted that Jeudy was “Haiti’s most energetic LGBTI activist.” In 2011, he founded Kouraj (translated Courage), an LGBT rights organization in Haiti, to advocate for gay and lesbian rights in the country. In an interview with the United Nations’ communications office during its mission in Haiti last year he said, “Whether they are accepted or not, the masisi (gays) and madivin (lesbians) are citizens of the Republic of Haiti.” The organization worked in partnership with the mission to support justice in Haiti, educating more than 3,000 Haitians about sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the statement. The organization also worked on economic independence and other projects. t

Three LGBTQ participants of the Harbor Light Center’s substance use program spoke separately with the B.A.R. about their experiences in recent years with the Salvation Army. The trio all said they have felt welcomed by Salvation Army officials and staff and have not experienced

any discrimination due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. “I’ve heard different things like the Salvation Army is just a right-wing Christian organization and it doesn’t support the LGBT community. My experience has been the exact opposite,” said Kellen Stahl, 65, who is a transgender woman. “I am living proof. They saved my life.” Living in Napa and struggling to accept her gender identity, Stahl turned to alcohol. She first entered Harbor Light, which is a residential program, in 2016 when she decided to begin transitioning her gender. But at her request, she said, she was placed in the men’s program. “I had been fighting it and drinking myself into an early grave until I got here,” recalled Stahl, who has been sober for nearly four years. “When I got here I disloathed myself. They nurtured me back to health and guided me in the right direction.” By 2017 she had moved to Nevada to live off the grid but by that summer returned to Harbor Light. That June she was featured in a video posted to a website the Salvation Army had launched to address the LGBT community directly about its policies and programs. “I feel totally supported by the other residents and especially the staff,” said Stahl, who now works as an outreach specialist for a senior service provider and is apartment hunting in the city. “Even though they are a Christian organization, you are free to find your own faith and belief system however you wish to believe. I don’t belong to any organized religion; I am spiritual rather than religious, and they honor that fully.” Pat Robinson, 30, who is gender nonbinary, told the B.A.R. their being placed in a Christian-run program

was exactly what they needed in order to deal with their drug use. The Ohio native and Air Force veteran arrived in San Francisco almost six years ago and ended up homeless and using various substances, including methamphetamine. In fact, the B.A.R. covered Robinson’s trial in 2016 after they were arrested in the Castro on charges that included threatening people with a knife. The prosecutor in the case referred to Robinson as a “nuisance” well-known in the city’s LGBT district as several businesses had to call the police in order to remove Robinson from their establishments. Eventually, all the charges were dropped, said Robinson, when they agreed to enter the Harbor Light Center. At the time, they recalled thinking the Salvation Army “was a store.” Robinson, now a personal trainer at Fitness SF, has been in the program off and on three times over the last three years, returning for good in January 2018. Nearly two years later Robinson is not only sober, they left the program December 1 to move into a Tenderloin apartment with their boyfriend, who was also a Harbor Light participant. Miranda Smith, 31, who is two spirit and a lesbian, left the Navajo Nation in New Mexico 29 months ago in order to seek help for her substance use and ended up at Harbor Light two years ago. Her mom paid for her one-way train ticket to San Francisco from Gallop, New Mexico after Smith acknowledged that if she remained on their reservation she would continue to use methamphetamines. Initially, she was enrolled in The Friendship House, a treatment center specifically for Native Americans.

Commonwealth Club Tuesday, December 17, to talk about her new book, “A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston.” The program is part of “The Michelle Meow Show” and Crawford will be interviewed by Meow and John Zipperer. For years, rumors circulated that Crawford was more than Houston’s creative director and in the book she opens up about her time with the singer. The women first met as camp counselors in the 1980s, eventually moving in together. Most recently, Crawford produced a podcast about

her long-rumored relationship with Houston called “LGBTQ&A,” hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by Neon Hum Media and the Advocate. Houston died February 11, 2012. Now an author and producer, Crawford and her wife, talent agency executive Lisa Hintlemann, have adopted two children. The upcoming program marks the year-end “Michelle Meow Show” program. There will be food and drinks, a conversation with Crawford, and holiday cheer. Tickets are $5 for club members

and $10 for non-members. The program takes place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. (check-in at 6) at the Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, 110 The Embarcadero in San Francisco. For tickets and more information, visit.commonwealthclub.org. t

nternational LGBT organizations are calling for Haiti’s government to investigate the suspicious death of the country’s leading gay rights activist. Charlot Jeudy, 35, was found dead in his home in Pétion-Ville outside of the capital of Port-au-Prince November 25. His body was discovered by one of his brothers and his bed was surrounded by feces. Jeudy’s brothers wished to remain unidentified for their safety. Representatives of the International Association of Gay, Lesbian, Bi, and Trans in Latin America and the Caribbean broke the news of his death in a statement. Pedro Paradiso Sottile, executive director of IAGLBTLAC, said in the statement that the “circumstances of [his] death are very vague.” OutRight Action International confirmed that Jeudy’s life was threatened. “While the cause of death has not been verified, OutRight fears that Charlot’s death may have been a hate crime,” the November 25 statement said.

“Charlot had been receiving threatening and anonymous phone calls, yet was determined to continue the fight for LGBTIQ equality.” Jeudy’s relatives told representatives of IAGLBTLAC that they suspect poisoning, according to the statement. An autopsy report hadn’t been released as of press time.

Haiti is one of two nations on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. The other country is the Dominican Republic. Homosexuality is legal in Haiti, but anti-LGBT attitudes dominate the society, violent attacks against the community have increased, and two proposed anti-gay laws were pending in parliament in 2018, according to media reports. “I knew Charlot as a bold LGBTIQ leader and fierce advocate fighting for the rights of his community,” OutRight Executive Di-

Salvation Army

From page 1

to house the homeless over the next five years. It is looking at revamping several properties it owns in the city’s South of Market district, for instance, by building new facilities on the sites in order to move more people off the streets and into housing. It is also in talks to strengthen its partnership with the regional BART transit agency by providing outreach services at its stations in San Francisco, which is currently handled by the city’s homeless department. BART’s oversight board could take up the matter in early 2020, as the Salvation Army is seen as being able to more immediately offer housing and support to those people seeking shelter inside the transit agency’s stations. Tuesday morning BART and the Salvation Army launched what both billed as a “first of its kind partnership” in which the service provider will set up its iconic red kettles inside BART’s stations systemwide. Dubbed the “Partners for Change” initiative, the money donated will be used to pay for supportive services for those who seek shelter inside BART stations and on-board trains. Online reaction to the kettle campaign, which runs through December 24, demonstrated just how entrenched the public’s perception is that the Salvation Army is anti-LGBT. People on Twitter blasted BART for teaming with “an explicitly anti-gay organization” and an entity with “such a history of being homophobic & transphobic.” In his first interview with an LGBT newspaper since being named the Salvation Army’s USA Western Territory territorial commander in 2017, Commissioner Kenneth G. Hodder told the

Courtesy Wikipedia

Haitian gay rights advocate Charlot Jeudy

News Briefs

From page 4

Entertainment will include Openhouse’s Dance Troupe and Bread and Roses. Refreshments will be provided. No RSVP is required. A Hanukkah social will take place Monday, December 23, from 4 to 5:15 p.m. at Openhouse’s Bob Ross LGBT Center, 65 Laguna Street. Attendees can enjoy food that is served during the Jewish holiday. Coffee and tea will be provided. No RSVP is required. Finally, a Kwanzaa social will be

Jane Philomen Cleland

BART board President Bevan Dufty shakes hands with Harbor Light Center head chef Michael P. Smith during a visit to the center with Commissioner Jolene Hodder and Harbor Light Executive Director Major David Pierce.

Bay Area Reporter that anyone is welcome to seek assistance, whether it be for housing or substance use treatment, from the nonprofit services agency. “If we are going to double our impact upon homelessness, I want to be absolutely sure that everyone knows that the services of the Salvation Army are available to them,” said Hodder, who flew up from Southern California with his wife, Jolene, who is also a Salvation Army commissioner, to meet with a reporter and photographer November 22 at the nonprofit’s Harbor Light Center, which provides in-patient treatment programs and transitional housing at the SOMA campus. “The Salvation Army services have always been available to members of the LGBT community, and they always will be, regardless of one’s race, sex, religion, identity or orientation, if there is a genuine need,” said Hodder. “The only reheld Thursday, December 26, from 2 to 3:30 p.m., at the aforementioned Bob Ross LGBT Center. Attendees will enjoy some of the wonderful dessert traditions of the holiday. No RSVP is required. For questions about any of the events, or to RSVP for the trans elder luncheon, contact Sylvia at (415) 659-8123.

Whitney Houston confidante at Commonwealth Club

Robyn Crawford, the longtime friend and confidante of superstar Whitney Houston, will be at the

quirement for services of the Salvation Army is our capacity to help.” Hodder was born in San Francisco in 1958 and raised in the city by parents who were also in the Salvation Army Mission Corps. As he wrote in a guest opinion for the B.A.R.’s December 5 issue, if the agency doesn’t address the needs of LGBT individuals, “it will be as if we’re denying their place in our family. They’ll have every reason to flee from us, and we won’t be living up to the high calling to which God has brought us.”

LGBT participants praise program

To read the full article visit www.ebar.com Got international LGBT news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at WhatsApp: 415-517-7239, or Skype: heathis. cassell, or oitwnews@gmail.com.

See page 14 >>

Matthew S. Bajko contributed reporting.

<< Open Forum

6 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

Volume 49, Number 49 December 5-11, 2019 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Michael M. Yamashita Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013) Publisher (2003 – 2013) Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman BARTAB EDITOR & EVENTS LISTINGS EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • John Ferrannini CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ray Aguilera • Tavo Amador • Race Bannon Roger Brigham • Brian Bromberger Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Belo Cipriani • Dan Renzi Michael Flanagan • Jim Gladstone David Guarino • Liz Highleyman Brandon Judell • John F. Karr • Lisa Keen Matthew Kennedy • Joshua Klipp David Lamble • Max Leger David-Elijah Nahmod • Paul Parish Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota Bob Roehr • Gregg Shapiro • Gwendolyn Smith Sari Staver • Tony Taylor • Charlie Wagner Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington • Sura Wood ART DIRECTION Max Leger PRODUCTION/DESIGN Ernesto Sopprani PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland • FBFE Rick Gerharter • Gareth Gooch Jose Guzman-Colon • Rudy K. Lawidjaja Georg Lester • Dan Lloyd • Jo-Lynn Otto Rich Stadtmiller • Kelly Sullivan • Fred Rowe Steven Underhil • Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge • Christine Smith ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATION Colleen Small Bogitini VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING Scott Wazlowski – 415.829.8937 NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad, Esq.

News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Out & About listings • jim@ebar.com Advertising • scott@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation. Advertising rates available upon request. Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

Gay Games courts chaos

nless there is a peaceful resolution soon to the violent anti-government demonstrations in Hong Kong, site of the 2022 Gay Games, alternate plans for relocating it to another country are necessary. The Federation of Gay Games and Hong Kong 2022, the local organizing committee, must face this reality if the quadrennial LGBT sporting event is to even occur or survive into the future. Curiously, at its annual meeting October 31 in Guadalajara, Mexico, the FGG refused to consider the possibility of relocating the games. Nearly two weeks later, FGG and Hong Kong 2022 issued an anodyne joint statement reaffirming the commitment to Hong Kong; the statement did not offer additional details other than to explore insurance options in the event of a necessary cancellation. Staging Gay Games is a massive undertaking requiring no small amount of time and money. It is incumbent upon FGG and Hong Kong 2022 organizers to set a deadline to decide that if the unrest continues or escalates, the games will move elsewhere, which will present existential challenges as the clock quickly ticks down to November 12, 2022. In essence, FGG needs to plan for two events concurrently, if in all likelihood the conditions in Hong Kong become untenable or worse. This lack of planning for an unpredictable outcome is ultimately unfair to queer athletes, who pay their own way to Gay Games, in addition to registration fees and other related expenses. The first two pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong took place in March and April, and then became almost daily in mid-June. Protesters’ demands include dropping a proposed deportation bill (which has been withdrawn), investigating police misconduct, releasing arrested protesters, retracting the government’s characterization of protest as “riots,” requiring the resignation of the chief executive, and

introducing universal suffrage for government elections. The communist government of China has been escalating its revanchist claims to Hong Kong by incrementally eroding the 1997 handover agreement with the United Kingdom, which does not bode well for an equitable resolution. Our sports columnist, Roger Brigham, has been covering the Hong Kong events since the violent protests started. He spoke to Bay Area LGBT athletes prior to the October FGG meeting, which he attended, and several expressed their concerns. The organizers’ worries, as Brigham has written, include increased government repression of individual rights; the

Chinese government and the Hong Kong Legislature’s less than enthusiastic support for the event; potential local corporate sponsors’ reluctance to provide major funding after having been hurt economically by the current protests; and the uncertain status of the 2022 Gay Games, making it difficult for sports federations to raise funds, make plans, or recruit participants. The need for a relocation plan is required given the disastrous World Outgames in Miami in 2017 – at which most of the events were canceled as athletes were en route to Florida, causing them to lose money and vacation days. Consequently, the International Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association, which staged the Outgames, immediately ceased to exist. Brigham also pointed out that Gay Games held in Cleveland, Ohio, and Cologne, Germany were adversely affected by low turnouts. This sowed correct doubts among stakeholders who wondered about the viability of large LGBTQ multi-sport events. Paris, which hosted a successful Gay Games in 2018, alleviated many of those concerns, but the risk of a setback is posed by a disastrous experience in Hong Kong either before or during the games. Also unaddressed by FGG is whether, given the violence and political uncertainty, sports organizations in other countries are able to recruit sufficient numbers of athletes to register. Hong Kong 2022’s bid was predicated on the financing and attractiveness of a tourist “destination city.” The tourism industry in Hong Kong has already taken a huge hit and risks implosion if the volatile protests continue and Beijing oversteps with a violent crackdown reminiscent of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Finally, the Gay Games are about athletes freely expressing themselves, but in recent years China has harshly suppressed personal expression. In this context, it is incumbent that FGG and Hong Kong 2022 establish a feasible backup plan in the next few months. With only two years to go, if Gay Games is going to survive, athletes and spectators alike need assurances that the event will be held in a country that is safe and supportive of the games’ values.t

To my family Kenneth G. Hodder

love my family. I’d do anything for them. So it breaks my heart to know that literally thousands of them are living on the street. We are all part of this family called humanity, and though the circumstances of our lives vary, there are some things that we all share. We all have hopes and dreams. We all seek a better life for ourselves and those around us. And we all want to be loved. That’s why my family’s predicament is so painful. Clinging to the base of many of the Bay Area’s most magnificent buildings, my family is huddled in pup tents. Hidden away in isolated urban pockets, they form desperate little communities built with cardboard boxes and a sea of blue tarps. In downtown areas and suburbs alike, they’re living in cars. Every night, the little ones at their feet sit bewildered and afraid. Members of my own family, of every age and description, are crying out in pain. This hurts so much. I know God loves them. He loves all of us. But I’ll never convince them of that when they’re cold, and hungry, and homeless. And today, I’m particularly concerned about my family members who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. They face so many additional challenges. If I and those with whom I work don’t respond to their needs, it will be as if we’re denying their place in our family. They’ll have every reason to flee from us, and we won’t be living up to the high calling to which God has brought us. That simply can’t happen. In fact, we won’t let it. Since its founding in 1865, The Salvation Army has always fought against the scourge of homelessness. We know this work. It’s in our blood. And thanks to the blessing of God and the generosity of the American public, we are now able to help more than 23 million people in this country every year. In fact, there is no other pri-

Courtesy The Salvation Army

Commissioner Kenneth G. Hodder

vate organization with the heritage, experience, geographic reach, organizational infrastructure, or trained personnel to address homelessness like The Salvation Army. Not one. But the times now call for more. Our family – every part of our family – needs more. So beginning immediately, The Salvation Army in the western United States is committing itself to a big goal: Within the next five years, we intend to double our impact on homelessness, and one of our first targets will be the Bay Area. Whether it’s developing preventive programs, opening emergency shelters, expanding addiction services, establishing new transitional facilities, or building permanent supportive housing, we are determined to give greater expression to our conviction that everyone deserves the love of God. Everyone. As we have always done, we are resolved to show this generation, both here and across the West, that there is a way out of homelessness. That includes people of every sexual orientation and gender identity. As our national commander recently noted in USA Today, The Salvation Army is already the world’s largest

nongovernmental provider of poverty relief to LGBTQ individuals. But if anyone still thinks they are beyond the scope of The Salvation Army’s concern, then we need to say it again: No one is outside our family. Of course, despite all its strengths, The Salvation Army is no silver bullet. Eradicating homelessness will require the ongoing coordination of government, corporate, foundation, and nonprofit expertise and resources. And we need to focus on what we have in common, not what sets us apart. Supportive families focus on what brings them together, and that means people with differing positions on a whole range of issues will need to decide that when it comes to this epidemic, they are going to work together. We must join hands. This is too important to do otherwise. That’s why The Salvation Army, already composed of individuals from every segment of society, is ready to work side by side with anyone – regardless of party, race, faith, orientation, or gender – if it will get just one more person off the street. We’ll never ask why someone is in need. We won’t make demands. All we want to do is help. The Salvation Army is committed simply to do what Jesus asked of us: to love one another. That’s what family does. And for that reason, we’ll never stop doing everything we can to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and offer hope to those in despair. That’s why the only qualifications to receive Salvation Army services are a genuine need and our capacity to help. It’s always been that way, and it always will be. So if you need a hand up, we’re here for you. And if you’re working on solutions, let’s work together. For Heaven’s sake, and for the sake of everyone sleeping outside tonight, let’s do something. After all, we’re family. t Commissioner Kenneth G. Hodder is the territorial commander for The Salvation Army, USA Western Territory. For more about services in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit https://sanfrancisco.salvationarmy.org/.

Politics >>

t Gay Filipino aims to be first out immigrant CA legislator by Matthew S. Bajko

ducator Godfrey Santos Plata’s family emigrated from the Philippines in the late 1980s to seek a better life in the U.S. and settled in Los Angeles County. Now Plata, who is gay, is seeking to become the first out immigrant elected to the California Legislature. He is mounting an underdog campaign against incumbent Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), who has held his 53rd Assembly District seat since first being elected in 2014. The son of immigrants and the first in his family to graduate from college, Santiago easily secured the endorsement of the state Democratic Party at its convention last month. Nonetheless, Plata sees a path to victory in the district that encompasses the city’s Koreatown, where he is a renter, and the neighborhoods of Boyle Heights, Downtown Los Angeles, East Hollywood, Little Tokyo, MacArthur Park, and Pico Union as well as the cities of Huntington Park and Vernon. For starters, he points out that 85% of the people in the district are renters yet only one renter serves in the Legislature. (According to the news website CALmatters, the lone lawmaker who rents is gay Assemblyman Todd Gloria, D-San Diego, who also happens to be one of two current Assembly members of Filipino descent. As for Santiago, he lives in Boyle Heights with his wife and their two children.) “A lot of my intention to run has nothing to do with the incumbent and has all to do with the fact folks the incumbent is supposed to be representing are not represented in the Assembly at all,” Plata, 35, told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent phone interview about his candidacy. The cost of housing, argued Plata, is “the number one issue in our district, and I would say in the state in so many ways.” Yet, in looking over the scores of bills that Santiago has authored over his three terms, Plata said he found only one that directly addressed protections for tenants. “It was a rent tax credit he looked at and it failed,” said Plata. “He takes money from real estate groups and apartment owners associations. I was at the L.A. Pride parade and he was riding with the Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors. It was their car he was riding in.” Santiago, 46, did not respond to the B.A.R.’s interview requests by Wednesday’s press deadline. His campaign bio states that in the Assembly he “has worked to provide housing for Californians experiencing homelessness and stimulate the development of more affordable housing in his district and across the state.” So far Santiago and Plata are the only two candidates in the race, according to state elections officials. Thus, unless someone else files by

Courtesy Godfrey Santos Plata campaign

Assembly candidate Godfrey Santos Plata

Friday’s deadline to do so, both will advance past the March 3 primary to compete on the November 3 ballot. Santiago’s 2020 campaign website lists him being endorsed by the LGBT political groups HONOR PAC, which works to elect both LGBTQ candidates and straight allies, and the Stonewall Democratic Club of Los Angeles. Asked about the endorsements, a campaign aide for Santiago told the B.A.R. Tuesday that he believed they were for the lawmaker’s race next year. Yet it appears the endorsement page is a carryover from Santiago’s 2018 race, as neither of the LGBT groups’ websites list endorsing his 2020 re-election bid. Contacted by the B.A.R., HONOR PAC President Mario Ceballos wrote in an emailed response, “Although the Assembly member has been endorsed in the past, HONOR PAC has not made any 2020 endorsements yet.” A spokesman for the Stonewall Dems did not respond by the B.A.R.’s press deadline Wednesday.

Perfect scores from EQCA

Although Santiago has yet to author any LGBT-specific legislation, he has earned perfect scores five years in a row from Equality California, the statewide LGBT advocacy organization. It means he is likely to receive a pro forma endorsement from EQCA’s political action committee this month along with most other incumbent legislators running for reelection next year with perfect scores from EQCA. Its policy is to support those lawmakers who earn 100% on its scorecards in the two years prior to their election. Plata said he has spoken to EQCA about possibly dual endorsing in the race. But EQCA Executive Director Rick Zbur told the B.A.R. the chances of that happening are “remote,” especially since Santiago is a “strong” champion for LGBT rights. Zbur explained that EQCA sticks to its endorsement policy for incumbents so that when those lawmakers it considers to be allies in the Statehouse “stick with us, we want to give them assurance we will stick with them. Even if someone comes up and would be a candidate we would like in a different year.”

Courtesy Greater LA Association of Realtors Facebook page

Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, center, seated with his wife and two children, rode in the Los Angeles Pride parade in a car sponsored by the Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors.

