January 21, 2021 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

College trustees sworn in

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03

Oui, oui for high French honor

LGBTQ pioneers pass

ARTS

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Queer Japan

The

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

Vol. 51 • No. 3 • January 21-27, 2021

Joe Biden sworn in as 46th United States president

by John Ferrannini Mariette Pathy Allen

Former high school gym instructor Steve Dain

Emeryville OKs last step for Dain street renaming

by John Ferrannini

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n a unanimous 5-0 decision at its January 19 meeting, the Emeryville City Council approved the final step necessary to rename a street in front of Emery High School after a late instructor who had been fired for receiving gender confirmation surgery.

In May 2020, the council voted unanimously to name the block of 47th Street between San Pablo Avenue and Doyle Street after Steve Dain, a trans man who taught gym at Emery High between 1966 and 1976.

As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, the Emeryville Tattler published a scathing post last November noting that while the street name change had been approved last May, the new signs were not yet up.

City officials clarified to the B.A.R. that the city had several legal and logistical requirements to fulfill before new street signs can go up. The Tuesday vote was for the final authorization now that those steps have been completed, gay councilman John Bauters told the B.A.R. earlier in the day.

“It’s a technicality,” Bauters said. “When we decided to do the renaming, one thing we had to make sure to do was to go through technical hoops with the county and the post office to successfully rename the street.”

This involved notifying addressees and allowing for a period of transition, Bauters said.

“Tonight is the authorization,” Bauters said. “I expect 5-0 passage.”

After the vote, Bauters told the B.A.R. that Emeryville is trying to right a historic wrong.

“Even though we didn’t know Steve Dain personally, we all understand the importance of making things right and making our community a model for how to be better,” Bauters said.

Mayor Dianne Martinez said the action was a formality and that the entire council supported it.

“I personally think that Mr. Dain’s life was irreparably damaged by the indignities he suffered while working at Emery Unified School District,” Martinez wrote in an email. “I am thrilled that as a city, we can move to repair that damage and give Mr. Dain the respect that he deserved in his lifetime. Trans people will not be erased in Emeryville – not under the watch of this City Council.”

See page 7 >>

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oe Biden was inaugurated the 46th president of the United States January 20 in a ceremony on the west steps of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., bringing to an end one of the most tumultuous administrations in the 243year history of the republic.

Kamala Harris, who served as San Francisco’s district attorney, California attorney general, and U.S. senator from the Golden State, was sworn into office shortly before Biden, making history as the first woman, the first Black American, and the first Asian American to serve as vice president.

“Don’t tell me things can’t change,” Biden said during his inaugural address regarding Harris’ historic swearing-in.

The 59th quadrennial presidential inauguration came one day after Biden nominated Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s health secretary, to be assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, making Levine the first openly trans person to be appointed to a position requiring Senate approval and the highest level openly trans person in the history of the U.S. executive branch.

In his inaugural remarks, Biden made it clear he intends to turn the page from former President Donald Trump, who became the first chief executive since 1869 to skip the ceremony of his

Gerard Koskovich

Joe Biden takes the oath of office January 20 while his wife, Jill, holds the Bible.

successor’s inaugural.

(Trump became the first president of the United States to be impeached twice last week, after he incited a mob to storm the Capitol January 6 during a constitutionally-mandated joint session of Congress to certify Biden’s win.)

The need for unity was the main theme of Biden’s address, urging people to start fresh by listening to each other.

“Speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days,” Biden said. “I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. But I also know that they are not new.

“Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew, and America has risen to the challenge,” Biden added. “The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has See page 8 >>

Mandelman open to landmarking Bank of America Castro building

by John Ferrannini

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San Francisco supervisor is open to landmarking the Bank of America building in the Castro after the financial giant initially posted signs that appeared to ban impromptu memorials.

A group of LGBTQ community members reclaimed the memorial space at the intersection of Castro and 18th streets January 18 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day – and posted memorials of recently-deceased Black LGBTQ leaders after the bank removed the signs.

The office of gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman indicated that he would propose the city landmark the historic site if community members raise their voices in support. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco) said that he spoke with Bank of America officials to resolve the situation in hopes another community group may take over stewardship of the area.

As Hoodline originally reported January 16, signs were installed at the Bank of America building asking individuals that they “please do not post or affix materials to the fence or building surface.”

The signs referenced a city law banning signage on structures without the permission of the property owner, and instituting a fine of

Gerard Koskovich

A person paid tribute to deceased community members outside the Castro Bank of America branch January 18.

between $50 and $500 for anyone who does so.

The bank removed the anti-memorial signage January 17.

“My initial reaction was one of feeling deeply insulted, deeply offended that a corporation thought it could erase queer space at 18th and Castro: a space created to memorialize LGBTQ people in San Francisco and be-

yond who have died,” said queer public historian Gerard Koskovich. “The space has been used that way since at least the mid-1980s.”

Back then the southeast corner of Castro and 18th streets was the site of the now-defunct Hibernia Bank, which led to the area being called Hibernia Beach.

See page 7 >>

<< Community News

2 • Bay Area Reporter • January 21-27, 2021

Out trustees sworn into second terms on SF college board

Essentially

by John Ferrannini

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our people were sworn in to the San Francisco City College Board of Trustees January 14 before the governing body reelected out members Shanell Williams and Tom Temprano as president and vice president, respectively, during its first meeting of the year.

The meeting took place on Zoom due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney swore in bisexual trustee Williams to her second term.

“It’s an excellent day swearing in new leadership for our city,” Haney said, calling City College “the most essential educational institution for young people in our city.”

“I’m sure that’s something you say a lot, but now it’s true,” Haney added.

“We will not be able to recover without your work.”

Haney said he knew Williams from her time as a student leader and activist.

“She was there with a bullhorn,” Haney said. “It’s a testimony to our city that such an extraordinary leader who was built up by City College is now leading the institution.”

After being sworn in, Williams thanked Haney and said that 2020 had been an astonishing year for the school.

“It’s been a tough road at City College last year,” Williams said. “I’m so excited to continue serving, to continue the work that we started. We have to continue the path to make sure City College is here for many future generations.”

In a statement to the Bay Area Reporter, Williams wrote that she wanted to thank San Franciscans for their trust.

“Thank you to San Francisco voters for reelecting me to college board during this unprecedented time,” Williams stated. “I am committing to 11:40 AM serving our students while we face the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism that are deeply impacting our country.”

Williams was the top vote-getter in the November 3 election for four seats on the board, garnering 17.98% of the citywide vote, according to final Department of Elections results.

Temprano followed in second place with 17.17%.

Screengrab via Zoom

City College Trustee Shanell Williams raises her hand to take the oath of office for a second term; she was also reelected board president by her colleagues.

Temprano, a gay man who also serves as a legislative aide to gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, also won another four-year term on the board. He was sworn in by his father, Tom Temprano Sr. “I know you couldn’t be here last time I was sworn in so this means the world to me,” the younger Temprano said. “My dad – my grandma is in there with him – is the greatest community college success story I know.”

Temprano Sr. immigrated to the United States from Spain, his son said, and went on to become a teacher and a guidance counselor.

“When I look at the opportunities I and others had, I look at people like my dad,” Temprano said.

“Thank you dad and thank you for the beard as well.”

Temprano also thanked his mother; partner, Andrew Sheets; and campaign staff and supporters.

In a statement to the B.A.R., Temprano was optimistic about the prospects for the coming year.

“I’m truly grateful to the voters of San Francisco for giving me another opportunity to serve City College,” he wrote. “I believe that with a Biden administration fighting for, and not against public education and with strong support at the state and local level for our college, we can weather our current challenges and come out stronger than ever.

“My top priority is to ensure that we continue to reopen safely and provide educational opportunities

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that will be critical to San Francisco’s economic recovery.”

Outgoing trustee Ivy Lee swore in incoming trustee Alan Wong, in the only swearing-in to occur in person.

Wong said that through City College his immigrant father got the training he needed to become a hotel cook.

Clayton Koo of the Jefferson Elementary School District board in northwest San Mateo County swore in Aliya Chisti to her new position.

Chisti recalled that she grew up in the neighborhood around City College’s main campus off Ocean Avenue on the west side.

“I have seen City College from my window since I was a little girl,” Chisti said. “This is an incredible honor and I vow to do my best.”

Second term for Williams’ presidency

Normally, the leadership positions on the board rotate each year. However, since Williams and Temprano’s terms overlapped with the annus horribilis 2020, it was felt they should each be given a second term.

“I think they deserve a do-over,” trustee Brigitte Davila said while nominating the pair for the positions.

Williams and Temprano were reelected to their 2020 posts but trustee Thea Selby made it clear that she would have preferred someone else fill the vice presidential position.

“I adore Tom Temprano. I’m one of his big fans,” Selby said. “The issue is more one of leadership development.”

Since Temprano has been vice president since 2019, Selby argued, his occupancy of the vice presidential role might be preventing others from getting “a taste of what it means to be president.”

“If I felt someone wanted to step up, I’d be more strong about this,” Selby said, before going on to vote for Williams and Temprano.

“While I understand those concerns, I am thankful for the nomination and I accept it,” Temprano said in response.

The City College board is now on a (virtual) retreat to start the year. It will meet again January 28. t

Obituaries >> Darren Zane English

Ralph Newton Jennings

Leonard Maran

September 29, 1966 – January 8, 2021

1949 – December 8, 2020

October 31, 1943 – December 4, 2020

Darren Zane English, 54, passed away in San Francisco on January 8, 2021 after a short but courageous battle with lung cancer. Darren is survived by his life partner of 28 years, Eric Marason of San Francisco; parents Ed and Janith English, brother Martin English, and sister Tanya Catlett, all of greater Kansas City; and his aunt Carolyn of Colorado.

Many will remember Darren hosting at the Castro Country Club, but those close to him know of his long career of activism with the Wyandot Nation of Kansas, of which he was the cultural coordinator, and his years as instructor of spiritual healing through hypnosis with Novus Spiritus. Darren’s giving nature was reflected in his personality and deeds. He was always ready to give help to his friends in need or crisis. Darren had an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Disney, gained from his past employment at Walt Disney World and subsequent study of the films, music, theme parks, and artwork/Imagineering that he loved so much.

Darren and Eric enjoyed a devoted, loving life of world travel and adventure together despite Darren’s ongoing health challenges. For more information or to share your memories, contact Eric at Basilisk477@gmail.com.

Ralph Newton Jennings, former comptroller of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, died in his sleep in Ajijic, Mexico, on December 8, 2020, from heart disease. He was 71.

