February 28, 2019 edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

NYC readies for Stonewall

Flooding hits Russian River

ARTS

Kimono Refashioned

Arts Events

The

www.ebar.com

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

Vol. 49 • No. 9 • February 28-March 6, 2019

SF health officials embrace non-daily PrEP dosing regimen

by Matthew S. Bajko

Courtesy Project Open Hand

Paul Hepfer is the new CEO of Project Open Hand.

Open Hand names new CEO by Alex Madison

straight ally will soon become the new chief executive officer of Project Open Hand, a nonprofit that provides nutritious meals to critically ill people and seniors. Mountain View resident Paul Hepfer will join Project Open Hand starting March 18. He will replace Mark Ryle, a gay man who left to become president of the Saint Francis Foundation. Hepfer, 53, has 20-plus years of experience in community health services. He will be departing from his current role as senior vice president of programs at the Health Trust, a Silicon Valleybased nonprofit that provides support to South Bay residents living with HIV/AIDS, homeless people, children, and others. In that role he led Health Trust’s service efforts in HIV/AIDS programming, Meals on Wheels, and communitybased chronic disease prevention and management services. “I feel that this is the right time and the right position and right organization,” Hepfer said. “If I was going to make this move to CEO, it really needed to be with an organization whose mission really enticed me.” In the first few months on the job, Hepfer will be learning a lot about the operational side of Project Open Hand, which prepares 2,500 meals a day and 200 bags of groceries for clients in San Francisco and Oakland. “I’m really excited to get into the operational side of things,” he said. “I am amazed at the volume and quality of service Open Hand is able to provide. They provide just under 1 million meals to people every year and I want to learn more about how that really works.” He also looks forward to advancing the work set forth by the organization and Ryle, including“helping advance food as medicine and bring that model to other health conditions outside of HIV.” This includes individuals with diabetes, congestive heart failure, and other complex health conditions. Project Open Hand partnered with UCSF on scientific studies, published in 2017, that tracked data of the health benefits associated with food as medicine and it showed the positive relationship with various illnesses and having access to nutritious food. See page 15 >>

s health officials continue to urge more people at risk of becoming HIV-positive to take PrEP, the once-a-day pill that widely protects against being infected with the virus if taken as prescribed, San Francisco leaders are embracing a new dosing regimen that doesn’t require continual usage of the drug. Dubbed PrEP 2-1-1, it is designed for those who are only intermittently sexually active. It requires a person to take two pills of Truvada (tenofovir/emtricitabine) at least two hours – but preferably 24 hours – prior to engaging in sex. They then take another pill 24 hours later, and if done having sex, a final pill another 24 hours after that. Should they be on vacation for a week, and plan to have sex during the entire time, then they would continue to take one Truvada pill every day of their break. When done with their vacation, they would need to take one last dose of PrEP 48 hours after their last sexual encounter. “We think it’s going to bring a whole lot of people to PrEP who previously did not feel like PrEP was for them,” said Dr. Chris Hall, vice president of medical affairs at the San Francisco AIDS

Courtesy SFAF

Strut director of nursing Pierre-Cédric Crouch

Foundation, during a recent talk about the new dosing regimen. Starting March 1 the nonprofit is launching a pilot study of PrEP 2-1-1 at Strut, its health center

Courtesy SFAF

A Strut flier explains PrEP 2-1-1 dosing.

for men in the Castro. It is seen as a first step in providing data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in order to have the federal agency officially recommend PrEP 2-1-1. See page 14 >>

Concord LGBT center lays off counseling, food pantry staff by Matthew S. Bajko

n a move that has raised questions about the future of its counseling services, as well as the tenure of its executive director, an LGBT community center in Contra Costa County laid off the majority of its behavioral health and clinical staff last week. The Rainbow Community Center in Concord abruptly let go the counseling programs’ clinical director, case management program director, and lead case manager and patient care coordinator, as well as a clinician who was seeing clients, Friday, February 22. They were given 10 minutes to gather their belongings before being escorted out of the building, a number of people associated with the center told the Bay Area Reporter. Their sudden departure left them little time to contact their patients to inform them that their counselors would no longer be able to see them. Several sources noted to the B.A.R. that the counselors’ inability to properly terminate their cases violates the profession’s ethical code. It could also further traumatize the center’s LGBT clients, many of whom were already dealing with trauma, suicidal ideation, and abandonment issues due to being rejected by their families because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, said retired registered nurse Vance Drouillard, one of

Rainbow Community Center Executive Director Kevin McAllister

the staffers let go. In addition to overseeing case management at the center, he was also an HIV health educator and ran the center’s HIV testing program and HIV outreach, according to his staff bio. “They fired us and escorted us out with no regard to the clients. They simply didn’t let us cancel appointments or anything,” said Drouillard, a gay man who had worked for the center in various capacities for six years. The center also let go its food pantry pro-

gram manager last week, according to sources. The layoffs come as the center prepares to host its annual crab feed, a major fundraiser for it, this Saturday. As of Wednesday morning the center had yet to officially announce the staff layoffs or update its staff list on its website. Its most recent posts to its Facebook page included links to stories about LGBT movies and new hours for its thrift store. The staff tumult has led to rumors of the imminent departure of the center’s executive director, Kevin McAllister, who was hired last June. He replaced the interim executive director who had been brought on following the December 2017 retirement of executive director Ben-David Barr, Ph.D., who left due to health reasons after 10 years of leading the agency. McAllister and Ken Carlson, president of the center’s board and a Pleasant Hill city councilman, did not respond to the B.A.R.’s requests for comment Tuesday. Reached Tuesday evening at the center, McAllister declined to answer detailed questions about the staff layoffs and the future of the counseling program, saying he was working with the board on a statement the center would soon release. “I would suggest you speak to the board president to get additional information,” he said. See page 15 >>

{ FIRST OF THREE SECTIONS }

VOTING ENDS SUNDAY WIN ONE OF SEVERAL VALUABLE PRIZES JUST FOR VOTING FOR YOUR FAVORITE PLACES, PEOPLE AND THINGS TO DO IN SAN FRANCISCO AND THE BAY AREA.

ebar.com/besties2019

<< Community News

2 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

VOTE NOW!

South Bay probation dept. works on LGBT training by Heather Cassell

BE ENTERED TO WIN ONE OF SEVERAL VALUABLE PRIZES JUST FOR VOTING FOR YOUR FAVORITE PLACES, PEOPLE AND THINGS TO DO IN SAN FRANCISCO AND THE BAY AREA.

ebar.com/besties2019

even students stood in a circle. Each held a different colored fivepoint star with their name on it. Inside of the classroom – which was tucked away at the back of beige government buildings on a ranch surrounded by chain link fencing behind suburban neighborhoods and a shopping center in Morgan Hill – rainbow flags brightened the atmosphere. Books about the LGBT community and its history, stickers, and handouts listing community resources lined the wall against the window. Leading the exercise was Anne Elwart, 48, the instructor for the class titled, “Ensuring Fairness & Respect for the LGBTQI Community in the Justice System.” Elwart is a gay woman who is the probation division manager of the adult division at the Santa Clara County Probation Department. She developed the class with a colleague. Throughout the years teaching trainers in other California jurisdictions and other states, the February 13 course was the first time Elwart had trained the trainers in her own county’s probation department. Elwart and nine registered volunteers have together trained 75 trainers and more than 2,000 law enforcement employees. The first exercise of the day was one of many immersive experiences Elwart uses to help students understand what it is like to be LGBT. Students and trainers learn basic terminology; LGBT history, including the community’s complicated history with law enforcement, especially within the transgender community; bullying in school; suicide; and more. At the end of the course, the trainers will have gone from becoming familiar with the material to watching each other teach the course to becoming teachers themselves, ready to impart their knowledge to others. “By the time they are done doing the trainer course they have seen the curriculum taught at least four times before they start teaching on their own,” said Elwart. The trainers won’t be alone during their first couple of classes. Elwart will be with them to help them along, she said. It’s a part of the trainers’ ongoing instruction before being completely on their own. “We really want to set up the trainers for success,” said Elwart. “We really give them a lot of support.” Her students were inquisitive and engaged during the class observed by the Bay Area Reporter. Marc Moran, a deputy probation officer, and Patricia Martinez, a senior group counselor at the probation department, were two of the students. Moran, a 36-year-old straight ally, and Martinez, a 45-year-old lesbian, both believed the training would improve their work with the LGBT community. “We deal with people who have made poor choices,” said Moran, who has been with the department for 11 years, working with both adults and youth. He noted that people from every background, including gender identity and sexual orientation, come through the system. “It does not matter, people make poor decisions and probation is going to have to offer them services just like they would anyone else,” he said. Martinez has been with the department, working with youth, for 20 years. “It’s important that as staff [we] have the knowledge and the resources so that we can help, whether it’s our youth or adults that come into the system,” she said. Elwart was impressed by the trainers during the session. “The passion that they have because

Jo-Lynn Otto

Anne Elwart, manager of the adult division at the Santa Clara County Probation Department, led a training session on LGBT sensitivity for trainers in the South Bay earlier this month.

they want to make a difference,” said Elwart. “I just couldn’t be happier.”

Creating the course

Elwart was part of a five-member team that created the Respectful Communication with LGBTQI Youth curriculum for the National Institute of Corrections. The 90-minute online course was created for federal justice department employees to comply with the Prisoner Rape Elimination Act, which was implemented in 2013, after a 10-year preparation period. Laura Garnette, 54, a lesbian who is the chief probation officer for the county, wrote in an email that the course is “vitally important.” “We are charged with the care of other people’s children and helping people rehabilitate. We have a responsibility to try to help them, and, at a minimum, not to harm them,” Garnette wrote. “This training is all about how to help instead of harm LGBTQ people. “It is about so much more than just sensitivity to LGBTQ clients,” she continued. Garnette credited Mike Simms, a straight ally who was unable to coteach the recent class, and Elwart with demystifying LGBT issues, humanizing the community, and helping the department’s staff understand the best practices for working with the LGBTQ community and legal responsibilities. “We want people to make better choices and to live law-abiding lives. We have to understand the person fully for that to work,” Garnette wrote. During the past six years, Simms and Elwart have taken the training to a new level with the department’s support. They refined the training materials, seeking out experts to educate them about segments of the community outside of their own purview. Elwart acknowledged that, while she is a member of the LGBT community, she still had a lot to learn about it. “We really didn’t do a great job in the beginning teaching the transgender, gender-nonconforming, the nonbinary” piece of the course, she said. “We had a hard time wrapping our heads around it,” she added. That was until she found Gender Spectrum, a gender education organization. Elwart and Simms attended one of its conferences and incorporated what they learned into their training materials. They also tapped into other resources. “We are constantly learning,” said Elwart, who described herself as an advocate, particularly for LGBT youth and suicide prevention. “It’s always changing and there are always new things.” Additionally, Elwart is appreciative of the department’s thoughtfulness and approach to the LGBT community and its support for the course. She also praised gay former Santa Clara County supervisor Ken Yeager

and the county’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs for the work it has done rolling out the training to other county departments. While it is not known how many LGBT people are in the justice and probation systems, the trainings are a step toward being able to start collecting the data, Elwart said. “I found out in the beginning of doing this that a lot of people just did not realize that the suicide rate was so high,” she said. “A lot of people, in doing this training, truly think that it’s a choice to be gay or transgender.” Over the years, she’s witnessed a huge shift in understanding the LGBT community, particularly transgender people, within the department. In 2011, when the probation department was faced with its first known transgender woman, the staff was unprepared. “We don’t know what to do,” said Elwart. “We don’t know [what] their needs are.” Fast forward to 2018, when the department received its first known transgender man – it was a world of difference. “People were having conversations just like it was just any other male,” said Elwart. “To see that shift in the staff was awesome.” The other big change she’s witnessed is the department collaborating with LGBT organizations to ensure the language and policies are inclusive throughout the department. The department also encourages working with other organizations, particularly faith-based groups, to adhere to the department’s inclusive language and policies, she said. “I don’t think that the county ... before we started doing this training, would have even thought of that, now that’s actually in our writing,” she said, adding that the trainings are also positively affecting LGBT employees throughout the department.

Next generation

Now, she is training the next generation of trainers from various divisions of the department who will take her place. Like for Elwart and Simms, the training is voluntary and is in addition to staff’s daily responsibilities. Elwart is optimistic about the future and building the bridge between law enforcement and the LGBT community. “I am very hopeful,” said Elwart, who talked about Assembly Bill 2504 that went into effect January 1. The Peace Officer Training: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to develop course work on sexual orientation and gender identity to be taught at police academies statewide. The bill was authored by gay Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) and signed by former Governor Jerry Brown in 2018. “I was, like, ecstatic,” said Elwart about the new law. She and her colleagues immediately began working on gathering experts and creating the curriculum. “The fact that it is going to be taught in the academy – how to work with the population – gives me lots of hope,” she said. She also talked about Ohio, where she has trained multiple law enforcement departments. “Ohio is one of our states that does not have any hate crime laws to protect the LGBT community,” she said. “When I had a state jurisdiction in a state that does not have a law to protect [LGBT people] that wants to do a better job, that’s why I went,” said Elwart. “That’s why I have hope, because even when the state legislatures can’t get it together and pass the bill the administration of probation said we can do better.” t

HEALTHY AND HAPPY

At Kaiser Permanente, our doctors are focused on more than practicing good medicine. They take the time to really listen. And give all members the personalized, culturally sensitive care they deserve.

We are proud to be your partner in health.

kp.org/sanfrancisco

<< Open Forum

4 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

Volume 49, Number 9 February 28-March 6, 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 • Alex Madison CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ray Aguilera • Tavo Amador • Race Bannon Erin Blackwell • Roger Brigham Brian Bromberger • Victoria A. Brownworth Brent Calderwood • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Belo Cipriani • Dan Renzi Christina DiEdoardo • Richard Dodds Michael Flanagan • Jim Gladstone David Guarino • Liz Highleyman Brandon Judell • John F. Karr • Lisa Keen Matthew Kennedy • Joshua Klipp David Lamble • Max Leger Michael McDonagh • Juanita MORE! David-Elijah Nahmod • Paul Parish Sean Piverger • Lois Pearlman Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Tony Taylor • Sari Staver Jim Stewart • Sean Timberlake • Andre Torrez Ronn Vigh • 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 • Dallis Willard • 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.

Adachi’s death leaves huge void

an Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi’s unexpected death last week leaves a huge void in city politics and the criminal justice system. He was a true trailblazer who, over the course of nearly 20 years, reimagined the public defender’s office into one that took a stand on major issues such as cash bail (opposed) and kids in need (helped, through his Mo’ Magic program that worked with nonprofits in the Bayview and Western Addition). His main achievement was hiring and training deputy public defenders who are able to win acquittals for their clients. It’s hard to get a San Francisco jury to convict in a criminal case, and attorneys in his office are smart, committed people who use the law to the advantage of their clients. He also led them to constantly question methods of the police and the district attorney’s office. We met with Adachi before the election last fall, as he was running unopposed and en route to easily winning his fifth term. That alone says something about his job performance: no one was willing to run against him. At the time he was focused on cash bail and opposed a compromise bill that was passed by the Legislature because he felt it gave judges too much power to determine whether someone who was arrested should remain in preventive detention pending trial. Over the years, he tangled with supervisors and mayors as he sought funding to hire attorneys and beef up services, including mental health and immigration units. He was largely successful, and in recent years, his office seemed streamlined and effective. On homelessness, one of the city’s most vexing problems, Adachi told us that he had “changed my view a little” and supported

Courtesy SF Public Defender’s office

An altar at the San Francisco Public Defender’s office pays tribute to Jeff Adachi.

Laura’s Law, a state law that allows for courtordered assisted outpatient treatment. “Many clients refuse treatment but accept it if they get housing,” Adachi told us. He said the public defender’s office is now part of the city’s homeless system, along with Navigation Centers and housing options such as single-room-occupancy hotels. At the time of our meeting, the state’s new conservatorship law had been signed by then-Governor Jerry Brown. “We’ll be representing people subjected to conservatorships,” he told us. Most of all, we admired Adachi for his ability to admit mistakes, and his diligence to correct them. Four years ago, we published an editorial calling out Adachi’s office after a deputy public defender misgendered a trans

crime victim during the defendant’s arraignment, calling her a man and saying that she remained a man “unless he had an operation.” As we wrote at the time, the remarks, made by Deputy Public Defender Kwixuan Maloof, were out of character with everything we’d known about the public defender’s office. And we called on Adachi to provide sensitivity training for his staff. He contacted us shortly after the editorial and pledged to do better. Last fall, he said he had. He said that his office had provided two or three trainings and brought in staff from the Transgender Law Center. “We do a lot of implicit bias training, and it’s something we continue to do,” he said. Adachi is gone far too soon. During his tenure he raised the bar for what a public defender’s office should be. He reached beyond simply providing adequate counsel, and we hope his successor builds on his legacy. t

On Jussie, hate crimes & the continuation of disbelief by J Mase III

y the time this essay is published, I am not sure what the news cycle will be saying about “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett. What I am sure about is the fact that hate crimes in the U.S. against black and brown folks, and particularly black trans folks, are on the rise (https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/hatecrime-statistics). When it comes to being believed about hate crimes, black trans people are looked at not just with skepticism, but also with questions on whether violence against us truly counts as such. Despite the news reports going around about celebrities, most of us that are LGBTQ know that hate crimes have been increasing over the last few years. We’ve seen statistics, studies, but more importantly, we have felt it creeping over our shoulders on our way to work, to the club, and on our way home. What causes hate to manifest so much that someone would feel a need to cause harm to another person? We learn that kind of violence from many sources, one of the most undeniable spaces is the pulpit. Whether we ourselves are religious, violent religious theologies impact the ways that many of us, particularly those of us at the intersections of blackness and transness, get to exist in the world. It impacts the political sphere, our ability to access health care, jobs, housing; our criminalization; and the list is endless. This matters because many of us are dealing with religious-based trauma that we do not deserve. If your family told you that you were going to hell, even if you are not religious now, can that impact how you have seen yourself over the years? Yes. If someone at the motor vehicle department purposely humiliated you when you were just trying to get your photo and state ID to match who you are, can it add to your fear of going outside? Yes. Does application of laws that treat trans people as if we are deceptive by default add to our criminalization? Yes. Having your rights and humanity argued within a public sphere that is questioning whether or not even someone’s god has the capacity to love you, may seem trivial for some who might say, “I’m not religious.” But the im-

Courtesy J Mase III

J Mase III

pacts travel farther than any religious building and hit hardest onto communities already being over-policed. When it comes to a theology that incorporates a trans existence, there are three major frameworks that I have seen at play: 1. Defensive Theology. This is the place within Abrahamic traditions in which we argue back and forth with bigots about six to seven scriptures that appear between the Bible/Koran/Torah and whether or not LGBTQ folks are a sin or, at best, neutral. 2. Liberation Theology. This is a place within those same traditions where one might find trans people being spoken about within those same books from a positive perspective. 3. Acceptance Theology. This is a place within anti-LGBTQ and affirming LGBTQ religious spaces in which they merely accept that trans people exist but do no actual theological work to back it up. These are the spaces in which a trans person is expected to be OK with barely being called the right name and having any affirmation of their identity extended from a collapsing of texts and theologies that center cisgender LGBQ voices. What is often not talked about are the ways in which religious spaces benefit from antiblack and anti-trans theologies, even many affirming spaces that have not done the work of being intentional in regard to trans folks. They

can benefit by holding onto resources that have been built off the same white supremacist practices that allowed white churches to accumulate wealth at times black folks were not able to own land. It can be churches labeled as “welcoming” that continue to bolster their moral ideologies while still excluding trans people from their leadership and pews. This can also be about a false dichotomy of demonizing criminals versus the rest of us, knowing that to be black and trans is to be criminalized and that we’d all be hardpressed to find anyone that has never committed a crime by the time they were an adult. It looks like spending more time creating an intellectual practice of non-violence but never being invested in dismantling actively violent systems and practices or holding abusers accountable. My colleague, Lady Dane Figueroa, and I started the #TransphobiaIsASin campaign on social media to highlight religious-based violence and to get folks invested in addressing it that may or may not be part of religious communities. As co-editors of the forthcoming “Black Trans Prayer Book,” we have worked with folks all over the U.S. who are impacted by religious violence on street corners, in their homes and at the hands of police. We have had participants from over six countries and on three continents sharing their photos on social media with one of four phrases: 1. Transphobia Is a Sin; 2. Transphobia is Haram (Arabic word for sin); 3. Trans People are Divine 4. Trans People Exist Because Our Ancestors Existed. This is one portion of a comprehensive project we are creating to decolonize faith practices and get folks of various backgrounds to invest in Black Trans folks’ rights to heal. t J Mase III is a black/trans/queer poet and educator based in Seattle, by way of Philadelphia. He is the author of “If I Should Die Under the Knife, Tell my Kidney I was the Fiercest Poet Around,” as well as “And Then I Got Fired: One Transqueer’s Reflections on Grief, Unemployment, and Inappropriate Jokes about Death.” As an educator, Mase has worked with thousands of community members in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada on the needs of LGBTQIA youth and adults in spaces such as K-12 schools, universities, faith communities, and restricted care facilities. Check him out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and at www.awQwardtalent.com.

Politics >>

February 28-March 6, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 5

Gay SF treasurer seeks 4th term

by Matthew S. Bajko

an Francisco City Treasurer-Tax Collector José Cisneros is gearing up for his campaign this fall to be elected to a fourth four-year term. Cisneros, a gay man, is the only LGBT person to hold one of the city’s seven elected executive positions. Cisneros, 63, has held the post, which is not term limited, since 2004 when former mayor Gavin Newsom, now the state’s governor, appointed him to fill a vacancy. He is planning to have an official campaign kick-off event later this spring. The first indication that Cisneros would seek re-election came in late January when the national LGBTQ Victory Fund announced it had endorsed him along with a host of out elected officials and LGBT people seeking office across the country this year. Only days prior Cisneros had quietly declared his intent to run with city elections officials. “I love the job I have. And I want to ... I’m seriously going to run for reelection to keep the job I have,” said Cisneros during a recent editorial board meeting with the Bay Area Reporter. To date, no one else has indicated they are interested in running against Cisneros. He has not faced an opponent since he first ran for the position in 2005. This will be his fifth time running for treasurer, as he had to seek a two-year term in 2013 after voters approved a switch to the city’s election timetable that conjoined five races for citywide executive offices, including that of treasurer-tax collector, mayor, and city attorney, to odd years. Asked if he expected another cakewalk of an election this year, Cisneros said he wasn’t taking anything for granted. “I want to be prepared for whatever comes along,” said Cisneros, who is married to San Francisco Human Rights Commissioner Mark Kelleher, a senior adviser at BroderickHaight Consulting. “I would probably be the last person to know if there will be someone running against me.” Cisneros this month updated his campaign website – http://josecisneros.com/ – to begin raising money for his bid. He is just starting the process to seek other endorsements from local political clubs and officials. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco) recently told the B.A.R. that, although Cisneros had yet to ask for his support, he would be endorsing his re-election campaign this year. He said it is unclear if anyone would oppose Cisneros in the fall race; the deadline for candidates to file is August 9. “I don’t know. It is San Francisco, so uncontested re-elections are rare,” said Wiener. “But Jose is an excellent treasurer. He has just done a superb job; he clearly deserves re-election.” As the city’s banker and chief investment officer, Cisneros’s main focus is collecting taxes and revenues. In that capacity, he publicly sparred with home-rental sites like Airbnb over their initial refusal to collect and pay the same occupancy tax San Francisco imposes on city hotels. Cisneros declined to talk directly about Airbnb, citing taxpayer confidentiality laws. But he did note that not only did his office work on the issue, but the city’s supervisors and former mayor helped by creating an office to police short-term rental websites. It has made it easier for such businesses and their hosts to follow the rules, said Cisneros. “We now have a system where, for both permitting and licensing and registration purposes, the city has a good system, it’s a system that is being enforced,” he said. “And the treasurertax collector’s office also has a good system that’s allowing us to enforce the transient occupancy tax.” More recently he worked with current Mayor London Breed to offer assistance to those federal workers suffering from the shutdown of the

Cynthia Laird

San Francisco Treasurer-Tax Collector José Cisneros

federal government. He also worked last year with Breed and the late Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who died unexpectedly last week, to make San Francisco the first city in the country to eliminate the fees charged to people exciting its jails. Ever since the economic meltdown of 2008 Cisneros and his office have been involved in talks to form a cityrun public bank. He is expected to soon release a report on what doing so would entail based on the work of a task force that the supervisors called for last year. Cisneros, however, is remaining neutral on if it is a good idea. “I’m not taking an official position on it. But let me tell you, we’ve done a lot of work on the topic,” said Cisneros, explaining that “I, as the treasurer, it’s not my job to make policy.” Due to federal laws prohibiting banks doing business with the cannabis industry, the report will not recommend that a public bank of San Francisco open accounts for marijuana businesses. At least not at this time, said Cisneros, who does support efforts by California lawmakers to change the federal rules. “I think that it’d be smart to, to find a way for all businesses, particularly businesses that we consider legal in the state of California, to be able to be banked. Sure,” said Cisneros. One industry he has opposed is the check-cashing business. Through his Bank on San Francisco initiative, Cisneros has helped upward of 75,000 people open bank accounts in order to avoid using check-cashing outlets and their exorbitant fees. The initiative has been duplicated across the country and been lauded by the federal government. Cisneros believes it has led to a retrenchment of such businesses in the city. For example, one check-cashing outlet that had operated in a prominent corner storefront in the city’s gay Castro district closed and was turned into a dining room by the adjacent Super Duper Burger location. “I haven’t eaten there since they expanded. But I love Super Duper,” said Cisneros, adding that he was “very excited to see that. You know, market forces, right?” Since the city couldn’t pass a law, “as much as we would want it to,” said Cisneros, “to ban or eliminate or kick out these, you know, legal businesses as defined by the state of California, and so our goal was to through our Bank on San Francisco program ... was to steer people away from those businesses and bring them into relationships with a bank.” He would not say if this would be his final campaign for treasurer. Should he be re-elected come November, then Cisneros would be 67 when his term expires in 2023. “I still really like my job. I feel like we have a great team in our department,” said Cisneros. “And, and there’s a lot of more interesting and exciting opportunities that lie ahead.