Plata presumably would be such a candidate. Not only would his election make LGBT political history, he would be the first Filipino state legislator from Los Angeles. (East Bay Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, is the other current lawmaker of Filipino descent.) And Plata would help to expand the ranks of the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, which currently stands at seven and is set to lose two members next year due to one being termed out of office and Gloria running to be San Diego mayor. Plus, at the moment, there are no out lawmakers from Los Angeles County serving in the Legislature. “EQCA has been great at showing on their website who has been leading on LGBT issues. My incumbent, despite being endorsed by EQCA, is not a leader on LGBT issues,” said Plata. “It is interesting they would support someone not strong on our issues as opposed to an out person who can speak to these lived experiences on so many bills they are trying to get through.”

Education a key issue

One of those issues, education, is another area in which Plata argues he would bring much needed expertise to the Statehouse. He has worked as an educator the past 13 years, first as a middle school teacher then as an organizer and now as a trainer for incoming teachers. “So many Assembly members have no idea what they are doing on policy making when it comes to education and what public school teachers are facing,” said Plata. Plata, like his sister, attended public schools in districts based in Los Angeles and Long Beach, including the California Academy of Mathematics and Science, a high school located on the campus of Cal State Dominguez Hills. He earned a full scholarship to the University of Richmond in Virginia, graduating in 2002 with degrees in theater and American studies with a focus on ethnic studies. He then took part in the Teach for America program and was placed with a public school in Houston for two years. In 2008 he enrolled in graduate school at UC Berkeley, where he earned a master’s in performance studies, focusing on how race is constructed in school classrooms. “As an immigrant, I feel I have always been building bridges across lines of difference. Most people I interact with are going to be different than me,” said Plata. “Whether it is race, ethnicity, or immigration status, or also sexual orientation, with every identity marker I am constantly encountering difference. No one is talking about that in education. No student is created alike nor is every teacher created alike.” After moving to Boston due to meeting a boyfriend who lived there, Plata returned to Houston in late 2012 when the relationship ended. There he worked in the education field and helped form the advocacy group Organizing Network for Education Houston. He moved back to Southern California in 2016 to work for the nonprofit Leadership for Educational Equity as director of regional leadership development. “We teach teachers to understand policy and how it is made. We teach them how to take action,” said Plata. “So many legislators never worked in schools before and have no idea how to bring those lived experiences of teachers into policy.” See page 8 >>

December 5-11, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

Barry Schneider Attorney at Law

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

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

LGBT PROGRESSIVE CATHOLICS † OUR FAMILIES & FRIENDS

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

<< Commentary

8 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

The trans body by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

ransphobia, like homophobia, isn’t generally using the suffix “-phobia” to mean “fear,” but to mean “aversion.” It’s the same notion as hydrophobic surfaces refer to their ability to repel water. That said, I feel there is a distinct element of transphobia that is rooted in fear. I think that many non-transgender people have a deep-seated fear, far beyond their rational mind, that if transgender and nonbinary people are able to shift from one expression to another during their lifetime, then their own fixed gender is, inexplicably, under threat. As both trans and nonbinary identities have gained visibility, you have also seen the established gender identities become more entrenched and more policed. The rise of both may simply be coincidental, but they end up working against each other. Ironically, while one can hear millions of different ways one isn’t “man enough” in this society, transitioning away from a masculine identity seems to be the ultimate way to find that the person is continually told just how much of a “man” one is, but I digress. Before I say much more, I want to express a point of order: a person doesn’t actually need to opt for any surgical or hormonal treatment to identify as any given gender, or to express their

Political Notebook

From page 7

Taking part in the Pahara-NextGen Fellowship program for educators in late 2018 was where Plata first thought about seeking public office. A conversation about how the right to an education is not guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution opened Plata’s eyes to how who is sitting at the ta-

Christine Smith

gender. Many choose against surgical options, for example, but one’s genitals simply do not equal their gender. All ways of being trans are good and valid, and anyone’s path is theirs. I am, nevertheless, going to be talking a lot about such things below. Mea culpa. The human body is a remarkable thing, and it is capable of displaying all sorts of variation. In the womb at around eight weeks into gestation, the human body begins to form genitals. Initially, this is little more than what’s known as a “genital ridge” forming an identical set of genitals for nearly any baby, regardless of chromosomes or anything else. This formation is also, apparently, separate from the formation of gender. Over the course of the next few weeks, the baby’s genitals will usually move away from this single form, with gonads taking the role of testes or ovables of power matters. “I remember thinking in the 1700s a bunch of white men locked themselves in a room and came up with the rules. We need to get in there and make some rules for the country we are living in and our kids are going to be living in,” recalled Plata. “We weren’t there back in the 1700s to make those rules. I got a seed in my head to do something bigger than what nonprofits can do alone school by

ries, penis or clitoris, and so on. Nevertheless, the evidence of our very flesh sharing identical structures no matter what genital configuration one may have remains a part of our life. All humans, for example, have nipples, even though – in most cases – they remain underutilized for about half the population. With many things, all it can take is the presentation of estrogen or testosterone to change the human body from one distinct shape to another. The addition of estrogen can help form breasts, help soften facial features, and generally make a body to become more feminine in appearance. Add testosterone, and body and facial hair can appear, voices can lower, and bodies can develop a more masculine appearance. A number of surgical and other options can further alter our bodies, creating vaginal canals, a clitoris, and labia on a body, or a phallus and scrotal sack on another. Breasts can be augmented, testicular implants are possible, and unwanted hair can be removed via electrolysis, for just a few examples. There are a lot of misconceptions about trans bodies and how they work. Some of these notions are amplified by non-transgender people who delight in spreading falsehoods as a way of tearing down transgender people as a whole. I feel these people

are transphobic no matter which way you parse the suffix. There are many who want tell you that a post-surgical trans person will no longer have any sensitivity to their genitals, or will no longer have the ability to orgasm. Others may claim that a neovagina will be an open wound forever, requiring constant aftercare in order not to simply heal over. Any number of complications may be made up about trans bodies of all stripes. Virtually all of this is nonsense. While this was less true in the past, the genitals of a trans person will, by and large, maintain sensation. A penis and a clitoris are analogous structures, and are used as such in many surgical procedures. Hormones also do a lot to affect how these work on a trans body. Likewise, orgasm is certainly possible for transgender people who opt for surgery. To quote Kate Bornstein in her first book, “Gender Outlaws,” “the plumbing works and so does the electricity.” Likewise, hormones can change the way an orgasm works for a trans woman, often in very positive, affirming ways. As for stories of trans women’s vaginas as some sort of open wound,

this is poppycock. Yes, for the first few weeks post genital surgery, there is an aftercare regime that will require regular use of dilators on a neovagina. After that initial period, the time spent with dilation tapers off. At no time is it an open wound, and the dilation is more about stretching the skin as it heals into place than it is about keeping a body from healing shut. It doesn’t work that way. Also, once more, no amount of surgery or hormones invalidates one’s own innate understanding of their gender, and all trans bodies are valid no matter what. You know who and what you are, always. I think that misinformation about trans bodies persists because there are those who wish to push transgender people back into the margins, as well as those who – afraid that their own gender identity may be called into question – opt to believe that all bodies are fixed into a one-or-the-other immutable shape. Our remarkable bodies, trans or otherwise, know better. t

school. We need to go bigger than that.” In April, he returned to Houston to take part in a candidate training held by the LGBTQ Victory Institute, an arm of the LGBTQ Victory Fund. He now hopes to receive the group’s endorsement in his race, as it aims to elect more LGBTQ people to public office.

his Assembly campaign. He told the B.A.R. he has since raised more than $90,000, significantly more than anyone else who has run against Santiago, who reported having nearly $500,000 in his re-election account as of August 1. “It is not in the big leagues yet, but no one has run against the incumbent with more than $25,000 raised. We are the first actual cam-

paign to attempt a challenge that will at least have more resources,” he said. “I am really excited about the energy and the people power we are building. This is the first time I have done this, so I am learning along the way.” To learn more about Plata’s campaign, visit his website at www.godfreyforassembly.com. t

Campaign launch

On May 1 Plata officially launched

Gwen Smith was actually very surprised how much hormones alone did. You’ll find her at www. gwensmith.com.

New Affordable Homes For Sale In Nob Hill SLEEK AND MODERN CONDOS AT 1433 BUSH STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109

NEW 6 “Below Market Rate” homes available: 2 studios, 2 one-bedroom & 2 three bedroom homes priced from $303,358 to $447,983 without parking and $336,319 to $500,021 with parking

OPEN HOUSE DATES T UE S DAY, NOV E M B E R 1 9 , 5 -7 P M T HUR S DAY, NOV E M B E R 2 1 , 1 0 AM -1 2 P M S AT UR DAY, NOV E M B E R 2 3 , 9 -1 1 AM

Open Houses to be held at 1433 Bush Street, San Francisco CA 94109

First, please sign up for a free Program Orientation at to H O M EOW NER S H IP S F . O R G / WO RKSHOPS-L I ST for a complete list of housing agency homeownership class schedules and to sign up for a class. Next, obtain a loan pre-approval from one of the SF MOHCD approved lenders listed on their website. Then, download your application with instructions by visiting H O M EOW NER S H IP S F . O R G . Buyers must be a first-time homebuyer and must earn no more than the income levels listed below: HOW TO APPLY

MAXI MUM AN N UAL I N CO ME

1 person

2 person

3 person

4 person

5 person

$86,200

$98,500

$110,850

$123,150

$133,000

PRICING

UNIT NO. BEDROOM COUNT

BATH COUNT

SQUARE FEET

FLOOR #

HOA DUES HOA DUES WITHOUT PARKING WITH PARKING

PRICE WITHOUT PARKING

PRICE WITH PARKING

402

STUDIO

One Bath

391

$471.00

$531.70

$303,358

$336,319

505

STUDIO

One Bath

383

$469.00

$529.60

$303,733

$336,713

303

ON E B E D R O O M

One Bath

600

$515.00

$575.70

$352,082

$391,488

404

ON E B E D R O O M

One Bath

611

$516.00

$576.70

$351,895

$391,300

201

THREE BEDROOM

Two Baths

1,087

$614.00

$674.70

$447,983

$500,021

206

THREE BEDROOM

Two Baths

1,094

$616.00

$676.70

$447,608

$499,646

Complete applications must be received by FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2020 AT 5:00 PM. Apply online through DAH LIA, the SF Housing Portal at H OU SIN G.SFGOV.ORG or mail in a paper application with a self-addressed stamped envelope to: BMR 1433 BU SH ST, P.O. BOX 420847, SAN FR A N C I S CO , C A 9 4142. Postmarks are not considered. Paper applications can be downloaded from H O U S I N G . S F G OV .ORG or picked up from one of the 5 approved housing counseling agencies listed at H O U S I N G . S F G OV .ORG/H OUSING-COUNSE LORS

Lottery drawing date is F R I DAY, J ANUAR Y 2 4 , 2 0 2 0 AT 1 :3 0 P M at the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, 1 S. Van Ness Avenue, 5th Floor. Please contact 415-701-5613 or visit S F M O HC D . O R G for more information about lottery preferences.

Units are monitored through the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and are subject to owner occupancy and other restrictions. For more information and assistance with your application, contact HomeownershipSF: (415) 202Applicants for 1433 BUSH must obtain a loan pre-approval from one of the approved participating lenders listed 5464 or info@homeownershipsf.org. For questions about the building and units, contact at SFMOHCD.ORG/MOHCD-AUTHORIZED-LENDER-LIST to apply. All adult household members who 1433 BUSH: 415-767-5164 or Info@1433bushsf.com. will be on the title of the BMR unit must complete first-time homebuyer education through one of the City’s 5 All applicants are encouraged to apply. Lottery preference will be given to: *Certificate of approved housing counselling agencies in order to apply. Preference, **Displaced Tenant Housing Preference holders, ***Neighborhood Residents and households that currently live or work in San Francisco. *Certificate of Preference (COP) holders are primarily households displaced in Redevelopment Project Areas during the 1960’s and 1970’s.**Displaced Tenant Housing Preference (DTHP) holders are tenants who were displaced by an Ellis Act eviction, Owner Move In eviction and tenants displaced by fire.***Neighborhood Resident Housing Preference (NRHP) are residents living in the same supervisorial district or within ½ mile buffer of the project.ordinance passed into law Dec, 18, 2004. The specifications are subject to change at any time and should not be relied on as representations, express or implied. Square footage or floor areas shown in any marketing or other materials is approximate and may be more or less than the actual size.

World AIDS Day 2019>>

December 5-11, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 9

San Jose marks World AIDS Day by Heather Cassell

So many lost

ilicon Valley marked World AIDS Day by raising a red ribbon flag and lighting up San Jose’s City Hall rotunda and tower in red during an observance Tuesday, December 3. South Bay residents were also able to view 79 pieces of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on display for the day and attend a memorial and candlelight vigil. World AIDS Day is celebrated annually December 1. About 40 people came out to honor those who died during the epidemic and to look toward the future when AIDS is a thing of the past. They also were determined to support those who were still living with the disease. “It is important to commemorate World AIDS Day or remember those who we lost to AIDS because our work is not yet done. We have a ways to go,” said Dr. George Han, a gay man who’s deputy health officer for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. “By remembering those who we’ve lost, it helps motivate us. It’s our reason why we are doing the work that we are doing,” he continued. Currently, 3,419 people are known to be living with HIV/AIDS in Santa Clara County. Last year, the county saw 167 new HIV cases. Of those new cases, 68% were gay and bisexual men and 51% were Latino, said Han. The good news is that 70% of the county’s residents living with HIV/ AIDS have viral loads that are suppressed or undetectable, he added. An estimated 88% of HIV-positive patients are linked to services within the first month after diagnosis and 94% were connected to services within the first three months, added Ricardo Romero-Morales, a 30-year-old gay man who is the senior community health planner for

Jo-Lynn Otto

People remember those last to AIDS at a World AIDS Day observance December 3 outside San Jose City Hall.

the health department. Seventeen people died from AIDS in the county last year, according to the county’s World AIDS Day website.

Beloved

San Jose city officials spoke about the state of the disease in the county. Two gay men – Dennis Pitt-Clute and Rodney “Kam” Duque – spoke about their personal experiences living with HIV/AIDS. City Councilwoman Pam Foley recalled her beloved brother, Tim. “I’m actually here as a family member who lost a very dear loved one,” said Foley. “My brother, Tim, died of AIDS in 1996. That’s a long time ago but there is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him. “When I lost him, I lost a part of my heart and soul,” Foley added, explaining that she was pregnant at the time he passed away. To honor her late brother, Foley named her daughter Katelin Timothy Foley, bestowing her brother’s name as her daughter’s middle name, she said.

“She is a lot like him in many, many ways. He was dramatic. She is dramatic,” she said as the audience laughed. He would have been proud to know that Katelin identifies as a bisexual woman, Foley added. However, there was a much darker side to the story, which was how doctors treated Foley’s brother. He was tested without his knowledge and learned that he was HIV-positive. After that, he became untouchable to the extent that a hospital once “put him in a taxi and dropped him on a curb near his apartment,” she said. “It was so appalling the way he was treated, the way he was disrespected for the gay man that he was,” she said. “I loved him for the gay man that he was. I loved him for the brother he was, for the passion he showed me, for the energy and light he gave me.” Foley urged everyone in the rotunda to speak out when they see HIV/ AIDS patients being disrespected. “We need to stand up and protect everyone in our community to show them how much we love them and embrace them,” she said.

Pitt-Clute, a 70-year-old gay man, recalled the time at the beginning of the epidemic. He contracted the disease in the early 1980s, as did his brother, when it was known as GRID (gay-related immune deficiency). He described the pain of losing so many people, including his brother and his brother’s partner, and recalled when the Bay Area Reporter was filled with obituaries of gay men dying of AIDS. He recalled that doctors at the time were completely covered to the point that he couldn’t tell who was caring for him. He survived. He doesn’t know why, but he survived. “I’m still here. I still fight AIDS. I don’t have HIV, I have AIDS,” said Pitt-Clute, who works giving out condoms at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center’s Partners in AIDS Care and Education program, known as PACE, reminding young people that they don’t want HIV and that it is preventable. Pitt-Clute said that he is grateful for all of the advances in HIV/AIDS treatment, but it upsets him when he sees young people coming into the clinic. “It angers me when I see people putting themselves at risk because it just isn’t worth it,” he said. He takes 31 pills a day and said the disease affects “every part of my life every day.” “It makes me want to shake them, ‘What were you thinking?’” he said. “There is no man or woman worth this.”

Ending AIDS

Han, who worked in Africa’s first pediatric HIV/AIDS clinic in Botswana and later at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before coming to Santa Clara County’s health department in 2014, believes that the disease can be eradicated.

To stop AIDS means preventing it by overcoming stigma and treating those who have it to get their viral loads to undetectable levels where the disease can’t be spread. That’s known as undetectable equals untransmittable, or U=U. “We want to make sure that everyone living with HIV has access to all the right treatment,” he said. At the same time, “we want to make sure that we can end the epidemic by preventing people who don’t have HIV from getting it.” That takes having LGBT people at the table in discussions about HIV/AIDS. He pointed out that the LGBT community is “one of the key groups that needs to be a part of the conversation.” “We know that LGBTQ people are at a higher risk for getting HIV. So, any conversation about HIV that doesn’t include them is not a full conversation,” he said, responding to the B.A.R’s question about President Donald Trump again not including the LGBT community in his remarks on World AIDS Day. The stiffest challenges he faces are overcoming fear and stigma. Other difficulties are education about HIV/ AIDS and access to prevention and treatment options for the disease. It’s “still hard for people to have hard conversations about sex, about HIV, with their health care partners and their loved ones,” Han said. “There’s something that’s hard about having to open up yourself to see a doctor.” To help lower people’s walls around HIV/AIDS, Han pointed out that more than 70% of the health department’s 450 employees have undergone training to better understand the health inequities that affect LGBT patients.

You deserve a better pharmacy experience. Hands-on concierge service, same co-pay, any insurance, smart packaging, 24-7 med pickup, delivery... that’s better pharmacy.

I N T R O D U C I N G T I N R X D A I LY Get your medications conveniently packaged in pouches, one day at a time. The Daily box comes with 30 days of pouches, so you’ll never miss your meds again.

Get Daily at tinrx.com

CASTRO LOCATION | 2175 MARKET STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114 | (628) 895-9508 | tinrx.com

See page 15 >>

<< Community News

10 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

Jon Gollinger

Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club President Kevin Bard speaks outside Harvey Milk’s former camera shop during the annual Milk-Moscone vigil November 27.

Mourners mark 41 years since Milk, Moscone killings

Professional headshots / profile pics Weddings / Events

StevenUnderhill

by Samantha Laurey

415 370 7152 • StevenUnderhill.com

Escape

STEVEN-17160.indd 1

11/19/19

to Palm Springs

n the 41st anniversary of the assassinations of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, a crowd gathered in the Castro district to mourn their 8:54 AM deaths at the annual candlelight vigil. This year, the November 27 remembrance took place the night before Thanksgiving, and drew about 50-60 people who braved the cold temperatures. Milk, the first openly gay man elected to office in San Francisco and California, and Moscone were killed November 27, 1978 by disgruntled exsupervisor Dan White. The murders shocked the city, including members of the LGBT community, many of whom worked on Milk’s campaigns and championed his fight for equality. “Harvey and George were progressive pioneers. We must honor all that they did for San Francisco and stand firm in our belief that this sort of toxic violence against them will never be tolerated and never be repeated,” said Kevin Bard, president of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, which organizes the yearly gathering.

This year, the vigil started at 18th and Castro streets and attendees proceeded down Castro to the storefront that once housed Milk’s Castro Camera shop. (The site is now the location of the Human Rights Campaign Action Center and Store.) “It is important to mourn Harvey because he broke open some doors that affected the whole country when he was killed,” said Francis Collins, 70, who had come to the vigil. As two large printed posters of Milk and Moscone were set up along a wall near the Castro Muni station, a handful of supporters were beginning to set up the vigil. They put together a flower wall, lit candles, and passed out smaller placards to attendees. The vigil started with a 10-minute audio of Milk’s “political will,” made shortly before his assassination. As supporters listened to Milk’s words, they stood quietly as they held their posters and candles close. “I feel that it is important that some people know my thoughts,” said Milk, in the audio, “so all of my thoughts, my wishes, my desires, I would like to pass them on and have them played for the appropriate people ...”

After the audio was finished, attendees marched two blocks down to Milk’s old camera store, at 575 Castro Street. Milk was known for owning his camera shop, where he launched two unsuccessful campaigns for supervisor and one for state Assembly before winning election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in November 1977. He had become the unofficial “Mayor of Castro Street,” due to his history of promoting gay rights, businesses, and community from the shop. He encouraged people to come out of the closet and was involved in many rights battles in the 1970s. Once the march had reached the camera store, there were speakers who said a few words about Milk and his significance in San Francisco. Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman attended the event. “It’s always tremendously moving,” he said of the vigil in a phone interview Monday. “People were there who were in their 20s and 30s when Harvey Milk was killed, and now they’re in their 60s and 70s. The world changed drastically both emotionally and with what’s happened since then.” t

Store to close after Castro fire by Cynthia Laird Nestled between the San Jacinto and Andreas Mountains in S. Palm Springs this custom contemporary home boasts 3,556 sq ft of complete luxury. Custom build in 2015 with 3 bdrms, 3 ½ baths, media room, office w/closet + pocket doors. The attached casita consists of 2 rms, separate entrance & private patio. The exquisite combined dining/living room features a dramatic 9’ chandelier with custom lighting throughout. The entire home is built with imported Italian Tile. The chefs kitchen is outfitted with Professional Thermador appliances, Cambria slab countertops surrounded by Siematic kitchen cabinets. The extensive backyard consists of amazing mountain views and a large logia with misting system. Fee Land in gated community with low dues and fully funded HOA. The home is equipped with energy efficient HVAC systems, water heaters and a 10.33kw solar system with a 2 car garage and separate additional car garage. Directions: From South Palm Canyon, East on Acanto. Estancias South Canyon is the gated community on the left. Call to schedule showings.