Ralph was a native of Kosciusko, Mississippi, and a graduate of the University of Mississippi (B.S. accounting), and San Francisco State University (MBA). He worked as an auditor for the state of Mississippi in Jackson before becoming an accountant for Nabisco in Burlingame, California, followed by his position at SFAF. He was also an usher for the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Hall and participated in fundraising for AIDS charities in the Bay Area, including the old California AIDS Ride.

He retired to Ajijic, Mexico in 2007, where he volunteered at the Lake Chapala Society Library. He was preceded in death by his parents and partner, the Reverend Theodore Boya of Dallas. He is survived by his three sisters, one brother, and 21 first cousins. He was cremated in San Pedro, Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico, and his ashes spread over the Pacific Ocean at Manzanillo Beach and in the mountains around Lake Chapala.

Leonard Maran, of San Francisco, California, passed away Friday, December 4, 2020 at age 77.

Born on October 31, 1943 to Joseph and Beatrice Maran of Teaneck, New Jersey, Leonard was the youngest of three children. Leonard is predeceased by his sister, Trudy Maran, and brother, Joseph Maran, and survived by his six nephews and nieces as well as many adoring cousins and friends.

A graduate of Goddard College and later UC Berkeley (with an MSW), Leonard worked as an inpatient social worker at San Mateo General Hospital (now San Mateo Medical Center), as a licensed clinical social worker for the city of San Francisco, and later in private practice. He was also a facilitator and trainer at UCSF Alliance Health Project in San Francisco.

Leonard loved film, books, and music, and shared his knowledge of wine and food as a columnist and reviewer for the San Francisco Spectrum under the moniker, “The Wine Mook,” and as a columnist and editor at the San Francisco Observer.

Locally, he was an active member of the Friendly Visitor and Community Ambassador programs with Openhouse.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Openhouse SF, a nonprofit taxexempt organization providing housing and community services for LGBTQ seniors (www.openhouse-sf.org).

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Community News>>

January 21-27, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 3

Former B.A.R. publisher receives honor from France compiled by Cynthia Laird

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homas E. Horn, a former publisher of the Bay Area Reporter and chair of the San Francisco-Paris Sister City Committee, has been awarded France’s National Order of the Legion of Honor by President Emmanuel Macron.

Horn, a gay man, received notification of the honor last month from Philippe Etienne, the French ambassador to the United States.

“Your contribution to strengthening our bilateral relationship through your role in the creation of the San Francisco-Paris Sister City CommitCourtesy Thomas E. Horn tee and its chairmanship, your supThomas E. Horn stands outside port for the Alliances Francaises in the the presidential palace in Paris.

United States, and your efforts following the fire at Norte-Dame are absoDecision on Folsom, lutely extraordinary,” Etienne wrote.

Dore Alley street fairs Horn, who has long been involved expected soon with French causes and culture and A decision on whether the two is a former chair of the Alliance South of Market leatherFrancaise San Francisco, said he was themed street fairs deeply appreciative. will proceed in person “I’m very honored,” Horn told in 2021 will be made the B.A.R. January 19, “particularly following a meeting when you consider the distinguished next week between the company I’m with.”

San Francisco Municipal Macron awarded six other Legion of Transportation Agency Honor decrees to U.S. residents. They and Folsom Street Events, are: Gale Brewer, Manhattan borough the executive director of president; Adam Gopnik, a staff writer the latter has told the Bay at the New Yorker; Agnes Gund, phiArea Reporter. lanthropist and chair emerita of the “We have not yet met with SFMboard of the NewISO York Museum of Control 12647-7 Digital Strip 2009 for the 70 year,” Angel Adeyoha, the 100 60 30 100 60 70 30 100 60 TA 100 100 A Modern Art PS 100 1; Seema Hingorani, queer and nonbinary executive direcmanaging director at Morgan Stanley; tor of Folsom Street Events said JanuMarina Kellen French, philanthropist; ary 19. “We will be meeting next week and Irene Natividad, women’s rights or so, myself and the board president.” activist100and president 70 of70the 30 Global 100 60 100 100 30 100 100 60 100 100 70 70 30 30 100 100said 60 100the 100 Nonetheless, Adeyoha Summit of Women. prospect of the Up Your Alley street Horn said that this is his fourth fair in July (sometimes just referred decoration from the French. He preto as Dore Alley, where some of it viously received Arts & Letters and takes place) and the Folsom Street twice the National Order of Merit Fair in September proceeding in per(Chevalier and then Commander). son this year is “unlikely.”

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“But you don’t want to rule it out,” Adeyoha added, until the SFMTA meeting. (The transit agency is, of course, in charge of permits for the requisite street closures.)

An announcement in the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District newsletter earlier on January 19 had stated that the in-person street fairs had already been canceled. Robert Goldfarb, the board president of the cultural district, told the B.A.R. “that was an error in the newsletter” and apologized “for the confusion.”

“Folsom Street Events has announced that there will be no ‘in person’ Folsom Street Fair or Up Your Alley Fairs in 2021,” the newsletter stated. “But the Bears of San Francisco and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are planning a 2021 Bearrison Street Fair, and would love to have your help in planning it. Join a team at https://forms.gle/dh8ornvA14heyoki9.”

According to the Google Sheets form, the Bearrison Street Fair is scheduled for Harrison Street in the South of Market neighborhood on October 30. (Neither the Bears of San Francisco nor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence responded to immediate requests for comment.)

It is unclear exactly when enough 40 100 70 100 40 40 70 40 of the30 population, either40 100 locally, regionally, or nationally, will be vaccinated against COVID-19 for large, in-person events to resume30safely.

The mass vaccination 70 70 30 100 40 100 40 40 100 10 40 40 drive is behind schedule on the nationwide level (https://www.npr. org/2021/01/01/952652202/whythe-covid-19-vaccine-distributionhas-gotten-off-to-a-slow-start), and Mayor LondonT:9.75" Breed stated January 3%

19 that San Francisco could run out of vaccines within two days.

San Francisco Pride, which runs one of the largest in-person events in the city and the country, did not respond to an immediate request for comment. Last year’s SF Pride festivities were virtual due to the ongoing pandemic and it’s questionable if the 2021 event will be able to take place in person the last weekend of June.

Organizers of the city’s Chinese New Year’s parade have already said the in-person event has been canceled but that there will be a broadcast special February 20 starting at 4:30 p.m.

especially those who are low-income.

This unprecedented investment by JP Morgan Chase will allow us to sustain and expand efforts to care for the comprehensive health and social needs of these community members,” he stated. “Through this partnership, we truly have the opportunity to transform the lives of our trans and nonbinary individuals as well as the larger systems of care that have a responsibility for their well-being.”

Out & Equal, which works to achieve workplace equality, will use the funds to start a new program aimed at creating visible transgender Chase announces $5M executives and senior leaders. in grants to LGBTQ groups “The need to step up for the trans As part of its commitment to adand gender-expansive community is vance equality for the LGBTQ comclear and JPMorgan Chase deserves munity, JPMorgan Chase recently credit for making this commitment,” announced $5 million in support for Out & Equal CEO Erin Uritus stated five nonprofit organizations, includin response to a request for coming the San Francisco AIDS Founment. “We’re excited to be able to exdation and Out & Equal Workplace pand our efforts to help members of Advocates, which is based in San this community thrive at work!

Francisco and Washington, D.C. “This new funding is going to Each nonprofit will receive $1 milsupport Out & Equal’s largest and lion ($250,000 over four years). most comprehensive program to SFAF, established in 1982, works further trans equality at work and to promote health, wellness, and develop the next generation of trans social justice for communities most leaders,” she added. “We are investimpacted by HIV, through sexual ing in trans and gender-expansive health and substance use services, employees across all career stages. advocacy, and community partnerAnd accomplishing belonging and ships. The new funding will advance full access to opportunities for all the foundation’s innovative model trans and gender-expansive people 70 40 40 40 70 40 40 70 40 70 40 40 25 50 75 90 100 of free, highly accessible health3 care 10 means transforming the workplaces for transgender people and health in which they show up. As part of this workforce development for trans investment, we are also developing people, according to a news release diagnostics, toolkits, resources, and from Chase. trainings for employers.”

20 70 70 70 70 40 70 40 40 0000 3.1 2.2 2.2 10.2 7.4 7.4 25 19 19 50 40 40 75 66 66 100 100 100 80 70 70 100 In a statement, SFAF CEO Joe The other nonprofits receiving Hollendoner praised the grant.

Chase grants are GLSEN, SAGE, and “San Francisco AIDS FoundaThe Center. All are based in New tion’s vision of health justice requires York City.“Together, we can do more a deepening of our work with transSee page 7 >> gender and nonbinary communities,

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<< Open Forum

4 • Bay Area Reporter • January 21-27, 2021

Volume 51, Number 3 January 21-27, 2021 www.ebar.com

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Levine is qualified for quick confirmation

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he Senate this week finally started holding hearings for President Joe Biden’s various cabinet nominees and others that need confirmation. One who must be confirmed immediately is Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman whom Biden tapped as the number 3 official in the Department of Health and Human Services. Levine, secretary of health for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, has garnered praise for how she has led her state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that Biden has designated her as assistant secretary for health at HHS, she needs to be speedily confirmed so that she can help lead the nation’s response to the health crisis in the new administration.

According to Biden’s transition team, Levine was confirmed three times by the Republicancontrolled Pennsylvania state Senate to serve as health secretary and the Commonwealth’s physician general. She is poised to become the first openly trans official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. “Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through the pandemic – no matter their ZIP code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability – and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond,” Biden stated. “She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration’s health efforts.”

Levine, 64, is also a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine.

She is president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, and the Academy of Eating Disorders. Levine

Courtesy Biden Transition

Dr. Rachel Levine

graduated from Harvard College and the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. She completed her training in pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

In short, Levine is qualified for the federal post and will be able to guide HHS in all manner of health issues. Given that Biden has nominated California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as HHS secretary, Levine’s medical experience will be an asset that he can rely on. Becerra is an inspired choice to lead the agency because he will undoubtedly deal with myriad legal issues at HHS to reverse the numerous hideous anti-LGBTQ policies enacted by the Trump administration. Having a physician in a top

HHS post is critical, not only for the pandemic, but also other health-related issues.

LGBTQ organizations praised Biden’s pick.

“With the reported historic nomination of Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant secretary for health, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice Presidentelect Kamala Harris have continued to keep their promise to create an administration that reflects the diversity and life experiences of America,” Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David stated Tuesday. The organization also urged her swift confirmation.