And I want to be around to work on them and do good things for the city.”

EQCA endorses CA legislative candidates

In the special election to succeed gay former state Senator Ricardo Lara, who resigned his seat in January when he became California’s insurance commissioner, Equality California has dual endorsed in the race. The statewide LGBT advocacy group’s political action committee split its support between gay Lynwood City Councilman José Luis Solache, currently serving as his city’s mayor, and Long Beach City Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez, seen as the frontrunner in the race. Lara and many other elected leaders in the 33rd Senatorial District have endorsed Gonzalez. But Solache, the only out candidate in the race, is well funded to mount a competitive campaign for the seat. Having already begun raising money to run for the Senate seat in 2020, when Lara would have been termed out of office, he reported having $143,615 to spend as of February 9. “Pro-equality voters in District 33 have two fantastic choices to fill Commissioner Lara’s large shoes in the Senate,” stated EQCA Executive Director Rick Zbur. “Councilmember Gonzalez and Mayor Solache have dedicated their careers to fighting for civil rights and social justice, and we’re confident that each would be an effective champion for the 33rd District and for the LGBTQ community in Sacramento.” The primary election will be held March 26. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, then the top two vote-getters will advance to the June 4 special election. A win by Solache would return the membership in the Legislative LGBT Caucus to a high of eight members. Whoever is elected will need to run for a full four-year term in 2020, when the primary will again be held in March due to the presidential election. Wednesday EQCA also endorsed gay former Assemblyman John Laird’s 2020 bid for a state Senate seat. He is running to succeed Senator Bill Monning (D-Carmel), who is term limited from running again next year for his 17th Senate District seat along the Central Coast. It also gave an endorsement to gay San Diego City Councilman Chris Ward’s 2020 bid to succeed gay Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), who has opted to run for mayor of his city next year rather than seek re-election to his 78th Assembly District seat.t Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http:// www.ebar.com Monday mornings for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column reported on CA legislative efforts to create a statewide aging plan.

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

New “Below Market Rate” ownership home at 6 Mint Plaza! 1 plus bedroom priced at $342,066. Applicants must be first-time homebuyers and cannot exceed the following income levels: 100% of Area Median Income 2018. One person - $82,900; 2 persons - $94,700; 3 persons - $106,550; 4 persons - $118,400 etc. Applications due by 5pm on 4/01/2019. Please contact Rob Belli with Home Quest Realty for an application and more information at (415) 317-8540 or rob@hquestrealty.com. Unit available through the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and are subject to monitoring and other restrictions. Visit www.sfmohcd.org for program information. *Fair Housing Opportunity*

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

6 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

‘Ducking’ transgender athletes by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

enturies ago, during the witch trials of the medieval era, a unique way of determining who was or wasn’t a witch was created. A woman suspected of being a witch would have her right thumb bound to the big toe on her left foot and her left thumb bound to the big toe on her right foot. She would then have a rope tied around her waist, and be thrown into a nearby pond or river. She was viewed as a witch if she floated, as her body had “rejected baptism” in the water. She would then be put to death for her supposed crimes. If she sank in the water – drowning in the process – she was deemed pure. Either way, the woman was dead. I remember hearing this story a lot as a kid, and always thought the whole idea was abhorrent. There was literally no way to prove your innocence and continue to live your life after you were accused. Guilty or innocent, your life was forfeited. This simply made no sense to me. (Scholars have written that this method did not have legal standing in England and was in fact illegal by 1219.) Of course, we supposedly live in more enlightened times today, and the notion of “ducking” a witch has long become a tale we tell about backward medieval peasants and

their foolish practices. Oh, and yes, ducking actually is the correct term here, in spite of modern jokes about iPhone’s autocorrecting a popular expletive to that word. The term is actually a bastardization of another old English word, “cucking,” which in this case isn’t related to the word “cuckold.” Rather, it is a term related to defecating, and was used to refer to the cucking stool, a seat with a lower opening for perhaps an obvious purpose – but more on that in a moment. A few weeks ago, USA Powerlifting barred transgender women from competing in their gender, amid claims that they had a “competitive advantage” thanks to factors like increased bone density and muscle mass from the testosterone trans women experienced during puberty. South Dakota officials have attempted to pass several anti-transgender laws during the current legislative session, including an effort to bar transgender student athletes from competing with others of their same gender. The arguments were similar to those of USA Powerlifting. Most recently, lesbian tennis legend Martina Navratilova spoke out against allowing transgender women to complete against nontransgender women.

Christine Smith

“A man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organization is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires,” said Navratilova in an article in the Sunday Times. “It’s insane and it’s cheating,” she added. “I am happy to address a transgender woman in whatever form she prefers, but I would not be happy to compete against her. It would not be fair.” It’s an odd statement, given what exactly a transgender woman has to go through to compete in the first place, the effects hormone replacement therapy would have on their body, and the scrutiny they would be under. It would likewise require a fairly large financial outlay just for the chance to win all this money Navratilova claims is in women’s sports.

It also implies that transgender women have never yet participated in women’s sports, something Navratilova herself should know isn’t true: she played, and beat, Renee Richards decades ago. While I think about trans people in sports and these arguments, I find myself seeing an odd similarity to witches and ducking. I’m not saying transfeminine athletes are facing a situation as fraught as women accused of witchcraft in the Middle Ages, I do nevertheless see a parallel. A trans person who is involved with any given sport is in a no-win situation, stuck in a similar dilemma to medieval women – and sometimes men – accused of witchery. If you lose at your sport, well, you lose. You’re viewed as a failure. This may, in fact, be the lesser of two bad situations, because if you win, well, then your achievement is “blamed” on your trans history. You are viewed as having a biological advantage, and any work you did to legitimately earn that victory is immediately discounted. There’s one more important parallel: remember what I was talking about ducking witches? The process grew out of using ducking or cucking stools to lower women into waterways, but it wasn’t originally for witches: they were used to punish women – and sometimes men – with scorn and humiliation, and primarily for being a “scold.” A scold is a person who

was quarrelsome or “nagged” others over their behavior. In other words, this was a method of teaching a person – usually a woman – their “place” in the culture, through torture and humiliation. Most people who faced ducking were married women, and most were poor. The rationale, of course, would be that the woman would be so chastised by her time in the ducking chair that she would learn not to argue. I suspect that many might have considered the woman’s death to also be a way to teach her – and others – not to be quarrelsome. I see the same issue with trans athletes. They have a no-win situation: lose and, well, lose, or win and face disqualification for having an “unfair advantage.” Meanwhile, much like the women in ducking chairs, the humiliation of having to face all this would simply drive trans people away altogether, which is what those opposed to trans people in sports wanted in the first place. This has nothing to do with equity in sports, just like ducking witches had little to do with proving who was in league with Satan: the cruelty is the point. t Gwen Smith can barely open a stuck jar, let alone powerlift. You’ll find her at www.gwensmith.com.

Gilead awards $17M in grants by Cynthia Laird

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.

ilead Sciences Inc. this week announced it is providing $17.6 million in grants to 30 organizations in the U.S. as part of its HIV Age Positively initiative. The effort aims to enhance the lives of people living with HIV by focusing on three areas: improving care coordination, increasing resources for better well-being, and educating and informing policies that impact people living and aging with HIV. Locally, organizations that received three-year grants were Project Open Hand ($700,000), the San Francisco AIDS Foundation ($600,000), Shanti Project ($700,000), and UCSF ($750,000).

Gilead Sciences announced $17 million in grants to 30 U.S. organizations.

“Community partners who work tirelessly to improve the lives of people living with HIV inspire us all,” said Amy Flood, senior vice president of public affairs at Gilead. “Gilead understands science alone is not enough to help people lead longer, healthier lives. That’s why we work together with advocates, health care provid-

ers, and community organizations to identify the unique challenges people aging with HIV experience and dedicate resources to maximize impact in communities across the country.” Joe Hollendoner, CEO of SFAF, said the grant will allow the agency to work with partners to expand efforts addressing social isolation, housing insecurity, and overall health and wellness of long-term survivors and other seniors living with HIV. “The work we will be able to do now is built on the success of the Elizabeth Taylor 50-Plus Network, which has provided a number of support services for this community since 2013,” he added. “Like the model San Francisco first created to respond to the AIDS See page 12 >>

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

Assisted Reproduction • Surrogacy • Prenups Divorce • Custody • Parentage Disputes

New empress, emperor crowned

www.waldlaw.net

he Imperial Council of San Francisco crowned its new empress and emperor Saturday, February 23, at the San Francisco Design Center Galleria. Empress Baby-Shaques

88 Kearny Street, Suite 1475 • SF, CA 94108 • (415) 648-3097

Gooch

Munro and Emperor Terrill Grimes Munro, center, were surrounded by well-wishers following the coronation. The theme for Coronation 54 was “Under the Sea.”

Get it Today...No Credit Needed!

Monday - Sunday 10am - 9pm

, ay ! In nd y rr Mo th Hu ds 18 ! En ch m le ar 9p Sa M at

OPEN SUNDAYS

ANNIVERSARY

SALE!

COME SEE OUR NEWLY EXPANDED LATHROP SHOWROOM! NOW WITH 45,000 SQ. FT. OF PRODUCT, VALUE AND STYLE!

On purchases of $1850 or more with your Ashley Advantage™ credit card from 2/26/2019 to 3/18/2019. Equal monthly payments required for 74 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.

On purchases with your Ashley Advantage™ credit card from 2/26/2019 to 3/18/2019. Equal monthly payments required for 48 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.

On purchases with your Ashley Advantage™ credit card made 2/26/2019 to 3/18/2019. Interest will be charged to your account from the purchase date if the promotional purchase is not paid in full within 12 months. Minimum monthly payments required. ††See below for details.

SAN JOSE LOCATION COMING SOON!

1082 Blossom Hill Road San Jose, CA 95123

#1 IN CALIFORNIA, #1 IN AMERICA, 55 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU!

NOW HIRING! Sales Associates

Get it Today! No Credit Needed!

DUBLIN

FAIRFIELD

7885 Dublin Blvd., Dublin, CA 94568 925-660-0480

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

facebook.com/AshleyHSDublin

facebook.com/AshleyHSFairfield

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

facebook.com/AshleyHSConcord

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

facebook.com/AshleyHSEmeryville

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

LATHROP OUTLET STORE 18290 Harlan Rd. Lathrop, CA 95330 209-707-2177 facebook.com/ AshleyHSOutletLathrop

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

facebook.com/AshleyHSFolsom

facebook.com/AshleyHSMilpitas

FRESNO

MODESTO

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

facebook.com/AshleyHSFresno

3900 Sisk Rd., Ste B Modesto, CA 95356 209-248-6152 facebook.com/AshleyHSModesto

REDDING

SACRAMENTO

VISALIA

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

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

3850 S. Mooney Blvd Visalia, CA 93277 559-697-6399

facebook.com/AshleyHSRedding

ROHNERT PARK

facebook.com/AshleyHSVisalia

facebook.com/AshleyHSSacramento

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

707 Bayshore Blvd. San Francisco, CA 94124 415-467-4414

facebook.com/AshleyHSRohnertPark

facebook.com/AshleyHSSanFrancisco

ROSEVILLE

STOCKTON

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

Highland Reserve Marketplace 10349 Fairway Dr Roseville, CA 95678 916-953-5757

facebook.com/AshleyHSRoseville

SAN FRANCISCO

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

“Se Habla Español” www.AshleyHomeStore.com

facebook.com/AshleyHSStockton

††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. Offer applies only to single-receipt qualifying purchases. No interest will be charged on the promo purchase if you pay the promo purchase amount in full within 12 Months. If you do not, interest will be charged on the promo purchase from the purchase date. Depending on purchase amount, promotion length and payment allocation, the required minimum monthly payments may or may not pay off purchase by end of promotional period. Regular account terms apply to non-promotional purchases and, after promotion ends, to promotional balance. 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. *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, 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. 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: February 26, 2019. Expires: March 18, 2019.

<< Community News

8 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

Gay man claims bias at SJ Mexican Consulate by Alex Madison

gay man claims he was discriminated against at the Mexican Consulate in San Jose when a clerk refused to change his passport to reflect his married name. Cesar Rowe-Pasos, 42, lives in Santa Cruz and was granted a green card earlier this month, after arriving in the United States 14 years ago. He planned to visit family in Mexico, but needed to renew his passport first. Following the advice of his immigration lawyer, he went to the consulate on February 11 with his original green card, marriage certificate, driver’s license, and application for renewal. “The lady started to ask me basic questions like where I live and then asked if I had a phone number for a relative she could contact. I said ‘Yes, Greg Rowe, my husband,”’ Rowe-Pasos told the Bay Area Reporter in an interview last week. After learning Rowe-Pasos was married to a man, the clerk’s attitude and body language began to change, Rowe-Pasos said.

Courtesy Cesar Rowe-Pasos

Cesar Rowe-Pasos

“She was shocked,” he said. “Her body language changed when I said ‘husband.’” The clerk then proceeded to process Rowe-Pasos’ passport renewal application, he said, and eventually gave him back his documents. When he inquired about having his name changed on his passport to his married name, the woman said she couldn’t do that because Rowe-Pasos’ documents weren’t original. She did renew his

StevenUnderhill PHOTOGRAPHY

passport, but did not change his last name. Rowe-Pasos paid $74 for the renewal. Rowe-Pasos’ immigration lawyer, Janely Mendoza with the East Bay Community Law Center, although not present at the consulate, she can confirm that RowePasos had an original passport, driver’s license, green card, and marriage certificate. “He’s very diligent in reviewing everything that is required, and double checked with his attorney at the time that he took everything necessary,” Mendoza told the B.A.R. Mendoza previously represented Rowe-Pasos when he was working on becoming a U.S. citizen when she was employed with Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach in San Francisco. She said it sounded strange that the clerk would renew RowePasos’ passport if he did not have original documents, like the consulate clerk claimed. “If the issue is missing original documents, why would she issue a renewal,” Mendoza said. She also said that oftentimes rules for changing names on a passport and its renewal can be subject to the rules of that person’s home county. Although she did not know the specific rules Mexico had pertaining to passport name changes, she said it could have influenced the consulate’s decision to deny his name change, but that she still finds it peculiar that the clerk would renew a passport without all original documents present, as

the consulate worker claimed. “I have never heard of this happening at a Mexican Consulate,” she said, adding that the majority of her clients are from Central America. The Mexican Consulate’s website does not include specific instructions or which documents are required for renewing a passport or changing a name on one. The website states, “The procedure for issuing passports at the Consulate’s headquarters is provided by appointment only.” The Mexican Consulate did not comment specifically about Rowe-Pasos’ incident, but said, “The Consulate General of Mexico in San Jose values the inclusion and non-discrimination and we consider our workplace as ‘Secure Space.’ In fact, the consulate supports annually campaigns such as ‘Spirit Day,’” stated the email from Consul General Juan Manuel Calderon Jaimes, referring to the annual day against bullying and in support of LGBTQ youth. The statement also explained that if someone with a Mexican passport wishes to change their name on the passport, the new name will only be published in the corresponding section of the passport located in the data sheet of the passport. “If the applicant for a Mexican passport is married, regardless of whether the marriage is between people of the same sex, and want the spouse’s last name to be entered in the passport, they must submit a certified copy of the

Mexican or foreign marriage certificate. It continues, “It is important to note that the legal last name of a Mexican national can’t be changed and will be exactly as written in the birth certificate, what is allowed is to incorporate the spouse surname in the corresponding section in the passport.” The statement also cites “Article 30 of the Mexican Passport Law,” which says the only document required for a name change is a marriage certificate. Rowe-Pasos, who works as a driver for Uber, said he has had to postpone his trip to Mexico because he feels it’s too dangerous to travel with a green card and passport that do not have matching surnames. He and his husband have made an appointment with the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco to see about getting the name change and hope not to have to pay another fee. The incident at the San Jose consulate left Rowe-Pasos depressed and saddened, he said. After being granted a green card after many years of fighting for it, Rowe-Pasos said his experience was unacceptable. “I have been fighting to be legal and respected for 15 years,” he said. “They need to respect the American process. This is California, whether you’re gay, straight whatever, people have pride and self-respect. This is California, it isn’t Mexico. You can’t keep incriminating people and treating us like that.” t

Groups seek names for Stonewall 50 honor wall by Cynthia Laird

T 415 370 7152

StevenUnderhill.com StevenUnderhillPhotos@gmail.com

Drain Clean Special* Call us 24/7

415-993-9523 Main line service up to 100’, with access point. Warranty included. May not be combined with other offers. Service limited to San Francisco County resident, 8am to 7pm.

A locally owned and operated franchise. Lic# 974194

www.MrRooter-SFO.com

wo of the LGBTQ community’s oldest organizations are joining forces to create a wall of honor at the Stonewall Inn in New York City for this year’s historic 50th anniversary of the rebellion that gave rise to the modern gay rights movement. The International Imperial Courts of the USA, Canada, and Mexico and the National LGBTQ Task Force are now accepting nominations for the joint project, according to a news release. They aim to select 50 people, in keeping with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The riots took place in June 1969, when patrons of the iconic bar rose up against homophobic and transphobic police harassment. The bar, in the heart of Greenwich Village, fronts the country’s first LGBT national monument overseen by the National Park Service. “A community, indeed a civil rights movement, that does not know where it came from and on whose shoulders they stand does not really know where it is going,” Nicole Murray Ramirez, Queen Mother I of the Americas for the Imperial Court organization, said in the release. Ramirez said that the organizations would unveil the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at the Stonewall Inn June 27 during the global Stonewall 50 and World Pride celebrations. According to the release, the owners of the bar support the plan. In the release, Ramirez thanked bi co-owner Kurt Kelly for his support. “This is the ideal place to honor our movement’s trailblazers,”

Gooch

Nicole Murray Ramirez, Queen Mother I of the Americas, was in San Francisco last weekend for coronation festivities.

Ramirez stated. Stonewall Inn co-owner Stacy Lentz, who is lesbian, told the Bay Area Reporter in an email that the bar is on board. “Yes we are aware and excited,” she wrote. Rea Carey, executive director of the task force, said in the release that the project “will continue to inspire generations of people to be out, proud, and active in our pursuit of equality.” “As LGBTQ people, it is critical to know our movement’s history and honor those who have brought us to this point in our progress toward freedom and liberation,” she added. The Imperial Court organization was formed in 1965. The task force, a national LGBTQ advocacy group, was established in 1973. Ramirez and Carey said that the first 50 names will be selected by the Stonewall 50 Wall of Honor Governors made up of 18 community leaders including Wilson Cruz,

Mandy Carter, Marsha Botzer, the Reverend Troy Perry, and Stuart Milk, the gay nephew of slain San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk. The criteria are that the person no longer be living, contributed to the advancement of the LGBTQ community in a substantive way, and that they were LGBTQ themselves. Nominations are being accepted at www.icsstonewall50.org. The deadline is March 25. Donations can also be made on the website.t

Correction

Due to incorrect information, the phone number published in the February 21 article, “South Bay’s first gender center officially opens in San Jose,” was incorrect. The phone number to call for the Gender Health Center is (408) 9774411. The online version has been updated.

Community News>>

February 28-March 6, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 9

Rainbow flag co-creator seeks funds for Stonewall 50 project compiled by Cynthia Laird

artworks were monumental and required lots of people.” According to the GoFundMe page, Segerblom wants to create four special hand-dyed rainbow flags for this year’s Stonewall 50 celebrations and two for 2020, which would be the 50th anniversary of the first Pride parades in many cities, including San Francisco. In 1970, LGBTs held a march down Polk Street and a small “gay-in” in Golden Gate Park. Money is needed to cover fabric and supplies, a washer and dryer, and team production, the page stated. For more information, or to donate, visit https://www.gofundme. com/historic-pride-flags.

he woman who co-created the original 1978 rainbow flags with the late Gilbert Baker and another gay man has started a crowdfunding campaign to recreate that iconic LGBT Pride symbol for schools, community centers, and other groups. Lynn Segerblom, a straight woman who lives in southern California, first came to media attention last year when she described her role in creating the 1978 flags for that year’s San Francisco Pride parade. Segerblom doesn’t deny that it was Baker who was instrumental in turning the rainbow flag into a global symbol for LGBT people. But in a first person account published last March in the Los Angeles Blade Last chance LGBT newspaper and in a yet-toto vote for Besties be-released documentary, SegerbTime is running out to vote in lom contends the first rainbow flags this year’s B.A.R. readers’ poll, the were collaboratively designed and Besties, with the online survey closmade by herself, Baker, and their ing Sunday, March 3, at midnight friend James McNamara, who died (Pacific Time). of AIDS in 1999. The popular contest allows read“It really is a three person, not a ers to share their favorite LGBTQone person, flag making. Everybody owned and LGBTQ-allied people, played their part and then some,” places, and things in the Bay Area. Segerblom, 62, told the Bay Area Categories run the gamut from arts Reporter in a phone interview last and culture to nightlife to travel year from her home in Torrance, destinations. southwest of Los Angeles. There are also nominees for Baker died in March 2017. community, shopping, and dining. In 1978, Segerblom was known Readers who complete at least 75 as Faerie Argyle Rainbow. She and percent of the ballot will automatiBaker were roommates back cally be eligible for prizes. then and also became (See the ballot for detailed co-chairs of the Decinformation.) orations Committee Prizes include a threefor the 1978 Gay Freenight stay at Nantucket dom Day events (what is Whale Inn in Half now known as San FranMoon Bay, a $500 cisco Pride). shopping spree at According to SegerbCliff ’s Variety, a lom and gay San Franpair of tickets to see cisco resident Adrian Megan Mullally and Brooks, sizes of the Stephanie Hunt as hand-dyed, eight-stripe versions Nancy and Beth at Feinstein’s at the with lame stars will vary. Segerblom Nikko May 4, and a pair of tickets plans to create flags for the Los Anto see Randy Rainbow at the Mageles LGBT Center, the city of West sonic April 20 (sponsored by Live Hollywood, and the Boys and Girls Nation). Club of America. To vote, visit http://www.ebar. Segerblom launched the crowdcom/besties2019. funding page earlier this week with a goal of raising $10,000. On the page, Carnaval to hold she said that she also wants to create Mardi Gras celebration what she said would be the first-ever The organizers of San Francishand-dyed trans flag, which would co’s annual Carnaval celebration UC beSan a part of they will hold a givenFrancisco to creator MonicaHealth Helms to is have announced theUs NewResearch York City Pride paFat Tuesday party March 5 that thecarry Allinof Program, from rade in June, which commemorates will span 20 venues throughout the thethe National Institutes of Health. 50th anniversary of the StoneMission district. Thewall goal of All of Us is to help riots. According to a news release, atIn a Facebook message, Helmsmore tendees are encouraged to begin researchers understand about said she was aware of Segerblom’s the night at 6 at Mission Sports Bar, why people get sick or stay healthy. project and is in support of it. located at 2565 Mission Street, and Segerblom encountered some party-hop to different venues that blowback last year from Baker’s will be listed on a map at www.carafterinformation she went public about Forfriends more or to navalsanfrancisco.org/events. enroll: her role in co-creating the original Some of the participating sites Call: (833) 268-8273 flags. are Blondie’s Bar, Laszlo, MakeEmail: allofus@ucsf.edu Longtime LGBT rights activist Out Room, Cha Cha Cha, and Cleve Jones was close friends with Zoe’s Bar and Restaurant. Several AllofUsUCSF.org Baker and wrote about |the#JoinAllofUs history Carnaval parade contingents are of the rainbow flag in his memexpected to perform at some of the oir “When We Rise.” He told the establishments. B.A.R. last year that Baker deserves Attendees are invited to wear to be remembered as the person costumes, masks, and beads in celwho turned the rainbow flag into ebration of Mardi Gras. The parthe symbol it became for the LGBT ties are free and open to the pubA Member of All of Us California community. lic, with a percentage of sales from “It was Gilbert, and Gilbert alone, each venue donated to CANA, a Youwho will receive athe$25 gift card conceptualized rainbow nonprofit that funds much of the flagyou as the complete flag for our community artistry behind the main Carnaval after your visit. and our movement,” said Jones. parade and festival in May. All of “While Us and the All ofmany Us logo are service marks of the many, people, includU.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ing many women, assisted him in Kendell joins Pack the those efforts, no one can claim to be Courts Campaign the co-creator of the rainbow flag as Kate Kendell, the former longthe symbol for our community.” time executive1 director of the NaAoU_COB_UCSF_SFChronicleAd_4.792x9.83_Print_V2_120718_HF.indd Jones said he remembers Segertional Center for Lesbian Rights, blom well and described her as “an has accepted a position as interim absolute sweetheart.” Nonetheless, campaign manager for Pack the he said she was “one of many people Courts, a national persuasion camwho assisted Gilbert. All of Gilbert’s paign urging Democrats to expand

A healthier future. Let’s pass it on together.

the courts after they take control of the White House and Congress. Pack the Courts, a 501(c)4 taxexempt organization, is a project of the 1/20/21 Action Fund. “Kate Kendell is a genius and a rock star,” Aaron Belkin, executive director of Pack the Courts, said in a news release. Kendell said she was especially concerned with the Supreme Court. “I’ve admired Aaron for a long time, and to now have the chance to work closely with him is a thrill,” Kendell said in the release. “The U.S. Supreme Court is in crisis and our most cherished values are imperiled by five justices who, for the next 30-40 years, will do all they can to deny justice and undermine democratic institutions. If I can be a part of a strategy to avoid the worst of that carnage, I am all in.”

