JUly 5, 2012 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

Gay AP intern found dead

11

Cooper comes out

ARTS

8

17

'Endgame: AIDS in Black America'

The

www.ebar.com

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

Vol. 42 • No. 27 • July 5-11, 2012

Suhr to issue bulletin on condoms

by Seth Hemmelgarn

S

an Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr has announced that condoms will no longer be confiscated as evidence of prostitution by officers.

“Nobody should be taking anybody’s Rick Gerharter: condoms from Chief Greg Suhr anybody, under any circumstances,” Suhr said in a recent interview. He said he’d be “resending, with emphasis, the policy that’s always been in place.” A department-wide bulletin will be distributed, he said.

Suhr’s comments Thursday, June 28, came one week after a Bay Area Reporter story in which two department officials in the same unit contradicted one another: One said police don’t take condoms as evidence of prostitution, but the other said they do.

Last Thursday, the day of the interview with Suhr, the B.A.R. ran an editorial calling on the San Francisco Police Department to immediately develop a policy that will not confiscate condoms from people, particularly those suspected of prostitution, and use them as evidence in any court case.

Captain Denise Flaherty, who heads the SFPD’s special victims unit, which oversees prostitution operations, recently said there isn’t a written policy, but the practice is not to use condoms as evidence of prostitution.

Suhr, who called the B.A.R. last week about something else but spoke freely about his department’s condom practices when asked, said he was aware that condoms had been confiscated from someone “on at least one occasion,” which he said is “not acceptable.”

There have been reports over the years of police taking condoms from people suspected of prostitution, including transgender women. Most of those reports have been indirect, but a transgender office manager for a local nonprofit recently described how, despite her unassuming attire, officers stopped her one afternoon, searched her bag and took five condoms. She said they told her she “looked like” she “was prostituting.” She was not cited.

Such practices have raised concerns about people being less likely to carry condoms, thereby putting them at greater risk for HIV transmission.

Suhr, who spoke of his agency’s support of “harm reduction,” indicating he understands See page 13 >>

Rick Gerharter

Workers from Sheedy Drayage Co. and Atthowe Fine Art Services guide Keith Haring’s sculpture, “Untitled (Three Dancing Figures), 1989” back onto its plinth at the corner of Howard and Third streets by the Moscone Center Saturday, June 30. The sculpture shines with new vibrancy after being reinstalled; it had been removed for refurbishment and painting.

Haring work dances again in SF

by Matthew S. Bajko

K

eith Haring’s whimsical figures are dancing once again in San Francisco’s South of Market district.

After undergoing an extensive makeover, the

artist’s 3,200-pound sculpture “Untitled (Three Dancing Figures), 1989” has returned to its prime corner spot on Howard Street at Third.

It was reinstalled outside of the city’s Moscone Center early in the morning of Saturday, June 30.

The piece depicts a trio of enmeshed figures

that resemble larger-than-life characters that have escaped from the children’s board game Candy Land. Their limbs intertwine as the genderless blue, yellow, and red people strut their stuff.

See page 11 >>

Oakland bishop seeks loyalty oath from gay Berkeley Catholic group

by Chuck Colbert

T

he board of directors of a Catholic gay ministry group has refused to sign a loyalty oath, a move that may prompt Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland to declare the Berkeley-based Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry “not authentically Catholic.”

News of the bishop’s loyalty-oath request broke in the National Catholic Reporter, a publication independent of church officials, after correspondence from the CALGM board to its members was leaked to NCR. “In an April 12 letter to the association’s [directors]” NCR reported, “Cordileone stated he would ‘take public action to clarify the status of CALGM with regard to authentic Catholic ministry’ should they refuse to take an oath that required that each member ‘strive to clearly present Catholic doctrine on homosexuality in its fullness’ and ‘profess personally to hold and believe, and practice all that the holy church teaches, believes, proclaims to be true, whether from the natural moral law or by way revelation from God through Scripture and tradition.’”

An investigation of the organization and its “adherence to the fullness of Catholic teaching” has been ongoing since December 2010. Representatives of CALGM have met twice in person with Cordileone. The organization and bishop

Chuck Colbert

Arthur Fitzmaurice, Ph.D., resource director for the Berkeley-based Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry

have exchanged nearly a dozen letters, according to NCR. In refusing to sign an “oath of personal loyalty,” CALGM’s leadership has called it “unprecedented, inappropriate, and potentially detrimental to church ministry.”

{ FIRST OF TWO SECTIONS }

During a wide-ranging interview on June 26, Arthur Fitzmaurice, Ph.D., CALGM’s resource director, said the genesis of the investigation stemmed from concerns about the organization’s newsletter and comments “some of which we could explain” to the bishop and “some he thought were hostile to church teaching.”

Fitzmaurice cited two examples. One was criticism of the term “objective disorder,” without CALGM’s affirming that church teaching in fact considers the homosexual orientation to be “objectively disordered.”

Another concern, he said, was CALGM’s claim that “being gay is a gift and a grace.”

“The bishop had objections,” Fitzmaurice said.

And yet, “we shared with him why it could be considered a gift and part of our faith journey,” in bringing us “to a closer relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Fitzmaurice described the first meeting with Cordileone as “cordial and productive.”

“We were able to share stories from our members, stories of our ministry,” said Fitzmaurice, who added that the bishop told CALGM’s representatives in attendance “he came to a place where he did realize how important it was to reach out to the marginalized in the church.”

CALGM President Sheila Nelson and a priest, See page 13 >>

<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

▼

MCC pastor arrested on child sex charges

by Seth Hemmelgarn

S

outh San Francisco police have arrested a gay Peninsula volunteer pastor on multiple charges stemming from what authorities call “an ongoing inappropriate sexual relationship with a minor” that took place from 2009 to 2012.

Brandon Lee Hamm, 37, of San Francisco, was initially arrested June 22 on charges related to child pornography and other allegations.

On Tuesday, June 26, South San Francisco Police Department detectives contacted Hamm at the San Mateo County main jail, where he’s currently being held on $400,000 bail, and arrested him on additional charges. A department news release issued Monday, July 2 says the case involves “solicitation practices involving social media.”

Prior to his arrest Hamm had served as a volunteer pastor at Peninsula MCC church in San Mateo.

The Metropolitan Community Churches-affiliated congregation primarily serves the LGBT community.

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said in an interview Monday that the “very serious” charges against Hamm include 41 felony counts stemming from the June 26 arrest. More than half of those are for engaging in a lewd act with a minor. He said some of the charges are related to someone under the age of 16, while others are for a minor under the age of 18.

That indicates the charges involved contact with the same person over a

Courtesy San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department

Brandon Lee Hamm

period of time, he said.

Wagstaffe said the charges for the June 22 arrest include felony counts of possession of child pornography, arranging for a meeting for the purpose of committing a lewd act with a minor, communicating with a minor for commission of a lewd act, sending pornography to a minor by email, and a misdemeanor charge of arranging a meeting with a minor for a lewd act.

Ryan McHugh, Hamm’s attorney, declined to comment on the case.

A preliminary hearing is set for August 6.

Hamm’s duties at Peninsula MCC were suspended after church officials learned of his arrest. A church official told the Bay Area Reporter that his MCC license is now inactive.

According to Hamm’s Facebook page, Hamm was in a relationship with another man. That page appears to be inactive as of Monday morning.

Sergeant Bruce McPhillips, a South San Francisco police spokesman, said that Hamm’s initial arrest was in a South San Francisco park.

He wouldn’t say which one.

Asked if Hamm had been going to the park to meet the youth, McPhillips said, “I can’t go that far. I think you can probably put two and two together.” He declined to state the youth’s gender.

McPhillips couldn’t comment on what tip police had received leading to Hamm’s arrest. It’s “part of a larger investigation,” he said. He said there aren’t necessarily other arrests planned, but there may be more victims.

‘Complete shock’ MCC moderator the Reverend Dr. Nancy Wilson said the case was “a complete shock” and “heartbreaking for the church.” She said she and others with the church don’t believe Hamm’s alleged actions are related to his work at Peninsula MCC. Wilson didn’t know the details of what Hamm has been accused of.

She said she hadn’t heard directly from police or other law enforcement agencies.

Hamm had only recently been ordained but had been a member of the church for “several years,” Wilson said. He’d become volunteer See page 13 >>

City hit by suit from ex-HRC staffer

by Seth Hemmelgarn

A

straight former employee at the San Francisco Human Rights Commission has filed a reverse sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit against the city.

Thomas Willis, who worked at the commission, filed a federal lawsuit against the agency in January. The lawsuit is headed for a settlement hearing in August.

Documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California indicate that during the period Willis worked at the HRC, much of the agency was ripe with dysfunction, including allegations of timecard fraud and long waits for constituents.

Through the complaint, Willis, an African American man, alleges that he faced discrimination based on sexual orientation and race, retaliation, defamation, and intentional interference with his contract.

HRC Executive Director Theresa Sparks and San Francisco Human Resources Director Micki Callahan are named individually as defendants in Willis’s suit against the city.

Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office, said that as is typical in federal court, the court has directed the parties to engage in a settlement conference, which will take place August 8.

According to the complaint, around September 2010, Willis, who had been a longtime city employee, accepted a transfer to the HRC and became the senior manager of the non-discrimination division, reporting directly to Sparks. She informed him “of her desire to bring a higher level of scrutiny to employees’ attendance policy and to increase the

Rick Gerharter

HRC Executive Director Theresa Sparks

staff’s productivity through management of time off and hours of work,” the complaint says.

The filing says Willis began reviewing staff members’ attendance as workers arrived “at various hours throughout the day, often leaving the commission’s counter unmanned and the public waiting for hours to be served.”

During one meeting, the complaint says, Willis was “informed about which employees displayed difficulties in taking management direction and which employees had attendance issues.”

At Sparks’s direction, “and consistent with his many years of experience” in the field, Willis reviewed performance evaluations and found that the manager “had consistently rated all employees as ‘average and above.’” The manager informed Willis that it had “always been done that way,” the complaint says.

Former HRC staffer Larry Brinkin,

who was arrested last month on child pornography charges, is mentioned briefly in the suit. The filing says Willis had met twice with Brinkin, the department’s previous manager, who apologized to him “for not paying attention to the unit and for the lack of supervision during his tenure.” [Brinkin has not yet been charged in his case.]

The complaint says, “The majority of the unit became unhappy with Willis’s supervision,” and “wished to continue their unlawful practice of timecard theft.” His requests for weekly reports and other seemingly routine items “were met with insubordination, derision, and false allegations that Willis harbored a sexual orientation bias towards members of the LGBT community,” according to the documents.

When Willis complained to Sparks about “rampant timecard fraud” at the agency, she agreed to investigate, but “consistent with her long-standing bias against heterosexual males, and African American heterosexual males in particular,” allowed Willis to do his job so that she could clean up the “lax employment practices,” and “then thereafter make false accusations against him, scapegoating him, and terminating his employment,” the complaint says.

In March 2011, Willis finished his probationary period as senior manager of the non-discrimination division. He’d completed his assigned tasks and performed competently, but Sparks extended his probationary period without any explanation “and in retaliation for his having made complaints of timecard fraud in the workplace,” the court document says.

See page 13 >>

â&#x2013;ź

Community News >>

July 5-11, 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ BAY AREA REPORTER â&#x20AC;˘ 3

Global drug war fuels AIDS, report says

by Liz Highleyman

T

he worldwide war on drugs is a key factor fueling the global HIV/AIDS epidemic among drug users and their sexual partners, and major policy changes are urgently needed, according to a new report released by the Global Commission on Drug Policy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Prohibitionist policies have been shifting the market to stronger drugs and led to a war on users with numerous human rights abuses, police harassment, violence, [and] extortion,â&#x20AC;? said Michel Kazatchkine, former executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The fear of police and stigma is driving users underground and away from access to information, care, and medical services.â&#x20AC;?

The commission â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which includes human rights activists, former United Nations officials, and several former presidents and prime ministers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; said that repressive national drug policies and criminalization of drug users drives them away from prevention and treatment services.

The report, entitled â&#x20AC;&#x153;The War on Drugs and HIV/AIDS: How the Criminalization of Drug Use Fuels the Global Pandemic,â&#x20AC;? was released June 26 during an international media teleconference from London featuring commission members Kazatchkine, former president of Colombia Cesar Gaviria, and former president of Switzerland Ruth Dreifuss. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The public health implications of HIV treatment disruptions resulting from drug law enforcement tactics have not been appropriately recognized as a major impediment to efforts to control the global HIV/ AIDS pandemic,â&#x20AC;? according to the report.

Inconsistent use of antiretroviral therapy both threatens the health of people with HIV and makes it more likely that they will transmit the virus to others, according to the report.

Locally, advocates called the report â&#x20AC;&#x153;unprecedented.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;This report is unprecedented: global leaders, including former heads of state, saying that the drug policies promoted and enforced by the United States are one of the reasons that the HIV epidemic is so large and that we need to completely overhaul our approach to drug use and drug users to end HIV/AIDS,â&#x20AC;? said Laura Thomas, the San Francisco-based deputy state director for the Drug Policy Alliance.

The commission also emphasized that illegality of drugs leads to flourishing black markets accompanied by organized crime and violence.

Drug enforcement takes resources away from more productive uses, and even strict policies have done little to reduce the availability of illicit drugs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The war on drugs is not stopping drug use, and it also contributes significantly to the AIDS epidemic by driving users into the shadows,â&#x20AC;? said commission member Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Records and Virgin Airways, at a drug policy forum in March. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As an entrepreneur, if my business was failing for 40 years, I would close it down.â&#x20AC;?

Worldwide, drug use accounts for an estimated one-third of new HIV infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Drug-related HIV transmission is particularly rampant in Rus-

Jane Philomen Cleland

Drug Policy Allianceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Laura Thomas

sia, Eastern Europe, and parts of Asia. Some U.S. cities are also epicenters of drug-driven epidemics, especially those that do not have established harm reduction programs.

Restricted access to drug injection equipment and prohibitions on its possession encourage users to share syringes, one of the most efficient routes for transmission of HIV, hepatitis B and C, and other bloodborne infections.

The commission noted that drug policies are too often based on morality or law enforcement priorities rather than scientific evidence. â&#x20AC;&#x153;While this is a common problem internationally, a number of specific countries, including the U.S., Russia, and Thailand, ignore scientific evidence and World Health Organization recommendations and resist the implementation of evidencebased HIV prevention programs â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with devastating consequences,â&#x20AC;? the report states. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The AIDS epidemic is a harsh and brutal teacher that obliges us to take a scientific approach to deal with sex workers and drug addicts,â&#x20AC;? said Dreifuss. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Public health has to be at least as important as criminalizing the drug traffic.â&#x20AC;?

Studies have shown that drug treatment programs are more effective at reducing drug use than criminal justice solutions, and that harm reduction efforts such needle exchange programs, safe injection facilities, opiate substitution therapy, and legal provision of prescription heroin are effective in reducing disease transmission, overdose deaths, and drug-related crime. Countries that treat drug addiction as a public health issue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; including Australia, Portugal, and Switzerland â&#x20AC;&#x201C; have dramatically lowered HIV incidence among drug users. â&#x20AC;&#x153;San Francisco has long understood the connection between HIV/ AIDS and drug policy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why we support sterile syringe access and methadone and medical cannabis access, and pushed for harm reduction approaches to methamphetamine use among gay/bisexual men,â&#x20AC;? said Thomas. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We still need to do more if weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re serious about ending HIV here, including establishing supervised injection facilities.â&#x20AC;?

The report makes several recommendations for reform, including â&#x20AC;&#x153;replacing the criminalization and punishment of people who use drugs with the offer of health and treatment services to those who need them.â&#x20AC;?

Mass incarceration of non-violent drug offenders raises the risk of contracting HIV both for prisoners themselves and for the communities they return to. According to the

ebar.com

report, 25 percent of HIV-positive Americans may pass through correctional facilities each year, and disproportionate incarceration rates are a major factor underlying markedly higher HIV rates among African Americans.

Other recommendations include breaking the taboo on debating drug policy reform, encouraging governments to experiment with various models of legal regulation of drugs, refocusing law enforcement efforts on violent organized crime and drug traffickers, and promoting alternative sentences for small-scale and first-time dealers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The war on drugs has failed,â&#x20AC;? the commission concluded, but â&#x20AC;&#x153;millions of new HIV infections and AIDS deaths can be averted if action is taken nowâ&#x20AC;? to change global policies.â&#x2013;ź

You.

Before...

You.

After. ),%-51" (5 # !, X5 ( 5 ." ,5 #&&-5 )(].5R5Confidential onz5 / --5 . 5R5 '' # . 5 -/&.-5R5 . (. 5 .")

Call Now For An Appointment The Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Largest Network of Male Performance Specialsts

(877) 669-8262 www.BostonMedicalGroup.com

Serving The Bay Areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gay Community For Over A Decade

<< Open Forum

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

Volume 42, Number 27 July 5-11, 2012 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Thomas E. Horn Bob Ross (Founder, 1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador • Erin Blackwell Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Chuck Colbert Richard Dodds • David Duran Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell John F. Karr • Matthew Kennedy David Lamble • Michael McDonagh David-Elijah Nahmod • Elliot Owen Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr • Donna Sachet Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

ART DIRECTION Kurt Thomas PRODUCTION MANAGER T. Scott King PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland Marc Geller Rick Gerharter Lydia Gonzales Rudy K. Lawidjaja Steven Underhill Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge Christine Smith GENERAL MANAGER Michael M. Yamashita DISPLAY ADVERTISING Simma Baghbanbashi Colleen Small Scott Wazlowski NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad

BAY AREA REPORTER 395 Ninth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 415.861.5019 www.ebar.com

News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Out & About listings • events@ebar.com Advertising • advertising@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com A division of Benro Enterprises, Inc. © 2012 Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation.

Advertising rates available upon request.

Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

▼

SF doesn’t need stop-and-frisk S

an Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is considering implementing a stop-and-frisk policy to deter crime. That trial balloon must be popped immediately. The city does not need its police officers stopping people, demanding identification, and frisking them. New York City has implemented such a program and from what we’ve read recently, it is a policy that largely targets minorities (and men), with no discernable benefit and not worth its negative impact.

Lee made his plan public at an editorial board meeting with the San Francisco Chronicle, which ran a front-page article last week. During the meeting, Lee mentioned that one of his concerns is getting guns off the street; and while we appreciate that important goal, stopping people and searching them – without a warrant – is not the way to accomplish it.

The paper noted that Lee’s statements were a “surprising move,” and we agree. Indeed, the mayor has described himself as “a progressive before progressive was a political faction in this town.” He is a former civil rights lawyer who was the managing attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, where he was an advocate for affordable housing and immigrant and tenant rights. The idea that Lee would advocate a stop-and-frisk policy is uncharacteristic, given his background and work in the community.

If such a plan were implemented in San Francisco, two of the districts most likely to be targeted would be the Bayview-Hunters Point and the Tenderloin – both areas with high crime rates.

Minorities, including the LGBT community, would also be stopped and frisked more often.

Civil rights groups have roundly denounced stop-and-frisk programs as racist and that they disproportionately affect Latino and African American residents. We would add transgender people to that list, as they too would be stopped in greater proportion, especially if their gender presentation doesn’t match their identification.

There was a time not long ago when gays were victimized by such laws. Police routinely raided gay bars here and other cities had laws allowing the cops to stop groups of gay men for “making too much noise” after the bars closed, recalled longtime activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca. He was stopped under one such law back in the 1970s when he lived in Philadelphia, he recalled.

In fact, the Philadelphia Police Department is under court monitoring for its stop-and-firsk program, the result of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others who alleged that officers used racial profiling, the Chronicle noted.

Lee told the Chronicle that he wants to explore a stop-and-frisk policy by having a “good conversation” about it with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

New Yorkers, who were ensnared under the policy, talked about their experiences with reporters from the New York Times in a powerful article last week. Times reporters talked to 100 people who said they had been stopped by New York police in neighborhoods where the practice is most common. “Most of the time, the officers swoop in, hornetlike, with a command to stop: ‘Yo! You, come here. Get against the wall,’” the Times’ story begins. Last year, police made 686,000 stops under the program, 84 percent of them black or Latino. The vast majority of those stops, 88 percent, led to neither an arrest nor a summons, leaving us to wonder just why such a policy is in place. And although police are not supposed to stop people based on their skin

color, many of those interviewed by the paper believed that is exactly why they were stopped. It didn’t matter whether the officers were rude or polite, those questioned told the paper that they felt intimidated, humiliated, and intruded upon.

It’s telling that when Supervisor Malia Cohen, who has supported Lee and who represents the Bayview, heard about the mayor’s interest in a stop-and-frisk program, her initial comment, according to the Chronicle, was, “Wow. That’s shocking and alarming.”

Cohen is right. Civil liberties are under assault in this country. In Arizona, the U.S. Supreme Court just upheld the most controversial part of that state’s harsh immigration law, and now the authorities can require that people show proof of immigration status during law enforcement stops. This “show your papers” law unfairly targets Latinos because they are commonly stereotyped as illegal immigrants.