The National Coalition of LGBT Health congratulated Levine, noting that she has been an integral supporter of LGBTQ health by working to reduce health disparities and expand access to care and prevention. “Dr. Levine has raised awareness about the disproportionate impact of mental health on the LGBTQ community,” said the coalition’s Executive Director Brian Hujdich. “She has further helped expand protections for the community by working with various departments in the Commonwealth to ensure inclusivity and greater health coverage. Dr. Levine also has focused on the needs of marginalized populations throughout the ongoing opioid crisis.”

The Los Angeles LGBT Center stated that Levine’s appointment “would bring a significant and desperately needed focus on access to health care for transgender people.”

We join with the LA Center in condemning anti-LGBTQ conservatives who are expected to undermine and pillory Levine simply because she is transgender. That red herring should be forcefully denounced at every level. Inclusivity is key to healing the nation and reflects the true diversity of our country. Health care should be available to everyone, and Levine’s nomination is a powerful signal that Biden recognizes that; the Senate must too. t

How I learned to stop worrying and love the vote

by Derek Washington

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o say I held my bated breath until it was clear that “Uncle Joe” had won would be the understatement of a century. Or two. Add in “Auntie” Kamala and my gay self has been in an election coma ever since.

BUT. There are a few things I want now that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were inaugurated January 20 as president and vice president, respectively.

Who you calling a bitch? U-N-I-T-Y (It is NOT on my agenda)

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For four long and hurtful years every part of my Black, LGBTQ, and HIV-positive self has been under relentless assault. My trans brothers and sisters, who were braver and more patriotic than any member of Dollar Store Hitler’s family, were told they are not good enough to give their lives for this country. That they deserved none of the benefits that everyone else who serves can access. Gay folks trying to give kids a normal life rather than one spent in foster care have been told that my gay tax money is going to those who say they cannot be a part of building better Americans.

But most importantly, I have been told for four years my Black Life Doesn’t Matter. All Lives Matter. Blue Lives Matter. But Black lives do not.

When a white football player prays after a touchdown it’s a beautiful thing. When Colin Kaepernick knelt during the racist national anthem he is a son of a bitch and blackballed. Because he would not stand for police killing Black people one more second. Breonna Taylor died in her sleep. Kyle Rittenhouse, charged with homicide in the shootings of two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, got a Go Fund Me. George Floyd got a knee to the neck. White terrorists attacking the U.S. Capitol got selfies with cops and Insta content while getting helped down the stairs.

So. NO UNITY. Not with these people. Cheeto Mussolini and his enablers need to be held accountable. Charged. Tried. And if convicted fairly, jail. Don’t be all healing the nation now. You wanna heal a nation? Accountability.

For colored girls who’ve considered not voting, when the rainbow wasn’t enough

I’m going to need respect for the fact that Black folks, no, Black women, are the reason Biden is president. Black women are the reason the Senate isn’t going to block everything he does for the next four years. Yet, who got Senator Harris’ seat?

A Latino man. Can I tell you how I signed the

Screengrab

Vice President Kamala Harris takes the oath of office Wednesday, January 20.

petition to recall Governor Gavin Newsom faster than a MAGA refusing to wear a mask at Target?

(While I live in Nevada, I signed it because it was the only way I knew to express my anger at what I saw as yet another Dem betrayal of Black voters and organizers.) How dare the very first thank-you to Black women be a fuck you to Black women?

And Biden’s cabinet? Thanks for reminding us that white comes in dozens of shades while Black only comes in Housing and Urban Development. I mean seriously. Biden’s first thought was to give us the projects when he nominated Ohio Congresswoman Marsha Fudge for HUD secretary. Not agriculture, which she wanted due to its oversight of the nation’s food stamp program. (She would have been the first Black woman to head that department.)

I am the chairman of the Black Democratic Empowerment Project. How am I supposed to sell voting for Biden in the next election when the payoff is a giveaway to the ethnic man who belongs to the group the white consultocracy is replacing us with? No matter what role we play, the consultocracy will always take us for granted.

Or when the spoils of war are handed out we get the projects and some dude we have never heard of at Defense (retired General Lloyd Austin III), which isn’t exactly what we aspire to.

I will just say this. Biden better figure out quick what to reward Stacey Abrams.

And it better be good.

I just wanna be normal again. I want to go out to lunch

Biden and Harris need to solve this pandemic situation. I am not an essential worker. I am a Negro with a car payment. I do not work from home while baking four types of sourdough bread as I binge on Netflix from my Peloton. Oh, no. I make my living driving an Uber. Yep. About 12 hours a day. In Las Vegas! My limited T-cell ass does not have the privilege of self-quarantining. I get up at 3 a.m. every single day and say, “Not today, Rona, not today.” I am Black, so me and vaccines have history.

Can anyone say Tuskegee experiment? (Google is your best friend.)

But I will take a shot in the ass, arm, or nose if I can go sit in a theater for the next Madea movie or eat a bowl of grits at my favorite soul food restaurant again.

Commander Bone Spurs screwed up every single bit of this pandemic. And folks of color paid – and are paying – the price. If Biden fixes this in four years I will be like Barbra Streisand at the end of “The Way We Were” – all curly hair sporting a campaign sign while screaming, “VOTE FOR KAMALA!” I mean Biden. t Derek Washington is chairman of the Black Democratic Empowerment Project in Nevada. He’s a longtime activist known for “flipping” former Nevada Senator John Ensign to cast the deciding vote to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and is a 2016 Out magazine Out 100 honoree.

t

Politics >>

January 21-27, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 5

Hearings for SF LGBTQ historic sites approach

by Matthew S. Bajko

H

earings on requests from supervisors to landmark two LGBTQ historic sites in San Francisco are expected to take place in the coming weeks. If approved for listing, they would bring the number of properties in the city granted local landmark status specifically for their ties to LGBTQ history to six.

At its February 17 meeting the city’s Historic Preservation Commission is scheduled to vote on landmarking the home where the late lesbian pioneering couple Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin lived throughout most of their 54 years together.

Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman authored the resolution unanimously supported by the Board of Supervisors to begin the landmark process for the property at 651 Duncan Street.

The supervisors would need to vote a second time on declaring the site a city landmark. A survey of San Francisco’s LGBTQ cultural heritage released in 2015 had called on city officials to designate the Lyon-Martin House a historic site.

District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney is seeking a similar process in order to declare the Eagle Bar, a gay-owned bar located South of Market in the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District, a city landmark. The supervisors’ land use and transportation committee could take it up as soon as next Monday, January 25.

The Board of Supervisors would then need to vote in support of starting the landmark process.

Should it do so, the historic preservation commission would have 90 days to take up the matter and send it back to the supervisors for a final vote on designating the entertainment venue at 398 12th Street historically important.

As the Bay Area Reporter first reported in December, Haney decided to seek landmark status for the Eagle following the sale of the property in September to Robert G. Scypinski, according to property records. Attempts to contact Scypinski have gone unreturned, and he has yet to reach out to Haney’s office regarding the landmark request.

Mandelman was also prompted into action following the sale of the Lyon-Martin House last summer several months after Lyon’s death in April at the age of 95. Martin died in 2008 at the age of 87 weeks after the women were the first same-sex couple to legally marry in California that June.

Their 5,700 square foot Noe Valley property sold for $2.25 million and sits atop a steep hill. The parcel includes the couple’s two-story cottage and an undeveloped area the women had tended as a garden.

Owners plan rehab of historic home

With its views of the city’s skyline, the property is a prime location for a larger development. According to emails obtained by the B.A.R., the owners Paul McKeown and his wife, Meredith Jones-McKeown, intend to construct a single-family residence on the empty lot, which has an address of 649 Duncan.

As for the Lyon-Martin House, the emails indicate the couple plans “only to improve 651 Duncan only to the extent appropriate after much further study (potentially kitchen/ bath, etc. or other non-impactful ideas),” wrote their architect, Yakuh Askew, in early November.

Neither the owners nor Askew responded to the B.A.R.’s request for comment by the paper’s deadline Wednesday. They have met with both Mandelman and city planning

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The home of late lesbian pioneers Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, center, sits atop a steep hill in Noe Valley with a large part of the second parcel undeveloped.

staff to discuss the landmark request.

According to Askew’s email the focus of the meetings was “to discuss how we can all work together to facilitate the appropriate designation for 651 Duncan and be party to any discussions moving forward.”

During a virtual conversation about the landmark request for the Lyon-Martin House that the California Preservation Foundation hosted January 19, architectural historian Shayne E. Watson said she expected there would be some opposition to listing the site as a city landmark.

The supervisors can vote to do so, however, without the support of the property owners.

“We do expect to get some pushback on the landmarking,” said Watson, a lesbian who co-wrote San Francisco’s LGBTQ historic context statement released six years ago.

Should the landmark be approved then any development proposal for the site would need to be reviewed and approved by the city’s historic preservation commission. During this week’s online talk Mandelman said he was eager to see the report about the Lyon-Martin House from the planning department’s preservation staff.

“There is a lot to determine in how we define the historic aspect of the site and what to preserve for the future,” said Mandelman. “I am glad there will be thoughtful analysis of this amazing and historic queer site. I think this conversation is important for this site and for other sites.”

Lyon and Martin, journalists who first met in Seattle in 1952, moved to San Francisco the following year and lived in a flat in the Castro district.

They bought the Noe Valley house in 1955 because of the view.

Their home would become a gathering place within the city’s lesbian community and the site of various meetings and events. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) addressed one gathering there while standing on the staircase of the twolevel cottage reportedly built in 1908.

Lyon and Martin co-founded the influential Daughters of Bilitis, the first political and social organization for lesbians in the United States.

They made global headlines in 2004 when they were the first couple to be married by San Francisco officials in defiance of California’s prohibition of same-sex marriage.

The state’s supreme court would later annul that and the thousands of other marriages that took place during what became affectionately known as the “Winter of Love.” It was the reason they would marry again four years later after various political and legal fights to secure marriage

rights for same-sex couples.

The Lyon-Martin House would be the city’s first LGBTQ historic site in a solely residential neighborhood and the first focused solely on lesbian history. To date, San Francisco has granted city landmark status to only four sites solely for their importance to LGBTQ history.

All are located in commercial corridors. Two are gay bar locations, one is the former home to the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and the fourth was the late gay supervisor Harvey Milk’s residence and former Castro Camera shop at 573 Castro Street.

The supervisors are expected in the coming weeks to approve city landmark status for the YWCA/Issei Women’s Building located in San CASTRO • MARINA • SOMA Francisco’s Japantown. Already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the property at 1830 Sutter C10-0000523-LIC; C10-0000522-LIC; C10-0000515-LIC Street was where the early gay rights group the Mattachine Society hosted its first convention in May 1954.