Michael Erives

Realtor

michael@darceydeetz.com CalDRE#01954960

Call 760 409-1903 Michael Erives 2x10.indd 1

11/11/19 5:07 PM

ody, a gay-owned Castro clothing store that’s been around for 40 years, will close this month in part because of the recent fire that affected the building. Petyr Kane, the owner of Body, located at 450 Castro Street, wrote in an email to the B.A.R. Wednesday that the store will shutter. “Our lease cannot be extended due to a mandatory earthquake retrofit and while we strived to find a new location that made sense, none did, so along with the recent fire, which has impacted us, it is time to thank our community,” Kane wrote. He said that remaining inventory has been marked down starting December 7 until the store closes on New Year’s Eve. He thanked customers and supporters. In related fire news, recent benefits and crowdfunding sites have raised money for residents and other businesses affected by last month’s fire in the Castro neighborhood. A four-alarm fire raced through buildings at 454, and 456 Castro Street Saturday, November 16, at 4:23 a.m., according to the San Francisco Fire Department. SFFD officials were continuing to investigate the blaze. A spokesman did not return a request for comment by press time. In addition to Body, businesses

Sari Staver

A photo taken last week shows warning signs outside 456 A Castro Street, which was affected by the November 16 fire.

affected were Q Bar, Osaka Sushi, and Cafe Mystique. The Bay Area Reporter, citing a city news release, previously reported that seven residents were displaced. Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which held a fundraiser November 27 for the residents, told the Bay Area Reporter Tuesday that they raised funds for 13 people affected by the fire. That number did not include the businesses affected, which benefited from an event at Beaux bar November 30. The Sisters’ benefit was held at

Oasis. Roma told the B.A.R. that about $5,000 was raised and that some gift cards had already been distributed. One of those affected by the blaze was Dennis McMillan, also known as Sister Dana Van Iquity, a columnist for the San Francisco Bay Times. About 300 people attended the event, Roma said. At Beaux, a benefit was held November 30 for workers at Osaka Sushi and Q Bar. Joshua J. Cook, one of the organizers, did not respond to a Facebook message seeking comment on how much money that event raised. A GoFundMe account set up by the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District Working Group is still active at https://bit.ly/34WrNb7. As of Tuesday, it has raised over $7,700. The businesses affected by the fire can also get help from the mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. According to a city news release, they can apply for up to $10,000 for fire and water damage. The money comes out of the office’s small business disaster relief fund, according to the release. The fund provides assistance to San Francisco small businesses so that they can recover as quickly as possible, as disaster loans can sometimes be held up for weeks or months. t

World AIDS Day 2019 >>

December 5-11, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 11

THIS IS THE

san francisco

Columbariu M Funeral Home and

formerly the Neptune Society

Rick Gerharter

‘Unsung hero’ honored at AIDS grove

ay former state senator Mark Leno, left, presented the Thom Weyland Unsung Hero Award to Leslie Ewing, a lesbian who worked for many years for HIV/AIDS organizations, for her years of activism and leadership, during the World AIDS Day observance Sunday, December 1, in the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park. Rick Welts, a gay man who is president and chief operating officer for the Golden State Warriors, received the National Leadership Recognition Award for the impact his coming out has had on how the nation views LGBTs and AIDS (Welts lost his longtime

partner, Arnie Chinn, to AIDS in 1994.) The AIDS grove also welcomed the return of the first panels of the Names Project AIDS Quilt during the observance. As the Bay Area Reporter recently noted, all of the quilt panels will be returning to the Bay Area and be under the stewardship of the AIDS grove. Quilt co-founders Cleve Jones and Mike Smith were on hand Sunday to announce the quilt’s return. Gilead Sciences Inc. formally announced a $2.4 million grant to the AIDS grove that will fund the quilt programs and its move back to the Bay Area.

As HIV prevention stalls, gov’t provides free PrEP by Liz Highleyman

he United States has seen little progress at the national level in preventing new HIV cases over the past half decade, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released December 3. To help address this shortcoming, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a new program – called Ready, Set, PrEP – to provide the prevention pill at no cost to those unable to pay for it. The program is a component of the government’s “Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America,” which President Donald Trump announced during this year’s State of the Union address. The initiative aims to reduce new HIV infections by 75% in five years and by 90% in 10 years. “Ready, Set, PrEP is a historic expansion of access to HIV prevention medication and a major step forward in President Trump’s plan to end the HIV epidemic in America,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. “Thanks to Ready, Set, PrEP, thousands of Americans who are at risk for HIV will now be able to protect themselves and their communities.”

Courtesy ABC News

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar

Progress stalled

Some cities have made great strides toward ending the HIV epidemic. San Francisco’s latest HIV epidemiology report shows that new diagnoses dipped below 200 for the first time in 2018, and New York City – with a population approximately 10 times as large – this month announced that new cases fell below 2,000. In both cities, more than 90% of people living with HIV know their status and most

of those have started antiretroviral treatment and achieved an undetectable viral load. But progress is uneven, both when comparing cities and regions and when looking across demographic groups within cities. Black and Latino people, young people, transgender individuals, people with substance use issues, and those experiencing homelessness are less likely to know they have HIV and to have their virus under control. The CDC’s latest Vital Signs report shows that the number of new cases of HIV transmission has stalled at around 38,000 per year between 2013 and 2017. The report says that about 219,700 people, or 18% of the estimated 1.2 million people that could benefit from PrEP, had received a prescription for it in 2018 – far short of the government’s goal of 50%. About 42% of white people, 11% of Latinos, and 6% of black people were on PrEP. These figures represent an improvement over CDC figures presented last year, which showed that only 8% of all people eligible for PrEP were using it, falling to just 3% for Latinos and 1% for African Americans. Around 154,000 of the estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV in 2017, or 14%, have not been tested and do not know their status, according to the report. Among those who do know they have HIV, about 63% were on treatment and had a suppressed viral load – meaning more than a third still had uncontrolled HIV. For both measures, the government’s goal is 95%. “The number of people who acquire HIV each year is unacceptably high,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/ AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, and STD Prevention. “Ending this epidemic would be one of the greatest public health triumphs in our nation’s history.”

Ready, Set, PrEP

The Ready, Set, PrEP program will provide free PrEP for eligible individuals who are uninsured or not covered for prescription drugs. However, depending on their income, they may still have to foot part of the bill for the recommended regular clinic visits and lab tests for sexually transmitted infections and kidney problems. Two combination pills, Gilead Sci-

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

ences’ Truvada (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine) and Descovy (tenofovir alafenamide/emtricitabine), have been approved for prevention of sexually transmitted HIV. Although both are highly effective and safe for most people, the newer Descovy is less likely to cause kidney

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

FD 1306

COA 660

See page 15 >> SF_Columbarium_2x7.625_033017.indd 1

8/11/17 12:30 PM

A community you can connect with.

Life at San Francisco Towers is everything you love about the city and more. It’s a smart, sophisticated, inclusive senior community. Stay involved in your favorite activities. Enjoy the conveniences of a Life Plan Community. And experience the peace of mind that comes with planning for the future now. For singles or couples, San Francisco Towers is the welcome you’ve been looking for. Get to know us. Call 415.447.5527 for more information or to schedule a visit.

1661 Pine Street, San Francisco, CA 94109 covia.org/san-francisco-towers A not-for-profit community owned and operated by Covia. License 380540292 / COA #325

<< Obituaries

12 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

Pioneering gay cartoonist Howard Cruse dies H

oward Cruse, a pioneer in the LGBTQ cartooning movement and founding editor of Gay Comix, died November 26. He was 75. His husband of 40 years, Ed Sedarbaum, said that Mr. Cruse died of complications from lymphoma at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Mr. Cruse, who lived

in Williamstown, Massachusetts, had been diagnosed in August. Mr. Cruse was the author of “Stuck Rubber Baby,” an award-winning graphic novel about the intersection of race and sexuality in the South. Published in 1995, it was based on Mr. Cruse’s internal struggles as a closeted gay man during the civil rights era of the 1960s. Widely translated, “Stuck Rubber Baby” has won numerous

WALLBEDS

AND

by Cynthia Laird

space saving f urniture

Open Saturday Noon-5pm and by appointment

415.822.0184

www.roomax.com

Visit our Showroom 1355 Fitzgerald Ave, SF

Platform Storage Beds • Closet Systems • Armoires • Home Office • Dressers

We are Your Local Experts helping Exceptional Clients Buy and Sell Beautiful Homes in San Francisco. Call Us for a Free Valuation of Your Property.

awards, including a critics prize at the Angoulême International Comics in France, the Harvey Award, Eisner Award, and United Kingdom Comic Art Award for best graphic album. The graphic novel will be reissued in a 25th anniversary edition by First Second Books in May. Mr. Cruse was born May 2, 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama, as the younger of two sons of Clyde and Irma Cruse. The family moved to Springville when his father, a photojournalist, was ordained as a Methodist minister and assigned to Springville Methodist Church. According to an obituary by Richard Goldstein and Jay Blotcher, Mr. Cruse’s creative talents were encouraged by both his parents. His first published work was a 1959 comic strip called “Calvin” in the St. Clair County Reporter. He also had cartoon art published in the humor magazines Fooey and Sick. He was mentored through an ongoing correspondence with cartoonist Milton Caniff, the creator of “Terry and the Pirates” and “Steve Canyon” newspaper comic strips. At age 16, Mr. Cruse was invited to visit Caniff in New York City. At Birmingham Southern College, Mr. Cruse became involved in the theater program, designing sets and appearing in several productions. For the college literary magazine Quad, Mr. Cruse satirized the conservative organization the John Birch Society. The controversial work appeared in print, but the faculty adviser insisted on running a full-page disclaimer. After graduating from BSC in 1968, Mr. Cruse joined Birmingham’s WBMG-TV as art director and a puppeteer on “The Sergeant Jack Show.” At this time, according to his obituary, he became romantically involved with a man, Don Higdon, for the first time. During this time, Mr. Cruse created “Tops & Button,” a cartoon panel

Mike Ackerman & Oliver Burgelman LIC# 01388135 | 01232037 415.307.5850 ABZ@ZephyrSF.com BuildingTrust4Life.com

DUGGAN’S FUNERAL SERVICE

DUGGAN WeLCh fAmiLy the

3434 – 17th StREEt SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110

Thomas V. Halloran General Manager A native San Franciscan with 40 years of professional experience assisting families in need. A longtime resident of the Eureka Valley, Castro and Mission Districts; a member of the Castro Merchants Association and a 25 year member of the Freewheelers Car Club. At Duggan’s Funeral Service, which sits in the heart of the Mission, we offer custom services that fit your personal wishes in honoring and celebrating a life. We are committed to the ever-changing needs of the community and the diverse families we serve.

Please call for information 415-431-4900 or visit us at www.duggansfuneralservice.com FD44

LGBTQ strategy

From page 1

The draft cultural strategy also recommended that a LGBTQ+ Historic Preservation Advisory Group be formed to advise the planning department on various initiatives that fall under its purview. It also called for the nonprofit archival group to take a lead community role in working with various historic preservation groups and city agencies on protecting LGBTQ historic resources and safeguarding the city’s LGBTQ cultural heritage. Under the strategy’s well-being category, the San Francisco LGBT Community Center would be tasked with creating a navigation tool for LGBT services, sort of a one-stop-shop database that residents could utilize. It also recommended there be LGBTQ cultural competency training for public and private organizations. The draft plan also called for the development of LGBTQ-focused heritage and arts programming and more affordable housing and workspace options for LGBTQ artists in the city. In terms of opportunity, the draft plan called for expanding job training and recruitment programs for LGBT people and increased support for LGBTQ-owned businesses. It

Howard Cruse

about two squirrels, which ran daily in the Birmingham Post-Herald from 1970 to 1972. He also created the subtly subversive “Barefootz,” which debuted in the University of Alabama’s newspaper, Crimson White. It also appeared in several area publications during the decade, and later in underground comic books. In 1977, Mr. Cruse relocated to New York City to make cartooning his fulltime profession. In 1979, he met Sedarbaum and they moved in together. The couple were married in 2004.

Gay Comix

Mr. Cruse’s career reached a personal and professional breakthrough in 1980 when he was founding editor of Gay Comix, an underground anthology for lesbian and gay cartoonists. Mr. Cruse’s own work, exploring his conflicted childhood and repressive Southern upbringing, appeared in these comic books. Observers noted that in an era before the formal passage of LGBT rights, Gay Comix’s frank cartoon explorations of gay culture, politics, sex, and camp had a huge in-

fluence on young people in the closet. During the four years of his editorship, Mr. Cruse received letters of gratitude from readers all over the country, many who had considered suicide. During this period, Mr. Cruse did many pro bono illustrations to support fledgling LGBT organizations, as well as mentoring young queer cartoonists. Mr. Cruse created a highprofile poster about gay male safe sex in 1985 for New York City’s Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Mr. Cruse frequently appeared at comic book conventions over the decades, and was a featured guest at academic and fan conferences, especially those addressing the subject of queer comic art. His final published comic work appeared this year in Northwest Press’ horror anthology “Theater of Terror: Revenge of the Queers.” Mr. Cruse was among LGBT cartoonists and illustrators appearing in the documentary “No Straight Lines,” scheduled for a 2020 release. Mr. Cruse’s work has been collected in several books, among them, “Barefootz Funnies” (Kitchen Sink, 1975-1979); “Wendel” (Gay Presses of New York, 1986); “Dancin’ Nekkid with the Angels” (St. Martin’s, Kitchen Sink, 1987); and “Wendel on the Rebound” (St. Martin’s Press, 1989). In addition to Sedarbaum, Mr. Cruse is survived by his daughter, Kimberly Kolze Venter, and his brother, Allan Cruse. Donations in his memory can be made to New York City’s LGBT Community Center, the Queers and Comics Conference, and Rainbow Seniors of Berkshire County. Public memorial services are planned for Massachusetts and New York City. Exact information will be posted on www.howardcruse.com. t

also called for the building of affordable housing for LGBTQ people. Another key recommendation in the draft proposal was to expand the Mayor’s Office of Transgender Initiatives into more of an LGBTQ affairs office. Santa Clara County in 2015 was the first in the Golden State to establish such an office, and San Francisco, which is both a city and county, would be the second county in the state to do so. Clair Farley, the current mayoral adviser on transgender initiatives, has expressed support for seeing her office’s purview be expanded as long as the concerns of the transgender community remain a key focus. The draft plan also called on Farley’s office to host a summit to promote and track the progress of the LGBTQ cultural strategy. Both Breed and Farley have told the B.A.R. that her office should remain centered on addressing the needs of the city’s transgender community, while also noting that it already tackles a wide array of LGBT issues. Farley’s office, for instance, has been working with various city departments on their efforts to meet a mandate that they collect sexual orientation and gender identity data so that City Hall can better direct resources to meet the needs of the

LGBT community. For now Breed has hired Victor Ruiz-Cornejo to be her policy adviser focused on LGBT issues as well as nightlife concerns and planning for the global AIDS conference San Francisco is jointly co-hosting with Oakland next summer. RuizCornejo, who began December 2, will report directly to the mayor’s policy director Andres Power. The two gay men previously worked for gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). RuizCornejo most recently had been his spokesman in his Senate district office, while Powers was one of Wiener’s City Hall aides when he served as the District 8 supervisor and then became his senior policy aide after being elected to the Legislature. According to Farley and Terry Beswick, executive director of the GLBT Historical Society who helped lead the task force for the cultural strategy, there have been few changes in the draft document since it was first presented last year. Because it encompasses myriad city departments and agencies, they noted it has taken awhile for all of those entities to provide feedback on the document.

San Diego, he traveled to Berkeley to visit his sister, who was attending UC Berkeley at the time. He found California so congenial he didn’t want to return to New York, except for an occasional visit. Dick attended Contra Costa Community College and UC Berkeley. He quit UC and landed a job with Shell Development Company in Emeryville. When Shell moved to Houston, he switched jobs and worked for Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto. He was an intelligent, compassionate, kind-

hearted person. Dick and his partner, Otto, lived together for 47 years until Otto’s death. In 2012, Dick moved to the Sequoias and then he met his dear friend, Patrick. They spent six cherished years together. Dick died unexpectedly on May 13, 2018. Patrick was by his side. He is survived by the families of his sister (Iras and daughter, Ea, and friend, Molly); brother (Bill and his wife, Ruth); and nephew (Stuart, his wife, Tina, and son, Christian). Dick, we miss you.

See page 14 >>

Obituaries >> Amburn Richard (Dick) Hague December 1, 1930 – May 13, 2018

Dick Hague was born in Bath, New York. After graduating from high school, he joined the Navy, where he had a berth on a destroyer radar picket ship. When he was discharged from the Navy in

A î Þ ¸ eeAî¹ ®

} ã

A î Þ ¸nën¢ ¢ ¹ } ã ®

t Community News>>

!n A

Þ®b}sÞ

kã

2ånÒeAîb $[Ü¼ ããb A[ ¶§Üa ksã §¢ §Î §ÜÜnÎî å¶eAÜnÒa ììì¼[A §ÜÜnÎî¼[§

Affordable cannabis gifts can fill stockings by Sari Staver

rom $5 stocking stuffer socks to $175 edible-making machines, you’ll have no trouble finding gifts for the cannabis aficionado in your life this holiday season. If you plan ahead, there are some amazing sales in December, including discounts on popular edibles, books, and clothing. Read on. When I’m looking for a cannabis gift, I always ask Marcella Sanchez, the knowledgeable and cheerful boutique operations coordinator at the Castro Apothecarium, for ideas. Sanchez, who identifies as queer, has been managing the dispensary’s gift shop for the past three years and keeps her eye out for new products, good values, and custom-made gift items. This year, the holidays discounts are better than ever, Sanchez said. In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter at the Apothecarium’s flagship store at 2029 Market Street, Sanchez suggested some newer products that she thinks would make great gifts. “I really love Hi-Fi Hops,” she said, referring to the new infused beverage made by ABX and Lagunitas. It tastes “like a light IPA” and is “fantastic” for cannabis cocktails, mixed with vodka and cranberry syrup, she said. For a gift, there are 10-packs priced at $75, or individual bottles for $9 each. Other fun ideas include the ECO Four Twenty, which filters odor and smoke upon exhale. “Remember using dryer sheets in a toilet paper roll?” Sanchez asked. It is $40. Along similar lines, the Apothecarium is selling a $20 room spray, Veil, which is formulated to hide the dank smell of herbs with a seasonal orange scent. If you’re looking for something more practical and know the recipient’s taste in cannabis edibles, check out these deals at the Apothecarium. From December 5-8, cannabis-infused marshmallows, brand name Mellows, will be 30% off, including the seasonal peppermint flavor. From December 1215, the entire line of Somatik cannabis-infused coffee products will also be 30% off. Somatik, by the way, is a

Harris

From page 1

“Kamala would be a fantastic president, and I’m proud to have supported her,” he wrote in a text message. “Her withdrawal is disappointing, but she has a bright future in politics. I look forward to working with her for the people of California.” Speculation had been rampant that Equality California, the statewide LGBT rights group, would endorse Harris in the race. She was the featured guest at its party during last month’s state Democratic Party convention in Long Beach. In a statement, EQCA praised Harris’ “historic” campaign. “Kamala’s historic campaign has already inspired millions of young people – young women and people of color, in particular – across the country,” EQCA Executive Director Rick Zbur wrote. “As a half-black, half Indian daughter of immigrants competing at the highest level, she has paved the way for future generations of leaders to run for office, too.” Zbur said that Harris “represents the very best of the Golden State and what we have to offer – a passion for justice, a commitment to equality, and an un-

Sari Staver

Marcella Sanchez holds a oneof-a-kind moon pipe by Wandering Bud on a custom limited edition rolling tray made by local woodworker Oaksmith, which includes a joint holder.

gay-owned San Francisco company that teams up with Ritual Coffee to produce high quality products. Other deals coming up at the Apothecarium: 40% off Grav Glass pipes, first week in December; 40% off all books, December 13-15; and 40% off all apparel, including the new trucker hats, December 20-22. Beginning December 2, HUF cannabis socks will be available for $5 a pair, until the supply runs out. Free gift boxes with any purchase, limited supply. And for that someone special, Sanchez brought out an artisan made wooden rolling tray by Oaksmith commissioned by the Apothecarium ($80) and one-of-a-kind moon pipes ($90) made by artist Wandering Bud. Despite the health concerns surrounding vaping, including a number of deaths attributed to it, Sanchez said that vape pens are still a popular gift choice. “I am 100% certain that our products have been triple tested and have not been involved with product recalls,” she said. Other gift ideas include many that are available online. A new line of clothing by www. girlsgonehigher.com, a company that supports the LGBT community and is offering 20% off its entire line

of hoodies, tote bags, and phone cases with the promotional code Higher20. The state-of-the-art ediblemaking machine, at www.magicalbutter.com, starts at $174.95. This high-end machine sells for less on Amazon and eBay but is not covered under warranty from these sellers. Highly recommended for home chefs with other full-time jobs. A new, limited-edition cannabis-infused Turkey Gravy, from the people known for their chocolates, https://kivaconfections.com/. According to the Kiva website, “this cheeky take on a normally mundane holiday staple features a groundbreaking, fast-acting technology that allows for faster THC absorption. Awkward family dinner conversation? In just under 15 minutes you’ll start feeling the effects, so you can sit back, relax, and let the holiday cheer wash over you.” Check the website for retail locations carrying Kiva products. My personal favorite cannabis product is the 10-ounce bottle of cannabis-infused lemonade from the local Flower Company, known as the “Costco of cannabis.” It is a delivery-only membership business whose everyday prices usually beat the competition, hands down. Each bottle contains 100mg of THC, providing a respectable serving for as little as $1.30. For further information, visit https://flowercompany. com/edibles/good-stuff-tonicslemonade. t Bay Area Cannasseur runs the first Thursday of the month. To send column ideas or tips, email Sari Staver at sfsari@gmail.com.

See page 15 >>

We’ve got more bikes in stock & ready We have San Francisco’s largest to ride than any shop in SF selection of Kid’s Bikes! MANY ON SALE!