James McNamara, courtesy Paul Langlotz

Gilbert Baker, left, and Lynn Segerblom held an original rainbow flag with other volunteers in 1978.

Kendell did not respond to a request for comment asking about

specifics of the persuasion campaign. t

A healthier future. Let’s pass it on together. UC San Francisco Health is a part of the All of Us Research Program, from the National Institutes of Health. The goal of All of Us is to help researchers understand more about why people get sick or stay healthy. For more information or to enroll: Call: (833) 268-8273 Email: allofus@ucsf.edu AllofUsUCSF.org | #JoinAllofUs

A Member of All of Us California

You will receive a $25 gift card after you complete your visit.

12/11/18 1:20 PM

All of Us and the All of Us logo are service marks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

AoU_COB_UCSF_SFChronicleAd_4.792x9.83_Print_V2_120718_HF.indd 1

12/11/18 1:20 PM

<< Travel

t NYC to have Pride of a lifetime for Stonewall 50 10 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

by Heather Cassell

here’s no question: New York City Pride, combined with WorldPride for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, is going to be historic. That’s one reason why the Big Apple is gussying itself up with rainbows and getting the entertainment ready to welcome as many as 4 million Pridegoers from around the world who are expected to descend on the city and its five boroughs in June. The anniversary of the Stonewall riots that ignited the modern gay liberation movement also marks the first time that World Pride will be hosted in the United States. Lesbian rocker Melissa Etheridge is set to headline WorldPride’s closing at a free concert in Times Square June 30 (https://2019-worldpride-stonewall50.nycpride.org/events/closingceremony). “All eyes will be on New York and that benefits everybody,” said Cathy Renna, a 53-year-old lesbian native New Yorker who is the media consultant for Heritage of Pride Inc., which produces NYC Pride. “It’s going to be the largest Pride event ever in history. Period. End of story. Which is extraordinary in and of itself,” said Renna. “It’s really going to be an extraordinary and historic month.” Staten Island is also gearing up for the event. “They are doing an amazing job to put on some absolutely spectacular events,” Marcy Carr, 54, a pansexual woman who is the operations director at the Pride Center of Staten Island, said about NYC Pride organizers. Staten Island will kick-off WorldPride events May 10, said Carr, who is also a board member and regional director for InterPride, which produces WorldPride. Stacy Lentz, 48, is a lesbian and coowner of the Stonewall Inn (https:// thestonewallinnnyc.com). She previously told the Bay Area Reporter that the iconic bar is going to be “crazy” during June. “The whole city is going to come together to celebrate this once-in-ageneration time period,” said Lentz. Events are not limited to Manhattan. “You have a month and a half of amazing events going on throughout all the boroughs. No matter when you get here you will have plenty of stuff to see and do,” Carr added. Everyone is excited to have the world come and celebrate in New York. “So, I think that it’s going to be amazing,” said Lentz.

Stonewall

“This is where the fight began,” said Lentz of the bar in Greenwich Village. “The whole entire city offers something special because of what happened here in 1969.” On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, but tired of homophobic and transphobic harassment, LGBT people fought back. The initial uprising lasted for six days, and 50 years later, visitors from around the world come to Stonewall to honor what happened in the bar that fateful night that unleashed a movement. LGBT communities continue to be inspired to stand up for their rights, launching Pride celebrations in cities and small towns around the world. Many cities, including San Francisco, started their Pride events in 1970 to commemorate the first anniversary of Stonewall. “We are going to be a safe haven and be able to educate different countries and show them how it’s going to be done,” said Lentz, noting that in some countries LGBT people are still being killed for being queer. Due to its historical significance, the park fronting the bar was named the country’s first LGBT national

monument in 2016 and is overseen by the National Park Service. The bar itself became the nation’s first LGBT historic landmark in 2000. “Telling the Stonewall story about what happened in 1969 is a critical element,” said Lentz. “I think that through all these events and through all the events at WorldPride having everything being told here is going to be incredible to keep that story alive and keep reminding people that it’s OK to be gay.” There will be plenty of events at the Stonewall Inn, said Lentz and Kurt Kelly, a 59-year-old bisexual man who is another one of the four investors who took over the bar in 2006. “Everyone can expect to be accepted and proud because this is their home,” said Kelly. Renna said the bar has been a pivotal location for generations of LGBTQs. “The Stonewall Inn has always been that kind of epicenter for us,” said Renna. “It’s a great opportunity for people to explore their queer history wherever they are from.”

Plenty of Pride

The five New York borough Pride organizations – NYC Pride (https://2019-worldpride-stonewall50.nycpride.org), Brooklyn Twilight Pride (http://brooklynpride. org), Staten Island PrideFest (http:// www.pridecentersi.org), 1 Bronx Pride Parade and Festival (https:// goo.gl/DtZ3nU) and Queens Pride (http://www.queenspride.org) – are working together to produce an incredible month and a half of events throughout the greater New York area leading up to NYC Pride/WorldPride/ Stonewall 50 June 30. Additionally, Harlem Pride (https://harlempride. org), YouthPride (https://2019-worldpride-stonewall50. nycpride.org/events/ youth-pride) and an alternative Pride parade, Reclaim Pride Coalition (https://reclaimpridenyc.org) will also be holding their own celebrations. In addition to commemorating Stonewall 50, Harlem Pride will also observe the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance and the 10th anniversary of the neighborhood’s own Pride celebration. “It is important to celebrate Stonewall 50,” wrote Carmen Neely, a selfdescribed same-gender loving woman who is the president of Harlem Pride, in an email interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “It is also important to celebrate the glorious LGBTQ members of the Harlem Renaissance and the countless others who were advocating for LGBTQ rights long before Stonewall.” Transgender former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, convicted of leaking secret information to WikiLeaks, and gay playwright and veteran HIV/AIDS activist Larry Kramer have joined forces to produce the Reclaim Pride Queer Liberation March June 30. The grassroots coalition plans to kick-off its march at the Stonewall Inn to “address the many social and political battles that continue to be fought locally, nationally, and globally” according to the Reclaim Pride Coalition’s website. New York’s cultural institutions and community organizations are also getting in on the celebration, creating a variety of events under the Stonewall 50 Consortium (http://www.fb.com/ stonewall50consortium). Earlier this month, the New York Library opened its series of exhibits and programs, “Love & Resistance: Stonewall 50” (http://www.nypl.org/ events/exhibitions/stonewall50). WorldPride brings a whole new element to NYC Pride celebrations from opening and clos-

ing ceremonies to a human rights conference (https://2019-worldpridestonewall50.nycpride.org/events/ human-rights-conference). “There are elements of that that will make it extremely unique,” said Renna, who is excited about the conference and the many international contingents that will march in the parade. “New York is a really amazing place to have it: It’s the home of the United Nations. It’s an international city in so many ways,” she said. “I think that it’s going to really draw some extraordinary people.” The conference will bring together a wide range of LGBT advocates from activists to journalists to policy makers to discuss LGBT rights around the world June 24-25. Lentz and Renna acknowledged that while Pride is a celebration, its roots of resistance haven’t dissipated with time. “There is still very much the sense that gathering and being visible is really still important and it’s still very political,” Renna said about Pride, noting the state of LGBT rights in the United States and around the world Stonewall 50 is more relevant than ever. “We are celebrating history, but we are also talking about resistance still, equality still,” said Lentz. “I think that we need to start looking for what’s going to come out of this. Where are we going as a community on a global level?”

What to do

For up-to-the-minute happenings during the celebrations, stop by the pop-up LGBT Visitors Center that will open sometime this spring on Christopher Street near the Stonewall Inn. The center will be open to visitors throughout the summer, said Renna. There will be something for everyone, from culture vultures to history buffs to Broadway enthusiasts to foodies to festival and party goers during Pride Month. Best of all, many of the events during Stonewall 50 are free to attend. Escape Manhattan for a day by taking the free Staten Island Ferry. The adventure will take you to two different historical homes where lesbian legends resided. The Alice Austen House is the family home of Alice Austen, a turn of the century photographer who lived with her female companion for many years (https:// aliceausten.org). It has views of New York’s skyline. Black lesbian feminist activist and poet Audre Lorde and her family called Staten Island home for 20 years. It is from this house, now the Audre Lorde Residence (http://www. nyclgbtsites.org/site/audre-lorderesidence), where she created her most prolific works and launched the Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. In New York, partygoers can enjoy PrideFest (https://2019-worldpridestonewall50.nycpride.org/events/ pridefest), Pride Island (https://2019worldpride-stonewall50.nycpride. org/events/pride-island), a VIP Rooftop Party (https://2019-worldpridestonewall50.nycpride.org/events/ vip-rooftop) and Femme Fatale (https://2019-worldpride-stonewall50.nycpride.org/events/femmefatale), among other celebrations. Queers will be able to geek out at the popular Cosplay Pride (https://2019worldpride-stonewall50.nycpride. org/events/cosplay-and-pride) and foodies will be able to enjoy a special LGBT chef driven culinary fundraiser, Savor Pride (https://2019-worldpride-stonewall50.nycpride.org/ events/SavorPride). Head uptown to Harlem to enjoy a series of events hosted by Harlem Pride throughout June.

Courtesy Madison Voelkel/NYC Pride

New York City Pride marchers take over the streets of Manhattan.

Courtesy Mike Salinari

Stacy Lentz, left, and Kurt Kelly, two of the co-owners of the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, are preparing for the Stonewall 50 commemoration in June.

Some of the Harlem highlights are the history of the “Jewel Box Revue,” a trans, gender-nonconforming appreciation reception, and the Harlem Pride Celebration Day, which attracts up to 8,000 people annually. The Jewel Box Revue is one of the earliest traveling drag shows that was gay-owned, unlike its counterparts, Finnochio’s and Club 82 of the 1940s and 1950s in San Francisco and New York, respectively. The event is being produced in association with the Apollo Theater’s Live Wire program. “There are so many places to go and there are so many things to do in New York,” said Renna. “The fact that it will be amplified to really accentuate the LGBTQ community is going to make it just extraordinary.”

Where to stay

NYC Pride and WorldPride have partnered with 12 hotels (https://2019worldpride-stonewall50.nycpride.org/ visitor-info/hotels) offering 10 to 20 percent discounts. Renna also expects Airbnb and staying with friends and family to be popular options for Pridegoers, she said. Some hotels include Aloft Harlem (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/nyclh-aloft-harlem), Hotel Le Bleu (http://www.hotellebleu. com) in Brooklyn, Kimpton Eventi (http://www.hoteleventi.com), the Roxy (http://www.roxyhotelnyc. com), and the Hyatt Union Square (https://goo.gl/3VERpg). For a unique budget stay in New York, I suggest the Jane (http:// www.thejanenyc.com).

Where to eat

Whenever I visit New York, I tend to stay in the Chelsea neighborhood near Union Square and the Village, which offers a bevy of dining options. During a recent trip I enjoyed Momofuku Nishi (https://nishi. momofuku.com), Kyma (https:// kymarestaurants.com), and brunch at Fred’s at Barney’s NYC (http:// www.barneys.com/store/fredsdowntown/R-store-904) in New York City.

Restaurateur David Chang’s popular Momofuku Nishi is family-style Asian-American fusion. The food is delicious and well worth the reservation. Kyma is a popular Greek restaurant with great cocktails. Reservations are a must to get into this hot spot, but you might get lucky nabbing a seat at the bar. If you can’t get a reservation at the Blue Box Cafe at Tiffany’s, Fred’s is another New York institution atop Barney’s, the luxury department store that serves a delightful brunch. Reservations are required.

Getting around

It’s easy to get into New York by subway or train from all three of the area’s major airports. Get a Metro card and you’ll be zipping around the city like a local. There is an additional $5 fee for the air train connection between John F. Kennedy and the subway. Otherwise, ride hailing companies and taxies are plentiful throughout the city, five boroughs, and New Jersey.

Come visit

“This is really going to be a kind of a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Renna. Stonewall Inn’s Kelly and Lentz believe that LGBT travelers should visit New York anytime, especially for NYC Pride/WorldPride/Stonewall 50 because of New Yorkers’ welcoming attitude and diversity. “I’ve been all over the country and I have not found a place that is so welcoming as New York,” said Kelly. Added Lentz, “It’s that fabric that doesn’t just make up the rainbow flag but the fabric that makes up the international flag.” t New York City Pride/WorldPride/ Stonewall 50 is starting to take shape. Keep an eye on these websites to help make your adventure memorable: https://2019worldpride-stonewall50.nycpride. org/events and http://www.nycgo. com/maps-guides/gay/world-pridenyc-2019.

JUNE 2019 NYCPRIDE.ORG/2019

PRODUCED BY

WORLDPRIDE LICENSOR

H O S T PA R T N E R

<< Obituaries

12 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

SF Public Defender Jeff Adachi dies by Cynthia Laird

an Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi died Friday, February 22, leaving a void in an office that is dogged in its representation of indigent clients. He was 59. According to media reports, Mr. Adachi was with an unidentified female friend in North Beach when he apparently suf-

fered a medical emergency. He was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. San Francisco police are investigating the case, but do not suspect foul play. Mr. Adachi, a straight ally who was the only elected public defender in the state, was a staunch advocate for those needing legal representation in criminal cases.

DISPLAY OBITUARIES & IN MEMORIAMS

The Bay Area Reporter can help members of the community reach more than 120,000 LGBT area residents each week with their display of Obituary* & In Memoriam messages.

RATES:

$21.20 per column inch (black & white) $29.15 per column inch (full color)

DEADLINES:

Friday 12noon for space reservations Monday 12noon for copy & images

TO PLACE:

Call 415-829-8937 or email advertising@ebar.com

* Non-display Obituaries of 200-words or less are FREE to place. Please email obituary@ebar.com for more information.

44 Gough Street, Suite 204, San Francisco, CA 94103

Mayor London Breed announced Mr. Adachi’s death late Friday. “As one of the few elected public defenders in our country, Jeff always stood up for those who didn’t have a voice, have been ignored and overlooked, and who needed a real champion,” Breed said. “He was committed not only to the fight for justice in the courtroom, but he was also a relentless advocate for criminal justice reform.” The mayor noted that Mr. Adachi “led the way on progressive policy reforms, including reducing recidivism, ending cash bail, and standing up for undocumented and unrepresented children.” Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman called Mr. Adachi’s unexpected death “terribly sad.” “He was a tireless public servant, and a great champion of his office, the attorneys who worked for him, and the clients they represent,” Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter in a text message Tuesday. Niki Solis, a deputy public defender who is a lesbian, said Mr. Adachi was a mentor and friend. “He was always there, answering my late night texts and picking up midnight or early morning phone calls,” Solis said in a statement issued by the public defender’s office. “He broke the mold, not making decisions based on political expediency, but on simply what

Robert Fujioka

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi

was right. There is no replacing a man of his magnitude, but he, of all people, would be the first to say, ‘keep fighting on.’” Mr. Adachi began in the office in 1987 as a deputy public defender and became a five-time elected public defender for San Francisco. “He revolutionized our office, bringing in much-needed technology and greatly increasing crucial support staff such as paralegals, investigators, and social workers,” the statement from the public defender’s office said. Mr. Adachi was also a constant thorn in the side of police, and would not hesitate to call attention to alleged misdeeds, such as the racist and homophobic tex-

san francisco

Columbariu M Funeral Home and

formerly the Neptune Society

an Francisco District Attorney George Gascón announced Monday that his office will wipe out more than 9,000 marijuana convictions dating to the mid1970s as part of a program to retroactively apply Proposition 64, which legalized adult use of the drug. Last year, Gascón teamed up with Code for America to develop the program. At a February 25 news conference at 850 Bryant Street, Gascón announced that his office had successfully completed a review of all marijuana convictions, dating back to 1975, that were eligible for dismissal and reduction. The project was completed five months ahead of schedule, he said. Gascón said San Francisco thus becomes the first county in the state to clear and reduce all eligible cannabis convictions under Prop 64, which legalized the possession and recreational use of marijuana for adults ages 21 years or older. It also allows convictions to be expunged.

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

FD 1306

SF_Columbarium_2x7.625_033017.indd 1

Gilead

From page 6

epidemic, the city has the opportunity once again to set the standard of care for long-term survivors and other seniors living with HIV. It is important that the public health system not fail this generation again.” Kaushik Roy, executive director of Shanti, said he agency was pleased to receive the funding. “Shanti’s Age Positively grant builds on our existing programming by greatly expanding our capacity to provide care navigation, medical case management, groups, and individual emotional and practical support to aging San Franciscans living with

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

COA 660

8/11/17 12:30 PM

ting scandal in 2016. District Attorney George Gascón, who frequently tangled with the public defender’s office, said he was stunned by the news. “I am deeply saddened by the unexpected news today,” Gascón wrote on Twitter late Friday. “Jeff was a passionate advocate who always fought for what he believed in. He represented the underserved and gave his career to public service.” Breed is expected to soon appoint an interim public defender. Matt Gonzalez, the office’s chief attorney, is overseeing day-to-day operations. The public defender’s race will now be added to the November 5 election, and the winner will serve the remainder of Mr. Adachi’s term. He was just re-elected last fall and ran unopposed. Garrett L. Wong, presiding judge of the San Francisco Superior Court, issued a statement calling Mr. Adachi a “tireless advocate for all San Franciscans.” “This truly is a sad day for all who benefited from his ardent pursuit of justice,” Wong added. Breed’s office announced that a public memorial service for Mr. Adachi will be held Monday, March 4, at 11 a.m. at City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place. The service will be open to the public. Mr. Adachi is survived by his wife, Matsuko, and his daughter, Lauren. t

Gascón to wipe out thousands of pot convictions by Sari Staver

THIS IS THE

Rick Gerharter

District Attorney George Gascón

According to a statement from Gascón’s office, Code for America used “the principles and practices of the digital age to improve government services – to reimagine the record clearance process and leverage technology to proactively review criminal convictions that qualify for relief ” under Prop 64. Jennifer Pahlka, Code for AmerHIV,” Roy wrote in an email. “We are excited to have the opportunity to deepen our longtime partnership with Gilead to help ensure this key segment of our community has all the tools they need to thrive.” According to a news release, Gilead convened an advisory board of experts on aging and HIV as part of the grant process. “The advisory board created a space for leaders to come together and address these unmet needs of people aging with HIV,” said Stephen Karpiak, Ph.D., senior director of research at ACRIA Center on HIV and Aging at Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City, which was also awarded a grant. “By spotlighting and uplifting poten-

ica founder and executive director, said the nonprofit used “Clear My Record” technology, which is a computer-based algorithm, to identify eligible cases. The program is now preparing to expand statewide, according to Code for America, which will form a pilot cohort of California counties also looking to automate their review and dismissal process for marijuana convictions. The announcement drew praise from Erich Pearson, a gay man who is founder and CEO of SPARC cannabis dispensary. In an email to the Bay Area Reporter, Pearson wrote that “District Attorney Gascón and those in his office should be commended for their proactive approach to righting the wrongs of the drug war.” “As we begin to approach drug use as a conversation of health and not crime, it’s important that we look back and fix the damage we’ve caused, especially to communities of color, who have been – and still are – disproportionately affected by this war,” he added.t

tial interventions, we aim to shine a bright light on the too often forgotten and marginalized community of people aging with HIV: the challenges they face, the resources they need, and the support they deserve.” The HIV Age Positively grantees include longtime advocacy organizations, which are now better equipped to provide life-saving services to their communities, as well as newer organizations that add to the overall effort to strengthen care and services for this growing population, the release stated. Each grantee was selected for their unique ability to articulate interventions that have the potential to transform the quality of life for people aging with HIV. t

Sports >>

February 28-March 6, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 13

On Martina, Caster, and wrestlers who wouldn’t wrestle by Roger Brigham

artina Navratilova is wrong. Transgender women competing in women’s sports isn’t “cheating.” Not even she believes that. Cheating occurs when somebody intentionally violates rules or laws. That’s not what is happening with the increased inclusion of transgender athletes in sports. What’s happening is that governing rules are changing and, in general, becoming more inclusive – and that’s what Navratilova, a lesbian retired tennis champion, has a beef with. As to cheating itself, history, especially the history of women and most especially the history of women in sports, shows us that not all cheating is bad. We got women’s marathons in the Olympics a helluva lot sooner than we might have otherwise because brave activist women such as the late Patricia Nell Warren made a point of violating the Boston Marathon’s exclusion of women decades ago to show they were perfectly capable of running that distance without being overcome by vapors. Historically, sports have treated athletes who do not fit into a neat theoretical sexual binary with suspicion. Moves to make rules more accommodating of variations in gender and gender identity have met with political pushback, opposing sides wrap themselves in scientific claims, and the debate is currently re-escalating since the International Olympic Committee dropped reassignment surgery as a prerequisite for competition. Navratilova made her “cheating” statement in a recent newspaper oped column. In it she also said that it was “insane” for sports organizations to allow inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports. Hey, she certainly has the right to disagree with that inclusion, but that does not make it insane. She and others believe such inclusion is wrong, but the attempt by governing bodies to try to develop policies they believe are inclusive, compassionate, supportive of athletes, and practical is a decidedly rational impulse. This is not the first time Navratilova has publicly spoken out against the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports. Last year, after Canadian transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon won a gold world medal in an age-group sprint competition, Navratilova tweeted, “You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women. There must be some standards, and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard.” When North Carolina was considering legislation a few years back that would restrict transgender individuals to using restrooms that were tied to their assigned gender at birth, proponents of the bill put forward a straw man defense, warning people of a strictly hypothetical threat: heterosexual predators posing as members of the opposite sex to gain access to vulnerable prey. In her recent op-ed, Navratilova theorized about men adopting female identities briefly to reap athletic rewards, and then reverting to their old masculine lives. “She imagines a nonexistent cisgender man who will pretend to be a trans woman, convince a psychologist and a physician to prescribe hormone therapy, undertake the process for legal change recognition, then wait the minimum 12

Courtesy AP

Martina Navratilova during the Ladies’ Invitation Doubles final on July 4, 2010.

months of testosterone suppression required by the current IOC rules, compete, and then change his mind and ‘go back to making babies’?” McKinnon wrote in an email to the Associated Press. “No such thing will ever happen. This is an irrational fear of trans women.” Athlete Ally said it has dropped Navratilova from its advisory board. Meanwhile, Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya of South Africa was in Switzerland last week as the Court of Arbitration for Sport was hearing arguments about whether track’s international governing body should be allowed to require women – including those with differences in sexual development – with naturally high testosterone levels to take medically unnecessary hormone suppressants to reduce their testosterone. A similar previous attempt by the International Association of Athletics Federations was defeated in court and the IAAF was told to come back with more evidence to support its stance. (See May 3, 2018 JockTalk, “Testosterone pseudoscience.”) Instead of doing that, the IAAF came up with this new proposed rule that cherry-picked the distances that fall under the testosterone restriction: the 400-meter to 1500-meter races. Any correlation the IAAF had between testosterone levels and winning results occurred at other distances, but for whatever reason the IAAF decided to settle on the middle-distance events it felt were being dominated by Semenya and other runners from Asia and Africa. You know: not racism, just serendipity. The court is expected to release its verdict by March 26.