With the uncertainty surrounding the preservation of the Lyon-Martin House, the property is among those likely to be up for consideration as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2021 list of the 11 most endangered places in America, said Christina Morris, the group’s senior field director of its Los Angeles office, during this week’s virtual talk.

“It is one of the National Trust’s most effective public relations and advocacy programs we have,” noted Morris. “It helps to promote When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in and encourage high-profile presadvance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial ervation wins.” and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead Nominations for the list are being When your celebration lasting protectsyou your plan loved ones fromlife unnecessary stress and and financial burden, accepted through February 1 andWhen the you remembrance plan your celebration and lasting in allowing themlife to focus what will matter at design that remembrance time—you. in on advance, youmost can every selected locations will be announced advance, you canofdesign every detail of your ownand unique memorial detail own memorial provide Contact usyour today about theunique beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy June 3. To learn more about the anatyour theloved San Francisco Columbarium. and provide loved ones with true peace mind.

Planning ahead nual list visit www.savingplaces. your ones with true peace ofof mind.

Planning org/11-most-nominations; to subprotects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial ahead protectsProudly yourserving loved onesCommunity. from unnecessary burden, the LGBT mit a site for consideration email allowing them focus on whatburden, will matter most them at thattotime—you. stresstoand financial allowing 11Most@savingplaces.org.

Anyone with information about focus on what will matter most at that time—you. the history of the Lyon-Martin Contact us today about the beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy House or its owners can email Piat the San Contact FranciscousColumbarium. today about the beautiful ways to create lar LaValley, the senior preservation planner working on the San a lasting legacy at the San Francisco Columbarium.

Francisco planning department’s One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 Proudly serving our Community. report about the site, at pilar.lavalSanFranciscoColumbarium.com ley@sfgov.org. t Proudly serving the LGBT Community.

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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. The column returns January 25.

Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes.

Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8298836 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717

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<< Obituaries

6 • Bay Area Reporter • January 21-27, 2021

SF gay activist Ken Jones dies at 70

by John Ferrannini

L

ongtime gay activist Ken Jones, a Black man who was key to the desegregation of LGBTQ activism, died January 13. He was 70.

The cause was cancer, according to Cleve Jones, a close friend.

“Ken Jones was a hero,” Cleve Jones wrote in a Facebook post announcing his friend’s death. “He survived many struggles. He deeply loved his family and his community, and dedicated his entire life to the movement for peace and justice. He was very grateful to all of you who reached out to him with messages of encouragement and love during his illness. Today Ken lost his fight against cancer. A memorial will be arranged when it is safe once more for us to gather. Rest in Power, Ken. I love you.”

Mr. Jones died at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, which he had been in and out of since a bladder cancer diagnosis on September 15, according to Sanjai Moses, who was a caregiver for Mr. Jones at the time of his death and who she said helped raise her.

“It’s going to take a lot of time for our community to adjust to Ken not being here anymore,” Moses said.

Rick Gerharter

Activist Ken Jones, who died January 13, long championed LGBTQ rights and helped diversify the movement in San Francisco.

Cleve Jones had been posting updates about Ken Jones’ cancer diagnosis over Facebook, writing on December 18 that the two had spoken on the phone.

“Ken wants his friends to know that he is back in the hospital and the cancer he has fought all year has spread,” Cleve Jones wrote. “Due to COVID-19, he can’t have visitors, which

adds of course to the sadness of the situation. He and his medical team at the VA are evaluating his options.”

On December 22, in one of his last Facebook posts, Ken Jones wrote that he was “back at home.” (He subsequently went back to the VA).

“I am back at home. Pain regimen is working; BM regimen is moving; and appetite stimulant is doing its thing,” Ken Jones wrote. “Today I decided that it is not how many suns and moons you witness as much as what you are able to undertake (with your whole heart) and fight for! Soooo, if I can stay in the (existential) here and now (where all is well) and not get caught up in my circumstances which are only temporary ... I’ve got many things to do as the clock ticks (loudly). Thank you for your warm words of encouragement, care and concern.

Peace and Love.”

Ken Jones had been portrayed by actor Michael K. Williams in “When We Rise,” a 2017 ABC-TV docudrama chronicling the early LGBTQ civil rights movement in San Francisco.

He reflected on his history of activism in a contemporaneous interview with the Bay Area Reporter, discussing how he pushed for many of the early LGBTQ organizations to diversify.

“We decided that it had to begin and that two seats would be given up from the high-performing, and highly skilled, volunteers to women and people of color,” Mr. Jones told the B.A.R. “Some of the white men were infuriated by having to give up their treasured seats to absolute nobodys.

Many of them spent hundreds of hours to make sure we failed at every opportunity.”

Pioneer of activism

Mr. Jones was born on November 9, 1950 and grew up in New Jersey.

He served three tours of duty in the Vietnam War, Moses said, and was assigned to Treasure Island in 1972 in the San Francisco Bay for what he called “relaxed shore duty” in a brief biography Moses and Mr. Jones wrote together in 2019.

“In the 1970s before The Internet, ironing board tables at Hibernia Beach [at 18th and Castro streets] were our community organizing headquarters,” Mr. Jones wrote, recalling the early movement for LGBTQ rights.

Mr. Jones was a core volunteer at the Kaposi’s Sarcoma Research and Education Foundation, which became the San Francisco AIDS Foun-

t

dation. He also “created and managed the very first 100-mile AIDS Bike-aThon from San Francisco to the Russian River.”

Mr. Jones also served as the first African American chair of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee board. He served at the SF Pride organization during the early 1980s, Moses said.

Joining the parade organization in 1980, Mr. Jones started as a co-chair of the outreach committee to bring visibility toward disenfranchised groups.

Mr. Jones also served on the citizen review board for the BART Police Department beginning in 2009, after the BART police killing of Oscar Grant.

After being diagnosed by HIV, Mr. Jones wrote that he “moved across the street from Ocean Beach where [I] spent a DECADE preparing to die with dignity,” only realizing “slowly, very slowly” that he “might not be dying after all.”

Mr. Jones was also an ordained deacon.

“I now believe that God created me just like I am, healed, perfect, and whole,” he told the B.A.R. in 2017.

According to Moses, Mr. Jones is survived by a sister, LaSandra Henderson, who lives in New Jersey. t

Sex worker rights advocate Margo St. James dies

by Liz Highleyman

M

argo St. James, a noted sex-positive feminist and pioneer of the sex workers’ rights movement, died January 11 at age 83. Ms. St. James had been living in a memory care facility in Washington state and was moved to hospice care after a fall, according to her longtime friend Carol Stuart.

Ms. St. James founded the sex worker activist group COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics), organized the infamous Hooker’s Balls in the 1970s, was nearly elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1996, and is the namesake of St. James Infirmary, the nation’s first health clinic for sex workers.

Ms. St. James “takes her place in San Francisco’s pantheon of citizen activists, one of the people who have made this city what it is – and certainly what it was in the last 30 years of the 20th century,” Carol Queen, director of the Center for Sex and Culture, said in a statement issued by a group of Ms. St. James’ close friends.

Although it is unclear whether

Rick Gerharter

Margo St. James spoke on the main stage at the 2001 San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade.

Ms. St. James self-identified as bisexual or lesbian, she had both female and male lovers, including a decade-long relationship with Gail Pheterson, an academic researcher and sex work activist.

“So much of today’s sex-positive culture was born of Margo’s influence,” performance artist and former porn star Annie Sprinkle told the Bay

Area Reporter in an email. “Young sex workers today don’t realize that their movement was launched by a lesbian power couple.”

In a joint response to the B.A.R.’s query about Ms. St. James’s sexuality, her friends wrote, “Margo was a free spirit, and while we know she had passionate and loving connections with women and men, we don’t know that she claimed a sexual orientation label or identity. In those days, if you asked a person if they were bisexual, some of them – maybe Margo – would have said, ‘Isn’t everyone?’ or ‘I don’t need a label, I’m just sexual.’

But it’s clear that Margo was neither straight nor narrow.”

The founding of COYOTE

Margaret St. James was born in Bellingham, Washington, on September 12, 1937. As a girl, she worked on her parents’ dairy farm and became an accomplished painter. She married her high school boyfriend and had a baby soon after graduation.

But before long, she decided the housewife life was not for her.

She left her husband and son, and moved to San Francisco in the late 1950s, settling in the beatnik haven of North Beach.

Ms. St. James often told the story of how she decided to become a prostitute after being swept up in a vice raid in 1962, before she had ever actually turned a trick. She briefly attended law school, successfully fought to overturn her conviction, and later worked as a private investigator.

In the 1960s, Ms. St. James became a fixture of the city’s bohemian scene, hosting musicians and counterculture figures such as Frank Zappa, Ken Kesey, and Paul Krassner at her HaightAshbury home.

In the early 1970s, Ms. St. James lived at Druid Heights, the Marin intentional community founded by lesbian poet Elsa Gidlow. She credited Gidlow with politicizing her by slipping feminist literature under her door.

With women from this circle and those she met doing babysitting and housecleaning jobs, Ms. St. James started a consciousness-raising group

called Whores, Housewives, and Others. “’Others’ meant lesbians but it wasn’t being said out loud yet, even in those liberal bohemian circles,” she later recalled.

On Mother’s Day in 1973, St. James founded COYOTE, the first sex workers’ rights group in the United States, at a time when prostitutes, housewives, and lesbians were starting to make alliances in the burgeoning feminist movement. She also drew on her connections with lawyers, police, and journalists she had made while fighting her prostitution conviction.

COYOTE received an early grant from Glide Memorial Church, which also provided support for the LGBTQ movement. Glide hosted the National Hookers Convention in 1974, an event that gave rise to the Hooker’s Ball, which Ms. St. James spearheaded until 1978. That year, when attendance reached 20,000, Ms. St. James, dressed as then-Supervisor Dianne Feinstein, made her entrance at the Cow Palace astride See page 7 >>

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Community News>>

News Briefs

From page 3

to build a culture of respect and inclusion around the world,” stated Brian Lamb, global head of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Chase. “These partnerships are a top priority because now, more than ever, we need to lock arms with our LGBT+ employees, customers, and partners to promote equality and better serve our communities when they need it most.”

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Margo St. James

From page 6

an elephant, according to David Talbot’s “Season of the Witch.”

“We got support from the street all the way to the top – even some of the rich liberals liked the pretty women and invited us up to their mansions on Nob Hill,” Ms. St. James said in a 2013 interview with Bitch magazine. She became friends with leading political figures, including the late San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, and often appeared in Herb Caen’s San Francisco Chronicle column.