Hybrid/City

Kid’s

CVALENIA YLERY Road

Mountain

Your LAYAWAY one-stop shop for the NOW! 20% whole holds itfamily! ‘til Christmas

VALENCIA CYCLERY

VALENCIA CYCLERY valenciacyclery.com

Hybrid/City

Kid’s

Y o u r h o m e f o r t h e h o l i d ay s E X PA N D E D F I T N E S S CENTER WITH VIEWS

"©Ð

n ënÎ

{ î§å e§ ¢§ î§å Aën A¢ Ün n¶ §¢na

0A¢ ÎA¢[ §Ü nÎ AÎ §Î {Aí Ü§ ¸ ÜÜ¶aØØììì

! ÒÒne en A¼ ¼ {§Î În¶

2 n Î§¢ [ QA eåÎ ¢ ÎnÃånÒÜ¼ 2§ QA ne [A

${{ [n §å QnÜìnn¢ s

"nìÒ e Aî ÎnA §§ Ò åÒ ¢nÒÒ

AÜnQ§§

§§eÀ § $¶ ¢ §¢ 0¶§ÎÜÒ 0Üî n 2ÎAën

1065 & 1077 Valencia (Btwn 21st & 22nd St.) SF

SALES 415-550-6600 • REPAIRS 415-550-6601 Mon-Sat 10-6,10-6, Thur 10-7, Sun 11-5 Mon-Sat Sun 11-5

We’vegotmorebikesinstock&ready

Money woes

Þ o ¸Ðo oÐ£ o Þ o Ð f |ç fo

VALENCIA CYCLERY

We’ve got more bikes in stock & ready to ride than any shop in SF MANY ON SALE!

broken spirit. While we are sorry to see her leave the race, our hearts are filled with pride knowing she’ll continue to fight for us in the United States Senate.” At the end of the last reporting period, September 30, Harris had about $9 million in her campaign coffers; Buttigieg had $23 million. Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who continues to lead in national polls, had only $9 million in his campaign chest at the end of September, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Harris launched her campaign in January in Oakland, with a rally attended by more than 20,000 people. She ended it Tuesday, writing an email to supporters, “although I am no longer running for president, I will do everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump and fight for the future of our country and the best of who we are.” Harris said that she is still “very much in this fight,” and said she would continue working for people’s voices to be heard. She was first elected to her Senate seat in 2016 and will be up for re-election in 2022.

©£oÔÞ ð¾ Þ Ô ©çÐ ¸© \ð Þ© \©ÐÐo\Þ Ô £ | \B£Þ oÐÐ©ÐÔ ©| |B\Þ ©Ð Ô oBf £ ÔÞBÞo o£ÞÔ¾ . oBÔo îÐ Þo Þ© ©ÐÐo\Þ ©£Ôc 1B£ ÐB£\ Ô\© Ð©£ \ oc ¥ö° ! ÔÔ ©£ 1Þ¾c 1B£ ÐB£\ Ô\©c

• 13 Area Reporter December 5-11, 2019 • Bay ¥ °öà ©Ð Ôo£f o B Þ© \©ÐÐo\Þ ©£ÔPÔ|\ Ð©£ \ o¾\© ¾

STELLAR NEW LOBBY

R E VA M P E D R E S TA U R A N T & B A R

U s e c o d e “ B A R ” a n d e n j oy c o m p l i m e n ta ry b r e a k fa s t *

Road

Mountain

9 0 5 C a l i f o r n i a S t, S a n F r a n c i s c o , C A 9 4 1 0 8 / T : 4 1 5 . 9 8 9 . 3 5 0 0 / s t a n f o r d c o u r t. c o m / @ s t a n f o r d c o u r t s f * R e s t r i c t i o n s a p p ly

<< Community News

14 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

LGBTQ strategy

From page 12

Beswick told the B.A.R. this week that he was informed by city planning staff in November that they had been reviewing the cultural strategy with the mayor’s budget office with the goal of seeing certain funding requests be included in Breed’s proposed budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. He expressed hope that the mayor’s budget proposal will include funding to help the society as it looks to nail down a site in the Castro where it can build its new museum, likely in partnership with a housing developer. “I am excited it is under review by the mayor’s budget office,” said Bes-

wick, whose organization was also a major backer for forming the Castro cultural district. Asked about the delay in seeing the citywide cultural strategy secure final adoption at City Hall, Beswick replied it was to be expected the city’s internal review of the document would take longer than initially hoped. “We took our time with the whole project because it is a very wideranging report. It touches on so many areas of the city’s economy and culture and existing organizations had to be taken into consideration,” said Beswick. “During that time, of course, we had a new mayor and changes in the Board of Supervisors and changes in the administration.”

He expects the supervisors’ support for the cultural strategy once it reaches the board, as he has kept a number of supervisors and their staffs apprised of the project. “They are waiting to move forward,” said Beswick. “My hope has always been that the report will inform the city’s budget processes.” When the strategy wasn’t ready in time for this year’s budget talks, said Beswick, “it took the air out of ” seeing it come to fruition in 2019. He is now hopeful that there will be funding for the LGBT cultural initiatives called for in the strategy in the next budget cycle. “Now we are into next year’s budget process, and I think it is important the mayor’s budget office

Salvation Army

From page 5

When she disobeyed its rules, she was forced to leave the program, ended up homeless for several days, and then found her way to the Harbor Light Center in December 2017. “I didn’t want to go back to the reservation. I felt my sobriety wasn’t strong enough and I knew I would be using on the reservation,” explained Smith, who reached out to people she had met in the local Native American community for assistance. She is studying to become a nurse specialist at City College of San Francisco. This year in June, to promote the Salvation Army having a booth at the annual Pride LGBT celebration, Smith posted on her Facebook account about the agency’s embrace of LGBT people. She told the B.A.R. she was surprised by the negative reactions it generated. “A lot of Native Americans from the two-spirited organizations had said they were surprised the Salvation Army was supporting the gay community,” said Smith, who responded to the comments to explain she was a participant of one of its programs. “I said I was there to support myself and people who were two-spirited. They were glad and said it was a big change.” Both Robinson and Smith, who became fast friends in the program, told the B.A.R. they never felt afraid to come out while at the Harbor Light Center. But they acknowledged that the program might not be the right fit for other LGBT people because of it being run by a Christian organization. “For a long time I didn’t love myself,” said Robinson. “I only learned to love myself by being here.” Such assistance that LGBT people find through the Salvation Army is why gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman stopped by the organization’s annual turkey carving event ahead of Thanksgiving, despite the misgivings he personally has about the service provider. “San Francisco has a complicated relationship with many religious organizations, and the Salvation Army is one of them. I do not, as a gay man, love its positions on same-sex marriage but the reality is the Salvation Army is the most important provider of substance use treatment and shelter to homeless folks in San Francisco,” said Mandelman. “Many, many queer people have turned their lives around with the help of the Salvation Army. I have spoken with representatives of the Salvation Army about my concerns with (its) position on LGBTQ equality. I also recognize they are a critical partner and provide vital services to queer people and others.” In response, Mandelman said the agency has pointed out its anti-discrimination policies, such as allowing same-sex couples with children to live together in its housing for families. “They reassured me they do not discriminate, that they are open to all, and they do not make religious beliefs or subscribing to their particular religious views a requirement for accessing their services,” he said. “They understand where they are operating, in San Francisco, and do not have a

Rick Gerharter

District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, left, talks with San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson as they joined Mayor London Breed and San Francisco Police Department Deputy Chief Michael Redmond for turkey carving at the Salvation Army’s Harbor Light Center November 27.

problem with me as a gay man or the community I represent. They want to work together.”

Past history

Nine years ago the B.A.R. editorialized against its readers and others supportive of the LGBT community from dropping any money into the Salvation Army’s ubiquitous red kettles during the Christmas season. The editorial noted that the agency’s website said gays needed to be celibate and that there was no scriptural support for same-sex marriages being equal to opposite-sex marriages. “While it says that its services are available to all who qualify, without regard to sexual orientation, the bottom line is that the Salvation Army has used its considerable reach and long history to fight against marriage equality and equal rights for all,” noted the editorial. Many within the local LGBT community still recall how, in 1997, the Salvation Army dropped its $3.5 million contract with San Francisco so as not to have to adhere to a newly enacted city ordinance that agencies funded with taxpayer dollars had to offer the same health benefits to its LGBT employees in domestic partnerships as it did to its married heterosexual employees. In 2001, the agency’s Western Territory announced it would offer domestic partner benefits after a change in policy approved at the national level. But it quickly reversed course due to heated criticism from conservative Christian groups. It took another six years before the Salvation Army began offering domestic partner benefits in its Western Territory, which is comprised of the 13 Western United States, including California. Today, the agency notes on its website that it does not discriminate against anyone and that it does not lobby the federal government on any issue. It also states, “At times, the Salvation Army has joined other religious organizations in solidarity on issues like religious liberty and the traditional definition of marriage.” For that reason, many LGBT people continue to view the Salvation Army as an anti-LGBT organization. It was painted as such in numerous news reports last month when it was learned that the Atlanta-based Chickfil-A had dropped its support in 2019

for two organizations – the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes – that have been criticized for their positions on LGBT rights. That prompted national Salvation Army officials to issue a statement calling such descriptions inaccurate. Hodder told the B.A.R., “I would say that is absolutely the case. The Salvation Army is not anti-LGBTQ, the Salvation Army is not anti anyone.”

Meeting LGBT leaders

The news about Chick-fil-A, which last year gave $115,000 toward the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program that delivers toys to children during the holidays, broke the same day that Hodder had flown to Dallas to meet with Shannon Minter, a transgender man who is legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights based in San Francisco. Hodder had befriended another national LGBT leader, Evan Wolfson, when the two attended law school at Harvard. Wolfson, prior to the recent news coverage about the Salvation Army, had offered to introduce Hodder to other LGBT leaders, leading to his sit down with Minter. “So as we come to Christmas, and as the public’s attention turns to the Salvation Army, we can anticipate that there will be a number of supporters who step forward like our good friends at BART, who are serving a tremendous role in helping us get the message out. And we know that there will be questions,” said Hodder. “So we want to respond to all of that because this is an opportunity to tell everyone, ‘Come to the Army, where you’ll be loved and cared for and treated with respect and dignity.’ That’s really the genesis of this, and I’ve shared this with Shannon Minter, and I’ve shared this with Evan Wolfson, as you know, and I hope to have a number of additional meetings in the days to come.” In a phone interview with the B.A.R. shortly after his meeting with Hodder, Minter acknowledged that he was unaware that the Salvation Army had adopted a non-discrimination policy stating it would not deny service to anyone due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. “Obviously, I wanted to know if they would serve transgender people, especially now that HUD is rolling

is reviewing it with planning to attach money to it so it can go into the mayor’s budget next year,” he said. Gina Simi, a spokeswoman for the planning department, confirmed with the B.A.R. that the cultural strategy would not be presented again to the Historic Preservation Commission until sometime in 2020. The oversight body’s last meeting of 2019 is scheduled for December 18 and its agenda will not include a vote on the document, wrote Simi in an emailed reply. “This is still under review with the mayor’s budget office and therefore not on the agenda for the 18th. But we expect it will be early next year,” explained Simi.

The mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment by the B.A.R.’s press deadline Wednesday. The mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment by the B.A.R.’s press deadline Wednesday. Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said this week that it has been months since planning staff last updated his office about the strategy. “I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with,” he said. “Based on that, we will be figuring out next steps.” To learn more about the city’s LGBT cultural strategy, visit its website at https://sfplanning.org/project/ lgbtq-cultural-heritage-strategy. t

back anti-discrimination policies and other anti-LGBT actions being taken by the Trump administration,” said Minter, referring to the federal Housing and Urban Development Department. “The Salvation Army is such a big provider of substance use services. It came as news to me and I was thrilled to hear about their nondiscrimination policy.” Minter, in turn, helped facilitate an introduction between Hodder and the B.A.R. At the same time BART board Director Bevan Dufty, a gay man about to step down as president, had suggested to local Salvation Army officials in San Francisco that they also speak to the paper about their policies, services, and plans for expansion. Dufty, a former city supervisor and mayoral aide, recalled that local representatives of the agency sought him out when he oversaw homeless services in the administration of the late mayor Ed Lee. “It wasn’t an easy fit for this gay Jewish guy. They extended a hand to me, and we spent an hour together and I was surprised by how open they were talking about the LGBT community,” said Dufty. “Had they not sought me out, I don’t know how long it would have taken for me to meet with them. I wasn’t connected to them.” Over the last seven years Dufty said he has gotten to know the local Salvation Army and its programs better and recommended clients seek out its services. He has also met quite a few LGBT individuals who support the nonprofit and think highly of its programs. It is partly why he believes BART should contract with the Salvation Army to do outreach to the homeless people in its stations and on its trains. It would be able to offer more services and more immediately than the city could, argued Dufty. “We don’t want to continue having people engage people, we want to help people. The Salvation Army is a great option to do it,” he said. “We wanted to understand if there were issues that would make it impossible to work with them. But so far it looks promising, and people will see more things happening to help people in the stations.”

Salvation Army invited a number of local officials working to address the city’s homeless and housing issues to speak on a panel about their efforts. Among them was gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who said it was the first time the agency had asked him to address it. “The Salvation Army has a significant presence in the Tenderloin and provides a lot of services to poor people, the homeless, and people facing mental health challenges. I know there has been a challenging history with the Salvation Army and I definitely acknowledge that,” said Wiener. “They are providing a lot of good services in the Tenderloin, and we need all the help we can get.” None of his LGBT constituents has expressed problems when turning to the Salvation Army for assistance, said Wiener, who stressed if anyone has they should contact his office. He expressed support for the agency’s new initiative to address homelessness while at the same time acknowledging it has a “complicated” past in terms of LGBT issues. “Some of the history with the Salvation Army is problematic,” said Wiener. “My hope is the organization is truly changing because they provide some great services. We need to make sure those services are available to everyone.” Hodder shared with the B.A.R. a card that every Salvation Army bell ringer is being given this year to handout to people who inquire about its LGBT policies. Similar in size to business cards, they explain the agency’s non-discrimination policies and direct people to visit a website – http://www.salvationarmytruth.org – that Salvation Army USA set up a few years ago to directly address the LGBT community. “As you know, it’s always a challenge to get a message out. So we know we have to redouble our efforts in that regard,” he said. “So, our hope, and our plan, is that as a consequence of The Way Out, that’s one thing we’ll be able to do.” When asked if the Salvation Army continues to be against same-sex marriage, Hodder responded that the agency isn’t “anti anyone, I should say, we are for everyone,” and doesn’t advocate against anything. “The Salvation Army advocates for people. We don’t oppose anything, we endorse things that help people,” said Hodder. “The Salvation Army has a mission statement which is very simple: to proclaim the gospel, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and meet human needs in his name, without discrimination. So that is why the Salvation Army serves everyone.” In terms of the local Salvation Army apologizing for how it initially reacted when San Francisco adopted its equal benefits ordinance, Hodder replied he didn’t know since he wasn’t stationed in the city at the time. “I don’t know if any such apology was ever issued but I can tell you this – the Salvation Army, like any individual, and any organization that is responsive to people, grows and develops and learns,” said Hodder. t

Questions may remain

Nonetheless, Dufty acknowledged that some LGBT people continue to question how supportive a religiousbased agency can be of the community. That was proved by the Twitter reaction he and BART received this week via social media. “The Salvation Army recognizes the values we have in San Francisco and sees themselves in being an ally and working with the LGBTQ community,” said Dufty, who also met with the Hodders while they were in town to speak with the B.A.R. “They are a tough sell in some ways to the LGBT community because of the ways organized religions and particularly devout religious leaders have weaponized queer people. And so I think that’s one element. “And the Salvation Army hasn’t really figured out how to go out and be more affirmative and change the perception it has among LGBT people,” added Dufty. At its luncheon last month the

t <<

Community News>>

Harris

From page 13

As recently as Monday night, the Harris campaign was sending out routine news releases, announcing endorsements. Early Monday afternoon, the campaign issued a news release announcing that California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) would be campaigning for Harris in Iowa Decem-

San Jose

From page 9

The health department is also working with community partners (https://www.sccgov.org/sites/ phd/services/hiv-resources/Pages/ partners-services.aspx), such as the Watergarden, San Jose’s gay bathhouse, and the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Community Center, bringing testing and treatment to where at-risk communities gather. There is also a new opt-out HIV testing system. Patients have to inform their doctor they don’t want to be tested for HIV or they will automatically be tested. According to the CDC, an esti-

PrEP

From page 11

problems and bone loss in susceptible individuals. But the new pill is not yet approved for people who have vaginal or frontal sex because cisgender women and trans men were excluded from clinical trials of Descovy for PrEP. Truvada and Descovy both cost around $1,600 per month. Gilead offers a patient assistance program for low-income individuals and copay cards to reduce out-of-pocket

December 5-11, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 15

ber 14 and 15. Newsom, a Democrat, endorsed Harris in February. “Kamala Harris is exiting the way she entered – with grace, grit & a love for America,” Newsom tweeted Tuesday. “She campaigned fiercely & never lost sight of those who matter most – families who deserve their shot at the American Dream. My faith in her remains stronger than ever. The best is yet to come.” Harris had polled in third place

early in the year, behind Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), and she experienced a surge of support following the June debate when she confronted Biden over his pride in having worked with segregationists “to oppose busing.” But Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Buttigieg soon had their own surges and quickly leap-frogged over her. Harris was one of the few Democratic presidential candidates to re-

mated 55% of adults (18-64) have never been tested for HIV. Even among people who are at a higher risk for contracting HIV, 28% have never been tested. Early results from the new testing system are positive, Han said. Han is also working to ensure access to affordable medication. He applauded California Governor Gavin Newsom for signing Senate Bill 159, which allows pharmacies to provide up to two month’s of PrEP without a prescription. The bill was co-authored by gay State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and gay Assemblyman Todd Gloria (DSan Diego)

“I think that all of us here believe that health care is a human right,” said Han. Han is glad to see city leaders and community organizations working together toward getting to zero, which aims to dramatically reduce HIV transmissions by getting patients into early treatment and eliminating stigma. “It’s so inspiring to see leaders in the community really advocating for efforts to end the epidemic,” said Han, “to actually have the dream of ending the epidemic [and] the desire to end the epidemic.” t

expenses for those with insurance, but many people continue to face financial barriers. Earlier this year, Gilead announced that it will donate 2.4 million bottles of Truvada and Descovy to the federal government over the next decade. Advocates allege that the CDC holds patents on the use of these pills for HIV prevention and have demanded that the company fund a national PrEP program that includes both free pills and wraparound services such as lab tests and clinical care.

The nation’s largest drug store chains, CVS Health, Walgreens and Rite Aid, will provide dispensing services at no cost for the Ready, Set, PrEP initiative. By the end of March, eligible people – those who are HIV negative, have a PrEP prescription, and lack prescription drug coverage – will be able to obtain the prevention pills at more than 21,000 pharmacies or through mail order. Visit http://www.GetYourPrEP.com or call (855) 447-8410 for more information. t

Classifieds To place your classified ad, call us at

415-861-5019

Hauling>>

HAULING 24/7 – (415) 441-1054 Large Truck

Cleaning Services>> FEELING DIRTY? – Housecleaning Richard 415-255-0389

lease her own plan addressing a wide range of LGBT issues. Among other things, she said she would appoint a “chief advocate for LGBTQ+ affairs” at the White House and fund a new office to help various federal agencies in their work with the community. Harris becomes the third Democrat to drop out of the race in recent days, though several others have left the primary field in the last few months. Among the more high-profile de-

Cynthia Laird contributed reporting.

ebar.com Outreach Ads December 2019 The SFMTA is conducting a survey to better understand perceptions of sharing rides in San Francisco. To connect San Franciscans safely, equitably, and sustainably to their communities, we must make more efficient use of our street infrastructure. Increasing vehicle occupancy through shared rides, either in carpools or shared ride-matching apps, is one way to more efficiently utilize our existing street space. We are trying to identify priorities for San Francisco residents and the barriers they face when considering using shared ride options through this survey. Take the survey at sfmta.com/projects/shared-rides-pilot Child support matters can be complicated, stressful, and confusing. The Department of Child Support Services helps parents understand the process so they know their rights and options for making and receiving support payments. Call us today at (866) 901-3212 or visit our office at 617 Mission Street to learn how we can help you. Information is also available online at www.sfgov.org/dcss. Would you like the opportunity to bring positive change to your community? Would you like to help make the City and County of San Francisco a safer place for all? Here is your chance to join the men and women of the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department. We are currently accepting applications for the position of Deputy Sheriff. The salary range for this entry level position is $74,152 to $94,666 per year with full benefits. Choose to make a difference today! Apply online today at: https://bit.ly/sfdeputy SAN FRANCISCO SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT | 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room #456 San Francisco, CA 94102 | Phone: 1 (877) SFSD-JOB | Website: www.sfsheriff.com Let Your Career Take Off at SFO Discover Why SFO is a Great Place to Learn, Earn, Grow and Thrive With jobs in all parts of the airport, from cargo and security, to airlines and concessions, companies at SFO are always hiring! Visit flysfo.com/careers or call 650.821.5242 to learn about job openings and the benefits of working at the Bay Area’s largest airport. Sunshine Ordinance Task Force The Task Force advises the Board of Supervisors and provides information to other City departments on appropriate ways in which to implement the Sunshine Ordinance (Chapter 67 of the Administrative Code); to ensure that deliberations of commissions, boards, councils and other agencies of the City and County are conducted before the people and that City operations are open to the people’s review. Upcoming term expirations or vacancies: Vacant Seat 1, succeeding Matthew Cate, resigned, must be nominated by the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and be an attorney, for the unexpired portion of a two-year term ending April 27, 2020. Vacant Seat 8, succeeding Frank Cannata, resigned, must have demonstrated interest in, or have experience in, the issues of citizen access and participation in local government, for the unexpired portion of a two-year term ending April 27, 2020. Seat 11, succeeding Fiona Hinze, term expiring April 27, 2019, must have demonstrated interest in, or have experience in, the issues of citizen access and participation in local government, for a two-year term ending April 27, 2021. The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions.

CNS-3316825#

Tech Support >>

MACINTOSH HELP

Tech Support

•Home OR OFFICE •28 YEARS EXPERIENCE

Ralph Doore 415-867-4657

SFMACMAN.com RICK

Jobs Offered>>

partures are former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke and New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Montana Governor Steve Bullock quit the race Monday, and former Pennsylvania congressman John Sestak ended his campaign Sunday. t

415.821.1792

JOBS OFFERED - SR. DESTRUCTIBLE ARTIST. –

Serve as high-level contributor to the development of artistic techniques & processes utilized to define & achieve product’s visual style or encourage artistic evolution within the studio. Req. 4yrs exp in job or 4 yrs exp as Artist, Modeller & Special Effects Artist or rel. occup. Jobsite: Foster City, CA. Send resume ref#19057 to: K. Jones, Activision Publishing, Inc., 3100 Ocean Park Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405.