Mayor Lee needs to announce unequivocally that he is not pursuing this policy. On the Fourth of July, pause and think about the rights citizens have in this country and our national legacy of protecting basic liberties. San Francisco does not need a policy giving police the authority to stop and frisk people. We must find other, more effective ways to reduce gun violence without turning police against the public.▼

Yes, ‘What about the children?’

by Jason Cianciotto

M

y husband and I love being the fun “gay uncles” to our nieces and nephews. When we got married our oldest niece was too young to travel to the ceremony, but our family has always been loving, accepting, and honest about her married gay uncles.

Growing up in this environment, we were surprised when she would sometimes laugh or exclaim “only boys and girls get married” when we referred to each other as “husband.” We would gently explain that sometimes two boys or two girls who love each other get married too.

Privately, we were concerned. Was she hearing homophobic messages at her elementary school?

Unfortunately, that is more likely than you may think. Disturbing results from a new survey from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network found that the use of the word “gay” in a negative way, as in “that’s so gay,” was one of the most common forms of bias language heard regularly by nearly 50 percent of elementary school students and teachers. Over 25 percent of elementary school students and teachers also reported regularly hearing homophobic remarks like “fag” or “lesbo.”

Yes, in elementary schools.

The anti-LGBT crusaders at Focus on the Family, the $120 million per year organization supporting America’s culture wars, helped perfect the “what about the children?” message of fear used to prevent policies that would address bullying and enable kids like our niece to learn ageappropriate information about LGBT people in their school’s library and curricula.

A recent video message from Focus on the Family attacked Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, a children’s book about a young girl whose uncle marries his boyfriend. It also demonized “Ready,

Author Jason Cianciotto

Set, Respect,” a curricular resource from GLSEN created in collaboration with the National Association of Elementary School Principals that includes lesson plans addressing name-calling and bullying.

GLSEN’s survey shows that anti-LGBT bullying begins at much younger ages. Children can learn homophobia from their families, friends, political leaders, and faith communities, and even though their personal understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity may be years away, they often target peers at school who are different or do not conform to gender stereotypes.

Anti-bullying programs need to begin in elementary school to protect children experiencing verbal and physical abuse that can lead to low grades, truancy, higher rates of drug abuse and risky sex when they are teenagers, and even suicide.

There is hope. A study of data from the Preventing School Harassment survey in California found that students in schools with LGBT-inclusive curricula felt safer and were less likely to

report anti-LGBT bullying.

This is why we need to stand our ground when extremist groups like Focus on the Family rant about “homosexuals recruiting school children.”

This ridiculous scare tactic, used to prevent antibullying laws or ban books like Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, is actually their Achilles’ heel.

Support for protecting all youth, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, is not just empirical, it’s moral.

Anyone who stands in the way, regardless of the “family values” they claim to represent, is at least enabling, if not contributing, to the physical and mental abuse of children in schools across the country.

“What about the children?” is not their winning argument. It is ours.

An elementary school teacher empowered to intervene when students use the word “gay” in a disparaging way can save lives. The availability of a book at the school library like Uncle Bobby’s Wedding enables children to learn about samesex couple families, including perhaps their own.

Like uncle Bobby, my husband and I love our niece and were relieved to find out the real reason why she reacted strangely to our marriage at such a young age.

During a trip in the car she insisted on repeatedly listening to one of her Disney Princesses CDs. Obsessed with these fairy-tale girls who always marry a prince, we realized that we were her only example of a married, same-sex couple.

Laughing at the simplicity of the issue and our own insecurities, we drove away happily ever after. All of America’s school children deserve the same.▼ Jason Cianciotto, MPA, is co-author with Sean Cahill of the new book, LGBT Youth in America’s Schools. More information is available at: www.lgbtyouthinschools.com/ Home.html, www.facebook.com/ LgbtYouthInSchools, and Twitter@JasonCianciotto.

▼

Letters >>

July 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Old Glory should lead Pride Parade The last Sunday of June was spent the same way I have spent it for the past 30-something years. Hours before the parade my friends and I are sitting in chairs on Market Street waiting in anticipation for the roar of motorcycle engines. The last few years the first motorcycle has left me with disappointment. Is it too much to ask for the parade to begin with an American flag? I watched, and the first American flag was carried by the American Legion long after the beginning of the parade. Before our nation’s flag I saw several other country’s flags represented and countless rainbow flags. I am not a hugely patriotic person, but I believe that if there was ever a year that we should have flown the old Red, White, and Blue it was this year. The end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” openly gay people serving in the military, our president saying he has evolved to accept same-sex marriage. The parade not starting with Old Glory is something our enemies can use against us.

If it is a lack of funds I would be more than happy to donate a banner flag. Like it or not, this is our country. It is my belief that each of us needs to demand a place at the table. Please, is it too much to ask for the parade to begin with our country’s flag?

Rick Murray San Leandro, CA

What ‘Victory’?

Linda Hirshman’s new book is called Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution. The very title is absurd. Even in San Francisco, LGBT citizens don’t enjoy full freedom or safety.

And please think globally, of our sisters and brothers in most of Asia, Africa, eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Caribbean, Latin America, and beyond.

Our liberation struggles must continue, until all are free.

Tortuga Bi Liberty San Francisco

Icon of carnal desire It was disheartening to me that Ken Martin used the untimely death of Erik Rhodes [given name James Naughtin] (star associated mostly with Falcon Entertainment) as the springboard for his rambling letter [Mailstrom, June 28] on the related evils – in his mind – of both porn and social media. By his third paragraph, Mr. Martin states his intent to lift the “disguise” of “what porn is really about.” This paragraph peaks with his imperative, “Don’t tell me that the main excitement of porn isn’t experiencing the power of watching men exposing themselves.” What?

Though incoherent and sometimes preposterous, Mr. Martin does seem well meaning and genuinely concerned over the exploitative aspects of media. Still, his letter should not be the last words in the B.A.R. in regards to Rhodes.

So, to Mr. Martin and everyone else, I will now tell you what the main excitement of Rhodes was. Underlying his rapid rise to star status was the work of a prolific artist who consistently performed in cinematic homoerotica at the master level. He was physically magnificent both from nature and from his obvious dedication to a grueling regimen of weight-training and diet. And, despite the distractions of a studio – hot lights, barking directors, and a myriad of tech bystanders – Rhodes made it all look magical. He will forever be an icon of human passion and carnal desire.

Mr. Rhodes, you will be missed.

Paul Alley San Francisco

Pride is more than a parade I wanted to congratulate news editor Cynthia Laird and staff for publishing Michael Biehl’s letter [Mailstrom, June 14] as well as the ones that followed expressing opinions on the content of his letter [Mailstrom, June 21].

Although I agree on many of the comments that followed Biehl’s letter, there is some truth to what he said.

Sunday [June 24] was a great day for all us who are proud of being gay. We were blessed with great weather and a lot of straight people came to celebrate with us. But Pride is more than a long parade that takes forever and now has gotten very much commercialized. A friend told me that when being gay would be profitable it would be accepted. That’s why beer companies accept us, banks (even as they put our houses in foreclosure) accept us, as do real estate agencies, so the housing market price in the Castro keeps going up.

They discover we have the power and mainly the interest to be part of that mainstream phenomena: consumerism.

PBS showed a few days ago We Were Here, a great documentary. It shows the great support of many lesbian sisters (and gay men, too), who along with a very compassionate staff at Ward 86 built the foundations of what the HIV movement is today. I am part of the San Francisco gay community and wonder how many young men and others not that young remember those days.

It would be great if we accept constructive criticism.

That documentary showed that as gay men were dying by the dozens, a group of us protested the closing of the San Francisco bathhouses. Perhaps naive, at the time when not much was known about the disease. But today we know and we should encourage young gay men to look into these sad times that we lived and protect themselves.

A very eloquent young gay man said on NewsHour the other day that it would be great if we could marry our partner. But first we should look into so many other problems

that affect our gay population. Let’s look into the minority within our minority: the transgender community, the abused young gay man or woman, the handicapped, the poor, the aged. Let’s remember the Latina queens at Stonewall. If I can hold someone’s hand here on the street, I should be grateful to those “girls.” Let’s remember Matthew Shepard’s death and so many others. Then all could walk together to the Twin Peaks altar.

Jorge Rodriguez Sanabria San Francisco

Oakland mayor’s missteps I’ve lived in Oakland since the 1970s and have followed local politics closely. When she was running for mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan was the only candidate who actively worked for affordable housing, of which I am an advocate [“Quan to face Occupy protest at SF Pride Parade,” Political Notebook, June 21].

Regarding her handling of the Occupy protests last year, she has to be held accountable for her role in the unsatisfactory way the city of Oakland dealt with protesters. One issue that hasn’t been addressed in the handling of Occupy protesters is who actually holds power in the city of Oakland. It’s my contention that the Oakland Police Department is in control at the top and has been at least since I’ve lived here. When OPD demanded more officers and were refused, they told the mayor they would respond to 911 calls only. My response was it was a win-win: fewer police and lower taxes for Oakland taxpayers. Needless to say, Quan didn’t see it that way.

The only thing that Quan has going for her now as mayor of Oakland is the dearth of qualified people who could run a city where the mayor’s office is a titular leader. The Occupy fiasco happened because neither Quan nor anyone else has any control over the OPD. The federal government keeps threatening to control the police department by putting it into receivership but, so far, they too have abdicated.

In the meantime, both Quan and OPD must be held accountable for their joint role against Occupy.

Thanks for the column.

Joe Kempkes Oakland, California

Another successful pink triangle installation Thank you to the 100-plus volunteers who helped install the pink triangle on Twin Peaks over Pride weekend.

Thank you to the speakers at the commemoration ceremony, who included House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco); San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee; state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco); Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco); president of the Board of Supervisors David Chiu; Supervisors Scott Wiener, David Campos, and Malia Cohen; city Treasurer Jose Cisneros; and city Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting. Many Pride Parade grand marshals participated, including former Mayor Willie Brown who was lifetime achievement grand marshal and acted as co-emcee. Dot Jones (who plays Coach Bieste on the TV show Glee) told the history of the pink triangle, and global grand marshal Bishop Christopher Senyonjo of Uganda illustrated that the same horrors that threatened the LGBTQ community in the 1930s and 1940s are still present in other parts of the world today. In Uganda there was recently proposed legislation to execute gays; Bishop Senyonjo worked against it. Leader Pelosi in her remarks commented on the proposed Ugandan law to execute gays when she noted a conversation she had when she was speaker of the House with Uganda’s speaker of the House. Pelosi told her counterpart “From one speaker of the House to another speaker of the House, this legislation is a ‘deal breaker’ between our two nations.”

A big thank you to our 2012 sponsors: the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee; Toad Hall and Badlands owner Les Natali, who has given generously over the years; the Castro Lions Club, which purchased the T-shirts again this year; the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who have contributed the last decade; and Hodgkins Jewelers.

Also a big thank you to Bevan Dufty, who has been instrumental in helping garner donations over the years.

Thank you to the SF Lesbian Gay Freedom Band for their ongoing participation.

The pink triangle outline, which was put up the day before the volunteers arrived to do the rest of the installation, was partially torn and removed from the hill Friday night; a portion of the remaining triangle outline was tagged with graffiti. There was security on duty for Saturday evening.

The nighttime illumination of the display, along with the klieg lights panning the sky above it, were visible for miles and hopefully added to the festive atmosphere at the Pink Saturday street party below in the Castro.

Patrick Carney San Francisco

Send letters to the Bay Area Reporter, 395 Ninth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Letters must be signed, and include an address and daytime phone number for verification purposes only. Unsigned or anonymous letters will not be published. E-mail letters are accepted at news@ebar.com. Please put “letter to the editor” in the subject line, and also include an address and phone number. Letters may be edited for space.

<< Business News

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

▼

Inventor works to bring data to life

by David Duran

W

bartabsf.com

hile jogging in the spring of 1984 in Orange County, California Ramona Pierson was struck by a drunk driver, sending her into an 18-month coma.

The accident broke 104 of her bones, caused multiple forms of brain trauma, punctured her lungs, required nearly 100 surgeries, and also rendered her blind.

After re-learning how to speak, Pierson learned to function in society with the aid of a service dog. She later elected to have a dangerous operation, eventually regaining sight in one eye after 10 years.

Flash forward years later, and Pierson is now a highly sought after in-

ventor, strategist, and entrepreneur.

She has created multiple, extremely successful businesses and has made her mark in the world.

Pierson, 49, has been with her partner, Debra Chrapaty for 15 years. The women met in New York City while she was doing postdoctorate work; she has a doctorate in neuroscience. She met Chrapaty shortly after regaining vision in one eye.

The two moved to California in the mid-1990s. Pierson describes her coming out as “an evolving process” because she came out “a few times.” Her first time in high school had a lot of negative consequences with her family, leaving her disconnected from them for almost two decades. Later, while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps she was accused of being a lesbian, resulting in a formal investigation. Pierson, who is now out, feels that after meeting Chrapaty, they have both built an amazing community of friends both gay and straight.

Pierson is currently at work on her latest venture, Pierson Labs. The company has a big data platform and works on social media apps for education, consumers, and music and entertainment publishing. Chrapaty also works for Pierson Labs and is CIO of Zynga, according to Pierson Labs’ website.

“In addition, we are bringing artificial intelligence [AI] technologies to the platform so the experiences of the viewers can be personalized based on filters set by the consumer,” said Pierson.

Pierson is striving to provide more resources to consumers.

“Imagine the power of bringing interactive media tools to independent journalists such that they can develop

Courtesy Pierson Labs

Pierson Labs’ Ramona Pierson

collaborative publishing with rich media tools such that we can bring the voice of the people to have the same reach and power of mainstream media,” she said.

Her goal is to personalize each experience to the interest and modality of preference of the viewer.

“In education, imagine the power of educators bringing blended learning through rich media with AI under the platform to enable personalization of the learning and user experience,” she said.

Rich media is interactive video and any other photo and communication tools. Users can create interactive experiences from the video, text, and photos. Pierson Labs gives them the tools to make them gorgeous, Pierson explained.

Pierson Labs is building the fourth generation of analytics platforms with varying degrees of AI. Pierson decided that she, along with her team, needed to flip the data and bring the power of rich media and AI tools to the users so that they could be the producers and consumers of personalized rich media information.

Pierson Labs, which is self-funding, has reduced a great number of obstacles. One of the biggest challenges the company is facing is accessing technical and AI talent at the pace it needs to keep up with growth. It is currently working to launch its apps to the general public through the Apple iOS and Android app stores.

“I have launched other successful companies before and have a world class team who also have had a lot of experience bootstrapping and launching companies,” said Pierson, “so we are all veterans of what it takes to lift a start-up off the ground.”

Shortly after starting Pierson Labs, Pierson joined StartOut and is currently serving as a mentor in the entrepreneurial program.

“StartOut is a wonderful program that does provide mentor programs that match new business leaders with veteran business or start-up leaders, which is extremely helpful and supportive for those in the mentorship programs,” said Pierson.

What Pierson appreciates the most about the organization is knowing there is a community of business leaders she can socialize with as well as use for critical feedback and support.

“Being a start-up CEO can be isolating at times because of the intensity of the work and travel, thus, having a support network that ‘gets’ the issues without having to explain the details is extremely helpful,” she added.

StartOut recently launched its lesbian entrepreneur mentoring program. This is a program that allows the mentee to access a mentor oneon-one to discuss business and personal issues.

“It’s very powerful for the mentor to be able to share the wisdom of past business experiences that one can only learn through experience,” said Pierson about the program. “I have found that since financial advisers See page 12 >>

Politics >>

▼ Gay ex-Vallejo councilman returns to New England

by Matthew S. Bajko

G

ary Cloutier, Vallejo’s gay mayor for a nanosecond, has returned to his New England roots. After stints in Guatemala and Miami Beach, the out former Bay Area politico is living in Providence, Rhode Island.

On election night November 6, 2007, Cloutier appeared to have won his bid to be mayor of Vallejo. As he waited for the official results to be announced, he flew down to Palm Springs and was subsequently arrested on public intoxication charges.

After Solano County declared Cloutier the winner by five votes, his opponent Osby Davis sought a recount and was later sworn in as mayor. Initially Cloutier sued to be reinstated but then dropped his lawsuit in March 2008 as Vallejo dealt with bankruptcy.

He also ended up pleading to lesser charges stemming from his arrest,

July 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

paid a $100 fine and the matter was dismissed. He still holds the distinction of being the Bay Area’s first openly gay elected mayor, although he was only in office for a week.

Looking to put the ordeal behind him, Cloutier moved to Miami Beach to work for a city councilman in the seaside resort town.

He was hired to help strengthen a pro-LGBT human rights ordinance.

He relocated again, this time to Guatemala, where he penned a memoir called Rough Point. (It is still available on Amazon in hardcover for $26.95.)

In April he moved back to Providence, where he grew up in nearby Westerly and graduated from Brown University. Since May 14 he has been working as executive director of Groundwork Providence, part of a national network of environmental trusts focused on sustainable development and greening communities.

Asked to compare how the East

Courtesy Gary Cloutier

Gary Cloutier

Coast city compares to his former address in the East Bay, Cloutier laughed and said there aren’t any comparisons.

“It’s a really, very dynamic city right now,” said Cloutier, 50, who lives five blocks from his alma mater where he was an All-Ivy defensive tackle on the football team.

As he re-establishes roots in the

Rhode Island capital, Cloutier is blogging about the city and its architecture at www.amongthehogs.com. He also has begun thinking about running for office again.

In an email last month, Cloutier told the Political Notebook that he will “prob run again but this time I’m going to win big, big, big.” In a subsequent phone interview, he demurred when asked what elected office he has in mind.

“Never rule anything out, let’s just put it that way. I am only 50 and I only look 40,” joked Cloutier, who unsuccessfully ran in 1988 for a Rhode Island state Senate seat.

Nor did he want to discuss his memoir. In it he recounts his glory days playing college sports as a closeted gay man, working for former Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell on Capitol Hill, and later his work as a gay civil rights attorney in San Francisco.

The book delves into how he turned to alcohol following the deportation of a boyfriend from France and how he struggled with being tagged “openly gay” while serving on

the Vallejo City Council.

Several chapters are devoted to the 2007 mayoral race. Cloutier recounts the church-held forum where he was asked if he would bring the fetish and leather Folsom Street Fair to town and the blowback he received from calling the sex acts that occur there “disgusting.”

Cloutier also recounts the “media circus” he found himself in following the close election results, and later, after being arrested. In the book he writes that he had had too much to drink at a local gay bar in Palm Springs.

Rather than drive home, he fell asleep in the backseat of his car only to have two policemen wake him up and arrest him. To deal with the media and political fallout of Cloutier’s arrest, some of his advisers urged him to publicly admit to a drinking problem.

But Cloutier writes he refused to do so because he was not alcoholic, merely “a person who occasionally drank too much.”

Asked about the book last week, Cloutier said that he wrote it when he See page 13 >>

Find your way to savings.

Save an average of $480* Stop here for great rates with America’s #1 car insurance company**.

Give me a call today.

Traci Hollander, Agent Insurance Lic#: 0C19063 556 Castro Street www.yourLGBTagent.com Bus: 415-575-3775

statefarm.com®

*Annual average per household savings based on 2010 national survey of new policyholders who reported savings by switching to State Farm.

1005000

**Based on A.M. Best written premium.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, State Farm Indemnity Company – Bloomington, IL

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

<< Community News

▼ Gay AP intern dies in Mexico

by Heather Cassell

Ceprodehi, a civil society organization, denounced the lack of authorities’ interest in resolving crimes against LGBT individuals, wrote Roberta Sklar, spokeswoman for IGLHRC, in an email statement about the murders.

For more information, visit http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/lgtbi/ default.asp.

T

he National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association reported Monday, July 2 that one of its members was found dead in Mexico. Armando Montano, 22, who was a summer intern for the Associated Press in Mexico City, died over the weekend. Montano had been selected to participate in the student project at Unity, the annual convention of which NLGJA and other minority journalism groups are a part that takes place in Las Vegas next month. He was also a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

According to an AP story on the case, Montano’s body was found in an elevator shaft of an apartment building near where he was living in the capital’s Condesa neighborhood early Saturday, June 30. The AP said that Mexican authorities are investigating the case. He was not on assignment at the time of his death. The U.S. embassy is monitoring the course of the investigation, the AP reported.

“Armando was a smart, joyful, hardworking and talented young man,” Marjorie Miller, AP’s Latin American editor based in Mexico City, told her news organization.

Three trans youth murdered in Mexico The violence continues in Mexico, where three transgender youth were found dead in three different Mexican states last month, reported the Inter-American Commission

State Department launches LGBT equality donation drive

Courtesy Associated Press

NLGJA member Armando Montano

on Human Rights.

The youths, identified as Antonio Calderon Peralta, 18; Armando Mendez, 17; and Octavio Hernandez Villanueva, 16, were found in Guerrero, Tamaulipas and Nayarit, respectively. All were reportedly dressed in women’s clothes with signs of brutal violence, according to IACHR. Additionally, local media in Nayarit reported on the murder of Jose Manuel Nunez Marin, a trans woman, known as “Axel,” on June 24, according to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

These murders add to the seven LGBT-related crimes since January, noted IACHR.

LGBT human rights advocates can now help the State Department fight for LGBT equality through text donations to the Global Equality Fund with the assistance of the mGive International Response Equality Fund.

The campaign, launched June 28, the anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, will help fund the Global Equality Fund, a program headed by the State Department that was announced last December.