COYOTE offered legal assistance to people arrested for prostitution, fought harmful health policies such as jail quarantines for sexually transmitted diseases and the use of condoms as criminal evidence, and provided safer sex education as the HIV/AIDS epidemic escalated. “[Margo] was a constant lesson in brazen courage, with generosity at the center of her presence,” Carol Leigh, aka Scarlot Harlot, told the B.A.R. “What I learned from Margo

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Castro building

From page 1

Hibernia Bank had entered the neighborhood in 1928-29 as a financial institution catering to the Irish American community that called the Castro home before the mid-to-late 20th century. (Hibernia is the Latin name for Ireland.)

According to a historical context statement posted to the memorial site by Koskovich, which he wrote with the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club’s Lee Hepner, the Hibernia Bank branch underwent a remodeling in 1978-79 that led to the creation of the wall out of what had been an entrance.

“In 1978–1979, the Hibernia Bank building was extensively remodeled and expanded. In the former parking lot, an addition was constructed with a small plaza leading to the new main entrance.

As part of the makeover, a low wall and windows with an ironwork grill replaced the original entrance on the angled corner of the building,” the statement reads. “With its highly visible location, the corner became a favorite cruising hangout for gay men on sunny days, earning it the nickname ‘Hibernia Beach.’ The newly enclosed, angled facade became a space where the burgeoning gay community of the Castro posted notices.”

According to Koskovich, the space began to be used as a memorial space during the darkest days of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

“I used to look at that corner to see my friends who had died of AIDS,” Alex U. Inn, a longtime community activist, told the Bay Area Reporter.

Bank of America took over the space in 1992, but allowed the

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Emeryville

From page 1

Christian Patz, who served as the mayor of Emeryville last year, had introduced the resolution to change the name.

“I am excited that this is finally happening,” he wrote in a brief email.

GTZ virtual meeting series looks at COVID vaccines

The Getting to Zero San Francisco virtual meeting series will hold a session Thursday, January 28, from 5 to 6 p.m. entitled “HIV & COVID-19: Fact-checking & SF’s Vaccination Plan.”

Panelists are Dr. Monica Gandhi of UCSF and Ward 86 at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Dr. Susan Buchbinder of the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Bridge HIV program, and Dr. Susan Philip, and Priscilla Alexander in the 1970s was that we should center our work on those who are impacted most by the laws.”

A history of activism

By the late 1970s, following the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and gay Supervisor Harvey Milk, San Francisco’s political climate began to grow more conservative. Around the same time, the feminist “sex wars” broke out, pitting sex workers’ rights proponents and other pro-sex feminists against those who opposed pornography and prostitution.

In 1985, Ms. St. James moved overseas to focus on international activism, leaving COYOTE’s leadership in the hands of Priscilla Alexander and Gloria Lockett, who later went on to start CAL-PEP, an early harm reduction organization for sex workers in Oakland.

Ms. St. James and Pheterson lived together first in The Netherlands and then in Montpeyroux, a rural village in the south of France. They founded the International Committee for memorials to continue, which expanded to include not just members of the queer community in the Castro or San Francisco but also to memorialize Princess Diana in 1997, Matthew Shepard in 1998, the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, and victims of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

January 21-27, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

and health care providers will be establishing smaller pop-up vaccine sites in impacted communities.

Mandelman stated that the city has created a website where people who live and work in San Francisco can be notified once they are eligible to be vaccinated. People can sign up for these notifications at http://SF.gov/ vaccinenotify. t

Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman recently posted an up-

date to COVID-19 vaccine availability on Facebook, noting that there is a shortage right now.

He also said that San Francisco gets only a small portion of the state’s vaccine allocation.

He wrote that the city is establishing high-volume vaccine hubs in areas most impacted by COVID including South of Market (Moscone Center); Oceanview, Merced, and Ingleside (City College Ocean Campus); and Bayview (SF Produce Market).

In addition to these sites the city

Prostitutes’ Rights and organized the First World Whores’ Congress in Amsterdam in 1985 and the second congress at the European Parliament in Brussels in 1986. St. James described COYOTE’s founding in her preface to Pheterson’s influential anthology, “A Vindication of the Rights of Whores,” published in 1989.

In a remembrance on Facebook, author and former On Our Backs editor Susie Bright, who met Ms. St. James and Pheterson in France, wrote, “Margo and Betty [Dodson] were the single most important sexual liberationists and feminist revolutionaries who ever slapped society upside its head.” Dodson, an artist and sex educator best known as an advocate for masturbation, died on October 31, 2020.

After returning to San Francisco in the early 1990s, Ms. St. James married her longtime friend Paul Avery, a detective and crime reporter who had investigated the Zodiac killer. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement – she called it a “marriage of inconvenience” – as she cared for him as he grew increasingly ill with emphysema.

Although her 1980 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination had been an activist stunt, her 1996 run for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors was for real, and she came in seventh out of 28 candidates in the race for six at-large seats. When one seat was later vacated, then-Mayor Willie Brown refused to appoint her, instead choosing now-governor Gavin Newsom.

In 1999, Ms. St. James, Leigh, Johanna Breyer, and Dawn Passar of the Exotic Dancers Alliance, and a group of medical allies started St. James Infirmary, the first peer-based occupational health and safety clinic for sex workers. The clinic initially operated out of San Francisco City Clinic before moving to its own facility on Mission Street. It is now housed at San Francisco Community Health Center at 730 Polk Street, a space shared with Shanti Project and Project Open Hand.

“Margo generously shared her sassy brilliance and no-nonsense devotion to progressive politics with all of us lucky enough to walk alongside

her on the path towards liberation,” SJI’s founding medical director, Dr. Deborah Cohan of UCSF Health, told the B.A.R. “Margo was a role model to so many of us at the clinic, showing us how to simultaneously be fierce and compassionate, serious and fun, strategic and non-linear, open-minded and open-hearted.”

As Avery’s conditions worsened, he and Ms. St. James moved to a cabin on Orcas Island, off the coast of Bellingham, Washington. After his death in 2000, she continued to live there alone until she developed Alzheimer’s disease and moved to a memory care facility.

Ms. St. James is survived by her siblings, son, three grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and many friends and admirers around the world. Her papers are held at Schlesinger Library at Harvard University. A memorial service will take place this summer on Orcas Island, where her ashes will be spread. A virtual memorial may also be planned, according to Leigh. t

for a corporation to decide is too expensive or needs to be erased,” Koskovich, who attended the event, told the B.A.R. “That everyone came together in that fashion was very exemplary for the LGBTQ community in San Francisco.”

Mandelman, Wiener talked solutions with bank

Tom Temprano, a gay man who is a legislative aide to Mandelman, told the B.A.R that he attended the event in his capacity as a Castro neighborhood resident.

“I became aware that the Harvey Milk club – that organized many events at Hibernia Beach over the years – was putting something on,” Temprano said. “There were no speeches. It was the community coming together to do at the corner that we have done at that corner for 40 years now.”

Temprano said that Mandelman and Wiener expressed to Bank of America the gravity of the situation late last week, and that the signs were subsequently removed on the branch site.

The bank reiterated that in a statement to the B.A.R. January 19.

“Please know that we absolutely

recognize the significance and importance of this memorial site and it will remain a memorial as it has for decades,” spokeswoman Colleen Haggerty wrote. “While our Castro financial center has been temporarily closed, the volume and size of items placed and posted grew significantly, not just on the ground or on the fence where most items historically are placed – but also items placed over the windows and directly onto the building’s walls. We continued to maintain the site while the financial center was closed, and as we prepare for its reopening following its renovation, we will work with Castro community leaders as to how best to preserve the memorial while adhering to safety measures like keeping the windows and actual building walls clear for customers.”

Jones called the safety concern “bogus.”

“What are they talking about?” he rhetorically asked the B.A.R. “This has been going on for four decades and I have never once been informed of any safety issue whatsoever.”

Temprano told the B.A.R. that Mandelman insisted the signs must come down with all deliberate speed, but that long-term it may be possible to have another community stakeholder, or group of stakeholders, take over stewardship of the space, mentioning the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District and the Castro Merchants as potential partners.

“The solution shouldn’t be that there is no memorial space,” Temprano said. “The solution should be that one or a collaboration of community organizations in the neighborhood allow the honor-

ing of people at Hibernia Beach to continue.”

Neither the Bank of America building nor Hibernia Beach are among the LGBTQ historical sites landmarked by the city. Temprano said that Mandelman did not have plans to do that, but would be open to the possibility if neighbors and members of the LGBTQ community in the city express interest.

Just three of the Castro’s historic sites have been added to that list, the B.A.R. reported last October.

Those are the Twin Peaks Tavern at Market and Castro streets, Harvey Milk’s Castro Camera shop at 573 Castro Street, and the former Names Project building at 2362 Market Street.

The site is not listed in a list of 53 potential addresses for landmarking in the citywide historic context statement for LGBTQ history in San Francisco released in 2016, and which is on pages 35859 of the document.

Inn was glad to have the opportunity to connect with members of the community once again, even with some precautions due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“With COVID we are all isolated but yesterday felt like family to me,” Inn said.

Inn doesn’t anticipate further controversy on this subject from the bank.

“They backed off,” Inn told the B.A.R. “Will they come back again and try something else? I don’t think so. I think it’s a done deal.”

Jones seemed to concur, saying, “I think they got slapped down pretty hard.”

The Castro CBD and the Castro Merchants did not respond to immediate requests for comment. t

making Levine, a physician, the first openly trans person to be appointed to a position requiring Senate confirmation and the highest level openly trans person in the history of the U.S. executive branch.

Patz had been a supporter for years of renaming the gym at Emery High after Dain. The proposal was defeated

at a school board meeting on June 26, 2019 – the Wednesday before Pride was celebrated in San Francisco and many other major cities.

Barbara Inch, Patz’s wife, had been school board president and resigned two days after that vote.

Patz had attributed that decision to bigotry, and the street name

change was proposed as another way to honor Dain.

Dain had been fired after his gender confirmation surgery. He won a lawsuit and was awarded $19,000 after the termination, but was unable to return to teaching. He died in 2007 at age 68. t

the city’s acting health officer.

Topics to be addressed include information about COVID-19 and those living with HIV, and vaccine information, such as when people living with HIV can get one and who will pay for it.

The event is free. To register, go to https://bit.ly/2LS6iU0.

Mandelman posts vaccine update

MLK Day event

After receiving many calls of concern from members of the LGBTQ community who had read the Hoodline piece and seen comments from gay former Assemblyman Tom Ammiano denouncing Bank of America’s decision, Hepner and Inn – encouraged online and behind the scenes by longtime gay activist Cleve Jones – reached out to community members and stakeholders to reclaim the Hibernia Beach site.

They chose Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Inn and others placed memorials for Ken Jones, H. Lenn Keller, and others.