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

 Yelp reviews

Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555370

In the matter of the application of: SURYADI JUNAEDY C/O CHUNG N. PHANG, ESQ., LAW OFFICES OF CHUNG N. PHANG, 300 FRANK H. OGAWA PLAZA # 209, OAKLAND, CA 94612, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner SURYADI JUNAEDY, is requesting that the name SURYADI JUNAEDY, be changed to PETER LIM. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, on the 14th of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555350

In the matter of the application of: MICHAEL DRAPER CALFEE, 2261 MARKET ST PMB 181, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MICHAEL DRAPER CALFEE, is requesting that the name MICHAEL DRAPER CALFEE aka MICHAEL CALFEE aka MICHAEL D. CALFEE, be changed to MICHAEL KITTEN DRAPER CALFEE. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, on the 24th of December 2019 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038848100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE BEST MAID SERVICE; MENDEZ CRUZ CATERING; 25 LESSING ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LUIS ARTURO MENDEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/29/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/29/19.

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038830300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MOONSPIRED, 1010 16TH ST #233 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JI MOON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/21/19.

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038860500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STUDIO C SKINCARE; PUCKER PUNCH COSMETICS; 2159 UNION ST #5, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHERYL L. ROUCH. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/03. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/07/19.

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038827000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: COLLECTIVE LIGHT PRODUCTIONS, 633 CAMBRIDGE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GEOFFREY KEN ICHI NORMAN. 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 10/16/19.

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038843900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SILICON VALLEY VENTURE CAPITAL CLUB, 388 MARKET ST #1300, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOHN QUOC NGUYEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/21/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/28/19.

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038856100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STORYTREE, 2101 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed REBECCA WILLIAMS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/04/19.

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038861300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PERCEPTIVE ENTERTAINMENT, 1479 14TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed LORRAINE HESS & ERIN CRYSDALE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/08/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/19.

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038860100

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038841100

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038849400

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555332

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SF CITY PROPERTIES, 4153 24TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed MURPHY O’BRIEN REAL EST. INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/07/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/07/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: UDUPI PALACE, 1007-1/2 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed UDUPI 266 SF, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/30/19.

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038858200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DECK THE HALLS; JUNGLE THEORY; 1490 SACRAMENTO ST #24, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed GUERRILLA VISION LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/05/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/06/19.

NOV 14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2019

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LOVE, INDIE B, 555 MISSION ROCK ST UNIT 420, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94158. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed LOVE, INDIE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/15/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/25/19.

In the matter of the application of: PANG TSU WANG, 901 BAYSHORE BLVD #313, SAN FRANCISCO, CA94124, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner PANG TSU WANG, is requesting that the name PANG TSU WANG, be changed to PETER PANG TSU WANG. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, on the 17th of December 2019 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038832100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DEZAYNO, 237 KEARNY ST #9048, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAVID GREENE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/14/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/21/19.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019

<< Legals

16 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555383 In the matter of the application of: HALLIE CHERTOK, 85 MANCHESTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner HALLIE CHERTOK & MIRIAM ROTKIN-ELLMAN, are requesting that the name KAYDEN BERNIE CHERTOK ELLMAN, be changed to KAYDEN BERNIE CHERTOK-ELLMAN. 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.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555381

In the matter of the application of: LANCE DALTON SHANNON, 3533 16TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner LANCE DALTON SHANNON, is requesting that the name LANCE DALTON SHANNON, be changed to GAGE DALTON LENNOX. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 103 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.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555377

In the matter of the application of: JOYE WILEY #191156, 2140 SHATTUCK AVE #1108, BERKELEY, CA 94704, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner EDISON ALEXANDRO ENDO, is requesting that the name EDISON ALEXANDRO ENDO, be changed to ALEX ENDO. 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 9th of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038844400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MOOVIETRIBE.COM, 1 AVENUE OF THE PALMS #413, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94130. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JASON HANCOCK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/28/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/28/19.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038842000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RW HARBOR AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE, 175 BAY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RAYMOND WONG. 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 10/25/19.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038850400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SF LASH HABIT, 409 16TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARIA VAZQUEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/30/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/30/19.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038828500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: COSINA MAYAH RESTAURANT, 2909 16TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RODOLFO MAAY. 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 10/17/19.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038866000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BRAVO PIZZA, 5145 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PETER PROKOPOS. 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 11/14/19.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038862900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: XSPACE BUILDERS, 3150 18TH ST #222, MAIL BOX 113, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TOMAS PASCUAL. 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 11/12/19.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038867500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DELCID TRUCKING, 1788 19TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SANDRA CASTELLANOS. 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.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038862700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STRATEGICONCEPTS, 93 CLEARFIELD DR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAVID CARRASCO. 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.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038863000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: IL CILENTANO, 579 COLUMBUS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed SANTOLO ESPOSITO & YANESSA BACANI. 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.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038863600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: G & O TAX SERVICES CORP, 1341 STOCKTON ST #10, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed G & O TAX SERVICES CORP. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/19/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/12/19.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038856500

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038876500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRAN LOCKSMITH, 259 DOLORES ST #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MATAN SCHEJTER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/06/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/19.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038874700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SWEET GLORY, 721 LARKIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed THE GREY HOUSE INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/30/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/05/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GRILL “N” CURRY INDIAN PAKISTANI CUISINE, 1033 IRVING ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SHAMEEL A.M. WANI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/20/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/20/19.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038860600

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038873100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PACIFIC EDGE REAL ESTATE GROUP, 215 WEST PORTAL AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ALEC MIRONOV, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/07/19.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038861900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CALIFORNIA SMART FOODS, 2565 THIRD ST #341, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed RUDY MELNITZER & HELAINE MELNITZER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/01/00. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/19.

NOV 21, 28, DEC 05, 12, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555398

In the matter of the application of: SHIRAN STEPHANIE AMIR, 3025 VAN NESS AVE #9, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner SHIRAN STEPHANIE AMIR, is requesting that the name SHIRAN STEPHANIE AMIR, be changed to STEPHANIE SHIRAN AMIR. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103, on the 16th of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555408

In the matter of the application of: RUTH CURRY CLEMENTS, 1595 PACIFIC AVE #405, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner RUTH CURRY CLEMENTS, is requesting that the name RUTH CURRY CLEMENTS, be changed to CURRY CLEMENTS COZZI. 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 23rd of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555410

In the matter of the application of: DEBBIEDAWN ELIZABETH KAHN, 3918 MISSION ST #3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner DEBBIEDAWN ELIZABETH KAHN, is requesting that the name DEBBIEDAWN ELIZABETH KAHN AKA DEBBIE DAWN ELIZABETH KAHN, be changed to DEBBIE DAWN ELIZABETH KAHN. 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 23rd of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555406

In the matter of the application of: TAGHI ASTANEHE (SBN# 236334), 819 EDDY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CAROL ANN SEBASTIANO-VINCI, is requesting that the name CAROL ANN SEBASTIANO-VINCI, be changed to CAROL ANN SEBASTIANO. 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 23rd of January 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038879000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FOCUS INTERNATIONAL, 1539 21ST AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ZHI XIONG HE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/09/90. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/22/19.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038878900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GODOGPRO, 242 ATHENS ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed REN VOLPE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/22/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/22/19.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038871900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GREG MESTAS, 648 32ND ST, RICHMOND, CA 94804. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GREG MESTAS. 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 11/19/19.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PAINTED LADIES TOUR COMPANY, 1020 REDWOOD HWY FRONTAGE RD, #1, MILL VALLEY, CA 94941. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed PAINTED LADIES TOUR COMPANY (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/19/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/19/19.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038866800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EVERGREEN GARDEN RESTAURANT, 3100 18TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed EVERGREEN GARDEN RESTAURANT (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/14/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/14/19.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038869800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: YARSA NEPALESE CUISINE, 1310 GRANT AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed YARSA NEPALESE CUISINE (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/18/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/18/19.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038857100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RAYMOND THOMAS WONG INSURANCE AGENCY, 2655 VAN NESS AVE #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed RTW INSURANCE AGENCY LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/30/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/05/19.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-036169800

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: PAINTED LADIES TOUR COMPANY, 629 GUERRERO ST #5, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by JOSHUA STEPHEN ARMEL. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/14.

NOV 28, DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF RICARDO RON IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-19-303348

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of ESTATE OF RICARDO RON C/O TERRENCE P. MURPHY SBN 104739, LAW OFFICES OF TERRENCE P. MURPHY, 5 THIRD ST, #1100, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. A Petition for Probate has been filed by NAKARI RON in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that NAKARI RON 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: December 23, 2019, 9:00 am, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the 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: Terrence P. Murphy, SBN 104739, Law Offices Of Terrence P. Murphy, 5 Third St, #1100, San Francisco, CA 94103; Ph. (415) 495-3950 ext. 103.

DEC 05, 12, 19, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555434

In the matter of the application of: FRANK JAMES GONZALES III, 170 MAJESTIC AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner FRANK JAMES GONZALES III, is requesting that the name FRANK JAMES GONZALES III, be changed to TRE ROSE GONZALES. 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 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 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 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555425

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 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555412

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 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 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 G.F. WINE (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 AMENDED SUMMONS NOTICE TO DEFENDANTS: HENRY W. AND CHARLOTTE N. BESUDEN, AS CO-TRUSTEES 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

Wake-up call

With Whitney

Sincerely, Julie

Holiday books

Vol. 49 • No. 49 • December 5-11, 2019

www.ebar.com/arts

by David-Elijah Nahmod

T The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus performs a previous holiday concert.

30 years of Strand by David Lamble

ith “30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing,” the venerable gay-owned film distribution company Strand Releasing celebrates its 30th anniversary in a special program at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on Thurs., Dec. 5. More than 30 independent directors and Strand supporters are coming together to mark Strand’s longstanding contributions to independent moviemaking as an important fund-granting arm for indie filmmakers of all persuasions. The filmmakers have created short films for the occasion, shot on iPhones courtesy of Apple. Some of the films are being screened across the country at select venues: the Museum of Modern Art in New York, LA’s Hammer Museum, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, and the Wexner Center Center for the Arts in Columbus, OH.

San Francisco Performances will present Dawn Upshaw and the Brentano String Quartet.

Courtesy the artist

Scene from director Lino Brocka’s “Macho Dancer.”

Strand Releasing

JP Lor

Holidays with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus

he San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus is riding high. They’re just coming off the release of the new documentary “Gay Chorus Deep South,” which followed their goodwill tour of the Southern US, a tour that attracted a fair amount of press attention. Now the Chorus prepares to celebrate the holiday season as they bring their annual extravaganza to the Sydney Goldstein Theater (formerly the Nourse Theater), followed by three Christmas Eve performances at the iconic Castro Theatre. The Chorus’ artistic director Dr. Tim Seelig spoke to the B.A.R. about the shows and about their hectic schedule. See page 22 >>

Wintertime concerts by Philip Campbell

ove it or loathe it, or something in-between, the holidays are here, and Christmas music is everywhere. Regardless of taste, religion, or lack thereof, music-lovers can still agree: a cozy concert helps cure the wintertime blues. From intimate recitals to large-scale choral works, San Francisco and Bay Area venues warm to a wide variety of repertoire. There are even dueling “Messiahs” vying for listeners. December brings beloved down-to-earth diva See page 22 >>

See page 18 >>

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

<< Out There

18 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

Despereaux, a mouse against despair by Roberto Friedman

or a happily childless adult, Out There sure does see a lot of “family friendly” theatre and entertainment appropriate for children. “Hansel and Gretel,” “Stomp,” the two-part “Harry Potter” excitement, San Francisco Ballet’s upcoming classic “Nutcracker” – there are delighted kids in all of those audiences, mostly better mannered and behaved than their adults. The latest in these “for all ages” attractions we’re attending was PigPen Theatre Co.’s “The Tale of Despereaux,” which opened last week at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. This inventive theatre collective tells the story of the Newbery Medal-winning novel for children written by Kate DiCamillo using puppets, flashlights and all manner of primitive theatrics, and thereby makes it compelling.

Strand 30

From page 17

Strand Releasing began in 1989 with the partnership of three men: Jon Gerrans, Marcus Hu and Mike Thomas. The partners kicked off their distribution business, named after San Francisco’s venerable Strand rep movie theatre on Market St., with director Lino Brocka’s “Macho Dancer” from the Philippines. That film offered a candid look at the burgeoning gay scene in the conservative Catholic country. Its commercial success, with its partial nudity and sensual dancing, proved a launching pad for the company, which now has more than 400

It’s the fable of the courageous if miniscule mouse Despereaux, shunned by his community for his love of stories, who eventually saves his forlorn kingdom. PigPen Theatre Co. tells the story through live onstage music-making, and the performance does appeal to adults and children alike. As PigPen put it in the Berkeley Rep program (yes, the company answered all interview questions collectively), “If a story doesn’t connect with an adult, why would they want to share it with their child? And if a story doesn’t connect with a child – well, where’s the fun in that?” “Despereaux” (book, music, and lyrics by PigPen Theatre Co., directed by Marc Bruni and PigPen Theatre Co.) runs through Jan. 5, 2020. www.berkeleyrep.org.

Pottery barn

If you tried to find us at our desk last Sunday, where we usually can titles in its library. “30/30 Vision” includes highlights from the filmmakers Andrew Ahn, Karim Aïnouz, Fatih Akin, Catherine Breillat, Roddy Bogawa, Brady Corbet, Amy Davis & Jon Moritsugu, Alain Gomis, Bradley Rust Gray, Lynn Hershman, Christophe Honoré, Connor Jessup, Tom Kalin, So Yong Kim, Guy Madden, Tommy O’Haver, Jenni Olson, Rithy Panh, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Daniel Ribeiro, Ira Sachs, James Schamus, A.B. Shawky, Cindy Sherman, Elisabeth Subrin, Lulu Wang, and Baltimore’s witty favorite son, John Waters, who invented many of the unruly rules of the road for queer underground films. Thai

You Asked – We Listened!

be found, we were instead attending the full-day pressopening marathon of Parts I & II of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” at the Curran. Now, Out There is not a natural Potterhead; we’ve read none of the books, and seen none of the movies. So we needed a cram course, pronto. We found it in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: The Journey – Behind the Scenes of the Kevin Berne/Berkeley Repertory Theatre Aw a r d - W i n n i n g Stage Production,” Dan Weschler (Stained-Glass Knight) and Dorcas Leung (Despereaux) with Betsy a hefty tome put Morgan (Antoinette) and Ryan Melia (Librarian) in Berkeley Rep’s production of out by Scholastic “PigPen Theatre Co.’s The Tale of Despereaux” (left). “Harry Potter” arrives (right). press that promises “a backstage pass from the original series of tales by West End of London, and the Lyric to this magical production and the J.K. Rowling; notes on workshops, Theatre on Broadway, customstory of its path to the West End, rehearsals, and designs; costumes, redesigned for “Cursed Child.” Our Broadway and beyond.” In its oversets, music and props; and stories Potter appetite was thereby whetsized pages we found chapters on of the show moving into its first ted. Look in our theatre pages next how this sequel story was developed homes, the Palace Theatre in the issue for the review. t director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has some original takes on his very special nation. World of Wonder Productions, gay partners Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato, have created perceptive nonfiction looks at modern queer life, including “101 Rent Boys,” first-person stories from gay male prostitutes; and “The Eyes of Tammy Fae,” about the famous female televangelist. Strand Releasing has received lifetime achievement awards from premiere film festivals including LA’s Outfest, the Provincetown Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival and our own Frameline LGBTQ Festival in San Francisco. Strand has been especially capable in providing distribution to LGBTQ filmmakers and artists, with a particular emphasis on French films and sexually explicit and challenging themes.

Select filmography

We are pleased to announce the introduction of what will become a treasured Cliff House tradition.

The Zinc Bar Happy Hour Please Join Us! Monday – Friday, 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm Zinc Bar & Balcony Lounge Light Bites, Drink Specials & Awesome Views

1090 Point Lobos | San Francisco | 415-386-3330 Visit CliffHouse.com to see the menu. Some restrictions apply. Promotions are not valid on holidays.

German Turkish director Fatih Akin has crafted a series of narrative features on the conflicts between German citizens and post-war Turkish refugees: “The Cut,” “The Edge of Heaven,” “Head On” and “Polluting Paradise.” Liverpool-born director Terence Davies has offered Strand such gems as 1984’s “The Neon Bible,” in which Gena Rowland creates a portrait of a radio singer struggling to survive the poverty of the rural American South. In “Of Time and the City,” Davies creates his own portrait of an ancient seaport that has survived so many twists of fate. Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox has created narrative features on the effects of his country’s virtually unceasing state of war, in particular its impact on LGBTQ servicemembers: “The Bubble, “Cupcakes,” “Time Off,” “Yossi” and “Yosi and Jagger.” Canadian gay director John Greyson has produced north-of-the-border takes on how the AIDS epidemic affected its LGBTQ citizens: “Zero Patience.” French director Alain Guiraudie has churned out some compelling crime thrillers: “Stranger by the Lake.” The late lesbian director Barbara Hammer is represented by her erotic classic “Nitrate Kisses.” Mexican director Julien Hernandez pops up in the Strand catalogue with the visually arresting “Broken Sky” and “A Thousand Clouds of Peace.” Afro-British director Isaac Julien presents a convincing docu-drama on the life of the fabled black poet Langston Hughes during the Har-

Strand Releasing

Scene from director Alain Guiraudie’s “Stranger by the Lake.”

lem Renaissance. With “Young Soul Rebels,” Julien constructs a compelling drama around the efforts of two black DJs to break into the competitive late-70s punk-music scene. No one is more nutty good than Canadian Bruce LaBruce. Six of his zero-budget features cover the waterfront from neurotic sex behavior to aggressive skinheads (“No Skin Off My Ass”), neo-Nazi behavior (“Raspberry Reich”) and the adventures of a walking-dead zombie-boy (“Otto”). Taiwanese queer director Tsai Ming Liang brings an outsider’s perspective to the small island’s LGBTQ scene in the imaginative features “I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone” and “Wayward Clouds.” For my money his best is “Vive L’Amour,” in which a young queer boy spies on the lovemaking of a straight couple while hiding under their bed. French iconoclast Jacques Nolot provides two darkly funny takes on grumpy old men: “Before I Go,” “Porn Theater.” French bad-boy director François Ozon has produced decades of tough views on ordinary life, beginning with his controversial rebooting of a dark fairytale in “Criminal Lovers.” A wicked city girl convinces her naive boyfriend to kill his rival, a sexy Arab boy. The two then run away and fall into the clutches of a teen-eating woodsman. Director Ozon later conceded he had perhaps traveled a bridge too far. “A Time to Leave” is Ozon’s dark take on an end-of-life story. Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues has produced several queer classics, “O Fantasma” and “The Ornithologist” (the last word on bird-watching), plus such queersin-peril gems as “To Die Like a Man” and “Two Drifters.”

French director André Téchiné has created a series of queer-themed classics: “Being 17,” The Girl on the Train,” “Unforgiveable,” “Witnesses” and his seldom-matched 1995 coming-out tale, “Wild Reeds.” On an even darker note, Joachim Trier explores mass murder in a most unlikely setting: “Oslo, August 31,” the story of droves of young activists gunned down on a remote island by a nationalist fanatic. Strand produced such edgy blackcomic hybrids as Gregg Araki’s “The Living End,” Charles Busch’s “Psycho Beach Party” and Dennis Cooper’s “Frisk,” a film that caused an uproar at its Frameline closing-night screening. Strand Releasing also assisted in the reissues of acclaimed classics such as Mike Nichols’ “The Graduate” and Jean Luc Godard’s “Contempt” with Rialto Pictures; it’s also working on the theatrical reissues of Joseph Cates’ “Who Killed Teddy Bear?” and Hector Babenco’s first English-language production, 1985’s “Kiss of the Spider Women,” where a gay window-dresser (William Hurt) seduces a Latin revolutionary (Raul Julia) while serving time in a Latin prison. t

On the web

This week, find Victoria A. Brownworth’s Lavender Tube column, “Looking out for the lesbians,” online at www.ebar.com.