Funds raised through the donation campaign will go directly toward initiatives and programs “aimed at advancing human rights, fostering equality, advocacy, protection and dialogue to ensure human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons around the world,” according to a news release.

LGBT activists and philanthropists can donate $10 by texting the word Pride to 80000. (Standard text charges may apply.)▼ Got international LGBT news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at 00+1-415-2213541, Skype: heather.cassell, or heather@whimsymedia.com.

Go to ebar.com for a longer version.

Study: Gay dads may pose less risk for HIV

by Elliot Owen

Typical changes

A

new study conducted by San Francisco State University human sexuality researchers focusing on the lifestyle changes that gay male parents experience suggests that as gay male couples become fathers their risk for contracting HIV is reduced.

Published by the Journal of Couple and Family Psychology on June 25, the study documents the effects of transitioning into parenthood for 48 gay male couples in the Bay Area, detailing the relationship issues that arose as a result of becoming parents.

“We’re trying to understand what barriers and positive things gay fathers encounter in that transition,” SFSU sexuality studies professor Colleen Hoff said. “Given that the HIV risk is so prevalent in the gay community, we wanted to know if parenthood would have an impact on HIV risk.”

In 2006, the study states, gay men made up 48.1 percent of total HIV/ AIDS cases in the U.S. and in 2008, represented 51 percent of new HIV/ AIDS diagnoses. Today, one in five gay male couples is raising children which begs the question, Hoff said, about whether becoming a parent leads to gay fathers engaging in more or less risky sexual behavior.

“A lot of them reported that with children at home they’re exhausted so the frequency of sex decreases, which could mean less risk for HIV,” Hoff said. “Roughly half the couples were in open relationships and reported there’s less time and desire to act on that. All together, one might think that having children moves people toward a less risky lifestyle.”

Elliot Owen

SFSU researcher Colleen Hoff

The reported decrease in sexual frequency was generally accepted by the couples as a direct result of prioritizing their children over themselves as they transitioned into a more mature stage of life.

“There was no resentment or frustration in most couples,” Hoff said. “Most of them really appreciated non-sexual expressions of intimacy: watching their kids walk down the street hand-in-hand with their partner or just appreciating the time hugging and sleeping together.”

The couples also reported spending less time with gay friends and more time with heterosexual parents, even moving to more suburban areas. The transition into parenthood, however, did not affect the type of sexual agreement that the gay couples subscribed to. Open relationships stayed open and monogamous relationships stayed monogamous.

The study emphasized that many of the gay couples’ relationship changes are not unique to them but are typical of all couples with children.

“They said there’s less time to communicate so if somebody did have sex outside the relationship or broke their agreement, there’s less opportunity to talk about that or even a dissatisfaction with the relationship in general,” Hoff said.

Unique to the gay couples’ experiences, though, are the various types of stigmatization and discrimination they undergo as a result of being parents. Of the fathers that were in open relationships, the study documents one that felt uncomfortable talking to his physician about getting tested for sexually transmitted infections for fear of being judged.

Other fathers talked about taking their children to playgrounds and being approached by women eager to give unsolicited advice about children rearing. One father reported that he tried to join a local father’s group but was denied membership because he was gay.

Despite the extra pressures, Hoff said, having families probably leans gay couples toward less HIV risk.

She hopes to conduct a more rigorous national study in the future to justify her conclusion with more data.

In addition to Hoff, who is also the director of the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality, authors of the study include Sean C. Beougher and Carmen Gomez Mandic from SFSU, and David Huebner and Julia E. Mackaronis from the University of Utah.▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

▼

Community News >>

July 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper comes out compiled by Cynthia Laird

A

nderson Cooper, the host of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 news program as well as a syndicated daytime talk show, came out of the closet Monday, July 2 and announced that he is gay. Cooper, in a letter to the Daily Beast’s Andrew Sullivan, said, “The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.”

“I have always been very open and honest about this part of my life with my friends, my family, and my colleagues,” Cooper added. “In a perfect world, I don’t think it’s anyone else’s business, but I do think there is value in standing up and being counted. I’m not an activist, but I am a human being and I don’t give that up by being a journalist.”

Cooper, who also reports for CBS’ 60 Minutes, sent his letter to Sullivan in response to a request from the out blogger to comment on the new trend of celebrities coming out more matter-of-factly.

Cooper had long been rumored to be gay, and photos would occasionally emerge of him with various male friends.

However, he remained in the closet publicly.

Cooper joins several other out television journalists, including CNN reporter Don Lemon and MSNBC stars Thomas Roberts and Rachel Maddow.

For Sullivan’s full post, see andrewsullivan.thedailybeast. com/2012/07/anderson-cooperthe-fact-is-im-gay.html.

<<

Haring work From page 1

“It is an untitled piece but the subtitle is three dancers. I think that is what I see when I look at it; some people having a really great time,” said Allison Cummings, the San Francisco Arts Commission’s senior registrar for its Civic Art Collection and Public Art Program.

In late April the city agency removed the public artwork and shipped it across the Bay Bridge and several other spans to a warehouse on Mare Island in Vallejo for repairs. After enduring a decade’s worth of wear and tear from San Francisco’s famously foggy climate, as well as the occasional graffiti scratch or sticker, it needed some TLC. “We did a bit more than touching it up,” said Cummings, who oversaw the project. “The piece was on view since 2001, so it had 12 years of exposure.”

The original paint job had faded over time, explained Cummings, and the city agency wanted to revive its vibrancy.

“His work is so bright and vibrant.

It is supposed to have a bright and glossy surface, but the red especially fades faster than the other colors,” she said. “We wanted to do a full restoration.”

The arts commission received a $65,000 grant from the Keith Haring Foundation to pay for the restoration project. An additional $10,000 in private donations to ArtCare, the city’s fund dedicated to the care and maintenance of the Civic Art Collection, was spent on the repairs, which should last at least another decade.

“It was a pretty significant restoration,” said Cumming. “We had to take the piece apart.”

The agency enlisted Oakland-based Atthowe Fine Art Services and ABC Painting in Vallejo for the project.

The old paint coating was removed and the aluminum structure’s surface was buffed to remove any glitches or damage.

At the SOMA site the city replaced

Courtesy CNN

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper

Contestants sought for drag king contest Pride Month is over and the lazy days of summer are here. For those who want to try something different, or who are drag kings at heart, the upcoming 17th annual San Francisco Drag King contest is looking for you.

Contestants are wanted for the show, which takes place at the DNA Lounge, 375 11th Street Thursday, August 23 at 9 p.m.

Producers Fudgie Frottage, the Indra, and Sister Roma note on the contest’s website that San Francisco “has always been rife with gaiety and gender variants; this is well reflected in our nightclub scene.” Drag kings, of course, are mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and

the lighting infrastructure so the sculpture will now be visible once again at night. The pedestal for the 120-inch tall work was also repaired.

Having seen the piece before, and now after the repairs, Cummings said it is as if it has been reborn.

“It was sort of looking dull and lackluster. It almost has been re-animated, it is so much more lively now that it has been repainted,” she said.

“It is really exciting. People are going to notice it more; it has been reinvigorated.”

The openly gay Haring was a famous pop artist in New York City who rose to prominence during the 1980s with his graffiti tags around Manhattan. His life was cut short when Haring died from AIDS complications at the age of 31 in 1990.

Following a retrospective of Haring’s work in 1998 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which included sculptures placed around the city, the arts commission worked with the Haring foundation to purchase a piece for its collection. The dancing figure sculpture had been on display between the city’s Opera House and War Memorial Building on Van Ness Avenue.

At the time the president of the San Francisco Art Commission, Stanlee Gatti, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the agency was eyeing the three dancers artwork to purchase because it “would be significant to San Francisco because our ballet company is tremendous and there are so many other local dance groups that represent the city in such a wonderful way.”

The dancing figures piece was part of a series that Haring did, with the different versions identified alphabetically. The city bought the piece shown during the SFMOMA show in 2001 at a discounted price for roughly $240,000, which included installation costs.

Julia Gruen, the Haring foundation’s executive director, estimated that the artwork is now worth between $1.5 and $2.5 million.

“Even in 2001, the opportunity to

personify male gender stereotypes as part of their routine. Winners of past drag king contests have taken this art form to new heights.

The star-studded contest will feature special guest Mo B. Dick, who starred in John Waters’s film Pecker and appeared in the television series Sex and the City; 2011 winners Gender Queer Society from San Jose; and former drag king titleholder Jay Walker.

This year’s contest benefits Pets Are Wonderful Support, a volunteerbased organization that provides for the comprehensive needs of companion animals for low-income seniors and people with HIV/AIDS and other disabling illnesses.

Those interested in competing should email dr.fudgie@gmail.com

by July 15.

Tickets to the show are $20 general admission and $35 VIP (limited number of tickets available online).

Advance tickets are available at Retro Fit Vintage, 910 Valencia Street, Mr. S Leather, 385 8th Street, and online at www.dnalounge.com.

Program on Harry Hay, labor organizer The late gay rights pioneer Harry Hay’s experience as a labor activist and member of the Communist Party directly contributed to his founding of the Mattachine Society and a panel discussion, “Which Side Are You On? Harry Hay and Labor Organizing” will take place Wednesday, July 11 at 6 p.m. at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin Street, in the Koret Auditorium.

The panel will be moderated by Joey Cain, who also has the Radi-

have the sculpture that prominently displayed in one of the major cities in the U.S., and in such a prestigious location with its connection to the gay community, it was in our interest to make it as affordable as possible,” said Gruen.

There are three copies and one artist’s proof of the city-owned piece, all of which are in private collections, said Gruen.

“There hasn’t been one on the market in quite a long time,” she said.

The works are cartoonish depictions of Raymond Duchamp-Villon’s 1913 oil on canvas “Untitled (Three Figures Dancing),” owned by and on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Version C of the Pennsylvaniaborn Haring’s sculptural dancers can be seen at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines, Iowa.

The Haring foundation collaborated closely with city staff on the restoration of the San Francisco-owned piece. Gruen said she is most excited about seeing the artwork aglow at night.

“I have not have seen the repairs yet,” she said in a phone interview from New York last week. “I am confident it will look absolutely spectacular.”

There is a special poignancy in having one his artworks permanently housed in San Francisco, said Gruen.

Haring traveled several times to San Francisco and was enamored by the city-by-the-bay, she said.

“As most people fall in love with the city as they visit it, so did he because it is so damn beautiful. Keith’s gay identity, this continues to resonate enormously in our appreciation of having that sculpture there,” said Gruen, who worked for the artist for six years before he named her the executive director of his foundation a year prior to his death. “Having it in front of a convention center named Moscone has another resonance, and it being across the street from SFMOMA has another resonance.”

Gruen also added that, “The fact the sculpture is being re-installed during Pride month is pretty fantastic.”▼

cally Gay: The Life of Harry Hay exhibit on display in the library’s Jewett Gallery through July 29. The panel will explore two aspects of Hay’s experience. Activist-historian and Critical Mass co-founder Chris Carlson will look at Hay’s involvement in the San Francisco General Strike of 1934 and its lasting effect on him. UC Santa Cruz Professor Bettina Aptheker will explore Hay’s deep connection and commitment

to the Communist Party and examine the classes he taught in Los Angeles during the 1940s on classconsciousness and struggle. Trans labor organizer and Pride at Work executive board member Gabriel Haaland will talk about contemporary labor organizing.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.sfpl.org or call (415) 8617609.▼

<< Sports

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

▼

Volley values

by Roger Brigham

T

here was plenty of competition on hand last weekend when the Red, White and Blue Ball Volleyball Tournament returned to San Francisco, but the collective focus on the players was much more on being right than bragging rights.

Thirty-two teams with a total of 235 players squared off at City College of San Francisco for the two-day tournament. The experience level ranged from veterans who have been playing almost their entire lives to folks just venturing out into the world of sports.

A year ago, Travis Teeters was cooling his heels in the closet while finishing his service in the U.S. Air Force in Colorado. Saturday, he was coming up with key blocks and spikes at the net to help his Chika Lange go on a late 7-1 run to rally for a round-robin victory.

Not bad for a first-year player.

“I found a group of guys who were playing, and I just really enjoy everything about playing the game,” Teeters, 25, said. “I’ve only been competing for one year.”

Teeters said he and his teammates compete in other tournaments in cities such as Sacramento, Las Vegas, San Jose, and Santa Barbara, but appreciated the return last season of the San Francisco tournament, which had stopped being played about a decade ago.

“I just wanted to bring it back to San Francisco, since we have so many gay volleyball players here,” said tournament director Jonny Sloan. “Once I found the gym space, it came together pretty easily.”

Sloan, 30, said he has been playing since he was 19 years old. The gymnasium at CCSF resonated with the steady tap-tap-thwack, tap-tapthwack of players digging out the ball, then setting it up for kill shots.

He said there was something about the dynamic of the six-player sides that made it psychologically addictive.

“You’re working with five other people all of the time,” he said. “You

Roger Brigham

There was lots of action at last weekend’s volleyball tournament at City College of San Francisco.

have to do it together as one unit. I think of it as being like fighter pilots: if one player’s in trouble, the others close in to help out. If they don’t, the other side will take them apart.”

Teeters started playing softball last year as a left center outfielder and enjoys that as well, but said he liked the continuous athletic engagement in volleyball even more.

“Sometimes in softball in the outfield, if the ball’s not hit to you, you don’t have a lot to do,” Teeters said. “In volleyball, you’re always moving and rotating on every play.”

The sense of family and community is clear even with the most cursory of looks around the tournament courts. High-fives and congrats are exchanged on every try, and players laugh off their mistakes with looks of chagrin and determination to do better next time.

That community bonding is an important aspect for Michael Streby, who said he was kicked out of his Indiana home when he came out of the closet at the age of 18. He’s patched things up with his family since then, but doesn’t take the oncourt family for granted.

“You really depend on each oth-

er,” he said. “You do well as a team or badly as a team. You don’t do it all on your own.”

Streby, 32, who moved to the Bay Area last October, spent his time at the tournament officiating when he wasn’t playing for his Balls of Fire squad. He said he’s played volleyball almost all of his life and having gay leagues in San Francisco was invaluable.

“I think gay sports are very important for gay people,” Streby said.

“It’s a great way to meet friends outside of the Castro bars. It’s an activity that isn’t based on alcohol or sex.

Nobody is judging you.”

The tournament was the North American Gay Volleyball season opener and offered three competition divisions based on skill level.

San Francisco Thai Ice Tea won the A Division, followed by Bay Area For The Ladies and Just Bring Mixers. In the BB Division, Cal-Me Gazelas was first, Los Angeles Rough Riders second, and Sacramento Black Sheep third. San Jose Maniguis was first in the B Division, San Francisco China Lang! second, and USA Spikeaholics third.

For anyone interested in getting involved in local gay volleyball, playdrop intermediate to advanced drop-in volleyball is played at Eureka Valley Recreation Center on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. ▼

the community he was looking for.

We’ll always remember Bruce’s silver hair and blue eyes. With his sharp whit and classic movie starlet impressions, he could always make us laugh when we needed to by singing a verse or two from exactly the right show tune. Bruce was a classic car enthusiast, talented handyman, and a friend and mechanic to everyone he met, including strangers on the road. When he wasn’t holding court at the coffee shop or solving someone else’s problems, he was enjoying himself with his close friends at

the Russian River on most weekends.

Bruce passed away peacefully at Coming Home Hospice after complications from a liver transplant he received in January of this year. His final days were filled with family, friends, and laughter.

He kept us entertained until the end.

Bruce is survived by brothers and sisters, Claudia, Henry, Richard, Russell, and Sandra and his father, Henry Silvia.

A memorial will be held at 3650 21st Street (at Church Street) on Sunday, July 15 at noon.

ask to be connected with a mentor who can be their sounding board, critical friend, and connector to the right people and information.”

Pierson Labs has been growing with new employees each week since they started last February and are currently pre-revenue. Because of this and due to the company being in stealth mode, Pierson opted to keep all financial information and further company information private.

In the coming eight to 10 weeks, the company will be launching a new product, the details of which are still under wraps.▼

Obituaries >> Bruce Alan Silvia

www.ebar.com

September 13, 1967 – June 19, 2012

Born and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Bruce was one of 10 children. He received a B.A. in psychology from Southeastern Massachusetts University in 1988. After living in Boston and Miami, he arrived in San Francisco in 1995 and found

<<

Venture Out From page 6

[and] legal advisers charge for every minute of time, CEOs and other leaders often find themselves tentative to seek their advice so they often learn hard lessons along the way.”

When asked what advice she would give to up and coming LGBT entrepreneurs, Pierson said, “I would suggest they reach out to StartOut and

Correction The June 28 article, “Global Equality celebrated at SF Pride” incorrectly mentioned that Affirmation, the gay and lesbian Mormon group, marched in this year for the first time. In fact, according to a former chapter director, Affirmation marched with straight allies back in the 1980s and 1990s. The online version has been corrected.

Venture Out is a monthly column highlighting a successful business within the LGBT community that has had some involvement with the StartOut organization, which strives to educate, inspire, and support entrepreneurs.

On the web Online content this week includes the Bay Area Reporter’s online column, Political Notes; an article about out HIVpositive The Voice contestant Jamar Rogers’s new single, and more news briefs. www.ebar.com.

bartabsf.com

▼ <<

Community News >>

Catholic group

From page 1

along with Fitzmaurice, represented the organization during the face-toface meetings, one on January 7, 2011, and another on February 1, 2012.

Founded in 1994 as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, CALGM network describes itself “as an association of diocesan, parish, and campus-based ministries and those involved in those ministries.”

In its pastoral outreach, the association envisions its role as “setting the table” for gay Catholics, particularly those who feel alienated from and unwelcome in the church.

Setting-the-table imagery is an obvious reference to the Eucharist, as well as safe and welcoming place for conversation and personal story telling and faith sharing.

CALGM also appeals to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its outreach of affirmation, inclusion, and pastoral care with lesbian and gay people, their families, and friends in the Catholic community.

GALGM claims 200 dues-paying

<<

Political Notebook From page 7

was still angry and has since moved on with his life.

“Nobody cares about that ancient history,” said Cloutier.

Gay man loses Assembly bid With the final ballots counted from California’s June primary, another gay legislative candidate has come up short.

According to the latest count last week in Los Angeles County, educator Brian C. Johnson fell behind into third place by just 31 votes. The charter school executive had placed second on election night in the race for the 46th Assembly District in San Fernando Valley.

But Johnson saw his lead diminish as uncounted ballots were tallied over the last month. It now appears he lost out to high school teacher Jay

<<

MCC pastor From page 2

clergy in the last six months. Hamm graduated from the master of divinity program at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley in May. Delphine Hwang, the school’s registrar, said he’d started that program in 2009.

As far as Hamm’s duties, Wilson said, “The only thing I know for certain is that he was helping to begin

<<

HRC suit From page 2

The filing points to an April 2010 Bay Area Reporter article published before Willis’s hiring where Sparks said she’d like to see “an LGBT person head up that whole division,” referring to the position then held

by Willis, as “direct evidence of [her] sexual-orientation discriminatory and retaliatory motive.”

Willis claims that Sparks made false accusations that he had acted without her knowledge or consent, that he was biased against LGBTs, and that Willis was “incompetent” at his work. The complaint also says that on several occasions Sparks in-

<<

Suhr From page 1

the concerns, said there would be cases when used condoms would be taken as evidence, such as in sexual assaults. However, “unused, brand new condoms” wouldn’t be taken, he said.

He also said police would still photograph condoms. A photo

July 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

members, including a dozen diocesan ministries in Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland (parents ministry), and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Parish members include parishes in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Milwaukee, and New York City, with a total of about 10 active parish ministries as formal members, Fitzmaurice said.

Other members, for example, are individuals and households from 25 states, such as Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, Tennessee, New Mexico, New Jersey, Missouri, Indiana, and Florida. CALGM also has members from Canada and the United Kingdom.

In the interview, Fitzmaurice offered several examples of how the CALGM network operates. People who contact the national office may request a spiritual director or a priest with whom they can talk, he said.

In other cases, “We offer pastoral care in the church by helping people find local faith communities, helping them to find reconciliation with religion, with God, the church, and themselves,” Fitzmaurice said.

“We are not violating church

teaching,” he said. “We are doing pastoral outreach.”

“I get e-mails all the time. I just set someone up with a weekly mass he can go to in Tampa,” said Fitzmaurice.

Over the course of the investigation, Cordileone has asked CALGM to amend its website listings, links, and content. The bishop has also directed board directors to vet its conference materials, topics, content, and speakers.

Cordileone even took exception to the use of the terms “gay” and “lesbian” on the association’s website.

Oddly enough, the Oakland diocese website uses those terms, but the ministry offered is that of Courage, a recognized lay ministry that holds out mandatory celibacy for gays for life.

CALGM aims to bring people to relationship with Jesus Christ without questioning their sexual behavior first.

Meanwhile, as president Nelson wrote to members in an April 5 letter, “We have done almost everything required of us to maintain a legitimate

space within the boundaries of the institutional church.

“Yet, this has not seemed to be adequate or satisfactory to the office of the bishop,” she continued. “We have repeatedly, abundantly, and humbly submitted that our work is pastoral in nature and not political or primarily doctrinal.”