Estrada had to wrestle both girls en route to taking third place. “It’s really cool to have the first girls place at state in my bracket,” Estrada said. “Really cool. Really tough, too. Rios is really tough. She’s one of the best in the nation among girls. Same with Jasslyn. She never stops.” And yes, all of that was cool and historic, but here’s the Denver Post headline after the first day of the two-day meet: “A Colorado Springs wrestler made history when he knocked himself out of the state tournament rather than wrestle a girl.” Now, wrestlers have double forfeited before. It’s not that uncommon, and it simply defies logic to glorify a wrestler for refusing to wrestle. It is not as though there was a sudden rule change on the eve of

Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya

the tournament, that girls were being let into a boys-only club at the last second. Girls are eligible to wrestle in the state tournament. Period. Nothing new in the policy. Last year, Brendan Johnston, of the Classical Academy, forfeited when he was supposed to wrestle a girl in the state consolation matches. This year, he forfeited to both Gallegos and Rios, knocking him out of any chance for any medal. Colorado will have a girls state competition starting in the 202021 school year. California started its first girls state wrestling tournament a few years ago, and I was proud as head coach at Mission High to be the only one to send as many girls as I did boys to state that inaugural year. But during the regular season, when going against the best wrestlers they can allows wrestlers to

hone their skills, boys and girls still often practice with and compete against each other. I had a freshman who asked me if he could forfeit a match at an in-season tournament, because his next opponent was a girl, and then wrestle a consolation match afterward. “Sure, you can forfeit,” I told him. “And then you can leave this team. What gives us the right to deny an opportunity to anyone else to compete?” A light bulb went on and he wrestled. Hey, it didn’t grab a headline and it didn’t make headlines, but as I’ve seen that young man grow into a respectful, responsible adult, and a good friend, I think it may have made a difference. t

EARLY SPACE RESERVATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED

Wrestling

Amid all this fear that women are being made to compete against athletes with “male” advantages, two female wrestlers in Colorado were taking on the boys in the state high school championships – and both won medals. Colorado high school girls can wrestle – but the state does not offer separate boys and girls competitions. Last Saturday, Angel Rios, a junior at Valley High, and Jasslyn Gallegos, a senior at Skyview High, placed fourth and fifth in the 106-pound weight class, making them the first two girls in state history to reach the medals platform. “When I was younger, even in 2006, we had problems with sexism and all of that,” said Gallegos. “Now it’s just not there, the whole ‘girls shouldn’t wrestle’ thing.” Weld Central freshman Robert

the official magazine of san francisco pride 2019 Call 415-829-8937 Advertising@ebar.com

<< Community News

14 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

Flood forces evacuation at Russian River by Charlie Wagner

eople living near the Russian River were ordered by officials to evacuate Tuesday, as another atmospheric river pushed the muddy river over the 32-foot flood level. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website indicated the river exceeded flood stage Tuesday at 4 p.m. It was expected to crest at 46.1 feet Wednesday and drop back below flood level by 11 p.m. Thursday. At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the Sonoma County Sheriff ’s office issued an evacuation order for anyone living near the Russian River and its tributaries because the river was forecast to go above flood stage by 6 p.m. The order stated that evacuating would help clear the roads for emergency vehicles during the high water. Guerneville is in the unincorporated part of Sonoma County and police services are provided by the sheriff ’s office. The office issued the evacuation order via the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system, SoCoAlert, and other social media tools. At the 40-foot level, according to NOAA, travel on Main Street in Guerneville becomes difficult,

Courtesy KCBS Radio via Twitter

Johnson Road in Guerneville was under water Tuesday.

which potentially complicates evacuations. Businesses are also impacted. As Jeff Bridges, general manager of the R3 Hotel, noted, “the back of our property takes water at 39 feet but we’re not actually flooded until 42 feet.” In an email Tuesday night, gay Guerneville resident Dave Davis observed, “This one came rather quickly for me. The ground was already completely saturated by the previous St. Valentine’s Day event ... the water has no place to go, but to the river. This weather system is

PrEP

From page 1

“So far we’ve ever really emphasized the use of PrEP everyday to keep HIV away, but 2-1-1 dosing is a different way,” said PrEP expert Dr. Robert Grant of the UCSFGladstone Center for AIDS Research at the recent forum hosted at Strut. The moniker is meant to be a simple way to remind people how to take PrEP when they intend to have sex if they are not taking Truvada daily. “So 2-1-1 dosing is on when you’re having sex. Two pills before sex, one pill the day after sex, and a fourth pill two days after sex,” explained Grant. “It is used when you’re having sex, and if you’re not having sex then you don’t take PrEP.” Several international studies following men who have sex with men have found the intermittent dosing regimen to be as effective as daily usage of PrEP. The Prevenir study in France, for instance, found zero HIV infections among the 506 men taking PrEP 2-1-1. The International AIDS SocietyUSA has endorsed PrEP 2-1-1. Health officials in France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia also recommend it. “In France, almost half of the people starting PrEP elect this strategy. We’ve been behind in the USA and we need to catch up!” Pierre-Cédric Crouch, the director of nursing at SFAF’s Magnet clinic housed at Strut, wrote on Facebook last fall after learning the FDA had approved its request to pilot PrEP 2-1-1 usage. The FDA approved daily use of Truvada for HIV prevention in July 2012. Adoption was initially slow, but by late 2013 it began to rise steeply as gay men started promoting PrEP within their communities. Magnet has prescribed PrEP to 4,500 people since it began doing so and currently follows about 3,000 people taking Truvada. Nationally, it has been difficult to estimate the total number of people using PrEP due to a lack of a coordinated tracking system. Health officials estimate between 100,000 to 200,000 people in the U.S. are on PrEP. Its usage, though, varies by region and is less prevalent among women and men of color.

Rick Gerharter

Colin Gallagher

DPH advisory

In late November the San Francisco Department of Public Health advised HIV care providers that they should consider PrEP 2-1-1 “for men who have sex with men (MSM) who are ambivalent about daily pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV (PrEP).” The advisory noted that the non-daily dosing strategy for PrEP is also referred to as “Intermittent,” “Event-Driven,” “SexDriven,” and “On Demand.” The health department sent out a second advisory about PrEP 2-11 to providers February 12. It reiterated that its “first-line regimen” recommendation is for PrEP to be taken daily by most people. “There are many advantages to daily PrEP, including that it has been shown in multiple studies worldwide to be effective at preventing HIV infection during anal and vaginal sex, and in persons who inject drugs or anticipate doing so,” read the advisory. “Daily PrEP is a simple dosing regimen that is independent of sexual activity – planning or anticipating sex is not required.” But it also noted that Canadian and European studies have found PrEP 2-1-1 to be “an effective HIV prevention strategy for MSM.” At the same time, the advisory stressed that the nondaily usage of PrEP has not been studied in cisgender women, cisgender men who have sex with women, transgender men and women, or people who inject drugs. “Current research suggests that non-daily Truvada should be effective for insertive and receptive anal sex, but is not likely to reach

also affecting Mendocino County to the north, upstream.” He added, “We do not know anyone [at this time] who’s been evacuated.” During the February 14 storms, the river reached 38.5 feet but major flooding was avoided in town. Power supplied by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is another local concern in periods of heavy rain. Two weeks ago, PG&E shut off power to downtown Guerneville for only 30 minutes. Robert Frederick, co-owner of Rainbow Cattle

or remain at high enough levels in the cervix or vagina to provide effective protection against HIV infection caused by exposure to HIV at these anatomical sites,” stated the advisory. “Therefore, SFDPH does not recommend the use of nondaily PrEP for HIV prevention by cis women who have vaginal sex, trans men who use their front-hole, or vagina, for sex, trans women using their neo-vagina for sex, or people who inject drugs.” Dr. Stephanie Cohen, medical director of the health department’s City Clinic, told the Bay Area Reporter that, since December, patients have been asking about PrEP 2-1-1 dosing. While the city prefers to see people take PrEP daily, she acknowledged not everyone is comfortable doing so. “We really see 2-1-1, or sort of sex-event driven PrEP, is an option that might be more attractive to some people who aren’t having sex on a super regular basis,” she said. “Still, on occasion, they may be in a situation where they are exposed to HIV.” City Clinic began prescribing PrEP for daily usage in 2012 and has seen more than 1,000 people use it. Currently, it is following 600 people who are actively taking PrEP, and of those, only three are using the 2-1-1 dosing regimen, said Cohen. “Really, we just started offering it as an option at the beginning of February for people who decline daily PrEP or if someone has previously been on PrEP but stopped,” said Cohen. “We are encouraging daily PrEP as a first-line regimen at City Clinic because we have the most data on it.”

Some concerns

Plus, taking a pill daily is easier to do, she said, than having to ensure you have PrEP on hand prior to the occasional sexual encounter and take it as recommended. “There are some nuances to the 2-1-1 regimen, like needing to take your first two pills at least two hours, and ideally 24 hours, before you have sex. So there is some planning involved when you hook up,” noted Cohen. “That doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.” PrEP 2-1-1 is so new in the U.S. that Dr. Grant Colfax, a gay man who formerly oversaw the city’s HIV prevention efforts and took over as health

Company bar in Guerneville said, “PG&E seemed more prepared than in past years.” By Tuesday night, about twodozen roads in the area were already closed, including Armstrong Woods Road in Guerneville, Main Street and Bohemian Highway in Monte Rio, and Trenton Road in Forestville. The county had also set up two shelters for evacuees, in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa. Rising floodwaters led the west county’s Sweetwater Springs Water District to issue a precautionary boil notice for those with severely compromised immune systems, as well as for some elderly people and those with infants. Sweetwater serves customers in Guerneville and Forestville. Residents were notified via an automated phone system. Flooding is not the only risk in a high rainfall period. The county announced in a news release that “current weather conditions and soil saturation levels are creating conditions for mudslides ... The potential for these conditions are prominent throughout the hillside neighborhoods in the Russian River region. Areas that burned in the 2017 Sonoma Complex fires are particularly vulnerable to mudslides.”

Fortunately, the closest burn area to the Guerneville/Monte Rio area is in Santa Rosa, about 15 miles away. The county also cautioned residents to watch for leaning trees and utility poles and provided free sandbags at locations in Forestville, Guerneville, and Monte Rio. Schools in the West County were closed as of Tuesday. “This local River Rat (a true moniker to those of us who ride out floods, regardless of orientation) understands that it’s truly up to Mother Nature,” commented Davis. Elise VanDyne, executive director of Russian River Chamber of Commerce, reflected a similar sentiment in her statement: “While the flood is hard on so many, it is heartening to see how the community calmly comes together to help each other evacuate, move property, and adapt to the rising waters. “We are all looking forward to the re-opening of businesses and homes as the waters recede later this week,” she added. t

director last week, told the B.A.R. he wasn’t “completely familiar” with the dosing strategy when asked about the health department’s most recent advisory about it. An early supporter of PrEP, Colfax did state that he continues to support its use. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) also told the B.A.R. he wasn’t familiar with PrEP 2-1-1. He continues to take PrEP on a daily basis as the best option for himself but supports those who want to use it less frequently. “The more options people have the better,” said Wiener. “For me, I take it every day and never have to worry about it because, for me, having a changing regimen probably doesn’t work as well.” Other gay men told the B.A.R. they are not fully convinced yet that PrEP 2-1-1 is the best way to protect oneself from HIV. Health advocate Luke Adams, who co-founded EMERGE: The Adams-Tynan Clinical Foundation, would like to see more focus put on finding new treatments for sexually transmitted diseases ahead of the day when current antibiotics no longer work rather than on “designer dosages of Truvada.” “As much as I’ve been a PrEP proponent, I’d like to see a LOT more evidence before I’m on that bandwagon,” Adams told the B.A.R. “And if you’re only occasionally fucking, the evidence is great. But, is that most people? And if our only demographic is people who can well plan-out their fucking, it’s magnificent. But again ... what about those who pretty much fuck randomly?” Lawyer Colin Gallagher, 50, also expressed misgivings about PrEP 2-1-1. He had started on PrEP in September 2004 and, up until the fall of 2017, had stuck to a regimen of one pill a day. He had gone on PrEP after divorcing his husband and returning to the dating pool. “I thought the increased protection would be helpful. I stopped using condoms on PrEP,” said Gallagher. Late last year one of the men Gallagher had been seeing and having sex with on a regular basis learned from a new employer that it would not cover PrEP under its health insurance policy since it wasn’t considered necessary medication. So Gallagher began sharing his PrEP prescription with his friend and only took it every other day in No-

vember and December of 2017. By January his friend had found a way to obtain Truvada on his own, so Gallagher returned to a daily dosing regimen. A month after testing negative, he learned he had tested HIV positive February 2, 2018. “I was shocked to found out I had seroconverted,” said Gallagher, who provides pro-bono legal representation for LGBT asylum seekers while also working on a contract basis handling worker compensation claims. Had he known about PrEP 2-11, Gallagher said he is unsure if it would have been a useful strategy for him to follow when he was sharing his Truvada prescription. “I’m pretty skeptical of the 2-1-1 dosing regimen,” Gallagher told the B.A.R. “I was taking Truvada every other day rather than daily for a brief period and still seroconverted. I’d hate to see anyone else wind up in the same situation.” At the Strut forum, Grant and Crouch both stressed that PrEP 2-1-1 is a safe and effective way to take Truvada if people follow the instructions for how to take it. “Both daily dosing and 2-1-1 dosing are highly effective,” said Grant, who was the principal investigator in the iPrEx Study that found Truvada to be effective at preventing the transmission of HIV. “In the trials of 2-1-1 dosing we did not see anyone become HIV-positive if they’re actually taking 2-1-1.” Those who did test positive for HIV had stopped taking PrEP two to three months prior to becoming infected, noted Grant. “So PrEP works if you take it and the best way to take it is the way that is easiest for you,” he said. “Both daily dosing and 2-1-1 dosing are highly effective, and it comes down to which strategy to take it is going to work best for your lifestyle and your sexual practice.” Crouch noted that there has yet to be a documented case of someone getting infected with HIV who was doing the PrEP 2-1-1 dosing strategy. “It will probably happen one of these days, but it hasn’t failed yet,” said Crouch. “Daily dosing works great. And we’ve seen a few cases where people have done everything right and they still got infected. But we know they’re both very highly effective strategies. It has not not worked for someone yet. It will one day, but not today.”t

For more information, visit http://www.SoCoEmergency.org or call (707) 565-3856. For fallen or dangling power lines, officials request people call 911.

International News >>

February 28-March 6, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 15

Trump gay decriminalization strategy draws skepticism

by Heather Cassell

as a tool to get member states of the European Union and the United Nations on board with efforts against the country. Trump seemed as surprised as

LGBT activists. He appeared not to be aware of Grenell’s strategy when a reporter asked him about it in the Oval Office February 20. The New York Times reported that

the Lithuanian Gay League tweeted (https://twitter.com/LGLLithuania/st atus/1098125730326724609?s=20) a photo of two of its leaders posing with Grenell, thanking him for his leadership the night of the dinner. Stuart Milk, the gay nephew of slain San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk and a global LGBT activist, confirmed to NBC News, which first reported the story, that he was at the dinner. The other organizations in attendance haven’t been identified yet, but Grenell told NBC News during a February 20 interview that the activists came from Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, and other countries. There was an Iranian expatriate in attendance. The Washington Blade reported it submitted a request for the names of the organizations that attended the dinner. The strategy would narrowly focus

Food pantry

As for the center’s Kind Hearts Food Pantry, McAllister told the B.A.R. there would be no disruption in the distribution of food to clients. Low-income individuals who qualify for food assistance can access the program Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the center. “The food pantry will be operating” Thursday as usual, said McAllister. According to sources, center staff had raised complaints about

McAllister’s leadership and communication skills in recent months with the board. In recent weeks the counseling staff had met with the center’s leadership to discuss the matter and had not been told their jobs were in jeopardy. Then, last Friday, the counseling staffers were told that the center had decided to restructure and that their positions were being eliminated, according to sources. “What they are saying is they are reorganizing, so how would you

really fight that,” said Drouillard. “It became such a hostile workplace. No one is happy or comfortable there. Even if they hired me back, I wouldn’t go back.” Jonathan Cook, the center’s former director of development and communications who left in November to run the Solano Pride Center as its executive director, told the B.A.R. he was saddened to hear about his former colleagues. “It is disappointing to hear that the majority of direct service

staff at Rainbow were laid off last week. My former colleagues were passionate about their work, providing critical services for Contra Costa’s LGBTQ community through counseling and case management services, as well as support for people living with HIV,” said Cook. “My hope is that Rainbow will continue to offer these services so that already vulnerable populations do not suffer.” t

for one of the largest HIV/AIDS service providers in the Bay Area, Hepfer said his understanding of the HIV/ AIDS community will be an asset to Project Open Hand. “I wanted to work for an organization that understands their health needs as well as fighting off stigma,” Hepfer said. “That was key to what I have wanted to be a part of and I am excited to join an organization that aligns with my personal and professional ethics.” Educating local politicians and stakeholders on the effectiveness of Project Open Hand’s health care models is also on his agenda.

“I am excited about getting local elected officials and hospitals and medical providers to understand how it’s about low-cost health care intervention not just a food security issue. More people need to understand that,” he said. These are just some of the reasons Hepfer was chosen as CEO, said one of Project Open Hand’s board members. “After a comprehensive search process of highly qualified candidates, the board is thrilled to welcome someone with Paul Hepfer’s experience to help Project Open Hand reach new heights,” said board chair Tim Barabe in a news

release. “We are at a critical moment in medical nutrition intervention and, with Paul’s leadership, we will continue to advance the Food is Medicine movement across California.” Prior to joining the Health Trust, Hepfer was CEO at Via Services for two years and executive director of Wellness and Education for the Pueblo of Sandia Native American Reservation in New Mexico for eight years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Indiana University and a master’s degree in park and recreation administration with a specialization in therapeutic recreation from IU.

Hepfer is married and is a donor dad to a set of twins, a boy and a girl, whose mothers are lesbians in Oakland and close friends of Hepfer’s. Project Open Hand did not immediately disclose Hepfer’s salary to the B.A.R. According to the organization’s 2015 Form 990, Ryle earned about $164,000 in salary and benefits. At that time, he was co-leading the agency with another man, who earned about the same amount. Project Open Hand’s 2018 operating budget was $13,487,238, according to its annual report. t

lobal LGBT experts and human rights advocates sounded alarms following the Trump administration’s announcement to develop global strategy to decriminalize homosexuality. Gay U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who is leading the effort, announced the campaign at a February 19 dinner with leaders from 11 European LGBT organizations in Berlin. Most were not identified. Caught off guard, people immediately raised questions about key LGBT leaders and those of the targeted countries not being invited to the dinner. They also questioned political intentions, particularly regarding Iran. Political analysts said the motive for the strategy may be linked to recent reports of Iran executing another alleged gay man. They noted Grenell’s opposition to Iran and speculated he may be using LGBT human rights

Concord LGBT center

From page 1

Asked if he planned to resign his job come March, McAllister said, “None of that is confirmed yet.” Pressed on if he would step down March 1, as has been rumored, McAllister told the B.A.R., “No, I do not plan to resign” that day and that he would be at the center next week. “I will still be here Monday, yes,” he said.

Open Hand

From page 1

Founded in 1985, Project Open Hand first began as a grassroots response to the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. Today, it is a leader in Food is Medicine, a statewide initiative. Former governor Jerry Brown signed legislation in June 2017 that provided $6 million for a three-year medically tailored meals pilot program, a nutrition services coalition project that seeks to save millions in health care costs by providing meals to chronically ill Medi-Cal beneficiaries. With more than a decade working

Courtesy Joe.My.God

Vice President Mike Pence, right, swore in gay U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell last May.

Classifieds Cleaning Services>> CLEANING PROFESSIONAL

33 Years Exp. (415) 794-4411 Roger Miller

FEELING DIRTY? – Housecleaning Richard 415-255-0389

Hauling>>

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

Travel>>

Celebrating 34 Years of Fabulous Travel Arrangements! 4115 19th Street San Francisco, CA 94114

11am-5pm (PST) M-F, Closed on Weekends

415.626.1169 www.nowvoyager.com

To place your classified ad, call 415-861-5019

Tech Support>>

Public Notice >> NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE –

Sale of Tenant’s Abandoned Personal Property. Notice is hereby given that on March 7, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. at 1340B Haight Street, San Francisco, California 94117, County of San Francisco, the following items will be auctioned pursuant to Civil Code Section 1993 et seq.: 1 Door hook hanger, 2 basic detox kits, 2 TMI take home water kits, 2 candida cleanse kits, 2 parasite cleanse kits, 2 vital nutrients kits, 2 colon cleanse kits, 5 herbal tobacco free cigarettes, 6 activated charcoals, 3 bentonite clay, 8 diatomaceous earth, 9 Thorne L-Glutamine, 3 colon cleaners, 5 digestive enzymes, 2 stand up fans, 1 beauty molly, 5 poop glasses, 1 thorne basic detox nutrients bottle, 1 spool yarn, 2 the Candida cure books, 1 small dresser, 1 core pau d’arco blend, 5 olive leave extract, 3 thorne MediBolic, 3 white plastic chairs, 1 foldable table, 1 ipad, 3 salt lamps, 1 bose, 1 chrome HP laptop, 1 canon scanner, 1 router, 1 slab of glass, 1 small refrigerator, 5 wall mirrors, 2 floor mats, 6 glass water bottles, 4 scissors, pens/rubber bands/tape/stapler, bag of printer ink, envelopes/sticky notes, 1 himalayan salt, 1 metal mixing bowl, 1 plastic box of full unknown black cord things, 1 salon sundry, 9 sandals,

on decriminalizing homosexuality, targeting the 71 countries – a majority in the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean – that imprison individuals for consensual same-sex relationships. It would exclude all other LGBT issues, such as legalizing same-sex marriage. Eight countries – Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, as well as parts of Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, and Iraq – sentence people to death for being gay. Grenell said that, due to the nature of the initiative, it would require “71 different strategies.” The effort would include working with the U.N. the E.U., the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and countries that have decriminalized homosexuality. A longer version of this column is online at ebar.com. t

1 binder (foot bath), 1 reverse osmosis storage tank, 1 recycle bin, 1 flashlight, 2 blue bottles of unknown liquid, Sink parts?, 1 box of cords, 1 client folder, 1 paper shredder, 1 blue tooth key pad, 1 amazon basics, 1 paper cutter, 1 T shirt, 1 keurig, K cups and metal holder, 4 coffee cups and plates, 3 method glass surface cleaners, Cleaning supplies, 12 essential oils, 7 blue droplet bottles, 3 metal cups, 1 poop mug, 1 plastic box of painting supplies, 1 tool box, 1 electric screw driver, 1 phone charger, 1 shower hanger, 1 shower curtain, 1 metal toilet paper holder, 4 poop stools, 4 metal tissue boxes, 4 trashcans, 1 hair dryer, 1 eat sleep poop picture, 3 wall clocks, 1 mounted glass shelf, 1 blue velvet couch, 1 wood coffee table, 1 ottoman, 3 grey curtains/rods, 1 glass rolling wine bar, 7 glasses, 3 hanging glass diamond decorations, 2 aqua detox, 2 metal décor bowls, 5 bamboo place matts, 1 mail package, 1 black barn door, 1 black picture frame, 4 mounted wall lamps, 1 leather bench, 1 plastic bin with cords/black metal parts, 3 amazon boxes of hinges, Manuals/ clipboards, 1 plastic paper holder, 2 dohm, 2 hanging black curtain dividers, 1 grey hanging curtain divider, 1 black wardrobe, 2 scales, 1 standing shelving, 1 lamp/ 1 lamp just base, 1

sauna, 14 black satin robes, 1 laundry basket full of towels, 1 laundry basket full of more robes, 1 black canvas box with a pillow in it, 1 Bag of glue, 1 box of hooks, 1 air freshener, 1 blink and parts, 1 poop deck door sign, 1 utility closet sign, 1 stand up shit show sign, 1 swiffer/1broom/1dust pan, 3 cans paint, 1 staple gun, 1 wire spool, 1 framed magazine picture, 1 mountain black shelf, 1 flat screen TV/ remote, 3 black canvas box, 1 ply wood standing shelves, Wooden hangers, 1 space heater, 2 hanging magazine holders, 1 ply wood end table, 1 plastic step stool, 3 framed certifications, 2 drawers full of colonoscopy tubes, 1 colonoscopy bed, 1 infusion menu, 1 mountain wood cabinet with faucets, 3 boxes of Latex gloves, 1 bradford white tank, 1 hanging white curtain, Colonoscopy tools, 2 boxes of vinyl examination gloves, 1 metal shelving, 1 white air filter. These items remained on the premises located at 1340B Haight Street, San Francisco, California 94117, which was vacated by tenant, TMI Colonics, LLC, and will be auctioned for the landlord, 2B Living as Agent for the Owner. Dated: February 21, 2019, by Pahl & McCay, APC, 225 W. Santa Clara Street, Suite 1500, San Jose, California 95113.

