AIDS quilt coming
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Horizons kicks off 40th year
ARTS
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'Orlando' opens
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Oscar party!
The
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Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Vol. 50 • No. 7 • February 13-19, 2020
Naval records indicate SF library’s Milk discharge paperwork a fake by Matthew S. Bajko Courtesy Yahoo
Pete Buttigieg addressed supporters after coming in second in Tuesday’s Democratic primary in New Hampshire.
Buttigieg finishes 2nd in NH primary
analysis by Lisa Keen
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GBT leaders in New Hampshire were widely divided on whom to support in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary, but the LGBT community could celebrate another history-making performance by gay presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg, who won the greatest number of state delegates in the February 3 Iowa caucuses, won the same number of delegates (nine) as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire, but came in second in terms of votes. Speaking to supporters in Nashua Tuesday night, Buttigieg, 38, thanked the crowd for supporting a “new generation” of leadership. He thanked his grassroots supporters around the country, highlighting first “the woman in Minnesota who donated [to the Buttigieg campaign] in honor of the wife she lost to lung cancer. ...” Early in his speech, he said, “Thanks to Chasten, the love of my life,” to cheers from the crowd. “A campaign that some said shouldn’t be here at all showed that we are here to stay,” said Buttigieg. Sanders, an independent and self-described Democratic socialist, came in first in New Hampshire with 26% of the vote, unofficial returns showed. Sanders came out to give his victory speech while Buttigieg was speaking to his rally, prompting C-SPAN and other major networks to cut away from Buttigieg. On stage just a few feet away from the podium where Sanders spoke was well-known New Hampshire LGBT state activist Mo Baxley, who served as Sanders’ deputy political director. State Representative Gerri Cannon, a transgender woman, and gay former state representative Jim Splaine endorsed Buttigieg, who finished second in New Hampshire with 24% of the vote. Four years ago, Sanders won the New Hampshire primary by 22 points over then-candidate and eventual nominee Hillary Clinton. Senator Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), who came in third place with 20% of the vote, did not have any high profile LGBT endorsements in New Hampshire. Out state Representatives Ed Butler, Lisa Bunker, and Joyce Weston and former New Hampshire Stonewall Democrats co-chair Gail Morrison backed Senator Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), who came in fourth, with 9% of the vote. See page 3 >>
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trove of naval records obtained by the Bay Area Reporter confirm that the late gay civil rights leader and San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk was given an “other than honorable” discharge from the U.S. Navy and forced to resign on February 7, 1955 rather than face a court-martial because of his homosexuality. The 152 pages released by the Navy Personnel Command also reveal that Milk was forced to describe in precise detail the gay sex he engaged in with a number of men in the early 1950s while living in San Diego. The records call into question the veracity of an archival document housed in the San Francisco Courtesy U.S. Navy Public Library’s San Francisco History Center that authors of several recent biographies of Milk U.S. Navy portrait of then-Ensign had used to claim that Milk was honorably dis- Harvey Milk charged from the Navy. Even close associates of The files add “another layer of puzzlement Milk’s, such as Cleve Jones, had been convinced to what is the document in the library’s arthat Milk had left the Navy on honorable condichive,” noted Jones, who worked on the Oscartions due to the existence of the document. “This is fascinating,” Jones told the B.A.R. winning 2008 biopic “Milk” about his friend this week after being shown Milk’s military and mentor’s life. In 1996, Elva Smith donated the Harvey personnel records, “as to my knowledge this is the first time someone has been able to get this Milk Archives-Scott Smith Collection to the library a year after the death of her son, who information from the Navy.”
had been partners with Milk. The 28 cubic feet of materials included a photocopy of what appeared to be Milk’s honorable discharge paperwork from the U.S. Navy. Dated July 23, 1955, the document was signed by an R.C. Johnson, listed as a naval commanding officer. It seemed to discount the stories that Milk had told to reporters and on the campaign trail during his time in San Francisco in the 1970s that he had been dishonorably discharged from the Navy. The veracity of those statements had long been questioned. Milk enlisted in the Navy in 1951 and attended Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. He won praise and was given a security clearance, according to his naval records, with one document from March 1, 1954 noting that “Lieutenant (junior grade) Milk performs his assigned duties in an excellent manner. He conducts himself well as an officer at all times.” At the time Milk was stationed at what was then called the Naval Air Missile Test Center in Ventura County in Southern California. He was serving as a diving instructor. In his acclaimed biography about Milk, “The Mayor of Castro Street,” the late gay journalist See page 15 >>
Two-spirit powwow draws crowd
by David-Elijah Nahmod
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eld amid the backdrop of San Francisco establishing an American Indian Cultural District, Bay Area American Two-Spirits’ ninth annual powwow drew several thousand people to Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion last weekend. “A powwow is an intertribal event that celebrates indigenous culture through song, dance, culture, tradition, and most importantly, community,” Roger Kuhn, 43, told the Bay Area Reporter in November when the documentary “Two-Spirit Powwow” aired on local television. Kuhn, a two-spirit man who is a member of the Poarch Creek Tribe, was at the February 8 event, where he served as powwow chair. Two-spirit is a Native American term for people with both female and male energies. They may or may not also identify as LGBTQ, a BAAITS news release noted. The powwow was held as the city is in the process of forming an American Indian Cultural District in the Mission to help counteract displacement of the local Native population. The proposed district would be bounded by Sanchez, 14th, Folsom, and 17th streets. The district requires the approval of the Historic Preservation Commission and the Board of Supervisors, a San Francisco Examiner article last November noted. District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who represents the Mission, introduced
Jane Philomen Cleland
Lushanya Echeverria, left, and Beverly Little Thunder took part in the round dance at the BAAITS two-spirit powwow in San Francisco.
the measure. The area now known as Mission Dolores was once the site of an Ohlone village and burial ground, the Examiner reported. Ronen has spearheaded the formation of cultural districts in the city as a way to preserve traditions in various communities before gentrification began. “Cultural districts are one of the most im-
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portant tools we as a city have to proactively strengthen the cultural identities of neighborhoods and communities that face the pressures of gentrification and displacement,” Ronen wrote in an email to the B.A.R. “There are few communities in the country that have experienced displacement as violently and as profoundly as American Indian people, and I am proud to support this community in securing the resources necessary to help protect their cherished cultural assets.” The ordinance establishing the American Indian Cultural District will have to go before the rules committee of the Board of Supervisors, and then before the full board for a final vote. Ronen anticipates having the vote come before the board in late March or April. At the powwow, Kuhn told the B.A.R. that he was very happy about the proposed cultural district. “It’s always important for Native people to have safe spaces to gather to share our culture, traditions, and knowledge,” he said. “Visibility matters; representation matters.” The mood was quite festive at the powwow. Outside the pavilion, dozens lined up at food trucks to purchase American Indian tacos and frybread. Inside, people in traditional American Indian attire signed up for dance and drum roll contests. There were dozens of vendors on hand, selling T-shirts, ponchos, Native hats, drums, See page 14 >>