Tony Award-winning Alice Ripley on ‘Next to Normal.’
m co
As Academy of friends gets ready for Oscar gala, $100,000 is still owed to local groups.
. AR eB
Playing bipolar
– ut e s. in al ko nl on ec r o ers Ch rte p po nd Re , a a s re fied y A ssi Ba cla he ts, s t ar It’ s, w ne
In the red at red carpet season
see Arts
page 8
BAYAREAREPORTER
Vol. 41
. No. 03 . 20 January 2011
▼
Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Castro gets LGBT museum
Cohen pledges LGBT support
by Matthew S. Bajko
▼
Rick Gerharter
H
an Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee, second from left, joins Supervisor Scott Wiener and longtime GLBT Historical Society supporter and mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty in cutting the ribbon to open the new GLBT Historical Society Museum in the Castro Thursday, January 13. Bay Area Reporter society columnist Donna Sachet, left, historical society board CoChair Amy Sueyoshi, second from right, and Supervisor David Campos also took part in the festivities. The opening night party attracted hundreds of people as they checked out the various exhibits. The Bob Ross Foundation, which owns the B.A.R., is sponsoring free admission to the museum the first Wednesday of the month throughout 2011. For more on last week’s opening night party, see Sachet’s On the Town column on page 26.
S
page 2
▼
aving grown up in San Francisco, District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen has long supported the LGBT community, from standing by her out friends in high school to helping marry San Francisco same-sex couples Supervisor at City Hall during Malia Cohen the “Winter of Love” in 2004. Now that she is an elected official, Cohen has no plans to turn her back on her LGBT constituents and close acquaintances. In fact, as the only black member of the Board of Supervisors, she wants to serve as a bridge builder between the LGBT and African American communities. During a recent editorial board meeting with the Bay Area Reporter, the 32-year-old political newcomer said creating those bonds now will be critical should gay groups decide to pursue overturning California’s same-sex marriage ban at the ballot box in 2012. “We live to fight another day and now you got me. I am an ally on the ground, connected through the churches and the political women’s community,” said Cohen, who represents the city’s southeast neighborhoods, from Potrero Hill to Hunter’s Point. “Also, we can do a better job at tapping into the African American community in the East Bay. It is more robust and more expendable income there.” One key strategy Cohen recommends is marketing pro-gay messages in media geared toward African Americans, whether it be black newspapers or television and radio stations. She faulted the unsuccessful campaign in 2008 against Proposition 8, the statewide initiative that banned same-sex marriages, for ignoring those media outlets. “When we start to tap into the African American experience within the LGBT community, life starts to grow and it becomes less about white men solely anchored in the Castro and becomes more of a collective movement that incorporates everyone,” said Cohen, a graduate of Lowell High School who grew up in the city’s Portola District. “I went to school in the south at Fisk University. I was struck by my counterparts who came from the Deep South. They had just stereotypical opinions of the gay community. I had friends questioning and dealing with issues around their sexuality, good friends I still am friends with today.” Working for former Mayor Gavin Newsom as his confidential assistant seven years ago, Cohen jumped at the chance to assist with the thousands of same-sex couples seeking to get married after Newsom’s surprise decision to allow the gay nuptials to take place. “It was just logical, the right thing to do,”
t sounds simple enough and could bring a sizeable windfall to many LGBT households in California. The Internal Revenue Service is requiring registered domestic partners and married same-sex couples to split their income equally on their federal tax forms. Recently the IRS clarified that the new policy will start with the 2010 tax filings. Yet the change in policy toward what is known as community property has been anything but easy to implement. And tax professionals are warning LGBT couples they need to begin thinking about their taxes now to avoid headaches later. Already, tax preparers have been reporting multiple problems due to the change in policy, from having tax documents returned by the IRS to some couples having to pay substantially more
I
by Matthew S. Bajko
page 13
IRS tax change for DPs causes headaches
LGBT center seeks commercial tenants by Matthew S. Bajko an Francisco’s LGBT Community Center is now taking proposals from commercial tenants interested in opening for-profit businesses on its ground floor and rooftop spaces. The LGBT facility this month issued requests for proposals from interested business owners and will be showing the various rooms for rent at the building today (Thursday, January 20). The tour for prospective tenants comes nearly a year after the Bay Area Reporter broke the news that the long-struggling center had met with local restaurateur Gus Murad, who owns the rooftop eatery Medjool in the Mission, about the possibility of turning a little-used meeting room and outdoor balcony on its fourth floor into a restaurant. Since then, the city rezoned the building as a special use district in order to facilitate the zoning changes required to allow the center to seek new operators for the various areas available for rent. Last week, the center posted the RFPs on its website and announced the building tour. “The center is very excited that we are opening up our first floor and fourth floor to create new partnerships with local businesses through an open RFP (request for proposals) process! We have engaged neighbors and key stakeholders throughout the rezoning of the building and will continue to have opportunities for community members to follow the selection process,” wrote Rebecca Rolfe, the center’s executive director, in an e-mail to supporters this week. According to the documents, center officials have expanded the rooms it is willing to turn over to private entrepreneurs. In addition to the ground floor space built in the modern structure where a cafe once operated, the center is also accepting proposals from those interested in using the entire ground floor space or just portions of the rooms housed in an old Victorian that was saved from demolition and incorporated into the center. The first leasable space on the ground floor is approximately 1,800 square feet and to the left of the main entrance off Market Street. It includes the former cafe space, a box office, phone bank room, and several other offices. The second leasable space is roughly 1,350 square feet and is to the right of the main entry. It comprises the building’s Historical Room,
•••FIRST
OF
Rick Gerharter
S
LGBT Community Center Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe stands outside the facility. This week the center announced it is accepting proposals from commercial tenants for portions of the first and fourth floors.
youth space, childwatch, and senior center areas. The RFP states that center officials are willing to entertain ideas for both spaces from a single tenant or could lease each space to separate entities “depending on the proposals received, the potential mix of commercial uses and desired synergies.” They could also opt to lease only one of the areas, according to the document, and any lease would be for five years, with two five-year options to extend the lease. The upstairs space for lease is approximately 5,600 square feet plus a contiguous exclusive use exterior deck of approximately 1,200 square feet. Any lease would be for seven years, with two fiveyear options to extend the lease. The cost of any alterations to the spaces will be borne by the tenants and must first be approved by center officials. The center is willing to discuss allowing use of the building outside its current operating times.
TWO
It is currently open Mondays through Thursdays from noon to 10 p.m.; Fridays from noon to 6 p.m.; Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and is closed Sundays. Center officials specify in the RFPs they are looking for operators who have experience running businesses similar to the ones they are proposing and have been in operation for at least two years within the past five years. According to the documents, any final lease will be negotiated by and between the center and the chosen tenant, with final approval the discretion of the center’s board of directors and its lenders. All bids are due to the center by 5 p.m. Monday, February 7. Applicants are required to submit a $5,000 security check with their proposal submissions.▼ For more information, visit the center’s website at www.sfcenter.org.
SECTIONS•••