Tech Support

Ralph Doore 415-867-4657

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

 Yelp reviews

MACINTOSH HELP •Home OR OFFICE •27 YEARS EXPERIENCE

SFMACMAN.com RICK

415.821.1792

<< Legals

16 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038509100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MASSAGELOGIC BODYWORK, 582 MARKET ST, #908, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CARRIE ANN STONE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/30/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/01/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038473900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: INCA JUICES, 2301 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DORA J. PAREDES. 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 02/14/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038509000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GROVE ENGINEERING, 2038 19TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GEAROID CROWE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/01/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038499800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FOGG BOOKS, 2200 PACIFIC AVE #4D, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALISON FOGG CARLSON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/13/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/29/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038480100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EARTHWHILE ENDEAVORS; EARTHBATH; EARTHWHILE PET CARE, 231 9TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed EARTHWHILE ENDEAVORS, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/05/95. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/16/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038508400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GASPARE’S PIZZA HOUSE AND RESTAURANT, 5546 GEARY BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed INDELICATO, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/06/85. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/01/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038508000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LINGUA FRACA TUTORING, 2 PLAZA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RAHAF ABUOBEID. 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 02/01/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038478200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NEXT STEPS TOURS, 3099 MARKET ST #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PHILIP DOBBS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/15/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/15/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038486900

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038488400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WHOLESOME BAKERY, 295 DIVISADERO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HARPER RYAN HOLDINGS, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/23/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038509200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MASSAGE LOGIC, 787 BRANNAN ST #3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MASSAGE LOGIC LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/22/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/01/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038501700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SF QUEST KIDS LLC, 351 5TH AVE #3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SF QUEST KIDS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/06/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/30/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-037813700

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: LITTLE KITE, 3515 20TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by ALICE HO. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/23/17.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-554609

In the matter of the application of: NATHAN LEE RICHARDSON, 573 DOLORES ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner NATHAN LEE RICHARDSON, is requesting that the name NATHAN LEE RICHARDSON, be changed to CAMILO MOSES VILLALPANDO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, on the 21st of March 2019 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038497000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HOMEOSTASIS, 200 BRANNAN ST #205, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed IRENE SLEIGHT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/11/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/28/19.

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038519700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ELLISON ROOFING; ACE ROOFING, 130 STAPLES AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ELLISON J. MA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/18/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/11/19.

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038513700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JUNKLY, 3207 JENNINGS ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JULIAN BRADFORD. 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 01/22/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ARIANNA TRADING COMPANY, 70 LAPIDGE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GEORGE S. MENZELOS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/28/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/06/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038499600

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038512600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ACE ACCOUNTING & MANAGEMENT, 1874 11TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed WILLIAM C. CHANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/07/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/29/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PARALEGAL HOPE, 407 CAMBRIDGE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HOPE ARNOLD. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/05/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038493100

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038515000

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038486700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MISS TOMATO SANDWICH SHOP / GEARY STREET, 577 GEARY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NABEEL ABDALLAH. 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 01/22/19.

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038486800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MISS TOMATO SANDWICH SHOP, 388 MARKET ST #106, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TAREK SAIDI. 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 01/22/19.

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038498500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HONG KONG ALTERATIONS & TAILORING, 1832 BUCHANAN ST, #D, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CARRIE LAM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/28/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/28/19.

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038520400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO TREASURY SYMPOSIUM, 1750 GRANT AVE #B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SAN FRANCISCO TREASURY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/19/97. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/11/19.

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038488300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GLYMPS, 1238 CHESTNUT ST, SAN FRANCISCO CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CHATZAPP (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/06/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/23/19.

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038509500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CHEESEQUAKES! 1 FERRY BUILDING KIOSK 06, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CHEESEQUAKES! LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/05/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/04/19.

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038510100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JOLI BIJOU SALON, 2550 SACRAMENTO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HAIR BY GEORGETTE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/04/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/04/19.

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-035767400

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: JOLI BIJOU, 2550 SACRAMENTO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by MADALENA G. SEMEDO. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/07/14.

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-554621 In the matter of the application of: HIEN VAN NGO, 44 SENECA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner HIEN VAN NGO, is requesting that the name HIEN VAN NGO, be changed to VICTOR ANDY NGO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 26th of March 2019 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

FEB 21, 28, MAR 07, 14, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038504200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OUT OF THE FRYING PAN PRODUCTIONS, 1479 14TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed LORRAINE HESS, KEITH FULTON & ERIN CRYSDALE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/24/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/24/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WORKOUT ON THE HILL, 370 THE ALAMEDA, SAN ANSELMO, CA 94960. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KRISTINA SCHUBERT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/06/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WALK IT OFF, 775 5TH AVE, #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed APRIL MEINER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/31/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/31/19.

FEB 07, 14, 21, 28, 2019

FEB 14, 21, 28, MAR 07, 2019

FEB 21, 28, MAR 07, 14, 2019

2018 BMW X2 xDrive 28i

149

PER MONTH FOR 24 MONTHS*

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038525800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HOWB, 1259 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DARREN COREY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/14/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/14/19.

FEB 21, 28, MAR 07, 14, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038524300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SUNG’S AUTOMOTIVE, 999 DIVISADERO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CALVIN SUNG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/13/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/13/19.

FEB 21, 28, MAR 07, 14, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038526400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BILL MOHLER FITNESS & WELLNESS, 1188 MISSION ST, #1416, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed WILLIAM MOHLER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/20/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/15/19.

FEB 21, 28, MAR 07, 14, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038519800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: QUEEN ANNE HOTEL, 1590 SUTTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GOKEL CORPORATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/97. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/11/19.

FEB 21, 28, MAR 07, 14, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038498200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WICKED GROUNDS ANNEX, 293 8TH ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SPIKY JANE’S COFFEE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/28/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/28/19.

FEB 21, 28, MAR 07, 14, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038498300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WICKED GROUNDS CAFE, 289 8TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SPIKY JANE’S COFFEE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/19/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/28/19.

FEB 21, 28, MAR 07, 14, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038508700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LOS YAQUIS, 324 S. VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SALVADOR AGUIRRE SORIA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/11/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/01/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038534900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: QIU’S JEWELRY & REPAIR, 833 MARKET ST #611, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ZHEN HUI QIU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/22/19.

FEB 21, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038524400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AFFORDABLE HYDRO JETTING, 26 RIDGEWOOD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARTIN GALLARDO MACIAS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/13/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038535600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CROSSXFADE PRODUCTIONS, 446 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TY MCKENZIE. 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 02/22/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038529800

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038529000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BREMAR CLEANING SERVICES, 4717 MISSION ST #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CONSUELO GONZALES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/15/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/19/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038530500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LOVE SHACK; LOVE SHACK BY SPARC, 502 14TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed THE LOVE SHACK COOPERATIVE, 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 02/20/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038502600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LITTLE OSSAI; OSSAI, 548 MARKET ST #15585, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed PAPER CLIP INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/30/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/30/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038532500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AMERICAN CORPORATE SERVICES, INC., ONE MARKET ST, SPEAR TOWER, 36TH FLR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed AMERICAN CORPORATE SERVICES, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/16/01. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/21/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038529100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CALIFORNIA HOUSING DEFENSE FUND, 1260 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CALIFORNIA RENTERS LEGAL ADVOCACY AND EDUCATION FUND (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 02/19/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038530000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ACAI R, 1130 OCEAN AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TANCHAN LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/19/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/19/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038534400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BARTLETT BRANDS, 84 MANGELS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed REBECCA BARTLETT LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/14/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/22/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038526500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GIOIA PIZZERIA, 579 HAYES ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HAYES STREET PIZZA, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/15/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038536700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BRAND BENJAMIN, 2848 WEBSTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BRAND BENJAMIN LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/25/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/25/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-037230300

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: GIOIA PIZZERIA, 2238 POLK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business was conducted by a limited liability company and signed by POLK STREET PIZZA, LLC (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/25/16.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ELAN FOR HAIR, 305 GRANT AVE, 5TH FLR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHEUNG ON NG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/19/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/19/19.

FEB 28, MAR 07, 14, 21, 2019

DEMO OFFER! *$149/mo plus tax for 24 mths,$4,997 down plus drive-off due atdelivery plus rebates. Owner loyalty rebates must have BMW F/S owner loyalty; offer is dealer contribution. Stock/VIN#: 43404/F71718. Expires 2/28/19.

BMW of San Francisco

Queer music

Garden party

Dolly’s house

Alexander the Great

Vol. 49 • No. 9 • February 28-March 6, 2019

www.ebar.com/arts

Attack of the Killer Kimonos! Takashi Hatakeyama, courtesy Asian Art Museum

by Sura Wood

leaming like Dorothy’s ruby slippers in a case at the very beginning of the Asian Art Museum’s new exhibition “Kimono Refashioned” sit a pair of sparkling Christian Loboutin ankle boots with chunky six-inch heels – ooowee! Gold-studded, red-soled and embroidered with pine, bamboo and blossom motifs from the late Edo period, they signal this won’t be just another voyage into the past. See page 24 >>

Dress (Spring/Summer 1995) by Yohji Yamamoto (left), silk/rayon-blend jersey and polyester/rayon/nylon-blend brocade. Dress (1956) by Toshiko Yamawaki (right), silk taffeta with Japanese gold-thread embroidery.

Home, home on derange by Tim Pfaff

“A

ghost knows who to scare,” Marlon James writes in a characteristically pithy chapter-opening sentence midway through his 600-page new fantasy novel “Black Leopard, Red Wolf ” (Riverhead). So, let it be said, does James.

“Black Leopard, Red Wolf” author Marlon James.

Mark Seliger

See page 23 >>

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

2018 BMW X2 xDrive 28i

149

PER MONTH FOR 24 MONTHS*

BMW of San Francisco

<< Out There

18 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

Capriot dreams by Roberto Friedman

and flamboyant homosexuals, the Futurists treated them as “spoiled milksops, ridiculous in their obsession with grooming and wardrobe, not as dangerous enemies.” There follows an extended mini-biography of lesbian portrait painter R o m a i n e Brooks, who found her homosexual husband John Brooks on Capri, “a male chum Farrar, Straus & Giroux with whom she “Pagan Light – Dreams of Freedom and could pursue traditionally masculine acBeauty in Capri” author Jamie James. tivities.” When she matured, Brooks “confined her amours the impresario Sergei Diaghilev to her own sex” and “firmly identiand dancers of the Ballet Russes, fied as lesbian.” Her great loves who arrived after performances in included the American poet Natanearby Naples; and leaders of the lie Barney and the femme fatale Italian Futurist movement, who, Marchesa Luisa Casati. despite their macho reputation, are Later luminaries whose lives berevealed as sentimentalists in their came entwined with the romantic embrace of the island’s ethos. Findisle off the Amalfi Coast include Joing themselves surrounded by open

he new book “Pagan Light – Dreams of Freedom and Beauty in Capri” by Jamie James (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) appealed to Out There with its cover picture showing the dramatic shoreline of the Italian island. Out this month, the book does convey the natural splendor of Capri, but it turned out to be less a travelogue than a social history of the isle and its place in the Western imagination. James’ catalog of famous Capriot residents goes back to Ancient Rome. Legendary orgies and scandals that followed the emperor Tiberius to his retirement there ensured that “Tiberius in Capri” became “universal shorthand for excessive, perverted sexual license and brutal cruelty.” Later, Capri became a popular place of exile for Westerners escaping conformist Victorian society. No surprise, they included men and women who deviated from

majority norms of sexual preference. James introduces us to many homosexuals and lesbians, not all of them celebrated. The early 20th century found more artistic rule-breakers making their holiday on Capri, including

seph Conrad, whose short story “Il conde,” set in Naples, has an undeniable homo subtext; D.H. Lawrence, Rainer Maria Rilke, Maxim Gorky and Vladimir Lenin himself. By mid-century, Fascism took its turn as houseguest in Capri. Then, after WWII, it became an important place for the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, and by the 1950s, a fashionable playground for film stars. Capri pants became a thing. James’ book is part serial biography of all these famous Capri residents, part retelling of the body of Capri-infused literature, part travel writing, part reverie. In addition to its beaches, piazzas and grottos, the reader is also transported, quite unexpectedly, to Swedish forests and the Warsaw ghetto, the better to fill out the lives of those who escaped there. It’s an unusual history, of a place and the characters who gave flesh to its spirit.t

Orchestral maneuvers by Philip Campbell

ing tour, German violin virtuoso Christian Tetzlaff travels to Seattle; Kansas City, MO; Washington, D.C.; Boston; and Chicago. American violinist Alexander Kerr joins the caravan later to finish the trip in Champaign, IL; Lincoln, NE; and Ames, IA. He plays Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. February began with the welcome return of Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt in his annual visit to DSH. Many newer orchestra members have only worked with him during homecomings, and only older audiences remember his decade as SFS music director, 1985-95. His legacy endures. Everyone recognizes the wisdom and understanding of his musical mastery. At 91, he personifies tradition and time-honored classical practice. Renowned for his Bruckner and Romantic composers, he is also skilled with 20th-century Scandinavian writers. Above all others, he excels with Beethoven. In the Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral,” the old lion had the SFS playing like

usicians of the San Francisco Symphony and notable guest artists have made February at Davies Hall a month of special events. Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the orchestra leave for a final national tour together in March, but this month they collaborated on an impressive world premiere SFS commission, Steve Mackey’s “Portals, Scenes and Celebrations,” and MTT’s old friend Gil Shaham was on hand to give a penetrating account of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1. Shaham and SFS concertmaster Alexander Barantschik joined in a violin duet by Baroque composer Jean-Marie Leclair for an encore. The brilliant guest star let “Sasha” essay the main melody while he played second fiddle as MTT stood by, beaming. Collegial spirit has always been a hallmark of their artistry. Shaham has toured with the orchestra before. For the upcom-

the Concertgebouw or Staatskapelle Dresden. Audience response was overwhelming. Younger musicians actually looked a bit amazed at the thunderous ovation, but no one was surprised by the faultless grace of the performance. Gil Shaham and MTT followed the next week with the infrequently heard Prokofiev Concerto and Steve Mackey’s tour de force “Portals, Scenes and Celebrations,” crampacked with kinetic orchestral energy and catchy tunes. The title says it all, and the work packs a powerful punch at just 15 mins. The colorful score, composed in honor of MTT, could have been a big hit on the national tour. Mendelssohn and Bach warmed DSH next, as conductor and pianist Sir Andras Schiff returned to perform and conduct three works by J.S. Bach: Keyboard Concertos No. 3 in D Major, No. 4 in A Major, and the Orchestral Suite No. 3. The internationally acclaimed pianist also conducted the first SFS performances of Mendelssohn’s uplifting

N EW CO N S ERVATO RY TH E ATR E CE N TE R In Association with Season Producers: LOWELL KIMBLE TED TUCKER

Executive Producers: CHARLES MATTESON & OAKLEY STEPHENS STEAMWORKS - BERKELEY

Producers: DAVID MEDERS KEN PRAG & STEVE COLLINS

Presents

Mar 1-31, 2019 By Mark Gerrard Directed by Becca Wolff

“Lobgesang” (“Song of Praise”), often referred to as the composer’s Symphony No. 2. The “Symphony-Cantata” requires a full orchestra with organ, vocal soloists and chorus. Reminiscent of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the text of “Lobgesang” is less inspired but satisfying, mostly due to the composer’s winning melodies. Performances featured soprano Jennifer Mitchell and tenor Michael Jankosky in their SFS debuts, mezzo-soprano Margaret (Peg) Lisi, and Ragnar Bohlin’s well-prepared SFS Chorus. It was a long program, but no one appeared impatient or Luke Ratray uninvolved. Schiff ’s assurance moved the Violinist Gil Shaham. music along with a nice balance of gravichestra” series. “La La Land” (2/27 & tas and light. 28) and Steven Spielberg’s wonderStriking red-and-gold lanterns ful sci-fi feature “Close Encounters celebrating Chinese New Year, of the Third Kind” (3/1 & 2) are adorning the windows of DSH, good choices for the deluxe orcheswere still up recently for conductral treatment. tor Manfred Honeck’s concert of March 7-9, conductor FrancoisSchumann and Johann Strauss. The Xavier Roth and pianist Cedric Tilights have lent a festive touch to berghien (SFS debut) present great the hall that nicely suited the rich Romantic composers, with Robert program. Honeck substituted for an Schumann’s portrait of tortured injured Daniel Harding, originally youth, “Manfred” Overture; Liszt’s scheduled to conduct German piafiery First Piano Concerto; and nist Lars Vogt in Robert Schumann’s Brahms’ Symphony No. 2, sort of lyrical Piano Concerto and a samhis own “Pastoral.” pling of shorter Austrian musical Pre-Tour performances March delights. 14-17 give a taste of selections Honeck was off his game, and scheduled for the national concert the orchestra suffered occasionally tour: Ravel’s charming “Le Tomfrom imperfect pitch, but Vogt was beau de Couperin,” Mozart’s Violin fine in the Schumann, and hearing Concerto No. 3, and the gloriously Von Suppe’s sumptuous Overture romantic Sibelius Symphony No. 2. to “Poet and Peasant” as a concertChristian Tetzlaff and MTT make a starter was irresistible fun. dynamic duo. US cities, take note.t February ends and March begins with DSH hosting two weeks of the sfsymphony.org wildly popular “Film with Live Or-

HBO's Sex and the City meets HBO's Looking meets NCTC Ben Brantley’s Top Ten in 2015 in THE NEW YORK TIMES

“…some of the funniest dialogue in town”

“Mark Gerrard’s sad and hilarious—sadlarious?— new play”

—NEW YORK TIMES

—VULTURE

Originally Produced in New York City by The New Group: Scott Elliot, Artistic Director, Adam, Bernstein, Executive Director Permission granted by ABRAMS ARTISTS AGENCY, 275 Seventh Ave./26th Floor, New York, NY 10001. All inquiries concerning rights to the Play shall be addressed to the above.

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

On the web

This week, find Victoria A. Brownworth’s Lavender Tube column, “Continuing saga of Jussie Smollett,” online at www.ebar.com.

See how a star is really born.

A new planetarium show narrated by Tom Hanks Explore the solar system, zoom through a black hole, and discover our place in the cosmos. Now playing in one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest all-digital domes. Get tickets at calacademy.org Passport to the Universe was developed by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (amnh.org) in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Major support for new version provided by California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco.

29447-CAS-Passport-Bay Area Reporter-9.75x16-01.31.19-FA.indd 1

1/28/19 4:40 PM

<< Music

20 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

More queers for your ears by Gregg Shapiro

VOTE NOW!

BE ENTERED TO WIN ONE OF SEVERAL VALUABLE PRIZES JUST FOR VOTING FOR YOUR FAVORITE PLACES, PEOPLE AND THINGS TO DO IN SAN FRANCISCO AND THE BAY AREA.

ebar.com/besties2019

ueer male musical acts such as Perfume Genius, Car Seat Headrest, Shamir and John Grant are proving that there’s more to gay men’s listening habits than disco and show tunes. A founding member of the highly regarded 1990s-00s band The Czars, Grant’s solo output is alternately challenging and approachable. His latest, “Love Is Magic” (Partisan), falls somewhere between the accessibility of 2013’s “Pale Green Ghosts” and 2015’s slightly difficult “Grey Tickles, Black Pressure.” Grant is known for his lengthy and varied songs, and he doesn’t disappoint here. “Metamorphosis” shifts gears like a car on an inclining road. The title cut, in which Sade gets name-checked, casts a spell. “Tempest” suggests a queer arcade game, and the sexy electronics of “Preppy Boy” deserve to be a standard at tea dance. “He’s Got His Mother’s Hips” adds serious funk to the mix. “Touch and Go” is the most beautiful song Grant has recorded since “GMF.” Gay singer-songwriter-actor Troye Sivan made an indelible impression with his 2015 debut album “Blue Neighbourhood.” His second album “Bloom” (Capitol) effortlessly delivers on the promise of the first. Sivan and his producers employ an assortment of studio wizardry, but the good news is that the songs, all co-written by Sivan, are solid enough not to be overpowered. Opener “Seventeen” will speak to any LGBTQ folks who knew they were queer from an early age. “My My My!” and “Dance to This,” featuring Ariana Grande, are sexy dance numbers. “What a Heavenly Way To Die” and the title cut are worth mentioning. Talent show competitor Calum Scott’s exquisite reimagining of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” as a ballad hinted at his great taste in music. That song, as well as a reading of Bob Dylan’s “Not Dark Yet,” can be found on Scott’s full-length debut album “Only Human” (Capitol), newly reissued in an expanded edition including five bonus tracks. They demonstrate his interpretation skills and his vocal abilities. The guy can sing! The original songs (co-written by Scott and collaborators), including the Leona Lewis duet “You Are the Reason” and the rhythmic “Give Me Something,” tend to be in the Sam Smith category, and Scott distinguishes himself in that realm. Among the new tunes, the coming out number “No Matter What” is nothing less than stunning. On “Vital” (Wanderlust/Hollywood), gay pop singer-songwriter Morgxn sounds like he wants to be the stateside version of Troye Sivan.

But his cover of The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” which closes the album, does show an unexpected side to the artist. Morgxn gets our pulse racing with dance-oriented cuts “Translucent,” “XX” and “Harpoon (How Does It Feel).” “Me Without You” and “Carry the Weight” incorporate some tech.