Music >>

December 5-11, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 19

Reynaldo Hahn, in search of lost songs by Tim Pfaff

he first association most people with have with the name Reynaldo Hahn is that of Marcel Proust. In his short “Proust, a life,” Edmund White summarizes the matter simply: “The affair with Hahn – one of the few equal and reciprocated sexual and romantic relationships of Proust’s life – had begun in 1894 [when the Caracas-born composer was 18] and had burned itself out two years later, although eventually the two became lifelong friends.” Although Hahn worked in numerous genres, composing songs, or melodies, and performing them from the piano was a constant throughout Hahn’s long and, we would surely say today, prodigious career. (He died in 1947.) Today, the melodies are almost the only Hahn works performed, and at that just a small number of them, on songrecital platforms far removed from the intimate salons for which they were intended. The most famous of the enduring songs were written before Hahn met Proust. But if it’s the author who largely sustains interest in the composer today, the literary world owes to Hahn Proust’s induction into the life of music, particularly that of his own day and of course performed live, the soul of his writing. It’s become the work of recordings to restore Hahn’s work to the acclaim it warrants and almost inevitably brings. Christina Ariagno’s four-CD set (Music-Media) of the works for solo piano was revelatory, and now, from the enterprising Palazetto Bru Zane, at last we have the complete songs, all 107 of them. Then and now, Hahn’s songs were eclipsed by those of luminaries such as Debussy, Saint-Saens and Faure. In what amounts to a major restoration effort, the baritone Tas-

Courtesy Bru Zane

American pianist Jeff Cohen and Greek-born baritone Tassis Christoyannis offer the songs of composer Reynaldo Hahn.

sis Christoyannis, with his practiced partner, the American pianist Jeff Cohen, has given equal time to the songs of composers whose reputations are, however unjustly, decidedly in decline, among them Felicien David, Benjamin Godard and Fernand de la Tombelle, all on the Aparte label. The Bru Zane set of Hahn songs has become their series’ high-water mark. The four CDs are not meant to be heard continuously, although lovers of melodies will be buoyed by the songs’ expressive range. The songs are programmed by printed collection rather than chronologically, a regularly surprising result of which is that Hahn’s “hits” keep cropping up among the lesser-known songs. There is no dross. There’s a hefty amount of “original” Hahn, that is, recordings made by the singer-composer-pianist himself. Look no farther than YouTube for a sample. But to the modern ear, nothing you find there will account for Hahn’s celebrity during his lifetime. His recorded voice falls

into a category his teacher Massenet might have called comiqueheroique, seemingly lurching between shouting and crooning. That said, with exposure, and taken on its own terms, it proves infectious. What makes Christoyannis an ideal interpreter of Hahn today is precisely that he is not exclusively an operatic baritone voice of “star” dimensions. Such as his voice, hooded and pinpoint-focused, is also an acquired taste, it’s a breeze after Hahn’s. Over the course of the survey, it continually reveals more facets, subtle, refined, lightly perfumed and, yes, in its own way dramatic, if in that singular, signature French way. Christoyannis’ immaculate, if natural and unfussy, phrasing of both verbal and musical line is unerringly spellbinding. The Greek-born baritone, who also sings the standard opera repertoire, puts to bed once and for all the idea that singers have to be French to put over this material. The exemplary notes that accompany

the set give ample idea of Hahn’s idea of fine singing, particularly that clear articulation and accurate pronunciation of the poetic text are paramount virtues. A sprinkling of “little songs” composed to English texts that come at the end of the set tellingly hews to that same ideal while ending the survey on a note of charm, albeit not in the least naive. It’s more than a happy coincidence that we get the 1901 collection “Venezia” from the Venicebased Palazzo Bru Zane foundation. Hahn, who knew the (then-)floating city intimately, consciously mimics the songs of the gondolieri and the rhythms of the barcarolle in these red-blooded charmers. The texts are not just Italian but in the pungent Venetian dialect, and they produce songs strikingly differ-

ent from their French counterparts: working-class bel canto, unashamedly strophic, unafraid of exhibitionism. Christoyannis captures their lilting lines, yielding some of his most passionate and melancholy vocalism. The “Etudes latines,” the achingly sad “Chansons Grises” and “Les Feuilles blessee” sets explore yet other national styles, reflective not only of Hahn’s cosmopolitanism but also of his alert, keen ear for idiom. Always lurking in the evanescent beauty and lure of these songs, in consummate performances by these exquisitely well-paired musicians, is the sense of how fleeting these very traditions, and, as Proust observed, human romantic love are. t

Maker.

Small batch hand crafted whiskey with unique one of a kind bitters.

Jason Jorgensen: Owner/distiller, Alley 6 Craft Distillery

Product description here A town built by inspired craftspeople and visionaries. The perfect blend of agricultural heritage and trend-setting experiences. Join us in Healdsburg and dig into our roots, enjoy the fruits of our labor, and discover why we’re the tastemaker of Sonoma wine country.

Plan your stay at healdsburg.com

<< Theatre

20 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

Whole-hog holiday fun

by Jim Gladstone

Professional headshots / profile pics Weddings / Events

StevenUnderhill 415 370 7152 • StevenUnderhill.com

STEVEN-17160.indd 1

11/19/19 8:54 AM

erry Christmas, it’s “Groundhog Day!” Taking a San Francisco-spirited underground approach to seasonal programming, San Francisco Playhouse director Susi Damilano and artistic director Bill English have shrewdly exhumed the critically admired but short-lived recent stage adaptation of the 1993 Bill Murray film about a cranky weatherman caught in an endless loop of curmudge, unable to summon a warm front in his heart. The story is underscored with themes of renewal, reappraisal and spiritual generosity that nicely mesh with the Yuletide season, but given the calendar-shift to Feb. 2, it’s blessedly lacking in hollyjolly dreck. It’s also blessed with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin (“Matilda”), the sharp-witted British comedian well-known for his anti-religion routines. The two most Minchinesque numbers in the show are both slightly out-of-left-field set-pieces: “Stuck,” which skewers New Age medical quackery; and “Hope,” an ironically titled pageant of suicidal ideation. The most beautiful song is “Playing Nancy,” a ballad about superficial perceptions of women, delivered in a quietly showstopping solo turn by Sophia Introna. If these musical highlights sound wildly disparate, that’s

Jessica Palopoli

Phil Connors (Ryan Drummond) wakes up confused about it being Groundhog Day again, in the musical of the same name.

the secret sauce of “Groundhog Day”’s novel dramatic structure. Like its namesake film, the musical largely moves in an endless loop. Mansplaining meteorologist Phil Connors (Ryan Drummond) wakes up over and over in Punxsutawney, PA, where’s he’s on assignment to cover the small town’s famed annual rodent emergence. “Groundhog Day” is a celebration of theme-and-variation, and at two-plus hours, those variations need to be diverting to keep the audience engaged. As scripted by Danny Rubin and sure-handedly directed by Damilano, “Groundhog Day” manages to be an impressively tight ship while reveling

in its own loose cannons. Beyond Drummond as Phil, and Rina Apostol as Rita, his news producer/love interest, the production’s true lead performance is the kaleidoscopic collective effort of a first-rate ensemble of 14, each in multiple roles, as the populace of Punxsutawney. They move in marching-band lockstep to keep the show’s time warp tick-tocking through its repetitions, then spike the punch, breaking out into deftly etched individual caricatures – a joyfully juvenile mayor (Michael Gene Sullivan), a stumblebum sheriff (Anthony Rollins-Mullins), See page 22 >>

Greatest love of all by Jim Piechota A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston by Robyn Crawford; Dutton Press, $28

t’s been almost eight years since the death of Whitney Houston rocked the nation and the musical community, and though her autopsy report lists “drowning” as the principal cause, there are many questions that still remain, including why the accidental drowning death of her daughter

NEW CO NS ERVATORY THEATR E CEN TER

Head Over Heels DEC 6, 2019 – JAN 12, 2020 SONGS BY

The Go-Go’s

CONCEIVED AND ORIGINAL BOOK BY

Jeff Whitty

ADAPTED BY

James Magruder

“

stylish and ...a fizzy, athletic,

BASED ON THE ARCADIA BY

Sir Philip Sidney

DIRECTED BY NCTC FOUNDER & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Ed Decker

very funny night of musical theatre.”

—SF EXAMINER

BUY TICKETS AT NCTCSF.ORG | BOX OFFICE: 415.861.8972 25 VAN NESS AVE AT MARKET ST

Bobby three years later happened. One of the most talked-about unsolved mysteries involved Houston’s sexuality and whether or not she considered herself lesbian prior to her meteoric elevation to superstardom. One person who has secreted the details of her special best friendship with Houston is Robyn Crawford, a former music industry professional who now lives with her wife and children in New Jersey. But back in the summer of 1980 in East Orange, sparks ignited when both Houston and Crawford were teenage camp counselors. Houston was a brassy, unashamed, pot-smoking music-lover who told Crawford to call her “Nippy,” her father’s nickname for her. “We became inseparable,” Crawford candidly admits in “A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston,” even while her churlish mother Cissy, the most evil presence in the entire book, disapproved, and drugs like cocaine moved swiftly into the picture. But it was Houston’s desire to sing and her simmering celebrity potential that forced her to put the brakes on their physical relationship. When she announced her decision to keep things friendly between them, she handed Crawford a Bible, then pronounced, “You know how I feel about you, and we will always have that.” The pair remained close friends, though Crawford’s desire for Houston burned on. To Crawford, “the dream and the rise were beautiful” for her friend, and she went along for the ride as Houston’s scheduler and devoted confidante. Houston’s ever-hovering family became increasingly skeptical and obsessively suspicious of Crawford’s true intentions, issuing threats and warnings, and attempting to drive a wedge between the two women. But neither Cissy nor the entire Houston clan could compare to the menacing cloud known as Bobby

Brown, who, according to Crawford, swooped into Whitney’s life and immediately enacted a domineering and abuse-filled regimen of pain and degradation. The stories in the book are difficult to read, but each rings true. When Brown’s physical and mental abuse of Houston began extending into Crawford’s orbit, she realized, at age 40, that she was helpless to save her best friend. Things had gone too far to think about getting back on track. It would be many years later that she would begin to consider telling her side of the story. The publication of this book is obviously cathartic for Crawford, but the other side of the issue is, If Whitney were alive today to answer to these allegations of lesbian love and devotion, would she deny them or come clean? Unfortunately for all of us, she took these truths to the grave with her. But Robyn Crawford offers both a literary rosette and her heart to Whitney Houston’s enduring memory, if only to “remind people of her greatness” and “to lift her remarkable legacy.” t

t Books >>

December 5-11, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 21

Pleasing the readers: Books for gifting by Tavo Amador

ach year it seems one faces greater challenges in finding the right thing for those on holiday gift lists. Books are a splendid solution to that dilemma. Superb choices abound. Baby boomers will be thrilled with one of the best of the season’s coffee table volumes, Mary Wilson’s (with Mark Bego) “Supreme Glamour” (Thames & Hudson, $40). This is a lavishly illustrated history of the gowns, shoes, and wigs worn by Diana Ross and the Supremes during their historic domination of the pop music scene. Wilson, an original member of the group, remembers it all very well. Whoopi Goldberg provides an insightful introduction. Recipients will hear a symphony after they unwrap it. Another impressive tome, compiled and edited by Rocky Hall and Barbara Lang, “Letters from Hollywood – Inside the World of Classic American Movie Making” (Abrams, $40) is filled with entertaining documentation about the egos, humor, and malice of legendary stars. Paul Newman, for example, wittily writes to director William Wyler and producer Ray Stark, declining their offer to co-star with Barbra Streisand in her 1967 film debut “Funny Girl.” Newman cites his inability to sing or dance, although the reader senses that he didn’t relish the idea of appearing in a showcase for Streisand. Equally entertaining is Joan Crawford’s letter to fan magazine writer Jane Kessler Ardmore, describing her excitement at being presented to Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret in 1956. They were gracious and charming to the Tinseltown royal. She also expresses her embarrassment that the much younger Marilyn Monroe (“Marilyn Whatshername”) and Anita Ekberg were presented at the

same time. She gloats over the “howling” they received from a disapproving crowd because their “too tight dresses” prevented them from walking properly. Other gems include Tallulah Bankhead’s letter to David Selznick diplomatically but firmly rejecting his suggestion that she could play Scarlett O’Hara unless he found someone better. Ingrid Bergman’s note thanking Cary Grant for accepting her second Best Actress Oscar in 1957 for “Anastasia” is hilarious and touching. But Marlene Dietrich writing to her friend Ernest Hemingway about starring in a film based on his “The Sun Also Rises” under Orson Welles’ direction boggles the mind. Casey McQuiston’s “Red, White, and Royal Blue” (St. Martin’s Griffin, $16.99) is a deliciously comic read. What if America’s First Son fell in love with the Prince of Wales? Alex’s mother is the President. Henry’s is a Queen. The youths have a falling out during a White House photo shoot.

Their respective aides work to reconcile them. They succeed only too well. Alex comes to terms with his feelings and is delighted when Henry reciprocates them. Royal wedding, anyone? A more serious reader may relish Benjamin Moser’s “Sontag: Her Life and Work” (Ecco, $39.99), an in-depth biography of Susan Sontag (19332004), the deadly serious lesbian intellectual who wouldn’t discuss her sexuality, whose opinions, essays, and other writings were much admired in the 1960s and 70s. She and photographer Annie Liebowitz were a celebrated couple, although their relationship was tumultuous. Sontag’s landmark 1964 essay “On Camp” established her as a formidable intellectual, even if she sucked the humor out of the subject. Humor, especially about herself, was often lacking. She was relentless in pursuing fame. Moser’s assessment will help readers decide if she was a sphinx without a secret or a brilliant social commentator.

Fans of “Downton Abbey” will be enthralled by “The Husband Hunters” (St. Martin’s Griffin, $16.19), Anne de Courcy’s evocative study of American heiresses who married British aristocrats. During the late 19th and early 20th century, many young women from rich families were sought after by titled, landpoor English lords who needed ancestral coffers filled. Brooklyn’s Jenny Jerome was the first, marrying Randolph Churchill. One of their children was Winston Churchill. Other young ladies soon followed her example, though none had such an illustrious offspring. Manhattan often claims to be the birthplace of gay liberation, an assertion San Francisco can challenge. But what about the other New York boroughs? Hugh Ryan’s landmark “When Brooklyn Was Queer” (St. Martin’s Press, $29.99) looks at what was happening there from the 1870s, when Walt Whitman was a resident,

to the lesbians who worked at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard during WWII and later. Ryan reconstructs forgotten, often deliberately erased history. He asks important questions about the nature of history, who writes it, how it is preserved, and who keeps it alive. His evocative portraits of courageous people are compelling reads. His groundbreaking research illuminates and documents an important, thrilling part of our past. “When good Americans die, they go to Paris,” quipped Oscar Wilde. That reward for virtuous living came close to being a thing of the past towards the end of WWII in 1944. “The Liberation of Paris: How Eisenhower, De Gaulle, and Von Cholditz Saved the City of Light” (Simon & Shuster, $27) is Jean Edward Smith’s riveting account of what nearly happened to France’s fabled capital following the successful Allied invasion of Normandy. Hitler wanted to destroy the city. His commanding officer, Dietrich von Cholditz, knowing the German cause was doomed, evaded, stalled, and dissembled, buying time. Charles De Gaulle, proud and arrogant, wanted Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower to dedicate more resources to freeing the city. He feared a communist takeover or the return to the bloody days of the 1871 Commune. Eisenhower and his advisors wanted De Gaulle, the leader of the Free French, to take responsibility for protecting and liberating the city. Fortunately, those conflicting agendas were reconciled, and Paris retains its magical hold not only on Americans, but on its own residents and those who visit from the furthest and nearest places on the planet. t

Our Miss Andrews by Brian Bromberger

Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews; Hachette Books, $30

ho on the planet Earth doesn’t love Julie Andrews? In a 2002 BBC Poll on the Greatest Britons of all time, she was voted #59, beating out Jane Austen, Chaucer, and Tony Blair. In 2015, she made a surprise appearance at the Oscars, hugging Lady Gaga after she had sung selections from “The Sound of Music” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the film. The Hollywood crowd went wild when Andrews emerged, overwhelming Gaga. She’s more popular today than in her 1960s heyday. Even her ex-husband still adores her. Having written about her childhood during WWII, her singing days in British vaudeville when she supported her

family, through her triumphs on Broadway in “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot” in her 2008 international bestselling memoir “Home,” she continues this second installment beginning with her arrival in Hollywood in 1963 to make her screen debut in Disney’s “Mary Poppins.” That role not only won her an Oscar, but led to her second iconic cinema performance, Maria Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music.” Beginning with a 15-page recap of “Home,” the book covers her career and personal life through 1986, encompassing the seven films she made with her second husband, director Blake Edwards. If you are reading “Home Work” for gossip about Hollywood, you won’t find any. Either Julie Andrews the woman has totally merged with Julie Andrews the movie star, or more likely there wasn’t much difference to start. The Julie Andrews you see onscreen is the same one revealed in this autobiography: charming, polite, and graceful. Written with the help of her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton, there is limited candor and diplomacy on select topics, but what is most striking is her lack of self-analysis, despite the liberal use of diary entries recorded during these years, even when she admits entering into psychoanalysis. What must have been the most crushing disappointment and professional snub of not getting the role of Eliza Doolittle, which she originated on stage, in the movie “My Fair Lady,” is breezily cast off when she describes driving past the Warners Bros. studio during its filming, rolling down the windows and yelling, “Thank you very much, Mr. Warner!” because not getting Eliza lead to her availability for Mary Poppins. How Julie Andrews of her!

One would also think there would be some Sturm und Drang over the end of her first marriage to her childhood sweetheart, costume and set designer Tony Walton, but its collapse is attributed to continual work and travel. Despite her acknowledging feeling like a failure on the day of the divorce proceedings, it seems more like a backdrop to meeting the love of her life, Blake Edwards. Here Andrews lets her guard down a bit. While brilliant and witty, Edwards was complex, even volatile, often depressed, occasionally suicidal, addicted to painkillers, at times a terror to work with, and ultimately disillusioned by Hollywood studios’ interference in his productions. He was also a womanizer, and it reached a boiling point when Edwards was having an affair with Lynne Sellars, the wife of Peter Sellars, the star of Edwards’ “Pink Panther” films. Finding the appropriate moment to speak with him, she said, “’I don’t want us to bullshit each other, Blake. Do you still want our marriage? We can end this right away, if that’s what you’d prefer.’ ‘I do want our marriage,’ he finally responded, ‘very much.’ From then on, things were markedly better between us.” So much for marital crisis. At heart a small-town English girl, perhaps her refusal to indulge in any self-pity is genuine. Any surprises? There are sections on visiting Vietnam and Cambodia in the 1980s on a humanitarian delegation, eventually adopting two Vietnamese orphans, as well as experiences lobbying successfully for the Amerasian Immigration Act, so Asian-born of American servicemen could relocate to the U.S. One scene sticks out, perhaps illustrating the real Julie Andrews. In the early 1970s, Andrews and Edwards were invited to a party at the home of a powerful Hollywood agent. When they

arrived, guests were doing lines of coke. During dinner, the coke was passed around as dessert. When it was offered to them, they both declined. The hosts began pushing Andrews hard. Edwards said to them, “She doesn’t need any of that stuff. She’s high enough on life as it is.” Long a gay icon, for men due to the campiness of her two most famous 1960s roles, and for lesbians for her butch haircut and subversive portrayals of women (Maria as a free spirit), there is nothing in the book about the

subject, though she briefly talks about the challenges of gender impersonation in her film “Victor/Victoria,” the female singer who impersonates a man impersonating a woman. Nor is there much angst about baring her breasts in the film “S.O.B.,” a comic send-up of her saintly Hollywood image. The book will appeal to her fans, but in our celebrity-obsessed world there is something reassuring reading about a hard-working life untouched by scandal. To quote Eliza Doolittle, isn’t that loverly? t

<< Music

22 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

SFGMC

From page 17

“It has been quite a year,” Seelig said. “Thank goodness the tour was in 2017, so we’ve had a little break from such a huge undertaking. The film had its world premiere at Tribeca this May, and has been on quite a roll. We had singers perform at Tribeca, Outfest in L.A., and of course Frameline. But once August started, we were full into preparations for the holiday.” The show at the Sydney Goldstein, which performs on Dec. 6 & 7, is called “Holigays Are Here: Ring Them Bells.” Seelig briefly addressed the importance of the chorus continuing to be so visible in the current political climate. “We feel really fortunate that the Chorus is able to continue to push the political conversation with our music,” he said. “Certainly the tour has done that, literally bringing the Chorus’ message all over the world, and that will continue. We are excited to be commissioning the first work telling the stories of Gen Z LGBTQ youth for the Spring. It brings new topics to the stage that we have not touched before. But more on that later!” “Holigays Are Here” will be the new standard title of the Chorus’ Christmas spectacular each year, with a tag line to define each show’s themes or specialty act. Seelig ex-

JP Lor

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus performs a previous holiday concert.

plained why this year’s show is subtitled “Ring Them Bells.” “Everybody loves bells at the holidays, from cable cars to Grace Cathedral’s Carillon,” he said. “‘Jingle Bells’ is an all-time favorite, of course. My first holiday concert nine years ago we featured the professional bell quartet Velocity Bells. They were spectacular. They have grown. This year, we welcome the 12-member Velocity Bells. There is

little more festive than bells at the holidays, and they accompany men’s voices amazingly, providing the musical icing on top. We’ve added to that original commission of some fabulous songs about bells, such as a men’s chorus arrangement of Liza Minnelli’s hilarious ‘Ring Them Bells.’” There will also be choreography, no mean feat, considering the fact that the show will feature 275

singers on stage. Seelig says singers dance at every concert, usually after singing two or three songs. He admits it’s a bit of a challenge to get 275 men to dance on stage all at once, but it’s also great fun, and the audience loves it. The show will also feature a special new arrangement of the holiday classic “Silent Night.” “The new arrangement of ‘Silent Night’ is by one of the most extraordinary composers of our day, Dan

December Music

From page 17

Dawn Upshaw and the Brentano String Quartet to the Herbst Theatre on Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m., with music of Mozart, Respighi, and Schoenberg. There is nothing too Christmassy here, but a chance to visit with Upshaw in the jewel-box Herbst Theatre sounds a treat. sfperformances.org. Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale with Music Director Nicholas McGegan will “fire up the menorahs this holiday season: the conqu’ring hero comes!” Handel’s oratorio “Judas Maccabaeus” opens Thurs., Dec. 5, 7 p.m. at the Herbst, featuring local favorite tenor Nicholas Phan in the title role. Chorale director Bruce Lamott and a fine cast begin a four-performance run that continues through the weekend in Palo Alto and Berkeley. For Handel oratorio-lovers who keep “Messiah” in a separate box, McGegan and his expert PBO forces are adding special interest to the season. philharmonia.org. The annual “The Future Is Now: Adler Fellows Concert” celebrates the finale of the 2019 San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship on Fri., Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m. at Herbst Theatre. A varied program features conductor Eun Sun Kim leading the SFO Orchestra. Adler Fellows concerts are a guaranteed thrill, and the 2019 crop is especially exciting. Some of the rising stars are already breaking out, making big news and auspicious professional debuts. sfopera.com. Dec. 11-14 brings something of a choral commotion to town as two different presentations of Handel’s enduring masterpiece “Messiah” appear

Benjamin Ealovega

Cal Performances presents Jonathan Biss performing The Complete Piano Sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven in Hertz Hall.

side-by-side. American Bach Soloists begins the collegial competition with three performances Wed.-Fri., Dec. 11-13, all 7:30 p.m., in the resonant acoustic of SF’s Grace Cathedral. Jeffrey Thomas conducts the ABS period-instrument orchestra, renowned American Bach Choir, and a quartet of soloists including soprano Helene Brunet, mezzo-soprano Rebecca Powers, tenor Steven Brennfleck, and baritone Hadleigh Adams. americanbach.org. It is a self-recommending event, but wait there’s more, and it’s just as tempting. The San Francisco Symphony performs “Messiah” annually in festive, pine-forested Davies Symphony Hall. Each year brings new editions and a fresh configuration of

soloists. SFS Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin continues the tradition Dec. 13 & 14, 8 p.m. Performances featuring the SFS and Chorus, soprano Lauren Snouffer, tenor Ben Bliss, and bass Adam Lau offer a special casting coup: countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen in his SFS debut. Young Mr. Cohen is a 2018-19 Adler Fellow who is also singing in “The Future Is Now” concert. If you haven’t caught him yet, don’t wait. The kid from Brooklyn currently lives in SF, but his rocketing career assures international assignments. sfsymphony.org. Dec. 10-23, treasured “Orchestra of Voices” Chanticleer presents “A Chanticleer Christmas” in Berkeley, Carmel, Petaluma, Sacramento, Santa Clara, and Oakland. I will catch them

ebar.com

Groundhog Day

From page 20

a dimwitted innkeeper (Larissa Kelloway) – before falling back into the seamless collective. Choreographer Nicole Helfer, music director Dave Dobrusky, and scenic designer Edward Morris, who has constructed ingenious rotating sets, join forces to create a flowing overall coherence that’s strong enough to showcase the show’s wackier sidetracks without ever going off the rails. This is a production in which fundamental discipline allows for dizzy creativity. There’s a car chase in this musical! And a green screen.

at St. Ignatius Church, SF, on Sat., Dec. 14, 8 p.m. The evergreen ensemble has been shaking the Scrooge out of me for years. Christmas with them is a tradition I put on a par with Irish whisky eggnog. chanticleer.org. Next is a trip to the East Bay and Hertz Hall on Sun., Dec. 15, 3 p.m. Cal Performances presents pianist Jonathan Biss in the penultimate recital of his ongoing seven-concert cycle playing the complete Beethoven piano sonatas. A provocative scholar, Biss is first a gifted musician. He brings the passion of youth to both endeavors. His fascinating “Beethoven’s Shadow” and “Coda” are available online. Both convey an immersion in Beethoven and the intellectual and technical challenges posed by the 32 sonatas.