“It was really underscored by the fact it happened days after Ken died,” Jones told the B.A.R. January 19. “That site is an important part of our community and they [Bank of America] disrespected it and are going to have to deal with that.”

“It was emotional and moving because that corner holds a lot of souls,” Inn said. “To be there with the community, to honor those icons was an emotional time.”

About a dozen people showed up to the event, putting memorials in the space to honor those whose lives still hold so much import for the San Francisco queer community.

“It is really a profound space of folk ritual for our community, and that’s not the sort of thing “I think the appointment of Rachel Levine speaks to where we have come since I first proposed renaming the gym after Mr. Dain five years ago.”

He was referring to President Joe Biden’s nominee to be assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services,

Rick Gerharter

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman

John Ferrannini contributed reporting.

<< From the Cover

8 • Bay Area Reporter • January 21-27, 2021

<<

Biden sworn in

ing with the swearing-in of Kamala Harris as our vice president. I join millions of women across the country in finally seeing a woman take the oath for one of the highest offices in the country. I join millions of Black women across this country in seeing Vice President Harris take a seat at the table that so many have fought to secure for so long.”

From page 1

been heeded. We’ve learned again that democracy is precious, democracy is fragile and at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.”

Biden, who served as vice president under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017, said it is time for America “to set our sights on the nation we can be and the nation we must be.”

“This is a great nation. We are good people, and over the centuries through storm and strife, through peace and in war, we have come so far. But we still have far to go,” Biden said. “We have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibilities.”

Biden, referencing the pandemic, last summer’s protests for racial justice, and this January’s insurrection, said “to overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and future of America, requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy.”

Since the insurrection parts of the nation’s capital have been an armed camp, with over 20,000 National Guard troops deployed to ensure a peaceful transfer of power.

Biden did not mention the LGBTQ community by name in his address, nonetheless, LGBTQ leaders heralded Biden’s inaugural in their own statements.

“Today, I am filled with a renewed sense of hope and optimism for the

Trans doctor nominated Rick Gerharter

Cary Friedman gave a robust cheer as Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States January 20. His friend, Charlie Spiegel, behind signs, joined him at the Noe Valley Town Square.

future of our country under the leadership of President Joe Biden and, my friend, Vice President Kamala Harris,” gay San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria stated. “Together, I know they will provide compassionate leadership and a steady hand to navigate the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty, climate change and the fight for racial justice.”

The national Human Rights Campaign tweeted its congratulations shortly after Biden and Harris’ swearing in.

HRC will be hosting an inaugural event, “The Power of Equality,” Wednesday at 4 p.m. Pacific Time.

Registration is available online (https://one.bidpal.net/unity/welcome). The event, joined by other LGBTQ civil rights organizations,

will include Billy Porter of “Pose” fame and lesbian Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin).

In a statement shortly after the ceremony, San Francisco Mayor London Breed congratulated Biden and Harris, noting in particular the latter’s place in history.

“Today our country finally moves forward under new leadership that will deliver on the basic principles that can heal our fractured democracy: unity, common decency, and compassion for all Americans. With the swearing in of President Joseph R. Biden and Vice President Kamala D. Harris, we are ready to put the past behind us and step proudly to meet the incredible challenging months and years ahead,” Breed stated. “The joy I feel is overwhelm-

by a limited liability company, and is signed BAY AREA CENTRAL SERVICES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/23/20.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/11/20.

of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that SHARON DUNCAN be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: February X03, 2021, 9:00 am, Dept. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250.

A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: THOMAS R. HEALY (SBN 164815), 601 CAROLINA ST, VALLEJO, CA 94590; Ph. (707) 553-7360.

LGBTQ advocacy organizations celebrated Levine’s nomination as assistant health secretary on January 19. She will still have to be confirmed by the Senate, which will switch to Democratic control when Jon Ossoff, the Reverend Raphael Warnock and Alex Padilla are sworn-in

by Harris January 20. (Padilla was appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to replace Harris, who formally resigned her seat Monday; Ossoff and Warnock won runoff elections in Georgia.)

“CenterLink applauds the administration’s nomination of Dr. Levine, whose expertise and experience make her highly qualified for this position,” CenterLink CEO Denise Spivak said in a written statement.

“Her nomination is groundbreaking and her ability to speak to the health needs of our diverse country is strong. We encourage the Senate to confirm Dr. Levine.”

HRC stated that Levine’s appointment shows that the administration is keeping its campaign

t

promise of greater LGBTQ inclusion in government.

“With the reported historic nomination of Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant secretary of health, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have continued to keep their promise to create an administration that reflects the diversity and life experiences of America,” HRC President Alphonso David stated Tuesday. “Dr. Rachel Levine, a highly experienced and qualified public health leader, has led Pennsylvania’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic superbly. At a time when access to health care is a growing crisis for transgender people made worse by anti-LGBTQ legislation and legislators across the nation, Dr. Levine has the empathy to understand the health needs of our diverse country and the skillset to improve them.”

Kaylah Williams, a bisexual woman who is the co-president of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, expressed her joy at Levine’s selection.

“That’s amazing,” Williams told the Bay Area Reporter January 19.

“It’s a huge step for representation, which is not the only thing that matters, but it shows the administration is trying to include people of different backgrounds.

“This is so important for trans young people,” Williams added. t

Legals>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039204600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as JB ROMM PHD, 201 MISSION ST, 12TH FL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JESSICA BETH ROMM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/07/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/11/20.

DEC 31, 2020 JAN 07, 14, 21, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039201700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PS SALON & SPA, 1661 PINE ST, 2ND FL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SALON PS CALIFORNIA LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/08/20.

DEC 31, 2020 JAN 07, 14, 21, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039198000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HEADPRINT STUDIO, 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 10/15/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/03/20.

DEC 31, 2020 JAN 07, 14, 21, 2021 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-037972000

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as DOJIMA-ANN, 219 O’FARRELL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business was conducted by a corporation and signed

by NEW SUN RESTAURANT CORPORATION (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/26/18.

DEC 31, 2020 JAN 07, 14, 21, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039204400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ART SPA WORLD; AONDREA MAYNARD FINE ART, 1890 BRYANT ST #209, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANDREA HELEN MAYNARD. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/20.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/11/20.

JAN 07, 14, 21, 28, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039219000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FAMILY & COMMUNITY CIRCLES, 3288 21ST ST #230, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ZOILA CARTAGENA VELASQUEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/29/20.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/30/20.

JAN 07, 14, 21, 28, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039219300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as MUSE JUICE BAR, 2056 POLK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SARAH WRIGHT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/31/20.

JAN 07, 14, 21, 28, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039204200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CHINA CENTRAL SERVICE,1235 STOCKTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted

JAN 07, 14, 21, 28, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039211900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MUMBLERS PRESS LLC, 159 CASELLI AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MUMBLERS PRESS LLC. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/20/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/22/20.

JAN 07, 14, 21, 28, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039219600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CENSORED VODKA LLC, 849 AVENUE D, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94130. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TREEHOUSE CRAFT DISTILLERY LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/13/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/31/20.

JAN 07, 14, 21, 28, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039204100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LENORA LEE DANCE, 1255 29TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed LENORA LEE PRODUCTIONS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/11/20.

JAN 07, 14, 21, 28, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039201800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as YOU SEE FLOWERS, 500 PARNASSUS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94143. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EDUARDO ALVARADO FERNANDEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/26/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/09/20.

JAN 07, 14, 21, 28, 2021 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-039116400

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as ARGUELLO WASH & DRY, 790 ARGUELLO BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by DOUGLAS T.K. WOO. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/30/20.

JAN 07, 14, 21, 28, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039205000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HEARTROOT CONSULTING, 234 GARCES DR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ROBIN H. HORNER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/25/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/14/20.

JAN 07, 14, 21, 28, 2021 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF MICHAEL BRAUN IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-21-304129 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of MICHAEL BRAUN. A Petition for Probate has been filed by GEORGE DANIEL KIRKHAM in the Superior Court

JAN 14, 21, 28, 2021 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-556037

In the matter of the application of KENNETH HWANG, 1935 PACHECO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116 for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KENNETH HWANG is requesting that the name KENNETH HWANG be changed to SAGE KUROYAMA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 18th of February 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JAN 14, 21, 28, FEB 04, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039216900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LOCKDOWN BEAUTY, 345 DAY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KELLY CRISPEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/02/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/28/20.

as HAULIT415, 1075 O’FARRELL ST #11, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOEL L. MENDANHA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/06/21.

JAN 14, 21, 28, FEB 04, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039220500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as A GOOD PLACE THERAPY PACIFIC, 582 MARKET ST #1110, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed A GOOD PLACE THERAPY BY KERRIE MOHR, LICENSED CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER, PC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/09/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/05/21.

JAN 14, 21, 28, FEB 04, 2021 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556047

In the matter of the application of FERNANDO PROIETTI ORLANDI, 215 EDNA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner FERNANDO PROIETTI ORLANDI is requesting that the name FERNANDO PROIETTI ORLANDI be changed to FERNANDO PROIETTI ORLANDI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 23rd of February 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JAN 21, 28, FEB 04, 11, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039222800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ENGINEERING SPACE, 241 LIBERTY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DEREK LANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/16/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/12/21.

JAN 21, 28, FEB 04, 11, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039217700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as FASHION HOUSE, 910 STOCKTON ST #5, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted

The following person(s) is/are doing business as KANDEELICIOUS COCKTAILS, 1434 INNES AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANASSA STEWART. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/30/20.

JAN 14, 21, 28, FEB 04, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039220900 The following person(s) is/are doing business

JAN 21, 28, FEB 04, 11, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039224400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MAC REPAIR SF; EN LA MIRA IMAGES, 721 ARGUELLO BLVD #302, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LUIS LAMASSONNE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/14/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/14/21.

JAN 21, 28, FEB 04, 11, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039223900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LARKINS BROTHERS TIRE, 370 SOUTH VAN NESS BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed KEWL AUTOMOTIVE INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/03/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/13/21.

JAN 21, 28, FEB 04, 11, 2021 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-038070100

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as PEAK CONSTRUCTION, 4323 17TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by TED TEIPEL. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/29/18.

JAN 21, 28, FEB 04, 11, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039223100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TAPROOT FOUNDATION, 600 CALIFORNIA ST 11TH FL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed TAPFOUND, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/16/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/12/21.

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JAN 14, 21, 28, FEB 04, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039217900

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Gengoroh Tagame (left) at The Eagle in New York City

by David-Elijah Nahmod

G

raham Kolbeins’ new documentary Queer Japan is a colorful and sometimes dizzying portrait of LGBT life in several major Japanese cities, starting with Tokyo. The film lives up to its promise of offering a diverse look at the country’s queer landscape, introducing viewers to a cross section of every imaginable type of LGBTQ person from across the sexual and gender spectrum.

