January 25, 2018

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Two-spirit powwow in SF

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Carmel is laid back enjoyment

ARTS

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SF Ballet Gala

Art events

The

www.ebar.com

Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community

SF reacts to feds promoting bias in health care

Vol. 48 • No. 4 • January 25-31, 2018

Farrell sworn in as interim SF mayor

by Seth Hemmelgarn

by Matthew S. Bajko

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an Francisco officials are saying the city will ensure transgender people and others continue to receive health care as advocates across the country criticize the Trump administration for saying recently that it Acting HHS Secretary Eric will allow providers Hargan to use their religious beliefs to discriminate and refuse services. In a January 18 news release, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the formation of the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division in the agency’s Office for Civil Rights. “Laws protecting religious freedom and conscience rights are just empty words on paper if they aren’t enforced,” stated OCR Director Roger Severino. “No one should be forced to choose between helping sick people and living by one’s deepest moral or religious convictions, and the new division will help guarantee that victims of unlawful discrimination find justice.” Acting HHS Secretary Eric Hargan said, “President Trump promised the American people that his administration would vigorously uphold the rights of conscience and religious freedom. That promise is being kept today.” In a statement last Thursday, then San Francisco acting Mayor London Breed was among those who came out swiftly against the new federal division. “By allowing medical providers to deny critical care based on personal ideology, the Trump administration is once again sanctioning widespread discrimination,” said Breed. “This is not an issue of religious freedom. It is another thinly-veiled attack on the health and well-being of women and LGBTQ communities.” Breed continued, “Access to preventive and necessary health services is a basic human need. ... San Francisco is proud of our culture of inclusive and comprehensive health care, regardless of gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity or socioeconomic status. We will continue to promote these values and ensure that all who need services are able to access them.” In an emailed comment to the Bay Area Reporter, Department of Public Health Director Barbara Garcia, who’s a lesbian, stated, “We will continue to focus on the care and well being of all of our community members. The San Francisco Health Department resists efforts to divide our community and will continue to ensure equal access for all, especially our most vulnerable populations, which includes LGBT residents.” See page 12 >>

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Jane Philomen Cleland

Women return to march

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ens of thousands of women and their allies packed Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco Saturday, January 20, for the second Women’s March, which coincided with the anniversary of President Donald Trump’s first year in office. Speakers included LGBT people like Cecilia Chung, above, a trans woman who’s senior director

of strategic projects at the Transgender Law Center. The group later marched to the Embarcadero. Similar events were held in Oakland, Sonoma, Santa Rosa, and San Jose. The theme this year was encouraging women to vote in the midterm elections and supporting women running for office. For more, see the Resist column on page 11.

n a move that stunned the city and shook up the June special election races, District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell was sworn in as interim mayor of San Francisco Tuesday night. Surrounded by his wife and their three Interim Mayor children, Farrell took Mark Farrell his oath of office, administered by City Attorney Dennis Herrera, shortly after the Board of Supervisors ousted board President London Breed, who represents District 5, as acting mayor and elected the board’s most conservative member to lead the city over the next five months. “This is a time for leadership. It is a time to look ahead, and I look forward to the road ahead of us all,” said Farrell at a hastily called news conference in Room 200 at City Hall. Due to her being board president, Breed, See page 11 >>

CA legislators announce homeless youth bill by Seth Hemmelgarn

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ay California Senator Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco) and Assemblywoman Blanca E. Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) Tuesday introduced a bill to help the state’s homeless youth, while in the South Bay, county supervisors this week approved funds for a homeless shelter for LGBTQs. At the state level, Senate Bill 918 would create an Office of Homeless Youth to establish goals and track progress on ending youth homelessness. The legislation would also direct $60 million toward addressing what the legislators called “the alarming rise of youth homelessness” in the state. Wiener’s office cited preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2017 homeless count that says the number of California’s homeless youth has increased to more than 15,000, a 26 percent rise from 2016 and a 32 percent jump from 2015. In San Francisco, almost half of the city’s 1,363 homeless youth are LGBTQ, according to the 2017 San Francisco Homeless Count and Survey and the city’s 2017 Homeless Unique Youth Count and Survey. “Youth homelessness is a crisis in California, and we have a moral duty to take care of our young people before they fall into chronic homelessness,” Wiener said in a news release.

Jo-Lynn Otto

Three years after the Jungle homeless encampment in San Jose was cleared by South Bay officials, the Board of Supervisors approved funding for Santa Clara County’s first homeless shelter for LGBTQs.

“The increasing number of homeless youth set off alarm bells across the state. SB 918 will help us get young people off the streets and into housing and services, which is how we will save lives and reduce chronic homelessness in the long-term.” Rubio stated, “Facing even one night of homelessness can leave a devastating mark on

a young person’s physical and psychological well-being. The research is definitive; there are significant negative consequences for youth if they are subjected to homelessness. That is why we have introduced SB 918, which would create the first line of defense to protect California’s youth from this terrible situation.” See page 12 >>

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