Even a bit of costume-switching legerdemain casually rivals the Potter magic across town at the Curran. Also delightfully casual is the production’s racial and sexual diversity. The same-sex couple inconspicuously cutting a rug at the Groundhog Dance caused me to grin from ear-to-ear. As Phil and Rita, Drummond and Apostol are funny, but more importantly, they bring a sense of central gravity to the show. In the midst of this whirligig, their solidity keeps the silliness from flying out of control. While Apostol is the less robust singer, her performance, when viewed in light of her recent muted turn as the title

Forrest,” said Seelig. “He has created magic with ascending scale patterns throughout the song, lifting it from what might be a ho-hum arrangement to heaven. The walking pattern is played by the bells.” The show will also feature several solo performances. He promises the solo acts will include a “swoon-worthy” rendition of “Our First Christmas,” a song about a gay couple spending their first holiday together. In addition to the full-scale extravaganza at the Sydney Goldstein Theater, the Chorus returns to the Castro Theatre on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, for three shorter, smallerscale but still excitingly beautiful shows. The Castro shows are at 5, 7 and 9 p.m. “There is no other show in San Francisco that can cover all the bases,” said Seelig. “From gorgeous choral works to the hilarious antics that only the gays can pull off. There is no other holiday offering in town that will envelope you as you walk in, inviting you into our huge LGBTQ family. We’ll wrap you in our music arms and make you laugh until your sides hurt.” t Holigays Are Here: Ring Them Bells. 12/6, 7:30 p.m.; 12/7, 3 & 7:30 p.m., Sydney Goldstein Theater, 275 Hayes St., SF. Tickets ($25$110): www.sfgmc.org.

The release of the final volume in his complete recorded series coincides with his December recital. calperformances.org. Mon., Dec. 16, brings a return to Davies Hall at 7 p.m. for San Francisco Girls Chorus, Valerie SainteAgathe, Conductor, and Bridget Kibbey, Harp, and their popular annual holiday concert. The program features Benjamin Britten’s exquisite “A Ceremony of Carols,” and “The Fayrfax Carol” by another modernday British composer, Thomas Ades. Bay Area vocal ensemble Clerestory joins in the Britten with hundreds of choristers including seven levels of the Chorus School, the Premier Ensemble and SFGC alumnae. Bay Area experimental duo The Living Earth Show also performs. SFS Music Director Designate Esa-Pekka Salonen’s “Dona Nobis Pacem” is on the bill, with traditional holiday fare. The SFGC is a class organization with high musical values. This may be the biggest hit of the season. Tickets: cityboxoffice.com, more info: sfgirlschorus.org. New Century Chamber Orchestra presents “Christmas with Anne Sofie Von Otter” Dec. 18-20, starting in Palo Alto and ending in Berkeley. The performance in SF is Thurs., Dec. 19, 7:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. The glamorous but earthy Swedish mezzo-soprano joins NCCO’s concertmaster Daniel Hope for a lovely program ranging from season-themed instrumental selections (Vivaldi, Corelli, Handel) to vocal pieces by Bach, Irving Berlin, and Thad Jones. The Swedes have lilting traditional carols, too. We expect encores. ncco.org. t

character in Magic Theater’s “The Chinese Lady,” is a remarkable demonstration of versatility. While I’d happily take a WhackA-Mole mallet to the vast majority of holiday entertainments, SF Playhouse’s “Groundhog Day” deserves a Christmas Rodent Tony. Put tickets on your wish list this season. t Groundhog Day, SF Playhouse, through Jan. 18. 450 Post St., SF. Tickets ($35$125): (415) 677-9596, www. sfplayhouse.org.

Leather www.ebar.com

Sheryl Lee Ralph The Dreamgirl returns by Cornelius Washington

heryl Lee Ralph burst into international fame on Broadway as Dreamgirls’ original Deena Jones, and she continues her sterling reputation as a triple-threat in all forms of media, adding to her many credits that of producer of the long-overdue bioplay of Bay Area legend Sylvester. See page 28 >>

Shining Stars Vol. 49 • No. 49 • December 5-11, 2019

Art Events Sat 7

Listings on page 28 >

Ana Gasteyer in Holiday Gaiety @ Davies Symphony Hall

Georg Lester

Stay Jolly and Gay this Holiday! Use our low-rate credit card for your holiday purchases* • Rates as low as 6.74% APR • • • • •

Earn 1% cash back for everyday purchases No Annual Fee No Balance Transfer Fee No Foreign Transaction Fees No Interest charged for 25 days

Nightlife Events Dec 5-11, 2019

Apply today! Call 415-775-5377, stop by a branch or visit SanFranciscoFCU.com

Sun 8

Santa Skivvies Run @ Castro District Holiday greetings; savor the season’s refined arts events and outdoor artistic opportunities.

Listings on page 29 >

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

Get our FREE e-newsletter!

• LGBTQ breaking news • Online updates • Exclusive discounts and offers

www.ebar.com/subscribe

Scan the QR code on your phone to sign up now!

<< Cabaret

28 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

Sheryl Lee Ralph

From page 27

A truly enduring LGBTQ ally, Ralph’s efforts remain steadfast and true, in season and out, helping people with the upcoming Help Is On The Way charity gala. She and her friends will weave a spell of hope, strength and love to a still underserved community. She is in this for the long haul, not for short-term praise, form or fashion. Along with being an author, Ralph’s TV and film credits go back to the late 1970s, with guest spots on soap operas, sitcoms (The Jeffersons, Designing Women, Moesha), and recurring roles in dramatic series (Ray Donovan). Ralph granted the Bay Area Reporter an expanded interview in advance of her upcoming performance at the Help Is On the Way concert. Your career has been sterling and amazing! What training prepared you to maintain such an enduring career? I thank God for the many wonderful mentors that I’ve had, women and men who have poured into me what it would take to maintain in an industry that was slower to make a space for me to not just sing, dance

and write, but, to also learn another language. I was so well prepared. My parents loved me and loved me. You love me so much that I was given a foundation to let me love myself and being able to do that, I was able to love other people through the nose of rejection. I mean, I laugh at it now, but I’ve been too tall, too short, too Black and not Black enough all in one day, and I’ll never forget it. I carry on! You have the distinction of being the first Black woman to play a Broadway role that was created for a white actress (Madame Morrible in Wicked). How did you get the part and what was the most beautiful aspect of playing the role? You know, it’s very interesting. Years ago, I saw Wicked and I said, ‘Oh, my God, if they make that role for a black woman, I will eat it up.’ My nephew was sitting next to me and he said, ‘I want to be a stage manager.’ My son was sitting next to my nephew and he said, ‘I just want to be on stage.’ It’s so interesting that now my nephew was one of very few black male Equity stage managers and my son is a filmmaker, working his craft. I got a call one day that asked me if I was interested in coming

back to Broadway and Wicked, of course, was the road for me back to Broadway. The rest is just magic, absolute magic and, in my case, Black magic! You came to worldwide prominence as Deena Jones in the groundbreaking hit Broadway musical Dreamgirls. What is your most enduring memory of the role? What was your final interaction with the musical’s producer, director and choreographer, the legendary Michael Bennett? For me, Dreamgirls was the best in the worst of all times. You know the best, of course, was being the ‘belle of the ball’ on Broadway, sharing the stage with Loretta Devine and Jennifer Holliday and the rest of the cast every night. But, the worst was when our friends and cast-mates up and down Broadway just started dropping dead. I mean, many of them got sick. They developed strange purple marks on their bodies. People who would dance with you one night and be dead the next. It was horrible, and that’s what really ignited the fire in this little church girl to do better, take care of people who are at least able to help themselves. You know, it was a horrible time. I remember seeing people go to the hospital with no one to visit them, no one to hold them, people refusing to touch them and refusing to treat them. We lost generations of talented men and a few women, the likes we will never see again. What is your opinion of the film version of Dreamgirls and Beyonce’s portrayal of your role, Deena Jones? Have you had any interactions with her since the film’s release? I was invited to attend the Tyler Perry Studios opening. It was just an amazing event and there was Beyoncé. Both of us dressed in gold. She walked up to me, with her arms open, and she said, ‘Miss Ralph, I just want to take the moment to thank you for all that you’ve done, thank you for the gift of Deena and thank you for what you contributed to Dreamgirls. For all of us, I just want you to know that I know and I thank you.’ It’s my understanding that you were confronted with the iconic realness of Sylvester early in the show’s run. Decades later, you produced the Sylvester musical. Sylvester was a wonderfully unique human being, with a wealth of spirit and courage like few peo-

Massage>>

SEXY ASIAN $60 Jim 415-269-5707 Models ASIAN PORN STAR –

35, 5’8, 140#, Massage & Play 415-845-8588

People>>

PLAYMATES OR SOULMATES Browse & Reply FREE! SF - 415-692-5774 1-888-MegaMates Free to Listen & Reply, 18+

TO PLACE YOUR PERSONALS AD, CALL 415-861-5019 FOR MORE INFO & RATES

Sheryl Lee Ralph in Dreamgirls.

Joan Marcus

Sheryl Lee Ralph in Wicked.

ple ever have. He was outrageously kind to me. Did you know that he got married in a park in San Francisco and the Pointer Sisters were his bridesmaids? I wish we had been able to take the Sylvester musical further or have an open-ended run in San Francisco to pay homage to Sylvester. Back To Help Is On The Way. It’s a night of music, dance and an excellent bargain to see so many brilliantly talented people put in the work to help those in need. What do you want people to come away with, following an evening with you and your colleagues? I want them to remember that we will never forget what took place in the 1980s; how so many of our friends suffered and died in silence and stigma surrounded by shame. We continue to raise awareness so that it never happens again. t (Read more with Sheryl Lee Ralph on www.ebar.com)

Help is on the Way for the Holidays, The Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation’s 18th holiday concert fundraiser,

For full listings, visit ebar.com/events

interactive archival show. Dec 13: The Lighthouse (5, 9:15) and Gaslight (7pm). D $8-$16. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

THU 5

Drag Queens on Ice @ Safeway Holiday Ice Rink

Alvin Orloff, Brontez Purnell, Trebor Healey @ E.M. Wolfman Bookstore, Oakland

Personals

Three innovative gay authors read from their new books. 7pm. 410 13th St. www.wolfmanhomerepair.com

Another Hole in the Head Film Festival @ New People Cinema 16th annual horror, scifi and fantasy film fest includes some notable LGBT titles. Thru Dec 15. www.ashith.com

Classic and New Films @ Castro Theatre Dec 4-6, 8 & 9: Pain and Glory. Dec 7: A day of Silents, classic silent comedies and dramas, including the original The Phantom of the Opera with musical accompaniment by the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra (8pm, $22-$24). Dec 8 & 9: the acclaimed SF Gay Men’s Chorus documentary Gay Chorus Deep South (1:30, 6:15; 2:30, 7pm). Dec 10 & 11: Lost Landscapes of San Francisco,

Enjoy a new annual tradition; Paja Munro and other drag queens performing on ice. 8pm-10pm. Free/$20-$25 for skating session with the queens. Dec 12: Silent Disco Skate Party 6pm-9:30pm. Union Square, 333 Post St. www.unionsquareicerink.com

Events @ Manny’s Dec. 5, 5pm: Dem. Pres. Candidate Julián Castro; 7pm: Farming Hope holiday dinner. Dec 6, 6pm: Holiday Happy Hour for Homes. Dec 7, 7:30pm: Ivan & Enzo live. Dec 8, 6:30pm: Fiesta Flamanca. Dec 9, 6:30: housing crisis discussion with Asm. David Chiu. 3092 16th St. http://welcometomannys.com/

The Golden Girls Live @ Victoria Theatre They’re back! Heklina, D’Arcy Drollinger, Matthew Martin and Holotta Tymes play the four women retirees, in live drag versions of the hit TV show. $30-$60. Thru Dec 22. 2961 16th St. www.goldengirlssf.com

Sheryl Lee Ralph features Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lisa Vroman, David Hernandez, Darnell Abraham ( Hamilton ), Shawn Ryan, Sony Holland, Steve Knill, Jessica Coker & Lisa Viggiano and cast members from Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. Monday, December 9. 6pm VIP reception; silent and live auctions, and an after-party with drinks and desserts. Holiday cocktail attire suggested. $75-$150. Marines’ Memorial Theatre, 450 Powell St. www.reaf.org

The Jewelry Box @ The Marsh Brian Copeland’s Christmas-themed solo show, about buying a gift for his mother, returns. $20-$100. Thru Dec 14. 1062 Valencia St. themarsh.org

Michael Feinstein @ Feinstein at the Nikko The esteemed jazz pianist and crooner performs a holiday-themed concert with a selection of classic American standards. $85-$115 ($20 food/drink min.). 8pm. Also Dec 6, 7 & 8. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.feinsteinssf.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

Michelle Meow Show @ Commonwealth Club Meow and cohost John Zipperer discuss LGBT issues with different prominent guests. Dec 5, 12pm: The Real Toni Morrison, discussion with filmmaker Timothy GreenfieldSanders. 110 Embarcadero. www.commonwealthclub.org

See page 29 >>

Arts Events>>

December 5-11, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 29

Remarkable WWII Rosie @ Jewett Gallery, SF Library Opening reception with painter Carol Witten, who discusses her exhibit of portraits of women factory workers during World War II; 3pm. Exhibit thru Jan. 26. 100 Larkin St, lower level. www.sfpl.org

World Tree of Hope @ Grace Cathedral

Tue 10 Honey Mahogany, Breanna Sinclairé, Juanita MORE! and Connie Champagne at World Tree of Hope @ Grace Cathedral

Scott Wells and Dancers @ Dance Mission Theatre New and repertory works by Wells, Megan Lowe and Brenton Cheng. $20-$25. Dec 5-8. 8pm. 3316 24th St. www.dancemissiontheater.org

World Tree of Hope Decorating @ Grace Cathedral Volunteers welcome to decorate the 14th annual Rainbow World Fund’s annual tree with 1000s of origami cranes, a symbol of global unity; thru Dec. 8. Opening and performance/reception Dec 10, 6:30pm (see Dec 10 listing). 1100 California St. worldtreeofhope.org

FRI 6 A Christmas Carol @ Geary Theater American Conservatory Theater’s annual lavish production of the Carey Perloff and Paul Walsh’s acclaimed stage adaptation of the the Charles Dickins holiday story. $10-$150. Thru Dec 24. 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org

Groundhog Day the Musical @ SF Playhouse Tim Minchin and Danny Rubin’s musical adaptation of the surrealcomic Bill Murray film about a weatherman who gets stuck repeating the same day. $35-$125. Thru Jan 18. 450 Post St. www.sfplayhouse.org

Gypsy @ Alcazar Theatre The classic Styne, Sondheim, Laurents musical about the life of Gypsy Rose Lee and her vaudeville family gets a Bay Area Musicals local production. $30-$100. 8pm. Thru Dec. 8. 650 Geary St. bamsf.org

Head Over Heels @ New Conservatory Theatre Center 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

The Rainbow Flag: A Children’s History @ GLBT History Museum Author Michelle Millar Fisher and illustrator Kat Kuang will read from their new children’s book about Gilbert Baker; timed with Performance, Protest & Politics: Gilbert Baker’s Art, a new exhibit of the works and ephemera by and about the creator of the Rainbow Flag. $5. 7pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus @ Sydney Goldstein Theater The Chorus’ annual holiday concert series Holigays Are Here: Ring Them Bells, with guest performers Velocity Handbell Ensemble. $25$110. 7:30pm. Dec 7, 3pm & 7pm. 275 Hayes St. Also Dec. 24 at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., 5pm, 7pm and 9pm. www.sfgmc.org

Testmatch @ Strand Theater

Kate Attwell’s dual-story about women’s cricket and British colonialism and power. $15-$110. Thru Dec. 8. 1127 Market St. www.act-sf.org

SAT 7 Harry Potter and The Cursed Child @ Curran Theater

tablecloths; drag attire in leopardprint welcome), drag queens, snacks, and brief performances by the company members. $10-$100. 2pm4pm. 80 Turk St. jesscurtisgravity.org counterpulse.org

The West Coast premiere of the acclaimed two-part play about Harry Potter’s son, and his time-traveling misadventures at Hogwarts Academy, includes amazing special effects in the transformed Curran Theater. Same-day and subsequent night tickets available. $59-$300. Thru July 12, 2020. 445 Geary St. harrypottertheplay.com www.sfcurran.com

Howard Zinn Book Fair @ City College Mission

Holiday Gaiety @ Davies Symphony Hall

42nd St. Moon’s holiday-themed comedy singing revue, with twists on hits from the ‘50s to today. $20$30. Thru Dec. 17. 215 Jackson St. www.42ndStMoon.org

San Francisco Symphony’s mirthful holiday concert features Ana Gasteyer, with host Peaches Christ, Coco Peru, Courtney Act, Fou Fou Ha, Sister Roma and Kylie Minono. $20-$119. 7:30pm. 201 Van Ness Ave. www.sfsymphony.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). $20-$30. Pier 15 at Embarcadero. www.exploratorium.edu

Nutcracker Sweets @ Cowell Theater Mark Foehringer’s annual dance concert, an abbreviated lighthearted adaptation of The Nutcracker Suite. $20-$43. Sat & Sun thru Dec 22. 2 Marina Blvd. www.mfdpsf.org www.fortmason.org

Steve Knill @ The F’Inn The talented singer who rose to fame on The Voice performs an intimate concert telling of his musical journey. $30. 7pm. 814 Grove St. www.brownpapertickets. com/event/4424848

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

Under the Tree for Under a Grand @ ArtHaus Special exhibit of workds for sale, all under $1000, with champagne, music, treats and free gift-wrapping. 12pm-5pm. 228 Townsend St. www.arthaus-sf.com

SUN 8 Cirque du Soleil @ Oracle Park The amazing circus company brings Amalúna to the big tent. Pre-show festivities 6:30pm. Show 8pm. $54-$300. Wed-Mon most 8pm, +matinees. Thru Jan. 12. 24 Willie Mays Plaza (cross bridge to parking lot). www.cirquedusoleil.com

High Tea with Gravity @ CounterPulse Fundraiser for dance-performance company Jess Curtis/Gravity, with tea (served with real china, on real

Sixth annual gathering of left political book publishers, zinesters and authors, with panels and readings. 10am-6pm. 1125 Mission St. www.howardzinnbookfair.com

The Mistletones @ Gateway Theatre

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. http://museumca.org

14th annual lighting celebration of the beautiful tree decorated with 1000s of origami cranes inscribed with messages of hope, with MC Honey Mahogany, performers Connie Champagne, Breanna Sinclairé, Juanita MORE!, 42nd St. Moon actors, The Sisters and several locall dignitaries. 6:30pm-8:30pm. 1100 California St. worldtreeofhope.org

WED 11 Black is Beautiful: The 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.org

MON 9 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

Help is on the Way for the Holidays @ Marines’ Memorial Theatre The Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation’s 18th holiday concert fundraiser, with Sheryl Lee Ralph (original Dreamgirls), Lisa Vroman, David Hernandez, Darnell Abraham ( Hamilton ), Shawn Ryan, Sony Holland, Steve Knill, Jessica Coker & Lisa Viggiano and cast members from Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. $75-$150. 6pm VIP reception; silent and live auctions, after-party with drinks and desserts, too. Holiday cocktail attire suggested. 450 Powell St. reaf.org

TUE 10 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 antiquities. Sunday café specialties from $7-$16. Free$20. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm. 200 Larkin St. www.asianart.org

Gallery of Illustrious Queers @ SF Main Library Photographer Jordan Reznick’s LGBT portrait photo exhibit. Hormel Center, 3rd floor, 100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org

Pink Martini @ SF Jazz The amazing ‘little orchestra’ performs five nights of residency concerts. $75-$85. Thru Dec 15. 201 Franklin St. www.sfjazz.org

Playmates and soul mates...