During the film’s 98-minute running time, we are introduced to everyone from a gay erotic artist interviewed in an S&M dungeon, (he has also created a gay manga book for children), to a lesbian bar owner, to a trans activist who writes video strategy books (she is seen holding up a bilingual English/Japanese Trans Lives Matter sign), to a drag queen who relishes the attention she receives.

Kolbeins also visits a Japanese Pride celebration, where ambassador Caroline Kennedy greets the crowd. All in all, some fifty people are interviewed throughout the film.

“Right now in Japan we’re in the middle of an LGBT boom,” says an unidentified voice as the film opens. “I think it’s incredibly important to gain visibility, to make it so that we can be seen.”

“On the other hand, however, there’s also the thinking of not generating any friction with the majority as much as possible,” says a second voice.

“It’s not necessarily that being gay or lesbian is the problem,” says a third voice. “But it’s the family values and format that traditional Japanese are afraid of breaking.”

Yet in spite of the conservative nature of Japanese society, the subjects seen and heard in Queer Japan are all out, loud and proud, unashamed of who they are or how they ex-

‘Queer Japan’s colorful mosaic

Graham Kolbeins’ new documentary visualizes diverse Asian subcultures

press their sexual or gender identity. The film is a celebration of the freedom to be who each of us is, without judgment, even though that judgment can sometimes come from within the community itself.

One man, who’s become a spokesperson of sorts for the BDSM community, is sometimes asked, “Why are you gay?” But at other times he is also asked by members of the LGBT community, “Why are you into BDSM?” There’s no answer to these questions. Each individual must be free to pursue their own path, and that is the film’s underlying message.

The film was shot over a period of three years.

Interviewees touch upon a myriad of topics, such as racism, the exploitation of transgender sex workers, LGBT civil rights and HIV. There’s also a brief look at a band that performs songs about sexually transmitted diseases.

The people profiled in Queer Japan are all fascinating figures, so it is a shame that each interview is so brief. The film jumps from person to person before the viewer can get to know them better. But the film is, nonetheless,

a fascinating look inside a country with a vibrant LGBT community, a community that is coming into its own.

Queer Japan can be viewed on Apple TV, Amazon Prime and Google Play. The film is

in Japanese with clear, easy to read English subtitles.t

Read the full review on www.ebar.com

Simone Fukayuki in Queer Japan

Erik Tomasson © San Francisco Ballet

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by George Balanchine, part of Program 1 of San Francisco Ballet’s 2021 online season.

Dancing screen

San Francisco Ballet’s online season premieres

by Paul Parish

S

an Francisco Ballet’s online opening night could have been cause for concern.

Dance does not record well; how diminished a thing is this going to be?

Would they be ready? Would the dancers be out of shape? Would their technique have gone ragged? Had they have lost stage presence?

Show signs of strain? Would long-time favorites dancers still be here? Would they be wearing masks of forced gaiety? And also, will they answer the questions of diversity and inclusion?

Yes they were ready. Yes, we have a Black ballerina, Nikisha Fgo, who danced

ravishingly. Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson left Ms. Fogo’s dancing to prove itself as the climax of the evening; but he set out to answer the readiness question immediately.

The first dance in the online season premiere featured Bianca Teixera and Natasha Sheehan in the lowest ranks dancing like stars – and then brought out for a solo, the audience favorite corps dancer, Diego Cruz, recently elevated to ‘soloist.’ A performer whom everybody loves, his solo gave him every step he does well, and he has wonderful footwork, but also very easy hips and a kick to the front that’s higher than a Rockette’s.

The as-yet unnamed dance, called ‘New Work by Helgi Tomasson’ in the program, is

set to a baroque dance suite by Rameau, from Louis XIV’s era, but it looked as fresh as a costume drama on Netflix –with fanciful 18thcentury waistcoats and matching hot pants– as the dancers tore it up.

Then came Lucas Erni, with a variation that included a startling tour jeté, landed in the wrong place, but it’s right. And just in case you could not believe your eyes, he does it again.

We saw an excerpt of that. I’m eager to see the whole thing. Even in flat-on video-capture, it’s exhilarating, one of those ballets where you just go along for the ride.

Rameau’s gavotte has a delicious dance-impulse, born of court dancing in an era when everyone in power had to dance, and the king

(Louis XIV) was actually a superb dancer.

Conventional steps are made to seem spontaneous. The company danced with the élan of kids at a club, or on skateboards, or hanging from the straps on BART. Next up was a duet for our most-loved ballerina, the impossibly long-limbed Yuan Yuan Tan, who did all her best moves in choreography created by Yuri Possokhov in an homage to her mother, who sat in a chair and seemed to be saying, “This is my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased.”

Other production numbers were dances actually choreographed for film, with fancy camSee page 11 >>

<< Music & Theatre

10 • Bay Area Reporter • January 21-27, 2021

Queer tunes for your new year

Fredo Viola

by Gregg Shapiro

W

ith advance words of praise from author Neil Gaiman, and influences ranging from classical to electronic to the Beach Boys/ Brian Wilson and Kurt Weil, experimental queer singer/songwriter Fredo Viola draws us into his renewed world (following a lengthy battle with Lyme disease), on the LP My New Head (Revolutionary Son). At a time when we could all use some healing, Viola’s dramatic touch, orchestral and theatrical, suits the songs well, especially on “Sunset Road,” “In My Mouth,” “Clouded Mirror,” “Waiting For Seth,” and the wondrous “My Secret Power,” which comes the closest to being a traditional pop tune. (My New Head is out in April.)

Lesbian singer/songwriter Tret Fure has been a prominent force in the women’s music world for many years. However, unlike many of her sisters in that independent scene, Fure actually began her career as a major-label artist, releasing her eponymous 1973 debut album on Uni Records. In addition to the original tunes, that album also featured Fure performing a cover of “My Love,” by lesbian rock legend June Millington (of Fanny fame).

Fast forward almost 50 years later and Fure returns with her 13th solo album (excluding the three she recorded with Cris Williamson), the introspective Stone by Stone (Tomboy girl). The face mask Fure wears in the inner album art photo, as well as songs such as “Far Too Fast” and the exceptional “Across The Room,”

firmly place Stone by Stone as a pandemic album. That may also have something to do with the thoughtful mood of songs including “Monuments,” “Afterlife,” “Old Tin Cup,” “My First Guitar” and the title track.

Miami-based gay singer/songwriter Jay Thomas teamed up with his sister Zjolie for the three-song EP Concierta Quarantina (heyjaythomas.com), the follow-up to his Fantasma Tropical album. Despite the subject matter, the sibling duo have created a trilogy of songs that make the thought and threat of (pre-vaccine) lockdown more bearable. The boredom sentiment of “Given Time” is something to which many people can relate. The addition of a dance-beat gives the song an unexpectedly celebratory atmosphere. Thomas’ aforementioned Fantasma Tropical lives up to its name by being both haunting

Tret Fure

(“Can’t Hold Me”) and influenced by the steamy climate (“Sunshine”).

Combing the loud-quiet-loud aesthetic with the exotic and breathtaking vocal range of lead singer Catrin, London’s Another Sky makes a soaring impression with its debut album I Slept on the Floor (Fiction/Missing Piece). The predecessor to Another Sky’s Music For Winter Vol. 1 (on which the band’s bassist, synth player and backing vocalist Naomi came to terms with being in a same-sex relationship in opposition to her religious upbringing), I Slept on the Floor is the kind of thrilling introduction to a band that comes along every few years. To Another Sky’s credit, the songs “Fell In Love With the City,” “Life Was Coming In Through The Blinds,” “Brave Face,” “Avalanche,” “Only Rain” and “Let Us Be Broken,” successfully sets it apart from other bands and bodes well for a promising future.

The Theory of Absolutely Nothing (Nettwerk), the debut album by queer Australian singer/ songwriter Alex The Astronaut (aka Alex Lynn) is an utter delight.

Aside from being more than a little reminiscent of fellow queer Aussie Courtney Barnett on the song “I Think You’re Great,” Alex The Astronaut effortlessly establishes her own musical identity. From the joyful “Happy Song” and somewhat darker “Lost” to the revealing “Split the Sky,” “I Like to Dance” and “Caught in the Middle,” Alex The Astronaut gives melodic voice to the personal and social issues with which many struggle on a regular basis. The gorgeous “Christmas In July” sounds great any time of the year.

A couple of questions you (as well as this writer) may have about Paranoia, the debut EP by bi singer/songwriter Maggie Lindemann.

With eight songs, why is it considered an EP? It’s an album, and that’s that. Why does the album sound as if it was recorded in a time machine with the dials set to the late 1990s?

Seriously, “Knife Under My Pillow,” “Crash and Burn” and “Scissorhands” come across like an Avril Lavigne/No Doubt hybrid. “Gaslight” could be a lost Limp Bizkit number with its larynx shredding vocals, while Lindemann goes after Jewel’s crown on “Love Songs.” If

The stage’s broad reach

Mike Pavone in James Lecesne’s The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey.

by Jim Gladstone

D

uring our current stretch of more than 300-consecutive dark nights at most of the world’s brick-and-mortar venues, one of the few silver linings for both theatergoers and producers has been

the internet’s erasure of geographic distance.

San Franciscans have had rare opportunities to catch exciting new shows performed in London and New York without traveling, extravagant ticket prices or sold-out performance schedules. And local

Above: Jay Thomas Middle: Alex The Astronaut Below: Maggie Lindemann

Paranoia is intended as homage, then job well done. If not, an explanation would be greatly appreciated.

Once in a while an album shows up that is so surprising that it’s a pleasure to share with others.

Better Part of Me (alexjulia.bandcamp.com), the debut EP by lesbian singer/songwriter Alex Julia is a good example. Take the album opener, “It’s Coming.” The song teeters `80s guitar rawk and 21st-century indie vocals. Here’s the thing – the EP keeps getting better from there. The title track incorporates synth beats and a roaring guitar and “Counting

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Stars” continue to make good use of those beats. Acoustic closing track, “Feeling More,” strips away all the effects for an effective finale.

How lucky are we to have a distinguished and brilliant musician such as Kaki King as a member of the LGBTQ+ community? Honestly, you haven’t lived until you’ve caught her performing in concert and watched what her hands can do to virtually every part of a guitar. After taking five years between albums, King returns with her new LP Modern Yesterdays (Cantaloupe Music).