The Corey TuT of 2018’s “Into the Light” (coreytut.com) is a far cry from the Corey TuT of 2013’s “Chasing Down the Bedlam.” TuT has set aside his edgy rock sound and traded it for a musical style geared towards dance. The clubby title cut gets things moving. You can hear the influence of Madonna’s recent output on “Automatic.” “Hey There Superman” elevates things, while “Everything & Nothing” and “Too Much” have a retro disposition. The six bonus tracks, including the luminous “Sparks” and “Hands” (featuring gay basketball player and musician Will Sheridan), keep the party going into the late hours. Nine albums into his recording career, Logan Lynn’s “My Movie Star” is his most ambitious project to date. The oversized package consists of the 10-song album on the first

disc and a second disc of remixes, as well as other artists covering his songs. With the exception of the title cut, the songs, co-produced by Lynn and Jay Mohr (yes, that Jay Mohr!), were co-written by Lynn and piano sensation Glasys. This album is a new and unexpected direction for Lynn, perhaps best-known for his electronic music stylings. Among the cover versions on the second disc, the rendition of “Big City Now” by Tiffany (yes, that Tiffany!) is a must. Like Logan Lynn, queer “psychedelic progressive gothic rock” artist Phideaux has returned with his ninth album, “Infernal” (Bloodfish), the final installment in his “Big Brother authoritarianism and ecological crisis” trilogy. The 19-track, double-disc set features a broad array of musicians performing Phideaux, as well as artwork by Molly Ruttan. If this kind of prog-pop is your cup of kombucha, you might also want to check out “Amethyst Journey” (PEG) by Alaska + Jeremy (Alaska Thunderfuck, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season two champ, and chosen creative family member Jeremy Mikush). Gay crooner Spencer Day is sort of our very own queer Michael Bublé. Backed by the 20-member BudmanLevy orchestra, Day goes for a film noir vibe on his new album, the Los Angeles song cycle “Angel City” (spencerday.com). It’s a good fit for Day, who co-wrote all of the songs, including standouts such as “The California Yes,” “Ghost of the Chateau Marmont,” “I Wish I Didn’t Care” and “Somewhere There’s a City.” If Day is our gay Bublé, out singer-songwriter Mike Maimone is our Tom Waits. “The High Hat Club” (mikemaimone.com) is a five-song EP that leaves us wanting more. Maimone’s pianoplaying is mind-blowing, his vocals exude enough warmth to start a blaze, and his word play, especially on “Hey Now” and “Clear Black Night,” is unforgettable. “Through the Changes” is a full-fledged heartstring-tugger. If the bear crowd doesn’t gobble Maimone up with a spoon, we are all doomed. Prolific, Grammy-nominated gay jazz pianist Fred Hersch has released “Fred Hersch Trio `97 @ The Village Vanguard” (fredhersch.com), featuring two originals and six covers performed by Hersch, Drew Gress on bass, and Tom Rainey on drums. “Forty-four years old, parenting a 12-year-old daughter, in a committed partnership, and feeling more myself lately,” licensed therapist and singer-songwriter Jeremy Dion delivers the six-song EP “More Lately” (jeremydion.com) featuring the excellent anti-Trump track “Alternative Facts.” Musical genres including dance (“Lost in Light,” “Down the Garden Path”) are represented on gay Canadian musician Curtis Newart’s “Rock the Chandeliers” (Immaculate).t

Film>>

February 28-March 6, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 21

It has happened here by David Lamble

arshall Curry is a filmmaking jack-of-all-trades who has garnered a couple of Oscar nominations for documentaries that push the envelope on explosive subjects like a militant environmental group (“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”). Most recently Curry has released a seven-minute film, “A Night at the Garden,” that was nominated for the Oscar for best documentary short subject. The film explores a night in February 1939 when over 20,000 members of the American Nazi Party filled Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden convention and sports arena. The event featured rousing tributes to Hitler just six months before the German dictator plunged the world into war by invading the democratic republic of Poland. In 2006, Curry completed a fulllength profile of New Jersey Senator and current Democratic candidate for president Corey Booker, “Street Fight.” He recently appeared at a San Rafael screening of both “A Night at the Garden” and “Street Fight.” I sat down with Curry to explore the doc’s implications as we approach another presidential election cycle. David Lamble: Your short documentary “A Night at the Garden” captures a little-known event: a full-fledged American Nazi Party rally staged in Manhattan at the then-existing Madison Square Garden, in February 1939, a time when Adolph Hitler was making ominous plans for the future of Europe.

Marshall Curry: He was finishing his sixth concentration camp as this rally was happening. The tone of the speeches at this rally was clearly and explicitly anti-Semitic. There was no “We didn’t know” that could have come out of the crowd there that night.

flags and a huge portrait of George Washington, and they say the Pledge of Allegiance, and the national anthem is sung, and then you notice there’s a swastika next to Washington, and some of those flags have swastikas on them, and the crowd is doing the one-hand Nazi salute. They managed to intermingle the symbols of American patriotism with a philosophy that is completely un-American.

And this was taking place in a city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. Yeah, and that’s what’s so shocking about it, that in New York City, an international, progressive city, 20,000 Americans gathered to celebrate Nazism. The mayor of New York at that time was Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947), who would go on to serve three terms, a man who was part-Italian and part-Jewish. He actually had some great quotes at the time. There was a lot of discussion about whether the group [the Nazi Party] should be allowed to have their event at Madison Square Garden, and his line was that this group was the largest assembly of “international cooties” ever in a single room, and that the way you kill cooties is with sunlight. So, in America, where everyone is allowed to speak their minds, we can best confront them by exposing them to the sunlight, rather than denying them the right to speak. Was this Nazi rally broadcast over network radio? In the 1930s, Father Coughlin, a virulently anti-Semitic Roman Catholic priest, was allowed to speak to the nation from WJZ in Detroit. I don’t know if this rally was aired. In parts of the speeches that

Who is the main Nazi speaker in the film? His name is Fritz Kuhn, he was the head of the German American Bund, the group holding the rally. He later got arrested for embezzling money from the Bund, went to prison during WWII, was deported after WWII to West Germany, and died unknown and penniless.

Madison Square Garden was home to pro basketball and hockey. The African American Heavyweight Boxing Champ Joe Louis fought there. An American Nazi rally seems like an odd fit for such an important venue. Right. One of the intriguing things about that night is that outside, on the marquee, the audience doesn’t quite know what to make of it. They see the marquee for Madison Square Garden that announces a “Pro America Rally.” And as you mention, right underneath it says, hockey game on Friday night. You go inside and you see American

Right at the time the West German government was, in theory, rounding up old Nazis, somewhat comically, at least according to gay filmmaking giant Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The thing that’s so disturbing, I think, to people who watch the film, is that this rally attracted a crowd of 20,000 Americans. You know if 20,000 Americans attend a rally, there’s many times that who support the ideology but just didn’t make it to the rally. These are people who would be my neighbors. I live in Brooklyn. You see them in the audience wearing hats and ties, and dresses, yet they have been spellbound by a demagogue who attacks the press, and attacks minorities, and wraps hate and casual violence in the symbols of patriotism.t

says, novels, a plethora of Amazon reviews and at least one previous memoir, the 1989 “Bedrooms Have Windows.” In a wonderful decision by the publisher, it’s been collected in this new volume, along with the previously unpublished prose work “Bachelors Get Lonely,” and the item of perhaps greatest interest, the brand-new “Triangles in the Sand,” which becomes the book’s finale. In “Triangles,” the boozedup, sexed-up, drug-addled author depicts his early years of struggling to become a writer on Long Island’s North Shore in the 1970s. There’s a loneliness that desire conjures, and Killian nails it in his most free and unconstrained writing that I can remember. Like a mix of Michael

Cunningham and Boyd McDonald. While twirling through the pop culture references that he – and therefore, we – enjoy so much, Killian pauses in one hysterical section to demolish Allen Ginsburg’s guru guise, writing that a Ginsberg poem was “one of the little pieces he liked to write in the vein of Blake – were Blake an American chicken Hawk.” The book’s main concern tells of Killian’s brief affair with the composer Arthur Russell, in writing that is campy, edgy, rueful, and egregiously salacious. Naughty Kevin! It seems he’s always got his nose up some droll satire, some revealing slice of gay sociology, or some guy’s succulent ass. Now, that’s literature.t

Courtesy the filmmaker

Scene from director Marshall Curry’s short documentary “A Night at the Garden.”

are not in the film, they do give a shout-out to Father Coughlin. [His radio ministry] reached 30 million people at the time, as he was saying great things about Hitler and Mussolini. This event was held at the second Madison Square Garden, not the one we know today at the site of the old Penn Station. Why was that allowed? Right. I believe it was around Eighth Avenue and 50th Street. It held between 20 and 22,000 people, so that’s where we get the estimates for the attendance.

Lecherous literature by John F. Karr

t’s traditional, almost de rigueur, to enter into a review of a book by Kevin Killian with a dense, not particularly understandable, and (to me, at least) thoroughly irrelevant history of the New Narrative literary movement he co-founded with a small group of West Coast writers of poetry and prose. The Roll Call of Honor includes D’Allesandro, Boone, Bellamy, Gluck, Cooper, Acker, Abbott, etc. This would typically be followed by an explanation of what New Narrative is. And you know what? I’m gonna skip it. You don’t have to know a jot about all that to find Killian’s new book “Fascina-

Semiotext(e)

“Fascination” author Kevin Killian.

tion” (Semiotext(e) Native Agents, $16.95) a goddam laugh riot.

The PEN Award-winning Killian has authored three volumes of gay short fiction, numerous es-

Up & away by Jim Piechota

Elevation by Stephen King; Simon & Schuster, $19.95

ne of the ways longtime novelists keep their fan-base intact and interested over the years is to launch literary curveballs every once in a while. Stephen King, now 71 and still Maine-based after decades of publishing horror, softserves a new novella about being nice, and how the universe has a way of bringing people together in the real world to face the demons that divide them. In the span of “Elevation”’s brief 160 pages, we meet Scott Carey, an athletic 42-year-old Castle Rock, Maine man, who visits a retired doctor because he believes he is losing weight yet his full-bellied appearance in the mirror hasn’t changed. The doctor is baffled, and

after a full examination, can offer no explanation. Is he sick or just becoming physically enlightened? Thankfully, suburban life intervenes to distract Scott from this distressing development in the form of new neighbors, Deirdre and Missy, somewhat self-centered women with poor dog-walking habits. The lesbian married couple in question have recently moved to town, and once the local gossip mill begins to churn, so do the wheels of bigotry, prejudice, and homophobia. Scott appeals to the women to curb their dogs, mutts who are more than happy to poop in his yard, but the women, both promising restaurateurs, are callous in their dismissal of his complaints. Nevertheless, he carries on, now reinvigorated with purpose. Scott is a good man with a supernatural knack for promoting positivity and good-natured human

Courtesy the subject

“Elevation” author Stephen King.

kindness, but the largely Republican denizens of Castle Rock are just not feeling these lesbians – especially these “married lesbians,” as a shaken

friend tells Scott. It’s Trump country, and the dividing line has to be drawn somewhere, right? The protagonist works hard to battle the bullies and get the towns-

folk to see the other side of the fence, as it were, but there is something else in the air, and it’s magnificent. King is known to publicly (and creatively) rebuke President Trump’s actions on social media, so this thinly veiled shade-throwing will come as no surprise to the author’s fans. The difference here is that it ends well, and people actually take the advice they’re given to love one another unconditionally. In the end, this crisp story urges readers to rise above the hatred of intolerance, and to freely embrace diversity with grace, dignity, and a personal sense of pride. King’s novel sets a great example of how humans should behave in the face of adversity, and how civility and kindness, particularly in these unsettled times, are worth their weight in gold.t

<< Theatre

22 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

Rich & powerful ‘Hamilton’ by Jim Gladstone

finally made it to the room where it happens when “Hamilton” officially opened its second San Francisco engagement last Thursday night. Well, one of the rooms. In addition to continuing long runs on Broadway (3 1/2 years and counting), in Chicago (more than 2 1/2 years), and in London (just past its first anniversary), two separate touring companies are taking LinManuel Miranda’s juggernaut to dozens of cities across the U.S. On the day this article prints, they’ll be Ham-ming it up in Cincinnati and Tampa. If you’ve yet to see the show and are wondering whether to take the plunge this go-round, you probably have some of the same questions on your mind that I had last week, first and foremost, “Does it live up to the hype?” What I can tell you is this: Even four years, a half-dozen companies and hundreds of cast members beyond its Public Theater debut, “Hamilton” hits the Orpheum with the crackling energy of a lightning strike and the exhilarating freshness of new ozone. It’s alive in a way that live theater rarely is, especially in the context of a well-established, brandname property. The ensemble tears into Miranda’s complex material, coming off as if it’s not performing a script but experiencing the events of this story for the first time. You’ll

Joan Marcus

Touring cast of “Hamilton” now playing the Orpheum Theatre.

feel like an eyewitness more than a spectator. The second big question you may have, given the show’s heralded rap vernacular, is, “Will I be able to follow the plot?” It’s a fair question. The answer is yes. What you won’t be able to do, though, is catch every lyric. But you don’t savor individual notes the first time you hear a symphony, either; you let it pour over you and soak in the totality, appreciating its overall shape and sweep, while taking particular pleasure in those details most notable to you. Mine was a line that whizzed by about “the afterbirth of a nation.” Miranda has been rightly praised for using familiar musical genres to

draw younger audiences into unfamiliar realms of history and theater, but the flip side of that assessment is equally important. By leveraging a story that, in its broad outline, is already familiar to most American audiences, “Hamilton” gives the rap-avoidant and hip-hop-phobic an opportunity to appreciate the wit and nuance these forms can incorporate. The verbal avalanche of “Hamilton”’s densest numbers is also entirely true to its subject. Throughout the show, Alexander Hamilton’s antagonists, and even his admirers, criticize him for his workaholism and volubility, manifested primarily in oral and written logorrhea. “Non-Stop,” the

spectacular closing number of Act I, is dedicated to debating the pros and cons of this excess. Miranda’s model and motives are baked into the show, to delicious effect. For all the attention “Hamilton” has received for its feverish syncopated raps, the show is also rich in R&B- and pop-influenced melodic hooks. The Schuyler sisters’ tight, silky signature song has Eliza, the future Mrs. Hamilton (Julia K. Harriman); Angelica (Sabrina Sloan); and Peggy (Darilyn Castillo, who also plays femme fatale Maria Reynolds) doing sweet, smart, selfconfidence that’s ticklishly evocative of Destiny’s Child. Simon Longnight brings a pinch of Prince – and a hairdo straight outta Kid ‘N’ Play – to his sassy Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, the historical figures’ French connection underscored by the dual role. “It’s Quiet Uptown,” the duet sung by Hamilton (Julius Thomas III) and Eliza in the wake of their son Philip’s death, is at once gingerly and wrenching, plumbing the depths of grief and the interdependencies of marriage. It aches and shimmers like the best Broadway ballads. You won’t find a weak link in the cast, but there’s hypnotic power in the commanding performances of Donald Webber, Jr. as Aaron Burr; Isaiah Johnson translating George Washington into Doberman Pinscher; and Brandon Louis Arm-

strong playing Hercules Mulligan and John Adams with the voice and physique of a kettle drum. Thomas Kail’s direction and Andy Blankenbuehler’s choreography keep the company of more than 20 in motion as constant as history’s march. Their physical motifs marry to orchestrator Alex Lacamoire’s musical ones, helping illuminate the influence of one incident upon the next. Paul Tazewell’s bodyconscious colonial costumes help make the handsome, self-possessed players sexier than anything you’ve ever seen in a history book. One “Hamilton” question that you still may have that I honestly can’t answer is “Is it worth the money?” Let me say this: While not life-changing, the story of the first U.S. Treasurer is life-enriching in a way that no other work of musical theater in San Francisco has been since the last time this one stopped by. It’s also a work that begs to be unpacked and examined for far longer than the three hours one sits through a performance. If you’re committed to making the most of the arts, a ticket combined with a download of the cast album will be most worthy when appreciated as a longterm investment.t Hamilton, at the Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., SF. Tickets from $95, on sale through Sept. 8. (888) 746-1799. www.shnsf.com

Time to say goodbye by Jim Gladstone

“B

efore the Parade Passes By,” the full-ensemble songand-dance extravaganza that closes Act I of “Hello, Dolly!,” finds long-widowed matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi resolving to move

beyond her beloved late husband and march forward, set on capturing the affections of wealthy Horace Vandergelder. It’s more than ironic that the banners festooning this particular parade (the show is set at the turn of 20th century) include one that calls for women’s suffrage.

StevenUnderhill PHOTOGRAPHY

415 370 7152

StevenUnderhill.com StevenUnderhillPhotos@gmail.com

When the original Broadway run of composer Jerry Herman and director Gower Champion’s hummable humdinger opened way back in 1964, the musical was already a nostalgiafest. In today’s world, despite its spate of showstopping musical numbers and an eye-popping, color-drenched production, the national tour of the 2017 Broadway revival, now running at the Golden Gate Theatre, feels downright antiquated. “Dolly” was never intended to be deep. When it opened two months after the assassination of JFK, it probably felt like a much-needed breath of fresh air. But for all its would-be winsome, innocent Americana, the show’s take on women, as helpmates and housekeepers for husbands on whom they depend for their money and social status, is no longer a romantic notion. The parade has passed “Dolly” by. But ever since the late Carol Channing gave the title role her pop-eyed, singing-through-the-teeth signature in that first Broadway production, “Hello, Dolly!” has come to function as more than a book musical. It’s a fancy-dress showcase for leading ladies. The frivolous, dizzy plot (four different couples spin their way towards the aisle) becomes a flexible setting for whatever jewel is mounted at its center. Ethel Merman, Pearl Bailey, Ginger Rogers and Phyllis Diller have all had their turns in a role that bends to fit a variety of personae. Audiences love a star turn, and “Dolly” flatters its leads with a gig that gives them entrance after entrance, costume after costume, applause line after applause line. Even so, after a Broadway absence of 22 years, would the undeniably dusty “Dolly” ever have made its way back without Bette Midler as its lead? It’s easy to imagine Midler’s hambone magnetism and well-known liberal and feminist cred superseding the material. On the current tour, Betty Buckley steps into the role. While beloved by music theater and cabaret cognoscenti, Buckley is not instantly recognizable as a famous personality to general audiences. So, by ne-

cessity, she approaches the role as the fine actress she is, revealing a limpid vulnerability beneath Dolly’s public confidence without ever losing command of the proceedings. Her singing has a burred warmth that brings a dimension of genuine feeling to the otherwise emotionally flimsy scenario. Still, as directed by Jerry Zaks, the production, like those before it, is constantly nudging the audience to adore not the character of Dolly, but the celebrity performer in the role. On opening night, the Golden Gate crowd played along, simulating idol worship Julieta Cervantes for a non-idol in much the way the audiences at nearly Betty Buckley in the title role of the every touring musical give “Hello, Dolly!” national tour. a standing ovation at the curtain call. The hollowness Harmonia Gardens, with its draof these obligatory rituals is pretty matic staircase and plush-curtained much the opposite of what theater booths; and the enormous Curartists should strive for. rier & Ives-style illustrations that On the other hand, one of theindicate location shifts between ater’s holy grails, an honest rush Yonkers and New York City, convey of audience adrenaline, is handily an elegant period charm. But his achieved in the farcical restaurant costumes – bustled dresses, tailored scene that makes up the bulk of Act suits and top hats, feathered headII, ending with a chorus line of forpieces – burn the eyes with nearmal waiters clacking silver cloches, incandescent yellows, purples, reds twirling champagne coolers, and and blues, as if Pikachu, Barney, cleverly cakewalking across the stage Elmo and the Smurfs had been sacin a gorgeously disciplined flurry of rificed for their pelts. choreography that Warren Carlyle Yet this wardrobe is hardly the has closely modeled after Chammost glaring of issues when considpion’s original dances. ering “Hello, Dolly!” in 2019. Even Likewise, there’s genuine oldgussied up in frolic and frippery, the fashioned fun to be found in stage show’s core storyline is doomed to veteran Lewis J. Stadlen’s comic turn sexist obsolescence. It may be time as Vandergelder. His clever vaudevilfor this musical to settle into place lian patter song “Penny in My Pockas a celebrated museum piece rather et,” which opens Act II, was cut from than a part of the popular reperearlier productions and restored in toire. The title song’s brassy chorus 2017, an excellent decision. And Nic insists that “Dolly’ll never go away.” Rouleau, as Vandergelder’s virginal Fair enough. But it’s time she be young business associate Cornelius, kept at an appropriate distance.t offers a winning, grinning mix of naiveté and enthusiasm, not to menHello, Dolly! through March 17 tion a standout tenor voice. at the Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Santo Loquasto’s set design, Taylor St., SF. Tickets from $66. particularly that tony restaurant (888) 746-1799, www.shnsf.com.

Books>>

February 28-March 6, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 23

Williams & Laughlin, more than pen pals by Tavo Amador

n life, openly gay Tennessee Williams (1911-83) was prolific, authoring over 20 full-length plays, many short ones, a large number of stories, novels, poems, screenplays, essays, and memoirs. Eighteen movies have been based on his works. Several have been adapted for television. In death, the two-time Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winner has become a cottage industry: approximately 40 books have been published about him, including Lyle Leverich’s magisterial “Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams” and John Lahr’s comprehensive “Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh.” These numbers are especially impressive because, after 1961, most of his new plays were critical and commercial failures. Yet Williams remains the most translated English-language playwright except for Shakespeare. What’s left to be said? Happily, a great deal. Edited by Peggy Fox and Thomas Keith, “The Luck of Friendship: The Letters of Tennessee Williams and James Laughlin” (Norton, $39.95) chronicles the decades-long relationship between the author and the founder of New Directions, the small house that published almost all of Williams’ works. They met in 1942 at a party given by American Ballet Theatre founder Lincoln Kirstein. The patrician, heterosexual Laughlin (1914-97) would champion all of Williams’ oeuvre, but was most enthusiastic about his poetry. That mattered greatly to Williams, who considered himself a “poet-playwright” and who would have focused more on

Black Leopard, Red Wolf

From page 17

The first installment of a promised “Dark Star Trilogy,” “Black Leopard, Red Wolf ” is a work of feral imagination. Despite its many allusions to contemporary culture, this is a once-told tale. The prose, which eschews all obscurantism, is not shy of the incantatory. It’s out to entertain, gloves off. It’s set in a mythical, out-ofAfrica Africa, but we’re not in Wakanda anymore, not that our stay there was overlong (or over). Journey, exhausting as it is exhaustive, is the narrative constant, as a large cast of characters ranges through cities, fiefdoms and assorted above-ground hells on earth to their shared goal. The author provides character lists and even maps, but they seem like diversions if not outright jokes. The quest is the search for a boy. The lone survivor of a family mass murder, there’s something about the boy, whose closest identifier is “the future of the kingdom.” In a story in which shape-shifting is the norm, including among species, what he’s got is not exactly humanity, or innocence, which also takes a hard rap, but something like goodness. He’s like a thimble full of the only thing worth saving balanced on the tip of a spear. Finding him is the mission of Tracker, whom we slowly also recognize as the Red Wolf, so named because after one of his eyes was gouged out, a witch replaced it with a wolf ’s. Tracker’s nose is so acute that he can discern distant aromas. Tracker also recognizes this attribute as a curse, as may a reader confronted with the novel’s array of scents, fragrances and, mostly, stenches. There’s a pack of scoundrels, demons and competing mercenaries on the same hunt, incapable of partnering beyond gang

Pen pals James Laughlin and Tennessee Williams.

Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images

poetry had it earned him the acclaim and financial independence his plays did. In 1944, a year before “The Glass Menagerie” revolutionized the American theatre, Laughlin secured a grant of $1,000 for the struggling author, something Williams never forgot. Laughlin was himself a poet. He also suffered from bi-polar disorder, for which he took Lithium. He seems to have coped well with this debilitating condition, although he did have bouts of depression. His illness may have made him sympathetic to Williams’ alcoholism and his psychological and physical problems, for which he took far too many drugs and which ultimately resulted in his brother, Dakin Williams, having him institutionalized. Although he eventually understood why Dakin had done so, he nonetheless disinherited him. The drugs probably triggered Williams’ growing paranoia, which led him to turn against longtime supporters, including agent Audrey Wood.

