Bay Area Reporter June 10, 2010

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Photographer Dan Nicoletta on ‘More Glitter-Less Bitter.’

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City officials in damage control after gay sex sting; deals for summer travelers.

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Palm Springs travel update

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pages 10, 11

BAYAREAREPORTER

Vol. 40

. No. 23 . 10 June 2010

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

German Harris wins Dem AG primary physician honored for B AIDS work

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Liz Highleyman

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Seven gay California Assembly candidates win primary races by Matthew S. Bajko even gay California Assembly candidates won their primary races this week, ensuring that the current four-person LGBT Legislative Caucus in Sacramento will gain new members in 2011. The outcome of Tuesday’s intra-party races had several firsts. Two gay men – Ricardo Lara and Rich Gordon – won their Democratic primary battles for seats in districts without LGBT neighborhoods. And this fall will see the state’s first general election match-up between two out opponents for a legislative post with Democrat Toni Atkins, an out lesbian, running against gay GOPer Ralph Denney for San Diego’s 76th Assembly District seat. Incumbents Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) and Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) were both unchallenged in their races Tuesday, as was gay Republican Eric Hickok, who has little chance of defeating incumbent Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Cupertino) in the South Bay’s 22nd Assembly District. Two gay men lost their bids for Assembly seats: Vallejo City Councilman Michael Wilson and Manhattan Beach Mayor Mitch Ward. With Atkins expected to defeat Denney this fall, and Lara and Gordon facing token Republican opponents in heavily Democratic districts, the LGBT caucus should expand to seven members on Election Night in November. The largest the caucus has been is six members. “Overall, the results were amazing,” said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors. “Barring something extraordinary happening, California will have the largest number of openly LGBT legislators in the history of the nation.” EQCA put considerable resources in numerous Assembly and Senate battles this week, not only donating thousands of dollars but also assigning staff members and volunteers to campaign for its endorsed candidates. Gordon credited the statewide LGBT lobbying group for helping with his get-out-the-vote operation Tuesday

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Rich Gordon won his Democratic primary race for an Assembly seat on the Peninsula.

Southern California Assembly candidate Ricardo Lara won his primary race.

in his race for the 21st Assembly District seat on the Peninsula. “We were stunned and surprised yesterday when knocking on the door of our campaign headquarters was Geoff Kors and a team of a dozen people from EQCA who spent the day working on our campaign. I appreciated what they were able to do for me,” said Gordon, who has spent the last 12 years on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. Gordon was the odds-on favorite to win his race but he faced stiff competition from political newcomer Josh Becker, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who tapped into his high-tech connections to amass a large campaign war chest. According to unofficial returns Wednesday, Gordon was able to hold back Becker’s bid with 38 percent of the vote, capturing 11,060 votes cast. Becker fell short with 34 percent, garnering 9,889 votes. Former Palo Alto City Councilwoman Yoriko Kishimoto finished third with 28 percent or 8,294 votes. Gordon now will face off against Republican challenger Greg Conlon but

is expected to easily capture the seat this fall. Nonetheless, he said he is not taking a victory for granted and plans to continue campaigning and staffing field offices in the district. “I don’t intend to take my opponent in November lightly. I am going to continue to run this race,” said Gordon, who is married to his partner Dr. Dennis McShane. “I do think as I work initially to solidify the Democratic base here, I will have some time to help candidates in other areas. I am more than willing to do that. In fact, I told Speaker Perez if I was successful Tuesday, I would be looking for some assignments.” Having no opponent in the primary Atkins, a former San Diego city councilwoman, has already been funneling money to other Democratic candidates throughout the state. She received 21,798 votes Tuesday, according to unofficial returns, while Denney easily beat two GOP opponents to become the Republican candidate with 46 percent of the vote. It is his third time seeking the seat.

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an Francisco officials and state legislators, in conjunction with the AIDS Policy Project, last week recognized the accomplishments of Dr. Gero Huetter, the German doctor who made headlines in 2007 when his team achieved the first functional cure for HIV. “There have been many advances in antiretroviral therapy so people can manage their HIV/AIDS, but we need to get behind those Dr. Gero Huetter working on a cure,” said District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, presenting a proclamation from the Board of Supervisors during a ceremony outside City Hall on June 3. “What makes a cure possible is investment of resources and recognizing that it’s an achievable goal.” In addition, Huetter, who was in San Francisco last week to attend the International Cord Blood Transplantation Symposium, also received commendations from Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (DSan Francisco) and state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). The man Huetter treated – an HIVpositive American known as the “Berlin Patient” – required a bone marrow stem cell transplant due to otherwise untreatable leukemia. Huetter’s team managed to locate a donor who was not only a compatible match for the patient, but also had an uncommon genetic mutation that makes cells resistant to HIV infection. HIV can use two gateways, or co-receptors, to enter cells, known as CCR5 and CXCR4. A small proportion of the population – estimated at about one in 1,000 people of European descent – has a mutation that prevents cells from producing CCR5. Individuals that carry the CCR5 deletion mutation are highly resistant to HIV infection, and those who do become infected may be “elite controllers” who are able to keep the virus suppressed without treatment. The Berlin Patient received two transplants of hematopoietic stem cells from a donor with the resistance mutation, and his own immune cells were destroyed to eliminate the leukemia. This type of stem cell gives rise to all the various white blood cells that make up the immune system, so the procedure essentially replaces the recipient’s immune system with the donor’s. After the first transplant, researchers were unable to find any evidence of continued HIV infection. Today, according to Huetter, the man is in good health, in long-term remission from leukemia, and remains HIV free. A report of the case appeared in the February 12, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. “I want to dedicate this honor to the

ringing her trademark “smart on crime” philosophy to the state stage, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris easily won the Democratic primary for California attorney general Tuesday, June 8, beating back a stiff challenge from former Facebook privacy chief Chris Kelly. Now, the aim for Harris will be to defeat her Republican opponent, moderate Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, in November. In the AG race, unofficial returns showed that Harris, a strong supporter of the LGBT community, received 33.1 percent of the vote. Kelly came in a distant second with 15.9 percent. Cooley garnered 47.3 percent of the vote on the Republican side, preliminary numbers indicated, which put him ahead of John Eastman, who received 34.2 percent of the vote. Brian Brokaw, Harris’s campaign manager, said over the next five months Harris “is going to make the case that the only way to be tough on bid for state attorney general.

Jane Philomen Cleland

by Liz Highleyman

crime is to be smart on crime.” “That means taking on the status quo of this revolving door justice system that cycles criminals in and out of prison and into neighborhoods,” he said, as well as “zeroing in on” violent street gangs. He also referred to Harris as “a champion for the environment” and said she will fight to support health care reform, explaining those are among the positions that contrast her with Cooley. Brokaw said LGBT voters should support Harris because she’s “clearly” the only attorney general candidate “who has a long history of fighting for and working with the LGBT community around the state. Whether it’s opposing Prop 8 and aggressively prosecuting hate crimes in San Francisco, Kamala Harris has a track record of siding with and fighting for the LGBT community,” Brokaw said. Like Harris, Cooley also supports marriage equality. Cooley’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris thanked supporters at her Brokaw also noted that Cooley victory party Tuesday night and will advance to the general election in her

by Seth Hemmelgarn


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