Cordileone declined an interview request with the NCR and wouldn’t comment for this story.

Reached by phone, Mike Brown, director of communications for the Oakland Diocese, said, “The bishop has not made any statements” about the most recent development of board members’ refusal to take loyalty oaths.

“If there is to be a statement about CALGM, we’ll make it,” said Brown.

Meanwhile, the association has garnered support from its members as well as from others who minister with LGBT Catholics.

“CALGM is a fine organization, one that has helped many people and represents the future of the church,” said Eugene McMullan, a parishioner at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic

Church in the Castro and the lead organizer of Catholics for Marriage Equality in California.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone associated with CALGM,” said Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, the nation’s oldest organization of LGBT Catholics. “We know this is a challenging time.

“However, in the current climate of the church, anyone involved in LGBT ministry ultimately is forced into a crisis of conscience and integrity,” she added, referring to the loyalty-oath request.

“CALGM has been a great support to many church ministers over the years and has provided great work in the field of LGBT ministry,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of the Mount Rainier, Marylandbased New Ways Ministry. “They have worked hard to maintain a dialogue with church leaders throughout their work. The breakdown of dialogue here says more about the hierarchy’s adamancy than it says anything about CALGM’s loyalty to the church.”▼

Stern, who will compete in November against Adrin Nazarian, a staffer to L.A. City Councilman Paul Krekorian who came in first in the primary race.

Johnson could ask for a recount, which he would have to pay for, though local media reports say it is unlikely the outcome will change. He has until July 8 to decide.

As of press time Tuesday afternoon, Johnson had yet to officially concede the race on either his campaign website or Facebook page. Nor had he called for a recount.

The secretary of state is expected to certify the primary results next Friday, July 13.

Barring a surprise change in the results, three out non-incumbents will compete for Assembly seats this fall. In Oakland Abel Guillen, who identifies as two-spirit, is seeking the Assembly District 18 seat and recently secured the endorsement of the Gay

and Lesbian Victory Fund.

In Stockton lesbian City Councilwoman Susan Talamantes Eggman is the clear frontrunner for the Assembly District 13 seat, despite voting with a majority of her colleagues last week to seek bankruptcy protection for the Central Valley city.

In Los Angeles gay Latino activist Luis Lopez is seeking the 51st Assembly District covering the Echo Park and Eagle Rock neighborhoods.

There are also five gay male lawmakers up for re-election this year, along with lesbian Assemblywoman Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), all of whom are expected to win in the fall.

Should the trio of newcomers also claim victory in November, then the Legislative LGBT Caucus in Sacramento would have an historic nineperson roster.

It could have 10 members if lesbian Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) wins her race for the

state Senate District 5 seat and officially joins the LGBT caucus.

Currently, Galgiani is not listed as a member, though she does participate in caucus events. She is in a tough Senate race against state Assemblyman Bill Berryhill (R-Stockton) in a GOP-leaning district.

Lesbian Oregon state Representative Tina Kotek, 45, is coming to San Francisco next week to raise money for her re-election bid as she eyes a run to become the first out speaker in the Oregon House.

Kotek (D-North/NE Portland) first won election to her District 44 seat in 2006 and is currently the only out member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. With the lower house evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, Kotek serves as a co-speaker pro tempore with a

GOP colleague.

Last summer her fellow Democrats elected her to lead the House Democratic Caucus. If the Democrats secure a majority this year, then Kotek is expected to become the first lesbian speaker in Oregon history.

Such a milestone would also make her the first lesbian speaker of any statehouse in the United States; three gay male lawmakers have served in the post. In 2009 gay California Assemblyman John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) became the first out lawmaker to be named speaker in the Golden State’s Legislature.

The $100-a-person fundraiser for Kotek will take place from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 10 at the offices of Credo, 360 Pine Street in downtown San Francisco.

To RSVP or for more information, contact Bridget Budbill at 503-308-3695 or email bridget@ futurepac.org.▼

planning for new church outreach in Hayward.” She said volunteers on staff help with worship and sometimes teach at the church.

Two adults are always supposed to be present with children and the church also would have done a background check on Hamm, Wilson said.

Peninsula MCC is “a small church” with less than 50 people and only “about a handful of children,” she said. The church has “zero tolerance”

for sexual contact between adults and children, Wilson said.

She didn’t know whether Hamm had had access to church computers.

“I don’t know if the church even has a computer,” Wilson said, although the pastor may have one. She said she’s met Hamm once, “maybe twice.”

“I wouldn’t say that I know him,” she said.

The Revered Terri Echelbarger,

senior pastor at Peninsula MCC, declined to say much in a phone interview Monday.

“I don’t think I have anything that [Wilson] hasn’t told you,” she said.

However, she said, “We were very surprised” by the accusations against Hamm. “He’s a great guy.”

In an email before the interview, she said all clergy sign the church’s ministry leaders code of conduct annually.

“MCC does not tolerate abuse or exploitation of minors,” Echelbarger

said in the message. She added that Hamm’s MCC clergy license “is now inactive, pending the outcome of an investigation. We will depend on the legal process now unfolding to determine the degree of truth of these charges.”

She added that church officials will cooperate fully with the investigation Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact the South San Francisco Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit at (650) 877-8900.▼

structed Willis “to engage in preferential treatment” of LGBTs for employment at the agency, despite Willis’s protestations.

Sparks discharged Willis from the agency in August 2011. Just over two weeks later, he filed a discrimination claim against the city. Days later, on September 20, he accepted a reinstatement offer from the Department of Human Resources as an equal employment opportunity program specialist.

However, the complaint says, “This letter also stated that effective November 18, 2011, Willis is laid off ... due to lack of funds and lack of work available in the General Services Agency.”

Through the lawsuit, Willis is seeking relief including general damages, back pay, and punitive damages.

Sparks declined to comment. Melissa Soto, who’s with Smith Patten, the firm representing Willis, said they couldn’t speak about the case.

Brinkin didn’t immediately respond to an interview request regarding Willis’s case.

Jennifer Johnston, chief of policy for the Department of Human Resources, said Callahan wasn’t available Monday and wouldn’t be able to comment on the pending litigation.

However, Johnston said, “Mr. Willis was treated fairly and in accordance with city policy and local, state, and federal law.”▼

would be taken if police needed “to demonstrate evidence of a crime,” Suhr said.

He said, for example, that “sometimes when we make a vice case,” a person might have 15 condoms, a sign that they’re prepared to have more sex “than I could have in an evening.”

However, Suhr said, there would still have to be “probable cause,” rather than just “reasonable suspi-

cion” to make an arrest.

He didn’t know whether there was a maximum amount of condoms a person could carry.

Suhr said the B.A.R. would get a copy of the condoms bulletin by Monday night, July 2, but a police spokesman said Monday the bulletin still needed to be approved. The paper had not received the document by Tuesday morning, July 3.▼

Lesbian Oregon lawmaker hits up SF for cash

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

14 • Bay Area Reporter • July 5-11, 2012

Classifieds

t

Legal Notices>>

The

Legal Notices>>

San Francisco International Airport Terminal 3 Common Use Club Lease The Airport Commission has commenced the Request for Proposal (RFP) process for Terminal 3 Common Use Club Lease at San Francisco International Airport.

The Informational Conference will be held at 2:00pm PST, July 18, 2012 at SFO, International Terminal – Admin. 5th Floor, Room 28R. Written comments and recommendations will be accepted until 5:00pm PST, August 1, 2012.

San Francisco Arts Commission Call for Artists The San Francisco Arts Commission has issued several Calls for Artists for public art projects for Port Pier 92 and the Central Subway. Application deadlines are fast approaching. Please visit sfartscommission.org/pubartcollection for more information.

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Employment Opportunities The SFMTA is currently recruiting qualified candidates for the following positions: Mechanical Shop and Equipment Superintendent.

Description: Under general direction, the Mechanical Shop and Equipment Superintendent, either as an immediate supervisor or through subordinate supervisors, directs the activities of a group of crafts persons engaged in the fabrication, maintenance and repairs of a wide variety of machinery and other heavy equipment. Heavy equipment includes cable car propulsion cable, gear drives, motors, tension carriages, turntables, sheaves, pulleys, and track way mechanical components (such as depression beams, bumper bars, gypsies and safety latches). Essential functions include: managing subordinate supervisors and craft workers who are involved in a wide range of technical duties needed to maintain the heavy equipment; coordinating with appropriate supervisors in the fabrication, maintenance, repair of a wide variety of mechanical equipment; preparing specifications for the purchase of new equipment or machinery, and preparing and directing the preparation of various written reports; preparing annual budget as well as managing the expenditure of funds; monitoring work performed by outside contractors; carrying out safety requirements and procedures; interacting with departmental personnel, contractors and others pertaining to the fabrication, maintenance and repair activities; and assisting subordinates in professional development. Incumbents also perform other related duties as required.

Please visit our website at: http://www.jobaps.com/SF/sup/BulPreview.asp?R1=CBT&R2=7126&R3=058682 for complete job announcement and information on how to apply for this position.

The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions.

ALL PATIENTS AND FORMER PATIENTS OF GOLDEN GATE COMMUNITY HEALTH, formerly known as PLANNED PARENTHOOD GOLDEN GATE Re:

Golden Gate Community Health, Case No. 11-31703 DM U. S. Bankruptcy Court, N.D.CA

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that Golden Gate Community Health, formerly known as

Planned Parenthood Golden Gate (collectively “GGCH”) ceased its operations on February 28, 2011 and filed for bankruptcy on May 2, 2011. GGCH operated health centers at the following locations: (a) 815 Eddy Street, San Francisco, CA; (b) 2211 Palm Avenue, San Mateo, CA; (c) 2 H Street, San Rafael, CA; (d) 482 West MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland, CA; (e) Eastmont Mall, 7200 Bancroft Avenue, Suite 210, Oakland, CA; (f) 1370 Medical Center Drive, Rohnert Park, CA; (g) 1866 B Street, Hayward, CA; (h) 1230 Hopkins Avenue, Redwood City, CA; (i) Good Samaritan Health Center, 1294 Potrero Avenue, San Francisco, CA; and (j) Novato Youth Center, 1767 Grant Avenue, Novato, CA .

IF YOU WERE a GGCH PATIENT, you or your current health care provider may request a copy of your medical records by submitting a written request for your medical records. You may download an Authorization for Release of Medical Records (“ARMR”) from GGCH at www.ggch2012.com. Please submit the completed, signed ARMR to GGCH–Patient Records at: GGCH–Patient Records 2370 Market Street, PMB 502 San Francisco, CA 94114 -orFax: (415) 373-4466 -orEmail: ggch2012@gmail.com Please read and fill out the form carefully. If you have any questions, please contact us via email at ggch2012@gmail.com or telephone (415) 518-5716.

IF YOU DO NOT REQUEST A COPY OF YOUR PATIENT RECORDS ON OR BEFORE AUGUST 31, 2013, GGCH will request that the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the California Department of Health and Human Services take possession of your medical records. However, these agencies are not obligated to do so and you should not assume that they will. If these agencies decline to take possession of and responsibility for the records, the patient medical records will be destroyed, pursuant to Order of the Bankruptcy Court.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034388500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BRIKCOLLI DESIGNS, 770 Laplaya St. #401, SF, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Brian K. Collins. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/04/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/04/12.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034390800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ARIABLARGTV, 595 John Muir Dr. #324, SF, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Aria C. Stinson. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/05/12.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012

notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Y & G CO, 2554 34th Ave., SF, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Bo Yang Yu. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/13/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/13/12.

Dated 06/18/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: AMERICAN CUPCAKE LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 1919 Union St., SF, CA 94123-4204. Type of license applied for

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034406700

City and County of San Francisco July 2012 Monthly

TO:

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034406000

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034396600

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034401600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GRISWOLD HOME CARE, 155 Clifford Terrace, SF, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GSCCA Corp. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/13/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/11/12.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 OF NAME AND GENDER IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-548719 In the matter of the application of: KALLIE ANN LEWIS for change of name and gender having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KALLIE ANN LEWIS is requesting that his/her name be changed to KALEB WESLEY LEWIS. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 514 on the 16th of August 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034350500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JACKSON PLACE SALON, 633 Battery St. #117, SF, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Suzette Hanson, Elizabeth Fracchia & Alla Roytman. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/91. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/12.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034386300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CHEMICAL BABY CLOTHING COMPANY, 67Minerva St., SF, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Inner City 2K LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/04/12.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-033412600 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: INNER CITY 2K; MARCELLIS EDWARDS, 67 Minerva St., SF, CA 94112. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Marcel Wade.

The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/11/11.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-031166700 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: LIFE WORK SYNC, 1045 Mission St. #258, SF, CA 94103. This business was conducted by a general partnership, and signed by Adele Maynes & Katherine Steele.

The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/14/05.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 06/13/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: MAU RESTAURANT. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 665 Valencia ST., SF, CA 94110-1150. Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale BEER & WINE Eating place June 21, 28, July 5, 2012 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-548715

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EMBRYONIC WEBSITE CREATIONS, 180 Beaver St. #3, San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Richard William Mytton & David Wayne Mytton.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/07/12.

In the matter of the application of: KEITH BERNDT KOLLER for change of name, having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KEITH BERNDT KOLLER is requesting that his/her name be changed to KEITH TOURNE KOLLER. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Rm. 514 on the 31st of July 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034388000

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034424100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GREENSURGE, 11 Brush Pl. #1, SF, CA 94103.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Sergio Novoa. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/14/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034402300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOLDEN GATE BASS CAMP SAN FRANCISCO, 2315 42nd Ave., SF, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Clarence R. Duke. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/12/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/12/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034383300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BENNETT MAINTENANCE SERVICES, 1470 Fillmore St., SF, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Teresa Bennett. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034411500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PUGH CONSULTING; SOURCE GAP CONSULTING; INSIGHT JUNCTION CONSULTING; GAP JUNCTION CONSULTING; 3 Bayside Village Pl. #219, SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Kimberly J. Pugh. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/15/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/15/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034408000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DIGITAL VICTROLA, 1610 Sutter St. #305, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Eric Wayne. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/14/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/14/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034416200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EMPIRE ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION INC., 3801 3rd St. #616, SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Empire Engineering & Construction Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/05/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/20/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034404000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ZENMARK VERBAL DESIGN, 25 Maiden Lane #300, SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Zenmark Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/07. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/13/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034411900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SALON VILLAGE, 1538 Pacific Ave., SF, CA 94109.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Prudential Consultants Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/18/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034411700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LOLINDA, 2518 Mission St., SF, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Bernarda LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/18/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034427500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SALON SYSTEMS, 166 Geary St. #302, SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed MBI Distribution Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/04/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FLYING CRANES, 777 Florida St. #301, SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Burness C. Broussard. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/20/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/22/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EDEN CAFE, 47 Franklin St., SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Su Yan Cai. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/26/12.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012

41 - On-sale GENERAL Eating place June 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034424400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: REVERSE METHOD, 3111 24th St., SF, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Sean Conrad. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/22/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/25/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034427600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: A TOUCH OF THE SPECIFIC, 211 Sutter St. #502, SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Kathryn Elizabeth Woodford. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/26/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034420300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ENCORE.ORG, 114 Sansome St. #850, SF, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation non-profit 501(c)3, and is signed Civic Ventures (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/18/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/21/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034414100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STERLING GRAPHICS, 375 Alabama St. #227, SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Sterling Graphics Collective, Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/19/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034417600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MILSAL MCCAULL, 2678 California St., SF, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Milsal McCaull (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/20/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034418700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: T FACTORY, 47 Julian St., SF, CA 94103.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TFactory LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/21/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034418600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE ARMORY CLUB, 1799 Mission St., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Julian Holdings LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/21/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-025058700 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: MINA’S TAILOR STUDIO, 2031 Union St. #5, SF, CA 94123. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Merry M. Yong.

The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/30/01.

June 28, july 5, 12, 19, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 06/25/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: BISTRONOMICS LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 475 3RD ST., SF, CA 94107-1234. Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale BEER & WINE Eating place July 5, 2012

t

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 5-11, 2012 • Bay Area Reporter • 15

Legal Notices>> JackClift_1x2s_1012

Dated 06/28/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: BITTER BADGER INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 1548 California St., SF, CA 94109-4708. Type of license applied for

48 - On-sale GENERAL PUBLIC PREMISES JULY 5, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 06/25/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: NOB HILL RESTAURANT VENTURES INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 810 Van Ness Ave., SF, CA 94109-7810. Type of license applied for

42 - On-sale BEER & WINE – PUBLIC PREMISES July 5, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS

Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-034221700

Jack $100

jclift8@gmail.com

notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcOholic beverage LICENSE

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: EDEN CAFE, 47 Franklin St., SF, CA 94102. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Angela Chang. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/11.

JULY 5, 12,19, 26, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS

41 - On-sale BEER & WINE Eating place July 5, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILEMASTER A-031751400

r r

The following persons have abandoned the use CARPENTER of the fictitious business name known as: STUDIO VOXPOP, 555 Arguello Blvd. #303, SF, CA 94118.

Dated 06/26/12 This business was conducted by an individual To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the cabinetmakerjack@yahoo.com and signed by Justin Thomas Akers. The fictitious applicant(s) is/are: GDL SFO, INC. The applicants name was filed with the City and County of San listed above are applying to the Department of Francisco, CA on 02/05/09.

Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 165 Jefferson St., SF, CA 941331234. Type of license applied for

42 - On-sale GENERAL PUBLIC PREMISES July 5, 12, 19, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS

EAGLE M &

House Fixer

house fixer

Carpentry

oving Carpentry repair, S tor age , I nc . remodels & furniture repair.

Gay30/ Ownedhrandplus Operated

repair,

remodels

&

furniture repair.

30/hr

plus

Local &materials Long Distance Moves All Over SF &yrs The Bayof Area 30

materials

30yrs

Dated 06/25/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: SUGITA FOODS INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 101 4th St. Spc 1, SF, CA 94103-3003. Type of license applied for

of experienCe.

415.404.7400 experienCe. 888.670.0840 cabinetmakerjack@yahoo.com www.EagleMovingAndStorage.com

Jack 816-8104419 cabinetmakerjack@yahoo.com

PRE-ARRANGED FUNERALS Pre-arranged cemetery & funeral services. Affordable payment plans. Call 415-713-8842

E23-26

a

a

Did you know Tom Burdick(1950-1993)?

No obituary was written, but MASTER he deserves to be remembered.

CARPENTER

MASTER CARPENTER

Seeking friends’ descriptions / memories of Tom plus a picture as cabinetmakerjack@yahoo.com an adult (with Bob?) to complete his life story.

E-mail: orygunwolf@yahoo.com

cabinetmakerjack@yahoo.com

JULY 5, 12,19, 26, 2012

E49

Legal Services>>

Photography>> LGBT WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

Dated 06/25/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: T&M RESTAURANT ENTERPRISES INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 798 Sutter St., SF, CA 94109-6417. Type of license applied for

Reliable & on time hauling $30/hr 2hr min Mike 415-577-7180

E21-30

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SYN2, 45 Rio Court, SF, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Serdar Yeralan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/02/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EARTH TU FACE, LLC, 36 Calhoun Terrace, SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Earth Tu Face LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/19/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/28/12.

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034429300

EIB

RICK GERHARTER PHOTOGRAPHY

Portraits, Events, Architecture 20 years experience. Dependable.

415-823-8716 • rgerharter@igc.org www.rickgerharterphotos.com

EIB

Gaylesta2x2_0610CN Counseling

>>

Fax to: 395 Ninth Street S.F. CA PHONE 415.861.5019 FAX 861-8144

Fax from: 415-729-3996

Basic clean $40 wkly. Home, Apt, Office. One time $55. In BAR 10+ yrs JR 415-205-0397

E22-25

Tech Support>> MACINTOSH HELP * home or office * 21 years exp * sfmacman.com

Ric k 415 . 8 2 1 . 1 7 92

Cleaning Professional 25 Years Exp (415) 794-4411 * Roger Miller

Relapse Prevention

Housecleaning since 1979.

Many original clients. All supplies.

HEPA Vac. Richard 415-255-0389

Steve Foster, LMFT

E22-28

E25-26

Business Opportunities>>

Health & Fitness>>

Groups Forming

Reasonable fees, free consultation with

(415) 412-0397 The Wellness Center, Dolores & 16th Sts.

FOXY LADY BOUTIQUE

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034432500

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012

ebar.com

Household Services>>

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EAST WISH CONSTRUCTION, 74 Waterville, SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a husband & wife, and is signed Changxiong Zuo & Yanyan Zhuo. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/27/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MEXICOB, 4036 25th St., SF, CA 94114.

This business is conducted by a husband & wife, and is signed Rafael Trickett-Robles & Timothy Trickett-Robles. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/28/12.

E25-34

E23-26

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PHOTOJIMSF. 1878 Market St. #201, SF, CA 94102.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Jim James. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/19/12.

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034433700

Hauling 24/7 441-1054 Lg. Truck

Brookline Electric 415-239-5393. Small Jobs Now.

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034416100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EASY-RENTAL, 1779 35th Ave., SF, CA 94122.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed John Feely. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/29/12.