The very definition of a pandemic album (King and the album’s production collaborators contracted COVID-19), the experimental instrumental songs “Can’t Touch This or That or You or My Face,” “Sanitized, Alone,” “Forms of Light and Death” and “Default Shell,” say it all wordlessly. King, who never set out to be a pop icon, approached accessibility on 2006’s post-rock album …Until we Felt Red and even plays guitar on the song “Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners” on Foo Fighters’ 2007 Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace album. But we love King for her idiosyncratic talent and as such, it’s on glorious display on Modern Yesterdays While we’re on the subject of amazing queer instrumentalists, it’s possible that Don’t Walk Away From the Stove (Ruthless Rabbit), the hot 2017 LP (which includes a download card) by Chicago-based gay guitarist John Hasbrouck was undetected by your radar (it slipped by mine). But vinyl has a long shelf life and this timeless album shouldn’t be missed. Joined on the 15-song album by “top players from the traditional jazz scene in Pilsen on Chicago’s Lower West Side,” Hasbrouck performs selections from the 1920s that sound fresher than ever in the 2020s. Hasbrouck’s “instrumental string band jazz” interpretations of songs such as “Cold Mornin’ Shout,” “Limehouse Blues,” “Sweet Lorraine,” “Mean To Me,” “Chinese Break Down” and “Harrisburg Itch,” are as sturdy as the vinyl on which they are played.t

Read the full article on www.ebar.com

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey at Cinnabar Theater

companies, including Theater Rhinoceros and Shotgun Players, have sometimes seen attendance at individual online performances exceed the limited capacity of their brickand-mortar venues. As long distances shrink, small spaces expand.

As we ride out the tail of this pandemic, why not use some of your extra time to explore more local theater online. The Marsh, Ross Players, City Lights Theater Company, Golden Thread Productions and The Masquers Playhouse are just a few of the smaller Bay Area companies offering video and audio streaming productions. There are regularly updated listings at www. theatrebayarea.org. And there are never tolls or parking fees.

One local company that had never crossed this critic’s radar before is the Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma.

But I’m glad to have found out about them in time to catch their online production of a heart-tugging work of queer-themed theater: activist playwright James Lecesne’s The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey.

Lecesne, who founded the Trevor Project (named for the title character of his Oscar-winning short film), has adapted his own 2008 young adult novel into a smart, darkly humorous one-man show, that The

New York Times wrote, “shimmers with the needling suspense you associate with the best police procedurals or the likes of Gone Girl.”

In the end, it’s also a surprisingly uplifting story, considering that it revolves around the investigation of a flamboyant gay teenager’s murder.

Directed by Cinnabar’s associate artistic director Nathan Cummings, actor Mike Pavone cleverly morphs between nine different characters in the 80-minute production.

Cinnabar, which has been operating in Petaluma for 50 years and

Cinnabar Theater’s associate artistic director Nathan Cummings

has a loyal community subscriber base of more than 500, may seem like a surprising company to be mounting this production. But Cummings, who is not gay himself, says the show particularly resonates with him in light of his work running Cinnabar’s year-round youth program.

“So many kids turn to theater when they feel like they don’t fit in elsewhere,” he explains. “We have a sizable number of LGBTQ kids in our programs. And the support that we get for all of our productions from local families is amazing.”

Cummings, who grew up in nearby San Rafael, confesses that Cinnabar wasn’t on his own radar before he joined the company in 2010.

“I studied at conservatory in St. Louis, moved to New York and eventually ended up teaching youth theater in Korea and China before coming back out west. Things have really evolved here over the past decade. When I was a surly Marin teenager,” he recalls, “I fancied myself a San Franciscan. Petaluma?

There were cows up there!”t The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey streams on-demand, January 22-31. $25/ household. cinnabartheater.org

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Dance & Books>>

January 21-27, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 11

San Francisco Ballet

Joseph Walsh Sarah Van Patten in Marston’s Mrs. Robinson

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SF Ballet

From page 9

era-angles. This kind of work gets flat-screen dance up towards the level that live dancing, in 3-D, with gravity and real space-time, can actually have.

Better with Ezra

The famous dance filmmaker Ezra Hurwitz has made a sensational video of Myles Thatcher’s new work, which shows the great ballerina Frances Chung sitting on a bench at SF MOMA looking at a yellow and red-striped painting which happens to echo the color of the jacket Chung is wearing. Her sneakers are turquoise, and suddenly she freaks out, as if the painter stole her idea and published that shade of red before she got the chance.

Whatever the reason for her sudden outburst of movement –which is explosive– it’s probably not as interesting as the dance phrases that follow, which flash across the

screen, set to Steve Reich’s pulsing minimalist score, with incredible rapidity and precision.

Her moves are sudden, inexplicable, and drastic, and – such is Hurwitz’s magic – she’s suddenly in pointe shoes in different colors and moving just as fast and with equal ease and precision. Cut to Sasha da Sola chewing gum despondently on a staircase, and then two guys folding yellow paper into airplanes.

Who knows what this is about, but it’s sensationally exciting. The boys pick up speed, and everybody keeps going through the looking glass into dance-gear in a pastel studio. I can’t wait to see the entire dance, which will be on one of the regular-season mixed bills.

Similarly exciting, but in a different key, is the “I don’t like you but I love you” video Wooden Dimes, a ballet by Danielle Rowe (who directed the filming) with a hot and creepy corps of dancers who represent the emotions that torment Luke Ingham. His relationship with

Sarah van Patten seems to have gone way past sour.

The excerpt gave visible form to Ingham’s disruptive emotions, and it is nightmarishly brilliant, tuned to telling that part of the story. The video’s murk is hot and creepy.

Rowe has cast this to the hilt.

Ballerina Dores Andres is thrilling in this material, and principal dancer Max Cauthorn seconds her admirably. This excerpt also comes from a one-act number that will be shown in the regular season.

And I haven’t mentioned Mrs. Robinson, with Sarah van Patten as the cougar and Joseph Walsh as ‘The Graduate,’ and poor Luke Ingham, the rat-race-obsessed husband (“I have just one word to say to you, young man: ‘plastic’”) Mrs. Robinson can not abide.

Van Patten is the company’s finest dramatic dancer, who has alas been shunted into hungry roles, perhaps too soon? She can do it, and Cathy Marston seems to love working with her. Van Patten was certainly magnificent as the bitter invalid wife in Marston’s Snowbound. But Van Patten is probably still the greatest Juliet in the company.

We’re not likely to get a chance to answer that question, because this season ends the tradition of giving many dancers the chance to have their turn, and Mathilde Froustey, who’s very good, will portray Juliet in the penultimate program.

Video means there’ll be only one version of each show per program.

It’s a big change. A theatrical run

Welcome to the ‘Doll’ house

by Gregg Shapiro

E

very year, there are more and more books for queer readers of all ages. This is especially true when it comes to young readers. The Y/A (young adult) genre, geared toward readers beginning at age 12, continues to boom with numerous titles published yearly.

Younger readers, and their parents, also have an array of books from which to choose, including Pepito Has A Doll/Pepito Tiene Una Muñeca by Jesús Canchola Sánchez, with illustrations by Armando Minjárez Monárrez. In English and Spanish, Sánchez tells the tale of the titular Pepito, and how his doll Lola, his best friend and protector Miguel and his loving and wise grandmother help him navigate the occasionally rough waters of childhood.

Sánchez was gracious enough to answer a few questions in early 2021.

LGBTQ+-themed children’s books have a long history, from Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman and Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Wilhoite to more recent titles including And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell and George by Alex Gino. How much, if at all, did any of these books influence you?

It’s wonderful to join the long history of LGBTQ+-themed chil-

dren’s books with Pepito Has A Doll/Pepito Tiene Una Muñeca. I loved children’s books as a child and continue to read them as an adult. Growing up, I was exposed to biblical children’s stories and books like Curious George. I’ve always wondered the benefit my imagination would have received if I had been exposed to children’s books that address non-traditional themes. As an adult, I sought ought these books and it was Charlotte Zolotow’s William’s Doll that touched me and inspired me to write my own children’s story. It’s amazing that it was published in 1972. In a way, Pepito Has A Doll is my version of William’s Doll.

Pepito Has a Doll features illustrations by Armando Minjárez Monárrez. What was involved in the process of finding the right illustrator for your book?

I met Armando while I was doing work with undocumented immigrants in Kansas. We became friends and I grew to respect his work as an artist. I reached out to him about the idea of Pepito and it felt like kismet from the beginning.

I did an initial draft of the story and shared it with him. He started drafting the illustrations. We workshopped it off and on for about two years. We even did some focus group conversations with a mockup of the book which helped us get to a final version. Pepito became a story we both needed to share

Author and filmmaker Jesús Canchola Sánchez

because it reflected our own experiences growing up as boys who played with dolls.

With that in mind, how much of Jesús is in Pepito?

would have given many dancers their chances. Wednesday nights and Saturday matinees were the new kids’ chances.

The season to come comprises seven programs. There will be three full-length story ballets: A Midsummer Night’s Dream was recorded last March, with Esteban Hernandez as Oberon, Sasha de Sola as Titania, the outrageous soloist Sasha Mukhamedov as Hippolyta, and Elizabeth Powell tremendously impressive as Hermia.

A transcendent performance by Frances Chung and Ulrik Birkkjaer in the second-act pas de deux will be the first ballet of the season. Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake are archival videos that close the season.

One hybrid full-evening piece, George Balanchine’s magnificent Jewels, is a pure-dancing ballet which doesn’t have an overt

story but which does have a strong through-line and will be featured in Program 4.

The other four will be mixed bills of wonderful archived repertory, which will give us a chance to see great dancers like Guennadi Nedviguine in Tomasson’s delightful Bach-fest 7 for 8 in Program 3, and Pascal Molat again in Rubies, Program 4. These are dancers who long-time fans have not forgotten.

Digital Programs also include a Gay Night In, with Thatcher’s new work and also Mark Morris’s truly gay Sandpaper Ballet, the only comic ballet I’ve ever seen that never gets old.

All the details, including what devices you may watch the shows on, are available atsfballet.org. Online programs begin January 19. The options are formidable. Tickets range from $29 for single stream access to $289 premium plus packages.t

San Francisco Ballet

Cavan Conley and Esteban Hernandez in Myles Thatcher’s new dance, filmed at SF MOMA.

an interview with gay writer-filmmaker Jesús Canchola Sánchez Pepito is a seven-year-old version of me. Armando’s illustration of Pepito is inspired by a picture of me when I was seven. The illustration of Miguel, Pepito’s friend, is based on Armando’s young self. The

story is fictional, but it definitely has autobiographical components throughout.t

Read the full interview on www.ebar.com

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