The letters reveal Williams’ and Laughlin’s generosity. New Directions used part of its earnings from Williams’ works to finance publishing less-well-known writers, especially experimental ones. Williams often directed Laughlin to send money to struggling authors he admired. He had assigned all royalties from “Menagerie” to his mother, Edwina. She left most of her estate to Dakin, something Williams realized when he disinherited him. Earnings from “The Rose Tattoo” (1953) had been given to his longterm lover, Frank Merlo. Williams also financed the care of his beloved, lobotomized older sister, Rose. When he died, his estate was used to provide for Rose’s well-being until her death. Afterwards, most of it was left to the University of the South, his adored grandfather, the Rev. Dakin Williams’, alma mater. The proceeds were to provide financial assistance to experimental writers. The correspondence reveals the

formation. The boy’s almost routine teleporting suggests his ambivalence about being found. As you would expect in this company, there’s more than one version of the story. The Leopard’s early question for Tracker – “Which story do you believe?” – is, you should pardon the expression, spot-on. James begins his book with two blunt sentences: “The child is dead. There is nothing left to know.” Except, that is, for six spectral legends told by a writer of such fecund imagination that things collide. Most of the action is unremittingly violent, blood spilling out of its every imaginable sack as if it had been waiting impatiently to make its break. Beheadings are frequent, castrations less so but memorable. There’s lots of cock in this book, but you learn to pace your excitement when one turns up. Necks are broken like it’s dinnertime at the chicken farm, and there’s a reverse birth involving blades and a rib cage that evokes a deliberate anticreation story you won’t be forgetting soon. Curiously, the closest to ordinary humans you’ll find in

this book are slaves, who are grotesquely overworked by everyone but James. I’ve encountered nothing else like this book since Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece, “Blood Meridian.” James borrows, or uses, McCarthy’s tactic of interrupting the relentless carnage with sagas of punishing travel to the next battleground, during which characters sometimes have time to catch up and regroup. I can think of no other writer since I.B. Singer whose every sentence advances the story (and would, in another writer’s hands, require a whole novel), and at eyewatering speeds. There’s a particularly dread-filled trek through the Darklands in which virtually every step of each member of the troop is described. The book pommels you with plot. Besides Tracker, the very definition of an unreliable narrator, the main characters are the Black Leopard, a shape-shifter with a predilection for using his time as a human to catch up on some serious gay sex (some of it with a possibly besotted Tracker), the formidable Moon Witch, Sogolon (who James says is the trilogy’s next narrator), and the prefect Mossi, arguably the most relatably human of the lot and a pig for sex. Such comfort as there is lies in being in the hands of a master writer with a musical sense of timing. Runes figure importantly in the plot, and James has the linguistic juju to render them in words readers can understand. A word you’ll find often is griot, a West African storytelling balladeer. You feel James’ claim in interviews that he has written the book he wanted to read. Its inclusion of gay sex, light on the tenderness, carries it far beyond a mere exercise in representation. It’s wild, disciplined craftsmanship of a giddy skill that’s somehow not

importance to both men of the paper, typeset, and cover of each volume published by New Directions. Hardbacks, quality paperbacks, and mass-market paperbacks, the latter aimed at college students, received equal attention. Laughlin’s opinions about Williams’ plays during his glory years are fascinating. He agreed with the critics about the masterpieces – “Menagerie,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Cat on a Hot Tim Roof,” “Sweet Bird of Youth,” “The Night of the Iguana” – but was equally supportive of those that weren’t immediate successes, like “Summer and Smoke,” and others that failed, like “Camino Real” and “Orpheus Descending.” Williams’ own comments about the plays during rehearsals are often quite funny. Regarding Daniel Mann, who directed “Tattoo,” he wrote, “[He] is no fool, in fact, he is a real New York intellectual but has humor and vitality to compensate for that defect.” There is much about Elia Kazan, who helmed the original productions of “Streetcar,” “Camino,” “Cat,” and “Sweet Bird,” as well as the 1956 film “Baby Doll.” Kazan was another straight man who admired Williams and whom the writer trusted. Others mentioned in the letters are Ezra Pound, Carson McCullers, Gore Vidal, Paul and Jane Bowles, Truman Capote, and James Baldwin. Williams and Merlo were estranged when the latter was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. His physical decline and 1963 death coincided with Williams’ failure to produce another successful Broadway play after “Iguana” (1961). None of his subsequent lovers/com-

panions could organize Williams’ life and keep him functioning. Although his later works have their admirers, and 1972’s “Small Craft Warnings” ran for six months at two off-Broadway theatres, only 1967’s “The Two Character Play,” (also known as “Out Cry”), which took 10 years to write and revise, and which enjoyed a critically acclaimed New York revival in 2013, seems to have touched audiences. Letters about 1975’s “The Red Devil Battery Sign,” starring Anthony Quinn, Claire Bloom, and Katy Jurado, which opened to mixed reviews but drew theatregoers in Boston, suggest a major breakthrough for Williams. But producer David Merrick abruptly closed the play, which never got to Broadway. New Directions published a revised version in 1979. It’s possible that substance abuse made it harder, perhaps impossible, for Williams to connect with audiences and critics as he once had, but he never stopped writing. Laughlin’s belief in him never faltered. Williams died the day Laughlin was scheduled to receive an award from The National Arts Club. Devastated, he composed a poem, “Tennessee,” which he read at the ceremony. It begins, “Tennessee called death the sudden subway, and now he has taken that train.” Excellent notes follow each letter, although Vivien Leigh’s name is twice misspelled, a rare error. While the collection isn’t for the general reader, Fox and Keith have made a tremendous contribution to understanding Williams, and have given Laughlin his rightful recognition. This volume will be mined by scholars in years to come.t

exhibitionist. But you take it lightly at your peril. It’s hallucinatory and

hallucinogenic, and it fucked me up more than once.t

S TUNNING O CEAN V IEWS WITH A P RIVATE O UTDOOR T ERRACE CEREMONIES | RECEPTIONS | HOLIDAY PARTIES | BUSINESS ENTERTAINING

DINING AT THE CLIFF HOUSE

CliffHouse.com 415-386-3330 1090 Point Lobos San Francisco 94121 Private Events Direct 415-666-4027 virginia@cliffhouse.com

<< DVD

24 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

Visconti thrives in Venice by Brian Bromberger

ebuting in 1971, the film “Death in Venice” was hailed as a landmark gay film, even if a few interpreted its depiction of homosexuality as homophobic. At a time when there were scant depictions of same-sex relationships on screen, even a controversial, tragic “love” story was considered an advance. Now, almost a half-century later, we can consider whether the mostly negative reviews ascribed to “Death in Venice” remain valid, since Criterion has released the film for the first time in Blu-ray with a new, impressive 4K digital resolution. Released a mere seven months after Stonewall, the film’s alienation was seen at cross-purposes with the liberation consciousness that was then de rigueur for artistic creation. Many straight critics were also upset that homosexuality, barely hinted at in Thomas Mann’s novella, was made clear in the film in the “vulgar” form of pederasty. Queer reviewers questioned its repressive ambience, which now seemed archaic. Gay Italian auteur Luchino Visconti

Kimono Refashioned

From page 17

Almost everything you wanted to know about the Kimono, or could reasonably be condensed into the space of two galleries, is shared in and around the exhibition’s immaculate, minimalist display cases. Featuring garments, a sprinkling of killer accessories, and fabrications that often triumph over style, the show emphasizes how, since the late 19th century, the kimono’s twodimensional, non-body-hugging silhouettes and meticulous handcrafted textiles sparked trends in Western fashion and inspired top international designers. As one would expect, there’s a parade of sedate dresses in silk satin damask and plum taffeta with bustles and bows, traditional floral patterns and metallic threads. Pausing to offer a basic tutorial in kimono construction and note Japan’s historical contributions to global fashion, the exhibition highlights glamorous attire influenced by the Western Japonism craze that gripped artists and a public that craved Japanese aesthetics. At the turn of the 20th century, kimono went cosmopolitan, and the couture houses of Paris, Lon-

pleased no one except aesthetes who praised his film’s visual beauty and re-creation of Belle Epoque Venice. In one of the superlative extras included on the DVD, a documentary about Visconti, “Venice” star Dirk Bogarde comments that Visconti regarded the film as an opera. Visconti had directed many operas on stage, discovering Maria Callas and coaching her on acting. The movie has minimal dialogue, bordering on being a silent film. Music takes center stage as a narrative element. In the novel, the main character Gustav Aschenbach is a writer, but Visconti recast him as composer (based on Gustav Mahler; the soundtrack features his third and fifth symphonies). The film relies on visual cues to advance the plot. Recovering from a musical failure in Munich, Aschenbach travels to the Grand Hotel des Bains on the Lido in a city gripped by a cholera epidemic hidden from visiting tourists. He sees the gorgeous Polish adolescent Tadzio (Bjorn Andresen) staying with his family, and becomes obsessed with him as the epitome of physical

perfection, akin to a Greek god. He stalks him through the city’s decaying grandeur, mirroring his own bodily deterioration. Aschenbach conceals his passion, but Tadzio responds with gazes, smiles, and poses. He seems to be seducing the older man. Aschenbach becomes seriously ill after eating a contaminated strawberry, eventually collapsing in a chair on the beach while watching Tadzio fight and cavort with friends, leading to the famous climactic scene. Neither the novella nor the film views Aschenbach as a pedophile, since he never touches Tadzio, but simply admires his loveliness. The movie asks what is the essence of beauty, in an erudite dialogue shown in flashback between Aschenbach and his pupil Alfred as he struggles with the question, Is beauty created through effort or art, or, like nature, does it exist on its own? Is the source of creativity a Platonic spiritual ideal or a sensual physical act? What happens when Platonic love is confused with Eros? The

don and New York followed suit, adopting elements of its designs for their collections. Inspired by real kimonos and those seen in popular ukiyo-e woodblock prints of the day, a selection of demure, strikingly feminine pieces, on view here, are distinguished by overlapping front closures, sleeves without structured armholes, and colorful obi sashes. Parisian couturier Amy Linker aped the shape in a chic, silk satin and crepe evening coat in black and lime green, its graceful curved back embellished with silvery white, beaded embroidery and a prominent black and lime striped shawl collar (1913). Chanel’s loosely draped Kelly green and black evening coat of silk crepe and gold brocade (1927) is complemented by a bronze chrysanthemum pattern on the cuffs and midriff, while British designer Lucy Duff-Gordon’s deep purple silk, cut velvet and organdy evening dress (1910), accented by a chartreuse sash that’s finished off with a ribbon corsage, epitomizes restrained elegance. All hell breaks loose in the second half (and most fun part) of the exhibition, which focuses on the mischievous revolutionaries of contemporary Japanese fashion Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, who stormed the gates in the late 1970s and early 80s, and delighted in shocking their staid competitors. The unholy trio, who favored asymmetry, exposed seams and unfinished-looking, of-

ten-outrageous clothing seemingly unrelated to the human form or notions of nominal comfort, continue to haunt haute couture. Informed by Miyake’s 3D Steam Stretch technique, Yoshiyuki Miyamae’s synthetic, flat-construction, pleated mini-dress in blue-green flares at the oh-so-short hemline with no concession to modesty, leaving the wearer to pray she doesn’t encounter an updraft from an escalator or a subway grate. Stiff fabrics stand away from the body in pieces such as a Yamamoto dress from 1995 that black jersey is fitted, but the lower body is wrapped in bulky tangerine and gold brocade that juts out at the hipline. Warning: moving forward requires waddling. East again meets West in Kawakubo’s strapless dress (1991). The bodice is ruched and skin-tight, while its full, silk taffeta skirt, hand-painted in a flying cranes pattern, floats on air, the edges of its bright red crinoline peeping out under a wave-like padded hem. Updated Shibori dyeing and tying techniques have resulted in a variety of ultra-modern fabric textures, some downright repulsive like that which produced Iris van Herpen’s edgy but icky, form-fitting, polyester filament “Super Organza” concoction. Imagine a stretchy body suit made from a spider’s web, and you get the picture. John Galliano must have raised eyebrows in 1994 with his tacky, unrepentantly naughty micro-mini

problem for Aschenbach is that he has intellectualized this debate. He has never realized true love, despite being married and fathering a daughter. Like many artists he has become self-absorbed, even arrogant, in his dealings with others. Tadzio becomes his redemption, ensemble. It consists of a candycolored lingerie jacket whose triangular sleeves are wound and tied, and a thick red-and-black satin obi climaxing in an oversized bow at the back that could make a woman resemble a wayward birthday present. Black stockings and garters stand in for a skirt, completing the perfect look for a waitress at a Japanese dive bar. The cherry blossom pattern on an androgynous jumpsuit from

transforming Aschenbach into a kinder, more open man. Some critics perceived the film as a call to stay in the closet. But it’s possible to interpret Aschenbach’s homosexuality not as repression leading to reinforcement of shame, but as liberation. In appreciating beauty through his intense love for another man (even if it lacks sexual fulfillment), he discovers joy and transcendence. While this release rehabilitates an undeservedly maligned film, “Death in Venice” can be ponderous, plodding, and melancholic for viewers used to a story-driven plot rather than arty, languid camera pans and close-ups conveying internal monologues. Still, the movie boasts a beautiful career capstone performance by the gay Dirk Bogarde, who acts with his eyes, exuding both decline and dignity. Venice has never looked more wondrous, a feast for the senses, even with its decay and menacing aura. “Death in Venice” deserves to be rediscovered on its own terms. Those who succumb to its charms will be amply rewarded.t the late Alexander McQueen’s label contrasts with a masculine leather harness suggesting Samurai armor. But the real payoff comes in a pair of kinky, knee-high, plastic platform sandals with leather strips woven gladiator-style all the way up the calf – torture chambers of which Vivienne Westwood would heartily approve.t Through May 5. asianart.org

Since 1977

Serving Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner all day Open 24/7 3991-A 17thSt Market & Castro, San Francisco

415-864-9795

Courtesy Asian Art Museum

Short boots (Autumn/Winter 2017) by Christian Louboutin, silk grosgrain with silk embroidery and studs.

Courtesy Asian Art Museum

Jacket (Spring/Summer 2003) by Tom Ford for Gucci, rayon tricot with printing; silk tricot lining.

Ian Harvie

Leather

www.ebar.com

Shining Stars Vol. 49 • No. 9 • February 28-March 6, 2019

Arts Events

February 28-March 7

Quality control involves seeing and witnessing great art, so you can share it with others.

Fri 1 Steve @ New Conservatory Theatre Center

Lois Tema

Listings start on page 28 >

Nightlife Events

February 28-March 7

In like a lion, or out like a lamb (or like an out lion?), march on down to your favorite bar or nightclub for some pre-spring fun.

Fri 1 Uhaul @ Jolene’s

Listings start on page 26 > { THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

<< Nightlife Events

26 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

Bohemian Royalty @ The Café

Sat 2

Krewe de Kinque’s Bal Masque XVI , a ‘Glam Rock Revolution’ mardi gra fete, with ducal notables, a costumethemed party, DJ Jimmy Strano, tableau show and more. $15-$100 (VIP); proceeds benefit the LGBT Asylum Project. 6pm-9:30pm. 2369 Market St. http://www.cafesf.com/

David Harness guest-DJs Go Bang! @ The Stud

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

Shot in the City

La Bota Loca @ Club 21, Oakland

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

Thu 28 Fair Fight Fundraiser @ The Café Stacey Abrams, who faced massive ballot problems in her Georgia governor’s race, is the guest at a fundraiser for the voters’ rights nonprofit; part of Lesbians Who Tech. $250 and up. 5:30-7:30pm. 2369 Market St. https://lesbianswhotech. org/sanfrancisco2019/fair-fight/

Friends Live @ Oasis The popular ‘90s sitcom gets a double drag (king/queen) parody performance of a few episode scripts, with Nancy French, Sue Casa, Steven LeMay and other talents. $27-$50. Thu 8pm, Fri & Sat 7pm. Thru Mar. 2. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Gayface @ El Rio Queer weekly night out with DJed and live music, at the popular Mission bar. 10pm-2am. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Literary Speakeasy @ Martuni’s Strong cocktails and powerful words with authors and poets Missy Church, Nancy Patrice Davenport, Jeanne Lupton, René Vaz, and Siamak Vossoughi; hosted by James J. Siegel. 7pm. 4 Valencia St.

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

Nightlife @ California Academy of Sciences Parties at the fascinating spacious nature and science exhibits. $12$15. 6pm-10pm. Feb 28: Darwin,

Galapogos mammals and more. March 7: Nightlife and death; mammal extinction exhibits and discussions on primitive artwork and rituals. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. www.calacademy.org

Picante @ The Cafe Lulu and DJ Marco’s Latin night with sexy gogo guys. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Porn @ The Stud Queer sex worker party. $10. 9pm2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Rock Fag @ Hole in the Wall

DTF Fridays @ Port Bar, Oakland Various DJs play house music, and a few hotties gogo dance at the new gay bar’s weekly event. 9pm-2am. 2023 Broadway. www.portbaroakland.com

Fantasy Friday @ Divas Weekly drag shows at the last transgender-friendly bar in the Polk; with hosts Victoria Secret, Alexis Miranda and several performers. Also Thursdays and Saturdays; Thursday karaoke night. $10. 10pm. 1081 Polk St. www.divassf.com

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

First Friday @ The Stud

Steve Tyrell @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko

Folsom Street Events and the San Francisco Leather Alliance host a leather kink uniform dance night, with DJ Mark O’Brien, kinky gogos, rooftop patio cigar lounge. $10. 10pm-3am. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

The crooner will feature selections from his newly-expanded Back to Bacharach album, his 2018 album, A Song for You, as well as various favorites from the Great American Songbook. $75-$115 ($20 food/drink min.). Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com

Fri 1 Bare Chest Calendar Prelims @ Powerhouse Meet early candidates for next year’s fundraiser calendar; weekly for a while. 8pm-10pm. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Bear Trap @ Lone Star Saloon DJ Jimmy Swear spins at the bear bar. $5. 9pm-12am. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

La Bomba Latina @ Club OMG Drag show with DJ Jaffeth. $5. 9pm2am. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Gaysian Kpop and hip hop dance night, monthly at the cool Civic Center club. $8-$15. 9:30pm-3am. 155 Fell St. www.rickshawstop.com

Go Bang! @ The Stud David Harness is the guest DJ at the retro-groovy mix night, with residents Steve Fabus, Sergio Fedasz, Jimmy DePre and birthday boy Prince Wolf. $5-$10. 9pm-3am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Stanley Frank spins house dance remixes at the intimate Castro dance bar. $3. 9pm-2am (weekly beer bust 2pm-9pm). 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Stallion @ Midnight Sun DJ Bill Dupp, intimate dance floor, gogo cuties, all in the heart of the Castro. 8pm-2am. 4067 18th St. www.midnightsunsf.com

Sugar @ The Cafe Dance, drink, cruise at the Castro club, with DJs Gay Marvine, Taco Tuesday and Matthew XO. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Woof, Frolic @ SF Eagle Canine happy hour and furry dance party. $5-$10. 8pm-2am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Sun 3 Beer Bust @ SF Eagle The popular daytime party, where $10-$15 gets you all the beer you can drink, supporting worthy causes. 3pm-6pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Big Gay Beer Bust @ The Cinch Benefits and plenty of beer at the historic neighborhood bar. 3pm-7pm. 1723 Polk St. www.cinchsf.com

Hog Wild @ Oasis

iCandy @ The Cafe Gus Presents’ weekly dance night, with DJ Jericho and guests, cute gogos and $2 beer (before 10pm). 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Latin Explosion @ Club 21 The popular Latin club with gogo guys galore and Latin music. $10-$20. 9pm-3am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Manimal @ Beaux Gogo-tastic dance night starts off your weekend. $5. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Rorshok @ SF Eagle

Sat 2

Dance grooves with DJ SuperIntoIt, drag acts Glamamore, Dakota Pendent and more, at the historic leather bar. $10. 8pm-2am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Bob Mould @ The Fillmore

Stank @ Powerhouse

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

Vibe Fridays @ Club BnB, Oakland House music and cocktails, with DJs Shareef Raheim-Jihad and Ellis Lindsey. 9pm-2am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Sat 2 Stacey Abrams at the Fair Fight Fundraiser @ The Café

GAMeBoi SF @ Rickshaw Stop

Saturgay @ Qbar

New monthly LGBTQ night. 10pm4am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Sexy Smellovision night with DJs Trever Pearson and LikeHolywine, a Ripe Pits contest, gogos, lube freebies and more. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Thu 28

Banda Los Shakas performs live at the LGBT Latinx night. $10. 9pm-4am. 2111 Franklin St. www.club21oakland.com

Bob Mould @ The Fillmore The gay rock musician performs new and favorites songs, including music from his new album, Sunshine Rock; Film School opens. $25-$30. 8pm. 1805 Geary St. at Fillmore. https://bobmould.com

Green Eggs and Bam! @ Flore

Big Top @ Beaux

Drag shows and brunch at the central restaurant-café, with hostess Camille Tow. Shows at 12pm, 1pm, 2pm. 2298 Market St. www.flore415.com

Enjoy an extra weekend night at the fun Castro nightclub, plus hot local DJs and sexy gogo guys and gals. $8. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.Beauxsf.com

Joe Jackson @ The Masonic

Cameo @ Yoshi’s Oakland

The ‘80s pop singer-songwriter’s back on tour. $43-$63. 8pm. 1111 California St. http://sfmasonic.com/ event/joe-jackson/

Mother @ Oasis Heklina’s popular weekly drag show, with special guests and great music themes. March 2 is a Cher tribute night. $15-$20. 10pm-3am (11:30pm show). 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Powerblouse @ Powerhouse Juanita MORE and her crew’s monthly drag makeover night, with Tyler Lee as the latest subject. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

The iconic R&B band, led by Larry Blackmon, performs at the stylish nightclub-restaurant. $50-$100. 7pm & 9pm. 520 Embarcadero West. www.yoshis.com

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

GlamaZone @ The Cafe Pollo del Mar’s weekly drag show takes on different themes with a comic edge. 8:30-11:30pm. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Nightlife Events>>

February 28-March 6, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 27

Retro Night @ 440 Castro Jim Hopkins plays classic pop oldies, with vintage music videos. 9pm-2am. 44 Castro St. www.the440.com

Vice Tuesdays @ Q Bar

Mon 4

Pillows @ Powerhouse

Fred Rowe

Queer femmes and friends dance party with hip hop, Top 40 and throwbacks at the stylish intimate bar, with DJs Val G and Iris Triska. 9pm2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Wed 6 Gigante @ Port Bar, Oakland

Sun 3 Katya Smirnoff-Skyy hosts One Night Only @ Brava Theater

Juanita MORE! and DJ Frisco Robbie’s weekly event, with Latin, Hip Hop and House music, gogo gals and guys, and a drag show. $5. 9pm-2am. 2023 Broadway, Oakland. www.portoakland.com

Ian Harvie @ Punch Line Comedy Club The popular trans comic performs in a four-night residency at the famed comedy club. $20-$23 (2-drink min.). 8pm. nightly thru Mar 9. 444 Battery St. www.punchlinecomedyclub.com

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

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

Jock @ The Lookout

Opulent @ Beaux

Enjoy the weekly jock-ular fun, with DJed dance music at sports team fundraisers. 12pm-1am. NY DJ Sharon White from 3pm-6pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

DJs Tori, Twistmix and Andre. 9pm2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molasey @ Venetian Room The ‘Astaire & Rogers of the cabaret world’ return for another classy concert at the swanky hotel. $65, two different shows at 3:30pm and 7:30pm. Fairmont Hotel, 950 Mason St. www.bayareacabaret.org

One Night Only @ Brava Theater Countess Katya Smirnoff-Skyy hosts a night of song and comedy with cast members from the new touring production of Hello, Dolly! Proceeds benefit the Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation. $35-$65. 8pm. 2781 24th St. www.reaf-sf.org

Polesexual @ Powerhouse Vaudeville-style variety show with Ma Shugganuttz and Dakota Pendent. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Queer Tango @ Finnish Hall, Berkeley Same-sex partner tango dancing, including lessons for newbies, food and drinks. $5-$10. 3:30pm-6:30pm. 1970 Chestnut St, Berkeley. www.finnishhall.org

Sunday Situation @ The Stud Easy/NYC guest-DJ, host Rich King. 5pm-2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Mon 4 Gaymer Meetup @ Brewcade The weekly LGBT video game enthusiast night includes big-screen games and signature beers, with a new remodeled layout, including an outdoor patio. No cover. 7pm-11pm. 2200 Market St. www.brewcadesf.com

Munro’s at Midnight @ Midnight Sun Drag night with Mercedez Munro. No cover. 10pm. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Shevil @ Powerhouse Midweek drag fun. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Junk @ Powerhouse

Thu 7 Beer Bust @ Lone Star Saloon Weekly beer bust and benefit for local charities. 9pm-11pm. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

Billy Idol & Steve Stevens @ Palace of Fine Arts The ‘80s rocker performs an ‘unplugged’ concert of his music. $80. 8pm. Also Mar. 8. 3601 Lyon St. http://apeconcerts.com

Gym Class @ Hi Tops Enjoy whiskey shots from jockstrapped hotties and sexy sports videos at the popular sports bar. 10pm-2am. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

MrPam and Dulce de Leche cohost the weekly underwear strip night and contest. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. powerhousebar.com

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

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle Rock bands play at the famed leather bar. $8. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com To submit event listings, email events@ebar.com Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

Pillows @ Powerhouse Glamamore’s crafts and drag night. 9pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Tue 5 Cock Shot @ Beaux The weeknight party gets going with DJ Chad Bays. No cover. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Gaymer Night @ Midnight Sun Weekly fun night of games (video, board and other) and cocktails. 8pm12am. 4067 18th St. www.midnightsunsf.com/

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

Hysteria Comedy @ Martuni’s Laugh out loud comics at the open mic night. 6pm-8pm. 4 Valencia St.