City Hall Ceremonies. Digital photography. Including the ceremony, candid and group photos on C.D. Jane Philomen Cleland, a lesbian professional photographer with 25 years experience in weddings, events and…Published weekly in the B.A.R. since 1989 CALL 415-505-0559 janephilomencleland.com/

Hauling>>

41 - On-sale BEER & WINE – EATING PLACE July 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034439500

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034435000

Public Notice>>

Movers>>

Upkeep>>

Real Estate>> WWW.GAYREALESTATE.COM Instant Free Database of San Francisco’s Top Gay Realtors

E52

Is Up For Sale Due to Health Reasons. Negotiate Price. Foxy Lady Boutique is San Francisco’s legendary apparel superstore. From formal dresses to lingerie and sexy costumes, it’s the place to shop for the latest fashions and sexiest items with the highest quality and the lowest prices. 2644 Mission St. San Francisco JANINE 650-992-3772 E15-15

Health Matters>> Wellness Massage 11-11pm www.rickoz2.com El Cerrito 510-932-5478

E24-29

ebar.com

21

Boys' life

'Big Dick' Richie

22

Out &About

20

Pride recap

O&A

19

The

Vol. 42 • No. 27 • July 5-11, 2012

www.ebar.com/arts

Kicking open the closet door

by David-Elijah Nahmod • { see page 19 }

In The Bluff neighborhood in Atlanta, Pastor Jeffrey Dove (left) explains to street outreach worker Jeff McDowell that he’s distressed to see that when it comes to helping people at risk for HIV, the church has “missed the mark.”

Courtesy Renata Simone Productions

Dreaming in oil paintings ‘The Sphinx’s Riddle: The Art of Leonor Fini’

by Sura Wood

L

“Entracte de l’apothéose” (“Interlude of the Apotheosis,” 1938-39), oil on canvas by Leonor Fini.

eonor Fini has a name Federico Fellini might have bestowed on one of the beautiful, inscrutable women who’ve haunted the tortured psyches of his cinematic alter egos. (Fini was, in fact, the maestro’s costume designer for his superb masterpiece 8 ½.) Inscrutable is the operative word here, as Fini was entranced by the sphinx (a.k.a. “the terrifying one”), the mythical beast with an eagle’s wings, a lion’s body, a woman’s head and a potent psychosexual charge; ergo, the underlying theme and title of an intriguing, seven-decade survey of her work now at Weinstein Gallery. The creature’s most famous incarnation is planted like a giant sentry near the Egyptian pyramids at Giza.

An imaginative Argentine/Italian painter, stage designer and illustrator

of texts by Poe, Verlaine, Baudelaire and Shakespeare, Fini once said she painted the way she dreamed. And as the dreamer, she filled her sensuous oil paintings with manifestations of her many selves and an unabashed female sexuality. She certainly brings an aura of mystery, danger and sex to the exhibition’s 60 works, which comprise a sampling of a remarkable and prodigious body of work. I left the show not only craving more, but deeply curious about the woman who created them.

Born in Buenos Aires at the turn of the 20th century to an Italian mother, and artistically gifted and independent-minded from an early age, Fini grew up in Italy. She was already bohemian to the core when she encountered Picasso and the Surrealists (Max Ernst, Man Ray, Salvador

Courtesy Weinstein Gallery

{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }

Dali, among others) during the early 1930s in Paris, where she hung with them socially and alongside them in several of their exhibitions. She vacationed with Cartier-Bresson, who photographed her nude voluptuous body in a swimming pool, a picture that sold for a record price at auction in 2007. Although her work is infused with the heavy perfume of Dada and Surrealism – she’s been called the “female Dali” – she was resolutely her own woman, retaining and developing a distinct artistic sensibility, especially following WWII. Her extraordinary art was apparently matched by an equally theatrical persona of her own invention; she lived in two ménage a trois relationships, slept with numerous famous men, and was notorious for makSee page 28 >>

<< Out There

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

▼

Post-Pride ruminations

by Roberto Friedman

T

he publication during Pride month of the nonfiction book Victory – The Triumphant Gay Revolution – How a Despised Minority Pushed Back, Beat Death, Found Love, and Changed America for Everyone by lawyer and author Linda Hirshman (Harper) garnered a lot of attention and press. For example, a review of it was the lead story in The New York Times Book Review for that paper’s Pride weekend edition.

The basic premise of the book is that the gay rights movement has essentially won out over our enemies, taking our place as the third great modern social-justice movement that has prevailed over bigotry and prejudice, after the racial civil rights movement and the women’s rights movement. Certainly, with the astonishingly rapid assimilation of same-sex marriage in some states, the stop to enforcing “Don’t

Ask, Don’t Tell” in the U.S. military, and the endorsement of marriage equality by no less powerful a figure than an “evolved” U.S. president, we’ve made great political strides recently. But we can’t help feeling that the gay civil-rights opera is not over until the fat lady (the U.S. Supreme Court) has sung. So Out There is not quite so sanguine about trusting the institution that made it safe to steal a Presidential election (Bush v. Gore) and to buy the political process wholesale (Citizens United) with safeguarding our civil rights. As Gary Hart wrote recently in the Puffington Host, exactly what the Nixon White House was foiled from doing by the exposure and prosecution of the Watergate crimes – the full-scale usurping of our Constitutional democracy – has essentially been accomplished by the passage of Citizens United and the unleashing of unrestrained corporate power. It’s why oblivious queens who are com-

fortable with a possible Romney victory are so dangerously out of touch. Pack the Court with multiple Scalias, anyone? Turn back the clock much?

But we’re much more comfortable joining Hirshman’s victory dance when we limit the arena under discussion to the so-called “culture wars.” In our popular culture as well as in the higher realms of art, LGBT people and our concerns are now clearly invited to the table, and we can never be dismissed again.

For us, this is the Will & Grace effect: once you’ve been assimilated by that lowest of common denominators, the network sitcom, you’re fully a part of the popular culture. Kids today probably can’t even conceive of a world in which Paul Lynde could camp it up on Hollywood Squares, but couldn’t say the word “gay.” That genie won’t be stuffed back in the bottle again.

We’re not among those who believe we live in a “post-gay” world.

For one thing, we don’t have our civil rights yet, and won’t until marriage equality and everything that comes with it is recognized by the federal government, not select states. But even when that happens, we don’t think a unique gay culture will cease to exist. Just as there is still a vibrant African American press, and say, the Jewish Weekly, there will always be a place for gay press and media, and specifically LGBT cultural outposts.

We’re not among those who protest that gay is just a label, because that’s not been our experience. Gay is the way we’ve lived our life. It’s as much a part of us as our astonishing facility with words.

We like what author David Leddick has to say in the conclusion of his book How to be Gay in the 21st Century (“There’s nothing wrong with being gay, but a lot of people do it wrong”) (White Lake Press): “In the 20th century, it was all about leading a life that was supposed to work for everybody. Mom, Dad and the Kids. In this century, lives will be individualized. Each person will try to create a life for themselves. This requires knowing who you are. This is not easy.”

Leddick has a new book out on July 15, Gorgeous Gallery, from artbook publisher Bruno Gmunder, which attempts to find the intersection between so-called “popular” sex art and so-called “fine art.” In Leddick’s view, art and homoerotica

can co-exist, happily. He traces this idea from the Greeks and Romans through the flowering of 20th-century homoerotic art to contemporary and so-called “avant-garde” art.

We’re treated to treasures from such expected artists as Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Paul Cadmus, and from more obscure artists (at least to us) such as James Huctwith, Boris Torres and Marc Ming Chan.

A picture, as they say, is worth 1,000 words, so two pictures would pretty much exhaust our word count. If homoerotica is an interest, this book is worth seeking out. No brown wrapper required.

Stars & bars 1. The Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS), San Francisco’s LGBTQ orchestra, is searching for a new Artistic Director/Principal Conductor. BARS is an orchestra dedicated to increasing visibility and challenging stereotypes of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) composers, instrumentalists, and performing artists.

BARS showcases its 85-member symphony orchestra and chamber ensembles at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and various Bay Area venues. For more informa-

tion on the position, go to bars-sf. org.

2. The classical concerts in the San Francisco Symphony’s Summer and the Symphony series come at us in two mini-groups. There are three concerts on July 12-14, then two more on July 19-20. Here’s the run-down in brief: Pablo Sainz Villegas on guitar, in the all-Spanish program, 7/12; Karen Gomyo on violin, in the all-Russian program, 7/13; and Gilles Vonsattel on piano, in the all-Beethoven program, 7/14.

Then, Charlie Albright on piano, in the all-American program, 7/19; and Alisa Weilerstein on cello, in the all-Dvorak program, 7/20.

All perform with the legendary SFS under the baton of Michael Francis, who has been de facto “conductor in residence” in the summer for two years now. Tickets available at sfsymphony.org, (415) 864-6000, or the Davies Symphony Hall box office.

3. Congratulations go out to gay author Wayne Hoffman, who was awarded the 2012 Stonewall Book Award – Barbara Gittings Literature Award for his novel Sweet Like Sugar (Kensington Publishing), presented by the American Library Association on June 25.▼

▼

Theatre >>

July 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

Kevin Berne

The cast of The Scottsboro Boys surrounds Hal Linden, who plays the traditional minstrel-show character of the Interlocutor in the ACT production of the Broadway musical.

Minstrels on a mission

by Richard Dodds

I

t is a concept that would naturally spark interest among these particular collaborators, a concept that they might have reasonably rejected after a mull or two. But the creators of The Scottsboro Boys persevered, and while the show’s Broadway run was brief, their talent and audacity brought forth a provocatively entertaining musical that ACT wisely acquired as the striking capper to its season.

Although the production at ACT is part of just a two-city share with San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, it comes with most of the Broadway creative staff intact. Sets, costumes, and lighting are by their original creators, and while the cast is a mix of newcomers and originators, they all possess main-stem polish under the guidance of Susan Stroman,

the endlessly inventive directorchoreographer whose earlier work has ranged from the classy all-dance Contact to the brazen ribaldry of The Producers.

The dicey concept for The Scottsboro Boys that she developed with librettist David Thompson, composer John Kander, and late lyricist Fred Ebb is to use the minstrel-show format to reenact a notorious chapter in our country’s racial history.

Though now more a footnote than a headline, the story of nine young black men quickly sentenced to death for the alleged rape of two white women aboard a freight train passing through Alabama in 1931 grew into front-page material as the North and South did battle once again.

There are moments when the nine actors playing the title char-

‘Endgame: AIDS in Black America’ to air on PBS’ ‘Frontline’

<< from page 17

K

QED-TV is the station to watch this coming Tuesday night, July 10, when the acclaimed series Frontline airs Endgame: AIDS in Black America, Renata Simone’s riveting new documentary. The film shines a very bright light on a fact we already knew but haven’t talked about: that HIV is as prevalent in the black community as it is anywhere else.

Simone’s film isn’t easy to watch, but the truth is often painful. As Endgame gets underway, AIDS researcher Dr. David Ho and others admit that as early as 1981, the year the AIDS crisis officially began, black gay men were dying of AIDS. Yet the publicly reported cases were white. This exclusion of facts wasn’t just going on in the white community.

“We thought about AIDS as about affecting white people, then only white gay people, and that there were no black gay people,” admits Julian Bond, chairman emeritus of the NAACP. “Which is foolish, even criminal.”

Oakland resident Jesse Brooks, a black gay man who’s prominently featured in Endgame, has been acutely aware of the truth from the beginning. “It irks me that so many in my community are still dying,” Brooks said in a telephone interview with the B.A.R. “I cry for the truth.”

Brooks points to the lack of visual documentation of AIDS in the black community. “The fifth, sixth and seventh patients who died were black,” he told us. “Things are better today, there’s an awareness of the disparity.

We need to collaborate. We need to

work together to save lives.”

Filmmaker Simone also introduces us to Nell, another Oakland resident. Your heart will go out to this quiet, dignified mother, grandmother and retired nurse. Fourteen years after her divorce, Nell marries a man she met in her church. Soon after, she gets the shock of her life: Nell is now HIV-positive. Her new husband, who knew of his status before the wedding, passed the virus along to her.

As Simone travels from city to city, we see firsthand the devastating effect AIDS has had on black communities. In Selma, Alabama, birthplace of the civil rights movement, we visit a cash-strapped HIV clinic that struggles to provide services to its impoverished clients, many of whom have nowhere else to turn.

In a run-down Atlanta neighborhood, we see clergy take to the streets, offering clean needles to addicts in direct defiance of laws that prohibit needle distribution. “Part of the fight is against the racist laws that were put in place,” said Jesse Brooks.

The film also spends some time with sports legend Magic Johnson, who stunned the world when he announced that he was HIV-positive.

Twenty years later, Johnson is thriving and doing his part to help his community and raise awareness. As he visits his doctor, Johnson is jovial, healthy and upbeat. After all the despair we’ve seen, Johnson lets us know that there is hope. He represents the light at the end of the tunnel.▼ Endgame: AIDS in Black America will air on PBS’ Frontline on July 10 at 8 p.m.

acters perform a number that can evoke the exuberance of Dolly Levi’s return to the Harmonia Gardens. The irony is obvious, but that Stroman and her colleagues find a way that allows us to enjoy the performance without diminishing its context adds humanity to the irony.

The Scottsboro Boys are at times

reluctant players in once again retelling their story. “This time can we tell it how it really happened?” asks one of the men at the start of the show. He is talking to the Interlocutor, the traditional master of ceremonies in a minstrel show, whose job it is to guide the olio of songs, dances, and jokes. Here he is the only white performer on stage, a dapper, amiable, and paternalistic gent in a plantation-white suit always pushing for a cakewalk, and who panics when his charges go off script. Broadway and TV veteran Hal Linden hits the perfect notes with his assured take on the role.

Songwriters Kander and Ebb found their greatest successes in filtering serious subjects through a showbiz veneer. In Cabaret, the nightclub performances at the titular venue provide a veiled commentary on the rise of Nazism and anti-Semitism in pre-war Germany.

Murder, corruption, and media manipulation are filtered via vaudeville in Chicago. Neither vaudeville nor cabarets carry the baggage associated with minstrel shows, but the musical’s creators move in and out of the form in a way that adds power to the study of injustice. And the songs, some with lyrics provided by composer Kander after his collaborator’s death, are always on target, whether communicating a joyous or heartbreaking moment.

Working on a stage that is nearly bare, and with just a collection of chairs to employ, Stroman has the

cast arrange the chairs to suggest a variety of locales. Though almost by definition an ensemble show, and everyone in the excellent cast plays multiple characters, several roles do stand out. In addition to Linden, there are Jared Joseph and JC Montgomery in the traditional minstrel roles of Mr. Bones and Mr. Tambo, and Clifton Duncan as Haywood Patterson, who becomes the prisoners’ de facto leader. And as the only woman in the cast, C. Kelly Wright mysteriously moves through the action until her relevance is revealed in a magical final moment.

The election of Barack Obama as president was cited by some that we live in a post-racial society. That sentiment lasted about as long as it will take you to read this sentence.

To call The Scottsboro Boys a history lesson is an injustice to its makers’ skills as entertainers. But even if history has the indiscreet habit of repeating itself, at least knowing it is a step up.▼ The Scottsboro Boys will run at ACT through July 22. An OUT with ACT reception for LGBT audiences will follow the July 11 performance. Call 749-2228 or go to www.act-sf.org.

<< Society

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

▼

Remembering Pride

by Donna Sachet

A

s Pride 2012 fades into memory, there are several events that made indelible impressions this year and warrant a full report in this column. Do you know of any other city where the gay flag is hoisted above City Hall to herald the beginning of Pride Week? Well, on Mon., June 18, that’s exactly what happened at around 5 p.m., accompanied by Mayor Ed Lee, many of the city Supervisors, most of the Community Grand Marshals, and the creator of the flag himself, Gilbert Baker, visiting from New York at the behest of the SF Pride committee. After the brief ceremony on the outdoor balcony of the Mayor’s Office, the capacity crowd gathered inside for short remarks and presentations, emceed by popular community activist Tita Aida and handsome Paul Henderson from the Mayor’s Office. Sparkling wine from Barefoot Cellars and music from the SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band added to the festive atmosphere.

Notable among the attendees were Reigning Emperor Bradley Roberts & Reigning Empress Sissy St. Clair, Bevan Dufty, Deana Dawn, Jimmer Cassiol, Bill Barnes, Steve Kawa, Veronika Cauley, and Susan Fahey.

Sister Bella de Ball & Guard Theo Pressed’s Roast of Sister Roma on Wed., June 20, exceeded all expectations! Hundreds of friends gathered at the Supperclub for this once-in-a-lifetime event.

Roma took it all in stride as barb after barb came hurling from the emcees and invited roasters, including Lenny Broberg, ChiChi LaRue, Sasha Soprano, Cockatielia, Bebe Sweetbriar, Bevan Dufty, Tim Valenti, Peaches Christ (via video), and Steven Scarborough. Much to our surprise, not only was Roma the target of insults, but everyone in the room seemed eligible for roasting, resulting in an over-the-top, hilarious evening raising money for two of Roma’s favorite charities, the Sisters’ Stop the Violence Campaign and Tenderloin Tessie’s Holiday Dinners.

Steven Underhill

Cassandra Cass as a fantasy mermaid at Swallow Your Pride, a benefit at Harry Denton’s Starlight Room.

Thursday night offered a panoply of choices, but we whittled it down to the Media Kick-Off Pride Party at the Clift Hotel and Swallow Your Pride, a brand new event benefiting Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation (REAF) at Harry Denton’s Starlight Room. At the Clift, we rubbed elbows with Edie of Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity, Celebrity Grand Marshal Dot Jones of Glee, Brendan Behan and Lisa Williams of SF Pride, Audrey Joseph, Eddie Shapiro, and a bevy of press hounds in an elegant, confined ambiance. At the Starlight Room, we were daz-

zled by entertainers Anita Cocktail, Gypsy Love, Liz Primo, DJ Christopher B, and surprise guest Sharon McNight, sampled fabulous hors d’oeuvres from award-winning chefs Jen Biesty and Tim Nugent, and partied well into the night with Community Grand Marshals Sister Roma, Gary Virginia, and Rebecca Prozan, Patrick Gallineaux, Ken Henderson, Michael Pagan, Mark Calvano, Holotta Tymes, and Mahlae Balenciaga. We’ll never forget the glamorous image of Cassandra Cass as a fantasy mermaid, framed by a giant clam shell, and surrounded by fresh sushi!

And beyond the stupendous See page 21 >>

Coming up in leather and kink Thu., Jul. 5: Koktail Club Happy Hour at Kok Bar (1225 Folsom). Hamisi doing Hammy Time, 5-10 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Thu., Jul. 5: Underwear Night at The Powerhouse.

Strip down for drink specials. 10 p.m.-close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Fri., Jul. 6: Fridays Underwear at Kok Bar. Boxers, jockstraps, undies and drink specials. 10 p.m.-close.

Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Fri., Jul. 6: Truck Wash at Truck (1900 Folsom). 10 p.m.-close. Live shower boys, drink specials. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Sat., Jul. 7: SF Citadel Newbie Munch. Curious about the SF Citadel? Join the staff at Wicked Grounds Coffee Shop (8th & Folsom) from 6-8 p.m. Go to: www. sfcitadel.org/calendar/.

Sat., Jul. 7: Michael Brandon presents Steamworks at The Edge. Boys in towels, go-go dancers, shot specials. 9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.edgesf.com.

Sat., Jul. 7: Leather Beer Bust at Kok Bar. $5 Rolling Rock Beer Bust, $3 all other beer and well koktails.

5-9 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sat., Jul. 7: All Beef Saturday Nights at The Lone Star (1354 Harrison). 9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.facebook. com/lonestarsf.

Sat., Jul. 7: Stallion Saturdays at Rebel Bar (1760 Market) Revolving DJs, afterhours fun! 9 p.m.-4 a.m.

Go to: www.stallionsaturdays.com.

Sun., Jul. 8: SF Men’s Spanking Party at the Power Exchange (220 Jones St.). $20, 18 or older. 1-6 p.m.

Go to: www.voy.com/201188/.

Sun., Jul. 8: Making the Connection-Leather Fami-

lies Explored w/Mike Gerle, Keith Sattelmaier, and Yapper at the Mr. S Leather Upstairs Playspace (385A 8th St.). 2-4 p.m. Go to www.facebook.com/ events/452674981418432/.

Sun., Jul. 8: Jockstrap Beer Bust at Kok Bar. $8 if in gear, $10 if not. 3-7 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sun., Jul. 8: PoHo Sundays at The Powerhouse. Dollar drafts all day! Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Mon., Jul. 9: Trivia Night with host Casey Ley at Truck. 8-10 p.m. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Mon., Jul. 9: SF MAsT at the SF Citadel (181 Eddy St.), 7:30 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org/calendar/.

Tue., Jul. 10: Busted at Truck. $5 beer bust. 9-11 p.m.

Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Tue., Jul. 10: Safeword: 12-Step Kink Recovery Group at the SF Citadel. 6:30 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org/calendar/.

Tue., Jul. 10: Ink & Metal at The Powerhouse. 9 p.m.close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Tue., Jul. 10: Kok Block at Kok Bar. Happy hour prices all night. Pool tournament 7-10 p.m. Go to: www. kokbarsf.com.

Tue., Jul. 10: “You’re Going to Need an Enema for That! Many Ways of Enema Play” at the SF Citadel. 8 p.m. $20. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org/calendar/.