San Francisco:

1-415-692-5774 Megamates.com 18+

THU 12 The Christmas Ballet @ YBCA Smuin Contemporary Ballet’s annual touring production of the updated take on holiday ballets. $25-$97. Dec 12-23. 7:30pm & 2pm thru Dec. 23. 700 Howard St. www.smuinballet.org

Golden Gate Men’s Chorus @ St. Matthew’s Lutheran Hallelujah, a holiday vocal concert. $10-$40. 8pm. Dec 14 3pm, 15 3pm & 7pm, and 17 8pm. 3281 16th St. www.ggmc.org

Still Beginning: Thirty Years of Day With(out) Art @ GLBT History Museum Screening of seven films commissioned by Visual AIDS and a celebration of the annual event’s 30 years. $5. 7pm. 4127 18th St. www. glbthistory.org

Who’s Your Mami Comedy @ Brava Zahra Noorbakhsh headlines the popular new comedy night, with Wonder Dave, Amy Estes, Becky Lynn, Geneva Rust-Orta $10-$15. 8pm. 2773 24th St. www.brava.org For full listings, visit www.ebar.com/eventst

<< Leather

30 • Bay Area Reporter • December 5-11, 2019

Gifts with meaning

Mon 9 X @ The Independent

Waldemar Horwat

wo events I attended this week made me consider giving gifts with meaning as we approach this holiday season. One was a grassroots fundraising effort for the victims of a recent Castro fire. The second was the annual Light in the Grove fundraiser for the National AIDS Memorial Grove. Neither of these events have any specific kink relevance. You might wonder why I’m referencing them. They both made me think about the types of gifts that matter most in our lives. Hint: it’s not usually the stuff. Originally, I was just going to write about all the cool gift stuff you can get for people in your life with a kinky bent. That’s still a nice thing to do. Given the choice between a new necktie or a new butt toy, I’ll take the butt toy every time. Should you decide to give someone a gift to spice up their sex life, there are a lot of options. Do an online search for “sex toys San Francisco” or “leather San Francisco” and many local retail options pop up. If you can, shop local. Keeping our local businesses alive makes for a better overall community. When shopping for such stuff, remember that it’s often the smaller gifts that are welcomed just as much if not more than the big gifts. Sure, many kinksters would love brand-new leather clothing or expensive dungeon furniture. If you have the financial means to buy such things for others, great! But for most of us you could buy things that aren’t expensive and we’d find the gift just as meaningful, and

impact, a gift must have meaning. What could mean more than wearing or using something that meant a lot to a friend? For those friends with whom you have an existing erotic connection (or would like to), offer your services to help them explore some new realm of sexuality they find interesting. One of the best presents I ever received was a greeting card from a play buddy. On the inside was written ‘Redeem this card for 24 hours of my complete submission.” I’ll give you one guess whether I ended up using that gift. That was more than 25 years ago, and it remains among my favorite all-time gifts. How about a volunteering gift? Many of us have plenty of stuff, but we navigate within a world that can always use more volunteers to make the events, parties, fundraisers, classes and other things we do happen. You could contact all the kinksters on your holiday list and send them each a card stating that in their honor you will dedicate X number (Above) Toolboi enjoying some rope bondage suspension, one of the things of hours this coming year attendees at Rope Burn SF can learn. (Left) Some of the patrons at the Light volunteering to help certain in the Grove fundraiser for the National AIDS Memorial Grove, during which they also welcomed back the AIDS Memorial Quilt to the Bay Area. (Right) communities. Maybe someone has Sister Dana Van, Jimmy Strano and Migitte Nielson were among the attendmentioned they’d like to ees of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s fundraiser for victims of the recent learn about a specific kink Castro Street fire. activity. You could give the kinky things that you’re sure they’ll hands-on learning event for the art gift of paying for their enwant could provide for a more meanof rope restraint. Wouldn’t that be a trance into a workshop on the topic ingful gift. great gift? (Note: Rope Burn SF is free, and perhaps attend with them to Happy Holidays! t but donations are gladly accepted.) share the experience. I’m all for cool new stuff, but the Let’s say you know a guy in your reality is many of us already have an circle of friends who wants to learn Race Bannon is a local author, blogger and activist. abundance of stuff, kinky or otherrope bondage. You could offer to pay www.bannon.com wise. Offering an experience, volunfor their entrance into Rope Burn SF Leather events: www.ebar.com teer hours, repurposed items, or a few (RopeBurnSF.com), a casual monthly

FRI 6 Alaska: A Very Lilith Fair Christmas @ Oasis The popular RuPaul’s Drag Race star performs her tribute to women’s music and the holidays. $24-$60. 7pm Also Dec 7. 298 11th St. sfoasis.com

The 7-Year Stank @ Powerhouse

Nightlife Events Dec 5-12, 2019

Whether you celebrate the recent or upcoming holidays, you know you need a little release. Sweat out the eggnog and cookie calories on a dance floor.

THU 5 After Dark @ Exploratorium Enjoy cocktails and science demos at the hands-on museum. Dec 5: Glow, exhibits of illuminated sculpture and interactive displays. Dec 12: Life Out of Balance, ecology, sustainability and more. Tactile dome evening hours Fri & Sat, weekly 6:15 and 7:30pm. $20. Pier 15, Embarcadero at Green St. www.exploratorium.edu

Dining Out for Life @ Sonoma Restaurants With 25%-100% of proceeds going to local charities, enjoy dinner at any of 80 participating restuarants. www. FFTfoodbank.org

Drag Queens on Ice @ Safeway Holiday Ice Rink Enjoy a new annual tradition; Paja Munro and other drag queens performing on ice. 8pm-10pm. Free/$20-$25 for skating session with the queens. Union Square, 333 Post St. www.unionsquareicerink.com

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 Thanksgiving! Open 24/7, every day. 2107 4th St., Berkeley. (510) 8458992. www.steamworksbaths.com

Michael Feinstein @ Feinstein at the Nikko The jazz pianist and crooner performs a holiday-themed concert with a selection of classic American standards. $85-$115 ($20 food/ drink min.). 8pm. Also Dec 6, 7 & 8. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www. feinsteinssf.com

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle Rock bands play at the famed leather bar. Dec. 5: three cleverly-named cover bands: Japanese Baby (The Cure), Resistance (The Sound) and Gang of 40 (you guessed it, Gang of Four). $8. 9pm-12am. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Out of the Booth.

sometimes more so. Things like a special sexuality book, a package of new cock rings (because us guys lose or break those damn things all the time), some favorite lube, sexy jockstraps or underwear make fantastic gifts that won’t break the bank, and they’re gifts the receiver is likely to use. Buy whatever you like. However, I’d like you to consider other types of gifts too, and this relates to the two events I alluded to earlier. At one event, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence hosted a fundraiser at Oasis to raise money to help residents displaced by the terrible recent Castro Street fire. People opened their wallets and hearts to help. Lots of money was raised, but it was the outpouring of communal love, volunteerism and generosity that struck me so starkly as a meaningful gift. The second event was Light in the Grove. It raised a lot of money for the National AIDS Memorial Grove, specifically for their new project to bring the AIDS Memorial Quilt back to its Bay Area home. Money is vitally important. Again, though, the countless volunteers who made it happen impressed upon me that the giving of money or stuff is nice, but giving one’s time to help others is a profoundly meaningful gift. How does this translate into a holiday gift-giving guide? Let’s think beyond the single approach of giving new stuff to others and perhaps see what other ways we can honor our gift-receiving friends. When it comes to kink gear and toys, consider passing on some leather, fetish gear or sex toys you no longer fit into or use. To have optimal

Steven Underhill

by Race Bannon

Seven years of ripe patrons, filthy sounds, and sweaty encounters. Leave your pits intact. Leave the deodorant at home. Ripe pit contest after midnight. $5. 1347 Folsom St. 10pm2am. www.powerhousebar.com

David Benoit’s Charlie Brown Christmas @ Yoshi’s Oakland The composer fo the classic Peanuts jazz songs performs with his band, and vocalist Sara Gazarek, at the stylish restaurant-nightclub. $46-$84. 8pm & 10pm. 510 Embarcadero west, Oakland. www.yoshis.com

Holiday Curtain Call @ Harvey Milk Center for Arts MC Bill Cooper and pianist Barry Lloyd host the cabaret open mic. 7pm10pm. 50 Scott St. www.societycabaret.com

Piano Bar @ Martuni’s Musician extraordinaire Joe Wicht leads tasteful sing-along selections. 5:30-8:30pm. 4 Valencia St.

Swagger Like Us @ The Stud

Holiday Cabaret @ Harvey Milk Center for the Arts

DavOmakesbeats, Byrell the Great and more at the monthly groovy night. $10. 9pm-3am. 399 9th St. studsf.com

Jennifer Ekman, Heather Paton Watson and Jill Gould share a jazzpop night of holiday songs, with pianist G. Scott Lacy. $30-$50. 8pm. 50 Scott St. www.societycabaret.com

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

SAT 7 BYF @ Lone Star Bring You Friends, with DJs Velaluna & Dreamcast. $5. 9pm-2am. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

GAMeBoi SF @ Rickshaw Stop The monthly K-pop gay Asians and pals dance night. $8-$15. 9:30pm2am. 155 Fell St. rickshawstop.com

Go Bang! @ The Stud Groovy retro disco mixes by Steve Fabus, Sergio Fedasz, Prince Wolf and Jimmy DePre, plus guests Stanley Frank, Elaine Denham and Robin Malone Simmons. $10. 9pm-3am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Ho Ho Ho @ Lone Star Naughty Santa-themed beer bust at the bear bar, with naughty elves, Santa, shots and more. $15. 3pm7pm. $5. 9pm-2am. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

Ror:Shok @ SF Eagle Grooves and dudes at the famed leather bar. $5-$15. 9pm-2am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Snaxx Bar @ Oasis Enjoy a group drag show tribute to Beyoncé’s Homecoming album. $10. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com start at 7pm and 9pm (downstairs not wheelchair accessible). https://bit.ly/2IdEVj8

Thu 5

Drag Queens on Ice @ Safeway Holiday Ice Rink

Krampus Pageant @ El Rio The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and Kima Entertainment host a contest for the best costume of the dark holiday creature who tortures bad children. $10-$20 benfit for Trans Lifeline, The Trevor Project and The Sister’s General Fund. 5pm-7pm. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Lee Fields and The Expressions @ Slim’s The soul-funk master performs with Gene Washington & The Sweet Sounds. $25. 9pm. 333 11th St. www.slimspresents.com

Makeout Party @ Jolene’s Queer smoochfest with photo booth, DJed dancing. 9pm-2am. 2700 16th St. at Harrison. www.jolenessf.com

Mother @ Oasis Heklina’s popular weekly drag show, with wild acts and music tribute themes. Dec 7 special guest is Alaska! $10-$15. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Ms. SF Eagle Leather 2020 Contest @ SF Eagle SF Eagle and staff are excited to announce the inaugural Ms. SF Eagle Leather Contest. Interested parties are encouraged to apply to complete (deadline is December 6). The winner will go on to compete for Ms. San Francisco Leather 2020 in February. 398 12th St., 5pm-9pm. www.sf-eagle.com

Powerblouse @ Powerhouse Juanita MORE, GlamaMore and crew’s fab monthly drag virgin makeover night. $5. 9pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

See page 31 >>

Shining Stars>>

December 5-11, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 31

Photos by

Steven Underhill

pening day –and night– of the West Coast premiere of the acclaimed two-part play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, drew Potter fans and their families to the shows, which include fascinating special effects and a full makeover at The Curran Theater. Cast members and VIPs enjoyed a post-show reception at nearby August Hall. The plays run through July 12, 2020. 445 Geary St. www.harrypottertheplay.com www.sfcurran.com See more nightlife photos on BARtab’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife. For more of Steven Underhill’s photos, visit www.StevenUnderhill.com. t

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

For headshots, portraits or to arrange your wedding photos

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

Prime – Naughty or Nice @ Club Six One of the Extreme Xmas Weekend SF events; the dance event for men in their prime features DJs Jesus Pelayo from Madrid and Neon the Glowgobear from Atlanta. Hot gogo studs in their prime work it for you. Clothes check available. $25-$35 or as part of Extreme Xmas weekend pass $80-$129. 60 6th St. 10pm-4am. www.extremexmassf.com

fundraiser, where participants run around the block in scanty holiday underwear/garb, usually in chilly weather, with drinks and festivities after the run at The Lookout bar and on Noe St. 9:30am-1pm. Register and raise $50+ to run. www.santaskivviesrun.org

Roy Ayers @ Yoshi’s Oakland The veteran vibrophonist and vocalist performs with his band. $37-$74. 7:30pm & 9:30pm. Dec 8, 7pm & 9pm. 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. www.yoshis.com

Woof, Frolic @ SF Eagle Canine fetish leather folk fun (3pm6pm), followed by the full-on furry fest (8pm-2am). $5-$10. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

SUN 8 Apocrypha @ SF Eagle Mocha Fapalatte hosts the alt-rock post-beer bust night, featuring music with DJ Spazatron. Drag shows at 8pm and 9pm. $5-$10. 7pm-1am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Black Flag, The Dickies @ Slim’s The veteran punk band (minus Henry Rollins) performs; the Linecutters also play. $30. 8pm. 333 11th St. www.slimspresents.com

Blessed @ Port Bar, Oakland Amoura Teese and Ava Lashay cohost a weekly drag show. 2023 Broadway. www.portbaroakland.com

Santa Skivvies Run @ Castro District SF AIDS Foundation’s annual fun

Thu 12 She & Him @ The Fox Oakland

MON 9 Help is on the Way for the Holidays @ Marines’ Memorial Theatre The Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation’s 18th holiday concert fundraiser, with Sheryl Lee Ralph (original Dreamgirls), Lisa Vroman, David Hernandez, Darnell Abraham (Hamilton), Shawn Ryan, Sony Holland, Steve Knill, Jessica Coker & Lisa Viggiano and cast members from Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. $75-$150. 6pm VIP reception; silent and live auctions, after-party with drinks and desserts, too. Holiday cocktail attire suggested. 450 Powell St. reaf.org

Holiday Welcome Mixer @ Flore Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association’s holiday party, with spirits, a raffle for gift cards from The Detour Bar, a craft table and more; $20 donation gets you 5 raffle tickets and supports the DTNA newsletter. 6pm-8pm. 2298 Market St. www.dtna.org

Munro’s at Midnight @ Midnight Sun

Queeraoke @ El Rio

The Monster Show @ The Edge

Drag night with Mercedez Munro. No cover. 10pm. 4067 18th St. midnightsunsf.com

Midweek drag rave and vocal open mic, with Dulce de Leche, Rahni Nothingmore, Beth Bicoastal, Ginger Snap and guests. 10pm. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

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

Thievery Corporation @ The Fox Oakland

Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward’s pop band performs; Alice Wetterlund opens. $50-$90. 8pm. 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. www.sheandhim.com www.thefoxoakland.com

X @ The Independent The indie rock-punk band and underground fave performs; Los Straitjackets (surf rock) open. $35-$100. 8pm. Also Dec 10. 628 Divasadero. theindependentsf.com

TUE 10 Cock Shot @ Beaux The weeknight party gets going with DJ Chad Bays. No cover. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

High Fantasy @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Weekly drag and variety show at the intimate bar, with live acts and lipsynching divas, plus DJed grooves. $5. Shows at 10:30pm & 12am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. auntcharlieslounge.com

The pop-groove-funk band performs; Brazilian Girls opens. $50. 8pm. 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. thefoxoakland.com

Turbo Pageant @ The Stud Weekly drag competition with $500 cash prize. 9pm-2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

THU 12 Downlowds @ The Stud Dance music night with DJs Micahtron, Poptart, and Honeybear. 9pm-2am. 399 9th St. studsf.com

Karaoke Cocktails @ Ginger’s The new basement tribute to the old Ginger’s Trois hosts weekly singing fun. 8pm-12am. 86 Hardie Place. www.gingers.bar

WED 11 Miss Kitty’s Trivia Night @ Wild Side West The weekly fun night at the Bernal Heights bar includes prizes, hosted by Kitty Tapata. No cover. 7pm-10pm. 424 Cortland St. wildsidewest.com

Pan Dulce @ Beaux Drag divas, gogo studs, DJed Latin grooves and drinks at the Hump Day fiesta. 9pm-2am (free before 10:30pm). 2344 Market St. clubpapi.com www.beauxsf.com

Thu 12

Los Straitjackets @ Ivy Room

She & Him @ The Fox Oakland

Los Straitjackets @ Ivy Room The cool instrumental surf rock band performs. $20. 8pm. 860 San Pablo Ave., Albany. www.ivyroom.com

OPEN SUNDAYS Get it Today...

OUR GREATEST

Y, ! IN NDA Y H RR MO 9T HU NDS ER ! E MB M LE CE 9P SA DE AT

†

No Credit Needed!

SALE % BLACK FRIDAY ” ! R E V O D L HEHISTORY! “IN

40 40

MO.

PLUS

OFF

‡‡

OUR ENTIRE INVENTORY

0% INTEREST* NO DOWN PAYMENT NO MINIMUM PURCHASE

On purchases with your Ashley Advantage™ credit card from 12/3/2019 to 12/9/2019. Equal monthly payments required for 40 months. Ashley Furniture does not require a down payment, however, sales tax and delivery charges are due at time of purchase. *See below for details.

SAN JOSE - NOW OPEN! COLMA - NOW OPEN! NOW HIRING! Sales Associates

Get it Today! No Credit Needed!

DUBLIN

7885 Dublin Blvd., Dublin, CA 94568 925-660-0480 facebook.com/AshleyHSDublin

CONCORD

FAIRFIELD

Exit Green Valley 4865 Auto Plaza Ct Fairfield, CA 94534 707-864-3537

facebook.com/AshleyHSFairfield

Exit at Concord, next to Trader Joe’s 2201 John Glenn Dr Concord, CA 94520 925-521-1977

FOLSOM

EMERYVILLE

facebook.com/AshleyHSFolsom

facebook.com/AshleyHSConcord

In the East Baybridge Shopping Center 3839 Emery St., Ste. 300 Emeryville, CA 94608 510-292-4339

facebook.com/AshleyHSEmeryville

LATHROP

REDDING

facebook.com/AshleyHSLathrop

facebook.com/AshleyHSRedding

18290 Harlan Rd. Lathrop, CA 95330 209-707-2177

ROHNERT PARK

MILPITAS

Located in the Broadstone Plaza 2799 E Bidwell St Folsom, CA 95630 916-986-9200

In McCarthy Ranch 128 Ranch Dr Milpitas, CA 95035 408-262-6860

FRESNO

MODESTO

facebook.com/AshleyHSFresno

facebook.com/AshleyHSModesto

7502 N. Blackstone Ave Fresno, CA 93720 559-283-8251

facebook.com/AshleyHSMilpitas

3900 Sisk Rd., Ste B Modesto, CA 95356 209-248-6152

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK: Monday - Sunday 10am - 9pm

1405 Dana Drive Redding, CA 96003 530-222-7707

Exit Rohnert Park Expwy, across from Costco 6001 Redwood Dr Rohnert Park, CA 94928 707-586-1649

facebook.com/AshleyHSRohnertPark

ROSEVILLE

Highland Reserve Marketplace 10349 Fairway Dr Roseville, CA 95678 916-953-5757 facebook.com/AshleyHSRoseville

“Se Habla Español”

1082 Blossom Hill Road San Jose, CA 95123 408.878.4235 81 Colma Blvd., Colma, CA 94014 650-761-7015 SACRAMENTO

STOCKTON

facebook.com/AshleyHSSacramento

facebook.com/AshleyHSStockton

Located at the Promenade in Natomas 3667 N Freeway Blvd Sacramento, CA 95834 916-419-8906

SAN FRANCISCO

707 Bayshore Blvd. San Francisco, CA 94124 415-467-4414 facebook.com/AshleyHSSanFrancisco

In the Park West Place Shopping Center 10904 Trinity Parkway, Stockton, CA 95219 209-313-2187

VISALIA

3850 S. Mooney Blvd Visalia, CA 93277 559-697-6399 facebook.com/AshleyHSVisalia

SAN JOSE

1082 Blossom Hill Road San Jose, CA 95123 408-878-4235 facebook.com/AshleyHSSanJose

www.AshleyHomeStore.com

*Offer applies only to single-receipt qualifying purchases. Ashley HomeStore does not require a down payment, however, sales tax and delivery charges are due at time of purchase if the purchase is made with your Ashley Advantage™ Credit Card. No interest will be charged on promo purchase and equal monthly payments are required equal to initial promo purchase amount divided equally by the number of months in promo period until promo is paid in full. The equal monthly payment will be rounded to the next highest whole dollar and may be higher than the minimum payment that would be required if the purchase was a non-promotional purchase. Regular account terms apply to non-promotional purchases. For new accounts: Purchase APR is 29.99%; Minimum Interest Charge is $2. Existing cardholders should see their credit card agreement for their applicable terms. Promotional purchases of merchandise will be charged to account when merchandise is delivered. Subject to credit approval. ‡Monthly payment shown is equal to the purchase price, excluding taxes and delivery, divided by the number of months in the promo period, rounded to the next highest whole dollar, and only applies to the selected financing option shown. If you make your payments by the due date each month, the monthly payment shown should allow you to pay off this purchase within the promo period if this balance is the only balance on your account during the promo period. If you have other balances on your account, this monthly payment will be added to the minimum payment applicable to those balances. §Subject to credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. See store for details. ‡‡Previous purchases excluded. Cannot be combined with any other promotion or discount. Discount offers exclude Tempur-Pedic®, Stearns & Foster® and Sealy Posturepedic Hybrid™ mattress sets, floor models, clearance items, sales tax, furniture protection plans, warranty, delivery fee, Hot Buys, Manager’s Special pricing, Advertised Special pricing, and 14 Piece Packages and cannot be combined with financing specials. Effective 1/1/2018, all mattress and box springs are subject to a $10.50 per unit CA recycling fee. †Subject to availability. Order must be entered by 4 PM. SEE STORE FOR DETAILS. Stoneledge Furniture LLC., many times has multiple offers, promotions, discounts and financing specials occurring at the same time; these are allowed to only be used either/or and not both or combined with each other. Although every precaution is taken, errors in price and/or specification may occur in print. We reserve the right to correct any such errors. Picture may not represent item exactly as shown, advertised items may not be on display at all locations. Some restrictions may apply. Available only at participating locations. ±Leather Match upholstery features top-grain leather in the seating areas and skillfully matched vinyl everywhere else. Ashley HomeStores are independently owned and operated. ©2019 Ashley HomeStores, Ltd. Promotional Start Date: December 3, 2019. Expires: December 9, 2019.