Sun 3

Cameo @ Yoshi’s Oakland

<< Arts Events Jean-Louis Fernandez

28 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

Mapplethorpe @ Cinemas

Events @ Manny’s

Matt Smith stars as the gay photographer. https://www. landmarktheatres.com/sanfrancisco/film-info/mapplethorpe

Mar. 2, 4pm-6pm: Activist happy hour. Mar 3, 5pm-7pm: Michael Rios art opening. Mar 7, 6:30pm: Ai-Jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. 3092 16th St. welcometomannys.com

Metamorphosis @ Berkeley Rep Mary Zimmerman’s award-winning modern adaptation of Ovid’s iconic mythological story collection returns in a new co-production with The Guthrie Theatre. $28-$115. Thru Mar 10. 2015 Addison St., Berkeley. www.berkeleyrep.org

Mother Lear @ 4th Street Theater, Berkeley We Player’s intimate small cast 50-minute version of Shakespeare’s King Lear. $5-$40. 8pm. Thru Mar. 16. 2020 4th st., Berkeley. http://www.weplayers.org

Sat 2

Akram Khan @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley

Thu 28 Black Choreographers Festival @ Dance Mission Theater African American dances performed by several companies. Thru Mar. 10, 3316 24th St. Also Mar. 2-3 at SAFEhouse Arts, 145 Eddy St, and Mar. 9-10 at Laney College Theater, Oakland. www.bcfhereandnow.com

Border People @ The Marsh Dan Hoyle’s new solo show embodies multiple characters based around the U.S./Mexico border wall controversies; thru April 27. $25$100. Thu & Fri 8pm, Sat 5pm. 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

Classic and New Films @ Castro Theatre Feb 28-Mar 2: Lesbians Who Tech presentations. Mar. 3: Bohemian Rhapsody sing-along (7pm). Mar. 3-5: Roma (3:30, 5:15, 8pm). Mar. 6 & 7: Green Book (3pm, 5:45, 8:30). 429 Castro St. castrotheatre.com

Fighting Back @ GLBT History Museum

Paradise Square @ Berkeley Repertory

Love, Marriage and Queers: 15 Years Bliss?, a discussion about the history of marriage equality. $5. 7pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

New musical about the 1860s Black and Irish-populated Five Points district of New York (Book by Marcus Gardley, Craig Lucas, and Larry Kirwan; Music by Jason Howland and Larry Kirwan, Lyrics by Nathan Tysen; based on the songs of Stephen Foster). $40-$115. Thru March 3. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. www.berkeleyrep.org

Hello, Dolly! @ Golden Gate Theatre The vintage musical about a matchmaker stars Betty Buckley in the new touring production. $56$226. 1 Taylor St. at Market. www.shnsf.com

Lesbians Who Tech @ Citywide Annual conference of multiple business and social events for women in technology. https://lesbianswhotech.org/ sanfrancisco2019/

Fri 1 Creditors @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley August Strindberg’s drama (powerful psychodrama about a sexual triangle taken to destructive extremes) is performed in a new version by David Greig. $35-$70. Extended thru March 3. 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. www.auroratheatre.org

Events @ GLBT History Museum

Mark Gerrard’s biting comedy about older gay couples dealing with infidelity and other situations. $20$45. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru March 31. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. www.nctcsf.org

West Side Story @ Berkeley Playhouse Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins and Steven Sondheim’s classic urban musical is performed by the East Bay company. $20-$45; thru Mar. 17. 2640 College Ave., Berkeley. berkeleyplayhouse.org

A White Girl’s Guide to International Terrorism @ Creativity Theater Chelsea Marcantel’s drama about post-9/11 America, seen through a young girl’s experience. $30. Thru Mar. 7. 221 4th St. www.sfplayhouse.org

Sat 2 Pablo Sáinz Villegas @ Herbst Theatre

Every Day Alice @ PianoFight

Body Taboo Defiance @ Shelton Theatre

The mega-hit Broadway hip hop musical revision of American Revolutionary-era history. $111-$686. Thru Sept 8. 1192 Market St. www.shnsf.com

Forever, a Moment: Black Meditations on Time and Space @ SOMArts

Playwright/director John Fisher’s solo show, subtitled The D-Day Invasion to the Fall of Berlin. $20$100. Thu 8pm, Sat 8:30pm. 1062 Valencia St. themarshsf.com

The acclaimed solo dance/ performance artist brings his latest work, Xenos, to the Berkeley stage. $30-$78. 8pm. Also Mar. 3. Bancroft Way at Dana St., UC Berkeley campus. www.calperformances.org

Hamilton @ Orpheum Theatre

42nd Street Moon’s production of the musical about NYC mayor LaGuardia. $30-$75. Thru Mar. 17. 215 Jackson St. 42ndstmoon.org

A History of World War II @ The Marsh

Mar. 1: Lana and Lilly Wachowski: Sensing Transgender author Cáel M. Keegan discusses his study of the Matrix filmmakers. Mar. 7: Flashing After Dark: Queer Nightlife Photography Then and Now, with Melissa Hawkins and other photographers. Both $5, 7pm-9pm. Also, SoMa Nights: 1980s-1990s Queer Club Photography, an exhibit of prints by prolific photographer Melissa Hawkins. $5. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Utopia Theatre Project’s production of Anne Yumi Kobori’s modern take on Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan as a couple. $12-$35. 7pm. Thru Mar. 9. 144 Taylor St. www.utopiatheatreproject.com

Fiorello @ Gateway Theatre

Group exhibit; curators Yetunde Olagbaju and Kevin Bernard Moultrie Daye feature 15 artists who explore Black identity. Thru April 6. 934 Brannan St. www.somarts.org

Steve @ New Conservatory Theatre Center

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

Sat 2 Akram Khan @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley

Drag, camp, vaudeville monthly midnight cabaret show. $20-$100. www.sheltontheater.org

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof @ San Jose Stage Company Tennessee Williams’ classic southern family drama gets an East Bay production. $32-$72. Thru March 3. 490 South 1st St., San Jose. www.thestage.org

Overlooked Latinas @ Brava Theater Studio Tina D’Elia’s comic solo show about queer telenovela characters and family drama. $10-$25. Sat 8pm, Sun 3pm thru Mar. 3. 2781 24th St. at York. www.brava.org

Pablo Sáinz Villegas @ Herbst Theatre Spain’s ‘rock star’ of classical guitar performs a concert of works by various composers. 7:30pm. $40$60. 401 Van Ness Ave. www.sfperformances.org

SF Hiking Club @ City Hike Join GLBT hikers of the SF Hiking Club for a 10-mile hike across the city from the ocean to the bay. Meet 8:45 at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores, or 9:30 at the ocean end of the N-Judah line. www.sfhiking.com

That Don Reed Show @ The Marsh Berkeley

Her Portmanteau @ Strand Theatre Nigerian playwright Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot Family Cycle is performed thru Mar. 31 at 1127 Market St., and In Old Age at the Magic Theatre, 2 Marina Blvd, Mar. 27-April 21. $40-$100. www.ufotplays-sf.com

The acclaimed local playwright/performer returns with his hit solo show that takes on Black stereotypes and show business bias. $20-$100. Sat 8:30pm, Sun 5:30pm; extended thru April 28. 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. www.themarsh.org

King of the Yees @ SF Playhouse

Violet @ Alcazar Theater

Lauren Yee’s comic play about a Chinese American family, a missing father, and a 150-year-old men’s club. $25-$125. Tue-Thu & Sun 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru March 2. 450 Post St. 2nd floor. www.sfplayhouse.org

Sat 2 Tina D’Elia’s Overlooked Latinas @ Brava Theater

Bay Area Musicals’ new production of Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley’s Tony-nominated musical about a young women’s spiritual cross-country journey. $35-$65. Thru Mar. 17. 650 Geary St. www.bamsf.org

Comedy>>

February 28-March 6, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 29

Ian Harvie Trans-forming comedy

Ian Harvie

by Jim Gladstone

an Harvie, the trans comedian and actor best known for playing Dale on Transparent, is slightly abashed to share his earliest transgender inklings. “The first time it ever dawned on me that you might be able to change your gender was probably Tootsie,” recalls Harvie, 50, who will do stand-up at the Punch Line four nights next week. “I mean, it’s not at all the same; Dustin Hoffman’s character, an actor, was dressing in drag to get an acting job. But at the time, I had a massive crush on Jessica Lange who was his love interest. It made me wonder if all the girls I had crushes

Sun 3 H.P. Mendoza at My Gaze/ Yr Gaze @ Alley Cat Books

Wonderland @ Berkeley City Club Gary Graves’s dark comedy mixes Kafka and Alice in Wonderland. $15-$38. Thu & Fri 8pm, Sat 7pm, Sun 5pm, thru Mar 17. 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. www.centralworks.org

Sun 3 Cameo @ Yoshi’s Oakland The iconic R&B band, led by Larry Blackmon, performs at the stylish nightclub-restaurant. $50-$100. 7pm & 9pm. 520 Embarcadero West. www.yoshis.com

Marks in Time @ Marin Center Exhibit of the work of tattoo artists; thru May 31. 10 Ave of the Flags, San Rafael. www. marincounty.org

on at school might consider me if I could just morph into a guy.” Harvie’s childhood attraction to show business never subsided, but he kept it under wraps for longer than his male gender identity and his attraction to women. In 2002, Harvie, openly queer but taken by many to be a butch dyke, was working as a self-taught graphic designer in Portland, Maine when he received a postcard in the mail promoting a local comedy workshop taught by a Daily Show writer. “I was randomly on that mailing list,” he recalls. “But for some reason, I kept that card on my desk and kept looking at it. Since I was a kid, I’d always been a storyteller. I wanted to do it, but I was fucking scared.” The night before the workshop started, Harvie decided to give it a shot. “It was like the best drug I ever took,” he recalls. “The first time I really understood the structure and set-up of a joke, I felt totally jazzed and jacked up. It was all I thought about. I was constantly writing down premises.” When the workshop members had their final showcase performance in a Portland comedy club, Harvie made enough of an impression to be invited to emcee at the venue. Within a year or so, he was performing in Boston as well, gradually picking up bookings throughout the northeast.

“I knew that I was trans before I started doing standup, but at first, on stage, I just said queer. In 2004 or 2005, I started saying I was trans on stage, but back then, I had a hard time explaining what it meant. This wasn’t San Francisco, it was New England, and it was like I had to teach them what trans meant before I could make jokes about it.” In 2006, looking to make performing his full-time career and starting to plan his physical transition, Harvie relocated to Los Angeles, where Margaret Cho took a shine to his material. He ended up touring with her as an opening act for five years. “I went through my Ian Harvie on stage transition on stage,” recalls Harvie, now 50. “In 2007, ent, he won parts as trans men on I started to take testosterMistresses, Young and Hungry and one. And I kept doing sets as those Will and Grace. He was also featured changes were happening. In March in Log Cabin, a stage production at 2008, I had my chest surgery and New York’s prestigious Playwright’s three weeks later, I was back out on Horizons last summer, under the the road with Margaret.” direction of Pam MacKinnon, the “I always secretly thought I would artistic director of San Francisco’s become an actor,” says Harvie, who American Conservatory Theater. eventually started going on what he “I was shitting my pants beforenow admits were “terrible, terrible hand,” he confesses. “About three auditions.” The collaborative, charweeks in I called my girlfriend and acter-based work of playing a role said I wasn’t sure I could do it. I proved dramatically different from didn’t know if I could memorize all the relatively unstructured creative the lines.” process of developing and performMacKinnon and his castmates, ing a stand-up act. including Jesse Tyler Ferguson, were Harvie enrolled in classes at the extremely supportive. prestigious Steppenwolf West act“I came early every morning and ing school where he honed his craft. stayed late at the end of the day to Ultimately, in addition to Transpar-

My Gaze/Yr Gaze @ Alley Cat Books

Show Me as I Want to Be Seen @ Contemporary Jewish Museum

Queer animation discussion & screening with H.P. Mendoza (Colma: The Musical, Fruit Fly), and curator Irwin Swirnoff. 6pm. 3036 24th St. www. alleycatbookshop.com

Show Me as I Want to Be Seen, the work of groundbreaking French Jewish artist, Surrealist, and activist Claude Cahun (1894–1954) and her lifelong lover and collaborator Marcel Moore (1892–1972), thru July 7. 736 Mission St. https://thecjm.org/

One Night Only @ Brava Theater Countess Katya Smirnoff-Skyy hosts a night of song and comedy with cast memebrs from the new touring production of Hello, Dolly! Proceeds benefit the Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation. $35-$65. 8pm. 2781 24th St. www.reaf-sf.org

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

Tania Katan @ Dog Eared Books Author of Creative Trespassing reads from, signs and discusses her book about putting ‘spark and joy back into your life.’ 5pm. 489 Castro St. www.dogearedbooks.com

Mon 4 Modern Art @ SF MOMA Wayne Thiebaud, Etel Adnan, Alexander Calder, Donald Judd, Louise Bourgeois and many classic Modern works. The Sea Ranch: Architecture, Envioronment and Idealism (thru April 28). Vija Celmins: To Fix the Image in Memory, thru March 31. Free/$25. Fri-Tue 10am-6pm. 151 3rd St. www.sfmoma.org

Tue 5 Overlooked @ YBCA Forum New York Times and YBCA 100 series honors women and people of color, with performances by FreeQuency, Martha Redbone and a cappella ensemble Vocal Rush, with a trio of journalists discussing their impact. $25-$35. 7pm. 701 Mission St. www.ybca.org

Readings @ City Lights Bookstore Mar. 5: Logic contributors Jim Fingal, with special guests Megan Rose Dickey, Alexis C. Madrigal, Fred Turner, Ellen Ullman, and Julia Carrie Wong. Mar. 7: Oscar Villalon on her book, Foursome: Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe, Paul Strand, Rebecca Salsbury. Both 7pm. 261 Columbus Ave. www.citylights.com

Wed 6 Black Refractions @ MOAD Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, a new traveling exhibition showcasing a century of artworks. Thru April 14. Free/$10. Museum of the african Diaspora, 685 Mission St. www.moadsf.org

See page 30 >>

Playmates and soul mates...

San Francisco:

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

run my lines with a stage manager and a production assistant. I worked my ass off. I don’t think I was great, I think I was okay. I never let anybody down. And I learned so much.” In Log Cabin, as in his past television appearances, Harvie was cast as a trans man. But just last week, he says, “I auditioned for an episode of Blackish. They were looking for a comedian who could play a sportscaster, kind of a macho football guy, and my agents saw the call and sent me in for it.” “They never mentioned I was trans,” says Harvie. “I went in as a man. I brought myself to the audition.” Addressing one of the issues that has recently roiled the queer community in regard to casting, Harvie notes that “If only trans people can play trans roles, does that mean I shouldn’t play this cis male sportscaster? I’m an actor. I want to be able to play all sorts of roles.” But for the time being, he says, he supports casting trans actors as trans characters not because they’re the only ones who can play such roles well, but because trans people face extreme prejudice in the job market. “As actors, behind the cameras, in the writers rooms,” he says, “we’re just not fairly represented. To me, trans actors playing trans roles is strictly part of an overall employment issue.”t Ian Harvie at the Punch Line Comedy Club, 444 Battery St. March 6 & 7, 8pm. March 8 & 9, 7:30pm and 9:45pm. $25. 397-7573. www.punchlinecomedyclub.com

<< Leather

30 • Bay Area Reporter • February 28-March 6, 2019

Think like a marketer

Rich Stadtmiller

Sexy men like these at the SF Eagle meet and mingle in the flesh, but often the actual erotic connections happen separately online.

by Race Bannon

ecently a friend was bemoaning that he wasn’t getting the amount of sex he wanted. For a host of reasons, he felt that it was difficult to connect. I often hear this same sentiment from others. Why is it difficult for some to find erotic connections? I’ve talked to a lot of kinksters about this and a discussion point comes up repeatedly; the role online life has in finding play partners. Being someone who’s created marketing campaigns and sales collateral for much of my professional life, I thought I’d put on my marketing hat and offer what I hope is useful insight. The reality of modern kinky life

Arts Events

From page 29

The Great Leap @ Geary Theatre BD Wong stars in Lauren Yee’s sports drama about a Chinese basketball star, with American values tested $15-$110. Thru Mar. 31. 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org

is that while we regularly socialize in groups large and small, many (most?) of our sexual connections are enabled through our online presence. Online hookup and cruising sites add another layer of communication between us and the object of our attentions. Whereas in the past we might frequently encounter people faceto-face and size them up quickly through visual and verbal cues, now we often shop for sex and relationships much as we shop for stuff online. At the risk of it seeming like pursuing sex and relationships is a cold, calculating process, I think it’s wise

Kour Pour @ Ever Gold Gallery Exhibit of vibrant paintings combining historic and contemporary tapestry themes. Thru May 4. Wed-Sat 12pm-5pm. Minnesota Art Project, 1275 Minnesota St. at 24th. www.evergoldprojects.com

Personals Massage>>

SEXY ASIAN $60 Jim 415-269-5707 SENSUAL FULL BODY MASSAGE 415-350-0968

Models>> ASIAN PORN STAR

33, 5’8, 140#, Massage & Play 415-845-8588

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

Models>>

FABULOUS F**K BOY

Model looks 6’ 150# 27yrs, 8” uncut beautiful tight yummy ass. Smoky sexuality erotic male nympho. Hndsm hedonist. Str8, gay, married men at yr apt, hotel, mansion! Greek god Nick 415-290-2639. Leather fetish fantasy roleplay kink dom sub group scenes mild to wild. Pretty boy with a dirty mind, romantic & unforgettable! $400/hr, $2000 overnight negotiable.

People>> PLAYMATES OR SOULMATES

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

for all of us to think like marketers. When creating a profile, whether it’s to find hookup sex, a regular play partner, or an ongoing relationship, there are tactics that improve your chances. Imagery is a big part of marketing. In the case of online profiles, that means photos. I shouldn’t have to say this, but your photos should not be 15 years old. Keep them current. In the age of the smartphone, having old photos isn’t acceptable. It’s false advertising. If you choose to not show your face, realize you’re reducing the odds of connecting. We all like to see the face of the person we’re cruising or sizing up for a date. If your profile does not include your face, then become comfortable that it’s going to make connecting more difficult. Photos should be clear and shot from direct angles. Cleverly angled shots might seem artistic to you, but the viewer might assume you’re hiding something. Whether it’s a photo of your face, body or private parts, the less forthright the photo appears, the fewer chances of a good response. When it comes to profile text, do not write a tome. Effective marketing writing is concise. Your profile is you marketing yourself. Keep it short and pithy. Also, remember that extensive specificity in your profile could narrow your options. If you’re looking for people 2540, you’ve automatically locked out the 41-yearold you might have otherwise found quite interesting. Same goes for overly specific sexual interests. If you say you’re only a top or bottom, that’s the action you’ll be getting. Don’t be upset if no one suggests any other configuration. If you list only certain sexual activities, don’t be surprised if no

one pursues you for anything else. The mind accepts the literal. When you declare you like A, B and C, the viewer has assumed that maybe X, Y and Z aren’t on the menu. Avoid arrogance. While this may seem to be a more prevalent failing among tops and doms, the truth is lots of switches, bottoms and subs display arrogance, sometimes without even realizing it. A reader might interpret “power bottom” as “I’ll never satisfy them.” Reel back the arrogance (overt or implied). Demonstrate negotiability. Since no two humans are alike, their sexualities aren’t either. Let the reader know that while you have certain preferences, you’re open to finding common ground. All good sex is about finding common ground. All of it. Rigidity is a surefire recipe for erotic loneliness. In short, when you’re creating an online profile, think like a marketer. Ask yourself, if you were a stranger reading your profile, how would you react? Be ruthlessly honest with yourself. Edit for directness, clarity, friendliness, openness and flexibility and maybe you’ll get laid a whole lot more.

For Leather Events, visit www.ebar.com/events Race Bannon is a local author, blogger and activist. www.bannon.com

Two guys like these handsome men might meet at an event and want to play, but where do they go if neither can host?

Mimi Fox @ Freight & Salvage, Berkeley CD release concert with the folk 12-strong guitarist. $20-$24. 8pm. 1111 Addison St. www.mimifoxguitar.com

Incarceration of Japanese Americans During WWII and the Demise of Civil Liberties, a touring multimedia exhibit. Free. Wed-Sun 10am-6pm. 100 Montgomery St. https:// thentheycame.org/

Kimono Refashioned, thru May 5. Also, contemporary works by Kim Heecheon and Liu Jianhua; exhibits of sculpture and antiquities. Sunday café specialties from $7-$16. Free-$20. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm. 200 Larkin St. http://www.asianart.org/

One can have a great profile and generate interest, but it you don’t have a place to play, it doesn’t do you much good. If you can host at your place, consider yourself lucky. Many can’t. I hear this complaint often. As one friend said, saying you can’t host is often the erotic kiss of death. As alternatives, there are local dungeons, play spaces, sex clubs and bathhouses (we need one in San Francisco, please!). Lots of private play parties happen, but you need to nurture your network to stay in the invitation loop. You can rent a hotel room if you can afford it. Or see if any of your friends would be open to loaning you their space. In the Bay Area where many of us live with one or more other people, finding a place where we can comfortably play can be a challenge. Don’t accept that you have no options. Create them.t

Rich Stadtmiller

Then They Came For Me @ Futures Without Violence

Various Exhibits @ Asian Art Museum

Nevertheless @ Z Space Kaneisee Collective and Cat Call Choir perform 17 vignettes about feminism, politics, gender-based harassment and more. $25$40. Thru March 10. 450 Florida St. www.zspace.org

Wed 6 BD Wong in The Great Leap @ Geary Theatre

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

Thu 7 American Hero @ Custom Made Theatre Bess Wohl’s comedy about life, liberty and the pursuit of sandwiches. $20-$45. Thu-Sat 8pm, Sat 2pm, thru April 6. 533 Sutter St. www.custommade.org

Billy Idol & Steve Stevens @ Palace of Fine Arts The ‘80s rocker performs an ‘unplugged’ concert of his music. $80. 8pm. Also Mar. 8. 3601 Lyon St. http://apeconcerts.com

ODC/Dance @ YBCA The acclaimed local dance company performs the world premiere of Kate Weare and Brenda Way’s World’s on Fire. $30-$80. Thru March 10 (March 8 gala dinner/fundraiser $150-$600). 700 Howard St. www.odc.dance

San Francisco Ballet @ War Memorial Opera House Program 8: Shostakovich Trilogy. Special NiteOut post-show party with LGBT patrons and performers (Mar. 29 & April 19). $64-$325. 8pm. 301 Van Ness Ave. www.sfballet.org/niteout

Various Exhibits @ SF Public Library In Search of the Glass Slipper, Perci Chester’s ‘70s gay community photo exhibit; opening reception, Feb 28, 6pm-7:30pm, thru May 16. 100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org

Shining Stars>>

February 28-March 6, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 31

Shining Stars Steven Underhill Photos by

Academy of Friends @ City View Metreon

he 91st annual Academy Awards were only part of the show at the Academy of Friends’ gala party at City View Metron. The nautically-themed fete included a few mermaids amid the gold Oscar guys. Patrons enjoyed food, drinks, raffles and entertainment in between awards. http://www.academyoffriends.org/ See plenty more photos on BARtab’s Facebook page, facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife. See more of Steven Underhill’s photos at StevenUnderhill.com.

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

For headshots, portraits or to arrange your wedding photos

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

VOTING ENDS SUNDAY WIN ONE OF SEVERAL VALUABLE PRIZES JUST FOR VOTING FOR YOUR FAVORITE PLACES, PEOPLE AND THINGS TO DO IN SAN FRANCISCO AND THE BAY AREA.

GRAND PRIZE:

Other prizes include:

Three-night accommodation at the Nantucket Whale Inn in Half Moon Bay.

• Two-night accommodation at the Stanford Court hotel atop San Francisco’s Nob Hill • $500 Shopping spree at Cliff’s Variety • $250 gift certificate at the Cliff House • Pair of tickets to see Megan Mullally and Stephanie Hunt as Nancy and Beth at Feinstein’s at the Nikko May 4

SCAN TO VOTE ON YOUR PHONE

• Pair of tickets to see Randy Rainbow at the Masonic April 20 (sponsored by Live Nation).

ebar.com/besties2019 2018 BESTIES SPONSORS