Wed., Jul. 11: Golden Shower Buddies at Blow Buddies (933 Harrison), a male-only club. Doors open 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Play till late. Go to: www.blowbuddies.com.

Wed., Jul. 11: Nipple Play at The Powerhouse. Show off your nips for drink specials. 10 p.m.-close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

▼

Film >>

July 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

Joe Manganiello strips off

by Gregg Shapiro

B

efore you ask, yes, actor Joe Manganiello really is that stunning in person: tall and tan, with sculpted facial features, important hair, and shoulders broad enough to carry the weight of the world.

He’s also smart with a great sense of humor, making him a pleasure to interview. Perhaps best-known as werewolf Alcide on HBO’s True Blood, Manganiello plays exotic dancer Big Dick Richie in Steven Soderbergh’s indie male stripper film Magic Mike. Richie is the strong, silent type, and if you looked the way he does, you wouldn’t need to say much, either. Just walk out on stage and set tongues to wagging, mouths to watering and hearts to racing. Manganiello talked to me about Magic Mike in June.

Gregg Shapiro: What was it about the character of Big Dick Richie that made you want to play him in Magic Mike?

Joe Manganiello: Besides the name? And the legacy that would come along with the name? I read the script, and it was scene-stealing moment after scene-stealing moment, between the fireman suit, the gold body paint, the silhouette routine, the penis pump. That, and then of course, [director] Steven Soderbergh, Channing, McConaughey and my drama school classmate Matt Bomer. It was a slam-dunk.

The first time the audience sees you backstage, you are seated at a sewing machine, working on your costume.

I’m sewing my gold thong.

Out of all of Richie’s costumes, is there one you liked better than the rest?

The gold body paint was epic.

When am I ever going to do that again? It took a good solid hour, with five people applying this makeup to every crevice. I had to be covered in gold. Once you go through all of that, I’m going to make this thing memorable.

Was it itchy?

No. We did three takes, I think.

Steven left the music on for about five minutes. So it was me as this gold statue come to life just mauling a floor full of women, knocking tables over, jumping on things, lining them up. It was a Dionysian orgy, and I rubbed up on everybody.

To my recollection there are only two Hollywood-style flicks about male strippers that precede Magic Mike: 1981’s For Ladies Only starring Gregory Harrison, and 1983’s A Night in Heaven starring Christopher Atkins. Had you seen either before beginning work on Magic Mike? What was involved in your research for your role as Big Dick Richie?

I had not seen them. A really good friend of mine was a male stripper in Dallas during the 90s at a club called La Bare. He was responsible for coming up with the fireman routine there. I took him out to lunch, we hung out. I’d heard some of his stories before, but never with the

<<

On the Town

From page 20

Pride Parade and Celebration in Civic Center on Sunday, our most lasting memory will be of the 14th Annual Pride Brunch on Saturday, where over 300 guests entered the wildly decorated ballroom of Hotel Whitcomb, echoing with music from the Dixieland Dykes + 3, sipped Barefoot bubbly and Stoli cocktails, chose from a gourmet brunch buffet, bid on select silent auction items, and sat in awe as

Joe Manganiello plays exotic dancer Big Dick Richie in Steven Soderbergh’s male stripper film Magic Mike.

amount of interest that I had now.

I got a really good feel for what he did. Plus I’ve worked in clubs since I was 16 years old, so I know that life, I know those people.

Have you learned anything about the male stripper world that you didn’t know before?

When you go to a female strip club, you’re going to find that archetypical, serial-killer man, sitting there quietly with his dollar bills, staring. You go to the male strip club, and women are screaming, grabbing, groping, backstage, under the table, in the parking lot.

It seems like it’s a freer atmosphere.

You don’t really need security because every one of the guys is their own security. It’s go for it, do your thing. I think that’s why a lot of the guys are into it. Where for the women it’s probably more about the money, for the guys it’s more about the good time.

He’s very present and in the moment. He’s his own cameraman, he sees it in his head. What that allows him to do is observe what’s going on and make judgment calls based upon “is what I’m seeing more interesting than what we were going to shoot? If so, then maybe we should shoot that.”

Mike (Channing Tatum) takes The Kid (Alex Pettyfer) under his wing. Have you ever had occasion to be a mentor to someone, or be mentored by someone?

I’m an athlete, so I had coaches from the time I was little, all the way up. Not including my father, who also taught me all kinds of stuff. I had a trainer in high school, and I have a trainer now. I’m not somebody who’s afraid to ask for help.

And of course, acting teachers in college.

What was it like to work with director Steven Soderbergh?

He’s a very intuitive filmmaker.

You mentioned your old friend Matt Bomer, who plays Ken in Magic Mike, and who recently came out as a gay man. Do you think that will have an impact on Magic Mike’s appeal to the gay community? Or will the subject matter alone be enough to bring gay fans into the theaters?

Matt’s one of the best-looking guys and one of the best actors on the planet. I think that’s the draw. I certainly think this movie appeals to that demographic!▼

each Grand Marshal shared personal remarks about their Pride experience. Alec Hughes of Wells Fargo announced that, in addition to their presenting sponsorship, Wells Fargo would make a special donation of $25,000 in honor of Positive Resource Center’s 25 years of service. Gilbert Baker offered one of his own original gay flags for auction, and it quickly went for $1,600. Guests included State Senator Mark Leno, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, Mayor Ed Lee, city Treasurer Jose Cisneros, Supervi-

sors Malia Cohen, David Campos, and Scott Wiener, Tom Horn, Walter Leiss, Lu Conrad, Tommy Taylor, Steve Adams, Kent Roger, Lance Holman, Dan Joraanstad & Bob Hermann, Michael Montoya & Kevin Shanahan, Benjamin & Terry Penn, Gordy Boe, Gary & Larry Lane, Stephen Taylor, Julian Marshburn, eight Empresses, and four Emperors. There are no words to express our genuine gratitude to all involved in this record-breaking benefit for Positive Resource Center!▼

But the money doesn’t hurt.

Oh sure, but these guys aren’t thinking about tomorrow. It’s enough to keep going, as long as there’s drink and drugs. It’s the Lost Boys. Also I think the costumes, presenting themselves as female fantasies, it’s more fun.

www.ebar.com

<< Out&About

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

Thu 5>> American Idiot @ Orpheum Theatre Touring production of the Tony and Grammy-winning Broadway show, created at Berkeley Rep, about modern-day young adults in a post-9/11 world, set to the rousing music of Green Day. $25-$100.

Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat, Sun 2pm. Thru July 8. 1192 Market St. at 8th. 888-746-1799. www.shnsf.com

and pre-show talk $35. Fri-Sun 8pm.

Some Sun matinees 4pm. Thru Aug. 12.

890 Belle Avenue, Dominican University of California, San Rafael. 499-4488. www.marinshakespeare.org

Risk Is This @ Exit Theatre Cutting Ball Theater’s New Experimental Plays Festival, works by Christopher Chen, Anthony Clarvoe, Paul Walsh and Rob Melrose. Free-$20-$50. Fri-Sat 8pm.

277 Taylor St. Thru July 14. 525-1205. www.cuttingball.com

Comedy Bodega @ Esta Nocha

by Jim Provenzano

G

ay and straight visual artists share their personalized visions of the world in exhibits opening this week. They spin their imaginations and recreate reality in a variety of media. Other fascinating art shows continue through the next weeks and months. Be cool and keep cool in the calming environment of a nearby gallery and museum.

Damon McLay @ Magnet Friday, July 6: opening reception for an exhibit of the artist’s expressive personal photographs (see above). 8pm-10pm. Thru July. 4122 18th St. www.magnetsf.org

Occupy Bay Area @ YBCA Friday, July 6:opening party for a new exhibit of activist art related to the Occupy protests. Free. 6pm-10pm. Exhibit $8-$10. Thru Oct. 14. Also, David Shrigley: Brain Activity, an exhibit of caustically witty sculptures and visual art. Free-$15.

Exhibit thru Sept. 23. $8-$10. 701 Mission St. 978-2787. www.ybca.org

Brett Thomas @ Castro Country Club David Shrigley’s dead dog

Sunday, July 8: opening reception for Reflections of My Mind, an exhibit of evocative nature photographs by the local artist, at the LGBT sober space. 1:30-3:30pm. Exhibit thru August. 4058 18th St. www.castrocountryclub.org

Do Not Destroy @ Contemporary Jewish Museum Group exhibit of art in varied media exploring the relationship between Jewish traditions and trees.

Free-$12. July 12, attend the live Six Word Memoir event to kick off the launch of the new book in the wildly popular Six Word series called Oy, Only Six, Why Not More? Six-Word Memoir on Jewish Life, with contributions from Larry David, Henry Winkler, Maira Kalman, Buck Henry, Gary Shteyngart and readings by local luminaries like Daniel Handler, Tiffany Shlain and Lisa Brown. $10. 6:30-8:30pm.

Daily 11am-5pm Closed Wed. Thru Sept 9. 736 Mission St. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org

Do Not Destroy

Jean Paul Gaultier @ de Young Museum The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, the first exhibition devoted to the gay French fashion designer, includes film and stage costumes and haute couture, prints and video clips. Also, Chuck Close and Crown Point Press, and exhibit of the painter’s printmaking works, Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism, Marcel Duchamp: The Book and the Box (All thru Oct. 14). $6-$20. Tue-Sun 9:30am5:15pm. Other exhibits ongoing. Friday night special events 5:30pm-8:45pm. Thru Aug. 19. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

Jeremy Mann @ John Pence Gallery Exhibit of the realist painter’s beautiful urban landscapes and life studies. Thru July 28. Mon-Fri 10am-6pm. Sat 10am-5pm. 750 Post. St. 44111138. www.johnpence.com

Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes Jeremey Mann’s paintings @ Oakland Museum Exhibit of original art by the Oakland graphic novel illustrator and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter (Ghost World). Free-$12.

Wed-Sun 11am-5pm. Thru Aug. 12. 1000 Oak St. (510) 318-8400. www.museumca.org

Rene Capone @ Live Art Gallery Exhibit of watercolor paintings by the talented local artist, whose works include mythical, homoerotic and fantasy imagery in lush colors. Thru July 15. 151 Potrero Ave. at 15th St. www.renecapone.com

Phantoms of Asia @ Asian Art Museum Exhibit of bold contemporary art with perspectives on life, death, nature and other themes. $12-$15. 200 Larkin St. 581-3500. www.asianart.org

Photography in Mexico @ SF Museum of Modern Art Group exhibit of historic prints documenting Mexican life and culture since 1920. Also, The Utopian Impulse: Buckminster Fuller and the Bay Area, and a new mural by Dutch artist Parra. Thru July 29. Free-$18. Open daily (except Wednesdays) 11am-5:45pm.; open late Thursdays, until 8:45pm. 131 Third St. 357-4000. www.sfmoma.org

La Quebradora @ Mission Cultural Center

La Quebradora

Curator Amy Pederson’s group exhibition about Lucha Libre Mexican wrestling culture, with videos, sculptures, paintings and performances (Wed nights 7pm). $5. Reg. hours Tue-Sat 10am-5pm. Thru Aug. 5. 821-1155. www.missionculturalcenter.org

San Francisco Mime Troupe’s new production skewers political fraud and corruption.

Free/donations. 2pm. 18th St. at Dolores.

July 7, 8, Sept. 1, 2, 3: 2pm at Dolores Park. (Aug 18, Geln Park; Aug 19, Yerba Buena Gardens). At various Bay Area venues thru Sept. 9. 285-1717. www.sfmt.org

Heather Combs @ Hotel Utah Florida musician headlines ‘Songwriters in the Round,’ with Janet Robin, Stewart Lewis and Valeria Orth. $8. 8pm. 500 4th St. www.hotelutah.com/event/123869/

Plantosaurus Rex @ Conservatory of Flowers

Hedwig and the Angry Inch @ Boxcar Playhouse

Jip: His Story @ The Marsh Katherine Paterson’s youth musical about an 1850s Vermont boy whose life is changed by a community’s racism and class prejudice. $8-$50. Thu-Sun various times. Thru July 15. 1062 Valencia St. at 22nd. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Oleta Adams @ The Rrazz Room

Exhibit of abstract art by African American artists. Special lectures and programs thru exhibit run. Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission St. 358-7200. www.moadsf.org

The Last Election @ Dolores Park

Group exhibit of paintings and works in other media that show off LGBT Pride from a developmentally disabled perspective.

Thru Aug. 1. 3245 16th St. at Guerrero. www.creativityexplored.org

Boxcar Theatre’s production of Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell’s glam rock musical about a transgendered East Berlin rebel. $25. Wed & Thu 8pm. Fri & Sat 7pm & 9:30pm. Thru July 8. 505 Natoma St. 967-2227. www.boxcartheatre.org

Choose Paint! Choose Abstraction! @ MOAD

New exhibit and planetarium show with various live, interactive and installed exhibits about our ever-shifting earth. $20-$30. Mon-Sat 9:30am-5pm. Sun 11am-5pm. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

Fabulous @ Creativity Explored

Imaginarium

political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. Reg: $25-$130. Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm. Sat 6:30, 9:30pm. Sun 2pm, 5pm. (Beer/wine served; cash only). 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.).

421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

Earthquake @ California Academy of Sciences

The weekly LGBT and indie comic stand-up night. This week, Yayne Abeba, David Hawk ins, Anna Seregina, Veronica Porras, Baruch Hernandez, and George Chen.

8pm-9:30pm. 3079 16th St. at Mission. www.comedybodega.com

Damon McLay’s photos

▼

Sun 8 Scott Capurro @ Café Du Nord Comic wit with a caustic edge performs his show, Islamahomophobia. $16. 8pm. 2170 Market St. 861-5016. www.cafedunord.com

Salomania @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley

New exhibit of prehistoric plants and flowers (giant ferns, spiky horsetails) from the Mesozoic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, with life-size models of dinosaurs. Free-$7.

Tue-Sun 10am-4:30pm. Thru Oct. 21. 100 JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park. 831-2090. www.conservatoryofflowers.org

SF Hiking Club @ Muir Woods Join GLBT hikers for a 10-mile hike at Muir Woods and Mt. Tam. Bring lunch, water, hat, sunscreen, wind/fog protection, sturdy hiking boots. Carpool meets 9am at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores. 577-9367.

Also, July 11, enjoy a 5-mile after-work hike through the Berkeley Rose Garden with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge, and dinner in Berkeley afterward, for those interested. Meet 5:45 at downtown Berkeley BART. (510) 910-8734. www.sfhiking.com

R&B and Broadway singer and Grammy nominee performs classic and original music. $50. 8pm. AlsoJuly 6, 8pm; July 7, 7pm & 9:30pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Aurora Theatre Company’s production of acclaimed Bay Area playwright Mark Jackson’s play about Maud Allan, the San Francisco dancer-actress who performed a notorious Dance of the Seven Veils. $34$55. Tue 7pm. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru July 29. 2081 Addison St. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Sing-Along Grease @ Castro Theatre

SF Swingfest @ Winery SF, Treasure Island

Participatory subitled screenings of the 1978 John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John film based on the hit Broadway musical. $10-$15. 7pm Sat & Sun 2:30 & 7pm. Thru July 5. 429 Castro St. www.greasemovie. com www.castrotheatre.com

Pirate Girls and Sailors, a mash-up swing dance event and USO-style dance party, with gay-friendly same-sex dancing. $15-$30. $5 off for military, students, seniors.7pm-1am.

200 California Ave, Building 180 North. www.SFSwingFest.com

Sun 8>>

Smokey Robinson, SF Symphony @ Davies Hall

The Waiting Period @ The Marsh

The legendary R&B-pop singer performs classic hits with the symphony. $30-$100.

7:30pm. 201 Van Ness Ave. 864-6000. www.sfsymphony.org

Brian Copeland’s popular solo show about his struggle with depression. $25-$50. Fri 8pm, Sat 5pm. Extended thru Aug. 4. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

The Opera Academy of California presents students from master classes performing vocal works by Mozart, Puccini, Bizet, Verdi, Strauss and more. $14-$17. 4pm.

1751 Sacramento St. www.oldfirstconcerts.org

Fri 6>>

Sat 7>>

5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche @ Phoenix Theatre

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi

Tides Theatre’s production of Evan Lindor and Andrew Hobgood’s comic play about a 1950s women’s social group’s McCarthyera secrets. $20-$38. Thu-Sat 8pm. Also extra Sat at 10pm. Thru July 28. 414 Mason St. #601. 336-3533. www.tidestheatre.org

Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an ever-changing lineup of

Truffaldino Says No @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Players’ new production of Ken Slattery’s comic farce about an ambitious servant that combines Commedia Dell’arte and sitcom ribaldry. $18-$25. Wed & Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru July 29. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 8416500. www.shotgunplayers.org

Aria Recital @ Old First Church

Fag Hag Comedy Show @ Deco Lounge Charlie Ballard welcomes wild women comics Glamis Rory, Nicole Turley, Farah Haidari, Clare O’Kane, Rachael Shapiro, Valerie Branch, Kate Willett, Astrid and Jenn Dronsky. $10. 8pm. 21+. 510 Larkin St. 346-2025. www.decosf.com

Emotional Creature @ Berkeley Repertory Theatre Eve Ensler’s new play about the secret lives of girls, from the Tony Award-winning playwright ( The Vagina Monologues). $15$73. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sun 7pm.

Also Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru July 15. 2015 Addison St. at Shattuck. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Fully Functional Cabaret @ African American Arts and Culture Complex Variety show of music, spoken word, comedy and more by, for, and about trans women, with Annie Danger, Bryn Kelly, Red Durkin, Ryka Aoki, Shawna Virago, and Star Amerasu. $12-$20. 7pm.

Also July 7. 762 Fulton St.

King John @ Forest Meadows Ampitheatre, San Rafael Marin Shakespeare Company’s production of The Bard’s action-packed royal drama. $20-$35. Season tickets $45-$75. Dinner

Thu 5 The Scottsboro Boys @ American Conservatory Theatre The true story of nine African American men unjustly accused of a crime is given a sardonic yet rousing musical adaptation (which won 12 Tony nominations) with the songs of John Kander and Fred Ebb, and book by David Thompson; directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman. Out with A.C.T. night July 11. $20-$95. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun also 2pm. Some 7pm Sun shows. Thru July 15. 415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

▼

Out&About >>

July 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Candlelight Flow Yoga @ LGBT Center David Clark leads various yoga poses and practices, plus meditation and breathing exercises. Bring your own mat and water bottle, etc. $10. 7pm-8:30pm.

1800 Market St. www.4dbliss.com

Kim Nalley @ The Rrazz Room Accomplished singer performs her cabaret act. $32-$37.50. 8pm. Wed-Sat 8pm Sun 7pm thru July 20. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

SF LGBT Book Club @ Books Inc Tony Kushner’s Angels in America is discussed at the monthly literature fan group. Free. 7pm. 2275 Market St. www.booksinc.net

Thu 12 Silent Film Festival @ Castro Theatre 17th annual festival classic silent films, this year including the spectacular Wings, the epic The Loves of Pharoah, Douglas Fairbanks in The Mark of Zorro, Louise Brooks in Pandora’s Box , plus melodramas and a collection of Felix the Cat cartoons. Each film is accompanied by live music and sound effects performed by organists, pianists and multi-piece bands. $13-$42 (parties and opening/closing nights tickets). Full festival pass:$180-$215. Thru July 15. 429 Castro St. www.silentfilm.org

A Funny Night for Comedy @ Actors Theatre Natasha Muse and sidekick Ryan Cronin welcome comics Jason Wheeler, Mike Spiegelman, Briand Fields, Jill Borque and Josef Anolin. $10. 7pm. Comedy Imrov at 9pm. 855 Bush st. 345-1287. www.NatashaMuse.com

Karel @ The Rrazz Room Gay comic performs his act of pointed social critiques; with Maureen Langan. $25. 7pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room Donna Sachet and Harry Denton host the weekly fabulous brunch and drag show. $45. 11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square.

395-8595. www.harrydenton.com

Mon 9>> B.O.O.B.S @ Martuni's Busty, Outrageous, Over-the-top Broads Singin’ (Leanne Borghesi, Jessica Coker and Soila Hughes) perform a witty musical cabaret show with special guests. $10.

7pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.boobs-cabaret.com

Comedy Returns @ El Rio Josh Healey, Joe Klocek, Regina Stoops, Johan Miranda, Shanti Charan and host Lisa Geduldig perform at the GLBT comedy night. $7-$20. 21+. 8pm. 3158 Mission St. (800) 838-3006. www.koshercomedy.com

Life & Death in Black & White @ GLBT History Museum

Elect to Laugh @ The Marsh Will Durst welcomes comic commentator pals to a weekly political humor night. $15-$50. 8pm. Thru Nov 6. 1062 Valencia St. at 21st. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Endgame: AIDS in Black America @ PBS Two-hour Frontline documentary exploring the country’s urgent preventable healthcare crisis, and why HIV is worse in African American communities. Check local listings for times. www.pbs.org/frontline/ endgame-aids-in-black-america/

Les Misérables @ Orpheum Theatre 25th anniversary touring production of Boublil & Schönberg’s legendary award-winning music based on the Victor Hugo novel about the French Revolution, in a new re-designed production. $30-$150. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat Sun 2pm. Thru Aug. 26. 1192 Market St. at 8th. www.shnsf.com

Terri White @ The Rrazz Room Veteran Broadway singer-actress performs classic show tunes and R&B hits. $35. 8pm.

2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Wed 11>> 19th Century San Francisco @ Robert Tat Gallery Fascinating exhibit of vintage prints from the Bay Area’s early days. Tue-Sat 11am5:30pm & by appointment. Thru Sept. 1 49 Geary St. Suite 410. 781-1122. www.roberttat.com

The Drag Show @ Various Channels Stu Smith’s weekly LGBT variety show features local talents, and not just drag artistes. Channels 29 & 76 on Comcast; 99 on AT&T and 30 on Astound. www.thedragshow.org

Man on man lube wrestling in the pit (an inflatable mini-pool), porn guys, drag queens, clowns, Boylesque performances, DJ Drama Bin Laden and Cajun food! 2nd Thursdays. 8pm-12am. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Milk @ SF Public Library, Ortega Branch Free screening of the Academy Awardwinning film about Harvey Milk. 6pm.

3223 Ortega St. at 39th Ave. www.sfpl.org

The Marvelous Wondrettes @ Fox Theatre, Redwood City Broadway by the Bay presents the bouyant show about four 1960s high school girls who share growing up stories and sing vintage hit songs. $20-$48. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru July 29. 2215 Broadway St., Redwood City. (650) 579-5565. www.broadwaybythebay.org

Porchlight Storytelling @ Verdi Club Shine on You Crazy Diamond: Stories from the First Ten Years of Porchlight , a two-night event with literary folks and storytellers Beth Lisick, Arline Klatte, Anthony Bedard, Eric Shea, Jack Boulware Anna Seregina and Kelly Beardsley. $20$30. 8pm. Also July 13. 2424 Mariposa St. 861-9199. www.verdiclub.net

Singing the Golden State @ Society of Cal. Pioneers

Steven Saylor @ Books Inc. Prolific local gay author, whose Roman novels are international bestsellers, reads from and discusses his latest, The Seven Wonders. 7pm. 2275 Market St. www.stevensaylor.com www.booksinc.net

Ten Percent @ Comcast 104

Tue 10>>

Go Deep @ El Rio

FathomEvents’ big-screen simulcast presents the classic Gene Kelly/Debbie Reynolds musical, including behind-the-scenes footage and an interview by TCM host Robert Osborne with Reynolds. $12-$15. 7pm. 85 West Portal Ave. Also screening statewide in other theatres. www.FathomEvents.com

Exhibit of photographs by Karen Massing of four years of pageantry and royalty in the LGBT International Court System. Thru Sept.15. Harvey Milk Branch, 1 Jose Sarria Court at 16th St. www.karenmassingpix. com www.sfpl.org

Accomplished drummer welcomes guest stars at his monthly concert. $25.

7:30pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Dancing With the Star’s Louis van Amstel’s new ballroom dancing stage show features DWTS’s Anna Trebunskaya, Jonathan Robert, Peta Murgatroyd, Dmitry Chaplin, plus performers from So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol’s David Hernadez and Gina Glocksen (Different performer line-up some nights). $49-$79. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Sun 6pm. 609 Sutter St. 2nd fl. www.marinesmemorialtheatre.com

Singing in the Rain @ Cinarts Empire 3

Royal Families @ SF Public Library

Tommy Igoe Band @ The Rrazz Room

Ballroom With a Twist @ Marines Memorial Theatre

Exhibit of beautiful sheet music and artwork from 1849 -1930s, all with California themes; curated by James M. Keller, the exhibit includes a few subtly gay and historically transgender subjects. $2.50-$50.

Wed-Fri 10am-4pm. First Saturdays 10am4pm. Thru Dec. 7. 300 Fourth St. 957-1849. www.californiapioneers.org

AIDS Direct Action in San Francisco, 1985–1990, focuses on the AIDS activist photojournalism of Jane Philomen Cleland, Patrick Clifton, Marc Geller, Rick Gerharter and Daniel Nicoletta. Selection of other LGBT historic items also on display. $5.

New expanded hours: Mon-Sat 11am-7pm.

Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

David Perry’s talk show about LGBT people and issues. Mon-Fri 11:30am & 10:30pm.

Sat & Sun 10:30pm. www.comcasthometown.com

Thu 12>>

Wed 11 Harry Hay and Labor Organizing @ SF Public Library Chris Carlsson, Bettina Apthekar and others talk about Hay’s labor activism in this panel discussion moderated by Joey Cain. Main Library, Koret Auditorium, 6 p.m.

Part of a series of events related to Cain’s exhibit Radically Gay: The Life of Harry Hay, which celebrates the remarkable life and work of activist Harry Hay, who laid the foundation for the modern lesbian and gay rights movement. Thru July 29. Jewitt Gallery, lower level, 100 Larkin St. 557-4400. www.sfpl.org

Sweeney Todd @ Eureka Theatre Ray of Light Theatre’s new production of the deliciously grisly Stephen Sondheim musical about The Demon Barber of Fleet Street , with a live on-stage orchestra. $25-$36. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm.

(Special Goth costume night July 28 with a post-show party; $30.) Thru Aug. 11. 215 Jackson St. at Battery. 690-7658. www.rayoflighttheatre.com

To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com.

Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

For more bar and nightlife events, go to www.bartabsf.com

<< Music

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

▼

Grand finales to the centennial season

by Philip Campbell

T

he final two concert programs of the San Francisco Symphony’s 100th anniversary season brought vastly contrasted repertoire and moods to Davies Symphony Hall, but Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas managed to make it all feel like a fitting celebration and showcase for the orchestra’s fabulous range and virtuosity.

The dark psychological musings and disturbing implications of Bela Bartok’s one-act opera Duke Bluebeard’s Castle might not seem appropriate as party music, but in typical MTT/SFS fashion, the recently semi-staged production proved to be not only a major musical event but also an exciting demonstration of the adventurous partnership between conductor and crew. The resulting performances made as good a case for staging Bluebeard as any I have seen, and Bartok’s richly imaginative orchestral writing is certainly best heard up-close and personal.

Most of the action, such as there is, happens in the shadowy, impressionistic scoring, punctuated occasionally by great bursts of color. For getting opera into the concert hall, MTT and company seem to have made a good choice. An opera that could play just as well in a concert reading and seems too static for the stage could only benefit from a little scenic gussying up in recital. The well-executed scenic projections (a little too on-the-nose at times, but

striking all the same) and the unfussy staging (well, there are only two characters, after all) played effectively enough in the constricted area of the DSH stage. There were some moments of genuinely thrilling theatricality amid the pervasive gloom, but when all was said and done, it was the music that mattered most, and the staging actually distanced us too much from the monstrous duke and his latest victim/ bride.

Mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, a frequent collaborator with the SFS, appeared as Judith.

Her looks (that blaze of long, curly blonde hair) and her focused sound and impassioned acting gave the hapless heroine a suitably sympathetic personality. The impact of her performance was hampered by the placement of the protagonists behind the orchestra, so the doomed bride went to her uncertain fate without much dramatic impact.

Bass-baritone Alan Held as Bluebeard was also at a disadvantage because of the stage configuration, but his powerful and nuanced singing created a satisfying portrait of the complicated (to say the very least) duke, and he anchored the production forcefully. MTT moved the orchestra persuasively through the moods and sensuous rhythms of Bartok’s beautiful score, but he seemed to be relying on the scenic effects to supply most of the drama.

The evening started with an almost comically contrasted piece,

included a marvelous showcase for Ragnar Bohlin’s SFS Chorus and a terse and gut-wrenching modernist piece by Arnold Schoenberg that acted as perfect set-ups for the blast of glory that ends the Ninth.

Gyorgy Ligeti’s Lux aeterna opened the night with the music of the spheres in an amazingly sustained performance by the Chorus. Watching Bohlin conduct the silence at the

conclusion set the seal on a reading that managed to sound unearthly and very human all at once.

Speaker Shuler Hensley joined the orchestra next with men of the Chorus for a performance of Schoenberg’s brief but emotionally shattering A Survivor from Warsaw. When they broke into their concluding prayer while being led to a death camp, I doubt anyone remained unmoved. The terror and bravery of the moment were conveyed all too convincingly. It took an entire intermission to get past the powerful impact.

The quartet of soloists for the Beethoven was strong and wellchosen. Soprano Erin Wall and bass-baritone Nathan Berg were real standouts. She showed a clean and bright power that never became shrill, and he excelled with a clarion top that was supported by just enough rich dark bottom. The tenor William Burden and mezzo-soprano Kendall Gladen (we have liked her at the San Francisco Opera) also sounded in perfect synch with MTT’s pervading sense of warmth.

The opening movement seemed strangely disjointed from what followed, but it certainly set the mood for a performance that ended with a most convincingly heartfelt Finale, Ode to Joy. The cumulative effect of the evening and the season, for that matter, had me joining in a prolonged standing ovation. We didn’t want it to end, but look out for season #101.▼

understatement.

George – the center of a salon-like coterie that always included beautiful adolescent boys, his sweet tooth and Achilles’ heel – was such a skilled selfmythologizer that many, including the confirmedly heterosexual Schoenberg, fell under his artistic spell. The exotic music the composer lavished on George’s verse (so French-ified that German nouns are lower-cased) has been called the last he wrote (1908) before his music became fully atonal, but no one’s likely to head for intermission whistling this stuff, either.

In Gerhaher’s spell-binding interpretation, by the third and fourth songs the distinct voice of the prince, increasingly disturbed, emerges from the hothouse verse initially confined to (sickeningly claustrophobic) scenesetting. By the time he actually addresses the unseen Semiramis, there’s defiance in his insistence, “If I do not touch your body today, the thread of my soul will break like an overstretched bowstring.” The emotional devastation that follows is rendered not only in Gerhaher’s fine-grained, minutely calculated baritone, but in a blanched half-voice of unforgettable emotional desolation.

The piano part, perfectly realized

by Gerhaher’s regular musical partner

Gerold Huber, is distinctly not in the background. It comes even farther into the foreground in Berg’s Altenberg Lieder, for which Huber plays, with nothing short of wizardry, his own refinement of the original pianovocal score for this orchestral song cycle.

At the work’s premiere in 1913, two months before Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring caused a literal riot at its Paris premiere, the Viennese premiere of the Berg cycle, a far stronger piece than Schoenberg’s, wrought similar mayhem. Its third song (aptly entitled “Beyond the Limits of the Universe”) sparked a commotion in which loud name-calling quickly escalated to fisticuffs and lawsuits. It was the orchestral more than the vocal music that scandalized the Vienna audience, and you sense how it might have struck people 99 years ago when you hear Huber all but crawling into the instrument to play some of the music directly on the piano strings. The Viennese also deplored the “postcard verse” texts, but Gerhaher’s deep investment in them – moving into high tenor notes, higher head tones, crooning, and pitched speech, all safely wrapped in his all-encompassing, velvety baritone – shows a new dimension of his artistry on record.▼

Kristen Loken

Mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung and bass-baritone Alan Held in Bela Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall.

the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1, performed with great relish and little subtlety by Jeremy Denk. Well, at least both of the composers were Hungarian.

Last week brought the grand finale of the orchestra’s centennial to Davies with a big, sometimes confusing but ultimately exhilarating and emotional Beethoven Ninth.

The last concert bill of the season

Spell-binding song cycles

by Tim Pfaff

C

areers pop in funny ways. At least since the turn of the millennium, Christian Gerhaher has been the baritone of preference, in Europe anyway, for what might be called the song-oratorio-Papageno category. (I enthused about his Jesus in the Berlin Philharmonic’s St. Matthew Passion a few issues back.) Voice to burn, smarts galore, soul, soul, soul has pretty much been the book on him.

Even so, he needed that stiff wind of goodwill behind him even to hope to sell his new CD, Ferne Geliebte (“Distant Beloved”), his debut on Sony after a decade with BMG/RCA. Just released, it confirms him as one of the most accomplished Lieder singers in our midst, and a savvy programmer to boot. Also, it just may sell like derivatives betting on the collapse of the euro.

It puts the two so-called Vienna

Schools on shuffle, beginning and ending with Beethoven (a ravishing account of the song cycle An die ferne Geliebte, up-front, with a daringly large-scale “Adelaide” in final position), with some attention-worthy if little-known Haydn in the middle.

But the “meat” comes by way of two out-of-the-way modernist cycles: Schoenberg’s Das Buch der Haengenden Gaerten (“The Book of the Hanging Gardens”) and Berg’s Altenberg Lieder, a century later both still boxoffice poison, such as they’re known at all.

Then Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau died in May. As the tributes poured forth, many a writer raised the question, “Who could ever take his place?” only to interject, awkwardly, “Well, there is Gerhaher,” who took master classes with Fischer-Dieskau and has rightly enough been compared to him, though it’s clear that Gerhaher is anything but an imitation. It was

publicity you couldn’t buy. This new disc has not been off my player in the week I’ve had it, and one night, while it was playing, in a moment of distraction wrestling down some recalcitrant asparagus, I mused, “That FiDi really could sing. No, that’s Gerhaher.”

Gerhaher’s astute notes are solely about Schoenberg’s “Semiramis Songs,” which you’re never likely to hear live unless Gerhaher does an album tour. Its one notable previous recording was by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Glenn Gould, the definition of an exotic combo. The cycle, Gerhaher writes, “tells the story of a man falling in love, the man in question being Stefan George, whose homoerotic tendencies were well known.

This is in itself already reason enough to get excited, as the object of George’s affection was Ida Coblenz, a female friend from his youth. The result was emotionally unsettling,” Gerhaher adds with a Lieder singer’s practiced

▼

Film >>

July 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

Jess Pinkham

Quvenzhane Wallis as Hushpuppy, and Dwight Henry as Wink in Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Jess Pinkham

Quvenzhane Wallis as Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Creatures from the Louisiana bayou

by David Lamble

D

irector Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild is an audaciously imagined, rambunctious, post-Katrina, African American folk fable (Friday at Embarcadero).

A young girl, who could easily gender-mash as a Huck Finn-worthy boy on a raft, reaches into a high cupboard and lights a tiny gas stove with a blowtorch. Hushpuppy (New Orleans elementary school student Quvenzhane Wallis) may steal your heart as she awaits the quixotic comings and goings of her ravingmad, fishing-obsessed Daddy, Wink (Dwight Henry), whose prescription for landing a Louisiana catfish defies conventional wisdom: “Someday when I’m gone, you’ll be the last one in the Bathtub, and you’ll have to stick your hand in the

water to eat. Ball up your fist and whack him good!”

In the soggy yet combustible world of Hushpuppy and Wink, beginning with the flimsiest fishing shack and later giving way to a raft fashioned out of a rusted-out car body, the waters are always rising. The child’s dreams are flooded with images of melting ice caps freeing large, shaggy, bison-like prehistoric creatures (called aurochs), from whom it may be impossible to flee. Warning: this vivid live-action cartoon (based on co-screenwriter Lucy Alibar’s stage play, Juicy and Delicious) is not for the squeamish or vegan. Hushpuppy and Wink’s world is overflowing with slimy life forms, a seafood cocktail that reminds one of Jimmy Stewart’s quip from Rear Window about having to eat creatures that he could hardly

bear to look at when they were alive.

Coming out of Sundance with a rip-roaring buzz, copping both Grand Jury Prizes for American dramatic film and American dramatic cinematography (Ben Richardson), Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of those experimental narratives that may challenge you to sit closer to the big screen than your comfort zone.

I found that the disability seating at the Metreon gave me the dizzying feeling of living inside the movie, where the intense, up-the-nostrils close-ups allowed me almost to become Hushpuppy. At first I took her for a him, and oddly enough, that works! Not just in the parts where Wink and Hushpuppy declare, preDeluge, “I’m the man!”

While this adventure tale allows a tough little girl new gender privileges, it essentially hews to tried-and-

true boys’ stories, especially those classics of the genre – boy bonds with grouchy, drunken or difficult Daddy – the 1956 Good-bye, My Lady, set in a Georgia swamp with Brandon de Wilde and Walter Brennan; or 1953’s skillful tearjerker The Clown, with Red Skelton and a pre-Disney Tim Considine. As with Beasts, the boy becomes the center of not only the plot, but the story’s entire emotional gravity. The child’s growth comes in part at the expense of a diminished sense of the adult as a reliable protector, a divinely anointed source of wisdom and succor.

One of Beasts’ literary strengths is Hushpuppy’s narration, where one can hear the wheels turning as she starts to grasp the odds of survival in a feckless world where both Nature and the government have

abandoned her. “Daddy once said if he ever got too old to catch catfish, I should put him in a boat and set him on fire.”

Between the lines of the film’s reviews, one can read the apprehension that Beasts strays across the art-house double-white line and becomes, God forbid, sentimental.

This is the curse and blessing of filmmakers not stuck in their heads, not tied to tight-assed formulas of cinema correctness. Consult Beasts’ moving trailer, and you’ll find an emotional through-line as resonant and accurate to its core concerns as 2005’s Brokeback Mountain.

Hushpuppy’s greatest aspiration: to remember the fleeting moment of her little lost tribe. “In a million years, children will learn there was a Hushpuppy, and she lived with her Daddy in the Bathtub.”▼

French neo-noir landscapes

by David Lamble

N

obody Else but You If a film can be described as profoundly goofy, that’s the vibe you get from Gerald Hustache-Mathieu’s stylized, original yet derivative neo-noir comedy/mystery that opens (Friday at Landmark Theatres) with a man watching a pretty corpse being loaded into an ambulance in a part of eastern France dubbed “Little Siberia.”

The observer is beaten-down,

lady. Having lied his way into the local morgue, Rousseau stares down at the dead bombshell while the dead woman speaks to us in a voiceover diary.

“At first I thought he was just another crackpot, like those two male nurses who pawed my breasts. But I’m not mad at them. Even cold, I’m still the hottest gal in all FrancheComte. But this one took my hand, he wasn’t like the others. I mean, he didn’t want to feel up my ass. If we’d met before, maybe I wouldn’t

A corpse muses, ‘It’s the story of my life: I had to wait until I was dead to meet a nice guy.’

Jean-Claude Lother

blocked Parisian mystery writer David Rousseau (Jean-Paul Rouve), who’s getting desperate to find the premise for his next silly bestseller.

In a story that encompasses a lot of cheese, a dollop of full-frontal male nudity, a couple of horny male teens misusing a date-rape drug, lessons on how to produce a provincial French TV weathercast with a manic/depressive cheese model, and a mildly seductive bromance between a writer and a nervous local cop, perhaps the most fully realized gimmick is the curious beyond-thegrave affair between our writer and the still-warm body of the cheese

be lying on this stainless-steel table.

It’s the story of my life: I had to wait until I was dead to meet a nice guy.”

The question of whether Rousseau is a genuine “nice guy” or just a media puppet gifted at suppressing his true feelings hovers over the proceedings as the fast-talking fabricator lies his way into a variety of arenas until he and a male cop (hunky and nicely displayed Guillaume Gouix) find themselves the targets of a local assassin using one of Hitchcock’s old tricks: the sabotaged runaway car.

Staged with a faux noir style that gives off whiffs of Lynch and the

Jean-Paul Rouve and Guillaume Gouix in a scene from Nobody Else But You, a film by Gerald Hustache-Mathieu.

Coen Brothers, Nobody Else but You is another film spoof that may pay off more on a second viewing.

The frozen setting becomes a real character as we see just how eccentric and desperately foolish even the best folks can become in a landscape that will produce either acting out or emotional catatonia. The movie’s parallel universe send-up of Marilyn Monroe’s fatal final dance with the Kennedy Brothers is overblown, but does pay off in an eerily precise

homage to Marilyn’s famous “Mr. President” performance at Madison Square Garden. My favorite moment is a man kicking his car into reverse so he can hear the end of one of his favorite band’s anthems on a local radio station whose signal is fading out in a sea of white.

Oslo, August 31st In a hit from the San Francisco International Festival, Joachim Trier challenges you to get past your fear and loathing of druggie fuckups. Give a hearing to

this first-person wail about possibly the last day in the life of a handsome, youthful 34-year-old failed writer – a riveting passive/aggressive turn from rising Norwegian star Anders Danielsen Lie. Loosely inspired by a novel filmed

by Louis Malle (The Fire Within), this achingly personal tale demonstrates the oppressive claustrophobia of a seemingly sophisticated Scandinavian cultural hub. (Now playing.)▼

<< TV

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

▼

Hell & high water

by Victoria A. Brownworth

S

ummertime, and the viewing is easy – as long as you stay away from those news reports on how the country is being destroyed by fire and flood because, you know, a little too TV disaster movie circa 1970.

Yes, we’re kinda loving some of the new summer shows, especially The Newsroom. If you aren’t watching it, we can only ask, why not? The thing about Aaron Sorkin is that he’s smart, funny and writes the best dialogue coming out of a newsroom since Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in His Gal Friday.

There’s been some pushback on this, however.

Emily Nussbaum at The New Yorker dissed the show for exactly the reasons we like it. Which prompted the iconic David Denby to stand up for it. Which prompts us to say that as much as we love The New Yorker, we feel the New York fight is not our fight – especially since Nussbaum trashed Shonda Rhimes in the same piece for her DC drama Scandal, for its too-insidery tone and snappy dialogue. Do not dis our girl Shonda–we heart her.

The argument is: does snappy equal smart? Uh, generally speaking, yes. It equals smart on CBS’ sitcom The Big Bang Theory, with our favorite gay Emmy winner, Jim Parsons. That show is all about the dialogue. The same is true of NBC’s underrated Up All Night and CBS’ The Good Wife (which The New Yorker loves, btw). Is snappy dialogue the sum total of smart? No. But it sure is a solid foundation for TV, which is not, you know, the movies.

So watch. Because this argument is going to continue, and we can pretty much guarantee that you’ll side with us on this one. It’s that good. Plus – and who won’t be looking forward to this plus – we’re pretty sure there will be a queer angle to the show before long, because Alan Poul is a player as a producer.

Poul brought us a lot of gay on his previous forays like Six Feet Under (so gay) and one of the first queerfriendly network shows, My SoCalled Life (super teen gay before it was popular).

Speaking of queer storylines, we were thrilled that Chandler Massey took home a Daytime Emmy last week in a very competitive field for his fabulous work as Will Horton in Days of Our Lives. The gay Days storyline has been multi-faceted, and Massey has done a nuanced job as the young gay scion of the Horton family. The Emmy win also points out that there is a growing interest in queer storylines on daytime as well as prime time, and that the industry and the critics are watching. Not to mention the sponsors.

Next year we think that there will be some Emmy nods for The Bold & the Beautiful for their first foray into gay in the show’s 25-year history despite the fact that this show is set in LA’s fashion industry (!). The B&B storyline takes a totally different tack than any other on the tube right now – or actually ever. The lesbian coupling of Karen (Joanna Johnson) and Dani (Crystal Chappell) is significant because these are two older women (in real life, Johnson, who recently came out, is 50, and Chappell is 46) with a grown daughter. Karen is a corporate exec in a multi-million dollar fashion business, and Dani, her partner, is a freelance writer.

But the two have been living a closeted existence because of Karen’s homophobic brother Bill, the other owner in the corporation. Dani’s tired of it – she really doesn’t want to be viewed as “the roommate,”

nor does she want the pressure on their relationship that Karen’s fear of discovery has placed on them.

On the June 29 episode, Karen and Dani decided it was time to confront Bill, in a typical Friday cliffhanger.

Complicating matters is the couple’s daughter, Caroline, a budding fashion designer, who adores her mothers but is herself in the closet with them, unable to reveal her mothers’ relationship to her friends.

This intriguing story breaks the small screen out of the standard trope for queer storylines, which is largely built around teen or college-age characters just coming out, a la Glee or Days, and how they deal with their parents. The Karen/Dani storyline portrays two mature (but still youthful and sexy) lesbians in a long-term relationship where neither is a straight woman who just discovered suddenly that she’s a lesbian (the other standard meme for lesbian pairings on the tube) and who might go back to men at any moment.

There’s real chemistry between Johnson and Chappell (Chappell was previously involved in two steamy lesbian storylines, one on Guiding Light, and another on her own web soap, Venice). So when Karen tells Dani that she loves her as much as when they first met and the two embrace, it’s totally believable, and hot. Chappell has always had super-sensual chemistry with all of her on-screen partners, both male and female, so expect this aspect of the story to heat up. Literally.

There’s another complicated gay storyline happening over on the CW with The LA Complex. What intrigues us about this storyline in this show that doesn’t get enough attention is that the men involved are African-American, in the music industry and dealing with the complexities of the whole down-low culture that is rife in the black community. This show has been dismissed by some critics, but it’s a lot deeper than it appears, despite being on the beautiful young bodies network.

No one will ever accuse Chaz Bono of having a beautiful body, but the ton of fun who most recently appeared on Dancing with the Stars has decided to try a turn at acting (why not? In Chaz’s previous life as Chastity, he was a singer and penned two memoirs). Chaz will be appearing on the Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation as the mentor of a young trans student, Adam Torres (Jordan Todosey).

Chaz will play Chaz.

Degrassi is one of those shows that is hard to watch if one is over 18 (there’s a Degrassi alum on LA Complex), but we applaud any show that’s breaking out all the parts of the LGBT sandwich. We hope Chaz does better on Degrassi than on DWTS. But once again, we wonder why transgender actress and spokesperson Aneesh Sheth has yet to be picked up by any of these shows. Of course, her mother isn’t Cher.

populism, charm and sincerity. We liked that he never forgot the poor.

We liked that he was pro-queer before it was fashionable. We liked that when Ann Coulter called him a faggot, his response was pro-gay.

We liked him so much we left the sign with his name on it up in our front yard for the entire four years of Bush’s second term.

So his lurid fall from grace decimated us. Which is probably why we took such pleasure in watching Hunter skewered during the promotional tour for her memoir of the affair that could have blown up a presidency, What Really Happened.

The book purports to be the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but so far, she’s been called out for being way less than truthful by a series of TV journalists.

One person who reamed her out on camera was Barbara Walters, when Hunter appeared on The View last week. Walters was the most important woman in TV news history for 25 years, before other women started to gain a foothold. Say what one will about The View or about Walters now that she’s been supplanted by other newswomen out in the middle of war zones, like Christiane Amanpour, but Walters will always be an icon among newswomen. So when Walters got all up in Hunter’s face on the claustrophobic little sofa on The View and pretty much called her a liar, it gave us quite the frisson. It was better than the takedowns Matt Lauer and

Rielle Hunter was on TV talk shows to promote her memoir What Really Happened.

George Stephanopolous had done, by far. Walters quoted from the book in which Hunter says Walters screamed at her when Hunter told her she was doing the Oprah interview. In a very measured voice with the simmering rage just below the surface, Walters told her that she had never done that in her entire career, and that Hunter knew that wasn’t true. Hunter got the scared, calledinto-the-principal’s-office look on her face when this happened. It was, we must say, great to see.

As intense as her appearance on The View was, Hunter’s appearance on the June 27 episode of The Talk should have sent her back into hiding. Co-host Sharon Osbourne introduced her as the most hated woman in America, and that may have been the nicest moment of

the segment. The long-married Osbourne clearly found Hunter despicable, although Hunter’s new line in every interview is that she is not a mistress, she’s a mom. Uh, okay.

Then why did you write a sex-tellall when you have a five-year-old illegitimate daughter? Is she never going to read?

Aisha Tyler, whom we love, put the hardest-hitting questions to Hunter, but Hunter dodged all of them. “You were having a clandestine affair. Why did you make a sex tape?”

Then, “You said you’d make him more authentic. Did you?” Then, “People have said you got pregnant on purpose to trap him. When you are our age, you know what to do not to get pregnant. I mean, I’ve never even had a scare, because I know how not to get pregnant. Did you get pregnant on purpose?”

Meanwhile, Sara Gilbert, the show’s producer and the only lesbian in the group, was silent through much of the interview. She had one question: “Did you ask him to leave his wife?” Hunter said no.

Sheryl Underwood was also silent through most of the interview.

She only wanted to know one thing: “Was the sex really that good?”

Hunter replied, “Hell, yeah.” Ew. Osbourne waited till the end to slam Hunter as a fake. Osbourne noted, “Your real name is Lisa Jo Drucker. Why did you change it to Rielle Hunter?”

See page 28 >>

Personals The

Massage>>

Hunter hunted Speaking of vicious cattiness, although we acknowledge it might be decidedly un-feminist of us, we really enjoyed seeing Rielle Hunter ripped a new one over and over on each successive talk show she flounced onto in the past week. It was way better than any episode of the Kardashian train wreck or any of the Real Housewives shows. (Speaking of those crap venues, there’s a new one breaking out this week: Nannies of Beverly Hills. We can’t wait for that one.) It was, in fact, awesome.

Disclaimer here: We used to really like John Edwards. We liked his

East Bay Massage Duane CMT: 510-830-8549 E27-32

Wanna Melt? Castro $50 Jim 415-621-4517

Fremont, Jim CMT * Great Hands * Mature $40/hr 510-651-2217 E17-28

E25-E28

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

W

“Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.”

-Eric Hoffer

Model/Escorts / >>

People>>

CHILANGOSEXY.COM

EDUARDO

Massage>>

Edgy gy Escort For Xtreme Clients

HOT*CKSR*24HRS

Out* 860-5468*$150 Hr*

415-374-4439 Hot Guys! Hot Chat! Hot Fun! Call FREE! 415-430-1127

E26-26

Confident 9x7.5 Strictly Top. Clean Cut, Handsome, Sexy Austin 415-902-8911 E26-29

E23-26

ebar.com

People>>

Tall Blond CMT nr Dolores Park with strong skilled hands.

Specialty massages $85-$200 415-706-9740 E26-26

Therapeutic Deep Tissue or Swedish Massage 10am-10pm daily. Quiet central Castro location. Call for rates and availability 415-685-1915 E25-25

Men n MEET Men...

Right Now

VISA SA SA/M A/M MC/ C A AM M EX EX - as low w as $1 $ .0 00 p pe er da day! y! y!

Massage W/Release 7 Days A Week. In/Out 415-350-0968 E25-25

HAIRY MASSEUR Erotic Relaxing Full Body Massage by hairy Irish/Portuguese guy.

All Bay Area.

(510) 912-8812 late nights ok.

E26-26

Asian CMT In Sunnyvale. In -$50, Out-$70 Michael 408-400-9088 or 408-893-1966 E23-26

Pelvis – Hips – Thighs - Low Back Jeff Gibson 415-626-7095

COREMASSAGE4MEN.COM E24-29

Connnect Now on the Bay Area’s hottest chatline!

FREE 415-707-2400 Try it for

408--5 53 39 9--24 240 00 0 5100-28 028128 2811-2 -2 24 400 400 0 650--87 700-25 2500 0

70770 7--58 582 2-24 22400 00 0 83 311-78 -78 789899-24 24 40 00 0 92592 5-9 95 555-20 200 20 00 0

a ir rq

“Dr. BLISS” is IN! I love touching men and it shows! Massage is my art form. 415.706.6549 http://bodymagicsf.blogspot.com

San Francisco

415.430.1199

E26-26

SEXY ASIAN $60 Jim 269-5707

Oakland

510.3 510.343.1122 343.1 1122

E26-29

San Jose

www.sfgaymassage.com

408.514.11 408.514.1111 11 11

E06-18

Model/Escorts / >>

WWW.KINKYCOACH.COM

SFMANSCAPING.COM

Rearworks. Toys. Sling. BDSM Masculine. Joe 415-735-4548

Learn new fetish or masturbation techniques, create deeper intimacy, or expand you erotic potential. Paul 415-336-3117

Look your best this holiday season! Body groom/trim services.

Please book through www.sfmanscaping.com -- Gil

E26-29

ANYTHING GOES! For a relaxing &soothing Massage/Escort Scott 866-990-3319 No blocked numbers accepted E25-26

E25-26

E52

HOT LOCAL MEN & WOMEN Listen to Ads & Reply FREE! SF - 415-430-1199 East Bay - 510-343-1122 Use FREE Code 5931, 18+ CLB E52

ebar.com

FREE to listen and reply to ads!

FREE CODE: Reporter For other local numbers call:

1-888-MegaMatesTMM

Tell-AFriend

REWARDS

24/7 Friendly Customer Care 1(888)634-2628 18+ ©2012 PC LLC MegaMatesMen.com

2366

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 5-11, 2012

▼

Music >>

The sound of time flying

by Gregg Shapiro

nor Rigby.”

Finally getting the box set/reissue treatment they rightfully deserve, original ska revival purveyors The English Beat are feted with the five-CD box set The Complete Beat (Go-Feet/Shout Factory). The reggae-based ska sound melded with the punk politics of bands such as The English Beat, The Specials and Madness. The English Beat’s three albums, released between 30 and 32 (!) years ago, showed the band’s evolution from ska loyalists (on their 1980 debut I Just Can’t Stop It) to a more pop-oriented unit (on 1982’s Special Beat Service). The double-disc Bonus Beat set included here lives up to its claim, featuring extended 12” and dub versions of some of their best songs, including “I Confess,” “Save It for Later,” “Twist & Crawl” and “Hands Off, She’s Mine.” You can’t (English) beat this!

The Wilson sisters Ann and Nan-

cy have been rocking their hearts out as Heart for almost four decades.

With a slew of hits compilations under their chic belts (including those representing their Portrait/ Epic and Capitol years), the Wilsons co-curated the three-disc/one DVD retrospective box Strange Euphoria (Epic/Legacy). The 51 (!) tracks are comprise of demos (some acoustic), live tracks and familiar hits including “Love Alive,” “Kick It Out,” “Straight On,” “These Dreams” and “Alone.” There is enough previously unreleased material to entice Heart fans, old and new, and the 1976 Heart concert on the DVD is a sight to behold.

Although they only released one album, the newly reissued and expanded (GI) (Real Gone Music), L.A. punk pioneers the Germs have gone on to influence countless bands, including The Minutemen, The Offspring, NOFX and Red Hot Chili Peppers. A fast and

furious foursome led by the late, self-destructive Darby Crash, and featuring Pat Smear, who went on to play with Foo Fighters, the Germs’ debut was produced by Joan Jett and features 17 songs, most clocking in between one and three minutes. The reissue also includes the unreleased album mix of “Caught in My Eye” as a bonus track.

An immeasurable loss to the music community, soul genius Donny Hathaway’s sudden death at 33 in 1979 silenced a voice that had barely had a chance to shine. He was as equally renowned for his original compositions (“The Ghetto,” “Someday We’ll All Be Free”) as he was for his interpretations of other people’s songs (Leon Russell’s “A Song for You”). But it was Hathaway’s friendship and collaborations with Roberta Flack – 1972’s “Where Is the Love?,” for instance – that propelled him into the spotlight. Available domestically on CD for the first

time, Hathaway’s 1972 Live recording and the posthumously released 1980 In Performance have been combined in the double-disc package Live + In Performance (Shout Factory). Backed by an exceptional band including organist Richard Tee, with whom Hathaway generously shared the stage, the 14 live tracks complement each other and remind us of his talents and what could have been.

Before she became known as the singer/songwriter responsible for one of the best-selling records of all time (Tapestry), Carole King was busy writing/co-writing hit songs for others. “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” the song that opens King’s The Legendary Demos (Rockingale/ Hear Music) disc, was a smash for The Monkees. Spanning a period of more than 50 years, the 13 demos represent both King’s songwriter period (“Take Good Care of My Baby,” “Crying in the Rain”) and her emergence in the singer/songwriter scene of the 1970s (“Beautiful,” “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got a Friend”), making it the ideal soundtrack for reading her recently published memoir.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (Virgin/EMI), when David Bowie was at the peak of his glam goodness, the disc has been reissued in a newly remastered version. Meant “to be played at maximum volume,” Ziggy Stardust contains some of Bowie’s queerest material (“Lady Stardust,” “Suffragette City”). Influential, inspirational and totally timeless, Ziggy Stardust represents Bowie stretching the boundaries of his sexual ambiguity and his musical inventiveness.▼

It was hard to comprehend why Hunter would put herself in the position to be slapped around repeatedly by people who clearly blame her for taking down a beloved politician. She said, as she claimed a few years ago when she talked to an equally disgusted Oprah, that she has been on an “intense spiritual journey,” and that this was part of it. And they say queers are the immoral ones.

Speaking of immoral, two young

lesbians were shot in a Texas park on Pride weekend while the rest of us were out partying. Molly Olgin, 19, and Mary Kristene Chapa, 18, were both shot in the head. They were discovered the next morning by a couple walking their dogs. Olgin was dead at the scene. Chapa is in critical condition. Olgin was white; Chapa, Latino. Periodically we write about the news you’re not seeing.

This is one of those stories.

For months the nation has been

watching the headline story of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Headline news. National interest.

We would like it to be headline news when two out lesbian teenagers get shot in the head in a local park in Texas around Midnight on Pride weekend. We think it’s news. We think it’s worthy. We think one dead young woman and another fighting for her life means something.

Martin’s death is not being considered a hate crime, and the mur-

der of Mollie Olgin may not be, either. But for queers across America, the lack of national attention to this shooting is itself a crime. So RIP Mollie, and prayers for recovery for Mary Kristene. Write to ABC, CBS and NBC to ask them why they aren’t covering this story the way they covered the killing of Trayvon Martin. Our murders are news, too.

So until they make it to Diane’s and Scott’s and Brian’s newscasts, we really must stay tuned.▼

I

f you need proof that time flies faster than you can keep track, try this. Paul Simon’s acclaimed but politically controversial Graceland album, on which he performed with South African musicians during the height of apartheid, was released more than 25 (!) years ago. To commemorate such an auspicious event, the groundbreaking recording has been reissued in a few different formats. The handsomely packaged collector’s edition of Graceland: 25th Anniversary Edition (Legacy) includes the original 11-track CD and a second CD of bonus tracks.

In addition to classics such as the title cut, “The Boy in the Bubble,” “Gumboots,” and “I Know What I Know,” the music includes all three demos, early and alternate version bonus cuts found on both the Warner Bros. and Columbia reissues, as well as Simon telling the story of Graceland. Two DVDs consisting of Joe Berlinger’s doc Under African Skies, about the 25th anniversary of the disc’s recording and the reunion that ensued, four music videos and the 1987 concert film Graceland: The African Concert complete the package, making it utterly essential.

Reissued to coincide with the DVD release of the 1968 animated Beatles feature Yellow Submarine, the Yellow Submarine Songtrack (Apple) consists of the 15 Beatles songs featured in the movie minus the non-Beatles instrumentals featured on the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine album. Newer compositions such as “All Together Now” and “Hey Bulldog” flesh out the songtrack alongside “All You Need Is Love,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “Nowhere Man” and “Elea-

<<

Lavender Tube

From page 26

Hunter said she changed it because she was an actress. Osbourne countered instantly, “But you never have been an actress, have you?”

Osbourne also called out Edwards to Hunter. “He’s weak. He’s a liar.”

Then finally Osbourne said, “Tell me, Missus, do you speak with forked tongue? Don’t look at Sara, she’s not going to protect you.”

<<

Leonor Fini

From page 17

ing grand entrances, sweeping into a room dressed in billowing black cloaks, black satin thigh-high boots or flamboyant costumes intended not so much to dazzle onlookers, she said, as to “render them speechless.” Before her death in 1996, she divided her time between her home in an ancient Corsican monastery and her Paris apartment.

Disquieting, sometimes desolate, and dense with mood and enchantment, her captivating paintings are rich with Renaissance, Medieval and Gothic motifs laced with eroticism and Marquis de Sade-inflected fantasy.

They suggest dramatic, magical scenarios one can only speculate about, and characters that seem to have escaped from the darker recesses of fairy tales or emerged unbidden from Fini’s subconscious, which the artist apparently mainlined with a directness a psychoanalyst would envy. How to surmise the origins of “Woman in Costume; Woman in Armor” (1938), a chiaroscuro-like portrait of a ravenhaired woman? Set against an ebony background and dressed in a pointyedged armor bustier trimmed in studs, she cocks her head at an anatomically odd, grotesque angle, and her long,

wavy tresses frame her face like an elaborate warrior’s headdress. There’s a “Corset Chair” that laces up the back and is striped with mother of pearl, and a pair of “Imaginary Portraits,” done in pastel, gouache, ink wash and watercolor, of scary women whose expressions betray minds stalked by night terrors. The enigmatic title of “The Victim is Queen” (1963) implies a feminist investigation, but the work itself, perhaps not surprisingly, resembles an impressionistic design for movie costumes. Its otherworldly central figure, a nearly bald monarch recalling Elizabeth I after her hair was shorn and she took to painting her face white, has grayish alabaster skin and an elongated swan neck. Seen in profile, she’s in a procession, guarded by what could be knights in armor or futuristic robots that would be right at home in the universe Swiss Surrealist H.R. Giger created for Ridley Scott’s Alien. Ghostly double images appear in the surrounding blackness, broken only by a bright persimmon dress that has slipped below her breasts. The mysterious “Mineral Colloquium” (1960), with its ochre tone, cool teals and alien creatures seated for a secret convocation in a grotto, has a similarly mysterious vibe.

For Fini, imagination is a two-way street: fear and horror on one side,

whimsy and humor on the other.

Unembarrassed by its nakedness and thrusting its short torso forward in a sea of orange, “La Sphinx Squatte” (1972), a half-human, half-satyr hybrid with massive thighs, huge feet and a halo of curly blond hair, appraises the viewer with an unflinching gaze, while “Sphinx Orange” (1970), one of many self-portraits of the artist-as-sphinx, is in this case a pale feminine vision with a tail between its legs, averted eyes and a single extended wing.

Judging from her output, Fini had an active inner life, but even in the most serene settings, there’s trouble lurking in paradise. Take “Sleeping Waters” (1962), a sylvan figment of azure blues and intense emerald greens that’s seductively familiar yet foreign. Boundaries between underwater and solid ground merge. Something is amiss. What or who is floating beneath the surface of the water or is hidden in the thickets?

Artists go farther than most mortals are willing to go, offering us the thrill of vicarious experience without the attendant risk. Fini went places where few dare to tread.▼ Courtesy Weinstein Gallery

“La leçon de botanique” (“The Botany Lesson,” 1974), oil on canvas

by Leonor Fini.

Through Aug. 11 at Weinstein Gallery, SF. Info: www.weinstein.com